Destination:  Anchorage, Barrow, and Fort Richardson, Alaska

Movie: Big Miracle (NEW 2012), Directed by Ken Kwapis

Review by Jane Boursaw

Reel Rating*: 4 out of 5 Reels

There’s something really compelling about whales. Is it their size and power? The fact that they swim in the ocean underneath our tiny boats? Or the fact that even though they could wipe out a small town with one swipe of a flipper, maybe they’re not so different from us after all.

Whatever the reason, any time a whale pops up in a movie, I’m so there. In Big Miracle, we get not one, but three whales, along with the incredibly adorable Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski. It’s almost too much cuteness for one movie, but there you have it.

John Krasinki and Drew Barrymore

Based on the book by Thomas Rose, Big Miracle tells the real-life story that happened back in 1988. John Krasinski plays Adam Carlson, a news reporter covering stories in the tiny town of Barrow, Alaska. When he inadvertently discovers a family of three gray whales trapped in the icy waters off shore, he realizes this could be the big story that gets him out of the sticks and into a cushy job in the Lower 48.

Adam’s story gets picked up by the national press, attracting the attention of everyone from Tom Brokaw to a White House staffer in Pres. Reagan’s administration to ex-girlfriend Rachel Kramer, a Greenpeace activist who immediately flies to Barrow to help organize efforts to get the whales back to open sea.

Rescuing the whales in Big Miracle

It also attracts the attention of oil baron J.W. McGraw (Ted Danson), who sees the situation as a way to bring environmentalists onboard with his Arctic oil-drilling efforts, and Jill Jerard (Kristen Bell), an ambitious Los Angeles reporter looking for a scoop.

There’s no doubt this movie has a lot going on; stories focused on saving the whales; oil-drilling in the Arctic; a culture clash with the whale-harvesting Inuit tribes; push-pull between a National Guard officer (Dermot Mulroney) and Pres. Reagan; and the fact that the U.S. government asks the Soviet Union for help in freeing the whales. By the way, did Pres. Reagan actually call Mikhail Gorbachev “Gorby”? No idea, but I guess the scene where he calls him on the phone is played for laughs.

Somehow, though, it all works, probably because this story really happened back in 1988, and we see evidence of that when archival footage plays as the end credits roll. Plus, if you were around in the 1980s, you’ll get a kick out of the shout-outs to Walkmans, Def Leppard, big hair and shoulder pads. It was also filmed on location in Anchorage, Barrow, and Fort Richardson, Alaska.

Most of all, though, Big Miracle is an entertaining, educational family movie that both kids and adults will like – especially if you have a thing for whales and movies shot in snowy locations.

*JANE’S REEL RATING SYSTEM:

One Reel – Even the Force can’t save it.

Two Reels – Coulda been a contender

Three Reels – Something to talk about.

Four Reels – You want the truth? Great flick!

Five Reels – Wow! The stuff dreams are made of.

Jane Boursaw is a family entertainment writer specializing in movies and TV. She contributes monthly articles about movies at Wednesday Matinee at A Traveler’s Library. Visit her at ReelLifeWithJane; follow her on Twitter; become a friend on Facebook; email jboursaw@charter.net.

Disclaimers: There is a link to Amazon in this post to the book the movie is based on. Reel Life With Jane is an affiliate, and therefore if you use that convenient link and buy anything at all while you are there, Reel Life will earn a few cents. Thanks for supporting our work! Photos are provided by Universal Pictures.

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Destination: Ohio, 1842

Book: American Notes by Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens

It would be quite unthinkable to let this month pass without paying homage to the 2nd centenary of one of our greatest and most popular writers–Charles Dickens, born February, 1812 (probably February 7). I’ve been dipping into some Dickens’ travel writing to supplement my scanty knowledge of his novels. (I did love Bleak House, and we all know The Christmas Carol, of course.) And the travel writing is lively, detailed, and very funny in places.

I could hardly believe my good fortune to come across this photograph recently when I was in Ohio:

Dickens Drank Here, Picture from Wyandot County Courthouse, Ohio

The Golden Lamb Inn, Lebanon, Ohio

I snapped the  picture above when I was on a completely different mission–following the Shawshank Trail, and in the course of that visit, went to Upper Sandusky, Ohio, where Dickens apparently stopped for a drink.  He did not have such good luck at The Golden Lamb in Lebanon Ohio, where, he complained in a letter to a friend,” they are teetotalers” and he could not get a brandy.  The Golden Lamb, by the way still serves dinner in Lebanon (including drinks in their tavern)  and I love stopping there.

Why am  talking about Ohio on the 200th birthday of this famous ENGLISH writer.  Well, you see, when he was barely 30 years old, Charles Dickens, already becoming a well-known author, took a trip to America. (PBS has info about a TV series on Dickens travels in America. He first traveled through many states, including Ohio.)  It was 1842 and travel to America was so popular among adventurous Europeans that (my Penguin Kindle edition of Dickens’ American Notes: For General Circulation informs me) there were more than 200 guidebooks that had  been written to the wild country. Not only was it fashionable to travel to America, but it was most fashionable to criticize the country–mainly for slavery, but also for its woeful journalism.  Dickens dived enthusiastically into both, and American Notes is more DeTocqueville with a sour face than “America on 5 pence a day”. The trip also led to the publication of  Martin Chuzzlewit.  He revisited America in 1867-1868, and appended many of his critical observations and remarks from his first trip, softening American Notes in the new edition.

