Quirky Cookbooks

This is a Hobbit-themed cookbook by an author who actually did her research into Tolkien foodways. The recipes themselves aren't quite professional-level (this one, in particular, could have benefited from her being a bit more specific about sizes and measurements) and the organization in the book manages to be both cutesy and random -- this sweet bread was considered a Supper dish, but similar recipes found their way into Breakfast, Second Breakfast, Elevenses, Luncheon, Afternoon Tea, and Dinner chapters, as well. Still, I got it with Kindle credits, so for a practically free book, it was pretty decent and this bread was okay, too. The lavender flavor wasn't pronounced as I'd have liked, which left it tasting like a lemon poppyseed bread minus the poppy seeds. Those seeds don't add a lot of taste, though, and the lavender supplied a similar level, if slightly different type, of texture.

Not strictly a cookbook, but the "cookery" sections -- there were 3 in all -- did offer a full cookbook's worth of recipes. The Lemon Lightning was just lemonade, although made with a shortcut that has been revived and rebranded as a "hack" numerous times since this was published. For the record, I don't think tossing unpeeled lemons in the blender is much of an effort-saver over just squeezing the lemons, although I'm still on the fence about whether the skin does or does not make it a bit more bitter. Also, I cut down the sugar by 75 percent and still would up finding this a little too sweet by the bottom of the 2nd glass (it made 2). Still, not a disappointment since I bought the yearbook purely for nostalgia reasons and the fact that it even has recipes in it is a bonus even if I can't/won't ever use most of them (and I never actually did learn to sew well or knit at all).

WrestleMania was 2 nights, so I thought I could do 2 in a row, too. Cooking the chili (which was amazing) was put on pause while I watched the show and aftershow, though, so I didn't get around to actually patching together and uploading the episode until after the show.

I would totally eat the leftover chili (cold, because that's how I like it) while watching Monday Night RAW, only we don't get the stupid USA Network. $5 a month for the PPVs on Peacock is totally worth it and Friday Night Smackdown is on free (with antenna) TV, such a deal, but if Vince McMahon could see his way to severing ties with the USA Network (not available a la carte so you need to pay for some pricey streaming service or cable package) then I could see my way to hating him and his family a tiny bit less. (I'm sure he's tempted by that generous offer.)

The obligatory Wrestlemania episode, featuring a recipe named after a wrestler who is actually not scheduled to appear (although you never actually know who's going to show up). The bean dip turned out to be one of those things that kind of looks like crap, all grey and lumpy and kind of spackle-ish, but it tastes fantastic. I stuck pretty close to the recipe, just leaving out the garlic because I finally realized that I don't really like raw garlic in anything. Plus, I'm not an edgy-yet-vulnerable teenage girl, so there's no reason vampires would be interested in me, anyway.

This not-quite-vintage but old enough to be laughably out-of-date cookbook dates from 2008, so assuming it was published before August that year it at least predates Aaron Rodgers' tenure with the Packers. I don't care for Mr. Rodgers one bit. Tonight in Milwaukee we're looking at temps of 8 below, tomorrow's high will top out around 5, and that's not including wind chill, but I still say the worst part of living here is having to see Rodgers' gargoyle face on every newscast spouting his "expert" opinion on absolutely everything. Dairy prices falling? Let's ask Aaron Rodgers what to do! Not enough vaccine to go around? Surely Aaron Rodgers has a solution! Even if he doesn't, as long as he gets his shot, the rest of us won't have died in vain. Blech. I promise I will stop hating the Packers the day he signs with another team and/or leaves town for good, but until that time I hate green and gold everything.

Although actually, this recipe is a little green and gold-ish, what with the chopped jalapeno (that was supposed to be a serrano but too bad, it's way too cold to go shopping) and the parmesan. Pepperoni is a bit overwhelming for a mushroom stuffing, I think, since I didn't find that this worked as well as a similar ham-based one, but then, if I wasn't so lazy and chopped the stuffing ingredients more finely, maybe it would have been better.

Finally, my 12th and last episode of Cooking with Astrology from the Sydney Omarr/Mike Roy 1969 book of the same name. I saved the worst for last...Okay, I don't actually know any Capricorns, at least as far as I know. But then, I don't know the birthdays of anyone other than a small handful of people, nearly all of whom are related to me. The recipes for Capricorn were among the more difficult to pick from, though. A few good ones, all of which were too expensive/complicated/hard to source, and a few that were downright horrifying. The cheesy potato thing I went with was...ok. Pretty good for a potato dish, but not exactly life-changing. 

At long last, the recipe I (mis)remembered for over 20 years, and the main reason I was bound and determined to track down the book again. The recipe couldn't be simpler: cook some bacon, crumble it, top iceberg lettuce with the bacon (or spinach: my mismemory used spinach, and it really does taste better) and shredded cheddar, then mix lemon juice (from a lemon, not a bottle) into the bacon grease and pour this over the salad as a dressing. Simple, unhealthy, and delicious, just what a salad should be.

Sadly, I was out of real bacon, as well as either spinach or iceberg. My subbing in romaine was fine (though the lettuce was slightly wilted), but turkey bacon produces no grease so I had to cook it in some oil and neither the meat nor the dressing was nearly as good as it would have been had I used proper bacon. Hmm, guess trying to wing it at the last minute without making proper preparations is unwise, and that is just about the most boring story moral of all time.

Another very late episode, this one for Scorpios. Sorry, Scorpios, if I even know any. But that's what you get for having a far more interesting sun sign than I do. You get to be all mysterious and intriguing (if possibly slightly pervy), while I get to be...boring. 

Anyway, this chapter, unsurprisingly, was full of all kinds of interesting recipes, actually only one dud in the bunch (because asparagus), but the recipe I went with was chosen on account of budget/time/calorie/seasonal availability restraints. Omarr and Roy were, I believe, in California and also weren't necessarily trying to correlate the recipes to the time of year, since this chapter tended to run a bit heavily towards fresh oysters, fresh marigold leaves, and other stuff that is kind of hard to come by in a landlocked midwestern state in late autumn. So I went with an apple crisp, which you'd think would be kind of hard to mess up. You'd be wrong. Either due to the recipe's being poorly written or to my own messing up (most likely, a bit of both), it came out weird. Not sure if it will suffice as breakfast (this is the meal to which I relegate my C-list recipes) or will wind up as rat food -- but, as a testimonial to rodent ownership, Dumbo rats do make for a pretty cure little garbage disposal unit.

It seems I never have time to do anything but post these astrology episodes these days, and at the absolute last minute, at that. Anyway, the Libra recipes were less exciting than I expected, but this blue cheese bread is too good. I ate half the loaf the first night I made it. In retrospect, probably not a good idea since I did not subsequently run a marathon. But if irritation burns calories, the combination of election stuff and my two least favorite teams in the World Series ought to be good for a full loaf's worth, at least.

With just hours to spare before the sun enters Libra, I present the long-delayed Virgo episode. Oatcakes, which were kind of plain, but could have been wonderful...the jury's still out, though. They seem like the kind of thing that could grow on you, although as of yet I remain unconvinced that they're worth making again. They were really, really easy, though, so that's a point in their favor.