February Blogging Adventure | Fizzy Thoughts

The Whole World Over

19 February 2008

The Whole World Over
Julia Glass
2006
556 pages

Three Junes made me do it. After reading that book, I wanted to read another Julia Glass book. And when I read that Fenno (the son and main character in Part Two of Three Junes) makes an appearance in this book, I was sold.

Reading the back of the book led me to think this story would be mainly about Greenie Duquette, a New York pastry chef who takes a job as chef to the governor of New Mexico. Greenie moves herself and her young son George west, leaving behind her troubled marriage and her husband Alan. However, Greenie and Alan are just two of many characters. In the first part of the book, a lot of time is spent with each character. As the book moves forward, it moves more frequently between characters. So, even though I knew all the characters, I would still have to stop and change gears quite often. Sometimes it got a little jarring.

In the end, I really liked this book, but I didn’t like the characters. Here is a brief who’s who, along with why I didn’t like them:

Greenie – the chef who leaves her husband behind. Once she gets to New Mexico, she isn’t so likable. By the end of the book, I’d had it with her. And her and Alan have some fidelity issues. This is goin to sound awful, but I wish they’d divorced. I didn’t like them together.
Alan – her judgemental husband with a big secret. And, if he only had a few clients left in his therapy business, how was he affording rent and food in New York? Just a minor little detail.
George – their son. He’s kinda cute, kinda not.
Walter – Greenie’s best friend in New York. Not a bad guy, but he’s a little priggish. That’s not quite the right word, because I wouldn’t condone a lot of what he put up with either, but his manner of speech is priggish and just a little off.
Gordie – let’s just say he’s a slut and leave it at that. Although come to think of it, that could describe Walter, at times.
Saga/Emily – recovering from a head trauma and trying to find her way. I actually liked her.
Fenno – I still like Fenno. Even more after this book, although his role is pretty small.

There are lots of other minor characters, too. And I didn’t care for most of them. Everyone was just whiny enough (gee, like me in this post) to bug me. And most of them make bad decisions in the course of the book. I wanted to slap them all upside the head and yell, “What are you thinking?!?”

But still, I liked the book. Go figure. I like the author’s writing style. And how she makes you think about the characters. Two days later and I’m still trying to figure out why they bother me so much.

So I have both Three Junes and The Whole World Over. If you’ve been dying to read these books, and you live in the US (sorry, I’m feeling cheap…can you say media mail?), let me know and I’ll send them to you.

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Six word memoir meme

18 February 2008

Lisa, over at Books on the Brain, has tagged me for another meme (thank goodness…she seems to know just when I’m in need of a topic!). The six word memoir meme, started by bookbabie, is based on a book, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure, by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser. I first read about this book over at bleedingespresso, where I composed my own six word memoir (thereby making this meme really easy). By the way, you can also submit your memoir to Smith Magazine, if you are so inclined.

So, here’s the meme…

1. Write your own six word memoir
2. Post it on your blog and include a visual illustration if you like
3. Link to the person that tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blogosphere
4. Tag five more blogs with links
5. And don’t forget to leave a comment on the tagged blogs with an invitation to play

I have two:

book+and+globe Six word memoir meme

Travel often, with book in hand.

hamburger+and+softdrink Six word memoir meme

Hamburger and softdrink, hold the fries.

I can’t decide. Which do you like better? (I have a sneaking suspicion the Slow Travelers are going to go for the first one.)

I’m going to tag any of the SlowTrav bloggers who want to play.

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Alexandra Fuller and the SlowTrav Book Club

17 February 2008

The only book club I belong to is online, and part of the SlowTrav website. This month our book to discuss was Alexandra Fuller’s Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight. I read this book last year and posted about it here.

As part of our book chat, Brenda, our wonderful leader, contacted the author to ask if she would answer some of our questions. She couldn’t join our chat, but Ms. Fuller did answer questions via email. Here are my questions (thanks to Lisa for the inspiration) and Alexandra Fuller’s answers:

1. What are your favorite books?

They change. I mean a book will grab me and have me by the throat and then in a year I can’t imagine what I saw in it. Or, conversely, I’ll hate a book when I first try to read it & then find it wonderful when I pick it up in a different context.

