Do you have a favorite genre and, if so, what is it?
Can I have 2-ish? First up would have to be sci-fi/fantasy/speculative. I know that’s not exactly a single genre, but some of my favorites really do end up combining, like the Checquy Files (?although the third says the series is now the Rook Files) series, most anything non-horror by P. Djeli Clark, and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series (I’ve read the whole thing), I’ve also been drifting slightly towards the cozy side of things, such as arguably the Murderbot Diaries, most everything by Drew Hayes, or The Kaiju Preservation Society from Scalzi. Number two genre-wise would have to be graphic novels and manga. That’s probably my go-to comfort read. I’m really enjoying Spy x Family, The Apothecary Diaries, and The Ancient Magus Bride right now (all good blends of comedy and drama/suspense, as well as the historical fiction).
Your screen name is CoffeeShopReader. What’s your favorite coffee shop?
There is not single favorite, but I do have favorites in certain places. For example, that handle comes from the fact that I did a significant amount of reading and writing for my post-graduate work in the coffee shops in Milwaukee WI, mostly because my apartment was tiny, internet was not totally reliable, and the last few years I had rude (ie loud) neighbors. Favorite place there would probably have to be the Colectivo (although it was Alterra when it first opened) in Bayview (not only do they have an in-house bakery, but there’s an outdoor rubber ducky slide (open in season).
I was born and raised in and around St. Paul MN, and my favorite there would be the original Dunn Brothers Coffee on Grand Ave in downtown St. Paul, especially because my real favorite, their branch in Roseville near the Rosedale mall closed due to the building owners not renewing a lease (still a tad salty about that and it was years ago). This place roasts all coffee in house, which means every location does its own roasting. In terms of where I currently live in central GA, it seems like there have a been a bunch of new places opening recently so it’s kind of hard to say for sure what my real favorite is at the moment. I definitely go to the Dunkin’ most often, but I don’t read much there (it’s not really set up for extended hanging out). For the local small business side of things (really the only true coffee shops), it’s probably Sweet Eleanor’s which is mostly a bakery but they also have an extensive latte listing and I do have a weakness for fun flavored lattes. They also do a good apple turnover which is the best thing ever done right.
You’ve reviewed several cookbooks for CBR. Do you have one you’d recommend for beginners? What makes that particular one good for beginners?
Ok, so again this is sort of a 2 answer question. When I was a kid, someone gave me a kids cookbook called Kids Cooking: A Very Slightly Messy Manual. I still have it and I made sure that my eldest niece got a copy when she was old enough (around 6-7, I think), and my other sister’s first child will also be getting her own family copy eventually (she’s about 2 ½ right now, so not quite ready for that yet). This book contains probably the best brownie recipe I’ve ever tried (I like them a tad gooey, not the cakey kind), it’s got really fun illustrations, and it has a good mix of really easy things that a kid could do on their own (or nearly so) and more creative things (like a salad recipe which is practically just a list of potential ingredients and the only the broadest instructions for what to do/combine. I definitely remember being proud of working out my own soup recipe from that book; the veggie alphabet soup has recipe but I must have ignored/added to it because I distinctly remember green beans involved and the recipe does not call for them. Anyone learning as a kid/younger adult could benefit from the presentation, the skill level, and the general encouragement to be a little creative. Also, there’s a recipe for (non-edible) play dough, and one for (non-edible) face paint. Who’d pass that up?
For someone starting as a grown-up though, I’d have to say anything by Isa Chandra Moskovitz. I personally started with Vegan with a Vengeance (1st edition) so let’s go with that. Her books are all vegan, but I do think that it’s important to get some confidence, and veggies are less intimidating than meat in a lot of ways, and they are often more forgiving to preparation mistakes. You can still learn most of the basic techniques (including some baking), and get a start on what flavors work with what, and if you can follow directions, you can do well with this book. Ingredient and instruction sets are precise and direct, nothing too complicated or fancy, but almost always good results.
Who is your favorite GBBO contestant and have you tried their cookbook?
This is hard; I think my favorite recent contestant would have to be Janusz and I’ve preordered his book but it’s not due out until later this year. I think that of the season GBBO books that have at least one recipe from everyone from that year, his (2022) is also my favorite on account of Janusz’s cookie recipe in there. Best ginger cookie ever, good spice, perfect texture, etc. From older seasons, I’ve read a handful of Nadiya’s (she’s gone on to publish a handful of cooking and baking books) but I haven’t really tried to cook much from them. No real reason why, just haven’t done it. Ditto for Chetna’s (even did some recipes from a library copy of her vegetarian book); even though I was definitely rooting for both of them during their seasons, their books just haven’t been what I’ve felt the need to buy or hold onto long enough to convince myself I need my own copy (which is when I’ll start trying to work my way through the whole thing).
If you could change the outcome of any one book, what would it be and why?
This is one of those questions where I’m guessing I’ll change my mind about five times, so we’ll just go with my first instinct. Part of me wants to say Harry Potter, because I hated how the final confrontation of the series ended up going; it felt like a cop-out to avoid actually having to deal with the possibility of Harry genuinely dying. Not to mention killing a bunch of other characters in the battle for Hogwarts which we didn’t really even get to see. That said, I’ve since grown out of the series and especially since of how She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named turned out, we’ll move on.
I really enjoyed the first trilogy in V.E. Schwab’s Shades of London series (I have book 4 but haven’t gotten to it yet) but she went and did a pet peeve of mine in book 3; I hate it when the two main characters have good chemistry and then hook up for reasons that have virtually nothing to do with the story; that usually goes on to wreck the story/series. Kell and Lila didn’t totally ruin the conclusion of that trilogy, but it did nothing for their characters or the plot, and should have been left out.
Be sure and return here next month, same bat time, same bat place, for an interview with the biggest fan of Gargoyles that you’ll ever meet, elisamaza76.
Now that you’ve learned all about CoffeeShopReader, head over and see what she’s been reading lately. Or meet other Cannonballers we’ve interviewed recently.
