I love...Monkey See

My nearest and dearest know that I spend an obscene amount of time reading blogs. So I'll be sharing some of my favorites from time to time.

One site I hit every day is NPR's Monkey See, which is the pop-culture blog from National Public Radio. It's not so much a matter of trying to keep up to date but rather to read the sublime writing of Linda Holmes (aka Miss Alli, the late lamented recapper from Television Without Pity). Linda is a brilliant, funny writer who can bring the snark like no one else and has an unabashed love for Reality TV. She's the only person other than myself who actually admits to watching Blush on Lifetime.

Girls, I give you Linda's 'Ten Surprising Wholesome Values Discovered In Old Episodes Of 'Little House On The Prairie'. Aren't you glad those weren't wasted hours?

For more Linda, visit her personal blog Things What Things.

Sick Days

Nothing beats being sick in bed when you have a stack of books to finish up. This week I managed to polish off:

'Tis the Season by Lorna Landvik--a novel written entirely in email format

The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits by Lee Standiford--really well written. I was struck by how incredibly dismal life was in London during the Victorian era.

My Jesus Year: A Rabbi's Son Wanders the Bible Belt in Search of His Own Faith by Benyamin Cohen--more snark than substance, but it was interesting to view so many different religions through the eyes of an orthodox Jew. Some of those southern churches are intense.

September Songs: The Good News About Marriage in the Later Years by Maggie Scarf--looks like old age doesn't really suck after all

Here's the Bright Side: Of Failure, Fear, Cancer, Divorce, and Other Bum Raps by Betty Rollin--actually, life in general doesn't really suck after all

The Foxfire 40th Anniversary Book: Faith, Family, and the Land --a collection of essays from the past forty years. I will never take running water for granted again.

Hercule Poirot's Christmas: A Holiday Mystery by Agatha Christie--The thing I enjoy most about Agatha Christie is that I never can figure out who did it before I get to the end. Not sure if this relflects more on her supreme writing skills or my basic lack of imagination, but it makes for enjoyable reading.

The Winding Ways Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini --for the twelfth book in a series, it wasn't a total waste of time. Best I can say.

The Quilter's Kitchen: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel with Recipes also by Jennifer Chiaverini --the thirteenth book in the series was a total waste of time.

Actors at Work by Rosemarie Tichler, Barry Jay Kaplan, and Mike Nichols --interviews with famous actors (such as Meryl Streep, Kevin Spacey, Kevin Kline), discussing the actual craft of acting. Lots of emphasis on their education. Gave me a real appreciation for the amount of sheer effort and practice that goes into the profession.

I love...Julia Child

It's that holiday time of year, when much of our energy goes into cooking. And you just don't cook around our house without Julia's help.

Ever since it was published in 1989, our default cookbook has been The Way to Cook by Julia Child. It was a huge investment for us at the time ($50!) and a bit controversial, because the Silver Palate ladies came out with The New Basics that same year. Lukins and Russo were considered to be much more modern and their book more inclusive. But Child wrote a wonderful, easy to use book with great pictures and a good set of recipes and skills that every cook should have at hand.

This is a book for the beginner as well as the more experienced cook. The Way to Cook is written in typical Julia style...she takes a basic recipe, teaches you how to make it step by detailed step, and then expands on it. So once you know how to make a pizza dough, you go on to make calzones. Start with a roast chicken, move on to boneless stuffed turkey and designer duck. Mike uses this book for pies (see above), soups, and meat, and I've never used another pizza recipe. There's even a simplified version of the famous french bread from Mastering v. 2

So thank you Julia, for making life in the kitchen a little easier these past twenty years.