Definitely Recommended

Recently, I picked up Barefoot Contessa at Home, which makes it the 3rd Ina Garten cookbook I own. I love Ina's foods because it is so down to earth and homey and with so many cookbooks on the market these days, a lot of the food has gotten sort of hoity-toity, but not so with Ina. She makes fresh simple food delicious and welcoming. Her pictures are gorgeous and she shares, especially in this newest book, how she makes her home in East Hampton lovely and tips on planning menus and entertaining. With the possible exception of the Summer Borscht (I'm not a fan of beets), I look forward to making every recipe in the book (and how many books can you say that about?), especially the Seared Tuna with Mango Chutney, the Summer Fruit Crostada, Shrimp Bisque, Mustard Roasted Potatoes, Pesto Pea Salad, Couscous with Pine Nuts, Blue Cheese Burgers...

A Little Confession

My name is Mandie and I am a PBS dork. It began early last year when we noticed that Kidnapped was on Masterpiece Theater on a Sunday evening. Then it was Miss Marple on Mystery, and the Inspector Lynley series on Mystery and they even threw in an excellent Sherlock Holmes and the Silk Stocking. Not to mention the excellent adaptation of Dickens' Bleak House, which truly was a masterpiece. And so now, it is sort of an established miniature date night after the children go to bed on Sunday evenings.

So, why am I telling you all this? Well, 2 weeks ago they began a Masterpiece Theater series~ The Complete Jane Austen. Every novel she wrote will be translated to a BBC-style movie. First up was Persuasion (which Tim and I missed), but last week was Northanger Abbey. This is a lesser known book by Jane Austen, but truly one of my favorites since I read it almost 10 years ago. I was quite impressed how much I liked the screen adaptation. This week will be Mansfield Park~ the only Austen book I haven't read. And I'm sort of upset that I will see the movie before I read the book, and I thought for as moment that I might read the book in a week. But then I came back to reality and remembered that when I read at night and actually get through 4 pages before I drop the book as my eyes cross, I'm doing well. That's ok, though. I'll save the book for a later time when I can actually enjoy leisurely reading again . Anyway, I'm looking forward to the rest of the series, and I hope you all will watch and enjoy, too.

New Perspective

""I was the lion." And as Shasta gaped with open mouth and said nothing, the Voice continued. "I was the lion who chased you and forced you to join with Aravis. I was the cat who comforted you among the houses of the dead. I was the lion who drove the jackals from you while you slept. I was the lion who gave the Horses the new strength of fear for the last mile, so that you should reach King Lune in time. And I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay, a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you. "
"Then it was you who wounded Aravis?"
"It was I."
"But what for?"
"Child," said the Voice, "I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but his own."
"Who are you?" asked Shasta.
"Myself," said the voice, very deep and low so that the earth shook, and again, "Myself", loud and clear and gay: and the third time "Myself", whispered so softly so that you could barely hear it, and yet it seemed to come from all around you as if the leaves rustled with it.
Shasta was no longer afraid that the Voice belonged to something that would eat him, nor that it was the voice of a ghost. But a new and different sort of trembling came over him. Yet he felt glad, too."

~The Horse and His Boy