You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

I am going to do this challenge by book titles.

I am not posting all of my book titles here, but this is where my book list is:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/...

My 1st book is The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution . Now I have to see if I can get it from the library or if I am going to buy it.

I stopped at the library to pick up A Child's Christmas in Wales that I had wanted to read for the December Toppler, until I found out that it had to be a book that I owned, and they told me that my book above was in the back and did I want to pick it up too? When I reserved it, there was a hold on it so I did not think it was going to be in so soon. Now, I have to have it on the table for 2 weeks and 3 days before I can start to read it and I will have to re-new it on the 4th. ha ha ha.

Cherie wrote: "My 1st book is The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution. No..."

Now there's a book I have to read. Just reading the description makes me hungry...good find Cherie!

I finished early in the morning today. I thought it was a good read. I found a few recipies to try out. I have always wondered what Creme Fraiche was. The author listed it in her Glossary and even gave a method for making it, along with her reason for using it in cooking "because it will not separate when boiled". This kind of information is what I look for in good cookbooks besides recipies.

Not sure what your supermarkets are like, but I was always confused by this. Very English ingredient I find. But I found it in the cream/sourcream/yoghurt section in our supermarkets. If you can't find it (some places it's harder due to laws on dairy products), I tend to use sour cream. It's a bit heavier and can separate as you point out. But beggars can't be choosers!

Honestly, Rusalka, I really never tried to see if I could find it in the supermarket. I might look though. The author indicates that it is good used with melted chocolate to make a thick creamed sauce to pour over cake. Makes my mouth water and what "isn't" good with chocolate, melted or not?

On to my B book, , as soon as I finish Dear Theo.

I hope you like this book as much as I did. I read it years ago, but it was a special book.

Rusalka wrote: "Not sure what your supermarkets are like, but I was always confused by this. Very English ingredient I find. But I found it in the cream/sourcream/yoghurt section in our supermarkets. If you can't ..."

Do you use the metric system when cooking in Australia? Do you measure butter in sticks? I have been teaching a Japanese woman to cook traditional American food, and she told me that US cookbooks are very confusing for her because she is accustomed to cooking with the metric system in Japan and the nine years she lived in London. She had never heard of cooking by using sticks of butter either, and that was very confusing for her.

It depends, Connie. The change to metric was in the 1970s/1980s so my mum always used the imperial system, but I grew up using metric.

Oddly, it's still common to announce a baby's weight on the imperial scale, but all cookbooks are in metric.

And I would measure butter in grams, I've never had a stick of butter :)

Kat and Rusalka,
A stick of butter is 1/4th of a pound. A pound is 16 ounces, which is 2 cups, a cup being 8 ounces. So, a stick of butter is 1/2 cup (or 4 ounces). If making a box of Kraft Maccaroni and Cheese, it takes 1/2 of a stick of butter, or 1/4 of a cup, or 2 ounces of butter. I think I am too old to convert to Metric. I can almost bring myself to think in temperatures in C vs F, but it is not easy.

I can only imagine the phone calls after my daughter moves to Canada and has to learn to cook using metric. It is good her husband likes to cook!

On that note, I finished The Book Thief. I loved it! On to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Cherie wrote: "Kat and Rusalka,
A stick of butter is 1/4th of a pound. A pound is 16 ounces, which is 2 cups, a cup being 8 ounces. So, a stick of butter is 1/2 cup (or 4 ounces). If making a box of Kraft Mac..."

Kat will be fine cooking in imperial. I've never completely converted to metric. I know how fast I'm driving in metric, and how hot or cold it is in metric. I even know how much one meter of fabric is. But I still measure in feet and inches, and I bake in cups and teaspoons. The stove thankfully shows both Fahreheit and Celcius. Still I turn the oven to the F scale. You'd think I'd be completely confused.

Don't anyone dare contradict me! I am moderator with the power to boot anyone who says I'm confused. I'm not! Okay?

Oh, one more thing. I'm so glad you enjoyed The Book Thief. It was easily my favorite read of 2012.

Janice wrote: "Oh, one more thing. I'm so glad you enjoyed The Book Thief. It was easily my favorite read of 2012."

I am reading it for my Z book. It's been on my list forever!

