My day today was pretty much the Julie and Julia movie, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I went with neighbors Sue and Cathy to an 11 a.m. showing--perfect. Theater mostly empty. I even wore my hearing aids so I wouldn't miss the dialogue and I got it all, though the previews of violent movies threatened to overhwhelm my augmented hearing. But the movie itself was an absolute delight--fun, funny, and interesting. I had wondered how they would weave the two stories together, but the transitions were seamless. There are basically two stories: Julia learning French cooking and then writing a book, and Julie cooking all of the recipes in one year. The transformation in both women's lives is spectacular. I'm not much of a moviegoer--the previews today convinced me I'm right about that--but I truly enjoyed this one a lot and recommend it to anyone.
So I had a lazy day--spent the morning reading the paper and doing a few chores before the movie, ate lunch and napped after, and have been piddling at my desk ever since. Tomorrow, back to the cookbook. My thought are all still on food, though I wasn't too creative with my meals today--for lunch, braseola dressed with lemon and olive oil, hearts of palm, and tomato; for supper, half of a chopped sirloin patty, cold, with steamed spinach. Even so I went over my point for the week (I snuck in a bit of chocolate), but only by half a point. Tomorrow I weigh. With my new budget, I may have to drop Weight Watchers--I had heard if you reach your goal you're a lifetime member for free, but when I investigated that's only for people who go to meetings, not those like me who do it online. Drat!
Showing posts with label Julie and Julia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Julie and Julia. Show all posts
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Saturday, August 08, 2009
A TV chef day
I would not want anyone to think I spend my retirement days glued to the TV but I did watch quite a bit today. After I came home from Central Market today, I had the Food Network on while I checked emails, etc. When I started to work on the cookbook I muted the sound but as I often do kept an occasional eye on it. When I saw the Barefoot Contessa come on, I turned up the volume and abandoned my work. I think hers is my favorite of the cooking shows--some have frenetic, too perky hosts and hostesses (recent finalists on the Food Network competition illustrate this) but the Contessa is warm, quiet, soft-spoken, welcoming. Today she was fixing lamb kebobs with red onion, having marinated the lamb in yogurt and various spices; spanikopita (looks like a lot of trouble, and I'm intimidated by phyllo, but it also looked delicious--she served it as an appetizer); grilled pita; a sauce of grated cucumber, yogurt and dill; and a Greek salad with way too many bell peppers (but Jordan can make a Greek salad that we all love). I wish the Food Network still posted recipes--I hunger after that lamb.
Then tonight there was a two-hour special on Julia Child, which I watched in preparation for seeing Julie and Julia tomorrow with Sue and another neighbor. Watching Child is fascinating. Of course KERA used it as a fund-raiser so there were only three of her episodes, but also quite a few people paying tribute to her. The first segment was on making omelets and I really learned about omelets--it's all in the wrist, and I'd have to practice the technique but she did make it look easy. I wasn't as interested in bouilliabaisse (I can eat lots of things other people wouldn't--Julie Powell in an interview today wrote that she used to be a picky eater but after cooking Julia's recipes she can eat all kinds of offal--I draw the line at some and besides brains and sweetbreads, I don't really think I want eel, though Julia says it's delicious). But watching her sling a roasting chicken around was a real hoot. She threw it this way and that, getting out giblets and fat and the neck--as far as I could tell she only cut off part of the neck. I've roasted a lot of hens in my life but I never trussed them with string and even a trussing needle like she did In the end she had string all over that bird which, of course, she had to cut off after it was done. She cooked it on a rotisserie, and I admit I've never done that. But know what? I can carve a chicken better than she can--I learned at Thanksgiving dinners at my brothers to remove the breast meet in one whole piece and then slice it. I can remember my dad carefully carving slices off the breast--carving was a ceremony with him--but this way is much better, and you get more meat. Julia also didn't have our modern precautions about washing your hands after working with raw chicken. She'd fiddle with the chicken, then pick up the whole ball of twine, with chicken on her hands or simply wipe her hands on a paper towel. I guess it never made her sick. Knock on wood--working on my wood cutting board with raw chicken has never made me sick, though I'm pretty careful about washing it, and I wash my hands often.
My own meals today were pretty good--tuna salad, hearts of palm, tomatoes, and raspberries for lunch; 1/4 lb. lean chopped sirloin and sauteed zucchini and squash. I've ignored Weight Watchers on the sauteeing bit, because I like it much better than steamed squash. I think there's a big psychological factor to this weight loss business--if you don't use too many of your bonus points and if you exercise every day you convince yourself you're losing weight and then you do. We'll see Monday morning how my theory tests out since I had spaghetti two nights in a row this week.
