Cloud Atlas

Cloud Atlas is a doozy of a book. Erin created a fabulous fall feast at Nancy's house and we got down to some serious discussion after we competed against each other in a little "Cloud Atlas SAT Prep" session Greta prepared.  The author David Mitchell is quite a show off when it comes to vocabulary.  He used about a thousand words none of us knew throughout the book and Greta rounded up 30 or so of them into a game of match the definition with the word.  It wasn't pretty.  The competition was fierce, and I'm pretty sure there wasn't a winner.  But I was too busy drinking champagne to really mind.

open that champagne, Nancy!

We were pretty evenly split as far as "liking" or "not liking" this book, but we all agreed it was a hard read to get into (or even stay into in some cases.)  It's not a book one breezes through.

The topics and themes in this book are incredibly complex and intense, so our discussion was reflective of that.  We laughed a lot, but we also talked about some weighty, serious concepts, like:

• The author's incredible talent in writing different genres and using creative language


• The interconnectedness of people throughout time and history


• Racism, oppression, and uprising (The rise and fall of civilizations)


• The nature of people, (Nature vs. Nurture) and our own ability to do good or evil


• The definitions of intellectual property, craftsmanship, and art.  "The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." -Einstein


• Life, love, selfishness, making the world a better place, and of course, sharing the candlenut tree

Fun Facts:

Erin has a connection at Brianna's...can you tell?

Erin is also incredibly crafty.  We all had cute little wrapped presents waiting on our plates...

with beautiful hand-made crocheted bookmarks inside.  Too adorable!

The table was gorgeous.  The pumpkin soup (served from a real pumpkin!) was like a dessert.

But the real dessert was the best pecan pie I've ever tasted.  And Erin has shared her recipe with us!

Perfect Pie crust
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/12/p-p-p-pie_crust_and_its_p-p-p-perfect/

Pecan Pie

This is pretty much your basic Pecan pie recipe and  my Ma Ellen taught me a couple of tweaks she uses to make her pie the best Pecan Pie I've ever had.  So here is the recipe according to Ma Ellen.

1/2 c butter
1/2 c sugar
3 eggs
1 c light karo syrup
1/2 c pecans chopped for filling ( I usually chop some in a food processor to get the pecans finely chopped)
and additional to lay on top of pie
1 tbsp vanilla

preheat oven to 400*
Melt butter in a pan to a simmer and mix well with sugar*
Remove from heat
Add eggs, syrup, chopped pecans and vanilla.

Pour into unbaked pie crust

Bake 45 min or until golden
cover edges of pie with foil if edges get to brown before pie is baked

-Melting the butter adds a caramelized taste.
-Chopping the pecans finely before adding to the filling.

These are the tweaks my Ma Ellen taught me.  -Erin

One last fun fact, and it's just two words: Bombshell Bra