verbatim

Feeling Better, Watching Movies

I think I can safely say that the worst of the sciatica is behind me! I'm no longer in pain, just minor discomfort. My chiro (whom I credit for my relatively speedy recovery) says that the tingling in my baby toe will likely be the last thing to go. I can live with that. Now when I hear about people who suffered through this for 6 months, 8 months, a whole YEAR, I just shudder.

I've done nothing much lately except work, but I did watch two movies. The first was recommended to me by Verbatim reader Carlotta after I reviewed the novel Me Before You. It's called The Intouchables, and it's a much lighter (and French) version of the same-ish story: Philippe is a very wealthy and aristocratic quadriplegic who hires Driss, an uneducated black guy from the projects, to be his caretaker. An unlikely friendship is born as each learns how the other half lives (both good and bad). It's based on a true story, and at the end they show you some photos of the real duo. It was really nice (and even funny), and had none of the depressing parts of Me Before You about contemplating suicide.

The other movie was 3 Days to Kill, starring Kevin Costner, who really wasn't awful though the movie overall was just meh. He plays a CIA agent who's told he has just a few months to live because of brain and lung cancer. He goes to Paris to try to patch things up with his estranged wife and daughter. But meanwhile, another CIA agent entices him to take on one last mission in exchange for a possibly life-saving experimental drug. This agent is played by someone named Amber Heard, and it was quite possibly the most ridiculous role I've ever seen in an action movie, or maybe it was just her awful acting. In any event, she was not even 1% believable, whereas Costner's character was really pretty well written. Anyhow, it's fun and exciting but not even remotely something I'd say you "have to" see. Pete was home sick and we were looking for something On Demand that appealed to both of us, so there you go. 

Books for Cooks

Hey, remember me? I apologize that my blog was down again—Typepad keeps getting hacked lately. And other than that, I've just been busy doing, well, not much of anything worth writing about.

The sciatica gets better, then worse, then different.... I guess it's just going to be a "two steps forward, one step back" kind of recovery. When I woke up Saturday, I thought it was completely gone, but by Sunday it was back. Sigh.

Meanwhile, a bunch of cookbooks I edited last year have come out recently, so I figured I'd share those with you.

Michael Ruhlman's one-topic wonder, Egg, came out last month. The subtitle is "A Culinary Exploration of the World's Most Versatile Ingredient," and that's exactly what you'll get. To showcase the egg's versatility, he encloses a pull-out flowchart showing all the ways you can use the egg: in its shell or not, whole or separated, as an ingredient or on its own, and so on. Each category has a handful of recipes to show you what happens to the egg under those conditions. Omelets! Meringues! Buttercream frosting! Quiche! Mayonnaise! You get the idea. The flowchart was a nightmare to edit, but it's pure genius. And, none of Michael's books would be complete without his wife Donna's gorgeous photos throughout—I'm especially fond of her "process shots," which illustrate the techniques that Michael describes. (Although her photos of the finished dishes are what will get you into the kitchen, and fast.) What a team.

 

 

 

Cheryl and Bill Jamison, who know more about real barbecue than the rest of the world put together, have revised their barbecue bible, Smoke & Spice. It's a doozy, with hundreds of recipes, all the how-to information you could need, and, of course, lots of very funny anecdotes. I've worked with the Jamisons before, and they are delightful—and really know their stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a book that will solve all of your "what do I make for dinner" worries for the next year or so: Marinades by Lucy Vaserfirer. The book is organized around different types of marinades—400 of them!—each with suggestions about what would go well with them. So, for instance, if you like the sound of the Raspberry Chipotle Marinade, she gives the recipe for using it with baby back ribs but also says it would work well with chicken pieces, pork chops, or salmon fillets. Mix up the marinade and put it in a resealable plastic bag with your choice of meat, and then fire up the grill when you're ready to get dinner on the table. Easy-peasy!

 

 

 

 

I've done quite a few vegetarian and vegan cookbooks with Robin Robertson. Her recipes are always delicious and easy to follow. She recently updated her classic, Vegan Planet, and I can assure you that everyone—from vegans to omnivores like me—can find loads of wonderful recipes in here. It's no wonder the first edition sold more than 100,000 copies over the last decade! 

 

 

More Activities for the Couch-Bound

Apparently one can also watch movies while lying on the couch whinging about one's sciatica. 

I'd been eager to see Inside Llewyn Davis ever since I heard it was being made, but it took me this long to get around to it. I did buy the CD (yes, I still buy actual CDs) and have been listening to it in the car quite a bit.

Oscar Isaac stars as an early-1960s-era folk musician (by all accounts, modeled after Dave Van Ronk musically, though not in character) trying to make it big in New York City and beyond. He's a terrific musician and singer, but he's a real bastard and seems intent on sabotaging his own happiness and success at every turn. You just want to grab him by the shoulders and shake him. 

