But it is my favorite time of the year. Once the tree and the lights were finally up, I felt a small sense of zen.
I supported the nation's economy on Cyber-Monday by doing every bit of ordering I could online. Hey, if there is free shipping, I'm there. I do not like getting into games of chicken for parking spots at the mall.
I shipped off my box 'o goodies for the Book Blogger Holiday Swap. Isn't it so much fun? Then you get to see all the posts of what people received. I get so excited over the whole thing.
Also next week, one of my book clubs not only is going to discuss "Room", but will also bring a wrapped book and do a pirate exchange, Yankee exchange, or whatever other term (they are usually non-PC terms) you want to call it.
For the first time in ages, I played some golf on Thursday, and had the best score I've had in probably a year. Damn that felt good!
I suppose this weekend will go down as one of the busiest EVER. Friday night, after my son's basketball tryouts, we went out with some friends for a special 4 course dinner thing we got at an auction. So good! Saturday my daughter had to take an entrance exam for the high school she is going to attend (!?), then both kids had an 8 hour final track meet for the season. But of course my husband's Christmas party was last night too, so children had to be shuffled. Today, my daughter has an all-day Confirmation retreat, and my husband and son are going to a Father/Son football game in Tampa to see the Bucs. I have no idea what I'm going to do. Something bookish I predict. Something relaxing? We'll see if my guilt will allow me.
I finished up a couple of books this week in print. I wrapped up "My Soul To Take" by Yrsa Sigurdardottir, which was entertaining but had some issues. Then from the library I received the graphic novel "The Green River Killer: A True Detective Story" by Jeff Jensen and Jonathan Case, which was excellent. A total geek fest for me, since I love both true crime and graphic novels. Now I am working my way through "Joy for Beginners" by Erica Bauermeister (whom I fell in love with when I read "The School of Essential Ingredients").
On audio, I wrapped up Patrick Ness's "Monsters of Men", and am grieving now on how I'm going to write the reviews for this trilogy. I am now very very close (less than a disc left) to finishing "Before I Go To Sleep" by S.J. Watson. This is a selection for January for Books, Babes and Bordeaux. Pretty creepy, pretty twisty.
Hope you all have a nice Sunday, whatever is on your agenda!
This cookbook is just a tad different than what you may be used to, in a good way. The recipes are separated by seasons, which is helpful when you are buying your fresh fruits and vegetables. Beyond that, Bittman's approach to cooking is pretty loose. He guides you in general directions, but does not provide measurements unless they are critical to the dish. This allows you to experiment and replace ingredients for families with PICKY EATERS. (I won't mention any names.)
But if you are the type of cook that likes to know how many teaspoons of parsley and tablespoons of olive oil? This approach might be frustrating to you. There are also NO PICTURES. I love pictures. But I was able to forgive that omission because instead we get 404 recipes that you can whip out on the busiest evenings. I had my way with this cookbook. Here are a few recipes we tried and loved:
Pan-Seared Fish with Spicy Lime Butter
Stir together about a half stick of softened butter, a finely chopped shallot, the zest of a lime and a good squeeze of the juice, a minced red chile, and a pinch or two of salt. Pat any type of fish fillets dry, season with salt, and cook them quickly in a tablespoon each of olive oil and butter. Turn the fish once and cook until golden and cook through, about five minutes. Serve the fillets with a generous spoonful of the compound butter on top.
My comments: I didn't have a chile, so I put in chile flakes. I also dredged my fish in flour, just to give it some texture. But that lime butter is to die for. You could put it on almost anything and it would make the anything better.
Sesame-Glazed Grilled Chicken
Heat the grill or grill pan. Pound chicken breasts to a quarter-inch thickness. Mix together minced garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, and cayenne to make a thin paste. Brush on the chicken and grill or broil until cooked through, turning once, about five minutes. Lightly toast sesame seeds in a dry pan until just starting to color. Sprinkle the chicken with sesame seeds and garnish with chopped scallion.
My notes: My marinade was definitely thinner than a paste, because I was just pouring stuff in the bowl. Didn't matter. I actually reserved some of the liquid and tossed it with angel hair pasta, and I heard no complaints.
Pasta Carbonara
Boil and salt water for pasta, and cook it. Meanwhile, cut a quarter pound of pancetta into small pieces and fry in a bit of olive oil until golden. In a bowl large enough to hold the pasta, beat together three eggs, a half cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, and the meat. Drain pasta, reserving some of the cooking water. Toss the pasta quickly with the egg mixture to combine (the heat from the pasta will cook the eggs). Add a few tablespoons of pasta water if needed to moisten. Season with salt and pepper, garnish with chopped parsley and more Parmesan.
My notes: One time I used prosciutto, and another time I used bacon, in place of the pancetta. In any case, this dish was a huge hit in our house. Decadent and delicious.
Do you see how simple these recipes are? In just a few sentences and a few ingredients, you've got dinner. While I hesitate to buy cookbooks because I don't have alot of room for them, this one may be a keeper.
