Ridge bookshop to welcome “The Chew” co-host Daphne Oz

Daphne Oz, the Emmy-award winning co-host of ABC television’s “The Chew” will be appearing at the BookMark Shoppe, 8415 Third Avenue, on Thursday, September 22, at 7 p.m.

Oz will be meeting readers and signing copies of her new book, The Happy Cook: 125 Recipes for Eating Every Day Like it’s the Weekend (William Morrow Cookbooks, $32.50) during her visit to the Ridge shop.

Amply illustrated, the book offers recipes that are as easy on the cook as they are appealing to diners. The goal, as Oz tells it in the volume’s introduction, is “to take the healthy essentials – fresh fruits and veggies, lean proteins, a selection of grains and beans and seeds – and flavor them with just enough of the decadent indulgences we all crave to make them crave-worthy in themselves. This is how I eat healthy—but even more, it’s how I eat happy.”

The book’s easy-going photos reinforce the message. The introduction to the breakfast and brunch chapter, for example, shows a crumpled cloth napkin, a drained coffee cup set atop a marble slab, coffee ring and all, a plate with just the crumbs remaining, a breakfast-stained newspaper.

But, it’s not for the pictures that one buys a cookbook. It’s for the recipes – and these speak to the busy cook who yet wants to put a satisfying and nutritious meal on the table for his or her family.

Among the ones I found appealing in my first perusal of the volume are the Thai Nicoise Salad, Harissa and Mint Chicken Samosas and Cashew Soba Noodles with Fried Shallots. They were well-organized, accessible (with easy-to-follow instructions and easy-to-find ingredients) and by and large realistic, given the hectic lives that most of us lead these days.

The whole goal is to make cooking as much fun as eating – which is really a first step in getting takeout-obsessed New Yorkers to put down their cellphones and pick up a spatula.

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