Food for thought

I stumbled across an article from the UK’s The Independent this morning about a new book coming about in May 2012 and I do believe I am going to have to pre-order! Here’s the premise: What if Virginia Woolf wrote a recipe for cherry dessert? Can you imagine it? Author Michael Crick did, and not only Ms. Woolf’s take on a cherry classic, but Chaucer on onion tarts and many more. Here’s a quote from Woolf’s recipe from The Household Tips of the Great Writers:

“Little by little she added the milk, stopping only when the mixture was fluid and even, smooth and homogenous, lumpless and liquid, pausing to recall her notes on the iniquity of the English dairy system. She looked up: what demon possessed him, her youngest, playing on the lawn, demons and angels? Why should it change, why could they not stay as they were, never ageing?”

Isn’t that delish?
Or how about Chaucer’s instructions for adding the spices to the onion tart:

Strewe thereto nutmeg grated, tho keep some by,
And grounde gyngere, and return to the fyre.
Lightly beat the eggs and zolkes together,
And season wiv both salt and black pepper.
Heat the crème till just warme with saffron rich,
Then adde the eggs for to mix.

And Raymond Chandler’s take on Lamb with Dill:

I took hold of the joint. It felt cold and damp, like a coroner’s handshake. I took out a knife and cut the lamb into pieces. Feeling the blade in my hand I sliced an onion, and before I knew what I was doing a carrot lay in pieces on the slab…

I love the idea of pairing authors with food. What a grand idea. Wish I had thought of it.

May sure seems like a long ways off.

And now I am hungry. . .

More than words we say…

(A devotional thought I wrote for the Lifeway Fiction Blog🙂

From the moment my kids were old enough to express themselves, my husband and I endeavored, as all parents must, to teach them to say “thank you.” Saying this is part of the code of conduct that we call “good manners,” and it’s expected of everyone on the planet. But it’s also something that we had to teach them. When one of my kids was given something and shy silence followed, I had to lean down— as a million other mothers have had to do— and whisper, “What do you say?”

We all know the answer to that four-word question, don’t we? It’s not, “Have a nice day,” or “Excellent choice!” or “Better luck next time.” The answer to “What do you say?” is always, “Thank you.” Expose a child often enough to situations where she is obligated to say thanks and eventually it will become ingrained. She will learn that gratitude doesn’t have oxygen unless it’s expressed.

As Thanksgiving approaches with the busy Christmas season already nipping at its heels, this time of concentrated gratitude can easily morph into just a yummy precursor to the rest of the holiday season.

Giving thanks, however, is as intentional – and as meaningful – as giving gifts. Thanksgiving is more than just a fabulous turkey dinner and college football and loved ones around the table eating pumpkin pie. Giving thanks is an act of parting with something. Thanks is something I give, not take. I don’t eat it. I don’t watch it. I don’t pass it around. I give it.

To give something is to offer something of value to someone; something that’s completely mine to give, and means something to me. Usually it means a sacrifice of some kind on my part, because giving something to someone is rather meaningless if the thing meant nothing to me.

Truly giving thanks is a sacrifice of praise to God for all that He has given us; the wonderful and the hard; the mysterious and the amazing; the abundance and the scarce. And if I’m truly to mean it, then I must consider that my gratitude to God has no oxygen unless it’s expressed.

This Thanksgiving, gather those whom you love and spend some moments sharing with each other what it means to give thanks. Not just say thanks, but truly give it, part with it, and offer it to God as a gift. It is in God’s nature to be generous with us. When we pause to offer words of gratitude back to God we breathe life into our relationship with Him each other, and we find ourselves changed by two simple words, “Thank you.”

“Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NLT)

Stop before zebras get involved? I don’t think so…

Okay, so this darling trailer for the upcoming Matt Damon movie, “We Bought a Zoo,” tells us way too much. I can already tell how the movie will begin, what the story goal will be, what the obstacles will be and even how it will end. Matt will get the girl, the zoo, the son, the peace that eludes. But still. I am in the mood for a feel-good movie that probably won’t pack any surprises. I really am. I think I’m gonna like this one. It’s based on a true story, after all. And I do think zebras are pretty cool. Thoughts anyone?

Hungry for Hunger Games

It’s not often that I find myself engrossed in a book where young adults are being killed right and left in ways you couldn’t possibly imagine. But I have mentioned before what a compelling read Hunger Games was; a surprise not just because there’s enough violence in its pages to shock my socks off but because it’s a YA novel – written for Young Adults. I am an adult but I’m not young. And I am not the only Not Young Adult who read it and was moved by it. I’ve got boatloads of friends my age who also read it and came away wide-eyed with strange delight. The thing is, the story is not about violence, blood and the chase. It’s really about sacrificial love, the most beautiful thing there is. Here is the trailer for the movie, which debuts in the spring. I can’t wait to see it… Listen to how Katniss says “I volunteer. I volunteer as tribute.” That kind of love is what makes this story great. It is the bit of the divine that smolders in us and makes us stand back in awe. . .

And the winner is. . .

Congrats to Brandi of Faith in Fiction Book Club! Thanks to the random number generator at www.random.org, you and your book club are the lucky winners of eight copies of A Sound Among the Trees, Pearl’s Caramel Cake (made by yours truly) and a phone-in convo at your book club when you gather to discuss the book! Thanks to all who entered; it was so much fun to read about your clubs and the books you have read. My club – we call ourselves the Zip Its – is gathering for lunch today at Soup Plantation (no meeting without eating!) so it’s a good day to award the winner! Have a great weekend, everyone! And Brandi, we need to chat, so I will be emailing you 🙂

Now we’re cookin’!

I’m a big fan of cooking and even bigger fan of eating good cooking. I was thrilled to be a part of the Novel Morsels project, which just debuted this week, and which features recipes borne out of novels and the novelists who wrote them.

This e-book is the yummy creation of Nicole O’Dell; a writer, radio host, teen advocate, and a good friend. Sixty-some authors contributed to this collection of more than 120 recipes. As my fellow contributor and author friend Carla Stewart said, “Some [of these recipes] are found between the covers of our books and have our character’s fingerprints on them. Some are from authors who cope with the rigors of writing by escaping into the kitchen.”

Just looking at the pages makes me hungry! If you’ve read A Sound Among the Trees, you will know why I have included Pearl’s Caramel Cake in this cookbook. I also included Esperanza’s Bifana from The Shape of Mercy and Lucy Day’s Syllabub from Lady In Waiting. Read the complete list of contributing authors right here!

Novel Morsels is available as an e-book on Nicole’s website at the delicious price of just $2.99 and will soon be available for the Kindle, Nook, and iPad. But as a thank you to you,, my lovely blog readers, I will send a secret coupon code to anyone who leaves a comment on this blog post from now until the day before Thanksgiving and you will get the cookbook FREE! Make sure you include your email info in your comment. You can protect your email from bots by putting brackets spelling the word AT and DOT in your email address.