Salad Number 4

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjckLZdUCjfuH4NhSdD9LtRc_vItvaftP2cdVYSi9r8mO7OjbahoYL2Q6vGyFigLmKPmZRJbqUsCpuZk5vejmmVU1Hf0W4MCu8QGJf2kzsCxyrenq6fF_UUiNlrPVOcEVhDZptxRUkT90Wk/s1600/salate1027.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjckLZdUCjfuH4NhSdD9LtRc_vItvaftP2cdVYSi9r8mO7OjbahoYL2Q6vGyFigLmKPmZRJbqUsCpuZk5vejmmVU1Hf0W4MCu8QGJf2kzsCxyrenq6fF_UUiNlrPVOcEVhDZptxRUkT90Wk/s320/salate1027.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBZBuG237RjKgGEIBEJgkD5CUZRbNvra2VaUN32RANBS7C-laMjISOSLxaAm4b2GJdnic2xFsQH_I9JP4we6oT5XIXsmRH45GDpV35bHoBbyiHg-o-VNbfdA_aMJOym6IU1RIfyxQhxtX6/s1600/salate1028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBZBuG237RjKgGEIBEJgkD5CUZRbNvra2VaUN32RANBS7C-laMjISOSLxaAm4b2GJdnic2xFsQH_I9JP4we6oT5XIXsmRH45GDpV35bHoBbyiHg-o-VNbfdA_aMJOym6IU1RIfyxQhxtX6/s320/salate1028.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />Favorite salad flavor for Miriam and Alice: the spice blend Maggi Number 4, available only in Germany. They unselfishly gave me a jar of it, which you can see I have all ready to make a salad. Last night, I mixed some of this blend with olive oil and red-wine vinegar and sprinkled it on skewers of mushrooms, onions, and red/orange bell peppers. I kept this separate from meat, so after cooking we used the remaining marinade as a dressing for the vegetables. It's really a wonderful flavor blend.

Salad Number 4

Favorite salad flavor for Miriam and Alice: the spice blend Maggi Number 4, available only in Germany. They unselfishly gave me a jar of it,...

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Jackson Lodge, Grand Teton National Park

Jackson Lodge in Grand Teton National Park overlooks a broad meadow wetland near Jackson Lake. Just beyond, the mountains rise spectacularly on the near horizon. They look like a child's drawing of mountains: steep, craggy, each separate from the others.<br /><br />The hotel dining room has huge windows facing the view as well as interesting murals of nostalgic conceptual images of the Old West. In the evening they lower screens that dim the very bright light, but still allow diners to enjoy the scenery. The food surprised us: the chef follows the practices of molecular gastronomy (though the waiters don't seem entirely unfazed by the choices they recite).<br /><br />Below, you can see Len's appetizer: tomato, little balls of mozzarella, and "powdered" olive oil that had been treated with an enzyme to make it into a new substance. He says it did taste faintly like olive oil.<br /><br />   <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7683975692/" title="jackson.dinner 1 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="jackson.dinner 1" height="480" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8145/7683975692_1e31caa336_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7683976216/" title="jackson.dinner 2 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="jackson.dinner 2" height="480" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7270/7683976216_b70a892c38_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br />My main course: Idaho trout with baby brussels sprouts and chopped vegetables -- all illuminated by the rays of the early evening sun.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7683976656/" title="jackson.dinner 3 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="jackson.dinner 3" height="480" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8021/7683976656_29971a75d9_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br />After dinner, we sat on the benches behind the lodge and enjoyed the view.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7683977640/" title="jackson.dinner by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="jackson.dinner" height="480" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7259/7683977640_8cf90de44a_z.jpg" width="640" /></a>

Jackson Lodge, Grand Teton National Park

Jackson Lodge in Grand Teton National Park overlooks a broad meadow wetland near Jackson Lake. Just beyond, the mountains rise spectacularly...

