Nonfiction | Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™

THE MAKING OF OUTLANDER: THE SERIES by Tara Bennett

October 18, 2016

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The Official Guide to Seasons One & Two

Outlander! If, like me, you’ve read all the books (twice) and listened to the audio books (twice) and watched the Starz TV series and are suffering from a severe case of Droughtlander, you, my friends, have been given a reprieve!

This is an amazing, beautiful book that goes through the TV series episode by episode, and character by character. The photographs are simply breathtaking, and there are a lot of them.

I loved learning that the production is filmed on location in Scotland, and they have employed over 800 locals, a boon to any town. There are interviews with Catriona Balfe (Claire), Sam Heughan (Jamie), and Tobias Menzies (Frank Randall/Black Jack Randall), and they discuss their roles and how they play them. The casting is discussed, the scenery, the make up, the writers, the props, everything you could possibly have wanted to know about the show. The only thing I’m still wondering about is how they film Colum’s misshapen legs.

The executive producer and showrunner, Ronald D. Moore, contributes quite a bit. He worked on Battlestar Galactica, plus Roswell, Carnivale, and several Star Treks, to name a few. I learned that in a weird coincidence, Bear McCreary who scores the show, did his dissertation on Scottish music. And that he scored The Walking Dead, Black Sails, Battlestar Galactica, among others. I love the music so much that the first season theme song (the Skye Boat Song) is my ring tone.

And yes, Diana Gabaldon has a hand in this, she wrote the introduction.

This is a beautiful book and a must have for any Outlander fan. I savored every page!

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10/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE MAKING OF OUTLANDER: THE SERIES by Tara Bennett. Delacorte Press (October 18, 2016). ISBN 978-1101884164. 240p.

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MAI-KAI by Tim Glazner

October 16, 2016

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History and Mystery of the Iconic Tiki Restaurant

The Mai-Kai Restaurant is a landmark in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It features beautiful gardens, Polynesian food, exotic fancy drinks and a floor show with girls in grass skirts, Tahitian music and fire.

Long known as a tourist trap, nonetheless locals flocked there, especially with out of town guests. And they still do. Not too many restaurants in South Florida have survived and prospered as long as the Mai-Kai, which opened in 1956.

Tim “Swanky” Glazner is considered to be the foremost expert on all things Tiki. This book is a beautiful homage to the restaurant and a complete history of the Tiki craze. From Don the Beachcomber to the modern day Mai-Kai restaurant, there is a photographic history – including some of the famous patrons of the restaurant. Johnny Carson gets his own chapter that includes lots of pictures, along with a shot of a young Ed McMahon on the beach.

A visit to Fort Lauderdale should include a trip to the Mai-Kai, and it still is a fun place for special events. My in-laws celebrated their 50th anniversary there, and it was a lot of fun. And despite the perceived hokeyness, the food, and especially the drinks, are terrific.

This is a fun, interesting read and would make a great coffee table book, sure to be a conversation piece.

Mai-Kai Restaurant

Mai-Kai on Yelp

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10/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

MAI-KAI by Tim Glazner. Schiffer; 1 edition (August 28, 2016). ISBN 978-0764351266. 176p.

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GOOD TASTE by Jane Green

October 14, 2016

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Simple, Delicious Recipes for Family and Friends

I love Jane Green. I’ve loved her books since Jemima J, which came out while I was a bookseller at Borders and I sold tons of that book, and the ones that came after. Jane was kind enough to visit my library when she was on tour a few years ago, and while we were waiting in the green room, she told me of her plans to write a cookbook. And now it is finally here!

Jane is fond of entertaining at home and even spent a few weeks at the French Culinary Institute, but she is primarily a home cook. That makes these recipes accessible and perfect for the home cook, like me. Don’t get me wrong, there are some spectacular recipes here, this is not meatloaf and mac & cheese by any means, but rather beautiful, delicious food. I’m all in on this one.

The book is divided into three sections; Beginnings, Middles, and Endings, and has about 65 recipes. Right off the bat is a fantastic Spinach and Gruyere Crustless Tart that is super easy, pretty enough for company and really good. And I really need to mention the pictures – every recipe has a beautiful photo and I’m sorry to say I really had to dig to find out who took them. Buried in the thank yous at the back of the book are photographers Tom McGovern and Kyran Tompkins, along with many of the other people who helped bring this book to fruition.

