Saturday Night Feast

After a delightful afternoon planting things (marigolds, verbena, basil, peppers, and bachelor's buttons) in our back garden and then admiring our work from newly-de-dirted chairs sipping glasses of wine, J and I came back in to cook. Once again, simplicity ruled the day--simplicity with a fair helping of decadence.

Nice salmon, broiled. Fried potatoes. Fiddlehead ferns sauteed with shallots and a little of the white wine. Red pepper "aioli" (just roasted red pepper, garlic, olive oil, and salt--no egg, although I guess I made mine a more proper aioli by adding mayonnaise to it). And to complete the picture, fresh bread from the Italian store up the street. We ate ourselves silly.

Now I'm debating about whether to go make pancakes or not....

Happy Second Life for Leftovers; Tropicália

Last night, to celebrate my return home J made a batch of her wonderful pesto and a pot of the quick version of her tomato sauce. We were too late to get fresh pasta from the Italian store on 7th Ave, but she also cobbled a bean dish together from spinach, red bell pepper, and cannelini beans--very simple but tasty nonetheless. I ate the beans cold for breakfast, and just now fecked the rest of the leftovers into the pot with chickpeas, more red pepper and spinach, and a little more pasta. Voila, damn good dinner!

In the meantime, I've been listening to that Tropicália album. Great stuff altogether, though not quite what I was expecting. This is a compilation done by Soul Jazz Records of London, and includes tracks from Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Os Mutantes, Jorge Ben, and Tom Zé--and only one duplicate track--predictably, Caetano Veloso's Tropicália. Definitely lots of influence from the US and UK--Beatles, Bob Dylan, etc.--which is exactly what the movement was about. (Read more here.)


In other news, I finally put the azaleas I won in the BRIMS silent auction into the ground. Let's see if they live. The best spot for them also seems to be a place popular with local critters, perhaps the tomcats who occasionally stop by to yowl at Maddie. I figure the plants stand a better chance there than in their pots, anyway. Maybe this weekend J & I will get around to planting the seeds I gave her for her birthday....

That Summer Feeling

I'm newly back from my roadtrip down South, and although I had vowed not to do much shopping (because I flew back I had limited cargo space), y'all know that didn't really stop me from picking up a few items.

Most notable among the cheap jeans, shirts, and cds is Devon Sproule's new album, Keep Your Silver Shined. I've only listened to it once, but it really does invoke a certain feeling of life in and near Charlottesville. For me, it specifically gives me "that summer feeling" of warm days, bare feet, green light filtering in from leafy trees outside, the drone of insects, and nothing to do but play tunes and eat fresh food.

And luckily, it is summer, so I can replicate at least a few of these, although I probably will still remain a little wistful. I imagine Devon's cd will be a good summer soundtrack...but next I'll have to check out the Brazilian Tropicalia cd I bought....

Starting Slowly and Tapering Off

(to quote Zan McLeod's somewhat famous words about some tune or other....)

The school year's officially over, and I'm off for a brief roadtrip. Y'all take care, now, y'hear!

Monteverdi Would Have Drooled

Last night, J & I took her parents to a class at the Institute of Culinary Education for their 30th anniversary--"Dining with Platina, Michaelangelo, and Leonardo: Italian Renaissance Cooking," ably and fascinatingly taught by Cathy Kaufman, the food historian for ICE. (I got the impression she does other things as well, but I'm not sure what.)

The evening began with a brief lecture from Chef Cathy about eating in the Renaissance--humoural medicine, how class distinctions play out in eating habits, the history of the first Italian cookbooks, etc. Some of the class seemed to be nodding off during her talk, but Jenny & I, nerds that we are, were listening attentively.

Next, she passed around some of the more obscure ingredients we'd be using: verjuice and malaguetta pepper, which figured strongly in one of the dishes J & I made--but more on that in a minute.

At this stage, we started to realize that at the table with us were several people with a great sense of humor and adventure, some shell-shocked and shy folks, and a couple of right duds. By the luck of the draw, we ended up at a cooking table with the dud couple, who were extremely snarky. Oh, well--we wound up just ignoring them anyway, which was easy enough, especially since we outnumbered them 2 to 1.

Our table's job was to complete six items: Marzipan Torta, Fava Beans, Roasted Game Hens with Sweet and Sour Orange Sauce, Cuttlefish in Black Sauce, Tomacelli (herbed calves' liver), and Frozen Wine. Jenny & I began on the wine (a granita sort of thing), and her parents set to the game hens, while the Snarks started measuring for the torta. Seeing what was next on the list (the calves' liver), I asked the Snarks (kindly, I thought) if they would mind switching off with me, so that I would do the rest of the torta so as not to be elbow-deep in things I'm allergic to. They agreed, however begrudingly, and so making the pizzelle (?) wafers on which the marzipan sits occupied me for the next while.

I won't go through a whole play-by-play here, but will cut to the meal's highlights. Of course I couldn't eat everything, but of what I ate, the standouts were the Salad of Mixed Lettuces and Herbs, the Bolognese Torte (mainly chard and cheese, with a sweetish crust), fish (not sure what) with Lombard Sauce, and the Frozen Wine. Sweet Rice Fritters were probably lovely when they were hot, but by the time we ate them they were cold and stodgy--ditto the game hens. My torta was likewise adversely affected by the delay in eating--what should have been crispy was densely chewy, although still very tasty with the marzipan itself, and the rose water I put in it. I am inspired to tweak that recipe for home use, for something that will be able to bear a delay in eating.

Of these, the standouts were the salad and the fish, and later I'll post the recipes to these. But now I'm hungry....

Feckin' Eejit

Here's the New York Times quotation of the day:

"She gave me a look that only a mother could give a child."
--PRESIDENT BUSH , on the reaction of Queen Elizabeth II after he nearly said she had visited in 1776.

I do not know what to say.

Done!

This calls for a celebration:


I turned in my paper around 3pm today. It's not the best thing ever, but it's a start toward my dissertation proposal--so, as they say in Irish, ceart go leor! (Right enough.)

Next we're off to meet J's family for her birthday dinner--and then sleep, glorious sleep--something that's been in short supply lately.