Kim Dannies

Holy Writers! There are so many great books out right now, I can’t keep up…and with the “2011 best books” lists I’m having a ball. For relaxing, fun reading I’ve become addicted to Louise Penny’s mystery series. They take me back to my early years when I fell in love with reading and there was no finer pleasure than curling up in our big brown chair to devour a Nancy Drew mystery. Start the series with Still Life and read on from there.

Great books I’ve recently enjoyed: Stoner by John Williams; My Writing Life by Pat Conroy; The Golden Bowl, Henry James; Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro; Faithful Place by Tanya French; Rules of Civility by Amor Towles; Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand; Istanbul, The Imperial City by John Freely; Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson; November 22, 1963 by Stephen King; 30 Lessons for Living by Karl Pillemer; The Empty Family by Colm Tobin; Swamplandia by Karen Russell; The Stranger’s Child by Alan Hollinghurst; Arguably by Christopher Hitchens; The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes. Enjoy!

If you want to know a woman, you must first ask about her Mother, and then listen carefully…the more a daughter knows the details of her Mother’s life without flinching or whining- the stronger the daughter.   -Anita Diamant, author  The Red Tent

Still waiting for Spring to shine on Vermont- a long, snowy winter followed by a wet, raw mud season has people jumping out of their gray-parched skins aching for sunshine…it is Cinco De Mayo, time for a margarita! Enjoyed a brief respite from the clouds when I visited my Daughter in San Diego- gorgeous weather and easy living out there! We ate amazing Japanese and Italian food and hiked the La Jolla cliffs. The Pacific was warm enough to do a quick dance in and bikes were everywhere- BLISS! Here is a quick list of some books I enjoyed recently: Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson; New Yorker Stories by Ann Beattie; Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain; Room by Emma Donoghue; The Making of a Writer (volume1&2) by Gail Goodwin; Gluttony Francine Prose; Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff; Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton; Portraits of a Marriage by Sandor Marai; Mudbound by Hillary Jordan. Looking forward to more travels and riding my bikes everyday soon.

And lest we forget to thank:
Aside from the heroics of every single person who – in any way – helped bring about this historic day, we have to remember the “others” who inadvertently helped:

10) The genius behind the “Kill za Internet Mr Bresident, that should end it” gem! Instead of social networking, hundreds of thousands decided to communicate by actually going to Tahrir Square!!

9) The nutcase who envisioned “The Charge of the Camel Brigade”!! Your retardation has been a jewel to us dear Sir.

The dolt who brilliantly released Wael Ghoneim, at a crucial point in the Revolution’s life- just after speech #2! Kudos to you Sir.

7) The mastermind behind ACTUALLY ALLOWING Wael Ghoneim to appear LIVE on TV (to say how we wasn’t tortured!) to “win support for Mubarak”, & instead galvanize the nation !!

6) The mind behind the regime’s harassment & beating up of the WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS NEWS ANCHORS!! We instantly gained some amazing champions for our cause!

5) The brilliance of using plainclothes policemen to act as Pro-Mubarak “supporters” and beat up and kill pro democracy protesters… AND THEN LEAVING THER POLICE ID’s on them !!! Epic stuff!!

4) Both the EX-President (God I LOVE SAYING THAT!!) and the Vice-President’s speech writers!! Aside from Mubarak’s #2 speech, the rest were political suicide! Written by chipmunks at best!! Thanks a lot guys!!

3) The dude behind releasing criminals and maniacs to create “Chaos” in Egypt… Thereby instantly blowing up Mubarak’s later mandate of “Either me or Chaos!”… Huh ? And what do you call this current MESS?!!

2) Habeeeeb! Our ex interior minister. There was absolutely NO WAY this regime could have fallen, without the abject hatred that he had cultivated in the hearts of 85 million Egyptians. The officer who shot dead (in cold blood), the un-armed Alexandria hero also deserves an honourable mention. Especially that it was “You-tubed” and seen by 1.6 million after one day!!

1) Finally, the absolute best help we ever got in this revolution came from the man himself. Our ex-president made it difficult to root for him (even by members of his own party towards the end). By being patronizing, haughty, and seemingly “bonkers”; he personified “Dictator” like no one else before him. Of his many “quotes” (and it’s hard to pick a favourite, the man has given us SO MANY “gems” over 3 decades). My pick is when he was first told that some “Kids were planning a protest march on January 25th, to ask for more democracy Ya Fandem”… His DOCUMENTED response… “خليهم يتسلوا”!! (Let them have fun)
Thank you for being 83 Mr President, (and about 60 years older than your average citizen) !! We couldn’t have done it without you )
Adios.

