2022: January, Fanuary

 Bookworms! I'm off to such a great start in 2022. Although the year has only just started, my reading journal is already full of such delectable reads. Even the cat, who is not much of a reader (that I've noticed), wants to knead his claws on the cover of said journal while purring rapturously and chewing on the little red ribbon bookmark.

I'm discovering new writers and rediscovering old favorites. Making lists and wanting to do deep dives. January is Fanuary.

What I read: 

Taste: My Life Through Food - Stanley Tucci. Memoir. I knew this book was going to be great (I wrote it down 3 times in my wishlist journal) and I was right. In fact, it was even better than I had imagined. Beginning with the delicious meals his mother and extended family prepared...created when he was a child, through his days as a struggling actor and the delis and restaurants he frequented during that time in New York City, through movie shoots in foreign locales and discovering the local cuisine to his own development as a cook, it's all about the food. (An amusing refrain would occur when Tucci would talk about being away working on a movie and wouldn't mention the movie by name, but would go into mouthwatering detail about a terrific restaurant he discovered while on location.) His discussion of learning how to make a frittata perfectly led me to track down his movie Big Night, arguably the most perfect foodie movie ever made. I watched it twice. Can I just say...timpano? It's now on my EAT THIS  bucket list. Tucci even fed into my cheese fantasies: When he got married to his second wife, Felicity Blunt, instead of a wedding cake, they had a cheese platter! But then life dealt Tucci the most cruel and ironic blow: He was diagnosed with a tumor at the base of his tongue. Cancer in the salivary glands. Going through chemo and radiation caused him to feel nauseous at the mere scent of food. This went on for more than a year, but he slowly recovered and got his gusto for food back again. Even though I have just told you the whole book, you should still read and savor it. Enjoy the recipes. Watch Big Night. And don't cut up your spaghetti.

Who Were The Navajo Code Talkers? - James Buckley, Jr. Nonfiction. This book really appealed to the linguistics/language learning part of me.

Who Is Queen Elizabeth II? - Meghan Stine. Nonfiction. Too many pages devoted to Prince Charles, otherwise, enjoyable. Long live the Queen!

What Was The Plague? - Roberta Edwards. Nonfiction. A well-done retrospective of The Black Death that doesn't shy away from the grisly bits.

Billy Summers - Stephen King. Novel. Audiobook. Billy Summers, a hitman that only kills "bad people" signs up for one last job. While waiting to do the hit, he begins writing his own life story.  There is a lot of violence, but there is just as much humanity. This is a solid, action-packed road trip novel with none of King's usual horror or supernatural elements. Well, okay, there is a nod to the ruins of the Overlook, which sit across from one of Billy's hideouts. I'm eagerly waiting for the movie/miniseries version.

Matrix - Lauren Groff. Novel. The story of a woman who may or may not have been poet and fabulist Marie de France. This Marie, who is royal by blood and illegitimate by birth is exiled from the court of Eleanor of Aquitaine and sent to a rundown Benedictine abbey as its new prioress. Although she isn't at all religious and not at all inclined to monastic life, Marie turns the fortunes of the abbey around and makes it a success. Shrewd, sensual, and intelligent, her greatest gift is knowing how to harness female power to its fullest advantage. For a book set in the late 12th century, it feels modern without being a bit anachronistic. Matrix has made me a Lauren Groff fan, and I can't wait to explore her other novels.

What I'm reading:

Memoirs of Stockholm Sven - Nathaniel Ian Miller. Novel. Sven doesn't seem to be able to fit in anywhere in his native Stockholm. In his 30s, he goes north to work in a mining camp. After a near-fatal accident that puts an end to that particular career, he ventures farther north to learn how to be a trapper. At this point in my reading, he's started to make friends, and now he's got a dog!

The Fran Lebowitz Reader - Fran Lebowitz. Essays. Some of the essays feel quite dated. Intermittently funny. I'd rather get on YouTube and listen to Lebowitz talk for hours and hours rather than read her writing.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette - Maria Semple. Novel. I joined a book group and this is our first read. According to my reading journal, I read this novel back in 2012 but don't remember much about it. We'll see how it goes.

Chasing the Last Laugh: Mark Twain's Raucous and Redemptive Round-the-World Comedy Tour - Richard Zacks. Nonfiction. Audiobook. Mark Twain was a brilliant writer and performer, but had a genius for the bad decision when it came to business. At the age of sixty, he became bankrupt because of an investment in a printing press. His wife was determined that they would pay back the thousands owed to creditors, so Mark Twain reluctantly decided the best way to accomplish this was to "mount the platform" -- go on an extended speaking tour. 

What I want to read:

Fates and Furies - Lauren Groff. Novel.

Today Will Be Different - Maria Semple. Novel.

The Lincoln Highway - Amor Towles. Novel.

Little Big Man - Thomas Berger. Novel.

Stanley Tucci cookbooks

Happy Go Lucky - David Sedaris. Essays.

What I DNFed:

Who Was David Bowie? I paged through this book, but had to say no because the author didn't mention Bowie's appearance on Bing Crosby's Christmas special and their strange though excellent duet of "Peace On Earth/The Little Drummer Boy". Also Labyrinth wasn't mentioned. The Goblin King? Really? Another thing I would have liked to have seen discussed was Bowie's interview with MTV, calling them out for not playing Black artists. I know the writers in this series have to stick with the constraints of the 108-page limit, but that's leaving too much out. Cut some of those dreary sidebars!

So Long, November

Good news from the hometown! We were in danger of losing our only bookstore. The owners wanted to retire, and were having trouble finding a new owner. The store even put up liquidation signs. I would have had to drive an hour to Kansas City or an hour to Columbia just to go to a bookstore. Yikes. But all is well. The bookstore has a new owner and he takes over on December first. This feels like such a gift. 

Today is the last day of November. Yesterday, I had the funniest feeling: There was something about November 29 that I knew was significant, and I couldn't place it. You know when Peter Parker says his spidey-sense is tingling? Well, it was like that, except it was a bookworm thing. Finally, right before I went to bed, I got it: Mark Twain's birthday! What a relief.

Speaking of Mr. Clemens, the library has The Autobiography of Mark Twain in audiobook. Lots and lots of listening hours. I want to commit to it, but its so long and checkout times are so short -- only two weeks and you can only renew three times. I guess I could shrug off the overdue notices and turn it back in when I'm damn well good and ready, but I actually like being a good library citizen. 

So, anyway: Since I was last here, the angry scribble in my left eye (yes, it's called a floater, but that reminds me of what happens to your poo when you eat too much fast food) seems less pronounced, but it's always a cloudy day on that side. But the right side is nice and clear and I'm driving again, which feels wonderful. My time in the car with my audiobook is the coziest time of the day. Who says you can't get hygge with it going down the highway at 65-70 miles per hour?

What I read:

Fresh Off The Boat - Eddie Huang. Memoir. My favorite parts of this book were Huang's exuberant and evocative descriptions of food. Lots of energy in this memoir. I enjoyed it more than an earlier food-related memoir this year: David Chang's Eat A Peach.

