Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

This is my fourth book by this Mexican-Canadian novelist and it never gets old. I first found her through the annual Obama reading list, which also never disappoints, and then I finish one and soon thereafter start another one. She is a gifted story teller, and often has a hint of the supernatural in the mix, and this one is no different. This is a historical fantasy of sorts– and it reads so much like a dark fairytale – Casiopea, a young girl who is living out the roaring 20's scrubbing the floors of her grandfather's house after her mother marries the wrong guy. She accidentally frees the spirit of a Mayan god of death one day and then the adventure begins. The god of death, Hun-Kamé, tells Casiopea this: help him recover his throne from his brother and he will give her whatever she desires. Fail, and it will mean her death. As the two embark on their adventure, unbeknownst to them is that the road before them will change them both forever. Casiopea’s journey depends entirely on Hun-Kamé’s success. Having been imprisoned for decades, Hun-Kamé draws life from the Casiopea’s blood and essence through the bone shard embedded in her thumb, thus binding the two in ways they will not anticipate. Their fates are entwined--one fails then so does the other, and so as strangers they need to utterly rely upon the other. It is a good story well told.

Cucumber, Avocado, and Shrimp Salad

This was a good cucumber salad--but I would alter the recipe slightly to put the avocado in after plating or it will look much less appealing. 1 pound English, Persian or Kirby cucumbers, rinsed and dried ¼ teaspoon fine sea or table salt, more to taste ¼ teaspoon granulated sugar 2 tablespoons soy sauce 1½ tablespoons olive oil 3 teaspoons toasted sesame oil 1 teaspoon chile crisp, more to taste 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined if you like 2 large ripe avocados 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, more to taste 2 scallions, thinly sliced ¼cup chopped cilantro, for garnish Cut cucumbers into bite-size pieces. Add cucumber to a colander, and toss with salt and sugar. Let sit for 15 to 30 minutes, or until the pieces have released their moisture. Toss a couple of times while draining. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together 1 tablespoon soy sauce, olive oil, 2 teaspoons sesame oil and the chile crisp. Set aside. Cook the shrimp: In a large skillet over medium heat, combine shrimp with 1 tablespoon water, remaining 1 tablespoon soy sauce and 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Cover the pan and let the shrimp steam until pink and just cooked, 3 to 4 minutes, adding more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, if the pan looks dry. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the shrimp to the bowl with the chile crisp dressing and toss well. Pit and peel the avocados. Cut flesh into ½-inch pieces. Add to a large bowl and toss with the rice wine vinegar until well coated. Add the drained cucumbers, tossing gently to combine. Add the shrimp and all of its dressing and the scallions to the cucumber and avocado mixture. Taste and add more rice wine vinegar and salt, if needed. Garnish with sesame seeds and cilantro.

The Wager by David Grann

I did not know this, but apparently some popular non-fiction in the 18th century was the publication of the captain's log book. Yawn. This book tells a classic sea yarn in a new way, overthrowing an old colonial story. We meet the cast of sailors and their officers during the absurd-sounding War of Jenkins’ Ear, so named because it arose from the allegation a Spanish sailor cut off a British sailor’s ear. Really it was a clash of empires, as the British and Spanish grabbed as much of the New World as they could, then snatched it from each other. In 1740, His Majesty’s Ship The Wager set sail across the Atlantic. Its covert mission was to intercept a Spanish treasure ship off the Chilean coast. The sailors endured hardships as they rounded Cape Horn, where the strongest currents in the world pounded the ship so hard even veterans reeled. That was also where scurvy set in, and typhus. He relates the physical and psychological toll of the voyage, and when things to deteriorate on board, he focuses on these factors. There is a shipwreck, a mutiny, two different sets of castaways who make it back to England, and what happens to them in the end makes for a fascinating story.

