A faithful reader of this blog requests that we discuss today’s book, A Spool of Blue Thread by Ann Tyler. Blue Thread is a family saga in which the working-class Whitshank family lives out their days in a wonderfully crafted house in one of the better Baltimore neighborhoods.

Tyler presents us with the Whitshanks as we might know them from just down the street. Then she works her way back two generations, revealing how the family tree formed.

And the likable Whitshanks hide a few blemishes on that tree. Resentments bubble underneath the surface. Even in their most selfless moments, the Whitshanks can play the family-secret card, bruising feelings and maybe even body parts. In fact, there are secrets so deep, the players in this tale don’t know them.

But you will, if you stick with Tyler’s story.

Fortunately, it’s not hard.

You will meet Denny, the undependable son; Abby the soft-hearted social-worker mother with a need to turn sad stories around; Junior, Red’s father, whose attention to detail pushed the family from humble mountain folk to society weddings; and Linnie Mae, Junior’s wife, so pale and retiring that she blends in like bread on a white plate.

Or so it seems.

Now, I didn’t cook this week. But I ate some yummy stuff. Wonder if I could figure out how to make this Mexican Chocolate Brownie?

I tasted a little heat in the chocolate. Hopefully, it was just cinnamon, although this recipe  uses some ground peppers in addition to a gourmet cinnamon.

The pictured brownie is topped with a “chocolate sorbet.” The cookie had a graham-like crispness.

Even with a week of fine dining behind me, I’m eager to get back to chopping and mixing in my own kitchen. Who knows what will appear on our table?