That's What Jenni Said

With "The Body", Bryson has done for our flesh houses within which we reside what he previously did for our brick and mortar ones in his book "At Home".  We have been treated to a full walk-through of the entire human body and all its functionality, in glorious detail. Bryson's language is beautiful and at times also mystical in its descriptiveness: "You have a meter of it [DNA] packed into every cell, and so many cells that if you formed all the DNA in your body into a single strand, it would stretch ten billion miles, to beyond Pluto. Think of it: there is enough of you to leave the solar system. You are in the most literal sense cosmic." Perhaps what I love most about "The Body" is the detailed narrative Bryson provides on so many key people in the history of medicine, infectious diseases, anatomy, etc. Many of these people I'd never heard of before and it was enlightening to read their fascinating (and often sad) stories. It seems...

Priya Parker's book The Art of The Gathering (TAoG) was recommended to me by a friend from church who knows how much I enjoy putting together events for others. As I began reading TAoF, I was quite inspired by the rich meaning Parker ascribes to gathering, and the significant possibilities of making a concrete difference in the world through our gatherings. Yes, I nodded to myself, the events I put together do matter. Nice ego stroke. But as she laid out a step by step methodology for ensuring those gatherings have purpose and are effective, my kneejerk reaction was that her approach felt overly controlling and I worried my guests would resent the kind of manipulative engineering she describes. What happened to organic gatherings that are completely open and free from any sort of direction? Isn't that where happiness and change can take root? Turns out, not so much. She makes a very good case for why proper planning and execution of gatherings under thoughtful leadership mak...

I'd been reading Ree Drummond's blog at thepioneerwoman.com for years before she breezed into Washington, D.C. one sunny afternoon on her book tour. My friend Danielle and I were delighted to stop by and meet her and when we did I picked up a copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks . Jenni (left) and Danielle (right) with Ree (center). Several years have passed since then and while I've made a recipe or two from the book, I haven't really made her collection a focus of my menu. Recently that changed. My husband Christopher has been urging me to incorporate more comfort food into my menu planning and I guessed that Ree's recipes would be perfect along those lines. One afternoon I handed  The Pioneer Woman Cooks  to Christopher and asked him to tag a few recipes he'd like to see on our dinner table. He tagged 34. 😃😃😃 I've prepared about half of them over the past two months and nearly every one has been phenomenal, earning a family rating of 4/5 or 5/5 fork...

When it comes to cuisine, Marcella Hazan is my definitive guide for all things Italian, so it takes a pretty remarkable cookbook to earn a permanent space in my collection alongside her work. Domenica Machetti has written one of those cookbooks and it's titled The Glorious Pasta of Italy .  Comprised of 274 pages of well-researched and well-written recipes for making a variety of pasta, sauces, soups, and entrees, it has served as a valuable resource for exploring new flavors in my kitchen. I enjoyed Marchetti's fresh tomato sauce so much that I used it one summer recently as my basic recipe for transforming 125 pounds of farm fresh Roma tomatoes into canned pasta sauce for use all year long. The flavors remained bright and tangy even after canning. Another recipe I particularly enjoy is the orecchiette with creamy broccoli sauce. The ragu is rich and satisfying and because the broccoli is pureed it won over even the pickiest never-met-a-vegetable-I-liked eater in the family ...

This month, the cookbook discussion and dinner party group that I lead met to enjoy and discuss selections we cooked from Ina Garten's 2016 cookbook, Cooking for Jeffrey: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook  (Clarkson Potter publishers). (Menu) Butternut Squash Hummus Herbed Fromage Blanc Lentil and Kielbasa Salad Asparagus and Fennel Soup Brisket with Leeks and Onions Roasted Italian Meatballs Roasted Ratatouille Creamy Parmesan Polenta Chipotle Smashed Sweet Potatoes Bourbon Honey Cake I've flipped through many a Barefoot Contessa cookbook in my bookstore adventuring, but I'd never found a volume to be so compelling as to demand a purchase. I decided to go out on a limb and picked up Ina's newest release to give it a fair review, thinking with this many successful cookbooks under her belt there must be something to her recipes right? No publisher is going to keep giving you book contract after contract if your recipes fall flat. I'm very glad I took t...