Holiday in the Wild (2019)

Yes, it is true, I have been binge watching romantic comedies (but only when my spouse is on call, so I know that he won't be home until late, that chances are very good that I won't get to sleep early, and these are movies he has basically no interest in--a guilty pleasure, a vacation for the mind). In this one (also on Netflix) Rob Lowe (for me mostly famously from West Wing) and Kristin Davis (Charlotte from Sex and the City) pair up to deliver a tolerably good romantic comedy set in a spectacular setting (it is both set in and filmed in was filmed at the Lilayi Elephant Nursery in Lusaka, Zambia, and also filmed at Camp Jabulani in Hoedspruit, South Africa). So if you never had an African safari, or better yet, you did and you loved every minute of it, this will tick all those boxes). The movie opens with Kate being dumped by her long time husband literally as the door is closing on their only child leaving for college. Unfortuanately she did not see this coming, so she decides to take her second honeymoon safari on her own, and lo and behold, her bush pilot is also involved with an elephant rescue operation, and so en route to her luxury safari, they touch down to save a baby elephant after it's mother has been killed for her ivory by poachers. Kate not only loves animals (and who doesn't love elephants) she was trained as a vet prior to becoming a stay at home mom, and she stays to provide medical care to the herd and to fall for the very charming pilot. To be clear, this isn’t a bad film. If you like elephants, for example, you’ll love this. If you want to watch Lowe emit a low-level hum of charisma, this is the film for you. If you like knowing exactly how a film will go, beat for beat, right from the very first scene, you won't be disappointed. This is a nice, pretty, easy, undemanding film; it’s cheesy, but it’s also really quite charming.

Pure Colour by Sheila Heti

It is hard to write a review about what this book is about exactly. The one thing that I can say is that it centers on the grief the main character experiences upon losing her father, and it goes into every corner of that emotional experience. There is a touch of the fantastical, in a kind of matter of fact way, the way it happens in a Kazuo Ishiguro book, where it seems possible for a long time before you realize it is not quite possible, and more like fantasy. Then there is a part of it that is deeply spiritual, in an old timey biblical sort of way, and the whole thing has some shape shifting stream of consciousness about it. One review I read said that part of the author’s charm is her knack for coming from as far out of left field as possible, and here she has amped up her unpredictability as far as it can go, and then she proceeds to reel it all back in again. It is charming and lyrical, and it also gives you a lot to think about, especially if you have lost your father or are about to.

Reina Punch

This comes from a fun cocktail book called Batch Cocktails, which are recipes that make more than 1-2 drinks and can be scaled up for a pre-mixed cocktail at a party. Ever since we redid our outdoor eating and cooking area, we have enjoyed having the occasional bar menu, and this cocktail was featured at a recent party to thank ICU workers for their service during the pandemic and beyond. 2 1/2 cups chilled blanco tequila 1 1/4 cups Pinot Noir 1 1/4 cups chilled hibiscus–bell pepper syrup (recipe follows) 2/3 cup water 1 1/4 cups fresh lime juice To Serve 8 lime wheels 13 rosemary sprigs (optional) Hibiscus-Bell Pepper Syrup 1 red bell pepper, stemmed and seeded 1 cup sugar 1 hibiscus tea bag (such as Traditional Medicinals) 1 cup boiling water For the Hibiscus-Bell Pepper Syrup Using a very sharp knife, slice red parts of bell pepper into the thinnest strips you can manage. Place in a heat-safe bowl along with sugar and use a muddler to bruise slightly. Let macerate for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. When time is almost up, steep tea bag in boiling water for 3 minutes, then discard tea bag and pour hot tea over bell pepper mixture. Stir to incorporate sugar. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a resealable container and let cool. Refrigerate until chilled or for up to 2 days. For Reina Punch At least 2 hours and up to 12 hours before serving, make the batch. Pour chilled tequila, Pinot Noir, chilled hibiscus–bell pepper syrup, and water into a 2-quart pitcher and stir to mix. Seal well, covering with plastic wrap if needed, and refrigerate. Up to 2 hours before serving, prepare lime juice and stir into pitcher mix. Reseal and return to refrigerator if not serving immediately. To serve, stir mixture well and add lime wheels to pitcher. Pour into ice-filled rocks glasses and garnish each glass with a rosemary sprig.

Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond

It’s no wonder Americans have failed to eliminate poverty, sociologist Matthew Desmond (recipient of a MacArthur Foundation award) maintains in his new book. He believes the better-off are fighting a class war, keeping the poor down by design. Desmond shows that poverty blights rural white areas but that its hardest core is African American and urban. Having written the entry on racial capitalism for the New York Times 1619 project, Desmond is sensitive to the way poverty intersects other forms of subordination. The brilliance of this book lies in his account of how government and social policy act in ways commensurate with his class-war thesis. Living paycheck to paycheck means a precarious existence for people near the margin of daily survival. One cause is a labor market that forces workers to help companies achieve profits while underpaying them, simply because they can. He shows that the American economy has increasingly allowed business to enjoy power to coerce people into earning less for doing more--it is the second Belle Epoque, which is only aptly named for the richest of the rich. He shows how we need to turn that around so that everyone pays their fair share.

Happiness For Beginners (2023)

This is kind of a feel good romantic comedy that has elements of real life woven in. A year after her divorce, 32-year-old Helen Carpenter lets her brother persuade her to sign up for a wilderness survival course. We first see Helen sitting alone at a party at the aforementioned brother's house. All around her, people are talking, drinking, laughing, and dancing. She does not seem to notice anyone and no one notices her. She pulls out a piece of paper to re-read her list of goals for her upcoming hiking trip: 1. Find a deeper connection to nature. 2. Rise up from my own ashes like a freaking phoenix. 3. Earn a damned certificate. The ashes she wants to rise from are her divorce and the unhappiness that led to it. But you do not have to go too far out on a limb to guess that she will learn to acknowledge some other ashes from her past on the trip. When the leader, Beckett, says that the hike, 81 miles on the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut and New York, will be “daunting but beautiful,” he is also talking about life and all of the challenges and opportunities we face. You will probably also guess where this is going when Duncan’s friend Jake shows up as one of the hikers. He and Helen pretend they have not met before to avoid complicated explanations. Like a mapped-out trail, you know where it will end up, but there's enough to enjoy along the way. Another Netflix fluffy movie to put on your list.

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

I read a review that said the author has captured our collective despair about climate change, in that those of us who believe lack the power to change the crash course we are on, and those who have it are trying to make all the money they can regardless of the consequences. This is far shorter than the only other book that I have read by her (The Luminaries) but no less complex in it's story telling. The finishing of this also puts me well on the way to completing Obama's summer reading list, which always gives me a sense of accomplishment! It’s hippies versus billionaires--sort of. A group of Greenpeace style commandos decide to do some kamikaze planting after a land slide isolates a part of New Zealand, and things go terribly wrong. There is a lot of nuance in the story telling, with the second half of the book veering into the thriller genre, and with a take home message that will have you thinking about it long after you close the book.

ABCDEF Cocktail

The taste is complex as expected with these ingredients. The gin functions as the base, with a slightly modified flavor, in a way somewhat malty, almost like Genever, probably due to the addition of pisco. The main bitter component, Aperol, is lighter than the typical bitter cocktail, making for a nice color and lighter flavor which goes well with dry Dolin vermouth. The Campari and Fernet serve almost more as bitters, although they add significant flavor to the cocktail, vying for your attention, over the light Martini like undertones of this cocktail. Aperol 0.5 oz Gin (traditionally Beefeater) 1.5 oz Campari 0.25 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth 0.75 oz Pisco (traditionally Encanto) 0.5 oz Fernet-Branca 1 barspoon Stir with ice, strain into cocktail glasses

A World On The Wing by Scott Weidensaul

This is a book that looks in detail at the migration of birds on a global level. There is so much to learn and enjoy in this volume, and what happens to birds is a good model for the interconnectedness of our planet. As an example, he tells the amazing tale of bar-tailed godwits, some of which make the longest non-stop migration known– up to 7,500 miles from the Arctic to New Zealand in a continuous, feverous flight lasting eight or more days. They gather the strength for it by gorging themselves on marine worms on the tidal flats of the Alaskan peninsula, doubling their weight within two weeks and making themselves “so obese that they jiggle when they walk”. What happens next is nothing short of a superhero comic scene. Digestive organs “shrink and atrophy”. Pectoral muscles, heart and lungs all double in size until the godwit is ready for flight. The particulars of their trip, and the effects that climate change can and will have on this are discussed, but the end result for me is that while I am not a birder, and know very little about them, but the author makes it so interesting that any reader could see themselves getting hooked and wanting to know and see more.

