The Pedant in the Kitchen

I have a growing respect and admiration for Julian Barnes. We didn't get off to a good start because I read his England, England book first. And hated it so much I can't explain. The only reason I ever picked up another of his books was because I read and absolutely loved Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary. So I tentatively picked up Flaubert's Parrot. And loved it so much that I bought my own copy after I took the library copy back (I'd borrowed it expecting not to like it, and gave myself permission to stop reading it within the first few pages if I hated it- and I always make myself push on!) Anyway, I Absolutely Loved Flaubert's Parrot. And so I started to hope that perhaps England, England was an aberration.

Somewhere along the way I accumulated The Pedant in the Kitchen, and in an idle moment last night I picked it up. I've had a wonderful break in my scheduled reading over the past 10 days and have actually been able to pick up books on a whim! I've been very keen to read his recent Booker winner The Sense of an Ending, but have remained strong and not bought it yet.

The Pedant in the Kitchen appears to be a collection of 17 newspaper columns about Barnes' relative OCD nature  in the kitchen. He starts off telling us rather matter of factly that he is a late-onset cook. He didn't learn techniques and measurements at his mother's side as a young child. It was only as an adult, in his twenties that Julian was forced to try and prepare his own meals. With some initial disappointments of course. I think most of us go through that stage really. Wondering how your mother did very simple things, when it had just always appeared in a perfect form previously.

Julian isn't without ambition or hope in his cooking efforts though. He uses cookbooks, and relatively complicated ones at that and comes to take on some rather challenging dishes. Chocolate Nemesis from the first River Cafe Cookbook. A smoked haddock souffle from Margaret Costa's Four Seasons Cookery Book. Autumn Pudding (apparently much superior to Summer Pudding- with a mix of elderberries, blackberries and crab apples) from Susan Campbell's English Cookery New and Old. Jane Grigson's Salmon in Pastry with a Herb Sauce.

Julian wants things to be extremely precise whilst creating his haddock souffle. "Why should a cookbook be less precise than a manual of surgery?" He is an "anxious pedant" in the kitchen. Should that tablespoon of currants be heaped or rounded? In truth, I'm sure it matters not. I don't think Julian has ever truly heard, and certainly hasn't internalised the wisdom conveyed in the phrase "we're not building a piano".

I adhere to gas marks and cooking times. I trust instruments rather than myself. I doubt I shall ever test whether a chunk of meat is done by prodding it with my forefinger. The only liberty I take with a recipe is to increase the quantity of an ingredient of which I particularly approve. 

I think anxiety and lack of self confidence is the key here. You should never trust instruments more than your own judgement. In the kitchen, or in surgery as it turns out.

When not obsessed about minor details in the kitchen Julian takes us rather far and wide. The trial brought about by Oscar Wilde against the Marquess of Queensberry for criminal libel. Gustave Flaubert apparently not only admired camels in Egypt on his travels but he also ate some. However, his favourite delicacies were mandarins and oysters. And Mrs Beeton died at the unfortunately young age of 28, and so was not the dowager housekeeper we all imagine.

Julian has some interesting and useful thoughts on cookbooks, which I think I will leave for another post.

This post is linked to Weekend Cooking, a fabulous weekly meme at Beth Fish Reads.

Foodie's Reading Challenge

Turbo Chooks

In September I was lucky enough to go to Launceston, Tasmania for a conference. I wasn't there all that long, but had a very enjoyable few days, and got to see some new birds.

Tasmania is a funny (small) place, and I was lucky enough to have the same cab driver 3 times! The second time was planned, but the third time was pure luck. Anyway, Paul told me that Tasmanians call these birds Turbo Chooks (turbo because they run really fast, chook is Australian for chicken). More properly called the Tasmanian Native Hen (Gallinula morterii). They were certainly plentiful in the nice lake across the road from the conference centre, and also by roadways. Turbo Chooks used to be common on the mainland too, but sadly went the way of most flightless birds when man, and their accompanying predators move in.

After a day or so (yes I'm very quick sometimes), I realised that some were juveniles.

Saturday Snapshot, is a wonderful weekly meme from at home with books

Joan of Arc

My fascination with Joan grows daily. This Junior Reader was a perfect place to start. As you may have noticed I quite like Junior Nonfiction, and believe even adults can learn something from most JNF that we pick up. I certainly learnt lots from this little book. 