I love the little stories that accompany many of the recipes, and the pictures of Jane’s family – 5 children! And her beautiful home. These are the little touches that make this cookbook feel so intimate. Who knew that was even possible.

I tried a couple of other “Beginnings.” I love cauliflower and the Roasted Cauliflower with Olive and Lemon Vinaigrette lets that humble veggie shine. The Tomato Tarte Tatin is a snap to put together using frozen puff pastry and is simply stunning.

The “Middles” are the main events and include a lot of one pot dinners, always a favorite, like Asian Orange Chicken and several curries – Jane is from the UK, after all. The Loin of Pork Stuffed with Figs, Prosciutto and Sage is elegant yet easy. I laughed out loud at the directions for cutting the pocket, which included the hint “Think of the Muppets, and you will get the idea.” I couldn’t resist Salmon (Preferably not from the Man with the Van) Parcels with Watercress, Arugula and Cream Cheese – a great story and a great recipe. I haven’t tried it yet but Wild Mushroom Polenta – “I made this for Hugh Grant when I ended up cooking lunch for him rather than conducting our planned interview” is next on my list.

I hope you’re getting the idea of what a terrific cookbook this is.

“Endings” are desserts, of course. Almost Flourless Orange Cake with Marmalade Glaze is another spectacular and fairly simple cake. There are recipes for some classic desserts, too, like Pavlova, Chess Tart and the infamous Eton Mess. Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle is one of the more complicated recipes here which came from her mother-in-law. You have to make the gingerbread, then the pumpkin custard and whipped cream and everything needs to be baked and cooled before being assembled. That said, Jane does offer the advice that making gingerbread from scratch is “absolutely bonkers…I would strongly advise a gingerbread mix.” Either way, it yields a beautiful dessert that can be mostly made ahead, always a plus when planning a dinner party.

As cookbooks go, this is a winner. Small enough to not be overwhelming, yet enough inspirational recipes that turn out dishes so beautiful that you’ll want to show them off. Good for all cooks, from beginners to experienced, especially anyone who loves to entertain. And a beautiful gift book, too. This is a keeper!

10/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

GOOD TASTE: Simple, Delicious Recipes for Family and Friends by Jane Green. NAL (October 4, 2016). ISBN 978-0399583377. 192p.

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NATURALLY SWEET by America’s Test Kitchen

September 11, 2016

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Bake All Your Favorites with 30% to 50% Less Sugar

I am a long time fan of Christopher Kimball and the company he founded, America’s Test Kitchen. I had heard they were working on this cookbook, I think on the podcast, which, weirdly, I like even more than the PBS TV show. So when I saw an advance copy in the Random House booth at the American Library Association annual conference, I grabbed it (with permission, I’m not a book thief!)

My husband is diabetic and I don’t like using artificial sweeteners, so I was definitely interested. I am happy to report that they do not use chemical sweeteners or even Stevia, but rather sugar substitutes like honey and molasses, coconut sugar and one I’d never heard of, Sucanat, which Google tells me is “(an abbreviation for sugar-cane-natural) and has a stronger molasses flavor than refined white sugar and retains all of the nutrients found in natural sugar cane juice, including iron, calcium, vitamin B6 and potassium.” That appealed to me, so I purchased it from Amazon.

I haven’t had a chance to use it yet, but I have made a few of the recipes in the book. I tried the No Fuss Banana Ice Cream. It had no added sugar but rather frozen bananas blended and mixed with unsweetened cocoa. It wasn’t bad, sort of tasted like a banana split, but wasn’t fantastic.

I then made the Chocolate Pudding Cake. This also had no added sugar, just the sugar in the half a pound of semi-sweet chocolate that’s in the recipe. I used half bittersweet, half semi-sweet and it also had Dutch-process cocoa powder. I wasn’t sure I was going to like it, the batter had a bitter taste to it. It was made like most pudding cakes, if you’ve ever made one, in that you make a thick batter, then pour boiling water over the top before baking. It smelled amazing, the whole house smelled like chocolate. The finished product was pretty good, I thought it could have used a little sugar but I guess that would have defeated the point. It was very chocolaty and had streaks of a not very sweet p naturally-sweet-blueberry-pie udding throughout, but it was the the little pockets where the chopped chocolate had been mixed in that gave it its deliciousness. This recipe took the usual 34 grams of sugar down about a third, so still not that low but certainly better.

