Book Review- Charred: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery

Charred: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery by G.P. Gottlieb is a rather contemporary mystery. It takes place when COVID reigned, and people had to deal with lockdowns and more. Kids were being schooled by computer screens, and the Whipped and Sipped Café couldn't let customers inside to eat. Food and drinks had to be ordered online or by phone and delivered to their customers waiting outside the door.

Aline, the cafe's owner, manages a lot more socializing than most during the lockdown. Besides working with the café staff and customers, she has her children and father to take care of. In addition to that she's also in a serious relationship with Frank, a homicide detective and is also very involved in the lives of a few of her neighbors. There is one very Jewish character in Charred, Aline's best friend and Whipped and Sipped Café pastry chef Ruthie Blum Rosen, who is a Sabbath observer and vegan, too. All of the pastry she makes is vegan.

Charred is the third in a series of murder mysteries by G.P. Gottlieb featuring the same characters, and I'd love to read the others, too. An added bonus to the series is the inclusion of recipes prepared in the Whipped and Sipped Café.

As the story begins, Aline starts her day by doing her neighbors Kacey and Kofi a favor by driving them to the site of a burnt building, so Kofi could find interesting charred wood for his artwork. But instead of some wood, he brought back a mystery. He quickly returned panicked and empty-handed back to her car. It took awhile until Aline discovered what was bothering him; he saw a dead body. Then she was forced to promise that she wouldn't tell anyone, including Frank.

The police are suspicious of a possible connection between the body and Ruthie Blum Rosen, because the dead person is found wearing a jacket with the Rosen's nametag which has things from the café in its pocket. It has never occurred to Ruthie to remove the nametags of clothing before donating to charity.

G.P. Gottlieb has created a wonderful group of characters, each with a distinct personality. We quickly find ourselves involved in the community of the Whipped and Sipped Café, the staff, customers and local eccentrics who hang out by its door. We also discover that Aline's father has recently been hearing from his brother who had been jailed for many years and wants to see him. 

To be honest, when I was a good three quarters finished with the book, I began to think that there were too many threads and wondered if G.P. Gottlieb would tie them all together. And then suddenly, rather miraculously the author very neatly crocheted them all into a wonderful conclusion.

I highly recommend Charred: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery, and as I said earlier, I'd love to read the earlier books in the series. The book does stand well on its own; I'd like to read the others, because no doubt I'd enjoy them. 

Let's Hear Something Good, Life Under COVID Corona

Watching a class on Zoom

Last night I participated in a wonderful Zoom Family Reunion with lots of cousins from my mother's side. My branch of the clan is the only one in Israel, besides one cousin's granddaughter presently on a year's program. The rest are now spread all over the United States. Not all even live as Jews anymore, but we're all family. This was the second time we've done one of these Zoom Reunions, and considering logistics, finances etc., there's no way so many cousins could ever get together f2f, face-to-face. Zooming is easier.

That's why I decided to write about the "blessings," good things that we are now able to enjoy because of COVID corona. And of course all of these can be continued once it's safer to socialize and travel. I have no doubt that all of us can think of at least one thing that has gotten better. You're all invited to add your 2¢ two cents or more in the comments.

• ZOOM- I had never heard of Zoom before the first COVID Corona lockdown, and now I Zoom daily. All sorts of classes, meetings and reunions are done via Zoom. 
• video calls- Video calls have replaced f2f face to face socializing, too. You can't get as many people/participants on most of the apps, whether telephone, facetime or WhatsApp, but they generally don't need an additional application and can be done on most smartphones.
• no traveling- Now that we're not traveling, my study group and I meet daily, instead of weekly. During this past year, we've learned more than five times the amount of material we could have learned if we had still been learning barely once a week in Jerusalem.
• seeing the world on a screen- There are many people taking virtual tours, instead of packing up, spending a lot of money on flights, hotels etc. Even when they send in a "tip/payment" to the guide, it's a tiny fraction of what real travel costs, and a lot less exhausting.
• attending classes or events that once would have been too far to get to- As this year's Matan program began via Zoom, one woman in the audience happily announced that she had always wanted to attend lectures by the teacher, but distance had made it impossible. Now she's overjoyed to be able to attend without the need to travel.
  
