Weekend Cooking - Serious Eats

Serious Eats: A Comprehensive Guide to Making and Eating Delicious Food Wherever You Are by Ed Levine and the Editors of Serious Eats
Published by Clarkson Potter ISBN 978-0307720870
Trade Paperback $27.99

Seriouseats.com is a popular website that labels itself "A Food Blog and Community." You can find out where to get the best burger, the best sandwich, the best anything in most major cities.

Now they have published a book, Serious Eats: A Comprehensive Guide to Making and Eating Delicious Food Wherever You Are, and it is a fascinating book, especially if you are the kind of person who likes lists. (Me! Me!)

Some of the chapters include:

• Fried Chicken: 12 of Our Favorite Spots
• 5 Gelato Spots We Love
• 11 Pies We Love From Coast to Coast
• 10 Favorite Farmers Markets

I love that they include street food, which is so hot right now. They have

• 5 Taco Trucks We Love
• 20 Favorite Street-Food Stops

Within each chapter, they share the best places across the country to get the specified food, but they also include recipes from each category for those who prefer to cook and don't travel much. 

But if you do travel, this book is invaluable. I have been to many of the cities they visited, and have tried some of the food they recommend, but I wish I had it before I traveled. From now on, this book will be the first place I turn to when I visit other cities.

The end of the book has some unique stuff in it, including a chapter titled "College Town Eats". They share their daily agenda, which is so interesting. For example, they took a day trip to New Orleans, where they left New York at 4:45am, and returned at 9:30pm, making 12 stops at restaurants in between; that is just crazy! In Chicago they made 12 food stops between 10am and 6pm.

The section on New York City, where I live, gave me an entire list of places to try, including City Bakery for a pretzel croissant and a breakfast pastry at Locenda Verde. I sometimes get red velvet cupcakes at Two Little Red Hens, but now I must try their cheesecake. 

The directory at the end of the end of the book lists the states and each place mentioned in the book, along with their web addresses.

This book is so much fun, it's the perfect gift for your favorite foodie, and if you live in one of the many cities they have covered, it is essential.

rating 5 of 5 stars

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're With Nobody by Alan Huffman & Michael Rejebian

We're With Nobody by Alan Huffman & Michael Rejebian
Published by William Morrow ISBN 978-0-06-201577-8
Trade paperback $15.99

I've always been interested in politics and in my opinion The West Wing was one of the best television shows of all time, so I was intrigued by the new book We're With Nobody: Two Insiders Reveal the Dark Side of American Politics.

Written by two journalists-turned-political-opposition researchers, Alan Huffman and Michael Rejebian, the book recounts their work digging up information on politicians, from US Senate hopefuls to local school board candidates.

The men tell their story in alternate chapters, but the gist of it is that they travel to local government offices to gather information that is supposed to be available to anyone who asks, i.e. voting records, tax records, court documents, etc. One big take-away from this book is that people who work in these government offices are frequently reluctant to share this information, even though it is their job to do so.

Time after time, the researchers have to cajole, flatter, and sometimes get indignant to get the information they need. The first question that is usually asked of them is "Who are you with?", thus leading to the title of the book. Their answer, more often than not, is "none of your business."

The government employees often stall, and the researchers have been followed back to their hotel and verbally threatened to go "back where they came from." This book reinforces the often-held opinion that government employees are uncooperative.

The men state that they are "guided, more or less, by the conviction that no one is fit to lead unless proven otherwise." They see themselves as "seekers of the truth." They believe that discovering the truth is"more crucial than ever, when today's news is prone to distortion, willful ignorance and lies."

I loved this quote: "Truth is a word that should never be qualified. It's like pregnancy; it's yes or no", and they quote Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan who supposedly said "everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not his facts." Amen to that!

One of the more interesting incidents happened when they talked to the ex-wife of a candidate they were researching. They were looking about information about his business dealings, of which she had none. In the course of conversation, she complained that he never took her anywhere, but he takes his new girlfriend everywhere, and that he was arrested for beating the girlfriend up in an airport.

That piece of information might be useful. She said it happened on vacation, so Michael found out where they vacationed, pulled out a map, checked possible routes, and proceeded to call airports to ask about arrest reports. After many, many phone calls, he finds the report.

That information is passed along to a friend of the man, who takes the report to the candidate and shows it to him. The candidate withdrew from the running.

The men say that finding information on politicians, such as who donated to the campaigns, and who benefits from their votes is important. They state "the same type of systemic abuse that results in poorly built sidewalks in an out-of-the-way township resulted in the failed federal response to Hurricane Katrina." I'm not sure I totally buy that, but it is something to ponder.

They don't name names, although the reader is able to figure out that they did research on US Senate hopeful Christine O'Donnell and Sarah Palin.

Political junkies will enjoy this fascinating look at a part of the political process that is usually done under the cover of darkness, and has been done since the time of Caesar. The subject is interesting and timely in this election year, and you will look at political ads in a different light after reading this book.

rating 3 of 5

My review of Kelle Hampton's BLOOM

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Jenny Lawson at Barnes & Noble

Jenny Lawson at Barnes & Noble

Jenny Lawson is known to many people as the Bloggess, the name of her wildly funny, popular, and at times inappropriate, blog. Now she will be will be known as author with the release of her book, Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir), from Amy Einhorn Books.

She kicked off her book tour at Barnes & Noble's 86th St. store on the Upper East Side to an standing room only audience, usually reserved for Broadway stars when they are promoting their CD recordings of their shows.

Lawson appeared a tad nervous, blurting out "holy s@*t" when she took the podium. She said she had a dream that only two people showed up, and she was one of them. Fans of Lawson know that she has Chronic Anxiety Disorder, which makes her book tour appearances even more impressive, explaining that if she felt it necessary to crawl under the table, she knows her fans "would be OK with that." And they would; they love her!

