50's Monster Mash: The Giant Behemoth

That's Tower Bridge in the background--Nesszilla (as I call him) has made his way to the Thames to die in fresh water.  Sad, isn't it?  Too bad he has to destroy London while he's at it.

First off, thanks to Nathanael at Forgotten Classics of Yesteryear for hosting this blog event.  I decided to watch and write about The Giant Behemoth because it's set in Britain.  I mean, how many British 50s monster movies are there, anyway?  Let's get the basics out of the way--the Giant Behemoth is a leftover electrified dinosaur that has become radioactive due to nuclear testing in oceans.  He's a Nessie/Godzilla hybrid!

I have to admit that I completely lost interest in this film after Nesszilla emerges in London.  The first part of the movie was much more compelling.  For instance, this Cornish blonde (who's unfortunately only in the first 15 minutes) wears the cutest clothes:

Doesn't this make you want to be a fisher(wo)man?

Cuffed jeans and a duffel coat are going on my to-buy list.

What one wears while cooking (possibly radioactive) fish for dinner.

Searching for a missing father requires a chunky-knit cardigan.

I wonder if that's what this lady is knitting?

Finally, check out this girl's fair isle.  Awesome!

I also thought that some of the events in the beginning of the film would make a great science not-fiction story.  So, rather than take this film at face value, I've decided to look at Nesszilla as a metaphor for the man-made threats to our food supply.  In the movie, lots of mysteriously dead fish wash ashore in Cornwall.  Sound familiar?  As scary as an electric, radioactive dinosaur is, it's not quite as scary as the fact that humans have created a situation where dead fish do wash ashore--no radioactive monster required.  The Giant Behemoth is simply all the things that we've done to ruin the earth and our own food supply.  Unfortunately, the real behemoth isn't as easy to slay.  I'd like to suggest a couple of things we can all do to help.

I've been wanting to make Haddock with Parsley Sauce for a long time and this movie seemed like a good tie-in.  Maybe my stomach isn't as weak as I thought?  Anyway, I had to buy pollock and the sauce separated irrevocably, so I ended up with poached fish topped with cream, lemon zest and parsley, which was actually pretty tasty.

Why did I use pollock, you ask?  Well, I have this very cool iPhone app (don't worry, there's a web version, as well) from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, called Seafood Watch.  It tells me which on-sale fish to buy (and which to avoid) at the grocery store so I can be sure to buy a sustainably fished fish so we can all enjoy fish in the future.

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Also way-scarier-than-radioactive dinosaurs: Genetically Modified Organisms, created by the giant behemoths that are chemical companies like Monsanto and Dow, and flourish through our ignorance.  This as-yet-untitled film project (that I'm supporting at Kickstarter) seeks to shed light on the ever-increasing hold chemical companies have over our food supply.  Please watch this video and, if you can, donate to the project.  You can give as little as $1, but if you give $25 you get a digital download of the film, which I thought was pretty cool, because a documentary about GMOs will probably never get a showing in Wichita.


The "sizzle reel" is also at Always Order Dessert, where I first heard about this project.  If you're still wondering, "what's the big deal?" watch this CBS News video or the film Food, Inc. about how Monsanto sues farmers across America for patent infringement.  Plus, is anyone else freaked out by the fact that Monsanto has created a soybean that is dependent on a toxic chemical?

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Also, I apologize for being behind in checking all your lovely blogs.  Our internet is on the fritz.

Vintage Recipe Thursday: Chicken Caruso

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I wasn't so sure about this recipe when I saw it in Betty Crocker's New Dinner for Two (1964), but I had leftover chicken, so I decided to give it a try.  It's so yummy and easy and cheesy!  This is one of the quickest, easiest recipes I've ever posted.  I served the Chicken Caruso (which we also lovingly call Chicken David Caruso) with Perfect Steamed Broccoli and a pear half with cranberry sauce, as well as Boston Cream Pie.  We actually had this back in January, but I'm having a slow cooking week this week because of tons of leftovers.  I'm glad I had this in reserve so I wouldn't have to skip Vintage Recipe Thursday!

