Category: Books

Carolina Comments: Views of War & More

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This week I share a novel that deals with life in East Berlin before the Wall comes down and a chilling film about a Nazi Commandant who lives with his family just outside the camp at Auschwitz. For my local friends, thoughts on another Indian restaurant.

CHALLENGING NOVEL

Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck

In 2015, the Chief Penguin and I spent a week in Berlin.  We stayed in a hotel in what had been East Berlin. The entire visit was an amazing experience and a dive into WWII and Cold War history.  Not that long ago, I read The Chancellor, a nonfiction work about Angela Merkel’s life and career by Kati Marton.  Merkel grew up in East Germany and this book provided some further insights about the politics of the 1960’s and 70’s.  I mention all this as background for approaching German author Jenny Erpenbeck’s latest novel, Kairos.  

Opening in the late 1980’s in East Berlin, Kairos is both a turbulent love story and a political one about the denouement of East Germany and the fall of the Berlin Wall.  A chance encounter on a bus between 19-year-old Katharina and mid-50’s writer and radio broadcaster Hans leads to long-running affair.  Katharina is still a student, Hans is married to Ingrid, and their meetings are clandestine and eventually less frequent.  It’s an affair marked by bitterness, tension, infidelity, and tenderness too. Simultaneously, life in East Berlin is changing as the governmental infrastructure fractures and cracks before breaking.   

“Berlin will be wall-free”, August 1988 (theatlantic.com)

The lovers’ story is told through reflection, diaries, and Katharina’s listening to cassettes about them that Hans has recorded and given to her.  Woven into their feelings and actions are references to literary figures (Bertolt Brecht, e.g.), mundane details about the topography of the city, and descriptions of political events.  Throughout their affair, Katharina matures while still fantasizing about having a child with Hans someday.  Meanwhile, he remains married to Ingrid and simultaneously castigates Katharina and makes her suffer for her infidelity.  

I found Erpenbeck’s writing dense, and for me, reading this novel was very slow going.  It’s been so highly praised and nominated for at least one award, that I was determined to finish it.  Parts of it were wonderfully written, but I wished I had a richer background for some of the finer political points.   

Kairos, the title, is a Greek word for “the right time” or “a time when the conditions are right for the accomplishment of a crucial action.”  Go, Went, Gone, Erpenbeck’s earlier novel, was also translated from the German.  (~JWFarrington)

UNCOMFORTABLE VIEWING

Zone of Interest  (Amazon Prime)

Fun in the yard outside Auschwitz (latimes.com)

Nominated for five Academy Awards, the German film Zone of Interest won Best International Feature.  It is a quiet horror film and an uncomfortable one to watch.  The awfulness of what is happening the other side of the garden wall is known and is heard and seen with random gunshots, a constant rumble, and occasional flames.  And yet, Auschwitz Commandant Rudolf Hoss and his large family have an idyllic life just the outside the Auschwitz camp.  Wife Hedwig has plenty of household help, and she takes great pleasure in tending the lush flower and vegetable garden she created.  Their children romp and play in the sunshine and the pool, pretty much ignoring what’s happening close by. 

All together, this family is building the perfect life in the Polish countryside while Hoss is implementing the Fuhrer’s heinous goals.  Watching it is a chilling experience, but it’s so very well done, it’s worth the investment of time.  

ADVENTUROUS EATING #4

Cilantro Indian Café

Cilantro interior (yelp.com)

Continuing our sampling of Indian fare in Cary, we joined a group for lunch at Cilantro, a longtime local favorite.  While Cilantro started more than ten years ago with sandwiches and then chicken tikka sold behind a gas station, today it boasts a two-level contemporary space with flowing white drapery.  

The vibe is casual, and you order your meal at the counter and then it’s delivered to your table.  Spice of some type is the name of the game in almost everything.  The Chief Penguin and I sampled the vegetable samosa, tasty with a bite.  He enjoyed the very spicy chicken tandoori while I tucked into the Bihari coconut chicken curry.  Even my “medium” spicy curry was quite hot.  Rice and naan and some form of chickpeas, usually Moroccan hummus, are the accompaniments.  Many dishes are also made with lamb, and for those who want less spice, the pan seared fish looked equally tempting.  Staff were welcoming and everything was delicious!  

