Christmas Cooking - 2011

My Initial List

Over the last few days and during the next few days, I'm going to be posting my Christmas Cooking for 2011. This is the easiest and best way for me to document what works and what doesn't and what people thought of everything. It will be helpful for 2012. Enjoy!

Winter Solstice

Well, it's here - the shortest day of the year and that can only mean one thing. Tomorrow the days will FINALLY start getting longer. I, for one, cannot wait. I know it's not terribly rational, but even at one minute a day it means that in a few days, maybe a week or a little more I won't be coming home from the office in the dark. Hallelujah!

What I'm learning...

About writing is that you don't have to be great at everything to get published. I've been reading quite a few varied and different types of stories and I think I must just be a born editor. I find all kinds of little things that just make me nuts. And I have to stop and go back
and reread things - it's making me nuts because it does take some of the fun out of reading. I wonder if this has something to do with the fact that I now read more on by (beloved) Kindle than a printed book. Books can be produced faster by going to an electronic format, so perhaps more slips by. Or maybe people need better editors. Or maybe I'm too picky and need to just relax and go with a story. I just can't seem to do it.
Case in point, use of groan worthy phrases such as, "this was a look he could die in." All together now - groan. Or an element in the story that never gets explained such as, a letter that someone steals but no reference is ever made of it again - why not - did you just forget while writing? That's what I'm thinking has happened.
I must just be too picky, or perhaps, I should change careers and become an editor. 


Caveat - this does not refer to any books I've written about on this blog (at the present time). 

According to Jane - Marilyn Brant

Summary: It begins one day in sophomore English class, just as Ellie Barnett's teacher is assigning Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice." From nowhere comes a quiet 'tsk' of displeasure. The target: Sam Blaine, the cute bad boy who's teasing Ellie mercilessly, just as he has since kindergarten. Entirely unbidden, as Jane might say, the author's ghost has taken up residence in Ellie's mind, and seems determined to stay there. Jane's wise and witty advice guides Ellie through the hell of adolescence and beyond, serving as the voice she trusts, usually far more than her own. Years and boyfriends come and go - sometimes a little too quickly, sometimes not nearly fast enough. But Jane's counsel is constant, and on the subject of Sam, quite insistent. Stay away, Jane demands. He is your Mr. Wickham. Still, everyone has something to learn about love - perhaps even Jane herself. And lately, the voice in Ellie's head is being drowned out by another, urging her to look beyond everything she thought she knew and seek out her very own, very unexpected, happy ending. (source: Amazon)


Comments: Would I like to have Jane Austen's thoughts in my head? After reading this book, the answer is no. I can't keep up with my own thoughts, much less having another person's in there too. I'm glad I read the book, but it was a bit long and I wonder about a 30 something year old woman who still thinks about anything that happened in high school.  I bet she's on Facebook all the time too, but that's just my little prejudice - high school should be forgotten because, dear lord, we were stupid then. The list of boyfriends Ellie racks up is pretty impressive, especially her Russian musician (his sex drive was a character of its own) and somehow she, mostly, can remain friends with the guys, after a little time goes by. The secondary characters, if given enough page time, are pretty well drawn and believable. The music references were all spot on and I really enjoyed them. Perhaps a little long, but a interesting read. This book is for mature audiences. 

Recipes

I've been collecting recipes since about forever and I have lots of different ways that they are stored and I change those ways every few years. Right now, I have a folder on my computer where everything is saved and I print all my recipes and put them in plastic sleeves and into a binder - yes, it's geeky beyond repair. That said, I've noticed that when I go to make my paper copy of a recipe to print out, I do a lot of editing to them getting rid of extraneous words that just really don't seems necessary for anyone with any level of common sense and who has spent at least, I don't know, a couple of hours around the kitchen making dinner. And no, that does not include nuking something or as the MotH* thinks, reheating pizza.
What do I do my biggest hatchet job on? Descriptions of things that are on the recipe. Do I really need a header for "Ingredients?" I don't think so, I'm pretty aware that a list of things at the beginning of a recipe is the ingredients. Do I really need a header for "Directions" or for that matter, do said directions need to be numbered? Um, No.
I do usually add one thing to the recipe - the website that it came from. I think giving credit is a good thing, sometimes that's not possible, especially if it's a recipe that I've been making so long that I don't use a recipe anymore I just know how to do it - like my pasta sauce, but they all start somewhere. My new favorite recipe is from Mario Batali, but I'm already made
several changes and it will be up here soon. Alterations included.


