Weekend Cooking- The Sherwood Inn

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.

Yesterday I was working at the Book Cellar, and one of our regular customers came in with some books she wanted to donate. I started unloading her cart and sitting right there was this book.

I had to look twice- was this the same Sherwood Inn in Skaneateles, New York, the Inn where my husband and I had our wedding reception? I told our customer that story and she said that she spends part of her summers in Skaneateles, so we had a lovely chat about that beautiful village.

Of course I had to buy the book, it was meant to be! It is a gorgeous book, written by Denise Owen Harrigan and Bill Eberhardt, the man who bought the historic Sherwood Inn when it was in disrepair in 1974 and restored it to its former glory, making it even better.

The photos by James Scherzi inside are stunning, and there are many reproductions of paintings and documents from the history of the inn, dating back to 1807 during the John Adams administration.

The Sherwood Inn truly is the cornerstone of the charming village of Skaneateles, about five miles from where I grew up. I loved reading about the history of the inn, and it was great fun looking at photos of the annual events in Skaneateles- the Antique Boat Show, Dickens Christmas, concerts in the park- that my husband and I enjoyed attending.

The best part of the book may be that there are recipes of the many classic dishes served at the Sherwood Inn. As I read, I could almost taste the Clams Casino (my husband's favorite), French Onion Soup, Chicken Mulligatawny Soup, Pepper Parmesan Dressing and Raspberry & Mascarpone Stuffed French Toast that I so loved to eat.

I'll be making some of these in the near future, and I'll be sure to let you know in a future post how they turned out.

I do have one memory of Skaneateles that sticks out in my mind. After our wedding reception, while my husband and I were taking some photos by the beautiful lake, the groomsmen decided to jump into the lake with their tuxedos on. It was shocking and funny until my poor mother and her friend had to return the tuxedos to the rental shop the next day. The bags were dripping wet, and my mother and her friend dropped the bags on the counter and hightailed it out of there. They still laugh about that incident!

If you ever visit central New York, a trip to Skaneateles and the Sherwood Inn in a must. Their website is here.

On Broadway- Misery

One of my husband's favorite movies is Misery, based on Stephen King's novel and starring Kathy Bates as crazed fan Annie Wilkes. It was the movie that made her a star and she is unforgettable in that role.

When I heard that they were working on a Broadway adaptation of Misery, I thought that no one could be so good in that iconic role and that maybe it wasn't a smart idea. Elizabeth Marvel, a Broadway vet, was slated to play Annie Wilkes, and I thought that was a great choice. Unfortunately, she had to drop out, but Laurie Metcalf took on the role and was brilliant.

Many people know Metcalf from her role as Roseanne's sister Jackie in TV's groundbreaking sitcom Roseanne. I have seen her on Broadway and know how good she is on the stage, and I knew she'd be terrific. I also loved her on the HBO comedy Getting On, where she played a tightly-wound doctor in a long-term care ward of a hospital. How she hasn't gotten an Emmy for that is a head-scratcher.

Metcalf astounds as writer Paul Sheldon's "number one fan". Sheldon writes her favorite series of books, historical romances about a strong female character named Misery. The show opens with Sheldon incapacitated by a serious car accident, with two broken legs, waking up in a bed in nurse Annie Wilkes home.

At first we think Annie is just a good Samaritan, caring for the injured man. Then we come to realize that she is little bit crazy and maybe she ran him off the road herself. Paul's newest Misery book is publishing soon, and Annie is so excited to read it....until she does.

Paul kills off Misery in the latest book and that sets Annie off the edge of sanity. She holds Paul hostage, and forces him to write a new Misery book, one where Misery lives happily every after.

A basically two-person show requires that both actors be on the same page, and unfortunately, Metcalf is much stronger in her role than Bruce Willis is in his. To be fair, he spends most of the show in bed, and this is his Broadway debut, so that plays into it. But Laurie Metcalf is just on another plane here. She shows us how Annie descends into madness and we almost feel compassionate towards her.

Misery ended its run this past week, and while I wouldn't have recommended it wholeheartedly, I did really enjoy Laurie Metcalf's performance and was glad I saw it.

The Opposite of Everyone by Joshilyn Jackson

The Opposite of Everyone by Joshilyn Jackson
Published by William Morrow ISBN 9780062105684
Hardcover, $26.99, 304 pages

Two years ago I fell in love with Joshilyn Jackson's novel Someone Else's Love Story. The characters in her story were so realistic and you felt like you could be their friends. Shandi is a single mom with a young son who is a genius, and they become involved with William, a very smart man who likely has Asperger's syndrome.

