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Books: Wine: Gardening:
Mozart
and Garlic MOZART IN THE JUNGLE: SEX, DRUGS, AND CLASSICAL MUSIC, memoir by Blair Tindall. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2005. Hardcover. $24. GARLIC AND SAPPHIRES: THE SECRET LIFE OF A CRITIC IN DISGUISE, memoir by Ruth Reichl. The Penguin Press, 2005. Hardcover. $24.95.
With a few days between me and the end of Blair Tindall's tale of life in the world of classical music, I've begun to wonder if the subtitle is meant to be ironic. It's just tacked on there so whole-heartedly that the idea never crossed my mind, despite the fact that in the whole 307-page book, the author tiresomely refers to sex only as "making love," and, while she sees some cocaine use and takes a few pills here and there for stage fright, her worst indulgence seems to come in the form of a third martini late one night. Mozart in the Jungle isn't about sex and drugs. It's about making a life in the arts, and thus it's about struggles, frustration, talent, burn-out, jealousy, unfairness, moments of beauty, friendships and love. Tindall's story could be that of a writer, a singer, a pop star: Like the classical musicians in Tindall's story, they too are trying to make a living in an industry that cannot support all the people that work to be a part of it. In that sense, Tindall's personal story comes as no surprise: From a very young age, she worked at playing the oboe; it became her job, and a frustrating one at that, until she finally quit, turning the oboe to a part-time gig while attending graduate school in journalism. It's the rest of Tindall's book that's fascinating. As a memoirist, she's a frustrating writer, glossing over events that seem key to the story and drawing out parts that feel repetitive or weak. But when her journalistic training takes over and she writes for pages on the history of classical music in America in the 20th century, she's downright fantastic. Arts funding becomes deeply engrossing stuff, and people who were previously just names on buildings or CD covers become characters. Tindall details music's place in American lives with great respect and a clear understanding of the world outside the classical bubble, which is, in part, why it's so jarring when she slips back into her own narration. The author's younger self is naive and insulated, taking the short-lived jobs she's handed by her temporary first-chair boyfriends until she winds up playing for Broadway shows — which lead to good money but no respect. Tindall the character can be droopy and unsympathetic; Tindall the author is a fine journalist with a sharp eye for the human details that make stories interesting.
On the opposite end of the memoir spectrum is Ruth Reichl, whose Garlic and Sapphires is an utter treat, the sort of book you can't put down but also wish would never end. The book chronicles Reichl's term as a food critic for the New York Times, from the moment she's recognized on the plane on her way to New York through the point at which she backs away from the job, realizing she's become the food snob she never wanted to be. Reichl is warm, smart, and incredibly funny as she takes the reader through a host of characters, the disguises she wore to keep maitre d's and restaurant owners from recognizing her and giving her star treatment. Her first review for the Times was in two parts: One for the time she went in disguise, and one for the time she went as herself. The difference is stunning, and Reichl, by including her review as well as her memory of the meals, lets the experience speak for itself: There is clearly much at stake with the fourth star she removes from Le Cirque's rating. Reichl takes the backlash as well as anyone could, but as she slips into disguises and tries on personalities, making her way through New York's top restaurants, she finds herself slipping away from the joy she took in food and in cooking. In the end, like Tindall, Reichl steps out of the small, insular world in which she's been living, back into a place where she can appreciate the things she loves.
BOOK NOTES Phillip Margolin, Chuck Logan and Reed Arvin read, 7 pm 7/14, Powell's, Beaverton … Steve Raymond (The Year of the Angler and the Year of the Trout) reads, 7:30 pm 7/14, Powell's on Hawthorne, Portland … Midnight Magic parties for the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince happen at 8 pm 7/15 at Barnes & Noble and 9 pm 7/15 at the UO Bookstore and Borders Books … A Harry Potter release day Wizarding Festival is from 8 am-3 pm 7/16, Books Without Borders … Bakari Kitwana (Why White Kids Love Hip Hop) reads, 7:30 pm 7/18, Powell's on Hawthorne, Portland … Blair Tindall reads, 7:30 pm 7/18, Powell's on Burnside, Portland … Elizabeth Kostova, author of buzz book The Historian, reads, 7:30 pm 7/19, Powell's on Burnside, Portland … Memoirist Beth Lisick reads, 7:30 pm 7/20, Powell's on Burnside … Inga Muscio, author of Cunt, reads from that and her new book, Autobiography of a Blue-Eyed Devil: My Life and Times in a Racist, Imperialist Culture, 7 pm 7/21, Mother Kali's … Mike Lapinski reads, 7:30 pm 7/21, Powell's on Hawthorne, Portland … Holiday Reinhorn reads, 7:30 pm 7/21, Powell's on Burnside, Portland … Jimmy McDonough reads, 7:30 pm 7/22, Powell's on Burnside, Portland … Oregon Writers' Colony presents Candy Davis, 7 pm 7/25, Powell's, Beaverton … Megan Clark reads, 7:30 pm 7/25, Powell's on Hawthorne, Portland … Jasper Fforde reads, 7:30 pm 7/26, Powell's on Burnside … Damali Ayo reads from How to Rent a Negro, 7:30 pm 7/27, Powell's on Burnside.
