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review, recipes and a plea for help.
May. 29th, 2003 10:06 amOkay, off we go.
Last friday evening, Andrew and I saw Down With Love An Hommage to those terrific 'sex' comedies of the late fifties/early sixties that Doris Day and Rock Hudson starred in. I found that hommage wasn't quite the right word. Sometimes the film parlayed into parody, and I felt the director and the writers couldn't quite make up their mind. The story was simple enough. Smart independent girl comes to the grand city to promote her book 'Down with Love', is to be interviewed by Catcher Block (ladies' man, man's man, man about town) but as he keeps postponing at the last minute to get laid with a number of Stewardesses (not flight attendants, but stewardesses) she says forget it, but he decides to get to her by writing a 'scathing expose' of how she really wants love, not sex. (oh, if the plot were only this simple)
The real winner of this film (besides the set design) is David Hyde Pierce. He captures the spirit of the buddy character often played by Tony Randall. (who has a great part as a publisher) He is neurotic, possesses an inferiority complex the size of pavarotti, and is given some of the best lines and equal comedic delivery in the film. "I think Vickie was only talking about marriage so I'd wanna have sex with her. And then I did, and now she never talks to me, except to come back for more. I feel so used!
I found it interesting they went for that 'grainy' early sixties approach in the film. I think they were trying to capture the feeling of the era, but they lacked the sincerity. If they wanted to do a parody, they should have gone the full lengths, if they were trying to be evocative they should have done that, but the muddling of the approach was a bit tiresome.
I admit genuine affection for those particular Doris Day films. She was always smart, independent, and so what if she wanted marriage. There is nothing wrong with that. There are a number of people who view those films as dinosaurs or pre-feminist, but if you take a good look at them, she is a precursor to Sex and the City. Independent Woman, who do want love as well, but on their terms (the only difference is Doris Day wasn't fucking her brains out with the doorman. (but that is another conversation)
I think the film that shows this the best is Pillow Talk There is a particularly interesting scene where she is sobbing and sobbing when coming back from a cabin. She has just found out that Rock Hudson's character is not who she thought he was. A number of people have thought, "oh she is sobbing, because she nearly had sex with that man...nearly losing her 'virtue." but in reality, she was willing to have sex with that man, and have no problem. Her problem was the fact that he lied to her and thus it changes everything.
Here is a woman in 1959 who was going to have sex outside of marriage (of course censors wouldn't have allowed that) But it shows how forward those movies were.
But back to the film at hand, I think it was fun, a lot of cute innuendo, stunning costumes (though I personally question a few of them...because certain outfits women wouldn't have worn at certain times of the day, but that is my own history geek speaking up) and a few fun musical numbers.
Something you can take Grandma to see, and chortle all the way to the concession stand.
....
Things I have been cooking.
Yesterday it was warm out, but it didn't stop me from using the stove. Am I bit of a masochist? We haven't decided yet. But I am a bit dotty.
So, I had porkchops and I set them in a marinade of olive oil, vinegar, bacon pieces, onions, salt and pepper. Once that had sat for about 5 hours, I put them in a pan and sauteed them, I put a bit of tomato paste into the pan, covered the chops with the tomato paste, added some sliced onions, and created a carmelized effect. (a smoky brown flavor) I did that by turning up the heat a bit, covering the pan for a few minutes, and in no time, prettiness.
I then placed them in my favorite blue dish, added some of the marinade and a few more onions. I baked them for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Voila, they came out beautifully. They weren't dry and they had a number of interesting flavors.
I also made potato salad. I cut up a few potatoes, placed them in boiling water and let them cook until they were just tender. An important thing to remember is to not cook your potatoes too long, otherwise you will end up with mushy potatoes and that ruins the potato salad.
After I drained them and let the potatoes cool, I threw in salt and pepper, some rosemary, and olive oil. In a pan I sauteed small pieces of bacon and then minced onion (I prefer walla walla sweets myself)I put the onions in with the potatoes.
I mixed together 1/2 cup of vinegar and 1/2 cup of water. I tossed it onto the potatoes and mixed that together. and finally added the bacon.
It is a definite sour taste, but the bacon and onions add a different flavor.
In both dishes there was a subtle sweet and sour flavor playing on the german 'seven sweets and seven sours' flavor I have been intrigued by as of late.
For dessert I made lemon curd. An incredibly simple dish that is equally fun to eat.
in a heavy 2 quart sauce pan you whisk together 1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice, 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon zest, and 1/2 cup of sugar 3 large eggs (which have been mixed together in another bowl) you want to stir this (with your amazing whisk) over low/med heat. The key thing is to keep stirring and you don't want to over-heat anything. Otherwise you will end up with burnt bits of lemon curd and that is pretty awful and always a bother to get rid of all of those bits.
As you whisk it together you want to add bits of butter (about 3/4 stick of cold butter cut up into small bits) keep whisking and whisking. Your hand and arms may hurt, but think of the muscles you will be building up. Plus the dessert is definitely worth it.
You shall keep stirring (and it will be frothy at one point) until it begins to stick to the whisk and it thickens and a few bubbles rise to the surface.
You will then remove from the heat, let it sit a moment and transfer to a bowl.
You can place it in the fridge (covered in plastic wrap) to cool.
It is good on toast, or eaten directly with a spoon.
It also makes an incredible cake filling (especially the day after you make it)
It is buttery, lemon, not too sweet, but you don't feel like you are sucking on lemons.
Eat up.
....
In other news, they may cut Reading Rainbow
I think not. So if you know anyone with a lot of money who wants to help Mr Levar Burton keep his amazing show going, help the man out.
