September 2016 Cookbooks

Canning for a New Generation: updated and expanded edition by Liana Krissoff

I read through the original Canning for a New Generation, but was interested to see what had been updated and expanded in this edition. Krissoff notes that there are new recipes, but she also clarifies some of the information on canning that was in the original cookbook. While I did like this cookbook and really enjoy canning, I personally think this is NOT something best learned from a book. Most counties have an agriculture extension office that teach very thorough and inexpensive canning classes - hands on is the best way to learn to can in my experience. But, I do appreciate the canning recipes and there are some I'd like to try, but please do NOT try to learn how to can solely from this book!

Damn Delicious by Chungah Rhee

I stumbled upon the Damn Delicious blog through Pinterest and pretty much everything I tried was great. So, I was very excited to see an actual cookbook from Damn Delicious! There were lots of new recipes and some of the favorites from the blog. Overall, just like the blog there is no way you can't find something yummy and easy to make from this cookbook!

September 2016 Reviews

When I went on vacation at the beginning of September I read my first fiction book in over 3 months. So, now I'm back to alternating between fiction and non-fiction. Here is what I read in September:

White Walls: a memoir about motherhood, daughterhood, and the mess in between by Judy Batalion

Judy Batalion grew up in a house that her mother filled with her hoarded "deals." As soon as she could she escaped from the hoarding and clutter, even meeting and marrying a man who's mother was a hoarder too. But, when she gets pregnant she freaks out about how to raise this child when she didn't really have a childhood of her own. She's also seen her grandmother and her mother spiral into mental illness and hoarding and doesn't want to follow in those footsteps. I was interested in the hoarding aspect of this book, but a large chunk of it is more about the author's failed relationships and her struggle into adulthood. That kind of bogged down the book for me and wasn't as interesting. Overall, it was OK, but not one I would recommend.

Black and White Bible, Black and Blue Wife: my story of finding hope after domestic abuse by Ruth A. Tucker

Ruth Tucker married a man she was foolishly in love with, but she quickly saw who he really was when he started becoming violent with her. There were PLENTY of red flags before they got married that she overlooked and plenty more in their 20 years of marriage - he was fired from almost every job he ever had for things like stealing and plagarism. And to top it off her husband was a pastor. Tucker was educated and worked as a college professor, so why didn't she leave? Her main answer was that she was legitimately afraid he would kill her if she did. But, she eventually did along with her then-thirteen-year-old son. As she looks back at her own story she combines it with an exploration of what the Bible has to say about marriage and domestic violence and how all too often abusers use the Biblical theology of male "headship" to justify pretty much anything. The worst parts of this book were quotes from male pastors to abused wives telling them to continue to submit to their abusive husband instead of helping them pack up and leave. Tucker proves that it is possible to rise above supposedly Biblically supported abuse and move on - over 17 years after she leaves her abusive husband, she remarries a wonderful man to whom she is still happily married.

This isn't a new topic, but Tucker's book is incredibly well-written and articulate. She is not only an expert in theology, but also in surviving an abusive marriage. Her personal story only reinforces her points in the book. Overall, a fantastic book about an unfortunately always timely topic.

Some quotes I really liked:

"We sometimes read right past these words from Paul's letter to the Ephesians: 'Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.' Really? The standard is impossible. Christ gave himself up for the church by submitting to crucifixion. The husband's role is obviously to be read metaphorically. No husband is expected to die on a cross for his wife. Still, the benchmark is very high." (p. 18)

"When I think of a husband laying aside his glory for his wife, Robertson McQuilkin immediately comes to mind...most people know him as having served for more than two decades as the president of Columbia International University in Columbia, South Carolina. Much to the chagrin of the university's board of trustees, he quit at the height of his career to become a full-time homemaker. His wife, Muriel, had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1981. By 1990, her condition had deteriorated to the point that she was becoming agitated and fearful unless he was with her. He had not promised 'till death do us part' to the university. To Muriel, however, he had. So he laid aside his glory as a university president to become a caretaker for Muriel." (p. 18)

