New in Paperback: Elegy for Eddie by Jacqueline Winspear

Elegy for Eddie:  A Maisie Dobbs Mystery by Jacqueline Winspear 

Published by Harper Perennial ISBN 978-0062049582

Trade paperback $15.99, 368 pages 

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

Jackie After O by Tina Cassidy

Jackie After O by Tina Cassidy
Published by ItBooks, ISBN 978-0-06-199433-3
Hardcover, $24.99, 276 pages

The fascination with the Kennedy family is perpetual, and even though Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis was a Kennedy by marriage, her life still generates books, films and even a jewelry line bearing her influence and name.

Tina Cassidy has written a book, Jackie After O: One Remarkable Year When Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Defied Expectations & Rediscovered Her Dreams, that gives a brief overview of her subject's life, concentrating more on the work she accomplished and less on her well-documented personal life.

Most people know about Jackie's work restoring the White House, and the famous television interview she did showing the results to the American people. Less well known but just as fascinating were her efforts to preserve the historical architecture on Lafayette Square, which surrounded the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue. She fought developers and convinced her husband of the importance of preserving the historical buildings.

Onassis again put her name and efforts behind saving another American landmark in 1975; the beautiful Grand Central Terminal in New York City. At that time, New York City was on the verge of economic collapse, and the city could not afford to fight developers who wanted to put a skyscraper on top of Grand Central Terminal to house office space.

The Municipal Art Society was formed and as part of that committee, Onassis lent her prestige and name and appeared at a prominent press conference that announced their efforts to sue to preserve the historical landmark. When she spoke at the press conference, she garnered much more press attention to a worthy cause than would have otherwise been created. She wrote letters and strategized as to how to preserve this indelible New York landmark, and thanks in part to that committees's efforts, Grand Central Terminal is now restored to its rightful grandeur.

After her second husband died, and her children were teens and off to school, Onassis was looking for another challenge. She wanted a job, a career. Literature was always important to her and she ended up at Viking working as an editor.

The most interesting part of this book is related by Rebecca Singleton, the young editorial assistant who was given the task of working with Onassis. Singleton was hoping to be promoted to editor herself as she was an ambitious go-getter, and her work was well liked by her supervisors.

Singleton recounts so many wonderful, warm stories about her working relationship with Onassis. It is intriguing to see this side of Onassis; someone who wanted to learn, be accepted and be good at her job.

One delightful anecdote concerned the rule at the office that the first one in had to make the coffee. A director of publicity recalls arriving "to find Jackie wrestling on the floor with a bag trying to open it. She sheepishly handed it to him. He opened it. And then she took it back to brew a pot for the office."

We do see some of her troubled marriage with Ari Onassis, and her difficult relationship with step-daughter Cristina, but this book is strongest when relating Jacqueline's passion for preservation and literature, using her talents and name to do good works of which she could be proud.

Fans of the Kennedy mystique will enjoy this refreshing and interesting take on a different side of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, a woman who will always intrigue us.

rating 4 of 5

On Broadway: Chaplin, the Musical

Charlie Chaplin is an American film icon, although he was born and raised in England. The Broadway musical Chaplin takes us from his childhood through his triumphant return to America at the 1972 Oscars with a story that keeps the audience interested and involved all the way through.

Rob McClure gives a star-making performance in the title role. The role is very physical, and McClure doesn't so much mimic Chaplin as he brings him to life before our very eyes. Many people don't know much about Chaplin, just that he was a silent film actor who was called the Little Tramp for the character he created.

Chaplin was brought to America by silent film producer/director Mack Sennett and after a rocky start, he became a powerhouse writer, actor and director. We see his climb up the ladder, his genius in creating films that the American audience wanted to see. With his brother as his manager, he moved from studio to studio, earning record sums of money before starting his own studio.

He also had a taste for women- young women, mostly. He married and divorced three times, and there is a funny song and dance about the three wives who received record divorce settlements from Chaplin.

The show really takes off in the second act with the introduction of Hedda Hopper, the famous powerful Hollywood gossip columnist. Chaplin refuses to go on her radio show for an interview, and Hopper becomes enraged at this. Jenn Colella is spectacular as Hopper and her powerful voice shines in two of the best songs in the show, "Just Another Day in Hollywood" and "All Falls Down."

Chaplin is disturbed by Hitler's actions in Europe and after his movie, The Great Dictator parodying Hitler is a huge hit, Chaplin is asked to speak at rallies supporting American intervention in Europe. Many of these rallies were attended by Communists, and Hopper used this fact to try to get the US Attorney General to arrest and deport Chaplin.

