Burma Chronicles: A Quick Review

Lucky for us, Guy Delisle has been able to travel to places few westerners get to see. His first graphic novel was set in North Korea. His most recent, Burma Chronicles, tells of life inside the military controlled country now called Myanmar, much of which he experiences while wheeling his toddler son through the streets in a stroller.

Drawn in by the opportunity to experience cultural nuances in this isolated country, the author's humorous writing style will likely keep readers reading and perhaps make new graphic novel fans. If I had one critisism of this book, it would be a wish that the brief snippets were a little longer and more complete. Often the author ends a story rather abrubtly.

I look forward to his next book and in case he is at a loss for ideas, I'm working on my list of under represented in graphic novels countries, that I would like him to live in next: Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Haiti, maybe an African country or two...any other suggestions?

Cooking with Testicles

This post is courtesy of knitwithcats who, upon finding an article on cooking with testicles, immediately thought of me. Awwww, that is so sweet! Anyway, she is obsessed with Jezebel.com (and stray cats, but that's a story for another day) and found this story while surfing:

Ljubomir Erovic, a Serbian medical equipment repairman by day and chef by night, wants to spread his love of eating and cooking testicles. Erovic already helped found the World Testicle Cooking Festival in his hometown near Belgrade...(read more here).

You can get a sample of the e-book here.

Now y'all know dad does NOT want another tie for Christmas this year. Hint hint.

Bronte's, Nashville Tennessee

Bronte
Nashville Tennessee


Bronte Bistro in Nashville is a pleasant little lunch spot and popular brunch option on weekends. Many of the menu choices are recipes from cookbooks by chefs such as Barefoot Contessa and Tyler Florence. The prices are actually reasonable for the hoity toity Green Hills area, which is after all, home to Nicole Kidman.

The only problem with Bronte's is that it is perched next to the hard to resist Cheesecake Factory. So if you in the area for one meal only, you will have a hard choice.

Davis Kidd is still a wonderful place to browse for books and unique gifty type items despite a change in ownership, a move to a new location a few years ago, and a reduction in what was once a gynormous selection of books. The selection at Davis Kidd is still great, just not as awe inspiring as it once was. I attribute this to online book stores.

A pleasant afternoon if you are in the area would be a shopping trip to the fancy stores of Green Hills mall, lunch and a book browse at Davis Kidd, and then a movie at either the Green Hills theater which often has indie films or the Belcourt theater.

Dineometer Rating: 70-80%

Cuisines of the Axis of Evil

Here's an excerpt from the intriguingly titled Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States: A Dinner Party Approach to International Relations.

"While most folks recognize the power of food to bring people together, I notice most its power to divide. Many religions enshrine various forms of commensalisms, or rules that govern with whom you can eat and with whom you
cannot. In Hinduism, high-caste persons can't eat in the presence of those who are low caste, whose very shadow defiles the former. Many religions specify not only the animals that can be eaten but the ways in which those animals must be killed as a precondition for eating them and the means by which they must be prepared. This can seriously limit the number of people one can eat with."

You can listen to the entire excerpt on NPR's website here.

And here is a link to the authors Amazon blog. Not having posted since August 19th, Chris Fair is coming dangerously close to a knitwithcats award.

Pay with Karma

This is from my new favorite TV channel, Current TV. I believe it's channel 107 on Comcast in the US but you can also watch online. I watched the VC2 program last night, which had several excellent videos along the lines of PBS's Independent Lens, although with a decidedly twenty-something tilt. I will post the link tomorrow along with another great video I saw that is appropriate for Earth Day.

As for the payment policy of Seva Cafe, it is places like this that make me feel a little less crusty and cynical. Wouldn't it be great if McDonald's adopted this policy? "Pay with your heart." Yes, pay with your super-sized, cholesterol clogged, calcified, McHeart. Probably not a good business plan.

On a side note, I just finished listening to Jennifer Government by Max Barry. It's a futuristic look at a world in which corporations really do own everything and your last name reflects where you work. So we have John Nike, Violet Exxon-Mobile, and Haley McDonald's. If you like dark, political humor such as Wag the Dog, you might enjoy this book also. I read that George Clooney bought the rights to the book and look forward to seeing the movie version.

Adventure Dining Books: The Hungry Planet

German family (top) displays one weeks food.

Ecuadorian family's weekly food supply (bottom).

For those of us who are nosey, Peter Menzel's books allow us to take our nosiness to global extremes. His book Material World permits us to view the possessions of "average" families around the world. It was the subject of a documentary shown on PBS many years ago and continues to sell on Amazon.com over 13 years after its release.

His newest book Hungry Planet, allows us to see what the world eats. Families from countries such as Cuba, India, Britain, Mongolia, and Chad, display one weeks worth of food for the family. Included are country statistics on population, caloric intake, life expectancy, number of McDonald's restaurants, and the cost of a Big Mac. Another interesting feature is the inclusion of family recipes. We have Bhutanese Mushroom, Cheese, and Pork; Dried Goat Meat Soup from Chad; Cuban rice and beans; Potato Soup from Ecuador; Roulades of Beef from Germany; and Seal Stew from Greenland. Recipe notes such as in this recipe from Mali: Broth made from Sumbala (spice made from nere tree pods), indicate that I won't be cooking Malinese for dinner any time soon.

The beautifully photographed (as are all of his books) Hungry Planet is highly recommended, not just for the cultural information that it provides but also because it is an opportunity for personal re-evaluation of one's own eating habits from a global perspective.