Tag: historical fiction

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead: Book Review and Book Club Menu

Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead: Book Review and Book Club Menu

by Stacy ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

“Carney was only slightly bent when it came to being crooked . . .”

This is how Colson Whitehead introduces us to his protagonist, Ray Carney.

Ray is a young husband, father, and businessman in Harlem. His father was one of the most notorious criminals in Harlem, but Ray sought to distance himself from that life, and he put himself through college and opened his own furniture store. Yes, he sells some merchandise with questionable origins, and sure, the funds he used to open his shop were a posthumous gift of sorts from his father, but he’s doing his best to become a self-made man in Harlem.

Freddie is Ray’s cousin. The two men were raised almost like brothers, given the early death of Ray’s mother and then the occasional absence and eventual death of Ray’s father. Freddie, who was raised by an honest and hardworking mother, has little use for honest work or the appearance of honest work. Just as Ray attempted to be the opposite of his father, Freddie saw his mother work hard without benefitting from it and turned to crime without a knack for it. “I didn’t mean to get you in trouble,” is Freddie’s regular response after getting himself and Ray into trouble in childhood and beyond.

It is Freddie who gets Ray involved with the heist at the Hotel Theresa, known as the Waldorf of Harlem. Ray has no idea he has been named as the man who will help them sell the stolen goods until after the theft when he ends up in a post-heist huddle with a group of hardened criminals. When one of the conspirators is found dead, Ray gets a crash course in crime, including how to dispose of a body.

While Ray is able to get himself out of the mess Freddie pulled him into and even profits from it, the events change him. On the outside, he is thriving for the first time, but a new ambition has been lit within him. Ray has always had disdain for his snobby in-laws, who are among the wealthy Black professionals of Harlem’s Strivers’ Row. He understands that the Strivers’ Row group is every bit as crooked as the hustlers of Harlem, only they know the legal loopholes that make crookedness safe and lucrative. But with his first taste of success, Ray now wants to be one of the Strivers’ Row elite and a member of the Dumas Club.

Just when Ray thinks he has his life in order, Freddie, who has kept a low profile in Ray’s life since the Hotel Theresa heist, is back and this time he gets Ray into trouble with the white patricians of New York. Ray has to use everything he knows about being “crooked” to save himself and his cousin.

The main question of Harlem Shuffle is, what does it mean to be crooked? In the late ‘50s/early ‘60s Harlem portrayed here, the “crooked” have a stronger sense of loyalty and honor than those perceived as straight or honest, and Ray finds that he can expect better of his father’s old associates than he can of his own Strivers End father-in-law. And after a lifetime of looking down on his father, Ray finally recognizes how much of his father lives on in him.

Harlem Shuffle is a thoughtful look at race and success in America, and it is also a fun read.

Book Club Menu:

Ray’s life may be complicated, but his palate is not. He is a man who prefers simple mid century meals. His ideal lunch would be two hot dogs and a coffee from Chock Full O’ Nuts. Being Midwestern AF, I thought Chock Full O’ Nuts is a coffee brand sold alongside Folgers and Maxwell House in the canned coffee section of the supermarket. Well, it is, but it was originally a classic NYC diner/lunch counter.

Therefore diner fare is the only appropriate Harlem Shuffle book club offering. However, I encourage you to update your sandwiches to 2022 by adding avocado to your BLTs and making my tomato basil grilled cheese in place of the American cheese version.

If your book club would prefer wine to a boozy root beer float, Beaujolais would pair nicely with both sandwiches.

Tomato Basil Grilled Cheese

tomato basil grilled cheese

Once upon a time, a Michigan based burger chain named Bagger Dave’s had a magical grilled cheese they called the Michigan Meltdown. This sandwich had 3 types of cheese, tomato slices, basil, and red onion. They took it off the menu and replaced it with a naan grilled cheese, which was almost a fair trade because grilled cheese naans are insanely delicious even when they lack the special Michigan Meltdown ingredients. Then they removed the second grilled cheese from the menu, and I now have trust issues. Chock Full O’ Nuts would never betray me in this fashion.

Anyhow, this is my version of the Michigan Meltdown.

