Archive for January, 2008

books for thought - January’s Selection

Published by kindli on January 26, 2008 in books and reading. 0 Comments

Now that I no longer have a 45 minute commute on the bus/subway my reading has dwindled to nearly nothing. One of my new years resolutions has been to read more, here are the books I have enjoyed this month:

The Know it All was an interesting book with fun trivia, great for a long flight. Not particularly memorable, it is the sort of book you could abandon in the seat back pocket and not loose any sleep over.

Let Us Eat Cake was not nearly as good as Garlic and Sapphires. If you’re going to read a foodie memoir go with Ruth Reichl, it was far less depressing.

The Dante Club was tedious/bad for the first 100 pages and then it suddenly started to make sense, and got much better until the last 20 pages which were just odd. I was not a huge fan of Dante (or Milton) or any of the supposedly famous poets and writers involved in the novel. It was only slightly more realistic than The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, rather gruesome in spots, and far less thrilling.

The Devil Wears Prada, as a book, was so much better than the movie. The movie was (admittedly) pretty good, for a chick-flick, but remember, I also thought Fight Club was a pretty good chick-flick. I usually advocate for books over movies (except in the case of LOTR where the songs are about to drive me insane), and this is another excellent example. The book offers so much more and is aimed at a slightly less PG audience (yay!). Thankfully the main character does not come across quite as “goody two shoes” on paper.

Yes, I realize January isn’t over yet, but I’m finding it unlikely I’ll finish
How to Make Love like a Porn Star in the remaining week.

readings break freezing

Published by kindli on January 24, 2008 in California and weather. 1 Comment

Most days at 11 I watch Matlock. It is a nice mid-morning break, and sometimes I’ll fold laundry or cook/bake while I watch. This morning I came down a little earlier than usual and caught the last of the 10:00 news.

Or rather, what I thought was the 10 am news. They had a feature called “Lunch Break” and wished viewers “a good afternoon.”

When they described the weekend’s weather as having “several periods of snow…. clouds break, breezy and milder in the afternoon… readings break freezing for first time in 10 days” and the weather map they showed was clearly NOT of the CA greater Bay Area I was a little confused.

Apparently our basic cable includes WGN from Chicago. This explains the “lunch break” feature, they’re two hours ahead of us. Thank goodness. I was not looking forward to the idea of snow this weekend.

Sebastopol v. Somerville, a Dustoff

Published by kindli on January 18, 2008 in California and townhouse. 0 Comments

I am the first to confess that dusting is not my favorite task. I like to make pretty designs in accumulated dust with my finger, periodically move figurines around so the surface gets uniformly dusty, or poofing away large dust wads, but actually dusting? Not so much.

Then I moved to Somerville: hardwood floors, open windows, in an urban light industrial area. It was not dust, it was grime. The cute little dust-bunnies of my youth multiplied in to huge nasty dust monsters that congregated below the desk in the important computer cables and mysteriously acquired things like hair, goldfish crackers, paperclips and paper scraps. These were serious dust monsters.

The bookshelves also acquired a certain patina. They were not simply coated in a light layer of dust, they had a layer of grime. The grimy gray finish could not be lightly wiped with a finger, no, pressure had to be applied, the finger had to be dragged, and there was a certain awful texture to it. The Grime was Nasty.

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gyro quest

Published by kindli on January 15, 2008 in California, adventures and cooking. 2 Comments

Since moving to Sebastopol I have searched for good greek food. Greek food isn’t something people usually associate with the Clear Lake area, but there are easily 4 or 5 fairly decent greek places with in a 5-15 minute drive of my parents, and it’s something I’ve learned to enjoy.

I already make a fairly good pastatsio (greek lasagna), but I have been longing for a good gyro.

If I was in Vienna it would be a simple task, go to the Nashmarkt to my favorite little stand: the slowly rotating marinated lamb/beef on the skewer by the heat lamp, the little turkish men (they are short and from Istanbul - we asked once) loudly announcing they have not only the best kebab, but the best price. The wonderful spicy meat, the tangy sauces, the drippy mess as I try to eat and walk.