Dickens, whose early life story was dreary to say the least, came naturally by his subject matter of poverty and abused women and children.  And, despite his enjoyment of entertainment and a drink, he was a serious young man who spent much of his trip to America campaigning for stricter copyright laws and inspecting prisons and welfare institutions. A few years later, after slaves were freed, he appended his book to allow that America could, after all, become a civilized country.

American Notes presents a  snapshot of what life looked like in the United States before the Civil War, and reminds us of how remote the far western reaches–like Ohio–still were. Dickens talked to some Wyandot Indians in Ohio a year before they were forced to leave the Ohio for Kansas. This quote is from American Notes.  Plan a road trip to Ohio, and you can visit the restored Johnston Farm and Indian Agency .

“It is a settlement of the Wyandot Indians who inhabit this place. Among the company at breakfast was a mild old gentleman (John Johnston), who had been for many year employed by the United State Government in conducting negotiation with the Indians, and who had just concluded a treaty with these people by which they bound themselves, in consideration of a certain annual sum, to remove next year to some land provided for them, west of the Mississippi and a little way beyond St. Louis. He gave me a moving account of their strong attachment to the familiar scenes of their infancy, and in particular to the burial places of their kindred: and of the great reluctance to leave them. He had witnessed many such removals, and always with pain, though he knew that they departed for their own good. The question whether this tribe should go or stay had been discussed among them a day or two before, in a hut erected for the purpose, the logs of which still lay upon the before the inn. When the speaking was done, the ayes and noes were ranged on opposite sides, and every male adult voted in his turn. The moment the result was known, the minority (a large one) cheerfully yielded to the rest, and withdrew all kind of opposition. “

Two years later, Dickens went to Italy for a year (with stops in France and Switzerland). His daily dispatches, plus the fact that he was hosted on his trips makes him sound like today’s travel bloggers.  That trip resulted in Pictures from Italy, and I’ll talk about the delights of his views of Italy at a later time. The following year, the family went back to Switzerland to settle in for a year and he got back to writing novels and apparently never wrote up his travels there.

You can read the entire Dickens works for free in several places on line.

A note from Naxos Audio Books about more Dickens availability:

NAB has produced a series of Dickens podcasts. Simply download our special Dickens podcasts, which include introductions to and excerpts from the books, meet the readers of our Dickens series, or click on a cover for more information, booklet notes, reviews, audio samples, and to buy any title from the Naxos AudioBooks Download Shop.

You can also find out what Dickens 2012 events are taking place near you by visiting the Events Calendar at the official Dickens bicentenary website: www.dickens2012.org.

I read American Notes in the Penquin edition on my Free Kindle App for PC and the book cost less than a dollar. I have included links here to Amazon for your convenience, but you should know that I am an Amazon affiliate, so although it costs you no more to enter their store from A Traveler’s Library, I do make a few cents when you purchase anything. The photograph from the Johnston Indian Agency is mine, but the other photos are from Flickr, used with Creative Commons License. Click on those photos for more information.

What have you read by Dickens? Ever read his travel literature?

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Family Travel Friday

Visiting a dairy

Destination: Hit the U.S. Highways

Books: Kids Love Travel Guides by George Zavatsky and Michele Zavatsky

By Jennifer Close

When deciding which book to write about this month, I chose Kids Love I-75. Then I thought about sharing some information about Kids Love Florida. I was standing so close to my travel bookshelf that I couldn’t help but pull Kids Love I-95 off of the shelf. As I stared at these books, I decided to just share my love for the whole series by George and Michele Zavatsky.

My name is Jennifer and I am addicted to the Kids Love Travel books.

Jennifer Loves Kids Love Books

The Kids Love Travel Guides series has both Interstate Guides and State Guides. I particularly like the Interstate Guides because if you are going to spend some time driving I-75 and I-95, these are the books for you. Even in the age of smart phones and quick access to information, I love these Interstate Guides because they are filled with various stops at the many exits off of the Interstate. Both books include information about the different activities that can be found at each exit, hours, admission, whether they have food or restrooms, and more. The maps found throughout are my favorite parts of the book. Each map pictures the exits, what can be found at the exit like hotels, picnic areas and rest stops, and shows how far it is to the next exit.

Mayfield Dairy, Braselton, Georgia

Kids Love I-75 travels along the interstate from Michigan to Florida. We throw this book in the car anytime we will be on I-75. While traveling north on I-75 during one road trip, we were able to make family rest stops a little bit more exciting. When we were planning our trip, we referenced the book and realized that the Mayfield Dairy was right of the interstate. Instead of a quick bathroom stop where the kids ran around a grassy area, we were able to tour the Mayfield Dairy and treat ourselves to ice cream before the rest of the long trip.

The State Guides cover family friendly activities in the following states: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland and DC, Michigan, Missouri, The Carolinas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and DC, Wisconsin and Tennessee. Kids Love Floridais broken up into the different regions of the state and includes activities for children. Each activity lists a brief description of what you and your family can do, admission prices, hours of operation, website address, phone number, location and any other pertinent information you might need before your visit. The best part about these books is that each activity has been kid-tested and kid-approved by Mrs. Zavatsky and her family.

The state guides are great for not only families who live in these states but also for families who are going to be visiting. We are planning a trip to Maryland and Virginia this summer so I am trying to decide whether or not I should get both state books or stick with the state in which we are going to spend the most time. I will probably just end up getting both books!

The Kids Love Travel Guides cost about fifteen dollars each and several are available for purchase via download from the Kids Love Travel website.  ( You can get some guides on sale for $12.95 right now at the Kids Love Travel website)

Note from Jennifer: I received  review copies of Kids Love I-95 and Kids Love I-75.  As always, my opinions are my own with no outside influences. Photographs belong to Jennifer. Please respect her copyright.

