Last spring a friend gave me a so-called Bon Vivant Journal which has a quotation on the back cover by the famous turn-of-the-century French author Marcel Proust: “The voyage of discovery lies not in finding new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” Many of us have had the occasion to travel to exotic destinations armed with cameras, ready to observe unusual places of interest. But the idea of seeing what’s around us with new eyes is a very insightful claim. While I’m not a native of Boston, I spent three years living there as a young woman and never really saw the extraordinary beauty that was right in front of me. Take the Boston Public Library, for example, which I never realized is considered one of the most beautiful public libraries in the U.S. Fortunately for me, the complimentary Where Magazine in our hotel listed days and times of the free one-hour tours.

Dan, the guide, told us that the BPL, the oldest municipal library in the United States, is also a presidential library, having nearly 4000 books from John Adams. The present building, erected by the architecture firm McKim, Mead, and White in 1848, is in the Italian palazzo style. It has twenty-eight varieties of marble and grillwork similar to that of Paris’s Musée d’Orsay and the Basilica di San Marco in Venice. For decades many of the features of the library were covered in carpet or veiled in soot from the former Back Bay Railroad, once situated where the Prudential Building now stands. As a result of a 150 million dollar renovation begun in 1991, the building now reflects its former glory.

On the cold evening we were there, the ground was covered by 14 inches of snow, forcing us to begin the tour indoors. In the foyer our guide pointed out three sets of beautiful bronze doors by Daniel Chester French, representing the muses of Wisdom, Truth, Poetry, Romance, Knowledge, and Music. Through the doors, one finds a vaulted ceiling covered by decorative mosaics, some celebrating prominent Bostonians such as Adams, Emerson, and Peirce. I should add that mid-nineteenth century Boston had the good fortune to be the new residence of many Italian artisans who were able to use their artistry to complete this part of the project. The grand staircase of Siena marble was designed by Parisian Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, who (believe it or not) never went to Boston! He simply created a model in 1/10th scale which the crew in the U. S. used to assemble his creation.The resulting flight of stairs, flanked by two unpolished marble lions and the artist’s murals which were rolled up and sent from France, is truly gorgeous.




At the top of the steps you enter the Bates Reading Room, which rivals that of the New York Public Library. The space is lovely with its green-shaded lamps and shotgun windows which look out onto Copley Square and Trinity Church. Just outside of the reading room is the Delivery Room which continues to use its 1887 system for distributing some of the library's 8 million books to patrons. This area, also known as the Edwin Austin Abbey Room, is lined with the artist’s murals illustrating Galahad’s search for the Holy Grail by Tennyson.



As if all this weren’t enough to classify Boston’s main library as a masterwork, the third floor is not to be missed. Besides a collection of books and memorabilia dedicated to Joan of Arc, there are murals by John Singer Sargent. A friend of the architect McKim, Sargent decorated opposing walls portraying figures from the Old and New Testament. There are even three dimensional elements which protrude from the surface adding to the beauty of the paintings.

Finally, if you have the opportunity to visit this library in warm weather, be sure to see the courtyard where you could have lunch and admire Bacchante and Infant Faun by Frederick William MacMonnies. The naked statue was “banned in Boston” for awhile by prudish nineteenth century residents but is now back where she belongs--in the middle of the reflecting pool. Amusingly, a bust of the principal opponent of Bacchante is placed facing her for all eternity.

Before I visited Europe for the first time as an undergraduate, I never thought about churches having an emotional impact. My home parish was, as my father used to describe it, nothing more than “a big cracker box,” rectangular in shape with mass-produced statues of saints for decoration. Seeing the architecture of Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals—with their never-to-be-reproduced stained glass windows and beautiful iconography inside and out—made me examine religious buildings in a whole new light. While there are some outstanding places of worship in this country, none that I’ve seen so far have touched me more than the historic landmark I visited this week: Boston’s Trinity Church.

The current incarnation of this Episcopal church has been situated in Copley Square since 1877. Five years earlier architect Henry Hobson Richardson won a competition to design the structure. The feat of supporting the massive stone building on the landfill of Back Bay (which was once marshland) required the installation of 4 giant granite pyramids and 4500 cedar pilings; interestingly enough, the wood must to this day remain irrigated so as not to rot away. The exterior, a lovely mix of porches, arches, turrets, and windows of contrasting beige granite and red sandstone, was gleaned by the architect from his knowledge of French and Spanish architecture. The reflection of the church in the glass of the neighboring John Hancock Tower serves to highlight its intricacies and beauty. This unusual style, now known as Richardson Romanesque or Romanesque Revival, has apparently been copied by architects in Canada (for the Château Frontenac, among other buildings) and in Europe.

