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World Book Night 2012

A few months ago, I told you all that I had been tapped to be a Book Giver for the first U.S. celebration of World Book Night.  I picked Bel Canto as my book to give away and started to get excited.  I love Bel Canto, I love books in general, and I love sharing my love of reading with anyone who will listen.

World Book Night came around on April 23rd and my situation was less than ideal.  I was leaving that morning for a business trip, so my choices were: lug the box o’ books on the plane and give them away when I reached my destination, or go to the airport early and give them away before clearing security.  I chose option 2, because I didn’t want to check a bag, tote a heavy box with me halfway across the country and cut into time I really needed to work once I reached my destination.  I was bummed that I couldn’t give my books away at the metro stop near my office as I had originally intended, but I figured I’d get rid of them quickly.  After all, everyone needs reading material for the plane, right?

Man, was I in for a surprise.  Actually, make that several surprises.

Surprise #1 – It took me 45 minutes to give away 20 books.  Granted, my location wasn’t ideal.  I chose to stand in the Metro stop that lets off into the airport – I was pretty sure it would be okay to stand in the airport itself, but I wasn’t 100% positive that I didn’t need a permit of some kind.  Rather than potentially getting myself into a sticky situation with the airports authority, I decided to stay where I was certain I had every right to be – in the Metro.  And yeah, it wasn’t the busiest Metro stop by far.  But I really expected that I’d get rid of those books early.  Nope… I started checking my clock and trying to figure out where in my stuffed luggage I could stash the extra books if I needed to call it off and head for my plane.

Surprise #2 – Hardly ANYONE took books.  One person declined because they already had a copy of Bel Canto, and that I get.  As a matter of fact, I have a copy of Bel Canto myself, so I may not have taken the book either.  (Or actually, to be honest, I probably would, and then given it away.  I can rattle off five family members who would love the book.)  But plenty of people brushed me off, mumbling “No, thanks” or just shaking their heads as they hurried away from me.  The most insulting?  That’d be the people who said “I would, but I don’t have room in my luggage,” while toting a less-than-half-full bag.  C’mon people.  I might be weird enough to stand in a Metro station trying to convince strangers to take free books from me, but I’m neither blind nor stupid.

Surprise #3 – I was NOT prepared for the unwelcome reception I got.  Oh, there were a few friendly people.  Some people were genuinely excited to get a free book.  Some appeared bemused at an eccentric with a suitcase shouting things like “Happy World Book Night!  I’m celebrating by giving away FREE copies of Bel Canto!  F-R-E-EEEEEEEE!”  A few tried to skate by me and appear as though they hadn’t seen/heard me (a strategy I’ll admit I’ve employed when confronted with someone taking a survey or collecting for a political candidate on the DC streets… but then, no one’s ever tried to give me a book).  But a sizable chunk of the people I encountered looked at me with expressions of complete disgust, as if I was something smelly they’d scraped off their shoe.  I would never have expected glares – unfriendly, bordering on hostile – for the simple act of trying to give people a free book.  I mean… WOW.  Really, people?  I’m trying to give you something free.  No strings attached.  Just a wonderful book that you can HAVE for NOTHING.  I mean, sheesh.

Despite the less-than-friendly response I got from a lot of people… would I sign up for World Book Night again?  Yep, absolutely.

If anything, those people convinced me how important it is to spread the love of reading far and wide.  During the book-giving ordeal, I emailed hubby that I would never have thought it would be this hard to GIVE SOMEONE A FREE BOOK.  Why weren’t more people excited?  Why weren’t they taking my books?  I mean, don’t people WANT to read a great book?

People who love books need to spread the word.  Books can’t die.  They can’t.  We need to spread the word to people who’d rather zone out in front of a screen… or who think they don’t have time to read.  We need to be book evangelists.  Tell people that books will enrich their lives in indescribable ways.  They’ll open up entire new worlds.  There’s nothing like the feeling of falling deep into a well-spun story and just losing yourself.  I want everyone to know that joy.  World Book Night is a good start, and I do try to spread the word via my blog (but I do realize that the people who find their way here tend to be readers already).  But I want to figure out other ways to get the word out there.  Because if I learned anything from my #WBNAmerica experience, it’s that the word isn’t really out yet.

I’ll conclude on a hopeful note.  I really believe that someone who would never have picked up a book like Bel Canto might have decided to read it because of me.  And I hope that Bel Canto leads them to pick up another book by Ann Patchett.  (Like Run, which I also loved.)  And then maybe explore some other authors.  And… maybe, just maybe… become “a reader.”  And I was the catalyst.  I have no way of knowing if that will ever happen, because I can’t follow these books.  But I gave 20 of them away, and I hope that at least one had that effect.

Did you participate in World Book Night?  What did you learn from the experience?

