Feeding Ghosts by Tess Hulls

This is a graphic memoir that is the author's family story. She is feeding their ghosts by pulling them into the light, which she does metaphorically with her words and graphically with the accompanying drawings. She is also feeding her own ghosts, having grown up in a home with generational trauma that she is seeking to disect and understand herself. The story covers three generations of women, starting with her grandmother, Sun Yi, who herself was once a bestselling author of a memoir. Sun Yi’s path wades through a treacherous Chinese history, from the brutal massacre of Chinese in Nanking by Japanese soldiers through her escape to Hong Kong in 1957 — just missing the Great Leap Forward and the mass starvation that came with it. Then, as Sun Yi withdraws into a spiral of hospitalizations and mental illness. the story picks up through Sun Yi’s daughter, Rose, who is unbearably aloof and seemingly cruel at times to the author herself, Rose’s daughter, as she pieces together their past to make better sense of the reverberating wounds that have threatened to drown each of them in matrilineal succession. The graphics are on the simple side— cartoons drawn with black strokes on white paper — but what it conveys is so much more intricate. Panels often bleed into one another, allowing for layered illustrations rich in metaphor. She visually represents trauma as ghosts in her bones, emanating from her, her mother and her grandmother, often intermingling like smoke; veins of their shared history branching out from their bodies as a physical representation of their emotional interconnectivity. It is a bit wordy as grphic novels go, but it conveys a time in hisotry through the eyes of one family's story.

Shore Temple, Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India

The area has astounding temples, this one being the least well preserved, but still quite spectacular--it pales in comparison to the others in the area, and while we saw it last, I recommend starting here. Along the shores of one of the largest bays in the world, the Bay of Bengal, stands a temple complex that draws inspiration from the sea and its naturally occurring rock formations. The majestic Shore Temple (known locally as Alaivay-k-kovil) sits beside the sea in the small town of Mamallapuram in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. This complex of three separate shrines was constructed under the patronage of the Pallava king Nrasimhavarman II Rajasimha, who ascended the throne in 700 C.E. and ruled for about twenty years. As an architectural form, the Shore Temple is of immense importance, situated on the culmination of two architectural phases of Pallava architecture: it demonstrates progression from rock cut structures to free standing structural temples, and displays all the elements of mature Dravidian architecture. It signifies religious harmony with sacred spaces dedicated to both Shiva and Vishnu, and was also an important symbol of Pallava political and economic strength. According to legend, sailors and merchants at sea could spot the shikharas of the temple from a distance and use those majestic towers to mark their arrival to the prosperous port city of Mahabalipuram. In this way, not only was the temple a home for the gods Shiva and Vishnu, but also a feature of the landscape, and an icon of the dominion of the great Pallava kings.

Challenger by Adam Higginbotham

I read a review of this book which described it as "exhaustively researched" which is my overwhelming reaction to this. It is the telling of a tragedy, one that was widely seen as it unfolded, and one that shaped public opinion of NASA going forward. It is in some ways a hard story to tell because we know the end before we start, so it might be tempting to weave the ending into the story of how it happened, but that is not how this author rolls. He somewhat grimly marches forward in a linear way through the story, getting better acquainted with the astronauts on that ill fated flight than we might have previously been, and even delving into some of the history of the addition of women and people of color to the astronaut program that might not have been known (I read The Six, so had in depth knowledge of that era, but it is an excellent push back on the "unqualified" moniker that is being asserted in the United States in 2025). I found myself dreading the inevitable conclusion, and read quickly to get to it rather than savoring the journey--which is true to form for me, and might not be the norm, but this was a bit of a hard read for me.

Trimurti Cave Temple, Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India

Like other monuments in Mahabalipuram, the Trimurti Cave Temple is a rock-cut structure, meaning it was created by carving directly into a large granite boulder. It showcases the artistic and architectural skills of the Pallava dynasty that ruled the region during the 7th to 9th centuries. The temple’s carvings are known for their intricate detail and the skillful rendering of various deities and mythological stories. Visitors can appreciate the artistry and craftsmanship that went into creating this rock-cut marvel.

The central shrine is devoted to Shiva, flanked by Brahma on the left and Vishnu on the right. Shiva Shrine: The central shrine, dedicated to Shiva, is the most prominent, reflecting his role as the destroyer and regenerator of the universe. The figure of Shiva is depicted in a majestic form, symbolizing his power and divinity. Brahma Shrine: The left shrine features Brahma, the creator, depicted with four faces symbolizing his all-seeing nature. The carvings around this shrine reflect the creative energy of the universe. Vishnu Shrine: On the right, Vishnu, the preserver, is depicted reclining on the serpent Ananta, symbolizing the preservation of the universe. The surrounding carvings depict scenes from Vishnu’s various incarnations. The cave temple’s interior is adorned with intricate carvings and pillars, showcasing the Pallava artisans’ mastery in rock-cut architecture. The sculptures are not just religious symbols but also works of art that have stood the test of time.