Joan's basic story is so fascinating, that it would appear to defy reality, but of course it's true. An illiterate poor provinicial girl, starts seeing visions as a young teenager. The saints appear to her- St Michael, St Catherine, St Margaret. The saints tell her extraordinary things, that she is to do the work of God, and lead France to victory against the English (who control Northern France in the early 15th century, at the tail end of the 100 year war). Somehow, she gets into the royal court, the dauphin supports her, she starts fighting at Orleans, she gets the dauphin coronated as king in Rheims. Joan has a series of extraordinary victories, but is killed at the age of 19 by being burned at the stake. 

The structure of this DK reader is typical for this series. The story is in the middle of the page with fascinating little tidbits or sidestories on the margins.

My favourite tidbit

Makes me hope for a DK reader about Charles VI

I learnt lots of things from this little book.

The saints who appeared in visions to Joan, were all quite specific to her needs. St Catherine was a local saint for Joan. She was the best-loved saint of Joan's time. She would have been a local hero for Joan as she is buried near Joan's town of Domremy. She was the patron saint of unmarried girls. It reminded me that Catherine wheels are named after her, and the terrible method in which she was put to death on such a wheel. Thankfully in the modern world, Catherine wheels are pretty fireworks, but for many centuries they were a brutal method of torture, and a slow death. 

St Margaret was an early Christian girl who wore men's clothes to allow her to join a monastery. St Michael of course was a famous warrior who slayed the dragon.

Joan refused the offer of a sword from the dauphin, and instead used a sword that her voices told her would be at the shrine of St Catherine at Fierbois.

Orleans had been under seige by the English for 6 months when Joan led her assault. This was apparently a favourite method of the English, they would just wait, with no need for fighting, while the inhabitants of the beseiged town starved until they were ready to surrender. 

The dauphin was cowardly and didn't want to go to Rheims, in English held Northern France for the coronation.

Half of France, including Paris, was held by the English at this time. Joan gathered her soldiers at the small town of St Denis outside Paris. St Denis is particularly fascinating. I learnt a bit about him during my trips to Paris. He was the Bishop of Paris in the third century. Bishops weren't treated too well at that time. Denis was beheaded, and he was said to have picked up his head and walked six miles carrying it, preaching a sermon. He is usually depicted holding his own head. 

St Denis at the entrance of Notre Dame

Joan started experiencing some losses. Her sword broke. She was captured by the Burgundians, and bought by the English for 10,000 francs. She jumped 20 metres from a castle tower trying to escape. She was tried in a French court, but tried by the English. She signed a confession, and was sentenced to lifelong imprisonment wearing dresses rather than her usual men's clothing. Joan's voices came to her and told her she had been wrong, and she changed back into her male attire. She was burned at the stake at the marketplace in Rouen on 30th May, 1431 wearing a dunce's cap which labelled her a heretic, and a dress dipped in sulphur to burn more quickly. Her ashes were thrown into the river as a final insult, instead of being collected for worshippers. 

Joan called herself Joan the Maid. She was never referred to as Joan of Arc during her lifetime, and it was only after her death, and her legend grew that she became Joan of Arc. 

Wondrous Words Wednesday 9/11/11

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a fabulous weekly meme hosted by Bermuda Onion, where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our weekly reading.  

My words this week are taken from Caddie Woodlawn (see my review). Any book written quite some time ago (1935), about a time even earlier (1864) will have some new words, and Caddie was no exception.

1. Bully (adjective)

This comes up multiple times during the book. We all know and use bully in a modern sense, but this was a surprising usage for me:

"Caddie, they've got bully tops in the store at Dunnville," added Warren hopefully. 

"It's bully fun!" yelled Warren.

There are lots of definitions at Free Dictionary. It's really interesting how there has been quite a change in usage especially in the noun form. There is also bully beef of course!

Bully (noun)

i) A person who is habitually cruel or overbearing, especially to smaller or weaker people. 

ii) A hired ruffian; a thug.

iii) A pimp.

iiii) Archaic. A fine person.

iiiii) Archaic. A sweetheart.

Bully (adjective).