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Library Mishap Update: Week 2

Yep.  Still reading.

Tuesday (4/24): Started 11/22/63, by Stephen King, and was instantly captivated.  Blazed through the first 75 pages before starting work for the day, then 32 before bed, for a total of 107 pages.  (I don’t have much time in the evenings this week, as I’m on a business trip to a very big, extremely cool city with a great group of people, and the time I’m not spending with them, I’m trying to be on the phone with hubby.  But this book is irresistable so far.)  Totals thus far: 773 pages read; 1,154 to go.

Wednesday (4/25): Have been completely sucked into 11/22/63.  Between before work and bedtime reading, I dominated 191 extremely exciting pages.  I’m basically at the midway point of this insane attempt to read 1,927 pages in three weeks.  964 pages down; 963 to go.

Thursday (4/26): Headed home from my business trip and was really looking forward to the 1.5 hour flight for some good uninterrupted reading time.  Unfortunately, I woke up with a headache that got progressively worse over the course of the day, so I ended up sleeping on the plane and only read 41 pages today.  Still totally absorbed in 11/22/63.  I don’t know if I’d enjoy any other Stephen King, but I’m loving this one.  1,005 pages down; 922 to go.

Friday (4/27): Still working my way through 11/22/63 – 91 pages read today.  Not bad considering I met hubby for lunch and, as a result, didn’t read during that time.  A quiet evening at home contributed to the page total.  1,096 pages read; 831 left.

Saturday (4/28): I hardly ever have a day when I can say this, but I didn’t do any reading.  Spent the morning wandering around the farmers’ market and the downtown area, then having lunch with hubby.  And I whiled away the afternoon catching up on life with my high school BFF (we’re both so busy that we don’t have time to talk as much as we’d each like to, but when we do finally connect over the phone it’s as if the conversation never stopped, and we can go on for hours) and shopping for some new work clothes, which were sorely needed.  So I’m still at my numbers from yesterday: 1,096 pages down; 831 to go.

Sunday (4/29): Well, I definitely made up for not cracking the spine of 11/22/63 yesterday.  In fact, I finished that mama.  Between working in the yard with hubby, some household chores I’d assigned myself, and a trip to the library to return a bunch of books (The House at Tyneford was due back, and now Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, Village School, Below Stairs and, yes, 11/22/63 are off to their next temporary homes as well), I managed to plow through the 419 pages I had left in the tome.  And while I don’t know that I’m going to be reading any other Stephen King novels (from what I hear, 11/22/63 was a departure from his usual fare), I loved it.  1,515 pages read; my math says 412 left.  (I got screwed up somewhere, because the final book on the agenda is The Marriage Plot, which – I just looked – only has 406 pages, so I must have shortchanged my page total in one of the earlier books.  Ah, well, details.  I never claimed to be a mathematician.  We’ll stick with my numbers though, because it’s easier that way.  And I’ll read the dedication pages or something.)

Monday (4/30): I was pretty wiped out after my epic day o’ reading yesterday, so while I started The Marriage Plot I only got 7 pages in.  So far it seems good, but it’s a little too soon to tell for sure.  Totals after this week:  1,522 pages read; 405 to g0.

Whew!  I can’t believe I finished off 11/22/63.  That was a chunkster if I’ve ever seen one.  With just one book left and seven days to finish it, things are looking pretty good for this challenge.  (Watch: now I’ve said that, I’ll totally jinx myself.)

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Reading Round-Up: April, 2012

Reading is my oldest and favorite hobby.  I literally can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love to curl up with a good book.  Here are my reads for April, 2012…

The Winter Palace, by Eva Stachniak – I enjoyed this tale of two strong women in Imperial Russia – one being Varvara Nikolaevna, a “Ward of the Court” and palace spy, and the other being the young woman to whom Varvara ties her fortunes, a young German princess named Sophie.  Sophie comes to court to marry the future Tsar, but finds intrigues and enemies abound there.  With Varvara by her side, though, Sophie has one true ally to help her on the way to becoming Catherine the Great.  The Winter Palace wasn’t a perfect read, but it was enjoyable and fun.

Austenland, by Shannon Hale – This was a cute, fluffy read about a woman who lets her fantasies for Mr. Darcy get in the way of her real-life relationships.  When Jane’s rich great-aunt dies and leaves her a three week vacation to an exclusive resort where wealthy women dress up as Regency ladies and pay to be romanced by actors playing gentlemen (and servants), Jane considers it the perfect opportunity to get some immersion therapy and then leave her fantasy behind once and for all.  But she starts to have trouble distinguishing between fantasy and reality and as she flirts with guys at the resort, she wonders if any of these flirtations might actually be real.  I liked this book – it was silly, but fun.  One thing annoyed me – the rich great-aunt’s name kept changing (from Carolyn to Caroline and back again).  It was a proofreading error that really bugged the heck out of me.  Otherwise, I liked the book and it was a fast read.

