(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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I know, it seems like altogether the wrong season for Swedish meatballs and noodles. It’s not important why, but I needed to make these now. In the summer heat! On one hand I can count the number of times I’ve made them – I’ve always liked them, but just never seemed to do it. That’s fixed now, with a good recipe to refer to.
My DH would tell you if he were writing this, that I made a heck of a lot of dirty dishes. Bowls, pots, pans, measuring cups, spoons and utensils. More than seemed necessary, but I don’t know how I could have cut down. And the making of the meatballs wasn’t difficult, although a bit tedious, as meatballs can be. The onions needed to be cooked some before they went into the meat, breadcrumb, egg and spice mixture. The meatballs were formed (I got about 45 of them) and I decided to make these in an electric frypan, recommended in one of the recipes I referred to. I have a big, oval one and all 45 meatballs fit into it, just barely. They were cooked at 250° for about 10-12 minutes, I’d guess, turning them once. When you cook at that temp, it barely sizzles. But they cook eventually, with no popping and spattering. That part was nice!
About three recipes were consulted in the making of this dish. I liked things from all three, so just incorporated them all into one. Part from Alton Brown at the Food Network, plus two cookbooks I have here at home. The sauce was made with butter and flour, beef broth, then at the end I added in a little tiny bit of heavy cream and some light sour cream. Noodles were boiled, drained, and into a bowl it all went with a little bit of the sauce drizzled over everything. And some parsley sprinkled on top. Altogether delicious, even if it was 85° today.
Swedish Meatballs
Recipe By: Adapted for two different recipes.
Serving Size: 8
Notes: Serve as a main course with buttered noodles, or make smaller meatballs and serve as appetizers.
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1/2 pound bulk sausage — or ground veal
1/2 cup yellow onion — minced
2 large eggs — beaten
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
3 cups beef stock — or canned beef broth
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup light sour cream
3 tablespoons Italian parsley — minced
1 pound egg noodles
1. In a large bowl, mix meats and onion. Add eggs, bread crumbs, milk and seasonings. Mix well with a large spoon or your hands. Cover and refrigerate for one hour (for easier handling).
2. Shape meat mixture into 1-inch balls and arrange in a cold electric frypan. The 1 1/2 pounds of meat will make about 45 meatballs. Turn on frypan to 250° and cook the meatballs uncovered for 8-12 minutes, turning once, until the meatballs are just cooked through. Alternately you can place the raw meatballs on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 350°. Remove meatballs and set aside.
4. In the frypan, turned to low, add the butter and melt. Add the flour and stir vigorously to dissolve any lumps with a whisk. If necessary add a small quantity of the beef sstock to the mixture to smooth it out, then add the remaining liquid all at once. Bring to a low simmer and cook for 5-10 minutes until the mixture is thickened. Taste for seasonings (will need salt and pepper), turn to low and add the cream and sour cream. Stir to combine, then add the meatballs. Cover the frypan and heat the mixture on low for about 10 minutes, until the meatballs are thoroughly warmed through.
5. Meanwhile, cook the egg noodles in salted water. When they’re just barely cooked through (al dente) drain and spoon servings onto plates or wide soup bowls. Add the meatballs and drizzle enough of the cream sauce to moisten all the noodles lightly. Sprinkle the top with chopped parsley and serve immediately.
Per Serving: 660 Calories; 37g Fat (51.0% calories from fat); 30g Protein; 49g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 201mg Cholesterol; 1383mg Sodium.
A year ago: Blueberry Pumpkin Muffins
Two years ago: Peach Pudding Cake
Three years ago: Pineapple Upside Down French Toast
. I baked some garlic and that went into the garlic-herb-butter (with fresh rosemary, oregano and thyme) that was slathered on top of the steak when it was served. Delicious! Quite easy altogether except for the 45 minutes to bake the garlic. And the steaks need to sit at room temp for an hour with a kind of wet-dry pepper rub on them. We liked the recipe a lot. With a nice glass of 10-year old Cabernet, and a patio cover over our heads!
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