Momofuku's David Chang - the Julia Child of Asian Cooking...

Momofuku

by David Chang

and Peter Meehan

With Momofuku David Chang does for Asian cooking what Julia Child did for French cooking...Asian recipes you can make in your American kitchen.

Chang writes in the smart,edgy, funny and somewhat irreverent style that put him where he sits today, at the head of an Asian cooking dynasty! With four award winning restaurants (of the same name) in New York City, (Chang conquered this city that can take a new chef, chew him up and spit him out) we know that this is more than chef this is a business man.

The partnership with Peter Meehan gives Momofuku the feel of two guys talking over a couple of beers. This book is written as only a friend can help you write about yourself - the honesty in both the story and the dialog is genuine and will speak to most readers. And the tone is set with the dedication page where the authors print a quote from a fifteenth century Zen Buddhist high priest next to one from Born Standing Up by Comedian Steve Martin.

If you are looking for a book full of recipes - this delivers. But Chang takes you through his story and reveals the process and journey he took to not just cook but to understand. From his journey to find the perfect ramen to his story of finding the secret to cooking the perfect steamed buns for his famous steamed pork buns...you actually read through the book and the stories spur you on to try the recipes.

With each recipe he gives you substitutions that work in an American kitchen and how to find hard to source ingredients.

BRAVO to both David Chang and Peter Meehan!!!

Reviews from Amazon:

“The breathless hype is true. His food is as good and as exciting as everyone says it is. David Chang has opened up a new direction in dining and cooking. With his troika of Momofukus, he changed the whole game. Scary-smart, funny, and ambitious, the wildly creative Chang is the guy all chefs have got to measure themselves by these days.”
—Anthony Bourdain

“As a food professional I am always on the look out for the new, the different, and the delicious. It was with great pleasure that one day I tasted David Chang’s pork buns at Momofuku. Since then, I have sampled almost all of his delectable creations and I am so pleased that I finally have a book of recipes that will allow me to try to emulate them at home.”
—Martha Stewart

Century Quartet: Ring of Fire (Book 1)

Ring of Fire

Book One

Century Quartet

by Pierdomenico Baccalario (Author)

Leah D. Janeczko (Translator)

Good Opener - left me with lots of questions......but isn't that what the first book in a "series" should do?

What is up with all the "haters"? Why so many negative reviews on Amazon? How many of you are teens or young adults? or readers of YA literature? I think this was a fun set-up for what I am hoping will be a great series.

It left me with unanswered questions - what is Aunt Irene's story - really? I get that the parents weren't involved as much as they should have been in real life - but I also think there is a reason for that. An author who can create a hitman who kills with a violin, may have an explanation for that! The tops intrigue me...see what I mean? lots of questions!!!

Through a series of coincidences - four children (Harvey from New York, Mistral from Paris, and Sheng from Shanghai) find themselves sharing a room with Elettra the daughter of their hotel owner.

...and while chatting they start to discover the other things that connect them...

From the Publisher's description: "Every hundred years, four kids from four cities must save the world."

After reading just back cover, the reader realizes that there are no coincidences in Century #1: Ring of Fire...but instead a carefully planned event that has happened before.

I always love books that open historical worlds that intersperses bits from ancient Rome, Nero, buried churches and basilcas between the adventures of these four children in the libraries, cafes and catacombs of modern day Rome.

Though translated from the Italian, this book keeps its edge and poses question after question...and with the following promise from the Publisher:

"In the first book of the Century quartet, Italian author P. D. Baccalario begins a mystery that will take four cities and four extraordinary kids to solve."

...OK, Senore Baccalario - where do we go next?

Product Description from Amazon
Every hundred years, four kids from four cities must save the world.

Rome, December 29. A mix-up with their reservations forces Harvey from New York, Mistral from Paris, and Sheng from Shanghai to share a room with the hotel owner’s daughter, Elettra. The four kids discover an amazing coincidence—they all have birthdays on February 29, Leap Day. That night, a strange man gives them a briefcase and asks them to take care of it until he returns. Soon afterward, the man is murdered.

The kids open the briefcase. In it they find a series of clues that take them all over Rome, through dusty libraries and dark catacombs, in search of the elusive Ring of Fire, an ancient object so powerful that legend says even a Roman emperor couldn’t control it.

