Jeffy's favorite Chili recipe

I got the recipe from my friend's blog:
http://letsgatherinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2010/07/chili-2.html

Like it says, you can tweak the recipe with whatever you've got in the kitchen at the moment. I like to add beans and veggies, as well as a bit of cocoa powder and a spoonful of sugar or natural sugar substitute.

The Book Thief

Just a reminder.

Our next intellectual conversation and fine dining experience will take place at the Peterson home at 7pm on October 16th.

I want to do some sort of harvest/fall/comfort food theme. Perhaps you would all like to bring a soup and we will provide the rolls/drinks/and pie? Let me know!

Chocolate Coconut Cream Pie

For what it's worth, here's the recipe . . .

Crust (my first attempt at a gluten free crust, not exactly the greatest in the world)

1/2 c tapioca flour
1/2 c white rice flour
1/4 c potato starch
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
6 T coconut oil (cold, and measured cold)
5 T ice cold water mixed with 1 t apple cider vinegar
1 to 2 T agave (I hated the taste of the vinegar, so I added more agave)

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in coconut oil until pieces are no larger than a small pebble. Combine water, vinegar, and agave, and drizzle over dry ingredients, tossing with a fork until it holds together. You will most likely not need all of the water. Form a ball and wrap in plastic wrap and chill for NO MORE THAN 5 minutes. Roll out and put in pie dish. Bake in a preheated oven (350 degrees) for about 20 minutes, or until lightly golden. (I put foil on top with beans to keep it from poofing up - let me know if you don't know what that means and I'll explain further). Remove from oven and cool completely.

Chocolate Pudding
1/2 c cocoa powder (I used 3 different kinds, but any kind will work)
5 T arrowroot
2 to 3 c coconut milk (depending on how thick you want it)
1/2 to 3/4 c agave (adjust to your taste)
2 t vanilla extract

Whisk together the cocoa powder and arrowroot in a saucepan. Add 1 c coconut milk and stir to form a thick paste. Then stir in remaining coconut milk and agave and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick and just about to boil. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour into pie shell and press plastic wrap on top to keep film from forming and then cool in fridge.

Coconut Cream
Place can of coconut milk (or sugar free coconut cream) in freezer for about 30 minutes. Open can and spoon out coconut solids, discarding water. Whip with beaters with agave, vanilla, and cinnamon to taste. Keep cold in fridge, strain off any liquid that forms and whip again. Spread over chocolate pudding. (The easiest way to do this is to dollop lots of spoonfuls over the pudding and then spread them together.)

Caramelized Coconut
In a shallow pan combine toast wide-chip unsweetened coconut over medium low heat, stirring constantly so it doesn't burn. When fragrant, but not yet golden, add enough agave to coat the coconut and a bit of cinnamon. Stir until it looks caramelized. Cool and break over top of coconut cream.

Whew! That's the recipe. Let me know if you have any questions. I would personally just live on the pudding and caramelized coconut.

Let the voting begin!

Friday, September 10th, 6:30, The Bigelows.  Since Todd and Dave both served in Japan, we are thinking of doing some tradtitional Japanese dishes.  We can work out all the details later.  :)

MUSICOPHILIA

Music can move us to the heights or depths of emotion. It can persuade us to buy something, or remind us of our first date. It can lift us out of depression when nothing else can. It can get us dancing to its beat. But the power of music goes much, much further. Indeed, music occupies more areas of our brain than language does—humans are a musical species.

Oliver Sacks’s compassionate, compelling tales of people struggling to adapt to different neurological conditions have fundamentally changed the way we think of our own brains, and of the human experience. In Musicophilia, he examines the powers of music through the individual experiences of patients, musicians, and everyday people—from a man who is struck by lightning and suddenly inspired to become a pianist at the age of forty-two, to an entire group of children with Williams syndrome, who are hypermusical from birth; from people with “amusia,” to whom a symphony sounds like the clattering of pots and pans, to a man whose memory spans only seven seconds—for everything but music.

