Fashion Gets Decorative - Zara Home vs. IKEA Part I

When I started researching for this blog article, I never thought I'd be typing the following sentence: Zara Home isn't all that bad. For starters it's miles ahead of IKEA in aesthetics, without adding to much heft to the price tag. In fact, where IKEA usually fails - linens, silverware, and decorative items - Zara Home succeeds. But who does it better at the best price?

Picture Frames

IKEA has cheap frames. So cheap in fact it's almost impossible to find the same quality frames anywhere else at a similiar price. My problem with IKEA's picture frame selection is there isn't much of a selection and what's available is downright boring.

The downside is most of the frames sold at Zara Home are for smaller format sizes whereas IKEA has a wide array of sizes for most framing needs.

Winner: IKEA

Lighting and Lamps

When it comes to lighting solutions, there is generally something for everyone at IKEA provided you want your house to be lit like an art gallery. I had high hopes that Zara Home would have better options for those who love good table lamps. I had a friend who lit Broadway shows and gave me the advice that ceiling lighting should be aimed on one specific object, while the rest of any space is best served by lamps scattered at different heights with the uppermost and lowest eye level positions for the best effect.

Sadly neither IKEA or Zara Home had any lamp I'd ever decided to purchase.

Winner: Draw

Bed Linens, Curtains, Rugs, Blankets, & Pillows

Again I had high hopes for Zara Home's offerings, but was left disappointed. Zara Home's selection is pithy compared to the vast amount of choices offered at IKEA, where I've always managed to find something. In fact I would say IKEA's color range has vastly improved in the past few years as their designers apparently discovered there are more colors in the spectrum than simply apple green and fuschia.

I could really see the second bed cover as a perfect way to make up the guest bed.

Winner: IKEA

Kitchen & Dining Room

Anyone who has been to IKEA knows its chock full of things for the kitchen and for setting one's table. I have found some really great cheap objects for the kitchen from IKEA, but the aesthetics always was sort of blah. I like good forks with long twines and good weight. I have never found a set of cutlery at IKEA that I thought was great besides being very cheap (and cheap is good because apparently teaspoons and soup spoons grow magical legs and run off to places).

I was however, pleasantly surprised by some of the cutlery at Zara Home such as the Classica.

This particular collection offers every piece of cultery imaginable beyond the standard soup spoon, fork, knife, tea spoon sets found at IKEA, but you pay for each piece in this particular collection. I usually buy cultery for at least 8 place settings as for dinners I generally keep the guest list between 4-6 people.

Based on what I would select for my needs I selected 8 each of the following: serving spoons, dessert spoons, tea or coffee spoons, table knives, table forks, fish forks, and fish knives for a grand total of 250,00 euros. My favorite maker of cutlery is a French brand called Guy Degrenne and a 44 piece set of cutlery will cost about 400,00 euros, but really is worth every penny. I was lucky to buy my 44 piece set at an outlet for 285,00 euros, so at 35,00 euros more than the Zara set I'm not impressed.

I'm a fan of white dishes and have bought a lot of plates and dinnerware from IKEA and am pretty satisfied with the results. I do wish however that the round dinner plates were a little bigger because they are slightly recessed and make it hard to plate things properly. Also, when dinnerware is patterened at IKEA it's always a disaster. Plates should be either simple with the artistic flair of the cook being the focal point or if the dinnerware is patterned it should enhance the visual presentation of what you're serving. The designers at IKEA apparently do not understand this.

I found three patterns of Zara Home dinnerware that I think would make a wonderful addition to any table setting depending on what is being served.

These white plates are perfect for every day and can handle any type of cuisine if the meal is plated properly.

This bone china set is rimmed in gold and perfect for serving almost anything from boeuf bourriguignon to fried chicken and potato salad. It's also very reasonably priced.

This is the most difficult of the sets that I liked. I would buy plates to serve salads and bowls to serve sliced fruit or yogurt. As much as I like the pattern, it's the least practical.

As far as placements, tablecloths, napkins, and other table accessories go IKEA continues to disappoint while Zara Home surprised me. Here are a few of the goodies I spied on their website.

To see who wins in the end, click here.

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Fashion Gets Decorative - Zara Home vs. IKEA Part II

Click here to read Part I of "Fashion Gets Decorative - Zara Home vs. IKEA.

All pictures show the current collection available in Zara Home boutiques or Zara Home Online.