We see how these two powerful, egotistical and stubborn people, Chaplin and Hopper, butt heads and when Hopper finds a young woman who says that Chaplin is the father of her illegitimate child, public sentiment turns against Chaplin. He takes his loving (and much younger) wife Oona and moves to Switzerland.

The last scene is Chaplin's triumphant return to the 1972 Oscars, where he received a standing ovation from the audience. He feared they would boo him, or worse be silent, but the thunderous ovation he received is something I vividly remember watching as a 10-year-old girl in front of my TV set. I got chills watching McClure give Chaplin's speech; it was an incredibly powerful moment on stage.

This is a show that has a great book, wonderful performances, and if many of the songs aren't particularly memorable, that is OK. My husband, who is not a big musical fan, thought the show was fantastic. Chaplin led an amazing life and seeing his story brought to life on stage by these performers is a treat not to be missed.

Jenn Colella singing at Broadway at Bryant Park Summer 2012

Rob McClure singing at Broadway at Bryant Park Summer 2012

On Broadway: Grace

Some plays you should see because the story makes you think about something in a different way, others you should see for the performances of the actors. Grace, starring Paul Rudd (The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Role Models), Michael Shannon (Take Shelter, TV's Boardwalk Empire), Kate Arrington and TV legend Ed Asner (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Lou Grant) falls into the latter category.

Rudd and Arrington play Steve and Sarah, a couple from Minnesota who move to Florida to start a chain of gospel-themed hotels. They are true believers, preaching their religion to anyone who listen (and even those who won't). Sam, their neighbor in the apartment next door played by Shannon, is a recluse. He was in a car accident that killed his fiancee and left him disfigured.  Asner plays Karl, an exterminator, the only survivor in his family of the Nazi occupation.

Karl's story is revealed as Steve asks him questions about faith and God. Karl doesn't have faith or believe in God because he has seen horrible things, the worst of humanity. How could there be a God who would allow those things to happen? Asner hits all of the right notes here, playing humor and pathos in equal measure.

Shannon is simply amazing as Sam. If you have seen his performance in Boardwalk Empire,  there are similarities between Sam and the character he plays in Boardwalk. Nobody plays quiet desperation and loneliness like Shannon; he is simply brilliant here.

 Sara is lonely, waiting at home while Steve works to line up financing for their venture. She makes numerous attempts to befriend Sam, to draw him out of his shell, to bring some measure of human interaction to his life as well as to her own. Arrington and Shannon play this budding relationship with such delicacy and sweetness, I was not shocked to discover they are married off-stage.

Steve's relationship with his wife is more troubling. Steve is somewhat of a bully towards his wife, and the flashes of anger we see in him when things do not go his way match his nearly manic display of religious fervor as he tries to logically explain why Karl and Sam should have faith. Rudd plays this outwardly cheerful character who hides his rages quite well.

The play starts at the tragic end, so the audience sees that Steve kills everyone, and then we go back to the beginning of this unraveling. I'm not sure how I feel about this conceit or why the playwright began the play this way. Maybe it was to grab the audience right away and to have them look for signs that led up to this violent end, but I wondered if it would have been more powerful to not have known it was coming.

This is a show to see for the performances, and if you can get a discount ticket. I saw the cast after the matinee, and they all graciously signed and posed for photos, no one staying longer than 82-year-old Asner, who was a fan favorite. (He also told me this play was exhausting him.)

Ed Asner

Kate Arrington

Michael Shannon

Paul Rudd

Weekend Cooking- A Pie Recipe from One Good Deed

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.

I'm just finishing up a fantastic memoir by Erin McHugh, One Good Deed.  Every day for a year, Erin set about to do one good deed; it didn't have to be big, just one good deed for someone else. Her journal is inspiring, funny, moving and thought-provoking. McHugh also has a website, One Good Deed, where people can talk about their good deeds.

I love this book for many reasons- Erin is Irish (me too), raised Catholic (me too), loves to read (me too), thinks the movie Love, Actually is the best Christmas movie (a no-brainer) and we even live in the same neighborhood. It made me look at the many, many people I am surrounded by here in NYC differently.  I am more aware of them and try to be more gracious to them.

Erin's simple ideas, from donating money (however small) to good causes to picking up the trash you see around you to bringing flowers to cheer up a friend are very doable, and I'll be darned if they don't make you feel pretty good when you do them.

