Mailbox Monday for 3/1/2010

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.

I got The Lunatic, the Lover, and the Poet by Myrlin A. Hermes as part of a TLC book tour.  I can't wait to read this one.  I first saw a review at Misfit Salon and I've been dying to read it ever since.

I bought Liberty: The Lives and Times of Six Women in Revolutionary France by Lucy Moore for $1 from The Dollar Tree, so this does not break my book buying ban.

The Italian Slow Cooker by Michele Scicolone

Synopsis From Back Cover:

Plug it in, walk away-and cook like an Italian grandmother. 

Yes, it's that easy.  Michele Scicolone, a best-selling authority on Italian cooking, shows how to re-create the traditional flavors Italian food in your slow cooker.  Meat and Mushroom Ragu, Milan-Style Pasta and Beans, Sicilian-Style Orange Chicken, "Big Meatball" Meat Loaf, Osso Buco and Red wine-with just a few minutes of prep time in the morning, you can come home to an authentic Italian meal that you'll be proud to serve to family or company.  Simmered in the slow cooker, these dishes are as healthy as they are delicious.  Risotto and polenta are effortless-no need for all the usual stirring-inexpensive tough cuts of meat turn luxuriously succulent, and cheescakes emerge silkily flawless.  Just one question:  Why didn't someone think of this before?

I tried a few of the dishes in the book and for the most part I really enjoyed them.  I'm sorry to say that once again I'm having to do this review without pictures because I've been a lazy little boy and have not replaced my digital camera yet, so I apologize for you not being able to see how good the food looked once it was done.  The only thing that was better than the look was the smell and the taste of it.  One note I will say, and one I almost missed in the book, is that the recipes are for a slow cooker that is 5-7 quarts.  I'm going to share two of the recipes I tried out and I encourage everyone to give them a shot.

Calamari Soup

1  medium green bell pepper, chopped
2  large garlic cloves, chopped
1/4  cup olive oil
1 1/2  pounds cleaned calamari, cut into 1/2 inch rings
1  cup peeled, seeded, and chopped fresh or canned tomatoes
1  large carrot, chopped
2  medium celery ribs, chopped
2  medium potatoes, diced
1  8-ounce bottle clam juice
5  cups water
2  cups fresh or thawed frozen peas
1  cup white rice
Salt and freshly groud pepper
2  tablespoons copped fresh basil or parsely

In a large skillet, cook the bell peppers and garlic in the oil over medium heat until tender, about 15.  Scrape the mixture into a large slow cooker.

Add the calamari, tomatoes, carrot, celery, potatoes, clam juice and water.  Cover and cook on low for 2 hours.  Add the peas, rice, and salt and pepper to taste.  Cover and cook for 20 minutes more, or until the rice is tender.  Stir in the basil or parsley and serve hot.

Because I'm allergic to green bell peppers I did use red bell peppers instead, other than that I did it exactly the way the recipe is written and I loved it.  I had my first bowl with parsley and while I like it, I tried it the next day for lunch and used basil instead and enjoyed that better.  I ate this with a arugula salad and some toasted Italian bread.  The recipe said this serves 6, though we got 7-8 servings out of it.

Pears in Marsala

1/4  cup packed brown sugar
1/4  cup Marsala
1/2  cup organge juice
1  cinnamon stick
6-8  firm ripe pears, such as Bosc or Anjou

 In a slow cooker, stir together the sugar, wine, orange juice, and cinnamon stick.  Place the pears upright in the cooker and spoon some of the liquid over them.  cover and cook on high for 4 hours, or unitl the pears are tender when pierced with a knife.

Uncover and let the pears cool in the cooker, basting them from time to time.  Carefully transfer the pears to a serving dish.  Discard the cinnamon stick.  Pour the juices over the pears and chill until serving time.

Loved, loved, loved this one.   I love pears, love Marsala so it was a perfect combination for me.  The book suggested serving with a blue cheese like Gorgonzaola and since I enjoy the cheese I tried it and found it to be a nice contrast in flavor.  I also tried it with a Havarti, which I enjoyed as well.

I was sent this book from the publicist for review and I'm thanking them every day for it.

Sorry Everyone, About Balderdash Today

I apologize to those of you who participate and read the Balderdash meme posts but I've been sick the last few days, today being the worst actually, so I really haven't written down any words or used the brain power to come up with cool meanings.  I promise it will be up next week and I ask that you forgive me for this lapse.

Thank you everyone for your kind words.  I found out tody I'm dealing with a case of bronchitis.  Hopefully the antibiotics will kick in and I'll get better soon.

The High House by James Stoddard

Synopsis From Dust Jacket:

Some say that Evenmere was built by God to run the universe.  That without it's loyal servants-Brittle, the butler, Enoch, the clock-winder, and Chant, the lamp-lighter-it will all run down.  To young Carter Anderson, scion of the Master of Evenmere, the High House is home, and the servants his friends.

But Carter has an enemy, too: the Bobby, a devil in constable's clothing, who tempts him to an act that puts the house-and the universe-at risk, and which brings exile from the place he loves.

Now, ten years after his father's disapperance, Carter has been summoned back, for the house has been besieged by the Bobby and his anarchists, and Carter, though relectuant and unrepared, must assume the responsibilites of Master.  Yet before he can become Master, he must learn the Seven Words of Power, reclaim his father's Lightning Sword and Tawny Mantle, and regain the Master Keys lost years ago.  To do all that he will have to undertake, not one, but several perilous journeys through corridors, to kingdoms from which there may be no return...

