After losing her beloved partner, Jim, writer and home cook Ella Risbridger (who chronicled some of their relationship in Midnight Chicken) found herself in a tailspin. Soon after she moved into a new flat with her friend Jo, the Covid-19 pandemic sent London and the world into lockdown. In her second memoir-cum-cookbook, The Year of Miracles, Risbridger recounts a year of cooking and community, and how both provided healing in a time of great internal and external strain.
In these essays and recipes, Risbridger rambles in slightly sideways and usually charming fashion. The narrative begins in winter, with a chicken carcass (being picked over at 4 a.m., naturally), then takeaway and "Leftovers Pie." As Jo and Ella settle into their new flat, Ella shares glimpses of (and sometimes recipes for) their more robust favorites, such as cardamom buns from the café she loves; eggs half a dozen ways (Turkish, Welsh, an omelet involving salt and vinegar crisps); and various soups both nourishing and comforting. Readers meet Mitski, the next-door cat who isn't theirs but comes over for scraps; various other friends in and out of London who help Jo and Ella stay sane; and Jim, often conspicuous by his absence but a presence just the same.
Watercolor illustrations bring the recipes to life, contributing to the book's slightly dreamy feel. Risbridger's recipes, both in form and content, swing between simple and fiddly, though all are within reach of dedicated home cooks. While metric measurements may confuse American readers, Risbridger gives plenty of hints and helpful tips, making the narrative sound even more like standing in a kitchen with a chatty friend. As the days grow longer, she and Jo spend more time in their garden, and the recipes--including multiple ways to use up so much zucchini--reflect summer's bounty and fall's heartier flavors. Ella's friends contribute recipes, too, including a bean fennel bake and decadent peanut butter brownies.
Risbridger writes sensitively about grief: how it hits at odd times, like going to the new corner shop or deciding to make a favorite recipe, or, conversely, making (or ordering) food that Jim would have hated. She navigates her loss honestly, relying on community in every form: long walks, phone calls while she prepares dinner, feasts in the garden, leftovers with Jo around their table. The book is a tribute, as Risbridger says, to "cooking, and the people who love you: the two greatest and most practical miracles of all." --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams
Shelf Talker: Ella Risbridger chronicles a year of cooking and community amid grief and the first Covid-19 lockdown in London.