Friday Favorites - Favorite Poem

***This post is part of a new series called Friday Favorites – every Friday I will release a new Friday Favorites topic.  Participation is easy, just link up to the latest Friday Favorites post and let us know in the comments that you’re participating so we can all check out your favorites.  Next week’s Friday Favorites topic will be “your favorite thing(s) about blogging”.  ***

My favorite poem is this one by Emily Dickinson:

If I can stop one heart from breaking;

I shall not live in vain;

If I can ease one life the aching,

Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin

Unto his next again,

I shall not live in vain.

I have loved this poem from the very first time I read it as a teenager.  I’ve had an ongoing fascination with Emily Dickinson and reading about her just makes me want to read more. One of the things I love about her work is that she seems to say so much with very few words. To me, this poem is a sort of motto for living.  It sums up what I believe is a good way to try to live, and she does it in 41 words.  That’s all.  Forty-one words.  I think that’s impressive. 

I think the thought of living in vain, or trying not to live in vain, resonates with people.  We’re only given a relatively short amount of time in the grand scheme of things, and none of it is guaranteed, so I think it helps to be aware of how we want to live.  It makes me think about things like whether or not anything that I do will help to make the world a little better place. 

I think this poem also speaks to the value of small things; stopping one heart from breaking, or easing the aching of one life.  To me, it says that helping just one person matters.  Small things matter.  We don’t have to solve the world’s problems not to live in vain, we just have to help in some small way.

I also think the poem is the perfect poem for people involved in animal rescue, which if you’ve visited this blog much, you know is important to me.  The photo is of a brick that is part of the walk-way to our no-kill shelter.  I asked for donations to them for my 30^th birthday, and my Mother-In-Law purchased a brick for me to have engraved.  I chose parts of this poem because I love it so much and because I thought it was appropriate for animal rescue.

Animal rescue is about easing the aching of lives, and sometimes it’s one fur kid’s life at a time.  The part about helping one fainting robin unto his nest again really resonates with me when it comes to animal rescue because so much of it is helping on fur kid at a time into a better life.   Sometimes you have to focus really hard on the one life that is being saved because you’ll go crazy if you think about the failures.  I think this poem says that’s alright. 

Pampered Chef Garlic Press Review

***I’ve decided to start reviewing some products that I really like and think others might like too, and the ones that I wish someone had warned me away from.  Please note that I am not any kind of affiliate for these products.  Any links provided are just for your convenience.  ***

I ended up with my Pampered Chef garlic press about two years ago and it quickly became one of my favorite kitchen tools.  We love, love, love garlic, so any tool that makes cooking with garlic easier is a definite win.  The garlic press is priced at $16.50 on the Pampered Chef website, which is usually more than I want to pay for a tool that only does one job, but with as much garlic as we consume it gets a lot of use. 

The garlic press is dishwasher safe, which is a huge plus.  Hubby and I aren’t fans of hand washing dishes when we’re going to be running the dishwasher anyway.  I never did figure out whether or not the tool (it looks like the My Little Pony brushes) that came with it to scoop the skin out is dishwasher safe, so I don’t use it.  It’s a pain to clean and I don’t want to put it in the dishwasher without knowing for sure that it’s okay to.  I usually have to chop vegetables as well when I’m using garlic, so I just use the flat side of the knife blade to scrape the garlic off of the press and the point to scoop out the skin.   It may not be ideal, but it works for me.

I know some people argue that a garlic press isn’t a kitchen tool you need, and they’re right – you can peel and chop your garlic.  But, I do think it makes cooking faster and easier for me.  I do a lot of dinners in the slow cooker, and it makes the morning slow cooker prep before work go a little faster, and I don’t have to worry about my hands smelling like garlic all day long.  So, even in a small kitchen, I feel like the garlic press earns its keep and its drawer space. 

9-11: Twelve Years Later – A Dozen Reasons to Thank Our Emergency Services Workers

Can you believe it has been 12 years since the 9-11 attacks?  Time certainly marches on.  Once again, I debated whether or not to post anything today.  It seems that so much has already been said, by people far more eloquent than I am.  But then I thought about everything the emergency services workers did that day. 

It seems that every year on this day we think about the first responders and all that they did and sacrificed, and then we move on to taking them for granted for another 364 days.  So here are a dozen reasons to thank our emergency services workers, including firefighters, police officers, 911 operators, paramedics, and EMTs, every day:

1.        They’re always there when we need them.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a holiday or the middle of the night.  They are there, and they will come when needed.

2.       911 operators sort through frantically delivered, sometimes woefully inaccurate and inadequate information to send the help we need.  And they remain calm while doing this.

3.       Firefighters will go into a place that everyone else is leaving.  When everyone’s instinct is to run, they go in to save lives and control damage.

4.       Paramedics and EMTs go straight into bad situations to help injured people, once again when most people want to leave, they go in to help.

5.       Police officers deal with the side of human nature that many of us prefer not to think about.  They see it up close and personal, and they make things a little safer for the rest of us.

6.       Often, these people continue to do their jobs, and go above and beyond, in spite of budget cuts that make their jobs harder.

7.       Many of us know what to expect on a given day at work and are offered a certain amount of safety.  They aren’t, but they still do the job.

8.       Some emergency services workers are volunteers.  They’re doing these things with no pay, on their time off.  Enough said.

9.       Even the paid ones aren’t in it for the money.  Google salaries for some of these positions to see what I mean.

10.   They will deal with something truly horrible, and when most of us would want to hide under the bed with some comfort food, they go back and do it all again tomorrow.

11.   Studies show that because of the schedules they work and the things they deal with, they are far more likely to develop stress related issues, including PTSD.  Yet they still do the job.