Messenger of Truth, by Jacqueline Winspear (Maisie Dobbs #4) – I continue to be completely enamored of Maisie and her friends.  This wasn’t my favorite Maisie mystery, but it was a great read nonetheless.  In Messenger of Truth, Maisie and Billy undertake an investigation into the death of an avant-garde artist.  The police say it was an accident, but the victim’s sister – and Maisie – aren’t so sure.  As with all Maisie books so far, the answers lie in the wounds that are still festering from the Great War.  The worldwide Depression is underway, though, which introduces a new plot wrinkle as Maisie sorts out her own feelings about working for, and being one of, the “haves” while still relating more to the “have-nots” of the world.

Death Comes to Pemberley, by P.D. James – Meh.  I thought this was going to be really good.  A murder mystery set at Pemberley, starring Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth and all of their friends?  How can you go wrong?  But it was only okay.  I felt that the characters I loved so much in Pride and Prejudice were missing from this book… especially when Elizabeth reflects that she wouldn’t have married Darcy without money.  The true Elizabeth married for love and got money as a fun bonus – that’s the Austen way.  This Elizabeth was not the same Elizabeth that I rooted for in Austen’s masterpiece.  That sort of ruined the experience of Death Comes to Pemberley for me – which was a shame, because it could have been quite the fun romp.

The House at Tyneford, by Natasha Solomons – I had very high hopes for this book, and they weren’t disappointed.  The House at Tyneford is the story of a young Jewish woman who flees Austria during the years before World War II, heading for the safety of England on a “domestic service visa” in which she will take up a position as housemaid in one of England’s great houses.  Elise isn’t an ordinary housemaid – the daughter of an opera singer and a famous novelist, she’s used to parties and champagne and silk dresses and being waited on by her own maid, not to hard work and sacrifice and disrespect.  But as Elise grows into her own in England, she befriends the son of the master of the house in which she works, and their friendship will blossom into a romance that will have profound effects on everyone who lives at Tyneford.  This was a lovely story – well-written, heart-wrenching and uplifting all at once.  I was really afraid it would stink, because it’s exactly the type of book I build up in my head until there’s no way it can meet my expectations.  Happily, this one did.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, by Mindy Kaling – So.  Much.  Fun.  After Tyneford I needed some laughs so I turned to someone that I think is absolutely hysterical – Mindy Kaling, better known as the shallow, dippy customer service representative Kelly Kapoor in the American version of The Office.  You wouldn’t know it to watch her none-too-bright character, but Mindy is actually brilliant (Dartmouth grad – almost as good as Cornell!) and has been a writer/producer on the show since the first season.  Mindy’s book is part memoir, part stream-of-consciousness-random-goofiness and I laughed until I cried.  I knew that Mindy was smarter than Kelly, but after reading about her journey from a childhood as a “timid chubster afraid of her own bike” all the way to the glittering lights of Hollywood, I had a whole new respect for her and enjoyed Kelly that much more the next time I tuned into The Office.  (Also, Ryan – LEAVE KELLY ALONE.  She deserves better than you!  So says Pam, and so say I.)

Village School, by Miss Read (Fairacre #1) – I’ve been meaning to dive into the Fairacre books for years and finally made the time.  If the first book is any indication, these stories about life in a tiny English village during the 1950s, as narrated by the village schoolmistress, are sweet and witty.  I loved my first visit to Fairacre and will be going back at the earliest opportunity.

Below Stairs, by Margaret Powell – This memoir of a kitchen maid serving in England’s great houses during the early 20th century was fascinating.  It ranged from funny to tragic, and there was always an undercurrent of mild bitterness at the fact that some people are born into lives of ease and leisure, while others – perhaps more deserving – have to work hard from cradle to grave.  Margaret Powell started her life “in service” at age 13 and continued to read and seek knowledge until she finally married out of the “downstairs” life and into a home of her own.  It was an absolutely intriguing look at a world that is long gone now, that seems romantic but that had a propensity to trample on the very people who made everything possible.

