realfoodtraveler.com
authentic travel and regional and artisan food -- worldwide!
ph: 503-632-4610
fax: 503-632-4610
info
Real Reviews (Books, films, websites, blogs, etc.)
At realfoodtraveler, we love food and we love travel and we love books, films, blogs, and other communication vehicles about both. Every once in a while we run across a something that makes us smile or teaches us something imporant. And we share these treasures here with you, fellow realfoodtravelers.
Book Review
If you’re into serious wildlife photography, Wildlife Photography: On Safari with Your DSLR: Equipment, Techniques, Workflow by professional photographer Uwe Skrzypczak (Rocky Nook, 2010) is the book for you. Filled with Skrzypczak’s stunningly beautiful photos of African animals, this book – sometimes in brutal, bloody detail – shows a level of excellence in photography most of us can only dream about.
Skrzypczak divides his book into two sections: the basics of wildlife photography, including equipment you’ll need, shooting techniques, composing photos, and planning your African safari; and putting all that information into practice in Africa’s photo hot spots -- East Africa, Ngorongoro Crater, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Serengeti National Park, and the Masai Mara.
Wildlife Photography is thorough and well-written. But be forewarned: this is not a book for beginners. For instance, when writing about shooting images in RAW format, Skrzypczak writes, “In order to optimize RAW images files while shooting, you should only use as much exposure compensation to avoid burnt-out highlights (between -0.3 and -.05)…” That kind of information undoubtedly makes sense to tech-savvy photographers, but it’s beyond many of us.
The other caveat is that this book is specific to shooting animals in Africa. The author makes no bones about this and discusses in detail issues like the light in East Africa and the challenges different African locations and different animals present to photographers. If you’re going on an African safari, this book provides some excellent detailed and quite high-level information. In fact, RFT Photo Editor, who went on an African Safari last year, said, “I wish I’d had this book before I went to Africa.” However, if you’re looking for information about getting better photos of your dog, this isn’t the book for you.
Bottom line: Photogragpher Uwe Skrzypczak has produced a beautiful, well-written, fact-filled book for serious photographers who want to sharpen their photo game shooting African animals. Wildlife Photography: On Safari with Your DSLR is available for $39.95 from Amazon or from www.rockynook.com.
Book Review
I’ve always loved cheese, so when The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Cheesemaking came out, I jumped at the chance to take a look. Author and cheesemonger James R. Leverentz is a master at putting the reader at ease and making the process of producing delicious cheese at home sound relatively easy and doable.
The first part of the book is really background – classifications of cheese, the basic ingredients (milk, cultures, coagulants), and the tools you’ll need. The second section, my personal favorite, is about making quick cheeses – crumbly queso blanco, creamy mascarpone, squeaky mozzarella, soft ricotta, and more. The author divides this section by how the cheeses are made – direct acidification, culture ripened, etc. The third section gets into cheeses that are a little more challenging, such as cottage cheese, hard cheeses, and washed curd and brined cheeses. All along the way, Leverentz offers up delicious recipes such as Fritatta with Tomato Canadian Bacon and Feta, Jalapeno Corn Muffins with Queso Fresco Crumbles, and Cauliflower Baby Swiss Soup.
While I’ve never been crazy about the “Complete Idiot’s” titles (who wants to be called an idiot?), I do appreciate the fact that the publisher finds real experts who are passionate about their subjects. And that's true for the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Cheesemaking. Leverentz, as he tells us in the introduction, is a major lover of cheese whos has been making the stuff for 50 years.
Real bottom line: If you want to try your hand at making cheese at home (and why not?), The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Cheesemaking will get you happily on your way without making you feel like a complete idiot. Reviewed by BH
Book Review
Book Review
Long-time travel and food writers Patricia Harris and David Lyon dedicated their book, Food Lovers’ Guide to Massachusetts, “To our friends who plan their vacations around their restaurant reservations.” Now that’s a realfoodtraveler kind of vacation!
Harris and Lyon set out to find the best local specialties, markets, recipes, restaurants, and events in their home state of Massachusetts and they’ve more than accomplished their goal. They’ve divided the state into seven geographic regions and then further broken these into these sub-categories: made or grown here, specialty stores and markets, farmers’ markets, farm stands, food happenings, landmark eateries, brewpubs and microbreweries, and the wine trail. Each region also starts with an easy-to-read map and an introduction to the area.
