http://stackeff.posterous.com Most recent posts at More Random Musings posterous.com Wed, 06 Apr 2011 16:12:30 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/EnkEkfbm9bQ/46-eatwell-box-weekly-meal-plan http://stackeff.posterous.com/46-eatwell-box-weekly-meal-plan <p> <div><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Meercat" height="585" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/UzGQ70hXQSLc8s3la5NnpRXnEB7trjYYanJlECcXaQPcFUt6ZOCL41kihKDE/Meercat.jpg" width="440" /> </div> </div><p /><div>It has been a long week already, and it is only Wednesday. This weekend was wonderful however, and Devon and I took advantage of the absolutely beautiful weather to drive both up the coast and down it.&nbsp;</div><p /><div>On Saturday we drove up to Healdsburg to walk around, and ate Puerto Rican food in Santa Rosa at El Coqui. On Sunday we went to the San Francisco Zoo, and then drove down to Santa Cruz (accidentally) and ended up eating surprisingly delicious Mexican from a little kiosk called Cafe Campesino.<br /></div><p /><div><div>This week, I've been computer-less (<a href="http://www.samanthatackeff.com/2011/04/and-i-shall-have-some-peace-there/">read more about that here</a>), so I've also been camera-less, more or less. (Sorry, I just had to see how many times I could get that word in a sentence.) My phone is taking relatively decent photos, and for that I'm glad indeed.</div></div><p /><div>It has also given me the opportunity to catch up on reading. I finished Margaret Roach's book 'And I shall have some peace there', and have been slowly going through Ari Weinzweig's 'Zingerman's Guide to Good Leading, Part 1: A Lapsed Anarchist's Approach to Building a Great Business', and Orhan Pamuk's 'Istanbul'. Yes, I vowed to myself that this year I would read one book at a time, but those last two are great books to sort of pick up and put down and savor, so that is exactly what I'm doing.</div><p /><div>I was also incredibly fortunate to get my hands on an advance copy (thank you Ten Speed!) of Heidi Swanson's brand new 'Super Natural Every Day', perhaps the most exciting cookbook I've had in my hands in a long, long while. (But more about that in a minute).&nbsp;</div><p /><div>Behold this week's farm box:</div><p /><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/x5VDw1Iu2OKqpPO5ydoYEOgp2GYWty8RZQDUOgEP08hxwOMfPzVluQLyRbrZ/shot_1302127429854.jpg.scaled.1000.jpg"><img alt="Shot_1302127429854" height="502" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/UUSWGeck7XfyAR4tHXyTBwfUmvDAvA2WzM8EIG89R5iwFrMm5xnPI1Y0PrRu/shot_1302127429854.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> <p /><div><b>Eatwell Farm Box 4.6.11</b>: navel oranges, lemons, dandelion greens, chard, more chard, green garlic, leeks, apples, carrots, savoy cabbage, sweet potatoes and oregano. And a dozen eggs.</div><div><br /><div>More about my inspiration for the week: Heidi, who writes the gorgeous blog&nbsp;<a href="http://www.101cookbooks.com">101 Cookbooks</a>, happens to be one of the sweetest people I have met in the past few years here. <b>I'm looking particularly forward to helping out at Omnivore tomorrow - where we will be hosting a 101 Cookbooks potluck from 6-8 in honor of her new book. </b>(Y'all should swing by!)</div><p /><div>This week, I've been cooking out of her new cookbook with such wonderful success, and I plan to do many more recipes in the coming few days. I've already made her green lentil soup with coconut milk, curry, and brown butter; the weeknight curry which satisfied even the more carnivorous one in the house; and a bowl of lemon-zested bulgur with coconut, poppy seeds, honey and toasted almonds, which was the perfect start to my morning.&nbsp;</div><p /><div>Almost all of my meals this week are directly inspired by this cookbook + a few omnivorous dishes sprinkled in.</div><p /><div><b>Breakfast this week: </b>more of the above lemon-zested bulgur; oatmeal with hazelnuts, yogurt and brown butter; leek and green garlic frittata; yogurt plus mixins.</div><p /><div><b>Lunch this week: </b>open faced egg sandwich with whole grain toast, herbs, and yogurt; kale salad with toasted coconut and sesame oil; &nbsp;stir fry greens and eggs, various leftovers (including Heidi's green lentil soup, which seems to be getting better and better every day and tastes very good cold).</div><p /><div><b>Dinner this week:</b></div><div>- white beans and cabbage with parmesan, potatoes and shallots</div><div>- farro soup with curry powder, lentils and salted lemon yogurt</div><div>- "chard chop" with hard-cooked eggs, almonds, garlic and harissa</div><div>- wild rice casserole (with a little bit of meat, perhaps&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tuesdayrecipe.com/tuesday-recipe-archives/meat/mexican-casserole/">Mexican style</a>)</div><div>- refried beans and tortillas&nbsp;</div><p /><div>And I still have a pork shoulder that I have to think of what to do with.</div><p /><div>One last thing: last night I made Chile Colorado from&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tuesdayrecipe.com/">Tori Ritchie's</a>&nbsp;book '<b>Braises and Stews</b>' with pork from my meat c.s.a. I've made it several times now, each time with such great success. I highly&nbsp;recommend this cookbook.</div><p /><div><b>And you? Anything delicious on tap this week?</b></div><p /></div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/46-eatwell-box-weekly-meal-plan">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/46-eatwell-box-weekly-meal-plan#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/LPW80g6bs1t967iJaCqUx0cJEFY/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/LPW80g6bs1t967iJaCqUx0cJEFY/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/LPW80g6bs1t967iJaCqUx0cJEFY/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/LPW80g6bs1t967iJaCqUx0cJEFY/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/EnkEkfbm9bQ" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/46-eatwell-box-weekly-meal-plan Wed, 06 Apr 2011 14:25:35 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/lScp7SpW1dE/and-i-shall-have-some-peace-there http://stackeff.posterous.com/and-i-shall-have-some-peace-there <p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Peace-cover" height="640" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/HqyBYrsr6SIIWJxpVvLIcV4ugYHNygn39pqIYY7jzFtPIYitb2VswAqpSkXi/peace-cover.jpg" width="423" /> </div> <p /> </p><p></p><div>#13.&nbsp;<b>And I shall have some peace there</b>&nbsp;by Margaret Roach</div><div>Grand Central Publishing, 2011</div><div>272 pages</div><p>Last week, I sat blinking at my computer. What. Is. This. Oh GOD. You see, iTunes had been acting up, and wouldn't shut down, so I just turned off the computer without thinking. When I turned it on again – lo and behold! <i>The&nbsp;White Screen of Doom</i>. (Insert many, many expletives here and some sort of clip of thunder playing loudly in the background, and my shrieking in horror.)</p><p>My life was already in just about as much flux as I choose to handle, so blinked at it for several more moments, and I turned the forsaken object off, put it in the other room, and swam up a river in Egypt. Sometimes, this is the best course of action.</p><p>And then I started reading Margaret Roach's wonderfully introspective book, '<b>and i shall have some peace there</b>'. It was a thoroughly calming experience. Sometimes books fall into your lap at the right moment when you need them most. Many weeks ago I had put this one on my library queue, and it arrived just in time for my crisis.</p><p>Without the explicit intention of doing so, I have lived my life seeking the guidance of strong female role models. The influence most likely, of the strong women in my family. I was raised to believe that women can do anything. I was raised to believe that I could do anything. Margaret Roach is a prime example of the type of woman I am inspired by. Her hard work, incredible accomplishments and perseverance I take to heart every day.</p><p>For years she grew in the Martha Stewart empire, working her way up to the top in part by embracing Martha's mantra <i>"Learn something new every day."</i>&nbsp;She reached a pinnacle of her career and was incredibly good at what she did. But I think she rightfully understood that a career should never be enough. After searching those many decades for herself,&nbsp;at the end of 2007 she quit, and moved to her house in the woods in upstate New York.&nbsp;</p><p>People lauded her for following her dreams, for breaking free, for doing something that countless wished they could do, but won't or can't. Lets just think about that for a moment. If you ask me, it seems like a ridiculous, crazy, insane idea, &nbsp;which, incidentally is exactly why I admire her so much.</p><p>Sometimes I too feel like a crazy person. A few years ago, I decided to leave the comforts of the 'Shire to move across the country to San Francisco. Those same people who taught me that I could be anything I wanted to be, felt, perhaps, that I was a little nuts. <i>I</i> thought I was a little nuts. But they encouraged me anyway – and I feel so lucky about that. There are brilliant people here in San Francisco, and there is someone I love dearly, and there is sunshine and 80 degree days in March. Still, every so often I get nervous and scared that I'm doing something wrong, or making a grand mistake in my life. These fears fill me with anxiety and can be consuming if I don't take proper precautions.</p><p>And then I pick up a book like this one and my fears are quelled for a while at least. Lets be clear here. <i>To move to the country is hard</i>. All these kids who are glorifying farming right now clearly haven't spent a day working on a farm. {I am always reminded of the first day I spent at my CSA pulling carrots from the ground, only to end up not being able to move the next morning from seized muscles and excruciating pain.} To do it with the grace and acceptance of reality the way that Margaret has done is something wonderful. And to be able to write so well about it, well, that is a great accomplishment indeed.</p><p>Just how hard are things? Well, there are snakes, for one. Lots of snakes. And then there is a fear that work will not come again, all the while her funds dwindling. And then there is the unsettling feeling of losing time and her bearings. And then the fear that she will be injured by some sort of fall, or a sharp object, or a bolt of lightening, and she will be lying there and dying and bleeding out alone.&nbsp;</p><p>Throughout the book, she writes to define herself: If she is no longer mroach@marthastewart dot com, than who is she? I find myself thinking this very thought often. For so much of my life, I defined myself by my community, instead of defining myself by me. This isn't necessarily a bad thing when you are living in such a strong community, but to find balance, you have to learn the things that make you, you. For the past several years, by virtue of being in my own version of Margaret's woods I've been forced to determine what defines me, if I am not any longer stackeff@wellesley dot edu? I'm still working on that one, but the answer, I believe, is identifying the things you love (particularly the little things) and seeking to experience them each and every day. &nbsp;</p><p><b><i><span style="font-weight: normal;">And in fact, for the reader, the best part of her journey is watching her learn to appreciate those little things:</span></i><span style="font-weight: normal;">&nbsp;h</span></b>er special tea mug in the morning; the frog soap opera in her pond; and Jack, her semi-wild feline companion. Not to mention those who are there to pick up the mangled gifts from Jack for her and help her with the things that more easily take two sets of hands; becoming the grill master for town gatherings (even though she is a vegetarian, and has been for nearly thirty years); and New Years dinners where pajamas are acceptable attire.&nbsp;</p><p>All of her moments of realization helped me think of my own small wonders. The Wednesday emails from friends; my perfect tenmoku bowl that was a gift from my childhood best friend; the view from Bernal Hill when I have made the effort to trudge up to the top; my library card; and drives down the 1, even though I'm terrified of being a passenger looking over the side of a cliff.</p><div>Ironically, the only thing that bothered me about this book is how much solace she gets from gardening, and how much solace that I do not get from gardening, because I live in a third floor walk up with no soil to dig my hands into. Soon, I shall have to remedy this.</div><p>Beyond the book, which, I think, at this point, you can understand my feelings about, Margaret blogs at '<a href="http://www.awaytogarden.com">a way to garden</a>' and also, helped to create&nbsp;<a href="http://thesisterproject.com/">'the sister project'&nbsp;</a>about cultivating sisterhood of all kinds. She loves&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ranchogordo.com">Rancho Gordo</a>&nbsp;as much as I do, and makes a<a href="http://awaytogarden.com/recipe-baking-up-some-heirloom-beans"> mean pot of baked beans</a>.</p><div>*<span class="Apple-tab-span" style=""> </span>*<span class="Apple-tab-span" style=""> </span>*</div><div>As a final aside, although I've backed up many things, there are some things on my computer that I'll be sad to lose if they are not retrievable (I've yet to go get the thing fixed): my latest bookmarks, the hundreds of RSS feeds that I kept on my computer instead of Google Reader, and a few weeks worth of photos that I had yet to sync to Flickr.&nbsp;</div><p /><div>The good thing about this, is that I've been forced to think about the feeds that I really love. The ones that I added back within the first five minutes to my phone because I don't want to live without for even a week include:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.101cookbooks.com/">101 Cookbooks</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.chookooloonks.com/">Chookooloonks</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.teaandcookiesblog.com/">Tea and Cookies</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://thepioneerwoman.com/">Confessions of a Pioneer Woman</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://pacingthepanicroom.blogspot.com/">Pacing the Panic Room</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.davidlebovitz.com/">David Lebovitz</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.eatthelove.com/">Eat the Love</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.younghouselove.com/">Young House Love</a>, and, um,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.techcrunch.com">TechCrunch</a>. Please note, if you are reading this, and you have a blog which I read and you aren't on this list, I still love you and miss reading your posts. Seriously. Hopefully by next week I'll be able to get everything back safely.</div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/and-i-shall-have-some-peace-there">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/and-i-shall-have-some-peace-there#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/EgJ2OoLhNeKztFCoO-aHMQ2qCyg/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/EgJ2OoLhNeKztFCoO-aHMQ2qCyg/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/EgJ2OoLhNeKztFCoO-aHMQ2qCyg/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/EgJ2OoLhNeKztFCoO-aHMQ2qCyg/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/lScp7SpW1dE" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/and-i-shall-have-some-peace-there Sun, 27 Mar 2011 10:42:59 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/jsrHfjnrJio/dune http://stackeff.posterous.com/dune <p> <div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/63NLsI7P9tNTkJ3NJ3fBtEpxiAU8dHU6NmVNp4H6IF2zgrNMfyafAKDnQx4G/Dune-1.jpg"><img alt="Dune-1" height="397" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/ozQETroN1zofcVB14DhD63Nf7zKXPVzlV3gWGc4eHNhc9tCSn1EGUsI7yOrt/Dune-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> <br /><p /><div>#12. <b>Dune</b> by Frank Herbert</div><div>Originally published by Chilton Book Company, 1965</div><div>509 pages</div><p /><div><div>I've been quietly working through the BBC&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/">big read list</a>&nbsp;as a source of new reading material. I've only read about a third of these novels in the past and feel a little bit ashamed of that. It's a nice project. I have the list saved, and I've been noting the ones that I've read as I go along – not in any particular order, just as they strike my fancy. #39 is&nbsp;Dune. And somehow, despite my science fiction and fantasy focused childhood reading habits, I had skipped this one, and I thought that now might be an appropriate time to take a go at it.&nbsp;</div></div><p /><div>Dune is widely heralded as one of the most well known and best selling science fiction novels ever written. For good reason: it's well thought out, concisely written, it has engaging characters and plenty of real world analogies.&nbsp;</div><p /><div>The story line follows the life of Paul Atreides, son and heir to Duke Leto Atreides, after they assume control over the desert planet Arrakis. Arrakis is home to a coveted spice drug called "melange", which is desired all throughout the galaxy. It also is home to a native people, the Fremen, who for generations have been exploited by the ruling Harkonnen family. &nbsp;</div><p /><div>Frank Herbert's son Brian describes the many themes of the novel well in his post-script to the anniversary edition,&nbsp;</div><p /><div><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style=""> </span>"When my father and I became close in my adulthood and we began to write together, <span class="Apple-tab-span" style=""> </span>he spoke to me often of the importance of detail, of density of writing. A student of <span class="Apple-tab-span" style=""> </span>psychology, he understood the subconscious, and liked to say that Dune could be <span class="Apple-tab-span" style=""> </span>read on any of several layers that were nested beneath the adventure story of a <span class="Apple-tab-span" style=""> </span>messiah on a desert planet. Ecology is the most obvious layer, but alongside that are <span class="Apple-tab-span" style=""> </span>politics, religion, philosophy, history, human evolution, and even poetry. Dune is a <span class="Apple-tab-span" style=""> </span>marvelous tapestry of words, sounds, and images."</i></div><p /><div>Like Tolkien, a great philologist who drew from Germanic, Old English, and Finnish to create his fictional languages, Herbert is clearly interested in linguistics and draws widely from Middle Eastern languages and French. I found myself most amused perhaps at one linguistic pun: Herbert names the desert shanties "yali" – where in Turkish, the word "yalı" is used to connote fairly opulent waterside residences. &nbsp;</div><p /><div><i><span style="font-style: normal;">Published just a few years after Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring', the environmental implications of the book are well conceived. What's perhaps more interesting is in reading it now, more than forty five years later,<b> </b>the parallels to modern day foreign politics are startling. But that's the mark of a great story, right? – It's message is timeless.&nbsp;</span></i></div><p /><div>And for the record, I read the e-book, and do not own a glorious first edition copy of Dune with the fabulous cover above. <i>Look at that font!</i> A signed copy is running for $5500 right now on Ebay, if anyone has the pocket change - this seems like an absurdly good deal.