Recommended Book

Gale Gand's Brunch! 100 Fantastic Recipes for the Weekend's Best Meal, Gale Gand and Christie Matheson

I saw this in a bookstore and immediately stopped and opened it up because the cover photo looks delicious! I put the book on hold at my home library and read it from cover to cover. It is one of the most accessible cook books that I have read recently (and I have read many). You don't have to go out and buy a special appliance, nor do you have to shop at a gourmet food store to create the recipes. This is good home cooking! From simple coffee recipes (yes, she has a recipe for cinnamon coffee) to the ham cups on the cover, I got felt excited and at ease in reading the recipes.

Now, for the big disclaimer, I didn't make one recipe. Not one. I got as far as buying the ingredients for the ham cups, and then asked myself if it made sense to make 12 servings for 1 person. As I rethink that delimma, I have included a list of cookbooks that I've read and that I would say take a pass on, unless you have specialized appliances, excellent ethnic food stores nearby, and the patience of Job.

• The Sneaky Chef:Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kid's Favorite Meal, Missy Chase Lapine


• The Sneaky Chef: How to Cheat on Your Man (In The Kitchen!), Missy Chase Lapine


• Deceptively Delicious, Jessica Seinfeld


• Morgan Freeman and Friends: Carribean Cooking for a Cause, Morgan Freeman ( this was written for a good cause; to help the people of Grenada).


• Estefan Kitchen: Emilio Estefan, Gloria Estefan

Honeymoon In Tehran

Honeymoon In Tehran by Azadeh Moaveni

This book ran counter to my expectations. I had expected an easy read with clear road signs. What I read is much more complex and interesting. It opened a society that had been closed to me and where the majority of information I received about Iran was through the local or national media. In other words, I dutifully paid attention when I heard the word "nuclear".

At first, I found her writing style to be difficult to read. I was unfamiliar with Persian or Arab words and wished that she included an index of definitions or pronunciations. That being said, she grabs with her attention to detail and the ability to show the mundane as the complex. I was drawn into her dail decision making, the farmer's market that she frequents, the foods that she eats. I was placed her world of wearing manteau's and scarfs, being pregnant and giving birth a world away from her own birthplace, and more importantly her love for her family and her work. This book details two years of living in a Iran, a place that is not always welcoming to journalists (her profession) and it gives everyday Iranian in life in great, exhuberant detail.

This is a must read and I hope you enjoy it.

Books to Read

My recommended book this month is Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.

I enjoyed this book for several reasons: The chapter on Italy (Eat) is fantastic! I imagined Rome and eating the best pizza in the world in Napoli. Quite frankly, l loved thinking about food as I read about her journey. It also struck me as a bold, courageous move to do something so outrageous as to move to Italy for several months to learn Italian.

But, the book isn't just about eating in Italy, it's also about her stay at an Ashram in India (Pray), which for me was the most difficult part of the book, but also necessary. It's a very personal journey that she shares with us.

The last chapter takes place in Indonesia (Love) and it is very open and beautiful. If you want to be a part of one woman's spiritual journey, I would recommend Eat Pray Love. If not, I have a wonderful cook book that you might be interested in.

Oh yes, an Ashram is a secluded dwelling of a Hindu sage, or the group of disciples instructed there or a religious retreat. Definition courtesy of Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary.