Molecular Chefs Go Home-Style

Ferran Adria and Heston Blumenthal are two of the world's most famous chefs. These fathers of molecular cuisine are each coming out with a new cookbook this October:

 

Titled The Family Meal and Heston at home, respectively, I wonder if this is funny coincidence, or a hint that molecular cooking is on the way out?

In My Shopping Bag 2011/08/02

I purchased a lot of books today, totaling more than a nice pair of shoes. Here are some of them:

One copy for our bookshelf, to complement The Bro Code, and one copy as a gift for my husband's Bro who gave him The Bro Code (see earlier post)

This book was mentioned in Cinderella Ate My Daughter (see earlier post), and will complement my copy of The Dangerous Book for Boys, the original concept which inspired this book

I haven't purchased any coffee table books for a while, and this one looks like a good addition to the coffee table, especially since I have a number of Dr. Seuss story-books in English and French (I can't imagine any Chinese translation can capture the magic of Dr. Seuss' poetry, but then, I have an almost complete set of Shel Silverstein in Chinese!)

   

   

These are just some of the Maurice Sendak books I'm trying to add to my new collection.

The Other Maurice, Not the Bee-Gee

I was introduced to Maurice Sendak by Dave Eggers (see earlier post), one of my favorite literary figures. Dave Eggers wrote The Wild Things, an adult fiction novel inspired by Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are.

  

I love the originality of a furry cover wrapping Eggers' tome, and it is on my list of books to read.

Dave Eggers recently wrote about Maurice Sendak's new story-book, Bumble-Ardy, in Vanity Fair magazine, and I quickly went online to pre-order this new book.



And so, my mind was on Maurice Sendak when I happened upon a Chinese translation of Where the Wild Things Are at Eslite in Taipei (see earlier post). Next to the translated book were two more Sendak books in English, which I also purchased:

  

I was taken aback by how dark the stories are: children being added to the dough for making break in the night kitchen, and baby sisters kidnapped (to be child brides of goblins) when older sister is negligent in her care. I appreciate that his stories are about fantastical dreams, but they are almost nightmarish especially when accompanied by the beautifully haunting illustrations. These two stories are nestled high on my bookshelf (see earlier post).

Despite my reluctance to introduce Maurice Sendak to my daughters until they are much older, I am hooked! As soon as I returned from Taipei, I went online and ordered all the stories I could find which are written and illustrated by Sendak, and some Caldecott winners for which he provided the illustrations only.

Chinese Language Children's Books

Recently, I was presented with two wonderful opportunities to stock up on Chinese language children's story-books: the Hong Kong International Book Fair and my recent visit to Taipei.

Having lived in Hong Kong for more than a decade, I'm surprised that I had never attended the Book Fair. My last place of employment before I became a full-time mother was located across the street from the Convention Centre where the Book Fair is held every July. And I remember seeing the unbelievable pedestrian traffic when heading into and out of the office during those days of the Book Fair, and being amazed and proud that there were that many book-lovers in Hong Kong!

This year, I went to the Book Fair for the sole purpose of finding good books for my daughters. I was joined by my mommy friend who at the last minute scored us VIP passes so that we could bypass the queues. We each had an empty rolling carry-on luggage... we were prepared!

As a general rule, I only buy story-books rather than teaching books, i.e. learning to count, phonics, vocabulary builders. I want my children's imagination to be ignited when visiting all the different worlds in story-books, and hope that they view books as fun rather than study.

It was no surprise to find many booths at the fair to be focused on teaching books because after all, Hong Kong is the capital of over-scheduled formally educated toddlers. I compromised and bought a number of books that taught social skills and life experiences through stories: being polite, going on vacation, visiting the dentist. I was also happy to find a number of Chinese translations of story-books which we already have, such as:

I now have the whole set in English and Chinese

I'm not a big fan of this series, but my older daughter really enjoys the stories. I have random English stories and at the Book Fair purchased a set of 20 Chinese titles.

In Taipei at the end of July, I enjoyed browsing through my favorite bookstore Eslite. A decade ago, I enjoyed the small Eslite across from The Sherwood, my favorite boutique hotel for business travelers; the bookstore even included a wine-shop. And in recent years, I have been going to the 5-storey Eslite store across from Le Meridien, the hotel we stayed at during this latest visit.

I returned to Hong Kong with another rolling carry-on luggage filled with books. Interestingly, I found some good English-language books, including:

Not the best in terms of rhymes and rhythm, but my daughter and I really enjoyed seeing princesses in regular play clothes while engaged in gender-neutral activities

The Other Barney, Not the Purple One

When my most recent Amazon delivery arrived, I eagerly cracked open Tina Fey's Bossypants.

The book is more musings than memoir, although it does include slices of and anecdotes from the author's childhood, career and family life. There are even a couple of chapters devoted to her Sarah Palin skits for Saturday Night Live, including the full script of the first skit, the joint announcement of Sarah Palin and Hilary Clinton.

I am a big fan of 30 Rock and this book is a wonderful showcase of that style of humor. Very Tina. Highly recommended for an easy and very enjoyable summer read.

After finishing Bossypants, I had planned to move onto State of Wonder, the other book that arrived in the same delivery. But I got sidetracked by a book given to my husband by his "bro":

With Barney staring me down on the cover like that, how could I turn away?

I watched full seasons of How I Met Your Mother on DVD while I was pregnant with my younger daughter. Like the 10 seasons of Friends I went through with my first pregnancy, I believe in happy TV when pregnant (exception: Dexter). Neil Patrick Harris' character Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother is like Jeremy Piven's Ari Gold on Entourage. Both have just the right balance of cool/uncool to be endearing and attractive.

The Bro Code is "written by Barney Stinson", and I had my first out-loud guffaw even before page one: the book is dedicated "To Me, the best bro I know". Completely on character, this book is a great companion piece if you're a fan of the TV series.

In My Shopping Bag 2011/07/05

I'd like to share with you some books I bought today:

I have the beautiful Phaidon collection of "Nicholas" stories in English, and want a set in the original French for our bookshelf

I love Tina Fey

I haven't purchased a fiction novel for a very long time, and would like to read something just for pleasure

Pink is for Girls

I saw the title of this book and immediately purchased six copies on Amazon.com. Like a number of my friends with young daughters, I was bemused by my three year-old daughter's declarations of love for princesses, fairies, ballerinas and all things pink, especially in light of the fact that she didn't wear a single item of pink clothing until she was old enough to tell me herself that she wanted pink.

I knew the influences had to be from outside the home, because the home learning environment for my elder daughter consisted of gender-neutral toys and story books, and neutral-colored clothes and toys. It may have started with her first favorite TV show, In the Night Garden, with a stereotypically girlie-girl character names Upsy-Daisy. This was followed by party favor bags filled with Disney princess figurines and stickers brought home from girlie-girl themed birthday parties. And finally, in those first months after she started pre-nursery, my elder daughter was obsessed with labeling everyone (and everything) as a boy or a girl, replete with (often times incorrect) proclamations of what boys and girls can and cannot do.

Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the new Girlie-Girl Culture is written by an investigative journalist and a feminist, and is packed full of interviews with people as varied as academics, Disney marketing executives and mothers of toddler beauty pageant participants. Thankfully, Peggy Orenstein gives a somewhat balanced account because she accepts that, in our society, looks do matter, and she herself is struggling with the same questions as she raises her own young daughter.

I learned a lot from the book; it gave me much food for thought in how to help both my daughters navigate this girlie-girl culture. There is no right or wrong when making those daily decisions on how to help our children grow to be responsible, well-adjusted adults. I believe that just being aware of this culture and understanding it better by reading this book is good for me as a mother.

However, as Peggy Orenstein ironically points out, the parents least likely to be interested in this book -- i.e. those parents who embrace (and view as harmless) daughters who wear nail polish and child-friendly makeup at age 4, dress in midriff-baring crop tops at age 8, go on diets at age 12 because they "feel fat" -- are those who may benefit most from understanding the influences and effects of daughters growing up in this girlie-girl culture.

And by the way, did you know that when nursery colors were introduced in the 20th century, girls wore blue (symbolic of Virgin Mary), and pink was considered masculine because red was associated with strength? Think of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Wendy from Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, Mary Poppins' Jane Banks: all were dressed in shades of blue. "Pink is for girls" only came about as recently as the 1980s!

Food and Wine

Food and wine are two subjects that invariably form my dinner conversations, whether dining with my husband or sharing a meal with friends.

This April, my parents came out from Canada to babysit while my husband and I enjoyed a trip to Paris  with our dear friends Mr. & Mrs. VG. After indulging our love of restaurant dining and wine pairings in Paris, my husband and Mr. VG continued on to Bordeaux while Mrs. VG and I returned to our children in Hong Kong. The boys joined a specialty tour to taste first-growth 2010 vintages from the barrel. Upon his return, my husband read The Billionaire's Vinegar.

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With the growing stack of parenting and half-finished books on my bedside table, I was a little resistant when my husband urged me to read this book. My husband has even less time than me to read, so for him to make the effort to start a book, and finish it too, convinced me to set aside the bedside stack and give this book a try.

The book is written in the style of a good Vanity Fair magazine article, so it was no surprise to learn that author Benjamin Wallace writes for GQ magazine, among others. It's a captivating story pack full of interesting facts about wine, wine writers and wine collectors.

My husband believes that this book can be read as a mystery novel without any wine knowledge. I disagree. This story is enjoyable when you have some prior knowledge of or experience with the wine world. I am a neophyte and I couldn't put the book down.

If any of the following mean anything to you, then The Billionaire's Vinegar is the book for you: vertical tastings, Riedel, Broadbent, into the shoulder.

In My Shopping Bag 2011/05/08

I'd like to share with you some books I bought today:

Multiple copies for gifting to friends

McSweeney's Quarterly Review

My husband loves to watch television shows about food, and enjoys sandwiches... and I love reading cookbooks

Another cookbook to add to our collection