Donut-Fried Apple Rings for "What You Wish For" by Katherine Center {#WhatYouWishForParty}

Two Blog Parties in one month? Yes! I am very excited to be joining The Book Club Cookbook, St. Martin's Press, and a group of fellow bloggers today to celebrate the paperback release of What You Wish For by Katherine Center. For this #WhatYouWishFor party, we received copies of the book and were tasked with coming up with a dish inspired by it.  

Publisher's Blurb:

Samantha Casey is a school librarian who loves her job, the kids, and her school family with passion and joy for living.
But she wasn’t always that way. 
Duncan Carpenter is the new school principal who lives by rules and regulations, guided by the knowledge that bad things can happen. 
But he wasn’t always that way. 

And Sam knows it. Because she knew him before―at another school, in a different life. Back then, she loved him―but she was invisible. To him. To everyone. Even to herself. She escaped to a new school, a new job, a new chance at living. But when Duncan, of all people, gets hired as the new principal there, it feels like the best thing that could possibly happen to the school―and the worst thing that could possibly happen to Sam. Until the opposite turns out to be true. The lovable Duncan she’d known is now a suit-and-tie wearing, rule-enforcing tough guy so hell-bent on protecting the school that he’s willing to destroy it.

As the school community spirals into chaos, and danger from all corners looms large, Sam and Duncan must find their way to who they really are, what it means to be brave, and how to take a chance on love―which is the riskiest move of all. 

With Katherine Center’s sparkling dialogue, unforgettable characters, heart, hope, and humanity, What You Wish For is the author at her most compelling best.

St. Martin's Publishing Group

On Sale: 07/13/2021

ISBN: 9781250219374

368 Pages

My Review:

My first Katherine Center book was How to Walk Away, which I read and loved a few years ago. I have Things You Save in a Fire downloaded on my Kindle and I will get to it soon. She writes books that balance the sad and the joyful parts of life with wonderful characters and What You Wish For is exactly this. I so enjoyed this book! I think it was a case of the right book at the right time--it's funny but poignant, light but deeper than you think. Mixed into the romance, friendship and family relationships is a message about embracing who you are--the scars both visible and not, and living with joy despite all of the ups and downs and pain that comes with life. This is a message I think we can all use right now. I especially loved Sam, the main character and her friend Alice and friend/mentor/mother-figure, Babette--they made me laugh and made me tear up. The setting, the romance, all the quirky characters that made up the school and community, it all worked for me. Sure, at times it was a bit predictable, but I relished every page. It engaged me and gave me all the feels. One of my favorites of the summer❣️

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Author Notes: Katherine Center is the New York Times bestselling author of over a half dozen novels, including What You Wish For, Things You Save in a Fire, and How to Walk Away. Katherine has been compared to Nora Ephron and Jane Austen. The Dallas Morning News calls her stories, “satisfying in the most soul-nourishing way.” Katherine recently gave a TEDx talk on how stories teach empathy. Her work has appeared in USA Today, InStyle, Redbook, People, The Atlantic, Real Simple, and more. She lives in Houston with her husband and two kids.

You can connect with Katherine on her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

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Food Inspiration:

Although it was not a huge focus in the book, there was food to be found in What You Wish For. Mentions included: cake, cookies, booze, coffee, blueberry muffins, pasta and tomato sauce, frozen dinners, pizza, bakery items--cinnamon rolls, donuts, eclairs, a birthday cake, honey, chocolate bar, tacos, hot chocolate, warm tea, baking, fudge, funnel cake, chocolate, lemon cake, home-brewed beer, and cookie-decorating competitions. 

My recipe inspiration came from a scene where Duncan is challenged with juggling and walks among the school lunch tables looking for round objects to juggle. He grabs different fruits from the kids lunches but calls them by the wrong names to get the kids laughing and involved: 

"So I'm sticking with easy," he said then, lifting up the apple, and saying, "Like this donut!" 

"That's not a donut!" the kids called out.

A tangerine becomes a watermelon, then he mentions a pomegranate, a tomato, and a cactus, before finally settling on an unpeeled kiwifruit on Sam's plate, calling it an avocado, as his final fruit to juggle. 

At first I was going to make a fruit salad or a salsa with all of the fruits named, but the apple and donut combo kept replaying in my head. Since I am not much of a baker, apple donuts or fritters were out, but apple rings deep-fried like donuts? That I could do! This is not an original idea, there are lots of recipes for deep-fried apple rings online, but this is what I did for mine. 

