Brown Bag Book Club -- To Go

June Pick/ HOLMES ON THE RANGE

2010-05-29T07:29:00.000-07:00

By Steve Hockensmith

The Wild West meets Sherlock Holmes in Steve Hockensmith's mystery, "Holmes On The Range." Now Mr. Holmes does not show up in person in 1893 Montana, but in the stories read by Old Red and Big Red Amlingmeyer around the campfire. But when the Amlingmeyer brothers sign on to work as ranch hands for the mysterious Bar-VR ranch Old Red feels that something is "afoot." Especially when the general manager of the ranch, an Englishman turns up dead, the apparent victim of a cattle stampede.

Old Red finally gets his chance to put the deductive reasoning to work that he has so admired in Sherlock Holmes and his brother Big Red becomes his somewhat unwilling Doctor Watson. Along with the brothers as ranch hands are a colorful assortment of characters with nicknames straight out of the Old West.

"Holmes On The Range" is a new twist on the classic western tale.

June Pick/ BONE MUSIC

2010-05-28T07:53:00.001-07:00

By Lee Moler

Enemies from the Vietnam War. A mutated rabies virus. Chinese Triad gangs. What do all these things have in common? They are all part of the New West in Lee Moler's novel, "Bone Music." The traditional Old West components are here also, ruthless ranch owners, cowboys and cattle, Indians and vision quests, even a beautiful barmaid.

When rancher Judd Jefferson finds 150 of his prize cattle dead from a mysterious poison, he suspects that the new microchip plant borders his land has had something to do with it. He confronts the company manger and is presented with an EPA clean bill of health for the company and assurances that they have done nothing to harm his land or his cattle, but Judd still has his suspicions. Suspicions that are compounded by the fact that Judd is currently dealing with his own personal demons. His wife has left him and something is eating him up inside, some piece of his past that just won't die. As he investigates the factory, Judd's past does come back, C.K. Lone, a Triad crime lord who knows Judd from Vietnam, and whose thirst for revenge has also been eating him up inside for the last twenty-five years.

Set in Montana, "Big Sky Country," and home to Glacier National Park, "Bone Music"
takes the reader on a journey that looks at the evil men do in the name of revenge and love. It also looks at what can happen when your try to manipulate Mother Nature, and how modern day thinking can go hand in hand with the ancient ways. It take you to a place where the ancient spirit of the land can still be felt and can capture you and hold you in all its fierceness and beauty.

May Pick/ The Three Weissmanns of Westport

2010-04-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

By Cathleen Schine

Divorce at any age is difficult to say the least, but when seventy-eight year-old Joseph Weissmann tells his seventy-five year-old wife Betty that he wants a divorce, citing "irreconcilable differences," she replies, Of course there's irreconcilable differences, what does that have to do with divorce?"

So opens the novel, "The Three Weissmanns of Westport," by Cathleen Schine. When Betty is left by her husband of forty-eight years because he has fallen in love with his assistant, she is shocked and confused. Betty's two grown daughters are also left confused and anxious, as they suddenly find themselves middle-aged products of a broken home. When Betty is forced to leave her luxurious Manhattan apartment she accepts her cousin's offer to use his beach cottage in Westport, overlooking Long Island Sound. Her daughters' lives also seem to be coming unraveled, as younger daughter Miranda's literary agency is caught up in scandal and and Betty has the idea that Miranda should come with her to get away from the public eye. Practical library director and elder daughter Annie, who thinks she may be having an affair with an author feels that she should also move with them. If only to keep an eye on her impulsive sister and capricious mother and on their dwindling purse strings.

In an homage to Jane Austen, Schine has adapted "Sense and Sensibilty" and moved it to Westport, Conneticut. As the sisters try to look after their "grieving" mother, she has told all that instead of divorcing her Joseph has died, they mingle with the suburbs version of aristocracy and love starts to blossom for both of them. Annie and Miranda find themselves struggling between the demands of reason and romance.

May Pick/ From Harvey River

2010-04-29T12:20:00.000-07:00

By Lorna Goodison

"From Harvey River" is the story of the "fabulous Harvey girls" in particular the author's mother, Doris who seemed to live in two places at once on the tropical island of Jamaica. Kingston, where she raised her daughter Lorna and her eight siblings, and Harvey River in the parish of Hanover where she was born and spent her childhood.

To grow up in Harvey River, named after her English grandfather, meant a life of Victorian niceties in her parents home combined with the rich bounty of the land for Doris Harvey. Even with her strong-willed mother Margaret and her dreamer of a father David plus her somewhat overbearing sister Cleodine and the rest of her siblings and extended family life was sweet and simple. When Doris meets and marries her husband Marcus Goodison, their fortunes change. His garage business failing, they are forced to move to Kingston and face the harsh urban lifestyle, and Harvey River becomes a place that Doris frequently returns to in her dreams.

