Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly(ish) blog post featuring five things that caught my attention during the week. I took a long weekend last week, I hope you didn't miss me too much.
1) I'm not a beer drinker at all, but while we were at our favorite lunch spot in Cortez, Tide Tables, we saw a bartender pouring a pitcher of beer from this cool looking tap. It had a pelican head on top that read "Strawberry Orange Mimosa" from South Beach Brewing Company. The bartender gave us a taste and you would swear you were drinking a mimosa (which I like) not a beer (which I don't like). It was light, but contains 5% alcohol so these would sneak up on you pretty fast. I finally found a beer I would enjoy!
2) We had a tasting for a dinner we're hosting at Gotham Hall in October. The new hors 'oeuvres were all fantastic- a pumpkin mousse tart with goat cheese, fig and pistachio, a duck spring roll with a sake plum glaze, sunny side up blt topped with a quail egg , and a short rib rigatoni. The big winner of the tasting was eggplant meatballs, served over zucchini noodles topped with a marinara sauce. We are not vegetarian, but we would consider serving this a main entree instead of beef, that's how tasty this was.
3) I haven't watched Dancing With The Stars in ages, but I will be throwing all my votes to Cody Rigsby when the show returns on Monday. Cody is one of my favorite Peloton cycling instructors, he never fails to make me laugh when I take one of his classes. I hope all the millions of Peloton riders show up to support Cody. 
4) We watched The Chair on Netflix, a six episode series about Ji-Yoon, the first woman of color to head an English department at a prestigious university. The English department is losing enrollment and some of the older professors don't understand how (or care) to reach their students. The cast is fantastic: Sandra Oh is Ji-Yoon, Jay Duplass, Bob Balaban and Holland Taylor (who is phenomenal as always) are professors at the university. The show deals with the current cancel culture, single motherhood, and our society's celebrity fascination, among other topics. We really enjoyed it. 
5) I read three really terrific books. Deanne Quinn Miller's The Prison Guard's Daughter shares her story as the daughter of Billy Quinn, the only corrections officer killed by inmates during the Attica Prison Riot in 1971, the worst prison riot in US history. Twenty-nine inmates and ten officers were killed by state troopers and prison guards during the violent retaking of the prison. Quinn Miller describes her decades long search as a member of the FVOA (Forgotten Victims of Attica) for justice for the widows and survivors of the riot. The FVOA wanted an apology (still waiting for that), counseling made available, and monetary compensation equivalent to what the inmates received in their settlement with New York State. It's a stunning book, cowritten by Gary Craig, a reporter for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. My full review publishes in The Citizen (Auburnpub.com) on September 26th. 
The beach was the perfect place to read Taylor Jenkins Reid's newest novel, Malibu Rising. It's the story of four adult children of 1950's mega-crooner (think Sinatra) Mick Riva. In 1983, Nina Riva, the oldest daughter of Mick Riva, is preparing to host her annual summer bash at her cliffside mansion in Malibu. Her tennis superstar husband has just left her, and she is getting tired of being known as the hot chick surfer with the best selling calendar. Her brother Jay's surfing career is going great, brother Hud is hiding a big secret from Jay, and youngest sister Kit hopes she'll be kissed for the first time at the party. The book moves back and forth in time from the children's childhood being raised alone by their mother June to an hour-by-hour chapter-by-chapter decription of a party that becomes so out of control, Nina's home ends up in flames. Jenkins Reid pulls the reader in with her story and her characters are so well drawn. I loved The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and Jenkins Reid tops that book with this book of the summer. 
Speaking of rising, Katherine Heiny's novel, Early Morning Riser, may just be my favorite book of the year. When new second grade teacher Jane locks herself out of her home, Duncan the town locksmith comes to her aid and doesn't leave. They become a couple, and Jane learns that Duncan is the town lothario, having dated pretty much every woman within a 50 mile radius. Along with Duncan comes his ex-wife Aggie (gorgeous and a great cook but bossy), her new husband Gary (an oddball) and Jimmy, a man who works with Duncan and lives with his elderly mother. The story begins in 2002 and takes us through 2018 as Jane tries not to love Duncan and fails, and when a tragedy brings him back into her life, she realizes it's the family you choose who make you who you are. The characters become your friends, the writing has such humor and warmth, you just want to move to the small town of Boyne City, Michigan (the 21st century version of Mayberry) and hang out with them all. Early Morning Riser is the kind of book that restores your faith in humanity. 
I hope you are all safe and healthy, that you wash your hands, wear a mask, and stay socially distant when possible and that you are vaccinated to protect those who can't be vaccinated yet. It's the only way out of this bad situation.
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