She began by reading what she describes as "the most embarrassing thing I could read", a hilarious chapter from her book titled "The Psychopath on the Other Side of the Bathroom Door" which described a do-it-yourself colon cleanse that goes terribly awry, and had the entire crowd roaring with laughter.

Lawson originally started this book ten years ago, as a way to tell her stories to her daughter. She got into blogging to find her voice, which she describes as essential to anyone considering writing (or blogging).

She also said that "finding your audience" as a blogger is key. She found her audience by commenting on blogs that she found funny, and soon other commenters followed her blog, and now she is a powerhouse in blogging. She says that the funniest part of her blog is the comments section.

Someone asked about the editing process for her book, and she was honest, saying that it was difficult. She described her editor as saying "this is lovely, let's cut this baby's limbs off here, it will look better without arms", which she declared was tough, but in fact necessary.

A question was asked about whether Lawson was able to contact William Shatner; she spoke to "his people" and said that "he was TOTALLY wrong, and I was TOTALLY right."

As the Q&A section of the talk ended, Lawson shared some advice that author Neil Gaiman gave to her that really helped; he said "pretend you're good at it". She didn't need to pretend; she had that room in the palm of her hand.

I read a few chapters of the book while I was waiting, and it is profanely hilarious. If you don't mind cursing, and you like to laugh, pick up Let's Pretend This Never Happened.

NY Met Bud Harrelson at Barnes & Noble 86th St.

Bud Harrelson at Barnes & Noble

Growing up, one of my brothers was a big NY Met fan, and as he was a shortstop, Bud Harrelson was one of his favorite players.

Harrelson is the only Met to have championships from both the 1969 team (as a player) and the 1986 team (as a coach). He appeared at Barnes & Noble 86th Street promoting his book, Turn Two: My Journey To The Top Of The World And Back With The New York Mets, which was co-written by Phil Pepe.

He is now the co-owner and senior vice-president of the Long Island Ducks, a baseball team in the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, and he said that it is "the best thing he has done in baseball", and he sounds very sincere about it. He loves where he lives in Suffolk County, and this team impacts where he lives. They are lucky to have him.

Harrelson talked for a long time, over an hour, and answered many questions from the audience. He recounted how he got his start in baseball, as a walk-on for San Francisco State.  He joked about getting a $13,500 signing bonus from the Mets, which his brother "borrowed and never repaid."

One thing Harrelson is remembered for is an on-field fight with Pete Rose. Harrelson was (and still is) a small guy, and after a Mets/Reds game NLCS game in 1973 where Mets pitcher Jon Matlack shut down the might Reds hitting, Harrelson told a reporter that the Reds "hit like me" today. (Harrelson was a career .236 hitter, with 7 HRs.)

The next day, Joe Morgan from the Reds grabbed Harrelson by the shirt during warmups and told him "if you say that again, I'll punch you." Then he warned Harrelson that Rose was coming at him to fire up the team. In the 5th inning, Rose came at Harrelson and as Harrelson says "I hit him on the fist with my jaw."

It became known as the "Duel in the Sun", and there were lots of questions last night about Pete Rose. Harrelson said that Rose signs autographs for $65 a pop, signature only. If you want it personalized, it's another $65.

Harrelson signs for free, and he told a story about seeing Rose at Cooperstown, where he was on the main street signing for $65. Harrelson, who was relegated to signing on a side street, but when he saw Rose, he pulled up a chair next to him, and when people asked Rose to sign a photo of the "Duel in the Sun" for $65, Harrelson signed it for free.

He also said that Rose's son, Pete Jr., played for his Long Island Ducks for three years, and he refused to sign autographs too. (OK, that is something I do not understand. Rose Jr, is not even a big leaguer.)

Someone asked Harrelson if he would vote for Rose to get into the Hall of Fame, and Harrelson got a little prickly, saying "I'm not in the Hall, so I don't get a vote, but Seaver, Morgan and Bench won't vote for him". The man kept at him, saying there was more to the Rose story, but Harrelson reminded the guy that Rose was offered a lifetime ban in exchange for MLB sealing the record of the investigation into gambling allegations against him, and Rose took it.

Harrelson is a stand-up guy with a dry sense of humor, and I couldn't believe it when he said he was 68 years old; he does not look it. He loves baseball and he has a lot to teach young players. He even let us all try on his 86 World Series ring; how cool is that? He said this book is not a tell-all, but his story of his life in baseball, which is an interesting one. Think of this as a great gift for the NY Met in your life.

Weekend Cooking- A Birthday Celebration

My husband's sister Brigette, his brother's wife Kay and I all share the same birthday, although we were born in different years. It's always nice when two or all three of us can celebrate together, and this year Brigette and I shared a celebration.

On the day before our birthday, we went up to Kingston to visit, and Brigette made Cook's Illustrated Perfect Baked Ziti, since it was Good Friday and we couldn't have meat. It was soooo tasty! She added a Caesar salad and some fresh bread and it was the perfect way to kick off the weekend.

I found the recipe for this ziti posted on A Bountiful Kitchen's website, so here it is. I know I will be trying it soon. Perfect Baked Ziti.

Baked Ziti- yum

On Saturday evening, our actual birthday, our husbands treated our families to a delicious dinner at Calico Restaurant and Patisserie in Rhinebeck (the town where Chelsea Clinton got married). It's a darling little place, and our group of eleven took up half of the restaurant.

Calico Restaurant

Some of the culinary highlights included the escargot appetizer, which was escargot Chardonnay and shallot braised and baked in a garlic and herb butter sauce (my husband and mother-in-law raved about them) and the sauteed risotto and saffron fritter with shiitake mushrooms in a wild mushroom and chive broth that Brigette and I both had. Oh my goodness, it was scrumptious! My sons both had the crab cake appetizer with a homemade tartar sauce they loved.