Donut-Fried Apple Rings

By Deb in Hawaii

(Serves 3-4 as snack or dessert)

a few cups of cooking oil for frying

3-4 large apples of choice (I used tart Granny Smith apples)

fresh lemon juice

1 cup all-purpose flour

a good pinch of baking soda

a small pinch of sea salt

3/4 tsp cinnamon

2 Tbsp granulated sugar 

1 large egg

1 cup buttermilk (or regular milk with vinegar or lemon added)

cinnamon-sugar topping (buy prepared or use a mix of 1/2 cinnamon & 1/2 sugar)

Heat a large shallow pan with 2-3 inches of cooking oil and heat over medium heat.

Prepare your apples by slicing them about 1/4-inch thick and removing the core with a small round cookie cutter. Sprinkle slices lightly with lemon juice and set aside. 

Mix your batter by combining the flour, baking soda, sea salt, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl. In a mixing cup, blend egg into the buttermilk until thoroughly combined, then pour the milk and egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix together until well blended. Place some cinnamon sugar mixture on a plate or shallow bowl. 

A few slices at a time, dip apples into the batter mixture and let excess batter drip off before placing slices into the hot oil. Just put in a couple slices at a time so they don't touch/clump together. Let the slices cook for a minute or two until the bottom of the slice is golden brown, then gently flip slices over and cook until the other side is golden brown. Carefully remove slices from oil with a slotted frying spoon and allow excess oil to drip off on paper towels before dipping them into the cinnamon-sugar mixture--making sure both sides are coated and gently sharing off excess. Place on a plate and keep warm. Repeat until you have dipped and fried all of the apple slices. 

Enjoy immediately (while they are still warm). You can east them as-is or dip them into caramel or chocolate sauce. 

Notes/Results: OK, YUM! My fall flavor is never pumpkin spice and always apple-cinnamon, so these tasty little battered apple slices with soft and juicy tart apple inside the sweet, slightly crispy cinnamon crust were right up my alley. My shaking off the excess batter technique needs a little work for their appearance, but extra fried batter is no hardship. The batter will make probably 4 to 6 apples or more worth of slices. Because it was just me, I sliced up 2 apples and I am saving the batter for more later because they are best when fresh and warm. These are great as-is but a caramel (salted) dipping sauce or even a chocolate sauce would not be unwelcome. I will definitely make them again. 

I'm sharing this post with the Weekend Cooking event  being hosted by Marg at The Adventures of An Intrepid Reader. It's a weekly event that is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share. Here's a link to this week's post. 

Check out this link for the #WhatYouWishForParty at The Book Club Cookbook to see the other bloggers taking part in this event and their delicious recipes!

Mahalo to St. Martin's Press (@stmartinspress) and The Book Club Cookbook for the review copies of the book, and for hosting this fun event. I received no compensation for my participation and, as always, my thoughts and opinions are my own.  

Find The Book Club Cookbook here: 

Facebook: TheBookClubCookbook

Twitter: @bookclubcookboo

Instagram: @thebookclubcookbook

Pinterest: @bookclubcook

 

Olive Cream Cheese Stuffed Celery for "The Show Girl" by Nicola Harrison {#TheShowGirlParty}

Once again, I am very happy and excited to be joining The Book Club Cookbook, St. Martin's Press and a group of fellow bloggers to celebrate the publishing of The Show Girl by Nicola Harrison. For #TheShowGirlParty, we received copies of the book and were tasked with coming up with a dish inspired by it.  

Publisher's Blurb:

Nicola Harrison's The Show Girl gives a glimpse of the glamorous world of the Ziegfeld Follies, through the eyes of a young midwestern woman who comes to New York City to find her destiny as a Ziegfeld Follies star. 

It's 1927 when Olive McCormick moves from Minneapolis to New York City determined to become a star in the Ziegfeld Follies. Extremely talented as a singer and dancer, it takes every bit of perseverance to finally make it on stage. And once she does, all the glamour and excitement is everything she imagined and more—even worth all the sacrifices she has had to make along the way.

Then she meets Archie Carmichael. Handsome, wealthy—the only man she's ever met who seems to accept her modern ways—her independent nature and passion for success. But once she accepts his proposal of marriage he starts to change his tune, and Olive must decide if she is willing to reveal a devastating secret and sacrifice the life she loves for the man she loves.

St. Martin's Publishing Group

On Sale: 08/10/2021

ISBN: 9781250200167

400 Pages

My Review:

Historical fiction is one of my top genres although I tend to prefer WWII historical fiction to the Roaring Twenties. Lately though I have been broadening my history horizon and I just finished a non-fiction book about the Barbizon Hotel that put me in the frame of mind for another NYC set book about a young "modern" woman making her way in the city. I didn't know a lot about the Ziegfeld Follies and the famous Ziegfeld Girls, other than what I had seen in movies, so The Show Girl was a new experience. 

