Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday this holiday weekend! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).

Dolce Bellezza is hosting in June, where she also just launched the seventh Japanese Literature Challenge.  Be sure to visit her elegant and inspiring blog. 

I ended up with a huge stack of books last week.

First, I went to a lunch event where Alyce Cornyn-Selby from Portland's Hat Museum was the speaker.  She is a real live-wire!  In addition to restoring her 1910 mansion and founding the Hat Museum, she has driven across the country in an old roadster with no top (the car, not her), and written over a dozen books, including one I got:



What's Your Sabotage? The Last Word in Overcoming Self-Sabotage by Alice Cornyn-Selby.

Second, I stopped by to see my friend Rachel at Second Glance Books because she has decided to close shop in July and redirect her time, talent, and treasure to other book-related ventures, like the Rose City Used Book Fair.  Follow the Second Glance facebook page for further developments.  I walked out with some great books, as always:



The Elizabeth David Cookery Book Set, which includes French Provincial Cooking, Mediterranean Food, French Country Cooking, Summer Cooking, & Italian Food -- five of David's classic books on cooking, with thousands of recipes.




Here's How, Mixed Drinks by W. C. Whitfield (Author) and Tad Shell (Illustrator), with a wood cover.



Mr. White's Confession by Robert Clark, an Edgar Award winner.



A Private View by Anita Brookner



Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

Third,  I hit an estate sale where I found a treasure trove of vintage mystery paperbacks, some with really cool old Penguin covers.  I ended up with quite a stack of Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, and Ngaio Marsh books, all perfect for the Vintage Mystery Challenge hosted by Bev on My Reader's Block.

What books came into your house last week?

Kitchen Remodel, Week Fourteen: Let There Be Light!

We got light fixtures, knobs, and pulls this week.  With all those details in, it is hard to accept that we still have no tile, so are a long way from finishing.

I love the old fashioned "Edison" blubs in these Schoolhouse Electric fixtures.  One of Portland's oddest but best stores is Sunlan, home of "the light bulb lady," where you can buy any kind of light bulb ever made.  These look as much like the artisanal light bulbs on Portlandia as you can get.

Two books I read this week had a cooking theme.  The Hills of Tuscany by Ferenc Máté was a typical but still wonderful ex-pat memoir about a couple who moved to an old country house outside of the village of Montepulciano.  There are all kinds of descriptions of Tuscan food and wine that made me want to stomp grapes and smoke my own prosciutto.

Son of Holmes was an early effort by John Lescroart, who went on to write a successful mystery series, and spin offs, set in San Francisco and featuring lawyer and sometimes bartender Dismas Hardy. 

Son of Holmes is set in France in the early days of WWI, where a master spy rumored to be the son of Sherlock Holmes is under cover as a chef in a provincial town.  He drinks a lot of beer -- a LOT of beer -- and putters in the kitchen, but there isn't much discussion about the food he is supposedly cooking. 

WEEKEND COOKING

Hosted by Beth Fish Reads