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Here are the tastingspoons players. I’m in the middle (Carolyn). Daughter Sara on the right, and daughter-in-law Karen on the left. I started the blog in 2007, as a way to share recipes with my family. Now in 2023, I’m still doing 99% of the blogging and holding out hope that these two lovely and excellent cooks will participate. They both lead very busy lives, so we’ll see.

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BOOK READING (from Carolyn):

Under the Java Moon, by Heather Moore. Sometimes these WWII books are tough to read. This is a true story (written as fiction, though) about a few Dutch families who are taken prisoner on Java Island, by the Japanese. Certainly it’s a story about unbelievable deprivation and sadness, but also about resilience too. Not everyone survives, as you could guess, but you’ll be rooting for young Rita who takes on so many responsibilities far beyond her 6-year old’s abilities. I read this because a dear friend of mine’s husband (now deceased) was in the Army during WWII and spent a lot of his duty in Indonesia and had horrific stories to tell about the weather and environment (awful!). A period of his life he liked to forget. The book certainly brings that period and place to the forefront. I’m glad I read it.

Never in a million years would I have picked up Blind Your Ponies, by Stanley Gordon West. If I’d read the cover or flap that the bulk of the story is about basketball, I’d have put it back on the shelf. But oh, this book is – yes, about basketball, but it’s about a place in time in Montana, a few decades ago, when a tiny town supported their high school team. It’s about a dream. About the town who believed in them. About a tall young man who comes to lives in the town, and his deliverance, really, from a pretty awful background as he plays basketball, when he’d never played before. It’s about relationships, marriages, families and about how this little team makes it. Such a great story and SO glad I read it.

A Girl Called Samson, by Amy Harmon. I’m a fan of anything written by Harmon, and this one delivered as all her books do. 1760, Massachusetts. Deborah Samson is an indentured servant but yearns for independence. From being a rather tall, skinny kid (a girl) to faking it as a young soldier (a young man) in the Continental army. You’ll marvel at her ability to hide her true self. It’s quite a story. She’s thrown into the worst of situations in the war and comes through with flying colors. You’ll find yourself rooting for her and also fearing mightily that she’s going to either get killed, or be “found out,” by some of the men. Riveting story beginning to end. There’s a love interest here too which is very sweet.

On Mystic Lake, by Kristin Hannah. This is a book Hannah wrote some years ago, and tells the story of a woman, Annie, who finds out (on the day their daughter goes off to a foreign land for an exchange quarter) that her husband is in love with another woman and leaves her. Annie, who has been the quintessential perfect corporate wife, is devastated. She felt blind-sided. She cries and wallows, but eventually she returns home to her small town, where her widowed dad lives, in Washington. There she runs into many people she knew and at first feels very out of place. Slowly, she finds the town more welcoming and she helps a previous boyfriend, now widowed with his young daughter. A connection is there. Annie has to find herself, and she definitely does that. Her husband rears his head (of course he does!) after several months, and Annie has to figure out what to do. I don’t want to give away the story. Lots of twists and turns.

The Vineyard, by Barbara Delinsky. A novel with many current day issues. Husband and wife own a vineyard in Rhode Island. Husband dies. Widow soon (too soon) marries the manager, a hired employee, much to the consternation of her two grown children. Widow hires woman as personal assistant (much of the book comes from her voice) and she gets entangled into the many webs, clinging from the many decades the winery has tried to be successful. Really interesting. Lots of plot twists, but all revolving around work of the vineyard. Cute love story too. It wouldn’t be a Delinsky book without that aspect.

Consequences, Penelope Lively. I’ve always loved this author’s writing style. Have read many of her books. This one follows a rather dotted line family, the women, as they grow through worn-torn London and England. There’s poverty and both major events and minor ones that send the story’s trajectory in new directions. Riveting for me. Lively won the Booker Prize for Moon Tiger, her most famous book.

Below Zero, C.J. Box. Mystery of the first order. A Joe Pickett novel (he’s a game warden in Wyoming) with a family member thought dead is suddenly alive. Or is she? Joe’s on the hunt to find out. I don’t read these books at night – too scary. I love his books, though.

Consolations of the Forest: Alone in a Cabin on the Siberian Taiga, by Sylvain Tesson. I’m not sure what possessed me to read this book. About a late 30s guy who seems to crave solitude; he’s offered a 11×11 cabin in the cold/frozen Siberian outback, on a huge lake that freezes over in winter. Here’s a quote from the book: “A visit to my wooden crates. My supplies are dwindling. I have enough pasta left for a month and Tabasco to drench it in. I have flour, tea and oil. I’m low on coffee. As for vodka, I should make it to the end of April.” Vodka plays large in this book. Tesson (who is French, with Russian heritage) is a gifted writer, about the wilderness, the flora and fauna, about the alone-ness, the introspection. Mostly he ate pasta with Tabasco. No other sauce. Many shots of vodka every day. Drunkenness plays a serious role too – what else is there to do, you might ask? He lived there for about a year. I’d have lasted a week, no more.

The Auburn Conference by Tom Piazza. Another one, given my druthers I’m not sure I’d have picked up. For one of my book clubs. Excellent writing. 1883, upstate NY. A young professor decides to make a name for himself and puts on an event, inviting many literary luminaries of the day (Mark Twain, Frederick Douglass, Herman Melville, Forrest Taylor and a romance novelist [the outlier] Lucy Comstock). Part panel discussion, part private conversations, the author weaves a tale of discord, some moderate yelling, some rascism and much ridicule of the romance novelist. Also some words of wisdom, maybe not from the authors you’d have expected. Unusual book.

As Bright as Heaven, by Susan Meissner. 1918. Philadelphia. About a young family arriving with the highest of hopes. Then the Spanish Flu hits and dashes everything. You’ll learn a whole lot about that particular virulent flu and the tragic aftermath. Really good read.

Hour of the Witch, by Chris Bohjalian. Boston, 1662. A young woman becomes the 2nd wife of a powerful man, a cruel man. She determines to leave him, something just “not done” back then. Twists and turns, she’s accused of being a witch. Story of survival, and a redeeming love too.

My Oxford Year, by Julia Whelan. At 24, a young woman is honored with a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford. She’s older than most of her fellow classmates, and as an American, doesn’t fit in very well. She’s left a good job back home, but determines to try to work some for the political campaign job she’s left, and also do the work for her Oxford scholarship. She meets a professor. Oh my. Such an interesting book. I loved learning about the culture of Oxford, and there’s a fascinating romance too, somewhat a forbidden one with said professor.

Madame Pommery, by Rebecca Rosenberg. I love champagne. Have read a number of books over the years (novels) about the region (and I’ve visited there once). This is real history, though in a novelized form. Madame Pommery was widowed, and determined she would blaze a trail that was not well received (no women in the champagne business for starters). And she decides to make a different, less sweet version. She’s hated and reviled, but sticks to her guns, veering away from the then very sweet version all the winemakers were producing. Fascinating story.

The Wager, by David Grann. A true tale of shipwreck, mutiny and murder back in the 1740s. Not exactly my usual genre of reading, but once I heard about the book, I decided I needed to read it. This is a novelized version of the story, based on the facts of an English shipwreck, first off Brazil, then later off Chile. Of the men, their struggle to survive (and many didn’t). Yes, there’s murder involved, and yes, there’s mutiny as well. Those who survived stood trial back in England many years later. Riveting read.

Before We Were Yours, by Lisa Wingate. 1939. A shantyboat in the backwaters of the Mississippi River. A 12-year old girl is left to care for her younger siblings when her mother is taken ill. A mystery ensues, and soon officials chase these youngsters to take them into an orphanage, one that became infamous for “selling” the children, weaving wild tales of their provenance. Dual timeline, you read about a successful young attorney who returns home to help her father, and questions come up about the family history. Fascinating read. You’ll learn about this real abominable woman, Georgia Tann, who profited by her “sales.”

The Vaster Wilds, by Lauren Goff. This tells the story of a young servant girl, in the aftermath of the starvation in Jamestown, the beleaguered town that virtually disappeared because the people weren’t prepared for the harshness of survival in those days. She escapes before the demise of the town and heads west, with nothing but the clothes she’s wearing. She survives longer than you might think, and encounters a lot of interesting experiences and people. Very interesting historical read.

Lady Tan’s Circle of Woman, Lisa See. Historical fiction, from 1469, Ming Dynasty, China. Based on the true story, however, about a young woman mostly raised by her grandmother who is a well known physician. Her grandfather is a scholarly physician, her grandmother, more an herbalist, or like a pharmacist of the day. Tan eventually marries into a family and is immediately subjugated by the matriarch, who won’t allow her to practice any of her healing arts. Quite a story, and also about how she eventually does treat women (women “doctors” were only allowed to treat women) as a midwife and herbalist. You’ll learn a whole lot about the use of flowers and herbs for healing and about the four humors.

