Pub Grub at Home: More Free Kindle Books!

Those who've followed The Traveling Spoon for any length of time know that I have a very special relationship with the United Kingdom. It's where I spent the majority of my childhood and where I first developed a taste for travel. It's also where I developed a taste for mushy peas and Cadbury's chocolate; where I learned to devour any meat smothered in brown gravy, or any meal doused in malt vinegar.

These days - thanks to the Olympics - it seems the world is going bonkers for Britain, and while British food is much maligned in culinary circles, I believe its poor reputation is undeserved. Some of the best meals I've ever eaten have consisted of stick-to-your-ribs pub grub, and now I've uncovered a few more free Kindle books to help you whip up some up at home. Of course, I'm not sure how long they'll be free, so what are you waiting for? Get connected and start cooking!

How to Make An Authentic Sunday Roast with Yorkshire Pudding

How to Make Cornish Pasties

How to Make Devonshire Tea with Scones, Strawberry Jam and Clotted Cream

How to Make English Breakfast

How to Make English Fish & Chips in a Beer Batter

Again, I haven't been compensated for this post, nor have I had the chance to cook from any of these books. I'm just passing on a tasty-looking tip!

"Traditional British Pudding Recipes" FREE Kindle download

True story (i.e. embarrassing but cute vignette from my English childhood): My family moved to the UK when I was four years old. Since my birthday came up shortly after our arrival, my mother made plans to bake a cake for sharing with my new school friends - that is until I came home and announced that all British school children celebrated their birthdays with pudding. Fortunately, my mother's suspicions were aroused and she did enough prior research to discover that 'pudding' was just a catch-all British term for dessert!

In the end it was a phrase well learnt: anyone who disparages British food clearly hasn't tasted their desserts (or Cadbury's chocolate!), and in the years that followed that early and important lesson, I would become intimately acquainted with British 'puddings.' They may give them funny names - like treacle, flapjacks, and, of course, the infamous spotted dick - but they still make them wonderfully delicious. And now you can, too!

"Traditional British Pudding Recipes" is currently available as a free Kindle download, so if you've always wanted to try Sticky Toffee Pudding (there's that word again!) or just want to celebrate the Olympics with a bit of host-country style, this book is a great find.

I have yet to try any of the recipes, but I should warn you you'll need a scale since they're given in metric measurements - and you may find some of the ingredients unfamiliar (caster sugar, for example, is extra-fine granulated sugar commonly sold in the UK). Also, while the term 'pudding' is used to denote pretty much any kind of dessert in UK parlance, most of the recipes in this book are for actual baked or steamed puddings, so you won't find Victoria Sponge Cake or Shortbread here. That being said, how can you argue FREE?

Update: I just came across Traditional British Biscuit Recipes for free, also (Biscuits = Cookies, and everyone loves cookies)! Apparently there are two other books in this series so I'll keep my eye on them and let you know if they come up for free as well.

Note: This does not constitute a review, nor was a I compensated in any way for this post - I'm just passing along free books!

Prior Planning.....

It's a new year and at last I return to my poor neglected blog. I had no intention of taking such a long break, but sometimes circumstances conspire and things don't work out quite as planned. For example, I had planned to have a great visit with family, but I didn't plan the ferocious cold and and lingering case of laryngitis that resulted when germs from all across the country (well, really across two countries) got together. I had planned a few retrospective posts and a few predictions for the New Year; I didn't plan spending New Year's Day sleeping fitfully in the front seat of our car while Matt drove us home long into the night.

Apart from the fact that I sound like a Muppet (thankfully, a functioning voice isn't a required component of blogging!), I'm doing fine. Still, I find it a bit ironic that all this unplanned happenstance occurred at a time of year when planning is seen as the greatest virtue. After all, what are New Year's resolutions, if not plans for the year ahead?

You might think my experience over the holidays would turn me off to plans and resolutions forever, but you're not so lucky. In fact, I've even come up with a few for the blog - so if you're interested in what 2012 has in store for The Traveling Spoon, read on!

More vegetable-based recipes: I'm making this resolution as a result of a few requests, but also at the insistence of my own body. Weeks of seasonal baked goods (always my most popular posts) and a few years of marriage to a meat-lover has made me shelve a lot of the vegetable-based recipes I used to enjoy. I've decided that 2012 is the year to dust a few of them off!