</div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/dune">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/dune#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/vrvgmcakTGbkYS2-4MDxJZZCAx8/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/vrvgmcakTGbkYS2-4MDxJZZCAx8/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/vrvgmcakTGbkYS2-4MDxJZZCAx8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/vrvgmcakTGbkYS2-4MDxJZZCAx8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/jsrHfjnrJio" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/dune Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:54:07 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/Ss9Shh_V0po/323-eatwell-box-weekly-meal-plan http://stackeff.posterous.com/323-eatwell-box-weekly-meal-plan <p> <div><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/ISXXuaQEsxq3avC8Th8s7GG2W3CB2Im5bCAwSnTj7Bg6hot5VkyafRQgQlWr/Citrus.jpg"><img alt="Citrus" height="334" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/ly1wGUpSvognlT2VYOYBB8BiNYjCF2XzN5VYRvtBWr4frYjmif1mOivwsaIw/Citrus.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> </div><p /><div>I've been thinking about <b>spring time habits</b>&nbsp;lately – I'm working on my seasonal to-do list this week. List making is a happy habit. I love drawing from design blogs, food blogs, books, even movies and finding things that would make me happy to do or participate in. I've also been spending time in the past few weeks playing with <i>Pinterest</i>, a site that allows you pin visual inspiration and arrange it all in a pleasantly aesthetic format. If you'd like to check out my procrastination,&nbsp;<a href="http://pinterest.com/alphaprep/pins/">it's in progress here</a>.&nbsp;</div><p /><div>One item most definitely on my to-do list will be to <b>keep flowers and greenery in my house on a more regular basis</b>.&nbsp;It is currently pouring in San Francisco, but I'm sitting on my sofa, drinking a strong cup of Vietnamese coffee, and the daffodils on my coffee table are blooming. Daffodils are wonderful because you can buy the closed stems for a dollar or two, and then by the next day they have popped right open and you can almost hear them screaming "Hello! I am blooming like whoa!". I promise I tried to think of a better adjective, but "like whoa" seems to be fairly apt in this situation.</div><p /><div>I also plan on taking full advantage of citrus season. These beautiful fruits were in my farm box this week, and I took the opportunity to introduce them to one of the most surprisingly useful kitchen tools we own: our <b>electric citrus juicer. </b>As much as I like doing things by hand in the kitchen, the machine has been particularly useful for last minute fresh orange juice, or say, juicing 10+ limes for frozen margarita popsicles. [I can't post the recipe for those, but it's one of my favorites from&nbsp;<a href="http://amzn.to/gD424V">Karen's upcoming book</a>&nbsp;that I worked on last year.]</div><p /><div>Another spring goal will be to continually work on <b>balance</b>. I've been a little bit too liberal the past couple of months with my "let's just have burritos/pizza/nepalese" take-out choices. I've also become sluggish, spending more time in the car, and less time out and about walking and playing. This seems to happen every winter, and spring is a good season to shed bad habits by crowding them out with the good ones. Like eating more vegetables. And so, I give you this week's Eatwell farm box:&nbsp;</div><p /><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/qhE9LHmrBAf1TkmZQCS5habcpwfxY5OH6jOOz082t8T7zEKGJ3IhsVTtD6UM/Eatwell3_23_11.jpg"><img alt="Eatwell3_23_11" height="334" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/Q8TbZztyvI8EPHFEZ5SFhX8lV9BRt9c3zlZXv7v8jC2t3zXqKtJZH1thtwDr/Eatwell3_23_11.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> <br /><p /><div><b>Eatwell Farm Box 3.23.11</b>: chives, lemons, navel oranges, stir-fry mix, red russian kale, celery, green garlic, leeks, pink lady apples, red cabbage, carrots.</div><p /><div>I also stopped by Trader Joe's this morning, which was actually an excuse to get another thousand steps on my Fitbit. I also wanted to pick up some more green vegetables to mix and match with our meal that Devon would like. He's not so keen on cooked leafy greens, which the farm box has a lot of that this time of year. I bought some baby spinach, broccoli, asparagus, zucchini, all organic. I also have a couple of heads of romaine in the fridge, because it lasts quite a long time, and is good for making last minute salads.</div><p /><div><b>Breakfast this week: </b>porridge with grated&nbsp;apple and biscoff spread, sweet potato with cinnamon and sugar, yogurt + mixins, oats, and eggs. I should get more creative here, but I like relying on my staples.</div><p /><div><b>Lunch this week :&nbsp;</b>stir-fry mix and eggs, braised greens in tomato sauce,&nbsp;spinach and egg with yogurt and tapatio, lentil dal, various leftovers</div><p /><div><b>Dinner this week:</b>&nbsp;</div><div>- roast sweet potato with leftover baked beans + roasted broccoli + caesar</div><div>- egg bowl ("Paul-bim-bop" from MadHungry) + pickled cucumber salad</div><div>- socca (chickpea flour bake) + roasted asparagus + espresso chili</div><div>- pork chops + Turkish stewed zucchini</div><div>- palak paneer + chickpea curry + spinach</div><div>- bulgur pilaf with beans and sausage&nbsp;</div><p /><div><b><i>“Hey I’m crafty” tip of the week</i>:</b>&nbsp;Last week I was at my friend Karen's house and her partner Matthew had made a really good yogurt dressing with mint for their salad. This reminded me how much I like yogurt dressings - so I made one of my favorites last night for dinner. <b>Yogurt "Caesar"</b>: squeeze a couple of teaspoons of anchovy paste in a bowl, and stir in 1/2 cup whole milk yogurt (or greek yogurt). Swirl in a teaspoon or so of garlic oil (I make my own or use Garlic Gold), add a generous amount of fresh black pepper, and about an ounce of freshly grated parmesan. That's good for a couple of heads of romaine.&nbsp;</div><p /><div>One last thing. I was watching Rachael Ray on mute with subtitles today at the gym, and she made a wonderful dessert that I'm planning on trying: <b>Amaretti Ice Cream Balls</b>. You crush up some amaretti cookies, pour on a little bit of Disaronno, and then scoop big scoops of vanilla ice cream and roll them in the cookie crunch. Chill in the freezer, and then pour on some chocolate sauce to serve. Genius.&nbsp;</div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/323-eatwell-box-weekly-meal-plan">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/323-eatwell-box-weekly-meal-plan#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/tRT8E8Z_HCuaneoDXpyV7vre8w4/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/tRT8E8Z_HCuaneoDXpyV7vre8w4/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/tRT8E8Z_HCuaneoDXpyV7vre8w4/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/tRT8E8Z_HCuaneoDXpyV7vre8w4/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/Ss9Shh_V0po" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/323-eatwell-box-weekly-meal-plan Tue, 15 Mar 2011 11:57:18 -0700 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/6l_wM97OsGQ/dead-in-the-family http://stackeff.posterous.com/dead-in-the-family <p> <div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/zBeC2wX8h20xSQfrmMvWI2o5tMHvw5dNEH13i0ZpZh4h849vQQF9NdvmFmQQ/deadinthefamily.jpg"><img alt="Deadinthefamily" height="357" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/TK9nqTawrJcKhpDI6kN3Pg9NiaeU3LJHhHxQknBCuEOdYj4LjxywHsdhbMrJ/deadinthefamily.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> <br /><p /><div>#11. <b>Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 10)&nbsp;</b>by Charlaine Harris<div>Published by Ace Books, 2010</div><div>311 pages</div><p /><div>Okay, <i>bear with me here</i>.</div><p /><div>In August, Beth, who works next door in the pet store, handed me a copy of Charlaine Harris' first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series. I think she actually just put the book into my bag and walked away. Beth is sly about things. Such as handing me really delicious cupcakes and cookies. She routinely sets down freshly baked goods in front of me at the precise moment in which I am the hungriest. &nbsp;How does she do it? "You know you want just one.<i>.."</i>&nbsp;she whispers. I do. I want just one. Until an hour later when I come around the corner for more. And then they laugh at me. <i>But I love cookies!</i></div><p /><div>This Sookie Stackhouse thing was a little bit similar. I took the book. Just one, I thought. I'll read just this one. But we know how that turns out. And now I've finished the tenth in the series and I've reached literary real-time. I have to wait until May for a new one, and I'm bitter about that.&nbsp;</div><p /><div><b>Dead in the Family </b>is an entertaining edition in the series. Sookie is in a dedicated relationship with her Viking vampire friend Eric. She has a glut of family problems: a fairy cousin who moves in because he is lonely, an estranged and possibly violent uncle trespassing on her property, and a young cousin she is looking after who shares her "gift". All the while her home of Bon Temps, Louisiana is experiencing territory wars. And who should show up in the midst of everything but the vampire form of Alexei Romanov? (Perhaps though, not as exciting as "Bubba" the vampire form of Elvis who makes several appearances throughout the series and <i>eats cats</i>. Hehe. )&nbsp;</div><p /><div>These are not literary masterpieces, I'll acknowledge that. But sitting down with Sookie is fun. Unlike certain other books in the vampire/werewolf genre, Sookie is a likable protagonist who seems relatively in control of herself. And also unlike certain other books of the genre,&nbsp;I never feel the burning desire to slap her. That is a good thing, right?