January 29, 2007
Visitors
Looking out our back door this afternoon, I can count seven peafowl - six are either hens or immature cocks, but then there's the Daddy.
These are not small birds, and they poo everywhere, which got me, I confess, to Googling for recipes (annoying pop-under).
Shuffle
A lazy man's entry. And much more 'pop' than I'd have thought representative of the overall collection. I like the juxtaposition of Rita Lee and the Beatles. And no Podcasts, although Blood Red is a download.
Alma de Roca - Omara Portuondo, Flor de Amor
Tra di Dio - Emma Shapplin, Carmine Meo
She Loves You - Rita Lee, Aqui, Ali, Em Qualquer Lugar
Hey Jude - The Beatles, 1
Blood Red - Roger McGuinn
No Myth - Michael Penn, March
Chega de Saudade - Tom Jobim - Bossa Nova - Trinta Anos Depois
Mary's In India - Dido, Life For Rent
The Beatitudes, Arvo Part, Theatre of Voices, De Profundis
Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, Paul Simon, Negotiations & Love Songs
January 23, 2007
January 22, 2007
Dear Francesca
It took me a while to get to it, but I'm really enjoying Dear Francesca, by Mary Contini. It's a literary cookbook, billed as "an Italian journey of recipes, recounted with love." And that sums it up pretty well. The recipes are interspersed with Mary Contini's reflections on the road her ancestors (and her husband's) have travelled on their way to modern-day Scotland, where they operate one of the UK's most interesting delicatessens, Valvona & Crolla, in Edinburgh - a pilgrimage stop whenever we're in town.
What I'm really enjoying about the book is the mixture of hyphenated Italian and Scottish - the fusion that is emigre cuisine. It's a hand-me-down of the melange of family traditions from mother to daughter; the kind of thing more families should practice. She will just as soon pass along her granny's kitchen tricks as tell you how to tweak a dish to make it Chinese-y. And she's not afraid to tell you to add Bisto if that's how she does it.
That said, it's definitely not a brand cookbook. There's much emphasis on what is fresh, seasonal and of the highest quality. She explains the authentic (e.g, use of Roman greens) but then tells you what you can substitute if you can't get them. She passes on tips from the professional kitchen (how to make great fish and chips, and how not to). It touches on most of the threads that inform my own home style (although I've never used Bisto). Given that our household is full of hyphenated Italian and Scottish folks who rejoice in using great ingredients to make this kind of food, I am really inspired to give this cookbook a good workout in the year ahead. Annotated, I could see this forming the basis of a hand-me-down cookbook to our own children.
January 12, 2007
New Entry
I cannot believe how long it's been since I posted here. Because this is not a dead blog... I just have not had time to update, or write, or hardly to read. I have not had much time for anything.
And here I am on a Friday evening with a few minutes to myself. And I might even suggest that we are starting to see some semblance of normalcy returning to our lives after the past three months (100 days) (honeymoon) of bedding in with this business.
Damn... I've never been so busy in my life. My day job is increasingly demanding (but I've never enjoyed it more), and the brewery chews up my weekends. And then there's the commute to London. Oh, and the kids!
I don't really have a lot to say, to be honest. I don't want to rehash what the last three months have been like. But I wanted to stick my head up above the parapet and say, "I'm here. Still."
Me and my twat (rhymes with "hat")
See.