Friday, November 6, 2009

Traveling


My first visit back to the east coast to commence in just about 11 hours. This is the longest I've ever gone without setting foot in DC.

I have been gone since February 21th. 260 days since being in DC. I won't even be there for 24 hours though.

First stop, Durham. Arriving at 10:21 tomorrow morning. Departing a little more than 24 hours after that for DC. Departing a little more than 16 hours after that for Montreal. Some buddies, booze, and biz.

Jeez my plane better not fucking crash.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

I like to watch...


Europa, Dir. von Trier, 1991.
This is the third in von Trier's Europa trilogy. I have already seen one of the others, Element of Crime which I liked a lot. Europa is just as good, and perhaps more of a traditional narrative. It has a lot of surrealist elements and has the same hypnosis theme as Element of Crime but things are clearer this time. Unfortunately, the clarity is just as bleak. It follows an American who goes to Germany in 1945 to be a train conductor. By following the mundane, we get a real picture of the despair, guilt, anxiety and anger of post-war, demoralized Europe. It's very thematically and visually dark. The outside world looks much like Element of Crime; like a bombed out junk yard. Von Trier plays with black and white vs. color very effectively. The conductor eventually gets mixed up with the Wehrwolves. I really liked this movie because it focused on the every day, and the concept of the "day after," rather than attempting to be some sweeping grand war/holocaust narrative.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

More great presents.


Really great poster: beautiful leaves of canada. from amy. i love it. and somehow she managed to send a handwritten card even though it came from BC. a present and a mystery, what more could an almost-23 year old want? i bet penny picked it out.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Best birthday!


My new favorite!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Fall (at least it is on the east coast)...

Meanwhile, it's 75 degrees here and I have my office windows wide open, shoes off. But, I'm sure tomorrow when I hit the farmer's market, it'll look a little more like fall. I've been really psyched about fall cooking, when recipes will finally shut up about grilling. Now, I love grilled food, but I don't have a grill, so I've grown tired of summer recipes. I suppose I could have subbed broiling for grilling, but I decided to hold off on using my broiler until after the season ended. Obviously.

I've let fall slowly start creepin' into the kitchen this week. I made apple pie, Pete made beet salad, and last night we had baked fries. The fries were totally amazing. I guess I should say eating ketchup was amazing. I just cut up potatoes into fry shapes, tossed them with evoo, salt, pepper and paprika. Baked for about 30 minutes at 450, while watching my new favorite network drama, Flash Forward, turned them over half-way. We devoured them with grilled cheese sandwiches.

At the produce store yesterday, I noticed all the pretty varieties of potatoes and squash that have come in. I can't wait. Hearty soups to come. I'm slowly starting to think about Thanksgiving. I'm going to do it-- turkey and pie and all. Well, on second though, perhaps Pete should handle the pie.

So, what are your favorite fall and thanksgiving foods???

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

RAIN RAIN


I felt rain today for the first time in....6 months? It looks kind of crazy outside. Keep in mind it is pouring in this picture.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Blogtober

I have been in a blogging funk.

So maybe it isn't a blogging funk as much as an uploading-pictures-from-my-camera funk.

So, what's new? Do I look... different? Well I should! Why? I cooked a whole chicken! I used my broiler! I successfully made a pie crust (as long as success isn't measured by how pleasant I was while transferring the crust to the pan)!

Ok, we'll go one by one. A few weeks ago, I was feeling listless on a Saturday. Pete and I invited Kevin and Laura over for dinner, and I decided it was time to poach a whole a chicken so I'd have real chicken broth. I have become kind of a broth connoisseur. At least veggie broth... So I made the leap into meat broth. I bought a whole (dead! I'm not that hardcore) chicken and attempted to follow Bittman's carving directions. Well, that went alright and I ended up with 6-8 pieces of chicken. I didn't cut in all the right places so I was trying to saw through bones, and the wings had their share of breast meat attached. But, I was poaching for broth and using the meat to shred into tacos for dinner. The poaching was EASY and only took 20ish minutes. Then I shred the meat, throwing skin and bones back in the pot. I let the pot sit most of the evening, until the broth was nice and yellow-y. The tacos were great (except I bought bobo brand corn tortillas for $2 that fell apart and tasted like cardboard). I stuck the broth in the fridge. A few days later, I skimmed the fat off the top and make some nice chicken noodle soup. With egg noodles and fresh dill. So tasty.

Moving right along to the broiler. I bought skirt steak at the farmer's market. All the recipes I found said to grill or broil. Now, most recipes I see describe adjusting the rack to be 5 inches away from the heat source. Well, my broiler is a cubby in the bottom of my oven. This created a lot of confusion for me. Finally, I manned up and turned the broiler on, after marinating the meat in balsamic vinegar, garlic, rosemary and EVOO. I opened the cubby, and hot damn, there was a flame down there! So I put the meat in, and flipped it after a minute. It looked done, so I took it out. I let it rest for 5-10 minutes and then cut it open. Well, it was not done. Not even by rare standards. So back in it went, for 3 more minutes on each side. The meat was pretty tough, even the rarer parts, maybe because it's a tough cut, maybe because I recooked it. But it took the marinade really well, and now I don't fear the broiler! In fact, I love it-- so quick! It was a little scary and I was afraid of starting a kitchen fire, but I'm game for more broilin.

And finally, onto dessert. Every time I attempt a pie crust, it seems like it's going fine, but then parts are too thin, it sticks to the counter (I floured it, I swear!) and Pete tries to help me and I end up P-I-S-S-E-D. I ball it back up, reflour, and reroll, it fails again. This has sometimes lead to me throwing it out, and sometimes lead to a patchwork top bake, which is pretty good too. Last night though, I did it. I decided to pre-bake the crust, so I would know if it worked before company came over. It still had some air bubbles in the bottom, but it was a crust! The key: putting more flour than seems reasonable on the counter. I made apple pie. Then I ate it with a plastic fork out of the pan at 2am. All in all, a success.