Old Shoes - New Trip

Appropriate title, don't you think? One of SlowTrav's SlowBlogger's for the February Blog Challenge is Slow getting started.
So, this is my post for Feb. One.

As you can see, this is pure junk. Just to catch up. So here is my entry for day two.
I'd try to post something interesting, in hopes of fooling you into thinking I'd been posting all along. But, why bother. We both know you're smarter than that.

Not even an attempt to explain myself this time. Except to say that if I'd been able to absorb what Coleen was trying to tell me about "twittering", these last few posts might have qualified.

Today would have been my brother's birthday. He should be 56 years old today.
Instead he is perpetually a young man in the minds of all his friends and family.

It was always hard for me to believe his age, anyway. He was such a Peter Pan. To the end he had a childlike openess and unselfconcious ability to enjoy the smallest of experiences.
So, when he died, 15 years ago at the age of 41, he seemed much younger.

Dan lived a full rich life in those 41 years. AIDS took him before we were all ready to lose him.

Dan loved anything to do with ancient Egypt. He was facinated with the tombs of the Pharoahs. So, his best friend, Ellen, and I felt it was only fitting that we send him into the afterlife with the same fanfare.

We filled his coffin with all of his favorite things. Everything we could fit in. Favorite tools. Favorite foods. Favorite drinks. Favorite clothes. Pictures of all the people and pets he loved. Books about the places he had visited, and books about the places he still wanted to go.

So, happy birthday, Danny. Your older brother and sister were at dinner together on your birthday. We were thinking of you with love and laughter. Lots of Danny stories were shared.

I had the chance tonight to do one of my very favorite things. We went to dinner with some of my brother and SILs friends here in Ft. Myers.

My brother has lived in northern MN for more than 30 years. He's carefully built an image over the years there; and much of it is based on being a bit mysterious about his youth. When he does tell his friends anything, it is always outrageously false tales of growing up "barefoot in a log cabin the Ozarks", which is just his way of pandering to their pre-conceived notions about Missouri.

So, on the occasions when his worlds collide, I have the opportunity of setting the record straight.

His friends are always delighted to learn something about him that will give them an edge.

Tonight, we were sitting around the dinner table with a couple who were eager to learn about our childhood. They wanted to see just how much of his account was true.

It gave me the chance to drop my number one favorite bombshell line: "So, has Charles told you about how we grew up in a commune?" I quickly follow with, "Oh, yes. And then there is the whole glue, sniffing thing."

The reactions never fail to tickle me and fluster him. Such great fun. Who says brothers and sister grow out of the urge to torture each other!?!

We have good friends, (actually former clients of mine from my days of health care marketing consulting), who winter in Naples.
Everytime we come to visit my brother and SIL in Ft. Myers, we always have to reserve a full day to spend with them.
The husband and Dan play golf all day and the wife and I window shop and get manicures and pedicures together.
So that was what we did today. Then, we met up for dinner at a funky little place called Randy's Fish Market for supper. Great fresh fish, and a famous Key Lime pie.

Anyway, this post is about my little problem with my New Year resolution. I didn't buy a single thing for myself or Dan, but I did buy two sundresses for one of my daughters. SO, my question is, even though these are gifts, that will only be at my house for a couple of weeks. Should I still put four items in my donation barrels? Dan says no, because they don't need to be compensated for. I say yes, because they will technically be occupying space in my house.

We happen to be visiting my brother and SIL this weekend. They have a condo overlooking this bridge, so this was a very easy assignment. I simply walked to the window this afternoon and shot the photo.

For those of you familiar with this part of Florida, the bridge is the one between Lovers Key and Fort Myers Beach. As you can see, it is a draw bridge. At the moment I took the picture, it was open to allow a dredging barge through.

Last weekend, when we were at SlowBowl, we took a morning drive over to Seal Beach. Here are a few shots.
Each bull has his harem around him. As they all snooze in the sun, a rogue male will try to move in. The cows are having not of that, so they rise up and make a bit of racket to wake up their bull. He lazily lifts his head and bellows at the approaching male to let him know he isn't welcome.

From the looks of this bull, he has a bit of experience defending his harem.

And from the looks of his claws, he's inflicted some damage of his own.

Here is a picture of three well fed, well tended pups. When a pup gets hungry he begins calling his mother with a distinct call. The mother begins calling back, and the first thing you know they are reunited for meal time. See how smooth their skin is with the underlying layer of fat?

