Book Review- Vibrant India

I’ve always shied away from Indian recipes, afraid I wouldn’t be able to make them and that they wouldn’t turn out good. So I was excited to get this book, it’s a great introduction to South Indian recipes.

Chitra Agrawal starts her book with a quick overview of South Indian food traditions and some background on her family. Then, she gets into tips and techniques, and discusses spices, what you’ll need to stock in your pantry, and tools.

She makes her recipes easy to follow and most are accompanied by photos, which is very helpful for those who are unfamiliar with the dishes. I love the beautiful photos of the food, and the vibrant illustrations at the start of each chapter.

The recipes even have what season they go with, which is useful if you eat in season fruits and vegetables or want to start.

In all, I really like this book and would recommend it to people who want to eat more vegetarian meals, or would like to learn Indian cooking.

 

*Disclaimer- I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for a review.

Book Review – The Whole Coconut Cookbook

I like coconut, and like to use it in many recipes, so I was excited to receive this book. It has lots of information on different coconut products, such as coconut milk, cream, flour, sugar. Coconut sugar is my favorite sugar substitute because it’s natural and it adds a subtle flavor to baked goods, plus it has nutrients that other sugars and sugar substitutes don’t.

The recipes all look so fresh, delicious and healthy! There’s even a drink section, which I think is great, and I can’t wait to try the spiced hot chocolate with orange vanilla whipped cream! And the whipped cream is made from coconut milk, of course, and so it’s dairy free which is important to me because I have a child with milk allergy. There’s salads, main dishes, breakfast, desserts, snacks, this book has lots of recipes. And they’re not just re-makes of the same old thing replacing the dairy with coconut. No, these are new dishes, and that’s refreshing to me.

I only wish there was a picture for more of the recipes, that’s always my main complaint with cookbooks, that there aren’t enough pictures. I want to know what I’m making and I want to see how it’s supposed to look. The pictures they do have are very nice though, and make me want to try all the recipes!

 

*Disclaimer: I was sent this book in exchange for a review from Blogging for Books.

Well, that was weird.

I’m pretty sure this is going to be my ‘what did I just read?!’ book of the year! It was interesting but…bizarre. I love James May, but I have to wonder what he was thinking writing this!

The detail it goes into…I don’t suggest this as reading material on a plane, it may make the crew nervous because they may think you’re going to hijack the plane and land it on the Isle of Wight to lead a take over. And if that doesn’t go to plan, and you crash in the mountains and run out of food, you’ll be able to cook up your fellow passengers so you yourself and other survivors won’t starve.

Yes, there is a chapter titled ‘How to Prepare and Eat Your Best Mate.’ I didn’t know that either when I bought the book. Oh, James, seriously…what the heck were you thinking?

I wonder if they had a copy of this book at Terminus….hmmm…

Book Review- Life-Changing Magic, A Journal

 

To start off, this is a companion to the book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up which I’m sure most of us have all heard of. And as such I was hoping that this journal would have daily prompts, or at least weekly ones, to connect it to the theme of tidying up and changing your outlook/mood/life or something like that. But it doesn’t, there are no prompts. It’s a basic daily journal with space for three years where you can enter the date and there are six lines to write a short entry. There are no prompts and so I don’t really see the point of it to be honest.

It also has the line ‘Does it spark joy?’ at the top of some of the pages, and there are pages at various points throughout the journal with an inspirational quote from the original book, but it just doesn’t have much substance at all. You could do the same with a blank journal.

*Disclaimer: I was sent this book in exchange for a review from Blogging for Books.

Book Review – The Homemade Kitchen

This book is big, that was my first reaction. The second was that I really liked the rustic look of the pie (or is it a tart) on the cover.

As I said, it’s a big book, there’s lots of information inside, from the basics of steaming vegetables, to roasting a chicken, making jam, and even making cheese and tofu. I’m not that adventurous but I think it’s pretty cool to include it for those who want to. There are even tips on composting and using more reusable items in the kitchen, like cloth napkins, to reduce waste.

There’s not a picture for every recipe, my one complaint about the book, but the pictures it does have are beautiful, and  and make me want to try all the recipes. I’ve bookmarked the popovers, chèvre cheesecake with mint and berries, and chicken pot pie to make once I actually have the time.

I thought the animal cracker and goldfish recipes were unique, I’ve never seen recipes to make your own before, I didn’t even know you could! And they look so cute and rustic. Parents who want to make healthy snacks for their kids that aren’t mass produced would appreciate that.

 

Disclaimer: I was sent this book in exchange for a review from Blogging for Books.

 

 

 

Three Books From 2015

This year I read a lot, more than I have in a very long time. According to my goodreads account, I’ve completed 21 books. Looking at my reading challenge, my goal of which was to read 15 books, I saw books that I barely remembered reading and others that were completely forgotten about, then there were some that I still think of from time to time.

So I thought I’d put together a post of three books. They don’t have to be favorites and only one of these actually is, but perhaps the ones I felt left an impression on me or stood out to me the most, or I felt most strongly about. It was difficult to limit to only three and there’s a couple more I would have liked to have added here but I wanted to limit them!

While I know there’s another month and a half left to the year, I also know how busy I am this time of year so I better do it now while I still have the time! And just to point out now, I won’t give away any details of the books, because who wants to know what’s going to happen before they read something? Especially the end, so don’t worry if you haven’t read them, there are no spoilers here!

