Taste of Beirut

The Taste of Beirut Cookbook was something I was interested in checking out because I've been trying to learn more about Mediterranean and Middle East cooking for many of their health benefits. This sounded especially interesting once I read through the introduction because Joumana Accad tells stories of her life that not only helps you understand what a food is but gives a taste of the culture. She really explains what some of the more traditional ingredients are and where you might be able to find them. Joumana also gives tips and ideas to help you create dishes that would normal take a day or more to create properly in less than an hour, since most Americans don't have that sort of time to prepare one meal.
I really like the idea that I can make my own falafels and shwarma. Those are the recipes I'm most excited about. I already make my own hummus but her variations sound good enough to eat.
One thing I appreciate in cookbooks that have recipes and ingredients that aren't necessarily well known to us Americans is the author explaining what things are and how they should taste. Joumana made Lebanese cuisine very accessible for the average American and I definitely recommend this cookbook for anyone looking to branch out in what they are cooking for dinner.
I received this book for review at NetGalley.

The Geeky Chef Cookbook

As a huge geeky chef girl I don't think there was anyway I wouldn't like this book. And Cassandra Reeder definitely delivered exactly what I wanted and expected. I had never heard of her blog until I read this cookbook but I'm definitely a follower now!
I am one of those people who plays video games, watches sci-fi and fantasy, and reads avidly. And I always imagine what things might taste like, or descriptions of food and drinks make me wonder how to make it. And now I have a great resource to go to.
It is also great she mentions the various "official" cookbooks for fandoms, a few of which I already have but also a few that I didn't know existed.
One recipe I intend to try very soon is the "Sweet Rolls" from Skyrim. They always look so good as I steal them from people's houses and I'm glad I don't have to come up with my own recipe to make them now!
I highly recommend this for any geeks who like to cook as well as Cassandra's blog.
I received this book for review at Edelweiss.

This Calls for a Drink!

When I first read the description for This Calls for a Drink I was pretty excited about it. I LOVE wine, but its been nearly a decade since I took higher level wine classes in culinary school so I'm out of practice on knowing wine pairings. Its one thing to go to a restaurant and ask for a wine pairing, but sometimes you just want a wine to pair with junk food and Netflix. Not only does Diane McMartin have an amusing tone but she has great situations that can apply to almost anyone. Including an entire section on breakups that include when you are dumped, when you are the jerk who dumped, and "its not you, its me."
In between the various categories, she includes profiles on many types of wine and gives a very readable section about glasses, regions and types of wine and beer, and even how to taste different drinks and what to look for. It was a great refresher for me and got me excited all over again for tasting wine. I genuinely chuckled at the titles of most of the categories and definitely make me reminisce about similar situations in my life.
This is a must for non-pretentious wine-lovers who want to move beyond the bargain brand and branch out when you go on an OkCupid date, or go to a baby shower for someone you only sort of know at work, or get street food while on vacation.
I received this book for review at NetGalley.

Super Genes

Super Genes I wasn't expecting to like as much as I did. I almost thought it was going to be another fad diet book or at least something that was boring and filled with a mix of scientific and new age mumbojumbo. However I was pleasantly surprised at how interesting this book was and how informative it was. I keep finding myself telling people about it, especially anyone who is looking to improve their overall health. The only reason I ended up reading it was because I've heard of Deepak Chopra.

The whole idea of epigenetics was fascinating to me and how our gut microbes can completely affect how our DNA affects our health and body in general. I haven't taken a science class in a LONG time so I haven't learned much about genetics since. I had always learned the your DNA can't change, so the idea of epigenetics kind of blew my mind that our decisions in our life can affect our DNA to turn on and turn off different genetic markers. And it really makes sense to me. Just because you have Alzheimer's or breast cancer markers in your DNA it doesn't guarantee you'll get either. However the choices in diet, exercise, and exposure to various environmental factors can change your chances of getting any disease you genetically have a chance to get.