Olive McCormick is a young girl from Minnesota, making her way through the theater world with big dreams to be a star in New York. A chance meeting with Florenz Ziegfeld when she is doing a roadshow has her showing up at his theater and offices when she reaches the city, expecting to be put in the show. It doesn't go that smoothly for Olive (now "Olive Shine" as a stage name) but despite her disapproving parents,soon she has worked her way to the Follies and a gig as the featured performer in the Midnight Frolic (the late-night racier show). She meets Archie Carmichael, a wealthy businessman and falls in love, but secrets and bad choices put her stardom and happiness at risk. 

The glimpses into the show girl life and Olive's world where really interesting. For all the modernizing of the 1920s, singers, dancer, show girls, and theater performers were still considered lower class and to have loose morals so life wasn't all glamour, it was a lot of hard work and dedication. I had to keep reminding myself how young Olive was (nineteen when the book starts) because her decisions and actions really frustrated me at times. I wanted her to succeed but also wanted her to care about others and the effects her choices had on them. The end wrapped up a bit quickly and a little too neatly for me, but I enjoyed the settings especially NYC and The Pines (an Adirondacks camp/retreat) that Olive goes to perform at and where she and Archie spend time together. I have always been fascinated by the camps and hotels of this area and that was fun. The retro food, drinks, hairstyles and fashion of the times were engaging too, and I liked the way the fictional characters and events were woven in with the real people and happenings of the times. Overall, The Show Girl was an informative and enjoyable read and I look forward to reading more from the author. 

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Author Notes: Born in England, Nicola Harrison moved to CA where she received a BA in Literature at UCLA before moving to NYC and earning an MFA in creative writing at Stony Brook. She is a member of The Writers Room, has short stories published in The Southampton Review and Glimmer Train and articles in Los Angeles Magazine and Orange Coast Magazine. She was the fashion and style staff writer for Forbes, had a weekly column at Lucky Magazine and is the founder of a personal styling business, Harrison Style.

You can connect with Nicola on her website, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

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Food Inspiration:

There was a surprising lot of food in The Show Girl--Olive liked to eat and drink. Mentions included a Brown Derby restaurant dinner of chopped chicken livers, spaghetti and a Derby plate of crabs' legs, celery, avocado and Thousand Island dressing, and ice cream and sherbets for dessert, Coca-Cola, whiskey, gin fizz, rum, fried eggs with runny yolks, broth and cucumbers, sponge cake, lamb and pork chops, an act called the "The Follies Salad" (Olive was "Spicy"), cheese sandwiches, lobster, lasagna, Peach melba, shrimp cocktail, oysters, a Sardi's meal of Duchess Soup (a creamy vegetable soup), a pork chop with potatoes and French fried onions and. a sirloin steak and Waldorf salad, coffee and biscotti, champagne mimosas, wine and chocolates, a main course of sweetbreads, mushrooms and green lima beans, brandy, a "cherry on top" (Olive's drink of two parts champagne, one part gin, one part orange juice, a dash of grapefruit and a trickle of cherry brandy), cold tomato juice and Palin toast, a weekly meal rotation that included baked ham with carrots and peas on Mondays, lamb chops and mashed potatoes on Tuesdays, leftover baked ham sandwiches and apple jelly on Wednesdays, and broiled veal cutlets and fried tomatoes on Thursdays, miniature hors d'oeuvres of stuffed mushrooms, salmon mousse on toasted bread, olives and oysters, molded individual Jello salads with slices of tomato, cucumber, celery and green pepper, omelets, a maple Bee's Knees cocktail, hot cocoa, coffee, oranges, boiled egg and bread, lemon cake, and corned beef, carrots and cabbage. 

For my bookish dish, I found the Duchess Soup intriguing of course, and I thought about an egg sandwich with a spinach "frill" as Olive said she didn't want to be thought of only as a "biscuit in a frilly dress." The Brown Derby's crab's legs with avocado, celery and Thousand Island dressing called to me, as did their Peach Melba. But ultimately it was Olive meeting her mother for tea at The Plaza Hotel that was my inspiration. Olive, trying to impress her mother, orders anchovy canapés, stuffed celery to start, and offers up the cassoulet of lobster to her mother who wants "just tea." The stuffed celery pulled my attention as my mom used to make a cream-cheese stuffed celery appetizer when I was growing up, and I wanted to make a verson. When I Googled "1920s stuffed celery appetizers," many recipes came up, some with olives in the cream cheese mix. So, there you have it--Olive Cream Cheese Stuffed Celery for Olive Shine, The Show Girl. 

I looked at several different recipes online but ended up doing my own thing.

