all the world is green

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Food blogs are calling it spring. Recipes burst with leeks and new potatoes. The SNL monologue promoted March as the “spring of winter.” Meanwhile, here in Portland, where grey skies continue to thrive, it’s annual tulip torture time—up they spring, stalwart, hopeful and bright, only to be battered and shredded by hail the size of cherry pits. Oh crap, oh well! I offer you 3 favorite songs of spring to get the mood going: All the World is Green, They Say it’s Spring, Joy Spring. (I had such a hard time choosing, so here’s my spring playlist.)

 


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Three books queued on my nightstand:

1. For story and relationships: The Days of Abandonment, by Elena Ferrante which begins with this amazing paragraph:

One April afternoon, right after lunch, my husband announced that he wanted to leave me. He did it while we were clearing the table; the children were quarreling as usual in the next room, the dog was dreaming, growling beside the radiator. He told me that he was confused, that he was having terrible moments of weariness, of dissatisfaction, perhaps of cowardice.

2. For politics/immigration and new understanding: Everyone Knows you Go Home, by Natalia Sylvester. If you’d like more books to consider from Latinx writers, check out this great list.

3. For personal growth, also to aid and enrich my writing/coaching clients: Mindset, The New Psychology of Success, by Carol Dweck

 

Oh, and of course I await with great anticipation Emma Straub’s new novel, All Adults Here. When I read her books I feel as if I’m reading the words of someone who works at her desk effervescent and delighted, and I get a little hit of that! More please!

 



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Do you ever struggle to find, not necessarily joy as that seems a tall order, but invigoration in your writing practice? I know I do, and what I’m learning is that I’m so much happier when I disconnect the act of writing from the outcome. I feel full, and I mean full in the best sense, a fullness that actually feels light—buoyant heart and vibrant brain—alive to possibilities on the page. Standing up from a session of that kind of work I feel, dare I say, effervescent and delighted? Even if I don’t always bridge the gap between what I want to say and what I’ve actually said, I’ve nudged the needle and there’s joy in that, right? Step by step.

So, I give you a very open ended prompt from Stewart O’Nan. (If you haven’t read, Last Night at the Lobster, stop what you’re doing and run to the bookstore. You’re welcome!)

Characters (whether fictional or those who populate our memoirs) must care about someone, and/or have desires, in order that we care about them. If characters care/desire deeply, readers will follow them anywhere. Consider this from Kurt Vonnegut: “Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.” And “Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.” We all yearn, we all care. Consider this prompt to get you thinking about your work-in- progress, or to fire up something new. And remember, areas of conflict and connection create sources of friction and possibility for writers.

  1. 5 people closest to me (can be dead, can be animals)
  2. My similarities w/each person
  3. My differences w/each person
  4. The most proud moment w/each person
  5. Most disappointing moment w/each person
  6. Thing you cannot say to the person
  7. What you wish this person better understood about you
  8. What you wish you could forgive them for
  9. What you wish they could forgive you for

Hopefully these questions will help kick open a door of understanding into what your characters (human beings!) endure all the time.

 



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Apparently there’s a perpetual battle on the internet regarding the sometimes brief, sometimes rambling, recipe headnotes on food blogs. Here’s quote from a terrifically funny NYer spoof on crazy long recipe preambles:

I sense that you’re trying to scroll down to find the recipe without reading this preamble I was kind enough to write for you. Yes, I dabble in creative writing and must insist that you enjoy this incredibly detailed tangential anecdote about the muffins before I tell you how to make them.

Duly noted! I’m just going to dive into this bit of delicious I’ve been making lately, originally from Bon Appetit.

Broccoli & Garlic Ricotta Toasts w/Hot Honey

1 baguette, sliced ½” thick on a diagonal (roughly 6 slices)
6 T olive oil
1 head of broccoli, stems peeled, stem and florets chopped into ½” pieces
1 head of garlic, cloves separated/skin ON
Kosher salt
1 T honey
1 T white wine vinegar
½ t crushed red pepper flakes
1 ½ c fresh ricotta
Fresh ground black pepper

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Arrange bread slices in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet lined w/parchment and drizzle with 2 Tbsp. oil. Toss on baking sheet to coat, then arrange again in a single layer. Place broccoli and garlic on another rimmed and lined baking sheet and drizzle with remaining 4 Tbsp. oil. Season generously with salt and toss to combine.
  2. Place broccoli on top rack and bread on bottom rack and roast until bread is golden brown and crisp, 10–12 minutes. Remove bread from oven and continue to roast broccoli and garlic, tossing once, until broccoli is browned and garlic is tender. Perhaps 15–20 minutes more Let cool slightly.
  3. Whisk honey, vinegar, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl.
  4. As soon as garlic is cool enough to handle, squeeze cloves out of their skins and mash in another small bowl to form a paste. Add ricotta and mix well; season with salt and black pepper.
  5. Spread ricotta over toasts and top with roasted broccoli. Arrange on a platter and drizzle with honey mixture.
  6. Yum! And if you want a cocktail, may I recommend The Paperplane

 

 

 

the weird joy of an above ground pool

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I currently have three obsessions: Queer Eye, soft-serve ice cream, and pink wine. I’ve fallen hard for the QE Fab 5’s brand of kindness and consideration. Love the way they’re always hugging on each other, smiling and striving to help. Pink wine? It’s crisp. It’s cold. It’s beautiful. Try this one. Soft-serve needs no talking up, right? If you’re anywhere near Portland, Oregon, get yourself to Sugarpine Drive-In.

