October 2025 Cookbook Reviews

 

The Modern Pioneer Pantry by Mary Bryant Shrader

This cookbook is all about preserving and building your Modern Pioneer Pantry. There are chapters about water bath canning, pressure canning, drying and dehydrating, fermentation, freezing, and pickling. There is a LOT of information and recipes here. This is definitely aimed at someone who is comfortable in the kitchen and knows how to can. The recipes look good and there are lots of tips on how to use the preserved food in a variety of ways. Overall, if you're looking to up your preserving game, check this cookbook out.

The Cook's Garden by Kevin West

This is half gardening guide and half cookbook. In The Cook's Garden Kevin West helps you plan out your garden, and then cook what you've grown. The first half about gardening goes over all the basics - soil, compost, sowing seeds and transplanting seedlings, planning out your garden, and harvesting. I really liked that he also included a glossary too for newer gardeners. In the second half with the vegetable recipes each chapter focuses on one vegetable or vegetable family. There is information about growing and harvesting that vegetable, then recipes using it. This is a wonderful book that combines both gardening and cooking. There are lots of great photos and plenty of helpful tips. Whether you're new to gardening or more seasoned, you can find inspiration in this unique cookbook.

Preserving the Seasons by Holly Capelle

Preserving the Seasons is exactly what the title implies - how to preserve produce at peak season to enjoy all year. The book is divided into three sections - saving the seasons (covers preserving methods), infusions (creating infused drinks, oils, vinegars, etc.), and serving the season (recipes using things you've preserved or fresh produce). There were LOTS of recipes I'd like to try. I also thought the author did a good job of explaining each type of preservation method in the first section. The recipes had good tips for substitutions or if using the fresh ingredient instead of preserved. Overall I am really impressed with this cookbook! Definitely one to check out if you're a gardener and looking for more ways to preserve your harvest and used those preserved goods.

October 2025 Reviews

 

Hunger Like a Thirst by Besha Rodell

Besha Rodell had a unique background - she was born in Australia to an Australian father and American mother. After her parents split up, she and her mother and siblings moved back to the US. It was a hard adjustment for teenage Besha and she ended up dating a guy who worked in a restaurant. She ended up working in restaurants because while her family didn't have a lot of money, they had expensive tastes and working in expensive restaurants usually came with some expensive food perks. After meeting her husband, they live all over - New York City, Durham, NC, Atlanta, GA, Los Angeles, CA, and eventually back to Australia. All that moving was mainly for Besha's career as a food writer and critic. Hunger Like a Thirst tells her story of working in the food writing world, not quite as harsh as actually working in a restaurant kitchen, but close. Working as a food critic seems like a very hard job and she definitely shows both the pros and cons - especially as a parent. I really like her writing and her story/life is definitely unique and interesting. I like that she organized her story like the courses of a meal and it really worked with the book. Definitely worth reading if you're interested in food/dining/cooking at all.

Maus I: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman (Evening Edition book club)

I first read Maus in a literature class in college. At that time graphic novels weren't really as normalized as today. Maus tells two stories in one - the difficult relationship Art Spiegelman has with his father Vladek and the story of how Vladek and Art's mother Anja survived the Holocaust. In Book 1 you see how Vladek and Anja met, how things were for them leading up to the Holocaust and how they survived mainly because of Vladek's instincts, wits, and bravery. This book ends when they are finally betrayed trying to be smuggled into Hungary and end up at Auschwitz. You know they survive because Art was born after WWII, but to find out how you need to read Book 2.

Maus II: And Here My Troubles Begin by Art Spiegelman

Maus II picks up where we left off in Maus with Vladek and Anja arriving in Auschwitz. Through luck, ingenuity, and friends they are both able to survive and even manage to see each other briefly a few times. They both survive until the end of the war and are reunited in Poland. The other half of the book continues to explore the difficult relationship between Art and his father with a little more focus on Vladek's survivor tendencies - he can't waste food, saves anything and everything just in case, and is often difficult and likely struggling with PTSD and the physical effects of what he went through in surviving the concentration camp.