Note: Header photo of dawn in Cary ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Carolina Capers: Trailblazer & Food

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I’m still enthusing about spring here and reveling in the beauty of droopy, fragrant Chinese wisteria (header photo), early azaleas, and the lovely slim branches of the redbud trees.

Eastern Redbud

A SINGULAR WOMAN

Becoming Madame Secretary by Stephanie Dray

Perkins (senate.gov)

If you spend any appreciable time in mid-coast Maine, you are likely to become aware of Frances Perkins, first Secretary of Labor and first female U.S. cabinet secretary.  She was originally from Newcastle, Maine, and served for 12 years in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s cabinet.  Her homestead is now a designated historic site and open to the public certain times of year.  The Chief Penguin and I learned about this site and a few years ago briefly met her grandson Tomlin Coggeshall who was instrumental in establishing the Frances Perkins Center.

Up to now, I only thought of Miss Perkins, as she was known professionally throughout her life, as a devoted and dedicated unmarried public servant.  Stephanie Dray’s historical novel presents a much more rounded, fuller portrait of this woman while also detailing her critical, essential role in creating, advocating for to Congress, and implementing the Social Security program. Many of us benefit from this program today.

A reserved New Englander, Perkins was ambitious, smart, and an astute judge of people.  Her initial encounters with FDR were off-putting as she found him shallow and too full of himself.  She was friends with Sinclair Lewis before his success, got to know Eleanor Roosevelt a bit, and ultimately married Paul Wilson, a wealthy economist.  Theirs was a love affair later disrupted and strained by his mental breakdowns.  

Frances kept her personal life extremely private and shielded her daughter Susanna as best she could from the worst of her father’s illness.  Her later encounters with FDR were more fruitful as Frances began to work with him in the New York State government and then during his presidency.  It was a partnership that benefited both.  

There are several biographies of Frances Perkins, most of them written 15 years ago or more.  What Dray does so very well here is capture what this woman was like outside the office.  Relying on documents and letters, the novel is written from Frances’ perspective.  But being very thorough, Dray provides an in-depth afterword stating where she has deviated from the historical record and made novelistic assumptions.  I found this a totally engrossing depiction of a trail-blazing woman and heartily recommend it!  

Related Works

Earlier I enjoyed very much both Dray’s The Women of Chateau Lafayette about a historic castle in France and My Dear Hamilton.  She makes history and these individuals come off the page.

As a footnote, I was somewhat amused to read this week in the Boothbay Register that a Maine woman, Ruth Monsell, has written a new biography, Frances Perkins: Champion of America’s Workers, that will be released mid-April.  It will be interesting to see if this work covers new ground.  (~JWFarrington)

ADVENTUROUS EATING

Bosphorus

Interior of Bosphorus (Tripadvisor.com)

Earlier this week, we joined a group for lunch at Turkish restaurant in downtown Cary.  In existence since 2006, Bosphorus is a welcoming small restaurant.  Service was friendly, and the Chief Penguin and I ordered the lamb shish kebab and the chicken shish kebab, respectively.  Each came on a bed of bulghur pilaf with a  house salad of lettuce, cucumber slices, and cherry tomatoes plus a cucumber dip.  The portions are generous and tasty.  Turkish tea was offered for dessert along with baklava.  

The menu also includes a selection of appetizers (hummus, tabouli, stuffed grape leaves et al ), wraps, salads, and Turkish pizzas.  The dinner menu is similar to that at lunch.  A casual place with good food. 

Note: Header photo and redbud tree ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Carolina Capers: A Novel & More

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THE BIG MOVE

Ready to move!

After a decade of retirement living on the west coast of Florida, the Chief Penguin and I moved to eastern North Carolina!  We spent two days on the road with a night in Brunswick, Georgia, before arriving in our new state.  Move-in day was just a week ago, but we’ve made great progress toward getting settled. 

We have a spacious, light-filled apartment in a retirement community.  The daily calendar offers a raft of activities and events plus a complete range of exercise and fitness classes—if you’re bored, it’s your own fault!  Among the several dining venues, we have become fans of the small plates and tapas in one area.  In another venue, stations for salads and sandwiches, wok offerings, pizza, and soups provide additional tempting fare.  With so much good food and all the choices, there’s the risk of adding a “freshman fifteen.”  Not part of our plan!

We’ve been out and about on foot to the new downtown park and then on to the noteworthy La Farm Bakery. The bakery stop was a must for the Chief Penguin, and it passes muster.  Just a few miles down the road by car are both CVS and Walgreens and a Harris Teeter supermarket.  Thus far, we are most pleased with this new adventure!