The giveaway books (plural) today are perfect for a road trip:  Kids’ Love I-95 (new edition) and Drive I -95 by Stan Posner and Sandra Phillips-Posner (2007 edition). Today’s prize  books go to one person who comments, subscribes, tweets or mentions us on Google+ before the deadline.  (You can comment on this post or on an earlier post. Just do it before Monday, January 16, 3:00 a.m. MST. If you already subscribe by e-mail and want an extra entry as a subscriber, be sure to tell me that in the comments. See complete contest rules here.)

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Book: Dog Walks Man: A Six Legged Adventure

Where: The Meadowlands, New Jersey

Review by Edie Jarolim

Meadowlands New Jersey

Brooklyn was never known for its rural landscapes — though there are many of them, if you know where to look — but when I was growing up there I knew of a place that made my hometown seem pristine: The Meadowlands. The vast, swampy section of northwest New Jersey, a wasteland that you could see from Manhattan, had a reputation as a dumping ground for everything from toxic chemicals and refrigerators to — we believed — dead bodies, possibly even that of teamster Jimmy Hoffa.

Art reviewer and painter John Zeaman was not without similar stereotypes when he started walking his standard poodle, Pete, through the Meadowlands, or, as the title of his delightful memoir, Dog Walks Man, would have it, when Pete started walking him there. “An aura of danger and degeneracy clung to this piece of land like radioactive contamination,” he writes. It is “the Forbidden Forest,” the wild frontier of the manicured suburban New Jersey town to which he and his family have moved from Manhattan, though it is only a short car ride away.

Zeaman doesn’t discover any bodies when he starts exploring the Meadowlands with Pete, though he meditates on the frequency with which dog walkers tend to come across dead people in mystery novels. He does encounter garbage:

Here and there, erosion had worn down the cap of soil, exposing a collage of broken glass, flattened cans, and automobile tires. Tires, I eventually learned, were particularly buoyant because they trapped a doughnut of air when they were buried….Muted dolls stuck their heads out of the ground, eyes fixed heavenward, like El Greco saints.

Peaceful Meadowlands

But he also finds a strikingly wild and beautiful landscape, the complex ecosystem of wetlands that began to develop after the federal Clean Water Act and the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission cleared up the pollution and closed the landfills in the 1970s. On their first outing to this terra incognita, he and Pete reach a rise where: “The view opened up. It could have been the Everglades or the Serengeti Plans.”

Who knew?

Zeaman is a wonderful guide through all the incarnations of the Meadowlands, providing snippets of history and geology from the Pleistocene Epoch to the 1960s, when “methane gas from the decomposing garbage sparked an underground fire in the peat that forms the Meadowlands’ floor… Driving through the stench on our way into Manhattan, my friends and I would howl in disgust.”

He looks at the landscape with philosophical wit:

I loved the phragmites reeds, which the state Department of Environmental Protection — and the rest of the world, it seemed — branded “invasive” and “opportunistic.” It struck me as hypocritical to malign a plant for its ability to adapt to an area where humans had been so egregiously invasive and opportunistic. I found them exotic and beautiful. In a strong wind, their hollow tubes clacked and clicked like wind chimes.

And he always has an artist’s perspective. Of the presence of trash, he writes:

It could even be looked on as an aesthetic question. Did beauty require purity? Did a small bit of ugliness cancel out something predominantly beautiful? In fact, the opposite case was often made in aesthetics — that beauty couldn’t exist without ugliness, that each defined the other.

This book is about far more than nature, though the dog-walking landscapes and the contemplations they give rise to play a central role. Zeaman also talks about the life of a writer, family life, suburban rituals, urban development, dog walking etiquette… and of course dogs. He’s a keen, unsentimental observer, able to laugh at himself as much as he pokes gentle fun at those around him.

For example, he describes the process of getting a new puppy — to rejuvenate Pete, who is getting older, he initially thinks. But it is not until he takes the new dog to the vet that he becomes aware that he is suffering from incipient empty nest syndrome as his daughter, Claire, is about to head off to college:

“Oh,’ the vet said, after I had lifted the floppy-legged puppy up onto the examination table, “Is this Claire’s replacement?

I think I may have blushed… Such insights into one’s unconscious motives were supposed to happen in a therapist’s office — not a veterinarian’s.

I could just keep on quoting. This is the type of book that has you marking passages and dog-earring pages, in spite of yourself; I tried not to but finally gave in. On every page, it gives you an idea to think about, a turn of phrase to admire. At the same time, the writing is never showoff-y; the prose illuminates its subjects without calling undue attention to itself. I’ve never seen Zeaman’s paintings, but if they’re anything like his writing I’d love to own one.

I even promise not to deface it.

Since the Pet Travel Book Club solicits discussion with readers, we hope that you will leave a comment below with your questions or opinions on Dog Walks Man. Edie Jarolim started the Pet Travel Book Club at her blog, Will My Dog Hate Me.  Edie will be discussing this book from the point of veiw of dog lovers over at Will My Dog Hate Me. She recently announced that she is winding down her work on the blog in favor of another project, which means that she will no longer be contributing Pet Travel columns to A Traveler’s Library. We’re going to miss her wonderful writing hereabouts, but look forward to her new projects.

Disclaimer: The links to the book are here to make it easier for you to get a copy.  Because it is an affiliate link, anything you buy will make a few cents (without costing you any extra) for Will My Dog Hate Me.Photographs are from Flickr with Creative Common License.  Please click on the picture to go to the Flickr collection of the photographer and learn more about each photo.

