I require FUN books.

I'm finding in my old age, that fun is a requirement while reading for pleasure. Call me unliterary, call me immature, call me uneducated, just so long as you call me.


Quicksilver, by Neal Stephenson – informative, humorous, beautifully detailed, a palatable history lesson, but fun? Not so much. I'm about a third (400 pages + )of the way through, and I just don't feel like I'm getting anywhere. Like this is going to be 900 pages of set up, for something that's going to take another 2500 pages to come to fruition. Have I ever mentioned I hated reading Robert Jordan? The one thing this book really has going for it is it's damn educational. I feel like I'm taking a political / financial history class, and for once, this is a good thing. Stephenson's got so much going for him, would it kill him to get a damn editor? If/When I write a review for this book, it's going to read like a dissertation, because it will take me 10 pages just to set the scene. Even worse, the stupid book is addicting. I can't put it down because the characterization is great, and I'm getting a great history lesson, but other books sitting around the apartment are just so much more fun and entertaining. Sigh.
And will someone please tell me what the hell Enoch Root is doing in Massechussetts in 1713? Shall I just assume he's immortal?

Hood, by Stephen Lawhead – again informative, somewhat humorous, detailed, somewhat of a history lesson, a little slow. Many of the same things I complained about regarding Stephenson's Quicksilver, but with Lawhead, it's not such a big deal. Then again, in my book, Stephen Lawhead can do no wrong. He may write some cheap endings (Endless Knot!), but I still adore him. Hood is his take on the Robin Hood legends, except in Wales, during the Norman conquest of England. Bran ap Brynchan may be the heir of Elfael, but he wants to live his life as differently as his warlord father as possible. When his father is killed by invaders, Bran can run away from the burning villages of his people, or he can stay and fight. More apathetic than afraid, Bran simply does not want the life of a leader. He saw what that life did to his parents, and he wants anything but for himself. Finding safety in the forest, and help from a forest “witch”, it takes time for Bran to decide to do the right thing. The middle of the book is fairly slow, but it needs to be, as Bran is fighting his transformation into the leader he didn't know was inside him. Lawhead makes this into a perfectly acceptable Robin Hood myth. Where's friar Tuck? Where's king Richard? Don't worry, they are in there, just in slightly different incarnations. I am looking forward to the rest of the books in the trilogy – Scarlet and Tuck. Another thing I respect about Lawhead – he doesn't string me along. A trilogy is a trilogy, a stand alone book is a stand alone book. Lawhead tells me ahead of time how much of my attention he wants, and I like that.


Red Seas Under Red Skies, by Scott Lynch – This is the second or third time I've read this book, which is the 2nd book in Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards series. Sure, It's not as good as the first book, but damn, it is just so funny, and I can't help but giggle at all the swear words. Like the first one, Red Seas is pure, unadulterated FUN. It's taken me a long time at admin to my friends that I am a Scott Lynch fan girl, as his stuff just strikes me as so immature. But when I want something fun, he is my go to author. Don't be surprised in a group of rabid fangirls descends on Lynch's home in Wisconsin, demanding the next book in the series.

Adventures in cooking, take three. Been looking for a tasty jerk chicken recipe, and finally found the secret is to just cheat, and buy some citrusy kicky jerk sauce, then doctor it up at home. This recipe looks complicated, but like everything else I make, it's really pretty easy.

Jerk Chicken with rice & beans
1 cup uncooked rice
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 small can diced pineapple (don't drain it!)
2 green onions, sliced thin
¼ cup cider vinegar
½ cup orange juice
2 tbsp jerk sauce (we used Lawry's, and it was really good)
1 tbsp ground ginger
3 or 4 skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin and seasoned with salt & pepper
olive oil


Cook the rice on the stove like you normally would. While it's cooking, we'll prepare the sauce, the garnish (oooh, fancy, it's got a garnish!) and saute the chicken.

Make the garnish – pour pineapple and all juices in the can in a bowl over the green onions. The pineapple juice will mellow the onions.

Make the sauce – combine the vinegar, orange juice, and jerk sauce. That was easy.

Heat some oil in a large skillet. Brown the chicken breasts on both sides, in two batches if you have to. When chicken is mostly cooked, make sure it is all in the pan, and pour the vinegar sauce over. Simmer over low heat until chicken is cooked through, and sauce has thickened a little.

The rice should be done by now, mix the black beans into the rice.

