I just finished reading “Two for the Road,” by Jane and Michael Stern. I had never heard of this husband and wife writing team until I began researching for the “Mrs. Rowe Restaurant Cookbook: A Lifetime of Recipes from the Shenandoah Valley.” I am ashamed to admit that, but it’s true. To tell you the absolute truth, I was not much of a food reader or writer until this book came along for me. Now, I am passionate about food literature and Jane and Michael are at the top of my list. Their descriptions of food and restaurants and the people that run or work in them seem to me to be some of the most honest and real food writing today.
Michael Stern was helpful to me when I was writing the Mrs. Rowe book. (What can you say when a famous writer takes the time to read your manuscript? To write a foreword for it? Thank you doesn’t seem enough.) Jane was off writing her book “Ambulance Girl,” which will be a movie. I think I read somewhere that Kathy Bates will be starring in it.
This writing duo fascinates me. Not only are they wonderful writers, but they WORK together. How does that happen? They don’t really get into their writing methods in this book. But, in true Stern fashion, they tell you their road story. For a good, fun read, you really need to pick up this book. I found myself giggling until I nearly wet myself. I laughed so hard as I was trying to share “the prison story” with my husband that I almost could form the words in my mouth.