The best thing I made was the blueberry pie, it was amazing, albeit a little messy. There was no added sugar either, which makes it even more miraculous. Instead, some of the fresh fruit is cooked down and that is used to sweeten the pie and it worked beautifully. Blueberry pie is one of my husband’s favorite desserts so he was absolutely thrilled with this.

The chapters:

Muffins, Quickbreads & Breakfast Treats
Cookies & Bars
Cakes
Pies & Tarts
Fruit Desserts
Puddings, Custards & Frozen Treats

I’ve noticed in some of the online reviews comments from people who were upset that butter and cream were commonly used ingredients. This is a baking cookbook, not a diet cookbook, people! It is a low sugar cookbook and that is quite a different thing.

As usual, America’s Test Kitchen has done a terrific job. If you like your desserts less sweet than what you typically get, or are cutting back on sugar for whatever your reasons, take a look at this book. I’m glad I did. Up next: chocolate chip cookies!

9/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

NATURALLY SWEET by America’s Test Kitchen. America’s Test Kitchen; 1 edition (August 23, 2016). ISBN 978-1940352589. 336p.

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MEATHEAD by Meathead Goldwyn

September 4, 2016

The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling

with Greg Blonder, Ph.D.

Several years ago, my husband and I decided we were tired of going out for ribs and wanted to try making them at home. We had a beautiful Weber gas grill that cost more than my stove did and we wanted to use it.

So I Googled the “best ribs” recipe. There were several recipes, Google is nothing if not generous with its results. But one intrigued me with its title, “Last Meal Ribs” on a website called AmazingRibs.com. I clicked through and found Meathead.

This wasn’t just a recipe. It was a story. And I loved that in the list of ingredients he included:

1 sauce brush, preferably one of those newfangled silicon jobs

1 good digital oven thermometer

1 six pack of beer (for the cook, not the meat)

1 lawn chair

1 good book and plenty of tunes

With links to places to buy these things, and reviews and recommendations. And best of all, detailed instructions on how to do everything necessary to make the best ribs. We’ve never looked back, and a couple of times a year we make these ribs. They come out perfect every time, and that’s all I can ask for.

The website has grown tremendously over the years and so has Meathead’s reputation. (And yes, that is his name. I believe he legally changed it.)

So the cookbook. That legendary recipe is in here, minus the beer, chair, and tunes. But this book is about half science, half cooking because the art of barbecue is really all about the science behind it. Meathead looks at all the myths we’ve heard over the years…

“The more smoke the better.”

“Soak wood chips and chunks for the most smoke.”

“Searing meat seals in the juices.”

“Cook chicken until the juices run clear.”

Then he goes about scientifically disproving them, and explaining the right way to do things. Listen to the man, he really did his homework.

Interestingly, the forward is written by another science forward chef, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, “Serious Eats” food blogger and author of one of my favorite cookbooks, reviewed here – The Food Lab.

The Table of Contents is seven pages long. Here are the chapters:

The Science of Heat
Smoke
Software
Hardware
Brines, Rubs, and Sauces
Pork
Beef
Ground Meats: Burgers, Hot Dogs, and Sausages
Lamb
Chicken and Turkey
Seafood
Sides

Just looking at this list, you can see this is not your typical cookbook, at least not for the first 150 pages. There is a lot of science here, but also a lot of humor, making it quite easy to digest. The recipes are really delicious and they work. I favor the Memphis Dust rub for my ribs, but how can you not love a recipe called “Simon & Garfunkel Rub” that starts off with the explanation, “Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme make a pretty good song as well as an all-purpose rub for pork, turkey, and chicken.”

