It’s not that I’ve had a lot of experience whipping up a delicate sauce mousseline sabayon. It was Marcella Hazan who taught me most of whatever it is  I know about cooking. (It was,  historically speaking, the Italians who taught the French about cooking, but never mind.) When reporter Stephanie Clifford called from the New York Times, I thought for a moment of that slightly similar scene in Julie and Julia.  Ms. Clifford, however, wanted to know how sales of Mastering the Art of French Cooking were going what with all the movie buzz.  (See immediately, The New York Times, Monday, August 24, front page! ) Great!  I’d just seen the movie, loved it, and wasn’t much at all bothered by the Julie Powell character.    It was a thrill to be mentioned in the same article with booksellers from Elliot Bay Books in Seattle, Barbara’s Bookstore in Chicago, and the venerable Powell’s in Portland. And even more so, to be linked in some vague and general way with the Master Chef herself. Best of all was to hear from old friends and former students, far flung and who’d just happened to see the paper that day. So inspired, I went home  and whipped up an airy sponge cake to bring to a dinner party, just for fun. And yes, the books are  flying off the shelves.  Sometimes they leap out all on their own…kind of like that lobster jumping out of the steaming pot.  Bon Appetit! ~ MC

Colson’s Family at Canio’s

Spill over onto the street for Colson, hometown hero. The eponymous crowd turned out in force to celebrate Whitehead’s new novel, a triumph.  Decades past the excruciating teenage years, the author said in Q&A after the reading,  afforded him sufficient distance to write about that one summer when Benji gets his braces off.  The prose read poetically, sparks flying as the author illustrated the syntax of ‘8Os slang.  Long lines of fans waited to get books signed; Colson, patient and gracious through it all.   Welcome Home!

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Bob Morris discusses True Tales of Double Dating with my Dad

July 3, 2009

Bob Morris, author of Assisted Loving, after his reading

Funny, moving, heartfelt,  irreverent – Bob Morris enthralled his audience  as he described his caring relationship with his parents.  He spoke in vivid detail of  his many memories of their last years.  Morris played a hilarious Allan Sherman tune “You Gotta Have Skin” on his ukulele, in tribute to father. We laughed and felt the love they shared.  Bob’s  great gift is his ability to write and speak about this tender time in his life with humor and pathos.  Bravo, Mr. Morris! We have a few signed copies of Assisted Loving available. Call us to reserve a copy. (631-725-4926).

Former Sag Harbor band member, Bob Morris, entertains the crowd

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Wednesday visitors to the shop will have made the acquaintance of artist and staffer Amelia Garretson-Persans whose handmade fine art books are unique features of our collection.  Ever industrious and creative, Amelia took home a copy of Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking by Brother Curry.  Just a few days later she shared some of her experiences.  Baking is only one of Amelia’s many talents.  Contact the shop to order copies of the book.

3/2/09 Challah

Though challah is traditionally a Jewish bread, Brother Rick Curry justifies its presence in his Christian cookbook by explaining that Father Toby Myer, who I have to thank for this recipe, is a Jewish convert.  With that contentious issue settled, I will proceed.

Challah is the first type of bread I ever made, even before I was initiated into the mystic rites of Jesuit breadmaking.  If it turns out it is a terrific crowd-pleaser and a tremendous ego-booster.  With its egg wash and sesame/poppy seed coating it emerges from the oven triumphantly.

When a bread doesn’t turn out, as was the case with my second and third attempts, it can easily be misconstrued as a personal insult to your character and integrity.  This is perhaps the wrong way to approach baking, but when you are confronted with a squat, dead, little loaf after four h ours of labor and anticipation, it can be devastating.

Incredibly though, this tends to happen less and less with the more practice and research you do.  Brother Rick Curry clued me into the problem of starting your yeast in a cold bowl.  As I have been doing most of my baking this winter in a poorly winterized summer bungalow, I took his advice to heart and began heating my ceramic bowl in hot water before beginning.  So far, no more flops…

This challah turned out quite well, despite my persistently spazzy braiding.  I needed a diagram for the first four or five challahs I made, and when I finally decided to lose this crutch, I ended up with a wonky looking bread.  It tasted good, but while it lasted, it functioned as a reminder of my poor visual memory.  Fortunately, good challah only lasts about a day and half.

3/19/09 Brother Andrew’s Pumpernickel Bread

This bread has some weird stuff in it!  I always thought pumpernickel bread was made with pumpernickel flour, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.  I’ve always had a nebulous idea of what pumpernickel was to begin with, and frankly I still do.

The real wild cards in this bread are the one and half tablespoons of cocoa powder and two tablespoons of instant coffee granules, which I ordinarily wouldn’t allow in my home, if not for its hidden location in the back of the baking shelf.

The bread is cooked at a high temperature, mostly for the function of darkening the crust I think.  The result is a sweet, smoky flavor, much akin to store-bought pumpernickel bread…  It makes excellent toast, particularly the type of toast that accompanies a bowl of soup.

3/29/09 Sister Courtney’s Buttermilk Bread

While skimming through my Jesuit Breadmaking book, in a desperate attempt to use up the quickly turning buttermilk, I discover that Brother Rick Curry only has one arm!  Perhaps because I’m not wild about book covers that feature the author in all his or her smiling splendor, I never looked very carefully at it.  In the introduction Brother Curry describes the difficult task of cutting the fifty pound bricks of butter received at the monastery into useable chunks.  He makes  a fleeting remark about how much more difficult this is with only one arm.  No kidding!  I quickly flip back to the cover and am very surprised to see that though his right shoulder is obscured in shadow, there is clearly no arm attached to it.   And I thought kneading was a workout with two arms!