To serve: put down some rice and beans on your plate, put a piece of chicken on top, put some pineappley green onions on top of that. Looks lovely, has a nice kick, and might even be good for you!

attempting to focus. . . .

so, instead of giving one sentence on a zillion books i'm nose deep in, i'm going to try to focus on only one or two (ok, maybe three) that i'm intimately involved in. I'm going to attempt to focus.

food for thought? no pun intended.

i recently blew through Stephen Lawhead's Silver Hand, the 2nd book in his Song of Albion trilogy. Can i still love Lawhead, and not love ever page of this book? The beginning and the end were brutal, exquisitve, unremorseful and painfully human. the middle. . . not so much. Tegid's conveinent "inner sight" started to get gimmicky for me. Tegid's a great character, and i'm happy we fleshed him out more, but a)he started to get on my nerves after a while, and b) i haven't got past the Llew/ Simon thing, and want to get back to that, like right now. there is a great interview with Lawhead at the end, where he's asked how he feels about writing about good vs evil, and he says it's fine, but he's not writing about good vs evil, he's writing about the nature of sovereignty. nice. i just got the 3rd book, The Endless Knot from the library, and hopefully that gets back to Llew & Simon. i'll let you know.

also on the book pile is China Mieville's King Rat. I think this was his first break out novel? or maybe his first young adult novel? it is definately YA, and offers a dirtier, grittier look at the classic "young man finds out he is of royal blood, and has to win his kingdom back from the usurpers" plot line. for a YA book, this sure has lots of swear words! i must be really old fashioned. if i get a book from the young adult or kids section at the library, i'm shocked (just shocked i tell you!!) everytime i run into shit or fuck. and i trust the library, so i must just be old fashioned. King Rat is a lot of fun, especially since i've read newer Mieville stuff, i'm seeing where it all got started. You read any Mieville? what do you think of him?

over at Havenland, we're getting started on our March/April book club book: The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell. so head over there and join the fray, cuz i don't want to type all that stuff twice.



did i do an OK job focusing on just a coupla books? cuz i got way more from the library. more than any normal person should ever read in 3 weeks, not to mention a handful of manga.

mmmm..... pie. somewhere on this page, i gave a recipe for apple pie filling, but i didn't tell you how to make the pie crust. if you don't want to know how much fatty butter goes into a divine pie crust, quit reading right now. if you're just looking for an excuse to screw your diet, read on dear reader, read on.

this makes two pie crusts, or a top and bottom for a covered pie. you'll need:

a really big bowl
plastic wrap
a spatula
a pastry knife. a pastry knife is one of the best $8 investments you can make. seriously. it's 8 bucks. go buy one.

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 sticks very cold butter. keep it in the fridge until you're ready to use it. it really does make a difference, as i learned the hard way, last night.
1 tsp white sugar
1 tsp salt
some ice water. yes, put water in a bowl, and put some ice cubes in there to keep the water super cold.

the trick to an awesome pie crust is to have your butter super cold, and your water super cold, but neither one should be frozen, or have any ice crystals. i don't know the science behind why this works, but trust me, it works. i'm sure Alton Brown has done a show on it.

mix the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. cut the butter into pieces, and blend it into the flour with the pastry knife. keep cutting the fat with the pastry knife till all the big peices are gone, takes 5-10 minutes. some of your dough should be the size of a small pebble, but most of it should be the consistency of corn meal. dribble about 1/3cup ice water on top of the dough, and cut the water in using the sharp side of the spatula, till the dough forms small balls. if this doesn't happen, add maybe a tbsp more ice water. keep blending it, and the small balls should be able to stick when you press them together. the dough should still look pretty rough, and it shouldn't be overly greasy.

divide it into two parts, press them into a disc, wrap tightly with plastic wrap, and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

now you got to roll it out. have a cup or so of flour ready at the table. keep your surface floured well, or the dough will stick, and that's just a disaster. as you roll it out, set your pie plate on top, so you know when it's big enough. you don't want to roll it to thin. once you get it rolled out, form it into the pie tin, and put that in the fridge for a few hours. roll out the second disk, this is the top of your pie. once you get that rolled out, it can sit on a cookie sheet in the fridge.

after the crusts have "rested" for a few hours, fill the bottom with whatever you're filling it with, lay the top on (cut vents!!!! cut vents!!!), seal it with cold water, pinch, and trim, and you're ready for the oven! oven temp and time depends on what's in the pie, and if it's pre cooked or not. good luck!