by Akim Reinhardt, Executive Chef (Marilyn Reinhardt, Megan Golden, Sous Chefs)
Truly, Thou Art Damned Like an Ill-Roasted Egg: Breakfast All the World’s a Cage Free Omelet 10.99 Get Thee to a Buttery Croissant 8.99 Brevity is the Soul of Grits 5.99 If Muesli Be the Food of Love, Play On 5.99
What a Piece of Work Is Sandwich Oh That This Too Too Solid Patty Melt 10.99 Eh Tuna Salad, Brute? 8.99 Cry Ham Sandwich and Let Slip the Dijon of War 10.99 Love Is a Smoked Brisket Sandwich Made with the Fume of Sighs 12.99
Better Three Hours Too Soon than a Minute Too Late: Appetizers Now is the Winter Squash of our Grilled Content 5.99 Neither a Butter Beans Nor Lentils Be 6.99 Hell Is Empty and All the Deviled Eggs Are Here 3/5.99 Now Cracked Pepper a Noble Heart of Artichokes 7.99
Salad Days Romaine, Romaine! Wherefore art thou Romaine? 5.99 Two Beets (Red and Golden) or Not Two Beets (Just Red), That is the Salad 9.99 I Come to Eat Caesar Salad Raw, Not to Braise It 8.99 A Woman Would Run Through Fire andWater for Such a Kind Heart of Palm Salad 11.99Read more »
The Shakespeare family, from a 19th-century German engraving. From left, Hamnet, Susanna, William, Judith, Agnes (Anne).
A book subtitled A Novel of the Plague might appear opportunistic at this time. But in Maggie O’Farrell’s new and much-praised Hamnet, the only opportunity the author seems to be taking advantage of is our ignorance of the life of William Shakespeare. “Miraculous,” The Guardian wrote, “a beautiful imagination of the short life of Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, and the untold story of his wife, Agnes Hathaway, which builds into a profound exploration of the healing power of creativity.”
Around the world, library shelves creak under the weight of books, some centuries old and in a babel of languages, about England’s undisputed greatest genius. Analyses of his works aside, all that is written about the life and character of the man is speculation, fabulation or infatuation. A pencil and a postcard suffice to jot down the facts we know. Sifting through his plays and sonnets for clues to his life, beliefs and relationships will not do – though it has been done ad nauseam. The names Hamlet and Hamnet appear to have been interchangeable in documents dating from his time. Therefore, it must follow that William named his great play in memory of his only son Hamnet who died at the age of 11. That is one great burden of proof to place on the swapping of two letters, n and l, in one word.
A striking feature of O’Farrell’s novel is that the name Shakespeare appears nowhere, although it is entirely about the family of the playwright, a shadowy figure who slips in and out of his native Stratford-Upon-Avon.
“Everyone thought the glover’s son would amount to nothing, what a wastrel he had always seemed, and now look at him – a man of consequence in London, it is said, and there he goes, with his richly embroidered sleeves and shining leather boots.”
It is tempting to respond with Petruchio explaining in The Taming of the Shrew why he moved to Padua:
Such wind as scatters young men through the world, To seek their fortunes farther than at home Where small experience grows.
But there we go again, drawing conclusions from random quotes from the man’s theatre world. This novel is not the young man’s viewpoint or biography. Its theme is of women in the roles their times dictated for them. It chronicles their emotions and desires, their sorrows, their work and their ferocious protection of their children in a world where “the man” is absent, but nonetheless makes sure to provide money and a comfortable home for his family, as Shakespeare did. Read more »
The following is part of a project I'm working on that traces out the history of various words for human locomotion. My hope is that by understanding the uniqueness of each of these words, I can gain a deeper appreciation for walking. The entry (and following entries as well) begins with passages from literature that use some synonym for walking, then gives basic etymological information, as well as a preliminary definition of the word. The last and largest part of the post is an essay that goes deeper into both the history and semantics of the word to make a case for its beauty and power in describing the ways that humans move.
