Live and Let Di

Good enough for me!

From an article about how to live longer...

 

Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously

Since other obligations like writing my Triangle Mom2Mom blog, earning the occasional dollars for my work and sometimes acting like a wife and mom impede my blogularity (that's regular blogging...cute, huh), I've decided to post the occasional rerun. Since my husband and I recently saw (and loved) the movie and bought each other two of the associated books for Christmas, I thought this would be a good one! This was originally posted on August 29, 2006 when this blog was very new and a certain storm called Ernesto was trying to decide whether or not to become a hurricane!

 It is kind of strange...I really am a fiction reader. Geek that I am, I can tell you that since I started keeping track in 1997 fully 75.83% of my reading has been fiction. I don't know what this plunge into reality of late is all about. Please comment if you think you have an answer.

  In any case, as I was contemplating Ernesto who may not really be a hurricane,  I finished the last pages of Julie and Julia by Julie Powell. As Julie struggled to finish those last recipes as the 365th day of "the project" approached, I struggled to decide whether to stay in Boca or flee north to Merritt Island. While Julie's loyal fans were urging her and encouraging her, my husband was packing to fly to Minneapolis for a business trip leaving me, Ernesto, two children and a dog. Finished the book...hadn't made my decision yet.
 

Julie Powell , a self-described "government drone" dreading the impending "big 3-0", counting the ticks of her biological clock and contemplating the deep ennui of her job, decides to embark on the project of preparing every one of the 524 recipes included in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1 in an ambitious 365 days. [ed. note: this is the book I got my husband for Christmas...he got me Julia Child's My Life in France which is incorporated into the movie, but not so much in this book.] Child's book revolutionized cooking for untold millions of American housewives (you really MUST click on that link, it's brilliant!) long before the advent of low fat, fusion, Pam, bread machines or mango chutney. Her "Year of Cooking Dangerously" becomes a hilarious combination of frustrating failures and surprising successes and was detailed on a daily blog that attracted a loyal following of "bleaders" (blog readers).

What other book involves boning a duck, excessive vodka gimlets, The Joy of Sex, more aspic than most humans consume in a lifetime, the preparation and consumption of every possible internal organ of various mammals, marital discord, parental disapproval, mice fed to live snakes and disgusting plumbing disasters? I know, you can hardly wait to go out and buy this one! Julie makes it fun, makes you take the plunge with her, brings you to the brink of culinary disaster and makes you almost taste every bite. From the moment her first aspic fails to gel to the first one-handed crepe flip, Julie has you rooting for her success, encouraging her to soldier on and biting your nails that she might not make it.

The best part is that her book-ization of her blog has transformed her from government drone to pajama-wearing writer.  So go fix yourself a vodka gimlet and toast Julie while fantasizing about the tantalizing taste of her next writing effort!

And the movie? Julie and Julia? It's out on Netflix and well worth watching, as everything starring Meryl Streep (directed by Norah Ephron, no less) is. But seriously...even my husband liked it!

Perfect with Kosher Salt and Lime!

Happy nights and hungover mornings are in store for those who keep Kosher. Yes, Martin Silver of Star Industries has announced that Agave 99 will begin promotions on Cinco de Mayo, but it will be available in time for Passover! I can't wait for the promotions...Mexican songs sung in Yiddish! Somehow I don't think Raleigh, NC will exactly be in their promotion market. I'll have to find it on YouTube.

It's really not so crazy...tequila is fun. Hence, the catchphrase of our Mexican vacation, "Mas Tequila!"

Even my Mom, who isn't Jewish and doesn't drink tequila gave it a sip and learned about the correct process...salt, tequila, lime (try not to make squinchy face...it can give you wrinkles).

With this new product, Mom could be the hit of her Mah Jongg group. (Yes, my non-Jewish Mom plays Mah Jongg in several groups in two states!) All you need to go with the Kosher Tequila is:

How simple. And maybe your next dinner party will look like this:

Apologies to the non-irreverent of my readership. Oh, I forgot, I have no reverent readers.

Di

Six-Pack Abs

I guess everyone wants six-pack abs. I'm relieved that my son his this six-pack:

rather than this one:

Di

Expiration

Just need your collective opinion. How long after the "sell by" date would you suggest we eat this yogurt?

Yes, there are approximately 16 of these gracing our refrigerator shelf. And, let's put it this way, the "sell by" date does not end in "09."

Isn't the lighting in my fridge fabulous? I think I'm going to do my next blog portrait with my head in the refrigerator.

Di

If I Could Save Time in a Ziploc

Pop on over to Triangle Mom2Mom for new strategy for making lunch preparation for the brown bag crowd easier and more efficient...with kudos to my friend Pilar who gave me all the ideas!!!

Di

Sausage for the Pseudo-Vegetarians

I didn't know if there was a word for the people who eschew red meat, but will eat most poultry and fish, so I made one up...Pseudo-Vegetarians. My friend Amy is a Pseudo-Vegetarian, so sometimes when I'm ready to e-mail her a GREAT recipe, I suddenly remember...she won't love it because it's got red meat in it.

My neighborhood friends have been tutoring me on how to shop the grocery store sales. I'm getting it...kinda. Like I saw that mahi mahi was on sale for $5.99 per pound, my family likes it and that's a pretty good deal, so I was off to the fish counter at Harris Teeter. Then I noticed that the scallops looked AMAZING. So I'm chatting with the fish guy and he says, "Oh yeah, those just came in this morning. They've never been frozen." Next thing you know I've got a half pound of scallops (approximately 9) for close to $10. So, sometimes I don't get it.

