Wednesday, March 12, 2003

Today in Literary History:  Leah Does Not Vomit or Toss Novel Across Room   Here’s another weird coincidence:  Just today I sat down to read the new biography on Andrew Carnegie,  which I checked out from the Red Wing Public Library (formerly the site of the Carnegie-Lawther library) last night purely by chance.    And then I see on Salon.com that today was an important day in literary history, precisely because of Carnegie's philanthropic support of public libraries:  http://www.salon.com/books/today/2003/03/12/mar12/index.html   The biography of Carnegie has an interesting start, before it gets mired down in the business transactions which were the bulk of Carnegie’s life.  His early years were the usual tale of immigrant poverty and despair.  But his mother was quite a survivor.  When her son got his first break in life, as a telegraph delivery boy, she would see to it that his one good set of clothes was washed and ironed each night, even if he got home after mid-night, so that he could look spiffy for work the next day.    You see, there’s no telling what a boy can’t accomplish with a good mom behind him.  Not that I want Kipp to become a robber baron, but if he wanted to give his money away to libraries someday, I’d be so proud.   (If Kipp had two good sets of clothes, I’d see to it that he did the washing and ironing himself, though!)   Biographies.  I’ll read them about anyone.  Don’t have any idea who the person is?  All the better.  Judith Thurman’s bio of Isak Dinesen is the literary altar at which I worship.   I’ve been a voracious reader all my life, but lately I have no patience for fiction.  Maybe it’s due to heightened awareness of my own mortality-- I don’t want to waste my time on something someone else made up!    On the other hand, if the things other people made up weren’t so vomit-inducing, I’d probably give fiction another chance.   I try, every now and then, to read a novel, but quite literally, I end up throwing them, unread, across the room.  It happened to I Don’t Know How She Does It.  (Don’t know, don’t care--not because the subject matter was uninteresting, but because it was such headache-inducing prose, I couldn't hack it.)  It happened to a book that looked promising, called Year of Wonders, about the Black Death in a small English village,  until suddenly some child’s decayed head was rolling around the floor and the author completely lost control of her tale.   I don’t think there’s been anything on Oprah’s list that I could stomach; she and I have very different tastes in literature.  Incest & infanticide are just not my idea of an enjoyable time.   This old Scottish proverb, from Carnegie’s biography is rattling around in my head today:  Be happy while you’re alive, because you’re a long time dead.    I’d tweak the proverb to say:   be careful what you read, because you're a long time dead.   comment []10:32:40 PM     I should not talk so much about myself if there were anyone else whom I knew as well. - Henry David Thoreau I'd never run across the above quote before in my life, and now, suddenly, twice in the past two days. And now you can run across it too. Thoreau forgot to add that even if you did know somebody else as well, if you chose to write about them they would probably not like it. Back to the baked potatoes.  They don't mind if I talk about them. comment []3:01:56 PM     I’ve always just baked potatoes by poking them a few times with a fork and throwing them in the oven.   However, the genius at the helm of Cuisine at Home has convinced me that I can do better, by just following a few simple steps:   1.  Use the right potato:  russet, no bruises, no eyes, no green tint.  Use within a week of purchase.   2.  Scrub, dry, pierce with a fork to release steam during baking (for a fluffy interior).   3.  Here’s the difference:  Place the potatoes in a sealable plastic bag with a little oil and kosher salt.  Rub to coat with oil and place the potatoes directly on the rack of a 450 degree oven for one hour.   4.  When done the potato will be soft inside and the skin crisp and brittle; split and serve them quickly, or the skin will soften as a result of steam inside.   Once I’ve made these baked beauties, tonight I’m going to take them a step further and turn them into stuffed baked potatoes, which is a little like twice-baked, but fussier, daintier, fancier—take your pick. In other words, more work.  But they looked like something my child would think was pretty cool.   1.  Bake 6 potatoes as above. 2.  Heat ½ cup milk, 2T unsalted butter, 3-4 minced garlic cloves, and salt, pepper & nutmeg to taste in a small saucepan over medium heat until hot and butter has melted.  Remove from heat and set aside; keep warm while preparing the potatoes. 3.  Prepare potato shells by first cutting a small piece off both ends of 4 hot baked potatoes.  Discard the ends.  (To bulk up the filling, peel the 2 extra potatoes and add them to the mashed potato filling.) 4.  Cut each potato in half cross-wise (not length-wise), then scoop out the flesh, leaving about ¼” around the sides, making little cups.  It’s okay if you break through the bottom. 5.  Stand the shells in a muffin tin, wide end up.  6.  Brush inside of shells with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, or unti crisp and brown.  Reduce oven to 425.   7.  Mash potato flesh while it’s hot using a ricer, hand masher or electric mixer.  Stir in enough of the hot milk mixture to make stiff mashed potatoes. 8.  Transfer potatoes to a piping bag fitted with a large plain tip and pipe into shells in a swirl motion. (If you don’t have a piping bag, just spoon the potatoes into the shells.) 9.  Drizzle each stuffed potato with a little more oil, sprinkle with salt, and bake 20-25 minutes or until browned and heated through. For flavor options , stir in some basil pesto, bacon & gruyere & scallions, or goat cheese & rosemary. comment []8:56:26 AM

© Copyright 2003 L. L. Adams. Last update: 4/7/2003; 2:55:42 PM.