(Why wasn't I smart enough to think of this?)
"Perhaps the best cure for the fear of death is to reflect that life has a beginning as well as an end. There was a time when we were not; this gives us no concern -- why then should it trouble us that a time will come when we shall cease to be?" William Hazlett
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
O Wow!
Today, RB Main Library, approx. 1:45 p.m.
I was walking toward the automatic check-out when my friend, Lisa (aka Pyro) Burke was walking in! Naturally we smiled and laughed; we'd been running into each other here often.
We better watch it," I said, "They're going to bust us for loitering with intent!"
She said, patting a case, "I've got my laptop - I get better reception here than at home... and I'm always writing letters like you except you write a blog."
Me, wryly, "Damned near every day."
Her face lit up and she said, "It's great!"
I gasped.
"I save them!" she crowed as I sank to the floor in shock.
I have readers! (other than two friends and one nephew.)
I was walking toward the automatic check-out when my friend, Lisa (aka Pyro) Burke was walking in! Naturally we smiled and laughed; we'd been running into each other here often.
We better watch it," I said, "They're going to bust us for loitering with intent!"
She said, patting a case, "I've got my laptop - I get better reception here than at home... and I'm always writing letters like you except you write a blog."
Me, wryly, "Damned near every day."
Her face lit up and she said, "It's great!"
I gasped.
"I save them!" she crowed as I sank to the floor in shock.
I have readers! (other than two friends and one nephew.)
VISIT BURKESBLOODBATH.COM
to meet Lisa and to learn about earthquake prepardness, fire safety and to get your home emergency kit.
"If You Can't Say Something Nice (wagging finger) SPIN IT!
I think it's more often that a mother tells her daughter, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" rather than a father OR a mother telling that to a son. Boys have much more important matters on their minds... baseball statistics, for one.
It occurred to me the other day to see if I've lost all of my mother's previous training ... and I can promise you, she would never think to add, "Spin it!" ... so here goes. My small attempt to brighten previously darkened corners of our world...
Mel Gibson, 54, is starring in a movie for the first time in nearly eight years. He said, humbly, "I'm just trying to inspire all the other AARP members not to give up! You can still be very active in your middle years!"
Comedian Andy Dick was recently arrested for sexual assault. He wondered, "Can't they just get 'playful'?"
Brangelina's various didoes: "It's not just charities any more -- we're trying to raise the bar on the hated oppobrium 'White Trash'!"
President Obama, one year after inauguration: "Hey, he makes good speeches!"
Al Gore and his stance on global warming: "Poor guy -- it absoutely unhinged him to be denied the Presidency!"
If you have others that I have somehow overlooked, add them! This column (snigger, snort) welcomes input!
It occurred to me the other day to see if I've lost all of my mother's previous training ... and I can promise you, she would never think to add, "Spin it!" ... so here goes. My small attempt to brighten previously darkened corners of our world...
Mel Gibson, 54, is starring in a movie for the first time in nearly eight years. He said, humbly, "I'm just trying to inspire all the other AARP members not to give up! You can still be very active in your middle years!"
Comedian Andy Dick was recently arrested for sexual assault. He wondered, "Can't they just get 'playful'?"
Brangelina's various didoes: "It's not just charities any more -- we're trying to raise the bar on the hated oppobrium 'White Trash'!"
President Obama, one year after inauguration: "Hey, he makes good speeches!"
Al Gore and his stance on global warming: "Poor guy -- it absoutely unhinged him to be denied the Presidency!"
If you have others that I have somehow overlooked, add them! This column (snigger, snort) welcomes input!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Flamencos! Tapas! Dinner at 11!
"Made in Spain" by Jose Andres with Richard Wolffe. Clarkson/Potter Publishers 256 pages $35
Since the Spanish diet contains a lot of things that I won't eat - salt cod, dried or fresh; tuna barely seared; octopus, moules ... which is not to say I would like the olives, the fantastic ham ... Anyhow with these givens I thought drink recipes might be a welcome change.
This first one surprised me as I'd been making "sangria" all through the poverty years in Beverly Hills. Poor Person's Sangria: get a cheap gallon of red wine. Peel an orange and a lemon and force the skins down the neck of the wine bottle. Let sit overnight (at least) and drink. This is considerably more elegant!
