kitchens of the great midwest. j. ryan stradal (303)

after seeing kitchens of the great midwest all over my instagram (granted i do follow it's publisher's account), i decided to check it out.  also people had been posting pics of bars made from a recipe in the book, and with my new insta account @booksandsnacks, i figured i should read it.  being a lover of food and books, i was excited to read this book, but was also a little wary about how food would be portrayed.  but all my worrying was for nothing because j. ryan stradal knew his stuff!

kitchens of the great midwest chronicled the life of eva thorvald that ended with a meal that a culmination of her life that reminded me of a final challenge for top chef that would have made tom colicchio proud.  each portion of the meal related back to a story, the reader read about her life.

the novel opened with her father lars thorvald, an awkward but loving man and a great father.  he was a chef and was so excited to feed so much so that the doctor warned him about introducing things to early to eva.  i mean he wanted to give her pork shoulder at like three months, which is alittle extreme. however, helped provide eva with an extraordinary palette.  oh, i should add that lars was really a lovely person, it was so sweet to learn of his dedication to his family and he made the best lutefisk.  sadly, however lars passed away and eva was raised by her aunt and uncle, though she did not know it during her youth. i forgot to mentioned, by this point, eva's mother had abandoned her and lars.

the story then jumped to eva as a tween.  she was obsessed with peppers and after getting in trouble with at school ran away to her cousin, braque, who was away at college.  quick sidenote, eva had the coolest cousins (via her aunt by marriage/"mom"'s side) that had great taste in music, braque got her a bikini kill shirt and randy listened to nine inch nails.  anyway, braque and eva went around hustlin' people to make money, eva due to her high tolerance of spicy food, would shock adults with the spicy food she ate.

the next chapter of eva's life introduced, will prager, a boy who was her first sweetheart.  i have to add i loved will prager's taste in music as well (okay, stradal's amazing taste in music.)  i even listed out all the songs, which i youtubed as i read to help soundtrack the chapter:

"where is the love"

"super bon bon" soul coughing

"car" built to spill

"in an airplane over the sea" neutral milk hotel

"fade into you" mazzy star

"why (mtv unplugged version)" annie lennox

"reason to believe"

their first date was at a fancy restaurant and it reminded me of when i first started fine dining, how unsure i was about the procedures and of course how much i would be spending.  it was a nice little stroll down memory lane.  anyhoot, it is her that the reader and will realized that eva had a special gift when it came to food and she began working in that very restaurant.  i have to add that eva moved away and though i hoped that will would come back into her life and they would end up lovers, but this did not happen.

the next part of eva's life revolved around dinner parties, which reminded me of the dinner parties that my friend danny used to host.  they weren't potlucks, he did all of the cooking, nor were they as catty. thought it was probably just octavia that was catty.  i mean she was horrible person and had a bad life because she made bad choices.  but back to those dinner parties, eva was so nice and her caesar salad sounded amazing!

i have to admit that was a little bored by the storyline that introduced jordy.  i am going to say that that part was just to introduce venison into the menu.  odd, but i read it.  i think the novel would have been better if the venison was included a different way that related more to eva.

i was very excited about pat pragar's section, mostly because i made those bars and they were delish.  also that new woman was so mean.  and i wonder what happen when she got pulled over.  also, those vegan people were the worse, but i guess if you were vegan, you would be angry and hungry too.

the last part of the book, reintroduced cindy, eva's mom that abandoned her.  her life though enjoyable was not great, which felt kind of like karma for abandoning her daughter.  by this time in the story, eva was a successful chef.  she started out by hosting these random dinner parties around town, well the town she lived in.  she then decided to start a pop-up dinner party.  i had seen something like it on top chef, but have sadly never attended one of those.  she was so successful that she began doing her dinners in even more exotic places, and the waiting list was years longs.  anyway, cindy decided to get on the wait list so that she can meet her daughter.  it is from cindy's perspective that we learn of the dinner of eva's lifetime.  it's pretty amazing, i was impressed by the courses and everything related back to the stories, we had read.  it was brillant, as a lover of food and good storytelling, i couldn't imagine a better way to end a great novel.  also, all of the people from eva's life, were there as well.