Jackson's newest book features a character from that novel, William's protective best friend Paula Vauss, who is openly hostile to Shandi and vows to keep her from him. It took a long time to completely understand Paula's motives in a brilliant twist ending to that novel.

Now we see Paula's story in The Opposite of Everyone. She was born to a single mom, Kai, who loved to tell Paula (whom she calls Kali) stories from the Hindu religion. Kai's parents did not approve of her lifestyle, and free spirit Kai moved Paula from place to place and man to man, leaving each man when she tired of him.

Paula spent time in the foster care system when her mother was arrested for drug possession. It was a difficult time in both of their lives, and Jackson does an amazing job describing the life in the group home where Paula spent a few years.

Eventually Paula grows up and becomes a lawyer. She works for a firm that handles divorce cases, where she has a reputation as a shark. She also does a few pro bono cases each year, mostly for young women who grew up like she did.

Paula has lost contact with her mother, but she sends her a check every month. She alludes to  the fact that she owes this to her mother for something she did to her in the past, something we don't find out until midway through the story.

Her most recent check is sent back to her with VOID written on it by her mother. This confuses Paula, and when a young man shows up looking for her mother, Paula gets her former boyfriend and private investigator Birdwine to help her find out where her mother is now.

As Birdwine tracks Kai down, Paula learns something about her mother that makes finding her crucial. Her mother sent Paula clues in the form of a Hindu story, and Paula must crack the code to solve this important and life-changing mystery.

No ones writes characters better than Joshilyn Jackson. Every character, from the major- Paula, Birdwine,  Julian the young man seeking Paula's mother- to the minor- Shar her former foster care nemisis, Joya, her best friend in foster care, even Oakleigh, the supremely selfish divorce client- are well drawn and well-rounded characters. You want to know more about all of them.

I was surprised that William was not in this novel at all, just a few passing glances, and even though I thought I would miss him, I did not. Paula has an entire world of her own here, and I loved being in her orbit.

The Opposite of Everyone is the kind of book you get lost in, not realizing how long you have been reading until you look up and see that hours have passed. And then you fall right back in, determined to finish Paula's story and discover all the secrets within.

I hope that sometime in the future, Joshilyn Jackson decides to pull a fascinating character out of this book (there are many to choose from) and gives us their story. I give The Opposite of Everyone my highest recommendation.

Joshilyn Jackson's website is here.
My review of Someone Else's Love Story is here.

Weekend Cooking- Super Bowl Sunday Food Trucks

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

My husband had a conference at the Hyatt Regency Resort outside of Austin Texas last week, which meant that we were away for the Super Bowl.

The conference hosted a Super Bowl party in the front courtyard of the resort, and they brought in four popular Austin food trucks for the event. It was a festive evening, and we were excited to try the food trucks.

We started with a BBQ Brisket Taco from Peached Tortilla.  It's a Southern dry rub brisket with a creamy apple slaw and peach barbeque sauce. It was delicious, easily the best food of the evening. The creamy apple slaw had just the right blend of sweet and tangy, and the peach sauce rounded out the flavors so well.  The Peached Tortilla website is here.

The Peached Tortilla truck

BBQ Taco

ALC Steaks On Tour food truck served up sliced NY strip steak with frites. They had a long line, and the steak frites was pretty good. I liked the seasoning on the steak, and a homemade barbeque sauce came with it. ALC Steaks On Tour website is here.

Burro Cheese Kitchen served up grilled cheese sandwiches. They offered two sandwiches- the Waylon & Willie which had aged cheddar, gouda, caramelized onions, pepperocini and a spicy bourbon maple sauce, and the one I chose, the Via 206, which had cheddar, gouda and a balsamic fig jam on sourdough bread. It was good, but grilled cheese really needs to made to order or else the cheese tends to congeal. Burro Cheese Kitchen's website is here.

Amy's Ice Creams truck

For dessert, Amy's Ice Creams served up homemade ice cream. I chose the Belgian Chocolate with Heath's candy pieces as a topping. My husband got a scoop of Belgian Chocolate and a scoop of Mexican Vanilla, two of their signature flavors. Both were a terrific ending to the meal. Amy's Ice Creams' website is here.

It was a fun evening, and next time I hope to get to the actual city of Austin to eat at some of the great restaurants there.

The Evening Spider by Emily Arsenault

The Evening Spider by Emily Arsenault
Published by William Morrow ISBN 9780062379306
Trade paperback, $15.99, 400 pages

A few years ago, I read Emily Arsenault's novel What Strange Creatures and loved the brother/sister sibling relationship at its core. Her latest novel, The Evening Spider, has a sibling relationship in it as well, although that is not the central issue of the story as it was in What Strange Creatures.

