Mysterious Feasts

Harold Little Feather is working undercover, embedded in a Montanan off-the-grid militia group, when he is pulled to investigate a series of defacements in the Smith River canyon. A battle is raging between those in favor of allowing copper mining in the canyon and conservationists who fear a major environmental catastrophe. Someone is erecting macabre scarecrows near the river and potentially damaging ancient petroglyphs as the culprit writes "Not on My Watch" on canyon walls near the statues. Harold arrives, bringing his newly discovered son along, just as a documentary film-maker joins leaders from both sides of the controversy in a river trip led by Sean Stranahan, the central character of this series. Although Sean plays an important role in the plot, this is ultimately Harold Little Feather's story as his undercover work dovetails with his investigation of the scarecrows. The plot includes a fair amount of violence, but the book has a very character-centered feel ...

Full disclosure, I'm not a cake lover. I really can take it or leave it, and most often choose the latter. However, my "Literate Foodie" bookclub is discussing this one, along with sampling cakes made from the recipes, so I read it. I found it charming. The illustrations are adorable, and the musings about cake give the reader something to think about. Cake is seen as not just a food, but really more of a centerpiece for gatherings with the bonus of also being delicious. There are only 17 recipes, and the majority of those seem to be nothing special. If you are a baker, though, perhaps you will see them as innovative in a way the I can't perceive. Each of the recipes comes with a few notes, and those provide a bit of information the reader may not already know. The illustrations have little to do with the specific recipes provided, and the personal narrative included with the illustrations references cakes for which there is no recipe included. It was a quick...

The world of catering that is explored in this book is not your run-of-the-mill catering, unless you happen to be a multi-millionaire. This book shows what it is like to produce $2,000 or $3,000 a plate meals in makeshift kitchens, night after night. Or even some $10,000 a plate dinners, and sometimes for thousands of guests. This stratospheric level of catering requires chefs and staffs with every bit of the skill required for top restaurants, but it requires a very different personality type. The Lee's book alternates between chapters based on interviews and chapters based on their own experiences as they take on the lowest level responsibilities in the catering kitchens. They set the scenes well, making me feel as though I were in, say, the Metropolitan Museum of Art to cook for a fundraising event or at the estate of an uber-wealthy client serving up a highly individualized wedding feast. The customers, whether they are event planners or pampered brides, are more than just c...

This is a mashup of historical, contemporary romance, and cooking, with a soupcon of mystery thrown in. A young woman goes to work for a cooking magazine, discovers some hidden letters which may have historical significance, and becomes obsessed with finding the writer. Along the way, she finds herself and a new beau. The best part of the book is contained in the descriptions of the the food and other cooking related scenes.

The first thing is, this is a young adult book. It has short chapters and sentences, and the descriptions of the horror of the experience are not graphic. As does any children's book, it has hope. In fact, it is suffused with hope even though it describes the movement of a group of refuges moving through the interior of Prussia in an attempted escape from the Russians on the Wilhelm Gustloff during its fateful sinking. The book is told from the first-person perspective of four characters: a young nurse, an equally young art restorer, a Polish girl, and a German sailor. Chapters move from character to character, giving different perspectives on the same event as well as propelling the story along. Each of these four main characters truly comes to life, but so do many of the minor characters with whom they interact. The book is well constructed and does what the author intends, which is to send the reader to researching more about this maritime disaster. In today's world, it r...

This book has actually kindled an interest in food writing for me. I'm quite sure I have not enjoyed a book about food so much previously. Lohman has a conversational style that is easy to read as she takes a historical perspective on eight flavors that have gone from no American influence to staples in an American kitchen. These are black pepper, vanilla, garlic, soy sauce, MSG, chili, curry, and sriracha. We learn about the people who championed the flavors, how they made it into our culinary culture, why we like them, and what they are used for. Scattered throughout the chapters are recipes adapted from historical uses. I tried the fish curry and we really enjoyed it. In the end, the author offers some suggestions about what might become the ninth flavor, and I guess we'll just have to wait to see.