Book Review: Lighthouse

Title: Lighthouse

Author: Eugenia Price

Date: 1971 (Revell), 1972 (Bantam)

Publisher: Revell (1971), Bantam (1972)

ISBN: none

Length: 338 pages

Quote: “Schooners in the harbor meant money…Now, he was about to design and build a frame house for one of the town’s leading citizens. ‘My first house,’ he whispered, ‘and I’m not scared’.”

James Gould and his wife Jane were real. Enough documents about them have survived that Eugenia Price was able to spin the novel Lighthouse about their real lives in and outside old Savannah, from James’s boyhood in the Revolutionary War years up to Janie’s death in 1820.

The basic events of this story are fact. Young James dreams, in New England, of the exotic Southern colonies where he’s read that it’s possible to enjoy a barbecue outdoors on Christmas Day; he goes into the construction business, gets a surveying assignment that sends him to Georgia, and moves to St. Simons Island. Having been disappointed by his first love, he meets a more congenial young woman, marries her, and becomes a successful builder. He dreams of building a lighthouse for the island. Eventually he does.

Perhaps in order to provide a plot, partly based on hints in his real story,  Price plays up the elements of romance and spirituality in Gould’s biography. Both emotional sentiments received more attention from the generation after Jane and James Gould than they received from these characters’ own generation. However, Price has Jane fretting that James is less “spiritual” than he ought to be, and James praying and having a “spiritual” experience during Jane’s serious illness in 1813. (Facing the last page of the book, Price tells us that Jane recovered fully from that illness and died seven years later.)

Probably also invented are some conversations one can imagine Price, who was not a native Southerner, imagining for herself as she studied about Savannah and St. Simons at the turn of the nineteenth century. Gould was not the plantation type, and did not buy slaves by the hundred, but he owned some slaves. Perhaps he debated the morality of owning slaves with his neighbors, and became one of those Georgians who decided to be the nominal owners of slaves they bought to protect the slaves from worse abusers. (In other times and places, emancipating slaves was expensive; in Georgia, at this period, it was illegal. Slaves could be sold but not freed.) Price has him buy a cook at auction, and beat up the auctioneer to show what he thinks of the slave trade—but this was anything but a Humanist period of history, and the crowd merely laugh when the auctioneer falls down.

White women  were very little more respected than Black women at this period of Georgia history. Price has James hesitate to bring Jane to the island after a laborer’s wife is raped, but Jane wants to be with him and comes anyway. James orders Jane never to go out alone. Laughing and teasing him, calling him “King James,” Jane goes out alone and immediately realizes that she’s being stalked by someone who at least wants to scare her and James. James has to enforce his own law by shooting the bully in the leg. This is followed by a horrible scene in which Jane promises that she’ll never step outside the door alone again because she is “a woman now.” The notions of honor and chivalry were found here and there in Virginia, around 1800—although women were still terrorized with the old traditional line about other men not being as decent as their own, and even up to 1900 many rural women lived in fear of bears—but it took a few more years for honor and chivalry to reach Georgia.

And, as for men…the image of a rich customer beating up an auctioneer, and people laughing, is typical of the Deep South. During the first years when the land around each new settlement was cultivated, it was in fact easy for any reasonably diligent man to become rich. In a way it was even fair that men ridiculed and despised anyone who failed to become rich. The richer men in the community became “Captain” or “Colonel” or “Squire,” and they and their sons were entitled to abuse other men, who were expected to agree that they were inferior.Again, Virginia and the Carolinas had their officially recognized aristocracy, imported from England, and Kentucky was the “wild frontier” where men supposedly established a social hierarchy based on fighting and hunting prowess, but Georgia had no basis for a social hierarchy except pure, unmitigated money-snobbery. Men like James Gould, who hadn’t been wealthy as a boy in Massachusetts, accepted that older and richer men had been or would have been entitled to beat them up when they were a little younger and poorer, and considered themselves entitled, by the same right, to beat up less wealthy men now.

Readers who bring a little historical perspective to Lighthouse will thus see, not only that James is a thoroughgoing racist, sexist, and elitist, but why he is one; how close to impossible it would have been for him not to be one. Personally, I winced—especially as I reflected that, in historical fact, James Gould’s relationships with the people around him were probably even worse than Price forces us to imagine them.

Because it's primarily a story that reflects attitudes that should be abhorrent to Christian readers, I hesitate to classify Lighthouse as a Christian novel, although Price wrote some specifically Christian books and the characters in Lighthouse considered themselves Christians. I did not find it a particularly inspirational read. It's the way these people really were, not the way they ought to have been.

It's also a vintage book that's ripe for a reprint, beginning to go into collector prices on Amazon. However, at the time of posting, it's still possible for this web site to offer Lighthouse at the usual price of $5 per book + $5 per package + $1 per online payment, and, as usual, you can add books by living writers (which are Fair Trade Books) to the package and subsidize a payment to those writers or the charities of their choice. 

New Book Review: Clean Eating Bowls

Fair disclosure: this is the third of those three books of which I received review copies, which I read and reviewed in the order in which they came out of the package. Because I'm rushing these reviews online in order to generate as much good publicity as possible, I've not actually tested the recipes at home yet. On the other hand, I'm getting free review copies of new cookbooks because I've used and reviewed a lot of the old ones; I can visualize (taste-ize? gustatorize?) how recipes are likely to taste. This is the quirkiest of the three California-cuisine cookbooks, and maybe you have to be familiar with California health-food-store food...I am. I found it appetizing, and I give Clean Eating Bowls maximum points for presenting the best recipe for a simple, not-necessarily-too-sweet, gluten-free, virtually-guaranteeable version of granola.

Title: Clean Eating Bowls

Author: Kenzie Swanhart

Date: 2016

Publisher: Rockridge

ISBN: 978-1-62315-786-9

Length: 154 pages plus 5-page index

Illustrations: color photos

Quote: “Diving into a clean eating lifestyle can seem daunting—cutting out sugars and processed foods in favor of cooking fresh fruits, vegetables, and lean meats—but bowls make it simple…to focus on all the goodness you can eat, rather than thinking of it as a restriction.”

Inspired by the “paleo diet” or idea of eating things as close to their natural state as possible, Kenzie Swanhart has progressed to exploring recipes for one-bowl meals. They’re organized into “Smoothie Bowls” (blender-processed fruit and veg), “Breakfast Bowls” (fruits, cereals, and/or eggs), “Grain Bowls” (rice, quinoa, farro wheat, barley, or oats), “Salad Bowls,” “Soup Bowls,” “Noodle Bowls,” a few “Dessert Bowls,” and finally ten “Bowl Necessities”—sauces, almond milk, and granola. 