</div><p /><div>And...I shouldn't have to justify myself for indulging in literary escapism, right?</div><p /><p /><p /><p /><p /></div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/dead-in-the-family">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/dead-in-the-family#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/yzn59sh0eFA13WibnCy4uLlkFbI/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/yzn59sh0eFA13WibnCy4uLlkFbI/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/yzn59sh0eFA13WibnCy4uLlkFbI/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/yzn59sh0eFA13WibnCy4uLlkFbI/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/6l_wM97OsGQ" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/dead-in-the-family Fri, 11 Mar 2011 17:15:45 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/PdsAx5c9piw/a-visit-from-the-goon-squad http://stackeff.posterous.com/a-visit-from-the-goon-squad <p> <div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <img alt="Goonsquad" height="500" src="http://getfile5.posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/5DRQxNdjJMdGmS7PMZosimUVd6N453petE1yMliZUNDIN1DGrzhhMHXRUPIe/goonsquad.jpg" width="500" /> </div> <p /><div>#10.<b>&nbsp;A Visit from the Goon Squad</b>&nbsp;by Jennifer Egan<div>Published by Knopf, 2010</div><div>288 Pages</div></div><p /><div>You should probably go out and read this book.</div><p /><div>I distrust what society deems as "the best of". You wrote a Best movies of 2010 list? And, you put Twilight on said list, you say? No thank you. Unless you are Roger Ebert, I'm probably not going to trust your judgment. Best book lists though are another story. I figure that if you sit down and read 10+ current novels in any given year, you operating on an intellectual level that at least merits my paying the list some sort of attention. And so&nbsp;I picked up '<b>A Visit From the Goon Squad</b>' because it was on nearly every best of list.</div><p /><div>And yesterday it won the <b>National Book Critics Circle Award</b> for top fiction. There was some scandal too! The LATimes covered the book's win (over Franzen's <i>Freedom) </i>and decided to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-na-0311-book-prizes-20110311,0,1138159.story">put a picture of Franzen (not Egan)&nbsp;</a>as the chosen image for the blog post. Way to go, LATimes.</div><p /><div><div>The plot deals with music, the passage of time, and even a dystopian future. You jump back and forth through a series of entangled stories. All of the stories revolve around a music producer, Bennie Salazar, and his assistant, Sasha. Except they don't really.&nbsp;</div><p /><div>Jennifer&nbsp;Egan writes well. She's clever and inventive. Her characters are strongly developed. She has an entire chapter in PowerPoint form. Incidentally, I had a hard time reading this chapter in e-book form on my phone, because the slides wouldn't enlarge. But, Egan wants you to go out and buy her book in hardcover, so I guess I can't really complain.</div></div><p /><div>It would be remiss of me to not mention that there were characters that I did not like, and whole stretches that I would have preferred not to read. However, after the fact, I would say that I loved the book as a whole. Perhaps that's why it took me almost a week and a half to come to terms and post this. <i>Hello, postmodernism..</i>. Go read it.</div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/a-visit-from-the-goon-squad">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/a-visit-from-the-goon-squad#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/6TH0vEvNx1KimFxhuMefYBKhmX8/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/6TH0vEvNx1KimFxhuMefYBKhmX8/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/6TH0vEvNx1KimFxhuMefYBKhmX8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/6TH0vEvNx1KimFxhuMefYBKhmX8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/PdsAx5c9piw" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/a-visit-from-the-goon-squad Wed, 09 Mar 2011 16:16:15 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/PwyXB6EeDnk/39-eatwell-farm-box-and-weekly-meal-plan http://stackeff.posterous.com/39-eatwell-farm-box-and-weekly-meal-plan <p> <div><b><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/4TkiGHf0LDdNpRJeR20Zr4UJU5Fje7WzhSVsBeKkm3jdt3g04Wkpo6yPpHVA/EatwellMarch9Box.jpg"><img alt="Eatwellmarch9box" height="337" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/vBZFbkwnLSv6Md39K3wazTtbK3goqU20KhOLpXgrHKDQ6VKaFqcO7VVioV7H/EatwellMarch9Box.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> </b></div><p /><div><b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><b>Eatwell Farm Box 3.9.11:</b></span><span style="font-weight: normal;">&nbsp;<i>o</i></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>ranges, tangerines, dandelion greens, stir fry mix, savoy cabbage, leeks, green garlic, celery root, apples, carrots, dried peaches.</i></span></b></div><p /><div>I'm looking forward to getting this month's&nbsp;<b><a href="http://godfreyfamilyfarms.com/">Godfrey Farm Meat CSA</a>&nbsp;</b>installment on Saturday, so this week will be about finishing up some leftovers. I still have some of the ground beef and the breakfast sausage, so I'll be getting creative with those.</div><p /><div>Yesterday was customer appreciation day at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.rainbow.coop/"><b>Rainbow Grocery</b></a>, so I braved the insanity and stocked up on some pantry items: more basmati rice, oats, spices, and other things that I needed - all for 20% off. Rainbow used to put 20% off coupons in the AT&amp;T phonebook that you could use on certain days a month, but they discontinued it this year, and they are looking for new ways to give back. Customer appreciation day was nice - because everyone in the store got the discount rather than those with a coupon.</div><p /><div><b>Breakfast this week: </b>home made<b>&nbsp;</b>corn muffins, cinnamon and banana oats, scrambled eggs on buttered toast, yogurt and mix-ins, Trader Joe's high fiber oh's.</div><p /><div><b>Lunch this week: </b>leftover black bean soup with fried egg, asian green stir-fry, leek and green garlic omelet, chickpea and yogurt soup, smoked scamorza sandwich, swedish seafood soup, red lentil dal</div><p /><div><b>Dinner this week:</b></div><p /><div><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">- tomato soup with orzo and grilled cheese sandwiches</span></b></div><div><b>- </b>Jossy's Burmese Spicy Cabbage from<i> Leon 2,&nbsp;</i>served over brown rice noodles</div><div><b>-</b> roasted cauliflower&nbsp;with breakfast sausage, chilli + fennel,&nbsp;served with crusty bread</div><div>- Greek-ish Butter Bean Stew&nbsp;with feta and poached egg</div><div>- Ethiopian red lentils and rice</div><div>- köfte&nbsp;(Turkish grilled meatballs) with tomato bulgur pilaf and salad</div><p /><div><b><b>Extras to mix things up during the week (or sides that I batch-cook on my weekend</b>): &nbsp;</b>carrot salad,&nbsp;roasted butternut squash, a batch of rancho gordo beans.</div><p /><div>And you? <b>What is for dinner this week?&nbsp;</b></div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/39-eatwell-farm-box-and-weekly-meal-plan">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/39-eatwell-farm-box-and-weekly-meal-plan#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/OkH9Yv3d2pSj4Hj7N9uIbUMZZaA/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/OkH9Yv3d2pSj4Hj7N9uIbUMZZaA/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/OkH9Yv3d2pSj4Hj7N9uIbUMZZaA/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/OkH9Yv3d2pSj4Hj7N9uIbUMZZaA/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/PwyXB6EeDnk" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/39-eatwell-farm-box-and-weekly-meal-plan Sat, 26 Feb 2011 12:51:13 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/u-g56rA6kq8/the-imperfectionists http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-imperfectionists <p> <div><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/jxxEyeImepTaLz9wjRp8g2AhlSv38CRdrEfRe3jH52RB09hsGObjlGzJhgGX/theimperfectionists.jpg"><img alt="Theimperfectionists" height="402" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/XRkw33UNHgRN0JkAiQP31cTdsrHn0AxVeNmTrYKGmC0drkbLHNGZUK2yzUdL/theimperfectionists.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> </div><p /><div>#9.&nbsp;<b>The Imperfectionists</b>&nbsp;by Tom Rachman</div><div>Published by The Dial Press</div><div>288 pages</div><div><i>(I read the 243 page e-book)</i></div><p /><div>I once had a wild and crazy idea that I was going to work for a newspaper. A family friend, Sheryl, is the food editor for a major news publication, and I went on for a while thinking it might be my dream job. I still would like to have an article in the New York Times, but my deepest desires and yearnings have been fulfilled by access to social media. With a blog, you get to be the writer, editor, and president of the board. Now, granted, there certainly are times when I'd prefer a hired editor, but you can't win 'em all.</div><p /><div>Over the past few years, I've particularly enjoyed reading the memoirs of those in the business. It so happens that the food writers of the New York Times are some of the most prolific. I enjoyed&nbsp;Ruth Reichl's books about mastering disguises while working as the restaurant reviewer, Kim Severson's 'Spoon Fed' about rising in the ranks from a small-time newspaper in Alaska, to ultimately writing great in depth stories at the Times. There is Melissa Clark's cross-genre cookbook-memoir 'In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite'. And then there was Frank Bruni's frank confessions of weight problems his entire life and balancing his role as the restaurant reviewer in 'Born Round'.