Winter Garden, by Kristen Hannah. Quite a story, taking place in Washington State with apple orchards forming a backdrop and family business. Two sisters, never much friends even when they were young, return home to help care for their ailing father. Their mother? What an enigma. She took no part in raising them, yet she lived in the home. She cooked for the family, but rarely interacted. Yet her father adored his wife, their mother. How do they bridge the gulf between each other and also with their mother. Another page turner from Kristen Hannah.

Trail of the Lost, by Andrea Lankford. Not my usual genre. This is nonfiction, about Lankford who has plenty of credentials for rescue services, and is an avid hiker herself, determines to try to find some missing people who have disappeared off the face of the earth on the Pacific Crest Trail. It’s about how rescues work, everything from the disconnect between active citizens who want to help, and seemingly the unwillingness of authorities to share information. Not exactly a positive for law enforcement in this book. Really fascinating. There are hundreds of people who have disappeared off various long hike trails in the U.S. This is about four who were hiking (separately and at different times) on the PCT.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin. I’ve never been a “gamer.” Not by any standard definition, anyway. Not like people who really get into games, adventure, killers, etc. And this book isn’t a game .. . but it’s a novel (and a great story, I might add) about how these games come into being. How they’re invented, how they morph. First there were two college students, then a third person is added, and they end up creating a wildly popular game. A company is born. And it goes from there. Mostly it’s about the people, their relationships, but set amidst the work of creating and running a gaming company. Not all fun and games, pun intended.

Remarkably Bright Creatures, by Shelby Van Pelt. Oh gosh, what a fabulous book. It’s a novel; however, much of the story is about the intelligence of octopus. In particular this one, Marcellus, who lives in an aquarium in a fictitious town in western Washington State. More than anything the book is about relationships, not only Marcellus with a woman (of a certain age) who cleans the aquarium at night, but the various people in this small town.

Trust, by Herman Diaz. This novel is an enigma in so many ways. It’s a book, within a book, within a book. About the stock market crash back in 1929, but it’s about a man. Oh my. It’s really interesting. This book won the Pulitzer. That’s why I bought it.

Cassidy Hutchinson is a young woman (a real one) who works in politics or “government.” She’s worked for some prestigious Washington politicians, and ended up working for Trump. The book is a memoir of her short spin working at the highest levels, and obviously at the White House. She worked under Mark Meadows and suffered a lot of ridicule when she quit. Truth and lies . . . when she couldn’t live with herself and subvert the truth. Enough, gives you plenty of detail leading up to and after the January 6th uprising. She testified to Congress about what she knew. Really interesting. I almost never read books about politics because I think many (most?) of our elected politicians succumb to the lure of power and forget who they work for, us, the public.

Becoming Dr. Q, by Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, MD, is an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Oncology at Johns Hopkins University. This is his memoir about how he went from being a penniless migrant from Mexico to one of the world’s most renowned experts in brain tumors.

The Invincible Miss Cust, by Penny Haw.  In 1868 Ireland, a woman wasn’t allowed to attend veterinary school, much less become a veterinarian. It took  years of trying (to the horror of her aristocratic family) and finally someone took her under their wing, she enrolled using a pseudonym (a name not revealing her gender). This is a true story of Aleen Isabel Cust, who did just that.

Her Heart for a Compass, by Sarah Ferguson (yes), the Duchess of York. I was pleasantly surprised as I read this book that it wasn’t the usual romantic romp – there’s more to this story than you might think. Ferguson utilizes some of her family ancestors as real characters in the book. Sweet story but with lots of twists and turns.

Someone Else’s Shoes, by Jojo Moyes.Nisha, our heroine, is a wealthy socialite. She thinks her life is perfect. At the gym someone else grabs her gym bag, so she grabs the similar one. Then she finds out her husband is leaving her and he’s locked her out of their high-rise apartment. She’s penniless. No attorney will take her on. She has nothing but this gym bag belonging to someone else (who?).

The Eleventh Man, Ivan Doig. What a story. Ben, part of a Montana college football team in the 1940s, joins the service during WWII. So do all of his eleven teammates. After suffering some injuries in pilot training he is recruited by a stealthy military propaganda machine. His job is to write articles about his teammates as they are picked off at various battle theaters around the Pacific and Europe. Ben goes there, in person, to fuel the stories. Ivan Doig is a crafty writer; I’ve read several of his books, my favorite being The Whistling Season.

Wavewalker, by Suzanne Heywood. Oh my goodness. A memoir about a very young English girl who goes off with her besotted and narcissistic parents and her brother on a years-long sailing journey supposedly following the route of James Cook. A very old, decrepit 70-foot schooner. Four people, 2 sort-of adults and 2 children. Sometimes a helper or two. A seasick mother. A dad who is driven to the extreme, whatever the damage he creates. She spent 10 years aboard.

Claire Keegan wrote Small Things Like These. It’s won a lot of awards, and shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Takes place in Ireland. Some profound questions come up in this novella, about complicity, about restitution. There’s a convent nearby, and attached one of those places young girls were sent if they found themselves “in the family way,” and about how the church helped, supposedly, by taking the children and placing them in homes, without consent. It’s ugly, the truth of the matter. Really good read.

Nicholas Sparks isn’t an author I read very often because his books are pretty sappy, but daughter Sara recommended this one, The Longest Ride. It begins with Ira (age 93), stuck in his car as it plunges off the edge of a road, and it’s snowing. As the hours tick by, he reminisces about his life.

The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind, by Barbara Lipska. Interesting that I’ve read two books recently about the brain (see Doctor Q above). This is a true story about a woman, a neuroscientist, who developed a metastatic melanoma in the brain.

The Price of Inheritance, by Karin Tanabe. This is a mystery, of sorts. Our heroine is an up and coming employee at Christie’s (auction house). In bringing a large collection of expensive art to auction, she makes a misstep about the provenance of a desk. She’s fired. She goes back to her roots, takes a job at a small antique store where she used to work.

The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese. Did you read Cutting for Stone, years ago, by this author? Such a good book, so I knew I’d enjoy this one, and oh, did I!. The book takes place in a little known area of southern India, and chronicles a variety of people over a few generations, who inhabit the place.

Finding Dorothy, by Elizabeth Letts. My friend Dianne recommended this book to me, and it was so special. Loved it beginning to end. It’s based on the story of 77-year old Maud Gage Baum (her husband Frank Baum wrote The Wizard of Oz).

The Bandit Queens, by Parini Shroff. It’s about a young Indian woman, Geeta, as she tries her best to make a living after her husband leaves her. Yet the community she lives in, thinks Geeta murdered him.

Attribution, by Linda Moore. We follow art historian Cate, as she struggles to succeed in her chosen field against sexist advisors. She finds what she thinks is a hidden painting.

The Measure, Nikki Erlick. Oh my goodness. This story grabbed me from about the third sentence. Everyone in the world finds a wooden box on their doorstep, or in front of their camper or tent, that contains a string. Nothing but a string. The author has a vivid imagination (I admire that) and you just will not believe the various reactions (frenzy?) from people who are short-stringers, or long-stringers.

The Book Spy by Alan Hlad. True stories, but in novel form, of a special Axis group of men and women librarians and microfilm specialists, sent to strategic locations in Europe to acquire and scour newspapers, books, technical manuals and periodicals, for information about German troop locations, weaponry and military plans of WWII. I was glued to the book beginning to end. Fascinating accounts.

A Dangerous Business, Jane Smiley. What a story. 1850s gold rush, story of two young prostitutes, finding their way in a lawless town in the Wild West. There’s a murder, or two, or three, or some of the town’s prostitutes, and the two women set out to solve the crime.

Storm Watch, by C. J. Box. I’m such a fan of his tales of Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett’s adventures catching criminals. Loved it, just like I’ve loved every one of his books.

Defiant Dreams, by Sola Mahfouz. True story about the author, born in Afghanistan in 1996. This is about her journey to acquire an education. It’s unbelievable what the Taliban does to deter and forbid women from bettering themselves.

Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. This is fairly light read, a novel – but interesting, about the meaning behind many flowers.

The Rome Apartment, by Kerry Fisher. Such a cute story. Maybe not an interesting read for a man. It’s about Beth, whose husband has just left her, and her daughter has just gone off to college. Beth needs a new lease on life, so she rents a room from a woman who lives in Rome.

All the Beauty in the World, a memoir by Patrick Bringley. Absolutely LOVED this book. Bringley was at loose ends and accepted a job as a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. He’d been a journalist at The New Yorker magazine, but after his brother was ill and died, he needed refreshing. After his training at the museum, he moves from room to room, guarding the precious art, and learning all about the pieces and the painters or sculptors.

The Queen’s Lady, by Joanna Hickson. I love stories about Tudor England, and this one didn’t disappoint. Joan Guildford is a lady in waiting to Queen Elizabeth. Oh my goodness are there twists and turns.

Once in awhile I’m ready to read another Louise Penny mystery. This time it was World of Curiosities. Usually I’d write something wonderful regarding “another tome about Three Pines.” Not going to say it this time. Three Pines becomes a sinister place. Murders (many).

Over the years I’ve read many of Jodi Picoult’s books. This, her newest, or very new, is called Mad Honey. Oh, my. This book is beyond Picoult’s usual borders, but then she always writes edgy books. That’s her genre. This one is written with a co-author, a woman who is gay (I think) and also a trans-gender.

