kidzdoc's Books, Theatre, Music and Recipes in 2015: Act One

2015 will be my seventh year as a member of Club Read. I fell off the CR radar in the beginning of November of 2014, although I did manage to keep my reading output up in the busy late autumn and early winter months when I and my partners are taking care of large number of patients in the big city children's hospital that I work in. I intend to do better in 2015, with more reviews of the books I read, along with the plays I see, and the music (mostly jazz and classical) that I listen to and the concerts I attend.

One new feature of this thread will be recipes, which I hope that at least some of you will find interesting. I began cooking at home on a regular basis at the end of 2013, and I've been trying out new recipes for the slow cooker, the oven and the stove. One of my goals for the new year is to cook vegetarian and vegan food on a regular basis, and I've already started doing that, using recipes I've found online, ones that have been shared with me by friends, and those I've discovered in a couple of cook books that I've purchased or received.

I'll participate on a regular basis in several LibraryThing group reads in 2015: Reading Globally, as all of the quarterly themes are highly interesting to me (and I'll lead the Iberian literature theme in the second quarter of the month); the Booker Prize group, as I'm the primary administrator of that group; and two challenges created by members of the 75 Books group, which I'm also active in: the American Authors Challenge, and the British Authors Challenge (I'll provide links to those group reads once the 75 Books in 2015 group has been created).

I had intended to read heavily from my TBR pile in 2014, and read one book of Canadian literature every month, but I failed badly on both of those counts. So, I'll try again in 2015, and hopefully I'll be much more successful this time around.

Currently reading:

    

Time Ages in a Hurry by Antonio Tabucchi
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Less Medicine, More Health: 7 Assumptions That Drive Too Much Medical Care by H. Gilbert Welch

Completed books: (TBR = book acquired prior to 1/1/14)

January:
1. Clock Without Hands by Carson McCullers (TBR) (review)
2. Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward (TBR) (review)
3. A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam (TBR)
4. A Distant Father by Antonio Skármeta
5. Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
6. The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh (TBR)

February:
7. In the City By the Sea by Kamila Shamsie (TBR)
8. The Work: My Search for a Life That Matters by Wes Moore
9. I Called Him Necktie by Milena Michiko Flašar
10 Blackballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy by Darryl Pinckney

March:
11. Grady Baby: A Year in the Life of Atlanta's Grady Hospital by Jerry Gentry (TBR)
12. The Sellout by Paul Beatty

Books purchased or received in 2015:

January:
1. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (2 Jan, Kindle e-book)
2. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin (2 Jan, Kindle e-book)
3. The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness by Elyn R. Saks (11 Jan, Kindle e-book)
4. A Useless Man: Selected Stories by Sait Faik Abasiyanik (12 Jan, Archipelago Books subscription)
5. The Work: My Search for a Life That Matters by Wes Moore (20 Jan, LT Early Reviewers book)
6. DownBeat: The Great Jazz Interviews, edited and compiled by Frank Alkyer and Ed Enright (20 Jan, free book as part of 2015 DownBeat subscription)

2015 Reading Globally Themes and possible reads from my TBR collection:

First quarter: Indian subcontinent

Aravind Adiga, Between the Assassinations
Tariq Ali, Night of the Golden Butterfly
Tahmima Anam, A Golden Age
Vikram Chandra, Red Earth and Pouring Rain
Vikram Chandra, Sacred Games
G.V. Desani, All About H. Hatterr
Roopa Farooki, Bitter Sweets
Amitav Ghosh, The Calcutta Chromosome
Amitav Ghosh, The Hungry Tide
Intizar Husain, Basti
Rohinton Mistry, Such a Long Journey
Uday Prakash, The Girl with the Golden Parasol
Salman Rushdie, The Moor's Last Sigh
Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses
Kamila Shamsie, In the City By the Sea

Second quarter: Iberian peninsula

António Lobo Antunes, Act of the Damned
António Lobo Antunes, Fado Alexandrino
António Lobo Antunes, The Land at the End of the World
Bernardo Atxaga, Obabakoak
Juan Goytisolo, Forbidden Territory and Realms of Strife
Juan Goytisolo, Landscapes of War: From Sarajevo to Chechnya
Juan Goytisolo, The Marx Family Saga
Almudena Grandes, The Frozen Heart
Carmen Laforet, Nada
Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet
Fernando Pessoa, The Education of the Stoic
Mercè Rodoreda, Death in Spring
Mercè Rodoreda, The Selected Stories of Mercè Rodoreda
José Saramago, Baltasar and Blimunda
José Saramago, The History of the Siege of Lisbon
José Saramago, Manual of Painting and Calligraphy
Llorenç Villalonga, The Dolls' Room
Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Angel's Game

Third quarter: Nobel Prize winners writing not in English

Knut Hamsun (1920), Hunger
Thomas Mann (1929), Death in Venice
Halldór Laxness (1955), Independent People
Albert Camus (1957), The First Man; Exile and the Kingdom
Ivo Andrić (1961), The Bridge on the Drina
Jean-Paul Sartre (1964), Nausea
Miguel Ángel Asturias (1967), The President
Yasunari Kawabata (1968), Beauty and Sadness
Pablo Neruda (1971), The Essential Neruda; Canto General
Isaac Bashevis Singer (1978), Collected Stories, Volume 1
Gabriel García Márquez (1982), One Hundred Years of Solitude; Of Love and Other Demons; The Autumn of the Patriarch
Claude Simon (1985), The Trolley
Naguib Mahfouz (1988), Midaq Alley; Rhadopis of Nubia
Octavio Paz (1990), The Labyrinth of Solitude; In Light of India
Kenzaburō Ōe (1994), The Changeling
José Saramago (1998), Raised from the Ground; Baltasar and Blimunda; The History of the Siege of Lisbon; Manual of Painting and Calligraphy; Journey to Portugal
Günter Grass (1999), The Tin Drum
Gao Xingjian (2000), One Man's Bible; Soul Mountain
Orhan Pamuk (2006), Snow; My Name Is Red; The Museum of Innocence; Other Colors
J.M.G. Le Clézio (2008), Terra Amata; The Giants; War; Fever; The Book of Flights; The Flood
Herta Müller (2009), The Land of Green Plums
Mario Vargas Llosa (2010), Captain Pantoja and the Special Service; The Green House; The Way to Paradise; The Bad Girl; The Dream of the Celt
Mo Yan (2012), Life and Death are Wearing Me Out; The Garlic Ballads; The Republic of Wine

Fourth quarter: Women writing not in English

Isabel Allende, The House of the Spirits
Simone de Beauvoir, The Mandarins; She Came to Stay
Assia Djebar, Algerian White; Children of the New World; The Tongue's Blood Does Not Run Dry
Diamela Eltit, E. Luminata
Annie Ernaux, Cleaned Out
Sylvie Germain, The Song of False Lovers
Marlene van Niekerk, Agaat
Miral al-Tahawy, Brooklyn Heights
Delphine de Vigan, No and Me

2015 American Author Challenge

January: Carson McCullers, Clock Without Hands
February: Henry James, The Wings of the Dove
March: Richard Ford, Independence Day
April: Louise Erdrich, The Plague of Doves
May: Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith
June: Wallace Stegner, Crossing to Safety
July: Ursula Le Guin
August: Larry McMurtry
September: Flannery O'Connor, The Complete Stories
October: Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
November: Barbara Kingsolver, Flight Behavior
December: E.L. Doctorow, The March

2015 British Author Challenge

January: Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger
January: Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
February: Sarah Waters, The Little Stranger or The Paying Guests
February: Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited
March: Daphne Du Maurier, ?Rebecca
March: China Mieville, The City & the City
April: Angela Carter, ?Nights at the Circus
April: W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage
May: Margaret Drabble, ?The Radiant Way
May: Martin Amis, The Zone of Interest
June: Beryl Bainbridge, Master Georgie
June: Anthony Burgess, ?Earthly Powers
July: Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out
July: Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
August: Iris Murdoch, The Sea, the Sea
August: Graham Greene, The Quiet American
September: Andrea Levy, Fruit of the Lemon
September: Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses
October: Helen Dunmore, The Siege
October: David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks
November: Muriel Spark, Loitering with Intent
November: William Boyd, An Ice-Cream War
December: Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety
December: P.G. Wodehouse, Love Among the Chickens

Recommended reads for the CanLit 2014 2015 Challenge (by Canadian LTers) (books in bold are ones that I'm most interested in reading):

   Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace (Joyce, Nancy, Cait and Cyrel)
   Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin (Cait and Joyce)
   Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale (Tui)
   Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride (Joyce and Nancy)
   Anita Rau Badami, Tamarind Mem (Tui)
   Anita Rau Badami, Tell it to the Trees (Cait)
   John Bemrose, The Island Walkers (Lori)
   Marie-Claire Blais, The Day Is Dark and Three Travelers (Suz)
   Joseph Boyden, Three Day Road (Suz and Cyrel)
   Joseph Boyden, Black Spruce (Suz and Cyrel)
   Wayson Choy, The Jade Peony (Nancy)
   Michael Crummey, Galore (Sassy)
   Robertson Davies, The Deptford Trilogy (Suz, Cait, Tui and Zoë)
   Suzanne Desrochers, Bride of New France (Zoë)
   Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers (Nancy)
   Kim Echlin, The Disappeared (Cait)
   Timothy Findley, The Last of the Crazy People (Lori)
   Timothy Findley, The Piano Man's Daughter (Tui)
   Timothy Findley, The Wars (Suz and Joyce)
   Kenneth J. Harvey, Blackstrap Hawco (Sassy)
   Tomson Highway, Kiss of the Fur Queen (Joyce and Tui)
   Helen Humphreys, Coventry (Tui)
   Helen Humphreys, The Frozen Thames (Tui)
   Helen Humphreys, The Lost Garden (Tui)
   Wayne Johnston, Baltimore's Mansion (Tui)
   Wayne Johnston, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams (Cyrel)
   Thomas King, Green Grass, Running Water (Joyce)
   W.P. Kinsella, Shoeless Joe (Tui)
   Margaret Laurence, The Stone Angel (Tui)
   Mary Lawson, Crow Lake (Lori)
   Linden MacIntyre, The Bishop's Man (Suz)
   Alistair MacLeod, No Great Mischief (Cait and Nancy)
   Beatrice MacNeil, Where White Horses Gallop (Nancy)
   Rabindranath Maharaj, The Amazing Absorbing Boy (Cyrel)
   Rohinton Mistry, Such a Long Journey (Tui)
   W.O. Mitchell, Who Has Seen the Wind (Tui)
   Lisa Moore, February (Cait)
   Alice Munro, Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage (Suz)
   Alice Munro, Too Much Happiness (Cyrel)
   Alice Munro, The View from Castle Rock (Cyrel)
   Michael Ondaatje, Anil's Ghost (Joyce)
   Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient (Cait)
   Michael Ondaatje, In the Skin of a Lion
   Michael Ondaatje, The Cat's Table (Suz)
   Jacques Poulin, Mister Blue (Suz)
   Timothy Taylor, Stanley Park (Joyce)
   Kim Thúy, Ru (Suz)
   Michel Tremblay, The Fat Woman Next Door Is Pregnant (Lori)
   Jane Urquhart, Away (Tui)
   Jane Urquhart, The Stone Carvers (Tui)
   Ronald Wright, What Is America?: A Short History of the New World Order (nonfiction) (Tui)

TBR Books to Read in 2014 2015

Tomes (500 pages or more):
      Nicole Barker, Darkmans
      Simone de Beauvoir, The Mandarins
      Douglas Brinkley, The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast
      Saul Bellow, The Adventures of Augie March
      Ralph Ellison, Three Days Before the Shooting...
      Ian Gibson, The Shameful Life of Salvador Dalí
      David Grossman, To the End of the Land
      Lawrence Hill, Someone Knows My Name
      George E. Lewis, A Power Stronger than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music
      A.J. Liebling, Just Enough Liebling
      David Macey, Frantz Fanon: A Biography
      Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety
      Paul Murray, Skippy Dies
      Patrick O'Brian, Picasso: A Biography
      Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason: The Modern Foundations of Body and Soul
      Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses
      William Trevor, Selected Stories
      Patrick White, The Vivisector

Non-tomes (less than 500 pages):
      Stuart Altman and David Shactman, Power, Politics and Universal Health Care: The Inside Story of a Century-Long Battle
      Kwame Anthony Appiah, Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers
      Bernardo Atxaga, Obabakoak
      Amiri Baraka, Tales of the Out & the Gone
      Eleanor Catton, The Rehearsal
      Patrick Chamoiseau, Texaco
      Jean Echenoz, I'm Off and One Year
      Percival Everett, Percival Everett by Virgil Russell
      Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
      Louise Erdrich, The Plague of Doves
      Paul Farmer, Haiti After the Earthquake
      Juan Eslava Galan, The Mule
      Jerry Gentry, Grady Baby: A Year in the Life of Atlanta's Grady Hospital
      Amitav Ghosh, The Calcutta Chromosome
      Juan Goytisolo, Forbidden Territory and Realms of Strife
      Juan Goytisolo, Juan the Landless
      Alistair Horne, Seven Ages of Paris
      Jonathan B. Imber, Trusting Doctors: The Decline of Moral Authority in American Medicine
      Robert Klitzman, When Doctors Become Patients
      Karl Ove Knausgaard, My Struggle: Book One
      Eric Lax, The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle
      Charles Lemert, Why Niebuhr Matters
      David A. Mendel, Proper Doctoring: A Book for Patients and their Doctors
      Simon Mawer, Mendel's Dwarf
      Claire McCarthy, Everyone's Children: A Pediatrician's Story of an Inner City Practice
      Ian McEwan, Atonement
      Andrew Miller, Pure
      Quim Monzó, The Enormity of the Tragedy
      Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
      Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Petals of Blood
      Reinhold Niebuhr, The Irony of American History
      Laura Katz Olson, The Politics of Medicaid: Stakeholders and Welfare Medicine
      Brian Orr, MD, A Pediatrician's Journal: Caring for Children in a Broken Medical System
      Orhan Pamuk, Snow
      Roy Porter, Madmen: A Social History of Madhouses, Mad Doctors and Lunatics
      Graham Robb, Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris
      Edward W. Said, Out of Place: A Memoir
      Mario Vargas Llosa, The Green House
      Richard Wright, Black Boy

Looking forward to watching your reading and comments.

My family has gone vegetarian about 90% of the time, so I'm sure I'll jump in for the recipe conversations.

(and psst, in post 6, you need to flip the Angela Carter and Margaret Drabble books)

>9 Nickelini: Thanks for picking up on the Angela Carter/Margaret Drabble typo, Joyce! I've corrected the book links.

I'm glad that you'll be interested in the vegetarian recipes, and I'd love it if you and others posted your favorites, on my thread or your own. I can start with one recipe that I tried on Christmas Eve, Spicy Whole Roasted Cauliflower, courtesy of the web site PureWow, which was incredibly easy to make:

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 head cauliflower
1½ cups plain Greek yogurt
1 lime, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons chile powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400° and lightly grease a small baking sheet with vegetable oil. Set aside.

2. Trim the base of the cauliflower to remove any green leaves and the woody stem.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the yogurt with the lime zest and juice, chile powder, cumin, garlic powder, curry powder, salt and pepper.

4. Dunk the cauliflower into the bowl and use a brush or your hands to smear the marinade evenly over its surface. (Excess marinade can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to three days and used with meat, fish or other veggies.

5. Place the cauliflower on the prepared baking sheet and roast until the surface is dry and lightly browned, 30 to 40 minutes. The marinade will make a crust on the surface of the cauliflower.

6. Let the cauliflower cool for 10 minutes before cutting it into wedges and serving alongside a big green salad.

I used lime juice instead of a "zested and juiced" lime, and I slathered the cauliflower with a rubber spatula instead of dunking it in the marinade. This is what it looked like when it was done:



The marinade formed a semisoft coating on the outside of the cauliflower, which was very spicy and gave the cauliflower a very nice taste.

I'm off from work for the next three days, so I'll post several other recipes I've tried and enjoyed during that time, specifically crispy gnocchi with Brussels sprouts, asparagus and cremini mushrooms; spaghetti squash with walnuts and sage; Moroccan vegetable stew; curried lentils with chicken and potatoes; and white chicken chili.

Planned reads for January:

Tahmima Anam, A Golden Age
Kwame Anthony Appiah, Lines of Descent: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Emergence of Identity
Amitav Ghosh, The Calcutta Chromosome
Intizar Husain, Basti
Jonathan B. Imber, Trusting Doctors: The Decline of Moral Authority in American Medicine
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
Marlon James, A History of Seven Killings
Hannah Kent, Burial Rites
Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger
Rohinton Mistry, Swimming Lessons: and Other Stories from Firozsha Baag
Carson McCullers, Clock Without Hands
Kamila Shamsie, A God in Every Stone

Oh, I hope you enjoy Moon Tiger as much as I did. I wish I could again have the joy of reading it for the very first time.

Nice cauli recipe, it sounds lovely! When we spend Christmas by ourselves in London we often try and do something different for Christmas dinner. This time I cooked a few things out of Veggiestan that were delicious - the fiery green beans with rosewater were particularly good.

>12 charbutton: Thanks, Char. I'm glad to hear that you liked Moon Tiger so much.

The cauliflower turned out quite nicely. I love cauliflower, so I jumped on this recipe when I saw it last week.

Veggiestan looks like an interesting recipe book, although I won't get it just yet. On the recommendation of a former LTer I bought Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian earlier this month, and one of my partners, who is a strict vegetarian, gave me a copy of Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker earlier this year. I also downloaded the Kindle version of Plenty: Vibrant Recipes from London's Ottolenghi by Yotam Ottolenghi, which just happened to be on sale for $2.99 on the day that a friend from the 75 Books group mentioned it. I'll use those books as my primary source of recipes for the time being, and I'll look at them later today, as I usually go grocery shopping first thing Sunday mornings and use my slow cooker to prepare meals for the week.

One vegetarian recipe I made a few weeks ago that was a big hit with my partners at work when I shared it with them, was Moroccan Lentil and Vegetable Stew, courtesy of the web site Budget Bytes. The author of the site is a hospital microbiologist who collects fantastic vegetarian or vegan recipes, and provides detailed instructions on how to prepare the meals, which is helpful for newbies like me.

Moroccan Lentil and Vegetable Stew



Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 stalks (about half a bunch) celery
½ Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 (19 oz.) can chickpeas
1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes
½ lb. frozen cauliflower florets
6 cups vegetable broth
1 cup brown lentils
1 bay leaf

Instructions:
1. Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Sauté both in a large pot with olive oil over medium heat until softened. Dice the celery while the onions and garlic are sautéing, then add to the pot and continue to sauté for 2-3 minutes more.

2. Add the cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper to the pot. Stir and cook the spices with the vegetables for 1-2 minutes.

3. Add the diced tomatoes (with juices), chickpeas (rinsed and drained), and cauliflower florets (no need to thaw). Stir the pot until everything is well mixed.

4. Add the vegetable broth and bay leaf, turn the heat up to high, place a lid on the pot, and allow it to come to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, add the lentils. Stir and let it come back up to a boil, then turn the heat down to low. Let the stew simmer on low, with the lid, for 30 minutes.

5. After simmering for 30 minutes, the lentils should be tender. Remove the bay leaf and give the stew a taste. Add salt if needed (this will depend on the type of vegetable broth used. I did not add any additional salt), then serve.

This is a perfect one course meal for a cold autumn or winter day, which is richly flavored and quite spicy but not hot. I'll probably make this every few weeks, especially during the winter season.

Back to books. I made a quick two day trip to San Francisco two weeks ago, as I needed to make one more trip to earn enough miles to qualify for Gold Medallion status on Delta Air Lines. That was my first visit to the Bay Area this year, so naturally I visited City Lights Bookstore and came away with a couple of books:

Here's my book haul from City Lights last Friday:

Lines of Descent: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Emergence of Identity by Kwame Anthony Appiah: Appiah, who recently accepted a position as Professor of Philosophy at NYU after teaching for several years at Princeton, writes about the famed black intellectual's experiences as a student at Harvard and the University of Berlin, and how these dual exposures shaped his ideas of race and social identity.