Even if you have not read Dog Walks Man, you’ll want to leave a comment (or tweet or google + or subscribe) so that you will be in the running to win today’s prize: the novel Good Graces by Lesley Kagan. It is not about a dog. It is set in Milwaukee rather than New Jersey. But it is darned good writing. The only reason I did not review it is that it would be a real stretch to say it lures you to travel. But the publisher sent it to me for review, knowing full well that I might not find it suitable for A Traveler’s Library, no matter how good the book is.  I think you’ll like it. Entries until 3:00 a.m. Friday Jan. 13–a lucky day for someone! See entire contest rules here. BE SURE TO SEE TOMORROW’s ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT TWO SPECIAL GRAND PRIZES–everyone who has an entry all month will be eligible.

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Destination: Michigan, near Traverse City 

Audio Book: Love in a Nutshell by Janet Evanovich and Dorien Kelly

Put the mystery writer Janet Evanovich together with romance writer Dorien Kelly and this is what you get–perhaps not the best of either of them, but Love in a Nutshell is an enjoyable light-hearted romance loosely plotted around some amateur sleuthing.

Lake Michigan

Our heroine, Kate, needs a job because she just got fired and because she has decided to renovate her parents old summer home along Lake Michigan. She envisions a B & B catering to the summer people who swell the small town’s population during the warmer months.  Her only saleable skill is waitressing, so she marches into the most successful brew pub in town and more or less demands a job.
The impossibly handsome, intelligent and morally straight owner finds her impudence adorable and her perky curves attractive.  He offers her the job of finding out who is systematically attempting to sabotage his business. Since this quest involves the two of them working closely together, sparks inevitably fly.  In the old melodramas, the heroine’s property was being taken away by the evil landlord, who would trade the mortgage for a (ahem!) kiss.  We booed the villain and cheered when the handsome hero swooped in to save the heroine from a terrible fate.

But in this post-modern melodrama, the handsome hero owns the mortgage, and therefore plays the villain role, too.  I’m confused.  How can the villain also be the hero?  (I’m sensing a trend here. Remember the beach romance, Summer Rental? That romantic hero was the annoying landlord–although he had his own mortgage problems.)  But the real villain of this book  is the unknown saboteur. Kate finds herself in increasingly perilous situations and Mr. Impossibly Handsome rescues the plucky heroine just as though she were tied to that board going through the sawmill. (Remember that silent film scene?)

Kate wouldn’t be in such perilous situations if she exercised just a bit of common sense. I’m just sayin’.

The book pokes fun at an interesting assortment of small town characters.  Despite the rather lame shenanigans of the real villain, the book might tempt you to experience a vacation on the Michigan shore in a place like Traverse City. (Which just happens to be the home of our very own film critic, Jane Boursaw!) So if you’re looking for an audio book for a road trip, or to exercise by, consider Love in a Nutshell for your Traveler’s Library. And of course it comes in other flavors–i.e. electronic or print.

Today’s prize to one person who comments, subscribes, tweets or mentions us on Google+ will be the audio version of Love in a Nuts

hell, plus the audio version of A Trick of the Light–a mystery set near Montreal, reviewed here. (You can comment on this post or on an earlier post. Just do it before Monday Jan. 9, 3:00 a.m. MST. If you already subscribe by e-mail and want an extra entry as a subscriber, be sure to tell me that in the comments..)

Disclaimer: The audio books were provided by the publisher for review, without any expectations on their part. The photos in this post are from Flickr. Click on them to see more information about the photographer. When you click on a book title link to Amazon, anything that you buy in the following 24 hours gives a few cents to my affiliate account, without costing you any extra. Thank you.

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Destination: The American West

Cookbook: Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond

By Brette Sember

If you haven’t heard of Ree Drummond, you’ve been missing out. Drummond has a hit blog, a  memoir , a TV show, and a best-selling cookbook, Pioneer Woman Cooks. Drummond was a big city girl who fell head over heels with an Oklahoma rancher, married him, moved to the ranch and set about raising and homeschooling 4 kids in a remote middle America area. She’s not shy about sharing what a huge change this was for her and how hard it was to adjust to a rancher’s life – “I’m still adapting to life as a ranch wife,” she says in the book.

Oklahoma View

If you’ve ever longed for the wide open spaces of ranch land in middle America, you’ll want to sit down with this book. In addition to writing, blogging, and hosting a TV show, Drummond is also an excellent photographer and the book is packed with her photos – of her food (which is always shown in step-by-step photos to help you visualize the recipe), her home, the land, the horses and cows, her herd of kids, and of course, her husband whom she refers to as Marlboro Man (she even includes a tongue-in-cheek photo of his rear end in his jeans – of which she waxes poetic throughout the book – on the last page, titled “The End”). The photos are what make this book simply fantastic. Drummond shows us what is beautiful and breath-taking about her area, her family, and her ranch. Cowboy hats, long fences, tall grass, a creek at sunrise, spurs, cattle raised to be eaten and Drummond’s own cast iron pans bring it alive. It’s dusty and dirty, yet once you start paging through this, you’ll be longing for a pair of chaps of your very own, wishing you could ride the horses, rope the cows, and sit down to Drummond’s meals. Drummond has a knack for gritty, action-packed, storytelling pictures that bring you right into her life. If you ever wondered what life on a ranch is like, you’ll feel as if you’ve been there by the time you finish reading this book.

