Catching up on the Classics

 Reading

Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin is a brutal and powerful book. I felt as if it was providing a deep look into past prejudices and how they destroyed their targets: namely, gay men. Published in 1956, it must have been a shock to readers — or perhaps the readers of that time held such negative views of gay men that they were insensitive to the impact of the self-hatred experienced by the narrator. Baldwin is brilliant in describing his character’s clear consciousness of how his peers must have detested him. I wonder if some readers were indifferent to the way the character bows to society’s cruel judgement of him, a judgement that he internalized. I chose this book because I wanted to read about Paris in the 1950s, and of course there is plenty of Paris atmosphere in the book, but it’s the ugly atmosphere of low-life bars and poverty.

In a 1956 review in the New York Times, I found little sympathy for the suffering of the narrator: “Much of the novel is laid in scenes of squalor, with a background of characters as grotesque and repulsive as any that can be found in Proust's ‘Cities of the Plain.’ But even as one is dismayed by Mr. Baldwin's materials, one rejoices in the skill with which he renders them.” (Granville Hicks, “Tormented Triangle,” NYT October 14, 1956)

The Dream is one of the twenty novels in Zola’s series titled Les Rougon-Macquart, published between 1871 and 1893. Each volume in the series highlights a character or a family that typify some aspect of French society in the second half of the 19th century in France. I’m enjoying The Dream, which is about the life of a young girl — an adopted orphan — in a town around 2 hours outside Paris: that is, two hours by the transportation that was available in the 19th century. The plot is slightly exaggerated with the angelic nature of the girl and her extreme religiosity, despite Zola’s famous antipathy to religion. She has a dream to marry a wealthy prince, and the book follows this as if it’s a fairy tale, not a story about an orphan taken in by a middle class couple. It’s lyrical (as the reviews all note) but I also feel a sense of irony in the much-too-happy plot.

I’ve only read a few of the novels in this amazing and fascinating series (maybe I’ve read six of them), and my ambition is to read more, as well as to read some of Zola’s other novels. I think I like his brutal realism better than this maybe fake idyl. 

And Watching…

Hitchcock Classic (1938)

Another Hitchcock classic but not quite as wonderful.  (1936)

All-around classic with Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon,
directed by Billy Wilder (1959)

…and my Favorite Classic

Blog post © 2025 mae sander

Far Away in Trinidad

This is a retrospective post, looking back at our December trip.

On our birding trip to Trinidad, we spent the last two days in a remote part of the island looking for a rare bird, the piping guan.  In this post I am showing a few scenes from our stay at a beautiful seaside hotel where people go to relax, to watch the turtles that breed on the beaches (but not in December), and to watch birds. 

First, a mural on the local elementary school.

A hotel on the far side of the island

We stayed here, far from the populated areas of the island, because we wanted to 
see the very rare bird, the piping guan. This is a follow up to show the hotel.
I’ve shown this image before.

Beautiful tropical wood on the door of the hotel reception.

More wood.

Our hotel room and its balcony

The Rare Piping Guan

Shared with Sami’s murals

Photos © 2024 mae sander

At My House

 Cooking 

Dinner for Guests

We hadn’t cooked any recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking lately, so when we started planning a meal for friends, we thought about an old favorite: casserole-roasted chicken with tarragon. If you want to get amazing results you have to do every step the way that Julia Child says to do it. So in addition to the recipe in the old favorite book, we watched the 60-year-old TV episode where Julia Child showed American cooks how to make this dish. Back then, it was revolutionary!

These original episodes of The French Chef are of course in black-and-white.
As you may know, Julia Child’s cooking show pretty much invented Food TV.

Julia Child’s recipe  recommends roasted potatoes and peas with mushrooms as side dishes. OK.

Unbelievably delicious!

Our guests.

Best Breakfast

 Another great bake by Len.

Reading

A bit of reading about Tokyo for a change of scene. Tokyo on Foot is a delightful collection of images.
Thanks to Emma at Words and Peace for recommending these books.

Reading next: classic haiku.

This is not one of the best novels by Patricia Highsmith.
I didn’t like any of the tediously portrayed characters and they weren’t
quirky enough to be interesting. 

Watching Peter Ustinov’s Poirot

We wondered why we hadn’t seen these Agatha Christie films before. Each one has an all-star cast.
They have a delightful light touch. We also watched Kenneth Branagh’s Orient Express: very heavy-handed.

The Weather is Grim

Woody, the Michigan Groundhog saw no shadow and (as superstition has it) said no to more winter.
I agree that winter should end, but unfortunately, Woody is only right 35% of the time. (Photo Credit)
The “weather” in our nation isn’t so great either.

What I was doing two years ago

Whale watching in Baja California, February, 2023.

Photos © 2023, 2025 mae sander

Shared with Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz and Eileen’s Critters.

Witches

 

New Witch in my kitchen window.

The old witch.