Lorna Goodison weaves together island lore with the story of her mother's life, from the eden of Harvey river to when "things changed" and they moved to Kingston. No matter how hard life became, however, the author remembers her mother's bottomless cooking pot, how she could sew clothes to fit any shape and the first word all her children learned to read was SINGER.

April Pick/ BRAVA VALENTINE

2010-03-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

By Adriana Trigiani

In this sequel to, "Very Valentine" we catch up with the Angelini/Roncalli family as Gram is about to get married in Italy to long time love, Dominic. Granddaughter Valentine is feeling a mix of emotions. Happiness for her beloved grandmother but bereft at the thought of losing her business partner, roommate and sounding board, not just to marriage, but also the fact that Teodora will be living thousands of miles and an ocean away from her!

The one bright spot is that Valentine is looking forward to possibly renewing her acquaintance with Dominic's handsome and charming son, Gianluca. But family and business interrupt the reunion. first there's Aunt Feen, whose bitterness leads to a drunken wedding toast and a visit to the hospital, then there is Gram's announcement that Valentine's new business partner will be none other than Valentine's brother Alfred, who she loves as her brother, but dislikes as a person in general.

When she returns home, Valentine must get her new line of shoes off the ground while maintaining the integrity of Angelini Custom Shoes. She also discovers long lost secrets and an unknown branch of the family. A new roomate, romanced by letters from Gianluca, and a trip to Buenos Aires keep Valentine busy, but also wondring. Is it possible to have love and success? Has seeing the men in her family betray their wives made her afraid to love and trust? The year passes, seasons change, and Valentine grows and changes also into the confident, and loving business woman her Grandmother nutured.

April Pick/ TRUE CONFECTIONS

2010-03-25T12:03:00.000-07:00

By Katharine Weber

Candy, candy, candy! How sweet it is! Or so it may seem, but when you run a family owned candy company, there can be bitter with the sweet.

So goes the novel, "True Confections" by Katharine Weber. It's the story of the Ziplinsky family and the candy company, Zip's that they have run since it began in 1910. But this story is told in a somewhat unique way, in the form of a written affidavit by Alice Tatnall Ziplinsky, the wife of Howard, who is the great-grandson of Eli, a Hungarian immigrant and founder of Zip's.

"True Confections" is not only the story about candy, although there are quite a few side stories about candy-making, ingredients, and the novel even mentions some real-life candy companies, like Mars and Hershey's and their histories. The novel also tells the story of immigrants making new lives for themselves in a new world. The threat of WWII on the European Jewish community and families being separated, and even the Third Reich's plan to establish a compound on of Madagascar for the exiled Jewish people. It's also the story of an outsider looking in, wanting to belong and finally becoming a part of the family. It's about running a business and moving it forward into the future while still trying to stay true to the past.

Now don't worry. Even though the novel is written as an affidavit, it is not filled with a bunch of legalese. Bouncing back and forth between the present and the past, Alice tells the story of the Czaplinsky brothers and their candy. She explains the dynamics of this family as a family member but also as a business woman looking out for her company and her children's' inheritance. There is humor and warmth to the story also as it covers the universal themes of family, love, and betrayal.

March Pick/ The Privileges

2010-02-26T19:36:00.000-08:00

By Jonathan Dee

In this economy is it still possible to have a life of boundless privilege? What does it take and what decisions would anyone make to have and keep it all?

Meet Adam and Cynthia Morey, so perfect for each other, they become a sort of fortress against the world. Marrying young, they are eager to start the life they dream of. Adam is a rising star in the world of finance and private equity, with a beautiful home in the upper reaches of Manhattan, wonderful children, plenty of money and a life of privilege in which any desire can be acted upon they seem on the verge of attaining their dream. But that dream is not arriving fast enough to suit Adam and Cynthia.

Then Adam is confronted with a choice. A choice that can give his family happiness, the dream of privilege. The sense that the only acceptable way of life is one of infinite possibility. How much is he willing to risk for that life?

The couple's boundless love for each other helps guide them through a life that is touched by fortune, changing over time and realizing in the end what it means to leave the world a richer place than you found it.

March Picks/ Saving CeeCee Honeycutt

2010-02-26T19:11:00.000-08:00

By Beth Hoffman

Novels featuring strong, southern women have always delivered good stories with characters that people can relate to, enjoy and care about. "Saving CeeCee Honeycutt" is such a novel. It centers on 12 year-old Cecelia Rose Honeycutt and the women who shape her life one summer in Savannah.