it really was the perfect ending to a great book! i really can't get over how great it was that the meal related back to her life.  well, done stradal.  this book is definite read if you love food. i highly recommend and as an added bonus, there are also recipes in it, so you can make some of what you read. i recomend pat pragar's bars!

here is pat's recipe:

here are some of the recipes i want to try:

mom's chicken wild rice casserole:

mom's carrot cake

barn ramstad's kraft caramel bars 

last celeste's mississippi mud bars which reminded me of something my grandma would make, but we called them brownies.

china rich girlfriend. kevin kwan. (297)

i absolutely loved kevin kwan's crazy rich asians, and when i discovered that the sequel, china rich girlfriend, came out, i had to check it out.    

it has been a year since i read crazy rich asians, and i never blogged about it. (i always have a tough time blogging when i love a book, because all i want to do is gush.  but i will try to get that post up.)  so i was little rusty on what happen.  thanks to google, i was able to piece things together and of course, also as i read, things came to me. i will say that to start i did get arminata and astrid confused, but i got that sorted out.

so again, astrid was my favorite character.  i really hope that she is the focus of the next book.  i read that this a trilogy, but i would be okay if kwan decided to make books.  back to astrid, i just love that she is just so flawlessly and effortlessly chic.  i loved how the gossip columnist dismissed her, but it was only because her jewelry was so valuable that the columnist had no idea what it is.  i absolutely love how understated her outfits are yet, if you have money, you know that the girl's clothing and accessories are crazy expensive or belong in a museum.  though i love astrid, i hated reading about her good for nothing husband!  it was frustrating to read about how abusive, he was, but she did nothing.  i am glad that she left him in the end, and hope that the third book is all about her getting back with charlie wu!

so the focus of the story is nicholas and rachel.  nicholas and his family are still not on speaking terms after his mom hired that pi to dig up dirt on rachel.  they are planning their wedding, however, rachel is still searching for her father.  i would give more, but really you need just to read this book for yourself.

some random thoughts before i close:

-loved reading all about art auction!
-the return of kitty pong!  that story was outrageous and it was crazy to see how bernard ended up.  i could totally see him as one of those eco-friendly, vegan, gender-neutral kind of dads.
-i loved reading about all of the restaurants.  i want to check them out when i am abroad.  

here is what was named checked:  *mandarian kitchen for lobster noodles *four seasons for roasted duck

*royal china for dim sum
*dai pai dong for wonton noodles

*gerard mulot
*din tai fung (i'm excited cos i can do this in LA!)
-i wish i was crazy rich!!!

spoiler alert:  regardless of what her assistant said, colette was behind of it!!! psycho crazy china girlfriend!

oh and i have to add i still love kwan for his wit and his footnotes are the best.  the fire island was my favorite!! lol

read this book and i hope you love it as much as i did.

wallflower at the orgy. nora ephron. (226)

after reading heartburn, i decided to check out more of nora ephron's writing.  i decided to start with wallflower at the orgy, don't worry it has nothing to do with an actual orgy but its based on a saying about journalists.  thus, wallflower at the orgy, is a collection of articles, ephron wrote between 1968-69.  not only did i learn a lot of pop culture history but also that pop culture history does in fact repeat itself.

