Hiatus

Photo by Michael Rougier from LIFE Photo Archive
Woman in Wedding Dress during an "Our Town" performance, 1962

I'm bummed that I haven't posted anything since April, but I've been super busy and so on hiatus I will go.  I hope to get some cocktail + book pairings up eventually, but I won't be blogging weekly anymore for now. This girl is planning her wedding! And after the nuptials I'll definitely be sharing some details here. But for now, I'm stepping back a bit - but only temporarily!

Book Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

The Dial Press, 2007; 274 pages; ISBN 0385340990
My Goodreads Rating: 5 stars

I had a listen to the audiobook of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and I'm so happy to have experienced this book as a spoken performance. The audio production (published by Random House on 7 audio discs) features five different narrators all speaking each part. This added to the charm of the story, which was set after World War II in London.  The story unfolds as a series of letters.  It begins with writer Juliet Ashton who has enjoyed some success with a column that she penned during the war entitled "Izzy Bickerstaff Goes to War". She is on a book tour and is corresponding with her publisher, who is also a dear friend, and her best friend, who is his sister. She also writes to her publicist and soon enough to a resident of Guernsey Island. This is a man named Dawsey Adams who found her name in a book by Charles Lamb, who is his most favorite author.  Juliet is intrigued and so begins the correspondence between herself and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, of which Dawsey Adams is a member. 

As the letters progress you learn how the society was formed, which is bittersweet as it occurred during the war, an especially difficult time for the residents of Guernsey. One Elizabeth McKenna had a lot to do with forming the society and her story is woven into the letters, which eventually give Juliet the subject for her next project. She becomes so embroiled in the lives of the Guernsey society that she ends up on the island herself, despite a persistent suitor (who is a rich business man) and her life and friends in London.  The cast of characters is really marvelous as each has their own quirks and beliefs, but they all come together anyways to hold their Potato Peel Society meetings. Juliet becomes an "honorary" member and her writing project takes on a life of its own, and really, her life becomes a part of the Guernsey story which comes to  involve romance, an orphaned child, a jilted lover, and an enchanting island that is regaining what it lost during the war.

I'm so happy to hear that the movie was optioned as a film and so far it looks like Kate Winslet may be playing the part of Juliet, which I can totally picture (filming was delayed to 2013).  I highly recommend this book for anyone that enjoys historical fiction. The format of letters may not be best suited for reading for some, but I would recommend listening to the audio version as it was truly divine.

My Look Back: 1935

View of New York City, 1935
Photo from LIFE Photo Archive

I hope everyone is having a very lucky Friday the 13th today! It's raining cats and dogs here and I'm so happy that I'm indoors.  I'm taking a looksie back to the year 1935 and that year had two lucky number 13 Fridays, Friday, September 13th and Friday, December 13th 1935.  So here's a bit of trivia on 1935 and the number thirteen.

• The number thirteen is one of the only three Wilson Prime numbers. The other two are 5 and 563.
• Amelia Earhart became the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California in January of 1935.
• There are 13 loaves in a "Baker's Dozen".
• The first canned beer was sold by the Kruger Brewing Co. of Richmond, Virginia in the form of Krueger Cream Ale. This was also the year that Alcoholic Anonymous was founded.
• A gallon of gas cost 10 cents and the average new car sold for $625.
• The number 13 has been worn by many well-known and high-achieving athletes during their professional careers and Olympic appearances, such as Alex Rodriguez, Dan Marino, Wilt Chamberlain, Yao Ming and Shaquille O'Neal, to name a few.
• It Happened One Night starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert won the Academy Award for Best Picture. See my movie review for it here.
• The board game Monopoly was released by Parker Bros., although it's history can be traced as far back as 1904. In the 1950's three tokens were retired: a lantern, a purse and a rocking horse.
• The moon travels around the earth 13 degrees each day. The 28 days of the lunar cycle can be broken down into 13 days to change from Full Moon to New Moon and back, plus one day of a Full Moon and one day of a New Moon.
• Jerry Lee Lewis, Sonny Bono, Mercedes Sosa, Elvis Presley, Woody Allen, Julie Andrews, Luciano Pavarotti, and the current Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) were born in 1935.
• 13 is considered lucky and sometimes unlucky. In Judaism, 13 is the age when a young boy matures and becomes a Bar Mitzvah (when he bears responsibility for his Jewish faith) and 13 is the number of principles that exist in the Jewish faith.  In the ancient Iranian civilization, the 13th day of a new Iranian year is considered to be sinister and wicked. It is called Sizdah Be-dar and many people celebrate it by taking to the outdoors as a way to get rid of the day.  There are 13 witches in a coven and 13 turns make a traditional hangman's noose (anything less than 13 would not accomplish the task).
• Babe Ruth hit his last home run of his career, which was his 714th.
• Airplanes were no longer allowed to fly over the White House starting in 1935.

Read a Book, Sip a Cocktail No. 16

Photo from Goodreads.com

I could have sworn I was embroiled in a Mexican telenovela as I read The Tea Rose by Jennifer Donnelly.  You have your poor, pheasant girl.  She's feisty, she's beautiful, she's down to earth, and everybody loves her.  Then you have a handsome young chap who is in love with her and wants to give her the world.  But tragedy strikes.  The heroine falls on hard times and her beau is tricked into a relationship with her evil enemy (insert spoiled rich girl here).  But all is not lost for our beautiful heroine.  Somehow, someway she perseveres and with revenge in her heart, she rises above it all.  But the passionate love that exists between her and her beau will not be extinguished.  Will they meet again?  Or will the rich, evil people get in their way?  OK, so this was not exactly how the story went, but it was pretty darn similar.  Of course the writing is much, much better and a bit less sappy than most soap operas, so that was much appreciated as the book is extremely long (675 pages!).  I also loved the suspense that was thrown in as this takes place around the time of the Jack the Ripper murders in the Whitechapel district of London.  The aspects of tea are nicely woven into the story and I could just picture the charming grocers, tea rooms, and old streets of turn-of-the-century New York and London.  Which brings me to the cocktail I made for The Tea Rose.  It is a Cup of Tea-tini made with vodka, hibiscus tea infused simple syrup, and rose petal infused water.  Not too strong with just a hint of the rose water, I really enjoyed the sweet hibiscus flavor.  It's definitely not like any cup of tea I've had, but for a martini, it's quite lovely, so I would hope that Fiona could appreciate it, as she did with tea, tea roses and her Joe.

A Cup of Tea-tini
1 1/2 oz. vodka
2 oz. Hibiscus tea infused simple syrup*
2 oz. Rose infused water*
A fresh, clean rose petal for garnish

How to: Prep your martini glass by sticking it in the freezer for about 5 minutes. In a cocktail shaker mix ice, vodka, hibiscus simple syrup, and rose water. Shake for at least 20 seconds. Serve in your ice cold martini glass and garnish with one or two rose petals. *To make your own simple syrup, take 1/2 a cup of sugar to 1 cup of water and cook over medium heat (watching it and stirring every so often). When the sugar has dissolved, take the syrup off the heat and let it cool. To infuse it, soak dried hibiscus tea or leaves in the syrup overnight and drain them out before you use it.  You can do this with simple syrup you make or you can buy the simple syrup on its own and just infuse it yourself. To make your own rose water, see these great recipes: How to make rose water: 4 recipes

Here are the rose petals before I placed them on the stove to prepare the rose water

The hibiscus gave the drink it's beautiful pink hue, and of course the wonderful taste

Spring Giveaway!

 

*And the winners are: Tatiana & Trish!! Congrats ladies and thanks to everyone for participating. I hope to host another giveaway in the next couple of months and stay tuned for my next cocktail and book pairing coming up next Friday, April 6th*

Spring is finally almost here and to celebrate I'm hosting a giveaway for these advance reader copies that will be published in the coming months.  Two lucky winners will be chosen randomly.  Here are the details of these young adult fiction titles (pictured from left to right):

1. Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough, published by Candlewick Press, July 2012
2. Dreamsleeves by Coleen Paratore, published by Scholastic Inc., April 2012
3. Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi, published by Little, Brown, May 2012
4. 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad, published by Little, Brown, April 2012

To enter, just click on the link at the very bottom of this post that will take you to the entry form, and if you are so inclined:

• show some blog love and follow me 
• "like" The Nostalgic Librarian on Facebook 
• tweet the following "RT @msbibliotecaria is hosting a #teenbook #giveaway on nostalgiclibrarian.blogspot.com Please RT!", or 
• mention this giveaway on your own blog

Winners will be picked at random, and entries are valid only for United States residents. The deadline for this giveaway is March 25th, 2012 at 11:59pm (PST). Winners will be announced right here on this post on March 30th. Good luck everyone!!

