True Life Tales
True Life Tales are musings about everything and anything I notice for writing material: books, people, trends, experiences...I'll check in as often as possible, but while you are waiting, grab a chair and enjoy a cup of coffee!

Fall 2008:
It’s Autumn Crisp– my favorite time of year for breath-taking mountain bike rides, hiking in the woods, and breaking out the crock-pot for slow cooked, savory dishes. Fall is a wonderful time to set goals and recalibrate routines and directions. So, set yourself a challenge and go out on a limb- that’s where the fruit is! This is what my pals and I have been up to lately:

Hola Chicas!
EABC will be holding a Biathlon at the Jericho Firing Range on Saturday, October 25th.  Beginners and experienced racers welcome.  Format will be run and shoot, with a safety and instruction clinic for first timers. Registration: 8:30 AM, Safety Clinic and Zero: 9:00 AM (practice shoot for 1 hour!) Race Start: 10:00 AM. Cost: $5 for EABC members,  $10 for non-members.  

I am currently reading and loving The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Worblewski, Oprah’s book club pick; and The Secret Scripture, by Sebastian Barry is my book club’s current pick that was just short-listed for the Man-Booker Prize. Here are some books I enjoyed over the lazy-daze of summer:

Everybody Loves Somebody by Joanna Scott (Short Story Collection); The Middle Placeby Kelly Corrigan a very funny, yet sentimental, memoir about cancer and parenting; Shakespeare's Kitchen by Lore Segal is a series of thirteen witty and eccentric interrelated short stories about friendships. Bad Girls: 26 Writers Misbehave edited by Ellen Sussman is a real eye opener. At age 51 I sure learned a thing a two from the candor and generosity of these writers; some extreme laugh-out-loud moments and a wide range of writing talent. Talking in Bed by Antonya Nelson is a great bedtime read about the inter-workings of domestic relationships. I’ve witnessed Nelson read from her fine writing at Middlebury’s Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference and I am a big fan. Palestinian Walks by is a heartbreaking memoir by human rights activist and lawyer Raja Shehadeh, who loves to walk his beloved hills, but can no longer do so safely amid the sniping and strife between Israel and Palestine. It’s a real education to read this insider’s view of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The Echo Maker by Richard Powers was a good read; he’s a gifted and complicated writer, but winner of the 2006 National Book Award? The Great Man by Kate Christiansen is a Pen/Faulkner Award winner. It is quite simply an enjoyable read- the kind you go to bed early to snuggle in with. The novel centers on the death of Oscar Feldman, a renowned figurative painter, and his double life with two modern-day families. It is really a book about women and the choices they make for their children.

Summer 2008:
This is Quinn holding our new puppy, Gracie Lovey. She is a Green Mountain Rescue buff Pug that we adopted in July.

July 30, 2009 Jeff and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. I found this poem in Anne Lamott's wonderful book, Bird by Bird, and we used it to renew our vows.

The Wild Rose
Sometimes hidden from me
In daily custom and in trust,
So that I live by you unaware
As by the beating of my heart,

Suddenly you flare in my sight,
A wild rose blooming at the edge
Of thicket, grace and light
Where yesterday was only shade,

And once again I am blessed, choosing
Again what I chose before.

-wendell berry

Yo! Cairo!
Greetings to all from Cairo. We arrived safely for Kate’s, graduation from AUC, with no hassles. There are gas lines here as the government subsidized rates are being cut drastically- gas is about $3.50 a gallon which sounds like a bargain now, to us, but shows how a few hold the power over the mighty oil drum even at the source. For a dictatorship, this is a nice, safe, friendly place. Egypt loves Americans (due to our generous subsidies) and everyone speaks Arabic with many English and French speakers. The drivers are 10 times crazier than Boston, and when Kate is behind the wheel I swear Jeff's hair grows grayer by the second. He'll have a white cotton-candy halo by next week. She can really rip in the traffic, but it is much harder on us old folks who are stuck in the back of the smoking pinto with no control-- much more traumatic than teaching her how to drive. All the cars are dented shitboxes because there are so many fender-benders. This is a photo of El Gouna, a resort on the Red Sea (5 hours of driving hell from Cairo); we are visiting for a few days. The water is the most amazing aquamarine color I have ever seen. The snorkeling is considered among the best in the world, a truly spectacular setting.


Santé!
This is a dinner at a local ‘snack shop’ which would be a local outdoor setting with freshly prepared food listed on a menu.  The food is a composite of Mediterranean dishes, pretty much what we all like to eat: grilled kabobs, hummus, tabouli-- pretty healthy stuff.  Prices are slightly cheaper than at home. The local beers, Sakara and Stella are refreshing. Although booze is not taboo- bars are everywhere- Egyptians levy a 425% tax on any alcohol that is imported (that’s one way to jump-start a locavore movement!)  Soooo...good thing Jeffy stopped by the Duty Free for his Laphroaig on the way into the country!
 
This is a picture of Jeff & I with Fouad, Kate's boyfriend. I have always maintained that one can tell a great deal about a person's character from the way they behave on a bike; so, we always said that we'd like to "invite" our daughter's boyfriends for a ride to get to know them better.... I never expected one of them might have never ridden a bike before! Fouad is a great guy and a great sport who grew up in Cairo with no biking (too dangerous!) BUT, he said, "Sure I'll go." After we got fitted for the bikes he broke the news to us. In our book, Fouad passed the "character test" with flying colors by simply saying yes (even if he did stop his bike by braking with his long legs!) He is wearing a Red Sox shirt that Jeff brought him (Fouad didn't know about the Red Sox either, but that's been remedied).

Lifestyle
This is a picture of Foaud and Haifa (Fouad's Mom), Kim, & Kate. We were graciously invited to tea on our first evening, at their Cairo flat. We arrived at 5:00 and had a fresh guava juice. Then, we had Turkish coffee, a very welcomed boost to our jet lag! Then, we had pistachio ice cream - my personal favorite- so I was in heaven. Then we had fresh melon and tiny cookies. We stayed just chatting, and then we went out to dinner around 9:30. This is early to dine out in Cairo- talk about a city that never sleeps!  We held up pretty well, considering the long day.

Haifa is a diplomat with the UN. Her job is executive director of the Arab League library, which enables her to travel all over the world. Foaud's dad is the mayor of Jericho in Palestine, so they have a long-distance marriage. This is mainly because Haifa and her children are not permitted to visit Palestine. In fact, they have never touched the soil due to Israeli border blockades and despite Hassan's political connections. Haifa was born in Beirut, and Fouad in Tunisia, but are considered Palestinian due to the husband/father's birthplace. Their passports are Jordanian (the default for Palestine citizens) so Hassan must visit them in Cairo. (The irony is that Kate lived in Palestine's capital, Ramallah, during the summer of 2006, and she can come and go freely, as can most of the world's population.) Go figure.
 