It's the mid-1960's and CeeCee has spent most of her young life caring for her mother Camille, a former beauty queen who is slowly slipping into psychosis and reliving her days as the Vidalia Onion Queen of 1951. CeeCee's father is a traveling salesman whose stops home become shorter and shorter because he cannot deal with his wife's illness. CeeCee's one spot of normality is her aged neighbor, Mrs. Odell and the books she can escape into when her mother is too much to handle.

When Camille is killed by a truck, CeeCee's great-aunt Tootie Caldwell, whom she has never met, shows up and whisks her off to Savannah to live for the summer. In this picturesque Georgia city, CeeCee sees another side of life than what she has become used to and she also meets a group of women that will affect her life and help her to grow. There is of course her aunt Tootie who is involved with seeminly every good work and organization in the historic city, her housekeeper, the all-knowing Oletta Jones, the exotic neighbor Miss Thelma Rae Goodpepper, who bathes in her backyard and even the insufferable Violene Hobbs, at whose house the local police officer has been seen in compromising situations. With the help of these women and the beauty of Savannah, CeeCee begins to heal and enjoy being a child once again.

January's Pick/ Shanghai Girls

2009-12-26T08:58:00.000-08:00

By Lisa See

1937 Shanghai, the Paris of Asia, is home to 21 year-old Pearl Chin and her younger sister , May. They have financial security and material comforts thanks to their father's prosperous rickshaw business. The sisters are sought after by "beautiful-girl" artists to pose for posters and calendars depicting all modern conveniences, such as powdered baby formula and luxury items like filtered cigarettes and pearl creams. They think of themselves as modern young women, dressing in the latest Western styles, going to clubs, parties and shopping.

But Shanghai in 1937 is also the home to gangsters and gamblers, artists and warlords, patriots and revolutionaries. Women may not bind their feet any longer, but the old ways are still honored along with ancestors. The girls think they are modern women, waving off authority and tradition, carefree and beautiful but their world comes to a halt when their father tells them he has gambled away their fortune along with the rickshaw business. In order for him to pay his debts to the Chinese gangs from which he has borrowed and save their lives, he has sold the girls as wives to young men from California who have traveled along with their powerful father to find Chinese brides.

While Pearl and May are still reeling from this bombshell, real Japanese bombs begin falling on their beloved homeland and the beautiful city of Shanghai. These events set Pearl and May on the beginning of a journey that will last a lifetime. Fleeing through the Chinese countryside, experiencing the brutality of Japanese soldiers first-hand, and surviving a sea voyage to land on the shores of America. In Los Angeles, they begin the next leg of their journey. Getting through immigration and quarantine, trying to find love with the strangers they have been forced to marry, the lure of Hollywood and trying to become true and loyal Americans. They fight against discrimination, Communist witch hunts and being hemmed in by Chinatown's old world ways and rules.

Through it all, through marriage, motherhood, and even death, Pearl and May are each others strongest supporters and champions. Fights and betrayals, normal amongst most siblings, cannot break the bond of the sisters. Even when their hair is white, to quote May, "they will still have their sister love."

TRADITIONAL ALMOND COOKIES

Ingredients
1 cup shortening (Crisco)* 3/4 cup sugar* 2 eggs* 1 tbsp almond extract* 2-1/4 cups flour* 1/2 tsp baking soda* 1/4 tsp salt* 1/2 cup blanched almond halves* 1 egg beaten (for brushing top of cookies)

Prep
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream together the shortening and sugar. Beat in 2 eggs, one at a time, and mix well. Add the almond extract and mix.3. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. With a wooden spoon, gradually stir the flour mixture into the shortening. The dough should be fairly firm.4. Divide the dough in half and roll each into a log, about 1-1/2 inch in diameter. Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for 4 hours.5. Cut the dough crosswise into 1/4 inch thick slices. Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. Top each cookie with an almond half. Brush cookies lightly with beaten egg.6. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until light golden brown.

from www.chineserecipes.itsallgud.com

January's Pick/The Case of the Missing Servant

2009-12-11T12:16:00.000-08:00

By Tarquin Hall

Vish Puri is India's most private detective. Determined, particular, and very persistent, his portly figure and mustache bring to mind a Punjabi version of that famed Belgian detective, Monsieur Hercule Poirot.

In modern day Delhi, where call centers and high rise apartment blocks are rapidly taking over the ancient fabric of Indian life, Vish Puri's cases come mostly from screening prospective marriage partners a job that in the old days was reserved for aunties and family priests. But when a famed local lawyer is accused of murdering one of his servants, Puri is finally faced with the kind of case where he can put to use the detective skills that combine modern day technologies with the principles of detection established in in India more than two thousand years ago.

