This recipe turned out beautifully! The pastry was delicious, it didn’t break when transferring, the pastry cream worked the very first time, and all together it was just gorgeous!

I didn’t have vanilla beans, so I used 2 tsp of excellent Mexican vanilla extract. Next time I’ll add a third teaspoon. It was also just the littlest bit not sweet enough. I used normal sugar instead of caster sugar, so in the future I’ll add a few more tablespoons of sugar. There was lots of cream—enough for Adele and Ellen to enjoy with a spoon after the tart was full. Adele did the strawberry design and we had lots left for piling on when served. The pastry turned out to be very tasty. I will keep this recipe in mind next time I want to do some sort of layered desert and need a crispy, firm base. It was so aromatic when it came out of the oven!

This is a great, light dessert. It takes time to prepare, but it’s a very straightforward recipe. As always, if I can do it, anybody can!

Actual yield: 1 11″ tart

Verdict: Superb!

P.S. Here are some pictures! My shots don’t look anything like Grace’s (the original recipe poster), but they’re better than nothing. I didn’t have a cake tray big enough, so we just covered a pizza pan in foil.

I’ve made a few flour-less chocolate cakes, but none of them turned out as excellent as this one! This recipe used more eggs than others that I’ve tried, and the addition of the nut meal is genius. The nut flavour is actually quite subtle, but the little crunch adds so much. The real magic, though, is the addition of the Paneangeli “Lievito Pane Degli Angeli” Vaniglinato – per Dolci, an Italian “yeast for cake” baking product. This was the first flour-less cake that actually rose. It was still denser than a flour cake, but much lighter than any other recipe I’ve tried before. I was sure I wouldn’t find any Paneangeli in Prince Rupert, but it turns out there is a small Italian market in town. They don’t actually sell it, but the proprietor was very kind and sold me some out of her private stash. You can buy this product online in various places. I don’t know enough about it to tell if I can substitute it with other things. If you’re making the cake for someone who is gluten intolerant, you may wish to do a little more research to make sure there’s no gluten in this product. This was a superb cake that everybody loved. This is a keeper recipe.

Actual yield: 1 10″ cake (a 9″ pan will all but overflow)

Verdict: Superb!

This book is the entire text of the US Constitution and its 27 amendments, annotated line by line with explanations, historical motivations, and ramifications thereof. If you’re a US citizen, or just interested in politics, then understanding the Constitution is essential. This book gives you not just the text but also the tools to understand this incredible document. No law degree required. Now to find a similar book for the Canadian Constitution!

The thesis of the book is that in times of peace and plenty, the best leader is a mentally normative (or “homoclite”) one. In crisis, however, you need an exceptional leader. Ghaemi asserts that the best such leaders are mentally abnormal. He focuses mainly on depression and mania, selecting four major traits of manic-depressives (creativity, realism, empathy, and resilience) and examines the careers of leaders such as Ghandi, Martin Luther King, FDR, JFK, and others.

The Good

One thing the book does well is confront the reader’s preconceptions of what mental health really means. You can’t read the book and not feel strongly about his initial postulates and definitions. Ghaemi does a good job of laying out the framework of his study, and he is at least forthcoming about its limitations. Ghaemi’s theory is at the very least provocative, and I did enjoy the read.

The Not So Good

The book reeks of selection bias. While he starts with numerous disclaimers and explanations of the limits of the study, he retains a tone of definitiveness and authority that is simply untenable. He focuses exclusively on depression and mania (in particular the combination of the two: bi-polar disorder)—a very narrow selection. At the end of the book, as he discusses the stereotypical homoclite (or mentally normative) leader, he talks about hubris syndrome but doesn’t classify it as an illness.He selects his case studies very carefully (nothing wrong with that) but even though I’m no expert in American history, there were numerous assertions in the book that set off my BS buzzers. And the four major traits he focuses on (creativity, realism, empathy, and resilience) are hardly traits found only in the mentally ill. Ultimately his scope is too narrow and evidence too subjective for this book to be any more than an interesting and anecdotal look at persons of historical interest through the eyes of a psychiatrist.

Conclusion

I agree with Ghaemi that the stigmas surrounding mental illness need to be done away with. I think he raises some important points (intentionally and unintentionally) about mental illness, its diagnosis, and treatment, that deserve to be discussed. If any of these topics interest you, then the few hours it takes to read the book will not be wasted.

