mb palaver

BookPalaver: Holiday Member Sale at Politics and Prose

Politics and Prose bookstore is holding its holiday member sale this weekend.  Friday through Sunday, members get a 20% discount on all books and stationery, 15% off CDs, and 10% off DVDs.  Also, members can continue to receive the same discounts on titles listed in P&P's holiday newsletter through New Year's.   An annual membership is $20, and member sales are held periodically through the year.  Becoming a member is a great way to get discounted prices on books and support an independent book store at the same time.  They have a good selection of Christmas cards in the back of the store near the travel section.

For another source of gift ideas for the readers on your list, check out the New York Times' 100 Notable Books of 2007, which will run in this Sunday's print edition of the Book Review.  Or if you want the Times to winnow the list for you, skip ahead to The 10 Best Books of 2007, scheduled to be published December 9.

Politics and Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008
(202) 364-1919
(800) 722-0790

ShoppingPalaver: Food & Friends & Crate & Barrel

Food & Friends, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year, provides nutrition counseling and prepares, packages, and delivers meals and groceries to people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other life-challenging illnesses throughout the Washington, DC area.  A few weeks ago a friend invited me to a donor event at their facility in northeast D.C.  I had done some volunteer work years ago at their old location, and was amazed at how large the operation has become.  The logistics are remarkable:  they provide 3 meals a day for more than 1,300 individuals, six days a week, and plan meals on (if I recall correctly), a 42-day cycle (that is, they don't repeat meals for 42 days), and make numerous variations of each meal based on clients' different dietary needs.  We were told that they also provide meals for dependents in the household, because otherwise a seriously ill parent will give the food to the children.  Their cause is worthy, and their needs are great.  Again this year they have partnered with Crate and Barrel to provide two ways to do your holiday shopping and support Food & Friends.

In-Store Event: On Wednesday, December 5, the Spring Valley Crate and Barrel will close to hold an evening of private shopping, raffle prizes, cocktails, and hors d'oeuvres from 7 to 9:30 p.m.  10% of the evening's sales will benefit the men, women, and children whom Food & Friends serves.  Tickets are $35, and can be purchased online.  I went with a group of friends last year and had a great time.  Lines for the food, served up by local chefs such as Jamie Leeds of Hank's Oyster Bar and Dean Gold of Dino, were long, but the food was worth it.  Check out the photo gallery from last year, particularly if you were there -- makes you wonder where else your photo is turning up on the web.

Online Shopping:  If you can't make it to the event, and particularly for those who don't have a Crate and Barrel near you, from December 6 to 13, 10% of sales from Crate and Barrel’s website – when entered from this Food & Friends link – will be donated to Food & Friends.  Every little bit helps, even if you're just buying a couple of wine glasses or a Christmas ornament, but if you've had your eye on an armoire or dining room table, a purchase now will result in a sizable donation.

Crate and Barrel
4820 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC  20016
(202) 364-6100

ShoppingPalaver: Chocolat sans S&H

Does anyone on your holiday gift list deserve some delicious French chocolates?  Maison du Chocolat is offering free shipping on orders placed through this Thursday, November 29.  Given that shipping usually starts at $27 (except within NYC, where delivery is only $12), this is one good deal.  The details are below, though it's more fun to go to the website to browse through the pretty pictures.  If in doubt, send truffles.

From November 23rd to November 29th, we are pleased to offer you complimentary shipping for any order of more than $50.00 placed on our online boutique.

You just have to type the code PEARL in the Advantage Code field on the page "summary of my order".

This offer is only available
for a delivery to the United-States.

RandomPalaver: In Thanksgiving

I have so many things to be thankful for -- here are the first 10 that came to mind:

1. Family who make me laugh myself silly.
2. Friends who like me even when I talk too much.
3. Timetables on Metro platforms.
4. Stadium seating at the movies; no more problems sitting behind Big Head Todd.
5. New high speed copier down the hall from my office.  It's magic!
6. "30 Rock."
7. Walk sign countdowns at traffic lights.
8. Mini burgers at Matchbox.
9. Those new canopies over Metro escalators -- attractive and rain-protective.
10. Typepad's scheduled post feature -- so no need to spend Thanksgiving on the computer.

I hope you are all enjoying life's little joys this Thanksgiving.

ShoppingPalaver: Getting a Leg Up on Christmas Shopping

If you're in Washington and willing to brave the early Christmas-shopping crowds, you can take advantage of the D.C. Sales Tax Holiday.  From 12:01 am Friday, November 23, through midnight Sunday, December 2, clothes, shoes, and accessories costing less than $100 each will be exempt from the District's 5.75 percent sales tax.  The exemption applies to each eligible item, no matter how many items are on the bill.  See the District's website for more details.

If you'd rather not get anywhere near a cash register or a stampeding mob on Friday, here's another way to save: Amazon is offering Black Friday specials you can take advantage of from the comfort of your PJs.  In addition to offering hourly deals from 9 am to 9 pm EST, they are offering gift wrapping for $.99 per item.   (The gift wrapping offer is also in effect today.)   Gift wrapping is usually $3.99 per item, which can really add up when you have multiple gifts in a package.

And if you're stumped for gift ideas, you can get your own "Christmas Story" leg lamp from any number of dealers.  (Note to family and friends:  I have no room for a leg lamp.)

RandomPalaver: Happy Birthday Mimi!

On November 19, 1898, my maternal grandmother was born.  Mimi, at the upper right corner of the photo, was a teenager when this was taken.  At the age of 73 she moved with my family from New Jersey to West Virginia and lived with us for the next twenty years.  Mimi had a lot of sayings that have lived on with us --this includes the "heavenly day!" I'm known to shout from time to time, much to my brothers' embarrassment.  Dubliner recently reminded me of what Mimi used to say when our dog, Buffy, would loll on her back with her paws up in the air:  "Position in life is everything."  My favorite way to remember Mimi is when music was playing; she loved having music and dancing in the house, a testament, no doubt, to her Irish roots.  Once one of my siblings got a boom box for Christmas and turned it on to some funk music. The six of us leapt up and started boogieing.  You'd have expected a woman in her 80s to decry today's lower standards, or at least to shake her head and tsk.  But I can still see her, smiling and tapping her foot to the music.

TheaterPalaver: Shining City

Last Monday night I saw William Bolcom's opera, "A View from the Bridge," based on the Arthur Miller play, at the Kennedy Center.  I tried to enjoy it.  But without the lyricism of the Italian language, the dramatic, operatic delivery seemed disproportionate to such lines as "I was sitting in my office/Usually I've left work by six/But I'd taken an unusually long lunch/And needed to make up my billables." (I only made up part of that.)  During intermission, my friend E predicted that it was going to come out that tough guy Eddie was a male prostitute, because he'd said he'd been "a patsy and a hustler" on the docks of Hoboken and Weehawken.  If only.  If you're an opera fan don't place much weight on my uneducated word, though; the Washington Post's Tim Page loved it, and the opera received rave reviews when it made its premiere in Chicago in 1999.

All that is a long prelude to say how happy I was three days later to be sitting at the Studio Theatre watching a sad, lonely, talky Irish drama.  In Conor McPherson's "Shining City," a widower haunted by his wife's ghost tells his story to a therapist, who has a host of problems of his own.  I won't say more, other than that the New York Times said that "[i]n terms of construction, 'Shining City' is as close to perfection as contemporary playwriting gets."  And that in one scene I got chills all over; it was the most astonishing 3 seconds I've ever experienced at the theater.

"Shining City" runs through December 16.

Studio Theatre
1501 14th Street, NW (at P Street)
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 332-3300

11/14/07 -- Edited to add:  Peter Marks gave the play a great review in today's Washington Post, so if you're interested in tickets you might want to act quickly.

WebPalaver: 12 Months and Counting

Today is mb palaver's first anniversary.  This is my 163rd post (which amounts to about one post every 2 1/4 days, which makes me feel much better about those weeks that have gone by post-less (I'm talking to you, last week)).  This has been lots of fun, and I am so thankful for all the encouragement you've given me over the last year.  You've commented 190 times, and provided countless comments and encouragement offline.  As I embark on year two, I pledge to add more bells and whistles; in the past I've always opted for posts instead of bells and whistles and, let's face it, time is limited.  One must take breaks to watch "30 Rock."

Please don't hesitate to chime in.  If you don't feel like commenting publicly but have any suggestions, complaints, corrections, or truckloads of Smarties you want to unload, you can always click the "email me" link up there on the left side of your screen.  And don't forget you can always subscribe to mbpalaver's feed.  (If you have trouble getting the email subscription to kick in, let me know -- there appear to be some glitches in the system.) In the meantime, I'd like to intrude on your kindness further, and ask you to mention mbpalaver.com to your friends.   After all, imagine the possibilities if you tell two friends . . .

and they tell two friends . . .

and so on . . . and so on . . . and so on . . . .

FoodPalaver: Time to Spice Things Up

I recently had to clean out all my kitchen cabinets because I found unwelcome flying things in my flour.  On the upside, this forced me to sort through my spices and throw out the old stuff.  I kept anything that didn't look ancient and still smelled like the spice it was supposed to smell like.

Today while browsing a food blog called Serious Eats, I couldn't resist clicking on a McCormick ad that asked "Are your Spices Past Their Prime?" The McCormick "Spice Challenge" allows you to look up the date your McCormick spices were made.  I entered the number on the bottom of a bottle of cumin seed that passed my sniff test.  The result:  it was made on April 14, 1987. As if I didn't feel bad enough, it said "If your spices were around when you feathered your bangs, it's time to let them go."  Evidently I need to work on my sniff test.

Even my thyme, which I've used in the last week, dates back to 1997.  This information was delivered along with a snide reference to Titanic (the movie, that is; the spice isn't quite as old as the ship).

With Thanksgiving coming up, it would be wise to make sure you're not taking for granted that the spices in your cabinet are up to the task.  (I've got memories of some plastic-smelling nutmeg that nearly ruined Christmas -- or at least a cranberry side dish my sister and I were making -- a few years ago.)

The McCormick site says that if your spice is from Baltimore, rather than Hunt Valley, Maryland (which is printed on the label), or if it's in a tin (except for black pepper), it's at least 15 years old.  So with a quick look at your spice rack you can eliminate anything made before Bill Clinton was first elected President.

RandomPalaver: Falling Back

There is no greater gift in life than the gift of an extra hour's sleep.  Whatever you do, don't forget to set your clocks back tonight.

And if you want to know why you've had trouble getting up in recent weeks, or have otherwise been out of sorts, check out this interesting article by Rick Weiss from last Tuesday's Washington Post: "Seeing the Light of Day: Artificial Illumination Can Affect More Than Your Mental Health. As Daylight Saving Time Comes to an End, What Happens to Our Internal Clocks?"  Here are the opening paragraphs:

Oh, the light! The autumn light! Is there anything more glorious than an October day, awash in the sun's low-slung amber rays?

And yet . . . perhaps you feel the dread, too. The looming inkiness that, like the tide, crawls up your legs a little higher each day, turning that honeyed light to molasses and molasses to muck until you realize, too late, that the birds have left and the world has gone dark. Dark when you wake up, dark when you go home.

In simpler times we slept more in winter, but modern living denies us that luxury. So increasingly each day, soft-white lights from yonder windows break -- along with halogens, tungstens and compact fluorescents. And when we can't stand it anymore, we resort to manipulation, declaring that 6 in the morning is now 5.

You got a problem with that, take it up in the spring.

Now science is finding that our manhandling of light and time is making us sick.

Artificial illumination is fooling the body's biological clock into releasing key wakefulness hormones at the wrong times, contributing to seasonal fatigue and depression. And daylight saving time, extended by Congress this year for an extra four weeks, risks dragging even more Americans into a winter funk.