By Melony Carey
Food by the Book
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Figures released this week show that Amazon’s e-book sales have tripled since the price of the Kindle was lowered.
The statistics are questionable, but walk into a bookstore and try to find a hard copy of a book for which you are looking. Chances are you may be hard-pressed.
It happened to me this week when I tried to no avail to find the newly released novel, “The Cookbook Collector” by Allegra Goodman, billed as a “Sense and Sensibility” of the digital age.
I settled instead for “Her Fearful Symmetry” by Audrey Niffenegger, author of “The Time Traveler’s Wife.” Having been out in paperback only about a month, there were plenty of copies and the success of “The Time Traveler’s Wife” came as a good recommendation.
Twenty-year-old, ethereal-looking twins, Julia and Valentina Poole, have never been too far away from their parents or each other. Autodidactic college drop outs, the two spend their days wrapped up in blankets on the couch in their upscale Chicago home, drinking hot cocoa and watching “This Old House.” One morning they receive an envelope from an English law firm saying their recently deceased Aunt Elspeth, their mother’s estranged twin, has left them her London flat with the stipulation that they must live in it for a year before they can sell it
The plot thickens when the girls discover a stipulation of the inheritance is that their parents are forbidden from entering the apartment, which is just next door to the vast Highgate Cemetery, final resting place of such Victorian luminaries as Christina Rossetti, George Elliot and Dickens’ parents. But living next door to the cemetery is nothing compared to the one remaining inhabitant of their aunt’s apartment, namely, her ghost.
While Niffeneger’s writing is truly mesmerizing, this is one book for which I wish the movie had come out first. The allusions were excellent, the character development superb, the overall novel intelligent, but the plot took one too many weird turns. This is one of those novels people either loved or hated. Ironically, Amazon’s own reviewers panned the novel, rendering it a disappointment even on a Kindle. There are some things even technology cannot fix.
Summer requires different fare to offset the heat. Here are some suggestions that require little work and do not heat up the kitchen too much.
BALSAMIC GLAZED CHICKEN
SANDWICHES
4 teaspoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds chicken tenders
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup roasted red pepper strips
2 cups vertically sliced red onion
1 loaf focaccia or ciabatta, cut in half horizontally
4 slices provolone
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt over chicken. Add chicken to pan and cook 1 minute per side until lightly browned. Add 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, cooking 2 minutes more or until chicken is done and vinegar has reduced. Remove chicken from pan and keep warm. Wipe pan clean with a paper towel. Return pan to medium heat and add 2 tablespoons oil. Add onion and red pepper, sautéing about 7 minutes until tender. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, cooking about 1 more minute until syrupy. Arrange chicken evenly over bottom half of bread. Top with red pepper mixture and pan juices, and sprinkle with black pepper. Top with cheese slices and other half of bread. Press with a heavy skillet for about 5 minutes to melt cheese. Cut into 4 to 6 slices.
SPICY WILD RICE SALAD
1 box Uncle Ben’s Wild and Long Grain Rice, prepared
6 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 cup diced cucumber
1 jar Mazzetta Italian Mix Giardiniera pickled vegetables
Hard boiled eggs, chopped
Mix rice with olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and marjoram. Cool; mix in cucumber and pickled vegetables, slightly chopped. Garnish with chopped hard boiled eggs when ready to serve. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
COCA-COLA CAKE
Cake:
2 cups self-rising flour
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup Coca-Cola
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoon cocoa
6 tablespoons Coca-Cola
1 16-ounce box confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Grease and flour a 9x13-inch pan and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl combine flour and sugar. In a saucepan combine the cocoa, Coca-Cola, butter, and marshmallows; bring to a boil. Combine the boiled mixture with the flour and sugar mixture.
In a separate bowl mix eggs, buttermilk, baking soda, and vanilla; add to the first mixture. Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes, until cake tests done.
To prepare frosting: In a saucepan, bring butter, cocoa, and Coca-Cola to a boil. Stir in the sugar and mix well. Stir in nuts. Spread over the cake while both cake and frosting are still warm.
Serves about 16.