It also made me conscious of the good things I try to do, like sending everyone in my family a card on their birthday/anniversary and going to book signings for authors and buying their books as gifts for friends and family (two good deeds in one!).  I like thinking I'm a pretty good person, but also knowing that I can always do better.

In her book, Erin posted a family recipe for Cranberry Surprise Pie, which she always makes for Thanksgiving family dinners, and then makes an extra one to give to family friends. Erin gave me permission to post the recipe here, and I can't wait to try it this year at our family holiday table. (I love cranberries)

Cranberry Surprise Pie
2 cups fresh cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup butter, melted
2 large eggs, beaten
1 cup flour
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 9 1/2 inch pie plate. Pour the cranberries into the bottom of the pie plate and sprinkle evenly with the walnut and 1/2 cup of the sugar.
Mix the eggs with melted butter, 1 cup sugar, the vanilla, and the flour. Pour over the cranberry mixture. Bake for 50 minutes at 325 degrees F.

I can't speak highly enough of One Good Deed, and I bought four copies of the book already. I know I'll be back for more as my Christmas gift list grows. I'll post a full review next week.

Goodbye for Now by Laurie Frankel

Goodbye for Now by Laurie Frankel
Published by Doubleday ISBN 978-0-385-53618-9
Hardcover, $25.95

When Sam Elling creates an algorithm for the internet dating company that employs him that matches people with their soul mates, two things happen: he gets fired and he meets his soul mate.

The owner of the internet dating company decides that people actually finding their soul mates would end his company, which relies on people continuing to search for that perfect person, so he fires Sam.

Sam's algorithm matches him with Meredith, who works in the company's marketing department. We watch as they fall in love and as Sam searches for his next career move. Then Meredith's beloved grandmother dies suddenly, and Meredith is bereft. She spent a lot of time with her grandmother, and all she wants is to talk to her again.

Sam can't stand to see Meredith so sad, and he comes up with a crazy idea. He creates an algorithm that  goes through the deceased person's emails, video chats and social network messages that allows the deceased person to communicate with loved ones left behind. The caveat: they can only say things that they have actually said in the past, so it is essentially having the same conversations over and over.

Initially he does just to make Meredith feel better and it does. But Meredith thinks others could use it to make them feel better too. She convinces Sam to start a business, and Meredith's cousin Dash joins them.

Their first customer is Eduardo, whose brother died suddenly in an accident. Eduardo tells his brother that the brother is dead in their first chat, and Sam has found a bug; the dead loved one can't understand that he is dead. The first thing rule has become "Don't tell your loved one he/she is dead", and every single person breaks the rule.

The business takes off, and they meet many kind, loving and sad people. Meredith handles the people part of it, Sam the tech part. Things go well, until they get some bad publicity. Questions are raised about the ethics of doing this, and whether they are profiting from other's people tragedies.

I read this remarkable book on a plane and I flew through it. A tragedy occurs in the last third of the book, and although it is one that a careful reader will see coming, it is still devastating. I sobbed and read through tears.

Frankel has written a novel that asks you to question how much technology is too much, and I guarantee that you will be much more conscious of your social media and email communication after reading it. She has taken something that seems at first so fantastical, yet makes you believe it is possible.

The end of the story reinforces your faith in humanity, and the importance of the human connections we make. Facebook friends are nice, but when the chips are down, it is the actual, physical relationships we create with each other that sustain us.

I loved the characters, and the story is just beautiful. We have all faced loss; Frankel takes that universal experience and the desire to keep our loved ones with us forever and touches your heart with her moving, emotional novel.

rating 5 of 5

If you liked Lee Woodruff's Those We Love Most, you'll like Goodbye for Now

Weekend Cooking- Pinterest Testing Three Chicken Recipes

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.

As I posted last week, I spent a few hours updating and reorganizing my Pinterest recipe boards last week. I made a pledge to cook more recipes from Pinterest, and this is a round-up of my week.

Sunday- I tried a new recipe, Firehouse Chicken Bleu. I enjoy taking dishes we like and deconstructing the flavors, putting them together in a different way and this one was a winner. Instead of a whole chicken breast with ham and Swiss cheese rolled inside, it is a pasta dish with chunks of chicken and cheese in a swiss cheese sauce.
The Pros- It had good flavor. I bought a 1/2 lb. of glazed ham from the prepared foods section of our Italian grocery store and shredded gruyere cheese to give it a flavor boost. I also used fresh penne instead of boxed. It's even better the next day as leftovers, as the original poster mentioned.
The Cons- I thought this would save a lot of work- pounding, rolling the chicken- but I used so many pots! One to cook the chicken, one for the pasta, one to make the sauce, and a baking dish. Whew! I thought it would be easier than making cordon bleu, but it wasn't.

