Tag: Food

Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Beginners

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Eden Nora. Anti-Inflammatory Diet for Beginners: a 21-Day Reset with Easy 5-iIngredient Recipes, 20 Minute Meals, Weekly Plans, and Grocery Lists to Soothe Inflammation, Restore Health and Boost Energy. KnowHowLeaf Publishing, 2025.

Reason read: this is a pick from the Early Review Program by LibraryThing.

There are three phases to the three week anti-inflammatory journey: calming the fire, heal the gut, and boost energy.
Things to know:

  • There are twenty-four pages of what I call revving the engine before you actually get to put the book in gear.
  • There are another forty-one pages of coasting before the reset plan is really explained.
  • The pages are padded with a great deal of repetition which I find to be typical in books that are shorter than two hundred and fifty pages. For example, kale is mentioned thirty-nine times: what belongs on your plate, what can go in a smoothie, menu swaps, fridge essentials, freezer essentials, what to prioritize, shopping list for week one, listed in the menus, shopping list for week two, hero food, week three shopping list, the recipes, and the shopping lists for all three weeks. A mention about the shopping list: there is no big list for all three weeks. If you wanted to get all of your shopping done for the entire program you are going to have to combine the week one, two and three lists.
  • You are encouraged to keep a diary while going through the process.
  • The e-book comes with free video bonuses which I did not bother with because, admittedly, I was confused by the promise of inspiration and monetization.

Book trivia: while the author thanks healthcare professionals and nutrition experts, it is hard to tell how much they were consulted during the writing of this book.

As an aside, I was not a fan of having to give my email address in order to download the book. Full confessional: I gave them a fake.

One last confessional – I am going to try this three-week diet to see if it makes a difference. Hopefully, I will remember to update this review with the results.
UPDATE: I have decided NOT to do this diet because even the shopping lists are too complicated. For starters, there are two versions of the week 1 shopping list (The shopping list on page 52 does not have the same ingredients as the one on page 167 and vice versa, for example). There are twenty differences between the two lists. Then I couldn’t find the recipe for the very first meal (Cinnamon Chia Pudding). There is a chia seed with coconut recipe and one for chia seeds with blueberries. Neither recipe calls for cinnamon as a main ingredient.

Auntie D’s Recipes

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Ackley-McPhail, Danielle. Auntie D’s Recipes. Paper Phoenix, 2024.

Reason read: an Early Review pick from LibraryThing.

First the facts: Auntie D’s Recipes contains 87 recipes in a 128 page book. There are photographs for nearly every recipe, taken by Danielle herself. The categories of recipes are organized into breakfasts, breads, dips, crockpot specific, side dishes, main dishes, appetizers, sauces, desserts, soups, cookies, and drinks. There are even a few “Uncle Mike” recipes. Unlike typical cookbooks with indices, you won’t be able to search by ingredients, which could be a little inconvenient. There was some attempt to organize the categories, though.
This is not meant to be your Joy of Cooking bible. The recipes are simplistic in terms of ingredients and could even be memorized once you got used to the unconventional measurements and vague instructions. I appreciated the extra information about materials needed but wished there was an explanation for some things like the use of an electric frying pan. Wouldn’t a stove-top frying pan with a tight lid work as well? If Ackley-McPhail really wanted to get fancy, she could have given directions for equipment like air fryers and rice cookers in addition to crockpots and electric frying pans.

Author fact: Ackley-McPhail and her husband, Mike, are science fiction buffs and are cat people.

Side note that I loved: Everyone needs a good cheerleader in their life and Ackley-McPhail found hers in a women named Ruth Freedman. Thank you, Danielle, for naming your hero. Not many people give credit to the people who are the inspiration behind the creation.
Another side note: the very first recipe is for blueberry lemon pancakes yet the blueberries and lemon zest are optional ingredients. Why not have a recipe for plain fluffy pancakes and include optional add-ins like blueberry and lemon or raspberry and almond or bacon and chocolate chip (my personal favorite combination)?

The Fundamental Pizza Cookbook for Beginners

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Adventurer, Bram Cuisine. The Fundamental Pizza Cookbook for Beginners: Over 1,800 Dietary Recipe Combinations: Guide for Conventional and Woodfire Ovens: Step By Step Instructions – Dough to Tasty Sides, Pizza or Calzone. 2024.

