Wanna Get Away?

You might think you want a change - even a drastic change - in your life, but after reading this book, you might be happy with the usual humdrum. The author, an Afghani married to an Indian woman and living in England, really misses the sun, remembers his childhood family vacations wandering in northwest Africa, and decides to capture that geography and less-hectic lifestyle for his own children. He buys a long-unoccupied palace in the middle of a shantytown in Casablanca and embarks upon the overwhelming task of renovating the palace. He inherits a group of employees and soon is forced to hire many more -- and let's just say that this man was not born to be a boss. He is soon pushed around by all the carpenters, tile-layers, "guardians," as well as the cook, the nanny, and his professional assistant, Kamal. This assistant somehow cuts through red tape, gets things done, and navigates Tahir through many back alley deals -- but he, too, exhibits his own Moroccan way of working -- he doesn't show up for days, and then appears seemingly out of nowhere with a long-missing but absolutely essential document or permit. Besides the employee problem, Tahir also faces the obstacle of superstition about evil spirits -- especially the evil Jinn (i.e. genie) which inhabits his palace. Tahir adjusts to the fact that the uneducated workers are obsessed by the need to placate the Jinns, but as he meets other people whom he respects, he discovers that this superstitious belief is universal throughout Morocco.

This book is a series of funny anecdotes interspersed with history, culture, geography, and travel. If you enjoy reading to spread your awareness and to travel to new places, you will love this book. I did -- and I've heard that his newer book, In Arabian Nights, is even better. I give this 4 out of 4 stars.

Bon appetit!

Recently highlighted in the movie Julie and Julia, with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, Julia Child's star has risen again. A cultural icon in the 60's and 70's because of her PBS cooking show, she was the precursor for the many cooking shows now filling the Food Network. She was the first to encourage American cooks to aspire to gourmet-level meal creation. Coming to popular success in the years immediately following the creation of processed food (Campbell's soup, Kraft Mac and Cheese, Chef Boy R Dee pizza in a box, etc.), Julia issued a challenge to those who valued food for the soul -- food to savor -- not just food as fuel.

This book, written in collaboration with a great-nephew at the very end of her life (c. 2005), tells of the years in the 1950's when she and her fairly-new husband Paul lived in France. He worked for the U.S. State Department and was in charge of setting up exhibits to raise public opinion about the United States in France. Julia became interested in cooking after her "soul and spirit were opened up" by some wonderful meals. She took some classes at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, learned from private chefs, and eventually opened her own cooking school with two other women. These three women then set out to write a cookbook for Americans to introduce them to French cooking -- and that was the beginning of everything.

What I loved about this book was the joy with which she described EVERYTHING -- the sights, sounds, tastes, people, weather -- even the inconveniences of having no hot water, living in a freezing apartment, and having no gas for their stove were all welcomed as a grand adventure. Julia and Paul entertained frequently, and they went out and about to take advantage of their time abroad. They went to restaurants and clubs, toured the countryside, explored the markets, immersed themselves in everything France had to offer -- and she describes it all so convincingly in this book that one almost can't help but book a flight immediately!

4 out of 4 stars