Teddy Rose Book Reviews Plus More


Maibox Monday

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on March 21, 2011
Posted in Mail Box Mondays  | 7 Comments

MailBox Monday now has it’s very own blog, Mailbox Monday.  It is also on tour and is being hosted by I’m Booking It in March.

I received this book in my mailbox:

The author of Deadly, Julie Chibbaro held a giveaway for this book and I won.  It sounded too good to pass up.  Here’s the description:

A mysterious outbreak of typhoid fever is sweeping New York.

Could the city’s future rest with its most unlikely scientist? 
If Prudence Galewski is ever going to get out of Mrs. Browning’s esteemed School for Girls, she must demonstrate her refinement and charm by securing a job appropriate for a young lady. But Prudence isn’t like the other girls. She is fascinated by how the human body works and why it fails. 
With a stroke of luck, she lands a position in a laboratory, where she is swept into an investigation of the fever bound to change medical history. Prudence quickly learns that an inquiry of this proportion is not confined to the lab. From ritzy mansions to shady bars and rundown tenements, she explores every potential cause of the disease. But there’s no answer in sight—until the volatile Mary Mallon emerges. Dubbed “Typhoid Mary” by the press, Mary is an Irish immigrant who has worked as a cook in every home the fever has ravaged. Strangely, though, she hasn’t been sick a day in her life. Is the accusation against her an act of discrimination? Or is she the first clue in a new scientific discovery?
Prudence is determined to find out. In a time when science is for men, she’ll have to prove to the city, and to herself, that she can help solve one of the greatest medical mysteries of the twentieth century.

The Booklounge.ca was holding a giveaway for this book.  I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to read it or not but I have a friend that I think would love to have it so I entered and won.  I’ll probably give it to her first and then perhaps, take a crack at it.  I am almost ashamed to admit it, but when I was  very young, I loved David Cassidy, so this book would be pure nostalgia for me.

This is yet another book that I didn’t request, that ended up in my mailbox.  It seems that St. Martin’s Press is automatically sending me all of their newly released historical fiction, automatically. 

On the one hand, it is fun to receive surprises in the mail but on the other, I wish they would ask me if I am interested first.  The Silver Eagle is a sequel to The Forgotten Legion.  I haven’t read the first book and the description of this book doesn’t really speak to me.  I would hate for a book to go to waste, so I will have to find a home for it.  Perhaps my public library.

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Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.

I read the title short story from The Model Millionaire Stories by Oscar Wilde this weekend.  
It starts out like this,

“Unless one is wealth there is no use in being a charming fellow.  Romance is the privilege of the rich, not the profession of the unemployed.  The poor should be practical and prosaic.  It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.  These are the great truths of modern life which Hugh Erskine never realized.”

Hugh’s aunt gave him $200 per year to live on.  He was in love with Laura Merton, but her father would not allow them to marry because Hugh was poor.  He told Hugh to go out into the world and make $10,000 and then he would allow the two to marry.
One day Hugh decided to go visit his friend Alan Trevor, an artist.  Alan was in the middle of painting a portrait of an old street person.  His model wore clothes with layers or dirt and tatters and Hugh felt sorry for him.  He asked Alan how much he paid his models versus how much he could get for a finished portrait.  Hugh felt the a model should make a percentage of what the artist makes, and the two friend debated this.  
Later Alan went out of the room and Hugh felt around in his pocket to see what money he had in it.

“Poor old man fellow,” he thought to himself, “he wants it more than I do, but it means no *hansoms for a fortnight.”  (*I looked it up, hansom is a cab that was designed and patented in 1834.)

Hugh gave the man a sovereign. 
Can you guess what happened later in the story.  I did, but enjoyed the story nun-the-less.  I just love Wilde’s social commentary, wit, and writing.  This is another recommended Oscar Wilde story.

If you would like to participate in Short Story Mondays, go to John of The Book Mine Set. He has a short story review every Monday and a place for you to link your short story review. Come join in the fun and add to my short story TBR!

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Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.

Winter Vegetable Stew With Moroccan Flavors

Posted by Teddyrose@1 on March 21, 2011
Posted in Weekend Cooking  | 5 Comments

Awhile ago, I downloaded an new cookbook to review from Net Galley, Fresh and Fast Vegetarian: Recipes That Make the Meal..  I will be reviewing the cookbook soon.  Tonight I made one of the recipes in it, Winter Vegetable Stew With Moroccan Flavors.
On most weekends I prepare a menu and grocery list for the upcoming week’s meals.  This weekend, Bill did the grocery shopping.  However, he mistook watercress for cilantro.  LOL!  I didn’t discover this until I went into the refrigerator to get the cilantro and  thought to myself, “this is funny looking cilantro.”  I tasted it and realized it was watercress.  Sometimes little things like this happen when Bill does the shopping.  Oh well, I through the watercress into the stew.

I also used a potato instead of a turnip and parsnip, which is an option mentioned in the recipe.  The winter squash of choice was also in the recipe and I used an acorn squash for that.  I decided to roast the squash first because it’s easier to peel.  I did this earlier in the day, so I could throw dinner together quickly later.  However, while trying to cut the squash in half, I got into an fight with it and it won! 
My finger was cut, pretty deep. The stew almost became non-vegetarian.  LOL!   I drove to a walk-in clinic and the doctor debate giving it stitches but, much to my relief, he used surgical tape to pull it together instead.  He told me not to get it wet and not to bend it.  So, later I ended up finishing preparing dinner with a rubber glove on my hand.  I am not typing this post without my right pointer finger.

I served the stew over cooked millet, instead of couscous.  It turned out pretty good despite the roadblocks. 
Copyright 2007-2010: All the posts within this blog were originally posted by Teddy Rose and should not be reproduced without express written permission.