Grandma Pottymouth's Fast as Fuck Cookbook - Peggy Glenn. Cookbook. Since I didn't learn to cook until I was an adult, preparing meals has always been about ease. The way I measure that is by how many swears I used to get the food from ingredient to table. Grandma Pottymouth delightfully plays into all of that. Her recipes are easy to follow -- I don't think any of them are more than a page -- and helpful ("Spread that shit on the cookie sheet") and she swears so I don't have to! I haven't tried all the recipes. Some feature pine nuts, and I don't go there. Enchilada Casserole was delicious. The inelegantly named Slop was all right. Even Granny herself admits that it's just okay the first night, but gets better in leftover form. I'm not sure about that. My very favorite recipe is Sweet Potato and Chicken Get Married on a Ranch (Dressing, That Is). Brilliant, unconventional combination of sweet potato, chicken pieces, onion, and a packet of ranch seasoning mix. Baked in the oven. Oh my God, the aroma. The taste. I want some right now!

Getaway - Zoje Stage. Novel. After I read Baby Teeth, nothing else would do but more Zoje Stage. Two sisters and their friend from high school go on a camping trip in the Grand Canyon. The younger sister and the friend have some unresolved baggage, and younger sister has also just missed being mowed down in a synagogue shooting back in Pittsburgh. The camping trip is meant to be a time of healing and reconciliation, but someone is following them and tampering with their supplies. Welcome to the camping trip from Hell. I really admire and appreciate Stage's writing. She works really hard to craft multifaceted characters and still keep the pace nice and brisk. She's also great at atmosphere. 

The Boys - Ron Howard and Clint Howard. Memoir. I devoured this memoir in happy, hungry gulps. Conversational in tone (much like a family reunion), The Boys details the meeting of Harold Beckenholdt and Jean Speegle, two theatre majors at the University of Oklahoma, who impetuously elope to New York to become actors. Harold changes his first name to Rance and the family name to Howard and in due time, they give birth to Ron and Clint who turn out to be quite literally, born actors. Jean gives up acting to care for the family. Rance gets bit parts here and there and the kids' careers go into the stratosphere with The Andy Griffith Show (Ronny, as Ron was then known) and Gentle Ben (Clint). Rance and Jean closely managed their sons' careers, but they weren't horrible stage parents, and Rance taught them how to act rather than just performing and parroting lines. There's just enough scruff on this memoir (swearing, Clint had problems with substance abuse, Ron clashed with his parents about his early attachment to his future wife, Cheryl) to keep it from being sickeningly wholesome. I enjoyed reading about Ron's early interest in what goes on behind the camera, and his development as a director. Damn good read. You couldn't go wrong giving this one as a Christmas gift.

What I DNFed:

How To Change Your Mind - Michael Pollan. Nonfiction. But I don't really mean it as a DNF. Just a "Well, it was overdue and I had to turn it back in to the library, and I'll take it up again later."

What I'm reading:

A Carnival of Snackery - David Sedaris. Diaries. Audiobook. I would read anything by David Sedaris, and his diaries are most certainly better than most. I love that Tracey Ullmann is reading the entries from England while David reads all the others. Still, these compilations of diaries make me uneasy. It's like Sedaris is getting rid of everything. Cleaning out his closets. Swedish death cleaning. I'm laughing, but also feeling an undercurrent of sadness.

Wonderland - Zoje Stage. Novel. This one is crazy with atmosphere. Kind of like Shirley Jackson and The Haunting of Hill House.

Kings Row - Henry Bellamann. Novel. Getting those enjoyable Peyton Place vibes.

What I want to read:

Taste - Stanley Tucci. Memoir. WANT

Where I want to go: 

Fulton, Missouri. Apparently, Kings Row = Fulton, MO c.1890s. The good people of Fulton were reportedly pissed when they read Kings Row and started recognizing people and locales.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Zoje Stage's books all feature Pittsburgh in one way or another. Her love for her city shines through.

What I'm watching:

The Office Season 5

And now, it's the first day of December. I can't wait to look back at all the good books I've read this year. So many great discoveries. And cheese!

Early October: More Cheese Than Books

 What I read/am reading:

In printed books, there's not much change from last week here at the Bybeeary: I'm still under the spell of American Cheese by Joe Berkowitz, and laughing my way through Andy Greene's hilarious series survey The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s. 

Warhol by Blake Gopnik still sits reproachfully on the table, judging me for not picking it up for nearly two weeks now. I really don't want this to be a DNF, but I'm starting to feel the time constraints of library-booking.

What I'm listening to:

I'm happily engaged with a new audiobook: The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling. Not at all what I was expecting from this author. Rowling's examination of the small English town of Pagford following the unexpected death of a beloved city councillor, gives me yummy flashbacks to Peyton Place by Grace Metalious. 

What I watched/am watching: 

I watched Season 1 of The Office. Seeing how they all got started was great. What really struck me was the sickly lighting and the even more sickly expressions of the characters, dealing with their boss, Michael Scott. In particular, Pam, played by Jenna Fisher, actually looks like she might throw up. Yes! That's what people look like at work! The Spawn has put Season 2 on reserve at the local library, and I'm especially looking forward to the episode "The Injury" in which Michael burns his foot on his George Foreman grill. He keeps it by his bed so he can wake to the smell of bacon frying. Meanwhile, Dwight, while rushing to Michael's rescue, has a minor car accident which results in a more significant injury, apparent to everyone but Dwight himself. "The Injury" was written by Mindy Kaling. I'm so ready!

Maid, based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Stephanie Land, dropped on Netflix on October 1, and I watched the first episode. It's well-acted and intense. I felt extreme anxiety, and have had to pause for a few days before going onto the next one.

Where I went, what I ate, and what I bought:

The week seemed to drag by, but then finally it was Saturday, and I was off to The Cheese Store in Sweet Springs. I really didn't know what to expect, but I had hoped for a large selection of cheese (Check!), numerous samples of interesting cheese (Check!), and friendly, knowledgeable staff who would discuss the cheeses with me and make helpful recommendations (Check!) I tried several samples, and the one that I regret not buying was a cheddar called Bourbon Maple that started out cheesy and creamy and ended with a delicious flood of maple flavor that intensified. It's been more than 24 hours, and I can't get it out of my mind. 

Meanwhile, here are the items I brought home:

Cheese and jalapeno summer sausage. It's made by a local company called Alwel's, which always blue-ribbons at the Missouri State Fair. Ooooh, so gooood. I almost bought their buffalo summer sausage, and I regret leaving this behind as well as the Bourbon Maple cheddar.

Goat cheese. I bought this without tasting a sample, propelled by memories of Heidi, and I must say that I am full of purchase-regret. Aside from the slightest tang reminiscent of Chobani's plain yogurt, it's pretty bland. I might as well have bought a block of Philly cream cheese. I've been busy scrolling, looking for pairings that will make it more interesting. Suggestions welcome! Today I put some on a baked potato with bits of the aforementioned summer sausage. Not bad, but lesson learned: I need my cheese to be marvelous on its own.

Steakhouse Onion. Another cheddar, shot through with bits of toasted onion and in some sort of delectable alchemy, a taste like rich beef broth. THE WINNER for the day. I ate it at the store, I ate it at home with some Townhouse crackers, and I slid a little into my baked potato/goat cheese/summer sausage lunch concoction. I would eat this anywhere, including at this computer, for I just went to the refrigerator and got another sliver, so as to properly convey its awesomeness. 

Butter Kase. A simple, mild cheesy buttery cheese, a favorite for many years, since I was a little child living in Germany. Sentimental taste buds. I have to admit that I squealed like a fangirl when I saw that it was available.

Bruschetta Jack. This solid, flavorful cheese has tomato, garlic, onion, parsley and basil in it, and it's good, but I would swap it out for that Bourbon Maple in a do-over. 

Cranberry Chipotle Cheddar. Another winner! I love its spicy sweetness and can't wait to try it on a taco. Cranberries, chilies and a subtle smokiness. It's also the most eye-appealing of the group. 