Making progress on the cookbook except for one chapter that boggles my mind. Otherwise I'm waiting for people to send me bits and pieces. think I'll finish that mystery tonight.
Then tonight there was a two-hour special on Julia Child, which I watched in preparation for seeing Julie and Julia tomorrow with Sue and another neighbor. Watching Child is fascinating. Of course KERA used it as a fund-raiser so there were only three of her episodes, but also quite a few people paying tribute to her. The first segment was on making omelets and I really learned about omelets--it's all in the wrist, and I'd have to practice the technique but she did make it look easy. I wasn't as interested in bouilliabaisse (I can eat lots of things other people wouldn't--Julie Powell in an interview today wrote that she used to be a picky eater but after cooking Julia's recipes she can eat all kinds of offal--I draw the line at some and besides brains and sweetbreads, I don't really think I want eel, though Julia says it's delicious). But watching her sling a roasting chicken around was a real hoot. She threw it this way and that, getting out giblets and fat and the neck--as far as I could tell she only cut off part of the neck. I've roasted a lot of hens in my life but I never trussed them with string and even a trussing needle like she did In the end she had string all over that bird which, of course, she had to cut off after it was done. She cooked it on a rotisserie, and I admit I've never done that. But know what? I can carve a chicken better than she can--I learned at Thanksgiving dinners at my brothers to remove the breast meet in one whole piece and then slice it. I can remember my dad carefully carving slices off the breast--carving was a ceremony with him--but this way is much better, and you get more meat. Julia also didn't have our modern precautions about washing your hands after working with raw chicken. She'd fiddle with the chicken, then pick up the whole ball of twine, with chicken on her hands or simply wipe her hands on a paper towel. I guess it never made her sick. Knock on wood--working on my wood cutting board with raw chicken has never made me sick, though I'm pretty careful about washing it, and I wash my hands often.
My own meals today were pretty good--tuna salad, hearts of palm, tomatoes, and raspberries for lunch; 1/4 lb. lean chopped sirloin and sauteed zucchini and squash. I've ignored Weight Watchers on the sauteeing bit, because I like it much better than steamed squash. I think there's a big psychological factor to this weight loss business--if you don't use too many of your bonus points and if you exercise every day you convince yourself you're losing weight and then you do. We'll see Monday morning how my theory tests out since I had spaghetti two nights in a row this week.
Making progress on the cookbook except for one chapter that boggles my mind. Otherwise I'm waiting for people to send me bits and pieces. think I'll finish that mystery tonight.
Monday, May 18, 2009
British cozies, recipes, weightloss and a dictionary reader
I'm reading Death of a Cozy Writer by G. M. Malliett, winner of the Agatha Award for a first novel and a nominee for the McCavity and IPPY awards--all big deals among mystery writers. Amazon sales rank it as #6 in British detective mysteries and somewhere around 5,500 in overall sales listing--which is really high. Plus it's gotten great reviews from the major review sources plus a lot of mysteries writers. Praise includes such ideas as it is perfectly written in the Agatha Christie style and the British cozy is alive and well in this one, which is the traditional house party, mostly of unpleasant family members; someone is murdered and a Chief Detective Inspector or whatever the British term is comes riding in. Having heard this much hype about it, I ordered it for my Kindle and started it yesterday--only to be struck by the reason I really don't like British cozies. The language in this one is beautifully used, the wrting wry and full of wit, the characters almost unpleasant enough to be caricatures, and though I'm barely into it I can see the plot will develop well, with several suspects (we all know from the beginning who the victim is). So yes, I'm hooked enough that I'll continue reading. But the truth is I much prefer Cynthia Riggs' Martha's Vineyard series, with its 92-year-old protagonist, or J. A. Jance's two series, one with an Arizona lady sheriff and the other with a world-weary Seattle detective. Why? Because I don't identify with the stereotypical, upper class characters in the British mysteries. I don't understand their bizarre ways--from the daughter who is described as a stupid fat cow to the youngest son who is a failed actor and rapidly deteriorating sot to the oldest son who is cool, calculating and married to a lady with great societal pretensions. It's not my world, and I can't get into that kind of a story. That's why I'm trying to write mysteries about ordinary people in ordinary American cities (and incidentally wrote a difficult scene I'd been dreading last night). Note to self: stop buying British cozies. I have friends who love them, but I don't.
Last night, bored a bit with my reading and having written a thousand words and given out in imagintion, I went through the most recent issue of Bon Appetit, tearing out recipes I'd checked on my first quick run-through and giving others much more careful consideration before I threw the magazine away. I used to save stacks and stacks of them and finally had to bite the bullet and admit that I would never go back to old ones. But now I have this appalling collection of recipes that I've cut out, and I can tell my budget will go all to pot (no pun intended) because there are so many I want to cook and mostly they aren't the kind of thing one cooks for one, though I did find one I may try for myself. Steak with a blue cheese/horseradish sauce--think I could try that on a lamb chop and it would be delicious--and I often cook one loin lamb chop for myself for dinner. But tomato-cucumer gazpacho or creme fraiche (sorry I can't do the accent marks on this program) roasted salmon or asparagus vichyssoise with mint require an audience.
