2014 - Book 12

"Divergent" - Illinois

Yes, another winner :) I know this book series is really popular right now, and I can see why . . . it's very interesting. I don't want to give too much away for those who are going to see the movie, or haven't read the book yet, but it's another dystopian society with a pretty awesome heroine, the next "Hunger Games", I guess you could say. I liked the premise of this society better than the "Hunger Games" though. There are essentially five factions with strict rules which you must abide by until you are 16. Then you take an aptitude test to help you see where your true strengths lie, and you are finally asked to choose which faction you will exist in for the rest of your life. They all have different values (knowledge, bravery, selflessness, honesty, or kindness) and operate in very different ways. This book focuses mainly on the Abnegation (selflessness) and Dauntless (bravery) factions and the rising tensions between all of them. I know there are more books in this series, and I might read them, but honestly, getting to know the society and the characters is my favorite part, so reading the rest right now is not my #1 priority. Besides, I have lots of other books on my 50 States of YA list to read yet :)

My one negative about this book is that it was pretty violent and could be scary for the younger audience (there is a lot of discussion of various fears and the author is very good at making it seem so life-life). Other than that though, I have no complaints.

Another thing I liked is that it is set in Chicago-future. I've been to Chicago quite a few times, so I thought it was really interesting to read about the possible futures of places that I know now. Have any of you read this book? What did you think? How was the movie? I would like to see it, but I might be too scared ;)

I also have a few recipes to share this week: lasagna skillet pot pie, and "Death by Chocolate" cake.

The lasagna skillet pot pie was very good, and very easy. Make sure that you get the cinnamon evenly distributed throughout the dish. It adds an interesting flavor, but it's not very good if you get it in large doses. I would recommend this for a fast weeknight meal though.

The "Death by Chocolate" cake was mostly my own invention. I promised to make a friend a cake and he only said that he liked chocolate, so I kind of ran with that and made if full of all kinds of chocolaty goodness that I love. I used this chocolate cake recipe, and the used two of the three cakes to sandwich about a quart of Zanzibar Chocolate Ice Cream (made by Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, quite possibly the best chocolate ice cream in the world). I topped it with chocolate ganache and mini chocolate chips. I just made up my own ganache instead of using the ganache in the recipe. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the finished cake (it wasn't as pretty as I would have liked because the ganache didn't completely cover the sides), but I did use the remaining cake and more ice cream to make a mini version that was quite interesting. It was really good though . . . I highly recommend it :)

Assembling the large cake

The mini half cake

Yum!

That's all for now . . . have a great week :)