Chicken Caruso

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Click for Tasha's Briar Rose posts

Continuing on with more vintage, I'm doing the Briar Rose Vintage Knit-along at Tasha's blog, By gum, by golly! and I'm very excited because it's my first KAL.  I just thought I would share my gauge swatch--it's Knit Picks Palette in Opal Heather:

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P.S. Thank you so much to everyone who commented on Monday's post.  I'm glad you're enjoying "Life This Week."  Provided my life doesn't get in the way, "Life This Week" will be a weekly occurrence!

Traditional British Food, Part 36: Another Quick Dinner

You might have noticed that we eat a lot of pork. It's Paul's favorite and is also extremely common in British cooking. I believe it's because pigs were cheaper and easier to care for than sheep or cattle and required less space, which was greatly in their favor after the enclosure movement.* Disclaimer: I don't know whether I just inferred all of this or I read it somewhere. I tried to find the information in my notes and wasn't successful! Anyhow, the main point is that various pig-based comestibles are often in British recipes and often on my table.

This tasty recipe uses the ubiquitous boneless pork loin chop. It's quick and tasty. A note for all you raisin-haters out there--this recipe totally transforms the raisins into something you'll want to eat. Our conversation at the table:

Me: You wouldn't even know there are raisins in this.

Paul: There are raisins in this?

Lemon Pork

serves 4

2 tablespoons butter

1 medium onion, finely chopped

4 4-ounce boneless pork tenderloin chops

1 cup chicken stock

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/3 cup golden raisins

1 tablespoon cornstarch (mixed with a bit of water to make a liquid)

6 scallions, trimmed and sliced

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the butter. When the butter has melted, add the onion and cook for 5 minutes. If the onion starts to brown, turn down the heat.

Next, season the pork chops and sear them for a couple of minutes on each side. Add in the stock, lemon zest and juice, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce and raisins. Bring to the boil and then simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes.

Remove the lid, stir in the cornstarch mixture and the scallions. Bring back to a boil and cook another 5 minutes. Serve the raisin/onion mixture on top of the pork chops.

Adapted from Favourite Dorset Recipes.

Goes really well with:

Lemon Butter Green Beans

serves 4

2 lbs green beans, trimmed and washed

4 tablespoons butter

lemon juice (around 2 teaspoons or so)

1 tablespoon minced parsley

Steam the green beans for 5 minutes and drain.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter over low heat, season with salt and pepper and stir in the lemon juice. Add the green beans and parsley and stir to combine.

Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

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I finished Paul's birthday present last month. The pattern is "St. Enda" from Alice Starmore's Aran Knitting. Thought you might like to see it.

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*You can find out more than you ever wanted to know about enclosure by consulting G.R. Elton's England under the Tudors or Barry Coward's The Stuart Age. (See? I'm using my university education.)

Traditional British Food, Part 10: Provisions

I can't believe this is already my tenth Traditional British Food post! I'm quite proud of myself. Well, Paul and I spent a really busy weekend in Oklahoma City* and, while we were there, I picked up everything in the photo above at Canterbury UK Imports. Everything but the toast rack (no more soggy toast!) has a Royal Warrant, as does my tea (Twinings) and my gin (Tanqueray). I just love seeing the royal coat of arms on my food...

In knitting news, I've finished another piece of my sweater. This is the bottom portion of the front of the sweater:

I made cock-a-leekie (chicken and leek) soup for lunch last week. There are so many different recipes I'll have to try. This one is adapted from Jane Grigson's British Cookery. I'll bet you didn't think I'd find another recipe for chicken and prunes so quickly! Mwah ha ha!

Quick Cock-a-Leekie

Serves 10

5 cups beef stock
5 cups homemade chicken stock
2-3 pounds leeks (about 3 large), white and green parts only, thinly sliced and soaked
5 cups cooked, shredded chicken
salt and pepper
20 pitted prunes, julienned

In a large pot, bring the beef and chicken stocks and leeks almost to a boil then back the heat off to a simmer, add the chicken and salt and pepper (to taste) and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.