*Man of the House

Forever and a Day - Delilah Marvelle

Summary: Roderick Gideon Tremayne, the recently appointed Duke of Wentworth, never expected to find himself in New York City, tracking down a mysterious map important to his late mother. And he certainly never expected to be injured, only to wake up with no memory of who he is. But when he sees the fiery-haired beauty who's taken it upon herself to rescue him, suddenly his memory is the last thing on his mind.
Georgia Milton, the young head of New York's notorious Forty Thieves, feels responsible for the man who was trying to save her bag from a thief. But she's not prepared for the fierce passion he ignites within her. When his memory begins to return, her whole world is threatened, and Roderick must choose between the life he forgot and the life he never knew existed… (source: Netgalley)


Comments: Lovely lovely story. Granted, this is for mature audiences, it is a great story of overcoming adversity and not giving in or giving up on someone you love. Georgia is bright, hard working and tenacious. Robinson, as Tremayne is known through most of the book, is
honest, steadfast, and true. One of my favorite parts of the story is Tremaye's relationship with his father and via that - Georgia's relationship with him too. While dictated by the control of English society, his father does care about Tremaye's future life and happiness - that was very refreshing. Georgia's family, the Forty Thieves, at least the ones we meet seem sincere, esp.her adopted son Matthew. It's a bleak picture of slum life for Irish immigrants in the 1830s, but a fun read. This is the first book I've read by this author. 

The Mischief of the Mistletoe - Lauren Willig

Summary: Arabella Dempsey's dear friend Jane Austen warned her against teaching. But Miss Climpson's Select Seminary for Young Ladies seems the perfect place for Arabella to claim her independence while keeping an eye on her younger sisters nearby. Just before Christmas, she
accepts a position at the girls' school in Bath. She hardly imagines coming face-to-face with French aristocrats and international spies...
Reginald "Turnip" Fitzhugh - often mistaken for the elusive spy know as the Pink Carnation - has blundered into danger before. When Turnip and Arabella find a beautifully wrapped Christmas pudding with a cryptic message, they are launched on a Yuletide adventure that ranges from the Austens' modest drawing room to the awe-inspiring estate of the Duke of Dovedale and an elaborate Christmas celebration.
Will they find poinsettias or peril, dancing or danger? Is it possible that the fate of the British Empire rests in Arabella's and Turnip's hands in the form of a festive Christmas pudding?


Comments: Perfect for a winter read (even though it's not terribly cold here now). The story of the unassuming, but practical Arabella Dempsey and the handsome, rich, but slight quirky Turnip Fitzhugh is a lovely addition to the Pink Carnation pantheon. It's very interesting how this story folds into the Temptation of the Night Jasmine which of course, leads to The Betrayal of the Blood Lily. The back cover quotes "Pride and Prejudice lives on" and while I agree there is a classic quality to them, but it is not the best analogy I think. These have more mystery, more romance (read: almost sex), and are quite funny. Austen has a dry wit. It's just not quite a fair way to describe the books. I do tend to like the female characters, but Turnip is downright adorable. We all know some guy like him, blessed in the looks department which is good because he's a few tools short in the shed. Lovely story and a quick read for the holidays.

Austenland - Shannon Hale

Summary: Jane Hayes is a seemingly normal young New Yorker, but she has a secret. Her obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, is ruining her love life: no real man can compare. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-crazed women, Jane’s fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become realer than she ever could have imagined. 
 
Decked out in empire-waist gowns, Jane struggles to master Regency etiquette and flirts with gardeners and gentlemen—or maybe even, she suspects, with the actors who are playing them. It’s all a game, Jane knows. And yet the longer she stays, the more her insecurities seem to fall away, and the more she wonders: Is she about to kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?

Comment: I had heard of this book before, but the premiss seemed a bit far fetched (where did that phrase come from?). Who would want to spend real time in Regency England? I like reading about it - at least Miss Austen's version of it, but I sure the heck wouldn't want to live it. Plus just the stigma of being lame enough to go to Austenland? I'm just not there. That said, I enjoyed the book. It was quirky and fun and had all the important parts necessary; scheming mother, brooding handsome stranger, competitive women, plus a normal nice guy.  While the premiss did seem a bit out there, it's written in a believable manner so I got over that part. Jane  - let's see - she's a strange girl, but in the best possible way - I liked her. 

Further Comment: In looking for a picture of the book cover, I have just discovered what, I'm sure, the rest of the Jane Austen world knows - that this is being made into a movie - and even better JJ Feild will be in it.  Ah, Mr. Tilney. 

Love at Absolute Zero - Christopher Meeks

Summary: Gunnar Gunderson is a physicist who teaches at University of Wisconsin who work relates to getting to absolute zero - it's his holy grail. As he earns tenure, he decides he needs to take control of his person life -  which means finding a wife in three days. That's all the time he can spare away from his research. 


Comments: There was just something so hopeless naive about Gunnar that I had to read the book. It's not just romance, it's not all science, but it certainly is about life and how we, mostly, stumble our way through it. I could say more on this, but I don't want to give up too much of the story. It is a bit of an unusual pick for me, but I really enjoyed it. Gunnar is dense, brilliant, goofy and hopeless all at the same time - that why you need to read the book. 

I'm prepared to be annoyed

until the time changes back. I hate the time change in winter, though it's still fall here. It's just so depressing.  Sigh.