Library Loot LXI

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries! 

It's been a whole week since I last posted anything here. I didn't mean for that to happen! What started out as a small project to rearrange things in the living room to make room for the Christmas tree, I ended up organizing and purging things from my desk, a chest of drawers containing DVDs and CDs, the chest itself, and the coat and game closet. This little project took several days--not several hours like I originally anticipated. So I guess that's what I was doing when I wasn't blogging for a whole week. I have to say It sure feels good to have an emptier and tidier living room, but I sure fell far behind with things online. I'm looking forward to a relaxing week between Christmas and New Years!

I ran into the library to return some books last week and could not resist the lure of the new cookbooks shelf. I am on hold for the new Smitten Kitchen cookbook, for which I cannot wait, but grabbed these beauties to tide me over:

The Truck Food Cookbook: 
        150 Recipes and Ramblings from America's Best        Restaurants on Wheels 
        by John T. Edge 

Who doesn't love food truck food? I couldn't resist pulling this one off the shelf. I'm having fun flipping through the pages in a virtual tour of the countries best food trucks. So many familiar and unique, mouth watering recipes. Honestly, I won't likely make many of these recipes at home. They're generally the greasy, carb dense foods we all love and frankly, I think they'd taste so much better eaten on the streets! That's part of their appeal! At least now I'm inspired to seek out some food trucks in NYC the next time I'm there. At the top of my list is The Big Gay Ice Cream Truck, because we all know how much I luurvve ice cream! (They have a shop, too!).

Soup of the Day: 365 Recipes for Every Day of the Year 
       by Kate McMillan, photographed by Erin Kunkel 

Literally a recipe for soup for every day of the year. Monthly chapters start with a calendar and a recipe suggestion for each day. Many recipes follow the seasons making the most of seasonal produce, while plenty of them can be made any time of the year. Gorgeous photography rounds out the versatile offering of recipes that can be mastered by any level home cook.

I don't think there's a single recipe in this cookbook that didn't appeal to me. Most recipes call for chicken broth, but vegetable broth or in some cases, water, can easily be substituted for vegetarians. I personally prefer to cook without commercial stock, so I'd have to have a lot of homemade broth on hand to cook from this cookbook daily or even weekly. I hope to try or jot down a few recipes before I have to return the cookbook to the library!

True Food: Seasonal, Sustainable, Simple, Pure 
         by Andrew Weil, M.D. and Sam Fox 

The title says it all for this one. This cookbook's mission is to present the most delicious recipes made with fresh, quality ingredients that foster the health and well being of the diner. For someone like me who loves living and eating healthfully but also loves traditional, comforting foods and desserts(!), this cookbook is right up my alley. I'm still discovering all the recipes and essays this cookbook has to offer--it's definitely one worth several library renewals or even a permanent spot on my own bookshelf. The Chocolate Icebox Tart and Pomegranate Martini are just begging for a spot on my holiday menu!

Hope you check out these cookbooks!

What cookbooks have your attention right now?

REVIEW: Elemental Assassin Short Stories by Jennifer Estep

So I'm finally reading the Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep thanks to the Read-Along that's going on, hosted by The Book Vixen and Smash Attack Reads, and I'm pretty darned excited about it. And I'm pretty darned proud of myself, too, because surprise, surprise I'm actually caught up with the group! We started the series back in October and are reading one full length novel per month. The plan to be caught up by the release of the eighth book in March 2013. This month we'll be reading the fourth book, Tangled Threads.

In addition to the full length novels, Jennifer Estep has written several Elemental Assassin online short stories that can be read on on her website at http://www.jenniferestep.com/excerpts-short-stories/. These stories are short stories, not novellas so they are short. I mean short. I'd say each one is at most 10 or 12 pages, but for fans of the series, they're pretty cool glimpses into various characters' pasts and or they show some aspect of the story from the point of view of characters aside from Gin Blanco. The novels are told from the first person point of view of Gin Blanco, the Elemental Assassin who is known as The Spider. I haven't reviewed the full length novels, although I'd like to. In the meantime, here are my thoughts on the Elemental Assassin online short stories.

CAUTION: There are some slight character and plot spoilers for the Elemental Assassin series in the remainder of this post. Read at your own risk!

Spider's Bite (Elemental Assassin, #1)
Review to come. (Maybe.)

"Poison" (Elemental Assassin, #0.5) This story takes place when Gin is a teenager, after she was taken in off the streets by her mentor and father figure, Finnegan Lane. Finn's son Fletcher is a few years older than Gin and highly resentful of her place in the Lane family. He's clearly jealous of his father's attention and affection for Gin. But Gin proves her loyalty and affection for the Lane family in this story. Poison is told from Fletcher's point of view.

