Christmas Quotes: Christmas 1941 in Chefoo

Today's quote comes from pages 220 to 221 of Lilla's Feast by Frances Osborne. By way of introduction, Lilla's husband, Casey, has been arrested by the Japanese soldiers who have invaded China, along with many other Western businessmen. Not long after this all other allied nationals are also arrested and put into prisoner camps.

I often find myself drawn to quotes about how Christmas was for people during war times or other forms of adversity.

On Christmas Day 1941, as a gesture, as if clinging on to the idea that this was an honourable war, the Japanese let the businessmen go home briefly. Just long enough for a church service and Christmas lunch. Lilla, Casey, Mabel, Vivvy and Mabel's mother - Lilla's family in Chefoo - would have eaten together. Vivvy and Casey would not have a uttered a single word about what they were going through in the hotel, not wanting to worry their wives any more than necessary. But, looking at their husbands' pale, wasted faces, Lilla and Mabel would have known without asking that something awful was happening to them.

I am trying to imagine their meal. Lilla must have been living off peas, beans, lentils and peanuts, as everyone else in Chefoo was doing at the time. "Just as nourishing as meat," she later wrote, "especially if suet dumplings, bacon or fried bread are served with them." But on Christmas Day Lilla must have managed to lay her hands on at least a chicken, its flesh lean and taut from age. Her chef long since gone, she would have basted it again and again in its own thin juice, kept it well covered, not allowed a drop of moisture to escape. Still, it can't have been the same as turkey or goose. They must have chewed through their mouthfuls, puhsing a smile on to their faces between each bite. Trying to have a normal Christmas conversation, talking about anything they could think of except the war. If they could think of anything else at all. They they would have exchanged presents. Something small, a token. A favourite piece of embroidery. A drawing. A card. It was hard, almost impossible, to find anything new, so, like everyone else in Chefoo, they circulated their own treasures. Then tried to sing, Casey and Vivvy mustering all the enthusiasm they could, with Lilla accompanying them on the piano, striking chords.

When the soldiers came back that afternoon to take the men away again, they took Lilla's car with them. The car she'd boasted about to Ada. the car in which she and Casey had gone on so many picnics and dashes across the peninsula to see her brother Reggie in Tsingtao. Or even just out at night, when it was too cold or wet by far to walk. by Christmas 1941, there hadn't been any petrol for over a year. Still, the car has been sitting in the garage as if one day soon she'd take it out again. As the Japanese soldiers drove it off, they took that hope away too.

Library Loot: December 11 to 17

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I am standing aside from co-hosting Library Loot. If you think that you might be interested in hosting with Claire, get in touch with her!

I didn't have very much loot at all this week. In fact that only thing I got out from the library was The Newsroom Season 1.

What loot did you get this week. Add your link to Mr Linky below:

Fables Vol 12: The Dark Ages by Bill Willingham

What's this? A review. Why, yes it is! Apparently having reviewed every previous instalment in the series is incentive enough to make me sit down and write a review of this book!

Given that it is the 12th book in the series (well more than that, but we will go with that seeing as it is the official title) it is impossible to review these without giving away anything that might not be known if you are reading the earlier books in the series, so, as always....

*****THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD*****

At the end of the last book, you could have been forgiven for thinking that life was going to get a lot easier for the residents of Fabletown. After all, the Adversary had been comprehensively defeated and the Flycatcher's newly established land known as Haven is thriving. Time to recover from the recent war for everyone involved.

Of course, in true Fables fashion, you would be wrong.

The Adversary has been bought back to Fabletown but because of the terms of agreement he is not to be punished. The citizens of Fabletown are not happy, as in really, really not happy to have this man be able to live freely among them, especially as he displays no recognition of how evil his deeds are, let alone remorse of any kind.

One of the dangers that is posed when there is a void in who controls a situation is that someone else, or something else, will rise up and take the place. One hopes that it will be someone better, but when it is a hidden power that in this first introduction seems far more evil than the Adversary ever was and that even Frau Totenkinder has no clue how to defeat, you know that it isn't a good sign.

With the end of the first major story arc, it was clear that the writers were going to have to shake things up a bit in order to introduce a new overarching story, and shake things up they did.

There are favourite characters who die, and we don't really know if they are going to come back again. After all, the life of the fables is determined by how many people believe in them. If the stories about characters are told and retold the corresponding fable will continue on and on. But what if one of the best characters in the Fables world is only a little known fable in the mundy world. What if no one tells his story? Can he come back again? It's all a bit meta really, but it is fun to try and think it through.

With one quick swipe of the artists pens, the whole face of Fabletown is changed and the consequences include having a population that is divided or in transit, political change and so much more. In effect, in this book the story starts again but without having to reintroduce us to the characters that we have come to love over the course of the series so far.

Most of this book was the darker side of the Fables story, so I was glad that the last section of the book focused on Mowgli and was somewhat lighter in tone. Even Bigby's brothers got some page time, and seem to have found an outlet for their energy and, um, skills!

I am not sure if the darker start was part of the reason why this instalment took me much longer to read than normal, or just if that is a general reflection of my reading at the moment, but it is unheard of for it to take me two weeks to read one of these books.

