February 3, 2008
Mad steed
To determine the strangest item in The Joy of Cooking would just take too long, I think (though Page 515 would be high on the list, what with the line “If possible, trap ‘possum and feed it on milk and cereals for 10 days before killing”, and other recipes for porcupine or raccoon). But the “Birthday Bread Horse” is especially weird, if in an understated way:
“As our children have always demanded a piece of their birthday cake for breakfast, we concocted a bread horse to be supplemented later in the day by the candlighted cake of richer content… You will need a well-rounded loaf of bread…. Use the loaf for the body. Mount it on four of the candy sticks. Break off about a third or less of the fifth candy stick. Use it for the neck. Stick it into one end of the loaf at an angle. Put the oval rolls on the other end for the head. Use the braided rolls for the mane and tail, the raisins for eyes, the almonds for ears, and the piece of cherry for the lips. Bed the horse on leaves or grass. Add a ribbon bridle to keep this mad steed under some sort of control.”
February 2, 2008
Specific Requirements
Well done, Type Books! We went down there this afternoon (and Trinity Bellwoods Park was winter wonderland, though my right boot sprung a leak in the slush [bollocks]), with very specific requirements, and they satisfied every one of them. Plus they’ve started stocking Miffy. (The girl who worked there said she was the buyer and they’ve always been stocking Miffy, which is absolutely untrue, but I didn’t question her authority). Anyway, enough with the brackets.
Specific requirements: we got When You Were Small for the baby we’re going to visit in California– whose name is Henry, like the boy in the book. We bought Townhouse for his mom. And then, of course, just because I was there, as soon as I saw the hard-to-find Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk, I had to have it. Brilliant!
February 1, 2008
Snow Day
Gobsmack! The university has closed and I’ve been sent home early. Today is officially a miracle.
January 31, 2008
Bits and Pieces
My bits and pieces reading continues, and though all of it’s so good, I’m craving the solidity of a novel. So now reading Like Mother by Jenny Diski (whose blog I keep checking for updates), as well as My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead (which has just done me the great pleasure of introduction to Lorrie Moore).
I’ve been suffering from February in this mean mean wind, and it’s not even February yet. Consolation to be taken from a list of thoughtful artful stuff on the internet, 29 things to be happy about (via Leah), 100 books every child should read, and the teakettle whistle at the end of the Goldfrapp video.
January 30, 2008
Words I encountered
Words I encountered today whilst reading Nabokov: violaceous; canthus; effluvia; elytra; gouache; basilisk.
January 29, 2008
Grateful
Here at Pickle Me This we celebrate twenty years and one day of Canadian women owning their own bodies, a right so many within our circles (for whom this was not just a matter of principle) will be forever grateful for. More from Heather Mallick, activist Jessica Yee, Antonia Zerbisias, and Judy Rebick most bookishly. And of course this guy doesn’t like abortion, but I suppose he’ll never have to have one.
January 29, 2008
Above all things
“I’ve been ringing up to your flat to see whether you were still in London &, if you were, to beg a cup of tea from you. I don’t like shop tea, & I can’t be bothered to make my own, & at the same time tea I love above all things.” — letter from Graham Greene, 14 September 1939 from A Life in Letters
January 29, 2008
Must
I’ve been reading bits and pieces lately, but some of it has been incredible. Last night was reading aloud from The New Quarterly 105 “Umbrella” and “Knife” by S. Isabel Burgess who, according to the internet, is also a Ph.D. student in nonlinear physics and pattern formation. Which isn’t all that surprising, actually, and her poems are amazing.
In terms of short fiction, from My Mistress’s Sparrow is Dead I’ve fallen in love with “Some Other Better Otto” by Deborah Eisenberg, and now her collection Twilight of the Superheroes is a must must. (Today I told RR that some days it is my to-read list that keeps me from jumping out my office window).
Online: 12 or 20 Questions with Lynn Coady (whose Mean Boy you might remember how I loved.)
January 29, 2008
Young girls are coming to the canyon
Though I had a variety of things to get done tonight, none of them seemed to take precedence over compiling a San Francisco/California/USA Mixtape for our upcoming vacation. Actually a playlist, as follows:
1. We Built This City by Starship
2. Big Sur by The Thrills
3. America by Simon and Garfunkel
4. California Stars by Billy Bragg and Wilco
5. (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding
6. Surfin’ Safari by The Beach Boys
7. California by Joni Mitchell
8. Twelve Thirty by The Mamas and the Papas
9. Surfin USA by The Beach Boys
10. Long December by Counting Crows
11. America by Razorlight
12. California Girls by The Beach Boys
13. Drinking in LA by Bran Van 3000
14. California Dreaming by The Mamas and the Papas
15. Feel Flows by The Beach Boys
16. California by Phantom Planet
17. San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers in Your Hair) by Scott Mackenzie
18. Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys
Some selections sure to drive the purists mad, but alas. Dreams come true often have cheesy soundtracks.
