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November 25, 2008
Spiced Cranberry Pear SauceWe had a work Thanksgiving potluck. On this plate you will see:bacon & asparagus quichemac n cheesewaldorf saladsweet potato & marshmallowbaklavamashed potatochicken biryanikisir (Turkish tabbouleh)liverpool stuffingcranberry chutneyturkeycranberry pear saucecrab diptortilla chipThere was much more food that isn't shown, but was consumed nevertheless. Here is my 'recipe' for the cranberry pear sauce. I have adjusted the recipe to serve 10-20 as opposed to 60, which was far more than I needed. It was very good, but I feel extremely unpurist by throwing in cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and cardamom. Next time I will try to isolate the cardamom to see what happens. Spiced Cranberry Pear Sauce1 bag cranberries2 bosc pears firm but ripe, sliced or chopped1/4 teaspoon cinnamon1/4 teaspoon nutmeg1/4 teaspoon clove1 cup mango/orange juice 1 inch nub of ginger, ground in mortar and pestle4 cardamom pods, ground in mortar and pestle1 cup sugarpinch of Korean sliced
pepper or any other hot pepper flakesBring mango/orange juice to boil. Lower heat to simmer. Stir in sugar. Then add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes. Chill in fridge.
November 25, 2008 |
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TrackBack (0)November 21, 2008
Everyman Leek, Potato and Roasted Garlic SoupWinter. Blah. Thoughts of moving to Miami come and go, though I still haven&;t been. To commemorate the beginning of the season, I read Philip Roth&;s "Everyman", which was a cheerful diatribe on death, illness and aching loneliness. I remember reading an interview with him shortly after the book was released saying something along the lines of although you know that your parents and grandparents will die and people prepare you for it no one tells you your friends will die when you get older and so you are unprepared. This stuck with me because somehow it seemed novel and true. It&;s a good book, even though you might feel like your heart muscle is getting pounded into little cutlets whenever you read it.&; But maybe you should read it if you are in the Yucatan sipping a mango shake, as opposed to an ill-lit subway smashed between a dozen people in dour, black coats. I do like the winter sometimes though. Like last night, through the third layer of clothing, a kernel of hope leaked through and I was giddy for winter. And so I went to Housing Works Book Store to leaf through old cookbooks and get cozy with humanity on their laptops. The shear number of American dishes that can incorporate a can of cream of mushroom soup is simply amazing! Which brings me to this next recipe, which is a soup, although not a mushroom one. It&;s nice and simple and makes an elegant appetizer to a second course of pancakes. Leek, Potato and Roasted Garlic Soup1 leek (slice lengthwise in half, then pull apart to rinse then chop keeping only white and pale green parts)1 large onion chopped2 large russet potatoes1 chicken or vegetable bouillon cube or 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock2 cups watersalt/pepper1-2 cloves garlic cut in halfolive oilPour 2 tablespoons olive oil into small sauce pan and turn on heat at the lowest setting possible. Put garlic in there and let roast while you prepare vegetable. (If/when garlic starts to brown take off heat and pour garlic and oil into soup pot.) In a soup pot, pour in two tablespoons oil and put on medium heat. Sauté leeks and onion until they are just soft, a few minutes. Add water. Bring to boil. Add potatoes and bouillon cube. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender. If garlic is still roasting on your stove, pour it into soup pot with its oil and stir. Salt and pepper to taste. Pour in a blender and puree in batches. Pour back into pot and heat through. Serve immediately.
November 21, 2008 |
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TrackBack (0)November 13, 2008
We Don't Need More Reasons To Like This GuySome more
trivia has been released on 44 and the list has been designed to heighten the national crush. Facts that make Obama sound like your average over-traveled Moby Dick obsessed left and right brained hipster with a thing for architecture.