Going by Kelly's super duper guide to reading the Fables series (which she recently updated), I now need to step away from the Fables world for a little while and concentrate on the Jack of Fables books. Jack has been seen in the earlier books in the series in little cameo appearances. He always seemed a bit smarmy, a bit of a jerk, so I guess we will wait to see what kind of mischief he gets up to in his books.

As always, I have already requested the next book, or in this case the first Jack book, from the library via interlibrary loan.

Rating 4/5

Synopsis

The great war between Fabletown and the mighty empire of the Adversary is over, and the victorious free fables have brought their defeated enemy back from the Homelands to join them in exile. Their celebrations, however, are destined to be short-lived. As it turns out, not even beloved storybook heroes can escape the law of unintended consequences. In the post-war chaos of the Adversary's former realm, a terrible force is about to be unleashed - an evil that threatens not just Fabletown, but the entire mundane world.

Additional contributors include Mark Buckingham, Peter Gross, Andrew Pepoy, Michael Allred, David Hahn.

November Reading Reflections

I don't necessarily think of myself as a seasonal reader, but when I look at my reading list for November, it seems to be dominated by contemporary romance. Maybe that is because I can read a book in a night, rather than 3 or 4 days or a week, or maybe it is just that I crave some of those emotios that I can only get from reading a good romance. God knows I don't get any of those in real life!

Here's what I read in November:

It Had to be You by Jill Shalvis 4/5
Always On My Mind by Jill Shalvis 4/5
Drawn Together by Lauren Dane 4/5
The Perfect Match by Kristan Higgins 4/5
In Her Blood by Annie Hauxwell 4/5
A Duke Never Yields by Juliana Gray 4/5
Lexi's Secret by Melanie Millburne 4/5
Snow-Kissed by Laura Florand 3.5/5
You Don't Even Know by Sue Lawson 4/5
A Storm of Swords by George R R Martin 4.5/5 (audiobook)
Misplaced Princess by Lexxie Couper and Mari Carr 3.5/5
Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta 4/5 (audiobook)
The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta 5/5 (yes, again)(audiobook)
Love's Rhythm by Lexxie Couper 3.5/5

We won't mention the fact that I haven't reviewed a single one of these!

In terms of my challenges, it is almost easier to say which ones weren't for the Australian Women Writers Challenge, but instead I will say taht Lexi's Secret, You Don't Even Know, both of Lexxie Couper's books and both of Melina Marchetta's books count for that challenge.

Currently reading

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman and listening to Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.

Up Next

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Mexican Christmas Cookies and a Honking Big Bird

Today I am sharing two passages from The Lost Recipe for Happiness by Barbara O'Neal, and then an associated recipe. I have read several of this author's books over the last year or so, and if you want a feel good read with lots of delicious sounding food then I would highly recommend Barbara O'Neal.

First, here is a passage from pages 397 and 398

On Christmas Eve, the restaurant closed at eight, and by ten, Ivan and Patricak were settled in front of the Christmas tree at Patrick's place, drinking eggnog and listening to rock-and-roll Christmas carols, which Ivan insisted upon. Springstreen sang "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town," in that raw, ragged voice, and Ivan leaned back happily, drink in hand, to watch the lights sparkle. Patrick was cutting out paper snowflakes that he was going to use for table decorations tomorrow, when a few people would come over for a Christmas goose with all the trimmings. Patrick had made a special request for it, tickled by the idea of a Dickens sort of Christmas and Ivan tracked down one of his suppliers to get a honking big bird - he laughed every time he said this - and it was marinating now. Ivan would get up at dawn to put it in the oven so it would be ready for dinner. He'd also secretly rented a Victorian-era costume, complete with a top hat, in which he thought he looked pretty hot.

The restaurant was closed. All of Liswood's restaurants were closed for Christmas and again on New Year's Day. He felt everyone deserved a couple of days off every year, no matter what, something Ivan found remarkable.

"This is great," Ivan said.

Patrick smiled up at him. "It is. I'm so looking forward to our dinner tomorrow! Thank you for cooking goose."

"One big honking bird," Ivan said, laughing

"The joke might be a little overdone," Patrick said, but he was grinning. He unfolded think white paper to reveal a beautifully intricate  snowflake. "Sure you don't want to try one?"

"I'm sure."

And this passage from page 391 features Elena, the executive chef of the restaurant referred to above. Portia is the daughter of the owner, Julie Liswood.

But the biggest pleasure was in her connection to Portia. It was as if she had suddenly inherited a smart, pretty niece who wanted to do everything with her. They made Christmas cookies - a ritual the girl had never had the pleasure of performing - and decorated a tree and put garlands around the windows. They shopped for Christmas presents.

And here is the recipe for Polvorones (Mexican Christmas Cookies) which was in the book

Polvorones

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup lard
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 large orange: entire peel grated to zest, plus juice
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups finely ground almonds

Preheat the over to 400 degrees. Grease a baking sheet or use parchment. In bowl, beat the butter, lard, and sugar until creamy. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating them into the sugar mixture well. Add the orange zest and the juice of the orange, then fold in flour and almonds in small batches, blending well. The dough will be crumbly. Roll it out on a floured surface to 3/4 inch, and cut out small circles, an inch or so. Bake about 15 minutes, until lightly golden, no more. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. For more information, see the welcome post.