Standing all-time faves (that inspired DOGS):
THE MEADOW – James Galvin
RUNNING IN THE FAMILY – Michael Ondaatje
THE LIAR’S CLUB – Mary Karr
TO THE WEDDING – John Berger
THE GRASS IS SINGING – Doris Lessing

And then the works of Chenjerai Hove, Marechera (what a wildly complicated, distressing man – read THE HOUSE OF HUNGER and its hard to keep turning the pages)
Alexander Kanengoni’s brave and tiny book ECHOING SILENCES
I quite recently read and loved THE SECOND COMING OF MAVULA SEKONGO – Peter Orner
And very recently, THE HOUSE AT SUGAR BEACH – Helene Cooper (not due out until May)

I subscribe to Kwani and Chimurenga, which are Kenyan and South African publications (respectively), which publish great up and coming African writers
also the Sun, which I think can have some lovely writing
The New Yorker
the New York Review of Books (which I love – I find the New York Times Book Review less educated and much more limiting).

I’m also inspired by films:
BEFORE NIGHT FALLS
ANTONIA’S LINE
BILLY ELLIOT
SAINT RALPH
HIDEOUS KINKY
RESCUE DAWN
MRS HENDERSON PRESENTS

2. Who are your favorite authors?

Michael Ondaatje
VS Naipual (who is either so on, or so off)
Paul Theroux (ditto)
Graeme Greene
Chinua Achebe
the Desais (mother and daughter)
Ruth Prawer Jabvala…
Others, I know, but that’s who springs to mind. I often admire one or two books from an author Rumer Godden (for example) but not all their work.

3. Who inspires you?

Nelson Mandela
Wangari Maathai
Mother Theresa
Gandhi
my mother (she has passion in buckets and sometimes that passion feels misplaced, but at least she has passion!)
my father (all that stoic energy)….those are the biggies.
On a day to day basis, I am inspired by ordinary people.
I volunteer at a local institution for delinquent and disabled children and there are kids there who make my heart break they inspire me so much.
I was inspired to tears when I watched Paul Potts on Britain’s Got Talent on Youtube of all things (I don’t have television, so my eldest daughter had to send me the link). Watch it if you can…Paul Potts singing – I was so undone I bought his cd for everyone for Christmas and he’s really only good if you can see him, but who cares. Talk about finding his voice and singing with all his heart, it makes me cry every time I watch it.

4. And also, I’d be curious to know if you’ve read The Glass Castle and if so, what you thought of that book.

Yes, I read it after my last baby was born and I remember feeling sick with the horror of what I was reading. I thought she did a wonderful job of writing without judgment or bitterness, don’t you?

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Pomegranate Soup

16 February 2008

Yesterday, I admitted that I don’t like to cook. Today, I just finished a book that centers around food and cooking. Go figure. pomegranate+soup Pomegranate Soup

Pomegranate Soup
Marsha Mehran
2005
222 pages

The Aminpour sisters, Marjan, Bahar and Layla, fled Iran on the eve of the revolution. After a few years in London, they have finally come to Ballinacrough, Ireland, to open a cafe and settle into a stable life. Marjan is a talented cook, and her exotic recipes are a hit with many of the locals. However, their appearance in this small town also causes quite a stir. The local big man in town, Thomas McGuire, isn’t too happy that the cafe is a success. He feels threatened by the lure the cafe and the sisters seem to have for many of the townspeople.

Despite McGuire and his sphere of influence, Ballinacroagh is also filled with people who welcome the Aminpours. Estelle Delmonico rents them her empty restaurant and becomes a surrogate mother. Young Malachy McGuire is instantly smitten with Layla. Fiona Athey, owner of the hair salon, ignores local gossip and befriends Marjan. Soon, the sisters are a part of the community.

