Time Marches On!

Cheers to all you Sunday Salon people and any others!  Sunday Salon is a weekly re-cap of what we've been reading and doing.  Hosted faithfully by Deb Nance of Readerbuzz

We are Marching inexorably toward Christmas, and Yikes!  Shopping to do, or else everyone will end up with a bottle of Lillikoi Syrup or Lillikoi Kombucha. Yes, the passionfruit are plentiful at the moment. Feel free to come and pick up some.

I missed a week which just means more stuff here.  Above you see the kombucha right before bottling, with the SCOBY on top. After pouring it into bottles, some fresh passionfruit juice was added to create a second ferment.  That's why room is left on top, and a secure lid, so we don't get what they call a Booch bomb!

BOOKS READ:

Recipes for Love and Murder, by Sally Andrew, was set in rural South Africa, and interesting for the setting.  Not as insightful or profound as the Alexander McCall Smith series based in Botswana, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.  I was continually flipping back to the glossary, looking up African words.  I mean if you write in English, why switch back and forth?  Just annoying.

The Marlow Murder Club, by Robert Thorogood, was a delight however.  Several women of a "certain age" unite to solve a murder in their backyard.  Intriguing mystery, capably written, the characters develop as the Murder Club evolves, including a harassed woman police officer.

Death comes to Kurland Hall is #3 in the Kurland St. Mary, Regency mystery series by Catherine Lloyd.  I loved the two previous ones, and this was enjoyable though a bit overcomplicated.  

The Gardener's Plot, a promising debut, by Deborah Benoit.  The bodies are piling up as our amateur sleuth, Maggie uncovers the plot, in the heart of the Berkshires.

In this latest, of my reading anyway, in the Martha's Vineyard mystery series(the third) the 92 year old police deputy (for her extensive knowledge of the area and its citizens),  down-to-earth, Victoria succeeds once more in helping to solve the murders.  Great characters, including a raucous toucan.  Luckily there are more to read!

NOW READING:

A debut by Clara McKenna, set in 1905, Hampshire, England.  We'll see, good so far.

MEMORABLE MEALS:

A pasta dish made with my new purchase, Tonnino Tuna Ventresca.  Apparently the high end of the tuna world, which I was persuaded to buy.  Good though, and worth it.

And a lovely, spicy Lamb Tajine.  Thankfully I made enough to provide for several meals.

FUN OCCASIONS:

We had a very well attended Art Studio Tour here, and the works were overall just fabulous!  Some really talented Artists.  I went with a friend and we had a great time, going from studio to studio, most with several artists represented.  I got a few gifts and some items to keep!

FROM THE GARDEN

Breadfruit, known as ulu here, dehydrating and dried.  Next stop flour!

Well, that's about it for now.  Enjoy the weekend everyone!

Praising God and Practicing Gratitude!

Thanksgiving is a great time to practice gratitude!  Doing that here, whilst Joining up with Deb Nance of Readerbuzz for her Sunday Salon.

We are celebrating many things!  Family, friends, good food, fruit from our trees, and this week a report of over 9,000 shoebox gifts  collected at our Operation Christmas Child Hilo Drop Off location! The boxes go to hurting and impoverished children in Third World countries and other places, wherever folks are going through various disasters, to orphanages, etc. This is the second and final container.

Much to be Thankful For!

ABSOLUTELY!! Looking back at the highlights of our week, to be posted on the Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb Nance of Readerbuzz. Did you know that Wednesday, the 20th was National Absurdity Day? Well, I happen to have one of those calendars that let you know all the important days! We had a fun drive to Waimea on Wednesday, ate at my favorite restaurant and shopped at my favorite (one of them) dress shops, while Bob took care of some Real Estate.

A Thanksgiving Lunch

Going into the week approaching Thanksgiving we do have much to be thankful for, and to celebrate!  Since my grandson and family are going to be away on the Mainland, for the holiday visiting the other grandparents, he took us out to lunch.  The kids were adorable and amusing!  Bob was taking the pictures and mom got lopped off.

Onward and Upward All!

 A delightful week, altogether!  

Here we are, at Sunday Salon again, and in the universe!  Yes!  I too choose love!!  We are celebrating!  With Champagne even, or at least Prosecco.  This is some art my husband Bob posted recently (Sean is his younger brother) and I was reminded of it by Deb at Readerbuzz, the stalwart hostess of Sunday Salon, as last week she posted this cover of Bob's Saucer Repair, which is now on my reading list for Sci-Fi month.