Philippa Gregory is one of my fav authors. Just finished her 3rd (and last, I think) in the Fairmile series called Dawnlands. If you scroll down below you’ll find the 2nd book in the series, Tidelands. Very interesting about English history, but about the same families from the first book in the group. Loved it, as I loved all of them.

Am currently reading Rutherfurd’s long, long book, Paris. I love these involved historical novels about a place (he’s written many about specific places in the world). It’s a saga that goes back and forth in time, following the travails of various people and families, through thick and thin. Some of it during the era of the King Louis’ (plural, should I say Louies?). Very interesting about some of the city’s history and royalty.

Although this book says A Christmas Memory, by Richard Paul Evans, it’s not just about Christmas. A young boy is the hero here, but really an older widower man who lives next door plays a pivotal part of this book.

Wish You Were Here, by Jodi Picoult. Another page-turner. I loved this book. A thirty-something woman, about to take a trip with her boyfriend, when Covid breaks out. Covid plays a major role in this book, beginning to end. She decides to go anyway as her boyfriend is a doctor and cannot leave. She ends up on a remote Galapagos island, and you go along with her – with people she meets, the life she leads, the isolation she experiences, the loneliness she feels, but the joy of nature is a sustaining aspect.

Not everyone wants to read food memoirs. When I saw Sally Schmitt had written a memoir, titled Six California Kitchens, I knew I wanted to read it. I met Sally a few times over the years when I visited Napa Valley, and bought some of her famous pickled items, chutneys, jams, etc. She was the original chef at The French Laundry, before it became truly famous by Thomas Keller.

Being a fan of Vivian Howard (from her TV show), when I saw she’d written another book, I knew I should buy it. This Will Make It Taste Good is such an unusual name for a cookbook, but once you get into the groove of the book, you’ll understand. What’s here are recipes for some “kitchen heroes” she calls them. They’re condiments. They’re food additions, they’re flavor enhancers.

As soon as it came out, I ordered Spare, by Prince Harry. I’ve always been interested in the Royal Family.

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri. Usually I don’t seek out short stories. I might have purchased this book without realizing it was. There aren’t that many stories – each one gets you very ingrained in the characters. I love her writing, and would think each story in this book could be made into a full-fledged novel.

A Lantern in Her Hand, by Beth Streeter Aldrich. A very interesting and harrowing story of early pioneer days in the Midwest (Nebraska I think); covered wagon time up to about 80 years later as the heroine, Abbie Deal, and her husband start a family in a small town.

The Messy Lives of Book People, by Phaedra Patrick. From amazon’s page: Mother of two Liv Green barely scrapes by as a maid to make ends meet, often finding escape in a good book while daydreaming of becoming a writer herself. So she can’t believe her luck when she lands a job housekeeping for her personal hero, mega-bestselling author Essie Starling, a mysterious and intimidating recluse.

Four Seasons in Rome by Anthony Doerr. I’m a fan of this author and relished reading his book about a year in his personal life, with his wife and very new, newborn twins. Doerr was given an auspicious award – a year of study in Rome, with apartment and a stipend. There are four chapters, by season.

Kristin Hannah’s Distant Shores is quite a read. Some described it as like a soap opera. Not me. Interesting character development of a couple who married young. She put her own career/wants/desires aside to raise their children. He forged ahead with his life dreams. The children grow up and move on. Then he’s offered a huge promotion across the country. She’s torn – she doesn’t want to be in New York, but nothing would get in the way of his career.

Oh, William! by Elizabeth Strout. Lucy Barton is divorced. But she’s still sort of friendly with her ex. It’s complicated. Out of the blue he asks her to go on a trip with him to discover something about his roots.

Tidelands,  by Philippa Gregory. It tells the tale of a peasant woman, Alinor (an herbalist and midwife), who lives barely above the poverty level, trying to raise two children, during the time of great turmoil in England, the rancorous civil war about Charles 1.

Read Reminders of Him, by Colleen Hoover. A page turner of a story. A young woman is convicted of a crime (young and foolish type). Once released her sole purpose is to be a part of her daughter’s life.

The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty. Oh my goodness. The wicked webs we weave. How in the world did the author even come UP with this wild story, but she did, and it kept me glued. Sophie walked away from her wedding day, and always wondered if she made the wrong decision.

Very funny and poignant story, Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, by Elizabeth Taylor (no, not that one). Mrs. Palfrey, a woman of a certain age, moves into an old folks’ home in London. It’s a sort of hotel, but has full time elderly quirky residents.

For one of my book clubs we read Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus. This book is so hard to describe. Elizabeth is a wizard at chemistry and struggles to be recognized for her intelligence and research. She meets a man at her company who is brilliant too. They make quite a pair. They have a child, then he suddenly dies. Her work isn’t taken seriously, so she leaves her employment and becomes an overnight phenom on a cooking show where she uses the chemical names for things like sodium chloride, etc. You go alongside her struggles, and her raising of her daughter. LOTS of humor, lots to discuss for a book club.

Horse. Oh my, is it a page turner. Loved it from the first page to the last. Sad when it ended. It’s a fictional creation but based on a real racehorse owned by a black man, back in the 1850s. Technically, the story is about a painting of the horse but there are many twists and turns. If you’ve ever enjoyed Brooks’ books in the past, this one won’t disappoint.

The Book of Lost Names, by Kristin Harmel (no, not Hannah). Certainly a little-known chunk of history about a woman who becomes a master forger during WWII to help get Jewish children out of France. Not easy to read, meaning the difficulty of anyone finding the means and place to DO the forgery and right under the noses of the Nazis. Really good read.

Liane Moriarty’s first novel, Three Wishes, follows the travails of adult triplets, so different, yet similar in many ways. Two are identical, the third is not. So alike, and so not. It takes you through a series of heart-wrenching events, seemingly unrelated, but ones that could bring a family to its breaking point and test the bonds of love and strength.

Recently I’ve read both of Erin French’s books, her cookbook, The Lost Kitchen, and since then her memoir, Finding Freedom. About her life growing up (difficult) about her coming of age mostly working in the family diner, flipper burgers and fries (and learning how much she liked to cook). Now she’s a very successful restaurant entrepreneur (The Lost Kitchen is also the name of her restaurant) in the minuscule town of Freedom, Maine. She’s not a classically trained chef, but she’s terrifically creative. See her TV series on Discover+ if you subscribe.

Jo Jo Moyes has a bunch of books to her credit. And she writes well, with riveting stories. Everything I’ve read of hers has been good. This book, The Girl You Left Behind, is so different, so intriguing, so controversial and a fascinating historical story. There are two timelines here, one during WWI, in France, when a relatively unknown painter (in the style of Matisse) paints a picture of his wife. The war intervenes for both the husband and the wife.

Eli Shafak’s Island of Missing Trees. This book was just a page turner. If you’ve never read anything about the conflict in Cyprus (the island) between the Turks and the Greeks, you’re in for a big history lesson here. But, the entire story centers around a fig tree. You get into the head/brain/feelings of this big fig tree which plays a very central part of the story. You’ll learn a lot about animals, insects (ants, mosquitos, butterflies) and other flora and fauna of Cyprus.

Also read Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty. Ohhh my, such a good book. I couldn’t put it down. Whatever you do, do not read the ending before you start the book. I’ve never understood people who do this. The book chronicles the day a mom just ups and disappears. The grown children come back home, in panic. The dad isn’t much help, and he becomes the prime suspect of foul play. There is no body, however.

If you’d like a mystery read, try Dete Meserve’s The Space Between. It’s just the kind of page-turner I enjoy – a wife returns to her home after being away on business for a few days, to find her husband missing and what he’s left for her is an unexplained bank deposit of a million dollars, a loaded Glock in the nightstand, and a video security system that’s been wiped clean.

Read Alyson Richman’s historical novel called The Velvet Hours. Most of the book takes place in Paris, with a young woman and her grandmother, a very wealthy (but aging) woman who led a life of a semi-courtesan. Or at least a kept woman. But this grandmother was very astute and found ways to invest her money, to grow her money, and to buy very expensive goods. Then WWII intervenes, and the granddaughter has to close up her grandmother’s apartment, leaving it much the way it had been throughout her grandmother’s life, to escape the Nazis. Years go by, and finally answers are sought and found. An intriguing book, based on the author’s experience with an apartment that had been locked up similarly for decades, also in Paris.

Susan Meissner is one of my favorite authors. This book, The Nature of Fragile Things tells a very unusual story. About a young Irish immigrant, desperate to find a way out of poverty, answers an ad for a mail order bride.

Also read Rachel Hauck’s The Writing Desk. You could call this a romance. A young professional, a writer of one successful book, has writer’s block. Then she’s asked to go to Florida to help her mother (from whom she’s mostly estranged) through chemo. She goes, hoping she can find new inspiration.

Also recently finished The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish. The book goes backwards and forwards in time, from the 1600s in London with the day-to-day lives of a group of Jews (who had to be very careful about how they worshiped) to current day as an old house is discovered to hold a treasure-trove of historical papers.