Passage To Power by Robert Caro

The author of this volume, the fourth in his opus on the life and times of Lyndon Johnson, is long winded. The book opens in the final years of the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration, with Johnson contemplating a presidential run. It chugs through the grand detour of John F. Kennedy's reign, with LBJ sulking on the sidelines. And it ends in the first weeks of Johnson's presidency, which has been thrust upon him by JFK's assassination. Although these are, for Johnson, years of relative inaction, Caro infuses his pages with suspense, pathos, bitter rivalry and historic import — with Robert F. Kennedy in particular emerging as a nearly co-equal, second lead in the psychodrama, always looming offstage and threatening frequently to steal the spotlight from his arch rival. LBJ comes across by turns as insecure, canny, bighearted, self-defeating, petty, brilliant, cruel and, as ever, domineering. In the opening pages, he longingly eyes the presidency but, psychologically paralyzed, can’t bring himself to declare his candidacy or enter even a few primaries. Instead, he rages at the upstart Kennedy, who shows unforeseen proficiency in the old game of locking down governors and state Democratic Party leaders for the convention and in the new game of winning over the masses via television. He is a sore loser, a slighted VP, and about at his wits end when one day in Dallas it all changes course. Rising to the immense challenges before him, he guides the country with a strong hand through the dark days of November using Kennedy’s martyrdom to realize his slain predecessor’s unfulfilled agenda, although not without exacerbating already-miserable relations with Robert Kennedy (who comes off badly here--like father like son unfortunately). I was not left wanting more--I picked this up because it was on the New York Times 100 Best Books of the Twenty First Century, and it was more than enough for me, but it was also well worth reading, especially in light of what is happening in 2025.

Arjuna's Penance, Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India

This magnificent relief, carved in the mid-seventh century, measures approximately 30m (100ft) long by 15m (45ft) high. Its huge size and scale is difficult to imagine just from photographs; a person standing on the ground in front of it could barely touch the elephants' feet. The subject is either Arjuna's Penance or the Descent of the Ganges, or possibly both. In additive cultures like India's, logical alternatives are often conceptualized as "both-and" rather than "either-or." Arjuna's Penance is a story from the Mahabharata of how Arjuna, one of the Pandava brothers, performed severe austerities in order to obtain Shiva's weapon. The idea, which pervades Hindu philosophy, is that one could obtain, by self-mortification, enough power even to overcome the gods. In order to protect themselves, the gods would grant the petition of any ascetic who threatened their supremacy in this way - a kind of spiritual blackmail, or "give to get." (This meaning of the word "penance," by the way, is specific to Hinduism. Unlike the Catholic rite of penance, it is performed to gain power, not to expiate sin.)

The Ganges story is of the same kind, in which the sage Bhagiratha performs austerities in order to bring the Ganges down to earth. Shiva had to consent to break her fall in his hair, because otherwise its force would be too great for the earth to contain. The symbolism of the relief supports both stories. Furthermore, both stories were interpreted in a manner flattering to the Pallavas; the heroic Arjuna as a symbol of the rulers, and the Ganges as a symbol of their purifying power.

Sandwich by Catherine Newman

This is a quiet, slightly hilarious book about what I used to think of as life as we know it, one where the predictable is that we have a constitution that our elected officials believe in and whether we agree with them politically or not, they are not petulant children who want to break things. In the before times, this book would be seen as chronicling the predictable lives of comfortably off white people in North America. Rocky is in her mid-50's and spending a vacation week with her children and her parents--they are literally in a town called Sandwich, but it is also the metaphor, where Rocky is in the middle, having an empty nest but looming responsibilities. A prominent theme is the passing of time: the loss of youth; the replacement of bodily desire, function and pleasure with the security and privilege, the joy and miracle, of long-term life and love. I really enjoyed this book--I found the author could make me laugh about things that are real and not altogether funny, but more in the vein of laugh so you don't cry.

The Five Rathas. Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, India

Mahabalipuram, 50km south of Chennai, was the major seaport of the ancient Pallava kingdom based at Kanchipuram. We spent a morning exploring the temples, caves and rock carvings around it. The area was an important port town during India’s early history and developed as a key center for artistic activity under the patronage of the Pallava rulers. Nrasimhavarman I, who took the epithet Mamalla (meaning “great warrior”), ruled for about 38 years beginning in 630 C.E. and sponsored a large number of rock-cut monuments at Mamallapuram, including cave shrines, monolithic temples, and large sculptures carved out of boulders. While the Pallava kings primarily worshipped the god Shiva, they also supported the creation of temples dedicated to other Hindu gods and goddesses and to other religious traditions such as . The Pallava rulers were particularly inspired by the growing personal devotional movement known as bhakti, in which worshippers approach the divine as a cherished child or loved one.

The Five Rathas are each carved from one stone. Each of these fine 7th-century temples was dedicated to a Hindu god and is now named after one or more of the Pandavas, the five hero-brothers of the epic Mahabharata, or their common wife, Draupadi. The rathas were hidden in the sand until excavated by the British 200 years ago. Ratha is Sanskrit for 'chariot', and may refer to the temples' form or to their function as vehicles for the gods. It's thought that they didn't originally serve as places of worship, but as architectural models.

