Blackberry Crumb Muffins and Two Books

Posted: 29 Sept 2013 - bookcooker

Hello old friends!  After a bit of a hiatus (a little bit of a writing rut, reading rut, cooking rut and enjoying life outside the blog) I am returning to bookcooker.  I hope you will bear with me as slowly get back on the horse!  I made these pretty little muffins a while ago, when the recipe appeared in the New York Times.  It was perfect timing, because I had recently read two (very different) books that this recipe was perfect for -  Where'd You Go Bernadette and Bringing Up the Bodies.  Where'd You Go, by Maria Semple is a unique novel where much of the story is told through letters, emails and various other documents, like memos.  It is the very funny story of a daughter's search for her brilliant but more than slightly off mother (Bernadette) set in the milieu of affluent and politically correct Seattle.  A disastrous chain of events is set off when Bernadette gets into a dispute with her obnoxious neighbor concerning some unruly blackberry bushes on her property (inspiration for the blackberry part of the muffin.)  Bringing Up the Bodies is Hilary Mantel's riveting second book in her series of books about Henry VIII's right hand man - Thomas Cromwell. 

This book follows the downfall of Anne Boleyn - and while this tale has been told many times before, unsurprisingly Mantel brings new wit and intelligence to the story.  While Anne is certainly a compelling distraction, the story is really about Thomas Cromwell - his relationship to the mercurial king and how he manages to survive yet another upheaval in the house of Tudor.  Those around Cromwell give him the nickname "Crumb", hence the crumb part of the muffin.   A two for one recipe was the perfect impetus to get me off my bum and back to blogging.  Here we go.

Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette is a hilarious send up of a certain part of our society  - the liberal, highly educated upper middle class world - in particular, in Seattle.  Bee Branch is a middle schooler at the private, alternative Galen Street school in Seattle.  Her father is a big deal at Microsoft  - his local celebrity stemming from a particularly inspiring TED talk.  Bee's mother, Bernadette, appears to be a bit of a recluse - she used to be a star architect, when the family lived in Los Angeles, but since moving to Seattle she spends all of her time inside the family's massive house  - which used to be a girls school.  Bernadette does not get along with the other Galen Street parents - she calls the other mothers gnats - and in particular gets into an ongoing altercation with her neighbor and fellow Galen Street mother Audrey, over the blackberry bushes growing wild on her property.   

Bernadette seems truly afraid to interact with people, so much so she has hired a virtual personal assistant from India to help with her every day tasks and help her get ready for the family's big trip to Antarctica.  For Bee's middle school graduation she asked her parents to take her there, and the family is planning to head on a cruise there when Bernadette's feud with Audrey blows up and suddenly Bernadette goes missing.   Bee then embarks on a search to find her mother.  All of this is told in an nontraditional format - through emails, FBI documents, school flyers and other random bits.  Semple has really achieved something here - despite this surprising way to tell the story, it flows smoothly and is a pleasure to read.  Perhaps it is because this is how we process information now - rather than long prose, we live our lives in emails and text messages.  While the book is a real laugh, it also has heart and makes Bernadette a real person who has lost herself while living this very privileged life.   A great, fun read.

Bringing up the Bodies is an entirely different animal than Where'd You Go?  While Semple's book had the frenzied pace of television, Mantel's book is something you settle into for a long afternoon with a nice cup of tea.  Mantel transports you completely to Tudor England and into the brilliant mind of Thomas Cromwell, the man who came from nothing to be the King of England's most trusted adviser.  But the brutality of Cromwell's past shapes the role he plays in Henry's court - he is also a henchman - merciless in his take downs of those the King has decided he does not love anymore.  Despite this unlikable role, Thomas Cromwell, as Mantel creates him, is entirely likable and worthy of our sympathy.  He is an intelligent and perhaps even kind man with a ruthless and feckless master who could turn on him at any moment.  Anne Boleyn, who is always so fascinating in today's literature, is a bore compared to Cromwell and his expert maneuverings.  

Of course, in the end, Cromwell is just Henry's stooge - once Henry tires of Anne, Cromwell sets out on a ruthless campaign to bring her down.  We all know how it ends, but Mantel still manages to create real suspense and we, the readers, despite our affection for Cromwell, must feel tremendous sympathy for his prey - the Boleyns - as their heads are chopped off.  I liked Bringing Up the Bodies a little better than Wolf Hall - the novel seemed to flow easier.   What I love about Mantel is that she creates historical fiction that is fascinating, full of accurate period detail, that feels realistic and relevant today. 


Blackberry Crumb Muffins,  from The New York Times
(printable recipe)

These little muffins were a blogging gift - perfect to represent Bernadette's wild blackberry bushes that caused so much damage and for Mantel's "Crumb."  While blackberry season is over, perhaps there are a few stragglers at your market that you can quickly grab to throw into these delectable little treats.  If not, frozen would work too.

Ingredients (the recipe in NYTimes said this made 24 muffins, for me this amount made 12) - bookcooker

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