Swamplandia! inspired Red Seth Bites with Swamp-Ass Dip

Swamplandia! inspired snacks:
Red Seth Bites and Swamp Ass Dip

I don't think it is a stretch to say that Swamplandia! is probably the best all-around thing I will read in 2013.  I mean...can you fault me?  Gorgeous language, stunning writing, storytelling that distracts from the elevated writing, swamps, likeable kids facing realistic challenges they don't understand, coming of age...yeah, Karen Russell got me hook, line, sinker.  Yes, I've spent some time in South Florida, been to the Everglades, and I've seen gator wrestling live (let's just be clear: I have no desire to partake, but gator does sure taste good!); this book made those memories come alive again like I was experiencing them for the first time.

PopTart, werk that grill!

I was inspired to cook, naturally.  Also naturally, I thought about what we feed gators in captivity: chicken.  YUM.  There was also the visual inspiration July 2013 cover of Bon Appetit, which just kind of looked at me as I ripped through Swamplandia!, tempting me to take a bite.  The resulting skewers, which I'm calling Red Seth Bites, were good enough that my mother requested that I make them again, a week later, for my father's birthday.   By lucky coincidence, the marinade was initially way spicier than I had intended for my sissy family (it wound up not being too spicy at all when cooked, so up the pepper and hot sauce if you like a slow burn), so I whipped up a yogurt based dip to cool things down.  What resulted was so good I may or may not have taken to eating it with a spoon...and then used it again with my leftovers the next day.  I used about a pound of chicken with my marinade, but I suspect you could use any protein you'd like.  Please, please: someone use gator and tell me all about it.

Reth Seth Snacks, other delicious things on the grill.

Recipes:

Swamplandia, by Karen Russell: Even alligator wrestlers grow up

Swamplandia!
Karen Russell
Vintage Books: New York, 2011
ISBN: 9780307276681

The indomitable Bigtree family has owned and operated Swamplandia!, an alligator wrestling amusement park in the Everglades for decades.  But changes come, as they must, when Hillola Bigtree, matriarch of the current tribe, dies suddenly of cancer, leaving her husband the Chief and their three teenage children, Kiwi, Osceola and Ava to continue running the fading park.  Kiwi, self-proclaimed genius, runs away to the mainland to work for the rival amusement park, ostensibly in the hopes of paying down the mounting debts of Swamplandia!, while Ossie becomes obsessed with the spirit world, convinced she can commune with her ghostly boyfriends.  Chief Bigtree heads to the mainland for an extended business trip leaving Ava and Ossie to run things in his absence.  Meanwhile, Ava, the baby of the family, struggles to accept her mothers death and to understand Ossie.  When Ossie runs away to elope with the ghostly Dredgeman, Ava sets out on a journey to save her that will challenge them all.  Part coming of age tale and part quest, to say this work sparkles with gorgeous descriptive language and crushes you with the sadness of a childhood ending is a vast understatement of Russell's considerable talent as an author.  A Pulitzer Prize finalist, the work is strongly recommended for older high school aged teens and adults for content, complexity in language, and some adult themes.

Tidbits (of cheese and other literary goodness)

I'm sorry, two loyal readers, one of whom I'm pretty sure is a spambot! I've been super busy - ALA, work, other job, other things...but in good news, I do have some recipes and reviews forthcoming...errrr...as soon as I get the chance to write them.  I have, however, been hoarding up way, way, old news and things.  You've probably already seen them, but I don't care!  Enjoy them or not; as Captain Planet would say, the power is yours!

Food

• Behold, the greatest post I have ever seen: author and cheese pairings.  I mean...does it get any more fantastic than that?  But I have to ask, why no cheddar cheese pic for Ernest?  
• Do you want to make a chocolate loving librarian very happy?  Give them a library of exotic chocolate bars.
• Enjoy this map of the United States of Burgers, just because it is summer, and you are thinking about BBQs, right? 

Art

•  This artists description says it all ("art inspired by and made from books"), but her method of delivery - finger prints - is really cool!  
• Just because I loved it so much when I came upon it, I'm going to share the best, loveliest watercolor prints that would be great in a kitchen.  Speaking of making a librarian very happy, I happen to know a librarian who loves the olive oil print...

