Da Capo Press

Appetite for Reduction: 125 Fast and Filling Low-Fat Vegan Recipes

mandy — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 08:00:00 +0000

My library copy of Vegan with a Vengeance shouldn’t have been returned. Not in the state it was in after it lived in my kitchen for five renewed status cycles (the maximum number I was allowed before I had to return it to my local library). The book shouldn’t have been returned because it smelled like food. A cookbook, naturally, absorbs the effort of its teachings: oils and buttered thumb prints, dried arrow root smudges, and one small berry stain on two of the pages when I tried to turn them with fruit juice-stained fingers. Luckily, I don’t have to return Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s newest book, Appetite for Reduction, which is doomed to the same fate as its predecessor: lovingly used with pages that are turned with excitement, torn at its edges and bearing of all kinds of quirky marks, compliments of the daring cook.

Moskowitz discloses her personal health reasons that resulted in her decision to find more recipes that are lighter in caloric intake. She also stresses her reluctance to contribute to the war on bigger bodied women. So what does Moskowitz do? She writes a cookbook for vegan stomachs searching lowfat, delicious recipes. For those in the vegan community who are also health conscious, Moskowitz has delivered the goods on a plate too irresistible to deny.

Isa Chandra Moskowitz is the best friend we’re all looking for: she writes in a way we understand, a language that is easily understood and humorous. She is also the cook we want for our healthy lives and families. She gets it. She gets that we don’t want to give up taste and satisfaction for healthy living. With this book, she dismantles the notion that vegan eating and cooking is not either extreme of the rumor spectrum. Veganhood is not bland rabbit food, nor is it substituting large amount of full fat in place of flavor.

From funky hummus creative ideas to “OMG Oven-Baked Onion Rings,” from sides to satisfying full entrée ideas, Moskowitz turns your vegan kitchen upside down, shakes out the fat, and replaces it with novel and tasty ideas to keep your mind interested and your tongue happy you tried something new. For this, I raise my spatula to Moskowitz with a need and heartfelt thank you. Vegan or omnivore, you will find something to rave about and savor in Appetite for Reduction.

Written by: Lisa Factora-Borchers, April 15th 2011

Heart of the City: Nine Tales of Love and Serendipity on the Streets of New York

payal — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 20:00:00 +0000

By Ariel Sabar

Da Capo Press

I believe in magic. I really do.

I am fresh off the boat but I have already learned that there is some divine sleight of hand that makes any form of human connection possible in New York City’s bustling boroughs.

Ariel Sabar believes that sleights such as: a missed train connection; a turn one block too early; and a misplaced address brought his collection of strangers together at a prominent New York landmark and then kept them together, married, presumably, happily ever after.

The couples selected by Sabar in the nine stories that comprise Heart of the City are a hodgepodge: in "Central Park" he narrates the love story of a teen runaway and a gallant sailor, in "The Subway" it is a Filipino bank teller and an American classical music reviewer and in "Liberty Enlightening the World" a German factory worker collides happily with a bubbly Long Island divorcee and her family.

Sabar venerates romance and marriage. He is clearly enamored with his cast of lovers, and this is charming and a testament to the many hours he spent interviewing them—in one case more than sixty years after their love first blossomed in New York. But Sabar’s micro-detail of that first lingering gaze, the agonized "she loves me she loves me not" internal chorus, the pouting lips that invite an inaugural kiss, the first amorous letter signed "love and kisses" is closer to banal than magical.

The love stories are a bad fit for a collection of short stories and I might have found them more endearing had I stumbled across them piecemeal in the "Weddings & Celebrations" section of the New York Times. Having said this I must add that none of Sabar’s couples are black or Hispanic, and none are same-sex—these groups do get to tell their fairy tale stories too in the "Weddings & Celebrations" section of the New York Times.