Christmas Quotes: A Pittwater Christmas

For the last couple of years I have been saving quotes about Christmas and sharing them over at the Virtual Advent Tour blog  (have you signed up yet?) and here as well. Whilst I don't have enough quotes for every day, there will be some scattered throughout the month of December.

By way of a brief explanation, just previous to this a bushfire had come close to the houses in Lovett Bay where the author lives in a gorgeous old house once owned by one of Australia's most famous female poets.

The quote comes from pages 155-157

Bob's daughters, Meg and Kelly, arrive to celebrate Christmas bringing their partners...and dogs, Tali and Bear. Tali is a handsome black and white border collie with a baby pink lipstick smile and a ton of charm. He shadows Meg like her keeper. Bear is the ugliest dog ever born: too tall, skinny in the rump, big-chested. Not even her ears match. One sticks straight up. The other flops flatly. Her coat looks like it's been attacked by moths. Kelly adores her.

The floors of rooms all over the house are littered with clothing, mattresses and bedding for dogs and humans, strewn like the aftermath of gale-force winds. Lulu, my step-daughter from my first marriage, comes with her partner and her border collie, Bella. Bella's muzzle is greyer than ever, although she still never stops dropping sticks in your lap and begging you to throw them. The sticks are like toothpicks now, though. The floor space is chockers. Lulu will sleep in a tent on the lawn. She is kind enough to tell me she likes camping. Chip Chop is overwhelmed, but she cheers up at the sight of food.

Christmas dinner unfolds in chaos. the charcoal in the barbecue won't catch alight. The turkey, covered in the skin from the ham to keep it moist, is cooking too slowly. Dogs, stinky wet from a swim, hover politely at my feet in the kitchen, hoping a morsel will drop off the bench. When nothing does, they wander off, heads sagging with disappointment, pausing only to shake. The walls are sprayed with water. The salad, too. Chip Chop finds the ham skin after we take it off to brown the turkey. She eats it to the point of explosion. We call Ray the Vet who tells us she might die but there's not a damn thing we can do. We lock her away from even the smell of food.

My mother, resplendent in fire-engine red with strobing red reindeer earrings and a Santa Claus brooch that flashes like a lighthouse, tells me the Christmas decorations are a disgrace. "I'll do them next year," she huffs.

"I've gone minimalist," I snap back. Truth is, with bushfires and getting beds and tents sorted, I ran out of time and energy for more than a few baubles and a small old flashing Christmas tree I've had for years.

"Minimalist and Christmas don't work," she replies. And she has a point.

When we finally sit down to eat, I am sweating from a barrage of hot flushes. I whack down two glasses of champagne in rapid succession, then I look around. Smiling faces. Tanned arms reaching for a prawn, smoked trout, some mango salad.

"Ah bugger," I shout. "Put down your knives and forks. We haven't sung the carols yet."

Everyone groans. Lulu hands around the words to six carols we sing every year before we eat. She's been sitting on them, hoping I'll forget. Not a chance! Is there an exploding point for happiness? There can't be.

*****************

By midnight we're all in bed, even the youngies. Bob grabs me tightly. "Thank you," he says, with a sigh.

"Oh no, thank you!"

And we both fall into a deep sleep. Holding hands.

Needless to say, at the next Christmas the decorations are far from minimalist!

Library Loot: December 4 to 10

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted by Claire from The Captive Reader and Marg from The Adventures of an Intrepid Reader that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write up your post-feel free to steal the button-and link it using the Mr. Linky any time during the week. And of course check out what other participants are getting from their libraries!

Claire has the Library Loot Mr Linky this week, so head over to her site to share your loot link!

As I mentioned last week, I am stepping down from co-hosting Library Loot so if you think you might be interesting in working with Claire on Library Loot, please get in contact with her.

Here's the loot I got this week:

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel - I bought this book when it first came out and started getting loads of buzz, but I never have actually even read the first page. I then began to hear how awesome the audio of the book is so I thought I would try listening to it. The audio is awesome, and now I can totally see why so many people like this book.

A Feast for Crows by George R R Martin- I have now exhausted the library's supply of audiobooks for this series, so now after listening to the first three books I am going to have to read this fourth book. It is the size of a brick!

The Illusion of Separateness by Simon van Booy - Reloot

Duke of Midnight by Elizabeth Hoyt - the latest Maiden Lane book.

Just Between Us anthology - After listening to Saving Francesca and The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta, I am kind of desperate to read Jimmy Hailer's story. I read somewhere that Melina Marchetta's contribution to this anthology was part of that, but having read it, I can't quite see how it is. I might read some of the other stories now too as there are some big name authors in the collection which explores the theme of female friendship.

Just One Year by Gayle Forman - The follow up to Just One Day which I read a while ago. Looking forward to seeing how the two stories are drawn together.

Chased by Lauren Dane - reloot.