&nbsp;</div><p /><div>I picked up The Imperfectionists because I knew from the cover it was about a newspaper, and I heard people were buzzing about it. The author, Tom Rachman, I had heard worked at the AP, and given my general fondness for the books of journalists (see above), I thought I'd give it a go.&nbsp;</div><p /><div>The Imperfectionists is a novel about a failing English language newspaper in Italy, and is written in eleven parts, each highlighting a different participant in the saga. Interspersed between each chapter is a flashback to the original founding story of the newspaper. I like books that are clever. This is one of them. It isn't earth-shattering fiction, but it is pleasing. I like reading the drama of pathetic and quirky characters and there certainly are a few in this book.</div><p /><div>While I certainly enjoyed it, the best part of the book (for me) was the conversation in the reader's guide in the back with the author and Malcolm Gladwell. Witty, perceptive, and illuminating.&nbsp;</div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-imperfectionists">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-imperfectionists#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/S0k1Lvnj9ykXPr8FE5Cf_l4amos/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/S0k1Lvnj9ykXPr8FE5Cf_l4amos/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/S0k1Lvnj9ykXPr8FE5Cf_l4amos/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/S0k1Lvnj9ykXPr8FE5Cf_l4amos/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/u-g56rA6kq8" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-imperfectionists Fri, 25 Feb 2011 11:33:59 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/QDV71qMTnhc/cutting-for-stone http://stackeff.posterous.com/cutting-for-stone <p> <img src="http://petitfoursandhottamales.com/wp-content/uploads/cutting-for-stone.jpg" height="500" width="500" style="padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px; padding-bottom: 8px;" /><p /><div>#8.<b> Cutting for Stone </b>by Dr. Abraham Verghese<div>Published by Knopf, 2009&nbsp;</div><div>560 pages, Hardcover</div><div><i>(I actually read the 602 page e-book version).</i></div><p /><div>When I first read about Dr. Abraham Verghese, it was in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/health/12profile.html?_r=1&amp;ref=science%20%0A">an article in the New York Times</a>&nbsp;lauding his work as a physician whose mission is to revive the dying art of the physical.&nbsp;With his colleagues, he created<a href="http://medicine.stanford.edu/education/stanford_25.html"> the Stanford 25</a>&nbsp;- a checklist of basic steps that can drastically improve patient care. (Having recently read&nbsp;<a href="http://www.samanthatackeff.com/2011/01/the-checklist-manifesto/">The Checklist Manifesto</a>, by Dr. Atul Gawande, I have a new appreciation for his accomplishment.)</div><p /><div>In the medical profession, too often doctors are inclined to order another test, or prescribe a drug before checking to see if the simplest (and usually lowest cost) method will work. It isn't necessarily their fault, either - I know first hand my power of persuasion as a patient got me multiple round of dangerous antibiotics when rest and simple treatments would have done dandy. Culturally we are inclined to want what is perceived as the "best" option, usually the most expensive test, or the most powerful drug - when what our body needs is actually the lowest possible dose. The power of the human body to heal itself is truly amazing, and too often we don't give it enough credit.</div><p /><div>In countries that don't have the luxury of extra funding and absurd health insurance systems, you become an expert at triage, and learn to do great things with less. Discovering simple, effective treatments is better for the patient and the wallet.</div><p /><div>For Dr. Verghese, practicing efficient medicine was ingrained from the beginning.&nbsp;Born to Indian parents who were teachers in Ethiopia, he went through medical training in both Ethiopia and Madras, India. After political strife deposed the Emperor Haile Selassie, he left for America and nearly abandoned his medical studies, before a change of heart brought him back to India to finish. He returned to America and began working with infectious disease, particularly the HIV epidemic during the '80s. Fast forward a few decades and he is now a tenured professor at Stanford Medical School, and somehow in between he managed to get an M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers' Workshop.</div><p /><div><i><span style="font-style: normal;">"Cutting for Stone" is his epic first novel, over six hundred pages, and it took me almost two weeks to read it. (For me, quite a long time.) I enjoyed it immensely. On the surface, it is about twin boys growing up in Ethiopia at a country hospital called Missing (a mispronunciation of Mission). The boys, Marion and Shiva Stone lost their Indian born birth mother in childbirth, causing their British born father, a surgeon named Thomas Stone to leave in anguish.&nbsp;</span></i><i><span style="font-style: normal;">Their lives are chronicled as they grow up in diverging directions over three continents. The book touches on the politics of Ethiopia and Eritrea, all facets of medicine, family, and loss.&nbsp;</span></i></div><p /><div><i><span style="font-style: normal;">As a writer, Verghese's strengths are in the details of his storytelling and his keen attention to human emotion - the same traits, as it seems, which make him a great physician.&nbsp;</span></i></div><p /></div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/cutting-for-stone">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/cutting-for-stone#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/JSkinhwFSQaVs2Up1XvxQ3AJwnM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/JSkinhwFSQaVs2Up1XvxQ3AJwnM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/JSkinhwFSQaVs2Up1XvxQ3AJwnM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/JSkinhwFSQaVs2Up1XvxQ3AJwnM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/QDV71qMTnhc" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/cutting-for-stone Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:46:05 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/XRmi1AaX-V0/223-eatwell-farm-box-and-meal-plan http://stackeff.posterous.com/223-eatwell-farm-box-and-meal-plan <p> <div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/NkJGQivZGplf8SvmWjXQN7pmSGN9pLCthbFJ6v9KkKuf3XmDL7IHTlVHCYvh/Feb_23_Eatwell.jpg"><img alt="Feb_23_eatwell" height="319" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/kGdmORdqqATI4xhnweaXH5h7BrGaOATI2IlZ2S2bemtdXfcWDj91Q8gu4sGZ/Feb_23_Eatwell.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> <p /><div><div><b>Eatwell Farm Box 2.23.11</b>: <i>Lemons</i>,&nbsp;<i>Navel oranges, lettuce, parsley, broccoli, spring onions, collards, green garlic, carrots, pink lady apples, butternut squash and eggs.&nbsp;</i></div></div><p /><div>I still have several leeks left over from two weeks ago, and I picked up some bananas this week from Trader Joe's. I have a sort-of-boycott against bananas because of politics, agricultural methods and the fact that you can't get them locally grown. They win out once a month or so because of their practicality as a food.&nbsp;I've also been doing pretty well finishing up the leftovers in my fridge, and keeping my freezer relatively clean.&nbsp;</div><p /><div><b>Breakfast this week: </b>eggs, steel-cut oats {batch cooked, and frozen into 3/4 cup portions}, yogurt plus mixins, pancakes if I get my act together.</div><p /><div><b>Lunch this week: </b>sardine and chickpea-apple salad, broccoli and quinoa salad with marinated feta, chicken soup, soba noodles with ginger peanut sauce, unforeseen leftovers of some kind.</div><p /><div><b>Dinner this week:&nbsp;</b></div><div><b>-&nbsp;</b>bacon and leek frittata and a side salad</div><div><b></b>- refried beans with linguica <b>&nbsp;</b></div><div>- collard greens (Lee Bros. style?) + veal chops*</div><div><b>-&nbsp;</b>plain ole'&nbsp;pasta with tomato sauce</div><div>- bbq pulled pork</div><p /><div>*I'll get on my soapbox here for a moment and say PLEASE do not buy veal at the grocery store.&nbsp;(Despite the tasty tastyness of veal, I haven't had it in forever because of the major ethical implications of how unhumanely veal is commercially raised. "Unhumanely" would be an understatement. Now that I get nice happy vealies from a tiny farm, I'm looking forward to the occasion.)&nbsp;</div><p /><div><b><b>Extras to mix things up during the week (sides that I batch-cook on my weekend</b>): &nbsp;</b>Steel cut oats, baked farro with cheese, roasted butternut squash, a batch of rancho gordo beans.</div><p /><div><b><i>"Hey I'm crafty" tip of the week</i>: </b>A few weeks ago I got celery root in my farm box. I cut it into very small pieces, and put it in the fridge in a container. It has lasted for weeks, and I've used it anywhere I'd use celery - e.g. for "mirepoix" with onions and carrots as the base to pretty much every dish I make.&nbsp;</div><p /><div>Okay, I've shared. Now it's your turn.&nbsp;<b>What are you making this week for dinner? </b>Chances are, I'll steal your ideas next week... Ideas in the comments, please!