Written by: Chiseche Salome Mibenge, March 19th 2011

Balance Your Hormones, Balance Your Life: Achieving Optimal Health and Wellness through Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine, and Western Science

barbara — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 08:00:00 +0000

By Claudia Welch

Da Capo Press

Though I enjoy a good yoga session as much as any middle-class white woman my age, my natural state is one of tooth-chattering anxiety. Anyone who knows me well could tell you that my yin and yang are not harmonious, but now I have the endocrine profile to prove it—a set of chromosome repeats in my DNA that has manifested itself in serious hormonal disruption, a.k.a. premature ovarian failure, a.k.a. early menopause. Luckily, my family is complete, so my problem is not infertility but the addition of hot flashes and potential bone loss to my list of daily worries.

Enter Claudia Welch's Balance Your Hormones, Balance Your Life, which promises I'll soon be “achieving optimal health and wellness through Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, and Western science.” Welch applies the Chinese concepts of yin and yang to a woman's sex hormones and stress hormones, respectively. The typically revved-up Western woman's stress hormones tax her sex hormones, causing the Fred Astaire-like progesterone (Welch's analogy, not mine) to stumble, not waltz, with her Ginger Rogers-like estrogen. And once a woman's sex hormones get out of whack, she's dancing her way to ill health—or, to quote a chapter title, she's just “Feeling Crummy.”

To me, a woman whose hormonal problems are rooted in genetics and a not uniquely American malaise, the real balancing act in Welch's book is the eternal push-pull between Western science and Eastern wisdom. I know that Big Pharma has a vested interest in selling me hormone patches, yet there is evidence that hormone therapy is appropriate for women like me who are not undergoing the “change of life” as part of the natural aging process. Still, Welch's advice to adopt dietary and stress-reduction strategies as the first line of defense is rooted not only in Eastern philosophy but also in common sense. More quinoa, less coffee—I got it.

Things get really woolly in the chapters “Birth Control” and “Fertility and Conception,” making me extremely glad that my health concerns lay outside those areas. Asks Welch: “if older women increase their chances of breast cancer, heart attack, strokes, and dementia by consuming synthetic hormones for menopausal symptoms, why is it okay for younger women to take these drugs?” A good question, particularly in light of Welch's observation that hormonal contraceptive tests on men were halted when the subjects' testes shriveled up. “If women's ovaries were on the outside of our bodies, and the negative side effects were actually cosmetically visible,” Welch writes, “would we be less tolerant?”

Welch backs off the patriarchy all too soon, however. Two pages later she's advocating for Natural Family Planning, which she claims lacks the “inconvenient to tragic side effects of most other forms of birth control.” Just ask Michelle Duggar! Her balance must be flawless, because as Welch writes, “establishing reproductive health consists of regulating the cycle and the hormones, having good quality and quantity of yin in the diet and lifestyle, and good quality and quantity of exercise and mental activity to support healthy yang.” I don't watch 19 Kids and Counting, but I can guess that neither yin nor yang come up much.

The takeaway? This book is full of sensible advice for generally healthy (and Quiverfull) women wanting to stave off crumminess. Women with more serious health concerns should probably skip it—reading this book would freak out their yang, which even Welch knows should be strenuously avoided.

Written by: Shannon Drury, March 9th 2011

The 30 Minute Vegan's Taste of the East: 150 Asian-Inspired Recipes—from Soba Noodles to Summer Rolls

tina — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0000

By Mark Reinfeld, Jennifer Murray

Da Capo Press

The 30 Minute Vegan's Taste of the East is a compilation of recipes from India, Thailand, China, and Japan. There’s an additional section on Asian Fusion, featuring recipes from Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Tibet, and Nepal, as well as little known recipes from Iran and Afghanistan. Basically, this cookbook allows you to make vegan versions of your favorite Asian dishes in less time than it would take a delivery person to arrive.

Trying to obtain a vegan version of a menu item is difficult in most restaurants, especially if you frequented the restaurant in your pre-vegan life. I’ve had a restaurant owner swear that a particular dish could be made meatless, but once the food arrived it was clear that I received the standard dish. As a result, I began looking around for a cookbook that would have vegan versions of what I wanted to order in a restaurant. A lot of the cookbooks I found had the recipes, but both ingredient lists and cooking times were too long to be practical on a daily basis.

This cookbook solves both problems; it provides recipes you want in versions that can be made in thirty minutes or less and the ingredient lists provide item descriptions and any alternate names the items may go by. The book provides substitutions for those who do not have access to fresh ingredients, and a list of resources for those who prefer to shop for ingredients online.

