L o b a B l a n c a {dot} c o m

Whoever came up with the system that provides recommendations to Amazon.com customers based on their previous purchases really needs to tweak a few things. I just received the following notice:

Because, truly, if any two movies belong together, they are Kalifornia and the Beethoven series. In fact, I don’t think a better cinematic pairing has occurred since the splendiferous serendipity of the Candyman/Mary Poppins double feature at the 1998 Fhuthawuckia Festival.

Actually, this pairing reminds me of one of my favorite YouTube videos. Some clever git out there recut scenes from Mary Poppins and turned them into a trailer for a horror movie called Scary Mary. Quite effective job they did, too.

This was the perfect sorbet after a hearty meal like Dan Raviv’s tome against Wall Street greed. I actually finished this one in a little more than a day. I was just too lazy to come online this weekend to write about it. Yeah, sorry about that.

I must confess that I do enjoy watching some of the shows on Food Network. I’m by no means a culinary aficionado. I boil a mean pot of water and I’ve been told that my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are to die for Okay, that’s not completely true, but I’m not really a fan of cooking. I do, however love some of the Food Network stars. Chief among the elite is, of course, Paula Deen. I like real women. I think Paula falls smack in the middle of that category – either that or she’s a better actor than Elizabethtown revealed her to be.

This memoir, It Ain’t All About the Cookin’, while a quick read, was packed with the intimate details of how Paula Deen went from small town Georgia girl to the queen of all things Southern food. And when I say intimate, I mean intimate, right down to a joke about spitting or swallowing. Oh yeah.

She’s funny, self-deprecating, honest, and bawdy, and if you’re looking for a great summer beach book, this should definitely make your list. Plus, she ends almost each chapter with a yummy recipe, so it’s like confessional and cookbook all rolled into one!

Final score: 3/5.

Next on the reading list: Calculating God, by Robert J. Sawyer.

P.S. – Paula, honey, don’t think that you were ever foolin’ anyone about the fact that you smoke(d). That glorious nicotine-soaked laugh of yours gave you away from the word “go.”