Olive Cream Cheese Stuffed Celery

By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen

(Makes about 1.5 Cups)

1 (8 oz) container of whipped cream cheese, brought to room temperature

1/3 cup sour cream

1/2 cup chopped pitted mixed olives of choice (I used an Italian mix with pimento added)

1/4 cup cornichons or small pickles, finely chopped1/2 tsp celery seed

1/2 tsp sweet paprika

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (for a little spice) 

cornichons or small pickles, finely chopped

1 Tbsp lemon juice

sea salt and black pepper to taste

celery stalks, cut into thirds

dill or chives and sweet paprika to garnish

Gently mix softened whipped cream cheese, sour cream, olives, cornichons,  spices and lemon juice together until blended. Season with sea salt and black pepper to taste. Chill 1-2 hours to firm up and allow ingredient flavors to meld.

Use a pastry bag with a tip, or a plastic bag with a piping hole cut out, or a small spoon to fill the celery sections. Serve immediately or chill, covered for another hour or two.

Notes/Results: OK, first don't be lazy and not cut up your olives and cornichons finely so they will fit through a piping tip (I was and mine did not). But looks aside, these are tasty little bites of crunch, creaminess and briny goodness. My mom's didn't have olives and was mostly cream cheese and spices prettily piped into the celery but these brought me right back. I think the mix will also be great on toast. I would happily make them again. 

I'm sharing this post with the Weekend Cooking event  being hosted by Marg at The Adventures of An Intrepid Reader. It's a weekly event that is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share. Here's a link to this week's post. 

Check out this link for the #TheShowGirlParty at The Book Club Cookbook to see the other bloggers taking part in this event and their delicious recipes!

Mahalo to St. Martin's Press (@stmartinspress) and The Book Club Cookbook for the review copies of the book, and for hosting this fun event. I received no compensation for my participation and, as always, my thoughts and opinions are my own.  

Find The Book Club Cookbook here: 

Facebook: TheBookClubCookbook

Twitter: @bookclubcookboo

Instagram: @thebookclubcookbook

Pinterest: @bookclubcook

 

"Lord of the Fries" Avocado Fries with Garlic-Sriracha Aioli & a Book Review for #AllGirlsBlogParty

I've had such fun these past few weeks having blog parties with The Book Club Cookbook and other bloggers where we make dishes inspired by books. Tomorrow is the book birthday of All Girls by Emily Laden and I am celebrating with some "Lord of the Fries" Avocado Fries with Garlic-Sriracha Aioli.

But first, our book...

Publisher's Blurb:

A tender and unflinching portrait of modern adolescence told through the shifting perspectives of nine female students, All Girls explores what it means to grow up in a place that promises you the world - when the world still isn't yours for the taking.

An all-girls boarding school in a hilly corner of Connecticut, Atwater is a haven for progressive thinking and feminist intellectuals. The students are smart, driven and worldly; they are also teenagers, learning to find their way. But when they arrive on campus for the start of the Fall term, they're confronted with startling news: an Atwater alumna has made a troubling allegation of sexual misconduct against an unidentified teacher. As the weeks wear on and the administration's efforts to manage the ensuing crisis fall short, these extraordinary young women come to realise that the adults in their lives may not be the protectors they previously believed.

All Girls unfolds over the course of one tumultuous academic year and is told from the point of view of a small cast of diverse, interconnected characters as they navigate the social mores of prep school life and the broader, more universal challenges of growing up. The trials of adolescent girlhood are pitched against the backdrop of sexual assault, consent, anxiety and the ways that our culture looks to young women as trendsetters, but otherwise silences their voices and discounts their opinions. The story that emerges is a richly detailed, impeccably layered, and emotionally nuanced depiction of what it means to come of age in a female body today.

St. Martin's Press / St. Martin's Publishing Group

On Sale: 02/16/2021 | 320 Pages

My Review: 

So first, I am kind of a sucker for boarding school settings. Something about be a public school student all of my life and not going away to college I guess. I find the traditions and life fascinating and Atwater in Connecticut, was a great place for a story. All Girls takes place throughout a school year in 2015 and is told from the perspectives multiple students in chapters titled by school events. The book opens with the incoming students coming across a hundred signs placed to be seen from all of the approaches to campus. These signs state "A Rapist Works Here" and it's the opening salvo of a year where a mysterious someone (or someones), push the school to confront and answer for a 1995 incident where a former student reports a rape from a teacher she was having a consensual affair with. She ends up getting kicked out of Atwater while the teacher is apparently still there, 20 years later. There is a lot of teenage angst and young women facing their sexuality in an environment which positions itself to support them, but really does not. The mystery at first is who the teacher is that the school has protected for so many years and then it becomes the identity of the person pushing the school to step up through various rebellious acts. The story is intriguing but the challenge with the book is that there are so many perspectives that it becomes jumbled and hard to follow which makes it hard to care about every character. All Girls is billed as a Young Adult novel and it would be good to read and discuss with older teens. It's a coming of age story in the time a few years before the #metoo movement got started, and is topical and relevant, but it didn't quite come together for me as much as I wanted it to. 