Movies

• Stills from The Maze Runner!  I'm not even in a tither about how much the actors are not 13.  It looks great! 
• However, the kid who just got cast as Jonas in the Jeff Bridges adaptation of The Giver?  He does not look like a preteen.  Just sayin'...
• There's a run on Jane Austen on the interwebs this week!  First, check out the trailer for Austenland, which I'm really, really looking forward to, because OBVI.  Then, check out this gigantic waterlogged statue of Colin Firth's Darcy.  Wouldn't you love to know what he thinks? And more importantly, what happens when birds poo on that super white shirt?

Books

• This is olllld news at this point.  John Corey Whaley - he of the dipples who shared his woodpecker tattoo with us - is coming out with a new book! YAY! The cover art was released, and now haunts my dreams.  #creepydolls
• Best. Manicures. Ever. 
• Are you a demigod?  Do you want to be one?  Good thing we had this talk.  There's a Camp Half-Blood you can attend! Percy Jackson camp, y'all!  Is there one for grownups?  I want to go! (I think I may have posted about this a million years ago, but if I've forgotten, so have you!) 
• There was an EW issue about Divergent!  There were lots of pictures for your eyeballs to feast upon, and the trailer is being released at Comic-Con.  But I've posted the most important information below:

PAMUKED!

Twenties Girl, by Sophie Kinsella: Let's put on the ritz and flap around together this summer, doll.

Twenties Girl
Sophie Kinsella
Dial Press Trade: New York, 2010
ISBN9780385422032

Twenty-something Lara's life is not going so well these days.  Her boyfriend has dumped her, and to add insult to injury, her new business partner has run away to follow a man to Bali, with no plans to return, leaving Lara to keep things running on her own.  When Emma attends her great-aunt Sadie's funeral, things reach a head: the ghost of Sadie as she was in her twenties (in the 1920s) begins to haunt her.  Sadie appears only Lara, proclaiming that she won't be able to rest in peace until she is reunited with her favorite necklace.  Lara, and the ghost of Sadie, are launched on a mad quest through London to fulfill Sadie's last wishes, and get to know each other better as they discover secrets hidden with the missing necklace.  Though there are romantic elements typical of Kinsella's other works, this book is a departure in that the relationship of most central importance is firmly platonic.  It is a fun, light, occasionally romantic read with lots of 1920s fashion and culture nods, and an undercurrent of mystery.  I'd recommend it to female readers 15 and up.

I really enjoyed reading this one.   As I mentioned, the focus is not on finding a man and thus fulfilling all your needs, but rather more holistic.  Kinsella usually has plucky, if slightly lacking in confidence/brains protagonists, but I think the reason I liked this much more is because the romance with a dude is just kind of background, a device which actually tries and strengthens the development of the protagonist and her growing friendship with Sadie, which is truly the relationship at the heart of this book.  Sure it is a silly premise, but it is a rare Chick Lit find in that it is smart enough to realize that romance doesn't solve everything; people need personal growth and development in addition to their white knight (or lady equivalent).  Most important: it is a really fun read.  Older teens and ladies* who don't get carded anymore, make sure to throw this in your beach bag this summer (along with a bottle of water and sunblock - don' be a dummy!).

*Especially read this if you're digging what appears to be a revival of 1920s culture - I'm looking at you, all you recently opened speakeasies!  But honestly, if anyone wants to don a flapper dress, drink some giggle water, and learn the Charleston with me, I'm available. 

Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn: Sometimes books for grown ups happen, even to the best of us

Gone Girl
Gillian Flynn
Crown: New York, 2012
ISBN: 978-0297859383

By all accounts, Amy and Nick Dunn are the perfect couple, from looks on down to their marriage.  When the recession leaves both of them unemployed, they move from New York to Nick's suburban Missouri hometown to care for his terminally ill mother.  Using the remainder of Amy's trust fund, Nick opens a bar and they settle into a life very different from their urban one, until Amy disappears with signs of a struggle on the fifth anniversary.  Nick and the police are left bewildered, with few leads.  All is not as it seems in this contemporary noir though things are starting to point to Nick.  Told in alternating chapters between Amy's diary recalling their past, and Nick's narrative voice in the present, this novel is suspenseful and engaging.  It is easy to see why this became such a bestseller, and it is recommended for adults and mature teens aged 16 and up, for sexuality and violence (and sheer plot complexity).