I wouldn't have met Piti if it hadn't been for a chichigua. To translate chichigua as a kite does not do justice to these beautiful creations of...
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I love a bedtime book that I can read in a whisper, and this book is a melody of soothing tones. The language is amazing; it's lovely to read, non-repetitive, and truly evocative of the quest for any mother (baboon, human, whomever) to describe the world to the hungry eyes of a young child. I'd pick this every night for bedtime reading if I could.
'Torch' is a beautiful book that describes the process of losing a mother, a wife, a friend in such luminous detail that you cannot help rethinking your relationship with the people in your life, you cannot help understanding everyone's failings more fully. Cheryl Strayed develops her characters with such complete and unconditional love that it is no surprise to learn the novel is based on events in her own life; it is, however, a surprise to learn how much compassion you have for these characters who each, with a less masterly touch, could be charmless cliches. No. They are real and fully-devised and rift with humanity and the tender imagination they deserve.
I'm looking very forward to Cheryl's upcoming memoir; I long to know how many details from this book come from her life.
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(4 of 6 readers found this comment helpful)
A fantastic resource for those who would seek to use herbs in cooking or for medicinal use. Mary's tone is both conversational and informative and friendly; I feel that I spent a few hours with a vastly knowledgeable aunt, peered into her cupboards and had a cup of her mint tea. The photographs are both lovely and useful in identifying wild herbs in a garden or meadow, and the recipes are better than in most herb books. I only wish she could cover more herbs and present many more recipes for tinctures and teas and the like.
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(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
this book is both satisfyingly broad (pickles! bacon! crackers! pasta! jam! limoncello di crema!) and disappointingly shallow. with a title like "jam it, pickle it" I expected quite a few more jam and pickle recipes. three jam recipes (and one "curd") and four pickle recipes is a bit of a let-down. what's here sounds fabulous -- I'm off to secure several pounds of fresh olives this fall for my own cured olives, and I'll try many of the liqueur recipes -- and the photography is stunning and will, I'm sure, inspire many a reluctant jam-pickle-curer.
the big drawback of this book is that it embraces an out-of-the-grocery-store philosophy and yet skips many of the important lessons (there's no talk about eating the the seasons, for instance, nor can a budding home preserver have a clue how to deal with large quantities of, say, fruit off a backyard tree, or an *entire* salmon, despite the rather oddly titled chapter, "hunt it") and suggests using many grocery store ingredients, like canned tomatoes (even though canning one's own tomatoes is, in my opinion, preserving 101). the book is inspirational and cute and crafty. a bible of preservation methods it is not. most definitely belongs as a coffee table complement to a very robust preserving library.
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(17 of 21 readers found this comment helpful)
This gorgeously laid-out and chatty book is an excellent visual representation of Lynne Rossetto Kasper's addictive, lyrical radio show, "The Splendid Table." Lynne and crew (the reader very much feels as if she's listening to a group of smart women, nodding and chatting over a weeknight supper table) unfurl an enormous quantity of simple kitchen knowledge without feeling unwieldy or undoable. On the contrary: this book is all about its low barrier to entry, whether you're opening it to make your first salad dressing (and discover a "formula" on which you can base all future salad dressings) or looking for a new way with noodles. The cultural authenticity is relatively deep for a book in its easy-peasy category, and the many variations proffered give even the most tremulous cook a feeling of confidence.
My main criticism of this book is that the tips vary wildly from the folksy to the well-researched to the technical. And tip's titles often give you no clue what you're about to read: one called "The Aluminum Pot Conspiracy" gives you the results of experiments in cooking yams in different sorts of pots, and tells you when to use aluminum (I expected a conspiracy!). In the middle of a recipe for risotto is a quote: "Cooking Rule: If at first you don't succeed, order pizza." But this is a _cookbook_! I'd also like to see more use of successive dishes, the way most weeknight chefs cook; for instance, a pot of slow-cooked beans on Sunday can be beans and rice on Monday and burritos on Tuesday.
In the end, it's sweet and helpful and interesting and full of vibrant bits, and a wee bit manic. Just like Lynne.
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(2 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)
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sarahgilbert has commented on (8) products.
