Cooking up a storm

The first recipe I ever made (at least, that’s what I remember) was the cheese soufflé that graces the front of my still-favourite cookbook, M.F.K. Fisher’s The Cooking of Provincial France. It’s hard to find these days, but here’s a pretty picture of the cover. Don’t you just want to make the soufflé now? Although a soufflé seems like a stupid choice for a first-time teenage cook, it came out very nicely.

M.F.K. Fisher was a famous American food writer, but for this book, she had a consultant who is even more famous and who may now finally become famous here as well: the inimitable Julia Child. Living in the USA in the seventies, my foodie parents couldn’t help being impressed by her, which is why I am planning to take them to see this:

It’s not just about Julia Child (although Meryl Streep as Julia and Stanley Tucci as her husband apparently steal the show), but also about a blogger called Julie Powell who, in 2003, started the Julie/Julia project in which she set out to cook all the 500+ recipes from Julia Child’s magisterial “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” volume. I won’t claim I recognized the blog’s greatness back then, but I did read a few entries. There was probably too much butter to keep me from reading on.

But it’s nice to know that pleasurable things like cooking and blogging can make people famous.

As a tie-in to the film, there’s a nice article by one of my favourite non-fiction writers, Michael Pollan, in the NYTimes, entitled “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch”. And now I’ll have to get off my couch and make some food from scratch to feel better. Some haricots verts, anyone?

Arrested for entering his own house while black

Professor  Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (who is an academic celebrity, if there is such a thing) was recently arrested when his front door wouldn’t open and he used the back door. The story really boggles the mind – or rather, to black people in America, it doesn’t.

Lawyer’s statement about the case

Interview with Gates (though it has to be said that both these links are from Root magazine, of which Gates is the editor-in-chief)

The police has another story, of course.

The Guardian sees the silver lining:

Gates at least has one consolation prize: a new television project has landed in his lap. He said he intends to make a documentary about the treatment of black people by the criminal justice system, with his story as the focus.

At home with Thomas Jefferson

Artist Maira Kalman, who keeps a wonderful blog for the New York Times, recently spent some time at Thomas Jefferson’s house, Monticello, possibly one of the most desirable places on earth. And of course she succumbed to the charm of this most extraordinary of men, who was insatiably curious, incredibly bright, shockingly well-educated, pretty sexy and, at the same time, deeply flawed – in Kalman’s words, “optimistic and complex and tragic and wrong and courageous”. Actually, it’s probably a good thing he never got round to making sure all men (and women) actually were equal, because how unbearably perfect would he have been then?

Anyway, let Maira Kalman take you on a trip of his house. I defy anyone to visit this place and NOT fall in love with Jefferson.

The famous Stephen Colbert dinner speech

Re-posted by popular demand:

Stephen Colbert spoofing George W. Bush to his face:

The abandoned city

For a while now, I have been following the Sweet Juniper blog on and off, mostly for the awe-inspiring pictures and descriptions of Detroit, a city that has lost so many of its inhabitants (going from two million to under one million) that entire streets have boarded-up abandoned houses, schools are left to rot, nature takes over,  feral dogs roam the streets and there’s no absolutely no future for kids (this link leads to an article Jim, the blogger, did for a magazine. Make sure you see all the pictures).

Of course, it’s the gardeners who are keeping the place going by planting community gardens. Check out this Time Magazine article about the gardens and other projects that are attempting to revitalize the city.

But most of all, spend some time on the blog and Jim’s Flickr page. The pictures are absolutely chilling, and very beautiful at the same time.

Great Non-Fiction: 1776

And look! Tall ships on the cover!

As a history teacher, I’d rank 1776 as one of the top ten dates everybody should know. Americans, of course, associate loads of mental images with this year. It is marked both by the Declaration of Independence and the beginning of the Revolutionary War and is truly one of the big turning-points in history.

Why, you ask, should you read an account of a long-ago war in a far-away country? Won’t it be just another boring story of tactics and crusty old generals? Reading David McCullough’s 1776, however, is anything but boring. Instead of crusty old generals, there’s a handful of completely inexperienced, yet highly enthusiastic young (and older) men who make the cause their own and act with dashing courage and astonishing perseverance – from the famous George Washington to lesser-known figures like Nathanael Greene and Henry Knox*. McCullough makes them come alive so much that even though the outcome of the war is a given to the modern reader, you are made to live through all the hopeful episodes and valleys of despair as though you were right there, in bad old boots and without anything to eat.

Talking of the outcome – before I’d read the book, I hadn’t been aware of how slight the chance to succeed was for the Americans  in 1776:

Especially for those who had been with Washington and who knew what a close call it was at the beginning–how often circumstance, storms, contrary winds, the oddities or strengths of individual character had made the difference–the outcome seemed little short of a miracle.

Subjunctive history thoughts are never far from the reader’s mind in this rip-roaring adventure tale. McCullough writes very accessibly, and the subject matter is so exciting that I was very disappointed to find out, when I was two-thirds through the book, that one third of the pages (which I was hoping would contain more adventures) was devoted to an extensive bibliography. It’s a work of history, after all – but Sir Walter Scott himself could not have cooked up a more thrilling and chivalrous tale.

Don’t miss these immigration maps!

The New York Times has a fascinating article about teaching young immigrants English up that comes with two interactive maps that are bound to make map lovers very, very happy. 

This map shows you how the percentage of English learners is distributed across the schools in the different counties in the different states. Learn about the achievement gap between learners of English and native speakers. It’s fascinating stuff.

 

 

This is perhaps even more fascinating – a map that shows where the immigrants living in a particular county at a particular time (from 1880!) have their origins. If you are preparing to answer a possible immigration question in the Abitur, I really cannot think of a more stimulating addition to your studies, it’s so fascinating. For instance, in 1880, you see pockets of Asians in the middle of Nevada. Any idea what they were doing there? Helping build the railroad, of course!

Sometimes, I cannot believe the good stuff available on the Internet all for free!

Edit: I only just found out that on the second map you can click on a button and change it so it shows you real numbers of residents instead of percentages. It is particularly striking to see how the raw numbers of immigrants change over time.

Mr President, get rid of the lawn and the roses!

I know, I know. Nobody is interested in gardening.

And the Pursuit of Happiness – by Maira Kalman

… is a whimsical, poetic, self-deprecating, elated and simply lovely tribute to Inauguration Day. 

I liked this:

But now we are taking a short break from questioning.

Right now, we are opting for naiveté.

Inauguration Special

I don’t think I’ve ever watched the inauguration of any American president. All I know is that G.W.Bush got pelted with eggs and tomatoes on his first inauguration, but the idea that it might be an event worth watching simply never occurred to me. Still, I’ll be switching on the TV this afternoon to watch Barack Obama become president, if only because I owe him many lesson ideas.

And I can always blame it on the kids. My daughter (8 ) immediately started chanting “O-BA-MA, O-BA-MA” when I told her about the inauguration – and I swear, I never taught her to! My son (5)  was a little worried and asked if the guy he wanted (“not the old one – he’s too old!” – a more rational approach to politics) was now becoming president. They both want to watch. 

For some background coverage, I recommend This American Life’s Inauguration Show. This American Life has recently become the podcast I most listen to – it’s a one-hour show always full of surprises and  great stories. I recommend subscribing to it, because the MP3s are only ever available free for one week. So hurry if you want to download the Inauguration Show.

NB: Bloggers all over are celebrating the inauguration. I particularly liked the Cake Wrecks contribution