Colleen Hoover has written quite a book, It Ends with Us: A Novel, with a love story being the central theme, but again, this book is not for everyone – it can be an awakening for any reader not acquainted with domestic violence and how such injury can emerge as innocent (sort of) but then becomes something else. There is graphic detail here.

Nicolas Barreau’s novel Love Letters from Montmartre: A Novel  is very poignant, very sweet book. Seems like I’ve read several books lately about grieving; this one has a charming ending, but as anyone who has gone through a grave loss of someone dear knows, you can’t predict day to day, week to week. “Snap out of it,” people say, thinking they’re helping.

Another very quirky book, that happens to contain a lot of historical truth is The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World: A Novel by Harry N. Abrams. Set in Japan just after the tsunami 10 years ago when 18,000 people died. At a private park miles away, some very special people installed a phone booth, with a phone (that didn’t work) at the edge of the park, and the survivors of the tsunami began wending their way there to “talk” to their deceased loved ones. Very poignant story.

No question, the most quirky book I’ve read of late, a recommendation from my friend Karen, West with Giraffes: A Novel by Lynda Rutledge. Back in the 1930s a small group of giraffes were brought across the Atlantic from Africa to New York, destined for the then-growing San Diego Zoo. The story is of their journey across the United States in the care of two oh-so-different people, both with a mission.

Could hardly put down Krueger’s book, This Tender Land: A Novel. Tells the harrowing story of a young boy, Odie, (and his brother Albert) who became orphans back in the 30s. At first there is a boarding school, part of an Indian (Native American) agreement, though they are not Indian. They escape, and they are “on the run.”

Just finished Kristin Hannah’s latest book, The Four Winds: A Novel. What a story. One I’ve never read about, although I certainly have heard about the “dust bowl” years when there was a steady migration of down-and-out farmers from the Midwest, to California, for what they hoped to be the American Dream. It tells the story of one particular family, the Martinellis, the grandparents, their son, his wife, and their two children.

Also finished reading Sue Monk Kidd’s recent book, The Book of Longings: A Novel. It is a book that might challenge some Christian readers, as it tells the tale of Jesus marrying a woman named Mary. I loved the book from the first word to the last one. The book is believable to me, even though the Bible never says one way or the other that Jesus ever married. It’s been presumed he never did. But maybe he did?

Jeanine Cummins has written an eye-opener, American Dirt. A must read. Oh my goodness. I will never, ever, ever look at Mexican (and further southern) migrants, particularly those who are victims of the vicious cartels, without sympathy. It tells the story of a woman and her young son, who were lucky enough to hide when the cartel murdered every member of her family – her husband, her mother, and many others. It’s about her journey and escape to America.

Also read JoJo Moyes’ book, The Giver of Stars. Oh gosh, what a GREAT book. Alice joins the Horseback Librarians in the rural south.

Frances Liardet has written a blockbuster tale, We Must Be Brave. I can’t recommend this book highly enough. Although the scene is WWII England, this book is not really about the war. It’s about the people at home, waiting it out, struggling with enough food, clothing and enough heat.

William Kent Krueger wrote Ordinary Grace. From amazon: a brilliantly moving account of a boy standing at the door of his young manhood, trying to understand a world that seems to be falling apart around him. It is an unforgettable novel about discovering the terrible price of wisdom and the enduring grace of God. It’s a coming of age story.

A Column of Fire: A Novel by Ken Follett. It takes place in the 1500s, in England, and has everything to do with the war between the Catholics and the Protestants, that raged throughout Europe during that time, culminating in the Spanish Inquisition.

My Name Is Resolute by Nancy Turner. She’s the author of another book of some renown, These is my Words:

The Shepherd’s Life: Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape by James Rebanks. This is a memoir, so a true story, of a young man growing up in the Lake District of Northern England, who becomes a shepherd. Not just any-old shepherd – actually a well educated one. He knows how to weave a story.

 

Tasting Spoons

My blog's namesake - small, old and some very dented engraved silver plated tea spoons that belonged to my mother-in-law, and I use them to taste my food as I'm cooking.

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Posted in Books, on January 26th, 2012.

Not every book I read ends up as an actual blog post. Most of them flit through my sidebar over on the left on my home page. Lots of books  get an honorable mention and a short write-up there and I don’t necessarily mention them here. So if you don’t actually GO to my website you’d not even know that I’ve read 5 books since Christmas. And this book I’m telling you about today isn’t one of the best written of books I’ve ever read, but it’s interesting. It’s about a subject you’d not find on very many blogs. But obviously, if I’m writing a blog post about it I found it noteworthy.

imageNeil White, the author of In the Sanctuary of Outcasts , has written a memoir of a year he spent in a prison in Louisiana. That, in itself, would hardly make this book noteworthy. But there’s a whole lot more to the story than that. Let me give you the background.

The author, prior to being sentenced to a year at this prison, was a highly successful entrepreneur. A college graduate. Smart. Likely he has some charisma thrown in too. The son of very successful parents. He was a hard worker. He was married with two young children. He led the kind of life lots of people would aspire to – he had a beautiful home, went on lavish vacations, had nice cars, dined out regularly in the best restaurants, and was well recognized in his town – lots of people wanted to know him. He thrived on the attention and accolades. He saw himself as a rising “star” in the media world. After starting up a newspaper in a medium-sized southern city (it failed, actually) he decided to become a magazine publisher. He was good at that. He was able to sell advertising – he was exceedingly good with people. There’s that charisma thing, I’m sure, although he never mentions that word. He’s an idea man too. Always thinking about where he’s going to make his name, where he’d make his “big break,” to get into the big time. He was never quite satisfied with where he was (career-wise). One more magazine, one more something. All requiring more cash to start and run. He borrowed money. He asked friends and family members to invest in his dream. They did. They believed in him. Saw no red flags.

Obviously, he wasn’t quite as good at looking at the bottom line. A few people (companies) couldn’t quite pay their advertising bills. The problem was, Neil had already spent or used the money. He factored his income in the publishing business (a common enough tactic for small companies, although not always wise); he borrowed money from Peter to pay Paul. I’d not realized until I read this book what “kiting checks” really meant (it’s fraud). He’d write checks from one account to pay another, and likewise that one to pay yet another. When you do it with different banks, it may take awhile for someone to catch on, especially since he’d do most of the transacting minutes before the close of the day. He’d convinced himself he wasn’t doing anything wrong. He got caught (rightly so) and was sentenced to a year in this low-level, minimum security prison called Carville, in Louisiana. He lost absolutely everything.

To say that Neil White had a big ego is an understatement. When he reported for his year of incarceration, he still had a pretty big ego going. He was embarrassed about what happened. He felt badly for his wife and children (and on the advice of a therapist he and his wife decided to tell their two children that Daddy was going to “camp”). He had duped a lot of people, many family members included, who all lost money in their misguided belief in him. In prison he felt like he didn’t belong – the business-dandy that he was, was “above” these uneducated prisoners from all walks of life. He never had worn an un-ironed shirt. He had been obsessive about cologne and cleanliness. He had to adjust to wrinkled uniforms, no privacy, no doors anywhere, lights on 24-hours a day. Yet within days he was already mentally scheming how he was going to do an exposé about prison life at Carville.  How would he do that? Well, he discovered right off, that this prison also housed (not imprisoned) the last survivors in the United States who have Hansen’s Disease (leprosy).

Because I think you should read this book, I don’t want to give away everything about the story. Here I’ve shared quite a bit about the author’s background. And hardly anything about the facts of leprosy, its progression, the medication now used to stop its advancement. Or about the people who live at Carville. I am telling you about the author’s abhorrence of catching the disease had him holding his breath sometimes – this, when we first arrived at the prison. And yet, eventually, with time, he learns more about the disease and befriends several of the patients and inmates in the prison. (There are inmates – like him – and patients like those with leprosy – and also there were inmate patients – prisoners who were too ill to be in some other prisons). There was a separation between the groups, but because it was a minimum security prison, it wasn’t too difficult to figure out ways to get around the rules about not fraternizing. Most of the inmates wanted nothing to do with the Hansen’s patients. They stayed clear of them for fear they’d “catch” it.

During the year, Neil White learns a whole lot about himself. Discovers how much he cares about these people – the Hansen’s patients, particularly a few special ones. They teach him a lot about life; they make him look into himself for answers; fortunately for him, he listens to them, although he’s hard-headed. It would be easy to dismiss this book as an ex-con’s way of making a living after his release, but you’d be missing the gist of the story, which is about Hansen’s Disease and what happens to all of the people who live there. These people who have no other home. It’s a story that needed telling, even if it is cloaked in a small book about one man’s prison journey. If you don’t read this book you’ll miss out on the redeeming value this book offers you, a friend, or someone in your family, perhaps, who has made a wrong-turn in life. In the process you’ll learn a whole lot about leprosy, which is something everyone should better understand. If you go to Neil White’s website, you can see a few photos of the prison. This book may not be for everyone. And, of course, since it’s a memoir, there’s no way of knowing whether everything he recounts in the book, is true. Neil White talks about that in the book – about how he was told by several people to not believe what both inmates and Hansen’s patients had told him. That they embellish or outright lie. Since truth became an important word to Neil White during his year, I’d like to think this book speaks it. I’m very glad I read it.