"Very early in my first marriage, the Ephesians 5 passage was frequently used against me, always in a one-sided manner. That my ex-husband failed to love me as Christ loved the church was no applicable. That I was not submitting to him was the overriding issue. Anyone familiar with this passage knows it begins in verse 21: 'Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.' The next phrase, 'wives, to your own husbands,' has no verb in the original Greek. It is a verse that cannot be read without the topic sentence of mutual submission. Moreover, the entire passage places a far heavier burden of love and submission on the husband than it does on the wife, as I have written elsewhere: 

It is safe to say that in the ancient world, Paul's admonition to women did not amount to shocking news. That a wife should submit to her husband was obvious. That was part of the very fabric of society and culture. But that husband and wife were to 'be subject to one another' had to be rather startling. And that the husband was to 'love his wife as Christ loved the church.' was certainly a standard far beyond what was expected of husbands in the ancient world. If anyone squirmed in the pew of the first-century church, it surely must have been the husband, not the wife." (p. 46-7)

[Some of the red flags Tucker learned about her now ex-husband before they married]
"I had already learned form my fiance that he had been expelled from Wheaton College for cheating and for breaking into a faculty office in search of exam answers. Two years later, he had been forced to leave Miami Christian College for behavior he did not clearly explain. And he was arrested as a peeping Tom near his parents' home on Long Island. All this, he told me, had been cured through counseling." (p. 38)

To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey

I loved The Snow Child, so I couldn't wait to read this one and saved it to take on vacation. While it's very different fromThe Snow Child, there are some similar elements and I really liked it.

Allen Forrester has the opportunity of a lifetime to lead a small group of men up the Wolverine River and into uncharted Alaskan territory. While this is the adventure of a lifetime he will be leaving behind his newly pregnant wife Sophie. Sophie is not thrilled about living in army barracks for up to a year with little to no word from her husband - not knowing if he will come back to her. Told exclusively in letters and diary entries from both Allen and Sophie, their stories even though hundreds of miles apart continue to intersect through strange coincidences or magic - however you choose to see it. While Allen is away Sophie delves into the new art and science of photography to fill her time. This new hobby will completely change her life in unseen ways. Meanwhile at times Allen's group struggles to survive in the harsh Alaskan wilderness and much of what they experience can't be explained rationally or scientifically. Like Ivey did inThe Snow Child, there is a fine line between reality and magic that is often blurred and many events could be seen either way. While this book does start slow, it holds your attention and you can't wait to see if Allen and his men will survive their journey and make it back to Sophie. And as someone who is childfree, I like that in both her books the main characters don't have children. In the late 1800's when this book takes place that would have been a devastating circumstance, but only because of it is Sophie able to do all she does at the end of the book. While in both this book andThe Snow Child, being childless is not their choice, the author shows that in both cases the characters have fulfilling lives and marriages. I highly enjoyed this one!

Present Over Perfect: leaving behind frantic for a simpler, more soulful way of living by Shauna Niequist

Shauna Niequist has become one of my absolute favorite authors! Her observations are just spot on all the time. InPresent Over Perfect she takes on the issue of trying to have a "perfect" life from the outside, when really that drive for more and more can destroy you from the inside out. The book is full of her personal experiences taking on too much and always trying to do and be more to everyone, while she and her family suffered. Only after her health started to really suffer and she mentioned it in passing to her mentor did she really start to reevaluate her life and slow down. It took Niequist 3 years to work through this process, but because of her honestly and willingness to open up about her own struggles we can learn from her and not have to completely burn out before making changes. While I don't personally relate to her need to please people (I'm definitely NOT a pleaser personality), I can relate to how hard it can be to go against the cultural flow that tells you you need to be doing more better all the time. This is a great book and I would highly recommend it to anyone!

