Delight

I bought these books and tapes on Saturday at a rummage sale. For one dollar. All of them. One dollar.

Paperbacks:
Farmer Giles of Ham, by Tolkien
Cyrano de Bergerac, by Edmond Rostand
Screwtape Letters, by Lewis
Adam Bede, by George Eliot
Howard's End, by E.M. Forster

Hardbacks:
Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James
Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackeray
The Black Arrow, by R.L. Stevenson
Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek, and Jamaica Inn (one volume), by Daphne du Maurier

I also bought three collections of tapes. They're readings for teachers to use in English literature classes. The first has selections from Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, and Keats; the second is stories of heroes, gods, and monsters of Greek mythology; and the third has readings from Longfellow, Whitman, Poe, Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne. Poetry and prose on tape! Six in each set. I'm looking forward to finding out if they were worth...what's one divided by twelve?....eight cents, I think. If they're any good, it'll be the bargain of the year.

Fahrenheit 451

I recently posed this question to a group of RUFers:

At the end of Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury tells us that each one of the rebels/book-lovers living along the train tracks had become a book--that is, had memorised an entire book, so that they could pass that knowledge on to the generations to come.

If you were stuck in that story, what book would you memorise?

The replies included:
Screwtape Letters by Lewis,
the Space Trilogy by Lewis,
The Great Divorce by Lewis,
The Fall by Albert Camus,
The Man Who Was Thursday by Chesterton,
the collected verse of Gerard Manly Hopkins,
the collected stories of Flannery O'Connor,
Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene Peterson,
The Book of Common Prayer, and
Tom Brown's Wilderness Survival Guide.

The person who picked the last also said, 'I mean, if there aren't any books, things are gonna get pretty dicey, no?'

Isn't it interesting how we all seem stuck in the mid-1900s? Why? Do Christians think that those are the only good authors? If so, what ever happened to Beowulf, Dante, Shakespeare, Milton, Calvin, Luther, Edwards, Rossetti, Stevenson, Carroll, &tc.? Not to mention all of the authors I've forgotten or don't know yet. It would be a terrible thing to lose those authors and those stories. But I'm afraid that even Presbyterians, who claim higher intelligence than those in other denominations, I say even Presbyterians are turning to modern books for their knowledge and losing touch with our history.

That makes me sad. It makes me sad everytime someone laughs at me because they think I have too many books. Those poor people don't know what they're missing. They are why I will always give books as presents.

Where was I? Ah, yes...

....my birthday. I was given three excellent books: G.K. Chesterton's autobiography, a collection of Dorothy Sayers' letters, and a Scrabble book (you know, how to be a Scrabble genius). I was also treated to dinner twice, which was lovely. I got to eat Greek food and watch Equilibrium with Kelly. It was a good birthday.

In other news, I got a new cookbook about a month ago-- a bread recipes of the world cookbook. It is very awesome. I've made croissants (badly), pretzels (today, actually), Georgian Khachapuri (yummy cheese-filled bread), pane al cioccolato (chocolate!), petit pains au lait (ugly but tasty), and Syrian onion bread. My mother has made onion-cheese loaf, which is one of our favourites so far. And I've been eating lots of bread. I decided that I had to taste them to make sure that they weren't bad. I promise I don't eat very much. Except the chocolate bread. It was quite good. And it didn't have any sweetener, so I managed to avoid that, at least.

Here's my personal favourite so far:
Georgian Khachapuri

2 cups white flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 oz. fresh yeast (=1 1/2 T. active dry yeast)
2/3 cup lukewarm milk
2 T. butter, softened

For the filling:
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
8 oz. Muenster or Taleggio cheese, cut into small cubes
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 T. butter, softened
salt and pepper

For the glaze:
1 egg yolk
1 T. water

Proof the yeast in the lukewarm milk for 10 minutes (mix and let it get bubbly before adding to the flour).
Lightly grease a Yorkshire pudding (or popover) pan with four 4-inch holes. (I use a muffin tin and make 8-10 buns, or individual pie pans and make 6 buns.) Sift the flour and salt into a medium bowl. Add the yeast mixture to the flour and mix into a dough--it will be dry. Knead in the butter, then knead on a lightlly floured surface until the dough is smooth and elastic (8-10 minutes). Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a wet dish towel, and let rise in a warm place for 1-1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in bulk.

Mix the cheeses, egg, and butter together for the filling. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 2-3 minutes. Divide into 4 equal pieces and roll each into an 8-inch circle. (You'll just have to wing it with smaller sized buns. I rolled mine very thinly so that all of the cheese would fit.)

Place one dough circle in one hole of the popover pan and fill with a quarter of the cheese filling (or a sixth, or a tenth, etc.). Gather the overhanging dough into the center and twist to form a topknot. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Cover with a wet dish towel and let rise in a warm place for 20-30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350*. Mix the egg yolk and water, and brush over the dough. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until light golden. Cool for 2-3 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

What I have read fills my mind.

It feels like a big cotton ball. I've been stuck on modern authors for the past few weeks, and I've noticed that it's like dining solely upon peanut butter crackers and skim milk. I want my Chesterton, my Blackmore. My steak and potatoes. With butter. Lots, of course. That'll be the poetry. And I cannot, must not, forget the bread. I'm allowed to eat this bread as much as I like.

Here's what I've read since June. It's positively shameful.

Four books by Ellis Peters ("good fluff"):
Brother Cadfael's Penance,
Death and the Joyful Woman,
The Rose Rent, and
The Knocker on Death's Door.

Seven (Yes, seven) books by Joanne Harris, a modern authoress whom I have resolved never to read again:
Chocolat,
Jigs and Reels,
Blackberry Wine,
Coastliners,
Holy Fools,
Five Quarters of the Orange, and
Gentlemen and Players.

1, 2, and 3 were actually good, but by the time I got to 7, she had degenerated into complete modern-ness and vulgarity.

Also, I read Imperial Woman by Pearl S. Buck, which was interesting and not a complete waste of time, and Reformed is Not Enough, by Wilson, which was great. The lonely Really Good Book. How sad.

And now for my big mistake: I borrowed some books from a certain RUF minister I know; a Chesterton, a Wendell Berry, and another modern book which looked interesting at the time, but turned out to be vulgar and obscene. It's called The Time Traveler's Wife, and I highly recommend that you never ever read it or buy it. If it were mine, I would have thrown it away already. It is terrible. It is why my brain seems very small right now. I feel the need for some good old Real Life and then a long session with my old friends on my shelves.

Also, I've resolved to never again pick up a book that I don't know from that man's shelf. I will not talk to strangers. I will not talk to strangers. I will not talk to strangers. Gaah. I'm babbling.