Hi everyone,
Well, it has been a pretty busy and exciting week around here - Jexy and Jacob came back with us from Los Angeles. Jacob had a great time at CU's Wild and Wonderful Day Camp at Chautauqua Park.
And as most of you know by now, The Grillo Center Labyrinth is complete and open to the public. Although it has taken almost 8 years to make this happen, it ended up taking less than 3 weeks to build, thanks to so many enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers.
We also had a wonderful visit on Wednesday with Rae's daughter and son-in-law Wendy and Jon, and grandkids, Jack and Calla. They were in Boulder briefly before heading up to Winter Park for a wedding.
Book Report:
Jexy is reading the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls - see http://cookinandbookin.blogspot.com/search?q=glass+castle for an earlier review.
Jacob is enjoying a somewhat controversial The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn and Hal Iggulden. The controversy is two-fold - feminists may object to the fact that this is a book designed for boys; and they are teaching certain activities which you might not want your child to know about - Jex will be reading it very selectively.
Amazon.comEqual parts droll and gorgeous nostalgia book and heartfelt plea for a renewed sense of adventure in the lives of boys and men, Conn and Hal Iggulden's The Dangerous Book for Boys became a mammoth bestseller in the United Kingdom in 2006. Adapted, in moderation, for American customs in this edition (cricket is gone, rugby remains; conkers are out, Navajo Code Talkers in), The Dangerous Book is a guide book for dads as well as their sons, as a reminder of lore and technique that have not yet been completely lost to the digital age. Recall the adventures of Scott of the Antarctic and the Battle of the Somme, relearn how to palm a coin, tan a skin, and, most charmingly, wrap a package in brown paper and string. The book's ambitions are both modest and winningly optimistic: you get the sense that by learning how to place a splint or write in invisible ink, a boy might be prepared for anything, even girls (which warrant a small but wise chapter of their own).
Susan is going to make a valiant effort to get into our upcoming book club selection - book club is at my house next week! The selection is The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea. Urrea is one of the writers who will be at The Literary Sojourn this October in Steamboat Springs - www.literarysojourn.org
From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. "Her powers were growing now, like her body. No one knew where the strange things came from. Some said they sprang up in her after the desert sojourn with Huila. Some said they came from somewhere else, some deep inner landscape no one could touch. That they had been there all along." Teresita, the real-life "Saint of Cabora," was born in 1873 to a 14-year-old Indian girl impregnated by a prosperous rancher near the Mexico-Arizona border. Raised in dire poverty by an abusive aunt, the little girl still learned music and horsemanship and even to read: she was a "chosen child," showing such remarkable healing powers that the ranch's medicine woman took her as an apprentice, and the rancher, Don Tomás Urrea, took her—barefoot and dirty—into his own household. At 16, Teresita was raped, lapsed into a coma and apparently died. At her wake, though, she sat up in her coffin and declared that it was not for her. Pilgrims came to her by the thousands, even as the Catholic Church denounced her as a heretic; she was also accused of fomenting an Indian uprising against Mexico and, at 19, sentenced to be shot. From this already tumultuous tale of his great-aunt Teresa, American Book Award–winner Urrea (The Devil's Highway) fashions an astonishing novel set against the guerrilla violence of post–Civil War southwestern border disputes and incipient revolution. His brilliant prose is saturated with the cadences and insights of Latin-American magical realism and tempered by his exacting reporter's eye and extensive historical investigation. The book is wildly romantic, sweeping in its effect, employing the techniques of Catholic hagiography, Western fairy tale, Indian legend and everyday family folklore against the gritty historical realities of war, poverty, prejudice, lawlessness, torture and genocide. Urrea effortlessly links Teresita's supernatural calling to the turmoil of the times, concealing substantial intellectual content behind effervescent storytelling and considerable humor.
Jexy gave me a lovely book on Labyrinths - The Complete Guide to Labyrinths by Cassandra Eason - it is a great addition to my growing library on labyrinths!
Book Description
A universal symbol of transformation, the labyrinth was created in ancient times to represent humankind’s search for the core of divinity. Unlike a maze, which may have a confusion of circuitous tracks leading in all directions, a labyrinth has a single, winding pathway composed of 7, 11, or 12 circuits that spiral inward to a center. In THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO LABYRINTHS, renowned British psychic and folklorist Cassandra Eason explores the mystery of this sacred symbol and explains how to harness its power for personal transformation, protection, healing, and enlightenment. Featuring rituals to honor grief or loss, nourish fertility, confront and resolve conflicts, and celebrate new beginnings, LABYRINTHS is a deeply spiritual guide to the meditative, intuitive, and creative power of this age-old symbol.
Website of the Week: www.gocitykids.com - a great guide for finding out what's happening for kids in cities all over the country - perhaps you're expecting out of town guests with kids this summer and would like to find out about all the fun things going on around town.
Podcast of the Week: Filmweek with Larry Mantle - http://www.scpr.org/programs/airtalk/filmweek.html - FilmWeek is a locally-produced show, hosted by AirTalk's Larry Mantle, which offers up a mix of entertainment and film related live interviews and call-in discussions. Each show ends with reviews of new films and video releases from critics Peter Rainer of the Christian Science Monitor; Jean Oppenheimer of Village Voice Media; Lael Loewenstein of Variety; Henry Sheehan of HenrySheehan.com; Andy Klein, film editor and chief critic of CityBeat; and Charles Solomon, animation critic for amazon.com.
Vocabulary Word of the Week (from the Dangerous Book For Boys): Latin phrase every boy should know - iacta alea est -
Alea iacta est (also seen as alea jacta est) is Latin for "The die has been cast".
Actually quoted by Suetonius as iacta alea est [ˈjakta ˈaːlɛa ɛst], it is what Julius Caesar is reported to have said on January 10, 49 BC as he led his army across the River Rubicon in northern Italy. With this step, he entered Italy at the head of his army in defiance of the Roman Senate and began his long civil war against Pompey and the Optimates.
The phrase is still used today to mean that events have passed a point of no return, that something inevitable will happen, i.e., he cannot take back what he has done, much like the gambler who has wagered everything on a throw of the dice. Caesar was said to have borrowed the phrase from Menander, his favorite Greek writer of comedy. Plutarch refers that this words were said in Greek language:
Ἑλληνιστὶ πρὸς τοὺς παρόντας ἐκβοήσας, "Ἀνερρίφθω κύβος," [anerriphtho kybos] διεβίβαζε τὸν στρατόν.
He [Caesar] declared in Greek with loud voice to those who were present 'The die has been cast' and led the army across.
– Plutarch, 'Life of Pompey, Ch. 60'
By some accounts, Caesar used the imperative "iace" rather than the passive "iacta est" ("Cast the die!").[citation needed] In another context, "iacta est" could be translated as "was cast, i.e., as a "simple past." It is generally assumed, e.g. by Shakespeare, that Caesar here meant "The die has been cast" i.e., "The die is now cast" and not "The die was cast."
[edit] References in Popular Culture
In each edition of the enormously popular French comic book Asterix, once Asterix sinks the pirates' ship, the first mate says to the captain, "Alea jacta est."
In the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, there is an episode by this very name, instead it references the crossing of a joint Cardassian-Romulan fleet entering the Gamma Quadrant.
Alea Iacta Est is the password of Alpha Omega Theta Fraternity Inc, chosen by the fraternity's founder John Stefano in 1946. "Alea Iacta Est, The Die is Cast, Once it's Started it Can Never End." link AlphaOmegaTheta.com
The phrase is displayed on one of the opening screens to the Playstation puzzle game Devil Dice.
"Alea jacta est" is the subject of a classroom lecture in the 2002 film, The Emperor's Club.
Cooking and Food Report - a couple of recipes worth mentioning
From Epicurious. com, we made Spaghetti and Mussels,Tomatoes and Oregano - http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/104150 - it is a keeper.
From Rachel Rays 30 Minute Meals for Kids - Cooking Rocks, Jacob made Purple Burping Cows - Jacob says, "I would never, ever, ever make them again. They were the worst thing on earth" - so there you have it - start with one 12oz. can of grape soda, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and topped with mini-marshmallows. It sounded better than it tasted!
We had a lovely brunch with Wendy, Jon and kids while they were here - it is a favorite menu of ours for brunch:
Scrambled eggs garnished with chopped scallions
Bagels, cream cheese and lox
Tomatoes and red onions
Caperberries (capers on speed!)
Cantalope and figs with proscuitto
Rugulah
That's it for now! Have a lovely week, stay cool and visit the Grillo Center Labyrinth!
Love,
Susan
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Saturday Morning Walkers - June 16, 2007
Hi everyone,
Sure missed you all yesterday but I did have Barb's company early in the morning at the Farmers Market where we had a table to promote the labyrinth. Janet and Katie were with me for the afternoon - thanks!
Hope your walk and breakfast at Chautauqua was great!
Book Report:
Needless to say I haven't gotten much reading in this week but I do want to tell you that I heard an interview with Khaled Hosseini talking about his latest book (He wrote The Kite Runner), A Thousand Splendid Suns. It sounds like another amazing story and I can't wait to read it.
Amazon.com
It's difficult to imagine a harder first act to follow than The Kite Runner: a debut novel by an unknown writer about a country many readers knew little about that has gone on to have over four million copies in print worldwide. But when preview copies of Khaled Hosseini's second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, started circulating at Amazon.com, readers reacted with a unanimous enthusiasm that few of us could remember seeing before. As special as The Kite Runner was, those readers said, A Thousand Splendid Suns is more so, bringing Hosseini's compassionate storytelling and his sense of personal and national tragedy to a tale of two women that is weighted equally with despair and grave hope.
Website of the Week: http://www.imow.org/ - International Museum of Women featuring an online exhibit called The Motherhood Project -
The Motherhood Project
Entries from more than 30 countries from women in their 20s and 30s compose our online exhibit dedicated to the sometimes joyous, sometimes mysterious, and sometimes complicated realities of modern motherhood.
The exhibit runs March 8 through June 30, 2007 and will include contributions from journalists Lisa Ling and Marianne Pearl, Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan, author Rebecca Walker, activist Hafsat Abiola, comedienne Jenny McCarthy, actress Julie Delpy and Karenna Gore-Schiff.
View what young women are saying through art and the written word and participate in the dialogue.
Podcast of the Week: NPR's Driveway Moments - some of the most compelling stories from NPR - great to listen to anytime you want - http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=5183216
Vocabulary Word of the Week: insalubrious
in·sa·lu·bri·ous (ĭn'sə-lū'brē-əs)
adj.
Not promoting health; unwholesome: an insalubrious environment.
insalubriously in'sa·lu'bri·ous·ly adv.
insalubrity in'sa·lu'bri·ty n.
Cooking and Food Report: Nothing new from Susan's kitchen but we have recipes from Mary and Rae
From Mary a great summery citrus chicken:
Boneless/skinless chicken breasts
1/2 Paul Newman's Lite Lime Vinaigrette
1/2 Premixed Margarita!
Marinate 2-3 hours, allow to drain then grill the chicken. The lime flavor is very light
but it cooks beautifully tender and a hint of the citrus! Lovely!
I served it (to myself) on greens with chopped tomato, guacamole and chips on the side!
With a Margarita, of course!
From Rae a Szechuan Carrot Soup that sounds terrific:
Szechuan Carrot Soup
2 medium onions, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2t. veg. oil
2 lbs. carrots, cut into 1" pieces
1 1/2 piece of fresh ginger root, peeled, sliced thinly
1/4" t. dried hot pepper flakes
6 c. chicken broth
2 T. soy sauce
3 T. cramy peanut butter
2 t. sugar
2 t. Asian sesame oil
2 c. skim milk
Garnish with 1/2 c. sour cram mixed with 4 T. heavy cream or just use plain yogurt (I don't think I did either but I think either would be good) and drizzle this on top.
In a large saucepan, saute onion and garlic in the oil over low heat until onion is soft. Add carrots, ginger, pepper flakes and broth. Simmer 45 minutes until carrots are tender. Stir in remaining ingredients. In blender, mix soup in batches until smooth. Return to pan and reheat. Serve with sour cream or yogurt garnish, if desired. Enjoy!
That's it for now - I've got a short, busy week then we head out to Los Angeles for Jacob's pre-school graduation - pretty exciting! We'll be back on Sunday along with Jexy and Jacob for the week. If you get a chance, go over and check out the progress at the Grillo Center Labyrinth - join the volunteer crew, bring us food and drink or just cheer us on!
Have a great week!
Love,
Susan
Sure missed you all yesterday but I did have Barb's company early in the morning at the Farmers Market where we had a table to promote the labyrinth. Janet and Katie were with me for the afternoon - thanks!
Hope your walk and breakfast at Chautauqua was great!
Book Report:
Needless to say I haven't gotten much reading in this week but I do want to tell you that I heard an interview with Khaled Hosseini talking about his latest book (He wrote The Kite Runner), A Thousand Splendid Suns. It sounds like another amazing story and I can't wait to read it.
Amazon.com
It's difficult to imagine a harder first act to follow than The Kite Runner: a debut novel by an unknown writer about a country many readers knew little about that has gone on to have over four million copies in print worldwide. But when preview copies of Khaled Hosseini's second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, started circulating at Amazon.com, readers reacted with a unanimous enthusiasm that few of us could remember seeing before. As special as The Kite Runner was, those readers said, A Thousand Splendid Suns is more so, bringing Hosseini's compassionate storytelling and his sense of personal and national tragedy to a tale of two women that is weighted equally with despair and grave hope.
Website of the Week: http://www.imow.org/ - International Museum of Women featuring an online exhibit called The Motherhood Project -
The Motherhood Project
Entries from more than 30 countries from women in their 20s and 30s compose our online exhibit dedicated to the sometimes joyous, sometimes mysterious, and sometimes complicated realities of modern motherhood.
The exhibit runs March 8 through June 30, 2007 and will include contributions from journalists Lisa Ling and Marianne Pearl, Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan, author Rebecca Walker, activist Hafsat Abiola, comedienne Jenny McCarthy, actress Julie Delpy and Karenna Gore-Schiff.
View what young women are saying through art and the written word and participate in the dialogue.
Podcast of the Week: NPR's Driveway Moments - some of the most compelling stories from NPR - great to listen to anytime you want - http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=5183216
Vocabulary Word of the Week: insalubrious
in·sa·lu·bri·ous (ĭn'sə-lū'brē-əs)
adj.
Not promoting health; unwholesome: an insalubrious environment.
insalubriously in'sa·lu'bri·ous·ly adv.
insalubrity in'sa·lu'bri·ty n.
Cooking and Food Report: Nothing new from Susan's kitchen but we have recipes from Mary and Rae
From Mary a great summery citrus chicken:
Boneless/skinless chicken breasts
1/2 Paul Newman's Lite Lime Vinaigrette
1/2 Premixed Margarita!
Marinate 2-3 hours, allow to drain then grill the chicken. The lime flavor is very light
but it cooks beautifully tender and a hint of the citrus! Lovely!
I served it (to myself) on greens with chopped tomato, guacamole and chips on the side!
With a Margarita, of course!
