Reading: January 2010

Finally getting back into the reading groove. It’s something I’ve always loved, but never do enough of. Only three books this month, but a gal’s gotta start somewhere, right? Here we go:

Dear American Airlines, by Jonhathan Miles – I wrote about this a few weeks ago, so I’m not going to get into it again. Except to repeat: meh. (Goodreads review)

Pride and Prejudice and Zomibes, by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith – This was a lot of fun. I’m an Austen fan, and I do love me some zombies. A comedy of manners with some zombie ass-kicking. Good times. (Goodreads review)

Juliet, Naked, by Nick Hornby – Oh, how I do love me some Nick Hornby. Great characters, as with all of his books. Loved, loved, loved it. (Goodreads review)

Currently reading: Andromeda Klein, by Frank Portman. He wrote King Dork, which I’d like to re-read soon, since Salinger has just died, and the protag, Tom, has some fantasticly great things to say about the Catcher Cult that seems to have inducted as members all of the adults in his life. (woah, run-on sentence) I don’t, however, want to get back into the habit of re-reading things and not reading any new stuff. This year is all about reading things I’ve never read before, and I mean to stick to it for the most part.

It’s nice to have your friends for dinner

The Second Donner Party at Tuffet Manor was quite fun, indeed. Everyone brought cannibal-themed food, and much whiskey was consumed (though not really by me, I swear). All-in-all, a great night.

The 25th of January is Robert Burns’ birthday, and in the tradition of a Burns Night Supper, I decided to try my hand at a vegetarian haggis.* The real thing is made with oats, onions, herbs, and sheep organs (heart, liver, lungs) all boiled together in a sheep’s stomach. It sounds dreadful, but looking at photos makes it seem far less disgusting somehow. It just looks like an oat-based casserole. I started with this recipe from the Vegetarian Society of the UK. I made the following modifications to fit my tastes and available ingredients:

1. Soybean oil instead of sunflower oil
2. Brown lentils instead of red
3. Cashews instead of peanuts and hazelnuts
4. Omitted the soy sauce
5. Fresh parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme instead of dried thyme and rosemary and “mixed spice” (whatever that means)
6. Omitted the cayenne pepper (only because I forgot to put it in)
7. Assumed “fine oatmeal” meant steel cut oats, which is what I saw as an ingredient in many other recipes; and I only used 7 oz instead of 8, because my measuring device only held 7 oz and I didn’t think it needed the extra 1 oz.
8. Added celery and garlic to the onions
9. EDIT TO ADD: I can’t believe I forgot to mention this when making the list, but I added 1/3 cup scotch to the vegetable stock. Many recipes called for as much as a half cup, but I thought that would be a bit too strong.

Basically you sautee the veggies, add the stock, lentils, oats, and seasonings, and simmer for a while. Then plop the mixture into a dish and bake at 375 for a half hour or so. It was pretty tasty, and I’m definitely going to make it again.

The ingredients for this version look far tastier than their traditional counterparts (emphasis on the “parts”). I do so enjoy being a vegetarian.

The smell of all the veggies cooking away was absolutely amazing. I usually hate mushrooms, but only because of their texture. If they’re cut up small enough, I get to enjoy their flavor without being grossed out. Everything in this dish is to be chopped quite finely.

After the veggies have cooked a while, add part of the stock and the oats and lentils. Blend the kidney beans with the remaining stock, then stir into the pot.

Simmer for a while until the oats and lentils are partially cooked, around 20 minutes or so. Turn out into the oiled baking dish and bake at 375 F for about a half hour.

Boil up some potatoes and turnips, mash and season separately. I used a bit of Earth Balance margarine, salt and pepper, and a bit of nutritional yeast.

And there you have it: vegetarian haggis with neeps and tatties. (This one is a wee bit blurrier than the rest, as I forgot my camera and took these photos with my phone.)

Here’s only a portion of the whole spread: hand-cake (better than face-cake, so I’ve heard), various and sundry meaty things named after fleshy and bony bits, vegan chili (made with free-range vegans), sloppy Joes (made with bits of Joe), and our delicious vegan haggis. NOM!

My favorite dish brought to the gathering was of course, the Spotted Dick and Jammy Balls.

*A sin against God, so it is said.

NYC, Eddie, and Me

… And my neice, and hopefully some Tim Burton jut to keep things extra interesting.

I’m off to NYC tomorrow (well, later today, I suppose) and will be meeting my neice, Serina, in Manhattan just in time for to see Eddie Izzard at Madison Square Garden. I saw him in Boston several years ago, and he was amazingly hilarious. At one point I had been laughing so hard I was unable to laugh any further… I just sort of stopped and stared. It was that good. Anyway, the show tomorrow should be pretty great, or so I’ve heard.

I haven’t been to NYC in years, and never without some sort of guide. Once I’m there it’s sure to be great fun, but getting there and navigating myself around the city has me a little nervous. (Perhaps I should sleep. Or pack. Ugh.) I’m really looking forward to the trip, especially since I get to stay in the Library Hotel. Ever since that opened, I’ve wanted to stay there. And we’re going to try to check out the Tim Burton retrospective at the MoMA on Sunday. The last time I was in NYC was in 2001 for the Giacometti retro at the same place. Should be pretty good.
Coming back in the wee hours on Sunday/Monday. Whew.

Right, so… that’s the plan.

Woah! Text on pages that are paper!

I haven’t read an actual book in an embarrassingly long while. Or so was the case until this week. I’d pick up the occasional book, but I just wasn’t in the mood, or napping seemed a better use of my energy (or lack thereof, more accurately). My normal book reading time (commuting) has been used for other purposes (sleeping) because my normal sleeping time has been usurped by commuting (from roller derby). Everybody got that?

I finally started reading again this week, and even though the first book of the year merited no more than a “meh” response from me, I’m still glad I’m getting back into the habit. I think I’m going to use Twitter to write wee book reviews as I work through my “to read” list. And maybe I’ll keep track of things using Good Reads, but we’ll see. I love systems and lists and stuff, but tend to get caught up in the organizational process that I forget what I’m supposed to be doing and then get annoyed by the superfluous stuff and give up all together. It doesn’t have to be so involved. I don’t know why my brain likes to sabotage itself, but there you go.

Right, so… no more babbling.

The first book I read this year was Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles.

Synopsis: A man stuck in O’Hare Airport en route to his lesbian daughter’s “wedding” (his quotes, not mine) writes a novel-length letter of complaint to American Airlines and highlights scenes of his life and work outlining how he got to where he is now. He’s a giant screw up and is counting on getting to his daughter’s wedding so he can at least say he’d fulfilled one promise in his miserable life.

Review: Meh. The protagonist (Bennie) is not supposed to be likable, but I found I didn’t really care about him or any of the characters. I just wasn’t convinced, and in the end I was sort of rooting for him to kill himself just so the book would end. SPOILER: he changes his mind. Benny is fairly witty at times, though, and his self-deprecating humor drew a few laughs. I didn’t hate it, but I wouldn’t actually say I liked it.