With his team of operatives, Tubelight, Facecream, and Flush and unwanted help from "Mummy-ji," Vish travels from Delhi to the remote mines of Jharkhand to solve the case.

The Case of the Missing Servant is a fun and interesting read. There is a glossary at the back of the book with Indian words and phrases that you will find interesting, especially finding out the meaning of some words that you hear frequently. Also, if you're even remotely a fan of Dame Christie's Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries (Mummy-ji knows her Delhi neighbors as well as Miss Marple know the residents of St. Mary Mead!) you'll enjoy this Indian mystery as well.

PALE GREEN, SPICY, MINT LASSI

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups plain yogurt

3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

25 large fresh mint leaves

1/2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

1/ fresh hot green chile, coarsely chopped, do not remove seeds

1/3 teaspoon salt or to taste

1/4 teaspoon ground roasted cumin seeds (optional)

8 ice cubes

Prep

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Some ice pieces may remain. Garnish with mint leaves. Serves 2.

from Madhur Jaffrey's "Quick & Easy Indian Cooking"

December Picks/Holiday Cheer for One and All!

2009-11-25T11:15:00.000-08:00

A Happy Holiday to all of our blog followers!

For this month's pick, there were so many to choose from we decided to "gift" you with a stocking full of choices. Each book delivers on the basic theme that the holidays are not only a time for celebrating with family and friends, but to also reflect and remember the stories and memories of days gone by. They also remind us, in their own subtle way, the reason we come together at this time of year, no matter the holiday we celebrate. So, if you have a moment during this hectic time of year, take a break and enjoy one, or all, of these wonderful books!

"A Christmas Blizzard" by Garrison Keillor. The "Prairie Home Companion" author tells the tale of Mr. Sparrow, multi-millionaire, stranded by a blizzard in his hometown of Looseleaf, North Dakota. While staying in an abandoned fishing shack, he conquers his old fears regarding the season in time to receive a special gift from Mrs. Sparrow, and a new appreciation for the holiday season.

"Skipping Christmas" by John Grisham. Luther and Nora Krank decide just this once, they'll skip the holiday altogether. No giant Frosty on the roof, no crowded malls, no hosting the annual Christmas Eve bash. On December 25 they will set sail for a Caribbean cruise! Of course, plans, like the steam from your hot chocolate, can evaporate and the consequences for skipping the holidays are enormous, and sometimes funny.

"Boo Humbug" by Rene Gutteridge. The traditional play "A Christmas Carol" has been hijacked by maverick director and Skary, Indiana resident Lois Stepaphanopolis! Her horror filled version will even scare the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come. The skeptical cast, including author and new sleep deprived father Wolfe Boone are trying their best to fit into the re-written roles. Marketing director Alfred Tennison, the town's own Scrooge, realizes that to get anybody to see this play it's gonna take some buzz. But the buzz is more successful than he realizes, and a crucial mis-communication has the actors scrambling to put on a more traditional story, or their last-minute version. Along the way Alfred faces down his own Christmas ghosts to realize the true meaning of the season.

"Knit the Season" by Kate Jacobs. Brown Bag Book Club favorite author Jacobs returns to the women of the Friday Night Knitting Club for the holiday season. Bringing the women, and their extended families together, besides the holidays, is the upcoming wedding of Anita Lowenstein and her beau, Marty. Dakota Walker, pastry chef and daughter of the late Georgia, owner of Walker & Daughter knit shop, looks forward to a Christmas visit to Scotland to visit her beloved Gran and to learn even more about her mother as a child and young mom. Beginning at Thanksgiving, through Hanukkah, Christmas and a New Year's wedding reception, the story reminds us of family bonds and the richness of memories and friendships that can enrich and sustain you through all of life's events. Things that we should all enjoy no matter the time of year.

"The Legend of the Twenty-First North Pole Santa" by Denise Graham Zahn. Finally, a story that delivers the answer to the biggest question of the holiday season, "How does Santa deliver gifts all over the world in one night?" This story is for young and old alike. It does not only address the whole present delivery issue, but also touches on diversity, helping your fellow neighbor and adoption. All the main characters are here, Santa, Mrs. Claus, the elves plus the extended Santa Claus family. Mixing legend and magic with real life issues, this story can be included with all the other classic holiday tales.

HOLIDAY GOODIES!

Cranberry Macadamia Nut Bark

Ingredients

1 pound white confectionery coating cut into pieces

1 jar (3 1/2 ounces) macadamia nuts

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Melt coating in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring until smooth. Add nuts and cranberries; mix well. Spread onto foil lined baking sheet. Cool thoroughly. Break into pieces. Yield: 1-1/4 pounds.

