Former Pittsburgher Amelia Morris airs her family’s dirty laundry in her new memoir.

Oh, and she talks about food, too.

She’ll be in Pittsburgh for a book signing and reading from “Bon Appetempt: A Coming of Age Story” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 11, at Barnes & Noble in South Hills Village.

Food wasn’t central to her life in her early years. But because her food blog, also titled “Bon Appetempt,” was the endeavor that finally launched her writing career, it’s no stretch to center her book around food.

Her family members aren’t the only targets of criticism; she’s self-critical, as well. Her book tells the story of her many failed attempts to launch a creative career as a young adult in Southern California, along with her husband, Matt Bookman.

But the most memorable aspect of the book is the anecdotes about her father, obstetrician William Morris of Saegertown, who had an extramarital affair that produced a baby. He showed the baby to Ms. Morris, age 5 at the time, and her older brother, Billy, but told them to keep the baby a secret. Amazingly, the 5-year-old managed to keep the secret for six weeks before telling her mom, who promptly divorced Dr. Morris.

Ms. Morris goes on to relate tales of living with her dad and stepmother and enduring her stepmother’s scorn, moving to Mt. Lebanon with her mom (Rebecca Bickel, a pediatrician at Children’s Community Pediatrics in Bethel Park) and stepdad for high school, enduring her family’s opposition when she married a Jewish boy, and then facing the many ups and downs -- mostly downs -- of “the millennial experience.”

“You want to do something creative, and you find out it’s so much harder than you thought it would be,” she said of her generation’s efforts to launch meaningful careers.

As she was wrapping up her book, both her maternal grandmother (who takes heat for opposing the marriage) and her father died, which led to a far different ending for the book than she had imagined.

At first, she told her editor she didn’t want to change the book at all because “I know death can change how you feel about people,” and she “didn’t want to let up on anyone.” Despite the difficulty of criticizing the family, she believed “so much of it felt so essential to who I am as a person” that she had no other choice.

So she did update the story, including the deaths of both relatives. But she also added a scene in which her father takes her out for pizza at Beto’s on Banksville Road – their final time seeing each other – that grants nuance to the portrayal of their relationship.

Her introduction to the food world came gradually. She shares, on the first page, a memory of eating Cheerios toasted in butter when she was a kid. But food doesn’t really reappear in the narrative until she’s out on her own as a young adult.

She relates her first time seeing a magazine recipe, which she deftly pocketed in a doctor’s waiting room, that she was inspired to try -- a simple broccoli-and-brie pasta recipe that she later recreated for the book.

She soon lit on the idea that launched her blog: Trying out the painstakingly styled foods on magazine covers, then posting the magazine photos next to her less-than-gorgeous attempts to make the same dishes -- hence, “Bon Appetempt.”

Over time, she grew so good at cooking that her food started to resemble the magazine covers. Now she doesn’t always post comparison photos. Instead, she and her husband often make videos showing the step-by-step creation of dishes from start to finish. Or she’ll share recipes that aren’t necessarily pictured in magazines.

Some of her favorite recipes, including her husband’s Lemon Pasta (see recipe), run in her book, as well.

Now the mother of an active 1-year-old son, Teddy, she finds her cooking style changing. Before, she’d choose a recipe, go out for the ingredients, and then cook that one dish. Now she plans ahead in order to reduce the number of trips to the store, and she cooks simpler meals.

Future plans include taking Teddy to Big Sur to produce some food/travel videos for the blog.

But for now, Ms. Morris is “super-excited to take Teddy to the old stomping grounds” in Pittsburgh next week.

Classes/lectures

“Frozen” Cooking Classes for Children: Cooking classes with a theme from a favorite movie. Two sessions on Friday, Feb. 6: ages 3 to 5 at 12:30 p.m., and ages 6 to 9 at 5 p.m. at Giant Eagle Market District in Pine. Register ahead: 724-934-0155.

Health Benefits of Chocolate: Janet McKee, holistic health counselor, shares decadent yet healthy chocolate desserts. 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington. $10. Register ahead: 1-866-344-6957.

Environmentalism Starts on Your Plate: Jeffrey Cohan, executive director of Jewish Vegetarians of North America compares plant- and animal-based diets’ environmental ramifications. 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, at Repair the World Workshop, 6022 Broad Street, East Liberty. Sponsored by East End Food Co-op. Free, but register ahead: 412-242-3598.

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Lemon Pasta

PG tested

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic, crushed and minced

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into 4 chunks

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Salt

1 pound dried spaghetti

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup grated parmesan or pecorino Romano, plus more for serving

1/2 cup grated Gruyere

Freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a skillet over low heat. Drop the garlic into the pan and move the garlic around a bit, maybe for a minute or 2; don’t let it brown. Turn off the heat and drop in the butter. Let the butter melt on its own.

Add the lemon zest and juice.

Drop the dried spaghetti into a pot of lightly salted boiling water. Stir occasionally while you continue making the sauce.

Put the sauce back on low heat and bring it to a light simmer. Add the heavy cream. Drop in the grated parmesan and the Gruyere. Stir as the sauce is brought back up to a light simmer and the ingredients are completely combined. Season with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat.

Once the pasta is al dente, strain it, add it to the pan with the sauce and toss to coat. Plate into pasta bowls with a sprinkle of grated parmesan. Serves 4.

-- Matt Bookman in “Bon Appetempt: A Coming of Age Story” by Amelia Morris (Grand Central; Feb 3, 2015; $26)

First Published: February 5, 2015, 5:00 a.m.