From Rae a Szechuan Carrot Soup that sounds terrific:
Szechuan Carrot Soup
2 medium onions, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2t. veg. oil
2 lbs. carrots, cut into 1" pieces
1 1/2 piece of fresh ginger root, peeled, sliced thinly
1/4" t. dried hot pepper flakes
6 c. chicken broth
2 T. soy sauce
3 T. cramy peanut butter
2 t. sugar
2 t. Asian sesame oil
2 c. skim milk
Garnish with 1/2 c. sour cram mixed with 4 T. heavy cream or just use plain yogurt (I don't think I did either but I think either would be good) and drizzle this on top.
In a large saucepan, saute onion and garlic in the oil over low heat until onion is soft. Add carrots, ginger, pepper flakes and broth. Simmer 45 minutes until carrots are tender. Stir in remaining ingredients. In blender, mix soup in batches until smooth. Return to pan and reheat. Serve with sour cream or yogurt garnish, if desired. Enjoy!
That's it for now - I've got a short, busy week then we head out to Los Angeles for Jacob's pre-school graduation - pretty exciting! We'll be back on Sunday along with Jexy and Jacob for the week. If you get a chance, go over and check out the progress at the Grillo Center Labyrinth - join the volunteer crew, bring us food and drink or just cheer us on!
Have a great week!
Love,
Susan
Saturday Morning Walkers - June 9, 2007
Hi everyone!
Cass, Mary, Jackie, Christie, Terrie, Laila and I had a wonderful walk along the Bobolink Trail (Baseline just west of Cherryvale). It is a lovely tree-lined walk along the creek - pretty crowded with runners though.
We had coffee at the Brewing Market at Basemar Shopping Center.
I'm excited to remind you that we start work on the PERMANENT Grillo Center Labyrinth tomorrow!! As many of you know, this has been a dream of mine for almost 10 years. I'm quite preoccupied with this right now and I do apologize for any lack of attentiveness and focus for just about anything else. I will keep you updated on our progress and hopefully share some pictures as we go along.
Book Report:
Cass is reading the classic One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. .
Amazon.com
"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."
It is typical of Gabriel García Márquez that it will be many pages before his narrative circles back to the ice, and many chapters before the hero of One Hundred Years of Solitude, Buendía, stands before the firing squad. In between, he recounts such wonders as an entire town struck with insomnia, a woman who ascends to heaven while hanging laundry, and a suicide that defies the laws of physics:
A trickle of blood came out under the door, crossed the living room, went out into the street, continued on in a straight line across the uneven terraces, went down steps and climbed over curbs, passed along the Street of the Turks, turned a corner to the right and another to the left, made a right angle at the Buendía house, went in under the closed door, crossed through the parlor, hugging the walls so as not to stain the rugs, went on to the other living room, made a wide curve to avoid the dining-room table, went along the porch with the begonias, and passed without being seen under Amaranta's chair as she gave an arithmetic lesson to Aureliano José, and went through the pantry and came out in the kitchen, where Úrsula was getting ready to crack thirty-six eggs to make bread.
"Holy Mother of God!" Úrsula shouted.
The story follows 100 years in the life of Macondo, a village founded by José Arcadio Buendía and occupied by descendants all sporting variations on their progenitor's name: his sons, José Arcadio and Aureliano, and grandsons, Aureliano José, Aureliano Segundo, and José Arcadio Segundo. Then there are the women--the two Úrsulas, a handful of Remedios, Fernanda, and Pilar--who struggle to remain grounded even as their menfolk build castles in the air. If it is possible for a novel to be highly comic and deeply tragic at the same time, then One Hundred Years of Solitude does the trick. Civil war rages throughout, hearts break, dreams shatter, and lives are lost, yet the effect is literary pentimento, with sorrow's outlines bleeding through the vibrant colors of García Márquez's magical realism. Consider, for example, the ghost of Prudencio Aguilar, whom José Arcadio Buendía has killed in a fight. So lonely is the man's shade that it haunts Buendía's house, searching anxiously for water with which to clean its wound. Buendía's wife, Úrsula, is so moved that "the next time she saw the dead man uncovering the pots on the stove she understood what he was looking for, and from then on she placed water jugs all about the house."
Another recommendation from Cass is One Big Damn Puzzler by John Harding.
From Publishers WeeklySet on a fictional South Pacific island inhabited by black bantam pigs and a clan of nearly-naked eccentrics, this excessively zany British import has a raging conscience and a muted heart. Managua, a one-legged tribesman (most of his fellow inhabitants are missing limbs), is obsessed with transcribing Hamlet into island pidgin and finds his unconventional paradise disturbed when William Hardt, a white American lawyer, arrives to arrange reparations for natives whose limbs have been blown off by the landmines left behind years ago by the American military. Hardt soon witnesses a staggering array of peculiarities: the "the shitting beach" where villagers empty their bowels every morning; transvestite men forced into dressing in drag by parents who wanted girls; vision quests brought on by consuming "kassa," a red hallucinogenic paste. A few years after his departure from the island, Hardt's successful mission has drastic consequences for the island. Journalist Harding (While the Sun Shines) is an equal opportunity and brutally sharp lampooner, though he sometimes misses (notably in his invocation of 9/11 as a parallel to corporate America's exploitation of the island). Folly, silliness and cultural sucker punches come at full speed in this ribald, imaginative farce. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Jackie read and recommended:
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Amazon.comOne of Chinua Achebe's many achievements in his acclaimed first novel, Things Fall Apart, is his relentlessly unsentimental rendering of Nigerian tribal life before and after the coming of colonialism. First published in 1958, just two years before Nigeria declared independence from Great Britain, the book eschews the obvious temptation of depicting pre-colonial life as a kind of Eden. Instead, Achebe sketches a world in which violence, war, and suffering exist, but are balanced by a strong sense of tradition, ritual, and social coherence. His Ibo protagonist, Okonkwo, is a self-made man. The son of a charming ne'er-do-well, he has worked all his life to overcome his father's weakness and has arrived, finally, at great prosperity and even greater reputation among his fellows in the village of Umuofia. Okonkwo is a champion wrestler, a prosperous farmer, husband to three wives and father to several children. He is also a man who exhibits flaws well-known in Greek tragedy:
Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children. Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo's fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.
And yet Achebe manages to make this cruel man deeply sympathetic. He is fond of his eldest daughter, and also of Ikemefuna, a young boy sent from another village as compensation for the wrongful death of a young woman from Umuofia. He even begins to feel pride in his eldest son, in whom he has too often seen his own father. Unfortunately, a series of tragic events tests the mettle of this strong man, and it is his fear of weakness that ultimately undoes him.
Walking on Eggshells: Navigating the Delicate Relationship Between Adult Children and Parents by Jane Isay
Guest Reviewer: Po Bronson
Po Bronson is the author of the brilliant bestseller What Should I Do with My Life?, the powerful and poignant Why Do I Love These People?, a hilarious novel called The Bombadiers, and The Nudist on the Late Shift, a collection of "true stories" about Silicon Valley.
When we tell family stories, we so often focus on the beginning and the end. The beginning is the two decades of our childhood and adolescence, and it's been the favorite narrative arc ever since Freud. What happens in your childhood does not stay in your childhood--it haunts the rest of your life. In the last decade, we've suddenly heard more stories of the end--narratives constructed around a parent's death, and often the year spent caring for that parent on their deathbed.
Because these are the conventional narratives, they often distract our attention from the many decades in between. We barely even have a terminology for these years--and the terms we employ sound like oxymorons: "Adult Children," "Parents of Adults." There's an old saying: you can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family. In the beginning this is true--we're in the care of our parents, like it or not. And in the ending this is also true--they're in our care, like it or not. But in the long middle, this isn't so true. The middle is a period where both child and parent can keep their distance, if they prefer. And often do, harboring resentment. We too often accept that this is just the way it is. "She's never going to change" is a common, fatalist refrain.
In Walking on Eggshells, Jane Isay shines a much-needed light on these years. With a graceful respect for the families she investigates, she tells their stories--how they lost their love, and how they regained it. Isay covers the many ways families develop resentment, and the many techniques they employed to make peace. She shows that small changes in routine can go a long way to restoring goodwill. But it's not a self-help book; it's more of a literary contemplation, and we learn more by inspiration than by emulation.
Though this book addresses the parents directly, I suspect it will be passed back and forth, between generations, in many a family. --Po Bronson
Website of the Week: I heard about this site on Satellite Sisters - http://www.arzurugs.org/ - ARZU, meaning hope in Dari, is a not-for-profit organization that aims to provide sustainable income to Afghan women by sourcing and selling the carpets they weave. It really is an inspiring project and worth reading about.
Podcast of the Week: Barnes and Noble's Meet the Writers - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/writers/writers_cds2.asp?PID=12289&z=y&cds2Pid=1302&linkid=726996 - great interviews with writers
Vocabulary Word of the Week - avuncular:
avuncular \uh-VUHNG-kyuh-luhr\, adjective:
1. Of or pertaining to an uncle.
2. Resembling an uncle, especially in kindness or indulgence.
Both uncle Frank and uncle Stephen Austen had made it a point of principle to be rigorously unsentimental in the discharge of their avuncular obligations.
-- David Nokes, Jane Austen: A Life
Thornton's reputation was that of a soft-hearted and avuncular veterinarian known for getting teary-eyed while listening to even slightly sentimental stories
-- Vicki Croke, "New leader of the MSPCA moves to tame budget woes", Boston Globe, September 20, 2003
A man with such a nice, avuncular personality would not blow up the world.
-- William Schneider, "The New Shape of American Politics", The Atlantic, January 1987
Avuncular comes from Latin avunculus, "maternal uncle."
Cooking and Food Report:
Only one meal worth reporting on this week and that was our Soprano night Italian dinner that we had tonight. The last show was disappointing but the dinner was great!
We started with Proscuitto and Melon - what a great combination! Next was one of our favorites - Caesar Salad - I do cheat on this - I use the whole romaine leaves and place them on a long rectangular plate, I shaved Parmigianno Reggiano on top along with croutons, then I drizzled on bottled Caesar dressing. Usually I use Paul Newmans but tonight I tried Whole Foods' brand - pretty good.
Dinner was Linguine with Red Clam Sauce from Food and Wine Magazine - http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/linguine-with-red-clam-sauce
Jack took care of dessert and he outdid himself - Blackout Cake from The Cheesecake Factory - this is an old favorite that I used to have as a little girl in New York. It is a rich dark chocolate layer cake with a pudding like filling. Blackout Cake originated at the Ebinger Bakery in Brooklyn and then was taken over by the more well-known Entenmans. I don't think they make it anymore. Here's a bit of the history and a recipe if you're ambitious and want to try it home - http://www.recipelink.com/cookbooks/1999/0609604201_2.html!
That's it for now - have a great week - come help us out at the Labyrinth!
Love,
Susan
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Saturday Morning Walkers - June 2, 2007
Hi everyone,
We had a fantastic walk yesterday, courtesy of Barb. She mapped out a whole new route in South Boulder - it is hard to imagine that our group of walkers hadn't covered every square mile of that area during our training for the 3-Day but this was new to all of us - Barb, Mary, Christie, Laila and me! Of course, we followed up with our monthly planning meeting and coffee date. I'll be leading next week (more on that later in the week), Christie is taking June 16, Jan is taking June 23 and Laila may take June 30.
BOOK REPORT
Laila: reported on two books this week -
One is Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure by Sarah Macdonald - this is a memoir about Ms Macdonald's time spent in India - Laila loved the book but has taken India off her list of "must -go-to" places!
From Publishers Weekly
Australian radio correspondent Macdonald's rollicking memoir recounts the two years she spent in India when her boyfriend, Jonathan, a TV news correspondent, was assigned to New Delhi. Leaving behind her own budding career, she spends her sabbatical traveling around the country, sampling India's "spiritual smorgasbord": attending a silent retreat for Vipassana meditation, seeking out a Sikh Ayurvedic "miracle healer," bathing in the Ganges with Hindus, studying Buddhism in Dharamsala, dabbling in Judaism with Israeli tourists, dipping into Parsi practices in Mumbai, visiting an ashram in Kerala, attending a Christian festival in Velangani and singing with Sufis. Paralleling Macdonald's spiritual journey is her evolution as a writer; she trades her sometimes glib remarks ("I've always thought it hilarious that Indian people chose the most boring, domesticated, compliant and stupidest animal on earth to adore") and 1980s song title references (e.g., "Karma Chameleon") for a more sensitive tone and a sober understanding that neither mocks nor romanticizes Indian culture and the Western visitors who embrace it. The book ends on a serious note, when September 11 shakes Macdonald's faith and Jonathan, now her husband, is sent to cover the war in Afghanistan. Macdonald is less compelling when writing about herself, her career and her relationship than when she is describing spiritual centers, New Delhi nightclubs and Bollywood cinema. Still, she brings a reporter's curiosity, interviewing skills and eye for detail to everything she encounters, and winningly captures "[t]he drama, the dharma, the innocent exuberance of the festivals, the intensity of the living, the piety in playfulness and the embrace of living day by day..--he drama, the dharma, the innocent exuberance of the festivals, the intensity of the living, the piety in playfulness and the embrace of living day by day."
Laila's other recommendation is Love Without End by Glenda Green
Book Description
For almost two thousand years devoted believers, mystics, innocents, and even non-believers have reported to have near-to-life, fully perceptual, visitations with Jesus Christ. In 1992 He appeared to Glenda Green and spoke with her daily for almost four months. The expressed purpose of their visit was to paint His portrait, but nothing in the history of her career as an artist or university professor had prepared her for the life transformation that was about to take place. During this time, they spoke…as friends do, of many wonderful things—both miraculous and practical. Nothing would ever be the same. Her penetrating report of this experience is sincere, unbiased, and free of religious contrivance. In many ways her perceptions provide a bridge to the new millennium.
Never before has language or a state of consciousness been present to examine the nature of such a miraculous occurrence as well as to develop the profound implications of it. Here is a brilliant glimpse of eternity, rich with practical applications to life. These messages are sparkling and direct with great contemporary relevance, Imparting in every way the impact of Divinity in communion with a thoughtful and well educated woman of our generation. Amazing answers are given to more than 300 penetrating questions.
Rae just finished The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud - she really liked this one and recommends it highly
From Publishers Weekly
Marina Thwaite, Danielle Minkoff and Julian Clarke were buddies at Brown, certain that they would soon do something important in the world. But as all near 30, Danielle is struggling as a TV documentary maker, and Julius is barely surviving financially as a freelance critic. Marina, the startlingly beautiful daughter of celebrated social activist, journalist and hob-nobber Murray Thwaite, is living with her parents on the Upper West Side, unable to finish her book"titled The Emperor's Children Have No Clothes (on how changing fashions in children's clothes mirror changes in society). Two arrivals upset the group stasis: Ludovic, a fiercely ambitious Aussie who woos Marina to gain entrée into society (meanwhile planning to destroy Murray's reputation), and Murray's nephew, Frederick "Bootie" Tubb, an immature, idealistic college dropout and autodidact who is determined to live the life of a New York intellectual. The group orbits around the post"September 11 city with disconcerting entitlement"and around Murray, who is, in a sense, the emperor. Messud, in her fourth novel, remains wickedly observant of pretensions"intellectual, sexual, class and gender. Her writing is so fluid, and her plot so cleverly constructed, that events seem inevitable, yet the narrative is ultimately surprising and masterful as a contemporary comedy of manners.
