Adventures of a Terribly Greedy Girl

by Kay Plunkett-Hogge

Candid, relatable, confessional, and opinionated, you won't be able to put down this intriguing tome.

Adventures of A Terribly Greedy Girl includes 25 pivotal recipes that Kay has discovered along the way, including Ivy on the Shore Salad, Salty-sweet Peanut Cookies, and Thai Gravadlax.

Imagine Adventures of A Terribly Greedy Girl as a book written by the illegitimate child of Nora Ephron and Laurie Colwin, dusted with a little Eastern promise. It's a celebration of a tumbling through life, of mistakes, and opportunities laid bare. Joyful, witty, and occasionally indiscreet, this is a book that stares at menopause with a gin in hand and looks back at a life entirely unplanned.

Genres: Food, Nonfiction, Food Writing, Cookbooks

224 pages, Hardcover

Published March 7, 2017

Reviews

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's well put together and looks great.
I enjoyed the anecdotes, followed by a recipe related to the anecdote.
It was funny, sassy, clever, and witty.
Top marks indeed.

[Lizzie · Rating 5 out of 5]

An easy and entertaining read. Makes you feel very hungry!

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you ever get a chance to go to a reading or anything that Kay is doing, jump at the chance. She is so funny and clever and this book is just like her. Although oddly, she mentions being short and rounded a couple of times but my mental image of her from a talk I attended is tall and svelte.

I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but several of them sound wonderful.

[Niamh · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Roast chicken reminds me of why we're alive. And that, my friends, is comfort food.'

This is a collection of food-based essays with a little memoir thrown into it as Plunkett-Hogge takes us on a culinary tour of her extensive life. Written with the driest wit (that can only be served with an equally dry martini), she is everything that I want to be as a person: confident, intelligent, charming - and a genius when it comes to food writing. Each page drips with different tastes, whether coming from her upbringing in Thailand or the dishes she's collected whilst living on both coasts of the USA or back here in England.

While I didn't enjoy every single essay, there was one that stuck out to me the most and struck a profound chord in me. Discussing comfort food, Plunket-Hogge describes how a roasted chicken is her version of comfort because it's the kind of thing that makes you feel safe. It's where the quote above has been taken from. Every word written in that essay resonated with me - and I've never quite had that before with food writing. Perhaps with Ruby Tandoh's work. But this was something uniquely wonderful.

I hope that she writes more collections like this, because her sparkling prose is enough to make you feel sophisticated as all hell. Even if you're reading it in your pyjamas and drinking a £3 bottle of wine that tastes like gasoline.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great fun! Absolutely hilarious, and easy to read as it is broken up into fairly small chunks, interspersed with varied recipes.
I think the author would make a fabulous dinner guest, except she wouldn’t find my food spicy enough.

[Schopflin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolute pleasure-read - hugely enjoyable. Brilliantly evokes such different worlds as New York fashion world, ex-pat Bangkok and fish and chips at the Kent seaside.

[Leonie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sharply entertaining autobiography with recipes. Not enough text though...

[Cathy Pearson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read & interesting recipes!

[Nikki Millington · Rating 4 out of 5]

A witty charming book of delights!

This is not my normal reading material; this new kindle has given me a broader range of choice! It was a whim buy but I truly loved it. As a romantic foodie it appealed to me and I wasnt disappointed; happy, sad, reminiscent and full of laughter and good recipes, a lovely light hearted book to read.