On the snowy day we had at the end of last week, I pulled together a kitchen clean-up crockpot meal that turned out very nicely. I used sirloin steak tips, local red creamer potatoes, onions, green beans and zucchini and made a fairly healthy Red Curry Beef Stew. Look for the post at www.bklynforager.com later this week. It was great for a cold snowy night and heated up very easily to feed us throughout the weekend.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Catching Up
I haven't been quite as good at actually posting the things I'm accomplishing here, but I did up my numbers for the new recipes and new blog posts that have come up. Since I'd rather get caught up quickly than push things off even more for individual posts, I'm going to sum up some things of note.
Books
Back in January, my non-fiction book was Anthony Rapp's Without You. He tells the story of his involvement with Rent from tiny theater workshop through giant Broadway show along with his own personal story during that time which includes relationship struggles and his mother's battle with cancer.
Be forewarned: if books make you cry, like they do to me, you just may cry throughout most of the book. Anthony Rapp has a very easy conversational style of writing which makes a reader (at least this one) get very wrapped up in the emotional roller coaster. I felt extremely invested in his story and really had a hard time putting it down. I spent one afternoon on the couch curled up with the dog and it was entirely worth it.
I also picked up The Whole World Over by Julia Glass. It was a solid novel which dragged a bit too much for me in the beginning, but I was glad that I stuck through it to the end. The story follows a handful of people living in lower Manhattan in the year before 9/11, following life along and learning a lot of the standard lessons along the way. I had high hopes because two of the central characters are in close proximity to food - one a baker who follows a job out of town to be the personal chef for the governor of New Mexico and one a restaurant owner in New York City. There wasn't quite as much food as this reader would have liked, but alas, that was not the purpose. It was an interesting story weaving back and forth across a number of characters which I generally like. Not off the charts, but not a waste of my time either.
Movies
I think we only got one DVD watched in the time since I last posted. It was one of Austin's - Tropic Thunder. This was good for a number of reasons - it is very hard to get him to watch his DVDs and so usually they sit and wait for months at a time. Also, the movie wasn't terrible. I liked what they were trying to do in general. The sense of humor wasn't quite what I enjoy and there a number of gross scenes for the sake of being gross which I also don't appreciate, but I got it and didn't hate it.
Other
As a general wrap up, I have been working on my recipes, my blog posts and my fitness! I am four weeks through the nine week Couch-to-5K program which means I am doing more running than walking these days, although it's still on the light side. I should be on target to complete it in the next five weeks (or maybe a bit longer depending on some intervening events) which is exciting.
Thats really it for now, but I hope to get more done in coming days and will post more regularly as I do.
Be forewarned: if books make you cry, like they do to me, you just may cry throughout most of the book. Anthony Rapp has a very easy conversational style of writing which makes a reader (at least this one) get very wrapped up in the emotional roller coaster. I felt extremely invested in his story and really had a hard time putting it down. I spent one afternoon on the couch curled up with the dog and it was entirely worth it.
I also picked up The Whole World Over by Julia Glass. It was a solid novel which dragged a bit too much for me in the beginning, but I was glad that I stuck through it to the end. The story follows a handful of people living in lower Manhattan in the year before 9/11, following life along and learning a lot of the standard lessons along the way. I had high hopes because two of the central characters are in close proximity to food - one a baker who follows a job out of town to be the personal chef for the governor of New Mexico and one a restaurant owner in New York City. There wasn't quite as much food as this reader would have liked, but alas, that was not the purpose. It was an interesting story weaving back and forth across a number of characters which I generally like. Not off the charts, but not a waste of my time either.
Movies
I think we only got one DVD watched in the time since I last posted. It was one of Austin's - Tropic Thunder. This was good for a number of reasons - it is very hard to get him to watch his DVDs and so usually they sit and wait for months at a time. Also, the movie wasn't terrible. I liked what they were trying to do in general. The sense of humor wasn't quite what I enjoy and there a number of gross scenes for the sake of being gross which I also don't appreciate, but I got it and didn't hate it.