Divide into bowls and top with the prunes.

This soup can easily be stored in refrigerator or freezer. Leave out the prunes and then add them just before serving.

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In other (non-British) cooking, Paul wanted to make some Knackwurst, so he boiled them up and I made French potato salad (Pommes de terre à l'huile from Mastering the Art of French Cooking).


*If you're in Oklahoma City, you should check out the "Another Hot Oklahoma Night" exhibit at the Oklahoma Museum of History. My friend Kristyn worked her butt off putting it together and gave me a guided tour Saturday (thanks Kristyn!). The exhibit is all about Rock and Roll in Oklahoma (lots of stuff I didn't know). The website is here.

Traditional British Food, Part 9: Easier Than Pie

Blackberry-and-Apple Pie is easier than pie because it's actually a cobbler. Because it lacks a bottom crust, I had a lot less work to do (no extra rolling, fitting to the pan, or the dreaded blind baking). Adrian Bailey tells us, "Like all English fruit pies, blackberry-and-apple has no pastry bottom and is very moist; it is eaten with a dessert spoon rather than a fork."*



Serves 8
1 pound Granny Smith apples (or other tart cooking apple), peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup sugar, divided (see method)
2 tablespoons butter
1 pint blackberries, washed and drained
Short crust pastry**

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a heavy skillet, melt the butter over low heat then add the apples and 3 tablespoons of the sugar. Toss to coat and warm for about 5 minutes then take off the heat to cool.

Place the blackberries in an even layer on the bottom of a pie plate (I used the 9-1/2" Pyrex pie plate). Sprinkle with 1/4 cup sugar then top with the apples. Set aside.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until it is 1/8" thick and a rough circle. Cut two strips (12" long and 1/2" wide) from the outer edge of the dough, moisten the edge of the pie plate with cold water and press the strips of dough around the edge. Moisten the top of the strips, lay the rest of the dough over and press in place. Trim pastry so overhang is only 1/2" beyond the pie plate then roll the edges under and press down with the tines of a fork to secure the pastry on top of the pie plate. Cut three 1-inch long slits about half an inch apart in the center of the pie (see photo below).

Brush the top of the pie with cold water and sprinkle remaining tablespoon of sugar over the pie. Place the pie on a baking sheet and bake in the center of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.

(Adapted from Recipes: The Cooking of the British Isles by Adrian Bailey)

It was 92 degrees Sunday. Generally, I loathe hot weather, but it brings one consolation: the return of gin to our refrigerator. The colder months are the time for whiskies, ports, and cognacs, but summertime is gin & tonic time. The G&T has to be the best thing to come out of the British colonization of India. G&Ts are my absolute favorite cocktail, but there is a close second--the White Lady. Named for supernatural apparitions (it does glow), the White Lady cocktail was invented in London at either Ciro's or the Savoy some time in the 1920s and was a favorite drink of both Laurel and Hardy. (I've committed the cardinal sin of relying of Wikipedia for this information. If anyone has any legitimate facts on the origin of this drink, let me know.)


Serves 2
2 jiggers gin (I use Tanqueray)
1 jigger orange liqueur (Cointreau or Grand Marnier)
1 jigger lemon juice (fresh squeezed)

Fill cocktail shaker with ice, add ingredients and shake until chilled. Pour into two chilled (small) cocktail glasses or champagne coupes. You don't have to use the brands I've suggested, but I am going to be insistent about the quality of the components. Cheap gin or triple sec (or, God forbid, both) would be like expecting to see a funny movie and having to watch one starring Will Ferrell instead.

Speaking of movies, in the film version of Have His Carcase (that's "carcass" to you and me) Lord Peter Wimsey sits down to enjoy a White Lady cocktail prepared by his loyal butler, Bunter, before rushing out to assist Harriet Vane, who has discovered a corpse on the beach. I was watching this movie while knitting (very pleasant knitting movie it is, too) and decided to get some Cointreau. Anyhow, all three Dorothy L. Sayers Mysteries, which are based on the books Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, and Gaudy Night, are enjoyable to watch, even the second time after I already know whodunit.

