Category: San Diego Union Tribune

September 27, 2013 / San Diego Central Library, San Diego Union Tribune / 4 Comments »

Long live the public library

centralhorizontal Tomorrow, my hometown of San Diego will officially open its new, multi-story public library in East Village, just a few blocks from the heart of downtown.  I’ve watched it come to life via stories in the San Diego Union Tribune, visits to downtown, and anytime I’ve had to go south on I-5 past the exit for the Zoo.

I can honestly say I cannot wait for this opening, even though I live half an hour away and will likely have to pay to park every time I use it. Those are minor inconveniences and really centered only on little me and not what this building means in terms of the larger picture.

Some have criticized the city for erecting a multi-million dollar “relic” to a bygone era, when books were king and ‘digital media’ were two words that meant nothing when sandwiched together. Some think that print media is on its way out, forever on its way out. Libraries will become museums, they say.

Even if that were true, shouldn’t that be all the more reason to maintain our libraries? Even if libraries become museums, and I firmly say here and now I don’t think they will, do we not value our museums? Do not museums safeguard the tangible evidences of our history? centralescalator

And think on this. Just because so much of what you can read or check out at a library you can read or download on the Internet, the content on the Internet is NOT universally free. There are a great many resources on the Internet that are available for viewing only to those who’ve the money to pay for it.

If that’s not convincing, consider that this new library is not just a repository for books and printed matter (may it live forever) but as the Union Tribune pointed out this morning in its editorial:

“You can get married in this library, on a top-floor perch with an incredible view. You can go to high school in this library. You can watch a political debate among candidates for mayor or attend myriad other civic functions. You can marvel at the art on the walls or the architectural charm and whimsy of the building itself, like the outdoor “stairway to somewhere” that leaves it to your own imagination just where it really leads. You can buy holiday gifts at this library or simply while away the time on a lazy day.

If you’re a follower of San Diego history, you can go outside and imagine yourself to be legendary city planner John Nolen, who in 1908 first envisioned a link from San Diego Bay all the way to Balboa Park. The library serves as a symbolic anchor for the bay end of the link.

And, of course, you can read.”

Children’s author Laurie Purdue Salas has said that “a well-stocked, well-staffed library is like a gardener who plants books, knowledge, and dreams and grows readers, learners, and do-ers.”

A library is a place for a community to celebrate knowledge, share knowledge, impart knowledge. It’s far more than just a place where words still exist on paper.

Way to go, San Diego Central Library. I salute you.

 

August 17, 2012 / Downton Abbey Cooks, Julia Child, Julie and Julia, San Diego Union Tribune / 3 Comments »

“If you’re afraid of butter, use cream”

 When people ask me what my interests are outside of writing, after I’ve listed travel and good movies, cooking and foodie stuff usually comes next. I have three shelves of cookbooks, I love to watch Chopped, and I still make dinner every night, even when it’s just Bob and I. Some of the best memories I have – both as a kid and as an adult – happened around the dinner table with good food that loving hands made.

On Wednesday morning when I read in the San Diego Union Tribune that it was Julia Child’s birthday and the recipe for her famed Boeuf Bourguignon was included in the write-up, I knew I had to head to Sprouts and get the ingredients. So I did. I chronicled on Facebook the journey from grocery bag to plated wonder and I now include two of those photos here. The most amazing thing to me about the creation of what was probably the best-tasting dish I have ever made is that there were steps in the process that made absolutely no sense. Like when the meat is done, removing it from the casserole dish, washing out the dish and then putting it all back to cook some more. Or simmering the bacon in water before you fry it. Straining the entire cooked contents through a sieve before adding the sauteed mushrooms and pearl onions.

But then I tasted the end product and I couldn’t have cared less about the answers to those questions. There’s a powerful metaphor there for trusting in the things of God that stymie us: The end product is quite often delicious perfection that renders those questions weightless.
My kitchen was trashed twice in the process, I used a boatload of dishes and utensils, and I admit there were sacrilegious moments when my thoughts toward dear Julia turned to SNL’s long-ago sketch (“Now I’ve gone and cut the dickens out of my finger!). But oh, the aroma that filled the house as the creation came to life. Oh, the tender sweetness of just the right ingredients in just the right proportions, prepared in just the right way.

Things of true value are worth the effort that goes into creating  them.

Bon appetit to me means a whole lot more than hey, have a good appetite. I think it means have an appetite for good things. They sweeten life like nothing else. 
Have a great weekend.

p.s. If you are a foodie and a Downtown Abbey devotee, check out this post on the Downton Abbey Cooks blog!  – “From Mrs. Patmore to Julia Child.”  And if you want to make Julia’s Boeuf Bourguignon, here’s one I found on the internet that, lucky for you, explains why you blanch the bacon first – to remove its smokiness, of course… And if you haven’t seen the movie Julie and Julia, well, what are you waiting for? It was directed by the amazing Nora Ephron, (sniffle, sniffle) may she rest in peace…