Your Place or Mine (2023)

This movie got pretty terrible reviews--even for a romantic comedy! I watched it as a break from finishing out the movies that were nominated for 2023 Oscars that I did not get a chance to see before the awards, and let's just say I did not save costumes and makeup for the clean up spots. I needed something light as air to watch, and this fit the bill. Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher play Debbie and Peter, who hooked up once 20 years ago and have been best friends ever since. Both look remarkably good for people who have had a 20 year relationship that didn't start until they were adults, but that is an aside. We know they’re best friends because they keep telling us they’re best friends, which is annoying, and it is true that their exchanges never convey the comfort or substance of such a crucial, two-decade bond. That's pkay because much of the plot doesn't hold up well to scutiny and if you are looking for a romcom that involves people who are friends before they fall for each other, and do not fall into the inevitable romcom trope of love-hate relationships, this is a light diversion.

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

This chronicles the goings on at Bletchley Park during WWII. Three very different women answer the call to mysterious country estate, where the best minds in Britain train to break German military codes. Vivacious debutante Osla puts her fluent German to use as a translator of decoded enemy secrets. Imperious self-made Mab, product of east-end London poverty, works the legendary codebreaking machines as she conceals old wounds and looks for a socially advantageous husband. Beth, whose shyness conceals a brilliant facility with puzzles, spreads her wings as one of the Park’s few female cryptanalysts. Together they work to get tactical information from the enemy into allied hands, and so much of the book is about the work that went on there, but the ending has to do with a traitor to his country, a clever one at that, who has Beth locked up to keep her from revealing his identity, and we never really understand what motivated him beyond greed. The characters are based on people who existed, and so is designated as historical fiction, and I enjoyed reading a kind of light, fictionalized approach to real people in a real place.

Hello Summer Cocktail

I was a bit sceptical about making watermelon juice, and then enjoying it in a cocktail, but I was completely wrong about that! It is delicious and refreshing! 5 sprigs cilantro 1/2 ounce lime juice 2 ounces watermelon juice 1 1/2 ounces tequila (100% agave) 1 ounce Lillet Blanc 1/4 ounce agave nectar Shake with ice, strain into rocks glass, garnish with lime slice. May first dip rim into salt/chili powder after moistening with lime. Cheers!

Bird Sense by Tim Birkhead

If you can ignore the slightly condescending tone that waxes and wanes throughout the book, it is well worth reading and full of very cool things about birds. I would much rather read a book like Ed Yong's An Immense world, where the tone is much more "isn't this the coolest thing" than "I know more than you do". Unfortunately, this book falls hard in the camp of the later. That said, there is a lot of great material here. The book is based on a conviction that we have consistently underestimated what goes on in a bird's head. Our understanding of bird behavior is simultaneously informed and constrained by the way we watch and study them. By drawing attention to the way these frameworks both facilitate and inhibit discovery, it identifies ways we can escape from them to seek new horizons in bird behavior. The chapters walk through the senses--starting with sight, and moving on to taste, smell, touch, hearing, and emotions, we are walked through how birds, to varying degrees, have and use all their senses. As a birdwatcher in my infancy but a biologist by trade, this added a lot of interesting facts and generated ideas of what to look for when watching and enjoying birds.

House Made of Splinters (2022)

This was one of the nominees for Best Documentary in 2023, edging out a competative short listed field. There is so much pain in this movie, and unbeknownst to them, so much more pain to come. It is filmed at an orphanage in Eastern Ukraine before the war began there in February of last year,and it's hard to push away thoughts of how much this part of the world has been decimated over the last 18 months. Where are these children and their caretakers now? While the director couldn't have envisioned what would soon happen in this part of the world, they do capture the impact of cycles of violence and trauma, which certainly work their way into cataclysmic pain and suffering for generations to come without the Russian tanks and bombs. The raw moments the film captures in this facility are a testament to the trust the doumentary team clearly built with everyone there—and that ability to capture truth without interfering or manufacturing gives his film an undeniable emotional power. The story unfolds at Lysychansk, a facility in Ukraine where parents can drop off children for up to nine months, at which point they're put into the foster system. The idea is that it's a place for kids to be while adults deal with things that no child should endure, like alcoholism or abuse. The problem is that these demons often take longer than nine months, and sometimes parents simply don't return for their kids, succumbing to addiction so badly that it changes their parental status, and there are almost no happy endings to be found here.

