Weekend Cooking- The Epicurean Hotel in Tampa Florida

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

A few weeks ago my husband and I were in Tampa, Florida and we stayed at a new boutique hotel run by Marriott called The Epicurean.

From the moment you walk into the bright lobby, you can tell that this is a place that loves their wine. The logos of wines, like you'd find on wine corks, decorate the entire wall and ceiling of the lobby.

They also have bicycles that you can borrow to ride, much like you'd find at a Napa Valley B&B.

My favorite book and movie is Gone With The Wind, and they have a cute lobby display, Gone With The Wine, made of wine scented candles.

In the corner, you can buy soaps and wine accessories found in the hotel rooms and spa.

Off of the lobby is a wonderfully appointed wine shop, where they host frequent wine tastings. (They were preparing one as we arrived.)

The rooms are all about the wine too. They have a lovely display of split bottles of wine for purchase, along with jars of olives, in addition to your standard coffee maker.

When you come off the elevator, you see this rustic cart. (That's a telephone on top of the cart for you youngsters.)

As we were leaving the next morning, the manager offered us a cold beverage that was out of this world good. It was citrus sparkling water that the chef prepared for the guests. 

The Epicurean has a little chocolate shop and a spa, as well as a lovely bar and restaurant. We wish we could have stayed there more than one night, and if we ever find ourselves back in Tampa, The Epicurean will be our home base.

BEA 15- Harper Bloggers Fall Preview

One of my favorite events every year at the Book Expo of America, the annual publishing conference held at the Javits Center, is HarperCollins Blogger Fall Preview. Publicists and marketing directors from the many HarperCollins imprints share the upcoming books that they are most excited about, and I enjoy this event because we get to talk to the Harper folks outside of the BEA craziness and we get to see our blogger friends whom we usually only see once a year.

 Harper started off the presentation, and they had lots of books that I can't wait to read. The big one, of course, is Harper Lee's Go Set A Watchman, her sequel to To Kill A Mockingbird, which Lee actually wrote before Mockingbird. I don't know of one person who cannot wait to read this one.

Author Meg Waite Clayton is going in a new direction with her next book, The Race for Paris, the story of two women, one a reporter and the other a photographer, who are trying to make it to Paris to cover the end of WWII. This one is aimed at fans of books like Paula McClain's The Paris Wife. 

Mary Karr's last memoir Lit, is one of my all-time favorite books, and her newest is The Art of Memoir. She shares insights into the struggles and triumphs in the craft of writing, and finding yourself and your voice in the process.

I always look forward to Adriana Trigiani's books, and her new one is All The Stars in The Heavens, which goes back to the Golden Age of Hollywood, basing her her book on a true story. If you love old movies, this is for you.

Harper Perennial shared some books that intrigued me as well. Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor have the #1 podcast on Itunes called Welcome to Night Vale, which has been described as "Lake Wobegon meets Stephen King", and is a hit with 20-somethings. They had a huge signing line at BEA, and this book is sure to be big.

 Rachel B. Glaser's debut novel, Paulina and Fran, is about two art school students. This is a sexy, funny, fast read with YA crossover appeal, and the cover art is very eye-catching and 1970s retro.

Melissa DeCarlo's debut novel, The Art of Crash Landing is one for fans of Lianne Moriarty and Jojo Moyes. It was described as "smart, sweet, hilarious and difficult not to fall in love with."

Harper 360 showed a video made by spoken word poet Steven Camden (whose stage name is Polar Bear) talking about his novel It's About Love. Luke is young man living in the shadow of his brother who goes away to school to follow his passion and find a fresh start. He meets a young woman named Leia and it's all about love. This video really intrigued me and made me want to read this book.

Goddess is Kelly Gardiner's novel based on real 17th century woman, Julie d'Aubigny, who is described as "a cross between Kate Middleton and Lady Gaga". This one is for fans of Sarah Waters and Hilary Mantel, and again, the cover art is mesmerizing.

Morrow Paperbacks had lots of great stuff, especially for book clubs. Kim van Alkemade's debut novel Orphan #8 tells the story of a young orphan girl in 1919 New York City who is sent to a home for orphans where a doctor performs medical experiments on her that disfigure her. Years later she grows up, becomes a nurse and ends up working at the same place the doctor is now practicing. Does she forgive or seek vengeance? This one is tops on my TBR list.

The Sparrow Sisters by former publicist Ellen Herrick is mystical love story along the lines of Practical Magic and Saving Cee Cee Hunnicutt, and lots of us were interested in this one.

Lisa Ballantyne's Everything She Forgot is suspense mystery about a woman who gets into a car accident and is rescued by a stranger who then disappears. In the aftermath, childhood memories come to her and a family mystery is revealed.

