My sisters

by Theodore Eisenman

When I think back to our childhood home, some of my strongest memories are Lisa and Monica's song and dance performances after a family dinner with guests. Neither of them is -- to put it mildly -- a particularly gifted singer or actor. The true entertainment value of their impromptu living room shows, was the rosy-cheeked exuberance and hilarious interaction of these two cuckoo sisters.

It is this same creative energy and sibling chemistry that has led to Lisa and Monica’s rare brand of culinary alchemy, forged by two principal elements: a passion for travel and food handed down from our Swedish mother; and a childhood diet that included fresh-picked sweet corn and cantaloupe from our backyard garden in Maryland, pungent "injira-wot" from two years living in Ethiopia, and juniper-smoked herring from our family's summer cottage north of Stockholm.

My sisters' sweet tooth, on the other hand, comes from our American father, who spent boyhood summers grazing on snow cones and cotton candy in Coney Island. This diverse range of cultural influences has resulted in a gastronomic palate characterized by an irreverent yet graceful fusion of the classic and the unconventional. Tart arctic lingon berries cut through chévre-cheesecake, and lapsang tea ice cream melts over warm cloudberry compôte. . .

This is just a sampling of the many delicacies Lisa and Monica concocted during the years they ran The Cookbook Café, 2000 – 2007. Through the café they actualized their dream of creating a gathering place for everyone who loves to cook good food, read about good food, and eat good food. With Sweden’s largest selections of cookbooks, their combined bookstore and café served its customers scrumptious daily dishes taken from the bookshelves lining the café for the better part of a decade.

Over the seven years they ran the café, Lisa and Monica cultivated a devoted clientele of like-minded food lovers who contributed not only to the success of the Café, but likewise, to the contents of their cookbooks. Seated in the cozy café sofas, the guests would exchange culinary tips and recommendations. And more than anything else, those devoted customers contributed to their bestselling books, Two Sisters’ Sweets (2005), Soups, Breads and Spreads (2006), Winter Sweets (2007), as well as the upcoming Summer Sweets (2009) by endless and enthusiastic sampling of recipes.

My sisters continue to express their genuine love for food and their desire to share their passion with others by pursuing new culinary adventures, through their cookbooks and other exciting projects. Personally I can´t wait to see what they come up with next!