Usually people eat a light breakfast around 9 am or just have a coffee ("Nescafe"). They might snack a bit on fruit, but then have their lunch, the main meal at 3:00, when many professionals return home from work. Then they have a nap. Tea-time is around 5-6. Then dinner, always out -but light, is 10-11:00. They usually have a fresh juice or mineral water or soda with meals- few Egyptians drink alcohol, even if they are not religious, as it is so hot they must fight dehydration every hour. It is simply not part of their culture, yet it is not frowned upon for visitors. It is quite refreshing how they take lots of time to just sit around and visit and simply relax in each other's company. Despite Cairo's infamous pollution, the lifestyle, food-wise, is quite healthy.

What they do not do is exercise, and it is not a walking city, per se; and few Egyptians go to health clubs. Kate and Foaud dance Dabke 2-4 times a week. It is a set of traditional dances from Palestine, and they are on a team at AUC that performs around. The dancing is similar to what we know as Irish dancing and is quite aerobic. We saw some great videos of the kids performing. A far cry from our Far Post soccer and GMVS ski days, but hey- as long as they are moving!
 
Shopping  

To see a shopping extravaganza take a cab to the souk Khan Al-Khalili. We went shopping today for a graduation gift for Kate from her Nina. She picked out a beautiful pair of gold earrings to wear for Commencement. Many of the shops are the size of shoeboxes stuffed with couches and maybe a display case or two. There are usually 3-5 men 'working' in the shop. When we enter the shops, they park Jeff on a couch while the girls go to the goods. Typically, hibiscus tea is served as a welcome beverage. When the buyers get warmed up, the shop owner send his runner out for refreshments and offer you a cold coke. If it looks like you might buy something, the gold scale and the cigarettes come out on the counter. After the haggling is over, it’s light up time! These are real-time pictures of the shop owner ‘helping’ Kate with her new earrings.

Traffic
It’s 100+ degrees in this kaleidoscope of color and energy, with a light breeze. In a city of more than 23 million people the weather is pretty predictable and not a topic; what Carienes like to talk about is traffic. We are finding the subject more fascinating than the ancient Egyptians. They drive vehicles ranging from the biblical (horse drawn carts loaded with daily bread) to the modern (bullet-proof SUV’s) moving among the same lanes at a good clip. Actually, Carienes don’t use painted lanes at all; rather, they smear their cars or carts or motorbikes all over what should be a 2-4-lane road, at will, honking horns in a cacophony of conversations ranging from the irate to the flirtatious. They don’t use seat belts, either, and they don’t have traffic lights, or baby seats, or signals, or repaired brake lights. They don’t use route numbers or international signs; they don’t have driver’s training or licenses (unless it is bribed) and motorcycles jump the curb at will (on the right) in traffic jams. (Women in full higab dress ride sidesaddle with the baby on their lap). And they stuff as many people into a cab as they possibly can- kind of a sweaty game of telephone booth. (See photos below of an entire family saving on cab fare- we counted six in the back seat of a cab the size of a mini-cooper.) Driving in Cairo is the ultimate game of bumper cars and chicken. To add to the fun, people don’t have pedestrian crosswalks, or priority, either, (so now add monkey-in-the middle) and a lot of folks (23 million?) need to cross the streets- Hello? (See photo of Jeff’s new sport: Streetcrossing)


OK, so here’s my favorite part: don’t get hurt in Cairo. Why? Because they ignore the ambulances. Huh? Because so many people have fake police sirens in their cars that drivers don’t even react to the sound anymore.  (The official police are on foot). I’ve made Jeff promise that if we are in a crack-up he will let me recover in Switzerland and maybe get that face-lift in at the same time. Despite the craziness, we have to admit it: ‘Danika Dannies’ could make it in the Formula One world- Kate’s road rage is exceeded only by her skill behind the wheel. In Shallah (Thank God).
 
Where in the world is Jeff Dannies?
Many of you have asked me how Jeff is faring in Cairo and I would say that he is enjoying it more and more everyday. He is pleased with the ATM service, but feels the money needs laundering. When asked his impression of Cairo Jeff’s response is a bull’s eye” “Wild.” His only social faux pas so far is neglecting to wear socks to a formal party, (“It’s so hot.”) In Cairo people sit around on low couches and socialize for hours and hours  (these folks graciously spent the evening staring at the white guy’s ankles without comment.) Kate and I will be vetting his outfit for Marwa’s wedding on Friday. (Kate’s classmate, Marwa, age 22, is marrying her professor (age 49) at a lavish 400 person traditional Muslim pageant. (Yes, both my battery packs are charged!) Here is a photo of Jeff after enduring 4 days of the Cairo cha-cha. He was so happy to find a McDonald’s, I simply couldn’t begrudge him a Big Mac.

Mabrouk!
Last evening we attended a lovely formal engagement party for Kate and Foaud. It was hosted by Foaud’s family and really wonderful with authentic Lebanese food and fresh juices, cakes, and Kounaffa (a shredded wheat- honey drenched delight.) We met 50 of their friends and classmates and professors; Jeff and I were very moved by the people we met. Every student arrived in their finest dress, groomed to the max, with huge bouquets of flowers; their good cheer and manners and command of English just blew us away. They love to talk about traveling and each has a unique history of country origin and educational career- no cookie cutters here! Their conversational skill is very sophisticated and our visits with each student were of real substance peppered with warmth and humor. They are very serious about their studies and futures (that was reassuring!) From 7- midnight people just relaxed and enjoyed themselves; Kate and Foaud performed a dabke dance for us that I caught on video. Around 8:00 Kate and Foaud exchanged rings. They wear the ring on the right hand while engaged (indefinitely) and then switch it over at the marriage ceremony. They make an adorable couple. They plan to go to grad school before they marry. We are thrilled to welcome Foaud to our family! Today we are sailing on the Nile and having a celebration lunch at The Four Seasons. Then it is off to commencement.

Beauty Secrets
We have found the Egyptian people to be exceptionally warm, funny, and kind people. They truly exude a joy and zest that is contagious. The crime rate is very low here in Cairo, and Kate says that is due in part to religious discipline and the fact that people are content and don’t covet what others have. Their happiness comes from being attuned with what is so. No ego; nice attitude.
 
Many of the young women are exceptionally beautiful. And if one is not technically so, then they make up for it with a grooming regime that would make Tyra Banks look slovenly. Cleopatra rules: daily blowouts are mandatory; you simply gotta have good hair here. The salons have men stylists for two reasons: #1. It’s a lucrative job, so they want it. #2. The Arab hair is so thick and you’ve got to be muscular to wield the blow-gun all day. You’d think the women in higab (headscarves) and niqab (face scarves) could sneak in a bad hair day here and there, but noooo! At the salon they have their own private room with female stylists. We’ve been to the salon a couple of times so far this week, and I think we have to go again this afternoon to prepare for Marwa & David’s wedding. I have had my nails done more in the past 10 days than in the past 10 years!


So here’s the beauty secret: I met an Egyptian woman named Nadine at the engagement party that I was sure was a younger AUC classmate of Kate’s. I was shocked to learn that she is actually a 34-year-old mother of two. “Do you work out?” I asked her, “How can you look so young?” She said that she never exercises. “What do you do all day?” I asked. She said she sends her kids off to school and then they have a nanny after that, and that she just hangs out and visits with her friends over coffee or lunch (2:00-5:00). She said, “I’m just really lazy” with a happy, relaxed smile. Damn! All this time on my bike and I could have been parked at Chef’s Corner lapping up the lattes with the sisterhood?? Maybe I’ll incorporate a bit of “Nadine’s Regime” into my life from now on.
 
Mabrouk-Congrats Kate!
We arrived at graduation, late, due to traffic and a wrong turn to the Exhibition Hall- but who needs Pomp & Circumstance when you have been given a second chance at your life? I think Kate learned a very valuable lesson this evening: it’s not the first mistake one makes (a wrong turn) that causes the true, eternal shit, but the compounded effect of poor second and third decisions (not asking for directions) (asking for directions and then not following them) that will land you in the hell holes of Cairo.
 
The ceremony was beautiful, 362 graduates, and we had an unexpected bonus: Among all the Mohammads and Yasmines little Kate Dannies from whitebread Vermont had her own Arab name to contribute. Her middle name, Curran, was pronounced ‘Koran’ so.... “Kate Koran Dannies, Magna Cum Laude” received an appreciative round of applause!

A Muslim Wedding
We attended a traditional wedding that was unbelievable on so many levels that I don’t know where to begin. Kate’s best friend Marwa, married David in a legal ceremony at city hall a few days ago, so the wedding celebration was held at the bride’s family home on Friday evening (the peak of the weekend here). It’s a lavish, tasteful compound that would make a fine movie set for a remake of Anthony & Cleopatra. It was a gorgeous Arabian night, a full moon, and we were invited for 8:30 pm. The trip was about an hour’s drive from Cairo so I figured we’d leave at 7:30. “No, no, no mom” Kate reassured me “we don’t want to arrive until at least 10:00. The buffet won’t even be served until at least 1.” “Really?”
I’m thinking; we’d had lunch at 3:00, no nap. We’d also been “grooming” since 5 and by the time Foaud picked us up (9:30 pm) Jeff was already starting to get that sleepy bug-eyed look and my make-up was melting. When we finally arrived (11 pm) we stepped into a wonderland of light, video media, and a sound system of superb disco tunes, but there were only about 50 people around the pool (where were the 400 invited?!) Time is a very fluid concept in Cairo, time management unheard of, and folks trickled in all evening. So, because this event is so tricked out, I’m wondering about hors d’oeuvres and is there maybe a bar, when I see that it’s juice, again, (albeit freshly squeezed) and mixed nuts. I could die of hunger, but the scene is too fairytale like to believe and so I snap away. Marwa makes her grand entrance around 11:30 and, no doubt about it, she makes a truly a stunning bride. We ate a lovely buffet of traditional foods, and danced the early morning away on a custom-made dance floor that covered the pool. I told Kate to please chat with Marwa’s dad, Ali, and see if he would like to host her wedding, too.

Spring Greetings Foodie Friends
OK, favorite moment so far in this beautiful Vermont spring: coasting downhill on road bikes, safely in the shoulder, two male pals riding ahead of me. A woman creeps up beside me in her Subaru. She has the passenger side window down, and she is screaming at us to get off the road. As she crawls by swearing, I have the opportunity to read her various bumper stickers. "Sustainability." "Love earth not war." "Eco warrior." "Don't be trashy." "Live, love, go green." Now, I'm not going to judge this lady, only maybe suggest that she's eaten one too many mung bean salads and missed out on a slab or two of butter, but I just love simple irony. I've got a few additional bumper stickers for her chrome: "Share the road." "Get real." and "Take a pill." It was a good belly laugh on the first spring ride.

For readers interested in food politics mark your calendars to see author Michael Pollan here in Burlington, Vermont, on June 10th at UVM's Ira Allen Chapel. He is the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and has a new book out called In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, which I can't wait to read. (The closest I'll ever get to mixing food and politics is in my latest column The Organic Panic.)

Cheers for a great Spring! Kim

Here are some reads I enjoyed during a long mud season:
The Street of a Thousand Blossoms by Gail Tsukiyama is another wonderful story in a series of elegant novels by a remarkable writer. This well researched historical epic revolves around two brothers in pre World War II Japan. Hiroshi and Kenji were raised by their grandparents and are as different as sushi and sake. Hiroshi, the alpha brother, is national hero sumo wrestler, while Kenji has devoted his career to the art of mask making. Find out what heartaches and joys they endure during the unprecedented destruction of their beloved country. Also excellent: The Samurai's Garden: A Novel; Women of the Silk: A Novel.

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner is a modern classic if there ever was one. When I read this book 15 years ago and it made a fine literary impression, but re-reading it at age 50 was really a treat. The subtly and wisdom this book reveals about friendship is quite moving. Stegner also won the Pulitzer Prize for Angle of Repose, which deserves every reader’s attention at some point.

What got me revisiting Stegner was this book: Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates. It was the 1962 runner up for the National Book Award and arguably Yates’s finest work. He was a brilliant novelist admired by the big boys? Tennessee Williams, John Updike, and Phillip Roth? but not well known by the public. Yates was a writer’s writer. Commercially unsuccessful, Revolutionary Road was considered groundbreaking in 1961 because it so cleanly dissects the marriage of Manhattan exiles Frank and April Wheeler and their self-imposed journey to suburban hell. It’s an engrossing story about expectations and disappointments. Added bonus: in December 2008, Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCapiro will reunite to play Frank and April Wheeler in the movie version directed by Winslet’s husband, Sam Mendes. Perfect casting!

