If you’re looking for living proof
that chutzpah can triumph over everything, meet Myra Chanin.
But you may have already met this unfettered femme fatale via her
many TV and radio interviews, in her books or on her video.
Chanin has been described as a cross between Julia Child and Woody
Allen, or the result of an illicit alliance between Sam Levinson and Joan
Rivers, “unfortunately, not by any of them,” she quickly adds..
Her
very funny first book, was a hilarious expose of those scarlet days when
middle-aged Myra set out to turn her husband, that long-suffering saint
Alvin, into Rhett Butler, a task, which by her own admission, was only
slightly less difficult than emptying the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific
Ocean with only the aid of sieve.
Or you may have been exposed to Myra
Chanin’s wicked ways with cheesecake, from whence sprang the name
Mother Wonderful, the nom de spoon under which this witty woman got
her piece of the pie by selling desserts to restaurants at the inception
of Philadelphia’s Culinary Renaissance. Her baking legerdemain led to an
even more popular book, which was published first by Bantam in 1984 and
then re-issued by Henry Holt in 1992 and is now in its third incarnation
as published last year by St. Martin’s
Press. Or
you may have encountered
in which Myra’s late mother, the formidable Sylvia Daskell, shares her
secrets to making a perfect pot of Jewish Penicillin.
The illustrated step-by-step process exposes the requirements for
making a perfect bowl of Golden Broth, which can only be created when the
cook manages to put a kosher butcher into a minor depression and totally
destroy her daughter’s plans for the day. The pictures alone will make
you want to eat up the resulting recipes, and will also split your sides
with laughter.
Myra has also starred in a Jewish
Cooking video and
has appeared on The Food Network. She has also been a regular guest on
Hour Magazine with Gary Collins and on Public TV’s The Flavors of
America, hosted by Jim Coleman. Her culinary and lifestyle commentaries
were carried for several years on 155 NPR stations via a national radio magazine of the
arts.
She’s
developed quite a national following thanks to being heard 3-4 nights each
week in over 100 markets on WOR-AM’s Joey Reynolds Show broadcast from
New York City. She’s Joey’s resident yenta.
In
her spare time, Myra reviews restaurants and writes about humor, travel
and food for Inside Magazine, The Jewish Exponent, Philadelphia Style and
anyone else who calls. Anyone who hears her speak says, “Wonderful!
Wonderful!” after an evening or afternoon with this charming, wise and
lighthearted Lady of the Ladle.
usive
Proof that the Acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree!