Bram Cuisine Adventurer used ChatGPT to write The Fundamental Pizza Cookbook for Beginners: Over 1,800 Dietary Recipe Combinations: Guide for Conventional and Woodfire Ovens: Step By Step Instructions – Dough to Tasty Sides, Pizza or Calzone and it shows from the title to the conclusion. While there is some great information in The Fundamental Pizza Cookbook for Beginners, it is only 142 pages long and much of the space is taken up with huge font, illustrations, and redundancies. Here are some examples:

  • The header for each section is in a large font and repeated on every page. Same for the footer (page numbers).
  • The introduction reiterates the table of contents; hardly any new information there.
  • The list of tools could include the disposable tools to utilize space and cut down on the repetition of a separate list.
  • Most of the directions are listed twice (example: “Add feta: sprinkle with crumbled feta”).
  • Troubleshooting is listed twice (on pages 22 and 137) with more information being on page 137.
  • Nutrition information could have been listed at the end of each recipe in a smaller font. Easier to find for each dish and would take up less space.

If you take out the sides, calzones, and drinks there are even less pages dedicated to the art and creativity of pizza making. This could be a great book for beginnings, but there were too many missed opportunities. Noted is a lack of information that could have been helpful to novices (since the introduction ensures that even a novice can make a pizza by using this book):

  • There is no explanation of instant versus active yeast or even why that matters. Going a step further, it would have been helpful to explain what happens when yeast, warm water, and sugar are combined; and what to look for after ten minutes or so (foamy and bubbly). Knowing the signs of good yeast can save wasted time and ingredients later.
  • There are inconsistent translations. Quattro Formaggi is translated, but what about Capricciosa or Funghi?
  • What Adventurer does not tell you is that you cannot troubleshoot the dough problems with the dough you just made. For problems like dough not rising or being too tough, for example, for the next time make sure your yeast is fresh, your water is not too hot or cold, or that you knead the dough for too long.
  • This isn’t talked about at all, but using copper mats or grilling your pizza are also good cooking options.

Big Heart Little Stove

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French, Erin. Big Heart Little Stove: Bringing Home Meals and Moments From the Lost Kitchen. Celadon Press, 2024.

Reason read: the obsession continues! Actually, in all fairness I needed a book that fit into two genres for the Portland Public Reading Challenge and this fits the bill. Part memoir and all cookbook, I think it fits.

In a word, gorgeous. There is very little else I can say about Big Heart Little Stove without trying the recipes and telling you how they turn out. The food looks delicious. The memoir portion of the book, disguised as longer then usual introductions to each chapter and recipe, are heart-warming. The photography is stunning. My favorite is the one of French sitting with her mother at an outdoor table. French goes a step further and offers advice about setting the table, making the meal special, bringing nature to the plate… And then there is Maine. What is not to love about Big Heart Little Stove?
While the television show never focuses on the alcohol served with meals (except to say French’s mother is the ad hoc sommelier), it was interesting to see beer in some of the the photographs. The coolest shot was of the Maine Beer Company’s best seller, “Lunch”, which also happens to be a favorite of my husband’s.

Roma

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Croce, Julia Della. Roma: Authentic Recipes from In and Around the Eternal City. Chronicle Books, 2004.

Reason read: Having just come back from Rome, a coworker gave this to me as a gift.

There is more to Roma than delicious recipes and luxurious photographs. Inside the pages of this cookbook you will find the history of some of Rome’s most traditional ingredients like polenta, olives, and artichokes. You will read about what Caesar liked to serve his guests (moray eels) and learn that Anzio was the birth place of Caligula and Nero. Croce also includes a section on where to eat and sleep in and around the ancient city. Because she includes addresses, phone numbers, and days of operations, it is strongly advised to doublecheck this information as Roma was published nearly twenty years ago. Some places may have not survived Rome’s devastating battle with Covid in 2020. There is a section of mail order resources, complete with address, phone number, fax, website and a brief description. Again, I would check for accuracy.
One of my favorite sections of Roma is the information on festivals. The ancient city celebrates everything from polenta, artichokes, flower artwork, fish, pork, lentils, bread salad, olive oil, and of course, grapes.
Croce ends Roma with information about cooking schools, wine courses and Italy tours, starting with her own Italian cooking school, La Vera Cucina and ending with “To Italy with Julia”, a culinary and cultural tour of Italy.
As an aside, I liked the phrase “an aggressive use of pepper” but it had me wondering exactly how much constituted “aggressive” in Croce’s eyes.