WHITE WINE SANGRIA
1 cup chopped fruit, such as strawberries, peaches, white grapes
1 bottle Cava, a Spanish sparkling wine
1/4 cup brandy
1/4 cup Licor 43 or a vanilla-flavored liqueur
1/4 cup white grape juice
1 teas. sugar
1 small, fresh mint sprig
Fill a glass pitcher half full of ice. Add the fruit. Tilt the pitcher and pour the Cava gently in.
In another container, combine the brandy, vanilla liqueur, grape juice and sugar. Stir and pour it into the big pitcher. Give it a quick stir and add the mint sprig.
SPANISH HOT CHOCOLATE
4 1/2 cups whole milk
10.5 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped or broken into small pieces.
1 T sugar
1 teas. ground cinnamon
Combine the milk, chocolate and sugar in a sauce pan and heat, whisking briskly until the chocolate melts - don't let it boil! Pour into mugs and garnish with a pinch of the cinnamon.
Since the Spanish diet contains a lot of things that I won't eat - salt cod, dried or fresh; tuna barely seared; octopus, moules ... which is not to say I would like the olives, the fantastic ham ... Anyhow with these givens I thought drink recipes might be a welcome change.
This first one surprised me as I'd been making "sangria" all through the poverty years in Beverly Hills. Poor Person's Sangria: get a cheap gallon of red wine. Peel an orange and a lemon and force the skins down the neck of the wine bottle. Let sit overnight (at least) and drink. This is considerably more elegant!
WHITE WINE SANGRIA
1 cup chopped fruit, such as strawberries, peaches, white grapes
1 bottle Cava, a Spanish sparkling wine
1/4 cup brandy
1/4 cup Licor 43 or a vanilla-flavored liqueur
1/4 cup white grape juice
1 teas. sugar
1 small, fresh mint sprig
Fill a glass pitcher half full of ice. Add the fruit. Tilt the pitcher and pour the Cava gently in.
In another container, combine the brandy, vanilla liqueur, grape juice and sugar. Stir and pour it into the big pitcher. Give it a quick stir and add the mint sprig.
SPANISH HOT CHOCOLATE
4 1/2 cups whole milk
10.5 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped or broken into small pieces.
1 T sugar
1 teas. ground cinnamon
Combine the milk, chocolate and sugar in a sauce pan and heat, whisking briskly until the chocolate melts - don't let it boil! Pour into mugs and garnish with a pinch of the cinnamon.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Well Said!
Letters to the Editor, The Los Angeles Times, today:
Two large losses in Massachusetts in one week, but by far the worse is that of Robert B. Parker, a writer of great wit, erudition and imagination. I will truly miss him and his works.
As for the Democrats' loss, politicians are a dime a dozen.
Raymond J. Melrose, Los Angeles
Two large losses in Massachusetts in one week, but by far the worse is that of Robert B. Parker, a writer of great wit, erudition and imagination. I will truly miss him and his works.
As for the Democrats' loss, politicians are a dime a dozen.
Raymond J. Melrose, Los Angeles
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Git Outta the Car, Miss Daisy - I'M Driving Now!
The neurosurgeon who treated me for a viral ridiculitis of the iliac femoral nerve forbade me to drive. That was in mid-October! I haven't had the wheel in my hands till today! Now I can go back to real power! Run like you never ran before! I'm baaack!
I've been driving for 57 years (minus three months) and it all felt exactly the same. And it should -- my Toyota half-ton pick-up truck has been mine for 22 years. (By the way, I have 68,500 miles on it, too. You wouldn't believe the number of Mexican gardeners who've offered me cash on the spot for her. But Truck is Not For Sale.)
And I'm a good driver. I've never had a moving violation-- well that one, but I went to court and sorted that officer out! -- just the odd parking ticket here and there, dotted down the years.
It is raining (again) Aviation (a major street we use all the time) is being repaved and there are orange cones all over the road -- it was a great day to get back behind the wheel! Challenges! God it feels good! Let freedom ring!
I've been driving for 57 years (minus three months) and it all felt exactly the same. And it should -- my Toyota half-ton pick-up truck has been mine for 22 years. (By the way, I have 68,500 miles on it, too. You wouldn't believe the number of Mexican gardeners who've offered me cash on the spot for her. But Truck is Not For Sale.)