Black Diamond by Zades Mda: A satirical novel set in modern South Africa, in which a magistrate threatened by a pimp who she has sent to jail is assigned a bodyguard who moves in with her, to the consternation of the man's girlfriend, a model and businesswoman who wants to turn him into a Black Diamond, a member of the wealthy new black middle class in the post-apartheid country.

The Good Cripple by Rodrigo Rey Rosa: A wayward Guatemalan young man is kidnapped by several men, including a high school classmate, who demand ransom from his wealthy father. Their demands are ignored, so they slice off one of the man's toes and threaten to amputate his foot unless they are paid off. Years later the young man tracks down his former kidnapper, which leads to a fateful meeting.

A Distant Father by Antonio Skármeta: A soulful novella set in a Chilean town about a son, who is a schoolteacher and a French translator, and his Parisian father, who recently left abruptly to return to France, to the dismay of his abandoned son and wife.

I Called Him Necktie by Milena Michico Flašar: A sad but beautiful novel about a 20 year old hikikomori, or recluse, who has recently emerged from his room in his parents' house in Tokyo after two years of estrangement from everyone else, and a salaryman he meets in a park, who has lost his job but is too ashamed to tell his wife of his dismissal.

A History of the World for Rebels and Somnambulists by Jesus del Campo: "From the beginning of the world, when God created Audrey Hepburn, the guilt complex and worker ants, to the end, broadcast live on a TV chat show, A History whips through our tortuous past with the deftness of a surgeon's scalpel." The author is from Gijón, Spain, so I bought this difficult to describe novel for the second quarter Reading Globally theme on literature from the Iberian peninsula.

The Penguin's Song by Hassan Daoud: A novel set during the Lebanese civil war, centered on a crippled young man who lives with his parents in a temporary shelter and lives in a fantasy world of books and eroticism, while his parents contemplate their purpose in life and their son's future in an uncertain world.

The Old Child & Other Stories by Jenny Erpenbeck: This book consists of one novella and four short stories about outcasts and eccentric characters living in modern German society.

Continued...

The Back Room by Carmen Martín Gaite: The story of a woman coming of age in the repressive Spain of the Franco era, which she tells to a stranger (who may or may not be real) that appears in her bedroom.

Swimming Lessons and Other Stories from Firozsha Baag by Rohinton Mistry: A collection of stories about the residents of Firozsha Baag, an crumbling apartment building in Bombay populated by middle class residents poised between the old ways and the new ones.

Suspended Sentences by Patrick Modiano: A recently translated collection of three novellas set during the German occupation of France during World War II, by this year's Nobel Prize in Literature laureate.

Out of the Dark by Patrick Modiano: A melancholy existential novel about two drifters, who run away to England, fall in love and then separate, then meet 15 years later in Paris, and again 15 years after that.

Our Lady of the Nile by Scholastique Mukasonga: A novel set in an elite girls' Catholic boarding school on the edge of the River Nile in Rwanda in 1979, during a time in which the country was beset by growing racial tensions and violence that would lead to genocide 15 years later.

Ready to Burst by Frankétienne: A critique of the Duvalier regime in Haiti during the 1960s, as told through the eyes of a struggling young man, written by arguably the greatest writer in that country's history.

The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami: "A lonely boy, a mysterious girl, and a tormented sheep man plot their escape from the nightmarish library of internationally acclaimed, best-selling Haruki Murakami's wild imagination."

Navidad & Matanza by Carlos Labbé: A novel set in a Chilean beach town, in which the two children of a wealthy video game executive go missing. The son is frequently sighted around town, but the girl remains unseen. A journalist narrates the story, as he and other "subjects" engage in a novel-writing quest.

And finally...

The Infamous Rosalie by Évelyne Trouillot: A Creole woman recounts her horrific journey from Africa to Haiti aboard a slave ship in the mid-18th century.

A Life Worth Living: Albert Camus and the Quest for Meaning by Robert Zaretsky: An analysis of Camus' moral character and the themes that preoccupied him, and how they affected his writings and how he chose to live his life.

Foreign Gods, Inc. by Okey Ndibe: A story about the journey of a NYC-based cab driver from Nigeria, who attempts to steal the statue of a war deity from his home village and sell it to a high end Manhattan gallery, which also serves as "a meditation on the dreams, promises and frustrations of immigrant life in America".

Brother and the Dancer by Keenan Norris: A coming-of-age tale about two young African Americans in California's San Bernardino Valley who live close to each other, but are widely separated by the lines of class, violence and history.

Blackballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy by Darryl Pinckney: A "meditation on a century and a half of participation by blacks in US electoral politics", from Reconstruction through the civil rights movement to Barack Obama's two presidential campaigns.

Becoming Richard Pryor by Scott Saul: A comprehensive and unique biography of the famed but troubled comedian and actor. My friend Scott at City Lights read and highly recommended it to me.

I haven't received any Christmas books yet, although I'm sure I'll receive several from my best friends very soon, so these City Lights purchases will serve as Christmas gifts to myself.

Ah, luring me with recipes ... like scattering a trail of breadcrumbs to your new thread!

I'll definitely try the Spicy Whole Roasted Cauliflower - sounds perfect for New Year's Eve.

The meat recipes that I've tried on Budget Bytes are quite good, too. The first recipe that I tried there was the oven baked fajitas which is wonderful as the peppers have a roasted quality that you don't get when doing fajita filling in a skillet.

The Orange January/July group, which focuses on books that have been chosen as finalists for the Orange Prize, now known as the Bailey's Women's Prize for Fiction, has become very quiet over the past year. I'd like to see this group return to its former high level of activity, and since I have over two dozen unread Oranges in my TBR collection I'd like to read at least one Orange every two months.

Here is the latest list of my unread Orange books:

Orange Prize winners:
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (2005)
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2007) (I thought I had read this, but apparently I haven't!)
The Road Home by Rose Tremain (2008)
Home by Marilynne Robinson (2009)
A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride (2014)

Orange Prize shortlisted books:
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood (2001)
The Siege by Helen Dunmore (2002)
The Accidental by Ali Smith (2006)
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (2007)
Scottsboro by Helen Feldman (2009)
The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey (2009)
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver (2013)
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent (2014)
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (2014)

Orange Prize longlisted books:
Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros (2003)
The Clothes on Their Backs by Linda Grant (2008)
The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer (2008)
Evening Is the Whole Day by Preeta Samarasan (2009)
Intuition by Allegra Goodman (2009)
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (2010)
The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton (2010)
The Still Point by Amy Sackville (2010)
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin (2010)
The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen (2012)
Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon (2012)
Lamb by Bonnie Nazdam (2013)
The Marlowe Papers by Ros Barber (2013)
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (2014)

>17 streamsong: Hi, streamsong! I'll be follow your thread for books and recipes as well.

Was it you that told me about the Moroccan lentil & vegetable stew? That was fabulous, and I'll probably make it again in a couple of weeks. There are several appealing recipes on the Budget Bytes web site, including African Peanut Stew and Parmesan Portobello Orzo. I think I'll make either the African peanut stew or Crispy Gnocchi with Mushrooms, Asparagus and Brussels Sprouts tomorrow, which I found on the One Green Planet web site and made on two occasions earlier this year.



I'll also make white chicken chili in the slow cooker, as I bought the ingredients for it on Christmas Eve.

I didn't realize there were meat recipes on the Budget Bytes web site; I'll have to check those out as well. Thanks!

My goodness, Darryl, my book haul was wonderful, but you outdid yourself. :) I hope that you are having a festive holiday season.

Looking at your Orange list (love the picture), there are several on my TBR or wishlist. I've only read two of the ones you've listed The Goldfinch and The Signature of All Things both of which I really enjoyed.

I've dropped my star, and will be watching your recipes and reading.

>20 NanaCC: Thanks, Colleen! I've had to stay in town over the Christmas and New Year's holidays and not travel to Philadelphia and NYC as I usually would, due to my work schedule, but I'm off for the next three days and hopefully my four day work week to close 2014 and open 2015 won't be too busy.

I'm glad that you enjoyed The Goldfinch and The Signature of All Things. I'm not sure which Orange books I'll read in 2015, other than Burial Rites and A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing, and I'll be interested to see which books are longlisted for next year's prize.

I am committed to cooking more in 2015, and I have already been doing so nearly every Sunday that I'm not working for the past 3-4 months, so it's become a regular habit of mine. I enjoy cooking, so it's also become a pleasurable activity, especially since my partners and some of the nurses I work with have given me positive feedback about the food I bring in, and the recipes and photos I've posted on my Facebook page.

Oh my, your thread is so organized! I'll have to revisit when I'm ready to set up my own thread. And, of course, to read about books and vegetarian recipes.

I have been eying World Vegetarian, but haven't picked it up yet. I'm looking forward to seeing your take on it. I own How to Cook Everything Vegetarian which is really good for when I want to cook a specific vegetable, and they've mostly been fantastic, but I find many of the recipes to be more involved than I would like. I am extremely fond of Moosewood cookbooks -- I find their recipes to be simple to prepare and generally delicious. My favorite is Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special which focuses on soups and salads (I love the many chilled fruit soups for summertime lunches!).

>22 ELiz_M: Welcome to Club Read, Liz! I cheated a little bit, in that I made my last 75 Books thread for 2014 a Preview of 2015, in which I organized my plans for the New Year in order to make it easy to create my first threads in the 75 Books and Club Read groups.

I look forward to seeing your first thread when you set it up.

I'll take a closer look at Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian tomorrow or Monday, and comment about it here.

I'm not fond of overly fussy recipes, such as the ones that appear in The New York Times on Wednesdays, so I may admire them but I won't save them for future use.

I see that Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special is available on Amazon for as little as $4.97, so I've added it to my wish list. I love soups and stews, so that book sounds right up my alley. Thanks for mentioning it!

Verso Books, "the largest independent, radical publishing house in the English-speaking world", is currently offering its e-books on sale from now until January 1st. Several of these books are ones I've seen at City Lights Bookstore but didn't buy, so this sale was too good to pass up. I bought 21 e-books for $43.80, and ordered an additional free e-book of selected excerpts from the 100+ books that were published in 2014:

Theodore W. Allen, The Invention of the White Race, Volume 1: Racial Oppression and Social Control
Theodore W. Allen, The Invention of the White Race, Volume 2: The Origin of Racial Oppression in Anglo-America
B.R. Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste
Alain Badiou, The Rebirth of History: Times of Riots and Uprisings
Daniel Barenboim, Music Quickens Time
Carla Blumenkranz, et al., Occupy!: Scenes from Occupied America
Karen E. Fields and Barbara J. Fields, Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life
Juan González and Joseph Torres, News For All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the
American Media
Alfredo Gutierrez, To Sin Against Hope: How America Has Failed Its Immigrants: A Personal History
Anabel Hernández, Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lords and Their Godfathers
Wang Hui, The End of the Revolution: China and the Limits of Modernity
Arun Kundnani, The Muslims Are Coming!: Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror
Óscar Martínez, The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail
Hsiao-Hung Pai, Scattered Sand: The Story of China's Rural Migrants
Shlomo Sand, How I Stopped Being a Jew
Shlomo Sand, The Invention of the Jewish People
Shlomo Sand, The Invention of the Land of Israel: From Holy Land to Homeland
José Saramago, The Lives of Things
Rebecca Solnit, A Book of Migrations
Nadya Tolokonnikova and Slavoj Žižek, Comradely Greetings: The Prison Letters of Nadya and Slavoj
Daniel Trilling, Bloody Nasty People: The Rise of Britain's Far Right
Verso Books, Verso 2014: Free Ebook Collection

Here's a link to the sale: All ebooks are 90% off until Jan 1st!

I heartily approve of your adding recipes to your thread. I've made a note to try the cauliflower recipe once we're all back home. Usually I just toss the florets in a little olive oil and parmesan and roast it all, which is highly popular in my house. Most vegetables taste better roasted rather than steamed or boiled, especially things like brussel sprouts and asparagus. The Moroccan stew looks like a dish I loved at a restaurant in Athens, GA, so I'm looking forward to trying out that one, too.

Your reading plans are ambitious and I look forward to seeing what you think of several of the books you've listed as probably reads. I'd also like the Orange forum to be more active. Thanks for the reminder of Orange January -- I'll have to see what I have that fits.

>25 RidgewayGirl: Thanks, Kay. I agree, most vegetables do taste better roasted, and I was very pleased with how well the roasted cauliflower turned out. I liked Moroccan lentil & vegetable stew far more than I thought I would (and I expected that I would like it), so that will become a staple recipe of mine.

Two weekends ago I made Spaghetti Squash with Walnuts, from a Mother Earth News recipe that Bianca (@drachenbraut23) shared with Claire (@Sakerfalcon), two of the London LTers who I hung out with multiple times this year. It turned out nicely, especially considering that I had never cooked spaghetti squash before. Here's the recipe:



Ingredients:

• 1 large spaghetti squash or 2 smaller ones (about 4 pounds)
• 1 tbsp olive oil or other cooking oil
• 1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 6 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp fresh sage, coarsely chopped

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Smear the oil on a rimmed baking pan. Set the squash on it and bake until the flesh is tender when pierced with a skewer or a knife (about 1 hour). Test frequently, because over-baking can make the flesh soggy and prone to clumping.

3. When done, cut the squash in half lengthwise and let it cool slightly to the point where it doesn’t burn your fingers. Remove the seeds and the orange strands that connect the seeds to the lighter flesh. I find that pulling on the seeds with one hand while using a knife to cut the strands with the other does the trick.

4. While the oven is still on and the squash is cooling, spread the walnuts out on a baking sheet and toast them for about 10 minutes, or until fragrant but not browned. Melt the butter in a small pan over low heat and cook until the foam subsides, and then add the sage and sizzle for about 2 minutes, until the leaves are slightly crisp but not browned.

5. Fork out the flesh of the squash into a shallow serving bowl by dragging the tines of a fork though it. Do this carefully and thoroughly, as it’s the key to making this dish look just like a bowl of thin spaghetti — or capellini, to be more precise.

6. Arrange the strands nicely in the bowl and pour the butter and sage over them. Sprinkle the walnuts on top and serve warm.
_____________________________________________

I think I'll be much more successful in my 2015 reading plans, as the Reading Globally, American Author and British Author challenges will be part of group reads, and because those books are among the ones I want to read the most from my TBR collection. The current Orange January/July administrator (@mrstreme) hasn't been active on LT for the past 2-3 years, and I think that's part of the reason why the group has become much quieter. Belva (@rainpebble) is the person who has contributed the most to that group, and I think she would be a perfect choice to replace Jill as the group's administrator.

Oh, Darryl, I'm already overwhelmed by your 2015 thread and it's not even 2015! I hope to pop in from time to time.

Fiction Top 10:
J.M. Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians
Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, The Colonel
Nathan Filer, The Shock of the Fall
Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Dinaw Mengestu, All Our Names
Rohinton Mistry, Family Matters
Amos Oz, Between Friends
Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front
Niall Williams, History of the Rain
Jacqueline Woodson, Brown Girl Dreaming

Nonfiction Top 10:
Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine
Atul Gawande, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
Jordan Goodman, Paul Robeson: A Watched Man
Robert Hughes, Barcelona
Alan Johnson, This Boy: Memoir of a Childhood
Hettie Jones, How I Became Hettie Jones
Eric Lax, The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle
Darian Leader, Strictly Bipolar
Catherine Musemeche, Small: Life and Death on the Front Lines of Pediatric Surgery
Colm Tóibín, Homage to Barcelona

Fiction Honorable Mention Top 5:
Ray Celestin, The Axeman's Jazz
Damon Galgut, Arctic Summer
Haruki Murakami, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
Anthony de Sa, Kicking the Sky
Birgit Vandebeke, The Mussel Feast

Nonfiction Honorable Mention Top 5:
Burton Batt, Christmas in Purgatory: A Photographic Essay on Mental Retardation
Susannah Cahalan, Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness
Randy Christensen, M.D., Ask Me Why I Hurt: The Kids Nobody Wants and the Doctor Who Heals Them
Julian Mash, Portobello Road: Lives of a Neighbourhood
Guthrie Ramsey, The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop

Best Novel Published in 2014: The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Best Nonfiction Book Published in 2014: Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

Best Debut Novel: The Shock of the Fall

Best Memoir: How I Became Hettie Jones

Best Poetry Collection: Terrance Hayes, Wind in a Box

Best YA Book Published in 2014: Brown Girl Dreaming

And, finally, The Best Book of the Year: Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

>27 avaland: Hi Lois! Feel free to drop by anytime. Hopefully I'll do a better job keeping up in Club Read and writing prompt reviews than I did in 2014.

ETA: As usual, my threads on Club Read and 75 Books will have a flurry of activity on my free days, then become nearly dormant when I'm on clinical service.

It was interesting reading through your "best of 2014" lists. The Narrow Road to the Deep North was a worthy Booker winner, wasn't it? I'm surprised that History of the Rain didn't make the cut, but your reading has been very good this year. A "best of" that included half of the books you'd read would be meaningless.

>30 RidgewayGirl: Thanks, Kay. The Narrow Road to the Deep North won my vote as the book most deserving of the Booker Prize, and I was also surprised that History of the Rain wasn't chosen, especially when the execrable novels J, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves were. Oh...that reminds me, I was also going to post a list of my Bottom 10 books of 2014. I'll do that after I finish this message.

A "best of" that included half of the books you'd read would be meaningless.

Agreed. I started to make a list my Ten Favorite Books of 2014, similar to the NYT list, but I quickly determined that it would be nearly impossible.

With apologies to ESPN and alumni of SMU, UConn, Iowa State, and other universities with dreadful football teams:



Bottom 10 Books of 2014:

Peter Apps, Before Ebola: Dispatches from a Deadly Outbreak: A self absorbed and incredibly annoying journalist writes about himself and his journo colleagues instead of the Ebola outbreak that unfortunately did not fell him. This is easily the worst Kindle Single I've ever read.

Norma Cole, Win These Posters and Other Unrelated Prizes Inside: A completely inscrutable collection of poems, which probably should have come with mescaline or synthetic marijuana as a comprehension aid. Here's an example:

Blackberry bushes beside the freeway. Ajuga (bugleweed). Without
leave. Howl, Homer. Sylvia rode up on her bike smiling younger than
springtime. A child is able, hears music as other music.
I wasn't sleeping. The government begins without bees, rocks,
figuring out how much time's gone by by how cold the coffee gets.
Now is the cover of your pen and ink. Names the human project:
earmuffs: shamrocks: a verbal gap. In the early part of the morning a
small hole in the ceiling, a foot pulls up into the hole, ceiling covers
over paradise or charade. You never hear from her. Picking up tissue
from the floor. Transport. They can't stand and shoot. And talk
to each other (even) can't talk to each other, as I said. Up-coming
passages. Epistle of forgiveness: spat on the hair, spat on the faces,
spat on the other foot. Mount Brake-up or Back-up. Heals the words
in her foot. She got plenty. To be or not the little dot bouncing
toward her.

Joshua Ferris, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour: A self absorbed and incredibly annoying dentist from the Upper East Side of Manhattan ruminates about his difficult and unhappy life. This is one of the three books that were chosen for the Booker Prize shortlist that are included in my Bottom 10.

Karen Joy Fowler, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves: Another inexplicable choice for this year's Booker Prize shortlist, which should have been named We Are All Completely Full of Ourselves, narrated by an angst ridden middle class suburban American teenager with a most unusual sibling. This novel and the Ferris were perfect examples of why it was a huge mistake to make American novels eligible for the Booker Prize.

Howard Jacobson, J: A Novel: The noted comic writer tries his hand at a serious novel about a dystopian society, which the Booker Prize committee loved for some unknown reason.

James Kelman, Kieron Smith, boy: This was the biggest disappointment of the year for me, as I thought I would love this coming of age novel about a troubled Glaswegian boy.

