Let them be dumped!

Recently I’ve become very mindful of how extensively my life plays out like a comedy of errors. Caught up in such an awakening, I failed somehow to notice how long exactly it had been since I last posted. That is, until I went to the clatter page and saw in big bold letters: FEBRUARY 1, 2011. Oh how time gets away from us. Perhaps you wondered if I had hid under a rock until Valentine's Day came and went (not true) or if I was too busy stress-eating bags of conversation hearts from the woes of lawyering to notice (might be true). What I find to be most annoying about all this is that even when I think of interesting things to write, oftentimes before I'm able to get it down on the page, the ideas are gone as quickly as they've arrived. Oh how fleeting bright ideas are. Until I come up with my next one, let's rely on someone else's…

Book: Middlesex

Author: Jeffrey Eugenides
Year: 2002

clatter’s nutshell summary and review: It won the Pulitzer Prize. Need I say more? Of course I do. Do I take issue with the fact that the sticker for "Oprah's Book Club" is bigger than the line below the title which reads "winner of the Pulitzer Prize"? You bet your bippy, as my driver's ed teacher loved to say. Look, I completely get the underpinning of the book club sticker – it acts as an incredibly useful marketing tool to sell more books. It saddens me is all. Don't get me wrong, I'm an Oprah fan. And I would kill for an endorsement from her for just about anything. I only wish that incredible writing would be recognized and purchased by the masses for reasons other than a celebrity telling them they should read it. Is that too much to ask? Ok, I am now stepping off my soap box. Let’s move on, shall we?

Truth be told, I had absolutely no idea this book centered around the life and times of a hermaphrodite until I started reading (sorry if I just ruined the surprise for you). I bought my copy years ago at a used book sale, but apparently I never bothered to read the synopsis on the back (that’ll teach me!). Even with its unusual premise, Eugenides’ way with words gives new meaning to the first person narration. He brings such life and raw truth to Callie/Cal’s story, you may begin to wonder, as I did, how exactly a writer can reach so far into a fictional character’s psyche. It took me at least 150 pages to really get into it (I got a little bored with some of the Greek family history), but once I began to understand where Callie/Cal came from, who she/he was becoming and the struggles she/he endured, I couldn’t put it down. I’ll admit that at times when I was reading, I felt uncomfortable, squeamish even, but those were precisely the times I became convinced Eugenides is one heck of a powerful storyteller.

clatter’s favorite passage: With such lyrical writing, it’s tough to choose just one. But I particularly enjoyed the following exchange:
“But Milton persisted, ‘I’d say where thinking ends, stupidity begins.’
‘That’s how people live, Milt.’ – Michael Antonious again, still kindly, gently – ‘by telling stories. What’s the first thing a kid says when he learns to talk? ‘Tell me a story.’ That’s how we understand who we are, where we come from. Stories are everything. And what story does the Church have to tell? That’s easy. It’s the greatest story ever told.’
My mother, listening to this debate, couldn’t fail to notice the stark contrasts between her two suitors. On one side, faith; on the other, skepticism. On one side, kindness; on the other, hostility.”

clatter’s favorite food moment: Uhhh... I'm at a loss. This is why I should 1) take notes in the margins 2) not wait over two weeks after I finish a book to write a review, and 3) read shorter books. But I'll tell you what: I was craving feta cheese and Kalamata olives for all 529 pages of it.

Recipe: Chocolate Dump-It Cake

Date: May 12, 2002

NY Times: “Food Diary: Personal Best,” by Amanda Hesser. Recipe adapted from Judith Hesser.

clatter's thoughts: I first came across this recipe when I read Amanda’s Cooking for Mr. Latte a few months ago and have been curious about this alleged super easy, uber delicious chocolate cake ever since. The beauty of this recipe lies in the fact that you add all the ingredients into a single saucepan on the stovetop, whisk away, and then bake it in a tube pan. Everyone see now why it’s been named a “dump-it” cake? For me, however, the title has an even deeper meaning. After I made the cake last night (which really was as super easy as Amanda claimed it would be), I took an official taste-testing bite of my official taste-testing slice just in time to watch (warning: spoiler alert ahead!) Brad dump Shawntel on The Bachelor. Dump-it or dump-her cake? This got me thinking: not only is this cake an excellent dessert to eat while you sit through two hours of awkwardness on The Bachelor (why do I still watch this show?), this cake would also serve as the perfect accompaniment to “he dumped me” wallowing, “my boss dumped a bunch of work on me” whining, or a more general “down in the dumps” sort of disposition. With all these ideas in mind, I decided to take preemptive measures by preparing my very own emergency dump kit (I wrapped up half the cake and stored it in the freezer). What happened to the rest of the cake, you might ask? Well, I shipped it FedEx overnight to Shawntel - I think she needs it more than I do right now.