In addition to names, contact information and delicious descriptions of all these places, Harris and Lyon take time to educate their readers about the local food products and traditions. For instance, they explain the different 
grades of maple syrup produced in the state; talk about eating at the Tanglewood Music Festival; and give insights into local brewers and other foodies.
While it's thorough, the Food Lovers’ Guide to Massachusetts is a easy and fun read. The authors’ light touch and obvious love for their subject lifts this book from just a listing of places to a genuine food lover’s guide. And while we love guidebooks with photos (this one has none), its convenient size makes it one you’ll want to tuck inside your suitcase or keep in the car’s glove box.
Real bottom line: The Food Lover’s Guide to Massachusetts is like having a food-obsessed local along with you to take you to the in-the-know places to buy and eat real, local foods in this Northeastern seaboard state. Armed with this guide, you could happily eat your way across Massachusetts in realfoodtraveler style.
Food Lover's Guide to Massachusetts is available on Amazon.com and other fine bookstores.
Book Review
The Complete Root Cellar Book: Building Plans, Uses, and 100 Recipes
If you’re like the editors here at realfoodtraveler, you grow at least some of your own food. How else can you get the freshest tomatoes, the crispest lettuce, the juiciest zucchini? Even if you don’t have a garden, you likely shop at farmer’s markets or local veggie and fruit stands in season. But what do you do when you have a bushel of potatoes that all come ripe at once? How do you keep those four dozen heads of garlic or those bags and bags of apples from going bad? What about those two lugs of peaches you just couldn’t resist from the local fruit stand? One answer is a root cellar and the book to tell you everything about them is The Complete Root Cellar Book (Robert Rose, 2010).
Root cellars have long been a low-tech way to keep food fresh for months at a time. Before refrigeration and freezing, root cellars were part of many homes, especially those in rural areas where people raised their own food. Today, people looking for a practical, sustainable way to keep food will find The Complete Root Cellar Book is a positive back-to-the-future that takes the mystery out of building and using root cellars.
If you believe the book’s co-authors, Steve Maxwell and
Jennifer MacKenzie, anyone can have and use a root cellar. They provide practical plans for building root cellars in new or existing homes (“cold rooms”), in basements, underground, outdoors, in condos and 
townhouses,
Fall apples store well in a root cellar and produce sweet rewards all winter. -- Photo Yvette Cardozo
and even in warm climates. They write: “There’s something hard-wired into the human heart that loves to lavish care and attention on food and in turn to love food that has had care lavished upon it. If that resonates with you, you’re part of a growing fraternity. The Complete Root Cellar Book will show you how to construct a root cellar that will work for you,k how to keep the food stored in your cellar wholesome and how to prepare that food in fabulous ways.” To that, RFt says here, here!
Once you’ve selected your type of root cellar and used the book’s detailed instructions for constructing it, the authors tell you how to store food in your root cellar. Who knew you couldn’t just pop that food into the dark without worry? Not so. You’ve got to be concerned about things like damaged fruit and veggies, rot, and even pests. The Complete root Cellar Book tells you how to prepare different foods for storage and gives a handy Optimal Storage List that tells you, by product, how to store indoors or out, special storage instructions, expected storage life, and the type of conditions (e.g. cold/moist, cool/dry, warm/dry, etc.) needed for good storage.
The second half of the root cellar book may be this reviewer’s favorite – all kinds of delicious-sounding recipes you can make from your root cellar stash. There are recipes for root Cellar Medley Soup, Sweet and Tangy Beet and Carrot Salad, Stuffed Acorn Squash, Turkey Breast with Apple Sausage Stuffing, Spiced Pumpkin Loaf, and condiments like Preserved Oranges and Limes. The Complete Root Cellar Book
After reading The Complete Root Cellar Book this reviewer is not sure I’d ever build a root cellar (though it’s long been a fantasy). The book has opened my eyes to the fact that storing fresh food for months at a time is serious – and sometimes complicated – business. However, for back-to-nature types who are willing to put in the effort to build and use a root cellar, The Complete Root Cellar Book is an invaluable resource.
