Rock and Roll Cook Book Pick: Are We Having Any Fun Yet? Cooking & Partying Handbook

Are We Having Any Fun Yet? Cooking & Partying with Sammy Hagar
by Sammy Hagar and Josh Sens
Dey Street Books
2015
303 pages, with index
color photos
ISBN: 9780062370006

Sammy Hagar might sing, "I can't drive 55!" but he sure can party and boy, can he cook! Are We Having Any Fun Yet? is a testament to the man's love of life and of food! From the first pages of the foreward written with love by friend and famous New Orleans chef and restauranteur Emeril Legasse to Sammy's own heartfelt musings of his grandfather's cooking and hunting  to recipes from Cabo, Mill Valley, and Maui, Sammy entertains readers with personal stories and glimpses into a down-to- earth, totally rocking guy. Many photos with famous friends are also included. It's a fascinating book that transcends the usual "recipe" book.

Sammy gives background to visiting  a then sleepy beach town called Cabo San Lucas and opening the Cabo Wabo, meant to be a small beach bar  and the  struggles of keeping it running in the early  years. It's fascinating to see the day to day problems  of opening a rock venue and  in a foreign country on top of that. Fast foreward to today: the Cabo Wabo is and continues to be a successful business--no doubt due to Sammy's personality and his take on fresh, clean  food done right.  From Cabo Shrimp to Lobster Burritos to Tomatillo Salsa Sammy has the goods and can hook you up. From the bar in Cabo, Sammy opened up other locations and a line of tequila and other spirits.

With culinary friends like Emeril and Guy Fieri, Sammy's kitchen rocks! If Cabo is where Sammy gets his party on, Mill Valley is where he relaxes and settles in with wine and Osso Buco. Recipes for Chorizo and Pork Loin Paella make the mouth water, with photos of food that make the soul happy and Sammy's stories, like Sammy himself, always are full of life and humor.

The last destination Sammy calls  home is his Maui residence. Oceanfront and tranquil, full of fruit trees and a bounty of vegetables, it truly is a garden of Eden sans evil  serpent. Cooking and creating with year round fresh ingredients opened up a world of food for Hagar. He includes numerous cocktail recipes, many using his own spirits.

Truly a fun read and trip through parts unknown (thank you Anthony Bourdain), Are We Having Fun Yet? asks. Well, the answer is, "Yes, this is fun!"

Highly recommended for fans of rock, Hagar fans, foodie fans, spirits fans and anyone who enjoys great storytelling. This is vintage Hagar. A great gift for anyone with a little rock and roll and a little spice!

Recommended grade 9 and up. Profanity, cocktails, rock stories, and sheer fun!

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Foodie Pick: Voracious

Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way Through Great Books
by Cara Nicoletti
Little Brown and Company
2015
274 pages with index and recipes!
ISBN: 9780316242998

Supremely satisfying, divinely dulcet, and totally transcendent, Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way Through Great Books is sure to satiate the most voracious readers, eaters, and foodies.  Cara Nicoletti marries two passions of life: reading and eating. The two truly are connected after all.

Nicoletti shares each book and her own thoughts about the food found within and what it brought to the characters, tone, and plot of each novel. From Nancy Drew to Charlotte's Web and Where the Red Fern Grows  to Les Miserables to the Aeneid to Middlesex, Nicoletti delivers  up her dish on great books and the culinary creations they inspire.

To Kill a Mockingbird impacts many readers with its message of defending the underdog. The novel is full of food (as is the South). Nicoletti regales readers with descriptions from the book: "....scuppernongs, dewberry tarts, peach pickles, hickory nuts, cherry wine, butter beans and Lane cake..." I thought I was the only reader on the planet who was bothered by some of these foods. I was fourteen when I read To Kill a Mockingbird, and I took to the dictionary for a definition of scuppernongs--this was a  pre-Google, pre-Internet era. I discovered scuppernongs are a variety of grapes that grow in the South. I looked everywhere for someone who could tell me what the heck a Lane cake was. Finally I found an old Southern lady on the golf course--where else?--who told me Lane cakes are popular in the South and loaded with booze ("shiney"--i.e. moonshine). To Kill a Mockingbird brought the South to life for readers everywhere. Biscuits are a staple of every diet in the South. They are so prevalent In Maycomb, Calpurnia shines Scout's shoes with a biscuit. In honor of Harper Lee's classic, Nicoletti provides a recipe for Biscuits with Molasses Butter. She also gives cooks helpful tips throughout. For example, you can freeze pre-formed, unbaked biscuits.

