The protagonist of Play It As It Lays, by Joan Didion, is lying on the beach, surrounded by friends—though friends is perhaps too strong of a word—when her husband walks away. She sits up and looks around, and then this happens:

“It occurred to [her] that whatever arrangements were made, they worked less well for women.”

In contrast to the party atmosphere around her, she is merely, introvertedly, noticing the bodies nearby: the female versions of which seem to be aging, and the male versions of which seem to be locked in a timeless vitality. She thinks about her small daughter. She thinks about pregnancy. As an actor, her career is dependent on her looks. And, of course, the Hollywood circles of which she is a (reluctant) member are deeply attuned to physical appearance.

In another chapter, a male friend (or not-friend; is there a synonym for friend that doesn’t imply actual friendship?) invites her on a short trip, along with some other friends (not-friends?).

She says, “I don’t want to do that.”

He says, “Yes you do.”

The chapter ends there; the reader gets the impression that this type of interaction is not uncommon in her life.

I don’t want to oversimplify the complicated life that Didion depicts. Much of the protagonist’s woe seems due to personality flaws and past traumas that are non-gender-specific. And yet, something pertaining to gender is going on here, and this becomes clearer, the further into the book one progresses.

In your life’s experience, have arrangements worked less well for women?

I shot this photo in southern California a few years ago. Serendipitously—I am an indifferent photographer—it captures both sides of the L.A. coin: the ubiquitous smog and heat and traffic, and the vitality and breeziness and glamour symbolized by the Hollywood and Sunset Boulevard signs. What a joy it was to read and love a novel set in Hollywood, affording me the opportunity to use this photo on my blog!

Er, but perhaps joy is not quite the word to describe this particular reading experience. The novel in question begins troublingly, with these words:

“What makes Iago evil? some people ask. I never ask.”

(In case you’re not brushed up on your Shakespeare: Iago, from the play Othello, is the dude people shuddered at before we had Hitler to fill that role.)

Okay, so the protagonist prefers not to think about Iago. But why not? Why, I wondered, does the protagonist of Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion shy away from inquiring into the nature of evil? Does it have to do her “playing it as it lays”—that is, accepting the way things are without complaint? Perhaps, I thought, I should continue reading to try to sort all this out; and perhaps, as a bonus, things will get a little more upbeat!

But the novel proceeds in this troubling vein: never once letting up on the reader. There’s no coming up for air ’round here, folks. As one reviewer put it, “Play It As It Lays isn’t for pussies.” Indeed, one day I was reading the book in a public place—at a wine bar, surrounded by friends—and had to stifle sobs.

And yet, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. Published in 1970, it offers a brilliant depiction of the disintegration of a young woman’s life, against the backdrop of Hollywood culture in the 1960s. The writing is gorgeous, haunting, spare, . . . and perplexing in a way that surreptitiously slips into profundity.

Next time you’re in southern California, I suggest you read it on the beach.

As promised, here is my “Recipe to End &c.” (see part 1 of this two-part series):

Ingredients

Meat, fish, eggs, or beans*
Veggies**
Garlic
Olive oil
Salt, pepper, spices, herbs***
Pasta, rice, bread, or another grain (optional)
Avocado, cheese (optional)

Directions: Protein

1. Cook the meat or fish, if using. Add salt and pepper before cooking. Use the directions on the package. If there are no package directions, Google a random recipe and use its directions, ignoring any other ingredients and any fanciness. It’s often as simple as heating it in a skillet and turning or stirring it.
2. Fry up or boil the eggs, if using. Use Google for directions, if needed. Add salt and pepper.
3. Cook the beans, if using. Use either the package or Google for directions. Add salt, pepper, and spices or herbs. (Note that beans often need to be soaked ahead of time.)

Directions: Veggies

4. Pour some olive oil into a skillet and put it on medium to medium-high heat. As the olive oil heats, it will thin and spread out. Swirl it until it is coating the bottom of the pan. Add more olive oil at any point if needed to prevent things from sticking. (If the olive oil starts smoking, it is too hot, and you should immediately add veggies or remove the skillet from heat. Ideally, add veggies when the olive oil is thin and hot, but not smoking.)
5. While the olive oil is heating, wash and chop**** the more substantial veggies—that is, veggies that will take longer to cook, such as carrots, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, the stems of swiss chard, etc. Add the substantial veggies to the skillet. Put the lid on and stir occasionally.
6. While these are cooking, chop the less substantial veggies, such as onions, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, mushrooms, tomatoes, the leaves of kale or swiss chard, etc. Add the less substantial veggies—except for tomatoes or anything leafy—to the skillet. Put the lid on and stir occasionally.
7. While these are cooking, mince the garlic (mince is a fancy term for “chop into itty bitty pieces”). Add the garlic to the skillet. Put the lid on, stir occasionally, and cook for 2 minutes only so it doesn’t burn.
8. If using fresh or canned tomatoes, add them now; if desired, add tomato sauce and tomato paste to thicken it into a sauce.
9. If using anything leafy, add it now, along with enough water to cover the bottom of the pan. Cook until there’s no more liquid in the bottom of the pan (or very little liquid).
10. Add salt and pepper, as well as any spices or herbs.
11. It’s done when it looks done, and you taste it and it tastes done. (If you have trouble with things burning, next time try using a lower level of heat, stirring things more thoroughly or more often, or adding more olive oil or water.)

Directions: Grain (Optional)

12. Prepare the pasta, rice, or other grain according to the package directions, or get out (and heat, if desired) some bread.