The Complete Root Cellar Book: Building Plans, Uses, and 100 Recipes by Steve Maxwell and Jennifer MacKenzie, $24.95, is available in bookstores or at amazon.com
Book Review
The Boreal Gourmet: Northern Adventures in Deliciously Natural Food
Some cookbooks make you want to try a new recipe. Michele Genest’s new cookbook, The Boreal Gourmet: Adventures in Northern Cooking (2010, Harbour Publishing Co, Ltd.) makes you want to throw over your civilized life, strap on boots and head north to the Yukon to gorge on the delicious, natural foods this wild country has to offer.
The Boreal Gourmet, lushly illustrated with vivid photographs
by veteran Yukon photographer Cathie Archbould, is one of those cookbooks that should become a staple of every 
Cathie Archbould's vivid photos help make The Boreal Gourmet a visually delightful book.
cook’s bookshelf. Part memoir, part recipe book, part culinary instruction manual, Genest has created a unique cookbook that entertains, enlightens, teaches, and intrigues.
A self-taught gourmet cook and skilled food writer, Genest paints word pictures that make dishes like Braised Moose Ribs with Espresso Stout and Chocolate and Roast Stuffed Shoulder of Dall Lamb seem both incredibly sumptuous and doable for the average cook. And Archbould’s rich, evocative photos of the food, the land, the people, and the animals of the Yukon make it all seem even more luscious.
Yukon food writer and gourmet cook, Michele Genest, ably demonstrates how the great northern country of the Yukon is bountifully delicious.
Genest’s book stands out, not just for the unusual Yukon ingredients like the birch syrup, wild blueberries, highbush cranberries, grouse, rosehips, wild strawberries, moose, elk, goat, and spruce tips she uses, but also for the intriguingly personal stories she tells. She spins true-life yarns about field-dressing moose, risking life and limb (and the life of her dog, Bella) climbing steep cliffs to find the plumpest blueberries, overcoming her great fear of sausage-making, and more. And it’s all done with good humor and the deft touch of a storyteller in love with the Great North and the bounty of the amazing foods and friends she finds there.
Her engaging writing style makes you want to keep reading, long after you should put the book down and get to your day’s chores. In telling the story of a celebratory lunch after being initiated into a local women’s clan of berry pickers, Genest writes: “We lunched by Annie Lake on cheese and bread and caribou sausage. Karon spotted Dall sheep on the hillside across the lake. After lunch, giddy from the clear air and the berries and a nip of brandy, we covered our faces with green dust from the trunks of trembling aspens, stuck berries on our teeth and took pictures, which Lyn circulated later. The caption on the back says, “The Cranberry Witches.””
The author shares a laugh and samples cranberry jelly gathered from the Yukon wild.
Lest you think you’ll never have use for a cookbook that offers recipes like Moose Moussaka and Marinated Caribou Blade Steak with Blueberry Reduction, think again. At least half – if not more – of the delightful recipes she offers feature ingredients anyone can buy. How about Roasted Fennel and Red Pepper, or White Bean, Rosemary, and Kale Soup? What about Potato-Apple Latkes with Smoked Salmon and Wasabi Crème Faîche? Or Fig, Anise, Hazelnut and Gorgonzola Sourdough Bread?
And speaking of sourdough, the book’s $26.95 price is worth Genest’s chapter on the subject, including her Sourdough Boot Camp, in which she leads readers through a two-week process of making and then keeping alive their very own sourdough starter. She offers delightful sourdough recipes such as Sourdough Buttermilk Cranberry Scones, Sourdough Pancakes, Sourdough English Muffins, her
Photo- Cathie Archbould www.archbould.com
famous 36-Hour Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls, and even a Chocolate Sourdough Torte.
By the time you finish reading Michele Genest’s The Boreal Gourmet, you feel that you’ve not only received an intriguing snapshot of our mysterious Yukon neighbor, but that you also know a great deal more about the process of lovingly making food from the earth. As an added bonus, you come to regard the author and her northern neighbors and friends as part of your own human family.
