Edward Lee & Connie Simpson at the Graduate Hotel

Edward Lee with Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef's Journey

Join us at The Graduate rooftop for a special Thacker Mountain Radio pop-up when James Beard Award-nominated chef Edward Lee, author of the highly praised Smoke & Pickles, tells the story of a new American culinary landscape in 16 personal and thought-provoking narratives and 40 recipes. Connie Simpson will also make an appearance on the show for her new book The Nanny Connie Way. Visit Thacker Mountain Radio's website for more information about the special pop-up show.

American food is the story of mash-ups. Immigrants arrive, cultures collide, and out of the push-pull come exciting new dishes and flavors. But for Edward Lee, who, like Anthony Bourdain or Gabrielle Hamilton, is as much a writer as he is a chef, that first surprising bite is just the beginning. What about the people behind the food? What about the traditions, the innovations, the memories?

A natural-born storyteller, Lee decided to hit the road and spent two years uncovering fascinating narratives from every corner of the country. There’s a Cambodian couple in Lowell, Massachusetts, and their efforts to re-create the flavors of their lost country. A Uyghur café in New York’s Brighton Beach serves a noodle soup that seems so very familiar and yet so very exotic—one unexpected ingredient opens a window onto an entirely unique culture. A beignet from Café du Monde in New Orleans, as potent as Proust’s madeleine, inspires a narrative that tunnels through time, back to the first Creole cooks, then forward to a Korean rice-flour hoedduck and a beignet dusted with matcha.

Sixteen adventures, sixteen vibrant new chapters in the great evolving story of American cuisine. And forty recipes, created by Lee, that bring these new dishes into our own kitchens.

About the Author
Edward Lee is the author of Smoke & Pickles; chef/owner of 610 Magnolia, MilkWood, and Whiskey Dry in Louisville, Kentucky; and culinary director of Succotash in National Harbor, Maryland, and Penn Quarter, Washington, DC. He appears frequently in print and on television, including earning an Emmy nomination for his role in the Emmy Award-winning series The Mind of a Chef. Most recently, he wrote and hosted the feature documentary Fermented. He lives in Louisville and Washington, DC.

Connie Simpson with The Nanny Connie Way

From the beloved nanny to stars like Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake, Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, and Cash Warren and Jessica Alba comes a loving yet no-nonsense guide to the first four months of parenthood so you can raise a happy baby—and be happy parents.

There is nothing like the overwhelming love of gazing upon your beautiful newborn, but there is really nothing like the overwhelming terror of not being able to comfort that screaming baby.

Have no fear! Nanny Connie is here with all the solutions you need for every baby-care dilemma from comforting a colicky infant to trying to breastfeed in public. Her sweet and sassy drawl seeps right out of these pages, reassuring you that everything will be fine, as she guides you with her God-given wisdom, larger-than-life compassion, and three decades worth of experience and patience.

Connie, “quite simply one of the greatest humans on this planet” (Emily Blunt) and a mother herself, comes from many generations of strong women with loads of experience in mothering, midwifery, and Southern values. Broken into three easy-to-follow sections (pre-baby arrangements, that immediate post-birth glow, and the first four months of the rest of your life), The Nanny Connie Way is your go-to, first-time-parent-proof baby manual that will give you not only the guidance you crave, but also the confidence to be the best parent you can be.

Connie tackles everything from:
- Breastfeeding Do and Don’ts
- The Power of the Pacifier
- Bath Time With Baby
- The Nighttime Sleep Ritual
- Managing New Mommy Stress

Connie won’t just get you through the sleepless nights and the explosive diapers—she’s going to make you thrive.

About the Author
Connie Simpson is a proud product of the Deep South, where she learned the importance of manners, wisdom, compassion, love, and patience in abundance. These values have made her one of the most in-demand baby nurses and a trusted family member to many Hollywood celebrities, including Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake, Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, and most recently Amal and George Clooney.