WEBSITE OF THE WEEK - this is the site that Barb and I have used to map out our walks - it is really well done and fun to use - www.mapmyrun.com
PODCAST OF THE WEEK - Broadcasts of talks at the New York City 92nd Street Y - it is an amazingly dynamic place that draws highly regarded and diverse speakers and programs - http://www.92y.org/content/direct.asp?adsource=hpcolumn_direct -
Here's a brief history and description of the 92nd Y from their website -
http://www.92y.org/content/about_the_y.asp
VOCABULARY WORD OF THE WEEK offered by Rae -
atavism \AT-uh-viz-uhm\, noun:1. The reappearance in an organism of characteristics of some remote ancestor after several generations of absence.2. One that exhibits atavism; a throwback.3. Reversion to an earlier behavior, outlook, or approach.
Occasionally a modern whale is born having sprouted a leg or two -- a genetic throwback known as an atavism.-- Douglas H. Chadwick, "Evolution of whales", National Geographic, November 2001
Read avidly in Europe and the United States in the 1890s, The Female Offender argues that women criminals are atavisms or throwbacks to earlier evolutionary stages, marked by physical anomalies such as coarse features.-- Nicole Rafter, "Breaking the Codes: Female Criminality in Fin-de-Siecle Paris", The Women's Review of Books, October 1, 1997
COOKING AND FOOD REPORT
A few good recipes this week:
Panino di Proscuitto e Fontina from Giada di Laurentiis - great for a lunch or light dinner - I served it with tomato soup (out of a can!) but it would be good with a salad - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_25162,00.html?rsrc=search
Chicken Parmigiana from Bobby Flay - (time-saver tip - ask the butcher in the meat department to flatten the boneless breasts for you - should be a free service and one less hassle for you!)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_25162,00.html?rsrc=search - (another tip, I have been known to use a favorite jarred marinara sauce instead of making it myself - Rao's is a bit pricey but oh so good!
Balsamic Barbeque Sauce from Giada di Laurentiis - I made this to accompany the ribs below - great combination
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_36958,00.html
Dry Rub Ribs - Memphis Style from Dave Lieberman
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_36115,00.html?rsrc=search
Have a great week!
Love,
Susan
We had a fantastic walk yesterday, courtesy of Barb. She mapped out a whole new route in South Boulder - it is hard to imagine that our group of walkers hadn't covered every square mile of that area during our training for the 3-Day but this was new to all of us - Barb, Mary, Christie, Laila and me! Of course, we followed up with our monthly planning meeting and coffee date. I'll be leading next week (more on that later in the week), Christie is taking June 16, Jan is taking June 23 and Laila may take June 30.
BOOK REPORT
Laila: reported on two books this week -
One is Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure by Sarah Macdonald - this is a memoir about Ms Macdonald's time spent in India - Laila loved the book but has taken India off her list of "must -go-to" places!
From Publishers Weekly
Australian radio correspondent Macdonald's rollicking memoir recounts the two years she spent in India when her boyfriend, Jonathan, a TV news correspondent, was assigned to New Delhi. Leaving behind her own budding career, she spends her sabbatical traveling around the country, sampling India's "spiritual smorgasbord": attending a silent retreat for Vipassana meditation, seeking out a Sikh Ayurvedic "miracle healer," bathing in the Ganges with Hindus, studying Buddhism in Dharamsala, dabbling in Judaism with Israeli tourists, dipping into Parsi practices in Mumbai, visiting an ashram in Kerala, attending a Christian festival in Velangani and singing with Sufis. Paralleling Macdonald's spiritual journey is her evolution as a writer; she trades her sometimes glib remarks ("I've always thought it hilarious that Indian people chose the most boring, domesticated, compliant and stupidest animal on earth to adore") and 1980s song title references (e.g., "Karma Chameleon") for a more sensitive tone and a sober understanding that neither mocks nor romanticizes Indian culture and the Western visitors who embrace it. The book ends on a serious note, when September 11 shakes Macdonald's faith and Jonathan, now her husband, is sent to cover the war in Afghanistan. Macdonald is less compelling when writing about herself, her career and her relationship than when she is describing spiritual centers, New Delhi nightclubs and Bollywood cinema. Still, she brings a reporter's curiosity, interviewing skills and eye for detail to everything she encounters, and winningly captures "[t]he drama, the dharma, the innocent exuberance of the festivals, the intensity of the living, the piety in playfulness and the embrace of living day by day..--he drama, the dharma, the innocent exuberance of the festivals, the intensity of the living, the piety in playfulness and the embrace of living day by day."
Laila's other recommendation is Love Without End by Glenda Green
Book Description
For almost two thousand years devoted believers, mystics, innocents, and even non-believers have reported to have near-to-life, fully perceptual, visitations with Jesus Christ. In 1992 He appeared to Glenda Green and spoke with her daily for almost four months. The expressed purpose of their visit was to paint His portrait, but nothing in the history of her career as an artist or university professor had prepared her for the life transformation that was about to take place. During this time, they spoke…as friends do, of many wonderful things—both miraculous and practical. Nothing would ever be the same. Her penetrating report of this experience is sincere, unbiased, and free of religious contrivance. In many ways her perceptions provide a bridge to the new millennium.
Never before has language or a state of consciousness been present to examine the nature of such a miraculous occurrence as well as to develop the profound implications of it. Here is a brilliant glimpse of eternity, rich with practical applications to life. These messages are sparkling and direct with great contemporary relevance, Imparting in every way the impact of Divinity in communion with a thoughtful and well educated woman of our generation. Amazing answers are given to more than 300 penetrating questions.
Rae just finished The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud - she really liked this one and recommends it highly
From Publishers Weekly
Marina Thwaite, Danielle Minkoff and Julian Clarke were buddies at Brown, certain that they would soon do something important in the world. But as all near 30, Danielle is struggling as a TV documentary maker, and Julius is barely surviving financially as a freelance critic. Marina, the startlingly beautiful daughter of celebrated social activist, journalist and hob-nobber Murray Thwaite, is living with her parents on the Upper West Side, unable to finish her book"titled The Emperor's Children Have No Clothes (on how changing fashions in children's clothes mirror changes in society). Two arrivals upset the group stasis: Ludovic, a fiercely ambitious Aussie who woos Marina to gain entrée into society (meanwhile planning to destroy Murray's reputation), and Murray's nephew, Frederick "Bootie" Tubb, an immature, idealistic college dropout and autodidact who is determined to live the life of a New York intellectual. The group orbits around the post"September 11 city with disconcerting entitlement"and around Murray, who is, in a sense, the emperor. Messud, in her fourth novel, remains wickedly observant of pretensions"intellectual, sexual, class and gender. Her writing is so fluid, and her plot so cleverly constructed, that events seem inevitable, yet the narrative is ultimately surprising and masterful as a contemporary comedy of manners.
WEBSITE OF THE WEEK - this is the site that Barb and I have used to map out our walks - it is really well done and fun to use - www.mapmyrun.com
PODCAST OF THE WEEK - Broadcasts of talks at the New York City 92nd Street Y - it is an amazingly dynamic place that draws highly regarded and diverse speakers and programs - http://www.92y.org/content/direct.asp?adsource=hpcolumn_direct -
Here's a brief history and description of the 92nd Y from their website -
http://www.92y.org/content/about_the_y.asp
VOCABULARY WORD OF THE WEEK offered by Rae -
atavism \AT-uh-viz-uhm\, noun:1. The reappearance in an organism of characteristics of some remote ancestor after several generations of absence.2. One that exhibits atavism; a throwback.3. Reversion to an earlier behavior, outlook, or approach.
Occasionally a modern whale is born having sprouted a leg or two -- a genetic throwback known as an atavism.-- Douglas H. Chadwick, "Evolution of whales", National Geographic, November 2001
Read avidly in Europe and the United States in the 1890s, The Female Offender argues that women criminals are atavisms or throwbacks to earlier evolutionary stages, marked by physical anomalies such as coarse features.-- Nicole Rafter, "Breaking the Codes: Female Criminality in Fin-de-Siecle Paris", The Women's Review of Books, October 1, 1997
COOKING AND FOOD REPORT
A few good recipes this week:
Panino di Proscuitto e Fontina from Giada di Laurentiis - great for a lunch or light dinner - I served it with tomato soup (out of a can!) but it would be good with a salad - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_25162,00.html?rsrc=search
Chicken Parmigiana from Bobby Flay - (time-saver tip - ask the butcher in the meat department to flatten the boneless breasts for you - should be a free service and one less hassle for you!)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_25162,00.html?rsrc=search - (another tip, I have been known to use a favorite jarred marinara sauce instead of making it myself - Rao's is a bit pricey but oh so good!
Balsamic Barbeque Sauce from Giada di Laurentiis - I made this to accompany the ribs below - great combination
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_36958,00.html
Dry Rub Ribs - Memphis Style from Dave Lieberman
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_36115,00.html?rsrc=search
Have a great week!
Love,
Susan
Saturday Morning Walkers - May 26, 2007
Hi everyone!
Well, it has been an enormously successful Memorial Day Weekend for the Grillo Center Labyrinth at the Boulder Creek Festival. We had 3 almost perfect weather days and "throngs" of incredibly enthusiastic visitors to the Labyrinth. Great thanks to those of you who "hung out" there with me - I am truly grateful. We do plan to start construction very soon and I will keep you posted on our progress. I know that Jan, Barb, Mary and Christie did a walk on Saturday around the Creek, Farmer's Market, and Festival. Lots going on!
Book Report:
Susan is almost done with Barack Obama's Audacity of Hope - I'm sold! He is just so smart, thoughtful and filled with integrity. I'm not sure how he'll do but he's got my support!
Amazon.comBarack Obama's first book, Dreams from My Father, was a compelling and moving memoir focusing on personal issues of race, identity, and community. With his second book The Audacity of Hope, Obama engages themes raised in his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, shares personal views on faith and values and offers a vision of the future that involves repairing a "political process that is broken" and restoring a government that has fallen out of touch with the people.
Jan is reading a Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda by Alison Des Forges.
Most extensive,authoritative account of this genocide. This is the most extensive and authoritative account of the Rwandan genocide yet published. Drawing from Rwandan government documents and other official and unofficial sources, the principal author, Alison Des Forges, and her collaborators, have done a remarkable job pulling together the complex and disparate strands of this story. For interpretation and discussion of the meaning of the Rwandan genocide - which this volume largely eschews - interested readers are referred to the works of such expert scholars as Rene Lemarchand, Gerard Prunier, Catharine Newbury, and Jean-Pierre Chretien.
Website of the Week - http://booklust.wetpaint.com/?t=anon - Nancy Pearl's Community for Book Lovers
Podcast of the Week - http://www.authorsontourlive.com/ - from Denver's Tattered Cover
Vocabulary Word of the Week - submitted by Barb - "quotidian" -
quotidian \kwoh-TID-ee-uhn\, adjective:1. Occurring or returning daily; as, a quotidian fever.2. Of an everyday character; ordinary; commonplace.
Erasmus thought More's career as a lawyer was a waste of a fine mind, but it was precisely the human insights More derived from his life in the quotidian world that gave him a moral depth Erasmus lacked.-- "More man than saint", Irish Times, April 4, 1998
She also had a sense of fun that was often drummed out under the dull, quotidian beats of suburban life.-- Meg Wolitzer, Surrender, Dorothy
Quotidian is from Latin quotidianus, from quotidie, "daily," from quotus, "how many, as many, so many" + dies, "day."
Cooking and Food Report: Not much cooking at home this weekend but did make some good "stuff" earlier in the week:
Roasted Pork Loin with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette from Giada DeLaurentiis - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_36759,00.html?rsrc=search
Penne with Beef and Arugula from Giada DeLaurentiis - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_33971,00.html
Italian Meatloaf from Jan - source unknown
1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound mild Italian sausage
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup chopped red or green bell pepper (I recommend red)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup coarse dried bread crumbs, preferably sourdough or Italian (I used Panko Italian Seasoned Breadcrumbs)
Optional: 2 Tablespoons dry red wine (not optional for me!)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon each of dried basil and dried oregano, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce, divided
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Lightly oil a 9 x 5 inch loaf panIn a large bowl, combine beef, sausage, onion, bell pepper, garlic, bread crumbs, optional wine, egg, Worcestershire, parsley, basil, oregano, salt, pepper, Parmesan and 1/2 cup each tomato sauce and mozzarella. Spoon into prepared pan and gently pack down. Bake 45 minutes. Pour off drippings.
Spread remaining tomato sauce on top of the loaf and sprinkle with remaining 1 cup mozzarella. Bake until an internal temperature reaches 160 degrees on an instant read thermometer. The cheese should be melted and the sauce should be bubbling. Let stand 10 minutes, pour off drippings , and remove from pan before slicing.
Jack and I had a great dinner at the Lazy Dog Saloon at the corner of Pearl and 14th (across from the 14th Street Grill) - outstanding ribs and the corn fritters were heavenly! - http://www.thelazydog.com/
Looks like we had a pretty "meat-filled" repertoire - just the way I like it!
Hope you all had a terrific long weekend - have a great week!
Love,
Susan
Well, it has been an enormously successful Memorial Day Weekend for the Grillo Center Labyrinth at the Boulder Creek Festival. We had 3 almost perfect weather days and "throngs" of incredibly enthusiastic visitors to the Labyrinth. Great thanks to those of you who "hung out" there with me - I am truly grateful. We do plan to start construction very soon and I will keep you posted on our progress. I know that Jan, Barb, Mary and Christie did a walk on Saturday around the Creek, Farmer's Market, and Festival. Lots going on!
Book Report:
Susan is almost done with Barack Obama's Audacity of Hope - I'm sold! He is just so smart, thoughtful and filled with integrity. I'm not sure how he'll do but he's got my support!
Amazon.comBarack Obama's first book, Dreams from My Father, was a compelling and moving memoir focusing on personal issues of race, identity, and community. With his second book The Audacity of Hope, Obama engages themes raised in his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, shares personal views on faith and values and offers a vision of the future that involves repairing a "political process that is broken" and restoring a government that has fallen out of touch with the people.
Jan is reading a Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda by Alison Des Forges.
Most extensive,authoritative account of this genocide. This is the most extensive and authoritative account of the Rwandan genocide yet published. Drawing from Rwandan government documents and other official and unofficial sources, the principal author, Alison Des Forges, and her collaborators, have done a remarkable job pulling together the complex and disparate strands of this story. For interpretation and discussion of the meaning of the Rwandan genocide - which this volume largely eschews - interested readers are referred to the works of such expert scholars as Rene Lemarchand, Gerard Prunier, Catharine Newbury, and Jean-Pierre Chretien.
