Happy New Year, friends! May 2022 be a year of hope and joy for you and those that you love. I, for one, will be content with time to read and at least one snow in NYC. Below is the usual round-up of books & a recipe — I hope you find something that intrigues you.
Take care,
Holly
Bookshelf
Reads in December
Our Show Me the Women read was A’Lelia Bundle’s biography of her great-great-grandmother, Madam C.J. Walker, titled On Her Own Ground. Born as Sarah Breedlove to formally enslaved parents, Madam Walker went on to sell hair growth products around the country, eventually becoming the first self-made woman millionaire in the United States. She leveraged her expanding wealth and influence to uplift the Black community, contributing to anti-lynching efforts and Black business development. I have not read many full-fledged biographies and learned that the format is not one of my favorites (I find memoir more interesting), but nevertheless, it was fascinating to follow the life of such a cultural icon that has not been readily celebrated in modern-day reflections on the time period. The author did a good job of covering Madam Walker’s flaws as well as triumphs.
I picked up Cygnet because of the endorsement on the cover from Bernardine Evaristo, author of one of my favorite books of 2020 (Girl, Woman, Other). It’s a short, punchy book that follows an unnamed teenage narrator who is stranded on an island off the coast of New Hampshire at a separatist community of retirees who call themselves the Wrinklies. Her grandmother has passed away and her parents cannot be reached, so the residents have reluctantly agreed to let her stay. Cygnet is character-driven and atmospheric, with reflections on generational distrust, identity, and hope.
At the end of the year, I was looking for a Christmas-y book that wasn’t saccharine or trite, and something drew me to Claire Keegan’s new novel, Small Things Like These. Set in the few days leading up to and immediately after Christmas in a small Irish town, this brief book reads like a parable featuring an ordinary man confronting injustice and exploring his own courage. Keegan is a masterful storyteller, using each word to evoke feeling and drive the story. I’m very glad to have picked it up.
Finally, I wanted to point one last time to my 2021 Best Of list for WORD. They were compiled in November, so a couple didn’t make it on, but it’s fairly representative.
For regular posts & reviews, follow along at @fromhollysbookshelf and in my Bookshop storefront. For my monthly staff picks, visit my WORD page.
*Note: Links listed above are to Bookshop, where I'm an affiliate. I make a small commission off any purchases using those links, and Bookshop uses its profits to support local bookstores. If you have a favorite indie shop, please purchase from them instead!
Kitchen
We are squarely in soup season, so enjoy this favorite from Date Night In.
Roasted Green Pozole with Chicken
From Ashley Rodriguez’s Date Night In | Makes 2 servings
Ingredients
• 1/2 cup salted pepitas
• 1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 10 oz tomatillos (~4-5 medium size), peeled & quartered
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 1 jalapeño pepper, halved and seeded
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 4 boneless chicken thighs, thinly sliced
• 1 15-oz can hominy, drained & rinsed
Directions
Grind the pepitas and cumin seeds in a spice grinder, blender, or mortar & pestle.
Add 1 Tbsp oil to a large pot over medium-high heat. When hot, add the tomatillos, garlic, onion, jalapeño, and a pinch of salt to the pot. Roast in the pan for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are charred, caramelized in parts, and tender. Carefully transfer to a food processor or blender and process with 1/4 cup cilantro and 1 tsp salt.
Add 1 Tbsp oil to the pot over medium heat. Return the purée to the pot and cook, stirring frequently, for 5-7 minutes, until thickened. Scrape up the brown bits on the bottom of the pot. Stir in the ground pepitas & cumin seeds, along with the oregano and 1 cup of the stock. Bring to a simmer, then add the remaining stock, the chicken, and the hominy. Let simmer, mostly covered, for 20 minutes.
Stir in the remaining cilantro. Taste & adjust seasonings. Serve with your desired toppings (radishes, sliced avocado, shopped cilantro, pepitas, lime wedges, diced onion, crumbled Cojita, sour cream, tortilla chips… etc!).
Note: Can be made 1-3 days in advance and, in fact, the flavor develops even more with a rest in the fridge.
For snippets of my home cooking with occasional tips & recipes, follow along at @fromhollyskitchen.
That’s all this time! I don’t have a robust backlog of links to share, so I’m going to just sign off here. Wishing you a wonderful January. See you in a few weeks.