You might think it would be pate or something, but as comforting as it is to eat chunks of baguette with a schmear of pate, it's a garlic soup instead. It originated in Provence and its name there is "aigo bouido" or "boiled garlic soup."
I love garlic for its taste and healing properties. I had a lovely cream of garlic soup at the now-defunct Kip's, El Segundo, and when I came across this recipe, I tagged it.
AIGO BOUIDO
1 large head of garlic, split into cloves which are then cut in thin slivers - about 3/4 cup of garlic
6 fresh sage leaves, 2 bay leaves, 2 large sprigs of thyme, tied together in cheesecloth tied with kitchen string. Doesn't matter how it looks, it gets thrown out anyhow.
3 cups water
3 cups chicken broth
3 large egg yo9lks
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Put the water and broth together in a suitable pot, add the spices in their little bag and garlic and bring to a boil. Let simmer for about 30 minutes
Remove the bouqet of spices and throw it away
In a separate bowl, mix the three egg yolks with the Parmesan, beating well. Add a bit of the soup and mix well. when the egg yolk mixture is thin enough, gently pour it into the simmering broth. Whisk well and take the pot off of the fire so you don't curdle the eggs.
Fill a bowl, add a dash of olive oil and eat!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Tidbits
A Horrible Person, A Boring Book But a Triple PR Play
"Finding Sarah, A Duchess's Journey To Find Herself" by Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York. Atria Books 313 relentlessly-self serving pages $25.99 and not worth a cent over a quarter.
She is a narcissist. She attributes this book to her despair after essentially selling access to Andrew for $40,000. And all of a sudden! she discovers she has life-long problems! Eekers.
Oprah hired her to do a docu-series on her "finding herself" using long-time Oprah guests -- Dr. Phil, Suze Orman and Martha Beck, all of whom Sarah consults in this book. That was a stroke of genius. On Oprah's part.
A Decorative (But Useless) Holiday Item
Trader Joe is now selling Cinnamon Brooms for $3.99 each. These are dried up pine branches that have been soaked in cinnamon oil and then tied into a broom shape. They're about 4 ft. long and utterly useless for sweeping.
A woman swooped down on the display as I was idly examining one and her enthusiasm -- "Oh, I love these! I put one in every room of my house!" - waving her arms around like a traffic cop. She scared me so badly that I bought one. Once home, I put it next to the litter box in the upstairs bathroom.
The label says, "Avoid contact of package and contents with furniture, fabrics, carpets, finished surfaces, plastics, acrylics and painted items as may cause damage and/or discoloration."
As an afterthought, it also says, "Avoid contact with eyes and skin."
"Finding Sarah, A Duchess's Journey To Find Herself" by Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York. Atria Books 313 relentlessly-self serving pages $25.99 and not worth a cent over a quarter.
She is a narcissist. She attributes this book to her despair after essentially selling access to Andrew for $40,000. And all of a sudden! she discovers she has life-long problems! Eekers.
Oprah hired her to do a docu-series on her "finding herself" using long-time Oprah guests -- Dr. Phil, Suze Orman and Martha Beck, all of whom Sarah consults in this book. That was a stroke of genius. On Oprah's part.
A Decorative (But Useless) Holiday Item
Trader Joe is now selling Cinnamon Brooms for $3.99 each. These are dried up pine branches that have been soaked in cinnamon oil and then tied into a broom shape. They're about 4 ft. long and utterly useless for sweeping.
A woman swooped down on the display as I was idly examining one and her enthusiasm -- "Oh, I love these! I put one in every room of my house!" - waving her arms around like a traffic cop. She scared me so badly that I bought one. Once home, I put it next to the litter box in the upstairs bathroom.
The label says, "Avoid contact of package and contents with furniture, fabrics, carpets, finished surfaces, plastics, acrylics and painted items as may cause damage and/or discoloration."
As an afterthought, it also says, "Avoid contact with eyes and skin."
Thursday, October 20, 2011
The Dizzying Gabors
There were so many of them! Mama Jolie and her daughters, Magda, Zsa Zsa and finally Eva. I'm old enough that I saw "Moulin Rouge," Zsa Zsa's only notable picture, in a theater in Kansas City, Mo. Certainly we were all around for the slapping the cop - El Segundo jail incident.
I had forgotten all about her until her husband Prinz von A began making the tabloids with some regularity. His latest project is to run for LA Mayor. Many may recall his gubanatorial campaign planks - legalize prostitution and marijuana use.
The library's bio section netted this treasure - "One Lifetime Is Not Enough" by Zsa Zsa and "assisted by edited by and put into proper English by Wendy Leigh."
