Italian American Cuisine

Don't think I've been neglecting my kitchen! I'm just slow to post. I returned to some favorite dishes from the my earlier years of marriage.


Chicken fingers! Breaded with crumbs and parmesan, with baked sweet potato and sauteed zucchini with dill.

Pesto chicken with sundried tomatoes, green beans, and rosemary garlic potatoes.

Refreshing blueberry smoothies!

I've eaten so much of this lately. Blended cream cheese, parmesan, sundried tomatoes and their oil make a sweet and savory spread. Served here on black pepper flax seed crackers.

Mmm, homemade semolina fettucini, extra thick, how Ben likes it.

Served with turkey meatballs, chunky marinara and parmesan.

Speaking of meatballs, this is turkey meatloaf, baked in a muffin tin. Instead of a burnt exterior, raw interior loaf, each serving is perfectly cooked and portioned. The medley of roasted vegetables includes carrot, eggplant, zucchini, red peppers, potatoes, and (don't forget) garlic.

A heaping pot of marinara to last all week.

Italian white bean salad. Minced garlic and carrot sizzle in olive oil before adding cannellini beans. Let simmer for an hour, add salt, pepper, and plenty of fresh parsley.

I tried a recipe for lemon ginger muffins. Despite calling for a 1/2 cup of fresh ginger, the flavor wasn't pronounced. In half the muffins I added small bits of crystallized ginger. That boosted the flavour and made the texture more interesting (they turned soft like gummies!), but still, this recipe was disappointing.

Finally, classic lasagne with a green salad. Not pictured, I also made sloppy joes this week.

Music Videos on YouTube

In this article, YouTube founder says he is negotiating to get every music video ever created on youtube. It's too good to be true. Does anyone else get the feeling this website is going to crash and burn?

Recipe Copyrights

I was always curious about this. Accidental Hedonist clearly defines recipe copyright rules:

I see that recipes and copyrights have been brought up again, so I thought I would give my basic spiel which I hope explains it all. I think I've covered this before, but I'm too lazy to look it up in the archives.

Lists of ingredients are not protected by copyright. Explanation of techniques are not restricted either, as a rule. Literary license in the form of prose is, however, guarded by copyright. Let me give an example.

Part I:

I like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, as they bring a bright smile to my face. They are especially good with a cold glass of milk.

Part II:

* 2 slices of white bread
* 3 Tablespoons peanut butter
* 2 Tablespoons strawberry Jelly

Part III:

With a knife, spread the peanut butter on one slice of bread. With the same knife, spread the jelly on the other side of bread. Press together the two slices of bread, with the peanut butter and jelly facing each other.

Here's the deal. Part I is under copyright. An entity cannot reproduce Part I (even as bad as it is) without attribution.

Part II is not able protected by copyright. Period. Underline three times.

Part III is where it gets a bit iffy. In the case of the above, Part III is most likely not sheltered by copyright. There's not much in the form of literary expression. Instead, it's essentially a formula that uses the list of ingredients. Such formulas are not covered by copyright.

However, if there was a fair amount of prose interspersed within the formula, then it can be protected by copyright. If Part III was dressed up with memories of making the sandwiches, and tied together with a personal anecdote or two then no one could use it without permission.

Chinese Dance: 1000 Hands

Another beautiful dance video courtesy of YouTube.

Power Up

I'm blishing on my juiced up laptop. Bruce and I got the same laptop the same year. He retired his this summer and sold me the parts at a super discount. Now I have a wireless card, double the memory, and working disk drive for the first time in 4 years (hey, that's as long as I've been married - today! Happy Anniversary, Ben). Now I can surf in the same room Ben plays video games. If only I could teach Molly to fetch me chocolate and refreshing beverages . . .

Ok Go music video

Brilliant idea.

Henna!

Rose's feet (1+ hours work)

My leg (about 20 minutes, it's hard to reach so I work slowly)

My hand (about 45 minutes). I really like this design. The brown stain it left was really strong on the fingers and upper hand, but really weak below the wrist. I wish my skin took the henna better.

Roman's Antics

Here's a video I put together about Roman, Andy's kitten. I recently got some editing software, which I'm very pleased with.

