bread & wine, a love letter to life around the table, with recipes by
shauna niequist
Dedicated: To my boys- Aaron, Haney, and Mac
This is such an emotional book and I had a hard time putting it down.
Shauna Niequist has written a book that goes right to the heart. bread
& wine is about family, friendship, God, love, tears, loss and recipes.
I find in this book that God does not make anyone perfect. It is OK to cry
and pray and talk to friends about something sad. Keep the tissues handy,
because there are lots of happy moments but some sad ones also.
I am writing the first line of each chapter because it tells the story of
the chapter.
Use it for a book club or church group. Give it as a gift. I suggest this
book for a bridal shower for the bride; she will find that some things are not
worth the worry.
The book has some wonderful recipes that are easy to make. Shauna uses a
lot of balsamic vinegar, goat cheese and makes good use of her Dutch oven. There
is a recipe at most of the end of the chapters. Many are gluten free for Aaron,
her husband.
There are four parts in the book for club members to use for a four-week
project.
I give bread & wine a five star.
I received a complimentary copy from booksneeze.com to read and review. The
opinions are my own.
Shauna, I said the Hail Mary for you.
author's notes (page 9)
I am not a recipe writer, for the most part.
on bread and wine (page 11)
I'm a bread person-crusty, golden baguette; hearty, grainy, seeded loaves;
thin, crispy pizza crust-all of it.
Part One (page 19)
"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the
first thing you say to yourself"
my mom's blueberry crisp (page 21)
My mom's dad is Irish, a storyteller and twinkling-eyed joker, and her mom
is German.
what the table is for (page 28)
The light is fading, the sky bleaching from blue to white and then warming
to the softest blush pink, like ballet tights, like a rosewater macaroon.
hungry (page 34 )
Years ago, when I worked at a church in Grand Rapids, I drove in early on
Sunday mornings, when 28th Street was still silent and gray, as the pale morning
sun rose over the pawn shops and used-car dealerships.
start where you are (page 40)
My friend Laura's New Year's resolutions is "start where you are."
go-to-risotto (page 49)
Risotto is my go-to entertaining meal.
enough (page 55)
Something extraordinary happened to me today.
the chopping block (page 60)
Last winter I went to a weeklong culinary boot camp at The Chopping Block,
a recreational cooking school on the city.
on tea and pajamas (page 68)
During a three-month period after my last book came out, I traveled to
twenty-two cities to speak at forty-four events
run (page 74)
I have long considered that there are two kinds of people in the world:
people who can run marathons and people who can't.
hummingbird (page 83)
Aaron and I stopped "trying" to have a baby, because it was making me crazy
and breaking my heart.
Part Two (page 91)
You say grace before meals.
delicious everywhere (page 93)
One of the best parts of my childhood was traveling with my dad.
jazz and curry (page 100)
I'm not really a recipe girl.
open the door (page 105)
It seems to me that women typically experience shame about two things:
their bodies and their homes.
baking cookies with batman (page 112)
The year after we were married, just after we moved to Grand Rapids,
Aaron's body stopped healing itself. slowly at first, and then all at
once.
morning, noon, and night (page 118)
Winter turned to spring just when we were sure it never would.
what my mother taught me (page 123)
One of the most important things my mom taught me- or, really, is teaching
me over and over even now- is that the best is yet to come.
cupcake in the oven (page 128)
I'm a big fan of breaking the rules, so for Blaine and Margaret's baby
shower, we bypassed the traditional route-ladies, fruit salad, passing around
little outfits- in favor of a Friday night dinner party for couples.
feasting and fasting (page 133)
A few summers ago, after a season of vacation and celebration, I began a
fast.
love and enchiladas (page 139)
One of the best parts about our six years in Grand Rapids was the little
band of friends we made, something like a tribe, very much like a family.
meeting mac (page 146)
Last year we spent Easter at the lake with my family, heading over after
the holiday services at church were finished.
Part Three (page 151)
God never meant man to be a purely spiritual creature.
hail mary (page 153)
Right from the beginning, Mac was a dream- a snuggler, easy sleeper, a good
eater.
magical white bean soup (page 161)
I love food that connects us to good memories, that tells us we're safe,
that brings us back to sweeter times on hard days.
present over perfect (page 166)
Here we go again, Christmastime.
the bass player's birthday (page 173)
Every band should have a bass player like Nathan, and every person should
have a friend like Nathan.
russian dolls (page 178)
There's something about our boys right now, about this split-second moment
in time, that I want to hold in my heart forever and ever.
on scrambled eggs and doing hard things (page 184)
After Mac was born, my neighbor Lindsay brought over a pan of enchiladas
and Jessie made an amazing pumpkin apple cake.
happy new year (page 190)
I've always had visions of a really great New Year's Eve party-fancy and
fun, glamorous and stylish, with flutes of champagne and kisses at
midnight.
swimming in silence (page 197)
In mid-February, which in Chicago is about the time you begin despairing
that it will never be warm again, Ryan and Emily invited us to join them in
Mexico- seven adults and five kids, a swimming pool right at the house.
