Cookbook recommendations from Chef Lucia Watson

If it weren't for a steady diet of tea, coffee, soups, salads, sandwiches (and cookies!) from Lucia's To Go, just around the corner from our store, we here at Magers & Quinn would have a difficult time doing much of anything. We asked Lucia Watson herself to recommend a handful of her favorite cookbooks. Here's what she had to say.
M&Q:How long have you been in business? And why?
LW:: "26 years!!! For 26 years, Lucia's has been creating weekly menus, selecting delicious wines and greeting our wonderful customers! Our Restaurant, Wine Bar, and Lucia's To Go are inspired by high quality local foods, exceptional cooking, and genuine hospitality. The seasonal, nourishing, and cultural properties of cooking continue to be our passion.

1. Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi "My newest love is a book called Plenty by London-based chef Yotam Ottolenghi. It's just vegetables. So inspiring and so beautiful!"
2. Simple French Food by Richard Olney "To me, this is the authentic hands on book that describes how to cook the way the French do. I just love this book. I go back to it over and over..."
3. Savoring the Seasons of the Northern Heartland by Lucia Watson and Beth Dooley "Can I say my own book? It is true that it is the one I turn to always for the basics of how I like to cook: seasonal foods, roasted chicken, soups, etc."

"Other books I love and refer to frequently are Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller, The River Cafe Books by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers and all of Deborah Madison's books ."M&Q is full of good cookbooks. Come by today to find the right one for you.

Book Learnin'

Magers & Quinn and Minneapolis College of Art and Design are teaming up to help you get smart--and save some money. M&Q newsletter subscribers are elligible for $25.00 off any adult education course at MCAD this summer. Just mention the discount code "MQDeal" when you register. (Limit one redemption per student. Offer is valid until July 31, 2011.)

MCAD offers hundreds of courses, of course. Two particularly bookish ones are

• In a Bind: Introduction to Book Binding
  Have you ever wanted to make your own sketchbooks, journals, or idea books? Adding the element of handmade paper makes them even more unique. In this course, students will learn a variety of binding techniques to do just that. We will begin with simple structures held together with folds and stitches. No previous experience necessary.
  
• Children's Book Illustration
  Capture a child’s imagination with your own original artwork while learning the tricks of the illustration trade. This course will explore the wide range of children’s book illustration, from traditional to contemporary.
  Students will learn what makes a children’s book unique, how to communicate through illustration, and how to conceptualize and storyboard ideas. Demonstrations will be given on materials that can be used to illustrate a book. Students will then be encouraged to experiment with different media and begin to create their own children’s books, from the sketch phase to final illustrations. Tips will be given on how to enter this competitive field and navigate the
  business practices of working as a children’s book illustrator.

A full list of courses is online at www.mcad.edu.--David E

________[adv.] Departed

Leonard B. Stern was a writer on The Honeymooners and executive producer of Get Smart, but he'll likely be remembered most for his literary creation, the Mad Lib. He and partner Roger Price couldn't find a publisher for the first Mad Libs, so they paid for the first printings and stored 14,000 of the game in Stern's dining room. Eventually their determination paid off, of course. Stern's New York Times obituary is here.

Celebrate this pioneer of American games with a Mad Lib of your own. We've got a big selection to choose from. Browse them online or stop in the store.--David E

Famous Hair

The David Thorne Hair Tour--details are here--has begun. The lovely locks were recently visiting Pudd’n’head Books in Webster Groves, Missouri, when who should stop by for a photo but Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City and most recently In the Garden of Beasts.

Thorne's hair will be at Magers & Quinn from June 1 to 5. Stop by, have your picture taken with the hair, and donate a dollar to the National Children's Cancer Society. Just like Erik.--David E

Rock'em Sock'em Robots

From the book industry newsletter Shelf Awareness comes news of used book pricing run amok. Michael Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Red Sox fan, tells the story.

It's no secret that online booksellers often use computer programs to set their prices. Most of the time, prices are fairly stable, but Eisner noticed one instance when the system didn't work. Only two copies of Peter Lawrence’s The Making of a Fly were available. Each seller was clearly setting the his or her price in relation to the other. When one went up, the other soon followed suit. Eventually, the unchecked algorithms took the price all the way up to a whopping $23,698,655.93. As charming and useful as Lawrence's work on the Drosophila no doubt is, no one bought either copy.

Eisen's full article is here.--David E

On Books

Laurie Hertzel--book editor at the Star Tribune, author, and Minnesota Book Award winner--now has her own blog. "On Books" brings you book news both local and national. Check it out to stay on top of all the news that's fit about print.

"On Books" is here.--David E

Way to Go, Matthew Zapruder

Congratulations to Matthew Zapruder. The poet--who read at M&Q just last month--has won a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship. The grants are awarded "on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise." Three thousand writers, artists, and scienctists applied; 180 got the nod. Details are here.--David E

GigaPanBot

You might have seen the enormous, 360-degree, clickable photograph of Prague's Strahov monastery library that went viral online earlier this week. If not, it's here. It's an incredible piece of technology, and I urge you to waste a few minutes zooming, panning, and otherwise enjoying this normally forbidden room.