The fandango of lies begins on page 13 when Zsa Zsa would have us believe that she proposed to a Turkish diplomat named Burhan Belge. He accepted and married her -- when she was 15 years old!
Uh, she was born in 1917 and the wedding license was dated in 1937 when she was actually 19 years old. The Gabors collectively have always lied about how old they are. "It's a Gabor thing, dahling, you wouldn't understand."
Probably not. Next at bat was Conrad Hilton, who fathered the only off-spring any of the Gabor sisters ever had. And naturally it was a girl - Francesca.
She married actor George Sanders when she was 32, a marriage that lasted five years, something of a record for her at that time. After George divorced Zsa Zsa he married Benita Hume until her death in 1967. Whereupon, he turned back to the Gabor stable (so to speak) and married Magda, Zsa Zsa's older sister! This union only lasted six weeks. Tired, alcoholic and sick, George committed suicide at 65. A case of Too Much Gabor-ing?
Now only Zsa Zsa is left. Magda died when she was 79; Eva at 76. Only Mama Jolie made it to 100. Magda and Mom are buried at Desert Memorial, Rancho Mirage, but Eva was planted in the Westwood cemetery among such notables as Marilyn Monroe, Truman Capote.
I had forgotten all about her until her husband Prinz von A began making the tabloids with some regularity. His latest project is to run for LA Mayor. Many may recall his gubanatorial campaign planks - legalize prostitution and marijuana use.
The library's bio section netted this treasure - "One Lifetime Is Not Enough" by Zsa Zsa and "assisted by edited by and put into proper English by Wendy Leigh."
The fandango of lies begins on page 13 when Zsa Zsa would have us believe that she proposed to a Turkish diplomat named Burhan Belge. He accepted and married her -- when she was 15 years old!
Uh, she was born in 1917 and the wedding license was dated in 1937 when she was actually 19 years old. The Gabors collectively have always lied about how old they are. "It's a Gabor thing, dahling, you wouldn't understand."
Probably not. Next at bat was Conrad Hilton, who fathered the only off-spring any of the Gabor sisters ever had. And naturally it was a girl - Francesca.
She married actor George Sanders when she was 32, a marriage that lasted five years, something of a record for her at that time. After George divorced Zsa Zsa he married Benita Hume until her death in 1967. Whereupon, he turned back to the Gabor stable (so to speak) and married Magda, Zsa Zsa's older sister! This union only lasted six weeks. Tired, alcoholic and sick, George committed suicide at 65. A case of Too Much Gabor-ing?
Now only Zsa Zsa is left. Magda died when she was 79; Eva at 76. Only Mama Jolie made it to 100. Magda and Mom are buried at Desert Memorial, Rancho Mirage, but Eva was planted in the Westwood cemetery among such notables as Marilyn Monroe, Truman Capote.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
The Grin and Bear It Dept.
We're gonna have to make our own sweet potato tater tots as I couldn't find a firm that manufactures them online.
SWEET POTATO TATER TOTS
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and grated
Add four minced green onions (I would consider this optional)
1 beaten egg
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
pepper to taste
Mix all of the above well, shape into tater tots and put on a baking sheet. Freeze them until you can bag them and store them in the freezer.
In my online travels, I found out a great deal about Tater Tots on the Ore-Ida site. The tater tot was invented in 1953 and put on the market in 1954. They were a staple in school cafeterias (We've always eaten badly, Ms. Obama) and they were sold at Sonic Drive-ins with or without chili and cheese on top.
Australians call them "potato gems" or "potato pom poms." Here in the U.S. 70 million pounds of them are sold on an annual basis. There are "regular" tater tots, onion, "crispy crowns" and "mini-tots" in the supermarket.
Not that Richie would welcome a purchase of any of them. His cousin Ruth Ellen e'd that whoever invented them, can have them. Detesting tater tots must be a genetic thing.
SWEET POTATO TATER TOTS
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and grated
Add four minced green onions (I would consider this optional)
1 beaten egg
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
pepper to taste
Mix all of the above well, shape into tater tots and put on a baking sheet. Freeze them until you can bag them and store them in the freezer.
In my online travels, I found out a great deal about Tater Tots on the Ore-Ida site. The tater tot was invented in 1953 and put on the market in 1954. They were a staple in school cafeterias (We've always eaten badly, Ms. Obama) and they were sold at Sonic Drive-ins with or without chili and cheese on top.
Australians call them "potato gems" or "potato pom poms." Here in the U.S. 70 million pounds of them are sold on an annual basis. There are "regular" tater tots, onion, "crispy crowns" and "mini-tots" in the supermarket.
