Weekend Cooking...Almond Horns

---

I think the first time I ever had an Almond Horn was at the Kringla Bakeri og Cafe at Epcot in Disney World. I can remember sitting there after Illuminations one night, waiting for the crowds to make there way out. On a chilly evening..and yes, I have experienced some chilly evenings at Disney World..there is nothing like a warm beverage, coffee, tea or hot chocolate, and a lovely, chewy Almond Horn.
Sadly, last time I was there the bakery had no Almond Horns.
What is the world coming to?

 

I was reminded of my fondness for this confection when the Niece and I were at the Reading Terminal Market recently. Termini Bakery there has all sorts of interesting and delicious looking things, but the Almond Horns have to rank near the top.
Shocking though was the price. One Almond Horn, granted a good size one, was $4!
 

 

So I decided to look into making my own, and I must say as cookies go, this is a simple one. And a great chance to use my lovely food processor, although you can use a mixer.
True, the ingredients, as few as they are, are not the cheapest. Almond paste..I used the Odense brand..and almonds, are a bit expensive. But at $4 each..well, think of all the money I saved! lol

I used the recipe off the Odense web site as well, with just a few changes. I added 1 tsp. of almond extract, as I saw many recipes did. And when I removed the dough from the food processor, I wrapped it in plastic and let it chill in the frig for awhile to make it more workable. It is still sticky, but doable when it is colder.

Almond Horn Cookies 
makes 12

Ingredients:

• 1 box Almond Paste, grated
• 3/4 cup confectionery sugar
• 1 large egg (room temperature), separated
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• 1 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup thinly sliced almonds, slightly crushed
• 4 oz bittersweet chocolate

 

Directions:

Line cookie sheet with parchment or foil. 

 In a food processor or with a mixer, combine Almond Paste and sugar. Mix until the texture of fine crumbs. Add egg white and flour, reserving yolk. Mix until dough becomes a smooth paste, it will be slightly sticky. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill 20 minutes in frig. 

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. With floured hands roll dough into a 12 inch log. Divide into 12 equal pieces and roll into balls. Roll balls between palms into 3 inch logs, slightly tapered at ends. Spread almonds on a plate. Beat reserved egg yolk with 2 tablespoons of water. Dampen log with beaten yolk. Roll each log in almonds until coated, bending into crescents. Place crescents 2 inches apart on cookie sheet and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 F.  

Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until light golden in color. Cool sheet on wire rack for 5 minutes, and loosen crescents with a spatula. Slide parchment off of sheet and back onto wire rack to finish cooling cookies. Melt chocolate in a double boiler or microwave. Dip cookie ends into melted chocolate. Place back on parchment until chocolate is dry. Layer 'Almond Horns' between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container.

An airtight container, really? How long do they think these are going to last.
I plan to take them over to the Bro and Sil's today. We are heading up to Villanova this morning for the Niece's college graduation.
I suspect the Almond Horns will make a nice breakfast treat.

 

---

This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

---

Review of "The Unseen" [43]

The Unseen by Katherine Webb
William Morrow, ISBN 978-0062077882
May 22, 2012, 464 pages.

---

From the publisher's description...

From Katherine Webb, the author of the acclaimed international bestseller The Legacy, comes a compelling tale of love, deception, and illusion.

A vicar with a passion for nature, the Reverend Albert Canning leads a happy existence with his naive wife, Hester, in their sleepy Berkshire village in the year 1911. But as the English summer dawns, the Canning' lives are forever changed by two new arrivals: Cat, their new maid, a disaffected, free-spirited young woman sent down from London after entanglements with the law; and Robin Durrant, a leading expert in the occult, enticed by tales of elemental beings in the water meadows nearby.

This is a book about secrets and mysteries and any manner of unseen things and I dare say there is not a character in this book that does not have a secret.
The book begins with a present day mystery. Leah Hickson, a freelance journalist, is contacted by her ex-boyfriend Ryan who is working in Belgium for the War Graves Commission, a group who is tasked with identifying the many bodies of unknown soldiers that turn up every year. But this one is particularly interesting, well preserved in a bog, and he thinks that Leah might help by finding out who he is and what is the meaning of the two carefully protected letters that the dead man was carrying. And in the process gaining an interesting story for her to write.