I’m in the middle of The Moviegoer by Walker Percy who actually beat out Yates for the National Book Award in ’62. It’s about the life of spiritually rootless Binx Bolling. For more titles of National Book Award nominees and winners go to nationalbook.org

Unaccustomed Earth by Jumphra Lahiri. If you haven’t had the pleasure of a Lahiri read, run?don’t walk? to the nearest library or bookstore and treat yourself to The Interpreter of Maladies, The Namesake, as well as her new collection of eight short stories, Unaccustomed Earth. An unusually gifted writer? Pulitzer first time at bat? Lahiri is always a joy to read. Her main theme to date, examining the gulf that separates expatriate Bengali parents from their American-raised children, remains her subject for this superb set of short stories.

The Reserve by Russell Banks (Sweet Hereafter) is a fine example of sparse storytelling by a master. The Reserve is a return to the smaller scale of his earlier fiction? like he’s channeling Hemingway? with a compressed time frame and frugality of words. The action takes place at a private summer enclave in the Adirondacks during the Depression. The wealthy vacationing families are not affected by the miseries of the servant-locals, but they bring along their own private hells in which they manage to stew. The tension develops between a famous local artist, Jordan Groves, and Vanessa, the exquisite-but-mentally-mangled daughter of his patron. A great summer read.

Willing by Scott Spencer (Endless Love) is a fun read for folks who like a little snark from their literary lions. It’s about a struggling New York writer, Avery Jankowsky, who has a midlife crisis at the tender age of 37. Emotionally eroded due to lack of a real income, Avery's anxiety boils over when he learns of his young lover’s infidelity. His whacked Uncle Ezra offers him solace by sending him on a high-end Scandinavian sex tour that Avery surreptitiously spins into a huge book advance. Although some of the plot isn't entirely convincing, the writing is razor-sharp and made me giggle? it’s a relaxing read from a man who can really carve a simile. (Spencer’s A Ship Made of Paper: A Novel was a 2003 finalist for the NBA.)

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. Yup, I confess, I was an Oprah groupie and did all 10 weeks of the online class. It was a fun and unusual experience? especially sharing a long moment of silence at the beginning of each session with 2 million people, collectively, online. Actually, my hubby, Jeff, did the class with me, and we’ve enjoyed some wonderful and thought-provoking conversations about the nature of people and of ourselves. It was an enriching exercise to share as we look forward to celebrating our 25th anniversary in July.

My Life In France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme. The great Julia Child and her great-nephew, Andrew Prud’Homme, collaborate on this lovely retrospective of a charmed life filled with good food, good humor, and lots of dish soap. Julia’s rich legacy of inspiration for cooks the world over will never be extinguished, as her alto voice rings through this memoir, a labor of love in her last year of life.

On the Nightstand:
Service Included: 4 Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter by Phoebe Damrosch. I’m saving this book to read when I finally plant my butt by the lake for an entire day of rays and reading. Here’s a foodie’s foodie book if there ever was one. Vermont-born Damrosch eases back the curtain on the inner sanctum of one of America’s finest restaurants: NYC’s Per Se. I’ll get to learn more about monk-like Thomas Keller, who is, in my humble opinion, the high priest of cooking in America. (Yum?I’ll definitely be hungry so I’m lugging his masterpiece, The French Laundry Cookbook to the cottage, too!)

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. I’m excited about revisiting this classic story; it is our book club selection for May.

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. At lunch today, a dear friend told me about this book and so I looked it up on Amazon.com:
“Amazon Significant Seven, August 2007: It's a rare treasure to find a historically imagined novel that is at once fully versed in the facts and unafraid of weaving those truths into a story that dares to explore the unanswered questions. Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney's love story is--as many early reviews of Loving Frank have noted--little-known and often dismissed as scandal. In Nancy Horan's skillful hands, however, what you get are two fully realized people, entirely, irrepressibly, in love. Together, Frank and Mamah are a wholly modern portrait, and while you can easily imagine them in the here and now, it's their presence in the world of early 20th century America that shades how authentic and, ultimately, tragic their story is. Mamah's bright, earnest spirit is particularly tender in the context of her time and place, which afforded her little opportunity to realize the intellectual life for which she yearned. Loving Frank is a remarkable literary achievement, tenderly acute and even-handed in even the most heartbreaking moments, and an auspicious debut from a writer to watch.
--Anne Bartholomew”

Wow- I’m next in our book club queue, so this may be my book for June!

Winter 2008: Smack in the swirl of a harsh New England winter, we endure yet another storm. It’s snowing sideways and I don’t know where we’ll put more piles of the powder! Guess I’ll just have to snuggle in and read some more great books. It’s been a fruitful season for good novels: Away: A Novel by Amy Bloom is about the scarcity and urgency of love. A finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award Bloom writes superbly about women caught in emotional and physical crosswinds. Lillian Leyb is a desperate, beautiful Jewess trying to make her way in New York City during the early twentieth century. She fled Russia with only sewing skills to broker her survival in America. As she digs deep and finds promise in her new surroundings, her real education begins with a father—son—friend team from Broadway’s elite who instruct her in the ways of the real world. The Kept Man by Jami Attenberg is a spicy read. Jarvis Miller is a half-widow from artsy Brooklyn living for six years in limbo as a result of an accident her painter husband had falling off a ladder that leaves him in a coma. Jarvis— his sexy, wild muse wife— rarely leaves the apartment for more than her once-a-week visit to see him. The story explores all the facets of marriages that are rooted in the genius and power of one partner. Jarvis happens upon a group in a Laundromat— three married men called The Kept Men Club—and the story develops from there. People of The Book by Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks is simply magical. Expertly researched and full of tension it is about one of the earliest Jewish religious volumes to be illuminated with images, the Sarajevo Haggadah. Hanna Heath, a rare-book expert restoring the manuscript in 1996 Sarajevo drives the action as she risks everything to protect th book. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, the author of The Kite Runner, is a love story in war torn Afghanistan. I found the book well written but almost unbearably depressing despite the hopefulness of the family’s future. Good Dog. Stay. by Anna Quindlan is about the passing of her long time black lab, Beau. Suffice it to say I read several passages aloud to Puffina the pug, and Speedee our 14 year old corgi, and we laughed and cried throughout the whole story. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin is my book club’s pick this month. It will be fun to discuss in detail this wonderful book with friends. Inside by Canadian writer Kenneth Harvey blew me away. His curt, powerful prose takes us hostage along the journey of a man reentering his neighborhood after serving fourteen years in prison for a murder he was falsely convicted of. Chicago by Egyptian writer Alaa Al Aswany, who also wrote The Yacoubian Building, gives us a rare political view from the inside out. The action takes place at the University of Chicago and we follow the threads of several Egyptian medical students as they navigate democracy in action, and a culture clash between the old and the new, the sacred and the commercial. His writing is powerful, brave and refreshing. The Maytrees by Annie Dillard is simply one of the most beautifully written books ever—it feels like a classic. I loved it so much that I listened to it on tape, as well. Her writing is lyrical, spare and gorgeous. The book is about a Cape family’s life over a period of time: unchanging and changing everything.

