Footnotes to a Conversation, Feb. 28, 2022
On the Bookshelf
The brain is truly remarkable. And yet, most of us lead narrow lives within infinite possibilities. I’d like to read The Man Who Tasted Words: Inside the Strange and Startling World of Our Senses by Guy Leschziner about a person who can taste words, a man who can hear his eyeballs “moving and squelching”, another who is unable to feel pain, and a woman who struggles with door knobs and lifting a cup to her lips because she has no awareness of her place in space. [book review, The Guardian]
Artists have an astonishing ability to convey emotions and ideas visually. I enjoyed A Celebration of Beatrix Potter: Art and Letters by more than 30 of today’s favorite children’s book illustrators. It led me to a much greater appreciation of Beatrix Potter, especially her refusal to steer away from uncomfortable subjects, such as the fate of Peter Rabbit’s father who ended up in a pie. The 30 illustrators who discuss her impact on their work share commonalities but also display such individual perspectives. I particularly enjoyed one illustrator who pictured sitting down to tea with Beatrix Potter.
Still Life by Val McDermid offers an intriguing plot, well developed characters, and a focus on the art world that I really enjoyed. I highly recommend it.
Leeks & Pancakes
March 1 is Pancake Tuesday, but it’s also St. David’s Day. For those of you of English origins, Yotam Ottolenghi offers up recipes for Breton-style buckwheat galettes, dorayaki (sweet, cream-filled Japanese pancakes), and my choice, because it is rooted in my family’s history of pancakes with sugar and lemon juice, skillet blintzes with lemon, mascarpone, and thyme. [The Guardian]
For those with Welsh or Celtic blood, you may want to make a leek, onion, and wild garlic galette or a vegetarian version of cawl soup (here’s my opportunity to cook with seaweed). Leeks in a rich cheese sauce sound delicious. Note: These dishes may require some substitute ingredients. It won’t be easy to find wild garlic (top photo), fresh sorrel, or laverbread in Canada. [The Guardian]
Footnotes to a Conversation is a weekly Monday feature covering an assortment of topics that I’ve come across in the preceding week – books, art, travel, food, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I also post occasional articles on other dates, including frequent book reviews and travel tales.
If you share my love of nature, check out EcoFriendly West, an online publication encouraging environmental initiatives in Western Canada, and Nature Companion, a free nature app for Canada’s four western provinces.