Each chapter outlines how to “build a bowl.” Swanhart is neither vegan nor vegetarian, but each type of Bowl has many vegan options, and vegetarian recipes outnumber meat recipes.

For a Smoothie Bowl, Swanhart blends together a cup of flavorful fruit, a “base” of banana, avocado, or mango, a liquid, “some superfoods (optional)," sweetening (also optional), “sneak in some leafy greens" (half cup, optional), and when these are smoothed out in the blender some unground “toppings” of  fruit, nuts, or granola.

Breakfast Bowls can be sweet, assembled by stacking up a base of yogurt or cereal, a cup of fruit, “superfoods,” sweetening, and toppings similar to the Smoothie Bowls, or savory, with a base of grain, “a protein” (1/2 cup of meat, beans, or egg), a cup of vegetables, 2 tablespoons of dressing, and a sprinkle of nuts or seeds. One savory Breakfast Bowl that may surprise readers is “Baked Eggs and Ramps,” a “decadent Sunday brunch”  featuring wild onions wilted into a sauce, simmered with tomato, and used to poach one egg per serving.

The basic outline for Grain Bowls is one cup of grain, one cup of vegetables, one cup of “a protein,” 2 tablespoons of sauce, and the optional sprinkling of nuts, sprouts, or avocado.

Salad Bowls consist of one or two cups of greens, ½ cup of “a protein,” one cup of other fruits and veg, ½ cup of nuts or grains, and “ginger, lemon, oil, vinegar, salsa, vinaigrette. (to taste). The protein in some of these Bowls is cheese.

Soup Bowls begin with 1-2 tablespoons of oil or butter, then four cups of liquid, one cup of protein, two cups of vegetables, spices of choice, and toppings that may include more spices, nuts or  seeds…or bacon.

Noodle Bowls begin with a cup of noodles, topped with 1-2 cups of hot broth, ½ cup of “protein,” a cup of vegetables, and a topping of nuts or seeds. One recipe title that was new to me was "Poke Noodle Bowl." In the Appalachian Mountains, where the pungent wild onions known as ramps are native, another native food some people like is called "poke salad"--traditionally made by cooking the early, tender, low-toxicity first shoots of pokeweed. Was that the featured ingredient in the Poke Noodle Bowl? No; apparently the Hawaiian word poke, rhyming with "okay," has made it into Pacific Coast English as a new name for a specific tuna dish, so the Poke Noodle Bowl is a fish dish. It sounds a little more flavorful than the canned tuna Easterners usually eat.

Dessert Bowls are likely to be the strangest. Suggested bases are “avocado mousse, banana ice cream, chia seed pudding, coconut cream, or Greek yogurt,” topped with a half cup of fruit, sweetening and/or nut butter if necessary, and toppings of nuts, seeds, goji berries, or cacao powder. This is a short chapter and I have to admit that reading the recipes did not inspire me. However, there’s a valid reason why natural food enthusiasts concoct such weird desserts. If you’re seriously eating a “paleo” or natural-locavore diet, you don’t actually need dessert recipes. Most of the time, sun-ripened fruit provides all the sweetness an adult could want. (In winter, the “paleo” diet features dried fruits, which tend to be sweeter than I personally like. I can handle a spoonful of plain sugar, even a few dates or banana or pineapple slices chopped into cereal, but raisins…! Ouch!)

If you can use coconut oil (or substitute some other kind!), Swanhart’s granola recipe may be the simplest and tastiest I’ve ever come across. Most granola recipes call for ten or twenty different ingredients, at least one of which some member of your family probably hates, and if they feature raisins and honey they'll either be too sweet or have to be toned down with something that starts out bitter and gets bitterer in storage, and so on. Swanhart's recipe consists of oats and nuts, tossed with honey, cinnamon, and vanilla, and baked. If you can eat nuts, that granola is likely to taste good...for a good long time, too. If you have a trustworthy source of oats, it's gluten-free. If you slowly toast good fresh oats, almonds, cashews, and cinnamon to the right point, even if you lubricated the pan with a non-sweet oil, you can forget about the honey and have a naturally sweet sugar-free granola. 

The usual caution about honey applies: bees know they’re swallowing and regurgitating different concentrations of sweet goop, which they store in separate combs, but when humans mix it all together we never know how concentrated the sucrose is going to be or what other flavor notes are going to dominate the finished product, so if you do cook with honey you need to use caution and taste as you go...and even then, honeys made from different flowers react differently to heat! No recipe that calls for honey is reliable; most desserts made with honey tasted either unsweetened or disgustingly over-sweetened to me, with very few striking the balance we’ve all learned to expect from things sweetened with sugar. (The honey-sweetened desserts I've liked featured fresh fruit that was probably even better without the honey.)

Swanhart's “Bowls” are definitely novel cooking ideas (Salad Bowls are probably the easiest to explain to guests who haven’t read the book). If you’re blessed with access to good, organically grown, GMO-free fruit, veg, and grain, that means hundreds, maybe thousands of delicious novelties. (Given an outline for each type of Bowl, you can use these recipes to generate endless seasonal and local variations; the specific recipes merely offer cooking and seasoning suggestions, which your garden will expand...)

Most of these recipes are naturally “free” from sugar, chemical additives, and other things special diets help individuals avoid. Not all are gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, and for diabetics’ purposes honey is basically super-concentrated sugar, but for most restricted diets I suspect the majority of the Bowls are acceptable. Because “building a bowl” is so simple, it’s not hard to tweak any recipe you can’t use as written, either. Can’t eat barley? Substitute rice. Can’t eat rice? Substitute farro…and so on.

(Some people can't eat rice! Although this web site exists by and for Irish-Americans with wheat gluten intolerance, we have to mention that there's also a gene, noticed mostly by a minority of Asian people, for rice gluten intolerance. Natural rice, our staff of life, is those people's poison. Some real Chinese food is wheat-based, and some Chinese people actually need it to be. Ah, biodiversity...) 

I have to mention that the phrase “clean eating” sounds more than a tiny bit judgmental, and my personal definition of clean eating would definitely exclude bacon, hemp seed, and honey! Well, of course you don’t have to become a food nanny to use recipes that are part of some people's "healthy eating" or "clean eating" plans. Actually, several of the Soup, Grain, and Salad Bowls have flavors that would work quite nicely with a cheap greasy hamburger from the local fast-food shack, if you want to eat one of those. Maybe you do have to be a bit of a foodie to want to construct a Bowl of oatmeal, apple slices, pumpkinseeds, dried cranberries, chia seeds, and chopped ginger, but you don’t have to be a fanatic…if you slice in enough sweet, juicy apple and candy-like crystallized ginger, even oatmeal haters will enjoy that Bowl. 