I'll finish this post with a cheese-y memory: 

When I was in high school, cheese fondue was a big deal at parties, and you could usually find my little introvert self hanging over the pot, looking down into that tasty melty Swiss/Gruyere elixir, my long fork with its cube of bread carefully dipping...yeah. Flash-forward a few years, and I began dating a guy who announced that he would be bringing fondue to a party. I couldn't wait. I watched as he unpacked the pot, the long forks, the spirit lamp thingy, and...what the hell!? Oil? Tiny strips of raw steak??? This wasn't fondue! But it was. Apparently I had never learned that there were *two* kinds of fondue. My disappointment knew no bounds. For years, I referred to it as "imposter fondue" or "fon-doo-doo". The guy enthusiastically lowered his meaty fork into the hot oil for the umpteenth time as he caught my eye. "Pretty good, huh?" he said. I nodded. Now bring out the real fondue, I didn't say.

Snack! Goes the Bookworm

What I'm reading now:

Alexander Hamilton - Ron Chernow
The Cowboy and the Cossack - Clair Huffaker
Villette - Charlotte Bronte

What I'm eating now:
What am I not eating?

Let me back up a little.

As you know, the night time is the right time to be with the book you love. Anytime from eleven to midnight will find me crawling into bed with my Kindle, earphones, and assorted library books or paperbacks from my very own Bybeeary. Everything I could want or need, right?

Well lately, I have felt the need....the need for feed.

I am not a bedtime snack kind of person. I prefer to have dinner at six or seven then game over till breakfast. But these past few weeks, I've been going in search of chips, cookies, crackers, mixed fruit and nuts, chocolate...I'm sure there is something I'm forgetting. Oh, right, once there was pie. After the snack, I finally settle down and read for thirty minutes to an hour before falling asleep.

I try to fight this urge to chow down. Some nights I win, but those victories are getting fewer and farther between. Not surprisingly, my clothes are getting a bit tighter.

Why this change? Is it a sign of a weak character? Is it just knowing that the snacks are there and available? Is it menopause putting one last whipping on me?

I think I have finally figured out the answer:

I'm not hungry. I'm tired. I'm staying up too late then trying to fit my reading in on top of that. By that time, my brain wants a boost, a quick boost, which translates to something sweet or salty or both. Crunchy. Yes, God help me, crunchy.

Does this make it OK to snack? It's all for books and reading -- what could be nobler? I can't possibly go to sleep without reading; that would just feel wrong. An early bedtime? Nah. Being able to stay up as long as I damn well want is one of the few perks I've truly enjoyed during these last 3-plus decades of adulthood.

I suppose my best solution would be to prepare for the snack attack and have some healthy snacks on hand like fruit or yogurt. Veggies.

I could also grudgingly agree to give into Mr. Sandman for a while then wake up feeling fine after a short nap, able to sink my teeth into a few chapters at 3 a.m.

I could also drink water while reading. I don't think I would last long, but when I woke up, I would get in more reading time while relieving my protesting bladder.

It's 11:45 p.m. now. I am putting off going to bed, even though I want to get back to The Cowboy and the Cossack for a chapter or two, then finish off the night reading about Alexander Hamilton. But the Cheetos are looming large. Every time my mouth falls open in a yawn, they see an opening.

Weight-Loss Memoirs

I've always liked this type of memoir.  Even the ones in which weight loss is decidedly not a good idea.  Why?  Well, they have an arc, and sometimes, a twist.  They appeal to the side of me that enjoys Naturalism (Human vs. Human, Human vs. Nature, Human vs. Self).

Digging down in the deep chest freezer of my memory, here's what I found from that genre:

1. Solitaire - Aimee Liu.  I read this one during my high school years.  If I'm not mistaken, this was one of the first memoirs of anorexia.  I remember feeling appalled about someone in the book going a whole summer eating and drinking nothing but carrots and Tab, and feeling impressed that Aimee was able to lose weight during a family vacation in France by constantly ordering fish and salad.  Liu dedicated a lot to energy to detailing her eating habits and weight loss.  When she made the decision in college to start eating, it seemed as if the book trailed off and came to a hasty conclusion, almost as if the author had lost interest.

2. Starving For Attention - Cherry Boone O'Neill.  This book was a shocker.  Aimee Liu merely didn't eat.  Cherry Boone binged and purged.  Vomiting and laxatives were her tools. I'll never forget the opening of the book in which she creeps downstairs in the middle of the night after Thanksgiving because she is craving turkey skin.  There are also some sobering photos.  Cherry also doesn't present her parents, especially her father, Pat Boone, in a very flattering light.

3. Mary Ellen's Help Yourself Diet Plan - Mary Ellen Pinkham - Best known for her household hints, Mary Ellen Pinkham had a weight problem that first she tried to disguise by wearing beige.  The thing that pushed her over the edge was when her kid came home from seeing Cinderella and said that the little fat mouse in the movie reminded him of his mom.  Being a sensible type, Mary Ellen didn't reach for the Ex-Lax, but instead lost the weight the tried and true but dull and boring way of counting calories and lots of walking.  I remember this book as being quite witty.

4. Stop the Insanity! - Susan Powter.  Powter started out large and did a lot of yo-yo dieting, then finally realized that the body was like a machine that must be fed healthy food and exercised regularly.  She called out the diet industry, and built her own empire for a few years.  Some of her detractors said she was lying about having been obese, but I always believed her.  She was always seething.  That rage had to come from somewhere.

5. Diary of a Fat Housewife - Rosemary Green.  The author of this book was a former beauty queen, then she got married, had 6 kids and got up to 300 pounds.  The book is a diary of her struggles served up with a large portion of self-loathing.  I remember that at the end, she had lost a substantial amount, but wasn't at goal yet.  This was also the first book I remember reading that suggested obesity be treated like a disease, and that people should be more understanding and less judgmental. Yet she doesn't apply that compassion to herself or others.  Of course, this is a diary, and people are rawer and less consistent in that format.  I often wonder what became of her.

6. Drinking: A Love Story - Caroline Knapp.  Early in this prose-perfect memoir of high-functioning alcoholism, the late Caroline Knapp wrote about her eating disorder.  It seemed to start when her boyfriend went off on a summer vacation and she couldn't go. She was lonely and she was pissed off, so she decided to stop eating, and it spiraled from there.  She got down to an emaciated 83 pounds, eating things like one egg for breakfast, a bagel at lunch and an apple and a slice of cheese for dinner.  After a while, drinking became more and more attractive.

7.  Wasted - Marya Hornbacher.  This was the book that made me swear off of anorexic and bulimic memoirs forever.  The part that did it was when Marya was staying with relatives. She threw up so often, she ended up bursting their pipes. Then she pointed out in the very next sentence that this happens all the time in campus sorority houses. Ewwwwwwwwwwwww.  No more.

8. Fat Girl - Judith Moore.  Here's my review from 2008.  I stand by my original conviction that this manuscript should never have seen the light of day:

 Moore must have intended to keep the reader at a cool remove during this memoir of growing up in the 1940s and early 50s, unloved by most of the adults around her. Her petite mother was especially furious with Judith over her size, and would put her on crash diets and abuse her verbally and physically when the number on the scale went up or stayed the same. The father, who Judith resembled, was absent in her life and went on to a new wife and child when Judith's mother threw him out. Moore also writes about her life as an overweight adult and shows the reader that her bitterness and self-loathing knows no bounds. She died of cancer soon after this book was published, and it's obvious that it was written while she was feeling the full effects of her illness and the grueling treatments that would eventually fail her. I think if she'd been healthy, she would've framed this book differently. Fat Girl book reminds me of someone in my family who also grew up fat with a svelte mother who was determined that her daughter should be thin, and, like Moore's mother, wasn't very subtle or supportive and even to this day still comes out with unfeeling comments. This relative and Moore even have similar names. Reading Moore's memoir left me incredibly sad.