The Boreal Gourmet: Adventures in Northern Cooking by Michele Genest, $26.95, is available in bookstores or from the publisher www.harbourpublishing.com Cathie Archbould’s wonderful photos are available at www.archbould.com
Chili Madness: A Passionate Cookbook, written by the undisputed queen of New Mexican cooking, Jane Butel, is much more than just a cookbook about bowls of heat. It’s a veritable celebration of cooking meat (with and without beans) with chiles of every stripe and heat level.
Jane first wrote this classic bestseller in 1980. This new version, published in 2008, is even better. And the timing couldn’t be better. Chili is a hearty, filling meal made with healthy, cost-effective ingredients that fit perfectly for today’s cost-conscious cooks.
The chili recipes in Chili Madness -– and there are 52 of them –- offer more variations on this dish than you ever thought possible. There’s a chili for every taste. Try Buzzard’s Breath Chili, a thick brew of ground chuck, red chile, with masa harina that makes it a thick, chewy chili. Or how about A Red Chili Nightmare, a stew of beef, pork sausage, and a terrifying 1-1/2 cups of crushed caribe chile, that’s tamed a bit with blanched almonds and chocolate. Or maybe your taste in chili is more nontraditional. Check out White Lobster Chili, made with lobster tails, kale or spinach, fish stock, and cannellini beans, all heated with the tiny pequin quebrado chile. Or try Clam and Green Chile Chili, with chorizo sausage and clams, potatoes, corn, and green chiles. And if you’re tongue can’t take the heat, Jane’s even got chili recipes for you. Check out her First Love Chili or Gringo Chili, recipes that’ll give you all the flavor without torching your tongue.
Even vegetarians can rejoice because Jane offers veggies a number of recipes without meat. Her Butternut Squash Chili, is made with one of the most nutritious of all squash varieties, and her Black Bean Chili creates a flavorful dish around black beans and kale. Spicy Mexican Tortilla Chili is made withbutternut squash, Swiss chard, and garbanzo beans, all grilled to bring out their sweetness. Her Vegetarian Chili is filled with healthful, flavorful vegetable, including onions, garlic, celery, carrots, bell peppers, and tomatoes, thickened with bulgur and spiced with red chile.
Many of Jane’s chili recipes, collected over many years, come from friends and colleagues, some of them famous. You can make Pedernales River Chili, a favorite of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Or Chili a la Franey, devised by well-known chef and author Pierre Franey. With all of the recipes, Jane has included interesting, personal comments that give readers insights into each dish and make you feel like you're sitting in her kitchen having a little chat about chili recipes.
Got leftover chili? Jane devotes an entire chapter to Chile Encores. She offers everything from Chili Pizzas, to Chili Farfalle and Fettuccine to Chili and Cheese Steaks.
Jane doesn’t just stop with chili. She includes delectable starters, sides, desserts, and drinks to go along with your bowl of delicious heat. Many of them, of course, use Jane’s beloved chile. She offers New Mexico Tempura, a Southwest twist on this favorite Japanese dish. Oaxaca Bites, an interesting combination of beans, Mexican cheese, sour cream, jalapenos, and tortillas, is Jane’s bite-sized version of the classic Mexican dish clayudas. Her sides are pefect chili combos – Jicama Veggie Slaw, Apple-Blue Cheesse Slaw, Crispy Cilantro Coleslaw, Blue Cheese Potato Salad, Asparagus with Gorgonzola, Grilled Chile-Lime Corn on the Cob, and more.
She offers a Breads and Sop-Ups chapter that’ll have you eager to try recipes like Jalapeno Corn Sticks, Blue Corn Jalapeno Muffins, Bacon Crumble Cornbread, Indian Fry Bread, Bear Paw Bread, and others.
Desserts, both spicy and not, are sure to intrigue. Jane offers Hot Fudge Souffles with Dulce de Leche Ice Cream, Double-chocolate Farmer’s Cake, and Applesauce Cake with Creamy Frosting. If you’re ready to put a little heat with your sweet, try Hot Devil’s Food Cake, spiced up with a bit of caribe chile, or Spicy Chocolate Chile Cupcakes, deep rich cakes paired with red chile.
And you can wash it all down with Jane’s interesting margaritas (Prickly Pear, Berry Berry), Chile Beer, and even a couple of selections for non-drinkers.
She also offers a great section on where to get some harder-to-get ingredients like blue corn flour, as well as where to get more information on chili and chiles.
