c mom cook
dominatrix's guide to life
stop watching me, cat!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
oddly enough
Oddly enough, someone asked me this afternoon where this blog name came from and it took me the rest of the day of intermittent brain-wracking to actually remember.
Eric's Trip, Love Tara, Frame, 1993.
(Frame, at 4:30)
"it's your obsession, not mine
i'm not obsessed with the darker mind..."
Also Behind the Garage, Stove, Happens All the Time.
Eric's Trip, Love Tara, Frame, 1993.
(Frame, at 4:30)
"it's your obsession, not mine
i'm not obsessed with the darker mind..."
Also Behind the Garage, Stove, Happens All the Time.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Leek, Sweet Potato, & Navy Bean Puree Soup
Evan and I walked up to the Inwood Farmers' Market a few weeks back and came home with a pound of the prettiest little dried navy beans tucked away in our market bag. They sat in the back of the cupboard for awhile, but then last Friday I decided to make up a batch of navy bean dip to serve with pita chips during the Olympics' opening ceremony that night.
I rinsed the beans, covered them with water, threw in some salt, a couple springs of rosemary, and a few crushed garlic cloves, and simmered them for a couple hours. Then I drained the beans (but saved the cooking water in the fridge), ground them up in my trusty little mini-Cuisineart with some olive oil, reserved bean water, black pepper, lemon juice, scraped it into a big orange bowl, and drizzled the top with olive oil, sea salt, and smoked paprika.
This was only okay.
It occurred to me the next day that what this huge bowl of leftover bean dip really wanted to be was a pot of soup, so a couple days ago I came home from work and came up with this:
Leek, Sweet Potato, & Navy Bean Puree Soup:
3 leeks, white & pale green parts only
1 medium sweet potato
5 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 cup white wine
vegetable broth
leftover navy bean dip
leftover bean water from cooking the beans
Slice the leeks lengthwise and then in thin slices crosswise, and rinse thoroughly in a colander. Saute, with chopped garlic cloves & pepper flakes, in butter & olive oil over medium-low heat till tender. Turn up heat and add wine, let cook down. Add the leftover cooking water, several more cups water, and a vegetable bullion cube. Turn down heat, bring to a simmer. Wash sweet potato and dice into small cubes (don't bother peeling it), and throw that in the pot. Cook for 20 minutes or so, and serve with the rest of the white wine and with Evan's amazingly delicious fried rice, as taken from Mark Bittman.
We've got some leftover soup, and friend Andy is coming over for dinner this evening, so Evan made up a batch of bread dough yesterday and will bake this afternoon (Classic French Bread from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day -- thank you, Jessica & Andrew!). Fresh baked bread and this soup -- it's just barely seven o'clock in the morning and I'm already looking forward to dinner!
I rinsed the beans, covered them with water, threw in some salt, a couple springs of rosemary, and a few crushed garlic cloves, and simmered them for a couple hours. Then I drained the beans (but saved the cooking water in the fridge), ground them up in my trusty little mini-Cuisineart with some olive oil, reserved bean water, black pepper, lemon juice, scraped it into a big orange bowl, and drizzled the top with olive oil, sea salt, and smoked paprika.
This was only okay.
It occurred to me the next day that what this huge bowl of leftover bean dip really wanted to be was a pot of soup, so a couple days ago I came home from work and came up with this:
Leek, Sweet Potato, & Navy Bean Puree Soup:
3 leeks, white & pale green parts only
1 medium sweet potato
5 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 cup white wine
vegetable broth
leftover navy bean dip
leftover bean water from cooking the beans
Slice the leeks lengthwise and then in thin slices crosswise, and rinse thoroughly in a colander. Saute, with chopped garlic cloves & pepper flakes, in butter & olive oil over medium-low heat till tender. Turn up heat and add wine, let cook down. Add the leftover cooking water, several more cups water, and a vegetable bullion cube. Turn down heat, bring to a simmer. Wash sweet potato and dice into small cubes (don't bother peeling it), and throw that in the pot. Cook for 20 minutes or so, and serve with the rest of the white wine and with Evan's amazingly delicious fried rice, as taken from Mark Bittman.
