#2 in the Poetry Potluck Series, celebrating National Poetry Month 2010.
photo by njchow82.
Happy Easter Monday!
A lovely wild rose is our very first Poetry Potluck guest: Elaine Magliaro!
She sent me several poems and said I could take my pick. Though I liked them all, there was one I found so adorable I couldn’t resist sharing it with you. It’s perfect for this time of year, and perfect as a “first poem” for the Potluck.
She’s here! She’s here! Let the sweetness begin!
When I decided to devote the month of March to Cupcakes and Bake Shop Treats, I immediately thought of Jessie Oleson, a.k.a., CakeSpy. After all, her sweet and scrumptious blog is where I get my daily sugar fix. There, I feast on delicious interviews with bakers and pastry chefs, read about fun baking experiments, learn about bakeries all over the country, and of course, drool over the neverending stream of recipes, stunning photographs, and whimsical Cuppie art.
“There’s nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with chocolate.” ~ Linda Grayson, The Pickwick Papers (1837).
Sunday, February 7th, is Charles Dickens’s 198th birthday!!
He’s definitely a man after my own heart. Besides his well-known proclivity for character description, here was a man who filled every one of his novels with luscious, mouth-watering, decidedly poetic descriptions of food, glorious food. Food for Dickens was not only a celebration of life, but also a social and economic statement, and yes, another means of defining character.
Who can forget little Oliver Twist, brave enough to utter the words, “Please sir, I want some more”? Or Christmas dinner at the Cratchits’: “There never was such a goose. Its tenderness and flavour, size and cheapness, were the themes of universal admiration.” Or what about the tragic wedding breakfast that never was (but lasted decades) in Great Expectations:
The most prominent object was a long table with a tablecloth spread on it, as if a feast had been in preparation when the house and the clocks all stopped together. An epergne or centerpiece of some kind was in the middle of this cloth; it was heavily overhung with cobwebs that its form was quite undistinguishable; and, as I looked along the yellow expanse out of which I remember its seeming to grow, like a black fungus, I saw speckled-legged spiders with blotchy bodies running home to it, and running out from it.
Poor Miss Havisham! She wins the prize for the stalest, most unpalatable breakfast in all of literature. Speaking of breakfast, Dickens mentioned it more than any other meal in his novels. While he might casually mention luncheon, afternoon tea, and supper, breakfast was often described in elaborate, loving detail. Of course, he also liked a menacing breakfast every now and then, like the one consumed by Mr. Quilp in The Old Curiosity Shop:
He ate hard eggs, shell and all, devoured gigantic prawns with the heads and tails on, chewed tobacco and water-cresses at the same time and with extraordinary greediness, drank boiling tea without winking, bit his fork and spoon till they bent again.
I wonder who his dentist was. ☺
“Today, the girl in the dark glasses, whose name was Clara Frankofile, was sitting at her customary table with a tuna-fish sandwich, cut into four perfect triangles, and a tall glass of tomato juice with a straw.” ~ from Pish Posh by Ellen Potter
Recently, while nibbling on a few tasty restaurant books, I stumbled upon a middle grade novel called Pish Posh by Ellen Potter. It’s about a rich 11-year-old snob, Clara Frankofile, who has the power to decide which of the celebrities, socialites, princesses and movie stars who frequent her family’s restaurant are important enough to stay.
It’s a great premise (especially in light of recent events), that sheds light on our ongoing obsession in this country with celebrity and the trappings of material wealth. Equal parts fantasy, reality, and mystery, Pish Posh is generously laced with Ellen Potter’s signature humor, razor-sharp wit, and boundless imagination, and contains lots of twists and turns to keep young readers intrigued.
How much do I love that this book is set in New York City and satirizes those who think they’re “Somebodies,” but who could instantly become “Nobodies,” at the whim of a child? Or that Clara teams up with a crafty, whip-smart jewel thief named Annabelle to solve a 200-year-old mystery revolving around an unassuming soup cook?
Now here’s a book that’s got my name written all over it.
Regular readers of this blog may have noticed my subtle tendency total obsession with baking and sweets. Like most writers, I am especially mad for chocolate. Dessert First by Hallie Durand features some particularly decadent chocolate and more than satisfied my present craving.
Eight-year-old Dessert Schneider (whose family owns the Fondue Paris restaurant), is just the kind of spunky, quirky little minx I love to read about. She follows in the tradition of Eloise, Ramona, Junie B., and Clementine — the type of character who gets into the kind of mischief we’d secretly like to, if only we had the nerve.
Jama's Alphabet Soup 