June first is the official start of hurricane season. I live in southeast Florida, and we have been very, very lucky the past several years – but other areas haven’t been as lucky. Storms have landed on the west coast of Florida or up the coast to South Carolina, North Carolina, and even up to New Jersey and New York. That being said, I’m so sorry that anyone has to deal with these massive storms. And even though we haven’t taken a direct hit these last few years, we always take precautions.
Several years ago, a new product came out – windows that are strong enough to withstand hurricane-strength winds and rain. But they are very expensive; a friend told me it cost her $70,000 to update her 6 sliding glass doors (I have 7!) plus windows last year. I’m a librarian, and my husband is an engineer; we do not have that kind of money lying around! My husband is looking into doing it himself, it brings the cost down considerably, and Home Depot and Lowes both sell the windows and sliding glass doors we need.
Meanwhile, at least for this season, it looks like we will use the hurricane shutters we’ve used for years, if necessary. The good thing about hurricanes, if there can be a good thing, is that we always get advance notice that one is coming. It may or may not hit us, but we usually have enough time to store extra water, and canned goods, charge up the phones and portable phone chargers, gas up the grill and the cars and the generator, and, of course, clear the yard of everything and put up the shutters. It’s a big pain in the butt and worth it, even if the storm passes us by. Hell, some years, it’s the only way I can get my husband to clean out the backyard!
We were spared when Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992, but a week later, a small tropical storm blew through my neighborhood, and we were without power for almost a week! (Hurricanes are often followed by tropical storms, they are like the remnants of a hurricane.) My daughter was just a few weeks old, and my next-door neighbor had lent me a baby carriage – the kind the English call prams. It was bigger than the bassinet but on wheels, so I could always keep her with me. I remember the hospital had given me cases of formula & diapers, and one of my neighbors was collecting stuff to take to Miami, which was devastated by the storm. I sent everything I had. I could go to the store and get more; they didn’t have that option for weeks.
We had several hurricanes that came close after that, but we didn’t take a direct hit until 2005. Hurricane Wilma hit us dead on – we lost the roof of our house, the fence around our yard, the screening around the porches, and our power and water for several days. But the house stood, and we were luckier than many others. Hurricane Ian hit the west coast of Florida last year, and they are still trying to recover from it. I’ve lived through many hurricanes over the years, and I am so grateful I am still here to tell you about it. You just never really know what will happen, but at least we can be prepared. Here’s hoping for a mild storm season!
Book News
The Publishing Community Should More Actively Oppose Book Bans
With a lawsuit filed last week, Pen America, Penguin Random House, authors, and parents began fighting book bans. Other publishers should help. (Scholarly Kitchen)
Notes from Prince Harry’s Ghostwriter
Collaborating on his memoir, “Spare,” meant spending hours together on Zoom, meeting his inner circle, and gaining a new perspective on the tabloids. Work with Prince Harry on the book proceeded steadily—until the press found out about it. In The New Yorker. By J. R. Moehringer
I subscribe to the Washington Post Book Club Newsletter, written by Ron Charles. They recently did an informal survey of their readers, asking them about “the best movie made from the worst novel.” I was happy to see my number one choice made the list: The Devil Wears Prada*. I loved the movie and hated the book. I quibble about The Godfather and Jaws – I loved both of those books and while The Godfather (I & II) are incredible films, I am not a horror movie fan. My husband, who was my boyfriend when the film came out, insisted I would love Jaws, the movie. I went and ended up hiding under a jacket, occasionally peering out through the sleeve, until I finally fell asleep. Not for me! I would never defend either of those books as great literature, but they were exciting, fast-paced reads. I read The Godfather several times, but I’ve seen the films even more – if I’m flipping channels and run across either Godfather movie or TDWP, I will watch it, no matter where in the story it is.
The other books that made the bad book, good movie list: Forrest Gump by Winston Groom, and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. Apparently, someone actually nominated Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, but that was just ridiculous, which Charles acknowledged. There have been many remakes/updates of the book and several films based on the book, and while I may enjoy the more modern-day versions, I also deeply respect the source. As Meg Ryan’s character noted in “You’ve Got Mail,” I, too, love the language. As far as I’m concerned, Austen invented the romance genre, but feel free to disagree!
Food News
The Food of Portugal!
In April, my husband and I visited Portugal. One of the things we were looking at was affordability for our retirement. We spent almost two weeks exploring Portugal from Lisbon north to Braga and east to Coimbra. We drove around the various towns that we had discovered online and in YouTube videos. I fell in love with Braga, about thirty minutes north of Porto. It was important to me that we be near a major city and airport. This is the downtown pedestrian walkway through the main street of Braga and one of the many cafes in the area.
My husband liked Castelo Branco, but it is over two hours from Lisbon and such a small town that when we tried to Uber back to our hotel after dinner, there were no drivers available! The hostess at the restaurant called us a cab, which was quick (and even cheaper than Uber,) but the fact there were no drivers made me uncomfortable. On the bright side, it was our best meal in Portugal, at AKASushi!
Many of the towns and villages we visited have amazing green markets with lots of local produce, fresh fish and meat, and flowers. I loved checking out the supermarkets, too. There are a few different chains there – Lidl, Aldi, and Continente are the biggest, and a new chain from Spain, Mercadona, is starting up in Portugal. I didn’t go to any Aldis because I go to them here, and while their prices are good, what they have in stock is always a crapshoot. I go there occasionally without a list because I cannot count on them to have what I need, like cucumbers or lemons or cornmeal or sugar. Instead, I view Aldi as a serendipitous shopping adventure; I go, wander around, and buy whatever looks good.