We've got some leftover soup, and friend Andy is coming over for dinner this evening, so Evan made up a batch of bread dough yesterday and will bake this afternoon (Classic French Bread from Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day -- thank you, Jessica & Andrew!). Fresh baked bread and this soup -- it's just barely seven o'clock in the morning and I'm already looking forward to dinner!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Olympic watch
I've found myself excited about the Olympics this winter, probably for the first time since high school. My parents and I loved watching the figure skating competitions, and once every four years I got a free pass on staying up way past my bedtime for these events. We loved Debi Thomas, and we loved to hate Katarina Witt, and it broke our hearts a little when working-her-way-through-medical-school Debi lost to East Germany's little princess.
I've been half-watching, half-knitting, half wondering what the hell the big deal is, half unable to turn off the television. The pairs finished last night, the men began tonight, and the women and the ice dancers are still to come. In between, of course, there's luge and moguls and alpine skiing and nordic skiing and snowboarding and speed skating (adorable little JR Celski...) and curling (I still have never seen curling!) and all the rest.
And here, for my dad, who rhapsodized for years about Torvill & Dean's Bolero, and who I'm pretty sure came closer to tears than he'd care to admit when Debi Thomas lost the gold:
I've been half-watching, half-knitting, half wondering what the hell the big deal is, half unable to turn off the television. The pairs finished last night, the men began tonight, and the women and the ice dancers are still to come. In between, of course, there's luge and moguls and alpine skiing and nordic skiing and snowboarding and speed skating (adorable little JR Celski...) and curling (I still have never seen curling!) and all the rest.
And here, for my dad, who rhapsodized for years about Torvill & Dean's Bolero, and who I'm pretty sure came closer to tears than he'd care to admit when Debi Thomas lost the gold:
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
quote of the day
"The difference, of course, between Joe Biden's folksiness and Sarah Palin's is that sometimes Joe Biden knows what he's talking about."
(Joan Walsh)
(Joan Walsh)
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
avatar & me
Went to see Avatar finally, Monday night, with trepidation. Not because I thought I wouldn't like it (though I did find its colonialist/epic-hero story both somewhat ridiculous and offensive), and not because it wasn't anything approximating original (see Disney's Pocahontas, McCaffery's Pern series, but especially LeGuin's The Word for World is Forest), and not because it wasn't beautiful and impressive and violent and moving and lovely, because it was all those things.
Mostly I was worried I would get a headache. A really bad headache. And nausea. And disorientation. And I did. It's the eye thing. I don't normally see in 3D, you see, and I guess those glasses can't make my eyes work right, either. Oh, I could tell when something was supposed to be floating out from the screen, and I could almost see it, but mostly those things just looked blurry. And about half way through the movie the splitting, shooting headache kicked in, and a little while later the nausea. I stuck it out (it was just compelling enough not to want to walk out of!), and poor Evan got me home afterward, made me peppermint tea, and put me to bed.
So I've learned my lesson, and I hope that though inevitably Avatar's success will lead to a 3D-ification of the film industry there will be hold-out 2D movies for us defectives to enjoy
.
Mostly I was worried I would get a headache. A really bad headache. And nausea. And disorientation. And I did. It's the eye thing. I don't normally see in 3D, you see, and I guess those glasses can't make my eyes work right, either. Oh, I could tell when something was supposed to be floating out from the screen, and I could almost see it, but mostly those things just looked blurry. And about half way through the movie the splitting, shooting headache kicked in, and a little while later the nausea. I stuck it out (it was just compelling enough not to want to walk out of!), and poor Evan got me home afterward, made me peppermint tea, and put me to bed.
So I've learned my lesson, and I hope that though inevitably Avatar's success will lead to a 3D-ification of the film industry there will be hold-out 2D movies for us defectives to enjoy
.
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