The inspiration for this story came from the author hearing what she thought was human voice over her daughter's baby monitor shushing the baby. She combined this with an interest in the true story of the murder of a woman in the 1800s, a woman she believed to be an ancestor.

The Evening Spider introduces us to Abby, married to Chad, and new mom to baby Lucy, who has moved into an old house in the small town of Haverton, Massachusetts. Abby hears a voice over Lucy's baby monitor that sounds like someone is shushing her baby.

This unnerves Abby, and she does a little research about the previous owners of the house. She discovers that there is a diary from Frances Barnett, who once owned the house with her husband, Matthew, a lawyer.

Abby reads the diary and becomes fascinated with Frances, especially the letters Frances wrote to her brother Harry from a lunatic asylum Frances had been sent to by her husband. Frances was a new mom too, like Abby, and she became obsessed with a murder trial that her brother had a connection to.

As Frances' story unfolds through her letters, Abby tries to learn why Frances was committed to a hospital. She turns to the head of the local historical society for more information and a local medium to see if her home is haunted by Frances or someone else.

The story took awhile to get going, but once it does, it intrigues the reader. I found so many layers to this psychological suspense, including an incident that happened to Abby in college that may color her actions in the present.

Frances is a captivating character. She loves science, and her interest in how arsenic works gets her into trouble. She wasn't a traditional housewife with traditional interests in cooking and sewing, and that made people suspect of her.

I also found it surprising that in 1885 forensic science played such a big role in the murder trial. I would have thought that a recent phenomenon, but the lawyers used detailed forensic information from respected scientists to help prove their cases. (I hope this doesn't mean we'll see a new CSI:1885 series.)

The Evening Spider is a novel about obsessions- Frances for the murder trial and Abby's obsession with Frances. It features interesting, well-developed characters (just like in Arsenault's previous book), and the ending of the story is a surprise to the reader.

Fans of John Searles' Help For The Haunted will enjoy The Evening Spider. They both involve mediums, a haunted house and taut psychological suspense. And although I was a new mom over twenty years ago, Arsenault brings back those memories and fears of new motherhood vividly in this story.

I highly recommend The Evening Spider. It's a creepy, taut, suspenseful story that will keep you up at night reading to the end.

My review of What Strange Creatures is here.
My review of John Searles' Help For The Haunted is here.

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on Emily's tour. The rest of Emily Arsenault's stops are:

Tuesday, January 26th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Wednesday, January 27th: The Reader’s Hollow

Wednesday, January 27th: Kahakai Kitchen

Thursday, January 28th: A Bookworm’s World

Friday, January 29th: JulzReads

Monday, February 1st: A Literary Vacation

Tuesday, February 2nd: FictionZeal

Thursday, February 4th: Jenn’s Bookshelves

Friday, February 5th: Kritters Ramblings

Monday, February 8th: bookchickdi

Wednesday, February 10th: From the TBR Pile

Thursday, February 11th: Book Hooked Blog

Friday, February 12th: Peeking Between the Pages

Weekend Cooking- A Diner Food Kind of Week

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 didn't cook much when we were in Longboat Key last week, so I made up for it this week. My husband loves what he calls "Truck Driver Food" or "Diner Food", so I pulled out my old cookbooks and found some things I hoped he would like.

First up was Mr. Food's Oven Beef Stew, which I used to make for the family during those long, cold, Central New York winters. I found the recipe in my old standby cookbook, the St. Joseph's School Cooking With Class Cookbook, which was a fundraiser for my sons' Catholic elementary and middle school back in the day. The convenient thing about that cookbook is that I gave them a lot of my favorite recipes and now I have them all collated in one place for easy reference.

It's an easy dish to make, but it takes a good couple of hours in the oven so this is something I make on my day off.

Mr. Food's Oven Beef Stew (photo from Mr. Food's website)

Mr. Food's Oven Beef Stew
2 lbs. stew beef
4 medium potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks
6 medium carrots, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
1 medium onion chopped
2 cups of tomato juice
 1 cup of water
1 tsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
3 Tbsp. quick cooking tapioca

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9x13 pan with non-stick spray (coat well!). In the dish, combine the beef, potatoes, carrots and onion, mix well. In a large bowl, combine tomato juice, water, sugar, salt, pepper and tapioca. Pour over beef and vegetables, cover tightly with foil and bake for 2 hours or until beef and vegetables are tender. (This can be put together ahead of time and refrigerated. Bake 2 1/2 to 3 hours.) You can also brown beef before you put into casserole dish if you prefer. We serve it over rice.
The link to the recipe on Mr. Food's website is here.

