Book & Baking Blog Entry 34

I love to bake cookies.  Really.  And I prefer baking for others to eat.  Mostly because I put on weight easily and couldn't possibly eat all the cookies that I really would like to eat.


I just had to share the experience of making the rare, almost never seen out of its natural midwestern habitat, Orange Cookie.  Orange Cookies were almost never found at my house even  at Christmas.  Nope.  Why not?  They are delicious.  They are cakey and sweet.  They actually taste like orange.  They have lovely icing--AHA!  There's the kicker.  As a kid I had no idea that there were people out there regularly icing  their cookies.


I can't speak for my mother, but I suspect that she did not like to frost cookies.  For example, I thought that sugar cookies were called sugar cookies because you sprinkled sugar on them.  I didn't realize that it was because they are sugary goodness and most people put even more sugary icing on them.  Who knew?! 


So, of course, we all like to think that we don't have the hang-ups of our mothers.  So why don't I make the sugary, sweet, orange, frosted cookies?  Well, I don't keep orange juice in the house.  I should find out if there is such a think as powdered orange juice, not Tang, but real stuff.  There has got to be.  Seriously, you can get powdered milk...


I don't mind frosting the cookies and the best part about these is that the frosting gets nice and stiff.  You're supposed to use wax paper to separate the layers of cookies, but I don't.  Honey-badger just don't care....


So, rethinking the cookie line up.  What was really fun was that I know mom would always use orange food color so that the cookies were "orange." I made the frosting, well, mauve? even towards a lilac.  I used pink, but the cream color of the frosting clearly influenced the end color more than I figured.  Too cute.  My daughter LOVES it.


Happy Baking.

Book & Baking Blog Entry 33

WARNING:  some bad language and spoilers

Well, it's time to think about novellas.  First, one of the great thing about Kindle is that novellas are affordable and can be downloaded without an anthology.  I just wish that it was made clear when one is buying a novella.  If I'm on the amazon site I usually double-check but on the kindle itself, at 10pm when I'm reading by flashlight....you get it.

Anyway.  Coffee Clutch by Marshall Thornton.  Wow.  Didn't like it.  At all.  Wouldn't recommend it.  Even for .99. 

First I object to the title.  Please.  I hope that the author was trying to be clever, but I get the idea, based on the rest of the novella, that he was just ignorant of the spelling.

One of the amazon reviewers says that she can't point out what she doens't like without spoilers, so HEY, THERE MIGHT BE SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT.

I don't like the characters.  Are ALL men of the sixties truly heinous assholes?  Are all of the women ineffectual wimps who just take it?  And why are they friends when they don't seem to like each other?

And, the plot.  Our main character, a wimpy, sixties housewife who gave up her non-career that she never really tried to get to be a wife and mother decides that her risque, divorced neighbor must have been murdered by her other neighbor.  So she sets out to prove this?  Not really.  She does a bunch of stuff and accidentally finds the killer BUT because she's so wimpy she won't do anything about it because he (the killer) will actually prove that she did it because her husband and ALL of the other husbands in the neighborhood were actually having affairs with the divorcee?  Really?  And she's not going to confront her husband and she'll continue to live next to the killer. 

I get the idea that there will be more in the "next" Jan Birch novel and that she'll "grow" as a person and find herself, blah blah blah.  The characters couldn't be more one dimensional.  Everything we know is because the author tells us it's so.

The kicker?!  There is a movie short with the same name.  Based on the novella?!  I hope not.

Book & Baking Blog Entry 32

So, I've been lazy and have not been blogging.  And now I have a second blog.  I only have one entry, but I set it up today, so don't expect too much.  I thought that I would go with the professional blog.  But enough about that travesty....


So I finally "read" (audiobook) Darkly Dreaming Dexter, by Jeff Lindsay.  Not bad.  It didn't enthrall me as much as it might have but I did enjoy it.  I understand that there is a TV show.  People love it.


I would say that it was better than a large number of books that I've read, but I'm not beating down the computer to download another.  Perhaps it was the narrator, but I don't think so.  First, I'm not just how Dexter is so smart that he is finding serial killers when no one else can?  Is it merely that monsters can find each other?  Having only read the one book it just seemed to be a matter of the author "said so" and that we, the reader had to accept it.  I might consider another to see if the characters develop at all.  They seemed pretty one-dimensional and, frankly, some of the stupidest cops that I've ever read about in a novel.

I have also recently finished Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo.  I enjoyed this book (audio) quite a bit.  Well, right up until the last 25%.  But I enjoyed the characters, they seemed to be somewhat developed, their interaction seemed true to the story.  Until: our chief of police, who has 8 years of law experience prior to her current job seems to lose any sense of how the law works and her rights under the law.  She actually just walks out of her office and doesn't fight her contractual rights and then allows herself to be manhandled by her successor.  I plan to read at least one more by Castillo.  I thought that the rest was interesting enough to give her another try.