NOVEL OF THE WEEK

Leaving by Roxana Robinson

(roxanarobinson.com)

Leaving is Roxana Robinson’s latest novel.  I thoroughly enjoyed several of her earlier works including the highly praised Cost. This book too stayed with me.  Sarah, a museum curator, is divorced, lives in Manhattan, and has two grown children.  Warren, an architect, is from Boston, married, but unhappily so, and has an adult daughter.  Theirs was a college romance which Sarah broke off without seeming to give him a reason.  When they meet again thirty years later, they reconnect and have an affair.  

Emotions can be messy and when they become entangled and entwined with an existing family, the fallout can be disastrous.  How much sway should adult children hold over the actions of their parents?  How obligated is a spouse who wants a divorce to heed the wishes of an adult daughter?  What are the consequences and conflicts of being the other woman?

Sarah and Warren are depicted as decent people, individuals with a conscience.  Sarah knows she’s involved in an adulterous affair but rationalizes that she’s continuing a relationship that began long ago.  Warren is a man of honor with a strong moral code.  

The events of the novel unfold over several decades with a twist at the end; it may surprise some, but I thought it was in keeping with these characters.  Recommended!  (~JWFarrington)

SHOUT OUT TO ARTS & CENTRAL

This is for my Florida friends.  Arts & Central is a hot new dining venue in Sarasota’s Rosemary District.  We dined here with friends just before leaving the area.  It’s an expansive space with great patio seating, a large interior with scattered tables, and a long bar with plenty of seating for walk-ins.  Lots of wood and some metal make for a casual slightly industrial vibe. 

There are fish, beef, and other entrees, but we mostly stuck to the small plates for sharing.  The lamb sliders, piquillo peppers with goat cheese, and sticky ribs were all excellent.  We also sampled the Brussels sprouts and the green goddess shrimp salad.  Only real disappointment was the tater tots.  Only open for 3 weeks, the place was full!  We wouldn’t hesitate to return, so make a reservation if you’re tempted.

Note: Unattributed photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Tidy Tidbits: A Book & Dining Out Options

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BOOK OF THE WEEK

All the Beauty in the World:  The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Patrick Bringley

In a time of family illness and subsequent loss, Patrick Bringley found a job and solace in a place he first visited as a child with his mother.  Mired in grief over his older brother’s death and only 26, he began working as a guard at the Metropolitan Museum.  He loved the quiet, almost uninterrupted, stretches of time it provided, and he took in the art in a studied way.  

His book is both an account of the inner workings of the museum’s security force: the various gallery assignments and the rotations that happen in each workday, and a portrait of some of his fellow guards and the friendships he made.  He also provides detailed discussions of some of the paintings, sculptures, and objects he particularly likes or was struck by.  Some of these works are illustrated by delicate black and white sketches.  

Bringley was a museum guard for ten years.  During that time, the reader experiences his growing maturity, his marrying and becoming a father, and when he reaches the point he felt ready to leave the Met’s cloistered world.  

Having read this, I doubt I will ever view museum guards the same way, and I will appreciate the Metropolitan a bit differently on my next visit.  I would recommend this to art lovers in general, but particularly to anyone who already has some familiarity with this museum.  Thanks to my friend Gale for sharing it. (~JWFarrington)

EATING OUT—BRADENTON-SARASOTA FAVORITES

As I get ready to leave Florida, I thought I’d share a list of some of the restaurants the Chief Penguin (my favorite dining companion) and I have enjoyed over our years here.

BRADENTON & CORTEZ

Bonefish Grill—close by at 75th Street, a chain restaurant, but consistently very good!  We love the sinful Bang Bang Shrimp and I, their shrimp and scallop combo with two sides.

Chateau 13—in our opinion the best fine dining restaurant and the most sophisticated in the greater Sarasota-Bradenton area!  Small plates as well as full-size entrees.  I loved the stuffed piquillo peppers and the French salad.  Menu changes seasonally.

Cremesh—Over in restaurant row on Manatee by Publix and Staples, this Austro-German restaurant serves delicious hearty fare.  Think schnitzels, beef goulash over noodles or mashed potatoes, or a salmon picatta. Simple décor and friendly wait staff.