Foodie Reads: Best Food Writing for 2007 edited by Holly Hughes is a fantastic treat— you can grab one story at a time— maybe during lunch— and devour every tasty morsel before getting back to real life. Jamie’s Italy and Cook with Jamie by Jamie Oliver are both great cooking books for cooks who want to be even better. Asian Flavors of Jean—Georges Vongerichten is a dreamy collection of recipes with images that definitely qualify as food porn. Read it in front of the fire with a glass of wine. Cooking With Shelburne Farms by Melissa Pasanen and Rick Gencarelli is my new favorite cookbook— you actually want to cook from it! Try the Bacon & Goat Cheese Free Form Tart to blow your pals away. Mesa Grill Cookbook by Bobby Flay is colorful and fresh and spicy— just the right book to drag me through the rest of this snowy winter.

Mac Attack: I’ve made the technology leap to a Mac and I’m lovin’ that little guy, very cool machine. Can’t wait for AT&T to come to VT so I can add an ipod phone! I guess it can keep snowing as far as I’m concerned— I’ve got a mountain of a learning curve to conquer with Mac.

Fall 2007: We’ve had one of the most gorgeous autumn seasons in my 50-year Vermont memory. Golden hot days with perfect temperatures for mountain biking, hiking, and leaf peeping. The foliage season lasted at least a month! The most beautiful peeping for me was the weekend of September 21, 2007 in the Northeast Kingdom. The ruby Maple leaves turned first and made for a brilliant contrast with the Kingdom’s thousand shades of green. I traveled a good deal this fall, too. We vacationed out west in Portland and Seattle (see 9/27 and 10/11 Everyday Gourmet columns for details and foodie info) after sending off our youngest, Quinn, to Lewis & Clark college.

We had a gorgeous golfing weekend at Blarney, and then off to Hilton Head for sun, fun and biking on the beach. Next, we lived it up in Manhattan, near Bryant Park, for a long weekend of shopping, dining, theatre, and street fairs with dear friends. We had a magnificent meal at Picholine with travel writer, Wendy Knight. Add a couple of trips to Montreal wedged in there, and life’s been sweet! (And YES! I am enjoying the “Rest Nest” quite a lot).

Here’s what I’ve been reading, etc. this Fall:

Letter From Point Clear: A Novel by Dennis McFarland is a story about three siblings who reunite at their Southern childhood home after the death of their father. It is a velvet hammer of a book— a subtle exploration of family dynamics, hard wired beliefs, and our ability to change and grow, and it hit me hard. Very well written and one my book club loved. Leonardo’s Swans by Karen Essex is an intriguing historical novel about Da Vinci’s artistry in the Italian courts of Milan and Florence. It made me want to learn everything about him— a good beach read! Run by Ann Patchett was a very enjoyable, relaxing book to read at bedtime. It takes place over a 24-hour period in a Boston blizzard where the lives and fates of three seemingly unconnected families become one.

Veronica by Mary Gaitskill is not for everyone. The story is about a model down on her luck. Kind of a Martin Amis disjointed style; Mary Gaitskill is a writers dream. She writes like no other: it took me forever to finish this book because the sentence structures were so fresh and originally crafted that my highlighter ran out of juice. Mary Ann Wiggins wrote The Shadow Catcher to teach us about the life of Photographer Edward S. Curtis. Her unusual staging of the book proved to be a wonderful read about a character who was a pioneer of the west and of his craft.

Another inspirational read is 85 More Broads by Janet Hanson. It is a compilation of short biographies of women innovators from the famous Ivy league network, 85 Broads. I’ve been reading a few stories each morning before rising and I swear, this book is pure rocket fuel!

Rereads: Just had to say howdy to Jack Kerouac’s On the Road for it’s 50th anniversary and my 50th birthday! And Beloved by Toni Morrison is regularly referred to as the best piece of fiction in the past 25 years. I rarely say, “you should read this.” But seriously, “you should read this.”

Audio— loved French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano on audiobook. I plan to listen to this at least twice a year. Like a great chocolate éclair, it oozes with great advice, health tips, and passion for the good stuff— all in moderation! I also loved Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst. I don’t think I would enjoy it as much in book form, but when Erik Singer reads it, the audiobook grabs you by the throat and transforms the story into something quite remarkable. (I bawled my eyes out at the end).

Foreign Flicks— I have a weakness for the Indy anti—Hollywood studio production. My husband hates them, so I belong to Netflicks and receive 2 really fine foreign films a month and watch them on his men’s night out. Netflicks helps me to keep track of my movie list, and I love it when they show up in the mail— a nice treat. Last evening I settled into bed at 5:45 for Federico Fellini’s lush 167 minute La Dolce Vita with a nice pinot noir. Wow— I want to come back as Sylvia in my next life! The movie is gorgeous as are the Italian stars; I could not get enough of their 60’s chic— incredible! Be sure to have spaghetti on hand as they eat it all through the movie, you’ll be ravenous. I had to pause it for a dinner break. Other favorites: Lives of Others, A Day Without A Mexican, After The Wedding, L’Auberge Espanol, Gabrielle, Talk to Her, Don’t Move, The Bicycle Thief, Il Postino, A Very Long Engagement, and Shattered Glass.

OK UNCLE! I tried but could not do it: Thomas Pynchon’s Against the Day. Anybody else out there? Think I strained my shoulder trying to lift it.

On the nightstand: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini; The Law of Dreams by Peter Behrens; Away by Amy Bloom; Bluebird, or The Invention of Happiness by Shelia Kohler.

Summer 2007: Summer is in full spin with lots of biking, writing, travel and reading. I’ve managed a couple of dreamy stretches at my beloved Blarney Castle cottage on the shores of gorgeous Lake Memphremagog in the Northeast Kingdom. We look west each evening to sunsets and Jay Peak, and I’ve managed to ride my bike over that peak a few times, too.

