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Happy Spring to you all! Take a break from all that cleaning, forget that April 15th is just around the corner, and relax with a good book and a cup of tea. I have made comments of some of my favorite reads of the recent past in hoping you might pick one up and enjoy it as well. Not a reader? Well, have that cup of tea anyway - at the restaurant of the month! |
Want to share your opinion on a book, movie, cd or eatery? E-Mail me your review and I might include it next month! |
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REVIEWS |
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The Mistress of Spices
by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Doubleday, Paperback - 352 pages 1 Anchor edition (March 1998) |
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I love stories which revolve around cultures besides mine (boring ol' American) and this tale gives small insights into that of
people from India. Tilo is a merchant with curative powers - well, the powers aren't exactly hers, but that of the spices
which she sells. She senses the ills of her customers and cures their pains through her knowledge of the power of the spices.
Having special abilities isn't all they're cracked up to be, and Tilo has to make a decision to keep them or lose them to a life
of ordinary love.
With sensuous prose, Ms Divakaruni brings magic to everyday substances and created a great urge for me to wander into the kitchen and concoct some curry, in the case that it might be able to cure my woes of the moment. Reminiscent of Like Water for Chocolate - richly evocative of the spirit of another land - much of which exists in the kitchen. |
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The Lover by Marguerite Duras, Maxine Hong Kingston (Introduction), Barbara Bray (Translator) Pantheon Book, Paperback - 128 pages (October 1998) . |
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Reminiscences of girlhood, of life overseas, and of an affair with and older man, the story is told in bits and pieces, as the narrator remembers and as she imagines she was seen. She jumps from first to third person and back again, giving the whole short novel a pleasant dreamlike quality, regardless of the fact that in this day and age the story would be called statutory rape. This is not Lolita; unlike the Nabokov novel, this one is imbued with a rich sadness, rather than brazen eroticism. If you don't believe me, why don't you read both and get back to me. At the very least, rent the movie versions :) |
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Amrita by Banana Yoshimoto, Russell F. Wasden Washington Square Press. Paperback - 384 pages (August 1998) |
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Although I am a fan of Ms Yoshimoto's slightly off-beat fiction, I must say this novel was a tad stranger than usual. Perhaps it is
the length; she is much more able to convey her tales of everyday melancholy in short story form.
Amrita is the story of a young woman and her interactions with friends and family. Seems normal enough, but you must realize her family consists of cousins and friends as well as mother and siblings, her little half-brother is a seer of some sort, her boyfriend is her sister's ex, and they have a mutual friend who talks to spirits. One character of this ilk is enough in a non-fantasy or science fiction novel, but three or four is too many. I'm not saying the book wasn't interesting or enjoyable; it was, just a tad bizarre. If you like something a bit out-of-the-ordinary, you might like Amrita. But if your favorite read tends more toward Danielle Steele, stay far away! |
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REVIEWS |
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Spirit
Jewel Wea/Atlantic. |
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Folksy Jewel's sophomore effort is largely like her first album Pieces of You; she knows a good formula when she sees it. This time around,
it's thirteen sweetly-sung poems, all but two completely written by her. I feel she is a much better singer than songwriter - while her dulcet voice
can handle some of the odder melodies she writes for herself, her lyrics are rather simplistic and school-girlish. Her message to the world seems to
be: it's gonna be alright. Perhaps easy for a wealthy 25-year-old to say? :) Perhaps her poetry reminds me of my own; I hardly think
what I produce is good enough to be made available to the general public!
Regardless of her message, her music goes down easy. Although I criticize her lyrics, I must say my favorite song on this album is "What's Simple is True," a feel-good, in-love kinda tune...and it rather describes my state of mind at the moment. |
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REVIEWS |
 Buy it now! |
The Women
Directed by George Cukor. Edition Details: NTSC format (for use in US and Canada only) Color, Black & White, Closed-captioned, HiFi Sound, Digital Video Transfer, NTSC Number of tapes: 1 |
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In the mood for something delightfully bitchy (besides me, of course)? Grab some popcorn with real butter and
pop a copy of The Women into your VCR. This all-woman 1939 adaptation of the Clare Boothe play is a festival
of glamorous cattiness among a group of friends who experience life, love, and divorce. Norma Shearer thinks she
has the perfect marriage, until her husband meets Joan Crawford. Also starring Rosalind Russell, Paulette Goddard, Joan Fontaine,
and Marjorie Main.
The film is in black and white, except for the Technicolor fashion show segment. |
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REVIEWS |
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The Wild Mushroom
Montford Avenue Baltimore, MD |
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Being a fan of edible fungi, I had always been interested in going to the Wild Mushroom, a five-year-old
establishment in Canton, but had never been presented with the opportunity. This past summer, my friend Kate invited
me along with her to experience their weekend lunch buffet. We feasted on mushroom-filled ravioli, chicken
and mushrooms in a cream sauce, and various roll-ups filled with smoked salmon, vegetables, and of course, mushrooms, as
we sipped our free vodka martinis. Dessert was a delicately delicious strawberry shortcake made with a light sponge,
fresh strawberries, and whipped-cream frosting. The experience was so pleasant in the lovely small dining room that we vowed to return some
day for dinner.
Recently that opportunity presented itself. Kate and Andree and I went for a dinner one evening in early February. It was a week in which the restaurant celebrated its 5th birthday, offering various specials at a special price. We decided to take advantage of this and partake of all they had available. We began with a bottle of Merlot and a basket of bread with mushroom tapenade. We then went on to the appetizers: warm crab dip served on a portobello cap, surrounded by toasted pita triangles; and a portobello cap topped with pecan-crusted smoked trout and gorgonzola cheese, on a bed of red kale dressed with a warm balsamic vinaigrette. The crab dip was classic - gooey and rich and wonderful with the light crispness of the pita. The trout number, which I worried might not work because of the unusual melange of strong flavors, was equally successful. The acidity of the vinaigrette cut the richness of the cheese. The trout was delicate and not fishy-tasting. We licked both plates clean. For entrees, we went an equally decadent route: orange roughy with pine nuts, fresh basil, and vegetables over wild rice with balsamic drizzle; portobello napoleon with fettuccini; and mixed seafood risotto with coconut milk and cilantro. The kitchen must have been out of cilantro and so substituted parsley, which did not quite work with the coconut milk. The perfectly grilled rock lobster tail splayed out on top of the pile of snow white risotto made up for it, however. The creamy rice could have used a tad more seasoning, but was delicious nonetheless. The napoleon was terriffic - slices of the now-ubiquitous fungus layered with eggplant and roasted red pepper - a melange of earthy flavors that worked together well. The orange roughy, typically a bland fish, was made exciting with the buttery pine nuts and rice, the herbaceousness of the basil, and the pungent acidity of the balsamic sauce, which was artfully dribbled on the plate. We each consumed about half of our own entrees, with judicious tasting of our tablemates' and then doggied-bagged the rest for a luxurious lunch the next day. On to dessert - the selections were limited that night to chocolate cake, birthday cake, and coffee creme brulee. Being my favorite dessert in the world, I had no trouble choosing the brulee, and my friends followed suit. Lightly flavored with java, the decadent custard topped with caramelized sugar was the perfect ending to a near-perfect meal. Foodies that we are, the three of us plan to return to the Wild Mushroom in the future, as well as to their summer-time marina offering, Portobello, which serves light fare and drinks. Perhaps we'll see you there? |
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