Merry Christmas

 

Christmas Tree Pavlova

Our individual Christmas Eve Pavlova's.

 

The Private Passion of Jackie Kennedy Onassis

 

Some of the most iconic photos out of the millions of photos taken of Jacqueline Kennedy are on horseback. 

 An avid equestrian from the time she could walk, Jacqueline Onassis seems most content in the company of horses.  Vicky Moon collected hundreds of these photos in The Private Passion of Jackie Kennedy Onassis.   The book features photos that are widely known and many that have rarely been seen.

This 1961 photo of a tumble is one of the most reproduced.  No wonder she hated paparazzi!

Actually, wrote a foreword to James L. Young’s A Field of Horses: The World of Marshall P. Hawkins.  Hawkins was the equestrian photographer who took this famous picture of her falling head first when her horse balked at a jump.

Man with a Blue Scarf

In this age of mechanical reproduction, one rarely thinks of the model in a painting. Every painter is different in their technique and their use of models. The relationship between artist and subject is an intimate and personal relationship. Being a huge fan of Lucian Freud, it was a revelation reading Man with a Blue Scarf.

Art critic Martin Gayford was an acquaintance of Freud. He had known the artist for years when he volunteered to sit for him. First and foremost, we find that Freud takes his time, generally spending a year or more with each of his sitters. It is a huge commitment for the sitter. For an art critic, it proved to be valuable in site into the mind of the painter. Rather than keeping that information to himself, Gayford reveals the connection and expounds on his time with Freud.

 

"The experience of sitting in this pool of light, being examined so closely, is a curiousone. Staring, as LF stares constantly at me, is in ordinary life a disconcerting, even threatening act."

 

In the course of almost two years, Gayford and Freud talked about art and artists, friends and family, and food and animals. They visited galleries and often dined together after the session was over. This book is an eye-popping glimpse into the painter as artist told from an unusual point of view, that of the objet.

 

 

 

 

Crapalachia

How do we like our poor people in America? We like them rich. There is this ill conceived notion that with a little pluck and some hard work, we will never be poor again. We can get over it. Wear a green ribbon on our lapel to indicate we are a survivor of poverty. Poverty, however, is complicated. It is not a disease that can be cured with two aspirin.

We don't carefully examine poverty. There is little art about poverty. Art happens in big cities, created by people with the time to make art, and championed by people with money to buy art. In America, issues are often confronted in popular culture. Today, our popular culture is riddled with wealth. There are no poor people on television. Cops, waitresses, and UPS drivers all have their own homes or live alone in huge loft apartments. The last authentic working class family on television belonged to Roseanne. For years we watched as their family robbed Peter to pay Paul. After years of struggle, Roseanne won the lottery and became rich. She can now wear her "poverty survivor" green ribbon.

Oprah was poor, but she worked hard and now she is a billionaire. Get her and emerald studded ribbon.

Anyone can grow up to be President. Look at Congress and see if you can find a single poor person. Look again and see if you can find anyone who is not a millionaire. No ribbons here.

 

The WPA documented poverty in America. Today we view the Migrant Mother as an masterpiece, beautiful and evocative of the past. It is a truly iconic image of America. Most people would recognize the photo. Many people can name its photographer, Dorothea Lange. Very few could tell you the name of the woman in the photo, Florence Thompson. There are millions of Florence Thompson's in America trying to feed their children. Like the woman in the Dorothea Lange photograph, we rarely know nor care what her name is.

46.5 million American live in poverty. They are not all stupid or lazy. They are not all illiterate or crazy. They are not all criminals or drug addicts. They are employed, many work several jobs. They are fiercely loyal to family and to home. They go to church, they go to work, they go to school, and they persevere at all costs. Where are their voices?

One place to hear them speak is in the writing of Scott McClanahan. McClanahan's Crapalachia is gracing many an independent "Best of 2013" list, and well it should. Truth be told, it should be on every award list this year. Subtitled, A Biography of a Place, Crapalachia takes the reader to McClanahan's West Virginia. A small town in a rural place, scared by coal and violence, and overflowing with love and imagination.

