(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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Very rarely do I fix the kind of old-fashioned summer outdoor dinner menu for which our fore-mothers are so remembered – can’t you just picture them in their long dresses and bonnets, stirring the fire? Adding more wood to the indoor range? Whether they made hamburgers or not, I don’t know. Likely hot dogs didn’t come into existence until the last 1800’s. But the menus I’m talking about include hamburgers, hot dogs, fried chicken, cole slaw, potato salad, pickles, baked beans, strawberry shortcake and watermelon. You know, that kind of thing. Preparing that hasn’t appealed to me for several decades. The outdoor part, the barbecuing . . . all that’s just fine. I guess the food is just a bit too . . . uh, something. I’d be happy to have it at someone else’s house, but to fix it myself? No.
So, when I was planning our family’s annual 5-birthday get-together (we have five immediate family birthdays between July 26th and August 9th), as I mentioned a day or so ago, I didn’t want to do all the cooking for this crowd (ended up being 18). So we purchased ready-made Que and I made the sides. The day before, I made and posted the story about KFC’s cole slaw. I had made this before – and in case any of you printed the recipe – it’s NOT the same as KFC’s, but it’s close. Close enough? Well, only you can judge. I decided this time that maybe 4-6 hours of marinating is enough – by the next day the cabbage seemed kind of wilted. By yesterday it was over the hill.
Then I made a really nice green type salad I’ll post tomorrow from a recipe brought by my daughter, Sara. It’s supposedly a Soup Plantation version. I like it, whatever it is, although it’s also on the sweet side. I also made the oh-so-tasty watermelon with feta and mint that my friend Kathleen fixed for us last month. It was a big hit at this party – it mostly disappeared, and it’s so darned easy, and amazing how the combination of the salty feta and the sweet watermelon and mint is like a marriage made in heaven. I added more feta and more mint than Martha’s recipe indicated, as you can see from this picture.
And then I opted to make one high-carb side that just seemed right for the menu – baked beans. In my book there are two kinds of baked beans – barbecue type and sweet baked beans. Barbecue beans are more savory tasting. With things like onions, garlic, celery maybe, some tomato sauce perhaps, ham hocks or bacon for flavor. And probably some herbs or spices to liven it up. Baked beans, on the other hand, were developed in New England during the early frontier days of America’s founding. The early settlers must have found good land for growing beans, and they discovered the sweet syrup from maple trees. Combine them and you have “Boston baked beans.” Over the hundreds of years since, maple syrup leaned toward molasses (the early settlers probably had molasses too, brought in from the Caribbean). I don’t know any of these things for sure; it’s just my conjecture. Year ago I bought an old New England style bean pot (crockery type), and used it for a long while. I made baked beans in it many a time. I don’t recall what happened to it – maybe it cracked? People who live in New England and make baked beans regularly swear by the crockery style pot – they believe the flavor is immensely enhanced by using that vessel.
I’ll wager that I hadn’t made this in 20+ years. In my old recipe book, it’s written out in longhand, with cryptic notes (no measurements). Here’s what the list says:
1 huge can B&M baked beans
brown sugar
cinnamon
ground cloves
salt pork
Then, in red ink, I’d written in on the side:
Pineapple (crushed)
So, you see, although this little list comprises mostly ingredients for sweet beans, I added salt pork (from the savory side). Never let it be said that I prepared any recipe (except baked goods) exactly as written. I tampered. When I made it this time, I used bacon instead of salt pork. I added some onion. I left out the ground cloves and the brown sugar (because I thought the canned beans were sweet enough as is). Rather than keep them simmering on the stovetop, I opted to put them in the oven. And because they were quite soupy, I left the lid off. Probably a mistake. They lost way too much fluid, even though the oven temp was about 250. So they were almost dry and had almost reached the point of mush by the time dinner was served. I will say, though, that everybody ate them with relish – there are only a few spoonfuls left. Enough for leftovers. And you know what? They tasted even better the next day. To me anyway.
Baked Beans
Recipe: my own concoction
Servings: 8
44 ounces B & M baked beans
10 ounces crushed pineapple — drained
3 ounces bacon — or salt pork, chopped
1/2 cup onion — minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon [and ground cloves if you’d like to add it, probably ¼ tsp]
1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1. In a large pot (I used my deep Le Crueset covered roasting pan) sauté the bacon until it’s rendered out its fat. You
may discard the fat in the pan if you choose to. Add the chopped onion and continue frying it until it’s begun to brown. Add the canned beans, pineapple, cinnamon and mustard. Stir to combine.
2. Bring to a simmer on the stovetop and cover. This can heat in a low oven (250 or so), covered, for a couple of hours, or you can just simmer it on the stove for an hour or so to blend the flavors and cook the onion through. Use a slotted spoon to serve if it’s still too soupy. If you bake it at a higher temperature or longer, it will cook out most of the liquid and reduce it to a thicker mush consistency. Serve. Add brown sugar if you would prefer a sweeter dish.
Per Serving: 290 Calories; 8g Fat (23.8% calories from fat); 12g Protein; 44g Carbohydrate; 10g Dietary Fiber; 15mg Cholesterol; 658mg Sodium.
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