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Author Notes: EMILY LAYDEN is a graduate of Stanford University, and has taught at several girls' schools nationwide. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Marie Claire, The Billfold, and Runner's World. All Girls is her first novel.

You can connect with the author on her website, Twitter, and Instagram.

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Food Inspiration: 

There was definitely food in All Girls and mentions included iceberg lettuce, Korean food, matcha lattes, açaí bowls, buttered pasta, Mac and cheese, grilled cheese, cheese quesadillas, and sandwiches of American cheese on white bread, sneaking vegetables into foods like pureed zucchini folded into banana bread, butternut squash roasted and pureed and stirred into stovetop macaroni and cheese, cauliflower steamed and mashed and used to replace half the potatoes, wheat toast, Instant Pot casserole, coffee, powdered electrolyte mix, teas and decaf coffees, sunflower seeds sprinkled over salads, chickpeas, turkey sandwich, a banana, a granola bar, eggs, maple syrup, oatmeal, birthday cake, Frosted Flakes, acorn squash, green beans, roasted turkey, protein bars, Atwater's designer egg McMuffins (served on little ciabatta rolls instead) and maple sausage, food trucks with banh mi tacos and grilled cheese with smoked gouda and caramelized onions, apples and paper cups of steaming cider, cider donuts, kettle corn, Sour Patch Kids, pizza, jam, past-its-prime winter fruit, Nantucket oysters, a really good burger, rosewater macarons, chicken Parm made with frozen chicken tenders, vodka, orange-red tofu stew, grilled peel-and-eat shrimp, tikka masala, stir fry, roast chicken, poke, bibimbap, and California cheeses. 

As soon as I read the words "avocado fries", I knew that was going to be my bookish dish. I've been wanting to try them, and reading that Atwater served them at their prom gave me a great excuse. 

"Guys!" Karla gasps from two tables away, clutching a cocktail napkin in one hand. "They did the avocado fries again! With the aioli!" She takes a bite and makes an exaggerated groan, a food-induced orgasm. 

I decided to serve them with my favorite Garlic-Sriracha Aioli. Although I didn't set out to use a The Book Club Cookbook Book Blend, how could I make any kind of fries and not use my "Lord of the Fries" Brew Pub Garlic Fries Seasoning  I used it both in my aioli and in the panko coating on the avocado fries. 

"Lord of the Fries" Avocado Fries with Garlic-Sriracha Aioli

By Deb with Lots of Inspiration from Online

(Serves 2 to 4)

2 to 3 medium-large avocados, ripe but still firm

fresh lime juice

sea salt and black pepper

2 tsp Lord of the Fries Brew Pub Garlic Fries Seasoning or garlic powder blend of choice

1 heaping cup panko breadcrumbs

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup flour

avocado or olive oil cooking spray

Sriracha-Garlic Aioli (recipe below)

Preheat oven to about 425 degrees F. and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Slice avocado fairly thickly (each half into about 5 slices) so they won't break as easily. Drizzle with fresh lime juice and lightly salt and pepper then. 

In a small bowl or container, mix garlic seasoning into panko and add salt and pepper to taste. Add the flour to another small container or plate. To a third small container, beat an egg until blended. 

Dredge avocado slices into flour and gently shake off excess, then dip in egg and gently shake off excess before coating in the panko mix--lightly pressing/patting the panko in so it sticks and avocado slices are well covered. 

Spray your parchment covered pan with cooking spray. Gently lay coated avocado slices in a single layer with a little space in between them. Lightly spray them with cooking spray to help them brown. Bake about 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. You can gently turn them mid way through to ensure they brown on both sides. 

Serve warm and crisp with Sriracha-Garlic Aioli or your favorite dipping sauce. 

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Sriracha-Garlic Aioli

By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen
(Makes about 1/2 cup)

1/2 cup mayonnaise 
2 1/2 Tbsp sriracha, or to taste
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp garlic powder (I used "Lord of the Fries Brew Pub Garlic Fries Seasoning")
1/2 Tbsp pickle or caper juice + more to taste

Stir together ingredients in a small bowl. Taste and add additional Sriracha or seasoning as desired. Cover and chill until ready to use. Will keep for about a week to ten days in fridge. 

