Happy 2016! I’ve now been blogging regularly for a year and hope that my readers have enjoyed the journey. This week is a grab bag of a new diversion, a play, a new restaurant and a book.
COLORING CRAZE
When the Wall St. Journal publishes an article about adults coloring, you know this fad has traction. Public libraries are offering coloring activities for adults, and coaches and therapists offer coloring workshops as stress relievers. If you search Amazon for “adult coloring books,” the result is a whopping 11,000+ titles. Narrowing the search to just “best sellers” in that category nets 673 books. Topics for coloring range from mandalas, butterflies and flowers to cities, undersea creatures, and all sorts of abstract designs. We’ll see how long this fad lasts; one forecaster said connect-the-dots would be next, but that sounds dull in comparison.
Time for a confession: I succumbed to this craze. I like playing with color, yet lack the artistic talent possessed by my sisters—one paints watercolors, the other has taken up sketching from nature—so coloring intricate abstract patterns or flower designs with markers and pens is my thing. For Christmas, I received three coloring books, all different, along with micro-line pens and fine point colored markers. The books include Johanna Basford’s Secret Garden (one of the biggest sellers in the U.S. by the artist who was an early proponent of coloring for adults), Color Me Stress-Free (not that I consider myself stressed in retirement!), and Four Seasons: A Coloring Book. I’ve only just started adding color to these pages but so far I find it relaxing, addictive and just plain fun!
THEATER
View from the Bridge. This Arthur Miller play now on in New York was new to me. I probably should have read it before attending the performance, but since seeing it I have. The staging is spare, only an enclosed arena-like space with clear benches on three sides and a doorway into the house on the other side, with no scene changes and virtually no props. The space functions seemingly as both indoor and outdoor space and all the action from the opening scene of two longshoremen showering and getting dressed after work to the final one of everyone piled together takes place here. A lawyer acts as Greek chorus and roams around mostly outside the arena, except when he is actively engaging with longshoreman Eddie inside the square.
The play focuses primarily on Eddie’s all-consuming relationship with his niece Katie, but there are also issues surrounding immigration and the threats presented by “the other” with the arrival of his wife’s cousins from Italy and their aspirations to have a better life as American citizens. Powerful and moving. I found that the stripped down set forced me to concentrate on the dialogue.
NYC RESTAURANT FIND
This new place was so good I almost hate to share it. Prompted by Pete Wells’ (NY Times restaurant critic) inclusion of Santina on his list of best new restaurants of the year, I booked for lunch. Around the corner from the Whitney Museum, it’s an attractive, but packed that day, window-walled space. I would call the cuisine neo-Italian and the standout dish for us was squash carpaccio. Layers of thin slices of caramelized delicata and butternut squash were topped with agrodolce and honey, a sprinkle of herbs, and tiny dabs of mascarpone cheese. Beautiful to look at and a wonderful assemblage of flavors. Second place goes to the paper thin chickpea pancakes that can be rolled up around your choice of funghi, avocado mash or other options.
BOOK OF THE WEEK
Sous Chef: 24 Hours on the Line by Michael Gibney. If you’re a foodie and you want to better understand what goes on in the kitchen behind the swinging door, then you’ll be caught up in Gibney’s fast-paced narrative. Covering an entire day from early morning through the after-closing wind down, Gibney delivers an energetic account of kitchen procedures, politics, and personalities from Chef (the top dog) down the line to the dishwasher. Who does what when, how dishes are timed, and how a group of folks with disparate styles must work together as a team to feed you, the diner. Fascinating!
Header photo: Page from Secret Garden colored by yours truly