(1) I love the tablecloth, but I'm not a fan of matching the tablecloth to the napkins. (2) A new take on the old water glass. (3) A seashell is a perfect accent when serving exotic cuisines such as Indian or Moroccan.

(1) Embossed leather coasters maybe not be as chic as real crocodile coasters, but it's a mere fraction of the exotic price. (2) Dish towels are boring, but these add a little color and charm to the monotony of washing up. (3) These napkin rings are literally fantastic.

(1) I love these Caesar inspired napkin rings. Not to be used on March 15th. (2) This is sold as a fruit bowl but all I see are the tiers full of petit fours. Wonder why that is? (3) A perfect tea cup for a garden tea party.

(1) Another tea cup for a garden tea party. (2) Technically a coccoa powder shaker, this could be used with confectionner's sugar. Perfect for nice Sunday afternoon brunches with homemade waffles and raspberries.
(3) These napkin rings are my favorite. I can just imagine serving a brace of wild fowl shot by the game warden with blood red napkins and these beauties.

 

Winner: Zara Home by a landslide.

Overall IKEA and Zara Home are somewhat evenly matched, though decidedly IKEA is good for practical, no frils every day items while Zara Home tries (and succeeds often enough) to concentrate on a few items and offer some quality while not elevating the price tag too much.

Since I'm not a practical girl and would probably buy every napkin ring I could lay my hands on and can't seem to think of one reason why I shouldn't have a special shaker for my coccoa powder or confectionner's sugar; I'm going to give the match to Zara Home though I may rescind this decision later when I actually make a visit to the store to see if the quality really is that great or Photoshop has duped me yet again.

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Spice Racks & Pot Racks

I like to think I'm a serious cook. I can make just about anything provided I've tried the dish before (I call it reverse food engineering) and once I've got the basics, I can adapt recipes very easily. In Paris one has to learn how to cook in their kitchen because space is more often than not the issue. 

My first apartment in Paris for example had a nice stove and a dishwasher but there was only one small sink, one small section of counter space that was at a practical level, an island counter that could only be used by giants, and almost no place to put the refrigerator.

My second apartment in Paris had more counter space and lots of cupboard space, but was narrow enough that two people couldn't stand back to back. It was more of an alley than a kitchen and opening the cupboards or the oven was a problem. There were two stove burners in the counter, which was a nice space saver, but two burners means your timing for different parts of the meal had to be planned perfectly.

The kitchen is a bit weird in my third flat as well. The sink area is recessed in the back of the kitchen with a smaller four burner stove with oven and a counter for working that is about three feet long. There isn't ample cupboard space though, and this is where the problem begins. When I bought the dishes and pots and pans I had plenty of cupboard space.

The celings aren't high enough, even at my underwhelming height of 5'5 (165 cm) for a hanging pot rack and there isn't a lot of extra space. In New York I didn't have a problem with the ceiling height being too low, in fact it was the opposite. I couldn't find a pot rack with long enough chains so I would actually be able to reach my pots and pans without sucking down human growth hormone shakes or needing a ladder.

What I decided to do was make the most of the limited wall space. I bought some grid wall, normally used in stores and boutiques (see an example here: Gridwall ) and then sorted out all my pots and pans from what could be hung up and what couldn't. You can buy "s hooks" just about anywhere and they're cheap. Buy a few extras if you think you'll buy more pans during your time in your apartment or house. Then simply attach the gridwall securely to the wall (use anchors) and use the entire grid to hang up your things.

That's one problem solved. If you're in France you could probably find the gridwall at any Bricorama or Castorama, but if you're in Paris (or other parts of Europe) you can make use of a wonderful place called Retif that sells equipment for stores and boutiques. There is a hitch, which is you're supposed to be a "professionel", but it's easy to get around by saying you'll FAX them your VAT (tax identification number for businesses) at a later date. I have a VAT number and an account there, but I've brought friends to buy stuff and it worked out fine. I did a search for "grille", since grid wall doesn't translate exactly (grille mur would be the closest translation) and came up with all these inexpensive results: Grille Mur.

Now one other problem remains. The spice rack.

Getting a pot or pan from an elusive cupboard or rack is much less of a pain in the derriere than having to sort through all your spices when time may be of the essence. At the moment I have a small shelf above the stove where I keep all my spices. It's quite an ecclectic collection of repurposed Bonne Maman, mustard, and other condiment jars and coffee cans and basically anything that can hold spices. In other words, the aesthetics of my spice jars means very little to me. What I want is enough space to keep all the spices I use in my everyday cooking, which varies from spices for French, Korean, Japanese, Indian, American, Creole, and Mexican.

