Getting Older...Really?

LUCY BURDETTE: I have a bit of a shocking birthday coming up next week and it has me pondering. How old is old? Have our expectations for what we can do as we get older changed from previous generations? (Definitely, I’d say.) We know life is finite, so how should we spend whatever time we have left? Is it all right to feel ambitious and want to work like a demon, or would it be better to adopt a slower pace and call it retirement?

All this had me thinking about people I admire who are old enough that they certainly could have retired. But they haven’t, and they keep on doing amazing things. 

Jacques Pepin, a well-known chef and cookbook author, isn’t slowing down much at 87. Along with his daughter and son-in-law, he’s founded the Jacques Pepin Foundation. (Have you read his autobiography, The Apprentice? It’s extraordinary.) This year he published Art of the Chicken: A Master Chef's Paintings, Stories, and Recipes of the Humble Bird—we went to a showing of his watercolors at our local library in Connecticut, some used to illustrate this book. He's so lovely and humble...

Judy Woodruff, who recently stepped down as anchor of the PBS Newshour, could have retired, but instead is going on the road to interview Americans about what they want and need and how the divide in our government might be repaired. (John and I utterly adore her and clung to her nightly news reports during the worst of times in our country (Covid and politics.) In fact John wrote some of his famous doggerel during the pandemic and sent it in. We didn't hear anything back, but I like to think she loved it. It began like this:

Judy, Judy,  what would we do

On the nightly news if we didn't see you?

Your cheerful greeting is always a pleasure

You tell us the facts, and that we treasure.

You probe for answers

Extract what matters

You strive to pull meaning

from double talk and blathers.

Dorie Greenspan (75) has published 12 cookbooks, written for many magazines and newspapers, and recently founded a new Facebook group for bakers and food lovers, called Bake and Tell. 

Mystery writer Ann Cleeves is 68 and writing the best books of her career (in my opinion.) Lots of politicians seem to be trending older too. (No need to comment on politics here, but I really can’t imagine wanting to run the country at age 80.)  The New York Times also recently ran an article about older workers. You can read about them here. 

My hub recently wrote an article about this on his Top Retirements blog, and I was so struck by this poignant comment from one of his readers who’d had a stroke and now considers his career to be recovery. He said: “Well, work if you must, but keep in mind that life is short and we’re fragile beings.”

Some of the way our older years unfold has to do with health, and luck, and enough money to live on. Some might say that working to the end costs in other ways, such as family relationships. Others might say that working gives meaning to life...

I don’t have any answers on all of this, but would love to hear your thoughts on the subject!

What Are You Reading?

 LUCY BURDETTE: Can you believe we’re into August already? It’s been a very busy summer with lots of family visiting and new worries about the virus and what it will mean for our futures. The one thing that stays steady and calming is books of course! Here are a few I’d recommend...

Katherine Center is a reliable must-read for me and last night I finished WHAT YOU WISH FOR. She has a way of describing the most endearing characters and communities--this time it’s a school librarian in an elementary school on Galveston Island in Texas. Can you be charming and light even while tackling heavy issues? This writer definitely can.

Many of you know our JRW pal Sarah Stewart Taylor. I loved her Sweeney St. George series, back in the early 2000's. After a break from mystery, she is back with a wonderful new series taking place in both Dublin and Long Island, and featuring detective Maggie D'arcy. The Mountains Wild follows two timelines, two countries, and two cousins as Maggie tries desperately to solve the cold case of her beloved cousin Erin's disappearance 20 years earlier. Highly recommended.

And finally, one of the events with John’s family last week was a lunch I arranged for the sister-in-laws where Jacques Pepin was the speaker. He’s so lovely and full of funny stories--especially about Julia Child. Of course I bought his beautiful new cookbook, QUICK AND SIMPLE. 

JENN McKINLAY: I just picked up that Katherine Center book! Very excited to read it. I’ve been on an awesome book bender, where I haven’t had a clunker yet. Here are the highlights: 

Circe by Madeline Miller - brilliant! Especially if you love tales of Greek gods. Unlike anything I’ve ever read and I couldn’t put it down.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig - also fabulous. An opportunity to see the paths not taken in life and to confront regret. I loved it.

Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson - what a trip! I’ve been listening on audio and I may have to give up writing because he’s just soooo good — I feel like a fraud. 

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes - lovely. I had to take a second run at this one as I wasn’t in the right headspace the first time. I’m so glad I did. 