If I was in Houston, I would go to one of several restaurants and it would arrive fresh and hot, with a mountain of fries and a large drink with free refills. Yummy!

Neither of these seems to exist in Sebastopol, so I have taken the matter into my own hands:

This evening for dinner I made gyros. It was a little different (but not in a bad way), there was no lamb carved off a rotisserie (used ground beef patties) and I wrapped them in burritos (couldn’t find 8-inch pocketless pita bread and didn’t feel like making an epic quest to 3 grocery stores).

I used the gyro recipe from Cooks Illustrated #87 (8/07). The flavoring was exact, tangy, rich and flavorful. The tzatziki was fabulous and the seasonings were just right. So the kitchen smelled like garlic most of the afternoon, a small price to pay for the cool rich thick sauce.

The directions sounded a little odd, food process the onions, oregano, lemon and pita together to form a paste, then mix well with the lamb (or beef). It made sense the moment I bit into the gyro, the little patties were infused with flavor.

The cool yogurt cucumber dill of the tzatziki contrasted so nicely with the hot beef onion and oregano. Gavin’s only real complaint was I didn’t use pita bread, and gyros are “better for lunch” than for dinner. I have to agree on both counts.

whipped in heaven by the angels

Published by kindli on January 13, 2008 in adventures, cooking, friends, fun and townhouse. 0 Comments

Last night Abby, Mark and Jon came over for dinner. It was a nice excuse to use our nicer plates and fun goblets. We had lasagna with caesar salad and homemade bread. Dessert was lemon cheesecake (also homemade) with hot chocolate or hot cider. 

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if you don’t try there won’t be dinner (or dessert!)

Published by kindli on January 12, 2008 in cooking and photos. 1 Comment

Gavin keeps reminding me if I don’t try, I can’t succeed. If I try and fail, then well, at least I tried. Luckily usually he’s willing to try my tries. 

Here are some of my most recent tries (some of them have even turned out well!) 

Chocolate lace bowls (2nd try) with raspberry sorbet; next time I’m going to pipe the chocolate thinner. 

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porkchops

Published by kindli on January 9, 2008 in cooking. 0 Comments

Dinner 1.8.08: Breaded Pork chops, salad with light vinaigrette dressing, home made bread with basil olive oil and vinegar for dipping. 

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Gavin rating: good

Comments: the blackened bits taste a little odd

Conclusions: try and remember to use fresh herbs, perhaps use big oven (instead of toaster oven, may help w/blackened bits?)

Over all: can be made again (will be made again, 2 more in the freezer) 

 

Behold BREAD!

Published by kindli on January 7, 2008 in adventures, cooking and fun. 1 Comment

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 The bread turned out really well. Gavin has declared “the bread is fantastic” and that I have his “permission to make it again.” He’s also encouraging me to experiment with the recipe, and “make it a few more times.” It’s nice to see him really excited about it, and I don’t mind the lavish praise. 

it must be a Monday

Published by kindli on January 7, 2008 in adventures and cooking. 1 Comment

This morning after I got back from the grocery store I “kneaded” my no-knead bread a few times and let it sit for two more hours.

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the “wrong” kind of beer

Published by kindli on January 6, 2008 in adventures and cooking. 0 Comments

A few weeks back I came across Cooks Illustrated’s recipe for Improved No Knead Bread (Jan/Feb 2008). No Knead bread has been talked about on pretty much every food blog I’ve come across and I’ve become increasingly curious.

Gavin took one look at the photos and declared “I want to try that!”

A few small problems: we didn’t have a cast iron pot, and the recipe called for beer (to help give the bread flavor).

The cast iron pot was easily rectified, thanks to Dulce and Oma we got a 7 1/4 quart Le Creuset in Flame from William Sonoma; the beer was a bit more challenging.

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