A Google image search leads me to believe that many people don't have my same problem. Every photo I get when I search for "creative spice racks" looks more elegant than my collection of haphazard jars and bottles deserve. Where is the form that meets the function?

If you have a creative spice rack idea you've been dying to share, I am dying to know. Otherwise I can already envision the chaos that will take over my soon-to-be kitchen. As of now, I'm thinking a wire basket placed on top of the fridge is going to be the temporary solution.

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A little about Walden Pond (and Craigslist)

I went to school in New England for years, but it wasn't until I was living in New York that I decided to take a nostalgic trip back through New England and went to visit Walden Pond. While there I danced with the sculpture of Henry David Thoreau and thought, "no, it's not the life for me. I'll never leave the big city."

I left New York and made a temporary home between my native France, London, and Amsterdam. It was Amsterdam that first started to change my attitude towards the big city. Less cars, less pollution, and Amsterdam is simply a beautiful city full of charm.

Yes I live in Paris, and at the time I am writing this I am in my flat with car horns blaring and the hustle and bustle like ambient background noise. I still see what makes Paris a beautiful city, but I also felt myself longing for something else. A garden. Fresh air. Something was missing.

I took a peek on Craigslist Paris and spotted a little house. I didn't imagine it hadn't been rented yet, but I crossed my fingers and sure enough it was still available. Somehow I knew the moment I saw the trees and the garden and was told not to walk in the forest at night because there are wild boar (called sangliers in French). I had visited Fontainebleau before, as had La Chienne, who had a joyous day of running in the forest pestering chipmunks and sniffing everything, but this was different. I was actually thinking about taking a weekend place in the country.

The supermarket is 3 km away or in another town. There are buses to Fontainebleau's city center and trains to Paris, but it will be difficult without a car. I am resolved to not get a car just to do the grocery shopping on the weekends. I am out of shape, a 6km bicycle trek sounds like torture, but I will presumably only buy exactly what I need under these limitations. While candy bars and cookies remain rather light when walking from the store across the street, after biking 3 km maybe I will be less inclined to chuck those types of things into the grocery cart when I realise it's still another 3 km home. At least that's what I'm hoping.

I have a picture of me dancing with the statue of Thoreau and now I am preparing to move a part of my life to the woods. I will bring some furniture (nothing says I have to rough it like Thoreau did), half of the books (over 1,000), and my dreams.

What I really, really want to do with my life is write books for children. Amazing books full of adventure, similiar to the books that made me believe I had that spark of magic inside of me that you fan into a fire.

So in August I will take the keys to a little house on the edge of a dark and mysterious forest that once belonged to the kings and queens of France and if that's not a real life fairy tale, then nothing is.

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On the Write Track

So today I had a moment I rarely seem to have lately. Lately I'm all ideas, ideas, ideas, and nothing but notes to show for it.

I was cooking up lunch (fresh merquez sausages with last night's shallot vinegar green beans with crispy mushrooms and the tasty remains of smashed roasted sweet potatoes with parmesan and chive cream sauce) when I had an idea to write a short story.

1,186 words later I've got a first draft of this story and I really like something about it. Maybe the tone of voice or the perspective. It's written in the first person from the perspective of a young girl who after an accident suffers severe vision loss.





After a printer mishap, I've printed two copies and made my first edits. It's clever, or at least I think it is. I'm looking forward to ripping it apart and fixing the little mistakes that I know are there.

This is what I live for. I live for this moment where I've got a story by the tail and I feel for those blessed albeit too short moments that I'm on the right path. It's cheesey and corny and cliché, but two paths diverged in my wood and I took the path less traveled by. It's in these rare moments when I begin to truly believe it will make all the difference.

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Ojingo Bokkum, Pan Fried Squid in Spicy Sauce 오징어볶음

I tend to cook a lot of Korean food not simply because Korean cuisine is my heritage, but because I love the beautiful simplicity of a well-prepared Korean meal.

Last night I served ojingo bokkum (오징어볶음) (sauteed squid) with sukju namul muchim (숙주-나물)(green bean sprout salad), with marinated radish, mat kimchee, and seaweed.




Ojingo Bokkum

Korean cuisine is a complicated thing. How many side dishes (called banchan) to serve, how many different dishes, soups, etc. Then once the food is made there are rules about place settings, where the hot foods are placed, where the cold foods are placed, who eats when, and even where you're supposed to place the kimchee!