A very short story, yet it accurately portrays some of Gin's strongest traits---loyalty, patience and calm lethality. I liked seeing how Gin was brought into the Lane family and thought Finn's reaction to her was very believable.

"Web of Deceit" (Elemental Assassin, #0.6)
Told from the point of view of Finnegan Lane, the owner of a barbecue joint called The Pork Pit who rescues Gin off the streets when she was just a young girl. This short tells the story of Gin's very first assassination that Finn assigns her when she's just a teen.

Again, the reader gets an inside look at what Fletcher sees in Gin from a young age, including the ways in which Fletcher can use Gin in his line of work. And yes, as much as it shows that Fletcher cares for Gin, I don't think I'm inaccurate when I say he uses her.

"Spider's Bargain" (Elemental Assassin, #0.7)
This story takes place just before the first book in the series, Spider's Bite. It tells the story of Gin Blanco taking down a corrupt cop in Ashland, who turns out to have been the partner of Donovan Cain, the cop with whom Gin alliances in Spider's Bite.

Gin's cold lethality is sharp in this one--I have to say it's quite refreshing to read about a female assassin who is so brutally good at what she does that it's even a bit shocking once in a while.

"Web of Death" (Elemental Assassin, #1.5)
This short takes place right after Spider's Bite. Gin has retired from the assassin business, but when she discovers some men ganging up on a woman a few short miles from her new place, she can't help but respond to the situation and some heads roll. Literally.

This short was okay. It didn't necessarily reveal anything about Gin's character that the reader doesn't already know at this point. I think we all knew Gin wouldn't be able to stay retired from the assassin business for too long--she's bored running the Pork Pit! What it does show is that Gin does have a moral compass. One that points directly at the evil bastards who torment the people of Ashland and whom she has no qualms about eliminating whether she's being paid to or not. Clearly she's doing the world a service.

Web of Lies (Elemental Assassin, #2)
Review to come. (Maybe.)

"Wasted" (Elemental Assassin, #2.5)
This very short story can be found at the author's website. It's an Elemental Assassin series story that takes place between the events of Web of Lies [Book 2] and Venom [Book 3]. Wasted is told from the point of view of Finnegan Lane, Gin Blanco's foster brother. A beautiful female vampire suspiciously tarts frequenting the bank in which Finn works. Trouble follows, but nothing Finn can't handle. The story was rather flat, but it does reveal a little tidbit about Xavier, the part time cop and part time bouncer of the club Northern Aggression owned by Rosalyn Phillips.

Venom (Elemental Assassin, #3)
Review to come. (Maybe.)

"Tangled Dreams" (Elemental Assassin, #3.5)
This online short story takes place between the events of the third Elemental Assassin book, Venom, and the fourth, Tangled Threads and can be found on the author's website. Tangled Dreams is told from the point of view of the Devereaux sisters, Jo-Jo and Sophia. Gin comes stumbling to the Devereaux sister's house for healing, seriously injured after rescuing a woman and her young daughter from a gang of carjackers. This is a must read for fans of the Elemental Assassin series because it gives a fantastic look into the thoughts and feelings of the Devereaux sisters that hasn't quite yet been explored in the books. It also provides a little bit of insight into their past, particularly Sophia's which I must admit has me rather curious. I love the roles of Jo-Jo and Sophia in this series and I look forward to getting to know them even more in future books.

"Tangled Schemes" (Elemental Assassin, #3.6)
Another online short story from the Elemental Assassin series, this one is told from the point of view of Bria Coolidge, the new, straight laced cop on the Ashland police force. It takes place alongside the events of the first three books and ends around the same time that Venom, book three, ends. I liked learning what happened to Bria since the night her family was murdered by the Fire Elemental when she was just a young girl. We see that fateful night from her eyes and a little bit of how she lived her life afterwards. She learns about the possibility that her sister is still alive and she sets out to find her. The story also hints at a possible love interest for Bria. I hope it comes to fruition--I like the pairing!

Tangled Threads (Elemental Assassin, #4)
Reading this month!

"Spider's Nemesis" (Elemental Assassin, #4.5)
Taking place after the fourth book in the series, this online short story that can be found on the author's website and is told from the point of view of Mab Monroe, the nemesis Gin Blanco the assassin also known as The Spider. The story provides the background story for Mab's hatred of the Snow family that began when Mab Monroe and Eira Snow (Gin's mother) were just young girls. Readers also see the night of the confrontation between Mab and Eira which ultimately led to the murder of Eira and her oldest daughter and the destruction of the Snow home, which left Gin and Bria orphans. Sadly, Gin and Bria believed the other had also perished in the fire that night and only now as adults are they seeking each other.

