An Italian Sense of Time

I watched this animate with my son. It describes cultural and personal differences in a sense of time and he has some interesting insights on the difference between cultures in Northern and Southern Italy.

I've just read Willful Behavior by Donna Leon. So far I think it's my favorite book in her series about a Venetian detective. The writing style is elegant and the pacing is excellent. I also love the way she describes the food culture in Venice and the big family lunches that Brunetti's wife Paula cooks when she is not teaching. This is very satisfying armchair traveling. It wouldn't surprise me if this series is filmed for television.

I picked up some lovely winter greens at the market and have been chopping the kale and bok choi and mustard greens into really small pieces to make them edible while they are still raw. Add to this a mustardy lemony dressing and roasted almonds or herbed walnuts and this is so good with bits of blue cheese and some buffalo sausage on the side.

Hot Ports and Guinea Pigs Degustation

We were treated to a lovely cozy night at AK's with "hot ports". The guinea pigs were brought out to cuddle and I observed them warily across the room. Where I come from, those is varmints and I am highly suspicious of them, haven been bitten by similar smaller creatures at a sensitive time in my childhood on sensitive parts of my body. They are very cute in a kind of Through the Looking Glass kind of way and make disturbing squeaky sounds like balloons being rubbed at a raucous birthday party. Scott treated us to a mythical story about an Italian hobo in Langley that used to keep a herd of over a hundred guinea pigs and turn them into culinary delights, including canned Cochons Guinea Rustique. Rillets anyone? A good pairing with ginger-flecked Stilton, je pense.

I stayed up until 2 reading The Help and finished it today. It is devastating to think that this history is so recent. Although the stories are about persecution and hatred, there is also the flip side of the human capacity to love and take care of each other, the heartbreaking tenderness of servants who were surrogate mothers to the children in their care. It's heart-breaking. I cried buckets of tears.

The tree is up. The gifts have been bought, made, sampled and wrapped. Best wishes to all of you this holiday weekend.

Just Around the Corner

Wow, I can't believe we are a week away from Christmas. I am rushing to get my gifts made this weekend, especially the ones that need to go in the mail on Monday. I bought a beautiful Marks and Spencer shortbread tin with a print of a stag on the cover. This will be the feature of our Christmas table along with two silver disco balls I found hanging around in the corner in the dust. Our living room is too full for a Christmas tree due to shifting stuff from upstairs to do the renos. Will we even have a tree this year? I am strangely ambivalent about the whole thing. I'm just relieved that my December toothache was deemed "nothing significant" by my dentist and so we will escape financial ruin this Christmas due to dental debt. Life is good. I hope the dentist has a fun vacation in the Bahamas or Caribbean or wherever he said he was going. How nice for him.

Anyway we had lovely tacos at the market this morning and I bought fresh walnuts. Yay! I also bought some of Chris's lovely Meyer lemonade. Now we can have lemon crepes on Christmas morning.

I am reading an Icelandic mystery called Ashes to Dust by Yrsa Sigurdardottir. I like the way the landscape is integrated directly into the plot, which involves a gruesome discovery in a house being dug out of volcanic ash.

I recently watched Serie 2 of George Gently which I highly recommend. The art direction is fabulous--the tones of green/blue and burnt orange in the set and costumes are stunning and seem directly inspired by the landscape. The writing, acting and direction are all strong. I've been hearing Geordie accents in my head all week.

La Grande Dame

P.D. James was brilliant on Q today (CBC Radio One), but Ghomeshi has to learn not to interrupt his guests. It really pisses me off. Let the interview flow more organically, dude. In spite of his quirks, P.D. James was gracious, elegant and profound. She is my favorite mystery writer. I kind of look like her too a bit, I think.

I read Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay yesterday. Fascinating story, but I felt it was a flawed novel. Sarah's narrative was much stronger than Julia's and should have been carried on further into her life. I also felt Zoe might have been a better choice as a narrator in some ways than her mother. The climax of the novel comes too soon. The ending is limp. I see it was made into a movie last fall. Maybe it works better as a screen play.

I sold out of gingerbread men at the market on Saturday--people are getting in the Christmas spirit. Singing at VanDusen was short and sweet. I can't hack those lights anymore though, they have gone OTT. Less is more, folks. I prefer floodlights on foliage rather than the Las Vegas treatment.

Peter bought clams at the market and made a lovely spicy tomato sauce with pasta with the clams in their shells on top. Even Ullie liked it. Shock!