Website of the Week - http://booklust.wetpaint.com/?t=anon - Nancy Pearl's Community for Book Lovers
Podcast of the Week - http://www.authorsontourlive.com/ - from Denver's Tattered Cover
Vocabulary Word of the Week - submitted by Barb - "quotidian" -
quotidian \kwoh-TID-ee-uhn\, adjective:1. Occurring or returning daily; as, a quotidian fever.2. Of an everyday character; ordinary; commonplace.
Erasmus thought More's career as a lawyer was a waste of a fine mind, but it was precisely the human insights More derived from his life in the quotidian world that gave him a moral depth Erasmus lacked.-- "More man than saint", Irish Times, April 4, 1998
She also had a sense of fun that was often drummed out under the dull, quotidian beats of suburban life.-- Meg Wolitzer, Surrender, Dorothy
Quotidian is from Latin quotidianus, from quotidie, "daily," from quotus, "how many, as many, so many" + dies, "day."
Cooking and Food Report: Not much cooking at home this weekend but did make some good "stuff" earlier in the week:
Roasted Pork Loin with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette from Giada DeLaurentiis - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_36759,00.html?rsrc=search
Penne with Beef and Arugula from Giada DeLaurentiis - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_33971,00.html
Italian Meatloaf from Jan - source unknown
1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound mild Italian sausage
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1/2 cup chopped red or green bell pepper (I recommend red)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup coarse dried bread crumbs, preferably sourdough or Italian (I used Panko Italian Seasoned Breadcrumbs)
Optional: 2 Tablespoons dry red wine (not optional for me!)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon each of dried basil and dried oregano, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce, divided
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Lightly oil a 9 x 5 inch loaf panIn a large bowl, combine beef, sausage, onion, bell pepper, garlic, bread crumbs, optional wine, egg, Worcestershire, parsley, basil, oregano, salt, pepper, Parmesan and 1/2 cup each tomato sauce and mozzarella. Spoon into prepared pan and gently pack down. Bake 45 minutes. Pour off drippings.
Spread remaining tomato sauce on top of the loaf and sprinkle with remaining 1 cup mozzarella. Bake until an internal temperature reaches 160 degrees on an instant read thermometer. The cheese should be melted and the sauce should be bubbling. Let stand 10 minutes, pour off drippings , and remove from pan before slicing.
Jack and I had a great dinner at the Lazy Dog Saloon at the corner of Pearl and 14th (across from the 14th Street Grill) - outstanding ribs and the corn fritters were heavenly! - http://www.thelazydog.com/
Looks like we had a pretty "meat-filled" repertoire - just the way I like it!
Hope you all had a terrific long weekend - have a great week!
Love,
Susan
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Saturday Morning Walkers - May 19, 2007
Hi everyone!
Jan planned a wonderful walk/hike on the Mesa Trail yesterday morning - the weather was beautiful, a bit more challenging than we've done in a while and a great turnout - Jan, Mary, Barb, Jackie, Andrea, Laila and me. Jackie wasn't able to join us for coffee at the newest Brewing Market at Baseline and Broadway but we got to welcome home Chris who joined us there with her granddaughter and my "girlfriend" Kinsale. What a cutie!
A reminder - as most of you know I will be camped out at the Grillo Center Labyrinth at the Boulder Creek Festival - I'm looking forward to seeing many of you there - I'd love to have you join me for a couple of hours or just stop by for a walk and visit. Let me know if you'd like to help out with a shift - I still have some openings in the afternoons.
Also, we plan to start constuction of the permanent labyrinth towards the end of the first week in June - we welcome your participation - there will be a fair amount of strenous work - if you know of any able-bodied young people (preferably over 16) who might like to contribute to this community project, please pass the word. Do come by for moral support and lend a hand in whatever way you can. I'll keep you updated on more details once the Creek Festival is over.
Book Report:
Susan finished Water From the Well by Anne Roiphe - I just loved it. It really brought to life the biblical stories of Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah. Roiphe's perspective really revealed these characters in a way I'd never experienced before.
From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review.
As with Roiphe's well-received novels and nonfiction about women's lives, this creative examination of four biblical matriarchs ably reflects her continuing emphasis on the relationships between women and their children. Roiphe embroiders the terse accounts of Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah in Genesis by using her own imagination and by drawing on prayer books, Talmud, midrash, the Zohar and several collections of legends. The result is a colorful, character-driven portrayal of the women, emphasizing their experiences with their husbands and their children. In each instance, Roiphe follows the biblical practice of depicting highly regarded ancestors with all their foibles and limitations. In Rebekah's deception in conspiring with favored son Jacob over his brother Esau, or Sarah's bitterness and mistreatment of Hagar, Roiphe identifies deep weaknesses and character flaws, but also offers inventive justifications for morally questionable behavior. In Rachel's long wait before becoming pregnant, Roiphe traces echoes of what happened earlier to Sarah and Rebekah. These women all experienced barrenness, neglect, death in childbirth and joy from children as "the staples of female life." Roiphe hopes that the stories she so beautifully retells can inspire us "to be decent people... [and to] better the world."
Update from Barb - we reported on Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien a couple of weeks ago. She did finish it and ended up liking it.
Website of the Week: Cook for the Cure - http://www.kitchenaid.com/content.jsp?sectionId=483 - yet another endeavor from the Komen Foundation to raise money for Breast Cancer - this is tempting!
Podcast of the Week: Democracy Now featuring Amy Goodman - http://www.democracynow.org/podcast_help.shtml#feeds
A new feature of the blog - Vocabulary Word of the Week (assuming I can come up with one!) I spent a good part of this week, groping for a word that I needed to describe something related to the book I was reading. Finally, came up with it and will share it with you here:
Archetype
An archetype is a generic, idealized model of a person, object, or concept from which similar instances are derived, copied, patterned, or emulated. In psychology, an archetype is a model of a person, personality, or behavior. This article is about personality archetypes, as described in literature analysis and the study of the psyche.
In the analysis of personality, the term archetype is often broadly used to refer to
a stereotype—personality type observed multiple times, especially an oversimplification of such a type; or
an epitome—personality type exemplified, especially the "greatest" such example.
However, in a strict linguistic sense, an archetype is merely a defining example of a personality type. The accepted use of archetype is to refer to a generic version of a personality type. In this sense "mother figure" can be considered an archetype and instances can be found in various female characters with distinct (non-generic) personalities.
Archetypes have been present in mythology and literature for hundreds of years. The use of archetypes to analyze personality was advanced by Carl Jung early in the 20th century. The value in using archetypal characters in fiction derives from the fact that a large group of people are able to unconsciously recognize the archetype, and thus the motivations, behind the character's behavior.
Cooking and Food Report:
Book Group at Janet's is always outstanding - she is a fabulous cook! Here are some of her winner recipes:
Mixed Greens and Asparagus Salad - http://www.sacbee.com/recipes/v-print/story/148588.html
Roasted Fennel and Red Onion Salmon - http://food.realsimple.com/realsimple/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1107180
Orzo Risotto - from the current issue of Bon Appetit - not online yet!
I helped out with the appetizer - Tapas of Almonds, Olives and Cheese - it is a lot to include here but I will enter it as a word document - let me know if you want me to send it as an attachment.
Restaurant review from Chris - a favorite restaurant in Cave Creek, Arizona - Tonto Bar and Grill - http://www.azeats.com/tonto/default.htm - try the corn chowder, green chili, field greens salad, great burger and the walleyed pike.
Restaurant note - there's a new cafe/restaurant in NOBO (North Broadway next Amante's) called Organic Orbit (not sure about that name). We just peeked in last night and checked out the menu. It is open for breakfast and lunch with a casual menu and for dinner it becomes a "fine dining" restaurant. Worth checking out! If anyone has already been there, let us know.
That's it for now - have a great week and do come visit at the Boulder Creek Festival this coming weekend. The Grillo Center Labyrinth really offers a great respite from the hustle-bustle of the Festival.
Love,
Susan
Susan Wadle
Grillo Center Labyrinth Parkwww.grillocenter.org
Check out my blog at http://cookinandbookin.blogspot.com/
Please note my new e-mail address is susanwadle@comcast.net
Phone 303-417-1098
Fax 303-417-1122
1765 Hawthorn Place
Boulder, CO 80304
Jan planned a wonderful walk/hike on the Mesa Trail yesterday morning - the weather was beautiful, a bit more challenging than we've done in a while and a great turnout - Jan, Mary, Barb, Jackie, Andrea, Laila and me. Jackie wasn't able to join us for coffee at the newest Brewing Market at Baseline and Broadway but we got to welcome home Chris who joined us there with her granddaughter and my "girlfriend" Kinsale. What a cutie!
A reminder - as most of you know I will be camped out at the Grillo Center Labyrinth at the Boulder Creek Festival - I'm looking forward to seeing many of you there - I'd love to have you join me for a couple of hours or just stop by for a walk and visit. Let me know if you'd like to help out with a shift - I still have some openings in the afternoons.
Also, we plan to start constuction of the permanent labyrinth towards the end of the first week in June - we welcome your participation - there will be a fair amount of strenous work - if you know of any able-bodied young people (preferably over 16) who might like to contribute to this community project, please pass the word. Do come by for moral support and lend a hand in whatever way you can. I'll keep you updated on more details once the Creek Festival is over.
Book Report:
Susan finished Water From the Well by Anne Roiphe - I just loved it. It really brought to life the biblical stories of Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah. Roiphe's perspective really revealed these characters in a way I'd never experienced before.
From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review.
As with Roiphe's well-received novels and nonfiction about women's lives, this creative examination of four biblical matriarchs ably reflects her continuing emphasis on the relationships between women and their children. Roiphe embroiders the terse accounts of Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah in Genesis by using her own imagination and by drawing on prayer books, Talmud, midrash, the Zohar and several collections of legends. The result is a colorful, character-driven portrayal of the women, emphasizing their experiences with their husbands and their children. In each instance, Roiphe follows the biblical practice of depicting highly regarded ancestors with all their foibles and limitations. In Rebekah's deception in conspiring with favored son Jacob over his brother Esau, or Sarah's bitterness and mistreatment of Hagar, Roiphe identifies deep weaknesses and character flaws, but also offers inventive justifications for morally questionable behavior. In Rachel's long wait before becoming pregnant, Roiphe traces echoes of what happened earlier to Sarah and Rebekah. These women all experienced barrenness, neglect, death in childbirth and joy from children as "the staples of female life." Roiphe hopes that the stories she so beautifully retells can inspire us "to be decent people... [and to] better the world."
Update from Barb - we reported on Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien a couple of weeks ago. She did finish it and ended up liking it.
Website of the Week: Cook for the Cure - http://www.kitchenaid.com/content.jsp?sectionId=483 - yet another endeavor from the Komen Foundation to raise money for Breast Cancer - this is tempting!
Podcast of the Week: Democracy Now featuring Amy Goodman - http://www.democracynow.org/podcast_help.shtml#feeds
A new feature of the blog - Vocabulary Word of the Week (assuming I can come up with one!) I spent a good part of this week, groping for a word that I needed to describe something related to the book I was reading. Finally, came up with it and will share it with you here:
Archetype
An archetype is a generic, idealized model of a person, object, or concept from which similar instances are derived, copied, patterned, or emulated. In psychology, an archetype is a model of a person, personality, or behavior. This article is about personality archetypes, as described in literature analysis and the study of the psyche.
In the analysis of personality, the term archetype is often broadly used to refer to
a stereotype—personality type observed multiple times, especially an oversimplification of such a type; or
an epitome—personality type exemplified, especially the "greatest" such example.
However, in a strict linguistic sense, an archetype is merely a defining example of a personality type. The accepted use of archetype is to refer to a generic version of a personality type. In this sense "mother figure" can be considered an archetype and instances can be found in various female characters with distinct (non-generic) personalities.
Archetypes have been present in mythology and literature for hundreds of years. The use of archetypes to analyze personality was advanced by Carl Jung early in the 20th century. The value in using archetypal characters in fiction derives from the fact that a large group of people are able to unconsciously recognize the archetype, and thus the motivations, behind the character's behavior.
Cooking and Food Report:
Book Group at Janet's is always outstanding - she is a fabulous cook! Here are some of her winner recipes:
Mixed Greens and Asparagus Salad - http://www.sacbee.com/recipes/v-print/story/148588.html
Roasted Fennel and Red Onion Salmon - http://food.realsimple.com/realsimple/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1107180
Orzo Risotto - from the current issue of Bon Appetit - not online yet!
I helped out with the appetizer - Tapas of Almonds, Olives and Cheese - it is a lot to include here but I will enter it as a word document - let me know if you want me to send it as an attachment.
Restaurant review from Chris - a favorite restaurant in Cave Creek, Arizona - Tonto Bar and Grill - http://www.azeats.com/tonto/default.htm - try the corn chowder, green chili, field greens salad, great burger and the walleyed pike.
Restaurant note - there's a new cafe/restaurant in NOBO (North Broadway next Amante's) called Organic Orbit (not sure about that name). We just peeked in last night and checked out the menu. It is open for breakfast and lunch with a casual menu and for dinner it becomes a "fine dining" restaurant. Worth checking out! If anyone has already been there, let us know.
That's it for now - have a great week and do come visit at the Boulder Creek Festival this coming weekend. The Grillo Center Labyrinth really offers a great respite from the hustle-bustle of the Festival.
Love,
Susan
Susan Wadle
Grillo Center Labyrinth Parkwww.grillocenter.org
Check out my blog at http://cookinandbookin.blogspot.com/
Please note my new e-mail address is susanwadle@comcast.net
Phone 303-417-1098
Fax 303-417-1122
1765 Hawthorn Place
Boulder, CO 80304
Saturday Morning Walkers - May 12, 2007
Hi everyone!
Mary, Christie, Andrea, Terri, Laila and I had a lovely, warm Saturday morning walk on a portion of the Coal Creek Trail in Louisville - amazing views! Four of us enjoyed coffee and treats at the Dragonfly Cafe on South Boulder Road in Louisville.
Book Report:
Terri just finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - we've already reviewed that book but it deserves another mention. Check out the review on http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Flower-Secret-Fan-Novel/dp/0812968069/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-2575432-7104036?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179105593&sr=8-1
Jeff recommends - Salt - A World History by Mark Kurlansky
Los Angeles Times Book Review
Kurlansky continues to prove himself remarkably adept at taking a most unlikely candidate and telling its tale with epic grandeur.
Susan read a fascinating book about our current political climate - Don't Think of an Elephant - Know Your Values and Frame the Debate by George Lakoff. It is a quick read but valuable and timely.
From Publishers Weekly
Lakoff, a cognitive scientist and linguist at Berkeley, believes he knows why conservatives have been so successful in recent years and how progressives like himself can beat them at their own game. This slim book presents a simple, accessible overview of his theory of "moral politics" and a call to action for Democrats mourning November’s election results. Lakoff’s persuasive argument focuses on two ideas: what he calls "framing," and the opposition of liberals’ and conservatives’ concepts of the family. Conservatives, he says, have easily framed tax cuts as "tax relief" because of widespread, preexisting views of taxes as burdensome, and liberals have had little success conveying the idea that taxes are a social responsibility. In Lakoff’s view, conservatives adhere to a "strict father" model of family, in contrast to liberals’ "nurturant parent" view, and he sees this difference as the key to understanding most of the two sides’ clashes. His writing is clear and succinct, and he illuminates his theories through easy-to-follow examples from current politics. Although the book has been updated since the election, many of its sections were originally written long beforehand, so some comments are outdated (at one point Lakoff wonders, for example, whether George Bush’s support of the gay marriage amendment will help him keep the White House). However, the process of regaining power may be a long one for Democrats, and Lakoff’s insights into how to deal with conservatives and appeal to the general public are bound to light a fire under many progressives.