I'm back again, with the latest installment of Bookmarks, which for me is like the arrival of that toy catalog right around Christmas-time when I was a kid. I pore through each entry, make notations and scribbles, and try to figure out how in the heck I'm going to get them all read.
One thing I'd like to point out here. Most of the books I am listing below I already knew about - many of them have been reviewed and scooped by my friends. Bookmarks is just a reminder for me to get in the game and read them. Or at the very least, just talk about them so I don't feel so bad about getting to them in a year or two.
So here are my NEEDS:
11/22/63 - Stephen King: Uncle Stevie imagines what life would have been like had JFK not been assassinated. In this little tale of alternate reality, a high school teacher travels back in time to try to alter historical events. And without even looking I know this thing is probably a thousand pages, so I am going to try to get to it on audio.
Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacson: Predictable selection, I know, but why not? I love biographies, and when one presents itself that claims to be an uninhibited exploration of everything that made this man tick? I must know these things. Again, I'm just guessing this is a chunkster (how could it not be?) so I'm targeting it for audio.The Leopard - Jo Nesbo: Our beloved and tormented Harry Hole finds himself in Hong Kong, having fallen to the lure of opium and gambling. He is called back home, though, despite his past transgressions, to once again save the day. And this is a little bit of a cheat, because I already do have this book on my nightstand. I just can't help waving it around and letting everyone know that they need to get on this bandwagon quickly, because this is already the sixth translated installment.
Wonderstruck - Brian Selznick: And we thought that "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" was the greatest thing since sliced bread? Apparently this one rivals its mastery, because Bookmarks has given it 4.5 stars, which almost never happens. We have a story of a deaf boy, a young girl from 50 years in the past, magically come together at the American Museum of Natural History. Told in words and drawings, like Hugo, I must have this now. Scholastic was kind enough to keep the damn thing taped up on the display at SIBA, so I couldn't even touch it. I'm still a little sore about that.
Here are some of my WANTS:
The Art of Fielding - Chad Harbach: Although I like baseball well enough, I'm told that this book is good even if you don't know what a seven inning stretch is. Described as a novel that mixes Moby Dick with baseball, this book is more a study of three-dimensional characters that you won't forget in the near future.
Birds of Paradise - Diana Abu-Jaber: This one is also another cheat, because I have this book. I not only received it, signed, from SIBA, but I met the author at a luncheon where the authors took turns coming to your table to talk about their books. Diana came with her own bottle of wine and shared (a girl after my own heart) and was funny and easy-going and made her novel, about a family left in ruins after their 13-year-old ran away, a must-read. Bookmarks just reminded me that I need to delegate this one to the nightstand.
The Cider House Rules - John Irving: Don't judge me. I've only read one John Irving novel (Last Night in Twisted River) and I was underwhelmed. I know that he has some amazing books though, and this one was featured in an article that highlights books about careers. I'm thinking I need to make a project of Irving some day, starting with this book, and continuing with "The World According to Garp" and "A Prayer for Owen Meany".
The Most Dangerous Thing - Laura Lippman: I have resisted reading Lippman's Tess Monaghan series because there are so many books and I like to start at the beginning and read them all. Intimidating. But a stand alone? I can do that. This one has something to do with secrets, relationships from childhood to adulthood, destroyed innocence and such. I know that I'm in good hands with whatever she writes.
Any opinions on any of these? I always need help with prioritization!
I am always amazed at how I've been traveling to Wroclaw, Poland, with my husband since 1992, and we still find things I have not seen. On this trip, we visited a number of architectural wonders hidden within the University of Wroclaw, including this Jesuitical church built in 1689. You would never know what was about to hit you in the face from the outside, but you step in, and you are immediately awash with all of the Late Baroque intensity. I found it humorous to hear, during the tour, that the Jesuits actually ran out of money while building this church, and were disappointed that they had to scale back!? As it stands, it is sensory overload.
"Emily, Alone" is actually a sequel to "Wish You Were Here", a novel about Emily Maxwell trying to hold her family together after the death of her husband. It is unfortunate that I didn't read that one first, but I was assured by Beth Fish Reads and Lakeside Musing that the novel would still stand on its own.
Synopsis: It has been years since Emily's husband died, and still the 80 year-old widow is struggling to navigate through her life alone. She has her aging dog Rufus and her sister-in-law to keep her company, but she wrestles with loneliness, the friends that keep dying, her progressing frailty, her middle-aged children that have their own life and demons to battle, and settling her affairs before she dies.
Sometimes she is shocked by her independence...like going out and buying a new car with good gas mileage! Or putting her dog on a diet and whipping him back into shape. Or maintaining her garden. At the same time, she is frustrated with her own weakness of pining away for her kids and grandkids calls and thank you letters and visits. Or needing to ask for help from the neighbor when the sidewalks get snowy.
At it's heart, "Emily, Alone" is a character study that focuses on the dignity and indignity of aging, in a tone that is deeply emotional but realistic and unflinching.
My thoughts: I'm not a huge fan of character studies, I'm finding. I need some kind of plot, some climax in which to work towards in a story. This book was perhaps a wee bit too gentle for me to call a favorite, but I did sincerely enjoy it.