Sunday Salon - Another Week in Review

 

A Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz,  Recap of my week, wherein I try to remember what all went on.  Some Gardening, collecting produce, reading, and cooking.  Oh and a bit of working at our office.  It does help to pay the bills.

Sometimes Eating Helps - For Crying in H Mart

She certainly did quite a bit of both.  Crying and eating in this memoir, which is our Cook the Books Club pick for October/November.  Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner, and hosted by Simona of Briciole, with lots of interesting, some deliciously so, Korean food.  I struggled at times getting through the story of her upbringing.  Some parents can be so overbearing even in their love, wanting to direct every aspect of their children's lives.  Of course, in my case, there were 7 of us, and a different nationality, so not too comparable to an only child in a Korean American home.

From the Publishers:  "#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the indie rock sensation known as Japanese Breakfast, an unforgettable memoir about family, food, grief, love, and growing up Korean American—“in losing her mother and cooking to bring her back to life, Zauner became herself” (NPR). • CELEBRATING OVER ONE YEAR ON THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST

In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food.

As she grew up, moving to the East Coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, and performing gigs with her fledgling band--and meeting the man who would become her husband--her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live. It was her mother's diagnosis of terminal cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her..."

Another Wild Week? Maybe Not.

 A Week in Review

 Hello everyone at Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb Nance at Readerbuzz, Heather at the October Foodies Read, and Marge, hostess at Weekend Cooking, along with anyone else out there.

First off, it's time for bacon!  Yes, we've got a pork belly curing.  Today is Day 1 of a 10 day cure.   Sorry all you vegans and vegetarians!  But, I do love my bacon.  No pictures though.  Who wants to see a slab of pork belly?  Instead, maybe a recipe or two later. 

Favorite Beverage of the Year! 

The Week of New Stuff

Well, hello all you folks out there in the Sunday Salon, Foodies Read, and elsewhere in the cosmos!  It's been an interesting week!  Wanting to get over various skin issues, I got into a bit of fasting, beginning with  a few intermittent ones and then a 3 day water fast.  This book, Eat, Fast, Feast, was an excellent guide, and very helpful.  Skin things are a bit better and a few more fasts may even finish the job!

The Zookeeper's Wife and That's Not All!

 What an amazing book!  And, yes a true story, based on diaries and historical sources, The Zookeeper's Wife, by Diane Ackerman.  It's an unusual combination of horrendous war crimes, and humor with all the fascinating human and animal characters.  I was absolutely mesmerized, saddened and amused alternately.  

From the Publishers:

"A true story in which the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands.

Jan and Antonina Zabinski were Polish Christian zookeepers horrified by Nazi racism, who managed to save over three hundred people. Yet their story has fallen between the seams of history. Drawing on Antonina’s diary and other historical sources, best-selling naturalist Diane Ackerman vividly re-creates Antonina’s life as “the zookeeper’s wife,” responsible for her own family, the zoo animals, and their “Guests”―Resistance activists and refugee Jews, many of whom Jan had smuggled from the Warsaw Ghetto. Ironically, the empty zoo cages helped to hide scores of doomed people, who were code-named after the animals whose names they occupied. Others hid in the nooks and crannies of the house itself.

Jan led a cell of saboteurs, and the Zabinskis’ young son risked his life carrying food to the Guests, while also tending an eccentric array of creatures in the house. With hidden people having animal names, and pet animals having human names, it’s small wonder the zoo’s codename became “The House Under a Crazy Star.”

Yet there is more to this story than a colorful cast. With her exquisite sensitivity to the natural world, Diane Ackerman explores the role of nature in both kindness and savagery, and she unravels the fascinating and disturbing obsession at the core of Nazism: both a worship of nature and its violation, as humans sought to control the genome of the entire planet."

The Secret Life of Bees and Some Cake Too!

 

We at Cook the Books Club are currently reading The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, hosted this round by Debra of Eliot's Eats.  This is a novel I had totally missed out on, though it's been around for over 20 years now. Quite an original and fascinating tale. I especially loved the account of 14 year old Lily springing her nanny from the hospital lockdown, after she was beaten up for daring to attempt voting!  

