Big D Reads 2014 may have finally wrapped up its month-long programming over the weekend, but I’m glad to report that you still have a couple of book-related options available to you this evening.
Award-winning chef and southwestern cuisine specialist Dean Fearing will be at Barnes & Noble Lincoln Park tonight, signing copies of The Texas Food Bible: From Legendary Dishes to New Classics. That would be the celebrity chef’s new cookbook, which is seeing its release today. While I am all for any book with a recipe for Parker County fried peach pie (complete with a drizzled glaze composed of confectioners’ sugar and milk, heaven help me), I found one thing odd about the introduction. The Texas Food Bible’s Genesis begins with this puzzling opening line:
I bet that you didn’t know that the word Texas comes for the Native American word tejas, which means “those who are friends.”
Who among us doesn’t know that? I’m just going to assume that perhaps that line is meant for a potentially global audience, but it’s safe to say that’s fairly common knowledge, at least regionally. Fearing signs off with boot-and-Stetson references, thus piling on the Texas-related clichés, but I’m going to let both of these missteps slide for one reason: He makes clear that Texas chili is to never include tomatoes or beans. I was recently aghast at a contraband-tainted dish that was offered as a special at a Plano restaurant that shall remain nameless. An establishment should at least post a warning if they’re going to serve such a nontraditional mess, and thanks for clearing that up, Mr. Fearing. The book-signing is at 7 pm and you can find more details here.
Tonight’s edition of the DMA’s Arts and Letters Live series features a very different and less appetizing subject—The Dust Bowl. Timothy Egan is author of The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, which won a National Book Award. Egan was also a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for The New York Times, where he still contributes as a columnist, so expect him to give a contemporary perspective on that tragic epoch.
Finally, I have some bad news if you were hoping to see tonight’s Foster the People show at South Side Ballroom: It’s sold out. You’re going to miss out on hearing selections from their newest record, Supermodel, which apparently is a commentary on the plight of capitalism. That’s a well-treaded topic for platinum selling acts, and who better to preach about the fleeting nature of commerce more than a band dangerously flirting with one-hit wonder status?
For more things to do in Dallas tonight, go here.