Eat A Peach by David Chang

This is an unusual memoir, one filled with angst and fury, with a fair amount of philosophy and with a side of regret. He doesn't shy away from much, not even his chronic depression and suicidality. He does not come off as either likeable or visionary, but rather as a slave to his vision, a good sense of who he should work with, and a certain amount of luck. David Chang changed the way America eats. In 2004, Momofuku Noodle Bar, a ramen joint in NYC’s East Village, ushered in a style of restaurant that’s now recognizable everywhere: food that emphasized making memorable delicious intensely flavored food with little regard for existing conventions; unabashed loudness; and a maniacal attention to detail and deliciousness, perhaps best encapsulated in its signature dish, a pork-belly bun that would be imitated across the country. He comes off as someone who would be really impossible to work for, even in the world of the restaurant kitchen. All that anger has to go somewhere and often it falls all over their employees, and in this volume he reflects upon himself more than how he might have affected others. What Chang does effectively with this maneuver is reveal every storyteller’s role as an editor. Often, he points out what hindsight offers in the retelling of a story. And in some vignettes, when Chang recounts actions and events he’s now not proud of, he deems them worth fixing — but instead of addressing those he has harmed outright, he fervidly professes his guilt, then opts to write over them. He is a successful, driven, talented, difficult chef who would be a nightmare to work for, and who also offers yet another window into what it is to grow up Asian in the United States (spoiler alert--it is not great). All this said, if you have an interest in food, chef's, and food, this is well worth spending time with.

Wellington, Capital of New Zealand

Sitting at the heart of New Zealand, the Wellington region has so much to offer. Nestled between green hills and a sparkling harbour at the south end of the North Island, the city is full of things just waiting to be discovered. We got off to a rocky start with our visit to Wellington--we had a wonderful time in the departure lounge in Christchurch waiting for the short and affordable flight to Wellington. We were pleasantly surprised that there is not security check, no restrictions on liquids to be carried on and a sense of stepping back in to a pre-9/11 world of air travel. We boarded our old school plane, and buckled in, only to be told 20 minutes later that the plane had an unfixable mechanical problem, and we would need a new plane. That was the end of our troubles though. We had what had originally seemed like a too late dinner resrevation that suddenly was just perfect. We landed about 6:40PM, hopped in a cab within minutes, and arrived at our apartment hotel at 6:57PM (desk closes at 7PM)--we dropped all our luggage and went back down the elevator to scoot down the block for our dinner reservation--arriving at 7:03PM, just a few minutes late and lo and behold our table wasn't even ready. Our luck held, and we had good food and nice walks around Wellington. You can skip Auckland but don't skip Wellington!

Easy Beauty by Chloe Cooper Jones

I think this is an amazing story and a great way to reclaim her space in the world, using disability, motherhood and a lifelong search for beauty as her throughlines. Having grown up with a sibling in a wheelchair I have some sense of what it is like to be "other" in a world that favors homogeneity. The author was born with a rare congenital condition called sacral agenesis, and she has lived her entire life in a body that has taught her the deepest truths about pain, but also one that has placed her in the crosshairs of strangers’ pity and disgust. She is short, walks awkwardly, and stands out. Because her condition affects both her height and the way she moves through the world, her comfort within her body has always come with qualifiers: the dismissal of being “less than”; the oh-so-helpful admonishments of others; and even her own denials of her comfort in an effort to help others move past seeing her as only her disability. These judgments and denials come to a head when Jones becomes a mother herself - a feat that doctors had long told her was impossible, despite having no real reason to know so - and starts to notice that her sensitive, keenly observant child, Wolfgang, is modeling his approach to life after her own behaviors, and suffering for it. She begins the difficult, painful and nearly impossible task of turning her remarkable intelligence and curiosity inward to ask whether or not the experience of beauty can become an agent of change to help her become more present in her own life and with her family. She presents herself with all her warts and insecurities so that we can grapple with our own shortcomings. This is well worth reading and thinking about.