I enjoyed this one.  It's a far flung fantasy that takes place in one house that takes you days to travel from one hall to the other and along the way you discover kingdoms growing out of the rooms, halls, and terraces througout.  In one section you could fnd yourself fighting changeling creatures that may resemble a love seat one second then a horrific alligator like creature that is trying to devour you, by the way you are fighting along side of talking tigers.  You can travel to the edge of a vast sea that is both beautiful and deadly or talk to a dinosaur like creature living in the attic.  It's a story of intrigue and deception but one that retains a sense of redemption and homecoming.

Now with that being said, I think I would have loved this book when I was 13/14 years old.  I have to admit that I found myself getting lost at times, the large sections of traveling were so detailed and a little dry at times, that I found my attention wandering a bit and when something brought me back to the story I would realize I had no clue what had just happened so I would go back and reread a pharagraph or two..  This was the stuff I loved as a teenager, or maybe I just had the patience back then. 

I do have to say that I enjoyed this book enough that I will have to pick up the sequel, The False House, which I didn't know about until I visited the author's website.

Favorite Fictional Character --- Waldorf and Statler

For some reason I'm in an oddly nostalgic mood right now so when I started thinking of characters to use for this weeks post, my mind wandered to The Muppet Show.  Now there were a lot of great characters on the show; Ms. Piggy, Kermit, Fozzie, Beaker, Gonzo, and Animal to name just a few.  My favorite characters though were Waldorf and Statler, those two cranky old guys who never missed a chance to heckle and jeer as much as they wanted to.

They brought a sense of lightness and fun to the show that I loved so much.  I always imagined, and still do, that I'm going to be one of those old guys who are so cantankerous that you can't help but love them no matter what they do.  I'll be the one sitting in the park, tripping people with my cane and sneering at them when they sit next to me on the park bench.  I may even chase the neighbor kids off my yard when they come over to pick up their ball they threw over the fence.  If I do become that old guy, I owe it all to Waldorf and Statler who did it with style.

They were so good with the one liners and could send out a quip in the blink of an eye. I admired the skill as a kid to be able to think on your feet and the ability to get away with it everyday.  Here is a youtube video with quite a few examples of their greatness.

Rick Astley sings "Never Gonna Give You Up"

This is for all you Rick Astley haters out there (and you know who you are), Enjoy!

Dream House by Valerie Laken, Book Tour and Review

When I was asked to participate in the TLC Book Tour for this book I jumped at the chance as soon as I read the synopsis:

When Kate and Stuart Kinzler buy a run-down historic home in Ann Arbor, Michigan, they're hoping their grand renovation project can rescue their troubled marriage.  Instead, they discover that years ago their home was the scene of a terrible crime-and the revelation tips the balance of their precarious union.

When a mysterious man begins lurking around her yard, Kate, now alone, is forced to confront her home's dangerous past.  Hers is not the only life that has crumbled under this roof.  This man's family also disintegrated here, as the result of one brief act of rage that may haunt him-and this house-for years to come.

Sounds good, right?  Thankfully I can report that it was good, and not what I was expecting at all.  For some reason I was thinking there was actually going to be a  haunted house, don't ask why, I'm not really sure where I got that impression from.  I think I was a little tired when I first read the description. 

A lot of the reviews I've read have tended to focus on Kate, and while you would probably consider her the "main" character, I found myself connecting to and understanding Stuart way more that it seems others have.  Here was a man, who's biggest flaw was the lack of any real sense self esteem.  He never thought he was good enough for Kate, he was always thinking that someday she would realize the truth and disappear.  How any man can be expected to function on a real level, when that thought is eating away at you, is beyond me.  So of course he wouldn't want their life to change in any real way, because if it did, she may realize that she's moved beyond him.  She would find out that she would be better off without him.  So I understood why he was so unhappy with buying a house and moving away from their apartment, which was near the campus they first met.  The relationship, while it may be slowly dying, was stable there.  It was home.

So when Kate throws herself into remodeling the home, he never wanted, he feels her pulling away from him.  Of course he never thought about this being her way of trying to not only reconnect their slowly dying marriage, but as a way to find a place where she truly belonged.  I found Kate to be pretty emotionally closed to almost everyone in her life, she simply doesn't let anyone in, even when she thinks she has.  Now that doesn't help Stuart's issues because he sees this as a validation of his fears.  And like all fears they just keep feeding in on themselves.  So when he loses his job, his sense of self is obliterated.  Any sense of being the man Kate needed walked out the door, so he followed.  I'm not sure how many men or women in his place wouldn't do the same thing.  When every fear you've ever had comes true, your first response is to run.  I'm not saying it's the right choice or the morally correct thing to do, but I understood it.

This was a intimate look at people who are struggling to find themselves and a place to call home, both physically and emotionally.  The backdrop of the "murder" years prior to Kate and Stuart moving in and how the players in that initial tragedy interact and influence current events was expertly meshed together and added a dimension to the book that I would have missed had it not been there.

Now everything I just typed could be the exact opposite of what Valerie Laken was trying to get across in her beautifully written book, but it's what I took away from it and I'm very happy that I was given the chance to read it.  I am looking forward to reading more by her in the future.  Please stop by and visit Valerie Laken at her website. 

I would like to thank Trish at TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book and I am looking forward to future tours.

You can check out other stops on the tour by clicking on the links:

Monday, February 1st: Stephanie’s Written Word

Thursday, February 4th: One Person’s Journey Through a World of Books

Tuesday, February 9th: lit*chick

Wednesday, February 10th: I’m Booking It

Monday, February 15th: Devourer of Books

Wednesday, February 17th: Educating Petunia

Thursday, February 18th: Dolce Bellezza

Monday, February 22nd: Wordsmithonia

Wednesday, February 24th: The Book Zombie

Thursday, February 25th: All About {n}