Summer Reading List 2013

*  Summer Reading List  *

*  2013  *

Welcome girls and boys to another list of books to read during your summer break!

But look how pretty the day is?

It's June 23, and you may have started your summer vacations. Mine must be lost in the mail! Have y'all been lying under the sun, getting sand in all your shoes and clothes, jumping into swimming pools or the sea, eating watermelon and pop sickles? Made you believe we had nothing up our sleeves huh? Oh, you thought you were free from this year's homework, didn't you? Liberated this year from your summer assignments since you didn't receive it in the mail 2 weeks ago, huh? Well too bad! We are just not an efficient school mailer. We got caught up in paperwork and a general lack of free time, but you have it now!

Damn I envy you all. I mean, I may have always looked forward to the reading assignments summer would bring, but that was mostly because I loved reading in between the fun moments of sunshine! I've been in England, where it feels like early spring in NY. All clouds, wind, awkward rain, and always needing a sweater! Come on weather Gods, what gives?! I didn't move to the Bay area! I'm not hunting for glittering bastards up in the pacific northwest! I miss the heat, the sunshine, the coconut oil! Even the stench of Manhattan in Mid July!

    

The Summer of Experimenting! 

Since the weather is driving me indoors most of the time, and my paint-by-numbers habit costs money, I needed something to do that will entertain without breaking the bank. I really want to broadening my recipe horizons. Last year, one of the books required some pretty pricey tools. And even though I borrowed most of 'em, I will never get another 'parts sold separately' toy again. I searched for new volumes that had minimal fancy tools, cheap/healthy ingredients and could all be created in a minuscule kitchen like mine. Seriously, Harry Potter's under the stairs bedroom was roomier!

"I have to get up, someone's keeping my past relevant"

The tricky factor was the ingredients. I have to read all the labels meticulously, not just for calorie obsession or salt intake. Did you know all those 'heart healthy' cheerios are actually high in sodium? I have some dietary limitations now (new food allergies replacing old ones and food sensitivities) and strong vigilance over what passes my lips is ever more vital. Nothing like being a trypanophobic who carries an Epi-pen to make you remember to be careful! Stocking my pantry with all safe yet delicious ingredients my body wont try to kill on sight is a start. But not all of the recipes I have now exclude those now deadly, or gaseous, fixings."Replace them then, Ashley! Just switch that ingredient for something you can eat." Well, thanks but sometimes that means the recipe wont taste the same or something will go wrong. Looking for recipes without alternations needed has been my task!

1. The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying & Start Making by Alana Chernila 
This book was mentioned to me a few times over the course of my perusals. I love making things from scratch, and I'd rather earn my tasty unhealthy treats. A book promising to have a healthier recipe than the store bought original, sounded way too good to be true. It has some great ideologies: make it yourself and you'll know what is in it, and a shoestring budget never has to sacrifice delicious food and fun times. Alana, our culinary guide, is a woman who has done just that. She discusses the theories her cover advertises, the gadgets she uses throughout the pages, and how to properly use your freezer! Now, my freezer can hold about 1 ice cub tray and some frozen meat/fish. This section might not help me until I can upgrade to a bigger kitchen.

2. The Smitten Kitchen by Deb Perelman
Any time I need some kitchen inspiration on the quick, I always jump to The Smitten Kitchen online. Every recipe from the website I have tried has been amaz-balls! Hopefully, this book will not just be a compilation of the website directory. I am sure that Deb won't let me down. This beautiful, witty, travel obsessed lady is someone I would love to meet in person - to give her the biggest hug in the world! She is one of my cooking idols, a woman who travels the world, cooks, and makes a living by her wit and talents! If you cannot tell, I find her amazing. Not only have these recipes caught my eye, but I am hoping to add this book to my permanent collections.

3. Honestly Healthy: Eat with your body in mind, the alkaline way by Natasha Corrett
As previously stated, I need me some Star Veggie dishes. And where else would I find these amazing recipes, but among the Vegetarians and Vegans? I respect the veg heads who are dedicated to the cause out of true need or belief, not the 'occasional' veggie. I tried going V once and it turned into a family joke how I lasted two weeks before I realised I needed some fish. But I truly don't know how to make a main meal out of 'em unless it is a salad, a stir fry, a curry, or stick nibbles. Honestly Healthy seems like a good place to start.   