Perfect Pairing (2022)

I had been watching a string of intense movies while my spouse was on call and then, quite suddenly, had had enough, and did a 180 degree turn to light and fluffy romantic comedies, of which this is one. If you are looking for something that is not memorable, doesn't make you think too hard, and enjoyably passes the time, this delivers on every count. Lola works for an LA wine importer--she is energetic, passionate about her product, and creative--which is rewarded at work, but her boss is a narcisitic misogynist. She rage quits her job after a co-worker steals her idea, and, here is where it goes off the rails a bit--she decides that the way to snag an Australian account is to stalk the owner while she is off for a month at the family sheep farm. The scenery is gorgeous, and everything else is unobjectionable, which is high praise for this sort of confection. Streaming on Netflix.

Asada--The Art of Mexican-Style Grilling by Biria Lopez

This is a cookbook selection for my cookbook group, and it has been quite a while since I have cooked out of a cookbook that was this popular in my household. The authors are from Oaxaca and their first cookbook covers that regional Mexican food. This is largely about grilled food, and it is exceptional. The marinades are the true highlights, where the protein is marinated in a flavorful sauce, and usually for a pretty short period of time, so that if you made it ahead of time, it was an easy midweek meal. The three version of rice: white, red, and green--the colors of the flag of Mexico--and they are all stellar. The salsas are on the hot side, but the hotter chilies could be subbed for less hot chilies and the six we have tried are all very flavor. They use avocado oil in their flour tortillas based on the ones made by Carmelo's in Lawrence, KS, which are the best commercial flour tortillas I have had. I recommend this highly, and even if you have a robust Mexican food section in your cookbook collection, this one should have a place on your shelf.

Yellow Jacket

Happy Birthday to my eldest son, and Happy Anniversary to me as a parent! I would not have guessed that this was a tequila drink, and I continue to be happy about the decision to buy two bottles of yellow chartruese when I had the chance in the pandemic. Yellow Jacket: dances like a butterfly 2 oz Reposado Tequila 1 oz Elderflower Liqueur-St. Germain 3/4 oz Yellow Chartreuse 1 dash Orange Bitters Stir down with ice for 20-25 seconds. Serve up in a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a Lemon Twist

Cain by Lord Byron (1816)

Just when I thought that maybe I did not like or maybe equal parts not like and not get Byron, I read this. I agree with Goethe, who said after reading this that Byron was the best suited to retell the stories of the Bible and he looked forward to what came next. Unfortunately the modern reader knows that the sum total of Byron's work is already with us, quite voluminous and yet, the Bible is left for another story teller. This is spectacular. Byron could not blacken his hero Cain; he could not make the murderer a hardened criminal. Common sense, his social purpose, and the classical theory of tragedy required that he make out an excellent case for the rebel, to convince us that the rebellion was justified and unavoidable, egged on by Lucifer as he was, but he was left with no choice. We must not dismiss Cain as a grouch nor detest him as vicious or monstrous. We must not even look at him through the eyes of his parents. We are to be as generous as Abel and Adah were at the end, and if we conclude, as his brother did, that Cain was the tragic hero, a man caught between a rock and a hard place. Do not miss this.

Man From Toronto (2023)

I watched this on a very long trans-Pacific flight, so the bar for what is acceptable for entertainment was pretty low, and this did meet it (although it did not exceed it). It is a buddy action-comedy that offsets its run-of-the-mill sense of humor and marginal plot line and dialog with a pair of appealing leads. Kevin Hart plays a lovable screw up, Teddy Jackson, who gets mistaken for Woody Harrelson, the Man from Toronto, a stone cold contract killer and the two go about trying to make it work. Everything that can go wrong does, which is what makes Teddy tick, and through a series of unfortunate events and a few gratuitous killings, the two manage to get most of what they want. This movie is not good, and not for kids, but I was not sorry to have watched it.