For The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Nicoletti writes about the description of Ichabod Crane and his "insatiable and all-consuming hunger." Ichabod is  a lowly school teacher, not a wealthy landowner. He salivates over Katrina Van Tassel's family table and their hearty meals. Everywhere Ichabod goes, he sees an abundance of food, "...he beheld vast store of apples; some hanging in oppressive opulence on the trees; some gathered into baskets and barrels for the market; others heaped up in rich piles for the cider-press. Farther on he beheld great fields of Indian corn..." In honor of Ichabod, Nicoletti offers up Buckwheat Pancakes to which you can add toppings of maple syrup, peanut butter, bananas, honey, or smoked salmon which she admits with humor,  "I've tried them (the pancakes) with all of these toppings, for research purposes, of course."

Rebecca, my all time favorite Gothic read, gets full literary and culinary treatment here. The food abounds in this novel. There is literally food everywhere and it is shocking to see the depth and breadth of it. For breakfast they dine on: "...scrambled eggs and bacon, fish, boiled eggs, porridge, and ham...and entire table of condiments for the toast and scones--jam, marmalade and honey--as well as dessert dishes and mountains of fresh fruit." The narrator in Rebecca never reveals her name which makes this  novel all the more creepily Gothic and romantic.  For Rebecca, Nicoletti gives a nod to our nameless heroine and creates an ambrosia called  Blood Orange Marmalade.

Readers will devour every recipe and anecdote with gustatory glee. This novel is a treasure trove for the eye, the mind, the soul and the palate. Truly a rare find!

Highly, highly recommended for foodies, readers, cooks, chefs, and eaters everywhere. If you know a foodie, this book is a delectable gift that they will treasure! This is one book I will return to again and again for the food and for the stories!

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Foodie Pick: Guy on Fire: 130 Recipes for Adventures in Outdoor Cooking

Guy On Fire: 130 Recipes for Adventures in Outdoor Cooking
by Guy Fieri and Ann Volkwein
William Morrow
2014
342 pages with index
ISBN: 9780062244710

Foodie fun for wannabe and gonna-be chefs! Rock star chef and megawatt personality Guy Fieri keeps it real and that's what viewers of Food Network love about him. His full on fun personality, wit, wisdom and Guy-isms: "off the hook," "that's money!" "That's the real deal," "off the chain," and a ga-zillion other ways to describe food keep viewers watching, young chefs dreaming, and the public hungry to buy his cookbooks.

Guy on Fire is sure to please even the most skeptical outdoor cooking enthusiast. Fieri loves to cook outside, but unlike the ordinary back yard griller, Guy throws extreme  tailgate bashes and participates in serious "que" contests. Everything he does, he does with passion and brilliance. Fieri includes a Master Tool and Equipment List which is comprised of everything any outdoor chef would need including a wine opener, cast iron Dutch oven, a  hatchet, basting brushes, and multiple cutting boards--different colors for each meat--and no wood boards (due to contamination of cooked and raw meats and wood contaminates easily).

Pages are lively and nearly  edible. "Guy's Straight-Up Burgers with a Pig Patty and Donkey Sauce" are sure to jump start taste buds--a burger made from bacon?! Sounds like heaven wrapped up in rainbows and glitter! Every recipe comes not only with ingredients and instructions, but Fieri adds helpful prep tips that will save time. Fieri adds a brief  note to most recipes or tells a funny "Guy"  story--fans of his will find this cookbook a great addition to their kitchen.

Tailgating used to mean ingesting overcooked  brats, boring  hot dogs and soggy burgers, but not in Fieri's extreme tailgating world. It's go big or go home. Who knew Bacon-Wrapped Scallops Glazed with Maple Butter was even a possibility in a parking lot? Fieri lists supplies needed for a successful tailgating event: trash bags, paper towels, wet towels, two ice chests--one for food and drink and the other just for clean ice. How many tailgaters out there put this much thought into an ice chest just for ice?

