Reviews

Here are some of our current favorites:


Timeline American History game:  It's not exactly fair of us to play this game of sorting historical dates in order with the kids, given that they haven't really had much American history and only lived 11 years.  Actually, they do quite well (especially having played once, they remember the dates better than we do) and we have fun playing.


Rock Me Archimedes game:  This game is like Jenga with marbles; steady hands are needed.  And strategy like checkers or chess to block your opponent.  Fun!


kazoo magazine:  A new magazine for girls that isn't "girly."  We all like it.


"Speechless":  The new ABC show starring Minnie Driver about a family getting along, including their son with cerebral palsy, played by an actor with CP!  It's witty, humorous, insightful.  Just don't call it inspirational.


"Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell":  Mama and I are enjoying this BBC miniseries based on the award-winning novel about an alternate history of Regency England involving practical magicians.


"Crimson Fields":  A BBC WWI centenary show, following nurses in a Red Cross hospital in France; only 6 episodes but delightful.


"Home Fires":  This is a BBC WWII who, following women of the Women's Institute during the war, based on the book Jambusters.  More episodes than "Crimson Fields," but not quite as good, I think.


Roasted Carrots:  I made these the way I make sweet potatoes or butternut squash, meaning 1/4 cup brown sugar, some olive oil, and some salt, baked at 425F for 30+ minutes.


Chicken and Peas pasta:   A mozzarella cheese sauce (2 T butter, 2 T flour, 1 cup milk, 2 cups mozz) with cooked chicken and green peas over rotini or penne.


Meatballs:  I use my Wildtree meatloaf mix and roll it into small balls, baking at 375F for 15-30 minutes, depending on size.

Improvement

Sis had no fever today!

She's still quite tired and only just began to regain her appetite.  But she did rally in order to bake biscuits all by herself this morning and then some cookies this evening.  See, she discovered the "Kids' Baking Championship" and watched it through this weekend.  Apparently, they made Oatmeal Lace Cookies and so she wanted to try her hand at it; I found a recipe on Martha Stewart, knowing her recipes to be fairly reliable.  Oh, they're so good.  they aren't as pretty as the ones on the website, but we'll eat them all so quickly that it won't matter!  I'm not sure Mama and Bud will get any by the time they get back Monday night!

They are having quite the time on the Jersey shore--they've played putt-putt at five different mini-golf courses and eaten seafood all over.  Bud even had ice cream for breakfast!  Today they climbed a 217-step lighthouse.   Tomorrow is the big kung fu competition.  I'll keep tabs on it via text.  We wish Bud well and hope he enjoys himself and his teammates.

Tomorrow, Sis and I will continue much as we did today.  We've watched a lot of television, in addition to the kids' baking show--"Flash," "Arrow," "Cupcake Wars," plus Ant Man and The Princess Bride.  Tonight, I let Sis channel surf, which was a novel experience for her--we almost always watch Netflix or Amazon--and she enjoyed it.

She chose "American Ninja Warrior Las Vegas!!!"  She loved the parkour/rock-climbing-inspired tests of strength and agility.  And seeing the first woman to conquer the "spider walk" (the course is made for taller male bodies, closer to 5'10" and so women haven't ever passed that test.)  In fact, we're taping six more hours of the competition overnight.  She always was "danger baby"--and she is taking rock climbing camp this summer.

While I was watching all of the above, I did some tangling.

This is the design for a square on a friend's baby quilt.

Tangle play.

I made this for Sis.  I'm rather proud of the bunny.

Sis is asleep now and I'm watching Julian Fellowes's new "Doctor Thorne" on Amazon, based on Trollope's novel (he was one of my paternal grandmother's favorite authors.)  Tomorrow, I'm sure we'll do much of the same.  I've got some dough rising for Sourdough No-Knead Bread.  And there's more "Flash" and "Arrow."  And who knows what else the day will hold.


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Oatmeal Lace Cookies

• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
• 3 cups uncooked rolled oats (do not use instant)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
2. In a large saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Let cool a bit and add all remaining ingredients except the eggs. Stir well to combine, then add the eggs. Mix thoroughly. 
3. Place 1 1/2 tablespoons of batter at a time on the parchment, leaving at least 3 inches between cookies. Flatten batter into a circle with the back of a spoon. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, or until just golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

   
   

   
   

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   Sourdough No-Knead Bread

   • 3 ½ cups/425 grams bread flour
   • 1 teaspoon/6 grams kosher salt
   • ¾ cup/180 grams sourdough starter, “fed”
   • 2 tablespoons/9 grams sesame seeds

   • 
     

   1. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt.
   2. In a small mixing bowl, stir together 300 grams (about 1 1/4 cups) lukewarm tap water with the sourdough starter, then pour the mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a tea towel and leave it to rise overnight, about 10 to 24 hours.
   3. The next day, dust a clean kitchen surface with flour. Scoop out the dough and place it on the surface, then dust with more flour. Gently fold the edges of the dough from the outside in, to form a round loaf. Dust a clean towel with yet more flour and place the dough on it, the seam side down, then cover and allow to double in size, about 2 hours.
   4. Meanwhile, heat oven to between 450 and 550 degrees. Place a covered enamel Dutch oven or heavy pot with a lid into the oven and allow it to heat for 30 minutes or so. Remove the pot from the oven, take off its top, and carefully invert the risen dough into it, so that the seam side is now facing up. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds, then put the top back on the pot and return it to the oven.
   5. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, then take the top off the pot and allow it to continue to cook until it is brown and crusty all over, an additional 20 minutes or so. Put the loaf on a rack to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Not Quite Midsomer

The weather today is only about 62F, with some watery sunshine.  Definitely more spring than the unofficial start of summer with Memorial Day this weekend.

