Archive for January, 2010

Sunday Book Reviews

By cmf
January 31, 2010

It’s Sunday, which means the intertubes are full of book reviews. Here are a few links to things I’m thinking about or wanting to read. Patti Smith: Just Kids: I’ve been really riveted by the press for this one. I love Patti Smith — she’s so absolutely who she is and she’s so relentlessly followed...
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Clear Stock: With Thanks to Michael Ruhlman

By cmf
January 29, 2010
Clear Stock: With Thanks to Michael Ruhlman

We’ve been cleaning out the freezers to make room for some incoming elk and lamb, and we found several packages of  “soup bones.” They were far too meaty for the dogs, so I made a batch of stock. First I roasted them all off in a hot oven with three or four onions cut in...
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Something to Think About Before the State of the Union

By cmf
January 27, 2010

I haven’t read No Logo yet, but like Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the Sinking of the World Economy, it’s going on my list of interlibrary loan requests. I found this a couple of days ago, and in light of the forthcoming State of the Union, toward which I wish I was feeling less...
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American Exceptionalism?

By cmf
January 26, 2010

Elizabeth Gilbert is interviewed at Jacket Copy, the LA Times book blog, where among a number of interesting things, she has this to say: You said before that it’s a youthful impulse to think of oneself as exceptional. You’ve traveled a lot — is that also an American trait? Very. Very very very very. That’s something...
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Food News …

By cmf
January 26, 2010

Your Tuesday round up of interesting bits and pieces I’ve been finding online: Why Big Ag Won’t Feed the World – The Atlantic Food Channel Why are libertarian right wingers defending a dysfunctional, state-engineered food system? | Grist Destroying Sustainability along with Inventory (This one really stings. Not only did my publisher “pulp” the paperback copies of...
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Mmm. Meat.

By cmf
January 25, 2010

We were lucky enough to be the recipients of several large roasts that came from a tiny herd of cattle that one of Chuck’s friends raises. Last year, we had a roast beef from one of their steers, and it was the best piece of meat I think I’ve ever eaten. There really is...
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It’s the Economy …

By cmf
January 23, 2010

Bob Herbert nails what’s been making me so crazy. How can they not get it? Do they really think everything is going to magically go back to how it was? Op-Ed Columnist – They Still Don’t Get It – NYTimes.com. A new study from the Brookings Institution tells us that the largest and fastest-growing population of...
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New Directions at LivingSmall

By cmf
January 22, 2010

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what to do with LivingSmall. While the practical posts on cooking, gardening and chickens will, by no means be going away, the focus will be shifting a little bit. There’s been a lot of discussion chez LivingSmall about the recession/depression, and how it’s not going away. Every morning,...
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Which Work is Work?

By cmf
January 21, 2010

Seems we’re all still reacting to the Flanagan piece slamming school gardens. Here’s a piece from Civil Eats that quotes Booker T. Washington on the value of physical work. The contempt shown by so much of the middle and upper-middle classes for people who work with their hands is, I’m convinced, partly responsible for...
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Don’t Blame the Environment

By cmf
January 21, 2010

Hmm. I don’t think being green is the problem here — seems like these couples have bigger issues. Another dumb lifestyle article from the NY Times. When Trying to Preserve the Planet Strains the Relationship – NYTimes.com As awareness of environmental concerns has grown, therapists say they are seeing a rise in bickering between couples and...
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