The interior is no less amazing…and I do not use the word lightly. This is no austere, somber, merely functional church. Upon entering, your eyes immediately lift to the striking, deep red background of the murals on the front walls and you realize that you are in a remarkable place. Then you glance down at the warm gold colors and stained glass windows which adorn the sanctuary. Literally everywhere you look there are outstanding architectural and decorative elements. There is the luminous cupola, the beautifully carved wooden pulpit, and the impressive array of stained glass windows—like the lovely Worship of the Shepherds created by British Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones in 1882. This place of worship truly seems sacred and makes you want to sit quietly and contemplate the stunning surroundings. Its pictures do not do it justice.

Guided and self-guided tours are available every day at Trinity Church. It is definitely worth the $6.00 entry fee. Richardson’s design of Albany’s city hall and his collaboration on the New York State Capitol give me additional places to visit in 2011. Have an inspirational new year!

Winter is a great time for prodigious amounts of cooking and eating! ;) The cold air really gives us an appetite and thus a desire to get into the kitchen; soups and stews never tasted so good. A friend who contributes to the blog Vinoteca recently posted on comfort wines. That got me thinking about the soothing dishes I go to especially when the winter months roll around. Many are tied to my southern upbringing and my grandmother’s table. Today, though, I’m making cheese fondue which I associate with junior year abroad when I met my husband. As soon as the weather gets cold, we both get a yearning for the festive Swiss national dish!

First, you need the right cooking vessel: un caquelon, or a ceramic fondue pot. You’ll also need some kind of heat source to keep the mixture warm once you get it to the table. Those small gel-type warmers like Sterno which have little more strength than a candle are not sufficient for this job. We have a spirit burner that I found at a neighborhood yard sale; you just have to keep replenishing the denatured alcohol that fuels it. After you have assembled the necessary equipment and cubed French bread, you need to get started on the cheese: a mixture of a half-pound each of aged emmentaler and gruyère. (You can increase the proportions if you're serving more than two.)

I have had only one failure making my own fondue—but it was a colossal one! Don’t make my mistake or you will end up with a huge glob of cheese for supper. The cheese cannot be cubed, thinly sliced, or any way other than grated. You can buy a bag of the two grated cheeses at Price Chopper and probably at other supermarkets around the country. We have a nifty cheese grater that you crank and the job is quickly done. Next, mix 3 tablespoons of flour into the one pound of grated cheese and you’re 10 minutes away from eating!

Cut one clove of garlic in half lengthwise and rub the cut side inside the pot. (I also chop up a bit of the same piece of garlic and throw it in as the cheese starts to melt.) Then pour 2 cups of dry white wine into the cooking dish and set it over medium high heat. When small bubbles begin to form over the bottom of the pot, squeeze in about one tablespoon of fresh lemon juice. Now you’re ready to put in one handful of cheese, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon making 8s for about 20 seconds or so until it melts. Keep adding a handful of cheese at a time until it is all used up. Stir in a dash of pepper and a grating of nutmeg, plus a tablespoon or two of kirsch. (The recipe also calls for a little salt, but I tend to think it's salty enough with just the cheese.) It’s now ready to serve. I normally make a green salad to go along with it.

There is some debate about what to drink along with fondue as seen by a recent article that appeared in the Times Union. I would strongly discourage beer or red wine. Classically, the drink of choice is white wine which matches an ingredient in the dish. Anyway, I hope you’ll try it.

One of my sons always used to point out that I say that everything I cook is easy. Maybe now that he's on his own he realizes that it’s true. Many of my meals have few ingredients and take thirty minutes or less to prepare. Like anything else, of course, with practice your skills improve and you can turn out a dinner in no time flat. Not only that, you also develop what the French call “le pif” (literally, slang for “the nose”)—a flair, an intuition for what tastes good. In my mind, some of my best dinners have been only loosely based on a given recipe.

I’ve mentioned in a previous blog that I appreciate a quotation from Chef Paul Bocuse that good cooking does not necessarily imply something complicated and expensive; that the best meals are simple ones. Take last night’s completely oven-cooked dinner as an example. Our local fish store has some good crab cakes which I heated up for about 10 minutes and served as a first course with an impromptu dollop of mayonnaise mixed with fresh lime juice, and a touch sambal (Asian chili sauce) for added spice.