The Nakano Thrift Shop by Hiromi Kawakami

Happy Earth Day! This is a quiet book that I liked but did not love. Part of that reaction is on my, though--I think I at the very least don't quite get it and at worst, it is a failure on my part to not be able to sit still long enough in the book to fully appreciate it. The story is is about relationships. The author, observing through her characters, how we are often more interested in other people’s relationships than our own, how unobservant we can be about the people who surround us, and how little we often truly know about other people. Hitomi works in a second hand store that is more of an upcycling depot than it is valuable antique mart. She often fails to see what is right under her nose, puzzling over the things her co-worker, Takeo, says to her. She observes her boss in detail but doesn’t understand him as a person either. To her, Mr Nakano is an enigma, appearing and disappearing throughout the day, reluctant to share personal information about his life--the reader quietly observes the goings on in the thrift shop and form our own opinions. It’s a very Japanese book, with strange formality in places that it isn’t really required mixed with incongruous moments of utter frankness. It’s also a book about introversion. For all introverts who find the presence of others a drain on their mental energy, this has something to day to us.

Mama Loves Quilts--Minimalism

I listened to a short lecture by Nicole Nesbitt on the Modern Quilt Guild webste and it was helpful to me in thinking more about how to approach a minimalist quilt. She offered these thoughts on "What is Minimalist?" * It is whole cloth like * Bold and Graphic * Lots of Negative Space * Solids Regin--it doesn't have to be all solid, but it often is * Quilting is Supreme--where there is little in terms of variety in design, there is room for a lot of creative design with the quilting She taught a class at QuiltCon this year and I hope that I get a chance to take one with her some time in the future--if not, she has a quilt design on the Modern Quilt Guild website that I might do a deep dive on.

Be Ready When The Luck Happens by Ina Garten

I didn't love Ina Garten when I started the book, and I didn't love her when I finished it--in between some things did change, however, and I would recommend this book to people who know of her career and are interested in either food or women as entrepreneurs. She was a pioneer, and she deserves credit for what she has accomplished. Thee first thing to remember is that she grew up at a time when it was very hard for a woman to create her own business. She wasn't alone but she was not in a crowded field either. I am a decade younger than she is and when someone at a faculty meeting I was attending said they could not tell a joke in mixed company, I offered to leave--I was the only one who was mixing the company. This is a memoir--it is not a How To Build A Successful Brand book. She describes an unhappy childhood but a happy marriage to a man who supported her as an equal in their life choices. She has shifted her focus from owning a store to writing cookbooks to a successful television show, all while keeping tabs on what she was enjoying and what she was not. She has built a large and loyal fan base, and it is well worth reading her story.

The Bay of Bengal

We had the pleasure of visiting several cities on the Bay of Bengal in Tamil Nadu. It is a relatively shallow body of water that forms the northeastern portion of the Indian Ocean. It is shared by the Southeast and South Asia countries and separated from the Burma Sea (Andaman Sea) to its east by the Nicobar Islands and the Andaman Islands. The bay’s southern limit is between Sangaman Kanda in Sri Lanka and Sumatra, Indonesia. The Bay of Bengal is bound by several Asian countries, including India to the northwest and west, Myanmar to the east, Bangladesh to the north, Sri Lanka to the southwest, and Indonesia to the southeast. India’s Nicobar and Andaman Islands also border the bay on the east. The bay hosts the world’s largest mangrove forest (Sundarbans) and longest beach (Cox’s Bazar).

The ignomious East India Company established the first Indian factory in 1611 at Masulipatnam on the Andhra Coast of the Bay of Bengal, and its second in 1615 at Surat. The high profits reported by the company after landing in India initially prompted James I to grant subsidiary licences to other trading companies in England. All views we had of the bay were quite peaceful--but we managed to miss a typhoon as well as monsoon season.

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

This is the second of two books that I read in a short period of time that fall into what I think is a very narrow genre--that is books that are written by authors who were married to authors about the profound grief they experienced with the sudden death of their spouse. The two books follow the same pattern--maybe this is how one does this genre--juxtaposing the event itself, in this case, Didion's husband dropped dead in front of her--and the aftermath. The book is a raw plunge into grief, confusion, and guilt. Much of it has the feel of talking to ones self about the experience and trying to make some kind of sense of it, and ultimately trying to move forward from it.. It intricately unravels the layers of grief. It reveals some truths that I have found in grief, which is that it isn’t static. It shifts daily. Some days, you lose yourself in memories. Other days, you try to fend off the sorrow. On others, the past, and the things left behind, pull you back into the stories attached to them. It is a new path, one that no one wants to be on, but one you cannot return from either.