9. I'm Not the New Me - Wendy McClure.  Wendy McClure?  My favorite Bonnethead in the whole wide world?  Wrote a weight-loss memoir?  Reader, I made this book fly to me in a New York (allowing for the time difference) Minute.  Nor was I disappointed from my first sight of the Roy Lichtenstein-ish cover.  McClure's motivation for weight loss came from an unflattering photo of herself doing karaoke, so she repaired to Weight Watchers, and started a blog called Pound.  Cruise control to the happy slim ending, right?  Not exactly. McClure explores her mother's dramatic and unsuccessful attempts to lose weight, takes an amusing journey to Lane Bryant, dates a couple of guys who turn out to have shitheel tendencies, and finds some really scary vintage Weight Watchers recipe cards (included in the book) that are guaranteed to put even the heartiest eater off of her feed.

10. 344 Pounds - Shawn Weeks.  Here's what I wrote about Weeks' memoir last year:

When Shawn Weeks decided to vanquish his lifelong weight problem once and for all, he created a blog in which he periodically photographed himself shirtless, then went and hit the gym. He ate what he liked, but tried to burn more calories than he consumed, or "erase" the ones he over-consumed.  His story is a familiar one, and he tells it plainly and honestly. His message is more about getting real than it is about a bunch of facile diet tips.

11. Veggies Not Included - Christine Leo.  In 2008-9, Christine Leo lost 130 pounds and has kept it off for 5 years.  Her "rock bottom" moment was having to make presentations at work in front of a group of people, while her image was projected on a huge screen behind her.  In this engaging and extremely readable memoir (which has one of the best first lines I've ever read) Leo frankly admits that she loves fast food and hates vegetables and exercise.  She believes that most diets tell you what you should do and don't address what people actually do.  She built the bridge over that cognitive dissonance, met somewhere in the middle (relying on calorie-counting) and her success speaks for itself.  Her methods are similar to Shawn Weeks', but Leo is more articulate and connects all the dots for readers.

Have you read any of these weight-loss memoirs?  Is there one that sticks in your memory?  If there is, please give me the title.  And yes, I would like fries with that.

Bookworm Breakfast

I recently read The Man Cave Cookbook, and it has come within a hairsbreadth of supplanting the 1978 Betty Crocker cookbook in my affections.  All those appetizers!  All those dazzling variations on meatloaf!  The stews!  I want to try it all.  I could fairly eat the pages.

I have to give a shout-out to one breakfast recipe, and it's a winner, although I was skeptical at first:

Peanut Butter Yogurt Oatmeal

3/4 cup of water

1/3 cup of quick cooking oats

1 Tbsp. all natural peanut butter

Single serving cup of yogurt (any kind you like)

Prepare the oatmeal. Let stand for 2 minutes and stir in peanut butter and yogurt. Stir and enjoy. Serves 1.

I used my instant oatmeal that I brought back to Korea last winter, and strawberry yogurt.  I didn't have all natural peanut butter, so I used Peter Pan Peanut Butter (smooth).

Delicious.  Real comfort food.  What I wasn't expecting was the EXTREME staying power of this breakfast.  Usually, if I don't eat every 3-4 hours, I feel like I'm going to pass out.  When I eat PBYO, I can go an amazing 6-7 hours without eating, and I have tons of energy.

Now I'm in crisis mode because I finally ran out of instant oatmeal packs.  Oatmeal in any form is a challenge to find here, but I'm determined to walk the peninsula if I have to.  I've got to have more of this magic food.

The Food of a Younger Land - Mark Kurlansky

Bless Mark Kurlansky's food-nerdy heart!  One day, he was rummaging around in the Library of Congress, and he found a WPA writing project that had been started in the last days of the Depression.  The idea of this project, 'America Eats' was meant to include reportage from all over the country that chronicled American's daily -- and special days -- fare.

 Notes, articles, recipes and other miscellanea were gathered for a few years, then the project was abandoned at the beginning of WWII in a half-finished state.  There it lay for 70 years until Mark Kurlanksy came along.  Following the outline, he sorted through the materials and put together this book.  It's an uneven result.  Some regions are woefully under-represented and others have too much repetitive material.  Still, it's great that this document finally saw the light of day.  Here are my reading notes:

NYC luncheonette jargon from the 1930s.  So much fun...and the automats!  Snappy essay, beautiful prose.  Makes me want to go back in time and eat at one.

New England:  Lots and LOTS of discussion about the proper way to make clam chowder.  I have my own opinion, but reading the various recipes insisting that their way is the only right way makes for a good time.

Eudora Welty weighed in from her home state of Mississippi with recipes for barbecue, catfish, gumbo and mint juleps.  This is the only example of her food writing on record, and it's excellent.

Arkansas' food section was pretty much like I thought it would be: Squirrel stew and poke salad.

Frowns all around!!!  I'm in the southern section now.  The African-Americans are well-represented, but the stupid 1930s interviewer had to put their recipes and remarks into dialect writing.  Also, there are way too many racist remarks about behavior, and the gauzily fond reminiscences of slaves and plantations are sickening.  I am very ugh and can't wait to get into another part of the country!

The Middle West.  NO MISSOURI?!  What. The. Hell.  Nebraska seems over-represented.  Best article was the one about preparing food for the threshers (from Iowa?).

The far west and the southwest regions have been the most entertaining.  An Oregonian writer's rant about mashed potatoes reads like the best of Dorothy Parker's writing.  The grunion run in California was also amusing.  I wonder if they still do it.

Except for that southern section (where the reader is also mint julep-ed to death), The Food of a Younger Land was a fun and fascinating read.  Kudos to Mark Kurlanksy for taking on the task.  As he points out in the introduction, it's a good thing the original project was able to capture these regional recipes.  As Kurlanksy points out in the introduction, nowadays, the cuisine lines are less demarcated because of the preponderance of chain restaurants and fast food.  'America Eats' 2014 -- wonder what kind of book would that be?

Of Blogs, Books and Brownies

BLOGS:

Dear Bloggy Blog, My Own Dear Blob,

Look at you, all neglected.  Nearly starved for a lack of words.  No excuses.  I'll make it up to you.  We'll celebrate your 10th birthday in style.  From now on, "loquacious" is my middle name.

There, there now,
Bybee  xoxoxo

BOOKS:

I'm off to a slow start -- I just don't have the same focus when I'm in America, but I've read 15 books so far this year.  Currently, I'm working on Bill Bryson's One Summer: America, 1927, which is turning out to be one of his best.  Bet he had one hell of a mind map going on when he was first putting it all together.

New discovery that has made me all squeeee:  George Moore.  Moore (1852-1933) was an Irish novelist who started out wanting to be a painter.  He went to France to learn his craft but it didn't work out and he met and was influenced by Emile Zola, which makes me a happy Realism-reading camper.  So far, I've read two of his offerings:  Albert Nobbs (1918), a short novel about a middle-aged waiter with a secret, and Esther Waters (1894) a novel about an unwed mother in which I can really see Zola's influence.  Looking forward to reading A Mummer's Wife (1885).

