Hi everyone!
Well, I'm sorry to say that I had to beg off leading our walk yesterday morning - I did my good wifely deed and drove Jack to the airport.
I sure do miss all of you and look forward to our European travelers returning so we can get back on track!
Book Report:
Janet is listening to one of our Literary Sojourn books - Ireland by Frank Delaney. Our friend Kelly tried reading it and didn't particularly enjoy it but apparently it is one of those books that comes alive when you listen to it. Janet is loving it!
From Publishers Weekly
BBC reporter Delaney's fictionalized history of his native country, an Irish bestseller, is a sprawling, riveting read, a book of stories melding into a novel wrapped up in an Irish history text. In 1951, when Ronan O'Mara is nine, he meets the aging itinerant Storyteller, who emerges out a "silver veil" of Irish mist, hoping to trade a yarn for a hot meal. Welcomed inside, the Storyteller lights his pipe and begins, telling of the architect of Newgrange, who built "a marvelous, immortal structure... before Stonehenge in England, before the pyramids of Egypt," and the dentally challenged King Conor of Ulster, who tried, and failed, to outsmart his wife. The stories utterly captivate the young Ronan ("This is the best thing that ever, ever happened"), and they'll draw readers in, too, with their warriors and kings, drinkers and devils, all rendered cleanly and without undue sentimentality. When Ronan's mother banishes the Storyteller for telling a blasphemous tale, Ronan vows to find him. He also becomes fascinated by Irish myth and legend, and, as the years pass, he discovers his own gift for storytelling. Eventually, he sets off, traversing Ireland on foot to find his mentor. Past and present weave together as Delaney entwines the lives of the Storyteller and Ronan in this rich and satisfying book.
I just finished a short novel called Sea of Memory by Erri de Luca. It was a very haunting and touching story that satisfied my interest in all things Italian and Jewish.
Amazon.com
One might expect a coming-of-age story set in a small Italian fishing village in the 1950s to wax idyllic, but Erri De Luca confounds expectation. Though the novel has more than its share of halcyon days in the sun, a troubling undercurrent runs through it. The unnamed narrator, a 16-year-old boy summering with his family on an island off the coast of Naples, is confronted with Italy's fascist past when he meets Caia, a young Romanian Jew whose family was decimated during the war. As the boy learns more about her circumstances, he demands answers from the adults around him--answers they are increasingly reluctant to give. Only Nicola, a local fisherman who served with the Italian army in Yugoslavia, offers any clues to Italy's complicity:
The war lived on in a few odd details that he would relate over and over again: an empty window seen from the street, and behind the window no house, not even a roof, and you could see the sky. Windows are made to see the sky, but not like that. And there was a market square where grass grew because there was nothing to sell and no one ever went there, not even to exchange a few words. Grass can be a sad thing when it grows between the cobblestones of a market.
De Luca hangs his story on two mirror images: the wartime invasion of Italy by German forces followed, just a few years later, by another incursion--this time of tourists--from the same nation. As Caia relates the realities of life during the German occupation, it becomes harder and harder for the boy to reconcile his country's past with its complacent present. Part love story, part ghost story, Sea of Memory is a haunting tale rendered in evocative prose.
Website of the Week: http://www.snopes.com/ - this is the "go-to" site for investigating all those urban legends that fill our email inboxes.
Podcast of the Week: http://www.deerpark.libsyn.com/ - this is a podcast from the Deer Park Dharma Center which follows the Buddhist tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh
Vocabulary Word of the Week: dharmaThe Sanskrit term Dharma (help·info) (Pali: Dhamma) signifies the underlying order in nature and life (human or other) considered to be in accord with that order. The word Dharma literally means 'that which upholds or supports' (from the root 'Dhr' - to hold), here referring to the order which makes the cosmos and the harmonious complexity of the natural world possible. Dharma is a central concept in Indian civilisation where it governs ideas about the proper conduct of human life. So central is it, indeed, that the symbol of the dharma - the wheel - takes central place in the national flag of India.
In its most frequent usage (in the sphere of morality and ethics) dharma means 'right way of living', 'proper conduct', 'duty' or 'righteousness'. With respect to spirituality, dharma might be considered the Way of the Higher Truths. What is in the West called religion in India comes within the general purview of dharma. Thus the various Indian religions are so many versions of dharma (versions of what is considered to be 'right' or in truest accord with the deepest realities of nature). A fraction of scholars called these various paths dharmic religions. Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are referred to in India as sanatana-dharma, Buddha-dharma, Jain-dharma and Sikh-dharma respectively. Each of these paths emphasize Dharma as the correct understanding of Nature (or God, as the origin of nature) in their teachings.[1][2][3] In these traditions, beings that live in accordance with Dharma proceed more quickly toward Dharma Yukam, Moksha or Nirvana (personal liberation). Dharma also refers to the teachings and doctrines of the founders of these traditions, such as those of Gautama Buddha and Mahavira. In traditional Hindu society with its caste structure, Dharma constituted the religious and moral doctrine of the rights and duties of each individual. (see dharmasastra). Dharma in its universal meaning shares much in common with the way of Tao or Taoism.
The antonym of dharma is adharma meaning unnatural or immoral.
Cooking and Dining Report:
Quick Chess Pie from Cora Potter:
1 cup butter
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons white vinegar
pinch of salt
Cream butter and sugar. Add well beaten eggs, vanilla, vinegar, and salt. Pour into 2 unbaked pie shells. Bake at 300 degrees for 10 minutes; then increase temperature to 350 degrees and bake 35 minutes longer.
I meant to share some of the fabulous dishes that our friend Rita made for book group last week. These are from Fine Cooking Magazine and were just delicious!
Mustard-Crusted Chicken - http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/mustard-crusted-roast-chickens.aspx
Warm Green, Pancetta and Tomato Salad with Parmesan - http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/warm-green-bean-pancetta-tomato-salad-parmesan.aspx?refer=85514
Homemade Bianco with Icy Grapes - http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/homemade-bianco-icy-grapes.aspx?refer=85514
I'll save some of my recipes from this past week for next week's edition.
Have a great week!
Love,
Susan
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Saturday Morning Walkers - September 16
Hi everyone!
Well - I did not walk yesterday - I was honored to escort Jan and Terri to DIA to start their trip to Italy and meet up with Barb and Laila in Venice - we left at the "crack of dawn" - actually before dawn and by 8 AM I was ready for a nap!
Book Report:
I read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Although it is a difficult and painful story to read, knowing how true to reality it is, I think that Hosseini is a wonderful storyteller. It is important for us to know what women have endured in that country and may continue to do so for some time. I know that my friend, Rae, was not so enamored with this book but do check it out for yourself.
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.
Jack is currently reading Spook Country by William Gibson and enjoying it very much.
Amazon.com
Now that the present has caught up with William Gibson's vision of the future, which made him the most influential science fiction writer of the past quarter century, he has started writing about a time--our time--in which everyday life feels like science fiction. With his previous novel, Pattern Recognition, the challenge of writing about the present-day world drove him to create perhaps his best novel yet, and in Spook Country he remains at the top of his game. It's a stripped-down thriller that reads like the best DeLillo (or the best Gibson), with the lives of a half-dozen evocative characters connected by a tightly converging plot and by the general senses of unease and wonder in our networked, post-9/11 time
Website of the Week - http://www.momsrising.org/ - Despite all the rhetoric about being family-friendly, we have structured a society that is decidedly unfriendly... What's missing now is a movement. What's missing now is an organization. That's why MomsRising is so important." -- Senator Barack Obama, 9/28/06.
This organization that supports mothers and families in the workplace was co-founded by Joan Blades, one of the co-founders of MoveOn.org
Podcast of the Week - http://wamu.org/programs/dr/07/09/06.php#13704 - this is a specific episode of The Diane Rehm Show - this is actually an interview by guest host,Steve Roberts with John Heath & Lisa Adams who wrote "Why We Read What We Read" (Source Books). "They take a look at what the books we read have in common and what they say about America our culture, our beliefs, and how we relate to one another."
Vocabulary Word of the Week - eponymousEponym
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Find out more about navigating Wikipedia and finding information •An eponym is the name of a person, whether real or fictitious, who has (or is thought to have) given rise to the name of a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item. An eponymous person is the person referred to by the eponym. In contemporary English, the term eponymous is often used to mean self-titled. The word eponym is often used for the thing titled. Stigler's law of eponymy suggests that Eponyms are usually false, i.e., things are rarely named after the person who discovered or invented them. An aitiology is a "reverse eponym" in the sense that a legendary character is invented in order to explain a term
Cooking and Dining Report:
I do have two recipes we tried out this week:
Don't let the anchovies scare you - they melt down and you just get the wonderful flavor they impart, especially if you use fresh anchovies (Whole Foods usually has them). I also would cut the amount of lemon juice a bit. Also, I used linguini instead of tagliarini.
Tagliarini with Lemon Anchovy SauceExcerpted from The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food by Lynne Rossetto Kasper (William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1992). Copyright 1992 by Lynne Rossetto Kasper/p>
Serves 4 to 6 as a main dish, 6 to 8 as a first course
The unusual but winning combination of lemon and tomato come together in this sauté of garlic, parsley, and anchovy. Served as a main dish, it makes a fast and satisfying weekday supper. This recipe comes from the cooks of Modena's and Ferrara's Jewish communities.
Sauce
10 whole salted anchovies, or two 2-ounce cans anchovy filets
1 cup cold water
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 tablespoons minced Italian parsley
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup water
2 large fresh tomatoes, cored, peeled, and chopped, or 6 canned plum tomatoes, drained and crushed
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Pasta
6 quarts salted water
1 pound imported dried tagliarini, linguine, or spaghetti
1 tablespoon minced Italian parsley
Working Ahead: The sauce cooks in no time and is best made just before serving.
1. Preparing the Anchovies: If you are using salted anchovies, rinse off the salt, then open each up like a book, and gently pull away the backbone running down the center. Soak the anchovies 10 minutes in the cold water; then drain and coarsely chop. If using canned anchovies in oil, rinse them and soak in cold water 10 minutes. Drain and coarsely chop.
2. Making the Sauce: In a 12-inch heavy skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the parsley and cook slowly, lowering the heat so it sizzles gently. Cook only 1 minute, or until the green herb darkens. Stir in the drained anchovies and cook over medium-low heat for 30 seconds. Add the garlic and sauté, stirring frequently, 2 minutes or until the small pieces turn golden, taking care not to burn it. Immediately stir in the 1/2 cup water and cook over low heat about 2 minutes, or until the anchovies are melted. The goal is not to evaporate the water, but simply to melt down the anchovies. Blend in the tomatoes and lemon juice, raise the heat to medium, and cook 1 minute. Generously season the sauce with black pepper. Remove the skillet from the heat.
3. Cooking the Pasta: Have a serving bowl and shallow soup dishes warming in a low oven. Bring the salted water to a fierce boil. Drop in the pasta, stir to separate the strands, and cook about 8 minutes. Taste a strand for tender texture with some firmness or bite. Drain immediately in a colander.
4. Serving: Return the sauce to high heat and quickly bring it to a boil. Immediately add the cooked pasta, and toss to coat it with the sauce. Turn out into the serving bowl, sprinkle with the tablespoon of parsley, and serve. (No cheese accompanies this dish.)
LYNNE'S TIPS
Anchovies packed in salt have a richer flavor than oil-packed ones. Find them in some well-stocked supermarkets, specialty stores carrying Mediterranean foods, or online purveyors like www.chefshop.com, www.gustiamo.com, and www.igourmet.com. Rinse them well and pat dry before using.
Using good quality imported pasta matters, especially in simple recipes like this one where individual ingredients shine. Look for artisan brands such as Rustichella, Latini, Dallari, Benedetto Cavalieri, Spinosi, Michele Portoghese and Mamma Angelica. Dependable brands for less money include Barilla, De Cecco, Delverde, and La Molisana.
My basic pasta cooking method is six quarts boiling salted water for every pound of pasta you are cooking. Use plenty of salt in the water (it should taste salty). I'm talking a good 1/3 cup or so for 6 quarts. Pasta must be salted while it cooks; otherwise, you will never get it seasoned correctly. Keep the water at a vigorous boil and stir often. Judge doneness by taste, not time.
Try the sauce alone over grilled chicken or baked cod or bluefish.
A glass of chilled crisp Sauvignon Blanc rounds out this pasta nicely.
Garlic and Citrus Chicken by Giada de Laurentiis http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_32602,00.html - very moist and the flavor is wonderful - a great Sunday dinner!
A couple of events to tell you about - George Peters and Melanie Walker, the very talented Grillo Center Labyrinth designers have two local exhibits for us all to enjoy.
As part of EcoArts 2007, George and Melanie have created a sound sculpture at NCAR - it will be there through December 21 - best viewed on a windy day. Check out http://www.bmoca.org/ for information on this and other exhibits around town.
They also have a kite exhibit, One Sky, One World, that opened on September 9 at the Denver Public Library - http://denverlibrary.org/programs/fresh/index.html
While we're at it, don't miss George and Melanie's beautiful sculpture in the atrium of the new Tebo Cancer Center at Foothills Hospital. The Center opened a few months ago and it is a very impressive facility.
Whooo - that's probably plenty for now! Have a wonderful week ahead!
Love,
Susan
Well - I did not walk yesterday - I was honored to escort Jan and Terri to DIA to start their trip to Italy and meet up with Barb and Laila in Venice - we left at the "crack of dawn" - actually before dawn and by 8 AM I was ready for a nap!
Book Report:
I read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Although it is a difficult and painful story to read, knowing how true to reality it is, I think that Hosseini is a wonderful storyteller. It is important for us to know what women have endured in that country and may continue to do so for some time. I know that my friend, Rae, was not so enamored with this book but do check it out for yourself.
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.
Jack is currently reading Spook Country by William Gibson and enjoying it very much.
Amazon.com
Now that the present has caught up with William Gibson's vision of the future, which made him the most influential science fiction writer of the past quarter century, he has started writing about a time--our time--in which everyday life feels like science fiction. With his previous novel, Pattern Recognition, the challenge of writing about the present-day world drove him to create perhaps his best novel yet, and in Spook Country he remains at the top of his game. It's a stripped-down thriller that reads like the best DeLillo (or the best Gibson), with the lives of a half-dozen evocative characters connected by a tightly converging plot and by the general senses of unease and wonder in our networked, post-9/11 time
Website of the Week - http://www.momsrising.org/ - Despite all the rhetoric about being family-friendly, we have structured a society that is decidedly unfriendly... What's missing now is a movement. What's missing now is an organization. That's why MomsRising is so important." -- Senator Barack Obama, 9/28/06.
This organization that supports mothers and families in the workplace was co-founded by Joan Blades, one of the co-founders of MoveOn.org
Podcast of the Week - http://wamu.org/programs/dr/07/09/06.php#13704 - this is a specific episode of The Diane Rehm Show - this is actually an interview by guest host,Steve Roberts with John Heath & Lisa Adams who wrote "Why We Read What We Read" (Source Books). "They take a look at what the books we read have in common and what they say about America our culture, our beliefs, and how we relate to one another."
Vocabulary Word of the Week - eponymousEponym
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Find out more about navigating Wikipedia and finding information •An eponym is the name of a person, whether real or fictitious, who has (or is thought to have) given rise to the name of a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item. An eponymous person is the person referred to by the eponym. In contemporary English, the term eponymous is often used to mean self-titled. The word eponym is often used for the thing titled. Stigler's law of eponymy suggests that Eponyms are usually false, i.e., things are rarely named after the person who discovered or invented them. An aitiology is a "reverse eponym" in the sense that a legendary character is invented in order to explain a term
Cooking and Dining Report:
I do have two recipes we tried out this week:
Don't let the anchovies scare you - they melt down and you just get the wonderful flavor they impart, especially if you use fresh anchovies (Whole Foods usually has them). I also would cut the amount of lemon juice a bit. Also, I used linguini instead of tagliarini.
Tagliarini with Lemon Anchovy SauceExcerpted from The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food by Lynne Rossetto Kasper (William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1992). Copyright 1992 by Lynne Rossetto Kasper/p>
Serves 4 to 6 as a main dish, 6 to 8 as a first course
The unusual but winning combination of lemon and tomato come together in this sauté of garlic, parsley, and anchovy. Served as a main dish, it makes a fast and satisfying weekday supper. This recipe comes from the cooks of Modena's and Ferrara's Jewish communities.
Sauce
10 whole salted anchovies, or two 2-ounce cans anchovy filets
1 cup cold water
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 tablespoons minced Italian parsley
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup water
2 large fresh tomatoes, cored, peeled, and chopped, or 6 canned plum tomatoes, drained and crushed
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Pasta
6 quarts salted water
1 pound imported dried tagliarini, linguine, or spaghetti
1 tablespoon minced Italian parsley
Working Ahead: The sauce cooks in no time and is best made just before serving.
1. Preparing the Anchovies: If you are using salted anchovies, rinse off the salt, then open each up like a book, and gently pull away the backbone running down the center. Soak the anchovies 10 minutes in the cold water; then drain and coarsely chop. If using canned anchovies in oil, rinse them and soak in cold water 10 minutes. Drain and coarsely chop.
2. Making the Sauce: In a 12-inch heavy skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the parsley and cook slowly, lowering the heat so it sizzles gently. Cook only 1 minute, or until the green herb darkens. Stir in the drained anchovies and cook over medium-low heat for 30 seconds. Add the garlic and sauté, stirring frequently, 2 minutes or until the small pieces turn golden, taking care not to burn it. Immediately stir in the 1/2 cup water and cook over low heat about 2 minutes, or until the anchovies are melted. The goal is not to evaporate the water, but simply to melt down the anchovies. Blend in the tomatoes and lemon juice, raise the heat to medium, and cook 1 minute. Generously season the sauce with black pepper. Remove the skillet from the heat.
3. Cooking the Pasta: Have a serving bowl and shallow soup dishes warming in a low oven. Bring the salted water to a fierce boil. Drop in the pasta, stir to separate the strands, and cook about 8 minutes. Taste a strand for tender texture with some firmness or bite. Drain immediately in a colander.
4. Serving: Return the sauce to high heat and quickly bring it to a boil. Immediately add the cooked pasta, and toss to coat it with the sauce. Turn out into the serving bowl, sprinkle with the tablespoon of parsley, and serve. (No cheese accompanies this dish.)
LYNNE'S TIPS
Anchovies packed in salt have a richer flavor than oil-packed ones. Find them in some well-stocked supermarkets, specialty stores carrying Mediterranean foods, or online purveyors like www.chefshop.com, www.gustiamo.com, and www.igourmet.com. Rinse them well and pat dry before using.