Tweaks-I added paprika instead of cayenne pepper, and I would maybe cook in 400 degree oven for 10 minutes, then broil for 4 minutes to brown. When I took it out from the broiler I had to microwave to heat it through.

Verdict- My husband really liked it, and I know my sons will enjoy it.

Served with- Jamie Oliver's Corn Chowder (foolproof!), Trader Joe's banana bread, caesar salad.

Source: amysnewkitchen.blogspot.com via Diane on Pinterest

Monday- Firehouse Chicken Cordon Bleu leftovers- yay, no cooking!

Tuesday- We had company and tickets for the Broadway show Chaplin, so we had dinner at The Capital Grille on West 51st St. We got the $39 Pre-Theatre Dinner, a great bargain and the Flourless Chocolate Espresso Cake for dessert was the highlight.

Wednesday- Still had company and had a kgb deal for Tony DiNapoli's restaurant. The meal was terrific, especially the White Sangria and Pear & Gorgonzola Salad and we have a new favorite dessert- Tartufo Exotic, four slices of fruit gelato covered with white chocolate and whipped cream. It was delightful!

Thursday- A new Pinterest recipe- Outback Steakhouse Aussie Chicken. 

The Pros- I had all the ingredients on hand, so no need to go to the grocery store. The recipe was easy to follow, not a lot of chopping, very few ingredients. It has cheese, bacon and mushrooms, so it tastes good.

The Cons- It calls for bacon, which I don't like to cook because the apartment smells like bacon grease all night. The cheese and bacon add a lot of calories, so this is a dish I wouldn't serve very often.

Tweaks- The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of cheese on each chicken breast, I cut that down to 1/4 cup and the flavor was still there.

Served with- Smashed potatoes would be great with this, but my husband had a craving for rice, so it was rice and Trader Joe's crescent rolls.

Verdict- My husband enjoyed it, and I would make it again, but not too often.

Source: favfamilyrecipes.com via Diane on Pinterest

Friday- Another new Pinterest recipe- Honey Beer Chicken. I was looking for a quick, easy recipe since I got home late and the Yankees playoff game began at 5pm. 

The Pros- This one was very easy, and used ingredients that I had on hand. It only took about 30 minutes total. The sauce was full of flavor, and the soy sauce gave it a beefy taste. You only use 1/2 cup of beer, so you can finish the can while you cook. The recipe came from Cooking Light magazine, so it is lower in calories. I used to cook from that magazine all the time, they have many terrific recipes.  

The Cons- The chicken itself was a tad bland.

Tweaks- I didn't add the parsley at the end; my husband is not a fan of parsley (or cilantro).

Served with- Leftover rice (the sauce was good over that) and we started with Rachael Ray's Pumpkin Soup with Chili Cran-Apple Relish, which had honey in the relish that echoed the honey in the chicken sauce. 

Verdict- This is a good, healthier entree and I would make this entire dinner again. My husband gave it an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

Source: betsylife.com via Diane on Pinterest

Did you cook any new recipes this week? Let me know in comments.

'World,' 'Newlyweds' capture complexity of family : Diane Larue

My monthly column in the Citizen

'World,' 'Newlyweds' capture complexity of family : Diane Larue

Weekend Cooking- Playing With Pinterest

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 I decided to work on my Pinterest boards. I reorganized my Food & Recipes boards, making subcategories of Main Dishes, Side Dishes, Soup's On, Desserts etc. It was very rewarding, and then I proceeded to spend nearly three hours surfing Pinterest for more recipes to add to my boards. My goal is to cook at least four Pinterest recipes a week; I'll post my results as they occur.

I began the week by making Carol from There's Always Thyme to Cook 's Chicken Parm Meatballs for my husband and son. Carol always has terrific recipes, and once again she had a winner. My guys loved this one.

Source: theresalwaysthyme.blogspot.com via Diane on Pinterest

I had plenty of leftovers, and I usually make hot meatball sandwiches with them, but I found this recipe for Meatball Casserole on Dishing with Leslie, and they loved this one too. It was similar to hot meatball sandwiches, but the guys liked this better. The only tweak I would make is toasting the bread a little before placing in the casserole dish.

