Bob Matthews
@bobm3
Alabama lawyer doing criminal defense appeals and post-conviction work. Coffee hater and tea drinker who loves a good book.
I was SHOCKED to see Carry Me Home on a 250th table at a bookstore in the Birmingham metro last month. This is the kind of book a large part of Alabama would prefer never see the light of day much less be displayed.
For your Christmas cooking, remember that garlic and cinnamon is by feel and intuition—not by whatever the hell the recipe says. Same for alcohol in bread pudding.
Mixed berry cobbler for office birthday lunch. Blue, black, and raspberries with a butter biscuit topping served warm with ice cream. Happy with how this turned out
Properly crusty cornbread. Glad it rained and dropped the temp outside before I cranked my oven up for this. But totally worth it.
Truth, justice, and the American way is a phrase that comes for Superman. It was always political. Remember when the Joker was proudly anti-Nazi?
Do not let them steal joy, laughter, happiness, and most importantly hope. It is something they can only take from you if you let them. And if you do, they only see it as another win.
Sometimes you need bolognese even though it is the middle of the summer in Alabama. Which is why I froze half of the last batch I made so I wouldn’t have to cook it fresh in the summer.
My dad’s backyard in northeast Alabama. Alabama is beautiful with mountains, tons of caves, rivers, white sand beaches, and insane biodiversity. It is a shame we are mostly known for the worst parts of our people and history, but we are more than that and there are people fighting to be better
People like to mock Roman history nerds. But look at this map and remember it isn’t interstates or modern other highways. It was almost always straight and level “paved” roads built thousands of years ago and plenty of sections of it still exist. How do people not see the wonder in that?
I’ve made severely recently. Peanut butter on the left. One that I “screwed up” but was still absolutely delicious on the right. Also made a caramel cheesecake that was maybe the best of the bunch but no pictures
The role prosecutors play in convictions being reversed rarely gets the attention it deserves.
I haven’t been as consistent with my Sunday baking the last couple of months but I’m back on it. Peanut butter cheesecake
Is it a quick meal? No. But it is very delicious. (And I made way too big of a serving)
First hand account of one of the main people in Masters of Air. One of the first hand accounts of WWII that really demonstrates the hell and awfulness of war.
Yet another detailed and well researched book demonstrating how completely detached the gloried view of the confederacy held by some people was from the reality.
I don’t read near as much fiction as I used to, but Anthony Ryan is one of my favorite fantasy authors and keeps improving.
The United States has never actually lost an astronaut in space. But the deaths in Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia on the launch pad for testing, launch/ascent, and reentry all had common human problems. This book goes into how the human factor doomed Challenger as much as the design.