National Hansen’s Disease Museum (Wikipedia)

Karen’s Orphans and Forgotten Residents

Posted in Books, Uncategorized, on November 28th, 2011.

last_chinese_chef_book_coverAwhile ago a friend told me to read the book The Last Chinese Chef: A Novel by Nicole Mones (who also wrote Lost in Translation).

I promptly visited the bookstore and bought a hard copy. Usually I read books on my Kindle, but this time, since it was about cooking, I assumed I might want the actual book in hand. It’s been on my bedside table for a couple of months and I’d just had too many other books to read first. When I started reading this one, though, a day or two ago, I could hardy put it down.

The book was enchanting. And I know next to nothing about Chinese cooking. I used to eat Chinese with some regularity. BUT. Then I married a diabetic, and we did eat Chinese food occasionally, but once the medical world figured out that counting carbs in a meal was what spelled the secret to diabetic control, well, going to Chinese restaurants became a very risky proposition. When I cook anything Asian at home I have to put the recipe into my MasterCook program and guesstimate how large a serving he will have so I can tell him how many carbs he’s eating. And it’s never precise unless you literally measure out each serving.

We live in an area where there are some well-renowned Chinese restaurants (in the San Gabriel Valley mostly, east of downtown Los Angeles, about 40 miles north of where we live). I’ve never been to any of them. I’d like to. But it would be difficult for my DH as no waiter can ever tell him how many carbs are in  any meal we eat out, Chinese or any other food for that matter. It’s always a guessing game.

All that said, what it means is that I don’t know much about Chinese cuisine, other than a few very lame Chinese-American dishes that I make now and then. What makes it hard is the use of unusual sauces and additions. If it’s just meat and veggies – no problem. But usually there’s a sauce involved, as with most other Asian cuisines.. Many of the contain sugar – like oyster sauce, or kung pao sauce, etc. Very unpredictable, is what it is!  Sometimes I go out for Thai when my DH is away for an evening. I relish the opportunity.

THE BOOK: So, when I started to read this book, I was mesmerized right away by it. It IS a novel; but you get engrossed in the story almost immediately. A middle-aged woman finds out a year after her husband’s sudden death (from an accident) that a woman in China claims her daughter is her husband’s, conceived from a one-night-stand some years before. A claim is made against the husband’s estate (because he worked on occasional for a few weeks at a time in China). The couple was childless, supposedly a mutual decision between husband-wife. The news is devastating to the widow, who begins to question everything she ever thought she had in her marriage. She goes to China to find out the truth, and also goes there with a purpose (she’s a writer) to follow a Chinese-American chef who is competing in a nationwide culinary competition.

Part of the book is about her determining the truth (through DNA), and part of the book is about this Chinese-American chef in the competition. He speaks English, since he grew up in America, yet he has a strong Chinese culinary heritage (supposedly the grandson of a very famous Imperial Dynasty chef – before the Cultural Revolution). An attraction develops between these two people, yet the story is studded with interesting facts and quotations from the (fictitious) book written by the grandfather, this dynastic chef. Visits to Chinese family ensue, frantic cooking takes place prior to the competition, and in between encounters with the chef and his family, the widow makes her way around discovering facts about her husband’s affair.

What I learned by reading this book was all about the symbolism in Chinese cooking. About how every dish allows the soul to shine through. Quotes (supposedly from the cookbook/book written by the grandfather) scatter throughout, and some famous (real) Chinese poetry too. The quote I liked the best is this from the fictitious book:

The major cuisines of China were brought into being for different purposes, and for different kinds of diners. Beijing food was the cuisine of officials and rulers, up to the Emperor. Shanghai food was created for the wealthy traders and merchants. From Sichuan came the food of the common people, for as we all know, some of the best-known Sichuan dishes originated in street stalls. Then there is Hangzhou, whence came the cuisine of the literati. This is food that takes poetry as its principal inspiration. From commemorating great poems of the past to dining on candlelit barges afloat upon the West Lake where wine is drunk and new poems are created. Hangzhou cuisine strives always to delight men of letters. The aesthetic symmetry between food and literature is a pattern without end. . . . . Liang Wei, The Last Chinese Chef

But remember, this is a work of fiction. As I read the quotes/anchors at the beginning of each chapter (all from this fictitious book written by the grandfather) I was quite charmed by the writer’s (Nicole Mones) creativity. I was so prepared to believe what this Imperial chef had written. His mantras. His lessons regarding his country’s cuisine. In the end, it’s a bit of a love story too. Beautifully written and crafted. Even if you don’t have a lot of interest in Chinese cooking, I think you’ll find this book very enlightening. Very educational without feeling like it is, and immensely entertaining.

Posted in Books, on November 19th, 2011.

tractor wheels and high heelsReally, I wasn’t sure I’d ever read Ree Drummond’s book (memoir),  her story of meeting and marrying Marlboro Man. Yes, I was interested, although over the years I’d read parts of her story on her blog, which I’ve been following for several years. To buy it, well, maybe not. BUT, she’s pretty amazing – that I knew. She’s a very clever writer. She’s pretty. Cute. And after reading her blog for so long, I feel like I know her. Like she could be a friend of mine – except that she lives in the middle of nowhere near Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Not exactly a place close to anybody’s radar. But I feel like I could just walk into her kitchen and be right at home. And she’d serve me a glass of her iced coffee (she says she drinks gallons every day), introduce me to her 4 children who would be quietly (ha) studying at their desks as she’s homeschooling them, while she’s whipping up a dinner for 20, taking 4000 photos, writing a post for her blog, Photoshop’ing all 4000 of those photos, and pulling on several different pairs of her infamous cowboy boots. I’d meet Charlie (the basset hound) who would be lounging on the leather sofa. She’s written a book about Charlie too. And, of course, meeting Marlboro Man, her very handsome husband. What this woman is, is a marketing genius. But it’s all surrounded in her homespun, self-deprecating voice – that voice – a person –  who could be your next door neighbor, your cousin down the street, or your best friend from high school. I love all that about her. She has a HUGE following. I mean huge.

Her recent episodes on the Food Network were very fun. Seeing her live, in her own element, at the Lodge, the house her husband’s family uses for guests and events. Seeing her husband (shy) and her 4 kids (adorable), and numerous members of her extended family was great. I have her first cookbook – The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl. Actually I don’t know that I’ve cooked anything from the book. But I loved the photos of their cattle ranch. I’ve thought about buying the book about Charlie (a children’s story) – Charlie the Ranch Dog for my grandson. But he favors cats since that’s what they have in their house. She’s also written a sequel cookbook – The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from My Frontier that will be released in 2012. Did you hear me say she’s a marketing genius? But she also gives away oodles of stuff from her blog. And I shouldn’t forget to mention her comprehensive Tasty Kitchen website too.

So anyway, I was at the library recently, and there was her book The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels–A Love Story –  right there on the shelf. I glanced through it (no photos). Oh well, I took it home anyway. But first, I needed to read the new Philippa Gregory book – The Lady of the Rivers: A Novel (The Cousins’ War), which I rented from the library actually, and had to return in a week. By the way, that is one fascinating story, revolving around the reign of King Henry VI, England’s boy king, his wives, and told from the voice of one of the Queen’s ladies in waiting (a real person, though there’s never been anything written about her). It was such a good story I found myself going to my computer several times to read online about the actual history of that period (c. 1450). This is a brand new hardback book, and since buying books on my Kindle these days are getting more and more pricey, I decided to try the library. The week cost me $1.50.

Once I finished the above book I opened up Ree’s memoir and started reading. And I read. And I read. I don’t read romance novels except on very rare occasions. But then, this isn’t a novel – it’s a memoir of her own life, about a year in her life. It’s spicy and steamy without any graphic detail. It’s LOL funny. A few nights ago I was lying in bed reading – again, I could hardly put it down – and was laughing and laughing and laughing. My DH thought I was nuts – although he knows all about Ree Drummond because I told him about her – and he watched all of the Food Network episodes. In her book, though, you’ll read about linguine with clam sauce. About Ladd’s starched blue denim shirts, his Wranglers, and his chaps. About their dates (let me tell you, there really isn’t much to do near Pawhuska Oklahoma!). About their wedding, their honeymoon, and a whole lot about her first pregnancy. And all from her hysterically funny voice. I finished it last night and didn’t want it to end. It’s a good thing I have her blog to go to, that’s all I can say.

Posted in Books, on March 25th, 2011.

 

immortal-life200_customIt’s not very often that I do a blog post about a book I’ve read. I’m an avid reader, mostly books I download onto my Kindle. I’m in two book groups. And this book is one I read for one of these groups. I do update my left sidebar regularly which contains a section all about what I’m reading, in case you rarely go look at my actual blog site, but read my posts through a blog reader.