Tomato Basil Grilled Cheese
  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print


Ingredients
  • 8 slices sourdough bread, with mayo spread on one side of bread
  • 4 slices cheddar
  • 4 slices provolone
  • 4 slices swiss cheese
  • 4 to 8 slices tomato, lightly salted 
  • 8 basil leaves
  • Optional: thin red onion slices


Directions
  1. Pat tomato slices dry with a paper towel. Allow tomato slices, slightly salted, to rest on a paper towel layer for approximately 15 minutes. At the end of 15 minutes, pat it dry again.
  2. Place 4 slices of bread (or as many sandwiches, as your skillet will hold) in a cold skillet, mayo side down.
  3. Top each bread slice with 1 slice of swiss, a slice of provolone, tomato slice (or 2 slices depending on the size of your tomato), 2 basil leaves, red onion slices (if using), 1 slice of cheddar, and then top with remaining bread slices, mayo side up.
  4. Turn the burner to medium heat. Leave sandwiches for 3 to 4 minutes, then flip. Reduce heat to medium low. Cook for 2 to 3 more minutes.

Perfect Air Fries

Perfect Air Fries
  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print



Ingredients
  • 2 Russet potatoes
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • Salt
  • Optional seasonings: black pepper, garlic powder, and paprika


Directions
  1. Cut the potatoes into slices and place in a bowl of cold water. Let sit for 20 minutes. 
  2. Preheat the air fryer to 400F.
  3. Pat potato slices dry with a paper towel, and then toss with 1 tablespoon of oil. Salt and add any other seasonings you wish to use.
  4. Place in the air fryer in a single layer and cook for about 8 minutes. After 8 minutes, flip the fries and air fry for another 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the size of your fries and your model of air fryer.

Boozy Root Beer Float

boozy root beer float
Boozy Root Beer Float
  • Servings: 1
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print


Ingredients
  • 1 scoop vanilla ice cream
  • 2 oz spiced rum (Kraken, or similar)
  • Root beer


Directions
  1. Place a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a glass. Use an ice cream that is good enough that you’d eat it on its own.
  2. Add 2 ounces of rum and then top with root beer.

Variation: If you need a lactose free float, try using a coconut milk based ice cream, as the slight coconut flavor will pair well with the rum.

Matrix by Lauren Groff: book review and book club menu

Matrix by Lauren Groff: book review and book club menu

by Stacy ♥ 2 Comments

Seventeen-year-old Marie does not meet medieval expectations of femininity. Declared too tall and too plain for marriage, she is banished from Eleanor of Aquitane’s court and sent to a failing abbey, where the nuns are dying of starvation. The abbess is kind but ineffective as a leader. Initially acting as prioress, Marie slowly gains more control over the running of the abbey. She brings a secular view to abbey administration and an independent noblewoman’s head for business. Instead of assigning each nun to tasks she is poorly suited to, with a goal of fostering a Christ-like humility, she reverses the abbey’s practices and assigns the women jobs according to their strength. One of Marie’s greatest strengths is the ability to see the potential and the danger in the women around her. In time, Marie herself becomes a powerful figure in England, in spite of or because of her plain appearance.

Based on the life of Marie de France, Matrix examines both the power that medieval women held and the limitations. Eleanor and Marie initially seem to be opposites, and the scene where Eleanor tells Marie she is to be sent to an abbey seems cruel and mocking, especially as the reader knows that Marie is in love with Eleanor. But later in life, after Marie has become abbess, the two women meet again, not quite as equals, but as two female leaders who understand each other’s struggles better than any of their companions could. From that point, the two women begin a strong and affectionate correspondence.

Men are strangely absent from the narrative, even more so than one would expect from a book about nuns. In retrospect, I cannot recall if a man is ever referred to by name in Matrix or merely referred to as the father or husband of a female character. In Marie’s memories of life at court, we only learn of the ladies, nothing of the men. Even when Marie begins having visions, they are always of the Virgin Mary (and, on one occasion, Eve) and never of Jesus. Her life is entirely without male influence. She was raised by a mother, but not a father; as a teenager at court, she is surrounded by women; and the abbey is, of course, populated by women, and Marie later guards the abbess by building a labyrinth, ensuring men cannot get into the grounds. It is perhaps because Marie has never seen herself reflected in the eyes of a man that is able to develop her notions of what a woman should be and what she should want.