Don't think of Korean cooking as it is in restaurants or else you will torture yourself. When I cook Korean at home for just myself and a few people, I rarely ever make what is known as "haejeongsikk", or a full course meal. When I cook for less than 6 people I usually make one banchan or side dish for each person and unless I'm serving BBQ (bulgogi, daegi gogi, kalbi, sam gyeop sal) I try to make one main dish for two people.





Hanjeongsik - I count 17 side dishes, 1 main dish, 1 soup, rice, and 3 sauces!

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My favorite vintage shop in Paris?

In Paris there is a great possibility to find amazing vintage pieces - especially from French brands or designers like Chanel, Hermes, YSL, Azzedine Alaia, Herve Leger, Balmain, Givenchy, and Ungaro.

But the best vintage for the price is found at Vintage Clothing Paris located at 10, rue de Crussol in the 11eme.

It has odd hours (Thursday,Friday 12h - 18h30; Saturday 14h - 18h), and it won't help if you need a Monday (or Tuesday) fix - but definitely save your money until it opens because the owner has an amazing collection of affordable designer pret-a-porter and even a few pieces of couture. The owner is a former stall owner at "Les Puces" and brought her flea market sensibilities to a part of Paris that was desperately in need of high quality vintage with reasonable prices.

I've scored YSL suits here for less than 300,00 euros. A friend of mine bought a vintage Herve Leger dress from the 80's for less than 200,00 euros and almost bought an immaculate Azzedine Alaia skirt suit for 300,00.

What I like about this shop is the owner isn't trying to show off. It's not a "collection" where you get the feeling she's unwilling to sell. Instead you get the feeling she's got all this great stuff and she's just been waiting for you to pop round and buy it all up.

The only drawback I can think of is that the store isn't full of accessories, but for the real clothing nuts (those of us who buy clothes more often than accessories understand what I mean) it's a cave of wonders.

Don't forget about the weird hours and if you do score a major find at Vintage Clothing Paris, feel free to email photos of your scores and I'll post them up!

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Dutch Pancakes with Crispy Bacon

Last year when I was in Amsterdam, passing yet another morning at Pancakes!Amsterdam, I decided I would recreate them chez moi for a fabulous brunch.





I absolutely love this little place. The pancakes are delicious and rather modestly priced. I also love the outdoor seating on one of my favorite streets in all of Amsterdam. Berenstraat is the name of the street between the Keizersgracht (east) and Prisengracht (west) canals. If you follow the Herengracht canal northward for example, you'll want to take a left at Wolvenstraat and will have to cross the Keizersgracht, where the street changes to Berenstraat.

Also located near Pancakes!Amsterdam along Wolvenstraat-Berenstraat are some of the best vintage and second-hand clothing shops in Amsterdam; Episode, Lady Day, and Second Line.






Dutch Pancakes
Serves 2  (8 pancakes using 1/4 cup of batter each)
Difficulty: Easy!!!

Equipment:

1 large mixing bowl
fork
dry measuring cups
measuring spoons
liquid measuring cup
spatula
soup ladle
non-stick crepe pan or frying pan


Ingredients: For people residing in Europe, I've included the metric conversions


1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour / 190 grams
3 1/2 tsp. baking powder / 10 grams
1 tsp. salt / 6 grams
1 tsp. sugar /  6 grams
1 1/4 cups milk / 295 milliliters*
1 egg
3 T. melted butter / 45 grams *
2 cups chopped bacon / 200 grams "lardons"

* Use liquid measuring cup regardless of which version of the recipe you are using.

1. Sift flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.

If available use flour that guarantees no "lumps" or "grummeaux" in French. In France I use Francine brand for all my baking. I've tried the lesser priced Casino, Monoprix, and Franprix brands, but for the minimal savings the quality is not as good.

Baking powder can be extremely expensive in France. I buy mine for 1 euro at the Indian shops on rue Louis Blanc (Metro Line 2, Station La Chappelle).

2. Make a well in the dry mixture.

3. If using all-purpose flour, add half the milk and butter and mix until you get a thick batter that is smooth without signs of lumps. Then add the rest of the milk and butter.

If using a specialty baking flour, as mentioned in Step 1, you can simply add all the milk and butter and mix until smooth.

4. Add the egg, and using a fork tilted at an angle, beat the egg into the mixture making sure to "add air". Do not overmix. Overmixing will give you heavy pancakes.

5. You can slightly oil your crepe/frying pan/griddle, but I find it's usually not neccessary and can give the pancakes a non-uniform look.