I enjoyed learning more about the connection between Mab Monroe and the Snow family, but I have to admit I'm a bit disappointed that Mab's hatred of Eira Snow was based largely on Mab's innate evilness and drive for absolute power with a dab of jealousy mixed in. Basically I wanted to understand why Mab is so mean, greedy and destructive and was disappointed to learn that she was just essentially born and raised that way.

Visit Jennifer Estep at her website http://jenniferestep.com for more information about her books, including the Elemental Assassin series and these short stories.

Do you read this series?

What's your favorite urban fantasy series that stars a female protagonist?

My November Adventures

November started out with some challenging days as our community was still recovering from hurricane Sandy that charged through the area in late October. Our school district was closed for nearly two full weeks, Halloween was more or less cancelled and the school calendar had to be re-worked to account for so many missed school days. Spring break is intact, but we lost some other days off in 2013 and now the last day of school has been pushed to June 25th! As much as I love a snowy winter, I hope we're not slammed with too many snow days this winter or the school year's never going to end!

In books: 
I read twelve books this month, but don't be fooled--only five of them were full length novels. Two others were novellas, another a graphic novel and then I also read five short stories, which are even shorter than novellas. Those short stories are counting towards my annual count of books read this year, which may or may not be cheating since they are so short, but I'm not stressing over it because my goodreads book count for 2012 is slightly off anyway because most of my re-reads this year aren't included in my total.

Total books read: 13
Romance................ 5
    [Contemporary Romance.... 2]
    [Steampunk Romance ....... 3]
Urban Fantasy........... 6
General Fiction ........ 1
Graphic Novel ........... 1

1. Poison by Jennifer Estep [online short story]
2. Web of Deceit by Jennifer Estep [online short story]
3. Spider's Bargain by Jennifer Estep [online short story]
4. Web of Death by Jennifer Estep [online short story]
5. Dream Lake by Lisa Kleypas
6. Through the Lens by K.M. Jackson
7. Web of Lies by Jennifer Estep
8. Wasted by Jennifer Estep [online short story]
9. The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook
10. Here There Be Monsters by Meljean Brook [RE-READ]
11. Fever Moon by Karen Marie Moning
12. Mina Wentworth and the Invisible City by Meljean Brook
13. This is How You Lose Her by Junoz Diaz

My favorite book this month is The Iron Duke, which I finally got around to reading thanks to the TBR Challenge! I loved it and can't wait to read more in this world. I also really enjoyed Dream Lake by Lisa Kleypas. I also recommend This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz even though I didn't get anything really positive out of characters or their story. I'm glad I read it, but man was it sad in a pitiful way. It gets bonus points just for making me think about it so much.

In Photography: 

I'm still going strong with my Project 366 [leap year] photography project. I haven't missed a photo since one day last May, I think. I hope I didn't just jinx myself because I'm almost there!

Don't cry over spilt milk..
especially when you have kitties!
November 18. 2012

The spilt milk photo in the photo above was my 'most liked' photo of November. I had come home from the grocery store with a gallon of milk when it fell through the bottom of the bag onto the floor, splitting along the seam of the jug and a lot spilled out before I could pick it up and stop the spill. I only let them lap up the milk for a minute or two while I snapped the photo. They were so cute.

I've been having a lot of fun on Instagram, even though I think it is kind of silly from a non-user's perspective. I came across a link to a really funny spoof video about Instagram that shows you why. I laughed and cringed at the same time, because I do those things! So embarrassing, but who cares. I'm having fun documenting my year through photos and "meeting" people from all over the world.

Here's the link to the video:

http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6853117/look-at-this-instagram-nickelback-parody

But I swear wasn't being pretentious when I posted a photo of Anna Karenina! Honest!

The Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge
.. on a 34.4 mile bike ride in 41 F breezy weather..
November 24, 2012

Instagram has new user profile pages that can easily be found if you know someone's username. Here's mine: http://instagram.com/thehappilyeverafter . They don't always load properly for me, though, so I'm not sure what's up with that.

Anyway, that's it for my November adventures.. I'm sure I did more than read and take pictures on my iphone, but I can't think of anything else to report. lol

Moments from our first snow of the season.
November 7, 2012

December is always a busy month of activities and of course, holiday celebrations. It also mention lots of baking! And eating... oh boy. I'm already planning on a January detox followed by seriously healthy eating.

Have you had any adventures lately?

I wish you all a delightful, delicious and joyous December!

