Author: JWF

Tidy Tidbits: Pastimes

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Happy 2016!  I’ve now been blogging regularly for a year and hope that my readers have enjoyed the journey.  This week is a grab bag of a new diversion, a play, a new restaurant and a book.

COLORING CRAZE

When the Wall St. Journal publishes an article about adults coloring, you know this fad has traction.  Public libraries are offering coloring activities for adults, and coaches and therapists offer coloring workshops as stress relievers.  If you search Amazon for “adult coloring books,” the result is a whopping 11,000+ titles.  Narrowing the search to just “best sellers” in that category nets 673 books. Topics for coloring range from mandalas, butterflies and flowers to cities, undersea creatures, and all sorts of abstract designs.  We’ll see how long this fad lasts; one forecaster said connect-the-dots would be next, but that sounds dull in comparison.

Time for a confession:  I succumbed to this craze.  I like playing with color, yet lack the artistic talent possessed by my sisters—one paints watercolors, the other has taken up sketching from nature—so coloring intricate abstract patterns or flower designs with markers and pens is my thing.  For Christmas, I received three coloring books, all different, along with micro-line pens and fine point colored markers.  The books include Johanna Basford’s Secret Garden (one of the biggest sellers in the U.S. by the artist who was an early proponent of coloring for adults), Color Me Stress-Free (not that I consider myself stressed in retirement!), and Four Seasons:  A Coloring Book.  I’ve only just started adding color to these pages but so far I find it relaxing, addictive and just plain fun!

THEATER

View from the Bridge.  This Arthur Miller play now on in New York was new to me.  I probably should have read it before attending the performance, but since seeing it I have.  The staging is spare, only an enclosed arena-like space with clear benches on three sides and a doorway into the house on the other side, with no scene changes and virtually no props.  The space functions seemingly as both indoor and outdoor space and all the action from the opening scene of two longshoremen showering and getting dressed after work to the final one of everyone piled together takes place here. A lawyer acts as Greek chorus and roams around mostly outside the arena, except when he is actively engaging with longshoreman Eddie inside the square.

The play focuses primarily on Eddie’s all-consuming relationship with his niece Katie, but there are also issues surrounding immigration and the threats presented by “the other” with the arrival of his wife’s cousins from Italy and their aspirations to have a better life as American citizens.  Powerful and moving.  I found that the stripped down set forced me to concentrate on the dialogue.

NYC RESTAURANT FIND

This new place was so good I almost hate to share it. Prompted by Pete Wells’ (NY Times restaurant critic) inclusion of Santina on his list of best new restaurants of the year, I booked for lunch.  Around the corner from the Whitney Museum, it’s an attractive, but packed that day, window-walled space.   I would call the cuisine neo-Italian and the standout dish for us was squash carpaccio.  Layers of thin slices of caramelized delicata and butternut squash were topped with agrodolce and honey, a sprinkle of herbs, and tiny dabs of mascarpone cheese.  Beautiful to look at and a wonderful assemblage of flavors.  Second place goes to the paper thin chickpea pancakes that can be rolled up around your choice of funghi, avocado mash or other options.

BOOK OF THE WEEK

Sous Chef:  24 Hours on the Line by Michael Gibney.  If you’re a foodie and you want to better understand what goes on in the kitchen behind the swinging door, then you’ll be caught up in Gibney’s fast-paced narrative.  Covering an entire day from early morning through the after-closing wind down,  Gibney delivers an energetic account of kitchen procedures, politics, and personalities from Chef (the top dog) down the line to the dishwasher.  Who does what when, how dishes are timed, and how a group of folks with disparate styles must work together as a team to feed you, the diner.  Fascinating!

Header photo: Page from Secret Garden colored by yours truly

Holiday Fare: Food and Film

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CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS OLD AND NEW

When I was growing up, Christmas was celebrated with just my immediate family—parents and three siblings—since the relatives lived many miles away. Dinner then was often half a ham and scalloped potatoes or a reprise of roast turkey and mashed potatoes, both family favorites.  One year we drove to Ohio and Michigan to visit cousins and grandparents which meant we had Christmas three times, something that tickled us kids!

My mother liked to bake and each year made several kinds of cookies: sand tarts or sugar cookies, peppermint kisses, and walnut crescents; also chocolate fudge, foil packages of which her children and grandchildren received under the tree; and chocolate-covered toffee. These were her specialties, but some years recipes from my father’s side of the family crept in—schaben bratle (a rich cookie with ground nuts) and stollen, a German Christmas bread loaded with dried fruit, almonds and cinnamon. Aunt Marie used to make stollen too, but I didn’t like her version as well.