Book Review: Summer and the City by Candace Bushnell

HarperCollins, 2011; 409 pages; ISBN 0061728934
My Goodreads Rating: 4.5 stars

For my review of the first book in this series, The Carrie Diaries, read this post. Summer and the City picks up from when Carrie arrives in New York City and is greeted by Samantha, who just happens to be a cousin of Carrie's former frenemy Donna LaDonna from high School. I think I actually loved this one better than the first, but that is probably because it appealed more to my "adult" sensibilities. This time around Carrie is finally able to pursue her dreams of becoming a writer in Manhattan. She begins a writer's course and is taken under the wing of Samantha. At first she rooms with a fellow student and writer in a typical tiny New York apartment where her "room" consists of a small cubicle space cordoned off by dividers. That situation doesn't last long as Carrie gets kicked out by the grumpy landlady. Carrie also meets Miranda, who is immersed in feminist politics and has no qualms about voicing her opinion to everyone. After getting kicked out of her room and board Carrie goes to live with Samantha who at this point has her own place and is actually engaged to someone. The friendship between Carrie, Miranda and Samantha starts to emerge, as well as other relationships Carrie has with her classmates from the writer's course. Early on in the story she also begins a romantic relationship with a well known playwright who is at least 10 years older than her, which sort of hints at how Carrie is constantly attracted to older men in her later years. Actually Carrie's interest in sex and relationships is a lot more evident in this installment of the The Carrie Diaries and although I really enjoyed reading this aspect of her character, I was left wondering if the portions of the book that went into sexual details were appropriate for teen readers. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the writing style and characterizations. Carrie's wit and charm go a long way, and for fans of the TV series, this is a great way to get to know Carrie before she became Carrie Bradshaw, author of the Sex and the City column. I look forward to whatever comes next in young Carrie's teenage/young adult adventures.

Photo: From Goodreads.com website

Read a Book, Sip a Cocktail No. 15

Photo from Goodreads.com

I think Confessions of a Shopaholic may have been the book that first turned me onto Sophie Kinsella (the pseudonym for Madeleine Wickham) and I haven't looked back since.  The movie version is a complete bore and waste of talent because I normally love Isla Fisher.  In the book Becky Bloomwood is a bit obsessed with shopping. Well actually she is a complete shopaholic-freak and despite her mounting debt, she cannot resist the urge to bust out her plastic and spend, spend, spend!  She has an entire relationship with the various bank managers and credit card account managers completely through correspondence and suffice it to say, she uses her elaborate imagination in order to keep them at bay.  But her most endearing characteristic is her panache, her charm, and her big 'ole heart.  Becky may be caught up in whatever scarf or handbag is currently in style, but she still has a heart of gold.  For this book, and series really, I came up with a little tiny twist on the modern Cosmopolitan Martini (which is NOT really a martini, it is just served in a martini glass).  Instead of regular vodka I chose a watermelon tinged one and used a cranberry/raspberry juice blend and fresh lime juice.  The result is a very refreshing cocktail with lots of watermelon flavor, a bit sour and a bit sweet.  Also, since I used the light juice blend from Ocean Spray which only has 50 calories per 8 ounces, in total the drink will only set you back about 106 calories. Yay!

Shop 'til you Drop Cosmo
1 1/2 oz. Watermelon vodka
3 oz. Cranberry/Raspberry juice*
The juice of half a lime

How to: Prep your martini glass by sticking it in the freezer for about 5 minutes.  In a cocktail shaker mix ice, vodka, juice, and triple sec.  Shake for at least 20 seconds. Serve in your ice cold martini glass. *If you have fresh watermelon, I think watermelon juice would make this even better and I think I'll be trying it out once the weather heats up and watermelon is back in season at the grocery store.

Thank you to Carrie Bradshaw, another infamous shopaholic, for aiding in the rise of popularity of the Cosmo as well.