Sadly, I've already got one DNF to report:  Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell and Know by Alexandra Horowitz.  I love dogs and wanted to learn more about them, but the introduction seemed long, tedious and occasionally cloying.  I just couldn't carry on.

My Spawn is staying with me for a month, and he's got two books for me to read:  A novel called  Rain of the Ghosts by Greg Weisman (the main creator of Gargoyles) and a graphic novel, Madison Square Tragedy: The Murder of Stanford White by Rick Geary.  Speaking of the Spawn, he's curled up on the futon as I write this, reading True Grit.  My boy!  No insightful comments yet, but I'm sure they are forthcoming.  If not, I have ways of prying them out; I'll get that English teacher mojo going.

BROWNIES:

While in the US, I watched the Olympics every night (unless Mizzou was playing basketball) and baked up batches of cobbler and my favorite brownie recipe.  I meant to take a picture of a freshly baked pan of the latter, but there was cutting and eating and by the time I thought to get the camera, there were merely crumbs to be enjoyed.

Katherine's Brownies
[Katherine was a woman who lived in my grandmother's hometown.  Apparently she could bake like a boss.]

1 cup of butter or margarine
4 eggs
2 cups of sugar
3/4 cup of cocoa
1 cup of flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 cup of nuts [I used pecans]

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

The Adventures of Carb Face

Two weeks ago, I read a book called The Thin Commandments by Stephen Gullo.  My friend Teri brought the book to my attention.  She found it noteworthy because like most diet books, it doesn't end with a sweet, hazy image of someone getting to their goal weight and walking into the swimsuit section of Macy's. 

 Instead, Gullo explores what happens after people get tired of dieting.  What happens?  They gain it all back, and sometimes more.   Is it lack of willpower?  Not completely, according to this book.  People need frequent reality checks about which foods trigger them to overeat.  They need to "think historically rather than calorically."  After that, they need strategies, and lots of them.  Food diaries. Substitutions.  Eating often enough so that they don't get overly hungry and give into cravings, but on the occasions that this happens, they have to tell themselves that it's an isolated episode and mean it.

As I read, the information about food triggers seemed familiar.  Recently, I had gone all day without eating (laziness rather than lack of victuals), and by the time I was on the subway home, all I could see in my immediate future was a baguette.  It was looming; I really couldn't see anything else.  At my stop, I stumbled into the closest bakery and seized their last baguette.  How I was restrained enough to let the cashier slice the loaf for me, I'll never know.  I do know, however, that once I got it home, the whole thing was history in a half hour. 

 Wiping away the crumbs (no, that's not true; I ate the crumbs as well), I felt as if I needed more bread.  Couldn't go back to that bakery, could I?  I went to Home Plus instead.  No baguettes.  No matter.  I bought a loaf of bread and took it home.  I made a grilled cheese sandwich, then another.  The next morning, I made french toast.  A peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich for lunch killed that loaf.  I felt blissful, as if I'd happened upon someone's well-stocked medicine cabinet. 

Obviously, bread is a trigger for me.  Hell, it's probably the whole weapon. Dr. Gullo (he's a behavioral psychologist) reassures readers that they aren't worthless and weak.  It might not be their fault.  Something about brain chemistry, but then he says if people know this, then they need to get real and have a plan or twenty when the cravings hit, which they will, if they're thinking historically.  

One strategy he suggests is to "box in" the food (only eat it on special occasions, on the weekend, etc.) or "box it out" (eliminate it completely).  If the cravings persist, he recommends waiting a bit to see if they subside.  There's other things people can put in their arsenal:  "Throw some protein at it (the craving)".  "Drink tomato juice".  There's so much more.  Dude is like a diet MacGyver.

After I finished The Thin Commandments, I was revved up to try... not dieting, but becoming a food strategist.  I took a weekend to make my plan, shopping and thinking about how to head off incidents like the baguette one. Teri was visiting, and I probably drove her nuts with all my thinking aloud.  I also allowed myself a "goodbye supper" Sunday night of  six Dunkin' Donuts and a package of Peppero. 

One thing that strengthened my resolve was Gullo's casual mention of "Carb Face".  He wrote that he could see when people are eating too many carbs -- their faces are bloated in a way that is easily recognizable.  I thought about how it would hurt my feelings to be referred to like that by him or any health care provider.

Last Monday (October 21), I pissed around until noon, drank a Schweppes Lemon Tonic, then decided I would begin.  My strategy was to eat a mini-meal every 3-4 hours from waking until bedtime. I decided to leave in just enough carbohydrates (potatoes, whole-grain crackers) to keep the cravings at bay.  Eating that often made me feel uncomfortably stuffed, but that seems to have passed, and what do you know?  It's working! I feel more alert because my blood sugar isn't always roller-coastering, and the scale is showing numbers slowly but steadily going down.

On the second day, I decided to add in a food diary, then after I had the food diary, I thought of filling it out in advance, then eating what I'd scheduled.  That felt normal -- like making lesson plans, and I was writing down good things.  I'm sticking to the same few healthy foods, because Dr. Gullo says that too much variety can trigger cravings.

 I don't know how long I'll be able to do this, but it takes a few weeks to build habits, so if I can get from the this-is-fun/euphoric stage to that point, I'll be OK.  I'm thinking about really committing to this and doing an online food diary, but I also have a fear of appearing/feeling vulnerable.  According to the latest book I'm reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, long-term goals have a better chance of succeeding when you add community.  Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, according to my food diary, it's time to eat again.

I Always Wanted To Live Next Door To An Author...

...and now I do!

An unexpected bonus to moving house:  My friend and new neighbor, Dina Porell, recently wrote and published an e-book of recipes from her native Egypt.  Dina is a wonderful cook; I've been lucky enough to taste several of her creations.  I'm looking forward to sitting down and reading her cookbook.  I'll try to choose a time when the smells from her kitchen are wafting down the hallway so I can get the full, blissful effect.

Late To The Table

I don't know how I let this challenge almost slip by me. I'm definitely in, tying on a napkin and going for the Bon Vivant level (4-6 books). This is the prompting that I need to finally read Becka's copy of Chocolat, which I borrowed last fall. It's also a great excuse to go shopping for some of those food memoirs I've been coveting. In addition, maybe this will compel me to stop circling copies of Good Morning, Kimchi! and take the plunge. The upcoming Readathon just got a little tastier. Is this ironic or just merely funny?... it's the middle of the night, and I'm awake and wandering around in Blogland because of indigestion.

Naked Without Salad (and Stonecrop)

I'm reading 3 books right now and I'm not terribly thrilled with any of them, so I'll turn my attentions elsewhere -- meaning to food.

My eating habits are really bad. How bad? About 8:30 in the evenings, I develop a nasty taste and a feeling that life is a little sad and ineffably difficult. I begin to wonder why I became an EFL teacher, and wonder just how it is a lesson plan is constructed. Then I look at my TBR and wonder if I'll ever complete another book ever again. I begin to puzzle about how people manage whole novels -- even short ones, like Newbery winners.

Then it hits me: Oh yeah! Sweet roll and coffee for breakfast, coffee for coffee break, coffee for lunch and another coffee for that 3-4 pm slump. Dinner? Forgotten. Upon remembering, I start out with a first course of a whole can of Pringles and a Coke and go from there to anything else readily available for consumption for the rest of the evening, pretty much in the same way the Big Bad Wolf went to each of the Three Little Pigs' houses.

