Husband and Wife

{goodreads & amazon}

Best Russian Short Stories

Project Gutenberg

Long For This World

{powell's books and sonya chung}

It's a Man's World

Interesting article on the portrayal of sex by the media and how it's still dominated by male perspective on New York Times.  Touches on how much control men have on women in the medical realm and the media.

Visual Dictionary

This visual dictionary uses graphics

Invisible by Paul Auster

Saw this on flavorwire today.  Paul Auster's new book Invisible about a aspiring poet.  Auster insists that this isn't autobiographical at all but there are similarities.  I wonder if I'll like the switching narrative.

You can read the book on Google.

Adoption

This is an interesting post about adoption bureaucracy on Megan McArdle's blog.

There's a link to David Friedman's economics of marriage and babies that is also interesting.

The Devil in the White City (books)

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (posted September 1, 2009)

From The Subway Book Club

Based on the title, I thought this would be a work of fiction, but it’s actually the true story of the development of the Chicago World’s Fair in 1892 as well as the story of a serial killer operating in the Chicago area at the same time.

This book weaves together such disparate themes as the jousting among America’s leading architects to design the buildings for the Fair, the invention of the Ferris Wheel, the popularity of bicycling and the movement of young women to cities. Larson indulges a bit in imagined conversations, particularly involving the serial killer, but overall does an amazing job in giving you the feel of the era. I think of this book frequently, even though I finished reading it a couple months ago, because of all the factoids, like that Frank Lloyd Wright was a young employee of one of the Fair architects and took advantage of his boss’s distraction to do work on his own (he got fired for that in the end).

The Writer was not a huge fan of me reading the book because I couldn’t help sharing some of the more gruesome parts of the serial killer’s story with him. I was surprised, given my years of watching Forensic Files and the like, that I had never heard of this man before. Even though the book could only have been written if he were caught, the suspense of the investigation was intense.

One day, reading the book on the platform and waiting for the N Train, a fellow commuter commented on how much she liked the book, which was fitting since I had selected it on the platform for the R Train in Brooklyn. The real full circle will come when someone sees me reading a Book Club book and decides to read it.

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Iroquois White Corn Cakes (Food)

(click photo for photo gallery)

Photo: David La Spina for The New York Times

Interesting article about small farms harvesting rare plants and then working directly with restaurants who would feature these unique ingredients in a recipe (NY Times).

Iroquois White-Corn Cakes With Maple Syrup and Bacon

Field Report: Family Heirlooms (August 30, 2009)

• 8 ounces butter, cubed, plus more to butter pan
• 6 cups whole milk
• 2 cups coarsely ground Iroquois white cornmeal (see note) (white grits may be substituted)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Tabasco
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 18 slices bacon
• 1/4 cup maple syrup.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch-square baking dish.

2. In a 3- to 4-quart ovenproof saucepan, heat the milk to a simmer. Whisk in the cornmeal in a slow, steady stream. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and whisk in the butter a few cubes at a time. Season to taste with Tabasco, salt and pepper. Let cool for a few minutes, then add the egg yolks, stirring well to incorporate.

3. Transfer the grits to the buttered pan and spread out evenly, approximately 1 inch thick. Cover with plastic, pushing down to ensure that no air circulates. Refrigerate.

4. Cut the grits into 6 triangles. Set the oil in a large ovenproof nonstick skillet and place over medium heat. When hot, add the grits, working in batches, and sear on one side until browned, about 4 minutes. Flip and place in the oven to warm through.

5. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until just crisp. Pour off the fat and add the maple syrup. Baste the bacon until the syrup thickens.

6. To serve, place a corncake on each plate and top with 3 slices of bacon.

Serves 6.

Note: Iroquois white cornmeal can be purchased in the fall at www.thespencefarm.com. White grits can be purchased at ansonmills.com or kalustyans.com.