Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

As a father with a daughter so loves to read, I am always looking for quality books with strong female characters and books with good value for my daughter to read.

When I saw the Wonder Woman book I was intrigued because of the character.  From my youth of reading comic books and watching the TV series (go Lynda Carter) I remembers how strong the character of WW was.




I love this story by Leigh Bardugo of how Diana, became Wonder Woman. But it's not just about her being Wonder Woman, but making decisions that were difficult to make in order to save a mortal, not just a mortal but a Warbinger.

The story covers all spectrum from being action packed to making choices in life that's big picture choices and friendship.

I highly recommend this book for girls/woman seeking a book that showcase woman as strong, not only physically, but mentally and emotionally.  Woman who are not afraid to risk it all for the betterment of the world.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

The Grand Central Market Cookbook by Adele Yellin and Kevin West

Ask any Angelenos about the Grand Central Market (note, not Grand Central Station) and most people will have some type of fond memory of frequenting GCM.

Having been in LA for over 20 years, I have to say that the GCM is to LA what Street Food vendors are to Singapore.  The Grand Central Market is a vital part of LA, a link to the past as well as a view of the future.

For those who are not familiar with the Grand Central Market, it's in the heart of downtown LA and are filled with produce and food vendors of all ethnicity.  I think in simpler times, it served a lot of the community with it's produce and food, but recently as downtown as gentrified, some has part of the market as also gentrified.  Whether that's good or bad, that's not for me to say, there are different points of view for that. That is a discussion for another time.

The GCM,  still have a mix of old time food vendors as well as food vendors gears more toward foodies.  There are some delicious food that are available and cater to all ethnicity groups.

If you live in LA, this book is for you. There is a good recap of history of the Grand Central Market, from it's beginning to where it is today.  It's a great read of one man's vision, Ira Yellin for GCM and how his widow wife has the great foresight that in order for GCM, it must adapt to the changes in it's environment.  Great pictures, past and present.  And most of all, recipes from some of the current food vendors.

I like how they broke the book out into different sections:
Breakfast
Tacocs, Etc
Carbs
Happy Hour
Meat & Fish
Veg
Sweets

Plus an index of recipes based on the vendors. I like how the recipes have been adapted to be used for home cooks.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

Daring to Hope by Katie Davis Majors; Foreword by Ann Voskamp

This book about Katie Majors, who gave up her life in the US to move to Uganda and then founded an organization and then along with her husband adopted thirteen girls from Uganda.

This book explores the her journey of being a mother to these girls and how tragedy called her to ask God, "Are you there God?"  "What is happening?" "Why are you not here?"

It's a story about faith and grappling with our faith and God during times when it's so hard and lonely. When things does not make any sense.

But in the end, hope in God sees Katie and her family through these times.  It's a good book, uplifting yet realistic about faith journey with God.



Author Info

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

The Essential Instant Pot Cookbook by Coco Morante

So I got my wife the Instant Pot (we call it InstaPot) after all our friends rave about this wonderful device.  At first I was thinking, why do we need another appliance, and a pressure cooker at that.  Is it really a time saver that everyone one raves about.

Well, after having this for the past six months, I can tell you it's such a great appliance.  My wife uses this at least once a week and has made many great dishes with it.

When I saw The Essential Instant Pot Cookbook, I knew I had to get it.  It would be great to expand our recipes for the Instapot.

In reviewing this book I like how this book is separated out into different sections, like breakfast, vegetables, grains, meat, dessert. The recipes appear to be very simple, using the functions of the IP, like saute instead of a separate pan/pot.

This is a good primer on the IP, with the beginning section on how to use or make better use of the IP.

However, I wish there were more recipes in the book, especially for the breakfast, though that section was skimpy.  Also, would like more pictures of the dishes in the book.

Otherwise, I would recommend this book to someone who want to expand their recipe collection for the instapot.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review

Rewordable by Team Rewordable.

One of the great things as my kids get older, we can start introducing games to our family nights.  It started off with UNO, then Bananagrams, and progressed to more adult games like Risk and Ticket to Ride.

Our kids love to play word games so it was great for us to see the game Rewordable by Team Rewordable.


This word game is great for teaching my kids about new words and vocabulary.  The players get cards that are fragments of a word and you can either form your own words or add onto existing words from another player to steal their points.

Here is more info about this game
More information

It's fast paced and really fun, even for our 6 year old (with help of his mother).  For those who love Scrabble and Bananagram, this game is up your alley. Warning if you play for kids just make sur ey you are careful of the words you make up. 😀

I would highly recommend this game, not only because it's fun but it's also educational in teaching kids about building their vocabulary.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

Magna Art - Mark Crilley

When I saw this book, I had to have this book for my daughter. She has recently got hooked onto magna books and love drawing the characters in the book.

















Maybe it's because I'm an old ma but I can't figure out the appeal of magna but my kids love it. This book is great because it give a background of the characters in the book and the creative idea behind the character.  That is somewhat interesting.

I like the fact that Mark goes through different style of drawing these characters to help the readers understand and for those who want to pursue a creative aspect of this art form, insight on how each character is conceived.  My daughter likes this book but she wished that it included some instructions on how to draw some of the Magna characters. But that is probably for another book.

For a fan of Magna, especially one that likes to understand the background stories of Magna characters, this book is a must.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Food52 Ice Cream and Friends by Editors of Food52

Food52 is a website that started by foodies who love food and to eat.

They have come out with this cookbook all about ice cream.  What's not to love about a book dedicated to ice cream??







Like their website, this book is visually appealing, the photography is great, the recipes are easy to make, and I really like the that fact of being able to make their ice cream without a ice cream maker.

There are just so many variations; it's like thinking out of the box which I love.  You have to willing to go in with an open mind that ice cream flavors are more than just vanilla, chocolate, rocky road, etc.

You can experiment with lemon grass, peanut butter, cayenne pepper, and even grilled watermelon.

Warning: If you are averse to whole milk, sugar, heavy cream and milk chocolate, this book is not for you.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

We Stood Upon Stars - Roger W. Thompson

If you love the outdoors and you love God, this book is for you.  This book is a collection of essays by the authors of the various places he has travelled through the West.  Not only is it a travelling memoir but Roger wraps his travel with God listening and finding God.




More information about the book

It's cool that he is able to incorporate God in his travels and how he views the outdoors.  This is often taken for granted or overlooked the vast and marvelous creation of God.

This books makes me want to travel and follow the path or my own path to explore and see the world and marvel upon God's creation.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Dinner by Melissa Clark

I have ready some of Melissa Clark's column in NYT. I've enjoyed her columns and recipes as well as the videos she produces.








More Information about the Book

When I saw this book, I was intrigued because it's dinner and for our family, dinners can be a whirlwind. Melissa sets out to address that good and healthy dinner can be made without using a slew of dishes or ingredients.

I like how she structure this book by main ingredients and having chicken come first. In our household, chicken is the meat we eat the most. Then she goes into meat/pork, then salad, vegetables grains and even a section on tofu.  How California is that!

I perused this book and as she promised, all the recipes are one pot/pan which I like and because she covers different items, you can make multiple recipes from her book for a dinner.  I really like the grains sections because she goes into rice bowls, not just with rice but with quinoa, brown rice, farro, etc.

The pictures, as you would expect are stunning but not for all the recipes.  I found most ingredients are each to obtain but pomegrante molasses, didn't even know there was such a thing.

I would highly recommend this book to those who are looking for new options for dinner yet not having to slave over the stove for dinner.

 I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.