PLYMOUTH, Vt. – During a recent interview on Spotlight, a local TV program carried by Okemo Valley TV, Tesha Buss described her new book, “Uncommonly Good,” about the creation of Good Commons in Plymouth along with a large number of recipes originated at Good Commons.
Along with her co-author Matthew Wexler, the book covers much of the history of the creation and development of Good Commons along with a number of personal notes by both Tesha and Matthew. Interspersed with these colorful notes are recipes developed at Good Commons.
Of particular interest was how the book ties Tesha’s life on an Illinois farm to her ideas of what made good food. In particular, her description of preparing meatloaf on the farm was an indicator of her future interest in food. “My mom was an excellent cook…Together, we indulged in raw meatloaf on a saltine cracker before it went into the loaf pan to cook. I guess this was the genesis of my love affair with steak tartare.”
Tesha also described how the tropical storm Irene impacted the Good Commons and how she was able to recover from the damage to the building.
She outlined how she came to purchase a bus on eBay to transport guests from New York City to Good Commons. She noted that she would not recommend buying a bus from eBay due to the mechanical problems it had.
Some of the recipes in the book include Magic Hat Meatballs, pork stuffed pork, spiced popcorn, unstoppable onion rings, and baked egg casserole. All of the recipes are preceded by notes Tesha or Matthew on how or why this recipe came into being.
Spotlight host Ralph Pace noted, “This is the most fascinating cookbook I’ve ever read. Rather than simply list ingredients and cooking directions, it relates each recipe to the personal motivation for creating the recipe.” He also praised the authors for using ingredients that were, for the most part, easily obtained. “As much as I admire Julia Child’s recipes, I found these recipes using ingredients like catsup and canned tomatoes that made the preparation process so much easier without compromising the quality of dish.”
Tesha had previously been a guest of the Ludlow Rotary Club at its Zoom meeting.