From William Morrow, Stephen P. Kiernan's The Hummingbird tells the story of a hospice nurse dealing with two men- her husband, a veteran who has PTSD and a patient of hers, an elderly old curmudgeonly professor. It's a lovely story about relationships, marriage, friendship and human dignity.

Ben McPherson's A Line of Blood is a thriller about a family- father, mother and son- who find their neighbor's dead body and when the police suspect them, the family crumbles. This is more of a domestic drama than psychological thriller.

Homer Hickam, who wrote a memoir October Sky, wrote a Depression-era novel titled Carrying Albert Home, about a couple who drive 1000 miles with their alligator in their car. Along the way they encounter John Steinbeck and bank robbers, among others. It's called a 'cross between Big Fish and The Notebook', and that sounds irresistible to me.

I've got a lot of reading ahead of me, I hope you've found something here that interests you as well.

New in Paperback- The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

One of my favorite books from 2014 is now in paperback:

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
Published by Ecco ISBN 9780062306845
Trade paperback, $16.99, 416 pages

A great historical novel can transport you to a completely different time and place, a place you are unfamiliar with. Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist does just that. Set in 1686 Amsterdam, we meet young Petronella Oortman, who has just arrived at the home of her new husband, wealthy, influential merchant Johannes Brandt.

Brandt is not there to greet his bride, but his sister, cold and imperious Marin is, along with the young maid/cook Cornelia, and Otto, the dark-skinned manservant to Johannes. Petronella is unhappy to find that her husband is gone and his return is unknown.

When Johannes does show up, he shows no interest in his new bride. Nella is confused, but to appease his young wife, he gifts her with an exact replica miniature of her new home. He tells Petronella that she may order furnishings from the miniaturist to fill her new replica home.

Johannes and Marin argue about Johannes' business. He has agreed to sell a large quantity of sugar for Frans and Agnes Meerman, a married couple with whom Marin and Johannes have a complicated relationship. The book is told through Nella's eyes, so we find out the history of this relationship as she does.

When a package arrives from the miniaturist, it contains the items Nella ordered, along with a note that reads EVERY WOMAN IS THE ARCHITECT OF HER OWN FORTUNE. Nella is puzzled by this, and by the fact that there are more items than she ordered in the package. Exact replicas of two chairs, with the same carvings on them as the ones in the salon, along with a cradle, and replicas of Johannes two beloved dogs are also inside.

Nella is shocked by how the miniaturist would know what the chair and dogs look like, having never been to her home, and what the cradle means. She sets out to find the miniaturist for an explanation, but is unsuccessful. And then more packages with cryptic notes continue to arrive.

A scandal befalls Johannes and he is imprisoned. When Otto disappears after an altercation with a man who works for Johannes, that leaves only the women to carry on. Marin and Nella must pull together and find a way to sell the Meerman's sugar to get money to save Johannes.

I loved watching Nella grow in strength. She began the story a young, naive woman, who knew little of the ways of life in Amsterdam, yet like the famous Eleanor Roosevelt saying- "Women are like teabags- you never know their strength until they are in hot water"- she rises to the occasion when it becomes necessary.

We learn so much about the trading business, life in Amsterdam, the food they ate, how the people lived, their prejudices and laws, I found it so fascinating, even though I would have said before I read this book that I wasn't particularly interested in this time period.

The Miniaturist is a book that kept me reading on the treadmill just a little bit longer each time I read it, unwilling to put it down. There are strong female characters, a bit of the supernatural in regards to how the miniaturist knew what she did about the family, and a suspenseful plot that propelled the reader to continue on.

Burton shares her research at the end of the book, which was extensive, and she includes a photo of the actual miniature house that belonged to the real Petronella Oortman that resides in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. You can bet I will be looking for information on the real Petronella Oortman.

The Miniaturist will definitely be on my list of Most Compelling Reads of 2014- it's brilliant and breathtaking, and the fact that Jessie Burton is a debut author is astonishing.

rating 5 of 5
Jesse Burton's website is here.

Books I'm Excited About From BEA 15

Every year I spend many hours pouring over the lists of book giveaways and author signings that I want to see at the Book Expo of America. I make my own list, and hope that I can find others to add to it while I'm there.

Here are six books that I picked up that I cannot wait to read.

Stephanie Clifford writes for the New York Times, and her first novel is Everybody Rise. This book was being talked about before the BEA, and as it is a story about a young woman from Maryland who ends up living on the Upper East Side in Manhattan (where I now live), it has definite appeal to me. And the fact that every time I see the title I can hear Elaine Stritch belting out those words from the Broadway show Company's song "The Ladies Who Lunch"  only adds to the joy.

