Beat This Cookbook by Ann Hodgman (Terra's Review)

Do you think you have the absolute best recipe for apple pie? Maybe your neighbor claims to make the best meatloaf around. Did your Italian grandmother serve the best spaghetti sauce this side of the Atlantic? Well, unless you or that neighbor or your grandmother is Ann Hodgman, you’re wrong!

The book that the editor in chief of Vanity Fair called “the funniest, most engaging book about food I’ve ever come across” has now been revised and updated: more than half the recipes are completely new, and many of the originals have been “oomphed up” to make them even more shamelessly delicious.

Beat This! Cookbook contains more than a hundred all-time favorites, from Burnt Sugar Ice Cream and White Chocolate Raspberry Pie to Chili-Cheese Casserole and Onion Rings. Each one is guaranteed to make people take a bite, stagger with joy, and beg you for the recipe.

(Terra's Thoughts) First off let me say that I am a cookbook junkie. Love looking through these wonderful books for delicious treats that look good or may not look so good but taste like heaven. I have learned from the wisdom of years to not judge a recipe by it's looks but by its ingredients, aroma and taste.

I think this is one that will be a favorite for many people especially those that like good ole fashioned comfort food with a delightful story about it to make you chuckle when looking the recipe over.

The thing that I think got to me first off was when I was skimming through the recipes and seen that 98 percent of what is in them you already have in your cabinets and freezer or refrigerator. AAA+++ on this for I hate having to go hunting for exotic ingredients and then find out I don't like the recipe.

Each recipe has a little story to go with them that the author has experienced and some of them will make you chuckle if not down right laugh out loud. Hey they say, "Laughter makes the best medicine", and by golly it's true.

I would say that most of the recipes in here will be ones that I will try. It was extremely refreshing to find that the recipes weren't containing things to make them hot and spicy. I don't do hot and spicy so I'm sold here. The one recipe that seemed to come up and smack me upside the head was for a Concord Grape Pie. Darn why didn't I think of that. I grow my own concord grapes so why not use them for something besides jelly. :) I'm a real happy camper with this.

Overall, I found this book refreshing, humorous and down right lip smacking good. Kudo's to the author for making something that brings back wonderful memories, delicious comfort food to soothe the soul as well as the belly and for giving us an easy bunch of recipes where we can just pluck from our stock and cook and eat.

Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Revised edition (March 22, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0547437005
ISBN-13: 978-0547437002

The Return of Black Douglas by Elaine Coffman (Terra's Review)

While visiting the Scottish tombs of her forebears, American archeologist Isobella Douglas encounters the ghost of her famous ancestor, Sir James, the Black Douglas. The matchmaking ghost seizes on her romantic fantasies, and before she knows it, Isobella and her twin sister, Elisabeth, a doctor, find themselves whisked to 16th-century Scotland, inappropriately dressed. When the dastardly Macleans capture Elisabeth, Alysandir Mackinnon, entirely fascinated by half-naked, strong-willed Isobella, offers to help her get her sister back. Bestseller Coffman (The Bride of Black Douglas) spins a rewarding love story between her two intelligent, stubborn protagonists, keeping their relationship fresh and their conflicts credible. Toss in a boy in need of a father, intriguing details of 16th-century customs, and a substantial but not overwhelming dose of sex, and the result is a satisfying time travel romance.

(Terra's Thoughts) I enjoyed this story with the exception of the poorly written dialogue in the beginning between our hero and heroine. Once you get past that bit of tedious chatter then the rest of the book is quite wonderful and the storyline is one that I really love. I can see myself going back in time to an age long ago just to find my tall, dark and handsome. The ending even made me a bit weepy and not because it's all sad but because of the great way the author finished it off.

Isobella Douglas is a beauty in a tom boy sort of way. Being an archaeologist tends to leave Isobella looking like a dirty urchin but that comes with the territory. Watch out though when she takes a bath and wears a gown. Whew! Talk about turning heads! She is so polar opposite during the day and night that it's like there are two different people in one body.

Poor Isobella has been jilted by her to be wed boyfriend so off she and her sister Elizabeth go to Scotland for some R&R. They go in search of family history as their heritage comes from Scotland and little do the know how up close and personal their history is about to become to them thanks to a meddling ghost and a sincere heartfelt wish for a man tall, dark and handsome. Isobella wishes for her own Mr. Darcy and you know what they say, "Be careful what you wish for cause you may just get it".

Alysandir Mackinnon, clan chief of the Mackinnon's has been hurt so badly emotionally that his heart is nothing but a stone shape encased in human flesh and blood. Tall, dark, handsome, brooding, lustful and honorable makes him the perfect catch for any woman with eyes in her head. He has sworn not to fall for a woman again and never to marry under any condition but will a meddling ghost and a wee slip of a woman as tough as he is. We can only hope that she can put a crack in his armor and seep through to the inside.

The storyline is wonderful and I love the way the time travel actually gets pulled off. The author has given us a plausible look into the long ago days of a brutal land and the people who lived there. A look into their lives intertwined with an interruption from a ghost from the past and a lass from the future. A fairy tale story of love and wishes come true that will make your toes curl as you sit on the edge of your seat waiting to see what could possibly happen next.

I would recommend this story for the fact that it is a delight waiting to be unwrapped even though it needs a bit of help in the beginning. Don't give up on it once you start as you won't be sorry you continued on til the end.

Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (April 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9781402250743
ISBN-13: 978-1402250743