Photos of recipes are always expected in a successful  cookbook, but Fieri also includes family photos of backyard BBQs and parties, tailgates and contests. Illustrations by Joe Leonard capture the fun mood and party vibe.

Guy on Fire make the perfect gift for that cookbook collector or foodie fan. Anyone who loves to grill, camp or tailgate would like this book as a gift.

Highly recommended for cooking fans of all ages.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I purchased this book for the library. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

Green Teen Pick: The Green Teen Cookbook

The Green Teen Cookbook: Recipes for all Seasons--Written by Teens, For Teens
edited by Lauran Marchive & Pam McElroy
Zest Books
2014
9781936976584
144 pages


The Green Teen Cookbook is a  unique fresh approach to eating and cooking green for teens--and big news! It's written by actual teens for their teen counterparts. When the editors asked teens for recipes that used fresh ingredients, they received thousands of submissions from around the world. They were surprised by  the excitement that teens had for food, cooking and eating green and seasonally. This little green book will excite the new chef in the teen kitchen and awaken the sleeping chef in all the rest of us.

Many cooks and eaters do not eat green or healthy. We grab and go. We overspend on produce that is not seasonal. We end up wasting food and throwing away our hard earned money. The Green Teen Cookbook shows cooks how to plan and prepare tasty food following a few easy rules.

Eating seasonally allows eaters and cooks to eat healthy, more flavorful foods at a premium price. Tomatoes in season are delicious at every meal--slice them on a sandwich, puree them for a sauce or make a nice salsa using the fresh bounty.  Zucchini and asparagus are also seasonal gifts.  Once these foods are gone for the season, look forward to eating them again next year.  According to chef Andy Gold, "Tests show that leafy greens like spinach lose around half of their nutrients in the first twenty=four hours after they're harvested." No wonder the spinach in the market is not as flavorful as that you pick up at a farmer's stand. It's been packaged and shipped, sometimes over thousands of miles! Eating local produce and products is a big boon to practicing being green. Teens support local growers and cut out the cost of transportation and the burning of fuels to transport those  goods.

Recipes run the gamut of tastes from making your own peanut butter and Chocolate Hazelnut spread (compare to Nutella) to homemade energy bars to seasonal frittatas to Sausage Bolognese to hummus to guacamole. Colorful photos accompany every page; as every cookbook junkie knows, a cookbook just isn't a good cookbook unless it comes with color photos on every page! The recipes included are easy to follow, include quick tips, and are user friendly for beginner chefs.

I say, let's roll up our sleeves, wash our hands, and start cooking! This is one great gift for that foodie tween or teen in  your life!

From the back cover: "The Green Teen Cookbook is more than just another set of recipes: it's an all-in-one guide for going green and eating well."

Highly, highly recommended for every teen wannabe chef and foodie. Grade 5-up with some supervision  for younger chefs.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Beach Read Pick: Monster's Chef

Monster's Chef
by Jervey Tervalon
Amistad
2014
224 pages
ISBN: 9780062316202

Available June 10, 2014

Monster's Chef is the perfect beach read. It has everything a reader could want: an out of work, down on his luck chef with a checkered past and a lost love, an aging rock star who harbors illegal habits and an illicit eye for young boys, wannabe hangers-on hoping for that lucky break or their first million, the unhappy, pregnant wife of the aging rocker, a grounds-keeper who looks the other way, and a security team who will shoot now and ask questions later--all set in a remote compound in the hills away from Hollywood.

Gibson takes the job as personal chef because he needs the money. Just released from the halfway house, there's not a lot of jobs lining up on his horizon. He needs clarity and peace, and takes the job at the quiet compound hoping for  a little of both. What he finds is a weird job. He rarely cooks since Monster likes to eat raw. Gibson soon wonders why Monster needs a chef at all.

Monster----as he proclaims himself is the king of the compound--he is everything the press loves in a celebrity--he is odd, different, eccentric bordering on maniacal. In his lair on the hill, he can stay up all night in his weird den of entertainment and sleep all day. He answers to no one. The laws do not pertain to him. He is untouchable and God-like in his realm. His servants don't dare ask questions; they lend a blind eye and hope to make their fortune quick and make a clean getaway. No one talks about what goes on at Monster's Lair.