Notes/Results: OK, these are a little slice of heaven, crispy on the outside, soft and creamy inside, with the garlic blending so well with the sweet avocado and spicy aioli. I admit, they aren't very pretty but they more than make up for it in flavor. I think the hardest part is finding the right avocado ripeness--not too soft but also not hard, I had a couple of bad avocados in my "collection" so I was happy to get three good medium ones that were pretty close to being just right. I ate more of these than I should have--they are pretty addicting. I'll happily make them again. 

Check out this link for the #AllGirlsBlogParty at The Book Club Cookbook to see the other bloggers taking part and their delicious recipes!

Mahalo to St. Martin's Press and The Book Club Cookbook for the review copies of the book and for hosting this fun event. I received no compensation for my participation and, as always, my thoughts and opinions are my own.  

Find The Book Club Cookbook here: 

Facebook: TheBookClubCookbook

Twitter: @bookclubcookboo

Instagram: @thebookclubcookbook

Pinterest: @bookclubcook

 

Herby Feta Dip and a Book Review for the #YouAreNotAloneParty

It's time for another blog party! This one is to celebrate the paperback release of You Are Not Alone, a psychological thriller by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. Hosted by my friends at The Book Club Cookbook, a group of bloggers are getting together to make recipes inspired by the book.

Here's the Publisher's Blurb:

From Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, the authors of the top ten bestseller The Wife Between Us and An Anonymous Girl, comes You Are Not Alone – a gripping novel about a group of women who appear to have the perfect lives, but all is not what it seems . . .

You probably know someone like Shay Miller. She wants to find love, but it eludes her. She wants to be fulfilled, but her job is a dead end. She wants to belong, but her life is becoming increasingly isolated.

You probably don’t know anyone like the Moore sisters. They have an unbreakable circle of friends. They live a life of glamour and perfection. They always get what they desire.

Shay thinks she wants their life.

But what they really want is hers.

Publisher : St. Martin's Press (February 2, 2021)
432 pages

My Review: 

I have not read this author duo's first two books, although I have An Anonymous Girl in my TBR stack. I think I need to move it up the stack based on how much I enjoyed this one. I love a good psychological thriller, dark and twisty, that keeps me turning the pages and not wanting to put it down. You Are Not Alone had me tense as I tried to guess what was going to happen next. I had some of it right, but not all. 

Shay, the main character is not the usual unreliable narrator, but she's a quirky one. She keeps a data book full of little facts she picks up, which makes her perfect as a market researcher. Unfortunately when we meet her, she's been downsized and is looking to find a job, her best friend is busy with a new baby, and her best male friend and roommate (who she is secretly in love with) is getting very serious about his new girlfriend. Shay is feeling vulnerable already when she witnesses a suicide on the subway and she finds herself caught up in learning about the woman--who looked somewhat like Shay herself. She meets the Moore sisters, the dead woman's friends, and the suns that a tight-knit group of friends orbit about. They take Shay under their wing but she soon finds her new friends have some dark secrets. 

It's made clear to the reader that these women aren't the friends Shay thinks they are and it's just a matter of Shay figuring out and finding out what the end game was. This was more suspenseful than it sounds and made the book a nail biter. I admit to yelling at Shay quite a bit for some of her choices and the things she missed, but I found myself rooting for her too. There are some potential trigger warnings for suicide, violence and sexual assault, but if you like domestic thrillers centered around the darker side of women's friendships, you'll like You Are Not Alone.

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Author Notes: 

Greer Hendricks spent over two decades as an editor. Prior to her tenure in book publishing, she worked at Allure Magazine and earned her Masters in Journalism from Columbia University. Her writing has been published in the New York Times and Publishers Weekly. Greer lives in Manhattan with her husband, two children, and very needy dog, Rocky. 

You can reach her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram

Sarah Pekkanen is the internationally and USA Today bestselling author of several novels including The Wife Between Us. A former investigative journalist and feature writer, her work has been published in The Washington Post, USA Today, and many others. She is the mother of three sons and lives just outside Washington, DC.