Book trivia: The gorgeous photographs within Roma were shot by Paolo Destefanis.

Author fact: I only have this one cookbook by Julia Croce. Probably because I am not a huge fan of Italian cuisine. I am a huge fan of Chronicle Books, though. I have several cookbooks from them.

As an aside, while I was in Rome for ten days I had the privilege of staying with a Roman family in the Laurentino district. On New Year’s Eve, my host cooked an elaborate ten course meal that included pasta, fish, salad, and bread. The last dish (served at 1:30am) was a lentil-sausage stew. The sausage rounds symbolized coins of wealth in the coming year. It was really delicious.

Finding Freedom

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French, Erin. Finding Freedom: Celadon, 2021.

Reason read: this was a gift from my sister. I read everything that comes from her, especially if it takes place in Maine.

To say Erin French is a fighter is an understatement. Let’s start with childhood with an mentally abusive father. I think about what kind of person I would be if, unless I was doing something for him, I never received honest love from my father. To watch him drown kittens would be enough to traumatize me for life. [That is the stuff of nightmares, especially if you are too young to understand the necessity of the act.]
Finding Freedom is not only a story of redemption, but one of tenacity. Coming from a small town is almost always seen as a curse. There is a stigma around being from Nowhere, America. You are considered a nobody if you can’t get out. Breaking free and escaping from your small provincial hometown to make it in the “real world” is always the unspoken goal. Erin almost made it out, but when she had a child out of wedlock and had to come crawling home to Freedom, Maine, it should have been a source of shame, but instead the act saved Erin’s life. Even though there were more adversities to come, her son Jaim gave her a reason to live, to fight, and to succeed. Because of him she was able to navigate a horrific (some would say diabolical) divorce, survive a bizarre custody battle for Jaim, conquer an all-consuming alcohol and prescription pill addiction, and find financial stability. She was able to break down every roadblock her ex-husband and her own demons put in front of her.
You may think I have given you spoilers for Finding Freedom. Believe me when I say I haven’t. There is so much more to Erin’s story. Read it for yourself to find out.

Book trivia: Each section of Finding Freedom is separated by a place in Maine: Hope, Unity, Prospect, Liberty, and Freedom. If people are not familiar with rural Maine they might think she is talking about something entirely different.

Quote to quote, “I didn’t want to live a life where dollar amounts dictated dreams” (p 52). Amen to that. My father always told me, do what you love and love what you do. If you live within the means of your passion you will never want for anything.

Playlist: Cesaria Evora, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Bette Midler’s “Baby of mine”, Stevie Nicks, the Sound of Music soundtrack, and Whitney Houston.

Vegan Snack Cookbook

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Riley, Jordan. The Vegan Snack Cookbook.

Reason read: As a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing, I sometimes review books. This time, it is an e-cookbook.

A few disclaimers first. I am not a vegan. From time to time I chose a vegetarian meal, but that is far as it goes. I am not pinching my pennies or concerned with the cost of food. That is not to say I am wealthy. I am just not always looking for the most economically recipe. Since Riley mentions writing this book for those audiences (vegan and frugal), I am reviewing this book from a completely different perspective. I want my food to taste good. Period. While the internet is crawling with free recipes I was curious about what The Vegan Snack Cookbook could do for me. Let’s start with the beginning. The cover is delicious. Pun totally intended.
Confessional. Here are my headscratchers: recipes are snacks intended for four people. That surprised me until Riley acknowledged that makes this cookbook different from most snack-based cookbooks. The term “kid safe” also took me by surprise until I realized she meant no knives or fire. Can you tell I don’t have children? I think Riley could have done away with the history of veganism. Chances are, if someone is interested in a vegan snack cookbook, they already know what it means to be vegan. That is something that should come as an insert with the mailing and not take away from the length of the actual cookbook. The Vegan Snack Cookbook is short enough as it is. Same with the repetitiveness of the promises of what The Snack Cookbook will deliver. Riley literally says the same thing twice within a few pages. One last criticism – troubleshooting. How do I know what the original recipe tastes like to determine that my version does or doesn’t come close? I appreciate the pictures so I can make visual comparisons, but the success of the snack is not determined by how it looks on a plate. As I said in the very beginning, I want my food to taste good.
I did appreciate the section on leftovers. I am constantly trying to figure out what to do with them. I also thought the list of vegan essentials was critical. Having said all that, the recipes (finally) start on page 40. After perusing all the recipes I think they all sound wonderful, but I wished they were grouped a little differently. for example, why not put al the nut snacks together? The veggies snacks and dips in one chapter would be nice. Same with beverages.
The total headscratcher was the section on cooking and mental health with references. Why not lead with that information and make the cookbook even more unique?