Other
As a general wrap up, I have been working on my recipes, my blog posts and my fitness! I am four weeks through the nine week Couch-to-5K program which means I am doing more running than walking these days, although it's still on the light side. I should be on target to complete it in the next five weeks (or maybe a bit longer depending on some intervening events) which is exciting.
Thats really it for now, but I hope to get more done in coming days and will post more regularly as I do.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
My gut reaction is that this was the worst Harry Potter movie so far. But it's not a bad film by any stretch of the imagination. Of course I had the usual problems of the gaping holes of material not included from the books. I also felt like this film was caught between Harry's adventure and an episode of Gossip Girl. A poor episode of Gossip Girl, but still - all snogs. I missed the magic and the intricate details. Solid B.
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
This slim novel tells the tale of two teenage boys sent from the city to a Chinese mountain village to be re-educated by peasants in the time of Chairman Mao. The boys embark on several adventures which lead them to the beautiful tailor's daughter known as the Little Seamstress and to a secret suitcase filled with Western novels.
Dai Sijie examines the dichotomous societies of this period in Chinese history, a village of workers who know nothing of books or music or learning but are revered by the government and the city boys, educated and interested but outcast for their father's deeds. Sijie looks at the love of knowledge and beauty and the insatiable thirst of a parched mind for more of everything.
The story was too short, beautifully simple and very thought-provoking. I haven't read a novel that inspired me to read more in a long time and this one certainly did.
Dai Sijie examines the dichotomous societies of this period in Chinese history, a village of workers who know nothing of books or music or learning but are revered by the government and the city boys, educated and interested but outcast for their father's deeds. Sijie looks at the love of knowledge and beauty and the insatiable thirst of a parched mind for more of everything.
The story was too short, beautifully simple and very thought-provoking. I haven't read a novel that inspired me to read more in a long time and this one certainly did.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
When life gives you lemons...and oranges...
I have been given the gift of more free time these days which makes achieving some of these tasks a whole lot easier (and of course some a lot harder). This week, I made my first solo attempt at jam - a Meyer lemon and Cara Cara orange marmalade for my canning project. It almost feels like cheating because this task fulfills another blog post, a new recipe, the first of 12 canning challenges, jams from scratch (this fueled the fire so much that I'll be making a Raspberry Lime jam soon which will more completely fulfill "jams" and of course more jams to come in the canning project), and now I've blogged about it and am putting the cash in my special fund. That's a whole lot of mileage out of one task, but it actually felt so great to set my mind to it and get it done. So I'm going to just appreciate that I was successful and will go on to try more canning recipes.
Of course, I never really liked marmalade, so the next challenge will be using it up, but I think it'll have a lot of good uses and I'll learn to like it!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Sharp Objects follows a reporter back to her hometown to investigate the disappearance of a young girl and the murder of another. These crimes stir up the small town as well as a tumultuous relationship between the reporter and her mother. The mystery is well-crafted with more twists and turns than you might expect, most in the final third of the book which makes it exciting, but also means that it takes awhile for the rather slim novel to develop and for the mystery to percolate. All in all, though, an interesting, if disturbing, read.
Friday, January 15, 2010
The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz
David Lebovitz has compiled dozens of witty and insightful tales about his life adjusting to life as an American in Paris. He reminds the reader often that his adjustment was eased along by his job as a patissier. His love of food clearly informs his life in Paris and each anecdote is punctuated with lovely recipes that will definitely be incorporated into my new recipe challenge. Some that I will be trying as soon as I can include the Bacon and Blue Cheese Bread, Oven-Roasted Figs, Chicken Mole, Chocolate-Coconut Marshmallows, Dulce de Leche Brownies and a Fromage Blanc Souffle, to name just a small selection. It was a wonderful read and very inspiring and imaginative and fun. I'll be dreaming and eating Paris for awhile after this book.
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