On Tuesday I made another standby from the cookbook (but not one that I gave them), Chicken Supreme, which I hadn't made in forever. It was a good dish to make on a workday because it only takes an hour in the oven and the prep time is five minutes. It uses a can of cream soup, which I'm not crazy about, but it works for this dish.

Chicken Supreme
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup white wine
4 slices of swiss cheese
Box of stuffing mix (Pepperidge Farm, Stove Top, etc.)
1/2 cup of butter, melted

Directions:
Place chicken in a baking dish. Cover each piece with a slice of cheese. Mix wine and soup together, pour over chicken. Put stuffing straight from the box on top of it all, top with melted butter and bake at 375 degrees for one hour.

The last truck driver dish I made this week was a new one- Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak. Again, it was perfect for a workday meal. I stopped on my way home to my favorite grocery store, Agata & Valentina, picked up a container of homemade mashed potatoes,  grilled asparagus and a strawberry millefoglie for dessert and it was simple meal that my husband raved about. There's even leftovers for Saturday's lunch. I found this one on Pinterest, from Saved With Pennies.

Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak

Do you have any diner food recipes you enjoy? Share them in comments below.

On Broadway- Hamilton

The hottest ticket in entertainment is Broadway's Hamilton. Created by writer/director/composer/actor/genius (yes, he won a McArthur Genius Grant so he is an actual genius) Lin-Manuel Miranda, who won a Tony for Best Musical for his In the Heights, it is the most creative, amazing piece of theater I've ever seen.

Miranda read historian Ron Chernow's biography Hamilton while on vacation and thought that it would make a great hip-hop Broadway musical. Some people may have thought he had sunstroke, but his creative mind set to work and the result is a brilliant show that is sure to sweep this year's Tony awards. and go down in history as a game-changer in theater.

Miranda brings to vivid life the historical people most of us barely know much about at the time of the American Revolution. Alexander Hamilton was an intelligent, ambitious young orphan from the Caribbean island of Nevis when he came to America.

He graduated from King's College in New York and became a lawyer. But he was passionate about the coming revolution and after writing many pamphlets and tracts encouraging revolution, he became General George Washington's right-hand man and eventual first Secretary of the Treasury.

In addition to his many accomplishments, we see Hamilton's personal life. He married Eliza Schuyler, the daughter of a wealthy, prominent man, and he had a close relationship with her sister Angelica.

The story is narrated by his frenemy Aaron Burr, whom we know eventually killed Hamilton in a duel.

The cast is amazing, from Miranda as Hamilton to Leslie Odom Jr. as Burr. (He has a stunning voice.) Angelica is portrayed by a luminescent Renee Elise Goldsberry, who captures the stage whenever she is on it. Phillipa Soo stands out as Hamilton's loyal wife Eliza.

Christopher Jackson plays George Washington as we know him- a large presence and a strong leader who depended on Hamilton and at the same time called him out when Hamilton needed it. Daveed Diggs is fantastic as both LaFayette and has a memorable turn as a Thomas Jefferson who is not as stuffy here as history books make him out to be.

Jonathan Groff should order his tux now for the Tonys as his performance as a petulant King George II brought down the house in each of his four short scenes. He is a shoo-in for Best Supporting Actor and is sure to be up against many of his co-stars.

I'd call Hamilton a hip-hop opera, as it feels like it could be at home at the Met. The subject matter is operatic, and this may well be the future of opera. The show is mostly sung, and the lyrics, using phrases we remember from history class, are ingenious. The performers in this show get quite a vocal workout. (Owning the soundtrack is a must so you can truly appreciate the words. Oh, those words.)

The choreography, costumes and staging perfectly complement this groundbreaking show. Tickets are extremely hard to come by (they are putting a new set of tickets on sale next week for November 2016- January 2017) but I cannot tell you much I loved this show. I loved history class in high school, and Miranda and company bring it to new, exciting, accessible life in Hamilton. If you see only one show on Broadway, this is the one to see.

The website for Hamilton is here.
For more Hamilton fun, check out #Ham4Ham videos posted on YouTube.

The Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian

The Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian
Published by Doubleday ISBN 97803855538893
Hardcover, $25.95, 336 pages

What I like about a new Chris Bohjalian book is that you know it's always going to be an intriguing story that tackles an important issue. He's dealt with such topics as mental illness (The Double Bind), domestic abuse (Secrets of Eden), the Armenian genocide (The Sandcastle Girls) and now the global sex slave trade in his gripping novel The Guest Room.