Blue Plate

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Christensen, Kate. Blue Plate Special: an Autobiography of My Appetites. Anchor Books, 2013.

Reason read: this was a gift from my sister. I think I have said it before, but I will say it again. I read everything she sends my way.

Truth. The tongue can hold memories longer than the heart; sometimes even longer than the mind. Childhood delicacies like soft boiled eggs and Tapioca pudding could bring author Kate Christensen back to six years old, much the same way a steaming hot bowl of Cream of Wheat with melting swirls of butter and sparkling brown sugar still can for me in my middle age. The thread of food is woven in and out of Christensen’s story, sometimes as a integral character and other times as supporting cast, pivotal moments are remembered as meals.
I have a lot in common with Kate. I can remember feeling exactly like her when, at seven years old, the best present in the world was to have a space, separate from the house, in which to hide from the world; a place to call my own. Another similarity was when she shared that she salivated at the thought of the breakfasts in Little House on the Prairie. I, too, had food envy.
There were a lot of unexpected aha moments while reading Blue Plate. It is strange how the trauma of events in childhood can inform decisions in adulthood without us knowing how or why.

Quote I really liked, “Now and again he paused, a venerable, wheezing monument, and the audience could not have told whether he was in pain, asleep, swimming, about to spawn, or merely taking a breath” (p 49).

Playlist: Artie Shaw, Anita O’Day, Alison Krauss, Anne Murray, Blood Sweat and Tears, the Beatles, Benny Goodman, Bach, Bee Gees, Bob Marley, Chicago, Cat Stevens, the Clash, Carole King’s “Tapestry”, the Dead, Donna Summer, Elton John, Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis Costello, the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours”, Flying Cowboys, “I am Woman” by Helen Reddy, “Home in Oasadena”, Jayhawks, Joan Baez, Joan Armatrading, Led Zeppelin, “A Love Supreme”, Mingus, Monk, “Moonshiner”, Mozart’s “Requiem Mass” and “Laudate Dominum”, the O’ Jays, Olivia Newton-John, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd’s “Great Gig in the Sky”, Rickie Lee Jones, Rolling Stones, Supertramp, the Specials, Sly & the Family Stone, Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”, Schubert’s “C Major Quartet”, “Star of the County Down”, “Top of the World”, Talking Heads, Vassar Clements, Wings, and War.

Author fact: Christensen has written a bunch of stuff and here is the really cool part. I was introduced to her writing thanks to my sister. What I have come to realize is that I have two other novels on my Challenge list. I will be reading In the Drink and Jeremy Thrane. Because I am a geek about schedules, I am reading both books in the month of July (in honor of New York becoming a state).

Salt

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Kurlansky, Mark. Salt: a World History. Penguin Books, 2003.

Reason read: Mark Kurlansky was born in the month of December. Read in his honor.

Salt. Everyone loves salt. Some people even crave salt. After reading Kurlansky’s book on the subject I am better versed on all things salt. I am ready for a trivia game about salt. I now know salt is associated with fertility in some cultures and that Egyptians salted their mummies before burial. I know almost no geological area is without salt. Salt has been used as a currency. There is salt in gun powder. Salt is responsible for soy sauce’s humble beginnings. The difference between creating alcohol and a pickle is salt. I never thought about how salt is the only rock people willing eat in great quantities or how every fluid in the body contains some percentage of salt. I could go on and on. Kurlansky takes his readers on a historical journey through epic wars like the American Revolution, the Civil War and beyond, all the while keeping salt as the main ingredient. You will never look at a shaker of salt the same way again.

Author fact: I have six Kurlansky titles on my Challenge List. Salt is the penultimate book left to read.

