November December 2021 Book Choice

 Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner was our pre Holiday read

Here is part of the NYT book review July 2019:

“Mrs. Everything” tells the story of two sisters, Jo and Bethie Kaufman, who grow up in Detroit in the 1950s and find their way to Ann Arbor in its hippie heyday, then to stifling suburban Connecticut and finally to a feminist collective in Atlanta. Balancing her signature sense of humor with a new (to her novels) political voice, Weiner tells the story of the women’s rights movement and the sexual awakening of a woman coming of age at a time when being attracted to women would keep her at the fringes of the world she was raised to join. She opts for the safe route, making unimaginable sacrifices along the way, especially on behalf of her sister, who finds the freedom to live the life they both wanted.

Weiner has always been a gifted novelist and a powerful essayist. In “Mrs. Everything,” she brings the best of both worlds to the page, holding up the prism of choice and letting the light shine through from every angle."

Betsy hosted our Holiday Celebration and Cookie exchange at her lovely home and we all celebrated being together in person!

 Cheers to A New Year!

December Book Group Choice

 Because of COVID and the health restrictions we were unable to have our annual Holiday cookie exchange and dinner. We set up a recipe exchange to share favorites but we all missed the joyfulness of face to face visiting and laughing. Our year wraps up with a Zoom discussion of our December book choice was interesting and engaging. This Alternative History novel by Ben H. Winters gave us a lot to talk about. 

Below is a brief part of the book review from NPR 2016: 

"Underground Airlines" imagines that the Civil War never happened. Rather, Lincoln was assassinated before he took office. And in an act of compromise, some states were allowed to maintain slavery. Those slave states, known as the Hard Four, consist in the present day of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the reunited Carolinas. They're demarcated from the rest of the U.S. by heavily patrolled borders.

The other states in the Union have agreed that any slave or person bound to labor, as they're called, must be returned to the corporate plantation from which they've escaped. That's where Victor, the anti-hero of this noir-ish novel, comes in. Victor is a bounty hunter working for the U.S. Marshals Service. He's adept at infiltrating abolitionist groups and retrieving runaways because he's black himself. Or rather, as Victor precisely tells us, he's moderate charcoal with brass highlights, which is one of the 172 varietals of African-American skin tone delineated in the U.S. Marshals Service field guide.

When the novel opens, Victor is sitting in a diner in Indianapolis with a Catholic priest who's suspected of running a rescue cell of what's called the Underground Airlines..." 

The link to our Recipe exchange

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MKgxfP8Bi-xygIrG7aBx0hfKqsbD197lER8rAhPdPEI/edit#heading=h.dp0tsojjrvjr 

Jane Hastings

Sour Cream Fudge 1984 Better Homes and Gardens

1 1/2 C sugar

2/3 C dairy sour cream

1/2 C butter

8 ounces white chocolate (approx. 1 1/3 C)

1 tsp vanilla

Walnuts or Pecans optional

Butter 8x8x2 baking pan and set aside

Butter sides of heavy 2 Quart saucepan

In saucepan combine sugar, sour cream and butter

Cook over medium high heat to boiling stirring with

a wooden spoon constantly.

Clip candy thermometer to side of pan

( you don’t have to use a candy thermometer)

Reduce heat to medium stir occasionally.

Mixture should boil at a moderate rate over the entire surface.

Set syrup to 238 degrees or softball stage

• -if you are not using a candy thermometer you test the syrup by

• dropping small amounts into cool water, 

• when it forms a softball shape it is ready.

When ready, remove from heat and stir in white chocolate and vanilla,

add nuts or top with nuts

(nuts optional)

stir until smooth and creamy.

Pour into prepared pan

(I like to keep this pan a little warm to add the mixture)

Score the candy while still warm.

After it cools store tightly covered.

Suzi Byrd

Scotch Shortbread

½ lb. butter

½ cup powdered sugar

2 cups flour

¼ tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. Cream butter and gradually add sugar. Set aside.

2. Mix flour and salt together and add to the first mixture. Combine well.

3. Turn dough out onto a lightly greased or lined cookie sheet.

4. Pat down or roll to ¼ inch thickness. Prick across the dough with a fork.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned around the edges.

6. While still hot, cut shortbread into squares with a sharp knife,

7. then remove cookies to a rack to cool completely.

This dough can also be rolled out and cut into shapes prior to baking.

It can also be used as a tart crust.

 

Molly McClure

Holiday Puppy Chow

 

Ingredients Needed:

 

9 cups of Chex (any kind)

1 bag of chocolate chips (11.5 oz.)