I’ve started a cookbook discussion and dinner party group that meets regularly (1x a month or so) at my apartment in Alexandria to discuss cookbooks and enjoy a shared meal cooked by the members from recipes published in the monthly selected cookbook.    Each year we work our way through an eclectic mix of cookbooks, including time honored classics, rare finds from every corner of the globe, and current up and coming advanced evaluation copies. For our July cookbook discussion and dinner party, we reviewed Suzanne Husseini's 2012 cookbook   Modern Flavors of Arabia   (Random House). قائمة طعام (Menu) Halloumi & Feta Cheese Bread Rolls Labneh Three Ways Shamandar (Beet Dip) Hummus Beet & Purslane Salad with Citrus Dressing Kofta with Sweet and Sour Cherry Sauce Roasted Cauliflower with Citrus Tahini Sauce Lemony Braised Stuffed Vine Leaves Shish Barak (Lamb Ravioli in Herbed Yogurt Sauce) A Thousand and One Nights Pistachio Ic...

I have a vast and ever growing cookbook collection. It's sorted into 3 major groupings- international cookbooks (sorted by country), US regional cookbooks (sorted by state or region), and the hodgepodge that is the rest of the books (sorted by unifying theme such as "salads", "pressure cooker cookbooks", "cheese course", "desserts", etc).  Just like it's a good idea to systematically rotate through one's closet at least once every few years - challenging yourself to find a way to incorporate each outfit you own before you allow for a repeat - it's a good idea for cookbook collectors to cycle through our culinary volumes.   This summer I started working my way through the international cookbook section of my collection, starting with African cuisine. So far I've only made it up to Canada (cooking a few culinary treasures out of my Canadian cookbooks this week) and I have some thoughts to share on the various cookbooks ...

When I hear the phrase "Pennsylvania Dutch", I think of the Amish. I think most people do. So when I received a review copy of William Woys Weaver's latest book on the culinary history of Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine, As American as Shoofly Pie, I have to admit I wasn't too excited. What's there to learn about pickled beans and shoofly pie really? Well, as it turns out, the Amish are only a subgroup of the Pennsylvania Dutch (PD). Weaver explains that the PD include all German speaking (Dutch in the context of PD is a bastardization of Deutsch, the name for German language) peoples that immigrated to Pennsylvania during the 17th and 18th centuries. From Wikipedia: "The majority of these immigrants originated in what is today southwestern Germany, i.e., Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg; other prominent groups were Alsatians, Swiss, and Huguenots (French Protestants)". Weaver goes on to explain that about a third were the Palatinates, a third we...

Recently, I was asked to review Dale Archer's new book, The ADHD Advantage . This is Archer's second self-help book on mental health and takes a novel approach in guiding those who have received or those who care for one who has received an ADHD diagnosis. Archer's credentials include a background and career in psychiatry and first-hand experience as an ADHD patient. I wanted to read and review this book because I've come to realize there is a clear pattern of ADD (ie ADHD without the hyperactive component) behavior over my life so far. Frequent notations from teachers on reports cards about talking less and listening more? Check. Trouble following through with tasks that don't excite me and constantly procrastinating? Check. Hyperfocused for hours on tasks that do excite me to the exclusion of eating or getting out of my chair? Check. Easily bored? Check. Problems with remembering things? Check. Check. Check. So I settled in to read  The ADHD Advantage  and pre...

Shades of grey was a bit more difficult to be pulled into than Fforde's other novels I've enjoyed (I've read both the Thursday Next series and the Nursery Crimes books). The dry wit and "clever" conversation between father and son in much of the beginning of the book was tiring. I also had trouble following some of the basic plot points FForde was trying to lay out for readers as his characters discussed the finer points of a caste system determined by the colors one can perceive. Things picked up midway through the novel though, and once they got interesting, they never fell back down. As soon as I was invested in the characters I wanted answers. Why can people only see part of the color spectrum? What happened to take society from pre color caste to post? Fforde takes readers to a cliffhanger ending and now I sit, waiting impatiently for the next novel in what I hope is a long series.