Book trivia: Salt is a best seller and chock full of photographs and illustrations. There is one photograph of bamboo piping used to carry brine. At first glance the structure looked like a rickety old wooden roller coaster ride at Coney Island.

Nancy said: Pearl said “After reading Salt you’ll never take that not-so-simple condiment for granted again” (Book Lust p 141). She’s not wrong. Pearl says a bit more, but I’ll let you discover her humor on your own.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Mark Kurlansky: Too Good To Miss” (p 141). This is the penultimate book on my Challenge list.

The Man Who Ate Everything

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Steingarten, Jeffrey. The Man Who Ate Everything: and Other Gastronomic Feats, Disputes, and Pleasurable Pursuits. Alfred A. Knopf, 1998.

Reason read: November is the month the U.S. celebrates Thanksgiving…whatever that is to you. All I know is that it is a day people eat a lot of food and it seemed appropriate to read a book with the title The Man Who Ate Everything. I also needed a book for the category of a book about food that wasn’t a cookbook for the Portland Public Library Reading Challenge.

Even though The Man Who Ate Everything was published over twenty years ago, I have to think some of the truths Steingarten uncovered about food and the consumer industry are still true. Prices and other forms of economic data might be outdated but doesn’t Heinz still rule the ketchup competition? Is there still a Wall Street branch of McDonald’s at 160 Broadway, two blocks north of Trinity church? Steingarten will amuse you on a variety of topics from the safest time to eat an oyster, the chemical makeup of the best tasting water and the discussion of Campbell’s soup recipes to instructions on how to produce perfectly mashed potatoes and french fries (is it the potatoe, the oil, the salt, or the technique?). Even Jane Austen gets a mention into his book. You will pay more attention to the waitstaff in a fancy restaurant after you read The Man Who Ate Everything.
One surprise while reading Steingarten. His quest to be thin. I have a hard time picturing any man looking attractive and healthy at a mere 116lbs. Okay, except maybe Prince.
On a side note, after fifty plus years on this planet, I have finally learned the secret to removing the metalic taste of canned tomatoes, or at least I think I have. I didn’t try the trick.

As an aside, when I was finished reading The Man Who Ate Everything I had so many more questions than answers. What did Steingarten do with the thirty plus brands of ketchup he and his wife sampled? Why have I never heard of 80% of these brands? Are the phone numbers he listed now out of date? (Probably.) What would happen if I tried to call a few of them? Is there any truth to that claim that chlorine in water inhibits the growth of yeast? It gives me enough pause for me to want to try spring water in my dough next week.

Line I liked, “My mind feels at half mast” (p 113). Brilliant.

Author fact: Steingarten started out as a lawyer. At the time of publication he wrote for Vogue. Confessional: when I first saw Jeffrey’s name, I thought he was the cute man married to Ina Garten. Close, but nope.

Book trivia: My copy of The Man Who Ate Everything has a photograph of a piece of bread with a bite taken out of it. The slice is a very close up shot and makes me hungry.

Playlist: “There Will Never Be Another You”, “Love Potion #9”, and Madonna.

Nancy said: Pearl called Staingarten’s column “entertaining.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Food for Thought” (p 91).

Everything but the Squeal

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Barlow, John. Everything but the Squeal: Eating the Whole Hog in Northern Spain. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008.

Reason read: March is food month.

The challenge for John Barlow in Everything But the Squeal is to consume every single part of the pig from tail to snout and everything in between; a veritable “porco-graphic tour” as John states. He faces every consumption with humor and more than a little snarky defensiveness, “when they’re starving , pigs will occasionally eat eat other, but so do we when our airplanes crash in inhospitable places” (p 21). This is also a travelogue as John has promised to eat the pig geographically as well, “in situ” as he put it.
More than a travelogue about eating pork, Everything But the Squeal is a memoir about marriage and family. What more tolerant vegetarian wife would tote their newborn son around northern Spain while her husband goes on a quest to devour an entire pig? But wait, there is more. Everything but the Squeal is historical, describing the past cultures of the Galacian people. It’s an abbreviate biography of Manuel Fraga (Minister of Tourism in 1962 and founder of the Popular Party in the 1980s). It’s even a love letter to his son. The direct comments he makes to Nico are endearing.
Here is how a documentary can ruin your eating habits. After watching “My Octopus Teacher” I no longer can stomach seeing any cephalopod on a menu. Here’s how words can ruin your eating habits. I won’t eat Slim Jims because I do not understand what “mechanically separate chicken parts” means. Thanks to Everything But the Squeal I now have to be on the lookout for MRM – mechanically recovered meat… um…whatever that means…and I won’t even describe the pig slaughter scene.
A byproduct of reading Everything But the Squeal was a slow picking up of tidbits of the language. I learned that morrina means a profound longing for the native land; something that is more powerful than a teenager at boarding school suffering from homesickness.
As another aside, I think I want to try my hand at making Galacian Red Sauce. I am sure there is more to it than evoo, paprika, garlic, onion, bay leaves and lemon, but you had me a paprika and sold me on lemon. As another aside, I don’t think I have ever been confronted with the description of offal as often as I have this month.