11/22/63, by Stephen King – My first, and probably only Stephen King, but I loved it.  Loved.  Time travel novels are kind of my kryptonite and this one was ah-mazing.  Jake Epping is a high school teacher in present-day Maine, divorced from a manipulative alcoholic, when he reads an essay by one of his night GED students about the night the student’s father committed a brutal multiple murder.  That shocking tale is still reverberating in Jake’s head when his sort-of friend Al Templeton drops a major bombshell: the storeroom in Al’s diner is a portal to 1958.  A time-traveler who’s willing to risk… well… everything could pop through, take up residence in the past, and prevent Lee Harvey Oswald from shooting JFK in 1963.  Al can’t carry the mission through himself – he’s returned from an attempt just to die of lung cancer.  Jake is intrigued, and he thinks he might be able to stop his student’s father from committing his horrific crime if he travels back, so he goes.  What Jake doesn’t bargain for is falling in love – which he does, with a lovely (albeit klutzy) librarian named Sadie Dunhill.  Will Jake be able to carry out his “business” in the past and save JFK, or will his love for Sadie distract him from the dangerous work he has to do?  And if he succeeds, what consequences might flow from his act?  11/22/63 is a tome that kept me feverishly turning pages, including over 400 in one day – it’s just that exciting.  (It’s also violent and contains some pretty offensive language, so potential readers beware.)  This wasn’t Stephen King’s usual fare, which might be why I loved it so much – because horror doesn’t hold much appeal for me, although time travel / suspense / love stories do.  (I loved Jack Finney’s Time and Again, and King thanks Finney in his acknowledgements – makes sense.)  After reading this heart-wrenching page-turner, there’s nothing for me to do but add my voice to the chorus saying… All hail the King.

Well, I felt as though I started April off slow, but picked up steam once I realized that I had to read 1,927 pages by May 7th.  I made good progress on that goal and read steadily throughout the second half of the month, averaging out to about two books a week.  On the other side, I can now say that April was a particularly good reading month for me.  Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? was hysterical and Village School was a dream.  But 11/22/63 was a book that cast a spell over me, keeping me turning pages at a speed and intensity I haven’t had since The Hunger Games.  And now, time to look forward.  I have some fun books on the agenda for May and I can’t wait to dig into them!

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London, Part II: These Are A Few of My Favorite Places

Our second day in London was devoted to hitting some favorite sights from our last trip.  We started with a morning stroll by Buckingham Palace, which was a mere 15 minute walk from our hotel.

We saw a guard in a Sentry-Box.
“One of the sergeants looks after their socks,” says Alice.

(We didn’t actually see the Changing of the Guard this time.  We’d seen it in 2008, and once was enough.  I’m 4’11” – the perfect height to get smacked in the mouth by elbows and cameras.  Crowds don’t really agree with me.  I’m sure hubby and I will go to the Changing of the Guard again some years from now, perhaps when we’re (hopefully) toting a little traveler with us.  But for this trip, we both agreed that we were cool with skipping the spectacle, and we just stopped by to tip our imaginary hats to the Queen, and then went on our way.)

Onward to King’s Cross to catch the Hogwarts Express!  The station was under construction and there were signs everywhere directing Hogwarts students to the new location of Platform 9 3/4.  Hubby and I had a giggle – wouldn’t it have been easier for Harry to find the platform with helpful posters to guide him?  Instead of having to ask directions from a disgruntled station employee?

I struck a pose with my brother’s newspaper.  And then forgot to send it to him, so it never ended up getting published.  Ah, well.

Then it was on to one of my favorite places in London – the British Library!  Oh, how I love this place.  Let me count the ways: (1) the King’s Library; (2) Jane Austen’s writing desk, with her GLASSES!; (3) the last chapter of Jane Eyre in Charlotte Bronte’s own hand; (4) Beatles lyrics written on the back of an envelope; (5) the Magna Carta; (6) Shakespeare’s First Folio (yes, another one)…  It’s a magical place.  I could have stayed all day, but I courteously restricted my library lovefest to two hours – for hubby.  (He was fine, actually.  He loves the rare science and nature texts on display there, so we tend to split up as soon as we get inside.  He knows he can find me by the literature section and I know I can find him in the science corner if we need to reunite.)  The British Library never disappoints.  Gosh, I adore it.

All that walking and bookish excitement got us hungry, so we headed off for a special lunch at Wild Honey.  The food was phenomenal – we each had the prix fixe lunch, starting with a velvety squash soup garnished with pepitas, followed by a fish fillet and couscous salad, and then dessert, which I actually forgot what it was; the soup was the highlight.  But really, what makes Wild Honey special is that it’s the site of a former gentlemen’s club that was said to be the model for P.G. Wodehouse’s Drones Club – the raucous house of iniquity where Bertie Wooster and his pals smuggled stolen taxidermy, played made-up (and nonsensical) bar games, and escaped the law by fleeing into the dining room, where the hapless policeman would be immediately assaulted by hundreds of flying dinner rolls hurled in his direction.  I’ve been a fan of the Jeeves books for years and hubby loves watching Jeeves and Wooster with me – one of my favorite British television shows, starring the incomparable duo of Hugh Laurie as Bertie and Stephen Fry as Jeeves.  We were both ecstatic to visit the fictional Drones Club, and we planned to celebrate by hurling the dinner rolls at anyone who walked in the door after we were seated.

We didn’t, though.  We were charmingly well-behaved.  Look at my classy hubby getting ready to enjoy his lunch.  Wild Honey was fantastic, and we’ll definitely be dining there again on our next trip to London.