It's a typical Coen brothers movie in most ways—you got your loser title character, your got your hopelessness and despair at the meaning of life, you got your surreal interlude with John Goodman, you got your great music. (Oh, and this time you also got your Justin Timberlake, who never fails to impress me with his performance, and the risks he'll take—here he's a dorky nice-guy singer.) Nothing much happens, and that's the point. 

If you're a fan of old folky music (as Davis says at the start of every set, "If it was never new, and it never gets old, then it’s a folk song."), you'll definitely want to see this, and get the soundtrack, which also includes songs that are not in the movie—an old Dylan (unreleased studio version of "Farewell"), a Van Ronk, a new duet with Marcus Mumford, etc.

From the sublime to the ridiculous: At the Newseum in DC, there was a mostly silly exhibit about "Anchorman 2." I'm not a Will Ferrell fan; I think he's a one-trick pony and I don't love that one trick. Sure, I laughed at his part in "Wedding Crashers," but that's about it. (I'm aware that I am so much in the minority that I may be the only one here.) So it turned out that only Andy and Pete had ever seen the original "Anchorman," so we all watched it. Yes, it's funny. Yes, I could've lived without watching it.

Book Report

The only good thing about this sciatica business is that I'm only comfortable in a half-reclining position, which lends itself to lots of reading. 

First I read Serena by Ron Rash, which I'm told is soon to be a major! motion! picture! starring the seemingly inseparable Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. Here's the synopsis from the New Yorker:

Set in 1929, in the rugged mountains of North Carolina, Rash's novel is a tightly knit tale of industrial development, greed, and betrayal. George Pemberton and his new bride, Serena, maintain a close watch over a burgeoning logging empire, dealing with their workers while fighting off the efforts of environmental activists to expand the country's network of national parks. As the title character, a Depression-era Lady Macbeth wholly comfortable in the wilderness drives her husband to commit increasingly malevolent acts, he must also contend with the reemergence of a woman with whom he had an illegitimate child years earlier. Rash's evocative rendering of the blighted landscape and the tough characters who inhabit it recalls both John Steinbeck and Cormac McCarthy, while the malignant character of Serena, who projects a stark unflinching certainty about her actions, propels his finely paced story. 

There were also impressive blurbs all over the back from the likes of Anna Quindlen and Pat Conroy, and the book was a NYT "notable book" and a Post "best book of the year." 

I liked it a lot, and I read it cover to cover without wanting to stop, but it was hardly one of the best books I've ever read. The place and time were conjured effectively, the characters were interesting (I especially enjoyed reading the dialog among the loggers), and the plot was gripping, but it's not the sort of book I'll ever think about again now that I've read it. So I recommend it as a good read but will stop short of calling it a must read.

Then came my book group assignment, Mary Coin by Marisa Silver. This novel imagines the story of the woman in Dorothea Lange's most famous photo, Migrant Mother (or, in any event, a similar woman), and the photographer who snapped the shot. It also weaves in the story of a modern-day professor of social history whose family owned the California orchards where many migrant workers worked during the Depression. The story is very moving and poignant without being sappy, and the characters felt very real to me—indeed, I would have liked to get to know them even better. There's both the actual story to consider—filled with themes of love and loss and hope—and the whole question of what a photo actually means, and who "owns" it. Do read this one, and suggest it to your book group if you're looking for a good discussion.

Finally, I read Longbourn by Jo Baker, which was a delight. Baker has rewritten/adapted Pride and Prejudice from the point of view of the Bennet family servants. I was skeptical at first but swayed by the rave reviews, and I was not disappointed. The writing is terrific (some of it worthy of Austen herself!), the plot kept me going (even though I knew what would happen, since it pretty much mirrors P&P), and the details of life "belowstairs" were realistic and fascinating. I consider this novel both a tribute to Austen and a success on its own merits.

Sci-Atica! Sci-Atica! Sci-Atica!

Yes, I'm ready to riot! I'm not one usually felled by sickness or injury, and I play hurt no matter what, but this sciatica is really doing a number on me.

My chiropractor has declared me an enigma—just what everyone wants, to be a medical mystery, amiright?—because it completely went away and then came back with such a vengeance. I'm starting to believe that I subconsciously willed away the pain because I knew otherwise our vacation would be ruined. If that's the case, I'm determined to will it away again (but so far not having much luck). 

Before vacation, I could stand well enough, but sitting was unbearable; now it's the opposite. Lying down was and remains the best option, so fortunately I can sleep at night, and I've been doing little else besides lounging on the couch reading, doing crosswords, and playing games on my iPad. (Anyone up for a round of LetterPress? Scrabble? Words with Friends? Scramble with Friends? Hangin' with Friends? My user name is "wisekaren.")

It's much worse in the morning, which seems weird because I've just been resting all night. But that first hour or two I can barely stand it. I'm taking ibuprofen just for its anti-inflammatory properties; I'm not one for pain killers and in any event I'm worried that if I mask the pain, I won't get the signal when I'm in a bad position and need to move or risk impinging the nerve further. And I'm icing frequently throughout the day. As Andy (who knows from pain) has taught me, to reduce the inflammation by even a hair could be the difference between the nerve pain and normalcy.