Sadly, the beach was also littered with pups who can't find their mothers. It could be for any of several reasons. The mother may be inexperienced and not know how to BE a mother. The mother may be dead. The pup may have been rejected. Or some bull may have isolated the mother from her pup. This photo is of a pup who has cried for his mother and can't find her. He only mewed a few times while we were there. Probably too weak to keep searching for her. As you can see from his wrinkled skin, his reserves are almost gone. He probably didn't last more than a day after this picture was taken. Nature is harsh.

I bought three new pair of badly needed pants this weekend at the Ft. Myers Chicos outlet.

And now when I get home tonight, six items need to go into the donation bins.

Fortunately for me, it doesn't have to be identical items. Just six usable items in good condition.

I have a set of bath towels someone gave me a lot time ago that I never use. First they don't really match any of my bathrooms. And, second, they are the kind with the turkish loop on only one side and the velvet type pile cut on the other. The velvet side is worse than useless for drying. It just moves water around instead of absorbing it.

Hmm, now I'm wondering if those towels meet my criteria for "usable in good condition".

I took the Travel Personality Test from blogthings.com and here are my results. Spot on, I'd say.

Your Travel Personality Is: The Adventurer

For you, travel is how you learn about the world. And you like to learn the stuff that's not in guidebooks. You truly have wanderlust. When you're not traveling, you're dreaming about where you'll go next. And your travels are truly legendary - they leave you with stories you'll be telling for the rest of your life!

My favorite place to eat when we visit my brother on Lover's Key near Ft. Myers Beach is right next door -- FLIPPERS

It's casual & friendly. Great food coming out of a tiny kitchen to a not much bigger outdoor only dining deck.
I'm addicted to the mussels.

And the coconut shrimp. In fact, I usually just order the two appetizers as my meal.

But, while we were there last week, the unthinkable happened. They received a glowing review in the local newspaper.

Naples Daily News

My sister-in-law always order the crab cakes. The other night, they were out of them. We asked the waiter if he was seeing new faces. He said lots, and lots. Hmmm. Good for Flippers, I guess. Not so good for those of us who would have loved to keep the place a local secret.

I got this from Kim who got it from Amy who got it from Blogthings.com

I'm flattered to be considered from Italy, but very surprised. I don't consider myself to be chic by any stretch of the imagination! And anyone who looked at my neglected fingernails or style-challenged shoes would have to agree. A fun test, but probably not one of Blogthings' more accurate.

You Are Italy

You are incredibly chic. Your confidence and sense of style always shine through. You are obsessed with presenting yourself well. You understand how much first impressions matter. Your family is very important to you. You provide them with any emotional or financial support that they need. But more than anything, you just enjoy spending time with your family... especially when food is shared!

It is no secret that I'm not a fan of a certain shrill Southern TV celebrity and her cookbooks. You can see that from my 08/27/08 blog rant about Gooey Butter Cake. But, hey, different strokes for different folks, right?

Anyway, I'm so excited about my new cookbook (published in Oct. 2007) by a cookbook writer who has seriously earned my respect. I just had to share the info.

Jean Anderson is the woman who gave me all that great dining and travel advice when I was planning our 2007 trip to Portugal.

Even though she was busy working on this book A Love Affair with Southern Cooking, she graciously answered my many, many questions about Portugal.

Here is what I like about Jean Anderson as a cookbook author. The recipes in Jean's books are researched, tested and re-tested BY HER, not by unnamed research staff who are the real talent behind the celebrity. She knows that the kind of reader she attracts likes to know the stories & history of great recipes. And she gives them to you.

She is a cookbook lovers' writer and a solid journalist. She can write. If she wanted to write and adventure thriller, or the next sappy romance, rest assured they would be well written. She is also a cookbook writer's advocate. She loves well written cookbooks -- even if she didn't write them herself. And she promotes other author's cookbooks generously.

PLUS, she put an email I sent her about Caldo Verde on her website and it mentions SlowTrav & SlowTalk. So that's very cool, too! Jean is working on a new cookbook now, and then in the fall she will be leaving the country for an assignment from Gourmet magazine. So, if any SlowTravelers find themselves in the same neighborhood -- tell her hello and invite her to an impromptu GTG. :grin:

nau·ti·cal : \ˈnȯ-ti-kəl, ˈnä-\ : adj : of, relating to, or associated with seamen, navigation, or ships

In 1890, a British gunner ship, the HMS Serpent, on its way to Sierra Leone ran into stormy weather on Galicia's Costa da Morte. (Coast of Death)

On November 9th, due to a faulty compass, her navigation system failed. While the crew believed themselves to be more than ten miles clear of Cape Villano, they were actually sailing directly toward the dangerous rocks of Punta Bay. The ship ran aground on the Boy Rock, and eventually broke up and sank.