Now Wired has the story behind the image. They interviewed Jeffrey Martin about his camera (robot-controlled), the program that drives it (euphoniously named GigaPanBot), and Two thousand nine hundred forty-seven photos later, Martin had his raw material. Initial processing took 111 hours. Martin himself spent 20 hours correcting misaligned pictures--and an eagle-eyed coworker of mine took about two seconds to spot one that Martin missed.

The full Wired article is here. Check it out--David E

Community Space

Jonesing for a bookstore in Nordeast? Eric Brew feels your pain. In fact, he's launched a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter to address the problem. Brew's Coffee & Books Community Space will be "a specialty coffeehouse in NE Mpls coupled with a bookstore, lending library, theater stage, writing studios and radical resources."

Brew and crew hope to raise $32,000 by May 4. They're collecting pledges now. Details--including instructions on how to donate--are here.--David E

The Bible and Biology

Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church is sponsoring a lecture by Dr. Edward “Ted” Davis, Messiah College Professor of the History of Science. "The Bible and Biology: Understanding the Creation-Evolution Debate" will present many of the reasons why American Christians have found evolution so objectionable. Davis will outline the main ideas and attitudes associated with “scientific creationism,” draw a comparison with “intelligent design,” and conclude with examples of Christian thinkers who accept biological evolution. This lecture will be 7:00 PM, Thursday, April 7, at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, 511 Groveland Avenue (94 at Lyndale) Minneapolis, MN 55403.

The event is sponsored by the Science and Theology Network. It is free and open to the public. Details are at www.hennepinchurch.org.--David E

Your Vote Counts

Voting for the City Pages' Best of the Cities Readers' Poll 2011 ends March 30. You can write in your favorite bookstore (new and used) in categories 51 and 52. The full list is here.--David E

Nothing Rhymes with Orange

The Orange Prize for Fiction, awarded annually for outstanding writing by a female author, has announced its 2011 nominees. The longlist includes Jennifer Egan and Nicole Krauss--and also M&Q favorite Tea Obreht. Tea recently visited Minneapolis to read from her debut novel The Tiger's Wife. Video of her reading is here.

The winnner of the 2011 Orange Prize will be announced on April 12. Details are here.--David E

Inner Beauty

"Book surgeon" Brian Dettmer operates on old books--bending the, removing portions, and ultimately exposing their inner workings. He adds nothing.

See more of Dettmer's work here.--David E

Ouch

Publishers Weekly has posted a filing from Borders' bankruptcy petition. It lists the 200 stores the chain will close in the next months. Among the local casualties are four of the seven stores in the Twin Cities: Minnetonka, Richfield, St Paul, and Maple Grove.

The full list is here (.pdf). Or see them on a map.--David E

Contraction

Shelf Awareness has a nice summary of Borders' announced "reorganization." Under the protection of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the company will shutter around 200 stores and lay off a number of employees. Details are here. For even more, you can visit www.bordersreorganization.com--David E

Silver-Tongued

Just in time for V-Day, Flavorwire has posted its list of "30 Literary Quotes That Just Might Get You Laid." The encouraging phrases range from Oscar Wilde (“The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”) to Dorothy Parker (“I require only three things of a man. He must be handsome, ruthless and stupid.”) to Sam Lipsyte (“Stuff me in a tutu and let’s screen experimental videos all day.”).

Read all thirty quotes here, and start practicing for the 14th.--David E

Poetic Meter for Your Feet

Via the invaluable Boing Boing comes word of the perfect project for a winter's night. Sanguine Gryphon's knitting pattern lets you make a pair of socks bearing the first lines of the oldest known copy of Beowolf, so your feet can be both warm and cool all winter long.

Details are here.--David E

Thank You!

This past holiday season, Magers & Quinn collected books for Reach Out and Read, which promotes early literacy and school readiness in pediatric exam rooms nationwide by giving new books to children and advice to parents about the importance of reading aloud. Books collected at M&Q will go to children and families at well-child visits, in the waiting room, and in the newborn program at the Broadway Family Medicine Clinic in North Minneapolis.

M&Q's generous customers donated a total of 207 books. The are on their way to the clinic and will soon be in the hands of kids and families. Thank you to everyone who made a gift.--David E

We're #3--and #7!

Central Connecticut State University’s annual study ranking the most literate cities in the United States has been released, and the results are good for the Twin Cities. Statisticians compiled numbers for newspaper circulation, bookstore sales, magazines subscriptions, educational attainment, library usage, and the Internet availability.

Minneapolis ranked third on the list, and St Paul was number 7. Washington, DC, was in first place. New York City didn't crack the top ten. Details are here.--David E

On the Day You Were Born

Get in the wayback machine and see what books were topping the New York Times' bestseller list on the day you were born--or any other day in history. The Australian book search site BibliOZ.com does the legwork for you. Check your birthday bestsellers here.--David E