The book is divided into sections by country and recipes are listed in menu order (soup through dessert), making it simple to pick and choose your meal plan. Recipes also include serving suggestions in the form of complementary dishes. All directions are easy to follow and recipe variations are provided to show how each dish can be prepared differently or with different ingredients. Recipes that take longer than thirty minutes are marked with a clock at the top of the page. Pages marked with a heart at the top are recipes for raw food items or items with raw variations.

Sidebars, Chef’s Tips and Tricks, and The Asian Pantry provide preparation tips and shortcuts, along with information on ingredients specific to the recipe’s country of origin. Appendixes include an informative preparation tutorial, a glossary, and a thorough listing of vegan resources for online shopping, education, and related topics of eastern spirituality and culture.

If you gave up a dish when you became vegan and never thought you’d see it again, have a look at this book; you’re likely to find it here. If you don’t see it immediately, read a few recipes in the area and you might find it under a different name. I found my long lost Tom Yum Gai under the name Galangal Lemongrass Soup. Once you find your lost beloved, try a new recipe to go with it. You’ll be glad you did!

Written by: Melissa Ruiz, December 18th 2010

The Meat Lover's Meatless Cookbook: Vegetarian Recipes Carnivores Will Devour

gita — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 16:00:00 +0000

By Kim O’Donnel

Da Capo Press

The recipes in The Meat Lover's Meatless Cookbook are very good. This cookbook is perfect for people who want to cut down on their meat consumption. Kim O’Donnel describes her motivation for writing this book as the realization that she and her family needed to cut down on their meat consumption for health and environmental reasons. O’Donnel is not a member of a vegetarian cult and does not want to recruit others. She wants to add delicious vegetarian recipes to the meat-heavy North American diet.

To that end, the recipes are organized into fifty-two menus, enough for one year of one meatless dinner each week, and the menus are grouped seasonally to reflect what is available in most regions of the U.S. during that time. Ingredients were selected with supermarket availability in mind so procuring organic virgin unicorn hair is not necessary. The book includes resources for the few items that may not be in the supermarket as well as more readily available substitutes.

People who have experience cooking vegetarian food will be familiar with many of the dishes included in this cookbook, but everyone could benefit from the section, “Kitchen Tricks for Your Sleeve.” “Metric Conversions” and “Resources” are two more universally useful sections in the book. O’Donnel has a folksy writing style and trusts the reader to use ingredients that they have and like, as exemplified in asides about her differences with her husband about the use of sugar in cornbread and noting that home cooks should use their preferences as a guide.

This book offers useful tools to expand one’s cooking repertoire. For example, one menu features ways to cook beans and rice, with varied seasonings for white beans, black beans and pinto or kidney beans, essentially explaining what flavors typically work well with different varieties of beans. This is the kind of information that the reader can build on, and makes this the perfect cookbook for people who are learning to cook. The quibbles I have with the cookbook are that it lacks total cooking and prep times and, as a result, takes some consideration to determine which are the best school-night meals.

Written by: Melissa Ditmore, October 26th 2010

Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: 100 Dairy-Free Recipes for Everyone's Favorite Treats

admin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:01:00 +0000

By Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Terry Hope Romero

Da Capo Press

Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar is a tasty new book by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. It looks so good I’m tempted to eat it, Cookie Monster-style, but then I wouldn’t be able to follow the recipes. I felt the same way about the authors’ earlier book, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World when we received it as a wedding present. I was pretty sure their cookies would be as amazingly delicious as their cupcakes had been, and I was right.

Now, a short side note here, for transparency: As far as my cooking expertise goes, I can make salad, and I can make sandwiches. (I’m particularly good at slicing sandwiches into triangles.) Whenever I try anything more complex, I tend to either get carried away with details (gingerbread mansion of December 2003 rings a bell) or simply wander away and let pots boil over or toasters go up in flames. (Yes, I consider making toast cooking...) So when it came time to try out these cookie recipes, I asked my wife Sarah Thomasin, baker to the stars (well, the stars of the zine-writing, Ladyfest gigging, performance poet scene, anyway) to do the honors.

