– by Neil White (on my Kindle) – a really, really interesting book. It’s a memoir about the year the author spent in prison in Louisiana. About his sanctimonious attitude when he arrived there (he was convicted of kiting checks trying to keep his publishing business afloat) and what he learns during his year. But as much as it’s about his life as a prisoner, it’s more about the other residents of the prison – the last remaining lepers (Hansen’s Disease) who are provided for in the facility. Neil White is quite a character and I wondered more than once if he was ever going to “get it,” that he was greedy and egotistical. The book wasn’t published for about 10 years after his release, so at least he didn’t profit immediately by telling tales. The epilogue was so sad – listing the deaths of many of the leprosy patients and some of the inmates he came to call friends. One person at amazon commented that it was not worth reading because the author profited from his incarceration, and that he didn’t appear to have redeemed himself. I disagree – I think he did. If he didn’t, then he knows how to spin a good yarn. I choose to believe he learned a whole lot about himself and where his life took a (wrong) left turn, and that he’s trying to atone for his failings by publishing the book. You decide.
- by P.D. James (on my Kindle) – if I hadn’t read about this book in the Los Angeles Times a week or so ago I’d never have pursued this book. It’s nothing even close to her wealth of books of the mystery genre. But yes, it IS a mystery (not something I normally read) but it takes place about 5 years after Pride and Prejudice leaves off. That was the hook for me. An entertaining read and a way to keep in touch with all the lovable (and not-so) characters from Jane Austen’s classic. It’s not a page-turner in the true mystery-murder style, but it’s fun to read.
– by Judith Ryan Hendricks – I picked up this book at a lending library I use now and then. I have to laugh, though – the collection of books (probably numbering about 350 or so) is divided by paperback and hardback. And then by color. COLOR? I find that so ludicrous. But anyway, the title caught my eye. It’s definitely a novel, about a youngish woman who’s been a baker and a chef, but who is suddenly single. It’s about her struggle to find herself, to find a new rhythm of life. In the telling of the journey some recipes are included (baked goods, including bread-bread), which are available on the 
– by Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman) – most everyone who reads blogs knows about Ree – the Pioneer Woman, from Pawhuska, Oklahoma. She’s always entertaining, whimsical and enjoyable to read. A couple of years ago she wrote a memoir of her romance with Ladd, her now husband. I can’t count how many times, as I was reading this, that I was LOLing (Laughing Out Loud). She is such a witty writer and knows how to tell a story. Even though I know she married Ladd and has since had 4 children, I was caught up in her story from the first page. I wrote it up in more detail on
– (on my Kindle) Michael Tucker (from L.A. Law some years ago) and his wife, on a whim almost, buy a home in Umbria. An old, old, old house with two bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, I think, and a nice terrace (where a lot of living goes on in Italian homes and families). It’s the story of the purchase itself, the friends they meet, the neighbors, how Michael finds the best butcher(s), bakers and candlestick makers. It made me long for another trip to Italy, actually. They enlarge the home, although they’re not there for most of the construction. It’s a similar tale to Frances Mayes’ books and Peter Mayle’s books too, but it’s different. Tucker is a TV star; his wife’s a stage actress. They live on some higher plane than I do, for sure, with lots of friends with connections. But it’s a cute story and I enjoyed it clear to the end.
(Stacy Schiff); 
; and 
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Pictured left, two Navel oranges in the back, a blood orange front left, and a Valencia at far right.
When you live in an agricultural area, you tend to take fruits and vegetables for granted. We certainly do. And oranges might be the pivot for that since where I live, in Orange County, California (oranges, Orange County?) we used to be THE center of orange growing. For a long, long time. But now more of them are grown in Riverside County, the next county over (east) from Orange County. There’s still lots of rural land in Riverside County. Not so much here in Orange County.
When I first moved to Orange County back in 1975 (I’m a California native but hadn’t lived in Orange County before), many of the outlying roads were lined in orange trees. Thousands of acres of orange groves. Most owned by the Irvine Company, a huge – I mean gigantic – family-owned, many-square-miles area. Much of Orange County is still owned by the Irvine Company or by the Irvine family, mostly in the hilly areas about 10-15 miles inland. Piece by piece they sell off chunks, mostly developed into planned communities. And I nearly cried when the last orange grove bit the dust about ten years ago (I don’t think there are any commercial groves anymore). They wrote it up in our local paper. A grove they’d left there as “show” just so the locals wouldn’t get upset. But we did anyway. Real estate is worth more than any long-term orange grove, unfortunately.