Good reading.

Book & Baking Blog Entry 31: Bite My Princess!

So, just so you know, I'm going to talk about a book that I haven't read.  It's called Cinderella Ate My Daughter, by Peggy Orenstein.  I will probably never read this book for a few reasons:


1.  probably no one dies in it.  I hate to be limited but I rarely read anything without a dead body and generally regret it unless it's by Fannie Flagg, and even her books often have dead bodies so there.


2.  It's not fiction.  Again, I rarely read non-fiction.  I spent many years in college (more than most) reading both fiction and non-fiction.  I couldn't care less for non-fiction.  I would rather  watch reality TV (but who wouldn't.)  OK, I know a lot of people LOVE non-fiction and I respect you for being smarter and more intellectual than me.  Seriously, I'm not there.


3.  It's a book that I believe will probably try to scare me into thinking that pop culture is evil and that I have no influence over my own child: I got the idea it might even be focused on parents...I HATE parenting books.  I have pretty much hated them since I picked up one of my first ones and it spent an entire chapter telling my why I was horrible for bringing a baby into the world at my hugely advanced age of over 40 and how my child was going to either miscarry or be damaged so don't get used to being pregnant.  Yep.  Don't like "parenting" books.


Having said that, why am I writing about this book?  Well, she went on the Today Show.  Yes.  I watch the Today Show and I like I.  Now that I've lost the intellectuals of the group let's get down to it:  This woman was interviewed and actually wanted me to sit around and worry that my 3 1/2 year old like girly sparkly things.  I get it; it's commercial.  I get it; it teaches the wrong message....really?!


First, I get a bit tired of having to be alarmed and afraid about everything from transfats to bonnie bell lip-smackers.  Seriously, is it so heinous that 4 and 5 year olds want to wear Bonnie Bell instead of 12 year olds.  As a parents I can say no OR I can say, hey, when I was 4 or 5 I used to love it if my mom would put a touch of lipstick on me.  While I would certainly object if my daughter tried to go out in make up I let her play "make up" when we're home.  She wants to be like me...gosh I know I should run screaming into the woods on that one, but I just can't bring myself to do it.  She also has a big thing for chapstick.  What's next? Vegas and a stripper pole?


Here's an idea Penny: Let's be parents.  My daughter loves princesses and dressing up.  When I was little I was taunted and mocked for liking girly things (which is odd on the one hand because I was a girl BUT not so odd as I was the youngest of 4 and the only girl in my family when we were very young.)  If she wants to wear a princess dress to ride her tricycle or play soccer or play shopping, so be it.  She gets to have her own likes and dislikes.  I refuse to be a tiger.  Maybe my daughter won't turn out as good as yours, but she'll have had the chance to make decisions with guidance.


My daughter loves princesses.  We read the stories and we watch the movies.  There are many interpretations of fairytales.  I'm sure that if I read your book you possibly don't really attack fairy tales but, I'm not going to spend my hard-earned money on your book so here's my thought and what I'm teaching my daughter to take from the "disney" versions of fairy tales:

Ariel:  The hardest princess to defend.  She disobeys her father to her own peril and yet lives happily ever after at 16.  YIPES!  We do like to point out that if Ariel had listened to her father or at least Sebastian that she wouldn't have traded her soul for a chance at true happiness...But isn't that what Ariel teaches?  Sometimes you have to take chances to really get what you want?  To reach for something new and different?  And, honestly, isn't her dad a bit xenophobic?  A great lesson in everyone trying to be a little more open to others' viewpoints.

Sleeping Beauty: She does have to be awakened by her "true love's kiss" and that works out.  Frankly, the adults in this story are total losers.  Seriously, the wicked fairy wins just by the parents sending her away for her entire youth and having her raised by fairies. The lesson here is that we shouldn't jump to conclusions.  Probably her parents wouldn't have made her marry Philip if she really didn't want to BUT we'll never know because she and Philip fell in love etc etc.

Snow White:  We do learn not to take anything from strangers even if they seem nice.  Penny particularly mentions in her interview that our daughters should learn not to take apples from old witches/strangers.  Well, if snow White teaches us nothing else it is this lesson.  It's a lesson learned, not a model for behavior. For goodness' sakes--talk to your children about what they are watching...geeze.

Rapunzel:  She believes in her dream enough to wrench herself away from a self-serving, unhealthy, emotionally abusive relationship.  How bad can this be.  Unless you're a self-serving, unhealthy, emotionally abusive mother you have nothing to fear from what your daughter learns from Rapunzel.  Rapunzel also enjoys her talents and gifts.  She has a joi de vivre that is unmatched by many characters in any movie.  A sweetnes in enjoying her freedom.  I want that for my daughter.

