Lifestyle

After years of documenting Jewish food traditions, Joan Nathan focuses on her family's

Published

2 weeks ago

April 24, 2024

After years of documenting Jewish food traditions, Joan Nathan focuses on her family's

After decades creating and publishing recipes, cookbook author Joan Nathan has released what she said is likely her final book, a cookbook and memoir called “My Life in Recipes.”

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After decades creating and publishing recipes, cookbook author Joan Nathan has released what she said is likely her final book, a cookbook and memoir called “My Life in Recipes.”

Michael Zamora/NPR

Joan Nathan has spent her life exploring in the kitchen, trying new dishes and recipes all year. But every spring, for the Passover Seder, she sticks with a menu that follows her own family’s traditions. The holiday starts tonight.

“I think Passover tells us who we are, and it tells us, this is my family sharing with other families. I get chills every year at Passover, because I realized that it started in ancient Israel. I mean, it’s in the Bible!”

Joan Nathan chops up fresh herbs for her soup and rolls matzo balls in her kitchen in Washington, D.C.

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Joan Nathan chops up fresh herbs for her soup and rolls matzo balls in her kitchen in Washington, D.C.

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Nathan has written a dozen cookbooks, documenting how food traditions evolved as Jews wandered all over the world through the centuries. Now in her 80s, her new book is her most personal work yet, excavating her own culinary history in a combination memoir and cookbook called My Life in Recipes.

“I’ve been more nervous about this book than any book… It’s sort of going into my life, you know?”

Cookbook author Joan Nathan looks through old family recipe books.

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Cookbook author Joan Nathan looks through old family recipe books.

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Nathan spoke with All Things Considered in her Washington, D.C. kitchen on a late March day, while she prepped a version of a dish she’s been eating since childhood: chicken matzo ball soup. And, like many Jewish mothers and grandmothers before her, that afternoon, she fretted over whether the matzo balls would turn out the way she wanted them to. Every family has their own recipe, whether they’re light, fluffy, hard, dense.

“So my mother’s, hers were al dente,” Nathan said. “And my mother-in-law’s were very light. You know, she was straight from Poland.”

As with every immigration story, these family recipes evolved as people relocated, fleeing wars or seeking a better life for their kids. One example is a special combination Nathan adds to her own matzo balls.

Nathan prepares matzo ball soup in her kitchen.

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Nathan prepares matzo ball soup in her kitchen.

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“I’d added ginger [and] nutmeg, which I knew was what my father’s family would have used in Germany,” she explained. “Ginger nutmeg was a very common condiment combination in the 19th and early 20th century.”

For Nathan, cooking matzo ball soup for Passover, or any Jewish holiday, just feels comfortable – like home.

“It’s the smell,” she said. “You just know that smell. Like my mother’s brisket, I know; like challah, I know. I love those smells. It knows that you’re at home, that there are people that care.”

Nathan pulls two loaves of challah out of the oven at her home in Washington, D.C.

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Nathan pulls two loaves of challah out of the oven at her home in Washington, D.C.

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While the soup simmers, Joan walks over to the living room where boxes of letters and books are laid out. They’re some of the artifacts that she’s uncovered from her family, including handwritten recipe books in German. One from her great-grandmother dates back to 1927, written in purple ink full of recipes for desserts like kuchen and caramel pudding. Nathan’s new book is full of her letters, diary entries and parts of these family artifacts.

Nathan looks through old family recipe books including one that dates back to 1927.

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Nathan looks through old family recipe books including one that dates back to 1927.

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This book is also a love story. Joan Nathan writes about her courtship and marriage of 45 years to her late husband, Allan Gerson. He died just before the pandemic. She says writing this book felt almost like a form of therapy.

“It was my savior. I would just write. And I would include him in my life, you know? So it was a way of really making him part of my life. And I think it was really helpful to me. It really gave me strength.”

A photo of her family hangs in the living rooms as cookbook author Joan Nathan prepares matzo ball soup in the kitchen of her home in Washington, D.C.

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A photo of her family hangs in the living rooms as cookbook author Joan Nathan prepares matzo ball soup in the kitchen of her home in Washington, D.C.

