Connect with us

CBS News

Book excerpt: “My Friends” by Hisham Matar

Avatar

Published

on


my-friends-cover-random-house-660.jpg

Random House


We may receive an affiliate commission from anything you buy from this article.

“My Friends” (Random House), the latest novel from Hisham Matar (the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The Return”), imagines the life of a student wounded during a protest against Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi 40 years ago: a young man who finds himself permanently separated from his family and exiled from his country.

Read an excerpt below.


“My Friends” by Hisham Matar

Prefer to listen? Audible has a 30-day free trial available right now.


It is, of course, impossible to be certain of what is contained in anyone’s chest, least of all one’s own or those we know well, perhaps especially those we know best, but, as I stand here on the upper level of King’s Cross Station, from where I can monitor my old friend Hosam Zowa walking across the concourse, I feel I am seeing right into him, perceiving him more accurately than ever before, as though all along, during the two decades that we have known one another, our friendship has been a study and now, ironically, just after we have bid one another farewell, his portrait is finally coming into view. And perhaps this is the natural way of things, that when a friendship comes to an inexplicable end or wanes or simply dissolves into nothing, the change we experience at that moment seems inevitable, a destiny that was all along approaching, like someone walking toward us from a great distance, recognizable only when it is too late to turn away. No one has ever been a nearer neighbor to my heart. I am convinced, as I watch him go to his train for Paris, that city where the two of us first met so long ago and in the most unlikely way, that he is carrying, right where the rib cages meet, an invisible burden, one, I believe, I can discern from this distance.

When he still lived here in London, hardly a week would pass without us taking a walk, either through the park or along the river. We sometimes got into a debate, usually concerning an obscure literary question, arguments that, perhaps like all arguments, concealed deeper disagreements. I would sometimes, to my regret, for the gesture has always displeased me, tap my forefinger on his chest and let my palm rest there for a fleeting moment, as though to keep whatever it was that I believed I had placed there stable, and I would once again take note of the distinct pattern of his ribs, the strange way his bones protruded, as if in constant expectation of an attack.

He does not know that I am still here. He thinks I have left, rushed off to the dinner engagement I told him I was already late for. I am not sure why I lied.

“Who are you eating with?” he asked.

“No one you know,” I replied.

He looked at me then as if we had already parted ways and the present was the past, I standing at the shore and he on board the ship sailing into the future.

That burden in the chest, I can see, has rolled his shoulders back a little, causing his hips to fall forward so as to compensate and stop him falling, at the slightest push, face-first. And yet he does look, from this distance, like a man possessed by action, moving forward, determined to enter his new life.

Excerpted from “My Friends” by Hisham Matar Copyright © 2024 by Hisham Matar. Excerpted by permission of Random House. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.


Get the book here:

“My Friends” by Hisham Matar

Buy locally from Bookshop.org


For more info:



Read the original article

Leave your vote

Continue Reading

CBS News

“Sandwiches of History”: Resurrecting sandwich recipes that time forgot

Avatar

Published

on


Barry Enderwick is eating his way through history, one sandwich at a time. Every day from his home in San Jose, California, Enderwick posts a cooking video from a recipe that time forgot. From the 1905 British book “Salads, Sandwiches and Savouries,” Enderwick prepared the New York Sandwich.

The recipe called for 24 oysters, minced and mixed with mayonnaise, seasoned with lemon juice and pepper, and spread over buttered day-old French bread.

Rescuing recipes from the dustbin of history doesn’t always lead to culinary success. Sampling his New York Sandwich, Enderwick decried it as “a textural wasteland. No, thank you.”  Into the trash bin it went!

But Enderwick’s efforts have yielded his own cookbook, a collection of some of the strangest – and sometimes unexpectedly delicious – historical recipes you’ve never heard of. 

sandwiches-of-history-harvard-common-press.jpg

Harvard Common Press


He even has a traveling stage show: “Sandwiches of History Live.”

From the condiments to the sliced bread, this former Netflix executive has become something of a sandwich celebrity. “You can put just about anything in-between two slices of bread,” he said. “And it’s portable! In general, a sandwich is pretty easy fare. And so, they just have universal appeal.”

Though the sandwich gets its name famously from the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, the earliest sandwich Enderwick has eaten dates from 200 B.C.E. China, a seared beef sandwich called Rou Jia Mo.

He declared it delicious. “Between the onions, and all those spices and the soy sauce … oh my God! Oh man, this is so good!”


Rou Jia Mo Sandwich (200ish B.C. /International) by
Sandwiches of History on
YouTube

While Elvis was famous for his peanut butter and banana concoction, Enderwick says there’s another celebrity who should be more famous for his sandwich: Gene Kelly, who he says had “the greatest man sandwich in the world, which was basically mashed potatoes on bread. And it was delicious.”

Whether it’s a peanut and sardine sandwich (from “Blondie’s Cook Book” from 1947), or the parmesian radish sandwich (from 1909’s “The Up-To-Date Sandwich Book”), Enderwick tries to get a taste of who we were – good or gross – one recipe at a time.


RECIPE: A sophisticated club sandwich
Blogger Barry Enderwick, of Sandwiches of History, offers “Sunday Morning” viewers a 1958 recipe for a club sandwich that, he says, shouldn’t work, but actually does, really well! 

MORE: “Sunday Morning” 2024 “Food Issue” recipe index
Delicious menu suggestions from top chefs, cookbook authors, food writers, restaurateurs, and the editors of Food & Wine magazine.  


     
For more info:

      
Story produced by Anthony Laudato. Editor: Chad Cardin.



Read the original article

Leave your vote

Continue Reading

CBS News

The cream of the crop in butter

Avatar

Published

on


The cream of the crop in butter – CBS News


Watch CBS News



The butter made at Animal Farm Creamery, in Shoreham, Vermont, is almost exclusively sold to fine dining restaurants around the country. Correspondent Faith Salie visits the family farm churning out a golden (and expensive) product.

Be the first to know

Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.




Read the original article

Leave your vote

Continue Reading

CBS News

Baking an ancient bread in Tennessee

Avatar

Published

on


Baking an ancient bread in Tennessee – CBS News


Watch CBS News



In Nashville, not far from the center of the country music world, you’ll find a bakery that produces bread nearly identical to what Kurds have been enjoying for more than 4,000 years. Correspondent Martha Teichner visits Newroz Market, where their bread, which originated in Mesopotamia and is traditionally hand-made by women, is a vital culinary necessity for the Kurdish diaspora.

Be the first to know

Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.




Read the original article

Leave your vote

Continue Reading

Copyright © 2024 Breaking MN

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.