6. Heat pan and test for temperature using a drop of batter.

7. For pancakes that are uniform in size, I find the best thing to use is a soup ladle or a measuring cup. Exactly measure the batter (about 1/4 cup or 59 ml) and pour on to hot pan in one steady pour to help keep the circular shape. If you mess up, don't worry just let the pancake cook and eat it while you perfect your technique!

8. Cook on one side until there are visible bubbles in the batter. After the first bubbles, you will notice the pancake will look smooth again but that the batter is still moist. Wait until a second series of bubbles form and carefully flip the pancake over. It may stick to the pan, so carefully lift it and don't be afraid to use your fingers - just make sure to check the temperature of the pancake first.

9. Once the pancake is flipped over, wait for it to "rise". Once the pancake has risen uniformly, the pancake is entirely cooked and no longer still "wet" in the middle. Move to pan and garnish with a few slabs of unmelted butter.

10. Continue until all the batter is used and stack four of the pancakes one on top of the other on 2 plates. Set plates into a warm oven (usually to keep the oven warm for this sort of thing I preheat it to about 200 degrees (C) / 400 degrees (F) and then turn the oven off and wait about 10-15 minutes to let everything shut off).

11. On the same pan, add 1 cup of chopped bacon (100 grams) and fry until crispy.  Set aside fried bacon in a bowl and fry the remaining half. Make sure to conserve any grease.

In France you can use "lardons", which are already chopped up bacon. For the same type of texture, in the US you would have to buy the bacon uncut in a chunk of 1/4 lbs. and then either slightly freeze it to making chopping it up easier, or slightly freeze it and chop it up in a food processor.

12. Divide the bacon mixture and the grease and pour over pancakes and on to the plate.  Add maple syrup for garnish.

Maple syrup can be attrociously expensive in France. The best for the price is either found at some Franprix's or found at Casino. The price is usually less than 5 euros for a bottle of 250ml. For better quality maple syrup you can try the various American/English epiceries, but it will be much more expensive (10-12 euros for 250ml) or the "Bio" stores, which is definitely more expensive with 500ml costing around 16-20 euros.

Serve this with chilled clementine or orange juice and with fresh red berries, yogurt, and cream for dessert.

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More Book Buying Abroad

So I went to the US for a short trip of gambling, stocking up on American consumer goodness, and book buying. I visited a few fantastic bookshops but the best of all was Calico Cat Books in Ventura, California. Here I snapped up a rare edition of Swift's Gulliver's Travels, the 1956 edition of Proust's In Search of Lost Time in 7 volumes, and a very nice copy of Journey to the West. At Starlight Books in Flagstaff Arizona I bought an odd book edited by Italo Calvino of Italian Fairytales, W. Somerset Maugham's book on Kipling, and a first edition of Knut Hamsun's Pan. This was an exciting purchase as it is an extremely rare printing by Knopf from 1921 after Hamsun won the Nobel.

Needless to say I came home with so many books that I had to rush to Walmart with my best friend THL at 3 in the morning to buy another suitcase and repack (after we drove back to Vegas for our flight back to Paris along Route 66) as we were a bit over the max weight limit per suitcase.

One thing I find amusing is that bookstores here in Paris are always trying to be more American and bookstores in the US are always trying to be more European. Europeans read a lot. But don't lose faith America - aside from the Les Pleiades, printed by Gallimard (which are for French people the ultimate editions and rightly so, they're AMAZING and cause me to drool whenever I see them) - American books are much better printed in general.

The real score of my American book buying was finding a first edition Charlotte's Web by EB White for $4.00!!!! No seriously. It even had a printing flaw, where the last chapter's start page had to be written in by hand...would be interested hearing from any collector's if this means anything? I'm adding this on my shelf beside my 1st American Edition of The Trumpet of the Swan, which is my favorite EB White Book.

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A Good Ol' Vent

I've been keeping this blog rather sporadically. But in the month or so that I've been away, I've actually been very busy with lots of stuff other than blogging...

1. The book buying continues, as if I could stop it. I'm currently reading a lot of fairy tales and Colette. Freud would love to get me on the sofa over that I'm sure. But even today I went to two place that sell books and passed by the closed WH Smith with regret. I need a 12 step program and Jesus.

