The Plant Kitchen: 100 easy recipes for vegan beginners
Hardcover – January 14, 2020
by Ryland Peters & Small (Author)


We finished reading this cookbook today. It's not all that big, but some pages do have more than one recipe. The Introduction is just a couple paragraphs about plant-based eating. The chapters are Basic Recipes, Breakfast & Brunch, Light Bites & Snacks, Soups & Sides, Mid-Week Suppers, Feeding a Crowd, and Sweet Things. The Index seems to go primarily by main ingredients.

( Read more... )

Heroes' Feast: The Official D&D Cookbook
Hardcover – October 27, 2020
by Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson, and Michael Witwer; recipes by Adam Ried

( Read more... )

She Who Became the Sun is a historical fantasy novel by Shelley Parker-Chan. It is the first in a duology and the description is:

This one I grabbed on impulse at the bookstore back in January because I vaguely remembered hearing about it somewhere. As with my last review, I'm going to keep this short because I simply do not have the energy for more. I liked this book and I do plan to read the next one. There were moments I wasn't sure about it, but I'm glad I stuck with it and I think Parker-Chan crafts some very interesting characters here.

The main protagonist Zhu is fascinatingly driven and unrepentantly ambitious. She is also ruthless in her pursuit of her destiny, which starts to get pretty interesting at the end of this novel, and I expect will feature even more prominently in the next. She also reads, to me, as asexual or something close to it, which as an ace person myself was fun to see, especially because it isn't treated like a problem in her relationships. Neither does it stem from her own complex relationship with gender--it's just how she is.

The deuterogonist Ouyang is every bit as interesting, even though we don't see his POV until the middle part of the book. He is someone who is so viscerally torn between feeling compelled towards revenge and yet not desiring anything that will actually come of it that it's so interesting to watch his fate play out. I think Parker-Chan does a great job getting you into Ouyang's head during his perspective chapters and it was so interesting to me how Zhu leans into their connection while Ouyang is repulsed by it.

Recommend if you:

• Enjoy morally gray/amoral protagonists--both Zhu and Ouyang do shady to outright horrifying things in pursuit of their goals.
• Want queer relationships--won't give spoilers on this but again, both Zhu and Ouyang have queer experiences ,
• Enjoy a historical setting that leans into the contemporary cultures--we get a good look both at the culture of the Mongols and of the Chinese.

Do not recommend if you:

• Like heavily detailed stories--my only real criticism of the novel is that it often skims over things I would have liked explored in more depth.
• Like a happy ending--of course this is only 1 of 2 books, but based on how it's going, I would not hold out hope for a happy end. The end of this first novel was not an uncomplicated victory.
• Prefer romance to be a core of the story--as noted there are queer relationships here, but for the most part they are not the central part of the novel.

Crossposted from my main

Saka Saka: Adventures in African Cooking, South of the Sahara
by Anto Cocagne and Aline Princet

This is a full-color cookbook with many gorgeous photos. In addition to the recipes, it also includes interviews with people from Africa about their favorite foods from there. If you like learning about folks in different parts of the world, you'll enjoy these inserts.

The front matter is extremely useful. It includes the Cuisines of Africa, Tastes of Africa, Principles and Traditions, Benefits of African Cuisines, Main Specialties, Staple Ingredients Region by Region, and the Ideal Pantry. I was intrigued by the Principles section, with points like "Eating with your hands is completely normal" and "We do not eat baby animals." The section on Staple Ingredients makes a great comparison among west, central, east, and south Africa regarding starches, meats, produce, and spices. This part of the book is interesting and educational, whether or not you make any of the recipes.

( Read more... )

Dungeons and Dragons Art and Arcana: A Visual History by Michael Witwer, Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson, and Sam Witwer

A history of D&D. Heavy emphasis on the visual elements.

Man, that early art was cheap and amateurish. Sometimes fun, to be sure. Picks up as it goes on. Also, there are maps, which gives me deep philosophical thoughts about the way dungeon crawls would be hard to make a novel out of. . . you would have to write a trilogy to cover every room in a single page.