Kate & Fouad Celebrating in Tahrir Square with Friends 2/11/11

The 21st century Paleo diet is pretty simple, there’s no calorie counting; when you’re full, you stop eating. Choose lean protein, eggs, nuts, seeds, leafy greens and veg (easy on the starchy ones), 3 fruits a day, salt and alcohol in moderation; no dairy, grains, sugar, or processed food.

Juicy burger sits on a sweet potato rosti "patty" with side salad

Simply shred potato and fry lightly in a bit of oil to make rosti, a bread-free base.

Prep fruit at beginning of each week to grab and go.

This soup is loaded with caramelized onion, garlic and basil.

Spaghetti Squash: split, roast, then shred with a fork- easy and delicious!

It looks scary, but don't be afraid- it is versatile and yummy!

The key is make a lot of healthy soup and freeze it.

Paleo egg salad has homemade mayo, garlic, bacon and greens- pretty, and pretty good, too!

This is homemade mayo with lots of garlic and lemon juice- goes on everything!

The pungent air hangs like gauze soaked in cardamon, exhaust, and the sweat of 21 million people bustling for survival. The women, swaddled in layers of cloth, routinely court death as they sprint across wide streets filled with speeding bumper-car rejects. At the crossroads of Africa and Asia, life teems with unvarnished riots of color and aromatic heat. Pyramids of saffron, sweet melon, and cabbage balance alongside ancient carts heaped with greens and bananas in a marketplace where butchers proudly carve fly–crusted meat for the masses.

Children spot you and shout “Halloo!” and “Amerikans!” and with every step you feel freakishly foreign, yet warmly welcomed. There is an exotic energy to the streets that is scary yet intoxicating. The poorest hawker will offer you a cup of tea or a coke if you happen to be shopping around 4:00, the ‘hour of hospitality.’ Custom requires gracious acceptance, even to the offer of a cigarette, considered a special compliment. The call to prayer is a bewitching, mournful wail that permeates the city’s loudspeakers five times daily as the devout hustle to pray. No matter where you go in Cairo there is always an arrow, even on the ceiling of a hotel room, pointing you towards Mecca. And the famous Nile flows like a powerful snake through the middle of this choreographed chaos, calmly protective of those who dwell in this compelling city.

We felt completely safe and received a welcome sweeter than the honey soaked Kounafa we ate everyday of Eid. We stayed away from street food, eating in places that had treats like molasses with blue cheese and fresh figs on brown bread. Breakfast was often hearty leftovers, as well as eggs, yogurt and smoked fish. Everyday we ordered mezze, an arrangement of bowls filled with fatoush (cucumber and tomato salad), tahini (ground sesame seeds and oil), hummus (chickpea mash), baba ganoush (eggplant puree), and olives, accompanied by fresh pita bread, often baked right in front of us. Artful nicoise salads, seafood pizza, calamari tempura, and poached fresh bass were favorite lunches. Grape leaves stuffed with rice and mint, shawarma (lamb or chicken on a rotisserie), beef kabobs, chicken curry, and cilantro studded jasmine rice were evening meals. Desserts were plentiful during the holiday: pistachio decked Baklava, rich date tarts, and Umm Ali (a hot raisin cake). Cairo is mysteriously exotic at first, but for those of us who favor a Mediterranean diet, well, Bismillah! (bon appetit). We were right at home in this global kitchen.

We spent ten gorgeous days lunching and celebrating my daughter, Kate’s wedding in Cairo last month. Typically we’d lunch al fresco with 8-15 people around 2 or 3:00 each day. We’d finish by 5 or 6. We ate Syrian, Lebanese, Egyptian, Italian, Japanese, you name it. After returning from each meal we’d share a cool glass of wine, and then it was bedtime!

I miss my three little pumpkins...

“Literature is the ax that breaks the frozen sea inside us.” Franz Kafka

Writing is all about judging but you have to leave it on the page, it doesn’t have a place in friendships and life– this is the challenge, if you want to have someone to hang out with that is…

One of the best short stories I have ever read captures this dilemma, the writer’s perpetual battle– the fine line– of appropriating real life events and making art from them. It is called The Young Painters by Nicole Krauss and appeared in the June 2010 New Yorker.

Books I’ve loved lately:
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen; By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham; Strangers At The Feast by Jennifer Vanderbes; Born To Run by Chris McDougall; For Better: The Science of a Good Marriage by Tara Parker-Pope; Love In Mid Air by Kim Wright; Out Stealing Horses by Per Patterson; To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (fiftieth anniversary);

On the nightstand:
Cleopatra, A Life by Stacy Schiff; Great House: A Novel by Nicole Krauss; Decoded by Jay-Z; What Is Left The Daughter by Howard Norman.

Soon I am off to Cairo to my daughter, Kate’s wedding…will be posting pictures and comments as the festivities proceed- stay tuned!