One whole block of reading time was devoted to “foodie reading” and I think I put on 5 pounds, so ravenous was I the whole time I was reading about amazing food and wine by gifted food writers. Marco Pierre White’s Devil in the Kitchen; Anthony Boudrain’s The Nasty Bits; Mark Ruhlman’s The Reach of a Chef are all worthy reads for food and restaurant aficionados. Much admired novelist, Jay McInerney, is writing a lot about wine now. His wine books Bacchus and Me: Adventures in the Wine Cellar and Hedonist in the Cellar: Adventures in Wine grew from his “Uncorked” column in House & Garden and they are hilarious. Don’t know if my hips or heartburn will last through Gordon Ramsey’s Roasting in Hell’s Kitchen: Temper Tantrums, F Words, and the Pursuit of Perfection, but giving it a stab.

Other fine fiction reads this summer include mystery The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber; Deception by Philip Roth; The Shadow Catcher by Marianne Wiggins and Letter From Point Clear: A Novel by Dennis McFarland.

For non—fiction I was impressed by: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins; The Eudora Welty biography by Suzanne Marrs; and Twenty—Eight Artists and Two Saints: Essays by Joan Acocella, essays that originally appeared in The New Yorker.

Didn’t much care for Saving the World by Julia Alvarez or The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize 2006 winner. Wanted to like them— hoped to— just didn’t.

Here are a few Writer’s Book suggestions. I haven’t read them all yet, but plan to by the time the leaves fall from the trees: 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel by Jane Smiley; Writers on Writing by NYT; The Writing Life by Annie Dillard; Finding Water by Julia Cameron; The Great Failure by Natalie Goldberg; Long Life by Mary Oliver; A Writer’s Diary by Virginia Woolf.

Spring 2007: Winter may have made us a bit crazy, but this spring is positively insane. The Valentine’s Day Dump that gave us 4 feet of powder was fine, but heck, it’s been snowing steadily ever since! On April 15 we had a northeaster drop another 18” in a storm that only comes once every twenty years in April, and that on an existing 9-foot base in the mountains!

I managed to sprint off to Santa Fe, and Taos, New Mexico to avoid the slush and depression that accompanies a stillborn spring. These are destinations I have dreamed of visiting for a while and I was not disappointed. Dining choices are varied, superb, and reasonably priced. Santa Fe has the third largest fine art market in the US– exquisite galleries and museums abound. And here’s the biggie: Santa Fe sponsors 32 miles of mountain bike single track within city limits! Needless to say, my palate, my eyes, and my quads were on overdrive the entire trip. And guess who lives in Santa Fe? The 2007 Pulitzer Prize winner Cormac McCarthy. He recently won for The Road a post apocalyptic tour de force about a father and son struggling to survive in the aftermath of world destruction. I cannot put this haunting tale down. It articulates, in an achingly beautiful way, why we all must be active stewards for our planet– politically and environmentally.

I was smitten by New Mexico last fall when I started reading Julia Cameron’s The Sound of Paper. A dear artist friend gave me the book for my birthday and it is a gem that I read every morning for a spiritual boost of inspiration. Cameron is the author of many fine works, but probably best known for her ground breaking work The Artist’s Way. The Sound of Paper is written from Taos, Cameron’s western retreat, and is filled with beautiful and wise metaphors from nature’s bounty. She can take a simple rainstorm and make magical connections from it. Each day’s reading has an exercise designed to strengthen a writer’s muscles or psyche, and I never tire of rereading favorite passages. It is a book for everyone to enjoy and treasure. Her newest book is an autobiography called Floor Sample.

I visited Santa Fe’s Collected Works bookstore, a real gem among our world of big box bookstores, and spent hours caressing the spines of old and new acquaintances. Good books to read this spring: Saving the World by Julia Alvarez; This Book Will Save Your Life by AM Holmes; The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards; Grace (Eventually) Thoughts on Faith by Ann Lamott; Post–Birthday World by Lionel Shriver; Ant Farm by Simon Rich; Unless by Carol Shields.

Laura Esquivel’s Swift As Desire is a warmly crafted story of multiple generations of a Mexican family at the beginning of the twentieth century. Just like in her seminal book, Like Water For Chocolate, Esquivel manages to weave a rich and complex tale with the lightest touches of humor, passion, and intrigue. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night–time, a debut novel by Mark Haddon, will tickle your funny bone as tears stream down your face. It is the heartbreaking voice of autistic fifteen–year–old Christopher John Frances Boone who relays the events surrounding the death of his neighbor’s dog and how that incident unravels the safe, packaged world he has learned to trust. Haddon has a new novel out, A Spot of Bother, that sharply coveys a slice of British domestic life with large dollops of humor and fine writing. Another debut novel that I really enjoyed recently was And Then We Came to the End: A Novel by Joshua Ferris. If the TV show, The Office, were a novel, this could be it. It is a very funny look at what happens when corporate life, downsizing, and human nature combine to implode the people in the cubicles. If you read Everything Is Illuminated or Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer you know what an original voice he has, especially when channeling children. So imagine my surprise as I’m enjoying the clever and touching The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss, and I hear that distinctive child’s voice. Turns out, Krauss is married to Foer! It got me curious. I found this in a Google of New York Magazine: …She will, in fact, not utter his name within sight of a tape recorder. Can you blame her? She’s living beside a lightning rod, whose alternately hyped-and-reviled second novel, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, has attracted much Schadenfreude. Put together, the power couple is easy to resent. She’s 30, he’s 28. Their debuts were nestled side-by-side on year-end best-of lists in 2002; this year they could well be again. Then there is the multi-million-dollar brownstone on three lots that they just bought near Prospect Park. And there are the striking similarities between their two second novels, which few reviewers have failed to note. Media bistro declared them “obviously collaborative.” (“Is it a cute postmodern joke?” the piece went on. “God knows Foer is fond of those.”)…New York Magazine. This was truly a weird moment in my reading life– go figure.

The Man Booker prizewinner for 2006 was Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss. The story takes place in the Himalayan mountains where orphan Sai arrives on the doorstep of her elderly grandfather. In this brilliant novel we witness what happens when old ways clash with the new. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert is one of my favorite books this year. Just out in paperback, it chronicles the travels of a woman as she learns to know herself on her own terms: through her belly, her heart, and her head. Open Heart by the Dalai Lama was satisfying on the heels of Gibson’s book, a nice rush of thought–provoking spirituality. 10 Days In The Hills by Jane Smiley: I read this at the beach because it promised good writing combined with a little Hollywood glam, but it didn’t hold together for me despite Smiley’s sterling reputation. On the nightstand: Hope, Anger and Dangerous Pursuits Laila Lalmi; My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk.