Her investigation takes her back to England and the small village of Cold Ash Holt and to the residents of the rectory there a 100 years ago, the Reverend Canning and his wife Hester. 1911 was a stifling hot summer, and the presence of the reverend's guest, the young, handsome Mr. Durrant, a rising star in theosophical circles, will make things all the more uncomfortable. Well, for everyone but Mr. Canning, who seems oddly taken with the young man and his rather strange ideas.
Then we have Cat, a young servant girl who was just released from prison in London and taken in as a supposed act of charity by the rectory..and perhaps because they can get away with paying her so little. What her crime was and what she suffered in prison that effected her so much is not her own secret though, one truly surprising one that is not revealed until the last pages.
And then there is the murder, of course, and where there is a murder, there is a murderer...

I really enjoyed this book for a number of reasons.
I liked how the book is set in these two time periods, the present day and a century ago, and while the historic one is perhaps the more important, both are very entertaining and weave together so well. And I must say that, especially coming off my marathon viewing of the second season of Downton Abbey, I find that period of British history, just before WWI very interesting. It was a time when the country was on the edge of great change, a breakdown of the servant class, the rise of the suffragette movement, the Great War, that would kill so many, just around the corner and all these play some part in this story.

OK, no book is perfect and yes, maybe this one dragged a bit in the last third. But it is a minor issue, because there is a lot to like about this book.
There is fraud and lust and obsession and fear and love and one tragically sad death by murder, all wrapped up in not one, but two good stories. Happily, stories that are neatly and satisfyingly tied up in the end, even if many readers might wish that things had turned out differently for at least one character. Some of the secrets may be figured out earlier in the book by the careful reader. And that is fine, because I am pretty sure there are a few you will not see coming but make perfect sense once you find them out. We will find out who that forgotten, dead soldier is and why he died with those two letters in his pocket. It is a great yarn, with some very good, very memorable characters, good and bad, and a lovely setting in the sleepy Berkshire countryside, past and present, and a good story to be told.

Recommended, for those that like a good mystery, Anglophiles, fans of pre-WWI England and anyone who just enjoys a well told story.

---

My thanks to William Morrow with providing a copy of this books for review.

---

Wordless Wednesday...Always In My Mind..

Always in my mind...yes, Maine again.

---

Bug Light, Portland, Maine

---

 

---

Fort Point Light

---

Bernard, Maine

 

 

 

 

---

Rockland, Maine

---

...as always, for more Wordless Wednesday, check these out.

---

Review of "A Winter Kill" [42]

A Winter Kill by Vicki Delany
Raven Books, ISBN 978-1554699568
April 1, 2012, 128 pages

---

Rookie police constable Nicole Patterson has only been on the job for about 6 months and most of the crime in the rural area outside Toronto where she works is predictable. Petty theft, bar fights, domestic disputes. But murder is another matter.

On patrol, she finds the body of a young woman in the snow, strangled to death by her scarf. She turns out to be a local high school student, known by sight to Patterson, who is a local girl, returned home after college. And while Patterson is far from being a detective who would investigate a crime like this, her local knowledge may prove invaluable..especially after it is found the murdered girl was four months pregnant.

This is a nice little read, with a good plot, an interesting main character in Patterson and well written. Well enough written that I will be investigating other books by Delany, including her Klondike Mystery series, her Constable Molly Smith series and a number of standalones. But the key to this book is little, weighing in at just over 100 pages, and a big fonted, small 100 pages at that. Actually this is much more a short story than a novel. But with this series, Orca/Raven's Rapid Reads, that is the point.

Orca Book Publishers is excited to introduce Rapid Reads, a line of short novels and non-fiction books for adult readers. In our increasingly fast-paced world we believe there is a need for well-written, well-told books that can be read in one sitting. Rapid Reads are intended for a diverse audience, including ESL students, reluctant readers, adults who struggle with literacy and anyone who wants an high-interest quick read.