So far it’s been a summer of great reading! 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, I read The Midnight LIbrary, too, Jenn. Loved it--and it really does make you rethink regrets. 

Do you all remember the fabulous Sarah Strohmeyer, who wrote the Bobbles series, and The CInderella Pact? She’s written a thriller, DO I KNOW YOU? About a woman who is a super-recognizer. It’s amazing,really riveting, and I am urging you all to look for it. We’ll have her here, too, of course.

And E.V. Adamson’s FIVE STRANGERS.  The name is a pen name for my fave, ANdrew Wilson, and this book is a terrific Rashoman-y thriller. But everyone sees exactly the SAME thing!  So good.

And please please please do not miss Wanda Morris’s EVERY LAST SECRET.  Go, right now, and look for it. A debut thriller, very powerful, wry and bitter and fearless. Sort of John Grisham meets The Other Black Girl.

 And Amada Jayatissa’s MY SWEET GIRL.  I say--whoa. Incredible. She’s one of the first Sri Lankan women to get an international book deal, and as my blurb says: “Ridiculously good. Crazy good. Scary good.” 

 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Jenn, Matt Haig is always a good read. Last time we talked books, I was reading some excellent science fiction; now I'm in a bit of a literary fiction (just plain novel?) mood. I have two books about finding meaning in the second (or third) act of life - HER TURN by Katherine Ashenburg and MEET ME AT THE MUSEUM by Anne Youngson. The former features an anonymous advice columnist who receives a letter from her ex-husband's newer, younger wife... and she answers back. Just came out today. The latter book also features letter writing between a widowed Danish professor and a lonely English farm woman. 

 

And of course, I can't NOT have a thriller on the pile: NOT A HAPPY FAMILY by Shari Lapena. It's the Mendez Brothers meets KNIVES OUT - how could I resist? I love stories of rich people behaving badly. 

 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Lucy, I am so envious of your seeing Jacques Pepin!! What a treat that must have been. And we've both been reading Sarah Stewart Taylor, but for me it was the second Maggie D'Arcy, book, A DISTANT GRAVE, and it was wonderful, too. Then the new Charles Todd, AN IRISH HOSTAGE. It is so good. If you've loved the Bess Crawford books so far, this is a MUST!

 

On the non-fiction side, a friend recommended Barbara Kingsolver's ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE, which is about the year she and her family committed to eating only what they could grow on their farm or buy locally. So eye-opening and fascinating.

And last but certainly not least, I've just finished Glen Erik Hamilton's new Van Shaw novel, ISLAND OF THIEVES, and it is an absolutely un-put-down-able roller coaster of a book. I highly recommend, AND I'll be chatting with Glen at the Poisoned Pen today, so do join us on the Pen's FB here, 6 p.m. PST.

Reds, fill us in, what are you reading these days?

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

LUCY BURDETTE: Does it seem to you that big dinner parties prepared by one hostess have gone the way of the dinosaurs? I know I used to make more elaborate meals for bigger crowds, but life's gotten so busy...

Some five or six years ago, a group of friends decided to launch a supper club. Six couples meet six times a year for a big dinner. The hosts make the main dish and tell the others what to make. We're all competent cooks (a key I think) but only one of us, Tim, is a true gourmet. He's been known to cook with Jacques Pepin, and his son Adam is a professional chef (and a character in TOPPED CHEF!) 

While the rest of us might assign the others to bring a generic salad or vegetable, Tim's been known to hand out a particular recipe. None of us will forget the time he asked Cathy to bring green beans--not just any green beans, but Thomas Keller's green beans. Err, I should say Haricots verts, tomato tartare and chive oil salad. Among other steps it involved blanching, peeling, and roasting the tomatoes for several hours. We can't remember what the main dish was that night, but we all remember Cathy's stacked beans.  


This time, Cathy had the appetizer assignment, which we all agree is not that easy. These shrimp were wonderful--tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper, and roasted at 400 degrees for ten minutes, rather than boiled. (I'm sure I had three, maybe four...)

 




Here's the rest of our dinner--Scott made the pork roast, Sue the rice, Tim and Stacie the roasted veggies, me the pomegranate salad (recipe for the salad is posted at Mystery Lovers Kitchen), and Barbara, the pies. 

This makes the whole idea of entertaining so much more reasonable. And with our busy lives, it's great to know we'll be seeing our pals at least every other month--and eating well. 

There's only one downside to being the host and hostess...but we can handle the mess once a year!

How about you Reds, do you still throw dinner parties?  What should we bring??