I finished the book Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey last Saturday — I think it took me a week to catch my breath. This story was basically non-stop action. It a story about a man, Stark, who is seeking revenge on the people who killed his girlfriend after these same people sent Stark to Hell. Yep, Stark was a live human living in Hell. He had to escape Hell and return to Earth to track down the magicians who sent him Downtown. The story follows Stark’s investigation into where the responsible parties can now be found after living in Hell for 11 years.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I could not put it down because it moves so quickly from one scene to the next. One reason may be because the book is not arranged in chapters; it is just one continuous story. It is full of magic mixed together with Hellions and Angels, God and the Devil, and Stark’s vendetta against his old “friends”. The language used in the book is quite colorful. The descriptions of other worldly locations provide depth to the story. I could almost see one of the Whedon brothers turning this book into a movie.

I highly recommend it.

Italian Classics by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated magazine.

The recipe is very simple and doesn’t require too many pieces of equipment. It is basically made with flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and anise seed. The equipment required is an oven, a mixing bowl, whisk, and baking sheet with parchment paper. Biscotti are twice-baked Italian cookies. Once the batter is mixed, it is formed into a long loaf shape and baked. It is then sliced into individual pieces and baked again. This recipe doesn’t use butter, so the cookies should last a couple weeks if stored in an airtight container.

They are a relatively hard biscuit. They are perfect dunked in my favorite tea. The lemon and anise flavors are a unique taste that goes well with the English Breakfast tea that I prefer. The cookies have a nice amount of sweetness too. I would make this recipe again.