Kristine takes her eight-year-old daughter to visit her mother overnight in New York City while her husband Richard hosts a bachelor party for his n'er-do-well brother in their suburban home. She's not crazy about her immature brother-in-law Phillip and his friends, but Richard doesn't have many friends or go out much, so she hopes this will be a fun night for him.

Phillip's best friend Spencer arranges for two strippers to come to the house, but when they arrive, it's clear that these are the not the kind of women Richard envisioned. The two young women are more than strippers, they are prostitutes.

Things get way out of hand, and Richard ends up in the guest room with one of the young women, Alexandra, about to make a very bad mistake. It turns out that these two women were kidnapped and forced into sex slavery and when the women kill their bodyguards/captors in his house, Richard's life turns upside down.

He has to tell his wife, who has to tell their young daughter. The lurid story is all over the news, Richard is forced to take a leave of absence from his lucrative job and they can't go back into their house as it is a crime scene. It is a nightmare.

The story is also told from Alexandra's viewpoint. After losing her father, she is tricked into leaving her mother, believing she is going to study dance in Russia. The man who was her benefactor became her nightmare. At the age of fourteen she was forced into prostitution. She was beaten and raped repeatedly until she realized there was no way out.

Bohjalian describes in graphic detail the brutality these young women are subjected to. It is horrifying to read on the page, I can't imagine the actual reality of it. For five long years Alex is locked away, forced to service men.

At the age of nineteen, she and three other young women are sent to New York where they can make more money for the Russian mobsters. One of them is killed by their captors, and then they go to the party at Richard's, where Alexandra's friend decides to change her fate.

The story is riveting, and The Guest Room is definitely a page-turning nail-biter. As Alexandra is on the run, trying to avoid the Russian mobsters and police looking for her, and Richard tries to put his life back together, their stories collide.

The ending is shocking and will send you for a loop. The Guest Room is just heartbreaking, and the fact that this goes on right here is mind-numbing. I highly recommend The Guest Room, it combines a sad story with a thriller's pace and you'll race through it. And if your husband asks to host a bachelor party in your home, just say no.

The Forgotten Room by Karen White, Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig

The Forgotten Room by Karen White, Beatriz Williams and Lauren Willig

Published by NAL ISBN 9780451474629

Hardcover, $26, 384 pages

Reprinted from the Citizen:

Writers Karen White (“The Sound of Glass”), Lauren Willig (The “Pink Carnation” series of historical fiction) and Beatriz Williams (“Along the Infinite Sea”) are all successful romance novelists on their own. Recently, they teamed up to write a book together, “The Forgotten Room,” in which the authors each take a different time setting then connect their stories together. 

It begins in 1944, where young Dr. Kate Schuyler races to an incoming ambulance to find a seriously injured soldier. Capt. Ravanel was injured in Europe in the war and placed on a boat to set sail for New York City to a hospital there for better care.

The hospital on East 69th Street that Dr. Schuyler works in used to be a family’s mansion during the Gilded Age, when money flowed freely until the Great Depression hit, and the family’s mansion was sold and eventually became a hospital.

Capt. Ravenel is delirious with fever, calling Dr. Schuyler by the name Victorine, and recognizes the ruby necklace that Kate wears around her neck. Kate doesn’t know Capt. Ravenel, although his last name sounds familiar.

In 1892, we meet young Olive Van Alan, who works as a maid in the mansion on East 69th Street for the wealthy Pratt family. While it appears that Olive is just another poor young working class woman, she has ulterior motives.

Olive’s father was the architect who built the Pratt mansion. It was his masterpiece, a showcase that he hoped would make his career and get him many more jobs. But Mr. Pratt was a dishonest man, and he refused to pay Olive’s father for his work, bankrupting him and resulting in her father’s death.

Olive was determined to find vindication for her father in Pratt’s paperwork. She would find proof that her father’s work was not unacceptable and poor, as Pratt claimed. She would get justice for her father.

But Olive didn’t count on falling in love with Pratt’s artistic son Harry. Olive was warned to stay away from the young master of the house, that it would only mean trouble for everyone, but Harry became infatuated with Olive, and a torrid affair began.

In 1920, Lucy Young takes a room in the attic of a mansion on East 69th Street, the former Pratt Mansion. She secures a job at the firm that handles the affairs of the Pratt family. The junior partner in charge of the Pratt account is the stepson of Prunella Pratt, the last remaining member of the famous Pratts, and sister of Harry.

Before long, Lucy is now working closely with Phillip Schuyler, Prunella’s stepson. Lucy can’t believe her luck. She got the job at the firm hoping to get an answer to a very important question: Could Lucy be the illegitimate daughter of Harry Pratt?

