• My Top 10 favs of 2018: A year spent reading, watching and listening to stories

    December 16, 2018 / 2 Comments

    Amidst the madness of the world, I consumed 54 books, 35 movies, dozens of TV programs and many podcasts this year. These were my favorites.

    (Note: Not all were released during the past 365 days.)

    MY FAVORITE BOOKS

    1. “The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century” by Kirk W. Johnson

    2. “The Outsider” by Stephen King

    3. “Neither Snow nor Rain: A History of the United States Postal Service” by Devin Leonard

    4. “The Name of the Wind” by Patrick Rothfuss

    5. “The Wave: In Pursuit of the Rogues, Freaks and Giants of the Ocean” by Susan Casey

    6. “It’s All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World’s Family Tree” by A.J. Jacobs

    7. “The Little Book of Lykke: The Danish Search for the World’s Happiest People” by Meik Wiking

    8. “Elevation” by Stephen King

    9. “The Year of Living Danishly: My Twelve Months Unearthing the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country” by Helen Russell

    10. “Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker

    (Honorable mentions: “Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader” by Anne Fadiman, “Dinner with Edward: A Story of an Unexpected Friendship” by Isabel Vincent, “The Switch” by Joseph Finder, “I Remember Nothing: and Other Reflections” by Nora Ephron, “From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death” by Caitlin Doughty, “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury, “Cherries in Winter” by Suzan Colon, “Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks: A Librarian’s Love Letters and Breakup Notes to the Books in Her Life” by Annie Spence, “Our Bodies, Our Shelves: A Collection Of Library Humor” by Roz Warren, “How to Find Love in a Book Shop” by Veronica Henry and “Flat Broke with Two Goats” by Jennifer McGaha)

    Overall reading ratio: I read 16,276 pages across 54 books — 51% fiction, 49% nonfiction; 43% male, 57% female.

    MY FAVORITE TV SHOWS

    1. Sense8
    2. The Great British Baking Show
    3. Love Your Garden
    4. Grace and Frankie
    5. The Kominsky Method
    6. 9-1-1
    7. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
    8. One Day at a Time
    9. A Million Little Things
    10. Escape to the Country

    (Honorable mentions: Timeless, The Great British Baking Show: Master Class, Santa Clarita Diet, This Is Us, Big Dreams Small Spaces, Jessica Jones, The Punisher, Elementary, The Good Doctor, Madam Secretary, Grimm, Escape to the Continent, How I Met Your Mother, Salt Fat Acid Heat, Castle Rock and Altered Carbon.)

    MY FAVORITE MOVIES

    1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
    2. Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold
    3. Last Flag Flying
    4. Feminists: What Were They Thinking
    5. The Man Who Invented Christmas
    6. Ready Player One
    7. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
    8. Unrest
    9. Between the Folds
    10. Avengers: Infinity War

    (Honorable mentions: Bohemian Rhapsody, Shape of Water, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Molly’s Game, Love Between the Covers, Black Panther, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Tag, Game Night and Skyscraper.)

    MY FAVORITE PODCASTS

    1. Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me
    2. Small Town Dicks
    3. Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda
    4. Criminal
    5. Death, Sex and Money
    6. The Anthropocene Reviewed
    7. Fresh Air
    8. Nocturne
    9. Dear Hank and John
    10. The Daily

    (Honorable mentions: The Bookshelf, Everything Is Alive, 99% Invisible, Radiolab, Rumble Strip, Sidedoor, This Is Love, Let Me Google That, Awards Chatter, Reply All, Word of Mouth, The Sporkful, Outside/In, Something Wild, The Penguin Podcast, The Science of Happiness, Remembering the Passed, Back Story, You Must Remember This and I Was There Too.)

  • Anger

    The email subject line read: Are you ready for the 2020 election?

    December 11, 2018 / 1 Comment

    My first thought was quite laden with profanity. I’d print it here, but I’m sure your imagination can fill in the gaps. Let’s just say I became a giant squid of anger.

    The frustration and fury I felt was quickly followed by some rather uncharitable thoughts that involved lashing the sender 40 times with a wet noodle until a promise was exacted to never write those words again.