Tiana:  Rocks!  My daughter loves Tiana.  She is even beautiful and much loved as a frog.  Her beauty is not of paramount importance.  She learned (from  her parents) that hard work is how you get what you want, not wishing on stars or kissing frogs. I love that she is my kid's 2ns favorite.


Cinderella:  She is, of course, the consummate princess.  She is beautiful and abused and the prince "rescues" her.  Well, I'm not so keen on that part of it either.  We like to focus on Cinderella's spirit and her kindness.  I also like that Cinderella always has hopes and dreams.  Her fairy godmother tells her that if she didn't still hope that she couldn't have come to her. But the fairy godmother is the crux of the story.  EVERY young woman needs an older woman to help her.  To believe in her.  To support her.  Any child can blossom if someone is there for them.

In our house a princess has to have 4 qualities to be a REAL princess:
1. pretty
2. kind
3. brave
4. smart

Pretty is relative and we work on that.  If you ask my kid she'll tell you the most important quality that any princess can have is to be kind. Smart and brave are the next 2.  Why have pretty there?  Well, we all know that princesses are pretty..it's in the script.  She will tell you that all girls are princesses and that they are all pretty.  It's 3-year-old logic.  I'm sure she will evolve to be less kind, but I'm not sure that it will be the fault of princess culture.

Just like everything else in life, you can get a lot of different things from Disney movies and the princess culture.  I choose to help my daughter take a positive message from this culture.  I also help her enjoy being a girl.  And if she comes home in her cinderella dress with paint or dirt on it, I don't get bent out of shape.  I bought a cheap one and she fells pretty and she enjoys playing in the dirt in it.  Oh well...

Also, ask me to tell you her favorite stories about Princess Ruth and the Pea and The Dread Pirate Ruth.  The endings will surprise you.

Book & Baking Blog Entry 30

Wow, I had an entire blog written about butter and using it in baking.  When and why and why not and what the experts say.  As much as I love butter (and given a chance I would put it on bacon and do put it on about anything including toast with schoko-moo) I decided that it was probably even more lame than any of the other blogs, many of which are lame. 

So, I decided to go back to writing about books and murder.  I am going through a time where I am trying desperately not to buy digital books at jacked-up prices.  For those who haven't heard my rant, check out earlier blog entries.  So, because of this I have begun to read a large number of "classic" novels that are available on Amazon for free or .99 cents. 

I recently finished one of these classic thrillers, Murder at Bridge by Anne Austin.  Murder at Bridge was "Set up and electrotyped" in 1931.  And brilliantly so.  It's been a long time since I've received such pleasure from a novel.  Not a lot of suspense as we expect from a modern novel, but truly an enjoyable read.  So much so I might try to find her other novel (only one?)  It reads like film noir.  The dialogue is a bit campy or kitschy but must have been very edgy for its time.  The characters behave in manners that would be considered dysfunction and bizarre in the extreme today. 

It's great to have a chance to return to world where a nice young woman can be [SPOILER ALERT ] can just feel better about life after her father, who abandoned wife and family leaving little to live on so that he could run off with an actress, returns and agrees to take her mother back...very generous.  And of course, mom is grateful.  Yet, in the context of the time it contributed to a very happy ending. 

I wasn't going to write about Murder at Bridge; as I noted before I was going to write about butter.  Then I began to read, Blind Spot by Nancy Bush.  Now, this is not a bad book.  Well, maybe it is.  Maybe you'll hear about how trite and insanely stupid the beginning is in my next blog....OK it is kind of but I'm trying to move through it.  But by realizing that I'm working hard to get through what must be Act One of this stupidly crappy novel, I also realized what under-valued books there are available by authors who are little known and deserve some recognition for their work.  It's a product of its time. 

No, Murder at Bridge is not a world/life changing novel.  No one will be redeemed by reading it.  Not one child will be saved and not one life turned from bad to good.  It will not fight poverty, pestilence, or even cancer.  What it did do was give me some honest moments of  pleasure.  Thank you Anne Austin.

Book & Baking Blog Entry 29

Christmas is exciting.  So exciting that I still have 2 batches of unbaked cookies in my refrigerator.  Yep.  Chocolate with peanutbutter chip and oatmeal with butterscotch chip.  I like cookies with chips.  I don't care for cooked raisins.  Everyone has their thing.  That's mine.  I like raisins raw (so to speak) but never want to see one in a baked good.  Ever.  It can ruin an entire breakfast if my cinnamon roll has raisins.  I try not to let it, because, well, frankly diners seem pretty set on having raisins in the cinnamon buns.  Oh well.