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Harry Pratt disappeared a long time ago, and his family had no idea where he went or if he was still alive. Lucy hopes that if she can find Harry Pratt, she can find the answer to her real heritage.

Lucy becomes Phillip Schuyler’s valued assistant, and when he asks her to entertain a client, a Mr. Ravenel from Charleston, we have a connection that will be repeated in 1944, in the Pratt mansion that is now a hospital.

White, Williams and Willig do a masterful job creating three distinct worlds that intersect in the end. Each takes a storyline, and immerses the reader in their time period. We can feel the distinct delineation between the classes in Olive’s story, as the opulence of the Pratt family contrasts with Olive and her widowed mother, who tries to marry Olive off to the nice bakery owner.

Lucy Young is a career woman living in a room in a woman’s boarding house in 1920 under the watchful eye of a woman who deems it her goal in life to keep her boarders' virtue intact. Lucy came from a family who owned a small shop, but she uses her education to make a better life for herself.

And then we get to Dr. Kate Schuyler, a doctor in 1944, an unusual occupation for a woman at that time. Kate has to put up with the sexual harassment of her boss, and back then the only method to handle that was to avoid the man at all costs.

The way the authors seamlessly weave their stories together is beautifully done, and when the resolution to the story comes, it is a satisfying conclusion. “The Forgotten Room” is the perfect book to curl up with on a snowy day and lose yourself in a wonderful story.

Grade- A-

Weekend Cooking- Two Sarasota Area Restaurants

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

The weather is very bad back in New York City, but we are safe and (slightly) warmer in Sarasota. We had two sets of visitors at our vacation home in Longboat Key this week, and we tried two new restaurants that were both winners.

Mediterraneo is an authentic Italian restaurant in the Historic Downtown District of Sarasota, right across the street from the beautiful Regal 20 Theaters. Two of our friends who live here in Sarasota highly recommended Mediterraneo, so we decided to try it and we were so happy we are returning again tonight with our new visitors.

I started with a Spinach salad, which had pears, pecorino cheese and toasted walnuts on top. The waiter brought the table a bottle of balsamic vinegar and a bottle of olive oil to dress the salad individually. It was very fresh and light.

Spinach Salad 

For my entree I chose the Spaghetti alla Gricia, which had pancetta and cheese mixed in with the pasta water to make a sinfully delicious dinner. I savored every bite. I could only eat half it was so filling. One of our dining companions chose the lamb shank, and he was the envy of many in our group.

The service was wonderful, our server was friendly and knowledgable, able to answer all of our questions and provide some terrific suggestions. The room was a little noisy, it reminded me of a Manhattan restaurant in that regard, and the tables were pretty close together as it is a smaller dining room and a very popular restaurant. I highly recommend Mediterraneo.

Last night we stayed on Longboat Key and tried Euphemia Haye, a local landmark. The restaurant stands out from the road with its beautiful landscaping filled with lovely tiny white lights. That is continued into the restaurant, located in an historic old cottage. It's perfect for a romantic evening out.

Our server here was also friendly and gave us an overview of the menu, such as the dishes they are best known for, including a Crisp Roast Duckling whose presentation was pretty spectacular. (Two neighboring tables ordered it.)

The banana bread on the table was so fabulous, I had two pieces. I chose the appetizer special, Quattro Formaggio, a small slice of a savory cheesecake of ricotta and three other cheeses, topped with bacon, sour cream and green onions, served with a side of greens. It was delicious!

Quattro Formaggio

The other diners had a Caesar salad, which was very good, and a Waldorf salad that looked great too. I chose the Gamberetti with Capellini, shrimp with garlic and herbs in a white wine sauce over egg pasta. It was very light and refreshing after my heavier appetizer.

My husband had the Filet Mignon, served on a potato pancake that he enjoyed. For dessert, we shared a Banana Cream Pie and our other diners shared a Chocolate Mousse that they raved about.

Chef Ray Arpke came around to each table to greet everyone, which is such a nice touch. The ambience is so relaxing, and next time we will be sure to visit the Haye Loft upstairs, which serves lighter fare and has live music each night.

Both restaurants were winners, and we will be visiting them often. Reservations are recommended for both.

Mediterraneo's website is here.
Euphemia Haye's website is here.

To all who are in the path of Jonas, please stay safe and warm.