You can reach her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram

Connect with St. Martin's Press at @stmartinspress on all social media

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Food Inspiration: 

There was plenty of food inspiration in You Are Not Alone. Mentions included coffee, eggs, croissants and strawberries, almond milk, iced latte, Chinese foods, homemade cookies, Perrier, cheese and crackers, three-bean chili, guacamole and skinny margaritas, quesadillas, a cheese board, tea sandwiches, granola bars, butterscotch cheesecake, lemon bars, Reese's mini-peanut-butter-cup, beer and a burger, gnocchi, Pinot Grigio, microwave popcorn, falafel from a favorite Greek restaurant, peanut butter sandwiches, Blue Moon beer with an orange, sangria, sauteed spinach, vodka tonic, extra lime, banana-and-almond-butter smoothie, a turkey sandwich, apples and pretzels, crepes, grilled cheese sandwich, Pepsi, fruit, yogurt, and bread, jasmine, rose hip and camomile tea, Moscow Mules, chocolate, Dover sole and asparagus, spaghetti and meatballs, chocolate-frosted cupcakes, homemade pureed vegetable soup, ginger ale, vanilla pudding, salad, ziti, frozen veggie pizza with cauliflower crust, Korean barbecue, margarita-flavored Popsicles, rose and a cheese plate, caramel brownie bites, chocolate-chip cookies, strawberry-rhubarb pie with homemade crust, pizza with mushrooms and peppers, dark roast coffee, delivery sushi, a hummus plate with veggies and pita, lemon poppy-seed muffins, cream cheese brownies, fresh baklava, iced tea, meatball sub, a BLT, mashed and sweet potatoes, banana and a slice of toast, Cup-a-soups, protein bars, soda pop, roast chicken and green beans, and scrambled eggs, 

I debated making a few different book-inspired dishes, like the falafel Shay loved from her local Greek restaurant or her regular banana-and-almond-butter smoothie. This is the second book I have read lately with Moscow Mules in it, so I was tempted to make one in my new-ish copper mug. I was going to go with the hummus plate with veggies and pita Shay enjoyed while checking out her dating app, but I just made hummus the other day. I ended up staying with a Greek appetizer theme and making a Herby Feta Dip instead of hummus. I think it's something Shay would order out or make at home. And it looks pretty on the plate. My only regret, I forgot to grab a cucumber to dip in the lemony, herby feta dip. I did toast pita bread for chips and open a package of carrot sticks. 

Herby Feta Dip

By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen

(Makes about 2 Cups)

6 oz feta cheese, broken or crumbled

8 oz cream cheese, slightly softened

1 heaping tsp Lord of the Fries Brew Pub Fries Seasoning or garlic salt 

1 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp chopped fresh dill

2 Tbsp fresh parsley leaves

juice of 1-2 lemons (I used 1 1/2 Meyer lemons)

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil + extra as needed

 sea salt and freshly ground pepper

pita bread, pita chips, & vegetables of choice to serve

Place the crumbled feta cheese, cream cheese, garlic seasoning, herbs, sea salt, black pepper, lemon juice and 1/3 cup olive oil  together in the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth, and creamy, adding additional olive oil if needed and scraping down the sides of the food processor to ensure everything is blended together. Season to taste with black pepper, salt and additional lemon juice as needed. 

Serve with pita bread, pita chips, and vegetables as desired. You can make this dip a day or two ahead but allow dip to sit at room temperature to soften before serving. 

Notes/Results: Rich, creamy and lemony, if left alone, I could probably eat the whole bowl of this dip. It hits all the right spots--salty, tangy, creamy, herby, savory and is delicious on the crunchy fresh pita chips (I just brushed them with olive oil and toasted the pitas on the rack in my toaster oven, then sliced them with a pizza cutter) which are so much better than store-bought. This dip/spread would be great on a veggie sandwich. I will happily make it again.

Check out this link for the #YouAreNotAloneParty at The Book Club Cookbook to see the other bloggers taking part and their delicious recipes!

Mahalo to St. Martin's Press and The Book Club Cookbook for the review copies of the book and for hosting this fun event. I received no compensation for my participation and, as always, my thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Find The Book Club Cookbook here:

Facebook: TheBookClubCookbook

Twitter: @bookclubcookboo

Instagram: @thebookclubcookbook

Pinterest: @bookclubcook

 

Tarragon with the Wind Blender Béarnaise Sauce Over Poached Egg on Crispy Hashbrown Cakes for #BlendsBash2021

For my fourth and final recipe developed for #BlendsBash2020, I may have saved the best for last. That's claiming a lot, since I am pretty happy with the recipes I have created so far (see the bottom of the post for links) but I have a special place in my heart for tarragon and for the easy Tarragon with the Wind Blender Béarnaise Sauce Over Poached Egg on Crispy Hashbrown Cakes that I made using The Book Club Cookbook's Book Blend.

Tarragon with the Wind gets it moniker from the 1936 book Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. More than 30 million copies of this beloved and often controversial book have been sold over the years. I watched the movie multiple times as a child with my mom and made my way through the book but never finished it a few years ago, so to be honest, my choosing the blend to work with had more to do with the tarragon than the title. On the bottle it says, "A bittersweet herb to help you survive difficult days." which couldn't be more timely right now. The bottle also notes, "A warm, sweet anise/minty aroma, very popular in many European cuisines. Good to use in dressings, sauces, and on salads. Works well in combination with basil, bay leaves, chives, dill, and parsley."

