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Friday, November 12, 2010

Cookbook Review - In The Kitchen With A Good Appetite, By Melissa Clark

I recently received a copy of In The Kitchen With A Good Appetite: 150 Recipes and Stories About The Food You Love, by Melissa Clark.
The chapters are as follows:
Chapter 1 - Waffling Toward Dinner
Chapter 2 - The Farmer's Market And Me
Chapter 3 - Learning To Like Fish
Chapter 4 - It Tastes Like Chicken
Chapter 5 - I Never Was A Vegetarian
Chapter 6 - Things With Cheese
Chapter 7 - My Mother's Sandwich Theory Of Life
Chapter 8 - Better Fried
Chapter 9 - Holiday Food
Chapter 10 - My Sweet Tooth And Me
Chapter 11 - There's Always Room For Pie (and Tarts)
Chapter 12 - Lessons in Imbibing
This cookbook has no photographs. (If you've read my past cookbook reviews, you know I'm a big fan of photographs because I like to see how the finished dish should look.) Also, there are no tips or substitutions for unusual ingredients that you may not be able to find at local groceries. An example would be the Orange Blossom Water called for in the Creme Brulee French Toast With Orange Blossom Water. The recipe looks fantastic, however I had to google "Orange Blossom Water Substitute" because I've never seen this item in the store. Some recipes do, however include substitutions for vegetarians. Each recipe does, however come with a story, it could be childhood memories or how she came about developing the dish.

Some recipes that I look forward to trying:
The Mysterious David Dares Pancake, page 22
Creme Brulee French Toast With Orange Blossom Water, page 25
Spicy, Garlicky Cashew Chicken, page 122
Crunchy Noodle Kugel A La Aunt Martha, page 302
My Mother's Zucchini Latkes, page 313

About the author:
Melissa Clark writes about cuisine and other products of appetite. After brief forays working as a cook in a restaurant kitchen, and as a caterer out of her fifth floor walk-up, Clark decided upon a more sedentary path. She earned an M.F.A. in writing from Columbia University, and began a freelance food writing career. Currently, she writes for such publications as the New York Times, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, and Martha Stewart. She also just finished a cookbook with essays based on her popular New York Times Dining section column, A Good Appetite. Entitled In the Kitchen with A Good Appetite, it will be published in September by Hyperion.

In addition, Clark has written 29 cookbooks, many of them in collaboration with some of New York’s most celebrated chefs including Daniel Boulud (Braise), David Bouley (East of Paris), Claudia Fleming (The Last Course), and Bruce and Eric Bromberg (The Blue Ribbon). A book of dessert recipes, The Perfect Finish, written with White House pastry chef Bill Yosses, is forthcoming this June. Her collaboration with chef Peter Berley, The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen, received both a James Beard award and Julia Child Cookbook award in 2000. Clark was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, where she now lives with her husband, Daniel Gercke, their toddler daughter Dahlia, and their formerly cosseted cat.
In The Kitchen With A Good Appetite: 150 Recipes and Stories About The Food You Love, by Melissa Clark is currently available at Amazon.com, Borders.com, Barnes and Noble.com and your local book seller.

Lola's Diner Disclaimer: I was given this cookbook to review. This review is 100% my opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this product review.

Lola's Diner ©2008-2010

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Review - Norah Jones, Featuring Norah Jones Cd

I was thrilled when the One2One Network invited me to review Norah Jones' album, "Featuring Norah Jones". It will be in stores Tuesday, November 16th.

Great album. I really enjoy when today's artists do covers of older generation's songs.
...Featuring is a star-studded collection of Norah Jones' collaborations spanning her entire career. The result serves as a kind of parallel history to her four albums, which have sold over 40 million copies worldwide.

“A lot of the people on this record are people I've worshiped since I was a kid, and some of them are younger and more my contemporaries,” says Norah. “Even though the musicians are so varied, the vibe of the songs makes sense when we put them all together.”
...Featuring Track Listing:

1. Love Me – The Little Willies
2. Virginia Moon – The Foo Fighters featuring Norah Jones
3. Turn Them – Sean Bones featuring Norah Jones
4. Baby It's Cold Outside – Willie Nelson featuring Norah Jones
5. Bull Rider – Norah Jones and Sasha Dobson
6. Ruler Of My Heart – Dirty Dozen Brass Band featuring Norah Jones
7. The Best Part – El Madmo
8. Take Off Your Cool – OutKast featuring Norah Jones
9. Life Is Better – Q-Tip featuring Norah Jones
10. Soon The New Day – Talib Kweli featuring Norah Jones
11. Little Lou, Prophet Jack, Ugly John – Belle & Sebastian featuring Norah Jones
12. Here We Go Again – Ray Charles featuring Norah Jones
13. Loretta – Norah Jones featuring Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
14. Dear John – Ryan Adams featuring Norah Jones
15. Creepin' In – Norah Jones featuring Dolly Parton
16. Court & Spark – Herbie Hancock featuring Norah Jones
17. More Than This – Charlie Hunter featuring Norah Jones
18. Blue Bayou – Norah Jones featuring M. Ward



The album is available on CD. You can pre-order here. It is also available on vinyl and you can pre-order it on vinyl here.

