Friday 5ive- July 14, 2023

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly-ish post featuring five things that caught my eye this week. We took a week off to go to Florida, I hope you didn't miss me.

1)  We were excited to see two projects completed at our home in Florida. New bookshelves were put in, along with a desk in the office, so you know I enjoyed organizing the books. The only thing that would have been better is if my my two favorite book organizers Anna and Allison were there to help. We also had a new bar area put in the kitchen, and both projects turned out so wonderful.

2)  Our JetBlue plane from JFK to Florida was called Bear Force One, with the Boston Bruins logo and colors. I'm not a hockey fan, but I know a few Bruins fans so I sent them a  photo.

3) I was on my own for dinner a couple nights this week and when I was debating what to have, an article from CNN popped on my phone about "Girl Dinner". Apparently when women are having dinner on their own at home, pulling out fruit, cheese and crackers for dinner is the latest fad. So I picked up burrata, some grapes and pineapple and added some crackers and proscuitto from my neighborhood Italian grocery store and had a lovely little dinner. Girl Dinner will on my regular rotation- no cooking is involved and in this heat that is a good thing. 

4) I ended up spending an extra two days on Florida due to flight cancellations so I made the best of it by catching up on the last season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime. All I can say is Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino know how to wrap up a show. They gave us a glimpse into the future for all the characters and Alex Borstein (Susie) and Rachel Brosnahan (Midge) put on a tour-de-force of acting in the last few episodes that stunned me. If they don't get all the awards, there is no justice. If you've never watched this series, do yourself a favor and watch it now. I loved Midge's Joan Rivers-like NYC massive apartment, a nice tip of the hat to Joan.

5) I read some terrific books lately. Kelly Rimmer's WWII novel, The Paris Agent, tells the story of ordinary British people who became spies to save the world from the Nazis. It is intense and so gripping. My five-star review can be found here. 

Speaking of spies, Beatriz Williams' novel, The Beach at Summerly, also has at its core a spy story,but this one is set in the Cold War and with Russians. Emelia's parents have been caretakers for a wealthy New England's summer family home on Winthrop Island on the Long Island Sound. She and her siblings grew up with the sons of the family, and Emilia had a crush on one of the boys. After WWII, the boys' widowed Aunt Olive comes to stay with her young children, and Emilia ends up taking care of the children and growing close to Olive. Her relationship with Olive brings her to the attention of FBI agent Sumner Fox who is looking for someone who is passing along information to the Russians. This one is for fans of the late, great TV show The Americans. I love how Williams' ties this book into her previous terrific novel, Our Woman in Moscow. 

I also read Isabel Allende's debut novel, The House of the Spirits. This one was my July Blind Date With a Book -Banned Book Club edition gifted to me by my wonderful daughter-in-law Anna. I can't believe I never read this book before! It's an epic family story, set in an unnamed South American country. Esteban Trueba works hard to build a life of wealth and privilege for his family. He is tough, and sometime violent. Esteban loves his ethereal wife Clara, who is able to connect to the spirits of those who have passed on. Their daughter Blanca falls in love with a man her father forbids her to see, a man whose politics are the complete opposite of Esteban's. As Esteban's political power grows, Blanca grows further apart from her father. Blanca's daughter Alba is the light of Esteban's eye, but as she grows up, she sees the world in a different light than her grandfather and wants to change things in her increasingly volatile country. Written in 1985, ostensibly about Chile, this book resonates with much that is happening right now in the United States. This book is one of the best I have ever read, it has earned a permanent place on my Staff Recommends shelf at the Book Cellar. 

Have a safe, healthy week- stay cool.

Friday 5ive- March 4, 2022

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

1)  After a two year hiatus, I made my way back to Broadway. I went to see Moulin Rouge, which won the Tony Award last year for Best Musical. I loved the movie it was based on, and the show followed the movie pretty faithfully. Aaron Tveit, in his Tony winning performance, is wonderful as Christian, the penniless songwriter in love with Satine, the star of the Moulin Rouge. The songs (all pop songs) and choreography of the show is fantastic, with lots of energy, and it was a great way to come back to Broadway.

2)  I made a delicious new recipe- Skillet Chicken and Mushroom Pot Pie from Food & Wine. I am not the biggest pot pie fan, mostly because I don't like the thick crust, and this recipe calls for no crust. You put the filling of chicken (I used shredded rotisserie chicken) and vegetables with the sauce you make in a skillet, and top it with thick slices of buttered white bread. My husband and I really enjoyed this dish, and the recipe will in our dinner rotation.  

