Fleur Fine Books opens a page in Port
Neches
Dale L. LaFleur Jr. is partial to science fiction, but Fleur Fine Books offers
a bit of everything, from a reception area full of cookbooks to shelves of
mysteries, romances and spiritual writings. It’s a fun, new stop at 1720
Magnolia Ave. Book lovers, you’ll be impressed by how many books they fit on
those shelves.
Now,
here are some books that have come across my desk as publishers promote holiday
offerings:
“Cajuns
and Other Characters”
Journalist
Jim Bradshaw keeps history fun with pecan-throwing ghosts, soaped up hangings
and tales of crawfish-eating, dance-loving, politicking people of Louisiana.
“Cajuns and Other Characters” is his latest Pelican Press release, which is
peppered with Port Arthur references. These are column-style quick reads to
keep by your nightstand. You might read about your cousins! You’re for sure
gonna laugh, cher. Bradshaw was an editor of the Lafayette (La.) Advertiser and
writes C’est Vrai columns for your entertainment, and no doubt his own.
“Poke
a Stick at it: Unexpected True Stories”
Accordions,
air-dried laundry and Oklahoma spiders are some topics on which Connie Cronley
claims knowledge. I imagine she comes home with a column from every venture, no
matter if it’s the tattoos she’s seen on a grocery run to the ruffles a mess of
painters endured as she portrait posed. This woman is funny. I say again, she
is funny. Her collection of musings will have you wanting to read “one more”
before you get up from your chair.
What
else would one expect from a woman who collected so many little black dresses
they became an art exhibit?
Whole
Cooking and Nutrition: An Everyday Superfoods Approach to Planning, cooking and
eating with Diabetes
That
title is just about longer than some of the amazing recipes. Try this on
yogurt, cereal, salad or the book’s oven-roasted figs:
Everyday
Cinnamon Walnut Crumble
1
cup chopped walnuts
2
teaspoons ground cinnamon
Combine
the ingredients in a food processor, pulsing to form a ‘crumble’ texture.
Store
in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 1 month.
Recipe
credited to “©2016 by the American
Diabetes Association, Inc.® To order this book, please call 1-800-232-6733 or
order online at ShopDiabetes.org.”
Katie
Cavuto may still have to convince the newly-diagnosed that cooking up healthy
super foods like grilled lamb chops and lemony barley pilaf is easy and worth
it. This one is another example where the title seems nearly as long as the
easy instructions. She doesn’t have to convince me. This book is gourmet all
the way and I’m with her: once you have the good stuff you won’t know why you
ever went for the “fake” supermarket stuff. Natural versions of real food are
appealing, fragrant, flavorful and much better for you than salty, sugary
packaged “stuff.”
“I
Modify Ikea”
I’d
heard about Ikea years before I got to the one in the Katy area, and now it’s a regular
stop for a warehouse full of ideas. The first opened in Sweden in 1958. This
book reports it’s the world’s largest store now, offering “flatpack” furniture,
meaning, you assemble it yourself. The lines are basic and functional and you
can imagine worldwide residents connecting because they organize their kitchen
ware and socks in similar formats.
Elyse
Major and Charlotte Rivers turn Ikea shelving on its side, add pipe legs and
adapt a custom look to stylish storage. Make it your own with these ideas from
attaching napkin holders to the wall to keep your mail handy to painting on
those basic white pillows. It’s easy to make something good even better. Way
better. These women have turn spice racks into bathroom shelving and used
straws – drinking straws – to brighten a child’s room. Get going.
“Fly
Dogs”
Oh,
the moment you know that mouth grab for the flying disc will set just right,
the victory of clearing the ladder, the beach sand kicking up from your paws…
It’s a dog’s life, and Todd Berger is watching you. These dogs in air are
“euphoric,” as the book of photographs promotes. Viewers can’t help but smile
with them. I passed this book around a dinner party and everybody had their
favorites. So many breeds, so many jumps. I love the looks of pure joy the pups
mastered and the skill with which Berger captured it all. Hope he got a treat
after all that running around with his camera.
Activity
Books: “Just Imagine and Play”
On
the Farm and On the Site are books with press outs and stickers that take
children from chick hatching and a corn maze to traffic cones and brick piles.
One has tractors and horses and the other has dirt piles and wrenches. It’s fun
and fresh and plays just as well with your grandkids as these sort of books did
when you were young. Visit quartoknows.com for more.
darraghcastillo@icooud.com
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