Interview Today w/Mark Concannon on Fox 6 Wake-Up News; Snow Strategy is to Panic & Reschedule David Wagner's American Wildlife Art

This morning I was on Fox 6's Wake Up News, talking to Mark Concannon about some holiday ideas. Here's what I recommended:

1. Little Bee, by Chris Cleave (shocker!)

2. Ad Hoc at Home, by Thomas Keller

3. The Captain Frederick Pabst Mansion, by John C. Eastberg (reminder, our event is on Wednesday, December 16th, 7 PM)

4. Otis, by Loren Long

5. Raymond Carver, by Carol Sklenicka

A big thank you to Mark and WITI for having me on, particularly on a day when everyone is glued to their TV sets for updates on the big storm. Maybe some folks out there will get some ideas. And yes, the implication is that we have copies of Ad Hoc at Home; I know that many stores have sold out. If you got here by search engine, our phone number is (414) 332-1181. You can order on our web site, but you must "hold for pickup" and we will call you back to get your credit card number.

I should have had this totally set up. My apologies.

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Speaking of big storms, ours is predicted for late today and tomorrow. We'll probably stay open until the customers disappear, and we're planning to open a bit late tomorrow, around 11 AM. (Editor's Note: Milwaukee got slush, snow was further north and west. We'll probably open regular hours).

We're rescheduling our event for David Wagner's American Wildlife Art for next Monday, December 14th, at 7 PM. Read more about David's book here. (Editor's note: we did get a handful of people, all of whom were local and were happy to come back next Monday...I hope).

Meanwhile, we're probably a bit bored. Give us a call at (414) 332-1181 or use our general order email address at info@boswellbooks.com. You can also always email me at daniel@boswellbooks.com.

Yesterday I got an email back from Pat, who was a bit shocked that I replied to a note she sent me about my appearance on Susan Stamberg's book segment on NPR's Morning Edition. The only stops me from replying to all real (that is, all those that don't promise me a million dollars) emails is my disorganization.

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A big apology to Carol S., with whom I missed having coffee. In my panic, I showed up at Fox yesterday (!), having mixed up the two appointments. It had to happen eventually, and I'm shocked it's not more often. Anyway, thank you for understanding, particularly because it had to do with a service gaffe on our part. This turn of events doesn't exactly make things better.

Bocuse d'Or Competition on "Top Chef" is the Perfect Opportunity to Discuss the New Book Knives at Dawn.

Do you watch "Top Chef" regularly? I've been a bit bored this season because it seemed obvious by the 2nd episode who the top four would be. And only one tie-in challenge to the new Top Chef Quickfire Cookbook? Don't they want to sell books? I certainly heard more about the Glad family of products.

But I'd been holding out for last week's episode. It was the competition where they held a mini Bocuse d'Or. I've been waiting for the episode all season, as it was mentioned in the new book, Knives at Dawn: America's Quest for Culinary Glory at the Legendary Bocuse D'Or Competion, by Andrew Friedman.

The Bocuse d'Or is an international culinary competition where chefs representing countries battle it out to see who can do the best job creating two specialized platters, one of meat and the other of fish. The terms of the competition are very French, which may be the reason why the French do well every year. On the other hand, the French don't compete in the International Culinary Olympics, because one year they did very poorly. Or so I'm told. Seems like sour crepes to me.

So last year, the Americans made a concerted attempt to do better, recruiting Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud to the board. This is the story of that year of training, filled with insider stories, gossip, strategies. It's foodie porn to the max. Of course, if you heard about the competition (or perhaps saw it on cable), you already know how it turned out, but half the fun is getting there.

I won't spoil last week's "Top Chef" episode, where the prize included a place at the 2010 competition tryouts. (Reading this book, I learned that season 3 winner Hong tried out in 2009.) But I will say that the results were far from the elaborate platters described in the Knives at Dawn.

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Speaking of Keller, to my knowledge, there are still tickets available to the hors d'oeuvres reception at Lake Park Bistro on Wednesday, December 2nd, at 4:30. Tickets are $85 and include a copy of the book. Call (414) 962-6300. The dinner at Bacchus is sold out, alas. It's also not too late to get a copy of the $50 Ad Hoc at Home signed by the chef/author--for that you contact us at (414) 332-1181. I don't think Keller will sign Knives at Dawn, though fans of his will certainly enjoy reading it. On second thought, who knows?