The Restaurant Critic's Wife by Elizabeth LaBan

The Restaurant Critic's Wife by Elizabeth LaBan
Published by Lake Union Publishing ISBN 978-1477817766
Hardcover, $24.95, 306 pages

Writers are told to write what they know, and Elizabeth LaBan has taken that to heart in her novel The Restaurant Critic's Wife.  Like her protagonist Lila, LaBan is married to the food critic for a large Philadelphia newspaper. (Luckily, LaBan says that the character of the critic is much crazier than her actual husband.)

Lila is a high-powered executive for a large hotel chain. She specializes in crisis management and public relations, traveling the globe and solving problems with aplomb. After she breaks up with her long-time boyfriend, she finds herself in New Orleans for work when she meets Sam.

Sam and Lila fall deeply in love. Lila becomes pregnant and they decide to marry. They are very happy together, and then Sam gets the opportunity he has been waiting for- a job as a restaurant critic at a Philadelphia newspaper.

By now, Lila and Sam have two young children- Hazel, a toddler, and baby Henry. Sam is totally engrossed in his job, taking it very seriously. He is overly protective of his anonymity, believing that if anyone knew who he was, he could not do his job properly.

This unfortunately extends to Lila and the children. He doesn't want Lila to befriend any neighbors in case they own a restaurant. Lila's high school friend Maureen lives in town and also has two young children, but her husband owns a restaurant, so they cannot be friends.

He also doesn't want Lila to go back to work for the hotel, which Lila desperately wants to do. She felt in charge there, and being stuck at home and not allowed to have friends begins to frustrate her.

The one friend she makes is a waiter from a fancy restaurant, Sebastian. He is kind to Lila, and helpful with the children. But Sam flips out when he discovers their friendship because he feels Sebastian may be using Lila to get information.

It seems to me that Sam is too controlling and not very understanding of what he is asking of his wife. He acts like he works for the CIA, and that his identity must be protected for national security reasons.

The story was really captivating, especially for anyone who is a foodie; the descriptions of restaurants and the food are mouth-watering, and I liked the snippets of Sam's reviews that open the chapters. The characters are interesting and well- developed and I really adored Lila and rooted for her. Even the kids were engaging characters, which is sometimes difficult to do.

LeBan also does a wonderful job writing about marriage and parenthood, and the many compromises that must be made to make it all work. Her description of Lila's C-section and its aftermath were dead-on as well.

The one thing that felt a bit odd was that Lila was in a few gossip columns, outed as the restaurant critic's wife. How boring are things in Philadelphia that the restaurant critic's wife is constant fodder for gossip columns?

I recommend The Restaurant Critic's Wife to anyone who likes a good story about the compromises of marriage, as well as anyone who would like a peek into the world of restaurants.

Elizabeth LeBan's website is here.

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

Elizabeth LaBan’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, January 4th: A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall

Tuesday, January 5th: Why Girls are Weird

Wednesday, January 6th: All Roads Lead to the Kitchen

Thursday, January 7th: Bibliotica

Monday, January 11th: Kahakai Kitchen

Tuesday, January 12th: Chick Lit Central – author guest post

Wednesday, January 13th: Thoughts on This ‘n That

Thursday, January 14th: A Chick Who Reads

Friday, January 15th: Kritter’s Ramblings

Monday, January 18th: Books a la Mode – author guest post

Tuesday, January 19th: Bookchickdi

Wednesday, January 20th: I’m Shelf-ish

Thursday, January 21st: Patricia’s Wisdom

Friday, January 22nd: From the TBR Pile

Monday, January 25th: Read. Write. Repeat.

Tuesday, January 26th: Read Love Blog

Wednesday, January 27th: Mom in Love with Fiction

Thursday, January 28th: View from the Birdhouse

Monday, February 1st: Just Commonly

Wednesday, February 3rd: Thoughts from an Evil Overlord

Friday, February 5th: Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers

Weekend Cooking- The Chef Next Door by Amanda Freitag with Carrie King

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 Chef Next Door By Amanda Freitag with Carrie King
Published by William Morrow ISBN 9780062345837
Hardcover, $35, 299 pages

I had not heard of chef Amanda Freitag until I saw her one day on an episode of TV's The Chew.  Host Michael Symon made a visit to her tiny New York City kitchen, where she proceeded to whip up some delicious recipe.

I was amazed that she could create something so lovely looking in such a small kitchen. And then I hoped my husband never saw this, because my excuse is that my kitchen is too small to be truly creative.

Freitag, along with Carrie King, has written a fabulous cookbook, The Chef Next Door. The book is beautifully presented, with heavy stock pages, and gorgeous photos of finished dishes inside.