Dany Laferrière, I Am a Japanese Writer: It's possible that Laferrière is correct, as this slight and far too clever novel about a struggling writer from Montreal who passes as a best selling author in Japan would probably make more sense in that language than it did in its English translation.

Kiese Laymon, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America: A pathetic collection of essays by an African American writer who needs to put on his big boy boxers and stop wallowing in ennui and self pity.

Quim Monzó, Gasoline: This novel by the noted Catalan writer received the lowest rating of any book I've read this year (one star). As I said in my review, "Gasoline was a thoroughly maddening read, as I found Heribert to be a useless, pathetic and intensely dislikable tortured artiste. This book was supposedly about the creative process in art, but none of its characters captured my attention or earned an ounce of sympathy from me."

Herta Müller, The Passport: Oof. Unremitting bleakness and despair prevail again in one of this Nobel Prize winner's early works, set in a Romanian town in which a German minority is cruelly persecuted ad nauseum. Reading this book was about as enjoyable as sticking my hand in a food processor.

The winner of the Worst Book of the Year Award is To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, due mainly to its mystifying choice for the Booker Prize shortlist.

>32 kidzdoc: With apologies to... alumni of SMU...
Accepted (Not that I even knew what their football record was.)

Ditto to what others have said about your well-organized thread and ambitious reading program.

Nice to see you back in Club Read, Darryl! As always, I'm in awe of your organized reading!

>28 kidzdoc: I loved The Colonel when I read it, and will have to look at some of your other favorites.

>33 StevenTX: SMU (1-11), which came close to achieving a dubious distinction of having the worst offense and the worst defense in Division I-A football, avoided a winless season by defeating UConn in their final game (I dislike UConn about as much as I dislike the Dallas Cowboys, so I was tickled to death that the Huskies lost to the only winless team in major college football at that time). SMU finished in 128th place offensively (out of 128 Division I-A teams), averaging just over 11 points per game, and in 127th place defensively, giving up over 41 points a game. The Mustangs made Dan's 3-9 Tulane squad look like a defensive powerhouse in comparison.

Thanks for your compliment! I hope to be a more reliable participant member of Club Read in 2015, and hopefully I'll be more successful in my reading goals as well.

*awaiting cynical comments and laughter from Rebecca, et al.*

>34 rebeccanyc: Ha! I knew you were around, Rebecca! I am surprised that you didn't cackle at my annual New Year's literary resolutions, though.

>36 kidzdoc: Real life is a little stressful now, Darryl, so I haven't been spending as much time on LT. Or I would have cackled! (At least if I had been reading more carefully.)

>37 rebeccanyc: I'm sorry to hear that, Rebecca. I hope that things calm down soon.

Your bottom ten list is the most amusing thing I have read in days. Are you sure that poetry was written by a human being? It reads like some computer-generated spam e-mails I've gotten.

(To Rise Again at a Decent Hour is still on my wishlist, though. Based on not just your review, but some others I've seen, it probably ought to come off. But... But I so liked the others of Ferris' books that I've read!

>39 bragan: LOL, Betty! I'm not sure that poetry was written by a human being, or at least one that hasn't been lobotomized or had their brain fried by psychostimulants.

Several LTers, and clearly the Booker Prize judges, liked To Rise Again at a Decent Hour far more than I did, so I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from giving it a try.

>40 kidzdoc: Well, if and when I get to it, I'll at least try to keep my expectations low.

So many organized lists! I'll be curious to see what you think of Never Let Me Go. My book club read that last year.

I wish there were a magical way to search your Reading Globally lists on my library's site all in one go instead of one title at a time. One of my great issues with books in translation is that they seem far less likely to be made into audiobooks.

(Oh, you've got Brown Girl Dreaming on your fiction list, but it is a memoir.)

>41 bragan: I hope that you like To Rise Again at a Decent Hour more than I did, Betty. I'm always interested in reading opinions about books that are contrary to my own, as they help me appreciate them that much more.

>42 mabith: You're absolutely right, Meredith! Brown Girl Dreaming is a memoir in verse, and it has no place on my Top 10 Fiction List. Thanks for picking up on my mistake; I'll adjust my lists accordingly, and post them below.

I'll definitely read Never Let Me Go, as part of the American Authors Challenge II in the 75 Books group, and I'll let you know what I think of it.

Interesting comment about the lack of translated audiobooks. I don't read books in that format, and I hadn't thought of that, but it makes perfect sense.

Here's my updated Best of 2014 list:



Fiction Top 10:
J.M. Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians
Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, The Colonel
Nathan Filer, The Shock of the Fall
Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Damon Galgut, Arctic Summer
Dinaw Mengestu, All Our Names
Rohinton Mistry, Family Matters
Amos Oz, Between Friends
Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front
Niall Williams, History of the Rain

Nonfiction Top 10:
Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz, Dr. Mütter's Marvels: A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine
Atul Gawande, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
Jordan Goodman, Paul Robeson: A Watched Man
Robert Hughes, Barcelona
Alan Johnson, This Boy: Memoir of a Childhood
Hettie Jones, How I Became Hettie Jones
Eric Lax, The Mold in Dr. Florey's Coat: The Story of the Penicillin Miracle
Catherine Musemeche, Small: Life and Death on the Front Lines of Pediatric Surgery
Colm Tóibín, Homage to Barcelona
Jacqueline Woodson, Brown Girl Dreaming

Fiction Honorable Mention Top 5:
Ray Celestin, The Axeman's Jazz
Haruki Murakami, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
Neel Mukherjee, The Lives of Others
Anthony de Sa, Kicking the Sky
Birgit Vandebeke, The Mussel Feast

Nonfiction Honorable Mention Top 5:
Burton Batt, Christmas in Purgatory: A Photographic Essay on Mental Retardation
Susannah Cahalan, Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness
Randy Christensen, M.D., Ask Me Why I Hurt: The Kids Nobody Wants and the Doctor Who Heals Them
Darian Leader, Strictly Bipolar
Guthrie Ramsey, The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop

Best Novel Published in 2014: The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Best Nonfiction Book Published in 2014: Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

Best Debut Novel: The Shock of the Fall

Best Memoir: How I Became Hettie Jones

Best Poetry Collection: Terrance Hayes, Wind in a Box

Best YA Book Published in 2014: Brown Girl Dreaming

And, finally, The Best Book of the Year: Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

Wow -- 44 posts and it's not even 2015 yet! You're hard to keep up with Darryl.

>45 janeajones: Hopefully I'll be much easier to keep up with after tonight, Jane. I go back to work tomorrow and I'll work four days in a row, so I won't be on LT much, if at all, during that time.

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour made my worst-of list, too. I look forward to finding out what you think of the next Howard Jacobson book to make the Booker shortlist.

>47 RidgewayGirl: Noooo!!! No more books by Howard Jacobson!

You've got me hooked, Darryl. I haven't been here on Club Read for a few years, but then I noticed you were putting vegetarian and vegan recipes on your thread, and I have to follow those recipes. Plus, you're going to read two of my favorite books: Snow by Orhan Pamuk and The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh, the latter which I adored. If I could be any literary character, I'd be Piya, the protagonist of that book. I'd be strong, travel, and study marine life. It's be a great parallel life to my real one. :)

Tonight, instead of reading any of the multiple LT ER books that I need to review, I was reading a cookbook from my local library. The cookbook is The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook by Alissa Segersten and Tom Malterre. It's a little off the wall, but very interesting. Its focus is eliminating dietary allergens. Some of the recipes look interesting. Like you, I often experiment weekly with some new and interesting vegetarian recipe. This started about six years ago when I first joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) group. Tonight my experiment was Spicy Black Bean Dip from that cookbook. Since we didn't have any chips, my husband ate it on Italian bread! I thought it was good, but not great. It was too heavy on the cumin, and something was missing. I'm certainly going to try other recipes from that cookbook. I'll let you know if I find any that are spectacular. :)

Have a fabulous New Year, Darryl!

>49 SqueakyChu: Thanks, Madeline! I had posted those same recipes in my 75 Books thread in 2014, but I didn't include them in my 2014 Club Read threads. I'll post new recipes in both locations.

I'm glad to hear that you loved Snow and The Hungry Tide; I'll probably read the Ghosh in February. I now look forward to reading about Piya!

The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook sounds interesting. I'm fortunate that I don't have any dietary allergens, but I'm quite lactose intolerant (which means that I can no longer enjoy Ben & Jerry's ice cream :-( ) and I have difficulty digesting broccoli. Please let us know if you come across any particularly delightful recipes.

Happy New Year from Atlanta!

Wow! What an introduction. Glad I got an early start! Due to my very late entrance into CR 2014 I never did get to your thread. It always seemed too lengthy to tackle in the time I had available. I am sure I missed out on some great stuff.

The books you've listed above would fill a small library. Looking forward to following along — with the recipes too!

What a start to 2015. I don't cross over to club read 2015 until midnight on 31 December 2014; It's now 1 am here so already an hour into the New Year.

Happy New Year Darryl

>51 Poquette: Thanks, Suzanne! I plan to be a much more active and reliable member of Club Read in 2015, as I stopped posting messages in my 2014 CR thread after early November and didn't follow others' threads as closely as I usually would, yours included.

The books you've listed above would fill a small library.

Umm...yes, that is right. I have enough TBR books at home to last me for several years at my current clip of 100+ books a year, yet I add new ones at an alarming pace.

I'm glad that you and others are interested in recipes! I probably won't cook anything until next Thursday, though, as I still have plenty of leftovers, am working most of this week (Tue-Fri), and will spend Sat-Wed with my parents in Philadelphia.

>52 baswood: Thanks, Barry. I was able to get my first 75 Books and Club Read threads for 2015 up and running ahead of the New Year, as I was off for several days but wasn't able to leave town.

Happy New Year from Atlanta! It's about 9:15 pm here, so we still have a while to go before the Peach Drop downtown.

wow I wondered what kind of party was going on in here and I come in and find not only lush lists of books but food! Looking forward to your recipes, the spaghetti squash w/walnuts is already calling. Are the photos of your finished dishes? -- the food AND photos look fabulous.

Impressed with your organization like everyone else! Looking forward to the recipes. I made something similar to the cauliflower and it was very good.

>50 kidzdoc:

Please let us know if you come across any particularly delightful recipes.

So far, I haven't been too thrilled with the recipes I've tried from that cookbook. I'm going back to my own cookbooks, my recipes torn out of the newspaper, and online recipes.

Tonight I tried rappini (broccoli rabe) for the first time. That was a new vegetable for me and my husband. It was okay, but I think I'll need to find a better cookbook and better recipes for this new-to-me vegetable. It seems to have promise, though. Both my husband and I were surprised that it didn't taste more like broccoli.

Do you ever visit The Kitchen thread? My potato latkes are there! :)

:) I found your thread, @kidzdoc, and am going to attempt to keep up. I've also dropped my star. :)

Looks like it will be a great year following your reading - and cooking! I'm particularly looking forward to hearing your views on the Canadian and Orange books you plan to read.

>54 detailmuse: Happy New Year, MJ! I often have been taking photos of new dishes I've prepared, including the one of the whole roasted cauliflower that I posted above. The other photos are taken from the web sites that the recipes came from, which I've posted as hyperlinks, as the photos I took weren't quite as appealing (although the dishes were). Here's a photo of the spaghetti squash that I took after it was finished:



I also made a very tasty Slow-Cooker Curried Lentils With Chicken and Potatoes recipe a couple of weeks ago; here's my photo of it:



And here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups red lentils or yellow split peas
1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes (about 2), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger
kosher salt and black pepper
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 1 3/4 pounds total)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus lime wedges for serving
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, torn
naan bread, toasted, for serving

Directions:

In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, combine the lentils, potatoes, onion, garlic, curry powder, ginger, 1¼ teaspoons salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Add the broth and chicken and turn to coat.

Cover and cook until the lentils and vegetables are tender and the chicken is cooked through, on low for 7 to 8 hours or on high for 4 to 6 hours (this will shorten total recipe time).

Fifteen minutes before serving, transfer the chicken to a medium bowl and, using 2 forks, shred the meat; return it to the slow cooker. Add the lime juice and stir to combine, adding more water if necessary to reach the desired consistency. Serve topped with the yogurt and cilantro, with the naan and lime wedges on the side.

>55 DieFledermaus: Thanks, DieF! It's good to see you back. I'd also love it if you and others posted recipes on your threads (or here, if you'd like), as I've been enjoying cooking the past year or so, and I'll do it on a regular basis from now on. The food in the Doctors' Lounge and the hospital cafeteria is often unhealthy and unappealing, so I've started cooking on weekends and my days off, so that I can have it for lunch at work and at home afterwards.

>56 SqueakyChu: I'm sorry that the recipe book is a disappoinment, Madeline. I get my recipe ideas from a variety of sources, especially Budget Bytes and One Green Planet online, recommendations from LT and non-LT friends, and recipe books. I had posted these recipes and others on my 75 Books threads last year, but not here; I'll post new recipes to both places in the future.

Broccoli is one of the few vegetables I don't like, along with yellow turnips, and it also doesn't agree with my intestinal tract.

I saw your potato latkes on The Kitchen thread: yum! I was serious about my request for borscht, and I'll definitely look for a recipe for it soon. I loved the borscht from Ratner's, a famous Jewish dairy restaurant on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, which was sold at the restaurant on Delancey Street and on pushcarts throughout the city, including one across the street from the Empire State Building, not far from the NYU Medical Center, where I worked before I went to medical school. Sadly, Ratner's shut down in 2002 after nearly 100 years of continuous operation. I did find Ratner's Classic Borscht Recipe online, from a 1968 issue of New York magazine. That recipe calls for sweet cream, though, and since I've become lactose intolerant I can't use it. I'll have to find a substitute for it in that recipe, or find a similar one elsewhere.

>57 fuzzi: Good to see you here, fuzzi!

>58 VivienneR: Thanks, Vivienne. I'll read Burial Rites for Orange January, and my first CanLit and Reading Globally book will be Swimming Lessons: and Other Stories from Firozsha Baag by Rohinton Mistry. My first book of the year will be Clock Without Hands by Carson McCullers, which I'll read for the American Authors Challenge in the 75 Books group. I was called off from work today due to our low inpatient census, so I hope to finish it today before I leave town tomorrow.

>59 kidzdoc: Food photography is tricky but your squash looks delicious! I want some right now, I've only gotten to a latte so far today. The lentils seem do-able but I have no experience cooking them. We had time off over the holidays and did several big midday meals at favorite restaurants, e.g. Greek and Indian. I'm new to Indian but am craving another visit.

>60 kidzdoc:

Your food (picture and recipes) has definitely brought me back to your thread, being the "foodie" that I am! When will I find time to read all of the posts, though?!

Broccoli is such a great "go to" veggie. Too bad you don't like it. I find it so funny to recognize that each individual has some unique taste dislikes. For me, it's anything that tastse like licorice (anise, sarsaparilla, fennel). For my oldest on, it's celery and olives. For my younger son, it's potato chips. Go figure...because he likes other forms of potatoes. For my daughter, it's green peppers. For my husband, it's sweet potatoes (which I love!).

I'll have a goal this year to try borscht for the first time. I'll be sure to order it at a decent deli, though.

One fun group I just found on Facebook was started by the son of the German butcher who had the kosher butcher shop in Baltimore in the Jewish neighborhood where I grew up. I love the memories and can see and taste in my mind the rohwurst that my dad used to by from that butcher shop (Wasserman's and Lemberger's) . I've never found or tasted one like that since. Rohwurst is cervalat/summer salami.

Now I'm hungry... :/

P.S. Actually I have beets at home. Maybe I'll make some borscht! I'll try your recipe.
P.P.S. No, I won't. It doesn't appeal to me. I'll stick to beet salad. :)

Add me to the broccoli lovers category -- just made pasta with broccoli and garlic the other night.

>60 kidzdoc: Thanks, MJ. To my knowledge this was my first time cooking lentils, and this was definitely the first curried dish I've made. I'm very much a novice in the kitchen, so I suspect that you and everyone else could prepare that recipe, and all the others I've posted, without any problems at all. I like using my partners to give me feedback on these recipes, and the ones who tried it were all fond of it, and asked for the recipe. I'm glad that you mentioned it, as it reminded me that I had one more container of it in my freezer, so I had it for lunch today.

>62 SqueakyChu: Ha, Madeline! It would be easier to keep up with me on Club Read instead of the 75 Books group, as my first thread there has now exceeded 200 posts.

Oddly enough broccoli is, I think, the only green vegetable I won't eat. I had broccolini for the first time last month and I enjoyed it, and my favorite vegetable is the Brussels sprout. I have always hated the taste of yellow turnips, and even though I now eat nearly all of the vegetables I disliked as a kid I still can't get past turnips.

Borscht is delightful. When we lived in Jersey City we would regularly visit Job Lot, a discount store in Manhattan close to the World Trade Center, and electronic and other stores in the Lower East Side, then have lunch, often in a Jewish dairy restaurant like Ratner's or smaller ones that offered knishes, potato latkes, blintzes, matzo ball soup, borscht, etc. My mother was trained as a dietician at the New York School of Dietetics, and she worked for several years at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, where she was exposed to Jewish and Eastern European cuisine. Judy from the 75 Books group thinks that I grew up with her Jewish grandparents, but those foods are amongst my favorites.

Because I was unable to travel to Philadelphia for the holidays and make an obligatory trip to Russ & Daughters, the 100+ year old appetizing shop on the Lower East Side, I ordered bagels, bialys, pastrami salmon, sturgeon, sablefish, rugelach and chocolate babka from NYC to have shipped to Atlanta, although I received it from Barney Greengrass, an even older appetizing shop on the Upper West Side, as I waited too late to order from Russ & Daughters. I'll finish up the pastrami salmon shortly, and have it on a bagel with cream cheese, a slice of red onion and a slice of tomato.

If we ever get you to NYC we'll have to visit the new Russ & Daughters Café on Orchard Street (I wonder if they serve borscht?), along with the original shop on Houston Street. Caroline (@cameling) and I are addicted to Russ & Daughters, and we always make an obligatory pilgrimage there whenever we meet up in the city.

>63 rebeccanyc: The pasta sounds good, Rebecca, but I'll skip the broccoli.

>60 kidzdoc: - I usually just Google randomly to get recipes, but there is one blog I check regularly - Oh She Glows, which has vegan recipes. I'm not vegan, so I just add real cheese or whatever to change the recipes.

This is one from the site that I've made several times -

Basil Scalloped Tomatoes -

Ingredients:
Half a baguette or French/Italian bread, cut into cubes
2.5 lb tomatoes, chopped
1-2 cloves minced garlic
2 tbsp sugar
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
½ cup basil leaves, thinly slivered
½ cup Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Add olive oil to a skillet and heat medium to medium-high heat. Then add the bread cubes and lightly toast, stirring frequently, about 5 min. Then combine the tomatoes, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper in a large bowl. When the bread cubes are crisp, add the tomato mixture to the skillet, stirring frequently for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the basil. Pour into a large baking dish and top with Parmesan cheese. Bake for 35 minutes until the top is golden.

One of my friends said it was a bit like bruschetta.

In book related news - I was looking at the book page of The Walls of Delhi here at LT and noticed one of the main tags for the book was "Rec'd by kidzdoc"! Your review made it sound really good so I checked it out as a library ebook.

>65 DieFledermaus: - Oh She Glows is my favourite food blog too! I'm not vegan either, but her food is so delicious! The blogger actually only lives about 20 minutes from me. She published a cookbook in 2014, so if you are ever looking to buy one, Stephanie, you can get hers at all major bookstores.

Just dropping by to say hi, Darryl - I am looking forward to another year following your reading!

>65 DieFledermaus: The basil scalloped tomatoes recipe looks great! Thanks for posting it here, DieF; I'll definitely give it a try, and I'll check out the Oh She Glows blog as well.

I'm going to make the Moroccan lentil & vegetable stew and the spicy whole roasted cauliflower for my parents, brother and aunt for dinner tonight.

I knew that at least one person used my name as a tag for recommended books; I had no idea that eight LTers did so! I'm surprised and very humbled. I did enjoy The Walls of Delhi, and I'd like to read his novel The Girl with the Golden Parasol for the first quarter Reading Globally theme.

