July 24

July 24, 2020: SYBILLE VAN KEMPEN

THE BRIDGEHAMPTON INN LOOK + COOK BOOK

The Bridgehampton Inn Look + Cook Book contains everything you need to amaze and delight your guests at your next, perfect party. Featuring Chef Brian’s modern approach to preparing delicious, simple small and large plates, its beautiful action photography of food and cocktails will capture your attention and beg you to make each creation your own. Additionally, Kyle’s delightful original cocktails will raise the spirit of your inner mixologist..

Originally built in 1795 as The Boxwood Inn, the Bridgehampton Inn & Restaurant stands stoically as a cornerstone in the foundation of life in Bridgehampton. Bridgehampton itself pulls its name from the 17th century bridge built across Sagg Pond, connecting the Native American territory of Mecox with the colonial settled Sagaponack. Likened to the metaphor, the Inn hopes to draw bridges between many elements: traditional and contemporary, refinement and relaxation, sophistication and subtlety.

“I was never a fan of complicated wordy recipes; a good recipe can be simply written or stated.” — Chef Brian Szostak

The Bridgehampton Inn is owned and operated by Sybille van Kempen; it was started as a collaboration in 1994 between Sybille and her mother, Anna Pump of the Hamptons-revered Loaves & Fishes Foodstore. The fine dining restaurant, opened in 2014, has transformed this space into the newly renamed Bridgehampton Inn & Restaurant, and continues to celebrate the Loaves & Fishes Family tradition, originally inspired over three decades ago by Anna and her passion for fine foods.

July 31

July 31, 2020: TOM PHILPOTT

PERILOUS BOUNTY: THE LOOMING COLLAPSE OF AMERICAN FARMING AND HOW WE CAN PREVENT IT

An unsettling journey into the United States' disaster-bound food system, and an exploration of possible solutions, from leading food politics commentator and farmer-turned-journalist Tom Philpott.

More than a decade after Michael Pollan's game-changing The Omnivore's Dilemma transformed the conversation about what we eat, a combination of global diet trends and corporate interests have put American agriculture into a state of "quiet emergency," from dangerous drought in California--which grows more than fifty percent of the fruits and vegetables we eat--to catastrophic topsoil loss in the "breadbasket" heartland of the United States. Whether or not we take heed, these urgent crises of industrial agriculture will define our future.

In Perilous Bounty, veteran journalist and former farmer Tom Philpott explores and exposes the small handful of seed and pesticide corporations, investment funds, and magnates who benefit from the trends that imperil us, with on-the-ground dispatches featuring the scientists documenting the damage and the farmers and activists who are valiantly and inventively pushing back.

Resource scarcity looms on the horizon, but rather than pointing us toward an inevitable doomsday, Philpott shows how the entire wayward ship of American agriculture could be routed away from its path to disaster. He profiles the farmers and communities in the nation's two key growing regions developing resilient, soil-building, water-smart farming practices, and readying for the climate shocks that are already upon us; and he explains how we can help move these methods from the margins to the mainstream.

Tom Philpott is the food and agriculture correspondent for Mother Jones, where he writes the "Food for Thought" blog online, and contributes features and editorials to the bi-monthly print magazine. Philpott has worked as a professional journalist for over twenty years, and is currently based in North Carolina and Austin, Texas.

Philpott joined Mother Jones in 2011, where he writes the regular "Food For Thought" blog as well as continuing his recipe column (Tom's Kitchen) and contributing to the bi-monthly magazine.

Maverick Farms, a small organic vegetable farm and center for sustainable food education in North Carolina that was co-founded by Philpott in 2004, has been featured in Gourmet and The New York Times, and in September 2008, Food & Wine named Philpott one of "ten innovators" who "will continue to shape the culinary consciousness of our country for the next 30 years." In 2011, Utne Reader named him one of "25 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World."

August 7

August 7, 2020: ALAFAIR BURKE

THE BETTER SISTER

Best Book of the Year: Washington Post, Sun Sentinel.

From Alafair Burke—New York Times bestselling author of the runaway hit, The Wife— comes another twisty tale of domestic noir. When a prominent Manhattan lawyer is murdered, two estranged sisters—one the dead man’s widow, the other his ex—must set aside mistrust and old resentments ... but can they escape their past? Keep your enemies close and your sister closer.

Though Chloe was the younger of the two Taylor sisters, she always seemed to be the one in charge. She was the honor roll student with big dreams and an even bigger work ethic. Nicky—always restless and more than a little reckless—was the opposite of her ambitious little sister. She floated from job to job and man to man, and stayed close to home in Cleveland.

For a while, it seemed that both sisters had found happiness. Chloe earned a scholarship to an Ivy League school and moved to New York City, where she landed a coveted publishing job. Nicky married promising young attorney Adam Macintosh and gave birth to a baby boy they named Ethan. The Taylor sisters became virtual strangers.

Now, more than fifteen years later, their lives are drastically different—and Chloe is married to Adam. When he’s murdered by an intruder at the couple’s East Hampton beach house, Chloe reluctantly allows her teenage stepson’s biological mother—her estranged sister, Nicky—back into her life. But when the police begin to treat Ethan as a suspect in his father’s death, the two sisters are forced to unite . . . and to confront the truth behind family secrets they have tried to bury in the past.

ALAFAIR BURKE is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of eighteen novels.

Her most recent domestic thriller, THE BETTER SISTER, has been praised as "twisty" (BookBub), "mesmerizing" (Publishers Weekly), "fast-moving" (Library Journal), and "a non-stop thriller fest" (Suspense Magazine). Her previous novel, THE WIFE, was selected as a best-of-the-month pick by Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Entertainment Weekly, O (Oprah Magazine), and others. It is being adapted as a feature film, with Alafair writing the screenplay.

Her 2016 novel, THE EX, was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Novel. In addition to the standalone novels that have earned her a reputation as "a genius for plot" (Oprah Magazine) and "a virtuoso" of domestic suspense (Minneapolis Star Tribune), she authors "two power house series" (Sun-Sentinel) featuring NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher and Portland Deputy District Attorney Samantha Kincaid. Alafair is also the co-author of the "Under Suspicion" series with Queen of Suspense Mary Higgins Clark.

Alafair's novels grow out of her experience as a prosecutor in America's police precincts and criminal courtrooms, and have been featured by The Today Show, People Magazine, The New York Times, O Magazine, MSNBC, The Washington Post, USA Today, and The Chicago Sun-Times.