Rapid Reads focus first and foremost on strong writing and storytelling. We are committed to providing books that will help adults achieve their literacy goals in an interesting and accessible way. Each novel in the Rapid Reads series is written between a 2.0 and 4.5 reading level. The plots are contemporary and entertaining, with adult language and themes.

Personally, I think it is a great idea. The story, the language, makes it a book for adults. There are topics introduced in this short volume, like teen pregnancy, growing up in a dysfunctional home, what a hostile place high school can be, that adults will find interesting. And it is really remarkable that it can be done so well it what is really just a short story.

Yet for someone who has literacy issues, someone that does not have English as their first language, as the publisher says "reluctant readers", this series of about 20 books, by a variety of authors, might be just the thing. The writing style is simple and direct, yet not obviously so. It might get those potential readers started in the idea of actually enjoying reading books and give a real sense of accomplishment at finishing a book. The fact that they are reading real books, with adult stories, not books written for kids, would make a huge difference. I am a big fan of the idea.

That being said, I have one major issue with this book.
The price.
At $9.95 for such a short, little paperback, I really think that is outrageous and can not but work to discourage the target audience.
Which is a great shame.
Still, an entertaining book, in a series based on a good idea.

---

My thanks to Amazon Vine with providing me with an Advanced Reading Copy of this book.

Musing Monday...A Quick Answer..A Little Rant

It's Monday, so let's see what this week's question from Miz B  at Should Be Reading is this week...

This week’s musing asks…
Do you tend to read to the end of a chapter or can you stop anywhere?

---

Well, as with so many things, it depends.
So, let me answer the question and then spin off into my own, distantly related point. Because I can. ;-)

If I am reading at home, with no great time restraint, except the many, many things that I should be doing besides reading, not that that ever stops me, I will usually stop at a new chapter. But at other times, like if I am reading at night or on the weekends at work, sometimes 'real life' intrudes. The phone rings, some annoying alarm goes off, something happens that I must deal with. Yes, so unfair, I know!

But as I mused about this, I realized the other big factor that determines if I stop at a new chapter or not is whether I am reading a 'real' book or an e-book. With a real book, I am more likely to stop at a chapter. Maybe because I find it easier to page ahead and see how much further I have to read until I hit that point. But I don't find that as easy in an e-book. Sure, I can flip ahead or even go to the contents and jump ahead and see how far that is, but to tell you the truth, I tend to get lost when I try that.

I use a Kindle app and a Nook app on my iPad and phone, and a regular Nook as well, and they use different ways to show the 'page' you are on. One is a percentage, one is a 'page' number, but the same page may actually cover several flicks of the finger...I don't know, but it is all a bit confusing. So much more often, I will just stop and of course, as one of the pluses of e-books, the next time you open it, you will be right back on the page where you left off. As I have said, when I stopped ranting about e-books, there are some pluses and minuses to e-books, and that is a plus.

Yes, I read e-books, and as I said, in fact I have several ways to do so, but I am not totally sold.

Pluses..

• Can download a new book, anywhere, in minutes.
• Convenient. With a smartphone, you always have a book in your pocket.
• Lighter and easier to hold, especially with a BIG book.
• Can change size of font, good if you have sight issues.
• So tidy. No piles of books staring at you, waiting to be read.

Negatives..

• Often almost expensive as a real book...for reasons I totally do not understand. Except they can.
• For that price, you 'own' nothing really. Except the right to download a file
• You can not give the book away, sell it or loan it, except in a very limited way. As they allow you.
• You can not buy a much cheaper used copy as you can with real books
• You forget what the heck you have on your e-reader, since you never see them
• No pretty cover to see every time you pick up and open a book.
• E-books can never give you the pleasure of wandering in a bookstore.

Just a few highlights of the high and low points of e-books and I am sure many of you have your own. Please, feel free to add your own in the comments. Certainly, e-books are part of our present and our future to a greater or lesser degree, however we feel about it. And while I have given up my ranting about the subject, I do still have my issues and concerns...do you?

---

---

So So Sleepy Sammy Sunday

Sometimes, I just need a little airing out....