If you know someone who’s a lover of delicious ingredients all flavored with the reds and greens, offer them Jane Butel’s Chili Madness. They (and you) won’t be disappointed.
Chili Madness by Jane Butel, 204 pages, Workman Books, 2008, $12.95. It's available at Amazon or from Jane Butel directly at http://www.janebutelcooking.com/public/home/
Film Review
"Super size Me," a film by Morgan Spurlock
Morgan Spurlock’s 2004 film, Supersize Me, is an irreverent look at the fast food industry and it’s an eye-opener. Spurlock asked the question, “Is fast food really that bad for you?” To find out, he decided to eat only MacDonald’s food for 30 days. Sounds simple enough (if not boring as all get out). The impact on Spurlock’s body and on his health was dramatic and completely unexpected.
Before starting, Spurlock had a team of three doctors -–a cardiologist, an endocrinologist, and a general practitioner— run a battery of tests that demonstrated he was in good health.Blood tests revealed that his cholesterol, glucose¸and blood pressure were all low. His electrolytes and liver functions were good. His weight was 184 pounds, perfect for his 6’2” frame, and doctors rated his health as “excellent.”
He also saw a registered dietitian and exercise physiologist. His body fat was measured at a very low 11% and his fitness was “above average.”
The veteran New Yorker had no trouble finding Micky D. restaurants. There are 83 in the 22 miles that make up teh island of New York. To replicate the exercise average Americans get, Suprlock limited his walking to 2500 steps or less per day.
He made himself follow rules during his 30-day experiment. He had to eat three MacDonald’s meals a day – breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He could only eat what they sold over the restaurant’s counter. And he’d only super size a meal if MacDonald’s staff asked him (a small size of French fries has about 200 calories; a super-sized version contains up to 800).
It didn’t take Spurlock long before he discovered that fast food can make you feel sick. After eating a super-sized double cheeseburger meal during the first days, he threw up.
In the United States, obesity is at epidemic proportions. More than two-thirds of adult Americans are overweight or obese adn there been a meteoric rise in diabetes, heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, liver failure, and many other serious illnesses. The problem is even extending to our children. In fact, if the trend continues, experts estimate that one in three children born today will develop diabetes. Increasingly, health experts believe one of the major causes of this fat and illness epidemic is our consumption of fast food.
Surlock’s film examines the junk food industry’s concerted efforts to court our children, including their dominance in our nation’s schools. Footage shows young children eating nothing, but French fries and sugary sodas for lunch and MacDonald's use of toys, games, clown images, and play areas to intice youngsters.
Within the first week of his experiment, Spurlock gained 5% of his body weight. At day 9, he began having strange symptoms like chest pressure and discomfort and he felt depressed. He noticed that even though he was taking in about 5,000 calories per day, he felt hungry soon after eating.
In 12 days, he gained 17 pounds. Within two weeks, his doctors, alarmed by unhealthy blood test results, advised him to quit the experiment. He refused. He felt lousy, but, amazingly, felt much better as soon as he ate more MacDonald’s food. His registered dietitian told him he was becoming addicted to the junk food.
By the third week, the filmmaker began to experience heart palpitations, chest pain, and breathlessness. His doctor told him he was trashing his liver, that it was fatty like that of a long-term alcoholic. All three of his doctors begged him to stop the diet and return to a low-fat diet.
Before his 30 days were up, Spurlock was a sick man – at 210 pounds he was overweight (he gained a total of 24.5 pounds in 30 days), had high cholesterol, high blood glucose, and high blood pressure. His liver values indicated lhe had serious iver damage. His fat level had soared. He had no sex drive and was often moody and exhausted.
Fast food may be inexpensive and convenient. It may taste good and even look good. Spurlock proved that it’s downright toxic to the body. If you or someone you know eats fast food, be sure to check out the classic "Supersize Me." You’ll never look at a Big Mac the same way again.
Rent this film at your local video storek, check it out from the library, or check online (it's availabel for free viewing).
Calling all realfoodtravelers!
Have a travel or food book, book, film, blog, website, etc. you think other foodie travelers should know about? Let us know! You can submit your review to bobbie@realfoodtraveler.com
If you're a publisher, film maker, website maven or other food/travel person and you'd like us to take a look at some of your work for a review, let us know at the same email address.