There are tons of pictures, and not just the beauty shots of the food. For instance, Meathead recommends trimming and skinning racks of ribs, and there are step by step instructions with photographs, making it super easy to see how to do it. There is a great photo of “Brats simmered in dyed beer” that beautifully illustrates that a simmering liquid never gets any deeper than the outer 1-2 mm. There is a photo of a whole, unpeeled tenderloin (you’ve seen them at Costco) along with photos of it broken down into the tenderloin tips, Chateaubriand, and the chain. Alton Brown tried to explain this to me in his two part episode of Good Eats, “Tender is the Loin” but I have to tell you, this picture is worth a thousand words. I finally got it. And Meathead, like Lopez-Alt, is a big fan of the reverse sear, especially for such an expensive cut of meat.

Lest you were thinking, why do I need a science-y cookbook for ribs, I’ll tell you. There is way more to this book than just that. Want to cook a whole hog? Got you covered. Make a “Momofuku-inspired Ramen Bowl?” It’s here for you. Want to know what’s in a “Binghamton Spiedie Sandwich”? Grill a turkey or a lobster? Hot smoke salmon? How about impressing your guests with “Championship Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Shrimp”? This is the book for you!

Labor Day is in few days. I’m going to try out those stuffed shrimp and then go to my fallback, the Last Meal Ribs made with Memphis Dust rub. Maybe with a side of slaw – yeah, that’s in there, too.

8/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

MEATHEAD by Meathead Goldwyn. Rux Martin/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (May 10, 2016). ISBN 978-0544018464. 400p.

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EVERYONE IS ITALIAN ON SUNDAY by Rachael Ray

August 15, 2016

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One glance at this book and I realized it is unlike any other Rachael Ray cookbook. For one thing, it is this shorter, boxier rectangular shape. It will not fit on the bookshelf like her other books but will stick out some, which I kind of like. The second thing I noticed was that there are several recipes – I hope you’re sitting down – that take significantly longer than 30 minutes to prepare. Even for Rachael Ray. Bolognese Sauce takes 2 hours, which is about how long it takes to make Mario Batali’s version. On the other hand, Marcella Hazan’s recipe takes minimum 4 hours.

I confess Rachael Ray’s thirty minute meals generally take me about an hour. It can take fifteen minutes for me just to gather the right pans, herbs, and ingredients. I tend to like things chopped finer than she does, and I’m just not that quick about things. But I do like a lot of her recipes. So I’m not too concerned about how long it takes to make some of this stuff, as long as it is good. And for the most part, it is.

Having married into a Sicilian family, and grown up in NY, I cook a lot of Italian food. So it is always with some trepidation that I open an Italian cookbook. I’m happy to say Rachael Ray did not disappoint.

The chapters:

Brunch
Starters, Salads and Small Bites
Soups
Pizza, Calzones and Focaccia
Pasta, Gnocci, Polenta and their Sauces
Risotto and Grains
Seafood
Pork and Lamb
Beef and Veal
Chicken
Vegetables
Desserts
Cocktails

Just looking at that list, I knew this was a cookbook I’d want to dive into. Separate chapters on pizza, pasta, and risotto? I’m in for sure. Her One-Hour Dough for pizza is very good, but the Naples Pizza Dough that rises for 2-3 days in the fridge is even better.

This is her most personal cookbook for sure, having grown up in an Italian family. She shares a lot of their recipes, most of which she has tweaked and there is not a better recipe tweaker around. I loved her mashup of Veal Saltimbocca and Marsala, which is something I’ve often done myself. It just works beautifully. She also offers that chicken cutlets can be subbed for the veal, and I’ll add that so can pork cutlets – which is usually what you are getting when you order veal parm and it costs less than $25. But I digress.

Another winning mashup is her Penne alla Vodka with Prosciutto and Peas, which is fantastic. Anytime I can add prosciutto to something I’m happy, and the peas are a sweet bonus.

Ray offers tips, variations and substitutions throughout the book, which I think is one of her hallmarks. She makes every recipe seem accessible to cooks at any level.

The Gorgonzola Sauce is a snap for a quick after work dinner, everything gets zapped in the food processor then simmers on the stove while the pasta cooks. I tried this with spiralized zucchini and it was awesome. On the other hand, I wasn’t a fan of the Marinara Sauce, it had fennel in it which to me, makes it something other than marinara. Same with the Pomodoro Sauce, she adds chicken stock which is just weird to me.

