Happiest of Holidays

Merry Christmas, everyone. I hope all of you have a splendid holiday.

I've mentioned many of the books I finished in 2007 on the blog, but some grown-up titles I look forward reading to are

The Art of Simple Food, by Alice Waters

The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, by Alex Ross

Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, by Maryanne Wolf

Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems, by Mark Doty (April 2008)

The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science, by Natalie Angier

Comments

[TadMack]

Ooh, I love Alice Waters, and growing up in the Bay Area, she's been a mini-celebrity.

[Susan]

I can't wait to read her book. About ten years ago I had dinner at Chez Panisse, which was great.

[Laura (Pinot and Prose)]

Oooooh, so jealous! Would love to go to Chez Panisse. I haven't checked out "Art of Simple Food" yet, but I did recently buy "Alice Waters and Chez Panisse" by Thomas McNamee. I haven't read it yet (ah, the mantra of my life), but I hope to get to it...sometime! Too many books, too little...

[Susan]

Hey, Laura. There's also a really good book by the woman who used to be the main tea person at Chez Panisse. I can't remember the name off the top of my head, but it's wonderful!

[Laura (Pinot and Prose)]

They have a "main tea person" there?!?! Ooooh, fancy! 8-) Sounds like a good read!

I got "Cook with Jamie" for Christmas. I've never been a fan of Oliver's stuff before - I've previously enjoyed him only as eye candy. But he's really turned me around on this one. I'm marking nearly every single recipe as one I want to try.

Back to Alice Waters, though...did you read the NYT article on her a couple months back? She travels with her own olive oil. How cool is that? It makes sense... But what I want to know is how does she keep it from leaking in the suitcase????

[Susan T.]

Laura, the book I was thinking of is "The Agony of the Leaves: The Ecstasy of My Life with Tea," by Helen Gustafson. Loved it a while back!

[a. fortis]

Ooh, I saw The Art of Simple Food when I was Christmas shopping and coveted it! You'll have to give a report! :)

We're lucky because my husband and his parents love Chez Panisse, so we've been there a handful of times. However, I've only eaten once in the downstairs prix-fixe restaurant--and it was one of the best meals I've ever had.

[Susan T.]

That's where I ate, too, A. Fortis--in the downstairs part. Delicious! Santa got mixed up and brought me the Thomas McNamee book instead of the actual Alice Waters book, so I will be well-informed about Chez Panisse!