Another enjoyable interwar British mystery novel is Margery Allingham's Look to the Lady (originally published here as The Gyrth Chalice Mystery). I finished it last week and then watched the movie version from Netflix, also while knitting.

Hopefully, I'll have more to show of my knitting soon. I'm about four inches into the front of the sweater now. I have to finish because there are so many other sweaters to knit!

*Recipes: The Cooking of the British Isles, p.78
** I use the Martha Stewart pate brisee recipe (available here), which makes 2 crusts, you'll only need one for this recipe. I happened to have one in the freezer, which is really convenient.

Traditional British Food, Part 8: Lancashire Chicken Salad

In Lancashire, there is a traditional dish called Hindle Wakes, which is a cold, prune-stuffed chicken slathered in cold lemon-cream sauce. It was supposedly brought to Lancashire (Bolton-le-Moors, specifically, parish church pictured above) in the fourteenth century by Flemish weavers.* I thought this was a rather fussy and baroque recipe, better suited to a Victorian picnic than a weeknight dinner in twenty-first century Kansas. So, I turned it into a sandwich, because I thought that the flavor combination sounded interesting. Thankfully, I was not disappointed. The sandwiches turned out to be very tasty and not difficult to make. I've adapted my recipe from Jane Grigson's Hindle Wakes recipe.

Lancashire Chicken Salad


For 4 people:

½ tablespoon butter
½ tablespoon flour
¼ cup milk
½ cup (homemade) chicken stock
5 tablespoons heavy cream
Juice and zest from half of a lemon
3 cups cooked chicken, shredded
½ cup pitted prunes, chopped
1 sprig parsley, minced
4 croissants, split and lightly toasted
4 leaves of crisp lettuce (such as iceberg)

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, make a roux with the butter and flour then add the stock then milk. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the cream, lemon juice and zest, and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Remove the sauce from the stove and stir in the chicken and prunes, along with the parsley.

Line one half of each toasted croissant with lettuce and top with chicken salad. Top with other half of croissant.

Print

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Last night, I went to the introductory lecture of the Jane Austen Challenge at Watermark. There were at least forty people there! I think the challenge is going to be fun. Paul and I are going to the showing of Becoming Jane on Friday.

I've also finished the back of my Lady's Jumper from Knitting Fashions of the 1940s. My goal is for it to be ready by the fall.

*Jane Grigson, British Cookery (Ipswich: W S Cowell Ltd, 1984), 146; photo from Earth in Pictures website

Food


I've been practicing my self-sufficiency muscles today. Since I've read The Omnivore's Dilemma, Real Food, and Taste, I have been interested in eating a "traditional" diet: basically nothing that couldn't have been produced before the industrial revolution. It also includes eating grass-fed beef and pastured hens and local, organic produce. Naturally, I don't find it the easiest thing in the world to always follow these principles, but I'm trying and I'll share the ways I've found that make it easier to follow a traditional diet.

I think the easiest way to procure local, organic produce is to grow it myself. I'm a little limited, though, because we rent. Nevertheless, Paul and I have just finished planting strawberries, herbs, and lettuce--all in containers. Thanks to Sheherazade Goldsmith's A Slice of Organic Life, I found out that strawberries can grow in a hanging basket (below) and the book also walked me through planting lettuce in a window box. We'll see how it goes!
In other realms of self-sufficiency, I also made chicken stock. It's really easy and makes stock that is soooo much better than the broth that comes in a box from the grocery store. It's also very close to free to make.


1. Save chicken scraps/bones in a gallon-size bag in the freezer. When it's full, you're ready to make stock. Be sure to save the gallon-size bag, though. You'll need it when you're done.