Some quotes I really liked:

"Years ago, a wise friend told me that no one ever changes until the pain level gets high enough. That seems entirely true. The inciting incident for life change is almost always heartbreak - something becomes broken beyond repair, too heavy to carry; in the words of the recovery movement, unmanageable." (p. 24)

"My friend Geri taught me something about prayer many years ago, and the image stayed with me...She told me that when you begin to pray...picture a bottle of oil-and-vinegar salad dressing...the vinegar, probably red wine vinegar, rests on top of the olive oil, softly red, flecked with oregano. The green-yellow oil is at the bottom of the bottle, rich and flavorful. Geri said that when you pray, pour out the vinegar first - the acid, whatever's troubling you, whatever hurt you, whatever is harsh and jangling on your nerves or spirit...Pour out all the vinegar until it's gone. Then what you find underneath is the oil, glistening and thick...[God] wants me to bring the vinegar so that I can taste the oil. He has all the time in the world to sit with me and sift through my fears and feelings and failings. That's what prayer is. That's what love is." (p. 74-6)

"He said, 'When I go to your church, it's like a breath of fresh air from what I grew up with.' 'Exactly,' I said, 'and this is a breath of fresh air from what we grew up with.' I told him it was like we all grow up with half a pie, and part of being an adult person of faith is finding the rest of your pie." (p. 81)
"Sometimes being brave is being quiet. Being brave is getting off the drug of performance. For me, being brave is trusting that whatever God is asking of me, what my family and our community is asking from me, is totally different than what our culture says I should do. Sometimes, brave looks boring, and that's totally, absolutely, okay." (p. 126)

"Present over perfect living is real over image, connecting over comparing, meaning over mania, depth over artifice." (p. 130)

"It seems to me like most of us were taught that jealousy is bad, and so when we feel it, we should push it away from ourselves as quickly as possible, get rid of it fast. But I'm learning that envy can be an extremely useful tool to demonstrate our desires, especially the ones we haven't yet allowed ourselves to feel, and so I committed to learning from my jealousy toward her." (p. 149)

First Comes Love by Emily Giffin

Emily Giffin has always been one of my favorite authors and while this book is good, it wasn't one that I just couldn't put down like some of her previous books. The story centers around sisters Josie and Meredith, who couldn't be more different, but when their brother was killed in a car accident their differences in how they grieved pushed them even further apart. Now coming up on the 15 year anniversary of Daniel's death, new revelations about that night threaten to tear them even further apart. Each sister is also dealing with disappointments in their personal lives - Josie is still single and longs to be a mother, while Meredith seemingly "has it all," but is deeply dissatisfied with her marriage and career. Can these two sisters finally come together to get past their brother's death or will their relationship be fractured forever? Giffin does a great job with the sister relationship and each character is likable in their own way, but I did think there were a few aspects of the book that seemed a little forced and I felt like the ending was kind of predictable and unrealistic. I did like the book, but I didn't love it.

Disclaimer by Renee Knight

Ugh. This book was TERRIBLE. It was billed as this fast-paced thriller, but it was anything but fast-paced. What was supposed to keep you hanging barely gave you enough story to keep your interest going. I won't even summarize the basic storyline because it was such a stupid story and the "real" story was so violent and terrible that I wish I hadn't finished it. Don't waste your time with this one.

True Crime Addict: how I lost myself in the mysterious disappearance of Maura Murray by James Renner

I was drawn to this book because I love the TV showDisappeared and had seen the episode about Maura Murray's disappearance. But, the show almost always leaves out a lot of the story and that is where Renner comes in with this book. It's not just about Maura's disappearance, but more about how and why Renner chose to dig into her story. His first crush was Amy Mihaljevic, who went missing in his area when he was 11. That started his obsession with true crime - and also gave him PTSD. But that doesn't stop him from diving headlong into Maura's case. While he doesn't solve her disappearance, he does shed light on new facts and evidence, but those things only seem to deepen the mystery. The book is a mix of Maura's case and also Renner's own back story. When you find out about some things that happened to him and his family in the past it definitely explains his fascination with true crime and wanting to solve old cases. Overall, it was an interesting book especially if you like TV shows like Disappeared.

August 2016 Cookbooks

The Ultimate Healthy Dehydrator Cookbook by Pamela Ellgen

This books gives a really good introduction to what dehydrating is and the benefits for storing/using dehydrated food. The first section is an overview, the second section is basics of dehydrating specific foods, the third section is dehydrated food recipes (jerky, fruit leather), and the last section is recipes using dehydrated food ingredients. I thought the overview was really good and helpful and there are a few recipes I'd like to try. Overall, a good cookbook on this topic.

