This is the third Elm Creek Quilt novel intended especially for the holidays. The slender volume’s action takes place in one day as Anna, the new chef of Elm Creek Manor (first introduced in 2006’s Circle of Quilters), and matriarch Sylvia Compson pack up their outmoded kitchen so that a much-needed remodeling can take place. In the process, Anna learns about some of the past history of the manor and the Elm Creek Quilters. Soon she is planning a cookbook with recipes for welcoming banquets, quilting bees, picnics, potlucks, harvests, and farewell breakfasts, in addition to holiday recipes for National Quilting Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. As Anna says, “You can’t have a gathering of quilters without food.” The story is interspersed with 100 recipes contributed by Sally Sampson, a prolific author of well-received cookbooks. Anna and Sylvia also vow to use the scraps of a half-ruined tablecloth and a trove of almost-worn-out aprons to create a new patchwork quilt. Chiaverini is the author of nine full-length novels in this popular series and several volumes of quilt projects inspired by the novels. --Judy Coon
Product Description
Anna Del Maso had known that she wanted to be a chef since she was in the seventh grade. "Somehow everything in my life ends up being about food," she realizes, as she begins the latest of her food-themed quilts. Her twin passions have converged in a brand-new position as head chef for Elm Creek Quilts, Waterford, Pennsylvania's popular quilting retreat.
As she joins the circle of quilters at historic Elm Creek Manor, Anna is eager to preserve the manor's culinary heritage, dating to 1858, while also celebrating the new favorites of their many guests. Yet as Master Quilter Sylvia Bergstrom Compson well knows, the manor's kitchen, last updated in the 1940s, can't create food that compares to the state-of-the-art quilting instruction for which Elm Creek Quilts is renowned.
A full renovation of the kitchen must be completed by the start of the new camp season. Though the task is daunting, Anna is assured in her belief that "A kitchen is the heart of a home." As she and Sylvia begin to dismantle the old to make way for the new, Sylvia's reminiscences remind them both of just how many of the manor's traditions have involved food and celebrations. Whether the feast is one of the holiday menus prepared and enjoyed by generations of Bergstroms, or one of the Welcome Banquets and Farewell Breakfasts that have become hallmarks of Elm Creek Quilt Camp, there is a story for every recipe, and a recipe for every story.
The Quilter's Kitchen follows Anna's flavorful explorations of the kitchens of Elm Creek Manor, past and present. As she records beloved recipes and creates original dishes seasoned with love, she discovers anew how the gifts of the table gather friends and family ever closer.
