“But what was the tattered black leather valise doing there, hidden behind a crocheted comforter on the top shelf of my late mother’s closet? The tarnished brass locking mechanism had already been sprung. I held my breath and lifted the lid…”

When award-winning author and Morocco-born chef Kitty Morse was sorting through her late mother’s belongings, she never could have imagined the astonishing story that would unfold from those long-forgotten objects. Now, in her new book – part Holocaust history, part memoir, part cookbook – Kitty delivers Bitter Sweet: A Wartime Journal and Heirloom Recipes from Occupied France, featuring recipes and the untold true accounts of her Alsatian ancestors during the Nazi occupation in WWII.

Join us at Kitty’s Moroccan-themed Vista home for the next in our Inside the Author’s Studio series, where you will have the opportunity to meet the author up close and personal to learn more about the remarkable story behind her new book, Bitter Sweet.

Your Adventure includes  a tasting of savory and sweet bites from her heirloom recipes, tea, a slide show of Kitty’s recent remarkable trip to France to visit the sites in her book, an autographed copy of Bitter Sweet: A Wartime Journal and Heirloom Recipes from Occupied France to be delivered and signed at the event, tax, book presentation, and the opportunity to engage with Kitty live and in-person.

Due to the special nature of this event, only a limited number of spaces are available and event is expected to sell out.

Registration

To register for the in-person event, simply select the Event Registration (8/27/23) option below, and the address to Kitty’s private Vista residence will be provided 3 days prior to the event via email.

About the Author and Book

Kitty Morse is the author of ten cookbooks, including a memoir with recipes titled Mint Tea and Minarets: a Banquet of Moroccan Memories, named Best Book/Arab Cuisine by the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Other titles include Cooking at the Kasbah: Recipes from my Moroccan Kitchen (now in its tenth printing from Chronicle Books), The California Farm Cookbook, and Edible Flowers: A Kitchen Companion with Recipes.

Kitty’s career as an author, travel writer, cooking teacher, and tour organizer spans more than twenty-five years, including a 2019 Moroccan Adventure by the Book trip. Once a food columnist for the Los Angeles Times, Kitty has written for most major food publications including Fine Cooking, Sunset, and Bon Appetit. She hosted 2 television series of her own, and has appeared on national television in the US and abroad.

She has been a guest lecturer and presenter at venues in California and beyond: from the Los Angeles Public Library, to the City of Chicago, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, cooking schools, museums, and universities. She taught Moroccan cuisine at the famed Rancho La Puerta Spa in Tecate, Mexico, for several years. Her monthly enewsletter, The Kasbah Chronicles, is now in its thirteenth year.

 Her 11th cookbook Bitter Sweet: A Wartime Journal and Heirloom Recipes from Occupied France — part Holocaust history, part memoir, part cookbook — features recipes from Kitty’s Alsatian ancestors, and is based upon original family documents and photographs chronicling living in Alsace during the Nazi occupation in WWII.