After dinner, they brought out the dual birthday cakes, baked by Leslie, the chef's wife and co-owner of Calico. Brigette had a Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cake, and I got a Chocolate Mousse Cake. Both were so beautifully decorated and tasted sinfully good. And there were very few leftovers, even though we had two cakes!

We all had a lovely time and if you ever go to Rhinebeck, I highly recommend this gem of a restaurant.

On Easter Sunday, we celebrated mass at Ferncliffe Nursing Home, where we assisted transporting the residents. The mass was so wonderful, and many of residents participated in the readings and ringing bells during the mass; it was a beautiful way to celebrate Easter.

Following mass, my mother-in-law arranged for a fantastic catered brunch. We had sausage quiche,  fruit salad, a huge platter of bagels, pastries and carrot cake mini muffins that were yummy. The big hit at brunch was the stuffed french toast, which was stuffed with turkey and ham and there were many people calling dibs on those leftovers.

It was a lovely birthday/Easter weekend, and best of all, we shared it with family.

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!

Adriana Trigiani at Barnes & Noble

Last night was one of my favorite nights of the year- Adriana Trigiani's annual book signing event at Barnes & Noble 86th St. store in New York City.

The atmosphere is always like a party, and the only thing missing is alcohol and hors d'oeurves. Adriana sweeps into the room, hugging and blowing kisses to her friends in the room, which is pretty much anyone who has ever met her once.

At the podium she scans the room, calling out "her peeps", including Jonathan Burnham, her publisher, whom she says "is handsome and British- two of my favorite food groups." And the laughter began.

She asked "Who's Italian here?" and 3/4 of the people in the room raised their hands. I sometimes feel left out, as I am Irish/English/Scottish, but the Italian people are very welcoming. She asked people "where they are from" and the Italians started spouting off villages and regions in Italy. A mixed marriage in Italy "is one between two people from different villages."

Adriana is married to a man of Scottish descent, and she said that "an American is a person who doesn't know where he is from." She said that when people say "we're Scottish", she says "what does that mean?" She doesn't understand people who don't know from where their ancestors came. (Guilty: I have no idea.)

To get ready to write her epic novel, The Shoemaker's Wife, she said that she had to "reconnect with her Italianess" and that meant watching a Rocky movie marathon. She recalled thinking how hot Sylvester Stallone was in those movies, and joked that the movie was memorable for the bad hat that Adrian wore, because "all Italian girls have a key moment in their life where they are wearing a bad hat."

The book is based on her grandparents love story. They lived five miles from each other in Italy, but didn't meet until they came to America, living in Hoboken. I loved this lush, gorgeous book (my review is here), and was fascinated by the little tidbits of inside information we got last night.

The book is dedicated to her great-uncle Monsignor Don Andrea Spada, brother to her grandmother Lucia. He was the editor of L'Eco di Bergamo, a Catholic newspaper, for 51 years, and Adriana credits her "gift of words", as one audience member said, as coming from him. The character of Eduardo is based in part on the monsignor.

The book itself is gorgeous because Adriana says that her readers "love beautiful things." The outer cover feels so rich, and has raised lettering on it. It feels like a book you would have bought back in the day. The cover is a photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe, who took portrait photos for Harper's Bazaar in the 1940s and 1950s. The model for the photo is the same model on the cover of Adriana's book Lucia, Lucia (also by Dahl-Wolfe).

Adriana told a story of the model, an older woman by now, seeing herself on the book cover of Lucia, Lucia in Target and telling her daughter "that's me!" Her daughter contacted Adriana and the women met. Can you imagine seeing yourself on the cover of a book?

A lot of research went into this book, and one fascinating fact Adriana mentioned was that the United States sent 10,000 men a week to fight in World War I. To get that many men, they were offered citizenship if they fought, and most of the men who did this were Puerto Rican. (There is a Puerto Rican soldier in the book who befriends Ciro.) She mentioned a great book on WWI by Peter Englund, The Beauty and the Sorrow.

In the Q&A session, the inevitable question of when the movie of Big Stone Gap will be made came up. Adriana likes Ashley Judd for the role of Ave Maria, and told a funny story about meeting with actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Denny from TV's Gray's Anatomy) in an L.A. hotel room to discuss him playing Jack Mac. (Her makeup started to melt.)

I want to thank Adriana for the lovely words she said about me and my blog, and bloggers in general. It's nice that authors appreciate the role that bloggers have in discussing books and why we love them.

At every book signing, we take a photo together, and although I really hardly ever like any photos of me, I always like the photos of Adriana and me.

Adriana and me at Barnes & Noble 

If you have the opportunity to see Adriana at an event, do it! (Her tour stops are here). And if you are looking for a big, lush, epic book about star-crossed love, family, the building of America in beautiful settings, get a copy of The Shoemaker's Wife.  (Mother's Day is around the corner- ask your kids to buy it for you!)

Adriana Trigiani on Good Day New York

Adriana Trigiani: MyFoxNY.com

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
Published by Random House ISBN 978-0385343848
Paperback $15

Tea Obreht's was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1985, which made her just 25 years of age when she wrote The Tiger's Wife, which was nominated for the National Book Award last year. That is a remarkable accomplishment, one that had many people in awe of her talent.

The book tells the story of Natalia, a doctor in a war-torn country. Her grandfather, also a doctor, died in a remote town from an illness he kept hidden from his wife and daughter, but not from Natalia. Natalia spent a lot of time growing up with her grandfather; he took her to the zoo and read to her from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.


He also told her a story from his childhood about a woman called the Tiger's Wife. She was a young mute woman married to the town butcher, a man who physically abused her. No one in town would her help her, and when a tiger was on the loose and the butcher was sent out with other men to kill the tiger, the butcher never came back.

The tiger was seen going into the butcher's slaughterhouse at night, where the butcher's wife let him in. People in the town were frightened of her, and when she became pregnant, they feared the baby belonged to the tiger. Her only friend was Natalia's grandfather, then a young boy.

