A Tempest of Scattered Leaves

Looking at the fallen leaves, I feel empathy for the trees. At the peak of creativity, my colorful ideas are scattered all over the place. Last Friday a storm straight out of The Tempest blew through Maine. Rain lashed sideways and trees toppled. We lost power. In the dark, I sketched out an outline for a new novel (really plot fragments that could be woven into a narrative later) and quit work for the day.

Then I met two friends for a two-hour lunch at Trattoria Athena, a new Greek restaurant in Brunswick. I highly recommend the gyros and catching up with old friends. Years ago we used to get together weekly for playgroup. Our sons have remained close friends, but we had drifted apart lately. We laughed over how much busier we are driving our teenagers to activities now than when they were toddlers.

Not only am I a soccer mom, I’m a Shakespeare mom. My daughter plays center forward and on weekends Shakespeare takes center stage in her acting class. My son quit soccer to play evil Antonio in The Tempest, with rehearsals every day after school and tech work on weekends. I drive miles for the Bard. Luckily, my young adult novel “as u like it” is about teen actors and Shakespeare so I’ve been observing rehearsal and acting classes, getting double credit for parenting and work.

On the road I rake up inspiration for my novels. It’s hard to know where to draw the line between art and life. Am I writing about teen actors who love Shakespeare because of my kids or do my kids love Shakespeare and acting because I’m writing about it? I like to think that my young adult novel could plant the passion for Shakespeare. It keeps me going…mile after mile after mile.

Photos: back step, front yard maple, backyard maples, view from Bradbury Mountain in Pownell

Shakespeare Watch:


Helen Mirren is playing Prospero in a Miramax production of The Tempest! It looks absolutely amazing (movie release date: 12/10/10.) At my son's school, a talented girl was also cast in the lead role of Prospero. The character is actually more believable with the gender switch.

I'm always on the look out for Shakespeare themed novels. Don't you love the cover of this one?

Illyria by Elizabeth Hand takes Twelfth Night as an inspiration for an illicit love story between cousins who discover the joy of theater. Although Illyria was published (2010) as young adult fiction in the USA, the topic of incest, the 1970’s setting and the literary style make it better suited to an adult audience, in my opinion.

Hand is a Maine author, but Illyria was first published in the UK in 2007. Thank you, Beth Kephart, for the recommendation. No free products were received.

Fort Popham Beach

March means mud season in Maine . . .  shall we escape to the beach?

Fort Popham reminds me of other half finished work.

Lobster traps featured in S.A.D. and now in a work in progress.

An old wharf remembers better days.

Imagination is at home on an island.

 Sea stars sparkle.

Shakespeare Watch: Macbeth opens on Thursday March 12, 2010 at the Theater Project in Brunswick, Maine. Director Al Miller blogged about why he staged Macbeth with teenaged actors. I've been observing rehearsals to research my young adult novel. I love the genuine delivery and passion that teen actors bring to the famous lines.

Wondrous Strange & Darklight by Lesley Livingston: interview & review

Fairies mingle with mortals at Tavern on the Green in Central Park 

When I finished writing “as u like it,” I searched for other young adult novels with a Shakespeare theme and found the enchanting Wondrous Strange (2008.) The sequel, Darklight, was released on December 22, 2009 (on January 14, 2010 in Canada.) By coincidence, the author Lesley Livingston and I are both represented by the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, although by different agents.

Lesley’s novels, unlike mine, are paranormal fantasy and feature the fairies from A Midsummer Night's Dream. These aren’t cutesy flower fairies, but strong, passionate characters. They remind me of The Lord of the Rings fairies in their penchant for violence and romantic dalliances with humans. Quests are central to the epic narrative.

Lesley studied Shakespeare in graduate school and was a founder/actor of the Tempest Theater Group. That’s Lesley (to left) in her Nurse costume from Romeo and Juliet. Backstage was a bit cramped so she used a shower for her make up room! The actress/author does a fine job of introducing the reader to Shakespearean characters and storylines without sounding didactic.  Her novel alternates between the interlocking stories of Kelley and Sonny.