Photos © 2025 mae sander

Girl in Hyacinth Blue

I have now read almost all of Susan Vreeland’s books, and enjoyed them all. Girl in Hyacinth Blue tells the story of a painting, an imaginary painting by Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675), the indescribably wonderful Dutch painter. Though the painting in the novel is imaginary, it’s described vividly as it seems to several characters who are enchanted by its power:

“The girl in the painting had a blue smock. How glorious to drape oneself in blue—the blue of the sky, of Heaven, of the pretty little lake at Westerbork with the tiny blue brooklime that grew along the banks, the blue of hyacinths and Delftware and all fine things.” (p.76)

I enjoyed reading this book, which is a series of small stories about several owners of the imagined painting going back in time until we meet the artist. The awe in which the work of Vermeer is held in the book is something that I can really grasp, as every Vermeer painting I have ever seen has captivated my thoughts and stayed with me as a vivid memory. I believe that in the course of visiting many museums, I have seen over half the surviving works by Vermeer. I’m adding some images of Vermeer paintings that I was thinking about as I read the novel.

Two Vermeer Paintings of a Girl in Blue 

Lady Seated at a Virginal

Woman Reading a Letter

Seeing Vermeer Paintings

Last year we visited The Haague and saw the Vermeers at the Mauritshaus. one of the best museums in the world because it is small and every painting is a masterpiece.

Vermeer’s View of Delft as we saw it.

The tiny figures on the shore.

The museum.

Blog post © 2025, photos © 2023 mae sander

Food and Prices in the New Year

In My Kitchen January 2025

Kitchen prep and its rewards…Shared with Sherry at Sherry’s Pickings…

Ingredients for lamb chops au poivre, a New York Times recipe.

A nice red wine was good with this dish, which I made using a New York Times recipe.

Len made this dinner, using another NYT recipe.
About half the meals depicted here are his, and about half are mine.

First pizza of 2025…

The second pizza — different cheese.

A recipe from Ottolenghi’s Flavor.

The famous Roman dish cacio e pepe was the subject of scientific research by 8 Italian physicists.
The conclusions of the study supported the method of Ottolengi but did not mention him.

Ottolenghi and his pasta.

A very delicious chicken dish: another from the New York Times

Sauce Grenobloise contains lemon, capers, and butter. Its origin is in Grenoble, France.
The sauce is traditionally served with trout or other mild fish.

Len’s rye bread topped with broiled steak and mushroom sauce.

I love Len’s rye bread and convinced him to bake two more loaves.
This time the accompanying dinner is meatballs, fruit salad, vegetable salad, and savory sour cream sauce.
The meatballs were a new product: chilled and ready to cook from Trader Joe’s.

For Lunar New Year: Fish-Fragrant Eggplant, smashed cucumbers, and buckwheat noodles.

On the Fridge: Magnets, Of Course

Bird magnets again this month.

I now have bird magnets on the side of the fridge, not just on the front.

Birds shared with Eileen’s Critters

All photos © 2024 mae sander for maefood.blogspot.com

Food Prices

This week: egg prices ranged from $3.49 to $6.99 a dozen, with the highest price being charged for pasture-raised organic eggs. (In 2020, the average price of eggs was around $1 per dozen.)

In kitchen news this month, the ever-rising cost of food is a central topic, especially as the campaign promises of our new overlords — promises that food prices would be reduced — were almost immediately acknowledged as a lie. Prices for many foods, especially produce, are likely to take another jump in US supermarkets if tariffs are levied on Mexican imports. Specifically: “The United States imported $9.9 billion worth of vegetables and more than $11 billion worth of fruit and frozen juices from Mexico last year.” (source)

Especially noted in recent discussions of food costs is the globally increasing price of cocoa and all chocolate products. I have a way to compare prices from the past with current prices for the same items; specifically, amazon keeps a record of my purchases, including orders from Whole Foods. Thus I can see what I paid in the past and compare to the price they are charging now for the same items. For example: Pepperidge Farm Milano chocolate cookies ordered from amazon have gone from $7.32 for three bags in 2020 to $10.50 for the same product at amazon.com this week.

From Investopia, I found a discussion about international commodity prices for cocoa. To quote their “takeaway” points about cocoa prices at the end of 2024:

• Global cocoa prices have surged to almost $12,000 per metric ton, an increase of 88% in just three months.
• While production is expected to increase by 11% this year, it won't be enough to rebuild depleted inventories.
• Chocolate makers typically respond to rising prices by reducing bar sizes, adding fillers, and using more artificial flavors. (source)

Prices of tropical and sub-tropical commodities like chocolate, coffee, bananas, and olive oil have been rising because of climate change affecting the areas where these products grow. Crop yields for wheat, rice, soy, potatoes, and feed crops are also being negatively affected by climate change.

The rapid increase in the price of eggs is due to a widespread outbreak of bird flu, which is infecting large numbers of chicken farms. This may be relevant only in the US, see this article in the NYT — "Egg prices are high." Locally, here in Michigan, the cost of eggs is also increasing because a new state law took effect on January 1 that requires large-scale egg producers to install cage-free housing with nest boxes, perches, and other animal welfare measures.

This week 365 brand olive oil is $15.99.
The record of my order from 2020 shows a price of $12.99. 

If you prefer to see a chart, here’s the US Bureau of Labor Statistics presentation of the average price of ground beef over the past 30 years in the US. Current price: the highest in history.

Shared with Deb at Readerbuzz.