Website of the Week - http://www.roomtoread.org/ - Terri, Cass and Barb went to an event at the Tattered Cover Friday night to hear former Microsoft executive, John Wood speak about the remarkable organization he founded to bring books and education to children living in poverty. I'm so sorry I wasn't able to go with them to hear him. Do check this out!
Podcast of the Week - Between the Lines - a book review podcast from PBS Atlanta http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=5183239
Cooking and Food:
Jack and I went out to dinner last night - we went to L'Absinthe, a French restaurant at the corner of Broadway and Canyon here in Boulder. We had an excellent meal - Jack had the lobster bisque and steak au poivre and I had a Caesar salad and mussels. We shared a flourless chocolate cake that was heavenly. We also enjoyed the piano accompaniment. I was a bit disapponted that it was as empty as it was - we had tried to get last minute reservations in several other places that were totally booked. Hopefully, they'll still be around next year! http://www.labsintheboulder.com/
I just made a fabulous lamb dish (a treat for myself while Jack is away - he doesn't like lamb). I enjoyed it for dinner tonight and will enjoy it all week! It is from The Splendid Table website - it is called Ninth-Night Lamb - http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/recipes/meat_lamb.html. Great with the roasted asparagus that Libby made last week - by the way, I had indicated that she roasted the asparagus at 425 degrees - it should be 475 degrees!
Mandy sent me another great recipe from Viola Cappodici - Mrs C's Bracciole - she loved it! I'll probably try it next week for Soprano Sunday:
MRS. C’S BRACCIOLE
“It’s never a bad time for bracciole.” --Mrs. C.
Ingredients
1 ½ lb. pork loin (ask butcher to butterfly it); can also use a flattened beef round steak
salt & pepper
garlic powder
dried parsley and basil
grated romano cheese
kitchen twine
Directions
Lay out the pork (or beef); salt and pepper generously. Sprinkle a healthy amount of garlic powder, parsley and basil. Sprinkle the romano cheese to cover. (“Don’t be stingy.”) Start at the narrow end and roll and tie up w/kitchen twine (go lengthwise first and knot, circle back widthwise and make a half hitch at intervals along the way; to finish, loop around lengthwise again and knot).
Place the tied bracciole in a stockpot pot; brown it in olive oil (5 min. or so) and sear on all sides. Remove meat from the pot and set aside. Make gravy in the stockpot (see Mrs. C’s gravy recipe). Put the pork back in the pot and bring to a boil; lower heat and simmer partially covered, for 1 ½ hours, stirring every 10-15 min. Remove string, slice and serve with gravy.
That's it for now - enjoy this warm weather!
Love,
Susan
Susan Wadle
Grillo Center Labyrinth Park
http://www.grillocenter.org/
Check out my blog at http://cookinandbookin.blogspot.com/
Please note my new e-mail address is susanwadle@comcast.net
Phone 303-417-1098
Fax 303-417-1122
1765 Hawthorn Place
Boulder, CO 80304
Mary, Christie, Andrea, Terri, Laila and I had a lovely, warm Saturday morning walk on a portion of the Coal Creek Trail in Louisville - amazing views! Four of us enjoyed coffee and treats at the Dragonfly Cafe on South Boulder Road in Louisville.
Book Report:
Terri just finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See - we've already reviewed that book but it deserves another mention. Check out the review on http://www.amazon.com/Snow-Flower-Secret-Fan-Novel/dp/0812968069/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-2575432-7104036?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179105593&sr=8-1
Jeff recommends - Salt - A World History by Mark Kurlansky
Los Angeles Times Book Review
Kurlansky continues to prove himself remarkably adept at taking a most unlikely candidate and telling its tale with epic grandeur.
Susan read a fascinating book about our current political climate - Don't Think of an Elephant - Know Your Values and Frame the Debate by George Lakoff. It is a quick read but valuable and timely.
From Publishers Weekly
Lakoff, a cognitive scientist and linguist at Berkeley, believes he knows why conservatives have been so successful in recent years and how progressives like himself can beat them at their own game. This slim book presents a simple, accessible overview of his theory of "moral politics" and a call to action for Democrats mourning November’s election results. Lakoff’s persuasive argument focuses on two ideas: what he calls "framing," and the opposition of liberals’ and conservatives’ concepts of the family. Conservatives, he says, have easily framed tax cuts as "tax relief" because of widespread, preexisting views of taxes as burdensome, and liberals have had little success conveying the idea that taxes are a social responsibility. In Lakoff’s view, conservatives adhere to a "strict father" model of family, in contrast to liberals’ "nurturant parent" view, and he sees this difference as the key to understanding most of the two sides’ clashes. His writing is clear and succinct, and he illuminates his theories through easy-to-follow examples from current politics. Although the book has been updated since the election, many of its sections were originally written long beforehand, so some comments are outdated (at one point Lakoff wonders, for example, whether George Bush’s support of the gay marriage amendment will help him keep the White House). However, the process of regaining power may be a long one for Democrats, and Lakoff’s insights into how to deal with conservatives and appeal to the general public are bound to light a fire under many progressives.
Website of the Week - http://www.roomtoread.org/ - Terri, Cass and Barb went to an event at the Tattered Cover Friday night to hear former Microsoft executive, John Wood speak about the remarkable organization he founded to bring books and education to children living in poverty. I'm so sorry I wasn't able to go with them to hear him. Do check this out!
Podcast of the Week - Between the Lines - a book review podcast from PBS Atlanta http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_detail.php?siteId=5183239
Cooking and Food:
Jack and I went out to dinner last night - we went to L'Absinthe, a French restaurant at the corner of Broadway and Canyon here in Boulder. We had an excellent meal - Jack had the lobster bisque and steak au poivre and I had a Caesar salad and mussels. We shared a flourless chocolate cake that was heavenly. We also enjoyed the piano accompaniment. I was a bit disapponted that it was as empty as it was - we had tried to get last minute reservations in several other places that were totally booked. Hopefully, they'll still be around next year! http://www.labsintheboulder.com/
I just made a fabulous lamb dish (a treat for myself while Jack is away - he doesn't like lamb). I enjoyed it for dinner tonight and will enjoy it all week! It is from The Splendid Table website - it is called Ninth-Night Lamb - http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/recipes/meat_lamb.html. Great with the roasted asparagus that Libby made last week - by the way, I had indicated that she roasted the asparagus at 425 degrees - it should be 475 degrees!
Mandy sent me another great recipe from Viola Cappodici - Mrs C's Bracciole - she loved it! I'll probably try it next week for Soprano Sunday:
MRS. C’S BRACCIOLE
“It’s never a bad time for bracciole.” --Mrs. C.
Ingredients
1 ½ lb. pork loin (ask butcher to butterfly it); can also use a flattened beef round steak
salt & pepper
garlic powder
dried parsley and basil
grated romano cheese
kitchen twine
Directions
Lay out the pork (or beef); salt and pepper generously. Sprinkle a healthy amount of garlic powder, parsley and basil. Sprinkle the romano cheese to cover. (“Don’t be stingy.”) Start at the narrow end and roll and tie up w/kitchen twine (go lengthwise first and knot, circle back widthwise and make a half hitch at intervals along the way; to finish, loop around lengthwise again and knot).
Place the tied bracciole in a stockpot pot; brown it in olive oil (5 min. or so) and sear on all sides. Remove meat from the pot and set aside. Make gravy in the stockpot (see Mrs. C’s gravy recipe). Put the pork back in the pot and bring to a boil; lower heat and simmer partially covered, for 1 ½ hours, stirring every 10-15 min. Remove string, slice and serve with gravy.
That's it for now - enjoy this warm weather!
Love,
Susan
Susan Wadle
Grillo Center Labyrinth Park
http://www.grillocenter.org/
Check out my blog at http://cookinandbookin.blogspot.com/
Please note my new e-mail address is susanwadle@comcast.net
Phone 303-417-1098
Fax 303-417-1122
1765 Hawthorn Place
Boulder, CO 80304
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Hi Everyone!
So glad I was here for our walk yesterday - thanks to Andrea we discovered a "walk" that most of us (Barb, Mary, Jan, Andrea, Laila and me) hadn't been on before - with all that training we did for the 3-Day, I thought we had covered every square mile of Boulder! This was the Twin Lakes Trail in Gunbarrel (off of Nautilus Drive). It was a lovely trail and beautiful views. We followed our walk with coffee and such at the Page Two Cafe in the Gunbarrel Shopping Center. In addition to being a very comfortable cafe, it also has a very nice gift shop.
Book Report:
Barb is reading Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien. Although it seems to have gotten high praise from the reviewers, Barb isn't so sure about it.
Amazon.com
"In October, near the end of the month, Cacciato left the war."
In Tim O'Brien's novel Going After Cacciato the theater of war becomes the theater of the absurd as a private deserts his post in Vietnam, intent on walking 8,000 miles to Paris for the peace talks. The remaining members of his squad are sent after him, but what happens then is anybody's guess: "The facts were simple: They went after Cacciato, they chased him into the mountains, they tried hard. They cornered him on a small grassy hill. They surrounded the hill. They waited through the night. And at dawn they shot the sky full of flares and then they moved in.... That was the end of it. The last known fact. What remained were possibilities."
It is these possibilities that make O'Brien's National Book Award-winning novel so extraordinary. Told from the perspective of squad member Paul Berlin, the search for Cacciato soon enters the realm of the surreal as the men find themselves following an elusive trail of chocolate M&M's through the jungles of Indochina, across India, Iran, Greece, and Yugoslavia to the streets of Paris. The details of this hallucinatory journey alternate with feverish memories of the war--men maimed by landmines, killed in tunnels, engaged in casual acts of brutality that would be unthinkable anywhere else. Reminiscent of Joseph Heller's Catch-22, Going After Cacciato dishes up a brilliant mix of ferocious comedy and bleak horror that serves to illuminate both the complex psychology of men in battle and the overarching insanity of war. --Alix Wilber --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Review"Simply put, the best novel written about the war. I do not know . . . any writer, journalist, or novelist who does not concede that position to O'Brien's Going After Cacciato."--Miami Herald"A novel of great beauty and importance."--Boston Globe"Stark . . . rhapsodic. . . . It is a canvas painted vividly, hauntingly, disturbingly by Tim O'Brien."--Los Angeles Times
I'm getting started reading writers who will be featured at this year's Literary Sojourn in Steamboat Springs. Best known is Jane Hamilton (Book of Ruth and Map of the World). I'm now reading Disobedience. Check out www.literarysojourn.org for details about the event. Our book group has been going for the last several years and enjoy it so much.
Websites of the Week - https://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailing - cut down on junk mail, save a tree!
https://www.zingermans.com - wonderful mail order food site - great for gifts for friends and family - Don't forget about Mother's Day!
Podcast of the Week - http://www.slate.com/id/2119317/ - Chris has been enjoying this one.
Food and Cooking: Lots of great recipes to share this week!
From Fine Cooking Magazine - Pan-Fried Gnocchi with Bacon, Onions & Peas http://www.recipezaar.com/223043 - a take-off on Carbonara
From Giada DiLaurentiis - Berry Strata - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_36602,00.html - kind of like a berry filled bread pudding - yum!
From Viola Capodici (Mandy's friend Connie's mom) - "Gravy and Meatballs" - this is the real deal - perfect on Soprano Sundays!
VIOLA CAPODICI’S GRAVY AND MEATBALLS
1 lb ground round
1 lb ground pork
28-oz. can whole peeled Italian tomatoes (blended on “puree” for a couple of seconds)
28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
6-oz. tomato paste plus one can of water
Shredded pecorino Romano cheese
Breadcrumbs w/Italian seasoning
4 eggs
Olive oil
Spices: dried basil, parsley, garlic powder, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper
Cover bottom of fry pan with olive oil, let sit. Sprinkle about ½ t. salt in the bottom of a mixing bowl; add a sprinkle of ground pepper. Add beef and pork; salt and pepper the meat again and add a generous sprinkling of garlic powder, along with the basil and parsley flakes (4-6 healthy shakes of each). Add 2 handfuls of the shredded romano. (Mrs. C says, “Don’t be stingy with the cheese—that’s the flavor.”) Add about ½ c of the breadcrumbs and 3 eggs. Mix well with your hands. If it’s too dry, add a fourth egg; if too moist, add a bit more crumbs. (For 2 lbs of meat you will most likely need 4 eggs.) Using water to moisten your hands, form meatballs just shy of baseball-size. Roll them until they hold together and put them on a platter. When the meatballs are ready, place them all in your cold pan w/oil. Turn heat to medium-high to cook, turning gently but frequently til they’re browned on all sides but not cooked through (and not crusty brown!)
When the meatballs are done, place them back on the platter and begin making the gravy. Scrape the fry pan’s drippings and brown bits into your stockpot. Add the tomato paste and can of water. Blend the pot’s contents and then add the whole tomatoes (pureed) and crushed tomatoes. Lightly sprinkle surface with garlic powder and about 2T each of basil and parsley flakes. Add a few turns of ground pepper. (No salt!) Add a sprinkle of crushed red pepper, to taste. Mix well. Gently place the meatballs back into the stockpot, along with the juices that have accumulated on the platter. Put over medium high heat, covered, until gravy comes to a boil. Then, immediately uncover and lower heat to a simmer. (“If you leave the cover on, you’ll have soup!”) Cook at least an hour, if not 1-1/2 hours. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon, only.
(Note: Mrs. C also uses these meatballs, crumbled, in place of ground beef in her baked ziti.)
"Editorial comment: These are the best meatballs and gravy I’ve ever had—they got me through 4 years of college! –Mandy"
I'll be in New York this coming weekend with Libby and David - I'm so excited to be going wedding dress shopping with Lib!
Have a great week!
Love,
Susan
So glad I was here for our walk yesterday - thanks to Andrea we discovered a "walk" that most of us (Barb, Mary, Jan, Andrea, Laila and me) hadn't been on before - with all that training we did for the 3-Day, I thought we had covered every square mile of Boulder! This was the Twin Lakes Trail in Gunbarrel (off of Nautilus Drive). It was a lovely trail and beautiful views. We followed our walk with coffee and such at the Page Two Cafe in the Gunbarrel Shopping Center. In addition to being a very comfortable cafe, it also has a very nice gift shop.
Book Report:
Barb is reading Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien. Although it seems to have gotten high praise from the reviewers, Barb isn't so sure about it.
Amazon.com
"In October, near the end of the month, Cacciato left the war."