This book has a great introductory chapter that even I understood, with basics like the difference between regular and all-purpose flour (which I’d always wondered about) plus more specific stuff (like the tools they use to make those cool star-shaped cookies at the bakery). A list of vegan ingredients and where to find them is helpful, and there’s a handy food substitutions section for people who haven’t got the time, money, or inclination to get the specialty stuff. The recipes themselves are very clearly explained and illustrated in full color with what I can only call… cookie porn.

Feminist? Much mainstream media urges women to be skinny at any cost, so it’s pleasing to see a book on the shelves that role-models cooking and eating for pleasure (albeit sensibly, with healthy options throughout the book, and warnings about hydrogenated oils and trans-fats).

Now, to the cookies. Sarah jumped right in to the Fancy Cookies section at the back, and made Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows. Her version didn’t look like the cute, fluffy Cinderella’s-glass-slipper style cushion in the book, but wow did they taste like a fairytale with a chocolate outer layer and a mouthful of melted, sweetened peanut butter inside. While visiting New York for the holidays, we took the cookies to my sister’s boyfriend’s house on Christmas Eve, and another batch to my cousins’ for Christmas Day. For the uninitiated, New York Italian Christmas dessert spreads are heart-stoppingly indulgent, and these friends and relatives were, um, not vegan, so this is major deep-end road-testing here. The verdict? Awesome and fought-over by hardcore carnivores who held them on a par with the coveted home-made struffoli.

One success behind us, we tried an easier recipe: Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles. (Okay, we’ll admit it—we wanted to make these because the word snickerdoodle sounded like a silly innuendo.) The cookies were fantastic, and they looked exactly like the ones in the picture on Moskowitz’s and Romero’s website and in their book. They were easy to make and included the palate-friendly contrasting flavors of chocolate and chilli. We took some as holiday gifts later on in our trip, and, again, our non-vegan friends were shocked there weren’t any animals in there. Even a friend's older brother, a former marine-turned-butcher, has been turned onto these vegan delights.

So the taste tests were deemed a success. We can’t wait to try Moskowitz’s and Romero’s other recipes, like their take on the traditional NYC Black and White Cookies and the Ooh La Las (vegan sandwich cookies). I’m not vegan, but I don’t eat milk products, so this book is excellent for me. The cookies were much better than store-bought vegan cookies, and tasted better, too. I totally recommend it.

Written by: Chella Quint, January 21st 2010

Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine

admin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:07:00 +0000

By Bryant Terry

Da Capo Press

Whether you're rebuilding yourself or just doing daily maintenance, healthy food is a necessity for bringing the body back and keeping it going. Now that I can't go to Whole Foods, it's time to get creative with the selection from produce stands and farmer's markets. Today I saw a man with a straw cowboy hat selling tomatoes, melons, and sunflowers out of a battered pick-up truck. Chilled soup, sorbet, and an arrangement for the table? As attracted as I am to the 'slow' and local foods movements, I am frequently concerned with their possible elitism. Therefore, I was delighted to hear Bryant Terry on the Tavis Smiley show detailing the history of African American cuisine incorporating vegetarianism: Seventh Day Adventists, Dick Gregory, Etta Lewis, and Elijah Muhammed. The only cuisine that doesn't tempt me is standard “'Merican”—canned green bean casserole, mashed potatoes from a box, egg salad, orange plastic-wrapped cheese, jello with tiny marshmallows in it, plates of unseasoned monochromatic beige, fry everything, the only vegetable is the cubed carrot-lima-bean-corn kernel mélange—so I always appreciate an introduction to other nutritious, delicious methods of preparation.

West Coast chef Bryant Terry presents traditional southern cooking without chicken or pork products, and without the soy dependence or preachy tone of many vegan cookbooks. An unrepentant omnivore, I already have a few vegan and vegetarian cookbooks, and Vegan Soul Kitchen definitely earns a place on the shelf. Recipes like the creamy celeriac sauce could conceivably accompany tuna as well as tempeh, and if you happen to slip a little turkey andouille in the Gumbo Z, well, I won't tell on you. Better yet: my life comes with a soundtrack—a highlight of one job was being told that I'd channeled Sally Bowles perfectly—so it makes perfect sense that each recipe comes with a song. If I met anyone who could cook like this, it might be time to reference Salt-N-Pepa's “What a Man.”