Using good quality imported pasta matters, especially in simple recipes like this one where individual ingredients shine. Look for artisan brands such as Rustichella, Latini, Dallari, Benedetto Cavalieri, Spinosi, Michele Portoghese and Mamma Angelica. Dependable brands for less money include Barilla, De Cecco, Delverde, and La Molisana.
My basic pasta cooking method is six quarts boiling salted water for every pound of pasta you are cooking. Use plenty of salt in the water (it should taste salty). I'm talking a good 1/3 cup or so for 6 quarts. Pasta must be salted while it cooks; otherwise, you will never get it seasoned correctly. Keep the water at a vigorous boil and stir often. Judge doneness by taste, not time.
Try the sauce alone over grilled chicken or baked cod or bluefish.
A glass of chilled crisp Sauvignon Blanc rounds out this pasta nicely.
Garlic and Citrus Chicken by Giada de Laurentiis http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_32602,00.html - very moist and the flavor is wonderful - a great Sunday dinner!
A couple of events to tell you about - George Peters and Melanie Walker, the very talented Grillo Center Labyrinth designers have two local exhibits for us all to enjoy.
As part of EcoArts 2007, George and Melanie have created a sound sculpture at NCAR - it will be there through December 21 - best viewed on a windy day. Check out http://www.bmoca.org/ for information on this and other exhibits around town.
They also have a kite exhibit, One Sky, One World, that opened on September 9 at the Denver Public Library - http://denverlibrary.org/programs/fresh/index.html
While we're at it, don't miss George and Melanie's beautiful sculpture in the atrium of the new Tebo Cancer Center at Foothills Hospital. The Center opened a few months ago and it is a very impressive facility.
Whooo - that's probably plenty for now! Have a wonderful week ahead!
Love,
Susan
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Saturday Morning Walkers - September 9, 2007
Hi everyone!
Well, the Saturday Morning Walkers did not walk this Saturday. We were a very busy and well-traveled group this week! Barb and Laila arrived safely in Prague to start their exciting adventure and Terri and Jan leave next Saturday to join them in Venice. The rest of us are still in the United States. The reason that I wasn't able to walk yesterday was that I attended the Colorado Caucus Convention put on by Barack Obama's campaign. It was held at Manual High School in Denver and was essentially a training session about the workings of the caucus system of electing delegates to the National Convention. It was also kind of a pep rally to energize and motivate those of us in attendance - it was successful on all fronts - I learned so much about our political process starting on the local level and I am definitely motivated to get involved in that political process. It is time for all of us to stop complaining about how terrible things have gotten and become empowered to know that we can make a difference in how our world works. Enough lecturing - on to the fun stuff!
Book Report:
I finished two books this week. One I would recommend, the other I'm not so sure about.
I read the new book, Everyman by Phillip Roth. It is a very poignant and thought-provoking novel about reaching your "golden years" and taking a long, hard look at how you lived. I highly recommend it.
Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. [Signature]Reviewed by Sara NelsonWhat is it about Philip Roth? He has published 27 books, almost all of which deal with the same topics—Jewishness, Americanness, sex, aging, family—and yet each is simultaneously familiar and new. His latest novel is a slim but dense volume about a sickly boy who grows up obsessed with his and everybody else's health, and eventually dies in his 70s, just as he always said he would. (I'm not giving anything away here; the story begins with the hero's funeral.) It might remind you of the old joke about the hypochondriac who ordered his tombstone to read: "I told you I was sick."And yet, despite its coy title, the book is both universal and very, very specific, and Roth watchers will not be able to stop themselves from comparing the hero to Roth himself. (In most of his books, whether written in the third person or the first, a main character is a tortured Jewish guy from Newark—like Roth.) The unnamed hero here is a thrice-married adman, a father and a philanderer, a 70-something who spends his last days lamenting his lost prowess (physical and sexual), envying his healthy and beloved older brother, and refusing to apologize for his many years of bad behavior, although he palpably regrets them. Surely some wiseacre critic will note that he is Portnoy all grown up, an amalgamation of all the womanizing, sex- and death-obsessed characters Roth has written about (and been?) throughout his career.But to obsess about the parallels between author and character is to miss the point: like all of Roth's works, even the lesser ones, this is an artful yet surprisingly readable treatise on... well, on being human and struggling and aging at the beginning of the new century. It also borrows devices from his previous works—there's a sequence about a gravedigger that's reminiscent of the glove-making passages in American Pastoral, and many observations will remind careful readers of both Patrimony and The Dying Animal—and through it all, there's that Rothian voice: pained, angry, arrogant and deeply, wryly funny. Nothing escapes him, not even his own self-seriousness. "Amateurs look for inspiration; the rest of us just get up and go to work," he has his adman-turned-art-teacher opine about an annoying student. Obviously, Roth himself is a professional. (May 5)Sara Nelson is editor-in-chief of PW.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
I also read what might be the weirdest novel ever - My Wife and Dead Wife by Michael Nun - it is billed as a comic love story - it just didn't do it for me. Nun is one of the writers that is coming to the upcoming Literary Sojourn in Steamboat Springs.
From Publishers Weekly
Typical sophomore slump issues plague Kun's muddled [third] novel, an underplotted affair that chronicles a man's breakup with his flighty girlfriend. Hamilton Ashe is the sweet but befuddled narrator, a tailor's assistant in Decatur, Ga., whose domestic life takes a sudden turn for the worse when his girlfriend, Renée—who has been with Ashe for so long that she refers to herself as his wife—loses her hospital job. A period of reassessment follows for Renée, who begins learning the guitar and tries to fulfill her heretofore hidden dream of becoming a country music star. It's funny to watch Ashe panic as he goes from erstwhile "husband" to soon-to-be ex-boyfriend, all the while recalling his similarly ill-fated former marriage. Kun captures the couple's changing dynamic in a series of sweet, winning scenes and paints a comic portrait of the dysfunctional tailor's shop where Ashe works. But aside from the impending breakup, the absence of plot movement becomes increasingly noticeable as the story progresses, and the novel ends on a sour note when Kun builds his climax around a confusing, underdeveloped murder subplot involving Ashe's ex-wife. Kun shows much of the same comic flair and solid character writing that made The Locklear Letters a surprise winner last year, but he'll need to significantly upgrade his storytelling next time to get back on track.
Rae loved the memoir she read last week - Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. It may take ingenuity to interest browsers in a memoir by a middle-aged mother who, 11 years ago, was suddenly widowed, then became a Unitarian-Universalist minister, and now works as chaplain to game wardens in Maine. But good memoir writing does not depend on celebrity or adventure—who'd have thought that a self-confessed recovering neurotic like Anne Lamott or a monastically inclined poet like Kathleen Norris would make it big?—and Braestrup's insightful essays are extraordinarily well written, mingling elements of police procedural and touching love story with trenchant observations about life and death. Alert to comic detail even in grisly circumstances (bears, for example, like to play ball with human skulls), she tells stories of lost children, a suicide, drunken accidents and a murder, always with compassion and a concern for the big questions inescapably provoked by tragic events. Why did Dad die? her children ask, and her response describes not only her theology but also her reason for being a chaplain: Nowhere in scripture does it say 'God is a car accident' or 'God is death.' God is justice and kindness, mercy, and always—always—love. So if you want to know where God is in this or in anything, look for love. (Aug.)
Website of the Week (actually I've got a couple) - in keeping with what I was speaking about earlier there are two websites that I want to share with you. Rae discovered one of the - www.results.org - their mission is to create the public and political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty.
The other is one I heard about on Satellite Sisters - http://www.kiva.org/ - they enable you to connect with and provide micro -loans to unique small businesses in the developing world. For as little as $25, you can sponsor a business, receive updates and when the loans are re-paid, you get the loan money back in your account allowing you to re-invest in another business.
Podcast of the Week - a specific episode of This American Life titled Unconditional Love - deals with two amazing stories of parental love - one involving adoption and the other dealing with an autistic child.
http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=317
Vocabulary Word of the Week - from Rae - laconiclaconic \luh-KON-ik\, adjective:
Using or marked by the use of a minimum of words; brief and pithy; brusque.
Readers' reports range from the laconic to the verbose.
-- Bernard Stamler, "A Brooklyncentric View of Life", New York Times, February 28, 1999
In the laconic language of the sheriff department's report,there was "no visible sign of life."
-- David Wise, Cassidy's Run
There was one tiny photograph of him at a YMCA camp plus a few laconic and uninformative entries in a soldier's log from the war year, 1917-18.
-- Edward W. Said, Out of Place: A Memoir
Laconic comes, via Latin, from Greek Lakonikos, "of or relating to a Laconian or Spartan," hence "terse," in the manner of the Laconians.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for laconic
Cooking and Dining Report:
Not much of either going on this week in our house - Jack's been away and I've just been "grazing on whatever is left in the frig".
I did make Giada's Cannellini Bean Dip and the Italian Prune Plum Torte for a Labor Day barbecue. I may have included these recipes before but they are worth repeating:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_25941,00.html - bean dip
http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/recipes/dessert_plum.html - plum torte
Sondra and I did have a lovely breakfast at Radda this morning - it is a nice place to go on a Sunday morning - still pretty undiscovered at that time of day. Sondra has been there for their "happy hour" - 2 - 5 every day and a great "apertivo" menu. If you can't be in Italy, this is nice taste of what it might be like!
Well, that's it for now - have a wonderful week ahead!
Love,
Susan
Well, the Saturday Morning Walkers did not walk this Saturday. We were a very busy and well-traveled group this week! Barb and Laila arrived safely in Prague to start their exciting adventure and Terri and Jan leave next Saturday to join them in Venice. The rest of us are still in the United States. The reason that I wasn't able to walk yesterday was that I attended the Colorado Caucus Convention put on by Barack Obama's campaign. It was held at Manual High School in Denver and was essentially a training session about the workings of the caucus system of electing delegates to the National Convention. It was also kind of a pep rally to energize and motivate those of us in attendance - it was successful on all fronts - I learned so much about our political process starting on the local level and I am definitely motivated to get involved in that political process. It is time for all of us to stop complaining about how terrible things have gotten and become empowered to know that we can make a difference in how our world works. Enough lecturing - on to the fun stuff!
Book Report:
I finished two books this week. One I would recommend, the other I'm not so sure about.
I read the new book, Everyman by Phillip Roth. It is a very poignant and thought-provoking novel about reaching your "golden years" and taking a long, hard look at how you lived. I highly recommend it.
Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. [Signature]Reviewed by Sara NelsonWhat is it about Philip Roth? He has published 27 books, almost all of which deal with the same topics—Jewishness, Americanness, sex, aging, family—and yet each is simultaneously familiar and new. His latest novel is a slim but dense volume about a sickly boy who grows up obsessed with his and everybody else's health, and eventually dies in his 70s, just as he always said he would. (I'm not giving anything away here; the story begins with the hero's funeral.) It might remind you of the old joke about the hypochondriac who ordered his tombstone to read: "I told you I was sick."And yet, despite its coy title, the book is both universal and very, very specific, and Roth watchers will not be able to stop themselves from comparing the hero to Roth himself. (In most of his books, whether written in the third person or the first, a main character is a tortured Jewish guy from Newark—like Roth.) The unnamed hero here is a thrice-married adman, a father and a philanderer, a 70-something who spends his last days lamenting his lost prowess (physical and sexual), envying his healthy and beloved older brother, and refusing to apologize for his many years of bad behavior, although he palpably regrets them. Surely some wiseacre critic will note that he is Portnoy all grown up, an amalgamation of all the womanizing, sex- and death-obsessed characters Roth has written about (and been?) throughout his career.But to obsess about the parallels between author and character is to miss the point: like all of Roth's works, even the lesser ones, this is an artful yet surprisingly readable treatise on... well, on being human and struggling and aging at the beginning of the new century. It also borrows devices from his previous works—there's a sequence about a gravedigger that's reminiscent of the glove-making passages in American Pastoral, and many observations will remind careful readers of both Patrimony and The Dying Animal—and through it all, there's that Rothian voice: pained, angry, arrogant and deeply, wryly funny. Nothing escapes him, not even his own self-seriousness. "Amateurs look for inspiration; the rest of us just get up and go to work," he has his adman-turned-art-teacher opine about an annoying student. Obviously, Roth himself is a professional. (May 5)Sara Nelson is editor-in-chief of PW.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
I also read what might be the weirdest novel ever - My Wife and Dead Wife by Michael Nun - it is billed as a comic love story - it just didn't do it for me. Nun is one of the writers that is coming to the upcoming Literary Sojourn in Steamboat Springs.
From Publishers Weekly
Typical sophomore slump issues plague Kun's muddled [third] novel, an underplotted affair that chronicles a man's breakup with his flighty girlfriend. Hamilton Ashe is the sweet but befuddled narrator, a tailor's assistant in Decatur, Ga., whose domestic life takes a sudden turn for the worse when his girlfriend, Renée—who has been with Ashe for so long that she refers to herself as his wife—loses her hospital job. A period of reassessment follows for Renée, who begins learning the guitar and tries to fulfill her heretofore hidden dream of becoming a country music star. It's funny to watch Ashe panic as he goes from erstwhile "husband" to soon-to-be ex-boyfriend, all the while recalling his similarly ill-fated former marriage. Kun captures the couple's changing dynamic in a series of sweet, winning scenes and paints a comic portrait of the dysfunctional tailor's shop where Ashe works. But aside from the impending breakup, the absence of plot movement becomes increasingly noticeable as the story progresses, and the novel ends on a sour note when Kun builds his climax around a confusing, underdeveloped murder subplot involving Ashe's ex-wife. Kun shows much of the same comic flair and solid character writing that made The Locklear Letters a surprise winner last year, but he'll need to significantly upgrade his storytelling next time to get back on track.
Rae loved the memoir she read last week - Here If You Need Me by Kate Braestrup.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. It may take ingenuity to interest browsers in a memoir by a middle-aged mother who, 11 years ago, was suddenly widowed, then became a Unitarian-Universalist minister, and now works as chaplain to game wardens in Maine. But good memoir writing does not depend on celebrity or adventure—who'd have thought that a self-confessed recovering neurotic like Anne Lamott or a monastically inclined poet like Kathleen Norris would make it big?—and Braestrup's insightful essays are extraordinarily well written, mingling elements of police procedural and touching love story with trenchant observations about life and death. Alert to comic detail even in grisly circumstances (bears, for example, like to play ball with human skulls), she tells stories of lost children, a suicide, drunken accidents and a murder, always with compassion and a concern for the big questions inescapably provoked by tragic events. Why did Dad die? her children ask, and her response describes not only her theology but also her reason for being a chaplain: Nowhere in scripture does it say 'God is a car accident' or 'God is death.' God is justice and kindness, mercy, and always—always—love. So if you want to know where God is in this or in anything, look for love. (Aug.)
Website of the Week (actually I've got a couple) - in keeping with what I was speaking about earlier there are two websites that I want to share with you. Rae discovered one of the - www.results.org - their mission is to create the public and political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty.
The other is one I heard about on Satellite Sisters - http://www.kiva.org/ - they enable you to connect with and provide micro -loans to unique small businesses in the developing world. For as little as $25, you can sponsor a business, receive updates and when the loans are re-paid, you get the loan money back in your account allowing you to re-invest in another business.
Podcast of the Week - a specific episode of This American Life titled Unconditional Love - deals with two amazing stories of parental love - one involving adoption and the other dealing with an autistic child.
http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=317
Vocabulary Word of the Week - from Rae - laconiclaconic \luh-KON-ik\, adjective:
Using or marked by the use of a minimum of words; brief and pithy; brusque.
Readers' reports range from the laconic to the verbose.
-- Bernard Stamler, "A Brooklyncentric View of Life", New York Times, February 28, 1999
In the laconic language of the sheriff department's report,there was "no visible sign of life."
-- David Wise, Cassidy's Run
There was one tiny photograph of him at a YMCA camp plus a few laconic and uninformative entries in a soldier's log from the war year, 1917-18.
-- Edward W. Said, Out of Place: A Memoir
Laconic comes, via Latin, from Greek Lakonikos, "of or relating to a Laconian or Spartan," hence "terse," in the manner of the Laconians.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for laconic
Cooking and Dining Report:
Not much of either going on this week in our house - Jack's been away and I've just been "grazing on whatever is left in the frig".
I did make Giada's Cannellini Bean Dip and the Italian Prune Plum Torte for a Labor Day barbecue. I may have included these recipes before but they are worth repeating:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_25941,00.html - bean dip
http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/recipes/dessert_plum.html - plum torte
Sondra and I did have a lovely breakfast at Radda this morning - it is a nice place to go on a Sunday morning - still pretty undiscovered at that time of day. Sondra has been there for their "happy hour" - 2 - 5 every day and a great "apertivo" menu. If you can't be in Italy, this is nice taste of what it might be like!
Well, that's it for now - have a wonderful week ahead!
Love,
Susan
Saturday Morning Walkers - September 2, 2007
Hi everyone!
Lots to cover on this long Labor Day weekend! Barb, Christie, Mary, Jan, Laila and I had our "first Saturday of the month" planning walk and coffee date at Caffe Sole. Christie offered to lead next week's (September 8) walk but we realized that many of our group will not be able to join her. Christie will send her "invite" later in the week - please do let her know if you will be joining her! Andrea, we've put you down for September 15, Mary for September 22 and Christie or I will do the 29th.
I want to wish a "bon voyage" to Barb and Laila who are leaving this week for their Danube River Cruise to be followed up with a "women's" tour of Italy. They will be joined there by Jan and Terri on September 15.
I know that you will have an amazing time. Barb will have her laptop with her so hopefully we'll get some updates as they travel and of course, we'll keep you posted on news from home.
Book Report:
A special report for our Italy travelers! I heard about a wonderful book on The Splendid Table (www.splendidtable.org) Podcast - Fred Plotkin's Italy's Gourmet Traveler.
From Booklist
In this exhaustive guide, Plotkin provides travelers to Bella Italia with information on the best places to eat in 300 cities and villages. Practical advice, such as making reservations, goes hand-in-hand with colorful descriptions of the Italian ristorante, trattoria, pizzeria, friggitoria, and other types of eating establishments. Plotkin is particularly adept at depicting the cultural climate of each region, listing appealing towns a traveler must not pass by and those area culinary specialities to be savored. Whether one desires the address of a fine butcher shop, has a hankering for pastries and an espresso, or seeks a dining experience fit for a king, these listings more than fit the bill. When seeking out excellent culinary fare, doubtless, the true gourmet will be undaunted by this weighty tome.