I will admit some personal insight into the thought process that drives some people, if they’ve eaten a bowl of beet, carrot, Brussels sprout slices, kale, garbanzos, pomegranate, avocado, and miso, to go out and look for a cheeseburger. (That's what Swanhart describes as "probably the healthiest" Bowl of health-food-store favorites, but unwrinkle your little noses, kids...those flavors do work together, mellow each other out, and make quite a palatable "crazy salad.") Even if the cook has said not one word about how “healthy” the Salad Bowl was supposed to be, chasing it with a bag of greasy, salty chips can feel a bit like reclaiming a piece of the individual soul. Nevertheless, if you have good fresh fruit and veg, and you resist the urge to preach about them, even junk food junkies would eat most of these Bowls…and like them.

So…even within the California genre of cuisine, this is a strange cookbook, but in a nice way. Buy it if you can afford to buy excellent food and want to attract attention by doing something delightfully different with that excellent food. Especially buy it to tuck into a gift package along with a set of good-sized, handmade, beautifully quirky bowls.



Hmm...that's a nice mixing bowl. Maybe your family would prefer single-serving bowls?

Book Review: A Gathering Place

A Fair Trade Book

Title: A Gathering Place

Authors: Thomas Kinkade and Katherine Spencer

Katherine Spencer's web page: http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/238098/katherine-spencer

Date: 2003

Publisher: Berkley/Penguin

ISBN: 0-425-19004-8

Length: 360 pages

Quote: “I am so happy once again to welcome you to Cape Light…a place where the pace is slower and people stop to savor the simple pleasures…I wanted to convey with words the same vision that my artwork expresses with paint—the values of faith, hope, family, and community.”

In 2003 the suicidally depressed “Painter of Light” didn’t have much more time to paint over his inner conflicts, but in A Gathering Place he did it again; there’s a lovely old New England church with glowing windows on the dust jacket, and a long story about all the nice neighbors who help each other through their various troubles in that purely imaginary church.

So we meet Mayor Emily Warwick, who gave up a daughter for adoption twenty-some years ago, and her daughter, Sara, who was happily adopted and has graduated from college already, and Dan Forbes, who is “trying to put out a paper with no staff” (oh, can I ever relate—which is why I don’t believe him), and his son, Wyatt, who edits Sara’s writing in Dan’s paper, and Digger, the old fisherman who gets lost in the fog on the beach one night, and other neighbors who “had worked together in a cooperative spirit typical of this town” to find him, including the Reverend Ben Anderson, whose quarrel with his own son is adversely affecting his ability to counsel other people…Sara even seriously wonders whether she should consider Wyatt as a “boyfriend,” while separated from the young man she’s been dating, and we’re not explicitly told why Wyatt’s such a wrong choice for Sara, but…

They’re all nice Christian people. They pray in times of crisis and say grace before meals. They’re the way the congregation of a small-town church want to be seen, which may be why I don’t quite get into their story. Was there an earlier “Cape Light Story” that explains why Emily looks at Dan when she wants “a little romance in her life”? Why did Dan’s wife leave, and where did she go? Am I reading too much into this romance between a single mother and a divorced man?

Everything works out, of course. On the final page Emily quotes a Bible text, “All things work together for good to them that love God.”

Somewhere, sometime, something like this story might have been real…for Spencer, if not for Kinkade. If you don’t quite believe it was, you wish it had been.

Personally…regular readers know that I’m not a Positive Thinker. I suspect Kinkade might have lived longer if he’d forced himself to look directly into the darkness in his life, instead of trying to see only the light. I’d feel better about fictional Dan’s and Emily’s romance if this novel had mentioned whether Dan was Sara’s father, and what happened to Sara’s father if he wasn’t Dan. A Gathering Place is Book 3, so maybe this was all explained in Books 1 and 2, but I've not read those.

Last Sunday this web site reviewed Reverend Randollph and the Holy Terror, in which a man who’s run away from penitence for his sins becomes a serial murderer who warns each of his victims with a reference to their past sins. That novel is fiction, just as A Gathering Place is fiction. I don’t believe either the “dark” extreme, where the unacknowledged sin impels the man all the way to murder, or the “light” extreme, where the unacknowledged sin can be simply swept out the back doors of everyone’s lives, is really typical of life—very often, or very long, anyway. 

I think there are obvious psychological dangers in trying to believe that either of these fictional extremes is a true description of the way our lives and minds normally work. The Positive Thinkers I know, in real life, all seem to be quite obviously “dwelling in a darksome land of wild wolf-cliffs and windy headlands,” failing to convince either themselves or me that all they’ve ever known are sweetness and light.

Some people like Dan and Emily may feel love for God and for each other, and some things may work together for their good. More often, they’re deluding themselves. If Dan’s first wife is married to another man now, and Sara’s father is Dan or is dead or is married to another woman now, my understanding of the Bible is that Dan and Emily have a right to marry each other…but they ought at least to know that their relationship is going to be drastically complicated by whatever character defects caused them to be a single mother and a divorced man.

Well, it’s gentle fiction, about quiet, law-abiding people. One feels that, if their midlife romance doesn’t last, Dan and Emily will quietly separate rather than so much as yell at each other. Even if you’ve had some experience of what “broken families” and “blended families” are really like, it is just…barely…possible to read A Gathering Place as a nice, mellow, bland story with happy endings all round.

Katherine Spencer is alive and writing (and continuing this series) so A Gathering Place is a Fair Trade Book. If you buy it here, for $5 per book + $5 per package + $1 per online payment, we'll send $1 per book to Spencer or a charity of her choice. Books 1 through 4 have been out long enough to be widely available secondhand; you could fit them into one package for a total of $25 (or $26). If you want the complete set, the official position of this web site is that you should buy the newer ones as new books in order to encourage a living writer, though of course we can sell all but the very newest as Fair Trade Books. Please try, if possible, to give Spencer reasons for real rejoicing, as distinct from mere Positive Thinking. 

December 2 Link Log

Warning: it's possible that this article may go live still containing an annoying Amazon cookie that I've tried to remove, going into HTML ten different times, but it keeps popping up...if I knew which Amazon or Zazzle photo link it was attached to, I'd remove that one, but once in the annoying ad cookie seems to be stuck to this page, and will not follow a photo link out. Take my word, I've tried. Anyway, lots of content seems to fit on the borders in between today's Categories: Animals, Books, Christian, Communication, Education, Food, Fun, Green, Health, Legal Issues, Music, Politics, Stupidity, Television, Women's Issues, Writing, Zazzle.