Pages from Pioneer Woman Cooks

This is a cookbook however, and I must confess to you that this book sat on my shelf for a long time before I cooked a thing from it. If you’re looking for gourmet fare, look elsewhere. But if you long for cowboy food, as well as some of Drummond’s own family favorites, dig in. Drummond’s offerings include Pico de Gallo, Cinnamon Rolls, Marmalade Muffins, Simple Perfect Chili, Cowboy Calzone, Chicken Spaghetti, and Olive Cheese Bread. These aren’t just recipes – Drummond has a story to tell with each one, so this is truly a cookbook you can sit down and read. Most of the recipes are things she makes to feed her husband, ranch hands, and children and are straightforward, hearty dishes. She includes one chapter called Cowgirl Dinner Party where she makes food she says her husband would not eat, but these end up being fairly hearty as well.

I have often pulled this book out when I was looking for ideas of what to make and more often than not, it would help me remember one of my own recipes to make. When I decided to review it for this column, I decided I really had to cook from it! And I’m glad I did. I tried Edna Mae’s Sour Cream Pancakes. I love sour cream. I use it in cookies, in cakes, in sauces, and just as a topping, but I never thought to try it in pancakes. I made up the batter and was a bit worried when there wasn’t much of it, but the recipe says it makes 12 pancakes. It does, but they are small and light, which I found to be a refreshing change actually. My family enjoyed these and they are a great alternative to heavier morning fare.

Sour Cream Pancakes, photo by Brette Sember

Edna Mae’s Sour Cream Pancakes

1 cup sour cream (I used light sour cream)
7 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Butter and syrup for serving
Mix sour cream flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Whisk eggs then add vanilla to them. Add egg mixture to the sour cream mixture, gently mixing until mostly combined (Drummond says some streaks of white or yellow are fine). Spray the skillet or melt butter in it over medium high heat and cook pancakes about 1 to 1 ¼ minutes on one side then flip and cook the other side for about 45 seconds (mine took a little longer to really brown up nicely). Serve with butter and syrup.

Note from Vera Marie: If you have never used the “Print” button below this post, now’s the time. It is SO convenient for printing out a page, and when you want to get a recipe–it is perfect. The print button gives you a chance to print just what you want–in the case, the recipe, without any ads or anything else to distract.

In keeping with the policy of A Traveler’s Library, I want to inform you that the links on book titles that lead to Amazon are here for your convenience. However even though it costs you no more, if you shop through those links, you earn a few cents for Amazon Affiliate, Brette Sember.  Photos here are from Pioneer Woman’s blog site, from Flickr, and from Brette Sember. If you click on the first two pictures you will learn more.  (Incidently, I visited the site of that idyllic ranch photo. It is Will Rogers birthplace.)

Do you sometimes buy cookbooks and just read them and put them on the shelf rather than cook from them, as Brette did with this one?  I certainly do–particularly picture-filled books from Greece or Italy or France. Share your favorite “readable” cookbook that takes you away.

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Destination: New York City

Book: Lonely Planet’s Not-For-Parents Series:New York City: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know 

Review by Jennifer Close

Central Park, Broadway shows, and the Museum of Modern Art are just a few reasons that New York City has been on my list of places to visit for as long as I can remember. In all of our travels, somehow The Big Apple was always just out of reach. It was too expensive, too far from where we would be, not enough time, and just about any other reason you can think of. Now that we have children, New York City is still at the top of my travel list but I plan on adding Dylan’s Candy Bar, FAO Schwartz, the Brooklyn Bridge, and a Yankees game to that list.

Sometime this year, we will be making a trip up to visit my sister and it is only another 7 hours or so north to New York City so I have been leaving little hints for my husband. I love a glossy guidebook and have purchased a few about NYC to leave on various tables around the house. I have also blatantly stated that I am currently saving our pennies to add a couple of days in NYC to our itinerary. My husband isn’t necessarily buying it so I decided that I needed to step it up a notch. It is time to enlist the help of my kids.

Enter the Not-For-Parents series by Lonely Planet.

Loving the Book

The Not-For-Parents series includes books about New York City, London, Paris and Rome titled Everything You Ever Wanted to Know. When the book arrived, I left it on the coffee table and my five-year-old daughter found it as soon as she walked in the house. The brightly decorated cover grabbed her attention right away. She asked me to read a few things to her, but for the most part she flipped through the pages for a good thirty minutes on her own. The pages are covered with great illustrations and photographs.

My son is an avid reader so it didn’t surprise me when he spent time flipping through the illustrated pages and reading the interesting facts. He was most interested in What Lurks Beneath where the reader learns more about the sewer system and whether or not alligators really live there! I like that the book covers all different aspects of New York City. Read about Sesame Street, animals that live in the city, the Empire State Building, and the Statue of Liberty. There are pages about Ground Zero and New York’s Finest. Learn some secrets about Grand Central Station and how people checked in at Ellis Island. There is a lot of history thrown in but in a way that makes the reader want more. Even though I have been researching a visit to NYC for years, I learned a few new things myself!

Inside Everything You Wanted to Know About New York

This isn’t your typical guidebook. It doesn’t list locations, cost or hours of operation but that is okay because it is meant for children and your children will be with you on the trip, right? You can navigate and plan out when you should visit while your kids help guide the decisions about which attractions to choose. This book is meant to help get your kids ready and excited for their visit.

After reading Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about New York City, both of my children have quite an opinion of what they want to see if (when?!?) we visit New York City. They are begging dad for a visit.

My plan just might work after all!

Jennifer says: I received a review copy of Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about New York City. As always, my opinions are my own with no outside influences.