>66 Cait86: Hi, Cait! I'm glad to hear that you like Oh She Glows, too.

I look forward to following your reading plans as well!

Book #1: Clock Without Hands by Carson McCullers

  

My review:

Death is always the same, but each man dies in his own way. For J.T. Malone it began in such a simple ordinary way that for a time he confused the end of his life with the beginning of a new season.

The opening sentences set the stage for Carson McCullers' fifth and final novel, which is set in the small town of Milan in south Georgia in the mid 1950s, as the civil rights movement is in its infancy. The story revolves around the lives of four men: J.T. Malone, a respected pharmacist whose comfortable but unsatisfying life is shattered by the death sentence he receives; Judge Fox Clane, a former US Congressman and local judge whose corpulence is outweighed only by his massive ego and staunch desire to see the old Confederate states return to their antebellum glory; his grandson Jester Clane, a sensitive and misunderstood teenager who benefits from but is heavily weighed down by white privilege and his deep sense of equality toward the blacks in town and across the country; and Sherman Pew, a cocky but insecure and wounded young black man with blue eyes and an uncertain background, who works for the judge as a personal secretary and has a troubled and acrimonious relationship with Jester, who attempts repeatedly to befriend Sherman but is often met with the most acerbic comments in return. In addition to these four men, the judge's son Johnny, Jester's father, is a ghost whose premature death affects his father and son deeply.

Death is an ever present theme and metaphor for this novel, along with personal choice and responsibility, on an individual basis and for the Southern way of life in the face of increasing pressure from the federal government for fair treatment of the region's black citizens. The black population in Milan is chronically oppressed by segregated housing and schools, low wages that keep them in deep poverty, and threats of injury or death if they showed up at polling centers to vote or even expressed a willingness to do so. Meanwhile, the whites live mainly in fear of their black neighbors, particularly the older residents, and they strike back with vicious fury whenever any of them steps out of line.

Each of the main characters experiences his own personal crisis and mortality, as their intertwined yet intensely lonely lives in the tense and steamy town suffocate them like mice caught in a small box that is slowly filling with water. A fateful decision by one character ultimately leads to his downfall, as the others are left to suffer their own failures and miseries.

Clock Without Hands is a powerful and beautifully written novel about the Deep South in the beginning of the end of the Jim Crow era, with well drawn and unforgettable main characters in a richly portrayed background. The novel ended in a rather abrupt and unsatisfying fashion for this reader, especially in comparison to her brilliant debut novel The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to everyone.

Good to know that even Carson McCullers' less known works are worthwhile. I thought The Heart is a Lonely Hunter was brilliant.

Happy New Year Darryl! Looking forward to following your reading again this year, and I hope I'll pick up some more tasty recipes too! I'm planning to make the crispy gnocchi again this evening.
I also look forward to catching up with you in person when you come over again.

>69 RidgewayGirl: Definitely so, Kay. I've now read all five of her major books, which were all in the Library of America edition Complete Novels (that's why I posted the cover of that book along with the first edition cover of Clock Without Hands). My least favorite of the five is Reflections in a Golden Eye, but even that one was a worthwhile read.

>70 Sakerfalcon: Happy New Year, Claire! I just came back from the supermarket close to my parents' house, as I'll make the Moroccan lentil and vegetable stew and the spicy whole roasted cauliflower for dinner tonight. While I was there I noticed that it had potato gnocchi, so I'll make the crispy gnocchi with Brussels sprouts, asparagus and cremini mushroom recipe either tomorrow or on Wednesday before I head to the airport.

I definitely look forward to seeing you again on my next trip to London. Caroline posted a list of upcoming plays on my 75 Books thread a couple of hours ago, so I'll look at that and decide if I'll come there in March or April.

Nice review of the McCullers' novel -- I've not read that one, so it's on my radar now.

>72 janeajones: Thanks, Jane. Clock Without Hands isn't nearly as good as The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, but it's still a superb read.

Excellent review of Clock Without Hands which was a novel new to me.

I definitely have to read some Carson McCullers -- I've had The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter on the TBR for many years.

>74 baswood: Thanks, Barry. Have you read anything by Carson McCullers? She's one of my three favorite American fiction writers, along with James Baldwin and Flannery O'Connor.

>75 rebeccanyc: The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is my favorite debut novel, and it's one of the best 20 novels I've read so far. It's nothing short of astonishing that she wrote such an amazing book when she was in her early 20s and had such insight into the human condition, the Deep South during the 1930s, and the breadth with which she portrayed her white and especially black characters. I love and completely agree with this excerpt from the review by Rose Feld that appeared in the June 16, 1940 issue of The New York Times:

No matter what the age of its author, "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" would be a remarkable book. When one reads that Carson McCullers is a girl of 22 it becomes more than that. Maturity does not cover the quality of her work. It is something beyond that, somthing more akin to the vocation of pain to which a great poet is born. Reading her, one feels this girl is wrapped in knowledge which has roots beyond the span of her life and her experience. How else can she so surely plumb the hearts of characters as strange and, under the force of her creative shaping, as real as she presents—two deaf mutes, a ranting, rebellious drunkard, a Negro torn from his faith and lost in his frustrated dream of equality, a restaurant owner bewildered by his emotions, a girl of 13 caught between the world of people and the world of shadows.

Carson McCullers is a full-fledged novelist whatever her age. She writes with a sweep and certainty that are overwhelming. "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" is a first novel. One anticipates the second with something like fear. So high is the standard she has set. It doesn't seem possible that she can reach it again.

Feld was ultimately correct in her last sentence. McCullers' other novels did not reach the brilliance of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, but they are still beautifully written and very rewarding.

Well, you're very convincing, Darryl. Now I just have to figure out where my copy is.

>71 kidzdoc: Hope your cooking goes well and is enjoyed by all, Darryl. I bought my gnocchi from a different supermarket this time and they didn't sauté as well, failing to achieve crispiness. But they still tasted good and I was able to reheat some leftovers for lunch today. Next time I'll go back to Waitrose for the gnocchi though.

Hmm, I've read Ballad of the Sad Café, which I admired rather than liked, and The member of the wedding, which I really enjoyed. I'll have to read some more of McCullers' work - I think we've got some here at work actually.

Darryl, great review of Clock Without Hands. I have yet to read anything by Carson McCullers, but am definitely putting her on my list.

Thanks also for the recipes!

>77 rebeccanyc: I hope that you're able to locate your copy of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Rebecca.

>78 Sakerfalcon: Thanks, Claire. My parents, brother and aunt all loved the Moroccan lentil & vegetable stew, but they were less fond of the spicy whle roasted cauliflower.

I happened to stumble upon potato (not vegetable) gnocchi at the supermarket that I visited yesterday, so I bought a couple of packages of them. I'll either use them to make the crispy gnocchi recipe tonight, or bring them back with me to Atlanta tomorrow and make it on Thursday.

I thought that only snobby yuppies and Tories shopped at Waitrose. ;-)

Did you get the disappointing gnocchi at Sainsbury's? I was surprised to find out on my last visit that there is a branch of Whole Foods on Kensington High Street, close to the Underground station; that's where I buy gnocchi in Atlanta.

>79 Linda92007: Good to see you back here, Linda! I'm glad that my review of Clock Without Hands inspired you to put Carson McCullers on your list of authors to read.

I'm also happy that you liked the recipes. There will definitely be more to come.

Belatedly, I join the chorus in praise of your Clock without Hands review! Sounds like a compelling story.

>66 Cait86: - Ha - what a coincidence! You could be a food tester! I've really liked all the recipes that I've tried from the blog. I have a couple vegan (or essentially vegan) friends so I recommended it to them also. I saw that she had a new book - will have to check it out in one of the stores around here.

>76 kidzdoc: - Wow, that's a very strong recommendation of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. I had an unfortunate experience with Carson McCullers, where I was forced to read The Member of the Wedding in middle school and didn't like it. I usually liked things I had to read for school, so I thought it was just her books...might need to reconsider.

I liked Waitrose when I lived in England. They're like a less-smug Whole Foods, with fewer food supplements and no restaurant foods. Their food is, generally speaking, healthier than Sainsburys, which could be a bit deceptive in their packaging. They introduced a new line of children's yoghurts while I was there, in green packaging that indicated that it was a healthy choice, but on closer inspection, there was more sugar added than any other yogurt sold there. It put me off Sainsburys and Jaime Oliver, too, as he was their spokesperson then.

>80 kidzdoc: The inferior gnocchi did come from Sainsburys, a store I usually like. I'm sure they would have been fine if cooked in the usual way. Ha! Waitrose does have that reputation, but it's the nearest store to both work and home so the most practical one for me to shop at. @RidgewayGirl's description of it is pretty accurate. The staff are always lovely, other customers sometimes less so.
Yes, there are a couple of Whole Foods in London now but they are prohibitively expensive for me unfortunately. I"m afraid I'd go in and see too many things I wanted to buy and not be able to leave without them!

>81 Poquette: Thanks, Suzanne. It was a very compelling and memorable novel, as are nearly all of the books that McCullers wrote.

>82 DieFledermaus: I'd definitely consider giving McCullers another try, DieF, and I would start with The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.

>83 RidgewayGirl: Thanks for that info about Waitrose and Sainsbury's, Kay. I usually go to Sainsbury's or one of the M&S or Tesco Express convenience stores whenever I visit London, but I haven't gone to Waitrose yet. I remember reading at least two articles, one of which was the following one in The Guardian, that were critical or satirical of Waitrose:

Waitrose Twitter hashtag invites ridicule

I often stay in Bloomsbury, especially the Hotel Russell near the Russell Square Underground station, Holborn or Kensington. There is a Waitrose in a mall close to Russell Square, so I'll pay that supermarket a visit the next time I stay at the Hotel Russell.

>84 Sakerfalcon: I generally like Sainsbury's too, Claire, although I don't cook when I visit London, needless to say. Did you get vegetable or potato gnocchi? I've only used potato gnocchi, and the only problem I've had is that the gnocchi become more chewy than crispy after they are combined with the other ingredients, although the meal does taste good. I'll make it again tomorrow after I return to Atlanta, as I have another package of gnocchi to use, but next time I'll buy vegetable gnocchi and see if that makes a more crispy dish.

Even though there is a Whole Foods market close to where I live, I only rarely go there, as I can find essentially everything I need at Publix, a chain of supermarkets in the Deep South that was chosen as the best supermarket chain in the country by Consumer Reports several years ago. The employees there are very friendly, and the items sold there are reasonably priced and fresh.

I'm watching the news reports about the horrible massacre in Paris...so sad, and disturbing.

I'm a big fan of Publix. They do a good job.

>84 Sakerfalcon: >85 kidzdoc:

Whole Foods (at least in my area) is now seriously trying to reduce their prices and get away from their local reputation as "whole paycheck". I admit to being a Whole Foods Shopper as I believe their stores to have the freshest and widest variety of organic produce, although I also buy some conventional produce. My very best produce comes from my CSA (community supported agriculture) whose organic produce originates on a local Maryland farm. I've been buying from Whole Foods since they began as Fresh Fields years ago with a hiatus to Shoppers Food Warehouse back when those had much more inexpensive food and I did have a very small paycheck. That has changed. I also support growing as much of your food yourself as you can.

>64 kidzdoc:

I think I will follow you here on Club Read instead of the 75ers group. Good idea!

Just...maybe...I'll try some borscht...but I'm not promising. I also want to meet Judy one of these days!

A NYC meet-up sounds like fun but the problem is that my NYC native friend whom I used to stay with now lives in Maryland. I guess the best delis still have to be in NYC, though.

I recently had a meet-up with friends of mine whom I hadn't seen since I was in middle school. The meet-up took place at a deli in Baltimore. Sadly, the deli, The Suburban House, that I remembered from my youth no longer exists so we went to a rebuilt modern one in the near-by vicinity.

My favorite deli (not kosher, though) in Maryland is called The Parkway Deli and is located in Silver Spring, Maryland. It's not the original deli, but, other than the actual dining room, it's pretty much the same. Over the past two years I've had reunions with one high school friend and one former neighbor in that deli. Why do delis seem to be the best places for reunions? They are, you know! :)

>80 kidzdoc: It wasn't where I thought it would be, Darryl, but I persisted and found it. Now I just have to get to it. Apparently I bought it more recently than I thought I did and it was in my TBR stacks instead of in the main US author area.

>85 kidzdoc: I went into Waitrose on my lunch break and had a look at the gnocchi - the ones I used which went beautifully crispy were potato. I'm not sure about the Sainsbury ones - perhaps they contain egg, (which the others don't), which made them go sticky rather than crispy.

>87 SqueakyChu: When I lived in Philadelphia Fresh Fields was our nearest supermarket so we did most of our shopping there, though I was shocked at how much a loaf of bread cost! But it was far and away the best for fruit and vegetables, and good for cheese too (though no match for DiBruno). It was also the only place I could find English-style butter. We continued shopping there after the change to Whole Foods, only changing when we moved across the city near to a newly-arrived Trader Joe's. Unfortunately I doubt WF have much incentive to try and lower their prices in London yet, as they are positioned in the luxury market with locations in Kensington and Regent St!

>89 Sakerfalcon:

Here in the US, they're getting lots of competition in the organic produce field. Every supermarket has its own "organic produce" section, although that section tends to have dreadful-looking, old, and over-priced produce in conventional supermarkets.

I also love to shop at Trader Joe's. They have a very limited supply of organic produce, are missing lots of items I usually need, are limited in choice...but they have constantly changing inventory that is so much fun. I love to get food gifts there and tryout new food items. That's my second favorite grocery store. I have no third favorite.

I do love to shop at Great Harvest for bread. They have the best challah (Sabbath bread, but theirs I not kosher) by far! They also let you taste whatever you want when you shop there. I like the eat-as-you-shop stores (also Whole Foods and Trader Joe's), as you can see! :)

I love this grocery store conversation. I get very cheap gnocchi at a discount store (Big Lots/Odd Lots for US people) but I've never had an issue with it not going cripsy. I boil it briefly, drain the pot, put the gnocchi in the bowl, put the pot back on the heat until the water has evaporated, glug in some oil and put the gnocchi back in, no problems. Well, some annoyances turning them so both sides get crispy, but that's partly caused by using a pot instead of a frying pan and trying to turn them before they're ready.

I finished Men We Reaped by Jessmyn Ward on the flight and train rides from Philadelphia to Atlanta yesterday. I'll review it shortly.

>86 RidgewayGirl: Right, Kay. Publix is easily the best supermarket chain that I've been to, and I've gotten very spoiled by it after I've gone shopping at the stores in suburban Philadelphia where my parents live and been disappointed by their stock.

>87 SqueakyChu: I get weekly ads from my local Whole Foods Market, but I don't think to get produce there, as Publix always has a fine stock of it. I'll have to do some comparison shopping next week (it's too cold to go there now!).

I want to find a good borscht recipe, as I haven't had it in years, probably not since I moved from Pittsburgh to Atlanta in 1997.

I'd have to agree that the best delis are in NYC, although Philadelphia and other Northeast cities probably have some good ones, and the best bagels and bialys are unquestionably there as well.

Ha! I haven't attended a reunion or meet up at a deli, to my knowledge. All of the solo or group LT meetups I've attended, to my knowledge, included at least one meal at a very good restaurant.

My favorite Philadelphia area deli is Ben and Irv's in Huntingdon Valley, a suburban town just north of the city. I used to go there often when I worked nearby, although it's now a bit of a haul from where my parents live. Oddly enough, one of the infectious disease doctors that I work with at Children's, named Steve, is one of Ben's sons, which I found out after I moved to Atlanta. I went there a couple of years ago and saw an older man selling bagels and bialys, who at first glance looked exactly like Steve. I asked him if he was related to Steve, and told him that we worked together. Sure enough, it was Steve's brother!

>88 rebeccanyc: Well done on finding The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter, Rebecca! I look forward to your comments about it when you do get to it.

>89 Sakerfalcon: Ah. That's good for me to know, Claire. I have no problem getting the gnocchi to turn crispy in the skillet, but when I add the other ingredients it becomes more chewy, although it has a nice taste and texture. I had wondered if using vegetable gnocchi (which I think the recipe calls for) would achieve that crispiness, but I'm completely pleased with the recipe using the potato gnocchi.

I've never seen a Fresh Fields, as I don't believe there were any in Bucks County, where my parents live. There isn't a Whole Foods nearby, either; the closest WF is probably the one on US 1 in Princeton.

Whole Foods is certainly keeping up its upper middle and upper class reputation with shops on Kensington High Street and Regent Street. I guess the next ones will be located in Mayfair and Knightsbridge.

>90 SqueakyChu: Every supermarket has its own "organic produce" section, although that section tends to have dreadful-looking, old, and over-priced produce in conventional supermarkets.

Publix has much nicer looking organic produce than I've seen in most supermarkets, at least in the ones I go to in Midtown Atlanta, which is why I don't think to shop anywhere else.

There is a new Trader Joe's that opened very close to me a couple of years ago, but I haven't been to it yet. I need to give it a look, so I'll probably go there next week.

>91 mabith: This conversation is a very typical one on my 75 Books thread, Meredith, one which has little or nothing to do with books! My "problem" is not that the gnocchi doesn't become crispy in the skillet (it does), but when I add the other ingredients it loses the crispiness. It's still good, though.

Book #2: Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward

Finalist, National Book Critics' Circle Award for Autobiography (2013)

  

My rating:

From 2000 to 2004, five Black young men I grew up with died, all violently, in seemingly unrelated deaths...That's a brutal list, in its immediacy and its relentlessness, and it's a list that silences people. It silenced me for a long time.

Jesmyn Ward, author of the National Book Awrd winning novel Salvage the Bones, was born in the Mississippi Gulf Coast town of DeLisle in 1977. Like many African Americans in that region her parents were poorly educated with only high school diplomas from poorly financed and largely segregated schools, and that combined with the lack of good jobs in the region for those without higher education, or for most blacks regardless of their level of education, condemned them to a series of low paying jobs that kept them in poverty and put a great strain on their marriage. Ward managed to escape this trap due to a lawyer that her mother worked for as a maid, who paid for her education at an all-white private school that was vastly better than the public school in DeLisle that she had been attending. She performed well there despite frequent racial harassment from her fellow students, and she was accepted to Stanford University, where she received her bachelor's degree, and the University of Michigan, where she earned a master's degree in fine arts. After years of struggling to find a good job that would take advantage of her education and writing skills she eventually found a publisher for her first novel, Where the Line Bleeds, which was set in a Mississippi Gulf Coast town ravaged by Hurricane Katrina whose African American residents struggle to overcome poverty, racism and drug addiction. She was subsequently chosen as a writer in residence at the University of Mississippi and during that time she wrote Salvage the Bones, which significantly elevated her career. She accepted a teaching position at the University of South Alabama, and she is now an associate professor of English at Tulane University in New Orleans.

In addition to overcoming poverty and racism, Ward also had to deal with alcoholism and depression, due in large part to her family's struggles in DeLisle, her inability to find a decent job, and especially the loss of the men in her life. Her father divorced her mother after she gave birth to their fourth child, and his lack of income and presence in their lives left her, her three siblings and her mother financially distressed and emotionally wounded. In 2000 her brother Joshua was killed, and subsequently four other young men in her community died, of different causes, over the next four years, which was devastating to her and her community.

In Men We Reaped, Ward describes the often difficult lives of these five men and their sudden deaths, in an effort to eulogize them, to tell the story of herself, her family and those closest to her, and to help those of us who didn't grow up under those oppressive circumstances, including myself, understand why men like these made the choices they did, the devastating consequences that resulted from them, and how their failed lives adversely impacts their communities, and ultimately all of us.

Men We Reaped sounds wrenching but also worth reading. I'll look out for it.

I made the Moroccan vegetable stew for dinner tonight and it got an enthusiastic thumbs up from three of four diners. I will definitely make it again. I had a similar stew at the Last Resort Grill in Athens, GA and I'm happy to be able to make it myself. I think I'll add carrots.