"the food establishment:  life in the land of the rising soufflé (or is it the rising meringue?) discussed a foodie history was unaware of.  the article discussed the cattiness in the food establishment primarily between two individuals, michael field a cook and cookbook writer and craig claiborne, a restaurant/cookbook critic.  i must be honest i was unfamiliar with them.  i did know julia child, of course, and it was interesting to read about james beard the person and not the award.  due to that i wasn't into all the gossip that ephron divulged but i will say that i wasn't surprised.  from what i have learned via top chef and hell's kitchen, chefs are egotistical so not surprised by this type of cattiness.  what i enjoyed learning about was this rise of the gourmet explosion due to "the traveling fighting men of world war two, the postwar travel boom, and the shortage of domestic help, all of which . . . [drove] housewives of america into the kitchen." this resulted in dinner parties and the hostess trying to serve the mostest.  though ephron believed that attention to be called to development of curry as a dish at dinner parties that went along with the gourmet explosion.  i found all of this interesting because i think reality tv shows like top chef and hell's kitchen plus the food network had resulted in a second gourmet explosion for the every man.  i am example of that i grew up in the middle of nowhere where red lobster and olive garden were nice meals out to worry about michelin stars, james beard awards, celebritiy chefs, etc.  plus sites like yelp makes everything thing they are food critics.  so it was interesting to see what had came before all this.  and it's interesting how cookbooks were what spread the first gourmet explosion.  though i love food, i have never picked up a cookbook in my life to cook.  so we are very definite generation of gourmet seekers.  i also found the predictions on where the food establimsnt was headed interesting. poppy cannon believed it would last because "it is a basic art."  while others believed it was on the out since "food of the future will be quite different:  precooked, reconstituted, and froze dishes with portion control."  oddly enough both are right.  fine dining is different an art, especially with new developments like molecular gastronomy, fusion trends, etc.  but also fast food definitively rule too, though american so not know what portion control

is.  i feel like ride the line between the two, i go out and have nice menus but am not above the dollar menu at mcdonalds.  but an interesting article, and i wish i could learn about the food establishment history.

i also enjoyed "if you're a mouseburger, come with me.  i was a mouseburger and i wil help you", which was about helen gurley brown.  i only recently learned of helen gurley brown and sex and the single girl via cnn's "the sixties" series.  i definitely want to read that, so was excited to read this article.  the article gave background to helen gurley brown and also talked about how she transformed cosmopoltian.  i was never a cosmo reader, i have read it but never picked it up faithfully.  and though helen gurley brown was a bit of a mess, with all the crying that ephron described her doing, she was amazing based on her dedication to help women.  the one thing that i found shocking was the fact that she wanted to help women know that they could shower while on their period.  i can't imagine a world in which women didn't, but i am sure it happened, i remember being worried as a kid but can't imagine being an adult and worried.  and i am glad helen gurley brown made sure women knew that they could.  and that is the great thing about women's magazines like cosmo is that its a venue to discuss all the embarrassing things that happen to us women and we are able to see how we aren't the only ones self-conscious about our bodies.  again, i found it interesting how pop culture history repeats itself or maybe in this case stays the same.  today we women do need tips about our hairpieces (though nowadays we call them extensions), false eyelashes and how to get bigger boobs (or at least look like we have bigger ones), and how to have a great orgasm.   it's funny because one forgets how these things have been around forever, you think your generation is to have all of these beauty and sex secrets but they have been around for years!  and i mean how amazing was helen gurley brown for wanting to make sure our boosoms were treated right!  i also adored her spunky way of talking (see: the title).  i am going to start using her "hot-fudge-sundae-kind-of-pleasure".   another favorite was 

self-help . . . i wish there were better words, but that is my whole credo.  you cannot sit around like a cupciake asking other people to come and eat you up and discover your sweetness and charm.  you've got to make yourself more cupcakeable all the time so that you're  better cupcake to be gobbled up."  

brillant!  i am now excited to read sex and the single girl.

"makeover:  the short, unglamorous saga of a new, glamourous me" was a hilarious read especially considering my time on how do i look?.  (quick story, i was on it for wearing too much sequence but got a complete makeover, which included the chopping of my hair!)   ephron's description of the makeover is spot-on especially the reactions to the make up.  i remember once i got my make-up down at a mac counter and my friend's first reaction was "wow! that is alot of make up" which kind of sadden me cos i thought it looked.  this friend said the same thing about the how do i look? make-up but he was spot on.  they caked it on, i mean tv make-up is insane.  they kept telling me that i had great skin but they still caked it on.  (i do have great skin, they weren't just being polite).  ephron was really on pointe with the after.  it is true, once i was done, i realized i couldn't do that make-up or style my hair and extensions like they did.  also know one gave me a tutorial so all i was left with was how i could be tv beautiful with only the help of specialists.  lol