Not that Richie would welcome a purchase of any of them. His cousin Ruth Ellen e'd that whoever invented them, can have them. Detesting tater tots must be a genetic thing.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Tater Tots
I haven't thought about a Tater Tot for more than 25 years simply because Richie doesn't like them and I won't fry anything in deep fat. One of the great inventions of the 20th century was French fries that you bake instead.
Club 705, Hermosa Beach, posts their menu online (club705.com) and this caught my eye: Sweet Potato Tots with Maple-Bacon Aioli. I assumed sweet potato tots were readily available at the supermarket freezer, so looked up a recipe for the dipping sauce. And ran straight into trouble. See if you can spot what freaked me out...
MAPLE BACON AIOLI
1 T bacon fat
1 T maple syrup
1/2 teas. minced garlicl
2 T mayonnaise
1 tea. lemon juice
1 teas. mustard (apparently your choice, no direction given)
Pepper to taste.
Mix and serve.
What turned me off: I am not about to put bacon fat in anything that is going directly into my mouth. We have bacon fat, but it's in an old soup can in the freezer. When the can is full, into the trash as garbage disposals don't like it either.
Instead, I would fry up a slice of bacon to crisp and then crumble it between paper towels and toss into the mix. Even though the bacon craze has come and gone. Denny's yanked their Bacon Sundae off the menu before I could scamper in and make faces at it.
Club 705, Hermosa Beach, posts their menu online (club705.com) and this caught my eye: Sweet Potato Tots with Maple-Bacon Aioli. I assumed sweet potato tots were readily available at the supermarket freezer, so looked up a recipe for the dipping sauce. And ran straight into trouble. See if you can spot what freaked me out...
MAPLE BACON AIOLI
1 T bacon fat
1 T maple syrup
1/2 teas. minced garlicl
2 T mayonnaise
1 tea. lemon juice
1 teas. mustard (apparently your choice, no direction given)
Pepper to taste.
Mix and serve.
What turned me off: I am not about to put bacon fat in anything that is going directly into my mouth. We have bacon fat, but it's in an old soup can in the freezer. When the can is full, into the trash as garbage disposals don't like it either.
Instead, I would fry up a slice of bacon to crisp and then crumble it between paper towels and toss into the mix. Even though the bacon craze has come and gone. Denny's yanked their Bacon Sundae off the menu before I could scamper in and make faces at it.
Monday, October 17, 2011
A Useful Book!
As opposed to yesterday's trio of ladies -- the waif, the manners cop and the cutest little trick in shoe leather. All well-meaning, no doubt, but this you can get your teeth into without fear of cavities.
"Stalling For Time, My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator" by Gary Noesner Random House 226 pages $26
Noesner retired from the FBI in 2003. He spent 30 years with the Bureau as an investigator, instructor and finally as the first chief of the Crisis Negotiation Unit, Critical Indicident Response Group. Today he is a senior VP with Control Risks, an international firm.
"Hostage negotiation is about managing yourself and the people around you," Noesner wrote. A hostage situation is dangerous because the person holding the hostages is totally unpredictable.
The negotiator and the SWAT teams cannot go off half-cocked. The negotiator has to suspend his own emotions to get the crazy person to talk, to tell him what is wanted while the negotiator works to make the nut job feel confident talking to him.
Now this kind of a read is right up my alley. I am totally into making a deal, coercing others to do my will and convincing others that what I happen to want is more beneficial than what they think they want. My truck license plate is "Delmakr" (Dealmaker shortened.)
Some things learned from Noesner's book:
Listen. Listen to the person, not the leader of the SWAT team who wants to charge in.
Is the person sputtering mindless gibberish? Why? Drunk? Crazy? Off their meds?
What is the person telling you that he wants? A helicopter out on the lawn to whisk him away? For that flight of fancy, the negotiatior would buy time (for the person to calm down a tad) by saying, "I don't have that kind of authority. I have to call my boss on that." This reference to having a boss might well resonate with the hostage taker who undoubtedly at one time or another has had a boss, too. You want the bad guy to gain confidence in your sincerity. Use a calm voice, not authoritarian tones.
Do they want the power and water turned back on? A sandwich? Demands vary greatly.
But: always, always get a concession from the bad guy before you give him anything. Never give away anything but that which is minor.
If you listen, really listen you can negotiate very nearly anything from a major purchase down to a later bedtime (or not) for your kid. Go for it! Listen up!
"Stalling For Time, My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator" by Gary Noesner Random House 226 pages $26
Noesner retired from the FBI in 2003. He spent 30 years with the Bureau as an investigator, instructor and finally as the first chief of the Crisis Negotiation Unit, Critical Indicident Response Group. Today he is a senior VP with Control Risks, an international firm.