Michael Zamora/NPR

My Life in Recipes also includes anecdotes from Nathan’s prolific career, her world travels and stories of her collaborations with food luminaries that include Julia Child.

“Julia – I had her 90th birthday in this – she was sitting right here on this couch. I had a party for her. She’s somebody who just kept living,” Nathan remembered.

“And she said to me, at 90, why should I quit if I’m doing what I like to do? And she made me realize a few things: Have people that are younger around you as you get older, be positive, don’t talk about being uncomfortable or whatever. And also, to write thank-you notes to everybody.”

Lifestyle

The original 'Harry Potter' book cover art is expected to break records at auction

Published

2 hours ago

May 5, 2024

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The original 'Harry Potter' book cover art is expected to break records at auction

Thomas Taylor’s original cover illustration for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997) is expected to break auction records at Sotheby’s on June 26.

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Thomas Taylor’s original cover illustration for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997) is expected to break auction records at Sotheby’s on June 26.

Sotheby’s

The book cover art that introduced readers across the world to Harry Potter is expected to break auction records next month.

This past week, Sotheby’s announced the auction scheduled for June 26 in New York of Thomas Taylor’s original watercolor illustration for the first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Published by Bloomsbury in 1997, the title kicked off the famous seven-book series.

In a statement shared with NPR, the auction house said the artwork is expected to sell for $400,000 to $600,000 — a record estimate for any Harry Potter-related material ever offered at auction.

With over 500 million copies sold worldwide across 80 languages, the Harry Potter series has become a global phenomenon.

Taylor’s illustration — which depicts the boy magician with his trademark round spectacles and lightning bolt-shaped forehead scar boarding the train to Hogwarts from King’s Cross Station’s platform 9 3/4 — was first offered at auction at Sotheby’s in London in 2001, according to the statement. At that point, there were only four published Harry Potter books, yet Pottermania was already taking hold: the artwork sold for a then-record-breaking 85,750 pounds.

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Sotheby’s said it expects the return of the artifact to the auction block to do exponentially better this time around, as the appetite for Potter-related fare has only increased over the past couple of decades with the release of the blockbuster films and various spinoffs. In 2021, an unsigned first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone sold for $421,000 at Heritage Auctions in Dallas — the current record for a Harry Potter-related item.

Richard Austin, Sotheby’s global head of books & manuscripts, said in a statement that Taylor’s work “serves as the visual blueprint for the boy wizard who has since inspired millions worldwide.”

A rookie assignment

This handout from Christie’s shows the cover of J.K. Rowling’s first novel Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone.

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This handout from Christie’s shows the cover of J.K. Rowling’s first novel Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone.

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Illustrator Taylor was a 23-year-old recent art school graduate when he received the commission from Bloomsbury to create a cover illustration for a fantasy children’s book by the then-unknown author J.K. Rowling.

It was the artist’s first professional assignment. According to Taylor, he wasn’t given much in the way of creative license.

“I was actually asked to paint this scene by the editor at Bloomsbury who said, ‘could you please paint Hogwarts at King’s Cross Station and Harry approaching the Hogwarts Express?’ ” said Taylor in a 2022 video interview for the J.K. Rowling online fan community, The Rowling Library. “I was very new and just starting out, so I didn’t feel I could say ‘No, I think it should be something different.’ So I was just doing what I was told, really.”

Michael Gambon, who played Dumbledore in 'Harry Potter,' dies at 82

He read Rowling’s manuscript on the train after that meeting — one of the very first people to do so.

“It was a stack of paper. It was only printed on one side. Chapter 11 wasn’t there, because the author was changing something, so it was missing Chapter 11. And it had a few notes and things in it as well. So it was a very, very early printout,” Taylor told The Rowling Library.

After delivering his painting to the publisher, Taylor said for a few months he used the blank underside of each manuscript page for sketching. “And then I think I put the rest of it in the recycling bin,” he said. “Of course now I really regret that.”