I really loved that show as a child and I think it had a profound effect on a number of kids growing up.
Last friday evening, Andrew and I saw Down With Love An Hommage to those terrific 'sex' comedies of the late fifties/early sixties that Doris Day and Rock Hudson starred in. I found that hommage wasn't quite the right word. Sometimes the film parlayed into parody, and I felt the director and the writers couldn't quite make up their mind. The story was simple enough. Smart independent girl comes to the grand city to promote her book 'Down with Love', is to be interviewed by Catcher Block (ladies' man, man's man, man about town) but as he keeps postponing at the last minute to get laid with a number of Stewardesses (not flight attendants, but stewardesses) she says forget it, but he decides to get to her by writing a 'scathing expose' of how she really wants love, not sex. (oh, if the plot were only this simple)
The real winner of this film (besides the set design) is David Hyde Pierce. He captures the spirit of the buddy character often played by Tony Randall. (who has a great part as a publisher) He is neurotic, possesses an inferiority complex the size of pavarotti, and is given some of the best lines and equal comedic delivery in the film. "I think Vickie was only talking about marriage so I'd wanna have sex with her. And then I did, and now she never talks to me, except to come back for more. I feel so used!
I found it interesting they went for that 'grainy' early sixties approach in the film. I think they were trying to capture the feeling of the era, but they lacked the sincerity. If they wanted to do a parody, they should have gone the full lengths, if they were trying to be evocative they should have done that, but the muddling of the approach was a bit tiresome.
I admit genuine affection for those particular Doris Day films. She was always smart, independent, and so what if she wanted marriage. There is nothing wrong with that. There are a number of people who view those films as dinosaurs or pre-feminist, but if you take a good look at them, she is a precursor to Sex and the City. Independent Woman, who do want love as well, but on their terms (the only difference is Doris Day wasn't fucking her brains out with the doorman. (but that is another conversation)
I think the film that shows this the best is Pillow Talk There is a particularly interesting scene where she is sobbing and sobbing when coming back from a cabin. She has just found out that Rock Hudson's character is not who she thought he was. A number of people have thought, "oh she is sobbing, because she nearly had sex with that man...nearly losing her 'virtue." but in reality, she was willing to have sex with that man, and have no problem. Her problem was the fact that he lied to her and thus it changes everything.
Here is a woman in 1959 who was going to have sex outside of marriage (of course censors wouldn't have allowed that) But it shows how forward those movies were.
But back to the film at hand, I think it was fun, a lot of cute innuendo, stunning costumes (though I personally question a few of them...because certain outfits women wouldn't have worn at certain times of the day, but that is my own history geek speaking up) and a few fun musical numbers.
Something you can take Grandma to see, and chortle all the way to the concession stand.
....
Things I have been cooking.
Yesterday it was warm out, but it didn't stop me from using the stove. Am I bit of a masochist? We haven't decided yet. But I am a bit dotty.
So, I had porkchops and I set them in a marinade of olive oil, vinegar, bacon pieces, onions, salt and pepper. Once that had sat for about 5 hours, I put them in a pan and sauteed them, I put a bit of tomato paste into the pan, covered the chops with the tomato paste, added some sliced onions, and created a carmelized effect. (a smoky brown flavor) I did that by turning up the heat a bit, covering the pan for a few minutes, and in no time, prettiness.
I then placed them in my favorite blue dish, added some of the marinade and a few more onions. I baked them for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Voila, they came out beautifully. They weren't dry and they had a number of interesting flavors.
I also made potato salad. I cut up a few potatoes, placed them in boiling water and let them cook until they were just tender. An important thing to remember is to not cook your potatoes too long, otherwise you will end up with mushy potatoes and that ruins the potato salad.
After I drained them and let the potatoes cool, I threw in salt and pepper, some rosemary, and olive oil. In a pan I sauteed small pieces of bacon and then minced onion (I prefer walla walla sweets myself)I put the onions in with the potatoes.
I mixed together 1/2 cup of vinegar and 1/2 cup of water. I tossed it onto the potatoes and mixed that together. and finally added the bacon.
It is a definite sour taste, but the bacon and onions add a different flavor.
In both dishes there was a subtle sweet and sour flavor playing on the german 'seven sweets and seven sours' flavor I have been intrigued by as of late.
For dessert I made lemon curd. An incredibly simple dish that is equally fun to eat.
in a heavy 2 quart sauce pan you whisk together 1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice, 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon zest, and 1/2 cup of sugar 3 large eggs (which have been mixed together in another bowl) you want to stir this (with your amazing whisk) over low/med heat. The key thing is to keep stirring and you don't want to over-heat anything. Otherwise you will end up with burnt bits of lemon curd and that is pretty awful and always a bother to get rid of all of those bits.
As you whisk it together you want to add bits of butter (about 3/4 stick of cold butter cut up into small bits) keep whisking and whisking. Your hand and arms may hurt, but think of the muscles you will be building up. Plus the dessert is definitely worth it.
You shall keep stirring (and it will be frothy at one point) until it begins to stick to the whisk and it thickens and a few bubbles rise to the surface.
You will then remove from the heat, let it sit a moment and transfer to a bowl.
You can place it in the fridge (covered in plastic wrap) to cool.
It is good on toast, or eaten directly with a spoon.
It also makes an incredible cake filling (especially the day after you make it)
It is buttery, lemon, not too sweet, but you don't feel like you are sucking on lemons.
Eat up.
....
In other news, they may cut Reading Rainbow
I think not. So if you know anyone with a lot of money who wants to help Mr Levar Burton keep his amazing show going, help the man out.
I really loved that show as a child and I think it had a profound effect on a number of kids growing up.
