Friday 5ive- January 20, 2023

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly-ish post featuring five things that caught my attention this week.

1)  We celebrated our daughter-in-law's birthday with dinner at Boqueria, a fantastic Spanish tapas restaurant in our neighborhood. She is a big reader (like her mother-in-law) and I wanted to do something fun for her birthday. I've seen on social media where people have done a combo Blind Date With a Book/ Book of the Month gift and thought that would be perfect. I chose 12 books for her, wrapped each one in bookish gift wrap, and wrote a short description of each book along with the month she should read each one. It was so much fun choosing the books, and I can't wait to hear her opinions on each book.

2)  Speaking of Spanish and books, someone donated this Spanish-language book-  "Una Visita a la Estación de Bomberos de Sesame Street" (A Visit to Sesame Street Firehouse) to the Book Cellar. When our sons were little boys, they would watch the Sesame Street Goes to the Firehouse video so many times, we wore the VHS tape out. They would watch the video and then don their firefighing gear (red boots, red rain coats, plastic red firefighter helmets), go outside and grab the hose to fight the fire. (Our neighbors got a big kick out that when they would extinguish the imaginary fire on the garage roof.) I had to buy it, it brought back such fond memories.

3)  While running errands, I saw two signs in a window that caught my attention. They were advertising wedding officiant services, and if you wanted to elope, this apparently is the place to go. It got me thinking that I could advertise my Wedding Officiant services, but I'm not sure who could see the sign in my 36th floor apartment window. 

4)  We watched the movie Elvis on HBOMax this week. It was fantastic, and Austin Butler literally channels Elvis from his early days to his sad end. It was hard to believe that you weren't watching the actual Elvis at times. The story is narrated by Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis' manager who, while making Elvis a household name, also manipulated Elvis and his parents. Parker created him and then destroyed him. Tom Hanks plays Parker in a role that most of us are not used to seeing Hanks- as a villain. Baz Luhrman does a masterful job directing this movie that manages to get in almost every iconic Elvis song. Butler has won many awards for his performance, and an Oscar may be headed his way. You don't have to be an Elvis Presley fan to enjoy this fantastic movie, I highly recommend it. (My favorite part was the recreation of Elvis' 1968 comeback special.)

5)  I read a brilliant novel this week- Mesha Maren's Perpetual West. (My full review is here.) It tells the story of a young couple- Alex, a Mexican man who was adopted by West Virginia evangelicals as a young boy, and his wife Elana, whose family took Alex in as a college student. They moved from West Virginia to El Paso on the Mexican border, and they spend a lot of time in Juarez, Mexico. Alex is writing his thesis on lucha libre (Mexican professional wrestling) and he falls in love with Mateo, a wrestler who ends up unwittingly involved with the leader of a drug cartel. Elana returns from a visit back home with her family to find Alex has gone missing. The story follows Alex and Mateo as they are being held by the cartel, and Elana's search for him, hampered by her poor Spanish-speaking skills and her secret battle with anorexia. The characters are so well-drawn here, you empathize with each of them. Another high recommendation from me. 

I hope you are all staying safe and healthy in 2023. Until next time.

Friday 5ive- July 30, 2021

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention this week.

1) I visited the new Little Island at Pier 55 on the Hudson River with my friend Val. It's an oasis of green created on pillars that look like they are floating over the Hudson looking towards New Jersey. The landscaping is beautiful and extensive, they have an amphitheater for performances (a dance troupe was there earlier this week), and food trucks with seating in the middle. If you've done the Highline walkway, you should make a trip to Little Island, it's right across the street.

2) Speaking of the Highline, we wandered over there after Little Island, and this sculpture intrigued many people. Can you guess what it is?

Anyone who had a teenager knows this -it's a retainer!

3) I'm not a craft beer fan, but I know a lot of them, and next time they are in town a trip to the new Craft & Carry will be in order. 

