Tag: Fiction

September 26, 2023 – Goldy’s Kitchen Cookbook: Cooking, Writing, Family, Life

September 26, 2023 /

Goldy’s Kitchen Cookbook by Diane Mott Davidson was the August co-selection for the Left Coast Culinary Book Club. The reason is that it was the co-selection is that our group is going through some trials and tribulations and is a little listless at this time. Unfortunately, two members died last month and we really haven’t been in an organized fashion this year. As a result, two books were ‘suggested’. I will talk about the other one after I read it.

Part of the reason that I like being part of the Left Coast Culinary Book Club is that other people do the work. That is, they are the ones to suggest ‘I think we should read this’. Most of the selections I would never pick in a million years but I like the fact that it provides a diverse view to what I would normally read or gravitate to.

This choice is an interesting one. Diane Mott Davidson is a long time author, publishing a series of mystery books dating all the way back to the early 1990s. Her primary character is a caterer and nearly every recipe in this cookbook has been published in each of Diane’s numerous books. This is a compilation of all the recipes throughout Diane’s writing career.

In all transparency, I have never heard of Diane Mott Davidson nor any of her books. I say that because the idea of this cookbook seems pretty novel to me. Another reason that I mention it is because I came into this with no bias whatsoever.

Another admission, I did not read every word. I read the anecdote that goes along with the recipe and scan the ingredient list. I want to understand the pulse of a cookbook. How much diversity is there within the book? Can I possibly make what is in the book with the ingredients listed? Do I even care about what is offered?

Usually, I pick out a couple of things that I would like to try. And typically those are recipes that are unique. I say this because after reading this cookbook, I don’t plan on making anything immediately. Nearly 1/3 of the recipes are desserts, nothing wrong with that but it is just not a cornerstone in my kitchen.

What is the pulse of this cookbook? Clearly, I would say desserts but I already said that. There is an entire chapter on egg and cheese, think quiche, omelets, frittata etc. This was apparently driven by the author’s editor being vegetarian and asking for more recipes that fit that definition. That was a novel stance as well but I noticed that many of the recipes were different assemblies of the same ingredients.

The author had spent most of her life in Colorado and the cookbook has strong leaning toward TexMex flavors. I don’t have anything specific against TexMex but I have a true affinity toward Mexican food and to me TexMex is like saying McDonalds represents hamburgers. No, it is a derivation and interpretation made for a specific purpose.

Before I am too hard on Diane, she makes a statement early on that says her character is a caterer and that is a business. If a shortcut can be made to get to the end, then it should be considered. I giver her credit that she has done her homework on learning and understanding the business. I think the disconnect is between catering as a business and cooking as a craft.

Just one quick example in the chicken broth recipe. This is the only recipe I have ever seen that uses prepared chicken broth as the liquid to make chicken broth. I subscribe to Samine Nosrat – If you cant use broth you have made, use water. So, I see the broth recipe as more of a hack than an actual technique. I could certainly see this work for catering, like I said it is a business.

End Your Programming Routine: Who would like this or be interested in this cookbook? I think fans of Diane Mott Davidson certainly. But, if you have a sweet tooth or lack a cookbook to make a lot of cookies with dried fruit or chocolate in them, this may be your thing. This will probably be one that I never open again but that is OK. I didn’t know there was a mystery series with hundreds of recipes contained.

May 18, 2022 – Used Book Sale

May 18, 2022 /

Despite the fact that I have aspirations to do some serious Alt-F4 pertinent reviewing, I am taking the opportunity to read fiction as it comes up. My wife has been a reader of James Patterson and he is a prolific writer. His books are also very quick to read. When I was traveling heavy, I would take a book and finish it before I got back fro my trip. I kind of lost track of where I was in order of the various series that he has.

That tradition still follows me though. Most of my reading happens when I am away from the home. Mostly because when my head hits the pillow at home, I am out. Last weekend, we were at the library looking at the local garden club’s plant sale. But, the friends of the library were also having a book sale. There are some books that I am looking to read like Fahrenheit 454, Animal Farm, Atlas Shrugged, etc. I didn’t find any of those but some fiction that I was interested in. And, they were in the free box.

In not too many weeks, we are on our way to Spain. That is going to be a long plane ride. So, ideally I can bring a long book. I found the perfect one ”The Lost Symbol” by Dan Brown. It is almost 700 pages and light enough that I don’t have to concentrate on every paragraph. Plus it is entertaining and thought provoking.

When I first left my job, I started checking out books at the library and Dan Brown was one of the authors I read. ”Angels and Demons” and ”The Davinci Code” were two that I enjoyed. I also read some of the books that I want to review as well. So, in a roundabout way the two are related.

I also got another John Grisham book. I am not as excited about it but my son was. I made him a deal that if he would read it as well, I would take it. It was free after all and it will be worth the time, meaning I will get more enjoyment then other things I could do with the time, particularly on an airplane.

The third book, ”The Song of Solomon” I am finishing up. My son bought it for my birthday and it is a little meatier than I was anticipating. I suspect that this was someone’s college literature assignment with a bunch of notes in the margins. By their assessment, this has some religious correlations. I am not sure that I buy that assessment. Maybe I will review it some day, I finished it on my flight home.

Speaking of which, I took an informal poll when I was on the plane and I observed that almost every person was watching the on board entertainment system if not sleeping or playing games on personal electronics. I saw many people with a book in hand or nearby, but not a single one of them actually reading. I guess what I take of that is given the choice, people would rather watch a screen then read their own selected book. I myself usually flip through the selections and decide that there is nothing that catches my eye and then open my book.

End Your Programming Routine: I realize that I have always been a little more of an odd duck. My preference to books over movies go all the way back to childhood when our TV time was restricted but reading time really wasn’t. I did enjoy spending time with my boys browsing over all of the used books and they picked out some so I feel like there is a little bit of my oddness in them too. I guess in some small way, I feel like it bonds me to them even if we don’t share the same degree of passion.