In the earlier years when my great aunts were alive, we’d also receive a box in the mail of homemade German cookies, a holiday treat we eagerly anticipated:  the aforementioned schaben bratle, lebkucken (molasses-based), Springerlie (anise-flavored and embossed rectangles) and simple S-shaped crumbly cookies.  Carrying on tradition, my husband now makes the stollen, drawing on several different recipes to create his rendition. He takes great delight in drenching the currants overnight in cognac before incorporating them!

Since our son is married with a family of his own, we are creating new traditions with a Chinese flavor.   For two years now, we’ve celebrated Christmas Day with his in-laws on the Connecticut shore.  After arriving this year we enjoyed a light Chinese lunch (not really that light) of delicious thin pieces of grilled pork and grilled beef, tasty sautéed cucumber, a hearty healthy green salad with persimmon and avocado slices, soft scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and, of course, rice.

After a brisk walk, followed by some downtime, we decamped to a local restaurant, Fuji, for more Chinese food. Our Chinese relatives do the ordering, in Chinese, of course, and a feast of many dishes quickly appears—everything from green beans to spicy beef with red and green peppers to spicy tofu to a whole fish, and then some. Plus rice!  Dinner is lively and convivial and the Chinese cuisine a welcome and very tasty counterpoint to what we normally eat.  I love this new tradition!

FLURRY OF FILMS

While in New York, when we weren’t with our granddaughter, we binged on films!  These are in the order we saw them, not in order of preference.

The Big Short. Fast paced with flashes of zany humor (a blonde in a bathtub drinking champagne and explaining what a “short is”), this movie based on Michael Lewis’ book of the same title aims to make understandable the events leading up to the financial crisis of 2008, specifically the home mortgage meltdown. The lead agents are hedge fund operators, wizards, numbers guys, and an oddball eccentric, Michael Burry, MD. It is a compelling lesson in what results when no one is minding the store, in this case, the banks. None of us escaped from being affected by this, whether it was a loss of a home or the sale of, loss of a job, or losses in one’s investment portfolio. Ultimately disturbing to witness so clearly what Wall Street was able to get away with and the callousness with which bankers and investors wrenched profits from ordinary folks.

45 Years. That’s 45 years of marriage and the line waiting to buy tickets for the 10:30 a.m. show was all seniors. Set in the English countryside outside a small village, this is a delicate and nuanced portrayal of a startling shock in what seems like a happy, stable marriage. The wife, beautifully played by Charlotte Rampling, is completely thrown by this event which pre-dates her, and fumes, frets, and reflects on their life. Her husband, played by Tom Courtenay is also good. I highly recommend it.

Carol. Cate Blanchett continues to amaze and impress me.  She is cool and elegant and finally passionate as Carol in this 1950’s period piece about a slowly blooming lesbian relationship. Rooney Mara who plays the younger Therese is luminously hesitant and we see her come into her own both as a woman and in her career as she finds her calling as a photographer. A beautiful film to watch and another one this year focusing on the women; Brooklyn and 45 Years being two others.

Son of Saul. I was reluctant to see this Holocaust film, despite praise from some critics, so definitely don’t go expecting to be charmed.  It is brutal and bleak with some of the most horrifying images I’ve seen on the screen. And loud. As one critic noted, sound plays a very important role, and I would add, perhaps a greater role than the meager dialogue. Motivated by a thread of human compassion toward the boy he considers his son, Saul and his quest liberate the film from total bleakness.

Header photo:  Chief Penguin’s Stollen, copyright JW Farrington

Tidy Tidbits: Film Fare

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ON THE BIG SCREEN

There are a lot of adjectives that don’t apply to Spotlight, the new film about the Boston Globe’s uncovering of the Catholic Church’s role in hiding sexual abuse by priests.   It is not sensational, nor is it graphic in its depiction, nor is it fast-paced.  Rather it is a compelling and absorbing story of the journalistic process and of a new editor, Marty Baron, who cared less about whom he and his reporters might offend.  The dogged persistent work of the four members of the Spotlight team turned up a mind-boggling number of involved priests, several lawyers who aided in the cover-up, and direct involvement by the cardinal.  You know the ending, but well worth seeing!

Brooklyn is a beautiful film.  It has a simple plot–a young woman leaves her village in Ireland to go live and work in Brooklyn and slowly makes a life for herself, all the while feeling the tug of home.  Eventually, she has to choose between the new world and the familiar one.  No violence, no explosions, no car chases, just good storytelling.  The movie is based on Com Toibin’s lovely novel of the same name and is faithful to it.