Chill
Down I'm hunkered at my desk in my shabby office on the 17th floor of Eugene's shoddiest highrise, looking out at the early morning of a lovely Oregon July: gray, sodden sky, moist westerly breeze, temp in the mid-50s, perfect early summer's day. Appropriately, we're here to explore hot-weather wines, accompaniment for alfresco dining, picnics, barbecues, poolside parties, other such. See, when temperatures soar — say high 70s, whew — and evenings swelter to the point we're down to one sweater, we want to avoid those dark, heavy wines; they tend, under such sweaty conditions, to quease the tum and spin the head. No, for the hot-box month of Oregon summer we want light, bright, lively wines, matches for lighter fare and scantily clad funning. 'Scuse me while I put a coupla hammer raps on the radiator, little message for the derelict building super to warm this icebox so I can take off my gloves. I detect echoing raps from other tenants. Radiator groans, thermometer rises about an eyelash's worth. The super'll be up here some time today, baggy shorts, Hawaiian shirt, sandals, mopping his mug, grinning, yakking about the heat wave we're having. With luck, Mole will restrain me from committing felonious assault. That guy (the super, not Mole) is a member of that detestable sub-species called cheerleaders. Cheerleader chic is gripping this nation and it comes from the top, His Georgeliness, the Cheerleader in Chief, and his squad of sideline chicken hawks who rah-rah the troops and sis-boom-bah the citizens, sending young men and women to kill and die while the rally team might blister their pinkies from shaking their pom poms or counting the piles of dough they've looted from the national treasury. On June 28, the Cheerleader in Chief urged support for the home team with lots of flag waving and bumper-sticker hoopla, then added, "We live in freedom because every generation has produced patriots willing to serve a greater cause than themselves." That's perfectly true, of course, but those words coming from this guy and his crew have got to cause gagging. Is he referring to such warrior patriots as Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and himself? Cheerleaders, all of them; fans of war might love them, but damn few real warriors are fans of war, and real supporters of our troops might feel a little irritation, knowing that George and Company have left VA hospitals in shambles and have cut benefits for wounded and disabled vets. And let's not forget those fine, patriotic "private contractors" George and Dick love so much, folks who owe three billion dollars in back taxes as I write. Now, that's support for our troops. I am not now and never have been a cheerleader, for war or for wine. Like Phaedrus in Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I quest for value in wine, some fusion of quality and price that will yield pleasure to consumers. I am not here to pimp anyone's wine or even any region's, though I confess a certain bias toward local products, mostly because local wine and food marry so well. All that said, my monthly rant well aired, let's explore vins d'été (French for summer wines): Every year, I recommend this wine, not because I'm fond of the winemaker (tho' I am) and they've made no contributions to my campaign fund; straight scoop, Amity Vineyards 2002 Dry Gewurztraminer ($15) is one of the best values in Oregon wine that I know of, always delivering fresh, zesty fruit on a balanced frame, and the 2002 vintage is exceptionally good. This varietal is best made in the dry style by winemakers in France's Alsace region; they've been working at it for a few hundred years, seem to have some grip on this grape, but Amity's Myron Redford has been learning with every bottling and clearly scored great fruit in '02: The wine is juicy and forward with classic flavors of fresh grapefruit, hints of lychee, dash of lemon pepper. Serve with Asian dishes, grilled fish or chicken, but do not serve it too cold. If you store your wine in the fridge, take this one out an hour before opening, let it warm a little and it'll reward you with dry, full-flavored white that is refreshing and exciting. Rosie time: Rosé wines used to be insipid and dull, but recent years have seen a new respect for these wines and the results — for us, the imbibers — have been swell. Bergerie de l'Hortus 2004 Rosé de Saignée ($13) derives from the Languedoc region of France's Rhone Valley and is a very nice wine. Served cool, it puts pretty flavors of cherries and strawberries in the glass and braces them with spice and acidity enough to accent outdoor foods. It deserves better, but it'll even go with a burger. O'Reilly's 2004 Pinot Noir Oregon ($12.50) leads off the great '04 vintage; the big boys and girls will arrive later, but this is a happy kid, fresh and bright with flavors of black cherries, currants and zingy black pepper, wowser value. Wait! Strange blue crack between clouds, and … and … yes! C'mon, all you guys: Yay Sun! Yay Sun! Burn 'em up, burn 'em up, smash on through! H'ray!
