Poetic Cookbook or Poetry about Food

Tamar Adler has written this wonderfully poetic book about cooking and food. There are a few recipes but more importantly she philosophizes on how to cook with what you have in the kitchen, how to make something grand out of simple ingredients, and really, how to live.

She uses and advocates for copious amounts of olive oil and salt, has finally helped me to understand how and why to use all that extra parsley, and she teaches how to cook things ahead of time so that you can enjoy roasted vegetables and egg all week without having to fuss every night.  I understand the importance of tasting all the time so that you can begin to understand how cooking works.  She includes no times for how long food cooks because every cook and every kitchen and every time is different.

She makes cooking and kitchen work and feeding friends and family seem like an act of the divine.  I am having momentary images of clearing out my refrigerator of all processed foods and filling it with see through containers of salsa verde and roasted eggplant and chopped cilantro, and I think I have to get rid of the microwave to make room for the 55 gallon drum of olive oil I will need to buy.

I don't mean to make fun at all; An Everlasting Meal is a lovely book and I want to own it and refer to it often (this one is a library book) so I can create food easily and effortlessly and also, understand how to use all the parts of food--stems and peels and bones. Alas, cleaning out my refrigerator and spending all day Sunday roasting vegetables might have to wait for another lifetime.  It sounds like a grand adventure from the comfort of my living room chair.

Better yet, perhaps Tamar would be my friend and invite me to her table once in awhile.  Thanks to her for this lovely book on food and cooking.

Imagine

Suddenly this summer, this book appeared on all the bookstore shelves. It seemed to be everywhere I rested my gaze. I resisted it for awhile then, of course, placed it on my library list.  Imagine: How Creativity Works reminded me a lot of the works of Malcolm Gladwell.  Jonah Lehrer takes an idea, in this case, how the creative mind works, and delves into the exploration of that idea through a wide variety of stories and anecdotes.  He backs up his stories with current brain science and social science that helps us to understand why humans can create and how they create.

The book is divided into two parts.  Part I is the story of how individuals create: the origin of those eureka moments, why we need to become more like children in order to be more creative, the necessity of getting away from a problem to solve it.  Part II is how teams become creative.  Lehrer delves into the fascinating story of Pixar Studios, the importance of a seasoned team (with a few newcomers) in creating top entertainment, and why cities make us more creative.

I read it quickly, talked about it at the dinner table and will use a few of its lessons and quotes in my writing workshops.  I highly recommend this great 2012 read.  Library or bookstore, I think you can find it everywhere.

Ghost Written

Once again, I picked up a tell all, behind the scenes, pseudo-celebrity tale, The End of Normal by Stephanie Madoff Mack.  This was the story behind the great Ponzi schemer and notorious crook, Bernie Madoff.  More specifically, Bernie's daughter-in-law, wife of his son Mark, has written her tale, proclaiming her husband's innocence and the great tragedy that befell her and her family when Bernie came tumbling down.

Ms Mack has a sad story to tell and like many memoirs of late, it really needs more time before it can be properly told.  The writer's wrath and anger and vitriol at her horrible misfortune is too fresh.  I would love to read the book she would write in 20 years.  The book is way too angry, and I found myself actually feeling sorry for Ruth Madoff, who she paints as a horrible human being for no other reason than refusing to divorce her husband.

So, if you are interested in this chapter in American financial history, and a version of the story as told by a family member, it is worth reading. It is quite sorrowful (Ms Mack's husband cannot handle the pressure and commits suicide while he is home alone with their baby son.) and could easily be a primer on how to mourn and, again, as always, a testament to the healing powers of telling your story.

But more than anything it made me wonder about the profession of ghost writing.  I noticed after I was almost finished with the book, that there was a second author, a ghost writer, whose name was on the cover page inside.  I wondered what that would be like, to sit by someone who had a front row seat to history, and to talk with her and then piece together her story in a meaningful way: one that suited the teller of the tale, made sense, and was told with drama.  Anyone know how I can get a ghost writing gig? Or better yet, hire me to write your story? I would love to listen.

Ahh Billy Collins

Billy Collins is the rock star of the poetry world.  I was at a live performance/taping of A Prairie Home Companion once and Garrison Keillor's guest star was none other than poet Billy Collins. If Prairie Home Companion Fans swoon, then swoon they did over this short balding man.  Will you sign my arm Mr Collins?

Billy Collins made it cool to write poems that you could access easily, read in one sitting, and walk away feeling like you had read something profound.  He also makes you know, without a doubt, that you could be a poet too.