My #20minaday Challenge

Samantha from samanthacycles.com, who also reviews at FictionVixen.com, came up with this nifty challenge idea for December. The idea is to take at least 20 minutes every day for the whole month JUST FOR YOURSELF. What a great idea, right? I bet most of you spend a ton of time taking care of other people, putting yourself last, especially this time of year. Right now would be a great time to make sure you take care of yourself as well. I personally think it's a good habit to carry on all year long. Just 20 minutes a day. Take care of yourself and you'll be able to better take care of the ones you love. The bonus? Samantha is giving away a $25 Amazon gift certificate to one lucky participant at the end of the challenge.

For more information on the #20minaday challenge and how to join in, visit Samantha at her blog samanthacycles.com and on twitter @samanthacycles.

Here's my #20minaday list for December which I'll update this post as I go along.

I'm going to try to NOT use working out as me time, because while that time and effort is 100% all about me, I do it all the time. For this challenge I'd like to make a point of doing something different just for me.

12.1  Worked on my Spanish/Spanglish glossary of This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz. 
12.2  Went shopping for new sneakers + boots for ME! Didn't find anything, though. :(
12.3  Gathered and admired my collection of holiday cooking magazines. :)
12.4  Lunch with Claudia at ATH! :D
12.5  30 minute nap. *bliss*
12.6  Caught up with Angela on the phone. My dear friend since we were 4 years old!
12.7  Caught up with Dee on the phone. Free therapy session! ha
12.8  Watched a movie with Gabe.
12.9  60 minute nap.. so tired lately.
12.10 Went to Charlotte's to juice.
12.11 Played a couple of games Scramble with Friends with my husband. I lost every time.
12.12 Watched last night's Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition with my girls (DVR)
12.13 Organized the living room & game closet. Feels so good to have purged stuff!
12.14 Played with the colors of my blog. Fun.
12.15 Snuggled and talked with my youngest.
12.16 Napped. I see a strong trend here..
12.17 Had a midmorning coffee + cookies with Gabe. He baked them!
12.18 --- Youngest got sick last night..  pretty much kept her company, rubbed her back,
12.19 ---          and watched tv with her all day
12.20 --- SICK! Bleh.. in bed with stomach bug. 
             Husband had to stay home today to take care of everyone. 
12.21 --- 
12.22 --- Started watching "tvd" on Netflix w/Maria
12.23 ---  I exercised and read, but I promised myself I wasn't counting those towards 
12.24 ---      as #20minaday 'ME' time. 
12.25 Backing up my 1st gen ipad and restoring data onto my new ipad mini!!! :D
12.26 Participated in Joy's #NewYearsBook twitter chat
12.27 Watched "tvd" with my girls
12.28 Watched movie with Gabe.
12.29 Watched more "tvd" with my girls.
12.30 Built our gingerbread house!
12.31 Went out for a romantic NYE dinner with my husband

Library Loot LX

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries! 

If I haven't screwed up my roman numerals along the way, this is my 60th Library Loot post since I started participating in this meme in August 2009. I promise you I've been to the library way more times than 60 in that time span, though. Sometimes I go just to return something and then look but don't borrow. Sometimes I go with my daughters who borrow books but I don't. Sometimes my library loot post includes books from three different libraries that I've visited in a week's time. In any case, I've become a huge fan of looting libraries in the last few years and I don't plan on stopping!

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
I'm down to the wire with less than a month left to wrap up a few of my reading challenges for this year. I chose to read this book for the last requirement for the What's In A Name 5 Reading Challenge. I started reading it already and will likely finish it tomorrow. It's acclaimed by critics and even considered a modern classic, but I'm not exactly sure why yet.

Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami 
This is my second year participating in the Haruki Murakami Reading Challenge and this is the book I chose to read this year. (I'm participating at the one book level.) Last year I read after the quake: stories and liked it, but didn't feel it was quite enough to say I've really sampled Murakami's writing. I hope I like Sputnik Sweetheart!

Great Expectations: The Graphic Novel by Charles Dickens, 
       adapted by Jen Green
Go ahead and laugh at me for reading this classic novel in graphic novel format, but at least I'm reading original text and learning about a classic that I know nothing about and would probably not read otherwise. My motivation to read this one comes from the fact that my daughter is reading the novel in her high school lit class right now and I thought it would be fun to read it along with her. In my modified, short cut version, anyway. I highly recommend the Classical Comics line of graphic novels for reluctant high school readers or busy grown ups like me who want to be enlightened but don't have the time or interest to read the original novels.

