The Library

[JeanneP]

The Library Our library cafe is open 24/7, the welcome mat is always out. Do come in from daily chores and spend some time with us. We look forward to hearing from you, about you and the books you are enjoying (or not). Let the book talk begin here!

*Suggestion Box for Future Discussions
*SeniorLearn's Archives  
 

Kidsal.

Forget about the cooking for one. Remember you have a freezer.said before I have loved alone over40 years. Still cook for 4 . One for dinner. One next day lunch and 2for freezer. Don't eat fast food. Or  Eat out a lot. And get the fun of cooking still.
I took the Indian cooking course years ago but keeping and HAVING To buy all the spices separate  I doctor the dishes up a little and get my fill on good Indian  food
when back inUK.very popular there. Not so much here in this town. More Chinese and Mexican . More like Americans like.

[MaryPage]

One of my daughters is a nut for cooking;  she even took a gourmet cooking class for a couple of years.  Really got into it.  She collects cook books and every kitchen gadget you ever and never heard of.

Me?  My slogan is that COOK is a four letter word.

Tom Clancy is dead.  I was never a fan of his books, but did admire him and enjoyed a movie or two.  A bit over the top masculine for my tastes, the books.  I just don't dig that much testosterone.  But here's to a good man and successful author.

[pedln]

Do you remember Will Schwalbe, author of The End of Your Life Book Club -- about the books he shared with his mother Mary Anne, during her final days?  In the book he mentions leaving his day job to develop a cooking website.

It's called Cookstr (link below) and it's fantastic.  You will find many of your favorite cooking people there -- Mark Bittman, Nigel Slater, Padma Lakshmi, Nigella Lawson, and tons more. Fun to look at and lots of great pictures. 

Cookstr

[ginny]

I'm still loving From Scratch, the story of the Food Network, even tho now he has begun at the beginning and is telling about how the network got started,  itself. The people whom one never heard of, and how difficult it was to get any kind of cooking show on the air.

This part is not as interesting to me as reading about how Emeril Lagasse got started, how he also was let go, how Ina Garten cried at her first audition, how Rachel Ray tried to walk out of her interview and how the brass did not want Paula Deen at all upon her first audition. It also shows the goodness of people like Ina Garten who now films with only 2 crew in her own home and who was not  interviewed  for the book. She's apparently a very private person. 

 It's absolutely fascinating on that type of thing, the Guy Fieri tidbits, and Robert Irvine stuff. I wondered why Emeril (who appeared at the National Book Festival when we were there to SRO crowds) had his show  cancelled. I expect we'll find out.  Apparently he's an accomplished musician who had a scholarship as a young man to a Music Conservatory but who wanted to go to cooking school instead. He's from Mass. originally I believe it said, not Lousiana, and is shy and quiet when offstage. Interesting.  I'm also looking forward to reading about the "non cooks" who have cooking shows. It's a glimpse into another world, it really is. Julia Child has been mentioned several times. Apparently at that time almost all the cooking shows were on PBS.

I'm really enjoying it. The start up stuff is not quite as interesting.

[Steph]

I fell in love with Julia so many many years ago. She made me understand that I too could be a french cook.. I watched all of her shows.. Have many on CD.. she only appeared on PBS..
I just finished The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackburg..Loved it, but the lady could stand to have a firm editor. It did wander off at given points.. But I still liked the plot and the town..

[LarryHanna]

I don't cook at all, except maybe scramble eggs and heat things up.  Fortunately my wife is a good cook although that is becoming difficult for her to stand in the kitchen to do it.  I love to watch the cooking shows but like some better than others.  Sometimes Paula Dean got on my nerves but always enjoys Ina Garten's quiet presentations and sharing with her husband for friends. 

[ANNIE]

Has anyone here mentioned that book clubs have started reading and discussing cook books?  Our f2f leader has suggested that we read one cook book and then each of us choose our favorite recipe and bring it to share. I don't know if we have decided to do it or not. Might be fun and certainly different.  Our recent f2f book was so boring and badly written that maybe I will bring up the cookbook reading again.

[marjifay]

Larry, since your wife has difficulty standing for a long time while cooking, you might want to get what I have, as I have the same difficulty.  I bought a chair that is high enough for me when sitting to reach the stove and counters while chopping veggies, mixing foods, etc.  It has a back on it, a rung on which to rest my feet, and it swivels from side to side. Very handy and helpful.

