Category: Books

Return to Manhattan & a Mystery

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SECOND SPRING

In May, we typically spend the month in Manhattan.  It’s a round robin of visits to great art museums, dining at favorite restaurants, sampling new eateries, people watching in the parks, discovering new titles from beloved bookstores, and spending lots of time with our delightful granddaughters—without being a drag on their busy schedules.  

We have always enjoyed seeing tulips in bloom in Central Park, in the Jefferson Market Garden, and along Park Avenue.  This year, we reveled in early spring in North Carolina—delicate redbud trees, daffodils, yellow snapdragons, and then the azaleas bursting out.  We arrived here mid-week past the peak of the tulips, but there are still enough hanging on to attract our attention:  robustly red ones, rosy pink blooms, and in Central Park, dark purple tulips verging on black against a backdrop of white azalea petals. 

We’ve been here about three days and haven’t yet done much except walk, dine, and enjoy our granddaughters.  Our new life in North Carolina is filled with so much activity that I believe we are in recovery mode, a winddown from our recent move and all the energy that required.  Soon we will get back to touring the exhibits at the MoMA, the Met, and the Whitney. In the meantime, there are even “flowers” on 5th Avenue–thank you, Van Cleef & Arpels!

FUN HISTORICAL MYSTERY

The Lace Widow by Mollie Ann Cox

Eliza Hamilton, wife and then widow of Alexander Hamilton, was a formidable woman.  Strong, smart, resilient, and determined to make a difference in the world, she outlived Alexander by 50 years.  

In The Lace Widow, author Cox turns Eliza, or Mrs. General Hamilton as she is politely addressed, into a detective.  It is a fact that Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel.  And it is true that some of Hamilton’s political enemies falsely accused him of misusing U.S. Treasury funds.  After Hamilton’s untimely and unseemly death, Eliza desperately seeks to see Burr punished, but he has disappeared.  She is also motivated to continue to protect Hamilton’s reputation and that of herself and her children.   

When several of Hamilton’s close friends also die in suspicious circumstances, and her oldest son is fingered as a suspect, she begins her search for the culprits.  In the process, secret societies and strange alliances are uncovered midst several false leads.  

While the events here depicted after Hamilton’s death, including the several murders, are fiction, Cox crafts a good story and highlights the role of lace in a woman’s wardrobe and the skill and nimble hands required to make it.  A fast read that believably combines fact and fiction!

I foresee a future Eliza Hamilton mystery. In the meantime, for an absorbing take on Eliza’s multi-faceted life, read My Dear Hamilton:  A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie.  

NORTH CAROLINA DINING

This entry is for my new cadre of local readers.

Peck & Plume (The Mayton)

The Mayton, Cary’s boutique inn a few doors from the downtown park, houses not only attractive rooms for overnight guests, but a welcoming and tasty restaurant.  Peck & Plume is open for all three meals, and besides its inside dining room, boasts a lovely terrace.  With fans and heaters, the terrace is comfortable most any time of year. 

The Chief Penguin and I enjoyed lunch there recently.  He had the sashimi tuna preparation along with a small Caesar salad.  I took advantage of the soup sip (a demitasse cup of the daily soup for $2) and tucked into a Caesar salad with salmon.  The salad greens were fresh and crisp, and the salmon was perfectly done.  

We also sampled the specialty cocktails.  I liked the sound of the lavender mule with ginger and lemon but found it overly perfumed.  Service here can be a bit slow, but if you have the time, the food is worth the more leisurely pace!

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

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.)