Animals 

Bird lore...Everybody in North America, Australia, and Britain knows and probably loves a songbird called a robin, but not all of us realize that these are three different birds. This article is about the British robin.

https://niume.com/pages/post/?postID=171279

Cat blog hop...makes this yet another cat day at Petfinder.

http://www.mochasmysteriesmeows.com/2016/12/come-fly-with-me-sammyto-vermont.html

In memory of Sammy-cat, today's Petfinder links focus on "red" or "orange" cats:

Nacho from Arlington: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/36845609

Simba from Brooklyn: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/36154545

Pecan from Georgia: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/36778428

Wild animal photos:

http://thevagabondtabby.tumblr.com/post/153932634286/beautiful-wildlife-male-lynx-by-stefan

http://thevagabondtabby.tumblr.com/post/153926765255/phototoartguy-fox-vulpes-vulpes-wab

Wild animal facts:

http://www.nationalreview.com/node/442660/print

Books 

Warning:  The Invention of Wings is about the history of the anti-slavery movement in the United States...if it's at all authentic, it'll contain words that might be too, too traumatic for some poor li'l snowflakes in Accomack (see below).

https://grumpybookreviewer.com/book-club-books/the-invention-of-wings/

Christian 

Serious Christian way to prepare for Christmas, followed by whimsical flight of blogger's memory:

http://www.lizcurtishiggs.com/let-every-heart-prepare-room/



Heaven and Nature Sing Christmas Card 2

by pj_design

And here's a blog challenge for those who love Christmas:

http://rusty2rustyschatter.blogspot.com/2016/11/31-days-of-blogmas.html

On a different track altogether, but also Christian-oriented:

http://acesareroyaltytoo.tumblr.com/post/153936406921/goodpositivitylgbt-christian-aroace-people-are

And here's a sermon for the weekend:

http://faithandvictory.com/sermons/the-suffer-is-real/

(Maybe because the "holiday cheer" creates such a disturbing sense of cognitive dissonance for some people, Dan Gilbert posted a non-Christian riff on the same theme at Thrive. Both the title and graphic he used violate this site's contract; to people who are amused by the use of the S-word it's funny. Read and share with friends who prefer vulgar/secular "uplift" to the Christian kind, at your discretion.)

Communication 

Rounding up the weasel words of the year...remember how Matt Groening used to draw cartoons of words we should resolve to stop using in the New Year?

https://pjmedia.com/blog/even-after-trump-left-still-using-weasel-words-to-conceal-truth/?singlepage=true

Now this is the kind of cyberbullying the law needs to crack down on. Annoying a schoolmate with "I hate Brandy, she's fat/dumb/boring/whatever" is the kind of stupid childish behavior adults should ignore (and kids like Brandy should rack up cool points by ignoring, like the adults). Actually posting the kid's picture and phone number with messages that she's soliciting for sex has always been recognized in U.S. criminal law--the technical terms are slander and defamation of character--and it should have been prosecuted like the crime it was. "Cyberbullying" is the wrong word for this report to use, though, since that word could include silly kid stuff like "Go away, Brandy, we all hate you." Call the crime by its proper name! The girl's character was criminally defamed, and the criminals should serve some time.

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/12/01/h-s-senior-kills-herself-in-front-of-family-after-brutal-cyberbullying-wouldnt-stop/

Education 

Y'know, before I read this report, I thought the ban on hand-raising might have had something to do with someone's claiming that hand-raising called attention to the body shape. Since it doesn't, Katherine Timpf's report just joggled loose a memory...we had one teacher, whom I'll call Old Miss Mean, who didn't let people raise their hands, but ordered them to stand and answer questions, or go up front and write out their answers, in a strict rotation across the classroom. She was The. Worst. Ever. She was the one who, when swine flu was going around and a former friend I'll call Blondie whimpered "Please, no, I'm about to be sick," snarled "Show us what you've got for problem number thirteen anyway." Blondie woozed up front, worked out problem number thirteen, started to explain her work to the class, and was sick. All down her beautiful long blonde hair. Then of course she was sent home, where she stayed for a week or two. After that she gained a lot of weight, repeated a year, and eventually finished high school with a different class who didn't remember Old Miss Mean's idea of being equally mean and unfair to everybody.

http://www.nationalreview.com/node/442642/print

Food (Yum) 

Coconut oil and coconut cream are what make this curry "Thai." If you (are like me and) can't use coconut, and (are in the U.S. and probably) can't get the specific seasoning called massaman paste and have to use regular curry powder, it's just another curried chicken and veg dish. But it'd be good.

https://niume.com/post/150465

Turkey soup:

https://niume.com/pages/post/?postID=175188

As citrus fruit come into season, have you ever made a lime meringue pie? (If you use gluten-free cereal crumbs to line the pan, it's gluten-free.)

http://frame.bloglovin.com/

What about a mint caramel...Kirsten Boic calls it a tart; it's in the trifle, torte, or banana-pudding family.

https://niume.com/post/139043

Here's a classic gluten-free candy that can be made with other nuts as well as, or in place of, peanuts:

http://hubpages.com/food/grandmas-peanut-brittle-recipe

McDougall recipes:

https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2016nl/nov/recipes.htm

Fun Stuff 

The down side of the rain that saved several parts of the Eastern States from raging wild fires...not serious floods, but, y'know, high-water annoyances.

http://itsjustlife.me/little-red-canoe/

The man who deserved to lose his wedding ring, but didn't...

http://nowiknow.com/ring-around-the-lunar-orbit/

Green 

Niume is messier than usual today, and some of the pages people shared on Google + didn't open at all, but +Andria Perry 's post about the sweetgum, or liquidambar or Tupelo, tree did. Pretty pictures here:

https://niume.com/pages/post/?postID=174579

Scientific report here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4441155/

Health News 

Here's a mash-up: Dr. John McDougall editorializes about the President-elect. Key point made: health care is what individuals do to care for our own health. Another point: Trump looks as if he could use an upgrade in his personal health care plan.

https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2016nl/nov/trump.htm

Legal Issues 

I've commented on this before...

http://kimsiscstuff.blogspot.com/2016/11/justice-only-in-injury-or-death.html

Music 

Hey, teacher, leave those kids alone...

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/pink-floyd-songs-of-the-70s/

Politics 

David Limbaugh asks how much Obama's support of Candidate Clinton contributed toward Trump's election. (Democrats, please bear in mind the last line of Dan Gilbert's raunchy-but-true post...)

https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2016/12/it-is-obama-not-the-american-people-who-wont-listen

Stupidity is a Choice 

Which do you do: learn how loyalty (and heroism) can transcend an atmosphere of race prejudice, or sit down and whine because a big long complicated book accurately depicts haters talking like haters?

