Pop-Up Book Spot: Author Q&A

My Table magazine is celebrating our 20th year of publishing as of the April-May edition that is now on coffee tables and newsstands. To mark the milestone, we’ve got a host of special offers, promotions and celebrations planned for the next 12 months. You can find a slew of them here. But we want to call extra-special attention to our first-ever Pop-Up Book Spot at this year’s Sugar Land Wine and Food Affair on Saturday, April 26.

My Table magazine’s mission is to cover Houston’s culinary diversity, from anticipated restaurant openings to successful pop-up kitchens, from traditional cookery to flash trends. Now the magazine has the chance to celebrate another component of Houston’s accomplished food scene — the city’s established cookbook and food book authors.

Our Pop-Up Book Spot author line-up will include Paul Galvani, Erin Hicks, Gracie Cavnar, Shubhra Ramineni, Efisio Farris, John Demers, Michael & David Cordua, Robb Walsh, Elizabeth Stone and Ken Hoffman, among many.

Here’s a quick Q&A with three of our participating authors.

Paul Galvani
Author of: Houston’s Top 100 Food Trucks
houstonstop100foodtrucks.com

What inspires you about the Houston food/restaurant/drinks world?
The immense ethnic diversity available to us.

When you’re not eating and writing about food, how do you spend your free time?
Cooking it.

“When there’s no one is around to call me out, my favorite naughty/junky food pleasure is…
… I don’t have one. I eat what I want when I want, no worries, no questions.” 

What’s always in your home fridge?
Rendered bacon fat.

What do you cook for pleasure?
Anything Italian.

Please describe your fitness routine.
What is that?

If you could order up your final meal, what would it include and where would you eat it?
Lobster, white asparagus and white truffle risotto on a desert island with just me, the executioner and a boat. 

Shubhra Ramineni
Author of: Entice with Spice and Healthy Indian Vegetarian Cooking
@ShubhraRamineni | enticewithspice.com

Who is the food writer you admire most?
Giada De Laurentiis

When you’re not eating and writing about food, how do you spend your free time?
Tending to my fruit, vegetable and flower garden.

“As a child, I wanted to be…
… a veterinarian.”

“When there’s no one is around to call me out, my favorite naughty/junky food pleasure is…
… a Coke with a chocolate chip cookie.”

What’s always in your home fridge?
Plain Greek yogurt

What do you cook for pleasure?
Homemade pizza

Please describe your fitness routine.
Walking around Rice University with my daughter in her jogging stroller.

If you could order up your final meal, what would it include and where would you eat it?
Queso with nacho chips, chicken fajitas, an ice-cold Coke and chocolate ice cream in an open-air oceanside restaurant in Mexico

Robb Walsh
Author of: Texas Eats, The Tex-Mex Cookbook, Sex, Death and Oysters and various others
@robbwalsh | robbwalsh.com

What inspires you about the Houston food/restaurant/drinks world?
The passion of the people who cook here.

Who is the food writer you admire most?
Calvin Trillin

When you’re not eating and writing about food, how do you spend your free time?
Hanging out with my family and playing golf.

“As a child, I wanted to be…
… a TV star.”

“When there’s no one is around to call me out, my favorite naughty/junky food pleasure is…
… Budweiser + Clamato cheladas.”

What’s always in your home fridge?
We have two. The family fridge is full of regular groceries, and the extra one in the laundry room contains beer, large cuts of meat, homemade pickles, hot sauces and cooking experiments in progress.

What do you cook for pleasure?
A big pot of red gravy with homegrown basil, oregano and spicy meatballs.

If you could order up your final meal, what would it include and where would you eat it?
Cheese enchiladas with a fried egg at El Real Tex-Mex.

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