“White Noise”
Don Delillo is an American novelist who was born in 1936 and started writing novels in the 1960’s. His eighth book, “White Noise” won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1985. Set in a midwestern college town called Blacksmith on the campus of “College on the Hill,” “White Noise” is told from the perspective of Jack Gladney, a 51-year old professor who chairs the Hitler Studies Department at the local college. Gladney is married to Babette (his 5th wife) and together they have six children: his three – Mary Alice (19), Heinrich (14), and Steffie (9) and her three: Denise (11), Eugene (8) and Wilder (3). It may seem like the Brady Bunch but the Gladney family is more like George Banks (Steve Martin from “Father of the Bride”) meets “Mother’s Little Helper” on the set of “Home Alone.” Read more 
Absent the Killer Instinct; Present a Heart
My daughter finished the swim season last year with an announcement that she was joining the school’s water polo team. She had never played water polo before but with most of the swim team opting to play during off-season, I encouraged her to take on a new sport if she was interested. A week later, she came home and announced the coach asked if she wanted to train to be the team’s goalie. Seems the current goalie was a senior and graduating so a slot was opening up. Given her freshman status, her height and long arm reach, she was the ideal prospect and took to the sport with a total sense of commitment. Read more
My Husband’s Mistress: Fern
Several years ago, my husband starting leaving the house to go work on the “road” – the name we gave our driveway that meanders through a dense forest in the Adirondacks. Thinking it strange that he spent so much time on the road, I peeked out a window one morning and encountered him on his hands and knees gently pushing aside ferns to pull out prickly raspberry vines and weeds that were vying for ground space. When I asked him what he was doing, he told me he was clearing out the brush and weeds to give his ferns space to grow. My husband loves ferns: those fragile looking green-leaved surface cover plants that can spread as fast as kudzu if given the chance. Read more
479 Popcorn
479 Popcorn is a premium artisan popcorn hand-made and air-popped in San Francisco, California. The company was founded by Jean Arnold whose love of popcorn began in her childhood when her mother used to make fresh popcorn in a hand-cranked stove-top popper. Jean grew up and attended Le Cordon Bleu in London before venturing out on her own in the organic popcorn business. Prior to starting her company, Jean discovered that 479 degrees is the optimal temperature for popping corn which is how she came to name her company. Read more
“Then We Came To The End”
There are many books about families and the dysfunction inherent in the groups we were born into but not many books are written about the workplace where people choose to spend at least a third of their day (with the other third devoted to family and friends and the remaining third supposedly sleeping). Workplaces become a microcosm of a family – a big family – and are full of dysfunctional and odd characters who can be hilarious, annoying, intimidating but also endearing. Enter the employees of a well-known Chicago advertising agency in the fictional novel “Then We Came To The End” by Joshua Ferris. Read more
The Staff of Life: Poiláne
Everyone knows to visit the Louvre when in Paris, but not everyone knows to visit “Poiláne,” one of the oldest bread makers in the City of Light for a taste of what real bread should taste like. My friend, Nancy told me I needed to visit this bakery so on a beautiful sunny 70 degree day in Paris, I set off on foot for the Left Bank with plans to enjoy a bread – the French sourdough loaf – that’s been made the same way for hundreds of years. Read more
The Repetto Ballet Flat
The Repetto ballet flat is one of the very few fashion purchases that look as good today as they did 50 years ago . Always in style, the ballet flat is often the perfect choice to wear with a skirt, shorts, capris, a dress or pants when simplicity and comfort are paramount.. The ballet flat has the distinguishing characteristic of being both casual and elegant while most shoes are unable to transcend one category. Read more
Ladurée in Paris
Most people go to Ladurée for the fresh macarons: a sweet meringue based confection filled with a ganache or buttercream. Crunchy on the outside, moist and soft on the inside, the classic small round macaron originated in France. Ladurée has been making macarons since 1862 and is the most well-known brand in the world, if not the most elegant. With more than 20 flavors offered in the most beautiful ribbon covered pastel boxes ever made, Ladurée macarons can make you feel like Marie-Antionette at Versailles. Read more
Jour Naked in Paris
Only the French could name a chain of restaurants “Naked Day” and get away with it. “Jour Naked” is a relatively new type of fast food in Paris that is sure to expand in popularity with tourists and locals who welcome the opportunity to choose the ingredients of their meal. While strolling the avenues of Paris this week, I discovered this treasure of a restaurant that specializes in fresh hand-tossed salads. “Jour Naked” does to salad what “Pinkberry” does to frozen yogurt: they take a good basic product and offer quality toppings to make it a real treat. Read more
“Ms. Hempel Chronicles”
“Ms. Hempel Chronicles,” a finalist for the Pen Vaulkner Award for Fiction in 2009 was written by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum, a writer who graduated from Brown University and the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop and now teaches writing and literature at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, California. Read more
Paddock Post 