Posts Tagged ‘ food

31 Days of Halloween { crafts } 14 Fun Things To Make For Halloween

Passing along this amazing post from TipJunkies.com. Click the pic to view these amazing crafts and more!

I. want. to. make. them. all!

Teresa

Teresa (nom de plume: Torrance Sené) is a self-proclaimed geek, a Janeite, a lover of werewolves and bad-ass angels, an aspiring novelist and an avid book reader who freelances as a web designer. You can follow her on Twitter at @eireannoir.

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Book Review: The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan

The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan. © 2002 Random House. ISBN 9780375760396. Paperback. Popular Science. 304 pages. $16.00 US. Source: local bookstore purchase.

A half-cooked book makes for indigestion.

This book was promising. The premise behind the book intrigues — that plants can attract or manipulate humans just like hummingbirds or bees. It is likewise laudable for an author to focus on the history behind ‘ordinary’, often ignored plants like the Apple, Tulip, Cannibas and Potato — showing how ‘extraordinary’ they really are. But that’s where the book’s merits end.

Not only did parts of the book seem poorly researched, but there was a sense of being haphazardly thrown together — i.e. the author kept going round and round saying the same things in different ways, as if he wasn’t sure he’d proved his point … or maybe he just enjoyed his own lyrical voice. The pages dragged on and the reader realizes he/she is still in the same territory as 20 pages previously. What Pollan said in 300 pages could most certainly have been said in 150 … maybe less. One thing is for sure: his editor failed miserably. Read more

The Butcher and the Vegetarian by Tara Austen Weaver

The Butcher and the Vegetarian: One Woman’s Romp Through a World of Men, Meat, and Moral Crisis by Tara Austen Weaver. © 2010 Rodale Books. ISBN 0743289689. Hardback. Memoir/Non-Fiction. 240 pages. $23.99 US. [ Purchase ] Source: purchased at University of Washington bookstore

I suppose it is only appropriate to offer the caveat that having followed Ms. Weaver’s blog for the past year, I was overjoyed at the opportunity to support her writing (and food-loving) efforts by purchasing this book and attending her first reading. Hearing some of the background and side stories whetted my appetite to indulge in the book itself, and I was not disappointed (although I am inclined to agree with the author and her agent that a question mark would have better suited the cover in place of the heart between the butcher and customer).

Having read my fare share of trite literature lately, Weaver’s stylistic approach to language was refreshing. As a hybrid of food-writing and memoir, she skillfully combined facts and research about the production of meat with stories and then wove them back to relate to her own life. The book begins with the premise that she grew up a vegetarian but later, suffering from health problems, undertook the addition of meat to her diet upon her doctors’ recommendation. Read more

Allison

Allison Dauer, 24, works in corporate IT but dreams of an editorial career in the book publishing field. Visit her at her blog Sparsile.

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