Me, You and the Kids Too

Me, You and the Kids Too

by Renee Elliott

3 stars

 

176 pages

Published March 2012 by Duncan Baird Publishers 

 

A beautifully photographed, reader-friendly cookbook for families who want to eat more healthy. My favorite part of the book was that most of the recipes had side notes showing you how to make baby food and purees for your baby from the ingredients that you were already using in the regular recipe.

The only gripe I have with the book is that the author consistently uses hard-to-find, much more expensive ingredients in her recipes, many of which I have never heard. It's hard to spend the extra money if you are on a budget.

Of course, I am a neophyte when it comes to quinoa and spelt and all those other "healthy" grains, so maybe the health benefits outweigh the financial factors. And at the risk of sounding blasphemous, I disagreed with the authors disdain for cow's milk.

But if you can overlook the author's high-brow opinions and high-budget ingredients, this is a pretty cool cookbook. I can even see myself using some of the recipes (tweaked a little) with my family.

And thank you NetGalley.com for providing this book for review.

Ivan Ramen

Ivan Ramen: Love, Obsession, and Recipes from Tokyo's Most Unlikely Noodle Joint

by Ivan Orkin, Chris Ying

3 stars

224 pages

Expected publication: Oct. 29, 2013 by Ten Speed Press

 

This half-biography/half-cookbook completely turned my American version of ramen on its head.  I have been completely clueless about what "real" ramen is supposed to be. I have been used to the 15-cents-a-package version you boil for three minutes, add the powdered flavor and away you go!

Real ramen, I've learned is not this AT ALL. Ramen is a near religion for some in Japan. It is an intensely precise and patience-demanding endeavor. If you're looking for very authentic Japanese noodle recipes, this is a great book. ‘Cause these recipes take a bit longer than three minutes.

I am a ramen neophyte and was hoping to get some good beginner noodle recipes from this book – something accessible. After reading it, though, I'm not sure I can actually embark on the journey  Orkin presents – the recipes are definitely for an ambitious, intermediate-to-advanced cook, who is well-versed in Asian cuisine and terminology.

Orkin recommends making the first recipe – shio ramen – over the course of a week! He freely admits that his recipes are “daunting,” but doable with patience. He starts his “gold standard” shio ramen recipe by first laying out the recipe, and second, defining each component that is included in recipe. There are eight. And each of these eight components has a recipe of its own – all from total scratch. Home cooks will find this approach frustrating and unrealistic for families busy with homework, soccer, and dance and tae kwon do lessons.

But for an experienced cook with time and ambition to spare, this book is perfect. It allows a cook to revel in the history, flavor and energy each ingredient brings to the table – or pot in this instance.

Orkin also provides many recipes to use up all those hard-earned – and now leftover – ingredients from the shio ramen. All look to be about the same difficultly level as the shio ramen.

Some of the ingredients – actually most – are hard-to-find. Orkin provides a resource page at the end of the book to point you in the right direction to obtain these elusive ingredients. The main idea: The Internet is your friend.

One big complaint I have with the prose is that the language is too lowbrow and features waaay too many curse words. Ramen is treated in such a highbrow manner in this book; it just seems disrespectful for the author to debase his passion with base words. It lowers the quality of the entire book.

I loved the photos found inside, although I wish there were more of them. Cookbooks can never have too many photos in my opinion.

I can recommend this cookbook to those wanting to try challenging recipes with a splendid payoff.

Thank you NetGalley and Ten Speed Press for allowing me to review this book.

Waffles: Fun Recipes for Every Meal

Waffles: Fun Recipes for Every Meal

by Tara Duggan

5 stars

96 pages

Published Mar. 13, 2012 by Weldon Owen

 

I am a sucker for waffles - having visited my family in Belgium when they lived there - but I haven't found a waffle cookbook that has recipes in it that I actually want to try. It's the same old stuff. This cookbook is different! Along with the regular breakfast recipes, it has savory and dessert recipes as well. I am actually excited to try the sourdough BLT waffles!

The pictures are gorgeous, and the basic waffle recipes (which are the base for the myriad other recipes) look easy and doable. I especially like the picture of what the batter is supposed to look like. Can't wait to bust out my waffle iron!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher Welden Owen for providing this book for review!

Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

by Bernard Clayton Jr.

5 stars

30th Anniversary Edition, 704 pages

Published Nov. 25, 2003 by Simon & Schuster (first published 1987)

 

I love this cook book! I got this for my birthday a few years ago and it's my go-to bread baking cookbook. It is chock-full of recipes that I actually want to bake. Everything from basic loaf bread to sopapillas, crackers, and ethnic breads.

It doesn't go extensively into method, but I wasn't looking for that. It's very easy to read, and I like Clayton's writing style. It's very down to earth and friendly. I also like how the author heartily approves of substitutions. Some authors won't even entertain the notion. 

I've made fabulous dinner rolls, bread bowls, potato rolls, sandwich bread, sweet cinnamon bread, hamburger buns, and many other recipes. I am happy to report that they all turned out exceptionally well.

This is a must-have for any serious, or wannabe serious baker.

Sleep Solutions

Sleep Solutions: Quiet Nights for You and Your Child From Birth to Five Years

by Rachel Waddilove

3 stars

 

192 pages

Published April 1st 2013 by Lion Hudson

 

I picked up this book hoping it would offer some different advice from the hundreds of other books out there written by so-called experts on getting your baby and/or child to sleep through the night. My 10-month-old still gets up once during the night wanting to eat. Even after we used the "cold turkey" method of sleep training.

Unfortunately, this book offers nothing new. It's the same advice, the same reassurances, the same everything. The only positive spin I can put on this is that since everybody is giving the same advice, it must be good advice.

