Month: April 2016

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WAWW: Chopped Chicken Liver

I have a love for certain kinds of food. Things like chicken hearts, and beef tongue. Stuffed lamb intestines, and grilled sheep heads. Things like too much garlic, and raw onions. 
Foods that avert others, attract me: like chopped chicken liver. 
I had seen chopped chicken liver one random day at Whole Foods in Columbia. I sampled some and liked it. I bough a quarter pound and ate it all up with crackers. I went back the next day for more, only to find out that they did not have it any more. Upon inquiring I learned that it was a “seasonal” item, offered as Kosher during Jewish holidays. I kept that information in mind. 
Over the next year I kept checking back at Whole Foods for chopped chicken liver hoping that they would bring this anomaly of a delicacy back even if a Jewish holiday was not around the corner. That quest was fruitless, until the Wednesday before Passover ended. I had almost given up on ever having chopped chicken liver again. And then one day there it was in the case. 
I was so excited about my purchase and indulgence that I had to share it with my friends.
And this is what I got in response:

“This is a passion we do not share, my friend.”

“You’re my only friend to be excited about chopped chicken livers.”

Some people do not know what they are missing! 
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On the Map

The excitement over the visit to the zoo was overshadowed only by the excitement of locating Baba on the map. 
We were looking out at the Oryx when Jannah-Rae spotted the map. Curious as to where these animals originated, we read the different countries out loud. Upon hearing a familiar country, Jannah-Rae exclaimed with delight, “this is where Baba is!” Yes, he is there teaching a class, I responded.
“And it is where we used to live,” she added. Such was true. 
Well done, Jannah-Rae. I still stand amazed at my kid’s ability to remember. 
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April Update on Suggested Reading 2016

In alphabetical order:

2 A.M. at the Cat’s Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino ~ reading, dropped it

A God in Ruins: A Novel by Kate Atkinson

A Spool of Blue Thread: A novel by Ann Tyler

A Thousand Mornings, poems by Mary Oliver ~ read, fascinating 

And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou ~ read

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande ~read, couldn’t put it down

Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth

Dear Life: Stories by Alice Munro

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

For One More Day by Mitch Albom ~ read it, loved it

Freud’s Mistress by Karen Mack

Guardian by Julius Lester ~ read in two hours

Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie ~ read, very imaginative

Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers by Anne Lamott ~ read, enjoyed 

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

If You Ask Me (And Of Course You won’t) by Betty White ~ read

In Paradise: A Novel by Peter Matthiessen

In the Driver’s Seat by Helen Simpson ~ read 

Orange is the New Black

Orphan Train by Christina

Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou ~ read 

Reconstructing Amelia: A Novel by Kimberly McCreight

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

Someone: A Novel by Alice McDermott

Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida ~ read, it’s ok

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom ~ read it, loved it 

The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewel

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks ~ read, interesting 

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain ~ read, loved it

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

The Remarkable Journey of Charlie Price by Jennifer Maschari ~ read

The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion ~ read, hilarious

The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion ~ read, hilarious

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd ~read, very captivating

The Stranger by Albert Camus ~ read, impressive 

This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom ~ read, very touching

Unexpectedly Eighty: and Other Adaptations by Judith Viorst ~ read, hilarious

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi ~ read, very touching

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee