Munjeli Cookbook
Archive for June, 2009
My Favorite Cookbooks: Indian in Six, by Monisha Bharadwaj
Now I like to cook, but that’s not to say I have all the time in the world for it. Unfortunately, I have a job, and a life that doesn’t always permit endless idling by the stove. Many cookbooks that focus on traditional cuisines also focus on traditional methods; and there’s something to be said [...]
Heavenly Intrigue, by Joshua and Anne-Marie Gilder
I’ ve read several books, and innumerable articles and webpages about Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. The defining characteristic of all of them has been a lack of objectivity and tendency to extrapolate the villainy of one or the other based on certain incidents. The recent news (discovered with modern forensic science) that Brahe was [...]
Karnak Café, by Naguib Mafouz
The novella takes place in a café in Cairo in the sixties. The narrator sights a famous bellydancer, now gracefully aged, as the manager of the establishment, and charmed by both she and the place, becomes a regular. Among the others frequenting the café are several students, and the story revolves around their periodic [...]
The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, by Gary Shteyngart
Hand it to the Eastern Bloc: familiarity with communism became the muse to satire. My first introduction was the wonderful classic The Good Soldier Svejk, which I gobbled on vacation more than ten years ago. While Republicans threaten economic meltdown at the slightest mention of nationalized anything, I can only hope my country spawns more [...]
Lowboy, by John Wray
I was fortunate to find Lowboy on the library shelf when I went to return Canaan’s Tounge; not just because it is much in demand, but because it was the antidote for that bitter pill. It was a much easier read, though not light by any means, at least energized with passages of elation, and [...]
The Widow Clicquot, by Tilar J. Mazzeo
At the age of twenty-seven, a woman inherited her husband’s wine business near Reims, France. The local style was still obscure, a sparkling chardonnay, and the production techniques weren’t yet perfected. Though the production logs were written for decades by her own hand, little is known of Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin. Her personal correspondence wasn’t saved, [...]
Long Beach to Newport Coast
I rode my new bike, (a Cannondale aluminum road bike, courtesy of my brother Tim) from Long Beach to Newport Coast this week on Wednesday, and returned on Thursday night. The Metro Blue Line took me from downtown to Long Beach, and from the final stop its just a couple blocks to the coast. [...]
Open Secrets, by Alice Munro
Alice Munro is a name I’ve heard thrown about, but hadn’t investigated. This collection of short stories is probably all I will read of her work, but don’t think I didn’t appreciate it. Her craft is undeniable, the characters and situations perfectly styled. My only issue was that her work felt dated to me: set [...]
Canaan’s Tounge, by John Wray
It was an uncomfortable book: there was no place here I wanted to visit, no one here I wanted to meet. Still I was propelled through it by the unpredictable plot, and Wray’s virtuosic language. Set on the Mississippi River during the Civil War, the novel well depicts the culture of the river; I would [...]
The Interloper, by Antoine Wilson
At the LA Times Festival of Books in March, I went to see a panel discussion with four authors. Each of them was fascinating in some way, and I intend to read each of their most recent books (two down, two to go), but Antoine Wilson, sunburned and hunched on the far end of the [...]
© 2010 Munjeli Cookbook. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by Wordpress. Designed by 