Flight Behavior and Foggy Morning Cheese

Two new favorite things: 1.  Barbara Kingsolver's novel Flight Behavior and  2.  Nicasio Valley Cheese Company's cheese. I'll take Kingsolver with a Foggy Morning.  They are both good and delicious.

Here's one example of Kingsolver's masterful touch (on page 283): "She thought of other times, other dire news.  Pregnancies, wanted or not.  It was never real at first.  She recalled the day of her mother's diagnosis, holding her bone-thin arm, its yielding skin, walking her out of the doctor's office onto the crumbling, shaded parking lot.  Little humps of moss that swelled along a scar in the asphalt like drops of green blood.  All these vivid external details suggesting nothing had changed.  They'd decided to go to the grocery with no more mention, that day, of the end of the world.

The Best Tea in the World

I don't usually like to plug products but I'll make an exception for Mariage Freres tea.  Ever since I visited one of their two tea rooms in Paris years ago I have been a devotee.  They've just come out with a new blend in time for Valentine's Day that sounds nice and one can now order on-line from them directly -which means choosing from a much larger, much fresher selection.  More info is here: Mariage Freres UK site.  They have a number of Earl Grey teas (my favorite) including an Earl Grey Pu-Erh which is touted to lower cholesterol.