While I was standing there, I noticed some weirdly flavored sausage. I mean like blueberry and cherry. Yuck...I just don't like to combine fruit with meat. Then I noticed this:

It's Aidells fully cooked Portobello Mushroom smoked CHICKEN and TURKEY Sausage. The fish guy, who I think is personally responsible for the huge profits in the seafood area, saw my looking at it and said, "Now THAT is just about the best stuff ever!"

I just had one with an omelette for dinner (alone on a Saturday night) and he was right. Yum!!!!

Di

I have enough friends, thank you!

Last night was the town hall meeting debate between:

And his worthy opponent: 

Now, I think everyone has heard about the Biden/Palin drinking game. Every time Sarah Palin says "maverick" or winks, you have to take a drink.

Just a few minutes into last night's debate, my friend Pilar said..."OK, every time McCain says, 'my friends,' everyone has to drink."

First of all, I'll bet there are scores of hungover Democrats this morning. And second of all, I value my friends. I hold them near and dear to my heart and would do anything for them. But you, John McCain, are not my friend. There can be such a thing as too many friends...and adding you to my list would definitely cross that line.

Di

Slow Ride with my Pot

When you've reached the age where the Tooth Fairy isn't coming to visit anymore and where any future teeth you lose will not be replaced naturally, but with really expensive man-made appliances. And how convenient...because MY suggestion is that when you reach this point, you try to find yourself an Appliance Fairy!!!

My Appliance Fairy came into my life a couple of years ago. I didn't know she was the Appliance Fairy because it was her hidden alter ego. We bonded over a mutual love of books, our kids being in the same class and shared irreverence about, well, everything.

It started off slow, first I was an official consumer tester for a blender. Then when I was randomly bitching about my coffee pot, a new one magically appeared! Well, a while back, you may remember that I blogged about the instant at which I realized that storing one's Crock-pot on top of one's fridge is not a good idea. What a crock!

How delighted was I that the Appliance Fairy magically appeared, promising a new Crock-pot? And how thrilled was I when I realized she was not only magical and generous but omniscient too, because she knew enough not to send it until we were moving into the new house? So, soon after we moved in and I made all kinds of resolutions about cooking better and more frequently in my wonderful new kitchen, this appeared on my doorstep:

It's not "just" a slow cooker, my friends. It is not your mother's crock pot. It is the queen mother of all Crock-pots. This is the Crock-pot that read our collective minds and incorporated every feature that could possibly make our slow cooking endeavors easier...and even a little bit more fun. There are two "cycles"...so you can cook your dinner on high for 6 hours and then on low for 3 hours. And then if you don't get right to it? It automatically switches to warm. The top IS HINGED to the appliance. You know how you used to take the glass top off only to be standing there with it dripping steam, wondering where to put it while you serve. Hinged, my friends. Brilliant! It even has a temperature probe so that you can cook your meat to just the right state of doneness.

As a gift of thanks to the Appliance Fairy, I am going to publish my family's all-time favorite Crock-pot meal. I don't think the authors of the book are going to get mad at me because I am giving their simple book a HUGE plug.

Simple. Delicious. Family loves it. That's about as perfect as a meal can get!

My copy of Crock-It by Barbara Murray-Neslen was a gift from my Mom years and years ago. It was originally published in 1989. My edition is the 4th and was published in 1993, so I have to assume that Mom figured the new baby in the house would make meal planning and preparing that much more complicated, so she got it for me. Amazon's details are a little sketchy, but I know for a fact you can get it from Quail Ridge Books (the queen mother of all independent bookstores.

If you own a Crock-pot, by all means pull it out and start cooking with it. Oh, and now that I am working at home during the day, it is glorious to smell the food cooking all day long! If you don't own one, rush to the store to get one. Even my fully-loaded, tricked-out one costs only about $100, but you can get a simple one for $19.99 at Wal-Mart.

Let me know how it goes!!!

Di

 

The Olympics - The Drinking Game

Somehow, when I was playing quarters at the Tick Tock at St. Lawrence or playing beer pong at Sigma Chi, I never really visualized myself caught up in a drinking game when I was in my 40s. Friday night proved me wrong.

As we gathered around the bar at the Cantina (for new readers, the Cantina is a bar in my friend Kim's garage) watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, a drinking game (an event WE could actually participate in) seemed appropriate.

As the parade of nations passed by, someone (I think it was Marcy):

came up with the idea of everyone trying to pronounce each flag-holder's name. If you couldn't pronounce it, you had to drink. Since I am, by necessity, a moderate drinker (with my depression and associated meds, drinking to excess is not a good idea) and since I am the resident language expert, I was the designated judge.

I am the judge and my decisions are final. Aren't my earrings cool? They are made from recycled Coke bottle tops.

The African nations helped Sharis make a huge dent in this wine bottle:

Monte is Fuquay Varina born and bred and those Slovakian countries just about did him in:

Stef and Marcy, the Irish girls, think they are SO cool with getting all those Irish names!

John laughs at Chereen's attempt at pronouncing the Congo's flag-bearer.

And Kim assures us that when her daughter makes the Olympic Gymnastic Team, no one will have a problem pronouncing her name...Montana Wrigley...so simple...a state and a gum!

Behind the drinking and hilarity was tremendous respect for the beautiful ceremonies, pride in our athletes and a little disdain for President Bush's apparent boredom or disdain for the festivities. He was like a 5th grader who can't sit still at the school assembly. Laura looked lovely and respectful throughout.

Did anyone notice that two of the three events he attended the following day were events where the least clothing was worn? Beach Volleyball and Swimming.

Di