Disaster Muffins

I love carrot cake and cream cheese. I've been holding onto this recipe for months. For some unknown reason, instead of this:
















mine turned out like this:




ugh. Looks aside, they're heavy, sticky, and a little too sweet. I don't know what I did wrong! The only deviations from the recipe were omitting the walnuts and adding a tablespoon of flour (for high altitude). Additionally, the recipe claims to make 24 mini muffins, filling each cup 3/4 full with batter. I nearly filled the mini cups (hoping for a high crown, Ha!) and still had enough batter left for 6 regular large muffins. The cream cheese just oozed on top, instead of descending into the muffin. I blame the recipe. What a disappointment. Maybe I can mold them into some sort of giant bread pudding thing.

Why I love having work off on Fridays.

1. Fresh, hot lunches (blue cheese spinach salad and bowtie pasta with pesto, sundried tomatoes, and parmesan)

2. Clean counters.

3. Freshly vacuumed floors.

4. Music, pictures, videos and internet browsing.

5. Sewing (or other crafts).

6. Fresh clean clothes (although I hate doing laundry, I like having a full wardrobe).

7. Putting my shoes back in order after leaving them out all week for quick access, which I stumble on as I get out of bed.

Confession time

I watch So You Think You Can Dance. Every week. And if I miss a show, I try to catch up on YouTube. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it's great dancing and choreography on a prime time network TV show. Awesome. On the other hand, it's teeming with reality show obnoxiousness. If I could watch all the dances on YouTube, then I certainly would do that instead of enduring the applause, the drawn out eliminations, wonky camera work, and the judges blathering and self-congratulating.

I started watching the show on season one. There were only 4 really good dancers in it, and I predicted that by season two more dancers would realize they could have done well and audition. I was right, the dancers on this season are in-cre-di-ble.

It's nice that they show a wide variety of dance styles. Various ballroom (samba, paso doble, swing, waltz) are countered with contemporary (their term for lyrical dance), hip hop, and pop. I only wish they were a bit more distinct: actual ballet, actual fosse (none of this fake stuff), and lyrical by someone other than Mia Michaels or Brian Friedman (who at least changes his palatte more than Mia). But even so, this show goes beyond my expectations for an american idol rip-off.

Here are some of my favorite pieces so far:

(Bummer, there were a few more I wanted to link, but Dick Clark Productions has shut them down. Gotta get them while they're fresh. I think it's inane that the official site doesn't even show clips each week. )

Hip Hop with Ivan and Martha

Contemporary with Travis and Allison (with bonus Mia + Celine ;-)

"Jazz" (More modern in my opinion) with Nathalie and Benji (the "it" boy R.M. with the mormon fanbase - gets more votes than he's worth)

Group Jazz dance to Technologic

Samba with Blake and Ashley from Season One (My favorite dance so far: mix of great performance and perfect, crisp choreography.)

Group modern dance (updated link with higher quality video)

*new* Group swing dance

Tarts! The finished display.

A Month and Change

We're a week into shooting our summer movie. Here are some preview pics from the set. I don't want to say too much or show too much yet.


Matt and his steady-cam. $12 in parts and 50 hours labor.

Our starring lady. I'm fitting her dress we bought 2 sizes too big (but it was cheap!). (Look! I have bangs!).

A reference shot for make-up. In this lighting I can see that the bruises need a little more blue stippling. But when lit for shooting I think it looked ok.

Shooting a scene. Check out our awesome lighting.

Hopefully this film will be a culmination of everything we learned from Movie Saturday productions. I'm doing a variety of minor parts in this movie: Production designer (including set dressing, costumes, make-up, and props), minor actor, and Assistant Director.

Ow

I burned myself on my oven. But it's cool because it looks like a triforce piece from the Legend of Zelda. "Well, we know it's not the Triforce of Wisdom." --Trevor

June and July cooking

It's so hard for me to get in the kitchen during summer. The days are too long and hot. Luckily we had an unusual two week spell of clouds, so I made a few attempts in the kitchen. Enjoy!



Time to put my crepe griddle to work! It came with an assortment of crepe-making accessories.

The spinner, used to fan the batter over the entire griddle, is fun to use, but difficult. It spreads the batter so thin it cooks almost before you can complete the circle.

I prefer my crepes a little thicker anyway. The flipper is a nice wooden paddle.

Crepes au citron.



