A tidbit from a chat conversation, which of course all began with a reference to Monty Python's famous Cheese Shop Sketch:
Me: (As a note, there really IS Venezuelan Beaver Cheese.)
Matt: Oh, *really*?
Liz: Oh, really, what?
Matt: Venezualan. Beaver. Cheese.
Liz: Oh. Yeah, that's a bit odd.
Matt: There are no beavers in South America.
Stam: (Please tell me it's not made from beavers?)
Me: Well, I don't know if it's Venezuelan, actually, but I *was* reading something about beaver cheese.
Me: Wait, no... not beavers. Capybaras?
Me: Damn you, now I have to find the article again.
Matt: Possibly more likely, but still... bullshit detector ringing loudly.
Could I take such a challenge to my librarianly honor sitting down? Well, yes I could, actually, since it's easier to type at this keyboard from a sitting position. But still, I was determined to find the article that had sparked my memory!
Alas, I couldn't recall any specifics of what sort of article I saw, or even the search that tumbled me across it in the first place, although I'm fairly certain it concerned cheesemaking from the milk of some unusual South American animal. (Or maybe a wombat. Did you know that a wombat's "sheer weight makes a charging wombat capable of knocking a man over, and their sharp teeth and powerful jaws can result in severe wounds"?[1] Right. Neither did I. Beware wombats, then, and back to business.) Still, the reference was several years ago, before I'd even heard the sketch, so I hadn't made the connection at the time.
But I remained undaunted, determined to carry out an investigation into the possible existence of Venezuelan Beaver Cheese anywhere in the world (that would be in... um... Venezuela, most likely). After an extensive search, I found that no one seems to carry Venezuelan Beaver Cheese, and no one is likely to for some time (unless some enterprising Python fan has figured out a safe way of milking a beaver). Matters were further complicated by the discovery that there are no beavers native to Venezuela, although consideration has been given to some possible viable interpretations that might work around this little problem. And a simple enough recipe would be available, once you had the milk.
There IS a store in San Diego that claims to have carried it once upon a time, although it's currently out of stock. Perhaps they should change their header picture to include beavers in with the cows and sheep and goats. (Don't believe me? Make with the clicky, and peruse their shop listings, I dare you.) Likewise, the possibility exists that it is an historical cheese, and simply no longer available today. I offer as evidence this list of present and former Cheese Factories & Dairies of Clark Co., WI which, as you note, includes two "Beaver Cheese Factory" listings. (Granted, this would be AMERICAN Beaver Cheese rather than Venezuelan Beaver Cheese, but one takes evidence where it can be found.)
Ah! But what if I was going about this in the wrong way? Certainly, the sketch mentions "Venezuelan Beaver Cheese," but the official language of Venezuela is not English, but Spanish!!! I rushed (well, sauntered) to Babelfish and learned that our cheese would most likely be called "queso del castor" (or perhaps "queso venezolano del castor") in its native tongue (Venezuela has no beavers, but they have a word for them? I find this highly suspicious). Alas, a good thought, but it was not to be. A Google search turned up zero hits on either phrase.
The quest for Venezuelan Beaver Cheese must continue. But it was not in vain! I always turn up the most amusing factoids in such searches, and so these, at least, I can share with you, my noble and dedicated (or should I say committed?) readers. For example, I discovered:
Some people have far too much time on their hands.
Capybara meat is still an acceptible fish dish for Venezuelans during Lent, according to the Roman Catholic Church.
There is such a thing as zebu cheese in the Amazon.
There are, in fact, supposedly many types of milk that produce edible cheeses.
GROSS WARNING
(skip down to the dotted line if you have a sensitive stomach)
Queijo de coalho, a semi-hard cow milk cheese from Brazil, uses an enzyme extracted from the stomach of a local rodent called a moco in the place of rennet. And if this grosses you out, I won't tell you where rennet actually comes from.
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They make some really weird ice cream flavors in Venezuela. (Yes, I know, some of you think this one should've gone above the dotted line.)
The traditional snack break for British workmen in the 18th century known as "elevenses" often consisted of a light meal of bread, cheese, and beer, and was also known as "beaver".
Oh... and while I'm at it, have another wombat. (This is what's become of STUMPERS-L, I discovered. Yay, it's not dead!)
Oh, look, I *do* still remember how to log in to my blog. Fancy that.
Yes, I know it's been an awfully long time... ::wanders around, doing some dusting and sneezing copiously, cleaning off some graffiti someone scribbled on with black magic marker, shovelling out the spam:: So much for my resolution to find something to post at least once a month. And to post flower pictures... and... ::sigh:: Ah, well.
Starting over, then. What to blog, what to blog? Well, heck, I'm a librarian, so there's always *one* topic to fall back on when imagination fails... ;)
BOOKS!!
So, let's see. A test of my memory, as (of course) I've been forgetting to keep my book journal, too... let's see if I can recall the last ten books I've read (not including comic books, except for graphic novels, 'cause single issues are just too short to justify including here.) I'll offer myself a handicap (because given my sieve-like memory for some things, I think I'll need one) and include everything I'm reading right now.