Written by: Erika Mikkalo, October 8th 2009

The Supremes: A Saga of Motown Dreams, Success, and Betrayal

admin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:55:00 +0000

By Mark Ribowsky

Da Capo Press

Mark Ribowsky did not interview singer Diana Ross or Berry Gordy, the founder and iron-fisted ruler of Motown Records, for this unauthorized look at The Supremes’ rise and fall. That said, his copious research makes the book—all 440 pages—a fascinating assessment of both music trends and the gender and race politics that have governed the industry since the late 1950s.

The Supremes' story, as traditionally put forward, channels the American Dream: high-school-aged girls living in the Detroit projects with nothing but their voices find one another and miraculously rise to stardom. Reality, of course, is far less dramatic. Indeed, the “girls” did come from the projects, but their families were intact. From the start there were tensions—competition between singers, four at first and then three, over who would be showcased most prominently. Despite the fact that Florence Ballard created the group, Berry Gordy was smitten by the demure, and ultra-feminine, Diane Ernestine Ross. As he pushed her into the lead, the other young women were reduced to backup roles, and over the course of several years Diane morphed into Diana and became a diva extraordinaire. Not surprisingly, this riled the others and Ribowsky goes to great lengths to document bitter catfights and rivalries.

He also documents Gordy’s managerial immorality, his legendary refusal to pay much of anything to performers hungry for fame. His descriptions of the company’s tenacious stranglehold on performers like the Jackson 5, Four Tops, Temptations, Stevie Wonder, and Supremes is astonishing, especially since Gordy was largely unschooled in either business or music promotion. In fact, before starting Motown, he was a never-do-well who was literally reduced to begging his financially savvy family for $800 to start the company. Call it right place, right time, right instincts, and you pretty much have Berry Gordy’s ascension in a nutshell: He pulled together a winning mix of talented writers, musicians, singers and promoters, forged a unique sound, and worked feverishly to get radio airplay and stage time for Motown acts.

While Motown is front and center in The Supremes, Ribowsky simultaneously focuses on Diana Ross, Florence Ballard, and Mary Wilson, the three singers responsible for the group’s twelve number one singles and ten additional Top Ten hits. Throughout, his portrait is devoid of feminist sisterhood, and makes clear that the singers were more interested in racking up personal accolades than in promoting the group. Take Florence Ballard’s accelerating alcoholism and self-destruction as an example. Despite ample evidence of her decline, neither Ross nor Wilson intervened to help her; instead, they allowed Gordy to fire her.

Still, no one in the book is wholly demonized. For example, Ribowsky reports on Ross’ periodic generosity, mentioning that when Ballard died of heart disease at the age of thirty-two—after being booted out of the group—Ross set up trust funds for each of Ballard’s three children. Yet, he also makes clear that everything Ross did—from love affairs with the married Smokey Robinson and Gordy himself, to kind social gestures—was on her terms.

The Supremes were Gordy’s answer to the social turmoil of the 1960s, a way to hang on to the propriety of earlier decades. The “girls” were always stylishly coiffed and wore only the best designer gowns and cocktail dresses. The message was simple—they were not hippies, but ladies. What’s more, they didn’t address the Vietnam War and ignored the civil rights movement until Martin Luther King’s assassination. Unlike militant Black musicians-slash-activists, they represented the status quo and were rewarded handsomely for the reassuring image they presented to an oft-worried Caucasian mainstream.

Was this image a calculated business decision on Gordy’s part? Probably. But if it’s true, it makes The Supremes an even more interesting look at U.S. social politics and mores. In the end, apolitical beauty sells, even when it is manufactured.

