The Winter of Our Content 11/04/07

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The Winter of Our Content

November 4, 2007

The southern California fires about which I wrote last week are now mostly contained. Not entirely out, but at least controllable. That must be small comfort to those who lost their homes and are now left to begin rebuilding their lives. It’s also a good reminder to those of us who have not shared their unhappy fate to donate a few moments of each day to gratitude for what we do have.

Perhaps one of those things could be a comforting dinner dish. With winter setting in—did you remember to set your clocks back?—here is a favorite recipe to see you through the week. It’s easy and, oh, so delicious. And while you are peeling and chopping and smashing and taste testing, why not allow your mind to wander over your current read, to feel its literary flavor, or put on some headphones and listen to a thrilling audio book? Food and books are good companions at the table. They can be equally good in the kitchen too. Please accept my sincere wishes that each of you has a wonderful week filled with good reading and good food.

Pot Roast
Olive oil
5-6 pound seven-bone-in pot roast
2 bottles stout
12 oz. beef broth
Rutabagas
Carrots
Parsnips
Onions
Cabbage
Chopped garlic
8 smashed juniper berries
Bouquet garni
Minced garlic
Chopped celery
Bay leaves
Fresh rosemary
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat olive oil on medium high; brown the beef in same, 5 minutes on each side, then remove to plate. In the same pot, sauté the chopped onion, celery, carrot. Add chopped garlic. Sauté for 8 minutes. Add a half-cup stout and stir well to dissolve the bits at the bottom of the pot. Put the beef roast back in the pot. Add the remainder of the bottle of stout and the beef broth. Add bouquet garni, bay leaves, juniper berries, etc. Add the second bottle of stout. Cover and bring to semi roll at medium heat. Turn heat down to low to simmer for 100 minutes.

While the meat is simmering, prepare the vegetables. After braising meat on low for 100 minutes, add the carrots and rutabagas. Simmer for another 30 minutes. Add parsnips, onions, cabbage; simmer for 40 minutes. You can serve this immediately, but if left overnight in the refrigerator the flavors meld perfectly. Reheat gently over a medium-low flame or in the microwave.

* * *

“Some time in my 40s, I started looking at my reading life the way a life insurance salesman looks at an actuarial chart,” Paul Clark begins his explorative essay-review—brimming with gentle and wise humor, admiration and, not least, a pragmatic insight—of Ford Madox Ford’s The March of Literature in A Walk Through My Bookshelves.

Henry Carrigan is a southern boy through and through—despite living in the north. Whether he is talking food, music or books, Henry’s love of all that is southern shows—as in this week’s in Readings where he talks about Porter Wagoner and the University of Illinois Press’ Music in American Life series of books.

Winter has struck the country with its deliciously cold days that make hot soup, thick sweaters and fat novels appeal. In Reviews & Reflections this week, Lisa Guidarini explores her passion for the Victorian writers and writing that seem to draw readers to them when the wind blows cold.

What is the perfect Sunday morning? As far as Anne Michael is concerned, it is sleeping until noon, having breakfast in bed, taking a nap, having a mid-afternoon snack in bed and sleeping until dinnertime. But to her delight, she discovered that Sunday perfection can come in other ways too, this week in Seasoned Lightly.

How are libraries enticing young readers, especially teens, into reading? By catering to the current interests, hoping that once the reading habit is installed that they will go on to richer fare in their adult years. Bookmarks designed especially for them show some of the ideas. See the ones in Laine Farley’s collection in this week’s On Marking Books.

* * *

David B. Dale hosts an unusual blog called Very Short Novels —299 words. Anything more is waste.— What are 299-word novels, you ask. “Character, conflict, emotional impact. And sentences! Everything you want in a novel, without one extra syllable,” he answers. And he delivers—brilliantly. A standout among the hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of blogs, Very Short Novels is well worth reading—not least because you can now claim to read a novel on your coffee break, but mostly because it is so damn good.

Until next week, read well, read often and read on!

Lauren