    And then I remembered… It’s Christmastime, Walker. Ho ho ho, merry merry and all those silver bells ringing. I recalled my conscious decision to be more charitable during this season of joy and my plan to continue a practice of kindness into the new year.

    Fine.

    So, after taking a large gulp of hot tea and a few cleansing breaths, I calmly deleted the email without responding.

    This year has been politically dreadful. Actually, the political arena in America has been abominable since, oh, 2015. After all the death threats and rape threats and bomb threats, the political sign pollution, the endless ads, the doxxing, the interminable debates, the vicious tweets and the mountains of lies, I was well and truly ready to put all thoughts of elections firmly in the past and just enjoy the rest of the year.

    Due to my job, this is an impossible task. But for the sake of my health — nay, for the sake of my sanity — I have decided to do everything I can to avoid focusing too much on the past election cycle or dwelling on the next one. Particularly since it’s two FREAKIN’ YEARS AWAY, DAMN IT.

    Sorry.

    Sorry.

    Reminder to self: Love. Kindness. Goodwill toward all.

    Deep breaths.

  • Typewriter - Once upon a time

    Quote of the day

    November 28, 2018 / 1 Comment

    “Remember that pianist who said that if he did not practice every day, he would know, if he did not practice for two days, the critics would know, after three days, his audience would know. A variation of this is true for writers. Not that your style, whatever it is, would melt out of shape in those few days. But what would happen is that the world would catch up with and try to sicken you. If you did not write every day, the poisons would accumulate and you would begin to die, or act crazy, or both. You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.” –Ray Bradbury

  • Making dough

    “You usually have to wait for that which is worth waiting for.”

    November 18, 2018 / No Comments

    The hardest part of baking isn’t the measuring and weighing of ingredients, the kneading and folding of dough or even cooking food at the proper temperature.

    It’s the waiting.

    Waiting for yeast to blossom. Waiting for dough to rise and rise again. Waiting for pastry to chill. Waiting for cream or egg whites to whip into clouds. Waiting for butter to brown. Waiting for butter to soften in a cold room. Waiting for cakes to come to room temperature so you can frost ’em. Waiting for mousse or puddings or creams or custards to set. Waiting for caramel to form. Waiting for pie to get cool enough to eat.

    All of this waiting feels uncomfortable when one lives a life in the rush of now, the breakneck pace of busy. Which is also why I appreciate baking’s long wait times. Waiting forces me to slow down, to take my time, to recognize that I’m trying to create good food — not fast food.

    Waiting requires patience and I feel like that’s a virtue few, if any of us, cultivate anymore. Perhaps we should.

    –Title quote by Craig Bruce

  • Making Xmas list

    Let the wild rumpus start

    November 13, 2018 / 1 Comment

    November is here — the damn elections are mostly over — and so begins the wondrous time of year involving comfort food, friends/family, music, light, snow, presents, holiday specials and (hopefully) goodwill toward others.

    Despite the madness of the past few weeks, I’m happy to say that I’ve made a serious dent in my holiday checklist:

    ✓ Make birthday/Christmas wishlist
    ✓ Buy Christmas wreath
    ✓ Buy Christmas cards/stamps
    ✓ Make the shopping list for Thanksgiving
    ✓ Request Xmas card addresses
    ✓ Finish Christmas shopping
    ✓ Shop for Thanksgiving dinner
    ✓ Shop for Christmas cookie ingredients
    Start baking!
    Prepare Thanksgiving feast
    Bake birthday cake
    Celebrate my 45th birthday
    Decorate the house for the holidays
    Write the Christmas letter and cards
    Buy any last-minute gifts
    Wrap all of the presents
    To the post office!
    Make the shopping list for Christmas
    Order roast beast
    Shop for Christmas dinners
    Keep baking!
    Buy Christmas trees
    Decorate Christmas trees
    Celebrate Yule
    Light the luminaries
    Go on our annual Christmas Eve drive of lights with the late, great Stuart McLean
    Prepare Christmas feast

    Are you ready for the holidays to start?