Janice wrote: "Cherie wrote: "Kat and Rusalka,
A stick of butter is 1/4th of a pound. A pound is 16 ounces, which is 2 cups, a cup being 8 ounces. So, a stick of butter is 1/2 cup (or 4 ounces). If making a b..."

ROFL!!! I would never think to say you were confusing, er confused. :P

I think eventually, the USA will convert to metric - after all they have been talking about it for years, but there is SO much that has to be changed. I do not think the manufacturers are willing to provide displays with both. It would probably cost too much for the "less wealthy" to purchase. The only consistant thing I see displayed in both F and C is the temperature on sign boards. At work, I was used to dealing with dimensions in mills and decimals instead of feet and inches, but it has changed over to metric now. I always have to convert them back to understand or "see" them.

Janice wrote: "Oh, one more thing. I'm so glad you enjoyed The Book Thief. It was easily my favorite read of 2012."

I think this one will be on my list for a long time.

Cherie wrote: "Janice wrote: "Cherie wrote: "Kat and Rusalka,
A stick of butter is 1/4th of a pound. A pound is 16 ounces, which is 2 cups, a cup being 8 ounces. So, a stick of butter is 1/2 cup (or 4 ounces)...."

This is why Google is my very best friend ;-)

You can always do like my Japanese friend and have a set of measuring cups/teaspoons in metric and a set in tablespoons and ounces. It works just fine. The stick of butter threw her until I explained that one.
; )

google is always a good friend. ; )

Oh metric is my friend. I don't understand imperial at all.

I was talking with some other States friends about this today in fact. We colloquially say "I'm 5'2"" or "the baby was 7 pounds" or "about an inch". However everything is in metric ( even now days most friends give baby weights in both, pounds for our parents, kilos for us). I got so confused when I got an American cookbook that was calling for "sticks of butter". Is that a 150g, 250g, 500g or 750g stick? How is a "stick" a measurement!

My US friends were saying they think you guys will eventually switch to metric but not in their lifetime. I facetiously (me? no never!) pointed out you guys were in good company with Liberia and Burma as the only 3 countries in the world with the imperial system still.

I think a gradual transition would help you guys. When I was in the UK a good 9 years ago, prices of fruit were sold buy the kilo but you asked for the amount in pounds. Poor shopkeepers!!

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Sums up my position really :P (if its too small you can view it here. I can't find my link on my FB sorry. I have no idea what that blog is http://lesombre.ca/2012/02/15/one-bul... )

I can sympathise with those trying to change. I'm of the generation that was taught at school in metric, but at home in imperial. So I can use both, but am more comfortable in each one in it's correct setting.

Rusalka's right though, goods are priced and sold in metric although people still ask for weights in imperial. the conversion between kgs and pounds is simple enough though - times 2 and add 10%.

The one that does my head in totally is cooking temperature. I grew up using a gas oven, measured in gas marks from 1 to 9. For the last 2.5 years we've had electric in C. I still have to get the conversion table out so that food actually gets cooked and isn't cold or burnt to a crisp!

I finished my C book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which I liked.

I also finished my D book, Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic, which was not good. If anyone has this book on their list, take it off!

I started my E book, Easter Island this morning.

Noted. Stay away!

Hi Rusalka. How is a "stick" a measurement!
The pound of butter we buy in the store contains 4 individually wrapped packages we call a "stick". The wrapper on each "stick" is marked with lines dividing the stick into portions (ounces). So, if you HAVE sticks, you cut it in half or into 4ths on the lines with a knife and unwrap the section you cut off to use it. You do not have to put it into/onto something else to measure it.

I read the whole day today. No laundry, no no cleaning, no shopping. Too cold to go out.
I finished my E book today. Easter Island. I liked it very much. I have always been intrigued with the moai statues and the remote local. 1500 miles from any other land mass. This book is a historical fiction, done very well, IMO. I will have to look and see if Jennifer Vanderbes has any other books to add to my TBR list.

I will start Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout when I get home from work tomorrow. I hope I will not be disappointed in this book. I had wanted to work for the USA Forest Service since I saw Smokey the Bear in a 4th of July parade in Ketchum, Idaho, when I was 6 years old. I even applied for a job to be a fire spotter when I graduated from High School in 1969. I never heard from them. I guess babysitting, mowing lawns, and washing cars was not high on their list for previous job experience for girls at the time, but it was all I had done. I was a good athelete and in pretty good shape then too.