Only three sailors survived. They swam to shore and found their way to the village of Camarinas.

For weeks after, the townspeople collected bodies as they washed ashore and buried them in the sand on the beach. The final count of bodies recovered was 147, including the Commander of the ship. The townspeople enclosed the burial area with a low wall and added a memorial.

It is called "The English Cemetery", and it sits on this remote, desolate, and utterly beautiful beach.

The other day, all of the calendars in the store went on clearance for $1.00. There is one calendar in particular that I like to get every year. But I'm too cheap to pay even my employee discount price, so I wait for the February clearance.

It is the hardcover, Barnes & Noble Classic First Lines Desk Calendar.

I like it because it lists the birthdays of of famous contributors to arts and literature. It's fun to start the month by checking out who was born that month.

Here is the list for February:
1st - S. J. Perelman, 1904; 2nd - James Joyce, 1882; 3rd - James A. Michener, 1907 & Paul Auster, 1947; 4th - Bet Friedan, 1921; 6th - Francois Truffaut, 1932; 7th - Charles Dickens, 1812; 8th - Kate Chopin, 1851; 9th - J. M. Coetzee, 1940; 11th - Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1909; 13th - Grant Wood, 1892; 15th - Alfred North Whitehead, 1861; 16th - Iain Banks, 1954; 18th - Andre Breton, 1896 & Toni Morrison, 1931; 19th - Carson McCullers, 1917 & Jonathan Lethem, 1964; 20th - Richard Matheson, 1926; 21st - Ha Jin, 1956; 22nd - Sean O'Faolain, 1900; 25th - Anthony Burgess, 1917; 26th - I. A. Richards, 1893; 27th - Irwin Shaw, 1913; 28th - Ben Hecht, 1894.

Most of the people listed are authors of books. But some are composers, playwrites, and even screenwriters. For the purposes of my new reading goal, however, I'm sticking to books.

At the beginning of each month for the year 2009, I'm going to pick one author from that month's birthdays with whom I'm unfamiliar, and read something he/she wrote.

Even though I only have half the month left, I'm still going to tackle February. I've chosen J. M. Coetzee, a Nobel Prize winner with almost a dozen titles on our shelves. It appears I'm about the only person on the planet who hadn't heard of Coetzee or read his books. So, yesterday I started reading:

Since we're planning a month in Scotland this summer, I must read Robert Burns, right? But the 250th anniversary of his birth was January 25th. So it's already past. But, that's OK. I'll add him to my reading one month this spring. I want to read some of his poetry anyway - just to prepare for the trip.

Again this year, we went to Viviano's Festa Italiano, our little local Italian Deli/Market for a very fun, funky Valentine's Day party.

This is NOT your average romantic evening for two. This is a rowdy, happy gathering of our little community's Italian's and (like Dan and I) "wanna-be" Italians. Its about food, wine, fun, & singing.

Here is my favorite of the four videos I took last night!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0tOeKG51fs

I'll post more pictures later, but, here is one taken of Dan and I at the END of the evening. That bottle of A.Mano was empty, as you can tell by the glazed look in our eyes.

Kim tagged me with the letter "L". So, now I must list 10 of my favorite things that begin with that letter.

Number one on the list used to be one of the things I hated most, my middle name: Louise.
My mother promised her best friend that if she had a daughter she would be named after her.
Growing up in the age of Susies, Vickies, Patsys, Lindas, & Sandys, the name Louise seemed hopelessly old-fashioned to me. I hated it and refused to tell anyone what it was. I was, however, grateful that it was only my middle name, and that my mom chose her friends middle name to saddle me with instead of her first name -- Edna. Now, 50+ years later, I love my middle name!

Here are the other nine of my favorite "L" words.

Literature - duh, I do work in a bookstore after all.

Ladybugs - The coolest bug in the world. They are cute and they are a garden's best friend.

Fresh, warm Loaves of homemade bread.

Lemon flavored ANYTHING!

Fried Chicken Livers. With onions, mashed potatos & country gravy.

Making homemade Liqueurs.

Packed Luggage! That means we're on our way!

Lollygagging - Wasting time doing nothing. Just being in the moment.

