While baking one Saturday in 2013, I had Food Network on in the background and heard a preview for a show called Heartland Table starring Amy Thielen. I went to the remote and rewound the promo. I was thrilled - a real cooking show and from someone in the Midwest! Before the promo was over, I scheduled the recording of the pilot - Butter - and was searching Amazon to see if Amy Thielen had a cookbook - The New Midwestern Table: 200 Heartland Recipes was ordered immediately. 

After lovingly paging through the book a few days later (thanks Amazon prime) I was sold. I sent a message to Amy telling her I was going to cook through her book, start a group and asked for her permission. Cooking from The New Midwestern Table was formed and I have made at least half the recipes from the cookbook - all excellent. 
 
Amy is the girl next door who can cook and write with a passion that raises the bar so high mere mortals cannot compete. She is an easy friend and a beautiful person. When I heard she was writing a memoir, I admit I was disappointed - I wanted another cookbook - but what the world was gifted with was far better. Give a Girl a Knife: A Memoir is a treasure to read and reflects her down-to-earth spirit. It will keep you turning pages well into the early morning hours. Amy had sent me a pdf to read before the book was available.  Let me tell you - reading from a pdf is not joyous on an old slow tablet - but it was worth the aggravation to soak up Amy's words. 

Touching and funny, Amy shares her journey to becoming a chef and reaching a deeper understanding of her German and French roots. After attending cooking school in New York, she landed jobs in the kitchens of such notables as Daniel Boulud and Jean-Georges Vongerichten. She would frequently return back to Minnesota, soaking up the traditions of her family - her mother's cooking and the food of her butter and pickle loving German grandmother.  A warm, witty and touching memoir that feels like you are talking with an old friend and experiencing her joys and triumphs from a front row seat. It is a documented love affair with life, family, food and words. Thank you Amy, we are grateful that you opened your door to allow us in. 

The tour dates to promote Give a Girl a Knife are available on our World Calendar of Cookbook Events - check to see if Amy is in your area. 

 
We are pleased to offer three copies of this title to our EYB Members in the US. One of the entry options is to answer the following question in the comments section of this blog post:

Have you ever cooked one of Amy's recipes before? And if you haven't, check out some of the recipes available online - you will want to buy both her books. 

Please note that you must be logged into the Rafflecopter contest before posting or your entry won't be counted. If you are not already a Member, you can join at no cost. The contest ends at midnight on June 17th, 2017.
Photo credit JT Turner