On another night we tried a new ingrediant: pasillo peppers. They're deep waxy green peppers with a bit of heat and a smokey flavor.

I used the peppers to make these vegetarian burritos.

Beef stroganoff. I was not pleased with this. Maybe the years of having stroganoff made with campbell's "cream of" has jaded my opinion of what the texture should be. This was made with sour cream. I should have made a roux to help smooth the cream and milk in the heat. It was kind of gritty and loose.

I had some leftover fresh fruit. Instead of smoothies (my typical way to use of fruit) I dried it in my food dehydrator. Then I put them in bran muffins. From left to right: mango, strawberry, and nectarine.

Avanza groceries! The best place to find Mexican ingrediants at cheap prices (and a whole isle of Virgin Mary candles!). These key limes were gorgeous: bright green, large, smooth healthy skin, and 30 for $1.00!

Large plump tomatillos were on sale too. I bought some not knowing what to do with them. After a quick consultation with Bittman I decided to make salsa verde.

Success!

Beef fajitas with grilled peppers (only $1 a pound, incredible!) and onions, avocados (50 cents each!) on freshly made flour tortillas. Seriously, they were warm when I bought them ($1 for a pack of 12).

I've been lusting for a mini-muffin tin for months now. I finally caved. These are mini key lime tarts. Just before serving at our film rehearsal I topped them and took more pictures, but those are on Brian's camera. I'll post them later. Anyway, these little beauties are all the same flavor, I just didn't remember to dye them green until I had already filled a few tins.

More mini muffins! These are blueberry with sugar crystals on top. They are the perfect popping size.

What is going on anyway?

Work: We're running a study, which means a ton of boring adminstrative tasks mixed with interviewing depressed people on the phone all day.

Dance: The recital is over (yea!) and I'm still waiting for the DVD. Hopefully I can have a copy by 7/1 so I can show my family when they visit. I've been curious in starting up modern dance again. This week Christina was auditioning a new modern teacher so anyone could take the class for free. I am no longer curious about modern. Partially because I didn't like how he ran class. The first hour was brutish "warm-up" = fast difficult exercises, including neck rolls, push-ups, and core work (sit-ups where you bring both your upper body and your legs into the air, so you're balancing on your bum, and you do various leg movements while supporting yourself with you abs). Ordinarily I would be up for this sort of thing, but it was too much too early in the class. The last half hour got more dancy and fun. However, I think it's too early for me to venture into another style. I took ballet for 10 years and then added modern dance for another 3 years. It took some time to adjust to the different techniques. Even though I've been back at ballet for 1 1/2 years now, it was too confusing to my body to turn in my legs, contract at the waist, etc. I'll stick to ballet for now.

Film: My friends are doing a movie this July. I was really excited until the script was chosen, which I don't like very much. I'm probably just going to do production design with Ben (dressing sets, costumes, make-up) though I may act in a minor female role if needed. Discussion on our movie can be read on the forum.

Home: We're in the early stages of looking into the possibility of owning home. There's no plan, we're just poking about. We're going to meet with a loan officer to see if it's really feasible for us to own yet. This is driven by a number of factors. 1) Although our current living space is nice, the complex is getting really trashy. Bad neighbors. 2) I want my own walls so I can blare music and play ddr loudly. 3) Owning is better than renting in general. 4) Perhaps we could cut down our commutes to work. 5) It feels like it's time to grow and mature a little bit. We signed a shorter lease this year to give us an open door. But seriously, we're staying pretty neutral on this issue. It may not be a good idea until next year. We're just looking into it.

Church: Still teaching the 5 year olds. In fact, I have to prepare two lessons for this weekend since we have to give Sharing Time in addition to our regular class. I like the kids, but I've been at this calling longer than any other. I'm weary of teaching and it would be nice to be taught instead. Oh well.

Crafts: I'm sorely in need of a new project. I have no ideas for sewing for myself and it's the wrong season for knitting. Maybe I'll make a buttload of baby shoes and ship them to Kristin.

Cat: Loveable as always.