In Tim O'Brien's novel Going After Cacciato the theater of war becomes the theater of the absurd as a private deserts his post in Vietnam, intent on walking 8,000 miles to Paris for the peace talks. The remaining members of his squad are sent after him, but what happens then is anybody's guess: "The facts were simple: They went after Cacciato, they chased him into the mountains, they tried hard. They cornered him on a small grassy hill. They surrounded the hill. They waited through the night. And at dawn they shot the sky full of flares and then they moved in.... That was the end of it. The last known fact. What remained were possibilities."
It is these possibilities that make O'Brien's National Book Award-winning novel so extraordinary. Told from the perspective of squad member Paul Berlin, the search for Cacciato soon enters the realm of the surreal as the men find themselves following an elusive trail of chocolate M&M's through the jungles of Indochina, across India, Iran, Greece, and Yugoslavia to the streets of Paris. The details of this hallucinatory journey alternate with feverish memories of the war--men maimed by landmines, killed in tunnels, engaged in casual acts of brutality that would be unthinkable anywhere else. Reminiscent of Joseph Heller's Catch-22, Going After Cacciato dishes up a brilliant mix of ferocious comedy and bleak horror that serves to illuminate both the complex psychology of men in battle and the overarching insanity of war. --Alix Wilber --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Review"Simply put, the best novel written about the war. I do not know . . . any writer, journalist, or novelist who does not concede that position to O'Brien's Going After Cacciato."--Miami Herald"A novel of great beauty and importance."--Boston Globe"Stark . . . rhapsodic. . . . It is a canvas painted vividly, hauntingly, disturbingly by Tim O'Brien."--Los Angeles Times
I'm getting started reading writers who will be featured at this year's Literary Sojourn in Steamboat Springs. Best known is Jane Hamilton (Book of Ruth and Map of the World). I'm now reading Disobedience. Check out www.literarysojourn.org for details about the event. Our book group has been going for the last several years and enjoy it so much.
Websites of the Week - https://www.dmaconsumers.org/cgi/offmailing - cut down on junk mail, save a tree!
https://www.zingermans.com - wonderful mail order food site - great for gifts for friends and family - Don't forget about Mother's Day!
Podcast of the Week - http://www.slate.com/id/2119317/ - Chris has been enjoying this one.
Food and Cooking: Lots of great recipes to share this week!
From Fine Cooking Magazine - Pan-Fried Gnocchi with Bacon, Onions & Peas http://www.recipezaar.com/223043 - a take-off on Carbonara
From Giada DiLaurentiis - Berry Strata - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_36602,00.html - kind of like a berry filled bread pudding - yum!
From Viola Capodici (Mandy's friend Connie's mom) - "Gravy and Meatballs" - this is the real deal - perfect on Soprano Sundays!
VIOLA CAPODICI’S GRAVY AND MEATBALLS
1 lb ground round
1 lb ground pork
28-oz. can whole peeled Italian tomatoes (blended on “puree” for a couple of seconds)
28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
6-oz. tomato paste plus one can of water
Shredded pecorino Romano cheese
Breadcrumbs w/Italian seasoning
4 eggs
Olive oil
Spices: dried basil, parsley, garlic powder, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper
Cover bottom of fry pan with olive oil, let sit. Sprinkle about ½ t. salt in the bottom of a mixing bowl; add a sprinkle of ground pepper. Add beef and pork; salt and pepper the meat again and add a generous sprinkling of garlic powder, along with the basil and parsley flakes (4-6 healthy shakes of each). Add 2 handfuls of the shredded romano. (Mrs. C says, “Don’t be stingy with the cheese—that’s the flavor.”) Add about ½ c of the breadcrumbs and 3 eggs. Mix well with your hands. If it’s too dry, add a fourth egg; if too moist, add a bit more crumbs. (For 2 lbs of meat you will most likely need 4 eggs.) Using water to moisten your hands, form meatballs just shy of baseball-size. Roll them until they hold together and put them on a platter. When the meatballs are ready, place them all in your cold pan w/oil. Turn heat to medium-high to cook, turning gently but frequently til they’re browned on all sides but not cooked through (and not crusty brown!)
When the meatballs are done, place them back on the platter and begin making the gravy. Scrape the fry pan’s drippings and brown bits into your stockpot. Add the tomato paste and can of water. Blend the pot’s contents and then add the whole tomatoes (pureed) and crushed tomatoes. Lightly sprinkle surface with garlic powder and about 2T each of basil and parsley flakes. Add a few turns of ground pepper. (No salt!) Add a sprinkle of crushed red pepper, to taste. Mix well. Gently place the meatballs back into the stockpot, along with the juices that have accumulated on the platter. Put over medium high heat, covered, until gravy comes to a boil. Then, immediately uncover and lower heat to a simmer. (“If you leave the cover on, you’ll have soup!”) Cook at least an hour, if not 1-1/2 hours. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon, only.
(Note: Mrs. C also uses these meatballs, crumbled, in place of ground beef in her baked ziti.)
"Editorial comment: These are the best meatballs and gravy I’ve ever had—they got me through 4 years of college! –Mandy"
I'll be in New York this coming weekend with Libby and David - I'm so excited to be going wedding dress shopping with Lib!
Have a great week!
Love,
Susan
Saturday Morning Walkers - April 23, 2007
Hi all,
It is Sunday afternoon here in Los Angeles. I'm sorry to say that we didn't get to have Jacob's birthday bash yesterday since he had an ear infection. The good news is that we all got to spend some nice quiet time together. All the Wadle "kids" were together and that was terrific!
Book Report:
Linn sent us a list of books she has read recently - check them out! FYI - Linn had been working at a book store in Estes Park - Guess where her paycheck went? Great news to share - Linn is starting work at Whole Foods this week!
The first two books haven't been released yet - we'll have to watch for these - also, this list is lengthy so I'm just providing links to the reviews on Amazon:
Merle's Door
Lessons from a Free Thinking Dog
by Ted Kerasote - http://www.amazon.com/Merles-Door-Lessons-Freethinking-Dog/dp/0151012709/ref=sr_1_1/102-8509221-3488140?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177277824&sr=1-1
The Last Chinese Chef
by Nicole Mones - http://www.amazon.com/Last-Chinese-Chef-Nicole-Mones/dp/0618619666/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8509221-3488140?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177277938&sr=1-1
A Pig in Provence
by Georgeanne Brennan - http://www.amazon.com/Pig-Provence-Simple-Pleasures-France/dp/081185213X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8509221-3488140?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177277993&sr=1-1
The God of Animals
by Aryn Kyle - http://www.amazon.com/God-Animals-Novel-Aryn-Kyle/dp/1416533249/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8509221-3488140?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177278044&sr=1-1
Nineteen Minutes
by Jodi Picoult - http://www.amazon.com/Nineteen-Minutes-novel-Jodi-Picoult/dp/0743496728/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8509221-3488140?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177278098&sr=1-1 - (Libby just read this one and recommends it - particularly timely, having just gone through another school shooting)
Catching Genius
by Kristy Keirnan - http://www.mostlyfiction.com/contemp/kiernan.htm
The Conjurer's Bird
by Martin Davies - http://www.amazon.com/Conjurers-Bird-Novel-Martin-Davies/dp/1400097339
Website of the Week - Ariana Huffington's blog - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ - I just heard an interview with Ariana Huffington and was quite impressed with her. I'm also anxious to read her book that is now out in paperback - On Becoming Fearless - http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Fearless-Love-Work-Life/dp/0316166812
Podcast of the Week - The Ethicist - http://www.nytimes.com/ref/multimedia/podcasts.html Randy Cohen, Times Magazine columnist, answers readers' questions on ethical issues each week. Schedule: Fridays
Cooking and Food
No cooking going on at our house this past week but I do have two LA restaurant reviews:
Lunch at The Oinkster in Eagle Rock, CA - http://www.oinkster.com/ - slow, fast food - featuring pastrami and pulled pork sandwiches - we sampled the pulled pork, great chicken salad and great fries with aoili mayo.
Dinner at Pace in Laurel Canyon (very near the Hollywood Bowl) - Jack was eager to take all of us here for a celebration dinner in honor of Libby and David's engagement - I mentioned this place a few weeks ago but definitely worth a second mention. http://peaceinthecanyon.com/ -
That's it for now! Missed our Saturday morning walk but will be there next week!
Love,
Susan
It is Sunday afternoon here in Los Angeles. I'm sorry to say that we didn't get to have Jacob's birthday bash yesterday since he had an ear infection. The good news is that we all got to spend some nice quiet time together. All the Wadle "kids" were together and that was terrific!
Book Report:
Linn sent us a list of books she has read recently - check them out! FYI - Linn had been working at a book store in Estes Park - Guess where her paycheck went? Great news to share - Linn is starting work at Whole Foods this week!
The first two books haven't been released yet - we'll have to watch for these - also, this list is lengthy so I'm just providing links to the reviews on Amazon:
Merle's Door
Lessons from a Free Thinking Dog
by Ted Kerasote - http://www.amazon.com/Merles-Door-Lessons-Freethinking-Dog/dp/0151012709/ref=sr_1_1/102-8509221-3488140?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177277824&sr=1-1
The Last Chinese Chef
by Nicole Mones - http://www.amazon.com/Last-Chinese-Chef-Nicole-Mones/dp/0618619666/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8509221-3488140?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177277938&sr=1-1
A Pig in Provence
by Georgeanne Brennan - http://www.amazon.com/Pig-Provence-Simple-Pleasures-France/dp/081185213X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8509221-3488140?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177277993&sr=1-1
The God of Animals
by Aryn Kyle - http://www.amazon.com/God-Animals-Novel-Aryn-Kyle/dp/1416533249/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8509221-3488140?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177278044&sr=1-1
Nineteen Minutes
by Jodi Picoult - http://www.amazon.com/Nineteen-Minutes-novel-Jodi-Picoult/dp/0743496728/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8509221-3488140?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177278098&sr=1-1 - (Libby just read this one and recommends it - particularly timely, having just gone through another school shooting)
Catching Genius
by Kristy Keirnan - http://www.mostlyfiction.com/contemp/kiernan.htm
The Conjurer's Bird
by Martin Davies - http://www.amazon.com/Conjurers-Bird-Novel-Martin-Davies/dp/1400097339
Website of the Week - Ariana Huffington's blog - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ - I just heard an interview with Ariana Huffington and was quite impressed with her. I'm also anxious to read her book that is now out in paperback - On Becoming Fearless - http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Fearless-Love-Work-Life/dp/0316166812
Podcast of the Week - The Ethicist - http://www.nytimes.com/ref/multimedia/podcasts.html Randy Cohen, Times Magazine columnist, answers readers' questions on ethical issues each week. Schedule: Fridays
Cooking and Food
No cooking going on at our house this past week but I do have two LA restaurant reviews:
Lunch at The Oinkster in Eagle Rock, CA - http://www.oinkster.com/ - slow, fast food - featuring pastrami and pulled pork sandwiches - we sampled the pulled pork, great chicken salad and great fries with aoili mayo.
Dinner at Pace in Laurel Canyon (very near the Hollywood Bowl) - Jack was eager to take all of us here for a celebration dinner in honor of Libby and David's engagement - I mentioned this place a few weeks ago but definitely worth a second mention. http://peaceinthecanyon.com/ -
That's it for now! Missed our Saturday morning walk but will be there next week!
Love,
Susan
Saturday Morning Walkers - April 14, 2007
Hi everyone!
So happy that the "blizzard" that was predicted never actually happened. We had a lovely Saturday morning - Jan, Barb, Andrea, Mary, Laila and I met for coffee and bagels at Moe's. I sent everyone off on a walk through the Whittier neighborhood to Hawthorn and over to the Community Gardens and back on 13th to Community Plaza. I had to leave early to take Jack to the airport.
We had lots to talk about - here goes...............
Book Report:
Andrea is reading an interesting collection of essays called E = Einstein by Donald and Bartusiak Goldsmith
Abbey Bookshop Description
In the history of physics, there has been no greater visionary than Albert Einstein. Through his revolutionary Theory of Relativity, he fundamentally changed the way we look at the universe. But there is more to Einstein than just E=mc2 - and this anthology of 30 fascinating essays, presented by three renowned scientist/editors, captures his various facets. Complete with more than 125 colour illustrations and explanatory sidebars that make the information accessible to the layperson, these revelatory articles explore his life, theories and legacy.
Barb is reading the very funny book about aging, I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron.
From Publishers Weekly[Signature]Reviewed by Toni BentleyThe honest truth is that it's sad to be over sixty," concludes Nora Ephron in her sparkling new book about aging. With 15 essays in 160 pages, this collection is short, a thoughtful concession to pre- and post-menopausal women (who else is there?), like herself, who "can't read a word on the pill bottle," follow a thought to a conclusion, or remember the thought after not being able to read the pill bottle. Ephron drives the truth home like a nail in your soon-to-be-bought coffin: "Plus, you can't wear a bikini." But just as despair sets in, she admits to using "quite a lot of bath oil... I'm as smooth as silk." Yes, she is. This is aging lite—but that might be the answer. Besides, there's always Philip Roth for aging heavy.Ephron, in fact, offers a brief anecdote about Roth, in a chapter on cooking, concerning her friend Jane, who had a one-night stand, long ago, with the then "up-and-coming" writer. He gave Jane a copy of his latest book. "Take one on your way out," he said. Conveniently, there was a box of them by the front door. Ephron refuses to analyze—one of her most refreshing qualities—and quickly moves on to Jane's céleri remoulade.Aging, according to Ephron, is one big descent—and who would argue? (Well, okay—but they'd lose the argument if they all got naked.) There it is, the steady spiraling down of everything: body and mind, breasts and balls, dragging one's self-respect behind them. Ephron's witty riffs on these distractions are a delightful antidote to the prevailing belief that everything can be held up with surgical scaffolding and the drugs of denial. Nothing, in the end, prevents the descent. While signs of mortality proliferate, Ephron offers a rebuttal of consequence: an intelligent, alert, entertaining perspective that does not take itself too seriously. (If you can't laugh, after all, you are already, technically speaking, dead.) She does, however, concede that hair maintenance—styling, dyeing, highlighting, blow-drying—is a serious matter, not to mention the expense. "Once I picked up a copy of Vogue while having my hair done, and it cost me twenty thousand dollars. But you should see my teeth." Digging deeper, she discovers that your filthy, bulging purse containing numerous things you don't need—and couldn't find if you did—is, "in some absolutely horrible way, you." Ephron doesn't shy away from the truth about sex either, and confesses, though with an appropriate amount of shame, that despite having been a White House intern in 1961, she did not have an affair with JFK. May Ephron, and her purse, endure so she can continue to tell us how it goes. Or, at least, where it went. Toni Bentley is the author, most recently, of Sisters of Salome and The Surrender, an Erotic Memoir. She is writing about Emma, Lady Hamilton, for the Eminent Lives series.
Website of the Week - recommended by Rae - www.conversationcafe - These Conversation Cafés are about free speech. Not as something that can be taken away in an era of repression, but as something one strengthens through self expression in the presence of those who do not agree. Free speech is our birthright. Repressive societies can change the consequences of speaking, but they do not govern our souls.
