Tag: books

Cooking is too much fun.

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Boiled Beef (with vegetables) with a loaf of medieval-style bread as a trencher.

I have been cooking historical recipes for many years, mostly stuff from 18th and 19th century America.  I like cooking anyway, and as a historian I find that sort of thing interesting on several levels.  More recently I have been trying to make medieval recipes, and so for the last few years I have started picking up some medieval cookbooks and reading some stuff online about it.  It seems a lot more difficult, I think.  And although I have managed to successfully make a few things  (this spinach tart turned out really well, I think), I have just not found a lot of medieval recipes that really made me want to try them.

Until a few weeks ago, when Kelly got me A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Companion Cookbook.

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What I’ve been reading lately

While both Geoff and I have spent a ton of time at work lately (this is my first day off in 11 days I think) I’m in the middle of a fascinating book and I’ve been emailed some really fascinating blog links.  Now it’s my turn to share them with you.

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Objects in Space

I have had an interest in astronomy for much of my life, and for much of the past 15 years or so that interest has focused on comets and asteroids.  I even own a fragment of a meteorite that I keep on a shelf with my science books (along with my jar of ash from Mt. St. Helens – that’s another story).  Years ago I wrote a paper on the Impact Theory as the cause of the dinosaur extinction and have been fascinated by the subject ever since, even going as far as to visit several impact crater sites in the Southeastern United States: Wetumpka; Flynn Creek; and Wells Creek.  And I even managed to have an e-mail discussion with the Dr. Walter Alvarez that I was able to incorporate into my paper.  I dare say that was one of the most memorable and meaningful experiences of my life.

This week, two distinctive events have brought the subject of cosmic impacts on the Earth back to the forefront of my mind: the spectacularly close passing of Asteroid 2012 DA14 tonight; and the equally spectacular destruction of a slightly smaller meteorite (about 1/3 the size of 2012 DA14) over the Ural Mountains that actually caused damage to buildings and injuries to bystanders.

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I met David Sedaris, again.

The first time I met David Sedaris was at a book signing several years ago.  I met him again in 2010 when Geoff and I saw him read and sign Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk at the Harvard Book Store.  Last Tuesday I worked a private event for the book store in which I got to spend about an hour and a half just sitting and chatting with David Sedaris.

Yes, there are times when my life is awesome.

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Somebody read my mind

I’m sure it’s not unusual to dream of having a house with secret passages in it.  I know that I had that dream all the time when I was a little girl.  Apparently there are other people who did as well.

Now some of them actually live in them.

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Nick Flynn, Ty Burr, Amanda Palmer, & Neil Gaiman

Regular readers around here know that Geoff and I are huge fans of The Bloggess.  We also happen to think that Neil Gaiman is pretty awesome and that Amanda Palmer is pretty cool.

I signed up to work an event featuring Nick Flynn and Ty Burr and who was more surprised than me when Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman showed up?  Bloggess?  This is for you.

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The unstudied aspects of the Civil War

I know that to some people, the idea that there is anything left to study about the Civil War is doubtful.  Estimates are that some 50,000 books have been written about the Civil War.  And yet, much to my own frustration, many topics remain unstudied.   The one that has frustrated me more than any other in recent years is civilian casualties of the war.

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Serendipity and Portuguese Food

Yesterday I wore a polo/tennis type shirt with a Portuguese flag as the logo on the chest.  Kelly got it for me as a birthday present this year.  I wore it to work because those kinds of short sleeve shirts are a lot more comfortable for me.  Anyway, near the end of the day a visitor walked up to me and asked me if I was Portuguese and could speak the language.

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