To continue the chain, leave me a comment on this post and I'll assign your letter. I promise I'll stay away from Q, X, or Z. Thanks to Kim via way of Girasoli for the idea!

I'm sitting here on a cold February day, thinking back on August and the wonderful foods I enjoyed at the Festival of Nations. Sponsored each year by the International Institute of St. Louis.

I wasn't able to sample all of the 30 plus countries' food booths, but I did either eat or photograph samples of the following:
1) Afganistan, 2) Argentina, 3) Bosnia, 4) Burma, 5) Eritrea, 6) Ethopia, 7) Haiti, 8) Iran, 9) Nigeria, 10) Peru, & 11) Vietnam.
So for today, to help me remember, I think I'll just post some wonderful food pictures. No descriptions, no country named. I'll make this a game and let you try to guess which picture represents which country's food booth. Some of them are give-aways because of other things showing up in the pictures. Some are going to be very hard.
Just match the country number above with the food picture letter below. Post your guess. The winner is invited to St. Louis to join me next August to sample the great food for yourself.

Fun game, huh?

A)

B)

C)

D)

E)

F)

G)

H)

I)

J)

K)

OK, so here's the answers:
A - Peru
B- Argentina
C- Iran (actually Kurdish)
D- Burma
E- Ethopia
F- Afganistan
G- Vietnam
H- Nigeria
I- Bosnia
J- Eritrea
K- Haiti

So, Candi & Girasoli -- you tie. The good news is our we have two guest rooms. Plenty of room for both of you to take a trip to St. Louis in August. If you can stand the weather, that is. :grin:

Missouri has changed the style of its licence plates. That means I have to get new plates in May.

They tell me I can have my same personalized plate name in the new style. That's good. They also are encouraging people to recycle their old plates. So, I'm contemplating how I might want to do that.

I can't just toss it in the metal recycling bin. I guess I could frame it and hang it on a wall, but it really wouldn't go with my decor. A friend at work suggested that I auction it off on my blog for charity. But, I can't imagine that there is anyone out there who would want it, even if it was for a good cause. So, I guess I need to ask for suggestions. Any ideas?

When we were in Lisbon a few years ago, one of my must-dos was to visit Livraria Bertrand.

It was almost a religious experience for me to walk through the door of a bookstore that was established in 1732.

Although it was destroyed in the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755, it was moved to the very location it still occupies in 1773. It has been open and continually operating in that same location for 235 years -- three years longer than the United States has existed as a country!

Bertrand has expanded to become a big chain store company with 56 locations throughout Portugal. however, the one we visited on Rue Garrett, just a few blocks from our apartment is the original.

There is a bookstore in Paris - the Galignani that claims to be the oldest, but Bertrand predates it by 30 years.

While looking for the specific dates and statistics, I ran across this web site:
http://www.bookstoreguide.org/
Pretty informative for anyone travelling throughout Europe and in the need of a bookstore.

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions. For now I'm going to do the easiest thing. I'm going to frame it and hang it on the wall.

I have this little bit of wall in my home office. It is between my computer desk and the window. There is about a two foot square piece of bare wall above a VERY messy bookcase devoted entirely to travel books.

I think the word will fit perfectly, don't you?

It's nice when your parents own Exclusive Events, Inc., an event production company. They have all kinds of cool stuff hanging out in their warehouse.

Let's say your birthday is in the summer. Too WARM to have snow at your party?

No, not a problem. Dad just brings home the snow making machine from the office and PRESTO, snow!

Dan and I came home the other night to this casual message on our answering machine:

Hi Dan & Deb, this is D.
I'm in the hospital.
W. says I woke her up in the middle of the night with a seizure.
She called 911.
They say I have a tumor in the front of my brain.
They're going to operate tomorrow morning at 9:30.
Call W when you get a chance and she will fill you in.
Talk to you later.

So typical of D. He has a calm, laconic, yet friendly manner of speech. To give you an idea of how that message sounded -- he could be telling you that an earthquake just wiped three states off the map, and it would sound like he was suggesting drinks and dinner.

Anyway, D had his surgery Friday morning. The bad news is the mass was malignant. (The same kind Ted Kennedy has.) The good news is that he is so healthy and the dozens of scans and tests on the rest of his body indicate absolutely nothing else to worry about. They removed all of the tumor. But, they know that this kind of tumor tends to leave tentacles behind.

