Burma Book

Here's my current list of what we've tried from Naomi Duguid's book on Burma. I thought the Kachin carp curry was a little boring, although I didn't have the sawtooth/culantro and I'm willing to believe that makes a difference; and I'm going to have to try the fermented soybean paste again in a few months because it needed to sit and ferment in a warm place which I don't have in the winter.  They molded rather than fermented.

I still have at least 15-20 recipes that I want to try.  

Fried shallots page 24

Shallot oil page 24

Fried garlic 25

Garlic oil page 25

Chile oil page 24

Dried shrimp powder page 30

Toasted chickpea flour page 32

Chopped roasted peanuts page 35

Chile-garlic sauce page 36

Spinach and tomato salad page 44

Succulent grapefruit salad page 45

Long bean salad with peanuts page 50

Roasted eggplant salad page 56

Carrot salad page 62

Fish cake salad with cabbage page 70

Silky Shan soup page 94

Chickpea soup with lemongrass and ginger page 97

Okra shallot stir-fry page 102

Tamarind pumpkin curry page 103

Simmered cabbage, Shan style page 116

Eggplant delight page 120

Easy coriander tomato omelet page 121

Golden egg curry page 122

Paneer in tomato sauce page 124

Pale yellow Shan tofu page 126

Deep-fried Shan tofu page 128

Fish cakes and fish balls page 133

Fluffy lemongrass fish page 138

Kachin carp curry page 142

Fish stew with aromatics page 145

Chile-oil fish page 152

Chicken in tart garlic sauce page 162

Standout tomato chutney page 206

Everyday cabbage-shallot refresher page 220

Peanut and rice porridge page 234

Perfumed coconut rice page 237

Egg noodles with pork in coconut sauce page 248

Shan village khaut swe page 266

Mandalay noodles with chicken curry page 270

Deep forest monklets' sticky rice cake page 279

The Cutting Season

I like a lot of things about Attica Locke's books, but I just don't really like mysteries in general, and since that's a major part of her plots, it doesn't quite work for me.  But the characters are interesting and the issues are too, so I do read them.

Confessions of a Prairie Bitch

This is the memoir of the actor (do you think it should be actress?) who played Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie.  It's exactly what it should be.  And lots of fun to read. As you can guess from the title, this isn't your squeaky clean memoir.  But it's also not out to get anyone (except possibly her brother, but he deserves to be gotten), and it's honest, and it's funny.

I've finally decided that I'm going to have to shift gears with reading and stick with lighter stuff for a while.  I won't bore you with the reasons, but there it is.

Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker

I finally had my camera and lots of birds around today when I was down by the river and managed to get this yellow-bellied sapsucker.  It's not a great shot, like usual, but it's definitely a sapsucker. 

It was a lovely and warm sunny morning today and there were many birds out.  Plenty of sparrows and robins and finches, but also some blue jays and maybe a hairy woodpecker and some cardinals.  There haven't been many birds out when I've gone out recently, so when I heard this woodpecker, I ran back to the house so I could get a photo.

Shadow of Night

It feels like I spent the last six months trying to get through this book, even if it wasn't anywhere near that long.  In the first book of the trilogy it felt like the plot got lost sometimes in all the other stuff the author was trying to do, but this was one was far, far worse.  It felt like I caught only the faintest glimmers of the plot every so often.  I'm still not sure what the point of the book was, unless it's just about the relationship of the two main characters and I fear that really was the point. Their relationship was even more boring than the details about clothes, and that's saying something.  

So why did I finish?  It wasn't taxing at all, and that was nice over the holidays.  I kept hoping something like a plot would come together, although I was disappointed.  The author has some really interesting ideas, but she doesn't seem to write about them.  I'm not sure I'll give the last book a chance unless someone like Melissa tried it first and likes it.