Natalia's grandfather also crossed paths with Gavran, a man who cannot die. The first time the young doctor meets him is when the man is shot and drowned in a river by a fearful group of townspeople. He has a hole in his head, but he is not dead.

The doctor does not believe his story about being unable to die, but the men cross paths a few times more over the years. Gavran's story of how he came to be unable to die is fascinating, and his interactions with the doctor are the most interesting parts of the novel.

Obreht weaves a magical tale, and the book soars during the fable-like stories of the Tiger's Wife and Gavran. Natalia's story, though she is presumably the protagonist of the novel, is really the least interesting, perhaps because it is rooted in reality.

One of my favorite passages in the book talks about war:

"When your fight has purpose- to free you from something to interfere on the behalf of an innocent- it has a hope of finality. When the fight is about unraveling- when it is about your name, the places to which your blood is anchored, the attachment of your name to some landmark or event- there is nothing but hate, and the long, slow progression of people who feed on it and are fed it, meticulously by the ones who come before them. Then the fight is endless, and comes in waves and waves, but always retains its capacity to surprise those who hope against it."

What a very sad but profound statement, and many societies, including our own, have found that to be true at the cost of many innocent lives.

The Tiger's Wife is a unique novel, combining the real horrors of war with the fables of the Tiger's Wife and Gavran, the man who could not die. I'm sure I am not the only one who looks forward to Obreht's next work.

rating 4 of 5

Cruising Attitude by Heather Poole

Cruising Attitude by Heather Poole
Published by William Morrow, ISBN 978-0-06-198646-8
Trade paperback, $14.99

I had just finished Heather Poole's memoir, Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet, when the news broke about the Jet Blue pilot who had a breakdown on his flight from New York to Las Vegas. After reading Heather's book, you kind of understood how this happened.

Poole began her career on a regional airline, SunJet, that offered a $69 flight from Dallas to Newark, Ft. Lauerdale and Long Beach. The airline was often filled with unattended minors shuttling back and forth between parents and grandparents, and one flight Poole flew had 12 unattended minors. She joked that the planes were literally held together with duct tape on seats, in the galley, etc.

She eventually moved on to a bigger airline, and she gives the reader a fascinating insight to the world of flight attendants. The first step was flight attendant school, or as Poole called it 'Barbie Boot Camp', which lasted for two months. Each day, fewer and fewer people would be at school; it reminded me of Demi Moore in the movie G.I. Jane, where recruits would disappear without a word.

Poole made a good friend in Georgia, a gorgeous Southern belle who had always dreamed of being an flight attendant. Her roommate was a Texas gal named Linda, who was a grandmother. Heather had her doubts about Linda, but they became friends too.

I learned many interesting facts about flight attendants. For example, they do not get paid until the  plane backs away from the gate. While you're boarding and they are welcoming you and helping with your bags, they are not being paid. I think that is just plain wrong.

They must find crashpads to stay in, usually rented rooms in homes near their base airport. Heather and Georgia lived in a home owned by a Russian cabbie, where they shared a room with four other women, and there were three other bedrooms set up in similar fashion upstairs. And only one bathroom. It sounds almost like living on a submarine to me. (In fact, some people did have a bed-sharing agreement, like a submarine.)

There were even some flight attendants who lived in RVs in the employee parking lots at JFK airport.

Poole attempts to explain the reserve system, which sounded like the equivalent of hospital residents on-call system, but I didn't quite understand all of the intricacies of it. It is very involved, and the first time Heather was called to work on reserve, she messed it up and almost got fired, as she was on probation and could be fired for any small infraction.

In the 1970s, flight attendants averaged 18 months of employment, because they must be single and childless. Today, they last either a few months or an entire lifetime; there seems to be no middle ground.

Most attendants take the job for the travel passes; the ability to fly for free or for a very reduced rate. They can also have a few family members or friends fly for free. For the low pay and sometime abusive conditions, I'm not sure it's worth it. (Some of her stories of horrible passengers made me cringe. How can human beings act like that?)

Poole is a terrific writer; her book reads like a good novel. She tells her story with humor and pathos, and there's even some tension thrown in for good measure. I raced through the book, and it gave me a new appreciation for flight attendants.

One thing she said that stuck with me is that flight attendants appreciate hearing a "please" or "thank you".  I think that it is only fitting that I end by saying 'thank you' to Heather Poole for writing this informative and entertaining memoir.

rating 4 of 5

Weekend Cooking- Two Quick Weeknight Recipes

I tried two new recipes this week. The first one was from ABC's The Chew, where I have had tried a few recipes, some were good, some not so much. This one, Clinton Kelly's Pan Fried Chicken with Brown Butter Caper Sauce, is similar to a Chicken Piccata, but the blood orange sauce added a fresh twist.

Kelly made it for a show about favorite restaurant dishes you can make at home, and he called this Chicken Glenobloise, which I have never heard of before.

It was very easy, took less than 30 minutes, and I had all of the ingredients (except for the blood oranges) on hand. And you could use any citrus fruit, (lemons, oranges) that you have on hand.

It looks very pretty plated, with blood orange sections on top, and I served it with homemade potato salad and a fruit salad to tie in with the entree.

Pan Fried Chicken with Brown Butter Caper Sauce

The link to the recipe is here on The Chew's website : Clinton Kelly's Pan Fried Chicken with Brown Butter Caper Sauce. One thing I don't like about The Chew is their website. They need a redesign; sometimes they leave ingredients off the list that are called for in the directions, or the directions don't make sense. I think they need a better editor on that site. Sometimes it's like whomever is putting up the recipes doesn't read them after they are typed in.