Ruth Ware is a British writer who set her mystery In a Dark, Dark Wood at a 'hen party', the British term for bridal shower. Things go horribly awry and I'm sure I will tear through this one quickly.

I probably won't be able to tear through Garth Risk Hallberg's 900 page novel City on Fire, about New York City in the 1970's, but I will savor it as I read it. This is the one novel that literally everyone was talking about, and this is one to save for vacation.

I was an early admirer of Anthony Marra's last book A Constellation of Vital Phenomena a few years ago, and so I was thrilled to hear he had a linked short story collection, The Tsar of Love and Techno. Getting to meet him and get a signed book and gush to him about much I loved his first book was a bonus.

I don't normally read YA, but Gwenda Bond's novel Lois Lane- Fallout, " a contemporary reimagining" of Lois Lane's story had my attention, as well as the attention of the many adult women waiting in a long line to get a signed copy. I love Girl Power.

Julie Checkoway's book The Three-Year Swim Club- The Untold Story of Maui's Ditch Kids and Their Quest for Olympic Glory was not on my radar, but after hearing Ms. Checkoway speak at a panel, I wanted to read this one.

If you went to BEA, what were your favorite gets?

On Broadway- On the Town

I've never seen the stage version of On The Town, but I'd heard such great things about the Broadway revival that when I had the opportunity, I took it.

The first thing that hits you is the high energy of this show. The three sailors sing the memorable "New York, New York" with such enthusiasm and joy and their dancing really impresses.

Tony Yazbeck isnominated for a Tony award for his performance as Gabey, the sailor who falls in love with a poster of Miss Turnstiles and decides he will spend his 24 shore leave looking for her. His two pals, Chip and Ozzie, decide to give up their dream of sightseeing and nightclubbing to help their friend find his dreamgirl.

Yazbeck lights up the stage with his presence and when he sings, the audience is in his thrall. His dancing is also amazing and the dance he performs with Megan Fairchild's Ivy is mesmerizing and incredibly sexy. This may be Yazbeck's breakout role, and he deserves all the accolades he receives.

Alysha Umphress is another standout in the cast as taxi driver Hildy. She is hilarious and sexy and man can she belt out a tune. I adored her performance and I wasn't the only one in the audience who did. She got raucous applause every time she sang.

Jackie Hoffman, who is wonderful in everything she does, once again steals every scene she is in in her multiple roles as Little Old Lady, singing teacher Maude P. Dilly and the various night club performers. She always brings her A game to every role she plays.

I have to say that my favorite song of the show was "Some Other Time", sung by members of the cast as the guys head back to the ship and the girls realize that their night of romance is coming to an end. It was bittersweet and the blend of voices was lovely.

Joshua Bergasse is nominated for a Tony for his fabulous choreography, and in a show where everything was pretty much pitch perfect, the dancing was the best element.

If you are in NYC and have the chance, go see On The Town, it will put a smile on your face and have you dancing in your seat. This is a show worth paying full price for.

You can see for yourself here how wonderful the show is in this clip.


The website for On The Town is here.

Weekend Cooking- Cookbooks at BEA

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

This week was the annual Book Expo of America (BEA), a conference that brings together publishers, booksellers, librarians, and bloggers to discuss all things bookish. This was my seventh visit to the show and I saw some wonderful friends and made some new ones.

As usual, my first post about the BEA is a roundup of food books that I link to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. This year, I got some terrific complete cookbooks, two of them giveaways at the Penguin Canada booth.

Foodie books from BEA

When I make my monthly trip to Costco, I always pick up at least one of their $4.99 rotisserie chickens, so I was excited to grab a copy of Eric Akis' The Great Rotisserie Chicken Cookbook.  There's over 100 recipes for storebought and homecooked chicken and I know I will using this one frequently.

Michael Smith's Family Meals is the other book I got at Penguin Canada. I have one other of his cookbooks, and my family loves the Buffalo Chicken Salad recipe that I make from that one, so I'm looking forward to finding some more recipes from him here.

Katie Lee was signing her newest Endless Summer Cookbook at the Abrams booth. My husband and I enjoy her Logan County Hamburger recipes, and this book looks like a perfect one to break out for summer gatherings.

Reader's Digest was once again giving away the latest edition of The Taste of Home Cookbook, a favorite among home cooks because it is filled with the best recipes from people just like us.

For those who love their cocktails, Food & Wine Cocktails 2015 has 150 recipes for classic and new drinks from the best bartenders around the country. Cheers!

I also picked up three foodie books-a memoir titled The Raging Skillet by Rossi, an NYC chef who tells her story of growing up in a Jersey Shore Orthodox Jewish family and her climb to working in some of New York's grittiest kitchens before opening up her own restaurant.