Excellent; splendid. 

2. Haycock (noun)

I, myself, remember the long walks and the slim dinners and sometimes nights spent under a haycock, when we could not find a tavern which wanted decorating. 

Chiefly British. A conical mound of hay. The Free Dictionary.

Picture credit

3. Tow- headed (adjective)

An exciting game became much more exciting when, on coming out of hiding, one felt that he might find himself face to face with a redskin instead of tow-headed Maggie or gentle Sam.

i) A head of white-blond head resembling tow. 

ii) A person with such hair.

iii) A sand-bar or low lying alluvial island in a river, especially one with a stand of trees. The Free Dictionary.

It's pretty funny that I didn't know this word, as I believe I would qualify as tow- headed. And what is this tow that we tow-heads resemble? Tow is coarse broken flax or hemp fibre prepared for spinning. 

Tow

Tow-head!

4. Arbutus (noun)

One day, when the three adventurers were in the woods hunting for arbutus to take to Teacher, they heard a roaring on the river. 

i) Any of the broad leaved evergreen trees or shrubs of the genus Arbutus, including the madrona and strawberry tree, that are native chiefly to the warm regions in the Americas and Europe. 

ii) The trailing arbutus. The Free Dictionary.

What wiki has as a representative picture

5. Hogshead barrel (noun)

So they came to his farm one day and got him and put him in a big hogshead barrel.

Any of various units of volume or capacity ranging from 63 to 140 gallons (238 to 530 litres), especially a unit of capacity of liquid measure in the United States, equal to 63 gallons (238 litres).

A large barrel or cask. The Free Dictionary. 

6. Haymow (noun)

"You wanted to turn somersaults in the haymow, didn't you, Cousin Annabelle?"

i) Hayloft.

ii) The hay stored in a hayloft. 

iii)  Archaic. A haystack

Picture credit

7. Hoyden (noun)

But that a daughter of mine should so far forget herself in her hospitality to a guest- that she should be such a hoyden as to neglect her proper duties as a lady!

A high spirited, boisterous or saucy girl. The Free Dictionary. 

As we must appear to the hawk #1

I recently listened to Alain de Botton's The Art of Travel. He held my attention for most of it, but he really grabbed me when he described the view from a plane window, (I've always loved photos taken from plane windows).

And to think that all along, hidden from our sight, our lives were this small: the world we live in but almost never see; the way we must appear to the hawk and to the gods.

If the hawk, or the gods, were traveling with me recently from Houston to LAX they would have glimpsed this too....

Smoke, not smog leaving Houston

Much of Texas was on fire

You can almost see the curvature of the Earth!

What appeared to be a large quarry in the middle of suburban LA

Smog not smoke over LA

Saturday Snapshot, is a wonderful weekly meme from at home with books

Mere Mortals

My latest in car listening has been to the totally wonderful Mere Mortals. A series of retrospective medical musings on famous people in history, written by a now retired GP Dr Jim Leavesley. Sadly this is only a selection of the 45 people included in the book format- and I will now have to read the book in it's entirety! These essays were written as programs for the wonderful Ockham's Razor on Radio National from the 1980s. Ockham's Razor is still broadcast on Sunday mornings.


Claudius
Joan of Arc
Henry VIII
Queen Anne
Samuel Pepys
Winston Churchill

Elizabeth Barrett Browning
The Brontes
Queen Victoria
Vincent Van Gogh
John F Kennedy

Some of these people had quite well known maladies of course. Churchill's black dog of depression. TB consumed the Bronte family. Samuel Pepys was famously cut for stone (bladder stones). And Queen Victoria spread her tendency for haemophilia through many of the royal houses of Europe.

My favourite section was the particularly fascinating one on Joan of Arc. She is of course famous enough that we all know her name, and know that she was burnt at the stake. But why was a 19 year old girl burnt at the stake? Why indeed was she involved in leading battles against the English? It does seem odd that an illiterate teenage girl should be leading French armies. I really hadn't thought about her much before now. Even though I've often walked past her statue on the Rue de Rivoli, and gazed at her golden wonder.