The books are both an easy and hard read at the same time. Reading a graphic novel is a fast read because more than 50% of the page is drawings. But the content is hard - even a comic book about the Holocaust is not a good time. And it's hard to see how much Vladek overcame to survive Auschwitz and yet he struggles so much to connect to his son or anyone else. And the added layer of knowing that Anja had diaries that Vladek destroyed in his way of trying to "get past" the war and suffering after her death. I haven't read these book since college and I'm glad I re-read them. I'll be curious to see what my book club thinks about this one.

Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck (Books & Banter book club)

In 1960 John Steinbeck decides it's been too long since he explored his own country and decides to take an epic road trip around the US with his dog Charley. He has a truck (named Rocinante) fitted with a custom camper in the bed and starts out from his Long Island, NY home. Despite his fame as a well-known author, he is not recognized during his trip. He and Charley set out to see what the current state is in America. Along the way he meets a cast of characters, Charley almost goes feral when he encounters bears in Yellowstone National Park, and he finds both the good and bad in the US along the way. Based on the map included in the book, it seems like he did almost a circle and avoided (purposely or not) the middle of the country. Several states are not mentioned at all and it's less a comprehensive travelogue for the country and more a musing about traveling.

I haven't read any Steinbeck since high school, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I really liked it and there was more humor than I was expecting. He has a great way of describing the scene - whether people or a place that takes you there. I loved that he had Charley with him as that created a lot more natural encounters with people along their travels. I'm glad I read it and I might check out more of his fiction now.

Some quotes I liked:

"Strange how one person can saturate a room with vitality, with excitement. Then there are others, and this dame was one of them, who can drain off energy and joy, can suck pleasure dry and get so sustenance from it. Such people spread a grayness in the air about them." (p. 37)

"Somehow the hunting process has to do with masculinity, but I don't quite know how. I know there are any number of good and efficient hunters who know what they are doing; buy many more are overweight gentlemen, primed with whisky and armed with high-powered rifles. They shoot at anything that moves or looks as though it might, and their success in killing one another may well prevent a population explosion. If the casualties were limited to their own kind there would be no problem, but the slaughter of cows, pigs, farmers, dogs, and highway signs makes autumn a dangerous season in which to travel." (p. 45)

Poet's Square: a memoir in thirty cats by Courtney Gustafson

When Courtney and her boyfriend Tim move into a rental house in Tucson, AZ they didn't realize that it came with a feral cat colony. They quickly realize that there are 30 cats living in and around their yard. Courtney doesn't have the money to feed all these cats, but she tries. Soon she creates an Instagram account for the cats and they develop a following. Soon followers are asking if they can donate cat food and money for vet care. Once she works through trapping and spaying/neutering their feral colony, people in her area reach out and ask for her help in their neighborhood. Soon she's a dedicated "cat lady" traveling all over Tucson to help trap cats, rush hurt or sick ones to the vet, and deliver food to other feral colonies. Throughout the story of the Poets Square cats, Courtney shares her own story of her struggles with depression, an abusive relationship, and how becoming a "cat lady" helped put some of her insecurities into perspective.

I wasn't familiar with Courtney or the Poets Square Cats IG page before reading this book. I'm just a cat person who thought this sounded like a good book. While it is a good book, it's not a super happy book. Working with feral colonies is not for the faint of heart. Constantly seeing sick or hurt cats, kittens dying, people who profess to love cats but won't fix their pets, etc. is all VERY draining. It was draining to read about too. I'm thankful for Courtney and people like her who see a need and figure out a way to help. This is not a light-hearted pet/cat memoir, but it's definitely worth reading.

