May 22, 2013 at 6:05 am (Flowers, Recommended, Sundays, television)
Tags: adaptations, flower photography, Gardens, indulgences, photography, Star Trek, Sundays
Let’s see, what else is left for self to post about?
She could re-cap the last episode (# 8) of Game of Thrones, which managed to hold her attention despite the fact that there were no appearances by Jaime Lannister or Brienne. (Only two more episodes to go, how will self live? This was the first episode Son or Jennie had ever seen. Self had to keep apologizing Read the rest of this entry »
May 6, 2013 at 2:47 am (Recommended, Sundays, television)
Tags: adaptations, advice, humor, Sundays, Vanity Fair
“She was very strict about everybody’s time in life. Children should be allowed to play because you’re going to need all your happiness to grow up.”
– Luca Dotti, second son of Audrey Hepburn, describing his mother in the May 2013 Vanity Fair
Self is practically keeling over with exhaustion. Doubtful whether she can keep her eyes open long enough to catch the 10 p.m. screening of “Game of Thrones.” She almost fell out of her chair just a few minutes ago, so tired is she. She came to with a start. Now she knows what people mean when they use the expression, “dead on your feet.”
But, she did manage to catch Episode 5 of “Game of Thrones” last night, the episode where Jamie gets his amputated arm cauterized (without benefit of prior numbing with the “milk of the poppy” – Don’t say you don’t know what that refers to! Come on, it grows wild in the kingdoms of Game of Thrones almost as much as the opium poppy grows wild in the far reaches of Afghanistan) and where he gets into a steaming hot pool where the Amazonian Brienne is seen in vulnerable state (i.e., naked). Naturally, he flings himself forward into the pool (after an endless conversation during which he takes care to keep his bloody stump — wrapped in the grimiest bandages this side of gangrene — out of the steaming water) and Brienne darts forward to hold him up out of the water (presumably, even in water that shallow, one might drown, and viewers all know how fastidious Brienne is). “Kingslayer!” she calls out. To whom exactly, is left ambiguous. But the response is perfect: “Jaime,” the man gasps. “My name is Jaime,” before fainting dead away in Brienne’s Amazonian embrace.
Wow. That was a great scene. Can’t wait to see more of these two parrying and then falling into each other’s arms (Not having read any of the books, self is merely imagining the possibilities)
Self also liked the scene where the little girl who is dressed as a boy has to be very stoic and unafraid in the presence of a very smelly and dastardly variety of men. Self’s mind kept scurrying hither and thither, thinking Oh no, oh no, don’t let anything happen to that plucky little girl. Because even though this is alternate history, the men are still dastardly and the girl has a kind of Christina Ricci vibe going on, what with her dark hair and her dark eyes and that round face . . . Thankfully, the scene comes to an end before any of self’s wild imaginings bear fruit.
Daenerys was back but somehow self has completely lost interest in her. Unless Daenerys can get those dragons to make greater hoo-ha around her, it will take a lot to re-focus self’s attention.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
May 5, 2013 at 6:57 pm (Family, Food and Drink, Links, Movies, Sundays, Surprises)
Tags: discoveries, Filipino food, happiness, Netflix, pets, praise, Sundays
Blustery winds. Even, rain.
Watching “Arbitrage.” That Richard Gere is so smooth. Self can see why the lovely French mistress is so besotted. Unfortunately, things do not remain ducky for long, they never do in a thriller. Who wrote this smart screenplay? Self looks up the information on IMDB. Oh, the movie was written and directed by a twenty-five-year-old named Nicholas Jarecki. Imagine that, dear blog readers. A twenty-five-year-old. And he not only wrote the screenplay, he directed it. Way to go, NJ!
Self went to the Menlo Park Farmers Market and bought cherries and nectarines. When she got home, The Man was gone. She thought he had taken The Ancient One for a walk, as Bella was not in her customary nest in the kitchen. But then she heard a noise in the backyard and when she opened the back door, there was Bella! Wandering forlornly back and forth on the deck! Oh, come in, sweetie! Come in! Self cannot believe this creature is still ambulatory! She is turning 18 this September!
Then, shortly, The Man walked in. Turned out he had gone to the Mexican market and bought five lbs. of tripe: the regular one we usually get, and a thicker kind that he said he wanted to try out.
Pretty soon, this was what was simmering on the stove:
Callos with two kinds of tripe: a specialty of The Man
The full name of the dish is Callos Madrileña. It uses tomato sauce, chickpeas, and chorizo de Bilbao.
Step # 1 is boiling and boiling and boiling. Step # 2 is this:
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
May 5, 2013 at 3:49 pm (Artists and Writers, Books, Links, Lists, Recommended, Sundays)
Tags: biographies, book lists, hist, Just published, poetry, reviews, Sundays, Vietnam, war literature, writing process
Below are the books self is interested in reading after perusing the 7 March 2013 issue of The New York Review of Books. Her choices are nothing if not idiosyncratic:
Former People: The Final Days of the Russian Aristocracy, by Douglas Smith: reviewed by Michael Scammell (Self admires the title of this book tremendously; she, too, has felt, many times, like a “former people.”)
