Last week, I finished Men We Reaped, Jesmyn Ward’s memoir about her poor, rural, black southern community, her family, and, most of all, the five young men who died within four years when she was in her mid-20s: her brother, cousin and three friends. Her writing makes you feel like you’re eavesdropping from the corner …
Local strawberries are starting to appear. I received two quarts of strawberries in last week’s Produce Box delivery, and saw on Facebook that our nearest strawberry farm is opening this weekend. To celebrate the season I made strawberry bread on Sunday morning. Next time, I might add a streusel topping. In the afternoon, I put …
I didn’t make as much time as I would have liked for books this week, so I’m still reading these three: The Leavers by Lisa Ko A Life of Spice: Stories of Food, Culture and Life by Monica Bhide Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward Next week, I’ll let you know what I …
Regular readers, ahem, Mum, you may be thinking to yourself, doesn’t she usually publish her Kitchen post on Fridays? Why yes, that’s correct, but I’m doing it on Saturdays from now on because I need to work, not play, on Friday mornings. But Saturday mornings are all mine and, besides hiking, I can’t think of …
Happy St. Patrick’s Day. If you’d like to get into the Irish spirit, check out the post I published earlier this week, On My Irish Bookshelf. It includes a list of recommended ebooks by Irish authors—historical fiction, fiction, non-fiction and cookbooks. If you haven’t read Kindred by Octavia Butler, do it. This is one of …
Maybe it was reading (and loving) The Heart’s Invisible Furies by Irish author John Boyne or transcribing my journal from a trip to Ireland long ago, but I’ve been in an Irish mood lately—just in time for St. Patrick’s weekend. If you want to get in the mood, earlier this week I published On My …
Since St. Patrick’s Day (and weekend) is only a few days away—let’s get into the Irish spirit. I’ve got lamb and salmon on my shopping list, brown soda bread on my mind, Guinness in the refrigerator and a bottle of Bailey’s waiting for the right moment. My Irish spirit is strong since I’m three-quarters Irish, …
Good morning, fellow readers! I didn’t get as much book reading done this week, not sure why, so I’m still making my way through Kindred by Octavia Butler and Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope by Shirin Ebadi. I’m enjoying both of them, although I can only read Kindred during the day because I …
I’m ready for the weekend, aren’t you? And I’m luxuriating in the fact that I don’t have any plans. My time is all mine. I’m looking around my office right now and feel the urge to put things in order and declutter. And I’ll read, of course—got to fill the well. It’s going to be …
I started The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne last Saturday afternoon and finished it on Tuesday night—nearly 600 pages! It was that good. Depressing yet comical, deeply drawn protagonist alongside barely sketched caricatures—I want Maude Avery to have her own afternoon talk show!—an endearing journey through 70 years of a gay Irish man’s life …
Grabbing the Gusto 