Part Four (page 205)
Food and cooking are among the richest subjects in the world.
what money cant's buy (page 207)
On a clear, cool Saturday morning, the Cooking Club girls arrived at Cases
house.
last-minute lunch party (page 213)
Our old friend Shane came to stay with us this spring, and the next morning
after church, we had a last-minute lunch party for him and for the fiends who
wanted to see him while he was in town.
city love (page 218)
Aaron and I have been ships in the night all week- a wedding, a trip, a
recording project.
better late than never (page 223)
I promise we intended to dedicate Henry as a baby.
swimsuit, ready or not (page 229)
I'm a summer girl
the mayor of the river (page 234)
My brother, Todd, and I are both summer babies-his birthday in July and
mine in August-so when I think about our birthdays, I always think about South
Haven and about the lake.
pont neuf (page 241)
I started learning French when I was seven, and went to Paris for the first
time when I was twelve.
take this bread (page 248)
I haven't baked bread since college, when I went through a brief but
intense baguette phase, baking pan after pan of slim loaves, wrapping them in
dish towels while they are still hot, cradling them like babies in the crook of
my are, arriving in friends' house and neighbors' with still-warm, crusty,
golden bread.
come to the table (page 256)
This is what I want you to do: I want you to tell someone you love them,
and dinner's at six.
Appendix (page 259)
I love you like a fat kid loves cake.
four-week book club/cooking club discussion guide (page 261)
Bread & Wine is divided into four parts, so you can invite a group of
friends (or your small group or book club or supper club) to go through this
Four-Week Book Club/Cooking Club Discussion Guide.
four-week book club/cooking club menus (page 264)
(listed are the menus for each part)
on weeknight cooking, with pantry list (page 265)
my best entertaining tips, with sample menus (page 273)
recommended reading (page 280)
recipe index (page 281)
recipe index by category (page 282)
acknowledgements ( These are not in alphabetical. order. A nice long
list.)
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From the site of Aviva Orr:
When fifteen-year-old Heather Jane Bell is diagnosed with alopecia and her hair starts falling out in clumps, she wants nothing more than to escape her home in London and disappear off the face of the earth.
Heather gets her wish when her concerned parents send her to stay with her great-aunt in West Yorkshire. But shortly after she arrives, she becomes lost on the moors and is swept through the mist back to the year 1833. There she encounters fifteen-year-old Emily Brontë and is given refuge in the Brontë Parsonage.
Unaware of her host family’s genius and future fame, Heather struggles to cope with alopecia amongst strangers in a world completely foreign to her. While Heather finds comfort and strength in her growing friendship with Emily and in the embrace of the close-knit Brontë family, her emotions are stretched to the limit when she falls for Emily’s brilliant but troubled brother, Branwell.
Will Heather return to the comforts and conveniences of the twenty-first century? Or will she choose love and remain in the harsh world of nineteenth-century Haworth?
My review:
The Mist on Bronte Moor by Aviva Orr
I enjoyed this book about a 15 year old student who has alopecia, loss of hair. Heather Jane Bell does not want to go back to school so her parents send her to live with her Great-Aunt Elspeth in West Yorkshire. Heather takes a train from London to live in her new home.
Heather is taken back in time when she enters a mist. She is "found" by Emily and taken to the Bronte home. It takes Heather awhile to find she has gone back to the 19th century to 1833. The clothing is different as well as the home which is where there is no electricity and no indoor plumbing. The Brontes take her in and give her dress and food. Mr. Bronte said he would find her family or send her to an orphanage. He has to go out of town and Heather stays in the house.
The family consists of Mr. Bronte, Branwell, Emily, Charlotte, Anne and Mr. Bronte's sister, Elizabeth. The housekeeper is Tabby, or Tabitha, as Elizabeth Bronte calls her. Emily tells Heather her sisters are buried in the churchyard and "my mother lies in the church under the stone floor". They live in the town of Haworth.
I really liked this book as it has a lot of history about the time period and the Brontes. I did not realize there was a brother called, Branwell who had a problem with lanthanum.
Read to enjoy and go back in to another time era. A good read for young people as the facts hold true such as children dying at a young age. I especially liked it when Tabby had Heather wash her own muddy clothes.
At the beginning of each chapter there is part of a poem written by E. J. Bronte.
Chapter 7:
" And first and hour of mournful musing,
And then a gush of bitter tears,
And then a dreary calm diffusing
Its deadly mist o'er joys and cares:"
Chapter 10:
"Will the day be bright or cloudy?
Sweetly has its dawn begun;
But the heaven may shake with thunder
Ere the setting of the sun"
On a personal note about loss of hair. As an adult who has lost most of her of hair on top of her head because of a thyroid condition and unhappy, I can imagine a 15 year old and how devastated she would be.
I downloaded this book from Amazon. I give it a 5 star because it held my interest. Not a very complicated book but a good read. No bad language.
You may find Aviva Orr at www.avivaorr.com
Leona Olson
www.mnleona.blogspot.com (