Saturday, December 15, 2018

Chaucer Colors

I found a word my phone's spell checker doesn't know: Chaucer.

After I took a photo of myself with the beautiful squash, veg & rice I just cooked––my first meal on my new stove––I saw in my photo stream that the colors were like the bright, fun 1950s end-papers of Tales from Chaucer I snapped at work yesterday.

 
It is my intention with my new stove & fridge to COOK BEAUTIFUL FOOD. I make efforts in this direction every so often, and sooner or later I fail . . . but I am not done trying.

I was a little alarmed by my cholesterol readings a couple weeks ago, but the doctor sent me a message explaining them further. She wrote, "Your cardiac risk is VERY low--you don't have to worry about your cholesterol."

And I was, like, Don't tell me that!!! I was all set to make Dramatic Changes
™. 

I want to make them anyway though––because I want to. I mean, if I had a personal chef, I'd never request the diet I actually eat.
I would request roast squash with sautéed greens, brown rice, and fresh ginger soy sauce.
 Which is what I just made.

P.S. The outside of the Chaucer book was dull and damaged. I set the book up so the illustrations showed, and it sold within the hour.  ($1.99)

5 comments:

  1. Well done with the Chaucer tome. It's all about display. It's surprising how good it feels to sell a pet book.

    Yesterday I worked in the charity used book store I manage for six hours (I usually split the shift with my co-manager, but she went into Manhattan to see To Kill a Mockingbird) and I removed eight shelves of thrillers so I could make more room for our American history section, which had been disadvantageously jammed into a smaller bookcase. I was able to display many books face-out, and the covers made the section much more appealing and we immediately got browsers. Book buyers don't want mohave to read the spines of 50 books at a time; they like some visual relief.

    I hope the thrillers stay gone. We had 34 James Patterson novels that never sell, and loads of Jonathan Kellerman that hasn't sold since we got 23 of them from one donation six months ago. For now, I have them stored in use plastic storage bins -- it's hard to throw out 300 books in one swoop. I want more room for odd ball non-fiction, like the 1972 United States Citizenship Study Guide we got this week. There must a history teacher who would like that, right?

    ReplyDelete
  2. VIVIAN: Throw those Pattersons out!!! I so relate.

    My store has a warehouse (the food back operates out of it), so luckily I can send the excess off there.
    We sell books to a recycler for pennies a pound, but they won't pick up less than something like a thousand pounds.

    We just got a 1968 "Guide for Conscientious Objectors"--it would pair nicely with your 1972 Citizenship Guide!
    I LOVE that stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A 1968 "Guide for Conscientious Objectors"? I would love that to have that book.

    I am in the midst of researching a book about growing up in the midwest during the Vietnam war. A friend of mine was sent to Vietnam and used to write me about becoming a CO once he was over there. I still have his letters.

    I have to give a big sigh to all the books both you and Vivian are getting in. Here in VA for some reason our thrifts have the boring stuff. Give me the old outdated stuff any day.

    Kirsten

    ReplyDelete
  4. KIRSTEN: It's yours! Your book sounds fascinating--I lived in Madison WI from 1966 when I was five--it was a hotbed of opposition to the Vietnam War--subject of the documentary film "The War at Home" (1979), which I bet you already know.

    People comment to me that SVDP has a better book selection than other thrift stores here in Mpls
    ---I know from my own experience they usually don't put out damaged old books---the 1968 C.O. booklet would have gotten tossed at Goodwill!

    ReplyDelete
  5. What great illustrations that book has! And I love how they match your food.

    ReplyDelete