Books on the Menu Delights Audience

Our F.O.O.D. Week event books on the Menu enthralled more than 70 guests (pictured) with wine and produce, food stories, recipes, cookbooks and anecdotes from local foodies Monika Rickli, Max Schofield, Justin Byrne and Rhonda Doyle.

The buzzing crowd asked questions, enjoyed local wines and delicious local produce created by Library “Masterchefs” Jan Richards and Elizabeth Barry. There was also time to look over new cookbooks recently acquired by the library and a display celebrating 20 years of F.O.O.D. Week. Visitors from Byron Bay took home the lucky door prize generously supplied by sponsors Boomers Bookshop & ABC Centre.

First guest speaker Monika Rickli talked about her early life in German speaking Switzerland. That's where her parents owned and ran the local bakery. Contrary to what you would expect, growing up in a bakery meant she did not pick up any baking skills at all as her father ran the production on his own during the night and the two girls of the family were delegated to help Mum sell the goods in the shop during the day. In the tradition of Easter, Monika baked our guests a decorative plaited loaf to try and also experimented with rabbit and frog shapes which were cute. We'll pass on her recipe for the delicious bread in an upcoming blog. Her favourite recipe book is one she created herself with snippets from other chefs including Jamie Oliver, Karen Martini and friends from Switzerland with sections for savoury, baking, Thai and Asian. Monika said there was never any question of where to come to for her “tree change” – Orange ticked all the boxes. We're glad she did. And did you know she handcrafted the timber chopping boards using her woodworking skills. Clever lady!

Stay tuned for favourite books from our other guest speakers.