The young Scott McClanahan lives with his grandmother, Ruby, and her son Nathan. Nathan is grown man relegated to the life of a child. His cerebral palsy has confined him to a wheelchair, a feeding tube, and his mother's house. It doesn't stop him from trying to get his nephew to slip him a beer through his feeding tube or to help him with a personal ad. Of his grandmother McClanahan writes:

"She knew how to do all kinds of things no one else knew how to do...She knew how to make biscuits from scratch and slaughter a hawg if she had to. And she knew knew how to do things that are all forgotten now --things that people from Ohio buy because it says handmade on the tag. I looked at the quilt she was working on. The quilt wasn't a fucking symbol of anything, It was something she made to keep her children warm, Remember that. Fuck symbols."

After moving in with a friend as he tries to finish school. His friend, Bill, rails against homosexuality after catching a cousin engaged in the act and quotes Leviticus. McClanahan reminds him that such behavior tends to run in families and all this talk of the Old Testament make him sound Jewish. Then one day he sets up and email account: ourlordandsavior@hotmail and sends Bill an e-mail:

"Dear Bill:

This is the lord...I am disappointed in your recent conversion to Judaism...

P.S. Please quit skipping school so much."

Bill is a bit surprised to get an e-mail from Jesus.

 

Unlike some of his friends, McClanahan finishes school. Like may people who grew up in small towns, he left for the big city. But he comes back and he writes a biography of this place.

"I tried to remember all of the people and phantoms I had ever known and loved. I tried to make them laugh and dance, move and dream, love and see...but I couldn't."

It is cliché to say a book is a roller coaster ride. Crapalachia is big old Tilt-A-Whirl of a book, spinning you one way, then the other. It leaves you dizzy and exhilarated and a bit nauseous and wondrously happy. Crapalachia is funny. At times you will laugh out loud. Crapalachia is painful. So painful that at times you will want to stop reading. Don't. Keep reading. Read everything Scott McClanahan writes.

 

Cookbook Of The Day on Facebook

Cookbook Of The Day got its own Facebook Page.  Keep up with cookbooks old and new.

www.facebook.com/CookbookOfTheDay

Oh, The Weather Outside is...

We have no earthly idea about the weather. For three days we worked in the garden, transplanting berries, planting new berries, cleaning and cutivating. It was nearly 70! We found a nice bunch of late season carrots.

The carrots were safely on the counter. Upon my return, Trick had climbed on the counter and distributed carrots to her buddies. She is the first to find snacks and loves to share. The cats had snarfed the carrot tops and were playing ping pong with the fat round carrots.

As evening arrived, Trick took took some selfies and had nap.

It rained all night and we awoke to water, water, everywhere. Supposed to rain all night, again. We are safe and sound and hoping the temperature stays above freezing.

 

The Pies Of Thanksgiving -- Recipe Edition

We have had several recipe requests for our Thanksgiving pie roundup. 

I cook like my Mother cooked.  People were always asking for recipes and my Mother would try to give them to people, it's just that she never cooked anything the same way twice.  I never met a recipe I used.  This is pretty close.

The traditional pie is the one on the pumpkin can.  Pumpkin, sugar, evaporated milk, whatever.  The only trick to this pie is to under cook it slightly. I can't tell you anymore than that.  If you cook it and leave it in the oven as long as the can says, the custard will split.  If there is big gooey spot in the middle, don't take it out.  A slight wobble is A-OK.  Really, a split won't affect it at all.  You eat the ugly piece and throw whipped cream on the rest!


The apple pie is a second attempt of a good idea.   A friend of mine brought me some pumpkin cream cheese.  Pumpkin cream cheese seemed like a great idea until I actually had it and didn't have a clue what to do with it.  I though of using it as a base for an apple galette.   I saw a recipe for a galette that touted a magnificent crust.  (Let me say here that with all the "off the cuff" improve I do in the kitchen, I rarely mess with a pastry recipe, so I followed the the recipe to the letter.)

I made the miracle crust, put it on a silpat, piped on the pumpkin cream cheese filling, added the apples, raised the sides, chilled it a full 30 minutes to set the crust, put it in the oven.  Ten minutes into baking, the crust had meted and cream cheese was oozing everywhere.  There was no saving the galette, so I let it bake.   When it was cool, I peeled the mess off the silpat and tossed it in a bowl.  Everyone that passed the bowl grabbed a chunk of the...whatever.  (Let me just say here, that cooking for Thanksgiving requires many battles and after the melting crust, I chose not to fight that one and capitulated to a store-bought pre-made dough.  Let me also say that I never just unroll the dough and go, I always add a bit of coarse sugar, an herb or two, a touch of spice, or a schmere of butter to make the crust mine.)  (Let me also say that I have never made or bought a pie crust that had enough crust to turn one pie into a dozen little pies.  The instruction always say, roll the crust and cut 12 circles.  Don't be fooled, you will not get 12 circles out of a single recipe for dough nor will you get them out of two rolls of pre-made pie dough.   Make six or make more dough.)