2. Peel a carrot and chop it in 3 or 4 large pieces.

3. Clean a celery stalk and cut off the leaves. Chop stalk into 3 or 4 pieces.

4. Peel a medium-sized white or yellow onion.

5. Get out your largest stock pot and put in the chicken pieces, carrot, celery, and onion. Fill with water to cover by approximately 2 inches.

6. Throw in a handful of peppercorns, a sprinkling of dried thyme or a couple stalks of fresh, and a couple of bay leaves.

7. Bring the stock almost up to a boil and then back the heat off to a slow simmer for 4 hours. All you have to do now is stir every once in a while and check on the heat.

8. Strain the stock into a mixing bowl (throw the solid parts of the stock into the gallon-size bag and discard). Cover and cool overnight. In the morning, you can skim off the fat (which will now have solidified) and store the stock in the refrigerator. There is generally between 4 and 6 cups of stock after it has been skimmed. I use quart-sized Mason jars for storage.

If you've never used your chicken scraps to make stock before, it's really worth it just for the taste. It's really not as daunting as it seems, I promise!

Knitting




This is the work I've done on the sweater I mentioned last post. This will eventually be the back of the sweater. The bottom portion is a 1x1 rib and now I'm working on the stitch pattern for the top part of the sweater. It's just a stockinette variation that gives a neat tweed-like effect that I think is pretty cool. It's going to be a while before I finish, but I'll keep you updated. I wish I could knit faster! There are so many projects I want to start!

Works in Progress

Since my post yesterday was rather long-winded (a habit of mine, admittedly), I'll keep this one short.

I read a lot of paperback books (mostly borrowed or from the used-books store) and I hate how they get all beat-up and grubby. I found a pattern for a paperback book cover in a Japanese embroidery book my mom bought, so I decided to make one that will fit my cheap paperbacks, especially my old Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries (I'm reading Clouds of Witness right now). This cute owl (not yet finished) will go on the front and I've found a nice green floral/stripe for the interior fabric. I embroidered the leaves last night while Paul and I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation on one of the few cable channels we have. Yes, my aerospace engineer husband watches Star Trek. Definitely "White and Nerdy." If you haven't seen the music video, click here and you'll understand.
I hope I know what I'm doing when it comes to assembling the book cover. The instructions in the embroidery book are in Japanese...

A couple of weeks ago, I ordered a Yarn Store in a Box from Halcyon Yarns. It came with catalogs and sample cards for all the yarns they carry. I have been looking for good yarn that I can afford for quite a while because most of my patterns call for Rowan yarn which is ridiculously expensive and I also buy a lot of old patterns that call for yarn that doesn't exist anymore. I just ordered the yarn below (color 35, click to enlarge) to make the sweater pictured (from Knitting Fashions of the 1940s by Jane Waller). The yarn comes in 1-pound cones for only $39.95 and this sweater calls for just 250 grams (8.8 oz.) so I'll be able to make something else, as well.

I'm looking forward to being able to share the work I'll be doing on both projects. Until next time!

Warning: Long Post!

I know it's been absolutely forever since I've posted anything. I had to get settled into life and school and not feel like blogging was just another chore to get through. Hopefully, I'm back on a regular basis now! Here's a sampling of what I've been up to since I last wrote:

Music
I found Wichita's classical station (90.1-- just like OKC) which also plays NPR news in the mornings, so I have my dial locked to it in the car. I don't know why all the regular music stations only play ten songs. It's really aggravating! Anyway, driving home from class last week, Radio Kansas was playing instrumental selections from The Fairy Queen by Henry Purcell, of whom I am a fan. I thought it was funny that we had just read Spencer's The Faerie Queene in my Major British Writers class, but it turns out that Purcell's opera is based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream instead. Oh, well. Here's a clip from YouTube:


Physical Activity
My most important physical activity this semester is my ballet class. I absolutely love it. I'm so much more mentally attuned to it than when I was a child. It requires an awful lot of thinking! I also think that it's much more elegant than other forms of exercise (even though I don't always look particularly graceful...) Speaking of other forms of exercise, Paul and I have started playing golf and tennis. I'm not abysmal at the driving range, but my tennis needs a lot of work! Yes, we do only participate in country club sports (only not at the country club).

