Everyone Loves a Man Who Can Cook

There's a big debate on Twitter right now--the YA lit world is buzzing with what could be the most pressing question of our time. Team Peeta or Team Gale? Not since vampires vs. werewolves has a debate been so heated. But honestly, I'm going to let Hunger Games experts be the ones to discuss this because, while I loved the books, this seems like a non-thing to me. Obviously, the answer is Team Gale. Obviously. 

Now.  My friend Amanda is vehemently Team Peeta. Her defense of this mousy, pasty beta-of-all-beta heroes is indefatigable. It is clear and single-focused: "Everyone loves a man who can cook."

Interestingly, this simple defense is enough to give me pause.  Because, truthfully, everyone does love a man who can cook. Me, especially. I have a total obsession with chefs. The day Top Chef was created in a back room at Bravo I swear, I heard angels sing.

I admire knife skills. I dream of palates. I think those white jackets are about the sexiest thing ever worn by man. I TiVo No Reservations. I refer to Tom Colicchio as "Big Daddy Colicchio." I heard Eric Ripert expound on the difference between sea salt and iodized salt once--and fell a little bit in love. One of my dad's closest friends owns a restaurant.  Sometimes I sneak into the kitchen just to watch the guys work the line.

My name is Sarah, and I'm addicted to chefs. 

It's ok. My husband knows. He's cool with it. (Because he's a foodie, too.)

You have only to read Bella Andre's Tempt Me, Taste Me, Touch Me or Louisa Edwards's fab Can't Stand the Heat to know just how hot a chef can really be...but what is it about chefs that makes them so. Very. Sexy? They're artists, and they work with their hands, sure.  But they're also keenly aware of the senses...taste, scent, texture, the way food looks on a plate...and I think that's where their sexiness lies--in their clear commitment to perfection in the most sensual of ways.  Yum.

Are you addicted to chefs?  Why?

Sunday Sighs...The West Wing, Josh & Donna

Every time I watch an episode of The West Wing, I think I find my favorite line from the whole show.  But, the romance reader/writer/lover knows that there's only one answer to this question.

It's in the second season, during the episode titled "17 People." This is a fantastic episode--one that shows the incredible talent of Richard Schiff (who plays the curmudgeonly, patriotic Toby Ziegler)--in which, among other things: Toby is made the 17th Person to discover that President Bartlet has MS; Ainsley Hayes (my favorite Republican on television) reveals that she is a Smithie; and Sam & Ainsley have a fantastic argument about the need (or lack thereof) for the Equal Rights Amendment.

But the very best moment in the whole show is when Donna and Josh peel off from the rest of the group, and she confesses that she came to work for the White House not (as he's always believed) when her boyfriend dumped her, but when she dumped him--because the tool stopped to have a drink with friends on the way to pick her up from the hospital after she had been in a car accident:

Josh gets superior (as he does), and says:
"I'm just saying that if you were in an accident, I wouldn't stop for a beer."
Donna replies:
"If you were in an accident I wouldn't stop for red lights."

ok.  le sigh.

But if that weren't enough, here's the kicker. The audience knows in that moment (if they didn't already) that Josh and Donna are destined to be.  But the stellar writing staff of the show doesn't give in to what I am certain was an overwhelming desire to just-get-them-together-already-and-have-them-make-out. They go another five seasons before we get the smooch we want here in season two.

And OMG it's worth it.

And that is just one of the many reasons why I think The West Wing is the greatest thing that has ever been on television.

Real Men Read Austen

Ok, y'all. Seriously?

How am I supposed to be articulate in the face of this yumminess?

Dominic West reads from Pride & Prejudice.

In the immortal words of well bred ladies everywhere:

Hubba Hubba.

uhm...hello, sparkly edward.

have you seen this?



wow. i renew my desire for RP to play Gavin in the movie of The Season. :)
That said...isn't New Moon the one without Edward?

Top 10 Sigh-Inducing Moments...

In honor of the day, I give you my top ten list of sigh-inducing romantic moments from literature and film.