In the book, Waddilove provides a rough "sleep timeline," where a parent can see approximately what a normal sleep schedule looks like. She does warn that a parent must be flexible. I agree. Flexibility is the buzz word of parenting. I wasn't a fan of the timeline idea. I felt like it was too rigid a concept to be offered in sleep solutions book. Not all babies will conform to such an idea. Nor all parents. But it can act as a decent guideline.

I do like how Waddilove is a firm, no-nonsense, yet loving, advice-giver. She is calm and confident in her reassurances. That is a definite plus for us sleep-deprived, half-crazy parents. I also appreciate her little spirituality blurb at the end of the book. It's refreshing to be reminded that our little angels are not "of the devil!" - even if they act like it sometimes.

I do like the way that the book is divided into chapters: each stage of growth is pinpointed, with special emphasis on newborns and the first year. So you can zero in on your child's age and see exactly what Waddilove says your child should be doing.

Also positively, at the end of each chapter, she relates a couple of case studies of people who successfully got their child to sleep better by using Waddilove's advice. While these testimonials help give hope to those of us who have a "waker," it also can be a source of depression - "Why can't MY baby be like that? Why don't these solutions work for me?"

Although this sleep book is organized well and provides the same advice as any other sleep solutions book, it just doesn't provide anything MORE. But it does give parents another resource to validate what all other "sleep experts" are saying.

Thank you NetGalley and Lion Hudson Plc for the opportunity to review this book.

At Home

At Home: A Short History of Private Life

by Bill Bryson 

3 stars

497 pages

Published Oct. 5, 2010 by Doubleday

 

I've given up on this book, which is sad because what I did read, I liked. It was just too long and too verbose, and I just couldn't get into it enough to read it all the way through.

The book details each room in Bryson's home in England, its history and reasons for the room's existence. I didn't even mind the various tangents Bryson travels on - since there is only so much information you can tell relating directly to a hall or kitchen, etc. Each chapter is chock full of trivial details all delivered in Bryson's patented dry wit. This is actually the first of his books that I haven't been able to finish.

I'm just glad I can return this book to the library and get it out of my house.

Unbroken

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

by Laura Hillenbrand

5 stars

473 pages

Published Nov. 16, 2010 by Random House

 

Wow.
What a book. Once I got into it (and that didn't take long), I couldn't put it down. Heartbreaking and inspiring. I cannot believe what this man went through - from the Olympics to POW camps. He lived a BIG life.
I recommend to everyone.

Lily Chin's Crochet Tips & Tricks

Lily Chin's Crochet Tips & Tricks: Shortcuts and Techniques Every Crocheter Should Know

by Lily Chin

2 stars

208 pages

Published Oct. 13, 2009 by Potter Craft

 

 

Whenever I'm not reading, I'm crocheting. And I love it. It keeps my hands busy while I watch a movie, you know, instead of eating ice cream or popcorn or some such. I call it my "Crochet Diet." So I try to check out any book that will help fuel my yarn addiction. I thought this book fit that bill.

Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed with it. Although this book contains a few good tricks, if you've been crocheting for a while at all, they aren't that great. Plus the writing is way too verbose and technical.

More pictures are needed! And not the drawn ones, either. Real photographs are the way. Especially beautifully photographed ones.

I'll keep looking.

The Ultimate Survival Manual

The Ultimate Survival Manual (Outdoor Life): Urban Adventure - Wilderness Survival - Disaster Preparedness

by Rich Johnson 

5 stars

256 pages

Published May 15, 2012 by Weldon Owen

 
Can I tell you how stoked I am about this book? I am a bit obsessed with preparedness and survival techniques, so my family and I will be ready for when disaster strikes. And living under the Mt. Vesuvius (of Pompeii fame), makes being prepared not only practical, but very wise. The volcano is due for another eruption any time now. The Navy base I live on pushes preparedness constantly. Skills 164-166 deal with volcanic eruptions.
This manual doesn't just inform you about what to do when a disaster strikes - it delves into wild animal attacks, getting lost in the wilderness (all types of wildernesses) and so much more. What to eat in the woods, how to tell if it's going to rain, how to lightning-proof your house, how to stop a train (yeah, I know!!), eat roadkill and render the fat, how to navigate using stars. I mean, this book has it all, AND it's easy to read. There are even a few comic pages for those of you into that. Great illustrations.
Fabulous book, fabulous execution. I made my husband get this for me for Christmas! (And I got this for my siblings, too.) My kids like reading it, too!
THANK YOU NetGalley and Weldon Owen publishing for letting me review this book.

Below Stairs

Below Stairs: The Classic Kitchen Maid's Memoir That Inspired "Upstairs, Downstairs" and "Downton Abbey"

by Margaret Powell, Leigh Crutchley (Ghost writer)

4 stars

212 pages

Published Jan. 3, 2012 by St. Martin's Press (first published 1968) 

 

After reading Austen and Gaskell and watching Downton Abbey, etc., I've begun to wonder about the lives of servants. They play such a huge part in the lives of the upper-class - but always in the background, never noticed. Servants cook, clean, garden, raise children, do hair, serve the food, welcome guests - so much stuff!! But rarely, if ever are they even mentioned.
This book, "Below Stairs," gives a fantastic glimpse into the lives of those in service and the undeniable inequality and injustice of the "master and servant" system. Though as a mother, I sometimes feel I am still a part of that - my kids being the masters and I the servant. Hmph.
As this memoir was written by a fairly "modern" woman (she was born in 1907), it would be really interesting to read a memoir of a servant who served back in the 1700s or 1800s, to see if the same dissatisfaction was still apparent.
All in all, a good book. One that I recommend. It's funny, sad, and eye-opening.