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/12/01/virginia-school-system-bans-these-two-celebrated-literary-classics-because-of-racial-slurs/

Television 

Michelle Malkin launches her TV show with an explosively controversial investigation. The link goes to the video; I apologize, but the e-mail describing what she's investigating goes into far too much detail about a violent crime to be quoted here. Suffice it to say, MM will be discussing the DNA evidence that may fail to prove that a former police officer is a rapist who belongs in prison for life. Lots of personal "honey," including dead skin.

https://www.crtv.com/michelle-malkin-investigates

Women's Issues 

Let's face it, women can be as vicious as corrupt cops are about this kind of victimless crime:

http://reason.com/blog/2016/12/01/50-days-in-jail-for-waiting-for-a-ride

And instead of breaking through remaining prejudices and stupidities, some so-called feminists are, to use Germaine Greer's memorable phrase, "scoring own goals." Medical care, even if it's misidentified as "health care," is not what enables us to have non-procreative sex. Knowing how the reproductive process works and making decisions about which voluntary acts we do and don't choose to carry out is what enables us to have non-procreative sex. (This web site came to exist years after the demolition of another web site at which this topic used to be discussed in a frank, specific, and feminist manner. How would Auntie Pris even remember...? Ah, that'd be telling. But if you convince us that you're a confused left-wing "feminist" with an appropriate amount of e-money, we can send you printouts.)

http://www.nationalreview.com/node/442602/print

Writing 

There is so much out there in cyberspace that I'm only just reading this eight-year-old evergreen content...it appeared on a blog I started following a long time after this series was posted. I'd been putting off reading the classic book, but am printing out these tips; they should help improve the way some things look at this web site:

https://thebarefoot.wordpress.com/html-for-dummies/

Should an Amazon Affiliate site ever cite a book without putting that book within one click of your inquiring mind? Probably not, although I've done that too. I am not perfect. Here's the classic...



...and here's the update.

Zazzle

This is not as cute and funny as the Zazzle stuff I usually link here; it's posted because it captures what I believed to be true about my late lamented cat Black Magic...why the "memorial" to her is not a fancy grave monument, but my home being rededicated as a Cat Sanctuary. Even if she'd had kittens there would never have been another Magic (though there have been, and are, other social cats who also do incredibly cute, sweet, clever things)...but Magic always wanted to adopt kittens.

a cats dying wish canvas
by junipurr

Here's a cute, funny animal picture:

Cat sitting beneath Great Dane
by prophoto

Ads, Yes, But....

(This started out as a reply to an e-mail asking for money to support an e-magazine.)

I'm actually in favor of ads--if they're not obnoxious. Ads in the margins are fine if they don't ooze into the text. I don't particularly like looking at pictures of phones or cars, but some people do; no problem as long as they don't interrupt the actual article. Ads that actually support the content, like an ad for a book that links to a quote from the book, or an ad for a car that links to a report about driving the car, are a plus point.

It's just the "If you annoy people enough they'll forget how annoyed they were and remember your brand name" type of ads I hate. I do remember the brand names, and the annoyance, and I avoid those brands! If everyone thought the way I do, it'd pay Coke to sponsor pop-up ads for Pepsi. I survive without those. (Not necessarily eating every single day, but I survive.) So can you.

There's a whole category of people in cyberspace who've been told since kindergarten that we were freaks, geeks, and statistical outliers. One way to identify us is that we spend a lot of time in cyberspace and used computers before the year 2000. I could be wrong but I suspect there's a consensus in this group that the Advertising Age as TV understood it is over, at least for us--if it ever did include us. The way to market things to us is to stop screeching for attention and earn our trust. This means good products and strategically placed, supportive rather than distracting, promotion of those products.

One friend's pet blog, two weeks ago, had an obnoxious pop-up ad for a pet product. Another friend's pet blog featured a paid advertorial for a competing pet product. Guess which brand I'm looking for the next time I buy that kind of product?

I like it when, if an article cites a book, there's a link to the Amazon page readers can use to buy the book or at least look for it at the library, right on the page. For instance, Florence King, the book reviewer from whom I learned that a book review can be short and sweet, snarky and ranting, or anything else the book brings to mind, wrote her book reviews for print-only publication...but many of them would actually have worked better if they'd appeared online with Amazon links to the obscure books FK made interesting. You can see what I mean in this book...



And it would have been cool if P.J. O'Rourke's manic Car & Driver articles had appeared with links to the cars he reported driving, too. Readers would've known that buying the Latest Convertible would not give them the experience of driving full speed through the tourist traps of Mexico, but they might have had their own ideas about where to drive a convertible...



See how easy it is? Ads can support content. Content can support ads. But let's all make a New Year's resolution to banish obnoxious pop-up ads from web sites.

Mark Warner on Trans-Pacific Partnership

From U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA), in response to a petition some of us signed several weeks ago:

"

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership. I appreciate hearing from you on this important matter.

In general, I have been supportive of free trade agreements, which have helped Virginia's economy grow over the last decade. According to the Business Roundtable, from 2004-2014 Virginia's goods exports to free trade agreement (FTA) partners increased by 79%, compared to a 47% growth in exports to the rest of the world. The 2004 U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement enabled Singapore to become the fastest-growing market among the major buyers of Virginia's goods, with Virginia's exports to the country growing 783% between 2004 and 2011.

During the 114th Congress, the Senate has considered a series of four trade-related packages: the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)-Generalized System of Preference (GSP), Customs Enforcement, Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), and Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). The AGOA-GSP bill is a way for the U.S. to spur economic growth in developing economies and these programs have been proven to boost economies around the world. Strong customs enforcement ensures that the U.S. can take strong action against countries and companies who seek an unfair advantage against American manufacturers and competitors. The Trade Adjustment Assistance Package will help American workers who have lost their jobs due to trade get training and education for today’s globalized economy. Finally, TPA allows a trade agreement that meets explicit negotiating objectives ranging from human rights to environmental standards to benefit from an expedited process in Congress. In June of 2015, the Senate passed TPA, TAA, and AGOA-GSP, and the President signed these bills into law. On February 11, 2016, the Senate agreed to customs enforcement legislation (the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015) by a vote of 75-20, and the President signed it into law on February 24, 2016. I voted for all four of these measures, which taken together will protect American workers and allow the U.S. to set the rules of the road in global trade.

Congress is also expected to consider the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a proposed FTA among the United States and eleven other countries released by the Administration on November 5, 2015. If approved by Congress, it would be the largest FTA in which the United States participates. The agreement, which would eventually eliminate all tariffs on manufactured products and most agricultural goods, is a key element of our ongoing efforts to boost American exports and level the playing field in the growing markets of the Asia-Pacific–a region that includes some of the world’s fastest growing economies.

In 2014, Virginia exported $6.7 billion in goods to TPP partners–representing 35% of all goods exported in that year. By reducing tariffs for key products grown or manufactured in Virginia, the agreement has the potential to boost the Virginia economy and support jobs in the Commonwealth. I was also pleased to see that the Administration negotiated an agreement that contains both high labor standards and comprehensive environmental commitments.