Stoke Poges

Turville

And I continue my recovery at home, watching a lot of television.  My go-to show right now (since I watched all of season 3 of "Vikings") is "Midsomer Murders," an hour-long British murder mystery series which started in 1997 and is still running!  I think I'm on series 8 right now (you know, the BBC series have fewer episodes per season than in the US--10-13 or so each year if you're very lucky--just ask the "Sherlock" fans.)  It's gentle and well-done, with gorgeous scenery; each narrative is solved in a single show.  Lots of thatched cottages, red brick buildings, half-timbered buildings, huge country houses, old pubs, stone churches with lychgates, and English gardens filling the dozens of towns (like Midsomer Worthy, Midsomer Were, Midsomer whatever!) in fictional Midsomer county (a county with a very high murder rate!)  It's filmed around Wallingford, Oxfordshire and many other places.  There are a ton of regional accents, which I never can identify.  My favorite part is the numerous depictions of British daily life--well, a kind of insular, white, middle class Britain that probably hasn't existed in decades, if ever--I'm not sure there has ever been a person of color in the show yet, much less an immigrant (well, unless from Ireland!)  So it's definitely nostalgic and idyllic, with its numerous town fairs and festivals, horse races, regattas, bell ringing competitions, flower shows, etc., even if there is a murder thrown in to muddle things.  I recommend it if you liked "Murder, She Wrote" . . .  or England, and if "Broadchurch," "The Fall," or "Prime Suspect" are a little too dark for you.

I realized I watch a lot of British shows and was glad to hear that many of them--"Call the Midwife," The Fall," "Broadchurch," "Grantchester," "Vikings," "Mr. Selfridge," and "Doctor Who"--had been renewed.  And "Downton Abbey" will end after this series.

Beaconsfield

Aldbury Pond

Amersham

I think you could chalk up my Anglophilic wanderlust to these shows (or is it vice versa?), even.  We're still planning our vacation for next June, though now we've dropped Scotland (we think the kids need to be older for Scotland) and are focusing on "just" England again.  Since Bud is so into Camelot, maybe we'll do Glastonbury.  And I've always wanted to see Canterbury.  And we'd all do London again.  The Lainston in Winchester is a must-return, too, when we see Lambeth and Mrs. Lambeth. Which means we're all over the map!  No doubt it will change, too.
Especially if I seek out some of the filming locations of "Midsomer Murders!"

Kidbits etc.

Today was the first day of Fairy House season 2015!  The kids were up and at 'em by 8:30 this morning.  What is it with not sleeping in during vacation??  Anyway, it's the second or third day in a row that they've spent significant time outside--swinging, running across the rock wall, playing with a homemade bow and arrow (Sis), swordfighting, biking, and now building fairy houses.  Gommie was outside, too, but didn't build one.  Pretty soon--once the ground temp stays at 50F, which isn't quite yet--Sis will plant some bulbs that my friend Miss D, also our ASL teacher, gave me as a gift for my recovery.

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Another gardening thing:  I learned a new flower.  This is a Glory of the Snow, according to my FB friends.  Ours have appeared randomly in a few parts of the yard, not planted or planned by us at all.  Very pretty.

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A big THANK YOU to Granny Q who sent a lovely Edible Arrangement to the house on Friday.  That was so sweet of you.  And we really enjoyed it--ALL of us, as you can see in the picture of Albus eating the ribbon--it was gone by the end of the day!

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Gommie and I watched "Wolf Hall" episode 2 today, enjoying the characterizations and especially the lovely period details.  Of course, we know how it all progresses (having seen "The Tudors," A Man For All Seasons, Anne of a Thousand Days, etc.), but I'm absolutely caught up in it all.  Really fantastic television.

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Which reminds me that a year ago, we were in England having the trip of a lifetime.  I think of that trip pretty much everyday, in some way or another.  Thank you, Lambeth and Mrs. Lambeth, for hosting us to the most wonderful of visits.  I'm trying heartily not to be too down that we won't be returning this December, instead recalling all the great times we had.

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Today was rather an "eh" day.  Achy, tired, tight.  Not terrible just not great, kind of like last Wednesday (but not quite as much.)  So, if I have a mediocre day every five days or so, I'd say I'm doing pretty well.

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This morning, Miss D, my friend and ASL teacher came for a visit.  Not a lesson, just a chat.  We had a great time talking about our kids, contact lenses, Zentangling, our visit to the British shoppe yesterday, baking, even teaching Gommie how to sign "good morning" (which she kept doing with more of those f**k you gestures, accidentally, making us all laugh.)  She asked me if I had ever talked with a deaf person before her and I mentioned the deaf camp counselor I knew as a teenager 30 years ago.  She was shocked then at my skills when she met me last year and said my signing was amazing, essentially for someone who hadn't signed much at all.  Wow.  That felt SO wonderful.  Sometimes I feel so bumbling--trip up my fingerspelling, confuse signs with one another, can't always follow what she says--but, in total, I'm actually doing really well.  I can't say how happy that makes me.  And how happy I am to have made a new friend.

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As you know, Sis and I like to watch "Switched at Birth" together, the story of the two teenage girls, one who is deaf, who are switched and whose families come together when they discover it 15 or so years later.  We watch it for the ASL (and Marlee Matlin!), though there are definitely bits that are too old for her.  With Gommie, we also started watching "Little House on the Prairie," beginning with the two-hour pilot movie.  It's been so long since I've watched that show . . . and in many ways, it's so dated--the pacing is very slow, the drama more low key than dramas these days, even some of the 1970s hair peeking through.  But I love the history, period details, and wholesome moral tales; and I'm much more interested in what Ma is up to in the show than I ever was before.  Sis, who has read all the books (except Farmer Boy--me neither!) countless times, is enjoying it, too, even if it's not exactly like the books.

And now I've found a show to watch with Bud:  BBC's "Merlin," which I'd watched a few years back.  It's definitely a family tale, with sympathetic teenage Merlin (or maybe early 20s??) finding his path, a monster/crisis of the week, and all those wonderful faux fantasy medieval trappings.  Bud seems to really enjoy it and I like watching it with him.  Plus, he likes identifying all those British actors who were also in "Doctor Who!"

