Tracker Pixel for Entry

​Amy Thielen: book launch and reading

Writer's Block | June 7th, 2017

Last Thursday, Zandbroz Variety hosted a book launch and reading for Amy Thielen’s memoir “Give a Girl a Knife.” Though originally scheduled for May 25th, the event had to be rescheduled due to illness. Nonetheless, the turnout at Zandbroz was substantial, with pastry goods courtesy of Youngblood Coffee.

“Give a Girl a Knife” chronicles her journey as a chef, from her rural upbringing in Minnesota to the elite culinary world of New York, followed by her move back to Park Rapids in 2008. From September 2013 to April 2014, she hosted a Food Network show called Heartland Table. Currently she works as a public speaker for radio and television and a contributing editor for Saveur magazine.

When Thielen authored the cookbook “The New Midwestern Table: 200 Heartland Recipes” in 2013, early drafts contained personal narratives that had to be cut from the final product, since the recipes were the main focus. Thielen’s editor at Random House recommended that she write another book to provide a medium for these narratives.

“A memoir is really about a single story, one arc of a story,” Thielen said, “and to me, the biggest arc in the story of my life was coming home. So the book is really about homecoming, and it’s told through the lens of food, lots of food and lots of cooking.

“Basically it’s about ‘Where does my cooking obsession take me?’ It’s taken me a lot of crazy places and through a lot of kitchens.”

For example, when Thielen was in college, she and her artist husband moved into a house with no running water, where she had to maintain a garden and cook everything from scratch. Sometime after, they moved to what Thielen called “an illegal artist warehouse,” where she cooked on an electric stove that was hot-wired to the main circuitry.

In 1999, Thielen began attending cooking school in New York City, where she survived an intense six-week internship that solidified her standing as a chef.

“Up to that point, I didn’t really have a lot of motivation,” Thielen admitted. “I didn’t know what I was doing with my life. I was spending a lot of time out in the woods, reading books and writing and not really working. The minute I found cooking, I found my calling.”

Copies of “Give a Girl a Knife” are available at Zandbroz and on Amazon, both in print and as an e-book.

Recently in:

By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.com Ten North Dakota communities will participate in the nationwide No Kings Day of Peaceful Action on October 18. The grassroots movement is a nonviolent protest against President Trump’s…

By Kooper Shagenakoopershagena@gmail.com One night, Jane Linde Capistran, associate conductor of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra, sat and drank wine with her friends: “Jennifer Tackling, the associate concertmaster, and…

Friday, October 31, 5-9 p.m.Ziti’s Italian American Restaurant, 3150 Sheyenne St., Suite 170, West FargoSavor a delectable five course meal with beverage pairings. (Nonalcoholic beverages are available upon request, but must be…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com At the end of September, downtown Fargo said goodbye to another old friend; the Spirit Room closed its doors, marking the end of an era. The Spirit Room room has been a fixture downtown for the…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comWill we be banging or whimpering at the end of the American empire?T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Hollow Men” accurately portrays the end of most empires in his first lines: “We are the hollow men/…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…

By Rick Gion and Nichole Hensenrickgion@gmail.com The wait is finally over. Those who have visited Nichole’s Fine Pastry & Cafe lately know about the recent major additions and renovations that have taken place over the past…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Dakotah Faye is a hip-hop artist from Minot, North Dakota, and he’s had a busy year. He’s released two albums. This summer he opened for Tech N9ne in Sturgis and will be opening for Bone…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Dream-factory documentarian Alexandre O. Philippe connects with a Hollywood legend in “Kim Novak’s Vertigo,” the latest in a series of features exploring the filmmaker’s many…

By HPR staffsubmit@hpr1.com Mark the first weekend of October on your calendar. It’s the weekend of the Studio Crawl, which takes us all on a wonderful, metro-wide tour of our talented (and often wacky) arts community. On October…

Press release“Shakespeare with a sharpened edge.” To launch its 2025 – 2026 season, Theatre NDSU is thrilled to team up with Moorhead-based organization Theatre B to perform a co-production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…

By Ellie Liveranieli.liverani.ra@gmail.com When we are sick, all we want is a cure. You go to the doctor, they give you a pill, you take it for a bit, then you are cured. It happens. But unfortunately, it is not always the case. …

By Alicia Underlee NelsonProtests against President Trump’s policies and the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planned across North Dakota and western Minnesota Friday, April 4 and…

By Vern Thompsonvern.thompson@rocketmail.comMoral accountability and the crisis of leadership  As a recovering person living one day at a time for the last 35 years, I have learned not to judge others because I have not walked in…