Sunday Reads

Hours and hours of soaking showers that cancel all plans and strand me in the house, with books, magazines, quilting, and writing. Such a burden! Here's what I have on hand for reading this weekend:

      
       

• Heat by Bill Buford, journalist turned kitchen slave after apprenticing with Mario Batali.The book reaffirms my aversion to working as a cook or chef, though I want to go to Babbo now more than ever. However, I will never order the pasta in any restaurant after 9:00. (As to other nasty bits, I refuse to read Bourdain's latest book because my husband and I already will not from ramekins of butter in any restaurant and I prefer to abide by what I don't know can't kill me.)

       

• The Times: A Year in Nature Notes by Derwent May. A diary based format of nature observations, meant to be read along with the calendar, daily, slowly, and while absorbing the natural world around your daily travels. Writing is first rate.

      

• A Sketch in Time by Jan Beaney & Jean Littlejohn, the doyennes of contemporary  English embroidery with one of their slim books in their series. Gorgeous photos of sketchbooks and studies that will get that journal off the shelf, but to me, it is more interesting because it features a lot of abstract pages that are used as studies for color and texture.  Thanks to LK for this reference.

       

• Esopus  You must see this edition of this twice-yearly arts magazine . You must hold it in your hand and stare at the cover, then open the pages and have the pull outs fall open and stare in wonder as you feel your heart start to jump and your breath get short and your mind start to race with the wonder of it. The size of an oversized school notebook, this special issue is dedicated to the creative process and contains the notes, notebooks, journal pages, sketches, studies, paintings, punch-outs, and more of artists as diverse as critic, novelist, fine artists, comedian, mathematician, "chronologer". I so want to be on the editorial board of this non-profit magazine.

       

• This issue of Fibertarts features artists who incorporate maps, topography, and other elements of geography and memory into their artwork. It happens to be one of my favorite subjects and I'm currently working on an essay about it, so I was thrilled to pick this issue up at Borders this weekend.

So you can see I have reading material for all the senses - taste, touch, and eye candy. I wouldn't mind a little sun, perhaps be able to have Mystery Man's friends sit on the porch for the ribs Mr. Pom is barbecuing, but not meant to be today. I am going downstairs now to char the skins of red peppers, then place them in a brown bag where their own steam will help the skins be easily rubbed off, and the flesh to be marinated in olive oil and garlic. Then I'm roasting frozen corn on a cookie sheet with olive oil, kosher salt, and ground pepper, which I'll fold into the cornbread batter.  Lastly, I have brownies to make, with morsels of chocolate and an espresso base. We're trying to make a nice last day for his girlfriend to cheer them both up. She goes back to Florida tomorrow and they probably won't see each other for another six months. She's a lovely girl but fate and geography are keeping them apart for now. We're glad he's starting his camp job tomorrow to take his mind off missing her, though I know we all will.