&nbsp;</div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/223-eatwell-farm-box-and-meal-plan">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/223-eatwell-farm-box-and-meal-plan#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/gJXEYF3BCtsbT6pUww7daNS_dis/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/gJXEYF3BCtsbT6pUww7daNS_dis/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/gJXEYF3BCtsbT6pUww7daNS_dis/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/gJXEYF3BCtsbT6pUww7daNS_dis/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/XRmi1AaX-V0" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/223-eatwell-farm-box-and-meal-plan Fri, 11 Feb 2011 09:18:53 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/N0ekW6bp3-g/friday-wisdom-from-cornel-west http://stackeff.posterous.com/friday-wisdom-from-cornel-west <p> <div>While thinking over the past few days about my thoughts on<a href="http://www.samanthatackeff.com/2011/02/just-kids/">&nbsp;Patti Smith's Just Kids</a>, I came across this Cornel West video, from the Examined Life, which echos many of the same ideas that came across in the book.&nbsp;</div><p /><div>I had the opportunity to hear West speak at my high school many years ago, and I'm sorry that it was at a point in my life where it didn't quite resonate the way it does now.</div><p /><div><iframe title="YouTube video player" allowfullscreen="true" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/v1Q6v1xsvcI" frameborder="0" height="304" width="500"></iframe></div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/friday-wisdom-from-cornel-west">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/friday-wisdom-from-cornel-west#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/zLnkNaIU8GzFM5C-MELOcsAr-Vc/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/zLnkNaIU8GzFM5C-MELOcsAr-Vc/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/zLnkNaIU8GzFM5C-MELOcsAr-Vc/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/zLnkNaIU8GzFM5C-MELOcsAr-Vc/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/N0ekW6bp3-g" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/friday-wisdom-from-cornel-west Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:36:56 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/m_Vju71p1tw/2911-farm-box-and-weekly-meal-plan http://stackeff.posterous.com/2911-farm-box-and-weekly-meal-plan <p> <div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/Zw2wNvm2qapRL0AJ093V9xdEyAZhype4bhrY8UomFCwp6aQirX7E2MwuxF7Q/P1060352.jpg"><img alt="P1060352" height="334" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/1leTgWXYEccpr2OwZTyne49yGVuwkXvjuArQ3af8IW6wPKRUn9gT8wTotBAw/P1060352.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> <p /><div><b>Eatwell Farm Box 2.10.11</b>: <i>Navel oranges, lettuce, stir-fry mix, romanesco, bok choy, turnips, leeks, carrots, kohlrabi, apples, butternut squash and eggs.&nbsp;</i></div><p /><div>I also have a lot of leftover vegetables hanging around, because I didn't eat enough of them last week. There is still some baby spinach, and a boatload of zucchini that I picked up at Trader Joe's out of season, because I really, really wanted some. (Ditto for some cherry tomatoes and bananas, but those are gone now.)</div><p /><div>On Saturday, I will pick up my <b>first installment of the Godfrey Farms Meat CSA</b> that I've subscribed to. In it, I'm expecting bacon, lamb chops, linguica, breakfast sausage, ground beef, beef stew meat, roast meat (either pork, beef or veal), pork chops, and some more eggs. The heritage roosters weren't ready! This will last us the month (at least), but I'm starting to think of some of the ways to use it all now, because it will take a little bit more planning than just going to the store to pick up meat.&nbsp;</div><p /><div>My goal is to finish up some of the leftovers in the fridge to make space! (And save some money. I have enough food in my house to eat for a year, there isn't really any reason to be constantly buying more.)</div><p /><div><b>Breakfast this week: </b>Eggs with spinach; oatmeal with fixins; yogurt with fixins; oatmeal breakfast cookies. And some fresh orange juice!</div><p /><div><b>Lunch this week: </b>Eggs with stir fry greens; chicken noodle soup with spinach; leftover western bean stew; wild rice soup (from the freezer); sardine superfood salad.</div><p /><div><b>Dinner this week:</b></div><div>- zucchini frittata</div><div>- shakshuka: tomato sauce with eggs and feta</div><div>- refried beans, grilled vegetables and tortillas</div><div>- chickpea and roasted romanesco curry with brown rice</div><p /><div><b>Extras to mix things up during the week (sides that I batch-cook on my weekend</b>): &nbsp;turnip and kohlrabi slaw with sesame and almond butter, lentils and rice with bacon, roasted butternut squash with duck prosciutto, leeks in mustard sauce, roasted zucchini with herbs.</div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/2911-farm-box-and-weekly-meal-plan">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/2911-farm-box-and-weekly-meal-plan#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/TDHu9RfVzNaUifgkyX8FzW_5x74/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/TDHu9RfVzNaUifgkyX8FzW_5x74/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/TDHu9RfVzNaUifgkyX8FzW_5x74/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/TDHu9RfVzNaUifgkyX8FzW_5x74/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/m_Vju71p1tw" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/2911-farm-box-and-weekly-meal-plan Tue, 08 Feb 2011 09:42:58 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/h-Hm-MWV56k/just-kids http://stackeff.posterous.com/just-kids <p> <div><img src="http://www.atomicbooks.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/j/u/justkidspsmith_1.jpg" height="500" width="500" style="padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px; padding-bottom: 8px;" /></div><p /><div>#7.&nbsp;<a href="http://amzn.to/hmy0A0"><b>Just Kids</b></a>&nbsp;by Patti Smith</div><p /><div><div>My favorite books are the ones that leave me craving to read more on the subject, to dive into the world I've been only wading in in for just a few days. Patti Smith's&nbsp;<b>Just Kids</b>&nbsp;is one of those books.<b>&nbsp;</b>It's the story of Patti Smith, her life long soul mate - the artist Robert Mapplethorpe, the city of New York in the late sixties and seventies, and the people and frenetic atmosphere that breathed life into a fiercely creative generation.&nbsp;</div></div><p /><div>I knew very little about Patti Smith before reading this book other than the fact that she was a musician with some rockin' tunes and vaguely mixed up in the art scene in the late sixties and seventies. {Forgive me.} I'm going to spin it that I was fortunate here for my ignorance, because&nbsp;I ended up finding myself really blown away by the story, even choked up at times, as it was so much more about art, intellectualism, books, and life than I thought it would be. (In fact, the singing career doesn't even come into play until the very end of the book.)&nbsp;</div><p /><div>Two things in particular struck me : <b>first, the presence and influence of loss, and the other, the strong impulse to live deliberately.</b></div><p /><div>Smith is particularly good at capturing the feelings of fear and sadness of a generation in retrospect. The book is a real testament to a time and place. Its hard for me to comprehend how that generation dealt with such significant loss. Smith, in the middle of the thick of it, gives a glimpse of&nbsp;understanding - what it must have meant for so many pioneers to die. Martin Luther King, Jr., Brian Jones, Bobby Kennedy, Sharon Tate, Jimi Hendryx, Janis Joplin, and so many others. You have the deaths of all of these&nbsp;really talented people in every field, and to think of the implication on the young people of those decades! It's a pervasive thread - &nbsp;and something my generation has never had to deal with.&nbsp;We've had no Vietnam, and other than perhaps Heath Ledger, no experience with this type of loss or grief. I tend to see this as a blessing, but I think we suffer in that we take our lives for granted.</div><p /><div>In terms of my own life, this book only re-iterates <b>how important living life deliberately is</b>. Patti Smith was surrounded by people creating themselves, living life with purpose, consistently learning and making new things. It's not an accident that they ended up the people they were. I think we could all use a reminder of that every so often.</div><p /><div><b>And a post script:</b></div><p /><div>After reading the book, I also got two emails from friends that ratcheted down my degrees of separation. The first, from a friend who had studied photography with Judy Linn (one of the recurring characters) at Vassar. The second,&nbsp;from a friend who provided the link to Robert Mapplethorpe - which I'll leave in her exact words: "When I used to work at Christie's, we got his whole apartment to sell (it even describes it in the last chapter). I remember walking through the preview room as they were unloading it all. The photo booth strip of him and Andy Warhol was framed but tiny, just lying on the floor, and I walked over and started playing his pinball machine. It was very surreal."</div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/just-kids">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/just-kids#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ziTEkuGZ7QQlEozownKtrMQri5U/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ziTEkuGZ7QQlEozownKtrMQri5U/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ziTEkuGZ7QQlEozownKtrMQri5U/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ziTEkuGZ7QQlEozownKtrMQri5U/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/h-Hm-MWV56k" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/just-kids Wed, 02 Feb 2011 16:11:04 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/Cxo8VLvfHKE/the-2011-tournament-of-books http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-2011-tournament-of-books <p> <img src="http://www.themorningnews.org/images/ToB-2011FN.jpg" height="506" alt="Field Notes special Rooster edition" width="500" /><p /><div>Photo via&nbsp;<a href="http://www.fieldnotesbrand.com">Field Notes Brand</a></div><p /><div>Due to my current literary pursuits, I've been reading a lot of book-related websites and recently stumbled across&nbsp;the <b>Seventh Annual Tournament of Books presented by Field Notes</b>, sponsored by <b>Powell’s Books </b>at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/the_rooster/the_2011_tournament_of_books.php"><b>The Morning News</b></a>.