Summer Wine

It's seldom that I like a wine well-enough to buy it 3 times in a row, but this New Zealand Starborough Sauvignon Blanc has had a spell on me! It's a light, crisp summer wine, and I recommend this wholeheartedly!

Walk Along the Riverfront

It's the kind of summer evening we long for all winter long-- moderate temp, low humidity, and a slight breeze-- enough to keep the Mosquitos at bay. Time to take Fawnie on a walk down on the riverfront! New smells! Yummie, yum, yum!

Summer Reads

OK- I've not been true to my word! I've sneaked in a whole bunch of summer reading as I'm doing dissertation work-- and I must say it's been a great stress reliever!!!

So what have I been reading? 

I began with The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro. It had been sitting in my Nook library for a while and it was time to open this book.  The story begins in England with Grace Monroe, who receives a mysterious letter informing her of an inheritance from someone she's never met. Included in the story line is an empty perfume shop in Paris, intriguing people, and voila! The plot unfolds. Loved this story!!! I give it 5 stars. 

Next, I moved on to Jane Green's The Beach House because now I was in the mood for a beach read. This is a new author for me as I hadn't heard of Jane Green until the lady in the bookshop told me about her. This was also the first book in a long time that I held in my hand! I have fallen so in love with my e-readers that now I prefer to read on my Nook or Kindle (yes, I have both-- mostly because some books are only available on one or the other) as opposed to reading a paper copy of a book. Back to the story line-- this one takes place in Nantucket (where I really want to go so it's on my bucket list!) and open with a scene in which an older woman, Nan, also known as being eccentric, takes a skinny dip in a neighbor's swimming pool. The plot develops from there and involves families, long lost loves, and secrets! What more could you want in a book? I loved this one because I love the descriptions of Nantucket Island, and really, really, need to go visit!

 That led me to my next beach read, The Last Original Wife by Dorothea Benton Frank.  A thorough summary of this book was done by the Gazette Journal Times-Courier, so I won't need to do that here, but just know it was a good story and I enjoyed it even more because I love the descriptions of Charleston-- one of my favorite cities. I'm so glad Ed and I went to Charleston earlier this Spring, and look forward to going back. Dorothea Benton Frank is an author I discovered last summer and I enjoy her books because they usually take place in the South Carolina low-country. As for this story-- I'd give it a 4 because it was a good read. 

 Then I decided to read Dorothea Benton Frank's "last-year" book-- Porch Lights.  It was on my last's reading list but I never got around to it. The story begins with a young widow mourning the death of her firefighter husband who was recently killed in the line of duty in NYC. Jackie has a ten-year old son to raise, and decides to go back home, to Sullivan's Island, for a visit and a change of scenery. This decision was not without stress since her parents were separated and Jackie and her mother had a conflicted relationship. What I like most about this book, even though it is mostly about Jackie and her son, is how the character of Jackie's mother evolves, and even though she's a less-than-perfect mother, she is also shown as someone who works very hard to maintain the family ties and establish a welcoming home for her daughter and grandson while also developing and growing her inner self-- (we are never too old to continue to develop and evolve as human beings). Love this story and I give it 4 stars. 

Next I headed for something quite different, and that is The Astronauts Wives Club.  This was such an interesting read for me because I remember the excitement of the space program and think that man's race to the moon was a great accomplishment (along with harnessing nuclear energy!) and took a tremendous amount of courage! Imagine standing there watching your husband shoot up into the sky in a small metal capsule not knowing for sure that he'd get back? Then also imagine being the Houston based wife of an astronaut working at Cape Canaveral (as it was called before being renamed Cape Kennedy) and knowing that women were throwing themselves at your husband but you had to maintain the perfect image of the perfect family and the perfect supportive, loving, wife? This one is definitely a 5 and I would suggest that you read it this summer. 

So now I circle back to the South Carolina low-country and pick up another Dorothea Benton Frank book. This one is one of her older books, published in 1999, and it's funny to see someone write about giving her secretary floppy disks so that she could make a presentation for her boss. My- how quickly things have changed in a decade! This one is Sullivan's Island. It took me a while to get really interested in the book. Somewhere after the first few chapters this one had my attention mostly because of the description of the family dynamic in which Susan, the heroine, grew up. It really made me think about so many of my students with really messed up childhoods and messed up families-- and it's amazing to think how resilient people are and how so many do survive and do well in their lives. This was a fun read and I give it a 4. 

