James Delmage: Family Fair

 I love Italian food. It is heavy on the tomatoes and I love tomatoes. All the other Italian ingredients have been brought alongside with the possible exception of capers. I’m still on the fence about capers.

Jim Delmage has become a must watch for cooking YouTube. He is organized, simple and comfortable with making mistakes and leaving them in. The recipes are a mix of the familiar and enough new things to keep expanding my interest. I’m also trying new products he recommended most notably DeCecco pasta. You can tell he’s cooking for family, especially at the end when James, the taste-tester, comes in. After a large bite and thoughtful chewing Jim’s son reveals how many “James’” the recipe has earned out of ten. The adolescent honesty and the earnest hopefulness of a father charm these moments at the end of the episode.

Good watching and good eating, you’ll find them both on Sip and Feast.

https://www.youtube.com/c/SipandFeast

The Unshelved

I just wanted to say a fond farewell to the latest iteration of apple pop tarts. I have loved the apple flavor since kindergarten. It was nice to reconnect, but they seem to have gone back into the vault. 

Another lost treat is Marshal Mallow Hot Chocolate. It came and went quickly. They had it on sale for nothing, and Dad went crazy. He bought tons of it and we each got a huge sticker. He doled it out all winter. We looked for more when it finally ran out, but they’d gone out of business. The Swiss Miss had done him in.

Imagine this cookie in chocolate. I can’t remember what these were called, and I’m only marginally certain they were made be Keebler. They are like Oreos, but classy. The filling is a fudgey creme, and the wafers are a mix of dutch and natural cocoa, best I can guess. They were so good, and the vanilla version was on equal ground. They were addicting.

I guess that’s enough nostalgia for the discontinued. On to discover the new offerings.
 

With Wings As Equals

Not a rock pretending to be an egg

Not an egg pretending to be a child

I am an equal.

You’re welcome to the nest

The Long Arabian Nights

My father, my sister and I read the Chronicles of Narnia religiously, at least once a year. Every time we got to this quote about Aravis’ storytelling I wanted to get hold of Calormen stories. I supposed they didn’t exist in our world—wrong! The Arabian Nights is obviously the inspiration for Calormen storytelling, even Calormen itself. I read some of the famous stories piecemeal, but only recently sat down to enjoy them all.

If I was going to describe The Arabian Nights with one word it would be cerebral. The gentle and precise approach of these storytellers to their craft reminds me of miniature makers deceiving our mind into seeing a bed from a tin of anchovies. To make the implausible plausible they rely on carefully placed details that allow you to explore fantastic settings, characters and experiences as if they were the most natural thing in the world. Sometimes I wanted less of these details. When I suspend disbelief I like things to move along at a more sprightly pace, but when you consider the framing story of the storyteller’s imminent death you understand why things must go slow.

The stories are interesting. The moral content is generally present ranging from an appeal to Allah to collapse and ruin to those who cheat or steal. There is also an interesting look at this communities’ relationship with authority. While nothing speaks negatively of the ruling class directly, the men in charge are often shown to be self-centered, capricious and cruel. It makes me wonder how people of this time heard these stories, and what they mean today to people struggling under oppressive rulers.

Throw all of that out if you intend to read The Arabian Nights. Simply enjoy the wildly improbable stories that seem perfectly wonderful and natural. Let yourself let go of whatever else you may be thinking of. Read the stories one by one somewhere and some when you can relax. You’ll be hard pressed to choose a favorite.

Lauren: Full of Flossibilities

 

Lauren only posts once a month. This is because she is a very focused stitcher rotating through on average three projects at a time with a tremendous effort being expended on full coverage pieces, huge full coverage pieces. My favorites from her recent projects are Chris Dunn patterns. He has such a gift for anthropomorphizing animals. My all time favorite is “Wise Old Owl”. Every part of it looks like it would be rewarding to stitch and I’m mesmerized by the image. I don’t think I would very well with such a huge piece with as much confetti, but I love it dearly from afar.

Lauren is very soft-spoken. She shares news from her daily life and her mother’s cross stitch projects and finishes. Take time to give her a listen. She’ll only ask for your attention once a month.

https://www.youtube.com/@flossabilities/videos

I Spy on the Country Channel

 

I’ve been listening to the country song, Beer for my Horses. All I can see, despite the beautiful bass soloist, is a woman leading a gang of vigilantes. The song is otherwise just a sop to a manhood that is thankfully shrinking. If it’s a woman you hear, the song has edge and purpose. Try it with my ears. See how it suits you.