Head Over Heels by Jill Shalvis
I grabbed this one on the way out of the library the other night. This is the third book in the Lucky Harbor contemporary romance series. I read the first two a while back and while I'm not sure I want to continue with the series (there are at least five books now), I at least want to finish this one to complete the original trilogy. The first three books feature three sisters who have been reunited in Lucky Harbor after growing up separately who all find love and happily ever after as adults. This is Chole's story. If I don't finish this one by the end of the year, it will likely be one of my first few books of 2013.

Food in Jars by Marisa McClellan
I re-looted this great little cookbook on home preserving. I'm kind of hoping Santa brings me my own copy, but in any case, I wanted to check out Marisa's marmalade recipes because I'm thinking of making up a batch or two to give as Christmas gifts to friends. Let's see if I can make that happen.

Have you read any of these books? 

What are YOU reading from your library [or bookshelves]? 

Are you cramming to read any particular books to meet your 2012 Reading Challenge goals? 

Crazy for Christmas Cookies!

After hearing all about the annual Virtual Advent Tour hosted by Marg [The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader] and Kelly [The Written World] over the last couple of years, I finally decided to join in the merriment. Today's post is my contribution to the 2012 Virtual Advent Tour that just kicked off a few days ago. The idea behind the tour is for book bloggers to share anything they wish about the advent season with their fellow bloggers.. family or country traditions, recipes, books, movies, songs, anything at all, really. To learn more about the Virtual Advent Tour, the schedule of participants with links to their blogs, or to sign up yourself, visit the Virtual Advent Tour Blog HERE.

As you can guess from the title of this post, I am crazy for Christmas cookies. Ever since I can remember, my mother would bake dozens of Christmas cookies--at least five or more varieties and store them in decorative tins on the dining room table. We would eat them, of course, but my mom would also package sampler plates of cookies, wrapped in cellophane and tied with ribbon to gift to relatives, friends, neighbors, the mailman, the garbage collectors, teachers, crossing guards, and so on. She made a lot of cookies!

My mom practiced this Christmas cookie tradition after learning it from her own mother--my maternal grandmother whom I called Oma. My Oma baked traditional German cookies such as spritz, lebkuchen and linzer cookies. My mom baked those same cookies--except for the lebkuchen, and then some. She'd switch it up a bit every year but there was always spritz, linzer cookies, almond crescent cookies, chocolate chip cookies with walnuts, iced holiday cutout cookies. My brothers and I usually helped with the cutout cookies. So much fun!

From the first year that I had my own kitchen, I've been baking Christmas cookies for the holiday season as well. There may have been a year or two when I only managed to make one or two varieties, but I always baked some cookie for Christmas. Interestingly, the only cookie from my childhood that I consistently bake every year are spritz cookies. I wrote about my affection for spritz cookies last year, in which I include a recipe in this post HERE. I have been using the same cookie press for almost 20 years now and I think I'll just cry the day it fails me. I sure hope I don't jinx myself by even thinking of that happening.

I love cooking magazines probably just as much as I love cookbooks and I have acquired many many issues over the years. That can be a whole separate discussion, but the point here is that every December I pull out all the holiday issues of cooking magazines in my collection and pour over them for days and days and days and weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, deciding on the cookies that will make that year's list. I think planning the cookies is almost as much fun as baking them! But never as much fun as eating them. ;)

My holiday magazine collection includes:

Over a decade of December issues of Cooking Light magazines:

Holiday issues of Cooking Light magazine

Nearly a decade of December and Holiday issues of Everyday Food magazines:

December & Holiday issues of Everyday Food magazine

Several special Holiday publications from Martha Stewart Living:
These include decorating and homemade gift ideas and instructions. SO fun!

Holiday cookies {and homemade gifts} MS publications

One beloved copy of Holiday Baking by Cook's Illustrated magazine:
I subscribed to this magazine for a year or two--loved it. Very good for serious cooks who love reading about test kitchen processes and food science as much as they love cooking.

Holiday Baking special publication
from Cook's Illustrated

Several special Christmas Cookies publications from Better Homes and Gardens magazine:
SO many terrific cookie recipes and tips in these magazines. Also, instructions and templates for making Gingerbread Houses. I bought a new one [the red Holiday Baking one on top] just the other day because I want to make the gingerbread house inside it this year. :)

Christmas Cookies | Holiday Baking
Special publications from Better Homes & Gardens
magazine

I also have ONE Christmas Cookie cookbook that I absolutely LOVE. I have cooked many recipes from this cookbook of classic Christmas cookie recipes. That is, Joy of Cooking Christmas Cookies by Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer-Becker and Ethan Becker. If you are passionate about Christmas cookies like I am, I highly recommend this cookbook. It's no longer available in print from the publisher, but look for it at your library or from used book sellers! This is becoming my trademark line lately, isn't it?