"I envision a culture of conversation — a culture where people talk freely — without fear or taboos — with friends and strangers alike. I once asked a Dane how Denmark had resisted the pressures of globalization. He said two words: study circles. Most Danes throughout their adult lives have the habit of conversation about things that matter in small groups.
"We can do that here. In cafés. In Britain in the 1700s the government shut down the cafés where people met to discuss politics because they were sites of revolutionary thinking. Here, we get our news from the TV, retreat into private sub-cultures through online chats and interact only with people who see the world as we do. This is a formula for weakening society enough to allow forces of repression to take over. Conversation Cafés are an attempt to reverse the trend."
Podcast of the Week - recommended by Chris - http://www.twit.tv/DGW - a network of shows with the latest info and news about technology
Cooking and Food - lots of yummy recipes to share:
Mandy made Giada de Laurentiis Ricotta Pancakes for a brunch this weekend - she served them with wild blueberries and accompanied them with proscuitto-wrapped cantalope slices - topped everything off with Mango Bellinis - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_31908,00.html
Libby had a major cookfest today during the "Nor'Easter" in New York today:
From Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa, Chicken Chili - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_27660,00.html?rsrc=search
From Giada de Laurentiis, Foccacia Panino - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_33447,00.html?rsrc=search
From Lisa Yockelman's Chocolate by Chocolate (featured in Food & Wine's Best of the Best Cookbook) - Giant Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake Muffins - these are outstanding - unfortunately, I can't find the recipe on-line and its a very long recipe. I will put it in a word document and will send it as an attachment to anyone who would like to have this one.
Susan had two winners this week:
We had a Soprano's opening night Italian dinner last Sunday - Bobby Flay's Chicken Parmigiana - molto bene! - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_33031,00.html?rsrc=search
Another was Giada de Laurentiis' Pork Chops alla Pizzaiola - the sauce was terrific and I would use it with steak or even chicken - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_32171,00.html?rsrc=search
A few random notes and hints:
Jan saw Susan Love, breast cancer expert, at the World Affairs Conference - she was so impressed her and the work she is doing - check out her website - www.susanlovemd.com
Mary shared the names of a couple of contractors that she highly recommends:
V & A Doors - installation and repair of garage door openers - family business - 303- 429-2770
Foothills Appliance - 303-665-3333
Barb has a handy hint - Distilled white vinegar is a great organic weed killer - works well for those weeds peeking through stone walks and patios - http://www.moscowfood.coop/archive/VinegarKillsWeeds.html
That's it until next week - we'll be in LA next weekend to celebrate Jacob's 5th birthday.
Have a great week.....
Love,
Susan
So happy that the "blizzard" that was predicted never actually happened. We had a lovely Saturday morning - Jan, Barb, Andrea, Mary, Laila and I met for coffee and bagels at Moe's. I sent everyone off on a walk through the Whittier neighborhood to Hawthorn and over to the Community Gardens and back on 13th to Community Plaza. I had to leave early to take Jack to the airport.
We had lots to talk about - here goes...............
Book Report:
Andrea is reading an interesting collection of essays called E = Einstein by Donald and Bartusiak Goldsmith
Abbey Bookshop Description
In the history of physics, there has been no greater visionary than Albert Einstein. Through his revolutionary Theory of Relativity, he fundamentally changed the way we look at the universe. But there is more to Einstein than just E=mc2 - and this anthology of 30 fascinating essays, presented by three renowned scientist/editors, captures his various facets. Complete with more than 125 colour illustrations and explanatory sidebars that make the information accessible to the layperson, these revelatory articles explore his life, theories and legacy.
Barb is reading the very funny book about aging, I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron.
From Publishers Weekly[Signature]Reviewed by Toni BentleyThe honest truth is that it's sad to be over sixty," concludes Nora Ephron in her sparkling new book about aging. With 15 essays in 160 pages, this collection is short, a thoughtful concession to pre- and post-menopausal women (who else is there?), like herself, who "can't read a word on the pill bottle," follow a thought to a conclusion, or remember the thought after not being able to read the pill bottle. Ephron drives the truth home like a nail in your soon-to-be-bought coffin: "Plus, you can't wear a bikini." But just as despair sets in, she admits to using "quite a lot of bath oil... I'm as smooth as silk." Yes, she is. This is aging lite—but that might be the answer. Besides, there's always Philip Roth for aging heavy.Ephron, in fact, offers a brief anecdote about Roth, in a chapter on cooking, concerning her friend Jane, who had a one-night stand, long ago, with the then "up-and-coming" writer. He gave Jane a copy of his latest book. "Take one on your way out," he said. Conveniently, there was a box of them by the front door. Ephron refuses to analyze—one of her most refreshing qualities—and quickly moves on to Jane's céleri remoulade.Aging, according to Ephron, is one big descent—and who would argue? (Well, okay—but they'd lose the argument if they all got naked.) There it is, the steady spiraling down of everything: body and mind, breasts and balls, dragging one's self-respect behind them. Ephron's witty riffs on these distractions are a delightful antidote to the prevailing belief that everything can be held up with surgical scaffolding and the drugs of denial. Nothing, in the end, prevents the descent. While signs of mortality proliferate, Ephron offers a rebuttal of consequence: an intelligent, alert, entertaining perspective that does not take itself too seriously. (If you can't laugh, after all, you are already, technically speaking, dead.) She does, however, concede that hair maintenance—styling, dyeing, highlighting, blow-drying—is a serious matter, not to mention the expense. "Once I picked up a copy of Vogue while having my hair done, and it cost me twenty thousand dollars. But you should see my teeth." Digging deeper, she discovers that your filthy, bulging purse containing numerous things you don't need—and couldn't find if you did—is, "in some absolutely horrible way, you." Ephron doesn't shy away from the truth about sex either, and confesses, though with an appropriate amount of shame, that despite having been a White House intern in 1961, she did not have an affair with JFK. May Ephron, and her purse, endure so she can continue to tell us how it goes. Or, at least, where it went. Toni Bentley is the author, most recently, of Sisters of Salome and The Surrender, an Erotic Memoir. She is writing about Emma, Lady Hamilton, for the Eminent Lives series.
Website of the Week - recommended by Rae - www.conversationcafe - These Conversation Cafés are about free speech. Not as something that can be taken away in an era of repression, but as something one strengthens through self expression in the presence of those who do not agree. Free speech is our birthright. Repressive societies can change the consequences of speaking, but they do not govern our souls.
"I envision a culture of conversation — a culture where people talk freely — without fear or taboos — with friends and strangers alike. I once asked a Dane how Denmark had resisted the pressures of globalization. He said two words: study circles. Most Danes throughout their adult lives have the habit of conversation about things that matter in small groups.
"We can do that here. In cafés. In Britain in the 1700s the government shut down the cafés where people met to discuss politics because they were sites of revolutionary thinking. Here, we get our news from the TV, retreat into private sub-cultures through online chats and interact only with people who see the world as we do. This is a formula for weakening society enough to allow forces of repression to take over. Conversation Cafés are an attempt to reverse the trend."
Podcast of the Week - recommended by Chris - http://www.twit.tv/DGW - a network of shows with the latest info and news about technology
Cooking and Food - lots of yummy recipes to share:
Mandy made Giada de Laurentiis Ricotta Pancakes for a brunch this weekend - she served them with wild blueberries and accompanied them with proscuitto-wrapped cantalope slices - topped everything off with Mango Bellinis - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_31908,00.html
Libby had a major cookfest today during the "Nor'Easter" in New York today:
From Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa, Chicken Chili - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_27660,00.html?rsrc=search
From Giada de Laurentiis, Foccacia Panino - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_33447,00.html?rsrc=search
From Lisa Yockelman's Chocolate by Chocolate (featured in Food & Wine's Best of the Best Cookbook) - Giant Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake Muffins - these are outstanding - unfortunately, I can't find the recipe on-line and its a very long recipe. I will put it in a word document and will send it as an attachment to anyone who would like to have this one.
Susan had two winners this week:
We had a Soprano's opening night Italian dinner last Sunday - Bobby Flay's Chicken Parmigiana - molto bene! - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_33031,00.html?rsrc=search
Another was Giada de Laurentiis' Pork Chops alla Pizzaiola - the sauce was terrific and I would use it with steak or even chicken - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_32171,00.html?rsrc=search
A few random notes and hints:
Jan saw Susan Love, breast cancer expert, at the World Affairs Conference - she was so impressed her and the work she is doing - check out her website - www.susanlovemd.com
Mary shared the names of a couple of contractors that she highly recommends:
V & A Doors - installation and repair of garage door openers - family business - 303- 429-2770
Foothills Appliance - 303-665-3333
Barb has a handy hint - Distilled white vinegar is a great organic weed killer - works well for those weeds peeking through stone walks and patios - http://www.moscowfood.coop/archive/VinegarKillsWeeds.html
That's it until next week - we'll be in LA next weekend to celebrate Jacob's 5th birthday.
Have a great week.....
Love,
Susan
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Saturday Morning Walkers - April 8, 2007
Hi everyone!
Well, we're back to winter again - hopefully, not for long! Saturday morning found many of us gathered around our usual "spot" at Caffe Sole - Terri, Cass, Barb, Jackie, Mary, Jan and myself (really felt like old times!). Freezing drizzle (or snizzle as our weatherman back in Boston used to call it) kept us from walking but we stayed warm and cozy.
Book Report:
Cass shared with us that she has developed an interest in reading spy novels based on an article that she read in Vanity Fair Magazine - http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine - She has read John Le Carre's classic, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and she is about to embark on a very ambitious read of Robert Fisk's The Great War For Civilization.
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold
Amazon.com
It would be an international crime to reveal too much of the jeweled clockwork plot of Le Carré's first masterpiece, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. But we are at liberty to disclose that Graham Greene called it the "finest spy story ever written," and that the taut tale concerns Alec Leamas, a British agent in early Cold War Berlin. Leamas is responsible for keeping the double agents under his care undercover and alive, but East Germans start killing them, so he gets called back to London by Control, his spy master. Yet instead of giving Leamas the boot, Control gives him a scary assignment: play the part of a disgraced agent, a sodden failure everybody whispers about. Control sends him back out into the cold--deep into Communist territory to checkmate the bad-guy spies on the other side. The political chessboard is black and white, but in human terms the vicinity of the Berlin Wall is a moral no-man's land, a gray abyss patrolled by pawns.
The Great War For Civilization
From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review.
Combining a novelist's talent for atmosphere with a scholar's grasp of historical sweep, foreign correspondent Fisk (Pity the Nation: The Abduction of Lebanon) has written one of the most dense and compelling accounts of recent Middle Eastern history yet. The book opens with a deftly juxtaposed account of Fisk's two interviews with Osama bin Laden. In the first, held in Sudan in 1993, bin Laden declared himself "a construction engineer and an agriculturist." He had no time to train mujahideen, he said; he was busy constructing a highway. In the second, held four years later in Afghanistan, he declared war on the Saudi royal family and America.Fisk, who has lived in and reported on the Middle East since 1976, first for the (London) Times and now for the Independent, possesses deep knowledge of the broader history of the region, which allows him to discuss the Armenian genocide 90 years ago, the 2002 destruction of Jenin, and the battlefields of Iraq with equal aplomb. But it is his stunning capacity for visceral description—he has seen, or tracked down firsthand accounts of, all the major events of the past 25 years—that makes this volume unique. Some of the chapters contain detailed accounts of torture and murder, which more squeamish readers may be inclined to skip, but such scenes are not gratuitous. They are designed to drive home Fisk's belief that "war is primarily not about victory or defeat but about death and the infliction of death." Though Fisk's political stances may sometimes be controversial, no one can deny that this volume is a stunning achievement. (Nov.)
Podcast of the Week: Randy Cohen's Ethicist Column from the New York Times Magazine and NPR - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4464216 or go to Itunes and search for The Ethicist. Cohen answers readers' questions on ethical issues each week.
Website of the Week: I am so excited about this find! Check out www.librarything.com. You can catalog your entire library on this site. I have attempted to keep journals of what I've been reading but I haven't been terribly consistent. This site really makes it easy and has so many tools to play around with. You can actually use this for book groups to keep track of what they're reading and I've actually set up a group called Saturday Morning Walkers - you can join this group and add your collection so that we can all have access to each other's catalogs.
Food and Cooking Report: Not much cooking going on in our house this week but here's a "restaurant runners" selection and a couple of restaurants:
Jack has a favorite meal that he orders from The Trattoria on Pearl - www.trattoriaonpearl.com - the Fettucine Bolognese with Ground Beef and Veal is one of the best he's had. We love their Caesar Salad served with fresh white anchovies - yum! We figure we're among the Restaurant Runner's best customers - sure comes in handy sometimes - www.http://restaurant-runners.com/
I had dinner this week with Gaye at the Niwot Tavern - a great neighborhood place! http://www.niwottavern.com/ - Gaye had the veggie burger which she loved and I had a great hamburger with grilled onions and onion rings - mmmmm-good! It was good to catch up with Gaye - we had a lot of wedding talk to cover. One of her sons was married last summer in California and her other son is getting married this summer in Ohio!
Last night, Jack and I had dinner with a business associate of Jack's - Dave recently moved to Boulder and we thought he might enjoy The Sunflower Restaurant at 17th and Pearl - http://www.sunflowerrestaurant.net/ - Dave had the Caesar Salad and Buffalo Steak, Jack had mussels (I tasted those and they were outstanding) and New York Strip Steak and I had the seafood special - Hazelnut Crusted Halibut with a Mozzarella Croquette topped with Asparagus and Tomatoes - it looked gorgeous and was delicious. I really like the atmosphere at The Sunflower - low-key, relatively quiet (important to me) and attentive service.
Random Cooking Tip - Are you ever puzzled by which type of potato works best for frying, baking, mashing, etc? Check out http://www.ochef.com/167.htm - to clarify that "burning" question.
Buyer Beware - For those of you who have Comcast as your cable and internet provider, don't be tempted by their recent offer to switch you from Qwest phone service to Comcast phone service. It will save you money but apparently will cost you in quality of service. Several people who made that switch were very disappointed. Check out this website - http://www.consumeraffairs.com/cell_phones/comcast_local.html
Have a great week!
Love,
Susan
Well, we're back to winter again - hopefully, not for long! Saturday morning found many of us gathered around our usual "spot" at Caffe Sole - Terri, Cass, Barb, Jackie, Mary, Jan and myself (really felt like old times!). Freezing drizzle (or snizzle as our weatherman back in Boston used to call it) kept us from walking but we stayed warm and cozy.
Book Report:
Cass shared with us that she has developed an interest in reading spy novels based on an article that she read in Vanity Fair Magazine - http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine - She has read John Le Carre's classic, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and she is about to embark on a very ambitious read of Robert Fisk's The Great War For Civilization.
The Spy Who Came In From The Cold
Amazon.com
It would be an international crime to reveal too much of the jeweled clockwork plot of Le Carré's first masterpiece, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. But we are at liberty to disclose that Graham Greene called it the "finest spy story ever written," and that the taut tale concerns Alec Leamas, a British agent in early Cold War Berlin. Leamas is responsible for keeping the double agents under his care undercover and alive, but East Germans start killing them, so he gets called back to London by Control, his spy master. Yet instead of giving Leamas the boot, Control gives him a scary assignment: play the part of a disgraced agent, a sodden failure everybody whispers about. Control sends him back out into the cold--deep into Communist territory to checkmate the bad-guy spies on the other side. The political chessboard is black and white, but in human terms the vicinity of the Berlin Wall is a moral no-man's land, a gray abyss patrolled by pawns.