"Hostage negotiation is about managing yourself and the people around you," Noesner wrote. A hostage situation is dangerous because the person holding the hostages is totally unpredictable.
The negotiator and the SWAT teams cannot go off half-cocked. The negotiator has to suspend his own emotions to get the crazy person to talk, to tell him what is wanted while the negotiator works to make the nut job feel confident talking to him.
Now this kind of a read is right up my alley. I am totally into making a deal, coercing others to do my will and convincing others that what I happen to want is more beneficial than what they think they want. My truck license plate is "Delmakr" (Dealmaker shortened.)
Some things learned from Noesner's book:
Listen. Listen to the person, not the leader of the SWAT team who wants to charge in.
Is the person sputtering mindless gibberish? Why? Drunk? Crazy? Off their meds?
What is the person telling you that he wants? A helicopter out on the lawn to whisk him away? For that flight of fancy, the negotiatior would buy time (for the person to calm down a tad) by saying, "I don't have that kind of authority. I have to call my boss on that." This reference to having a boss might well resonate with the hostage taker who undoubtedly at one time or another has had a boss, too. You want the bad guy to gain confidence in your sincerity. Use a calm voice, not authoritarian tones.
Do they want the power and water turned back on? A sandwich? Demands vary greatly.
But: always, always get a concession from the bad guy before you give him anything. Never give away anything but that which is minor.
If you listen, really listen you can negotiate very nearly anything from a major purchase down to a later bedtime (or not) for your kid. Go for it! Listen up!
Sunday, October 16, 2011
3 Women, 3 Books, 3 Outlooks
"Loose Diamonds - and Other Things I've Lost (and Found) Along the Way" by Amy Ephron William Morrow 166 pages $19.99
There are four Ephron sisters -- Nora, Delia, Amy and Hallie and all are writers to one degree or another. I think Nora is the funniest, but that's just one opinion.
Amy employs what I think of as the Professional Waif style. A Professional Waif would sit in her burning living room, writing a poem extolling the brave firemen with rippling muscles and nerves of steel with no thought of her personal safety, but only the passion to write it down. Yes, well...
"Loose Diamonds" is an account of childhood memories, various husbands (three to date) and former friends. Amusing enough, but no 38 carat diamond.
"Is It Just Me? (Or Is It Nuts Out There?)" by Whoopi Goldberg Hyperion 200 pages $22.99
I think Goldberg decided to out-do Bill Cosby who famously exhorts his brothers and sisters to straighten up and fly right. But instead of limiting herself to just one race, she's after ALL of us. You've been warned and you better take the test included to see if you know how to behave in an airport (don't sass the TSA; they've got The Power) on a plane, in a bar, cell phone abuse and on and on. Re that test, "Thank you for thinking of me, but 'No thanks.'"
"My Fair Lazy" by Jen Lancaster Penguin Books 371 pages $24.95
Lancaster idolizes Candace Bushnell. I think that pretty much says it all. This is a chick light (not lit) book with all of the cliches -- dumb blonde, innocent trouble-maker with a put-upon husband (who just loves her anyhow!) and several dozen BFFs. O the adventures they all have! Not.
There are four Ephron sisters -- Nora, Delia, Amy and Hallie and all are writers to one degree or another. I think Nora is the funniest, but that's just one opinion.
Amy employs what I think of as the Professional Waif style. A Professional Waif would sit in her burning living room, writing a poem extolling the brave firemen with rippling muscles and nerves of steel with no thought of her personal safety, but only the passion to write it down. Yes, well...
"Loose Diamonds" is an account of childhood memories, various husbands (three to date) and former friends. Amusing enough, but no 38 carat diamond.
"Is It Just Me? (Or Is It Nuts Out There?)" by Whoopi Goldberg Hyperion 200 pages $22.99
I think Goldberg decided to out-do Bill Cosby who famously exhorts his brothers and sisters to straighten up and fly right. But instead of limiting herself to just one race, she's after ALL of us. You've been warned and you better take the test included to see if you know how to behave in an airport (don't sass the TSA; they've got The Power) on a plane, in a bar, cell phone abuse and on and on. Re that test, "Thank you for thinking of me, but 'No thanks.'"
"My Fair Lazy" by Jen Lancaster Penguin Books 371 pages $24.95
Lancaster idolizes Candace Bushnell. I think that pretty much says it all. This is a chick light (not lit) book with all of the cliches -- dumb blonde, innocent trouble-maker with a put-upon husband (who just loves her anyhow!) and several dozen BFFs. O the adventures they all have! Not.
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