10. "Nobody puts Baby in the corner." --Johnny, Dirty Dancing

9. "Aaaaaassss Yoooouuuuuu Wiiiiiiiissssshhhhh!" --Wesley, The Princess Bride

8. "Loretta, I love you. Not like they told you love is, and I didn't know this either, but love don't make things nice - it ruins everything. It breaks your heart. It makes things a mess. We aren't here to make things perfect. The snowflakes are perfect. The stars are perfect. Not us. Not us! We are here to ruin ourselves and to break our hearts and love the wrong people and die." --Ronny, Moonstruck

7. *sigh*



6. From Breakfast at Tiffany's:

Paul: "I love you."
Holly: "So what."
Paul: "So what?! So plenty! I love you! You belong to me!"

5. Have you ever loved a man, then lost him, then learned he lives on Fiji with a new lover? Is Fiji still Fiji? Coconuts and palm trees? --Tomcat in Love by Tim O'Brien

4. "I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." --Harry, When Harry Met Sally

3. Meet Lloyd Dobler:



2. From The Odyssey:

Then with a burst of tears she ran straight toward him, and
flung her arms about the neck of Odysseus, and kissed his head, and spoke:
“Lo, thou dost convince my heart, unbending as it is.”
And in his heart aroused yet more the desire for lamentation;
and he wept, holding in his arms his dear and true-hearted wife.

1. "In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." -Fitzwilliam Darcy, Pride & Prejudice

Ok...so what have I missed???

Supermarket Singles

ok...so i know i said that i was going on vacation and that i might not post...but i read this article in this morning's Providence Journal and I couldn't help it.

For singles, the aisles of a supermarket have a certain romance to them, with possibility seemingly around every corner display of baked beans.

And for a “how we met” story, little can top chatting over a shared love of kumquats, or bumping heads reaching for a bag of kitty litter.

So the local organic foods market in Providence decided to take fate into their own hands and host a "singles night." 75 people showed up, each was given a nametag with a food item on it. Their task? Find their match. Chips and Salsa, Hot Chocolate and Marshmallows, Milk and Cookies. A-dorable. So. Cheesy. So Fun!

Maybe this just appeals to the silly romantic in me...but I read the article beginning to end...and I couldn't help but grin the whole time. The only thing that would have made the article more fun to read is if it sported the headline "Piggly in search of Wiggly." Yes...cookie found milk and hot chocolate found marshmallow (although there's no indication that "found" in this context means anything more than, quite literally, discovering the other person), but chips unfortunately did not find her salsa...it was a tale for the ages. sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes, you end up buying a pint of Haagen Daaz and vowing to try it next time. Which, in this case, for you single Rhode Islanders is in October at the Whole Foods in University Heights.

As a marketer by day, I always appreciate ideas like this...You've got a supermarket...everyone in history has had a supermarket crush...why not make the fantasy a reality? And why stop at supermarkets? How about bookstores? Coffee shops? Sporting Supply Stores? Hardware Stores! Lord knows there are enough singletons out there who would be grateful for being able to forgo the bar scene. After all, no great love story ever began..."We met at a bar."

the one that got away

so, as i've mentioned, i'm working on a new project, a romance that revolves around catching the uncatchable.  in this particular case, i was inspired by the concept of the one that got away. 

we've all got one of these--the boy in our college chem lab with the great smile who seemed the perfect catch, but whom we could never quite muster the courage to speak to; the girl in high school we dreamed of but who never quite noticed us; the boyfriend who dumped us because he just couldn't commit; the girl who we dumped because we were just plain dumb.  The ones that got away. The ones that might have been. 

Now, that's not to say that we didn't turn out just fine--in many cases, we crawled into the tall grass, licked our wounds and then, several days and far too many pints of coconut sorbet later, we rose again to meet the world--and the next one.  Who maybe, just maybe, turned out to be The One...not just the one that got away.

But the project I'm working on explores the age old question: "What if the one that got away was The One?"  And, more than that, "What if we got another chance?"  

My heroine, Callie, is in this very dilemma.  She's been in love with that proverbial guy from chem lab for her entire life (if they had chem labs in regency england--or if women went to college in regency england--this metaphor would be perfect, but just go with it).  And now, it's her 10 year college reunion, and she's got her chance.  He's still single.  She's still single.  But how does she get him to notice her now that she's a decade older and a decade shyer--and he's a decade darker?  Here's her chance to finally catch the one that got away...but how?  Especially when he's so very handsome and she's so very...well...plain. 