I also made a recipe from Robin Miller's Robin Takes 5 cookbook, which features recipes with 5 ingredients under 500 calories that can be made in under 30 minutes. I  made her
Cranberry Barbequed Pork Tenderloin
1 1/4 lb. pork tenderloin
15 oz. can whole berry cranberry sauce
2 tsp. dijon mustard
1 tsp. liquid smoke (I used Worchestershire sauce)
1/4 cup chopped scallions

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Coat shallow roasting pan with cooking spray. Season pork liberally with salt and pepper. Mix cranberry, mustard and liquid smoke and spoon over pork. Bake 30 minutes to 155 degrees. Let stand 5 minutes, slice and top with scallions.

Both dinners were tasty, and the pork tenderloin is one my sons would be able to make at college. I liked the combination of sweet and sour with the cranberry and dijon mustard. They were easy to make, and are perfect to put on the table on any weeknight.


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!

The Good Father by Noah Hawley

The Good Father by Noah Hawley
Published by Doubleday ISBN 978-0-385-53553-3
Hardcover $25.95

There are two books that published recently, Defending Jacob, by William Landay and The Good Father by Noah Hawley, that deal with fathers struggling with the accusation that their sons committed murder.

In Landay's novel, an assistant district attorney's teenage son is accused of killing his classmate. In The Good Father, Dr. Paul Allen's estranged college drop-out son is arrested for killing a senator, a popular family man on his way to winning his party's presidential nomination.

Allen divorced his son Danny's mother when Danny was a young boy. He left them and moved across the country to take another job. He remarried and began a new family, now father to twin boys. Danny spent time with his dad and his new family, summer vacations, but he was basically raised by his mother, a woman who was prone to "intense manic interest followed by long stretches of epic boredom", as Danny was.

Paul is shocked when he and his wife see on the news that Danny is the one arrested for killing the senator. He cannnot believe that his son did this; there must be a mistake. He hires a lawyer for his son, but his son will not cooperate. Danny is being held in federal custody and no one is allowed to see him.

Paul becomes obsessed with proving that his son is part of a conspiracy, a fall guy for the murder. He travels across the country, trying to piece together the last few years of his son's life; where he was, who he met, what he did.

This obsession endangers his marriage, and he and his new family are hounded so much, they  move to a rural community in Colorado to escape and start over. His wife is patient, but she firmly tells him that if Danny will not cooperate, they must let him go and concentrate on saving their own two sons.

Hawley is a good writer, he really makes the reader empathetic to Paul's pain and anguish. He writes a great line, "Father and sons. What we wouldn't give to trade places with our boys, to absorb their suffering and ease their pain."

And yet here is my thought on that. Dr. Allen divorced Danny's mother because he couldn't take living with her anymore, that she may have suffered from depression. But he thought it was OK to leave his young son to be raised by her alone, while he starts a new life far away. Would it have been better for his son if he had his father around growing up? If he had made that sacrifice for his son, would things have turned out differently? I think that is something that Paul will have to live with for the rest of his life.

The Good Father haunts you with its sadness and despair, with a puzzling mystery thrown in. Did Danny kill the senator or was he a pawn in a conspiracy? It makes you uncomfortable, and gets you to think that you may not know your own child, the things he has gone through, what he is thinking. I do like that we get to see what Danny has gone through the past few years, and how he got to where he sadly ended up.

rating 4 of 5

My review of William Landay's Defending Jacob is here. 

Skin Rules by Debra Jaliman, M.D.

Skin Rules by Debra Jaliman M.D.
Published by St. Martin's Press ISBN 978-1-250-00095-8
Hardcover, $22.99

Sub-titled "Trade Secrets From a Top New York Dermatologist", you might think that this book is all about the Botox and surgical procedures, (or maybe it's just because I live on the Upper East Side in New York City, where you can't go a block without seeing someone who has had work done) but you'd be wrong.

Jaliman, a board-certified dermatologist, has written a very helpful book for everyone. She has 77 rules, short chapters that make her point, from 'Don't Waste Money on Expensive Cleansers- Spend It on Moisturizers, Sunscreens, and Anti-Aging Products Instead' to 'Lips, Eyes, and Hands Need Sun Protection, Too' to 'Clean Earrings Every Time You Put Them In'.

Each rule is followed by a short explanation; I like that you can use this book as a quick reference, and that Jaliman did not fill the book with unnecessary stuff; she gets right to the point. Although it is a short book, it contains so much useful information.

Among the useful things I learned:

• Tanning beds increase the chance of melanoma by 75%! She believes they should be illegal.
• Products should be bought in tubes or pumps; the contents deteriorate when exposed to air.
• Don't get the nail gel at nail salons; it can cause neurological damage.
• Humidifiers should be cleaned with equal parts vinegar and water every two weeks.
• False eyelashes are bad- the glue can damage the skin and pulls out eyelashes.

Jaliman also names the best products to use; from cleansers to moisturizers to foundations to sunscreens to laundry detergent. Many of the products are available at drug and discount stores. I made a list of products she recommends for my skin type and keep it in my purse when I go shopping.

She has her own line of products but she does not include recommendations for them in this book; I think that shows character on her part and I appreciate that she didn't write this book as a sales tool for herself. It isn't all products, though; Dr. Jaliman does discuss procedures that can done in the dermatologist's office that can help.

At the end of the book is a 'resource section' with website addresses for all of the products that Dr. Jaliman recommends. 

No matter what your age or issue- teenagers with acne, people with dry skin, people with sensitive skin, menopausal women- there is helpful information for everyone here. Think of it as your skin manual.

rating 5of 5 stars

The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani

The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani
Published by Harper ISBN 978-0-06-125709-4
Hardcover $26.99

The first thing you notice about Adriana Trigiani's newest novel, The Shoemaker's Wife, is the stunning cover. A gorgeous woman in a tangerine colored gown strikes a dramatic pose against a wallpapered print that evokes the beauty of an Italian village. The first time I saw it, it literally took my breath away.