Similar to Gone with the Wind, tarragon  is not without controversy. It is one of those herbs like cilantro or dill, that people either seem to love or hate. I like the intensity and bite of anise flavor it gives a dish, it feels chic and French, and it is a featured ingredient in one of my favorite sauces, Béarnaise, the child of the French mother sauce Hollandaise. You see it served with steak a lot as it is strong enough to stand up to red meat, but as I only rarely eat meat, my favorite pairings for it are potatoes and eggs.

Made of butter (LOTS of butter), shallots, vinegar, egg yolks and tarragon, Béarnaise sauce is not too difficult to make but it can be finicky, separating easily and takes a fair amount of whisking which frankly, I am too lazy for. Having had great success with Hollandaise made in the blender (this one is a favorite), I assumed Béarnaise would be just as easy and indeed, there are plenty of recipes for Blender Béarnaise from Food Network to food sites and blogs. Some use fresh tarragon which can be difficult to find regularly here, so a good quality dried French tarragon like Tarragon with the Wind is a must in my kitchen.

My egg *needed* to be poached and rather than bread or an English muffin to rest it on, I wanted to work potatoes in. My friend gave me a mini electric grill for my birthday this year, so I cooked some hashbrowns into crispy rounds in it.  

I'm not going to give you recipes for the poached eggs (many people make them better and prettier than I do) or the potato cakes as not wanting to to add eggs, upon eggs, upon eggs, I simply packed packaged (non-frozen) hashbrowns into my greased and preheated mini grill pan and make two cakes for my individual serving. If you want, you can make potato cakes or just serve your egg and sauce on top of a pile crispy hashbrowns & it would be easier, faster, and taste just as good.

I will give you my recipe for the Blender Béarnaise which is pretty similar to the many recipes you find online. I just use Tarragon Vinegar for an extra punch but champagne vinegar will do nicely.

Tarragon with the Wind Blender Béarnaise Sauce

By Deb, Kahakai Kitchen

(Makes about 1 1/2 cups)

 

1 medium shallot, finely diced

1/4 cup white wine

1/4 cup tarragon vinegar (or white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar)

2 tsp Tarragon with the Wind French Tarragon, or to taste

3 egg yolks

 salt and black pepper to taste

1 1/4 cups butter (2 1/2 sticks)

 

Place the shallots, wine, tarragon vinegar, and Tarragon with the Wind in a small pan and bring to a simmer. Simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated down to about 2 tablespoons, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the butter in a small pan or in the microwave until hot and bubbling but not brown and set aside.

Place shallot mixture in blender jar. Add egg yolks, salt and pepper and blend on high speed until smooth. With blender running, remove the small hole covering and slowly pour in melted butter in a very small, slow and steady stream. Blend until smooth and luxurious. Serve warm.

  

To assemble my dish, I placed one hashbrown cake on the plate and topped it with some sauce, they layered the second cake on top.  I then carefully slid my poached egg onto the top of the second hashbrown cake and topped generously with more sauce. I ground fresh black pepper and sprinkled a tiny bit of the Tarragon with the Wind on top to garnish. Eat right away and enjoy.

Notes/Results: I am in love with the sauce; rich, smooth and creamy with the pop of acidity and the sharpness of the tarragon, I could pretty much eat it with a spoon, but why do that when you have crispy hashbrowns and yummy runny egg yolks to enjoy  it with?  This dish is not complicated but you do need to multi-task and have all three components ready so it is all fresh and warm. An indulgent dish but so worth it! I'd happily make it again.

Many thanks to Judy and The Book Club Cookbook for providing me with this fun and delicious seasoning and for letting me join in the fun. I received no compensation for taking part in the virtual 2020 #BlendsBash party and my thoughts and experience using the blends are my own.

I was very excited to contribute four recipes this year, joining  more than 30 other bloggers as part of the 2020 Blends Bash!  You can check out all the bloggers participating in the #BlendsBash and their delicious recipes here.

Here are the links to the other three recipes I developed:

• Dukkah Earl Grilled Eggplant Toasts with Whipped Feta & Dukkah

• One Flew Over the Couscous Nest Middle Eastern Minestrone with Chickpeas & Israeli Couscous 

• Lord of the Fries Seasoned Pan-Fried Gnocchi in Creamy Garlic Soup

Here's a sneak peek the blends I featured in their adorable packaging. These blends are so delicious and fun--they make wonderful gifts for your foodie friends and fans of the many book, TV and song blends they feature. Check out a list of blends here.