Book Reviews (No 3, I think)

I have read three books I want to talk about since I have last done a review.

 1.  Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo
This is a book that was written by a woman who spent a lot of time in the slums of India writing about what she saw.  I heard an interview with the author on Fresh Air and learned that she lived there and tried to write about what she saw without changing the situation by being there.  The focus of the story is a family that lives in the slum and their main source of income is collecting and sorting garbage.  It is an interesting book if you want a look into the lives of people in a slum of India and I found it an interesting read.  I will say that it wasn't amazing, I tried to think about why I didn't think so and I think it had to do with the ending.  The book just sort of fizzles out and doesn't really create a lasting memory.  If you like slice of life books it is worth a read.

2.  Fifty Shades of Gray (don't make fun of me) by E.L. James
So I did it.  I read the dirty book that everyone is talking about.  I read it because I usually fall for pop culture trends, everyone was talking about it, and because it had a lot of sex in it (I am drawn to stuff like that, I am going to blame it on my sheltered childhood {my mom would fast forward the 'sex' scene in Titanic}).  I found the book highly addictive but all in all pretty bad.  I thought the writing was poor and very basic.  The sex scenes weren't that good and I didn't like how the main female character was betrayed.  It seemed she had never even been on a date before, then went on to have a varsity level S & M relationship with this extremely rich man.  It just seemed like an adult fairy tale.  That being said I will probably read the other two books :).

3.  The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Okay, back to serious books again.  This book takes place in Nazi Germany during WWII.  The book is narrated by death and tells the story of a girl who is brought to a foster home because her mother can no longer afford to care for her and her brother.  It tells of her relationship with her new parents, the trials and triumphs of learning to read, a friendship slowly turning to romance with the boy next door, all with the backdrop of Nazi Germany.  The book is told in a really unique way because death is the narrator.  I think it would be a really good pick for the next book club (hint hint Olympia friends!!). 

Until next time - happy reading!!

Farm #6 and Lemon Honey Recipe

So where I left off last I had just gotten done with my first solo tramping trip.  Since then I have spent the last couple of weeks at a very lovely farm on the east coast of the North Island.  Farm #6 was a vineyard that also had a veggie garden, various fruit trees, olive trees, plenty of chooks (chickens), a turkey, some highland cattle, and some lovely pet dogs and cats.  I had a really good two weeks - it was fun to learn a little bit about growing grapes and it was really fun to drink wine every night.  Most of the time at the farm I was working on the veggie garden, which was nice.  We were getting ready for spring by digging beds and planting early veggies.  It is quite a warm climate that doesn't get any frosts so greens, peas, beans were already in the ground.  We were planting tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers.  I dug about four new beds.  There were four cows there that were supposedly pregnant and about to calve any day now.  But sadly they never had their babies while I was there.  For awhile now I have been saying that I want to milk something and I want to kill something.  I got to milk a cow at my last farm.  And I came really close to killing a chicken at this farm.  So I didn't actually kill a chicken.  I thought I was going to but I thought it would be a good idea to watch it first.  Then do it the next time.  We only ended up killing chickens once so I never got the chance.  Maybe next time.  I did get to see them skinned (one of them), plucked (the other one), and cleaned.  Which was a good thing to learn.  Now it might sound kind of morbid that I wanted to kill something but I want to be able to because I eat meat and because someday I want to have my own animals so I will need to know how to kill and clean them.  Spring has definitely sprung here in New Zealand.  All the animals are having babies and all the trees are flowering.  It is really beautiful.  On a hike I went on with my host we walked through a pasture and saw a cow that was in the middle of calving and one calf that took its first steps trying to get away from us.  As usually I have to apologize for my lack of pictures.  Sometimes I am just not in the mood for taking them.  I hope to make it up to you in recipes and book reviews - hope you enjoy.
I acquired a nice recipe that I really enjoyed while I was there.  It is lemon honey and if you like lemon desserts you will really like this.  I liked to just put it on toast but it would also be really good on pancakes, waffles, or ice cream.  I would recommend halving the recipe to try it your first time.

Lemon Honey Recipe:
Ingredients:
1 and 1/4 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
zest of 1 lemon
220 grams of butter diced (2 sticks)
6 eggs beaten

Process:
Heat sugar, butter, lemon juice and zest over a double boiler until the butter has melted.  Then add the eggs.  Stir until the mixture thickens 3-5 mins (took me more like 8).  Pour into 3 or 4 medium sized sterilized jars.

A batch of lemon honey in front of the vineyard.

The prettiest cat I have ever seen - seriously it was a show cat. 

I never really knew why people liked boxers until I met this dog - so sweet!!

A view from a short hike in the area (east coast of the North Island)

A lovely cafe I stopped at on my way to a new farm.