2. I went to the book launch for the letters of Samuel Beckett at the Irish Cultural Center in Paris. The two editors who put the book together, Daniel Gunn and George Craig read some of his letters and Daniel kept mentioning that Beckett struggled with being a writer. I waited until after to ask him if he ever became more confident about it and Mr. Gunn said he struggled his whole life. Take this as you will. For me it simply meant no matter what you might accomplish as a writer, you'll always be uncertain. But he also said Beckett knew he had to write and that he knew he wasn't fit for anything else. Inspiring thought.

3. I bought a bike and have been riding all over Paris. It is by far the best way to see the city. I think it's the best thing I've bought since I've come to Paris. I see the city through new eyes and plus it helps burn off all the pastries.

So expect more from me, but in snippets. I'm getting ready to begin my book. I can feel it...or maybe it's just gas?

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Helpful Links & Inspiration

"We have read your manuscript with boundless delight. If we were to publish your paper, it would be impossible for us to publish any work of lower standard. And as it is unthinkable that in the next thousand years we shall see its equal, we are, to our regret, compelled to return your devine composition, and to beg you a thousand times to overlook our short sight and timidity."
~Rejection slip from a Chinese economic journal
(from Sophy Burnham's collection of inspiring thoughts for writers, "For Writers Only," Ballantine Books, 1994)

Character Trait Chart


Essay on Writing from Kurt Vonnegut

Be Brutal

Online library of scanned book covers

From bard-de-boulogne

“In any society, the artist has a responsibility. His effectiveness is certainly limited and a painter or writer cannot change the world. But they can keep an essential margin of non-conformity alive. Thanks to them the powerful can never affirm that everyone agrees with their acts. That small difference is important.”

Look for L'Age d'Or


Blog Full of Interesting Facts

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Top 25 Things to Do Instead of Writing

1. Cut off my split ends with cuticle scissors.

2. Browse through books written by better writers than me.

3. Fantasize about Morrissey serenading me from six stories down as I stand on the balcony.

4. Fantasize he's not singing "You're the One for Me Fatty", even though I'm doing a lot of late night binge eating.

5. Late night binge eating.

6. Light entire packs of cigarettes on fire, while unfortunately inhaling the smoke.

7. Put on lipstick and admire my reflection in my computer screen.

8. Download interviews from the Paris Review website before they take them down just to make you buy the back issue.

9. Look for random weird things on ebay.

10. Randomly get up and drop my ghetto booty.

11. Write love notes to my boyfriend I don't give him.

12. Look at style.com.

13. Criticize myself after looking at style.com because I can't fit into the clothes I like.

14. Replan my existing wardrobe.

15. Think of all the cool things I'd make if I had a glue gun.

16. Plan vacations

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Tenderize the Night

She is sleeping on a bed as soft as an overcooked steak. The lumpy mashed potato pillows and the afghan with its unraveling bit of string bean yarn frame her body, as still and old as a two day old roll.

But her dreams are sweet. The dull flat, with its dirty tile floor and weathered facade are replaced with walls made of graham crackers. The lifeless posters and cracked plaster are in this sugar spun temperaneous world smell of peppermint and the jewel tone gum drops twinkle. The dining table is bare of good china or her grandmother's heirloom silver. She takes a bite. It's made of chocolate and its joint meet one another in nougat.

She slumbers on. The maid sleeps transformed. The sun bleached uniform is pink and the once sagging skirt twirls in mid-air, dancing with the silk ballet slippers.

In this dream she dresses; not with haste and reluctance, but with expectation. When she looks in the mirror there is a smile there, as if it had been waiting for her face to simply show up and complete the happy reflection.

There is a hint of doom. Behind her she seems the glare of the evil witch's red eyes. Next, she hears the horrible cackle of the witch's laugh. She flees. She tries to fend off the monsters with her licorice whip.

A white hand lashes out from under the overboiled green beans, slapping the top of the alarm clock like a mosquito.

She crawls down the stairs that groan profanities at her, and places her coffee mug on the well worn table. By the time she adds the sugar, the sweetness of her other life is already forgotten.

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On pain...

"I've got this little thing I've learned to do just lately...When it's so hard I think I shan't go on, I try to make it worse. I make myself think about Berkeley. Our camp on the river. How good it was. When I'm certain I won't stand it, I go a moment more. Then I know I can bear anything."

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Books and Bindings

There are books that are like a wind through your life. They can send a shiver down your spine or offer up a refreshing breeze. They are random. If you had read them perhaps at another moment instead of that moment, perhaps they would have had no effect at all.



Then there are those other books. The books that you keep beneath your pillow, beside your bed, and in your heart.

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