Our exquisite sensitivity to music can sometimes go wrong: Sacks explores how catchy tunes can subject us to hours of mental replay, and how a surprising number of people acquire nonstop musical hallucinations that assault them night and day. Yet far more frequently, music goes right: Sacks describes how music can animate people with Parkinson’s disease who cannot otherwise move, give words to stroke patients who cannot otherwise speak, and calm and organize people whose memories are ravaged by Alzheimer’s or amnesia.

Music is irresistible, haunting, and unforgettable, and in Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks tells us why.

The Lost City of Z

After stumbling upon a hidden trove of diaries, acclaimed New Yorker writer David Grann set out to solve "the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century": what happened to the British explorer Percy Fawcett and his quest for the Lost City of Z? In 1925, Fawcett ventured into the Amazon to find an ancient civilization, hoping to make one of the most important discoveries in history, but he and his expedition vanished. For decades, scientists and adventurers have searched for evidence of Fawcett’s party and the lost City of Z. David Grann’s quest for the truth and his stunning discoveries about Fawcett’s fate and “Z” form the heart of this complex, enthralling narrative.


Life of Pi

Meet Pi Patel, a young man on the cusp of adulthood when fate steps in and hastens his lessons in maturity. En route with his family from their home in India to Canada, their cargo ship sinks, and Pi finds himself adrift in a lifeboat -- alone, save for a few surviving animals, some of the very same animals Pi's zookeeper father warned him would tear him to pieces if they got a chance. But Pi's seafaring journey is about much more than a struggle for survival. It becomes a test of everything he's learned -- about both man and beast, their creator, and the nature of truth itself.


With a brilliant combination of sensitivity and a precise economy of language, Martel develops a story some readers might find less than credible. But his capacity for the mysterious, and a true understanding of the depths of human resilience will compel even the most skeptical of readers to continue on the fantastic journey with Pi, and an unusual 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. (Summer 2002 Selection)

The Tipping PointDefining that precise moment when a trend becomes a trend, Malcolm Gladwell probes the surface of everyday occurrences to reveal some surprising dynamics behind explosive social changes. He examines the power of word-of-mouth and explores how very small changes can directly affect popularity. Perceptive and imaginative, The Tipping Point is a groundbreaking book destined to overturn conventional thinking in business, sociological, and policy-making arenas.

Thai Coconut Chicken

Ingredients
2 cups dry jasmine rice
3 cups water
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 cups 1 inch pieces asparagus
1 cup snow peas
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 cup chopped green onions
1 (14 ounce) can light coconut milk

Directions
In a 2 quart saucepan, combine water and rice. Cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.
In a medium size bowl, combine the chicken and curry powder, and toss to coat.
Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Cook the chicken, stirring frequently, over medium-high heat for 4 minutes. Mix in the asparagus, snow peas, carrots and green onions; cook for 3 minutes. Pour in the coconut milk , continue cooking until sauce is hot, and chicken is cooked through. Serve over the hot, cooked rice.

It's finally here!

After waiting for what seems like months (it really was months, you say?), I'm so excited to see you all this Friday at 6:30 p.m. for dinner and our discussion of "East of Eden!" Hope you all have a great week!

New Date

I'm setting the new Book Club meeting for Friday, July 23rd at 6:30 p.m. unless I get any major objections. The food challenge will remain the same!

Hope you have all had a pleasant Memorial Day!

um...maybe not...

There's a conflict on July 16th. It's Bronwyn's MRI, which is a pretty big deal. (I hope you don't mind me publishing that, Marie.) Is there any other date in July that will work for everyone? The votes indicated that there are conflicts on the other dates, but I didn't include July 23rd, 24th, 30th or 31st on the poll. Nor did I include any weeknights.

I'm giving up on having polls. Please comment or send an email, and let me know which dates you have available.

Thanks!

Friday, July 16th at 6:30 p.m.

Mark it on your calendars--Friday, July 16th, 6:30 p.m. for our next book club meeting at our house!

I think I will make our meal a challenge in keeping with our discussion about food--and my new diet restrictions. (Haha--and I thought I was joking earlier when I threatened to make the meal organic, free-range and grass-fed!)