Original and character-driven, Matrix is a must-read for lovers of historical fiction. While the time period initially seems difficult to relate to–the Crusades are ongoing and people bathe only a few times a year–the characters are as relatable as any modern characters. The relationships between the nuns are not unlike that of office colleagues, with personality clashes and strange alliances. And when Eleanor and Marie are treated with distrust for being powerful women, you realize that not much has changed over time.

Book Club Menu:

I haven’t gone too literal with this month’s book club menu. If I did that, you’d be feeding your book club nun-approved turnip soup and brown bread. While I have no doubt that Heidi Swanson, or some other great vegetarian cook, could make turnip soup into something delicious with nods to two or more different types of cuisine, I’m not Heidi Swanson. So we are going with a seasonal menu for appetizers and then a dessert that is more book appropriate.

I knew that any book club menu for Matrix would involve apricots. One thing that Marie takes from the court of Eleanor of Aquitane is a couple of apricots. She later plants the pits, and the trees flourish, much like Marie, in the new soil. Of course, it is November, and apricots are very much out of season, so I worked with dried apricots. Initially, I thought maybe cookies, like a rugelach, but then I remembered that I have been meaning to make an olive oil cake. If you’ve never had an olive oil cake, don’t be concerned about the olive oil flavor. It’s very delicate and it complements sweeter flavors surprisingly well.

  • Roasted Potato Rounds with Smoked Salmon and Crème Fraiche (recipe below)
  • Veggies with your favorite dip(s)
  • Apricot Amaretto Olive Oil Cake with Lemon Glaze (recipe below)
  • Rosé sparkling wine
  • Non-alcoholic sparkling cider

Roasted Potato Rounds with Smoked Salmon and Crème Fraiche

Holiday appetizer, smoked salmon potato round
  • Two large potatoes, sliced into thin rounds
  • Olive oil
  • 6 oz smoked salmon
  • Crème fraiche
  • Chives, washed, dried, and minced
  • Everything but the bagel seasoning (optional)
  1. Preheat the oven to 425.
  2. Slice your potatoes into thin rounds (less than 1/4 inch). Brush each side of the potato rounds with olive oil and arrange in a single layer on cookie sheets. (You’ll likely need two cookie sheets to avoid overlap.) Slightly salt and pepper your potato rounds.
  3. Roast for 10 minutes, then flip your potato rounds, and roast for another 10 minutes. While your potatoes are roasting, slice your salmon into small thin slices.
  4. Top each potato round with a slice of smoked salmon, a drop of crème fraiche, Everything But the Bagel seasoning, and chives.

Recommended wine pairing: Rosé sparkling wine.
Alternate wine pairing: Blanc de Blanc

Variations: Since not everyone is a fan of smoked salmon, another option would be to use a half slice (or a third of a slice, depending on the size of your potato slices) of turkey bacon in place of the smoked salmon. If going the turkey bacon route, consider broiling the potato rounds briefly with cheddar cheese before adding the toppings.

If you can’t find crème fraiche, either sour cream or plain Greek yogurt would be good substitutes.

Apricot Amaretto Olive Oil Cake

olive oil cake with apricot and amaretto

My freezer is now full of this cake, as I had to make this three times before I got the recipe exactly how I wanted it. I guess the upside of that is I now know the baking times for a cake pan (actually I used a pie pan), mini loaves, and muffins. I also have tried this with lemon glaze and lemon cheese frosting and can say that the lemon glaze was definitely preferred.

  • 3/4 cup dried apricots, chopped
  • 1/4 cup Amaretto
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 3/4 cup olive oil
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2. Grease your pan or muffin tin or loaf pans and set aside.
  3. Mix together apricots, Amaretto, and vanilla in a small bowl and set aside.
  4. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  5. In a large bowl, beat 3 eggs, and then add milk, olive oil, and sugar.
  6. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold in the apricot Amaretto mixture.
  7. Pour the batter into your cake pan or muffin tins. Baking times are 40-50 minutes for a cake pan; 30-35 minutes for mini loaf pans; and 20 minutes for muffins.

Lemon Glaze (optional)

  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • ½ cup powdered sugar

Mix together until smooth. Pour over cooled cake or loaves or muffins.