In the Know: Culturegrams as cooking aide

Have you broken open the WCCLS Culturegrams database yet? (bring that library card number  ) There’s more there than you might expect.  Culturegrams is an information atlas on the countries and regions of the world, featuring tidbits of information such as local customs, phrases, background information, and a wealth of media pieces like the national anthem, national flag, comparative charts and tables, and plenty of other fun tools to play around with.  But at the end of the day, here is why I go there:  Under the tools menu in the top right is a fun little feature called “recipes”. 

                For every country on the map, Culturegrams has compiled a brief recipe list of main dishes, side dishes, desserts and common snacks.  If you’re like me and tend to be stuck at home rather than out touring Mongolia, this can offer a good chance to do some culinary exploration in the kitchen.  Map out a route—maybe a trek through the Himalayas, or an African soup journey.  The difficulty differs for every country, but every listing includes one or two items that aren’t too challenging.  The recipes are in metric, so here’s a handy converter: http://bit.ly/aeeblh.

From Pelmeni dumplings in Kazakhstan to the best way to prepare lentils in Bhutan, Culturegrams can be a fun way to try new foods, improve your cooking, learn a little bit about foreign cultures, and impress all of your hipster friends with your use of ingredients like garam masala and clarified butter.  So open it up, try it out, and plot a course.  It’s a delicious way to travel. 

You can find it under the online resources tab on the WCCLS.org homepage and clicking “geography” or just use this link: http://www.wccls.org/online_resource/culturegrams. 

-  Rob

Checking in: Je t’aime, Paris.

With friends and coworkers travelling through Europe lately, I decided to recreate Paris for myself until I get to set my foot on a jet plane heading east.  First, I started with A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway.  I have always loved the title, and realized recently I have never really finished anything by Hemingway.  Well, this time was no different.  After reading a few pages of Hemingway’s cold and hungry nights in Paris, I wanted to move onto something a bit quicker and more gratifying.  So, I picked up French Milk by Lucy Knisley.  Lucy and her mother, celebrating their 22nd and 50th birthdays, spend a month and a half in Paris.  They rent a flat in fifth arrondissement, go to museums and eat croissants all over the most romantic city on earth.  It is equal parts graphic novel, photo journal, and diary.  I don’t know how long it will be until I will get to eat an ice cream cone under the Eiffel Tower, but I am definitely keeping a mental note of all the things I would like to do when the time comes.  I might even wait in the infinitely long line to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre this time!

Blurbs from the Branch – Fun with the Family in Oregon

Now that the weather is warming up a bit, I find myself wanting to get outdoors with the family and enjoy all that Oregon has to offer. Recently while researching kid-friendly day hikes, I came across a new book in the Bethany Library parenting section. As soon as I opened Fun with the Family in Oregon, I knew I’d found exactly what I needed. Organized by region, this guide is filled with everything a parent could ask for including places to eat and sleep, fun shops, cost of admission to different destinations, and recommended age ranges for featured attractions, hikes and parks. The guide also includes fun trivia facts, featured town events such as the annual Dog Show in Cannon Beach or the Fall Kite Festival in Lincoln City, and everything from swimming pools to picnicking spots. It didn’t take long for our family to fill up our summer vacation wish list.

Of course, I’ve since found other family trip guides in the parenting section including Out & About with Kids Portland and Frommer’s National Parks with Kids. Now the only question remaining is can we fit everything in before the fall rains return.

-Shannon

Photo of North Falls at Silver Falls State Park by Shannon Caster.

The Carolinas, Appalacia & Songcatcher

I recently returned from a 2-week visit to the Carolinas. Aside from catching up with old friends there, I always love encountering the differences in the South: giant, colorful beetles, big fat bumblebees, adorable green lizards with ruby throats, fireflies at twilight, and soft Spanish moss trailing from the trees.  Listening to the song of cicadas, adding new birds to my life list, reveling in the Mockingbird’s remarkable repertoire, and listening to the old Appalachian music – these are the real treasures of traveling to the southern latitudes in our country. When my friends first moved to the mountains near Asheville NC over 30 years ago, many of the old mountain ways were still common. Now, like so many places, development has changed the area, crowded out the old places, and displaced much of the wildlife. Bears struggle for habitat and sometimes enter homes in search of food. Small cabins that once housed families of five or more now crumble and fade from the landscape. Nevertheless, movements to preserve the art and unique culture of the Southeast are alive and well. I was fortunate to get a glimpse of one such effort, the annual Swannanoa Gathering, on the Warren Wilson college campus.  If this description appeals to you but a week or two at the Gathering does not feature in your near-future travel plans, come to the library and check out the film, Songcatcher, for a taste of the old Appalachian culture that was once predominate in the area.  The film follows the character of musicologist Lily Penleric as she researches and documents the folk music that was passed down from the original Irish and Scottish immigrants who settled in the Appalachian Mountains in the late 1700’s. Filmed on location near Asheville, the scenery is beautiful, the music is wonderful, and if you listen closely you can even hear the cicadas singing in the background. ~Lynne

The inside scoop: summer grab bag edition

Have you ever been to one of the Bag Sales at the library’s Second Edition Resale Shop?  You get everything you can cram into one bag for, like, $7 or something.  All departments, all styles, any size you want.  A little bit of everything.

This post is a little like that.  The following are titles that have caught our eye in recent weeks upstairs in the Technical Services office.  They were shiny or odd or intriguing enough that we grabbed them and put them in our bag.  Maybe you’ll think they are worth taking home for a closer look, too.

Heist Society and Uncommon Criminals (Heist Society series #1 and 2) by Ally Carter.  You’ll find them in the Young Adult section, but Ally Carter’s fun, fast-paced, teen heist novels will appeal to anyone who enjoyed Ocean’s Eleven, To Catch a Thief or The Thomas Crown Affair.  Entertaining beach reading for teens and adults alike.

Sing You Home: a novel by Jodi Picoult.  Readers can always count on Picoult to introduce challenging social topics through the complex, dramatic life stories of absorbing characters.  Her thought-provoking latest revolves around the ideas of family, parenthood, marriage and religion.

 Father of Money: Buying Peace in Baghdad by Jason Whitely.  A compelling memoir of Capt. Whiteley’s attempts to create a stable power structure in the chaotic, corrupt, and violent streets of Al Dora, Iraq in 2004. 

The Good Among the Great: 19 Traits of the Most Admirable, Creative, and Joyous People  by Donald Van De Mark.  Van De Mark, using observations from his 25 years interviewing the famous and not-so-famous for CNN, has created a list of 19 characteristics that everyone can cultivate within themselves to be more creative and successful.

In The Mistress of Nothing, Lady Lucie Duff Gordon must go live in Egypt for her health, bringing her lady’s maid, Sally with her.  Sally, the narrator of the novel, is thrilled for the opportunity to travel.  But she and her lady are soon pulled into the political upheavel going on around them in the streets of Cairo.  Based on the letters of the real Lady Duff Gordon, Kate Pullinger’s historical novel brings 19th century Cairo to life and is full of lovely accounts of Egyptian culture and lives.

I’ve Never Met An Idiot on the River: reflections on family, photography and fly fishing by Henry Winkler looks like great fun.  Definitely worth a look, even if you are not a fisher-person.

And these treasures were found in our summer travel grab bag:

Discover Cooking with Lavender by Kathy Gerht

The Statues that Walked: unraveling the mystery of Easter Island by Terry Hunt

Country Driving: a journey through China from farm to factory by Peter Hessler (recommended by Lisa D.’s mom)

and…

The Olive Farm by Carol Drinkwater, which takes place in summery southern France.