(by Kate Morton, on my Kindle); several generations of women pepper this book with the story of their lives. It all revolves around a young girl who arrives on a pier in Australia in 1912 with no papers, no family. Nothing except a small white suitcase with little concrete information about her past. She’s four years old and keeps silent about what little she knows. Her story starts there, but then it jumps forward to 2005 when her granddaughter inherits a house in Cornwall (England), purchased by the grandmother and kept secret until after her death. There’s some secrecy going on with all the women. Then the story jumps back to 1975 when the grandmother is a middle-aged woman and you hear part of her story. Much of the book revolves around a walled garden at this house in Cornwall, and how it relates to the “big house” where the grandmother lived some of her early years. It’s quite a complex web of a family saga. I liked it, although each new chapter jumped to a different time, and it’s not until the last 10 pages or so that everything resolves. Good read.
(by Karen Harper, on my Kindle); this one is about a young girl from an impoverished family who is taken to Court and eventually becomes a playmate/governess to Elizabeth I (the story is based on fact, but is a novel). The two girls grow up together. It tells the story of Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn (Elizabeth I’s mother) and others of the court at that time, the intrigues, the murders, the beheadings, and the perseverance of all of the potential kings and queens. Fascinating story, particularly since we visited Castle Howard where where a small part of Henry VIII’s story transpires.
(by Julie Orringer, on my Kindle) too; a riveting story about a young Hungarian Jew who goes to Paris to study architecture, just before the start of WW II. He manages to scrape together enough money to eat, but barely, falls in love with an older woman, yet his work comes to the attention of some of the school’s teachers. He’s one of only a handful of Jews at the school. Then the Nazis begin invading. And the story goes into plenty of detail about the hardships, the imprisonments and eventual deaths of many of his friends and family. I could hardly put it down, though. Heart-wrenching, however.
– by Alison Weir (paperback from Costco). I was expecting this book to be along the same genre as Philippa Gregory’s novels – honing in on a particular English royal woman – telling her story in novel form. This is not one of those types. It’s non-fiction, and tells the factual story of Katherine Swynford, who eventually became the Duchess of Lancaster. But her journey from young bride to Hugh Swynford (this takes place in the 1300′s) to the Duchess is bursting with intrigue as she was John of Gaunt’s mistress for some time (eventually he married her when she was 46 (certainly an advanced age for that century), which caused all kinds of royal scandal). In that period of history no one related to royalty married for love. It was all about family, bearing many children to inherit land and wealth, to fight for the king, to maintain title and fortune. The Duchess’ children eventually became the House of Tudor (King Henry VII). Katherine Swynford was both reviled (because of her immoral behavior) and loved (by nearly everyone who knew her). Alison Weir is obviously a stickler for research – the footnotes comprise over 40 pages of fine print. She paints a different picture of this woman than was done by Anya Seton in her world-famous novel 
, first published in 1954. I was infatuated with that novel – it was one of my all-time favorites. But it’s a romance, and apparently many of the supposed facts – well, aren’t. Life in those times were not romantic. This Alison Weir book is not exactly easy reading; it’s almost like reading a textbook. But it’s fascinating and I’m enjoying it very much.
– by Jack Finney (paperback); read for one of my book clubs. Written in the 1940′s it was a runaway hit back then. An early look at time travel. It’s about a U.S. government experiment in the 1960′s (this is fiction, remember), sending a selected few men back to the 1880′s in New York City. They were told to observe. Not to change anything. To be unnoticeable. Yet one of the young men, just couldn’t quite do that (of course, otherwise there wouldn’t be a story!). It’s his adventure you read. The writer is a master at description. The reader feels transported to that time. Our book club really enjoyed it. Generally I’m not into that kind of book at all, but I found the book fascinating. There is a sequel as well, called From Time to Time.
— autobiography by Laura Bush (hardback from Costco). What a delightful read. It’s not about politics. It’s about Laura’s journey from her young years growing up in Midland, Texas to loving parents, to college grad to school teacher, librarian, to meeting George, whom she barely knew even though they grew up in the same small town, then marrying him. She didn’t come naturally to being a public speaker, but did it, to help her husband. I enjoyed reading about her early years more than the years at the White House. Much of that part was about all the social events required of the President and First Lady. Still interesting, though. I enjoyed the book very much.
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Multi-vegetable soup, Italian style, with some rough torn bread croutons on top. Missing from the photo: the tendrils of fresh basil and cilantro that were supposed to be sprinkled all over the top.
