Cannonball Read 18

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Join the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge—Now Underway!   

Why wait for the holidays to celebrate?

Everyday Celebrations From Scratch by Maria Provenzano

by Leave a Comment

Maria Provenzano shares a plethora of recipes and crafts to make every meal a special occasion. Since I graduated from college, I have gotten rather into cooking – it’s soothing, and it introduces some variety in my diet. I love trying new recipes, especially if I like them enough that I can add them to my weekly rotations. I definitely found some recipes that I liked in this book, but I doubt the entire thing would suit me. The book is divided up into five […]

Not as much bang for the bosh

Bosh! On a Budget by Henry Firth, Ian Theasby

by 1 Comment

Several years ago (pre-pandemic) I’d been to the UK for business, and gotten hooked on the Tesco (major grocery chain over there) lunch combo (sandwich, chips, and drink) with a specific sandwich: the Ploughman’s lunch. Basically, that’s a cheese sandwich with tomato, lettuce, and a very specific pickle-type spread. That spread is commonly available in the UK but not so much in the US, and a few weeks after getting home, I had a major craving for that sandwich. I found a recipe that’s quite […]

Unpretentious Mexican food book

Provecho by Edgar Castrejon

by Leave a Comment

I have cooked my way through a lot of international cuisine cookbooks, including India, Japan, Italy, Thailand, the UK. I think I may have found one for Mexico. Provecho has been on several “best of” lists, so I figured that it might be worth checking out. It’s surprisingly straightforward in terms of recipes and ingredients for being both vegan and Mexican. A lot books like this have some sort of introduction to key ingredients sections, but what sets this one apart is both how recognizable […]

Come for the Recipes, but maybe not the Puns

Husbands That Cook by Ryan Alvarez, Adam Merrin

by Leave a Comment

Husbands That Cook caught my attention first with the title, and then with the notice that it was a vegetarian cookbook. The husbands of the title are Ryan and Matt (apparently they have a blog but that’s outside my pop culture knowledge) who pre-pandemic seem to have been big into trying out all the various local (LA-ish) restaurants; a lot of the recipes are international, but not always the same old, which is nice. Yes, there’s the expected shakshuka, bibimbap, samosas, ramen, and a tagine, […]

All Style No Substance

Beautiful Platters & Delicious Boards by Cedar Mill Press

by 1 Comment

Beautiful Platters & Delicious Boards looks really pretty, as in it has many attractive and colorful picture. I had a good time with my New Year’s experiment with this trend (using a different cookbook), and I was hoping for some more ideas as March is not just birthday month, but also this year, it’s a decade-change. This requires more extensive food-fun. That said, it turns out, this was not the book for that. It’s all a big lie. This book has quite a few recipes […]

“When has cake ever been for hunger? It’s for flavor, and, in this case, comfort.”

Snacking Cakes by Yossy Arefi

by 4 Comments

Okay, my first review of 2022 was a complete bummer, so it’s time for an almost literal palate cleanser, namely the cookbook that’s been the most useful to me in the past six months. Whether you are a fairly novice baker or an seasoned kitchen pro who just likes adding new tricks to your arsenal, Snacking Cakes has something to offer you. The premise is simple: these are all one-bowl cake recipes, and from the start of mixing to when you take them out of the novel, […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo