Review + Recipe: End of Times

Review: The Age of Miracles

by Karen Thompson Walker
Entering your teens can be an earth-shattering experience for any girl, usually including a brick-hard belief that the world is going to end if something does, or does not, happen the way it should. Everything is drama and high emotion.
Imagine if that coming-of-age is played out at a time when the world really is moving to a close.
In The Age of Miracles, a young girl named Julia begins a normal Saturday with her family, until the news emerges that the Earth has begun to slow down. At first the movement is small, barely noticeable, just adding 56 minutes to the usual 24-hour day. But as the planet slows more and more each day, bigger changes occur. Birds fall from the sky, crops begin to fail, insomnia strikes as the hours of daylight shift and slow. Morning becomes night and night becomes noon. Gravity pulls and pushes the human body in unhealthy ways. And there is absolutely nothing that can be done to stop it.
At first, there is a faction of "normals" who want to, who need to, retain a sense of normalcy despite the reality that is right in front of them. Eventually though, even they must give in to the inevitable. After all, how do you stick to a schedule when the clock (and the government) tells you to go to school as the sun goes down? Why bother with your job or paying bills as you watch all the plants wither around you? Does that "normal" life make sense when nothing will ever be the same?
In this crazy, tilting world, Julia's personal life mirrors the larger events surrounding her, with a constant moving landscape of parental problems, boy issues, and raging hormones.
Julia finds it difficult to keep her footing on the shifting ground of her life, and that's without the grander scale of problems created by the Earth's slowing movement.
Walker does a deft job of juggling the larger picture of a descent into the end of time, and the smaller, but no less important, details of a young girl just at the start of her adult life. At the end, this isn't a sad tale, but rather a bittersweet look at the time in our lives where one chapter is ending and another very different one is beginning.

Recipe: My Last Best Meal

So let's say the planet is spinning out of control – or slowing down to a dead stop. What would be your last best meal? This is game often played on Top Chef, and I notice that the most common ingredient is calories. Lots and lots of calories. And why not, right? So here is my recipe for the one dish that I try to eat only once a year: Macaroni and Cheese. Makes 4 servings, unless the world is ending. If that is the case, just get a big spoon and dig right in. Portion control will be the least of your concerns.
1 pound macaroni
4 Tablespoons butter
3/4 cup diced onion
4 Tablespoons flour
3 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream (see why I try not to eat this?)
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 1/2 cups very sharp cheddar, grated
1 cup Swiss cheese, grated
1/2 cup Parmesan, grated
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup breadcrumbs
Cook pasta according to instructions and then set aside to cool. In saucepan, melt butter over medium heat and then add onion. Lightly season with salt and cook until onion is translucent. Add flour and cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly, but don't let it brown. Whisk in milk and cream slowly to create a creamy consistency. Bring mixture to a simmer, add bay leaf and cloves. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 25 minutes or until sauce begins to thicken. Turn off heat and remove bay leaf. Stir in
1 1/2 cups of cheddar and the Swiss cheese. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, then stir in the cooked macaroni. Spoon into 2 1/2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheddar, Parmesan, and breadcrumbs. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.

Let Me Eat Cake

Of all the sweets one could crave, cake is always near the top of my list. Usually right behind pie, of course.

Cake hits all the right nostalgic buttons, reminding us of celebrations gone by and birthdays we loved. I remember my mom's world-famous Sundrop Cake (well, world-famous in our house), the amazing four-layer rainbow cake she make for my sister's birthday, the German Chocolate cake that looked weird but tasted amazing, the prize-winning pound cakes my friend Julie bakes, and the first rolled cake I made that was missing a crucial ingredient (sugar).
A new book, Vintage Cakes, remakes classic recipes from bundts to angel food to chiffon. The tools and techniques may be updated, but the cakes themselves are delightfully old school, including Texas Sheet Cake, Honey Bee Cake, Kentucky Bourbon Cake, Daffodil Cake, and Watergate Cake. Some of the heirloom recipes date to the 1920s, and many had to be reconstructed back to "scratch recipes" rather than boxed recipes that became popular in the 1940s.
Since there are 50 recipes included, I'm seriously considering trying all of these recipes over the next year, one per week. So if you live near me, get ready to help me eat cake.