Photo from Food & Wine- Stephanie Foley

3) The Today Show 's Jenna Bush Hager celebrated three years of her Read With Jenna book club on Read Across America Day on March 2nd on the Plaza. Twelve authors came to the show and and all 37 books that Jenna has chosen as her monthly reads were lined up on tables. Jenna mentioned that it looked like a Scholastic Book Fair and that is exactly the vibe I felt! I only wish we could have shopped for the books with money that our parents gave us. (The 2000 books were donated to the community of Newburgh, NY). I got to talk to a few of the authors, and tell them how much I loved their books (J. Courtney Sullivan, whose Saints For All Occasions is frequently found on my Staff Recommends cart at the Book Cellar, and Matteo Askaripour, whose Black Buck is a stunning debut novel).

The authors!

Matteo Askaripour

4)  I was glad to see The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is back on Amazon Prime for its fourth season. There is something comforting about traveling back to 1960's New York City to catch up with Miriam, who at the end of last season lost her chance to go on a world tour with singer Shy Baldwin after she made a joke that hit too close to home for him. Miriam and Susie have to pick up the pieces and regroup. The Wonder Wheel scene in episode one is brilliantly directed and edited, and I can't wait to see more of Miriam's gorgeous dresses and hats.  It's a fantastic ensemble of actors, led by Rachel Brosnahan and Alex Borstein as Miriam and Susie. 

5)  I read a lot of books since my last post. Elena Medel, a Spanish poet, wrrte her debut novel,The Wonders, about two working class women in Madrid and how difficult life choices are for women especially when money is scarce. It's a fantastic book, a great read for Women's History Month, and my full review is here.

Another fabulous book is Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez, a novel about Olga, a successful wedding planner of Puerto Rican descent in Brooklyn, her brother Prieto, a popular Congressman, and how they deal with their revolutionary mother who left them as children, gentrification in their neighborhood, a secret Prieto is hiding, and the impending doom of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico. The writing is amazing, and you learn so much about the history of Puerto Rico. This will be one of my favorite books this year. 

Two of the books I read deal with unique protagonists. In Nita Prose's The Maid, Molly is a maid at a fancy hotel in London. She loves her job and is very good at it, but her people skills are lacking. When she discovers the dead body of a guest, Molly finds herself a suspect because she befriended the young wife of the dead man. Molly is an unforgettable character, and the story combines a puzzzling mystery with a charming cast of characters. It is a Good Morning America book club pick and destined to be a movie starring Florence Pugh. 

Weike Wang's novel  Joan is Okay also features a character who loves her job and lacks social skills. Joan is a doctor in a busy New York City hospital. She is dedicated to her work, rarely taking a day off, and when her father dies, she goes to China for the funeral returning in a two days. Her dedication earns her a promotion at work, much to the dismay of her coworkers and her brother and mother who think she needs to find a husband and start a family. The book takes place just before the pandemic hits in New York, and I liked the look at a doctor's world in busy New York City. It's a more interior book than The Maid, really getting into the mind and life of Joan. 

The last book I read is Jacqueline Winspear's latest Maisie Dobbs mystery, A Sunlit Weapon. Private investigator Maisie Dobbs is tasked with investigating the death of a female aviatrix, who, while delivering a fighter plane in England during WWII, is shot down. In the same area, a Black American GI is found tied up in a barn, his white friend missing, presumed dead. Maisie must discover why someone shot down the airplane and what happened to the missing GI. This is a classic Maisie Dobbs mystery, where we get fascinating tidbits of history (American GIs providing physical labor for British farmers, women aviatrix flying planes to the men at the front, racism in the American ranks) combined with Maisie's team (investigator Billy, Maisie's American husband Mark, her young adopted daughter among others). I am concerned with a bit of foreshadowing information thrown in that may portend something not good in the future for Maisie, and I would have loved to have read more about the women pilots. Fans of Maisie Dobbs will be pleased. 

Have a safe week everyone.

 

Friday 5ive- April 17, 2020

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention during the week. We're all still hunkered down, working from home, making dinner every.single.night.

1) People may not have been able to go to Washington, DC to see the cherry blossoms, but we had a tree in front of our apartment building that was in full bloom this week. It really stood out on the streets of New York.

