Thursday, June 5, 2014

Bad Research, CPAP, Bowling and Brie.

The Distant HoursI have just returned a book to the library unfinished. The story wasn’t too bad, but the telling was long winded and it was full of inaccuracies. The tale was set in England during World War II (well a lot of it was) and I think the author should have done much better research than she obviously did. What made it worse was it was set, for the most part, in the county of Kent which is where I used to live and the setting was supposed to be by the English Channel but she mentioned a town as a close location, which is many miles from the Channel. A lot of the story was to do with evacuees – children who were sent to what was thought to be safe areas. Kent county was NOT one of those areas, they were shipped up north. Kent was much too close to London and suffered a lot of bombing. Then there were several children of one family who were generally not split up between homes. So to all my author friends, please do your research if you are using genuine backgrounds. That is one of the advantages of creating your own world I suppose, but then you have to be consistent.

I am sorry to say my CPAP mask was no better when I got to bed onMask Tuesday night so Thursday I am going back to get it checked out. I don’t understand, for the best part of a year I had no problems then the mask started leaking. Now it seems to continue leaking no matter what. Very frustrating.

Bowling Pin Placement 5Wednesday bowling  wasn’t much good again. I was doing so well earlier this year, now neither of us are bowling well, nor are the other two members of our team. All of us are experienced bowlers and capable of turning in better performances that we are giving at present. Oh well, it’s fun and the exercise isn’t bad. The worse you bowl the more exercise you get.

I bought a piece of Brie de Meaux the other day at Vincenzo’s, my Brie de Meauxfavourite store. Unfortunately it doesn’t last long. We are going up that way again today so maybe we’ll get some more especially as it is on special this week. Well I hope it still is anyway. This one was so soft and creamy it was absolutely delicious. I discovered they now have an Indian food counter with a guy cooking the food right there. That’s a new one. I didn’t stop to examine what he had but I would like to check it out. I could mortgage the farm in that store, there is so much I would like to buy.

Here’s a very simple asparagus recipe. I must try this tomorrow.

Asparagus with Curry Butter

2 tsp butter, meltedAsparagus with Curry Butter
1 tsp curry powder (see Tip)
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt, or to taste
2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 shallot, finely diced
1 bunch asparagus (about 1 pound), trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces

1. Combine butter, curry powder, lemon juice and salt in a small bowl.
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add shallot and cook, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add asparagus and cook, stirring, until just tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir the curry butter into the asparagus; toss to coat.

Servings: 4
Yield: 1/2 cup each
 
Tip: Check the ingredient label on your brand of curry powder: if it has added salt (as some do), you may omit the salt in the recipe or salt to taste.

Source: Eating Well

Have a great day
Jo

12 comments:

  1. Hi Jo - I see Kate Morton is Australian .. but I too hate inaccuracies. Sorry about the CPAP - that's frustrating and I hope it'll be fixed properly this time. The Brie looks delicious ... and I must get some more asparagus today .. cheers Hilary

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    1. Doesn't matter where she comes from, if she is going to write about the UK then she needs to take a trip over or find someone who knows about what she is using for her writing. Me too going there in a short while. It was, might pick up some more Brie today. Picking up asparagus tomorrow.

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  2. You are an author's worst nightmare - someone who has been to the location in question! Yeah, she should've done her research.

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    1. It wasn't just the locale mistakes Alex, it was the general evacuee inaccuracies. Like in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, they were evacuated a long way from London, not just an hour's drive.

      Calling me a nightmare eh!!!!

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  3. I don't like historical inaccuracies either. Funny you mention LWW b/c that's what I thought of as I was reading your post about the evacuees. I like brie but not the rind...are you supposed to eat that part? I always take it off and spread the soft part on a cracker. I sure hope I never have to sleep with a CPAP b/c it looks extremely uncomfortable.

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    1. Well of course C.S. Lewis was a Brit so he would have known all about it.

      As for the rind, it depends on the brie. Sometimes I peel it off and others I don't. With the Brie de Meaux I certainly didn't.

      Actually CPAPs are fine if you can get the mask right. Although Tina Downey had trouble with hers at the beginning.

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  4. I thought Kate Morton is Australian. Typical Aussie, don't let the truth get in the way of a good story! You mentioned the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Jo. My favourite childhood series. I've read it to my class every year and introduced hundreds of kids to C S Lewis :)

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    1. Yup, she is. Pity, it might have been a good story but I found it too irritating.

      I love the Narnia books and have the movies to date as well.

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  5. That is so bad when an author doesn't do the research and the errors glare off the page. Talk about diminishing credibility as the pages go by. Somebody needs to let the author know. Did you do a review on Amazon or anywhere?

    When I was reading Cormac McCarthy's The Road no locations were ever disclosed, but I could tell where the characters were and in the opening pages I knew exactly where they were because I had been there before and McCarthy's description were on the mark. I like accuracy and there's no excuse for not doing the research.

    Lee
    A Faraway View

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    1. Didn't do a review, thought about it. I did email the author.

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  6. I spent several months researching Mumbai because my story developed there. I even used the satellite views to get a better idea of how it is and sought to talk with people who lived there. Still, I was always frightened I wasn't accurate enough. I read one book, Noble House by James Clavell. He describes Hong Kong with such accuracy and the most amazing thing is that he had never been to Hong Kong when he wrote his stories. I agree with you, making up a world is easier in those regards.

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    1. This is my third try at replying. Hope your research paid off OK. Didn't know about Clavell never having been to Hong Kong. I love his books, my favourite being Shogun which I think is the best book I have ever read.

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