The Great War For Civilization
From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review.
Combining a novelist's talent for atmosphere with a scholar's grasp of historical sweep, foreign correspondent Fisk (Pity the Nation: The Abduction of Lebanon) has written one of the most dense and compelling accounts of recent Middle Eastern history yet. The book opens with a deftly juxtaposed account of Fisk's two interviews with Osama bin Laden. In the first, held in Sudan in 1993, bin Laden declared himself "a construction engineer and an agriculturist." He had no time to train mujahideen, he said; he was busy constructing a highway. In the second, held four years later in Afghanistan, he declared war on the Saudi royal family and America.Fisk, who has lived in and reported on the Middle East since 1976, first for the (London) Times and now for the Independent, possesses deep knowledge of the broader history of the region, which allows him to discuss the Armenian genocide 90 years ago, the 2002 destruction of Jenin, and the battlefields of Iraq with equal aplomb. But it is his stunning capacity for visceral description—he has seen, or tracked down firsthand accounts of, all the major events of the past 25 years—that makes this volume unique. Some of the chapters contain detailed accounts of torture and murder, which more squeamish readers may be inclined to skip, but such scenes are not gratuitous. They are designed to drive home Fisk's belief that "war is primarily not about victory or defeat but about death and the infliction of death." Though Fisk's political stances may sometimes be controversial, no one can deny that this volume is a stunning achievement. (Nov.)
Podcast of the Week: Randy Cohen's Ethicist Column from the New York Times Magazine and NPR - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4464216 or go to Itunes and search for The Ethicist. Cohen answers readers' questions on ethical issues each week.
Website of the Week: I am so excited about this find! Check out www.librarything.com. You can catalog your entire library on this site. I have attempted to keep journals of what I've been reading but I haven't been terribly consistent. This site really makes it easy and has so many tools to play around with. You can actually use this for book groups to keep track of what they're reading and I've actually set up a group called Saturday Morning Walkers - you can join this group and add your collection so that we can all have access to each other's catalogs.
Food and Cooking Report: Not much cooking going on in our house this week but here's a "restaurant runners" selection and a couple of restaurants:
Jack has a favorite meal that he orders from The Trattoria on Pearl - www.trattoriaonpearl.com - the Fettucine Bolognese with Ground Beef and Veal is one of the best he's had. We love their Caesar Salad served with fresh white anchovies - yum! We figure we're among the Restaurant Runner's best customers - sure comes in handy sometimes - www.http://restaurant-runners.com/
I had dinner this week with Gaye at the Niwot Tavern - a great neighborhood place! http://www.niwottavern.com/ - Gaye had the veggie burger which she loved and I had a great hamburger with grilled onions and onion rings - mmmmm-good! It was good to catch up with Gaye - we had a lot of wedding talk to cover. One of her sons was married last summer in California and her other son is getting married this summer in Ohio!
Last night, Jack and I had dinner with a business associate of Jack's - Dave recently moved to Boulder and we thought he might enjoy The Sunflower Restaurant at 17th and Pearl - http://www.sunflowerrestaurant.net/ - Dave had the Caesar Salad and Buffalo Steak, Jack had mussels (I tasted those and they were outstanding) and New York Strip Steak and I had the seafood special - Hazelnut Crusted Halibut with a Mozzarella Croquette topped with Asparagus and Tomatoes - it looked gorgeous and was delicious. I really like the atmosphere at The Sunflower - low-key, relatively quiet (important to me) and attentive service.
Random Cooking Tip - Are you ever puzzled by which type of potato works best for frying, baking, mashing, etc? Check out http://www.ochef.com/167.htm - to clarify that "burning" question.
Buyer Beware - For those of you who have Comcast as your cable and internet provider, don't be tempted by their recent offer to switch you from Qwest phone service to Comcast phone service. It will save you money but apparently will cost you in quality of service. Several people who made that switch were very disappointed. Check out this website - http://www.consumeraffairs.com/cell_phones/comcast_local.html
Have a great week!
Love,
Susan
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Saturday Morning Walkers - April 1, 2007
Hi everyone!
Sorry I missed yesterday's walk and coffee at Vic's Downtown (I love that place!). I do have lots to share this week - especially in the food department.
Book Report: After seeing The Namesake at the movies last week, I was motivated to read the book that it was based on, by Jhumpa Lahiri. The movie was a bit slow but a good story. Needless to say, the book is is a much fuller, detailed story. Our book group read Lahiri's collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies. She is a wonderful storyteller and really brings her characters to life.
Amazon.comAny talk of The Namesake--Jhumpa Lahiri's follow-up to her Pulitzer Prize-winning debut, Interpreter of Maladies--must begin with a name: Gogol Ganguli. Born to an Indian academic and his wife, Gogol is afflicted from birth with a name that is neither Indian nor American nor even really a first name at all. He is given the name by his father who, before he came to America to study at MIT, was almost killed in a train wreck in India. Rescuers caught sight of the volume of Nikolai Gogol's short stories that he held, and hauled him from the train. Ashoke gives his American-born son the name as a kind of placeholder, and the awkward thing sticks.
Awkwardness is Gogol's birthright. He grows up a bright American boy, goes to Yale, has pretty girlfriends, becomes a successful architect, but like many second-generation immigrants, he can never quite find his place in the world. There's a lovely section where he dates a wealthy, cultured young Manhattan woman who lives with her charming parents. They fold Gogol into their easy, elegant life, but even here he can find no peace and he breaks off the relationship. His mother finally sets him up on a blind date with the daughter of a Bengali friend, and Gogol thinks he has found his match. Moushumi, like Gogol, is at odds with the Indian-American world she inhabits. She has found, however, a circuitous escape: "At Brown, her rebellion had been academic ... she'd pursued a double major in French. Immersing herself in a third language, a third culture, had been her refuge--she approached French, unlike things American or Indian, without guilt, or misgiving, or expectation of any kind." Lahiri documents these quiet rebellions and random longings with great sensitivity. There's no cleverness or showing-off in The Namesake, just beautifully confident storytelling. Gogol's story is neither comedy nor tragedy; it's simply that ordinary, hard-to-get-down-on-paper commodity: real life.
Podcast Recommendation: You can download a weekly podcast from The Splendid Table website - http://www.splendidtable.org/ - a great food site and a very entertaining podcast.
Website Recommendations: Mandy sent me this one - http://www.hungrygirl.com/ - she wanted me to know about a featured snack on the site - Thou Shall Snack Latke Crisps, Original Flavor - the site is a light-hearted, fun nutrition and food site.
The other site I heard about is http://www.toptipsforgirls/ - a fun, young "advice" site (for all of us fun, young girls!)
Food and Cooking Report:
Here's the recipe for the Baked Cod with Stuffing on Top and White Risotto that we had at book group last week at Rita's house - it is from Rachael Ray's 2, 4, 6, 8 Cookbook - just luscious!
8 cups chicken stock
3 T extra virgin olive oil (plus some for drizzling)
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1 cup dry white wine8 center-cut cod fillets ( 8 ounces each)
salt and black pepper
2 cups seasoned stuffing mix
2 small garlic cloves, chopped
Generous handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 stick butter, softened
1 large shallot or 1/2 medium onion, minced
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano cheese (4 generous handfuls)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Warm the stock in a medium sauce pot over medium-low heat.
Heat the 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for 2 -3 minutes, then add the rice and cook for 2 minutes more. Add the wine and let it evaporate entirely, stirring occasionally. Add a few ladles of the warm stock. Stir the stock into the rice and cook until it is absorbed, stirring occasionally. Continue to add the stock to the rice, stirring with each addition, as you make the fish.
Pat the cod dry, drizzle it with olive oil, arrange it in a baking pan, and season with salt and pepper.
Place the stuffing in a large food storage bag. Press out the air and seal the bag, then crush the stuffing into crumbs with a rolling pin. On a cutting board, sprinkle the chopped garlic with some large-flaked salt and smash it to a paste b pressing the heel of your hand against the flat blade of a chef's knife. Combine the paste with some pepper and the parsley. Mix the paste with the softened butter and combine the softened butter thoroughly with the crumbs and the shallots or onions. Top the fish evenly with the butter crumbs and bake it in the center of the oven for 15 - 18 minutes. If the fish seems slow to firm and the stuffing isn't browning, you can switch the oven to broil for the last 2 - 3 minutes and that'll do the job. The rack should remain at the center of the oven.
Add the last of the stock to the risotto and stir until absorbed. The risotto will take 22 minutes, total and will become very creamy if yo stir it frequently as the liquid is added. The stirring process will release the starches that cream the rice. The rice should absorb all of the liquids in that time. If you need a bit of extra liquid, water will do. In the last minute or so of the cooking time, fold in the cheese and turn off the heat.
Serve the fish with white risotto alongside. Rita served this with steamed asparagus tips - perfect!
Dessert was Ina Garten's Frozen Key Lime Pie - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_23370,00.html
I made a couple of great meals this week:
Stracoto with Porcini Mushrooms from Giada De Laurentiis - very tasty pot roast http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_28425,00.html?rsrc=search
Basil Chicken Hash from Ina Garten - a fair amount of prep but well worth it - very colorful and fun dish - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_35293,00.html?rsrc=search
Dark Chocolate Mousse from Ellie Krieger of the Food Network - this very dense, rich dessert has a secret ingredient, tofu!- Jack loved it and has no idea that it had tofu in it.
That's it for now - have a great week!
Love,
Susan
Sorry I missed yesterday's walk and coffee at Vic's Downtown (I love that place!). I do have lots to share this week - especially in the food department.
Book Report: After seeing The Namesake at the movies last week, I was motivated to read the book that it was based on, by Jhumpa Lahiri. The movie was a bit slow but a good story. Needless to say, the book is is a much fuller, detailed story. Our book group read Lahiri's collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies. She is a wonderful storyteller and really brings her characters to life.
Amazon.comAny talk of The Namesake--Jhumpa Lahiri's follow-up to her Pulitzer Prize-winning debut, Interpreter of Maladies--must begin with a name: Gogol Ganguli. Born to an Indian academic and his wife, Gogol is afflicted from birth with a name that is neither Indian nor American nor even really a first name at all. He is given the name by his father who, before he came to America to study at MIT, was almost killed in a train wreck in India. Rescuers caught sight of the volume of Nikolai Gogol's short stories that he held, and hauled him from the train. Ashoke gives his American-born son the name as a kind of placeholder, and the awkward thing sticks.
Awkwardness is Gogol's birthright. He grows up a bright American boy, goes to Yale, has pretty girlfriends, becomes a successful architect, but like many second-generation immigrants, he can never quite find his place in the world. There's a lovely section where he dates a wealthy, cultured young Manhattan woman who lives with her charming parents. They fold Gogol into their easy, elegant life, but even here he can find no peace and he breaks off the relationship. His mother finally sets him up on a blind date with the daughter of a Bengali friend, and Gogol thinks he has found his match. Moushumi, like Gogol, is at odds with the Indian-American world she inhabits. She has found, however, a circuitous escape: "At Brown, her rebellion had been academic ... she'd pursued a double major in French. Immersing herself in a third language, a third culture, had been her refuge--she approached French, unlike things American or Indian, without guilt, or misgiving, or expectation of any kind." Lahiri documents these quiet rebellions and random longings with great sensitivity. There's no cleverness or showing-off in The Namesake, just beautifully confident storytelling. Gogol's story is neither comedy nor tragedy; it's simply that ordinary, hard-to-get-down-on-paper commodity: real life.
Podcast Recommendation: You can download a weekly podcast from The Splendid Table website - http://www.splendidtable.org/ - a great food site and a very entertaining podcast.
Website Recommendations: Mandy sent me this one - http://www.hungrygirl.com/ - she wanted me to know about a featured snack on the site - Thou Shall Snack Latke Crisps, Original Flavor - the site is a light-hearted, fun nutrition and food site.
The other site I heard about is http://www.toptipsforgirls/ - a fun, young "advice" site (for all of us fun, young girls!)
Food and Cooking Report:
Here's the recipe for the Baked Cod with Stuffing on Top and White Risotto that we had at book group last week at Rita's house - it is from Rachael Ray's 2, 4, 6, 8 Cookbook - just luscious!
8 cups chicken stock
3 T extra virgin olive oil (plus some for drizzling)
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 1/2 cups Arborio rice
1 cup dry white wine8 center-cut cod fillets ( 8 ounces each)
salt and black pepper
2 cups seasoned stuffing mix
2 small garlic cloves, chopped
Generous handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 stick butter, softened
1 large shallot or 1/2 medium onion, minced
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano cheese (4 generous handfuls)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Warm the stock in a medium sauce pot over medium-low heat.
Heat the 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for 2 -3 minutes, then add the rice and cook for 2 minutes more. Add the wine and let it evaporate entirely, stirring occasionally. Add a few ladles of the warm stock. Stir the stock into the rice and cook until it is absorbed, stirring occasionally. Continue to add the stock to the rice, stirring with each addition, as you make the fish.
Pat the cod dry, drizzle it with olive oil, arrange it in a baking pan, and season with salt and pepper.
Place the stuffing in a large food storage bag. Press out the air and seal the bag, then crush the stuffing into crumbs with a rolling pin. On a cutting board, sprinkle the chopped garlic with some large-flaked salt and smash it to a paste b pressing the heel of your hand against the flat blade of a chef's knife. Combine the paste with some pepper and the parsley. Mix the paste with the softened butter and combine the softened butter thoroughly with the crumbs and the shallots or onions. Top the fish evenly with the butter crumbs and bake it in the center of the oven for 15 - 18 minutes. If the fish seems slow to firm and the stuffing isn't browning, you can switch the oven to broil for the last 2 - 3 minutes and that'll do the job. The rack should remain at the center of the oven.
Add the last of the stock to the risotto and stir until absorbed. The risotto will take 22 minutes, total and will become very creamy if yo stir it frequently as the liquid is added. The stirring process will release the starches that cream the rice. The rice should absorb all of the liquids in that time. If you need a bit of extra liquid, water will do. In the last minute or so of the cooking time, fold in the cheese and turn off the heat.
Serve the fish with white risotto alongside. Rita served this with steamed asparagus tips - perfect!
Dessert was Ina Garten's Frozen Key Lime Pie - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_23370,00.html
I made a couple of great meals this week:
Stracoto with Porcini Mushrooms from Giada De Laurentiis - very tasty pot roast http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_28425,00.html?rsrc=search
Basil Chicken Hash from Ina Garten - a fair amount of prep but well worth it - very colorful and fun dish - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_35293,00.html?rsrc=search
Dark Chocolate Mousse from Ellie Krieger of the Food Network - this very dense, rich dessert has a secret ingredient, tofu!- Jack loved it and has no idea that it had tofu in it.
That's it for now - have a great week!
Love,
Susan
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