I also got two fiction books about food- Jessica Tom's Food Whore, a novel about a woman who ghostwrites reviews for a New York food critic and J. Ryan Stradal's Kitchens of the Great Midwest, a much buzzed about debut novel that I cannot wait to read.

Over the next few weeks I will be sharing other books I got, authors I met and panel discussions I attended from BEA. Did you find any good cookbooks at BEA this year?

New in Paperback- The Hurricane Sisters by Dorothea Benton Frank

The Hurricane Sisters by Dorothea Benton Frank
Published by William Morrow Paperbacks ISBN 9780062132543
Trade paperback, $14.99, 352 pages

You can always count on Dorothea Benton Frank to deliver a terrific summer read to hunker down with on the beach. New in paperback is The Hurricane Sisters, which once again features a gorgeous cover. (Her 2015 summer book All The Single Ladies publishes on June 9th.)

We meet eighty-year-old Maisie Pringle, celebrating her birthday with her driver-turned-boyfriend Skipper, who is a much younger (65!) man. He and Maisie are very happy together, much to the chagrin of Maisie's daughter Liz, who at first glance is kind of a stick-in-the-mud.

Liz's twenty-something daughter Ashley lives in the family's somewhat rundown beach house on an island off of Charleston, South Carolina. Ashley works in an art gallery for ten dollars an hour and aspires to be an artist and visit Rome, Paris and New York. Her college friend Mary Beth can't find a teaching job, so she works for a caterer and lives with Ashley.

Liz is married to Clayton, who works in finance and spends most of his week in New York City. They also have a son, Clayton, called Ivy because he is Clayton IV in the family. Ivy lives in San Francisco with his business and life partner James, and though his parents had a difficult time with the fact that he is gay (they sent him to a conversion camp when he was a teen), they all seem to have made their way back to each other.

Ashley has a crush on a state senator, Porter, who is a bit John Edwards/John Kennedy-ish. She dreams of being his Jackie Kennedy, and when she meets him at an event and they start dating, it seems that her dreams may come true.

But Porter proves to be very controlling. He tells Ashley how to speak, how to act, and is generally very critical of her. Mary Beth and Maisie warn Ashley about Porter, but Ashley makes excuses for his behavior. When one of Porter's ex-girlfriend's tries to warn Ashley, she chalks it up to jealousy until the situation worsens.

Frank tackles the issue of domestic violence here, in a manner that may surprise people. South Carolina has the highest rate of women murdered by their husband/boyfriend, and Frank shows us how insidious domestic violence can be.

It doesn't just happen to women who are trapped, have children to support and nowhere to turn. It can happen to an intelligent, educated woman from a good family who should know better because her mother works for a domestic violence program. Frank definitely gives the reader something to think deeply about, and even offers the reader a way to help at the end of the book.

Of course, she still has her fabulous sense of Southern humor. I cackle at her one-liners, like this one from Liz, who says "Let me tell you, my friend, the gene pool is a mighty big place and like they say, there's literally no lifeguard."

Frank also again has an interesting take on marriage, and how difficult it can be and how much care you must take to stay connected, like she did in her last book, The Last Original Wife.  And again, I got lots of great restaurant suggestions for my Charleston Pinterest board.

There is so much in this fantastic book, told from the alternating perspectives of Maisie, Liz, Ashley and Clayton, that I would love to read a prequel, telling us more about Maisie, Liz and Liz's sister Juliet who died young. I feel there is an amazing story there as well.

The only problem with my Dorothea Benton Frank novels is that they all have sunscreen on the pages from turning them so quickly.

rating 4 of 5
My review of The Last Original Wife is here.
Dorothea Benton Frank's website is here. 

A Spool Of Blue Thread by Ann Tyler

A Spool Of Blue Thread by Ann Tyler

Published by Knopf ISBN 978110187271

Hardcover, $25.95, 368 pages

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

Ann Tyler’s novels reveal the inner workings of marriages and families. Her 20th novel — and, sadly, her last, she has said — is titled “A Spool of Blue Thread,” and like many of her books, it takes place in Baltimore, this time revolving around the Whitshank family.

The novel opens with a late-night phone call from 19-year-old prodigal son Denny. Father Red answers, and after a brief statement from Denny, the phone call ends. Mother Abby tries to get information from Red about the phone call — where Denny is, what is he doing, did he sound nervous or upset?

Red and Abby have a fight about it, not the first time their wayward son has caused them to argue and worry about him. Abby accuses Red of always finding fault with Denny, while being soft on their two girls, Jeannie and Amanda, and relating better to their son Stem because he and Red are so much alike.