Marj

[marjifay]

AdoAnnie wrote "Has anyone here mentioned that book clubs have started reading and discussing cook books?  Our f2f leader has suggested that we read one cook book and then each of us choose our favorite recipe and bring it to share."

Sounds like a good idea for a separate group here.  I have a cookbook to recommend.  Yahoo News printed a few recipes from it and they looked so good I ordered it from my library:  SLOW COOKER REVOLUTION (2011).  200 recipes from America's Test Kitchen.  Lots of lovely color photos. They were determined to come up with recipies that were as great tasting as traditional recipes and which had easy preparation.   Everything from Old Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup, Baised Brisket and Onions, Spicy Thai-Style Chicken Stew to Fudgy Chocolate Pudding Cake.  Yum!

(There is a new volume 2 just out in Sept., but my library doesn't have it yet.)

Marj

[Frybabe]

I have at two cookbook/narratives that feature recipes from menus mentioned in novels. One is Dining with Sherlock Holmes and the other is The Cat Who Cookbook.

About.com has a list of literary inspired cookbooks.
http://classiclit.about.com/od/bookgiftsgadgets/tp/aatp_litcookboo.htm

[mabel1015j]

You may enjoy a novel i read recently about a woman who had a tv cooking show. This was my statement in "Fiction" about it.

Just finished Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs, she of The Friday Night Knitting Club. It was a fun read about a 50-something woman who had opened a lunchonette after the death of her husband and had been "discovered" by a cooking channel exec and is now in her 12th yr on the air. A young woman is added to the "cast" to pump up ratings and interesting scenarios result from the tension created.

I'm still reading a bio of Alice Roosevelt Longworth. I just pick it up between fiction and mystery books because it is one i can read in bits and pieces. I've just read about the 1912 election when TR decided to run against Taft and when Taft won the nomination for the Republican party, TR started the Progressive Party as a 3rd party, aka,  Bullmoose Party.

Alice's husband, Nick Longworth who was a congressman, supported Taft, creating a fissure in their relationship, even tho TR told NL that he understood why he had to do that for his political career; Taft and NL were both from Ohio.

I'm also reading a john Jakes historical fiction, The Lawless, which is set from post Civil War to the 20th century. I'm sure many of you have read Jakes, he's got a series of historical fiction of the Kent family running thru American history.

I'm also reading Dancing in the Streets by Barbara Ehrenreich about how public festivals/carnivals have been a part of all of human history. She gives a quick picture thru pre-Reformation when public dancing and celebrations were tied to religions and where all classes were involved with mocking of clergy and aristocrats. However, with the coming of guns they were less controllable and with the coming of Calvinism, which said you couldn't do ANYTHING FUN, dancing, singing, drinking, mocking the church was unacceptable!

 Then came an interesting connection. She said it has been fairly well verified that depression and suicides became more numerous around the 15th century, at the time when it was becoming less acceptable to have any of these public festivities! (How could anything have been more depressing then living in the 14th century w/ its plagues and little ice age, etc) anyway, she implies that there may be a connection between the stopping of public festivities and depression and makes an interesting case.

How do these authors come up with these esoteric issues to write about. I love them, but it's curious to me how it happens.

I've also started Michener's Tales of the South Pacific. My library had a table of classics and when i saw it i realized i hadn't read that Michener.

[JeanneP]

I have now stopped getting Cook Books. But still cannot stop buying gadgets
Filled a box the other day and daughter said would take to Women's shelter..( sure did not want them for her kitchen).

[Winchesterlady]

I have lots and lots of cookbooks, but I don't really "read" them....just reference them occasionally.  I think Anthony Bourdain's books about his experience as a chef are interesting, but I'm sure they're not to everyone's taste.

Right now I'm reading The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor.  It is a beautiful but very sad story and I've had in on my bookshelves for some time....don't know why I've waited so long to pick it up.

[JeanneP]

Just read what that book is about. Sounds like one I would like. Ireland and that period interesting. Will check if library have it.

[JeanneP]

They have it but not in LP. I will see how the print is.

[PatH]

Winchesterlady, I read and enjoyed Anthony Bourdain's first book, but I gather he's gotten more extreme in the later books.