Last word: I have been enjoying an on–line creative writing course through the New York’s Gotham Writing School. It’s been fun and worthwhile. The online format is an easy and effective way to learn craft (www.writingclasses.com). In preparation for the course I dug out my old favorite Where I’m Calling From by Raymond Carver to remind me how a real short story should be written. Check this classic out if you’ve never read him. Happy Spring: Reading & Writing, Riding & Weeding!

Winter 2007: It’s been a wild weird winter here in Vermont. The lowest snowfall on record, balmy days– then freezing! One day that I was actually riding my bike in 60-degree weather. Since I haven’t been out skiing much on the weekends I’ve been reading a lot.

Right now I am getting my snow fix devouring Snow by Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk, the 2006 winner of the Noble Prize for Literature. It’s about a Turkish poet who is returning from 12 years in political exile in Germany. He is caught in the modern day crosshairs of radical Islam and Western ideals. His investigation of a rash of suicides among teenage girls in the destitute town of Kars is the lens he examines it all through. The tension is tightly wound and the writing smooth and deadly. I am thrilled to have learned about this author who also wrote My Name is Red, among many other excellent novels. I just finished The Emperor’s Children by Claire Messud and enjoyed every syllable of it. This book, voted a NY Times top 5 fiction book of 2006, is about three friends coming of age in Manhattan. It’s the most delicious kind of novel– well written with accessible with curious characters and a subtle but sturdy plot– I was in bed extra early during this read. The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford and The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel were also on the NY Times list and they are patiently idling on the nightstand. (Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, fifth on the list, was outrageously good as well– what that woman does with metaphor! (Please see the review from my Fall 2006 letter). 13 Moons by Charles Frazier is wonderful to listen to on CD. The novel, Frazier’s first since Cold Mountain, is about a young man’s coming of age in the Wild West. Frazier’s magnificent brand of cowboy poetry is written with a razor that’s been packed among leather, tobacco and fear.

Recommended to me and in the queue: Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, Case Histories by Kate Atkinson, This Book Will Change Your Life by AM Holmes and A Sudden Country by Karen Fisher.

Non–fiction: The Audacity of Hope by Barak Obama, and The Female Brain by Dr. Louann Brizendine.

• One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
• 58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.
• 42% of college graduates never read another book.
• 80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.
• 70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.

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Fall 2006: The Cuisine of Cairo
The pungent air hangs like gauze soaked in cardamon, exhaust, and the sweat of 21 million people bustling for survival. The women, swaddled in layers of cloth, routinely courting death sprint across wide streets filled with speeding bumper car rejects. At the crossroads of Africa and Asia, life teems with unvarnished riots of color and aromatic heat. Pyramids of saffron, sweet melon, and cabbage balance alongside ancient carts heaped with greens and bananas in a marketplace where butchers proudly carve fly–crusted meat for the masses.

Children spot you and shout “Halloo!” and “Amerikans!” and with every step you feel freakishly foreign yet warmly welcomed. There is an exotic energy to the streets that is scary yet intoxicating. The poorest hawker will offer you a cup of tea or a coke if you happen to be shopping around 4:00, the ‘hour of hospitality.’ Custom requires gracious acceptance, even to the offer of a cigarette, considered a special compliment. The call to prayer is a bewitching, mournful wail that permeates the city’s loudspeakers 5 times daily as the devout hustle to pray. No matter where you go in Cairo there is always an arrow, even on the ceiling of a hotel room, pointing you towards Mecca. And the famous Nile flows like a powerful snake through the middle of this choreographed chaos, calmly protective of those who dwell in this compelling city.

Last week I visited my daughter, Kate, a student at the American University Cairo, along with my mom, and a dear friend. Cairo had never been on the top ten of travel destinations for any of us, but when this opportunity arose we all jumped, albeit warily. Our friends thought we were crazy. We wondered: will we be safe? What will we do? And then, more enthusiastically, what will we eat?!

We felt completely safe and received a welcome sweeter than the honey soaked Kounafa we ate everyday of Ramadan. We stayed away from street food, eating in places that had treats like molasses with blue cheese and fresh figs on brown bread. Breakfast was often hearty leftovers, as well as eggs, yogurt and smoked fish. Everyday we ordered mezze, an arrangement of bowls filled with fatoush (cucumber and tomato salad), tahini (ground sesame seeds and oil), hummus (chickpea mash), baba ganoush (eggplant puree), and olives, accompanied by fresh pita bread, often baked right in front of us. Artful Nicoise salads, seafood pizza, calamari tempura, and poached fresh bass were favorite lunches. Grape leaves stuffed with rice and mint, shawarma (lamb or chicken on a rotisserie), beef kabobs, chicken curry, and cilantro studded jasmine rice were evening meals. Desserts were plentiful during the holiday of Ramadan: pistachio decked Baklava, rich date tarts, and Umm Ali (a hot raisin cake). Cairo is mysteriously exotic at first, but for those of us who favor a Mediterranean diet, well, Bismillah! (bon appetit). We were right at home in the global kitchen.

A few books by Egyptian writers that helped me prep for my trip included Palace Walk by Nobel Peace Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz; it is part of a trilogy the includes Palace of Desire (II) and Sugar Street (III). Palace Walk invites the reader to peek into the life of a devout Muslim family whose patriarch rules the family according to the strict code of the Qur’an, but leads a private life dictated by his desires during the occupation of Egypt in WWI. The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Asway is a modern day novel that gives us a snapshot of a some of the Egyptians and Ex pats who occupying the Yacoubian Building in downtown Cairo. It’s a complex but quick read and we were lucky enough to see the movie version in Arabic with English subtitles. The movie, extremely well done, has the entire country in a lather as it tackles some formerly taboo subjects. It explores the roles of women, sex and money, homosexuality, jihad, alcohol, the class system and other volatile topics that have, up until now, typically remained below the surface of Egyptian culture.

While I focused on Egyptian literature during the early fall, I am now attacking the huge pile of books that will take me through the holidays. First and foremost: Francine Prose’s new book Reading Like a Writer. It’s looking like a permanent fixture on my nightstand already. Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl, an intellectual mystery set in a North Carolina private school, is getting me to my bed earlier and earlier for the nightly reading session. The Book of Salt, the debut novel by Monique Troung already has me in awe: the author emigrated from Saigon at age six, graduated from Yale then Columbia Law, arguably two of the top schools in the country, and now is a published author–Wow! The book is told from the perspective of the Vietnamese cook for Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein in Paris, 1932. (A perfect related read is The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein.) Food and literature, my favorite combination! Speaking of which– I just finished Bull Buford’s fabulous foodie book Heat. He is the former fiction editor for The New Yorker and his ambition was to become a stagiaire (read: slave) in one of NYC’s most demanding kitchens. His book also journeys to Italy, where we learn about the nuances of pasta and how to kill a pig– the latter falling into the TMI category for me. Anyway, I was hungry the entire time I was reading his book and loved the scoop on the inner workings of restaurant life and the psychology of celebrity chefs.

