alt+library

There’s no map to human behaviour. Bjork

alt library — Wed, 15 May 2013 20:53:56 +0000

Or is there? We at alt+library think there is and we want YOU to draw it. As you may know, tonight is our very first flâneur walk in conjunction with our regular book club meeting. We’ll be wandering midtown, sharing our happiest places along with our observations on The Geography of Bliss. But wait! There’s MORE!

Here we have the altLibrary map. Inspired by the upcoming release of Mapping Manhattan, we contacted the kind folks at Downtown Grid with a request: are they willing to make us a blank map to be distributed among the alt+library? Turns out the answer is a resounding “yes”! So, what to do with it?

We’d like you to draw YOUR Midtown Sacramento. You can make it themed: best places to steal a kiss, best desserts, best alleys to covertly urinate in when you’ve been drinking all night, skate-friendly businesses OR you can just make it personal, listing your favorite spots and why. Attached is the example for tonight: Geography of Bliss walk. So, print out your blank, draw it in, and either drop it at McKinley Library (601 Alhambra Blvd) or scan it and email to jzaker@saclibrary.org. We’re compiling them for our own nefarious purposes. And we’re going to share them. Eventually. So make it good.

/jess

“Walkers are ‘practitioners of the city,’ for the city is made to be walked. A city is a language, a repository of possibilities, and walking is the act of speaking that language, of selecting from those possibilities.” ― Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking

alt library — Tue, 07 May 2013 22:46:02 +0000

And we are decided. Our walking tour for this month’s alt+library book club will begin at R15 (unsurprisingly located at R and 15th St). Be there at 7p or a little earlier – we have much ground to cover! Originally our idea with alt+library was to take the library out into the community but never have we done it quite so literally as we plan to on Wednesday May 15th, walking the streets of midtown Sacramento while discussing this month’s book selection, The Geography of Bliss. Our entire route, start to finish, is just about 4 miles so plan accordingly. We’ll cover a variety of sites submitted by our members and this will kick off our next thrilling project – Mapping Your Sacramento. More to be revealed that night. We will end our walk very near to the start point so don’t worry about having to trek back to your car. Comfortable shoes, a water bottle, an attention to detail – bring these and we’ll see you there!

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. – Oscar Wilde

alt library — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 19:38:39 +0000

Last night we celebrated World Book Night! Lori and I had both signed up to be givers so the titles we got were The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (mine) and Looking for Alaska by John Green (hers). And we learned some important lessons about handing out free books in midtown to non-readers: 1) no one who signed up to attend will show up (exception: Nicole) BUT other people will. 2 very sweet young men came and gamely took a couple each to hand out. 2) people will take ANYTHING from a woman on roller skates. That is a lesson I will be sure to apply further. 3) There is no greater pleasure to be had than sharing a book you love with someone who has never read it and the ensuing conversation about past reads, future reads, and suggestions for new material. Thanks to everyone who took a book, to BodyTribe for letting me skate in and interrupt workouts to bring the joy of reading, and my very favorite partner-in-crime, Lori. Happy reading everyone!

/jess

P.S. Keep sending in the suggestions for our walk in May!

All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking. Friedrich Nietzsche

alt library — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 18:48:06 +0000

“There is no English equivalent for the French word flâneur. Cassell’s dictionary defines flâneur as a stroller, saunterer, drifter but none of these terms seems quite accurate. There is no English equivalent for the term, just as there is no Anglo-Saxon counterpart of that essentially Gallic individual, the deliberately aimless pedestrian, unencumbered by any obligation or sense of urgency, who, being French and therefore frugal, wastes nothing, including his time which he spends with the leisurely discrimination of a gourmet, savoring the multiple flavors of his city.” (Cornelia Otis Skinner, Elegant Wits and Grand Horizontals, 1962, Houghton Mifflin, New York)

Those who attended our most recent bookclub were privy to our latest scheme – becoming flâneurs. But in order to make our walk good, we need your input! For our May meeting, we are planning a stroll through the midtown area and we want each participant interested to contribute a spot to visit and a willingness to explain their love for that particular building, tree, mailbox – whatever. We’re limiting ourselves to the region between E and T, 10th to 28th. If you would like to add your spot to our route, please email me directly (jzaker@saclibrary.org) by May 4th for inclusion. We’ll also be reading The Geography of Bliss that month – some killer travel writing about the “happiest places” on earth.