And speaking of food: the good news today is that I've lost 2.1 lbs. in the last week and 5 lbs. overall since I started Weight Watchers--lost for two weeks, gained one, and then lost this week. The hoot is I got an automatic message that I was losing weight too fast which could have disastrous results for my heart rate and all numbers of other things. All I can figure is they recommend you lose 2 lbs. a week, and I went over that and triggered the message. Doesn't seem to me 5 lbs. in four weeks is too fast. I know all too well weight lost quickly is soon regained. But I am laughing. I had lunch today with a friend who asked how you know how to assign points to a food, and I said you have to sort of eyeball how many cups, Tbsp., oz, whatever it is. "Well, what if I have a pastrami and cheese sandwich and assign it three points?" I explained you have to be honest or you're defeating yourself and wasting your money. I'm really trying on that score.
Finally, a tidbit I heard on the news today as I was pulling in the driveway. I have always been fascinated by the book Julie and Julia (of course now I can't find it in its usual place on one of my shelves to give the correct subtitle). It's about a young disenchanted, bored married girl in a tiny apt. with a tiny kitchen in New York who decides to give meaning to her life she'll cook all the recipes in Julia Child's Mastering French Cooking in one year. It's funny and interesting--some of the recipes call for pretty bizarre ingredients--and I enjoyed it thoroughly except that Julie has a potty mouth. Now it's being made into a movie with some popular young actress playing Julie and Meryl Streep as Julia--one of the few movies (along with Marley and Me) that I want to see. But I digress: what I heard on NPR today is that they were about to interview a man who had in one year read through the entire Oxford English Dictionary--some 21,000 pages and I forget how many entries. An astounding feat--but to what purpose? Will he write a book about it? I'm still puzzled.
Last night, bored a bit with my reading and having written a thousand words and given out in imagintion, I went through the most recent issue of Bon Appetit, tearing out recipes I'd checked on my first quick run-through and giving others much more careful consideration before I threw the magazine away. I used to save stacks and stacks of them and finally had to bite the bullet and admit that I would never go back to old ones. But now I have this appalling collection of recipes that I've cut out, and I can tell my budget will go all to pot (no pun intended) because there are so many I want to cook and mostly they aren't the kind of thing one cooks for one, though I did find one I may try for myself. Steak with a blue cheese/horseradish sauce--think I could try that on a lamb chop and it would be delicious--and I often cook one loin lamb chop for myself for dinner. But tomato-cucumer gazpacho or creme fraiche (sorry I can't do the accent marks on this program) roasted salmon or asparagus vichyssoise with mint require an audience.
And speaking of food: the good news today is that I've lost 2.1 lbs. in the last week and 5 lbs. overall since I started Weight Watchers--lost for two weeks, gained one, and then lost this week. The hoot is I got an automatic message that I was losing weight too fast which could have disastrous results for my heart rate and all numbers of other things. All I can figure is they recommend you lose 2 lbs. a week, and I went over that and triggered the message. Doesn't seem to me 5 lbs. in four weeks is too fast. I know all too well weight lost quickly is soon regained. But I am laughing. I had lunch today with a friend who asked how you know how to assign points to a food, and I said you have to sort of eyeball how many cups, Tbsp., oz, whatever it is. "Well, what if I have a pastrami and cheese sandwich and assign it three points?" I explained you have to be honest or you're defeating yourself and wasting your money. I'm really trying on that score.
Finally, a tidbit I heard on the news today as I was pulling in the driveway. I have always been fascinated by the book Julie and Julia (of course now I can't find it in its usual place on one of my shelves to give the correct subtitle). It's about a young disenchanted, bored married girl in a tiny apt. with a tiny kitchen in New York who decides to give meaning to her life she'll cook all the recipes in Julia Child's Mastering French Cooking in one year. It's funny and interesting--some of the recipes call for pretty bizarre ingredients--and I enjoyed it thoroughly except that Julie has a potty mouth. Now it's being made into a movie with some popular young actress playing Julie and Meryl Streep as Julia--one of the few movies (along with Marley and Me) that I want to see. But I digress: what I heard on NPR today is that they were about to interview a man who had in one year read through the entire Oxford English Dictionary--some 21,000 pages and I forget how many entries. An astounding feat--but to what purpose? Will he write a book about it? I'm still puzzled.
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