While trade agreements have the ability to break down barriers and open up huge opportunities for America, it is very important to me that we do more as a country to make sure the benefits of trade agreements and international commerce are more evenly distributed. I understand why some people have expressed concerns about trade agreements. In the past, some states have done very well under trade deals, while others have not. Most of Virginia has been lucky to be on the winning end of trade, but in the past some areas, like Southside Virginia, have not seen the same benefits. That is why I am a strong advocate for onshoring initiatives that bring jobs to the United States and greater economic engagement between foreign-owned companies and rural America. In the 112th Congress, I joined my Virginia colleague, Representative Frank Wolf, in sponsoring bipartisan legislation called America Recruits, which would support new inbound investment into the United States. I reintroduced this legislation in October 2013.

It is critical that we not lose sight of the fact that many of our competitors, ranging from Canada and the European Union to China, India, and Brazil are signing market access agreements and trade deals as quickly as possible. They understand the value of securing favorable terms for their goods and services in an increasingly globalized world. With 95% of the world's consumers living outside the United States, gaining access to international markets is vital for future economic growth, which is why I support reasonable trade deals that open markets for businesses and create opportunities for American employees.

Again, thank you for contacting me. For further information or to sign up for my newsletter please visit my website at http://www.warner.senate.gov.

Sincerely,
MARK R. WARNER
United States Senator
"

Sammy Should Have Seen the Natural Tunnel

This post is especially for a blog hop I found here:

http://www.mochasmysteriesmeows.com/2016/12/come-fly-with-me-sammyto-vermont.html

Regrettably, Sammy's last post went up here:

https://onespoiledcat.wordpress.com/

If anyone else wants to take up the travel blog theme, this blog recommends visiting the Natural Tunnel State Park, which is sort of in between Clinchport and Duffield, Virginia. The main attraction is a natural tunnel through a limestone hill. It's literally big enough to run a train through...and a railroad company insists on running trains through the tunnel! Hiking trails, birdwatching, fishing, caving, wading, rafting, and open-air concerts are also offered by the Park Service.



(Photo from Creative Commons: File:2013.VA.NaturalTunnelSP.RyanBerkheimer (8339448556).jpg )

Elizabeth Barrette wrote a nice free-verse poem about the Natural Tunnel as part of a "Poetry Fishbowl" (a blog concept explained here:

http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/4142896.html )

She's promised to post the poem upon receipt of $10. Please feed the poet.

The Natural Tunnel is not to be confused with the Natural Bridge, another limestone formation in southwestern Virginia.



(Photo: Originally uploaded by Bill (Transferred by rohith_goura) - Own work (Originally uploaded on en.wikipedia), CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16522553 )

Thomas Jefferson ranked these rock formations among the "natural wonders of the world." They are certainly on the must-see list of nature scenes in Virginia.

I don't know whether this site could host a Blog Hop, but if you have an animal and/or travel blog, the comments section is designed to link to it...

New Book Review: Vegan 101

Fair disclosure: I received a review copy of this book, and am bumping the review out ahead of some other reviews to help publicize a new book as fast as possible.

Title: Vegan 101

Author: Heather Bell & Jenny Engel

Date: 2016

Publisher: Sonoma

ISBN: 978-1-943451-36-4

Length: 198 pages plus 16 pages of indices, including a one-page Gluten-Free Recipes Index

Illustrations: color photos

Quote: “[C]hefs have come to us…and confessed that they actually eat mostly veg at home.”

Since I'm known for sometimes brutally honest reviews, here's the brutal truth: If you're not buying it as a textbook for the authors' "Spork" vegan-cooking class, Vegan 101 is not the cookbook I'd recommend for the "101" level of vegan cooking. That's not at all a bad thing. The audience for this book is serious foodies, including professional chefs as well as Hollywood trendsetters, who already know a lot about cooking and want to add vegan masterpieces to their repertoire. If that category includes you, you will love Vegan 101, but you're on what I'd call the "201" level.

This book begins with some introductions to vegan foods, the vegan life, and vegan celebrities. The first chapter explains the differences between tofu (fermented soybean pulp), seitan (wheat gluten), and tempeh (fermented whole soybeans). The authors recommend a few favorite prepackaged “meat analogues” and nut/grain “milks” as well as vegan foods that substitute well for meats. (“Long, thin strips of seasoned carrot make an excellent pig-free bacon,” we learn; maitake mushrooms “lend a chicken-like texture,”  cooked lentils can be “a dead ringer for ground beef in Bolognese sauce or Sloppy Joes,” and steamed tempeh with mayonnaise and chopped onion is “a tuna salad facsimile.”) 

I have to deduct a few points from this introductory chapter for formatting. Magazine-style, single-paragraph-block formatting isn't pretty, and when three distinct threads of introductory material--celebrity testimonials, nutrition information, and discussion of specific vegan food products--are mashed up in side-by-side columns, the distraction level is high enough to make one paragraph positively confusing:

“One long-standing vegan baker’s hack is to add a couple tablespoons of flax meal to the dry ingredients of any baking recipe. (In this book, you’ll notice that many of our recipes call to follow this method.) Another option is to  combine these two ingredients and let the mixture sit for 10 minutes. The result of this kitchen chemistry exercise is a clear, viscous liquid…”

Which two ingredients? Flaxseed meal and water? Flaxseed meal and the prepackaged Vegan Egg (seaweed-based) product discussed two pages back, before a list of food sources of key nutrients was plopped into the middle of the discussion of egg substitutes? 

Fortunately the recipes are presented in a nice, orderly, one-at-a-time format. 

How to describe the recipes? Well, this is California cuisine—what else could one expect from Sonoma Press?—so it’s hardly surprising that the authors assume you have access to all kinds of California-style health food store specialties, not necessarily available at every neighborhood Shop’n’Save. “The key to a delicious tofu scramble is lots of goodies,” including “vegan butter,” brown rice syrup, miso paste, “vegan breakfast sausage patties,” and “vegan smoked Gouda” as well as fresh lemon, chives, and basil. The French toast recipe is designed around prepackaged “vegan sourdough bread.” The muffins call for “vegan butter” (ordinary olive, corn, or canola oil, or even margarine, would also be vegan), “evaporated cane sugar,” and “vegan sour cream.”

Further along, the authors explain how to make your own vegan substitutes for some trendy foods. Their vegan ricotta recipe is made with cashews, tofu, lemon, sugar, salt, and nutmeg, in a blender. Their vegan sausages are a vegetable loaf, which is delicious if you have fresh ingredients, featuring mushrooms, nuts, onion, and garlic. Their hollandaise sauce is also based on cashews. However, this cookbook does not reliably explain how to make each of the vegan “analogues” for every trendy food listed. In some recipes the authors tell you how to make “tofu feta” (chopped firm tofu with miso paste and seasonings) and in others they just tell you to buy “vegan cheddar.” Can you find it? They don't know. They seem to have chosen which meat and cheese analogues to teach you to make, and which to tell you to buy (and good lu-uck!), based on space in the book and probably which of their own recipes for these things have been most successful.

