Thursday Hangovers

• If you want to change your life, read Kim O'Donnel's newest column at USA Today and make some sofrito: "Inebriated by the sofrito perfume, my human dinner companions gathered around the stove like hungry dogs. They lapped up every last bit and begged for more the next day. I couldn't argue with them; The sofrito turned the ordinary into the extraordinary. It was the ultimate flavor zipper-upper, and I started to understand the possibilities for soups, stews and sauces, just like I learned how to use mirepoix (a combination of onions, carrots, and celery) in cooking school." I admit to being one of the humans in question, but, seriously, this is the most delicious thing ever.
• Gavin posts the cover for the next in Lydia Millet's middle grade series (which I still need to read the first of). It be gorgeous.
• Oh, and because I keep forgetting, there's a new issue of LCRW out--I'm still making my way through it, but LOVE the Carol Emshwiller and Joan Aiken stories (and it also has a new installment of Dear Aunt G, of course).
• J.L. Bell points to and comments on a discussion of why monachies are so popular in children's fantasy (and, well, I'd say broaden that to high fantasy as a whole, really). He adds an interesting thought I can't remember seeing as part of this conversation before (and which wouldn't apply to fantasies written for adults): "That’s because those fantasies don’t replicate the larger democratic society in which most of their readers are living. They reflect the smaller, more dictatorial societies of family and school, with rules set by “self-selected group of elites, often with special powers,” called adults." Check it out.
• Speaking of conversations, the one about GLBTQ characters in YA fiction centered around a guest essay at Genreville has turned into a bit of a hot mess. Regardless, I highly recommend reading the posts it sparked by Scott Tracey (one and two), Malinda Lo (who did a hero's work putting together those pie charts), and Sara Ryan. These are discussions we should be having.
• "The Dark Side of the Placebo Effect: When Intense Belief Kills" at the Atlantic.
• At Slate, Kara Jesella writes about Tavi Gevinson's new online mag for teen girls Rookie (which I have intense love for thus far) and how feminism and teen fashion have become more comfortable bedfellows. While at the NYT, Marisa Meltzer writes about girls embracing "grandma chic." (For reference: Y'all will remember how I feel about Sassy, and Jesella and Meltzer's fab book about it .)
• Laura Lippman talks about her new book, The Most Dangerous Thing, at Omnivoracious; found this bit especially intriguing: "I’m married to a writer, a good one, David Simon. We don’t talk about writing as much as people might think, but we have often discussed how to take an initial idea, the obvious idea -- angry father compounds son’s tragedy through his senseless rage -- and “flip it.” When I wrote the 4th of July chapter for The Most Dangerous Thing, I flipped it – and found myself staring into the tragic heart of the book."