A literary cookbook that's great fun is Lobscouse and Spotted Dog, by Anne Chotzinoff Grossman and Lisa Grossman Thomas.  This mother-daughter team, fans of Patrick O'Brian's 20 volume Master and Commander series, have gone through the books and worked out recipes for all the foods mentioned, which are many, ranging from the delicacies served at elaborate feasts to what the sailors ate in desperation when rations were getting low.  I'm sure the recipes work well, but the point of the book is the wonderful good humor of the authors, as they describe where the recipes occur (many quotes are given), how they figured out what would be a reasonable equivalent, what their reactions were.  They were horrified to see how delicious they found the stodgy, fatty suet puddings, and even more horrified to see how much better the leftovers were when sliced and fried in butter.  They are so enthusiastic and charming you can't help smiling as you read.

[MaryPage]

 Steph, I am delighted to read that you liked the Lackberg.   I am a really big fan of hers, and I put any discrepancies and so forth down to the translation.  I find her delicious.
Oh, Pat, I loved the Patrick O'Brian series.  It was one of those I kept careful track of to make absolutely certain I did not miss reading one.  What fun that book about the recipes for the food of that era must be!
Annapolis is mourning one of its local area celebrities, who died Tuesday at the early age of 66.  A world-famous author, he sold his very first piece ever published right here in 1980 to the nonprofit Naval Institute Press.
He never cashed the check he received in payment.  One presumes he framed it?
The same publisher printed a later piece and then, in 1984, his first book.  This author wrote a lot about the beautiful Chesapeake Bay and Chesapeake Country in general.  Dying just up the pike apiece in Baltimore, he lived in rural Calvert County.  Natives pronounce that "Cullver."  I have no idea why;  just local accent, I expect.
The hero of this writer's books, portrayed on screen by actors Alec Baldwin, Ben Affleck and Harrison Ford, worked here in Annapolis at the United States Naval Academy.
You have probably read at least one of his books, or seen at least one of the movies made from them.
The Annapolis Bookstore down on Maryland Avenue has pulled out all of his books for a window display in mourning.  Included, of course, is that very first book:  The Hunt For Red October."
We salute Tom Clancy.  He was one of us.

[PatH]

All honor to Tom Clancy.  He died far too soon.

All honor to the Naval Institute Press, too.  I didn't know they gave Tom Clancy his start, but I recently saw another example of them taking a chance.  My f2f science fiction discussion group recently read Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and we found out that the absolutely best translation is one by Walter James Miller and Frederick Paul Walter, published by them.  It's a superb job.  They've restored bits that other translators have left out, fussed over bits of the science involved, copiously explained in notes details of the science and inconsistencies in previous translations, plus making the prose as readable as you can with this book, and being very accurate to the original text.  It won't ever be a best seller, because Verne is no longer best seller material, but it will have a steady trickle of appreciative buyers (including me of course).  I guess I should see what else they've published.

[PatH]

Back to cookbooks.  The oddest cookbook I have is The Art of Chinese Cooking by the Benedictine Sisters of Peking.  It's a small spiral bound thing I got for 75 cants at a used book sale.   The authors, two American nuns, went to China as missionaries in 1930.  They learned to like Chinese cooking, and watched the cook to see how it was done.  They were rounded up and interned at the start of WWII.  Afterward, they were pushed around by the political situation, ending up in Tokyo in 1950, where they eked out a living by running a cooking school.  It worked, and this tiny book, published in 1956, was in its 40th printing in 1975.  The recipes are simple, and the two I tried worked fine, but I got my 75 cents worth just out of the introduction.

[Octavia]

It's been ages since I was here, my family has been rocked by the news that my eldest son has  tumours  on his liver, and almost certainly has cancer. He's in Slovakia with his wife, she's Slovakian, and they were going hiking in the mountains, till John fell ill.
The hospital care has been outstanding, but so much pressure is on Tatiana, as John doesn't speak the language.
Constantly, I think this is a bad dream and then the realisation hits me. this won't go away, it's real. It feels hard to believe as the boys have all been so healthy.
Just to complicate things, I have to have an operation for my aneurism, which can only be done in Brisbane, our state capital.
I just went down for an assessment, 10 hrs in The Spirit of The Outback(train) the Malaysian doctor said she could fly home in that time The Tilt Train back was about 8 hrs, so an improvement, but not as iconic.
Not sure whether it was just me, but Brisbane air conditioning seems twice as cold as Rocky. They had to get me a hot blanket before my ECG, because I was shivering so much.
Have been trying to catch up, but it's a lot of pages!
Ginny, after memorising Morte D'Arthur, I've been looking around for my next memory task, and Ulysses is on my shortlist.
Re language, a lot of Aussies, mainly men say me instead of my. Me book, me boss etc. I used to jump on the boys, if I heard them saying it. Yuk!