Anyway, Sister Courtney’s bread is a pretty simple bread to make, with virtually no curveballs thrown in.  It makes a sweet, slightly moist loaf, which makes excellent breakfast toast, particularly when it’s smothered in butter and honey.

Mark Doty’s Poetry Reading, May 2, 2009

Answering Questions

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Signing

After the Reading

What makes a good bookstore? An interesting collection of books, hand-selected by knowledgeable and friendly staff. A welcoming, comfortable space, with maybe a bit of history built in, a sense of rootedness in a place. Yes, all these elements comprise Canio’s Books. Then factor in our eclectic series of weekend events, writers, poets, musicians and artists sharing their talents with us. But who is this “us”? It’s you, dear reader and all your friends and neighbors who care about sustaining a place for art, culture and literature to thrive. Yes, it takes a village to make a bookshop. See Peter Applebome’s essay in the Sunday, New York Times, “Who Killed This Bookstore? There Are Lots of Suspects” about the demise of a 37-year-old establishment, Second Story Book Shop in Chappaqua, New York. We’ve read too often about the demise of this or that beloved bookshop. Rents go up. Ugly chain stores move in. Customers scrounge for bargains on line, then bemoan the loss of their neighborhood shop, the loss of community. And realize, too late, that they, we, are part of the community we help create or abandon. Here is another wake-up call.
Be a part of the bookshop you want to see in your community. In our case, we’re creating a direct route for community involvement in Canio’s Books. We have formed a non-profit entity, Canio’s Cultural Cafe, Ltd. to make it possible for us to continue to develop new programs at the bookshop and at other locations. We hope to make it easy for our supporters to become part of sustaining the cultural capital of our unique community. Your tax deductible contribution to Canio’s Culture Cafe will help underwrite new workshops, seminars and other events of literary, educational and cultural interest. Please consider becoming a regular patron of Canio’s Cultural Cafe with a donation today. And meanwhile, stop in for something delicious to read.

A book is not a flower press.
A book is not a coaster.
A book is not a foot stool.
Nor a flotation device. Although sometimes.
A book is not a hat in the rain.
That’s what newspapers are for, if you can find one.
A book is not an electronic object.
A book is not your best friend.
Though you may sleep with a book, do not write on its skin.
Take your book to lunch, but do not share your spaghetti with a book.
Do not banish a book to the basement,
Nor hide onein an attic. Read a book  in broad daylight.
Take one to the beach, but not for a swim.

Remember your first book? A love like no other.

The huge calla lily plant in our front window is again and remarkably in bloom. It’s Valentine’s Day which is sweet, but it’s also the dead middle of cold February. The shop window’s climate is one of extremes: intensely strong morning sun, still thin this time of year, then longer unheated drafty nights. A beautiful yet poisonous plant native to southern Africa, the one Diego Rivera painted in his Flower Vendor, the calla lily thrives, surprisingly, here on the eastern end of Long Island. The plant was a gift to us four years ago in celebration of our anniversary mid-March given on the first day of spring in full bloom. Perhaps this recent inflorescence proves what Katherine Hepburn uttered in Stage Door (1937): the calla lily is in bloom again; such a strange flower. She carried it on her wedding day and she’ll lay here to remember the dead. The flower of love and death, then. A heavy note for the day, yet the lily’s rich white throat glows like a small moon. We love the ones we’re with, and remember the loves we’ve lost. Our reading tonight at which poet couples read some of their favorite love poems celebrated love’s many facets, its triumphs and challenges. Happy Valentine’s Day!

We arrived at the college (Stonybrook Southampton) just in time to hear 85-year-old artist Richard Mayhew offer some remarks about his deeply colored, deeply felt and richly imagined landscape paintings. More than a dozen large pictures glowed from the gallery while he spoke. Rich apricot, purples and passionate reds fill the squares of the frames. Paint is handled with great subtly and sensitivity, a “spiritual sensitivity,” Mayhew would say. He paints “from the gut.” Painting is a “spiritual commitment,” Mayhew explained. “It’s a way of being involved with the creative function of life.” Mr. Mayhew grew up in Amityville, studied art in New York and in Europe and now lives in California. Part of me is always here, he said of the Island he calls home. Lance Gumbs of the Shinnecock Nation presented Mr. Mayhew with a ceremonial pendant made of precious metals and wampum. Mayhew is of African American and Native American ancestry. He credits his grandmother with encouraging his artistic gifts. And these gifts are prodigious. The exhibition is on view in the Avram Gallery through March 21. Don’t miss it!

They’ve been playing together for 30 yes, hard to believe, 30 years now. When they played together once again, this time at Canio’s Books the first Saturday in the new age of Obama, DePetris and Shaughnessy sizzled. They played a seamless set of Ellington standards, one with a samba arrangement; Sonny Rollins riffs, the beautiful St. Thomas had us all basking in the Islands; and some of DePetris’s own exquisitely wrought compositions. With so few places left to hear good jazz outside NYC, we are fortunate to have these masterful musicians right here in the ‘hood. Another packed house warmed up the room on a very cold night. Deep bass notes and the sweet voice of the guitar curled around the bookshelves, a command performance of American improvisation. Don’t miss our next set with Steve Shaughnessy on bass and Tom DePetris on guitar. Read the great review at Hamptons.com “Jazz Musicians Steve Shaughnessy And Tom DePetris Play To Packed House At Canio’s Books” by Colin M. Graham.