300. The Green Mile by Stephen King

 

BOOK REVIEW: The Green Mile by Stephen King

Have you ever came across the weird and wonderful articles about healers possessing powers beyond the human imagination? In the Phillipines, healers are able to operate without slicing into the human body. Healers such as these individuals are few and far between, sprinkled across the globe to give respite to the living. Stephen King has taken the theme of an innocent healer turned into a murderer sentenced to death in this book.

Those who walk the Green Mile do not return, because at the end of that walk is the room in which sits Cold Mountain Penitentiary's electric chair. In 1932, the newest resident on death row is John Coffey, a giant of a black man convicted of the brutal murder of two little girls. 

But nothing is as it seems with John Coffey, and around him unfolds a bizarre and horrifying story. Evil murderer or holy innocent - whichever he is - Coffey has strange powers which may yet offer salvation to others, even if they can do nothing to save him.

As the Master of Horror, the author has to inject some macabre scenes but overall it came of as highly emotional to me and I even shed a few tears. That was how sad this story was. For those of you who want to see a different side to Stephen King, this may very well be the book for you to pick up.

299. Ingredient: Unveiling the Essential Elements of Food by Ali Bouzari

BOOK REVIEW: Ingredient - Unveiling the Essential Elements of Food by Ali Bouzari

Ingredient really blew my mind with all it's scientific aspects of food that was unravelled like a story. Wonderful pictures and illustrations are strewn throughout the book, making reading easier on the eye.

An ingredient is a fundamental building block that works behind the scenes in everything we cook. Each ingredient has its own personality, a set of things it does or doesn't do. From soup and mashed potatoes to French toast and barbecue, lipids act like glue to stick aromas to your food. 

The best bets for thickening any liquid are carbs and proteins, which we can find anywhere from a bag of flour to a roasted garlic clove or a piece of braised meat. This book teaches the personalities of the ingredients, where to find them, and how to put them to work.

This isn't a book of recipes, nor is it a definitive treatise on the science of the kitchen. It's a guide to visualizing and controlling food's invisible moving parts, regardless of skill level. The author divulges the secrets of ingredients.

To me, it is an entertaining, informative guide to what's really happening when we cook, from one of the leading experts in culinary science. Suits me like a well-fitting glove as I'm teaching cooking so I do need to know what happens when we cook. Wonderful, wonderful read!

 

298. Beloved Poison by E. S. Thomson

 

BOOK REVIEW: Beloved Poison by E. S. Thomson

Crime fiction is not really my forte but this book certainly changed my mind to read more in this genre. What pulled me most to the book was the starkly contrasting gold embossed letters and design against a pitch black background which made the book look royal in its own right. So let's take a look in the book shall we?

Ramshackle and crumbling, trapped in the past and resisting the future, St. Saviour's Infirmary awaits demolition. Within its stinking wards and cramped corridors, the doctors bicker and fight.

Ambition, jealousy and hatred seethe beneath the veneer of professional courtesy. Always an outsider, and with a secret of her own to hide, apothecary Jem Flockhart observes everything, but says nothing.

And then 6 tiny coffins are uncovered, inside each a handful of dried flowers and a bundle of mouldering rags. When Jem comes across these strange relics hidden inside the infirmary's old chapel, her quest to understand their meaning prises open a long-forgotten past - with fatal consequences.

With the plot of the story in 1800s London, in an ancient hospital, with supernatural nuances and a lady forced to be hidden as a man, what else can you even ask for to ignite a fiery interest to read this book? 

This read will definitely keep you strapped in your seat during this MCO period and transport you back to the days of yore.

297. Eatymology: The Dictionary of Modern Gastronomy by Josh Friedland

 

BOOK REVIEW: Eatymology - The Dictionary of Modern Gastronomy by Josh Friedland

The culinary world is full of terms and words that set tongues wagging and mouths salivating. However, words are not reduced to just fleur de sel and chuck of beef. Every year, some word is invented to describe food and drink in its many facets.

This book demystifies the most fascinating new food words to emerge from today's professional kitchens, food science laboratories, pop culture, the web and more.

With 100 definitions, illustrations and fun food facts and statistics on everything from bistronomy to wine raves, this book shows you why it's absolutely imperative to adopt a coffee name and what it means to be gastrosexual, and is the perfect gift from everyone from foodiots to brocavores.

I absolutely enjoyed the book from cover to cover and personally I was so intrigued to find out the number of words related to F&B. Try gifting this book for Valentines to a fellow foodie, he or she might just love you that little bit more.