Weekend Cooking...Ickle Me, Pickle Me!

---

"Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too"

by Shel Silverstein

Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too,

Went for a ride in a flying shoe,

"Hooray!"

"What fun!"

"It's time we flew!"

Said Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.

Ickle was captain, Pickle was crew,

And Tickle served coffee and mulligan stew

As higher

And higher And higher they flew,

Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.

Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too,

Over the sun and beyond the blue.

"Hold on!"

"Stay in!"

"I hope we do!"

Cried Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.

Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too

Never returned to the world they knew,

And nobody

knows what's

happened to

Dear Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.

---

Well, the Niece had a hankering for pickles, and not just any pickles but the Hot Pickles from AJ's Pickle Patch at the Reading Terminal Market.

Since it is her birthday this weekend and her college graduation the following weekend, who am I to say no.?
Soon enough, she will be in the hard cruel world of the workplace, so let her enjoy her pickles while she can. 
And, ok,  I love any excuse for a trip to the Reading Terminal Market.
I have no scrapple left!

Barrels and barrels of pickles surround us.
New pickles, aged pickles.
Pickles tomatoes and pickled beets!
Butter pickles and kosher pickles.
A peck of pickled peppers perhaps.
And those Oh So Hot Hot pickles.
Sliced...which are extra hot or
whole, if you are a little afraid.
Would you like a pint...a quart...a gallon?
And of course, some of that 'juice', full of hot pepper flakes.

    The Pickle Lady warned us.

   "These hot pickles, they are hot."
    And she was right!
    Those pickles pack a punch.

    Look at them, so pretty on their
    pretty pickle plate.
    So what to do with these pickle?
    Well, the Niece enjoys just eating them
    alone as many slices as she can she can
    until her mouth bursts into flame.
    Personally, I prefer a milder pickle,
    a new pickle an aged pickle,
    that is not that aged a pickle as pickled pickles go.

But if you have a pickle spear, or a whole pickle that can be cut into spears, or some of those oh so cute gherkin pickles, you might make...

Pickles In A Blanket

• Pickle spears
• Softened cream cheese
• Sliced ham

Spread a slice of ham with some softened cream cheese. Lay a pickle spear across the meat and roll up like a jelly role. Chill in the frig for a few minutes and then slice.
Ideally, remember to get some toothpicks and spear each with one for tidy serving.

 

---

This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

---

A Review of "Blue Eyes" [41]

Blue Eyes by Jerome Charyn

MysteriousPress.com/Open Road,

e-book ISBN 0747563594

April 10, 2012

---

Where would Manfred ‘Blue Eyes’ Coen have ended up as a young man if Coen’s mentor, then the NY City Police First Deputy, Isaac Sidel had not taken him under his wing? Singled out in the police academy to do an undercover assignment, he was soon on the fast track, moving up quickly in the department. But now Sidel has been forced to resign in a scandal and Coen is a cop without a home, being move from precinct to precinct, trusted by no one, resented by all.

But now there is a dirty, dangerous job that seems to have Coen's name all over it. It appears that someone may be kidnapping young girls and sending them into slavery in Mexico. And it appears that Coen's childhood friends, the Guzmann family from his old Bronx neighborhood, may be involved. Sidel is the one that first sniffed this out and if he can crack the ring open, Coen may have a chance to not only prove himself as a good cop but also to rehab the reputation of his mentor as well.
If he doesn't get killed first.

This book, written in 1973, was Charyn's first mystery and the first in what became know as the "Isaac Quartet", although the series finally ended up with 10 books. Charyn has gone on to write a great many other books, a wide variety of other books, including "The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson" in 2010. But now with the possibility that the Issac books will become the basis for Hard Apple, an adult animated series, Blue Eyes and the rest of the series, has been re-issues as e-books.

If you are a fan of gritty police procedurals, this is one you may want to pick up..or download as it were. This book is set in NY city of the 70's and it certainly has a very 70's feel. I will warn you, it is not the most PC of books but I think that rather than be offended by some of the language and characters, you consider the time and setting, an even more violent and dangerous city than it is today. I read that when writing this book, Charyn rode with his brother, who was a homicide detective in the Bronx, and the reality shines through the pages.