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The basement boys aka NYCats are becoming more bold.  Mojito has been "knocking" to be let out of the basement in the late afternoon almost everyday for a few months.  He even slept on the couch with Mama for a couple of hours yesterday!  But now Mr. Big Tabby is also coming up, ostensibly to eat the upstairs cat food, but also to poke around.  It's very heartening to see the boys come up.  (And since we always quietly lock the Connecticats up, it's a stress-free visit.)  The time-share is starting to work out.

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Gommie leaves on Friday and the sad countdown has already begun, but she has some plans for the week to distract them.  We are so very grateful to her for her help and support these last two weeks.  While we could keep her here indefinitely, I'm gaining strength everyday, can be left alone without any trouble, and can do minor house things with the kids' help (like getting them out the door in the morning.)  It means the world that she's been here, though.

Pies in the Sky

1. Apple
2. Cherry
3. Blueberry
4. Lemon meringue
5. Fresh strawberry
6. Chocolate chess
7. Buttermilk
8. Chicken pot
9. Shepherd's

Nine kinds of pie.  We named them as we sampled slices of the first three while watching "Harold and the Purple Crayon," who mentions his nine favorite kinds of pie.  We even had a tenth--fisherman's pie, Bud's choice.  

We were watching "old" television.  No, not Brady Bunch (Rest in Peace, "Alice"), Addams Family, Gilligan's Island, even Facts of Life or Little House on the Prairie.  Not my childhood television, but theirs.  We reminisced over episodes of Thomas the Tank Engine, Fireman Sam, Signing Times, Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies, and especially Elmo, the Wild Wild West episode.  Which leaves Miss Spider, Little Bear, Caillou (Mama hates this show), Imagination Movers, and many others for later.  They don't remember most of them but delighted in watching.  For mama and I, it felt so long ago.  What will we remember in another half dozen years of these days?  

Regardless, I hope there's pie.

Slippery Slope

I can't be righteous anymore:  we now have a television in our living room, after a several-year hiatus.  It came about rather quickly; we realized that the four of us no longer comfortably fit on our bed to watch movies and "Doctor Who."  And, even though we probably only watch about 3 hours of screen time a week, we want to enjoy it.  Also, the kids have been hankering for a game console, mainly Minecraft on the big screen.

The game console will have to wait for Christmas, or at least birthdays, but we got the tv today.  Not huge, though big for us (46".)  Call it an early Mothers' Day present.  We set it up on an existing table and plugged it right into a Blu-Ray . . . and we watched Frozen with Gommie while eating pizza in the living room to christen it.

See, slippery slope.

But we loved it!   Gommie had never seen it and thought it was beautiful.  The kids liked being able to eat in the living room, which is generally taboo.

But now we can watch the Macy's Day Parade while prepping Thanksgiving dinner, the ball drop on New Year's Eve with extra space for dancing around, and the Super Bowl with lots of messy snacks.  Shall we bet on whether our hours-per-week goes up?

Slip slidin' away.

No Fat Ladies

In excitement over our upcoming trip to England, we've been watching some British tv, like "Rosemary and Thyme," "The Catherine Tate Show," "Michael Wood's Story of England," and of course "Doctor Who."

And our first favorite, "Two Fat Ladies."  We love their crazy motorcycle, blunt talk, literary references, breaking out into song, on-location trips, and, of course, their food.  So entertaining, so fascinating, so funny.  We haven't ever cooked any of it--I've read that their recipes don't often work--it's more like how I like to read cookbooks rather than repeat it myself.  And I did read Clarissa Dickson Wright's book on the history of the food of England--witty, erudite, obscure. fun.

And then last week, Clarissa died.

(Jennifer Patterson had died years ago)

And so we're watching our way through the series again, in their honor (I got the dvd set for Christmas) and for our trip.  When we get to London, we'll raise a fork in their memory.

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Raspberry and Strawberry Shortcake

12 ounces fresh raspberries or frozen raspberries
7 ounces self raising flour
1 ounce ground almonds
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
4 tablespoons/2 ounces butter
3 ounces caster (superfine) sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/4 pint (1/2 cup) milk
2 tablespoons raspberry jam
1-ounce icing (confectioners') sugar
1/4 pint (1/2 cup) double cream
DIRECTIONS

Thaw the frozen raspberries, if using.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Sift the flour, almonds, salt and cinnamon into a bowl and rub in the butter, mix in the sugar. Add the beaten egg and milk to make a scone-like dough. Divide the dough in 2 and gently shape each half to fit into greased 8-inch sandwich tins. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. When cold spread one of the layers with raspberry jam, then generously with the double cream and raspberries. Sprinkle raspberries with icing sugar, cover with the second layer and top with more cream. Decorate with a few raspberries. Best eaten when fresh.

© Recipe courtesy Jennifer Paterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright

SPOILERS!

Okay, not really any details here, but I am going to talk a bit about the 50th anniversary "Doctor Who" episode, "Day of the Doctor."

As promised, we gathered together with snacks in time for the live pre-show (which was lame) and then the commercial-free 75-minute Guinness record-breaking, worldwide-simulcast show.

And we LOVED it!

I won't say much more--SPOILERS--can you hear River Song saying that?--except that it gave us hope and excitement for the upcoming series.

And our trip to London, with visits to the Tower of London and the National Gallery (both in the episode.)  Too bad we won't see the . . . SPOILERS!

New Binge

Having binged my way through several seasons of "Supernatural," which I really liked for its ethical and theological issues--oh, and the "X-Files"-like monsters and myths--I am now starting, quite by accident, "Battlestar Galactica," the 2004-9 tv series.  (It was recommended by Netflix; I don't think I was really aware that there had been a long-running series.)