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The Night Circus

Hot cocoa, spiced cider, popcorn with caramel, chocolate mice with licorice tails, pastry dipped in cinnamon-sugar... these are the tastes and smells of the magic Circus in Erin Morgenstern's delightful novel <i>The Night Circus</i>. The author seems to have intuited and absorbed the conclusions also being studied by the emerging science of neurogastronomy, that is, the exploration of a kind of synesthesia between taste and smell. The novel presents profound reactions and memories based on these senses.*<br /><br />Several of the recurring events and experiences in <i>The Night Circus</i> are intensified by aromas and flavors. Food is vividly described (as well as interactions between the eccentric host and guests) at exotic Midnight Dinners held by one of the founders of the circus.<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white;">"Dish after dish is brought to the table, some easily identifiable as quail or rabbit or lamb, served on banana leaves or baked in apples or garnished with brandy-soaked cherries. Other courses are more enigmatic, concealed in sweet sauces or spiced soups, unidentifiable meats hidden in pastries and glazes.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white;">"Should a diner inquire as to the nature of a particular dish, question the origin of a bite or a seasoning, a flavor she cannot put her finger on (for even those with the most refined of palates can never identify each and every flavor), she will not be met with a satisfying answer. ...</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white;">"The desserts are always astonishing. Confections deliriously executed in chocolate and butterscotch, berries bursting with creams and liqueurs. Cakes layered to impossible heights, pastries lighter than air. Figs that drip with honey, sugar blown into curls and flowers." (p. 70-71) </span></blockquote><span style="background-color: white;">And </span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white;">"Dessert consists mainly of a gargantuan tiered cake shaped to resemble circus tents and frosted in stripes, the filling within a bright shock of raspberry cream. There are also miniature chocolate leopards, and strawberries coated in looping patterns of dark and white chocolates." (p. 301-302)</span></blockquote> <span style="background-color: white;">In the circus itself, caramel and smoke smells and unimaginably delicious food and beverages like the cider and cocoa trigger both real and magical responses. The intensity of the story, which is multi-layered and sensual in many other ways, is constantly amplified by descriptions of both identifiable and mysterious aromas.<br /><br />The power of aromas is especially captured in one particular scene in the novel. Little bottles and jars in one of the many magic circus tents hold aromas that trigger the memory of stories for Widget, one of the keepers of the circus tale. When a character opens it, one bottle behaves like this: </span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white;">"A small wisp of smoke escapes, but other than that it is empty. As he peers inside he smells the smoke of a roaring fire, and a hint of snow and roasting chestnuts, Curious, he inhales deeply. There is the aroma of mulled wine and sugared candy, peppermint and pipe smoke. The crisp pine scent of a fir tree. The wax of dripping candles. He can almost feel the snow, the excitement, and the anticipation, the sugary taste of a striped candy. It is dizzying and wonderful and disturbing. After a few moments, he replaces the lid and puts the jar carefully back on the table." (p. 314)</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: white;">This character, Bailey, who is being brought into the circus to make it last forever, experiences Widget's little bottles, especially one that preserves the memory of an oak tree on his family farm:</span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white;">"He pulls out the minuscule stopper, relieved that it remains attached to the bottle with a curl of wire.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white;">"The sensation inside is so familiar, so comforting and recognizable and real that Bailey can feel the roughness of the bark, the smell of the acorns, even the chattering of the squirrels."(p. 359)</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: white;">The book has a wealth of other magical aspects, relating to the two central characters Celia (who wears a deeply personal perfume!) and Marco. Celia's father Prospero, one of the magicians who sets the events going, is especially fascinated by Shakespeare, and he would have liked to name her Miranda, but she answered only to Celia, perhaps because he had nothing like the control of Shakespeare's Prospero over his little island realm.<br /><br />Secrets and stories -- like the ones Widget collects -- are an intimate part of magic. One of Widget's stories is often mentioned by the magical circus people -- it's the tale told of a wizard who revealed his secrets and was imprisoned in a tree by one of the enchantments he himself disclosed. Like the Shakespeare theme, it's totally absorbing, but I'll limit myself to what I've said about aromas and tastes, rather than trying to review the book as a whole.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibI4W8u3Wb2-Gil0pDxLKoPlKBzUuZ0FTYmkQ65SHHNWw6qHAsy7QV6l4bEE6A8WiVV7Xd108uy59yUWQpFVcv-N1Qfb3XDJE3WCXv5uGHcV-5bFVej4mfBcMw8dkfdDM52Bv3jOETVfls/s1600/nightcircus.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibI4W8u3Wb2-Gil0pDxLKoPlKBzUuZ0FTYmkQ65SHHNWw6qHAsy7QV6l4bEE6A8WiVV7Xd108uy59yUWQpFVcv-N1Qfb3XDJE3WCXv5uGHcV-5bFVej4mfBcMw8dkfdDM52Bv3jOETVfls/s320/nightcircus.jpeg" width="207" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">*The science of taste and smell as I refer to it, is described in the book <i>Neurogastronomy: How the Brain Creates Flavor and Why it Matters</i> by Gordon M. Shepherd, and other sources. Shepherd provides strong arguments against the old belief that the human brain is deficient in processing aromas and flavors, and he describes in detail how the brain creates flavor-smell images. It's not necessary to be scientific to read The Night Circus, but the connection is fascinating. The author does credit a perfumery called <a href="http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/welcome.html">Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab</a>, though not that I noticed any scientific writing!</span></span>