So, it’s very appropriate that I write up a piece about oranges. Which comes from the book I’ve used before to share with you interesting tidbits about the growing of some fruits and vegetables. A book written by Russ Parsons, one of the writers/editors of the Los Angeles Times Food Section. The book: How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table
The orange we know today came about by a “circuitous route,” which began in China, where the first sweet oranges were cultivated. Spice traders brought the orange to Europe in the 1400’s. The Portuguese particularly loved them, and they even were known in the western world as “Portuguese oranges.” It’s believed that Columbus brought oranges to Haiti on his second voyage to the New World in 1493. From there they went to Central America and Mexico in the early 1500’s. And not long afterwards they came to Florida and California.
But, when the Spanish influence waned in the 1700’s, citrus growing in Florida declined. A new generation of farmers in Florida found mostly wild, old trees. But they were enterprising, and grafted newer varieties onto the old trees. In short order Florida became the leader in orange production, with California a distant cousin. Then two events happened: a new kind of orange, the Navel, was introduced in California in the mid 1870’s. Called a Washington Orange. The other event: in the winter of 1894 a bad cold snap hit the citrus orchards in Florida, destroying all the trees down to the ground. It took more than a decade for Florida to recoup, but in that interim, California, and the Navel orange, took hold. There are still oranges grown in Florida, but they’re nearly all juice oranges.
It was interesting to me that the Navel orange has been around for centuries (mostly in Mediterranean climates) and is known for the “bellybutton” at the flower end of the fruit. It’s actually another tiny orange embedded in the larger orange – ever noticed that when you cut open a particularly large Navel, there’s a kind of roundish thing that must be cut around or removed. It’s mostly skin, gnarly, bitter – that’s the tiny orange imbedded inside. But mostly Navels are seedless, easy to peel with firm flesh. When Florida growers tried to raise Navels they found the fruit coarse and granular. And when the fruit was juiced a compound called limonin turns it bitter within 30 minutes. Hence Florida concentrates on Valencia types.
In addition to the Navel and Valencia, though, there are others in the family: blood oranges (love those!), and the Cara Cara. The latter was a chance mutation found in 1976 on a Washington Navel in a Venezuelan orchard. The Cara Cara is a sweet low-acid orange whose flesh is a deep pinkish orange, closer, almost, to a ruby grapefruit. There are also kumquats (picture above from our garden). They’re probably not a true orange, but they sure look like them.
Russ Parsons included a recipe for one very simple dish, Oranges with Vanilla Syrup: Make a vanilla-scented syrup by boiling 1 1/2 cups water and 1 cup sugar with a split vanilla bean until the syrup is clear, about 10 minutes. Refrigerate. Peel the oranges and slice into a bowl, then pour the cold syrup over the top. Remove the vanilla bean. (Stick the vanilla bean, once dried, in your sugar canister where it will make vanilla-sugar). Serve the oranges with crispy cookies.
He included three full recipes in this chapter: (1) Orange and Beet Salad with Goat Cheese and Walnuts; (2) Old-Fashioned Orange Cake; and (3) Candied Orange Peel.
I do have a lot of orange recipes, this being an orange mecca here. I had to go look and see what I did have. All these recipes include more than just the juice or zest – either the flesh and/or the peel and juice.
Chicken, Arugula, Corn & Parmigiano Salad (contains a salad dressing using whole oranges)
Cranberry Relish (made with fresh cranberries and whole oranges, including the skin)
Poached Kumquats and Asian Pears in Vanilla Scented Syrup
Pecan-Crusted Chicken with Orange-Rosemary Sauce
Roast Pork Tenderloin with Onion Orange Pan Sauce
Cornish Game Hen (or Chicken Breast) Salad
Orange Jalapeno Vinaigrette
Watercress, Belgian Endive Salad with Black Olive Vinaigrette
Tangerine Vinaigrette
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A year ago: Southwestern Squash & Corn
Two years ago: Mustard & Herb Chicken
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