I have read many of Trigiani's books, starting with the Big Stone Gap series, through the Valentine series, stand alone books like Rococco, and her non-fiction book about her grandmothers titled Don't Sing at the Table, and enjoyed them all, but all of the those books so clearly led her to write this masterpiece, her best book yet, The Shoemaker's Wife.


Some writers are better at story (John Grisham, for example), others excel at writing memorable characters; in my mind, no author is better than Trigiani at writing the setting of the story. We fell in love with the small town of Big Stone Gap in Virginia and all of the wonderful people who lived there. In the Valentine series, we were a part of Greenwich Village, and made unforgettable visits to the Italy and Argentina.

Trigiani's writing is so vivid and visual, you can picture each setting so clearly in your mind, you feel like you've taken a trip there yourself. Clothing, shoes and interior design have also played a part in many of her books, and I have often lamented that there were no illustrations of the beautiful things that were being described.

In The Shoemaker's Wife, we begin early in the 20th century in the Italian Alps, both beautiful and dangerous. Young Ciro Lazzari and his older brother Eduardo are being sent to a convent following the death of their father, who was working in a mine in America. Their grieving mother was unable to to care for them.

At the convent, Ciro learned to work with his hands, doing all of the chores that the nuns needed. Eduardo took to the prayer and ritual of religious life. The relationship between the brothers is so well-written; they were very different from and yet devoted to each other.

Young Enza lived with her family on the mountain. They did not have much money, but her father scraped out a living ferrying people up and down the mountain with his horse and carriage.

Ciro meets Enza when he is sent to dig a grave for Enza's young sister who died tragically. They share time together and a special connection is made between the two. Ciro runs afoul of the local priest when he sees him in an embrace with a young girl. The priest wants Ciro gone, and the nuns send him to America.

Enza and her father also emigrate to America to make enough money to send home to build a family home. They are sad to leave their family behind, but know that if they work hard and save all their money, they will return home soon.

Ciro becomes a shoemaker's apprentice in Greenwich Village. Enza works in a clothing factory, a sweatshop where she makes a lifelong friend in Irish immigrant Laura. Over the years, Ciro and Enza run into each other, and although they both have feelings for each other, they are kept apart for many reasons.

Enza and Laura get the opportunity of a lifetime when they are chosen to work as seamstresses at the Metropolitan Opera. Enza's creativity gets her noticed, and she is thrilled to be able to design for Enrico Caruso, the international star of the Met.

This section of the novel soars. The excitement of New York City, the grandeur of the opera house, the lovely boarding house where Enza and Laura live, the gorgeous costumes they create- I was swept away with the beauty of it all.

Enza and Ciro are star-crossed lovers, but you can tell by the title of the book that they are fated to be together. They are hard-working immigrants and when an opportunity to make a better life in Minnesota arises, they take it.

These characters are based in part on Trigiani's grandparents. Reading this book will encourage many people to talk to their grandparents and great-grandparents, to hear their stories, which are probably very similiar. Isn't it funny how we never think of our grandparents as young people, in love and trying to build a life, but they are precisely the people who built our country.

Trigiani hits the nail on the head with her depiction of Enza and Ciro's marriage; it isn't always easy, no matter how much in love they are. There is one scene near the end that takes place among Ciro, Enza and their son that just broke my heart, and the beauty and sadness of it was both private and universal at the same time.

She writes so many thoughtful passages; as the mother of two sons, this one particularly touched me:

"A man need his father more as life progresses, not less. It is not enough to learn how to use a lathe, milk a cow, repair a roof; there are greater holes to mend, deeper wells to fill, that only a father's wisdom can sustain. A father teaches his son how to think a problem through, how to lead a household, how to love his wife. A father sets an example for his son, building his character from the soul outward."

The Shoemaker's Wife is Adriana Trigiani's most magnificent work yet. As beautiful on the inside as the cover is on the outside, it moved me immensely. This is the book I will put into all of my family and friends' hands, saying "you must read this!"

rating 5 of 5 stars

Adriana Trigiani will be on the Today Show with Kathie Lee and Hoda on March 30th and on NBC's Dateline talking about The Shoemaker's Wife.

Venus in Fur

I have seen actress Nina Arianda in a few small but memorable parts, in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris and the Ben Stiller movie Tower Heist. But nothing prepares you for the whirlwind entrance she makes in Broadway's Venus in Fur. 


Hugh Dancy portrays a playwright who has written an adaption of a German novel, Venus in Furs. The story is about a man who dreams he is talking to the goddess Venus about his attraction to cruel women. The play opens as he is lamenting that he cannot find an actress to play the lead role in his play. The young actresses are to ignorant and selfish, the older actresses not beautiful enough.

Then Arianda barrels through the door, claiming she has an audition. You cannot take your eyes off her (and not just because she spends most of the time dressed in a corset and thigh-highs) from the time she enters the scene until the end of the play. She originated the role off-Broadway and resumed the role when it moved to Broadway. Last year she was nominated for a Tony for her role in Born Yesterday.


She claims her name is Vanda, the same unusual name as the character. She claims she hasn't read the play, yet she knows all of the dialogue. She acts like the selfish, oblivious young actresses that Dancy was complaining about, but it is clear that she is hiding something.

As the two read scenes from the play, we see that something else is going on. Who exactly is Vanda and where did she come from? She forces the playwright to face the real reason he wrote the play, to face what he is hiding about himself.

Arianda is nothing short of brilliant in this play; woe to any actress who plays the role after her. It is a two-character play, so the other actor must be strong to avoid being wiped off the stage by Arianda. Hugh Dancy amazed me; I have never seen him in anything and I will definitely look for him again.

There are at least two powerful scenes that leave the audience holding their breath as their jaws dropped; the theater was as silent as an empty church. Director Walter Bobbie does a wonderful job with this show.