Since I am infamous for serving a combination of cuisines in the same meal, I decided to follow the appetizer with a Greek-inspired menu. To this end, I first visited a friend’s blog, French Fries on Wednesday, which has a huge listing of Greek and other recipes at the bottom of the first page under “Labels.” Lisa’s “Greek Potatoes Patates”—which are peeled, cut into wedges, topped with butter, a little chicken broth, olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, and onion—were just delicious. You do have to bake them for about an hour in the oven, but they are well worth it if you have the time. (Otherwise, rice, pasta, or bread would do fine as a starch.)

Next, I got out my Treasured Greek Recipes cookbook published years ago by the women at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church in Albany for its “Haddock Oliviano.” Using the fresh fish I had also purchased yesterday, I put the fillets in a buttered casserole dish and topped them with olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, salt, parsley, and a little oregano. All you have to do is bake the fish for the last 20-25 minutes of the potatoes' cooking time.

To round out the meal I made a modified Greek salad. I nearly always have feta cheese on hand which I crumble over lettuce, along with black olives, a tomato, onion, oregano, garlic salt, olive oil, and vinegar. Served along with a dry white wine, it was a simple, satisfying meal which is basically Mediterranean-based and heart healthy. Try it; you'll like it! Bon appétit!

All of the over-indulgence associated with the holidays at this time of year makes me think of weight gain and working out. For ages my New Year’s resolution every January 1st was to get more exercise. That always lasted about a month at best, but I have gotten better recently. For one thing, I finally realized that the whole three times a week idea simply did not work for me. I was always changing my schedule and found some way to put off exercising. My latest thing is to plan for at least some kind of physical activity every single day. Now, don’t get me wrong…this is not two hours of hard labor at the gym that I am referring to. A mere twenty to thirty minutes of activity with a cardio component is sufficient in my mind.

By far, the top Cheapo way to keep fit is by walking. A comfortable pair of shoes is all the “equipment” that is necessary and you don’t have to become a member of a gym to get the job done. When it’s warm out, there’s nothing more invigorating and beautiful than a fast-paced walk along the river, the canal, the bike path, or even in town. During the cold weather one can bundle up for a quick jaunt around the neighborhood. I knew someone in Vermont who would go out every night after dinner, even if it was snowing, to get some exercise. If you have the time, you could also join the mall walkers, which is not bad at all. There are people and things to look at which makes the time go by fast and at one of the larger shopping centers you can get in your time without retracing your steps.

What I like best in a walk is to have a purpose to it, a destination. The problem here in the United States is that very few suburban areas have sidewalks, which can make getting to the local pharmacy, for example, a traumatic experience. In Europe, of course, people walk all the time. I remember going out with our children on a Saturday the year we spent in Lyon and not thinking twice about walking for three hours downtown. Trying to walk to a near-by supermarket upon our return to the States nearly got us all run over! Sometimes my husband and I create destination walks on the weekend. If we have to go to the bank, say, we plan an itinerary, park the car in an urban area, and walk the round-trip. You can get creative with this and see new sections of the city while getting in your exercise and doing your body some good.

Naturally, as with any type of activity, boredom is the enemy here. What I like least about working out is if I have to go round and round in a limited area like the gym. Even having a partner to talk to doesn’t really make up for the inherent monotony of this type of exercise. With a little imagination, I have found, I can work out, feel more relaxed, and sleep better as a result.

These days most of us don’t look to cookbooks when we’re thinking about dinner. We just google “pesto” or “Asian drumsticks” or whatever it is we want to cook and voilà ! In the blink of an eye we have a recipe. I do have quite a few books that I count on when I want to serve a better than average meal, though. Whether it’s American or international cuisine that I’m planning, these books always come through for me. (Unfortunately, most of them may be out of print, but are probably available secondhand on eBay or at Abe or Powell's Books, for example.)

First and foremost, I have to pay homage to one of my culinary heroes, Julia Child. I truly admire her for the role she played in changing the way Americans cook. Yet, I can never imagine being like the blogger in Julie & Julia who spent a year going through the entire two-volume Mastering the Art of French Cooking,
preparing all 524 entries! No, I prefer to find recipes that appeal to me and try them out. I have several of her cookbooks, including Julia and Jacques Cooking At Home, which I really like. But mainly I go to the first one I received from my husband, From Julia Child’s Kitchen. There are quite a few delicious international dishes here, like the fish in a creamy mushroom sauce, Filets de sole bonne femme (…which reminds me of the French saying “C’est la sauce qui fait passer le poisson”…“Sauce allows you to serve fish”!) Another favorite from this book is Médaillons de porc sauté à la crème. This simple main dish, also made with cream, combines slices of pork tenderloin with allspice and thyme, garlic, shallots, and white wine. So quick, easy, and delicious.