With summer in the Willamette Valley just getting under way, fall seems a long way off. But if you want a fall and winter vegetable garden, now is the time to get started. With this in mind I paid a visit to my friend Kit Kirkpatrick, who gardens just off River Road on 12 feet of silty river-bottom loam and loves to talk about it. She began by letting me know what a tough year it's been so far.
"Hail shredded the blossoms on the apples, cherries and an Italian plum," Kit told me. "Any raspberry with a tendency to root rot, rotted." The evidence — withered brown canes in her berry patch — was all too visible. Strawberries have done better, except for the gray mold. Cool, wet weather also meant that seeds became soaked and rotted before they could germinate. Kit sowed carrots twice, and her corn was a complete failure. Slugs and snails, she said, "were monumental." But it has been a good year for lettuce and artichokes, and her potatoes looked fine. Now Kit is getting ready to sow carrots yet again. "Carrots are one of the best things to grow for the winter," she says. " I usually sow four rows by July 15. They'll come to fruition in October. I leave them in the ground and pull them all winter. Around the first warm weather in March, the roots will start to grow again and it is time to pull all you have left, before they get woody." Kit favors carrot varieties 'Chantenay' and 'Flakkee Trofeo.' Other root crops go in at about the same time, and these too may be left in the ground until you need them. What does Kit grow? "Beyond carrots," she says, "it's a matter of what you can sell to your family." She likes to grow beets and parsnips, for instance, but her husband John isn't fond of them. "Last year I grew rutabagas. They were pretty good. He eats them if I mash them up with potatoes. Parsnips, too." 'Cobham' is really beautiful parsnip, according to Kit, "a frilly, female sort of plant," but difficult to germinate. "If you want to have a fall garden, think ahead," Kit advises. You want to be sure you have ground that will open up by mid-July (space that was occupied by peas, for instance) and that will still be sunny as we move into fall. Besides root crops, broccoli and cauliflower go in by mid-July. Those two last all winter, and begin to grow again in spring. "Broccoli is great in spring, but cauliflower gets kind of coarse. Cabbage planted in summer makes a really nice head." Russian Kale is another of the best things to grow in fall for eating through winter into spring, when the flavor is "fantastic." Not everyone eats kale, though! For beets, Kit favors Lutz Greenleaf because the greens also make good eating, and John prefers them to kale. Leeks are another worthwhile crop that will hold until winter. Kit grows leeks (like broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower) from starts she buys at Down to Earth. She says the best starts are sturdy little leeks about as thick as a pencil, that come in a soil-free bundle. Leafy greens are sown in late August, or as soon as the weather cools a little. They will hold for months if you can cover them when night temperatures threaten to drop to freezing. Kit will put in spinach, Swiss chard 'Rhubarb' and 'Mizuna' mustard, as well as the lettuce 'Brunia' (Oakleaf). August-sown arugula does well, too, and does not bolt in fall. Kit's friend Deborah Brady, a long-time winter salad grower, suggests trying a whole variety of greens, including tatsoi, pak choy, radicchio, parsley and cilantro; lettuces 'Continuity,' 'Red Sails' and 'Arctic King,' and "a package of Mixed Mustard seed." OSU Extension publications EC 1247 and PNW 548 include tips for extending your harvest with cloches and row covers. Kit uses simple, polyethylene-covered hoop structures. Also, please support Little Red Farm Nursery! One of the area's best sources for high quality perennials, roses, grasses, container plants and more now needs your help. Starting July 15, construction at the intersection of 42nd Street and Jasper Road will cut off normal access to the nursery and is a real threat to its survival. Call 744-0372 for instructions to reach the nursery via Jasper Road Extension. Rachel Foster of Eugene is a garden consultant and author of All About Gardens, a selection of past Eugene Weekly columns. She can be reached at rfoster@efn.org
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Planting
for Fall