Getting Into Jang! By Kang - A Whole New Cuisine

 

I just discovered, Jang, The Soul of Korean Cooking, by Mingoo Kang.  Well, it's a new trip for me anyway.  The Jang journey!  And a truly fascinating one.  How they're made, and how to apply to my usual (or should I say unusual) cooking.  I said discovered, but to give proper credit it was due to the Eater post: The 17 Best Cookbooks of Spring 2024, which I've totally enjoyed, checking out many of them from the library and sampling recipes!  In between finding out which type of galangal I'm growing and how to use our Blue Turmeric.  For the ever blooming road of growing and researching plants and their uses is never ending. Anyway, this book is now due at the library, and I need to decide whether to buy it Yikes!  There are so many more recipes I want to try.

The Publishers say:

"Like butter in French cooking or olive oil in Italian, jangs are the soul of Korean cuisine. These soy-based umami sauces—gochujang, doenjang, ganjang—are found in every meal, from soups and stews, to salads, marinades, and even desserts, adding depth and complexity to every dish.

Few chefs understand these ingredients better than Michelin star winner Mingoo Kang, who has dedicated his Seoul restaurant, Mingles, to the exploration of jangs. In his first cookbook, Kang expertly weaves jangs’ history and methods into 60 accessible recipes to bring the sauces to life. Through artisan profiles, sidebars, and step-by-step photographs, Kang uncovers one of the culinary world’s best-hidden secrets... while showing how they can be used to make both Korean and Western dishes more delicious."  

A Balti Curry for Major Pettigrew

I just finished this delightful novel set in a parochial English village, where everyone knows everyone else's business, and with many of the long held prejudices still in place.  Confrontations are in order.  And here, they happen with some surprise consequences!  I loved this book, and wanted to share the good news!  Here's the Publisher's Weekly review:

"In her charming debut novel, Simonson tells the tale of Maj. Ernest Pettigrew, an honor-bound Englishman and widower, and the very embodiment of duty and pride. As the novel opens, the major is mourning the loss of his younger brother, Bertie, and attempting to get his hands on Bertie's antique Churchill shotgun-part of a set that the boys' father split between them, but which Bertie's widow doesn't want to hand over. While the major is eager to reunite the pair for tradition's sake, his son, Roger, has plans to sell the heirloom set to a collector for a tidy sum. As he frets over the guns, the major's friendship with Jasmina Ali, the Pakistani widow of the local food shop owner, takes a turn unexpected by the major (but not by readers). The author's dense, descriptive prose wraps around the reader like a comforting cloak, eventually taking on true page-turner urgency as Simonson nudges the major and Jasmina further along and dangles possibilities about the fate of the major's beloved firearms. This is a vastly enjoyable traipse through the English countryside and the long-held traditions of the British aristocracy."

Frosted Maple Bars for Family Tree

 

Our Cook the Books group have been reading and posting about  our current June/July selection, Family Tree by Susan Wiggs, which event I'm also hosting.  I read the book several years ago, and just re-read it for this round.  Delightful both times.  The heroine, Annie Rush, goes through so much loss in her story!  Totally unique and devastating experiences, that would wipe out most of us!  

But, going through them, along with her gave me an insider's glimpse of something I had never thought about, of what it would be like waking from a year long coma, learning again who you are and what had happened.  An entire life lost! The whole recovery process, rehabilitation, then putting the past behind and beginning again!  Not your ordinary cliche story.  Also learning about the whole maple syrup business, how it's done, etc. was a fascinating discovery.  Susan Wiggs keeps it real!

From the Publishers:

"Annie Harlow knows how lucky she is. The producer of a popular television cooking show, she loves her handsome husband and the beautiful Los Angeles home they share. And now, she’s pregnant with their first child. But in an instant, her life is shattered. And when Annie awakes from a yearlong coma, she discovers that time isn’t the only thing she’s lost.

Cooking with Julia in Mastering the Art of French Murder

Our latest Cook the Books Club pick is the clever and very entertaining novel by Colleen Cambridge, Mastering the Art of French Murder. I loved this truly enjoyable read, both from the mystery perspective as well as the enticing food and wine discussions.  From the Washington Post:

"Set in midcentury Paris and starring Julia Child’s fictional best friend, this magnifique reimagining of the iconic chef’s years at Le Cordon Bleu blends a delicious murder mystery with a unique culinary twist.

