Lamb, Books, & Picnic Baskets

• I finished "Dog Blood" this past weekend.  The author has written a number of things that I have liked but not loved.  In this case, I loved it.  I strongly suggest that you read Hater and then Dog Blood and tell me what you think.  Especially if you have grown tired with some of the tropes of the zombie genre.  This is not a zombie book (oh yes, it is...) but it explores the same themes.  I look forward to the third book of the series (Them or Us) which comes out in about eight weeks.  I mean, if you don't like the genre, I understand...but then why are you reading me?
• On Saturday, HJ77 and I went looking for things to fill a picnic basket.  My suggestion was "Let's head to the Farmers' Market" which HJ77 had offered resistance to before. Now, I know someone like me loving Farmer's Markets is so much of a cliche that it is stuff that white people like. But I do love them...I like fresh, seasonal, local food, and I love tasting new things that I have never had before.  When I think of Farmers' Markets, I think of the Troy Waterfront Farmers' Market or the Greenmarkets in New York and I have certain expectations about what as going to be available.  My belief is that you should be able to buy the bulk of your food directly from the producers.  (There is also the thing about buying fresh and raw food as opposed to the boxed crap that most people shovel into their maws, but I understand why my situation, while not being unique, is different.) So, in our quest to fill the aforementioned picnic basket, we headed to the largest Farmers' Market in Rhode Island, the Hope Street Farmers Market.  HJ77 was very happy at the Troy market and she had told me that her's was different.  Because I am an idiot, I thought "How different could it be?" Mainly because Providence is one of those towns that is full of smart people with hippie sensibilities and enough money to demand what they want.  Yeah, I was wrong.  It was not that it was a bad farmers' market it just that it was...small.  I was expecting a literal cornucopia of fresh and local delights and...while there was some of that, there was also a lot of...the same stuff.  We ended up having to go to a...wait for it...Whole Foods to get the rest of the things for the picnic basket.  Ironic, no?
• On Saturday night, HJ77 and I had dinner at Cook & Brown Public House and while I am not going to write up a review (I am sure that HJ77 will over at SugarnSpice.) I wanted to mention a couple of things.  One, the service was incredible. It was just great.  Our table was great too. (I am wondering if it is a Union thing.  HJ77 graduated with the Chef-Owner.  I do not remember him.  I doubt he remembers me.  Maybe that is why the service was great but I doubt it.  I think that they offer this level of service for everyone.) Our appetizer was outstanding.  Lobster makes everything better, no?  Especially when it is cooked well.
  
  Doesn't that look grand?
  
  For the entree, I had the lamb shoulder, which is very good.
  
  Now here is the issue. The difference between very good and incredible comes down to one little thing for me. I love chorizo. It is a wonderful sausage and pork is always good. It also has a distinct flavor. The sauce for the farro salad was finished with chorizo oil and at the end of the meal, that is all that I tasted. Again, not bad but...I was loving the taste of the lamb and relishing what was my first real Autumn meal of the year. The dessert (which HJ77 will talk about) made up for it. If you are around, and can get a reservation, please do check it out. (Oh, as a by the way, the Union alum who is the Chef-Owner is also a James Beard Award winner...that is pretty cool.)
  

Feeling Out of Sorts

Maybe it is because the summer is actually over, that it is a rainy Tuesday, or maybe it is because I am coming to terms with time and decadent behavior catching up with me and my increasingly decrepit body, but I am feeling out of sorts. (Hence the post title...see, it does make sense. I am not senile. Get off my lawn.)

I finished two of the four books that I am reading this morning. The Leftovers (Great, and possibly the best book I have read in the last year but the ending seemed too...expected. However, finishing did allow me to finally get around to read Stephen King's review in the Times. Interesting perspective that Mr. King has. I have read someplace that in addition to being a critic, he is also an author. I could see that.) and The Know-It-All and have started The First Days (which isn't as bad as the back cover suggests (watch below) and I have needed to get my zombie on).

One of the reasons I am feeling out of sorts (for the definition, I find this useful.) was because today is the day that I started getting serious (or as serious as I get about anything) about my training and it was hard. Running at quarter to six in the rain was not the optimal time to be doing anything, let alone running on a body that ate well and drank well for the past week (it was my birthday and HJ77 was here for the whole time) but I did it.

While running, a song came on and I found myself singing along with it. This, in and of itself, is not odd as I sing all the time. Not well but I make up for my lack of skill with enthusiasm. First, I was able to run in the rain because HJ77 picked up the iPod shuffle that I had been wanting to pick up for myself but had difficulty ever getting around to purchasing and running with the iPhone instead, which was sub-optimal (Thank you!) and the song that I was singing outloud had been a trigger for a while, creating a cascade of memories and I only realized this as I was getting to the part of the sing-a-long that had always made me laugh. So...this is a goodness, no?

Apart from the searing pain in my chest and my knees aching like they were trying to give birth to their own little knees, the run in the rain went well, and even better, I was able to laugh and sing-a-long to a song that I had not been able to in a while.

Life could be a lot worse, and even then, it would still be okay, if all I have to complain about is my aching knees and the various banalities of everyday existence. One of my friends accused me of being less fun because I was happy. He did not apologize for that (nor did I expect him to. He has a reputation to maintain.) when we had dinner last night, but he said he was glad for me.

The New Dead

Some days and weeks are all about the living dead.

This is where The New Dead comes in.

This collection of short stories (Available at Amazon.com or at Zombie Planet (where I got it)) features some of the more disturbing stories of the undead that I have read to date, including "What Maisie Knew" (no, not the Henry James story, but that is referenced very specifically) by David Liss (who also wrote A Conspiracy of Paper (which is not a zombie novel) which I have recommended to all of you at least once.) which made me feel...not great to be a man and to be part of a society.

Anyway...

If you are looking for something interesting and zombie related, please check it out.

Brains...really? Yes, really!

Okay folks, you know that I have a thing for zombies...

And I am going to make an endorsement here for a collection of short stories.

The Best of All Flesh

(Yes, Erik, feel free to borrow it.)

Short stories, all of them well written, some of them terrifying (especially in the way that zombie stories are not about the terror of the zombies but about humanity's willingness to kill their own) and...all of them are short. I know that some people who read this are...slow...when it comes to reading words on the printed page.

It is worth the time and the money.