Mary wants to let us know about the book she just read - Sweet Death by Hugo Rodier - this book will enlighten us about the epidemic consumption of sugar that is threatening our health and our health care costs.
"Sweet Death" is a recent publication by Dr. Rodier MD
There is an epidemic sweeping our country which kills more people than any war. Sadly, our health care system, our governments, and even our schools are failing to educate the public about this massive epidemic of "sweet death."
Obesity and diabetes are literally changing the way we look, and how our bodies function. we are poisoning our cells so that they are unable to optimally communicate, resulting in many of the diseases that are so prevalent today. Billions of dollars are being spent on the consequences of the problem, often with calamitous results. Yet, very little is being done in the realm of prevention.
Sweet Death will help to open your eyes to this overwhelming epidemic that is killing America.
You can order this book, Sweet Death, by calling 1-888-225-6601 or logging onto mpptools.com.
You can also buy the book by visiting my clinic at:
12433 Fort St.
Draper, UT 84020
I have a correction to the book I reported on 2 weeks ago from Chris - she has read The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka - but she is currently reading Susanka's more recent book, The Not So Big Life.
Book Description
Most of us have lives that are as cluttered with unwanted obligations as our attics are cluttered with things. The bigger-is-better idea that triggered the explosion of McMansions has spilled over to give us McLives. For many of us, our ability to find the time to do what we want to do has come to a grinding halt. Now we barely have time to take a breath before making the next call on our cell phone, while at the same time messaging someone else on our Blackberry. Our schedules are chaotic and overcommitted, leaving us so stressed that we are numb, yet we wonder why we cannot fall asleep at night.
In The Not So Big Life, Susanka shows us that it is possible to take our finger off the fast-forward button, and to our surprise we find how effortless and rewarding this change can be. We do not have to lead a monastic life or give up the things we love. In fact, the real joy of leading a not so big life is discovering that the life we love has been there the entire time. Through simple exercises and inspiring stories, Susanka shows us that all we need to do is make small shifts in our day–subtle movements that open our minds as if we were finally opening the windows to let in fresh air.
The Not So Big Life reveals that form and function serve not only architectural aims but life goals as well. Just as we can tear down interior walls to reveal space, we can tear down our fears and assumptions to open up new possibilities. The result is that we quickly discover we have all the space and time we need for the things in our lives that really matter. But perhaps the greatest reward is the discovery that small changes can yield enormous results. In her elegant, clear style, Susanka convinces us that less truly is more–much more.
Vocabulary Word of the Week - Caucus - the selection of this word came out of our discussion yesterday about my plans to participate next Saturday in The Colorado Caucus Convention in Denver. http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/meredithbennett/CW4l
caucus definition
n. pl. cau·cus·es or cau·cus·ses
1.
a. A meeting of the local members of a political party especially to select delegates to a convention or register preferences for candidates running for office.
b. A closed meeting of party members within a legislative body to decide on questions of policy or leadership.
c. A group within a legislative or decision-making body seeking to represent a specific interest or influence a particular area of policy: a minority caucus.
2. Chiefly British A committee within a political party charged with determining policy.
v. cau·cused or cau·cussed, cau·cus·ing or cau·cus·sing, cau·cus·es or cau·cus·ses
v.intr.
To assemble in or hold a caucus.
v.tr.
To assemble or canvass (members of a caucus).
caucus etymology
[After the Caucus Club of Boston (in the 1760s), possibly from Medieval Latin caucus, drinking vessel.]
Website of the Week - http://www.davidco.com/coaches_corner/Julie_Daniel/article9.html - this is a life-coach's approach to handling our mountains of emails in our inbox.
Podcast of the Week - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17 - a relatively new newsmagazine format on NPR.
Cooking and Food Report:
Not too much to report in the way of new recipes except that tonight (Sunday) both Janet and I are making two different recipes for spaghetti sauce with sausage
Janet's is from the Daily Camera - Phil Veneziano's Tomato Sauce - http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2007/aug/21/no-headline---22fgr2/
Susan's is Christiano`s Italian Sausage Spaghetti Sauce from www.justtherecipe.com - http://www.justtherecipe.com/rapidrecipe/522.html - just from the way it is "perfuming" the house, I can tell its a winner!
Words of Wisdom - this is wonderful tale that Laila shared with us - it was particularly poignant to me - those of you who know me and my thin hair "issues" will appreciate why.
The Attitude of Three Hairs
There was once a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the
mirror and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.
"Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today," so she did
and she had a wonderful day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw she had
only two hairs on her head.
"HMM," she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle
today," and she did and she had a grand day.
The next morning she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw she
had only one hair left on her head.
"Well," she said, "Today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony
tail." So she did and it was a fun, fun day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that
there wasn't a single hair on her head.
"YEAH!" she exclaimed, "I don't have to fix my hair today!"
Remember you may not be able to control what someone says or
does or some of the situations that life throws you, but you can
sure control the way you react.
Author Unknown
Here's a special bonus quote dedicated to one our special 3-Day "Leading Ladies" -
"Sometimes in life, you find a special friend. Someone who changes your life just by being a part of it. Someone who makes you laugh until you can't stop. Someone who makes you believe that there really is good in the world. Someone who convinces you that there really is an unlocked door just waiting for you to open it. This is forever friendship. When you're down and the world seems dark and empty, your forever friend lifts you up in spirit and makes that dark and empty world suddenly seem bright and full. Your forever friend gets you through the hard times, the sad times and the confused times. If you turn and walk away, your forever friend follows. If you lose your way, your forever friend guides you and cheers you on. Your forever friend holds your hand and tells you that everything is going to be okay. And if you find such a friend, you feel happy and complete because you need not worry. You have a forever friend, and forever has no end."
---Unknown
Have a good week!
Love,
Susan
Lots to cover on this long Labor Day weekend! Barb, Christie, Mary, Jan, Laila and I had our "first Saturday of the month" planning walk and coffee date at Caffe Sole. Christie offered to lead next week's (September 8) walk but we realized that many of our group will not be able to join her. Christie will send her "invite" later in the week - please do let her know if you will be joining her! Andrea, we've put you down for September 15, Mary for September 22 and Christie or I will do the 29th.
I want to wish a "bon voyage" to Barb and Laila who are leaving this week for their Danube River Cruise to be followed up with a "women's" tour of Italy. They will be joined there by Jan and Terri on September 15.
I know that you will have an amazing time. Barb will have her laptop with her so hopefully we'll get some updates as they travel and of course, we'll keep you posted on news from home.
Book Report:
A special report for our Italy travelers! I heard about a wonderful book on The Splendid Table (www.splendidtable.org) Podcast - Fred Plotkin's Italy's Gourmet Traveler.
From Booklist
In this exhaustive guide, Plotkin provides travelers to Bella Italia with information on the best places to eat in 300 cities and villages. Practical advice, such as making reservations, goes hand-in-hand with colorful descriptions of the Italian ristorante, trattoria, pizzeria, friggitoria, and other types of eating establishments. Plotkin is particularly adept at depicting the cultural climate of each region, listing appealing towns a traveler must not pass by and those area culinary specialities to be savored. Whether one desires the address of a fine butcher shop, has a hankering for pastries and an espresso, or seeks a dining experience fit for a king, these listings more than fit the bill. When seeking out excellent culinary fare, doubtless, the true gourmet will be undaunted by this weighty tome.
Mary wants to let us know about the book she just read - Sweet Death by Hugo Rodier - this book will enlighten us about the epidemic consumption of sugar that is threatening our health and our health care costs.
"Sweet Death" is a recent publication by Dr. Rodier MD
There is an epidemic sweeping our country which kills more people than any war. Sadly, our health care system, our governments, and even our schools are failing to educate the public about this massive epidemic of "sweet death."
Obesity and diabetes are literally changing the way we look, and how our bodies function. we are poisoning our cells so that they are unable to optimally communicate, resulting in many of the diseases that are so prevalent today. Billions of dollars are being spent on the consequences of the problem, often with calamitous results. Yet, very little is being done in the realm of prevention.
Sweet Death will help to open your eyes to this overwhelming epidemic that is killing America.
You can order this book, Sweet Death, by calling 1-888-225-6601 or logging onto mpptools.com.
You can also buy the book by visiting my clinic at:
12433 Fort St.
Draper, UT 84020
I have a correction to the book I reported on 2 weeks ago from Chris - she has read The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka - but she is currently reading Susanka's more recent book, The Not So Big Life.
Book Description
Most of us have lives that are as cluttered with unwanted obligations as our attics are cluttered with things. The bigger-is-better idea that triggered the explosion of McMansions has spilled over to give us McLives. For many of us, our ability to find the time to do what we want to do has come to a grinding halt. Now we barely have time to take a breath before making the next call on our cell phone, while at the same time messaging someone else on our Blackberry. Our schedules are chaotic and overcommitted, leaving us so stressed that we are numb, yet we wonder why we cannot fall asleep at night.
In The Not So Big Life, Susanka shows us that it is possible to take our finger off the fast-forward button, and to our surprise we find how effortless and rewarding this change can be. We do not have to lead a monastic life or give up the things we love. In fact, the real joy of leading a not so big life is discovering that the life we love has been there the entire time. Through simple exercises and inspiring stories, Susanka shows us that all we need to do is make small shifts in our day–subtle movements that open our minds as if we were finally opening the windows to let in fresh air.
The Not So Big Life reveals that form and function serve not only architectural aims but life goals as well. Just as we can tear down interior walls to reveal space, we can tear down our fears and assumptions to open up new possibilities. The result is that we quickly discover we have all the space and time we need for the things in our lives that really matter. But perhaps the greatest reward is the discovery that small changes can yield enormous results. In her elegant, clear style, Susanka convinces us that less truly is more–much more.
Vocabulary Word of the Week - Caucus - the selection of this word came out of our discussion yesterday about my plans to participate next Saturday in The Colorado Caucus Convention in Denver. http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/meredithbennett/CW4l
caucus definition
n. pl. cau·cus·es or cau·cus·ses
1.
a. A meeting of the local members of a political party especially to select delegates to a convention or register preferences for candidates running for office.
b. A closed meeting of party members within a legislative body to decide on questions of policy or leadership.
c. A group within a legislative or decision-making body seeking to represent a specific interest or influence a particular area of policy: a minority caucus.
2. Chiefly British A committee within a political party charged with determining policy.
v. cau·cused or cau·cussed, cau·cus·ing or cau·cus·sing, cau·cus·es or cau·cus·ses
v.intr.
To assemble in or hold a caucus.
v.tr.
To assemble or canvass (members of a caucus).
caucus etymology
[After the Caucus Club of Boston (in the 1760s), possibly from Medieval Latin caucus, drinking vessel.]
Website of the Week - http://www.davidco.com/coaches_corner/Julie_Daniel/article9.html - this is a life-coach's approach to handling our mountains of emails in our inbox.
Podcast of the Week - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17 - a relatively new newsmagazine format on NPR.
Cooking and Food Report:
Not too much to report in the way of new recipes except that tonight (Sunday) both Janet and I are making two different recipes for spaghetti sauce with sausage
Janet's is from the Daily Camera - Phil Veneziano's Tomato Sauce - http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2007/aug/21/no-headline---22fgr2/
Susan's is Christiano`s Italian Sausage Spaghetti Sauce from www.justtherecipe.com - http://www.justtherecipe.com/rapidrecipe/522.html - just from the way it is "perfuming" the house, I can tell its a winner!
Words of Wisdom - this is wonderful tale that Laila shared with us - it was particularly poignant to me - those of you who know me and my thin hair "issues" will appreciate why.
The Attitude of Three Hairs
There was once a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the
mirror and noticed she had only three hairs on her head.
"Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today," so she did
and she had a wonderful day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw she had
only two hairs on her head.
"HMM," she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle
today," and she did and she had a grand day.
The next morning she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw she
had only one hair left on her head.
"Well," she said, "Today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony
tail." So she did and it was a fun, fun day.
The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that
there wasn't a single hair on her head.
"YEAH!" she exclaimed, "I don't have to fix my hair today!"
Remember you may not be able to control what someone says or
does or some of the situations that life throws you, but you can
sure control the way you react.
Author Unknown
Here's a special bonus quote dedicated to one our special 3-Day "Leading Ladies" -
"Sometimes in life, you find a special friend. Someone who changes your life just by being a part of it. Someone who makes you laugh until you can't stop. Someone who makes you believe that there really is good in the world. Someone who convinces you that there really is an unlocked door just waiting for you to open it. This is forever friendship. When you're down and the world seems dark and empty, your forever friend lifts you up in spirit and makes that dark and empty world suddenly seem bright and full. Your forever friend gets you through the hard times, the sad times and the confused times. If you turn and walk away, your forever friend follows. If you lose your way, your forever friend guides you and cheers you on. Your forever friend holds your hand and tells you that everything is going to be okay. And if you find such a friend, you feel happy and complete because you need not worry. You have a forever friend, and forever has no end."
---Unknown
Have a good week!
Love,
Susan
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Saturday Morning Walkers - August 25, 2007
Hi everyone!
Saturday morning Mary, Laila, Barb, Jan and I met at the labyrinth and then headed out to Eben Fine Park and then back along the creek to Vic's for coffee. It was a gorgeous morning and we ended it together at the Farmers Market, shopping for Colorado corn, tomatoes, peaches, beets and garlic.
Book Report:
Susan is reading a book that Lynn recommended recently - The Tricky Part by Martin Moran. It is a memoir dealing with the sexual abuse suffered by Moran as a young Catholic boy growing up in Denver. The story is certainly disturbing but he is an outstanding writer.
From Publishers Weekly
To everyone else in the Denver neighborhood where he grew up in the '70s, Moran was a studious Catholic boy. No one knew he carried a secret that would fester for 30 years and lead to extreme anxiety, sexual compulsion and suicide attempts. At age 12 he met Bob, a church camp counselor in his 30s who, for several years, took Moran hiking and camping, and had sex with him. Moran painfully recounts the inner workings of a lonely, insecure adolescent who, out of a desperate need for friendship and acceptance, continued a sexual relationship with a man 20 years his senior. Feeling guilty and shameful regarding the affair and his homosexuality, Moran lived a life in which the erotic and the illicit fused, and compulsive sex became a means of self-punishment. Over the years, Moran, now a writer and actor, managed to glean bits of guidance and self-acceptance from his aunt, a contemplative nun; a New Age music teacher; friends; and eventually, recovery groups and therapy. Moran's Catholic-American gothic differs from other abuse/recovery/coming-out memoirs in that it examines a uniquely gay mind/body split as it subtly reflects on a gay man's spiritual quest for self-determination and love.
Cass recommends The Omnivore's Dilemna by Michael Pollan. I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago - Sounds like a revealing look at the food we eat.
From Publishers Weekly
[Signature]Reviewed by Pamela KaufmanPollan (The Botany of Desire) examines what he calls "our national eating disorder" (the Atkins craze, the precipitous rise in obesity) in this remarkably clearheaded book. It's a fascinating journey up and down the food chain, one that might change the way you read the label on a frozen dinner, dig into a steak or decide whether to buy organic eggs. You'll certainly never look at a Chicken McNugget the same way again.Pollan approaches his mission not as an activist but as a naturalist: "The way we eat represents our most profound engagement with the natural world." All food, he points out, originates with plants, animals and fungi. "[E]ven the deathless Twinkie is constructed out of... well, precisely what I don't know offhand, but ultimately some sort of formerly living creature, i.e., a species. We haven't yet begun to synthesize our foods from petroleum, at least not directly."Pollan's narrative strategy is simple: he traces four meals back to their ur-species. He starts with a McDonald's lunch, which he and his family gobble up in their car. Surprise: the origin of this meal is a cornfield in Iowa. Corn feeds the steer that turns into the burgers, becomes the oil that cooks the fries and the syrup that sweetens the shakes and the sodas, and makes up 13 of the 38 ingredients (yikes) in the Chicken McNuggets.Indeed, one of the many eye-openers in the book is the prevalence of corn in the American diet; of the 45,000 items in a supermarket, more than a quarter contain corn. Pollan meditates on the freakishly protean nature of the corn plant and looks at how the food industry has exploited it, to the detriment of everyone from farmers to fat-and-getting-fatter Americans. Besides Stephen King, few other writers have made a corn field seem so sinister.Later, Pollan prepares a dinner with items from Whole Foods, investigating the flaws in the world of "big organic"; cooks a meal with ingredients from a small, utopian Virginia farm; and assembles a feast from things he's foraged and hunted.This may sound earnest, but Pollan isn't preachy: he's too thoughtful a writer, and too dogged a researcher, to let ideology take over. He's also funny and adventurous. He bounces around on an old International Harvester tractor, gets down on his belly to examine a pasture from a cow's-eye view, shoots a wild pig and otherwise throws himself into the making of his meals. I'm not convinced I'd want to go hunting with Pollan, but I'm sure I'd enjoy having dinner with him. Just as long as we could eat at a table, not in a Toyota. (Apr.)Pamela Kaufman is executive editor at Food & Wine magazine.
Website of the Week: http://www.greendimes.com/ - reduce your junk mail and have trees planted on your behalf.
Podcast of the Week: http://grammar.qdnow.com/ - quick and dirty tips for better writing.
Vocabulary Word of the Week: laconic
laconic \luh-KON-ik\, adjective:
Using or marked by the use of a minimum of words; brief and pithy; brusque.
Readers' reports range from the laconic to the verbose.
-- Bernard Stamler, "A Brooklyncentric View of Life", New York Times, February 28, 1999
In the laconic language of the sheriff department's report,there was "no visible sign of life."
-- David Wise, Cassidy's Run
There was one tiny photograph of him at a YMCA camp plus a few laconic and uninformative entries in a soldier's log from the war year, 1917-18.
-- Edward W. Said, Out of Place: A Memoir
Laconic comes, via Latin, from Greek Lakonikos, "of or relating to a Laconian or Spartan," hence "terse," in the manner of the Laconians.
Quote of the Week: The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.” from Thich Nhat Hanh - Vietnamese Buddhist Monk
Cooking and Food Report:
From The 150 Best American Recipes Cookbook:
Spaghetti with Slow-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, Basil and Parmesan Cheese from The Tomato Festival Cookbook - Serves 4
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more (about 1/4 cup) for roasting
1 large white onion, cut into 1/2 inch dice
6 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
18 fresh basil leaves, plus 1/4 cup cut into thin ribbons
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 heaping pints ripe cherry or grape tomatoes, rinsed and patted dry
3 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 pound spaghetti
2 cups loosely packed arugula
1/2 cup finely grated Pamesan cheese for serving
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
Heat the 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the whole basil leaves and red pepper flakes and stir well.