Directions: Plate and Eat

13. You now have a protein item; a veggie item; and a grain item (optional). You can choose to mix them together, or serve them separately. (Optional: slice and salt some avocado and place on top.) (Optional: sprinkle cheese on top.)
14. Bon appétit!! However, if your appétit is not so bon—not every meal will come together as hoped—try something different next time!
15. Put leftovers you will eat in the next few days in the fridge. Put leftovers you won’t eat in the next few days in the freezer.

Have I forgotten anything important, or would you do anything differently? Let me know in the comments!

*If your budget allows, buy humanely raised meat and eggs from local farms. Otherwise, buy humanely raised meat and eggs from the grocery store. Other good options: eat fish; eat beans; buy game meat; hunt game meat yourself; humanely raise animals yourself.

**It always amazes me how amazing veggies taste when harvested locally. For truly gourmet meals, buy them from a farmers market, join a co-op, or grow them yourself.

***Some herbs can be grown with almost zero maintenance. In my area, these include sage, thyme, rosemary, chives, and oregano. You might try planting some herbs and seeing if they survive year after year, with minimal to no effort from you.

****Since chopping is usually the most time-consuming part of the process, it's worthwhile to invest in a big ol' chef's knife; sharpen it a couple times a year. A big ol' cutting board is also helpful.

When I think of wisdom,* I think of Henry David Thoreau and his 1854 book Walden; or, Life in the Woods. In Walden, Thoreau urges the reader, through both theoretical arguments and reflections on the two years he lived alone in the woods near Walden Pond, to simplify life and focus on what is really important—like health and wellness, quiet time alone, quiet conversations with friends, and an appreciation of nature and art.

What does this have to do with cooking? Well, everything. Some people are passionate about cooking and spend endless joyful hours reading recipes, shopping for ingredients, and working in the kitchen. If that’s you, that’s fabulous; and when can I come over? If that’s not you, or if you’re busy with other commitments that take precedence, one of life’s dilemmas is how to simplify the task of preparing meals while neglecting neither health and wellness, nor one’s appreciation of delicious food.

Of course, there is no lack of recipes intended to assist the reluctant or busy cook, the cook who is concerned about health, the cook who wishes to prepare delicious food, and even the cook who embodies all of these types. But while recipes are wonderful and useful, the reluctant or busy, health-conscious, epicurean cook may find that they often have drawbacks in these areas:

• Simplicity. Scanning through recipes and selecting one; buying ingredients, sometimes hunting through multiple aisles or stores to find them; rounding up utensils and appliances, sometimes not owning an item and having to buy it, borrow it, or figure out how to do without; and following elaborate instructions—all of this takes time and energy. If you don’t enjoy these tasks, or if you enjoy them but are too busy to do them often, it is helpful to simplify the process by cutting out unnecessary steps.
• Random leftover ingredients. Almost inevitably, you will have random leftover ingredients after following a recipe. This obligates you to find a new recipe that incorporates these random items. The new recipe, though, often leaves you with a different set of random leftover ingredients—and sometimes you still haven’t used up the items from the first recipe. So you fall into a vicious circle of always having to hunt for new recipes to use up random ingredients—or, alternatively, let these ingredients go to waste.
• Local food sourcing. If you have a garden or buy locally grown veggies, it can be tricky to find recipes that use the particular ingredients you happen to have on hand. Also, many recipes are impossible to make with locally grown vegetables, either because a particular veggie doesn’t grow in your area, or because the recipe uses two or more veggies that are harvested at different times of year—i.e., fresh asparagus (early spring) and fresh tomatoes (mid to late summer).
• Healthy eating and food requirements and preferences. Finding the perfect recipe, one that has just the ingredients you wish it to have, and not any ingredients you don’t wish it to have, can be frustrating and time consuming.

It can be exciting, instructive, and fun to follow a recipe. To assist with the times when it is not, I have written what I like to call my “Recipe to End All Recipes.” (See part 2 of this two-part series.) The “Recipe to End &c.” is flexible enough to work with whatever ingredients you happen to have on hand, and it results in meals that are simple, tasty, healthy—and dare I say wise?

*In case I have not made it sufficiently clear up until now, I would like to express that this blog is about seeking wisdom through books and elsewhere. For more information, visit my new About page.

I just finished a book that shall not be named.*

It’s a work of nonfiction, published relatively recently, and enjoying a certain amount of popularity. In it, the author expresses opinions on various subjects. While I agreed with many of these opinions, I disagreed with others.

Despite my disgruntlement with some of its content, I read the book cover to cover. It was a page-turner, so that helped. But even if it wasn’t, I may have finished it anyway. I believe it’s important to read and consider alternate viewpoints. Otherwise, how can we know where we stand? It is only in relation to others that we can establish an identity of our own. It can be refreshing to read skeptically—to forge out a path, through ideas, to who you are and what you believe.

And there are further reasons to get intimate with alternate viewpoints. Sometimes, you disagree because you don’t understand a perspective fully enough; reading about it can clear things up. Other times, the more you read, the more you disagree—and the more you arm yourself with arguments against the viewpoint, should you need them. It’s empowering to be able to talk about a subject lucidly and armed with facts. It’s also empowering to know, in your own mind, why you are living your life a certain way—which may differ from that of many, or even most, of your family, friends, and neighbors.

Do you read skeptically?

*When I feature a book on this blog—that is, when I write one or more book previews on it—this means that I believe the book is, while not necessarily perfect (what book is?), certainly excellent, interesting, and worthy of being added to one's nightstand stack. Sometimes I read books that do not meet this (admittedly biased) standard. To stay within the scope of this blog—which is to highlight nuggets of wisdom in great books and elsewhere, and to carve out a heartfelt and hospitable nook amidst the wilderness of the Internet, rather than to offer comprehensive critiques, first-rate examples of which are easy to find elsewhere—I will refrain from identifying these books by name, author, or other means.