Source: dishingwithleslie.blogspot.com via Diane on Pinterest

I saw my sister-in-law this week, the one who loves to cook, and we worked a little on her Pinterest boards. I can't wait to see what she comes up with!

Are you on Pinterest? Do you use it frequently? Let me know in comments.

The Cursing Mommy Book Of Days by Ian Frazier - Audiobook Excerpt

 Is this the distaff S*&t My Dad Says.  If you are offended by cursing, DO NOT listen. Everyone else, enjoy listening to Miranda from Sex & the City (Cynthia Nixon) curse like a sailor.

Weekend Cooking- Mike Isabella's Crazy Good Italian

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.

Mike Isabella's Crazy Good Italian: Big Flavors, Small Plates by Mike Isabella
Published by Da Capo Lifelong Books ISBN 978-073821566235
Hardcover, $35, 352 pages

Bravo TV's Top Chef fans will recognize the name Mike Isabella. On his first go-round on the show, he came off as kind of a jerk. He was asked to be a part of Top Chef All-Stars and to the surprise of some, he very nearly won it, finishing a close second to champion Richard Blais. (Even his detractors had come to admire his kitchen skills.)

Isabella has a cookbook out, Mike Isabella's Crazy Good Italian, which celebrates his Italian heritage and has lots of wonderful memories of his grandmother, who gave Mike his love of cooking. What I like about this book is that many of the recipes are for small plates, which I enjoy. Some of the small plate recipes I want to try include:

• Deviled Eggs with Bacon
• Baked Ricotta with Scallion, Speck and Saba (which sounds fancy, but looks fairly easy. Speck is a cured ham and saba is a thick concentrated syrup made from sweetened grape juice. I did not know that.)
• Crispy Mushrooms with Sweet and Sour Apricot Sauce

Isabella is Italian and Greek, and there are many recipes he has created that combine those two heritages, which he has in a chapter titled Family Secrets. Some of those recipes are:

• Aunt Connie's Pepper Rings
• Grandma Antoinette's & Mike's Favorite Gravy, which has a pig's foot as its special ingredient
• Meatballs, made with mortadella and mint 

There are lots of authentic Italian recipes here for serious cooks, ones that use ingredients such as octopus, calamari and squid.  When I visited Rome this past February, there were many dishes with those ingredients and reading Isabella's book brought me right back there. Some of those recipes from the chapter Not Your Sunday Macaroni are:

• Baby Cuttlefish with Salt Crusted Potatoes & Pancetta Pesto
• Black Spaghetti with Clams, Pancetta, Red Chili & Squid Ink
• Pistachio Fettucine with Lamb Ragu, Feta & Mint

The dish that came Isabella created for the Top Chef All-Star final challenge, his Pepperoni Sauce, is in this book. Gail Simmons from Food & amp;Wine Magazine went crazy for this dish, and here Isabella uses it over chicken wings. It's one of the most requested dishes at his Washington DC Graffiato restaurant, and I'm going to make this one for Sunday football for my guys. This is a link to the recipe and a video of Isabella making the dish on the Today Show this past week.

There are gorgeous photos in this book, and at the end of the book there is a section called Menu Suggestions, where Isabella categorizes his recipes under Date Night, Entertaining, Family Night and Dinner Party Time. I liked that added touch.

I met Isabella in June at the Book Expo, and snapped a photo of him. He handed out Rainbow Cookies along with a blad from his book and the recipe for the cookies. 

Mike Isabella at the Book Expo

This is a cookbook for the more adventurous and serious cooks in my opinion. If you have someone on your Christmas gift list who fits that description, Mike Isabella's Crazy Good Italian would be a wonderful holiday present.

rating 4 of 5

The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger

The Newlyweds by Nell Freudenberger
Published by Alfred A. Knopf ISBN 9780307268846
Hardcover, $25.95, 352 pages

I was drawn to this book because it was about a Bangladeshi woman who marries an American man and moves to Rochester, NY, and I'm originally from a city near there. The first reference to Wegmans grocery store in Pittsford made me smile wistfully. I enjoyed reading of Amina's journey from the only home she has known to marry a man she met on the Internet. She and her parents plan for Amina to marry, become an American citizen, and then bring them to live in America.

But George, Amina's husband, is not aware of these plans. He is an engineer, bought a home for Amina and himself, and wants to start a family. Their tentativeness in beginning a life together when they don't know each other very well is the most interesting part of the book. The story is told from Amina's point of view, so we don't get as much of George's side of things. He tries very hard to please to his wife, to make her feel welcome and loved, but he is a little rigid. We find that there is a secret he has been hiding, one that devastates Amina when she discovers it.