Toss the tomatoes with 1 teaspoon of the salt and the sugar and place in a roasting pan. The pan should be large enough to hold them in a single layer. Spoon the onion mixture over the tomatoes. Add enough oil to come halfway up the tomatoes. Roast until the tomatoes are tender but not falling apart, about 3 hours. Stir once, gently, during the roasting. You can roast the tomatoes up to 6 hours ahead of serving.
Bring a large pot of water with the remaining 2 teaspoons of salt to a boil. Add the spaghetti and stir constantly until the water returns to a boil. Cook until the pasta is al dente, about 7 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the tomatoes and onion in a large saucepan over low heat. When the pasta is done, drain and transfer to the saucepan with the tomatoes. Add the arugula. Toss well. Add the basil ribbons and toss again.
Serve immediately in warm shallow bowls with Parmesan sprinkled over the top.
From Lucinda and The Silver Palate Cookbook - Summer Pasta with Tomatoes, Basil and Brie - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=231&topic_id=497&mesg_id=6922
From Susan and Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa - Breakfast Bread Pudding - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_36124,00.html - next time, I might slice the bread a bit thinner than the recommended 1".
That's all for now - have a great week!
Love,
Susan
Saturday morning Mary, Laila, Barb, Jan and I met at the labyrinth and then headed out to Eben Fine Park and then back along the creek to Vic's for coffee. It was a gorgeous morning and we ended it together at the Farmers Market, shopping for Colorado corn, tomatoes, peaches, beets and garlic.
Book Report:
Susan is reading a book that Lynn recommended recently - The Tricky Part by Martin Moran. It is a memoir dealing with the sexual abuse suffered by Moran as a young Catholic boy growing up in Denver. The story is certainly disturbing but he is an outstanding writer.
From Publishers Weekly
To everyone else in the Denver neighborhood where he grew up in the '70s, Moran was a studious Catholic boy. No one knew he carried a secret that would fester for 30 years and lead to extreme anxiety, sexual compulsion and suicide attempts. At age 12 he met Bob, a church camp counselor in his 30s who, for several years, took Moran hiking and camping, and had sex with him. Moran painfully recounts the inner workings of a lonely, insecure adolescent who, out of a desperate need for friendship and acceptance, continued a sexual relationship with a man 20 years his senior. Feeling guilty and shameful regarding the affair and his homosexuality, Moran lived a life in which the erotic and the illicit fused, and compulsive sex became a means of self-punishment. Over the years, Moran, now a writer and actor, managed to glean bits of guidance and self-acceptance from his aunt, a contemplative nun; a New Age music teacher; friends; and eventually, recovery groups and therapy. Moran's Catholic-American gothic differs from other abuse/recovery/coming-out memoirs in that it examines a uniquely gay mind/body split as it subtly reflects on a gay man's spiritual quest for self-determination and love.
Cass recommends The Omnivore's Dilemna by Michael Pollan. I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago - Sounds like a revealing look at the food we eat.
From Publishers Weekly
[Signature]Reviewed by Pamela KaufmanPollan (The Botany of Desire) examines what he calls "our national eating disorder" (the Atkins craze, the precipitous rise in obesity) in this remarkably clearheaded book. It's a fascinating journey up and down the food chain, one that might change the way you read the label on a frozen dinner, dig into a steak or decide whether to buy organic eggs. You'll certainly never look at a Chicken McNugget the same way again.Pollan approaches his mission not as an activist but as a naturalist: "The way we eat represents our most profound engagement with the natural world." All food, he points out, originates with plants, animals and fungi. "[E]ven the deathless Twinkie is constructed out of... well, precisely what I don't know offhand, but ultimately some sort of formerly living creature, i.e., a species. We haven't yet begun to synthesize our foods from petroleum, at least not directly."Pollan's narrative strategy is simple: he traces four meals back to their ur-species. He starts with a McDonald's lunch, which he and his family gobble up in their car. Surprise: the origin of this meal is a cornfield in Iowa. Corn feeds the steer that turns into the burgers, becomes the oil that cooks the fries and the syrup that sweetens the shakes and the sodas, and makes up 13 of the 38 ingredients (yikes) in the Chicken McNuggets.Indeed, one of the many eye-openers in the book is the prevalence of corn in the American diet; of the 45,000 items in a supermarket, more than a quarter contain corn. Pollan meditates on the freakishly protean nature of the corn plant and looks at how the food industry has exploited it, to the detriment of everyone from farmers to fat-and-getting-fatter Americans. Besides Stephen King, few other writers have made a corn field seem so sinister.Later, Pollan prepares a dinner with items from Whole Foods, investigating the flaws in the world of "big organic"; cooks a meal with ingredients from a small, utopian Virginia farm; and assembles a feast from things he's foraged and hunted.This may sound earnest, but Pollan isn't preachy: he's too thoughtful a writer, and too dogged a researcher, to let ideology take over. He's also funny and adventurous. He bounces around on an old International Harvester tractor, gets down on his belly to examine a pasture from a cow's-eye view, shoots a wild pig and otherwise throws himself into the making of his meals. I'm not convinced I'd want to go hunting with Pollan, but I'm sure I'd enjoy having dinner with him. Just as long as we could eat at a table, not in a Toyota. (Apr.)Pamela Kaufman is executive editor at Food & Wine magazine.
Website of the Week: http://www.greendimes.com/ - reduce your junk mail and have trees planted on your behalf.
Podcast of the Week: http://grammar.qdnow.com/ - quick and dirty tips for better writing.
Vocabulary Word of the Week: laconic
laconic \luh-KON-ik\, adjective:
Using or marked by the use of a minimum of words; brief and pithy; brusque.
Readers' reports range from the laconic to the verbose.
-- Bernard Stamler, "A Brooklyncentric View of Life", New York Times, February 28, 1999
In the laconic language of the sheriff department's report,there was "no visible sign of life."
-- David Wise, Cassidy's Run
There was one tiny photograph of him at a YMCA camp plus a few laconic and uninformative entries in a soldier's log from the war year, 1917-18.
-- Edward W. Said, Out of Place: A Memoir
Laconic comes, via Latin, from Greek Lakonikos, "of or relating to a Laconian or Spartan," hence "terse," in the manner of the Laconians.
Quote of the Week: The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.” from Thich Nhat Hanh - Vietnamese Buddhist Monk
Cooking and Food Report:
From The 150 Best American Recipes Cookbook:
Spaghetti with Slow-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, Basil and Parmesan Cheese from The Tomato Festival Cookbook - Serves 4
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more (about 1/4 cup) for roasting
1 large white onion, cut into 1/2 inch dice
6 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
18 fresh basil leaves, plus 1/4 cup cut into thin ribbons
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 heaping pints ripe cherry or grape tomatoes, rinsed and patted dry
3 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 pound spaghetti
2 cups loosely packed arugula
1/2 cup finely grated Pamesan cheese for serving
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
Heat the 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the whole basil leaves and red pepper flakes and stir well.
Toss the tomatoes with 1 teaspoon of the salt and the sugar and place in a roasting pan. The pan should be large enough to hold them in a single layer. Spoon the onion mixture over the tomatoes. Add enough oil to come halfway up the tomatoes. Roast until the tomatoes are tender but not falling apart, about 3 hours. Stir once, gently, during the roasting. You can roast the tomatoes up to 6 hours ahead of serving.
Bring a large pot of water with the remaining 2 teaspoons of salt to a boil. Add the spaghetti and stir constantly until the water returns to a boil. Cook until the pasta is al dente, about 7 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the tomatoes and onion in a large saucepan over low heat. When the pasta is done, drain and transfer to the saucepan with the tomatoes. Add the arugula. Toss well. Add the basil ribbons and toss again.
Serve immediately in warm shallow bowls with Parmesan sprinkled over the top.
From Lucinda and The Silver Palate Cookbook - Summer Pasta with Tomatoes, Basil and Brie - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=231&topic_id=497&mesg_id=6922
From Susan and Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa - Breakfast Bread Pudding - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_36124,00.html - next time, I might slice the bread a bit thinner than the recommended 1".
That's all for now - have a great week!
Love,
Susan
Saturday Morning Walkers - August 19, 2007
Hi everyone!
Thanks to Andrea for planning such a lovely walk out in Gunbarrel at Twin Lakes. Jan, Laila, Christie, Mary and I joined her there and we had the special treat of seeing lots of hot air balloons. Chris joined us for coffee at Page Two Cafe.
Some Labyrinth news - I'm so excited to tell you that Jack and I stopped over at the Grillo Center Labyrinth yesterday afternoon. What a delight to discover that a wedding ceremony had just been celebrated on the labyrinth. We missed the actual ceremony but were able to take some photos and speak to some of the guests. See phot above.
Book Report:
I re-read a book that I read many years ago and was reminded of recently. I found a copy at the Longmont library and read it in one day! The Resort by Sol Stein is a novel that is frightening and hard to put down.
From the Back In Print Book Store
The resort
by Sol Stein
About this title: Cliffhaven--Magnificent new resort near Big Sur. Surrounded by redwoods. Guarded by Oceanside cliffs. Protected from prying eyes. By reservation only. Cliffhaven--Founded by a man with very special interests, catering to a very special clientele. Margaret and Henry Brown, vacationing New Yorkers innocently driving down the sea-washed coast of California, are just the right sort of people. Cliffhaven--It has a spectacular entrance, a three-star restaurant, lavish accommodations--and no exit! "This novel should do for California vacation retreats what jaws did for swimming in the Atlantic."--"Los Angeles Times" Book Review "A thrilling nightmare...A Dante's "Inferno..".more than fulfills the remark "I read it all in one nail-biting session."--Eli Wallach "Not only a thriller...a parable and a warning to all who say 'It can't happen here.'"--"Jewish Post and Opinion"
Andrea is reading Ann Patchett's Magician's Assistant. I have that on my shelf of "to reads". Patchett's novel, Bel Canto was one of my favorites reads.
Amazon.com
The Magician's Assistant sustains author Ann Patchett's proven penchant for crafting colorful characters and marrying the ordinary with the fantastic. When Parsifal, Sabine's husband of more than 20 years and the magician of the title, suddenly dies, she begins to discover how she's glimpsed him only through smoke and mirrors. He has managed to keep hidden the existence of a family in Nebraska--his mother, two sisters, and two nephews. Sabine approaches them hungrily, as if they are a bridge to her beloved husband and a key to the mysteries he left behind
Chris is reading The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka. It sounds like this book provides an opportunity to examine how your living spaces reflect the way you live and to consider how you can scale-down and simplify your life.
From Library Journal
Architect Susanka believes that the large homes being built today place too much emphasis on square footage rather than on current lifestyles. Here she shows how homes can be designed to feature "adaptable spaces open to one another, designed for everyday use." She describes how to examine occupants' lifestyles, how to incorporate the kitchen as the focal point of the home, how to give the illusion of space, and how, with storage, lighting, and furniture arrangement, a smaller home can be comfortably livable. Photographs of contemporary homes as well as those by Frank Lloyd Wright and other modern architects illustrate Susanka's ideas and show the timelessness of the style she advocates. This thought-provoking book will be a good addition to architectural and interior design collections.
Laila recommends Doc Susie by Virginia Cornell.
Diane Donovan, The Bookwatch
Doctor Susan Anderson was a rare women, indeed: a female frontier doctor who searched for health, success and romance in the wild western lands of the Colorado Rockies. Her true experiences are recounted by Cornell, who met the elderly Doc Susie when Cornell was a young girl. Three years of research have contributed to a biography which reads like an adventure novel.
Jan is listening to the audio of The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford. She's loving listening to it but doesn't think it would be a great read.
After more than a decade, Richard Ford revives Frank Bascombe, the beloved protagonist from The Sportswriter and Independence Day. Fans will be scrambling for The Lay of the Land, a novel that finds Bascombe contending with health, marital, and familial issues wake of the 2000 presidential election.
Website of the Week: http://www.laptoplunches.com/ - cool site for those of you wanting to be more environmentally conscious when sending kids back to school or packing your own lunches to take to work.
Podcast of the Week: http://www.newyorker.com/online/2007/06/11/070611on_audio_danticat
Quote of the Week: contributed by Mandy -
"No one gossips about other people's secret virtues."
- Bertrand Russell
Vocabulary Word of the Week - contributed by Barb -
She "stumbled on this one re-reading a portion of Loren Eisley's, "The Immense Journey.":
"Once..on a memorable autumn afternoon I discovered a sunning blacksnake brooding amomg the leaves like the very simulacrum of old night."
simulacrum \sim-yuh-LAY-kruhm; -LAK-ruhm\, noun;
plural simulacra \sim-yuh-LAY-kruh; -LAK-ruh\:
1. An image; a representation.
2. An insubstantial, superficial, or vague likeness or semblance.
Cooking and Food Report:
Saturday night's dinner was Brisket a la Carbonnade - I found the recipe in a wonderful cookbook called The 150 Best American Recipes - It is originally from Ruth Reichl's Gourmet Cookbook and appears online at http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2004-09-30-gourmet-recipe_x.htm - it was absolutely delicious. I was a bit disappointed that a bit too much of the yummy liquid evaporated - I would recommend covering the pot with aluminum foil before covering with the lid to make it tighter seal.
Sunday night's dinner was Amazing 5 hour Roast Duck - another recipe from The 150 Best American Recipes - It is originally from Eli Zabar's Vinegar Factory newsletter and appears online at http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/special/2006/150best/roast-duck.html. It is a unique method for roasting duck and produces a very crispy skin and tender meat. Jack loved it but next time we'll try it with a glaze and sauce.
I served an interesting salad with the duck. Jack didn't love it but I thought it was very good. Roasted Greens Panzanella Salad from Giada de Laurentiis featuring red chard, kale, sun-dried tomatoes, and ciabatta bread cubes with a simple oil and balsamic vinegar dressing - http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_37317,00.html
That's it for now - have a lovely week!
Love,
Susan
Saturday Morning Walkers - August 13, 2007
Hi everyone!
Sorry this is so late but I just got back from Los Angeles and our cruise.
Jexy, Joe, Jacob and I joined, Joe's mom Barbara and extended family on a family reunion cruise to Mexico. We had a great time - it was my first cruise and Jacob was my "stateroom mate". Thanks again to Barbara and all the Bloom relatives for making me feel so welcome.
Book Report:
I finished Pete Hamill's new novel, North River. Jack and I have both enjoyed Hamill's earlier books like, Snow in August, Forever and Downtown. He is a classic New Yorker who writes novels and non-fiction books which capture the essence of New York and its history.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The North River is what real New Yorkers call the Hudson. Two blocks from its shore, Dr. James Finbar Delaney lives on Horatio Street in Greenwich Village. He is a GP, servicing the indigent poor. A wounded veteran of World War I, he is despondent that his wife, Molly, has deserted him and that his only child, Grace, has left her son, two-year-old Carlito, in his care. In the dead of winter in the Depression year of 1934, Dr. Delaney knows the cause of death was always life. Delaney is numb from the war and the abandonment of his family. When he saves the life of gangster friend Eddie Corso, Italian hood Frankie Botts is not happy. Delaney can feel the threat to him and his grandson in his bones. To further complicate matters, the FBI shows up looking for Grace.
If there's any consolation for Delaney in the chaos that has become his life, it's Carlito and Rose, his Sicilian illegal alien housekeeper, who has become little Carlito's surrogate mother—and Delaney's lov er. Soon the North River comes to symbolize Delaney's tormented life, as enemies and loved ones float in it, and Grace, on a liner, returns to New York to further complicate Delaney's new, delicate household. Hamill (Forever; A Drinking Life) has crafted a beautiful novel, rich in New York City detail and ambience, that showcases the power of human goodness and how love, in its many forms, can prevail in an unfair world.
Other books people were reading on the ship:
Joe's sister Lauren had just started, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan. Pollan also wrote The Botany of Desire which Lauren liked very much.
From Publishers Weekly
[Signature]Reviewed by Pamela KaufmanPollan (The Botany of Desire) examines what he calls "our national eating disorder" (the Atkins craze, the precipitous rise in obesity) in this remarkably clearheaded book. It's a fascinating journey up and down the food chain, one that might change the way you read the label on a frozen dinner, dig into a steak or decide whether to buy organic eggs. You'll certainly never look at a Chicken McNugget the same way again.Pollan approaches his mission not as an activist but as a naturalist: "The way we eat represents our most profound engagement with the natural world." All food, he points out, originates with plants, animals and fungi. "[E]ven the deathless Twinkie is constructed out of... well, precisely what I don't know offhand, but ultimately some sort of formerly living creature, i.e., a species. We haven't yet begun to synthesize our foods from petroleum, at least not directly."Pollan's narrative strategy is simple: he traces four meals back to their ur-species. He starts with a McDonald's lunch, which he and his family gobble up in their car. Surprise: the origin of this meal is a cornfield in Iowa. Corn feeds the steer that turns into the burgers, becomes the oil that cooks the fries and the syrup that sweetens the shakes and the sodas, and makes up 13 of the 38 ingredients (yikes) in the Chicken McNuggets.Indeed, one of the many eye-openers in the book is the prevalence of corn in the American diet; of the 45,000 items in a supermarket, more than a quarter contain corn. Pollan meditates on the freakishly protean nature of the corn plant and looks at how the food industry has exploited it, to the detriment of everyone from farmers to fat-and-getting-fatter Americans. Besides Stephen King, few other writers have made a corn field seem so sinister.Later, Pollan prepares a dinner with items from Whole Foods, investigating the flaws in the world of "big organic"; cooks a meal with ingredients from a small, utopian Virgin ia farm; and assembles a feast from things he's foraged and hunted.This may sound earnest, but Pollan isn't preachy: he's too thoughtful a writer, and too dogged a researcher, to let ideology take over. He's also funny and adventurous.
He bounces around on an old International Harvester tractor, gets down on his belly to examine a pasture from a cow's-eye view, shoots a wild pig and otherwise throws himself into the making of his meals. I'm not convinced I'd want to go hunting with Pollan, but I'm sure I'd enjoy having dinner with him.
Just as long as we could eat at a table, not i
Joe's mom Barbara read (not on the cruise) and recommends Carolyn See's memoir called Dreaming. She is the mother of Lisa See who wrote Snow Flower and Secret Fan, On Gold Mountain and most recently, Peony in Love.