I loved the original BG, watching Starbuck, Apollo, Athena, Cassiopeia, Commander Adama, Boxey, and his wonderful dog Muffit race around the universe away from Cylons and that nasty human who worked with them (whose name I forget but whose face is as clear as day.)  It's also where I learned one of my earliest non-curse words, "frak."  While at the time Star Wars was my greater obsession, at least I could watch BG weekly.

And so I'm fascinated by the update, with a female Starbuck instead of Dirk Benedict and Mary McDonnell as the president (was there even a president the first time?).  The special effects are great (those launch pipes and Vipers look so cool--and reminiscent of the 70s ones) and the storylines, as well as analogy to modern warfare and religious debates, are fascinating.  And those Cylons who look human?  Great.  And you gotta love the theme song.

Plus, they still curse.

Which means it will probably be awhile before I let the kids watch this childhood favorite.

Two New Fans

We all watched "Doctor Who" last night!  Even though knew about the T.A.R.D.I.S, sonic screwdrivers, "bigger on the inside," Weeping Angels, and the like, Sis and Bud hadn't seen "Doctor Who" yet.  Bud gets scared easily, ever since the Basilisk in Harry Potter and early stories about Medusa.  So Mama and I have been debating which episodes would be best.  And yesterday we decided--"Runaway Bride" and "Partners in Crime," both of which are the Tenth Doctor and my favorite companion Donna.

And they were a success.  The kids begged for more episodes and, when we said no (because who knows what our next episodes would be), they ran off to play with my sonic screwdrivers and build their own T.A.R.D.I.Ses, shouting "oi" at each other.

Now all I need to do is decide which episode would be okay next . . . .

Duck, Duck Dynasty

"Da gator bit da pirogue!"*

I have a new favorite show:  "Duck Dynasty," a reality show that chronicles the eccentric back-swamp antics of a clan of odd but now wealthy duck-call manufacturers, aka Duck Commander, in West Monroe, Louisiana.

I'm not even sure how to describe it to you, except perhaps in the vignettes that build to make the show:  the men of the clan declaring war on beavers, whose lodge they attack with homemade Napalm manufactured by quirky Uncle Si and then flame throwers; the matriarch of the clan, Kay, wiggling a skinned cooked squirrel from her much-praised squirrels and dumplings and then eating the brains, declaring "squirrel brains make you smart;" the company employees led by owner Willie's brother Jase building a "redneck water park" in a local pond when they were supposed to be making duck calls; a turkey cook-off between men and women that started with a turkey hunt filled with advice about courting women; Willie pimping out a riding-lawn mower to race a local rival and then being too scared to go fast--but still winning when the other guy's mower breaks!

And of course there's that moment when Willie goes to fetch a boat at his parents' house only to find a gator in the shed, which sends him off squealing until he leads it away with a raw chicken on a string, all while his mom Kay is stirring a vat of jambalaya outside with a paddle.

Perhaps something gets lost in the translation.

(You can read a more thorough description at the NYTimes here.)

I can't put my finger on why I enjoy it.  It's not just because their world is both so foreign and familiar--foreign to both my suburban Houston childhood and current Connecticut life but also familiar because of the stories friends and relatives have told over the years--Dad's stories about experiences in East Texas, uncles and cousins on our porch at the bay spinning yarns not unlike Willie's.  And of course I did grow up with a dad and relatives who hunted, fished, and wore camo.  In fact, my dad's camouflaged boat has a much more sophisticated pattern than the Duck Commander's!  Let's say the Roberston clan of the show is only a few degrees of separation from people I know.  (Which I think is what bothered my folks on first watching; "too close to home," they said.)

But more than that, the show isn't mean or degrading.  The people are honest and loving, hard-working and good natured.  They don't demean each other or degrade themselves; and sometimes you just know they are so much more clever than they appear--I mean, they have a multi-million dollar business and a hit tv show.  It's like a modern day Waltons, with each episode ending around a long table, laden with food, as the patriarch Phil, the Duck Commander, says grace and Willie does a voiceover about neighbors or family or faults.  It's that kind of feel good show.

And if you want that recipe for squirrel stew, it's on their website.

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*Translation:  "The alligator bit the boat."

Laid Up

I'm back in bed with this seemingly never-ending cold, having been up stuffing and coughing half the night.  At least it gives me a chance to watch "Doctor Who" season 7 to be ready for "Whomas" in about two weeks.

The Doctor is In

We were passing out flyers for our "Trick-or-Treat TUESDAY" earlier, walking door-to-door in our three-block area.  And I stepped in a hole off the street and fell down, not at all gracefully.  I'm fine--more embarrassed and scared than hurt, though my knee got all scraped up.  The kids heard and saw me go down and panicked.  Bud wanted to call 911!  "You said if you ever fell to call them!"  Of course, what I meant was if I were unconscious or somehow immobile.

I'm fine, just fine.  I'm home and the kids are at a playdate for a couple of  hours.  I took my meds and am watching "Doctor Who," my new favorite show.  I come to it very late, definitely a lacuna in my geek cred.  But it's the best medicine for my ego and knee.

Life with a Screen

When I was laid up in the last two years, I always posted about what I was doing for "life in a bed."  Well, now it's Mama's turn.  And when she's not eating interesting take-out (so far, hibachi, Jamaican, Italian deli, and Shake Shack) or playing games (mainly on her iPad, which I don't even know the names of), she's watching tv and movies (and was limited in her choices by the hospital's tv, mainly choosing TLC or Discovery, hence "American Guns!"), often with me at night.  In the last few weeks, we've seen (streaming Netflix or Amazon Prime or DVR'd off basic cable; **asterisks indicate recommendations):

