Wanderlust and Words

My sister in law gave me a cookbook for Christmas. A particularly challenging present as it’s called Las Vegetales en la Cocina Cubana – Vegetables in Cuban Cooking – and I don’t know the names of vegetables in Spanish. So I have been looking up words in my dictionary, and I can now tell you: Esta noche, voy a hacer un estofado de lentejas con col y maiz, un pimiento rojo, las tomates maduras, y algunas zanahorias. (Tonight, I’m going to make lentil stew with cabbage and corn, a red pepper, ripe tomatoes and some carrots.) My brother gave me the perfect music to accompany my Spanish lesson: A las cinco en el Astoria by La Oreja de Van Gogh . La Oreja de Van Gogh is a Latin Grammy-winning Spanish pop group. There is so much energy and happiness in their music; I want to dance when I hear their music.

I read over 140 books in 2008. Here are some that I really enjoyed and would highly recommend. Non-Fiction How Doctors Think, Jerome Groopman – A very interesting insight into how doctors think and how you can communicate more effectively with them. I found it helpful. Troublesome Young Men, Lynne Olson – Britain has always had strong ties with Germany, and the upper classes in particular really didn’t want to enter into a second world war. So the British government, headed by Chamberlain, tried very hard to appease Hitler and stay at peace. A group of young MPs saw things differently, and they brought Churchill to power and made sure that England did go to war with Germany. An interesting insight into British politics in the 30s and 40s. Farthing, Jo Walton – This book is a mystery, but it provides a disturbing picture of what life could have been like in Britain if the country had not gone to war. Travel The Scent Trail, Celia Lyttleton – The author designs her own perfume and th...

I’ve just finished reading The Day George Bush Stopped Drinking: Why abstinence matters to the religious right by Jessica Warner. What fascinates me is the North American belief that we can control our lives and our destiny and the rigid thinking that leads us to believe we know what is best for other people. The temperance movement in the United States started in the northeast and was tied into evangelical Christianity. If you followed all the rules and lived a 'pure' life, you could be saved. Purity started with abstaining from alcohol. But if alcohol was bad, then coffee and tea, which also stimulated the brain, weren’t acceptable either. Some groups outlawed meat and sugar (the origin of the Seventh Day Adventists). And sex was highly questionable and best avoided, even within marriage, except for procreation. And it wasn’t enough to restrain from partaking in these substances or activities yourself. You also had to protect other people, and the only way to do that was by ...

M.G. Vassanji and his parents and grandparents lived and worked in East Africa. He now lives in Canada but welcomed an opportunity to travel in India, the land of his ancestors. A Place Within: Rediscovering India talks about his sense of coming home but still observes the country as an outsider. He is neither Hindu nor Muslim, and he’s horrified by the religious violence that can erupt in India. But unlike North Americans, he’s at home in a poor, crowded country. He looks back at the country’s long, long history of being invaded again and again and the diverse mix of people and religions and cultures this has created in India. It’s a fascinating look at a very complex country. I also feel very much at home with his perspective. I was born in Africa of British parents. I have spent roughly half my life in Saskatoon, but the rest of my life has been spent wandering. I’ve lived in four Canadian provinces and spent 2 ½ years in France. Sometimes I envy people who have lived their whole li...

Winter has definitely arrived in Canada. It's -45 with wind chill in Saskatoon, and Vancouver and Victoria have had snow. But indoors, my amaryllis is in bloom. What a joyful sight.