August 2016 Reviews

So, this is the first year I've read only non-fiction for the whole summer and it was great. I read a lot of really good books and I'm glad I decided to do this. Here are the non-fiction books I read in August:

The Box Wine Sailors: misadventures of a broke young couple at sea by Amy McCullough

Amy and her boyfriend Jimmie want to figure out a way to take a year off work and have an adventure. They decide that the cheapest way to do that is to buy an old sailboat and sail from Oregon to Mexico - neither of them grew up sailing or have any real training. They watch a few DVDs, read some books, and spend a year sailing once a week to prepare. They saved as much money as they could in a year and lived as cheaply as possible in their year of sailing. While I admire them for going for their dream right now and not waiting until retirement or a "better" time, it seems like their year of sailing was more stressful than relaxing or fun. They ate really cheap, crappy food and never really slept much or well. After it was over and they spent their first night off the boat Jimmie said it was the first night of real, restful sleep he had had in over a year. Not to say they never had fun or a relaxing time, but it really seemed like a LOT of their time was very stressful. Overall, it was good, but it definitely didn't inspire me to want to do anything similar!

Some quotes I really liked:

"It turns out the only difference between bravery and stupidity is a happy ending. If we had died, if our soggy carcasses had washed up on some California beach months after our departure, everyone would have said that we were foolish. Or at least they would have thought it. Sailing the Pacific on a twenty-seven-foot boat, with no experience? Figures...But we lived. And so we are brave." (p. 1-2 of "Sensible" Cruising)

"Often, the thing that is the scariest is not the actuality of your situation but what your imagination sees as its potential amplification. The unknown. The unknown. The unknown. It haunts you. And it can never be answered until it is already happening. And then, an already worse unknown has formed in your brain." (p. 12 of Desperately Seeking Social) 

The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner

Ruth Wariner was the 39th child for her father and her mother was his fifth wife. After her father was killed when Ruth was just a baby her mother remarried and became the second wife of Lane. Lane would come to be the worst part of Ruth's childhood. Ruth and her family lived in an adobe hut in Mexico, but since her mother was an American citizen they often came back to the US for her to collect welfare checks and food stamps. As the second oldest girl, Ruth was expected to help care for her younger siblings - her mother would have a total of 10 children before her death. Because of this Ruth dropped out of school around 12 or 13, as did her older brothers who were needed to work and help bring in income for all of Lane's wives and children. Heartbreakingly, two of Ruth's siblings would die in childhood and her oldest sister was so violently schizophrenic that she had to be institutionalized when she was 14. Even worse Lane molested Ruth and at least one of her other siblings and dozens more of his children and stepchildren. After her mother's death, Ruth was finally able to escape Mexico with her remaining younger siblings and their life of poverty and abuse to live with her grandmother in California. Ruth raised her 3 youngest siblings and eventually went on to get her GED, a college degree and a master's degree. The fact that she survived her childhood at all is a miracle. Her story shows the horrors of polygamy and how these cults are basically havens for sexual predators. This is a powerful memoir in the vein of The Glass Castle or North of Normal. I could NOT put this book down and read it in a little over a day.

Cooking as Fast as I Can by Cat Cora

Cat Cora grew up in Mississippi enjoying Southern and Greek food since her father's family was Greek. It was nothing unique to her to eat grits with feta cheese. Her parents were both hard-working and loving and taught Cat that working hard is how you'll get far in life. In this memoir you see how Cat worked hard to overcome some serious challenges - she was molested by a family friend, she was gay in time when it was still illegal in her home state, and once she knew she wanted to cook she struggled to get into professional kitchens that often didn't want women. But, she overcame all these struggles to become the Iron Chef Cat Cora most people recognize today. She has accomplished so much and opened so many doors for future women in the professional food industry. Her memoir is a pretty quick read, but it really sheds light on all the things in her life that helped create who she is today.