In 2011, I decided that I would not leave myself to my own boneheaded devices. So far, so good. I haven't bought a can of Pringles or even eaten one in over a month. I banished Coke from the house but I'm allowed to drink it off the premises. Water and teas are my only beverages on hand at home. I'm also taking a new look at salad. The really green stuff. Life beyond Iceberg.

I went grocery shopping yesterday, making sure that I hadn't eaten yet so that the nutritious stuff would look yummy beyond compare. At E-Mart, the food section is on the first level of the store. Luckily, right off the "down" escalator is the produce section. In another bit of related luck, for the past year or so, the store brand has started putting the name of the food on the package in English in small letters below the Hangul.

I studied the packaged and (allegedly) pre-washed greens:

Chard. Very green. I've heard it's healthy, but the name always makes me laugh. It's like an alternative nickname if Richard doesn't like being called Rich or Ricky. I passed for safety's sake. What if I started laughing while I was eating?

Leaf lettuce. Very dark green, almost greenish black. Ew. The stems were kind of woody. Ew again. But the 2011 Pringle-shunning side of myself pitched it into the cart. There's vitamins in them there leaves and stems.

Chicory. Paler green, but still green enough and it was sort of pretty. All curly and feathery-looking. Cute name. I couldn't remember anything about it except that in Gone With The Wind, people used chicory root for coffee when they couldn't get the real stuff. Because it was pretty *and* made me think of GWTW, I grabbed a bag.

Endive. It looked fine. Very healthy and approachable, but the name annoyed me. I didn't know if it was pronounced "N-Dive" or "on-deev". How could I brag about my sudden good habits if I couldn't pronounce what I was putting in my mouth? I didn't buy it; but I had good intentions of consulting dictionary.com which pronounces the word as many times as you'd like. (I made a mental note to look and listen up "chard" while at that site.) After I'd scratched my linguistic itch, I'd pick endive up next time.

Stonecrop. This was really cute, like a plump and friendly little weed. I'd seen it somewhere before. Of course. At the Korean vegetarian restaurant down the road. I almost didn't recognize it because when I had it at the restaurant, it was smothered in red pepper paste. There was something familiar about it, I remembered thinking. I remembered liking the texture coupled with the spicy sauce. I liked the name. All good. I added it to the cart.

So much for the greens. I added some little pinkish-red radishes to my pile. They're very hard to find and terribly expensive. I don't even want to tell you what I spent on a total of five little radishes, but I will -- approximately $1.30 (USD). I didn't care; I'd been missing radishes like hell. They started me thinking about Gone With The Wind again, (Scarlett gets sick after she eats a radish on an empty stomach) but I shook it off and went for a couple of carrots and cucumbers, a bag of cherry tomatoes and some button mushrooms to round out my salad.

Back at the apartment, I grabbed my biggest bowl and started washing, slicing, chopping and cutting. I'd almost forgotten how it was fun, in a sort of Zen way, to mess around with preparing food. I doused my salad with a few squirts of Wishbone Italian salad dressing, which assured me brightly on its back label that not only would it make my salad taste delicious, it would actually assist in helping me absorb more of the nutrients in the salad. Whatever. It had me at taste. I tossed the ingredients around for a couple of minutes then shoved the bowl in the refrigerator and pulled it out again 2 hours later for dinner.

Result: Nice. Maybe there was something to healthy eating after all. The only thing I didn't really care for was the greenish-black leaf lettuce. Bitter stuff. If I were one of those people who have that extra taste bud that makes ordinary vegetables taste soapy, this would have been intolerable. What I think I'll do with the remainder of the leaves is drown them in red pepper paste and sprinkle the mixture with some toasted sesame seeds.

I was enchanted with the interesting texture the stonecrop gave to the salad. At first bite, it seemed like it would be bitter, but then it turned some kind of gustatory corner and came across as slightly sour and peppery, not at all unpleasant. I tried a sprig of it entirely devoid of salad dressing to verify this.

What other ways were there of preparing it? Googling, I found out that stonecrop is also known as sedum, and that it's usually used as ground cover. So that's where else I'd seen it! Recipes? I didn't find any, and I even visited those vegan VEGAN sites. The ones where the participants might beat the crap out of you if they saw you even glancing at an egg or a sliver of cheese.

.

One of the many gardening sites said that gardeners didn't particularly have to worry about animals or children eating the attractive ground cover -- it wasn't poisonous and it didn't taste too great, either. Finally, Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants (1919) -- courtesy of the Oregon State Food Resource page -- tersely allowed that "sedum" is a plant of Europe and North Asia (hey!) and "the leaves serve as a salad". (hey again!)

Naturally, I feel very smarty and pleased with myself and very cutting-edge. I have brief fantasies about M.F.K. Fisher and Julia Child asking/begging me to share my ideas with them and hazy, pleasant daydreams about the Food Network. Even though I know I'm in no way a vegetable vanguard, I'm going to have so much fun doing different things to stonecrop. Stay tuned.

Readathon: Snack Coach

I don't know about you, but I can't go into a Readathon lightly. I have to think about what to read and what to wear and sometimes, I even get a haircut for the occasion. Somehow it seems that when I'm freshly shorn, the words sink into my brain so much easier because my scalp feels so light and cool.

I also try to think about what to eat. During the Readathon last October, I neglected this important aspect of the game and suffered the consequences as a result. I was low-energy, often cranky and fell asleep early on, losing consciousness for four hours. In Hour 19, I had a similar episode that lasted about 20 minutes.

Fortunately, I posted my snacks each hour and Sandra, my wonderful BOOKLEAVES friend analyzed my food lists and pronounced them "sub-par convenience store pap." She suggested that next time I treat myself to "something more gastronomically stimulating." I didn't have to think twice. I asked her to be my snack coach and she kindly agreed. Here's her advice:

Sandra: OK, light on the carbs, heavy on the proteins, especially when you're already feeling sleepy. Fruits are carbs, but they're also refreshing and make you feel rejuvenated, so fruits are OK in moderation, mostly to cleanse your palate and make you feel good.

Apples with peanut butter (your idea) is good. The protein will counteract the nap-inducing carbs. Another good fruit to eat is Asian pear because you need something sort of exotic to rub it in the faces of all your readers who aren't expats. Asian pear is so beautiful and juicy and palate-cleansing and refreshing.

For luxury with a shot of protein, I would really recommend some cheese or at least that brie-in-a-can. I know it's crap but it's all we've got here. Or instead of that, but in the same price range, some E-Mart sushi. Either the sushi or the cheese would be a big splurge--either one would be close to 10,000 won. You need some pampering.


For more protein, I'm thinking tuna. Do you like it? Some hate it, I like it. Koreans have interesting canned tuna--have you ever tried the kind in hot sauce? There's one in barbecue sauce too. You can eat it plain or you can mix it in with some cooked rice, so simple to prepare you won't even lose your place on the page.

Do not neglect the important food group called chocolate. I know I said no carbs, but I was exaggerating. A little chocolate might be just what you need at 3 in the morning. Go with a Crunky Bar or Atlas (Korean Snickers doppelganger). Speaking of Snickers, if you can get a little packet of nuts, that's another good protein-laden snack. Sunflower seeds are good too, but can be hard to eat while reading.

Drink plenty of water, just like the running marathoners. Have on hand some juice. I would not overdo it with the coffee but I think you're going to want some. If you're going to do outings, going to a coffee shop might be a nice pick-you-up or go to a nearby smoothie place or something. I think going out to eat something or drink something will give you some variety and fresh air and motivation. If you feel like falling asleep at 3 in the afternoon, maybe you should take your book out to a cafe.