From Publishers Weekly
Award-winning novelist (Golden Days; Making History) and book critic See has a pungent, earthily feminine style that has never been put to better use than in this saga of her clamorous, perpetually inebriated family. Daughter of a hard-drinking, charming show-business hanger-on and an equally hard-drinking hellion of a mother, See also went through two chaotic marriages, countless gallons of tequila and white wine and enough mind-altering substances to knock her sideways for most of a decade before settling down, with two miraculously surviving and equable daughters and her elderly English professor companion, to become the quirkily admirable writer she is today. Her sister Rose, enmeshed for years in a life of petty crime, drug-dealing and appalling men, was not so lucky. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, in-laws, all seemed somehow to be disappointed at what American (mostly Californian) life had to offer, and retreated into bottles, needles and pills. It all makes for wonderfully liv ely reading, but See's thesis that this is life for much of America's aspiring underclass doesn't quite ring true (perhaps it's simply that a preponderance of these goofily hope-addicted people wind up in California). And in the midst of all See's hard-headed, courageous and humorous observation, it is jarring to come across a paean to some of the more banal and outre of New Age gurus. What is lacking in the book, despite its many anecdotal pleasures and galloping readability, is any sense of a cultural context to Americans beyond a search for ways to feel better about themselves.
Website of the Week: Teach for America - http://www.teachforamerica.org/ - thought I'd share this site with you since this is how Jexy got into teaching right out of college. It really is a remarkable organization that has now been in existence since 1990. You can hear more about on the Satellite Sisters podcast that will be broadcast on Wednesday, August 15. They will be interviewing founder, Wendy Koop.
Podcast of the Week: Jack listened to this show about Ralph Nader on Pacifica, a public radio show out of LA and just thought it was amazing. "While I was sitting in LA traffic today I caught a program on Pacifica radio about Ralph Nader. It was a compilation of interviews and testimony he has given during his career, from his start in the 60s through an interview with Amy Goodman last month. I always thought well of Nader, but really didn't know much about him and was also annoyed that he "interfered" with possible Democratic wins in recent presidential elections.
After listening to this program, I was so impressed by the work and commitment of this remarkable person that I wanted to pass it on to you all."
You can listen or download a podcast at:
http://www.kpfk.org/index.php?option=com_content
Vocabulary Word of the Week - I've chosen this Jewish word in honor of my relationship with Joe's mom, Barbara and my soon-to-be son-in-law, David's mom, Cora.
machatonista
child's mother-in-law
Cooking and Food Report:
Before the cruise, Jexy, Jacob and I went to one of the many new hip and trendy restaurant/bars opening up in her neighborhood of Highland Park. It is called The York - http://www.theyorkonyork.com/. Here's a review from Eating L.A. - http://eatingla.blogspot.com/2007/07/york-rocks-highland-park.html
As you might expect, the food on Royal Carribean's Monarch of the Sea was plentiful. The meals were fine - what was really outstanding was the level of service from the waitstaff and the entire crew. I was very impressed. The crew of 1600 men and women represent 60 different countries. They spend 8 months on board and then are off for 4 months.
That's it for now. I need to settle back home after my exciting trip. Have a great week!
Love,
Susan
Sorry this is so late but I just got back from Los Angeles and our cruise.
Jexy, Joe, Jacob and I joined, Joe's mom Barbara and extended family on a family reunion cruise to Mexico. We had a great time - it was my first cruise and Jacob was my "stateroom mate". Thanks again to Barbara and all the Bloom relatives for making me feel so welcome.
Book Report:
I finished Pete Hamill's new novel, North River. Jack and I have both enjoyed Hamill's earlier books like, Snow in August, Forever and Downtown. He is a classic New Yorker who writes novels and non-fiction books which capture the essence of New York and its history.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The North River is what real New Yorkers call the Hudson. Two blocks from its shore, Dr. James Finbar Delaney lives on Horatio Street in Greenwich Village. He is a GP, servicing the indigent poor. A wounded veteran of World War I, he is despondent that his wife, Molly, has deserted him and that his only child, Grace, has left her son, two-year-old Carlito, in his care. In the dead of winter in the Depression year of 1934, Dr. Delaney knows the cause of death was always life. Delaney is numb from the war and the abandonment of his family. When he saves the life of gangster friend Eddie Corso, Italian hood Frankie Botts is not happy. Delaney can feel the threat to him and his grandson in his bones. To further complicate matters, the FBI shows up looking for Grace.
If there's any consolation for Delaney in the chaos that has become his life, it's Carlito and Rose, his Sicilian illegal alien housekeeper, who has become little Carlito's surrogate mother—and Delaney's lov er. Soon the North River comes to symbolize Delaney's tormented life, as enemies and loved ones float in it, and Grace, on a liner, returns to New York to further complicate Delaney's new, delicate household. Hamill (Forever; A Drinking Life) has crafted a beautiful novel, rich in New York City detail and ambience, that showcases the power of human goodness and how love, in its many forms, can prevail in an unfair world.
Other books people were reading on the ship:
Joe's sister Lauren had just started, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan. Pollan also wrote The Botany of Desire which Lauren liked very much.
From Publishers Weekly
[Signature]Reviewed by Pamela KaufmanPollan (The Botany of Desire) examines what he calls "our national eating disorder" (the Atkins craze, the precipitous rise in obesity) in this remarkably clearheaded book. It's a fascinating journey up and down the food chain, one that might change the way you read the label on a frozen dinner, dig into a steak or decide whether to buy organic eggs. You'll certainly never look at a Chicken McNugget the same way again.Pollan approaches his mission not as an activist but as a naturalist: "The way we eat represents our most profound engagement with the natural world." All food, he points out, originates with plants, animals and fungi. "[E]ven the deathless Twinkie is constructed out of... well, precisely what I don't know offhand, but ultimately some sort of formerly living creature, i.e., a species. We haven't yet begun to synthesize our foods from petroleum, at least not directly."Pollan's narrative strategy is simple: he traces four meals back to their ur-species. He starts with a McDonald's lunch, which he and his family gobble up in their car. Surprise: the origin of this meal is a cornfield in Iowa. Corn feeds the steer that turns into the burgers, becomes the oil that cooks the fries and the syrup that sweetens the shakes and the sodas, and makes up 13 of the 38 ingredients (yikes) in the Chicken McNuggets.Indeed, one of the many eye-openers in the book is the prevalence of corn in the American diet; of the 45,000 items in a supermarket, more than a quarter contain corn. Pollan meditates on the freakishly protean nature of the corn plant and looks at how the food industry has exploited it, to the detriment of everyone from farmers to fat-and-getting-fatter Americans. Besides Stephen King, few other writers have made a corn field seem so sinister.Later, Pollan prepares a dinner with items from Whole Foods, investigating the flaws in the world of "big organic"; cooks a meal with ingredients from a small, utopian Virgin ia farm; and assembles a feast from things he's foraged and hunted.This may sound earnest, but Pollan isn't preachy: he's too thoughtful a writer, and too dogged a researcher, to let ideology take over. He's also funny and adventurous.
He bounces around on an old International Harvester tractor, gets down on his belly to examine a pasture from a cow's-eye view, shoots a wild pig and otherwise throws himself into the making of his meals. I'm not convinced I'd want to go hunting with Pollan, but I'm sure I'd enjoy having dinner with him.
Just as long as we could eat at a table, not i
Joe's mom Barbara read (not on the cruise) and recommends Carolyn See's memoir called Dreaming. She is the mother of Lisa See who wrote Snow Flower and Secret Fan, On Gold Mountain and most recently, Peony in Love.
From Publishers Weekly
Award-winning novelist (Golden Days; Making History) and book critic See has a pungent, earthily feminine style that has never been put to better use than in this saga of her clamorous, perpetually inebriated family. Daughter of a hard-drinking, charming show-business hanger-on and an equally hard-drinking hellion of a mother, See also went through two chaotic marriages, countless gallons of tequila and white wine and enough mind-altering substances to knock her sideways for most of a decade before settling down, with two miraculously surviving and equable daughters and her elderly English professor companion, to become the quirkily admirable writer she is today. Her sister Rose, enmeshed for years in a life of petty crime, drug-dealing and appalling men, was not so lucky. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, in-laws, all seemed somehow to be disappointed at what American (mostly Californian) life had to offer, and retreated into bottles, needles and pills. It all makes for wonderfully liv ely reading, but See's thesis that this is life for much of America's aspiring underclass doesn't quite ring true (perhaps it's simply that a preponderance of these goofily hope-addicted people wind up in California). And in the midst of all See's hard-headed, courageous and humorous observation, it is jarring to come across a paean to some of the more banal and outre of New Age gurus. What is lacking in the book, despite its many anecdotal pleasures and galloping readability, is any sense of a cultural context to Americans beyond a search for ways to feel better about themselves.
Website of the Week: Teach for America - http://www.teachforamerica.org/ - thought I'd share this site with you since this is how Jexy got into teaching right out of college. It really is a remarkable organization that has now been in existence since 1990. You can hear more about on the Satellite Sisters podcast that will be broadcast on Wednesday, August 15. They will be interviewing founder, Wendy Koop.
Podcast of the Week: Jack listened to this show about Ralph Nader on Pacifica, a public radio show out of LA and just thought it was amazing. "While I was sitting in LA traffic today I caught a program on Pacifica radio about Ralph Nader. It was a compilation of interviews and testimony he has given during his career, from his start in the 60s through an interview with Amy Goodman last month. I always thought well of Nader, but really didn't know much about him and was also annoyed that he "interfered" with possible Democratic wins in recent presidential elections.
After listening to this program, I was so impressed by the work and commitment of this remarkable person that I wanted to pass it on to you all."
You can listen or download a podcast at:
http://www.kpfk.org/index.php?option=com_content
Vocabulary Word of the Week - I've chosen this Jewish word in honor of my relationship with Joe's mom, Barbara and my soon-to-be son-in-law, David's mom, Cora.
machatonista
child's mother-in-law
Cooking and Food Report:
Before the cruise, Jexy, Jacob and I went to one of the many new hip and trendy restaurant/bars opening up in her neighborhood of Highland Park. It is called The York - http://www.theyorkonyork.com/. Here's a review from Eating L.A. - http://eatingla.blogspot.com/2007/07/york-rocks-highland-park.html
As you might expect, the food on Royal Carribean's Monarch of the Sea was plentiful. The meals were fine - what was really outstanding was the level of service from the waitstaff and the entire crew. I was very impressed. The crew of 1600 men and women represent 60 different countries. They spend 8 months on board and then are off for 4 months.
That's it for now. I need to settle back home after my exciting trip. Have a great week!
Love,
Susan
Saturday Morning Walkers - August 4, 2007
Hi everyone!
Sorry I missed the walk this morning but I did catch up with Barb, Cass and Mary for coffee at Caffe Sole. From there, I headed down to Lakewood for a meeting with a group of women who have created a referral agency for doulas and postpartum doulas, called With Women http://www.with-women.com/. It was definitely worthwhile and will certainly pursue that as a way of connnecting with clients.
Book Report: it is a short one this week. I just finished Michael Chabon's Yiddish Policemen's Union which Jack highly recommended a couple of weeks ago. It was slow getting into it for me, a bit confusing, but I'm glad I stuck with it. It definitely became a "page-turning" mystery and detective story with the most interesting background of a fictional Jewish district in Alaska.
I'm just beginning Ireland by Frank Delaney. He's one of our presenters for the upcoming Literary Sojourn in October and I think this will be a wonderful read.
From Publishers Weekly
BBC reporter Delaney's fictionalized history of his native country, an Irish bestseller, is a sprawling, riveting read, a book of stories melding into a novel wrapped up in an Irish history text. In 1951, when Ronan O'Mara is nine, he meets the aging itinerant Storyteller, who emerges out a "silver veil" of Irish mist, hoping to trade a yarn for a hot meal. Welcomed inside, the Storyteller lights his pipe and begins, telling of the architect of Newgrange, who built "a marvelous, immortal structure... before Stonehenge in England, before the pyramids of Egypt," and the dentally challenged King Conor of Ulster, who tried, and failed, to outsmart his wife. The stories utterly captivate the young Ronan ("This is the best thing that ever, ever happened"), and they'll draw readers in, too, with their warriors and kings, drinkers and devils, all rendered cleanly and without undue sentimentality. When Ronan's mother banishes the Storyteller for telling a blasphemous tale, Ronan vows to find him. He also becomes fascinated by Irish myth and legend, and, as the years pass, he discovers his own gift for storytelling. Eventually, he sets off, traversing Ireland on foot to find his mentor. Past and present weave together as Delaney entwines the lives of the Storyteller and Ronan in this rich and satisfying book.
Rae read and recommends Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
In this ambitious fourth novel from Whitbread winner Atkinson (Behind the Scenes at the Museum), private detective Jackson Brodie—ex-cop, ex-husband and weekend dad—takes on three cases involving past crimes that occurred in and around London. The first case introduces two middle-aged sisters who, after the death of their vile, distant father, look again into the disappearance of their beloved sister Olivia, last seen at three years old, while they were camping under the stars during an oppressive heat wave. A retired lawyer who lives only on the fumes of possible justice next enlists Jackson's aid in solving the brutal killing of his grown daughter 10 years earlier. In the third dog-eared case file, the sibling of an infamous ax-bludgeoner seeks a reunion with her niece, who as a baby was a witness to murder. Jackson's reluctant persistence heats up these cold cases and by happenstance leads him to reassess his own painful history. The humility of the extraordinary, unabashed characters is skillfully revealed with humor and surprise. Atkinson contrasts the inevitable results of family dysfunction with random fate, gracefully weaving the three stories into a denouement that taps into collective wishful thinking and suggests that warmth and safety may be found in the aftermath of blood and abandonment. Atkinson's meaty, satisfying prose will attract many eager readers.
Website of the Week - found by Rae - www.results.org - a website of a grassroots lobbying organization - "RESULTS: creating the public and political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty" - Rae just joined the local group in Washington, D.C - we all need to be empowered to make real change in our own communities!
Podcast of the Week - Seder on Sunday - http://www.am1090seattle.com/pages/84914.php?contentType=34&contentId=1199 - from Seattle's progressive radio - until recently, Sam Seder co-hosted a show on Air America with Janeane Garafalo.
Vocabulary Word of the Week - from Mandy - I came across this word in a Salon.com letter to the editor. I had never heard it before--thought the word origin was particularly
interesting:
Shibboleth [shib-uh-lith, -leth]
–noun
1. a peculiarity of pronunciation, behavior, mode of dress, etc., that
distinguishes a particular class or set of persons.
2. a slogan; catchword.
3. a common saying or belief with little current meaning or truth.
[Origin: < Heb shibboleth lit., freshet, a word used by the Gileadites as a test to detect the fleeing Ephraimites, who could not pronounce the sound sh (Judges 12:4–6)]
Cooking and Food Report: I did some cooking this week - here goes!
Spaghetti all Amatriciana from Michael Chiarello of the Food Network - I used whole wheat spaghetti which works real well with this hearty sauce.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_35291,00.html
Grilled Steak Salad with Green Beans and Blue Cheese - from Epicurious.com by way of the Culinary School of the Rockies - a great source of recipes - check them out online - www.culinaryschoolrockies.com
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/105157 - I cut this in 1/2 for the two of us and used one strip steak (about 3/4 lb) which I sliced very thin. I also used just a tiny bit of blue cheese - a little goes a long way.
Dry Rub Ribs by Dave Leiberman of the Food Network and Balsamic Barbecue Sauce from Giada de Laurentiis - I wrote these up several weeks ago but they deserve another mention. They are so easy to do and absolutely yummy - the ribs cook very slowly in the oven so make sure you leave yourself plenty of time to get them in before you're ready to eat.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_36115,00.html?rsrc=search
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_36958,00.html
A Great Baby Shower Gift Idea - if you know anyone in your life ( a friend, co-worker, relative) that is expecting a baby and you have a shower gift to get, consider giving the services of a postpartum doula. It is a great idea for several friends or relatives to share the cost.
That's it for this week - I leave on Wednesday for Los Angeles. I'm joining Jex, Joe and Jacob for a 3 night cruise out of LA with Joe's extended family. Joe's mom, Barbara, graciously invited me along for this family reunion and I am really looking forward to it. It will be my first cruise and of course, my cabinmate is the one and only Jacob Milo Rowland! I return on Tuesday the 14th - my blog email may be late or non-existent next week - we'll see how things go!
Love,
Susan
Sorry I missed the walk this morning but I did catch up with Barb, Cass and Mary for coffee at Caffe Sole. From there, I headed down to Lakewood for a meeting with a group of women who have created a referral agency for doulas and postpartum doulas, called With Women http://www.with-women.com/. It was definitely worthwhile and will certainly pursue that as a way of connnecting with clients.
Book Report: it is a short one this week. I just finished Michael Chabon's Yiddish Policemen's Union which Jack highly recommended a couple of weeks ago. It was slow getting into it for me, a bit confusing, but I'm glad I stuck with it. It definitely became a "page-turning" mystery and detective story with the most interesting background of a fictional Jewish district in Alaska.
I'm just beginning Ireland by Frank Delaney. He's one of our presenters for the upcoming Literary Sojourn in October and I think this will be a wonderful read.
From Publishers Weekly
BBC reporter Delaney's fictionalized history of his native country, an Irish bestseller, is a sprawling, riveting read, a book of stories melding into a novel wrapped up in an Irish history text. In 1951, when Ronan O'Mara is nine, he meets the aging itinerant Storyteller, who emerges out a "silver veil" of Irish mist, hoping to trade a yarn for a hot meal. Welcomed inside, the Storyteller lights his pipe and begins, telling of the architect of Newgrange, who built "a marvelous, immortal structure... before Stonehenge in England, before the pyramids of Egypt," and the dentally challenged King Conor of Ulster, who tried, and failed, to outsmart his wife. The stories utterly captivate the young Ronan ("This is the best thing that ever, ever happened"), and they'll draw readers in, too, with their warriors and kings, drinkers and devils, all rendered cleanly and without undue sentimentality. When Ronan's mother banishes the Storyteller for telling a blasphemous tale, Ronan vows to find him. He also becomes fascinated by Irish myth and legend, and, as the years pass, he discovers his own gift for storytelling. Eventually, he sets off, traversing Ireland on foot to find his mentor. Past and present weave together as Delaney entwines the lives of the Storyteller and Ronan in this rich and satisfying book.