This is not a complicated book. The appeal is in the recipes that begin each chapter, and how it illustrates the importance of traditional Iranian dishes. Mehran also gives a brief glimpse into how the Iranian revolution affected the lives of the sisters, and how they struggle to fit into such an insular Irish community. The brief drama that slooooowly unfolds through the book is almost incidental. Despite this, I enjoyed the book. And for some reason, I want to make baklava (the recipe is on page 38).

The sequel, Rosewater and Soda Bread, is due out this May. I didn’t feel that the book was in need of a sequel though, leading me to wonder if the author is going to repeat the formula of her first book to capitalize on its success.

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Where I divulge all my cooking secrets

15 February 2008

I don’t like to cook. There, I said it. Unfortunately, I do like to eat homemade food, and I’m actually a decent cook. Not a great cook, and definitely not a fancy cook, but stuff usually turns out (except when I start reading and forget about something and it burns). HB has pretty basic tastes, too, which mean meals around here are fairly boring. However, a few years ago I found a recipe (I think it was in Real Simple) that he really likes, and it’s different enough that I feel like I’m eating a good meal. Since I didn’t have to work today, and I went to the grocery store, and I took a nap (that’s really not related, but it felt good), I decided to make a real dinner. I have no idea what the name of this is, but it only has three major ingredients, so Chicken stuffed with Olive Tapenade and Feta Cheese is a good name. Totally easy, except for the time it takes to bake. Not that baking is hard, it just takes time we don’t have during the week.

Chicken stuffed with Olive Tapenade and Feta Cheese

Olive tapenade (I use Trader Joes)
Feta cheese (2 of those little plastic containers of the crumbled stuff)
4 chicken breasts
oil
salt and pepper

Mix the olive tapenade together with the feta cheese. Slice the chicken breasts so they look like a piece of pita bread (you know, so there’s a pocket). Stuff them full of the olive/feta mixture. You’ll probably have extra olive/feta mixture. Cook (sear? I don’t know, I don’t do technical terms) the chicken breasts in a pan with some oil (oh yeah, and salt and pepper ‘em) for a few minutes on each side, then transfer to a baking dish (also with some oil in the bottom). If you have extra olive/feta mixture, feel free to put it on top of the chicken breasts before you stick ‘em in the oven, because really, that’s the good stuff. Bake at 350 until done. It’s pretty tasty served with couscous.

This recipe is a good example to my approach to cooking. Lazy measuring, few ingredients, fairly easy prep, and I don’t have to drag out a cookbook or recipe file.

I also made cookies. I know, I can’t believe it either. But my mom made these a few months ago and gave me the recipe. Once again, super easy, and bonus…it doesn’t make tons of cookies, so you won’t be forced to eat 10 dozen.

Flourless Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 C. Super Chunky peanut butter
1 C. (packed) brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 C. miniature chocolate chips (although trust me, regular size chips taste just as good)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix first 5 ingredients in bowl. Mix in chocolate chips. Using moist hands form a generous 1 Tbsp. dough for each cookie into a ball & arrange 2″ apart on ungreased sheet (my mom and I are lazy bakers and after extensive testing we can both say the scoop and drop method works just fine). Bake until puffed & golden on bottom & still soft to touch in center, about 12 min. Cool on sheet about 5 minutes before placing on rack to completely cool.

Consumer alert: These cookies are really good, but they are also very crumbly.

Sorry, no pictures of either recipe. I’m done in the kitchen for the day, and I’m not going back in, not even for the sake of the blog.

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a lame post

14 February 2008

What a day to get blogger’s block.

Did anyone see Google’s Valentine’s Day logo? And did you know that they have an online museum that shows all of their holiday logos over the years. It’s kinda fun.