Not Nothing by Gayle Forman (Books & Banter book club)

Alex has had a rough twelve years of life - his father is not in the picture, his mother is mentally ill, now he's living with his Aunt and Uncle (who aren't excited to be taking care of him), and he's required to spend the summer volunteering at a retirement home because of "the incident." The volunteering feels like a punishment until he connects with Josey - a Holocaust survivor who hadn't spoken in 5 years until he meets Alex. Josey starts telling Alex his life story and Alex starts to see a little of himself in Josey's story. Alex also meets Maya-Jade, another volunteer his age who's volunteering because her grandmother lives at the Shady Glen retirement home. Maya-Jade and Alex start to bond when they begin interviewing residents and filming them telling highlights from their lives. Operation Rise seems to bring everyone together and Alex finally has something good going on in his life, but then "the incident" is brought to light and he risks losing all his newfound connections.

This book was recommended by one of my book club members and while I did enjoy it, I'm a little surprised my library system has it catalogued as Juvenile instead of Young Adult. There are several more mature themes presented in the book. While the main story is Josey's Holocaust survival story and Alex's story, I agree with some reviews that there seemed to be a little heavy-handedness in including several other current issues/topics that weren't really relevant to the story. And once you find out what "the incident" was, I don't think Alex would have been allowed to volunteer at a retirement home as his punishment. And I especially don't think "the incident" would have been kept from the retirement home staff. It's still a unique book that highlights the Bryan Stevenson quote, "Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done." and explores the importance of intergenerational relationships.

On the Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Kathmandu and the making of a travel writer by Rick Steves

In 1978 Rick Steves was a recent college graduate and he and his friend Gene decided it was time to do the "hippie trail" - a 3,000 mile journey from Turkey to Nepal, going through Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India in between. Steves worked to save up to spend summers backpacking in Europe, but he wanted to experience the East now. Rick and Gene's trip lasts 56 days and is an adventure for sure. Throughout the trip Steves keeps a journal of their day to day adventures and during the COVID pandemic he stumbled across this journal and edited it with Gene's help to publish his "hippie trail" travelogue. There are tons of great pictures and maps of their journey included. I found it really interesting that Steves limited himself to 9 pictures a day in order to ration his film. What Steves didn't know at the time was 1978 was the last year the "hippie trail" would operate. In 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and the Islamic revolution in Iran both occurred making travel through those countries unsafe. This book is a unique time capsule of Eastern travel in the 1970's.

All in Her Head: how gender bias harm's women's mental health by Misty Pratt

According to Misty Pratt in the last few decades mental health problems have skyrocketed and women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with a mood disorder compared to men. So why is that? Are women suffering from mental illness more than men? Are the higher numbers because more people are seeking help? Pratt, who is a medical researcher, attempts to answer some of these questions with this book. Pratt suffered from depression and anxiety herself and also saw mental illness affect many of the women in her family so this is a personal issue for her as well.

I liked the book in the beginning but then it started to feel somewhat repetitive. She also doesn't really provide any answers to if or why women are more likely to be diagnosed with a mental illness. What it seemed to point out more to me was that mental illness overall (regardless of gender) is very under-researched and there are often no clear answers as to why someone becomes mentally ill or what (if anything) will help them long-term. I was also a little surprised that the last chapter was all suggestions of non-medication, non-therapy treatments like yoga, probiotics, being in nature, and spirituality. Not that those things aren't helpful probably to anyone, but the whole book seemed to be focused on medical and psychiatric treatment so it seemed odd to include that as the last chapter. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this one. It was kind of all over the place and didn't really give any possible solutions for this over-arching issue.

September 2025 Cookbook Reviews

 

3 Doughs 60 Recipes by Lacey Ostermann

In 3 Doughs, 60 Recipes Lacey Ostermann does just that - gives 3 basic dough recipes and 60 other recipes using those dough bases. The 3 doughs are sandwich bread, focaccia, and pizza so the cookbook is basically divided into three sections with the first dough recipe and then other recipes either using that bread or that dough in another way. Ostermann has really great photos of each step in the 3 dough recipes that should make it easier to follow the steps. I already make my own pizza dough regularly but I would love to make focaccia and sandwich bread regularly too. This is a cookbook I might buy because there are so many recipes that I'd like to try. If you're interested in making your own bread without the commitment of sour dough, definitely check this one out.

