Book lunch lunch on The Burgess Boys.

Elizabeth Strout's The Burgess Boys.

Oh how my soul sings having seen you all here today.
Loved it.
Just loved it all!

Recipes of our non-dairy, non-gluten, packed with anti-inflammatories, anti-oxidants, anti-cholesterols, and pro-biotics soup and salad are printed at the bottom of this blog post.

Now onto the soul.
And the book.

Forgiveness.
Forgiveness of others.
Forgiveness of ourself.

When you are able to view an individual person as a human being with a beating heart and wounded soul, your preconceived notions of that person are sometimes put on the shelf. To make way for truth.

And then you can forgive.

What's the deal with Somalia? Now I know.
Civil war.
Abject poverty.
Palpable sadness.
Bad rulers.
Not enough food.
Not enough safety.

Article from Lewiston Maine, regarding the past 10 years of Somali immigration to Lewiston.
Population of this town is 10% Somali.

Don't you just love Bob. Flawed, but oh so loveable.
So many secrets. And lies.
But these three Burgess kids, they stuck together.
Didn't like it. But they stuck together.

Perception and assumptions can color adulthood and the roles we choose.

What color is Jim to you? Bob? Susan? Helen?
Jim is Bright Red.
Bob is Light Blue.
Susan is Stark old fashioned hospital corridor Green, of course.
And elegant Helen is Camelhair beige.

In the movie, Helen would be Meryl Streep 20 years ago, Jim is played by John Hamm, and Bob is unanimously Philip Seymour Hoffman.
I forget who Susan was.


Forgiveness.
Parallel stories of forgiveness.
Thank you Elizabeth Strout.

Next month, Me before You, by Jojo Moyes.
See you Nov 1!

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Creamy Curried Cauliflower Soup

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, Serves 6-8

2 tablespoons coconut oil (can use olive oil)

2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced (can leave this out)

2 16 oz bags frozen organic cauliflower florets

3 cups chicken broth (2 double Knorr’s Chicken Bouillon cubes in 3 cups water)

4 to 7 teaspoons curry spices (see note)

2 cups coconut milk

Salt and Pepper to taste (be generous with the freshly cracked pepper)

Optional for garnish:  ¼ cup roasted pepitas or cashews (350 for 5 minutes)

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat until shimmering. Cook the onion until soft and translucent, 8-9 minutes.

Reduce heat to low, add garlic and cook for 2 additional minutes.

Add curry spices, cook an additional minute, until they start to give off aroma.

Add cauliflower, broth . Bring pot to a boil over medium-high heat,  then reduce the heat to low. Simmer until cauliflower is tender, about 15-17 minutes.

Use an immersion blender to purée the soup right in the pot. Stir in the coconut milk, warm the soup. Taste, then add more salt, pepper, spices if you’d like.

Note: Curry Spices. The amount and mixture depends on your taste. If you are unsure, use 4 teaspoons Spice Islands Curry Powder to start.

2 teaspoons Spice Islands Curry Powder

1 teaspoon Tumeric

1 teaspoon Cumin

1 teaspoon Coriander

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Fennel, Arugula and Pomegranate Salad

Adapted from Bon Appetit, November 2008, Serves 4 to 6

1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced

2 large heads belgian endive, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Juice of ½ lemon

6 cups arugula (about 4 ounces)

1 cup thinly sliced green onions

1/4 cup thinly sliced mint leaves

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

½ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

½ cup pomegranate seeds

Toss fennel, endive, 1 tablespoon olive oil, lemon juice in medium bowl or ziploc baggie. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Keep refrigerated. (Planning ahead? I did this a few hours before serving.)

Right before serving, combine arugula, green onions, mint, vinegar, and 2 tablespoons olive oil in large bowl; toss. Season with salt and pepper.

Divide dark greens among plates.

Top with fennel and endive mix.

Sprinkle pomegranate seeds and walnuts over, with panache.

October is The Burgess Boys

There once were fourteen ladies from Winter Park

There once were fourteen ladies from Winter Park,

Who each month on an adventure did embark.

They read books, they debate.

Such scrumptious food, they lick the plate.

They've evolved into a Winter Park landmark!

June Book Lunch (behind beautiful forevers, Entry 3)

1 1/2 minute video of Annawadi, click here

Asha

Ladies,

My head is spinning.

Quite the crowd for June (10 of us), quite the enthusiasm for conversation, quite the food (thank you Jackie and WPRC), quite the Book Lunch (thank you everyone!)

behind the beautiful forevers is definitely a book I am glad to have read.

As the book's cover said, it was life in a slum of Mumbai. It was death. Many kinds of deaths.

None of us saw the "hope" as mentioned on the book's cover.

We tried to look for it, maybe saw it for a season in Sunil or Manju, but not when you looked at their entire lives.

 Hope in Abdul when he chose to stop selling stolen goods. He wanted to be something better.

A great passage:
“...and maybe because of the boiling April sun, he thought about water and ice. Water and ice were made of the same thing. He thought most people were made of the same thing, too. He himself was probably a little different from the corrupt people around him. Ice was distinct from - and in his view, better than - what it was made of. He wanted to be better than what he was made of. In Mumbai's dirty water, he wanted to be ice. He wanted to have ideals.”


This conviction to take the high road disappeared as he saw he couldn't afford to feed himself and his family. “I tell Allah I love Him immensely, immensely. But I tell Him I cannot be better, because of how the world is.”

