verbatim

Very Special Dinner

Andy and I went out for our belated anniversary dinner last night, to Mistral. It was outstanding in every way! Andy started with the Seared Foie Gras with Confit of Duck in Brioche with Tart Wisconsin Cherries and then had the Skillet Roasted Prime Sirloin au Poivre with Root Vegetable Hash and Cognac–Green Peppercorn Sauce. I started with the French-Style Onion Soup in Gruyère Pastry Crust (the crust was an impressive balloon-shaped tent that deflated as soon as I stabbed it, then fell into the soup—YUM!) and then had the Half Roasted Duck with Wild Mushroom Risotto and Dried Cranberry Gastrique. With it all, we had an excellent Ribera del Duero wine, the 2001 Hacienda Monasterio. The portions were huge; I couldn't even finish my entree, which is unheard-of! (But I'm looking forward to putting it in a wrap for lunch today.) Even more unheard-of: Andy and I had to split a dessert because we were so full! We easily settled on the Warm Chocolate Torte with Sauce Anglaise. It was a perfect combination of excellent food and service and a delightful room—well worth the wait for our anniversary celebration!

Rare Books

One of my favorite parts of the New York Times Book Review is the full-page ad on the back for Bauman Rare Books. I love reading the descriptions and trying to guess how much the various items are worth (I also like to quiz Andy on this; it's sort of like our own literary version of "Antiques Roadshow"). It's fascinating to think about the different editions of each book, and why certain ones are so much more valuable than others (I know that scarcity is a huge factor, as well as condition). For instance, here are a few entries:

Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (1855). Extraordinarily scarce and important first edition, one of only 795 copies printed, in 19th-century near-contemporary binding. $60,000

Walt Whitman, Complete Poems and Prose (1888). First edition of the first collected edition of Whitman's works, one of only 600 copies signed by Whitman. This presentation copy additionally inscribed by Whitman's friend and bibliographer Horace Trauvel shortly after Whitman's death. $15,500

Ian Fleming, Goldfinger (1959). First edition, presentation copy, signed and inscribed by Fleming to a close friend. $17,000

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit (1937). First edition, first printing, in original dust jacket designed by Tolkien, one of only 1500 copies printed. $65,000

Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1915). Signed limited edition illustrated by Arthur Rackham, one of 525 copies signed by him. A lovely large-quarto copy in original vellum-gilt. $4,200

Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol (1844). First edition, rare trial copy with title page printed in red and green. An extraordinary rarity, remarkably fine and unrestored. $45,000

Ludwig Bemelmans, Madeline (1939). First edition, signed by Bemelmans, wonderfully illustrated. $7,800

James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916). Scarce first edition of Joyce's classic, an extraordinarily fine and fresh copy. $12,800

Friday Fiver

Redrum

1. What is your shoe size?
It was 6.5 for more than 20 years, but lately it seems to be closer to 7. My feet are extremely narrow, though, so I can't wear high heels—particularly high heels—or I get the "pencil sharpener" effect. Yowch!

2. How many hours did you sleep last night?
Same as above: somewhere between 6.5 and 7!

3. Area code of your phone number.
617

4. Last grade of school completed.
college grad

5. Time it takes you to get ready in the morning.
30 minutes

Friday's Feast

Appetizer: What was the last game you purchased?
I bought Master Mind, which I used to love as a kid. I haven't pulled it out yet for my kids.

Soup: Name something in which you don't believe.
"trial" separation

Salad: If you could choose a television personality to be your boss, who would you pick?
Jon Stewart

Main Course: What was a lesson you had to learn the hard way?
Here's a lesson I'm still grappling with: People—even good people—don't always follow through with things they promise to do.

Dessert: Describe your idea of the perfect relaxation room.
A selection of big, comfy chairs and couches with various cushions and afghans (the blankets, not the people); a good music system; a good TV and DVD player; plenty of natural light and good lamp light for reading.

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Night Rider's Lament - Nanci Griffith
2. 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (live) - Richard Thompson
3. Secret O' Life (live) - James Taylor
4. Get Up John (live) - Emmylou Harris
5. Lonely Stranger (live) - Eric Clapton
6. Candy - Martin Sexton
7. Get Yourself Another Fool - Peter Keane
8. History Will Teach Us Nothing - Sting
9. Arkansas Traveler - Michelle Shocked
10. The Ragtime Dance - Scott Joplin (not sure who the pianist is)

Halfway There

For those of you playing along in our studio audience, today was Day 40 of the limoncello experience. Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion on December 12!

New and Improved Verbatim!

Wow, ask people what they want and you get answers!

So far the niftiest thing I've done is add a Google search function to my sidebar (thanks, Ricky!). So, you can plug in "fried chicken" to find all my attempts to master the fine art of deep-frying, or "Mad Hot Ballroom" to see what I thought of that movie, or whatever.

I've decided not to file my posts into categories (at least not yet), because so many of them are just my blabbing about nothing in particular, but I do hope to figure out a fairly quick and easy way to provide links to my recipes and book/movie reviews. I'll let you know when that happens.

I also took Nina's advice and commanded my comments to run chronologically from top to bottom instead of the other way 'round. She rightly (and politely) pointed out that it's easier to read down than up. Duh!

Fresca!

I don't drink soda. The regular versions have way too much sugar, and I try to steer clear of NutraSweet and Splenda, as I've surely ranted mentioned before. If I really feel the need for something carbonated, I'm very happy with flavored seltzer, particularly black cherry. I usually buy Adirondack or Polar or just store brand. They have no calories, no sugar, no sodium, and no evil chemicals—just a hint of flavor in carbonated water.

However, James had to go and break the news to me that Fresca, that perplexingly pleasing grapefruit soda from yesteryear, now comes in a "black cherry citrus" version. I am a sucker for black cherry. So I went and bought some—throwing caution to the NutraSweet wind!—and am hooked. Oh, yum.

Aiming for User-Friendly

For those of you who read verbatim on anything resembling a regular basis, I've been thinking of ways I could make it more useful:

1. I see a lot of blogs that have a sidebar feature providing links to the last few comments that have come in. Would any of you find that interesting or useful?

2. I've been considering for some time adding links in the sidebar to all the recipes, book reviews, and movie reviews that I've done. Whattaya think?

3. I've got all my past posts in the Archives, I've got an RSS feed, I've got my e-mail addy . . . what else? I'm open to suggestions.