Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer

I clearly have no idea how to begin this post and I have been staring at the screen for past few minutes for inspiration. That doesn't seem to be working and I am taking the easy way out.

In a line I can say that Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer is one of the riveting book that I have ever read. Archer has a gift for crafting stories with such intricate and complex plot, spanning over years that keeps the reader glued to it till they have turned the last page. He is a genius master story teller without a doubt.

In Kane and Abel, Archer tells your the story of two men, William Kane and Abel Rosnovski. The former is born with a silver spoon and the later is a penniless Polish immigrant. Born on the same date, in opposite sides of the world, they have only one thing in common - ambition and  when fate brings them together at crossroads of life, there is friction of enormous proportion that will do good to none of them.


The story takes the reader through the life of both men, right from the moment they were born and to the point they breathed their last, alternately, and as a reader you will feel torn between the two protagonists. The way the author has intricately woven important historical incidents and happenings in the story, reiterates the fact that only a genius can do it. The unrest in Poland and rest of Europe, the barbarity of the Hitler regime, the World War II, the Great Depression and the rise of America are a constant backdrop in the history and still not for a moment, you will feel subdued. There are so many characters, sub plots and still the story holds together as one.  

Over 60 years and three generations, through war, marriage, fortune, and disaster, Kane and Abel with unconsummated hatred for each other, battle for the success and triumph that only one man can have. It all culminates in to a spell binding saga of ambition, hatred, success, failures and love. Even though you might feel pulled toward one character or the other, the author always have justified the way they act or do things. The end comes as a masterful surprise, which you can expect from a Jeffrey Archer book, but can never guess.


Other than the two main characters, the other ones that stood out for me were Kane's wife - Kate and Florentyna, Abel's daughter. Kate is an epitome of understanding and I loved the way she stood by her husband through thick and thin. Florentyna comes to me as a person who is strong and dares to dream and follow her heart. And it comes as a no surprise to me that she is the main protagonist of the next book of the Kane and Abel series, The Prodigal Daughter (which I have already laid my hands on and can't wait to read).


In a nutshell, it was fantastic read, full of twists and turns that will keep you on the edge, great historical backdrop, well sketched characters, ingenious plot and a jolting ending. It has all elements of an Archer book and if you love his work, you can't miss it. I only wonder why it took me so long to put my hands on it. Kane and Abel was first published in 1979. 

Highly recommended

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Lucky Library Picks # 10

 Another Friday of Lucky Library Picks is here and I have some books to share. I have a good number of books to read and I am somewhat lagging behind in my reading plans. So, I have decided to post my Lucky Library Picks post only once a month. From next month I will post my Lucky Library Picks on the 15th of every month and hopefully the titles that have been sitting for a while on my shelf will be read soon.

This week for Lucky Library Picks I have these two books to share.

One Day by David Nicholls

This book has been on my TBR ever since the movie on this book was released. I didn't watch the movie as I wanted to read the book first. The book revolves around 2 people over a span of 20 years. It is touted as a modern classic.

The Prodigal Daughter by Jeffrey Archer

This is the 2nd book of the Kane and Abel series. I have just finished reading Kane and Abel by the author which I enjoyed very much and I can't wait to this one.

 

 

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Quick ~ Easy ~ No Cook ~ Malai Kulfi

I am a big Kulfi fan and that must be evident from the number of kulfi recipes I have posted on this blog already. And still when I spot a new recipe, I can't help trying it out myself. When I saw this super quick, no cook kulfi recipe in Miss Masala by Mallika Basu, I had to try it out. I was in a great hurry to click it and taste it so, I dipped the kulfi molds in hot water a little longer and hence you can see the liquid oozing out a bit. But, it was every bit delicious..

I had posted this Cardamom Kulfi made the traditional way long time back and it is still my favorite. But given that, sometimes we do not have or want to spend so much time in stirring the milk till it is thickened, I posted this Malai Kulfi that uses condensed milk and needs just  a fraction of time and some cooking. Then I was introduced to Dulce de Leche and couldn't help trying out another variation of kulfi using it and hence Dulce de Leche Malai Kulfi came into picture, it has a slight caramel flavour which i love. It was a no cook recipe as well if you are using stored bought can of Dulce de Leche. But this time this quick malai kulfi is the simplest you can make and it is just a matter of 5 minutes. Of course the freezing time is excluded. So, if you are pressed for time and are craving for kulfi, this could be the answer. I got 6 kulfi (80ml mold size) and freezed the rest in a freezer safe container. The original recipe has crushed pistachio added, but I have omitted it as I like the Malai flavour better.

Ingredients:

400 ml can of evaporated milk

300 ml fresh/double cream

6 tbsp sugar

2 cardamom powdered

Process:

1. Add everything in a blender and whiz until the mixture doubles in volume.

2. Pour the mixture into Kulfi molds and freeze overnight.

3.  Allow the molds to remain outside the refrigerator for 5 minutes and then unmold it or run hot water over the kulfi molds to unmold it even quickly.

Linking it too Beat The Heat and I Am The Star.

