Category: NonFiction

Best Eats…or Rachael Lovefest

gr4c53 Comments

Ray, Rachael. Best Eats in Town on $40 a Day. New York: Lake Isle Press. 2004.

I’m an on again, off again fan of Rachael Ray. In other words, in small doses she is wonderful. Too much of her peppiness can kill you. I watch most of her shows, flipping back and forth between something a little less sweet during the commercial breaks, (or when she gets to be too much). I’m not sure if $40 a Day the book is a spin off of $40 a Day the show because of popularity or a crazed attempt to saturate the market with all things Rachael. I’m banking on the second notion because the book is a Rachael Ray lovefest. I have never seen so many pictures of RR in one place. It’s like looking at her personal photo album with commentary. Rachael looking dreamy at a coffeehouse table, Rachael snuggling at the Grand Canyon, Rachael in a helicopter, Rachael with a glass of wine…you get the point. But, the book is more than that. It’s Rachael’s commentary on the places she’s been, the food she’s tried. It has recipes and travel advice. Contact information for the restaurants listed…Here’s why I’m not buying: the book. Not only does she succeed in finding 3-4 places to spend her $40 (and always comes in under budget), but each and every single time the food is orgasmically fantastic. What are the chances of that? Cheap and mind-blowing? I doubt it. If I was really curious I would take this book with me to a RR traveled city and test it out. Go to the places she mentions, order the food she samples and see/taste for myself. In the meantime, I’m returning the book.

Edited to add: I had the opportunity to eat at Becky’s in Portland, Maine (one of Rachael’s picks). I had the basic egg/cheese sandwich and mom had the fruit bowl. Her meal definitely looked better than mine, but my sandwich was less than $3 and worth every penny. My biggest gripe? Only one refill on the coffee.

My Brother Sam

gr4c5Leave a comment

Collier, James L. My Brother Sam is Dead. New York: Scholastic. 1974.

I don’t know what made me pick up this grade school book. A strong desire to finish the books I should have read in my youth? Probably not, since I’d never heard of this one before. I was wandering the stacks of our Education Resource Center when I stumbled across it. It looked interesting so I gave it a chance…and read it in one day.

It’s the life of a kid in the midst of the American Revolution. His brother (Sam, obviously) joins the fight while the rest of the family tries to remain neutral. All sorts of tragedies befall the Meeker family and I found myself praying for the book to finish. I didn’t think there would be a happy ending (judging by the title) and I was right – there wasn’t.
Interestingly enough, the towns and even some of the characters are nonfictional. It makes me want to travel to Connecticut just to find the tavern, the fishing grounds, the trade route…just to stand in the path of history.

Culinary Boot Camp

gr4c5Leave a comment

Shulman, Martha Rose. Culinary Boot Camp: five days of basic training with the Culinary Institute of America. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2006.

Aside from the recipes I thought this was a real read-it-once kind of book. Not something I would want to own for myself. I enjoyed holding the glossy book as much as reading Rose’s diary-like account of her experience(s) with the CIA (she actually went twice). My favorite sections were about different procedures: knife handling and water cooking. I learned something about testing the “doneness” of meat by feel. My least favorite part of the book were the photographs. Most of the photos were blurred to indicate “action shots”: cooks plating, students sitting in lecture, a chef chopping, students stirring and so forth.
Another reason for the read-it-once philosphy: I doubt I will make any of the recipes. At the end, a little less than half of the book,  are recipes mentioned elsewhere. I know I will never need a brown veal stock and Rose admits as much, too.