Vera says: Lonely Planet is running some holiday specials right now, including buy two books, get the third free; and free shipping for purchases of $40 or more. So although we provide you with links to Amazon,(which earns a few cents for an Amazon affiliate, but costs you no more) you might want to do a little comparison shopping over at Lonely Planet. And while you’re there, look at the book I recommended as part of Ten Perfect Gifts for Travelers Who Read, the new Lonely Planet Great Journeys.

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Destination: New Hampshire

 Book: Following Atticus: Eight Peaks, One Little Dog, and an Extraordinary Friendship  (September 2011) by Tom Ryan

CONTEST IS CLOSED. NOTE: This is the continuing book club run by Edie Jarolim of Will My Dog Hate me. Win a signed copy of Following Atticus by commenting here, OR at Will My Dog Hate Me. Comment both places and get two entries.

Review by Rebecca Boren

I wish I knew which wise person said that one mark of a wonderful book is that each reader feels it was written specifically to him or her. In the three months since its publication, Following Atticus, a love letter to New Hampshire’s White Mountains and the two miniature schnauzers who transformed author Tom Ryan’s life, has already achieved best-seller status, gaining such accolades as “lyrical”, “heartwarming,” and “entertaining and joyous.” It’s been dubbed an instant regional classic, a worthy follower in the footsteps of such New England literary giants as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson– whom Ryan loves to quote.

Mt.. Washington New Hampshire

But I’m convinced Ryan wrote Following Atticus just for me.

• At the start of Following Atticus, Ryan is the owner, editor and sole employee of a muck-raking alternative newspaper in a small city on Massachusetts’ North Shore. I spent the first couple of decades of my working life shoveling dirt as a political and investigative reporter.
• I used to get away from it all by spending my vacations hiking or biking in the Swiss Alps or British countryside. Ryan learns about walking meditation while climbing New Hampshire’s White Mountains.
• Ryan falls more or less accidentally into life with an elderly rescued miniature schnauzer, then deliberately takes on the puppy who became Atticus Maxwell Finch. For years I saved miniature schnauzers for Arizona Schnauzer Rescue.
• Tom and Atticus’s breeder were both abused children. No further elaboration needed.
• And finally, when Ryan starts climbing mountains to raise money for charity, he hikes through the haze of pain, fatigue, and disability that comes with severe Lyme disease. As someone who daily frequently battles just to get out of bed courtesy of rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, I’m re-re-reading Following Atticus to see how he does that.

No wonder I love this book. Keep-by-my-bedside-and-give-inscribed –copies-to-everyone-on-my-Christmas-list love this book. It’s fun, it’s tender and frequently moving.

Following Atticus takes the classic literary form of the quest – both inner and outer. The hero, Tom Ryan — overworked, overweight, and overwhelmed at his newspaper — is saved from himself by those schnauzers. Atticus M. Finch, all 20 pounds of him, takes the role of faithful sidekick (only less a foolishly comic figure than many a Sancho Panza).

While Tom is controversial, even hated in certain circles, Atticus is loved from the moment he arrives in Newburyport as an 8-week-old 6-pound puppy. He covers meetings (and stays awake!) with Tom, wanders into the kitchen for treats at favorite restaurants, tours the city sitting in his special-order bicycle basket.

Within a couple of years, Atticus lures Tom away from the politics of Newburyport and into a world of long rural weekends, mountain hikes, and the rediscovery of the White Mountains, site of the family vacations that comprised Ryan’s few happy childhood memories.

In two successive winters between 2006 and 2008, the duo mounts a “Winter Quest” of climbing all 48 of New Hampshire’s mountains higher than 4,000 feet – twice each winter — for charity. Supporters donated money for each peak, first for cancer, then veterinary, research.

Mt. .Washington from Bretton Woods

Scaling the 96 peaks in one winter is grueling, daunting, and had only been done by a single other human climber. No dogs. (No worries, dog lovers. Tom takes elaborate measures to keep his best friend safe in the snow and ice.)

In tackling the mountains, though, Tom also tackles his greatest fears. In the cold, in the dark, exposed to the heights that terrify him, he confronts demons that have haunted him since his childhood of abuse and loss. “I’d decided to challenge myself and make myself stronger, to come face-to-face with who I was in those worst of elements and in an environment I’ve always feared, with the hope I’d emerge a bit different from when I went into it.”

It’s harder than he expected. Exposed on a freezing and gusty ridge, “I thought about how such weather can strip a man of hope and good sense and make him feel lonely and empty. I thought about how easy it would be to sit down and just stop moving through the wind and gloom…”

Then he looks ahead. “Little Atticus had taken the lead, strong gusts be damned, and was ducking his head and floppy ears into each gust, matching forward with a sideways catch – like John Wayne.”

Franconia Ridge Trail

Following Atticus’s third major character is New Hampshire’s White Mountains. Ryan pays tribute to these ancient peaks, which in the 19th century were the first wilderness to attract the attention and love of urban Americans. Hundreds of painters recorded the dramatic peaks and cliffs; major and minor authors recorded the history and lore of the ridges and valleys.

Tom fills a tiny rented cabin with the great New England existentialists, such as Emerson and Thoreau. In the service of his story, he quotes them, the poets Longfellow and Tennyson, the early environmental writers such as John Muir, even the mid-20th-century Christian apologists C.S. Lewis and Thomas Merton.

It’s a kind of writing that is romantic in the best, lower-case “r” sense, where a beloved subject and style meld seamlessly, where the reader thinks “Of course!” when Tom compares himself to Frodo Baggins, and Atticus to Baggins’ faithful Sam. He captures such familiar sights as a beautiful sunny fall day with New England’s foliage in full color as well as those most of us will never see, like the undercast of an approaching blizzard snaking along a valley underneath a frozen ridge.

