Reading Room Blog
Wayward Pines, Idaho: population 416. Secret Service Agent Ethan Burke arrives in the sleepy mountain town with one mission: to recover his fellow agents who went mysteriously missing two months earlier.
I'm not a great cook, and I don't have a lot of time to cook. But I love, love, love browsing cookbooks! Here are some of our recently acquired cookbooks that have the one thing I require: great photos. I may never make any of the recipes, but, thanks to these cookbook authors and their photographers, I've spent quality time salivating over the photos.
In honor of American Craft Beer Week (May 11-18), raise a pint at one our area’s local breweries, enjoy a draft in your favorite pub or tavern, or just pick up a six-pack to take home. Beer and pizza, beer and good times with friends, beer and backyard barbeques—there are virtually no wrong ways to enjoy a brew. Just don’t overdo it! Be sure to imbibe responsibly.
After her husband Mike is murdered, young FBI agent Cassie McKenna decides to take some much needed R & R. On leave from the Bureau, she moves back to her hometown in the Chesapeake Bay area of Virginia. She’s thrilled to sail her boat on the bay’s calm waters and to finally get relief from the sudden tragedy, both mentally and physically.
But the serenity she’s looking for does not last.
When author Ashley Rodriguez and her husband realized that most of their evenings at home were spent either staring at the computer or TV screens, eating different versions of takeout, and nonstop child-rearing, they decided to mix up the normal routine with a once-a-week date night for themselves. Date Night In: More than 120 Recipes to Renew Your Relationship contains delightful and romantic recipes that you and your significant other can create together, carving out that alone time to cook, talk, and rekindle an intimate relationship.
Young in years but not so much in worldly cares, Rose Meadows is set adrift when her wayward father abandons her permanently and her handsome, caretaking distant cousin takes up with the local Bolshevik crowd. But, in Cynthia Ozick’s historical novel Heir to the Glimmering World, Rose doesn’t give up. She takes matters into her own hands and answers an advertisement for a research assistant in a town miles away.
Melkorka has the best that life has to offer in 10th-century Ireland, born to a wealthy, powerful king and his queen. She and her mother often admonish her sister Brigid to Hush and not ask so many questions. In turn, Brigid demonstrates that to understand and relate to animals, one must hush as well.
One of the food trends with the strongest staying power has to be vegetarianism, or at least dishes that are unabashed in their embrace of vegetables, grains, and fruits. Before “Farm to Table” was a thing, we still had farmers’ markets, and cooks would take advantage of them and their own backyard gardens to serve meals with fresh, seasonal ingredients.