Baboon by Kate Banks
sarahgilbert, December 8, 2009
I love a bedtime book that I can read in a whisper, and this book is a melody of soothing tones. The language is amazing; it's lovely to read, non-repetitive, and truly evocative of the quest for any mother (baboon, human, whomever) to describe the world to the hungry eyes of a young child. I'd pick this every night for bedtime reading if I could.Torch by Cheryl Strayed
sarahgilbert, November 1, 2009
'Torch' is a beautiful book that describes the process of losing a mother, a wife, a friend in such luminous detail that you cannot help rethinking your relationship with the people in your life, you cannot help understanding everyone's failings more fully. Cheryl Strayed develops her characters with such complete and unconditional love that it is no surprise to learn the novel is based on events in her own life; it is, however, a surprise to learn how much compassion you have for these characters who each, with a less masterly touch, could be charmless cliches. No. They are real and fully-devised and rift with humanity and the tender imagination they deserve.I'm looking very forward to Cheryl's upcoming memoir; I long to know how many details from this book come from her life.
(4 of 6 readers found this comment helpful)
The Northwest Herb Lover's Handbook: A Guide to Growing Herbs for Cooking, Crafts, and Home Remedies by Mary Preus
sarahgilbert, September 30, 2009
A fantastic resource for those who would seek to use herbs in cooking or for medicinal use. Mary's tone is both conversational and informative and friendly; I feel that I spent a few hours with a vastly knowledgeable aunt, peered into her cupboards and had a cup of her mint tea. The photographs are both lovely and useful in identifying wild herbs in a garden or meadow, and the recipes are better than in most herb books. I only wish she could cover more herbs and present many more recipes for tinctures and teas and the like.(1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It: And Other Cooking Projects by Karen Solomon
sarahgilbert, September 14, 2009
this book is both satisfyingly broad (pickles! bacon! crackers! pasta! jam! limoncello di crema!) and disappointingly shallow. with a title like "jam it, pickle it" I expected quite a few more jam and pickle recipes. three jam recipes (and one "curd") and four pickle recipes is a bit of a let-down. what's here sounds fabulous -- I'm off to secure several pounds of fresh olives this fall for my own cured olives, and I'll try many of the liqueur recipes -- and the photography is stunning and will, I'm sure, inspire many a reluctant jam-pickle-curer.the big drawback of this book is that it embraces an out-of-the-grocery-store philosophy and yet skips many of the important lessons (there's no talk about eating the the seasons, for instance, nor can a budding home preserver have a clue how to deal with large quantities of, say, fruit off a backyard tree, or an *entire* salmon, despite the rather oddly titled chapter, "hunt it") and suggests using many grocery store ingredients, like canned tomatoes (even though canning one's own tomatoes is, in my opinion, preserving 101). the book is inspirational and cute and crafty. a bible of preservation methods it is not. most definitely belongs as a coffee table complement to a very robust preserving library.
(17 of 21 readers found this comment helpful)
The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio's Award-Winning Food Show by Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift
sarahgilbert, July 22, 2009
This gorgeously laid-out and chatty book is an excellent visual representation of Lynne Rossetto Kasper's addictive, lyrical radio show, "The Splendid Table." Lynne and crew (the reader very much feels as if she's listening to a group of smart women, nodding and chatting over a weeknight supper table) unfurl an enormous quantity of simple kitchen knowledge without feeling unwieldy or undoable. On the contrary: this book is all about its low barrier to entry, whether you're opening it to make your first salad dressing (and discover a "formula" on which you can base all future salad dressings) or looking for a new way with noodles. The cultural authenticity is relatively deep for a book in its easy-peasy category, and the many variations proffered give even the most tremulous cook a feeling of confidence.My main criticism of this book is that the tips vary wildly from the folksy to the well-researched to the technical. And tip's titles often give you no clue what you're about to read: one called "The Aluminum Pot Conspiracy" gives you the results of experiments in cooking yams in different sorts of pots, and tells you when to use aluminum (I expected a conspiracy!). In the middle of a recipe for risotto is a quote: "Cooking Rule: If at first you don't succeed, order pizza." But this is a _cookbook_! I'd also like to see more use of successive dishes, the way most weeknight chefs cook; for instance, a pot of slow-cooked beans on Sunday can be beans and rice on Monday and burritos on Tuesday.
In the end, it's sweet and helpful and interesting and full of vibrant bits, and a wee bit manic. Just like Lynne.
(2 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)
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