I adored Emily. She reminded me of my grandmother. Feisty, no-nonsense, with an attitude of "I'll be damned if I let my age prevent me from doing something". And even though I'm 35 years away from being in her position, I was right there with her in spirit. I became profoundly melancholy observing life pass her by, her kids and grandkids moving through their lives with little regard for her. O' Nan, who is only a handful of years older than I, somehow "got" it, which I consider amazing.
While I would not consider this an uplifting story, it does have moments of hope. Emily is doing her thing, trying to keep her family together, and living her life to its fullest. Or at least as full as she is physically able. O' Nan has also set up the ending to lead into another installment.
A word about the audio production: Our narrator was Andrea Gallo, who was new to me, but has narrated many other books, including ones by Debbie Macomber and Temple Grandin. She portrayed Emily, in her spunk and frustrations, perfectly.
3.5 out of 5 stars
Two things made my spirits rise. First, my sister, an indie movie critic, loved it. She is not a huge fan of the big-budget box office blowouts, so this was huge. Roger Ebert loved it too. So yesterday, the kids and my parents went to see it.
You can't argue with the cast, with Asa Butterfield (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas) as Hugo, Chloe Moretz (Let Me In, Kick-Ass) as Isabelle, Ben Kingsley (no explanation necessary) as Georges Melies, and Sasha Baron Cohen (Borat) as the Station Inspector. Even greats like Christopher Lee and Jude Law had bit parts that supported the film. (Correct me if I am wrong, but methinks I spied Johnny Depp as a street musician. He is the producer after all.)
I won't talk too much about the plot. If you are interested, here is my review of the book. Suffice it to say that the screenplay stayed very true to the book. I didn't see a thing out of place. In fact, it was like the pictures on the page came to life, which made me extremely happy. This book does not deserve to be sliced and diced and abbreviated.
Scorcese also gifted us the sensory experience of 1930's Paris...the lights, the music, the fashion, the food. Oh, it was intoxicating! But that was just the beginning of the fun. The love of books, the love and preservation of old film, and the automaton! Ever since I first read the book, I've been obsessed with this mechanical cyborg-looking thing that mysteriously draws pictures, writes poems, and seems like it is half-human. I've watched the You Tube videos. I drug my kids willy-nilly through the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia to see the one that inspired Selznick. The automaton created here was gorgeous.
We debated whether to see the movie in 3D or not. My sister said she didn't think it was necessary. Plus, it costs about a mortgage payment to take a family to see a 3D movie these days. But in the end, we went for it. I knew that Scorcese did film this specifically for the 3D experience, not with gimmicky tricks, but for the effect of full-immersion. As a result, I wasn't just watching this film, I was IN it. I was IN the clock tower, or running through the streets of Paris dodging pedestrians, or standing outside with snow falling on me. I would highly recommend spending the extra money for the 3D experience.
Actually, my heart was still there from when we went three years ago, but I left it again this time. It has set up permanent residence. As we drove away, I had a gigantic lump in my throat. I love this little island so much. I know we'll be back, but I will miss it. Even my husband commented on the drive home that with every visit, we love it just a little bit more.
I love how the kids discard their electronics and their addictions to the movie theaters and the malls, and head to the beach to go for a run or walk, throw a football, or build a fiefdom in the sand. Our rental house is within walking distance of the handful of businesses on the island, such as the local fisherman selling his hours-old shrimp or oysters, or the spice shop that bakes fresh bread on the hour and holds wine tastings. We had our own wine tastings overlooking the ocean each evening at sunset.
A new activity for the Nawrots this year was to rent bicycles and explore the island. We thought we'd seen everything over the past 7 visits and 12 years, but on a bike, so much more is accessible. On one adventure, we found a hidden little bird estuary on the Apalachicola Bay.
Typical for my daughter, the cat whisperer, we attracted a hungry and homeless but very sociable cat within 15 minutes of our arrival. We fed him shrimp and scallops and cat treats and he hung out with us like he belonged. It broke my heart to leave him but we SO did not need a sixth cat personality in this family.
Because this trip was all about spending time with family, I didn't do as much audio listening as I thought I would. (Really, I should know better by now!) I got through about half of Patrick Ness's "Monsters of Men", which is really good and I'm totally twitchy to finish it. Soon!
In print, I finished "The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus" by Sonya Sones and LOVED it. Then I read Brian Selznick's "Wonderstruck" in an evening, because his books are just that way. Magical. I am about 2/3 of the way through Yrsa Sigurdardottir's "My Soul To Take", an Icelandic murder mystery. Having fallen in love years ago with "Smilla's Sense of Snow" and the whole atmosphere of Iceland, I grabbed this. Can't tell you yet if it is working for me though. I have mixed feelings.
I am hoping that today I will accomplish two things: putting up my inside Christmas decorations, AND seeing Hugo at the theaters. My sister loved it (not something that happens often with big budget mass-marketed flicks) and so did Ebert. The kids and I have all read the book and seen the automaton at the Franklin Institute, so it should be extra special! You'll know whether or not we saw the movie if you see a review of it tomorrow!
Hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving weekend!
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