Recipe: Raspberry Coridal (Anne of Green Gables)

Diana poured herself out a tumblerful, looked at its bright-red hue admiringly, and then sipped it daintily. "That's awfully nice raspberry cordial, Anne," she said. "I didn't know raspberry cordial was so nice."

Review: Anne of Green Gables

Title: Anne of Green Gables
Author: Lucy Maud Montgomery
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Independent Reader and older
B & B Rating: ★★★★ 1/2

Recipe: Roast Chicken (Cornish Hen) and Corn Pudding

Our dinner went remarkably well. I had a chicken-- a great treat for us in those days-- stuffed with oysters, boiled potatoes, corn pudding, some of Momma's canned beans, rolls, and a hot peach cobbler.

Review: Jacob Have I loved by Katherine Paterson

Title: Jacob Have I Loved
Author: Katherine Paterson
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Independent Reader and older
B & B Rating: ★★★★ 1/2

Update: The truth about pickled limes

Okay, so let me fess up to something.  I haven't been completely ignoring this blog, I promise.  I had a recipe in the works-- the famous pickled limes from Little Women.  Yes, those same pickled limes that were Amy's downfall.  I couldn''t find a specific pickled lime recipe anywhere, so i just sort of did a bit of this and a dash of that and modified some other pickled fruit recipes I found.

This was not a good idea.

I tasted my first lime and my face nearly turned inside out.  It wasn't sour.  That wasn't the problem.  It was bitter. I mean Miss Havisham-bitter.  The pickling liquid was actually rather delicious (a mix of rice vinegar, sugar, ginger, and whole cloves), but the limes themselves were very... angry.  They would probably work if I removed the peels and then pickled them, but I am, at the moment, rather dispirited.  CURSE YOU, PICKLED LIMES!

Now let's leave that behind us and move on to happier things.  Like a review!

Recipe: Muffins with Candied Orange Peel (Little Women)

"Merry Christmas, little daughters! I'm glad you began at once, and hope you will keep on. But I want to say one word before we sit down. Not far away from here lies a poor woman with a little newborn baby. Six children are huddled into one bed to keep from freezing, for they have no fire. There is nothing to eat over there, and the oldest boy came to tell me they were suffering hunger and cold. My girls, will you give them your breakfast as a Christmas present?"

They were all unusually hungry, having waited nearly an hour, and for a minute no one spoke, only a minute, for Jo exclaimed impetuously, "I'm so glad you came before we began!"

"May I go and help carry the things to the poor little children?" asked Beth eagerly.

"I shall take the cream and the muffins," added Amy, heroically giving up the article she most liked.

Recipe: Blancmange (Little Women)

"That looks too pretty to eat," he said, smiling with pleasure, as Jo uncovered the dish, and showed the blancmange, surrounded by a garland of green leaves, and the scarlet flowers of Amy's pet geranium.

"It isn't anything, only they all felt kindly and wanted to show it. Tell the girl to put it away for your tea. It's so simple you can eat it, and being soft, it will slip down without hurting your sore throat. What a cozy room this is!"

Review: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Title: Little Women
Author: Louisa May Alcott
Genre: Fiction
Audience: Independent Reader through Adult
B & B Rating: ★★★1/2

Recipe: Rich Damp Cake with Green Sugar (Peter Pan)

He stood for a long time lost in thought, and at last a curdling smile lit up his swarthy face. Smee had been waiting for it. "Unrip your plan, captain," he cried eagerly.

"To return to the ship," Hook replied slowly through his teeth, "and cook a large rich cake of a jolly thickness with green sugar on it. There can be but one room below, for there is but one chimney. The silly moles had not the sense to see that they did not need a door apiece. That shows they have no mother. We will leave the cake on the shore of the Mermaids' Lagoon. These boys are always swimming about there, playing with the mermaids. They will find the cake and they will gobble it up, because, having no mother, they don't know how dangerous 'tis to eat rich damp cake." He burst into laughter, not hollow laughter now, but honest laughter. "Aha, they will die."

Review: Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Title: Peter Pan
Author: J.M. Barrie
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: All Ages (though honestly, I recommend it more for adults)
B & B Rating: ★★★★★

I couldn't start this blog with any other book. I honestly don't know how many times I have read this book; if I had to guess I would say at least eight times cover-to-cover. (This is saying something, since the first time I read it was six years ago in college.) Of course I saw the old Disney movie when I was a kid, and I didn't much care for it. In fact, I've discovered that a lot of people my age didn't like that movie and some have avoided the book specifically because of that movie (or because of cheesy plays involving grown women pretending to be little boys and flying around on wire contraptions).

Trust me, the book is not the "what makes a red man red" cartoon. It is not a corny stage production. It is, in a word, amazing.

Books and Biscuits

There are a lot of book review blogs out there, and there are a lot of recipe blogs out there. In a burst of minute-before-you-fall-asleep genius, I decided to combine the two. For every book I review, a recipe. Want to dine like the lost boys or the March girls? Want some fun ideas to get kids involved in books or spice up your book club? Well it is my hope to help.

I'm sure I'll also include other recipes that are delicious but unrelated to a particular book.  And I may include movie reviews, too.  Who knows?  I don't. But I'm excited to see how it goes.