Food and Wine

Food and wine are two subjects that invariably form my dinner conversations, whether dining with my husband or sharing a meal with friends.

This April, my parents came out from Canada to babysit while my husband and I enjoyed a trip to Paris  with our dear friends Mr. & Mrs. VG. After indulging our love of restaurant dining and wine pairings in Paris, my husband and Mr. VG continued on to Bordeaux while Mrs. VG and I returned to our children in Hong Kong. The boys joined a specialty tour to taste first-growth 2010 vintages from the barrel. Upon his return, my husband read The Billionaire's Vinegar.

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With the growing stack of parenting and half-finished books on my bedside table, I was a little resistant when my husband urged me to read this book. My husband has even less time than me to read, so for him to make the effort to start a book, and finish it too, convinced me to set aside the bedside stack and give this book a try.

The book is written in the style of a good Vanity Fair magazine article, so it was no surprise to learn that author Benjamin Wallace writes for GQ magazine, among others. It's a captivating story pack full of interesting facts about wine, wine writers and wine collectors.

My husband believes that this book can be read as a mystery novel without any wine knowledge. I disagree. This story is enjoyable when you have some prior knowledge of or experience with the wine world. I am a neophyte and I couldn't put the book down.

If any of the following mean anything to you, then The Billionaire's Vinegar is the book for you: vertical tastings, Riedel, Broadbent, into the shoulder.

In My Shopping Bag 2011/05/08

I'd like to share with you some books I bought today:

Multiple copies for gifting to friends

McSweeney's Quarterly Review

My husband loves to watch television shows about food, and enjoys sandwiches... and I love reading cookbooks

Another cookbook to add to our collection

Tiger Mom

I'm just getting over a week of non-stop coughing, and should be going to bed early, but instead I started reading Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother at midnight and finished it in one sitting, without leaving my spot in the corner of our sofa, from cover to cover (including acknowledgements and notes).




In a nutshell: I get Amy Chua! I get her because I'm a fraction of her: unsympathetic Chinese parents, but mine are liberal and loving; first-born, but never any pressure from parents for me to be first or carry the flag; Type-A personality, but I love sleep too much to ever achieve anything. (In college, I had read that US presidents and other great leaders all needed less than 6 hours of sleep.)

So, my immediate reaction after finishing this book was to get my 3 year-old started on piano (and so easy, I thought to myself, because the piano I've had since 1977 is now in our home in Hong Kong, though for the past 10 years it has been more a decorative item than musical instrument), to be followed in a couple of years by violin lessons for my 5 month-old.

And now, after two days to really think about the book, and a full-night's rest in between (for me, that's 9 hours), I still agree with and want to follow her parenting style, but perhaps just a fraction of it.

Actually, the book is more memoir than instructional guide. And Amy Chua is right, the humor is more relate-able if you were raised the Chinese way. Highly recommend!