Holiday Wassail

Ingredients

1 can (16 ounces) apricot halves, undrained

4 cups unsweetened pineapple juice

2 cups apple cider

1 cup orange juice

18 whole cloves

6 cinnamon sticks, broken

Additional cinnamon sticks, optional

In a blender or food processor, blend apricots and liquid until smooth. Pour into a large saucepan, adding other juices. Place cloves and cinnamon sticks into a double thickness of cheesecloth, bring up corners and tie with kitchen string to form a bag. Add to saucepan. You may also add them loose and strain before serving. Bring to boil. Reduce heat: cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes.; Serve hot in mugs, garnish with cinnamon sticks if desired. Yield: 2 quarts.

Recipes from "Taste of Home" magazine, December 1997

November Pick/ That Old Cape Magic

2009-11-02T08:34:00.000-08:00

By Richard Russo

College professor Jack Griffin is heading to Cape Cod, where he and his wife Joy will celebrate the marriage of their daughter Laura's childhood friend. As he drives along he begins thinking back to the summers he spent there, a respite from the hated Midwest for his parents, but also to his honeymoon many years ago with Joy and the pact/plans they made on how they wanted to live there lives together.

Jack is not alone as he drives. The urn containing the ashes of his late father is in his trunk. This is the other reason for this pilgrimage to the Cape, to spread his father's ashes in the only place he believes his father was truly happy. He also has the constant ringing of his cell phone, his forever critical mother on the other end to keep him company.

As Griffin reflects on his life and the choices he's made, leaving screenwriting in L.A. for the kind of New England professorship his snobby academic parents longed for. He and Joy moving into "an old house with character" like she grew up in and starting a family. All the pieces seemed to fit the picture, but as the saying goes, "be careful what you wish for..." Has he, in trying so hard not to become is unhappy parents, really turned out like them more than he realizes?

Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Russo writes a story of middle-age, the ties that bind, from marriage and family, in-laws and promises, both fulfilled and broken. If you like Nicholas Sparks, you'll enjoy this book, a kind of male version of "women's fiction."

Cape Cod & Cranberries!

Cranberry Rangoons from Cape Cod Cranberry Growers' Association

Ingredients

3/4 cup fresh cranberries

1 jalapeno pepper

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup mayonnaise

10 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 pkg. won ton wrappers

1 quart oil for frying

Prep

Combine cranberries, jalapeno, sugar & mayo in food processor. Process until smooth. divide mixture in half and reserve one half for dipping sauce. With the remaining half, blend with cream cheese until smooth.

Lay a few won ton wrappers at a time out onto a clean cutting board. spoon 1 teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture into the center of each wrapper. Brush the edges of the wrappers with water and fold in half making a triangle. Set aside.

Heat the oil to temperature between 260-280*F. Carefully place the won tons in oil when heated, cook until golden. Take out won tons and place on paper towel to drain. Serve hot with reserved cranberry relish. Yield: 24 servings.

November Pick/ The Love Children

2009-11-02T07:48:00.000-08:00

By Marilyn French

In the late 1960's, Jess Leighton, daughter of a celebrated, but tortured artist and a pro-feminist professor mother is growing up in the New England town of Cambridge. Along with the headlining issues of the times, the Vietnam war, feminism, assassinations and protest rallies, Jess also learns about issues that most teens had never really had to deal with. The foster care system from her first boyfriend, a friends' abuse at the hands of a parent, and police corruption when her best friend's father is convicted of bribery. All this and her parents' splintering marriage can give any teen, then and now, cause to stop and examine each and every choice she makes.

Going off to college, and then like so many kids of the time, dropping out, Jess decides to locate a childhood friend at a commune in rural Massachusetts. Deciding to stay, she quickly finds out that having to take financial and emotional responsibility for herself is "...far from liberating," and the communal life is hardly idyllic. Jess does discover her love of cooking, and the early days of organic farming, and replaces Doris Lessing with Alice Waters as her role model. She also realizes that now, even though she has more options than her mother's generation did, there are no set guides for her to build the kind of life she wants to live. Jess realizes that to have the happy life she wants, she has to make it for herself, on her own terms.

"The Women's Room," Marilyn French's 1977 novel became one of the most influential books on the feminist movement. In her final novel, published after her death in May of 2009, French addresses the issues and captures the spirit of the times for the daughters of "the Women's Room" generation.