Written by: Eleanor J. Bader, October 6th 2009

Ani's Raw Food Desserts: 85 Easy, Delectable Sweets and Treats

admin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 05:34:00 +0000

By Ani Phyo

Da Capo Press

Raw food chef Ani Phyo’s latest cookbook is a creative and diverse collection of no-bake dessert recipes. All of her creations are free of wheat, gluten, dairy, and processed sugar, and rely instead on nuts, seeds, fruit, and natural sweeteners like agave nectar and maple syrup. The hot summer months are a perfect time to explore the world of raw foods, which are mainly prepared using a blender or food processor, although Phyo also includes a chapter on treats requiring a dehydrator. Additionally, the book’s simplest recipes require no appliances at all, just the creative pairing of fruits with herbs (in the “Fruit Simples” chapter) or wine and champagne (in the “Sparkling Desserts” section) for palate-stimulating, party-ready delights.

All of the main dessert food groups are represented here: cakes, cookies, chocolate, ice creams and sorbets, puddings and parfaits, cobblers and crisps, sauces and creams. The book’s gorgeous full-page photographs advertise the recipes well, with sumptuous portraits of Ice Kream Sandwiches, Raspberry Ganache Fudge Cake, and Filled Chocolate Truffles sure to inspire the comment, “it doesn’t look raw!” Although cookbook authors throw around the word “easy” all the time, Phyo’s recipes actually are; often, they’re as simple as combining all of the ingredients in the blender or food processor and then forming the mixture into the appropriate shapes. It’s instantly gratifying to blend nuts, fruit, and spices together and have a ready-to-eat cookie in your hand a couple of minutes later.

The sweet fruit sauces, rich nut creams, and hearty cookies I tried sold me on the merits of incorporating healthy raw treats into my diet. The fact that Phyo’s creations are actually good for you makes for a surprisingly positive, guilt-free dessert-eating experience. However, one of my favorite discoveries about raw food is also a drawback: it’s possible to taste all of the individual ingredients. While it’s exciting to actually know exactly what’s in your food and experience the flavor as a true blend of a few well-chosen fresh ingredients, this also means that if your cookie is made of dates and nuts, it’s going to be dense and taste like dates and nuts rather than resembling what you’d normally think of as a cookie. Therefore, it’s necessary to keep an open mind and appreciate the recipes for what they are rather than comparing them with the dessert forms they are based on.

Given Phyo’s focus on the health benefits of raw foods, I was surprised to see that her recipes do not include any nutritional information. It would be useful to see more concrete information about the nutrients in the desserts, as well as the caloric and fat content of each serving, especially given the fact that some recipes call for several cups of nuts in place of flour or a whole cup of coconut oil.

Overall, Ani's Raw Food Desserts is a surprising and satisfying tour of the possibilities of raw dessert preparation. Raw food connoisseurs and novices alike will find new favorite snacks and treats among Phyo’s imaginative creations.

Written by: Kiri Oliver, August 18th 2009

Vegan Brunch: Homestyle Recipes Worth Waking Up For - From Asparagus Omelets to Pumpkin Pancakes

admin — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:03:00 +0000

By Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Da Capo Press

Vegan = tofu = dreadlocks = body odor = weird. This review is not about debunking the vegan stereotype equation, and all its variations, but rather about introducing the equal opportunity indulgence: brunch.

In a first read through, Isa Chandra Moskowitz's cookbook Vegan Brunch is nearly perfect. There are large color pictures for almost every recipe, which is an amateur chef must. There are clear and accessible ingredients, measurements, and instructions. Moskowitz even includes a shopping list for your vegan pantry and tips for serving a fabulous and delicious brunch. I would make the clichéd request for a spiral bound copy, so I’m not propping it open with a can of corn.

Do not be mistaken; this is not a raw, whole food, health cookbook. This is a cookbook to provide all the staples of a fantastic, 11am on a Sunday with a Bloody Mary (or Bloody Moskowitz, as the cookbook offers), just as one craves after a Sunday morning run, or Saturday night bender.

But, as they say, the proof is in the soy pudding. I had to try the recipes to really give this cookbook a critical review. The perfect opportunity presented itself when my New Yorker husband and mother-in-law met my Texan family in the Lone Star State. Without a vegan in the audience, I chose three recipes that I thought offered a fair scope of the recipes within.

On the first morning, I prepared the Polenta Rancheros. It was a resounding success, and nobody even asked where the meat products were. A variation of Huevos Rancheros, the creamy polenta replaces the eggs, creating a spicy, filling meal in one bowl. Approved by all the Tex-Mex fans at the table, the only glitch was that the coriander seeds didn't quite blend, but I think that was user error.

