Factory Girls by Leslie T. Chang

This was the selection for the book group this month. This is absolutely not a book I would ever pick out, and I guess that is one of the great things about a book club - broadening your horizons a little. I ended up really liking this book a lot.

This book was like 2 stories intertwined - the first was just what the name of the book described - factory workers in China, and how the young women leave their rural villages to go work in the cities. It discussed an overview of business, of what the workers do and have to do to get ahead, how these young women change the dynamics of the family when they are the primary breadwinners and also followed some women longitudinally over a few years to see what became of them. I liked this part of the book.

The other story this book told was how the Cultural Revolution affected China and how that affected the author's own family. This part of the book made me realize how much I had forgotten of 9th grade global history and reading The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck. I may have to pick that one up....

Went to the Standard for dinner (love those lemon drop martinis), then to see the movie Julie & Julia. It was a nice sweet movie...I liked the way they did the two stories intertwining, and of course Meryl Streep was incredible.

Last night the wine group met at Dale Miller for drinks and some apps...This restaurant has been all the talk on the Table Hopping blog, so when I saw the opportunity I jumped on it....

Started with a glass of Joseph Carr Merlot, which I have had before - (actually I think I started this blog talking about it...) then ordered the trio of small plates:

#1 - champagne poached oysters on lobster/brie fritatta with a "dollop" of caviar

#2 - asian vegetable rolls with dipping sauce and "tempura haricot vert" (battered green beans) and #3 duck confit firecrackers, with pea shoot salad. WOW. very delicious combination of tastes, especially the oyster dish.

I am just going to think of an excuse to go back there for dinner. Actually I may just want one bite of everything on the menu...

Food, Inc.

Saw this movie last night. I can't even tell you. It was disturbing on so many different levels. From the misery inflicted on the animals we eat - cows, pigs, chickens, (horrifying really) to the antibiotics and irradiation that happens so we don't all get Ecoli or some other horrible bacteria....to the actual fact that more and more food is contaminated and the Supreme Court ruled that the food inspectors do not have the POWER to shut down plants that continually have contamination. The fact that you may be taking your life in your hands every time you eat something you don't know where it came from.
That big business owns these huge factory farms, and MONSANTO owns virtually every soybean on the earth, due to their patent on genetically modified soybeans, and heaven help anyone that hasn't bought their seeds, they swoop down with the force of a billion lawyers....nobody can fight that, even if they are in the right... So basically we can't eat beef, chickens, pork, or soybeans. What's left? This movie truly scared me, .. cause you just know it's true.

Graham Parker at Caffe Lena

Graham Parker finally played the hallowed ground that is known as Caffe Lena in Saratoga (the August place to be).

The room holds about 80, and from where I could see, not an empty seat in the house...

Set List as follows:

Hard Side of the Rain

Ambiguous

Problem Child

Guillotine of Guadelupe

Brand New Book

Pollinate

Life Gets Better

New song #1 Belleayre Mountain

New Song #2 Not where u think u are

Devil's Sidewalk

Black Lincoln Continental

Saturday Night is Dead

Love Gets You Twisted

Discovering Japan

Passion is no Ordinary Word

Temporary Beauty

Don't Let it Break You Down

Back In Time

Last Stop is Nowhere

Heat Treatment

This was an incredible show- such an intimate space and almost a brand new audience - only recognized one other person in the audience...

Valleycats game

Michael #2 and I went to the valleycats game the other night. As I said before, Ernie Williams played prior to the game...The game was fairly uneventful, other than 2 outfielder collisions - they must have forgotten to CALL IT - and the best part of the event of the game is when this pig drives up, and throws tshirts to the crowd... I like this little pig. (the other best part is when the condiments race on their mini-bikes. Ketchup won).

Here is the weird, I mean really weird part of the evening... Michael invited his son to meet us at the game.  Hadn't met him before, but have heard about him and his many girlfriends and exploits.  He's about 25. 
WELL, M hadn't mentioned me, in any manner, like that I would be at the game too, so it was totally awkward - who am I, where did we meet, how long have we been 'dating' (we aren't dating, just doing things together).
Michael sat on one side of me, and his son on the other.  They hardly talked at all...OK SO, it is understandable why the son has so many girls...he is really attractive.  Built like the brick-carrying construction worker that he is (huge arms), not handsome in the traditional way, has a Roman nose, but he has this charisma that I was really conscious of...he was chatting me up like he was gonna steal Dad's girl and yes, this kid was HOT...(no, nothing would ever happen). Then he proceeded to get drunk (yes, he was driving) and we all left separately.  WEIRD

Ferrari's

Went with the work folks back to Ferrari's. Very good italian food, good service and the calimari, (which I never really liked too much) is very good here, very light batter to it, not that heavy breading that you get sometimes...

This is the work place to go for any celebration - this time it was to celebrate the new job of one of the secretarys. Hope she enjoys the new digs.

Mexican Radio - Hudson

I finally went to Mexican Radio, the mexican restaurant that won for best in the Metroland before, even though it is almost an hour outside Albany. Annie came up from Westchester, and it was about a halfway point to meet and catch up after all these years. She suggested it, (or I still wouldn't have been there!). The decor was very beautiful, that yellow on the wall is almost what I have in my living room! no wonder I love it ! The one wall has these beautiful crosses - I don't think you can see it in my picture, but they have hearts, jesus faces, and other interesting symbols. The service was great, a young man who was very personable, friendly and gave good suggestions from the menu and specials. Then of course, the food. Annie had guacamole and chips, and a vegan burrito that was served cold, with side of rice and beans. I had a bowl of the most wonderful soup - first of all you know I love that butternut squash soup -well this was a bowl of half butternut soup, cool, and sweet and creamy - and the other half had a spicy hot black bean soup, with some crema drizzled across and some chopped up greens in the middle (parsley? mint? I don't remember darn it!) It was incredible the way the tastes mingled. delicious. Then I had the mexican mac n cheese, which had onions, peppers and was way cheesy but not like kraft....very good.
Of course we also had a pitcher (small) of margaritas - helped the conversation get started after all these years...
It was great, and I can't wait till we do it again.

Old friends are the best friends.

Blood and Bone Marrow Drives

I read in the newspaper that there was a blood drive and bone marrow registry drive at the Colonie Town Hall. I had been putting off donating blood for ages, since I can't stand the thought of the needle (yes, even though I recieved blood when I needed it) - but I sucked it up because of the bone marrow drive. There was a story in the TU about the man on whose behalf the drive was being held...it is terrible to know that only 1 in 30,000 people could be a match...It is a simple swab to the inside of the cheek. Couldn't be any easier, and who knows - I might be the one in 30,000 for somebody.

Ernie Williams

http://www.erniewilliams.com/

Saw Ernie play at the Valleycats game. If you look at his bio, you know how great it is that he is out playing nearly every night now -at age 82. Sometimes it takes a long time to realize your dreams...