A blog redesign: This one is near and dear to my heart, because I feel it's been a long time coming. While several of you have expressed a fondness for the Moroccan tagine theme, The Traveling Spoon is coming up on its one-year birthday and I think it needs a new look - something more modern and clean. Whether I (figure out how to) do it myself or hire in some talent is still up in the air, but you can expect a fresh new look sometime this year (and yes, I'm open to input!).

More Book Bites: My list of great books to review for the blog gets longer by the day - especially with the great crop of food memoirs and cookbooks that have come out in the past couple of years. I intend to step up my delivery of 'Good Reads' this year with a few more reviews. Recommendations are always welcome!

Better photography: This resolution has a few components, the first being to actually read my camera's manual. I've been getting by with my photos so far, but I know there's room for improvement - I already get lots of practice, so it's time to deepen my technical knowledge. At the moment, I do most of my photographing in natural light - which means snapping stills on my windowsill between the hours of 10am and 3pm (it's the only place and time that our little apartment consistently gets light!). Perhaps a white box or some artificial lighting is also in my future......

More travel tips: Believe it or not, the travel tips are one of my favorite parts of this blog! I love collecting and sharing unique tips, and think it's great that the smallest piece of advice can completely revolutionize the way you travel. That I don't share many is partly a function of audience (most of my readers come for the recipes - and that's a great thing!), but also because I'm just forgetful. However, this is The Traveling Spoon, so you can expect some more road-worthy snippets in the months to come!

More balance: If you've noticed, most of my resolutions are about 'more this' or 'more that,' but what it's really all about is balance. I'd like The Traveling Spoon to be a little more well-rounded in 2012 - whether that means featuring more Book Bites, sprinkling in a few more travel tips, or even just evening out the ratio of sweet-to-savory...which means I might have to actually use 'more recipes' for my cooking!


What did you resolve to do this year? What do you think of my resolutions for The Traveling Spoon?

All I Want for Christmas...

This is NOT the post I'd planned to share with you today, but since Blogger just ate the one I've just spent two hours writing, my cabbage soup will have to wait. So, while I re-create an entire recipe from memory, you can have fun shopping!

Well folks, it's that time of year again. The time of year when Christmas shopping ceases to be proactive and becomes almost last-minute. This year, I've managed to get most of my list covered, but I'm no stranger to the last-minute dash. In fact, I'm sure we've all been there at some point, so if you're still searching for the perfect present for a foodie friend, here are some hot kitchen ideas:

Cooking Classes - Whether it's sharpening your knife skills or picking up some new baking tips, there's a cooking class for everyone. Check out your local community college (even better if there's a culinary school nearby!) or community events center. In some areas, you need look no further than your local Whole Foods or Williams-Sonoma.

Photo from Williams-Sonoma.com

Le Creuset Cookware - Speaking of Williams-Sonoma, this high-end store is one of my favorite places to browse. Notice I said browse, because unfortunately, their beautiful high-end items also have high-end prices - which is why it's doubly awesome that they're in the middle of a 25%-off cookware sale! I've been in love with the silky enamel finish of their Le Creuset cookware (which comes in all those gorgeous colors) for years, and I guarantee you there isn't a wannabe chef on your list who wouldn't be thrilled by finding one of those under the tree!

Pocket pie maker (photo from Williams-Sonoma.com)

Pocket Pie Mold - This is another Williams-Sonoma favorite (I promise I don't get sponsorship), although I'm sure you'd be able to find similar products elsewhere. The good news is that it's a lot more budget-friendly, and still makes a great food-centric gift. For those who follow the culinary zeitgeist (where all things molecular are becoming all things miniature, and cupcakes are supposedly making way for pocket pies) this gift is right on trend. Look for other shapes which could be used with savory pies, or gift a whole set for the true pastry lover in your life.

The Flavor Bible - I've reviewed this book before, but I can't say enough good things about it. Innovative and encyclopedic, this volume really changes the way you think about food and will free you up in the kitchen like you never imagined. If that's not a good enough sell, read the review!