“It’s Child’s ebullient personality that is the heart of the book. Part historical fiction, part mystery, Mastering the Art of French Murder is totally delectable entertainment for fans of lighthearted detective fiction.” – The Washington Post

And from the Publishers' report: 

"From fine Bordeaux and freshly baked baguettes to the friendly chatter of the green market, postwar Paris is indulging its appetite for food, and life, once more, as Tabitha Knight, a young American woman, makes friends with chef-in-training Julia Child—and finds herself immersed in a murder most unsavory . . 

Between tutoring Americans in French, and sampling the results of Julia's studies at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school, Tabitha's sojourn is thoroughly delightful. That is, until the cold December day they return to Julia's building and learn that a body has been found in the cellar. Tabitha recognizes the victim from a party given by Julia's sister, Dort, the night before. The murder weapon is recognizable too—a knife from Julia's kitchen."  Of course, she must help to find the killer and protect her new friend.

An Old Classic Ngaio Marsh and Kedgeree

 

My problem is not a surfeit of books to read, but of Ngaio Marsh novels I haven't read.  I might be at the end, but now re-reading ones forgotten.  Like this latest, A Man Lay Dead.  The first in her 33 book Inspector Roderick Alleyn series.  From the Publishers:

"This classic from the Golden Age of British mystery opens during a country-house party between the two world wars—servants bustling, gin flowing, the gentlemen in dinner jackets, the ladies all slink and smolder. Even more delicious: The host, Sir Hubert Handesley, has invented a new and especially exciting version of that beloved parlor entertainment, The Murder Game . . ."

Crime comes to a country house: “Any Ngaio Marsh story is certain to be Grade A, and this one is no exception.” —The New York Times

I really don't think I've read a bad Marsh novel.  Anyway, to go with the Golden Age British theme, I made a dish from the era, Kedgeree.  And, as the guests in the story were under orders not to leave during the investigation, a lot of delicious country house food was consumed meanwhile.

Stacked or Unstacked Enchiladas for Relish

Our current book selection for Cook the Books Club is Relish: My Life in the Kitchen, a Graphic Memoir by Lucy Knisley.  Cartoon formatted books are not my usual go to read, or cookbook for that matter.  I found some of it entertaining and humorous, some recipes a bit questionable, and a few that made me want to give a try.  The pickle episode was funny, but in actuality, pretty bad.  I've never seen such a complicated and strange procedure for making pickled vegetables.  Cooking the cucumbers first?  1/2 gallon apple cider vinegar?? She says that her grandmother made incredible pickles, and further that both she and her mom were never able to duplicate the process.   It totally made me want to email her a good recipe for naturally fermented pickles, which is probably what her grandmother made.  Here it is for anyone interested: https://honeyfromrock.blogspot.com/2010/10/they-cant-be-that-easy-pickled.html

Undercooked - A Persian Lamb Stew

 

For this (December/January) round, we at Cook the Books Club have been featuring the collection of essays, memoir really, Undercooked by Dan Ahdoot, hosted by Debra of Eliot's Eats.  It's a very personal, sometimes light-weight romp about his obsession with eating, frequently at high end restaurants, all over the world, to the detriment of any personal relationships, and how he got that way.  As the sub title of his books states "How I let Food Become My Life Navigator and How Maybe That's a Dumb Way to Live".  Well, duh.  It was at times funny, though often in a sad sort of way.  An enjoyable read for the most part.

I loved the description of Dan's first kitchen experiment as a kid.  A ten year old, and he wanted to make a Grand Marnier Souffle!  Then totally nailed it with the assistance and encouragement of his mom. 

From Kirkus Reviews: "A comic describes his lifelong love affair with food. "A good meal gives me more happiness than almost anything in life, including sex, money, and sex," Ahdoot writes in this collection of humorous essays. Later, he adds, "I'm probably the best comedian in the country with a deep obsession with food, so that's something, right?"  Much of the narrative describes how he got that way. Unfortunately, the book is like a restaurant that can't keep good chefs because the offerings vary wildly in quality. As the middle of three boys, Ahdoot was the only child in their Iranian Jewish household who shared his father's love of fine cuisine, a passion his father maintained until the oldest son died of cancer. Ahdoot's parents then turned to religion and frequented "subpar kosher immigrant eateries…".