Flipping through it, I saw lots of recipes I wanted to try. The recipes are for basic dishes that every cook should know, and I was surprised to find that most of the ingredients are things that most cooks have on hand. It frustrates me when I find a recipe I want to try, only to discover there are ingredients I need that I don't have and probably won't use again.

Some of the ones I want to try include:

• Sweet Summer Corn Sauce- I may have to wait awhile for this one
• "Lusty" Lemon Chicken- she uses a rind of Parmesan cheese in it
• Pop's Beer-Braised Bold Beef Stew- made with red wine and 2 bottles of beer!
• Orzo Pasta Salad
• Impressive Dark Chocolate Mousse

I like the layout of the recipes. There is a paragraph describing the recipes, then an ingredient list. She includes a separate "prep" section, which lists everything you need to do to get ready. This is very helpful, and I haven't seen this very often. 

Finally, the step-by-step numbered directions. Sometimes there are handwritten notes with extra information, and at the end of the recipe you can frequently find suggestions to pair with the dish. 

The end of the book has a Menu section, which gives you ideas for celebrations such as Sunday Supper, Easter Dinner and Mother's Day Brunch, using recipes from the book. I find that very handy. 

The Chef Next Door is definitely a keeper for me, it feels like a book that I can refer to and use over and over again. You don't need to be a gourmet to use this book, anyone who likes to cook would find it useful. I recommend it.

Amanda Freitag's website is here.

On Broadway- A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

I tried two times to see the 2014 Tony Award-winning musical A Gentlemen's Guide to Love and Murder. The first time I bought a ticket, the brilliant Jefferson Mays, who plays nine roles in the show was out with a back injury. The second time I tried to buy a ticket, I found that the regular Wednesday matinee was cancelled because they added an extra Sunday evening show on Columbus Day weekend.

Just when I thought I wouldn't get a chance to see it, I saw that the Actor's Fund was selling tickets to the show a few days before it closed. I guess the third time is the charm.

The show was fabulous, so funny and charming, and the performances were fantastic. Bryce Pinkham plays Monty, a young destitute man in 1909 who discovers that he is 9th in line to be an heir to a fortune. If only the eight ahead of him were dead...

The rest of the show is Monty scheming to murder the eight, all played brilliantly by Jefferson Mays in a phenomenally physical performance. He is just a comic genius!

Pinkham is fabulous as well, and what a wonderful singing voice he has. The musical highlight of the show is a song he sings as he strives to keep his mistress and fiancee from discovering each other. Scarlett Strallen as the mistress has the showier role and she makes the most of it. Catherine Walker also shines as the fiancee.

Pinkham and Mays were both nominated for Tonys and it is clear why. I loved this show, it was a perfect anecdote to the winter blues and it was clear that the rest of the audience agreed with me.

If A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder comes to your town on tour, go see it. You won't regret it.


Here is the video from their Tony performance.

Spending the Holidays With People I Want to Punch in the Throat by Jen Mann

Spending the Holidays With People I Want to Punch in the Throat by Jen Mann
Published by Ballantine Books ISBN 978034554990
Trade paperback, $16, 224 pages

I was sorry that I didn't post a review for Spending the Holidays With People I Want to Punch in the Throat before the holidays because it was such perfect antidote for those of us who feel that the holidays can be a bit overwhelming and we somehow don't do it as well as everyone else.

Jen Mann's mother goes all out for Christmas, with multiple themed trees in every room. It takes her weeks to get all of her decorations out and weeks to put it away. She never throws any holiday decoration away, and adds more to it each year.

Perhaps as a reaction to all of this holiday merriment, Jen has an aversion to all of the holiday hoopla. She does buy Christmas gifts throughout the year for her two kids, and hides them so well she thinks she should create a treasure map because when the time comes to wrap them she has no idea where they are, and sometimes they are not found in time. (Been there, done that.)

Jen's young daughter has inherited her grandmother's joy of Christmas, so she has been given hand-me-down decorations much to Jen's utter dismay. Jen also shares the panic all of us parents have faced as our children's Christmas list change at the very last moment and the hunt for that ultimate gift is on.

I loved Jen's descriptions of conversations between the mommies who spend all day at yoga class as they describe the gift of cosmetic procedures bestowed on them by their husbands, and their un-ironic Christmas letters sent with all of their family members' brilliant achievements. Needless to say, Jen's letter is completely different.

If the holidays were just too much for you, Spending the Holidays With People I Want to Punch in the Throat may just be the cure for you. I laughed a lot at it. (Note- the language is a little salty for some.) People who like Jenny Lawson and Jen Lancaster will enjoy this. I recommend it.

Jen Mann has a website- People I Want To Punch in the Throat and it can be found here.