$2.00 a Day: living on almost nothing in America by Kathryn Edin and H. Luke Shaefer

After doing research for over two decades on American poverty, Kathryn Edin discovered something she hadn't seen before - households surviving on virtually no cash income. And not only that, the number doing so has skyrocketed in the last few years. Teaming up with Luke Shaefer, an expert on surveys of the incomes of the poor, they uncovered just how these $2-a-day families are managing to survive. They focus on a few families in different cities and in different circumstances, but all of whom want nothing more than to work a full-time job with regular hours and have their own home for their family. This is really a heart-breaking book because all of the families featured have tried so hard and just keep getting beaten down by their environment, circumstances, an emergency, etc. The biggest thing I noticed among all the people was the low-wage jobs they had worked - pretty much all of them were never scheduled for enough hours to get benefits, had crazy schedules that weren't consistent (and made childcare impossible), and were fired for insanely small infractions. If companies weren't allowed to have these employment practices all of the people featured in this book could have been MUCH better off and managed to create some stability in their lives.

Overall, this is an eye-opening book about a large, yet largely unseen segment of the American population. It will definitely make you feel like a millionaire in comparison.

Some quotes I liked:

"Jennifer rejects the idea of taking 'handouts,' even now in her third spell of $2-a-day poverty in as many years, and so she won't even apply for welfare. Her vision of the good life remains astonishingly humble: she dreams of a full-time job paying $13 an hour, a set schedule, and decent working conditions. She believes that at this wage, she could find a modest apartment in a safe neighborhood, perhaps even afford a reliable used car. Barely making it on $13 an hour is Jennifer's version of the American dream. Yet even this modest aspiration can seem all but out of reach." (p. 47-8)

"Place like the public library where Jennifer, Kaitlyn, and Cole found refuge are crucial to the day-to-day survival strategies of the $2-a-day poor. They offer a warm place to sit, a clean and safe bathroom, and a way to get online to complete a job application. They provide free educational programs for kids. Perhaps most important, they can help struggling families feel they are part of society instead of cast aside by it." (p. 101)

Home is Burning by Dan Marshall

Warning: if you are offended by cursing and bad language this is NOT the book for you!

Dan Marshall is the second of five siblings and felt like at the age of 25 his life was just getting started. He lived in LA, had a beautiful girlfriend, and enjoyed his job. Growing up in Utah the only bad thing about his childhood (besides all the Mormons) was his mom battled cancer off and on since he was 11. So, when he got a phone call in 2007 that his dad had ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, his world was turned upside down. His father was always the rock of the family and he declined so quickly that everyone was shocked. Dan ended up quitting his job to go home and help take care of his father. What could have been a terrible depressing story is turned into a laugh-out-loud memoir by Dan and his foul-mouthed family. Their mantra of "fuck Lou Gehrig's disease!" shows how they handled their dad's illness and the strain of caring for him and their mom (her cancer came back shortly after Dan's father was diagnosed). With terrible language and black humor Dan and his siblings come together to help their dad through his final year. Of course there are some serious moments and the very end is a tear-jerker, but overall I would have never thought that a memoir about having two dying parents could be so funny.

A few favorite moments/quotes:

[On Chelsea the 4th child's lack of desire to drive] "...you need to learn how to drive. You're sixteen years old, and our home is burning to the ground with tragedy." (p. 75)

"Before the Lou Gehrig's disease, anytime we were watching a game together and the Jazz scored, we would exchange a high five. We couldn't do that anymore. 'I wish I could high-five you,' I said after Deron Williams nailed a three. My dad didn't say anything. But he did raise his foot as much as he could. I looked at it, a little confused. Carlos Boozer slammed down a jam. My dad raised his foot again. I finally put it together. 'Oh, you want to do foot high fives?' He nodded his head as much as he could. I pulled my chair up to his bed, and we exchanged foot high fives every time the Jazz scored. It wasn't exactly like watching the game together in the Delta Center, but it was better than nothing." (p. 131)

[On a Lou Gehrig's support group meeting] "Those accompanying the person with ALS to the support group meeting usually looked tired and had more to say than the two hours would allow. Bags under their eyes. Shoulders slumped. Hadn't been fucked for months, maybe years. In other words, I fit right in. These were people who would really go for the free Capri Suns, cake and pizza provided by the MDA's scrawny budget. They'd throw caution to the wind. Fuck it, I've got to treat myself since I'm working so hard to keep someone alive, I imagined them thinking as they tried to stab the straw into that tiny little hole that the makers of Capri Suns put on top of the juice pouch in an effort to completely fuck with us all...The topics at these meetings were as depressing as the crowd. Once month, owners of a funeral home came to explain how everyone could save a shitload of money if they prepaid for their funeral and picked out a coffin in advance. Honestly. During this meeting, I was tempted to squirt my Capri Sun at the assholes, but I was unwilling to part with the fruity greatness that is Capri Sun. Plus, it had taken me twenty minutes to get that fucking straw in." (p. 161-2)