Improvisation In Modern Quilts--Shashari Kiburi

There is a short video on this subject on the Modern Quilt Guild's website that is well worth watching. It is almost a tangent but the artist dyes some of her fabric, and just looking through her website and listening to the talk made me want to get back into dying a bit. This is both educational on the subject of improv quilting as well as a demonstration of her process, so if you are someone who learns by watching and doing rather than by reading, yet another reason to check this out. The characteristics that are important to her in her own work are: * Wonky * Bold Colors * Use of Negative Space * Change in Scale * Use What You Have And a corallary is to Do What You Know. She favors half square triangles and Drunkard's Path, which are two things that I favor as well. She lays things out, then decides to slash a block and insert something into it, which is both bold and less initimidating, because you start with something traditional and then you literally cut it up to make something else.

Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks

In the course of a week I read two memoirs by two celebrated authors about the experience they had with suddenly losing a beloved spouse. Geraldine Brooks suddenly lost her husband, fellow writer Tony Horwitz, when he collapsed on a Chevy Chase sidewalk and was then pronounced dead at a D.C. hospital Memorial Day weekend, 2019. He was 60 years old, and while he carried a myriad of risks and mitigating circumstances for heart disease, he died of something more rare, myocarditis. She lost him suddenly, she was not with him, and she struggled mightily in his absence for a myriad of reasons--many of which she shares in this slim volume. There is some sense of hope that sharing her pain might help others to avoid falling victim to what she went through. She wrote this 4 years on, still not moving forward, much less over it, and she closes with some things she wished she had done to prepare for losing her spouse. We will all be either the one left behind or the one who dies first, so in some ways it makes sense to heed the cautionary tales she tells, but what is most real about this is just how hard it is to lose someone that you still deeply love and are expected to carry on in their stead, be the parent your children need, to be the person you were going to be if they had gone on living, and just how frighteningly hard that is to accomplish.

Kapaleeshwarar Temple, Chennai, India

This was the firt of many temples we visited in Tamil Nadu, and the detail of the sculpture is spectacular--both breath taking and overwhelming--I spent hours looking at my photos in close up to appreciate what I could not see quite as well from the ground level. They are exquisitely detailed and life-like. Zoom in! The temple is of typical Dravidian architectural style, with the gopuram overpowering the street on which the temple sits. The original dates back to 700 but this location is believed to have been built in 1566 after Portuguese destruction of the original (the French and the Portuguese were in Chennai before the English took hold in the mid-18th century).

The temple's name is derived from the words kapala (head) and Ishvara, an epithet of Shiva. According to the Puranas, during the meeting of the deities Brahma and Shiva at top of Mount Kailash, Brahma failed to show the due respect to Shiva. Due to this, Shiva plucked off one of the five heads (kapala) of Brahma. In an act of penance, Brahma came down to the site of Mylapore and installed a lingam to please Shiva.

How To End A Love Story by Yulin Kuang

I would have pegged this as a YA Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, but instead it is a straight ahead adult pick. I stand by my assessment, and it does have characteristics I like about her picks in both categories. Helen Zhang was a nerd in high school, prone to keeping her head down and writing rather than athletics. Grant Shephard is the quarterback of the football team and prom king. Their lives collide when he is behind the wheel when Helen's suicidal sister steps in front of his car. They share this trauma but in Helen's family, Grant is the bad guy. Fast forward to the present when they are 30 somethings--Helen is the author of a successful YA series that is being made into a television series and Grant is a seasoned Hollywood script writer who is on the team bringing her books to life. They are both invested in the team not finding out what their real connection is, and they have the inevitable prickly first interactions that lead you know where. It is not just a romance novel but also about the ripple of trauma across ones life. A bit unrealistic, but also enjoyable.

Textile Environmental Impact

I listened to a very impactful talk by Patty Murphy on zero waste quilting, and how she started down the path of using every bit of fabric from a quilting project. Here are some sobering statistics. These are numbers from the EU, where they addressing human impact on the environment, but we can extrapolate to elsewhere. 1. It takes a lot of water to produce textile, plus land to grow cotton and other fibres. To make a single cotton t-shirt, 2,700 litres of fresh water are required according to estimates, enough to meet one person’s drinking needs for 2.5 years. There are green house gas emissions to factor in as well/ 2. The textile sector was the third largest source of water degradation and land use in 2020. In that year, it took on average nine cubic metres of water, 400 square metres of land and 391 kilogrammes (kg) of raw materials to provide clothes and shoes for each EU citizen. 3. Textile production is estimated to be responsible for about 20% of global clean water pollution from dyeing and finishing products. 4. A single laundry load of polyester clothes can discharge 700,000 microplastic fibres that can end up in the food chain. The majority of microplastics from textiles are released during the first few washes. So mindfulness about the environmental impact is key, upcycling is good as well, and making good use of your quilting fabric stash is an earth friendlier goal.