Cortez Kitchen—One of the first casual places we tried here.  It was the essence of funky with its mix of snowbirds, tourists, and regulars plus live music on the weekends.  The food was good, not superb; we liked the coconut shrimp and the mahi sandwich. Cindy with striped hair was our favorite regular waitress.  Now Cortez Kitchen has been taken over by the Swordfish Grill owners and gussied up.  

New tables and chairs, including some of those awful high tables, but an enlarged seating area and more protection from the elements.  The humorous signs are gone (“If you’re here to forget, please pay first” and “Time spent drinking beer is not deducted from your lifespan”), but we had lunch there recently and were delightfully surprised.  My mahi sandwich was truly excellent, the Caesar salad very good, and the C.P.’s Cuban sandwich a treat.  Worth visiting!

Clam Factory—a roadhouse on Cortez Road serving delectable fried fish, a mean meatloaf special, and, if you’re a fan, fried clams, of course!  Additional seating outside.

Mean Deans—The name is misleading. This is a casual place, but the food is better and more interesting than you might expect.  Good salads, lovely swordfish, and nightly specials.  Watch for New England or New Orleans weeks with an appealing mix of land and sea options. 

Modern Chop—Next to Blake Hospital this steak house also serves fish.  It’s a step up from Mean Deans in décor and ambiance and is good. 

Pesto—Sitting on Cortez Road almost at 86th St. West, this cozy Italian eatery serves generous portions of pasta and meats.  Outside seating on a pleasant evening can be a welcome change from inside.

Swordfish Grill—Since they covered their tiki deck, Swordfish is now more appealing in almost any weather.  Fish, of course, calamari, salads, and sandwiches; it’s an extensive menu.  Food is good, but in my opinion, not outstanding.  Go to be at water’s edge!

(TideTablesCortez.com)

Tide Tables—A family favorite of ours.  Their grouper and mahi sandwiches and baskets are wonderful with cole slaw or baked beans on the side.  Very fresh!  As a special treat, the homemade key lime pie is luscious! On the water so you can see boats and walk on the short dock.

Thai Palace—One of several restaurants on Cortez Road we like.  Small inside, but attractive, and one of their curries always satisfy my Thai yen.

ANNA MARIA & LONGBOAT KEY

Mar Vista—One of a handful of restaurants where you can enjoy a table on the sand.  Other options are inside tables or on the partially covered patio.  Fresh fish, great salads, and their trademark tater tots!

Interior seating (Whitney’s)

Whitney’s—Who would have thought a gas station would have a second life as a casual seafood restaurant!  Seasonal fare, a bit more elaborate preparations than the usual (fish with rice entrée, for example) and very tasty!  No reservations, so go early, especially during the season.

Shore—A date night, special occasion place just down the road from Whitney’s.  A big place with lots of seating, some open air, and often a bit noisy.  Food options are varied and with some creative twists.

SARASOTA

Beso—One of Sarasota’s newest eateries offering a wide range of tapas.  It’s in the Mark complex and looks to have a lively bar scene as well as dining.  We’ve eaten here twice and enjoyed the shrimps in olive oil, patatas brava, and other small plates.

Duval’s—A longtime favorite on Main Street.  Duval’s serves lunch and dinner and their fish is some of the freshest around.  Décor is traditional to slightly dated, wait staff is friendly and competent, and we’ve enjoyed many good meals here. Wide choice of sandwiches and salads for lunch and entrée portions at dinner.

481 Gourmet (OpenTable.com)

481 Gourmet—Located in the Rosemary District, 481 is a fine dining venue with both indoor and outdoor seating.  Their menu includes pasta, scallops, shrimp scampi, duck, lamb, and of course, beef. 

The Rosemary and Thyme—A slightly pricier restaurant, The Rosemary shares a patio with 481.  Menu options run the gamut from some intriguing appetizers like escargots and a Chimichurri kebab to halibut, grouper, and steak frites entrees.

Pho Cali—Also on Main Street, Pho Cali is the essence of straightforward Vietnamese cooking.  Extremely casual serving super noodle dishes and stir fries.  Very popular at lunch time.  I occasionally crave my favorite, chicken with broccoli stir fry with rice, to which I add a trace of hot pepper.

El Melvin Cocina Mexicana—Hankering for a good margarita and some guacamole and chips, this place is perfect for lunch at a sidewalk table.  Follow that with enchiladas, a quesadilla, or even some tamales and you’ll soon be satisfied.  

Note: Header photo of courtesy of Toast.