MUSHROOM LOVE

Stuffed Mushrooms from cookingcache.com

Ingredients

18 mushrooms (cleaned with stems removed)

4 Tbs. "Alouette" spreadable cheese, Spinach & artichoke flavor works best

2 Tbs. grated parmesean cheese

1/8 - 1/2 tsp. minced garlic

3 Tbs. bacon bits

Prep

Mix all ingredients except mushrooms. Fill mushrooms with mixture. Place on baking sheet. Bake at 375* for 12-15 minutes.

October's Picks/Midnight Bayou

2009-10-02T08:25:00.000-07:00

By Nora Roberts

Declan Fitzgerald has dreamed of owning Manet Hall for years. Trading in his briefcase for a tool belt, the former Boston lawyer has finally purchased the mansion on the outskirts of New Orleans and is determined to restore the crumbling house to its former glory. Rumors exist that say the decaying mansion is haunted, but Declan is too busy trying to rescue the house from the spiders and dust that have laid claim to it for at least century.

As Declan begins working, sometimes long hours in total isolation, he begins having strange experiences, including visions of people and some of the rooms in the mansion and how they may have looked over 100 years ago. He begins to wonder if the talk of hauntings is more than
just local legend. Add to the mix the beautiful Angelina Simone, whose grandmother is Declan's closest neighbor. They discover that Angelina and her granmother are both oddly tied to the house and its history. Before long Declan and Angelina are uncovering the secrets of the original owners of Manet Hall, secrets as dark and deep as the bayou that flows near it. In doing so they finally help lay to rest the ghosts of a murdered young woman and her husband who has been seaching for her for the past century.

Best-selling author Nora Roberts delivers what we consider a good, old-fashioned, ghost story that will have you sleeping with the lights on!

Southern Comfort!

Lemon-Blueberry Layered Dessert from myrecipes.com
Ingredients

15 lemon cookies, coarsely crushed (about 2 cups)

1 (21 ounce) can blueberry pie filling

1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

6 (6 ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed

Prep

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon crushed cookies in the bottom of an 8 oz. parfait glass. Spoon 1 1/2 teaspoon pie filling over cookies. Spoon whipped topping into bowl; fold in condensed milk and lemonade concentrate. Spoon 2 tablespoons of mixture on top of filling. Repeat layers once. Top with remaing cookies and chiil for 4 hours. Makes 8 servings

October's Picks/ CHICAGO HAUNTS, Ghostlore of the Windy City, by Ursula Bielski and

2009-10-02T07:49:00.000-07:00

HAUNTED CHICAGO; History and Hauntings of the Windy City, by Troy Taylor

Two great reads for the Halloween season are from local historian and parapsychology enthusiast Ursula Bielski and occultist and supernatural historian Troy Taylor. They both have great stories about Chicago and it's ghostly past. From the most popular, Resurrection Mary and Bachelor's Grove, to the little know tales of encounters with the devil in Bridgeport.

These are also great history books and if you grew up in and around Chicago you are familiar with these sories. If not, then it's great way to learn about the city and it's haunted history. You may even want to take a ride to see some of the local "haunts" or take in one of the tours that are usually offered in the city this time of year.

Pumpkin Juice from seasonalrecipes.com

Ingredients

2 cups fresh pumpkin, peeled and chopped into chunks
2 cups apple juice
1/2 cup pineapple juice
honey, to taste
cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and/or allspice (all ground, to taste)

Prep
Juice the pumpkin by squeezing through a cheesecloth or using a juicer if you have one. Pour the pumpkin juice, apple and pineapple juices into a blender. Add the honey (start with 1 teaspoon, taste, you can add more later) to the juices and blend thoroughly. Add your spices to taste. This might take some experimentation to get the flavors just right. Chill your pumkin juice or serve over ice and enjoy!

September's Pick/The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

2009-09-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

By Alan Bradley

In the summer of 1950, 11 year-old Flavia de Luce, amateur chemist with a passion for poisons, makes two discoveries within hours of each other. The first, a dead bird with of all things a postage stamp stuck on the end of it's bill is found on the doorstep of her family's home, Buckshaw. Second, she discovers a body in the cucumber patch and the man's dying word"Vale" plus snippets of an argument overheard earlier between father and possibly the victim send a curious Flavia on hunt for the dead man's identity.

When Flavia's father is taken into custody as a suspect, she hops on her trusty bike Gladys and takes to the English countryside in search of clues, stamps and a motive for murder. Seemingly one step ahead of the police and a certain Inspector, Flavia follows the trail leading to a connection between the dead man and her father that goes back to his days at school.

Desperate to clear her father's name, Flavia questions, pokes and prods in places that most 11 year-olds would not dream of.

The English country house mystery takes on a new twist with Flavia, a combination pint-sized Sherlock Holmes and youthful Miss Marple.

