Belly of Paris

I downloaded the kindle application to my new macbook air so that I could download a copy of Emile Zola's The Belly of Paris to read on the flight to Paris. The version I bought is translated by Mark Kurlansky of Cod fame and he provides a nice little introduction. I haven't started reading it yet but will let you know more when I do.

Storm from the East by Milton Viorst

This is the audiobook that George W. Bush should have listened to! It gives the history of the Middle East from the beginning of the 20th century and covers the colonial era of Great Britain and France. After listening to these six CDs I understand why the Arabs dislike the West so much, including the United States. We haven't supported their secular nationalism, which has gotten them nowhere. So it is no wonder that they have embraced a religious nationalism. If more Americans knew the history of the Middle East, they would be more understanding of the Arab rage.

El Juego del Angel by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

We listened to this 16 disc audiobook in Spanish and after 16 discs, my listening ability has definitely improved, although the book itself can be very confusing at times. David Martin is a writer who sells his soul to the "Patron", Andrea Corelli, who is supposed to get a monumental religious history in return. Love, intrigue, the supernatural and mystery are involved so that one must keep listening to the very end. The narrator, Francisco Rivela, was very good - and that is often what makes or breaks an audio book.

Four Beers

Last night my son picked up 6 beers from the local 6-pack store so we are back to food as a subject for the blog. The first one, "White Lightning" from the Full Pint Brewing Company here in North Versailles, was a nice light heffeweisen with a good coriander flavor. This was the first time I had heard of the Full Pint Brewing Company which, Will says, was started by the brewmasters from the old John Harvard's Brew pub in Wilkins. On their website, which is currently just a blog, you can see them moving the equipment from John Harvard's to their new warehouse. If we got the Tribune-Review, perhaps I would know about it: Full Pint Brewery makes splash in Pittsburgh beer scene. I'm going to have to see if the Trib has a headlines by email.

Then there was Stone Levitation Ale, which was nice and hoppy with a beautiful bottle, and Flying Dog's Dogtoberfest (from Frederick, Maryland - we'll have to stop by sometime on our way to DC). Will says the when we are in San Diego we'll have to visit the Stone Brewery, which really impressed him.

The best beer last night was He'Brew's Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A. - A double india pale ale with rye malt, which was rich, hoppy, malty, sweet and strong at 10%. It really filled your mouth: "a whole meal" as Will put it. Fortunately we were splitting the beers into 3 so that it was only an appetizer!

Estrella Distante by Roberto Bolaño

It looks like this Chile Relleno blog is going to be books rather than cooking!
This is our first book on CD in Spanish from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (we had listened to a couple many years ago from the Stark Listening Center at Pitt). Maybe the blog name is appropriate since the author is Chilean. It's a short book (only 5 discs, 5.25 hours) and rather confusing at the beginning without a clear plot. The last chapter, where they introduce Detective Romero becomes much more interesting, particularly for the dialog. The reader, Walter Krochmal, was very good at Romero's Chilean accent (the ones without the esses).

The Elephant and the Dragon : The Rise of India and China and What It Means for All of Us

Yet another book review. We listened to the Elephant and the Dragon by Robyn Meredith, a reporter for Forbes Magazine, as an audiobook during our commute. Although it was published in 2007 before the financial crisis caused by the subprime lending fiasco, most of the data is still useful. Meredith covers the recent economic and political histories of India and China to explain why the two countries have developed so differently, why India is the back office while China is the factory to the world. It was really amazing to listen to how rapidly China changed and is catching up with the rest of the world. Because it was able to, the Chinese government put a huge amount of money into infrastructure (roads, factories, power supply). The democratic and bureaucratic Indian government is way behind China in this respect. However, because India has a huge population of children, Meredith sees that there is a real possibility for immense economic growth in India if jobs can be provided for these up and coming workers. It's a good book for learning a lot about these two countries and how they will continue to challenge the economies of the West.

Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human

I also just finished Catching Fire by Richard Wrangham, who is the Ruth Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University so I hope that means he isn't some quack. The thesis of the book, which I find very interesting and very plausible, is that it was the use of fire to cook food that led to the development of the human species, allowing them time away from chewing. He emphasizes that digestion of raw foods is quite time and energy consuming and that raw foods cannot provide the calories that cooked food does. Cooking makes both plant and animal foods more digestible. Because humans did not have to have large jaws and guts for digesting raw foods, our mouths, teeth and intestines became smaller, while our brain capacity increased. It's a good thesis and explains why we have an obesity epidemic today: we are naturally attracted to refined foods.