It is very well written, if in a style that took a little getting used to for this reader. And the intersecting storylines, along with a fascinating, sometimes bordering on the bizarre, often sleazy, cast of characters and a variety of setting, including a ping pong parlor, will keep you engaged.
And remember, if you love it, there are nine more e-books in the series, available to download.

---

Link to buy on Kindle

Link to buy on iTunes/iBookstore

Link to buy on Barnes and Noble Nookbooks

My thanks to Tribute Books and the Tribute Books Blue Eyes Book Tour for a copy of this book to review. Head over and check out a few more reviews!

 

A Review Of the Dexter Series [35-40]

---

What do you do if you find that your young son is killing small animals, burying them in the backyard? What do you do if you look into his eyes and what you see is very dark and scary..and yet you love him and do not want him to end up in prison forever?
Well, if you are a wise police officer who has seen some terrible things over your career, and the adopted father of young Dexter Morgan, you look for a way to make the best of the situation. You give him the Code of Harry to follow, to direct his desire, his need to kill. You try to direct it in way that you see as actually being a good thing and most of all a way to protect Dexter from getting caught. He can only kill those who deserve it, with a high standard of proof of their guilt. They must be guilty of doing very, very bad things, yet people who have often escaped the criminal justice system. Now they will suffer from Dexter's justice, when he and his Dark Passenger visit in the night and they very cleanly disappear, able to do no more harm.

The first book in the series is Darkly Dreaming Dexter and it is perhaps my favorite of the series. I think it is the one book that you must read in order, because it is here that we will find out most of Dexter's back story, meet his vice cop sister Deb, his pretend girlfriend Rita and, in his memories, his adopted father Harry who first guided him on the path he now follows. The author has a big job here. He must convince us to actually like a man who is a serial killer, who believes he is not fully human, to care about what happens to him and how he feels. Well, how he would feel if he actually could have feelings, which he does not believe he can. And the author totally succeeds. Dexter is smart and funny, very clever and this first adventure is quite good and a great introduction to the series.

In the next book, Dearly Devoted Dexter, the books begins with Dexter having just completed his 40th killing, carefully placing a drop of blood from his latest victim on a glass slide to add to his collection. Gruesome, we think, until we arrive at the scene of the crime Dexter is helping investigate. Oh, did I mention that Dexter works for the Miami police, as a blood splatter expert? What a perfect job for our Dexter. Well, police are called to a house by a neighbor because of the terrible noise coming from a house. It is the victim, screaming..well, as much as he can scream, because you see he has...no, I will allow you to discover the condition they find him in, but let me just say, it was something I never considered possible and was quite disturbing, possibly as disturbing as anything in any of these rather dark books.


Next is Dexter in the Dark. Sadly, this is easiest my least favorite of the series, just way too over the top. Dexter's Dark Passenger disappears early in the book, seemingly scared off by the terrible, and very powerful evil that Dexter will confront. While we still have the always amusing Dexter to entertain us, his always miffed sister Deb as his foil and his accidental new family to keep thing lively, the central plot is just too melodramatic to be believable. That is saying something.
Really, you might just skip this one.

But do not give up, because in the fourth book,Dexter By Design , Lindsay is back on track. Dexter and his wife have just returned from their honeymoon...yes, Dexter can't believe it either...in Paris and soon involved in a horrible and very bizarre series of crimes. Bodies, emptied out and artfully displayed with a variety of tourist related materials where their organs once were, start popping up all over Miami. Needless to say, this is not good for the tourist business. And even worse for Dexter is when his sister is critically wounded by a suspect and Dexter himself may become the murderer's next victim.

In Dexter is Delicious, our hero is undergoing some big changes at home, changes that are spilling over into his extracurricular, late night activities. In the last book, Dexter became an instant family man when he married Rita and became stepfather to her two young children, children who have more in common with Dexter than he ever could have thought. But now he and Rita have had a baby as well, and Dexter is amazed that he may actually be feeling something, love for this baby. He decides that he will become a man worthy of these children, ignoring his Dark Passenger. Well, we just know that is not going to work for long!
When he is called to help investigate the possible kidnapping of a teenage girl, he runs into a very dark underside of bright sunny Miami, a scene fulls of goths, pretend vampires and very real cannibals. Keep the title in mind...is Dexter really delicious? Oh my!