The Night Circus

Hot cocoa, spiced cider, popcorn with caramel, chocolate mice with licorice tails, pastry dipped in cinnamon-sugar... these are the tastes a...

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A Beautiful Restaurant

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5_Xn26qHW2N1o1LkXaP_kaQcwiwhi4EONDgh5p3ANfi7Hj7HMbsLD9DEYNWf2NXHU7rG5XVrRLrkgFE1nl_yNkKFblwM7ya5rswLGJRfs7eX3r6_IoYWA4OXnAIPCmIh7cgdDd0CpO_oC/s1600/fleastreetcafe+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5_Xn26qHW2N1o1LkXaP_kaQcwiwhi4EONDgh5p3ANfi7Hj7HMbsLD9DEYNWf2NXHU7rG5XVrRLrkgFE1nl_yNkKFblwM7ya5rswLGJRfs7eX3r6_IoYWA4OXnAIPCmIh7cgdDd0CpO_oC/s320/fleastreetcafe+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Our friend Roberta took us to Flea Street, a beautiful restaurant in Menlo Park while we were spending the weekend there with her (also visiting relatives). Flea Street was on the cutting edge a couple of decades ago, when a few pioneers invented the idea of restaurants and local producers partnering to develop local cuisines. It's still a lovely place, especially the patio where we ate. Roberta's dish (above) was the Summer Organic Vegetarian Tasting. We shared a bottle of white wine.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijwDFHyT0V_VyILuTq4b9fxAUPGJq-MasAwq1Ss55ViAZDRC1KEsBDKeauxqfrT_oCVzYbfXsILgTwB4pLgslY6Xnc3tMyKsjZfa_zEH1dtFFtJxGjWROQeIh3m2PGzQziVd5pZgZXQJQi/s1600/fleastreetcafe+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijwDFHyT0V_VyILuTq4b9fxAUPGJq-MasAwq1Ss55ViAZDRC1KEsBDKeauxqfrT_oCVzYbfXsILgTwB4pLgslY6Xnc3tMyKsjZfa_zEH1dtFFtJxGjWROQeIh3m2PGzQziVd5pZgZXQJQi/s320/fleastreetcafe+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Len had Ricotta and Chive Gnocchi with mushrooms, fava beans, and pancetta.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRvLNTmsl3ialvk8oEPaUo26AabkadEnm8CgplbZJzYT3pZq_U9PGa5cLq1ihMVf573k4mR-j9cn2s3OAy-WJUGR0j2cQc6Fv744iPjkKfaGCTc7wHqGHK8Z9A9OJAqkJrw5LMYLLZd0QD/s1600/fleastreetcafe+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRvLNTmsl3ialvk8oEPaUo26AabkadEnm8CgplbZJzYT3pZq_U9PGa5cLq1ihMVf573k4mR-j9cn2s3OAy-WJUGR0j2cQc6Fv744iPjkKfaGCTc7wHqGHK8Z9A9OJAqkJrw5LMYLLZd0QD/s320/fleastreetcafe+3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />I had the salad titled Little Gem Lettuces with Half Moon Bay Crispy Sardine, which was totally delicious. Fresh sardines are a rare treat! And for an appetizer, we shared a dozen oysters from Tomales Bay/Point Reyes. The restaurant makes its own buttermilk biscuits, which are also wonderful. <span style="background-color: white;">All the vegetables are from local farms, which are listed on the menu, along with other suppliers of cheese, fruit, meat, eggs, bakery goods, and so on.</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74dwK3O5Vwzs0TkovZ47E1utF5q_lXWxmMpvWsG7mbURfzzBtQPriC2vo1nZ9FR2Rd0UK9Prj89XOHfFLqpxlNM895gQ0OELCseidg39rwQtQr5PHSpFQXG5NyilOmeMa7D4svrArsi4g/s1600/fleastreetcafe+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh74dwK3O5Vwzs0TkovZ47E1utF5q_lXWxmMpvWsG7mbURfzzBtQPriC2vo1nZ9FR2Rd0UK9Prj89XOHfFLqpxlNM895gQ0OELCseidg39rwQtQr5PHSpFQXG5NyilOmeMa7D4svrArsi4g/s320/fleastreetcafe+4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />We shared a fruit tart -- blueberries and small cubes of nectarine with ricotta under the fruit and a semi-sour cream on top. Also a slice of crisped nectarine. Very original. And of course coffee:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEjpy7CjuwJBw1nNFYRGrhRX_kBsaV8R3JmnFEPqsH7EZ2KEovm8U65Y69trwpR8jYRQ4mA_UjT9YLp0jWGdQvqjw7fYPGSZP-jE4hQDJ33izqXbljDsGxO3pONfp-mX5VgY8f26tZ4rMe/s1600/fleastreetcafe+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEjpy7CjuwJBw1nNFYRGrhRX_kBsaV8R3JmnFEPqsH7EZ2KEovm8U65Y69trwpR8jYRQ4mA_UjT9YLp0jWGdQvqjw7fYPGSZP-jE4hQDJ33izqXbljDsGxO3pONfp-mX5VgY8f26tZ4rMe/s320/fleastreetcafe+5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />

A Beautiful Restaurant

Our friend Roberta took us to Flea Street, a beautiful restaurant in Menlo Park while we were spending the weekend there with her (also visi...

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Another visit to the Farmers' Market

I'm a very faithful customer of the Santa Barbara Farmers' Market, which meets at different places on different days. The biggest market is on Saturday morning in a commuter parking lot downtown. The Tuesday market is set up on State Street, the main commercial downtown street (just a few blocks from the Saturday market). Other days, the market meets in a shopping-center parking lot in Goleta, in Montecito, in Carpinteria, and in Solvang, all smaller towns in the county. I've been to Goleta and Carpinteria, which don't have as many vendors as the downtown markets.<br /><br />The organizing body is made up of the farmers and others who sell at these markets, so you see the same faces rotating through all the different markets. <span style="background-color: white;">The range of produce is amazing, because these growers come from so many different climate zones. Farms within Santa Barbara and quite nearby grow strawberries, avocados, and a few other crops. There are pistachio, walnut, and almond growers inland in locations like Ojai. Dates are brought in from the desert. Olive oil comes from olives growing not far from here. Yesterday I saw the first ripe figs from the Central Valley, which also produces conventional produce like raspberries, broccoli, onions, radishes, leeks, herbs, corn, garlic, tomatoes, and so on. Elsewhere, orchards produce apricots, peaches, plums, and more exotic fruits. Vendors come as far as several hours to these markets each week.</span><br /><br />A few photos from yesterday in downtown Santa Barbara:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7458607766/" title="market 7 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="market 7" height="375" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8141/7458607766_24e449d2a4.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7458607674/" title="market 6 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="market 6" height="500" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8018/7458607674_2545a7da9b.jpg" width="375" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7458607444/" title="market 4 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="market 4" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7264/7458607444_4b3d2cb6c2.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7458607272/" title="market 2 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="market 2" height="375" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8153/7458607272_7732047df2.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7458607550/" title="market 5 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="market 5" height="375" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8157/7458607550_04e1567ec4.jpg" width="500" /></a>

Another visit to the Farmers' Market

I'm a very faithful customer of the Santa Barbara Farmers' Market, which meets at different places on different days. The biggest ma...