>95 RidgewayGirl: I hope that you like Men We Reaped as much as I did, Kay.

I'm glad that your crew liked the Moroccan stew! Adding carrots sounds like a good idea; my mother's sister added brown rice to her bowl when we all had it for dinner on Monday.

I've heard of the Last Resort Grill, but I haven't been there, as Athens is at least an hour away from Atlanta on a good traffic day.

>94 kidzdoc: very interesting bio of Ward. I'd been waiting for the paperback of Men We Reaped and then forgot to follow up. Good to see you liked it.

>65 DieFledermaus: Basil Scalloped Tomatoes: yum, want to try.

Thanks for the review of Men We Reaped; unfortunately stories such as these keep becoming relevant.

Wow - recipes too! - to add to the fascinating books and reviews, information about group reading themes I want to take part in, and (I eagerly anticipate) travel stories. Look forward to following your reading again this year.

>97 detailmuse: Thanks, MJ. I thought it was useful to provide some information about Jesmyn Ward, but my review ended up being more about her than the five young men. I may amend or rewrite my review, and if I do I'll post it here.

The basil scalloped tomatoes recipe sounds very good; I'll probably try it next week, as I begin a five day work stretch tomorrow, and try some new ones from one of my cookbooks during that time.

>98 janeajones: You're welcome, Jane. You're absolutely right, these stories are becoming increasingly relevant, and increasingly difficult to ignore. Although it is an American story, I suspect that some of the same problems that afflict young African American men also plague young Middle Eastern and North African Muslim boys and young who grow up in France and other western European countries, i.e. poverty, racism, denigration from the majority population and limited opportunities for advancement, and that these humiliations isolate and radicalize them, which lead them to join radical groups and result in actions such as yesterday's massacre at the offices of Charlie Hebdo. I'm not excusing this horrific and immoral act, though.

>99 wandering_star: Hi, Margaret! I'm glad to see you back here, and I'll follow your thread as well.

Please don't remove anything from that review, Darryl, and thanks for bringing Men We Reaped to my attention (although it seems a lot of people already know about it).

The Moroccan lentil stew looks amazing.

Men We Reaped sounds like a very powerful book. The library has it as an ebook, so added it to the wishlist. Agree with Jane about such stories being needed, but it's sad that we still need them.

I enjoyed reading about grocery stores though.

>101 dchaikin: Thanks, Dan. Okay, I'll leave the review as is, then. Laura (@lauralkeet) also reviewed Men We Reaped recently.

That Moroccan stew is very good!

>102 DieFledermaus: It is a powerful book, DieF. I'll also be on the lookout for books about the Muslim communities in the French banlieues outside of Paris; any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

It must have been difficult for Jesmyn Ward to write her story, but it seems from your review Darryl that she draws some conclusions from the tragic lives around her. Excellent review of Men We Reaped

>66 Cait86: and >67 kidzdoc: I have the Oh She Glows cookbook and have enjoyed everything I've made from it. Haven't tried the Moroccan Stew yet, but I'll keep it in mind as it's one of my favourite dishes.

It's almost impossible to keep up with this thread - food and books - winning combination!

Ooohhh! Moroccan lentil stew! That's what I'm making for lunch next week!

And thanks for reminding me of the Jessmyn Ward book; I put it on my to read list and then forgot about it.

I'm hoping to persuade my library to add Lines of Descent to our collection.

Happy New Year, and thanks for stopping by my thread.

ETA: are you checking out any of the shows for the Atlanta Jewish film festival? I plan to see Comedy Warriors in Alpharetta, and I'm not sure what else.

>104 baswood: Thanks, Barry. The weakest part of Men We Reaped is that it lacked adequate explanation for why those young men chose the paths that they did, particularly those whose decisions led to their deaths, by suicide, overdose, or murder. I was also hoping to understand why it's so common, and socially acceptable, for poor and working class African American families in the Deep South to have children out of wedlock, with mothers frequently bearing children by multiple partners, few of whom provide any support to the children, why so many marriages end up in divorce, and why so few get married in the first place. She does describe the struggles that her parents faced, but I was hoping, perhaps unreasonably, for a broader analysis of the breakdown of the African American family at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale.

>105 VivienneR: Thanks for giving an additional vote of support to the Oh She Glows cookbook, Vivienne. I won't get it right away, as I'll look at the two vegetarian cookbooks I've acquired over the past year first. I will ask one of my partners, who is working with me tonight and is vegetarian, if she has heard of it.

It will be easier to keep up here now that I'm back to work; I rarely have time to read or post much on LT on my work days, especially during the busy late fall to early spring months.

>106 markon: Do you have another recipe for Moroccan vegetable stew, Ardene, or are you thinking of trying the one I posted? If you have another one, or something similar, I'd love to hear about it. I want to acquire a dozen or more vegetarian soup and stew recipes that I can make during the winter months, and I plan to do a lot of cooking from this coming Thursday through Sunday, when I'll be off from work and in Atlanta.

I'll probably read Lines of Descent: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Emergence of Identity soon, and I'll be sure to review it here after I finish it.

Thanks for mentioning the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival. I very rarely go to movies, but I'll check out the festival's line up to see what's on, and where. I also want to keep in mind the Book Festival at the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta later this year. It's located off of Mount Vernon Road in Dunwoody, which isn't far from where I work in Sandy Springs, although the traffic in that area is often hideous during rush hour.

107> re: " I was also hoping to understand why it's so common, and socially acceptable, for poor and working class African American families in the Deep South to have children out of wedlock, with mothers frequently bearing children by multiple partners, few of whom provide any support to the children, why so many marriages end up in divorce, and why so few get married in the first place." -- having taught in a community college in FL for over 30 years, I can attest that it is not only African American families, but also white families. Every semester I have dozens of single mothers (and some single fathers) in my classes. I think part of the reason is the religious fundamentalist and RC objection to abortion and even birth control. I can't remember a student who was willing to strongly defend abortion rights. The 1950s shame of having a child out-of-wedlock is long gone, but the problems of single parenthood remain, especially for young parents with no education or skills.

>107 kidzdoc: I can attest that it is not only African American families, but also white families.

Definitely so, Jane. I had meant to mention that in my post, as I've seen more than a few white families who were as dysfunctional as black ones, including the family of a little baby that I'm currently taking care of who was placed into foster care earlier this week.

It bothers me that the stereotype is that only black women have children out of wedlock. The average single mom is white. It has to be - just follow the numbers. Blacks are a minority. I wonder if people have forgotten the meaning of the word minority?

Ye Gads Darryl - not even a fortnight into the year and there are over a hundred posts!!!

I'll have to come back. Just came by to say hello and to star your thread. Catch up soon!

>110 benitastrnad: Right, Benita. It doesn't bother me nearly as much, as I and my colleagues see inpatients and families from all socioeconomic backgrounds in the hospital I work at, including a sizable number of white children born out of wedlock. I'd say that a significantly larger percentage of the African American children I see are born out of wedlock, and the percentage of divorced AfrAm parents is considerably higher than those of other races. It's relatively unusual for me to see a Latino family that isn't intact, and very rare to see a fragmented Asian family.

>111 Polaris-: Crazy, isn't it? Happy New Year, Paul!

I'll make one of my favorite slow cooker recipes today, white chicken chili, which my group's former administrative assistant shared with me a couple of years ago (the photo is a batch that I made last summer).



Heather's White Chicken Chili

A take on the Mayo Clinic's recipe so it is healthy (until you add the sour cream and cheese...ha!)

Ingredients:
• 2 lbs raw chicken breasts (seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper)
• 3 cups canned white beans (northern, pinto, garbanzo, etc)
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes with jalapenos
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium red pepper, chopped
• 1 medium orange or yellow pepper, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• Cayenne pepper, to taste
• 6 tbsp shredded reduced-fat Monterey Jack cheese
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
• 6 oz low-fat baked tortilla chips (about 65 chips)

Directions:
• In a crockpot add the first 12 ingredients. Adjust crockpot to medium heat for 4-6 hours. Check around 4 hours and pull chicken apart to shred it. Continue cooking another 30 minutes-1 hour.
• Ladle into warmed bowls. Sprinkle each serving with cheese, cilantro and sour cream (if desired). Serve with baked chips on the side (about 6 to 8 chips with each serving of chili).

The first time I made it I misread Heather's instructions and used 3 cans of white beans instead of three cups. I actually like it better that way, so I've continued to use the extra beans. I also use less chicken broth (2 cups instead of 4), as it is very wet with that much broth.

I made another of my favorite slow cooker recipes for dinner today, Irish lamb stew, courtesy of Caroline (@cameling):



Here is her recipe:

Irish Lamb Stew

Ingredients:
Leg of lamb (cut into mediumish chunks)
Half a stick of butter
Olive oil
1 onion (diced)
garlic cloves (I used four)
baby carrots
2 tbps flour
Beef broth
3 - 4 Marrow Bones (lamb if you can get them, otherwise beef will do)
Half a can of Guinness
Yellow potatoes, cut into large pieces
salt & pepper to taste
Chopped fresh flat parsley

Directions:
Season lamb with salt & pepper and set aside.

Melt butter with the olive oil, add lamb and brown.

Remove the lamb and set aside.

Add the carrots and onions, and sauté until softened.

Add the flour and stir. Pour in the broth and Guinness and bring to a boil.

Transfer to a slow cooker, add the lamb, potatoes and the marrow bones and cook on slow for about 8 hours.

Sprinkle with parsley just before serving. Serve with hot crusty bread.
____________________________________

I use about half as much butter when I make it, and I cook it on high for about 4-5 hours, as the aroma is way too enticing to let it go for 8 hours.

I'm off from work until Monday, so I'll try several new recipes, including a chicken and Andouille sausage Creole jambalaya recipe from Heather, which I'll make tomorrow.

On the reading front, I started A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam, the first novel in her Bangladeshi Trilogy, which is set in 1971 in Dhaka just prior the Bangladesh Liberation War, in which East Pakistan won its independence from West Pakistan, or present day Pakistan. I read The Good Muslim, the second novel in the Bangladeshi Trilogy, several years ago and loved it, and so far A Golden Age is also very good.

I really like your culinary posts. The stew looks wonderful. I may have to give it a try (any excuse to finish off the rest of the Guinness, of course). As for the chili--in my part of the world (where chili originated) most consider it unacceptable to put beans in it. But I'm reminding myself that it's been perhaps a year or more since I cooked anything indoors other than toast or microwave popcorn.

>115 StevenTX: Thanks, Steven! This is the fourth or fifth time I've made Caroline's Irish lamb stew, and it has turned out well each time. Fortunately my local Publix supermarket has always had beautiful and fresh legs of lamb whenever I've looked for them, and yesterday was no exception.

ETA: As I said on my 75 Books thread the Irish lamb stew requires a six pack of Guinness. One bottle is for the stew, and the other five are for the chef.

That's interesting to learn that authentic chili isn't supposed to contain beans. I've only been to Texas once, when I interviewed for pediatric residency positions in Houston in 1997, and I don't remember having chili during my brief stay there. Chicken probably isn't authentic either, I'll bet.

I take it from your post that you're an outdoor cook. Most guys I know will grill meats, but far fewer cook indoors on a regular basis. However, my barber at the shop I go to Atlanta does cook most of his meals, as do several of the other barbers there, and they will sometimes watch cooking shows on the Food Network or talk about the meals they have made recently (I'll join in the conversation as well).

>115 StevenTX: Guinness Cake is an excellent way to finish it off! It gets mixed with lots of chocolate and the Guinness is a great leavening agent. See Green and Black's Chocolate Recipes: Unwrapped - From the Cacao Pod to Muffins, Mousses and Moles

>106 markon:, >107 kidzdoc:: I used the one from budget bytes, and it is yummy! A friend of mine makes one that is also very good & makes her own harissa with it, but I don't have her recipe.

I also made white chicken chili from budget bytes this week, only I call it green chicken chili since it has green salsa in it, and I added kale.

Don't know about the beans in chili - every bowl I've ever eaten had beans in it.

Back in the 1980s I used to watch cooking shows on PBS on Saturday afternoons, and I remember several chefs going off on rants about "REAL chili never has beans." As someone who prefers vegetarian chili (which is loaded with beans), every time I've made chili in the past 30 years I've thought "I'm doing it wrong." The guilt has been immense, but yet I persist with the beans.

With chili I always make the distinction between chili (beans, meat, etc...) the soup and chile the sauce (no beans, no meat, etc..). When my brother, who lived in New Mexico for many years, says he's making chile he means the sauce whereas I make chili the soup.

I have now found my all time favorite recipe, after I made Heather's chicken and Andouille sausage Creole jambalaya earlier tonight. Heather is from New Orleans and used to work as my group's administrative assistant before she started working in our cancer center last year. She gave me her white chicken chili recipe a couple of years ago, and she shared this recipe with me last year, but I didn't make it until this afternoon.



It came out perfectly, as the jamb was neither too wet nor too dry, the rice was exactly the right consistency, and the flavors were complex without being overwhelming or too spicy. I had a feeling this would be really good, since practically everyone I know from New Orleans and South Louisiana can throw down in the kitchen, as we say, but this recipe significantly exceeded my already high expectations.

Just to be clear, I'm not giving myself any credit for how good this turned out. All I did was follow Heather's simple instructions:

Ingredients:
2 bunches chopped green onion (shallots)
2 celery stalks chopped
1 green bell pepper chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 cups UNCOOKED rice (I use Uncle Ben's parboiled...I think the brand makes all the difference)
1 can beef broth
1 can French Onion soup
1 can tomato soup or sauce (depending on which flavoring you like better)
3/4 stick butter
2 lbs chopped smoked Andouille sausage
2 lbs chopped cooked chicken
parsley

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray Pam or olive oil on a 9x13 glass baking dish.
Combine all ingredients in the dish and cover with foil.
Bake for 1.5 hours at 350 degrees stirring at midpoint (45 minute mark).
Add Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning and salt and pepper to taste.

Ingredient Notes:
Chicken can be canned, baked, grilled, rotisserie, etc. Can add raw shrimp too or sub shrimp for sausage or chicken (if using shrimp, peel them and don't put them in until the last 45 minutes so they do not overcook). All canned ingredients are regular size (Campbell brand) soup cans. When placing the butter in the dish I cut it into tablespoons and strategically place around the dish so it does not all land in one spot.

This is the easiest one dish wonder you may ever make!
_________________________________

Heather is 100% right; this was the easiest one dish wonder I've ever made, including the crispy gnocchi and the Moroccan lentil and vegetable stew. I used 2 lb of chicken breasts, which I coated with olive oil, salt and pepper, and cooked in the oven at 450 F for 10 minutes on each side. I couldn't find "real" Andouille sausage at Publix, my local supermarket, so I used Johnsonville smoked Andouille sausage instead, which turned out well. I would assume that you could use Zatarain's Creole Seasoning or Paul Prudhomme's Magic Seasoning Blend if your local store doesn't stock Tony Chachere's. The recipe completely filled a 9" x 13" baking dish, and it makes 8-10 good sized servings.

>117 SassyLassy: I hadn't heard of Guinness cake before, but it sounds yummy! I found an enticing recipe for chocolate Guinness cake by Nigella Lawson online here: http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/chocolate-guinness-cake-3086

>118 markon: That's the same recipe I use for Moroccan lentil and vegetable stew, Ardene. It is superb! There are a couple of other recipes from Budget Bytes that I'd like to try soon.

I love Heather's white chicken chili recipe, and I'm not inclined to try any other one! The same now holds true for jambalaya; I can't imagine any recipe which is easier to make and tastes any better than this one does.

I forgot to ask Steven what's in authentic chili, as every bowl of chili I've had has had beans in it.

>119 Nickelini: Ha! Good for you for persevering despite your immense guilt, Joyce.

>120 mabith: Right, Meredith. I also understand and use that difference between chile and chili.

Back to books...I had hoped to finish A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam today, but I spent a good portion of the day cooking, as I also made the crispy gnocchi with Brussels sprouts, asparagus and cremini mushrooms this afternoon. Now that I've made four dishes this week I'll only make on dish on Saturday and another on Sunday, and plan to spend more time reading this weekend.

>122 kidzdoc: what's in authentic chili

The essential ingredients in Texas chili are beef and chili peppers (usually red, either fresh or powdered). The meat can be ground or cubed. It can be thickened with flour, cornmeal, tomato paste, or a combination of these. It's really a very simple dish, as it was originally something served on cattle drives. Of course innovative chefs add all sorts of "secret" ingredients and spices. And its easy to vary the type of meat and the type of chilies. My favorite variety that I've made was with cubed pork and used freshly roasted green Hatch chilies. But no beans.

>112 kidzdoc: - I've read several articles about marriage and divorce rates, but they mainly focused on class and culture - comparing "red state" marriages to "blue state" marriages, describing stable middle/upper class marriages compared to divorces or marriage being put off in the working class. (There's some concern about happy, healthy marriages becoming a luxury item.) I could dig some of them up if you're interested, but it doesn't sound like that's exactly what you're looking for. I have a book called Is Marriage for White People? on the library wishlist, but looking at the reviews, the author mainly focuses on why high-achieving black women are remaining unmarried.

I think I'll try to make the veggie and lentil stew this weekend.

Didn't know that real chili didn't have beans. I've always made it with beans - sometimes 3 different kinds of beans! I didn't realize I was a chili heretic.

>123 StevenTX: Thanks for that explanation of authentic chili, Steven. I'll have to find a recipe and give it a try sometime soon.

>124 DieFledermaus: Thanks, DieF. I'm continually disappointed by the high percentage of babies born out of wedlock to black mothers in the Atlanta area, and especially the cultural acceptance of this phenomenon in segments of the black community here. Many of these women, and even their parents and families, seem to value having babies above having a husband or at least a reliable father for the mother and child, which is completely contrary to the way I was raised. My mother is very close to a younger woman who she mentored, who moved from Philadelphia to a suburban town east of Atlanta, in a neighborhood largely comprised of a middle class population. This young woman would be a great success by most standards, as she overcome an impoverished childhood in a broken home and a brief and regrettable marriage to a local knucklehead here to put herself through college while working full time and helping to support her mother and grandmother, who also moved here. She has bachelor's and master's degrees in education, and she will soon complete her doctorate, which I think is also in childhood education. Despite these successes, some of the women in her neighborhood view her life as incomplete, as she doesn't have any children, and some of them have been critical of her educational achievements and professional goals. She told this to my parents and I when they visited Atlanta a couple of years ago, and the three of us were amazed and bewildered by her story.

This seems to be a much more common mindset in the Deep South than it is in the Northeast, and as a result the children born out of wedlock, even to middle class black families, struggle with poor self esteem, especially the boys who lack a male role model, poverty, and limited opportunities. I was hoping, perhaps unfairly, that Jesmyn Ward would talk about this in Men We Reaped, but that wasn't the primary focus of her book. I'd probably be better off looking for books or articles written about this topic by an academic sociologist like William Julius Wilson.

I have heard of Is Marriage for White People?, but I had forgotten to add it to my wish list. It's there now; thanks for reminding me about it.

Darryl, in SC at least, health education is strictly abstinence only. My daughter came home from school and informed me that you can only get pregnant if you're married. I can't help but wonder if the high rate of teenage pregnancy is connected to the lack of information and the blatant misinformation given to teenagers?

>126 RidgewayGirl: That seems to be the case, Kay. The studies and information I've read indicate that US teenagers are as sexually active as those in other countries, but in the developed world the teenage pregnancy rates are much higher here, which is linked to the lack of accurate education that teens receive about condoms and contraceptive pills. And, as a result, the rates of STIs (sexually transmitted infections) in the US are considerably higher than they are in other developed countries.

Here's some selected information from a Fact Sheet published by the Guttmacher Institute in 2012:

SEX, PREGNANCY AND ABORTION

• Although only 13% of U.S. teens have had sex by age 15, most initiate sex in their late teen years. By their 19th birthday, seven in 10 teen men and teen women have had intercourse.

