The Dutch House! And a Dutch Baby Pancake

I'm really starting the year on a high note!    I've finished 5 books this year so far and 2 of them I gave 5 stars to.   Last year I only gave 5 stars to 2 books for the entire year. !  I'm hoping it is a sign of things to come and this year will be full of great books.
I finished up the Dutch house a couple of weeks ago.  I adore Ann Patchett <3  .   I read Bel Canto years ago, read Commonwealth in 2017 and read Truth and Beauty maybe 12 years ago.  All were so good that I couldn't wait for this new book.  It did not disappoint.
The Dutch House is the story of a brother and sister who grew up in the Dutch House.  Their mother left them because she could not stand the house and their father ends up marrying a terrible woman who is obsessed with the house.  The story is told by the brother and takes us through their life over the next 50 years.  The house has a hold on them.  Their step mother throws them out when their father dies and they are left to start over. They can't leave the house so they keep going back to it.   It is a story of the bond between the siblings and the baggage they carry because of their mother, the house and their father.  It is just wonderful.  I thought about Danny and Maeve long after reading the last page.  Not sure it ended the way I wanted it to but the ending was the right ending.    So good.  Go read it!  NOW!
So, I made a Dutch Baby pancake.  It just felt like the right thing and to be honest, I had never made a dutch baby before.  So easy and delicious.

that's a lot of butter!  

Dutch Baby pancake
I used my blender to combine the ingredients
- 2 cups of milk
-4 eggs
- teaspoon of Vanilla
1 1/3 cup of flour
4-5 Tablespoons of sugar (depends on how sweet you want it)
1 stick of butter

topping - lemon juice and powered sugar

Take a 9X13 baking dish and put the stick of butter in it.  Put it in the oven at 400 degrees

Combine other ingredients in a blender.  Take the pan out when the butter is bubbling and not burned.
Poor the batter into the baking dish and cook for about 20-25 minutes.  You want the middle set.
I put lemon juice and powdered sugar on it but you could do strawberry's or blueberry's or even syrup.
nice eggy pancake!

the finished product! 

The World that We Knew- Alice Hoffman . Kugel, Potato and Vegetable

I adore Alice Hoffman!  I had read 13 books by her and just finished number 14.  The World that We Knew is so wonderful and that I  read it in 3 days.  Once I started it was hard to put down.  I love the magical realism she weaves in the books and in this case it was a "Golem" , a mystical Jewish creature.   The store is told from the view point of the major characters- Lea , the young girl whose mother sends off to France to save her from the Nazi's.  Ava, the golem created to save Lea.   A creature made of clay with no soul but starts to feel love and sadness.  And finally Ettie, the Rabbi's daughter who creates the golem and is then on the run .  She joins the French resistance and waits to become a fighter.   The book is sad and lovely and wonderful.  Of course there are tough parts because this is a WW2 book and you know there will be lots of death.  But the Golem adds such an interesting twist as she starts to become more human and develops  a wonderful  connection with a Heron.   There are so many other memorable characters that you want to know about each of them.   Loved this book so much.  I gave it 5 stars!  ★★★★★

I have always had a great love for the Jewish religion and culture.  (Some of you might know my story of pretending to be Jewish in high school)  I think it started with reading the All of a Kind Family series as a child.   It is a series about 5 girls growing up in NYC at the turn of the century.  They are Jewish and you learn about their holiday's and over the course of 5 books you watch them grow up and love them.   I highly recommend these books to anyone with a young person in your life and even if you don't, I think adults will enjoy them.

I decided to make Kugel in honor of the book.  I actually made 2 kinds of Kugel.  One is a Cheesy Potato Kugel.  It turned out pretty good!   I posting the link to the recipe below.  Next time I would change 2 things-  Less garlic  and more cheese.  Besides that it was good.
I also made a Vegetable Kugel with Caramelized Leeks.  This one was good but I didn't love it.  It has leeks, sweet potato and zucchini.   I liked it but once again I thought it had too much garlic in it.  I also just didn't find it super flavorful.   I couldn't find Matzo Meal in the store so just used bread crumbs.   I think I would double the bread crumbs and cut the garlic. 
Both recipes are below. 
I had planned to make Chocolate Babka but I didn't realize that it needed to rise overnight and I waited to start mid-day.   I think that will have to wait for another day!

Cheesy Potato Kugel

Vegetable Kugel

Social media and Books!

Lot's of cool stuff happening in the world of Social Media.
I follow about 50 different book Instagram pages.  Some have blogs attached and some don't.
But 2 of them are doing a theme of #fedbybooks .   Share a food memoir, post about a cookbook, share food you've made inspired by a novel or any variation you can think of with books and food.  That is right up my alley!  Of course there are giveaways but I'm just excited to see what folks post.
The 2 instagramers are  @thebookishcookier  and @because.my.mother.read   Both great instagramers . 
the @ardentbiblio is featuring a different country each month and challenging folks to read books translated from that country.  January was Japan and February is France.  I didn't participate in January but looking to pick up something for February.
And finally, I have my Very Hungry Reader Instagram account.  called @Veryhungryreader   .  I'm committed to posting more now that I've gone public with friends and family that this exist so stay tuned!     Woohoo!  8 followers and I only know one of them :)