And that's the premise of the love story I'm working on. 

I should say that I actually caught the one that got away, so this is a premise that's rather near and dear to my heart.  But Callie's story is far more exciting than my own.  At least, it's shaping up to be.  

Now it's your turn...do you have a one that got away story?  willing to share? 

a poet worth the words...

Thinking hard about you
I got on the bus
and paid
30 cents car fare
and asked the driver for two transfers
before discovering
that
I was alone.

Four years ago, for my birthday, a dear friend gave me a copy of Richard Brautigan's Trout Fishing in America, The Pill versus The Springhill Mine Disaster, and In Watermelon Sugar and changed my life.

I'd never heard of Brautigan--a wild-haired, quixotic counterculture beat poet and writer who, despite being remarkably prolific, cloistered himself salinger-style and refused to give interviews or deliver lectures during the eight years when he produced the bulk of his poetry.

The act of dying
is like hitch-hiking
into a strange town
late at night
where it is cold
and raining,
and you are alone
again.

In the months since I became aware of him, I have passed Brautigan's work to friends, family, and strangers--wishing every time that I could be as succinctly elegant and as simply eloquent as this man who took his own life so tragically early, the victim of personal demons and critical obscurity. If only there had been poetry like this in my high school English class--I would have found myself appreciating the art form so much more.

Does anything represent the twin despair and hope of unrequited love more than Brautigan's, Please?

Do you think of me
as often
as I think
of you?

Since discovering Brautigan, I have discovered so many cool things about him...like this: in 1968, he published a collection of poems called Please Plant This Book: eight seed packets, each containing seeds, with poems printed on the sides. What I wouldn't give to see an original edition of the collection--alas, I have a feeling I'll just have to console myself with http://www.pleaseplantthisbook.com/, a flash version of the original--typos and all (seeds not included).

Anyone with a favorite poet certainly has a favorite poem...and I would be remiss in leaving you without transcribing mine...the one I have turned to countless times...the one that remains doggeared in that life-changing gift:

Karma Repair Kit, Items 1-4

1. Get enough food to eat,
and eat it.
2. Find a place to sleep where it is quiet,
and sleep there.
3. Reduce intellectual and emotional noise until you
arrive at the silence of yourself,
and listen to it.
4.

word.

Other musings you might enjoy: 

A Genius Speaks of Love

Ani Difranco is My Muse

On Austenesque Sentences

a genius speaks of love

I've learned something that many women these days never learn: Prince Charming really is a toad. And the Beautiful Princess has halitosis. The bottom line is that (a) people are never perfect, but love can be, (b) that is the one and only way that the mediocre and the vile can be transformed, and (c) doing that makes it that. Loving makes love. Loving makes itself. We waste time looking for the perfect lover instead of creating the perfect love. Wouldn't that be the way to make love stay?

Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won't adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is to sign on as its accomplice. Instead of vowing to honor and obey, maybe we should swear to aid and abet. That would mean that security is out of the question. The words "make" and "stay" become inappropriate. My love for you has no strings attached. I love you for free.

(sigh)

Tom Robbins...timelessly eccentric. Worth a try.

Read Still Life With Woodpecker...if not for a treatise on the true meaning of love...for a heroine with an unhealthy crush on Ralph Nader. When you're done...try Skinny Legs and All...if not for a smarter look at the Arab/Israeli conflict than any middle eastern scholar can give you...then because it opens on "newlyweds driving cross-country in a large roast turkey."

I promise...you may be perplexed...but you won't be disappointed.

in honor of the day...as jane would have it

today, everyone is thinking of love, and so i give you these, perhaps the two most beautiful lines ever placed in the mouth of fictional heroes:

"I cannot make speeches, Emma. If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more."

and

"In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."

*sigh!*

and, an added benefit!

The dreamy Jeremy Northam as George Knightly in Emma:

and the unparalleled Colin Firth as Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride and Prejudice:

happy valentine's day!!

xoxo