10. The Shadow of Saganami, by David Weber: Weber's trying to breathe new life into his Honor Harrington space-opera saga by having Admiral Lady Dame Harrington take a step back and making her a minor supporting character in this one while the new generation of recruits struts their stuff. It works surprisingly well. Honestly, I've been getting kinda bored with the main Honor Harrington series. I tried to start At All Costs immediately after I read this, but I just couldn't get into it. The Honor books have been getting thicker, which doesn't normally bother me. But they've also gotten considerably drier. The politics of war have taken over from character interests. Frankly, if I wanted to read escapist fiction about military politics, I'd read the President's speeches about Iraq. There's enough technical jargon in the most recent books in the series to make Tom Clancy throw up his hands, and the universe of characters has been getting wider and wider. It's like trying to remember the names of all the delegates at the U.N. and what committees they're on. The main series was fantastic at the beginning, but it's lost its focus, and it's becoming too much to wade through now. Saganami, however, does not share the failings of the later main-series books. While I admit to having done a bit of back-and-forth flipping in Saganami to keep track of characters (doesn't help that they can be referred to by first name, last name, rank, or position, depending on who's talking to/about them), and yes, there's still scads of techie jargon, this book felt more like a return to the early Honor books, when Honor's fire and character and determination in the face of desperate odds carried you along for a wild ride on a heaving battledeck. Weber also manages to break with some of his own stereotypes in this one, and that's something I'd be delighted to see more of. Keep the good characters coming, Dave. I'm not in this for the technical manuals.
9, sort of. (um. There was another in here, and I'm even pretty sure I enjoyed it and recommended it to someone else... darned if I can remember what it was, though. I'd remember if I saw the title again, but, um... right. Moving on.)
9, really. The Givenchy Code, by Julie Kenner: Okay, I want to read more of this lady! Dan Brown, are you listening? Yes, I know you're making tons of money writing utter tripe. Do us all a favor and give it to Ms. Kenner. Don't worry, she writes popular code/suspense books, too, but she does it ten times better than you could ever hope to. I'm trying to branch out by reading things I wouldn't normally. Sometimes, it's an utter failure. (Dan Brown, case in point.) Sometimes, it nets me a new author. Julie Kenner writes a highly amusing cross between mystery/suspense and witty chick lit, and it *works.* She even has the guts to sneak in a reference to the book she's showing up. ;) The main character is a gorgeous math grad student with boyfriend troubles and a horrible weakness for designer shoes... oh, yeah, and a psycho assassin on her trail, (a la The Most Dangerous Game) courtesy of a MMORPG gone live and *real.* She must rely on the hunky ex-military man assigned as her protector, and on her own code-cracking smarts to beat the game and call off the killer. Oh, and you have to read the author's self-interview at the end.
8. His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Book 1), by Naomi Novik: I finished this in half a day, and immediately went out to put the next two in the trilogy on order. The premise is quite simple: it's England's side of the Napoleonic Wars, with the benefit of aerial support in the nature of dragons. Yes, it's alternate history, yes, it has mythical creatures in it, but this doesn't read like fantasy at all. This reads like the best of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin books or C. S. Forester's Hornblower crossed with Anne McCaffrey's Dragonrider series. Cpt. Will Laurence is a career Navy man, committed to the seagoing life, until he overtakes a French ship with a most unusual cargo: a dragon's egg, straight from China. There is not enough time to get the prize home before the egg hatches, and Laurence finds his neat nautical world turned upside-down when the dragon chooses *him* for a partner. He must quit his beloved Navy and the life he knew to join the undisciplined barbarians of Britain's tiny Aerial Corps, because a dragon is too valuable a piece of ordinance to His Majesty's forces to throw away for the sake of a mere captain's career. But his new life, and his new partner, are not quite what he expects, either....
7. Quicksilver, by Stephanie Spinner: This was cute. It's a YA title about the Trojan War, told from the point of view of teenaged Hermes. The business with Paris forces the fun-loving youth from his favored role of Trickster into the humorless task of Psychopomp of the Dead, and man, does he hate it. The language is modern and the beginning comes across as sort of... flip, but as the action gets more serious, so does Hermes, and we are reminded that this is a boy who's been a teenager for centuries. He's an intriguing mix of juvenile and mature, and in his role as informed bystander, he has some pretty insightful commentary on the war and what it does both to his deific family and the earth below. Light, but fun-- a retelling that might intrigue young readers enough to read more.