Besides being Valentine’s Day, this is also the day Hamburger and I celebrate our anniversary (16 years, if you’re wondering). Since we’re not married and neither one of us remember the day we started dating (we met sometime during Fall quarter at Cal Poly and started dating sometime during Spring quarter), we finally chose Valentine’s Day as our pseudo-anniversary. We never do much, though, and this year was even more low-key than usual. HB got me a rose and Hershey’s kisses. I bought him dinner, but we didn’t go out. Instead, I picked up Lolo’s (our favorite Mexican food) on my way home from work. He’s pooped from a week of setting up for a concrete pour, and I’m tired from being out of town. And, there’s really not much food in the house. So buying dinner was more of a necessity than a Valentine’s Day/anniversary thing. Going to the grocery store is definitely on tomorrow’s list of chores.

I was looking forward to blogging today, because it’s Booking through Thursday, and I usually get a good prompt, which means I don’t have to think of a topic to blog about, and if I ramble on, at least it’s related to books. This week’s question, though…it stumped me…

Have you ever fallen out of love with a favorite author? Was the last book you read by the author so bad, you broke up with them and haven’t read their work since? Could they ever lure you back?

I’m drawing a total blank, so no contribution from me this week.

I do have a four day weekend, though. Since I attended the conference in Sacramento on Tuesday, which was a county holiday, I get tomorrow off. And Monday’s a holiday, too. So no work until Tuesday. Wa-hooooooo! However, I don’t have any exciting plans. Tomorrow I must go to the grocery store (if I say this enough times, maybe I’ll actually go), and the house needs a cleaning. Exciting times, eh?

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Sacramento

13 February 2008

Monday night, after we arrived in Sacramento, we walked under the freeway to Old Sacramento. Old Sacramento is really just a tourist trap. Sure, it has the old buildings and wooden sidewalks, but I somehow doubt the tattoo parlor is original.

But on a Monday night, it was very quiet, so we walked over to the river, and then went to dinner at California Fats. Here are some pictures of the river and of a beautiful fountain at the restaurant. The fountain is three stories, and my pictures suck, but you can get an idea. It’s flat etched rock that spans the three levels of the restaurant, with a piece at the bottom with the word Peace. There are palm trees on both sides. It really is gorgeous, and we got to sit right beside it.

100 1894 Sacramento

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for Stan’s fans

13 February 2008

Since some of my readers seem to have a crush on Flat Stanley (and I’ll admit, he is a cute little dude), I thought I’d post the rest of the pictures I have of Stan’s visit to the Central Coast.

Here he is at the beach. He even tried surfing, but that picture went home with him. The waves were small that day, but perfect for Stan.

I also took him to Montana de Oro, a state park in Los Osos, where we walked along the cliffs and looked out at the Pacific Ocean.
Here Stan’s checking out the small town of Harmony, population 14. Or something ridiculous like that…that really is the entire town behind him. Harmony is north of Morro Bay, on the way to Cambria, just before the turn off to Highway 46.

When we were in Cambria, Stan wanted to check out Nitwit’s Ridge, a house built of junk collected by a guy called Nitwit. Mr. Nitwit is no longer alive, but his house is a California Historical Landmark. Really…go ahead and Google it, since I’m too lazy to provide you with links tonight.
Finally, I took Stan to see Bubblegum Alley, which both impresses and horrifies the tourists (not to mention the locals). This is an alleyway in San Luis Obispo where people stick their gum.

Here it is up close and more personal than you probably wanted. Yes, I’ve contributed a few pieces, too. My WOW group (Cal Poly Week of Welcome…orientation groups for college freshmen) stuck our group # up there 20 years ago. I seriously doubt it’s visible anymore.

stan and bg alley for Stans fans Please note the stick of gum in Stan’s left hand. He wanted to leave his mark. I’m such an accomodating hostess, huh?

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4 Things About Me

11 February 2008

Tonight I am 5 hours from home, in Sacramento, CA. I’m here to attend the Child Abuse Prevention Summit, which is tomorrow. Since I’m tired and ready to curl up with my book, and because my friend Mackenzie sent me this via email today, I’m going to do the four things thing. You may have seen this before…it makes the email rounds periodically, and the meme rounds. So for all you Slow Trav bloggers, here’s another subject for you to blog about!