House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson

This is a 2023 pick by Reese Witherspoon, whose monthly book choices reflect books that are written by women about women, and this certainly fits that bill. It has been hailed as historical fiction, which is true, it is set in post WWII America and focuses on the experience of two black women, one poor, the other working class, and what it was like to be young, black, talented, but with limited resources in a time where there was not much in the way of reproductive options, nor was abortion legal. The problem with reading this in 2025 is that it feels very precarious for women right now, and that all the social dilemmas and prejudices are being invited back at the national level. This is not a disaster driven novel--unfortunate things happen, but the two women are both talented and driven to the point where the reader can see that they will prevail--but others are not so fortunate, and this is somehow a mix between historical fiction and a cautionary tale. I very much enjoyed it--and it is a Good Reads Challenge pick as well.

Chicken Biryani

Way back in December we spent 2 weeks in southern India, and managed to have biryani once--we did, however, visit a spice plantation in the mountains of Kerala and brought home some spices to make this. The recipe here is a good rendition, using chicken drumsticks, so it is an economical dish that serves a crowd if you double it up. It wasn't pomegranite season, so we skipped them and it was good without them. Next time I would add vegetables as well. For the Marinade ¾cup Greek yogurt 3large garlic cloves, grated (about 1 tablespoon) 1(1½-inch) piece ginger, peeled and grated (about 1 tablespoon) 3tablespoons lemon juice 2½teaspoons kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) 1tablespoon garam masala 1½teaspoons Kashmiri chile powder (see Tip) ½teaspoon ground turmeric 1green chile, such as Thai or serrano, slit in the middle (optional) 8chicken drumsticks (about 2¼ pounds), skin on or off For the Fried Onion 1large yellow onion ⅓cup grapeseed or vegetable oil ¼teaspoon ground turmeric For the Chicken 4green cardamom pods 5whole cloves 1dried bay leaf 1star anise 1(2-inch) cinnamon stick For the Rice 6green cardamom pods 5whole cloves 2dried bay leaves 1star anise 1(2 -inch) cinnamon stick 3tablespoons kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal), plus more as needed 2½cups basmati rice, rinsed until the water runs clear, and soaked in 2 cups water for 30 minutes For Assembly Large pinch of saffron threads 3tablespoons milk 1 to 2teaspoons rose water, to taste (optional) 4tablespoons ghee or butter ½cup fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped, plus more for serving ½cup cilantro leaves and tender stems, roughly chopped Pomegranate seeds, for serving (optional) Add ingredients to Grocery List Shop ingredients on Instacart Your first order gets $20 off and free delivery. Instacart terms apply. Ingredient Substitution Guide Preparation Step 1 Marinate the chicken: Place the yogurt, garlic, ginger, lemon juice, salt, garam masala, chile powder, turmeric and green chile (if using) in a large bowl. Stir to combine and taste, adjusting salt if necessary. The flavors should be bold and pleasantly spicy. Make a shallow slit in the thickest part of the drumsticks. Add the chicken to the marinade and mix until coated. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, or preferably overnight. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking. Step 2 Prepare the fried onion: Line a large plate with paper towels and set aside. Cut the onion in half, then lengthwise into ¼-inch-thick slices, discarding any smaller pieces that may burn. In a large (12-inch) deep skillet with a lid, heat the oil over medium-high, add the onion in an even layer (a little overlapping is fine) and cook without touching, until the onions around the sides of the pan start to color, about 4 minutes. Step 3 Scoot the onions on the sides of the pan to the center, reduce the heat to medium and continue frying, stirring frequently, until golden brown and some are crisp, about 6 minutes more. The onion will keep cooking and turn darker off the heat. Season with salt, add the turmeric and stir for 20 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the onion to the prepared plate with a slotted spoon. Do not discard the oil. Step 4 Cook the chicken: Place the pan with the oil over medium and add the cardamom, cloves, bay leaf, star anise and cinnamon stick. Stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the drumsticks (save the marinade) and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook, turning once, until the chicken takes on a little color, 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in the marinade and 2 tablespoons of water. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is just cooked through and the gravy is thick, 20 to 25 minutes. If the chicken is cooked but the gravy hasn’t thickened, remove the drumsticks and increase the heat to medium-high; cook until thickened. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed, then return drumsticks to the skillet. Remove the pan from the heat. Step 5 Prepare the rice: In a large (5-quart) pot or Dutch oven that you plan on using for the biryani, add 10 cups of water, the cardamom, cloves, bay leaves, star anise and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil over high. Add salt and stir to dissolve; carefully taste and add more if needed (it should be pleasantly salty). Drain the soaked rice and add it to the boiling water, giving it a quick stir; par-cook the rice until it’s tender on the outside but has a bite, 5 to 8 minutes. Drain and sprinkle it with a little cold water to stop the cooking, then set aside to drain completely. (The rice should not sit in a pool of water as it drains.) Give the rice pot a quick rinse and dry it. Step 6 Assemble the biryani: In a small bowl, heat the milk in the microwave until warm, about 20 seconds. Crumble the saffron threads between your fingers as you add them to the warm milk. Stir in the rose water, if using. In the rice pot, melt the ghee over medium heat, then transfer half to a small bowl. Transfer ⅓ of the rice and the whole spices to the biryani pot and gently pat it down. Transfer the drumsticks to the pot, then add the gravy and whole spices. Scatter ⅓ of the onion and ⅓ of the herbs over the chicken. Add another ⅓ of rice, top with another ⅓ of the onion, ⅓ of the herb mixture and drizzle with half of the saffron milk. Layer with the remaining rice, fried onion and herbs, and drizzle with the remaining saffron milk and ghee. Step 7 Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the lid and wrap it with a clean, thin dish towel or a couple of paper towels, making sure the ends are tied at the top, in order to get a good seal and catch extra condensation. Return the lid and reduce heat to low; cook for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and rest for 10 minutes with the lid on the pot. Serve with mint leaves and pomegranate seeds, if using. Tip

