Hot Mama of the Week: Brooke Parkhurst

Aug 1st, 2011

Name: Brooke Parkhurst

Kids: Parker Lee, Age 2

Occupation: Author, Cook and Blogger

Hometown: Pensacola, Florida and New York City (for the past decade)

H&H Interview with Brooke:

1. What are your top three favorite recipes?

My husband, James, is an amazing professional chef and I’m a home cook so something yummy is always coming out of our kitchen. In our cookbook, Just Married & Cooking (May 11’, Scribner), we focus on easy, elegant food that pulls from our Southern roots. One-pot, summer vegetable sautees like our Seafood Succotash get dinner on the table in 30 minutes and incorporate fresh, local produce and good, lean protein. Fun salads like our Arugula & Peach Salad with Shaved Corn Vinaigrette make eating your greens something to look forward to. And I love a little Happy Hour every night so we created a chapter called Afterwork Apps for all those great dips and nibbles that’ll sustain you from work (or your work-out) to dinner. The best is our Feta & Sundried Tomato Tapenade. A bunch of fresh, flat-leaf parsley, feta, olives, scallions and sundried tomatoes are mixed together with good olive oil for the ultimate whole-wheat cracker or pita chip topping. Then we enjoy it all with a glass of rose’.

2. What are you reading (honestly)?

I like to read several books at once to ensure I get at least one good food scene before I go to bed (at 9:30pm)! Just as I was finishing “The Paris Wife” and “Cleopatra,” I began “Lunch in Paris” and “You or Someone Like You.”

3. What is your guilty pleasure when you get some much coveted ‘me’ time?

Massage chairs at the nail salon rank right up there with a bar stool at Balthazar Restaurant in SoHo. My best girlfriend and I sit at our usual perch, order steak tartare, French fries and a nice bottle of Cote du Rhone and talk for hours. Girl time is definitely good for the soul!

4. What would we be surprised to find in your purse?

A teeny tiny pair of pink underwear can now always be found in my purse–I’m potty-training Parker Lee and you never know when disaster may strike! I also carry around a street map of Paris. I can’t bring myself to take it out after the trip I took this past winter. Too many wonderful cozy bistro and shopping memories.

5. What is your favorite reality TV show?

BRAVO is king! I love the Real Housewives with their drama and the fancy outfits they wear to the grocery store. The Miami and the New York ladies are my favorite. James and I even dedicated a cocktail to them in the cookbook. The Smackdown packs a punch and we’re definitely not responsible for the ladies’ behavior after they have a few!

6. What is your favorite cocktail recipe of choice?

I love really girlie cocktails served in martini glasses or champagne flutes and down-home drinks sipped from Ball jars. Our Raspberry Gin Fizz is elegant for holiday parties (or just because!) and our Rosemary Lemonade incorporates citrus and herbs making it different and delicious.

7. What is the funniest thing your daughter has said or done lately?

I could learn so much from our daughter, Parker Lee, if I really took to heartwhat she said. A few of her recent favorites: “Mamma, gotta be patient!” and “Be sweet to the gentlemens.” And no matter what kind of day we’ve had, she always ends it with, “I love you too, Mamma.”

8. What is your favorite quotation?

Lucille Ball once said, “Luck to me is hard work… and realizing what is opportunity and what isn’t.”

9. What is your most dreaded household chore?

Doing the dishes– morning, noon and night. We’re constantly cooking so that means that we always have dirty dishes. Because he’s the head chef at our West Village apartment, guess who gets stuck with the pots and pans?

10. Who is your favorite celebrity mom and why?

Funny, business-minded moms who keep everything in perspective–and like a good glass of Sancerre at the end of the day–are my favorites. I’d like to hang out with Kelly Ripa after she puts the kids to bed. And Reese Witherspoon has struck such an enviable balance being a mom, an actor and a business woman. I’d love to hang out with her- but only if she let me take notes and learn the keys to her success!

11. What is one thing most people don’t know about you?

I like to lose myself when I travel to another country. I try to speak the language, read the local newspaper and dress like I belong… That might explain my romance language major in college and why I used to be able to speak five languages (though now, it’s more like three). I like stepping out of my skin and living someone else’s life. And completely unrelated to that, I have terrible coordination- you don’t want me in your aerobics class. My terrible moves confuse everyone- even the teacher!

12. What is your secret to staying Hot & Healthy?

Consistency with my workout routine (nothing fancy–running, spinning, weights) keeps me in better shape than I was in high school. If I have the baby and not a lot of time on my hands, I’m not opposed to strapping her in the stroller and making her go on a jog with Mamma! Most importantly, I have a husband who loves me (and cooks for me more than I’d like to admit). He keeps everything in perspective and has taught so much about moderation with diet and exercise and in every element of my life.

Photos courtesy of Colleen Duffley Photography

*Check back on Wednesday to win your copy of Just Married & Cooking!*