• **"Doctor Who" with Christopher Eccleston--We are completely unfamiliar with any of this series but kept coming across it; we're enjoying it.
• **Between the Folds--a fascinating documentary on origami, starting with traditional artistic forms and moving into more technical/engineered forms, "choreographed" or kinesthetic/motion-oriented forms, abstract single-fold forms, "anarchist" crumbled not folded forms, and engineering/scientific applications and forms like with air bags and collapsible telescope lenses in space. 
• Sherlock Holmes and the Game of Shadows--I think we liked this one better than the first.  Totally different from the BBC series with Benedict Cumberbatch.
• Word Wars documentary on Scrabble--kinda bittersweet documentary of four men who live lives rather restricted by their Scrabble obsessions.
• Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox--like the soap, totally turned off by documentary and not because of the wacky religious views of Dr. Bronner but because of the righteousness of the proselytizing son and the lack of distance/objectivity of the narrative--it's like a bad public access infomercial.
• **"Taste of History"--working our way through 3 seasons of colonial cooking by Chef Walter Staib.
• "Auction Kings"--aka WT-version of "Antique Roadshow"
• "Dirty Jobs Down Under" (Australia)--ugh, snakes and poisonous frogs.  And some ugly condescension to Aborigines.
• "Stephen Fry in America"--not as good as it could have been, at least not the New England episode
• "Moonshiners"--reality tv on moonshiners and cops in rural VA.  Wow, not much has changed.
• "Damages"--she's watching this on her own.  Just to look at Glenn Close.
• "One Car Too Far"--she's watching this alone, too
• "Bering Sea Gold:  Under the Ice" and "Bering Sea Gold"--ditto.
• "Fast n Loud"--don't even know what this was . . . 
• "American Guns"--something about refurbishing old guns--and she likes how they got dents out of old wood.
• "Survivor Man"--mmh, hmm.
• "Encounters at the End of the World" by Werner Herzog--actually just quit watching it, weren't that engaged or interested.
• **Thor--Okay, we liked it.  The Norse mythological influences, the fantastic special effects, Queen Amidala.  I'd watch the sequel.
• "Pokemon"--so she could talk to the kids.  And because she loves it.
• "Ninjago"--another one to keep up with the kids.
• **Black Swan--Queen Amidala again.  Frightening, amazing, enthralling, gross, artistic.
• Captain America--I liked the period feel, the story, and seeing LOTR's "Elrond" as evil Hydra Nazi Red Skull.  Didn't like the ending moving it to the present.
• Transformers 3--Yeah, we're not watching everything in order, just what we can get online easily.  Mama had to fill me in on the backstory, which she knew from childhood.  I liked it, especially that they blew up Chicago instead of NYC!  I was even sad when the old Scottish? transformer died.  They became kinda humanoid.
• **"Poirot"--the modern PBS series--we like it.
• **Several 1970s-1980s Agatha Christie movies, including Evil Under the Sun--love Maggie Smith!!
• Iron Man 2--just like with Transformers, we hadn't seen the first one of this.  We're actually watching it now.  Funny to see Sherlock Holmes as a Super Hero.  And Gwyneth Paltrow as an art historian/curator, I think (well, she was talking art in that last scene--but the Boy Scouts?  Ugh, Iron Man), is so cliche.  Can't tell you why we like the Marvel Comics/action movies now.  Power?  Violence?  Clarity?  We wish we could get the new Batman or Avengers.    Oops, we just got bored and changed films . . . I wonder what's next.

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Update:  Next was "Ice Road Truckers:  World's Most Dangerous Roads" in the Himalayas, with a female truck driver!  And then the BBC's crime-solving duo, "Rosemary & Thyme."  And tonight X-Men: First Class!

Pokéfever

Pikachu

First Star Wars, then Harry Potter, also Ninjago and Phineas and Ferb.  

Now the kids are enthralled by Pokémon (similar to the others in being a merchandising powerhouse!).  They come by it honestly enough--Goo was obsessed as a kiddo when I first met him 18 years ago, playing the card game especially (we even took him to GenCon in Milwaukee one year where he placed second in a tournament) and Mama shared him in his interest, preferring the tv show to the card game.  

Ok, if you are new to  Pokémon , they are "pocket monsters" who populate a fictional world where young  Pokémon  trainers catch (in red and white Poké balls), train, and then battle (but not to the death) in order to gain badges and rank.  The  Pokémon  evolve, gaining in strength, powers, and often size.  They are often plays on real animals, plants, or minerals, with quirky names--Snorlax is a lazy, sleeping cat and Oddish is a weird-looking radish--and they can only "talk" using variations on their own names (so Pikachu can say "pi," "pika," "chu," "pika-pi," and sometimes "cha.").  There are collectible cards with various  Pokémon  on them and a complex card game based on building a deck and battling.  There is also a tv show that follows Pokemon trainer Ash, his main  Pokémon  Pikachu ("pika" is a kind of mouse and this one is electrical!), and his friends, plus their nemesis, Team Rocket.  The whole thing comes from Japan, where it remains extremely popular; I think its popularity has waned here somewhat.  

And now Goo and Mama are passing their interest along to the kids with the show, cards, and toys.  And the kids love it!  They sing the songs, collect the cards, watch the show, play the DS game, and are really enjoying drawing the different Pokémon.  They've both made books of their favorites, complete with references to the evolved forms.  Of course, there are now hundreds more than when Mama and Goo were interested (I was always amused but not as enthusiastic), so we're all learning.  It's been a great distraction, especially since Mama introduced them to it when she got back from surgery and then the kids' became more involved (and distracted) when she was back in the hospital.

Olympic Fatigue

More than a week in, we are starting to feel some Olympic fatigue over here.  We're taping hours and hours everyday but end up erasing most of it (because we're out of space and/or uninterested)--the titling isn't reliable in the DVR and we just don't want to see that much water polo, beach volleyball, or boxing!  We have, however, enjoyed watching sports we almost never get to see during non-Olympic years, like archery, fencing, handball, badminton, table tennis, synchronized anything (diving, swimming), trampoline, skeet, trap, rowing, kayaking, whitewater, weightlifting, judo, cycling time trials, discus, shot, pole vaulting . . . and we still have a week to go!  We save the best tidbits for the kids, who are sometimes amazed (at synchronized swimming and diving, also fencing), and sometimes singularly unimpressed.  On dressage, Bud asked, "Is that a real sport?"  Yes, and the only one where men and women compete against each other.  Via horse.