Four jobs I have had in my life:

1. babysitter
2. waitress
3. substitute teacher
4. employment resource/specialist

Four places I have lived:
1. Maywood, CA
2. Dufur, OR
3. San Luis Obispo, CA
4. London, UK

Four places I have been:
1. Victoria, British Columbia
2. Oban, Scotland
3. Carcasonne, France
4. Athens, Greece

Four Favorite Foods:
1. mac ‘n cheese
2. almost any cheesecake from Taco Temple
3. warm peach cobbler with ice cream
4. pasta, with a vegetable marinara sauce, and lots of parmesan cheese

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. home
2. Seattle, WA
3. London, UK
4. Belize

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Introducing my home town

10 February 2008

I consider Morro Bay, California to be my home town. My family moved here when I was 8. We moved across the bay to Los Osos 3 years later, but since Los Osos and Morro Bay are both fairly small, they share a junior high and high school. Which means I graduated from Morro Bay High School (go Pirates). MBHS is one of the few high schools in the US that has beach access. How cool is that?

When Hamburger and I moved in together, we chose Morro Bay as our town. Since HB is a surfer, close proximity to the ocean was important. I didn’t want to stay in Los Osos, and Cayucus and Cambria, being further north, were more expensive and a bit too far away from San Luis Obispo, respectively.

Morro Bay has had a population of 10,000 for what seems like forever. The sign said 10,000 when I was 8, and a few weeks ago I noticed it had been bumped up to about 10, 450. There’s really not any room for growth. The ocean is to the west and there are hills to the east. North is hilly, then the even smaller town of Cayucus. And south is still farmland. We are exactly halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, in San Luis Obispo County. Morro Bay is 12 miles from our county seat, San Luis Obispo, home of Cal Poly State University. The major employers in this neck of the woods are Cal Poly, Cuesta College (a community college), Atascadero State (Mental) Hospital, CMC (a major prison) and the county. Really, though, it’s a lovely place to live. SLO is our biggest town, and it’s not even 50,000 people.

Morro Bay is not so affectionately called the home of the newlywed and the nearly dead. Not very nice, but true. Especially that last part. There are a lot of retired folk in these parts. In fact, we’re almost surrounded on our street. It also has out of control housing prices. When I was a kid, there were two elementary schools in town. Today, only one is open.

Morro Bay is old fishing village. At least that’s what it tells the tourists. We get lots from the valley during the summer, when they come over here to the fog to escape the heat. It really is kind of cute, especially down on the Embarcadero, if you ignore all the touristy shops and restaurants. We have a big rock (Morro Rock). We also have a power plant with some big stacks. At 450 feet, they’re kind of hard to miss.

stan at Tidelands Introducing my home town

Umm, yeah. A few years ago I hosted Flat Stanley. He was a great house guest (quiet, didn’t eat much), and the pictures are from his tour of the town.

This is the view from our deck. Like I said, the stacks are hard to miss. But you get used to them. The plant is supposed to close. Or be downscaled with smaller stacks. There’s a big debate about what to do. A few months ago there was an absolutely ridiculous opinion piece in the paper about how the stacks are historical and part of Morro Bay history and should be saved. Puh-lease. They’re an eyesore, and they’ve only been around since the 1950s. They used to pump out some corrosive shit, and PG&E would have to pay for paint jobs for resident’s cars.

Here Stan is in Los Osos, looking out over the bay and the Pacific Ocean. If you could see it, Morro Bay would be at the end of that sand spit.

Here’s another view from our deck, this time looking southwest and ignoring the stacks and that big rock.

And this is the entrance to the bay. The rock is behind me. Once upon a time, there was no road to the rock. Once upon a time, you could also climb the rock. Not a good idea today. It’s illegal, because there are peregrine falcons who call the top of the rock home. And they’re a protected species.

So that’s just an overview of my little town. Not a whole lot going on around here, but that’s okay. Heck, I once lived in Dufur, OR. That makes Morro Bay look like the big city.