(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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In between writing all these posts here at Tasting Spoons, I do occasionally prepare dishes that are family favorites. That have stood the test of time. BUT, they’ve already been posted here. There’s the temptation, always when I’m cooking, to find some new recipe for whatever I’m about to make. But, gosh, when you’ve already got a good recipe, why bother? Well, I do because I always wonder whether that new version might just be better than the old favorite? Especially when I see some interesting, different or unusual ingredient in it. And then maybe I’d have a new, old favorite.
Over the last six months or so I’ve been trying to go back through some of my earlier posts to insert new photos. Some of my early photos were really pretty awful. Done with my little point-and-shoot Canon. For sure, I didn’t use sufficient light (this was before I purchased my good EGO light). I also couldn’t do close-ups very well, either, with that camera. That’s why I eventually bought a good Canon DSLR camera.
I started writing Tasting Spoons in April of ‘07. In early July I jumped off our sailboat, twisted my ankle and fractured my foot. I couldn’t put a single ounce of weight on my foot for nearly 3 months. I lived in a wheelchair mostly. And my DH (dear hubby/husband) did 99% of the cooking. And he’s not a cook. During that time I wrote up one very funny story, about a night when my DH invited a friend over for dinner and I tried to coach him through making the meal. I can laugh about it even now. Writing my blog was a great way to use up long stretches of mornings or afternoons when I was mostly housebound. So I posted stories without photos. I have this long list of posted recipes that I’ve been slowly winnowing through – making the dish and adding photos to those old stories.
Now we get to this post. If you have an ice cream maker, then I urge you to make this ice cream. It’s so darned good. The recipe comes from David Lebovitz’ book, The Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments
A year ago: Savory Tomato Pie
Two years ago: Afternoon (lunch) Tea at the Posh Peasant is San Clemente
Three years ago: Goat Cheese with Apricot Chutney
, it’s a treasure-trove of chocolate recipes of every type. I’ve had the book for years and rarely seem to refer to it. Shame on me!
($10.17 as of this writing, at Amazon, click link), which works like a charm on peaches. Yes, really. These peelers peel just about anything, even soft things like apricots and peaches.
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