Beetroot talk (me about them, not me to them or vice versa)

You can't live on beetroot. I'm sure many vegetarians have died trying, though you'd probably get sick of life and kill yourself before malnutrition did it for you, but beetroot do have a necessary place in life.

One thing that beetroot needs to be partnered with in marriage in order to be somewhat pleasant is something that holds its shape, and is something that's acidic or something sweet (preferably both). An apple fits this description but isn't quite acidic enough. So, I've found that judicious use of vinegar makes up for this. And, to this, adding olive oil, goat's cheese (to be vegetarian is one thing, but I don't tolerate vegans), salt, and pepper can hold hands with the beetroot quite handsomely.

The last time I tried something with beetroot this past weekend, I inadvertently smoked my beetroot when the amount of water I used to steam the rather large roots was judged insufficient by the smoke coming from the residue burning on the bottom of the pan when the pan ran dry right near the end of the steaming time. The smoke added a new and positive dimension of flavour (the beetroot didn't burn, they were simply submersed in mild smoke for about a minute), but I also added some Jerusalem artichokes since they are the only vegetable that tastes anywhere near as earthy as beetroot while complementing the taste and having a slightly different texture.

Cleaning a burned stainless steel pan is quite easy: boil vinegar in it for a few minutes and the crust pretty much flakes or falls off. The underside of the base of the pan didn't clean so well, but these aren't decorations -- they're for cooking!

The beetroot salad turned out well: beetroot, Jerusalem artichokes, olive oil, goat's cheese, a Gala apple, salt, pepper, fennel, and malt vinegar. I'm not going to type out a recipe because this is the kind of thing you do by ear and tongue (mostly the latter). I added different ingredients and varied and adjusted until it tasted right. It gave me three lunches this week and, each time, I seasoned it with a few splashes of malt vinegar to put some sharp edges on it.

What does it taste like? It tastes like a used bookshop. If you could eat a used bookshop, this is what it would taste like. And when you bite a piece of the apple, it's like wandering into the corner of the shop where sunlight still shines through the cloudy, weathered window.

Technorati: beetroot, cooking

Spicy curried potatoes (similar to chips or fries but not deep-fried)

Well, here's a recipe I came up with for some spicy potatoes that turned out very well. They are similar to chips or fries but they're not deep-fried. It makes a great snack.

Below is the list of what you need. I normally use whatever potatoes I just have lying around, but I usually mix types to some degree: white, yellow-flesh, red, etc. Despite the fact that Russet potatoes are normally used for fries, they are not the best ones for this. If you use some good new potatoes, they'll come with a nice soft, creamy texture if you following the cooking times and sizing of the slices:

• 8 small (not mini -- about 2-3" diameter) new potatoes: it's nice to mix a bunch of potato varieties together. I normally mix white, yellow-flesh, and red potatoes. I have used 4 small and 1 medium Russet before, but I prefer new potatoes for this.
• 4 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 tsp. mild curry powder: use a curry powder that carries very little heat. If you only have a hot curry powder, don't add the dried chili below
• 3/4 tsp. crushed dried red chili
• 4 garlic cloves
• salt
• pepper

For best results, you need to get 3 pans ready: one large saucepan to parboil the potatoes; one oven-suitable frying pan that can go right in the oven -- ideally cast iron; and one frying pan for the stove.

First of all, boil enough water (and add about 2 tsp. of salt to the water) for the potatoes and set the oven to preheat to 425F with the cast iron frying pan inside (i.e. preheat the frying pan with the oven). The frying pan should be on a rack in the top part of the oven.

While the water is boiling, wash and cut up the potatoes (don't remove the skins -- they are very nutritious!). Cut the potatoes into pieces that are between 1/2 and 3/4" thick at their thickest part.

Once the water is boiling, get the stove-top frying pan preheating by turning on the element. Put the potato pieces in the water and boil them for 5 minutes.

Peel the garlic cloves and cut them in half. After the potatoes have been boiling for about 3 minutes, put the olive oil in the stovetop frying pan and add the garlic cloves. Toss them and let them sizzle for about 1 minute, and then sprinkle the crushed chili and then the curry powder into the oil abot 30 seconds apart. Make sure the curry powder is dissolved into the oil.

The potatoes should now have been boiling for 5 minutes. Take them off the heat and drain them, and then add them to the stovetop frying pan. Toss them well to coat the potatoes with the oil (the curry powder should have a yellow tint from the turmeric in it, so you should be able to see when the potatoes are coated well).

Sprinkle about 1 tsp. of salt over the potatoes and about 1 tsp. ground pepper. Toss again.

Now dump the contents of the stovetop frying pan into the cast iron frying pan that has been pre-heating in the oven and return it to the oven. Cook in the oven for about 10 minutes and then turn the potatoes with a spatula (or tossing, if you've mastered the art of tossing in a heavy cast iron pan!). Return to the oven and cook for another 8-10 minutes (test for doneness around 8 minutes).

Now, remove the frying pan from the oven and transfer the potatoes to a bowl. Sprinkle with more salt, and add a few splashes of malt vinegar to add some zest!

That's all, and these are better than fries/chips, in my opinion! (and probably healthier)

Technorati: potatoes, fries, chips, spicy, curry, recipe

Seldom-told stories: Ron Rash's "Eureka Mill"

I took Ron Rash's "Eureka Mill" on the train with me this morning and almost finished it in the one-way trip. It's a book of poems describing the lives, stories, and circumstances of cotton mill workers as such mills began to move into farming communities and offer an attractive alternative to the backbreaking work of tobacco farming (even more backbreaking since the abolishment of slavery, I imagine).