Rae read and recommends Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
In this ambitious fourth novel from Whitbread winner Atkinson (Behind the Scenes at the Museum), private detective Jackson Brodie—ex-cop, ex-husband and weekend dad—takes on three cases involving past crimes that occurred in and around London. The first case introduces two middle-aged sisters who, after the death of their vile, distant father, look again into the disappearance of their beloved sister Olivia, last seen at three years old, while they were camping under the stars during an oppressive heat wave. A retired lawyer who lives only on the fumes of possible justice next enlists Jackson's aid in solving the brutal killing of his grown daughter 10 years earlier. In the third dog-eared case file, the sibling of an infamous ax-bludgeoner seeks a reunion with her niece, who as a baby was a witness to murder. Jackson's reluctant persistence heats up these cold cases and by happenstance leads him to reassess his own painful history. The humility of the extraordinary, unabashed characters is skillfully revealed with humor and surprise. Atkinson contrasts the inevitable results of family dysfunction with random fate, gracefully weaving the three stories into a denouement that taps into collective wishful thinking and suggests that warmth and safety may be found in the aftermath of blood and abandonment. Atkinson's meaty, satisfying prose will attract many eager readers.
Website of the Week - found by Rae - www.results.org - a website of a grassroots lobbying organization - "RESULTS: creating the public and political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty" - Rae just joined the local group in Washington, D.C - we all need to be empowered to make real change in our own communities!
Podcast of the Week - Seder on Sunday - http://www.am1090seattle.com/pages/84914.php?contentType=34&contentId=1199 - from Seattle's progressive radio - until recently, Sam Seder co-hosted a show on Air America with Janeane Garafalo.
Vocabulary Word of the Week - from Mandy - I came across this word in a Salon.com letter to the editor. I had never heard it before--thought the word origin was particularly
interesting:
Shibboleth [shib-uh-lith, -leth]
–noun
1. a peculiarity of pronunciation, behavior, mode of dress, etc., that
distinguishes a particular class or set of persons.
2. a slogan; catchword.
3. a common saying or belief with little current meaning or truth.
[Origin: < Heb shibboleth lit., freshet, a word used by the Gileadites as a test to detect the fleeing Ephraimites, who could not pronounce the sound sh (Judges 12:4–6)]
Cooking and Food Report: I did some cooking this week - here goes!
Spaghetti all Amatriciana from Michael Chiarello of the Food Network - I used whole wheat spaghetti which works real well with this hearty sauce.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_35291,00.html
Grilled Steak Salad with Green Beans and Blue Cheese - from Epicurious.com by way of the Culinary School of the Rockies - a great source of recipes - check them out online - www.culinaryschoolrockies.com
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/105157 - I cut this in 1/2 for the two of us and used one strip steak (about 3/4 lb) which I sliced very thin. I also used just a tiny bit of blue cheese - a little goes a long way.
Dry Rub Ribs by Dave Leiberman of the Food Network and Balsamic Barbecue Sauce from Giada de Laurentiis - I wrote these up several weeks ago but they deserve another mention. They are so easy to do and absolutely yummy - the ribs cook very slowly in the oven so make sure you leave yourself plenty of time to get them in before you're ready to eat.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_36115,00.html?rsrc=search
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_36958,00.html
A Great Baby Shower Gift Idea - if you know anyone in your life ( a friend, co-worker, relative) that is expecting a baby and you have a shower gift to get, consider giving the services of a postpartum doula. It is a great idea for several friends or relatives to share the cost.
That's it for this week - I leave on Wednesday for Los Angeles. I'm joining Jex, Joe and Jacob for a 3 night cruise out of LA with Joe's extended family. Joe's mom, Barbara, graciously invited me along for this family reunion and I am really looking forward to it. It will be my first cruise and of course, my cabinmate is the one and only Jacob Milo Rowland! I return on Tuesday the 14th - my blog email may be late or non-existent next week - we'll see how things go!
Love,
Susan
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Saturday Morning Walkers - July 21, 2007
Hi everyone,
Hope you're all managing to stay cool - it is broiling out here in Colorado! Thanks to Mary, we had an early and relatively cool walk on Saturday morning - we started at Scott Carpenter Park and then took the bike path, cut through Research Park (remember those good old training days!) over Foothills Parkway and back up the bike path back to the park and then over to Starbucks at 30th and Arapahoe.
Book Report:
Barb, Jan and Susan attended a Democratic Women of Boulder event the other night where we heard Michael Isakoff of Newsweek talk about his book Hubris, co-authored by David Corn. He was a dynamic speaker and presented pretty compelling evidence for how the current administration marketed and sold the war in Iraq. We are all looking forward to reading the book.
Review
"Indispensable ... There have been many books about the Iraq War, and there will be many others before we are through. This one, however, pulls together with unusually shocking clarity the multiple failures of process and statecraft."
—WASHINGTON POST
"The most comprehensive account of the White House's political machinations ... fascinating reading."
—THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
"A bold and provocative book."
—TOM BROKAW
Jack is enjoying reading Pete Hamill's new book, North River: A Novel. Pete Hamill is a favorite of ours - most often writes about New York City, both fiction and non-fiction. We loved Snow in August, Forever and Downtown. Very much a "real" New Yorker, he expresses so well the unique energy and life of the inhabitants of that city.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The North River is what real New Yorkers call the Hudson. Two blocks from its shore, Dr. James Finbar Delaney lives on Horatio Street in Greenwich Village. He is a GP, servicing the indigent poor. A wounded veteran of World War I, he is despondent that his wife, Molly, has deserted him and that his only child, Grace, has left her son, two-year-old Carlito, in his care. In the dead of winter in the Depression year of 1934, Dr. Delaney knows the cause of death was always life. Delaney is numb from the war and the abandonment of his family. When he saves the life of gangster friend Eddie Corso, Italian hood Frankie Botts is not happy. Delaney can feel the threat to him and his grandson in his bones. To further complicate matters, the FBI shows up looking for Grace. If there's any consolation for Delaney in the chaos that has become his life, it's Carlito and Rose, his Sicilian illegal alien housekeeper, who has become little Carlito's surrogate mother—and Delaney's lover. Soon the North River comes to symbolize Delaney's tormented life, as enemies and loved ones float in it, and Grace, on a liner, returns to New York to further complicate Delaney's new, delicate household. Hamill (Forever; A Drinking Life) has crafted a beautiful novel, rich in New York City detail and ambience, that showcases the power of human goodness and how love, in its many forms, can prevail in an unfair world
Website of the Week - http://www.rootsofempathy.org/ -
Roots of Empathy (ROE) is an award winning, evidence-based classroom program that has shown dramatic effect in reducing levels of aggression and violence among school children while raising social/emotional competence and increasing empathy. The program reaches children from Kindergarten to Grade 8 across Canada, in English and French, in rural, urban, remote and Aboriginal communities both on and off reserve and is being piloted internationally in Australia and New Zealand.
At the heart of the program are a neighbourhood infant and parent who visit the classroom every three weeks over the school year. A trained ROE Instructor coaches students to observe the baby’s development and to label the baby’s feelings. In this experiential learning, the baby is the “Teacher” and a lever, which the instructor uses to help children identify and reflect on their own feelings and the feelings of others. This “emotional literacy” taught in the program lays the foundation for more safe and caring classrooms, where children are the “Changers”. They are more competent in understanding their own feelings and the feelings of others (empathy) and are therefore less likely to physically, psychologically and emotionally hurt each other through bullying and other cruelties. In the ROE program children learn how to challenge cruelty and injustice. Messages of social inclusion and activities that are consensus building contribute to a culture of caring that changes the tone of the classroom. The ROE Instructor also visits before and after each family visit to prepare and reinforce teachings using a specialized lesson plan for each visit. Research results from national and international evaluations of ROE indicate significant reductions in aggression and increases in pro-social behaviour.
Podcast of the Week - Jumping Monkeys - http://www.jumpingmonkeys.com/jumpingmonkeys/podcast/index.html - a podcast dedicated to child-raising and technology - interesting duo of Megan Morrone and Leo Laporte best known from Tech TV.
Word of the Week - Labyrinth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the mazelike structure from Greek mythology. For other uses, see Labyrinth (disambiguation).
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (Gk. λαβύρινθος labyrinthos) was an elaborate structure constructed for King Minos of Crete and designed by the legendary artificer Daedalus to hold the Minotaur, a creature that was half man and half bull and which was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus. Daedalus had made the Labyrinth so cunningly that he himself could barely escape it after he built it.[1] Theseus was aided by Ariadne, who provided him with a fateful thread, literally the "clew," or "clue," to wind his way back again.
The term labyrinth is often used interchangeably with maze, but modern scholars of the subject use a stricter definition. For them, a maze is a tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage with choices of path and direction; while a single-path ("unicursal") labyrinth has only a single Eulerian path to the center. A labyrinth has an unambiguous through-route to the center and back and is not designed to be difficult to navigate.
This unicursal design was wide-spread in artistic depictions of the Minotaur's Labyrinth even though both logic and literary descriptions of it make it clear that the Minotaur was trapped in a multicursal maze.[2]
A labyrinth can be represented both symbolically and/or physically. Symbolically it is represented in art or designs on pottery, as body art, etched on walls of caves, etc. Physical representations are common throughout the world, and are generally constructed on the ground so they may be walked along from entry point to center and back again. They have historically been used in both group ritual and for private meditation.
Cooking and Food Report:
This week we're featuring brunch recipes:
Terri's Baked Hash Browns
Baked Hash Browns
2 lbs frozen hash browns (use the cubed potato kind.)
1/2 C melted margarine
1 tsp salt
(pepper)
1/2 C chopped onion
1 pt sour cream (I use light)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 C grated cheese
2 C crushed corn flakes
Mix together 1/4 C margarine, salt, (pepper), onion, sour cream, soup and cheese. Blend well. Grease 9x13 pan and put hash browns in the bottom. Pour sour cream mixture over the potatoes. Mix crushed corm flakes with remaining 1/4 C margarine and put on top. Bake at 350 for 40 - 50 minutes.
Barb's Chili's Relleno Casserole from her friend Sue Alt:
7 oz. canned whole green chilies - split, rinse, de-seed, pat dry (next time I'd double the chilies)
1/2 # each grated Jack and sharp cheddar (I bought the bag of already mixed)
2/3 # spicy sausage - fried & crumbled (I used 1/2 spicy and 1/2 mild and closer to 1 #, doubled)
3 eggs
2 1/4 C milk
1 C Bisquick
Seasoned salt (I didn't add salt - indgrediants were salty enough)
Preheat oven to 325.
Put chilies in bottom of 8 x 11 baking dish.
Top with cheese, then sausage on top. (I might try 2 layers of chilies, cheese, chilies, cheese)
Beat eggs. Blend in milk and Bisquick and pour over all.
Bake 50-55 minutes. Can be done the night before and even frozen before cooking - or after.
Recipe says it serves 6-8. I doubled it and we only ate about 1/3rd of it. Of course, we had so much that everyone was taking small amounts of each dish.
Susan's Fourteener's Granola from the River Run Inn in Salida, Colorado: http://www.lanierbb.com/recipes/data/2197.html
I usually serve with this with yogurt, berries and sometimes my favorite chocolate chips.
That's all for now - have a great week ahead. I may actually do some cooking this week and try out some new recipes that I can share with you.
Love,
Susan
Hope you're all managing to stay cool - it is broiling out here in Colorado! Thanks to Mary, we had an early and relatively cool walk on Saturday morning - we started at Scott Carpenter Park and then took the bike path, cut through Research Park (remember those good old training days!) over Foothills Parkway and back up the bike path back to the park and then over to Starbucks at 30th and Arapahoe.
Book Report:
Barb, Jan and Susan attended a Democratic Women of Boulder event the other night where we heard Michael Isakoff of Newsweek talk about his book Hubris, co-authored by David Corn. He was a dynamic speaker and presented pretty compelling evidence for how the current administration marketed and sold the war in Iraq. We are all looking forward to reading the book.
Review
"Indispensable ... There have been many books about the Iraq War, and there will be many others before we are through. This one, however, pulls together with unusually shocking clarity the multiple failures of process and statecraft."
—WASHINGTON POST
"The most comprehensive account of the White House's political machinations ... fascinating reading."
—THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
"A bold and provocative book."
—TOM BROKAW
Jack is enjoying reading Pete Hamill's new book, North River: A Novel. Pete Hamill is a favorite of ours - most often writes about New York City, both fiction and non-fiction. We loved Snow in August, Forever and Downtown. Very much a "real" New Yorker, he expresses so well the unique energy and life of the inhabitants of that city.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The North River is what real New Yorkers call the Hudson. Two blocks from its shore, Dr. James Finbar Delaney lives on Horatio Street in Greenwich Village. He is a GP, servicing the indigent poor. A wounded veteran of World War I, he is despondent that his wife, Molly, has deserted him and that his only child, Grace, has left her son, two-year-old Carlito, in his care. In the dead of winter in the Depression year of 1934, Dr. Delaney knows the cause of death was always life. Delaney is numb from the war and the abandonment of his family. When he saves the life of gangster friend Eddie Corso, Italian hood Frankie Botts is not happy. Delaney can feel the threat to him and his grandson in his bones. To further complicate matters, the FBI shows up looking for Grace. If there's any consolation for Delaney in the chaos that has become his life, it's Carlito and Rose, his Sicilian illegal alien housekeeper, who has become little Carlito's surrogate mother—and Delaney's lover. Soon the North River comes to symbolize Delaney's tormented life, as enemies and loved ones float in it, and Grace, on a liner, returns to New York to further complicate Delaney's new, delicate household. Hamill (Forever; A Drinking Life) has crafted a beautiful novel, rich in New York City detail and ambience, that showcases the power of human goodness and how love, in its many forms, can prevail in an unfair world
Website of the Week - http://www.rootsofempathy.org/ -
Roots of Empathy (ROE) is an award winning, evidence-based classroom program that has shown dramatic effect in reducing levels of aggression and violence among school children while raising social/emotional competence and increasing empathy. The program reaches children from Kindergarten to Grade 8 across Canada, in English and French, in rural, urban, remote and Aboriginal communities both on and off reserve and is being piloted internationally in Australia and New Zealand.
At the heart of the program are a neighbourhood infant and parent who visit the classroom every three weeks over the school year. A trained ROE Instructor coaches students to observe the baby’s development and to label the baby’s feelings. In this experiential learning, the baby is the “Teacher” and a lever, which the instructor uses to help children identify and reflect on their own feelings and the feelings of others. This “emotional literacy” taught in the program lays the foundation for more safe and caring classrooms, where children are the “Changers”. They are more competent in understanding their own feelings and the feelings of others (empathy) and are therefore less likely to physically, psychologically and emotionally hurt each other through bullying and other cruelties. In the ROE program children learn how to challenge cruelty and injustice. Messages of social inclusion and activities that are consensus building contribute to a culture of caring that changes the tone of the classroom. The ROE Instructor also visits before and after each family visit to prepare and reinforce teachings using a specialized lesson plan for each visit. Research results from national and international evaluations of ROE indicate significant reductions in aggression and increases in pro-social behaviour.
Podcast of the Week - Jumping Monkeys - http://www.jumpingmonkeys.com/jumpingmonkeys/podcast/index.html - a podcast dedicated to child-raising and technology - interesting duo of Megan Morrone and Leo Laporte best known from Tech TV.
Word of the Week - Labyrinth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the mazelike structure from Greek mythology. For other uses, see Labyrinth (disambiguation).
In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (Gk. λαβύρινθος labyrinthos) was an elaborate structure constructed for King Minos of Crete and designed by the legendary artificer Daedalus to hold the Minotaur, a creature that was half man and half bull and which was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus. Daedalus had made the Labyrinth so cunningly that he himself could barely escape it after he built it.[1] Theseus was aided by Ariadne, who provided him with a fateful thread, literally the "clew," or "clue," to wind his way back again.
The term labyrinth is often used interchangeably with maze, but modern scholars of the subject use a stricter definition. For them, a maze is a tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage with choices of path and direction; while a single-path ("unicursal") labyrinth has only a single Eulerian path to the center. A labyrinth has an unambiguous through-route to the center and back and is not designed to be difficult to navigate.
This unicursal design was wide-spread in artistic depictions of the Minotaur's Labyrinth even though both logic and literary descriptions of it make it clear that the Minotaur was trapped in a multicursal maze.[2]
A labyrinth can be represented both symbolically and/or physically. Symbolically it is represented in art or designs on pottery, as body art, etched on walls of caves, etc. Physical representations are common throughout the world, and are generally constructed on the ground so they may be walked along from entry point to center and back again. They have historically been used in both group ritual and for private meditation.
Cooking and Food Report:
This week we're featuring brunch recipes:
Terri's Baked Hash Browns
Baked Hash Browns
2 lbs frozen hash browns (use the cubed potato kind.)
1/2 C melted margarine
1 tsp salt
(pepper)
1/2 C chopped onion
1 pt sour cream (I use light)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 C grated cheese
2 C crushed corn flakes
Mix together 1/4 C margarine, salt, (pepper), onion, sour cream, soup and cheese. Blend well. Grease 9x13 pan and put hash browns in the bottom. Pour sour cream mixture over the potatoes. Mix crushed corm flakes with remaining 1/4 C margarine and put on top. Bake at 350 for 40 - 50 minutes.
Barb's Chili's Relleno Casserole from her friend Sue Alt:
7 oz. canned whole green chilies - split, rinse, de-seed, pat dry (next time I'd double the chilies)
1/2 # each grated Jack and sharp cheddar (I bought the bag of already mixed)
2/3 # spicy sausage - fried & crumbled (I used 1/2 spicy and 1/2 mild and closer to 1 #, doubled)
3 eggs
2 1/4 C milk
1 C Bisquick
Seasoned salt (I didn't add salt - indgrediants were salty enough)
Preheat oven to 325.
Put chilies in bottom of 8 x 11 baking dish.
Top with cheese, then sausage on top. (I might try 2 layers of chilies, cheese, chilies, cheese)
Beat eggs. Blend in milk and Bisquick and pour over all.
Bake 50-55 minutes. Can be done the night before and even frozen before cooking - or after.
Recipe says it serves 6-8. I doubled it and we only ate about 1/3rd of it. Of course, we had so much that everyone was taking small amounts of each dish.
Susan's Fourteener's Granola from the River Run Inn in Salida, Colorado: http://www.lanierbb.com/recipes/data/2197.html
I usually serve with this with yogurt, berries and sometimes my favorite chocolate chips.
That's all for now - have a great week ahead. I may actually do some cooking this week and try out some new recipes that I can share with you.
Love,
Susan
Saturday Morning Walkers - July 14, 2007
Hi everyone!
Wow - it has been an event and food-filled week! Not sure I can get it all into one e-mail but here goes.....
The food week started for me last Monday evening with Book Group. Rae was here and she and I put together a pretty terrific meal - what fun for us to cook together - we're a great team! Check out some of the recipes in the Food and Cooking Report below.