Watching Amina adjust to life in cold, snowy Rochester, trying to get a job, make friends and work towards her goal of bringing her parents over fascinated me. Freudenberger does a terrific job of putting the reader in Amina's shoes, of empathizing with her. You can actually feel her loneliness, and you root for her when she gets a job and goes to school. Like the immigrants who built this country, Amina desires to build a better life and is willing to work hard for it.

But Amina is not entirely noble, she has her flaws. When the story shifts to Bangladesh as Amina goes home to prepare to bring her parents back with her, we see a different side to her. She fears that something may go awry and her parents will be denied visas. After her discovery that George had lied to her about something important, she begins to question whether she belongs in America. She is attracted to a man from her past, and this confuses her. Her father is involved in a deal gone bad, and her mother is becoming somewhat erratic. Are her plans falling apart around her?

Freudenberger puts the reader in Amina's home country and reading about Bangladeshi traditions, foods, clothing and lifestyle intrigued me. Her writing and characters drew me into this engaging story of a marriage that leads to love.

rating 4 of 5

New in paperback: The Odds by Stewart O'Nan

The Odds: A Love Story by Stewart O'Nan
Published by Penguin ISBN 9780143122272
Trade paperback, $14, 192 pages

I've never read a book by Stewart O'Nan, though I have heard good things about him.  His latest novel, The Odds: A Love Story, tells the story of Marion and Art, a middle-aged married couple on their way to Niagara Falls.

They are in severe financial trouble, about to lose their home to foreclosure and have a plan to hit a casino, with Art's sure-fire system to win enough money to save them.

As the story quietly unfolds, we find that Art and Marion are planning on separating, but I wasn't clear if it was related to the finances or because Marion was unhappy. We learn that Art had an affair a long time ago, and Marion has never really forgiven him. Marion recently had an affair with a woman, but Art is unaware of that.

Each chapter begins with a statistic, like the "odds of getting sick on vacation 1 in 9", and each statistic relates to the chapter. In this one, Marion gets food poisoning. It's a clever way to tie everything into the gambling theme.

This is basically a two-person story, and as I was reading it, I thought it would make a good stage play. We spend much of time getting to know this couple, and the insight into each character is revealing, like this passage of Art describing himself:

"If, as he liked to think, his greatest strength was a patient, indomitable hope, his one great shortcoming was a refusal to accept and therefore have any shot at changing his fate."

Marion says of herself:

"What had she done with her life? For a moment she couldn't think of anything. Become a wife and a mother. A lover, briefly, badly. Made a home, worked, saved, traveled. All with him. For him, because of him, despite him. From the start, because she was just a girl then, she'd thought they were soul mates, that it made them special, better than other couples they knew. She'd learned her lesson. She swore she'd never be fooled again, not by anyone, and yet she's fought for him as if he were hers, and then, having won, didn't know what to do with him."

That passage just blew me away. I found the writing to be concise, and so profound. Marion and Art each take chapters sharing their thoughts and moving the story along. The overwhelming tone of the novel is sadness, with Art hoping that his gamble can make this last trip together something memorable, that he can be a hero, and they can regain the intimacy they lost.

Marion does not appear to want to reignite their marriage, she sees this as one last reluctant fling. She is an unhappy woman, and the only time she shows any sign of joy is when they get drunk at a Heart concert, reliving her youth.

The one nitpicky thing that bothered me about this book is the character names. Art and Marion are about the same age as me, but their names make them sound like they are 70 years old. I don't know anyone my age named Art or Marion. I wonder if the author intentionally did that?

Their literal gambling to win enough money to save themselves is a metaphor for the gamble they are taking on their marriage. Can they win at either? Anyone who has been married may see themselves in certain parts of this book. It is an insightful look at a marriage in crisis, and the writing is so brilliant, you'll feel like you are eavesdropping on this couple.

rating 4 of 5

Weekend Cooking- A Visit to Columbus Ohio

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 went to visit family this weekend in Columbus Ohio to take in an Ohio State University football game. The game was at noon, so we began tailgating at 9am.

The first thing we saw in the parking lot was a man taping a sign to a port-a-potty that read- "Private Use- Keep Out". That just cracked me up!

There were your standard tailgaters with chips, dips, and crockpots, but I wasn't prepared for the vans with big screen televisions; I had never seen that before.