I’d read about this book in a magazine sometime last year, and thought it sounded interesting, so I was glad when one of my groups decided to read it.

Have you ever heard of HeLa cells? You’re about to learn. From the moment I ticked my Kindle to the first page, I could hardly put it down. This is NOT a book of fiction. It’s a true story. About Henrietta Lacks, a very poor black woman who found out in 1950 that she had cervical cancer. She was treated at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, a hospital that was founded on the principles of providing health care to the needy and poor. She was treated in the “colored” section of the hospital. The treatment for such cancer at that time was limited. Radium rods were inserted in her cervix for a day or two, then removed, and it was hoped that the cancer would recede. In Henrietta’s case, it did not work, and she died some months later in 1951, her body consumed by malignant tumors. She was married with five children, one an infant. She was 28 years old.

helaBut, during the treatment her doctor removed a dime-sized piece of tissue from her cervix – cancerous tissue – and gave it to a colleague to test it. At the time, no lab researchers had been able to grow cancer cells in a petri dish or test tube, and the research lab within Johns Hopkins was attempting to grow cancerous tissue. They needed it in order to test possible treatments – the goal of trying to find a cure for cancer. After dividing the tiny piece of tissue into many even tinier pieces, the lab assistant put it aside to grow. A couple of days later the tiny pieces of tissue (cells) had not only grown, but they’d grown hugely. Henrietta’s doctor and the research colleague were thrilled. It was a huge breakthrough in medical science. The doctor gave samples of her cells to other researchers (at no charge). There was not a thought about marketing it – these were research physicians who were on a mission to cure cancer. And in the years since, many drugs have been developed to treat some diseases (like HIV and leukemia). All thanks to Henrietta Lacks.

Henrietta was not consulted about the small piece of tissue removed from her cancerous cervix. If she’d been asked, she might have agreed. But at the time, doctors (particularly those running clinics for the poor) simply took samples as a routine – from most patients. And most patients weren’t consulted. At the time such tissue samples were identified with a unique code – the first two letters of the patient’s first and last name. Hence we have HeLa. And HeLa cells are now, to this day, continuing to grow and thrive and provide fodder to cancer testing around the world. What’s unique about Henrietta’s cells is that they grow at an astounding rate – far faster than any other tissue ever grown from another tissue sample. So cancer testing can be done in a shorter period of time, speeding up the process. Laboratories and pharmaceutical companies and individual researchers buy HeLa cells now, and pay enormous sums for it. None of the profits ever went to Henrietta’s family. I do want to clarify here: according to the author, Johns Hopkins never profited from the growing of HeLa cells. They gave it away. It was other companies, laboratories, hospitals that decided to become profiteers of her cells.

Rebecca Skloot, the author, took 10 years writing this book. She’s a young woman – if you’re interested, check out her website.  She began researching HeLa when she was a graduate student, but it took years for the Lacks family to trust her. Part of the story involves several road trips Rebecca took with Henrietta’s daughter Deborah trying to find some further family history, with the push-pull of Deborah’s untrusting temperament. So many people had strung them along, promising, promising. There’s no question the research community as a whole mistreated the Lacks family. But court cases (regarding who owns tissue samples) that have taken place in the ensuing years clearly state that once something is removed from our bodies (like a malignant tumor, or a cyst) it is no longer owned by the patient. This brings up a lot of questions for people who have an interest in medical ethics. The author devotes 40+ pages as an afterword about the subject.

The author established a foundation from the proceeds of this book, to benefit the heirs of Henrietta Lacks – hopefully it will be used to send some of her great-grandchildren to college.

Writing more here about this book would be easy, but maybe too tedious for you to read. You owe it to yourself to read it. If you have a smidgen of interest in the medical field, you simply must read this book. Again, it’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Posted in Books, Uncategorized, on July 31st, 2010.

It’s been awhile since I started using Eat Your Books, and thought it was about time I told you something about it. So you can check it out yourself. If you’re an avid cook (well, you must be or you wouldn’t be reading my blog, right?) and have a whole collection of cookbooks and never know where or which book has what, this website is right up your alley.

The other night I wanted to fix cauliflower. This provides a perfect example of how you’d use EYB for cooking at your house. At Eat Your Books, or EYB for short. Somebody mentioned it on his/her blog a couple of months ago, and the website was offering a lower-priced sign-up bonus. Which I did. It wasn’t exactly cheap, but I hope to use it day in and day out for years to come (here’s hoping the website is successful and stays in biz!).

Here’s what EYB is all about. Once you sign up for an account (30 days for free at the moment), you enter the names of all of the cookbooks you own. In an ideal world, they would have listings for all the books I have on my bookshelves. Not so, but they had about 75% of them. As an aside, the books they didn’t have listings for are ones I own that are really old, a bit obscure, several books from England, and one Indian cookbook. It also didn’t have several new books I own. Go figure. So I individually entered the titles of all the books that matched up with their list. Their server grinds through and pops up the book. I add it to my cookbook collection at EYB. It did take me awhile (maybe 1 1/2 hours) to do this, but then I own a huge collection of cookbooks. What I did, actually, was stand in front of my cookbook collection and write down all the titles with the author’s last name. That was all I needed for all but a couple of books. Here’s what my EYB bookshelf says now:

You have (147) Cookbooks and (16,480) Recipes on your bookshelf.

THEN, here’s the good part – I was ready to cook something (cauliflower this time, remember) – I went to EYB and typed in the word cauliflower. Up it came with a listing of where, in my cookbook collection, recipes exist for cauliflower. (It doesn’t give you the recipes, it just gives you the recipe titles they’ve gathered from the recipe titles or indexes of the cookbook library.) It gave me about 12 choices. From the recipe titles I could tell several of them were not something I wanted to make (like cauliflower with pasta, cauliflower and peas, cauliflower and rice, cauliflower in a salad), but there were about three that met my initial criteria as a dinner side dish. And the one that sounded most interesting was in Deborah Madison’s book, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Time elapsed: It took me about 3 minutes to type in the search term, get the results and hone in on the recipe I wanted to investigate, and about 30 seconds to find the cookbook and go to the right page. A whole lot less time than standing in front of my cookbooks and staring at the titles wondering which one(s) might contain an appropriate recipe for a side dish cauliflower.

There are other functions at EYB too. Like advanced searches for ethnic, or by category. Or maybe gluten-free (I’ll use that one next time my cousin comes to visit), or sugar-free. If the cookbook has been fully indexed it will show you a page with all the ingredients in that dish (so you might eliminate it if it contained something you didn’t have, or didn’t want to go shopping to get).  Only 880 cookbooks at EYB are fully indexed. That means that you would be able to use a cookbook’s intuitive index (like a recipe titled just Provencal Summer Squash Casserole, for instance, might be listed under Squash, Summer Squash, French, vegetables, sugar-free, and gluten-free).

You can also mark recipe titles with a favorites icon, or a do-later one, in case you run across one as you’re doing a search. Like the pasta with cauliflower and peas I spotted on this search. It wasn’t appropriate for this meal, but it sounded interesting for later. I haven’t tried those functions yet, but they sound like great ideas. It will also help you with menu planning if you want, and help create a shopping list (without quantities, though). I used to store my myriad cookbooks in two or three places (now I have just one area), but if you have multiple locations, you can flag the cookbooks in “My Locations” as you enter the info about them, to indicate “kitchen,” or “dining room,” or “garage” perhaps to save time when you need to run and find one. You can also rate (with stars) your own cookbooks. There’s a user forum too, and you can make friends with other EYB members if you want to, like Facebook for cookbook users.

If you want to get a quick tour of EYB, go check it out for yourself. And right now they do have a 30-day free trial. I’m quite pleased with the resources so far. The website was founded/developed by three women who live in far parts of the world. Amazing how the web levels the playing field. I wish these gals success in the venture. Makes perfect sense to me that I can go to the web to find my recipes. Just differently!

– – – – – – – – –
A year ago: Blueberry & Ginger Salsa (so very good with pork)
Three years ago: Peppered Pecans (a favorite)

Posted in Books, on July 11th, 2009.

ship library

We’ve spent countless hours on the ship this week. We did take a tour – in Juneau. The other shore excursions were excessively expensive, we thought, so since we’d been here before, we decided not to partake of others.  Am so glad we had a nice verandah stateroom, though, as we were able to enjoy sitting there for many, many hours enjoying the scenery. The photo above is one I took in the ship’s library.

I brought along my Kindle, with several books loaded on it. But since the Zuiderdam (pronounced zeye-der-dam) has a very extensive library, I decided to utilize theirs. And read some books I might not normally have done.

Testimony (Anita Shreve) – almost like a Jodi Piccoult book, I thought. Shreve took a very volatile subject (rape . . . or was it rape, the reader questions from about the 3rd page?) and tells each chapter from the point of view of the many different people who were profoundly affected by the event (not just the 3 barely adult boys having sex – and videotaping it – with a 14-year old girl at a private school) It was a fascinating read.

