Paprika Roast Chicken over Mamaliga | Bram Stoker's Dracula

Welcome to the final installment of the All Vampire Book and a Movie Challenge for 2016. Our December challenge was what could probably be considered THE vampire story of vampire stories, Dracula. While there have been many retellings of Bram Stoker's tale, the movie we watched this month was the '92 Francis Ford Coppola version starring Gary Oldman, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves, and Winona Ryder.

The movie - Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992):

Oh, the movie...the dreaded movie. I'm just going to go ahead and say it—I hate this movie. I didn't like it the first time I saw it so many years ago, but decided to give it a chance after I'd finished the book. That just made me think even less of the over-sexed, over-boobed, bastardization of Bram Stoker's original work. I thought the acting was horrible (sorry Keanu, you're pretty and all, but) and the screenplay was so far off from the original story that I don't know how they could still get away with calling it "Bram Stoker's" Dracula.

Smoky Chicken Paprika + Life From Scratch book tour stop

"There are mysteries buried in the recesses of every kitchen—every crumb kicked under the floorboard is a hidden memory. But some kitchens are made of more. Some kitchens are everything."

I've mentioned before that my books of choice are usually fiction. I love getting lost in mysteries (bonus points if they're a culinary mystery), foodie cozies (even though I cringe at the term "cozy"), and the supernatural. My reading time is me time; it's escape time. I want to be sucked into another world. While this is almost always the case, I also love a well-written memoir—again, usually a foodie memoir—but any one that pulls at my insides will suffice. I also read cookbooks like novels, but if you spend any time at all around here...you probably already knew that.

Today I'm sharing a peek at a great foodie memoir called Life from Scratch, written by Sasha Martin. Sasha also blogs at Global Table Adventure, where she introduces food from 195 countries via "table travel". Part of my personal philosophy is that discovering and exploring the foods of different cultures, countries, and people is the best way to become familiar with them, so I immediately knew I'd enjoy my time immersed in a memoir written by somebody who feels much the same way.

This is definitely a memoir that includes food, but it's so much more than that. Tales of her that start before she was even born, lay the foundation for a book filled with emotions that range from hunger to tears to warmth. Martin weaves her story with spice, vulnerability, and strength. And she tells it through food, cooking, and recipes.