loved the article on women's wear daily "women's wear daily unclothed".  i also loved that i could google the picture of greta garbo that was discussed.  i had never heard of women's wear daily, but i would have loved it.  it was a great bitchy magazine, like the "tmz" of fahsion. and again a demonstration of how pop culture repeats itself, prior to people loving the trash of "tmz", "keeping up with kardashians" actually anything on e! or bravo.  also louis fairchild, who turned women's wear daily into what it became reminded me of andy cohen.  prior to andy cohen making housewives legitimate via his shows on bravo, fairchild made the ladies legitimate via his magazine.  again interesting how pop culture repeats itself.  also loved how they called on a young caroline kennedy, so mean but hilarious.

also enjoyed reading about mike nichols because i loved the graduate.  it was also great to read about how much fun they had on the set of catch-22.  though i have to say that sadly the movie wasn't that success because people do not revere it nowadays like they do the graduate.  but i plan on reading the book and watching the movie.

those were my favorite articles and just some random other thoughts about the other articles.

the ayn rand article.  i will probably never read fountainhead but that is partially due to mitt romeny and his love of atlas struggled.  i was tired of hearing about that book during the last election.  but more proof of pop culture repeating itself.

the article about erich segal and rod mckuen.  can't say they were as revolutionary as they thought they were.  i have never heard of mckuen.  i have heard of love story but that was because it was an amazon daily deal and saw it in tim burton's dark shadows (i have a thing for reading books alluded to in movies though this was more like the characters read it during a montage).  though this whole idea of teens practicing sexual abstinence comes and goes, recently it was jonas' brothers and purity rings and twilight (i think bella saved herself for marriage.)

the bill blass article.  i remember him from like the 80s, i think, but i saw on wikipedia that his brand dissolved.

jacqueline susann article.  love machine reminded me of 50 shades gray especially with ephron's talk of masochists but i think her talk was more about women who have no backbone when it comes to men versus actual chains and whips.  but again pop culture repeating, both are poorly written novels that get women reading!  also i want to read valley of the dolls.  i have seen the movie.

fommer article.  interesting to see how frommer travel books got started.

and her fiction.  a fun little story.

all in all, an enjoyable read.  i look forward to reading more of works.  

relish. lucy knisley. (210)

i firrst heard of relish on flavorpill.  i was actually going to buy it, a graphic novel about food, of course i would love it.  however, it sat on my amazon wish list for a while, actually where it still is. i am not sure what prompted me to finally check it out, i think it was a post about foodie books.

anyway, so relish is actually not a graphic novel but a graphic memoir.  and its an adorable little book that features stories from lucy knisley's life and recipes to go along with it.  and of course the illustrations are adorable as well.

knisley came from a family of foodies, her mother was a caterer and was all about farm fresh before farm fresh became a thing, and her father just liked good food.  also her godfather was a food critic and her uncle joined a food store in nyc.  all her life knisley was surrounded by good food.  

the graphic memoir is a handful of stories and as i mentioned recipes that go along with the story.  well except for one, knisley shared how in venice she had these delicious croissants that were filled with apricot jam.  she tried her best to recreate them but couldn't do it.  instead of having a croissant recipe there was one for sangria!  

the memoir is short so i won't go into too much detail on the stories.  though i will add that i really enjoyed the story about her coming of age in mexico and seeing all the fun things she ate in japan!  

and though i don't cook, i was excited about the recipes.  maybe i will make something one day, the lamb sounded delish,  maybe i can get my sister to make it.  i will add that i did learn that you shouldn't wash your mushrooms!  you should brush them clean or if you do, make sure to let them dry before they are sauteed.  i love mushrooms so will start doing that.

all in all a delightful little book, i mean it ended with a bradbury quote from dandelion wine!!

i also decided to include some illustrations, since it is a graphic memoir.

this will be my to-eat list when i am in chicago (i really need to plan a trip there, maybe next year?)

a recipe for carbonara, i should really try to make it!

and i just loved this little quote:

so if you love food, you should check this out.  and if you make anything from it, invite me over!