It Ain’t All About the Cookin’: a memoir (Paula Deen) – hmmm. Well, more like a tell-all of Paula Deen’s life. She said she didn’t hold anything back, and I learned things I almost wish I hadn’t. Certainly learned more about her sex life than I ever wanted to know. She did pull herself up by her bootstraps, and definitely knew how to stretch a dollar to feed her children. Until she met Michael (her current husband) she made some really bad choices in men. Until recently Paula didn’t have a very good self image. And her language? Oh my goodness. What a foul mouth she has, and makes no apologies for it.

The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet (Colleen McCullough) – You know Colleen McCullough, the author of The Thorn Birds, The Ladies of Missalonghi, the 7 books in the “Masters of Rome Series,” the first one was The First Man in Rome, and one of my favorite books, Morgan’s Run. She’s a prolific writer. This book is so off the normal track for her. It’s about Mary Bennet – you remember her? The younger, lesser sister from Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austen’s classic? McCullough takes that singular character, skips 20 years and has written a book about a year of her life. Mary spent those 20 years caring for the Bennet mother until her death, and where the book starts she decides to become an agent for change. She knows children are being exploited in the workforce. It’s very much in the Jane Austen style. Cute book.

Are You Somebody? An Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman (Nuala O’Faolain) – actually this book was one I brought along with me. For my book group which meets the day after we get back home. I’d never heard of this author. And obviously I’m not all that well-read in the classics. O’’Faolain drops names (author’s names) like bread crumbs on a nature walk. Mostly Irish and English authors I’ve never read. And most I’d never heard of, either. She grew up poor, although she did get a very good college education by great happenstance. Learned more about her sex life than I wanted to know, too, which started at a frighteningly young age. (What IS it about women baring their sex souls?) She grew up in an era when being Irish was nothing to be proud of, but later in life, when she finally makes a name for herself in the world of journalism, she finally accepts her Irish-ness and moves back home to Dublin. Single. Lonely. Unhappy, mostly. And still looking for the right man. But at least she’s on her own and financially independent. In a second edition of this book she adds an “afterword” which was perhaps more revealing than all the rest of the book. She was just overwhelmed with notes, calls and letters from people who had lived a similar Irish life (who read her first edition). It seemed to give the author some kind of character validation, I think. I liked the book better after reading that part, but I don’t think I’ll be prompted to read any of her novels. After attending my book group, I heard that the author lost her life to lung cancer last year. She’d finally found a man in New York and had been living with him for awhile before her cancer diagnosis, although she went home to Ireland before her death, and she’s buried there.

Tell Me Where It Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon (Dr. Nick Trout) – Another memoir, this one from a veterinarian. The cover was what got me – it’s a photo of a very adorable Boston terrier with the doctor’s hand and a stethoscope pressed to the dog’s chest. Wouldn’t be interesting to anyone who doesn’t love animals. Medicine has always fascinated me, though I don’t suppose I could have been a physician. But reading this book, a compilation of stories about a day in the life of a veterinarian, convinces me I probably wouldn’t have what it takes to be one. Interspersed amongst the stories are chapters and paragraphs about veterinary philosophy (pet insurance, euthanasia, even the wisdom or lack thereof, of some cat and dog names. Very interesting read, though.

Posted in Appetizers, Books, Miscellaneous, on April 22nd, 2009.

pickled-grapes

Buying the book A HomeMade Life, by Molly Wizenberg (the writer of the blog Orangette) was a given. I’m just so proud to be in the same league (Molly and the others are in the major leagues, I’m in the minors) as the few other bloggers who are published authors – published mostly because of writing a food blog.

The stories in the book are refreshing reflections on her life – her growing up years, with recipes included. Then when she became an adult, she began cooking in earnest on her own and discovered how much she enjoyed it. (And now, she and Brandon, her husband – you read all about him in the book too – are about to open a restaurant in Seattle, called Delancey.) Her chapters are so darned CUTE. She has a sparkly wit and weaves wonderful tales. Even though I’d read some of it over at her blog, in book form it was just as entrancing. And the recipes are not your mainstream potato salad or tomato soup. They’re different, like Meatballs with Pine Nuts, Cilantro and Golden Raisins, Bouchons au Thon (a quiche/pate kind of muffin-style omelet, sort of), Bread Salad with Cherries, Arugula and Goat Cheese, and this, the Pickled Grapes. Why pickled grapes? Because Brandon is a pickle nut, of course.

pickled-grapes-snippedPossibly I’d never have tried this recipe except that Smitten Kitchen did and raved on and on. So I looked again at the recipe in the book – it’s so EASY. You make a vinegar brine with a cinnamon stick, brown mustard seeds (gee, I even HAD some of those) and whole peppercorns. You cut off the little stems ends (the belly-button ends, Molly tells us) and soak the grapes in the brine.

Serving this on top of some fresh goat cheese was so fun. Once you taste them, you know they’re grapes, but looking at them on the plate (top photo) you might wonder. They’d be equally at home served with pieces of cheese – maybe even some veiny Blue or Cambazola, for instance. Serve with crackers. If serving with a soft cheese, I think the grapes should be chopped up (once brined). That way they’d stick to the cheese a bit easier.  If serving with firmer cheese, leaving them in whole or halves would be better. Molly adds the hot brine to the grapes. Smitten Kitchen cooled the brine first, then marinated them. Your choice. Whichever way, you’ll be glad you tried these. They’re just flat-out delicious.
printer-friendly PDF

Pickled Grapes with Cinnamon
and Black Pepper

Recipe: From A Homemade Life, adapted from a Susan Kaplan recipe
Servings: 10
COOK’S NOTES: If you are serving this with soft cheese, cut each of the grapes in several small pieces (will stick to the cheese better and makes it easier to eat). If serving with a harder cheese, cut the grapes in half (so the moist cut half will stick to the cheese).

1 pound grapes — red or black, preferably seedless
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons brown mustard seeds — or yellow
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1 cinnamon stick — (2 1/2-inch) cut in half (if using two jars, otherwise leave whole)
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Rinse and dry the grapes, and pull them carefully from their stems. Using a small sharp knife, trim away the “belly button” at the stem end of the grape, exposing a bit of the flesh inside. Divide the grapes among 2 pint-sized clean, dry canning jars.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium heat and then you have two choices. The original recipe has you pour the bring mixture over the grapes and let them cool together. Or, if you would prefer a more gentle brine, cool the brine completely before pouring it over. The former will yield a more tender pickle, and it will pick up the brine’s flavor faster. The latter will take a bit longer to souse, but the grapes will stay more firm. Both will be delicious.
3. Once cool, chill the grape and brine mixture in their jars in the refrigerator for at least eight hours or overnight. Serve cold over cream cheese, a small log of goat cheese, or as part of a cheese course.
Per Serving: 116 Calories; trace Fat (1.6% calories from fat); trace Protein; 31g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 55mg Sodium.

A year ago: What is it about Plates?, a post about my obsession with plates, china, etc.

Posted in Books, Cookies, on March 23rd, 2009.

cardamom-choc-chunk-cookiesHonestly, I’m not eating all these cookies I’ve been baking lately. Most have gone to a friend who needs them right now, and last week I thought I should give her yet another type of CC cookie. CC cookies are what she craves, so CC cookies it is! Plus we were going to a book group meeting the other night and I thought it would be nice to take a little something to Jean, the hostess, who made a fabulous St. Patty’s dinner for us book-groupies (Jean and Jack are Irish, and made Scotch Eggs, scones, lemon curd, quiche, desserts, plus gallons of Irish Coffee). Jean reads my blog (thank you, Jean) and is always telling me how much she craves some of the food I prepare and write up here on my blog. She loves sweets, so I thought I’d take her some of these cookies.

I’d marked the recipe over at Eggbeater (a blog) about 2 years ago, but hadn’t ever gotten around to making them. What makes these unique are cardamom and dark brown sugar. Well, I have to admit, I didn’t HAVE dark brown sugar, but I surely do hope that light brown won’t have spoiled the recipe. I had everything else on hand, and whipped these up in no time flat.

For my first time around I chose to use regular chocolate chips rather than some of the high-priced chocolate bar-type Shuna recommended – I wasn’t a bit concerned that I wouldn’t LIKE these – I was sure I would – but the next time I’ll definitely use the “good stuff” in them. As I’ve likely said way too many times, there aren’t many chocolate chip cookies I’ve met that I haven’t liked. And in this case I didn’t think either Norma or Jean would care that I used Nestle’s instead of an expensive 65% chocolate chip/chunk.