Recipes are organized into breakfast dishes, salads, soups and stews,  “handhelds” (sandwiches and other ways to wrap up veg in breads), main dishes (including bean-bread fritters), and desserts. A recipe for seasoning chopped nuts and mushrooms to make a vegan “chorizo” may be new and unique to this book, and is worth adding to your collection. Then there’s Cappuccino Chocolate Bark, a relatively simple chocolate candy, and a “caramel” made with ground dates…

I’m not surprised that this collection of tasty and trendy recipes wins raves from the Bright Young Things in Hollywood. As noted above, if I were hosting a “cooking school” like the ones Grandma Bonnie Peters hosts, I would not assign Vegan 101 as the “101” level cookbook. That would be Vicki Griffin’s Guilt-Free Gourmet. The “102” level would be the McDougall cookbooks. Vegan 101 is, however, an exciting “201” level cookbook. I'm glad I have it; before I'll sell my copy in real life I just have to try that chorizo recipe.

And of course, as the authors mention…you don’t have to commit to the vegan lifestyle to learn to cook vegan food. If you want to feed a multitude, a cool, trendy thing to do is offer a choice of meat-based and vegan dishes. Observe how, in some cases, the vegan dishes are devoured first. McDougall vegan specialties are, in my experience, likely to make the meat eaters (and wheat eaters) complain if you didn't make enough for them too, no matter how many meat, wheat, and cheese dishes you've set forth...I'm guessing that some of these "Spork" vegan recipes will have similar effects.

December 1 Link Log

I'm still way behind on e-mail. Will I ever catch up?! Categories: Animals, Books, Censorship, Disasters, Food, Funny, Pictures, Politics, Women's Issues...today there's not even time for Zazzle links.

Animals 

It's another cat day (in terms of Petfinder links). Again, the first animal-related page featured Mudpie the tortoiseshell cat. To be fair, today I looked for gray cats:

Zachary from New York: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/36092172

Daffodil from D.C.: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/35499448

Blossom from Atlanta: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/35770173

Books 

The teasers for Small Town Roads keep coming. I hope this book stays in print long enough that I can buy it by participating in just-barely-paying web sites.

http://mausersandmuffins.blogspot.com/2016/12/ive-much-come-to-conclusion-that-my.html

Meanwhile, it occurs to the folks at Awakin, and it seems possible to me, that some young readers may not yet have discovered Annie Dillard--a superstar writer/philosopher who retired after writing more than half a dozen books full of this kind of lush, sensuous writing:

http://www.dailygood.org/story/1452/annie-dillard-on-seeing-annie-dillard/

If you like the clips, here's the classic book. (Dillard was from Pennsylvania, but there's little argument that she did her best writing in and about Virginia.) And I apologize to readers of my own generation, all of whom I'm sure already own Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, but I've spent almost the whole day on book reviews, and am reaching a point of Amazon Overdose. Time to go home and let it wear off...in the literary company of P.J. O'Rourke, whose book about our generation came in the mail along with the three books about California cuisine.



Censorship 

Rick Santorum states the case:

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/12/01/watch-rick-santorum-politely-destroy-obnoxious-liberal-hecklers/

Disasters 

Dolly Parton has always been unmatchable, but if any rich people are reading this, youall are welcome to try.

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/12/01/tennessee-native-dolly-parton-is-helping-wildfire-victims-get-back-up-on-their-feet/

Don't we all thank fire fighters? And thank God for them?

http://itsjustlife.me/showing-thankfulness-comments-cause/

Food (Yum) 

"Anybody can quit cold turkey...it's harder to quit smoking." This web site hopes that none of you ever even started smoking. For those who'd like to continue using up the cold turkey, here's a tangy salad recipe (arguably even better without the turkey) shared by Bruce at Grassfire:

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/cranberry-turkey-salad?ecd=wnl_dab_112816_socfwd&ctr=wnl-dab-112816-socfwd_nsl-ld-stry_1&mb=

He also shared this recipe for those who've finished the turkey and want to move on to something warm:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/slow-cooker-chipotle-chicken-stew.html

Funny 

Cards Against Humanity raised $71,000 by asking people to send them $5 for nothing? I want their mailing list! Gentle Readers, for years I've been asking you to send me $5 for this blog!

http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=77713d21ff56f1c126607d2c5&id=593edd3b4d&e=39cf8b2be9

Pictures 

Here's the kind of honeysuckle that's native to the Eastern States, still blooming in an oncoming snowstorm:

http://naomi-the-naturenerd.blogspot.com/2016/11/improbable-flowers.html

The photo is the interesting part of this post...Could this story have been faked? It's not hard to burn away the less dramatically relevant parts of a printed page. If the page was deliberately burned...would that make the message less relevant? Your call, Gentle Readers.

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/11/30/dollywood-employee-discovers-divine-warning-on-fire-ravaged-bible-page-in-tennessee/

Here's a proposed flag for asexuals:

http://acesareroyaltytoo.tumblr.com/image/153861412361

Politics 

Supporting Scott Adams' claims that President-elect Trump, who can seem a clumsy communicator, is in fact a past-master of communication in his way...because this...is...brilliant. By casting his dutiful daughter as the token leftist in his White House (and the only female he's ever really loved), Donald Trump has set up a strategy that will allow him to appease the Loony Left as much as necessary, while acting the Raunchy Rightist as much as his fans demand. (He's learned from W Bush, whose "bipartisan appeal" to serious politics-watchers, as well as his ability to adapt the "blonde" stereotype whether he was physically qualified to use it or not, gave W a second presidential term regardless of how many speeches W made deploring the very things his administration had done during his first term.)

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/12/01/report-ivanka-trump-wants-to-fight-climate-change-as-first-daughter/

Did SA's post actually call Ivanka's announcement before it happened? I had opened this post hours before that Blaze report went live. (I hadn't read and linked it, though. Before leaving the computer center I usually open a dozen or so pages I then try to read offline or, if not, read in the morning.)

http://blog.dilbert.com/post/153865618451/the-idea-you-are-least-likely-to-believe

The idea that the President-elect knows what he's doing becomes alarming when Trump (or his social media consultant) referred to ISIS "taking credit," as opposed to blame, for the Ohio attacks.

