Book Review - The School of Essential Ingredients - Erica Bauermeister

This is the first book I've read by Erica Bauermeister. Heather suggested it to me. (Heather is my wife, for those of you new to my blog.)

I REALLY enjoyed this book. It has a lot of cooking in it, as you might expect from the title. But, it has a lot of good stories about the individuals who attend the cooking school mentioned in the title. Some are sad, even tragic, most are uplifting in a way you didn't expect.

The chef who runs the school has an interesting life, and there is an element of mystery about her. The book is very engaging, and it is easy to read several chapters without noticing the time or anything else around you.

The story is told from multiple points of view - the students from the class each have their own story. The author weaves the stories together as the students attend class each week. I think only one of the stories has a flash back, but that one is not too hard to keep straight.

The book is strongly recommended.

Liquid Poetry - Wine Review - Monte Alegre

Well, this is a first for me. A wine review. I must say though that when you run across something good enough, it just makes you want to say something to someone.



I was first introduced to the marvelous wine called port, in that dreadful but somehow irresistible cheese spread our grandparents all seemed to keep a tub of in their refrigerators. I remember looking at it and passing it by, since it seemed (like many things in my grandmother's refrigerator) to have somehow spoiled and not been noticed.



But eventually I tried it and was hooked, on the cheese spread that is, still not ever having tried the wine itself.



Trying the wine itself would have to wait several years for my good friend Anita, who suggested it for dessert at one of our get togethers. I liked it - how it was sweet, yet complex, and full of rich but distinct flavors.

Well, recently, we were in Carbondale Illinois, of all places, visiting a friend and trying out one of the wineries. The tasting was wonderful, with the owner giving us many samples, along with bits of the right accompaniment for that particular wine - a bit of apple with one, a bit of chocolate with the port. So, I highly recommend Monte Alegre winery, and good port wine. In this case, the port wine is called "Liquid Poetry", which is so appropriate.

I recommend you try port for dessert, or with dessert. Alternate sips of the port with bits of the dessert. It is for sipping, not drinking. I hope you enjoy it.

Book Reviews - Practical Demonkeeping - Christopher Moore

This is Christopher Moore's debut novel, and now that he has 12 novels out, and I've read some of the later ones, I can see that this one is not quite as good, but still fun.

The books are funny, creative, and have a reasonable plot progression. Sometimes they are a little bit predictable, but you stick with it just to see what happens. They vary from light fare to tougher stuff.

I would say they are irreverent at times, but other times right down the middle of the strike zone, if you know what I mean. Perhaps the old observation is true that you see in a book what you bring to it.

For me, these books are fun, inventive, irreverent, sometimes unpredictable, wry, amusing, and sometimes inexorably predictable in a perplexing kind of way.

I commented to a friend recently that part of why I write book reviews is because I read them, and want to make the most of my limited opportunity to read books. I want to know if a book is worth slogging through for 600 pages. Sometimes you can't really tell early in a book.

I read a book many years ago by Robert Silverberg called "Dying Inside" that really illustrates this point. I had tried to read it several times. I didn't enjoy the book each time I tried, although I could somehow sense that the author was really good. Finally I made it to the last 7 pages, and the payoff was there.

I would not read "Dying Inside" again because only that last 7 pages was worth it, and the book was so impactful that I'll never need to read it again - I won't forget the lesson.

In a different way, I am glad that I read "Practical Demonkeeping", but I am equally sure that I won't read it again. Other books by Moore are better, so if I read some of his books again, it will be other selections.

A New Baby Boy on the way

Now is a very exciting time in the story of Kurt and Heather. We are adopting a baby boy! All of the usual excitement about decorating the nursery, making sure we have at least one of every thing, plus the usual nervousness about being a parent!

On top of all this are the complexities that are involved in adopting a baby. Nowadays you have to pass numerous background checks. We heard just a few days ago that we passed our FBI background checks. Our home study is basically complete, and we are just days away from the birth of our baby.

We weren't worried, since we have nothing untoward in our background, but it's a bit unnerving to think that all of these government agencies (DHS, FBI, Child Abuse Registry, et cetera) have their eyes on us... .

We have been matched with a young mother who feels that she can not care for another child properly, and so she is making an adoption plan for this new baby. So, we are expecting a baby in a very literal way. We are waiting for her call, and each time she texts or calls, we wonder "is it now?"

Sometime in the next few weeks, we'll be getting that call, dropping everything, grabbing our last few items, and jumping in the truck to drive to another state, and just hope we can get there in time to see our baby's birth.

Please be thinking of us at this exciting and nerve wracking time!