Sweet Ending!

Easy Crustless Custard Pie from About.com

Ingredients

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

3 level tablespoons self rising flour

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 (12 oz.) can fat-free evaporated milk
Prep

Preheat oven to 325. Combine all ingrediants and beatuntil smooth. Pour into a greased and floured pie pan. Bake in a 325 oven for 35 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown.

September's Picks/ Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

2009-09-01T08:46:00.000-07:00

By Jonathan Safran Foer

For September, we have a special review which is part of "THE SEPTEMBER PROJECT." Since 2004, libraries around the world have organized events about freedom and issues that matter to their communities during the month of September, which is also National Literacy Month. This grassroots project favors free over fee, public over private and voices over silence. For more information or to see what other libraries are doing visit: http://theseptemberproject.org.

"EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDILBY CLOSE" is a story of survival and healing. It looks at grief through the eyes of both child and adults.

Oskar Schell is a precocious 9 year-old whose father died on September 11, 2001. But the focus is not so much on the attacks of 9/11, rather it is more the story of a young boy's search for a lock to fit the key he believes his father left behind as part of their favorite game. The search takes Oskar through the five boroughs of New York and introduces him to characters who are all survivors themselves one way or another. He is typical of many children in that he tells the occasional fib to get the information he seeks or plays sick in order to stay home from school to continue his search. He asks countless questions and invents devices and things in his mind that will, if they could be made real, would always keep people in touch with each other and the world.

"...LOUD & ...CLOSE" also tells the story of Oskar's family, focusing on his grandparents and their survival of WWII and the bombing of Dresden and coming to America.

August's Picks/Julie & Julia: 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 tiny apartment kitchen

2009-08-01T13:25:00.000-07:00

By Julie Powell

What do you get when you take a semi-unhappy 29-year-old government temp in New York and one of the most famous cookbooks written by the PREMIER female chef of the 20th century? Well, when you mix these two ingredients together and add a helping of family, a dash of friends and co-workers with unique personalities, and of course, the Internet, you wind up with the cooking memoir, “JULIE & JULIA.”

Part journey of self-discovery and part discovery of exotic foodstuffs and the search to find and cook them, “J&J” is a funny and somewhat touching story about Julie Powell and the challenge she sets for herself.

On a visit to her childhood home in Austin, Texas, Julie rediscovers her mother’s copy of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” by Julia Child. Unhappy in her job, living in a run-down apartment in Queens, and told recently that she has a “syndrome” that may give her problems having children, Julie is looking at life and at the rut she feels she’s in. Leafing through the book again, she comes up with dramatic idea of self-rescue. She will cook every recipe in the Julia Child classic, 524 recipes in one year. Urged by her husband to start a blog about the “PROJECT,” Julie tracks down weird ingredients and learns cooking techniques that have not been used in decades. What ensues will make you smile and even laugh out loud at times.
Through countless pounds of butter, beef marrow, and lobster genocide, and even Julie’s brushes with her fifteen minutes of fame, you find yourself cheering her on and hoping for the perfect crepe.

French Goodies! Roasted Vegetable Tart
Ingredients
1 medium eggplant (about 12 ounces), sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 medium Portobello mushrooms, caps only, sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1/2 -inch dice
1 medium zucchini, sliced crosswise 1/4 inch thick
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
4 ounces Roquefort or other blue cheese, crumbled
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 large egg
1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 prepared pie crusts, not in tins (15-ounce package)
Directions
Place racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 450º. Line 2 baking sheets with foil.
In a large roasting pan, toss the eggplant, mushrooms, shallots, red bell pepper and zucchini with the olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast the vegetables for 12 to 14 minutes, stirring once or twice, until softened.
Using a handheld electric mixer, beat the Roquefort and cream cheese together until smooth. Add the egg and Parmesan; beat until blended.
Place 1 pie crust on each baking sheet, unfold and pinch together any tears. Divide the cheese mixture between the crusts and spread it out, leaving a 2-inch border of dough. Arrange the roasted vegetables on top. Fold the dough up to partially cover the filling, crimping to seal the edges. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden, reversing the pans halfway through cooking. Serve the vegetable tarts warm.

August's Picks/Lost in Austen

2009-08-01T12:54:00.000-07:00

Create Your Own Jane Austen Adventure
By Emma Campbell Webster

Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy are two of the most recognizable figures in literature. What if events had happened differently? What if Elizabeth had accepted Mr. Darcy at the beginning? Would we even have a “Pride and Prejudice?”