And last, but not least, we have Double Dexter. The book opens with Dexter and his Dark Passenger ridding the world of a child molester, doing what he does best. But then things start to go horrible wrong for him when he realizes someone has seem him 'taking care of business'. Not a good thing and he decides he must find this Witness and make sure he does not go to the police. Hmm...seems a bit of a violation of the Code of Happy if you ask me.
But from there things go even a bit more off track for Dexter, including a home life that is no longer the source of calm and great food that it once was. Food is Very, Very Important to Dexter and Rita is no longer cooking, it seems. And of course, once again his sister Deb is demanding Dexter's help is solving a series of bizarre and gruesome murders. Since the victims are cops, this one strikes a bit too close to home.

I was a bit of a fan of the TV series based on these books, so it was interesting to see how it compared. They are close in many ways and yet also with some significant differences. One of the biggest, and one thing I prefer about the books, is that originally Dexter's two stepchildren are not the normal, happily little kids in the Showtime series. Their father, Rita's ex-husband, was a very bad man that abused both Rita and the kids and created two dark little people, in desperate need of Dexter's experienced guidance. I love the extra layer that adds to the stories. I also like that in the books Dexter is even funny, more witty than on TV. Oddly, I do not think the books are are gruesome as the TV was, and that may not be a bad thing.
And I do love the Miami setting. It is perfect for these books, hot, sunny Florida contrasted with the dark, cold interior of Dexter's world.

But honestly, the plots in some of the books are quite uneven...and do not get me started on the whole Moloch plot of the third book. Really Mr. Lindsay, what were you thinking with that one? At his best, Dexter is very smart, very clever, totally twisted and often quite funny. Sadly, in a couple of the books he is replaced by an all too human, bumbling Dexter that is not as entertaining or as interesting. Dexter should be cool and calculating and never loose control, while his sister Deb is the flake and I am not a happy fan when that is not how things play out.

If you are a fan of the TV series and just enjoy a good story with a touch of gore and mayhem, I would totally recommend the first two books, Darkly Dreaming Dexter and Dearly Devoted Dexter and the fourth and fifth are very good as well. The other two can be skipped with no loss.

---

Wordless Wednesday...A Few From Philly

It's not exotic...it's Philly!

---

---

Your view of the city if you never get off Route 95

---

---

 

---

...as always, for more Wordless Wednesday, check these out.

---

Musing Monday...The Secret Life of Caite

Another week is under way...so let's head over to see what  Miz B at  Should Be Reading is asking...

This week’s musing asks…

If you were going to write a book, what would you write about? Would it be fiction, or nonfiction?

I think every avid reader has thought, at one time or another, that it would be great to write a book. Can't you just see yourself with a book at the top of the NY Times best seller list...Can't you see yourself being interviewed by Oprah (yes, I know she is off the air)...Can't you see people stopping you on the street telling you how they loved your book..they laughed, they cried, it changed their life...Can't you see yourself, with your agent, as the bidders fight over how much they will offer for the movie rights?

But then reality intrudes.
Non-fiction is not really an option.
I know a little bit about a great many topics. My knowledge is very wide and very shallow. Maybe enough to right a nice little pamphlet.But not a book unless I did a great deal of research and work. But where is the fun in that?

The thing I probably know the most about, natural gas, clean, plentiful natural gas, the industry I have spent the last 25+ years in..well, I actually don't know that much ever about even that. And what I do know would make one incredibly boring book. A past president of our company actually wrote a book about the history of our company. Every employee was given a copy when they were hired and I am sure many even read it. But I never got my copy..so I have not. I bet it is a page turner!