So, he begins radiation right away. The prognosis is good. He was fortunate to be at their winter home in FL instead of their rural small town home in northern Missouri. His neurosurgeon is one of the top ranked in the country. The oncology program is highly ranked as well.

He just called a few minutes ago. He should be leaving the hospital in a few days. Says he has a half-moon shaped incision on his scalp with 50 staples in it. He wanted to make sure Dan knew that it wouldn't be all that long before he'd be ready to play golf again. Thinks we should try to squeeze in a long weekend before spring. Go, D.

When we babysit our grandsons, we try hard to keep them away from television and computers. I looked down from my office to the family room below and when I saw this scene, I just had to grab a shot.

This is one of our favorite wintertime pastas because it doesn't require any fresh produce.

12 oz – Fresh salmon cut into 1” cubes
14oz can – quartered artichoke hearts, rinsed very well and drained
Juice of 2 medium lemons
1/3 cup good quality olive oil
2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
Kosher salt to taste
Fresh ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup good dry white wine
4 oz plain fresh goat cheese
¼ cup finely grated pecorino romano
¼ cup chopped mildly flavored green olives
¼ cup milk for thinning

In a food processor emulsify olive oil in lemon juice along with salt, pepper & parsley
Put the salmon cubes and ½ of the artichokes in a bowl, add lemon mixture and toss.
Cover and refrigerate for several hours stirring once or twice

Puree other half of artichokes
Melt butter in saute pan over medium high heat.

Remove salmon cubes from marinade and saute in melted butter until they begin to develop a light brown crust.
Scoop salmon from pan and set aside.

Reduce heat and deglaze pan with the wine but do not allow the wine to evaporate
Add both cheeses and stir until melted and creamy. If necessary, thin slightly with milk.
Add olives, pureed artichokes, and the marinade with the quartered artichokes to pan
Heat, stirring almost continually, while pasta is cooking. (Use whatever pasta you like, but I think that spaghetti or linguini would work best.)

At the last minute stir salmon cubes back into sauce
Toss with pasta to mix.

Serves 4 as a main course, 6-8 as a primo

Since everyone else in the February Bloggers has done this, I guess I'll have to!

The things I've done are marked with an asterick.

*Started your own blog
*Slept under the stars
*Played in a band (trumpet)
Visited Hawaii
*Watched a meteor shower
Given more than you can afford to charity
*Been to Disneyland/world
*Climbed a mountain
*Held a praying mantis
Sang a solo (No, and for that you should be very grateful.)
Bungee jumped (no but does ziplining count?)
Visited Paris
Watched a lightning storm at sea
*Taught yourself an art from scratch
Adopted a child
Had food poisoning
Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
Seen the Mona Lisa in France
*Slept on an overnight train
*Had a pillow fight
Hitchhiked
*Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
*Built a snow fort
*Held a lamb
Gone skinny dipping
*Been to a Broadway show in NY
Ran a Marathon
Been in three states at once
Ridden in a gondola in Venice
*Seen a total eclipse
Hit a home run
Been on a Cruise (Not until I'm so feeble it is the only way I can travel)
*Seen Niagara Falls in Person
Visited the birthplace of your Ancestors (I'm such a "mutt" I can't figure out who my ancestors were, much less where they were born)
*Seen an Amish community
Taught yourself a new language
Had enough money to be truly satisfied
*Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
*Gone rock climbing
*Seen Michelangelo’s David
*Sung karaoke (Worse than bad)
*Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
*Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
Visited Africa
*Walked on a beach by moonlight
Been transported in an ambulance
Had your portrait painted
Gone deep sea fishing
*Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
*Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (Shark-Ray Alley in Belize. Wonderful)
*Kissed in the rain
*Played in the mud
Been to Grace Kelley’s grave in Monaco
*Gone to a drive-in
Been in a movie
Visited the Great Wall of China
*Started a business (two of them)
Taken a martial arts class
Swam in the Mediterranean Sea
Visited Russia
Served at a soup kitchen
*Sold Girl Scout cookies
*Gone whale watching
*Gotten flowers for no reason
*Donated blood, platelets or plasma
Gone sky diving
Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
*Bounced a check
Saved a favorite childhood toy
*Visited the Lincoln Memorial
*Eaten Caviar
*Pieced a quilt (my brothers panel for the AIDS quilt)
*Stood in Times Square
*Toured the Everglades
*Been fired from a job
Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
*Broken a bone
*Been on a speeding motorcycle
Seen the Grand Canyon in person
Published a book
*Visited the Vatican
*Bought a brand new car
Walked in Jerusalem (I only WISH. Someday!)
*Had your picture in the newspaper
*Read the entire Bible
*Visited the White House
Killed and prepared my own meat (does fish count?)
*Had chickenpox
*Saved someone’s life (she was going into a diabetic coma -- while she was driving a car)
Sat on a jury
*Met someone famous (oddly enough, given my own obscurity, I've met quit a few)
*Joined a book club (currently in 3)
*Lost a loved one (many more than one)
*Had a baby (twice)
*Seen the Alamo in person
Swam in the Great Salt Lake
*Been involved in a law suit (only as a professional witness, however)
*Been stung by a bee