12.   They are very rarely thanked or recognized for any of this. 

Garlic & Herb Cream Cheese

This has become a favorite at our house.  Bagels are a breakfast staple for weekday mornings, and this garlic and herb cream cheese makes them a little more interesting than just butter or plain cream cheese, but doesn't take any more time in the mornings if I mix a batch up on Sunday night.

Garlic & Herb Cream Cheese

8 oz cream cheese, softened

½ tsp Italian Seasoning

½ tsp parsley

1 garlic clove, pressed or chopped

¼ tsp basil

¼ tsp onion powder

Combine all ingredients and mix well.  Enjoy on bagels or toast.  Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.  

When the Author Comments On Your Less Than Glowing Review

I don’t review very many books at all.  I read a lot of books and I will almost always rate them on goodreads, but I rarely take the time to write any sort of review.  Part of it is laziness on my part.  I read the book, I rate the book (and make sure it’s added to my books read this year on goodreads because, yes, it matters more than it should to me to reach my goal), and then usually move on to the next book.  I also don’t think reviewing books is necessarily my gift; other people write much more interesting reviews than I typically do, so I usually leave it to them.  Persistence is my gift, so if I read a book that I just know a friend or family member will love I usually just hound them until they read it in an effort to make me go away quietly.  In my defense, they usually like the book.

All of that being said, once in a while I do review a book on goodreads.  There’s not much of a system to my deciding which ones to actually write a review of, but it’s usually for a book that wasn’t what I expected (good or bad) or a case where I thought my rating needed an explanation of sorts. 

Last year hubby and I were in a cookbook book club, and I reviewed a few of the cookbooks we used.  I gave one of them a less than stellar review. 

Now, I’d like to take a moment to throw something out there about books read in any sort of book club.  I’ve noticed that the reactions to the books tend to be strong.  It makes sense to me.  You have a group of people choosing books for the whole group to read; not everyone is going to love every book they read, especially if it’s a book they might not have chosen on their own.  The other side of that is that sometimes you come across an unexpected treasure – a book you never would have picked up on your own, but one that you absolutely love.  So it makes sense to me that the ratings for book club books might not be very middle of the road since it can easily be a book your felt forced to read, or a book you never would have found, but totally rocked your world.  Has anyone else noticed this?

Back to my less than stellar review.  I gave the book two stars, which on goodreads means “it was okay”.  Here’s my review:

I bought this cookbook because it was the one being used for a cookbook book club, otherwise, I probably wouldn't have bought it. I thought it was somewhat over-priced in the grand scheme of available cookbooks. All of the recipes that I made, or tried, were very, very good. However, I have two major issues with this cookbook.

The first problem is with the book itself; it was not designed as a cookbook, it was designed more along the lines of a coffee table book. It's very pretty to look at, but an absolute pain to use. The book doesn't lay flat and the shape is very awkward. It's extremely difficult to follow a recipe when the cookbook won't stay open. I finally ended up copying the last recipe I made, just to have an easier time using it. It seems silly to have to make a copy for yourself from a cookbook you own. There are also some typos in the book. I know that's not a huge deal, but it's not something I was expecting to find in an over-priced cookbook.

The second problem is with the actual recipes; while they are delicious, they're not always very practical for cooking at home. Some of the quantities are basically insane to make at home. It seems like they just put the cafe recipes in the book and didn't reduce or adapt them for cooking at home, even though it's sold as a home cookbook. Sure, sometimes you do need a dish or dessert to feed 10 - 20 people, but not that often. Quite a few of the recipes in this cookbook leave you with much more food than you can possibly consume at home. They don't really seem to lend themselves to being halved either. I also thought that the cookbook doesn't always take into consideration what is available in the average home kitchen; quite a few of the recipes call for unusual sized pans, a standing mixer, food processor, etc. It just seems like some of the kitchen tools it assumed you will have aren't necessarily standard.

Overall, I can't say that this will ever become one of my "go-to" cookbooks. It's just not a good format for someone who actually intends to use it, not just decorate with it, and for the money, there are definitely better cookbooks available.

And now, here’s the author’s recently posted comment:

Thanks for your comments Danielle! The book is a very creative book, where many of the recipes were pulled from my restaurant days. ALthough, I am not the only book that has large quantity recipes. Ina Garten and The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook are very similar her recipes.
I agree totally on the cover of the book, but people also love the look of the book. I am working on changing the cover.
Thank you so much for your comments, they all help!!!

I’ll be honest, I thought it was a little weird.  I don’t think my review was scathing.  It was my honest opinion, and I tried to explain why I didn’t like the cookbook instead of just saying I think there are better cookbooks out there.  I didn’t post anything at all on the author’s website.  I just reviewed the book on goodreads. 

I don’t think the author’s comment is really that bad, but I don’t think it’s entirely appropriate either.  Maybe it’s just me, but it has the feel of having been fired off in a hurry, which is usually a bad idea.  It also seems like it’s aimed at changing my mind when she points to another cookbook that has something I said I didn’t like about hers.  Furthermore, my review was for a finished cookbook, not an advance copy or any sort of pre-release, so I don’t think the part about changing the cover was especially relevant.  That’s how it was published, so I think she needs to deal with the fact that at least one reviewer didn’t like it.

I won’t say that the author’s comment has put me off buying her next cookbook because I probably wouldn’t have anyway based on the first one, but it definitely didn’t make me likely to re-think that decision.  I stand by my review.

I’m just not sure how appropriate it is for authors to comment on reviews like that.  I’ve heard of authors not reading reviews of their work for fear of responding inappropriately.  I can’t help wondering if that’s a better choice than responding even a little defensively to a less than glowing review. 

So what are your thoughts on the author commenting on a less than glowing review?  Have you had an author comment on any of your reviews?