My 12-year-old daughter’s review of Wondrous Strange

The protagonist, Kelley, is a professional actress who got the role of Tatiana from A Midsummer Night's Dream in a Shakespeare production. She is mostly described as an average 17-year-old girl until later on she figures out a huge secret about her past.

The story is set in Manhattan, which makes it quite intriguing and different. There are small little paths, portals and places in Central Park that lead her into the Otherworld. The book is written thoroughly and descriptively, which makes you feel that as the reader, you are being lead into a mystical world where fantasies and fairies are true.

The story was wonderful because it was an adventurous, magical page-turner. The characters individually were strong; I particularly liked Tyffanwy, also known as Tyff, who is more than she appears to be. The one criticism I have is that the relationship between Kelley and Sonny was confusing to me.

Sarah Laurence's review of Darklight

Sonny and Kelley’s complicated relationship is the central storyline of Darklight. Romeo and Juliet provides the inspiration. We are talking star-crossed lovers and tragic romance. Kelley comes into her own in Darklight. In Wondrous Strange Kelley had a bad habit of blacking out and needing others to rescue her. Of the two main characters, Sonny is more appealing. He’s a foundling (ie. a kidnapped human baby raised by fairies) of surprising origins who becomes a brave warrior-guard of the gate separating our world from the Otherworld. There's a lot of spilled fairy blood. This series isn’t for the squeamish, but it isn’t gratuitously violent either.

Morality pervades the books, but good and evil aren’t black and white. The most interesting characters came in shades of grey (and green!) The secondary characters (fairies and Janus guards) often steal the stage.  My favorite character was the broody Fennrys Wolf.  I loved the Central Park setting and the Shakespeare references. Theatricality pervades the narrative, stylistically as well.

Darklight is the middle book of the trilogy and should not be read alone. You might want to read the prologue last because it doesn’t make any sense until the end of the novel. The ending leaves the reader longing for the final book in the trilogy, since very little was resolved.

Interview of Lesley Livingston 

by Sarah Laurence and her daughter

What was your favorite book growing up and why?

When I was really young, I devoured horse stories. I think I read the entire Black Stallion series about ten times over. When I was a teenager, I discovered mythology and history and legendary stories. I discovered Celtic tales of wonder. And I met King Arthur. I became absolutely fascinated by the Age of Camelot and read everything Arthurian I could get my hands on. My favorite, to this day, is a book called Firelord by Parke Godwin. I found it as a paperback in a convenience store wire rack on a family vacation down in Montana, and it was the book that started my Arthur craze. It is told from Arthur’s point of view as he lies dying in Avalon. It is gritty and realistic and heartbreaking and funny and full of lyrical, muscular prose. It has Voice. And I usually re-read it once every year or two. It is the book that made me want to be a writer.

Were you interested in the theater as a kid? What got you into acting?

I’ve always been interested in acting. I think because I’ve always wanted to be a storyteller—whether they were my own stories, or those written by others that I could bring to life for an audience. Then, when I first read Romeo and Juliet, it was like some kind of fireworks went off in my head. That was it. I was hooked. That photo (to right) was my acting headshot when I was about Kelley's age or maybe a couple of years older.

Central Park and Shakespearean fairies are an original mix. What was the inspiration?

I’ve been fascinated by Faerie lore in general since I was a kid. The stories that intrigued me the most were never the ones that portrayed the Fae as tiny, sweet, sparkly things. Rather, I was drawn to the idea that these were the creatures that existed beyond the circle of firelight, or just on the other side of the threshold, or just over that far hill; things only ever glimpsed out of the corner of your eye – if you were lucky! I love the dangerous aspects of the Fair Folk. I always appreciated that you got that sense with Shakespeare’s characters. That, given just a little nudge, things could go badly south with those creatures pretty quickly.

As to how that fascination managed to find a home in the middle of an adventure set in NYC, well, I had some time ago written a short story about an actress in a production of Dream in which some of the characters in the play were actually real Faeries. It was a fun little character piece and it stuck with me as something to expand upon. But, if it was going to become a longer tale, it needed a truly extraordinary setting outside of just the theatre.