Joan was the youngest of five children born in the village of Domremy in what is now Lorraine. She began having a series of well documented auditory, olfactory and visual hallucinations when a teenager. Some have suggested that this may have been schizophrenia, but here Jim Leavesley suggests temporal lobe epilepsy. She had frequent, prolonged hallucinations from the time she was 13 but never developed a formal thought disorder.

Somehow Joan convinced the dauphin to trust her, and he put her in charge of the army. She liberated Orleans, insisted the dauphin then become crowned King of France at Reims, and went on to fight aggressively and courageously against the English, who at that time had control of most of Northern France including Paris.

Joan endured several gynaecological examinations to prove her piety, which allow her to become known as the Maid of Orleans. She is reported to have fully developed breasts, but no pubic hair, and never reached menarche. The author reports the theory that she has the rare condition of testicular feminization. Leavesly asserts that was burned at the stake for wearing mens clothing, rather than for her hallucinations, or any suggestion that she was a witch. As a final indignity her charred body was revealed to the crowd assembled to watch her death, as there was sufficient doubt about her sex, despite her feminine voice, that she was said to have loved finery, and been easily moved to tears. Her entrails reportedly didn't burn at the stake, which is quite unusual of course and Leavesley suggests that they may have been hardened by deposits of calcium due to TB, they had to be thrown into the Seine.

I'm really fascinated by Joan, and I will definitely be reading more about her.

The final section on John F Kennedy was also particularly fascinating. I wasn't aware that JFK had two particular problems with his health. He had Addison's Disease, a condition where the adrenal glands don't make the usual amount of steroid hormones that are required, and needs supplementation. He also had a back injury, that had required several surgeries, and JFK was apparently one of the first people with Addison's to survive surgery. JFK would often use crutches when out of the public eye, and wore an intricate sounding rigid brace which he was wearing at the time of his death in Dallas in 1963. Indeed, Leavesley suggests that the rigid back brace may have caused the shooting to be fatal. He believes that the rigid brace held JFK upright whereas if he had been able to slump after the first shot he may not have been fatally wounded by the third. It certainly sounds plausible. And makes it all the more tragic I think.

And what of the audiobook experience? I really enjoyed the reader here. Plummy, full voiced. He reminded me of the narrator in Rocky Horror in places. Although he does mispronounce some medical terms at times, which is a little bit distracting, but otherwise it's a completely engaging pleasure to listen to.

Wondrous Words Wednesday 2/11/11

Wondrous Words Wednesday is a fabulous weekly meme hosted by Bermuda Onion, where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our weekly reading.  

This weeks Wondrous Words come from Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach.

1. Pavane (Noun)

Their courtship had been a pavane, a stately unfolding, bound by protocols never agreed or voiced, but generally observed. 

i) A slow, stately court dance of the 16th and 17th centuries, usually in duple meter.

ii) A piece of music for this dance. (The Free Dictionary)

2. Calumny (Noun)

But even as he listened in hostile silence to this calumny, he felt a burden lifting. 

i) A false statement maliciously made to injure another's reputation. 

ii) The utterance of maliciously false statements; slander. (The Free Dictionary)

3. Anglepoise (Noun)

In a corner, under the slope of a roof, was a scrubbed deal table with an anglepoise lamp and a kitchen chair, painted blue.


A balanced-arm lamp designed in 1932 by British designer George Carwardine. (wiki)

The famous Pixar logo has an anglepoise lamp

4. Millenarian (Adjective)

He chauffeured Violet around, once to a Schopenhauer symposium in Winchester, and on the way she grilled him about his interest in millenarian cults. 

i) Of or relating to a thousand, especially to a thousand years. 
ii) Of, relating to, or believing in the doctrine of the millenium. (The Free Dictionary)

5. Monads (Noun)

He was in no position to know what an unusual situation the Pontings' was, a don married to a successful businessman, and Violet, a sometime friend of Elizabeth David, managing a household in the vanguard of a culinary revolution while lecturing to students on monads and the categorical imperative. 

i) Philosophy. An indivisible, impenetrable unit of substance viewed as the basic constituent element of physical reality in the metaphysics of Leibniz. 

ii) Biology. A single-celled micro-organism, especially a flagellate protozoan of the genus Monas. 
iii) Chemistry. An atom or a radical with valence 1. (The Free Dictionary)


The philosophical definition is clearly the one in use here.