The Most Fun We Ever Had by Clair Lombardo

A reviewer called this the love child of Jonathan Franzen and Anne Tyler and if you are a fan of those two and were to read this as well, I think you would agree that that is a great summation of the vibe here. It is the author's first novel, and you can tell she graduated from the Iowa Writers Workshop because the family in this story spend time in Iowa City, a place that most people do not have even a glancing knowledge of. This is an intricate multigenerational saga that covers a 40-year span for one family. It is about marriage, sibling rivalry, how the growing up experience shapes us, including our birth order and the stability of the ground we stand on — there are four sisters who are close, constantly sparring, and trying to figure out their place in the world as they measure themselves against their parents and each other. The book swings back and forth over the entire span of the couple's marriage, and there are plenty of secrets that seep out at various times, and the trick to tie them all together at the end, so that all the reader's questions are answered. I would say that this was mostly accomplished, and I would definitely recommend this to anyone who routinely puts down a 700+ page books and sighs with disappointment that there is not more of this story to read.

Chennai, India--The Home of Madras Fabric

Chennai is the capital of Tamil Nadu state, located on the Coromandel Coast of the beautiful Bay of Bengal, is known as the “Gateway to South India.” Yes, India is a country where vibrant colors abound, but Chennai, formerly known as Madras, is the origin of Madras fabric. The quilter in me needs to point this out. In the 17th century, British traders of the East India Company established a presence in Madras, where they encountered the local handwoven cotton textiles. Enthralled by the fabric's lightweight and breathable qualities, they began exporting it to Europe. Traditionally, Madras fabric was meticulously handwoven by skilled artisans in India. The cotton yarns were dyed using natural vegetable dyes, resulting in a vibrant range of colours. Weavers employed intricate techniques to create the distinctive plaid patterns, characterised by their irregular and lively designs.

During the 19th century, the popularity of Madras fabric soared, primarily due to its association with the Scottish influence on Indian textile production. Scottish soldiers stationed in India, particularly in the Madras region, developed an affinity for the lightweight fabric, which suited the tropical climate. The demand for Madras fabric skyrocketed, leading to the creation of plaid patterns specifically tailored to the Scottish market. As the British Empire expanded, Madras fabric made its way into international markets, gaining increasing recognition in Europe and the Americas. It was embraced as a vibrant and distinctive textile, capturing the fascination with Indian craftsmanship and cultural influences of the era.

A Walk In The Park by Kevin Fedarko

This is the tale of the author's self described obsessive attempts (and failures) to hike on foot in the Grand Canyon. He is seeking more than just adventure in this goal--he is seeking all sorts of things within himself when he embarks on this quest, and his chosen companion, photographer and long time friend Peter McBride, is not a good counter balance for him either. There are a lot of interesting tidbits of information to be gained while reading this altogether painful account of hiking the canyon--warning, do not read this if you are hoping for inspiration for your own hiking trip, you are unlikely to be tempted when all is said and done. There is a litany of information about the geology and stratigraphy of the Grand Canyon, From the billon year gap in the Great Unconformity layer, to the oldest exposed rocks in the world, his unrivaled explanation of their stargazing of the Celestial Vault, solidifying their three-dimensional insignificance, is a powerful portion of the narrative. So is the apparent movement of the stylized human figures painted on the rocks nearly 4000 years ago, where the canyon is alive and speaking to them. In between is the sad story of the local Havasupai tribe’s struggle for a voice in the fate of the canyon and the rampant Eco-tourism depicted by air traffic in Helicopter Alley. All told, this is well worth reading and thinking about, but for me it is also quite flawed in concept and execution in the trip itself.