1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)

1/2 cup of peanut butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Large Paper bag

M&M’s (any variety)

 

Directions:

Start by measuring out the cereal and place it in a large

brown paper bag (grocery store bag).  In a medium, microwave safe bowl,

add chocolate chips, peanut butter, butter and vanilla extract. 

Begin by heating on high for 1 minute.  Take out and stir. 

Repeat in 30 second increments until the mixture is melted and smooth.

 

This is the fun part.  Dump in the brown paper bag that contains the cereal. 

Go ahead, I promise, it will be OK! Dump in the chocolate mixture and shake it! 

Shake, shake, shake!

 

Next open the bag and add the powdered sugar.  Shake it again. 

Next lay out on a sheet pan to cool. 

 

Molly McClure

Fabulous Five-Minute Fudge Wreath

 

Ingredients

 

1 bag semisweet chocolate morsels (12 ounces) or peanut butter morsels

9 ounces butterscotch morsels (3/4 of a 12 ounce bag) or white chocolate morsels

1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 ounces)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 can or package of walnut halves (8 ounces) or pecans, almonds, peanuts

1/2 cup currants (a couple handfuls) or raisins

8-inch cake pan, lightly greased with softened butter

Candied red and green cherries, for garnish (optional)

 

Serves 32 (2 pounds)

Preparation

 

Place a heavy pot on the stove and pre-heat it over low heat.

Add chocolate and butterscotch morsels and milk and stir until morsels

are melted and milk is combined. Save the empty condensed milk can.

Stir in the vanilla and remove the fudge from heat.

Add the nuts and currants and stir in immediately.

 

Cover the empty condensed milk can with plastic wrap

and center it in the greased cake pan.

Spoon fudge into pan around can, making sure to center the can if it drifts.

 

The fudge will set up almost immediately. Garnish can only be added in the

first minute or two that the fudge is in the pan, so work quickly.

Decorate your wreath with "holly" made from

cut candied red and green cherries.

A wreath left plain can be garnished with a pretty fabric bow when serving.

 

Chill covered in the refrigerator.

Slice the fudge very thin when ready to serve – a little goes a long way!

Alayna MooreWeathers

Italian Panettone

1) Put on a warm outer layer, grab your purse, and head to Trader Joe’s. 

You’ll be glad you bundled up because it’s likely you’ll be waiting in a line outside.

2) Once inside, head toward the main incap facing the double doors

(the one nearest the fruit).

3) There will be plenty of panettone from which to choose.

Selecting one to your liking will be easy. 

4) Pay the friendly clerk then be on your way.

5) In the event of a ridiculously long line to enter the store (you be the judge)

don’t even bother parking.

Steer your vehicle in an easterly direction along Folsom Blvd.

6) Drive to Corti Brothers.

7) Repeat steps two through four.

8) When you arrive home with your Italian treat, warn your husband

against tearing into it. Inform him that this one is being shared with your book club pals.

Beth Kennedy

Not a cookie but it’s still good :) 

Cranberry Orange Bread 

For the bread:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup granulated sugar

Zest of 1 large orange

¾ cup buttermilk

½ cup canola or vegetable oil

2 large eggs slightly beaten

1 tablespoon fresh orange juice

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup fresh cranberries roughly chopped

For the orange glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 ½ tablespoons fresh orange juice

1 teaspoon orange zest

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray a 8 ½ x 4 ½ loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. In a small bowl,

combine sugar and orange zest. Rub together with your fingers until fragrant.

Whisk into the flour mixture. Set aside.

In a separate medium bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, orange juice, and vanilla.

Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined. Fold in the cranberries.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 70-75 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. If your loaf starts to get too brown

drape a piece of foil over the top to finish baking.

I did this during the last 10 minutes of the baking time.

Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack and cool for 15 minutes.

Loosen the sides of the bread with a knife. Carefully remove loaf from pan.

Let cool completely on wire rack.

While the bread is cooling, make the orange glaze. In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar,

orange juice, and orange zest. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the bread. 

Cut and serve 

December Cookie exchange 2019

And another Beehive year wraps up with our annual Holiday Cookie exchange, this year hosted by Suzi. Our book choice was perfect for the season of giving...One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. 

Here is what NPR book review had to say: 

Poet, short-story writer and novelist Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni cut her teeth listening to her grandfather tell tales from the ancient Indian epics — the Ramayana and Mahabharata — by lantern light in his Bengali village. This storytelling legacy shines brightly in her entrancing new novel, One Amazing Thing, in which nine people in the passport office in the basement of the Indian Consulate in San Francisco are yoked together by fate when an earthquakes hits.

