Splashing into Summer Reading 2016: Girl Underwater, by Claire Kells

Girl Underwater

Claire Kells

Dutton: New York, 2015

ISBN: 9780525954934

OH HELLO MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND.  Finally, you have arrived. Finally, it is nearly the summer.  Finally, I can soon get away with athletic wear tuxedos and/or no pants on the reg, eating two pints of blueberries for dinner and regretting nothing (except…), and finding new and creative ways to apply sunscreen to my own back.  But enough about me.  Because it is now officially white pants season, I think it is high time to start your summer reading assignments.  And because the Olympics are coming, I gift you a sports book. Sort of. Not really. Whatever. Pipe down. Behold: the first title on your 2016 Summer Reading List: Girl Underwater.

Spring Veggies and Barley Salad with Basil Tahini Dressing

It is May 1st in New England and it is dreary and cold and I am grumpy about it, goshdarnit! Last night, I went to an outdoor sporting even wearing jeans with tights, a sweater, two shirts, a down jacket, a down vest, a hat, and gloves, like it was November, and I was still cold. To simply say that I'd like spring to actually spring would be a disservice to my desire to see sunshine and brilliant shades of green, though I have to believe it's coming...soon. Please? I've had it with you, sort of cold and dreary and not nearly the violently green spring I miss! I'm making it happen inside if it won't happen outside. From my kitchen to your eyes (and my mouth), here be a salad that channels my plea to Mother Nature: green, puh-lease?

Spring Veggies and Barley Salad w/Basil Tahini Dressing

Serves 6-8 as a side, 4-6 as a meal

Spring Veggies and Barley Salad with Basil Tahini Dressing

Salad

1 cup dry barley

3.5 cups water

2 cups cauliflower florets

1 cup halved sungold or other cherry tomatoes

2 cups cut asparagus

¾ cup frozen peas

4 cups baby spinach/kale

Salt & pepper & a dash of EVOO

Dressing*

½ + cup basil

1 clove garlic

Juice and zest of one lemon, +1 Tbsp lemon juice

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup tahini

¼-½ cup warm water

1 Tbsp dried parsley

1 scallion

½ tsp red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Preheat over to 400 and roast cauliflower tossed with a dash of oil and salt and pepper for 30 minutes until beginning to brown. Set aside to cool.

2. Fill a saucepan with 3.5 cups of water and barley and cook until mostly done according to package directions, roughly 50 minutes.  

3.  *Combine dressing ingredients in a cuisinart, blend until it is well combined and mostly green with very few flecks of basil.  Start with ¼ cup water and add a little more or some more lemon juice to help it combine.  

3.  When barley is mostly done and water is mostly cooked off, add asparagus and frozen peas to the barley pot, and cook covered for about 3 minutes.  Turn heat off, but stir, and leave covered for about 2 more minutes or until peas are not frozen and asparagus is blanched and a brilliant shade of green.  

4.  Add barley mix to cooled cauliflower, tomatoes and greens and stir to combine.  Add dressing in layers and continue to mix.  Taste, and probably add a little more salt.  

6.  Serve as a side or as a main warm or chilled...suggestions below in the notes!  

Notes:

Nothing says romance like food porn in Milwaukee: The Coincidence of Coconut Cake, by Amy Reichert

The Coincidence of Coconut Cake

Amy E. Reichert

Gallery Books, 2015

9781501100710

Oh hey you guys. Sorry I disappeared for most of this year so far. Please allow me to introduce you to a book (and recipe) that I sometimes wish there were more like: a pseudo-realistic contemporary romance novel about food with plausible things happening to plausible people and just enough shenanigans to remain in the trope.  Did you get that?  A sort of realistic romance novel...about FOOD.  Not to be trite, but the publisher had me at hello.  It was no coincidence that this part time lover of smutty books and full time lover of food was  going to make a love match with this hot ticket, The Coincidence of Coconut Cake.