A recurring question in the book is whether Atticus is the perfect dog. “He’s perfect for me,” Ryan replies.

Is Following Atticus a perfect book? Nah. It takes some perseverance to follow the accounts of all those cold and dark winter hikes on mountain after seemingly indistinguishable mountain (referring to the end-paper map of the 4,000-footers helps.)

But it turned out to be a perfect book for me.

Note from Edie: Before she moved to Tucson and became a freelance writer, Rebecca Boren was a senior editor atThe Seattle Weekly and chief political reporter at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.  A former volunteer at Arizona Schnauzer Rescue, she rescued Frankie, the muse of  Will My Dog Hate Me. There we will discussing the book as it relates to the role of Atticus and his precursor mini-schnauzer, Max. I hope you’ll join us there too. But here at A Traveler’s Library, let’s talk about these questions:

Questions

Tom and his “Little Buddha?” find peace and wonder in the White Mountains, so much so that Tom eventually sells his newspaper so they can move to New Hampshire. Have you ever found a place that special to you?

Tom writes about the town of Newburyport, Massachusetts as a community divided against itself in every way imaginable – along lines of class, newcomer versus old-timer, gay versus straight, development versus historic preservation. Given that Tom was a controversial figure in “Cannibal City” why do you suppose so many people welcomed Maxwell Garrison Gillis, then Atticus Maxwell Finch, with such love and enthusiasm?

Tom has said that he wants to be the modern-day equivalent of the White Mountains painters, whose hundreds of works featuring the mountains brought tourists flocking to New Hampshire and contributed to the decision to rescue the mountains from clear-cut logging and the accompanying destruction. Does he succeed?

Disclaimers: The book cover is linked through Will My Dog Hate Me, an Amazon affiliate, which means that although it costs you no more to shop through that link, the affiliate earns a small percentage of anything you purchase. (And hey, it’s Christmas time, so go crazy!) Photos are used with permission from WikiCommons and from Flicker.com  Please click on each photo to learn more about the origins.

Next month’s Pet Travel Book Club will discuss Dog Walks Man: A Six-Legged Odyssey  by John Zeaman.
Click over to Will My Dog Hate Me for details, and a special deal from the publisher.

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Destination: Mansfield, Ohio

Movie: The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

When I hear the term “movie magic,” rather than think of the technology– shadows move around so that we think they are real–I think of the magic as an unknowable X factor that appears for the fortunate few movies. Casablanca had it.  Recently  The King’s Speech had it. And  Shawshank Redemption definitely captured some movie-magic-fairy-dust that made it rise above the mundane possibilities of a Prison Movie, or a Buddy Movie to become a movie that inspires lasting adoration in its viewers.

Stephen King wrote Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. He set it in an imagined prison called Shawshank in the state of Maine. The two main characters were an intelligent banker falsely accused of killing his wife (Andy Dufresne) and a street-smart Irishman (Red) who is the long-time prison wheeler-dealer.

From reception room to cells, Ohio Reformatory as Shawshank Prison (with leftover Halloween decor)

Movie makers made a few changes, of course.  They found the setting they were looking for at the Ohio State Reformatory in central Ohio.  A brilliant choice that combines a Gothic exterior and church-like reception area with 6 tiers of claustrophobic cells. They settled on boyish-looking Tim Robbins as the thoughtful Andy and very un-Irish Morgan Freeman as “Red.”  And inside joke in the film has Andy asking Red how he got the name. Long pause. “Maybe because I’m Irish,” says a grinning Freeman.

Ohio Reformatory cell block

To the movie-makers’ credit, they helped the magic along by giving adequate attention to the complexities of each of the characters–smarmy prisoners, cruel captain of the guard and the self-righteous warden.  While there is never any doubt about whose side we are on–who is good and who is evil–there is not a cardboard cutout in the bunch.

It is particularly satisfying to watch Andy outsmart the system with clever and bold plays, like becoming a tax advisor to the guards, making up a horrendous result of brain damage that persuades the “sisters” to back off on rape, and persistently bugging the state until he gets library improvements. Of course his final trick is after serving 20 years, he demonstrates that he was not the trusted model prisoner everyone thought.

Prisoners in the wood shop listening to Mozart (re-enactment)

But Andy’s mind games only demonstrate he is someone to pay attention to and therefore his somewhat platitudinous advice to Red and others sticks with us. He inspires the prisoners by purloining the loud speaker system and playing a Mozart aria for all to hear. In solitary he says, “I had Mr. Mozart with me,” tapping his chest, “In here.”  He demonstrates the choice “to get busy living” is better than the passive “get busy dying.”  Ultimately, he gives us hope to overcome our fears, despite the fact that Red warns Andy that “inside” hope is a dangerous thing. Red gets the last word of the movie, and that word is “Hope.”

People pour into the city of Mansfield and the surrounding Ohio countryside looking to touch some of that movie magic.  The city has caught on and offers a brochure for a self-guided tour, and you can also book a complete tour with a step-on guide from the Shawshank Trail web site. (And see my companion post to this one about how Hollywood affected Mansfield in my guest post at Reel Life With Jane.)

Visitors tell the tour guides how the movie changed their lives.  Howe it affected them as they faced difficult times.  They want to see the courtroom where Andy was tried, the prison, the rooming house and park bench where James Whitmore’s character Brooks went when he was released. But most of all, they want to see the Oak Tree.

The Shawshank Oak Tree, after wind damage

At the end of the movie, Andy instructs Red that if he gets out, he should go to that oak tree and dig up something Andy has hidden.  He does, and sets off on a hope-filled trip to find his old friend.