4)  We watched the HBO Max documentary "Woodstock 99- Peace, Love and Rage" and it was so interesting. I remember it because it was held at the the closed Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, NY, not far from where we were in Auburn. What was supposed to be three days of people enjoying music turned into a Lord of the Flies situation. Overpriced water ($4 a bottle in 1999!), poor bathroom facilities, lax security, and band choices that appealed to a mostly testosterone-fueled crowd. I do remember seeing the fires people set that ended the concert on the local news. 

5) I read one book this week. Elizabeth de Veer's The Ocean in Winter is a story of three sisters dealing with the aftermath of their mother's suicide many years before. Alex, the oldest and an ER nurse, found their mother dead when she just 11 years old. Colleen, married with two teenage children, lives to make her children's lives perfect. She is also desperately trying to find their youngest sister Riley, a model who has been incommunicado with her sisters. Colleen is concerned that Riley is using drugs again, and hires a PI to find her. It's a heartbreaking story that asks the question, "do memories choose us or do we choose memories?" My full review publishes on August 6th. 

 Stay safe and I hope if you are able to do, you got a vaccine. We're all in this together to quote High School Musical.

Friday 5ive- June 4, 2021

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention this week. We made a trip to Pittsburgh over the holiday weekend to visit family, and it was wonderful to see loved ones we haven't seen in over a year.

1) My sister-in-law took us on a quick tour of the area, and we made a stop at one of their favorite breweries, Hitchhiker Brewing Company. There was a food truck parked there, Bridge City Brinery, and we got some delicious food to go with the beer. Bridge City has a Korean inspired menu, and I loved the Onion Tots with Honey Mustard best.

2) We also visited the Strip District which has lots of cute shops, including some great foodie shops. Shop In The Kitchen has every possible kitchen gadget you could want (and many you didn't know that you needed). We spent too much time in there. Pittsburgh Macaroni Co. is an amazing Italian food import shop. They have so many pastas, sauces, meats, prepared foods, and my daughter-in-law was excited to find a cheese from back home in Catalonia that she has never seen in the United States. Check out their their website, they ship.

3)  We stayed at the Marriott hotel near the airport, and they gave people the option of using a qr code to put the television remote on your phone via an app. What a great idea! The remote is one of those things that I don't like touching in a hotel, and this eliminates that. This is a photo of what it looks like.

4) I started watching Hacks on HBO Max. Jean Smart is phenomenal as a Joan Rivers-type stand-up comedian who has been around a long time. She's based in Las Vegas now, and works constantly, hawking items on a shopping channel and even showing up at the opening of a pizza joint. She is forced to hire a struggling young writer, wonderfully played by Hannah Einbinder, to update her act for the 21st century. It's a fantastic show, with the brilliant Mike Schur (The Good Place) executive producing. You can the watch the trailer here. 

5) Romance was on the menu this week in my reading. Historical romance novelist Eloisa James moves into contemporary fiction under her real name, Mary Bly, with Lizzie & Dante. Lizzie is a Shakepearean scholar traveling with her best friend to the Italian island of Elba to help his boyfriend, a famous mega movie star, write a script for his version of Romeo & Juliet. Lizzie meets a handsome Italian chef and falls in love with him, his twelve year-old daughter Etta, and their dog. But Lizzie has a serious illness and if they get more involved, she could hurt Dante and Etta deeply. You can feel the warmth of the Italian sun, hear the sea roar, and taste the delicious food Dante creates in his restaurant in this novel that appeals to all your senses. You'll be packing your bags for Elba before you finish this wonderful book.

Kate Bromley's contemporary romance novel, Talk Bookish to Me, is about a historical romance novelist. Kara is struggling to complete her latest novel as she prepares to be maid of honor at her best friend's wedding. When she discovers that Ryan, the man who broke her heart in college ten years ago, is one of the groomsmen, she is unhappy. After Ryan and his bulldog Duke are kicked out their hotel, Kara offers to let them stay at her apartment for the weekend of the wedding. The banter between Kara and Ryan made me laugh out loud, and you'll learn about romance novel genres, subgenres and tropes in this delightful, sexy story. My full review is here. 

After last weekend's freezing cold weather, we're getting ready for 90 degrees for the next few days. Stay safe and cool everyone.