  I received a copy of Sue Conley & Peggy Smith’s new cookbook, Cowgirl Creamery cooks, several months ago after great anticipation of it’s publication. There’s a Cowgirl Creamery right here in the Washington, DC metro area, making it easy to source the recipes. Our review team has made a handful of recipes from this beautiful book so far: Parmesan crusted chicken, classic mac and cheese, and pancakes. The chicken dish turned out the best; the recipe was easy to follow and included a helpful and detailed description on how to wet/dry coat the chicken breasts and make clarified butter. A novice cook could follow this recipe with ease. We would have liked to see a picture included but otherwise it was very good and we will make this again. The mac and cheese turned out well also. The directions were easy to follow and we loved the beautiful picture. Note that this recipe uses a béchamel sauce as the basis for the cheese sauce and this can be a tricky sauce to perfect, so it m...

Over my vacation, I read Diary of a Wildflower by Ruth White. Lorelei is one of many children in the Starr family, growing up in an isolated mountain area in Virginia in the early 1900s. Diary details her childhood - very reminiscent of the Waltons, but a bit darker - and her eventual horizon-broadening introduction to city life and upper class society. Inevitably Lorelei crosses paths with a handsome and kind upper class gentleman and together they bring her Cinderella tale to its happy conclusion. I am a sucker for happy endings and so White has found a fan in me. White is an accomplished children's book author and this is her first foray into adult literature and the adventure that is Kindle self-publishing. She's done very well here and other than a few typos inherent in self-publishing and an abrupt and stark change in accent & writing style for Lorelei's character (our narrator) late in the novel, I find Diary to be a great read. Recommended; 3 out of...

Just finished reading The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood. It bills itself as a psychological thriller and it definitely delivers. Probably one of the most riveting books I've read all year. At the age of 11, Jade Walker and Annabel Oldacre are convicted as juvenile offenders and co-conspirators in the brutal murder of a 4 year old girl (Chloe) in their community. Because of Walker's dysfunctional upbringing, no one is surprised at her involvement in this kind of trouble but Oldacre comes from a proper well respected family and so she is viewed with more derision as "she should have known better". Likewise, Jade's rehabilitation is more generous and forgiving allowing for her poor upbringing while Annabel is dealt with by the court system more harshly. Annabel has her own family troubles as well - just deeply hidden from the public spotlight- making the way she was singled out for stiffer punishment seem especially cruel. Years later, aged out of the juvenile p...

Lies You Wanted to Hear is a well paced, well styled, and engaging debut novel by James Whitfield Thomson. A lot of discussion has taken place regarding the author, who at age 67, has made quite an entrance onto the literary scene. In Lies , Thomson showcases the rocky relationship between Matt and Lucy from courtship through its eventual unraveling. Lucy is depicted as wholly selfish and troubled while Matt's character is more nuanced. The decisions that each of them make wound not only each other but their children as well. For a lot of fathers reading this novel, Matt's sentiments on the family court system and his moral dilemmas on how to protect his children will hit a little to close to home. And I don't doubt that for a few mothers who look back on their decision to settle for a 'nice' guy and  wrestle with feelings of wanting more - more excitement, more fun, more passion - that Lies will hit a little close to home as well. This, THIS is the dark versio...

Reviewing business books has mostly been depressing as I’ve found so many of them directly contradict my values and theological understandings as a Christian and prescribe strategies for “success” wholly incompatible with the Christian walk. So I was particularly pleased with the themes Lee Colan advanced in his new book, Stick With It as they avoided such deficits. Colan reminds us (or informs those who weren’t already aware) that perseverance is the hinge on which the doors of success are opened. While strategic planning is necessary for success it is never sufficient; follow through is key. Colan breaks down perseverance (or adherence as he refers to it) into three essential components: 1. Focus (on our mission) 2. Competence (to complete necessary actions derived from our mission) 3. Passion (for the whole of the work before us and what it stands for) For each component, Colan provides a detailed blueprint for building and sustaining the intensity necessary to succeed. He inc...

