On weekends in the winter it is not only possible, but also desirable to roast fowl. I will eventually write a post giving my recommendations for this, because it is very easy if done my way. Also, using the oven helps to heat up the house. The festive aroma, and then sight of a whole … More Cooking on Weeknights
Yesterday at sunset someone knocked on my door and it was a man selling shrimp he had caught out in the Gulf that morning for $3.25 a pound. I bought twelve pounds for $39, which if it really is twelve pounds is a decent deal. The bags had a lot of water in them, though, … More Mardi Gras
To be discussed. See also this clip (“In a small town like this you have a choice between Hell and Jesus, and grief is better than nothing”) and this one. Meanwhile it is Carnaval time and Mardi Gras Day is almost upon us. It is very early this year and I am not paying attention, … More Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus
Elizabeth David could really cook. I am not an accomplished cook, but sometimes I think I channel her. Here is something you can do with pork chops, thick ones without bones. Rub them with salt and pepper, strew them with fresh chopped herbs, and douse with a small amount olive oil and fresh lime or … More Elizabeth David
Out of patriotism and in the spirit of my resolution to see more movies, I have been to Little Chenier. I found it melodramatic and stereotype driven, and the accents are very poorly done. Then again, it is apparently very hard to represent southern Louisiana without resorting to exoticist trope. I did like the beautiful … More Little Chenier
Esoteric reading for this week: Escrivania by Jesús Sepúlveda. Although I am not terribly impressed with this particular collection it is inspiring just by existing and by being complex. Someone had the ideas for it went so far as to polish them. And poetry is deep, and although classes have started I vow to make … More Reading for Pleasure Wednesday: Jesús Sepúlveda, Barbara Ehrenreich, James Lee Burke
This week I have been rereading Paul Dresman’s The Silver Dazzle of the Sun, well worth poring over for the ring of the words and in my case for the way in which it transports one to the West, that Asian painting. I have been looking at this book with its photographs of beautiful and … More Reading for Pleasure Wednesday: Paul Dresman, Ceramics
The film The Great Debaters exceeds expectations. I want to go again. Here is some excellent commentary on the film by the Anxious Black Woman, and here is some information on the real life Melvin B. Tolson, a poet. We should all be so brave. It was I who taught Black Diamond his first lesson … More Melvin B. Tolson
The best store I visited in San Francisco this winter break was Asia Galleries, at 1534 Grant. Axé.
Now the radio is singing: Got my pistols loaded up and I’m Alabama bound. I have heard this song as got my ticket in my hand, going down to New Orleans, but no, it is got my pistols loaded up and I’m Alabama bound. I am back home in the sweet sunny South, making gizzard … More Gizzard Soup
coldhearted scientist وداد 