Marathoners also load up on carbs before they run--you could do that too! A big huge plate of pasta before the marathon starts, but not during. It will make you too sleepy.Do you ever buy the meat-on-a-stick in the E-Mart deli? I know, a lot of it is processed meat, but it's very tasty. It tastes good cold or microwaved.



Hard boiled eggs! Cook them ahead of time and have them waiting in the fridge. With lots of salt and pepper they are so delicious. I have a fool proof cooking method so if you want tips, just ask.

Yogurt! Crudites. You need some vegetables, and I'd recommend before the marathon starts, cut up some raw veggies and have them on standby. Cucumbers, red peppers, carrots. If you also have some lettuce leaves washed and ready, you could use them to wrap up gobs of the tuna, if you're going to eat it. You're going to have your frozen pizza on hand too, right?

Use the food to reward and motivate yourself, use it to wake yourself up (when you get sleepy stick with protein). Try not to overdo the coffee or it might bother your stomach and make you feel crazy. In the wee hours you'll be happy to have some nice food as a reward.

Susan: Great ideas! I love tuna. I had 2 kinds of tuna things this week -- cucumber sandwiches with tuna salad filling and tuna patties. I also buy hot spicy tuna regularly.

I'm stocked up on frozen pizza. I bought 3...they're called Pizza Italiano and the package says they're made in Italy.

Ooooh, I love Brie! (and this is the perfect time to indulge and not feel guilty) Asian pears make me feel like an international woman of mystery. The E-Mart sushi is nice.

I've never tried meat on a stick.

I'll make a last-minute run for vegetables on Friday after work. Luckily, I have some Ranch for dip.

Hardboiled eggs -- and I could check some Raymond Chandler out from the library!

Thanks so much for your much-needed help and your brilliant advice, Sandra -- I owe you one. This should be my most successful Readathon.

Readathon: Hour 19

Pages read: 20
Blogs visited: 0
Snacks: finished off the aforementioned glass of Coke with lots of chipped ice

I read a few pages of Julie and Julia. That book is just all over the place. She can write and she can do funny, but there's too much of everything about her life. She needed an editor with wit and style to pare down her prose.

Close call -- I put the book over my face for a moment to think about how Maxwell Perkins might edit it. Suddenly, I heard this horrible sound like a 120-year-old woman with respiratory distress. It was me, snoring. It seemed like a good time to get up and visit the computer.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year Of Food Life - Barbara Kingsolver

A few years ago, Barbara Kingsolver and her family decided to leave Arizona, where Kingsolver had been based for about 25 years, and move to her husband's farm in southern Appalachia. They also determined at that time that they would eat locally -- either grow/raise their own produce/livestock or buy it from neighboring farmers right in their own county. This decision came from their growing concern that a staggering amount of oil goes into bringing food to consumers --all the way from the tractors in the farms to the trucks and airplanes that get the food to the grocery stores.

When you read Barbara Kingsolver, you're in for a good scolding; she tends to be a little preachy. In this case, I'm using good in the conventional sense as well as a synonym for "thorough". About 99% of what she says is nothing but truth and sensible to boot. Plus, she put her money where her mouth is by embarking on a year-long journey of living off the land. Her account of this time makes for captivating reading -- good solid reportage combined with memoir.

Kingsolver's co-authors are also rich with insights. Her husband, Steven L. Hopp, an environmental studies professor provides succinct and informative sidebars pertaining to Kingsolver's narrative in each chapter. Kingsolver's college-age daughter, Camille, who plans to study nutrition in graduate school, gives her take on the experiment (very positive and encouraging) and includes dozens of recipes, many of which she created in her family's kitchen. They all scan deliciously as well as healthfully.

Kingsolver's younger daughter Lily, an elementary-schooler, was "too young to sign a book contract", but her contribution to the year of food life was significant. She raised chickens organically, helping to provide her family with extra sustenance via poultry and eggs ("about 50 dozen", notes Kingsolver) as well as generating some income for herself by selling eggs to the neighbors. Those are also Lily's hands on the cover of the book, holding those gorgeous Christmas lima beans, an heirloom variety.

In the middle of their food year, Barbara and Steven visit Italy for about a month. Kingsolver's account of the trip focuses on restaurants and farms throughout the country. Not surprisingly, eating locally is a way of life there rather than something that one must consciously decide to do. Readers should find the Italians' passion for food -- growing, gathering, preparing and eating -- wonderfully compelling reading.

The family also decides to raise turkeys, so Kingsolver has a hilarious chapter about turkey sex and the subsequent results. She can come off as a little holier-than-thou, but she's equally adept at telling a good story on herself, which is an admirable quality. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle also includes an excellent bibliography and a long list of resources regarding eating locally and the "Slow Food" movement.

I often find myself missing certain western foods like crazy, but AVM brought me up short. I'm ashamed to admit that I've helped to contribute to the huge cost of food transportation and the squandering of vital resources. In AVM, a large part of Kingsolver's ire is focuses on, of all things, the importing of bananas. To her credit, I've only eaten one banana since reading her book and I didn't enjoy it!

Although I finished this book in January, AVM still has me thinking about the parallels between Korean and Italian food. Koreans take great pride in their distinctive cuisine and many, if not all cities and/or provinces are famed for a particular food which is celebrated with its own festival when it's in season.

In addition, much of Korean food preparation is labor-intensive and there is especial care taken with the look and presentation that would seem like Martha Stewart-like fussiness to most Americans, but it shows a deep connection and appreciation for where the food came from and the traditions that accompany it.

I haven't done a complete 180 since reading AVM (there are still those stubborn dark longings for Quizno's) but my eyes have been somewhat opened and now when I eat Korean food, I'm curious. I long to have a conversation about the origins of my meal. If the Koreans and I could communicate fluently, I'm almost positive that they'd be happy and proud to inform and educate me. My sincere appreciate for their cuisine may be the very thing that springboards me into getting serious about learning Korean.

Well-Seasoned Reader Challenge Completed!

Today I finished Let's Eat Korean Food by Betsy O'Brien and also finished The Well-Seasoned Reader Challenge. This is so unlike me. My Tough & Cool Inner Bookworm looked up bewilderedly and said, "Bybee?" "Tuffi," I replied, just as taken aback as she was.

Still on the culinary high that M.F.K. Fisher induced with her little slice of perfection, Consider The Oyster, I was pleased to see oyster dishes (kul in Korean) mentioned twice in Let's Eat Korean Food:

"Raw oysters with kimchi are the filling for salted cabbage leaves in kul possam (fresh oysters in cabbage roll) which is like a quick kimchi sandwich."

"Orikul Chot (Salted and spiced oysters): Oysters are salted for three days then seasoned with red pepper powder, sugar, garlic and ginger.They are stored in a jar in a cool place until required."

I can't help but wonder which of those two recipes M.F.K. Fisher would have liked better.

Let's Eat Korean Food starts out with a historical look at Korean cuisine, some helpful information about dining in a Korean restaurant, an explanation of the more popular seasonings that go into Korean food, then a comprehensive overview of some of the most popular dishes here. Each chapter has a "Connoisseur's Choice" section, and I was pleased to see some of my favorites described in mouth-watering detail. The book ends with a look at what is usually served on big feast days. Let's Eat Korean Food is illustrated with excellent pen-and-ink drawings that help you recognize a certain dish at first glance. O'Brien is no M.F.K. Fisher, but her descriptions are clear and precise. A tasty read, highly recommended!