This is the first book of poetry I have ever purchased, and I felt proud to know and love this collection.  I have read it twice now, and I enjoyed every one.  Mr. Collins turns an ordinary activity into a profound revelation.  Pick up any of his books, google his name, find him on poetr.com.  He is always magnificent.  Go ahead, you can be a poet too. Swoon.

Brooklyn Zoo by Darcy Lockman

This is the second ER book I have been asked to review written about a NYC mental hospital.  I think I rolled my eyes a bit when I got it in the mail.  This one took place in a less toni hospital in Brooklyn that was over taxed, under staffed, and generally scruffy.  The writer, a psychology intern, tries to make sense of her year of experiences: the good, the bad and the ugly.

Darcy Lockman seems largely unlikable to me. Her peers apparently agree as she shares the horrifying moment when her supervisor tells her that while she is an adequate therapist, no one particularly likes her.  That section of the book endeared me to her.   Can you imagine, building up a sort of hatred for a memoirist, wondering why she got into this field of work because she clearly has disdain for everyone and everything and then having her confess that everyone feels the same way?  I kind of loved that angle.  You are redeemable Darcy Lockwood.  Really!

Ms Lockwood profiles many encounters with patients, the ups and down of working in the most notorious mental hospital in NYC, the supervisory struggles she has, the definite conflict between psychologists and psychiatrists (Guess which group of people looks down their noses at the other?), and the often backwards approaches to therapy many well meaning professionals take when the setting is less then ideal.

I both loved and hated this book.  It did get a little dull at times, but she did have some interesting observations and insights into psychology and mental hospitals.  Her own story was the most compelling and had sort of a sweet ending. The year she learned to love and now loves to learn from.  I recommend this if you are at all interested in a career in therapy or the ins and outs of a mental health professional.  It is more personal that the first one I reviewed.

I'd love to loan it to anyone.

The Red House by Mark Haddon

I was thoroughly excited when I saw this book on the ER list two months ago and very bummed that I did not get chosen to review it.  I put my self on the library list immediately.

Mark Haddon wrote one of my favorite novels: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.  This was his first novel, and it was an instant hit. I adore this novel told from the point of view of an autistic boy who must solve a family mystery. (Read it, if you haven't.  It is beautiful.)

Unfortunately, this second novel falls very far from the brilliance and sweetness of the first.  I really had to work to get through it, and I really never fell in love with any character. In fact, I really had a hard time understanding a lot of it.

Eight characters come together for a family vacation.  Two families spend a week together in The Red House and negotiate complicated relationships, ruminate on loss and love, parent, have small adventures, and eat.  Each of the 8 characters has a point of view and each point of view is used interchangeably with the others in a fast and very confusing manner.  I was constantly stopping to remind myself who each person was and who they were related to and what their story was.  There are many snippets which were unclear about who was speaking and what the paragraph was about.  I finally got a little interest and rhythm into reading this book about 180 pages in.  There were a few compelling scenes, and I spent a few minutes caring, but then, not so much.

I can appreciate the Haddon likes to play with point of view and he clearly marks it as his strength but this time he tried to hard and played too much with the concept to make it anything but awkward and confusing.

I know there is a long list for this at the library.  I am returning my copy today.

Most Talkative by Andy Cohen

This early review book that I got chosen to read seemed to be written solely to gossip about the Read Housewives series of shows produced and aired by Bravo Network.  Andy Cohen is the executive producer of many of these shows and has some sort of staring role in part of the shows.  Although I have seen teasers for them on Bravo (probably while watching re-runs of the West Wing) I have never watched any of them or been interested in any of them.

The first 3/4 of the book is about Andy's coming of age in real life and in the television industry.  Most of the book is funny and heartwarming.  He came of age in the 80's, about the same time I did, and he also came out at that time. His memoir concerning these early years and his rise through the ranks and his coming to understand his sexuality was really quite moving and powerful.  I have a close friend from this time who I imagine was also thinking and going through some of the same things as he came out.  I loved it.  I laughed aloud many times. I really felt a kinship with Mr Cohen.  

Of course, as you might imagine, the last couple of chapters, all about shows that I have never seen (nor do I want to after reading this) was not very interesting to me at all.  It might be to you if you watch them yourself or have seen Mr Cohen on a late night show he emcees.  I do recommend it, mostly for the for first parts of the book in which he grapples with his own life and how he plans to live it.