Nothing says Crazy for Christmas Cookies like my collection of cooking magazines, don't you think?

I also have a collection of Christmas craft books and cross-stitch patterns that rivals this collection of Holiday magazines...  ; )

Are you crazy for Christmas cookies, too?

What is your FAVORITE Christmas cookie? 

Cookbook Challenge Wrap-Up

I joined Cynni's Cookbook Challenge back in October with hopes of cooking out of some never used cookbooks on my own shelves. I challenged myself to prepare one recipe from different cookbooks and ended up preparing eleven recipes in all--one or more from each of the five cookbook. Needless to say this was a very successful challenge for me. Here's a recap of the cookbooks and recipes I prepared over the last few weeks:

Butternut Shotglass Soup

First up was the delightfully artistic cookbook, Autumn by Susan Branch. I was delighted by how many readers who visited my post were already familiar with this author's books. Even more exciting, Susan Branch herself came by and left a lovely comment on the post. This was a huge thrill for me. I made two soup recipes from this cookbook--Butternut Shotglass Soup and Tomato Soup. I've even made the Tomato Soup three times since then.

Tomato Soup

Saffron Pilaf and Moghul Shrimp
in Cream Sauce and other sides

The second cookbook I pulled from my shelves was Indian Regional Cooking by Julie Sahini from which I prepared four recipes. I made Saffron Pilaf [Zaffron Pulao], Moghul Shrimp in Cream Sauce [Moghul Jheenga], Orange-Cinnamon Basmati Pilaf [Naarangi Pulao] and Chicken Korma [Murgh Korma]. All of the recipes were wonderful--I am especially fond of the rice dishes and will definitely make them again. I also plan to try even more recipes from this cookbook.

Pumpkin Cornmeal Griddle Cakes

Next, I grabbed The Pumpkin Cookbook edited by Nicola Hill from which I made Pumpkin-Cornmeal Griddle Cakes and Pumpkin, Chickpea and Banana Curry. The griddle cakes were just okay to my liking, but I loved the authentic Indian flavor of the curry dish. I posted the recipe in the review of the cookbook HERE and highly recommend you give it a try if you like Indian food--with or without the banana.

Apple Puff Pancake 

Over Thanksgiving weekend, I prepared a delicious Apple Puff Pancake from the cookbook Holiday Baking by Sara Perry. I adore this cookbook that includes a diverse collection of traditional and modern recipes for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa and New Year's Eve and Day. I look forward to trying so many more recipes from this cookbook in the future. I highly recommend this one.

Beef Rouladen and Spätzle

Finally, I cooked two recipes from The German Cookery by Elizabeth Schuler. This is an old-fashioned style cookbook with very simple recipe instructions for authentic German dishes. I bought it so I could learn to cook some home style recipes that my German grandmother prepared for so many family meals during my childhood. I made Beef Rouladen [Rinderrouladen] and Spätzle. While the recipes I tried weren't quite like my Oma's, it sure felt comforting to prepare a meal of which I think my Oma would have been proud.


So I met the challenge of the Creative Croissant that required 3-5 recipes and then some! Since I made eleven recipes, I actually finished at the Swedish Chef level!

I hope you've been inspired to pull a rarely used cookbook off your shelves and start cooking from it!

Thanks, Cynni, for a fun and inspiring challenge! :)

German Cookery by Elizabeth Schuler [Cookbook]

Welcome to yet another cookbook challenge post! The Cookbook Challenge was created by Cynni at She Likes Bento to encourage participants to cook from cookbooks we've had on our shelves for ages but from which we've not yet cooked. I chose five such cookbooks from my shelves and have reviewed them over the last couple of weekends. All of the cookbooks I chose for the challenge are unfortunately no longer in print. Until this one! German Cookery by Elizabeth Schuler is amazingly still available in print! This was a big surprise to me since it was originally published in 1955, revised in 1968 and then more recently published in 1983. Not that recent!

Why I bought this cookbook:
German Cookery is one among a handful of my very first cookbooks that I bought in the first few years of living on my own, fresh out of college. I was 22 years old when I moved into my own apartment. I had very limited cooking experience but a whole lot of ambition. The greatest influences on my passion for cooking have always been my mother and my maternal grandmother. When it comes to German cooking, however, all of my influence comes from my grandmother, or Oma as I called her. She and my Opa had a large kitchen garden that provided fresh herbs and vegetables for many spring and summer meals and I have to admit the most memorable meals from my childhood were definitely eaten at their table--in their cozy kitchen or sprawled out on a large wooden picnic table beneath the shade of the maple tree in their yard. My maternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Germany in the 1920s when they were just teenagers, separated by a year or two. Upon arriving in New York Harbor, my Oma found work as the live-in cook for a physician and his family. Clearly, cooking has always been her greatest passion and skill. Well, sewing as well, but unfortunately I didn't inherit that one. Needless to say, I purchased German Cookery in hopes of learning how to cook some of my favorite German dishes growing up. My Oma was actually still alive at that time, but already her enthusiasm for cooking had greatly dwindled, as did her memory, so even though I asked for instructions on how to cook my favorites, she had already forgotten most of it. So if you have family members from older generations still alive, ask them for their recipes NOW. Don't wait, because once they're gone.. they're gone forever. I learned this the hard way.