&nbsp;</div><p /><div>The tournament, similar to the NCAA bracket style championship, pits some of last years' most notable books up against each other, starting Monday, March 7, 2011. Because I love books, sports, and competition, I'm smitten by this idea. (This particular competition also inspired Food52 to create an equivalent&nbsp;<a href="http://www.food52.com/the_piglet">tournament of cookbooks called 'The Piglet</a>'. Which for the record, I'd love to participate one day as a judge.)</div><p /><div>The 16 books chosen this season:</div><div><ul> <li><i>The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake</i>, by Aimee Bender</li> <li><i>Nox</i>, by Anne Carson</li> <li><i>Bad Marie</i>, by Marcy Dermansky</li> <li><i>Room</i>, by Emma Donoghue</li> <li><i>A Visit From the Goon Squad</i>, by Jennifer Egan</li> <li><i>Freedom</i>, by Jonathan Franzen</li> <li><i>Lord of Misrule</i>, by Jaimy Gordon</li> <li><i>Bloodroot</i>, by Amy Greene</li> <li><i>Next</i>, by James Hynes</li> <li><i>The Finkler Question</i>, by Howard Jacobson</li> <li><i>Skippy Dies</i>, by Paul Murray</li> <li><i>Model Home</i>, by Eric Puchner</li> <li><i>So Much for That</i>, by Lionel Shriver</li> <li><i>Super Sad True Love Story</i>, by Gary Shteyngart</li> <li><i>Kapitoil</i>, by Teddy Wayne</li> <li><i>Savages</i>, by Don Winslow</li></ul><div>I'm always looking for new books to add to my 52books project, and this list is a great start. <b>Have you read any of these that you would personally recommend? Or are there ones that you hated? I'd be grateful for your thoughts in the comments!</b></div><p /><div>via&nbsp;<a href="http://themorningnews.org">The Morning News</a></div></div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-2011-tournament-of-books">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-2011-tournament-of-books#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/PQEogcPTkIq4RKaFibEhabnGCfk/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/PQEogcPTkIq4RKaFibEhabnGCfk/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/PQEogcPTkIq4RKaFibEhabnGCfk/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/PQEogcPTkIq4RKaFibEhabnGCfk/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/Cxo8VLvfHKE" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-2011-tournament-of-books Wed, 02 Feb 2011 14:08:00 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/EtU_bp3T9Gg/the-brief-and-wondrous-life-of-oscar-wao http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-brief-and-wondrous-life-of-oscar-wao <p> <div><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;"><img src="http://www.americanplacetheatre.org/content/roster/WAO_3D_BCforweb2.jpg" height="576" alt="" style="padding-right: 8px; padding-top: 8px; padding-bottom: 8px;" width="487" /></span></strong></div> <p /> <div><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">&nbsp;</span>#6&nbsp;<a href="http://amzn.to/hHVPxo">The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao</a>&nbsp;</strong>by Junot Diaz</div> <p /> <div>I've had this book on my shelf for two years. I bought it on a trip back to New England, from the Porter Square bookshop. I remember it well, because it was also the day I purchased the outstanding 'The Places in Between' by Rory Stewart, <em>an excellent book</em>.</div> <p /> <div>I started reading <strong>The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao</strong> about three times over the past two years without making it past the first chapter. This time I thought to my self: <em>Good god, Junot Diaz won a <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Pulitzer</span>&nbsp;</strong>for this book. There must be something there I will enjoy.</em> So I set about it earnestly. And indeed, by the time I got to chapter three I was riveted.&nbsp;</div> <p /> <div>The book is divided into the interweaving stories of three members of a family: Oscar, an overweight nerd, who somewhere in the course of my reading began to resemble David Ortiz (Big Papi, a hero of mine), his beautiful and boisterous sister Lola, and their tour-de-force mother Beli.&nbsp;</div> <p /> <div>You could say that there is also a fourth main character: the Dominican Republic itself, because it plays just as large a role as any human in the book.&nbsp;Diaz gives us a huge dose of Dominican history, which I am ashamed to admit I've never really learned more about than the requisite class period or two in high school.&nbsp;</div> <p /> <div>The storytelling itself is incredibly, well.. nerdy.&nbsp;Diaz uses footnotes throughout the book to interweave history as well as himself as author. The book is narrated by a character who isn't identified until the latter part of the book. At one point, we switch narrators. Diaz is unapologetic with his clean insertion of Spanish throughout the text. And the references to Tolkien and graphic novel classics in juxtaposition with the mystical and magical world of the Dominican resonated with me perfectly.&nbsp;</div> <p /> <div>At the end I felt like shaking hands with the author. <em>The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao</em> was well-crafted, informative, funny, highly intelligent, and kept me thoroughly entertained.&nbsp;<strong>Well played, Mr. Diaz. Well played.</strong></div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-brief-and-wondrous-life-of-oscar-wao">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-brief-and-wondrous-life-of-oscar-wao#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/dtJjY_LP1AoLmCZ8KH9S1OPofXM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/dtJjY_LP1AoLmCZ8KH9S1OPofXM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/dtJjY_LP1AoLmCZ8KH9S1OPofXM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/dtJjY_LP1AoLmCZ8KH9S1OPofXM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/EtU_bp3T9Gg" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-brief-and-wondrous-life-of-oscar-wao Wed, 26 Jan 2011 13:27:58 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/TPuf45ruZ5Q/climbing-the-mango-trees http://stackeff.posterous.com/climbing-the-mango-trees <p> <div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/YVWAsfvo5vJ59NifnVwJfaA2z7yXJM3zepMWeKsHdxpWuANusSMfq5E6geFj/Jacket.aspx_JPEG_Image_400x594.jpg"><img alt="Jacket" height="368" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/HMQxe9C18BgzvLXsJ1Z7yBonDir3UwoYqF7DXd7I02UAA1fHtjLfzQ0R2GtB/Jacket.aspx_JPEG_Image_400x594.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> <p /><div>#5.<b>&nbsp;<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/140004295X?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=theseclun-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=140004295X">Climbing the Mango Trees: a Memoir of a Childhood in India</a></b>&nbsp;by Madhur Jaffrey<p /><div>At some point in my life, I came to the realization that my family did not have a normal relationship with food. Our devotion came from the very core of our beings. We began deliberating dinner plans during breakfast, and routinely drove three hours to New York to go grocery shopping at Zabars with the same frequency as others might make a Costco run.<b>&nbsp;</b></div><p /><div>I started reading food memoirs in earnest in college, when for the first time, I found myself surrounded with so many people who only ate to live, or worse, suffered from really terrible eating disorders. I found this profoundly depressing, and reading about love for food was cathartic in that environment.&nbsp;In these stories, I found a certain kinship - food memories as vivid, and at times as absurd as mine.&nbsp;</div><p /><div>Now, I'm surrounded by so many people with like minds, the food memoir best serves it's place as my favorite way to learn about history. Madhur Jaffrey is considered the queen of Indian cooking, and I finally had a chance to sit down and read this marvelous autobiography of her childhood in India. I've had a signed copy since she came to do a reading at Omnivore. It was a true privilege to meet her, and I've been looking forward to curling up with this book for months.</div><p /><div>Jaffrey grew up in a large, relatively well-to-do family from Delhi, and much of her early childhood was magical and idyllic. &nbsp;The book is filled with luscious detailed imagery of a beautiful country, joyful spirited people, and a culture that cares profoundly about food.&nbsp;Beyond that, Jaffrey is particularly talented at&nbsp;describing tensions that took hold during her adolescence, and ran through not just her family, but India during the time of Partition. She is both honest and deeply perceptive.&nbsp;</div><p /><div><i>Climbing the Mango Trees</i> is a pleasure to read, and at the end, you are rewarded with a trove of her family recipes. It doesn't get much better than that.</div><p /><p /><p /><p /><p /><p /></div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/climbing-the-mango-trees">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/climbing-the-mango-trees#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/9gLq38G2k1p4DTurf1-RDDUq1c8/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/9gLq38G2k1p4DTurf1-RDDUq1c8/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/9gLq38G2k1p4DTurf1-RDDUq1c8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/9gLq38G2k1p4DTurf1-RDDUq1c8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/TPuf45ruZ5Q" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/climbing-the-mango-trees Sat, 15 Jan 2011 12:18:17 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/5JXWV7A_Dis/the-alchemist http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-alchemist <p> &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/NNVwcpJ2jZM3pSOcl27N1XMbzj9sbOeeWknyqpMyHXmtOpc7FZPRwHg9qMaZ/The_Alchemist.jpg"><img alt="The_alchemist" height="379" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/nKLJuccxSkXX7mPvlPDG8PhiN1qN73DYfsR5NXoYR13wwKNGm96u3nnpeKlf/The_Alchemist.