Reading


Some of the books I've been reading since my last post (from top): The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Agatha Christie), Tous les matins du monde (Pascal Quignard), Le Chef-d'oeuvre inconnu (Honore de Balzac), Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen), Carmina (Catullus), Thyestes (Seneca), The Moneypenny Diaries (Kate Westbrook), Arthur Gordon Pym and Benito Cereno (Edgar Allan Poe and Herman Melville, respecively), and The Old Curiosity Shop (Charles Dickens)

I've just decided to provide a chart of my recent (finished) reading, including books I've had to take back to the library:

Awesome:

• Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
  
• The Mysterious Affair at Styles
• Taste: The Story of Britain Through its Cooking by Kate Colquhoun
  

Good Enough:

• Le Chef-d'oeuvre inconnu
• Looking for Anne of Green Gables by Irene Gammel
  
• Murder of a Medici Princess by Caroline P. Murphy
  
• Northanger Abbey
• Pierre et Jean by Guy de Maupassant
  
• Thyestes
  

Eh... :

• Kim by Rudyard Kipling
• L'Amant de la Chine du Nord by Marguerite Duras (Her L'Amant is slightly better.)
  
• Tous les matins du monde
  

Knitting
I got really lucky and found a copy of A Stitch in Time from Alibris for $2.95. The book is a collection of knitting patterns from the 1920s, '30s, and '40s. I want to make the sweater below as my first A Stitch in Time project:

In other knitting news, I've done all but weaving in the ends for my shrug from Big City Knits:

Food
I haven't done much original cooking (or cooking at all, for that matter) since school has started. However, I did buy a yogurt maker and have made two (moderately) successful batches of yogurt. I'm trying to clone my beloved Fage Total which, at $1.79 per carton, is an obscene expenditure. I also made red beans and rice (here in its Pyrex ready to go into the fridge):
These snickerdoodles from How to Be a Domestic Goddess went with Paul to his office (after we ate a few ourselves):
That's all the news that's fit to print. I hope you are all having a great October!

I finished my gloves! I'm so glad they're done so I have them for the winter. However, making fingers is a huge pain! I don't want to make any more for a long long time...

Here's a peek at a new project--a hedgehog! Paul wanted to get a real hedgehog as a pet, but this one will have to do. I've finished the head/body and an ear so far.


I don't have a lot of knitting to show because I've been working on knitting Paul's birthday present. Shhh!

I've also started learning Italian because I'd like to go to Venice, Florence, and Rome and possibly Pompeii and Herculaneum (if I can get over my fear of Mount Vesuvius--the scientists on Secrets of the Dead said that it could very likely erupt again just as catastrophically*). I also need to start reviewing my German because I'm going to lose it. Thankfully, I'm not in danger of losing my French because Watermark Books (a local Wichita bookstore with a yummy cafe, too) has a monthly French book club (reading and discussing in French). I'm about half-way through the book for July, Marguerite Duras' L'Amant de la Chine du Nord.** I've read both and La Douleur and L'Amant by Duras and have seen Hiroshima mon amour (she wrote the screen play) but I'm still not sure that I like anything she's written and L'Amant de la Chine du Nord is not very different from L'Amant. Of course, I do like my French novels to be set in France. I wanted to study French because of Paris, not because of the language itself. To be fair, I like my English novels to be set in England as well and thankfully, being a native speaker has eliminated a desperate desire to learn the language.

Watermark Books also has a Classic Book Club that is reading War and Peace for the next three months. I happen to have a copy I've never read, so I'm going to go to that book club as well. Unfortunately, the info on the book club specifies that they will be reading the new translation, but I don't think I should be expected to run out and buy another copy of the book. Besides, the individual chapters are only 5-7 pages each, so it won't be too hard for me to figure out where everything is if the group leader will just give me a book and chapter number. There were always several editions of the same book in my French classes and we all managed just fine.