Measuring spoons by Fred (photo from Amazon.com)

Basic Utensils - After working my way through several vegetable peelers and surviving numerous unpleasant wooden spoon incidents (I'm convinced wooden spoons leave the nastiest splinters), I can't overemphasize the importance of having a really good set of basic tools. Peelers, can-openers, kitchen timers, graters, wooden spoons, measuring spoons, and measuring cups are the workhorses of the kitchen, so you may as well invest in good ones. And you don't have to sacrifice form for function anymore; companies like Fred offer whimsical kitchen gadgets (like the Russian Nesting Doll measuring spoons above), while others like Blomus offer sleek, stainless steel style. That being said, my drawers and cupboards are full of cheap-and-cheerful items that I'll use to death - but I'm sure I'll pay the price for my penny-pinching stubbornness in hands full of splinters.

Free Kindle Cookbooks!

I've sung the praises of my Amazon Kindle before, so I'll spare you the fan-girl excitement and cut to the chase: if you have a Kindle (and even if you don't - the books can be read on your PC or mobile device after a simple software download) hurry on over to Amazon.com because there are dozens of free e-cookbooks available right now!

For the price of a few seconds of your time, you can download cookbooks for a whole host of cuisines including:

Hungarian

Egyptian

Brazilian

Mexican-American

Book Bite: Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Travel Guides

It's time for another Book Bite! This one showcases some of my favorite travel guides - the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness series. If you haven't explored this series yet, you're missing out!

As a child growing up in England, I fell in love with Dorling Kindersley books. I loved their interactive and informative formats - the lively descriptions, full-color pages, breathtaking photographs and extraordinarily detailed watercolors - and the wide range of topics covered (everything from cooking to cars). DK books seemed to be everywhere and I read them with childish enthusiasm. I was disappointed when we moved back to the States and I could no longer find them so easily.

You can imagine my delight, then, when I discovered the DK Eyewitness Travel Guides a few years ago.  Our first was borrowed from the library and took us on a trip through the Czech Republic. Since then, we've amassed a small collection and they really are fantastic. DK call themselves the 'illustrated reference publisher,' but their books are so much more than a reference guide - they're an experience.

Each book gives detailed historical information about the specific destination, as well as practical travel tips (on transportation, money issues or social customs) and a quick-reference language glossary that's come in handy more than a few times! They're richly illustrated and chock full of photographs and the DK signature watercolor drawings that feature floor plans and cutaways of famous buildings, as well as 3-D aerial maps of popular locales.

One of our favorite features are the area maps, color-coded and divided into manageable sections which make exploring even the most unfamiliar cities or regions a breeze. We've done several DK-based tours, dividing our time between the sections and relying on their detailed street maps to get around. My favorite thing to do is to dive in, cover-to-cover, on the way to our destination so that I arrive with a sense of the cultural and historical context of the place (it also helps to give me a sense of direction, so I don't get us lost!)

I could go on and on about these guidebooks, but I discovered this little gem of an interview on YouTube, so I'll let their Publishing Director, Claire Currie, give you some more information and a sneak peak at the process behind the publication!

P.S. This isn't a sponsored post - I just really like DK books!

Book Bite: A Natural History of the Senses (Diane Ackerman)

It's about that time again, ladies and gentleman. It's been so long since we had a Book Bite that I've decided to share one of my favorites. Like most bibliophiles, I probably have at least one or two hundred 'favorite' books, but this one really is one of my favorite books... of all time. In fact, I liked it so much that I pilfered my tattered, dog-eared, and well-traveled copy from a hostel in Astorga, where I stayed while on Spain's Camino de Santiago last summer.

What book was so awesome it incited me to thievery on a religious pilgrimage? Diane Ackerman's A Natural History of the Senses. In my defense, it was one of several books left by pilgrims for other pilgrims to enjoy, so it wasn't outright theft - though that doesn't make the book any less un-put-downable!

Free Kindle Book from Lonely Planet!

A few weeks ago, I shared some tips for finding free books for your Kindle or e-reader. I check the Amazon offerings every couple of weeks and, though the selections are sometimes a bit uneven, I've managed to find a few gems and have stocked my Kindle with over 200 books! I'm always e-mailing friends with links to books I think they'd like and found a good one to share with my travel-obsessed readers today - from none other than the lovely Lonely Planet!

I'm not sure how long the offer will last, but if you check now, you can get their 5 of USA's Best Trips completely free. I haven't read it yet so I can't speak to its value, but at that price, I think it's worth taking the chance!