About this cookbook:
According to the introduction in German Cookery, this little cookbook was originally published in Germany as Mein Kochbuch, or My Cookbook, where it has been 'enormously popular.' Based on the style of the recipe instructions, it's pretty obvious this cookbook has been around for a long time. It's still is quite archaic and unfortunately, I don't think it hasn't been revised much as it lacks details that I think today's cooks depend on. You'll see what I mean in the recipes I share below.

Although I'm not an expert on German cooking, the recipes in this cookbook appear to be authentic German recipes. The ingredients and methods of preparation are familiar to me from the many years I spent on extended visits with my German grandparents, watching my Oma prepare family meals and desserts. Recipes in the cookbook are categorized by courses--Egg Dishes, Sandwiches, Appetizers, Soups, Fish, Poultry, Meat, Dumplings, Potatoes, Vegetables, Salads, Sauces, Luncheon Dishes and Other Specialties, Desserts and Sweets, Yeast Baking, Deep Fat Baking, Cakes, Tarts and Christmas Cakes and Candies. I love how certain foods get entire chapters dedicated to them such as dumplings, potatoes--even yeast baking and deep fat baking have separate chapters. Serious baking takes place in a German kitchens--especially during the Christmas season. There's a special chapter just for those treats as well.

I made two recipes from German Cookery for dinner one night this week, both of which turned out okay. Of course, I'm comparing these recipes and my own cooking skills to my Oma's and honestly... I don't think anything can compare. She set the bar pretty high. While my all time favorite meal of my Oma's was her Sauerbrauten with softball sized Potato dumplings or Gekochte Kartoffelklousse, I didn't attempt them this time. Instead, I chose to make my second favorite German beef dish, Beef Rouladen or Rindrrouladen with Spätzle, which are homemade egg dumplings or noodles. I served these two dishes with a simple side dish of sauteed Savoy cabbage with sweet onions.

Beef Rouladen with Spätzle
and sauteed cabbage

Beef Rouladen {Rinderrouladen} 
4 thin slices of beef
salt and pepper
4 slices bacon
1 onion
1 tablespoon parsley
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup water extra flour
2 tablespoons cream
salt and pepper
paprika
2 tablespoons beef stock

Pound beef slices and rub with salt and pepper. Cut up bacon, chop onion and parsley and mix all with mustard. Spread this on beef slices and roll up tightly. Tie with string. Dip rolls in flour and fry in butter to brown all sides. Add water and stew for 30 minutes. When water has evaporated, turn rolls once again. Remove, untie and place on hot platter. To "Bratensatz"* in pan, add flour, cream, seasonings and beef stock to make gravy. Pour over meat.
       Serves 4.

*I believe "Bratensatz" means to deglaze the browned bits in the pan to make a gravy.

Making homemade spätzle for the first time! 

Spätzle 
4 cups flour
3 eggs
1 cup water
1 tablespoon salt

Prepare firm dough from the flour, eggs, water and salt. Beat until it comes easily away from the sides of the bowl. Form dumplings and cook in boiling salted water. Skim them out, dip in cold water and serve on a hot platter. Spätzle may also be browned lightly in butter before serving. A favorite accompaniment to meat and vegetables.
      Serves 4.

It would have been nice if the instructions for the spätzle had a bit more detail on the consistency of the dough. I had no idea if my dough was too wet or dense enough, so I didn't adjust. My family ate everything and there were no leftovers, so I guess it was successful. I made a few notes on what I might do differently next time, particularly with the Rouladen, but it was pretty good for a first attempt. No where near as good as Oma's, but good enough.

I plan to try a few more of the recipes, although I'll likely look online for similar recipes and then tweak the ones from this cookbook as I go along. I'd love to make the big potato dumplings with roast beef and gravy over the winter. I'm curious to see my family will love the Gekochte Kartoffelklosse as much as I did when I was a kid.

I'd give German Cookery 3 out of 5 stars on goodreads for "I liked it."