Next Friday we get our culture on!  Check back!

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Creamy Potato-Vegetable Soup

“Creamy” might be a misnomer here, since there’s no actual cream in this recipe.  Or, actually, well darnit, this soup IS creamy, without the cream!  I’d been craving potato soup for awhile and really, really, really wanted to have it for dinner.  But I also knew that I needed to find a way to put more nutrition into the recipe, and some protein too, or it wouldn’t be much of a dinner.  Enter cauliflower, fennel and cannellini beans – the cauliflower and fennel to add vitamins (and bulk up the volume without also bulking up the calories), and the beans for a kick of protein.  The fennel adds a sophistication to the soup – it doesn’t taste like regular old, plain-Jane potato soup, but at the same time it’s reminiscent enough that you could easily pass it off as “potato soup” to vegetable haters and they’d be none the wiser.  There are no vegetable haters in my house (I’ve figured out how to get hubby to eat any vegetable except beets – the trick is in cooking them in a way that flatters them best, which means roasting in most cases – and he’s finally accepted fennel in the crisper drawer; all it took was me accepting that he won’t eat it raw).  But still, it’s nice to be able to turn a craving for something that isn’t all that virtuous (I know potatoes are healthy, but potato soup usually isn’t) and turn it into a dinner I’m really proud to serve.  Next time, I think I might make it as a “loaded baked potato soup” by leaving the skins on and serving it with my favorite baked potato toppings – plain Greek yogurt (healthy sour cream swap) and chopped scallions, and maybe even Bac’un bits.  Oops, now I’m craving this soup all over again.

Creamy Potato-Vegetable Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 white onion, diced
kosher salt
6 medium potatoes (Yukon Gold is my fave), peeled and chopped
1 fennel bulb, thickly sliced
1 head cauliflower, chopped into florets
4 cups vegetable broth
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
freshly ground black pepper

  • Heat olive oil in large stockpot over medium-high heat until shimmering.  Add diced onion and a sprinkling of kosher salt (not too much!), and saute until onion is translucent-golden.
  • Add potatoes and fennel; continue to saute for 3-5 minutes, until beginning to soften.
  • Add cauliflower and toss well to combine.  Pour in vegetable broth and stir to get any bits from the bottom of the pot.  Reduce heat to medium-low, cover partially and allow to simmer for 30 minutes, or until vegetables are tender and cooked through (keep an eye out for boil-overs; if you have any, just take the top off the pot and crank the heat up a little bit to compensate).
  • Add beans and allow to cook about 3 minutes, until softened and warmed through.  Transfer soup in batches to a blender (or use an immersion blender to puree in the pot).
  • When soup is blended to the consistency you like, return it to the pot and season to taste with additional salt (if necessary) and black pepper.  Thin with water if soup appears too thick.  Serve on its own, or with baked potato toppings.

Source: Covered In Flour

Nota Baker: This soup keeps well in the fridge for several days to a week, but it will become extremely thick and a little congealed.  Don’t worry about that – just dump it into a pot, add a splash of water, and reheat, and it will be great.

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Library Mishap Update

Last week after I posted about the little problem I had at the library (oh, playing with that holds queue is a dangerous game – let this be a lesson to you kids out there), Eagle-Eyed Editor gave me a vote of confidence and some much-needed encouragement in my quest to read 1,927 pages by May 7th.  Because of that comment, and because I am delusional, I now believe that you all care about how it’s going.  So here’s an update:

Tuesday (4/17): Posted about my library mishap.  Finished The House at Tyneford (I had about 70 pages to go), so I could officially begin the epic journey to May 7th.  Since Tyneford was a little intense, I decided Mindy Kaling was the perfect antidote.  Picked up Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), read 63 pages.  1,864 pages to go.

Wednesday (4/18): I’m enjoying the heck out of Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? but I’m not surprised at all, since I think Mindy Kaling is one of the most hilarious people in the television business.  But it wasn’t a big reading day for me – lots to do around the office, so I worked through lunch.  Then I accidentally left the book at work and instead of starting something new, decided to spend the evening pouting, cooking an elaborate dinner, shouting obscenities at my TV (it’s hockey playoffs time!) and falling asleep on the couch shortly after 8:00 p.m.  Yes, I am a wild child.  Total reading for the day: 14 pages on the way to work.  77 pages down; 1,850 to go.

Thursday: (4/19): It was another busy evening and early-to-bed night, but I managed to knock off 89 pages of Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? between the commute home and some before bed reading.  I’ll finish this and be on to the next book before the weekend hits, despite some bumps in the road this week.  Totals: 166 pages down; 1,761 to go.