When a dead body shows up on the property, the sheriff comes looking for answers. Gibson is strangely fascinated by the being who happens to be  Monster--as readers are likely to be. Monster is a true enigma--a tortured soul who is worshipped by hordes of fans in public but who is as alone as a person can be. He is pitiful but too strange and corrupted  to be pitied.

I enjoyed this book immensely but hoped for just a little more "chef -y-ness." While a few recipes were included, I suppose I was looking for a bit more cuisine since the word chef is in the title and various kitchen implements are featured on the cover. The cover also features weapons, a dollar sign,  a couple of thugs, and two women.

I found Monster a bit fascinating and he reminded me of the late Michael Jackson. Gibson, too, was an interesting character. Monster's Chef is a book that will stick with you. You are not likely to forget this one.

Recommended for mature and adult readers. Anyone who loves an "inside the lives of celebrities" book, will love this one. Celebrities, according to Monster's Chef, are not just like you and me.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received the arc from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

Sweet Tween Pick: Frosting and Friendship

Frosting and Friendship
by Lisa Schroeder
Aladdin
2013
216 pages
ISBN: 9781442473966

Frothy, friendly, feminine and flirty, Frosting and Friendship is a fun read for tweens who love adventures in food!


Lily joins a mother-daughter book club with her mom and is excited until...she realizes that the host of each month's  meeting has a bake a beautiful culinary confection. Lily is so doomed! Her baking disasters have haunted her for years. She considers herself a zero when it comes to baking and wishes that the other girls would allow the hostess to simply buy a dessert from the store or local bakery. The other girls are emphatic: the dessert must be home-made. Lily has only two months to learn how to bake and the bar is set for high standards.

Lily's mom assures her that two months is a long time, and they can figure this baking thing out together. Lily is still not sure and spends her time practicing with her garage band. When the school announces that it's having its Spring Fling, the band is excited to try out for it. Lily is torn between spending time with her band mates and practicing or learning to  bake something over the top in order to wow The Baking Bookworms.

Those two endeavors  would be enough for any tween to balance, but then Lily agrees to help plan and host a surprise  birthday party for her friend Sophie.  Being pulled in three different directions is not pleasant and something has got  to give.

Each short chapter is has a cute title: "Music Lovers Cupcakes: A Perfect Harmony of Chocolate and Vanilla" and "Lollipops : Happiness on a Stick." This is a quick read and should appeal to girls, reluctant readers and "Koodies"--kids who are foodies.

For a sweet, sweet time reading, Frosting and Friendship takes the cake (yes, pun intended). Fans of Schroeder's culinary themed  books It's Raining Cupcakes and Sprinkles and Secrets will like Frosting and Friendship.

Recommended grade 5 and up.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

Foodie/Koodie Pick: So, You Want To Be a Chef? How To Get Started in the World of Culinary Arts

So, You Want To Be a Chef?
by Jane Bedell
Beyond Words/Aladdin
2013
224 pages

Entertaining, noteworthy, informative, and just plain fun, So You Want To Be a Chef? is a must have for anyone with a passion for food.

Foodies and Koodies(kids with a culinary flair) everywhere will be clamoring to get this book. Filled with advice, this little gem tells passionate young cooks/chefs/koodies all the information they will need to decide on a future in the culinary industry. Cooks will need to have a passion for cooking, good management skills and "...an artist's eye is required" in this industry.

Bedell lists 25 Places Where Culinary Professionals Work including: airlines, hotels, hospitals, spas, resorts, and military bases. Young bloggers and writers offer their insight, too. Thirteen year old Dominick Cura, owner of the website Eternally Gluten Free and writer of a cookbook was first diagnosed with Celiac disease when she was nine years old. She turned around and focused on making good food that wouldn't make her sick and helping others like her. Michael Prados, age 12, is a food blogger and attended the first White House Kids' State Dinner.

The book includes fun, little-known facts about food: did you know that almonds, cashews and pistachios are not nuts, they are really seeds? Did you know that the tomato is defined in botany as a berry?