It’s summer, Lovelies! Sunny days are meant for indulging in all things sweet and pretty.


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My pal, R.L. Maizes has a beautiful book out in the world this week. We Love Anderson Cooper is full of characters you’ll follow anywhere–mistake making, vulnerable people who so want to connect, and yet they keep getting in their own way. (Hmmm, that’s reminding me of….me.) There’s a housecat suspected of cheating on its owner, a bar mitzvah boy who outs himself on the bimah, a cast of loveably skewed characters in whom we absolutely recognize our fumbling along selves. The collection will make you laugh, offer insights and keep you turning pages.

Another pal, Dr. Louise Aronson, has a beautiful book in the world this summer as well. Louise is a geriatrician and professor of medicine. Her book, Elderhood is a deep dive into all the ways society fails our aging population at exactly the moment we’re all living longer than ever before. Louise is a visionary with ideas for how we can better support one another, because, let’s be real, we’re all on the way out, right? Funny and whip-smart, throughout her book Louise uses stories from her practice, literature, pop culture, and her life to illuminate her ideas.



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Last week at the Tin House Summer Conference I heard some terrific lectures, and generally enjoyed the vibe of being in a big room with a lot of writers.

My favorite panel was called, “On Writing Towards Joy,” with Garth Greenwell, Kelly Link and Justin Torres. The conversation tossed around ideas about the complexity of joy, which, according to these smarties, coexists with other emotions like anger, shame, and sorrow. Joy just outshines them. Joy, defined as an unexpected welling up moves the reader (and the writer) into a space we aren’t expecting to find, in our lives and on the page. We suddenly experience a flash of recognition.

Recently I gave myself the project of writing a happy story. I don’t know about you, but considering… well, politics, planet, everything…I want to be in joyful moments. I want to translate joyful moments to the page. In life, when we find ourselves kicked under the proverbial bus, we’re mostly still alive and intact, right? Let’s celebrate that! Why not write a happy story? Why not give characters something to revel in? Why not write about up times as well as challenges in your memoir?  I’m of the belief that when we’re interested in writing joy, we notice it more in our lives. Consider how joy manifests and reproduces? What are the conditions that allow joy to flourish?

-Joy is riding a bike down a shady country road.
-Joy is an above ground swimming pool. (I don’t know why, they thrill me!)
-Joy is the ocean, all of it, wind, salt, glare, and possibility.
-Joy is a weird and difficult muscle we have a hard time flexing.

I did write that happy story, about young people falling in love. But, like an eyelash in your eye, shame, transience, and pain were lurking just in the corner. It made the joy brighter.

Here’s a great talk by Kelly Link, really inspiring, about all things writing, including how much it can suck, managing our expectations, and this gorgeous bit, “Don’t self-reject. You know what I mean.”



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At my local bookstore last week I stepped up to the customer search monitor and saw that the person before me, I kid you not, had typed into the query bar, “upsetting cookbook.” I thought it was hilarious, but even funnier was the book that had populated the screen, A Super Upsetting Cookbook about Sandwiches. I laughed and went about my business, looking up some boring book about Mindset, or knitting, or something. Once home I couldn’t stop thinking about upsetting sandwiches…so I went back, and let me tell you, the book is a gem. It’s performance art. Tyler Kord has a deep and messed up sandwich love. Emma Straub (owner of Books are Magic, author of The Vacationers, and Modern Lovers, both of which are terrific novels. Perfect for summer!)  writes the introduction. William Wegman (yes, of Sesame Street Weimaraner fame) does all the collages. (Here’s a bonus gem, a beautiful collage and painting book from Wegman, Hello Nature.)

In the sandwich book, sammies have names like, “Chutzpah Express,” “Gentle Thoughts,” and “the Frito Kid.” Besides normal sandwich fare, they have ingredients like pickled mushrooms, grape and celery salad, bleu cheese/avocado mayonnaise. You’re just going to have to trust me. The book is fabulous.  And, come on! It’s summer. It’s time to eat sammies in the park, at an outdoor concert, in your kayak!
In the meatloaf sandwich section of the book, Kord offers a basic meatloaf recipe in  which he says:

“Don’t overthink this. Or do, and use a thermometer to judge when it gets to an internal temperature of 150°F and it will be perfect, but at what cost? Are you actually satisfied with it? Are you ever satisfied with anything? Why did you buy this book…Throw away the thermometer and live your life!!”