Friday (4/20): Finished Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? between my morning and evening commutes (53 pages).  Absolutely hysterical.  I would like to be best friends with Mindy Kaling, please.  Then started Village School, by Miss Read, and knocked off 52 pages while keeping an eye on the Flyers-Penguins game.  Pages read today: 105.  Totals: 271 down; 1,656 to go.

Saturday (4/21): Read 122 pages of Village School – up to page 175 – between morning laziness and afternoon/evening couch time.  Loving my time in Fairacre.  Spent the rest of the day walking around town and having pizza with hubby.  393 pages read; 1,534 remain.

Sunday (4/22): Finished the remaining 62 pages of Village School in the morning and loved, loved, loved it.  Didn’t have much time to read, between cleaning, errands, and some weekend work, but I did start on Below Stairs and read 86 pages this afternoon.  (It’s proven to be a fast read; were it not for having to work, run errands and do chores around the house I totally would have finished it.  Ah, well, I’ll get ‘er done in the next day or so.)  Totals: 541 pages down, 1,386 to go.

Monday (4/23): Headed off on a business trip for the next four days (hubby is partying it up at home without me, poor guy).  Between the plane and some hotel bedtime reading, I got done 125 pages to finish off Below Stairs.  666 pages down (really); 1,261 to go.

Since I’m just crazy enough to believe that someone out there is actually interested in whether I can read 1,927 pages in three weeks and still have enough time to take many naps, I’m going to keep posting updates here until this journey ends, whether that be in triumph or tears.  Plus, y’all can keep me accountable.  Because you know I need the encouragement to ignore housework and read.  /sarcasm.

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Discovery’s Final Flight

The end of the U.S. space shuttle program has been big news for awhile.  Many people – myself included – are sad to see these incredibly special shuttles forever grounded.  I suppose it was inevitable – that one day the shuttles would go from being working machines to pieces of American history… and while I’m sure that NASA will reinvigorate itself and come up with new and innovative ways to explore, it will never quite be the same as during the shuttle era.  But, no matter how we feel about it, the shuttle program is over and the shuttles are on their way to their permanent homes in museums around the country.  Atlantis is staying in Florida to become a permanent exhibition at Kennedy Space Center; Endeavor is headed to Los Angeles, California, and Discovery came to us in Washington, D.C., to take up residence at the Smithsonian.  (We already had a shuttle – the prototype Enterprise – which will be moved up to New York by floating on a barge up the Hudson River – pretty cool.)

Last week, Discovery arrived in D.C. on the back of a 747.  I, sadly, missed its flight over Washington, D.C.  I was at work and saw people in the streets, so I ran downstairs to join the fun, but unfortunately the shuttle had already made a few loops around the city and headed off to land at Dulles International Airport by the time I got there.  But hubby would not have missed the shuttle’s last flight for the world, and he headed down to the big party on the National Mall, where the best views could be seen.  He very generously agreed to let me share his pictures with you…

Discovery approaches the Mall, escorted by a couple of fighter jets.  They were about 5 minutes early, so many people missed the initial approach.  Lucky hubby just happened to be looking in the right direction.

Discovery loops over the Mall and the Smithsonian buildings for the entertainment of the crowds.  On the left is the Washington Monument.

Some birds wanted to get in on the action.

They made several passes over the Mall and looped around the Northwest quadrant of the city a few times, only departing for Dulles when the escort jets got down to fuel critical levels.

“Might I suggest holding the morning staff meeting on the roof today, Sir?”

Discovery is now at the Smithsonian out near Dulles, and I can’t wait to visit it.  And while I’m looking forward to seeing where our space explorations lead in the future…  There will never be anything quite like the shuttle program.

Thanks for the memories, Discovery.

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London, Part I: His-n-Hers Day

On our first day in London, hubby and I did something a little unusual for us: we planned a his-n-hers day.  Oh, we didn’t split up for the day.  But you see, usually when we travel we like to spend our time doing activities that we both really enjoy.  Wandering around the city, checking out cultural activities and landmarks, eating great food and tasting wines, or hiking if we’re in a rural area – those are things that rev both of our engines.  But on our first day in London, we each wanted to do something the other wasn’t terribly keen on.  Hubby was dying to go to the Natural History Museum and see the dinosaurs.  I couldn’t have cared less about the dinosaurs.  Yes, I know that London’s Natural History Museum is fabulous and well worth the time.  But, the thing is, I don’t care about dinosaurs.  They’re all dead, no matter which way you slice it.  I can see dino skeletons at the Smithsonian back home in D.C., or at the Natural History Museum in New York if I want to be extravagant and actually go somewhere.  So I really didn’t care if we went to the Natural History Museum at all.