And I'm a good driver. I've never had a moving violation-- well that one, but I went to court and sorted that officer out! -- just the odd parking ticket here and there, dotted down the years.
It is raining (again) Aviation (a major street we use all the time) is being repaved and there are orange cones all over the road -- it was a great day to get back behind the wheel! Challenges! God it feels good! Let freedom ring!
Monday, January 25, 2010
Some Assembly Required
I'm running this well ahead of Valentine's Day so you can get in a practice lick on it (so to speak.) The recipe calls for a "ganache" so I looked it up in my Larousse Fr.-Eng. dictionery. "Ganache" is zoological for an animal's jowl or in the familiar, "blockhead." A ganache to me has always been merely the flavorsome puddle underneath a pastry dessert. Perhaps the spread of it? Any road, the French are strange. Which epicurious.com and google confirmed: ganache translates into "fool" and is used thusly.
This is like an old-fashioned menswear suit -- three pices.
MILK CHOCOLATE MOUSSE WITH A PORT GANACHE AND WHIPPED CREME FRAICHE
The JOWLS (just joking!)
1 1/4 cups plus 1/4 cup more Ruby Port
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 stick sweet butter
4 oz. quality milk chocolate (Lindt) chopped
1 T sugar
Boil down the 1 1/4 cups of Port to 1/4 cup - about 9 minutes.
Meanwhile, simmer the cream and butter in a saucepan, remove from heat and add the chocolate, whisking until the mixture is smooth. Stir in 2 T of the port reduction.
Then go back to the reduction and add 1/2 cup straight port and 1 T sugar to it. Boil this until the syrup coats the spoon - 6 to 7 minutes. Set this whole mess aside.
MOUSSE
2 large eggs, separated
2 T water
10 T chilled whipping cream, divided
1 T sugar
6 oz. quality milk chocolate, chopped
Whisk together the yolks, 2 T water, 2 T cream and the sugar until you've got a custard - don't boil it! Remove from the heat and stir in the milk chocolate.
Beat the whites separately into peaks and fold gently into the chocolate mixture. Beat 8 T cream in (yet) another bowl and fold them gently into the chocolate. Refrigerate for a minimum of 6 hours and, hell, make it the day before and leave it in the refrigerator.
WHIPPED CREME FRAICHE
(Frankly, I wouldn't bother -- you've got enough calories here)
1/3 cup chilled heavy cream
1/3 cup chilled creme fraiche
Beat together and set aside.
Assembly: Sauce the dessert plate with ganache; add a careful scoop of mousse and top with the creme fraiche. Make yourself a martini and go lie down.
This is like an old-fashioned menswear suit -- three pices.
MILK CHOCOLATE MOUSSE WITH A PORT GANACHE AND WHIPPED CREME FRAICHE
The JOWLS (just joking!)
1 1/4 cups plus 1/4 cup more Ruby Port
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 stick sweet butter
4 oz. quality milk chocolate (Lindt) chopped
1 T sugar
Boil down the 1 1/4 cups of Port to 1/4 cup - about 9 minutes.
Meanwhile, simmer the cream and butter in a saucepan, remove from heat and add the chocolate, whisking until the mixture is smooth. Stir in 2 T of the port reduction.
Then go back to the reduction and add 1/2 cup straight port and 1 T sugar to it. Boil this until the syrup coats the spoon - 6 to 7 minutes. Set this whole mess aside.
MOUSSE
2 large eggs, separated
2 T water
10 T chilled whipping cream, divided
1 T sugar
6 oz. quality milk chocolate, chopped
Whisk together the yolks, 2 T water, 2 T cream and the sugar until you've got a custard - don't boil it! Remove from the heat and stir in the milk chocolate.
Beat the whites separately into peaks and fold gently into the chocolate mixture. Beat 8 T cream in (yet) another bowl and fold them gently into the chocolate. Refrigerate for a minimum of 6 hours and, hell, make it the day before and leave it in the refrigerator.
WHIPPED CREME FRAICHE
(Frankly, I wouldn't bother -- you've got enough calories here)
1/3 cup chilled heavy cream
1/3 cup chilled creme fraiche
Beat together and set aside.
Assembly: Sauce the dessert plate with ganache; add a careful scoop of mousse and top with the creme fraiche. Make yourself a martini and go lie down.
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