When I went down to New York for the first time to meet my agent, I—naturally—paid a visit to Central Park. I fell instantly, irrevocably in love with the place. And with its history. The Park was the most magical place I had ever been and it virtually demanded that I turn it into a setting for a story. For some reason, it was just perfect for this story. It fits so well with the play and the pastoral setting, but there is also a whole bunch of really interesting history behind the building of the Park that just dovetailed wonderfully with what I had in mind.

How were you able to research Central Park and life in NYC while living in Canada?

It’s a pretty short hop from Toronto to NYC. At the time I was writing the book, I had friends living in an apartment about half a block from the Columbus Circle gateway to Central Park. I would stay with them and got to know the city quite well (my agent and editor helped get me acclimatized, too). I would always visit the Park and take long, foot-killing strolls all over the place. Even after dark! (My one friend works out a lot and is fairly physically imposing so it was never the least bit scary, even in the middle of the night.)

As far as learning about Park history and anything else I needed, well that was just good old-fashioned research: books and maps and the Internet.

Did you have a roommate or a friend like Tyff?

I had a couple of friends in high school who were crazy party-girl fashionista-types. But, as far as Tyff’s attitude goes… well, it’s kind of funny, but she’s probably the character in the book that sounds most like me! If I were tall and ridiculously gorgeous and had an unending closet, I swear you wouldn’t be able to tell us apart. Heh.

Which Shakespeare play is central to the last book in the trilogy and when is it due to be released?

The third book (or, as I call it, Book the Third – it doesn’t have an official title yet!) is scheduled to release at the end of 2010. It links thematically with The Tempest and was way too much fun to write. Plus, I’m not entirely convinced I’ve left the world of Wondrous Strange behind for good…there are potentially a few Otherworldly tales that remain yet to be told. ;-)

What’s the best advice you’ve had on writing?

Not so much advice necessarily as just a plain truth that was very subtly impressed upon me every time I went to lunch with a well-known author friend of mine. We’d sit down and he’d say “Are you writing?” and if I couldn’t answer “Yes” he would get a certain look on his face. The one that made me make sure I would be able to answer “Yes” the next time I saw him.

Because writers write. It’s as simple as that. You can talk about the great story idea you have rolling around in your head until the crack of doom but if you don’t sit your butt down and get the words out, then you are not a writer. Writers write. And then they re-write. And then they write something else. Rinse. Repeat.

Thank you so much for this, Sarah! It’s been so much fun!

Reviewer's Disclosure: I bought Wondrous Strange (now available in paperback) and requested the ARC of Darklight. Harper Collins Canada sent me the ARC when the US office ran out of copies. Thank you Canada!  Author photos were provided by Lesley Livingston - color portrait of Lesley by John Rait.  I took the Central Park photos on Thanksgiving 2009, inspired by this series.

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The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton: found for real in London

Walking up Drayton Gardens, a residential road in London, we saw a little house, wedged between townhouses. Above the ancient door was a mural of the house’s pastoral grandeur. Like the shepherd at the gate, I stopped in my tracks. Tears welled up in my eyes.


Growing up in Manhattan, one of my favorite books was The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton. My father saved it from his childhood collection. He would have been 6 and living in Manhattan too when it was released in 1942.

Sadly that first edition book did not survive my children. I cried the day I found the yellowed pages scattered in the nursery. I replaced it and supervised picture book reading after that.

The Little House is an American tale of a small pink house in the country. She sees the distant lights of the city and wonders what it would be like to live there. Over the years, the city sprawls towards her. Abandoned by the family who built her, she grows derelict and is trapped between skyscrapers, no longer able to see the stars at all.

“Then one fine morning in Spring along came the great-great-great-grandaughter of the man who built the Little House so well. She saw the shabby Little House, but didn’t hurry by.”

The Little House was published in 1942, but the story feels like a current tale of urban sprawl. Burton’s gorgeous illustrations remind me of another favorite artist, Grandma Moses. Her words are both poetic and visionary. The Little House won the Caldecott Medal in 1943.