ON THE SMALL SCREEN

I thought the first season of Broadchurch, a British detective series was excellent, but so is the second!  We noticed it on Amazon Fire and so paid the $19.99 to watch and watch we did. We got hooked and completed all 8 episodes in a weekend.  (Two days later it was available on streaming Netflix.)  This season wraps up the case of Joe Miller with his trial and re-opens the failed Sandbrook case which was what brought DI Inspector Hardy to this small Dorset town in the first place.

What, for me, makes this series so fascinating is the attention paid to the feelings and reactions of all the players, including the townspeople and the lawyers.  Here, there are two competing lawyers in court, one the former mentor of the other, one dealing with a son in prison, the other facing the end of her professional life alone.  Charlotte Rampling plays the more experienced barrister and she is amazing to watch.   This is television at its finest!

On the Road: Tar Heel State

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North Carolina was a large source of tar, pitch and turpentine for many years and around the time of the Civil War became known as the Tar Heel State and its inhabitants Tar Heelers.  Tar was used to coat the bottom of boats and a large amount was exported to England.  Initially, the term was a derogatory one, but later was adopted favorably as the state’s and its residents’ nickname.

We spent a week in North Carolina at Thanksgiving. We didn’t see any tar or turpentine, but did enjoy touring the Reynolda House in Winston-Salem, country home of A. J. Reynolds of tobacco fame and his wife Katharine.  Katharine was a very progressive woman for her time (1920’s) and she oversaw the building of the home, the creation of a school for the workers, and the beginnings of a village.  At one time, 300 families lived on the estate.  Unfortunately, she died in childbirth and barely spent any time here.   The house is impressive—bungalow style with an expansive main room featuring double staircases and an Aeolian organ plus garden rooms, porches, a jazzy red and white lower level bar cum entertainment space, and a stunningly gorgeous swimming pool!  The bungalow movement emphasized fresh air for good health and the porches and patios are designed to promote it. There are also extensive gardens, most of which were dormant, but a few rose blooms and cabbage heads remained and the conservatory showcased seasonal poinsettias and a few bromeliads.

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The featured exhibit, The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 1887-1920, is a very pleasing collection of paintings.  Some familiar names here, Childe Hassam, for example, but mostly not works we’d seen anywhere else.  Organized by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, it is worth seeing.

 

Central North Carolina has a lot of clay and has been a locus for pottery since the 1700’s.  Seagrove, south of Greensboro, and the surrounding area abound with studios open to the public.  We were there the day before Thanksgiving so many studios were closed, but we took advantage of the North Carolina Pottery Center to get oriented and see samples of about 80 different potters’ work. We then visited three studios and vowed that we needed to return for a full day to leisurely tour the area.  As you can see, I prefer the more contemporary designs.

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Bookstores for Book Lovers

I’m a longtime connoisseur of bookstores, particularly independent ones.  I have my favorites in the U.S. and even a few in the U.K.  In my opinion, a good bookstore smells of paper and ink, is light on the non-book miscellaneous merchandise (note cards are fine), has nooks and corners where you can linger and browse, offers a comfortable chair or two, and is laid out more like a maze than an array of aisles.

In Durham, we re-visited The Regulator Bookshop, a favorite haunt for at least 30 years. Located in the bustling 9th Street business corridor, The Regulator is scruffy in a good way.  There is a side room off the main area devoted to magazines and greeting cards, an open area with tables of books and books on shelves, a raised area for kids’ books, and a very welcoming long banquette. Many years ago, I spent several hours in that spot reading to my young son while our car was being repaired.  Downstairs, where once there was a coffee bar, there is now a space for events surrounded by used books and remainder titles.  Overall the store is inviting and always lively with readers of all ages.

A more recent addition to my list is McIntyre’s Books in Fearrington Village (near Chapel Hill) where for ten years or so, we’ve whiled away an occasional hour or two.  It’s more genteel than The Regulator which, considering its clientele of largely retirees, makes sense.  The store is carpeted and feels like being inside a home.  There are multiple rooms (one devoted to books for children through teens), another with a fireplace and comfy chairs, and yet another in the back packed with mystery books.  There are appealing displays of the latest titles and staff recommendations along with a focus on local and regional fiction and nonfiction.  I always find something to buy—usually too many “somethings!”

Book of the Week

I just finished Colum McCann’s latest work, Thirteen Ways of Looking, which is a collection of one novella and several short stories.  Not only is McCann an elegant stylist who makes every word count, he is accessible and witty and portrays his characters with compassion and understanding.  The title novella beautifully captures the thought processes and asides of a retired judge as he reflects on his career and negotiates lunchtime conversation with his favorite waiter and his fragile son.  And I thought the last story of a damaged nun, an outlier who is revisited by past trauma, was brilliant.  The New York Times included this title among its 100 notable books of the year.

Header image:  Discovery Room at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh

(All photos copyright by JWFarrington)