The other country song I’m hearing all wrong is I Love This Bar. I sing it, “I love this church.” The everyone is welcome and recognized just for being themselves reminds me of the best church experiences I’ve had, though a lot of those churches were against drinking. Mercy ought to be poured out like alcohol. It has many of the same effects without any hangover.

The Spine! The Spine!

 I have a confession to make. I haven’t finished Plutarch. He’s a lovely old Greek gentleman, and I did enjoy what I did read, but there came a moment when I couldn’t bear his voice or his concerns. I was drowning in more, more, more of the same.

It’s partly my fault. When I was a kid “abridged” was a dirty word. I wanted all or nothing. I hold myself to this standard long after time and common sense should have taught me better. Sometime’s there’s a reason people prefer the abridged. Sometimes it’s better because poor or unnecessary parts have been cut out, but I just can’t bring myself to pick up the popular edition if there is another edition that is more complete.

My spine problem at the moment is The Arabian Nights. The stories are mesmerizing and they bring to life a Muslim culture just as I’ve finished reading the Qur’an. Many of the stories are familiar and that helps, but Persian storytelling is encrusted with detail and not always the rubies and diamonds kind. It all rounds out the story experience, but I’m struggling to not pitch the book across the room when some useless side detail about the servants of the two characters that are in thwarted love. Who cares? Is he going to die or not? 

It is obviously true that this would go much better if I dosed them out one a night like Scheherazade. Even then the excellent and complete The Arabian Nights edition from Barnes and Noble has a two inch spine and tiny font which even so the stories are sixty to one hundred pages—broken up by some much needed and attractive pictures. I have enjoyed it all, but the goal-meeting freak in me is not enjoying the long delay between finishes.

In the future I think I will pair these monster books with short poetry books and such. I pulled out a gift edition of Sonnets from the Portuguese, and the fact that I can complete it at any time is helping me to keep slugging. As for Plutarch I’ll get back to him, maybe this summer.

Protesting

 

In my teen years my denomination protested the showing of The Last Temptation of Christ in movie theaters. They simply couldn’t get over the idea of Jesus falling in love and desiring family life. In the language of the book it was very Judas of them, but we don’t live in the world offered to us by Nikos Kazantzakis.

This story is a very clear example of what happens when a great storyteller gets hold of history. The awkward shaped characters and plot points are smoothed and rounded and made to fit like puzzle pieces. Everything goes hand in hand to make a point. The real glitches and imperfect unions of history are cut off and thrown away leaving you with a fairy-tale. In this case it is a beautiful fantasy, kind of like if Disney did the book of Mark. Daubed into the book’s structure are the author’s ideas about the realities of struggle in the spiritual life, which unfortunately seem to boil down to resisting women and their charms.

Nikos Kazantzakis’ makes women beautiful, but his understanding of what a woman is leaves his beautifully sculpted depictions incomplete, a series of Venus de Milos. I am so weary of the not-quite-human approach to womankind by traditional thinkers. They force women to behave in prescribed ways and then declare that this is what women are. No, this is what you’ve made of them, poor amputated persons.

This book is powerfully and beautifully written. He struggles a bit at the very end, but who wouldn’t? I could not set aside the underlying “understanding” of what women are, but if you can this book is engaging. It is not the book I thought we were protesting rather it is a remanufacturing of the gospel and the struggle of men (specifically those with the XY configuration). I would give it a 5 out of 10.

Thomas Johnson: Never Too Old to Refinish

 My grandfather was a furniture refinisher for D.C. public schools. If someone scratched their name in a desk it was his job to get it out. He also worked with the special needs school to modify their equipment to be better suited to the student’s needs. He liked wood and he liked making things and I liked to watch.