Ben: Wonderful as always. The man scheduled me a massage appointment last week when I had a stressful day. How perfect is that?! He told me he likes his job (!) and is doing well at school. By the way, he is no longer taking formal classes. The MCSE certification requires that he schedule his own tests and pay for them in addition to tuition. His college has stopped offering some of the courses he needs anyway, so he's going to study from his own books on his day off and skip the tuition part. I think it's a good plan, now that the first semester gave him a jumpstart. Also he's learning the banjo.

Freetime: Keeping up with the Economist and watching South Park

So all is well. Just busy busy busy.

The rain this morning...

reminded me how long it's been since I last posted. Busy as always, but also trying to dance AND rest as much as possible since my week long break while sick, and Ben reformatted/reinstalled the OS on our computer, so I've put off using it. I had to reinstall some programs, and I'm posting this without Hello, my preferred method, because I'm sick of re-registering for it. Anyhoo.

What's been cooking in my kitchen? Not much, but I have a few pictures to share.















This is leftover roasted pork loin dressed with a chinese sauce on udon noodles with asparagus, snap peas, and garlic.















Pocupine meatballs (beef and rice meatballs in a chili-tomato sauce) and steamed broccoli.















This tasted a lot better than it looks. It's pesto pasta with parmesan and steamed sweet potato.















Pineapple + coconut milk = pina coladas















Blueberry Crumb Cake, recipe courtesy of Ms. Stewart here. I made some alterations to the recipe by adding lemon juice and zest and substituting plain yogurt for the sour cream.















These are really good chocolate cookies. They stayed moist and tasted fudgy, like brownies. I saw the recipe, originally from Cooking Light, on a blog called Baking Sheet.

See? Not many great dinners. Some ok baking though. I should have more time to think out next week's menu today, since my car is in the shop I'm stuck at home. But since it's raining, there's no where else I'd rather be.

Ballet Recital is ON

Yea! One night down and two to go.

I got hit with a yucky cold this week, which really dragged down my spirits for the dance recital. Nevertheless, I went to the spacing run throughs and dress rehearsals to get my girls in prime condition. They had their first show last night and another tonight and tomorrow afternoon. I'm helping with quick costume changes during the shows (though not Sunday's) and Christina has me come out with the teachers to be introduced and bow at the end of the show. It's really weird to be on a stage and not have anyone to search for in the audience. In fact, I haven't been on a stage in a long time! Maybe Christina (the dance program director) will wrangle me into dancing on one. She hinted at it earlier this year.

I've posted one of the dances I choreographed on Google Video. Please consider the following excuses while viewing:

• This was the dress rehearsal, so Christina makes some comments and there's no applause at the end.
• This was the first time the girls had to do the entire show full out without stopping.
  
• They've already been dancing for 1 1/2 hours, mostly grand and petit allegros.
• My dances are the last two in the show, so they are completely wiped out by this point.
• They didn't have a warm-up that day.
• In my haze of sickness, I neglected to turn off the auto-focus and adjust for low lighting, so the quality is poor.

This is probably the 3rd worst performance they've given of my dance, because of the above mentioned factors. They did much better last night, and I'm proud of their final performances. I'll get a professionally made DVD of the show later, and I'd be happy to show any family and friends what it really looked like. This is just a taste.

And now that I'm filled with yummy panang curry, I'm going to get ready for tonight's show. Ta Ta!

Recital is getting close

We're down to the last week of rehearsals for the ballet. I've been taking more classes (sometimes 3 a week) and helping with rehearsals Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. This school has amazing volunteers. The sets and costumes are so detailed and well designed. It's such a nice alternative to the typical scratchy spandex costumes ordered from catelogs and reused for years on end. The sets are designed and made by parents who work in carpentry and design. I should get a DVD of the show, but also I plan to video tape dress rehearsal and post clips online.

Brian premiered his film The Unwritten Rule, and it sparked interest in making films again. We've recorded commentary tracks for that film, some Movie Saturdays, and the Red King. We were watching the Red King for the first time in 5 years. We were so much skinnier back then! Surprisingly, the movie wasn't that bad. In fact, it was a lot funnier and campier than I remembered. It was sort of what you'd call good!

We in discussion for shooting a film this July. One project to the next. That's how I like it :-)

Blue = Clean

While getting some toilet necessities - lotion, cotton balls, midol - at Target, I noticed they were all sky blue. Then I got home. Whoa. All my toiletries are sky blue. Including my walls. Freaky.