So here's the challenge: See if you can make something wheat, gluten, dairy, egg, sugar, yeast, blueberry, mushroom, cod, crab, sesame, and almond-free. (It doesn't really have to be organic--I've just found that most stuff I can find just happens to be anyway.) It can be a main dish, a side dish, a dessert, or a bowl of fruit! And if you can--make sure you bring a copy of the recipe for me! If you can't--no worries, I'll have a few dishes prepared. We may cook some things on the grill outside since it should be warm by then, so if you want to grill something, that's an option. If you have any questions, send me an email or a comment.

I'm looking forward to our next get-together!

Polls are closed...

and the winner is "East of Eden."

Stay tuned for details about the next meeting!

And the finalists for next time are...

The Forgotten Man, by Amity Shlaes

This breezy narrative comes from the pen of a veteran journalist and economics reporter. Rather than telling a new story, she tells an old one (scarcely lacking for historians) in a fresh way. Shlaes brings to the tale an emphasis on economic realities and consequences, especially when seen from the perspective of monetarist theory, and a focus on particular individuals and events, both celebrated and forgotten (at least relatively so). Thus the spotlight plays not only on Andrew Mellon, Wendell Wilkie and Rexford Tugwell but also on Father Divine and the Schechter brothers—kosher butcher wholesalers prosecuted by the federal National Recovery Administration for selling "sick chickens." As befits a former writer for the Wall Street Journal, Shlaes is sensitive to the dangers of government intervention in the economy—but also to the danger of the government's not intervening. In her telling, policymakers of the 1920s weren't so incompetent as they're often made out to be—everyone in the 1930s was floundering and all made errors—and WWII, not the New Deal, ended the Depression. This is plausible history, if not authoritative, novel or deeply analytical. It's also a thoughtful, even-tempered corrective to too often unbalanced celebrations of FDR and his administration's pathbreaking policies. Publisher's Weekly


No Apology, by Mitt Romney

In No Apology, Mitt Romney asserts that American strength is essential—not just for our own well-being, but for the world’s. Governments such as China and a newly-robust Russia threaten to overtake us on many fronts, and radical Islam continues its dangerous rise. Drawing on history for lessons on how great powers collapse, Romney shows how and why our national advantages have eroded. From the long-term decline of our manufacturing base, our laggard educational system that has left us without enough engineers, scientists, and other skilled professionals, our corrupted financial practices that led to the current crisis, and the crushing impact of entitlements on our future obligations, America is in debt, overtaxed, and unprepared for the challenges it must face.

We need renewal: fresh ideas to cut through complicated problems and restore our strength. Creative and bold, Romney proposes simple solutions to rebuild industry, create good jobs, reduce out of control spending on entitlements and healthcare, dramatically improve education, and restore a military battered by eight years of war. Most important, he calls for a new commitment to citizenship, a common cause we all share, rather than a laundry list of individual demands. Many of his solutions oppose President Obama’s policies, many also run counter to Republican thinking, but all have one strategic aim: to move America back to political and economic strength.

Personal and dynamically-argued, No Apology is a call to action by a man who cares deeply about America’s history, its promise, and its future. Amazon.com

The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexander Dumas
(the unabridged version translated by Robin Buss is the most highly recommended version, but if we didn't all read the same version, that would be fine)

For Edmond Dantes, life couldn't be better. At 19, he is soon to be captain of his own ship and about to be married to his true love, Mercedes. But his life is suddenly turned upside down when on his wedding day he is arrested. Without a fair trial, he is condemned to solitary confinement in the miserable Chateau d'If. Soon, it is clear that Edmond has been framed by a handful of powerful enemies, jealous of his success. Barnes and Noble


East of Eden, by John Steinbeck

This sprawling and often brutal novel, set in the rich farmlands of California's Salinas Valley, follows the intertwined destinies of two families--the Trasks and the Hamiltons--whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel. "A strange and original work of art."--New York Times Book Review.