Reading this chapter sets the tone for this insightful family novel. Anyone who is a parent will understand the Red/Abby relationship right away, and compare their own family dynamic to the Whitshanks.

Abby recalls a story about taking Denny to the grocery store when he was 10, and feeling that Denny was embarrassed by his mother. “He acted as if he’d been assigned the wrong mother, and she just didn’t measure up.”

Red owns a home construction business, founded by his father. Stem works with his dad, is married to Nora, a devout woman, and they are parents to three young boys. Jeannie also works in the family business, but feels like she isn’t treated as much as an equal because she is a woman.

Amanda is a lawyer, married to Hugh, also the name of Jeannie’s husband, and they have a teen daughter.

The Whitshanks are a close-knit family, but they have their quirks and disagreements. The girls seem to feel that because Denny disappears and reappears that he has always gotten all of their parents’ attention. Abby and Red spend so much time worrying and arguing about Denny, there is little leftover for them.

As time goes by, it is apparent that Abby is having cognitive issues. She seems to lose time, and doesn’t know where she has been or what she has been doing. Red is having hearing and health problems.

Amanda, Jeannie and Stem get together and it is decided that Stem, Nora and the boys will move in with Red and Abby to help them out. After this happens, Denny shows up unexpectedly and is upset that no one thought to ask him to move back in and help.

The three siblings remind Denny that he has a habit of just showing up and then getting peeved about a perceived slight and disappearing for years again. He is not the most reliable caregiver.

But Denny insist that he is staying, and the house becomes crowded with an additional six people and an extra dog. Abby and Red do their best to adjust, but the living situation is difficult. Daughter-in-law Nora tries to be helpful, doing the cooking, cleaning and running errands, but Abby understandably resents this intrusion into her home.

A tragedy occurs that devastates the family, and they must adjust to new circumstances. Tyler excels at dropping the reader into this family’s life, so that we feel like we are their neighbors, watching our friends next door make their way through life.

The novel then takes a turn as we shift time to learn about Red’s parents. We discover how Junior Whitshank and his wife, Linnie, met and married. That story is a great reminder that our parents were young once, and what we think we know about them is not all there is to the story. They had interesting and surprising lives before we came along.

Junior wanted to be someone important, and he found a way to do that through building up his construction company and finding a way to own the one house he truly loved — a house he designed for a wealthy family. He managed to buy that house and live his dream.

If this is how Ann Tyler ends her writing career, it is a fitting coda. “A Spool of Blue Thread” is a story that could be any of our family’s stories, but in the hand of a master like Ann Tyler, it is emotional and heartbreaking and relatable.

rating 5 of 5

Weekend Cooking- Roast Beef from Costco

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

Every month or so, I make a trip uptown to go to Costco. I always pick up at least one of their rotisserie chicken because at $4.99 a chicken, you can't beat the price, and I can get two to three meals out of one chicken. (Crispy Chicken Wraps are my favorite.)

Last month I found another great item at Costco. In their refrigerated meat department, they have a package of fully cooked sliced beef from Cuisine Solutions. Inside are two pouches of cooked beef, in a delicious au jus. I open one pouch, pop it in the oven and 20 minutes later, I have an entree ready to go.

The beef is partially sliced and the only ingredients are beef chuck tender, kosher salt and black pepper. No caramel coloring, no preservatives, nothing else. It's so easy and the beef is tender and tasty. This time around I paired it with a homemade potato salad, fruit salad and spinach salad, and it made a simple and easy weeknight meal.

I hope Costco keeps this product in rotation. I've often discovered that when I find something I like at Costco, it disappears a few months later. If you shop at Costco, keep your eyes open for this one.

Speaking of grocery stores, the big news this week in NYC is that Wegmans is coming to Brooklyn. Everyone here went crazy with joy, there was singing and dancing in the streets, and although it will be two years before it opens, that gives me time to look for a house in Brooklyn.

The Dismantling- by Brian DeLeeuw

The Dismantling by Brian DeLeeuw
Published by Plume Books, ISBN 978-0-14-218174-4
Trade paperback, $16, 272 pages

Brian DeLeeuw's novel The Dismantling has some topical elements in its plot- injuries suffered by NFL players, the lack of available organs for those needing a transplant- and combines them with a young man trying to come to terms with the loss of his younger sister years ago and a woman with a mysterious past into a fast-paced thriller that also makes you think.

We meet Simon, a twenty-five year-old man who has dropped out of medical school but has yet to tell his father. His friend hooks him up with a under-the-radar company that connects people who need kidney or liver transplants with people who are willing to sell them their body parts.

Simon lost his mother to a horrible death when he was just a young child, and his teenage sister died, the circumstances of which are unraveled during the story. We do know that Simon feels that her death was his fault, but we don't know why for a long time.

