Comments | danceswithwords: So, about that heat wave...

danceswithwords

So, about that heat wave...

Jul 24, 2006 12:04

Northern California is generally pretty temperate near the coast, and nobody has air conditioning. In weather like this, things grind to a halt as everybody retreats to shady spots and lies around spraying themselves with water.

I spent part of the weekend at D.'s, since he's close to the ocean and his place was marginally cooler. My own house ( Read more... )

books: 2006, food: recipes, tales of the city

Comments 16

oh, wow, House of Leaves... laurashapiro July 24 2006, 19:19:47 UTC

What an amazing book.

Don't worry: IMO, it stays good. And creepy as hell. There's all kinds of stuff written about it, too, including a whole album of music inspired by it. I went kinda HOL-nuts when I first read it. (:

Your hummus recipe sounds great! Now that I'm soaking and cooking my own beans, I keep meaning to try hummus with homemade beans instead of canned. I'll bet there are rewards.

Re: oh, wow, House of Leaves... danceswithwords July 24 2006, 20:20:22 UTC

I went kinda HOL-nuts when I first read it.

I can understand the impulse; it has siezed my imagination entirely. And it is so very, very frightening.

I actually make this recipe with dried beans fairly frequently, depending on how much of a hurry I'm in and what I have in the cupboard (and, in this case, whether or not I wanted to die of heat stroke). I use 8 ounces of dried beans (between 1 and 1/3 cups).

Re: oh, wow, House of Leaves... danceswithwords July 24 2006, 20:21:17 UTC

Er, that's 1 and 1 1/3 cups.

It's a very scary book laurashapiro July 24 2006, 23:46:06 UTC

...although I'm not usually frightened by the printed page; for some reason it takes moving images to freak me out, and to them I am incredibly sensitive. I have sometimes wondered what it would be like to see the film described in the book. Surely someone must have bought the film rights by now. I can guarantee that I will reread the book from time to time, but you couldn't pay me enough to see that movie. ::shudder::

Thanks for the tip on the beans!

Thread 5

molly_may July 24 2006, 20:09:40 UTC

I met Mark Danielewski once, and the first thing that popped out of my mouth was "Your book scared the hell out of me!". Not very suave. He seemed flattered, though. It's been years since I've read it, but I would agree with Laura that it maintains quality all the way through.

danceswithwords July 24 2006, 20:22:36 UTC

Last night, I put it down and turned the light off and tried to go to sleep, and it took me about half an hour to talk myself down from the dread. It's really well done.

raislak July 24 2006, 20:10:40 UTC

Sending cold thoughts your way....

oops that came out wrong...

danceswithwords July 24 2006, 20:23:47 UTC

I could definitely use the iced tea! Mmm, iced tea.

zandra_x July 24 2006, 20:16:58 UTC

Mmmmm...hummus.

So very, very hot. My poor kitten was panting like a dog.

danceswithwords July 24 2006, 20:24:26 UTC

Aw. And with kittens, you can't even hose them down like you can dogs. Well, you can, but they'll claw the shit out of you, whereas dogs just look unhappy and put-upon.

brynnmck July 24 2006, 20:38:50 UTC

ARGH. SO HOT. My puppydog came home yesterday after three days of running around in the sun at daycare, and he pretty much just collapsed near one of the A/C vents and barely moved the rest of the night. Heh. I imagine your puppydog is in much the same situation, with as dark as his coat is.

But at least you are eating well despite the heat! I've never made hummus; maybe I should try it. Your recipe sounds delicious.

That book sounds good, but scary! Just this morning I was having a weird, half-awake nightmare as a result of watching Supernatural. I'm such a wuss. And I hate it, because that book sounds really interesting.

danceswithwords July 24 2006, 20:47:25 UTC

The puppydog definitely suffers from black dog in the hot sun syndrome, but you can always throw him in the ocean (he's not enthusiastic about going in on his own because the waves freak him out).

Hummus is ridiculously easy, and it makes good party food too.

House of Leaves is unbelievably compelling; it has taken over my brain in a way that's fairly rare even for books I like a lot. And it's hair-raising to the core.