There hasn't been too many little English culture vignettes of the type they did in Nagano, as I recall.  Just lots of lovely unidentified images of England (okay, Lambeth, what is the round, Norman-like castle, with round towers like Chepstow but with a less open keep and more symmetry?  ARGH!) and one piece on pubs (two of which I'd actually been to!).  Otherwise, the coverage is frustrating--all-American, unless someone else wins and then only that one athlete's performance, or unless someone is injured or fails, then we see that repeatedly (like the German gymnast Phillipp Boy).  And way too many moms and dads, in the stands or in the commercials.  But at least there aren't all those bios anymore.  We tried watching it streaming but only got tidbits not whole competitions, not sure why.

Still, it's been a real summer highlight for us and led to many interesting discussions, beyond geography and flag identification (which tests us every night.  Montenegro, anyone?).  "Mom," Sis asked, "why do the girl gymnasts have to do all that dancing [on the floor, vs. the male gymnasts]?"  Which led to a discussion of gender expectations--pretty and graceful vs. strong and powerful--and recognition that these "girls" were women and still very strong and powerful even with all the make up, frou frou outfits, and frilly moves.  We've also discussed that even though the commentators pick performances apart move by move that these are still some of the best athletes in the world and the critiques are more to clue us in to what the judges are thinking.  I didn't like that the kids mimicked the ubiquitous analyses with "Oh, he didn't do that well because his hand slipped." We also had to remind them of all of the years of practice that are behind the seemingly effortless performances.  And it doesn't always go as expected. When McKayla Maroney fell or Jordan Wieber didn't go to All-Around, we said that even the best in the world make mistakes and have bad days.  And of course, in the end, the majority of people there are just proud and happy to be there, with no expectations of winning.

So we keep recording and watching and enjoying their skill, our own education, and, frankly, distraction, and will be sad when the closing comes . . . .

Summer Fun: Happy Fourth!

54.  Celebrate July 4th


It's an odd holiday this year, on Wednesday, smack in the middle of the week.  Sis wasn't even be home because she had GS camp (I know, odd; it was a quiet day for us and I missed being part of a big gathering of family, friends, food, and fireworks).  So we saved our big meal for late in the day, which is just as well because Mama took Bud on a sushi date, an early birthday present for just the two of them (you won't believe what they inhaled: squid, octopus, tuna, salmon, ikura/salmon roe, tobiko/flying fish roe, sea urchin, freshwater eel, unagi and anago/fresh and seawater eels, shrimp, jumbo sweet shrimp, crabstick, salmon skin handroll . . . and dessert for his birthday, a tempura ice cream!).  I stayed home, making food and hanging out.  When Sis got home at 5 pm, we started with nachos and later had our indoor July 4th picnic, including:

• Shish kebabs, actually just the chicken because the kids weren't up for the rest and we were cooking indoors
• Oven fries--we ate two whole trays of this!  And that's without Bud's help.
• Sumi Salad--Bud's favorite red cabbage slaw, from a recipe at our new church
• Pasta and Bean salad--very good with red kidney beans and tri-color penne
• My adaptation of the mint iced tea we had at the Greenmarket last weekend
• Strawberry Soda Ice Cream--Wow!  This was the best strawberry ice cream I've ever had
• Chocolate sorbet--this didn't freeze well because we overworked the machine but since it's just chocolate sugar-water, we're gonna try again tomorrow.  Sis likes the mix, though.

To mark the occasion, we talked about patriotism (love of country vs. nationalism, belief in your country's exceptionalism and superiority) and what was special about the USA--freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to gather, votes for women, some state legalization of same-sex marriage, the new changes in healthcare law and immigration (that executive order that resembles in part the Dream Act), the gumbo (not melting pot) of diverse religions and ethnicities, the beauty of the land, the rich history--but also noted that many other countries have such rights and resources (cue "Finlandia" here--"But other hearts in other lands are beating/with hopes and dream as true and high as mine"), mentioning though the countries that didn't have such freedoms (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Uganda, China, etc.  We also talked about things that we wished we could change about our country, desiring full nationalized healthcare, federal same-sex marriage rights (like Canada or Denmark), maternity leave, the full Dream Act and other issues.  More than that, we wished for peace at home and abroad, more equality (racial, gender, economic) and compassion.  

Then we ate ice cream.


The kids are in bed and we're watching some of the televised celebrations, just enjoyed John Williams conduct (I saw him once conduct his famous movie scores in Houston), was touched by Javier Colon (a local CT boy, whom we saw open for the Indigo Girls a few years back) singing "Stand By Me," and looking forward to Megan Hilty (oops, missed her in the opening and saw her on DVR--great!) and Amber Riley.  


And to waving at the crowd at the Macy's fireworks in NYC, somewhere within which is dear Mrs. S.!


(Maybe next year, we'll cover the myths of July 4th!)
-=-=-=-=-


Authentic Texas Nachos
bag of corn chips
block of sharp cheddar cheese
jalapeno slices, if desired

Spread chips in single layer across a large cookie sheet.  Put a single, thin slice of cheese on each chip and a jalapeno slice, as desired.   Do NOT dump a bag of grated cheddar cheese on top of the chips.  (And if you want cheese sauce, well, that's queso and a different recipe--melt a lb. block of Velveeta with a can of Ro-Tel tomatoes, eat with chips . . .or a spoon!)

Broil until cheese bubbles and turns slightly golden.

Eat immediately, careful not to burn yourself on the edge of the tray.

