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My Profile
She blinded him with whiteness - 2008-07-25
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10:59 a.m. - 2008-03-05
Yesterday I mentioned I'd gone out three times since coming down with this buggardly flu. That, if you're playing along at home, was Feb 22nd. Yup, I've left my house three whole times during the last 10 days. (I've realized should I ever become enmeshed in the penal system that solitary confinement wouldn't be much of a punishment at all. I could do a 5 month stint in isolation standing on my head. If they really wanted to punish me they'd make me get up and go somewhere every day. "All right, Prisoner #487, today you have to go to the DMV and tomorrow you have to hit Ace Hardware and wrangle cats at the Spay and Neuter Clinic. Up and at 'em, you felon!" "Noooooo!!!! I wanna stay in my cell! At-ti-ca! At-ti-ca! At-ti-ca!") Heh. Anyhow, adventure #1 was to Wolf's school for a med review and to go over what I missed at his yearly IEP evaluation. I know, you're just dying of the envy over that one. When I do go out I know how to whoop it up big. Nar, nar, nar. Adventure #2 was to go see The Other Boleyn Girl. I am forever indebted to Miss Steph for turning us on to Hoyt's Theater. Here on our side of the river our choice of movie houses is limited to a couple indie places (which run over-hyped kid crap, not lovely art house stuff) and the AMC at the Glamoria in Malltown. Which also specializes in over-hyped crap with the added bonus of being filthy dirty, stuffed with obnoxious teenagers (redundant that), and wildly overpriced. Oh, and the sound is turned up so loud the parking lot outside the mall quakes. Not so the Hoyt's. It's a lovely theater. Clean, the prices are reasonable, the staff is polite, and best of all there's 10 screens and some of them actually show grown up movies. As for the movie itself, LA the Critic gives it 3.5 stars. Snaps to the costumers for historical accuracy- right down to the shoes being foot neutral, shoes didn't start being left and right foot specific until well into the 18th century. Snaps as well to the female leads for playing their roles bare faced. Again, make-up not the done thing back in the day. Boos and hisses for an overwrought heavy-handed script and for making Henry the 8th a moron following his dick through life instead of his being the brilliant polymorph he actually was. True enough he was a monarch on the quest for a male heir, but Henry did manage to do a few other things besides chase nubile court babes in a continuous effort to dip his wick. The movie plays fast and loose with most of the truth, history was given short shrift in favor of making a juicy soap opera, but for all of that The Other Boleyn Girl was well worth the time and didn't send me diving into my purse for something pointy to gouge my eyes out with nor did it render me deaf from the sheer inanity of the dialog. Anne gets a few cheeky speeches and Katherine of Aragon is dynamite. No weakling willingly shunted off at Henry's whim, her screen time is brief but extremely powerful. Adventure #3 was to Shoprite. (I told you I'm a wild thing. Grocery shopping rocks!) See, Mick had unknowingly flung a gauntlet my way. We were watching Food Network and one of Flay's throw-downs was a lasagna challenge. Mick innocently said the pallid pasta slop on the screen looked good. Right. I've seen school lunches with more appeal. Then and there decided to show my guy what REAL lasagna was. (Odd, even though I can't eat I'm still able to cook. In fact cooking is one of the few things that's sparking my interest these days. Writing sure as hell ain't doing it.) Sunday was the designated lasagna day and off we went to Shoprite to load up on ingredients. Home again and after a rest I went to work. LA's To Die For Lasagna Prep time: approx 1 hour Ingredients: Prep: Chop pepper, onion, mushrooms, garlic and basil. Set aside. Remove casings and brown sausage meat in 2T of olive oil. Chop at it so it becomes crumbly. Hit it with a few shots of oregano while browning. When well-browned and cooked through remove sausage meat from pan, set aside to cool, and immediately put mushrooms in sausage pan. Add more olive oil if the pan's too dry. Brown mushrooms and set aside. In another large pan wilt peppers and onions in 2T olive oil. When onions begin to become translucent add hamburger meat, drained tomatoes, basil and garlic. Season with oregano and garlic power. Cook until veggies are very soft and meat is brown and crumbly. Set aside to cool. Drain spinach and squeeze most of the moisture out. In a bowl combine: bread crumbs, eggs, and 4oz of pecorino. Add a bit of sauce if it's too, too powdery. Result will be a lumpy paste. Follow package directions and prepare lasagna noodles. Drain and rinse in cold water. Assembly: Spray pans with cooking spray. Bake: Note: It is important to let lasagna rest for at least 15 minutes after removing from oven. A half hour is even better, if you can hold your family off that long. Slice into it too soon and it all slides apart into a gooey mess and all your careful layering is for naught. If this sounds like a ton of work, it's not really. Unless you're not into cooking and then it's hell. I can guarantee you foodie-types that the results will be well worth the effort, if Mick is any reliable example. At the first bite his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he shook all over in some kind of divine taste bud rapture. When he snapped out of it he commenced to chow making slobbering yummy noises and small groans of delight. Packed away almost half a pan at that first sitting, my man did. Took a couple hours for him to come out of the coma, but ever since that meal he's been giggling foolishly and peppering me with grateful kisses at every opportunity. Not bad for a couple hours in the kitchen on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
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