2) Easter was this past Sunday, and although we couldn't have our family together, we did manage to eat dinner at the same time over Zoom. One family made steak, one had Mississippi pot roast, and I made our traditional lamb. The scalloped potatoes turned out very tasty, as did the ambrosia salad and broccoli salad. We didn't even have room for dessert. We had a wonderful time!

3) With bookstores closed, I have been trying to help by purchasing a book a week from a different local independent bookstore to send to people as a small way to help out. So far I have sent out Adrienne Martini's memoir Someone's Gotta Do It, her memoir about running for office in her small town in upstate New York in Otsego County from Astoria Bookshop, Andy Greene's The Office- the Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s, from Books Are Magic, and I preordered Curtis Sittenfeld's upcoming novel, Rodham, a fictionalized account of what if Hillary Clinton didn't marry Bill Clinton from  Bookmarks Shoppe. Her book, American Wife, was a wonderful novel based on the life of Laura Bush. 

4) Speaking of married women, this week my TV watching was all about the Mrs. I started season three of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime, and it is so good to catch up with Miriam and her manager Susie, played by the fabulous Emmy winner Alex Borstein. The supporting cast is also so great, and I think I'm going to like the storyline about Joel opening up a club above an illegal gambling operation in Chinatown.

The other show I've been watching is Mrs. America on FX on Hulu, about the efforts of Phyllis Schlafly to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972. Cate Blanchett is riveting as Schlafly, and next week we will see the characters of Gloria Steinem (Rose Byrne), Betty Freidan (Tracey Ullman), Bella Abzug (Margo Martindale) and Shirley Chisholm (Uzo Aduba). This one is must-see TV.

3) I read two books this week- Robyn Carr's novel, Sunrise on Half Moon Bay, about two sisters who have to face new lives after their mom dies and a marriage falls apart. My review is here.

The other book is Elizabeth Wetmore's Valentine, which is this month's Read With Jenna pick from the Today Show. Set in 1976 in hardscrabble Odessa, Texas, it reveals how the aftermath of a vicious assault of a 14 year-old Mexican girl affects the women in the town. The characters are so compelling, and the writing is brilliant. My review will follow next week. 

Stay safe, stay healthy and stay home.

Friday 5ive- August 30, 2019 Edition

The Friday 5ive is a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention this week.
This week's post is mostly a visual one.

1) While wandering the neighborhood, I've been seeing lots of signs on bus stops for the Upper East Side Target. That's right, we're getting a Target, albeit a mini-Target, but that's better than no Target at all (I hope). I walked by the store and it looks like they are getting close to opening. I saw employees walking in the front door. 

Target at 70th St. and 3rd Ave.

2) There are a lot of empty storefronts in the neighborhood, and this one had a huge ad for a book! I was so surprised, I've not seen this before. The book is The Floating Feldmans by Elyssa Friedland, about a family that takes a vacation cruise together. Hilarity ensues.

3) The MTV Music Awards were on the other night, and while I didn't watch too much of them, I did see the Moon Man from the original MTV ads back in the beginning days of MTV. He was stationed in Times Square, just hanging out on the corner like the Naked Cowboy, but you know, fully clothed.

4) Comedian Sebastian Maniscalco hosted the MTV Music Awards. I saw him on CBS This Morning last week, and he was funny so we watched his Netflix special and I have to admit, I laughed pretty hard at him. He's a physical comedian, and he does a lot of family jokes that I enjoyed. My favorite joke was about all these choreographed dances that groomsmen do at weddings today. He said he couldn't even get his groomsmen to rent their tuxedoes. Relatable. 

5) I love The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime, and to get us ready for season three (not til December-ugh), The Paley Center in New York has an exhibit. They have sets from the show- the makeup counter and telephone switchboard at B. Altman where she worked, a diner booth where she and Susie (my favorite) would plot their strategy, and the hair salon at the Catskills resort where she would sit under the dryer with her mother. And of course, they had costumes, the highlight of the show. Those dresses are so fabulous! The exhibit was similiar to the Downton Abbey exhibit I visited last year, but on a much smaller scale. It closes on September 7th if you are in NYC and want to go.

The Elizabeth Arden counter 

The switchboard

Susie and Mrs. Maisel sat here and planned 

The hair salon at the Steiner Resort

The ladies gossiped under the dryer

All the classic beautiful dresses

I'm taking a few weeks off, but when I come back, I'll have some great photos of the exciting things I saw in Italy. Ciao!