Shuna shared a funny story about these cookies – about how she used to make them for the kitchen staff, but in time they became a regular, then she kept the batter in the refrigerator at all times. Those are the kinds of credentials that make for a good formula. Shuna recommends using parchment paper on the cookie sheets, so the chocolate doesn’t burn. The batter is soft – softer than usual – but worked just perfectly when baked.

loving-frankI’m not going to write up a separate post about the book we reviewed, but will just mention that it was REALLY interesting. Gripping. Riveting. Couldn’t-put-it-down kind of read. Called Loving Frank, by Nancy Horan. Several in our book group read it last year, raved about it, so we included it in our book reads for ’09. What a story. It’s the fictionalized account (but based on the real events) of the affair between Mamah (pronounced may-mah) Borthwick Cheney (a married woman with 2 young children) and Frank Lloyd Wright (also married, with 6 children). In the 1905 timeframe in Oak Park, Illinois, the affair was absolutely scandalous. Off the charts scintillating. Nearly the ruin of Wright’s career. Both left their respective spouses (AND children) and escaped to Europe for about a year, madly in love with one another, where they lived together. Mamah’s husband eventually granted her a divorce, but Wright’s wife refused. So marriage wasn’t in the cards for them. Wright had designed and built a house for the Cheneys (that’s how they met). Eventually both returned to the U.S. and Wright built a home an hour or two away from Chicago where they could basically hide. That’s Taliesen, the famous home, in the woodlands of Wisconsin. What happens after that I just can’t tell you. You really have to read the book. Despite the subject being infidelity, I found this book compelling nevertheless. And what happens is chilling. Enough said. Buy the book. Read it.

The cookies? Sweet. Flatter than some. Caramely. Chocolate-y. Crispy on the edges and soft in the middle. Overall: good. Will I make them again? Well, maybe. I might try them with the expensive ingredients. I couldn’t taste the cardamom, so would increase it in the recipe below. I also chilled the dough, which made it easier to spoon onto cookie sheets. And next time I might add chopped walnuts to the dough too. But then, I like nuts.
printer-friendly PDF

Cardamom Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Recipe: Shuna Fish Lydon, from eggbeater blog
Servings: 72
NOTES: You can use chocolate chips if you’re not inclined to use expensive chocolate for this. These are very sweet, and you may want to add more cardamom – I couldn’t taste it with the above amounts.

9 ounces unsalted butter — softened
7 ounces sugar
11 ounces dark brown sugar
3 large eggs — at room temperature
2 tablespoons vanilla
18 ounces all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda — sifted
1/2 teaspoon cardamom — seeds, ground (discard shells) (or more)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom (or more)
2 teaspoons Kosher salt — reduce if you find this too salty (I used 1 tsp)
8 ounces dark chocolate — 67-74% cacao
3 tablespoons cocoa nibs

1. Cream butter and both sugars together with mixer until mixture is light and fluffy (2-3 minutes).
2. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well between additions. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl combine the flour, soda, both cardamoms and salt, then slowly add to batter and mix well.
4. Add the chocolate (chopped up fine) and the cocoa nibs. Mix slowly just to combine well.
5. Refrigerate batter for 30 minutes (or longer). Preheat oven to 375. Use scoop to place dough balls on parchment-lined baking sheets.
6. Bake for 9-12 minutes (depends on your oven) until golden brown. Remove sheets but allow to cool on the sheets for 3-5 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool completely.
Per Serving: 100 Calories; 4g Fat (37.5% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 15g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 17mg Cholesterol; 84mg Sodium.

Posted in Books, on February 19th, 2009.

kindle-case

I included a TV remote control in the picture, just so you can see the approximate shape. It’s about the same size as a larger paperback.

It’s been some months now that I’ve had a Kindle. I bought one when Jeff Bezos (Amazon’s CEO, and the Kindle’s maker) was on Oprah last Fall, and offered a discounted price if you bought one then. I’d been contemplating buying one anyway, so that was all the impetus I needed.

kindle-openWhy did I buy one?
1. I hate to give away my books. I have hundreds. And hundreds. And I keep buying more. Even though I never (almost) re-read a book. Hundreds and hundreds of pounds of books. So, I figured if I read books on the Kindle, I’d not be adding to my collection, my home book footprint. None of our kids read like I do. What are they going to do with all my books, for goodness’ sake, except give most of them away?
2. Whenever we travel, I always have to allocate precious suitcase space to books, since we read a lot when we travel. As we’ve gotten older, we’re not quite so active at every destination – we rest some in the late afternoons. And we read. So I saw the Kindle as a perfect solution. Ten (or dozens) more books, all in the space of one. Except for the charging cable, which isn’t all that big.

The advantages:
1. The small (footprint) space, lots of books (several hundred) can be loaded, you can make notes and bookmarks (there’s a small keyboard on it), you could read 5 books at the same time for that matter.
2. The dictionary – is amazing. You merely scroll to the line where the questionable word is, click, go to Dictionary and the Kindle defines all the major words on that line. There’s a tiny little roller button that is sort of like a mouse. That’s what you use to navigate around.
3. Buy a new book anytime. Right through the Kindle. Or you can do it from your home computer too. Or somebody else’s computer – just log on to your Amazon account. Takes just seconds to download it. You can also subscribe to newspapers and magazines too (I don’t, but lots of people do). For business travelers, that would be a very good deal. Supposedly you can access the internet on the device, although it’s not really a computer, as such. You can get to the Kindle bookstore easily and select new books. If you have an amazon account, it’s a simple matter of pressing a button and the book downloads in about 60 seconds. Bingo.
4. The price of books. Most books were $8.99 when I bought the Kindle. They’re now $9.99, but still a good deal. And a few books are more.
5. The screen – it’s not backlit – you can’t read it with a light. For some this might be a disadvantage, but for me it’s easier to read this way. And the print size can be adjusted to suit your eyes. (In the photo below you can see the print – it’s adjustable to 5 sizes, I think it is.)

kindle-reading-aThe disadvantages:
1. The battery. It’s only as long-lived at each sitting as the battery. If you don’t use the Kindle (and charge it) regularly, it goes into a power-down thing and it’s a bit of a hassle to get it back to running again, but that’s a minor thing. It does have to be charged often (about 4-5 hours of use, is my guess). I now have the charging cable right next to my bed, so it’s easy to plug it in after every 2-3 or 4 days of use.
2. It is a computer, after all. If something were to go wrong with it on a trip, it might be difficult to get it fixed. That hasn’t happened to me yet (except the major battery down thing which was easily fixed after talking with a Kindle customer service person). You can buy an extended warranty.
3. The Kindle 1 case that came with it was not good. I’ve since purchased another one, built especially for the Kindle, but fixes all the little problems with Amazon’s case. It was $50, and it does keep the Kindle securely in the case. If you’re interested, you can search on the internet for “Kindle covers,” you’ll find many manufacturers of them). I understand that the Kindle 2 is shipping without a case.
4. It’s too easy to accidentally advance or backup a page. The bars on both sides of the Kindle take you ahead one page (top right and lower left), back a page (top left) or to the beginning (bottom right). They’ve made this user friendly for both righties and lefties. Clever planning, I’d say. Overall, though, I’m saying it’s worth buying – I LUV my Kindle – but it’s a bit of a nuisance sometimes when you accidentally hit the Next Page bar. Usually it advances just the one page, but occasionally if the Kindle falls out of its case, in righting it, picking it up, etc. you may advance the pages by several. Just a little bit of a pain to have to back up to find the page you were on. But then, that’s really no different than dropping a regular book and losing your place. It’s just different on a Kindle.
5. I won’t be buying any cookbooks on the Kindle. And I do buy new cookbooks with some frequency. Those books I want to hold, be able to see the color photo (the Kindle just has B & W), glance at the whole recipe at once. All things the Kindle can’t do for me.
6. Some people don’t like the millisecond of time when the pages turn – the screen flickers once (blips to black momentarily) with each page advance. At first it was annoying to me, but quickly I got used to it.
7. If you like to loan or give books to friends – well, you can’t loan a Kindle book you’ve read. The book lives only on your Kindle, and unless you want to loan the actual reading unit, it’s only yours. Supposedly Amazon offers a family plan (up to 3 units) and within that “family,” you can share all the books. You don’t have to be an actual family – but the units and books have to be purchased from the “head” of the group only.

And just because I listed more disadvantages than advantages, doesn’t mean I don’t LUV my Kindle, because I really, really do. In case you haven’t heard, they just announced a second generation Kindle at the same price – $359 (what I paid 6 months ago). Longer battery life, thinner package. More books can be loaded. And the blip at page turns is vastly improved, I’ve heard. It will read TO you, if you’d prefer (good for the sight-impaired). I won’t be buying a new one since mine works just fine, but now I’ll try to convince my DH that he needs one, then I can give him mine and get the new one 😉

A year ago: Coriander Lime Shrimp (an appetizer)

Posted in Books, on October 6th, 2008.

lake pend oreille at sandpoint

– While we were in Idaho I snapped this photo in Sandpoint, the main town in that neck of the woods.

In our B&B room in Portland, we glanced at a book called The Two-Lane Gourmet: Fine Wine Trails, Superb Inns, and Exceptional Dining Through California, Oregon and Washington. In the chapter that talks about the development of wine through the ages, particularly the Etruscans (they were in Italy), it mentions:

By 300 C.E., the Romans were having limited success with corked ceramic bottles (amphora) designed by the Greeks, in which a heavy layer of olive oil – often more than half the container’s contents – was floated on top of the wine as a sealant. Still, you can imagine how that would taste after having been bounced around a bit in a storm, or hauled to market on a wooden cart. The Romans called it wine, but should have been sold as [an Etruscan] vinaigrette salad dressing.

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