book talk: craving simplicity

Today, I wanna talk about what I want to read when I can't think anymore. Well, aside from magazines and cocktails menus, I mean.

This week has been A-mazingly busy...and it's Tuesday. I have about a million things to do in the next couple of days, though! And, if you know me, you know that just the thought of potential duties, chores, games, activities can make me exhausted.

When I'm mentally drained, all I wanna do is lay on my stomach on the bed and flip through a shiny magazine. But, in my more intellectual moments, I want to read calm, rational thoughts from smart, poetic people. It also helps if the covers of the books can be calming.

...like this compilation of contemplative writings by the likes of Thomas Merton and Annie Dillard. It even feeds my escapist fantasies with the travel metaphor!  Ah, I feel calmer already.

Or, I could just kick back, close my eyes, and listen to an Annie Dillard novel. This one caught my eye, though I still need to read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.

What about you? What do you like to read when you're too mentally exhausted to think?

Meatless Monday: heat wave cookin'

Whew! I don't know about you, but at this point, I only want to eat popsicles! Here are some quick-to-make, little-to-no heat required meatless options:

This little Greek Lentil Salad looks so light and summery to me. Plus, I'm almost always in the mood for feta cheese. 

One of my favorite DIY summer treats is frozen banana bites. I originally tried them using this recipe from bon appetit. And, as long as you let yourself use only stuff you have on hand for the coating (no fussing over particular ingredients!), they are so easy to throw together. I tossed some into the freezer yesterday, coating them all with chopped macadamia nuts. My favorite part, though, is how the frozen bananas taste uncannily like ice-cream. 

Stay cool, my friends!

saturday snapshot

It's thick and hot outside today. Inside the library, the air-conditioning is buzzing, low and comforting. I'm hungry for lunch, and my friend, Jess, brought up the idea of a tomato sandwich. Now, hypothetical ruby fruits sparkle in my mind.

But first, to Paris!

I discovered a new blog, Prete Moi Paris, and have been reminded why I slide into francophilia so easily and so often. 

These images from a fashion show are from the line Basil Soda. I would wear each one of them, I think. They're so romantic, so interesting in their combo of throw-back and po-mo sensibilities. 

 Well, as usual, my automatic-free-association of most things with food and drink kicked in. I wanted to know if basil sodas existed (I had a feeling yes), and if so, how I could make one. And then drink it. Bon Appetit never fails with a classic-sounding recipe.  

Then again, the Detroit Free Press offered up this cherry version, which puts a distinctly Mitten spin on the drink. 

Decisions, decisions. 

Happy weekend, friends! Hope you are staying cool, dreamy and hydrated:)

Daydreamin'

Ok. So, I had this absurd notion that today: I thought I would write a "Theory Thursday" post (an idea I've been toying with), which really just means I was thinking I'd talk a bit more nerdily about what it is I do all day (ahem, teach writing to college students).

But, today is not that day, my friends.

No, today is not that day.

It is hundreds of degrees here in the Mitten. I have had a long week. I would like to just stop thinking now, if that's alright. Which is why I propose that today be a day for daydreamin' baby!

I propose we all stare at some clouds...

Maybe muse about cashing in our Roth IRAs and moving to a tropical isle...

...and once we're there, let's find a hammock and lay down. Wait, not just any hammock...it's so flippin' hot, we're gonna need a hammock in the water!

If all else fails, we can just play some ReRe and stare at the picture of the hammock. That might be enough to soothe my heat-wave-baked mind. Whaddya say?

kitchen chairs

Last weekend, I came home from a beach-trip with my mom, aunt and sister to the voice of my husband. What was he saying? Why, he was saying, "honey, I broke one of our kitchen chairs."

Part of the delight of the hubs is that he begins conversations in this way. Not "hi, how ya doin'?" Not even, "brace yourself, I have news..." Just, out with it.

Because our dining set is a semi-antique-y thing passed down to us from my parents, we will likely need to buy, either some new chairs or a whole new set. Here are some that have caught my eye lately:

chair 1, chair 2, chair 3

Have you ever purchased new chairs for your kitchen? We are such grad students (though I've been long done...) that we haven't made a substantial purchase for our home like this since...well, since our wedding. Wow. I'm not sure how much sticker shock to expect, how much to go for (just the chairs or a whole new she-bang?) What is your experience?

book talk: forgetting and remembering

I was just about to start teaching yesterday, and was pawing through my bag for the adaptor cord that links my laptop to the projector in my classroom. Paw, paw, paw. Rats.

I'd completely forgotten to throw it in my bag! The consequences weren't completely dire; my class that day just suddenly "got real." We were live and un-plugged. No powerpoint to help guide the mini-lesson on rhetorical appeals, no visual examples to practice with, no visual journal prompt. The students completely tuned in, though, to our discussion and participated with sharp insights and good questions. It might have been the best class of the semester...

It got me thinking about the meaning of forgetting, the consequences of it, the value of memory.

I've been connecting dots; the other day on NPR, I heard a review of this book:

A murder mystery where the main character, and primary suspect, is a 64 year-old woman with dementia. Now, I'm not usually one for murder mysteries, but the concept of forgetting and the tension and confusion it causes...this intrigues me. 

It is not a large leap from ideas of memory and forgetting to ideas of smell. I am currently nibbling my way through Diane Ackerman's Natural History of the Senses, and her connections between smell and memory are so rich.

Within the first pages, Ackerman hooks you with evocative, intuitive sentences to link smell and memory:

"Nothing is more memorable than smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary, fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the Poconos, when wild blueberry bushes teemed with succulent fruit and the opposite sex was as mysterious as space travel...Smells detonate softly in our memory like poignant land mines, hidden under the weedy mass of many years and experiences. Hit a tripwire of smell, and memories explode all at once."

All this has me thinking about memory, how important it is, and how bittersweet. Our senses are attuned to collecting memories. They document them and then hide them away for us, ready to be unearthed at the specifically triggered moment. Or, not. I wonder--is it better to remember, or to forget? Or, is it the subtle homeostasis of washing between the two that keeps us sane? 

meatless monday: strawberries!

Ever since last summer, I've had the gnawing urge to get a strawberry pot. It all started when I was minding my own business, milling about the farmer's market. I was drawn to a farmer who was selling herbs and strawberries in pots. I chatted with him about how much work these plants would be to keep alive, about my "black thumb" and eventually, I walked away in a fit of nervous laughter and excuses.

Obviously, I'm haunted by this exchange. Or, as I often cast it in my memory, a missed opportunity. At this point (having managed to keep the plant alive, of course), I could be up to my elbows in strawberries. Like Tina from blissful eats, I could be making cakes full of the tiny, jewel-like fruits. 

I could be feeding my secret scone-obsession with these pillow-like treats Deb made.

But most of all, I could be re-creating one of my favorite salads of all time. It is not on any website (that I know of). It is a recipe that my friend, Jenni, and I learned while staying at a host-home outside of London.  It was invented by a super-cool, super-creative bartender-girl who had invented it, and who shared it with us:

• Mix of greens (dark, like spinach, with crunchy, like romaine)
• red onion
• ripe strawberries
• fresh feta cheese
• cooked couscous (or I like quinoa)
• plain yogurt (I like the Greek kind)
• Optional additions: greenhouse cucumber--chopped, bell pepper--chopped, drizzle of olive oil

Best. Salad. Ever. Try it, and let me know what you think!