Misc, Sundry, and Food

[neadods]

Fic Rec - a Ten/River that is nowhere near hearts and flowers. Grabbing the WhoDaily code (THANK YOU for taking that suggestion!)
For Old Times' Sake by dune_drd (Ten/River | No rating | Spoilers: Forest of the dead)

Scalzi on a rant is as good as Olbermann's special comments. Scalzi on Fox calling Michelle Obama "Obama's Baby Momma"

Have decided on the fly to turn part of the weekend into in-house spa time, mostly so I can hang around reading all day. The book choice is one that Bantam either gave to Malice by mistake or to flush a handful of leftover ARCs, because it has nothing to do with mysteries: it's The Wedding Officer, and the blurb on the back compares it to Chocolat and Captain Corelli's Mandolin. Not my usual cuppa, but the first sentence intrigued me ("The day Livia Pertini fell in love for the first time was the day the beauty contest was won by her favorite cow, Pupetta.") I keep thinking that I'll put it down when I inevitably get bored.

I'm on page 67.

However, the usual meals for the "spa" are going to require some thought, because it is simply impossible to follow sumptuous descriptions of Italian cooking - honestly, it's about half a shade removed from the banquet scene in Tom Jones, with just the tiniest touch of the Food Network - it's impossible to follow three pages per meal of that with microwave-reheated Silver Diner spaghetti. Oh, lunch is okay - bruschetta-topped mozarella followed by lemon sorbet is even in keeping with the theme. But dinner is as yet a puzzlement.

While I'm on the subject of food, there are two cookbooks that I fantasize about owning: Indian Cooking for Weenie White Girls and Peasant Recipes Done Peasant-Style. The first is self-explanatory: for the foods that I enjoy for about 7 seconds, I'd like to find and eliminate whatever spice so I can enjoy it for the 8th second and beyond. The second is because it makes me crazy to find recipes for bread pudding that require three pots and a custard, or coc au vin that takes 370 steps to make. You know for damnsure that the originators of these recipes were NOT fussing around like that!

Comments

[havocthecat]

Dude. I want those cookbooks.

[dune-drd.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rec :)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! Even the next morning that last sentence gives me chills.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Fox News would be hilarious if it wasn't actually real and people took them seriously.

[significantowl.livejournal.com]

*grins* Madhur Jaffrey's books have proved excellent for this weenie white girl. I've never made anything that we couldn't handle, plus she gives great background on different dishes and ingredients.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

Seconded. I have one of her books and it is quite brilliant.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

*runs off to Amazon*

Does she have a recipe for paneer? I've been kicking my ass for ages for not picking up the one I saw with a paneer recipe.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Heh. Going to look at her list on Amazon, it turns out I don't have any of her cookbooks, but I do have her memoir!

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

John "outraged liberal" Scalzi rly made my day with his brilliant take-down.

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

P.S. Bread pudding or bread and butter pudding? The former is basically a v heavy fruit loaf, the latter is slices of bread n butter with fruit n custard.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Possibly the latter; what I'm calling bread pudding is essentially a different form of French toast - ripped up bread soaked in a milk and egg sauce and baked. Fruit is optional (although I'm quite partial to apple, or banana and chocolate.)

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

Well, the "peasant", i.e. working class, version goes like this:

Butter slices of horrible white, pre-sliced bread on both sides. Line a baking dish with them, add a smear of marmalade, and some (dried not black etc) currants (NOT raisins or sultanas btw y'posh foreigner!) add another layer of buttered bread &etc depending on thickness of pre sliced bread (it comes in thin, medium, and thick usually) and depth of dish but not too many layers. Add either Bird's instant custard made from powder or, if posh, Ambrosia custard from a tin (or, these days, a tetrapack). Bake until gooey (NO crisping the top or any tarty nonsense like that). Serve the surprisingly delicious desert warm from the oven or, if you're rly rly good at getting the precise amount and density of custard correct, cold from the larder (fridge these days) in slices the next day.

Probably not the recipe you were hoping for but it is precisely what you asked for.... ;-P

[neadods.livejournal.com]

The "what have I got lying around the house" version I've been doing is two slices of ripped-up bread soaking in a mixture of two eggs, a tablespoon of sugar, and enough milk to make it liquid, about 1/3 cup. Let it soak for about half an hour before baking until set. As you see, fruit optional, but easy to do on the fly and easy to adapt to fruit.

I think I'm going to try yours; I love British custard, which doesn't really exist here. Closest thing I've found, aside from the occasional tin of Birds in the matzo & soy sauce aisle of the supermarket, is a recipe from the Colonial Williamsburg cookbook.

If you really want to roll your eyes, look at the Fine Cooking recipe sometime. It has something like three eggs and one yolk and steamed milk and heavy cream and all sorts of nonsense. But no marmalade in sight.

Y'know... I have no idea where to get currants. None. Dried cranberries and raisins sultanas yes, but not currants. I'm not wildly sure I know what one is.

Silver Diner uses just enough egg and milk to make it stick together, but they also add huge slices of apple and drizzle it with caramel.

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

For reference, "custard" in British English generally means "vanilla custard" unless stated otherwise. We're creatures of habit.

Currants are "raisins of Corinth", i.e. dried, small, dark, seedless grapes, and usually less sweet than raisins.

The key to making Brit-style bread and butter pudding is the terrible, dense, rubbery white bread (even better if it's slightly stale because it's more absorbant that way).

I don't think I've ever used steamed milk for anything except super-hot coffee in my entire life.

Silver Diner uses just enough egg and milk to make it stick together, but they also add huge slices of apple and drizzle it with caramel.

That's sooo full of wrongness. ::tuts::

[neadods.livejournal.com]

That's sooo full of wrongness. ::tuts::

But also full of yum!

I try to avoid the kind of bread you describe. I'm not sure what it's made of, but I doubt it's made of actual food.

[spiralsheep.livejournal.com]

P.S. I admit that, strictly speaking, the marmalade is optional but my tastebuds insist it goes in.