The Bookworms Reunite

Julie Bench's Flawless Risotto

Lazzaro and Bench

Ruske warms from NYC's deep freeze on the subway to the Upper West Side

Ruske further warms herself in front of Julie's fireplace

Julie relaxes at home

Baked apples and pears with Vanilla Foam

The perfect antipasto with chilled champers

Chutneys from The D P Chutney Collective with marvelous cheeses

Lazzaro in Julie's home office . . . close to the cheese and chutney

Cafe Drake recently rejoined our bookclub for an astonishing meal at the chicer-than-thou pad of fellow member Julie Bench to discuss her selection for the month, Herta Muller's The Land of Green Plums. A world of prizes aside we found Frau Muller's dense metaphors and surrealist poetics a dense read, and yet a welcome one as we would have been unlikely to tackle such a challenging fictional reportage on the brutal totalitarianism of 80s Romania of our own shallow initiative.

See above documentation of the meeting and meal: beginning in front of a warm fire with Vueve Cliquot and a selection of cheeses, bread, chutneys from The D P Chutney Collective , crackers and smoked almonds; followed with perfect pan-roasted chicken alongside a silky risotto studded with butternut squash, bacon and arugula; to be followed by ciggies on Julie's terrace and numerous bottles of red and white and capped with pears and apples baked in cream and topped with a vanilla foam.