Thomas Johnson has renewed a happy place.  A master craftsman I watch him and I always think, “ So that’s how you do that.” The furniture comes in broken to varying degrees, from missing ball feet to shattered mirrors, and Tom always knows what to do. It’s reassuring. I don’t think I’ll ever do a lot of furniture repair, but I love watching it. I love seeing something get a second act, especially such a beautiful second act as you get from Thomas Johnson Antique Furniture Restoration in Gorham, Maine.

https://www.youtube.com/c/ThomasJohnsonAntiqueFurnitureRestoration

Office Weather

 

My Room of My Own is unheated and over the garage. I try not to complain because so few women have their own office, but I’m just in my fifties and the Michigan cold can seep into your bones if you sit in it long enough to get any significant reading or writing done. Spring, however, is here, and it is time to rescue my office from convenient storage dump to workhorse. I have a flair for building long term projects and amassing the necessary (and extraneous) supplies. It gave me great pleasure to sit The Tale of Genji on my medieval shelf. Little finds like that of books that aren’t widely appreciated, but whose value I’ve uncovered make my library a treasure cave. Frederick Buechner wrote a charming piece about his library that resonated with me even though I was without a library at the time. I’ve enfolded memorabilia into my shelves because he recommended it. It does double the pleasure, but I think it may be time for an edit. I have stock-piled books and stationary and craft supplies, and while I can imagine and explain each items purpose, mostly, I can’t make my office any bigger. My projects will have to shrink to fit my office.

Jesus Fan

 For April I am reading The Last Temptation of Christ. I hoped to read it cover to cover for Easter week. I am enjoying it and will review it later, but I set it aside as the big day grew closer. It just wasn’t my Jesus. It was also a lack luster Lent, and not in the good way. I have always taken the sacrifice of Jesus very seriously, but this year my best sacrifice was eating Cheerios for breakfast. I gave things up. I contemplated, but the best gifts were the ones I accepted from God rather than the ones I gave him. I love Catholicism because my inner relationship with God is accepted and nurtured. It is right to listen to the inner voice and to give it weight. 

My biggest insight this Holy Week was that there are times when God honestly leaves decisions up to me. My fear of disappointing God and missing the mark are useful guides, but there are times when either choice can bring God glory, and all things truly do work together for good. This Lent was about God’s patience with me, and I think I value that more than perfect practice.

Rule Follower

 

 The PF Express is a thirty minute workout very much like the Curves workout I did for years. It’s more cardio than strength, but more strength than your regular cardio. There are muscle strengthening machines that you are supposed to use at an aerobic pace. In between there are recovery stations. At Curves it was mainly running in place at Planet Fitness the poster indicates more strenuous exercises are advised. I’m doing half an hour of cardio before PF Express, so I am simply and literally sidestepping that issue. Yes, I’m taking an hour to workout. After years of guiltily rushing out for a half hour of me time, I’m enjoying the fact that my kids are busy with their own me time most of the time. I love the variety and constant challenge of a clear and easy routine. It’s like a roller coaster you power yourself.

The only problem with the PF Express is that despite clearly posted rules and a reminder sign people come and disrupt my circle. I don’t mind if people use the machines off book as long as I don’t have to ask them to accommodate me when I’m the one following the rules. The Seated Row machine must be the only one of its kind in the building if you don’t count the five rowing machines I aspire to using someday. People regularly clog up that machine for extended periods. I ask politely and most, but not all, will move aside and let me “play through.” I think the problem could be solved if I could recruit more people to the PF Express experience. I know from years at Curves how fun and social it can be. If more people were following the rules and getting the most from the experience the rules would make sense and compliance would come naturally. In the meantime, could we get a seated row machine elsewhere?

Bernadette Banner: Expert in Historical Sewing, Purveyor of Ankle Porn

My great-grandmother’s treadle sits in the dining room with all my fancy furniture. I used to love to sew on it, but the belt was broken and has gone missing. It is high on the list of things that I will want repaired and restored when my children are all grown and gone. 

I think I found Bernadette when I was looking for a medieval dress with bell sleeves. Bernadette had made one and some cheap costume place had ripped off her design. She had great fun destroying their version, and I had fun watching. In a previous life, Bernadette was a costume seamstress on Broadway. She has since become a devotee and expert in historical sewing. Watching her tiny fingers fell stitching something is relaxing and a little awe-inspiring. She tackles beautiful and intriguing garments. With all of history to draw from she has never fallen into a rut.

Co-starring with all those garments is Caesar the guinea pig. Bernadette, if you haven’t already read it you should read Olga da Polga by Michael Bond. It’s a wonderful children’s book about a guinea pig. Caesar has full run of the house and makes many charming appearances. 

Bernadette is fun to watch in her own right, but her content is a worthy partner. She has also written a book, Make, Sew, and Mend that is on my wishlist. Give her a glance.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSHtaUm-FjUps090S7crO4Q