Meanwhile, I was itching to go to the Victoria & Albert Museum.  We didn’t make it there on our last whirlwind trip to London and I wanted to see it.  I’m a sucker for anything Queen Victoria-related, I love decorative arts, and I’d heard that there were amazing china displays in those hallowed halls.  And oh, how I love china.  (Sometime I’ll tell you about the time I went to the White House and the Secret Service quizzed me on Presidential China.  Describing the china patterns of obscure, forgotten Presidents of the United States is something of a party trick I’ve cultivated.  I foresee a post coming up.)  But, well… so you know how ambivalent I said I was about dinosaurs?  That’s about as ambivalent as hubby is about decorative arts.  (He does actually kind of like china.  Dude actually picked out our wedding china.  No lie.  He’s now mad at me for telling The Internet that.)

This is a dinosaur.  I think it’s a T-rex, but it could be an Allosaurus.  I always forget.

So, from the above you can probably tell that I went to see the dinos.  I may be ambivalent about large extinct lizards, but I’m decidedly not ambivalent about hubby and seeing dinosaurs makes him SO deliriously happy that I willingly tag along.  These aren’t the first dino skeletons I’ve dawdled around, and they won’t be the last.  (And since we were overseas, I didn’t have a working cell phone with me, so I couldn’t even play Angry Birds.  I actually read the placards and took pictures.  That’s how much I love my husband.)

Seeing the blue whale was my only request at the Natural History Museum.  I have a thing for whales – in fact, as his very first gift to me, for my birthday about a month and a half after we started dating in 2001, hubby adopted me a whale.  (A humpback whale calf named Ember.  So cute.)  So my reward for dragging my sorry behind through the dinosaur exhibits at these museums is always a quick motor through the room that is invariably dedicated to mammals of the deep.

Now, I’ve been talking myself up a lot in this post.  But I don’t want you to get the idea that I’m more accommodating to hubby’s interests than he is to mine, because that would be terribly wrong.  No, after our morning of dinosaurs, we headed off for an afternoon of china, furniture and period clothing at the V&A.  Hubby accompanied me just as willingly and uncomplainingly as I did for him.  And… oh, my gosh.  The china exhibit at the V&A was pretty great… but then… they open up their “storage” floor and it’s just room after room, row upon row, of glass cases, 20 feet high, crammed with china and porcelain and enamelware and you-name-it from every country and every time period since the Stone Age.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures.  I was “woman-ing” the camera that day and I’m not sure I stopped to hand it off to hubby before I zoomed off in a blur on a mission to try to see every single dish in the museum.  But friends… what an afternoon I had.  In fact, to this day when I get stressed, hubby rubs my shoulders and says three words: “V&A China Hall.”  And instantly I go to a place of bliss.

So after our his-n-hers day, as you can imagine, we were pretty hungry.  We headed off for one of my London musts: afternoon tea at the Orangery.  (P.S. After these recaps finally wrap up in a few weeks, look for a post on the afternoon tea experience.  It’s always one of the highlights of any trip across the Pond for me.)

Now, the Orangery is not the fanciest place you could have afternoon tea in London.  It’s not the Savoy, by any stretch of the imagination.  But to me, there’s nothing better, because the Orangery is, essentially, the former greenhouse of Kensington Palace.  For those not in the know, Kensington Palace was the residence of Queen Victoria… and Princess Diana… and is currently the London residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Kate!  Call me!) and a slew of junior royals.  It’s steps away from a (flattering) statute of Queen Victoria and the Sunken Garden, which I think is the most beautiful garden in London.  They have miniature orange trees on all of the tables, delectable meringues, and incredible orange scones.  So you can keep your Savoy and your Ritz.  Anytime I’m in London, the Orangery is my choice.  It’s literally tea at a Palace.

That ^ is the three-tiered afternoon tea.  Not even the fanciest option.  Go ahead and wipe the drool off your keyboard.  I’ll wait.

Dear Orangery, I love you so much.  I will always, always visit whenever I am in London.  And tell all of my friends about your gracious hospitality.

After fortifying ourselves with tea, sandwiches and scones (and, okay, the pastries too, although they’re always my least favorite part – give me crustless cucumber and smoked salmon sandwiches, and scones with clotted cream and jam any day), we meandered over to the Sunken Garden, another London must-visit for me.  I love to gaze wistfully in – it’s roped off – and dream of how, if I was Duchess Kate, one way I’d exercise my royal prerogatives would be to talk my way into an afternoon of lounging inside the garden with a book and a pot of tea.

I love that there are flowers – bright, thriving, happy flowers – even in the chill of October in this garden.  It’s really as if it’s a magic garden, set apart from the rest of London and not having to follow our rules.  Maybe that’s why we humans can’t go in – it might break the spell.

And lastly, here’s a view of Kensington Palace.  (With my beloved Sunken Garden in the foreground.)  Isn’t it just magical?  If I was a British royal, this is certainly where I would want to live.