Quotes to quote, “The delights of home are never stronger than when you’re not there” (p 93). Obvo.

Author fact: Barlow has written other books. Everything but the Squeal is the only one on my Challenge lust.

Book trivia: Barlow talks about taking pictures but doesn’t include them in the book.

Playlist: “Y.M.C.A.,” “Brazil,” Grateful Dead, Barbra Streisand, Julio Iglesias, and Jerry Garcia.

Nancy said: Pearl called Everything but the Squeal “mouthwatering” (Book Lust To Go p 219).

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Spain” (p 218). Can’t get any simpler than that.

With Bold Knife and Fork

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Fisher, M.F.K. With Bold Knife and Fork. G.P. Putnam and sons, 1968.

Reason read: March is Food Month.

Fisher is one of the best known and well loved food writers of the last century. When I told someone I was reading With Bold Knife and Fork her immediate reaction was a one word exclamation, “love!” And speaking of love, I loved, loved, loved some of the snarky phrases Fisher used. Here are a few, “…floating dunghill of lassitude, corruption, dirt, and whatever evil I have ever recognized as such” (p 171), “Stuffed with prejudices” (p 287) and “culinary monkey” (p 291). But, back to the “plot” of With Bold Knife and Fork. Fisher will walk you down a myriad of memory lanes with food and how it related to her childhood or the social norms of the day. It was amusing to think of a very young M.F.K. Fisher as a child hearing the siren’s song and feeling the pull towards decadent food. There is a definite humor to her storytelling. I had to laugh when she talked about a pressure cooker and how “it should never be used by a person taking tranquilizers or alcohol for his own reasons, or one with a fever or the deep blues” (p 164). There is also a didactic nature to Fisher. I appreciated learning the difference between preserves, conserves, jellies, jams, honeys, and marmalades.
As an aside, what is so special about offal? Everything But The Squeal and With Bold Knife and Fork both offer pretty descriptive passages on the “delicacy.” Can is ask? The phrase, “tuck into.” Is that the act of starting to eat or the actual consumption of food?
Last off-topic observation: the quote reminded me of an episode of This Is Us, “We are so conditioned to this threat of the Secret Ingredient, and this acceptance of trickery, that even honesty has become suspect when we are brash enough to ask for recipes” (p 292).

Author fact: Fisher is a self-professed soy addict.

Book trivia: More memoir than cookbook, With Bold Knife and Fork offers 140 interesting recipes.

Favorite quotes, “Rice can be cooked in two basic ways, right and wrong” (p 79). Not helpful. Not helpful at all. Another quote, “There is a mistaken idea, ancient but still with us, that an overdose of anything from fornication to hot chocolate will teach restraint by the very results of its abuse” (p 99). One last one, “I like tomatoes but can skip them when I know I should for other people’s dietary or emotional reasons” (p 157), and last one “It is hot as the hinges of hell’s front door…” (p 302). the devil in me wanted to ask what about hell’s back door?

Playlist: “Gladly the Cross-Eyed Bear” and “W.S. gilbert’s “Patience.”

Nancy said: Pearl said writing about food is how Fisher expressed her love.

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Food for Thought” (p 91).

Jam Today

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Davies, Tod. Jam Today: a Diary of Cooking with What You’ve Got. Exterminating Angel Press, 2009.

Reason read: A bunch of years ago (in 2009) I was supposed to receive this book in exchange for an honest review. It never arrived. I decided to take matters into my own hands to clean up “unfinished” business.

