A collection of recipes that are as fresh and delicious as vegetables pulled directly from the garden.
Thompson, a certified integrative nutrition health coach and stay-at-home mom, offers a garden-to-table cookbook that celebrates the art of the homemade meal.
The author notes that, long ago, her Italian grandparents would send her father outside to pick dandelions for dinner; similarly, she involves her own children in the growing, harvesting, and cooking of their family meals. In this vibrant cookbook, she shares tried and true family recipes that focus on herbs and vegetables from her garden. After she discovered that most members of her family suffered from gluten intolerances, she started to explore cuisines from other cultures; as a result, all of the recipes here may be made gluten free. Readers should note, however, that some don’t include serving sizes, as the author says that she’s accustomed to adjusting the ingredients based on the size of the group for which she’s cooking. It’s obvious when reading the recipes how she got her nickname, the “Pepper Queen,” as she has a clear penchant for hot peppers, and readers who enjoy spicy food will get a lot out of this book. It also features tips that even advanced cooks may find helpful; for example, she shares her personal salt-mix recipe (three parts gray sea salt and one part Himalayan pink salt) as well as a simple note to store rice in the refrigerator. Her recipes focus on the quality of their fresh ingredients rather than on their quantity, and although she mentions many specific brands, she notes that she hasn’t received compensation from any of them; they’re simply her favorites. High-quality color photographs by the author accompany the text, including images of vegetable blossoms. Thompson also includes a list of resources that include where to procure some of the more obscure brands in the text.
A collection of recipes that are as fresh and delicious as vegetables pulled directly from the garden.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-982228-66-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: BalboaPress
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A marvelously tender memoir on suicide and loss.
An essayist and novelist turns her attention to the heartache of a friend’s suicide.
Crosley’s memoir is not only a joy to read, but also a respectful and philosophical work about a colleague’s recent suicide. “All burglaries are alike, but every burglary is uninsured in its own way,” she begins, in reference to the thief who stole the jewelry from her New York apartment in 2019. Among the stolen items was her grandmother’s “green dome cocktail ring with tiers of tourmaline (think kryptonite, think dish soap).” She wrote those words two months after the burglary and “one month since the violent death of my dearest friend.” That friend was Russell Perreault, referred to only by his first name, her boss when she was a publicist at Vintage Books. Russell, who loved “cheap trinkets” from flea markets, had “the timeless charm of a movie star, the competitive edge of a Spartan,” and—one of many marvelous details—a “thatch of salt-and-pepper hair, seemingly scalped from the roof of an English country house.” Over the years, the two became more than boss and subordinate, teasing one another at work, sharing dinners, enjoying “idyllic scenes” at his Connecticut country home, “a modest farmhouse with peeling paint and fragile plumbing…the house that Windex forgot.” It was in the barn at that house that Russell took his own life. Despite the obvious difference in the severity of robbery and suicide, Crosley fashions a sharp narrative that finds commonality in the dislocation brought on by these events. The book is no hagiography—she notes harassment complaints against Russell for thoughtlessly tossed-off comments, plus critiques of the “deeply antiquated and often backward” publishing industry—but the result is a warm remembrance sure to resonate with anyone who has experienced loss.
A marvelously tender memoir on suicide and loss.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9780374609849
Page Count: 208
Publisher: MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
Smart but meandering, inconsequential entertainment.
A frank battle cry from a 20-something woman in the modern-dating trenches of New York City.
Roberson, a freelance humorist and researcher at the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, wields generous self-criticism to chronicle the current state of affairs among heteronormative singles on the hunt for love and/or just enough interaction with the opposite sex to keep the conversation about male idiocy going. Despite the catchy title, this book is neither a polemic against men nor a navigational how-to tome filled with advice. There is no narrative arc (chapters include, among others, “Crushes,” “Flirting,” and “Breaking Up”), catalyst for personal or romantic evolution, or tests of any real consequence for the author. Readers in search of deeply personal revelations should look elsewhere, but those seeking relatable accounts of just how unromantic the pursuits of romance actually are will be richly rewarded. Roberson’s great strengths are her blistering comedic sense and her cringeworthy, unexaggerated insights into her dealings with men. By “men,” clarifies the author, “I am talking in most cases about straight, cis, able-bodied white men…who have all the privilege in the world”—traits Roberson admits could be used to describe her. The author is as forthright about her sexual desires and lack of understanding of “ANY text ANY man” sends her as she is about her lack of experience with intimacy. Throughout the book, Roberson provides plenty of reasons for readers to laugh out loud. In a list of ways to kill time while waiting to answer a text, for example, she includes “Be in Peru and Have No Wi-Fi” and “Think About a Riddle.” She also satirizes The Rules, the notorious bestseller with archaic advice about how to catch a husband, and seamlessly weaves in pop-cultural references to countless sources. The so-called conclusion is a misstep; this book isn’t a story so it doesn’t have a beginning or end. Roberson doesn’t have a vendetta against men, only an understandable wish that they would be clear about their intentions and then take action.
Smart but meandering, inconsequential entertainment.Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-19342-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 8, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
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