Mixed feelings

Taylor has gone on to become an award-winning children’s book author and illustrator. His titles include the series Eerie-on-Sea. Bloomsbury reissued Philosopher’s Stone as part of its 25th anniversary commemorative reprint of the Harry Potter books in 2022.

But Taylor said he long had mixed feelings about this early, giant success.

“Normally when you start out as an illustrator, you kind of hope that your first work will be a bit forgotten and then you’ll develop and get better and better,” Taylor told The Rowling Library. “But of course, in this case, this first piece of work has sort of followed me my entire career. So I look at it and I think, ‘Why did I paint that? Why didn’t I paint something more exciting?’ “

But he said he’s finally made peace with it — in part because of how prized his Harry Potter book cover painting has become at auction.

“It is quite striking when I see an auction catalog, and then there’s a first edition Charles Dickens, and then Beatrix Potter or something, and then there’s my picture,” he said. “It is fun to see it appear in places like that.”

Indeed, Taylor’s artwork will be go under the hammer in June as part of a sale that includes works by such literary greats as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edgar Allan Poe — and a handwritten manuscript by none other than J.K. Rowling.

Lifestyle

Tom Brady Shuts Down Jeff Ross Over Robert Kraft Massage Joke

Published

3 hours ago

May 5, 2024

Press Room

Tom Brady Shuts Down Jeff Ross Over Robert Kraft Massage Joke

Netflix

Divorce talk was fair game, but Tom Brady was not having it when folks brought up Patriots owner Robert Kraft‘s massage scandal … with the former MVP calling on Jeff Ross to “don’t say that s*** again” amid his roast on Sunday.

TB12 was a good sport for the majority of the Netflix event … laughing it up as he was on the receiving end of incessant blows throughout the night.

But there was one topic the dude did not want to be mentioned — the Pats owner’s 2019 incident.

Brady approached Ross mid-speech … telling him on a hot mic the matter was out of bounds.

Many compared it to Will Smith’s Oscars moment with Chris Rock … although the future Hall of Famer never got physical.

Netflix

As we previously reported, Brady has been a good sport for the majority of the event … even letting his former coach, Bill Belichick, rip into him for some good-hearted fun.

Kim Kardashian, Ross, Julian Edelman and more ripped into Brady … but the show is still going on, so we’ll keep you updated.

Lifestyle

Bernard Hill, who starred in 'Titanic' and 'The Lord of the Rings,' dies at 79

Published

9 hours ago

May 5, 2024

Press Room

Bernard Hill, who starred in 'Titanic' and 'The Lord of the Rings,' dies at 79

Bernard Hill arrives on the red carpet at a Leicester Square cinema for the Royal Performance of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on Dec. 12, 2012.

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Bernard Hill arrives on the red carpet at a Leicester Square cinema for the Royal Performance of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on Dec. 12, 2012.

Joel Ryan/Joel Ryan/Invision/AP

English actor Bernard Hill, best known for roles in Titanic and The Lord of the Rings, died on Sunday. He was 79.

Hill’s agent, Lou Coulson, confirmed his death to NPR. Coulson said Hill was with his fiance and son at the time.

Hill’s acting career spanned over 50 years both onscreen and on-stage. His latest role aired Sunday as the main character’s father in the BBC show The Responder.

Lindsay Salt, the director of BBC drama, described Hill as a one-of-a-kind actor.

“His long-lasting career filled with iconic and remarkable roles is a testament to his incredible talent,” Salt said in a statement.

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One of Hill’s most memorable performances was in the 1997 Oscar-winning film Titanic. Playing Captain Edward John Smith, Hill showcased a chilling combination of shock and guilt as water gushed into the ship’s wheelhouse.

In The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Hill showed his versatility as King Théoden of Rohan. In one scene, Hill’s character is weak and decrepit. In another, he is leading a cavalry charge with the iconic words “Arise! Arise! Riders of Théoden!”

Hill, a native of Manchester, England, was also praised for his role as Yosser Hughes in Boys from the Blackstuff, a British show about a group of men navigating Liverpool during a time of high unemployment and a struggling economy.

Over the decades, Hill received several nominations and awards for his performances, including an award from the Screen Actors Guild for his role in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.