A moment of hope at the end,  when Boo mentions that, in this cesspool of Annawadi, what's remarkable is that there are any moments of goodness. And there are. They shine like the stars in the sky over the steamy, black water.

What to do to help people climb up out of poverty? First of all, ensure there's a structure in place free of corruption so they are able to climb up.

Some beautiful paragraphs.

We feel very lucky we live in the USA.

Cynthia brought a NYT article on Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi). She is another side of India, a side of hope and love.  Unconditional love  “Love is our true essence. Love has no limitations of caste, religion, race or nationality. We are all beads strung together on the same thread of love.” —Amma

So for July, no book chosen. Many discussed.

The date, July 5 or 12. Email me to tell me if you could come to either July 5 or 12.. I will (tomorrow) email out the count of which date gets the most attending. Here at my house. Brown bag lunch style (I will provide water/iced tea.)

Stay cool and dry ladies...
love ya sara

behind the beautiful forevers, finished part 3 (entry 2)

Closed the book.
Placed it on the table next to me, folding a page corner to keep my place.

Just finished Part 3, 'a little wildness.'

Part 2 was 'the business of burning.'
Remember the burning?

One more part remains, 'up and out.'
Is it a person who rises up and out?
Will Abdul rise up, move out? Or will it be Manju? Or Mirchi?
Could it possibly be Sunil?
I'm rooting for Abdul.
But probability says it will be Manju.

The beginning chapters were sad stories. These 'undercitizens 'made the best of their plights. Sad, but they were survivors.  I'm rooting for them.

Now, in these past few pages, too many of Annawadi's people have been unfairly treated. Not just bad luck, but press their noses into the mud and smear it. Intentionally. Oh man. Beatings by police, corruption left and right... in the police and charities as well as in your community. Corruption is the river that propels India's commerce forward, this book is saying.

And me, just a simple reader of these stories. I think I have become immune to the horror of the injustices.  I read through their sad sad tales too quickly.

The first recounting of a bribe required for the wheels of justice to churn forward, I cringed. The first seemingly random act of unkindness, I paused. Thankful for my life. Thankful for my country. Thankful I'm sitting in Winter Park, not Mumbai. Not sitting in a 6' x 10' shack calling it my home.

Having read chapter after chapter of corruption and unfairness, have I become less compassionate? Do their stories move me less?  Kalu was brutally killed. I read on. Sanjay died drinking rat poison. Turn the page.

There's enough heartache one one page to fuel an entire novel.

How do you stay human in Annawadi?
How do you stay attuned to compassion, when you really need to close off your emotions to survive?

As inured to each individual's heartache as I thought I was becoming, had to step away from the pages for a breath of air.

Place the book on the table next to me.

When do they ever get a moment to breathe?
Why are tears welling up in my eyes?

behind the beautiful forevers, finished part 1 (entry 1)

I have finished the first quarter of behind the beautiful forevers. 

May I say that I personally applaud an author who decides to NOT capitalize a title. 

Got to add a map ... 

I like it.
Didn't quite know what to expect.

The author, Katherine Boo, writes with the voice of Abdul, a teenager living in shanty-town-by-the-Mumbai-Airport Annawadi.

A garbage scavenger and seller.

But he doesn't know much of a different life that the one he's living. He does know that he wants better, but not certain what that is.

Taking a deep breath,  reading about corruption. "...for the poor of the country, corruption was one of the genuine opportunities that remained."

Putting the book down for a moment, looking at my home. At my life, my delightfully stable and fairy tale life.  One family lives in a aluminum thrown together shack measuring 6' by 10'.

That's just slightly larger than the batter's box.

Or look at one of your 8' x 10' rugs, and subtract 2'.

Humbling.

The instinct for survival affects our moral baseline.

And I already know from where she took the title....

May book lunch: Ghana Must Go // behind the beautiful forevers

Thank you Cathi and Cynthia.
Delicious lunch. Gracious setting. Elegantly served.

The grande finale,  desserts from Ghana.
Banana-Peanut Bread and Strawberry Fool.
Fool is the best. Even those of us who don't dessert, took a bite.

Heavenly. Thank you!

Ah the book. Well once again I was the outlier. Everyone loved it. Just loved it. But me.

Loved the story of strong Fola, whose husband left her as a poor immigrant in America with four little kids. He was fired, didn't deserve it, tried to fix it, couldn't, so he left.

 In the discussion, they loved the entanglements of the damaged lives and relationships amongst the four kids and those two parents.

Gripping storyline. Fullness of characters. Abusive relationships, bulimia. In the end, as in the beginning, the father Kweku, dies. Married to Ama who is satiable. Broken hearted he doesn't try to save himself. A picture of young African immigrants' lives in America today.

Ling's father doesn't want her to marry Olu because in his mind, African men have taken over Asians as being great doctors, but African men aren't loyal to their families. He wants to protect his daughter.

 Sadie, Fola's favorite, blossoms through dance. Fola is strong.

Kweku's slippers, hiding the signs of an impoverished childhood, return at the end to Fola. Unsatiable Fola.

Beautifully written. Glimpse into the life of African immigrants' lives.

Did I hit on most points discussed? This book proved fodder for a solid hour of energetic conversation. That was cool.

Hope the next one does too. I think it will.

For June we are reading, with no capital letters in the title:

behind the beautiful forevers, by Katherine Boo.

Non-fiction, but why not?  It's the exceptions that define the rules...

;)