[On going to Chelsea's dance recitals] "The actual going to the performance part was one thing that we couldn't pawn off because of the guilt our mom smothered us with. She took a variety of different approaches, usually involving our dying father. 
'Come on, her father is dying. She needs you guys. You're all she's got.'
'You have to go. It means the world to her, and Dad is dying.'
'GET THE FUCK IN THE CAR BEFORE I START GETTING SO MAD THAT I MURDER YOU WITH MY LITTLE CANCER HANDS.'" (p. 173)

[After almost a year of caring for his dad Dan's long-time girlfriend breaks up with him]
"But my unhappiness was apparent. When Tiffany, my mom, and I were unloading my dad from our van for a walk up at Red Butte Garden, I lost my shit. His chair had caught on a seat belt. I tried to unhook it, but couldn't, so I started tugging on the seat belt and screaming, 'Motherfuckers!' as loud as I could. I followed up the 'Motherfuckers!' with a string of expletives that would make the devil cringe. I think I actually flipped off the seat belt at one point and punched the floor of the van. I started to cry and melted to the ground. I was losing it...I knew I'd officially lost it when I bare-knuckle-punched the respirator when it wouldn't stop beeping. After that, my dad suggested I go see their shrink, Robin. I did." (p. 203)

The Secret Lives of Bats by Merlin Tuttle

I really like bats and think they are fascinating, but I really had no idea what to expect with this book. I was blown away with all the crazy stories Merlin Tuttle had of his time as a bat biologist! He first became interested in bats when his family discovered a colony in a cave near their home in Tennessee and from there he was hooked on bats. His work led to many bat related discoveries, he helped inform the public about how beneficial bats are, he founded an organization to help protect bat habitats around the world. The craziest thing is that when he realized how few good bat photographs there were at the time (1970's and 80's) he taught himself photography so that he could photograph both bats in the wild and in studios he built! He would catch whatever type of bat he was working with in the area, tame it, then photograph it in a set he would create - and he did this all over the world! He is really a trendsetter when it comes to bats and their world. There are also 2 sections of color pictures of some of the bats he describes in his stories. Overall, this was a fascinating book about some very beneficial and fascinating creatures!

Forked: a new standard for American dining by Saru Jayaraman

There are TONS of books about the evils of industrial food production, but Forked looks as another evil in the food industry - how cooks and wait staff are mistreated and underpaid. I think people expect that in the fast food industry, but in many mid-level and higher-end restaurants the wait staff are barely getting by and your food might be prepared by someone with the flu because most restaurant staff don't get paid sick leave and can't afford to not come in to work. I liked how the author broke down the book by type of restaurant to show that good and bad can be in any price level or type of restaurant. In each chapter she talks about that type of restaurant and then gives both a good and bad example restaurant. The author also talks a lot about the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC) that she co-founded and c0-directs that helps encourage and support long-term, sustainable changes to the restaurant industry and how its workers are treated. This is definitely an eye-opening look at an aspect of the restaurant industry.

Some quotes I liked:

"In fact, the restaurant industry is the single largest source of sexual-harassment complaints to the EEOC of any industry in the United States. Seven percent of American women work in restaurants, but 37 percent of all sexual harassment complaints to the EEOC come from the restaurant industry." (p. 11)

"Eighty percent of the almost seven hundred restaurant workers surveyed reported experiencing sexual harassment in their restaurant workplace, and 50 percent experience sexual behaviors that were scary or unwanted. Worst of all, women in states that paid the tipped-worker minimum (often $2.13 an hour) experienced twice the rate of sexual harassment from customers as they did in states that paid the same wage to tipped and nontipped workers...In sum: our research showed that when workers were not reliant on customers for a base wage, they were less likely to be sexually harassed." (p. 38)