When the play ended, I listened to people debating exactly what was going on in the play. One thing that wasn't debated- Nina Arianda is a star, one that may come along once in a generation.

I got a discount ticket to the show, but this is a play I would play full-price to see. This play is for adults only, as the theme is sexual.

Elegy for Eddie- A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear

Elegy For Eddie- A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear
Published by Harper ISBN 978-0-06-204957-5
Hardcover, $25.99

The BBC's Downton Abbey caused quite a stir (I myself was late to the party, watching both seasons on two marathon weekends), and increased interest in the post-WWI world in Great Britain. But readers have for years been immersing themselves in the same era with author Jacqueline Winspear's fascinating Maisie Dobbs' novels, set in London at the same time.

Maisie was a young maid in Lord and Lady Compton's home (think Anna from Downton) who was caught by Lady Rowan in the library late at night reading. Lady Rowan realized Maisie's intelligence and potential and arranged for her to be schooled by Dr. Maurice Blanche, a well-renowned psychologist and private investigator.

Maurice became Maisie's mentor, and Maisie was able to rise above her station and eventually became a nurse serving in France during WWI. Maisie was severely wounded and returned home to recuperate, and eventually take over Maurice's private investigation business.

After Maurice died, he left his home and much of his fortune to Maisie. Overnight, she became a wealthy woman. She also fell in love with Lady Rowan's son and heir, James Compton. Maisie is a woman who owns her own business, has enough wealth to own a home and an apartment in London, and is able to financially help her friends and colleagues.

In the newest novel, Elegy For Eddie, Maisie is visited by men she knew as a child, fruit peddlers from Lambeth. They ask her to investigate the death of Eddie, a forty-six-year-old man with the mind of a child. Eddie had a job running errands for workers in a newspaper plant and was killed when a bolt of paper crushed him.

Maisie knew Eddie and the single mother who raised him. She took the case, and it brought forth many feelings to the surface for her. The class system in England was fairly rigid, and it was unusual for anyone, particularly a woman on her own, to move up. Maisie was living a life about which she felt increasingly uncomfortable.

When she stays at James' family estate, she doesn't like the staff waiting on her. Ringing a bell for the next course of dinner feels unnatural to her. While she loves James, she begins to feel that the life he leads is not one she wants.

Now that Maisie has money, she uses it to help her employees. She purchases a home in a good neighborhood and rents it to her loyal assistant Billy and his family after they lost a daughter to illness. She hired Sandra, who lost her husband, and let her move in with her. She also paid for Sandra to further her education.

When Billy is seriously injured investigating Eddie's death, Billy's wife blames Maisie for putting her husband in danger. Maisie feels guilty, arranges for Sandra to help care for Billy's children, and gets him the best medical care.

A doctor confronts Maisie about her 'helping' her employees. She asks Maisie to consider whether her help is "affecting their lives, making decisions on their behalf that they might not have made for themselves, or might come to at a different time." She suggest that Maisie may have been trying to get others conform to Maisie's view of the world.

Maisie's best friend Priscilla tells her that by coming to the rescue of everyone, she could be causing people to resent her, as Billy's wife does. She explains that people don't like being beholden to someone, and that Maisie is depriving her friends of the "opportunity for them to be proud of something they've achieved.''

This book in the series doesn't have much action, it is much more introspective. We see Maisie coming to a fork in the road of her life. She has to decide whether she wants to move forward with her relationship with James, and how to deal with her new station in life and her control issues.

Maisie is an independent woman living in a turbulent time. This story is set in 1933, and England, weary from the losses of so many men in WWI, is now facing the possibility of another war. Hitler is causing problems in Europe, and Eddie's death may be tied to a newspaper publisher who is using his power to drum up war propaganda to get the people of England ready for confrontation.

I love being immersed in Maisie's world. Winspear does meticulous research, which is available on her website.( If you want to know more about that time in history, click on the link.) Maisie is a strong woman, but she has her doubts about her abilities and where she is going in life. She feels so real and I think many women today can relate to her.

I always look forward to catching up with Maisie, and if you are a fan of Downton Abbey and are suffering from withdrawal, the Maisie Dobbs series are a wonderful way to immerse yourself in that time.

rating 4 of 5

I have reviewed all of the Maisie Dobbs books during last year's Mad for Maisie readalong on BookClubGirl.com;  the links are below:
Maisie Dobbs
Birds of a Feather
Pardonable Lies
Messenger of Truth
An Incomplete Revenge
Among the Mad
The Mapping of Love and Death
A Lesson In Secrets

Thanks to TLC Book Tours for including me on their March is Maisie Month tour!

Home Front by Kristin Hannah

Home Front by Kristin Hannah
Published by St. Martin's Press ISBN 978-0-312-57720-9
Hardcover, $27.99

The horror story of the US soldier accused of murdering 17 innocent civilians in Afghanistan blares on the nightly news and we all have a difficult time understanding how this could happen. The accused soldier is on his fourth deployment, something unheard of in previous wars.

In author Kristin Hannah's 19th novel, Home Front, a lawyer married to a female National Guard Black Hawk helicopter pilot is defending a soldier accused of snapping and killing his wife. When she wrote the book, I can't imagine that Hannah could have known just how timely her novel would be.

Michael, the lawyer, has been depressed since he lost his father and law partner recently. His wife Jolene, who lost her parents when she was 18, goes through life always looking for the positive. She and her best friend and neighbor Tami fly choppers for the National Guard.

Tami's husband and 12 year old son are proud of her and the work she does. Michael doesn't understand why Jolene wants to be a soldier; they have two daughters- Betsy, 12 years old and Lulu, four years old- and he thinks she should leave the Guard.

After Michael refuses to attend his wife's birthday party at the Guard base, Jolene hides her disappointment again. Then Michael tells her that no longer loves her. Jolene is devastated and can't understand what has happened.