In the spirit of reading War and Peace (and because it's the only dish Paul will ever suggest) I made Beef Stroganoff (even though it's summer), which, in its present incarnation, is probably not very Russian at all. I will maintain it is the thought that counts. Besides the Martha Stewart Macaroni and Cheese recipe, Beef Stroganoff is Paul's favorite dinner and I am quite proud of it if I do say so myself. It started out as a Betty Crocker recipe, but I think I've made enough changes to call it my own.

Beef Stroganoff (serves 4, but is easily doubled)
1 lb hamburger (I use 93% lean; it's ok because there is a lot of butter in this recipe)
1 medium onion, chopped
Fresh thyme sprigs, generous amount
1/4 c butter
2T flour
1t kosher salt
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 t freshly-ground pepper
4 oz. crimini mushrooms, cut in thick slices
1 can cream of mushroom soup (can use 98% fat free if you want)
Beef broth (a few tablespoons)
1 cup sour cream (you can use low-fat but not fat-free)
Paprika
Cooked egg noodles

1. Melt the butter in a large skillet and then add beef, onion, and thyme leaves and cook over medium-high heat until the hamburger is no longer pink.
2. Add the flour, salt, garlic, pepper, and mushrooms and cook, stirring (almost) constantly for 5 minutes.
3. Add a few splashes of beef broth to deglaze the pan a bit.
4. Add the soup and stir while bringing to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Stir in sour cream and sprinkle generously with paprika and heat through.
7. Serve over egg noodles.

I made another dish with egg noodles as well: Blanquette de veau from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The meat alone was $45, so we're lucky that the dish turned out so well. It's like a luxe combination of Beef Stroganoff (the egg noodles mostly) and chicken and dumplings (no dumplings). Since I hadn't bargained on veal stew meat being quite that expensive (how much for the whole baby cow?) and I had already special ordered it, I was determined to stretch it as far as possible. I did succeed in getting 8 servings out of the recipe instead of the suggested 6 and everything else that is in the dish is pretty cheap (onions, carrots, white mushrooms, pearl onions, chicken stock, egg noodles, parsley and thyme that I grow myself) so I did not feel bad since we can't eat for $7 per person in a restaurant and we certainly couldn't get veal for that.


*The entire episode "Herculaneum Uncovered" is online at the Secrets of the Dead website.
**Interesting Times article about the Saigon of Marguerite Duras here.

Another Hit from Nigella Express, Adventures in Waste Yarn, New Knitting Thingy, Italy

Chicken Schnitzel from Nigella Express
I was just talking to Erika on the phone (hi Erika!) and told her I was going to update my blog, so here goes. Unfortunately, I had to return Nigella Express to the library, but I was able to print out the recipe for Chicken Schnitzel with Bacon and White Wine here. (The photo is below.) The only change I made was instead of using garlic oil, I used olive oil and then threw in some minced garlic when I deglazed the pan at the end. I didn't want to put the garlic in with the oil at the beginning, because since the bacon fat gets so hot, the garlic would burn and get all nasty. The green beans are Haricots verts au maître d'hôtel and the wine is a 2006 Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling, which was only $8.98 at our friendly neighborhood liquor store. The chicken schnitzel is actually very very good. Besides, how could anything pan-fried in bacon fat be bad?

Knitting
All I have to do for my left glove is the hand and fingers and then I'm ready for the elastic and then I am finished! Before I made the right glove, I had never done a project that required waste yarn and I had no idea what it did or anything but now I know and it is really cool.

Do you see these red stitches? (The yarn is from my socks.) This is the exact spot where the thumb will go!
Below are my new knitting gadgets. They are like little pieces of telephone cord (does anyone even have telephone cords any more?) and they wrap around my needles to keep them together and keep my project from slipping off in my bag. I was using rubber bands, but these are much easier and cuter. Plus, they don't snap off and hit me in the eye.
A (Mental) Trip to Italy
Unfortunately, I don't get to go to Italy in the near future and I've never been there, but I have gotten to spend some time in Venice and Rome thanks to the biography of Lucia Mocenigo by Andrea di Robilant and the film Artemisia. I picked up Lucia at the library last week and have really enjoyed it. It's the kind of history book I would have like to have written had I stayed in history--it has a narrative and I could actually feel the time period. Turns out, this kind of history is not written by "real" historians. I don't care because before I read this book I had not given Italy during the Napoleonic era much thought. Now I know a lot more about it and I enjoyed the trip.

