Not just a pencil

It’s not just a pencil, it’s an experience.

Is it possible to love a pencil? I like to think that it is.
And right now, my love affair is with the Blackwing 602 pencil.
The Palomino Blackwing is legendary. I bet you didn’t think it was possible for a pencil to be a legend, but there you have it.

Famous writers including E.B. White, Truman Capote, and, most famously, John Steinbeck, have all used the Blackwing. But despite its popularity, it was discontinued in the 90s (here’s a pretty detailed account of what happened). So the pencil that I’m currently in love with is actually a recreation of the original.

I used to be content using a regular old #2, but now that I’ve tried the Blackwing 602, I can never go back. This pencil is sleek and metallic grey with a black eraser, proving that it is possible for a pencil to be sexy. And writing with it is a pleasure. I can’t even believe I used to write with anything else. Now that I’ve discovered the 602, I’m a complete convert. I only wish I could’ve attended the Party for the Pencil that happened in New York a little while back (check out the photos).

You can read more about the Blackwing here, and purchase your own box of Blackwings on pencils.com.

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Book Photography: Marianne LoMonaco

I was initially drawn in to Marianne LoMonaco’s photography when I saw this Red Apple Heart photo, which makes me smile every time I look at it. But I stuck around her Etsy shop long enough to discover her beautiful book photography, and I thought I’d share a few of my favourites here.

Check out Marianne LoMonaco’s Etsy shop to see (and buy!) more of her beautiful work.

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Blood, Bones & Butter (and Writing)

I didn’t really expect to like Gabrielle Hamilton’s Blood, Bones & Butter.

Aside from the fact that it’s written by the chef of a restaurant I’ve never been to (Prune in New York), Blood, Bones & Butter is a food memoir, which I’m normally not a fan of.
Don’t get me wrong, I like food. And food writing, when done well, can be a joy to read. Gabrielle herself said in a recent interview that food writing is better when food isn’t the main focus, but instead that “it’s the context in which the larger story is happening.” And that in a nutshell is why I liked her memoir so much.
Blood, Bones & Butter is much more than a story about food. Gabrielle has had far too interesting of a life (prison, drugs, travel, MFA in fiction writing) for her memoir to only talk about her time as a chef.
I recently went to see Gabrielle Hamilton when she visited the Toronto Reference Library as part of their Appel Salon programing. I’m glad I went for many reasons, one of them being that she gave some really excellent writing advice, specifically about voice, that she herself had been given while writing her book years back. It was profound and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it:

“The voice is you talking to the smartest person you know about everything you hate about the subject with as much compassion for it as you can muster.”

You can read an excerpt of her book here, and for a great profile on Gabrielle Hamilton check out GQ’s Q&A with her here. And if you’re wondering what the title of the book means, here’s how she explains it in this interview with Epicurious:

“So, blood, I was thinking of family and bloodlines, and bones, I guess I was thinking of making one’s bones and maybe a few bones to pick. And butter was all the sweet, good stuff.”

To watch the entire Appel Salon interview with Gabrille Hamilton, visit the Toronto Public Library’s YouTube page.

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The Book Club Cookbook

Whether you’re part of a book club or not, the near 500-page The Book Club Cookbook is well worth adding to your shelf (or in my case, shelves) of cookbooks.
Readers are given a synopsis for each book, whether it’s Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby or Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, followed by recipes based on scenes or characters from the book or recipes that would go well with the theme of the book.
For example, Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex makes many mentions of Desdemona’s rice pudding. So on page 264 of The Book Club Cookbook, you get a recipe for Greek Rice Pudding, which really would be the perfect thing to make at your book club meeting while discussing that book.

The only thing this book was missing was more photos. I like my cookbooks full of rich, colourful photos, what can I say? But I commend the varied selection of books featured in The Book Club Cookbook. There really is something for everyone, and it’s actually a good way to discover titles that you may have never thought of reading before.

I haven’t tried any of the recipes yet but the naptime chef made The Help‘s Caramel Cake and it looks pretty delicious if you ask me.
Some of the other recipes in this book include:

- Oyster Brie Soup from Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants
- Brian Fitzgerald’s Firehouse Marinara Sauce from Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper
- Annie Barrows’ Potato Peel Pie and Non- Occupied Potato Peel Pie from Annie Barrows‘ The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

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The Jane Austen Cookbook

I was perusing the food section of a bookstore the other day, looking for another cookbook to add to my ever growing collection, when I came across The Jane Austen Cookbook by Maggie Black & Deirdre Le Faye.
Naturally, I picked it up right away. The cover is exactly what I hoped it would be.

The authors are a food historian and an Austenian scholar, so you just know the book is going to be good. And it is.
Aside from recipes like Lady Williams’s Muffins and something called Forcemeat Balls (which involves anchovies and pigeons’ livers), The Jane Austen Cookbook also has a great introduction that goes into the social conventions of shopping, eating and entertaining in Austen’s time.

As much as I love Jane Austen, I have no real desire to make a Pigeon Pie or Venison Cake, so I can’t say I really want to attempt any of the recipes in this book. That’s why I was happy to find the site Austenacious. Here’s how the lovely ladies of Austenacious describe their site:

Austenacious began as an excuse to cook, eat, and watch BBC period dramas on Friday nights, and grew into an excuse to cook, eat, and talk about Jane Austen every day of the week.

What’s not to love, right? They have posts with recipes from the book including Apple Puffs and Martha’s Gingerbread Cakes.
Their other posts are worth reading, too.

Have you tried a recipe from this book? I’d love to hear how it turned out.
But if you made the Chicken with Tongues, you can omit the gory details.

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