The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I enjoyed this tremendously. Philip Kerr and John Biggins were the authors I’ve most enjoyed finding in the past few years. Bacigalupi is right up there with them.
When You Walk Instead of Drive.
Over near Thompson and Main is this monument to eccentricity. But this is hardly an ordinary eccentric’s home. A lot of detail has gone into what was once a relatively small tract house. There’s a belfry, a striking color scheme, river cobble wall, a ten-foot creek — ten feet long, not ten feet wide — and a garage with a lifesize moose on it. Making it especially rich is the neat way the paint scheme on the garage is neatly divided between the fantasticness that is the moose lodge and the sad beigeosity* of the stucco box next door. If I lived next door I’d beg them to do my house too.
*Actually, the house next door is gray with baby-blue trim and really isn’t awful at all. Or wouldn’t be, anyway, except for the contrast.
You can't tell the scale from this side.
Mailboxes of San Dolores.
This baby lives down by the lemon factory, across the street from some gnarly auto-body shops and boat-storage yards. Sweet little houses on one side of the street, concertina wire on the other. People down there are pretty OK, though, and the cars are groovy.
You can get a much better idea of the scale from this view--that cowboy is life-size! I mean, he is a very tiny cowboy, but it is life size...
A Southern California coastal classic
Mailboxes of San Dolores.
It’s your basic sheet-metal mailbox, but the naive style with rust spots make this a Southern California coastal classic. Plus anything with boats and dolphins is bound to get me.
Easy Eats for Hard Times
That’s right, our 99-cent store often has portobellos. A package of two big fat ones for a buck. But you gotta use them fast—there’s a reason why they go for a dollah.
Anyway, this is really easy and tasty. If you don’t want sausage, substitute another tablespoon of cheese and a tablespoon of olive oil. If you don’t have portobellos, use several large brown mushrooms. They’re the same thing, really.
Preheat oven to 425°F. Slit open the sausage and discard the casing. Brown the sausage along with the garlic. Add a couple of tablespoons of water after it browns, sooner if it sticks.
While the sausage is cooking, cut the stems out of the mushrooms and wipe the caps with a damp paper towel. Put the mushrooms upside down in the baking dish along with the water, broth or wine. Chop up the stems.
Combine the stems with the breadcrumbs, cheese, pine nuts, olives and celery. Add the breadcrumb mixture to the pan when the sausage is cooked. Remove from the fire.
Pile the stuff on top of the mushrooms. Bake for 25 minutes or until the mushrooms are cooked through. Top with chopped parsley. Eat ’em up.
Mailbox with dog on it
Mailboxes of San Dolores
This puppy sits on a street with little box houses on one side and light industrial on the other — body shops and a garlic factory and various establishments with concertina wire on top of chain-link fences. The gutter runs down the middle of the street instead of along the curbs, which gives an odd sensation of leaning the wrong way when you drive down the street.
Easy Eats for Hard Times
Heat a large heavy skillet and pour in the oil to cover the bottom. Add the garlic and ginger, stir for 1 minute. Add chicken, onion, and peppers. Cover and cook on medium heat, stirring frequently, until chicken is opaque and peppers are just past crisp. Shake in 2 tablespoons curry powder and stir well. Meanwhile, steam the potatoes and cauliflower until they are fork tender. Add them to the skillet with a bit of the cooking water, and shake in the rest of the curry powder; stir again until color is even throughout. Add salt to taste. Heat gently and serve with plain yogurt on the side.
—Patty C., Fallbrook, Calif.
Your standard Lowe's box with embellishments
Mailboxes of San Dolores
And here we have it, folks: the inaugural edition of Mailboxes of San Dolores.
Easy Eats for Hard Times
—Patty C. of Fallbrook, Calif.
Easy Eats for Hard Times
This is about as cheap as you can get, and way easy.
Soak the peas according to the package directions. You don’t really need to do this with split peas, but some people insist on it. Add water or broth to cover (and a bit over; the package will say how much), add the rest of the ingredients, and simmer till the peas are tender. Or let them turn to mush, which they probably will be before they’re tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.
IMPORTANT: Don’t add chopped hot dogs when your wife isn’t looking. She won’t think they’re carrots.