Mommy Hungry


Shish Kebabs

2 pounds meat (peeled shrimp, chicken, or beef)

1 dozen cherry tomatoes

16 oz. pineapple chunks

1 dozen small fresh mushrooms

2 green peppers cut in 1” squares

½ cup chopped parsley

½ cup vegetable oil

½ cup fresh lemon juice

½ cup soy sauce

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

            Place in a mixing bowl with the oil, lemon juice, soy sauce, parsley, salt, and pepper, and mix well.  Add the meat, pineapple, mushrooms, and green pepper, and mix well.  Let it marinate for one hour, stirring now and then.  Mount everything on skewers, which have been soaking in water.  Leave a little space between them so the heat can circulate; otherwise something may come out raw.  Place over hot coals for five minutes, basting them with the marinade now and then.  Turn them over, baste some more and cook for five minutes more.

Gommie Hungry

Oven Fries
Slice into strips washed, but not peeled, potatoes.
Place potato strips in ice water in refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.
Drain water. 
Toss 1 tablespoon of oil in potatoes, totally covering.
Place potatoes on greased (Pam-sprayed) cookie sheet. 
Bake at 450°F for 15 minutes or until brown.
Sprinkle with Lawry’s season salt.




Sumi Salad

3-6 oz. packages shredded red cabbage, or 1/2 head of firm cabbage, chopped
1 package Ramen noodles, crushed while in package (save the seasoning packet)
1 bunch scallions, sliced
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3 tablespoons slivered almonds
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sesame oil
6 tablespoons rice vinegar, plain, not seasonred
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt

In small pan, heat 1 tablespoon of sesame oil.  Add sesame seeds and almonds.  Brown, stirring constantly.  don't let burn.  Set aside.  Chop scallion, using tops as well.  Combine crushed Ramen, scallion, and cabbage in a large bowl.  Mix together. In another bowl, whisk the vegetable oil, 1/2 cup of sesame oil, rice vinegar, sugar, seasoning packet, salt, and pepper.  Combine all, stirring well.  Store covered in refrigerator overnight.  Stir a few times during the day before serving.  (*I'm working on using less oil and substituting olive oil in this recipe).

Church cookbook




Pasta and Bean Salad (Seed Savers' Heritage Bean Salad)

1 1/2 cups dried beans (I've used a mixture of heirloom beans from Laurel Hill; Seed Savers calls for Lena Cisco's Birds Egg)

1 box pasta, cooked al dente according to directions (any shape, I used tri-color penne)

Vinaigrette -

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup sugar
2 t. Dijon mustard (I used spicy brown)
1 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper

Cook dried beans (I soaked them overnight in salt water) by bringing to a boil for five minutes and then simmering for about 1 1/2 hours.  Cook pasta al dente.   Prepare vinaigrette. Add dressing ingredients while beans and pasta are still warm. Chill for several hours. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Add corn, red onion, chunks of fresh mozzarella, red/yellow bell pepper, celery, olives, or whatever sounds good.

Mommy Hungry via Seed Savers

Mommy Hungry's Greenmarket Mint Tea
2-3 cups mint leaves
2-3 tablespoons sugar, to taste
juice of 1/2 large lemon

Steep mint leaves and sugar in 2 cups hot water.  When water is much cooler or even room temperature, add cold water to fill pitcher (1 liter+) and lemon juice.

Mommy Hungry




Strawberry Soda Ice Cream
Just saw this in Food Network Magazine and it reminded me of the Big Red soda we made at camp (sans strawberries)!  It was delicious.  We also made root beer ice cream at camp, which was also awesome.  This recipe, below, makes about the best strawberry ice cream I've ever had.
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
3/4 cup red cream soda (Big Red!) or regular cream soda
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 cup frozen strawberries, thawed and mashed


Whisk the condensed milk, half-and-half, cream soda, cream and strawberries in a medium bowl.  Churn in ice cream maker.  Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until firm, at least 2 hours.


Laura Duckworth, Food Network Magazine




Chocolate Sorbet
2 cups water

1 cup sugar
1 cup unsweetened (or Dutch process) cocoa powder

Combine the water and sugar in a heavy saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Whisk in the cocoa and bring the mixture to a simmer. Simmer for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
Remove from the heat and pour through a fine strainer into a bowl. Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Stir the cool mixture, then freeze in your ice cream maker. When finished, the sorbet will be soft but ready to eat. For firmer sorbet, transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze at least 2 hours.


Bruce Weinstein, The Ultimate Ice Cream Book

Tastes of History

Mama and I have taken to watching Chef Walter Staib's PBS series, Taste of History, which focuses on the foodways of 18th-century America.  We knew of Staib from the historical restaurant, City Tavern, in Philly, where we've eaten twice (most recently with t he kids over Memorial Day weekend)--the first time, ten years ago, we actually met the chef, who came out to talk to us and signed our copy of his cookbook.  He is famous for researching, recreating, and celebrating colonial foodways.  And it's not just baked beans and apple pie but surprising combinations of fresh ingredients and international spices (and meats many Americans don't eat anymore--kidneys, oxtail, or tongue, anyone?).

But we didn't know he had a tv show--Emmy-winning, no less--until we visited the Tavern again.  And it's wonderful!  There are historic houses, costumed interpreters, old recipes, and open-hearth cooking!  Plus his charming and enthusiastic explanations, in his endearing German accent. With soccer over for another half-hour, we just watched the episode where the chef goes to Montpelier and cooks for the interpreters reenacting James and Dolley Madison.  You can watch the fourth season now on PBS, or old episodes on WE, I think, or on DVD, which is what we have.

It's really perfect tv  for us in these anxious times.