But I Still Won't Make Mayonnaise

I go through phases of wanting to be more like Julia Child and less like Lorelai Gilmore. I get all of my cookbooks out and decide that we will only eat homemade items. And then I come back to my senses.

With a new garden all ready to go for the spring, though, I'm getting excited about fresh soups and salads with some homemade loaves of bread. Much more doable.
When Jennifer Reese (of the great blog Tipsy Baker) lost her job, she went into a make-it-or-break-it panic, thinking that she needed to make everything that her family ate to save money. Once she started raising chickens and making her own peanut butter, though, she realized there should be a balance between the time and hassle of making everything and the convenience of purchasing some items at the store.
Make the Bread, Buy the Butter tracks Reese's learning curve with humor and great insights. She lists the items that are not worth making yourself based on a cost comparison and the amount of time/effort it takes. According to her kitchen-tested research, you should buy baguettes, rice pudding, corn dogs, and burritos. But you should cure your own meats, and make whipped cream, bagels, and pickles.
I'd rather make rice pudding than bagels (and yes, I've made both at home), but that's just me. I do draw the line at mayonnaise, which Reese says could go either way. Making mayo just has a high ick-factor for me.
Even if you don't decide to suddenly grind your own wheat, you'll get a kick out of Reese's commentary as she contemplates deep thoughts, like who in the world actually buys those frozen Uncrustables PB&J sandwiches.
She also offers some easy and fairly pain-free recipes for the things she recommends you make yourself. But my friend Julie – who desperately and strangely wants her own flock of chickens – will be bummed to learn that eggs are on the "buy" list. Chickens are a hassle, Julie. Trust me.

The Breakfast Controversy

Based on a few recent conversations, there appears to be a great divide in America. No, not Republican vs Democrat, or 1% vs 99%. It's bigger than that. And it's all about breakfast.

There are those who believe breakfast has a short-serve window of dawn to noon, and then there are those who believe it's the best meal for any time of day (or night). I am in the latter camp. I can eat breakfast no matter what time it is. I know I didn't coin the term, but we've called it "breakfast-dinner" in our family for years.
Pancakes at 7pm? Yes, please. Scrambled eggs for lunch? Sold. Why the crazy insistence on serving those delicious things before noon? After all, what is a quiche but an excuse to make a breakfast item more fashionable for those too chicken to admit they like morning food in the evening? I believe crepes were invented for the same reason. They're just pancakes when you get right down to it.
There are a lot of breakfast cookbooks out there, but many of them are too concerned with where the sun is in the sky. That's why I like The Big Book of Breakfast. Note the coverline: Serious Comfort Food for Any Time of the Day. Exactly.
All of my favorite food groups are represented:

• Fruit (Cooked Fruit Compote, Baked Filled Apples)
• Eggs (Swiss Baked Eggs, Frittata Saltimbocca)
• Pancakes (Sour Cream Pancakes, Spiced Orange Pancakes)
• Biscuits (Lemon-Scented Biscuits, Sausage and Gravy on Biscuits)
• Bacon (Breaded Breakfast Bacon, Bacon and Cheese Strata)

Everything is better with bacon. In fact, that could be my whole obsession with breakfast. It just gives me more opportunities for bacon-ingesting.
So which side are you on? Are you a rational being who understands that food is food, no matter what time it is? Or are you a freak who won't eat eggs once the little hand on the clock passes 12? Not that I'm biased...