November 13, 2008 |
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TrackBack (0)November 11, 2008
Eating in Brooklyn: Yun Nan Flavor SnackLevity and warmth for a cold winter night from a hole in the wall in Sunset Park. That is what I wanted. I had read about every imaginable description of Yun Nan Flavor Snack and spent all of Saturday craving its spicy soups, which I had not tried yet. I bullied Brian into not cooking and taking the D train with me.
The food comes from Yunnan province, one of the most ethnically
diverse regions in China and therefore hard to generalize. We had the pork dumplings swimming in a hot and sour broth - GAD. They were the perfect anti-freeze for the bones ($4.25). The rice noodle soup with a spicy meat sauce had Sichuan peppercorns and cilantro garnish and was also very good. Is there a better feeling than walking out of a restaurant with a burned tongue, tingling lips and MSG thirst? No, sir. For more Yunnan info, Francis Lam from Gourmet has a travel diary
here.
&; Yun Nan Flavor Snack774 49th St. 8th Ave&; ( D or M to Fort Hamilton Pkwy.)Brooklyn, NY 718-633-3090
November 11, 2008 |
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TrackBack (0)November 07, 2008
Al Capone in the NutcrackerRahm Emanuel, Obama&;s Chief of Staff who we&;ve all been hearing about as a fixer/bruiser/loudmouth/king of the motherfriggin cuss words was...an accomplished ballet dancer?! The Times UK
reports:
...as a talented ballet dancer, he was offered a scholarship with the world-renowned Joffrey Ballet company. He turned it down to study dance at New York’s Sarah Lawrence College and later took a masters degree in speech and communication at Northwestern University in 1985, before turning to politics.
“The guy had been a ballet dancer in Chicago, yet grown men live in mortal fear of what he might do to them,” a close friend, Bruce Reed, told Rolling Stone magazine in a recent interview.Quite what he learnt during his masters is unclear, but as Mr Emmanuel admits: "I swear a lot." As one profile succinctly put it: his favourite expletive can serve as subject, verb or adjective when he is facing down opponents.
November 07, 2008 |
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TrackBack (0)November 06, 2008
Cooking TherapyPolitico reported that McCain is going to unwind by flying back to his house in Sedona and cooking up some ribs:
“I got nine racks of ribs,” McCain told his closest aide and co-author, Mark Salter. “And I will be cooking them up.I googled his rib
recipe which was printed in March, alongside Obama's chili recipe which he has been making since college.McCain's RibsDry Rub:
1/3 part Garlic Powder
1/3 part Salt
1/3 part Pepper3 lemons
Turn the grill down to low temperature.
Mix together garlic powder, salt and pepper. Then cover both sides of the ribs with that.
Grill ribs, bone side down, for 90 percent of the time. It will take about an hour to an hour and a half.
Squeeze the lemon on it frequently, because that makes it taste a lot better.
November 06, 2008 |
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TrackBack (0)November 05, 2008
64%The Washington Monthly looks at the voter turnout:Under the circumstances, this was expected to be a very high turnout year for the presidential election. But
how high was it?
More than 130 million people turned out to vote Tuesday, the most ever to vote in a presidential election.
With ballots still being counted in some precincts into
Wednesday morning, an estimated 64 percent of the electorate turned
out, making 2008 the highest percentage turnout in generations.
In 2004, 122.3 million voted in what was then the highest recorded
turnout in the contest between President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry
(D-Mass.).
The key here is the percentage of the voting-age population. The
number of ballots cast is interesting, but as the population grows, it
stands to reason that the number will keep going up.
But as 64% turnout rate is a very big deal. According to
this Wiki entry,
turnout four years ago was about 56%, and that was considered a pretty
good year. More notably, turnout was 63% in the Kennedy-Nixon race in
1960, and that the high watermark of the modern political era.
If 64% is the final number, where would that put the 2008 race historically? According to a Wall Street Journal
item, we&;re talking about "the biggest voter turnout in the period since women got the vote in 1920."
November 05, 2008 |
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