In March, we read Michael Pollan's This is Your Mind on Plants. The first two chapters were OK but the last one on mescaline didn't seem to fit. We felt the book would have been better if the last chapter was on alcohol. 

At our April 29th meeting, we discussed This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger. We had a great discussion (discussion sheets available here) and everyone enjoyed the book. We felt it was similar (found family, journey, coming of age) to another book we recently read and loved: The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles.

Summary of Vanderbilt: Drawing on never-before-seen documents and told from a unique insider's viewpoint, the CNN anchor tells the story of his legendary family and their remarkable influence.

At yesterday's meeting (March 5th) of the Cookbook Club, the group brought dishes made from Jamie Oliver's One: Simple One-Pan Wonders. We sampled 2 pasta recipes and one dessert. Even though the recipes had few ingredients, we found that there was a bit of a disconnect between what is easily obtainable in the US versus the UK. (We all had to make some substitutions.) Even though these were "one-pan" recipes, we found that we needed to use multiple bowls during the prep process. However, everyone seemed to enjoy the recipes they tried.

We also set the dates/titles of Cookbook Club meetings for the rest of 2024 (all meeting times are 6pm):

Here's the summary: "Award-winning chef Michael Symon delivers more than 120 simple, beyond-tasty dishes for anyone sensitive to inflammation or suffering from autoimmune issues... Start with a 10-day, 30-recipe reset to help you assess what your triggers are (flour, meat, sugar, or dairy). Then, turn the page to discover a whole new collection of creative, healthy, super flavorful dishes, from nutrient-packed smoothies to hearty stews and steak dinners to overnight oats that avoid your trigger ingredients. Readers will find a list of Michael's favorite 30 anti-inflammatory-friendly ingredients to keep in stock and a master ingredient-substitution list so you can make swaps for whatever you already have in the fridge. He also offers advice and recipes for reintroducing ingredients back into your diet."

At our February 26th meeting, we discussed The House of Lincoln by Nancy Horan. Everyone learned something new about Springfield, IL and all would recommend the book.

Book summary: Of all the things humans rely on plants for-- sustenance, beauty, fragrance, flavor, fiber-- surely the most curious is our use of them is to change consciousness: to stimulate or calm, fiddle with or completely alter, the qualities of our mental experience. Pollan dives deep into three plant drugs-- opium, caffeine, and mescaline-- and explores the cultures that have grown up around these drugs. He examines the powerful human attraction to psychoactive plants, and the equally powerful taboos with which we surround them. The result is a unique blend of history, science, memoir-- and participatory journalism--Adapted from jacket.

We had 5 people attend our first cookbook club meeting on January 30th. We read The Mediterranean Dish by Suzy Karadsheh. Everyone brought a different dish so we had a nice variety to taste. Recipes included Very Green Tabbouleh in Lettuce Boats, Savory Roasted Chickpeas, Greek-style Baked Butter Beans, Fasolia with Rice, and Baklava Pumpkin Pie. The pie recipe was from the author's website https://www.themediterraneandish.com/ 

We discussed how useful we found the cookbook, how the design contributed to successful recipes, and why each recipe was chosen. The group seems to like simple easy-to-find ingredients. They would like to continue meeting every other month. Suggestions for future cookbooks included: Skinnytaste, Pioneer Woman, and an anti-inflammatory diet.

Our next cookbook club will be featuring One by Jamie Oliver. Books can be picked up from the front desk and we plan to meet on March 5th at 6pm. Please bring a dish from the book to share and suggestions for future titles!

At our January 29th meeting, we discussed the Air Raid Book Club by Annie Lyons. This was a book everyone who attended felt they could recommend to almost anyone. We had tea and "biscuits" for refreshments.