Wednesday's Cookbook: Bravo

Top Chef: The Quickfire Cookbook

I have admitted that I have an addiction to books, so now that we're so close that we spill secrets, let me tell you another. I'm also addicted to Top Chef. I can't get enough of the show ― the cheftestants, Tom, Padma, the challenges ― I love it all. So if there is ever a lull in the series, it makes me crazy.
This summer there was a long void, and Bravo tried to fill it with Rocco's Dinner Party, which only gave me heartburn. But now we're back to my favorite Top Chef spin-off, Just Desserts.
Not only has the series created a huge television following, but it also has created a popular series of cookbooks. My favorite is The Quickfire Cookbook. A Quickfire Challenge on Top Chef is the appetizer to the show. It's usually a short, timed contest between the chefs, and involves crazy ingredients, a theme, and/or a blindfold. No matter how experienced or talented, the best chefs are tasked to the limit in the Quickfires.
The cookbook captures the pace and excitement of the show's segment, with recipes divided into chapters titled Ingredient Challenge, Time Challenge, Creativity Challenge, Technique Challenge, and Judges' Challenge.
Behind-the-scenes photos and insider information give a glimpse into how the episodes are filmed. My favorite bit describes the area where they film the show's dishes in all their glory as the "food porn" area. There are Fun Facts (like the fact that vanilla beans come from orchids), About an Ingredient (what exactly is in a Vienna Sausage?), and Useful Techniques (like how to butterfly chicken breasts).
Quotes from the cheftestants and in-depth bios showcase the best ― and the strangest ― characters from the show.
You can even create your own Top Chef at home, with tips on How to Throw a Quickfire Party, or Suggested Blind Taste Tests (that one could go very wrong).
But it's the recipes that shine. Despite the craziness thrown at the contestants, they are still able to create magic, like Sam's Tempura and Peach Sandwich; Stephanie's Shrimp, Pork and Banana Fritters; and Antonia's Poached Egg Salad. And then there's Hung's infamous Smurf Village on a plate. Oh yeah, it's in here, too. (2009 - Chronicle Books) 

Review and Recipe

Review: The Plot Against America

By Philip Roth

What if one thing in history didn’t turn out quite the same way? It's an interesting parlor game.

What if the Normans had failed in their invasion? What if the Czar and his family had not been shot? How would things be different if Hitler had died in jail? 

Philip Roth takes the twist-of-fate question one step further. In The Plot Against America, he asks: What if Charles Lindbergh had stepped into the fray in 1940 when the Republicans were searching for a candidate to beat Franklin D. Roosevelt?

Lindbergh was a hero to America in those days, with a dash of melancholy thrown in after the kidnapping and death of his son. Hero worship and some good PR can go along way in politics, as we all know. In Roth’s 1940, Lindy not only wins his party’s nomination, but the excitement of his celebrity and the nervousness over a looming World War carry him through to a huge presidential victory.

In the book, Lindbergh runs on the no-war ticket, promising America that he will keep the country out of “Europe’s problems.” In reality, America’s hero related to Adolf Hitler’s ideology and actually visited the German leader several times.

Roth plays on that bit of true history, expanding on it with Lindbergh’s eventual siding with Hitler on the “Jewish question.” But Lindbergh’s fictional Presidential administration makes the shift quietly and slowly, so slowly that most of the country doesn’t realize it’s happening. Unless they’re Jewish.

In a disquieting move (and by disquieting I mean effective and disturbing), Roth inserts this story into his own childhood, his own family. He plays out the Lindbergh scenario with his relatives as central players. They are Jewish and in the book they are also divided over Lindbergh’s intentions and decisions.

Philip’s brother, Sandy, participates in a Just Folks program that sends city kids to country farms to teach them about the land, but it might be a cover to convert Jewish children to Christianity. Their cousin Alvin sees the truth before most and joins the Canadian army to fight Hitler, only to return without a limb and without hope. Philip's aunt teams with a charismatic rabbi who assures the Jews that nothing sinister is afoot, and then finds himself arrested in the middle of the night.

Friends and family are caught up in a cultural and political shift that they can’t quite believe could happen in America. To speak against the government is considered “unpatriotic.” And small shifts in the political landscape create huge potholes for those on the wrong side of the ideological tracks.

Yes, that’s a shiver you feel. (2005 - Random House)

Other Recommended Books by Philip Roth - American Pastoral, Nemesis, Indignation

Recipe: Sour Cherry Pork Roast

Before you think I am entirely tasteless (pun intended) for partnering this pork recipe with a novel that is so focused on the Jewish faith, let me point out that pork is a very central plot point for the book. That and family. Years ago, I had an amazing pork roast that was similar to this. I played with the recipe and made it my own and now it is a dish I serve often for family occasions. That is why I chose this recipe to accompany The Plot Against America.