• masks and general health- Many people, including yours truly, have noticed that we've gotten through the winter without the usual colds and flu. Masks and social  distancing have kept us healthy. Not only do they protect against COVID corona, but hospitals and medical authorities are reporting much fewer flu and other winter illnesses. Asians, who've been wearing masks routinely for years, have been proven right. Here in Israel, at least, the price of masks has dropped considerably. 
• less money saved on weddings and entertaining- The cost of weddings and other "event" entertaining had gotten outrageously high. Keeping up with the Cohen's pushed people into spending more than they had. Now that it's forbidden to attend large events, downsizing is the rule. The new added expense is "live streaming," so your guest can attend without paying for their food.

What would you add to my list?

Shapiro's Barista Beer- WOW!

Way back when... could it only have been just over a year ago... in the days when summer nights were made for enjoyable beer festivals, I attended a beer festival in Jerusalem and complained about the latest Israeli craft beers. The big thing was "flavored beers," and the artificial flavoring plus beer just didn't work. I wrote Where's The Beer?" Jerusalem Beer Festival 2019. One of the worst was a "cherry beer" that tasted worse than a children's antibiotic.

That experience put me off of flavored beers, however...

When the beer maven, Doug Greener blogged about coffee-flavored beer... I began to crave it, coffee beer that is. One of the companies making coffee beer is my favorite, Shapiro, and  I just had to buy some. But how was I going to buy it? The country was in corona COVID lockdown! There was no way I could justify traveling by bus to Jerusalem for Barista Beer. And since it's a "limited edition," no guarantee I'd even find any.

What could I do? I bided my time.

Finally it became legal to travel to further than your closest stores to shop for food. I had also used up almost all of my jersey yarn for crocheting projects. 

Siyate d'Shmaya, Hand of Gd, beer and yarn stores are in the same neighborhood, so off I went to Jerusalem today.

At the very first liquor store I passed, there it was... calling me. How'd it know? I bought a six pack, three barista, two IPA and one stout. That's because I hadn't found an open yarn store, so I wasn't schlepping. An added bonus was that since I bought six they could safely pack them in a special carton. And Baruch Hashem, thank Gd the carton fit into my backpack. And then while rushing to catch the lightrail to my bus I found a store with the yarn that was selling by "orders" outside their door with immediate "delivery." So I had lots to schlepp, but I bought what I needed.

Now, no doubt you want to know how the Barista coffee beer tastes. 

Simply put, coffee and hops make a great shidduch, match. There's no artificial taste in Shapiro's Barista coffee beer. Shapiro uses a pale ale, not my favorite beer, but when it's paired with cold brew coffee, it's a hit. The coffee gives the pale ale more flavor and body. Drinking it I didn't feel like I was drinking a flavored beer. There's something more natural; the flavors blend nicely. 

I was so excited about the beer I drank it as soon as it cooled. Barista is great after a busy day, and I'll try some on Shabbat morning, too. Yes, it's definitely recommended.

Pre-Lockdown Escape to Sha'ar Binyamin

I've really been a good girl, staying close to home and not inviting people over. It gets embarrassing at times, since some of my neighbors really need the invitations to socialize. I try to keep inviting friends to walk with me, but...

Sometimes even I need an escape. So a friend and I went to Sha'ar Binyamin a nearby shopping area, which can be easily reached by bus. We went two days before the latest lockdown began. She needed to take care of and get a few things. I just needed an escape.

Stop number one was the Hapisga dry cleaners, where my friend dropped something off. It was two minutes' walk from the bus stop.

Then we wandered around the smallish "Baba Mall" and bought some disposable items. I got a size of storage containers which I needed.

In the chumus place, we had something to drink. I decided to go for a beer, since it was a celebration of sorts. Even now, two weeks later, I haven't a clue when I'll be able to travel again.

My friend bought a few accessories in a nice clothing shop. We also peeked into the phone store and lots of other places.

Afterwards we walked up to the other stores in Sha'ar Binyamin. I was hoping to buy more jersey yarn, but the selection was awful. 

Instead of walking up and down the streets of Shiloh, it was great to walk someplace else.

Then before getting on the bus home, we went to the Shifon Bakery which had just moved to new premises, directly across from the bus stops. I bought my husband a honey cake, but in the end just a couple of hours before lockdown, one of our sons came with his family for a quick pre-lockdown visit. They gave us a cake baked by our talented daughter-in-law which tasted much better than the store-bought one.

Yes, trying to survive corona COVID in more ways than one.