![\"Mailbox](\"http:\/\/www.amberstults.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/mailbox.gif\" "\\"Mailbox")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A big thank you to Marcia at The Printed Page<\/span><\/a> for hosting Mailbox Monday.\u00c2\u00a0 From now until the end of January 2009, Marcia is donating 50 cents to Book Wish Foundation’s holiday campaign for every link left for Mailbox Monday.<\/p>\n Here are the books that came into my house last week, courtesy of holiday presents that were (mostly) on my Amazon Wish List:<\/p>\n The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong>by Steig Larsson. This has been a runaway bestseller.\u00c2\u00a0 I have a soft spot in my heart for Swedish thrillers and this seems like it won’t disappoint.<\/p>\n The Invention of Hugo Cabret<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0by Brian Selznick.\u00c2\u00a0 The only book not on my wish list.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0The story\u00c2\u00a0of orphan Hugo is\u00c2\u00a0told in over 500 pages of words and pictures.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a Caldecott Medal winner too – how could my husband go wrong with this as a gift for me?<\/p>\n Three Men In a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0by Jerome K. Jerome.\u00c2\u00a0 An English\u00c2\u00a0humor classic\u00c2\u00a0based on the real\u00c2\u00a0adventures of\u00c2\u00a0three (hypochondriac) friends who go on a boat trip.\u00c2\u00a0 The dog and some of the events are embellished but sometimes a good story needs a little embellishment.<\/p>\n The\u00c2\u00a0Eyre Affair<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0by Jasper Fforde.\u00c2\u00a0 This is the first book in the Thursday Next series.\u00c2\u00a0 Set in England in an alternate universe, Thursday Next travels into books to set the stories right and apprehend the criminals that would change literary classics to suit their own purposes.<\/p>\n Mexican\u00c2\u00a0Everyday<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0by Rick Bayless.\u00c2\u00a0 For as long as I can remember I’ve liked to look at the pictures inside cookbooks.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve eaten at one of his restaurants – Frontera -\u00c2\u00a0 a few times when visiting Chicago and have been within arm’s reach of him.\u00c2\u00a0 But I don’t think I appreciated him fully until I saw him on Top Chef Masters<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 I follow him on Twitter and this is the book he recommends for beginning cooks.\u00c2\u00a0 It has pictures of ingredients, lists of pantry items and has some great tips.\u00c2\u00a0 (For example, I never would have thought to make beans in a crock pot!)<\/p>\n Michael Symon’s Live to Cook<\/strong>\u00c2\u00a0by Michael Symon with Michael Ruhlman.\u00c2\u00a0 The first time I heard about Symon was on an episode of No Reservations<\/em> set <\/em>in Cleveland, Ohio.\u00c2\u00a0 It was probably my first time watching Bourdain’s show and it was the first I’d heard of this Ruhlman character.\u00c2\u00a0 (Now I’ve read a few books by Ruhlman and have his cookbook Ratio<\/em>.)\u00c2\u00a0 Michael Ruhlman and Anthony Bourdain went to Symon’s restaurant, Lola.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Symon was the pork obsessed chef with the maniacal high pitched laugh.\u00c2\u00a0 (He’s also become a Food Network Iron Chef since the original airing of No Reservations<\/em>.)\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I knew I had to make a pilgrimage to Lola.\u00c2\u00a0 And I’ve been there twice so far and loved both visits.\u00c2\u00a0 My husband always gets the beef cheek pieorgies and I was able to track down the pierogie dough recipe but now I have the recipe for the entire dish.\u00c2\u00a0 Mu-ha-ha!\u00c2\u00a0 (Now I just have to find a local butcher that will provide me with beef cheeks!)<\/p>\n So\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 what books came in your mailbox?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A big thank you to Marcia at The Printed Page for hosting Mailbox Monday.\u00c2\u00a0 From now until the end of January 2009, Marcia is donating 50 cents to Book Wish Foundation’s holiday campaign for every link left for Mailbox Monday. Here are the books that came into my house last week, courtesy of holiday presents… Continue reading Mailbox Monday – December 28th<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[101],"class_list":["post-2080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-event","tag-mailbox-monday","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t