Now to my last accomplishment-- I read this book yesterday. The funny part of this is that this, again, was a hard cover book because I was looking for a biography of JFK junior on my Nook but they were all to pricey or I couldn't find what I wanted. So I went to the Hockessin Book Shelf (one of my favorite book shops in my area) and saw this on the shelf. Then I also found another book about JFK, Jr. as as I was trying to decide between the two books a woman said "Can I have the one you don't want?" I said "Sure." But then after quickly looking through them, I decided to take both books but I felt badly for the woman, so I turned to her and said, "I've decided to take both but I promise to bring them back her and maybe we can ask the desk to save it for you." Sure enough-- the lady who owns this shop was all too happy to oblige and she asked the woman her name. The answer she gave was "Pope," and I'm a Bishop-- how funny is that? Anyway-- I read the book last night and will be turning it in today. So what was it about (other then the obvious -- JFK, Jr.)? It's a memoir written about the author's time working for JFK Jr. as his assistant when he was publishing the magazine George. Through her eyes we get a glimpse of his temper and his generosity, how he lived a life constantly being invaded by paparazzi, and how JFK Jr. was trying to develop a younger generation's interest in politics. We also learn of the friendship that developed between Carolyn Bessette, JFK' Jr.'s wife, and her challenges in learning to live a life that is so public. Carolyn didn't want to go to Rory Kennedy's wedding, but RoseMarie Terenzio talked her into going. Hence the guilt trip. When JFK's plane crashed so did her life... It's an interesting read, but it's more about the working-class-roots-author's growing and changing as a person trying to understand the life and word of privilege than it is about JFK, Jr. So I give this book somewhere between 3 and 4 stars. 

OK- that's it for now-- and believe it or not, all this reading is helping me with my dissertation!!!   

Postscript to the Kunzler Hot Dogs

Here's a follow up to yesterday's search for the Kunzlers--- while Shoprite shows that they sell them online, they don't sell them in the store. So... I suggested that we "take a drive up the road and go exploring"-- as I thought we could probably find Kunzlers in stores closer to Amish country. Sure enough, we came to the Dutch Way Farm Market grocery store on Rt 41 between Cochranville and Gap. It was a blazing hot and humid day, but since we couldn't take Fawn in the store, I hurried inside leaving Ed and Fawn to wait in the car. Sure enough, in the back of the store next to the butcher counter were big packages of big fat Kunzlers! A package of 25 hotdogs at $15.99. I would liked to have found smaller packages since I guessed that just the 2 of us would be eating them, but the big package was all there was. Here's what the package looks like...

And you can see the ingredients clearly marked on the label...

Here's what the hotdogs look like...

Here are all those doggies in the package-- side view.

Here's the dog on my plate! Delicious!!! It tasted even better than we remembered-- these dogs just melt in your mouth! Great with grilled corn and a veggie salad.

That's not all-- Lili stopped by the house on her way to the beach and requested a hotdog! Then Phil, who never eats anything that is not super-healthy-- came home from work and also grilled a hotdog. We're just in Kunzler hotdog heaven!!!

Kunzler Jumbo Franks

In the mood today for a good ole' fashioned hotdog cooked till it's nice and dark on the grill! Yes, I know, yesterday was July 4th- the official grilling day in all of the USA. But today--- it's my turn, and I just love a good old American hot dog at least once or twice during the summer. However, it's not just any old hot dog-- they have to be Kunzler Jumbo Franks.

We discovered them many years ago when we were touring Amish country and stopped for lunch at an Amish restaurant. The kids thought they were great! Ever since then, we've only ever had Kunzler's Jumbo's but they're hard to find around here. I was ready to run up to Gap, PA where there's an Amish grocery store, but then I remembered to check online and lo and behold! Shoprite has them. So Ed's on his way to Shoprite, and we'll see what he comes back with :).

4th of July Dutch Pancakes

It's a national holiday (Independence Day in the US) and so it was a good morning to make Dutch pancakes. It's been a while... I make them in my favorite (and very old) cast iron skillet. It distributes heat evenly. The batter has to be ladled in with a soup ladle because it is so thin. My Jewish friends would call them blintzes, and my French friends would call them crepes, but at our house they're Dutch pancakes. My secret is to add a little cinnamon to the batter. We have them with homemade whipping cream and fresh strawberries. Here they are...

Cooking in my favorite very old cast iron skillet...

All done and ready to eat! It  takes about 30-45 minutes to cook a batch this size...