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Summer 2006: I have had the luxury of spending many sunny days in reading nirvana at my family’s lakeside cottage this summer. Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom is spectacular: the greens greener and the blues bluer than anywhere else in this state. I greet Jay Peak from across sparkling Lake Memphremagog each morning and never tire of the noble profile that keeps me company as I gorge on some of the best fiction I’ve read in years. Disgrace by JM Cotzee, a Nobel prize winning writer from South Africa, is a masterpiece quietly showing up as a simple story of egregious behavior on the surface, but it haunts me long afterward and has the power to actually change not only my thinking, but my actions. That’s true fiction as it’s best. George Hagen’s first novel, The Laments also has South African roots. It reads like a breezy tale of travel but packs a fifty–pound wallop of wisdom and insight into the complexities of family life. It’s a brilliant first effort by Hagen. Licks of Love by John Updike– short stories including one last look at Rabbit and his reverberating libido. Crow Lake by Mary Lawson will break your heart and you’ll thank her for it. Elegant prose framed by the sorry tale of heartbreak for a family in Northern Ontario transports the reader into the world of “what if” when both parents of the Morrison family die and leave their two sons and two young daughters to figure out life for themselves. The Cage Keeper by Andre Dubus lll is a series of bold and dark short stories sculpted out of prison misery and hard living. I’d read anything by him– superb. The Glass Castle is an unforgettable memoir of childhood poverty and resilience by Jeanette Walls. Last, but certainly not least, the Pulitzer Prize winner for 2006: Geraldine Brook’s March.

I managed a little non–fiction in Renata Adler’s Gone, The Final Days of the New Yorker where this veteran writer gives her version of The New Yorker’s heyday under William Shawn and what’s gone wrong with subsequent editors. A bit choppy and somewhat histrionic in some sections, I loved the book nevertheless and learned a great deal about magazine publishing, the world of NYC writers, and my still favorite magazine, The New Yorker.

Next up in the reading queue is John Updike’s Marry Me, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards, Everyman by Philip Roth, The Dream Life of Sukhanov by Olga Grushin, The Goodlife by Jay McInerney, The Powerbook by Jeanette Winterson, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, who wrote Remains of the Day, and Digging To America, by Anne Tyler.

On the non–fiction side: A Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didon, Reporting by The New Yorker’s editor David Remnick, and Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World by Linda Hirshman which first appeared in an essay called “Homeward Bound” in an online edition of The American Prospect.

Dig in and I hope you have a happy summer reading and writing!

Spring 2006: We are actually having a real live spring here in Vermont- a rare treat! Sort of like being surprised with an elegant fruit tart instead of theusual sloppy mud pie. I got an early start on spring by traveling to San Francisco with Jeff, and daughter, Quinn in late March- what a great food town!

I spent one entire day- alone- hiking all over the city just sampling food and wine. At the Embarcadero waterfront I ate the famous Cowgirl Creamery's organic St. Pat cow's milk cheese wrapped in nettles. Devoid of their sting, the nettles imparted a nice smoky artichokeflavor to this special release-for-spring cheese. Then I walked uphill for an enormous and amazing bowl of Boston clam chowder at SanFran’s oldest restaurant, Tadich Grill. What a step back in time: classic bar service with white-coated gentlemen taking care of me- perfection! Then I hiked over town to Market Street and the Zuni Café for sparkling fresh oysters and champagne. I met some local chefs who filled me in on the current cooking scene. Or should I say obscene?

That evening Jeff and I went to Michael Mina- we were staying at the St. Francis Westin in Union Square- this 4 star restaurant sits off the open lobby on an elegant and rarified throne. We couldn’t secure dinner reservations, but we did sit in the in dining room on little sofas and watch the action, sipping martinis and sampling appetizers. That was plenty! On the three course classic menu ($120) there are 90 different preparations alone; just do the math for the 8 course tasting menu- exhaustion! We rested up at E&O Trading Company with a micro brew and their outrageous fresh corn fritters and then got up early and headed to Washington Square/North Beach to line up at Mama’s for the best breakfast I’ve ever eaten. The line moved quickly while we marveled at the very fit Asian women doing Ta Chi in the park.

Our magic meal was on Saturday after we toured and drooled all over the Berkeley campus with Quinn. We had lunch at Chez Painsse: mecca for foodies, and an exciting opportunity for me to share with Quinn why restaurants are so important. Alice Waters started this restaurant April 1, 1980 and lead the farm fresh and slow foods cooking movements over the next 26 years. We were lucky to be there on the 26th birthday to join in celebration and acknowledgement of this important contribution to American’s health, wellness and enjoyment of food.

Avocado and grapefruit salad with spring onions and citrus zest…asparagus vinaigrette with smoked Sonoma County duck breast…northern halibut with Manila calms…gnocchetti with chanterelle mushrooms and wild nettles…almond cornmeal cake with Meyer lemon cream and caramel sauce….yes, the food was divine that day, I was swooning, but thanks to Alice we eat well wherever we go and this has been her influence.

I am most decidedly not a painter, but I’ve been painting this winter and loving it. My teacher is Sage Tucker-Ketcham of STK Studio in Burlington, Vermont. I’ve been painting weekly with my daughter, Christine, a talented painter who is a senior at CVUHS. Christine selected Sage as her community mentor for her graduation challenge project on painting, and I decided to tag along with her for classes. I haven’t written a decent thing all winter, so I thought “what the heck, maybe the painting will stimulate another part of my brain.” It surely has!

Sage is a wonderfully talented free spirit who encourages me to paint without boundaries-- this works well for me since I cannot follow directions and do not care to waste my time learning the technical stuff. I just contemplate the blank canvas for a few moments and start to paint intuitively- whatever comes out, comes out. It is wonderfully relaxing and visually stimulating to dabble in the brilliant colors and textures, to see how the piece changes over time, and how it takes on a life of it’s own, me becoming simply the chaperone.

The best part is the joy I feel each week sharing this time with my daughter, who will be off to college next year launching a colorful life of her own.

I am continually amazed at how many parallels the creative arts share, especially the acts of painting/writing. There is the right brain ‘spill it all over the page/canvas’ stage. Next, a stage of reflection yields suggestions about where the piece might possibly go, and what colors/words could take me there. The refinement stage invites my left-brain to kick in and bring the piece to some kind of logical completion, a place where I can point to it and say “that’s good enough for now, I’m moving on.”

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