GRADE: C+

To take a peak inside German Cookery by Elizabeth Schuler, visit the cookbook's amazon page on the following link and then click on the image to Look Inside:

http://www.amazon.com/German-Cookery-Classic-Cookbook-Series/dp/0517506637/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354320380&sr=8-1&keywords=german+cookery

Have you ever had German food before? What's your favorite dish or dessert? 

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The Cookbook Challenge runs through the end of November, so if you'd like to join in, visit Cynni's sign up post HERE. Hope to see you cooking from a much neglected cookbook on your shelves soon!

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Weekend Cooking, a weekly blog event hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food related post to share--a food related book review (fiction or nonfiction), cookbook review, movie review, a recipe, random thoughts, gadgets, food quotations, photographs, etc. Please visit Beth's blog for more information and join the fun! 

Note: your post does not have to be posted on the weekend, but do visit Beth's blog over the weekend to link up your post. 

In Death Series Reading Challenge: November 2012

Interested in joining the Challenge? Anyone is welcome to join in at any time of the year at wherever in the series you currently are. See the sign up post HERE and join the fun!

Did you read any In Death series books this month?

I started reading Promises In Death very early in the month and was LOVING it. It's the one in which one of the NYPSD's own female detectives is murdered in the basement of her apartment building, likely by someone she knows. She also happens to be a recent serious love interest of one of the long term characters on Eve's team. So there's a strong personal component to this one, which is making the mystery shrouding her murder even more compelling. I put it down only because I had some other books that I really wanted to read to fulfill book clubs, read alongs on reading challenges, but hope to pick it back up in December!

CHALLENGE PARTICIPANTS: Link up any In Death posts you made this month here. If you made a post on your blog, whether it be a review or commentary, please grab the link to your post and leave it in the comments below so we can find each other's latest In Death posts easily. You can also just use the link to your goodreads or other virtual bookshelf as well.

BOOK REVIEW:
None this month.

SERIES DISCUSSION:

The five most popular genre shelf labels for the In Death series on goodreads are mystery, romance, crime, suspense and romantic suspense. I've often been conflicted about under what genre this series falls. Originally thinking it was romantic suspense, I've finally decided on crime fiction. Mystery would work, too, since each book focuses on a murder mystery, but I think crime fiction is more indicative of the police procedural aspects that dominate a large part of the books.

Under what genre (or subgenre) do YOU classify the In Death series?

REVIEW: Fever Moon by Karen Marie Moning

Fever Moon is a graphic novel story from Karen Marie Moning's popular urban fantasy Fever series featuring Mackayla "Mac" Lane. Fever Moon is basically a short story that takes place during the events of Shadowfever, which is the fifth and last book in the Fever series. There is a new spin off series, however, The Dani O'Malley series that starts with the newly released novel, Iced.

Fever Moon was written with the fans of the Fever series in mind, and I do believe those are the readers who will enjoy this novel the most. The author does provide some background information in the series in the first few pages of the graphic novel, but it's really difficult to set the stage of the world building and character development that has already taken place in five full length fantasy novels in just a few pages of a graphic novel. Hence, I'm not really sure if someone who hasn't read the series and picks up this graphic novel will really get what's going on in the Fever world. Maybe it's not critical, anyway, as the plot for this story is not necessarily complex.

The villain in Fever Moon is The Fear Dorcha, a being who was created when the Unseelie King was experimenting in creating his own Soul Song--the power to create immortal life. The Fear Dorcha is a faceless being who steals parts of people's faces in order to create his own face. Once he has completed his created face from all the pieces of his victims, the victims die. Mac races to find the Dorcha and figure out a way to stop him from finishing his face before the last victim is claimed so she can save the lives of these innocent people, among them some of her friends. I thought the conflict was resolved a little too easily and actually ends rather open-ended. Perhaps things will be re-visited in future books in the Dani O'Malley series.

The illustrations in Fever Moon are vividly detailed and effectively evoke the tone and setting of the Fever series very well. I think I prefer the images of the characters that I already had in my head after reading the series than the ones portrayed by the illustrators of the book, but I suppose that's normal. I thought Mac was drawn excessively voluptuous and Barbie-doll like, but perhaps I just visualize her as more wholesome for my own preferences.

Overall, Fever Moon is an okay read. Fans of the Fever series will likely love it because it's a fun, unique way to visit Dublin AWC, or After the Wall Crashes, giving a graphic glimpse of their favorite characters--Mac, Jerricho, Dani and plenty of others including the Seelie Prince Velvet, Dreamy Eyed Guy and Ryodan. Everyone else will likely think is just okay.

I give Fever Moon 2.5 out of 5 stars.

GRADE: C-