Simon is tasked by his boss to find a liver donor for Lenny Pellegrini, a retired NFL player with a drinking problem who suffers from too many hits to the head during his playing days. Lenny's friend Howard, also a former NFL player, is paying for the liver and he and Simon must convince Lenny to do this for his wife and two young children.

Through their website, Simon has found Maria, a single young mother willing to sell a piece of her liver to Lenny. Since it is illegal to sell organs for transplant, the woman is presented as a cousin of Lenny's, and she is flown in and coached as to how the process works.

Maria seems like the perfect candidate, but things start to unravel shortly after the transplant. Maria disappears and Lenny is still in a state of severe depression. Simon's boss threatens him that he better fix this situation before too many questions are asked.

The Dismantling is a fast read, one that you want to finish in one sitting while at the same time taking time to ponder all of the bigger issues here. At its heart, it is Simon's story, about his coming to terms with everything in his life, where he has been and where he is going.

While Simon is in medical school, he has to participate in autopsying a cadaver, and the scenes set there are vivid and not for those with weak stomachs. It is in these sessions that Simon's past comes back to haunt him, and he ends up in the dangerous situation he finds himself in.

Simon is an interesting character, and his relationship with his dad was so real and heartbreaking. The Dismantling combines a thought provoking story with some heart-stopping action scenes and twists and turns, and seems tailor-made for a movie, maybe for a Hemsworth brother. I also enjoyed the New York City setting, especially since Simon and I lived on the same street.

rating 4 of 5

Brian DeLeeuw's website is here.

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on Brian's tour. The rest of the tour stops are here:

Brian DeLeeuw’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, May 4th: Kissin’ Blue Karen

Monday, May 4th: Vic’s Media Room

Tuesday, May 5th: 5 Minutes for Books

Wednesday, May 6th: Reading Reality

Thursday, May 7th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Friday, May 8th: Life is Story

Monday, May 11th: Bookchickdi

Tuesday, May 12th: My Bookish Ways

Wednesday, May 13th: A Reader’s Oasis

Monday, May 18th: Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Wednesday, May 20th: Books a la Mode – author Q&A

Thursday, May 21st: Read. Write. Repeat.

Friday, May 22nd: Kay’s Reading Life

Monday, May 25th: Books on the Table

Tuesday, May 26th: Bell, Book & Candle

Wednesday, May 27th: She Treads Softly

Thursday, May 28th: Drey’s Library

Friday, May 29th: The Discerning Reader

Weekend Cooking- A Great Birthday/Mother's Day Gift

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

My birthday was last month, and I posted about the terrific dinner my husband and I had at Root & Bone that week to celebrate. As my birthday gift from my two adult sons and my son's girlfriend (in addition to the gorgeous flowers they sent), they are giving me a home cooked meal that we will be having tonight. (The timing is perfect- I have to work at the Book Cellar today, and Saturday night's dinner always vexes me.)

Birthday Flowers

They will also be able to combine it with my Mother's Day dinner, making it a double celebration. When we lived upstate, for Mother's Day my husband and sons would grill my favorite sandwich- a BBQ chicken breast with mushrooms and green onions on an onion roll. We miss grilling on the deck, but I am happy that I will get my chicken sandwich today!

In my birthday card, they enclosed a Happy Birthday Dinner Menu, listing all of the courses. We start with homemade mango salsa (I love mango anything) and homemade guacamole (my favorite). The salad course is a Caesar Salad, and then we have the chicken sandwich entree, along with grilled vegetables with olive oil and Parmesan cheese and loaded baked potatoes. We finish with cupcakes from Two Little Red Hens (Red Velvet, please).

Birthday Menu

We'll get to see JD, Ryan and Monica and I won't have to do the dishes or empty the garbage- I can't wait!

The chefs

I want to wish all of the mothers out there a very Happy Mother's Day- I hope your families treat you like a Queen!

On Broadway- Doctor Zhivago

When I was in high school, I worked at a movie theater, and we had a re-release of the 1965 movie, Doctor Zhivago. I was mesmerized by the beautiful movie, and Omar Sharif and Julie Christie were unforgettable as Yuri and Lara, star-crossed lovers during WWI and the Russian Revolution.

Doctor Zhivago is now a Broadway musical, and I had the opportunity to see it last night. From the opening scene, I was again mesmerized. I thought it would be daunting to bring such an iconic movie to the stage, but the show was stunning from beginning to end.

The sets, from the grand wedding of Doctor Yuri Zhivago to Tonia, his childhood sweetheart and daughter of his benefactors, to the battlefields of Germany are brilliantly executed, simple yet effective in aiding in the telling of the story. The costumes are wonderful as well.

