January 2008 Host: Rachel

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Summary

Love in the Time of Cholera is set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in a coastal Columbian town and is the story of a tortured and obsessive love (a love that is much like cholera). Fermina Daza and Florentino Ariza meet and fall in love as they communicate through letters, which goes on for a few years. When Florentino first speaks to Fermina, (years after meeting her) she rejects him and eventually marries a wealthy, well-born doctor. Florentino is devastated as he had sworn to love her forever and tries to fill the void through the decades with 622 affairs. More than fifty years later, Fermina’s husband dies as he tries to rescue a wayward parrot from a tree. Florentino again approaches Fermina to profess his undying love for her. Intertwined throughout the main plot are stories of various loves that are platonic, dangerous, geriatric, adulterous, etc. This was an Oprah’s book club selection and the author is a winner of the Nobel Prize.

Discussion

-Marquez is an excellent writer, his prose is rich in detail with just the right amount of humor mixed in.

-After agreeing upon the previous point, we spent the rest of the evening trashing the book. We felt that the book “lacked” - perhaps that ‘something’ was missed in the translation.

-We had trouble liking or even caring about any of the characters. Florentino Ariza has over 600 affairs and is unscathed by any one of them. One such example is that he molests a fourteen year old who later commits suicide - we understand that the author was trying to get across that older men can love. (Florentino was in his 70s when this happened) but, yuck He had mental issues and it was agreed that his character was disgusting.

-One of the characters was brutally raped when she was very young and never married because she was waiting to again meet and then marry her attacker. Yuck again.

-Florintino Ariza was portrayed as being an expert in writing romantic prose and letters, yet the author did not include one of them in the book, which was disappointing.

-There was much ado about Fermina’s husband’s chess partner dying. There was a buildup to the opening of a secret letter….which revealed only hat he had been having an affair. We were led to believe there would be something more significant in the letter.

Menu (Assorted comfort foods)

Tomato Mozerella Salad

Barbecue Meatballs

Brie with crackers

Takeout Barbecue

Missy’s Enchalada Casserole

Vanilla Pineapple Cake

Tomato Mozerella Salad

Ingredients

Cherry Tomatoes
Mozerella Cheese
Fresh Basil
Olive Oil
Vinegar

Slice cherry tomatoes and cube Mozerella cheese. Toss lightly with an olive oil and vinegar mixture. All ingredients are measured to taste and can also be layered on a dish and served as an appetizer.

Barbecue Meatballs

Ingredients

Prepared meatballs (store bought can be used)
Your favorite barbecue sauce such as Bullseye

If using a crockpot, add meatballs and barbecue sauce and cook on low for an hour or two. With oven cooked meatballs, combine meatballs with barbecue sauce before serving.

Crackers with Brie

Fabulous BBQ from one of our local restaurants.

Missy’s Enchilada Casserole

Ingredients

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Corn tortillas
Approx one pound chicken breast
Diced green chiles (to taste)
One medium onion
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
(98% fat free soups can be substituted)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray pam on 9x13 pan and tear corn tortillas into strips to make a layer on the bottom of the pan. Mix both soups (no water) in a bowl and add chopped onions and diced green chiles. Take half of the shredded chicken and sprinkle over the layer of tortillas. Put half of the soup mixture over the chicken and sprinkle cheese over the soup mixture. Than make another layer of torn tortilla strips on top of the cheese followed by the chicken, soup mixture and cheese. If you let the casserole sit overnight in the refrigerator before you bake it, it tastes better as the tortillas are more moist. Cook at 350 for about 20 minutes.

Still waiting for the recipe on this little treat.

Vanilla Pineapple Cake

Ingredients

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice
¾ cup white sugar
2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
¾ cup flaked coconut, toasted
½ cup chopped pecans
1 tub extra creamy Cool Whip

1. Prepare and bake cake mix according to box directions for a 9 x 13 inch cake pan.
2. While the cake is baking, combine pineapple with juice and ¾ cup sugar in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes until thick and syrupy, stirring occasionally. Pierce top of hot cake with fork at 1 inch intervals. Pour pineapple mixture over cake. Cool completely.
3. Beat pudding mix with milk until smooth. Spread pudding over cooled cake. Chill cake for 24 hours. Sprinkle with coconut and pecans just before serving. Refrigerate leftovers.

I'll be glad to see them all go home so I can have at the left overs.