Moving on...

Apple/Pumpkin Cream Cheese

1 pie crust or 6 or 12 little pie crusts depending on your mood

5 apples, peeled and cut into small chunks

1 8-ounce package of pumpkin cream cheese, softened, plain will work...

1 egg

1 cup sugar, 3/4 for filling, 1/4 cup for dusting the apples

1 teaspoon quatre épices, or pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt


1.  Cut the pie crust in small circles, slightly larger than the cupcake tins as you will want about 1/2 inch of the crust to stick up above the pan edges. Place them in a cupcake pan. 

2.  Peel and cut the apples and immediately dust with 1/4 cup sugar and the spice.

3.  In a bowl, mix the softened cream cheese, the egg, 3/4 cup sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

4. Evenly distribute the cream cheese mixture onto the bottom of the pie crusts.

5.  Top the cream cheese mixture with the apples.

6. Press the sides of the crust around the apples.

7.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes


(If you want to make one gallette, leave the crust in tact, spread the cream cheese in the middle of the crust, leaving about a 2 inches boarder of crust.  Place the apples on top and bring the plain edges of crust up around the mixture.   Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.  Generally, a gallet is baked on a cookie sheet, but feel free to cheat and cook it in a pie pan, just in case your crust fails.) 

The pumpkin mousse in a ginger snap crust is an amalgam of about six recipes from the mundane to the sublime.  There is a Philadelphia Cream Cheese recipe calling for cream cheese, Cool Whip and pre-made graham cracker crust.  There is a sublime recipe over at my one of my favorite blogs,  Yummy Books.  Mine falls in between. 

Pumpkin Mousse in a Ginger Snap Crust

Crust

1 box ginger snaps

1 stick melted butter

1/4 cup soft diced ginger (This is optional, thought I have said it before and I will say it again, this is one of my favorite cooking items.  Toss a spoon full in a vinaigrette, add it to a barbecue sauce, put it in a curry, you can't go wrong...)

Crush the ginger snaps in a food processor.  Add the ginger if desired.  Slowly add the melted butter, pulsing until the wet crumbs hold together.   Remove the crumb mixture and place in a tart pan with a removable bottom that is at least 2 inches high.  Press the crust into the pan, filling the flutes with the crust.  Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  Remove and let cool.

Mousse

1 can pumpkin

1/2 stick butter, softened

1 small package cream cheese (4 ounce), softened

8 ounces of plain goat cheese, softened

1 cup 10 X powdered sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon quatre épices or 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

(It is very, very important to make sure the butter, cream cheese and goat cheese are softened.  They need to give easily when touched.  If they appear to be too cold or lumpy, you can force the cheeses and butter through a wire strainer with the back of a spoon. You can also just put them in the stand mixer and let them beat beat and beat till smooth.)

1.  Sift the spices and sugars into a small bowl.

2.  In a stand mixer, whip the softened butter, cream cheese and goat cheese until very smooth.

3.  Add the pumpkin and beat until incorporated.

4. Add the sugar mixture and beat again, till fully incorporated.

5. Pour the mousse into the cooled pie shell and refrigerate overnight.

Don't have time to bake the crust?  Try this:

If you own one of those mini cheesecake pans with the removable bottoms, just lay a ginger snap in the bottom and add the mousse.  

Simply crumble the cookies into the bottom of jelly jars or ramekins and dollop in the mousse. 

Try chocolate cookies. (Yummy Books uses almond cookies and rosemary for their crust.)

Use your favorite granola for the crust.

Be bold.  Experiment.  If you screw it up, just scrape it into a bowl and refuse to give anyone the recipe! 

A New Home Bar

A new home bar? Will and Lucy Lowe set up a home distillery. They now have the smallest distillery in Britian. While it might not be bathtub gin, it is living room gin and orders are pouring in from all over the world. Check out this report from ITV.