The Cioppino, AKA Christmas Eve dinner, is a wonder and takes a bit of work, as it should. Chicken Piccata with Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus, well, you know how I feel about prosciutto and it certainly works here.

Desserts are probably the weakest chapter, but as Ray herself proclaims, she is not a baker. Nonetheless, there are some very good recipes here for classic Italian desserts like Sesame Cookies, Zeppole and Ricotta Cheesecake.

Finally, cocktails. She had me at the Creamsicle. You know what it is, just boozed up. I subbed some orange soda for the phosphate, wouldn’t know where to get that. As Ray would say, Delish!

8/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

EVERYONE IS ITALIAN ON SUNDAY by Rachael Ray. Atria Books (October 27, 2015). ISBN 978-1476766072. 408p.

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ONE WORLD TRADE CENTER by Judith Dupré

August 13, 2016

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Biography of the Building

I was born in New York City and grew up on Long Island. School field trips meant visiting some of the greatest museums in the world. Family outings to Sunday Broadway matinees. Real Chinese food in Chinatown, the great Peter Luger steakhouse. Radio City Music Hall’s Christmas extravaganza. Ice skating at Rockefeller Center, walking around looking at all the incredible Christmas displays in the store windows. Pretzels from street vendors in summer, roasted chestnuts in winter.

I was about 8 years old or so when the World Trade Center was built. I remember going there with my mom and having lunch at the top at the Windows on the World restaurant. The view was amazing.

I went to the University of Miami in 1975 and never really lived in New York again. A brief summer when I took algebra (for the second time) at the State University of New York at Old Westbury, right down the road from my house. I still visited a couple of times a year, I had family and friends there, usually in the Hamptons during the summer. But I never felt any need to go back to New York City. Until 9/11.

I got really homesick after that devastating day. A couple of years later, we took a family vacation to One World Trade center Manhattan. We stayed in a beautiful suite at the Helmsley Park Lane, overlooking Central Park. We did all the touristy things, some of which I’d never done like visit the Statue of Liberty, and most of which I hadn’t been to since I was a kid – the Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum, the Guggenheim, Central Park, the Empire State Building, and the New York Public Library. We went to Chinatown and Little Italy. We went to see “Wicked” on Broadway with the amazing Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel. It was a fantastic week and probably the best family vacation we’d ever taken. The trip would not have been complete without paying our respects at Ground Zero, which was a sobering sight indeed.

My husband and I have been visiting NYC pretty much every year since. A couple of years ago my son moved to Brooklyn, and the International Thriller Writers annual conference is in Manhattan every July, giving me even more reasons to go. We occasionally went by Ground Zero, which eventually became the building site of One World Trade Center – often with a trip across the street to Century 21 – a little retail therapy at one of my favorite discount stores. And then finally, the building was complete.

reflecting pool ground zero Last year we went to visit One World Trade Center. There were long lines for the museum tour, but as we walked passed the the reflecting pools and tower, I was already crying. I told my husband that I couldn’t do it and as always, he understood. We stayed for a while then went back uptown.

This book is an extraordinary look at this building. I hope to be able to visit the museum eventually, but for now, I’ll stick with the book.

From the publisher:

The behind-the-scenes story of the most extraordinary building in the world, from the bestselling author of Skyscrapers

In this groundbreaking history, bestselling author Judith Dupré chronicles the most astonishing architectural project in memory: One World Trade Center.

The new World Trade Center represents one of the most complex collaborations in human history. Nearly every state in the nation, a dozen countries around the world, and more than 25,000 workers helped raise the tower, which consumed ninety million pounds of steel, one million square feet of glass, and enough concrete to pave a sidewalk from New York to Chicago.

With more than seventy interviews with the people most intimately involved, and unprecedented access to the building site, suppliers, and archives, Dupré unfurls the definitive story of fourteen years of conflict and controversy-and its triumphant resolution.