Stay tuned for more details about our “read trash, don’t leave it” plan for summer as well. Thanks for supporting alt+library!

/jess

“Crafting is putting ideas into action and then holding them together with an inexpensive adhesive.” –Amy Sedaris, Crafts for Poor People

alt library — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 01:35:07 +0000

As a self-proclaimed craft nut, I could probably fill a room with the monstrosities I have created over the years. Inexpensive adhesive (Gutermann, anyone?) or not, some creations were just not meant to see the light of day. I’m sure I’ve made plenty of nice things, but when you start to get creative it can be easy to forget about conventional aesthetics. I still maintain that my lumpy ceramic glaze test/ashtray/catchall is a thing of beauty.

Fortunately, alt+librarian Lori was able to pass on some of her paper craft prowess to me and the Alt+Friends when we got together recently to whip up some book-themed crafts. As you can see, the Friends did a beautiful job iris folding and binding matchbook journals. We’ll be selling these goodies at Coffee Garden for Second Saturday (March 9^th) from 6-9 pm, along with some great used books. We have lots of newer fiction and some lovely decorating books. Hope to see you there!

–

Meg

Drawing is the honesty of the art. There is no possibility of cheating. It is either good or bad. – Salvador Dali

alt library — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 22:48:56 +0000

And fortunately for us at alt+library, Kristin deNeeve is GOOD. Newly arrived to Sacramento, she had the (mis)fortune of coming into my library where I discovered she is an artist, has talent, has worked with libraries before (see her NYU work) and was willing to work with us! She created this image for us – emblematic of some of the program offerings that alt+library tries to provide. Pretty sweet, huh? See some of you for Darling Jim tonight and the rest out and about!

/jess

Most virtue is a demand for greater seduction. – Natalie Clifford Barney

alt library — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 21:33:09 +0000

If only I could get the Bow Wow Wow song “Aphrodisiac” to stop running through my head as I plan this program. But seriously, Food of Love is going to be the JAM!

Aphrodisiacs can be both truth and legend. Some foods have psychoactive properties, others arouse because they are psychologically suggestive, and some can actually increase the, uh, necessary blood flow. We’ll be discussing foods and meals rumored to have aphrodisiac properties, even sampling a few.

And everyone knows the Shakespeare quote from Twelfth Night:

If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it; that surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.

While we aren’t looking to gorge ourselves to cure a broken heart, we do support the “music be the food of love” theory – bring a favorite song/artist/playlist to share, something that inspires you toward seduction. My weaknesses include Portishead (sex music!) and Sharon Jones (for making a first move).

You can’t get a cup of tea big enough or a book long enough to suit me. – C. S. Lewis

alt library — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 01:55:50 +0000

Thanks so much to everyone who came out to Teas Me! We very much enjoyed NOT pouring boiling water in your laps though the melted cups did come close. As promised, here are the recipes Lia used to make both the delicious cookies AND the ice cream.

Vanilla Rooibos Cookies
Makes 36

¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons rooibos tea leaves (about 5 tea bags)
1 vanilla bean, whole, ends trimmed, cut into segments (just double extract instead?)
1 ¼ cup flour
¼ cup powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons milk
½ cup unsalted butter
1 ½ tablespoon turbinado sugar

