Wednesday, March 19, 2003

Curses upon you, Emily A-W!  Or rather, curses upon your Absolut Mandarin and Camel Lights!  Yes, it was I that suggested we go out and buy the blasted Camels, but that is neither here nor there.  I love you dearly, Em, but you’re a bad influence. It is nice, though, to have a friend who can just drop by for dinner and you don’t feel like you have to impress.  Because the Great Lamb Leftover Bonanza continues, and so dinner was far from spectacular.  I reheated the braised lamb stuffed with salmon and anchovies, and the beans, and fucked it up by not covering it when I put it in the oven, so all the sauce evaporated and the meat got dry.  Also, I’m thinking leftover lamb stuffed with salmon and anchovies is maybe not what Martha would call a Good Thing.  The fishiness was more pronounced upon reheating, and really just not all that good.  On the side we had Carottes a la Forestiere, Braised Carrots with Artichoke Hearts and Mushrooms.  Which was fine.  I started that, of course, by trimming the artichokes and simmering them in a blanc of flour, water, lemon juice and salt for half an hour or so.  Then I peeled the pound and a half of carrots.  Between the artichoke leaves and the carrot tops and peelings, I quickly filled up the garbage can.  I really must start a compost heap. Compost in Long Island City, that’d be a hoot.  Well, at least no one would complain about the odor or unsightliness…. I braised the carrots with water, butter, a tablespoon of sugar and some salt, on the stovetop.  I browned some monster mushrooms that I’d quartered in butter and oil.  I took out the artichokes when they were done simmering and scraped out the chokes with a spoon, which really is a satisfying thing to do.  You know that grooming instinct women seem to have?  That insistence on popping pimples on their husband’s back, or licking their thumbs to rub a smudge off their kids’ face?  Scraping the chokes out of artichoke hearts satisfies that same urge.  It’s like personal hygiene, only with vegetables. Sorry, that was rather a gross analogy, wasn’t it? Anyway, once the artichokes hearts were scraped, I quartered them, and threw them in the skillet with the mushrooms.  Also some minced shallots.  I let that cook a bit, then tossed them in with the carrots.  The water the carrots were cooking with was supposed to evaporated, but it hadn’t.  I let it simmer hard, uncovered, for a few minutes, and then I just cheated and poured the excess out.  Then I added the mushrooms and artichoke hearts.  I poured in a bit of Better Than Boullion© and let it all boil, covered, for a few minutes.  A bit more salt and pepper, and that was that.  Carrots.  With artichokes hearts.  And mushrooms.  Kinda boring but whatever. All the while we were cooking, we were hanging around the kitchen chatting about Alice Waters and parents who think Terra Chips count as a serving of vegetables for their kids and what to mix Absolut Mandarin with, and it was all very bourgeois and pleasant.  Topped off with eating the (not very good but very efficient and trouble-free) meal in our oh-so-decorated dining nook, and you can just call us a bunch of yuppies.  (Oh, and shit, Em, you came up with a good line last night.  I was going to use it, but I can’t now remember what it was.  I blame the Absolut Mandarin. Oh, so, on the whole Alice Waters rant.  This is the problem with rants – they’re fun at the time, but you always feel like shit the next day.  Alice Waters obviously does great work, and thanks to all for the information.  The Edible School seems really just a great project – Quixotic, but a definite step in the right direction.  And yes, yes, California is great, look at all the green markets, blah blah blah….  I still think she’s a little smug, though. Oh, and hey, if any of you people out there work for AOL, you can tell your employer from me that their upgrade sucks donkey dicks, okay?   7:48:18 AM    comment []