So I got lucky this Christmas.  As a gift a friend gave me her best shot at a recipe for Danish Kringle.  So I expected this to be a bread-like concoction.  I had a friend come over and we got out my NEW Kitchen Aid pro (OH YEAH==600watts of baking power PLUS an icecream attachment) and tried to follow the recipe.  I'll be curious how her 1/2 turned out.

So, first analysis:  the dough was more like stretchy cookie dough than bread.  I used the paddle to make it, I'm sure that the bread hook wouldn't work.  The other surprise was that the dough needed to be refridgerated over-night.  OK, I can do that.  We split the dough, I kept half and my friend took the other half.  No harm, no foul. I can do this.

So, the next morning, imagine my surprise that the dough did not rise.  WHY does my dough never rise.  Seriously.  Never ever.  I use fresh yeast.  I think that my kitchen is too cold.  That's my hope.  Either that or I just am not the rising sort.

But as per usual, I trudge on not letting failure stop me now.  I knead the dough and divide it into 2 pieces and then roll it out.  Now you get to add the filling.  What's not great about sugar, butter, and cinnamon.  But I forgot I only had 1/2 the recipe.  Yep, you guessed it.  I made a full amount.  I did feel compelled to use it all.  Yes.  Too bad, because my oven was just cleaned.  So I put in my extra filling and rolled it up, cut and twisted per the recipe.  I left it to rise.

Did it rise?  No NO NO No no....  That stinks.  But again, undeterred I put it into the oven.  So, twice as much butter as called for in the filling.  And the filling isn't sealed into the pastry--merely "twisted."  My oven smokes more than a teen-aged boy.

The BEAUTY moment:  I don't know if it was the extra filling, but I do know that this is an incredible pasty.  Absolutely nothing like any pstry that I had in Denmark, but well worth the time and effort.

Changes that I might make:  I might add more flour and make it more bread-like.  I might heat my kitchen so that it's warmer or wait for a warmer day.

This may kill my determination to not over-indulge in 2011.  If it does I'll just be happy with my buttery, buttery pastry. 

PS:  Did I mention how unattractive the whole mess looked?  I need a photo next time.

Book & Baking Blog Entry 28

So, Baking has been working out pretty well.  I have the makings for 8 gingerbread houses (3 more to go), made Christmas tree cookies with the kids' names and a whole bunch more cookies for the kids to decorate themselves.  I was up late (not a thing for me) but, since I'm bucking for "mama of the year" (at least with my kid) I didn't mind and felt VERY accomplished.  But I'd rather talk about books.
So what have I been reading. Well.  You do often get what you pay for.  I paid very little for a new title called Loose Ends by Terri Reid and got what I got was adequate.  I'm actually trying to decide whether or not to give another of these novels a chance.  This is a Mary O'Reilly mystery.  I really hate that they have to tell you that so that you can rush out and buy more of the "fabulous series."  Here's a clue.  If the author and characters are good, we don't need to have it written on the front of the book.  We can read (the point of a book) and can figure it out for ourselves.


Mary O'Reilly, not to be stereotyped, is a nice Irish girl with a close family, and all of her parents, grandparents, and siblings are Chicago cops.  Gee, there's a stretch.  Now Mary died and was brought back to life and, here's our fun, she can now see and talk to ghosts.  Nice. So she uses ghosts to help her be a detective in a small town where she has to live so that she's not inundated by her new paranormal friends.  There's a chief of police who is also new to this small town and he, amazingly, has a missing wife and baby who've been gone for 8 years.  Never found.  Oh, well, the baby was still in-utero so we don't know that he actually has a kid.  Now he tells people he's married and seems to think that he is.  Nice in a way, creepy in another to NOT ACKNOWLEDGE after 8 years that your wife is gone.  All Mary knows about our chief is that he's a stud (of course) and tells her that he's married (doesn't mention the disappearance--I'm not really sure that these two are friends.)


Overall this book was a decent read. It was a bit stilted and seemed a bit amateurish (like I should talk.)  The story also kind of just happened.  There was no rhyme nor reason:  it happens because the author said it did.  Just like the relationships are because the author has told us that they are.  She tells us that Mary is a loner.  A loner who depends upon her 2 best friends, the geriatric gruesome-twosome.  She is also a loner who is close to her big, Irish, cop family.  Not getting the loner part, but Reid says she is....

Reid takes two mysteries and, of course, in the end, they are related.  Big surprise.  This was telegraphed in the initial pages of the book so I dont' think that it's a SPOILER but maybe.  I was amazed after all of the "telling" that Reid does we never find out WHY the serial killer changed from killing small dark haired girls to blonds.  The point was made over and over that the final child killed was different from the others and our ghost talker just "felt" that it was the same killer BUT we never get any resolution why such an anomaly.

I wanted to like this book more and am tempted to try another.  At least for the price it's not breaking the bank.

Happy reading, Happy Holidays!