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If on a winter’s night a traveler

March 2nd, 2014 · Books, Books in 2014

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#8. If on a winter’s night a traveler by Italo Calvino
Translated by William Weaver
Paperback, 260 pages
First published 1979
Read on Kindle

“Reading is going toward something that is about to be, and no one yet knows what it will be.”
— Italo Calvino, If on a winter’s night a traveler

I’m not sure that I can really describe Calvino’s novel – a puzzle, a challenge for the reader, an essay on reading itself. Calvino made me think, and laugh, and smile through this entire book. This was a joy to read.

” How can you keep up with her, this woman who is always reading another book besides the one before her eyes, a book that does not yet exist, but which, since she wants it, cannot fail to exist?
— Italo Calvino, If on a winter’s night a traveler

A large part of the novel deals with language, translation, and the evolution of text which I read with deep fascination. One part of my day job is leading globalization and making an experience that was devised and created for one language, feel fluid and just as relevant in ten different languages. It requires careful choices, flexibility, and ingenuity to get the feeling just so. On that note, I haven’t read a work of translated fiction in a while, and I found William Weaver’s translation to be impeccable. After finishing the novel, I read this interview with Weaver and Calvino published in the Paris Review. It’s a great piece.

“Your house, being the place in which you read, can tell us the position books occupy in your life, if they are a defense you set up to keep the outside world at a distance, if they area dream into which you sink as if into a drug, or bridges you cast toward the outside, toward the world that interests you so much that you want to multiply and extend its dimensions through books.”
― Italo Calvino, If on a winter’s night a traveler

I’m sure I’ll find myself re-reading this novel in the future, and I’ll definitely be reading more of Calvino’s writing. The man is prolific. Next on my list is Why Read the Classics, a series of essays, summarized recently by Maria Popova of Brainpickings here: 14 Definitions of What Makes a Classic.

Do pick up this book!

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March Motivation

March 1st, 2014 · Fitness

118 For Boston

My motivation to eat never wanes, exercise on the other hand, takes a little bit of coaxing. Here’s how I’m taking on March!

+ I have two goals with RunKeeper this year – run 500 miles, and walk 1000. I’m a little behind on both right now because of the weather, but looking forward to knocking out the miles in the next few months. I’ll just pretend that I didn’t look at the weather report for the week right now. I’m feeling extra motivated because of our current push at RunKeeper (my day job) – running 118 million collective miles from March 1st through April 21st to celebrate the 118th Boston Marathon, the people of Boston, and the incredible fitness community that we’re so lucky to be a part of. I’ll be hash-tagging (yep, I said it) #118forBoston with my trips on RunKeeper, and cheering as the miles go up at 118forBoston.com

+ I’m also participating in FitFluential’s #FFMarchMiles – 100 Miles in March challenge – walking, running, or hiking 100 miles by the end of the month. There’s a very useful little calendar to help plan out the 100 miles – it averages out to about 3.2 miles a day – which I’ve printed and put up on the wall.

+ I don’t have ready access to a pool, but if you do, you might consider this fitness challenge – Healthy Tipping Point’s “Ironman March” – swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and run 26.2 miles – instead of a day, you have a month to do it. On that note, pool access, I’d like to have it! I’d love to do a sprint tri this year, but am working my way up to a bike and a swim, neither of which I’ve done in ages.

+ And! For the next five weeks I’m participating in the CrossFit Opens! Five weeks of challenging workouts, pushing myself to the very edge of my ability, and beyond. We’ve already made it through week one, and I’ve conquered one of my longest elusive exercises – the “double under”, ie: two passes with the jump rope per jump instead of one.

Onwards!!

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Weekly Meal Plan

March 1st, 2014 · Meal Planning

Asparagus

Oh, for shame! All I can say is that not-quite-in-season, imported produce is a temptress, and I am weak. WEAK! When I lived in San Francisco, it was a whole lot easier to turn down the stuff, but here, in this freezing grey northeast, I must admit that I succumbed to the $2.99 bunch of non-organic-flew-thousands-of-miles-to-get-to-my-plate-asparagus that was on sale today. They were thin, crunchy, and flavorful, and in my fantasy, I pretended that spring has sprung.

Week of Saturday, March 1st

Saturday: Leftover cumin braised chicken thighs, steamed asparagus, and Annie’s mac & cheese. I left the store tonight with part of my cart looking like an eight year old had picked out the contents. There’s also a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ‘Cinnamon Buns’ in the freezer now. (Do not head to the store hungry.)

