Merry Christmas from Jake and Ina Garten

Christmas Eve dinner: an Ina spectacular!

Finally, I have had a chance to cook again! Because it's been such a long time since I made one of Ina's recipes, I decided to do a bunch of them all at once for Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas breakfast, and Christmas dinner. Tonight I started with Green Salad with Creamy Mustard Vinaigrette, Roasted Vegetable Soup, and Raspberry Cheesecake. Below, behold the Roasted Winter Vegetables that form the base of the soup. I'd made them before, and I love the combination of carrots, parsnips, sweet potato, and butternut squash. Next to them, you can see the brioche rolls that were destined to become croutons.


The croutons were delicious. My timer didn't go off so they baked a little longer than I meant them to, but the end result was perfect. They were crispy and complemented the soup and salad perfectly.
Here's the soup. It was great, although I thought it was lacking something. An acidity, maybe. In any case, I'll be happy to have it again for lunch tomorrow. But the best thing of all was the salad dressing. It had more ingredients than most recipes in this book, and it was sooooo good. The garlic, mayonnaise, and olive oil combined perfectly with the mustard and vinegar. Yum! I'll definitely be keeping a jar on hand at all times.
Finally...the cheesecake. I tried to make a pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving, but I didn't cook it long enough and it was a little too rich. Not a success. This one, though, was much lighter (and fully cooked). There are hints of lemon and vanilla in it. The raspberry sauce was super easy and really good. I'm glad it's so good, because Casey and I will be eating the whole thing!

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova--a review!

The Swan Thieves
by Elizabeth Kostova
Adult fiction
Due January 2010

Elizabeth Kostova has a special place in my heart because of her interest in the Balkans, and particularly Bosnia and Bulgaria. Her first book, The Historian, is a tome about vampires, history, research, travel, and a bunch of other things I love. I was a little worried that I wouldn't like The Swan Thieves as much, simply because it was missing these elements. Happily, I was wrong.

The Swan Thieves is, above all else, the story of a psychiatrist and his quest to discover the secrets of a silent patient. Robert Oliver was arrested for attempting to destroy a painting in the Met and committed to Dr. Marlowe's facility. When Oliver stops talking, Dr. Marlowe must investigate the events leading up to Robert's arrest. As he gets deeper and deeper into the story, we begin to learn Robert Oliver's story--and that of a mysterious French painter who has been dead for almost 100 years.

Despite the lack of vampires and Bulgaria, I actually liked this book better than the last. It is much more cohesive and the characters really come to life. I especially loved all the painting that goes on throughout the novel; it made me want to take up oil painting. Watch for this one a few weeks after New Year's.

I never thought there would be a time in my life when I didn't have time to read. Alas, the past few weeks have been that time. I have, however, painstakingly reread two books a few pages at a time:
Terrier by Tamora Pierce


and Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind

The first time I read Wizard's First Rule was in high school. My friend Magoo and I were competing to read the most books that year, because our English teacher encouraged students to give a quick synopsis of every book they read independently. Magoo and I were in different classes with the same teacher. We decided to see who could take up the most class time with long, complicated retellings of books. When I discovered this series I decided to try it--even though the books are like 800 pages long, their plots are so complicated that I could fill a whole class with the eight books in the series. I was hooked after Wizard's First Rule, the first book in the series, and read them all one after the other.

This year, a t.v. show based on the series aired. It's called Legend of the Seeker. It's not particularly faithful to the books but it's an entertaining show, and it made me want to reread the books.

As for Terrier, I think I've mentioned before that Tamora Pierce is the author who made me a reader. The Song of the Lioness Quartet and the Immortals series are two of my favorite series, at least until the last book in the Beka Cooper trilogy is complete. All three series take place in the same world, which is as well-developed and believable as any I've encountered. Definitely check these out if you haven't read them yet.