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JUST FINISHED: What a book: Wench: A Novel (Dolen Perkins-Valdez, hardback). From the title you might think this is a book about the s-x word. It’s not. By a long shot. But the story, set in about 1852, is about a black slave woman, and her somewhat misguided “love” for her master. About the children she bore him, under the eagle eye of the master’s wife. But it’s all tied together with a yearly journey made to a place called Tawawa House, a rural inn of sorts in southern Ohio (a free State), that for some years allowed white slave owners to stay at the resort in rustic cottages with their black slaves, as couples. This place existed, according to the author’s afterword, and finally closed because some of the regulars (white couples who stayed in the main house) didn’t fancy this concubine business going on out in the woods. It’s about Lizzie’s relationships with the other slave women, about their desire to run to safety through the local underground, about them secretly meeting some free blacks, finding out more about abolition, and about the hardships all these black mistresses endured, and how little their lives were valued. A real stunning book. (I was sent this book as a perk from Harper Collins – because I had mentioned The Help. No strings attached – I could choose to mention this book, or not, here on my blog. I’m glad to because it’s a very good read.)

RECENTLY FINISHED: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: A Novel (Jamie Ford, on my Kindle). A poignant story about a Chinese-American, growing up in Seattle at the beginning of World War II. Henry falls in love with a young Japanese girl before her family is interned in a relocation camp. It a very secretive relationship because his parents would highly disapprove. The story goes back to the 40’s and forward to the 1980’s when Henry is in his 50’s and his wife (not the Japanese woman) has just died of cancer. The story pulls you in from the first page, especially when some artifacts are found in the basement of an old hotel which contain personal belongings from several Japanese families who were suddenly taken away back in 1942. You can see where it’s going, can’t you? I heard criticism of this book that it was just a little bit contrived. Halfway through I’m enjoying it very much.

FINISHED: The Help (Kathryn Stockett on my Kindle, an excellent read); The Moonflower Vine: A Novel by Jetta Carleton (Kindle edition, eh); Chosen by a Horse by Susan Richards (Kindle edition, good book); Bound: A Novel by Sally Gunning (Kindle edition, very good read)

IN THE POWDER ROOM: Our guest half-bath has a little table with a pile of books that I change every now and then. They’re books that might pique someone’s interest even if for a very short read. The Greatest Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy; Sara Midda’s South of France: A Sketchbook; Spain…A Culinary Road Trip (Mario Batali & Gweneth Paltrow); Other People’s Love Letters: 150 Letters You Were Never Meant to See; (edited by Bill Shapiro); Monet’s Table: The Cooking Journals of Claude Monet (by Joyes); The Trouble with Poetry: And Other Poems (Billy Collins).

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My blog's namesake - small engraved sterling silver tea spoons that I use to taste as I'm cooking.

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triple ginger cookies

Wanting to take something to friends who had invited us over for dinner, I grabbed the December issue of Bon Appetit and decided to make these cookies that contain ground ginger, fresh ginger and crystallized ginger. They’re easy to make, requiring only that you make small balls and roll them in granulated sugar before baking. When they bake they get that wonderful crackly edge, yet the interior remains soft. Even when they’ve cooled, they’re still soft in the center. Yummy. Obviously, you need to like ginger. These are good. And since they were in a holiday issue, I’d say they’d be perfection for Christmas. Our friends insisted that I not bring something to help with dinner, so these made a very nice little gift.

But they’re wonderful also in February on a cold, rainy afternoon with a nice pot of tea.

Triple-Ginger Cookies

Recipe By: Recipe by Dede Wilson, Bon Appetit
Serving Size: 40

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup crystallized ginger — minced fine
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter — (1 1/2 sticks) room temperature
1/2 cup light brown sugar — (packed)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar — (packed)
1 large egg — room temperature
1/4 cup light molasses — (mild-flavored type)
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ginger — peeled, finely grated
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/3 cup sugar — (about)

1. Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour, crystallized ginger, baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until creamy and light, about 2 minutes.
2. Gradually beat in both brown sugars. Beat on medium-high speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add egg, molasses, fresh ginger, ground ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Beat to blend.
3. Add flour mixture in 2 additions, beating on low speed just to blend between additions.
4. Place 1/3 cup sugar in small bowl. Measure 1 tablespoon dough. Roll into ball between palms of hands, then roll in sugar in bowl to coat; place on baking sheet. Repeat with remaining cookie dough, spacing cookies 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart.
5. Bake cookies until surfaces crack and cookies are firm around edges but still slightly soft in center, about 15 minutes. Cool completely on sheets on rack.
6. DO AHEAD: Cookies can be made up to 4 days ahead. Store in airtight containers at room temperature
Per Serving: 95 Calories; 4g Fat (34.2% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 15g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 15mg Cholesterol; 82mg Sodium.
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A year ago: Easy Breakfast Pineapple Biscuits (easy)
Two years ago: Irish Soda Bread

Posted in Cookies, on February 8th, 2010.

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