So there you have it – our first day in London.  A little fun for him, a little fun for her, and tea for two…

Come back next Friday for more London adventures.  In fact, we’re going to be here for a little while, so you may as well settle in and get comfortable.

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Roasted Spring Vegetable Pasta

Ahhhh, spring.  One of my favorite things about you is the new vegetables.  Beans, peas, fennel, new potatoes… this is when I venture back out to the farmers’ market after too many months spent eating kale and winter squash.  Everything is just beginning – the farmers and the customers are all getting warmed up for the bounty that’s coming our way in summer.  But to ignore spring because we’re so excited about tomatoes and stone fruits would be a mistake.  There are so many delicious new veggies making their appearance right now.

So, while at the King Street Farmers’ Market I decided to take advantage of the new season by throwing together a tasty, healthy pasta dish.  I picked up whatever looked good from the market and my grocery store and ended up with fennel and green beans.  I had originally planned to augment the dish with frozen peas, but apparently I ran out.  (How did that happen?)  So I tossed some corn in there instead and put goat cheese on my portion for extra calcium and protein.  This was supposed to be our Easter dinner (in our non-ham-eating household, we go non-traditional and focus on spring flavors instead of the “quintessential” Easter ham feast).  But neither of us was hungry at dinnertime on Easter, so it became a weeknight meal instead – and was plenty easy and quick enough to throw together after work.  I love those multi-tasking meals, the ones that are fancy enough to serve for a special occasion but easy enough to make on a random Wednesday.  Hope you like this one!

Roasted Spring Vegetable Pasta

2 fennel bulbs, cleaned, trimmed and thickly sliced
1 bunch green beans, cleaned and chopped
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
kosher salt and fresh pepper
1 cup frozen peas or corn
handful dried linguini strands
goat cheese (optional)
fresh herbs (optional)

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • Line a baking sheet with tinfoil.  Toss fennel, beans, oil, salt and pepper until vegetables are well-seasoned.  Roast for 20 minutes, tossing once midway through.
  • After vegetables have been roasting 20 minutes, add frozen corn or peas and toss to combine.  Roast an additional 10-15 minutes, checking often, until vegetables are cooked to your satisfaction.
  • Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil and salt generously.  Add linguini (or other pasta, but I think the long flat strands work best) and cook according to package directions.
  • When linguini isal dente, remove from water and place in bowls.  Remove vegetables from oven and top with generous portion of vegetables.  If desired, garnish with crumbled goat cheese and/or fresh herbs.

Yield: Serves 2-4 as a main course.

Source: Covered In Flour

(Nota Baker: You don’t need to follow this recipe exactly or use the precise vegetables I’m calling for.  These are the vegetables I used – or, in the case of the peas, wanted to use but was cruelly thwarted.  Use what you like, what you have on hand, or what looks good at the market.  Like all of my fridge-clearing recipes, this pasta is versatile and will be great with whatever vegetables you want to use.  Don’t feel wedded to what I did!  I just called for these vegetables in the recipe because that’s what I used, and there’s a picture up there, and I didn’t want anyone to say “Hey, I see beans in there, how come they’re not in the recipe?”  Okay?)

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Oops I Did It Again

Had another library mishap.  Or, well, not really a mishap.  At least no one can blame me this time.

Here’s what happened: I’d been adding books to my holds queue, I thought strategically.  I spaced out the additions and I seemed to be at wildly varying points in my wait for all of these books.  Then I got an email saying that a couple of my holds were available for me to pick up.

Great!  I sailed on down to the library and grabbed them – Death Comes to Pemberley, by P.D. James, and The House at Tyneford, by Natasha Solomons.  I knew that there were probably a few more that would be available before long, so I set to it and made my way through the first, and about two-thirds of the way through the second.

Meanwhile, along came another email: two more books available for me to pick up.  Well, I’m still happy.  The new books were books I’d been looking forward to reading – very much – and I couldn’t wait to dig in.  Still, I decided to leave them on the holds shelf for a little while, at least until I could return a couple more books.  (I can leave them there up to a week before they’ll go to the next person.  Normally, I don’t like to do that – it’s not entirely fair to the person who’s behind me in the queue, but these were desperate times, clearly calling for desperate measures.)

Then came another email: two more books were ready.  And finally, one more email this morning: a fifth book was waiting, with my name on it.  Uh-oh.  Now the situation is getting pretty out of hand.

I did some quick calculations and found that, not counting The House at Tyneford, which I should finish shortly, I have 1,927 pages to read before May 7th.

The House at Tyneford, by Natasha Solomons (due back April 30)
Village School, by Miss Read (due back May 7)
Below Stairs, by Margaret Powell (May 7)
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, by Mindy Kaling (May 7)
The Marriage Plot, by Jeffrey Eugenides (May 7)
11/22/63, by Stephen King (May 7)

Let’s get this party started…