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| This Week in Books 12/27/15 |
| 2015-12-27 |
| I did get a bloc of time to read The Conquerors - How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire. It is another good read by Roger Crowley. I also had a four hour bloc reading assembly instructions which required two cans of Putogether Fluid. So you get food. The Food of Santa Fe Dave DeWitt and Nancy Gerlach Periplus, copyright 1998 This is a nice 136+ page book with excellent color photographs. It is divided into three sections: Food in Santa Fe, Cooking in Santa Fe, and The Recipes. Food in Santa Fe is a bit of history of the area. Cooking in Santa Fe covers kitchen items, tortillas, chiles, and so forth. The Recipes begins with some basics like chile sauces and includes the reason I bought the book: Carne Adovada (page 78, Al Lucero, Maria's New Mexican Kitchen). What is nice is there is an appendix which provides the background accompanying foods in the photographs, which is where I found today's recipe. There are other recipes as well, such as the classic Pueblo dish Lobster Ceviche with Plantain Chips (page 58, As you see, they have the chef's credit and restaurant which is good, as well as a description, ingredients needed, steps taken, and a prep/cook time estimate. Everything reads well, though I have not made very many recipes; I'm the only spicy food lover in the house. But this recipe jumped out at me for its ease, adaptability, and low cost per serving: Mexican Corn Chowder Rosalea Murphy, Pink Adobe Restaurant Page 132 1/4 lb butter I used a stockpot - it filled half-way, so this recipe does make quite a volume for just 1 1/2 quarts or so of liquid ingredients. The corn adds some volume to it, especially if like me you add extra corn and chicken. Top with crushed tortilla chips or those strips, cheese, dunk with tortillas. Easy right? And at my little grocery store on the prairie I can get each of those ingredients. This last go-round we used Serrano instead of jalapeno chilis (not as much to keep the heat down), added extra diced pimiento for some color, and reaching into my bachelor recipe book: Added canned chicken - five cans, that is. Now, it's a meal instead of a side dish. "Why canned chicken, Mr. swks? More expensive and lower quality than making the chicken yourself?" Because I have kids, dammit. And the good quality canned chicken does fit well. If I were do it right for myself, I would bread and sear-fry chicken breast using corn oil, finish it in the oven. If my wife would do it right, she would roast a whole chicken, peel off nearly all the meat, and give me the remains to make stock. See how I reduce a four hour step while still showcasing the chicken? But that is what I like about this recipe - instead of button mushrooms, a mushroom with flavor could be used. A different cheese perhaps. Real pimiento instead of the stuff out of a jar. A quality paprika and parsley go a long way as well. And with the theme of soldiers on Christmas Eve, I recommend: Washington's Crossing David Hackett Fischer I sold a hardback copy to a guy with a kindle. Yeah, that good. There is even a well-narrated audio for those of you who, like me, seem to get their books anymore on solo road trips. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, have fun, be safe. (Link is to The Food of Santa Fe, Amazon - I have a hardback copy but do not see that purchase option. Dunno.) |
| Posted by:swksvolFF |
| #7 stop snickering The chicken tried chokin' his gherkin But jerkin' was not really workin': The cock felt no tickle, And, checking (no pickle!), Fled, cloaking his shame with a merkin. |
| Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 2015-12-27 23:58 |
| #6 Anytime Sgt. Mom. Congratulations on your books. I believe this cookbook is a series of books, including Jamaica; love me some jerked chicken. stop snickering I had the carne adovada outside of Albuquerque; rocked my world. ryuge, have By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean on my list now. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2015-12-27 22:49 |
| #5 I looked for a Harvey girl for 35 years. Got the looks and brains but no. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2015-12-27 10:43 |
| #4 Oh, that looks good! I have a ton of cookbooks, but this is added to my wishlist now. I've visited Santa Fe precisely once in my life, and rather liked it. A pretty little town - every single corner of which was scenic, and the food was excellent. I honestly did wonder where they stashed the auto junk yards, liquor stores, Walmart and poor people, as there honestly didn't seem to have any. I have had two books out this year myself, if I can plead for attention from my fellow Rantburgundians: a historical fiction novel, Sunset & Steel Rails, about a young woman working in the Harvey House chain in the late 19th century (which finishes up with a bang when she and two of her children survive the horrific Galveston Hurricane of 1900. It's on Amazon, in print and Kindle. And my daughter and I co-wrote a diversion; The Chronicles of Luna City - a set of short stories and informational essays about life in a small (but mythical) South Texas town, and the various eccentric characters who keep it interesting. Also in print and Kindle. Did you know that the Fonda in Santa Fe was a Harvey House restaurant, and built on the very site of what had been an inn since Santa Fe was founded? |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2015-12-27 10:19 |
| #3 Often I have two books going at the same time, one fiction and the other non-fiction, so I can pick between them depending on mood. The "fiction" I'm reading now, The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain, sorta straddles the line between the two categories. For those unfamiliar, it's a collection of Twain's newspaper columns about a trip Twain took to Europe and the Holy Land just after the War Between the States. It's a good read, and a fun one. Quite interesting to compare the way things are now to then, though I haven't got too far into it (Twain is in Morocco at this point). The other book, which I've barely started, By Steppe, Desert, and Ocean: The Birth of Eurasia by Barry Cunliffe, was recommended on a list of "Best History Books of 2015" on a British history site. The book ambitiously attempts to present a history of Eurasia from around 9000 BC to the Mongol expansion of the thirteenth century. I had actually been planning to read another book highly recommended on the site, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan, until I found out it won't be available until February. The former book seems like good prep for the latter. |
| Posted by: ryuge 2015-12-27 09:54 |
| #2 Thanks for the book tips. I'm trying to struggle Herman J. Cohen's 'The Mind of the African Strongman' Conversations with dictators, statesmen, and father figures. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2015-12-27 06:51 |
| #1 I'm not sure if I saw it in an ad or mentioned here on Rantburg, but I recent dropped a couple dollars on Clifford D Simak's "The Way Station" and really enjoyed it. You know you enjoy a book when you end it going, "But....gimme more!" I admit I buy alot of $1-3 dollar books on Amazon and honestly enjoy most of them. It actually gets hard to spend more than that on a book now from 'premium' authors unless I really really like them (Ie The Dresden Files). But it was good to read some classic science fiction. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2015-12-27 00:50 |