Book Review
Arizona native Teresa Bitler loves her state and her guidebook, Great Escapes Arizona, will make you fall in love with it too. This compact, easy-to-read travel guide is the perfect companion if you want to do day trips or weekend getaways to this fascinating southwestern part of the U.S. And Bitler makes it all easy. She’s taken the work out of planning and finding the best places to visit in Arizona.
Great Escapes Arizona is divided into five regions: Northern Arizona, North Central Arizona, the Phoenix area, the Tucson area, and Southern Arizona. Within each region, Bitler offers adventures along with all the details that make them easy and doable. For instance, on her chapter on visiting the Grand Canyon, she tells of her disappointment in wanting to take a helicopter tour over the canyon, but failing to make advance reservations. She not only gives sage advice about advance planning, she lists the tour companies with phone numbers and websites so you can research each and book the best tour for you.
She also gives readers plenty of interesting context for different adventures. In her chapter on Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesen West and his other important building designs in Arizona, she gives background and details about Wright and his buildings that informs and educates the reader and makes the adventure more meaningful and enjoyable.
Travelers will appreciate the wide range of great escapes Bitler offers. Whether you’re looking for great golf, architectural wonders, historic sites, cultural offerings, or places to shop, it’s all here. She writes about 
rodeos, dude ranches, meteor craters, hot air ballooning, river tubing, galleries, botanical gardens, cowboys and Indians, and more. She includes things you've probably heard of like the Grand Canyon and Route 66 and escapes you've never imagined like olive farms in the desert.
Perhaps even more importantly is Bitler’s friendly, personal writing style. Unlike many guidebooks that read more like impersonal telephone books, this guidebook author isn’t afraid to use the first person and talk about her impressions and musings. In her Sedona chapter "Romance Among the Red Rocks," she writes, "I sipped my Diet Coke on a patio overlooking L’Auberge de Sedona and wondered how to best represent this small, scenic city. As I sat there, my thoughts kept returning to the romantic side of Sedona. That’s when I realized that above all, Sedona was the ideal place to spend time with a loved one." In her chapter on the Herd Museum and Rawhide, she writes, "As kids growing up in Arizona, we played "cowboys and Indians," even when it was more popular to play Star Wars or Battlestar Galactica." These diversions into her own story and process make it seem like you’re being guided by an warm and personable old friend who happens to be a local expert in Arizona.
Real bottom line: If you’re headed to Arizona, no matter what your interest, you’ll surely find great escapes in Great Escapes Arizona. – BH
Great Escapes Arizona is available on Amazon.com or in retail bookstores.
Book Review
Around the World in Easy Ways:
A Guide to Planning Long-Term Travel with our Without Your Kids by Lisa Shusterman
Have you ever had the thought, “We should just take off and travel for a year?” That’s exactly what author Lisa Shusterman thought – only unlike most of us, she and her family actually did it. And Around the World in Easy Ways: A Guide to Planning Long-Term Travel With or Without Your Kids is her guide to help others do the same thing.
Part memoir, part how-to book, Shusterman’s book is an intelligent guide to anyone who’s seriously thinking about traveling for a month, six months or a year (like the Shustermans did) or more. In the book’s preface, Shusterman writes, "This is the book I wanted to read when I was planning our family’s year around the world. I knew there would be a myriad of details to attend to and I was looking for guidance.”
Would-be long-term travelers will benefit from Shusterman’s guidance. The woman is a natural, detail-oriented planner. For more than 20 years, she dreamed about taking a trip around the world. For two years, she planned for her family’s trip.
Shusterman answers the obvious questions – how long to travel, where to go, how much will it cost, and what do to with all of your obligations at home. But she also writes about things you likely wouldn’t think about – being together with family members 24/7, the need for connecting with others, developing hobbies on the road, and the inevitable emotional hurdles that are part and parcel of a major undertaking like long-term travel. And she addresses the issues she and her family faced with candor and insight.