Spring Vacation: Staycation

Thursday and Friday were specifically dedicated to our family's spring break "staycation" since we couldn't, in good conscience, drag a recovering-from-the-flu child out of town.  So, instead we have

• indulged in a huge pancake breakfast at our favorite breakfast place, which I delighted in after my own almost two-year hiatus
• built new and old Lego sets (Sis has the Friends beauty parlor and Bud and Mama are putting the medieval castle back together again)
• danced in a brief rain shower, while trying to spot a rainbow
• watched a red-tail hawk in a nearby tree ("hawkspotting")
• watched lots of new-to-us "Phineas and Ferb" episodes, including the three-part rollercoaster arc (the original first episode, the time traveling Quantum Bugaloo, and the "Rollercoaster, The Musical.")
• visited the Discovery Museum in Bridgeport (the kids had fun but, frankly, it was awful--very poor didactics when they existed at all because they didn't give kids the info they needed to appreciate the topic at hand or answer their poorly-worded, not-open-ended questions; dirty and broken exhibits (piles of used paper, broken pens, missing stars for constellations, and numerous broken electronics); mediocre aesthetics--poorly designed and hung didactic panels in various fonts on small sheets of paper, chipped paint, dirt; lack of basic instructions or clearly intuitive procedures for hands-on activities.  All around CRAP.  The only good parts were the hands-on activities in the "My House, Your House" exhibition, with the build-your-own cabin, walk-in Mongolian ger, and the Fiji fire pit.)
• eaten lunch at Bloodroot--peanut and mustard greens soup, tofu salad with sesame oil dressing, grilled Swiss cheese, Bloodroot "burger," cheese omelet, oatmeal bread, chocolate devastation cake, brown rice pudding, and lemon-lavender posset in a china cup.  MMMMMMmmmm!  The posset might be the best dessert I've ever had there, better than the pumpkin or blueberry tofu mousses or the cranberry kissel (tied, perhaps, with brandied fruit over ice cream!).  Sis thought so, too.  But, otherwise, the kids didn't like it at all.  Which has me considering a vegetarian month here at home to break the must-have-meat/not natural foods habit.
• gardened, after a trip to the garden store--Sis got red, orange, yellow, and purple pansies plus some trailing verbena with red flowers.  We also have some sweet basil and new pink phlox for the rock wall (since the old phlox is creeping into crevices beautifully).  We spent time outside planting and watering all of these.
• played a new game called Yoome, which requires not only the game but also an iPad app.  It's hard to explain but it's basically a get-to-know-you game with dualistic (is that a word?) questions (ketchup or mustard?  winter or summer?) that one player answers secretly and the others try to guess; best guesser wins.
• read more poetry before bed, including the perfect spring poem for today:

"Maytime Magic" by Mabel Watts 

A little seed

For me to sow...

A little earth

To make it grow...

A little hole, 

A little pat...

A little wish, 

And that's that.

A little sun,

A little shower...

A little while,

And then--a flower!

The Accidental Alien-Astronaut Tourist

I've found the perfect tv show to watch while I'm curled up in bed with this cold/sinus infection (for which I just got antibiotics this morning):  "Ancient Aliens."

Yep, you read that correctly:  "Ancient Aliens."

It's a show on H2 (History Channel 2) that explores the ideas of "Alien Astronaut Theorists."  Like Chariots of the Gods author Erich von Daniken.  They believe that extra-terrestrials have visited Earth in the remote past as well as in the more recent past (and present) and have had notable impact on such things as architecture (particularly tools and techniques, as well as types--you know, for landing strips!), weather (earthquakes, floods, hurricanes were caused by aliens), religion (West African Dogons, Australian aborigines), and genetics (in that they have interbred, evidenced by long-skulled skeletons.  Oh, before humans, they interbred with reptiles and created Reptilians).  Evidence--in the realm of unexplainable architecture, ancient art, and ancient texts--abounds for them, especially because they take everything so literally:  a sculpture of a fantastic lizard means that lizard was real, probably the result of reptile-alien breeding; pictographs of large-eyed figures must mean large-eyed figures, i.e. Gray aliens, lived on earth; rows of boulders visible from the air, such as at Carnac in Brittany, must have been made to be visible from the air, for spaceships; descriptions in the Bible and Vedic texts are all real and not metaphorical, including Ezekial's spaceship-wheel, the "manna machine" from aliens in the desert for 40 years, and the flying Vimanas with mercury.  Of course, you've never heard so many maybe-probably-potentially qualifiers and "if-then" subjunctives used in one sentence!  And those by investigative journalists and author/publishers of various books and magazines like Legendary Times and The Ancient Alien Question , who believe traditional archaeologists, the government, NASA, Freemasons, and schools don't comprehend or cover up the truth.

How could that not be fun?

These shows have come a long way from the books and shows I was obsessed with in the early 1980s, which were all ESP, Freemasons, Bigfoot, Roswell, Machu Picchu, Nazca lines, Stonehenge, and the pyramids.  I followed those with glee and interest, appreciating the non-traditional theories and idea that "the truth is out there." Now there are more remote and less familiar sites--Gobekli Tepe in Turkey and Puma Punku in Bolivia and Carahunge in Armenia, to name a few--and a more coherent theory encompassing it all, namely "alien astronauts."  Of course, as much as I enjoy the theories and armchair sightseeing, I don't really believe these ideas.  Are there aliens somewhere?  Probably.  Have they been here?  I doubt it--I tend to think if they'd been here, they'd have taken over (and the theorists never convincingly explain "why," even if they have "what" down pat.)  Are art and texts proof?  I tend to read art and texts much more metaphorically and imaginatively and would be very cautious about reading them as "real" or "true" (a la Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown claiming all descriptions of art in his book are "true."  It might be his true reading but belief in something, however strongly held, doesn't make it true or real.)  How did they make those buildings?  I think we often underestimate the accomplishments of our ancestors, having lost their skills and believing so whole-heartedly in our own superiority to all previous times, and don't need aliens to explain their achievements. That said, I know there are things in history and science that we can't explain, might never understand. I just don't think we need to say aliens are the answer.

So, why?  Why "alien astronauts"? Is this an outgrowth of fifty years of Star Trek, Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., "The X-Files," and the like?   Is this an attempt for otherwise secular people to have something to believe in that is bigger than themselves?  Or to have an explanation, any explanation, for Mystery?  Is it coincidence that the experts are all middle-aged white men?  Is this just the folklore of our era, instead of wicked stepmothers or rogue cowboys?  An expression of distrust of government and institutions?

It's great brain candy for a sick day, regardless.