Bottoms Up And The Devil Laughs by Kerry Howley

Wow, there is a lot going on here in a few short chapters that at times I felt like it was hard to keep up with the author. The book is at least partly about Reality Winner, the NSA whistleblower who in 2018, at the age of 25, was given the longest sentence ever handed down for a violation of the Espionage Act — five years and three months — after leaking an intelligence report on Russian interference in the 2016 election to The Intercept, which inadvertently (and, in Howley’s well-argued opinion, negligently and disastrously) revealed their source to the NSA while trying to validate the report Winner mailed to them. Then again, perhaps this book is less about Winner herself and more about the United States in the 21st century — specifically, how the world’s largest shadow government has used and abused tools of surveillance since 9/11; how ultimately, tragically human both the operators and targets of surveillance are; and how a nation that pins the health of its “way of life” on its ability to secure an ever-expanding, impossibly large hoard of classified data (think the Stasi and The Lives of Others ) is doomed to be undone by its own disgruntled bureaucrats.

Grilled Tri-Tip

This is a cut that we were able to find easily when we lived in California, and while I am not a huge lover of beef, I have enjoyed both the texture and the flavor of this cut. We found some and served it as part of a mixed grill for a special birthday! It was delicious/. 1/4 cup oil ▢4 garlic cloves minced ▢3 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary ▢3 tablespoons minced fresh thyme ▢Salt and freshly ground black pepper ▢2 1/2 pounds tri-tip roast (see note 1) In the bottom of a zipper-top plastic bag, add oil, garlic, rosemary, thyme, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 ½ teaspoons pepper. Pat the tri-tip dry with paper towels and score the fat layer with a sharp knife (cut through the fat but not meat). Add steak to the bag with paste and turn to coat. Marinate at least 1 hour or up to 2 hours. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before grilling. Preheat grill over high heat for 10 minutes. Clean and oil grate. Grill tri-tip over direct heat, turning occasionally, about 3 to 4 minutes per side, until browned and charred. Move tri-tip to indirect heat and continue cooking to desired doneness temperature, about 20 to 30 minutes longer: 120 to 125 degrees F for rare, 130 to 135 degrees F for medium rare, 140 to 145 degrees F for medium, 150 degrees F for medium well, and 160 degrees F for well done. Transfer tri-tip to a cutting board and let rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Slice thinly against the grain. Recipe Video

Notes From A Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi

This is a good read and a sobering story, which is told more as a series of short stories than a continuous narrative. The title riffs on a memoir of another chef, Daniel Boulud , who went from French farm boy turned Michelin chef, and who doles out advice to those with the nerve, masochism and heart to carve out a career in a professional kitchen. Boulud is white and Onwuachi is black, and while Boulud grew up in a culture where the importance of food is literally everywhere, Onwuachi grew up in the Bronx, the most urban of urban environments, where not only is food not the center of life, it can be hard to come by at all. Not to mention the racism, both covert and overt. Onwuachi, 29, is the only son of a marriage that ended soon after it started and was never going to work. His mother, Jewel Robinson, became a chef and caterer after she lost her job as an accountant. His father, Patrick Onwuachi, is an architect whose own father was a respected professor at Howard University, prominent in the Pan-Africanism movement. After they split, his mother had to work several jobs to make ends meet and his father was so verbally and physically abusive it is hard to hear about, and certainly going between those two worlds was like a rock and a hard place, each with their challenges. He learned to cook the food of the Caribbean from his mother, the food of Nigeria in his grandfather's house, and he honed his professional chef skills at the Culinary Institute. These stories are filled with triumphs and failures, dreams and disasters, and the art of making your own luck rather than waiting for it. Well worth reading.

How Do You Measure A Year? (2022)

This is the last of the nominated films in the Short Documentary category for an Oscar in 2023, and it is a good way to end. Ironically, last year the same filmmaker had a nomination in this category and it was also not generally available until after the Oscars, which makes the category as a whole harder to judge with one omission, but in neither case did it change my first or second choice in the category. The story line is basically childhood, as seen from age 2 until 18 years old, as seen through an annual birthday film session with similar questions as well as some age appropriate ones. As you might imagine, the younger years are uniformly adorable and the teenage years more defiant and painful, both because most of us have been there as teens, and many as parents of teens. It is light and mostly fun.