LOST IN AUSTEN lets the reader answer those questions and many more. It’s an interactive read -- you can even make a game out of it with your friends and family. Starting with such categories as ‘superior connections’, ‘bonus fortune points’ and ‘intelligence points,’ you make the choices Elizabeth should take and the paths she will follow. She also encounters characters from other Austen novels and inter-acts with them. The choices you make and how you answer certain questions determines if Elizabeth will move forward in her story or wind up alone and unmarried.

Taste This!
Orange Bread Biscuits by Betty Crocker
1 (10 oz.) can Hungry Jack Refrigerated big Flaky Biscuits
1 (3 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
5 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange peel
1 egg white, beaten
Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a cookie sheet. Separate dough into 10 biscuits. Separate each biscuit into 2 layers. Cut cream cheese lengthwise in half, then crosswise into 10 equal pieces. Combine sugar and orange peel. Dip cream cheese pieces in sugar mixture. Center one piece of sugared cream on bottom layer of each biscuit. Cover with top layers; press to seal. Brush biscuits with egg white. Sprinkle and press remaining sugar mixture onto tops of biscuits. Bake at 350°F. for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

July's Picks/The Necklace: 13 Women and the Experiment That Changed Their Lives

2009-07-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

By Cheryl Jarvis and The Women of Jewelia

To many people, owning a diamond necklace may seem frivolous and also induce envy in many others. But what if you could change those feelings? What if you could change your life, your friends’ lives, and that of a community? Would that make owning it a little easier? Such is the question asked in “THE NECKLACE,” the story of thirteen friends and acquaintances that decide to share in the cost of a diamond necklace.

Several years ago, Jonell McLain saw a diamond necklace, valued at $37,000 in the window of a jewelry store in Ventura, California. At first, it inspired desire. Then she began to wonder why some luxuries were only for the few, why can’t something like this be shared by many? A few phone calls to some friends, a huge leap of faith, and about $1,000.00 later she and thirteen friends owned the diamond necklace.

But this story is about much more than a few California women wearing a piece of jewelry to the spa. It’s about women bonding, sharing their lives, and opening up to strangers and taking chances. It’s about giving someone’s daughter something special to wear on the most special day any woman could have, her wedding day. It’s also about creating a foundation for sharing and giving back to the community by hosting fund-raisers centered around Jewelia (the name they gave the necklace) and donating the money to worthy causes.

Time For Dessert! Decadent Champagne Cake
Ingredients
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup champagne
6 egg whites

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 10 inch round cake pan.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together, and then blend into creamed mixture alternately with champagne.
In a large clean bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into batter to lighten it, then fold in remaining egg whites. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

July's Picks/The Ghost and Mrs. McClure

2009-07-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

The Haunted Bookshop Series
By Cleo Coyle, writing as Alice Kimberly

For mystery fans and the fans of those hard-boiled detective novels of the thirties and forties. THE GHOST AND MRS. McCLURE, the first book in the THE HAUNTED BOOKSHOP series, introduces you to bookshop owner Penelope Thornton-McClure and the ghost of hard-boiled 1940’s detective, Jack Shepard.

When widow Penny decides to take her late husband’s small life insurance policy and move herself and her young son back to her small Rhode Island hometown to invest in her aunt’s failing bookstore, she most certainly did not believe in ghosts. At the bookstore’s first author event the guest of honor, a best-selling author who coincidentally wrote crime stories based on the real-life Jack Shepard, drops dead. Penny is the main suspect. But suddenly, there’s a deep voice inside her head saying “No way!” and she sees the shadow of a fedora wearing man. Is this a figment of her imagination or could this 1940’s era detective with the “acres of shoulders” really be talking to her and no one else? With the “help” of Jack, and her friends, Penny eventually solves the mystery. Along the way she also finds out that Jack’s last case ended in his death in her bookstore and he’s been forced to spend eternity in a small town far from his former stomping grounds of post
WWII New York.

Cooking Up A Treat! Killer Cheese Dip (HOT)
A Hot Spicy Party Cheese Dip known to make women faint, strong men cry and small children fun for their mommies.Makes 18 oz of dip
11 oz Cheese Soup (one can of condensed cheese soup)
4 oz Chopped Green Chilies ( use Old El Paso canned chillies)
1 Medium Yellow Onion, chopped
1 tbsp Crushed Red Pepper
1 tbsp Chili Powder
1 tbsp Cumin1 Garlic Clove, crushed
1/4 tsp Hot Sauce (Tabasco sauce or hot pepper sauce)
8 oz Sour Cream
Mix together all ingredients except the sour cream; heat to boiling at low heat.When blended, correct seasoning (usually needs more cumin and garlic)Add sour cream and heat until it bubbles slightly. Serve with Tostitos or any natural Mexican-style corn chip.