Why, Michael? Why?!

"This Is The Worst" Face
Originally uploaded by Woodmania

Dear Steve Carrell-

Why are you leaving The Office? Why?!!!!

Just reading this news make me want to put on my "The is the Worst" Face. (P.S. Thanks Greg Z. for ruining my day. Wah!) They might as well close the Scranton branch 'cause my ass will not be sitting on the couch Thursday nights.

Who am I fooling? Of course it will. There's still some 30 Rock to be rocked.

Off on vacay people. Will probably not be posting for a 2 weeks. Think of me dockside, with book. It's gonna take me this long to get over the Steve Carrell thing, so......

The Weekly Salad-Celebrity Edition....Kinda

Malditos bastardos Brad Pitt
Originally uploaded by nacho.fotos

I just finished reading an interesting book that Entertainment Weekly recommended (yah, I read Entertainment Weekly! What of it?) called The Imperfectionists. It was a nice read - not too spectacular or filled with incident, actually - that put me in mind of the movie, Babel, for some reason. For those of you who actually saw and remember the film, Babel was a series of disjointed stories set in several countries around the world that managed to come together in pretty whole near the end. But not before you almost lost the will to live. It left me lukewarm, as I remember. And was half an hour too long. And what is it these days with non-linear storytelling, BTW? Is it just a new way to invigorate film and books? I get the feeling that the creative class have been too unduly influenced by Mrs. Dalloway, as a whole. But I digress.....

A few minutes after I finished the book, I opened the paper only to discover that young Brad Pitt had optioned the rights to the book and would be producing the movie. And that he had also produced the film, Babel (I had no idea!) Hmmm, I thought to myself with a self-congratulatory smile on my fae. Mine instincts were true after all, then, concerning this book! Crazy coincidence? I think not. Oh, and good luck with keeping the people awake in the theatre, Benjamin Button.

All this as a an awkward anecdote to introduce this week's WEEKLY SALAD feature. What salad has to do with Brad Pitt and Babel, I will never know. This salad, however, does features my favorite star: avocado.

Halve an avocado and scoop out some but not all of the flesh. Roughly chop the flesh with black beans, a spoonful of green salsa, cilantro, chopped tomatoes (seeded, of course) and lime juice. Serve in the shells. Enjoy!

It Definitely Holds Up

Have you watched Jaws lately? No? That's too bad 'cause I watched it last night and now I can't sleep.

I guess it still holds up in the "Crap Your Pants Everytime You Go for a Swim from Now On" department. Sheesh.

Weekly Salad is Back!

A few months ago, my husband and I leaped into the wonderful world of cottage ownership. Though the journey was slightly fraught in the beginning with renovations, clean-ups and the like, the experience of being at this new-found property has been life altering. We have - all of us - found a place to truly connect and relax.

It's also a place where I want to do my two favorite things - read and eat. The reading part is a no-brainer but the food part- tough! Which is why I've decide to revive last summer's feature: The Weekly Salad. Salads are my favorite food in the summer mostly because they are delicious and easy to make. They also need just a few combination of ingredients to make them great. Here are three to get you started:

1. Grate carrots, toast some sunflower seeds and toss blueberries, olive oil, lemon juice and pleanty of black pepper. Sweet, sour, crunchy, soft.

2. Blanch spinach, then drain and shock in ice cold water. Squeeze it dry, chop it and toss with toasted pine nuts, raisins, olive oil and a tiny bit of balsalmic vinegar. Very elegant.

3. Make a grilled cheese sandwich, with good bread and not too much cheese. Make a salad with cherry tomatoes, basil, black olives, olive oil and balsalmic vinegar. You will not believe how damn good this is.

Enjoy

P.S. Holla! to Tracey Green and all of her visitors from Cookies and Catwalks!!

The Little Stranger

The Little Stranger
Originally uploaded by The Sage Libraries

Are you looking to completely lose a few days of your life between the pages of a good book? Here's the one for you. It is by far, the best book I've read this year and it completely highjacked my week. Also, as an added bonus, Steven King lurvs it! But what does a hack like him know about writing a scary book, right?

Sarah Waters was an author I'd heard a ton about but not read. She has written a trilogy of Victorian novels Tipping the Velvet, Affinity, and Fingersmith which have earned her legions of fans around the world, a number of awards and,tons of critical success. And, man, does she know how to build suspense!

Set in postwar Britain in the 1940's, Waters gives us a sinister tale of a haunted house, brimming with the rich atmosphere and psychological complexity that have become hallmarks of her work. The book follows the strange adventures of Dr. Faraday, the son of a maid who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country doctor. One dusty postwar summer in his home of rural Warwickshire, he is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for more than two centuries, the Georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in decline-its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable yard permanently fixed at twenty to nine. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more ominous than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become entwined with his.

Piqued your interest, yet? You. Will. Love. It.