Yuri becomes entranced by Lara, a revolutionary who attempts to kill Victor Komarovosky, a man who is always involved in something shady and manages to keep his head above water. Victor and Lara are having an affair, one she regrets.

Lara is married to Pasha, a firebrand who wants to change Russia through revolution. They will do so through violence if necessary, since nothing else seems to work.

Pasha enlists to fight in WWI, and Yuri volunteers to offer his medical services as well. Lara becomes a volunteer nurse to be closer to her husband, but it is Doctor Zhivago with whom she falls in love.

The score is powerful and emotional, with the strongest songs being "Love Finds You", sung by the five leads, and "It Comes As No Surprise" sung by Lara and Tonia as they confront each other over their love for Yuri. And yes, "Lara's Theme" is here, sung beautifully by the nurses.

The acting is terrific, with Kelli Barrett, as the strong-willed Lara reminding me of another Kelli, Broadway powerhouse Kelli O'Hara. Tam Mutu has a tough job following in Omar Sharif's footsteps, but he does so admirably. I do wish their chemistry was a little stronger though.

The audience really loved Paul Alexander Nolan's performance of Pasha. He got lots of whoops and hollers from the audience, as did Tom Hewitt as Victor. Both men gave strong performances.

I'm sad to report that the show is closing on Sunday, but if you can get there before then, I recommend it. Fans of Les Miserables will love this one, as well as fans of the movie.

The Doctor Zhivago website is here.

The Beach Club Book Club Reads A Memory of Violets by Hazel Gaynor

A Memory of Violets by Hazel Gaynor
Published by William Morrow ISBN 978-0-06-231689-9
Trade paperback, $14.99, 386 pages

The Beach Club Book Club enjoyed Hazel Gaynor's historical fiction The Girl Who Came Home, and so when the opportunity to read her novel A Memory of Violets came up with the Book Club Girl Book Club, we took it.

Irish sisters Florrie and Rose live in poverty in 1876 London, selling small posies of violets and watercress at Covent Garden's flower markets. Their mother is dead and their father is an awful man. Florrie always cared for her little sister, but one day they are separated and Florrie is panicked looking everywhere for Rose but not finding her.

Rose ended up hiding in the carriage of a wealthy woman, who took pity on the poor child and eventually convinced her husband to raise the child as their own. Florrie found refuge working and living with other young girls who made flowers to sell.

The conditions were nice, and the program was run by a kind, wealthy man who believed that helping these girls find a better life was his calling. But Florrie never stopped looking for Rose, hoping that one day they would be reunited.

The story moves forward to 1912, where a young woman named Tillie ends up working as a housemother's assistant in one of Mr. Shaw's Training Homes for Watercress and Flower Girls. She finds a journal written by a former resident, Florrie, and tries to find out what happened to Florrie and Rose.

The Beach Club Book Club loved A Memory of Violets. One of our members praised the sister theme (she has three older sisters), and compared the flower storyline to another book we had read, The Language of Flowers.

She also enjoyed the theme of how fate plays such an important part in our lives. Two quotes that resonated with her were:

"There is a reason for everything and everything has a reason. Keep a close eye on life and you'll know what the reason is."

And one quote that her children used in their yearbook was also in the book:

"Give the world your best and the best will come back to you."

Since some of us in the club are Irish, we enjoyed that aspect of the story. Irish families tend to be big and like to stay together, something we could relate to. Among the final thoughts about A Memory of Violets were that it was an enjoyable and heartwarming read, and we liked it even more than The Girl Who Came Home. We can't wait to read Hazel Gaynor's next one.

rating 5 of 5

Our review of The Girl Who Came Home is here.

Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova

Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova
Published by Gallery Books ISBN 9781476717777
Hardcover, $26, 352 pages

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

Author Lisa Genova’s debut novel, “Still Alice” described the devastating effects of early onset Alzheimer’s Disease on the lives of a Harvard professor and her family. It is an emotional, heartbreaking book, and the movie version recently won an Oscar for Best Actress for Julienne Moore for her brilliant performance.

Genova followed up her success with two other novels- “Left Neglected” about a stressed mom who suffers a traumatic brain injury, and “Love Anthony” about a young boy with autism. Genova excels at putting the reader square in the shoes of people who have to live with a tragic health  issue, getting us to feel their pain and be amazed at their strength and resolve.

Her latest novel, “Inside the O’Briens”, tackles a deadly disease that many people have never heard of- Huntington’s Disease. Huntington’s is a neurodegenerative disease that causes a person to lose control of movements, speech, and eventually the ability to eat. There is no cure or treatment for it.