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Bhapa Doi ~ Misti Doi ~Sweet Steam Yogurt ~ Bengali delicacy

 

This space has been silent for a few days. Even though I have a number of recipes in my drafts to be shared, I could not bring myself to compose a post. Plain lazy, I have been. Today's recipe comes from Miss Masala- a Cookbook by Mallika Basu. I had reviewed it a few days back after trying a couple of recipes from it.

Bhapa Doi/Misti Doi is a popular Bengali delicacy. It is basically steam sweet yogurt and it often called the Indian cheese cake because of its texture. The traditional recipe can be quite time consuming at it involves thickening the milk by slowly cooking it, setting the yoghurt and then steaming it. Mallika however provides us with a quicker recipe. You will be amazed by the simplicity of the recipe.

Serves 4-6

2 green cardamom pounded
10-12 strands of saffron
1 tbsp whole milk
250 g low fat yogurt
200 ml sweetened condensed milk


Process:
1. Preheat the oven at 190 C
2. Soak the saffron in the milk. Powder the cardamom finely.
3. Beat the yogurt and condensed milk together until smooth and add the powdered cardamom.
4. Fill this mixture into ramekins or a baking dish. Place them in a large baking tray. Fill the tray with enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins or dish. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
5. Spoon the saffron mixture over  it and bake it for another 5 minutes. If you are using a large baking dish, it may take longer. The yogurt mixture should appear set. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate. Serve chilled. Once it is chilled, it sets a little more.

Note: I had over baked it by 10 minutes then what is stated above and the result was nice and firm set yogurt. If you want it less firm, change the baking time accordingly. None the less it will taste good.

I am leaving you with links of this delicacy posted on other food blogs:

Bhapa Doi @ Bong Moms Cookbook

Misti Doi @ Cook Like A Bong

Bhapa Doi @ Indian Food Rocks

Misti Doi @ VeggiBelly

I will be up with a quick kulfi recipe I had tried from Mallika Basu's Book - Quick Indian Cooking, next. Stay tuned. Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks

What do you do when you find yourself in a reader's block (A term coined by me akin to writer's block)? Of late, I was finding reading at a stretch difficult. I was picking a book and abandoned it after turning a few pages and I couldn't read more than a few pages at a stretch. Even though I have a good pile of interesting titles on my shelf, I was wary of picking them up. In such situation, I thought it would be best to pick up a book that I knew would keep me glued. Nicholas Sparks is one author whose books does that to me. Simple language, easy reads and heart touching stories - this combination doesn't go wrong for me. I picked up 'The Rescue' by Nicholas Sparks to get myself in reading mood and the book lived up to my expectation.

The book has all elements of  typical Sparks book - love, relationship, romance, friendship, country life, unexpected dramatic twists. Be prepared to keep a few tissue papers handy. If you have read his books, then you know what I mean.

Here is the blurb from the book, that gives an idea about the storyline, but, let me tell you there is more.

"When confronted by raging fires or deadly accidents, volunteer fireman Taylor McAden feels compelled to take terrifying risks to save lives. But there is one leap of faith Taylor can’t bring himself to make: he can’t fall in love. For all his adult years, Taylor has sought out women who need to be rescued, women he leaves as soon as their crisis is over and the relationship starts to become truly intimate. When a raging storm hits his small Southern town, single mother Denise Holton’s car skids off the road. The young mom is with her four-year-old son Kyle, a boy with severe learning disabilities and for whom she has sacrificed everything. Taylor McAden finds her unconscious and bleeding, but does not find Kyle. When Denise wakes, the chilling truth becomes clear to both of them: Kyle is gone. During the search for Kyle, the connection between Taylor and Denise takes root. Taylor doesn’t know that this rescue will be different from all the others, demanding far more than raw physical courage. It will lead him to the possibility of his own rescue from a life lived without love and will require him to open doors to his past that were slammed shut by pain. This rescue will dare him to live life to the fullest by daring to love."

After reading a little more about the novel on the web, I was surprised to know that the character of Kyle is inspired by Sparks' second son - Ryan. Kyle in the novel has what’s called Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD), which is something akin to “dyslexia of sound.” He didn’t talk because language is jumbled for some reason, though no one knows the reason. The sacrifices her mother, Denise makes for him and the way she strives to make him speak makes you wonder about motherly love. It was more surprising to know that the author and his wife has been through that phase and Denise is a character inspired by her wife in many ways. I would encourage you to read this for know about the inspiration behind this novel.

The novel is not so much about Denise or Kyle but about Taylor McAden. Although, his first entry in the novel is not a hero's but slowly the focus shifts from Denise's life to Taylor. Taylor has his own demons to face and only after a tragic and dramatic incident in his life, he gathers the courage to do so and eventually rescues himself from a life devoid of love and companionship. Apart from some description of fire rescues, which I found uninteresting to go through in detail, this book was an breezy read.

Nicholas Sparks know how to tug the chords of your heart and this book does exactly that. Recommended if you are a Sparks' fan. Read it even if you have not read any of his works.

Linking to R of A-Z challenge.You can see my A-Z Reading Challenge list here.

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