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Henry James Refinement

I have been reading two complementary books:<br /><i><br /></i><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>The Ambassadors </i>by Henry James </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1pYzjeXj1OZzLxWLzIrGv84BFNuEhmRZvpIex_NcrYonlvVRxDcha101k3UTA5lOKig4z2eiajaBM9w7k-6Wf5IEYHqIILu4nHUx-as4DwTrOFzHRd6GsEFuUtIWl493oY9WTkShXFgtX/s1600/ambassadors.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1pYzjeXj1OZzLxWLzIrGv84BFNuEhmRZvpIex_NcrYonlvVRxDcha101k3UTA5lOKig4z2eiajaBM9w7k-6Wf5IEYHqIILu4nHUx-as4DwTrOFzHRd6GsEFuUtIWl493oY9WTkShXFgtX/s320/ambassadors.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Foreign Bodies</i> by Cynthia Ozick </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmgMt5vw681ITsjxkD-SAcf3eW7YqpKd00S_g-Y4RUA9rOuOJJkf5MdU6_xAZTnXW2mpiwbWqiuVOBhTPEop8Cn5RWquZ1Ykr1OqPSVmAGeqKgfHCymFvnP7EZhkd8sBZWLyw96zxNfdkw/s1600/Foreign-Bodies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmgMt5vw681ITsjxkD-SAcf3eW7YqpKd00S_g-Y4RUA9rOuOJJkf5MdU6_xAZTnXW2mpiwbWqiuVOBhTPEop8Cn5RWquZ1Ykr1OqPSVmAGeqKgfHCymFvnP7EZhkd8sBZWLyw96zxNfdkw/s320/Foreign-Bodies.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />I'm kind of a fan of Ozick, and when I learned that this recent work of hers was in some way based on <i>The Ambassadors,</i> I decided to read both. Indeed, thematically they have much in common, and there's a lot I could say about them, but for the moment, I'm just going to talk about the way that the two authors use food in their narratives. I think it helps to pinpoint why I like Ozick but I'm infuriated by James. <br /><br />Unsympathetic, self-absorbed, idly rich, status-conscious, easily impressed (by European pretensions), egocentric characters abound in <i>The Ambassadors. </i>I'm really not sure if James saw them that way, or if he just admired people who were <span style="background-color: white;">self-absorbed, idly rich, egocentric, and gullible about European pretensions. I'm sure he didn't view them as shallow, but that's how they seem to me when all is said and done. Mostly James's characters talk and talk and talk, though occasionally they go out into the countryside or stop for a meal, continuing to be self-absorbed etc. all the time.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br />At one meal, a character named Madame de Vionnet -- whose own background is unclear, but who is married into a vaguely identified titled family -- sits opposite Strether, the novel's central character (who is the most extremely self-absorbed, idle, status-conscious, and easily impressed of them all). She looks at him "over their intensely white table-linen, their omelette aux tomates, their bottle of straw-colored Chablis."</span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br />A few paragraphs later we hear </span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="background-color: white;">"If all the accidents were to fight on her side ... he could only give himself up. This was what he had done in privately deciding then and there to propose she should breakfast with him. What did the success of his proposal in fact resemble but the smash in which a regular runaway properly ends? The smash was their walk, their dejeuner, their omelette, the Chablis, the place, the view, their present talk and his present pleasure in it -- to say nothing, wonder of wonders, of her own." (Kindle location 4188, Cambridge Edition)</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: white;">As the novel winds up, Strether goes to see a young man named Chad, another self-absorbed and easily manipulated character. Upon entering Chad's rooms, he finds a table where Chad has recently eaten. It contained </span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"a supper of light cold clever French things, which one could see the remains of there in the circle of the lamp, pretty and ultra-Parisian, he had come into the air again for a smoke, was occupied at the moment of Strether's approach in what might have been called taking up his life afresh. His life, his life!..." (Kindle location 8061)</blockquote>The last sections of <i>The Ambassadors</i> consist of Strether's endless final interactions with various women who have influence over either Chad or Strether himself. At a critical one, Strether meets with Maria Gostrey, a character who seems to provide him with some sort of link to reality (perhaps):<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"He came back to his breakfast; he partook presently of the charming melon, which she liberally cut for him; and it was only after this that he met her question.... She waited, she watched, she served him and amused him ... " <span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">(Kindle location 8258)</span></blockquote>This little detail leads up to a critical interchange between them, where he tells her he will leave her instead of making a commitment to her that she had been angling for.<br /><br />Excuse me if these quotes seem long-winded. Henry James IS long-winded. As I see it, highly refined bits of food sustain the characters in long bouts of navel-gazing and constantly worrying about commitment that in fact are sort of maddening. Strether is 55 years old, for crying out loud!<br /><br />The level of detail that's allusive but very unspecific is characteristic of the novel as a whole. It's why I can't believe I ever read anything by Henry James.<br /><br /><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><u>AND IN CONTRAST... </u></b></span><br />Cynthia Ozick's characters are more human and sympathetic than those of James (not one of whom I like at all!) The thematic similarity of the novels is not in my view based on a similarity of characters' temperament or personality or values, but on the way that one character becomes an "ambassador" between others. In a way, Ozick's commentary makes James's exploration of the topic of ambassadorship have a wider meaning, borrowing the most interesting of his ideas.<br /><br />Ozick does not go for the extreme subtlety that James gives this thought -- especially as he makes all the events and conversations take place in Paris, and never directly describes or quotes the woman behind all the machinations. Her depiction of all the characters (the sender of "messages," the "ambassador," and the recipients of the "messages") in my opinion gives her book more depth, but I'm sure lots of critics and James-lovers would disagree.<br /><br />Food also isn't seen the same etherial way. It's pretty down-to-earth. One big reason is that many of the characters in Ozick's novel live in middle class America or in not-even-genteel poverty as exiles or displaced persons in Europe. (The events take place in 1952: one character is literally a D.P. whose former life and family were destroyed by time in concentration camps.) So right at the beginning, when the central character, Bea Nightingale, searches Paris for her renegade nephew, she finds a cafe with "odors of eggs and coffee all around." (p. 6)<br /><br />Many more flashback memories occur in Ozick's novel than in James's. This is another way I think the novel is more rooted in real life, not just some sort of rich person's imaginary world.<br /><br />Bea remembers a wedding of her best friend where she had been with her future (now ex) husband:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"They were standing side by side near an ice sculpture -- twin mermaids embracing -- at the base of which lay wide oval platters of sliced melon, layer upon layer of pink, orange, green, studded with swollen strawberries still attached to their leafy stems. The strawberries resembled surgically removed organs freshly lifted from the gash in an anaesthetized belly." (p. 27)</blockquote>Maybe Ozick's characters are portrayed as a bit vulgar, in contrast to the excessively refined James characters. But she knows what they are. She doesn't admire them for everything, though she communicates a level of sympathy that I as a reader can share.<br /><br />Ozick says the young man who is to be "rescued" by the ambassador from home is "a luftmentch" which she defines as "an inconsequential person, an impracticality made of air." (p. 96) This would be a good epithet for the young man in the James book, too -- in fact for several of them.

