(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.)
(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.
(Kathryn Stockett on my Kindle, an excellent read); 
by Jetta Carleton (Kindle edition, eh); 
by Susan Richards (Kindle edition, good book); 
by Sally Gunning (Kindle edition, very good read)
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(Mario Batali & Gweneth Paltrow); 
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Both of our granddaughters appear to have the food gene. Both are interested in cooking and have helped in the kitchen from a young age. One of them, Taylor (10) stayed with us for a part of a week recently. I asked her what she’d like to cook. She thought about it for a day and said pizza and cookies. Well. Okay. We didn’t get to do the pizza (because she spent a lot of her time babysitting and playing with her new cousin, 10-month old Vaughan) but we squeezed in some cookies. Her choice: peanut butter.
Since I’d already made some peanut butter cookies with Taylor (and her older brother Logan) last summer, I turned to my newest cookie book, Martha Stewart’s Cookies, for a different variation. These are very, very similar to the ones we made last summer from America’s Test Kitchen, with the addition of peanuts and peanut butter to the dough. They came together quickly, and Taylor was tickled to scoop and flatten the cookies just so. I outfitted her with an apron and one of my small cloths I always loop over the apron ties. She thought she was quite the chef.
If you’re a fan of peanut butter cookies, then you’ll like this recipe. They’re not my favorite cookie variety, but they are tasty. When I crave cookies, it’s usually chocolate chip. So, in the second half of the batch I insisted we add chocolate chips. Whichever version, they’re good, right out of the freezer. Miss Tay took some home with her on the plane, but they were in crumbs, unfortunately by the time she reached Sacramento. These cookies are quite fragile and crumbly, just so you know.
Martha Stewart’s Peanut Butter Cookies
Recipe By: Martha Stewart’s Cookies (cookbook)
Servings: 30
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter — 2 sticks
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup smooth peanut butter — or nutty
1/2 cup peanuts — salted
1. Preheat oven to 350. Sift flour and baking soda into a bowl.
2. Put butter and both sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg; mix until well combined. Mix in vanilla and then peanut butter. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in peanuts.
3. Drop batter by heaping tablespoons onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 1 1/2 inches apart. Dip the bottom of a glass in flour, tapping off excess and use it to flatten balls slightly. Firmly press fork tines into each dough ball to make a cross-hatch pattern.
4. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until centers are firm and edges are lightly browned, about 25 minutes Transfer cookies on parchment sheet to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temp up to 3 days.
NOTES: You may also add about 3/4 cup of chocolate chips to half of the dough if you prefer. Cookies are very tender and fragile. Freeze them if possible and defrost when you want some
Per Serving: 163 Calories; 12g Fat (63.6% calories from fat); 4g Protein; 12g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 24mg Cholesterol; 76mg Sodium.
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