Book Bite: The Fortune Cookie Chronicles (Jennifer 8. Lee)

Did you know that there are more Chinese restaurants in America than there are McDonalds, Burger Kings and Wendys combined? I came across this little tidbit in a recent episode of 'Who Knew?', a five-days-weekly news roundup produced by Yahoo! News. Yes, it's true, I'm addicted to Who Knew? (if you haven't seen it, you should - it may not be 'real' news, but it will make you endlessly popular at party trivia games) , but I'm also addicted to Chinese food. It's easily my favorite ethnic food, and Matt knows that if we're ever looking for a place to eat, I'm going to suggest Chinese.

Of course, if my more well-traveled friends and family are to be believed, the Chinese food we eat here in the United States has very little in common with what's on the plates of millions of people across China. Chop suey, for example, is a wholly American creation, and everyone's favorite General Tso's Chicken is only very loosely based on a dish from Hunan Province. Even the ubiquitous fortune cookie is not what it seems - it hit the mainstream in California and is thought to be based on a Japanese confection.

What's Better than Free Books?

It's no secret that I love books. When our movers delivered our goods just a few weeks ago, they remarked that they'd never seen someone with so little furniture and so many books! I guess it's all about priorities, right? I've been accumulating books for years (my first real job was shop-girl in a second hand bookstore in England) and love them all - old ones, new ones, fat ones, skinny ones...and especially free ones.

Book Bite: The Flavor Bible (Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg)

When I started this blog, I promised 'Good Eats, Good Reads and Great Destinations.' Our time in Europe and our recent trip out West has made it easy to deliver on the destinations and I feel like I've shared a few good recipes and restaurants, but it's been brought to my attention that I have yet to share a single good read. Well, that's a great shame because there are so many good ones to recommend. Indeed, with such a wealth of choices, it's hard to even know where to begin!

"The Flavor Bible is as useful to anyone who cooks asa Thesaurus is to anyone who writes" - Karen Page

My first selection isn't really so much a book to curl up and drink tea with (though you certainly could - and I periodically do!) as it is an excellent reference volume for the kitchen. The Flavor Bible labels itself the "Essential guide to culinary creativity, based on the wisdom of America's most imaginative chefs" and is, in essence, an intensive course on ingredients and their interactions, with a few personal interviews from chefs and some tips on technique. Have you ever wished you could combine ingredients with flair and abandon? Ever dreamed about effortlessly concocting that perfect combination of savory and spice? The Flavor Bible puts these skills at the fingertips of even the most inexperienced home cook.

The real heart of the book is the alphabetical index of flavors and ingredients; each element is listed with other complimentary foods or flavors, called 'affinities' as well as information as to the season and taste of the ingredient in question. So, if I look up 'salmon,' our dinner for tonight, I would discover that it pairs well with apple, horesradish and rosemary - as well as a host of other things - and lends itself to being baked, braised, broiled, grilled, marinated, panfried, poached, roasted, sauteed, steamed, seared and eaten raw.

In my experience, the Flavor Bible is at its most useful when I'm innovating, have brought home some strange ingredient or other, or am trying to use up ingredients I have left at home. Often, I'll consult the book just before I'm about to put together an unlikely pairing or when I'm looking for ways to spice up some of our old favorite recipes. One evening, for example, I had a spare mango in the kitchen. I looked it up and discovered that its flavor is enhanced by vinegar and basil and that it pairs well with tuna - voilla! balsamic-basil-and-mango salsa over tuna steaks for dinner!

The book details all the usual combinations (ham with asparagus. chives with eggs, nutmeg with cream, etc.) but is also a wealth of unusual and unexpected pairings. Did you know, for example, that the flavor of blueberries is intensified by cinnamon, or that bay leaves will punch up the pumpkin flavor in your soups and baked goods? In some cases, the book also warns of possible flavor clashes, as in the case of coffee and lavender, or oysters and tarragon. The Flavor Bible is full of such fascinating and useful tidbits.

Even if you're not not an innovator in the kitchen, or you've been blessed with an instinct for food combining, the Flavor Bible is a useful guide. Thumbing through it's pages provides a fascinating look at the science and chemistry behind the things we eat, as well as a small glimpse into the minds of some successful chefs. For those interested in finding out more, there's an excellent little video on the book's Amazon page, as well as a large batch of customer reviews - you can add my endorsement to the list!