Begin To Be Happy and to Make Plans

So, I'm almost done with TSYK, and not really having the same views as Carlin. Obviously, I wouldn't be having the same views, since we are not the same person. :) So, here are mine...

The majority of the food actually sounds quite tasty (I'd eat it all right now if I was to find myself in Paris). For example the coq a vin; the blood used in the sauce, I can see how that would add a really nice salty richness to any sauce...especially since the blood is from the same animal. And that fact that it's a rooster, well, I've looked at our rooster (Chip) and thought he'd make a really yummy dinner. Purely for his size. Obviously, I couldn't eat Chip...knowing him, but I can see how rooster could be considered a delicasy.

I'm not really feeling the choppiness she described. I do find the book to be a very direct and unfluffed account of her times at LCB. Perhaps I would have wished for her writing to be as whimsical and romantic as A Movable Feast by Hemingway...(my all time favorite book, well, paired with The Great Gatzby). But I'm wandering. I have really enjoyed my stay in Paris through Kathleen's eyes. The Intermediatte Course at LCB actually sounds fun to me. Granted, I do love to cook, but learning about the regional cuisines of France sounds compelling and tasty!

I find myself actually wanting to pick up The Sharper Your Knife to read. Whereas most of the book club choices...including my past choices, I look at them sitting on the coffee table, and end up thumbing through another book I have found in my unread, reserves. Although I would not say the writing of the book is tres bon, I would however say the dream and the execution of the dream IS tres bon! To realize your dream...especially in Paris...is something I'd always love to tag along for. And for that reason alone is why I have enjoyed The Sharper Your Knife!!

I really have no idea what Suite Francais is about, but I'm already looking forward to it. Granted, I just really like the cover. :) I've included my two favorite passages from A Movable Feast! Happy reading!

"You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintry light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person had died for no reason."

"As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I lost the empty feeling and began to be happy and to make plans."