alisarae's Reviews (1.65k)

FINALLY FINISHED
This took me so long to get through, and it's not like it was boring. I saw several friends say that the audio was killer, so maybe that was my problem. I just couldn't imagine trying to listen to something that is inherently visual. But the author grew this book out of a popular podcast of hers, so I guess it works somehow?

Anyways, quite fascinating stuff. I found myself laughing and nodding along as she explains generational differences in how people phrase things online. I also liked learning about much older trends that people have of shaping language and memes to fit their own culture's needs.

Some parts of the book are dated; other parts are still sadly fresh. All the chapters made good points, but some were better written than others. The last chapter was my favorite.

A bit generic but it's meant for home cooks to be able to easily reproduce these recipes without having to buy a ton of obscure spices. No pictures (in the ebook at least) and very heavy handed on the seafood. I tried a few of the recipes and they were easy enough and satisfying, even if I wouldn't make them again. I'm enjoying using this from the library but I really don't know if there are enough keepers that I would buy this book. I do love Mark Bittman and own other cookbooks by him, however.

This is a refreshed version of the classic, and it is a beauty. Think of this as the master blueprints for nearly any recipe. Each of the 10 chapters has a basic cooking concept, then lists of endless adaptations for sauces and ingredient pairings. Nothing fancy here and don't expect "authentic" tastes from the Asian-inspired recipes, but rest assured you will find something to make using ingredients you have right now. Because the ingredients are so everyday the hardest part is actually deciding what to make in the face of so many options.

I wouldn't suggest this book for a complete beginner in the kitchen. Check out some "no-recipe recipes" by Sam Sifton to get an idea of the confidence you'll need in order to work with this amount of flexibility. But if you already have a fistful of cooking experience, you'll be familiar enough with the concepts to just use them for what they are: a nudge in the right direction or a cue card.

The idea is that as you pick up the patterns of standard cooking concepts (when to add what to the stir fry, acid-fat ratios, protein-veg ratios, etc) you'll be able to use the book less and less. I like this. I naturally do most of the things in this book every week but I get stuck in a rut when it comes to trying new sauce combos—either I find a completely new recipe to try or I don't use a recipe and stick with what I know off the top of my head. This book is a kind of in-between those two things. I think buying the book for that aspect alone would be worth it for me.

I really liked hearing Peterson's approach to reading the Bible. Of course I know and love his work with The Message, and in this book he lays out his framework and justification for paraphrase translations. Count me aboard. As someone who works professionally with translation, his logic rang true to me.

I'm trying very hard not to be petty about the ESV, so I'll leave it that.

Making me homesick! So sad that I can't get half the ingredients in Brazil :( Sonoran food is just so unique.

Pretty exciting story and it makes me wish I could get into investigating animal trafficking crimes. I liked revisiting my old stomping grounds in Dubai, one of the major destinations for smuggled birds since Prince Hamdan revitalized and modernized the sport of falconry. I was also inspired to make one of my classes about this book after I learned how much vocabulary comes from falconry via Shakespeare (this was not part of the book, but some googling led me to it. Shakespeare was apparently an avid falconer).

Set in a small town somewhere in the Mojave desert, a diverse cast of characters soon have their lives intertwined. At first I wasn't sure how the book could support so many plot lines, but I ended up liking nearly all of them. Tragedy, drama, love.... the narrative kept moving and the story was interesting.

I'm always looking for ways to sneak more vegetables into my diet, and I would say that I've been able to successfully do that over the past few months simply by limiting the amount of meat I buy and cook and filling in the gap with vegetables (eg: using half the meat I normally would in a bolognese sauce and adding bell peppers and zucchini). Going into the new year I want to try to increase the ratio even more and decrease the amount of dairy I eat, not to mention that I usually go full vegetarian during lent.

By now we're all familiar with Michael Pollan's guide: Eat food, not too much, mostly plants. Shop only the edges of the grocery store. If you want junk food, you have to make it completely from scratch. But in 2021 I'm going to challenge myself to something new: eat 20 different fruits and vegetables per week. Here's what I've got in my fridge this week: iceberg lettuce, radicchio, radishes, zucchini, tomatoes, cucumber, okra, green bell peppers, red bell peppers, yellow onions, red onions, Thai chiles, limes, bananas, oranges, mangos, pineapple, beets, broccoli, carrots, red cabbage, celery, sweet potatoes, and new potatoes.

This book is a real help in that regard. It has recipes arranged by the main vegetable in the dish instead of by meat, carb, or course. Usually I meal plan before making a grocery store run, but this week I went to the grocery store and just bought vegetables, intending to find a recipe later. There are at least 8 different recipes for each vegetable, so I was confident I could find some way to use the vegetables I bought.

And being an America's Test Kitchen book, there are endless notes about how they tested different methods of vegetable prep and what the resulting flavors and textures were like. If you are a curious home chef like myself, these sorts of tips are fascinating.

Edit: I should add that many of these recipes are *not* vegetarian though you could probably sub tofu or tempeh. Most are side dishes but there are more than a handful of main courses that include meat.

This is one of the most powerful books of poetry I have ever read. Each poem is introduced by an excerpt from a 1922 report called "The Negro in Chicago: A Study on Race Relations and a Race Riot." The riot in question is the 1919 Chicago riot where 38 people were killed and hundreds injured following the stoning of a Black boy who ultimately drowned while a White police officer looked on. Interspersed throughout the book are photos from the riot. I think what makes the poems so powerful is that they are linked so explicitly and specifically to an open wound. It is an event that, 100 years later, still has not ended.