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/11/30/after-isis-praises-osu-attacker-as-soldier-trump-says-he-never-should-have-been-here/

Women's Issues 

I'm quoting from Penny Nance's e-mail, with its embedded links, in memory of a Cherokee teenager in Tennessee who told me, with passionate intensity, how teachers and social workers had urged her to "choose" abortion over adoption. (She had chosen adoption--and maintained her choice with credible threats of violence.) Marilou Awiakta and Alice Walker had some more to say on this subject, back in the 1990s, and PN reports that the situation is not improving.

"
Minority women do need access to quality health care. But abortion is not health care. And that is Planned Parenthood’s focus.

Annual abortions to African-Americans and Hispanics account for 55.4% of all abortions reported by race. That number is very troubling considering the fact that black and Hispanic women comprise only 29% of the total U.S. population.

Big Abortion’s targeting of minority communities must be stopped today!

I refuse to believe that the best way to help poor minority women who are pregnant is to tell them the only way to better themselves is to abort their babies. We need to support them and their babies through community health centers whose revenue is not through abortion.
"

New Book Review: Dutch Oven Obsession

Yesterday I received three shiny-new review copies of cookbooks. (I need more cookbooks like I need more holes in my head, but then again a bookseller can't be said to have too many books as long as the bookseller can walk through the racks and stacks...these are cute, trendy, appetizing new cookbooks any foodie is sure to enjoy.) After yesterday's observation of how hasty a publisher was to write off a new novel before I could rack up enough points at low-paying web sites to pay for a copy, this morning I'm rescheduling the reviews of my books that were meant to go live in the next few days so youall can read about these new cookbooks fast. 

Title:  Dutch Oven Obsession

Author: Robin Donovan

Date: 2016

Publisher: Sonoma

ISBN: 978-1-943451-50-0

Length: 213 pages plus 12-page index

Illustrations: color photos

Quote: “Dutch ovens are the original slow cookers.”

A Dutch Oven, or French Oven, or Cocotte, is a big heavy pot with a cover. (Differences among pots marketed under each of these names are discussed in the introduction.) If you don't own a stove, you could set a Dutch oven in the coals to bake things; hence its name. These days Dutch ovens aren't widely marketed for camp or off-the-grid open-fire cooking, which can be hard on the pretty enamel finish, but if you want to sacrifice your pot's looks it will work over (or in) an open fire. Of course, Dutch ovens also work for stovetop cooking. Cookbooks most often recommend using your Dutch oven for bringing things to a boil on the stove and then slowly stewing them on lower heat. In this book, Robin Donovan’s goal is to show that this versatile pot works for baking and frying, too.

Donovan calls it “the only pot you’ll  ever need.” True? Definitely true if you cook a lot of full-size family-type dishes. Then again, that’s actually an efficient way some urban singles like to cook…a few big meals on the weekly or biweekly cooking day, and lots of leftovers stored in serving portions in the freezer. It's worth keeping a one-quart saucepan and/or microwave dish--"A little pot is soon hot" when you just want to heat up a serving portion. However, the case can be made that, for one or two people just building their very first nest, the Dutch oven may be the most valuable pot to buy first...especially if they have this book.

That being the case, though, this book is not really written with students and newlyweds in mind. Donovan has written other cookbooks and is addressing an audience of foodies and cookbook collectors who are looking for novelties. That audience won't be bored with explanations of how to cook plain rice, scrambled eggs, or stir-fried veg in Dutch Oven Obsession. If you buy this book along with a Dutch oven for a first-apartment-warming party gift, you might want to add something for the first-time cook to the package.

A Dutch oven is basically a big casserole, so naturally a lot of Donovan’s recipes are for casseroles. They start with “French Toast casserole” and “Bread Pudding,” which are almost the same thing—dried bread, reconstituted with nutritious milk and eggs, and flavored with fruit (and sugar, vanilla, rum, cinnamon, etc.).  Other breakfast alternatives to whip up in your Dutch oven include baked coffee cakes, savory egg “strata” casseroles, deep-fried fritters, quiche, egg frittatas, and chilaquiles.

Side dishes can be prepared in “mini-cocottes” (smaller baking dishes that nestle inside the Dutch oven), or just baked, fried, or stewed like main dishes. Again, Donovan highlights the Dutch oven’s versatility with a wide assortment of fairly large and elaborate recipes, including a big batch of Bourbon-Spiked Cranberry Sauce recommended for Thanksgiving feasts.

After a chapter full of soup and stew recipes, the main dish recipes begin refreshingly with vegetarian ideas including pasta, shakshuka, ratatouille,  tikka masala, risotto, cassoulet…and lasagna. That’s a trendy Butternut Squash Lasagna with Spinach Béchamel—Donovan assumes you know how to adapt the technique to your favorite traditional tomato-sauce-flavored lasagna recipes. There’s also a recipe for the latest thing in trendy supermarkets, smoked tofu (with a corn-enhanced chili).

Seafood options include a Dutch oven Clam Bake as well as the predictable stews, poached fish, fried fish, and roasted fish dishes. Poultry recipes include a relatively basic chicken and rice, braised chicken, chicken tagine, and duck cassoulet, but also fried chicken, chicken potpie, Turkey Shepherd’s Pie, and roasted whole chicken.  Red meat recipes likewise include the pot roast, stuffed cabbage, jambalaya, and braised meats you’d expect, plus tacos.

You might not have tried actually baking in a Dutch oven, but Donovan offers recipes for crusty loaf breads, fruit-nut breads, pull-apart bread, biscuits, cornbread, rolls, and scones. She also offers recipes for making jam in the Dutch oven. Finally, desserts include the bread pudding and rice pudding you probably expected, but also cake, clafouti, beignets, and custard.

Donovan’s taste runs to the trendy and pricey, and she’s partial to flavoring things with substances recovering alcoholics should not keep in the house. If you’re enough of a “foodie” to want to try these experiments, you’re probably enough of a “foodie” to know what you can simplify and substitute without feeling that all the fun has gone out of a new recipe.

If you’re looking for new-and-different recipes to impress your friends (or your children), and not looking for a new, elaborate, or noisy kitchen gadget, here’s a selection of unusual ways to have fun with a basic kitchen item you probably already own.

If you’re on a restricted diet, you should find plenty of things you can eat here. Most recipes call for milk, egg, cheese, wheat, meats, sugar, or other ingredients many people need to avoid, but no recipe calls for all of them and each chapter offers a couple of recipes that don’t include any one specific ingredient you might want to avoid. Frankly, the hardest diet to cook for, with these recipes, would be a low-calorie diet. The proportion of butter, oil, and meat grease to grains, veg, lean meat, or fruit is lower than it would have been fifty years ago, but the Dutch oven does call for fairly generous lubrication, and these are not low-calorie or low-carb recipes either.

If you like having to wash only one pot per cooking spree, this cookbook is for you. Five stars.