Even Jodie Puster of the Mansfield Convention and Visitors Bureau was amazed at the international news coverage when that oak was damaged in a wind storm last summer.  Although the tree grows on private property and you can’t walk right up and touch it, you can park across the Pleasant Valley Road and gaze at the half that remains. Like Red and Andy, the tree is busy living–despite a personal catastrophe.  Perhaps it has even more meaning now than it did when it was untouched and majestic.

I was able to follow the Shawshank Trail a part of a press tour arranged by the Mansfield Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. All photos here belong to me. Please ask permission before making copies or using on the Internet.

Believe it or not, I had not seen Shawshank Redemption before I went on this tour.  Since it is arguably the most popular movie (based on DVD and video tape sales) how is that possible?  And how about you?  Have you seen it? How did it affect you? Have you visited the locations where it was filmed? (For more specifics about the tour, please take a look at my post on Reel Life With Jane.)

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.

Destination: Southern United States

Cooking Books: Paula Deen’s Southern Cooking Bible and Paula Deen’s Kitchen Classics

Post By Brette Sember

One summer we rented a condo on Hilton Head for a week. It sounded perfect – wide beaches, warm water, and an island that caters to vacationers. Unfortunately there were jellyfish in the water, too many people in the pool, and nothing at all to do on the island if you don’t golf. This was a gift in disguise though because it meant we had lots of time to explore the surrounding area, especially Savannah and Charleston.

The result was I fell in love with the South. The tidal creeks, pluff mud, and Spanish moss were not only beautiful, but they had a deep, rich smell that gets in your bones.

Then there was the beautiful Battery in Charleston with its dignified and staid mansions, contrasted with the slave market, today a shopping mecca in what was once a place that scars American history.

Savannah is a lyrical city, with hidden squares, fountains, and the riverfront shopping area, tucked down below sight. Everything about this area spoke to me. And the shopping got an A+. I brought home a sweet grass basket, a rag rug basket, a sweet sourdough starter, and some specialty rice. If you’re in Savannah, be sure to stop in at the SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) gift shop on Bull Street for original crafts and works of art by Savannah students.

One of the highlights of our trip was dining at The Lady and Sons, Paula Deen’s Savannah restaurant. We did more than dine. We stuffed ourselves in a very undignified manner. We repeated this behavior at another Savannah Southern classic Mrs. Wilkes’ Dining Room (formerly the dining room of a boarding house). As a result, I came home with a list as long as my arm of amazing Southern dishes I wanted to replicate. Real lemonade, sweet tea, biscuits, hoe cakes, fried chicken, creamed corn, stewed tomatoes, red rice, peach cobbler, pimiento cheese, and much, much more. Although I have some Southern roots (Button Gwinnett, Savannah native, who signed the Declaration of Independence, is in my family tree), my family cooking roots are firmly in the North.

Brette's hoecakes

Brette's lemonade

When I came home, I ordered
Paula Deen’s Kitchen Classics: The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook and The Lady & Sons, Too!
a compilation of her recipes that included some of things I was craving. Now, though, she has just come out with
Paula Deen’s Southern Cooking Bible: The New Classic Guide to Delicious Dishes with More Than 300 Recipes,
which has everything you could ever need to cook like a true Southerner. The book not only showcases the Savannah classics and Paula’s restaurant recipes I enjoyed so much, but it aims to offer a well-rounded view of all Southern cooking, so you’ll find recipes like Texas Sheet Cake, Kentucky Walnut Pie, Mississippi Mud Cake, Tennessee Whiskey Bundt Cake, Memphis Dry Rub Ribs, and just about every other Southern classic you could ever want (the book is bliblically thick at 455 pages and more than 300 recipes). I just loved paging through it and finding recipes for only-in-the-South foods like “dumplins,” gumbo, benne seeds, hush puppies, spoon bread, grits, ambrosia, divinity, okra, bog, and even burgoo.

Deen knows Southern food and if anyone is going to create the definitive bible on it, it should be her. Her recipes are easy to follow, as long as you stock plenty of butter in your fridge (Deen’s recipes are notoriously rich and over the top)! With this cookbook, you can enjoy a taste of the South without leaving home.

Brette's fried chicken

Here’s my recipe for southern fried chicken, adapted from Paula Deen.

Fried Chicken

One cut up whole chicken, or 4 split (bone-in) chicken breasts

3 cups buttermilk

Salt and pepper to taste

3 sggs

1/3 cup water

2 cups self-rising flour

¼ teaspoon paprika

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Peanut oil for frying

Mix buttermilk with salt and pepper and soak chicken in it, refrigerated, for 2-4 hours, or overnight. Mix eggs with water in a large bowl. Mix flour with salt and pepper to taste, and paprika and garlic powder. Heat peanut oil in a deep fryer (I use an electric fryer but you can use a cast iron pan if you prefer) to 360 degrees. Pat the chicken dry, dredge in egg, then flour, then egg, then flour again. Fry for about 15-20 minutes (smaller pieces such as wings or legs take less time, but bone-in breasts take the full amount of time), flipping halfway. Set chicken on a rack in a warm oven. The chicken tastes best if it is allowed to sit for at least half an hour. It’s excellent cold the next day as well.

ATL Disclaimers. Photographs: The three food photos are the property of Brette Sember. The Amazon links to Paula Deen’s books are included for your convenience if you wish to shop at Amazon. The links give credit to Brette Sember as an Amazon affiliate. If you use the links, she will earn a few cents, but it will cost you nothing extra. 

Brette asks: Is there a Southern food YOU love?

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