Back in the 1970s, my family lived in a brownstone in a vanishing neighborhood of low-rise buildings. The old wood frame building next door, one of the last remaining in the city, was torn down to build a “pencil building” before laws banned them. Pencil buildings were mini-apartment buildings, built on a single lot.

On the avenues, rows of century old townhouses were razed to build luxury condominium high-rises. The Old World feeling of Yorkville became Upper East Side posh. Today there are no more children playing unattended on the sidewalks. Brownstones remain midblock, wedged between huge apartment buildings.

SPOILER ALERT

Living in small town Maine now, I feel like the Little House dug up from the city and transported:

“ As the Little House settled down

on her new foundation,

she smiled happily.

Once again she could watch

the moon and the stars.

Once again she could watch

Spring and Summer

and Fall and Winter

come and go.

Once again

she was lived in

and taken care of.”

Virginia Lee Burton passed away in 1968, when I was just learning how to turn pages without tearing them. Burton’s picture books are still in print today through Houghton Mifflin. The Little House would make a special holiday gift for your child or grandchild. Of the many books I passed onto other children when mine got older, this one remains on my shelf and in my heart.

Do you have a favorite picture book from your childhood?

Book Award Watch: Tonight is the National Book Award. I'm rooting for Maine author Phillip Hoose.  Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice tells the true story of a teenaged girl who refused to give her seat to a white woman on the bus. Colvin was jailed 9 months before Rosa Parks and went on to testify in court against segregation. Hoose interviewed Colvin to tell this true heroic tale, for the first time giving it the attention it deserves. Hoose's guest tonight is Colvin. I dare you to watch the video above with dry eyes.  Update: Phillip Hoose won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature - congratulations!

Shakespeare Watch: the Brunswick High School in Maine is performing Much Ado About Nothing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 7pm and 2pm matinee on Saturday.  In addition to a ticket, bring one item of non-perishable food to contribute to the food drive.  Ten percent of ticket sales are also going towards the hunger drive, once costume costs are paid.  The kids are doing a great job with this delightful romantic comedy.  I've been observing rehearsals to research my young adult novel as u like it.

Shakespeare's Home and Gardens

Last June to research my novel “as u like it,” I visited Shakespeare’s home in Stratford-upon-Avon. I wasn’t the first writer to do so.  Many authors have scrawled their signatures like graffiti on the walls, as if they could tattoo their mild celebrity on his literary skin. 

Shakespeare’s name is immortal, marked on our creative conscience.  The visit to his home reminded me that he was a real person, the son of a possibly illiterate tanner/glover.  His house was still impressively large, especially for his time.

The gardens were small but lovely, featuring blooms he'd mentioned in his writing.  In the courtyard period-dressed actors performed scenes from his plays.  Mid June is a good time to visit, before the big summer crowds.  Only the Shakespeare museum and gift-shop were tacky-touristy. 

The portrait gallery was worth the trip in itself.  Hanging on the wall, was the most recently discovered (March 2009) painting of Shakespeare, perhaps the only to have been done during his lifetime.  His hair is rich auburn and his expression bemused. The portrait is by an unknown artist and shows mixed mastery from the well-rendered beard to the clumsy ear.  There was still an emotional liveliness to it, unusual for the period.  Shakespeare was in his 40's, close to me in age.  I stared into his eyes for close to an hour and felt a connection.  A reproduction is pinned above my desk (blog image from the guardian.co.uk.)

We found the perfect place for lunch: the As You Like It Café.  A good sign?  It didn’t even rain on us in the courtyard.  The café is conveniently on 20 Henley Street.

After lunch we walked across Henley Street to the Shakespeare Bookshop.  Heaven.  I could have spent hours browsing through all the books that ranged from academic volumes to manga Shakespeare.  There would be room on the bookshelf for my “as u like it” in the children’s/young adult section.  I didn’t see anything else like it there. 