 

Nylon Gift Ideas

Nylon Magazine might just have the best Chistmas Gift ideas yet. Take famous fictional babes and ask yourself, what would they want from Santa.

 

Holly Golightly gifts.

Penny Lane gifts.

Margot Tenenbaum gifts.

Claudia Kishi gifts.

We are making a list...

 

Letters of Note

Marianne Moore by Richard Avedon

We love technology, but one of the causalities may be the letter.  We have volumes of collected letters in our library and worry that future generations will no longer have the luxury of reading such personal and wonderful artifacts. 

One of our favorite blogs is Letters of Note.  They post letters... of note.  Some not that noteworthy, but always a joy.   One of the things we love about blogs is the way they jog the mind.  Obscure ideas, people, places, and things that one knows are out there, but often tucked away in the recesses of the mind until...

We are very fond of the letters of poets and treasure the Selected Letters of Marianne Moore.

Marianne Moore was quite the gal about town. Moore was fixture in New York both inside and outside literary circles.  She often ventured out in a cape and an iconic tricorne hat.  Moore never married and lived with her mother.   She won most prizes associated with poetry, including the Pulitzer. 

Moore loved boxing and in 1963, Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay, recorded an album.   He asked Marianne Moore to write the liner notes.

Moore was a huge fan of baseball and in 1968,  Moore threw out the first pitch for the Yankees.

Letters of Note reminded us of a rather unusual job undertaken by the poet Marianne Moore.  As she was nearing 70, The Ford Motor Company called upon the poet to name its new line of cars.  Ford believed that the best way to find a name for the car was to go directly to someone who knew the language, so the asked a poet.  Read her correspondence with Ford at Letters of Note.

Thanks to Marianne Moore we are still driving around in the Utopian Turtletop.  Sorry, we are still driving around in the Edsel.

The Pies Of Thanksgiving

Pumpkin Mousse in a Ginger Snap Crust

Traditional Pumpkin

Apple/Pumpkin Cream Cheses

 

Happy Thanksgiving

Before long they will start watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade and I will make my move!

 

A Spirit of Place -- The Ethicurean

 Over at Cookbook Of The Day we decided that The Ethicurean Cookbook was our favorite cookbook of the year, maybe of the coming year, too!  We just love it.  The Ethicurean was voted one of the ten best destination restaurants in England.

Recently, Cereal magazine and Freunde von Freunde published an interview with The Ethicurean's Jack Adair Bevan and a series of glorious photos.  Both the interview and the photos are by Robbie Lawrence. The photos are food porn of the highest order.  These are just a few.  Needless to say, we want to live there.

Do read the full interview and check out both sites to see all the photos.

Cereal.

Freunde von Freunde.

Cold House

We are testing out a cold house this winter, hoping to keep some herbs and a few root vegetables going through the snow.  The limp eggplants from early in the season, clearly aren't going to make it, but we are hoping some hardy chard will weather, well the weather.

Watering the area has proven to be the hardest part.   Keep your fingers crossed that we get a carrot or two.

 

New Bridge

Clearly, it is not the Golden Gate,but it is mine. How bad was it before, you might ask? Every day I drove across it, but I would not WALK across it.

Frankly, it was pretty scary to drive across.

I finally found a bridge builder.

After surveying the site and getting the wood we were set to go.

The beginning with most of the old boards gone.

 

Ready for the first drive across.

 

 

Fabulous Fashionistas

This is what I want to look like when I grow up. Check out the documentary, Fabulous Fashionistas. http://youtu.be/4znrNtLKDE4

 

Gettysburg Address

 

Dedication ceremony at Gettysburg Battlefield, November 19, 1863. Abraham Lincoln, hatless, is seated left of center
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Today is the sesquicentennial of the Gettysburg Address.  It was one of the great moments in oratory and my great aunts believed in elocution as sport.  Needless to say, I learned to recite the Gettysburg Address at an early age.  

In an age of tweeting, texting and pdf's, it is interesting (well to me it is) that there are several versions of the Gettysburg Address.  Five handwritten copies are known to exist.  Since there was no xerox machine at Gettysburg, the copies vary slightly.  Here they are:


Alexander Bliss Copy 

This copy was  given to the stepson of historian George Bancroft. Lincoln was asked by Bancroft for a handwritten copy to raise funds for soldiers.  Lincoln complied but wrote on both sides of he paper, making it hard to display, so Lincoln made another copy for Bliss.  It resides in the White House in the Lincoln Room.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. 
 
Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863   


George Bancroft Copy 

Since this copy was unusable for fundraising, Bancroft kept it. It is owned by Cornell University.  

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. 


John G. Nicolay Copy 

Nicolay was President Lincoln's personal secretary. historians believe this is the first draft of the address begun in DC on White House stationary. Since the second page of the draft is on different, it is thought that Lincoln finished the speech on his way to Gettysburg. Nicolay, who saw the Lincoln deliver the speech in Gettysburg, was given the draft. It is now in The Library of Congress.  

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that “all men are created equal.” Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We come to dedicate a portion of it, as a final resting place for those who died here, that the nation might live. This we may, in all propriety do. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate – we can not consecrate – we can not hallow, this ground – The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have hallowed it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; while it can never forget what they did here. It is rather for us, the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that, from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here, gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.  

John Hay Copy 

Presidential assistant, John Hay, was also with Lincoln at Gettysburg.  His copy is believed to be the second draft of the speech.  Hay wrote in his diary:  "The President, in a fine, free way, with more grace than is his wont, said his half dozen words of consecration." 

This copy, complete with handwritten changes, is owned by the Library of Congress.  
 
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met here on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom; and that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.  

Edward Everett Copy
 
Edward Everett was the main attraction at the service at Gettysburg.  He spoke a full two hours.  After hearing the president speech for only two minutes, Everett wrote to him saying, "I should be glad, if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes."

In 1864 Everett asked the President for a copy of the speech, again as a fundraiser for Union soldiers.  This copy is housed at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum.
 
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here, have, thus far, so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

 

If you would like to know all things about the Gettysburg Address, do read Gabor Boritt's The Gettysburg Gospel. While I am not a big reader of Lincoln books, I was interested in this speech and how it came about.

New Chicken Eggs

The new chickens are finally laying an egg or two. There is joy in

Lucindaville. And frittatas!

 

Famous Food Friday -- RockStars

Today's Famous Food Friday features rock stars of old...some of them still rocking today. Cool Cooking by Roberta Ashley was published in 1972 by the Scholastic Book Service. It was a draw for YA rocker who liked to cook as well as rock.

How old is this book?

 

So old that The Honey Cone was giving the Supremes a run for their money.

So old that Elton John was straight.

So old that that Michael Jackson was black, not to mention alive.

So old that Paul McCartney was a carnivore.

 

You will find:

 

Aretha Franklin's Chitlins.

Glen Campbell's Scrambled Eggs and Lamb

David Cassidy's On-the-Set Salad

 

and this winner from George Harrison.

Banana Sandwich

ripe banana

bread

peanut butter (optional)

Slice a ripe banana lengthwise and lay it on a piece of bread. If you like, you can spread the bread with peanut butter.

We just love these old cookbooks that are compilations of famous folk making their own food! Grab some peanut butter, flip on "oldies" channel, and rock on to Cool Cooking.

 

 

The Art of Giving

I had a rather ugly brown Le Creuset roaster that I gave to a friend when his girlfriend booted him out and he had nothing.  After I gave it away, I kinda regretted it but it was terribly ugly so I got over it.  About 6 years ago, I found the identical Le Creuset pan in a junk shop and bought it.  Not a single week has gone by that I didn't use the pan in some way, shape or form. 

This summer, I dropped the lid on the floor.  My initial reaction was a plea that the lid not crack the tile.  The opposite happened.  In one of those mathematical long shots, a statistical improbability, the lid and floor collided at a perfect sweet spot and the lid lost.  It split in a perfect line from the edge to the knob.  I prayed it would go not further and tried to gingerly use it a couple of  times but then it split into two equal parts.

I didn't want to get rid of my pan, but without a lid, it languished on the shelf.   Then one day I started looking on ebay.  Nothing seemed to be the right size and finally, a big blue lid came on the market.  It seems to be the exact size I needed and since I had looked for quite some time and since this was the first one I had seen that seemed to be the right size, I bought it. 

Shipping the lid cost more than the lid itself.  Together they cost more than I paid for the pan which was exponentially less than buying a new one.  I put the blue lid on the brown pot and it has been in the oven every day since!  I couldn't be happier.


