Astonish Me

I like the title so I picked up the book.  Reading the jacket I discovered that this was the same author that wrote the book Seating Arrangements.  While her books are not what I would say exciting with a lot of twists and turns she certainly does an interesting job on her characters.

The setting for this book is very different than the one in Seating Arrangements.  While that book took place at a summer home of an affluent family this one takes place in the dance world with different locales.  It centers around two dancers.  One is a soloist the other was a member of the corps and holding on but barely.  It focuses on the differences in their lives and those differences are huge.

Foodie Friends Heads Up!

I grew up in New York.  Babies in New York use bagels as teething rings.  Once old enough lox is introduced into the babies diet.  It is probably added the same time cereal is added.  Got to get those omega 3's in early.  So I have been eating bagels, lox and cream cheese since I started to walk.  My point, I love lox so when I saw this recipe in the Washington Post Food section I had to share it with all my Foodie Friends.  It is a lox BLT.

There is a saying in my office that everything tastes better with bacon.  I for one would not have paired the two strong flavored foods together but it works.  I think the red onion and tomato certainly round out the taste. 

For me this qualifies in my quest to make something different.  So I thought I would share the recipe with you all.  Hope you enjoy it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/pb/recipes/smoked-salmon-blt/14005/

Makeover for the Capitol

 

The US Capitol is an impressive and beautiful building that sits at one end of The Mall.  But like many buildings in DC built around the Civil War it is getting old.  There are cracks in the dome that I guess cannot be ignored anymore.  It is a piece of art as well and you can't just haphazardly  slap some glue and paint on it and declare that it is fixed.  There is a plan and a process and it is very interesting.  I found this link that gives an overview of what is to be done.  I hope you found it as interesting as I did.

 wapo.st/capitol-repair

Cherry Blossoms

The cherry Blossoms were a little late this year but they were as beautiful as ever.  This picture was in The Washington Post and I just wanted to share it with you.  Enjoy

Sunday Notes on Monday

The sun is shining and it is warming up.  It is nice to see flowers blooming.  This is one of my favorite times of the year.  It is not hot yet.  I hate the summer heat and humidity.  I would rather have the cold.  Not the single digits cold just the 40 ish kind where you need a coat, hat scarf and mittens but you can still feel your face when you step outside. Maybe I can sit outside at lunch time this week and read.

If you have been reading my blog by now you know that every Sunday I play this little game with myself. On Sunday the first section that I read of the Washington Post is the Outlook section, it contains the book section. I go to the last page and read the Washington Bestseller list. This week the bestseller list focused on paperbacks but it alternates between paperbacks and hardcover. You can check my scoring system on the May 6, 2013 post. This week I scored really big, 5 out of 10. Out of the five I just want to say that King and Maxwell and The Orphan Train are ones you should add to your list if you haven't read them yet.

This week I am finishing the book Astonish Me.  It is by the author who wrote Seating Arrangements. (Check out my post from 3/19) The author writes about the dance world which has been a topic that I have always been very interested in. If you like technical and financial espionage you will love the Prince of Risk.  Check out my pot from this past week.

 I think I might pick up The Fault in Our Stars. My daughter read it and recommended it to me. A movie based on the book is being released in June and I hate seeing the movie and then reading the book.  Rule number 22 read the book first.

HAve a great week and Happy reading

 

For Washingtonians: Do you Remember Woodies?

In the good old days ( and by that I mean pre Kohls, Target etc) different cities had their own collection of department stores.  For example in my home town of Oceanside , NY we had Chwatskys.  It was no Woodies or Hechts but it was all ours.

Believe it or not someone has actually written a book about Woodward and Lothrop a department store that was sort of the mama bear of the department stores in the DC area.  What I mean was that Garfinkel's was the papa bear with the most expensive merchandise.  I worked there for a year when I was at the University of Maryland.  My student budget allowed me to buy very few of the clothes there but I loved to look.  Hecht's was like the baby bear.  Not exactly Target prices but more comfortable to shop at because the prices were moderate and they had great sales, it was just right.