Yesterday I watched Artemisia, a French film about the Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi. I took a summer art history class in 2005 and the professor suggested this film and I have just now gotten around to watching it. The things I liked the most about the film were the colors and the costumes. Almost all the colors were beautifully muted (like the Sistine ceiling before it was cleaned) but the costumes were very intricate. The movie was worth watching but I probably wouldn't watch it again and again.

Judith and Holofernes, Around 1620
This beautiful (and, admittedly, gruesome) work played an integral part in the movie. This is the version of Judith and Holofernes that we had to memorize for our Renaissance/Baroque/Rococo test. I hope your day is better than his.

Beef Carbonnade, Shirred Eggs, Knitting, Crocheting

This is Beef Carbonnade from Williams-Sonoma's Mastering Beef & Veal. The wine is a cabernet sauvignon and that strange green stuff is chard. The chard, the beef, and the dinner roll all came from Saturday's farmers' market. I spent a good chunk of time Sunday making Beef Carbonnade, which is in the Beouf Bourguignon chapter (not much success in the past with that, so I thought one of the variations would be better). Paul didn't want to spend the money for the KC Strips, so I had to make do with a "braising" cut which meant that I had to fix something that was meant more for cold weather than for tornado weather (I think we've been under a tornado watch all this week). Anyway, Beef Carbonnade is cooked in beef stock and beer (we used Guinness Extra Stout mostly because it was cheap) rather than cheap red wine like the Bourguignon.

Beef Carbonnade was dinner Sunday along with the chard I mentioned earlier. Yet another vegetable disaster to add to my list. I'd never had chard before and thought I'd be adventurous. Unfortunately, it tastes like beets. No wonder only 10% of Americans get the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables daily.

Dinner last night was 1/2 price burgers from Spangles (local burger chain, have to have burgers on Memorial Day) and Beef Carbonnade was on the menu again tonight (just without the icky chard).

Lunch today was a desperate attempt to avoid both salad and a trip to the grocery store, so I pulled off a miraculous feat and cooked what I could find: Shirred Eggs and Braised Celery.

Shirred Eggs
Oil those two ramekins and break an egg into each one. Said egg is then topped with 1 teaspoon butter, then salt and pepper, then, gloriously, 1 tablespoon heavy cream before being placed into a 350-degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes (I say 17). When my eggs come out of the oven, I top them with the green parts of scallions (also hanging around in my fridge). Today my Shirred Eggs were paired with Braised Celery.

Now, you might be thinking "ew" but braised celery (which is basically 1/2 c beef stock and 2t dry vermouth brought to a boil, then add 2 cut-up celery stalks, salt, pepper, and assorted dried herbs and boil until liquid is totally reduced) is not all that bad. I mean, it still tastes like celery but it also tastes like beef stock and vermouth. My version is a very quick rendition of the one in Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Me looking for things to cook:


Crafting
I finished the first glove last night while watching Legally Blonde with Paul who thought it was absolutely hilarious which, I, in turn, thought was absolutely hilarious since Paul's usual movie choices star Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger and occasionally Kurt Russell, Mel Gibson, or Robert DeNiro.


I wonder how long it will be before I finish the second glove...

You may remember that I started a crocheted hat a while back. I tore it out several times and yesterday went back to the website to find that there was another pattern from another blog that I decided to try instead. I hope it works out this time!
Paul and I also went to get tickets for Pirates of Penzance today. It seems to me as though the Wichita Grand Opera is the red-headed step-child of the Wichita Performing Arts Center. More on that after the show Saturday.