We're hoping to schedule the next meeting for a time when the Walkers are in town, so either mid-June, or towards the beginning of July. Most of the books here are way, super long, so we figured we'd want a little extra time to get through them.  Not only do we want to include the Walkers, we want everyone to come, so all of you email me if there are any dates that you aren't going to be here.  

p.s. I'm not sure what we're eating yet, but I'm pretty sure it will be free-range, organic and grass-fed!  :)

Dinner for Algernon

I think I've talked to most of you, but we'll be hosting this dinner at our place on Saturday May 1st at 6:30 to discuss Flowers for Algernon. We'll be doing Raclette grill, basically this is a table top grill with meat, veggies etc. We'll provide kielbasa and will provide the bread and cheese for dipping, we'll also provide peppers for our veggie. If each of you will bring one type of raw meat (chicken, shrimp or steak) prepared or marinated however you like (you could do a couple of different marinades or just one, whatever you prefer). You don't need to have a lot of meat, 1-2 chicken breasts would be the right portion size for example. You can also bring a vegetable if you feel so inclined. Let's see, we've historically done onions, zucchini, mushrooms, pineapple,canned potatoes (fresh take forever to grill). But you can try anything you think sounds good grilled! Any questions, let us know!

The Winner

We have our book for next month's book club it'll be .... Flowers for Algernon. Date and details to come, but for now, happy reading!

April Reading Suggestions

Okay, I may be a blogger, but I have no idea how to do a poll, thus this post. I included the synopsis of each book from barnesandnoble.com. You can add your vote as a comment on the blog or e-mail it to me. The four books that Jeff and I are suggesting are:



(1) Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (Fiction)

Charlie Gordon is about to embark upon an unprecedented journey. Born with an unusually low IQ, he has been chosen as the perfect subject for an experimental surgery that researchers hope will increase his intelligence-a procedure that has already been highly successful when tested on a lab mouse named Algernon. As the treatment takes effect, Charlie's intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment appears to be a scientific breakthrough of paramount importance, until Algernon suddenly deteriorates. Will the same happen to Charlie? WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD AND THE NEBULA AWARDThe classic novel that inspired the Academy Award-winning movie Charly

(2) Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science by Atul Gawande (Non-Fiction)

A brilliant and courageous doctor reveals, in gripping accounts of true cases, the power and limits of modern medicine

(3) The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Non-Fiction)

Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America’s rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair’s brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country’s most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his “World’s Fair Hotel” just west of the fairgrounds—a torture palace complete with dissection table, gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium. Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan, and others to transform swampy Jackson Park into the White City, while Holmes used the attraction of the great fair and his own satanic charms to lure scores of young women to their deaths. What makes the story all the more chilling is that Holmes really lived, walking the grounds of that dream city by the lake.The Devil in the White City draws the reader into a time of magic and majesty, made all the more appealing by a supporting cast of real-life characters, including Buffalo Bill, Theodore Dreiser, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and others. In this book the smoke, romance, and mystery of the Gilded Age come alive as never before.Erik Larson’s gifts as a storyteller are magnificently displayed in this rich narrative of the master builder, the killer, and the great fair that obsessed them both.

(4) Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer (Non-Fiction)

A childhood dream of someday ascending Mount Everest, a lifelong love of climbing, and an expense account all propelled writer Jon Krakauer to the top of the Himalayas last May. His powerful, cautionary tale of an adventure gone horribly wrong is a must-read.

And the winner is . . .

Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner. Although it doesn't look like the winner based on the results of the poll, it is the book that actually had the most votes. The poll has a few malfunctions which we will hopefully have taken care of for next month. The library has several copies of this book or you can also buy it new or used on amazon. We will get together on Friday February 26th at 6:30pm at Bryant & Adrienne's home. The theme for dinner is Anything Asian. We will be providing the main dish. Sign up to bring an appetizer, side dish, drinks, or dessert. Please post a response of what you will be bringing and any allergies, if you have them.

Also, who wants to host in March? Let me know.

The Rules

1.  Decide which month you want to host book club at your home.
2.  Email me 3 to 4 books at least 30 days prior for us to vote on for your month and I will create the poll.
3.  Decide on a theme for dinner and make a sign-up for assignments
4.  Post the results of the poll as well as the final information for the dinner.
5.  Read the book.
6.  Eat dinner with friends.
7.  Repeat.