4. The Green Kitchen: Delicious and Healthy Vegetarian Recipes for Every Day by David Frenkiel
I have heard nothing but amazing things about this book. Apparently, veg heads and carnivores alike would love these unique and delicious plates. There are even desserts in this one! I love finding out how to make new soups and stews, but vegan chocolate truffles will be a new adventure entirely. This 'cooking with the seasons' theme might make the table a little less leafy green come winter, but some root veg mains will be an amazing addition to stew season!

5. Vegetable Literacy: Cooking and Gardening with Twelve Families from the Edible Plant Kingdom, with Over 300 Deliciously Simple Recipes by Deborah Madison
Veggies are always needed in your meals, or so I have been told. Don't like 'em? Well, sorry, but we are not little kids anymore. Brussels sprouts are always gonna get the yuck face from me. I will never force veggies down, but why not make them delicious? Make them the main attraction and not the side salad? All these vegetarians have something I like, veggie recipes. I like meat but ever since my sad day of rabbit stew murder fest '13 I could stay on a break from critters for a while. Well, maybe not chicken breast or tuna in cans, but no faces for awhile!!! 

6. Healthy Breakfast Recipes by Alissa Carter
I am hoping for this breakfast encyclopedia to help me. Almost all the foods I cannot have are first meal orientated. I mean, come on! The most important meal of the day, especially for weight loss, and it is trying to kill me from the inside. Mutiny on your own time breakfast foods. . . like when I'm 90 and begging for jello! Basically, I need to find foods for that meal. So far when people see me munch on a tomato like an apple on the early morning transport, I get a lot of advice on eating regular meals. From strangers! IN LONDON!?! Really odd reactions, trust me, for not being in the states. SOS food Gods, a meal is missing. May this red checkered bible show me the word of . . . BREAKFAST!

But sometimes I will just grab that toast and say:



 

Enjoy your summer of reading and adventure!!

Bye For Now X

Summer Reading List 2012

*  Summer Reading List  *

*  2012  *

REVIEWED 

"Wait, you gotta be kidding me! I have to read this summer?!?!"

- the majority of kids, in schools all over the world.

[from the ages of 9 -18 (and sometimes thru to 24)]

Remember when our schools would hand out the summer readings lists, five days before the end of term? And even if we wanted to hide it from our parents, the schools sent out lists to them too, making avoidance impossible. One time, my brother actually waited by the door every morning for three days, Bart Simpson style, hoping to run interference for all three of us...Unfortunately for us, our parents had gotten the list straight from the school about two weeks before we did.

But no, I am not saying that by reading this blog you must buy all the recipe books to understand anything I will write. This is supposed to be a helpful guide, a resource of genuine and practical advise, not homework.

The following are the books I have received as early birthday gifts from friends and relatives in 2012. I have combed through them, and have finished writing reviews on each. I can honestly say that I have been using some of these recipes to help create my daily and weekly menus. In a few weeks, I will post some of the recipes that are my favorites, with reviews form people who have eaten them.

(A NEW reading list will also be added)

1. The French Women Don't Get Fat Cookbook by Mireille Guiliano

* * * * *  2013

A few years back, I saw this book being discussed on Oprah. I tried a small recipe from it, a granny smith apple and goat cheese sandwich (1 apple, halved, and 1 slice of goats cheese in the middle), and that was my lunch for two weeks. But I completely forgot about this book even being around. Thanks to my parents, this was the first new book to hit my desk. So far, I have only skimmed through it ( I have had it only for 53 minutes and I have no highlighter or post-its!!!) but it is very intriguing. In other discussions for this blog, I will most likely reference this witty and insightful woman's words.
Well, that top paragraph was from last summer! I have to say I love this book. Mirelle Guiliano is such a delight within these pages. It is a great read, informative yet entertaining, with wonderfully delicious recipes. There were moments, not in the recipes of course, where I genuinely thought, "I have always known that, but now I get it!" It even has menus - from the every day to the fantastical - which I have used for parties and my day to day. My favorite recipe has to be the zucchini and leek salad. I incorporate it in all the time. And now that it is summer again, and salads are all my body craves, I can mix it up. There are also some great chicken and fish recipes, but I love this book for all its veggie idea goodness!

2a & 2b. The Just Bento Cookbook: Everyday Lunches To Go by & Kawaii Bento Boxes: Cute and Conventional Japanese Meals on the Go by Joie Staff 
I have always loved anime, and bento boxes were always such a nifty idea. I could never fully master the techniques and recipes I would find throughout the countless Internet searches and anime shows over the years. But with these lovely new books, which I will crack into as soon as I can, I am sure I can create a beautiful bento box for my summer lunches. 