I'm overweight, and struggle even when my diet and exercise is on point to lose weight. And, while I don't want to use it as an excuse, the idea that my gut microbes could be working against me is something I really need to consider. So I plan on incorporating the techniques to reset my gut within the book. As well as try to incorporate many of the other suggestions into my daily life. I know better than to try to change everything at once, and the authors know this as well, suggesting making one change a week whether minor or major, so that by halfway through the year many of the early easier minor changes are firmly ingrained in daily life and the medium to major lifestyle changes don't feel quite as daunting.

I've never been much for meditation but I do enjoy yoga, so I'm seriously considering one of my changes further down the line as adding meditation to my routine.

I highly recommend this book to anyone trying to make a healthier life and hope to avoid conditions that you may have inherited from your family.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

The Cheese Handbook

I was originally very intrigued by The Cheese Handbook as when I was in culinary school I strongly considering going the cheese monger route.  However this was not an easy read. Try as I might I had a very hard time getting into reading it. Many times I felt very lost on what he was speaking of when it came to describing methods and history. Diagrams or pictures of tools would have made much of his descriptions of cheese tools and processes much easier to digest. His descriptions seemed to be a combination of scientific jargon and someone trying to describe something he doesn't necessarily know the name of the tool.  
I was somewhat relieved to finally get to a portion of the book that included recipes, but most of the recipes that were included in the narrative seemed to be incomplete and hard to follow and assumed that the reader knew how to make sauces instead of describing how to make the sauces as part of the recipe. I personally know how to make a veloute and bechamel, but I doubt most readers could make one without the recipe. There was a list of recipes in the appendix that I had hoped had clearer recipes to the ones listed previously but alas most were different recipes, including a recipe for French Onion Soup that was completely different from the same soup recipe earlier in the book. And many of the recipes in the appendix ended up seeming just as incomplete as those within the narrative.
The recipes within the book many times read as if a friend was trying to recall a favorite recipe versus a proper written recipe. And many of the "American" classic cheese recipes, as an American, I have never heard of, such as the "Frozen Cheese Ring". I can only assume that that dish was something popular when the first edition was released and the updates to the book did not included updating recipes to what are currently trending cheese recipes. And there were no actual recipes to make cheese. All the recipes were to make other food items that had cheese in them.
The saving grace for me at least was that the actual cheese descriptions by country that were very in depth and informative. I would have liked (in the appendices) a chart of some sort that compared the various cheeses from countries or even listed from most pungent to blandest. This section was the only part that I personally would have used as reference material.

I received this book for review at NetGalley.

Stop the Diet, I Want to Get Off!

As someone who has been on one diet or another most my adult life, I'm always looking for something that might work. I've scoured the internet looking for comparisons of the various diets out there. The best I have been able to find was a paragraph or less about each big name diet with a few pros and cons, but never anything in depth. However this book gave me exactly what I have been searching for over the years. And also gave many tools that were easy to understand to recognize good diets and "fad" diets that promise big results but in the long run could do more harm then good. 

Lisa Tillinger Johansen really explains why diets work and what to look for. And she goes on to give tools for the reader to succeed in their own diets. I've taken nutrition courses in the past, so much what I read was familiar, but it was a great refresher and I ended up taking notes to apply to my current eating plan.  I've always been curious what were considered the most successful diet to lose weight healthily, because many diets have the guise of being "healthy" but really can do damage to your organs in the long run. And Lisa Tillinger Johansen's explanations of each diet break down the diets specifically pointing out what parts of the diet could be potentially harmful. And in the end she gives the advice that any good Dietitian and Nutritionist would give their patients on portion size and food suggestions. She doesn't tell you to give up everything you love, more to change the ratio of the foods you already eat and try to make as much food as you can yourself. There's nothing that is truly banned as long as its in moderation. 

I highly recommend this book for anyone who has tried multiple diets with little end result to help weed out the good and the bad. I truly enjoyed reading it and have already applied much of her suggestions to my current diet and have already lost some weight applying her principles.

I received this book for review at NetGalley.