Charlotte Brevik knows how to make a girl feel at home. The retired-nurse/sheriff’s wife fills Lola Wicks with chicken and dumplings swamped in peppery gravy, homemade bread, and creamy casserole of butterbeans she grew and canned herself. A hearty meal to warm a soul in a brutal climate, especially when that soul was just beaten up and left for dead in a snow-covered bar parking lot.
Not that said beating was enough to deter news reporter Lola from pursuing her story; before winding up at the Breviks’ for recovery fuel, Lola takes the time to throw back some tequila and question the guy (Ralph) who pulled her out of the snow about the recent string of vanished girls.
Now, don’t be thinking this Ralph is some sort of knight-in-shining-armor love interest for Lola; despite Lola’s condition and the circumstances that makes their paths cross that night, he still tries to cop a feel at the bar. And he’s actually quite far down the list of local creeps if we were to rank them on offensiveness! Yup, between the strip clubs and the man camp, Lola will need many more home-cooked dinners to sustain her through this investigation. ;)
Dumpling Days Grace Lin
Pacy and her family are off to Taiwan for the summer. Pacy and her sisters are NOT looking forward to it. When they get there, it's hard. Everything is new and overwhelming. They don't speak the language and can't read signs. At home, they were the only Asian family and could feel out of place. In Taiwan they look like everyone else, but still don't fit. Through it all, Pacy learns more about straddling two cultures and gains appreciation for what her parents must have gone through when they moved to the US.
I'm a big fan of all of Grace Lin's works and this is a great addition to her largely autobiographical Pacy series. The tone is light and often funny and the sprinkled in simple line drawings add a lot to the text.
But this book proves that Lin and I should be friends because she goes to Taiwan AND SHE EATS ALL THE DUMPLINGS. Pacy looooooooooooooooooooooooves dumplings and orders them at almost every meal. By doing this, she eats a lot of different kinds of dumplings. I got SO HUNGRY reading this book. Good thing Mala Tang has several dumpling options for me to choose from.
But really, I mean, last time I went to China, Dan and I had the following conversation:
Dan: What do you want to do while we're in Shanghai?
Me: EAT ALL THE DUMPLINGS.
Dan: Ha ha. Seriously though, what do you want to see while we're there?
Me: Seriously. I want to see places that serve dumplings.
I ate so many dumplings on that trip. Here's a picture of me eating
xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) in Shanghai. That steamer used to be full. I did NOT share with Dan. In the book, Lin's relatives tell her that if you can eat soup dumplings without spilling, you're a true Chinese. I'm not about to claim that I'm Chinese, but I don't spill my dumplings.
So, as Pacy is obviously a girl after my own heart, of course I love her. (Now I want more dumplings...)
Book Provided by... my local library
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This weekend was one of my favorite annual Park Slope traditions: the Park Slope Methodist book sale! Every year, this neighborhood church collects thousands of book donations (and CDs, and records) of every kind, and the BK literati flock to pick up hardcovers and paperbacks for just a dollar or two.
This year, I tried to exercise some restraint – after all, I’ve got books spilling out of the shelves in my room as it is! But I did manage to pick up a few art and home-related titles (I was in a non-fiction mood), that are really fun!
My favorite book of the day is A Book Of Garden Flowers by Margaret McKenny and Edith F. Johnston (Macmillan, 1940). Margaret McKenny turns out to be a renowned Washington State naturalist, and I later found some of her enthusiastic letters about mushroom hunting. But the piece de resistance is Edith Johnston’s GORGEOUS lithographs of flowers! Each one is more beautiful than the next (so much so that I almost scanned the whole book!). Take a look . . .
Truly lovely, no?
I also picked up a couple of cookbooks that I’m really digging:
The Pleasures of Slow Food by Corby Kummer (Chronicle Books, 2002). – This glamorous coffee-table volume takes a warm glimpse into the “slow food” movement – where hand-crafted cooking methods enjoyed among company take the place of modern American fast-food cu
Annie-
I’d love you lots if you could send me a high res scan of the snapdragons! They’re my favorite! Plus one other you’d suggest to go with it. I’m thinking some wall art is in its future.
Thanks.
Also I have a snazzy plan for a stuffed naan. Using naan as the dough and a good chicken potato curry as the filling. Pocket foods are the best!
Absolutely!! I will email you a couple of choices. They’re all so beautiful it’s hard to pick!
P.S. Stuffed naan sounds DELISH. I hope that’s in my “pocket book” of recipes…