Unscripted by James Stewart & Rachel Abrams

The subtitle is: The Epic Battle For A Hollywood Media Empire but it is way grosser than that. This is reasonably written, and while it is hard to picture how the authors had access to a lot of conversations that they recount in the book, the story is well told and pretty easy to follow. It is just so gross that it is hard to read. One review had the headline "A business book that makes Hollywood tales of debauchery look tame" and that kind of sums it up. Ostensibly, it is the fly-on-the-wall account of the extraordinary boardroom machinations that led Shari Redstone, the often-estranged daughter of geriatric mogul Sumner Redstone, to wrest control of both CBS and Viacom from the executives, girlfriends and others who’d circled him in his final years. In that way, it’s not unlike countless chronicles of corporate intrigue or succession drama--or the HBO Max series "Succession". It is just hard to feel bad for anyone in this mess. The elder Redstone, is acid-tongued, obsessed with sex and, in general, a pretty awful person--to name a few, he once called President Barack Obama the n-word at a Beverly Hills restaurant and attempted to steal a date from his young grandson at an MTV event, the book asserts--and the list goes on. He gets seriously taken advantage of by multiple women after money and power, but it is hard to find someone to root for. Also, because it is about a media company that includes TV and movie studios, there is also Hollywood tales of sexual harassment and manipulation, and the whole thing leaves you feeling bad about men in general and men in positions of power in particular. There is very little in the way of remorse in this tale, and it is a relief to finish it.

Carne Asada

We have just been cooking like crazy out of Bricia Lopez' new cookbook, Asada--The Art Of Mexican Grilling,and this is yet another example of how wonderful this book is! Even our beef avoidant child loved this, and wondered why there wasn't more left over. 3/4 cup (6 ounces) dark Mexican ale 1/2 cup fresh orange juice 1/4 cup fresh lime juice 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil, divided 6 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped (about 2 tablespoons) 2 tablespoons plus 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt, divided 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar 2 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce 1 teaspoon black pepper 1/2 teaspoon Mexican oregano 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 10 spring onions or 15 scallions, divided 2 pounds flap steak, patted dry (See Note) 1 small white onion, thinly sliced (about 1 3/4 cups) 2 serrano chiles, stemmed and halved lengthwise 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro Whisk together Mexican ale, orange juice, lime juice, 1/4 cup oil, garlic, 2 tablespoons salt, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, oregano, paprika, cumin, and cloves in a large bowl until spices are evenly incorporated. Trim 4 spring onions or 6 scallions, and cut in half lengthwise. Using the palm of your hand against a flat work surface, lightly smash spring onions until a little moisture is released. Combine smashed spring onions, flap steak, white onion, chiles, cilantro, and ale mixture in a large ziplock plastic bag. Seal bag, and shake to thoroughly mix; gently massage marinade into steak. Chill at least 2 hours or up to 12 hours. Remove steak from marinade, and pat dry using paper towels; discard marinade. Place steak on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat grill to very high (500°F to 550°F). Place steak on lightly oiled grates. Grill, uncovered, until lightly charred in spots and a thermometer inserted in thickest portion of steak registers 125°F for medium-rare, 3 to 5 minutes per side, or to desired degree of doneness. Transfer steak to a cutting board, and let rest 5 minutes. Meanwhile, trim remaining 6 spring onions or 11 scallions; toss with remaining 1 tablespoon oil and remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl until well coated. Place spring onions on oiled grates, and grill, uncovered, turning occasionally, until softened and lightly charred, 4 to 6 minutes. Slice steak against the grain; serve with grilled spring onions, warm tortillas, and salsa. Note To substitute skirt steak for flap steak, marinate at least 8 hours or up to 12 hours.

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai

I enjoyed this, but I would--it is written by a well known author who I like and at core it is a murder mystery. A former student, Brodie, is back on the campus where she went to high school and remembering the murder of a fellow student from her time there. She was always a bit suspicious that the dead girl had been having an affair with a teacher, but the man who went to prison for it was a teacher, but not the one that she suspected. He is a black man named Omar, and while there isn't much in the way of even circumstantial evidence, he is in prison. As Brodie goes about re-examining the case, there are a number of aspects of life at an elite private school that come into play--race, class, income, and what each of those things gets you in terms of privileges and demerits, depending if you are a have or a have not. This is well written and thought provoking, and I enjoyed it, but it was lighter than what I look for in the fiction genre and not enough intrigue for the murder mystery genre. It did make me want to read other things that the author has written, so there is that, and not everyone is hampered by years of reading who-done-its, and might be able to better settle into the cadence of this one.