21 November 2008

snowy thursday

actually, it's friday. But the first day of real snow will always and forever be snowy thursday, in honor of the main day of snow we had in Swansea our first year there. the snow today didn't stick, but it floated in the air like fluff, resembling nothing so much as movie snow. ah, when reality matches representation.

I finished Tom Robbins' Jitterbug Perfume yesterday, a party gift from my sister's wedding earlier this month. the happy couple put books from their own collection about on the tables and guests, as a result, enjoyed fighting over and claiming various texts as the evening wore on. because readers know readers, and this means that your wedding guests know books. and so. the choices spoke volumes about the choosers. we scored three books: Robbins, Hesse's Steppenwolf, and a book about latitude. or longitude.


Robbins' book is about perfume, immortality, and beets. after a traumatic tooth-breakage in my childhood after which the dentist told me I could not eat anything that stained (blueberries, cherries, beets) I failed to explore the glory of this particular root until a trip to Australia when I was 18, when I ordered a ham sandwich "with salad." the last bit translates from Australian to American as: "with cold beet slice." This is not a good introduction to beets. While in Swansea we were reintroduced to beets through two avenues: Paris and the organic veg delivery. The latter involved a huge paper sack of various veggies, most of the time (for we were in Britain) various unidentifiable root vegetables. when beets came in the bag, they usually were accompanied by their greens--beautiful dark green leaves with blood red veins that stained everything in sight when cooked. And the beets were fabulous. Nothing tops roasted beets, parsnips and leeks. Nothing. Okay, maybe like two things top it. okay three. Paris because we discovered already cooked, prepared whole beets at the markets there. chop, add pepper, and eat with plain yogurt. could not be more fabulous.

turns out my tooth has not been overly stained, and my happiness has improved with the beets. I therefore recommend both Robbins' book and beets. good luck, and wear an apron.

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