• Between 1988 and 2006–2010, the proportion of never-married teens aged 15–17 who had ever engaged in sexual intercourse declined from 37% to 27% among females, and from 50% to 28% among males. During the same period, among teens aged 18–19, that proportion declined from 73% to 63% among females, and 77% to 64% among males.

• The pregnancy rate among young women has declined steadily, from 117 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15–19 in 1990 to 68 per 1,000 in 2008.

• The majority (86%) of the decline in the teen pregnancy rate between 1995 and 2002 was the result of dramatic improvements in contraceptive use, including an increase in the proportion of teens using a single method of contraception, an increase in the proportion using multiple methods simultaneously and a substantial decline in nonuse. Just 14% of the decline is attributable to decreased sexual activity.

• Compared with their Canadian, English, French and Swedish peers, U.S. teens have a similar level of sexual activity, but they are more likely to have shorter and less consistent sexual relationships, and are less likely to use contraceptives, especially the pill or dual methods.

• The United States continues to have one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the developed world (68 per 1,000 women aged 15–19 in 2008)—more than twice that of Canada (27.9 per 1,000) or Sweden (31.4 per 1,000).

• Every year, roughly nine million new STIs occur among teens and young adults in the United States. Compared with rates among teens in Canada and Western Europe, rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia among U.S. teens are extremely high.

TEENS' REPORTS OF FORMAL SEX EDUCATION

• In 2006–2008, most teens aged 15–19 had received formal instruction about STIs (93%), HIV (89%) or abstinence (84%). However, about one-third of teens had not received any formal instruction about contraception; fewer males received this instruction than females (62% vs. 70%).

• Many sexually experienced teens (46% of males and 33% of females) do not receive formal instruction about contraception before they first have sex.

• About one in four adolescents aged 15-19 (23% of females and 28% of males) received abstinence education without receiving any instruction about birth control in 2006–2008, compared with 8–9% in 1995.

• Among teens aged 18–19, 41% report that they know little or nothing about condoms and 75% say they know little or nothing about the contraceptive pill.

• Sixty-five percent of high schools taught about condom efficacy and 39% taught students how to correctly use a condom in a required health education course.

ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF SEX INFORMATION

• Even when parents provide information, their knowledge about contraception or other sexual health topics may often be inaccurate or incomplete.

• More than half (55%) of 7th–12th graders say they have looked up health information online in order to learn more about an issue affecting themselves or someone they know.

• The Web sites teens turn to for sexual health information often have inaccurate information. For example, of 177 sexual health Web sites examined in a recent study, 46% of those addressing contraception and 35% of those addressing abortion contained inaccurate information.

• Exposure to high levels of sexual content on television is associated with an increased risk of initiating sexual activity, as well as a greater likelihood of involvement in teen pregnancy.

EFFECTIVENESS OF SEX EDUCATION PROGRAMS

• Strong evidence suggests that comprehensive approaches to sex education help young people both to withstand the pressures to have sex too soon and to have healthy, responsible and mutually protective relationships when they do become sexually active.

• A November 2007 report found that “two-thirds of the 48 comprehensive programs that supported both abstinence and the use of condoms and contraceptives for sexually active teens had positive behavioral effects.” Many either delayed or reduced sexual activity, reduced the number of sexual partners, or increased the use of condoms or other contraceptives.

• There is no evidence to date that abstinence-only-until-marriage education delays teen sexual activity. Moreover, research shows that abstinence-only strategies may deter contraceptive use among sexually active teens, increasing their risk of unintended pregnancy and STIs.

• A 2007 congressionally mandated study found that federally-funded abstinence-only programs have no beneficial impact on young people’s sexual behavior.

Source: http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/FB-Teen-Sex-Ed.html

While I don't think there's anything wrong with encouraging teenagers to wait until they are older to have sex, I think there is something very, very wrong with not providing detailed and accurate information about how to protect themselves if they do. Also, providing information does no good if there is no way for teens to acquire contraceptives. From what I've read, this is a huge problem in more rural areas and also in more conservative areas.

>128 japaul22: I agree with everything you've said, Jennifer. Abstinence should be taught in schools, but it should be part of a comprehensive education program that teaches them about contraception. Some clinics and health centers offer free contraception and condoms to teenagers, including the clinic at our children's hospital in inner city Atlanta, and studies have shown that teens that have access to free contraception in their communities have vastly lower rates of pregnancy, abortions, and STIs than those who lack access. Privacy is, of course, a huge issue for sexually active teens, and many don't feel comfortable bringing their concerns with their primary care providers, especially if they are still on their parents' insurance plan and the office doesn't provide contraception to them without telling their parents. You're also right in saying that the lack of comprehensive sex education and free contraceptives are more common in rural and conservative areas, which has a lot to do with the higher rates of teenage pregnancies in places like the Deep South, which also are the areas where it's more difficult to get an abortion. If I remember correctly, Mississippi has only one abortion clinic in the entire state, and conservatives there are doing their best to shut it down. I just checked, and that is right; the Jackson Women’s Health Organization in the state capital is the only abortion clinic still in operation, and according to the information in the link it is at serious risk of being put out of business this year.

This seems morally inconsistent to me. Social conservatives don't want teens to be sexually active, yet they also don't want to provide them with information or the means to protect themselves, and they want to prevent them from getting abortions if they do get pregnant.

I decided to make spinach lentil stew for lunch today, since I wanted to use the bag of frozen spinach I had in my freezer; it turned out great! Here's a photo of my batch:



And here's a link to the recipe, which I found last night on TasteofHome.com:

Spinach and Lentil Stew

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
5 cups water
1 cup lentils, rinsed
4 teaspoons vegetable or chicken bouillon granules
3 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 bay leaf
1 cup chopped carrots
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Directions:

In a large saucepan, saute onion in oil until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Add the water, lentils, bouillon, Worcestershire sauce, salt, thyme, pepper and bay leaf; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the carrots, tomatoes and spinach; return to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 15-20 minutes longer or until lentils are tender. Stir in vinegar. Discard bay leaf.

Yield: 6 servings.
____________________________

I had an 18 oz bag of frozen spinach, so I doubled up on everything except the water, and I kept a close eye on it to be sure that I didn't need to add any more water. As it turned out that was a good move, as the amount of water was perfect. It tasted very good over jasmine Thai rice, and I'll definitely make this again in the near future.

Since I'm a novice cook I didn't know how to thaw and squeeze dry frozen spinach without using the microwave, which I didn't want to do. Fortunately the Internet came to my rescue; here's a link to the method that I used, which worked well:

Thawing & Draining Frozen Spinach

Bumping up against dinnertime here and these dishes look so good!

>121 kidzdoc: rice (I use Uncle Ben's parboiled...I think the brand makes all the difference)
I do too. It's easy, pretty quick, zero salt; in fact one ingredient: "whole grain parboiled brown rice."

That lentil stew sounds great. Wondering about the vegetable/chicken bouillon granules and what a substitute for them might be (because of the salt, etc.). And I'd probably use fresh spinach.

>131 detailmuse: Thanks, MJ! The jambalaya recipe has now gone viral, as one LTer made it yesterday and another made it today, along with one of my classmates from medical school, who is from south Louisiana. A third LTer was going to make it tonight, but she couldn't find adequate sausage. And I'm now heating a bowl of it to have for dinner.

I didn't realize that Uncle Ben's Original Rice was parboiled. I thought it might be difficult to find at Publix, my local supermarket, but the opposite was true.

>132 rebeccanyc: The spinach lentil stew was very good, Rebecca. I specifically looked for a recipe that called for frozen spinach and lentils, since I wanted to use up the bag I had in my freezer, and I was pleased to find this one online. I think it would taste just as good, if not better, with fresh spinach. I didn't have vegetarian or chicken bouillon granules or cubes already at home, and I didn't feel like making a trip to Publix for just that one ingredient, so I left it out. I doubt that I would have noticed the difference.

>132 rebeccanyc:, 133 - If you don't have chicken or veg bouillon, just use vegetable or chicken broth instead of the 5 cups of water - same thing. I make my own veg broth and freeze it for soups, because that way I can control the salt content. That recipe is so full of vegetables and aromatics/spices already, however, that the flavour imparted by the broth wouldn't be missed, like Darryl said.

I'm really enjoying your recipe posts, Darryl - I eat vegetarian meals about 75% of the time (and at least half of that is vegan), so I will be sure to try some of these!

>134 Cait86: Good idea to use vegetable or chicken broth, Cait! I have containers of both broths in my refrigerator, but I don't think I had five cups' worth.

I'm glad that you're enjoying my recipes. I'm looking for particularly good vegetarian and vegan ones, so I'd love to hear about any that you're fond of (either on your thread or here).

I finally finished a couple of books today, A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam, the first novel in her Bangladesh Trilogy, which was very good, and the novella A Distant Father by Antonio Skármeta, which was mildly enjoyable but not memorable. I'll review both books sometime next week.

>135 kidzdoc: - Oh, I have recipe recommendations! LOL

My favourite soup of all time is the Spiced Red Lentil, Tomato, and Kale soup from Oh She Glows - http://ohsheglows.com/2012/11/07/spiced-red-lentil-tomato-and-kale-soup/

- with a close second being her Holiday Soup for the Soul - http://ohsheglows.com/2010/11/16/holiday-soup-for-the-soul/

I also love her Spicy Potato and Black Bean Burritos - http://ohsheglows.com/2012/06/08/spicy-potato-n-black-bean-burritos/

Are you a breakfast person? I'm obsessed with oatmeal made with 1/3 cup oats, 2/3 cup almond milk, 1 tbsp chia seeds, 1 tsp cinnamon, and a touch of brown sugar. After it's cooked, I top it with a bit of peanut or almond butter, some dried fruit, and some pumpkin seed or pecans. Sometimes I add a diced apple or a grated carrot to the oat mixture while it's cooking. Best vegan breakfast ever, and so filling.

Other blogs I check on a daily basis and cook extensively from are smittenkitchen.com, sproutedkitchen.com, dishingupthedirt.com, and naturallyella.com - they aren't exclusively vegetarian, but most of their recipes are.

That's probably more food info than you wanted, but food is second only to books on my lists of topics to discuss obsessively :)

I am a big fan of oatmeal for breakfast. I use regular milk and cook it the night before so it is ready in the morning. I add things like peanut butter, nutella, dates, raisins, nuts, pumpkin seeds, dried apricots, flax seeds, etc. It keeps me going as I have to wait until 1:30 p.m. for my lunch time.

I have been experimenting with Indian cooking and tonight I made a cabbage coconut poriyal. It was delicious and made the whole house smell so wonderful. The only thing I will change is that I will put my urad dal in the hot oil first as the black mustard seeds cooked much faster and the urad dal was not done. Otherwise this effort was a winner.

>136 Cait86: Fabulous! Thanks for this great info, Cait; it's not too much food info for me. The two soups sound great, so I'll definitely make them in the near future. I haven't seen red lentils, but I would imagine that I could find them at Whole Foods Market if Publix doesn't sell them.

I do like oatmeal, but I only add brown sugar and a small amount of Healthy Balance spread to it.

I'll check out those blogs later in the week.

>137 benitastrnad: That's a good idea to cook oatmeal the night before, Benital I think I'll try that. Do you refrigerate it after you cook it? If so, do you heat it on the stove top or in a microwave oven?

The cabbage coconut poriyal sounds nice. I'm not overly fond of coconut, but I'd be willing to give this a try.

Red lentils are what I found for the Moroccan lentil stew, and they worked beautifully. I found them in the Turkish section of the international foods area of the big grocery store I go to every few weeks. The American items are so random; bbq sauce, mac & cheese, tomato soup, marshmallow fluff, chocolate pop-tarts and microwave popcorn.

>139 RidgewayGirl: Oof. The American items in that grocery store sound horrible, especially when they are listed together.

It appears that Whole Foods stocks red lentils, but Publix doesn't seem to offer them. I'm working until this evening, so I'll probably stop there on my way home.

The finalists for the 2014 National Book Critics Circle Awards were announced yesterday:

AUTOBIOGRAPHY:

Blake Bailey, The Splendid Things We Planned: A Family Portrait
Roz Chast, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?
Lacy M. Johnson, The Other Side: A Memoir
Gary Shteyngart, Little Failure
Meline Toumani, There Was and There Was Not

BIOGRAPHY:

Ezra Greenspan, William Wells Brown: An African American Life
S.C. Gwynne, Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson
John Lahr, Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh
Ian S. MacNiven, “Literchoor Is My Beat”: A Life of James Laughlin, Publisher of New Directions
Miriam Pawel, The Crusades of Cesar Chavez: A Biography

CRITICISM:

Eula Biss, On Immunity: An Inoculation
Vikram Chandra, Geek Sublime: The Beauty of Code, the Code of Beauty
Claudia Rankine, Citizen: An American Lyric
Lynne Tillman, What Would Lynne Tillman Do?
Ellen Willis, The Essential Ellen Willis, edited by Nona Willis Aronowitz

FICTION:

Rabih Alameddine, An Unnecessary Woman
Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings
Lily King, Euphoria
Chang-rae Lee, On Such a Full Sea
Marilynne Robinson, Lila

GENERAL NONFICTION:

David Brion Davis, The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation
Peter Finn and Petra Couvee, The Zhivago Affair: The Kremlin, the CIA, and the Battle over a Forbidden Book
Elizabeth Kolbert, The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, translated from the French by Arthur Goldhammer
Hector Tobar, Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle that Set Them Free

POETRY:

Saeed Jones, Prelude to Bruise
Willie Perdomo, The Essential Hits of Shorty Bon Bon
Claudia Rankine, Citizen: An American Lyric
Christian Wiman, Once in the West
Jake Adam York, Abide

You may have noticed that Citizen: An American Lyric is nominated in two categories, Criticism and Poetry. That is not a typographical error, and this is the first time in the 40 year history of the awards that a single book has been nominated in two categories in the same year.

"The awards will be presented on March 12, 2015 at the New School, in a ceremony that is free and open to the public."

More info: http://bookcritics.org

#138
I bring it to a boil, add the oatmeal and leave it on the stove to cool and go to bed. As it cools the oatmeal absorbs more of the liquid. I then bring it to a boil in the morning in the microwave after I have added the raisins, etc.

I find it strange that you can't find red lentils in the grocery store--they are a staple at any Canadian grocery store (in my corner of the country anyway). Have you tried the Indian food section? They may be called daah or dahl. Don't pay silly Whole Food prices. You can also buy them on Amazon.

Here's my super simple morning oatmeal:

Two scoops quick oats (I'm guessing my scoop is approx a quarter cup)
Four scoops water
1 tablespoon brown sugar
5 frozen blackberries

Stir. Put in microwave on high for about 3 minutes. Stir. If it looks too thick, I pour in a splash of almond milk. Ridiculously easy, very yummy, rather filling.

>143 Nickelini: I wondered about that too. I've never seen a grocery store that didn't have red lentils. I watch the shelves and make sure I get lentils that look plump and fresh, not old looking or wizened. Although I don't think you'd recognize old lentils until you have seen nice ones.

>1 kidzdoc: I hope you don't mind that I referred to your excellent review of Being Sam Frears in one of my posts. The book I read was Love, Nina by Nina Stibbe who was Sam's nanny.

>141 kidzdoc: Interesting list, especially since I haven't heard of many of the books on it! Did they add an autobiography category? I don't remember it from previous years, but maybe I wasn't paying attention.

>145 rebeccanyc:

It is technically Memoir/Autobiography category - had been there since they split the old Biography/Autobiography category in 2006 (or thereabouts).

>146 AnnieMod: Oops! Where have I been all these years?!

>147 rebeccanyc: Probably too busy reading the books to pay attention to the category names :)

>141 kidzdoc: - Will you try to read some of the nominees before March, or is the plate already full?

Speaking of full plates, I made the Lentil and Veggie Stew (added a couple other random vegetables) - it was very good and I've been eating leftovers for a few days now.

>142 benitastrnad: Thanks, Benita. I think I'll give that a try this weekend.

>143 Nickelini: That's a good idea, Joyce. To be honest I've never looked for red lentils specifically, but I did spend time carefully looking at the beans section in Publix last week, and I don't remember see them there. I didn't look at the international foods section, so I'll look there when I shop at Publix this weekend.

>144 VivienneR: I definitely don't mind you mentioning my review of Being Sam Frears on your thread, Vivienne. I'm glad that you liked it, and I hope you and others considering reading it. It's a Penguin eSpecial book, and the Kindle version currently costs $2.18 on Amazon US. It was a quick but a very enjoyable and informative read. Here's the link to the book's page on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Being-Sam-Frears-Ordinary-Specials-ebook/dp/B0089LOF6W/ref...

>149 DieFledermaus: I'm "reading" A Brief History of Seven Killings now, but I've only read four pages of it so far. I do want to buy and read On Immunity soon, but I doubt that I'll get to it before the spring.

I'm glad that you enjoyed the Moroccan lentil and vegetable stew!

>150 kidzdoc: Thanks for the link for Being Sam Frears. I purchased the kindle version, it looks very interesting and a good companion to Love, Nina.

This method of cooking oatmeal is the one Martha Stewart uses. It may be possible to find the details on-line. I usually cook my oatmeal with milk and then add milk to it in the morning. Mix it well, and the nuke it so that the milk comes to a boil. The more sweet stuff you have in the oatmeal (like dates or prunes) the more likely it is to burn in the pan, so I add that stuff in the morning rather than when I cook it at night. I also use Old Fashioned oats - not quick oats.

There is a recipe on the Martha Stewart website for oatmeal - over night. She uses steel cut oats, but I have used regular Old Fashioned rolled oats and followed the same directions

>151 VivienneR: You're welcome, Vivienne.

>152 benitastrnad: Thanks, Benita. I'll see if I can find Martha Stewart's oatmeal recipe online.

Thanks to my group's former practice manager I have a new recipe to share, African sweet potato soup with peanut butter, black eyed peas and beans, which I made for lunch today.



Ingredients:

1 tablespoon light olive oil or peanut oil
1 tablespoon red or green Thai Kitchen curry paste- hot or mild, to taste (start with less if you prefer it mild)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 medium red onion, peeled, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium sweet potato or yam, peeled, diced
1 large yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded, diced
1 jalapeño or other hot chile pepper, seeded, diced fine
1 14-oz. can black-eyed peas, rinsed, drained
1 14-oz. can white beans, rinsed, drained
1 14-oz. can black beans, rinsed, drained
1 quart light broth
1/2 cup 100% natural peanut butter melted in a half cup of boiled hot water (for one cup total)
1/2 teaspoon crushed hot red pepper flakes, or more, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Juice from 1 big juicy lime
2-3 teaspoons organic brown sugar or raw agave nectar, to taste
Sea salt and black pepper, to taste

For garnish: chopped fresh cilantro or parsley

Instructions:

Heat the light olive oil in large soup pot. Add the curry paste and cinnamon; stir for a minute to infuse the oil with spice. Add the onion, garlic, sweet potato, yellow pepper and jalapeño. Stir and cook the veggies for 5-7 minutes, until softened.

Add the black-eyed peas, white and black beans, broth, melted peanut butter, red pepper flakes and cilantro.

Bring the soup to a high simmer, cover, and lower the heat; keep the soup on simmer and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Stir in the lime juice and brown sugar or agave. Season with sea salt and ground pepper, to taste. Warm through and taste for seasoning adjustments.

Serves 4 as a hearty meal. Terrific with my gluten-free Skillet Cornbread.
__________________________________

I love this! It has a rich combination of flavors, and it's pretty spicy, too. This would taste good with cornbread, although I had a glass of organic carrot juice and a banana instead. I couldn't find Thai Kitchen curry paste, so I used 1 tbsp of red curry powder instead. I used vegetable broth, and two tbsp of lime juice instead of the juice from a lime. I like my soups and stews to have a kick, and this was perfect for me, although if I make it for my parents I would tone it down a bit. Despite the photo this is much closer to a stew than a soup, and it's very fulfilling and satisfying. The recipe says that it serves 4, but I'm sure that I can get at least 6 meals out of this. Highly recommended!