I lived in the district for awhile so if I had nothing to do on a weekend and I did not feel like going to a museum, I would hope on the metro and go to Woodies (which is what everyone called Woodward and Lothrop) at metro center.  It was a beautiful store especially around the Holidays.  But it went out of business in the mid 1990's and Garfinkels and Hechts pretty much became casualties as well.  Believe me I do my share of shopping at Kohls but it just aint like one of the good old stores of DC.  I have added this on my must read list.  If anyone has read it or reads it before me, let me know how you like it.  Hope it's good.  Here is the book write up.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/new-book-details-the-history-of-woodward-and-lothrop-a-vanished-dc-department-store/2014/04/16/cae0ed12-c577-11e3-8b9a-8e0977a24aeb_story.html


Chwatskys

The Prince of Risk

Robert Astor has not spoken to his father in five years. His father is the chief executive of the New York stock exchange.  Robert is a hedge fund manager.  So Robert is surprised when he gets a one word text from his father and later finds out it is the last message sent before his Dad is killed.  This one word is the only clue as to who is behind this murder.  Robert decides to do some checking into what his Dad was doing in the weeks before his murder.  As he does bodies start piling up.  Is someone or some group who is techno savvy plotting cyber terrorism?

In addition to the financial story line in the book it just so happens that Robert's ex is an FBI agent who find herself involved with a terror plot that looks like the terrorists are trying to take down the whole island of Manhattan.  This is a fast past action pact book that covers international intrigue. How do the two story lines converge?  Read the book.

 

Sunday Notes on Monday

I am bored and restless.  I am having trouble sleeping.  I am sure some of you psychology folks think I might be a tad depressed.  Really what I am is a Gemini with Spring fever looking for something to wake me up from the doldrums of Winter.  Not that I don't love Winter.  I love watching it snow while I read a good book.  But enough is enough.  Once I see those daffodils start blooming I am itching to do something.  I am also working some ungodly hours and my brain can't process books as fast as I would like.  It needs some down time. Don't get me wrong, I am still reading.  In fact I am finishing up The Prince of Risk and will be posting my blog on Wednesday but I am just not able to keep up my same pace.

Last year my container gardens was really successful.  I planted oregano, rosemary and basil in one large container and they were very happy together.  I had fresh basil late into the Fall and like many of you have heard me say you can never have too much basil. I also plan to make jam again this year.  My strawberry jam was a success and so was my apple butter.  I think I will pass on the peach jam and leave it to the experts at Smuckers.

So I have got to find new projects.  I have asked my husband to widen the flower beds a little and I plan to do some gardening so that's a good project for a Sunday. I have spent more time walking outdoors so I think I have the exercise thing covered, But I want more. 

When my daughter was younger and there were so many after school activities I had very little time to cook meals when I came home from working all day.  I use to spend most of Saturday or Sunday mornings going to the grocery store and then cooking meals for the week.  This worked out really well.  I avoided most of the take out places and served a home cooked meal most nights.  All I had to do was make a side and add a salad.  That is a half hour function at most.  Everyone was happy.

I thought once my daughter got her license I would have more time.  That is so not true.  I just work longer hours and get home and throw things together dinner.  That is fine but I am envious of some of my foodie friends who are so creative when it comes to cooking meals for their families.  So I am expanding my foodie quest from reading books that have a food in the title to books that have recipes incorporated into the story.  I read my first book a month ago,  Red Velvet Cupcake Murders.  I wasn't that impressed with the book itself but it did have a yummy sounding red velvet cupcake recipe. 

The second book in this quest that I blogged about was Lunch in Paris which is a memoir.  There is a really good ribs recipe in the book which I will be trying just in time for Bar-B-Que season.  And by the way I loved the book.  I really feel the author captured Paris well.   So I will be looking for more books like these that contain recipes with realistic ingredients, and not that are not too terribly challenging because while I can cook I am no chef amd there is the time constraint issue.  One other thing that Would be great is if the dish could be frozen so that on days that are hectic, I can come home and take it out of my freezer and still have a decent meal to serve.  If anyone has any suggestions I am all ears.  Also if anyone has a favorite cookbook they would like to recommend I would like to know that as well. 

If you have been reading my blog by now you know that every Sunday I play this little game with myself. On Sunday the first section that I read of the Washington Post is the Outlook section, it contains the book section. I go to the last page and read the Washington Bestseller list. This week the bestseller list focused on Hard covers but it alternates between paperbacks and hardcover. You can check my scoring system on the May 6, 2013 post. I only read one book on the list this week, The Invention of Wings which I would highly recommend.

Have a great week.

Lunch In Paris

This is clearly a romance not only between two people which it is but between this couple and the city of Paris.  So in essence one of the main "characters" of this book is the city of Paris and it is a great character. The author takes you through the city not through a tourist eye but through a Parisian's eye.  I found myself falling in love with the small apartment, the streets and the restaurants and of course the food. Let us also not forget the developing love between the couple. Amour Magnifique!

