Broken brain detective

A Lethal Inheritance
A Mother Uncovers the Science behind Three Generations of Mental Illness
by Victoria Costello
A Lethal Inheritance
subtitled A Mother Uncovers the Science behind Three Generations of Mental Illness
Victoria Costollo

Through no fault of the book's, I somehow convinced myself it would be more history and less science.  Thus I was disappointed...but only the tiniest little bit so.   You can't manufacture family history to make a great story better--but you can tell the truth.  (She did.)
It's a story of one mother and her difficult fight for her two son's mental health--and ultimately her own--but it's also a story of the science, research, history and future of mental illness in the world.  I can't even list all off that topics that pop up in this book--genetics, environmental factors, schizophrenia, suicide, recovery, early detection and prevention, family secrets, Roscommon Ireland, the Catholic church...  It's not a long book in pages but I didn't feel that any topic was given a shallow treatment, either.   In fact, for the first time in a long time, I'm going to flip through her bibliography and see if anything belongs on my to-read list.

Something real to read about

Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal

By Conor Grennan

Lovely book--true story--wish it had been longer.  A compassionate young American interrupted his trek around the world to work a three-month volunteer job at an orphanage in Nepal.  But the children he found weren't orphans--they were the victims of a child trafficking scam.   Criminals--one in particular--would extort large sums of money from parents to take their children away from the civil war; take them to safe homes, places where they would be well-fed, schooled, and loved.

The children ended up as slaves or beggars on the streets of Kathmandu, but a fortunate few ended up at the Little Princes Children's Home. And Conor Grennan ended up with a life's mission he'd never imagined--reuniting children with parents they'd nearly forgotten...but who'd never forgotten them.

Reading resumed, not life

The Nazi Officer's Wife
by Edith Hahn Beer and Susan Dworkin

Trained to be a lawyer, Edith Hahn survived the Holocaust by being a Hausfrau.  A meek, well-behaved wife--shopping, cooking the meals, keeping the floors spotless and the sheets well aired. But that's skipping to the middle and there's a lot more to the story.  It's rich and full and devastatingly honest--she doesn't try to hide the goodness she does nor gloss over the evil she shies away from.
I'll be reading it again, soon.

Book enjoyed--not read

Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens




This was on my currently-reading list but I can't say I was reading it.  I'd picked up a sound recording at the library, thinking it was an audiobook.  Instead if was a dramatization of the story, greatly abridged, with voice actors and sound effects.
Once I started listening, I couldn't stop.  And now the book is ruined for me--I know the ending!

Okay, that last comment was an overdramatization.  I'd still enjoy reading the book--I know they left out pages and pages of the stuff Dickens does best--vivid characterization, droll humor, and melodramatic observations in the author's omniscient voice. A Dickens book is a lot more than story, however good the story may be.

Book review, finally

 
Appetite for Reduction by Isa Moskowitz.  It's hard to say I "read" this because I don't really read cookbooks.  I read the chapter introductions, most of the headnotes, and the little popup blurbs that decorate the pages.  And I look at the pictures--does that count?

I liked the book but not enough to want to own it.  I copied out a few recipes and tried two of them.  The braised collards recipe, which I made with Kale, was good but not exceptional.  I ate it for several meals, but never enjoyed it enough to go back for a second helping. 

The second recipe was a Vegetable Korma which called for garam masala--a spice mix that had been on my "to try" list.  Coincidentally, I read this recipe the same day I saw The Hundred Foot Journey.  And coincidentally, I had all of the ingredients for it except the garam masala and frozen green peas.  Could have subbed for the peas but I was NOT going to leave out a critical spice.  So I made the base of the dish and popped it in the refrigerator, then on the next day I procured the missing ingredients and finished it up.

It tasted really good...but you know...I checked online and found almost identical recipes everywhere.
Loved her tone, her attitude, her precision! in specifying exact quantities but suggesting things you may want to change to suit your own tastes.   Some of the ingredients were listed in both pounds and cups--perfect for someone who might be buying it at the grocery store or might be at home pulling it out of the salvage bin.   (a.k.a. fridge vegetable compartment)

So I loved it, I recommend it, but I don't want to buy it.

Birthday dinner

Osaka Sushi Steak & Grill



Nosteak for me, but sushi and finally the scallops I've been craving. 

Best birthday present ever!

         Three days of dirty dishes--gone!

Poor Izzy.

Just doesn't get the point of cats.

Eating well. Very well.

The aliens are making mess of our road.







I cheated on The China Study Cookbook and cooked out of Isa Chandra Moskowitz.  But I still have a New Ingredient of the Week--

garam masala


Smells heavenly!  It's a mixture of toasted spices, commonly turmeric, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, cumin seeds and cadamom pods.  Choose your colors on the peppercorns, cumin and cardamom.  I have all of these ingredients separately but putting them together and toasting them would be a pain.

Oddly enough, the recipe added cumin along with curry powder and coriander.  I wonder how differently it would taste with different flavors of garam masala.  I wonder if I could even tell the difference.

Friends new car

Sleek!
            






Happy driver (bad photographer

Unlikely!