Here is my rough summary:

On the day she catches her cheating boyfriend at it, a down on her luck Milwaukee chef gets a bad review by a snarky Brit food critic (ten points to Gryffindor already), who then falls for her after a chance encounter over beers at a bar leads to Lou giving Al a tour of the city's best eateries and breweries.  Al pieces together who Lou is, but Lou has no idea that Al is the critic who single handedly caused her restaurant to fold, which gets increasingly more complicated when feelings start to develop...but what could go wrong in the land of milk, honey, beer, and cheese?  

Here is the publisher’s way better jacket flap:

Coconut Cake

Clue Years Eve 2016

I’m going to humble brag here for a minute, so bear with. I have some truly wonderful amigos, amigos. For many years, some of us have spent New Years Eve together. It’s been a wonderful way to catch up, make ridiculous amounts of delicious food and drink, hang out, and make some great resolutions. What used to be my least favorite holiday became my favorite holiday and a great reunion of great people and kids. This year, we did something I recommend you all do at some point: a live action Clue game, in costume, with themed dishes. It was highly amusing, and highly delicious. I was assigned the role of Mrs. White and a dessert dish, and immediately realized this would be an excellent excuse to attempt to make the coconut cake that had been haunting me from the cover of The Coincidence of Coconut Cake on my bookshelf for months.

I should note that I am NOT what one would call a confident or excited cake baker. If you peruse my recipes, you could probably conclude that I’m more of one-pot artist; I like throwing things into one pot, pan or bowl, and then I like to eat them. No fuss, no frills, just tasty deliciousness asap. I can bake the cake and make the frosting...but putting those two together in any sort of attractive form? HA. That’s a cute idea. To say that I had a crisis of confidence would be apt, but said truly wonderful amigas (Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock, and Mrs. Scarlet) are all much more confident cake bakers and walked me through the terrifying process of frosting a cake. They even introduced me to the concept of a crumb coat. IT WORKS. YOU GUYS. I’m a changed woman, to the point that I’m planning on making a double decker carrot cake this weekend for Easter. Because I can! Incidentally, if you’re looking for a cake you can easily decorate like a bunny for Easter, which coincidentally also tastes great, this is probably the cake for you, amigos. It serves a crowd, and tastes great the next morning. Breakfast of champions!

Mrs. White's Coconut Cake for Clue Years Eve

Hands down a book to pick up: The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly, by Stephanie Oakes

The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly

Stephanie Oakes

Dial Books, 2015

Kindle Copy: B00O2BKKQ2

Minnow lost her faith, her family, and her hands to a cult.  Raised for most of her life in the Kevinian cult, Minnow escapes and runs away the night the cult is burned to the ground, suspiciously taking the prophet Kevin with it and immediately lands in prison after an assault. Minnow struggles to come to terms with her old life in the cult and adjust to her new world of juvie, the real world, and learning to get by without her hands. The FBI psychologist assigned to her following the high profile and mysterious nature of the cults demise (and existence) suspects Minnow knows more than she’s letting on, but Minnow isn’t ready to talk...yet.  This is a brutal and brilliant novel, but it does contain some fairly graphic violence, dark themes, and dark humor, so it is not recommended for the squeamish!  It is, however, strongly recommended for teens over 15 and adults (both dudes and dudettes), and all YA collections in public and high school libraries, especially as it was just named a 2016 Morris Honor Book. I rate this: G for get after it already. (Also: Gore)

As I noted, this is a brilliant and brutal book.  It’s probably the best YA I’ve read in months, and I’m stoked it won something at the Youth Media Awards (I finished it on the eve of the announcements and was pumped to hear about it the Morris honor over morning coffee in my office with my awesome coworkers), but less stoked it didn’t come into play for the Printz.  What up, committee??!!!  Doesn’t Marcus Sedgwick have a deservedly fat enough head for that crown by now?  

I digress from talking about this deserving, fabulous first time novel though.