Feasts on the Farm by Tamara Hicks and Jessica MacLeod

Feasts on the Farm includes 60 seasonal recipes from Tomales Farmstead Creamery in California. The dairy is made from sheep and goat milk so the book includes lots of cute animal pictures. The photographs of the farm and the food are beautiful. I didn't really see many recipes I wanted to try and obviously the dairy in all the recipes are their specific cheeses - while you may find a comparable substitute, not having tasted their cheese it would be hard to know if your version compared with theirs. Overall, a beautiful cookbook but just not tons of recipes I want to try.

September 2025 Reviews

 

Care and Feeding by Laurie Woolever

I think a more appropriate title for this book would be Drinking and cheating: a memoir. Of course, if that had been the title I wouldn't have picked it up to read it. There was virtually no "care" and very little "feeding" in this book. Laurie Woolever went to culinary school and worked for two of the most well-known and powerful men in the food world - Mario Batali and Anthony Bourdain. But about 75% of the book was about her completely out of control drinking, drug use, and random sex/cheating. I know the restaurant world, especially pre-#metoo, is known for debauchery, but Woolever seemed to make it her personal goal to out-do almost everyone in her orbit.

She never had a great experience working with Batali - he was always a predatory dick - but she knew he could open doors for her and he did. He was the one who recommended her to Bourdain. Bourdain, thankfully, was not a predatory dick and seemed like a nice guy - although still a celebrity with the expectation of all things magically getting done for him. Woolever seemed to have a much better working environment with Bourdain and he also opened a lot of doors for her. She was just such a trainwreck of a person. I could never figure out what if anything led her to becoming an alcoholic. There didn't seem to be any obvious family trauma or anything that happened to her that would explain her need to be checked out. She also dated or cheated with some of the WORST guys imaginable. Her poor husband. He seemed like a really nice guy who married a tornado of chaos. To me the only enjoyable part of this book was when she was working for Bourdain and when she finally got sober. But I also feel like her sobriety was REALLY glossed over because she made it seem like she just decided to stop when up to that point she was drinking or smoking pot pretty much continuously when she was awake (including a lot of her pregnancy...).

Overall, I would not recommend this one. The only reason I gave it 2 stars was for the parts when she worked for Anthony Bourdain. She was just not a likable person AT ALL.

Some quotes I liked:

"This was one of the many ways that the well-connected rich stay rich, which is by underpaying young, ambitious skilled workers, trading on the promise of access to more rich and/or famous potential clients. Any rich person could pay top dollar for a catered dinner from Glorious Foods, but the real game was to find a hungry, unincorporated lone wolf like me, with a persistent doubt about her own worth, too polite and concerned about seeming greedy or losing the gig to negotiate for anything, for fear of losing out." (p. 108)

"This was the downside of working hard in the shadow of an important man. I should have known better, because I'd spent almost my entire career working in such shadows - Mario's, Hector's, all the big chefs I interviewed for Art Culinaire, everyone with power at Wine Spectator, and now Tony. Very few people are curious about the unknown women who prop up the work of important men. Without the Tonys and Marios and Hectors of the world, there would have been no book or TV show or magazine work for me. The flip side of this, that the end products, credited solely to the marquee men, wouldn't exist without the work of women like me, was both a maddening riddle and a colossal 'no shit.'" (p. 245)

Reconnected by Carlos Whittaker

Carlos Whittaker is an author, podcaster, speaker, and content creator so he basically lived on his phone and social media. But he knew it was becoming an issue and a crutch when he realized he was spending over 7 hours a day on his phone, so he decided to do something radical (by today's standard) and go phone-free for 7 weeks. The first two weeks at a monastery, the second two weeks on an Amish farm, and the final three weeks at home. He literally had a friend in California keep his physical phone so there could be no cheating. The book is divided into two sections - one about his time at the monastery and the other about his time on the Amish farm. The chapters are short and funny with tips/ideas from his time in these places and how we can translate those ideas into our phone-filled lives. He also had a brain scan before and after his phone fast to see if there were any noticeable changes.