Nancy Silverton's Best Peanut Butter Cookies

For the Toasted Peanuts 375 grams (3 cups) skin-on Spanish peanuts 3 tablespoons grapeseed oil (or other neutral-flavored oil, such as safflower) 1½ tablespoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt For the Dough 2 extra-large eggs 2 tablespoons pure vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract 140 grams (1 cup) unbleached all-purpose flour 130 grams (1 cup) sorghum flour 170 grams (1½ sticks) cold unsalted butter, cubed 270 grams (1 cup) creamy peanut butter 180 grams (about ¾ cup plus 2½ tablespoons) granulated sugar 110 grams (½ cup plus 2 teaspoons packed) dark brown sugar 1½ teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt ½ teaspoon baking powder For Finishing 100 grams (½ cup) granulated sugar 270 grams (1 cup) peanut butter (preferably creamy) 2 tablespoons flaky sea salt method To toast the peanuts, adjust an oven rack to the center position and preheat the oven to 350°F. Put the peanuts on a large baking sheet, drizzle them with the oil, sprinkle with the salt, and toss to coat them. Spread the peanuts out in an even layer and toast them on the center rack of the oven until they are dark mahogany in color, 18 to 20 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally and rotating the pan front to back halfway through the toasting time so the peanuts brown evenly. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and set aside to cool the nuts to room temperature. (If you think they are on the verge of being overtoasted, transfer them to a plate so they don’t continue to cook from the residual heat of the pan.) Turn off the oven. To make the dough, whisk the eggs and vanilla together in a small bowl. Combine the all-purpose and sorghum flours in a medium bowl and stir with a whisk to combine. Put the butter in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle and beat at medium speed until the butter is softened but still cold, 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and paddle with a rubber spatula whenever butter is accumulating. Add the peanut butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar and beat on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the baking soda, salt, and baking powder and beat on medium speed for about 15 seconds to incorporate the additions. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl and paddle. With the mixer on medium speed, gradually add the egg/vanilla mixture, mixing until the egg is completely incorporated. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl. Add the combined flours and mix on low speed for about 30 seconds until no flour is visible. Stop the mixer, remove the paddle and bowl, and clean them with the spatula, scraping from the bottom up to release any ingredients from the bottom of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the dough is chilled and firm, at least 30 minutes. Adjust the oven racks so one is in the top third and the other is in the bottom third of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. To finish the cookies, pour the granulated sugar into a small bowl. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Remove the plastic wrap and reserve it. Scoop the dough into 21-gram (1½-tablespoon) portions and roll each portion into a ball. Roll the balls in the sugar to coat them and place 12 cookies on each of the prepared baking sheets, leaving at least 1½ inches between them. (Re-cover the remaining dough and return it to the refrigerator.) Press your thumb in the center of each ball of dough and turn your thumb to expand the divot slightly and make it round. Spoon 1 teaspoon of peanut butter into each divot and sprinkle a generous pinch of flaky sea salt on top. Place one baking sheet on each oven rack and bake the cookies for 4 minutes. Remove the baking sheets from the oven and pile a mound of peanuts (about 20) in the center of each cookie. Return the baking sheets to the oven, switching racks and rotating the sheets front to back, and bake the cookies until they are golden brown, have puffed up, and are just beginning to collapse, 4 to 5 minutes. (You want the cookies to be slightly underdone, so they will feel soft to the touch. They will firm up when they cool.) Remove the cookies from the oven. If any of the cookies have become misshapen during baking, gently cup your hands around the edges to reshape them. If the cookies spread so much that there are gaps between the peanuts, add a few of the remaining peanuts to each cookie so you have a pretty, abundant nut cluster on each cookie. Allow the cookies to cool completely before removing them from the baking sheet. Bake the remaining cookies in the same way.

Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

I very much enjoyed this book, which is not overly long and not overly complicated, yet is able to deliver on some well loved themes for me. The four sisters Blue grow up in a tiny New York City apartment--the six of them sharing two bedrooms. So there is all the potential sibling rivalry at hand but it is subverted by an alcoholic abusive father and a mother who protects him over her children. So they are prone to wanting and needing to escape and they are more bonded to each other than might have otherwise happened. The story revolves around the accidental overdose death of the third sister from fentanyl and the grief that engulfs them in the aftermath. There is addiction in all sorts of manifestations, there is difficultly with intimacy, and there is generational grief, which is kind of a trifecta for a mental health professional, with general appeal for all.

Bianca Springer--Thanks I Made Them!

I skipped lectures at QuiltCon for a number of reasons—I wanted time with the quilts in the exhibit was the main one—between classes and the exhibit, I have no additional time. Then the auditorium set up is not my favorite for lectures—too big, too distracting and not enough bang for my buck. Finally, the on site experience is a sensory overload, whereas at home I can watch in an ideal environment. The only downside is that there is a limited time within which to watch the lectures, and this one was the last one I had a chance to watch. Bianca has a passion for garment making that is impressive. She is an inveterate upcycler who haunts thrift shops for vintage patterns as well as fabric, quilt tops, and quilts. She talked a bit about how she approaches making a quilt made by someone else into a garment. She tries to honor the spirit of the design the maker had in mind—which she is amazing at—and then points out that if she is buying it, no one who knew the maker is making space in their life for that quilt, so she is giving it a new life it wouldn’t otherwise have. She went on to walk the viewer through how to pick a pattern, how to make the garment, and the various ways you could make and embellish pieced clothing. It was very inspiring and I would seek out a talk by her in the future.

