Happy Birthday Garrett!!

The love of my life is turning 60 this week, so in celebration, we had a party! It was so much fun, although very tiring even though I got a lot of help (thanks Angela, Garrett, Josh, and Laura!). I had intended to take pictures, but was so busy putting food out and talking to our friends, that not a camera was to be seen. Lots of great food, good wine, and wonderful friends... all of my favorite things. Here's the menu of small plates:

Oysters on the half shell (thanks to Laura and Josh)
White bean dip with pita bread and cucumbers
Olive tapenade with crostini
Cheddar coins
Italian stuffed mushrooms
Shrimp cakes with cilantro, lime and chili sauce
Crab tostadas
Prosciutto and asparagus rolls
Seared tuna with pickled ginger and wasabi
Feta, sun-dried tomato, and olive phyllo triangles
Pomegranate/red pepper marinated lamb skewers
Bacon wrapped stuffed dates
Sicilian meatballs (thanks to Laura)

Chocolate eclairs
Blood orange chiffon cake
Peanut butter chocolate cupcakes (thanks Laura)

Yum!

Amazing resilience

I can't say I loved Lullabies for Little Criminals because it was so heart wrenching, but I will never forget the main character, Baby. Although a novel, this book reads like an autobiography and seemed very believable, even though Baby's life (up to age 13) involved one tragedy after another. Unlike Running With Scissors, which told a similar story of totally dysfunctional parenting (and which I didn't like), I never once thought to myself "Oh, come on... that couldn't REALLY have happened." Another thing I really liked about this book is that the secondary characters were well developed and multi-dimensional. Neither Alphonse, the pimp, nor Baby's father were cast as villains, although they certainly betrayed this young girl.

The Help

I put off reading The Help for a long time, thinking my book club would eventually choose it, but since they didn't I went ahead and read it anyway. I loved it, even though I was reading it with somewhat of a jaundiced eye after reading about the lawsuit that is being brought against Kathryn Stockett by the nanny who works for Stockett's brother. It may be that Stockett crossed the line in writing a character that closely resembles a real person who did not give permission to be characterized in the book, but that doesn't detract from the fact that this is a beautifully written book with strong memorable characters. The basic plot itself is compelling -- about black maids working for white women in the South in the 1960s -- but there is so so much more to this book than that. I was sorry to see it end because now I'll never know what happened next to all the great characters that I had come to know and love.