One of the books I bought for my children when they left home is the outstanding Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen. I’ve heard that his New Orleans restaurant is not that impressive, but that’s not the case here. Unlike some of his later cookbooks which require the purchase of his seasoning mixtures, these recipes call for herbs and spices that you probably have in your cupboard. Okay, so it’s Cajun cooking; that means that it’s spicy. I would encourage neophytes to halve the amount of white, black, and red pepper until your tongue builds up a tolerance. In some recipes, too, you might want to cut down on the butter. That said, we have not had a bad meal from this book! Trust me on this. The list of exceptional recipes includes: Seafood Crêpes (oh, là, là, how delightful!), Shrimp Diane, Barbecued Shrimp (which we had Saturday night and inspired this post!), Chicken Étouffée, Chicken and Tasso Jambalaya, Roasted Pork…and I could go on! If you love—or think you might like—Cajun food, this is a must.

Another purchase I felt I had to make for my boys is Eva Zane’s Greek Cooking for the Gods. Perhaps my Greek friends will disagree, but I think this is perfect for beginners in this type of cuisine. I have made very many of her recipes and love them all: her stuffed grape leaves, moussaka, pastitso, broiled lamb steaks, Greek salad with feta dressing...mmmmmm! Many of the stew-type entries, like stifado, are easily adaptable to the slow cooker, too.

Finally, there are the two Silver Palate series cookbooks, which I first heard about from a college friend of one of my sons. Luckily for me, at separate times both volumes were on the shelves of my local secondhand bookstore. You can find a bit of everything in the area of American classics from dips to soups and main dishes in these texts. Written by two women who got together to start a catering business, Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, the recipes each seem to have a nice little twist, like egg salad with fresh dill and beef stew with cumin. Yummy!

In graduate school I read something that has stuck with me over the years. It’s that modern people, with all of the mental concentration required to perform our everyday tasks, tend to seek out leisure activities which force us to work with our hands. I know this is true in my case. There is nothing I enjoy more than the relaxation that comes from gardening, drawing, or cooking. Focusing on such interests is, at least for me, a great stress reliever. Of course, preparing for big holiday celebrations can add a whole new level of pressure to an already busy life. To alleviate some of the strain, I start by preparing the food early. (In fact, one of my friends contends that I serve “leftovers” to my family…which is not exactly the case!) Before Thanksgiving each year, I begin on Sunday by baking the cornbread for my southern-style dressing; then Monday, I usually get the sweet potatoes ready; on Tuesday, it’s the cranberry sauce. Anyway, whatever the schedule of events, I think you get the picture.

In the time that we have been married, we’ve collected a stash of recipes that we use for the holidays, particularly for Thanksgiving. I would like to share two of them with you today. The oldest of these, from a secretary at Clark College in Atlanta, is still written on the same red index card from decades ago. This delectable dish, called “Sweet Potato Soufflé,” is not a true, puffy, hard-to-create soufflé, but a richly satisfying side dish, perfect for the excess of the holiday table. Over the years we have tinkered with the recipe slightly and have now passed it on to the next generation.

Ingredients:
3 cups of cooked, mashed sweet potatoes, ¼ cup melted butter
¾ c. sugar, 1/3 cup flour
¼ cup milk, 1 teaspoon grated orange peel
2 eggs, 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the topping:
1 cup chopped pecans, ¼ cup melted butter
1 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup flour

Combine the sweet potatoes, sugar, milk, eggs, vanilla, melted butter, flour, orange peel, and orange juice; mix well. Pour into a 2 quart baking or soufflé dish. Combine the topping ingredients and scatter over the mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until bubbly. Serves 8.

Another all-time favorite of our family is “Cranberry Applesauce.” This one came from a sister-in-law and again dates from our time in Georgia. This easy to make dish tastes so much better, in my mind at least, than canned cranberry sauce. As I look at this card, I realize that it really needs to be rewritten…but I’ve made it so often that I could practically do it without any reminders!

Ingredients:
2 ounces butter, ½ teaspoon ground cloves
1 lb. fresh cranberries, 1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 Golden Delicious apples, 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1 ½ cups dark brown sugar,

Melt the butter in a pot and add the cranberries. Cook until they are popping and mushy. Peel the apples and cut into pieces. Add to the cranberries and mix well. Turn off the heat and add the brown sugar, spices, and nuts. Grease a 2-quart baking dish, add mixture, and bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. If prepared in advance, cook 10 minutes, covered with aluminum foil, then refrigerate. Warm for 15 to 20 minutes before eating. (Note: this dish is supposed to be served covered with marshmallows, but I think that is too much of a good thing.)

There you have two of our choices for the Thanksgiving table. Let me know if you try them and what you think. Enjoy this best of the American holidays!