A Christmas Audio Visual Treat

Imagine that you are at your local mall shopping and you stop for a snack, when midway through a bite of your burger, the woman at the table next to you stands up and starts singing. I mean, really singing, Handel's Messiah.  That's what happened November 13 at the Seaway Mall in Welland, Ontario. 

I'm left speechless.

I took this photo from my back deck.  It was a flash of colours that lasted only about three minutes.  Even when I look at it now I am speechless.  Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

City of Veils by Zoe Ferraris

Imagine trying to identify a murder victim where her face and her hands have been systematically destroyed.  Then by luck you discover a photo of her in her possessions, only to realize that because of her religious practices her face would be virtually un-recognized by anyone outside her immediate family, which you haven't yet identified.

This is the starting point for Zoe Ferraris's new novel.  Set in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Detective Osama Ibrahim faces just these barriers or you could call them challenges.With the assistance of Katya Hijazi, from the coroners office,  and her friend(?) Nayir Sharqi, he wades through social and religious customs to identify the victim and find her murdered.

This is a world that I have had no exposure to, other than a Canadian sitcom called Little Mosque on the Prairie.  I was intrigued.  How were Osama and Katya going to solve this mystery and how were they going to work together when they are not related and Katya is not supposed to talk to a non-family male.  How was Katya going to deal with her male office mates. How would Osama interview women surrounding this investigation.   Every page of this novel revealed issues that each of the characters had to weigh their understanding of their religion and how it would impinge on them, their families, their co-workers and those who they had to interview.  Ms. Ferraris did a wonderful job of portraying these dilemmas and the seriousness with which each character dealt with them. 

Excellent mystery and wonderful handling of the topic (seclusion of Muslim women).  Some of the same characters in this story are also found in Zoe's earlier book  Finding Nouf.

Thanks to Little, Brown and Company for my review copy.

note: the cover of this book is quite dark and it was very difficult to photograph without a glare.

Needlework Tuesday - A Canadian Christmas Stocking

Yippee, my secretly knit stocking is finished and it's still a mystery.  My niece does know I have been making one for her, but she doesn't know what it looks like or the techniques used.  That's the surprise.  I have decided that it's going to remain hidden until Christmas morning, when Santa will stuff it and leave it on the floor in her room.

The pattern is from McCall's Needlework December 1993.  I used two balls of Patons Classic Wool,  colour 00230.  At some point a bug/moth or some such beastie got at the wool and ate and secreted something on it and broke all kinds of strands.  I have seen this once before on something my sister was knitting.  Weird as I had only bought the wool a week earlier.

It's kind of hard to see the pattern, but its a cable with seed stitch in the middle (top edge) and then bobbles in clusters of 4 in the top band and in the curves on the body of the sock. 

Still working on two afghans for the holidays.  One will definitely be finished, the other will become a birthday gift in February.  Oh well, timing was never at the top of my skill list.

Skippy Dies; Hopeland by Paul Murray

First line of the book: Skippy and Ruprecht are having a doughnut-eating race one evening when Skippy turns purple and falls off his chair.  That opening line was enough to make me want to read this book.  I borrowed it from my library and started.  For the next hundred pages I was left wondering what happened from that brilliant start.  It just sort of lagged; I couldn't relate to what was happening. 

This is a YA novel and I am far beyond that.  It deals with concepts of teenage love/infatuation, drug use/mis-use, broken families, and church boarding schools. High school was a trial when I was there and I would never wish to go back there.  eeks.  Enough to make me shiver.

That being said, I do think this would have appeal to those still in high school and having to deal with the same issues. 

By the end of the book I did know more about Skippy, but I have no idea why he died.  I have been given some clues, but don't know whether they are red herrings or not.  I have the next two books; Heartland and Ghostland and Afterland.  They are due back at the library in two weeks.  Don't know if I will read them...

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling

This is the seventh book in the Harry Potter series.  It is the story of now seventeen year old Harry and his quest to fulfil a promise that he made to Headmaster Dumbledore before his death.  It will not be easy, but Harry has the help of his friends Ron and Hermione.

I will assume that many of my readers already know the basics of this tale, so I'll forge ahead to my comments.  There shouldn't be any plot reveals/spoilers, so safe to read if you have yet to read this series or this book.

On the whole, I enjoyed this book.  It has a cast of characters that I have become familiar with.  Hermione is bright and a good student, I can mostly identify with that.  Ron and Harry aren't the best students, but they are friends and act in ways that represent a real friendship.  There are times when they get annoyed with each other and stomp off.  Very real..  My favourite teacher is Professor McGonagall.  She comes across as tough, but really has a soft heart for all the students, even those of Slytherin House.

Mrs. Weasley would be my choice of a neighbour to have tea with on a regular basis.  Unlike her, I do prefer a hands on approach to my knitting. 

A few things do bug me about this story.  Harry's father was a bully.  He took many opportunities to bully Snape.  There is no getting away from that fact. I wonder if he did anything in his life after school to compensate for that. I have no tolerance for bullies. 

Why is it left up to young Harry, time and again, to battle with an adult.  That just doesn't ring true in the world.  How is it that the brightest and most gifted of wizards, including the ever so amazing Dumbledore can't defeat Voldemort.

I was glad to finally hear the full story of Snape.  I was curious about him all the way through, and knew that there was more than we were being told.  The resolution of his story is fitting and works for me.

All in all, I am glad I read the series.  It's possible someday I may re-read, but then there are so many books.  We have a complete set of the books and will be keeping them on the bookshelf for years to come.

As an aside, I have to admit that my university now has a quiditch team.  Yes, muggles running around a field with a broomstick between their legs.  I understand that this is not the only university with a team and they are trying to get the sport sanctioned so that they can have competitions and championships between the universities.

Recipe Thursday - Name this Rolling Pin

There is one kitchen tool that I find gets very little attention; the lowly rolling pin.  At minimum I feel that anyone who does a variety of cooking and baking needs at least two.  I have three at present. 

 The top one is from Martha Stewart and is the 'French Style' .  I bought this one on a whim during a clearance sale and absolutely love it.  It is made of a nice firm wood, not pine.  This is generally my rolling pin of choice.

The middle rolling pin is made of marble.  Great for rolling more fragile pastries on warm days.  The pin is quite heavy and it does most of the work for me.  I have had this one since my university days and have bought a few to give to friends.

The bottom one is the newest.  Even though I have had it at least 5 years I have not used it.  It is for making pretty little cookies. There are three rows of carved squares. I know that you roll your cookie dough with a regular rolling pin and then the final step is too roll over with this pin.   Problem is, it didn't come with a recipe and I had not seen one before except in a cookbook illustration. 

This is where I need your help.  Do you know what this pin is called ?  Do you have a recipe that would work with it?  Probably a dough that doesn't rise all that much or the impressions made will disappear when baked.

Linda has sent me a link to an interesting article about rolling pins at croppingcooks.com.  She suggests that my pin might be a springerle. 

Old hand-carved wooden rolling pins with grooves cut into their barrels were used for making cookies, particularly the Springerle, a typical anise-flavored Christmas cookie  from Austria and Baveria (Springerle is German for little knight or jumping horse).  The designs on these pins were the quaint figures of animals, fruits, and flowers, each carved in a square outline.