This fascinating, oversize book delivers new insight into the 1,776-foot-tall engineering marvel, from design and excavation through the final placement of its spire. It offers:

Access to the minds of world-class architects, engineers, ironworkers, and other tradespeople
Panoramas of New York from One World Observatory-1,268 feet above the earth
Dramatic cutaways that show the building’s advanced structural technologies
A time-lapse montage showing the evolution of the sixteen-acre site
Chronologies tracking design, construction, and financial milestones, with rare historic photographs

It also features extensive tour of the entire Trade Center, including in-depth chapters on Two, Three, Four, and Seven World Trade Center; the National September 11 Memorial & Museum; Liberty Park; St. Nicholas National Shrine; and the soaring Transportation Hub.

One World Trade Center is the only book authorized by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, and the one book necessary to understand the new World Trade Center in its totality. This is a must-have celebration of American resilience and ingenuity for all who are invested in the rebuilding of Ground Zero.

You may be surprised by what you find inside-and you will undoubtedly be inspired.

08/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

ONE WORLD TRADE CENTER by Judith Dupré. Little, Brown and Company (April 26, 2016). ISBN 978-0316336314. 304p.

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6 Comments | Book Reviews, Nonfiction | Tagged: architecture, History, Travel | Permalink
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REAL FOOD FAKE FOOD by Larry Olmsted

August 12, 2016

Why You Don’t Know What You’re Eating and What You Can Do about It

I’ve had this book on my Kindle for a while now, and I would start reading, get upset, close that book and go on to something else. After several false starts, I steeled myself and got into it. It’s not that it’s a difficult read in the sense of being wordy or high brow or too scientific for this English major, but rather that I found the subject matter upsetting.

Several years ago my husband had a very mild heart attack followed by not so mild surgery. Since then I’ve been intent on feeding my family healthy foods, and let me tell you, those parameters seem like they change weekly sometimes. Drink coffee, don’t drink coffee, drink coffee. Same with wine. Eat lots of fruit, eat only berries, limit fruit. Vegan or Paleo? Vegetarian or pescatarian? Mediterranean, carb free, gluten free, dairy free, the list goes on and on and on.

What I finally decided on, what works best for me and my family, is basically living by Michael Pollan’s golden rule:

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

We usually limit red meat – grass fed, organic – to a couple of times a month. Wild fish. Organic, free range poultry. Same with eggs. Mostly organic fruits and vegetables, I try to shop with the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 as my guide whenever possible. You get the idea.

So to read this book and learn that I may be spending money, lots of money, on foods that aren’t what they purport to be is upsetting. The Tampa Tribune did that year long investigation into restaurants and how they lie about grass fed and organics and so forth and that was bad enough, but this book takes it even further.

Extra virgin olive oil? Don’t hold your breath, you’ve probably never even tasted it. What is commonly sold in American supermarkets is something that may have started with olive oil, then had other oils like soybean or sunflower oil added to it, which is bad enough, but also has chemical additives. I’ve been buying olive oil from California, which is delicious and even more importantly, is what it professes to be. I used to have to buy it online, but now most supermarkets carry at least one or two varieties, from Walmart to Publix to Fresh Market. I’ve heard that there are some Florida farms that were devastated by the citrus greening that are now experimenting with growing olives for oil, but it will take a few years to see how it works out.

Fish? Unless you’ve caught it yourself, you just have no idea what you’re getting. Red snapper is one of the worst, it’s usually tilapia or tilefish. And shrimp? OMG – Olmsted writes:

In 2007, the FDA banned five kinds of imported shrimp from China; China turned around and routed the banned shrimp through Indonesia, stamped it as originating from there, and suddenly it was back in the US food supply.

And that’s not even the worst seafood culprit. Escolar is a fish so toxic that it is outlawed in Japan, but somehow it makes its way to US tables, often as white tuna in sushi restaurants. In fact, Olmsted says the odds of actually getting white tuna in an American sushi restaurant is about 0%.

I could go on and on, and Olmsted does – but he also offers some good news. Big box stores like Costco, BJs, Trader Joe’s and even Walmart are as stringent with their food labeling as the much more expensive Whole Foods. Bison is a cleaner and healthier alternative to beef. If you buy food live – like lobsters – that can’t be faked. Buy coffee beans and grind them yourself at home or the supermarket, at least you know you are getting 100% percent coffee in your bag. Check the label for country of origin when purchasing cheese, and the rinds – Reggiano Parmigiano and Pecorino Romano are stamped on the rind of those cheeses from Italy.

If you care about what you eat, or are a foodie of any kind, this is fascinating and elucidating reading.

For more information, check out Diane Rehm’s interview with Larry Olmsted:

5 Foods You Can Trust-And 5 To Avoid, From The Author Of ‘Real Food/Fake Food’ – The Diane Rehm Show

Larry Olmsted titled his book ” Real Food/Fake Food,” instead of “Fake Food/Real Food,” he told us during his July 6 interview on our show, because he’s passionate about high-quality, natural meals – and he wants others to have the same approach, too. “These real foods are so good,” he said.

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8/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

REAL FOOD FAKE FOOD by Larry Olmsted. Algonquin Books (July 12, 2016). ISBN: 978-1616204211. 336p.

5 Comments | Book Reviews, Food, Nonfiction | Permalink
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LAST-MINUTE TRAVEL SECRETS by Joey Green

July 30, 2016

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121 Ingenious Tips to Endure Cramped Planes, Car Trouble, Awful Hotels, and Other Trips from Hell

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book but probably not what it was. These are what are popularly called “life hacks,” from tampon ear plugs to recharging a dead battery with red wine. That last tip was just odd – I would much rather call the auto club and drink the red wine while I waited. But I digress.

If you’re a camper, be it RV or roughing it, a good chunk of the book is devoted to you. With tips like How to Protect a Trailer Hitch with a Tennis Ball, How to Clean Road Grime from the Windshield with Coca-Cola, How to Make a Barbecue Grill from a Coffee Can and a Rake, How to Store Spices in Tic Tac Boxes, and many more.

Those of you who enjoy cruising may want to know How to Sneak Liquor Aboard with Food Coloring, How to Hide Your Money in a Potato Chip Bag, or for those stranded at sea, How to Deodorize a Nonworking Toilet with Coffee. Hotel travelers may want to know How to Hide Valuables in a Comfy Chair, How to Seal Curtains Shut with Clothes Hangers, and my personal favorite, How to Electrocute an Intruder with a Table Lamp – I didn’t hear about that at ThrillerFest!

You get the idea. The book is divided by method of travel from the aforementioned hotels, camping and cruising to trains, buses, cars, airplanes and even packing tricks. It’s a great gift book for a friend who travels a lot or for those who enjoy reading about unusual ways to do things you didn’t even realize you may need to do.

07/16 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

LAST-MINUTE TRAVEL SECRETS by Joey Green. Chicago Review Press (May 1, 2016). ISBN 978-1613735046. 240p.

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Misconceptions about being a recalibrated veteran

July 20, 2016

Travis Mills (author of TOUGH AS THEY COME) is one of five soldiers to survive quadruple amputee injuries from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He discusses misconceptions others have about his experience, and why he doesn’t dwell in the past.

Thousands have been wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Five have survived quadruple amputee injuries. This is one soldier’s story.

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Thousands of soldiers die year to defend their country. United States Army Staff Sergeant Travis Mills was sure that he would become another statistic when, during his third tour of duty in Afghanistan, he was caught in an IED blast four days before his twenty-fifth birthday. Against the odds, he lived, but at a severe cost—Travis became one of only five soldiers from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to survive a quadruple amputation.

Suddenly forced to reconcile with the fact that he no longer had arms or legs, Travis was faced with a future drastically different from the one he had imagined for himself. He would never again be able to lead his squad, stroke his fingers against his wife’s cheek, or pick up his infant daughter.

Travis struggled through the painful and anxious days of rehabilitation so that he could regain the strength to live his life to the fullest. With enormous willpower and endurance, the unconditional love of his family, and a generous amount of faith, Travis shocked everyone with his remarkable recovery. Even without limbs, he still swims, dances with his wife, rides mountain bikes, and drives his daughter to school.

Travis inspires thousands every day with his remarkable journey. He doesn’t want to be thought of as wounded. “I’m just a man with scars,” he says, “living life to the fullest and best I know how.”

TOUGH AS THEY COME by Travis Mills & Marcus Brotherton. Convergent Books (October 27, 2015). ISBN: 978-1101904787. 272p.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi