Lately, I've been reading some very good books that all seem to have a theme in common, and I've been pleasantly surprised by some of them, so I thought I would share my impressions in case any of you were interested in doing some reading of your own.
We Two: Victoria and Albert: Rulers, Partners, Rivals by Gillian Gill is a fantastic exploration of the royal marriage, and a good overview of the backgrounds of both partners. I've read many books about Victoria, but almost none about Albert, and I was really fascinated by what the author has to say about his childhood. I also enjoyed the story of how Albert "transformed" Victoria, for lack of a better word, into a more compliant spouse, and tried to take for himself the powers of the monarch, despite Parliament having refused to grant them to him officially. Albert's influence on Victoria and on England was really astounding, and this book does an excellent job of exploring those relationships. This is an excellent introduction to them as people, and as rulers, and I think many readers would find this enjoyable, even if you are already well versed in the history of Queen Victoria.
Born to Rule: Five Reigning Consorts, Granddaughters of Queen Victoria by Julia P. Gelardi tells the story of how Victoria and Albert's descendants took the lessons learned from their formidable grandmother and spread them across Europe. I would classify this as an intermediate level read, because there is a lot of jumping back and forth between the five women's stories, and the Saxe-Coburg-Gothas were a very fertile group, so there are a lot of supporting characters, and you have to really be paying attention to keep them all straight. But Gelardi does an excellent job tying them together, and it is a fascinating read. I'm working on a blog post about how Queen Victoria and Christian IX of Denmark managed to populate almost all the thrones of Europe, and this book feeds directly into that. The five Granddaughters led lives that encompassed the great events of late 19th century and early to mid 20th century Europe, so the scope of Born to Rule is broad but fascinating and manages to convey an impressive amount of detail. I would heartily recommend this to anyone interested in Modern European history, or the legacy of Queen Victoria.
Sovereign Ladies: Sex, Sacrifice and Power - The Six Reigning Queens of England by Maureen Waller analyzes the reigns of Mary I, Elizabeth I, Mary II, Anne, Victoria and Elizabeth II through the lens of their gender. It deals only with the Queens regnant, that is women who actually ruled, not the wives and consorts of Kings. It covers how each one came to the throne, and how each Queen dealt with the fact of her gender. All of them, with the exception, to a degree, of Elizabeth II, ruled during a time when women were seen to be inferior by nature of their gender, when womanhood was equated with subservience, obedience, weakness, and submission to a man, either father or husband. The result of this varies widely, from Elizabeth I who built up the cult of the Virgin Queen to Mary II who claimed the throne, but essentially turned it over to her domineering husband, William of Orange, as her co-monarch. Each section deals with one Queen, and gives enough biographical data to build a solid line of reasoning without overwhelming the reader, or needlessly covering ground well tended by other biographers. I found the parallels and divergences in their stories fascinating. This is a fairly easy read, and is handily broken up into sections by Queen, so it's easy to read in chunks, or even put down and come back much later without losing the thread.
Royal Feud: The Dark Side of the Love Story of the Century by Michael Thornton is the most gossipy of the group. The premise is basically that Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, HATED Wallis Simpson almost from the moment of meeting her, and describes how that tension played out over the course of their lives. Now, this book was published in 1985, so some of it reads as being slightly dated (most notably because both protagonists were living at the time of publication, although Wallis died in 1986 and the Queen Mother in 2002), but since most of the events it covers happened decades before that even, it's not a handicap. According to Thornton, Wallis Simpson referred to the Queen Mother as "The Dowdy Duchess" (she was Elizabeth, Duchess of York at the time they met) and the Queen Mother basically called her "that woman" or tried to refer to her not at all if it was possible. The two women did not meet from the time Edward VIII abdicated the throne until close to twenty years later. Thornton blames the royal family's poor treatment of Wallis on both Queen Mary and the Queen Mother, but mostly the Queen Mother. Thornton seems to think that George VI's unwillingness to receive Wallis at Court, and his refusal to allow her to be styled Her Royal Highness was the result of his wife's opinion. He does a fairly good job at relating the story without censure for either party, and I came away feeling sorry for both women. This is another book where there is a large cast of supporting characters, and some of them can be difficult to keep straight. But it is a fascinating insider account of one of the great scandals of the 20th century, and well worth a read.
Well, that's it for now. I've got a couple more stacked up on my nightstand, one covering Queen Victoria's daughters, two other books about Wallis Simpson, one dealing with her later life, after Edward's death, and one about the two of them, plus another Julia Gelardi book dealing with royal mothers and their daughters tragedies (Queen Victoria, Catherine of Aragon, and Marie Antoinette feature heavily), so there will undoubtedly be another round of book reviews down the road. In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for things I should read, leave them in the comments section, I'm always looking for ideas. And let me know if you read any of these, I'd love to know what you think.
A.H.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
"Tonight's secret ingredient is..."
**For those who are seeing this post twice, both in my own blog and now here, I'm sorry (but actually, I'm not, because this dinner was just too freaking fantastic to not share here, too).
I had to work on Sunday, September 18th, which was my mom's 32 (hehe) birthday, which meant delaying her birthday dinner EXTRAVAGANZA (and believe me, it was an extravaganza!) until the following Saturday. This is going to be an extremely picture-heavy post (I know, I know, not like they aren't usually), so let me give you a quick rundown of the birthday menu.
Blackberry-Marinated Pork Tenderloin
Roasted Asparagus
Potato Galette
Blackberry Cheesecake
Yum, right? I KNOW!
Blackberry Pork Tenderloin: (courtesy of the other half of my brain)
(the measurements were just kind of played by ear)
-a couple cups blackberries
-white vinegar
-salt & pepper
-a few springs fresh thyme
-5 or 6 cloves garlic, choppped
-about 1/2 cup water
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan until the blackberries have pretty much disintegrated (I used a for to mash everything up) while it was simmering. Cool the marinade, pour over tenderloins, and let sit for a couple of hours. Bake tenderloins at 350 degrees until done (about 45 minutes-ish). Strain the marinade to get the excess chunks out, then put back into a small saucepan, and thicken with flour. Serve over sliced pork.
I had to work on Sunday, September 18th, which was my mom's 32 (hehe) birthday, which meant delaying her birthday dinner EXTRAVAGANZA (and believe me, it was an extravaganza!) until the following Saturday. This is going to be an extremely picture-heavy post (I know, I know, not like they aren't usually), so let me give you a quick rundown of the birthday menu.
Blackberry-Marinated Pork Tenderloin
Roasted Asparagus
Potato Galette
Blackberry Cheesecake
Yum, right? I KNOW!
Blackberry Pork Tenderloin: (courtesy of the other half of my brain)
(the measurements were just kind of played by ear)
-a couple cups blackberries
-white vinegar
-salt & pepper
-a few springs fresh thyme
-5 or 6 cloves garlic, choppped
-about 1/2 cup water
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan until the blackberries have pretty much disintegrated (I used a for to mash everything up) while it was simmering. Cool the marinade, pour over tenderloins, and let sit for a couple of hours. Bake tenderloins at 350 degrees until done (about 45 minutes-ish). Strain the marinade to get the excess chunks out, then put back into a small saucepan, and thicken with flour. Serve over sliced pork.
Before...
After...
Roasted Asparagus:
-2 lb. asparagus, woody ends snapped or chopped off
-garlic (I can't even begin to tell you how many cloves of garlic I use for this, but it's a lot...probably like 10 or 12)
-olive oil
-salt and pepper
Toss together all ingredients on a baking sheet, then spread out in a single layer. Roast for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees.
Before...
After...
(Hmm...other
than the fact that one's on a cookie sheet and one's on a plate, the
before and after of the asparagus look remarkably similar, don't you
think?)
Potato Galette: (recipe also courtesy of Andrea, who yes, is the source of many things that I make)
(measurements also pretty much played by ear)
2 lb.-ish Yukon Gold potatoes
salt and pepper
butter
rosemary
Slice the potatoes SUPER thinly and evenly (a mandolin, a box grater, a food processor, or in my case the slicer/shredder attachment
for my Kitchenaid mixer). Melt about a tablespoon of butter in a
nonstick, oven-proof saute pan. Once the butter is foamy, lay the
potatoes down in a single, overlapping layer. On top of this layer,
sprinkle the salt, pepper, and rosemary, then dot with butter. Repeat
for the next layer, but without rosemary. (I alternated rosemary
throughout the following layers). Continue until you have enough for
the amount of people you're feeding (for four people, I had six layers
of potatoes). Dot the top layer with a tablespoon or two of butter (you
have to do this in order for the top layer to get all brown and crispy
and extra delicious while in the oven). Bake at 350 degrees for about
45 minutes. Slide out of the pan onto a cutting board and slice into
wedges with a pizza cutter.
This
picture is documenting the importance of the fact that after slicing
ONE potato with my box grater and realizing how sloooooooooooooow-going
of a process it was going to be, I remembered that I have a
shredder/slicer attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer (thanks, Mom!)! This
was MUCH faster and way more fun than using a box grater (also, I'm now
going to have to venture into making my own potato chips, but that's a
project for another day).
Before the oven...
After the oven...
Extreme close-up!
Blackberry Cheesecake:
This recipe came straight from The Pioneer Woman. Just make sure you read my last blog post about The Springform Pan Incident in
order to learn the important lesson that I did, but without having to
make the same mistake that I did. This recipe is amazing and you should
make it as soon as you can.
Pre-blackberries, post-oven.
I
want to eat more now that I'm seeing these pictures again. By the way,
after sitting in the fridge for several hours, it seemed to slice
easier after sitting on the kitchen counter for a few minutes.
Conveniently,
everything (except the cheesecake, which was baked and in the fridge
setting long before I even started prepping anything else) was
baked/roasted at the same oven temperature, so I just put everything
into the oven at its necessary time. It all finished up all at once, so
everything was hot and ready for dinner at the same time.
Also, with all these blackberries being used, this was a very "Iron Chef"-ish meal!
Happy birthday, Mom! I hope you enjoyed eating this dinner as much as I enjoyed making it!
A.V.
A.V.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Recipe Review: Homemade Graham Crackers
Following on the heels of the homemade goldfish last week, I decided to give the homemade graham crackers a go this afternoon. I'll apologize in advance for the fact that there are far fewer pictures in this review than in that one, I set my camera aside and completely forgot about it during the actual construction of the crackers.
At any rate, if you read the goldfish post, this is going to sound really familiar. Here is the recipe I used, which is basically flour (AP, and whole wheat), butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, honey, water, salt and baking soda. You'll note in this picture of my ingredients, I've left out the water and the brown sugar, that was carelessness, not design.
All of the dry ingredients go into a mixer or food processor (I used the food processor, since I'd already located it for the goldfish and didn't relish the idea of diving back into my boxes, not even for my KitchenAid.) Give the dry stuff a quick whirl to combine, then add the butter, cubed and chilled, and pulse till you have something that looks like sand. Add the honey and the water (note to self, find a better measuring device for honey, suggestions, anyone?), then remove to a piece of parchment, rest, roll out, cut and bake, 15 minutes at 350.
This dough is very tender, even after a 30 minute rest in the fridge, but since I was just cutting out squares, it worked fine. I rolled the dough out between layers of parchment (best baking invention ever? I think so.) since it is also quite sticky. I went for smallish squares, and made no effort at all to make them all the same size, I just cut the dough with a small paring knife, into roughly similar sized rectangles. I like the little holes you get on commercial graham crackers, so I dotted these with a fork, and sprinkled them with sugar before putting them in the oven. The sugar was totally unnecessary, I just thought it might be kind of pretty on the finished product. Most of it fell off when I moved them off the cookie sheet at the end, though, so I probably wouldn't bother next time.
As for how they turned out? Wellllll, unless I'm using them a delivery vehicle for melty chocolate bars and marshmallows, I can take or leave graham crackers. But these are really good, much better than store bought, very crisp and with a distinctive taste of cinnamon without being overwhelming. But really I made them for Max, who was filching them off the cookie sheet while my back was turned. I will assume that since when I turned around he had AT LEAST three shoved into his mouth, plus two in each hand, that he also likes them. He keeps asking for more, but these are more of a sweet treat than a regular staple of his diet, so he's had his fill for today.
Here's the finished product. The recipe made enough (minus the ones Max ate) to fill this container, which should keep us in graham crackers for a week or so.
And here's Max laying on the kitchen floor eating the last graham cracker I let him have, he wouldn't smile for the camera, but I assure you he was enjoying it.
Oh, I forgot to mention, but following advice from the friend who recommended this recipe, I inverted the amounts of AP and WW flour, and they turned out just fine. Next time I am going to try using more WW and even less AP, maybe offset the junk food like nature of this with whole grains? I'll let you know how it turns out.
At any rate, if you read the goldfish post, this is going to sound really familiar. Here is the recipe I used, which is basically flour (AP, and whole wheat), butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, honey, water, salt and baking soda. You'll note in this picture of my ingredients, I've left out the water and the brown sugar, that was carelessness, not design.
All of the dry ingredients go into a mixer or food processor (I used the food processor, since I'd already located it for the goldfish and didn't relish the idea of diving back into my boxes, not even for my KitchenAid.) Give the dry stuff a quick whirl to combine, then add the butter, cubed and chilled, and pulse till you have something that looks like sand. Add the honey and the water (note to self, find a better measuring device for honey, suggestions, anyone?), then remove to a piece of parchment, rest, roll out, cut and bake, 15 minutes at 350.
This dough is very tender, even after a 30 minute rest in the fridge, but since I was just cutting out squares, it worked fine. I rolled the dough out between layers of parchment (best baking invention ever? I think so.) since it is also quite sticky. I went for smallish squares, and made no effort at all to make them all the same size, I just cut the dough with a small paring knife, into roughly similar sized rectangles. I like the little holes you get on commercial graham crackers, so I dotted these with a fork, and sprinkled them with sugar before putting them in the oven. The sugar was totally unnecessary, I just thought it might be kind of pretty on the finished product. Most of it fell off when I moved them off the cookie sheet at the end, though, so I probably wouldn't bother next time.
As for how they turned out? Wellllll, unless I'm using them a delivery vehicle for melty chocolate bars and marshmallows, I can take or leave graham crackers. But these are really good, much better than store bought, very crisp and with a distinctive taste of cinnamon without being overwhelming. But really I made them for Max, who was filching them off the cookie sheet while my back was turned. I will assume that since when I turned around he had AT LEAST three shoved into his mouth, plus two in each hand, that he also likes them. He keeps asking for more, but these are more of a sweet treat than a regular staple of his diet, so he's had his fill for today.
Here's the finished product. The recipe made enough (minus the ones Max ate) to fill this container, which should keep us in graham crackers for a week or so.
And here's Max laying on the kitchen floor eating the last graham cracker I let him have, he wouldn't smile for the camera, but I assure you he was enjoying it.
Oh, I forgot to mention, but following advice from the friend who recommended this recipe, I inverted the amounts of AP and WW flour, and they turned out just fine. Next time I am going to try using more WW and even less AP, maybe offset the junk food like nature of this with whole grains? I'll let you know how it turns out.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
It's Not So Much a Book as a Way of Life
(Caution!! There is at least one link in this post that is NSFW! or small children, or the faint of heart.)
So, here we are, 18 or 19 posts and three months into this blogging experiment. And it seems to be going pretty well. Only, we've over looked one teeny tiny little thing. Well, maybe not that little. More like big. That big thing is a novel called Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon. Outlander is a historical, science fiction, romance, action adventure novel that weighs in at a hefty 688 pages, and 2 1/2 pounds in the hardback version. Oh, did I mention it has (so far) six sequels? And they're all longer than the original? And there are three (soon to be four) shorter auxiliary novels that focus on one of the supporting characters? And two complementary short stories? And two novellas? And one (soon to be two) guides to help you keep straight all the who's, what's, where's, and when's? And a graphic novel? So, it's not so much a novel as a way of life.
Okay, so we haven't really told you anything that makes you want to actually read this epic? Allow me to give you a VERY brief synopsis of the story line. Essentially what we have is a WWII British battlefield nurse who gets transported back to the 18th century thanks to a circle of standing stones in Scotland. There is some confusion about where she is and how she got there, but basically she ends up married to a 22 year old Scottish virgin who cuts quite the handsome figure in his kilt. This all takes place in the run up to the Battle of Culloden, which destroyed the Scottish Highland way of life, and the clan system that sustained it. There is a little bit of back and forth to the twentieth century, but the focus of the last several sequels is basically the ever expanding circle of family that Jamie (the Scottish virgin) and Claire (the nurse) gather around themselves as their lives progress over the next thirty years. There is quite a bit of swashbuckling, a pleasing amount of history (including cameos by actual historical figures), lots of really well done character development, some laugh out loud twists and turns, and just enough steamy. . . . mmphmm to keep you turning page after page.
(There may or may not also exist a small homemade movie in which we spent many hours casting just the right celebrity to play each character of this beloved masterpiece, but you won't be seeing that here.)
One of us was introduced to the masterpiece by her mother, who was an avid consumer of audio books, and liked really loooonnnnnnggg audio books. This one of us regrets that it took us a couple of years to recommend it to the other half of the brain, but believe me when I tell you that it was a meeting of the minds (well, mind in our case).
This might qualify as the best book I've ever read (apologies to Pride and Prejudice), and I heartily recommend it to anyone I think might love it as much as I do, but I have to confess, I don't recommend it to everyone I know. I think I might actually be a little heartbroken if someone I recommended it to didn't like it. This is not a "beach read", it's not chick lit, or fluff. It's hard core. It's a commitment, and like most good commitments, it will repay you a thousand fold if you have the tenacity to see it through.
In case you have several weeks alone in a small igloo booked for this winter, or are planning a round the world plane trip and don't yet own an iPod, or if you're okay with basically ignoring your husband while you make your way through everything, here are the books, in order that they should be read. But please don't blame us if you open Outlander in November, and close An Echo in the Bone in March, and don't remember how you got there.
Original Canon:
These books are ancillary to the main body of work, but as the later sequels progress, they really do add some fascinating insight and backstory to several of the more important minor characters.
That's 20 books, and I would guess we're verging on 15,000 pages of writing (okay, I know, because I looked it up on Amazon, and that doesn't include unpublished works for which there is not yet a page count.). And every one of them worth it. This might take you a year, it might take you five years, you might race through it in 6 months, but you won't regret it. And believe me, and the millions of other readers who have made this series such a success, you will reread these again and again.
A.H. and A.V.
So, here we are, 18 or 19 posts and three months into this blogging experiment. And it seems to be going pretty well. Only, we've over looked one teeny tiny little thing. Well, maybe not that little. More like big. That big thing is a novel called Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon. Outlander is a historical, science fiction, romance, action adventure novel that weighs in at a hefty 688 pages, and 2 1/2 pounds in the hardback version. Oh, did I mention it has (so far) six sequels? And they're all longer than the original? And there are three (soon to be four) shorter auxiliary novels that focus on one of the supporting characters? And two complementary short stories? And two novellas? And one (soon to be two) guides to help you keep straight all the who's, what's, where's, and when's? And a graphic novel? So, it's not so much a novel as a way of life.
Okay, so we haven't really told you anything that makes you want to actually read this epic? Allow me to give you a VERY brief synopsis of the story line. Essentially what we have is a WWII British battlefield nurse who gets transported back to the 18th century thanks to a circle of standing stones in Scotland. There is some confusion about where she is and how she got there, but basically she ends up married to a 22 year old Scottish virgin who cuts quite the handsome figure in his kilt. This all takes place in the run up to the Battle of Culloden, which destroyed the Scottish Highland way of life, and the clan system that sustained it. There is a little bit of back and forth to the twentieth century, but the focus of the last several sequels is basically the ever expanding circle of family that Jamie (the Scottish virgin) and Claire (the nurse) gather around themselves as their lives progress over the next thirty years. There is quite a bit of swashbuckling, a pleasing amount of history (including cameos by actual historical figures), lots of really well done character development, some laugh out loud twists and turns, and just enough steamy. . . . mmphmm to keep you turning page after page.
(There may or may not also exist a small homemade movie in which we spent many hours casting just the right celebrity to play each character of this beloved masterpiece, but you won't be seeing that here.)
One of us was introduced to the masterpiece by her mother, who was an avid consumer of audio books, and liked really loooonnnnnnggg audio books. This one of us regrets that it took us a couple of years to recommend it to the other half of the brain, but believe me when I tell you that it was a meeting of the minds (well, mind in our case).
This might qualify as the best book I've ever read (apologies to Pride and Prejudice), and I heartily recommend it to anyone I think might love it as much as I do, but I have to confess, I don't recommend it to everyone I know. I think I might actually be a little heartbroken if someone I recommended it to didn't like it. This is not a "beach read", it's not chick lit, or fluff. It's hard core. It's a commitment, and like most good commitments, it will repay you a thousand fold if you have the tenacity to see it through.
In case you have several weeks alone in a small igloo booked for this winter, or are planning a round the world plane trip and don't yet own an iPod, or if you're okay with basically ignoring your husband while you make your way through everything, here are the books, in order that they should be read. But please don't blame us if you open Outlander in November, and close An Echo in the Bone in March, and don't remember how you got there.
Original Canon:
- Outlander
- Dragonfly in Amber
- Voyager
- Drums of Autumn
- The Fiery Cross
- A Breath of Snow and Ashes
- An Echo in the Bone
- also the tentatively titled Written with my Own Heart's Blood, slated for publication sometime in late 2012 (toooo long, toooo long!)
- The Exile, which is the graphic novel, and is basically a retelling of the events at the beginning of Outlander, from a different point of view. A point of view that includes several buff, naked Scottish behinds.
These books are ancillary to the main body of work, but as the later sequels progress, they really do add some fascinating insight and backstory to several of the more important minor characters.
- Lord John and the Private Matter
- Lord John and the Hand of Devils
- Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade
- Lord John and the Scottish Prisoner, to be released November 29th, that's roughly 80 days from now, but who's counting. Oh, wait, I am.
- "Lord John and the Custom of the Army", published as part of an anthology called Warriors, edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois
- "Lord John and the Plague of Zombies", part of different Martin/Dozois compilation called Down These Strange Streets
- "A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows", also part of a Martin/Dozois collection, Songs of Love and Death, this one does not deal with Lord John, but rather with the parents of one of the four main characters in Outlander, and helps solves some mysteries, although it leaves new ones wide open.
- "The Space Between", to be published (at an as yet unknown date) in an anthology called The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination edited by John Joseph Adams. This one involves the offspring of the primary family group in Outlander.
- The Outlandish Companion - a helpful guide to characters, the impenetrable Gaelic language, DG's writing process, and fascinating trivia about the books
- The Outlandish Companion, Vol. II - same as above but covering the more recent publications. This one does not have a publication date yet.
- And a Prequel, which doesn't have a title, or any other information other than that it exists in the authors mind, and is apparently part of her current book contract, so eventually (!!) we will get some insight into where our favorite characters came from.
That's 20 books, and I would guess we're verging on 15,000 pages of writing (okay, I know, because I looked it up on Amazon, and that doesn't include unpublished works for which there is not yet a page count.). And every one of them worth it. This might take you a year, it might take you five years, you might race through it in 6 months, but you won't regret it. And believe me, and the millions of other readers who have made this series such a success, you will reread these again and again.
A.H. and A.V.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Those Dead Fiances
I mentioned in my first monarchy post that there were two instances of brides who marry their dead fiancé’s brother. They are both equally fascinating stories, that take place centuries apart, and yet both had undeniable effect on the royal family and their descendants.
The first is Catherine of Aragon. The youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, the pre-eminent badasses of their time, was raised in the intense heat, sunshine and Catholicism of Spain, following her parents around the country on their campaign to drive the Muslim occupiers out of their country. Henry VII and his wife, Elizabeth of York, contracted for her marriage to their oldest son Arthur. Arthur was well educated, handsome, and according to legend, prepared to be the finest, most benevolent leader England had ever seen. But you don’t remember ever hearing about a real King Arthur? That’s because a few short months after their marriage, he died of a mysterious illness. So now Catherine is a widow, barely 16 years old, stranded in England, and what’s a girl to do? In her case, it’s to go to your nearest member of the clergy, insist that your marriage was never consummated (insert raised eyebrow here), and suggest that you would make a suitable bride for your dead husband’s younger brother, who is about eight years your junior, and possibly the most spoiled brat in all of Christendom. And it worked, mostly. She languished in obscurity, essentially held hostage for her dowry, for several years, while her in-laws hemmed and hawed, but then her father in law died and Henry VIII had the throne and he wanted her. At least for the first 20-ish years. And then, unfortunately, up popped Anne Boleyn. Catherine spent 24 years married to Henry VIII, but only had the one child, Mary, who would become Queen briefly as an adult. She had several miscarriages and stillbirths, which suggest to modern experts that she and Henry had an Rh (blood type) incompatibility. Catherine was a deeply devout Catholic, even for her time, and Henry’s attack on the Catholic Church hurt her in many ways. She refused to accept Henry’s ultimate judgment on their divorce, and eventually died at age 50, having not seen her daughter in over a decade, and still insisting that she was Henry’s rightful wife and the rightful Queen of England.
Of course, history tells us that Henry based his request for divorce on the fact that God had punished him for marrying his brother’s bride by refusing to grant them children. Clearly Catherine’s inability to successfully bear sons was a curse from above. I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time believing that Henry was as concerned with his immortal soul as he was with getting out of a marriage to an older woman, possibly one in the decline of her beauty and health. As a young man, his older brother’s adult, alluring older widow must have been incredibly attractive to him, conferring status and worldliness and making him seem like a serious Man. But the appeal of the eight year age advantage that she had likely diminished as he closed in on his forties, until, like many men of a certain age, his best chance to reclaim his youth lay in claiming a youthful woman. Anne Boleyn was everything Catherine wasn’t, flirtatious, frivolous, youthful, radiant, and possibly fertile. She didn’t pan out that well either, but Henry had refined his process for dealing with errant wives by then, and she was dispatched with greater speed, if slightly more mess.
I feel bad for Catherine, her first marriage and young adulthood was full of promise and possibility. And it ended so poorly for her. You have to wonder if she ever regretted her course after Arthur’s death? Would life have been better if she lived it in obscurity as the Dowager Princess of Wales? We’ll never know of course, but she had a pivotal role in the English Reformation, and our whole world would no doubt be different if she had.
The second fiancé is Princess Mary of Teck. Princess Mary, or May as she was known growing up, was a princess in her own right, born Her Serene Highness of the Kingdom of Wurttemburg, a small kingdom in the south of what is now Germany, though because of her father‘s marriage into a minor branch of the British royal family, she was brought up in the UK. She was selected as being the most suitable bride for the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. The ruler at the time was Queen Victoria, her son Bertie, who would become Edward VII was Prince of Wales, and his eldest son, May’s intended, was Prince Albert Victor, named for his redoubtable grandfather. May was the perfect Victorian bride, sweet, well educated (in the proper subjects, only, of course, so lots of French and embroidery, no calculus or typing), and most importantly, of good breeding (being related to the British Royal family through her mother, and a distant cousin of the groom) and verifiable virtue. But Albert Victor contracted pneumonia and died. So now we have a Princess with no prince. Queen Victoria was reportedly very fond of Princess May, and still believed her to be a fitting bride for the future king of England, so after a suitable mourning period she married the second son instead. He went on to become King George V, and by all accounts they were very much in love.
Queen Mary (this is the Queen Mary after which they named the ship) was another formidable Queen. The pictures of her in middle age especially do suggest something vaguely ocean liner-y about her.
She sat on the throne alongside that second son for 26 years, and lived an additional 17 after his death as the formidable grandmother and eventually great grandmother of the House of Windsor. In fact, it is during her tenure as Queen that the Royal Family officially changes it’s surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gothe, a thoroughly German name inherited from Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, to the much more properly British Windsor, chosen for their favorite palace and family home. George V didn’t think that Saxe Coburg Gothe struck quite the right tone whilst trying to defeat Der Kaiser. That Der Kaiser was his cousin didn't seem to factor.
Mary had six children, two of whom were King of England. She was crowned Queen Consort at the coronation of her husband in Westminster Abbey in 1911. The following year George and Mary traveled to India for what was known as “The Delhi Durbar”. They were crowned Emperor and Empress of India while there. I have only seen a few vaguely blurry pictures of this event, but I imagine it had to be just about the most jewel encrusted, hoity toity celebration of the oppression of an entire subcontinent you’ve ever seen.
The Durbar was held to celebrate the coronation of a new monarch, and George and Mary were the only monarch’s ever to attend their’s in person. The Durbar only happened three times, once in 1877 for Victoria at the time the British government assumed control in India from the British East India Company. The second one was held for Edward VII’s ascension in 1903, and this was the third and final occurrence. George V’s son Edward VIII was never officially crowned, and by the time his brother George VI was crowned, political feeling in India precluded any such show boating. Elizabeth II ascended the throne after India gained independence, so no Durbar for her either.
Mary’s story has a much happier end than Catherine’s does. She did suffer tragedy in her life, her youngest son, John, suffered epilepsy and was sent to live a quiet life in the country. Her eldest son, known familiarly as David, became King Edward VIII upon her husband’s death, but was never crowned as he fled his obligation to family and state to marry Wallis Simpson, and Bertie, or more properly, George VI, took the throne (insert events of “The King’s Speech” here). Queen Mary lived to be 86 years old, lending her genes to the cause of the current Queen’s longevity, no doubt. Genes are not the only thing she gave her granddaughter. Elizabeth II’s ideas about duty and honor to the state and her family come, in large part, from her Grandmother and her observations of that great lady’s example.
I wonder if either of these women ever contemplated just going home and finding some nice domestically bred nobleman to marry? And if they did, would they even have been allowed to? Neither of the original marriages were a love match. The women fit a set of criteria and their families contracted their futures as political pawns. They surely made the best of a bad situation, trying to be true to themselves while finding the silver lining, and really, being Queen of England is pretty good lining.
A short note about Catherine of Aragon’s assertion of her virginity after Arthur died. Legend has it that upon departing her chamber after the wedding night Arthur remarked to his courtiers that he was famished, having just “spent the night in Spain”. Now, this might be showboating from a young man wanting to impress his peers, and if they really failed to consummate their marriage he certainly wouldn’t want to admit that to a bunch of other young men, because surely packs of twenty something guys haven’t changed that much since then, but it does cast doubt on Catherine’s story. Also, doesn’t the phrase “spent the night in Spain” sum up Catherine’s purpose pretty succinctly? If ever there was a better description of a political marriage, I haven’t heard it.
A.H.
The first is Catherine of Aragon. The youngest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, the pre-eminent badasses of their time, was raised in the intense heat, sunshine and Catholicism of Spain, following her parents around the country on their campaign to drive the Muslim occupiers out of their country. Henry VII and his wife, Elizabeth of York, contracted for her marriage to their oldest son Arthur. Arthur was well educated, handsome, and according to legend, prepared to be the finest, most benevolent leader England had ever seen. But you don’t remember ever hearing about a real King Arthur? That’s because a few short months after their marriage, he died of a mysterious illness. So now Catherine is a widow, barely 16 years old, stranded in England, and what’s a girl to do? In her case, it’s to go to your nearest member of the clergy, insist that your marriage was never consummated (insert raised eyebrow here), and suggest that you would make a suitable bride for your dead husband’s younger brother, who is about eight years your junior, and possibly the most spoiled brat in all of Christendom. And it worked, mostly. She languished in obscurity, essentially held hostage for her dowry, for several years, while her in-laws hemmed and hawed, but then her father in law died and Henry VIII had the throne and he wanted her. At least for the first 20-ish years. And then, unfortunately, up popped Anne Boleyn. Catherine spent 24 years married to Henry VIII, but only had the one child, Mary, who would become Queen briefly as an adult. She had several miscarriages and stillbirths, which suggest to modern experts that she and Henry had an Rh (blood type) incompatibility. Catherine was a deeply devout Catholic, even for her time, and Henry’s attack on the Catholic Church hurt her in many ways. She refused to accept Henry’s ultimate judgment on their divorce, and eventually died at age 50, having not seen her daughter in over a decade, and still insisting that she was Henry’s rightful wife and the rightful Queen of England.
Of course, history tells us that Henry based his request for divorce on the fact that God had punished him for marrying his brother’s bride by refusing to grant them children. Clearly Catherine’s inability to successfully bear sons was a curse from above. I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time believing that Henry was as concerned with his immortal soul as he was with getting out of a marriage to an older woman, possibly one in the decline of her beauty and health. As a young man, his older brother’s adult, alluring older widow must have been incredibly attractive to him, conferring status and worldliness and making him seem like a serious Man. But the appeal of the eight year age advantage that she had likely diminished as he closed in on his forties, until, like many men of a certain age, his best chance to reclaim his youth lay in claiming a youthful woman. Anne Boleyn was everything Catherine wasn’t, flirtatious, frivolous, youthful, radiant, and possibly fertile. She didn’t pan out that well either, but Henry had refined his process for dealing with errant wives by then, and she was dispatched with greater speed, if slightly more mess.
I feel bad for Catherine, her first marriage and young adulthood was full of promise and possibility. And it ended so poorly for her. You have to wonder if she ever regretted her course after Arthur’s death? Would life have been better if she lived it in obscurity as the Dowager Princess of Wales? We’ll never know of course, but she had a pivotal role in the English Reformation, and our whole world would no doubt be different if she had.
The second fiancé is Princess Mary of Teck. Princess Mary, or May as she was known growing up, was a princess in her own right, born Her Serene Highness of the Kingdom of Wurttemburg, a small kingdom in the south of what is now Germany, though because of her father‘s marriage into a minor branch of the British royal family, she was brought up in the UK. She was selected as being the most suitable bride for the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. The ruler at the time was Queen Victoria, her son Bertie, who would become Edward VII was Prince of Wales, and his eldest son, May’s intended, was Prince Albert Victor, named for his redoubtable grandfather. May was the perfect Victorian bride, sweet, well educated (in the proper subjects, only, of course, so lots of French and embroidery, no calculus or typing), and most importantly, of good breeding (being related to the British Royal family through her mother, and a distant cousin of the groom) and verifiable virtue. But Albert Victor contracted pneumonia and died. So now we have a Princess with no prince. Queen Victoria was reportedly very fond of Princess May, and still believed her to be a fitting bride for the future king of England, so after a suitable mourning period she married the second son instead. He went on to become King George V, and by all accounts they were very much in love.
Queen Mary (this is the Queen Mary after which they named the ship) was another formidable Queen. The pictures of her in middle age especially do suggest something vaguely ocean liner-y about her.
She sat on the throne alongside that second son for 26 years, and lived an additional 17 after his death as the formidable grandmother and eventually great grandmother of the House of Windsor. In fact, it is during her tenure as Queen that the Royal Family officially changes it’s surname from Saxe-Coburg-Gothe, a thoroughly German name inherited from Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, to the much more properly British Windsor, chosen for their favorite palace and family home. George V didn’t think that Saxe Coburg Gothe struck quite the right tone whilst trying to defeat Der Kaiser. That Der Kaiser was his cousin didn't seem to factor.
Mary had six children, two of whom were King of England. She was crowned Queen Consort at the coronation of her husband in Westminster Abbey in 1911. The following year George and Mary traveled to India for what was known as “The Delhi Durbar”. They were crowned Emperor and Empress of India while there. I have only seen a few vaguely blurry pictures of this event, but I imagine it had to be just about the most jewel encrusted, hoity toity celebration of the oppression of an entire subcontinent you’ve ever seen.
The Durbar was held to celebrate the coronation of a new monarch, and George and Mary were the only monarch’s ever to attend their’s in person. The Durbar only happened three times, once in 1877 for Victoria at the time the British government assumed control in India from the British East India Company. The second one was held for Edward VII’s ascension in 1903, and this was the third and final occurrence. George V’s son Edward VIII was never officially crowned, and by the time his brother George VI was crowned, political feeling in India precluded any such show boating. Elizabeth II ascended the throne after India gained independence, so no Durbar for her either.
Mary’s story has a much happier end than Catherine’s does. She did suffer tragedy in her life, her youngest son, John, suffered epilepsy and was sent to live a quiet life in the country. Her eldest son, known familiarly as David, became King Edward VIII upon her husband’s death, but was never crowned as he fled his obligation to family and state to marry Wallis Simpson, and Bertie, or more properly, George VI, took the throne (insert events of “The King’s Speech” here). Queen Mary lived to be 86 years old, lending her genes to the cause of the current Queen’s longevity, no doubt. Genes are not the only thing she gave her granddaughter. Elizabeth II’s ideas about duty and honor to the state and her family come, in large part, from her Grandmother and her observations of that great lady’s example.
I wonder if either of these women ever contemplated just going home and finding some nice domestically bred nobleman to marry? And if they did, would they even have been allowed to? Neither of the original marriages were a love match. The women fit a set of criteria and their families contracted their futures as political pawns. They surely made the best of a bad situation, trying to be true to themselves while finding the silver lining, and really, being Queen of England is pretty good lining.
A short note about Catherine of Aragon’s assertion of her virginity after Arthur died. Legend has it that upon departing her chamber after the wedding night Arthur remarked to his courtiers that he was famished, having just “spent the night in Spain”. Now, this might be showboating from a young man wanting to impress his peers, and if they really failed to consummate their marriage he certainly wouldn’t want to admit that to a bunch of other young men, because surely packs of twenty something guys haven’t changed that much since then, but it does cast doubt on Catherine’s story. Also, doesn’t the phrase “spent the night in Spain” sum up Catherine’s purpose pretty succinctly? If ever there was a better description of a political marriage, I haven’t heard it.
A.H.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
The Best of the West (Wing): Part Two
The West Wing. Oh, the West Wing. Unapologetically liberal, it was such a soothing presence in the dark days of the early 2000’s. (Let's be honest, it's a soothing presence, no matter what. Almost nothing makes me happier than popping in one of my DVDs.) And no one embodied that liberal mindset like Communications Director Toby Zeigler. Played to gruff, surly perfection by Richard Schiff, Toby was the one you could count on to say what everyone else was thinking. Whether he was being blisteringly sarcastic ("I don't know, Josh, but while we're looking, can you tell me a little more about the President's secret plan to fight inflation?") or just gruffly dismissive, he was always spot on. He knew he was the smartest guy in a room full of smart guys and he wasn’t going to put up with any bullshit.
Underneath that brusque exterior there are so many layers. The first generation son of immigrant Jews, he struggled with his father’s past as a member of Murder, Inc. He doesn’t appear to be very emotional, but he bought his ex-wife a house in a last ditch attempt to woo her (also, let's please remember when Toby was talking to his children for the first time at the hospital right after they're born). He was often the last person holding their ground in an argument, and the first person willing to disagree with the President. And yet, he held himself and others to a higher standard because of what they did and where they worked. His disdain for President Bartlett's choice to replace John Hoynes as V.P., a man named Bob Russell, but more commonly and condescendingly known as Bingo Bob, was evident when he wrote a scathing speech praising the main's soaring ineptitude and unmatched mediocrity (and really, what's better than Toby and Will's reaction when Bingo Bob confronts them about their speech?).
He was sad and moody, but he loved language and used it beautifully, he could be sentimental, arranging a military funeral at Arlington National Cemetery for a homeless veteran found dead while wearing an old coat of Toby’s that had been donated to charity (this makes me cry every time I see it, especially when he's walking with Mrs. Landingham at Arlington). He developed a crush on the United States poet laureate, a blonde sylph of a woman who disagreed with him on many levels, but whose poetry touched him. And he loved his children, who, by the way, come with hats(!), and asked the first woman Chief Justice to sign a copy of the Constitution to his infant daughter (one of my favorite scenes!).
Toby did not show emotion easily, but you could always tell he loved those that he loved with his whole heart. The emotion in his voice and on his face when he find Josh Lyman shot in the abdomen in the season finale of season one is heart wrenching (do we know why Richard Schiff didn't win an Emmy JUST for this scene alone?!). He is annoyed with his father, a convicted felon after all, for coming to the White House, but displays a touching tenderness beneath the annoyance and anger. He was protective of his best friends, Josh, CJ, Sam, and loyal to a fault. When Will Bailey left his job as speechwriter to the President to go work for Bingo Bob Russell, Toby's feeling of betrayal was almost palpable. He also had a quirky, and often sarcastic sense of humor that made him relatable, even when he was at his most prickly (and who better to point out sarcasm in others than one as sarcastic as Toby: "Sarcasm's a disturbing thing coming from a woman of your age, Mrs. Landingham."). He clearly took great joy in ribbing the President about his obsessive interest in Thanksgiving turkeys, asking the President for advice on the right blend of herbs and seasonings for his holiday bird, even thought the President knows Toby has no intention of cooking a Thanksgiving turkey (one of the Best Toby Scenes EVER).
Like a lot of us, Toby isn't easily defined as one thing or another, he doesn't fit in a tidy little box. But I think I can say that while Toby Ziegler is my favorite West Wing character for a lot of reasons, but it primarily boils down to one storyline in the last season of the series. Basically, there is an accident aboard the International Space Station, there are no shuttles available to rescue the astronauts aboard, except for a secret military shuttle whose existence has been closely guarded. The military does not want it to be public knowledge, and the decision is made not to use it in a rescue attempt. Toby is aware of it through his brother, who was a mission specialist prior to his death, and leaks it to a reporter. Once it is widely known, the military’s hand is forced and the astronauts are brought home safely.
Toby revealed classified information. I either don’t remember or never knew the precise charges against him (at the very least, wasn't one of the charges treason?), but they would have resulted in five years in prison had the President not pardoned him. What I do know is that I admire someone willing to spend half a decade in prison for their principles. And I would like to think that the men and women who actually do our government’s work at the highest levels have the same sense of integrity and principle that Toby does.
Toby Ziegler wasn’t an easy man to like, but I’d like to think I could have been his friend. Or at least his intern (watch out for those White House interns...).
To wrap up, here's a clip (sorry, it's a little long, but worth it!), that demonstrates quite a few of Toby's better traits, and features his ex-wife, Andy. He manages to be decisive, brusque, and slightly frightened of her all at the same time. This is one of my favorite speeches of Toby's, enjoy.
A.H.
Underneath that brusque exterior there are so many layers. The first generation son of immigrant Jews, he struggled with his father’s past as a member of Murder, Inc. He doesn’t appear to be very emotional, but he bought his ex-wife a house in a last ditch attempt to woo her (also, let's please remember when Toby was talking to his children for the first time at the hospital right after they're born). He was often the last person holding their ground in an argument, and the first person willing to disagree with the President. And yet, he held himself and others to a higher standard because of what they did and where they worked. His disdain for President Bartlett's choice to replace John Hoynes as V.P., a man named Bob Russell, but more commonly and condescendingly known as Bingo Bob, was evident when he wrote a scathing speech praising the main's soaring ineptitude and unmatched mediocrity (and really, what's better than Toby and Will's reaction when Bingo Bob confronts them about their speech?).
He was sad and moody, but he loved language and used it beautifully, he could be sentimental, arranging a military funeral at Arlington National Cemetery for a homeless veteran found dead while wearing an old coat of Toby’s that had been donated to charity (this makes me cry every time I see it, especially when he's walking with Mrs. Landingham at Arlington). He developed a crush on the United States poet laureate, a blonde sylph of a woman who disagreed with him on many levels, but whose poetry touched him. And he loved his children, who, by the way, come with hats(!), and asked the first woman Chief Justice to sign a copy of the Constitution to his infant daughter (one of my favorite scenes!).
Toby did not show emotion easily, but you could always tell he loved those that he loved with his whole heart. The emotion in his voice and on his face when he find Josh Lyman shot in the abdomen in the season finale of season one is heart wrenching (do we know why Richard Schiff didn't win an Emmy JUST for this scene alone?!). He is annoyed with his father, a convicted felon after all, for coming to the White House, but displays a touching tenderness beneath the annoyance and anger. He was protective of his best friends, Josh, CJ, Sam, and loyal to a fault. When Will Bailey left his job as speechwriter to the President to go work for Bingo Bob Russell, Toby's feeling of betrayal was almost palpable. He also had a quirky, and often sarcastic sense of humor that made him relatable, even when he was at his most prickly (and who better to point out sarcasm in others than one as sarcastic as Toby: "Sarcasm's a disturbing thing coming from a woman of your age, Mrs. Landingham."). He clearly took great joy in ribbing the President about his obsessive interest in Thanksgiving turkeys, asking the President for advice on the right blend of herbs and seasonings for his holiday bird, even thought the President knows Toby has no intention of cooking a Thanksgiving turkey (one of the Best Toby Scenes EVER).
Like a lot of us, Toby isn't easily defined as one thing or another, he doesn't fit in a tidy little box. But I think I can say that while Toby Ziegler is my favorite West Wing character for a lot of reasons, but it primarily boils down to one storyline in the last season of the series. Basically, there is an accident aboard the International Space Station, there are no shuttles available to rescue the astronauts aboard, except for a secret military shuttle whose existence has been closely guarded. The military does not want it to be public knowledge, and the decision is made not to use it in a rescue attempt. Toby is aware of it through his brother, who was a mission specialist prior to his death, and leaks it to a reporter. Once it is widely known, the military’s hand is forced and the astronauts are brought home safely.
Toby revealed classified information. I either don’t remember or never knew the precise charges against him (at the very least, wasn't one of the charges treason?), but they would have resulted in five years in prison had the President not pardoned him. What I do know is that I admire someone willing to spend half a decade in prison for their principles. And I would like to think that the men and women who actually do our government’s work at the highest levels have the same sense of integrity and principle that Toby does.
Toby Ziegler wasn’t an easy man to like, but I’d like to think I could have been his friend. Or at least his intern (watch out for those White House interns...).
To wrap up, here's a clip (sorry, it's a little long, but worth it!), that demonstrates quite a few of Toby's better traits, and features his ex-wife, Andy. He manages to be decisive, brusque, and slightly frightened of her all at the same time. This is one of my favorite speeches of Toby's, enjoy.
A.H.
The Best of the West (Wing): Part One
I didn’t start watching “The West Wing” until a couple of years after the show actually ended its run on TV. A friend let my dad borrow all seven seasons on DVD, and after some protesting (due to a misguided attempt at extra credit points in a college government class for watching one episode, not occurring to me then that it would’ve been a lot better if I’d seen the show from the beginning), I gave in and started watching it. I was drawn in by the witty banter of the characters (thank you, Aaron Sorkin), and by the end of the pilot episode, I was hooked.
My favorite “The West Wing” character is Josh Lyman, played by Bradley Whitford. (Sidebar: while this post isn’t actually about Bradley Whitford, let’s just take a moment to reflect on what an amazing actor he is… ready, set, GO… I have two letters for you: E and R. If you’ve never seen the episode of “ER” called “Love’s Labor Lost” from season 1, go watch it immediately.)
(Don’t screw around with her about this either, believe me when I tell you that she is VERY serious about both Bradley Whitford and E.R., put them together and she just. Won’t. shut. Up. About it.)
I think my favorite thing about Josh Lyman is that he’s such a “real” character (yes, yes, that does seem like an oxymoron). I mean, the man is the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, but he still manages to act like a dork most of the time. In fact, even though he DOES act like a dork most of the time, the dorky things he does are real enough to be plausible that someone could actually do them. Here are just a few of my favorite dorky Josh moments:
1. “Take This Sabbath Day” (season 1, episode 14): Josh goes to a bachelor party, gets wasted, goes back to his office at the White House and passes out. Donna finds him and wakes him up, reminding him sharply that he has a meeting with Joey Lucas. She also notes that this clothes look like he’s been sleeping in a dumpster, so she takes them to a 1-hour dry cleaner. Unfortunately, Josh has nothing to wear in the meantime, so he’s forced to wear bright yellow rain gear throughout this meeting.
(Also, you can almost SEE how bad he must smell, one of those hangovers where the unmetabolized alcohol is just oozing from his pores. It’s not Josh’s finest moment. But it might be one of Donna’s.)
2. “The U.S. Poet Laureate” (season 3, episode 16): Josh finds a website dedicated to himself, called lemon-lyman.com. Despite Donna’s protests and valid reasons why he shouldn’t, Josh finds himself compelled to comment on the message boards on the website, prompting the Evil Dictator of a moderator to comment further on what an idiot he is. CJ ends up finding out about this (because she is, after all, the White House Press Secretary), and proceeds to verbally thrash Josh for being a moron.
(Hee-hee. The is an excellent lesson for all of us on why it’s useless to respond to internet trolls, whether you are a well known public figure, or just a regular reader of the comments on CNN.com news stories. You just can’t win with these freaks.)
3. “Inauguration: Part 2 – Over There” (season 4, episode 14): After realizing that Donna was, in fact, not the one who gave a nasty quote to a reporter about loyalty in the White House, Josh gets Toby, Charlie, Danny, and Will (all dressed in tuxedos for one of many Inaugural Balls) to go to Donna’s apartment to get her out. Donna, being all dressed up for the balls herself, is hiding because she’s embarrassed about the quote (which was actually given by her boyfriend). Josh and his band of merry men start throwing snowballs at Donna’s windows to get her attention since she’s not answering her phone or their yells from down below. Finally, Donna comes down, everything is worked out, and in a touching display of chivalry, Josh takes off his coat to put around Donna’s shoulders (she is wearing an evening gown in DC in January, after all).
Let’s also take into account that I think Josh is pretty sexy (again, though, in a nerdy kind of way). Yes, Sam Seaborn (played by Rob Lowe) is sexy in a chiseled jaw, seeeexy kind of way, but there’s just something about Josh (maybe it’s the name, since I married a Josh…).
(Oh, Rob Lowe’s chiseled jaw, mmmmmm, it’s so. . . . . . . . . chiseled. Also, I’d like to go on the record, that though we share a brain, we do NOT share an attraction to Bradley Whitford’s dorkiness.)
Josh is also a character with serious issues, too. In “What Kind of Day Has It Been,” the season finale of season 1, gunmen open fire into the rope line as President Bartlet and his staff are walking back to their limos. Josh, among others, is shot and seriously wounded, only to be found by Toby (which, despite the fact that it’s a very short scene when he finds Josh, it’s one of my all-time favorite “The West Wing” moments…Toby’s voice cracks as he starts calling for help after finding Josh and realizing he’s wounded, and it’s such a sad and scary moment all in one) at the beginning of the season two premiere (“In the Shadow of Two Gunmen (Part 1)”). He undergoes MAJOR surgery while the rest of the cast worries and waits to hear news of his recovery.
(Keep tissues nearby if you are watching this episode for the first time, it’s a tearjerker.)
Later on in season 2 (“Noel”), Josh starts seeing a shrink for treatment of PTSD. The acting in this episode reminds me a LOT of the episode of “ER” that I mentioned earlier, and again, the acting abilities of Bradley Whitford are amazing – shown off by the fact that he won an Emmy for season two of “The West Wing.”
I really could go on and on about how much I love the character of Josh Lyman, but I’ll stop now because you’re probably all thinking I’m nuts anyway (which I’m very much okay with). To close, here’s a clip of a great (non-dorky) Josh Lyman scene. I could listen to him talk about government and politics (and yes, even Islamic extremism {because this episode, “Isaac and Ishmael,” which was the season premiere of season 3, which aired just a few weeks after September 11, 2001}) all day long, but for now, here’s a 3 ½ minute clip.
A.V.
My favorite “The West Wing” character is Josh Lyman, played by Bradley Whitford. (Sidebar: while this post isn’t actually about Bradley Whitford, let’s just take a moment to reflect on what an amazing actor he is… ready, set, GO… I have two letters for you: E and R. If you’ve never seen the episode of “ER” called “Love’s Labor Lost” from season 1, go watch it immediately.)
(Don’t screw around with her about this either, believe me when I tell you that she is VERY serious about both Bradley Whitford and E.R., put them together and she just. Won’t. shut. Up. About it.)
I think my favorite thing about Josh Lyman is that he’s such a “real” character (yes, yes, that does seem like an oxymoron). I mean, the man is the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, but he still manages to act like a dork most of the time. In fact, even though he DOES act like a dork most of the time, the dorky things he does are real enough to be plausible that someone could actually do them. Here are just a few of my favorite dorky Josh moments:
1. “Take This Sabbath Day” (season 1, episode 14): Josh goes to a bachelor party, gets wasted, goes back to his office at the White House and passes out. Donna finds him and wakes him up, reminding him sharply that he has a meeting with Joey Lucas. She also notes that this clothes look like he’s been sleeping in a dumpster, so she takes them to a 1-hour dry cleaner. Unfortunately, Josh has nothing to wear in the meantime, so he’s forced to wear bright yellow rain gear throughout this meeting.
(Also, you can almost SEE how bad he must smell, one of those hangovers where the unmetabolized alcohol is just oozing from his pores. It’s not Josh’s finest moment. But it might be one of Donna’s.)
2. “The U.S. Poet Laureate” (season 3, episode 16): Josh finds a website dedicated to himself, called lemon-lyman.com. Despite Donna’s protests and valid reasons why he shouldn’t, Josh finds himself compelled to comment on the message boards on the website, prompting the Evil Dictator of a moderator to comment further on what an idiot he is. CJ ends up finding out about this (because she is, after all, the White House Press Secretary), and proceeds to verbally thrash Josh for being a moron.
(Hee-hee. The is an excellent lesson for all of us on why it’s useless to respond to internet trolls, whether you are a well known public figure, or just a regular reader of the comments on CNN.com news stories. You just can’t win with these freaks.)
3. “Inauguration: Part 2 – Over There” (season 4, episode 14): After realizing that Donna was, in fact, not the one who gave a nasty quote to a reporter about loyalty in the White House, Josh gets Toby, Charlie, Danny, and Will (all dressed in tuxedos for one of many Inaugural Balls) to go to Donna’s apartment to get her out. Donna, being all dressed up for the balls herself, is hiding because she’s embarrassed about the quote (which was actually given by her boyfriend). Josh and his band of merry men start throwing snowballs at Donna’s windows to get her attention since she’s not answering her phone or their yells from down below. Finally, Donna comes down, everything is worked out, and in a touching display of chivalry, Josh takes off his coat to put around Donna’s shoulders (she is wearing an evening gown in DC in January, after all).
Let’s also take into account that I think Josh is pretty sexy (again, though, in a nerdy kind of way). Yes, Sam Seaborn (played by Rob Lowe) is sexy in a chiseled jaw, seeeexy kind of way, but there’s just something about Josh (maybe it’s the name, since I married a Josh…).
(Oh, Rob Lowe’s chiseled jaw, mmmmmm, it’s so. . . . . . . . . chiseled. Also, I’d like to go on the record, that though we share a brain, we do NOT share an attraction to Bradley Whitford’s dorkiness.)
Josh is also a character with serious issues, too. In “What Kind of Day Has It Been,” the season finale of season 1, gunmen open fire into the rope line as President Bartlet and his staff are walking back to their limos. Josh, among others, is shot and seriously wounded, only to be found by Toby (which, despite the fact that it’s a very short scene when he finds Josh, it’s one of my all-time favorite “The West Wing” moments…Toby’s voice cracks as he starts calling for help after finding Josh and realizing he’s wounded, and it’s such a sad and scary moment all in one) at the beginning of the season two premiere (“In the Shadow of Two Gunmen (Part 1)”). He undergoes MAJOR surgery while the rest of the cast worries and waits to hear news of his recovery.
(Keep tissues nearby if you are watching this episode for the first time, it’s a tearjerker.)
Later on in season 2 (“Noel”), Josh starts seeing a shrink for treatment of PTSD. The acting in this episode reminds me a LOT of the episode of “ER” that I mentioned earlier, and again, the acting abilities of Bradley Whitford are amazing – shown off by the fact that he won an Emmy for season two of “The West Wing.”
I really could go on and on about how much I love the character of Josh Lyman, but I’ll stop now because you’re probably all thinking I’m nuts anyway (which I’m very much okay with). To close, here’s a clip of a great (non-dorky) Josh Lyman scene. I could listen to him talk about government and politics (and yes, even Islamic extremism {because this episode, “Isaac and Ishmael,” which was the season premiere of season 3, which aired just a few weeks after September 11, 2001}) all day long, but for now, here’s a 3 ½ minute clip.
A.V.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Recipe Review: Homemade Goldfish Crackers
I am a regular reader of the Pioneer Woman, and read all the recipes posted on on the website for ideas and inspiration. I haven't made anything straight off the website lately, but when I saw the recent post about homemade goldfish crackers, I thought, I HAVE to try this. Max LOVES goldfish, and I typically buy the whole wheat ones, but good golly miss Molly, those babies are spendy for being nothing more than fish shaped cheese crackers. Once I read the recipe, I realized that I had all the ingredients on hand already, and the hardest part was going to be finding my food processor.
I chose to fashion myself a teeny tiny goldfish cookie cutter out of a soda can, following the directions posted in the original post, here, which took a little time, but was (sort of) worth it in the end. I'll elaborate on that point later on.
The crackers are nothing more than flour, butter, salt, cheese and water, as you can see here:
I doubled the recipe because the recipe calls for 8 oz of shredded cheese, but I had an unopened 16 oz block of colby jack in the fridge, so I decided to just use the whole thing. The 16 oz of shredded cheese are joined in the food processor by 2 cups of flour, and 8 tablespoons of cold butter, cubed, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and pulsed till the mixture resembles coarse sand. Then 4 tablespoons of water are added one at a time. The recipe doesn't indicate whether to stop adding when the dough reaches a certain consistency, so I just added all four, and things turned out fine. The dough gets wrapped in plastic and rests for 20 minutes in the refrigerator before being rolled and cut out. With experience, I would say that a longer rest in the fridge would be better, the dough is definitely easier to handle when it's very cold, like most doughs with a high proportion of butter it gets more fragile as it gets warmer.
After a nice long rest, the dough gets rolled, cut and baked at 350 degrees for fifteen minutes. I cut my dough into eight smaller pieces, stashing the pieces I wasn't immediately working with in the fridge, and returning my leftover scraps of dough there between rollings to firm up. This is the cookie (well, cracker) cutter I used,
It's about an inch and a half long, and on the fragile side, but it got the job done. Also, I set up sort of a jig to make sure that all my batches of dough got rolled out to exactly the same thickness.
So, what you are looking at is four stacks of three dvd's each that my rolling pin could rest on. That way once the dough was as thick as those three dvd's, I couldn't roll it any thinner. It worked really well, and made every batch consistent. And yes, I was rolling it out between layers of plastic to reduce sticking.
These are the unbaked crackers on parchment lined baking sheets waiting to go in the oven. Cutting out all those fishies was VERY tedious, and in future, I'd probably just make squares, because while the dough came together in about five minutes, I spent better than 90 minutes cutting allllllll the tiny fish out. But for a first try, it was a fun project and made for a cute finished project. Also, that narrow spot between the body of the fish and the tail? That, kiddos, is what we call a weak spot, and I can not tell you how many fish got rolled back into the ball of dough after they separated at that point.
And the finished crackers! As you can see, they are paler than normal goldfish, but I used colby jack not cheddar, so I didn't expect them to be as orange. Also, you know, no dyes or artificial colors.
A nice closeup for my partner in crime, who never met a food closeup she didn't like, and a picture for scale.
My final take? The recipe was easy, cheap, and the boy can't get enough. He's figured out what cabinet they're in, and he keeps pointing and grunting, which in our house at least, is high praise. I will FOR SURE be making these again. I will also for sure be making them square not fish shaped, as I am certain they will be just as tasty when they aren't shaped like sea creatures.
Any hard cheese would work in these, a friend of mine mentioned that she made them once with a local Michigan cheddar that was delicious, and I'd even bet that if you fiddled with the amount of water, you could use a blue cheese if you really wanted to knock somebody's socks off.
One caveat, though, if you are going to make these for your family, do not do what I did and leave them in plain view on the counter for a day and a half. They may be better for you than commercially produced crackers, but they still contain a laughable amount of butter, so you may want to store them somewhere that discourages you eating a handful every. single. time. you go into the kitchen.
A.H.
I chose to fashion myself a teeny tiny goldfish cookie cutter out of a soda can, following the directions posted in the original post, here, which took a little time, but was (sort of) worth it in the end. I'll elaborate on that point later on.
The crackers are nothing more than flour, butter, salt, cheese and water, as you can see here:
I doubled the recipe because the recipe calls for 8 oz of shredded cheese, but I had an unopened 16 oz block of colby jack in the fridge, so I decided to just use the whole thing. The 16 oz of shredded cheese are joined in the food processor by 2 cups of flour, and 8 tablespoons of cold butter, cubed, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and pulsed till the mixture resembles coarse sand. Then 4 tablespoons of water are added one at a time. The recipe doesn't indicate whether to stop adding when the dough reaches a certain consistency, so I just added all four, and things turned out fine. The dough gets wrapped in plastic and rests for 20 minutes in the refrigerator before being rolled and cut out. With experience, I would say that a longer rest in the fridge would be better, the dough is definitely easier to handle when it's very cold, like most doughs with a high proportion of butter it gets more fragile as it gets warmer.
After a nice long rest, the dough gets rolled, cut and baked at 350 degrees for fifteen minutes. I cut my dough into eight smaller pieces, stashing the pieces I wasn't immediately working with in the fridge, and returning my leftover scraps of dough there between rollings to firm up. This is the cookie (well, cracker) cutter I used,
It's about an inch and a half long, and on the fragile side, but it got the job done. Also, I set up sort of a jig to make sure that all my batches of dough got rolled out to exactly the same thickness.
So, what you are looking at is four stacks of three dvd's each that my rolling pin could rest on. That way once the dough was as thick as those three dvd's, I couldn't roll it any thinner. It worked really well, and made every batch consistent. And yes, I was rolling it out between layers of plastic to reduce sticking.
These are the unbaked crackers on parchment lined baking sheets waiting to go in the oven. Cutting out all those fishies was VERY tedious, and in future, I'd probably just make squares, because while the dough came together in about five minutes, I spent better than 90 minutes cutting allllllll the tiny fish out. But for a first try, it was a fun project and made for a cute finished project. Also, that narrow spot between the body of the fish and the tail? That, kiddos, is what we call a weak spot, and I can not tell you how many fish got rolled back into the ball of dough after they separated at that point.
And the finished crackers! As you can see, they are paler than normal goldfish, but I used colby jack not cheddar, so I didn't expect them to be as orange. Also, you know, no dyes or artificial colors.
A nice closeup for my partner in crime, who never met a food closeup she didn't like, and a picture for scale.
My final take? The recipe was easy, cheap, and the boy can't get enough. He's figured out what cabinet they're in, and he keeps pointing and grunting, which in our house at least, is high praise. I will FOR SURE be making these again. I will also for sure be making them square not fish shaped, as I am certain they will be just as tasty when they aren't shaped like sea creatures.
Any hard cheese would work in these, a friend of mine mentioned that she made them once with a local Michigan cheddar that was delicious, and I'd even bet that if you fiddled with the amount of water, you could use a blue cheese if you really wanted to knock somebody's socks off.
One caveat, though, if you are going to make these for your family, do not do what I did and leave them in plain view on the counter for a day and a half. They may be better for you than commercially produced crackers, but they still contain a laughable amount of butter, so you may want to store them somewhere that discourages you eating a handful every. single. time. you go into the kitchen.
A.H.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Cook Along: Volume Four - Balsamic Chicken
It’s been awhile since our last Cook Along, so if you’re still here, thanks for sticking around! Tonight’s Cook Along was Balsamic Chicken from Allrecipes.com.
Take One:
Before I start my review of the Balsamic Chicken, I have to make a note that my brother, Patrick, joined Josh and I for dinner tonight, and he ended up helping me make dinner (which marks the first time that we’ve ever cooked together before – weird!). I also got him to stop at the store to pick up chicken breasts and a vegetable for dinner (I SO didn’t want to do it myself on the way home from work). He showed up not only with chicken breasts, but several vegetables (don’t worry, I’ll tell you in a minute what they were), AND a Cyrus O’Leary’s turtle cheesecake pie. Let me just say now that he can come over for dinner ANY time.
I’m actually typing this before dinner is completely made. The chicken is simmering away in the sauce, and if the smell is any indication, it’s going to taste fantastic. For our sides tonight, we’ve having steamed white rice, Caesar salad, tomato-cucumber-onion-in-Italian-salad-dressing-salad (we really need to come up with a better name than that), and garlic bread. Let’s be honest here – if it had just been me stopping at the store, the vegetable would’ve been like, roasted asparagus or something else super easy, but that’s okay.
I already really like this recipe for several reasons. First, it smells good. Second, other than having to get chicken breasts, everything that this recipe called for was in my pantry and in my spice cabinet. Third, I love, love, love balsamic vinegar, and I don’t think there are enough recipes that call for it.
For right now, dinner is just about ready, so I’m going to go finish getting the last of dinner ready and then eat. It smells amazing in here, and I can’t wait to go eat.
Okay…an hour later, I’m back to finish this up. The results are: yum! Patrick said that the chicken was “kickin’,” although we all agreed that it was a little bit dry (but I think it was just cooked a little too long while we were waiting for the garlic bread to finish up). I definitely think this recipe will be made again. It was easy and didn’t take too long to make, which is perfect for weeknight cooking.
I couldn’t get a good enough picture of the chicken by itself, so here’s a picture of the whole dinner (minus the Caesar salad because it wouldn’t fit into the frame). And yes, it was as delicious as it looks.
A.V.
Take Two:
I liked the sound of this recipe from the start, since the ingredient list was short, and I like anything that offers something new for chicken breasts. This came together really quickly, although I did cook my chicken based on something I heard in a really interesting segment on The Splendid table recently about not cooking meat in liquid (stock, water, wine, etc) that is more than a bare simmer. Apparently, the boiling action of the liquid literally squeezes the cells like a sponge, wringing out all the moisture. So you think that you are fine because your chicken breast is cooking in stock, but it still comes out dry, because the stock was boiling. So I cooked the chicken breasts by searing them to get some color on them, then in the sauce on a low temp, so it was barely simmering until cooked through. It took slightly longer, but the chicken was really juicy. I took the meat out of the skillet once they were done, and put them on the cutting board under a metal bowl to stay warm while the sauce reduced. Once it was the consistency of running barbecue sauce, I sliced the chicken and spooned the sauce over the chicken. We had our Balsamic chicken with a side of corn on the cob and my new favorite thing to make, potato galette. Potato galette cooks primarily in the oven, and corn on the cob is all prep work, so the chicken recipe was a great fit. Also, we have one chicken breast left, which I am dreaming about using on a salad for lunch tomorrow. Some nice lettuce, a juicy tomato, maybe some red onion and the remaining chicken with the leftover sauce slightly warm over top. Or maybe as dinner during Leftover Lotto.
This is a definite keeper, and I would go so far as to say, my favorite of the recipes so far, great for summer, especially now during the height of grilling season. This would be amazing on the grill, just put the sauce in a small pan on the back of the grill, use it to baste the chicken, or let it reduce to serve alongside. You could do kebabs, with zucchini, tomatoes, onion. Or how about with some tomato and mozarella on a grilled sandwich.
On a side note, let me also recommend the potato galette. There is a recipe if you want one, but it is just thinly sliced potatoes laid in an oven proof skillet, you melt a little butter in a hot skillet, and then layer the potatoes with salt and pepper and tiny bit of rosemary (I only put this on the first layer, salt and pepper on all layers). After the initial layer, you can brush a bit of olive oil over each layer, but use it sparingly to avoid the finished galette getting greasy. Now, traditionally, this is an all butter dish, so feel free to go that way, too. At any rate, you just keep layering. The more people you need to feed, the more layers you add, and adjust your cook time accordingly. This does great at about 350 degrees, half an hour for only a couple layers, maybe 45 minutes if you do half a dozen layers. But if you've got something else in the oven, just put it in and keep an eye on it, it's potatoes, you can't mess this up. Try it, you'll like it.
Let us know if you try this one, I'd love to hear what you did with the leftovers.
A.H.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Brilliant Revelation re: Zucchini Orzo from this week's Cook Along
Tonight we had Leftover Lotto for dinner, which is basically my attempt at jazzing up boring old leftovers. I opted for the leftover orzo from the other night's cookalong with. . . . . . . . . wait for it. . . . . . . . . . it's worth the wait. . . . . a poached egg on top!
I heated up the orzo in a non stick skillet with a pat of butter, added an extra splash of lemon juice, and a handful of parmesan cheese, and then I poached an egg and plopped it on top of my bowl of pasta. After mixing up the egg with all the pasta and cheese, I was left with a bowl of pasta and zucchini in a light but luscious sauce. Enough protein from the egg to call it dinner, and a mighty satisfying one at that!
AH
PS - A little cooked pancetta, ham or bacon with this would propel it into the realm of the truly stellar.
I heated up the orzo in a non stick skillet with a pat of butter, added an extra splash of lemon juice, and a handful of parmesan cheese, and then I poached an egg and plopped it on top of my bowl of pasta. After mixing up the egg with all the pasta and cheese, I was left with a bowl of pasta and zucchini in a light but luscious sauce. Enough protein from the egg to call it dinner, and a mighty satisfying one at that!
AH
PS - A little cooked pancetta, ham or bacon with this would propel it into the realm of the truly stellar.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Cook Along: Volume Three - Zucchini Orzo
Since the first two Cook Alongs were main dishes, we decided for this one that we should do a side dish. At first, we were going to do potatoes, but do you know how hard it is to find a non-salad, non-baked potato dish that doesn’t take an hour to make? Anyway, we quickly changed it and decided to try our hand at Zucchini Orzo from AllRecipes.com (which, by the way, is an all-around awesome website…you should really check it out).
And now, on to the reviews!
Take One:
We eat a lot of zucchini and yellow squash in our house, but always cooked the same way, sauted with garlic in a pan, so I was psyched about doing something new. I almost always have zucchini and squash in the house, so the only thing I had to buy was the pasta. This recipe was super easy, just saute the veggies, stir in cooked pasta, add lemon juice and bingo, bango, boingo - dinner. I kind of (blatantly) broke the rules because I couldn't stop my self from adding a sprinkle of parmesan cheese on top as I served it, but I say that parmesan was a garnish, so it doesn't count. (That caviar is a GARNISH! Quick, name that movie!). This came together really easily, and the reviews were positive. Andrew liked it and Max was stuffing into his mouth by the handful, so I assume he liked it. It was a nice summery side dish, and I'll definitely be making it again. The only thing I would change is that I would chop up some garlic to add in when I cooked the onions, and I would use less pasta and more zucchini and squash. Also, how delicious would this be for fall with some butternut squash in place of the zucchini, et al, and some nutmeg/allspice/cinnamon? Yummmmmmmm.
This time I served it with a mustard and herb marinated round steak, which did not come out as well as I would have liked, but I think it would be fantastic with a parmesan crusted chicken breast, so that might be my next try. This one gets two thumbs up all around and you should defnitely try it. The only advice I have is be careful straining the orzo, a bunch of mine slid right through the holes in my strainer and ended up in the sink. I'd probably put a piece of paper towel in the bottom of the strainer to prevent that.
AH
We eat a lot of zucchini and yellow squash in our house, but always cooked the same way, sauted with garlic in a pan, so I was psyched about doing something new. I almost always have zucchini and squash in the house, so the only thing I had to buy was the pasta. This recipe was super easy, just saute the veggies, stir in cooked pasta, add lemon juice and bingo, bango, boingo - dinner. I kind of (blatantly) broke the rules because I couldn't stop my self from adding a sprinkle of parmesan cheese on top as I served it, but I say that parmesan was a garnish, so it doesn't count. (That caviar is a GARNISH! Quick, name that movie!). This came together really easily, and the reviews were positive. Andrew liked it and Max was stuffing into his mouth by the handful, so I assume he liked it. It was a nice summery side dish, and I'll definitely be making it again. The only thing I would change is that I would chop up some garlic to add in when I cooked the onions, and I would use less pasta and more zucchini and squash. Also, how delicious would this be for fall with some butternut squash in place of the zucchini, et al, and some nutmeg/allspice/cinnamon? Yummmmmmmm.
This time I served it with a mustard and herb marinated round steak, which did not come out as well as I would have liked, but I think it would be fantastic with a parmesan crusted chicken breast, so that might be my next try. This one gets two thumbs up all around and you should defnitely try it. The only advice I have is be careful straining the orzo, a bunch of mine slid right through the holes in my strainer and ended up in the sink. I'd probably put a piece of paper towel in the bottom of the strainer to prevent that.
AH
Take Two:
I love zucchini. I love it sautéed, baked, in bread, and therefore, I love that Tuesday was the first day of summer, which means that it’s Zucchini Time! I’m glad we decided to do this dish, and I think it turned out really, really well (to be made next time with just a couple of minor adjustments).
First though, I have to be honest with you all. I did break a teeny tiny (okay, okay, the Cardinal) rule of the Cook Along and (only slightly!) altered the recipe. And by “altered,” I mean that I just changed the amount of the veggies that were in it. Even though I LOVE sautéed onions, Josh really hates onions of any kind and tries his hardest to avoid them at all possible costs. He tolerates them to a degree as long as they’re sautéed to death, which I didn’t totally want to do, so I used only half the amount of onion that the recipe called for. On a similar note, my grocery store only had pretty small zucchini, so I got two instead of one. No biggie.
There’s not really a whole lot to say about the preparation of this dish. It was cooking pasta (easy) and chopping vegetables (which I love to do!). No rocket science involved. The ONLY drawback to this recipe was the fact that orzo pasta is really difficult to strain. It’s little and rice-like, so I ended up with a bunch of pasta at the bottom of my sink (not that big of a deal, but to someone that doesn’t have garbage disposal, it was kind of a pain to clean up). Also, we had this with beer-braised pork chops (okay – shameless plug for one of my favorite ways to cook pork chops: go here), and they were awesome, too.
The verdict? Like I said above, this turned out really well. It was fresh and summery and delicious! The only two (tiny) things I’d do differently are add some garlic to the veggie sauté and a little bit of fresh parmesan at the end. Other than that, I think this recipe is great! Josh wasn’t wild about the onions, but he picked around them and ate everything else. He agreed that a little garlic and fresh parmesan would be good additions to this recipe.
I like close-up pictures of food, so that’s what you get of my finished product tonight. Enjoy!
A.V.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Addendum to Cook Along: Baked, Marinated Porkchops
Quick update to our first Cook Along recipe. I repeated the recipe tonight, except using sirloin chops, that were closer to 1.5 inches thick. They turned out nice and tender and much juicier, so I would definitely recommend going with a thicker cut of pork if you have the option. Also, I was out of lemon juice, so i used a couple teaspoons of whole grain mustard instead. I know it's not a real substitution, acid for acid, but the addition of mustard really brought a nice note to the finished sauce, so I'd recommend it.
Happy Eating,
A.H.
Happy Eating,
A.H.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Cook Along: Volume Two - Chicken Fingers and Dipping Sauce
Tonight marks the second appearance of our Cook Along feature. A brief recap of the rules, we both cook an agreed upon recipe, on the same night, exactly as it's written. No changing the recipe, no discussing it until after the cook along is done, and NO LEMON BARS!
Tonight is actually a two-fer, Easy Chicken Tenders from Pioneer Woman, and Chicken Finger Dipping Sauce. The ingredients are all basic pantry staples, which is always nice. No Glamour Shots of the ingredients tonight, as neither one of us remembered to take a picture, so you'll have to imagine what raw chicken and flour looks like for yourself.
Now, on to the reviews.
Take One:
Okay, confession time. I picked tonight's recipe because when Andrew and I lived in Baton Rouge, one of our favorite restaurants was Raising Cane's. They only serve chicken fingers, and they give you this fabulous dipping sauce that is unlike anything else I've ever had. So when I found the recipe online to make the sauce, I knew I had to try it. As was mentioned above, the recipe is pretty simple, all items I had on hand.
I used boneless chicken breasts I already had in the freezer, just cut into strips. I actually forgot to take them out of the freezer until like ten minutes before I wanted to start dinner, but luckily, I'd read this article the other day about how you can safely defrost things in hot water without risking food born illness, so I tried it and it worked like a charm.
Since Pioneer Woman says to just use whatever you have on hand to season the flour, and because I NEVER use season salt, I used chile powder, salt, white pepper, oregano and garlic powder. The end result was nicely seasoned, and I'm glad I didn't buy season salt specially for this recipe.
I had a little trouble getting the right consistency when I added the milk to the flour, but I ended up mushing it between my fingers like if I were making pastry dough,and it came out pretty well. The final coating was a good thickness, and there were plenty of little crunchy bits. I'm glad to have that technique in my repertoire for future.
I ended up with way more chicken fingers than I needed to serve two adults and one toddler who barely eats meat anyway, so I took Pioneer Woman's suggestion and flash froze half of them. I'll report back later how that works out.
So, I have to tell you my deep, dark kitchen secret. Ready? Come closer. . . . *whispers* I'm afraid of frying things in oil of any depth.
Yeah. I know. I consider myself a better than average home cook. I'm not intimidated by much in the kitchen. I'll try anything once, custard, souffle, candy making, whatever. But anytime a recipe requires more than the barest puddle of oil in the bottom of a skillet, I start to get nervous. I have a splatter screen, and I have a fire extinguisher, but I have to tell you that in the fifteen minutes it took me to cook the chicken I'm pretty sure my blood pressure went up at least 20 points.
But we got through it, and they turned out nicely golden brown and crispy. The dipping sauce was pretty much spot on like Raising Cane's, and went nicely with a side of mashed potatoes and coleslaw. Andrew's only critique was that they were "too crispy", but I'm not sure how to respond to that, so, oh well.
My final verdict? Honestly, pretty good. Easy recipe, good finished product, but at the end of the day, a lot of prep work and dirty dishes. I hate to say this, but next time I want chicken fingers (once I've cooked the ones in the freezer) I'm more inclined to just pick up a five pack of chicken selects at McDonald's. GASP! Yeah, I know. But I just don't want chicken fingers that often, and I really like those, especially since they don't come with a side of dirty dishes.
So, if you're set on making chicken fingers, this is a great way to go. If you're looking for an easy week night meal, I might just keep looking.
AH
Take Two:
Tonight is actually a two-fer, Easy Chicken Tenders from Pioneer Woman, and Chicken Finger Dipping Sauce. The ingredients are all basic pantry staples, which is always nice. No Glamour Shots of the ingredients tonight, as neither one of us remembered to take a picture, so you'll have to imagine what raw chicken and flour looks like for yourself.
Now, on to the reviews.
Take One:
Okay, confession time. I picked tonight's recipe because when Andrew and I lived in Baton Rouge, one of our favorite restaurants was Raising Cane's. They only serve chicken fingers, and they give you this fabulous dipping sauce that is unlike anything else I've ever had. So when I found the recipe online to make the sauce, I knew I had to try it. As was mentioned above, the recipe is pretty simple, all items I had on hand.
I used boneless chicken breasts I already had in the freezer, just cut into strips. I actually forgot to take them out of the freezer until like ten minutes before I wanted to start dinner, but luckily, I'd read this article the other day about how you can safely defrost things in hot water without risking food born illness, so I tried it and it worked like a charm.
Since Pioneer Woman says to just use whatever you have on hand to season the flour, and because I NEVER use season salt, I used chile powder, salt, white pepper, oregano and garlic powder. The end result was nicely seasoned, and I'm glad I didn't buy season salt specially for this recipe.
I had a little trouble getting the right consistency when I added the milk to the flour, but I ended up mushing it between my fingers like if I were making pastry dough,and it came out pretty well. The final coating was a good thickness, and there were plenty of little crunchy bits. I'm glad to have that technique in my repertoire for future.
I ended up with way more chicken fingers than I needed to serve two adults and one toddler who barely eats meat anyway, so I took Pioneer Woman's suggestion and flash froze half of them. I'll report back later how that works out.
So, I have to tell you my deep, dark kitchen secret. Ready? Come closer. . . . *whispers* I'm afraid of frying things in oil of any depth.
Yeah. I know. I consider myself a better than average home cook. I'm not intimidated by much in the kitchen. I'll try anything once, custard, souffle, candy making, whatever. But anytime a recipe requires more than the barest puddle of oil in the bottom of a skillet, I start to get nervous. I have a splatter screen, and I have a fire extinguisher, but I have to tell you that in the fifteen minutes it took me to cook the chicken I'm pretty sure my blood pressure went up at least 20 points.
But we got through it, and they turned out nicely golden brown and crispy. The dipping sauce was pretty much spot on like Raising Cane's, and went nicely with a side of mashed potatoes and coleslaw. Andrew's only critique was that they were "too crispy", but I'm not sure how to respond to that, so, oh well.
My final verdict? Honestly, pretty good. Easy recipe, good finished product, but at the end of the day, a lot of prep work and dirty dishes. I hate to say this, but next time I want chicken fingers (once I've cooked the ones in the freezer) I'm more inclined to just pick up a five pack of chicken selects at McDonald's. GASP! Yeah, I know. But I just don't want chicken fingers that often, and I really like those, especially since they don't come with a side of dirty dishes.
So, if you're set on making chicken fingers, this is a great way to go. If you're looking for an easy week night meal, I might just keep looking.
AH
Take Two:
For these chicken strips, I bought chicken breasts that were already cut into tenders (why take the extra step of cutting chicken breasts into strips if someone’s already done it for me, right?). The recipe calls for Lawry’s seasoning salt, which I didn’t have already in my spice cabinet, but I actually had a random coupon for it, so I got that, too.
I started off dinner by getting my side dishes going, since they were going to take longer than the chicken strips. We had roasted asparagus with garlic (yes, again, but that’s a favorite in our house, and my mother-in-law bought me some asparagus and garlic at our local farmer’s market last Saturday and I needed to use them up) and roasted red potatoes with French onion dip seasoning (another favorite). Once those were in the oven, I got to work on my chicken strips.
The first thing I noticed was that when I poured the buttermilk into the flour/Lawry’s mixture, it didn’t ball up into nice little clumps like the recipe suggested it would. It clumped up into big goobies that didn’t really evenly cover the chicken tenders. I ended up with kind of a gluey mess, but I made it work. The next thing was that it took much longer for my chicken strips to cook than just the minute and a half per side that was listed in the recipe. The third group of chicken strips turned out really nice and crispy and definitely were the best ones (the first group wasn’t bad, but it since those were the first ones, they were really more like practice).
Positives: Once I got the hang of frying the chicken, it turned out really crispy and good. The dipping sauce was really tangy on its own, but it was absolutely perfect with the finished chicken strips. They were definitely better than frozen, store-bought chicken strips, and the Lawry’s added a nice kick of flavor to the batter. My asparagus and potatoes were also delicious (but then again, they rarely fail me). Josh really liked this dish, and he really, really (REALLY) liked the dipping sauce.
Negatives: Honestly, as good as this recipe is, it isn’t something that I plan on making on a regular basis. Ignoring the fact that I burned my finger pretty badly on the pan that I was using to fry in, my kitchen now smells like a grocery store deli. Now, I spent a summer working in a grocery store deli, and it was my Least Favorite Job EVER. To this day (and it’s been 10 years since that summer), when I walk into a grocery store, I can tell if their deli needs to change the oil in their deep fryers, and it makes me nauseous and I usually leave (seriously). The fact that my kitchen now smells like this is really gross and I’ve got like three candles burning and several windows open to try to get the smell out. Also, there were a LOT of dirty dishes involved in this, which isn’t my idea of a good time, and overall, this took way longer than I thought it would.
Even though I’m not super excited about the scent that the chicken strips left in my house, I’m really glad that we decided to do this recipe. I’ve never actually fried anything before, so I’m glad that I tried it.
Here’s a look at my finished product. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to go run more cold water on my burned finger.
A.V.
Post Script: The Chicken Fingers that went in The Freezer
The chicken fingers have been languishing in my freezer since this cook along, and I pulled them out tonight as a last minute dinner option when I knew I needed something that everybody would eat for dinner tonight, with out complaint.
They were thawed to refrigerator temp in about 90 minutes, and went straight into the pan from there. They were slightly drier tonight, but we preferred their texture this time around. I'd say they were as good or better than the first night. Unfortunately, Despite fully half the prep work being done, I still have an awful lot of dirty dishes. And hot cooking oil to deal with. Well, shit. I probably won't be repeating this in future.
AH
Post Script: The Chicken Fingers that went in The Freezer
The chicken fingers have been languishing in my freezer since this cook along, and I pulled them out tonight as a last minute dinner option when I knew I needed something that everybody would eat for dinner tonight, with out complaint.
They were thawed to refrigerator temp in about 90 minutes, and went straight into the pan from there. They were slightly drier tonight, but we preferred their texture this time around. I'd say they were as good or better than the first night. Unfortunately, Despite fully half the prep work being done, I still have an awful lot of dirty dishes. And hot cooking oil to deal with. Well, shit. I probably won't be repeating this in future.
AH
Monday, June 6, 2011
That Weber Grill Commercial
So have you seen this Weber Grill TV commercial? It was all over last summer, and I showed it to anyone who would get near enough to a computer that I could pull it up. Well, of course, we moved and got rid of the cable, and moved again, and so by now I’ve forgotten about it. Except that while we staying in the hotel in Birmingham several weeks ago it came on ESPN while Andrew was watching a ball game (had to have been the Tigers, but who knows who they were playing). I had truly forgotten how much I love this commercial. I had that song stuck in my head for days. Do you enjoy this commercial as much as I do?
Here, watch it once or twice then we’ll talk.
Right? How do you feel now? Happier right? And maybe like going out and grilling something tonight? That’s the point of the commercial of course, the big bad secret behind the happy music and the funny dancing, but I don’t care. It’s fun to dance to when it comes on, and Max always laughs, so I say Madison Avenue hit this one out of the park. Watch it a few more times, or go here to see the other versions of it from this year and last year. Your toes will be tapping before you know it.
AH
Here, watch it once or twice then we’ll talk.
Right? How do you feel now? Happier right? And maybe like going out and grilling something tonight? That’s the point of the commercial of course, the big bad secret behind the happy music and the funny dancing, but I don’t care. It’s fun to dance to when it comes on, and Max always laughs, so I say Madison Avenue hit this one out of the park. Watch it a few more times, or go here to see the other versions of it from this year and last year. Your toes will be tapping before you know it.
AH
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