I put a hold on a Kindle copy of Goodbye Coast from my local library yesterday and the next thing I knew it was ready to borrow. Stayed up late reading it. One gets great recommendations here on HO.
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Yes, I have watched it. My sister & I had them on our âmust doâ list last fall, but covid keeps putting the kibosh on our plans.
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I usually pre-order them. I was so excited to see he had a new book published and a little disappointed it wouldnât include I.Q. , but itâs probably time to move on. At least it will have some food!
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I finished Goodbye Coastal. Others may have different opinions but I was a bit disappointed. Too many unlikeable characters and too violent for me.
I have the IQ book to read on my Kindle shelf.
I donât know which one you mean, but I enjoyed all of them. I think there are about 5 IQ books. I am not into violence, but there be violence.
Well, it is of the hard boiled genre, and an iteration of Marlowe set in the present, so the unsavory people maybe resonate more disturbingly. We thought the author convincingly depicted Emmetâs and Marloweâs inner workings â we understood who they are.
Itâs the first one in the series. I plan to start reading it tonight.
From Science Fiction Author Robert Heinleinâs YA novel
Farmer in the Sky
Listen to this: For breakfast we had corn cakes with syrup and real butter, little sausages, real ham, strawberries with cream so thick I didnât know what it was, tea, all the milk you could drink, tomato juice, honeydew melon, eggsâas many eggs as you wanted.
There was an open sugar bowl, too, but the salt shaker had a little sign on it: DONâT WASTE THE SALT.
There wasnât any coffee, which I wouldnât have noticed if George had not asked for it. There were other things missing, too, although I certainly didnât notice it at the time. No tree fruits, for exampleâno apples, no pears, no oranges. But who cares when you can get strawberries and watermelon and pineapples and such? There were no tree nuts, too, but there were peanuts to burn.
Anything made out of wheat flour was a luxury, but you donât miss it at first.
Lunch was choice of corn chowder or jellied consommĂ©, cheese soufflĂ, fried chicken, corned beef and cabbage, hominy grits with syrup, egg plant au gratin, little pearl onions scalloped with cucumbers, baked stuffed tomatoes, sweet potato surprise, German-fried Irish potatoes, tossed endive, coleslaw with sour cream, pineapple and cottage cheese with lettuce. Then there was peppermint ice cream, angel berry pie, frozen egg nog, raspberry ice, and three kinds of puddingâbut I didnât do too well on the desserts. I had tried to try everything, taking a little of this and a dab of that, and by the time desserts came along I was short on space. I guess I ate too much.
The cooking wasnât fancy, about like Scout camp, but the food was so good you couldnât ruin it. The service reminded me of camp, tooâqueuing up for servings, no table cloths, no napkins. And the dishes had to be washed; you couldnât throw them away or burn themâthey were imported from Earth and worth their weight in uranium
(The hero had just come from a food rationed Earth.)
Title widely available-- not in KU though
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We started IQ, and almost right off the bat â page 94 â youâll remember that Mr. Ide showed his food and cooking show chops:
âIsaiah stirred the mystery mud while Dodson chopped some vegetables and smashed a few garlic cloves with the back of a knife. âIâm a bad muthafucka in the kitchen,â Dodson said. âDonât even have to be soud food. My lasagna is of the planet. You ever seen that show Iron Chef? Itâs like a contest, got these dudes called Iron Chefs. They like the Michael Jordans of the kitchen. They go up against thee other chefs from around the world, and they some bad muthafuckas too. So then they give âem a secret ingredient like ham hocks or corn on the cob and they gotta make four or five dishes with it. Cats is bad ass too. Them dudes make all kinds of crazy shit. Bobby Flay? That motherfucker can turn a soup bone into a birthday cake. I need to get on that show. I believe I could give Bobby a run for his money.â
âDodson poured hot chicken broth into the roux, added the chicken, some cut-up chorizo, the garlic, a few spices, and what looked to be a dried leaf. Then he put in some rice, measuring the water by eye. . . .â
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Thatâs a great piece of writing, will have to read the books.
I do not, but I will be so happy to go back. It does sound vaguely familiar and I do remember the food trucks.
Iâll stop there.
Enjoy!
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Learned about this partnership this morning. Ordered the book.
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Food truck appears in second IQ book Righteous at page 44.
D&Dâs DOWNHOME BUTTERMILK FRIED CHICKEN.
Page 47:
"They sat on a bus bench, Isaiah with his three-piece that Deronda insisted he pay for, not even a discount.
"âThis is really good,â Isaiah said. âWhose recipeâ?
"'Derondaâs grandmother. See how crispy it is? After you got the coating on you let it sit âtil it gets doughy.â
ââIâll remember that,â Isaiah said, knowing he never made anything more complicated than a steak.â
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From the third Joe Ide IQ book, Smoke, the food writing starts at page 67 where a mother in-law attempts to teach the reprobate son in-law how to be couth when he shows up for his first effort at respectable employment:
âThey were in a booth at Dennyâs looking over the menus. Gloria said, âWhen youâre with people from the office, donât order anything thatâs awkward to put in your mouth, makes your hands greasy or drips down your chin. Hamburgers, fried chicken, gravy, onion rings, burritos, tacos, French fries, maple syrup, wings, spaghetti or anything with sauce â and, oh yes, donât order anything with the words hot, garlic, spicy, super, Southwest, ultimate, jalapenos or skillet in it, and never, ever order dessert.â
âThe server arrived. Dodson said, âCould I please have a bowl of dry oatmeal , an empty glass of water, a side of Handi-Wips and a hazmat suit? And could I get that oatmeal medium rare? Thank you so much.â Gloria said grilled chicken was a good choice. It came with zucchini and rice pilaf. Dodson had a few bites and wondered where the flavor went. Maybe they left it in the kitchen. Gloria didnât let up.â
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I just finished The Goodby Coast, thoroughly enjoyed it. Iâll be adding Joe Ide to my list. Iâve just started Kellermanâs City of the Dead. Iâm sure there will be food in it.
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You are talking Jonathan Kellerman, correct? He does a great job writing about food in LA! Have really enjoyed his books.
Oh yeah! That was good. That MIL is a âmessâ!
Yes, I just counted, I have read all 50 of his books. This will be 51. I read Faye and Jesse too.
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Quite the family business! Do you have a favorite by Jonathan? Mine is the Butcherâs Theatre, set in Jerusalem.
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Nope, I canât even remember what the last one I read was about. A senior personâs brain can only retain so much information.