I didn't know who Carlos Whittaker was before reading this book. I wasn't an Instagram fan and I hadn't read any of his other books. I didn't even know the book had a Christian theme/focus when I picked it up. I was just curious about his idea of not only going phone-free but doing so in such different environments. I liked the book and it was an easy read. But it didn't go too in depth in any of the areas or how he adjusted afterward. I would have liked at least another chapter or an afterward that talked about how he was doing a couple months after this experiment/fast ended. I was also a little skeptical that the brain scan would really show anything noticeable after 7 weeks - but I'm not a neurologist so maybe that is possible.

I also think there is an opportunity for a play on Morgan Spurlock's 30 days TV show where people from different walks of life/ages/etc. could go smartphone free for 30 days and see how they fare. Overall, I liked the book and everyone could use tips on how to have better boundaries around phone/social media use.

Good Soil: the education of an accidental farmhand by Jeff Chu

In his 30's Jeff Chu had a successful career as a magazine writer and was living in New York City with his husband. After struggling for years to reconcile his sexuality and Christian faith, he decided to enroll in seminary at Princeton. There he was introduced to the Farminary - a 21 acre working farm that sought to help students see the ties between farming/food/agriculture and the Christian faith. Chu never grew up gardening, but he did love cooking and so he found that he really enjoyed working on the farm more than he expected. As he continues to wrestle with his faith and future, he finds the farm is his go-to place for peace and solitude.

I knew who Jeff Chu was because of Rachel Held Evans and even though I knew on the front end that I wouldn't agree with his theology I wanted to give this book a chance because of the tie between Christianity/faith and farming. I personally found Chu to be borderline insufferable. Everything was very "woe is me," no one has suffered like me, no one is an outcast like me, etc. To me he still seemed very conflicted on how to reconcile (or not) his sexuality with the faith he grew up in. There seemed to be a LOT of guilt - some could say it's because of the way he was brought up or some could say it's conviction. Either way, he didn't come across very likable at all. He also was never clear about why he actually wanted a seminary degree - from the author info at the back of the book he's back working in magazines again. So why spend all that money on a degree that you never intended to actually use? I also wish there had been more about how he became friends with Rachel Held Evans. While the writing is good and the parts about the farminary were interesting, the rest of the book was just way too much complaining for me. If you're interested in the intersection of faith and farming/food I would highly recommend Joel Salatin's The Marvelous Pigness of the Pig.

Nashville: scenes from the New American South by Ann Patchett, Heidi Ross, and Jon Meacham

We went to Nashville for vacation this year and I had to go visit Ann Patchett's bookstore, Parnassus Books. I picked this one up as a souvenir of our trip since it's a collection of photographs from all around Nashville, TN. Ann Patchett writes the introduction to the book. We only visited Nashville for a week but I felt like the book did a good job of showcasing the city and it's vibe. It's a great book to flip through and the perfect souvenir of our trip.

Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks

Geraldine Brooks and Tony Horowitz had been married for thirty-five years when he died suddenly and unexpectedly while on his book tour on Memorial Day 2019. Memorial Days tells two stories - the immediate aftermath of Horowitz's death and then 3 years later when Brooks went to Flinders Island, a remote island in Australia, to take time to properly grieve her husband and revisit their love story. While this is not a fun memoir to read, it is beautifully written. The reader can feel the love between Brooks and Horowitz and Brooks's devastation after his death. She writes about their life together as foreign correspondents, authors, and parents. She also writes about the callousness of dealing with death in American culture. This is definitely a reminder of how quickly someone can be gone and the importance of enjoying people while they are still here.