So it would have to be fiction.
They say, "Write what you know". Again, here is the problem. What life lessons have I learned in my half century that I am just bursting to share? Hmmmmm.....Can I get back to you on that?
And then there is another problem. Say you write this book and there it is, out there. And of course, all you friends and family and everyone who went to high school with you reads it..well, the ones who can read. Especially if you give then a free copy. Now they are wondering, how much of this book is based on real things in your life. Did she really steal that money from the PTA? Wow, that character is a lot like Cousin Joe..do you think he really has another family in St. Louis? He is out of town on "business" a lot?

I think writing these Musing Monday posts are revealing enough.
I'm not sure I want you all knowing more about me and my secret, fascinating hidden life.
But I do love to travel and a world wide book tour would be great fun!

---

Bookish Bandit SundayI

I am preparing for my trip in the fall to Florence, reading up!
What do you mean, I'm not going??
What..there must be a mistake!!
What...WHAT??

Weekend Cooking...Orange Cardamon Ice Cream

Ok, I admit it.
I certainly did not need a new ice cream maker.
But there I was, surfing the internet..ok, actually, I got an e-mail, as I do every day, from Ru La La, a site that sells stuff every day, brand name stuff, in limited amounts, at often quite good prices.
I skip the designer clothes 'boutiques' but the home stuff, the kitchen stuff, the vacation destinations, yes, I look at them.
So when my friends at Cuisinart were selling, I had to look. And I saw it. A lovely red ice cream maker. Oh, only three left..it is a sign. I must have IT!!

Yes, I had an ice cream maker. But it was old. And not red. And while electric, required ice and salt.
And did I mention, it was not red.
Like this one.

 

So, here I was with a new ice cream maker and no recipe.
Ok, that too is a lie.
I have a very nice book, The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz, with lots of wonderful recipes. But then, on my friend Zite, that site which I mentioned last week, I saw a recipe for this Cardamom Orange Ice cream. It is from the Bi-Rite Creamery and appears in the Sweet Cream and Sugar Cones.
It sounds so exotic, like an exotic Creamsicle, a perfect summer ice cream.
Of course, which ice cream isn't perfect?

Orange Cardamom Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 1/4 ounce green cardamom pods
• 1 3/4 cups heavy cream
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 5 large egg yolks
• 2 large oranges, zested 
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

Infuse the milk/cream: Put the cardamom pods in a small skillet and put the pan over medium heat. Toast, stirring frequently, until aromatic, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, let cool for a minute, then use a sharp knife to coarsely chop the pods.

In a medium heavy saucepan, stir together the cardamom, cream, milk, half of the sugar (1/4 cup), and the salt. Put the pan over medium-high heat. When the mixture just begins to bubble around the edges, remove from the heat and cover the pan. Let steep for about 30 minutes, or until the cream mixture has a distinct cardamom flavor.

For the base: In a medium heatproof bowl, whisk the yolks just to break them up, then whisk in the remaining sugar (1/4 cup). Set aside.

Uncover the cream mixture and put the pan over medium-high heat. When the mixture approaches a bare simmer, reduce the heat to medium.

Carefully scoop out about 1/2 cup of the hot cream mixture and, whisking the eggs constantly, add the cream to the bowl with the yolks. Repeat, adding another 1/2 cup of the hot cream to the bowl with the yolks. Returning to the pan of cream on the stove, use a heatproof spatula to stir the cream as you slowly pour the egg and cream mixture from the bowl back into the pan.

Continue to cook the mixture carefully over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened, coats the back of a spatula, and leaves a clear mark when you run your finger across it, 1 to 2 minutes longer.

Strain the base through a fine-mesh strainer and into a clean container. Working directly over the container, use a fine grater to grate the orange zest into the ice cream base. Set the container into an ice bath and use it to stir the base occasionally until it is cool. Then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate the base for at least 2 hours or overnight.

To Freeze: Add the vanilla to the base and stir until blended. Freeze in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. While the ice cream is churning, put the container you'll use to store the ice cream into the freezer. Enjoy right away or, for a firmer ice cream, freeze for at least four hours.

Ok, after consulting my ice cream bible, Mr. Lebovitz's book, I skipped the whole tempering part with combining the egg and cream mixtures. By the time the cream and pods have steeped, it is not that hot, a little warm at best, so I just stirred it in carefully, whisking constantly. It was fine, quicker, less annoying.