It reminded me of a professor from Alabama.  He had gone to Oxford and became friend with the son of  Duchess.  He visited their home and the Duchess was smitten by this young man who would listen to her stories of old furniture, paintings and china.  She was especially fond of a set of Wedgwood that she had eaten from as a child.  She lamented that the pattern had been discontinued and several dished were missing lids.  When he was invited to spend Christmas at the house, he tried to find an excuse not to go.  It was Christmas after all, and what would he put under the tree?  

After reluctantly agreeing to go, he found himself visiting a town with an old Wedgwood factory.  He inquired at the shop about the discontinued pattern and was led into a rather large room, stacked high with bits and pieces of old Wedgwood.  He searched for quite some time and managed to find a couple of discarded lids that matched the Duchess' pattern.  They were under the tree for her.  Needless to say she was thrilled and touched that this young American had actually listened to her stories.

I thought of that story several years ago when I stopped to get a bottle of wine for a friend.  She had a huge kitchen that was always bustling.  Her big, old stove was a workhorse, but the knobs has been been lost over the years and in order to get the eyes to come on or to adjust the temperature, the single working knob was move to the naked metal stumps of each eye that needed tending.  She always complained about the damn stove knobs. 

As I headed toward the liquor store, I noticed a hardware store across the street, so I detoured.   In the back or this jam-packed, old store was a display of stove knobs.  I found the knobs I needed and bought them for less than a bottle of wine.  When I gave her the bag and she saw the knobs, she wept.  Over and over she said that she had complained for years and no one ever listened.

So be advised as the gift-giving season approaches -- sometimes the right gift is as simple as a old, blue lid.

Our First Snow

 

How Cool Are French Zombies?

My friend , Anne,  and I are Francophiles.  We both subscribe to Elle à Table and we are always discussing how the French can throw a handful of raw asparagus onto a plate and make it look like art.   I am always saying, "How does there food always look so good?"

Guess what?  Their zombies look good, too.


The Sundance Channel is showing Les Revenants as The Returned.  It is a French Walking Dead, but those who return from the dead are French.  French zombies.  Now one might inquire: "What are French zombies like?"

Well, of course they are far better looking than American zombies.  No rotting flesh, non!  That would be so undignified.  French zombies return intact, coiffed, well dressed and sporting jaunty scarves.

French zombies return from the grave ravenous, but they do not want to eat your fleshy underbelly. A French zombie is looking for a lovely, ripe Camembert and a crusty loaf.

French zombies do not shuffle slowly, but comport themselves like dancers.

Those returned, and those they have returned to, are faced not with a zombie apocalypse, but with an existential dilemma.  For instance, your dead wife returns and causes you to nearly die of a heart attack.

Do you find this to be an abomination and kill her? 

Do you kill yourself? 

Do you give her more Camembert?

Do you ask yourself, "What would Sartre do?"


While they might not be grotesque, rotting flesh eaters, the French zombie does seem to create havoc.    It is a little early to judge the exact nature of the havoc and whether it is more terrifying than a full on zombie apocalypse.  I must confess, however, the thought of a long-dead child showing up in the kitchen raiding the refrigerator may be far more terrifying than a rotting Sophia shuffling out of a barn.

Damn those French!

Tuneful Tuesday

Say what you will about the War Between the States aka the Civil War, but they had some awesome tunes.  My fave, Stephen Foster, was the Kurt Cobain of the Civil War.  Hard Times Come Again No More may well be my favorite song of all time, albeit poignant to the edge of suicidal. 

Really, though, one hasn't heard the Civil War in song until one hears the Carolina Chocolate Drops or Pokey LaFarge do the Civil War.  Then there are Ralph Stanely and Norman Blake; not to mention Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn. 

It is probably a coincidence that Divide & United was released as the Smithsonian is offering up its look at Civil War artifacts in Civil War 360.  I may be a bit biased as my friends Kathy Golden and Dave Miller  offer a historical perspective on  John Singleton Mosby and J.E.B. Stuart while looking at some of their "stuff."  Of course the last big rush of Civil War tunes came about when Ken Burns' The Civil War made such a splash on PBS.  But that was long before the Old Crow Medicine Show was belting out Marching Through Georgia or Shovels and Rope (a Charleston band we keep hoping will break out big) singing The Fall of Charleston.  

I know, I know, this may not be your cup of tea or sweet tea, as it were, but if you love a heavy dose of folk-y, funky, Americana, this one is for you.