With two hours on the train daily for my work commute I enjoy a great deal of leisurely reading. Had a bit of drama midweek when I realized I left my Nook (the eBook reader sold by Barnes and Noble) on the train. Crossed my fingers and prayed that someone turned it in to lost and found, but no such luck. Friday rolled around and I can’t be without my books for long, so I forgave my carelessness and ordered myself a Kindle Paperwhite eReader (I was very happy with my Nook but B&N is discontinuing them, acknowledging that Amazon has won the market share war for eReaders). Here’s a summary of what I’ve been reading since last weekend: A Continual Feast by Evelyn Birge Vitz I have owned this cookbook for many years, and rely on it heavily – not so much for the recipes per se (although they are perfectly adequate) but for the liturgical calendar details included in the text. Ms. Vitz has grouped recipes together along the following lines: recipes for days of rejoicing and celebratio...

A couple of summers ago, my husband’s parents came for a visit and we took a weekend road trip through the Outer Banks , stopping at the interesting lighthouses along the way. At one of the lighthouse gift shops I was delighted to find The American Lighthouse Cookbook   by Beck Sue Epstein and Ed Jackson. The cookbook is arranged by geographic region (Northeast Atlantic, Mid-Atlantic, Pacific Northwest, etc) and accompanying the recipes are over 40 detailed entries on different lighthouses and their history as well as beautiful sketch drawings. I’ve been cooking exclusively from this cookbook for the past week and the recipes have been very good – well written, easy to follow, and great tasting. So far my favorite recipes have been: Grilled Pizza with Basil, Tomatoes, and Mozzarella This was the first time we made pizza on the grill and it came out fantastic. I did find that we needed to cook the pizza for longer than the recipe specified, but well worth the wait. I also added...

I picked up One Big Table by Molly O’Neill a couple years ago on sale. This is a big, heavy book resulting from the author’s quest to travel the country and document first hand what Americans are cooking up in their kitchens. It opens with a lovely illustration inside the front cover of the United States and its agricultural products with the products overlaid on a US map to show their origins. These clever and informative old-timey graphics are sprinkled throughout the cookbook and add to its charm, as do the little vignettes on American life and ingredients. Every recipe has its own backstory included, which is useful and entertaining and the patchwork variety of recipes really illustrates the diversity in heritage we celebrate as Americans. As for the recipes themselves, there are a lot of them. More than 600 in fact. I’ve made a handful over the years and haven’t found a dud yet. This month I dusted off my copy of the cookbook (I have 300+ cookbooks in my collection so rotation a...

Khaled Hosseini has done it again. In his latest release, And The Mountains Echoed , he has written a heart wrenching best seller that gives us a window into Afghanistan’s culture and stirs the soul. Years ago I had a terrible nightmare wherein I had declined to marry my husband and we’d gone on to marry other people instead. Soon after the weddings, I realized with agony what a mistake I’d made and felt the full weight of despair as I understood I could never make it right; we could never be together now that we were committed to other people. It was such a deep and profound sense of agony and loss that I woke up from this terrible dream sobbing so loudly and in such a frenzy I literally made myself sick. This – this feeling of irreversible bitter pain and sadness that cannot be undone – this is what Khaled captures so perfectly in his stories. And The Mountains Echoed introduces us to two motherless siblings, Abdullah and Pari, and then subsequently tears them apart and keeps us p...

I received a copy of Salma Hage’s new cookbook, The Lebanese Kitchen a couple of weeks ago.The publisher, Phaidon, is well known for producing high quality books that are lovely not only to read but beautiful to hold and to look at and The Lebanese Kitchen is no exception. The pages are uniquely cut with a delicate zigzag edge and there are at least two colorful ribbons strings sewn into the binding for easy bookmarking. This is a heavy, large cookbook; an exhaustive encyclopedia of the best of Lebanese cooking. So many recipes to choose from in fact that I wasn’t sure where to get started. Over the past few weeks I’ve made Hage’s hummus with chili oil, eggplant and garlic dip, Lebanse mixed salad, and zucchini stuffed with lamb. Everything has been phenomenal and I’m really pleased to count The Lebanese Kitchen among my favorite cookbooks. The recipes are well written in that they are accurate (no typos or proportion errors) and easy to follow. Bonus: there are a number of full pa...