One of the most devastating aspects of Huntington’s is that the children of a person with Huntington’s each have a 50% chance of contracting the disease as well. That means that entire families have been destroyed by Huntington’s, and the decision about finding out whether one has the Huntington’s gene is uppermost in the mind of anyone with the disease in their family.

Genova introduces us to the Irish Catholic O’Brien family. Patriarch Joe is a 44 year-old proud Boston city cop. He and his wife Rosie own a large three story home and have four adult children- son JJ and his wife Colleen live on the second floor, daughters Katie and Meghan share the third floor apartment, and son Patrick lives with Joe and Rosie on the first floor.

JJ is a fireman, Meghan is studying to be a professional ballerina, Katie is a yoga instructor and Patrick is a troubled bartender who drinks too much. They are a close family, some would say a little too close and too involved in each other’s lives.

Joe lost his mother as a young child, he was told she died due to alcoholism. The truth was that she had Huntington’s Disease, and when he starts to exhibit symptoms that he can no longer ignore, he sees a neurologist who gives him the bad news. 

Joe and Rosie are stunned by the diagnosis, and when they find that their children each have a 50% chance of having the Huntington’s gene, it is almost too much for them to bear. Joe feels guilty for bringing this on his family, and Rosie is afraid she will have to watch her entire family die a horrible, painful death. She even begins to question her strong religious beliefs.

Genova drops us into the O’Brien’s lives, and we watch as each of the children must struggle with the decision to get tested for the gene. If they have the gene, they will eventually get Huntington’s, typically within ten years, and they will die from it. 

You can’t help wondering as you read this, what would I do? Do I live my life not knowing, just going on as usual? Or, do I get the test and go from there? If I’m married, do I have children, knowing that if I do have it, they could get it too? 

Telling this story through the O’Brien family, and that proud, strong Joe is the one who will die from it, is a powerful choice. Joe has always been the strong family leader, and now he will need someone to care for him. Watching him come to terms with his new life is emotional.

The story is told from Joe and daughter Katie’s points of view, and we watch as young Katie must struggle with a decision to get tested or not. She has a new relationship with a great guy, and she must decide whether to pursue it and go for happiness or live with doubt.

We watch Joe work to stay as healthy as he can, becoming increasingly frustrated with his new limitations and his role in the family. This is a loving, close family, and many readers will understand the family dynamics here, especially the sibling relationships.

“Inside the O’Briens” is, like “Still Alice”, an emotional ride of a book, and just like real life, there aren’t always clearcut answers.

rating A

Weekend Cooking- Two Washington DC Restaurants

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

We made our annual trip to Washington DC last week, and while the rainy weather meant that the cherry blossoms were not blooming this year, we did stop into two great restaurants we found last year.

Le Diplomate is a wonderful French restaurant. The place is huge, with a big bar area, two dining areas and a large outdoor patio. Reservations are a must here, and we were lucky to get our 5:15pm Sunday dinner reservations. By 6pm, the entire restaurant was full of diners.

We started with the bread basket, an absolute must here. The raisin date brown bread is heavenly, as were the other breads in the bountiful basket. My husband had the escargot to start, and I tried the warm shrimp salad with avocado, and a lemon beurre blanc.

Escargot

Warm Shrimp Salad

The salad was so delicious, and the lemon beurre blanc was so light and tasty. I would have been happy with the salad as my entree. I had the Sunday special, Coq Au Riesling, which wasn't all that exciting. My husband enjoyed his veal dish much more.

The sommelier recommended a lovely French white wine that was delightful.

Desserts are fantastic at Le Diplomate, and we shared a light and chocolaty pot de creme and profiteroles. Next time, I would stick to the bread basket, shrimp salad and dessert, and all would be good with the world.

Chocolate Pot de Creme

Profiteroles

The service is wonderful, although we did feel somewhat rushed. A long, leisurely dinner seemed not to be in the cards here as they are very popular and most likely wanted the table.

The next night we visited The Founding Farmers, a farm-to-table restaurant which is also a hugely popular place. We had 6:45 reservations, and when we arrived we found a seat at the bar and had just been served our Fraise Flings when the hostess informed us that our table was ready.

Making our Fraise Flings

We shared the bread, chips and crisps basket with the best homemade potato chips I have ever had. It comes with four dips- green goddess, onion, romesco and pimento cheese- that can easily be shared by four people.

I had the chicken and waffles, which comes with mac and cheese and as my other side dish I chose the sweet potato, topped with hazelnuts and maple glaze. The fried chicken was great, but the sweet potato was the highlight. It was so sweet and yummy.

We ate so much that we skipped dessert and headed out into the middle of a terrible thunderstorm. Thanks goodness for Uber!

Le Diplomate's website is here.

The Founding Farmers' website is here.