In the first book of the Century quartet, Italian author P. D. Baccalario begins a mystery that will take four cities and four extraordinary kids to solve.

Graceling Audio - Behind the Mic!

Graceling....the trailer for the book!

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Graceling

Have you ever played the game where everyone had to name the "super-power" they would ask for if given the opportunity? What was yours? probably not the ability to literally kill anyone or anything and be fairly invulnerable to pain...

In Graceling author Kristine Cashore creates a world where a chosen few are born with "Graces" - these can be something as simple as the ability to catch fish with your bare hands, the ability to run swiftly, the ability to shoot an arrow quickly and true --- and then there is the Lady Katsa's Grace - the ability to kill.

This is full of really juicy adventure, hand to hand combat, archers, sword play, good kings and bad kings...but what sets this book apart from other offerings in this genre is it's look at the consequences of the use of these graces on those who wield them.

Katsa is a strong headed young woman who has always held a position of power - not many people argue with her so she is sure that what she knows are truths...until she meets another Graceling who shows her otherwise.

The really nice thing about the way Cashore has written the relationship between Po and Katsa is that there is enough romance for the girls and it doesn't get mushy so the boys think it's in the way.

I picked this book up to "look" at it at my Mom's and sat down and read it all the way through by the next morning - this story is destined to become a blockbuster movie!

Product Description from Amazon

Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.

When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po’s friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace—or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

Shiver

by Maggie Stiefvater

A trio of girls, a budding teenage romance, the spiteful rich girl, this book has it all - - - oh yeah did I mention the werewolves?

Shiver is well written and definitely reaches for you from the start.

Maggie Stiefvater has accomplished what a lot of writers are still trying to figure out - how to engage a teenage reader without "text-speak" or sounding like a cheerleader who just downed an energy drink...intelligent but still fun.

So - I mentioned the werewolves - don't get any preconceived notions about silver bullets, full moons, etc. - this is NOT your parents werewolves. Stiefvater has done an excellent job of updating the legend and adding her own twist to the tale.

This is a fast read and a lovely afternoon diversion.

Product Description from Amazon

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

100 Heartbeats...and every heartbeat matters...

100 Heartbeats: The Race to Save Earth's Most Endangered Species

With 100 Heartbeats: The Race to Save Earth's Most Endangered Species, Biologist and TV Host Jeff Corwin embarks on the journey of a lifetime. We follow him into every ecosystem on Earth to get a glimpse of some of the Earth's most endangered species. Between the behind-the-scenes stories, Corwin gives us real - meaty - discourse. Global warming, destruction of rainforest, pollution...are all covered with intelligence and facts.

100 Heartbeats refers to the subjects of the book (...and upcoming MSNBC Documentary of the same title) species that have fewer than 100 members living in the wild.

The following is from the Acknowledgement:

It is my hope that this book will serve as a catalyst, educating people about the state of our natural world and compelling them to help protect it for future generations. We have the chance to do it and we can succeed. Every heartbeat matters.

The only thing that can make this better is the 16 pages of color photos promised in the published version...although Corwin does an excellent job of drawing the picture. This is a documentary that I look forward to seeing.

Product Description from Amazon:

It’s no secret that our planet—and the delicate web of ecosystems that comprise it—is in crisis. Environmental threats such as climate change, pollution, habitat loss, and land degradation threaten the survival of thousands of plant and animal species each day. In 100 Heartbeats, conservationist and television host Jeff Corwin provides an urgent, palpable portrait of the wildlife that is suffering in silence and teetering on the brink of extinction. From the forests slipping away beneath the stealthy paws of the Florida panther, to the giant panda’s plight to climb ever higher in the mountains of China in search of sustenance, to the brutal poaching tactics that have devastated Africa’s rhinoceros and elephant populations, Corwin takes readers on a global tour to witness firsthand the critical state of our natural world. Along the way, he shares inspiring stories of battles being waged and won in defense of the earth’s most threatened creatures by the conservationists on the front lines. These stories of hope and progress underscore an important message: Our own survival, as well as that of the world’s wildlife, is in our hands. The race to save the planet’s most endangered wildlife is under way. Every heartbeat matters.