[Octavia]

Just read about Margaret Walbeck, I remember her so well, and am sorry she's gone. I did think that their real home was in Europe. Austria keeps coming into my mind. She used to look forward to going home for holidays.

[pedln]

Octavia, I"m so sorry to hear all your unfortunate news. Your son's illness can't help but be a big worry for you, along with your upcoming surgery as well.  My thought are with both of you and wish you well.

[MaryPage]

I share in your deep sadness, Octavia.  What a harsh road to have to travel.  Hugs and sincere wishes for better days.

[Frybabe]

Octavia, how sad to hear about your son and your need for surgery. I wish you both the best. It is so nice to have you back with us. I've been missing our Australian and New Zealand contingents. Earlier this year, I went on an Australian author hunt on Project Guttenberg and came up with several of Andrew Barton Paterson's books of poetry, and  Alan Moorehead's Galipolli. I think I have a few other books, but I've forgotten for the moment who and what. They are in my Kindle still waiting to be read.

Speaking of Paterson, I never saw the movie so I never realized until I found the book of poems, that The Man from Snowy River was a poem nor that it was Australian. I am delighted to have discovered and corrected my error.

[Steph]

Octavia, I am so sorry to hear about your son and your upcoming surgery. I will hold you in the eternal light and know that things will work out .
Never read Tom Clancy. Tried severa times,but just too too tech.. My husband liked him and over a good deal of negotiating, we saw at least one of the movies. Not my cup of tea either however.
I am currently looking for the next Lackberg.. Just heard from my new f2f.. Hmm, they tend to get a bit overblown.. The first meeting I went to was very laid back, but they have a new president and she seems to be determined to make us shape up and only read "IMPORTANT BOOKS".. hmm.

[LarryHanna]

marjifay, we have tried a couple of stools in the kitchen so she could set but they have wheels.  She is a bit heavy-set and just didn't feel safe in using them. 

[jane]

Octavia...I'm so sorry to hear the news of your son and your own impending operation.  

I wonder if you're thinking of Margrit who lives/lived in Africa [Nigeria, maybe...Lagos?] and whose husband was a manager of a plant there. They went back to Austria/Germany often and I believe their sons lived there.

Margret and Paul lived in South Africa and I believe they used to vacation here in US where one of their sons lives and in other areas around South Africa...Naimbia (sp?) where there is a German influence/ style, I gather. It was this Margret who passed away. Margret loved watching her sports from Europe and South Africa on TV, I know.

jane

[marjifay]

Larry, my kitchen stool does not have wheels.  It is the seat that moves around.  I love it.

Marj

[marjifay]

Pat, that cookbook you found, The Art of Chinese Cooking by the Benedictine Sisters sounds good.  You were lucky to find it at 75 cents, as Amazon wants $5.00 for a used copy.  Looking at an Amazon reader's praise of it and the list of some of the recipes in the book makes me want to get it.

Marj

[MaryPage]

Jane, you are right about Margret and Margrit.  Gee, I haven't heard anything about Margrit in years and years, and I never met her, but I sure did enjoy her posts.  But I met Margret in Pennsylvania in 2001, and she and Paul were not from Europe, but were natives of South Africa.  They were great good company and really nice people.

[marjifay]

Clarissa Dickson-Wright has a new book out -- Clarissa's England.  She is one of the Two Fat Ladies who had a cooking show I loved.  This book is not a cookbook, but sounds interesting.  The book description says, "takes the reader on a personal journey through the country of her birth. From Cornwall to Cumbria, Norfolk to Northumbria she brings her extraordinary knowledge, huge passion, forthright opinions and inimitable wit to the distinctive history and regional character of every corner of England."

Marj

[ginny]

Octavia, golly, when it rains it pours! {{((((HUGS}}}}}  I know you are worried about your son, but just keep telling yourself they are doing wonders with the liver now and the liver can regenerate in parts and it may not be as bad as it may seem. I hope you also come out shining from your surgery, but golly what a train trip!!  Wow! You will need to recuperate before you can get on that to return.