She writes: “An interesting downfall we experienced with long term travel was the jaded feelings that began to seep into our pores. Looking out over the vineyards of Tuscany was an incredible sight, but so was looking out over the Hong Kong Harbor and the view into the Ngorongoro Crater…the foothills of the Himalayas…One incredible view gets to be just that, one incredible view after another…”
Throughout the book, Shusterman sprinkles actual pages from her family’s year-long blog about their trip. It gives the reader an intimate and honest look at the family’s highs and lows. In a blog post, Shusterman wrote, “…when you are on the road for this long, it is not a vacation, it is a way of life, and your shopping needs are different. Instead of seeking out the local handicrafts, we spent time looking for stores that sell buttons so we can repair the few clothes we brought with us.” And, “After a big event in my life is over, I often get the blues. You know, an event that required a lot of planning, a lot of time, a lot of energy. Then you finally have the event occur and afterwards you are left with a hole in your schedule and a hole in your heart. That’s where I am now…”
Around the World in Easy Ways is a labor of love for Lisa Shusterman and it shows. Shusterman has poured her heart and soul into this book with the same passion she used to plan and pull off an incredible life’s journey for her family. It’s an easy read and a book others planning a similar trip will find chock-full of useful information.
It is RFT's hope that this book is picked up by a major publisher, so the book can have a wider distribution. Shusterman's Around the World in Easy Ways makes a valuable and needed contribution to the world of travel books.
Around the World in Easy Ways is available from the author at www.aroundtheworldineasyways.com
Book Review
Minnie Rose Lovgreen’s Recipe for Raising Chickens: Words from a Gentle Chicken Guru
People who love great food appreciate the rich, lovely taste of fresh, farm-raised eggs. And more and more are willing to raise chickens to ensure they have an ample supply. But where to start? That’s where the charmingly classic book, Minnie Rose Lovgreen’s Recipe for Raising Chickens (NW Trillium Press, 2009) comes in. This slim little book, hand-lettered by editor Nancy Rekow, captures the wit and wisdom of the late Northwest farmer and chicken guru Minnie Rose Lovgreen.
The story of Minnie Rose, who passed away in 1975, is nearly as charming as the book. In 1920, Minnie Rose moved to Bainbridge Island (near Seattle, Washington) where she met Danish-born Leo Lovgreen, had a family, and began raising lots and lots of chickens on a 170-acre farm. She learned as she went, and, after 50 years of raising chickens, she’d become a true chicken expert.
Minnie Rose always wanted to put her practical and common-sense chicken wisdom into a book, but she was too busy raising kids and chickens and being a farmer. Then, in 1974, at age 86, she was diagnosed with cancer. Her friend and editor Nancy Rekow showed up at the hospital with a tape recorder. The result is Minnie Rose Lovegreen’s Recipe for Raising Chickens and it reads like delightful conversation with the old girl herself.
Minnie Rose’s book is divided into six short chapters – the broody hen and her eggs; baby chick care; hen and chicks; room and board for chickens; eggs; and the virtues of the bantam hen. The chapters are easy-to-read and chock full of practical advice. “For food, give them baby chick starter mash if you have it. And there’s baby small cracked grain, chick scratch it’s called. If you don’t have those on hand, give them rolled oats or Oaker Oats and chopped hard-cooked egg.” “As soon as all the chicks are hatched, you should move the hen and her chicks to a private sheltered place for protection.” “I put the chicks in a box and pin part of a wool sweater or sock over the box with clothespins, letting it touch their backs, but so they can still get air. The sweater feels like the warm mother sitting on them.”
And Minnie Rose goes on, imparting her wisdom, telling stories about chickens, giving readers a tiny window into her life. Whether you want to raise chickens or not, reading Minnie Rose Lovgreen’s Recipe for Raising Chickens feels like sitting in her big farmhouse kitchen, sharing a cup of warm tea. Like Minnie Rose says, the most important thing with chickens and in life is “to keep them happy.” This book will make you happy or at least put a smile on your face. -- BH
Minnie Rose Lovgren’s Recipe for Raising Chickens
Northwest Trillium Press
206-842-6908
www.minnieroseschickensandlife.com
www.nwtrilliumpresscom
Book Review
¡Ahora Hablo! Travel Edition: Be More Spanish Savvy
How many times have you been in a foreign country and desperately wished you knew enough language to make a phone call, order a meal, or change money? Well, if you’re in a Spanish-speaking country, now you can with language teacher M. H. Graham’s ¡Ahora Hablo! Travel Edition (Megusta Publishing, 2006).
