This has been a rich month of lovely exposure to the quiet arts and taste treats, so I’m sharing what I liked!
In books, the writings of David George Haskell, if you like books about nature and trees. These are like dessert and best read slowly a chapter at a time with reflection in between. I’m in the middle of The Forest Unseen right now, and The Songs of Trees is next on my list. I’ve learned so many things about various aspects of nature I had no idea about previously. If you like Diane Ackerman or Robin Wall, you will like Haskell.
In films, two that were just released, starring the same actor, Benedict Cumberbatch. You will see how this extremely talented actor can be two widely different people, in voice and body structure and movement, with only the face vaguely the same. Both films are excellent, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, and The Power of the Dog.
In food, if you, like me, had a hankering for Christmas treats your mother and other relatives made, then a visit to Lincoln City, to the Chocolate Frog, is for you. Every Christmas season I search for panettone and if I’m not fast enough, it’s already gone by the time I get to the store. My brother-in-law’s SO made it for us every year until her passing and it’s a sweet treat I long for and have had trouble finding. I like it for morning toast. My mother, being part Danish, always made Stollen for Christmas morning breakfast, and for my father, being part Germanic, Lebkuchen, or more precisely, Lebkuchenherzen, a hard gingerbread cookie with icing. I have tried making these two items myself, but they never turned out like my mother’s, so I was thrilled to find I could find them both at the Chocolate Frog. That’s not all you can find at the store, but that’s a great start. My Christmas hankerings have been fulfilled!