We were a small group yesterday morning but had a lovely walk planned by Barb. Barb, Laila, Christie and I met at 29th Street and then headed out to the Cottonwood Trailhead on Independence (just off the Diagonal). It was a nice shady walk along the creek and then we headed back for coffee and egg souffles at Panera.
Sunday morning brought 9 of us wonderful walkers together to celebrate Christie's graduation from the RN to BS program at Regis University. We celebrated her huge success with a brunch hosted by Barb and "catered" by all of us. Needless to say, we had some amazing food - I've put out a call for some of the recipes which I'll probably share next week.
Sunday evening, George, Melanie and I hosted a "thank you" party for the many volunteers who helped build the Grillo Center Labyrinth. We had a terrific turnout - it was so gratifying to celebrate with so many of the people who helped to make this a reality. We shared great food, did an amazing group walk and took lots of pictures. I'll share them as soon as we get them downloaded.
Book Report:
Barb and Susan are both reading books by writers that will be at the Literary Sojourn in October.
Barb is reading one of Frank Delaney's non-fiction books, Simple Courage: A True Story of Peril on the Sea. She says it is a real page-turner - sounds like a very exciting and compelling story.
From Publishers Weekly
Crippled by two monstrous waves during a 1951 North Atlantic hurricane, the freighter Flying Enterprise was left wallowing on its side and looking as if it would sink at any minute. The subsequent rescue, in mountainous seas, of 10 passengers and 40 crew by lifeboats from responding ships was indeed harrowing—and it's over by page 92 of this overblown maritime-distress yarn. The rest of the book is about the Enterprise's captain, Kurt Carlsen, who insisted on staying aboard to await a tugboat to tow the floundering ship to harbor. Carlsen certainly went beyond the call of duty, but heroism is measured by the stakes involved, which in this case were neither lives nor justice but merely the ship owner's investment. Delaney embellishes the tale with glances at Carlsen's family's anxiety, soggy reminiscences of his own family following the story on the radio and fulsome tributes to the Danish skipper's flinty Nordic resolve (which are rather undercut by the knowledge that Carlsen could have transferred at any time to one of the ships babysitting the hulk). Carlsen's story generated a lot of breathless press hoopla at the time, and it still has the feel of a trumped-up media sensation. Photos not seen by PW.
Susan is reading a first novel by Amanda Eyre Ward, Sleep Toward Heaven. I was immediately drawn in to the stories and the characters.
From Publishers Weekly
How do we forgive the unforgivable? First-time novelist Ward explores this question with a delicate blend of compassion, humor and realism. Three women whose lives converge during a stifling Texas summer have followed completely different paths in their 29 years. The horrendous childhood of death row inmate Karen Lowens led her to prostitution, drug abuse and finally murder. She now longs to find peace before her scheduled execution in the Gatestown, Tex., prison. She resists friendship, as "any connection, any tiny strand, will bind her to this world" from which she so wants to be freed. Franny Wren, Karen's prison doctor, is just as afraid to befriend Karen, knowing that she can't save her. She is fragile, having recently run out on her fiance and her life in New York City after the death of one of her cancer patients, a young girl, left her guilt-ridden and emotionally drained. Franny has returned to her childhood home in Gatestown, where she was raised by an uncle after her parents were killed by a drunk driver. Meanwhile, in Austin, Celia Mills, the only first-person narrator of the three, is the widow of Karen's final victim. She has been sleepwalking through life since the murder, and her stabs at joining the living are touching and funny ("Although my mother disagrees, I have moved forward with my life. For example, I've bought a new bikini"). Ward's celebration of human resilience never becomes preachy, sentimental or politically heavy-handed. Her spare but psychologically rich portraits are utterly convincing.
Website of the Week: recommended by Jackie and Cass - www.sparknotes.com - this is an online Cliffnotes (remember those?) - this could be a valuable resource when you want to check out the next book to read.
Podcast of the Week - heard about this on This American Life - http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/ - this is a local show broadcast on New York City's Public Radio station - very similar to This American Life.
Vocabulary Word of the Week - trompe-l'oeil -
Trompe-l'œil
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Trompe-l'œil is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects really exist, instead of being mere, two-dimensional paintings. The name is derived from French for "trick the eye", from tromper - to deceive and l'œil - the eye; IPA pronunciation [tʁɔ̃plœj].
Cooking and Food Report:
Susan's Book Group menu from Fine Cooking Magazine - recipes for dishes from Northeast Spain
Chicken Thighs Baked with Lemon, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/chicken_thighs_lemon_herbs.aspx
Catalan Mushrooms with Garlic and Parsley
http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/catalan_mushrooms.aspx
Green Salad with Olives, Manchego and Romesco Saucehttp://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/green_salad_olives_manchego_romesco.aspx
Spinach with Pine Nuts and Raisinshttp://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/green_salad_olives_manchego_romesco.aspx
Dessert was that amazing Chocolate Bread Pudding from Gail Gand that Libby introduced us to - couldn't be easier and it sure was easy to eat! Libby actually did a variation of it with friends she was visiting with last week - they used chocolate filled croissants and instead of melting the chocolate with the cream and half and half (yes, both!), they mixed in chocolate chunks.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_27065,00.html?rsrc=search
My appetizer was a bit of "cheat" - I made crostinis using baguette bread (sliced by the grocery store - a real time-saver) - just place them on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes. I made them ahead and stored them in plastic bags - just before serving I topped them with Blue Moose Olive Tapenade and Red Pepper Pesto - thanks to Costco!
Random Tip of the Week - from Christie for any of you mom's or grandmom's who do grocery shopping with young children. When Christie's two daughters, Molly and Heather, were little, Christie used to give each of them coupons for things they needed to buy and it was their "mission" to search for those items which were pictured on the coupons. It gave them a job to do in the store and turned those boring and frustrating trips to the grocery store into a bit more of an adventure.
Have a great week!
Love,
Susan
Wow - it has been an event and food-filled week! Not sure I can get it all into one e-mail but here goes.....
The food week started for me last Monday evening with Book Group. Rae was here and she and I put together a pretty terrific meal - what fun for us to cook together - we're a great team! Check out some of the recipes in the Food and Cooking Report below.
We were a small group yesterday morning but had a lovely walk planned by Barb. Barb, Laila, Christie and I met at 29th Street and then headed out to the Cottonwood Trailhead on Independence (just off the Diagonal). It was a nice shady walk along the creek and then we headed back for coffee and egg souffles at Panera.
Sunday morning brought 9 of us wonderful walkers together to celebrate Christie's graduation from the RN to BS program at Regis University. We celebrated her huge success with a brunch hosted by Barb and "catered" by all of us. Needless to say, we had some amazing food - I've put out a call for some of the recipes which I'll probably share next week.
Sunday evening, George, Melanie and I hosted a "thank you" party for the many volunteers who helped build the Grillo Center Labyrinth. We had a terrific turnout - it was so gratifying to celebrate with so many of the people who helped to make this a reality. We shared great food, did an amazing group walk and took lots of pictures. I'll share them as soon as we get them downloaded.
Book Report:
Barb and Susan are both reading books by writers that will be at the Literary Sojourn in October.
Barb is reading one of Frank Delaney's non-fiction books, Simple Courage: A True Story of Peril on the Sea. She says it is a real page-turner - sounds like a very exciting and compelling story.
From Publishers Weekly
Crippled by two monstrous waves during a 1951 North Atlantic hurricane, the freighter Flying Enterprise was left wallowing on its side and looking as if it would sink at any minute. The subsequent rescue, in mountainous seas, of 10 passengers and 40 crew by lifeboats from responding ships was indeed harrowing—and it's over by page 92 of this overblown maritime-distress yarn. The rest of the book is about the Enterprise's captain, Kurt Carlsen, who insisted on staying aboard to await a tugboat to tow the floundering ship to harbor. Carlsen certainly went beyond the call of duty, but heroism is measured by the stakes involved, which in this case were neither lives nor justice but merely the ship owner's investment. Delaney embellishes the tale with glances at Carlsen's family's anxiety, soggy reminiscences of his own family following the story on the radio and fulsome tributes to the Danish skipper's flinty Nordic resolve (which are rather undercut by the knowledge that Carlsen could have transferred at any time to one of the ships babysitting the hulk). Carlsen's story generated a lot of breathless press hoopla at the time, and it still has the feel of a trumped-up media sensation. Photos not seen by PW.
Susan is reading a first novel by Amanda Eyre Ward, Sleep Toward Heaven. I was immediately drawn in to the stories and the characters.
From Publishers Weekly
How do we forgive the unforgivable? First-time novelist Ward explores this question with a delicate blend of compassion, humor and realism. Three women whose lives converge during a stifling Texas summer have followed completely different paths in their 29 years. The horrendous childhood of death row inmate Karen Lowens led her to prostitution, drug abuse and finally murder. She now longs to find peace before her scheduled execution in the Gatestown, Tex., prison. She resists friendship, as "any connection, any tiny strand, will bind her to this world" from which she so wants to be freed. Franny Wren, Karen's prison doctor, is just as afraid to befriend Karen, knowing that she can't save her. She is fragile, having recently run out on her fiance and her life in New York City after the death of one of her cancer patients, a young girl, left her guilt-ridden and emotionally drained. Franny has returned to her childhood home in Gatestown, where she was raised by an uncle after her parents were killed by a drunk driver. Meanwhile, in Austin, Celia Mills, the only first-person narrator of the three, is the widow of Karen's final victim. She has been sleepwalking through life since the murder, and her stabs at joining the living are touching and funny ("Although my mother disagrees, I have moved forward with my life. For example, I've bought a new bikini"). Ward's celebration of human resilience never becomes preachy, sentimental or politically heavy-handed. Her spare but psychologically rich portraits are utterly convincing.
Website of the Week: recommended by Jackie and Cass - www.sparknotes.com - this is an online Cliffnotes (remember those?) - this could be a valuable resource when you want to check out the next book to read.
Podcast of the Week - heard about this on This American Life - http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/ - this is a local show broadcast on New York City's Public Radio station - very similar to This American Life.
Vocabulary Word of the Week - trompe-l'oeil -
Trompe-l'œil
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Trompe-l'œil is an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects really exist, instead of being mere, two-dimensional paintings. The name is derived from French for "trick the eye", from tromper - to deceive and l'œil - the eye; IPA pronunciation [tʁɔ̃plœj].
Cooking and Food Report:
Susan's Book Group menu from Fine Cooking Magazine - recipes for dishes from Northeast Spain
Chicken Thighs Baked with Lemon, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/chicken_thighs_lemon_herbs.aspx
Catalan Mushrooms with Garlic and Parsley
http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/catalan_mushrooms.aspx
Green Salad with Olives, Manchego and Romesco Saucehttp://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/green_salad_olives_manchego_romesco.aspx
Spinach with Pine Nuts and Raisinshttp://www.taunton.com/finecooking/recipes/green_salad_olives_manchego_romesco.aspx
Dessert was that amazing Chocolate Bread Pudding from Gail Gand that Libby introduced us to - couldn't be easier and it sure was easy to eat! Libby actually did a variation of it with friends she was visiting with last week - they used chocolate filled croissants and instead of melting the chocolate with the cream and half and half (yes, both!), they mixed in chocolate chunks.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_27065,00.html?rsrc=search
My appetizer was a bit of "cheat" - I made crostinis using baguette bread (sliced by the grocery store - a real time-saver) - just place them on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes. I made them ahead and stored them in plastic bags - just before serving I topped them with Blue Moose Olive Tapenade and Red Pepper Pesto - thanks to Costco!
Random Tip of the Week - from Christie for any of you mom's or grandmom's who do grocery shopping with young children. When Christie's two daughters, Molly and Heather, were little, Christie used to give each of them coupons for things they needed to buy and it was their "mission" to search for those items which were pictured on the coupons. It gave them a job to do in the store and turned those boring and frustrating trips to the grocery store into a bit more of an adventure.
Have a great week!
Love,
Susan
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Saturday Morning Walkers - July 7, 2007
Hi everyone!
Lots to tell you about! I'm so excited that Rae has been here visiting this weekend and will be staying for book group at my house tomorrow night. We've been doing lots of walking, talking and cooking!
Saturday morning we had a quick cup of coffee with Barb, Mary and Jan before they headed out to the Renaissance Festival. We then headed off for a walk on the labyrinth and then a beautiful walk along Boulder Creek before it got too hot. In the afternoon, we "cruised" along the east end of Pearl Street, had some Glacier Ice Cream (so good!) - check out their website http://www.glacierhomemadeicecream.com/ - apparently they've branched out from our very own local place to Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Also, wanted to tell you about a great new shop we discovered at 1625 Pearl Street - Momentum http://www.ourmomentum.com/ . they just opened up last week and sell only fair trade products and has a strong committment to sustainable business practices. It is a very attractive store with some wonderful handmade products. Check it out and support another of our locally-owned businesses!
We did talk about some books at coffee yesterday morning:
Barb strongly recommends a non-fiction book by Luis Alberto Urrea called The Devil's Highway. It is an important and timely book about the history of Mexican immigration.
From Publishers Weekly
In May 2001, 26 Mexican men scrambled across the border and into an area of the Arizona desert known as the Devil's Highway. Only 12 made it safely across. American Book Awardâ€"winning writer and poet Urrea (Across the Wire; Six Kinds of Sky; etc.), who was born in Tijuana and now lives outside Chicago, tracks the paths those men took from their home state of Veracruz all the way norte. Their enemies were many: the U.S. Border Patrol ("La Migra"); gung-ho gringo vigilantes bent on taking the law into their own hands; the Mexican Federales; rattlesnakes; severe hypothermia and the remorseless sun, a "110 degree nightmare" that dried their bodies and pounded their brains. In artful yet uncomplicated prose, Urrea captivatingly tells how a dozen men squeezed by to safety, and how 14 othersâ€"whom the media labeled the Yuma 14â€"did not. But while many point to the group's smugglers (known as coyotes) as the prime villains of the tragedy, Urrea unloads on, in the words of one Mexican consul, "the politics of stupidity that rules both sides of the border." Mexican and U.S. border policy is backward, Urrea finds, and it does little to stem the flow of immigrants. Since the policy results in Mexicans making the crossing in increasingly forbidding areas, it contributes to the conditions that kill those who attempt it. Confident and full of righteous rage, Urrea's story is a well-crafted mélange of first-person testimony, geographic history, cultural and economic analysis, poetry and an indictment of immigration policy. It may not directly influence the forces behind the U.S.'s southern border travesties, but it does give names and identities to the faceless and maligned "wetbacks" and "pollos," and highlights the brutality and unsustainable nature of the many walls separating the two countries.
Jan read and recommends Crow Lake by Mary Lawson. This is a first novel and it does sound intriguing.
Amazon.com
Canadian writer Mary Lawson's debut novel is a beautifully crafted and shimmering tale of love, death, and redemption. The story, narrated by 26-year-old Kate Morrison, is set in the eponymous Crow Lake, an isolated rural community where time has stood still. The reader dives in and out of a year's worth of Kate's childhood memories--when she was 7 and her parents were killed in an automobile accident that left Kate, her younger sister Bo, and two older brothers, Matt and Luke, orphaned. When Kate, the successful zoologist and professor who is accustomed to dissecting everything through a microscope, receives an invitation to Matt's son's 18th birthday party, she must suddenly analyze her own relationship and come to terms with her past before she forsakes a future with the man she loves. Kate is still in turmoil over the events of that fateful summer and winter 20 years ago when the tragedy of another local family, the Pyes, spilled over into their lives with earth-shattering consequences. But does the tragedy really lie in the past or the present? Lawson's narrative flows effortlessly in ever-increasing circles, swirling impressions in the reader's mind until form takes shape and the reader is left to reflect on the whole. Crow Lake is a wonderful achievement that will ripple in and out of the reader's consciousness long after the last page is turned.
Jan is currently listening to and enjoying Swimming to Catalina, a suspense/mystery by Stuart Woods
From Publishers Weekly
Formerly a cop and now a lawyer, Stone Barrington is plummeting to the bottom of the ocean with an anchor chained to his waist at the start of Woods's 17th novel (after Dead in the Water, 1997), a smoothly presented if slight thriller that ambles pleasurably through a kidnapping plot involving Barrington's ex-lover (improbably named Arrington). Her husband, actor Vance Calder, flies Barrington out to Hollywood to help find her. In L.A., Barrington goes from flavor-of-the-minute to persona non grata in less time than it takes a flop to disappear from a multiplex. Naturally he's suspicious, so he starts investigating on his own and finds links aplenty among Calder, a mobster named Onofrio Ippolito (head of the Safe Harbor Bank) and labor fixer David Sturmach. The plot moves quickly and is full of dialogue and genial if unsurprising gibes at self-centered stars. Unsurprising is the key word here. Neither the mystery nor the romantic subplot contributes much in the way of suspense to this pleasant, inoffensive airplane read
Rae read and recommends two books:
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky - this two-part novel was written in WWII France and has only recently been found and published.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Celebrated in pre-WWII France for her bestselling fiction, the Jewish Russian-born Némirovsky was shipped to Auschwitz in the summer of 1942, months after this long-lost masterwork was composed. Némirovsky, a convert to Catholicism, began a planned five-novel cycle as Nazi forces overran northern France in 1940. This gripping "suite," collecting the first two unpolished but wondrously literary sections of a work cut short, have surfaced more than six decades after her death. The first, "Storm in June," chronicles the connecting lives of a disparate clutch of Parisians, among them a snobbish author, a venal banker, a noble priest shepherding churlish orphans, a foppish aesthete and a loving lower-class couple, all fleeing city comforts for the chaotic countryside, mere hours ahead of the advancing Germans. The second, "Dolce," set in 1941 in a farming village under German occupation, tells how peasant farmers, their pretty daughters and petit bourgeois collaborationists coexisted with their Nazi rulers. In a workbook entry penned just weeks before her arrest, Némirovsky noted that her goal was to describe "daily life, the emotional life and especially the comedy it provides." This heroic work does just that, by focusing—with compassion and clarity—on individual human dramas
The Mighty Heart by Marianne Pearl - Daniel Pearl's wife's account of her husband's kidnapping and murder in Pakistan.
From Publishers Weekly
When Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002, his very pregnant wife, Mariane, was left to try to manage the search effort. In this memoir of the month between Pearl's kidnapping and news of his death, she is unflinching, revealing every emotional detail with such honesty that to call the book heart-wrenching is to minimize its power. A journalist herself, Mariane is adept at detail and pacing, letting the events unfold as they happened, complete with their frustrating dead-ends and the tangle of Karachi's bureaucracy. She weaves in memories and thoughts about Danny, which give the book a keen poignancy. She describes how they first met at a party of her mother's, where he looked like "an elegant extra-terrestrial casting a delighted but somewhat perplexed glance at the earthly specimens." Later, after they were married and Mariane got pregnant, he would lean close to her growing belly and talk to the baby in a made-up language he was sure the baby would learn post-birth. After the kidnapping, as she searched his computer for clues, Mariane stumbled upon quirky lists he made, like "Things I Love About Mariane." Such insight into Pearl's personality make the tragedy of his death even sharper. As Mariane deals with his murder and faces the birth of their son alone, she acts with the same sincerity and grace that brought her through the ordeal of the kidnapping. It's not difficult to see why, on the list of things he loved about her, Pearl included: "Has incredible ability to see herself and others with clear perspective."
Website of the Week - www.more.com - this is the website of the magazine More - "celebrating women of over 40" (that's most of us!). I've recently read some interesting articles on this site - one was by Suzanne Braun Levine and is called "Rewriting the Terms of Endearment in a Long-Term Marriage" and the other was "Love and Money: Breadwinner Wives" by Sandy Hingston. You can find these articles and lots more on the website.
Podcast of the Week - http://www.more.com/more/category.jsp?categoryid=/templatedata/more/category/data/1175264522535.xml - this is the podcast from More Magazine that is hosted by Katherine Lanpher - interesting topics and good interviews.
Vocabulary Word of the Week - another one from Rae is "querulous":
querulous \KWER-uh-luhs; -yuh\, adjective:
1. Apt to find fault; habitually complaining.
2. Expressing complaint; fretful; whining.
Querulous Oscar rattles on, never more or less than himself, but never much more than the content of his grumpy rattling.
-- Sven Birkerts, "A Frolic of His Own", New Republic, February 7, 1994
Mam is a tragic figure when transported to New York by her successful sons -- querulous, unable to get a decent cup of tea.
-- Maureen Howard, "McCourt's New World", New York Times, September 19, 1999
Men who feel strong in the justice of their cause, or confident in their powers, do not waste breath in childish boasts of their own superiority and querulous depreciation of their antagonists.
-- James Russell Lowell, "The Pickens-and-Stealin's Rebellion", The Atlantic, June 1861
Querulous comes from Latin querulus, from queri, "to complain."
Cooking and Food Report:
Although I have reported on this restaurant before, it does deserve another mention and that is Radda, a trattoria located next to the Ideal Market on Alpine Avenue. It has become a favorite of mine and Jack's and the food is consistently outstanding. Even though it can get a bit crowded and the noise level gets a little high, it is still worth a visit. We went there on Friday evening after Rae arrived and had 3 excellent meals. Jack had pasta with a wild boar ragu. Rae had gnocchi bolognese and I had seared tuna with grilled asparagus.
While we were waiting for our table at Radda, Judy and Joe Kurtz were leaving after their dinner there. Joe told us about his favorite restaurant located in Lyons - The Gateway Cafe - http://www.gatewaycafe.com/ - it appears that they're only open dinner. The menu looks fantastic - we'll definitely give it a try! Thanks, Joe!
Rae, Jack and I had a great breakfast at The Walnut Cafe yesterday - another favorite breakfast spot of ours, it is located on Walnut in the shopping center at the northeast corner of 30th and Walnut. http://www.walnutcafe.com/walnutcafe.htm. They have a great breakfast and lunch menu with lots of "healthy" alternatives but the best thing about the Walnut Cafe are their pies. I have often gotten them for holiday dinners. The owner and pie baker is Dana Derichsweiler. If you happen to be in South Boulder (SOBO!), check out the South Side Walnut Cafe in the Table Mesa Shopping Center - great space!
I did do some cooking this weekend - I made a lovely Tuscan White Bean and Garlic Soup for our lunch yesterday. Once again, a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_35961,00.html - it was velvety and smooth, not too thick and great with grilled bread on the side. We actually discovered a new bread yesterday at Udi's stand - www.udisfood.com at the Farmer's Market. It looked like Ciabatta but was called Filone - http://www.puratos.ca/news_events/latest_news/list/filone.aspx. They make this with a combination of white flour, whole wheat flour and spelt. Apparently the spelt helps form a great crust and we were assured that the filone lasts longer than ciabatta.
Dinner last night was Classic Spaghetti Carbonara from Emeril Lagasse. Really simple to make and I like that it doesn't use cream (practically a diet meal - not!) We served it with a simple salad of sliced tomatoes, avocado and chopped scallions. http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_10210,00.html
Breakfast this morning, after our walk and "smudging" on the labyrinth, was Giada's Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes - so light and delicious! http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_31908,00.html
We had a great afternoon - we took a drive up to Allenspark to see Linn and Susan's fabulous new kitchen, then headed over to Peaceful Valley Ranch http://www.peacefulvalley.com/to say hi to Linn who is working there now. Pretty cool place! On Linn's recommendation we headed over to Mary's Lake Lodge in Estes Park for lunch. We were pretty impressed. It is a lovely place with a great restaurant. The menu is extensive - Jack had a "well-stocked" seafood bisque and a wonderful reuben sandwich with homemade potato chips; Rae had a creamy roasted red pepper soup that was so well seasoned. I had a huge caesar salad and then Rae and I shared chicken pot pie with a puff pastry crust - mmmmmm-good. Real comfort food. Thanks, Linn for the suggestion! http://www.maryslakelodge.com/.Back home in Boulder, we had our final treat - hot fudge sundaes at The Cheesecake Factory on Pearl Street - pretty decadent but we were able to "clean our plates".
Well, no dinner for us tonight - I'm so happy that Rae is here until Tuesday morning. She and I will be preparing for book group at my house tomorrow evening. I have a pretty wonderful menu planned. The Northeast Spain menu is straight from Fine Cooking Magazine http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/menus/dinner-from-northeast-spain.aspx - I'll have a detailed report on the results next week. I can tell you now that our dessert has already been tested by Libby - it is Chocolate Bread Pudding from Gale Gand of the Food Network http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_27065,00.html
Have a great week everyone!
Love,
Susan
Lots to tell you about! I'm so excited that Rae has been here visiting this weekend and will be staying for book group at my house tomorrow night. We've been doing lots of walking, talking and cooking!
Saturday morning we had a quick cup of coffee with Barb, Mary and Jan before they headed out to the Renaissance Festival. We then headed off for a walk on the labyrinth and then a beautiful walk along Boulder Creek before it got too hot. In the afternoon, we "cruised" along the east end of Pearl Street, had some Glacier Ice Cream (so good!) - check out their website http://www.glacierhomemadeicecream.com/ - apparently they've branched out from our very own local place to Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Also, wanted to tell you about a great new shop we discovered at 1625 Pearl Street - Momentum http://www.ourmomentum.com/ . they just opened up last week and sell only fair trade products and has a strong committment to sustainable business practices. It is a very attractive store with some wonderful handmade products. Check it out and support another of our locally-owned businesses!
We did talk about some books at coffee yesterday morning:
Barb strongly recommends a non-fiction book by Luis Alberto Urrea called The Devil's Highway. It is an important and timely book about the history of Mexican immigration.
From Publishers Weekly
In May 2001, 26 Mexican men scrambled across the border and into an area of the Arizona desert known as the Devil's Highway. Only 12 made it safely across. American Book Awardâ€"winning writer and poet Urrea (Across the Wire; Six Kinds of Sky; etc.), who was born in Tijuana and now lives outside Chicago, tracks the paths those men took from their home state of Veracruz all the way norte. Their enemies were many: the U.S. Border Patrol ("La Migra"); gung-ho gringo vigilantes bent on taking the law into their own hands; the Mexican Federales; rattlesnakes; severe hypothermia and the remorseless sun, a "110 degree nightmare" that dried their bodies and pounded their brains. In artful yet uncomplicated prose, Urrea captivatingly tells how a dozen men squeezed by to safety, and how 14 othersâ€"whom the media labeled the Yuma 14â€"did not. But while many point to the group's smugglers (known as coyotes) as the prime villains of the tragedy, Urrea unloads on, in the words of one Mexican consul, "the politics of stupidity that rules both sides of the border." Mexican and U.S. border policy is backward, Urrea finds, and it does little to stem the flow of immigrants. Since the policy results in Mexicans making the crossing in increasingly forbidding areas, it contributes to the conditions that kill those who attempt it. Confident and full of righteous rage, Urrea's story is a well-crafted mélange of first-person testimony, geographic history, cultural and economic analysis, poetry and an indictment of immigration policy. It may not directly influence the forces behind the U.S.'s southern border travesties, but it does give names and identities to the faceless and maligned "wetbacks" and "pollos," and highlights the brutality and unsustainable nature of the many walls separating the two countries.
Jan read and recommends Crow Lake by Mary Lawson. This is a first novel and it does sound intriguing.
Amazon.com
Canadian writer Mary Lawson's debut novel is a beautifully crafted and shimmering tale of love, death, and redemption. The story, narrated by 26-year-old Kate Morrison, is set in the eponymous Crow Lake, an isolated rural community where time has stood still. The reader dives in and out of a year's worth of Kate's childhood memories--when she was 7 and her parents were killed in an automobile accident that left Kate, her younger sister Bo, and two older brothers, Matt and Luke, orphaned. When Kate, the successful zoologist and professor who is accustomed to dissecting everything through a microscope, receives an invitation to Matt's son's 18th birthday party, she must suddenly analyze her own relationship and come to terms with her past before she forsakes a future with the man she loves. Kate is still in turmoil over the events of that fateful summer and winter 20 years ago when the tragedy of another local family, the Pyes, spilled over into their lives with earth-shattering consequences. But does the tragedy really lie in the past or the present? Lawson's narrative flows effortlessly in ever-increasing circles, swirling impressions in the reader's mind until form takes shape and the reader is left to reflect on the whole. Crow Lake is a wonderful achievement that will ripple in and out of the reader's consciousness long after the last page is turned.
Jan is currently listening to and enjoying Swimming to Catalina, a suspense/mystery by Stuart Woods
From Publishers Weekly
Formerly a cop and now a lawyer, Stone Barrington is plummeting to the bottom of the ocean with an anchor chained to his waist at the start of Woods's 17th novel (after Dead in the Water, 1997), a smoothly presented if slight thriller that ambles pleasurably through a kidnapping plot involving Barrington's ex-lover (improbably named Arrington). Her husband, actor Vance Calder, flies Barrington out to Hollywood to help find her. In L.A., Barrington goes from flavor-of-the-minute to persona non grata in less time than it takes a flop to disappear from a multiplex. Naturally he's suspicious, so he starts investigating on his own and finds links aplenty among Calder, a mobster named Onofrio Ippolito (head of the Safe Harbor Bank) and labor fixer David Sturmach. The plot moves quickly and is full of dialogue and genial if unsurprising gibes at self-centered stars. Unsurprising is the key word here. Neither the mystery nor the romantic subplot contributes much in the way of suspense to this pleasant, inoffensive airplane read
Rae read and recommends two books:
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky - this two-part novel was written in WWII France and has only recently been found and published.
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Celebrated in pre-WWII France for her bestselling fiction, the Jewish Russian-born Némirovsky was shipped to Auschwitz in the summer of 1942, months after this long-lost masterwork was composed. Némirovsky, a convert to Catholicism, began a planned five-novel cycle as Nazi forces overran northern France in 1940. This gripping "suite," collecting the first two unpolished but wondrously literary sections of a work cut short, have surfaced more than six decades after her death. The first, "Storm in June," chronicles the connecting lives of a disparate clutch of Parisians, among them a snobbish author, a venal banker, a noble priest shepherding churlish orphans, a foppish aesthete and a loving lower-class couple, all fleeing city comforts for the chaotic countryside, mere hours ahead of the advancing Germans. The second, "Dolce," set in 1941 in a farming village under German occupation, tells how peasant farmers, their pretty daughters and petit bourgeois collaborationists coexisted with their Nazi rulers. In a workbook entry penned just weeks before her arrest, Némirovsky noted that her goal was to describe "daily life, the emotional life and especially the comedy it provides." This heroic work does just that, by focusing—with compassion and clarity—on individual human dramas
The Mighty Heart by Marianne Pearl - Daniel Pearl's wife's account of her husband's kidnapping and murder in Pakistan.
From Publishers Weekly
When Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002, his very pregnant wife, Mariane, was left to try to manage the search effort. In this memoir of the month between Pearl's kidnapping and news of his death, she is unflinching, revealing every emotional detail with such honesty that to call the book heart-wrenching is to minimize its power. A journalist herself, Mariane is adept at detail and pacing, letting the events unfold as they happened, complete with their frustrating dead-ends and the tangle of Karachi's bureaucracy. She weaves in memories and thoughts about Danny, which give the book a keen poignancy. She describes how they first met at a party of her mother's, where he looked like "an elegant extra-terrestrial casting a delighted but somewhat perplexed glance at the earthly specimens." Later, after they were married and Mariane got pregnant, he would lean close to her growing belly and talk to the baby in a made-up language he was sure the baby would learn post-birth. After the kidnapping, as she searched his computer for clues, Mariane stumbled upon quirky lists he made, like "Things I Love About Mariane." Such insight into Pearl's personality make the tragedy of his death even sharper. As Mariane deals with his murder and faces the birth of their son alone, she acts with the same sincerity and grace that brought her through the ordeal of the kidnapping. It's not difficult to see why, on the list of things he loved about her, Pearl included: "Has incredible ability to see herself and others with clear perspective."
Website of the Week - www.more.com - this is the website of the magazine More - "celebrating women of over 40" (that's most of us!). I've recently read some interesting articles on this site - one was by Suzanne Braun Levine and is called "Rewriting the Terms of Endearment in a Long-Term Marriage" and the other was "Love and Money: Breadwinner Wives" by Sandy Hingston. You can find these articles and lots more on the website.
Podcast of the Week - http://www.more.com/more/category.jsp?categoryid=/templatedata/more/category/data/1175264522535.xml - this is the podcast from More Magazine that is hosted by Katherine Lanpher - interesting topics and good interviews.
Vocabulary Word of the Week - another one from Rae is "querulous":
querulous \KWER-uh-luhs; -yuh\, adjective:
1. Apt to find fault; habitually complaining.
2. Expressing complaint; fretful; whining.
Querulous Oscar rattles on, never more or less than himself, but never much more than the content of his grumpy rattling.
-- Sven Birkerts, "A Frolic of His Own", New Republic, February 7, 1994
Mam is a tragic figure when transported to New York by her successful sons -- querulous, unable to get a decent cup of tea.
-- Maureen Howard, "McCourt's New World", New York Times, September 19, 1999
Men who feel strong in the justice of their cause, or confident in their powers, do not waste breath in childish boasts of their own superiority and querulous depreciation of their antagonists.
-- James Russell Lowell, "The Pickens-and-Stealin's Rebellion", The Atlantic, June 1861
Querulous comes from Latin querulus, from queri, "to complain."
Cooking and Food Report:
Although I have reported on this restaurant before, it does deserve another mention and that is Radda, a trattoria located next to the Ideal Market on Alpine Avenue. It has become a favorite of mine and Jack's and the food is consistently outstanding. Even though it can get a bit crowded and the noise level gets a little high, it is still worth a visit. We went there on Friday evening after Rae arrived and had 3 excellent meals. Jack had pasta with a wild boar ragu. Rae had gnocchi bolognese and I had seared tuna with grilled asparagus.
While we were waiting for our table at Radda, Judy and Joe Kurtz were leaving after their dinner there. Joe told us about his favorite restaurant located in Lyons - The Gateway Cafe - http://www.gatewaycafe.com/ - it appears that they're only open dinner. The menu looks fantastic - we'll definitely give it a try! Thanks, Joe!
Rae, Jack and I had a great breakfast at The Walnut Cafe yesterday - another favorite breakfast spot of ours, it is located on Walnut in the shopping center at the northeast corner of 30th and Walnut. http://www.walnutcafe.com/walnutcafe.htm. They have a great breakfast and lunch menu with lots of "healthy" alternatives but the best thing about the Walnut Cafe are their pies. I have often gotten them for holiday dinners. The owner and pie baker is Dana Derichsweiler. If you happen to be in South Boulder (SOBO!), check out the South Side Walnut Cafe in the Table Mesa Shopping Center - great space!
I did do some cooking this weekend - I made a lovely Tuscan White Bean and Garlic Soup for our lunch yesterday. Once again, a recipe from Giada De Laurentiis http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_35961,00.html - it was velvety and smooth, not too thick and great with grilled bread on the side. We actually discovered a new bread yesterday at Udi's stand - www.udisfood.com at the Farmer's Market. It looked like Ciabatta but was called Filone - http://www.puratos.ca/news_events/latest_news/list/filone.aspx. They make this with a combination of white flour, whole wheat flour and spelt. Apparently the spelt helps form a great crust and we were assured that the filone lasts longer than ciabatta.
Dinner last night was Classic Spaghetti Carbonara from Emeril Lagasse. Really simple to make and I like that it doesn't use cream (practically a diet meal - not!) We served it with a simple salad of sliced tomatoes, avocado and chopped scallions. http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_10210,00.html
Breakfast this morning, after our walk and "smudging" on the labyrinth, was Giada's Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes - so light and delicious! http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_31908,00.html
We had a great afternoon - we took a drive up to Allenspark to see Linn and Susan's fabulous new kitchen, then headed over to Peaceful Valley Ranch http://www.peacefulvalley.com/to say hi to Linn who is working there now. Pretty cool place! On Linn's recommendation we headed over to Mary's Lake Lodge in Estes Park for lunch. We were pretty impressed. It is a lovely place with a great restaurant. The menu is extensive - Jack had a "well-stocked" seafood bisque and a wonderful reuben sandwich with homemade potato chips; Rae had a creamy roasted red pepper soup that was so well seasoned. I had a huge caesar salad and then Rae and I shared chicken pot pie with a puff pastry crust - mmmmmm-good. Real comfort food. Thanks, Linn for the suggestion! http://www.maryslakelodge.com/.Back home in Boulder, we had our final treat - hot fudge sundaes at The Cheesecake Factory on Pearl Street - pretty decadent but we were able to "clean our plates".
Well, no dinner for us tonight - I'm so happy that Rae is here until Tuesday morning. She and I will be preparing for book group at my house tomorrow evening. I have a pretty wonderful menu planned. The Northeast Spain menu is straight from Fine Cooking Magazine http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/menus/dinner-from-northeast-spain.aspx - I'll have a detailed report on the results next week. I can tell you now that our dessert has already been tested by Libby - it is Chocolate Bread Pudding from Gale Gand of the Food Network http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_27065,00.html
Have a great week everyone!
Love,
Susan
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