Jolene and Tami's unit gets called up and off to Iraq they go for a year's deployment. Michael is angry that he has to change his routine to take care of his daughters, and he resents the detailed binders of information that Jolene has left for him. Schedules of meals, doctor's appointments, and household maintenance are all laid out by the efficient Jolene.

Hannah does an amazing job showing how these families' lives are turned upside down, and having the wives as the deployed soldiers and the husbands left behind to handle the home front made this novel that much more interesting. The contrast between Tami's supportive husband and Michael is jarring.

We see how hard it is for those left behind and how difficult it is for forty-something women in a war zone. Jolene tries to protect her family by downplaying the danger, and Michael is willing to play along.

She writes emails to her daughters, but nothing to Michael, believing that their marriage is over. Michael makes no effort to reach out to Jolene either, even though he feels badly that she left believing he no longer loved her.

I saw Kristin Hannah a book signing at Barnes & Noble on 86th St. in New York City in February and she said that she wanted to write a book about the price of deployment on military families and a marriage in trouble. She said "some books I like more than others, and this one I like."

Kristin Hannah at Barnes & Noble

She interviewed a chopper pilot and "didn't understand one word she said because she used acronyms." The pilot, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Teresa Burgess, is thanked in the acknowledgments, and it is clear that she was the inspiration for Tami and Jolene.

There is a turn of events halfway through the novel, and it reminded me very much of Anna Quindlen's novel, Every Last One. Just like that powerful novel, I cried all the way through the last half, and my heart literally hurt reading it. It was a emotionally draining experience reading this book.

The characters are well drawn, and the story is well written. Betsy going through her teenage angst, Michael struggling and Jolene's withdrawal felt so real. I read this book in two sittings; I couldn't set it down or get these characters out of my mind.

Home Front takes you on a emotional journey, and it reminds us of the hugh sacrifice that a small percentage of Americans make on behalf of the rest of us. It is shameful that we as a nation have not done enough to help the families left behind or the soldiers upon their return, and thanks to Kristin Hannah for reminding us that we have a responsibility too.

rating 5 of 5 stars

Another excellent book about soldiers and the families they leave behind is Siobhan Fallon's You'll Know When the Men Have Gone.

My review of Alex George's A GOOD AMERICAN

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Weekend Cooking- Weeknights With Giada

Weeknights With Giada by Giada de Laurentiis
Published by Clarkson Potter, ISBN 978-0307451026
240 pages, $35

I bought Giada de Laurentiis' first cookbook, Everyday Italian, when it published in 2005. I've seen some of her TV shows on the Food Network and her appearances on the Today Show.


Her latest cookbook, Weeknights With Giada promises 'quick and simple recipes to revamp dinner' that will take less than an hour to cook. Giada has a young daughter Jade, and many of her recipes in this book are geared to appeal to young children.

There is a cute photo of Jade eating Mini Meatball Sandwiches, and two other recipes that kids would enjoy are Pastina with Peas & Carrots and Pirate Pasta, both of which feature lots of chopped vegetables, which can be tough to get kids to eat. Adding them to pasta accomplishes that, and it allows you to use up vegetables you have in your refrigerator.

Giada and her family have breakfast for dinner once a week, which I used to enjoy when my sons were young. Pancakes, eggs, sausage and hash potatoes were always a treat for dinner, but now that they are men, that doesn't cut it.

There is an entire chapter of Breakfast for Dinner recipes that I would like to try, including Breakfast Tart with Pancetta & Green Onions, Peach and Cherry Fritatta and Crispy Breakfast Pita, with spinach, prosciutto and mascarpone cheese.

Crispy Breakfast Pita

This is a twist on a piadina, an Italian flatbread. For weeknight ease, instead of making a dough, I use store-bought pitas as the base. They get topped with a creamy mascarpone spread, a salty bite of prosciutto, a lightly dressed arugula salad and a fried egg. Serves 6.

6 (6-inch) pita breads

Extra-virgin olive oil

6 large eggs

¾ cup (6 ounces) mascarpone cheese

Grated zest of ½ large lemon

Kosher salt and freshly ground

Black pepper

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

3 packed cups (3 ounces) arugula or baby spinach

8 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto

Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Brush each side of the pita breads with ½ teaspoon olive oil and grill for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, until crisp. Remove from the grill and cool slightly. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Crack the eggs directly into the pan and cook until the egg whites are set, 2 to 3 minutes. Combine the mascarpone cheese, lemon zest, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper in a small bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk together 3 tablespoons olive oil, the lemon juice, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper until smooth. Add the arugula and toss until coated. Spread each pita with 2 tablespoons of the mascarpone mixture. Divide the prosciutto on top. Divide the arugula and mound on top of the prosciutto. Carefully place a fried egg on top of each pita. Season the eggs with a pinch of salt and pepper, and serve.

Crispy Breakfast Pita from Weeknights With Giada

Some of the other interesting recipes are Rustic Vegetable and Polenta Soup, Caramelized Onion, Chicken & Grapefruit Salad and Couscous with Watermelon, Watercress and Feta Cheese.

At first glance, I wasn't crazy about this cookbook, but upon further perusal, I found more recipes that I would like to try, among them Crispy Chicken with Rosemary Lemon Salt, Fig & Brie Panini, Scallion & Mozzarella Cornbread and Grilled California-Style Chopped Salad with Shrimp, which if I remember correctly, Giada served Prince William and Princess Kate when they visited California last year.

There are a lot of photos, many of them with Jade in them, and a few of the photos of the food looked not very appetizing to me.  (I had an uncorrected proof of the book, so perhaps they were edited out in the final edition.) Giada has branched out from Italian to include recipes with quinoa, tofu and soy in them; those did not appeal to me as much. 

I think if you like Giada, you'll like this book, and if you have young children, there are recipes here that seem fresher and healthier than the typical kiddie fare. 

rating 3.5 of 5 stars

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!