Now All Roads Lead to France: A Life of Edward Thomas, by Matthew Hollis: reviewed by Helen Vendler. In a nutshell: “Thomas meets Frost in London in 1913, begins (for the first time since Oxford) to write poetry, feels guilty (in complex ways, including the fear of cowardice) about watching others die while he remains at home, decides to enlist, trains as an officer (in part for the higher pay), volunteers for the front, and courts death. When the death arrives (from a bomb blast in Arras) it is both shocking and unsurprising.” Tragic.
Several books about General David Petraeus, reviewed by Thomas Powers:
In the course of the review, Powers cites three other fascinating books:
And now, self must get going if she wants to catch the Menlo Park Farmers Market.
Arrivederci, dear ones.
April 28, 2013 at 10:55 pm (Food and Drink, Places, Recommended, Sundays, Traveling, Venice)
Tags: destinations, discoveries, happiness, photography, Sundays, travel, Venice
Self met these two young women in a restaurant and exchanged stories and contact info.
See, self was hoping the constant moving about would help her lose weight, but she can never lose weight – not, at any rate, in Venice and environs – because the food is just too good! The two young women with self are from China. They both went to France to study (what else?) French and were in Venice on holiday. One of the girls spoke very good English; she told self her father was a university professor in Beijing.
Here’s the dish both self’s new friends ordered: pasta in squid ink! The girls said it was delicious!
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
April 28, 2013 at 5:26 pm (Conversations, Eavesdropping, Food and Drink, Places, Recommended, Sundays, Surprises, Venice)
Tags: discoveries, humor, Sundays, travel, Venice
The Sweet Shop Around the Corner
Today self thought that she should probably start thinking of things to bring home from Venice. She went into this bakeshop only a five-minute walk from the apartment, and the young salesgirl very eagerly informed self that they have gluten-free products! How fab! That is sure to be a big selling point with American tourists!
And here’s a picture of a gondola stand, which is one of those that are lined up all along the lagoon in front of San Marco Square.
And here’s what everyone is doing in San Marco Square. This Chinese guy, by the way, actually refused when self approached him to ask if he could take her picture! Go figure! He and his wife almost ran from self, as if she was the bearer of some infectious disease! Self should have told them that the reason her face was so red was that she had spent all day exploring the islands of Burano and Torcello!
Filipinos in San Marco Square!
And these were the first Filipinos self has had an opportunity to converse with, since arriving in Venice! She heard them talking about her, using the term “Inchik” (Chinaman/or Chinawoman). So she went right up to them and said, “I am not Inchik! I’m Filipino!” Then self invited them to have dinner with her. True to the pattern of the day, they refused. But not before self was able to worm out of them that they were domestic workers from Milan who’d gone to Venice for the day.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
April 21, 2013 at 3:30 pm (Places, Sundays, Surprises, Traveling, Venice)
Tags: destinations, photography, Sundays, travel, Venice
Signed up for Very Very Expensive Tour of Doge’s Palace, referred by another writer from Hawthornden.
Tour met at 8:45 a.m. (Absolutely no stragglers! warned the tour brochure). Set alarm for 6 a.m.
Slept at 1 a.m., but new cell phone (bought while on stopover at Frankfurt, instructions are in German, very confusing) woke her right on time!
She made it. Walk only took her about 20 minutes!
What was hard was finding the Doge’s Palace. YOU JUST TRY it after being sleep-deprived, dear blog readers!
Where Self and Margarita Are Staying at the Moment
View from the Ponte del Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs), the Bridge That Led From the Doge’s Palace to the Prisons
Self took this picture of San Marco Cathedral while waiting for the rest of her tour group to arrive.
April 15, 2013 at 1:06 am (anthologies, Recommended, Sundays, Women Writers)
Tags: discoveries, Events, Just published, Menlo Park, Readings, short story, Sundays
Self hasn’t attended a reading at Kepler’s in who-knows-how-long.
It’s been a Menlo Park mainstay for decades. Self knew it first as a small purveyor of paperbacks, in a teensy shopping center off El Camino.
They moved to a much nicer space after son was born, right next to Cafe Borrone. Self gave a reading there for her first book, Ginseng and Other Tales From Manila.
For a while, there were fears it might close. But loyal patrons saved it. Now, the store soldiers on.
There were so many things happening this weekend: the ballet, Zack’s reading last night at the Bayanihan Community Center. Self couldn’t make it to Zack’s reading because the ballet was happening – So sorry, Zack! But this afternoon, when she saw that Tremors (The University of Arkansas Press), the anthology of Iranian American writers that Anita Amirrezvani co-edited with Persis Karim, she dashed over, and was so glad she did.
And here they all are, post-reading!
Anita Amirrezvani (the tall woman in the center), with the contributors to the Iranian American anthology, TREMORS, at Kepler’s Books Sunday, Apr. 14, 2013
Aren’t they all just radiant?
Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.