 

---

This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

---

Review of "Afterwards" [34]

Afterwards: A Novel by Rosamund Lupton
Crown, ISBN 978-0307716545
April 24, 2012, 400 pages

---

"A figure is hurrying along the burns unit corridor. For some reason, I think of the shadowy figure on the edge of the playing field.
He's going towards Jenny's side ward.
He goes in, and through the half open doorway I see his shape bending over her.
I scream, making no sound."

Well, you see, the problem is, she is in a coma.

It started as a lovely day, a sports day at her young son's school and his birthday as well, and Grace Covey is there, along with many of the parents, helping out. It is a family affair, because her teenage daughter Jenny is in the school, working as a medical helper.
But then it all turns horribly wrong.

Grace sees black smoke billowing from the building and runs toward the school, searching for her children. She is relieved to see her son, safe outside, but realizing her daughter is still inside, she runs into the burning building. When she next realizes what is happening, they are both in the hospital, her daughter very badly burned and on a ventilator and she is in a coma, suffering from severe head trauma, possibly brain dead.
But she is outside her body, in some sort of unexplained spirit state, soon joined by the spirit of her daughter. So begins a rather unusual attempt to help solve the mystery of what happen.
Because, as is soon clear, the fire was not an accident.

They can travel around the hospital, and in Grace's case even go outside, in cars to her home, see and hear her husband, see her son or accompany her sister-in-law, a police officer doing her own investigation into the crime, as she questions people, but they are both helpless to intervene. No one can hear them and they have no way to share what they know or think, especially as her daughter starts to remember bits of what happened, not even as her own son comes under suspicion.

Who could have committed this crime? There is no lack of suspects and no lack of motives, financial and personal,  even that one involving her own son. And it seems that the threat might not yet be over, as it appears that someone is still trying to kill her daughter. Which is rather pointless beacuse it is soon clear that if Jenny's damage body does not get a heart transplant, she will die from her injuries within weeks. How far will a mother's love go to save her?

I did not read the author’s previous book,  Sister, but it got some great reviews, as did this book, so I was very hopeful when I started it. Well, there is good news...and there is bad.
Let's take the bad first, to end on a higher note.

I thought I would have a problem with the basic premise, that the story is told by a woman in some sort of undefined spirit state, but oddly enough that worked for me quite well. We are left to our own understanding of what is going on with Grace and Jenny and that is fine, especially since they do not understand it themselves, but are just learning as they go along.  However, one way that the author did this, by having the narrator, Grace, always talk in the second person, did not. She will be listening into a conversation…something that made up a large part of the book and she will refer to "You". Wait, which "you"… just who is she referring to? This person, that person? ..and the reader must try to figure it out from the context. That gets old very fast and it was very, very confusing at time.
And quite honestly, I became quite tired of Jill. She becomes, as the book progresses, more and more unlikable, more and more self righteous in her love for her family . As the Kirkus Book Review so perfectly said it the book suffers from "the sense of suffocation that can arise from Grace's Interiorscape". The fact that the book is just too long for the story does not help. A lot of her interior musing could have been cut down with good effects all around, especially in the center..the long center..of the book.

But on the other hand, there is a fair bit to like about this book. The mystery is a good one, with some red herrings, lots of suspects and a good story that come to light in a nice way. And while Grace was not my favorite, a number of the other characters become quite likable, including her sister-in-law Sarah, a woman Grace never much liked before but who really become the book's hero. It seems even at the edge of death, Grace has quite a bit to learn, about her husband and her children, and even about herself. This book is a good mystery, and a good thriller, but it is also a story about friends and family, with a surprisingly moving if not totally surprising, ending. It does not overcome all it's faults, but still leaves us with a good story, a clever story, with a lot to enjoy.

---

Wordless Wednesday....Stoned

---

Venice

---

Connamara, Ireland...with a cow

---

Ephasus, Turkey

---

Camden, Maine

---

...as always, for more Wordless Wednesday, check these out.

---