Henry James Refinement

I have been reading two complementary books: The Ambassadors by Henry James  Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick  I'm kind of a fan of Ozic...

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Winetasting

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7437869692/" title="wine0317 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="wine0317" height="375" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5325/7437869692_8a67885911.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />It's still early in the growing season for the 2012 vintage, but we saw vines spreading their tendrils and also very green bunches of tiny grapes in the vineyards we visited today. I believe the vines pictured here will produce the grapes for several types of white wine.<br /><br />  <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7437832824/" title="wine0316 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="wine0316" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7119/7437832824_9e4d3f3ded.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br />We returned to the Santa Barbara wine country to try the wines from some new wineries. We wanted to buy a few bottles for the remainder of our stay here. Two wineries that we liked: Firestone and Gainey. The tasting rooms at Gainey are especially picturesque, as they are also the storage rooms for large and small casks of wine and huge shelves of bottles.<br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7437833020/" style="background-color: white;" title="wine0319 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="wine0319" height="375" src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5452/7437833020_fdcdba7342.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7437833168/" style="background-color: white;" title="wine0323 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="wine0323" height="375" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8147/7437833168_dd6247d64a.jpg" width="500" /></a><br /><br /> At the end of the day, just as the sun was dropping behind the cliffs, we spent a moment at Arroyo Burro beach as we often do. It's only a few minutes from our apartment.<br /><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br /><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/12003515@N05/7437832516/" style="background-color: white;" title="arroyo-burro 2 by mesander2000, on Flickr"><img alt="arroyo-burro 2" height="375" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7136/7437832516_0b8aeef68a.jpg" width="500" /></a>

Winetasting

It's still early in the growing season for the 2012 vintage, but we saw vines spreading their tendrils and also very green bunches of ti...

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