What I Read Last Week... {11.10}

This week, I only had time to finish one book. I decided to start reading a book that's over 1000 pages long. I'm no longer sure why I did that.
Anyways, the book I did finish was:

The Red Leather Diary  by Lily Koppel

If 22-year-old recent Barnard graduate Lily Koppel hadn't been agile enough to climb into a dumpster, Florence Wolfson's red leather diary might have been lost forever. As it was, Koppel rescued it from a sea of steamer trunks, brought it back to her small apartment, and began an immersion that would last for years. Wolfson's journal tracked her adolescent preoccupations and teenage yearnings from 1929 to 1934 so candidly that Koppel couldn't resist trying to track down its author. When she found her, she met a 90-year-old woman who was eager to be reintroduced to her much younger self.

Joining intimate interviews with original diary entries, Koppel reveals the world of a New York teenager obsessed with the state of her soul and her appearance, and muses on the serendipitous chain of events that returned the lost journal to its owner. Evocative and entrancing, The Red Leather Diary re-creates the romance and glitter, sophistication and promise, of 1930s New York, bringing to life the true story of a precocious young woman who dared to follow her dreams.

My take: This is a solid book, for sure. It definitely gives you a glimpse into the life of a young woman in the 1930s, if you're interested in that time period. The only thing is that it seems a little disjointed. I think part of it is because there are essentially two authors: Koppel and Florence Wolfson. Even so, sometimes it feels like Koppel jumps backward and forward in time. That could be on purpose, because the thoughts of adolescent girls aren't exactly coherently organized. In any case, it's only slightly off-putting.

My recommendation: Put it on your reading list, but don't put it at the top of your list.

Jack Frost nipping at my toes

It seems that the cold weather has come a little early this year. The unseasonably low temperatures, combined with my incredibly low tolerance for cold, have left my poor fingers and toes feeling like ice. So, even though it might be a little lame, here are a few of the warm, cozy slippers that I'm loving right now:

Clockwise from top left:
Colorful | Fair Isle Slippers | Forever 21
Fluffy | Dee Dee Slipper | Tory Burch
Cozy | Thermal Slipper | Victoria's Secret
Soft | Striped Flower Slippers | Ann Taylor LOFT
Comfy | Hot Cocoa Slippers | Roxy
Cute | Dream-In-Color Slippers | Anthropologie
Pretty | Lace and Sequin Ballerina | Accessorize
Warm | Cally Slipper | Minnetonka

Hazelnut Madelines. Yeah, they're delicious.

You know those packages of Madeline cookies at Starbucks? They're not bad, considering that they are mass produced and packaged and left there for days before you eat them. But homemade ones are a whole different experience. There are a lot of different versions of madelines, but my favorite recipe (this one) uses hazelnuts. These have a crispier crust and a much lighter inside than the ones at most bakeries, which are usually too dense for my taste. The only possible drawback to these cookies is that you have to have a madeline tin, but it's so worth it, in my opinion.

This recipe is based on one that I got from MarthaStewart.com over ten years ago. Literally. I printed out the recipe, and the date stamp says November 4, 2001.

Madeline Cookies
Yield: 2 dozen

Ingredients:
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts, toasted
1 cup and 3 tablespoons powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
1 stick butter or margarine, plus more melted for buttering pan
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting pan
Pinch of salt
4 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In a small saucepan, melt the stick of butter until it is light amber in color. It's best to use a regular saucepan instead of a nonstick one so you can see the color more easily. 
3. Brush the madeline pan with some of the melted butter (not the browned butter you just made) and dust lightly with some flour.
4. Place the toasted hazelnuts and 1 tablespoon of the powdered sugar in a food processor and process until very fine.
5. Combine the hazelnut-flour mixture, 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, the flour, and the salt in a medium bowl.
6. Add the egg whites and vanilla, and whisk to combine.
7. Add the melted browned butter, and whisk until incorporated.
8. With a tablespoon, fill molds evenly, about three-quarters of the way.
9. Transfer to oven, and bake 13-17 minutes.
10. Cool for 2 minutes, then remove from pan. Cool completely on a rack, ridged side up. Dust cookies with powdered sugar.

C'est magnifique!

