4321 by Paul Auster

I have not had the greatest of reading years,so when the Booker Prize list came out, I was pretty happy to see that I had already read two of them, and was in the middle of a third.  A mitigating factor is that they have now increased the scope of nominees to include all literature written in English, so there are some US nominees, which helped.
That said, this is also the first year that my husband read a nominee before I had.  A fact he is very proud of and with good reason, because it is a lengthy and non-linear story.
That said, this is an incredible read.  It is almost cinematic in it's scope, with the theme of multiple story threads with multiple possible outcomes to each of those threads.
Archibald Ferguson is our main character, and we hear his story in four different versions, over the many years of childhood into adulthood, each version with a different path taken and therefore a different outcome.  There are some interlinked themes along the way, people who he meets at different points in his life who resonate for him.  So there are constants and there are differences, but it is all interesting, and unlike some other books with sweeping scopes, the main character is largely likable.  Even when his choices are not.

It is beautifully written (something highly correlated with the Booker Prize) and thought provoking, and most importantly, holds ones interest over the course of a very long book.

Lemony Zucchini Slaw

I am just loving the ways to eat zucchini raw and enjoy it!  This one is outstanding.

• 1 ½ pounds small zucchini or summer squash, preferably a mix of colors
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
• 1 tablespoon thinly sliced chives
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped chervil
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped mint
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped sorrel
• 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled, for garnish
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts, lightly toasted, for garnish

1. Top and tail the zucchini. Julienne with a large knife, mandoline, food processor or spiralizer.
2. Transfer zucchini to a large bowl. Season generously with salt and pepper. Add lemon zest and juice and toss well. Set aside for 10 minutes.
3. Add yogurt and toss to coat well. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add chopped herbs and mix gently. Garnish with feta and pine nuts to serve.

Reflections Seventeen Years Later

My youngest had a malignant brain tumor diagnosed when he was almost 6 years old and today he turns twenty three years old.  The things that I have learned from this, all of which I would return many times over to not have lived through it, are too numerous to count.  The first thing is how grateful I am to have him still with us.  Children pay a high price for cure from cancer and he has more than his fair share of challenges that are directly related to his diagnosis and treatment.  So it is actually a rosy picture.  There is beauty and grace,but there are thorns and aphids as well.  As I reflect on this occasion, my youngest son's birthday seventeen years after he became a cancer survivor I am forever grateful for the years that we have had together, I am proud of the man he has become, and yet I still feel great sadness at the loss.  The good news is that he is really an Eagle Scout in that he is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, mostly friendly,mostly courteous, always kind, obedient, strangely cheerful, very thrifty, brave, largely clean, and completely irreverent.  No one is perfect.  But life is pretty darn good almost two decades later.   So it is time to savor the moments and go about celebrating the day!

Paterson (2016)

Jim Jarmusch's new movie has a strange dream like quality to it even though on the surface it follows a man through a week in his life.

The movie’s protagonist, played with spectacular attention to detail by Adam Driver is named Paterson.  He writes poetry that is straightforward and evocative of place.  He does it in his notebook throughout his day.  He lives with a woman that he describes as someone who gets him.  He also gets her.  Each day he comes home and she has transformed some part of his home into something entirely unique with paint and shapes, and love.  He also drives a New Jersey Transit bus around the New Jersey city of Paterson, where he also lives. Paterson, New Jersey was once an industrial center of the United States—a storied manufacturer of silks and textiles—that fell into a kind of ruin by the time this film reviewer moved there, to live, in 1978. It has undergone several not-quite-revivals since that time. Its main fame today is in its being the ostensible subject of an epic modernist American poem by William Carlos Williams, who lived in nearby Rutherford.  A profoundly decent man living a simple life that is momentarily shattered when the dog eats his work is depicted with love and care in this quiet film..

The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434

This is another painting from the National Gallery in London, with the painting to the right and a detail above.  It was painted by Jan van Eyck with astonishing realism.
A couple stands hand in hand, in a room illuminated by daylight from an open window.
The identity of the couple is most likely to be Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife, Giovanna.
The man wears a large, broad-brimmed hat and an exquisitely painted fur-trimmed and lined velvet tabard, while the woman gathers a sumptuous fur-lined green wool dress to her stomach; its long train folded at her feet.
Dressed in the latest fashion, the couple are surrounded by objects that denote wealth: the oranges on the windowsill and chest, the gleaming brass chandelier, and the bed with its elaborate rich, red hangings.
The striking convex mirror on the wall behind the couple is also an indication of prosperity. However, its presence is more than symbolic. Reflected in the mirror, painted with remarkable precision, is an intriguing image: It shows the back of the couple and two figures beyond, one dressed in blue and the other in red, entering the room through a passage lit by an open window.
The figure in blue appears to be raising his arm, possibly in greeting. Above the mirror, written on the wall much like graffiti, is the phrase 'Jan van Eyck was here, 1434'. Oddly humorous, or self portrait?

Saffron Chase

We made this with the low end prosecco from Costco.  And we did actually chill the glasses!

20ml Chase gin
20ml Chase elderflower liqueur
20ml lemon juice
20ml saffron syrup (see below)
200ml champagne, ice-cold
Saffron syrup:
250g caster sugar
1/2 tsp saffron threads

Anything which involves champagne needs to be served in an ice-cold glass. In order to get it as cold as it needs to be, you can either pop your flute into the freezer for a couple of hours or, as we do in NOPI, simply fill the glass with crushed ice and leave it for 2 minutes before tipping it out, into the sink.

Chase is a single-estate English distiller based in Herefordshire producing gin, vodka and various liqueurs that, in our search for the finest, we love to use. There are other brands out there which are good, though: St-Germain elderflower, for example.

This is a nice and easy cocktail to make. You don’t even have to stir the ingredients in a mixing glass, if you don’t want to: you can just pour them straight into a chilled glass.