I also saw three food trucks parked in the stadium parking lot; Pitabilities, which sold pita sandwiches

Pitabilities Food Truck

Bob's Burgers, which had your standard burger fare with all the fixins

Bob's Burger Truck

And the one that caught my eye, Market District's Foodie Truck, which sold Vietnamese sandwiches and Indian curry plates. What a great idea for an interesting tailgate food option.

Market District Foodie Truck

Foodie Truck menu

My husband's brother Chris wanted to go to a place called The Thurman Cafe because he saw it on the TV show Man Vs. Food. We waited two hours (!) to get seated so he could eat the Thurmanator, 24 oz. of beef with ham, bacon, two kinds of cheese, mushrooms, onions, pickles, and banana peppers. Four of the guys split two of them and they pronounced them worth the wait.

1/2 of the Thurmanator

I've never waited two hours for food, (for a book signing yes, but not food), but we had fun while we waited and my regular cheeseburger deluxe was pretty darn good too. (If I was a cardiologist in the Columbus area, I would have my business cards in the waiting area of that restaurant.)

It was a great weekend, we look forward to making it an annual event. 

If you've ever waited two hours for a table seating, let me know where in the comments section.

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
Published by Scribner, ISBN 9781451681734
Hardcover, $25, 352 pages

One of Oprah's first book club picks was Jacqueline Mitchard's The Deep End of the Ocean, about a woman whose young son disappeared from a crowded store. Over ten years later, the boy is discovered living with another family and returned to his home.

M.L. Stedman's book, The Light Between Oceans not only shares the word 'ocean' in its title, but the storyline shows the flip side of Mitchard's book. In Stedman's book, a young couple lives on a remote lighthouse island in Australia in the years following WWI. Tom is a war veteran, Isabel is a young woman who lost two brothers to the war.

They have tried to have a baby, but Isabel has miscarried three times and after the last loss has been inconsolable. When a boat washes ashore with a dead man and live baby, Isabel convinces Tom not to report the incident, but to keep the baby girl and pass her off as their own.

Tom is torn between his conscience, his duty and his love for his wife. He has taken her from her family and community and brought her to this desolate place, and he cannot stand to see her so sad. He fears for her sanity.

The baby girl, whom they call Lucy which comes from the Latin word for light, is the light of their lives. Tom is enchanted by the baby, and so thrilled to see his wife happy. Yet keeping this secret gnaws at him, as secrets always do.

The second half of the book revolves around the consequences of the secret being revealed. Stedman has written an amazing debut novel, which puts the reader square in the middle of this situation. You can't help but think as you read, 'what would I do in Tom and Isabel's shoes?'

Much like Jodi Picoult's books, Stedman allows the reader to see both sides, and you like and understand the characters even when you disagree with their actions. Her characters are drawn out through passages like these:

"But he's scarred all the same, having to live in the same skin as the man who did the things that needed to be done back then. He carries that other shadow which is cast inward."

and "It occurs to him that there different versions of himself to farewell- the abandoned eight-year-old, the delusional soldier who hovered somewhere in hell; the lightkeeper who dared to leave his heart undefended. Like Russian dolls, these dolls nested within him."

The author does a wonderful job making the reader feel the desolation of living at the lighthouse alone.

"Tom can go for months and not hear his own voice. He knows some keepers who make a point of singing, just like turning over an engine to make sure it still works. But Tom finds a different freedom in the silence. He listens to the wind. He observes the tine details of life on the island."

The book really comes alive when baby Lucy is introduced into the story. The early chapters deal with Tom's life, and his work at the lighthouse. I heard Stedman speak at a reading and she spoke of the great deal of research she did for this novel, which clearly shows in this remarkable debut, which has received much critical praise, being chosen as an Amazon Best Book of August 2012.

The Light Between Oceans transports you to a different time and place yet asks you a universal question- what would you do for someone you loved?

rating 5 of 5

You'll like this if you liked The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards.

Bruce Springsteen at MetLife Stadium- a Set List & Video

My older son and I went to Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's first show at the new MetLife Stadium in his home state of New Jersey and it was fantastic! He played a lot of favorites, and the new horn addition to the band gives a fuller sound and some more playmates for Bruce. (Although it cut into his playtime with guitarist Little Stevie VanZandt, which I've always enjoyed.) With the death of the Big Man, sax player Clarence Clemons, there is a huge hole, but the new horn section with Clemons' nephew Jake on sax really add a fresh dimension. They did a nice tribute to Clemons during 10th Ave. Freezeout.