We went to one Lidl and weren’t impressed. It didn’t have that great a selection of produce or fish or meat, and didn’t seem quite as clean as some of the other markets we went to. They have opened several stores in the US along the east coast from Georgia through New York, but not in Florida yet. If you have been to a Lidl in the US, I’d love to hear what you think!
Continente was definitely my favorite. They had a beautiful bakery, produce section, and fish and meats. At first, I thought the fish wasn’t priced as low as I had thought it would be. Shrimp were €8-15, depending on size, sea bream was €12, cod was about €8 fresh, less for the famous bacalhau (salt dried cod available everywhere) so maybe a few dollars less than here. But then I realized those prices weren’t per pound but were per kilo – 2.2 pounds, and that made a big difference.
They also love their canned fish there – not just tuna, anchovies. and sardines, but cod, octopus, squid, clams, mackerel, mussels, and more. They are often packed with more than just olive oil, too; some have tomatoes, spices, etc. You can get squid in a sauce based on tomatoes, onions, peppers, and olive oil in a can. The supermarket had an entire row of canned fish. We even saw some canned tuna with gold leaf in it for €20 a can, but that was in a touristy canned fish store.
This is an interesting little video about one of the canning fisheries in Portugal.
There was a pretty large selection of wine (and hard liquor) and it was very well priced. I don’t think we spent more than $20 on a bottle of wine while we were in Portugal, and those were restaurant prices. The supermarket had lots of bottles for under $5! I fell in love with Vinho Verde, a lightly sparkling white wine that goes great with all the seafood. Other items of interest: the eggs and the milk are mostly shelf stable. They don’t process their eggs the same way we do in the US, so they don’t need refrigeration. They use a different type of pasteurization of the milk, which lets it last longer and doesn’t require refrigeration either. The only things that were comparably priced to the U.S. were paper goods (paper towels, toilet paper) and cleaning supplies, most of which are imported, I guess.
Most Portuguese follow what we think of as a Mediterranean diet – lots of fish, fresh fruits and vegetables, walnuts and almonds, and olive oil is king! It seems like most home gardens have a few olive trees and some fruit trees. It is amazing to me that the same garden can grow almonds, walnuts, oranges, apples, cherries, grapes, and olives, not to mention all the usual salad greens, herbs, and veggies. Oh, and lest you think it is an entirely healthy diet, pretty much every dish we ordered in every restaurant came with fries, and most came with fries and rice! They do love their carbs. They also love their pastries – there are bakeries and cafes everywhere. Their most famous dessert is the Pastel de Nata, which is delicious! Trader Joe’s sells frozen ones they call Portuguese Custard Tarts which come pretty close, especially if you heat them in the air fryer – get them while they last! It is not something they stock year-round.
They have lots of other pastries, too; croissants, brioche croissants, and something called travesseiro. It’s a cigar shaped pastry made from phyllo dough wrapped around a sweet egg filling. Not my favorite – I hate eggs! We didn’t notice many cookies though. Most bakeries also sell these savory stuffed brioche; some have ham & cheese, or just one or the other, or prosciutto, but my husband’s favorite was a “pizza” stuffed brioche. He said it was like the best “hot pocket” ever!
Portugal is also famous, especially in Porto, for the francesinha sandwich. Eater has a great little video about Porto, and included a good description of the francesinha: “the traditional francesinha sandwich manages to stuff two types of homemade sausage, ham, steak, bologna, and cheese between two thick layers of bread; that’s then topped with a fried egg and beer gravy” and served with fries intended for dipping. The sauce is a bit spicy and the sandwich truly requires a fork and knife to eat!
Other News
*I was assigned The Devil Wears Prada for review in Library Journal back in the day. Here is my review:
The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger: This chic read is sure to take the fashion world by storm, although the literary world may find it lacking. Weisberger, former assistant to Vogue editor Anna Wintour, has created a fictionalized tell-all à la Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus’s The Nanny Diaries. Andrea is a nice Jewish girl from suburban Connecticut who, as Weisberger repeatedly tells us, lands “a job a million girls would die for” – assistant to Miranda Priestly, the imperious editor of “Runway” magazine. But the job is more like indentured servitude with a one-year contract; 14-hour days are de rigueur and encompass such delights as sorting Miranda’s laundry, fetching her lunch, and responding instantly to such commands as “Ahn-dre-ah, hand me a scarf.” The carrot at the end of the stick is the promise of a dream job with The New Yorker, which somehow makes palatable the ensuing downhill slide of Andrea’s personal life. This fast-paced black comedy has enough dirt to please any fashionista, but should serve as fair warning for every girl who dreams of working at a fashion magazine. Despite the pedestrian writing, the prepublication buzz on this novel is big, so buy for demand. Copyright © 2003 Cahners Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. Reprinted with permission.
Part two, The Devil Wears Prada: I was working for the public library when I reviewed TDWP. Several months later, I was sitting at the checkout desk on a very quiet weeknight. I was reading a galley, an advanced reader copy of a book I would be reviewing. This couple came up to the desk to checkout, and I swiped their library card and proceeded to check out their books.
The woman says to me, “Is that a review copy?”
I said, “Yes, I review for my blog and for Library Journal.”
Then she says, “Oh, are you going to review the new Lauren Weisberger book?”
I replied, “Not if I can help it.”
Then the husband says to the wife, I don’t think she looked at the screen to see our name, so of course I looked. Sure enough, it was Weisberger – they were Lauren’s parents! That was one of my top two most embarrassing “reviewer” moments. If I had noticed the name, I would have been much more diplomatic (I hope!)
As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.
Thanks to The New York Times for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers.
Posted by Stacy Alesi 
Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™ 