I'm also making curried lentils, chicken and potatoes in my slow cooker for dinner, which I've made before. However, I'm substituting the florets from a whole cauliflower for the potatoes, thanks to an idea from one of the psychiatry nurse practitioners who shares our work area. If I didn't post the recipe earlier in this thread I'll do so once it's ready.

I finished Moon Tiger, Penelope Lively's 1987 Booker Prize winner, yesterday, which I didn't like due to its repulsive main character. I'm nearly finished with The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh, and I'll probably resume reading A History of Seven Killings by Marlon James once I'm finished.

>154 kidzdoc: Saved this recipe, it sounds like a winner!

I've developed a liking for Penelope Lively but will take a pass on Moon Tiger.

>155 VivienneR: It is a great recipe, Vivienne, and it's easy to make, too.

We've been having a very spirited discussion about Moon Tiger on my 75 Books thread this weekend. There seem to be as many people who liked it as those who, like me, loathed it.

>154 kidzdoc: I showed that one to my husband and he immediately wanted me to save the recipe for him, so I think we'll be trying it out sometime soonish! What level of spice is usually good for you - do you order medium or hot at a Thai restaurant, for example?

We substitute cauliflower in a lot of places, anymore. When my husband makes potato soup now, it's really more like half potato, half cauliflower soup.

>157 ursula: Sounds good, Ursula. Please let me know how you and your husband like it!

I generally prefer a medium level of hotness to my meals. I like richly flavored foods, and I want to be able to taste all of the spices and ingredients, which I can't do if it has too much heat. I have a variety of Tabasco sauces (Original, Chipotle, Green) and powdered peppers handy, and I like my food spicer than the average person does, I think, but I also know people who prefer much more heat than I do.

I liked the way that today's batch of Slow-Cooker Curried Lentils With Chicken and Potatoes tasted with red lentils in place of brown ones, and with cauliflower instead of potatoes. It wasn't as visually appealing, though, as the red lentils dissolved and the cauliflower florets were barely visible.

Curry with brown lentils and potatoes:



Curry with red lentils and cauliflower:

We've been having a very spirited discussion about Moon Tiger on my 75 Books thread this weekend. There seem to be as many people who liked it as those who, like me, loathed it.

I was going to comment here, but I think I'll go find that thread and see what people have said. I had mixed felling about the book and in the end gave it a negative review, but I thought it had merit and I can't think of why you disliked the character to that extreme. Moving over to the other discussion . . . .

I like Penelope Lively as a writer, and I find books with a polarized audience are tantalizing. However, I won't be reading Moon Tiger in the near future as I have already too many books are piling up unread.

>115 StevenTX:-120 - Saw an article on the history of chili and thought of the discussion here

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2015/01/chili_history_there_are_no_beans...

Also, I got the ingredients for the sweet potato soup and will probably make it this weekend or early next week (de-spiced though).

>161 DieFledermaus: A great and wise article indeed!

>154 kidzdoc: While you were probably watching the Superbowl, I made the African Sweet Potato Soup and some cornbread. Great soup and an excellent combination. Thanks for the suggestion. I did prepare my own black beans, black eyed peas and white beans from scratch, using about 1 and 1/4 cup of each, in order to avoid the high sodium content of canned beans.

Just as an aside, when Americans say white beans, do they mean navy beans, cannellini beans, small broad/lima beans or what? I used navy beans as they seemed the closest to the picture.

Next up, your Spinach Lentil Soup.

>161 DieFledermaus: Don't fear the spices. I always have that curry paste in my cupboard and it is excellent. Using cornbread can tame things down if needed.

Thanks for the chili article. I am drooling over the recipes, although I did have a good lunch beforehand.

I too cannot find red lentils at the grocery store - only dried up brown ones. I go the Your DeKalb Farmer's Market, but I suspect that's way out of the way for you.

SL, I think any small white bean will work (navy beans are a good choice). At least, I'm working with that premise as I look at mysterious bags of beans from Turkey and Italy and trying to decide what to use for American chili! At least kidney beans are obvious.

I like black beans in American chili.

Sorry that I've been AWOL for a couple of weeks. I'm in the midst of a very busy work stretch, and I've only read one book in that time. I still have two more full weeks ahead, but hopefully I can get at least one or two books read this weekend.

The literary world lost two giants yesterday: the South African author and leading anti-apartheid activist André Brink died on Friday at the age of 79, as his flight was en route from Amsterdam to Cape Town. His most famous novel was A Dry White Season, and his last novel, Philida, was longlisted for the 2012 Booker Prize. I read that book and his previous collection of short stories, Other Lives, and I enjoyed both of them. I'll read A Dry White Season later this year, and I'll be on the lookout for more of his work.



New York Times: André Brink, South African Literary Figure, Dies at 79

The Algerian author and women's rights activist Assia Djebar also died yesterday, at the age of 78. She won the 1996 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and was nominated as a finalist for the Nobel Prize in Literature on at least one occasion. Although I haven't read anything by her yet I own three of her books, namely Children of the New World, The Tongue's Blood Does Not Run Dry, and Algerian White, at least one of which I will read for the fourth quarter Reading Globally challenge.



Yahoo News: Algerian novelist Assia Djebar dead at 78

I made borscht for the first time last Sunday, and it turned out well:



Here's the recipe, from allrecipes.com:

Russian Cabbage Borscht

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups thinly sliced potatoes
1 cup thinly sliced beets
4 cups vegetable stock or water
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
1 teaspoon caraway seed (optional)
2 teaspoons salt
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 large carrot, sliced
3 cups coarsely chopped red cabbage
black pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon fresh dill weed
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 cup tomato puree
sour cream, for topping
chopped tomatoes, for garnish

Directions:

Place sliced potatoes and beets in a medium saucepan over high heat; cover with stock, and boil until vegetables are tender. Remove potatoes and beets with a slotted spoon, and reserve stock.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in onions, caraway seeds, and salt; cook until onions become soft and translucent. Then stir in celery, carrots, and cabbage. Mix in reserved stock; cook, covered, until all vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.

Add potatoes and beets to the skillet. Season with black pepper and dill weed. Stir in cider vinegar, honey, and tomato puree. Cover, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer at least 30 minutes. Serve topped with sour cream, extra dill weed, and chopped fresh tomatoes.
________________________________________________________________

It's an interesting recipe, but I'd love to be able to duplicate the borscht I used to get at Ratner's, a longstanding Jewish dairy restaurant on the Lower East Side of Manhattan that unfortunately closed about a dozen years ago.

>159 Nickelini: I know that you saw the discussion of Moon Tiger in my 75 Books thread, Joyce. I now think I judged Claudia far too harshly, and I may give this book another go in the future to see if my opinion of her improves on a second reading.

>160 VivienneR: Moon Tiger generated a lot of spirited discussion last month, Vivienne. One of the members of the 75 Books club set up a British Authors Challenge for the year, and Penelope Lively was one of the two authors in January, along with Kazuo Ishiguro. I think at least a dozen 75ers read Moon Tiger then.

>161 DieFledermaus: Thanks for posting that excellent article on chili, DieF! I would have had no idea that authentic chili had no beans in it before Steven's comments.

Have you made the African sweet potato soup yet? If so, how did it turn out? What spices did you leave out or substitute from the original recipe?

I'll try two new recipes on Sunday: curried cauliflower soup with chutney and cashews from my book Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, and carrot ginger soup, from the website GoNOLA.com (NOLA = New Orleans, LA).

>162 StevenTX: That was a good article, Steven. Thanks for sharing the knowledge about real chili!

>163 SassyLassy: I'm glad that you liked the African sweet potato soup, Sassy! That is a great idea to prepare your own peas and beans instead of using the canned versions. I'll probably make it the weekend after next when I visit my parents, and I'll probably do what you did. Hmm...my father makes great cornbread, so I think I'll ask him to make some to go along with the soup.

I love rich vegetable stews and soups at any time of the year, so the African sweet potato soup and the Moroccan lentil and vegetable stew, which I made again last Sunday, are destined to become staple recipes of mine.

Hmm...good question about what Americans refer to as white beans. If I had to choose one type I would say navy beans, but I used Goya Frijoles Blancos (Spanish for white beans). Let's see...I don't have any cans left in my cabinet, so I'll have to check online. It doesn't seem to say what type of beans they are, and Goya (a leading Spanish food company) sells several different types of white beans.



>164 markon: The DeKalb Farmers' Market isn't all that far from me, Ardene; it's probably about a 20 minute drive from Midtown, and it's almost certainly a shorter drive from my home in Midtown than my 11 mile drive to work in Sandy Springs. I imagine that I could get red lentils at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's in Midtown, but I probably won't use them again in that recipe, as they dissolved and turned that meal into a soupy (although still tasteful) mess.

I'll visit the Farmers' Market soon, probably on a weekday that I'm off from work.

>165 RidgewayGirl:, >166 janeajones: I suspect that the two of you are in trouble with Steven for mentioning beans in American chili.

I have Philida checked out from the library but just haven't gotten to it yet. Maybe I better hurry as it will probably be in demand now and I won't be able to renew it.

>171 benitastrnad: I suspect that relatively few people are familiar with André Brink, Benita, and even less with Philida, so you may have a good amount of time to get to it.

I saw this recipe for Zuppa Toscana on the Budget Bytes web site yesterday, and I decided to try it for lunch today. Here's a photo of the batch that I just made, along with the recipe:



Zuppa Toscana

Ingredients:

½ lb. Italian Sausage (hot or mild) $1.46
1 yellow onion $0.32
2 cloves garlic $0.16
1 (15 oz.) can Great Northern beans $1.00
½ tsp smoked paprika $0.05
3 cups chicken broth* $0.36
1 cup water $0.00
2 cups half and half $1.69
3 medium red potatoes (1.5-1.75 lbs.) $1.67
1 bunch (8 oz.) kale, chopped $1.50
pinch red pepper flakes (optional) $0.02
freshly cracked black pepper (optional) $0.05

Instructions:

Squeeze the sausage out of its casing into a large pot. Sauté over medium heat, breaking it up into small pieces as it cooks. The sausage should contain enough fat to keep it from sticking, if not add a touch of olive oil. It's okay if a small amount browns on the bottom of the pot.

While the sausage is cooking, dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add them to the pot and sauté until the onions are softened. The moisture from the onions should help dissolve any browned bits of sausage off the bottom of the pot.

Drain and rinse the can of beans. Add the beans, smoked paprika, chicken broth, one cup water, and half and half to the pot. Place a lid on the pot and let it come up to a simmer over medium heat.

While the pot is heating, cut each potato into quarters lengthwise, then slice across into thin slices. Add the potatoes to the pot along with the pre-chopped kale. The kale will fill the pot when it's first added, but the heat from the liquid will wilt it within a few minutes. Stir it occasionally to help the wilting process.

Let the pot simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Season with red pepper flakes and freshly cracked black pepper if desired.
____________________________________________________________________

I've never had Zuppa Toscana before, but this tastes amazing! The recipe makes a huge pot, which can serve at least eight people.

I'm also making Curried Cauliflower Soup with Chutney & Cashews, using the recipe in my book Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, which will be ready in time for dinner.

I started reading my LT Early Reviewers book for December, The Work: My Search for a Life That Matters by Wes Moore, the author of the book The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. I should finish it by this evening.

I think I found a new Sunday hangout that comes complete with free Wi-Fi. Dunkin Doughnuts has moved into Tuscaloosa with a vengeance and opened three shops. One of them is in the old bus station. My real life book discussion group is met here today for the first time in the "Greyhound" room. It was very nice. I loved it that they kept the old bus station intact, as much as possible and even included outside seating. This is so cool. I love it!

I made the curried cauliflower soup with mango chutney and cashews this afternoon:



Ingredients:

1 tbsp coconut oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
2 tsp curry powder or paste
1 medium sized head of cauliflower, trimmed & chopped
1 medium Yukon Gold potato, peeled & diced
6 cups vegetable stock
1/4 cup mango chutney
1/4 cup roasted cashews
1 tbsp minced fresh parsley leaves
salt

Directions:

1) heat oil in med skillet over med-high heat. Add onion & carrot, cover & cook about 5min until softened. Add curry powder & stir to coat.

2) transfer onion mix to slow cooker. Add cauliflower, potato & stock. Season with salt, cover & let cook on low for 6 hours.

3) Add the chutney & working in batches, puree the soup in blender/food processor or use an immersion blender to puree right in cooker. Taste & adjust seasonings as necessary. Serve garnished with sprinkling of cashews & parsley.

Number of Servings: 6
___________________________________________________

Hmm. This was quite a disappointment, as it is very bland despite the inclusion of mango chutney, red curry powder and cashews. (I'm still stuffed from the bowl of Zuppa Toscana I had for lunch about 5 hours ago, so I only had a tiny bowl of this soup). I'll have to add some spices to it, and possibly more curry powder, to see if I can breathe some life into it. Oh well, at least it's a healthy and inexpensive soup and it wasn't hard to make, but I almost certainly won't prepare this again.

>173 benitastrnad: That sounds good, Benita! I assume that it was as nice in Tuscaloosa as it was here in Atlanta, so your book club picked a great day to meet.

>169 kidzdoc:, >163 SassyLassy: - I think I worry too much about spices - reasoning that I can always make something more spicy, but would have more trouble making it less spicy. I didn't add any jalapenos and left out the red pepper flakes when I made the African Sweet Potato soup, then at the end, it wasn't really spicy at all so kept adding more pepper and red pepper flakes. It was really good though - had it for lunch for several day after.

>163 SassyLassy: - (I actually made it before watching the Super Bowl...I don't usually watch football but of course everyone here was excited about the Seahawks. After the game, I was thinking that I should have just read a book instead.)

>167 kidzdoc: - Sad to hear about Brink and Djebar. I hadn't read anything by either of them, but I had a couple of Djebar's books on the library list (So Vast the Prison and Children of the New World).

I want to thank you Darryl for the recipes. I made the Zuppa Toscana and it is very good. I didn't use very much kale so mine looks a little different than yours. I've made the jambalaya with chicken and sausage several times. The last time I used a can of chopped tomatoes instead of the sauce or soup - it worked well - I think I do it that way from now on.

>167 kidzdoc: Darryl thanks for telling us about the late André Brink & Assia Djebar. I'm going to look at more of their works later, but for now I'm definitely wishlisting A Dry White Season which looks like a great novel.

...and of course I enjoyed catching up with your thread!

#176
Lidia Bastinaich says that it is just fine to use canned tomatoes when you don't have good fresh tomatoes. She says that often canned tomatoes have more flavor than do those cardboard out of season tomatoes sold in most supermarkets. I think she is probably right, so don't feel guilty for using canned tomatoes instead of the real thing.

I haven't made this yet, but a friend brought it to a party and I really enjoyed it and asked her for the recipe.

It's from this blog -

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2014/05/carrot-salad-with-tahini-and-crisped-chic...

Carrot Salad with Tahini, Crisped Chickpeas and Salted Pistachios

Chickpeas
1 3/4 cups cooked chickpeas, or 1 15-ounce can, drained and patted dry on paper towels
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Salad
1 pound carrots, peeled and coarsely grated
1/4 cup coarsely chopped parsley
1/4 cup shelled, salted pistachios, coarsely chopped

Dressing
1 medium garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons well-stirred tahini
2 tablespoons water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and red pepper flakes to taste

Roast chickpeas: Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Toss chickpeas with one tablespoon olive oil, salt and cumin until they’re all coated. Spread them on a baking sheet or pan and roast them in the oven until they’re browned and crisp. This can take anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the size and firmness of your chickpeas. Toss them occasionally to make sure they’re toasting evenly. Set aside until needed.

Make dressing: Whisk all ingredients together until smooth, adding more water if needed to thin the dressing slightly. Taste and adjust seasoning; don’t worry if it tastes a little sharp on the lemon, it will marry perfectly with the sweet grated carrots.

Assemble salad: Place grated carrots in large bowl and toss with parsley. Mix in 2/3 of the dressing, adding more if desired. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Sprinkle with a large handful of chickpeas (you’ll have extra and if you’re like us, won’t regret it) and pistachios and dig in.

Do ahead: Salad keeps well in the fridge for two days, however, I’d add the chickpeas and pistachios right before serving, so they don’t get soft.

>154 kidzdoc: I made this last weekend and it is quite yummy! I am not good with spicy, so I only used 1 tsp. of green curry paste, which was too mild. I'll try more next time.

Sorry that I've been absent for the past two weeks. I finished a very intense stretch of five consecutive 60-70+ hour weeks on Friday, and I haven't finished a book since the beginning of the month. I was too tired to read anything substantial, but I did manage to make several new recipes, which I'll post here.

>175 DieFledermaus: I'm glad that you liked the African sweet potato soup, DieF. I'll make it for my parents the next time I visit them, but I'll probably omit the red pepper flakes and possibly leave out the jalapeño pepper (I'll add it to my bowl, though).

It seems to me that it's harder to add spices after a meal is cooked to make it taste sufficiently spicy, rather than include enough spices as it's cooking. I'll occasionally add red pepper flakes and/or Tabasco sauce to foods that I haven't prepared, but I'd much rather have a dish like that soup that is already nicely spiced.

It's a shame that neither Brink nor Djebar will win the Nobel Prize in Literature, now that they have died.

>176 catarina1: I'm glad that you liked the recipes, catarina! I'll add five more very shortly; I made four new dishes last weekend, and a Caribbean style carrot ginger soup yesterday, and I liked each of them. I'm off from work Monday through Wednesday and on Friday, so I should finally have some book reviews to post as well.

I had a bowl of the Zuppa Toscana for supper yesterday, and it still tastes great. I made another batch of chicken and Andouille sausage Creole jambalaya for my group's Mardi Gras party on Tuesday; that's the third time I've made it this year, so I probably won't make it again until I visit my parents. That's an interesting idea to substitute chopped tomatoes for tomato sauce (which is what I've used) or tomato soup. Did you chop up the tomatoes any, or just pour it into the baking dish from the can?

>177 Polaris-:, >178 Polaris-: Hi, Paul! I'm glad that you've enjoyed this thread, although it's been almost entirely a culinary one so far. Now that my crazy hyper schedule from November through February is nearly over I should have much more free time to read for pleasure, but I'll still post recipes on a regular basis.

>179 benitastrnad: That makes sense, Benita. There is a world of difference between hothouse tomatoes and ones picked fresh from the garden or from a farmer's market. My parents grow tomatoes in their garden every year, so I've gotten very spoiled by them and I dislike out of season tomatoes.

>180 DieFledermaus: Ooh, that carrot salad looks yummy! Thanks, DieF; I think I'll give that a try either tomorrow or Monday.

>181 ELiz_M: I'm glad that you liked the African sweet potato soup, Liz! I'll probably make it again in the next week or two.

More recipes! (Sorry for this very unorthodox thread, y'all.)

I tried four new recipes last weekend, and I loved each of them. The first one is Winter Potato, White Bean, and Kale Soup, courtesy of the website One Green Planet:



Ingredients:

1 sweet potato, diced
a couple purple/blue potatoes, diced (enough to have equal amount potatoes)
1 tablespoon sesame or olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (15 oz) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
small handful sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
4 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoon nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons Herbes de Provence or thyme
3 or 4 handfuls kale, chopped
sea salt & fresh cracked pepper to taste

Instructions:

In large pot or dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat, add potatoes and cook for about 5 minutes. Add onion and garlic and cook an addition 5 to 10 minutes, or until everything starts browning a bit.

Add broth, nutritional yeast, beans and sun-dried tomatoes, bring to a boil, cover, turn down heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes…just until potatoes are tender.

Remove from heat, add kale and let wilt. Serve with crusty bread and top with cracked pepper and almond parmesan.
__________________________________________

This is very tasty! I couldn't find nutritional yeast at Publix, and I had no idea what it was, so I used Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast instead. Fortunately it didn't make the soup bitter, although now that I know where to buy nutritional yeast (at Whole Foods Market) I'll use it the next time I make this soup.