I finished my F book, Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout. I liked it a lot. It wasn't a fantastic story, but well written. It made me wish that I could have done it, even one summer.

I think I am going to take a week off from reading. I have "what am I going to read next" burn-out.

I understand! It happens to me occasionally. It will be good for you to take some time off so you can be ready to go for the toppler!

You're doing great Cherie, and deserve a break. At the rate i'm going, I'm thinking I should have gone low octane.

My library books were stacked up on my night stand calling to me. So much for the week off from reading. I have read two books since then and am now reading a book I had chosen for the toppler, but could not wait to read. I switched Glow out with The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making as my G book. I am not very far into it, but I like the characters and the vocabulary so far. "stalwart legs" made me laugh.

Cherie wrote: "I read the whole day today. No laundry, no no cleaning, no shopping. Too cold to go out.
I finished my E book today. Easter Island. I liked it very much. I have always been intrigued with th..."

Sounds like a perfect day to curl up and read. Glad you had a perfect book at hand...like you would be caught without one! lol

You are on FIRE! Congratulations on your accomplishments, Cherie! ; )

Oh, G already! Doing great, Cherie.

Finished Glow early this morning. Still thinking about parts of it, but I was disappointed at the ending. I only gave it 3 stars. I really loved the characters but it dragged a little in the middle and I felt like I missed something when I got to the end.

I finished my H book, His Last Bow a couple of days ago, and have started on I, I Heard That Song Before. The Sherlock Holmes stories in His Last Bow, were some of the poorest, or least interesting that I think ACD wrote. He really wanted to quit writing SH books, and move on, but the public did not want him to, especially after he killed him off and then brought him back once.

Cherie, you are rocking along here! : )
WOW! : )

Thanks, Connie. I am enjoying most of the books I picked. I'm going to have a few longer reads coming up, after the Toppler books I have waiting for me on my nightstand. I chose books for the toppler way too early to match up with were my ABC challenge books are now, but since I already checked them out from the library, I did not want to turn them back in without reading them.

Finished I Heard That Song Before. Too bad I did not know what this book was about before the Toppler started or I would have waited to start reading it. It would have fit into First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage, Then Comes Junior in a Baby Carriage sob sob sob :)

Already into J? You're fast!! I'm still stumbling with my D book.

LOL! I had my E, F, and G books picked out for the toppler, but it was way too soon and I did not want to wait. I cannot believe I actually re-read I Heard That Song Before so that I could use it for my Spine Poem. I am going to slow down now because I have other books not in the Alphabet Challenge that I want to read and I have some longer books coming up. I am working on a complete list of Robert Heinlein books that I am think about re-reading.

I finished my J book, Jack of Diamonds by Bryce Courtenay. It was a long story, but I liked Jack very much. Now that I have read his last, I have added his first book, The Power of One, to my list to read.

I'm looking forward to both of those books. I have them in audiobook.

I thought it was just a little long winded at times, but it might be interesting to hear the narrator do the negro voices (he writes their speach in syl-a-bles). I guess it will depend on who is reading the story though. Hope they are good listening!

I started my book for the Don't Forget Your Towel Challenge, then it will be back to my K book, The Key to the Indian, which I think I might have read, but am not sure.

Humphrey Bowers reads all Courtenay's books and he is amazing!

Janice wrote: "Humphrey Bowers reads all Courtenay's books and he is amazing!"

If I come across one in my library, I will give him a try. Thanks.

I had to swap out my K book. I started Key to the Indian and realized that I needed to read the 4th book 1st as I could not figure out what was going on. I must have read the 3 Indian in the Cupboard books and then stopped. I have 1-4 on order from the library, but I am going to switch over to Kissing Sherlock Holmes. Hopefully, a light read. :)

Finished Kissing Sherlock Holmes. It was a kick in the head. and I do not really recommend it. Hear is my review if you are curious: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Update. I edited the comment above. I do not think I was being fair.

Your review made me laugh!

Thanks, Marnie. It took me several attempts to figure out how I wanted to write it.

On to my L book, The Long Earth, which has been patiently waiting for me to get to it. I wanted to read it before the next one is due out next month.