Tag Archives: Ann Patchett

Chef Syndy Sweeney to share delicious baking tips at Wyoming KDL event March 26

Black Forest Crepe (Courtesy, Syndy Sweeney)


By Deborah Reed

WKTV Managing Editor

deborah@wktv.org


Chef Sweeney finds meaning in cooking (Courtesy, Sweeney)

Chef Syndy Sweeney of T. Rex & the Rabbit Foods will be at the Wyoming branch of Kent District Library (KDL) on Tuesday, March 26 to share her love of food and cooking with local residents.

For Sweeney, cooking is about more than just food. It’s about connection and comfort.

“For me, food has always been love,” said Sweeney. “My mom started teaching me when I was about four, and food was always something that I did for comfort and for connection.”

Combining books and cherries

At the Baking with Michigan Cherries KDL event, Sweeney will share the many ways to create delicious baked goods using Michigan’s seasonal cherry bounty.

The event is being held in conjunction with KDL’s On the Same Page community-wide reading initiative featuring the novel Tom Lake by best-selling novelist Ann Patchett. Patchett’s novel is centered around Michigan’s Traverse City cherry orchards.

“I read the book and have developed a lecture where we’re going to cover basic baking tips with regular flour and gluten-free flour, and incorporate as many different cherry products as possible,” said Sweeney.

Attendees will learn common-sense tips to successful baking, as well as favorite components, ingredients and baking equipment/utensils.

Sweeney encourages participation and questions during her demonstrations.

“I want people to feel engaged,” said Sweeney. “I want people to feel comfortable touching the dough and smelling the ingredients that I am using in my demonstration.”

Dinosaurs and rabbits

As a personal chef, Sweeney offers catering services for small events, meal prep, and several options for cooking classes through various community programs.

“Where you need a chef, I go,” Sweeney said. “I don’t have a restaurant, and I don’t have a storefront. But I have a lot of equipment, and a car and a cart. And muscles,” Sweeney added with a laugh.

Though Sweeney has been a vegetarian for over thirty years, her parents and her husband eat meat.

“I was always making substitutions,” said Sweeney. “I would make two versions of the same thing but with different proteins.”

(Courtesy, Syndy Sweeney)


T. Rex & the Rabbit Foods is a fitting name for Sweeney’s business due to the chef’s refusal to restrict herself to one practice of cooking. Whether vegetarian, a meat lover, vegan, kosher, gluten-free, halal, or dealing with food allergies, Sweeney is onboard.

“I don’t like when food is politicized,” said Sweeney. “I cook for everybody.”

Though Sweeney loved cooking, she doubted she would be able to make a living as a personal chef. However, Sweeney has been amazed at how her desire to help people connect through food has expanded into the successful business it is today.

“It’s been a lot of work, a lot of talking to people, testing recipes, and just word of mouth and hustling,” said Sweeney. “It’s a lot of fun, and it’s been very challenging and humbling at times.”

Sweeney enjoys the teaching aspect of her job, using her skills to highlight the ways food connects people rather than dividing them. That sense of community is something she strives for in each of her lectures and classes.

Registration and information links for a variety of fun upcoming events!

(Courtesy photo)

For more information about Sweeney’s Baking with Michigan Cherries KDL event, click here.

To register for Sweeney’s Cherries on Top hands-on cooking workshop at Kentwood Parks & Rec, click here.

Many of Sweeney’s cooking classes can be found at the Kentwood Parks & Recreation and Forest Hills Community Services websites.

KDL branches are hosting various events centered around the novel Tom Lake in preparation for author Ann Patchett’s April 24 visit to Covenant Fine Arts Center at Calvin University. Details for this event can be found here.

Community reading initiative, “On the Same Page,” announced by Kent District Library

(Courtesy, KDL)

By WKTV Staff

deborah@wktv.org

Kent District Library (KDL) is encouraging adults to get “On the Same Page” with reading. KDL is introducing a new initiative to bring people together around one book, Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. 

“At KDL, we love reading and we love people, and On the Same Page will bring two of our favorite things together,” said Hennie Vaandrager, Programming and Outreach Manager at KDL. “Many people feel lonely, and this program is designed to provide connection and enjoyment.”

On the Same Page will include numerous events around Kent County. There will be book discussions, programs featuring themes in the book, and a Meet the Author event at 6:30 PM on Wednesday, April 24 at the Covenant Fine Arts Center at Calvin University.

The author event will also feature special guest Kevin Wilson, author of Now is Not the Time to Panic.

Free registration for the Author Event will be required and will open on March 15. To sign up for updates and reminders, visit kdl.org/samepage.

Compelling storytelling and rich characters

Ann Patchett is a celebrated American author. Known for her compelling storytelling and rich character development, Patchett has received critical acclaim for novels such as Bel Canto and Commonwealth. With numerous literary awards and a reputation for thought-provoking narratives, she has made a significant impact on contemporary fiction.

Tom Lake has been described as both “quiet and reassuring” (New York Times) and “poignant and reflective” (Kirkus Reviews). It is a beautiful and moving novel about family, love and growing up that takes place on a cherry farm in Traverse City, MI during 2020.

How you can read Tom Lake

Because Tom Lake is now the book that everyone is reading, KDL has purchased many copies to keep the hold times as short as possible.

KDL has 670 regular print copies, 50 large print, 76 eBooks and 61 audiobooks in its collection. Tom Lake and Now is Not the Time to Panic are also available through KDL’s Talking Book and Braille Center in both audio and Braille formats.

On the Same Page participants should also sign up for KDL’s Let It Snow Winter Reading Club, which runs from Dec. 1 – Feb. 29.

(Courtesy, KDL)

Adults and teens (grades 6 and up) who read six books in various categories will receive a collectible mug. One of the categories is “Ann Patchett Title.” Those who read an additional four books will be entered to win a Kindle Scribe. Learn more at kdl.org/snow.

On the Same Page is offered in partnership with Calvin University’s January Series. To learn more, visit kdl.org/samepage.

On the shelf: ‘The Patron Saint of Liars’ by Ann Patchett

By  Laura Nawrot, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch

 

This story, told from three different perspectives through the voices of Rose, Son, and Sissy, asks as many questions of the reader as it answers. Is Rose running from her destiny, or to it? If you were in Sissy’s shoes, (or Rose’s or Son’s), would you make the same choices? Is there a path that each individual is designed to follow? Do we forge our life’s path through free will alone or by the choices we make? Or is it some combination of both?

 

Rose, a devout Catholic girl, believes that her two life choices in the mid-sixties are to become a wife or a nun, and that God will provide her with a sign at the appropriate time. It is immediately apparent that Rose believes she misunderstood the sign, for the story opens with Rose driving across the country, alone, three years into a marriage she entered at age nineteen. The narrative quickly unfolds, and the questions rise through Ann Patchett’s wonderful writing. She paints her characters with such depth and compassion that they become a part of the reader, and the reader truly shares their world. Patchett’s portraits and her vivid description work together to make this a book to read more than once.

 

The Patron Saint of Liars is Ann Patchett’s first novel and was made into a television movie in 1998. She has since written several more novels and most recently a work of non-fiction, Truth & Beauty, about women and friendships that endure beyond a lifetime.