I came away with a rather vivid picture in my mind of the types of issues that people had to deal with in living during such changing social circumstances: the loss of freedom of working your own land vs. the financially unsustainable nature of that work at the time, and the promise of affluence and a better future for your family offered by the factory.

There's a strange contrast between people having lived severely independent lives of often-unpaid hardship on the farm, deciding to give that up and go to work in the mill, and then forming community with others who have done the same only because of the newfound shared hardship they experience as factory workers -- though, this time, it is rather well-paid and assumed to offer a better future for your family.

Assuming you can forgive a loss of independence and of soul, this, I suppose, is progress. Even if you don't agree, you understand the temptation.

To give such an understanding (though obviously far from comprehensive) in such a small amount of time, I think it must mean that Ron Rash has written a good and effective collection of poems.

Technorati: Eureka Mill, Ron Rash, poetry

Ripley's Game

Out of the many, many DVDs I've bought, "Ripley's Game" is one of the relative few that I really should have bought. I watched it for about the 10th time this evening and it never gets old.

Strangely, this film was never released in theatres. For most films that suffer this fate, I can see a reason why. But with this one, I can't.

It is, at its heart, and as with the other Ripley stories, a study of a psychopath who has no conscience and who comprehends this "gift" and uses it to his full advantage. When people say things like, "well, he did x and he has to live with himself"... Ripley is a guy that could do x and live with himself and sleep quite soundly at night. These types of people exist and are probably at the receiving end of such platitudes more often than others.

In the earlier Ripley films, such as "The Talented Mr. Ripley" (with Matt Damon in the lead role, and probably the most well-known in the series), Ripley was learning to become comfortable with his gift and how to best make use of it. He was trying a lot of things on. But, in "Ripley's Game", we are seeing a fully-adjusted Ripley who uses his gift in a machine-like fashion. In my opinion, the latter is a better movie.

"Ripley's Game" is an understated, mild movie with a demeanour that matches the public persona of Ripley himself at this stage of his life. It has a complementary instrumental score that never overwhelms, as well as some beautiful music on the harpsichord that is woven into the story as his wife practices her craft on various versions of the instrument in preparation for a live concert.

The film is set in Italy and shows off much of the country's great street life, architecture, and countryside. It has drama, dark humour, romance, and intrigue, and none are overblown or overemphasized. It flows freely and everyone is consistent with their characters. What more can you ask for?

Well, you could ask for the brilliant actor John Malkovich to play the sly lead role, and you get that, too. He is perfect for this role, and I can't imagine anyone else having done so well. He makes Ripley his own. So, is one of my favourite films a straight-to-video release? Yes, it is!

Technorati: Ripley's Game

Trip: St. Jacobs summer sausage

Summer sausage earned itself a bad reputation when I was growing up, but it was because of user error. For one reason or another, it ended up in a soup that had regular amounts of salt and pepper added to it. The resulting soup was incredibly salty and strong to the point that it almost made you feel sick. Summer sausage being a very strongly seasoned and flavoured sausage, the amounts of those things should have been adjusted downward to make it compatible with a soup.

So, in the interest of rehabilitation, on the trip I just finished, I picked up some Mennonite summer sausage from the St Jacobs market on the way home.

The best way to describe this sausage is that it's like a more complex version of those meat sticks you can buy as snacks in the supermarket -- the "Hot Rod" and that kind of thing. It's a strong, peppery, tough and chewy sausage that is cured and doesn't need to be refrigerated. As you can see, to the left, I'm just hanging mine up in the kitchen for now.

The sausage pictured is about 14" long and 3" thick and cost about $18. It is cured with maple smoke and has a very strong (but very nice) smell. When I got home from my trip, I wasn't sure if the smell in my house was coming from me or the sausage, having just sat for large parts of 3 days next to a campfire. It was a bit of both.

In my mind, the summer sausage has been vindicated. It is a delicious piece of foodcraft cured in a somewhat traditional way that, from my perspective, is best eaten as-is and may never see a recipe!

Technorati: summer sausage, Mennonite, St Jacobs

Bach Chorale in Georgetown, Ontario

This morning, I was browsing through the recent autumn edition of Sideroads of Halton Hills and noticed that a chamber choir called the Georgetown Bach Chorale was putting on a series of concerts at various locations in the region starting in October.

By early afternoon, I'd gone and bought a ticket from Foodstuffs in Georgetown (Freckled Lion is the other outlet, but I needed to buy coffee and tea and rarely need to buy childrens' books).

For $20, on October 24, there is an evening of violin and piano being put on by this outfit at the Knox Presbyterian Church. This church is a more traditional church (rather than the soulless "new parent" collapsible-tables-and-chairs-in-a-square-room-with-bad-acoustics style of church) and should provide a great environment for this concert.

But note that, although Bach is mentioned in the name of the choir, it doesn't look like this is a concert of Bach's music... slightly disappointing, but there's more to life than Bach, when you really think about it.

Technorati: Georgetown Bach Chorale, Knox Presbyterian Church

"Carrot farmer" may not be in my future

Although I had some success with tomatoes and beans this year (it is my second year growing both), my first year of growing carrots has not been successful.

Below, I present to you the entire carrot crop for 2008.

Still, I will try again next year... with not only orange, but yellow, purple, and maybe black carrots!

Technorati: carrots, gardening