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<p /><p /><div>#4.<b>&nbsp;</b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061122416?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=theseclun-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0061122416"><b>The Alchemist</b></a>&nbsp;by Paolo Coelho</div><p /><div>I've been meaning to read this book for several years, and was surprised when I finally sat down to read it because it was absolutely nothing like I expected it to be. I assumed (based on the title and cover art) it was going to be similar to 'The Mists of Avalon'. Wrong!</div><p /><div>The Alchemist is an endearing parable, the story of a young Spanish boy who sets out to travel the world in search of treasure. On the way meets a wise king, frightening foes, his true love, and an alchemist.&nbsp;</div><p /><div>The book is filled with wisdom. For example:&nbsp;"People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don't deserve them, or that they'll be unable to achieve them...There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure." I think we've all felt this way at some point or another.</div><p /><div>Maybe this could be required reading every five years, like a wellness check-up. Are you in a rut? When have you last done something new, or something hard? Are you pursuing your Personal Legend? Remember the words of the Alchemist:&nbsp;“There is only one way to learn...it’s through action."&nbsp;</div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-alchemist">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-alchemist#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/0S-fZbPQz_emfNFzcJ8Z5jdc5uE/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/0S-fZbPQz_emfNFzcJ8Z5jdc5uE/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/0S-fZbPQz_emfNFzcJ8Z5jdc5uE/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/0S-fZbPQz_emfNFzcJ8Z5jdc5uE/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/5JXWV7A_Dis" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-alchemist Fri, 14 Jan 2011 22:01:55 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/5-Fp1GFWjtk/the-papa-bear-chair-hans-wegner http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-papa-bear-chair-hans-wegner <p> <a href=""><img src="http://machineage.1stdibs.com/archivesD/upload/8378/264/XXX_8378_1273255058_1.jpg" border="0" alt="Papa Bear Chair by Hans Wegner" style="height: 512px;" /></a><div><a href=""><br /></a></div><div>Only $8,800 at&nbsp;<a href="http://machineage.1stdibs.com/store/furniture_item_detail.php?id=409814">Machine Age.</a>&nbsp;Original wool textile. Remind me why I focused on Architectural History? Oh yes, to be woefully depressed that I can't blow wads of cash on mid century Danish furniture. Because I really know what I'm missing.</div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-papa-bear-chair-hans-wegner">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-papa-bear-chair-hans-wegner#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/X4HaQk-UXpYi5ZY6dQqSxEWioXk/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/X4HaQk-UXpYi5ZY6dQqSxEWioXk/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/X4HaQk-UXpYi5ZY6dQqSxEWioXk/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/X4HaQk-UXpYi5ZY6dQqSxEWioXk/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/5-Fp1GFWjtk" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/the-papa-bear-chair-hans-wegner Thu, 13 Jan 2011 11:07:27 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/N9JbuGjjbtU/kate-spades-year-of-color http://stackeff.posterous.com/kate-spades-year-of-color <p> <div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/6utdwTEOpEJTtDe3RfGg0wJFdmySG7HjbZlIJR8JEv2t42lksjvPIjdXlN9H/live_colorfully_email_02.jpg"><img alt="Live_colorfully_email_02" height="491" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/CDgETXQ9JW04IpFkO3Ewl5RVYrrGnVKR20HVtFXy4TFYeGTCfSVSsp2dcEhH/live_colorfully_email_02.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> <p /><div>Much of the beauty of <b>Kate Spade</b> comes from the simplicity of her designs, bolstered by really wonderful <b>color</b>. The designs are clean and classic, with a touch of whimsy.&nbsp;</div><p /><div>Their marketing campaigns themselves are a thing of beauty. I was strongly drawn to this one: "Live Colorfully: Introducing the Year of Color".&nbsp;January's color is red, and you can shop their red collection. Each month they will unveil a new signature color.&nbsp;If I had extraneous funds to shop, I think I'd get a kick out of this type of ordered collecting.&nbsp;</div><p /><div>As it stands, I don't currently have said funds - but that's no reason not to join in on the fun, right?&nbsp;<b>Why not wear a signature color of the month? </b>I happen to have a fabulous red purse, red coral necklace, red earrings, red pea coat, and red patent leather peep toe wedges in my closet. I think I'll make a point of wearing them. (Just not all at once.)</div><p /><div>It certainly beats my 'every day navy blue zip up hoodie, uniform of San Franciscans' compulsion. Don't worry, I'm working to break that habit.</div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/kate-spades-year-of-color">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/kate-spades-year-of-color#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/90UnbPtFtPytKpQUNXkSPIzJA8M/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/90UnbPtFtPytKpQUNXkSPIzJA8M/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/90UnbPtFtPytKpQUNXkSPIzJA8M/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/90UnbPtFtPytKpQUNXkSPIzJA8M/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/N9JbuGjjbtU" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/kate-spades-year-of-color Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:21:41 -0800 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stackeff/~3/n711Cd9E3zU/to-the-end-of-the-land http://stackeff.posterous.com/to-the-end-of-the-land <p> <div><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'> <a href="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/FYfWGMurU4wjYMwIo7jfMtytTMpj2Y4NsBQwSIfad6CzpayyfiA9DCoFAGKQ/To_the_End_of_the_Land-1.jpg"><img alt="To_the_end_of_the_land-1" height="415" src="http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/stackeff/3FQsARyO7WX5DLiNqt3bRju0FUYbQHFnMdkOHGqzmOpLYc43kNzudXLMOmjZ/To_the_End_of_the_Land-1.jpg.scaled.500.jpg" width="500" /></a> </div> &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</div><p /><div>#3&nbsp;<b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307592979?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=theseclun-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0307592979">To the End of the Land</a>&nbsp;</b>by David Grossman</div><p /><div><b>To the End of the Land</b> is a brilliant, powerful book. It took me nearly an entire week to read it, and was one of the more difficult novels I've read in a long time. I found myself having to pause, every three or four pages to take a breath and sigh. The book felt all too true to me - Grossman's ability to capture reality was haunting at every turn.&nbsp;</div><p /><div>Set in Israel, 'To the End of the Land' tells the story of an Israeli mother, Ora, who runs away to the Galilee to ward off her son's death - a young man whose military duty on the warfront has been extended another month. With her, she takes her childhood friend and estranged lover, Avram, and begins a journey that unfolds the details of their lives.&nbsp;</div><p /><div>As they hike through the countryside, the story weaves it's way&nbsp;between 1967 and 2000 - reflections of a mother, two friends and their shared desires (a parallel to Jules &amp; Jim), two brothers, war, mental illness, divorce, family, loss, love, fear - everything told in vivid detail, the timing of the reveals impeccable. I'm still reeling.</div><p /><div>As much as I enjoyed it, this book is not for everyone. It certainly isn't a casual evening read. Like Joan Didion's 'Year of Magical Thinking', if you are willing to read with a heavy heart, the truths themselves will uplift you.</div><p /><div><b>A side note:</b> I thought that Jessica Cohen's translation was well done. Good translation is hard. Really hard. It's not just about plugging text into free translate, and hoping for the best - it's work that takes both precision and art. So much of this book is about the art of words, and throughout reading it, I felt like the nuances of Hebrew were preserved - no small feat on her part.</div> </p> <p><a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/to-the-end-of-the-land">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://stackeff.posterous.com/to-the-end-of-the-land#comment">Leave a comment&nbsp;&nbsp;&raquo;</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/WFdy5GnUlvfBliExcAcnED6ZujQ/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/WFdy5GnUlvfBliExcAcnED6ZujQ/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/WFdy5GnUlvfBliExcAcnED6ZujQ/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/WFdy5GnUlvfBliExcAcnED6ZujQ/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/stackeff/~4/n711Cd9E3zU" height="1" width="1"/> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/355564/headshot2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/3sTvBKcd0BOx Samantha Samantha Samantha http://stackeff.posterous.com/to-the-end-of-the-land