Graham’s idea is to divide learning Spanish into seven steps that cover things like “to ask if something is acceptable or if you can do something;” “to describe someone or something;” “to ask or say there is;” “to state a need,” and more. She also gives vocabulary lists that include things like emergencies, at the hotel, shopping, telephone, talking with police, and at the restaurant and others.
She encourages readers to use the seven steps and vocabulary to think through what they want to say and write it down in the notes sections scattered throughout the book. It’s a practical approach that enables readers to expand their language beyond the simple sentences offered.
It’s a strategy that RFT editors could have used on a recent trip to Spain. We took two Spanish phrase books that proved entirely useless. Had we carried ¡Ahora Hablo! with its practical approach and short, easy-to-read chapters, we would have had it much easier during those times when everyone spoke only Spanish. (And we probably wouldn’t have ended up with two desserts when we thought we were ordering just one.) While ¡Ahora Hablo! won’t enable you to be fluent in Spanish, it will give you much-needed tools to make your travel in Spanish-speaking countries more comfortable and fun.
¡Ahora Hablo! Travel Edition
Megusta Publishing
414-331-7178
www.ahorahablo.com
Film Review
"Food, Inc." a film by Robert Kenner
There are horror films about ghosts, monsters, and murders, but a really scary documentary is Food, Inc. a film about the underbelly of the American food industry. This documentary, by award-winning filmmaker Robert Kenner, peels back the curtain on a dirty little secret –- a handful of food industry giants, with the consent and knowledge of the U.S. Government, have taken over most of the food in American grocery stores and they’ve filled it with preservatives, additives, hormones, high-fructose corn syrup, and other egregious chemicals that don’t belong in food or in our bodies. This adulterated “food” is making us obese and slowly killing us with cancers, heart disease, and other serious illnesses. And it’s all done in the name of almighty profit.
As Food, Inc. clearly demonstrates, our food supply is now completely controlled by a few, powerful, multi-national corporations. They produce more and cheaper food, but at a steep cost to the environment, to farm animals, and to workers and farmers. Hidden cameras chillingly show animals being raised in horrid conditions and sick animals being slaughtered for food.The images illustrate how bacteria like E. coli easily get into our food and how millions of pounds of runoff from feedlots and chemical-laden fields pollute our land, groundwater, and waterways. Additionally, the film clearly tells the story of workers forced to work for low wages in dangerous conditions and of farmers held hostage by companies too powerful to resist.
Food, Inc. shows how food industry moguls have a stranglehold both on our food and on our politicians, much like the tobacco industry did back in the 1950s. It also points to a way out toward better, healthier food, a cleaner environment, and fairer labor practices. This is a film anyone in America who eats should watch. It's available for rent in movie stores everywhere.
Startling Facts About Junk Food
- In the United States, obesity second greatest cause of death.
- The United States Food Industry spends more than $33 billion a year advertising products loaded with fat, salt and sugar. $12 billion a year of that is spent on marketing to youth.
- More than 90% of American children eat at McDonald's every month.
- Portion sizes are out of control. In the 1950s, a typical soft drink was 8 ounces. Today, a "child-sized" order of Coke at McDonald's 12 ounces, and a large Coke is 32 ounces (a whole quart!).
- Boys 12- to 19-years-old drink an average of 868 cans of pop per year; girls drink 651.
- Chicken McNuggets contain twice as much fat as hamburger per ounce.
- A Stanford University study showed that when children aged 3 to 5 were offered two identical meals, one wrapped in plain paper and one in MacDonald's packaging, children preferred the MacDonald's-wrapped item and insisted that it tasted better.
- The American artificial flavor industry has annual revenues of approximately $1.4 billion.
- The average strawberry milkshake purchased at a fast food outlet contains 50 artificial ingredients.
Sources:
Nutrition Action, December 2000.
Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation. New York: Houghton Miffin Company, 2001.
"Watch what we eat? We eat what we watch." Cathleen F. Crowley, Albany Times Union, July 24, 2008.
ph: 503-632-4610
fax: 503-632-4610
info