The Well-Seasoned Reader Challenge

I really tried not to join any challenges for 2009, but Book Nut made this sound so irresistible. Just my cup of tea. Easy, too. Piece of cake, so to speak. I don't think I can fail at this one:

Rule 1# The challenge runs from January 1 - March 31. (No cheating or starting before!)
Rule 2# You must read 3 books. After that, it's up to you how much you want to read.
Rule 3# The books must: Have a food name in the title OR be about cooking/eating OR have a place name in the title OR be about a specific culture OR be by an author whose ethnicity is other than your own.
Rule 4# The books must be middle-grade and on up, but can be either fiction or nonfiction.

This challenge not only screamed my name, it knocked me down and began chewing on my forearm. Now that I've succumbed, it's like dominoes; I'll be tumbling for those other challenges dancing in front of my eyes. Sigh. Stay tuned.

Readathon Hour 15: Breakfast of Champions

In this last hour, I felt as if vampires had been at me, both mind and body. I was on the verge of wimping out, so I let my Tough & Cool Inner Bookworm take over.

You sleepy? she asked.

I nodded.

Well, that's tough. You're not getting any sleep till we see this thing through. You hungry?

Yeah I could eat, I told her.

Well, that can be negotiated, she said. So I/we? walked back to Dorm Sweet Dorm and ate a bowlful of kimchi and rice topped with a fried egg.

Magic. I'm revived. No more of the drained feeling. But just to be on the safe side, I topped it all off with a piece of Russell Stover candy -- dark chocolate with coconut underneath.

I'm back visiting blogs and cheering. Slow but diligent progress has brought me up to the M's. I'm starting to worry that I can't see everyone's blog/comment/trawl for interesting book titles before my cheerleading shift ends, 65 minutes from now. But I'll give it my best shot.

Tagged By Lotus Eats...I Mean, Lotus Reads!

Wow, I've been tagged for a restaurant meme. I'll be discussing five favorite restaurants in my area. I don't really talk much about it, but food is right up there with reading. Just ask my scale. (One of the nice things about living abroad is giving my weight in kilos. It sounds so much better!)

I'm a little intimidated because Lotus did such a terrific job with her meme. Wonderful restaurant selections. Scrumptious pictures. And her mouth-watering descriptions! Girl, if MFK Fisher were still alive, you could make her your...well, what I should say is that she'd be begging you to teach her how to write about food.

The rules: Put your name under the name of the person who tagged you.

Nicole Tan (Sydney, Australia)
velverse (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
LB (San Giovanni in Marignano, Italy)
Selba (Jakarta, Indonesia)
Olivia (London, England)
ML (Utah, USA)
Lotus (Toronto, Canada)
Bybee (Gumi, South Korea)

Write about five favorite restaurants in your area.
Tag five more people.

1. The pig intestine stew restaurant, Simpyeong, Gumi, South Korea.
The sign on the front of the restaurant is funny. It's a picture of a pig with both hands up to his cheeks and an amazed expression like Macauley Culkin in "Home Alone". The restaurant is traditional Korean style: Shed your shoes at the door and sit on the floor.

Even though the thought of pig intestine stew might not make you feel very hungry, I'm here to swear to the fact that it's actually delicious.

The intestine is grilled, with a bit of kidney, then cut up and mixed in a stew comprised of kimchi, onion, water and chili pepper. The stew cooks right there at the table and smells wonderful. The side dishes are more kimchi, very fresh and good, (actually, this is the best kimchi I've had in Korea, except for Pablo's mother-in-law's kimchi) slightly boiled peanuts flavored with soy sauce and sugar, and a steaming bowl of rice topped with dried seaweed, which is mixed into the helpings of stew. Chilled ice water is the beverage.

Pig intestine stew is popular as a hangover cure because you sweat while you're eating it, but you don't have to be recovering from the wicked effects of drunkenness to appreciate this meal.

The owner of the restaurant let me take about a week's worth of her kimchi home with me when my student, Dong Gyoon, translated to her that I was enjoying it so much. The next time I decide to treat my class to dinner, I'm headed back for more.

2. Korean Traditional Porridge Restaurant, downtown Gumi, South Korea.
The direct translation for Chuk is "gruel", which just sounds downright unappetizing. Someone must have tipped off the Koreans because they use the slightly more palatable word "porridge". It's made by steaming grain over a low heat it thickens into a thick liquid. Then other ingredients are added.

I'm really fond of pumpkin porridge. True comfort food, the sweetness and warmth of it hits the spot on those icy cold winter days. Pablo's a big fan of seafood porridge. It's really delicious, and with all the tasty added ingredients, it's more like a stew. Since it's a chain, Korean Traditional Porridge restaurant has a few locations in Gumi, but the one nearest/dearest to my heart is close to the bus stop downtown -- I usually grab it to go on those nights when I have to teach until a quarter after ten.

3. The Samgyupsal restaurant, Simpyeong, Gumi, South Korea. The restaurant is divided in half; you can either sit on the floor at a low table, or at a table with chairs. I prefer a table-and-chair combination, but for samgyupsal, I'd sit anywhere. There is a grill in the middle of the table. Pieces of pork are roasted on the grill. Cloves of garlic and mushrooms are brought out, so those can be roasted along with the pork. After being cooked, the pork is cut into bite-sized pieces with a pair of scissors. Wrap the pork, the garlic and mushrooms, a bit of rice and a tiny bite of kimchi up in a lettuce leaf bundle and pop it in your mouth. Repeat as necessary.

4. The "Three Ducks" restaurant, Indong, Gumi, South Korea.
This place feels like home, with buffet-style serving and tables and chairs, but the food is all Korean. The place has no ambiance or atmosphere, though; the stark surroundings remind me of a school lunchroom.

On my lucky days, they have my favorites:
1. strips of eggplant sauteed in sesame oil and sprinkled with sesame seeds
2. radish kimchi
3. sliced lotus root that's been slightly stir-fried and gently marinated in soy sauce.

Everything's delicious though -- the only thing they've ever had on the bar that I truly loathed was bbondegi, which is more than silkworm larve but not quite the completely developed silkworm, either. That middle stage, whatever it's called in English.

They don't seem to get many foreigners in this particular restaurant, because we always draw stares when we walk in. Also, some of the customers can be a little bossy. Once, I didn't mix my curry and rice together immediately (I was crunching on some lotus root) and a woman came over, grabbed my chopsticks and mixed it for me. Another time, I put salad greens in a bowl meant for soup, and one of the workers came over and told me about myself. Since those two incidents, I've strived to get a table slightly away from others and with my back to the wall, so no one can sneak up behind me like the impatient curry lady. It's a longer walk to the buffet table, but that's okay. Despite the drawbacks, I really do enjoy eating there.

5. Vietnamese restaurant, downtown Daegu, South Korea.
I went here with my friend Heather and some other expats after we saw a production of Mamma Mia. Everything was delicious, but above all, this place has got the most incredible lemon chicken. Incredible sounds too weak. This lemon chicken was a poem, a symphony, a dream, tantric sex (not that I'd know anything about that last thing) and all things sublime. I regret that my table manners are so stubbornly ingrained. I wanted to pick up the empty platter and lick it perfectly clean. By the shadow that crossed Heather's face, I knew she had to be thinking the same thing.

I don't know who to tag! Who's been tagged? I'll just extend an invitation to everyone.

Would anyone like to talk favorite places to have dessert? Much as I love Korean cuisine, they're a little weak on end-of-the-meal treats. A can of Coke's a wonderful thing, but it'll never mean dessert to me.

Back to work on my review of How To Cook A Wolf...