I have a general rule that forbids me from starting a series of books that’s not already finished. It can take years for a sequel to make it through production, and by that time I’ve read so many other books that I basically have to start over anyway. When I first picked this book up, I wasn’t aware that it was the first of a trilogy. It wasn’t until I finished it that it became clear. The second book was just published last year, so I have no idea when the conclusion will arrive. I’ve decided to stop here until the final book is released and then I’ll read them all in sequence, including a reread of the first book.

I really enjoyed this book. The only reason it’s two and a half stars instead of three (which I reserve for books I think everyone should read) is because it sits clearly in the fantasy genre and may not appeal to everyone, but as far as speculative fiction goes, this is a tremendous book. Rothfuss does a great job of setting up the protagonist (Kvothe) in the first part of the  book. He paints a very convincing picture of a mysterious, legendary figure that you just have to know more about. And of course, that’s the hard part. My thesis advisor often talked about the art of continuation and how for any artist that’s what really sets apart great work. It’s relatively easy to create the foreboding, brooding persona and to create an ambiance that promises great things. The hard part comes when you have to actually deliver those great things. Rothfuss proves himself masterful.

Kvothe is a very real and flawed character. He’s certainly gifted, but not supernaturally so. His path is hard and his accomplishments are hard earned. I found myself being constantly surprised by the direction of the story. There is little of the stale clichés one often finds in fantasy literature. I found it very refreshing. He creates a very vivid world, but the best literature is about great people. His characters are alive, nuanced, and believable. I just could not put the book down. If you like fantasy even a little bit, I promise you won’t be disappointed by this book. I am very excited for the final book to come out so I can finish the story.

The recipe was straightforward and seemed to work out really well. It wasn’t too cheese cakey, and the toasted hazelnuts of course taste great. I used a store-bought Oreo crust. I under baked it a little bit, but it was still tasty. The topping recipe made way too much whipped cream, and you really should put the topping on just before serving. After making so many pure chocolate desserts lately, the hazelnut was a nice change.

Actual yield: 1 pie

Verdict: Pretty good

Originally published in 1950, The Martian Chronicles is another of those classics that I have known about but never taken the time to read. This  is a true piece of literary art—poetry. The core story is of the colonization of Mars. It doesn’t sound very poetic, but trust me. Even if you’re not a science fiction fan, you will find something in these stories that moves you. The book is written as a series of vignettes in chronological order, starting with the original martians, the arrival of the first humans, the colonization process, all the way to the ending that I will not spoil. I loved everything about this book. I loved the variety, the humanity, the different ways he plays with the “other.” I highly recommend this book to anybody who enjoys good literature, whether or not you like science fiction.

Before starting the second leg of our trip, I looked up some lists of top sci-fi and fantasy books and picked a few up. Ringworld was the first I finished. It’s a story about an alien race called puppeteers and how they discovered an artifact they call the Ringworld. (The picture to the left gives you the idea.) The puppeteers send one of their own to recruit a team to go and explore it. Their exploration and discoveries make up the bulk of the story.

The book starts off strong. I enjoy these types of stories—Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama being the first such that I read—and at first I was not disappointed, but by the end, as things start to be explained and and character arcs resolved, things took a downward turn. I just personally didn’t like how things ended. Some questions that I felt needed answers were left hanging and others that I thought would have been just fine left a little mysterious were fully exposed. I also wasn’t thrilled by some of the character development.

Obviously these are personal  preferences. I still rate the book as a whole at a two out of three. This book and its many prequels and sequels won many awards, but I don’t think I’ll be exploring the other books. If you like science fiction, this is a classic that you should indeed read eventually.

This is another book that talks about the low-carb diet, wheat in particular. Did you know that wheat impacts your blood sugar even more than table sugar? One of his main points is that the wheat we eat today is simply not the same wheat we were eating even 50 years ago.

Davis’s writing style is a little too informal for my taste, but the information is still sound. I’m a convert, and if you care about your health, I really recommend that you at least read some of these books.

Original recipe: http://www.joyofbaking.com/StrawberrySorbet.html

I’ve always assumed sorbet is pretty easy to make, but I never really tried. This recipe worked great! Purée fruit, add some lemon juice, mix with simple syrup, freeze. Couldn’t be easier! I did a batch with 4 pounds of strawberries and 1 pound of Saskatoon berries. De-li-cious.

Actual yield: However much fruit you start with.

Verdict: Keeper!