Heat a small stainless steel pan over medium heat. When pan is hot, add rooibos leaves, and shake pan to distribute tea into a single layer. Toast for about 2 minutes, until tea is fragrant but not darkened. Depending on your leaves, this may happen much more quickly; watch it carefully. When leaves are fragrant, transfer them to a bowl and let cool for a couple minutes.
Combine the sugar, vanilla bean, and rooibos in the bowl of a food processor and pulse for about 2 minutes, until there are no chunks of bean left in the bowl. Add the powdered sugar, flour, and salt to the bowl and pulse a few times to combine. Then add the milk, vanilla, and butter and pulse several times, until a dough forms.
Turn dough onto a very lightly floured surface, gather it together, and roll it gently into a log 1.5-inches in diameter.
Sprinkle turbinado sugar on a plate or work surface, and roll cookie dough log in the sugar, making sure to cover the entire surface of the log with sugar. Wrap log in plastic or wax paper and transfer to the fridge or freezer for at least 30 minutes to chill. (You can leave the log in the freezer and slice off cookies one by one, whenever the urge strikes.)
When ready to bake, turn on the oven to 375°F and line a baking sheet with parchment or silpat.
Remove the log from fridge or freezer, and cut 1/3-inch slices off the log, rotating the log as you go to ensure that cookie slices stay round. Transfer cookies to the prepared baking sheet, leaving 1/2 inch between each (they don’t really spread, but they need breathing room to crisp up). Bake for 12 minutes, until cookies are just starting to brown. Leave on the cookie sheet to cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to racks.
Cookies will keep in an airtight container for several days.

http://food52.com/recipes/19673_vanilla_rooibos_tea_cookies

Earl Grey Ice Cream
Ingredients

1 cup whole milk
2 cups half and half (or 1 cup heavy cream & 1 cup half and half)
¾ cup sugar
6 Earl Grey tea bags
5 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Method
In a small saucepan, warm the milk, half and half, and sugar over medium-heat, stirring occasionally. Once the milk is steaming (but not boiling), remove pan from heat. Place the tea bags into the pan, cover and steep at room temperature for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove tea bags, then return to medium-heat.
Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and vanilla until frothy. Once the milk mixture is re-warmed, add 2 Tbsp. of the hot milk mixture to the eggs, and quickly whisk in until combined. Repeat 2-3 more times with more of the milk mixture, then gradually pour in the remainder of the milk mixture into the egg yolks and whisk quickly until combined.
Return the new milk/egg mixture to the saucepan, and cook over medium heat, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan constantly until the mixture thickens to a custard and coats the back of a wooden spoon.
Immediately strain through a fine-mesh strainer, and then refrigerate until completely cooled (at least 6-8 hours). Then freeze with an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/earl-grey-ice-cream/

The teas used for the ice creams were Jasmine Mint Green and Creme de la Earl Grey from Townshend’s Tea. See some of you tonight at alt+library book club! Next event – alt+fitness, every first Saturday at McKinley Library.

/jess

Such a TEAS!

alt library — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 22:54:45 +0000

The perils of a “clever” name – I called our upcoming tea tasting program “Teas Me” thinking it would be cute and draw people in. What I hadn’t counted on was the aftermath. Every time someone RSVPs on meetup.com (thank you!), I get an email saying “Soandso is going to Teas Me!” This has happened maybe 20 or times and I blush each time. Absurd. Ridiculous title aside, this program is going to be (I can’t stop it, I’m sorry) tea-rrific. We’ll talk about different types of teas, origins, alternative uses, how to brew the “perfect” cup, make a craft and more! If you are a tea freak or a tea novice, chances are high you will enjoy coming to Teas Me. (See? Makes you a little squirmy, right?).

/jess

Return of the Book Club

alt library — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 20:21:59 +0000

We really wanted to write “New Year, new book club”–but we have to be honest–the return of the alt+library book club will also see the return of one of our favorite reads, The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson.

Since we first read this book back when alt+library was just a young thing, we thought it was time to revisit it now that we’re all so much older and wiser. Plus, there are about 14 copies of the book on the shelf at the library which means you can all get your mitts on a copy without too much hassle. Want discussion questions? Take a look here.

RSVP to attend the book club over at www.meetup.com/altlibrary