Recipes are included as well. There is a delightful recipe for an easy potato soup. The five "mother" sauces are covered, too. Any chef (or cook) will have to master: Hollandaise, Veloute, Tomato, Bechemel and Espagnole to command a kitchen.

A goldmine of information is found in "Resources for Chefs and Cooks," cooking terms are defined in the glossary, helpful cooking websites and a bibliography of articles and books will keep young culinary wanna-bes busy for a long time.

If you know a young foodie (Koodie), you will want her/him to read this book. Young cooks everywhere are using You Tube to deliver cooking how-to videos to their followers. Sharing sites are making it possible for young koodies to start their careers as children.

Highly, highly recommended age 8-up. This is a must-have.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this ARC from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

This review has been posted in compliance with the FTC requirements set forth in the Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising (available at ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

Book Club & Foodie Pick: 52 Loaves

52 Loaves
by William Alexander
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
2010
339 pages with recipes and bibliography

Laugh out loud funny, seriously entertaining, almost overly informative--I did not know anything about threshing wheat until William Alexander explained it pain-stakingly for me--this food-for-thought journey of one introspective, insanely driven, nearly crazy man to bake the "perfect" loaf of bread sustains the reader. I was sorry when his journey ended and I turned the last page.

When Alexander tastes the perfect bread in a restaurant, he sets out to find how to bake the perfect loaf from scratch--I do mean scratch--he wants to plant his own seeds, harvest his own wheat, make his own flour, build his own bread oven--he wants to "return to the earth"--this is a serious labor.

He decides to tweak the "perfect" recipe and does a mountain of research, buying the best books about bread and seeking out bakers who live on the east coast. He even enters a bread contest in New York. Still not satisfied, he travels to Paris and enrolls in the hoity-toity French school Ecole Ritz Escoffier. He ventures to Morroco where he almost dies and ends up in a monastery in Normandy where he instructs monks to use their centuries old oven to begin baking the monastery's bread.

Each chapter tells that week's successes and mostly--failures. To sum up, Alexander tells the reader what he's learned in his year-long experiment:

"--Bread in a healthy diet doesn't make you fat.
--Too much bread, washed down with wine, does.
...Do not untake any project that promises it can be completed in a week-end.
--Do not drink the water in Morroco. Or the tea, or the coffee. In fact, you might think about skipping Morroco altogether. I hear Barbados is nice this time of year.
--Trust strangers. Well, some. Only those you can trust.
--Choose one thing you care about and resolve to do it well.
--Whether you succeed or not, you will be the better for the effort.
--Bread is life." (from the novel)

I could almost smell the aroma of baking bread as Alexander described each week's offering. Well-written prose almost sings off the pages. Alexander has the knack of mixing his memoirs with hysterical, often biting, humor that targets mostly himself. This is a great Christmas gift for book lovers who also happen to love food or for that "closet" wanna-be baker.

Highly, highly recommended grades 9-up and serious food junkies. This is a great book club pick for all kinds of book clubs.

Only one mature situation--Alexander gives up sex with his wife because he's worried about timing the yeast rising in his latest batch of dough.

FTC Required Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. I did not receive monetary compensation for this review.

Middle School Pick

Killer Pizza

by Greg Taylor

Scholastic, 2009.

341 pages

Any book that evokes R. L. Stine and Darren Shan, is a book that will appeal to middle school reluctant readers. If they love monsters, pizza, and action, this first novel by Greg Taylor is for them.

Toby McGill is not looking forward to a long and boring summer vacation. More than anything he would like a summer job to break the monotony. He is excited to learn that the manager from a local pizza delivery shop wants to hire him. Toby is soon the best cook at Killer Pizza. What he doesn't know is that pizza delivery is only a "front" for what really goes on there.

Killer Pizza is actually a chain of monster killing shops; they seek out guttata--somewhat human and something like a giant bear--to destroy. Toby is picked for an elite team of monster patrol along with Annabel--a cute and super-smart classmate and Strobe, an angry and defiant rebel.

Together they patrol the streets of Hidden Hills, Ohio--just an ordinary town except for the presence of monsters. As Toby hones his skills as an operative, he also gains experience in the kitchen and realizes that his dream to become a chef is attainable.

Mixing pizza with monsters is a great idea. Two things that kids love. What else could they want?

Recommended grades 5-9.