These two books are actually amazing, especially for beginners! I know how to cook rice. I'm Hispanic, it is in my blood. The way tea is in the blood of the British or salty meat foods are in the arteries of the Germans. But the way these ladies teach you how to cook rice, the way it needs washing and steaming before it get any seasoning at all, makes the rice not just mind blowing, but good for days. I truly recommend eating it fresh if you make Onigiri or sushi (just for that orgasmic taste alone), but the rice itself, when stored properly, is good for 2 or 3 days. The pictures help you plan out a proper bento box, or set meal. The recipes are easy, and the instructions are clear to boot. All in all I would say that if you want fresh bento, get these books . . . Just be prepared to go hunting for the ingredients! 


3. The Pastry Chef's Companion: A Comprehensive Resource Guide for the Baking and Pastry Professional by Glenn Rinsky
Recently, there was this worry about the future that was tugging at me. My soul screams for theatre, for performing, for anything creative!! But my mind...now, as Peter Pan warned me to fight against, worries about money and being able to sustain myself away from the poverty line took hold. With the yen for more training in acting (mainly classes until I can apply for grad.schools in 2013), and returning to where my heart feels free ( London ), there was a nightmare clouding my mind. What if I had to do something other than acting? Would I teach? Or is there something else I would love to do, that would make me feel as alive as theatre does, while still getting paid and not become a prostitute? A DAY JOB, if you will?
I came up with one, and only one. It is a private dream that only three people in the entire world know about, and I am afraid, no offense y'all, the idea is too good to share and get stolen by someone else. Sorry, no way on earth I'm spilling this juicy secret. But I will say this for all you curious kittens out there. It made me think of becoming a Chef. A proper food and pastry one! After the idea was shot down by a certain someone, who shall be spared the humiliation of having their name put on the web as a dream killer (DREAM KILLER, I SAY!), I decided to buy this book for my birthday.
The best gifts come from the people who know us best, right? And who better to get me a heartfelt and meaningful gift, than me? So, Happy Early Birthday me! This book will hopefully teach me all those little tricks of the trade, and maybe someday that small dream may come true. To be an Actor + Chef sounds like a delectable dream, if I do say so myself! 
This was an exceptionally thick book, that made me feel thick too. Not for gaining weight! But the book itself could kill someone in a Giffie! Well, for training this book was bad for me. The instructions were clear if you were already a chef that is. The recipes were beautiful and sinfully delicious, but the tools for creating them were all far from me. I don't own a french pastry kitchen. It came with no set tools, or a note saying you will need shit tons of money and a kitchen that is not inside a closet to create these beautiful and taste delights. 

My kitchen is smaller than your thumb!

Recommended for advanced cooks/bakers, not the kind who have Thumbelina kitchens.


4. The Weeknight Cook: Fresh and Simple Recipes for Good Food Every Day by Brigit Binns
When your day starts at 4 am, and doesn't end until sometime around 8 pm, who has the energy to start a long, drawn out cooking process? For years, I skipped breakfasts and dinners, sometimes forgetting to eat for days due to the rushing and hectic days. Getting to sit and eat anything was a luxury, and a rare one at that. In college, most of my meals, if any, were between classes in 5 minute spats - God forbid you ate in a class room! - or worse, at 3 am while trying to study for a test or finish papers/reading plays. Every one said, " eating is important, make the time!" But honestly there wasn't any, and I'm sorry but a girls bathroom time cannot be compensated!
During my year abroad, however, things changed. I was walking more, I had to compensate for a much longer walking and tube commute, and I was so physically active that not eating resulted in dizzy spells and falling asleep during lectures. As we get older, there seems to be more time to have an hour for grocery shopping, making your meals ahead of time, and storing them for future lunches and dinners. With this book, I hope to find some recipes that will help all of us busy bees eat healthy, and have something to look forward to when we get home, or even when we hit the cafeteria brown-baggin' it!
This is one of the few books I can honestly state was a hit and miss. Some of the recipes are good, some are healthy, but some are actually not. Delicious or healthy. It helps the busy person, yes. It keeps a good idea throughout all the pages: Have something ready in your fridge so you don't binge on junk late at night. Otherwise, my actual least favorite of the bunch.  

5. Cook This Not That! Easy & Awesome 350-Calorie Meals by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding!
This book has fantastically quick and tasty meals. I always recommend their recipe books.

If any other books come across my desk?

I will update you all, pinkie swear!

If you have any books you think would be helpful for the rest of us?

Shoot me an email or post it below, and I will try to review it as soon as I can.