Trapped strangers are transformed into a chorus of Scheherazades, offering up tales of loss and love, and betrayal and redemption, to illuminate the gathering darkness.

November December 2018 Book Choice and Cookie Exchange

We wrapped up the Beehive year with the fiction based on fact book:
Before we were yours by Lisa Wingate
Here is part of the Huffington Post 2017 book review:

The book is written from two viewpoints, The first takes place in the present and centers on Avery Stafford. She is the daughter of a politician and has been raised to be obedient to the family’s needs and wishes. Her father is embroiled in a re-election campaign and so she has headed home to South Carolina to work with him. She is also there to be groomed as his successor. 


While there she meets a woman named May Crandall, an elderly lady who somehow has a link to Avery’s grandmother Judy. Her curiosity is piqued so she asks her grandmother about the relationship. Judy however is suffering from Alzheimer’s and can’t respond clearly to the questions. Therefore Avery decides to look into her grandmother’s past and when she does secrets become unlocked. They lead to a murky situation concerning orphans and their adoptive parents. 


The other viewpoint belongs to a twelve year old girl named Rill. The time is 1939 and the place is Memphis, Tennessee. Rill lives in a boat on the river and helps take care of her four younger siblings. Her parents do the best they can for their children but life is hard. When Rill’s mother and father are at the hospital awaiting the birth of a new baby, Rill and her sisters and brother are gathered up by the “authorities” and taken to an orphanage of sorts. 

It is a rarity for an author to create a book with two central stories told side by side and not have one overshadow the other. Lisa Wingate has the talent to present this brutal tale tenderly. She is able to get readers into the heads of both Avery and Rill and make their goals crystal clear. Lisa Wingate has the talent to present this brutal tale tenderly. She is able to get readers into the heads of both Avery and Rill and make their goals crystal clear. 

Betsy hosted the dinner and sweet treat exchange at her lovely vila. 

End of year cookie exchange and book dinner 2014

And another year comes to a close. We have read some great books this year, traveling around the world and through time. Our end of the year book is The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. Suzi hosted the dinner in her charming holiday decorated cottage, with comfortable chairs, pillows and books galore! Lots of interesting discussions on what you would would do if you could relive your life, what choices would you make, how would you do things different and why? The discussion was lively, the soups/salads were delicious and the treats oh so yummy. It was a most gay and delightful way to say farewell to 2014 and welcome in the new year and new reading.

Holiday Cookie Exchange and Book Club dinner

In December we met at Betsy lovely home in Elk Grove to discuss Dead End in Norvelt and to share delicous Holiday Cookies. Yes, it is the annual cookie exchange!
The book is actually a young adult book about the summer vacation in a small town that is slowly dying and how a young boy makes new friends, learns a bit about history and deals with his parents.
 " Melding the entirely true and the wildly fictional, Dead End in Norvelt is a novel about an incredible two months for a kid named Jack Gantos, whose plans for vacation excitement are shot down when he is "grounded for life" by his feuding parents, and whose nose spews bad blood at every little shock he gets. "

 The book was pretty good and an easy read. We like something easy for December but this might have been a little too easy. We discussed the characters and the action. I would say overall all it got mixed reviews. Fun and fast but not exciting enough to hold our attention. The real excitment of the evening was the company and the delicious cookies. As usual, everyone out-did themselves and we had a ton of cookies to choose from. Betsy made her delicious vegetarian minestone soup, bread and cheese. Plus, Judy brought a salad. Beth did her annual coffee tasting with Starbucks Christmas Blend. We left there full and happy. We decided on our next 6 books! Nice Job everyone
. January- Death comes to Pemberly- recommended by Suzi
February- The Holy and the unbroken; Leonard Cohn, Jeff Buckley and the unlikely ascent of Hallelujah- recommended by Rory
March- March recommended by Beth
April- Songs of Willow Frost- recommended by Lori
May- Mr Pemumbras 24 hour bookstore- recommended by Molly
June- Behind the Beautiful Forevers- recommended by Jane.
It's going to be a great 2014 !

Coffee tasting

2012 Holiday Cookie Exchange

The Beehive ladies ended the year with their now traditional holiday cookie exchange hosted by Betsy at her storybook Christmas tree filled home of sparkle and tinsel. We dined together on homemade minestrone soup, salad and bread. After a most lively book conversation we recessed to the kitchen and family room to enjoy sweet treats as well as more stories and laughter. This party like gathering is a lovely way to welcome the holiday season and say good-bye to another year all while making plans for the next series of reading adventures.