ERIN by Erin Fetherston

Erin Fetherston has to be one of my favorite designers. Most of her designs are soft, flowy, pretty, romantic and ethereal. Her offshoot line, ERIN by Erin Fetherston, has an amazing Resort 2012 collection. It's not available yet, as far as I can tell, but it must be coming soon. Not only is this collection beautiful, but it's also much less expensive than her original line. Most pieces will be priced at less than $375. I. Cannot. Wait.

So, what do you think? Anyone love these as much as I do?

All images from InStyle.com

Polka-Dot Trench Coat

I normally do not like rain very much. I don't like getting wet. I don't like being cold. Most of all, I love the sunshine. So in most cases, when I wake up to a gray, cloudy, rainy day, I'm not a happy camper. Unless, of course, I have a new trench coat to wear! I bought this adorable trench this summer in Munich, and I've been dying to wear it. The polka dots are lavender against an oyster background, with taupe satin lining and accents. These pictures aren't very good. I decided to write this post at the last minute, and didn't have time to take very good pictures or to edit them much, but oh well.

Have a great weekend!

What I Read Last Week...

As if I don't have enough hobbies, I also love to read. So much so that I spent a total of 7 years studying literature. Nowadays, I am always reading at least 3 books. I have 3 categories for my books: books read for fun, books read for literary merit, and books read for posterity. Each week, I'll show the books that I finished the previous week and "grade" them according to my wildly biased opinions.

Hollywood by Gore Vidal

It is 1917, and President Woodrow Wilson is about to lead the country into the Great War in Europe. In California, a new industry is born that will irreversibly transform America. Caroline Sanford, the alluring heroine of Empire, discovers the power of moving pictures to manipulate reality as she vaults to screen stardom under the name of Emma Traxler. Just as Caroline must balance her two lives—West Coast movie star and East Coast newspaper publisher and senator's mistress—so too must America balance its two power centers: Hollywood and Washington.

My take: I'm not going to lie. I only read this book because Gore Vidal is a famous author and I liked the cover. I thought it moved really slowly and he must have assumed the the reader had read the previous novels in the series, which I had not.

My recommendation: It's not a bad book, but if you're going to read this, read the other novels in the series first.
The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford

The Radletts of Alconleigh occupy the heights of genteel eccentricity, from terrifying Lord Alconleigh (who, like Mitford's father, used to hunt his children with bloodhounds when foxes were not available), to his gentle wife, Sadie, their wayward daughter Linda, and the other six lively Radlett children. Mitford's wickedly funny prose follows these characters through misguided marriages and dramatic love affairs, as the shadow of World War II begins to close in on their rapidly vanishing world.

My take: Nancy Mitford is one of my all-time favorite authors. I have almost every book she ever wrote, including a bunch of first editions. That's how much I like her writing. This is probably the 5th time I've read these books, and I found it as funny and nostalgic as ever.

My recommendation: Definitely read it if you like humor and sarcasm.
Last, but not least...
I'm always looking for new books to read, even though I literally have a stack of 20 waiting for me at home. Tell me what you think I should read next!

I love this cookbook!

Let me just say, I love to cook. Love it. I started cooking with my mom when I was 7, and I haven't stopped. There are times when I want to be innovative and experimental and come up with my own recipes. Those days are called weekends. But during the week, I do NOT have time for that. I run a business that requires long hours, plus I have a 10-year-old who doesn't see the point of doing homework. Or chores. Or listening to his parents in general.

I am a huge of The New Best Recipe, which I use all the time. So I snapped this up when I saw it at the bookstore a couple of weeks ago, and I've used it practically every weekday since.

Everything that I've made from here has been easy and delicious, even according to my son, who has annoyingly  surprisingly discriminating tastebuds. The recipes really have taken only 30 minutes to prepare. For the non-cooks out there, each recipe contains tips to save time. For instance, it might tell you to brown the chicken, but advise you to chop the onions while the chicken is browning. There are also tips that even seasoned cooks might not know. It recommended using refrigerated pizza dough (I buy mine from Trader Joe's) to make fresh rolls instead of buying the brown-and-serve variety. Worked great!

I know this cookbook isn't for everyone. But I highly recommend it if you don't have a lot of time and are even remotely interested in cooking.