“Elsewhere”
Reading was not a duty but a reward, and from that I intuited a vital truth: most people are trapped in a solitary existence, a life circumscribed by want and failures of imagination, limitations from which readers are exempt. You can’t make a writer without first making a reader, and that’s what my mother made me.
Those are the written words of Richard Russo, the Pulitzer prize-winning author of Empire Falls and most recently Elsewhere – a memoir of his life as the son of Jean Russo – a woman he credits with directing his life into a field where being “obsessive, dogged, and rigid” are assets rather than liabilities. Read more 
La Maison du Chocolat Confret Maison
The French chocolate house La Maison du Chocolat makes some of the most decadent, expensive and best tasting chocolate in the world. The “Coffret Maison” is loosely translated to mean the “House Box” – the signature box of chocolates which contain an assortment of praline, ganache, and mousse in milk and dark chocolate – all of which are exquisite and provide a sampling of the famous French chocolatier. Read more
Seitenbacher Musli
Seitenbacher is a family owned manufacturer of natural foods based out of a small town in southwest Germany near Heidelberg. Established in 1980 by Willi Pfannenschwarz, the company name comes from a river near where Pfannenschwarz was born. Musli (muesli in the US) is a very popular breakfast cereal in Europe and is just now gaining popularity in the United States. Often thought as a dry tasting powdery wheat and oat cereal, muesli is also made with dried fruits and nuts to add taste and texture to what is now becoming a preferred breakfast cereal in the US. Read more
The Health Insurance Exchange – What’s the Big Deal?
The governor of Arizona let the federal government know the state does not plan to set up a Health Insurance Exchange by October 1, 2013 – the deadline to have the exchanges operating to allow consumers time to purchase policies for 2014 coverage. 17 states and the District of Columbia plan to create their own health insurance exchanges and the remaining states have until December 14, 2012 to decide what they are going to do. For those states that decide not to set up a Health Insurance Exchange themselves, the task will be left to the federal government who has the authority to step in and create the exchanges. Read more
“Dear Life”
Alice Munro recently published a new collection of short stories entitled Dear Life. A brilliant anthology of 14 short stories with mostly single word titles that signify a key event, description or a character in a story, Dear Life is really two books in one: ten fictional short stories told from the perspective of characters striving to make sense of people in their lives, random events, and the decisions made; and four stories collectively called Finale that Munro says”form a separate unit, one that is autobiographical in feeling, thought not, sometimes, entirely so in fact. I believe they are the first and last – and the closest – things I have to say about my own life.” Read more
A Special Restaurant in La Antigua, Guatemala
La Antigua or “Antigua” attracts world travelers and tourists alike which means there is a wide variety of dining options in this colonial destination in the central highlands of Guatemala. Among those choices is a very special restaurant called 39 Azul opened by a Norwegian chef by the name of Nils Rykken who looks like the twin brother of Mario Batali, crocs and all. The name of the restaurant reflects the address – 6.a Calle Poniente 39 – and the overriding color scheme of the restaurant, which is blue, a color often associated with the Norwegians or the Danish. But, the food is the star at 39 Azul – locally sourced ingredients expertly prepared with both a Norwegian and an international touch. Read more
Steep and Cheap (SAC)
Steep and Cheap is a unique website that sells premium outdoor gear and clothing but what sets this website apart from other discount websites are two things: first, the prices are unbelievably low; and second, only one deal is offered at a time for a very short period of time (usually 10-40 minutes) or until the item sells out (which is sometimes very, very quickly as in minutes). Then, it’s on to the next deal. The sales are constant so those on the prowl for gear or great athletic wear need to act fast. But, as soon as one deal is over, another kicks in….all day long. Read more
Organic Candy Canes
Candy canes are as much a part of our holiday season as the festivities. We hang the red and white striped sweets on the tree, smash them up with a hammer to use as a topping on cookies or to make peppermint bark, and we eat them in their natural state. The refreshing peppermint taste and the nostalgic shape draws most kids (big and little) to candy canes even though most of these seasonal treats contain corn syrup, artificial colors, and flavorings. TruJoy Sweets makes an organic candy cane using natural colors and flavors to create a healthier and better tasting candy cane using only four ingredients: organic evaporated cane juice, organic brown rice syrup, natural peppermint flavor, and organic fruit juice. Read more
Forbidden Rice
While dining at the Veritable Quandary in Portland, Oregon last month, Wild Grilled Salmon over Forbidden Rice was served for dinner and I couldn’t decide which was better – the medium rare grilled salmon or the dark moist flavorful rice that was underneath the fish. Rice is normally a bland food that requires butter, salt, or spices to enhance the flavor but Forbidden Rice is different. A delicious rice with a a nutty taste , Forbidden Rice looks like a black rice but is in reality, a deep dark purple color when cooked and although the expectation is for the rice to be hard and nutty like a wild rice, Forbidden Rice is soft and nutty. Folklore has it this rice was reserved for the emperors of China and therefore forbidden to all others; hence its name.
“May We Be Forgiven”
There are paths, forks in the road, journeys we must take. Sometimes it’s not a choice, but about what we do with what we are given.
May We Be Forgiven was written by Amy M. Homes, an American writer who teaches creative writing at Princeton University and who goes by the pen name: A.M. Homes. Published in September, 2012, May We Be Forgiven is a fast paced novel that starts with a bang (literally) and gives new meaning to “The Big Bang Theory” of how a family is formed. Although many people think a family is created by a marriage or the birth of a child, a family is formed by people uniting or expanding in many different ways, both conventional and non-conventional. And, when a family implodes, what are the survivors to do? Run and escape or come together? This is the dilemma faced by the major characters in May We Be Forgiven. Read more
Paddock Post 