Ribollita. Sounds like it ought to be a girl’s name. The Italian word actually means “reboiled.” So if you lived in Italy you certainly wouldn’t want to be named Ribollita! Historically it’s a Tuscan soup – a method of re-serving minestrone soup – the next day – and making it different with the bread, beans and greens. Ribollita always contains cannellini beans and some greens like kale or Swiss chard. I’ve had this at restaurants now and then, but wanted to make my own. My friend Linda stopped by for dinner after having a crown put in, and she wanted something she didn’t have to chew. This fit that need very well. And it’s very healthy (only 14 grams of fat for a 1 1/2 cup serving). Mostly it’s vegetables, although I added in some ham cubes because I had them. You could also make this without the meat.
The preparation – you could probably make this soup in less than 30 minutes if you had all the vegetables ready to go. There is a bit of chopping and mincing involved (onions, carrots, celery, leeks, garlic, kale, Swiss chard, mushrooms, zucchini). I used my handy-dandy Alligator Dicer
The result? It’s worth the work. I read a variety of recipes for this soup and discovered that you can just about do your own thing. So I did. I added oregano – next time I’d add some rosemary, or maybe some Herbs de Provence. I added the ham and kale. I’d read a recipe in an old Sunset Magazine for this soup and it showed the rough torn bread cubes floating on top of the soup, so I decided to do it that way too. This may not wow your audience, but it was certainly delicious and healthy. The bread cubes are essential, so don’t eliminate that part – they provide aesthetics and some crunchy texture. I had ample to send a small care package home with Linda and enough for two portions to go into my freezer’s “soup library.”
Ribollita (Italian Vegetable and Bread Soup)
Recipe By: My own concoction
Serving Size: 8
NOTES: buy a ciabatta loaf and roughly tear off pieces of it (large bite size) and toast in a 350 oven for about 5 minutes (use broiler if you can watch it carefully). If you want a more flavorful soup, add some rosemary, a Bay leaf, and some thyme. You can also use Parmesan cheese rinds in a soup like this (you do save them, right?). They merely flavor the soup – don’t eat them. You can also add more beans to this, and/or some rice. In the authentic version you slice off a piece of bread and put it in the bottom of the bowl and pour the soup on top. This version uses less bread and you just toast the cubes and plop them on top. The croutons don’t get totally soaked in the soup. The quantities of the vegetables are approximate – add more or less of things if it suits you or you don’t have sufficient amounts.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 medium white onions — chopped
4 cloves garlic — minced
2 whole leeks — cleaned and chopped
3 stalks celery — chopped
3 whole carrots — peeled, chopped
2 cups ham cubes — (or use 2-3 slices of minced bacon)
32 ounces canned tomatoes — (including juice)
8 cups chicken broth — (or Penzey’s chicken soup base + water)
1 tablespoon dried oregano
3 medium zucchini — chopped
4 ounces mushrooms — sliced
4 cups Swiss chard — chopped
4 cups kale — chopped
3 cups Savoy cabbage — chopped
15 ounces canned cannelini beans — drained, rinsed Salt and pepper to taste
TOPPINGS:
2 cups croutons
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese — shaved in shards
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil — to drizzle on top
1/4 cup fresh basil — sliced
1/4 cup cilantro — chopped
1. In a large, heavy pot heat the olive oil. Saute the onion for about 5 minutes until it’s wilted but not browned. Add garlic and leeks and continue cooking until leeks have begun to soften. Add celery and carrots. Add ham, tomatoes, chicken broth and oregano and bring to a simmer for about 10 minutes until carrots are cooked. Add zucchini and mushrooms and continue simmering for about 5 minutes. Then add canned beans, Swiss chard, kale and cabbage. Cook for 2-4 minutes until the greens are just tender. Taste for seasoning.
2. Meanwhile, heat oven to 350 and toast the roughly torn bread cubes – using the broiler if necessary to brown them.
3. Have all the topping ingredients ready. Scoop about 1 1/2 cups of the soup into a wide soup bowl. Top with the Parmesan, basil, cilantro and the toasty-hot bread cubes and serve.
Per Serving: 347 Calories; 14g Fat (35.0% calories from fat); 20g Protein; 38g Carbohydrate; 9g Dietary Fiber; 21mg Cholesterol; 1678mg Sodium.
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A year ago: Guacamole
Two years ago: Orange Jalapeno Vinaigrette
Joanne
said on March 5th, 2010:
My family loves Ribolitta…I make a version of Giada DeLaurentiis’. For the bread part, you grill ciabatta and then rub it with garlic. You put it in the bottom of the bowl and then spoon the soup over it…absolutely delicious. It has pancetta in it for extra flavor…delicious. I will try your recipe next time.
I like the idea of rubbing garlic on the bread. I’ll have to try that next time. I think ribollita is a very forgiving recipe – you can put in whatever you want in the way of vegetables, greens and bread! . . . carolyn T