The horns really revved up Johnny 99, and I love the Johnny Cash- Ring of Fire sound on We Are Alive. Springsteen pulled a young girl (maybe 8years old) up to sing the refrain for Waiting on a Sunny Day and she was terrific, sang on key and was so cute.

Another cool thing was a Dance Party during Dancing in the Dark. People held up signs saying they wanted to dance with various band members, and Springsteen pulled them up on stage to dance. One guy's sign said he wanted to dance with Patty, Springsteen's wife, and he played with the audience on that one, but he let the guy dance with her. Springsteen himself danced with a little girl who shyly just moved her arms, and he mimicked her moves like a little boy at a school dance; it was adorable!

I've seen Springsteen four times, starting with the Born in the USA tour, and this show ranked up there for energy and a great song list. The show started at 8:30pm (supposed to start at 7:30, but we're on Springsteen time here) and ended at 12:15am.

His set list:
Opened with a Frank Sinatra recording of my favorite Sinatra song, The Summer Wind
Shackled & Drawn
Prove It All Night
The Ties That Bind
Hungry Heart
We Take Care of Our Own
Wrecking Ball
Death to My Hometown
My City of Ruins
Spirit of the Night
E Street Shuffle
Jack of All Trades
Human Touch
Johnny 99 (horns)
Darlington County
Working on the Highway
Easy Money
Promised Land
Waiting On a Sunny Day (little girl)
Mansion On the Hill
Racing in the Street
The Rising
Badlands
Land of Hope and Dreams
We Are Alive

Encores:
Thunder Road
Born to Run
Rosalita
Dancing in the Dark
10th Ave. Freezeout
Twist & Shout

The Good Girls Revolt by Lynn Povich

The Good Girls Revolt by Lynn Povich
Published by PublicAffairs ISBN 978-1-61039-713-3
Hardcover $25.99

My sons like to tease me and call me a feminist (yeah, they don't get it), a badge I proudly wear, so I was surprised that I knew nothing about the revolt by the women working at Newsweek magazine, who in 1970 brought a complaint to the EEOC against the magazine charging discrimination against them in hiring and promotion practices.

Lynn Povich, a writer who worked at Newsweek and was part of the suit, brings the story to life in The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women at Newsweek Sued Their Bosses and Changed the Workplace. The women were employed at the magazine as researchers, but were never promoted to writer or editor, even though they had similar education and experience as the men hired as researchers and quickly promoted to writer and editor.

Nora Ephron, who worked at the magazine, described the "caste system"

"For every man there was an inferior woman, for every writer there was a checker", said Nora Ephron. "They were the artists and we were the drones. But what is interesting is how institutionally sexist it was without necessarily being personally sexist. To me, it wasn't oppressive. They were going to try to sleep with you- and if you wanted to, you could. But no one was going to fire you for not sleeping with them."

Mad Men's Madison Avenue offices weren't the only places where sex and booze ruled the workplace.

Povich is an excellent writer, and parts of this book, especially where the women were secretly meeting and trying to recruit other women to join the suit, read like a tense spy novel. Will they get caught?

They hired a young and pregnant Eleanor Holmes Norton to represent them. "The editors, who had supported the struggle for civil rights, were completely baffled by this pregnant black woman who questioned their commitment to equality."

The male editors, some of whom seemed like great guys, just didn't get it. What was worse in many of the women's eyes, was that Katherine Graham, who owned The Washington Post and Newsweek, didn't get it either. There is a powerful scene where Graham meets with the women and appears baffled by their action.

Along with the historical context of this story, I enjoyed reading about the inner workings of the magazine. We had a subscription for many years, and I always turned to read Anna Quindlen's back page column first. I had no idea that the struggle for equality there was so recent.

I recognized so many names in this book- Qunidlen, Ephron, Eleanor Clift, Jane Bryant Quinn and Maureen Orth among them. But it is the names that I didn't know, they are the important names, the ones who laid it all on the line so that the above mentioned women would be well known. Women like Povich, Pat Lynden and Lucy Howard paved the way for the other women with this lawsuit.

This book is essential reading for all young women starting out in the workplace. They must know who fought the battles for them so that they have the opportunities now available to them. The women of Newsweek are heroes, and I think that this book would be perfect for a high school or college journalism curriculum. I was also lucky enough to meet Ms. Povich at this year's Book Expo America, a true honor.

rating 4 of 5