Part cookbook, part memoir Jam Today is, dare I say, whimsical. Davies will tell you her favorite meals and she’ll walk you through how to make them. She is not precise in measurements, nor in direction. She doesn’t have to have precision in either because this isn’t your standard Julia Childs how-to in haute cuisine. While the subtitle of Jam Today is misleading it should be taken as a lighthearted romp through the joys of planning, cooking, and eating a flavorful meal. Instead of A Diary of Cooking with What You’ve Got her subtitle should have read “a diary of cooking with what I’ve got.” How many of us have salt cod, champagne, or cremini mushrooms lounging around in the refrigerator? Smoked salmon hiding in the pantry? I’m enough of a culinary snob to expect people who cook to have some kind of mortar and pestle on their counters, but a suribachi mortar and pestle? On the whole, Jam Today is fun. Seriously, how can you go wrong when the final instruction of a recipe is to not forget to light the candles?

Lines I liked, “It’ll stay tame if you show it who’s boss ion a cheerful way” (p 154).

Author fact: Davies most always includes a salad and wine with her recipes.

Book trivia: The title of Davies’s book comes from The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland when the Mock Turtle sings for Alice about “jam today.”

High Altitude Breakfast

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Hampton, Nicole. High Altitude Breakfast: Sweet and Savory Baking at 5,000 Feet and Above. West Margin Press, 2021.

Reason read: as a member of the Early Review Program for LibraryThing, I requested this book because I have a friend who opened a restaurant that features sweet and savory pies and oh yeah, she lives in Colorado Springs (elevation 6,035 feet).

This is a gorgeous cookbook with delicious-sounding recipes. I say “sounding” because I am not in a high-altitude area and have yet to try a single recipe. I chose to review Hampton’s cookbook in hopes of a) learning more about the science behind high-altitude baking and b) converting some of the recipes for a sea-level kitchen because I am a huge fan of breakfast. I’m always looking for a new way to celebrate my favorite meal of the day. High-Altitude Breakfast does not a great deal of information about conversion aside from a chart in the back and a few tips in the beginning, but that is not to say the recipes won’t come out fantastic with a little practice. Every recipe sounded wonderful and the photography had me drooling. As an aside, I do have a friend in the restaurant business who happens to live in the Mile High City. I am hoping she will test Ms. Hampton’s creations and report back.

Author fact: Nicole Hampton writes a food blog called “Dough Eyed” and has already written a similar cookbook, Sugar High: Sweet and Savory Baking in Your High Altitude Kitchen. I’m wondering if High Altitude Breakfast is an extension of one or both of those projects.

Based on Hampton’s opening statements, I am a fan and would like to hang out in her kitchen. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and I can eat it any time of the day.

Third Helpings

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Trillin, Calvin. Third Helpings. New Haven: Ticknor & Fields, 1983.

Reason read: to finish the Tummy Trilogy started in March in honor of National Food Month.

Trillin is at it again with a third and final installment of the Tummy Trilogy; another series of essays all about his idea of good eating. Third Helpings starts with Trillin’s belief that Spaghetti Carbonara should be the national dish at Thanksgiving. It’s a quirky idea, but I get his point. Fourteen essays follow.
The more I read Trillin, the more I admire his wife and her ability to travel to strange lands to eat even stranger foods without complaint, but my favorite character was Mrs. Rome. The list of food she sampled between pages 97-99 is very impressive. It is no wonder she gained nine pounds on that trip!

Irony: the last chapter of Third Helpings is about Crescent City, Florida. I guess there used to be a big catfish festival along the St. John River. At the time I was finishing Third Helpings I was in Florida, not far from Crescent City.

Author fact: According to IMDB, Calvin Trillin is also an actor. What the what? He was in Sleepless in Seattle. Mind blown.

Book trivia: Third Helpings is the final book in the Tummy Trilogy, but Trillin has also written a memoir about his father and a few books about his wife, Alice. None of those books are on my Challenge list.

Playlist: “Oh Marie,” “Tell Me That You Love Me,” “The Streets of Laredo,” “Rock Around the Clock,” “Moon Over Miami,” and “Let’s Go To the Hop.”

Nancy said: Pearl called Trillin’s essays “treasures.”

BookLust Twist: from Book Lust in the chapter called “Food for Thought” (p 91).