6. Fairest, by Gail Carson Levine: No, this isn't out 'til September. Yes, I love the perks of my job, and you may feel free to hate me for it. My boss brought me an advanced reading copy from Book Expo, and I devoured it pretty much as soon as I got it home. Piece of advice-- don't read this if you're PMSsy. I bawled loudly and shamelessly through about half the book. This is another YA title, so again, pretty fast read for me. You may know Levine from her other Princess Tales (including Ella Enchanted, which, for the record, was loads better than the movie made from it). This is another fairy tale retelling, set in the same world, including the same well-meaning but ultimately rather wicked fairy. She sort of combines the tale of Snow White with the story of the Ugly Duckling, with a dash of Singin' In The Rain thrown in for good measure. Levine writes wonderfully likeable and entertaining characters with a strong supporting cast, and I loved how she snuck in the expected story elements in unexpected ways. I particularly admire her flawed villains... she gives them understandable motives for their actions, "flaws" them with good points, and makes them very hard to hate outright. Not only does it make it disturbingly easy for the reader to step into the villain's shoes, but it means she sets herself a hard task for a satisfying ending in which everyone gets what he or she deserves. I admit to being a bit let down by the final plot twist (I feel she sort of dodged one of the issues it raised), but the denouement was satisfying and touching and very well done. Four hankies. Oh, and if you like Levine's books, I heartily recommend Shannon Hale, author of The Goose Girl (one of my personal favorite fairy tales to start with) and Enna Burning (set in the same world) and the wonderful Princess Academy. She's also due out with a new book in the fall that will return to the fictional land of Bayern, River Secrets.
5. ChocolateChocolate, by Lisa Yockelson: Yes, okay, this is a cookbook. If you're on a diet, just skip to the next number right now. Really. You don't want to read this. Alright, you've been warned. For those of you that are still here and love chocolate, BUY THIS BOOK. (If you don't love chocolate, I'm sure help can be found for you somewhere, poor thing.) I accidentally ordered two of them (I saw reviews in two different sources, and put my order in twice... der), and although I was prepared to buy both and give one away, two of the clerks in Tech Services piped up with offers to take it off my hands. (It was very nearly a bidding war.) This... this is gourmet chocolate baking to the utmost. She includes a list of 180 types of chocolate (cocoa powder to Milky Way to single-bean imports) and where to find it. And then she goes into a list of types of chocolate, and the best uses of each. And of "intensities" of chocolate and ways to combine it for different effects. The recipes, organized by type, include old faithfuls and intriguing inventions, and are not for the casual chocolate nibbler or the faint of heart... this is an encyclopedic tome for the die-hard blood-and-bone chocophile. She not only puts more chocolate than you think you might believably cohere into her recipes, she discusses the pros and cons of specific *brands* of fine chocolate. She includes personal notes on each recipe-- what she likes, what she's tried, tricky bits to watch for, and why she does something in a particular way rather than another that might seem easier. Her directions are clear and easy to follow, the pictures will make you drool, and her extensive knowledge of chocolate in all its forms makes me worship at her cocoa-dusted feet. And for the record, I'm eating a Double-Dark Fudge Brownie as I write this. (Page 92. You're welcome.)
4. Read or Die, v. 1, by Shutaro Yamada and Hideyuki Kurata (Illustrator): I was excited to hear about this because I loved the (admittedly kooky) anime. Unfortunately, this manga doesn't quite live up to the anime's promise. The heroine, Yomiko Readman, "The Paper," special agent for the Library of England, is the same, but her masterful control of paper as weapon and defense and her incurable and voracious bibliomania just don't come across as well in this format (ironically enough). It was an okay story (although the bad guy was just a whack-job, and not even a particularly amusing one). Yomiko comes across as almost as much of a freak as the villain (well, in a way, she is, but...), and what she is and does is never really satisfactorily clarified. The art is sort of uneven, and I wasn't deeply enamoured of his layout... the frame-to-frame progression was confusing at times. I think I'll stick with the anime.
reading now:
3. Yume no Hon: The Book of Dreams, by Catherynne M. Valente (in bookbag): Just as a side note, I love the spelling of her first name. I'm not generally too keen on odd alternate spellings of traditional names (SanDeE*, anyone?), but this one is... classy. :) Anyway, this is a slim little book, but a dense read. The description intrigued me when I first saw it, and it's been sitting on my to-be-read shelf at home for awhile waiting for me to get in the mood to crack it. (Erm... not literally. I'm not overly particular with paperbacks, but I don't *destroy* bindings, thank you. Especially not of library books.) Her use of language is beautiful and evocative and... well, dreamlike. Worthy of the title, I think. It reads almost like free-verse poetry in a prose format. It's been very slow going because I keep stopping to reread a passage and think about it, or admire it, or try to unpack its possible meanings. I think that's a pretty high recommendation right there, for anyone who likes that sort of book. If I like this one enough, I'll be reading The Labyrinth next.
2. Watch By Moonlight, by Kate Hawks (in purse): Okay, I'm a sucker for retellings. This is a retelling of Alfred Noyes's poem/ballad, "The Highwayman," told from the point of view of the tavern wench Bess. If you've read the poem, you have an inkling of what happens. If you haven't, I'll just tell you that Bess falls in love with an infamous highwayman, and advise that you read the book before you read the poem to avoid spoiling it for yourself. It's pretty good so far. I'm reading it just now because the author's coming out with a new series that I'm debating getting for the library (or perhaps just for myself, if I don't think she'll appeal), and I wanted to see what sort of writer she was first.
1. Wintersmith, by Terry Pratchett (on nightstand): Discworld. Witch-in-training Tiffany Aching and the Wee Free Men. The personification of Winter... in love. With Tiffany. Need I say more? Oh yeah... how 'bout that this is another advanced reading copy, and you won't get to read it 'til *October.* ^_^ Don't hate me because I'm a librarian. God, I love my job.