Little Birds by Anaïs Nin

Since we've been a bit slow with posts recently, so I'm going to cross-post a very short review I just wrote on GoodReads of Anaïs Nin's Little Birds.

An interesting collection of very short erotic stories. I don't read very much erotica, so I can't compare this to anything, really, but it did certainly remind me of Memoirs of a Beatnik in many ways. Some of the writing is lovely, some is awful. The characters are mostly caricatures, but overall I liked it alright and was able to read the whole thing in just two hours. I suspect that if the stories individually and the book as a whole weren't so short, I might have grown bored. I'd really like to read Nin's journals now, because I suspect those will be a bit more substantive.

My recommendation to IttyBittyReaders: If you're in the mood for some very quick erotica, this might be a good place to start. If you're in the mood for a brilliant work of epic fiction, don't bother.

Ceres' Secrets of the Valley juice

Kathmandu has been hot and humid lately, more so than usual for October. Two hundred rupees in hand, I venture to Bhat Bhateni in search of a thirst-quencher. I pass by Mirage Fashion Tailors on the way, and I envision a maenad or satyr in some misty Bacchanalian lair imparting to me the Secrets of Kathmandu Valley via an intoxicating libation. What do I find upon entrance to BB but a whole aisle of fruit juices crafted by Ceres herself!

I am not surprised to be confronted with goddess-produced juice, because in Kathmandu one sees gods among mortals, according to a guide book in the tourist district.

I chose Secrets of the Valley juice over Youngberry or Medley of Fruits, say, and I am pleased with how the goddess of agriculture conjoined apple, berry, and cherry to produce a unified beverage. Not one particular fruit flavor can be distinguished from any other. The juice’s sweetness—not understated at all—means that if you don’t rinse the glass before you go to bed, in the morning it will be covered in ants. This ambrosia is irresistible, especially on a hot day.

Peppermint

Peppermint is just wonderful. Although I've heard sometimes that peppermint can be bad for you, it's also apparently one of the oldest medicinal herbs in the world. I don't care much about this either way, but I think it's just perfect in tea or candy (although I don't love the hard peppermint candies, for those I prefer spearmint), a little sweetened. Today, I had some lovely peppermint saltwater taffy, which is lovely and reminds me of the beach. It's nice to have a flavor that can simultaneously remind you of both the beach and the holidays, and peppermint manages to strike just the right balance.

One of my all-time favorite peppermint dishes is peppermint ice cream. A recipe for you to make it at home can be found here: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/peppermint_ice_cream/. My friends and I made it one Christmas, and I remember a lot of laughing and whacking of the candies. Overall, it's a fun group recipe, with a delicious product. It makes for the perfect holiday dessert.

Beverages in Italy

All around Rome there are water fountains for drinking. The water pours from the sides of buildings, pillars, lions’ mouths, and falls into stone drains in the ancient cobblestones. The two in Piazza San Pietro (the Vatican) were busier, maybe because the sun was shining so hotly, but the water wasn’t as tasty there as the one we first encountered on Via della Conciliazione. At that one, a small boy protested in fear as his mother picked him up to drink directly from the lion’s mouth. According to Manuela, she told him, Come on! It’s just a puppet. The water was cool, fresh-tasting, and flowed smoothly. It might have also been my favorite because it was the first one I saw.

These water fountains are interesting because at no establishment can one be served simply water from the tap. Manu said she was always afraid to ask for tap water because to ask for tap water sends a strong message, having to do with authority and government and culture and environmentalism. One time on Via San Rocco in Bologna she did ask for tap water, and the bartender said it was against Italian law to serve it to customers. But he gave us two glasses of mineral water for free.

The signature drink of Venice is Spritz, a cocktail made with wine, Aperol (a bitter Italian liquer; you can substitute Campari), seltzer sometimes, and a slice of orange and an olive. The color of the drink is a deep neon orange. The salty green olive on the wooden skewer was the best part for me. We had two Spritzes in Venice, one in Gheto Vechio (a Jewish quarter) and the other in a piazza right across the Grand Canal from the train station, take a right and a left and a right, keep walking until you are in a big open piazza with a few trees near a sandwich shop whose owner is named Renato.

Espresso! Drunk from a tiny ceramic teacup and saucer while standing up. Manu puts sugar in hers so I did too, and it comes with tiny spoon for stirring. An expensive espresso will run you about 1,40 euro. I mostly had espresso—at various caffés, on the train to Venice, with brioche, at Manu’s house—but had a cappuccino at the airport. Only whole milk produces such good foam. It really is a perfect mix of strong bitter dark sweet linger enveloping your mouth.

Stroopwafels

Today, for the first time in more than two years, I had a stroopwafel, a cookie-like creation that I love. Of Dutch origin, each one consists of two thin waffles with a layer of a sweet (but not maple) syrup in the middle, and is usually sold at open-air markets. I wish I was better at describing these, because I'm not doing them justice. The texture, a little grainy, but soft, is perfect, and while they are very sweet, they aren't too sweet. I'd definitely recommend getting some, and if you can get them fresh, all the better.

Although I'm sure you can find them here (a friend says they sell them at the Park Slope co-op, and I bought mine at the New Amsterdam Village they have set up in Bowling Green Park until tomorrow), for me, they are entirely European. I had my first one in Oxford, and my first fresh one (oh my lord, my first fresh one) in Prague. They're tiny, perfect circles, and biting into one today made me feel like I was backpacking all over again. Quite the lovely feeling.