I bought The Arden Dictionary of Shakespeare Quotations and Bill Bryson’s short and entertaining biography, aimed at a general audience. Bryson explains in his usual droll tone:

 

“To answer the obvious question, this book was written not so much because the world needs another book on Shakespeare, as because this series [of biographies] does.  The idea is a simple one: to see how much of Shakespeare we can know, really know, from the record.  Which is one reason, of course, it’s so slender.”

With many amusing anecdotes, Bryson places Shakespeare in his historical context and dismisses the naysayers who claimed the parochially schooled actor couldn’t have written those most literary plays and sonnets.  It’s a fun and easy read.  I absolutely loved it.

For those looking for a more scholarly biography of Shakespeare, I'd strongly recommend Will in the World by Stephen Greenblatt at Harvard University.  I didn't include biographical material in my young adult novel, but both books added to my understanding and appreciation of Shakespeare's work.  Call it character research as the Bard is a presence in my contemporary novel. 

Shakespeare is so much more than his words on a page.  No visit to Stratford-upon-Avon is complete without watching a Royal Shakespeare Company performance.  Book ahead.  In June they were performing As You Like it.  A second good sign! 

Over the three years that I’ve lived in England, I’ve seen many RSC performances in London.  This is Shakespeare at its best with perfect elocution, emotional depth and attention to period detail.  Every single actor is strong, working together as an ensemble.  RSC alumni include Kenneth Branagh (I love his Shakespeare films,) Ralph Fiennes and Patrick Stewart.

As You Like It came to life on the stage with a strong Rosalind (Katy Stephens) and an amusingly melancholy Jaques.  They had been banished from court to the northern woods.   At the interval (intermission) an actor actually skinned a rabbit on stage.  Shakespeare’s Arden Forest is a fallen Eden:

“Here feel we not the penalty of Adam,

The seasons’ difference, as the icy fang

And churlish chiding of the winter’s wind,

Which when it bites and blows on my body….”

And yet in this harsh, adverse setting, the true meaning of life is found:

“Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,

Sermons in stones, and good in everything.”

My pilgrimage to Shakespeare’s birthplace was well worth the journey.

Blog Watch: for the latest news on Shakespeare performances, books, movies, scholarships, blogs etc., check out The Shakespeare Post.

as u like it

Ready for a revelation? I just finished writing my first young adult novel. In “as u like it” the themes of a Shakespeare play echo in the teen actors’ lives. The plot and characters are original, and the story is set now in NYC. The tone is light and entertaining.

For “as u like it” I drew on my experience growing up in Manhattan. My twelve-year-old daughter helped me make the characters sound up to date. I have tons of material with a tween girl and a teenaged boy living in my house. It was so much fun being able to work on a book with my daughter.

My children introduced me to the fabulous world of young adult literature that has blossomed since Harry Potter. Even though my kids have outgrown bedtime stories, I still like to read along with them occasionally. I’ve learned more about young adult fiction from book bloggers, like The Story Siren. The quality of the writing was a pleasant surprise. Fabulous authors, such as Laurie Halse Anderson, inspired me to try my hand at this genre.

Like any big production, there is a stage crew in the wings. My friend Marika Josephson (pictured at right), an assistant editor of KidSpirit Magazine, offered to be my first reader after my husband. Her experience working with 11-15 year olds was a big help as was her keen editorial eye. 

Two of my friends in Maine are young adult authors who encouraged me. Charlotte Agell (pictured at left) was a reader for “as u like it.” I was a reader of her latest novel, Shift. On dog walks Maria Padian and I discuss our works in progress. Her teenaged daughter was interested in my story and had experience at reading manuscripts critically.  Maria’s daughter and my daughter are fans of Shakespeare.

The manuscript needed several test drives. I purposely tried the story on a neighbor’s daughter who didn’t like Shakespeare. I wanted yet another reader who didn’t know me personally so Adrian (pictured below with me), who was a high school sophomore like the protagonist, was a great addition to my critique team. My young readers were really helpful, honestly critical and enthusiastic.

Writing for young adults is different than writing for older readers. Tweens and teens look for an emotional connection with the characters and demand a fast pace. YA books tend to be a bit shorter, 60K words instead of the 90K words norm for adult fiction. The author should avoid too much descriptive detail that can make the book drag. The story must be easy to follow.

Part of the reason I chose As You Like It was because it is one of the easiest of Shakespeare’s plays to read. It is written more in prose than in verse, and the main characters are teenagers in love. A central theme is the fickleness of reputation, one that resonates with teens today too. Shakespeare’s protagonist, Rosalind, kicks back when treated unfairly. She pulls the strings of love like a puppeteer. As You Like It was the first Shakespeare play I read for fun; I was 14 and taking acting at camp.

My aim is to make Shakespeare fun and understandable to anyone. A Bowdoin College professor of Renaissance Literature, Aaron Kitch (pictured at right) checked my Shakespeare and loved how it worked in the story.  My cousin Gabrielle Savoldelli checked the acting scenes and showed me teenaged hangouts in Manhattan, where she lives and teaches school.


Blog buddies helped too: Mama Shujaa (pictured at left) filled in Kenyan expat details, and Cynthia@Oasis Writing Link and her family proofed my Spanish. My book is fiction, but I wanted it to ring true.

While my literary agent has “as u like it,” I will get back to work on my next book. Like any mom, I’m used to multi-tasking. Looking back through my blog archives, I can trace the birth of this latest novel.

Some of you may remember that I got struck by a new book idea last December during an ice storm. I tried to ignore it so I could finish another work in progress first, but the new book wouldn’t leave me alone.

Remember that beach walk in February when I pondered the new book idea? By the end of that month, I had turned my full attention to writing “as u like it.” Now, while I wait to hear feedback from my agent, I’ll get back to work on the next book. I try to have several projects going on at once to avoid downtime. Book publishing is a slow industry.

You shouldn’t see a change in my blog since I’ve always posted content suitable for all ages. My kids read my blog. I’ll continue to read and to review both fiction and young adult fiction. But maybe I won’t post another cocktail recipe!

You can click on the “as u like it” label below to follow the blog string. Photo of Aaron by Bowdoin College, of Mama Shujaa by Corey McGriff, of Marika by Wayne Kao, and photo of Adrian and me by Charlotte Agell. All other photos taken by me.

Visit my website for an as u like it jacket blurb.

Noguchi Museum & Manhattan Dining

I fell in love with a sculptor in New York City. Isamu Noguchi was born in LA in 1904 to an American writer and a Japanese poet. His studio was in Queens. In 1985 Noguchi converted a factory into The Noguchi Museum. Some of his best pieces he kept for himself, even making new sculptures for commissions if his first attempt was too good. He worked into his 80's and died 11 years ago. Noguchi’s sculptures glow with eternal light.

The current expedition (through May 31, 2009) shows Noguchi’s Akari light sculptures from the 1986 Venice Biennale. The word Akari means “light as illumination” and implies “weightlessness” in Japanese (exhibit pamphlet.) They appear to float in the dim gallery space like celestial objects. The exhibition also reminded me of the gardens of Kyoto at night time.

There is humor in Noguchi’s work that appeals to the child in us all. My 14-year-old son laughed over the enormous space larvae before a chessboard wall (above). My 11-year-old daughter loved the cosmic firefly (below) that looked like it might scurry away.

These gorgeous, glowing Akaris created controversy at the Venice Biennale. Critics called them too commercial and claimed that these were light fixtures, decorative arts. Yeah, and Rodin’s statues are garden gnomes.

The most impressive thing about Noguchi was his ability to sculpt in so many media. He is perhaps best known for his stone sculptures that stand in many a museum garden. Noguchi’s gallery displays some in a semi-courtyard space that allows the natural light to caress the work. Those are real trees in the background.

These larger than life sculptures look even more stunning close up. Check out the texture, color and composition of his cuts. It was hard not to touch. This was not my first visit to the museum with my children. Last time I had my baby daughter strapped to my chest and ran after my 3-year-old son who was delighted by the unusual and familiar shapes. “Don’t touch!”

I didn’t take in much of the art back then, but my little son loved it. This time we all appreciated it, and I could take my time to look closely. My children were equally mesmerized. My daughter danced through the studio in a trance. I enjoyed their reactions as much as the art.

We thought this piece was like driftwood or seaweed.

The Noguchi Museum has a sculpture garden as well. The weeping cherries are blooming at this time of year. This typical Noguchi sculpture before the cedar would look beautiful anytime of year.

These stones on mulch reminded me of Japanese rock gardens or space eggs. Noguchi’s work speaks to the classic Japanese tradition but also to something new and original. He embodies a balance of East and West. The Noguchi Museum is definitely worth a trip to Queens. The café serves a very good lunch too.

Later that rainy day we visited the new Museum of Art and Design. Affectionately called MAD, the museum has recently relocated to its own building on Columbus Circle, Manhattan. It’s a cool space, but only a few galleries are open so far. I was not especially impressed by the current exhibits although my DIY dad loved the radiators as art exhibit. This is a museum devoted to decorative art, very different from Noguchi’s work.

My favorite part of MAD was the funky, if expensive, museum store. My parents bought me a practical but stylish handbag there. In real life it’s more olive and metallic bronze than brown. I desperately needed something large enough to lug around my DSLR camera or manuscripts that wasn’t a backpack. I well appreciate decorative art too. Coincidentally, the creator of Highway bags was born in Japan.

Art, a bit of shopping and lots of dining are my favorite NYC activities. This visit I dined at two small restaurants with delicious food, good atmosphere and reasonable prices. They were both in Lower East Manhattan.

Frankie’s Spuntino is small and intimate like a restaurant in northern Italy. The homemade pastas and fresh salads were tasty and well priced for NYC. Dinner for 3 (appetizers, mains, one dessert and a half bottle of good wine) came to under $100. The candlelit atmosphere was very romantic with a high tin ceiling and a fresh cut bough of cherry blossoms in the large window.

My only objection was it was too dim to read the menus without a flashlight, a common problem in NYC restaurants lately. Luckily we had one on a key chain. My school friends and I spent hours over dinner without being rushed. I’ll be back.

Frankie’s Spuntino
17 Clinton Street
Tel: (212) 253-2303
No reservations.
There is a second Frankie’s in Brooklyn.

Another culinary gem is Shabu-Tatsu in East Village, featuring cook-your-own sukiyaki and shabu-shabu. The meal consists of paper thin slices of beef, fresh vegetables, tofu and noodles that you add to a simmering pot of brown broth. It gets tastier as the flavors mingle. My Japanese sister-in-law, who lives outside NYC, recommended this restaurant.

Shabu-shabu restaurants, common in Japan, are becoming hard to find in New York. Liability is making restaurant owners reluctant to risk splattering fat and open flames. Such a shame. The atmosphere upstairs was pleasant in cherry wood and rice paper, but the basement was a bit smelly. The small restaurant was packed with Asian clients, always a good sign, and reasonably priced at $18.75 per person for the complete meal, including ice cream. Sapporo beer on tap was a good addition.

Shabu-Tatsu
216 10th Street (bet 1st and 2nd)
East Village, NYC
Tel: (212) 477-2972
reservations only for 6 or more

My friend Marika met me for dinner and was very tolerant of our fictional company. My characters were looking for a romantic first date, and there is nothing like cooking sukiyaki together to help break the ice. A novelist is an odd dinner companion. Luckily I site my stories in good places. You are what you eat, and I am what I write.

Central Park daffodils

It was hot and sunny 80's when we left NYC. Back in Maine it got to the upper 70's. We went to the beach, but only my son was brave enough to swim with Stella and the seals. The water was frigid, but the snow is finally gone!

Blog Watch: spring fever is in the air. Bee Drunken enjoyed gorgeous Texas bluebonnets while visiting her home state, reminding me of English bluebells captured by Just a Plane Ride Away. Both women moved to England from Texas and have fun expat blogs. New to my blog community, Cid@Blog Like No One is Reading posted a funny photo that encapsulated spring fever in northern climates. The biggest laugh came from troutbirder with a new twist on 2 eggs any style.