1 3-pound pork loin roast                                  1/4 tsp. salt

1 10-oz jar cherry preserves or jam                  1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup red wine vinegar                                   1/4 tsp. nutmeg

2 Tbs. corn syrup                                               1/4 tsp. cloves

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Salt and pepper the roast and then place on a shallow roasting pan rack. Roast for about 2 hours, uncovered. 

Meanwhile, combine all other ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes. The sauce should start to thicken. Remove roast from oven and brush about 1/3 of the sauce over the roast. Keep the rest of the sauce warm, but don't let it burn. Then continue cooking the roast for about 30 minutes, or until a meat thermometer hits 170 degrees when inserted in the roast. Remove roast and let rest for 10 minutes. Then slice and serve, with the rest of the sauce served in a bowl on the side. (Recipe my own)

Plant-Eating Dinosaurs

Quick Vegetarian Pleasures

by Jeanne Lemlin
When my daughter was 5, she infamously came into the kitchen where I was cooking dinner and informed that she was now a plant-eating dinosaur, not a meat-eating dinosaur. This was in her dinosaur-crazed era, obviously, and I took that to mean that we were role-playing.
I didn't realize that she had made a decision, right then and there, to be a complete vegetarian for four years. But that is exactly what she meant.
She stuck to it until she was 9. Imagine the fun in our house as I cooked for a cave-man-like carnivore husband and a meat-snubbing kid. And imagine the further fun as I searched for options to get protein into my growing child.
Now remember, this was before the all-cooking TV channels and the more mainstream discussions about being a vegetarian. As I do in times of crisis (okay...mini-crisis), I turned to the bookstore, where I discovered Quick Vegetarian Meals.
What made me choose this book above others? I'll be honest, it was the word "quick" and the word "vegetarian." The James Beard Award sticker on the front didn't hurt. I may not have had the Food Network, but I knew who he was.
I perhaps made a snap decision in the purchase, but over the years I have used this cookbook more than almost any other in my collection. I even scanned the battered and stained cover in all its glory so you could see just how much I love it.
The wonderful Jeanne Lemlin soothed my fears and introduced me to tempeh and tofu. She made me love to bake fresh loaves of quick bread and to use chickpeas in pasta and stews. Her eggless Best Chocolate Cake recipe is still the one I pull out for big events and the Fruit Juice Muffins will always remind me of Saturday mornings with my daughter.
I was worried before I wrote this item that perhaps this cookbook would no longer be in print. I should have known better. Far from being a dinosaur, it's still for sale and, in fact, if you Google the book's name you'll find many legions of fans. (1992 - Random House Publishing)

Wednesday's Cookbook

Jamie's Food Revolution

by Jamie Oliver
Jamie Oliver made his fame in Britain, and later here in the U.S., as the Naked Chef, known for simple recipes and fresh ingredients. Since that early beginning, Jamie has become a revolutionary, determined to bring more attention to the obesity epidemic, and drawing a parallel between that issue and the over-reliance on pre-packaged foods.
My daughter gave me this cookbook last year for my birthday. It's a companion book to the popular TV show of the same name. The concept of bringing attention back to the basics of food, and of cooking, really resonated with me. A recent poll that shows we as a country spent more on fast food than on education in a single year - a very scary thought.
The recipes are simple and delicious, with familiar and nutritious ingredients. The usual veggie/meat/fish chapters are included, along with more fun groupings like Easy Curries, Homely Ground Beef, and Kick-Start Breakfasts. Hands-down faves in our family are Evolution Tomato Salad and Super-Quick Salmon Stir Fry.
We've become such fans that my daughter and I ate at Jamie's Italian in Liverpool this summer. We didn't see Jamie (naked or otherwise), but it solidified our fan status for the chef, and this cookbook. (2009, The Penguin Group) 
Late-Breaking Addition - Just read that Jamie's Italian in Birmingham was destroyed last night by the riots that have flared up across England. I'm thinking of all the amazing cities and towns across England that have been impacted by the violence. My thoughts are with everyone there.