Heather, my group's former administrative assistant, who provided me with her excellent white chicken chili recipe and her amazing chicken and Andouille sausage jambalaya recipe, gave me a recipe for crawfish étouffée last week, as I told her that I was sorely in need of a fix for it. I did find peeled and deveined crawfish at Publix last weekend, but it didn't stock cream of shrimp soup. Publix did have some beautiful looking shrimp on sale, so I bought a pound of it and used cream of mushroom soup in place of cream of shrimp to make shrimp étouffée instead:



Here is Heather's original recipe that she sent me:

Crawfish étouffée (makes 6 to 8 servings)

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons butter
2 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
3 rib celery, chopped
1 pound peeled crawfish tails
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of shrimp
1/2 cup water
½ to 3/4 cup dry white wine
Salt, cayenne and hot sauce to taste
Minced green onions for garnish
Add Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning to taste

Instructions:

In a heavy pot, melt the butter and sauté the onions, garlic, bell peppers, and celery until wilted.

Add the crawfish tails and cook for 10 minutes.

Add the soup, water, and wine and stir. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the seasonings and simmer another 10 minutes, add the green onions and serve over steamed rice.

Note: If you have extra serve it over baked fish.

I like this recipe after one day. Cook it and refrigerate for one day.
____________________________________________

I liked this recipe a lot, but it's different than the étouffée that I'm used to, as it employs a blonde roux instead of a brown one. I'll make crawfish étouffée this coming week.

Last Sunday morning I tried the recipe for Southwest Breakfast Scramble from Budget Bytes, as I had half a dozen eggs and two Andouille sausage links left in my refrigerator:



Ingredients:

6 large eggs $1.35
2 Tbsp butter $0.15
1 (15 oz.) can black beans $1.19
2-3 cups tortilla strips $0.63
1 cup salsa $0.99
1 cup shredded cheese $1.20
handful fresh cilantro $0.17
to taste salt & pepper $0.05

Instructions:

Drain the black beans and rinse them briefly with water. Let them drain while you prepare the rest. Crack six eggs into a large bowl and lightly whisk them. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat.

Once the butter is melted, pour the eggs into the skillet. Let them cook slowly over medium-low heat. As the bottom layer begins to set, use a spatula to drag the outside edges in towards the center, allowing the uncooked egg to run back into the empty space. Continue to gently move the eggs around in the skillet in this manner until they are about 75% set. The eggs will continue to cook as you add other ingredients, so you do not want to over cook them at this step. Season the eggs with salt and pepper if desired.

Add the drained beans and 2-3 cups of tortilla strips to the skillet. Gently fold them into the eggs, breaking the tortilla strips into smaller pieces as you go. Spoon one cup of salsa over top of the egg mixture and then sprinkle one cup of shredded cheese over top.

Place a lid on the skillet and turn the heat up to medium. Allow the skillet to heat for five minutes, or until mostly heated through. While the skillet is heating, pull the cilantro leaves from the stems and give them a rough chop. Remove the lid and gently fold the ingredients in the skillet, so that the cheese gets a little mixed in and melts slightly. Sprinkle the cilantro over top and serve hot.
____________________________________________

Mmm!!! Beth used Mission Tortilla Strips, which Publix stocks on its shelves. This recipe makes four full sized portions, and I had it for breakfast several days this week.

My last new recipe from last weekend was Red Cabbage and Sausage Soup. I found it online after I searched for recipes that used red cabbage and sausage, as I wanted to use up the ingredients I had left over from my previous cooking experiments from the past two weeks.



Ingredients:

1 cup black eyed peas, dry (or 2 cups cooked)
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 leeks, chopped
2 tablespoons corn starch
6 cups vegetable stock
1 lb red potatoes, washed and cut into ½ inch pieces
½ lb pork sausages, cooked and then sliced into ½ inch pieces
½ lb red cabbage, shredded
½ cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
smoked paprika as garnish

Instructions:

Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven. Add garlic and leeks and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring often.

In a small bowl, combine corn starch and ¼ cup stock. Whisk until corn starch dissolves. Pour corn starch mixture into dutch oven and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add remaining broth, potatoes, and sausage. Season with salt and pepper, bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add red cabbage and black eyed peas to pot and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Lastly stir in cream and cook for 4-5 minutes more. Remove from heat, ladle into bowls, and top with smoked paprika.
______________________________________________________________

This was another hit. I used black beans instead of black-eyed peas, and half and half to replace heavy cream, so my version is much darker than the one in the original recipe. I also used green onions in place of leeks. This made a huge pot of soup, and I'll add this to my list of favorite recipes, along with the other ones.

Finally, I made a batch of Caribbean style carrot ginger soup for lunch yesterday:



Here's the recipe, from the website GoNOLA.com:

Carrot Ginger Soup

Ingredients:

2 pounds carrots
1 thumb-size piece of ginger root
About 7 oz. of coconut milk
2 -2.5 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
Lemon zest to taste
Salt to taste
Black sesame seeds or freshly cracked pepper for garnish

Recipe:

In a saucepan, boil the carrots and ginger in water for about 20 minutes. Drain, reserving the water, then puree the carrots and ginger. Combine with the reserved cooking water and coconut milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add the shrimp and fennel. Cook for about 6 minutes, or until the shrimp are cooked through. Turn off the heat, and add the lemon zest and salt. To serve, garnish with sesame seeds or black pepper.
________________________________________

This turned out very well, and the addition of the shrimp made for a very filling one course meal. I couldn't find the zester that I bought recently, so I added lemon juice to the mix. This soup was a perfect choice for a cold and damp day, and I'll add this recipe to my list of favorites.

>188 kidzdoc: This looks quite interesting - I have a carrot-ginger soup recipe that I want to like, but don't. Now I see it is missing coconut milk! The instructions mention adding fennel, but it is not listed in the ingredients. Is it ground fennel spice? Or a bulb of fennel chopped?

>189 ELiz_M: Liz, the recipe on the GoNOLA.com web site didn't include fennel in the list of ingredients, so I used fennel seeds. That web page does mention that the recipe comes from John Boutté, a local musician and actor, and I was able to find a web site from WWOZ that has the recipe, which calls for 2 teaspoons of fresh fennel fronds (can you say that three times fast?).

http://www.wwoz.org/new-orleans-community/food/recipes/carrot-ginger-coconut-shr...

>172 kidzdoc: My husband made the Zuppa Toscana the night before last. It was great! On the site, they mentioned that it was originally made with bacon and sausage, so he did that (we had some to use up. He used the half-pound of sausage called for and added just two slices of bacon). Instead of 2 cups of half-and-half, he used one of half-and-half and one of skim milk. Also, instead of 3 cups chicken broth and one of water, he used 4 cups of Trader Joe's Veggie broth (we use this almost everywhere now). That last substitution changes the color of the soup since the broth is kind of orange-y, but it is delicious.

This is definitely a keeper of a recipe.

>191 ursula: I'm glad that you liked the Zuppa Toscana, Ursula. I've found three or four excellent new recipes from Beth on the Budget Bytes web site (http://www.budgetbytes.com) over the past couple of months. I've registered for her e-mail messages, and I'll continue to try the ones that appeal to me the most.

The author and civil rights activist Anne Moody died on February 5th at the age of 74, which was reported in today's edition of The New York Times. She was born in poverty in rural Mississippi in 1940, and cleaned the houses of white families in order to support her family. She attended Tougaloo College, a history black college just outside of Jackson, Mississippi in the early 1960s, and while there she became active in the civil rights movement, which included the famous attempt to desegregate a Woolworth's department store alongside John Salter, a Tougaloo College professor, and Joan Trumpauer, one of the first white students to attend Tougaloo. All three can be seen in the photo below:



Moody was best known for her 1968 memoir Coming of Age in Mississippi, which described her early years growing up in the Jim Crow Deep South and her involvement in the civil rights movement.

>188 kidzdoc: mmm! Marked the carrot-ginger soup a favorite to come back to.

May as well work during this cold! Hope your schedule eases as the nice weather comes in.

>194 detailmuse: Thanks, MJ. I normally work 80% of a full time schedule, but for the last two fall and winter seasons I've worked at or above a 100% schedule from November through February, as those are the months that we're at our busiest and need extra hospitalists to cover the inpatient service. In return I'll receive a month off from work, vacation free, but still get paid my usual salary. The Nov '13 to Feb '14 stretch wasn't too bad, as we were far less busy than usual, but we've been exceptionally busy since late November, which is why I haven't read much and have been less active on LT than usual. For the past five weeks I worked at a 125% pace, which was particularly tough, and I haven't read anything since the beginning of the month as a result.

I'll finish The Work: My Search for a Life That Matters by Wes Moore, my LT Early Reviewers book for December, this evening, and hopefully I'll read at least another three or four books before this month ends.

Book #8: The Work: My Search for a Life That Matters by Wes Moore



My rating:

I finished this book last night, which was my LT Early Reviewers book for December. The author's previous book, The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates, described his experiences growing up in a single family in a troubled Baltimore neighborhood, and compared his life to another African American young man with the same name who lived nearby. The author found success, whereas his subject was incarcerated for murder.

In his new book, Moore looks back on his impressive life as a Rhodes scholar, an investment banker in London and New York, a U.S. Army officer with the 82nd Airborne fighting in Afghanistan, and a White House fellow. Despite his enviable career, he struggles to find meaning in his work, and he looks to the experiences of past mentors and current friends and colleagues on his journey toward personal fulfillment, as he shares the lessons he has learned along the way.

Despite my somewhat similar but far less interesting path to find this book didn't resonate within me, similar to the self-help books that I read before I chose to pursue a career in medicine. I suspect that other readers will find The Work much more rewarding than I did, though, and the author's own story is an interesting and inspirational one, so I would recommend this well written book to readers at a personal crossroad, or young people who are at the start of their careers or in the process of discovering what they want to accomplish in life.

Yesterday I made Emeril's Slow Cooked Chili, a recipe by noted New Orleans chef Emeril Lagasse, which I found on the GoNOLA.com web site.





The first photo shows how the chili looks fresh from the slow cooker, and the second includes chopped green onions, shredded Cheddar cheese and sour cream, per the recipe. I also added tortilla strips to the chili. It's rich, with a dark brown color that doesn't show up in these photos, complex, tangy and very tasty, and this recipe easily makes eight servings.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup chili powder
2 tablespoons whole cumin seeds
1 teaspoon cayenne
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons dried Mexican or regular oregano, crumbled between your fingers
3 bay leaves
2 teaspoons light or dark brown sugar
4 pounds boneless beef chuck, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2- to 2-inch cubes
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 medium onions, coarsely chopped (about 4 cups)
1 1/2 cups chopped celery, including leaves
6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 jalapeño chiles, roughly chopped
One 12-ounce bottle dark Mexican beer, such as Negra Modelo
2 tablespoons tomato paste
One 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 ounce semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons masa harina (corn flour, not cornstarch)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
Grated cheddar cheese, for garnish
Chopped green onion, for garnish
Sour cream, for garnish

Recipe:

Combine the chili powder, cumin seeds, cayenne, cinnamon, oregano, bay leaves and brown sugar in a small bowl; set the spice mixture aside.

Add the beef to a medium bowl and season with the pepper and 1 tablespoon of the kosher salt. Heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a 12-inch or larger skillet over high heat. Add enough beef to fill the pan and cook until nicely browned on one side, about 2 minutes. Turn the pieces over and cook for another 2 minutes. Transfer the browned beef to the crock of a 6-quart slow cooker. Repeat with the remaining beef, adding the remaining vegetable oil between batches as necessary.

Add the onions, celery, and 1 tablespoon of the remaining salt to the skillet and cook, stirring, until the vegetables begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic, jalapeños and spice mixture and cook for 1 minute longer. Pour in the beer, tomato paste and crushed tomatoes and simmer for 3 minutes. Stir in the chocolate, masa harina and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and cook for 1 minute longer. Transfer this mixture to the slow cooker.

Cover and cook the chili on high, undisturbed or stirring only once during cooking, for 6 hours, or until the beef is very tender. Remove the bay leaves and stir in the cilantro and parsley. Serve the chili hot in bowls, topped with grated cheddar, chopped green onion and sour cream.
__________________________________

This is an authentic chili, as it doesn't contain any beans, and it isn't as hot as it would seem to be. Highly recommended!

I've just finished making Risotto with Roasted Parsnips and Kale, using a recipe that I found on The New York Times' web site. I thought I would like it, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well this turned out:



Ingredients:

½ pound parsnips, not too large
Salt and black pepper
Olive oil
½ pound kale, broccoli rabe or mustard greens
1 large onion, finely diced
1 ½ cups arborio rice
¼ cup dry white wine or vermouth
4 cups unsalted chicken or vegetable broth, or more if necessary
2 tablespoons butter
3 garlic cloves, minced
8 sage leaves, roughly chopped
Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese, for grating

Preparation:

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Peel the parsnips, quarter them lengthwise, and remove the tough core with a paring knife. Cut into 1/2-inch random shapes, put in a roasting pan, season with salt and coat with 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Roast until tender and lightly browned, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven.

Remove the stems from the greens and cut them into 1/2-inch-wide ribbons. Bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat, add salt and cook very briefly. Drain, cool and squeeze dry. Set aside.

Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to a heavy bottomed soup pot or large saucepan over medium-high heat, then add the onion, season with salt and pepper, and cook till softened, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and stir together with the onions until the onions are barely brown, about 2 minutes. Add the white wine or vermouth and cook until it evaporates. Add 2 cups broth and adjust the heat to a brisk simmer. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring well with a wooden spoon every minute or so. When the broth is absorbed, add 1 cup more and continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Stir in the last cup of broth and cook for another 5 minutes, until the rice is cooked, but the grains are still firm. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding another splash of broth if necessary. Turn off the heat.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and the butter in a wide, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and sage and let sizzle without browning, about 1 minute. Add the roasted parsnips and chopped greens, season lightly with salt and pepper, and stir to coat and heat through, about 2 minutes more.

Transfer the risotto to a warm serving dish. Spoon the vegetables over and fold them gently into the rice. Serve with grated pecorino or Parmesan cheese.
_________________________________________________________

This is the first time I've made risotto, and the first time I've cooked parsnips; it may also be the first time I've had parsnips! I ended up using the entire one pound bag of parsnips that I bought on Monday, and I probably cut them up too finely. I'd probably roast them for a little longer than 15 minutes as well. However, I'm thoroughly pleased with this recipe, and I'll definitely make this again.

Nice idea using roast parsnips in a risotto. I might be tempted to put the roast parsnips in with the rice fry them together for a minute and then add the broth. I will try this out next week if I can find any parsnips in the market.

>199 baswood: That sounds good, Barry. Please let me know how it turns out.

I just finished making crawfish étouffée, using a recipe that my group's former administrative assistant gave me. As I mentioned previously, Heather is from New Orleans, and she gave me recipes for chicken and Andouille sausage and white chicken chili that I posted earlier in this thread.



This turned out very well, although it makes a blonde roux instead of the brown one that I'm used to having in New Orleans; Heather confirmed that it's supposed to be that way. Here's her recipe:

Crawfish étouffée (makes 6 to 8 servings)

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons butter
2 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
3 rib celery, chopped
1 pound peeled crawfish tails
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of shrimp
1/2 cup water
½ to 3/4 cup dry white wine
Salt, cayenne and hot sauce to taste
Minced green onions for garnish
Add Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning to taste

Instructions:

In a heavy pot, melt the butter and sauté the onions, garlic, bell peppers, and celery until wilted.

Add the crawfish tails and cook for 10 minutes.

Add the soup, water, and wine and stir. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the seasonings and simmer another 10 minutes, add the green onions and serve over steamed rice.

Note: If you have extra serve it over baked fish.

I like this recipe after one day. Cook it and refrigerate for one day.
____________________________________________

I used Uncle Ben's Original parboiled rice, which is the standard one used in Louisiana cooking.

I made molasses cookies yesterday and will be baking bread today. The bread will be a pizza roll recipe I have made before and this time I will include cheddar cheese, green onions, and some diced ham instead of pepperoni and parmesan cheese.

>201 benitastrnad: Yum! I love molasses, so I'm sure that I'd like your cookies, and I'm terminally addicted to freshly made bread. One thing I can't find and miss terribly is pepperoni bread, sausage bread, and pizza bread, which I can get at Italian bakeries in Jersey City, my birthplace, or Pittsburgh, where I went to medical school.

I am seriously jonesing for some slow cooker chili & the ginger carrot soup looks good to! Luckily my weekend off is coming up, so I have some recipes to play with.

Perhaps you'll become a bread baker so you can make your own pizza & pepperoni bread?

Good ethnic food is something that is seriously missing from the South. Except for Soulfood.

This last week Tuscaloosa hosted a delegation from Japan and for Southern food they served Dreamland Barbecue. I might have done that if the event happened in Memphis or Kansas City, but even then too many places can lay claim to great barbecue for it to belong to any one place.

Now that my hyper-schedule at work has ended I should be a more reliable presence here, and my reading output should pick up. I'm currently reading Grady Baby: A Year in the Life of Atlanta's Grady Hospital by Jerry Gentry. Grady Memorial Hospital is the public hospital for the city of Atlanta, and the two counties that comprise it, Fulton County and DeKalb County (oddly enough, although the city is mainly in Fulton County, a portion of it, which includes the campus of Emory University, lies in DeKalb County just to the east of Fulton County). Grady (which we called "The Big House") is one of the largest hospitals in the country, with 16 stories and just under 1000 beds, and it serves as a primary teaching hospital for medical students and residents of the city's two medical schools, Emory and Morehouse. I spent several months at Grady in the Term Nursery, Intermediate Nursery and Neonatal ICU (NICU) during my pediatric residency, and many more months at Hughes Spalding Children's Hospital, across the street from Grady, which was originally the children's hospital for Grady but recently was taken over by Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, the organization that I work for. I've owned this book for at least 10 years but never read it, so I'm looking forward to finally getting to it. Hopefully I'll finish it today.

>203 markon: I haven't tried the slow cooked chili since I made it last week, but I'll probably have some for lunch today (I'm on day two of a four day weekend after I worked from Thursday through Wednesday). I mainly had the risotto, the carrot ginger soup and the crawfish étouffée this week. I'll go to Publix shortly (assuming that the roads aren't icy), buy groceries and make Moroccan lentil and vegetable stew, African sweet potato soup, and Irish lamb stew today. I'll try a couple of new recipes this weekend.

I do want to try my hand at baking. I'll start out with something simple, such as the popovers that Madeline (@SqueakyChu) posted in The Kitchen in the 75 Books group, and a no-knead bread recipe I saw last month.

>204 benitastrnad: I would generally agree with you about the lack of ethnic food in the Deep South, Benita. Have you eaten in any restaurants along Buford Highway on your trips to Atlanta? It runs from the Lindbergh area of the city, near the beginning of Georgia 400, and extends north and east to Buford in Gwinnett County. There are dozens and probably hundreds of authentic ethnic restaurants there, as both DeKalb County and Gwinnett County east of Atlanta have sizable international communities there. The city of Atlanta itself is relatively bereft of these restaurants, though.

I've heard of Dreamland BBQ, and I've heard that there is at least one branch that opened in suburban Atlanta recently (checking...there are two locations, one in Roswell in North Fulton County, and one in Duluth in Gwinnett County). I'm not a massive fan of BBQ in general, but I do like BBQ ribs. Is Dreamland worth a drive to the suburbs?

In my opinion Dreamland BBQ is not that good, but then I like Kansas City style BBQ. Dreamland is so famous because it was Paul Bear Bryant's favorite place to eat. However, the family that owned it back in the 1960's does not own it now. The present owners started the present Dreamland in about 1990 and claim to have the recipe from the original owner. Nobody is certain if that is true or not. In my opinion, when you start a franchise it is very hard to control the quality and the question becomes is it the same or not.

Right now in Tuscaloosa the favorite BBQ place is Archibald's. It is only known by locals and is in hard to find. My favorite is Pottery BBQ and it isn't a franchise either.

>206 benitastrnad: Thanks, Benita. I'll pass on taking a trip to the suburbs to try Dreamland BBQ then.