International dinners

We were invited to dinner this weekend by a couple whose daughter had just returned from Spain. Her uncle was in town and, in her honor, made a huge serving of the wonderful Spanish dish paella — rice with saffron, green peas, and any of several kinds of meat all cooked together in a huge pan over charcoal. This particular batch had chicken, scallops, shrimp, clams and sausage. In Spain you’ll often get prawns, small shrimp with the heads, eyes and legs still attached. My wife and her friend made Spanish sangria, which is a potent mix of red wine and liqueur. Mix in a few more friends, spend hours before and after dinner in good conversation, throw in a houseful of restless, noisy children, and it feels downright continental. Pull out the cook books, call some friends, and get on with it.

Pinball | by Jerzy Kosinksi

Just minutes from stepping into my car to go on vacation, I scanned my bookshelf for something interesting. Pinball, which I’d read 20 years earlier, fit the bill. The novel was written in 1982 and is an interesting story of music and the cult of celebrity. It’s a good read, though it does offer typical Kosinski-esque ramblings that run on for pages. Kosinski himself is a story, a Polish immigrant most famous for the novel Being There that became a hit movie starring Peter Sellers. Another, Painted Bird, tells of surviving the holocaust in Poland. Kosinski was an inveterate liar who craved his relationships with the rich and famous. He ended up killing himself in 1991. Some critics pan his novels while others consider them significant literature. See for yourself.

BBC World Service

Since we’re on an international theme, I’ll put in a pitch for the British Broadcasting Corporation’s World Service news program. You can pick it up on NPR stations, and in my mind it is the most interesting news broadcast on radio. On one Saturday morning I heard in-depth stories about anti-Semitism in Russia, fox hunting’s decline in England, and the assisted suicide of children in Belgium. All three offered the kind of perspective that too often is lacking in today’s stories or news broadcasts. In my estimation, the British generally have a much better understanding of the impact of international news than most American journalists.

— Scott McLeod