Sunday: Pork tenderloin with sweet potato wedges, avocado, and roasted brussels sprouts. This doesn’t feel very Oscar worthy, but I’ll probably be reading an excellent book tomorrow during dinner (I’m captivated by the early review copy of Delancey that I’m reading right now!), and so it seems like a suitable enough meal.

Monday: Shakshuka (eggs simmered in a tomato sauce), and salad. This is perpetually my favorite quick meal to put together. Sometimes I’ll add roasted red peppers, other times, a little feta. It’s light, it’s vegetarian, and it’s terribly satisfying.  

Tuesday: Thai chicken curry legs. I have a little container of Mae Ploy Thai yellow curry paste that I picked up at H-Mart a few weeks ago, and a few spoonfuls go into the pot with some chicken and a little bit of stock. I’ll likely add a few cups of roasted carrots, and a can of full fat coconut milk.

Wednesday: Turkish spinach and ground beef. This dish is really more spinach than anything else, served with a little bit of garlicky yogurt sauce. 

Thursday: Wing it. By wing it, I’d love to make some Greek shrimp (or fish) with tomato and feta, but it’ll depend on what I can find fresh on Thursday evening. I’ll swing by the store to pick it up after work, instead of making my purchase on the weekend. 

Friday: Out. 

What’s on your table this week?

–– Sam

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Richard Sax’s Crinkly Baked Whole Pears

February 25th, 2014 · Baking, Books

Baked Whole Pears

There was a period of time in the mid 2000′s when Richard Sax’s Classic Home Desserts was out of print, and there were rumors of it going for outlandish black market prices. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) it was republished in 2010, before I had to seriously contemplate selling my much loved copy for a large windfall. One of my favorite sections of the cookbook is the chapter on ‘Compotes and Baked Fruit’, because while most of the time I can’t be bothered to make elaborate desserts, cooked fruit is always easy, and feels virtuous.

Crinkly Baked Pears
adapted from Richard Sax’s Classic Home Desserts
with inspiration from Edible Boston

This recipe, more of a method, quite adaptable too, is for pears, slowly baked in their skins, in a bath of fortified wine, sugar, and spices. Preheat the oven to 300 F. In a shallow ceramic baking dish, mix a cup of Lillet – a citrusy fortified wine*– with half a cup of brown sugar, a cinnamon stick, a small knob of ginger, three or four allspice berries, and a few cloves if you have them. You could also add a strip of lemon zest and some vanilla, but I often make these without. Nestle 6-8 firm Bosc pears in the wine bath, stems up if you can, and bake for about two hours, basting every 15-30 minutes (or however often you’d like a taste of the luscious syrupy goodness) until the pears are tender, and the skins have begun to wrinkle. Remove from the oven, let cool slightly, and serve on their own, or with some ice cream, and plenty of the wine-sugar-syrup. Store the leftovers in the fridge, if you have them and reheat in the morning for a perfect breakfast.

*Sax’s original recipe calls for Marsala or dry red wine, but I opted for the fortified Lillet this go around. I’ve had success with Marsala, and Port as well. I also cut the amount of sugar in the recipe, and substitute brown sugar for white, because I find that brown gives it a little bit more depth of flavor that stands up well to the spices.

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The Devil in the White City

February 23rd, 2014 · Books, Books in 2014

Devil in the white city

#7. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Paperback, 447 pages (Vintage)
First published October 17th, 2002 by Crown
Borrowed from A.S.

I’ve been meaning to update my reading list over here. I’ve managed to make a large dent in my book stacks in February, and I’m up to my 13th book for the year. Number seven was a book that’s been sitting in the house for months, borrowed from a friend. Feeling like it had overstayed it’s welcome in the house, I finally picked it up and read it in a weekend, barely surfacing from the pages to eat.

Made up of several (non-fiction) sub-plots, the book revolves around the World’s Columbian Exposition (the Chicago World’s Fair). A substantial portion of the book is devoted to architectural history – the outstanding feat of Daniel Burnham, Frederick Law Olmsted, and the veritable who’s who of architects of the day – building the shining White City on a timeframe that seems impossible even now to imagine. The other half of the book is devoted to a deliciously evil serial killer – making it a poor choice of reading for the evenings that I was alone in the house. Weeks later I’ve been thinking about this book almost daily. Loved it!

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