Tenth of December by George Saunders

This was on the New York Times list of 100 Best Books of the Twenty-First Century (so far, 25 years in), and there are two other of his books, one that I petered out on reading years ago and will get back to and one other. This is a collection of short stories, which are not my favorite, but I will say these are well written and enjoyable just not my particular cup of tea. The 10 stories in Tenth of December (the name of the last story and not anything else to do with these) are all about people. No matter the setting – a futuristic prison lab, a middle-class home where human lawn ornaments are a great status symbol –the stories are consistently about humanity and the meaning we find in small moments, in objects or gestures. He paints painful portraits of domesticity, of families, of death. The can be described as sadly happy, each story full of little truths that make us both amused and very uneasy. The author has a keen eye for detail and a way of portraying human foibles in hte kindest of lights.

Roasted Pork with Peach Sauce

This is a hands off meal, but requires long cooking--we were going our for the afternoon and popped it in hte oven before we left and it ws ready when we got home--we used some peaches we froze last summer for the sauce which worked beautifully. 6 to 8 pound bone-in pork butt 1/3 cup kosher salt 1/3 cup light brown sugar 1 teaspoon ground black pepper Peach Sauce: 10-oz frozen peaches (or use 2 fresh peaches) 2 cups dry white wine 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon rice vinegar 2 sprigs thyme 1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard The night before your meal, use a sharp knife to cut slits into the fat cap; 1″ apart forming a cross-hatch pattern, but take care not to cut into the meat. Combine 1/3-cup kosher salt and 1/3-cup brown sugar in small bowl, then rub over the entire roast (including the slits). Wrap roast tightly using two layers of plastic wrap, place of a rimmed baking sheet, and refrigerate until ready to cook the roast (but no more than 24 hours). The next day, unwrap and brush off any excess salt mixture using paper towels. Season roast with 1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. Spray your V-rack coated with non-stick cooking spray. Add 1 quart of water to your roasting pan. Place the roast on V-rack with the fat cap facing up and set aside while the oven pre-heats. Set an oven rack to the lowest position and pre-heat your oven to 325-degrees. Bake for 5 to 6 hours, depending on the size of the roast. Basting every two hours, adding more water after each basting to prevent the fond from burning. But don’t add so much water as to dilute the liquid. The roast will be finished when an instant-read thermometer inserted near the bone (but not touching) reaches 190-degrees. Place the roast on a carving board and loosely tented with aluminum foil for one hour. While the meat rests make the sauce. Pour the jus from roasting pan into a fat separator. After allowing the fat to separate for 5 minutes, pour 1/4-cup into a small saucepan. You can discard the remaining jus. Cut the peaches into 1″ chunks. Add your peach chunks, 2-cups white wine, 1/2-cup sugar, 1/4-cup rice vinegar, and 2 sprigs of thyme to the small saucepan with the 1/4-cup jus. Bring sauce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the sauce has reduce to 2 cups remove from heat. Find and discard the thyme sprigs, then add the final tablespoon of rice vinegar and tablespoon of whole-grain mustard. Mix together and cover to keep warm. Cut around the bone (shaped like an up-side-down “T”) with a paring knife, then use a clean kitchen towel to pull it from the roast. Slice the roast using a serrated knife, and serve, passing the peach sauce separately.

The Anthropologists by Ayşegül Sava

This is a quiet novel. It is a meditation on modern life and modern love, with some juxtaposition between the older generation and the younger one, between those who immigrate and those who stay put, and finally between those on the brink of living fully adult lives, and those who are on the brink of it, maybe for some time to come. Asya and Manu have been living together in a foreign, unnamed city in a foreign, unnamed country for several years. Estrangement – from the city, from society, from the self – lies at the center of this story. Asya and Manu are not like their parents, who live in faraway countries and send dispatches, good and bad. They have a small social circle, but more often than not, it’s just Asya, Manu and their close friend Ravi who spend the days of their lives together – drinking, talking, dreaming, and revealing themselves in these still moments that they spend together.

Rachel Clark's Quilt Coats

I am taking a class with this artist in June and I wanted to watch her QuiltCon lecture to get a sense of both her work and what I am in for when I spend two days with her. She brought over twenty coats that were modeled by four different volunteers, and it was feast for the eyes. She grew up with garment makers in her family, but Rachel’s life as a quilter didn’t fully blossom until she got married to her husband, Gary, and moved from New Orleans, Louisiana to Watsonville, California in the early 1970s. After this long-distance move, she found herself without community for the first time.

Clark discovered that even though she wasn’t very good at approaching people and striking up conversations, she was very good at designing clothing that could serve as an excellent conversation piece. People will approach you to talk about what you wear—she did say in her talk that you should not wear it if you need to run through an airport—people who want to ask you about your jacket will just slow you down and you could miss your plane. Clark loved both dressmaking and quilting, and didn't feel the need to choose between the two. She explored the possibility of combining them to make unique clothes with quilting techniques. People were interested in her clothes, and in turn, interested in her. She used clothing to “invite people in.” Well, I share some of these traits with her—not the creative one or the garment maker one—the shy with people I don’t know one—and I hope this pieced garment phase I am about to enter will be a good one for me.