I have this really cool book called "Early American Beverages", by John Hull Brown.

It is filled with interesting little tidbits about various drink concoctions. Some of them sound quite strange and so very out of touch with today's information.

However, one of the articles the book quotes is from a cookbook called "Family Receipt Book" (yes that is the way it is spelled). Published in 1819, and discussing a newly discovered drink.

I'm quoting word for word:

VIRTUES OF COFFEE: Coffee accelerates digestion corrects crudities, removes colic and flatulencies. It mitigates headaches, cherishes the animal spirits, takes away listlessness and languor, and is servicable in all obstructions arising from languid circulation. It is a wonderful restorative to emaciated constitutions, and highly refreshing to the studious and sedentary.
The habitual use of coffee would greatly promote sobriety being in itself a cordial stimulant; it is a most powerful antidote to the temptations of spirituous liquors.
It will be found a welcome beverage to the robust labourer, whou would despise a lighter drink.

Family Receipt Book then follows this glowing praise for coffee with a recipe for its preparation:

FOR IMPROVING COFFEE: To valetudinarians and others, the following method of making coffee for breakfast is earnestly recommended as a most wholesome and pleasant jentacular beverage, first ordered by an able physician.
Let one ounce of fresh ground coffee be put into a clean coffee-pot, or other proper vessel well thinned: pour a pint and a quarter of boiling water upon it, set it on the fire, let it boil thoroughly, and afterwards put by to settle; this should be done on the proceeding night, and on the following morning pour off the clear liquor; add to it one pint of new milk; set it again over the fire, but do not let it boil. Sweetened to every person's taste, coffee thus made is a most wholesome and agreeable breakfast, summer or winter, with toast, bread and butter, rusks, biscuits, & c. This process takes off that raw, acidous, and astringent quality of the coffee, which makes it often disagree with weak stomachs. It should not be drank too warm.
A gentleman of the first fortune in the kingdom, after a variety of medical applications in vain, was restored to health by applying to the above beverage morning and afternoon.

The same book I spoke of yesterday has a very interesting entry in the wine chapter.

It is drawn from Mackenzie's 5,000 Reciepts, 1829.

Here it is:

CHEAP AND WHOLESOME CLARET: Take a quart of fine draft Devonshire cider, and an equal quantity of good port. Mix them, and shake them. Bottle them and let them stand for a month. The best judge will not be able to distinguish them from good Bordeaux.

Here's another from Dr. Chase's Recipes, 1869 :

TOMATO WINE: Express the juice from clean ripe tomatoes, and to each gallon of it, (without any water), put brown sugar 4 lbs.
Put in the sugar immediately, or before fermentation begins- this ought to be done in making any fruit wine. Something of the character of a cheese press, hoop and cloth, is the best plan to squeeze out the juice of tomatoes or other fruits. Let the wine stand in a keg or barrel for two or three months; then draw off into bottles, carefully avoiding the sediment.
It makes a most delightful wine, having all the beauties of flavor belonging to the tomato, and I have no doubt all its medicinal properties also, either as a tonic in desease, or as a beverage for those who are in the habit of using intoxicating beverages, and if such persons would have the good sense to make some wine of this kind, and use it instead of rot-gut whisky, there would not be one-hundredth part of the "snakes in the boot" that now curse our land. It must be tasted to be appreciated. I have it now, which is three years old, worth more than much pretended wine which is sold for three or four shillings a pint.

Checking my calendar for authors with March birthdays, yielded interesting names. But the one that really grabbed my attention was Budd Schulberg, March 27th, 1914.

I've seen "On The Waterfront", of course. And I'm really not interested in reading screen plays as part of this monthly reading mission.

But, somehow, I didn't know he had written novels as well. The most noteworthy being "What Makes Sammy Run?", 1941. So, that's the book I decided to read.