First up is also the first book I finished, the Mists of Avalon:

I remember when I would see displays of this book at Crown Books and Barnes and Noble way back in the 1990’s! And I wanted to buy it and read it, I loved the cover and I loved fantasy back then. But I never did get it, it was expensive and my mom wouldn’t buy it for me. So when I saw it for $5 at a used book store, I snatched it up and then it sat in my bookcase for a couple of years until I finally got started reading it a year ago. It took me a while to finish, and I was honestly a little disappointed with it, or maybe a lot…it’s a huge book, just under 1,000 pages and while a lot happens, nothing happens. A lot of it was slow going. And I was so disappointed with the characters who didn’t do anything to change their lives themselves.

They allow so much to happen that they don’t want to happen or don’t like or even hate, but they really don’t act in their own lives! Events occur and it’s almost as if they sit and watch it unfolding and happening, as though they’re pawns with no will of their own! And when they finally do something, it’s honestly just too late. And that was my biggest problem with this book. My favorite parts were so short and everyone is pretty much miserable the entire book. The dialogue is mostly the characters rehashing what was already said or what they were thinking, it was too repetitive! But while it was a let down, and definitely not a favorite, I still find myself thinking about the characters, mostly Morgana, and wishing they had done something, and imagining how much better this story could have been. Yes, women’s lives in medieval times were not exciting and they had strict social constructs to conform to and stay within, but this is a work of fiction and there is so much that could have been done with this story. I was also expecting more magic and fairies…

Next is this one, the Sweetapolita Bake Book.

Yes, it’s a cookbook. But look at it! It’s so cheerful and makes me happy to look through it, I must say it is a favorite. I’ve followed Rosie’s blog for several years and was so excited for this book. I know my baking will never be like hers, no where close, but I can still dream, right? Besides that, the recipes are great. The ones I’ve tried taste amazing. It’s also fun just to look at the pictures in this book, I love the photography and coloring.

Third is the Birth of Venus:

It has some mixed reviews, but I rather enjoyed reading it, until the end that is. I still think about it…without giving much away, all I can say is that I don’t like what the main character did, and I don’t like that her closest friend helped her do it, I personally don’t think she would have gone along with it so easily or at all. And I thought her choice to put herself where she ended up, and that ultimately lead her to do what she did, was strange and went against everything she wanted and tried to achieve throughout the entire book. And we get no closure about two other important characters, none whatsoever. It was a frustrating ending to say the least. But I guess that’s how some stories are, not all of them have happy endings and you don’t know what happens to everyone…and I’m not against reading books like that. Though it is really very frustrating because I really want to know what happened to the others!

Next, I’m planning to make a ‘to read’ list of books I already have for 2016, and will share later. I have far too many unread books in my house…

Book Review- Owls, Our Most Charming Bird

I selected this most charming book mostly for my kids, the cover is adorable and I hoped they would find the book entertaining and learn a little something at the same time. And they did. It’s such an adorable book, and we all enjoyed looking at the illustrations, and then reading the short bit of information about the breeds.

There isn’t a whole lot of information, just a short paragraph or so, and it’s mostly how the owl looks, where it might live, and even mentions some superstitions about them.

I like that the owls are categorized by chapters depending on where they live, such as the tropics, desert, woodlands and so on.

It’s a cute little book, would make a great addition to anyone’s book collection, especially owl lovers!

*Disclaimer, I received this book in exchange for a review from Blogging for Books.

Book Review – Citrus

Here’s a cookbook that features citrus in each and every recipe, that and the cover really caught my attention. I love the bright taste of citrus in my food and can’t wait to try some of these. They are organized by what course they belong to in the beginning of the book, but the chapters are divided by what citrus fruit is being used.

The first chapter is titled ‘Citrus Basics’ which gives you information about buying, storing, and using the fruits.

I like that there’s both sweet and savory recipes, and even drink and jam recipes included! While I did enjoy the book and think it’s a nice addition to a cookbook collection, I think the one drawback is that there’s not pictures for all the recipes, though it looks like about half, or there about, do have pictures. That’s one thing I dislike about cookbooks, when there’s no picture of what the recipe is for, it really helps so you know if you’ve made something right or not.

Disclaimer: I was sent this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for a review.

Book Review – How to Get Hijab Ready

I’ve been thinking about making a blog off and on and decided I would just do it. So here I am, making my first post, and it happens to be a book review. I love reading and I try to read many different books.

I bought this book, How to Get Hijab Ready, by Megan Wyatt and Aisha Elwan, through the Launch Good website to help the funding of it, and was excited when it reached (and surpassed!) it’s goals. Having two daughters who are growing up, I was so happy and excited to see that someone took the time to write a book like this. Many are very scholarly, or too serious for young children. I wanted them to see hijab in a positive way. And how can you not with such a cute book?

I have to admit, I only skimmed through the book once I got it, we were so busy with in-laws visiting, and getting ready for Ramadan and then I had to wrap it up as a gift for the kids. So when I had some free time yesterday afternoon, I got it from my daughters book shelf and read it.

It’s really cute and colorful, and I love that it’s well written. My experience with Islamic children’s books have been hit and miss, and sadly mostly miss in regards to English grammar, sentence structure and flow. So to find one that was well written made me very happy. My kids enjoyed it as well, so that’s another plus!

It’s a nice book to introduce girls to hijab, without coming off as preachy or hellfire and brimstone. Hijab is important, and it’s important to approach it in a positive way, and this book does just that.

You can find the book at the website here if you’re interested!