I've always wanted to go to Australia, Imagine! Many wishes for your   good luck with all of this and keep us posted?

Pat, that cookbook you found, The Art of Chinese Cooking by the Benedictine Sisters sounds good.  You were lucky to find it at 75 cents, as Amazon wants $5.00 for a used copy.  Looking at an Amazon reader's praise of it and the list of some of the recipes in the book makes me want to get it.

I couldn't have said that better, myself, what a find!! I love finding things like that, turning a corner when walking somewhere and finding some small treasure, (to me).  I may have to have it too.

Clarissa Dickson-Wright is something else. Was she the first woman in the UK admitted to the bar or am I hallucinating? She's written several books, she's very interesting.

Great responses to the Library poll in the heading here, we're going to put  up a new one tonght, let's see what you think!!

Still reading the From Scratch book, now we find (I have to keep jumping ahead due to the endless stuff on the start up of the network which I won't remember and don't care about ) and here we find that Robert Irvine (Restaruant Impossible) apparently lied about his chops or culinary background. I've just started this bit, stay tuned. Did not cook  Prince Charles's first wedding cake, did not cook for either of the Bushes, but claimed? he did. I'm sure there's more to this story, stay tuned.

[PatH]

Marj and Ginny, don't expect too much from that cookbook.  If you already have a Chinese cookbook, you'll probably have many of the recipes.  They are fairly simple though.  The recipes calling for dried mushrooms don't say to soak them.  You have to look in the technique section in front to find out how they want you to handle them.

I guess I'm lucky though,  my copy is in excellent condition.

[PatH]

Octavia, (((((((hugs))))))).  I'm pulling for you and your son.

[JeanneP]

I would like to find "The Art of Chinese cooking" also.  Will check and see if my library have it. Doubt it but they always try to find.  Is it postage free on line ?. $5 not bad if so.

[JeanneP]

Pat.
I think you would always have to soak dried mushrooms. I just the other day dried 2trays of grape tomatoes. Now those I like to snack on. Mushrooms to brittle.

[Octavia]

Thank you everyone, for all your sympathy and good wishes for my son and me. I just wish my op. was over, I worry about the artery bursting.
 I can't helping feeling that a lot of us are turning into whingers about medical treatment. The Govt. paid all my expenses, xrays, ECG, Specialists, blood tests,CT scans as well as my train fares. But all I heard from most of my fellow Aussies was complaining.
John is holding up well, they have let him out pending tests. His wife gives him a needle in the stomach every night. Rather her than me
I actually like trains, I'm a people watcher, and you hear and see so many strange and interesting things on trains. Little snapshots of other people's lives. I've always noticed too, that it's often the roughest, scruffiest, people that will jump to your aid.
Yes Jane, I'm confusing my M's, I was thinking of Margrit, but I remember them both.
Steph, The Man From Snowy River is not only Australian, but an icon. It's part of the Australian Psyche.
I can't count how many times at parties, or barbecues somebody has got up, and started
"There was movement at the station, for the word had got around, that the colt from Old Regret had got away'
Always makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.
I saw the main actor on TV not long ago, on a "Where are they now" show. He's more well known  as a singer in the style of Sinatra these days.

[Steph]

Yes, just now in the U.S., we have so many not true rumors about Obamacare to fill whole books.. I am trying to ignore many of my facebook friends who are really getting silly about it..Add in the catholic.. he wants to kill our babies... and it gets really way past normal.. Noone is forcing anyone to take birthcontrol, but propagating the stories that birth control pills give you cancer ( sigh) and that their are death panels is just flat out stupi.

[marjifay]

After scanning a couple of right-wing rags, I could not believe how misinformed or uninformed people are.  Had to laugh at Jimmy Kimmel's questioning a bunch of people on Hollywood Blvd., asking them which they preferred -- the  Affordable Care Act or Obamacare.  Most everyone preferred the Affordable Care Act, saying such things as "Obamacare has too many holes in it," "it's wrong to force people to buy insurance under Obamacare," "Obamacare is way too expensive," etc.

Marj

[BarbStAubrey]

He has done more with humor than all the political explanations and even did more to clarify the issue than the political comics like John Stewart.