Second morning, I baked the Tomato Rosemary Scones. Relatively simple and quite pretty when finished, the scones were devoured. The sweetness of the tomato was nicely balanced with the fresh rosemary. The only mild criticism was that they didn't have the consistency of scones, but rather bread. This is true—the crumbly texture of a traditional scone was missing—but I didn't miss it one bit.

Finally, to lure my twenty-one year old brother to my parents' home, I prepared the Chocolate Beer Waffles. The batter is quick and simple to make, and the end product is dessert-like. I prepared them with the recommended Cashew Cream with cinnamon and Chocolate Syrup. A minor quip: even though the recipe says to follow manufacturer’s instructions for the waffle iron, I ended up cooking them twice as long as traditional waffles and they stuck a bit. Also, plan ahead for the cashew cream. You have to soak the cashews for at least an hour, and then it needs about an hour to thicken up. But overall, this was delicious and goes well with leftover beer—if you don’t mind drinking beer at brunch.

I think the real success of this cookbook is that it is not overrun with substitutes or faux-meat products. There are quite a few mouth-watering tofu scrambles, vegan sausage recipes that call for wheat gluten, and several uses of tempeh (fermented soybeans). These are all easily acquirable products, and relatively unprocessed. I didn’t notice any instances of processed, faux animal products, which can be good, but can also taste like a salted rubber band. This cookbook makes being vegan easy—perhaps too easy, as I drool over the Caramelized Vidalia Onion Quiche recipe, and try to think of an excuse to make another brunch.

Written by: Claire Burrows, July 18th 2009

On Their Own: Women Journalists and the American Experience in Vietnam

admin — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:02:00 +0000

By Joyce Hoffman

Da Capo Press

Joyce Hoffman read a book about journalists who reported on American involvement in Vietnam in the sixties and wondered to herself, “Where are the women?” Considering that she holds a Ph.D. in American Studies, a job teaching journalism to college students, and pens a biweekly op-ed column about journalism accuracy and fairness issues, it was not unlikely that she would write the book that would answer that question. On Their Own offers a thoroughly researched account of fifteen women who played vital, if varying, roles in the reporting of the Vietnam War.

For myself, when I studied the media industry in college, I became so disenchanted with the corporate system of information dissemination in the United States that instead of packing the tailored black suit in my closet upon graduation, I grabbed a rucksack and waited tables for awhile. But journalism still fascinates me, and for that reason, I wish that I had read this book in school. Many of these women simply bought a plane ticket and showed up in Saigon, determined to find their own stories. They believed that if they did their job well, they would be published by many of the male editors who told them they couldn’t do it in the first place, as they indeed were.

As a pleasure read, On Their Own can be a bit dense with historical detail that sometimes stifles the narrative of each experience; however, this detail makes the book richer for any student of the history of journalism. I had a hard time getting started with it, but I soon realized that my difficulty was because the first 100 pages deal mainly with more socially conservative women who believed in the United State’s right to be in Vietnam and felt that the people there needed to be Westernized for their own good - talented and outspoken reporters, but not women I wanted to spend much time with. Once I got into chapter three, I found stories that were not only adventurous, but personally inspiring.

Frankie Fitzgerald’s story is one that any aspiring and socially conscious non-fiction writer should become acquainted with. Daughter of the CIA’s director of operations, she spent years in Vietnam, on her own, writing with a sense of purpose. Convinced that the war was immoral and wrong, she won the Pulitzer Prize in 1972. “She once asked a Vietnamese associate what he thought would happen if the United States withdrew. He told her: ‘Don’t ask us that. It’s none of your business. We just want you to leave.’”

Reporting on a war requires much more than death tolls and fire fight descriptions. Today, it seems obvious that different perspectives on the impact of war on societies engaged in it add invaluable relevance to that body of journalism. We are still faced with government influence and spin. The more people are reporting on events, the better we can understand them and use that knowledge to avoid mistakes in the future. Right?

Written by: Jen Wilson Lloyd, October 13th 2008