To my foodie friends this book was fun because many of the recipes for the dishes eaten by the characters were included.  I haven't tried any of the recipes yet but the description of these foods just made my mouth water.  Maybe it has more to do with the context of the story than the food.  Either way this book was a fun read and made me yearn to see Paris in this exact way.  Dare I dream.

Edgar Allen Poe Nevermore or always more

I read The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe I think when I was in High School or maybe it was Middle School.  Either way I never forgot the darkness of the piece and how it made the hair on the back of my neck stick up. (Figuratively speaking of course) I have spoken before about how the ladies in my internship and I would visit Poe for lunch since he was pretty close to Lexington Market and we needed to take a break from our grueling schedules at the hospital. So he has always been a person of interest to me.

For those of you who are Poe fans you may wish to read this article and plan a trip to one of the two Poe Museums in the Mid Atlantic.  One is in Richmond and the other in Baltimore.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/two-poe-museums-in-va-and-md-offer-different-glimpses-of-the-horror-mastermind/2014/03/20/460dd754-98ee-11e3-b88d-f36c07223d88_story.html

Still Life With Bread Crumbs

New York City is a great place to live if you have the money to enjoy what the city has to offer.  There are great restaurants, coffee shops, theater and yes pizza and bagels. Rebecca is a photographer who one day after getting a sick child to fall asleep and preparing dinner for unexpected guests falls asleep on the couch.  She does not clean the remnants of the dinner party that evening.  When she wakes up she sees the aftermath of the dinner in a completely different way and captures it all on film.  The collection sky rockets her to fame and fortune.  This allows her to live in a manner to which she quickly becomes accustomed . 

Fame, she soon finds out, only last so long.  Lacking inspiration and the funds to support her life style, she sublets her apartment and goes to live in a house in the middle of nowhere. There she experiences a re-awakening. 

I really enjoyed this book.  I was familiar with her writing having red her novel Black and Blue which I found to be a very moving story.  Give this one a try.

All Things Downton Abbey

I hope that when I say this many of you won't hate me but I like Highclere Castle much more than I like the actual drama set there.  I do watch the Masterpiece classic show but I am just not as dedicated to it as so many people seem to be.  In fact there was a great show on the Castle and the Earl of Carnarvan, whose family has owned this castle since 1679,on PBS which I enjoyed.  English history and the English monarchy is always a fascinating subject.

That is why I wanted to share this article from the March 30th edition of The Washington Post.  Any of  you Downton Abbey fans that might be travelling in or through Delaware consider stopping off to see the “Costumes of Downton Abbey” exhibit at the Henry Francis du Pont estate-turned-museum in Delaware’s Brandywine Valley.  It is slated to run until early January 2015. 

You can read the article to get more of a feel  for the exhibit.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/costumes-of-downton-abbey-dresses-the-part-at-winterthur/2014/03/27/dc743cd8-ae15-11e3-a49e-76adc9210f19_story.html

King's Deception

Another Steve Berry book.  I loved his book The Jefferson Key so when I saw this book sitting on the shelf I had to go for it.  Cotton Malone is back.  He is a former Justice department operative who even though he is technically retired keeps getting dragged back into service.  FYI his real name is not Cotton but Harold.  It really bothered me to think that a woman would name her baby Cotton.  Honestly I don't know why it just did.  Thankfully this is a nickname.

Anyway Cotton's old boss Stephanie Nell asks Cotton to escort a young British male back to England.  Cotton had just picked up his son Gary from the States to take him to Copenhagen for a week.  The now "retired" Cotton lives and owns a book store in Copenhagen.  Both Cotton and Gary just found out that Gary is not Cotton's biological son.  Cotton's ex wife Pam, will not provide any information on who the father is and Gary is pissed off at her.  Pam thinks a time out for both of them might ease the tension between her and her son.

Cotton is asked to escort Ian back to England because he is wanted for questioning about a murder and a missing flask drive.  Cotton thinking that this would not be a big deal agreed.  Turns out there is more going on than just returning an underage boy to London and Cotton gets caught up in the operation King's Deception.

One of the main reason I really like Steve Berry is because of the history he incorporates in his books.  In the Jefferson Key it was all about Presidents of the United States.  In King's Deception the historical story is about Queen Elisabeth I.  I have always found her to be an extremely interesting British Monarch.  Maybe because she is the daughter of Henry XIII and we all know about Henry. Maybe because she was a decent ruler. Berry writes an extremely plausible story of a deception surrounding Elisabeth.  I will say no more except that I really enjoyed the book.