Stew and Pasta

Ben raved about this beef stew all week. I started by browning the beef chunks after dredging in flour. Then I sauted onion and carrots with thyme and a bay leaf. Add mushrooms. After a few minutes deglaze with red wine, add cubed potatoes, and browned beef. Add water and let simmer for at least 1 1/2 hours.

I prefer this sort of meal in warm weather: spaghetti with sundried tomatoes, asparagus, onion, and goat cheese.

Eurovision

Last year I learned about Eurovision, a continental song contest with finalists representing each European country. Since the contest is not broadcast at all in America, I worried that I'm missing out on something great.

Now my fears have been confirmed: I am totally missing out on much awesomeness.

Courtesy of Go Fug Yourself:

Every year at about this time, all of Europe goes insane for the Eurovision song contest, cheering for each country's entry into what could be termed a one-night international American Idol marathon with more language barriers, loud and drunken reveling, culture clashes, crazy clothes, and camp value.

...Famous past winners: ABBA with "Waterloo," and Celine Dion, singing for Switzerland for some reason. Although the genius of the contest is better examplified by the Belgian act that came in second in 2003 by singing a song in an imaginary language. It's awesome. Just try and imagine Katharine McPhee getting anywhere by standing before Simon Cowell and crooning in tongues.

The reason for my rambling: I am devastated that nobody in the U.S., not even BBC America, televises any of Eurovision. Because that is why I missed the live display -- as opposed to the welcome yet not-quite-the-same blurry YouTube version -- from this year's Finnish winner, Lordi:

Lordi dresses itself -- primarily with the aid of reindeer fur -- as different monsters from different eras. Although presumably even the undead have an enduring sense of patriotic pride, as evidenced by the zombie whose face is rotting off, yet whose head is adorned with a kicky little Finland top hat, as if he is threatening here to break into a series of cabaret-style high kicks before he flosses his teeth with your intestines. And Mummy Of The Bride over there just seems so endearingly thrilled to be clutching that bouquet of spring life in his decaying arms. Fantastic.

(Rachel again)
I gotta sit down and watch that Youtube video. Click here for the original post, with pictures of other contestants and the winners with a fireworks-shooting axe.

And from the Eurovision website, here's some choice quotes describing the performances from the semi-finals:

Armenia is in the contest for the first time ... ‘Without Your Love’ is a high-energy dance track in which Andre is surrounded and eventually tied up by four dancers with black ribbons and tons of attitude. A great debut.

Slovenia is next. And Anžej Dežan, dressed in a white suit jacket that’s pure ‘Miami Vice’, starts to deliver a moving ballad. Within a minute, this has transformed into classic Eurodance and Anžej and his five dancers face the wind machine and strut their stuff, giving a really pumped-up performance.

Time for some punk rock. Polina Smolova from Belarus injects the show with some snarling attitude – in a song about mothers.

Next, it’s Poland with a stage show that looks like punk rock transported to the court of Louis XIV. As Ich Troje’s lead singer Michał Wiśniewski – complete with bright green hair – sings directly to his wife, sparks fly, at first metaphorically and then literally as Catherine Wheels shoot out spirals of flame. It’s all very dramatic and ends with Michał kneeling by his pregnant wife, his head against her stomach.

Dima of Russia sings about “flesh on my flesh”, and displays plenty of his own in a tight-fitting white vest. With his hair fashioned long at the back, in what can only be described as a ‘mullet’, he sings his infectious pop song, ‘Never Let You Go’ while ballerinas twirl around him and red rose petals are thrown onto the stage. Very romantic.

Finally, Iceland’s self-styled megastar Silvia Night brings us firmly back to the world of pop. This is kitsch with a capital ‘K’, with Silvia dancing round enormous candy canes and sliding down a giant stiletto. Even crazier than her country-mate Björk, Silvia sports a huge feathered headpiece and dances like a broken doll before stripping off to reveal a very daring costume. Utterly bonkers and highly entertaining. The crowd love it.

Why can't America be this cool?

Time shift

This is brilliant. Al Minns and Leon James dancing to hip hop. http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=593402085&n=2

(Don't get me wrong, I prefer the original music, of course. But this is a seamless blend of old and new dance/music. Not only the rhthym, but the choreography matches this piece of music perfectly. An amazing mash-up.)