You can follow Norah Jones on Facebook:
http://on.fb.me/norahFB.

Lola's Diner Disclaimer: I was given this cd by One2One Network to review. This review is 100% my opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this review. This post also qualifies as an entry for a gift card drawing sponsored by One2One Network.

Lola's Diner ©2008-2010

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Cookbook Review - Princess Party Cookbook, By Annabel Karmel

I recently received a copy of Princess Party Cookbook: Over 100 Delicious Recipes And Fun Ideas, By Annabel Karmel.
The chapters are as follows:
Makeup and Jewelry
Valentine's Day
Spring Princess
Movie Star Sleepover
Princess Soda Fountain
Princess Flower Fairies
Princess Beach Babe
The Princess And The Pea
Holiday Angels
This cookbook is great if you have young children or grandchildren. The recipes are easy to make and actually quite healthy fare. They would be great for your special one's birthday celebration or really for any day of the week. This would make a great gift for your favorite child or grandchild, or even a Mom-to-be.

About the author:
"Annabel Jane Elizabeth Karmel MBE is the author of books on nutrition and cooking for babies, children and families.

Annabel's first child died of a rare viral disease aged just three months. Although the illness was not diet related, Annabel was determined to give her second child the best possible start in life and she spent two years researching child nutrition and development, interviewing leading UK paediatricians and child nutritionists.

Her first book was The Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner, written in 1991. It was endorsed by Great Ormond Street Hospital, the UK’s leading children’s hospital.

Annabel has since published numerous other books and has worked as a consultant with manufacturers like Marks and Spencer.

In August 2006 she launched ‘Make Your Own…’ A range of equipment for making one's own baby food.

Annabel writes regularly for national United Kingdom newspapers including The Times, The Daily Mail and the Sunday Mirror as well as contributing to Practical Parenting, BBC Good Food and Sainsbury's Magazine. She is the children’s celebrity chef on the BBC website and also appears frequently on radio and television as the UK’s expert on nutritional issues including BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen and BBC2’s Working Lunch. She completed a series on the Richard & Judy Show, as the Foodie Godmother where she travelled around the United Kingdom solving the problems of fussy eaters. She also filmed a 10 part series with Sky Active called Mummy That's Yummy.

In 2007, Annabel launched a range of food products for children called Eat Fussy with Sainsbury's supermarket in the UK.

In June 2009, Annabel will be one of the celebrity chefs appearing at the Children's Food Festival in Oxfordshire."
From Wikipedia.com
Princess Party Cookbook: Over 100 Delicious Recipes And Fun Ideas, By Annabel Karmel is available online now at Amazon.com, Borders.com, Barnes and Noble.com, and your local bookseller.

Lola's Diner Disclaimer: I was given this cookbook to review. This review is 100% my opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this product review.

Lola's Diner ©2008-2010

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Random Tuesday Thoughts



What a weekend! Friday night I went to a lesbian bar for the birthday party of the LGBT group I belong to. These gatherings can tend to get crazy. (The Halloween Party.) And we missed the strip poker night. The birthday girl was playing photographer and decided it would be great to snap a photo of the inside of her shirt. She was so hysterically laughing over this that she started taking photos inside other women from the group's shirts. I happily volunteered! I had to! I was wearing the most AWESOME lacy push-up lavender bra! The leader of our group kept telling the birthday girl to post the photos on facebook and have other members guess whose rack is whose. So far they haven't ended up there. Thank GOD! (I still can't believe I let her snap the photo! Do you believe I did it?)

I co-hosted a Bears game watching party at my friend's house and invited members from the group. Great food, great fun and da Bears even WON! (Dang! No wild and craziness like the other get-togethers.)

Girl's Bowling starts this week. Cross your fingers and toes peeps! ...that my daughter makes the team.

I have to endure another week of grounding for my son. Ugh! Last week he was grounded for lighting the carpet on fire. This week it's because he never turned in the parent teacher conference schedule form. Oh the bitching and moaning that will ensue...ALL WEEK LONG!

I need prayers and positive energy that I will find a job soon. Thank you!

Lola's Diner ©2008-2010
 
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