Carnage du Jour - 17 December 2010

from grandteuton.blogspot.com

Pork chops are a staple around our Cleveland, and it's no wonder, considering how versatile these little guys can be.
 
This time it was a simple sear and pan-roast operation.  The butterfly chops were liberally salted, peppered and beau monded, then seared quickly in some olive oil.
 
While they rested on a plate, waiting for the rest of their cooking, into the pan went a large handful of grape tomatoes which popped nicely (although not nearly as dramatically as slow-motion popcorn!) in the pan.  Then some jalapeno stuffed olives, some kalamata olives, and some nice pickled cocktail onions went in, along with just a touch of tomato sauce - which was simply tomatoes from our garden which Heidi had run through the Mouli to keep that lovely garden-fresh flavour.
 
Back in the pan on top of all that goodness went the chops, along with a drained and rinsed can of cannellini beans.  It was only a few minutes for everything to meld and finish up, then the chops were again removed and some cooked spaghetti was added to the pan and all was finished.

Oh, I forgot to mention the roasted asparagus that accompanied - just simply roasted with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper - delicious indeed!

So there you have it, or rather, then we had it, and it was a lovely dinner.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

Well, we made it to the show on the opening weekend, and I wouldn't have missed it.

First, let me list my disappointments, then I'll balance it out with what I really think:
The first disappointment was that there were very few people in the theatre when we arrived - very few indeed.  More folks arrived in dribs and drabs before the feature began, but it was still a largely empty house.  Heidi says they did a bad job of advertising, and too few people knew about it - that may be true, but I had seen the trailer online a long time ago and was receiving regular updates leading up to the release, so I can't really say.

The next disappointment was the alteration of the storyline.  As in the previous installments, I understand that there are cuts and changes that will need to be made in order to present the novel in movie form, but this time it seemed excessive to me.  When cutting scenes, there is likely to be information that needs to be restored somehow, and that necessitates adding something.  I get it.
Still, adding characters and changing the nature of one of the threats seemed jarring to me.

OK, that's it for disappointments.
As always, these films have actors, settings, and effects which simply look the way they did in my head when I read the books.  It's uncanny, but they seem to match Heidi's internal scenery as well.  Perhaps Lewis was just that good, or perhaps these films are good enough to make us realise that, "That's just what that looked like!" at each turn.  I don't know, and I don't really care - it's just wonderful that it works.

The music is great - I don't remember who wrote it, but it worked throughout by supporting the action and not really quite drawing attention to itself.
The effects are actually quite seamless - I think I only once saw anything that took me out of my willing suspension of disbelief, and that was a very quick scene of a faun jumping and landing with his knees going the same way mine do, but it was only a very quick flash.
So, my disappointments really come down to a preference for the original storyline, and the lack of folks in the seats at our showing.  Perhaps we chose exactly the wrong time to see a big audience, as it was at "normal" people's dinner time.
At the same time, the movie really was a joy, and I very much hope to see the rest of the Chronicles hit the silver screen.  (I think it's going to take a bunch of us buying tickets and DVDs to ensure that.)  It will be interesting to see if the original children of the film will be old enough to play themselves as adults when we get to the Last Battle.

To sum up - do yourself a favour and go see this movie.  It's an excellent adaptation of the novel (despite my quibbles), and it's an excellent movie on its own.

Enjoy!

I can hardly wait!

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

The reason I had pulled out the CDs of the radio dramas based on the C.S. Lewis Narnia books has arrived.
I saw a trailer online for the third installment of the movie series - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - and it made me want to prepare by reading the books again.  Then I realised that we had the CDs on the shelf, but I'd never listened to them.  Needless to say (if you read my earlier post on the topic) I was exceedingly glad that I did listen when I finally got around to it.

At any rate, the movie opens tonight, and we're planning to go see it, so stay tuned for reactions.  If it's half as good as the trailers and commercials make it seem, it will still be spectacular.

  

Ah - All Those Potlucks and Other Collaborative Meals!

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

'Tis the season and all, and that means there are more and more occasions where we're all carting our particular contribution to a collective meal to a (possibly) distant location.
 
Don't you hate it when your crock pot dumps part of the food in the back of the car?  I know I do, and how!

Still, what's a cook to do?  How about one of these babies?  A slow cooker with a lid that actually clips on and stays sealed!  How much spiffier could one of these get without just being too out there?

Very cool.

What to Read Right Now

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

Sorry I'm late with this recommendation, but (in case you're like me and don't watch the calendar as well as you ought) it's December, and it's also Advent.

So, I want to recommend that you all go out and get a copy of The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder.  It's a wonderful book to read leading up to Christmas - we get to watch as Joachim opens his special Advent Calendar each day, and receives an update on the story of a little girl, a lamb, some angels, wise men, kings, oh, the whole nine yards and more.

It's a fun read with relatively short chapters for each day from December first right down through Christmas Eve.  Highly recommended.

To Bethlehem!  To Bethlehem!

Sauce-age du Jour - 25 November 2010

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

Well, I've had some commentators tell me that the highlight of the meal from their side of the plate was the gravy.
Frankly, I can't disagree much, as gravy is always one of best parts of Thanksgiving dinner, and I generally make a mean gravy, if I do say so myself.
I think there are two keys to making good gravy, once one is beyond the pan drippings and any extra stock that's going in.

• It takes more salt than you think, and
• Never use flour, only use cornstarch.

If you follow those two simple tips, you'll have gravy success too.  Once the drippings / stock hits a boil and you've salted it pretty well, take a small glass with a couple good forks of cornstarch and stir in some cold water.
Stir in that slurry, and watch it thicken the gravy - without any lumps!  It may take a second dose, depending on how much liquid you're trying to thicken, but it's the stuff to use.

There, that's my secret.  That and tasting the gravy as it boils to see if it needs more salt (it probably does).

Enjoy!

Vegage du Jour - 25 November 2010

(from grandteuton.blogspot.com)

Yes, the turkey was great as usual (glazed with a mixture of maple syrup and Bourbon), but this year the cooking highlight was the green bean casserole! (At least it was for me, as it was a dairy- and gluten- free version we made up.)

The normal mushroom soup mode wasn't going to work, so what to do?  I had used a can of mushroom stems and pieces for something a while ago when we had run out of fresh (?!) shrooms, so that was in my head already.  Here's the way it went:

• Take two cans of mushroom stems and pieces and bring them to a boil in a saucepan - with all that good juice that comes in the cans, nothing else.  OK, it actually took some salt and freshly ground pepper, but those don't really count, right Claire?
• Now thicken that with a nice slurry of corn starch and cold water.
• Once it's nice and thick - looking much like the stuff from the can - add in about 2/3 C of Tofutti "sour cream" and stir it all together.
• That gets added to the drained cans of green beans and cooked for a long time in a crock pot.  (that was largely because we didn't have room in the oven thanks to turkey and dressings).
• Stirring in some of the french-fried onions adds flavour and texture, and then you can top them with the rest of the can and put it in the oven once the turkey comes out.

That's it - very simple, very easy, very tasty, and good for everyone, not just the lactose-insurgent folks at the table.

Enjoy!