30 x 30 Wrap-Up

Work Things
1. Find a Time Management System that Works
This is a constant struggle but the Pomodoro Technique, paired with a weekly priorities list, and a dry erase board listing the current status (urgent, backburner, waiting on a collaborator) and next step for each project are currently working for me pretty well.  I still constantly underestimate how much time everything will take me, but I'm getting better.

2. Five Publications 
I have only had two papers actually come out, one on paraoxonase in the Journal of Lipids  my dissertation work in Human Genetics but I have three more in press which will be out sometime in the next few months (hopefully) depending on the publishers' timelines.

3. Three Grant Applications
I've applied for more three applications and most importantly had one funded by Wenner-Gren.  I'll be ramping that research project up soon and I can't wait!  

4. Keep up with New Statistical Applications
This is a sisyphean task as there are always new methods coming out.  I did attend a great course taught at Cold Spring Harbor Lab in August which gave me all sorts of new references to work from.

5. Improve my R and Linux Programming

A friend of mine started an R programming group in San Antonio which has been great for learning new applications and meeting other nerds.

Fun Things
6. Go on a picnic
Not yet.  This whole fun things sectionis going to be ugly.  Evidently, I need to have more fun.

7. Go camping
Nope.

8. Go to a local festival
Turns out I don't like crowds.

9. Go to the beach
Yes!  In Malibu and Venice.

10. Go to a professional sporting event
Uh-uh. But I'm hoping for a San Antonio Silver Stars game this summer.

11. Participate in alumni association events
I cheered on the Jayhawks at a March Madness watch party.  Turns out the motivation I needed to finally get out of the house was getting rid of cable.

12. Use the library
I haven't actually checked out any books yet, but I've started looking forward to my commute thanks to their audiobooks.

13. Visit the zoo and botanical garden
Neither.

14. Watch classic movies

This one I've done a lot and, in agreement with every list ever, Casablanca was my favorite.

Crafty Things
15. Crochet a throw
Decided to be a bit less ambitious and crochet a pillow instead.  I'm really starting to get why people enjoy crocheting, though and may try a throw eventually.

16. Sew 6 garments for myself 
I did make two new items from scratch - my Easter dress and a mod pink pencil skirt I haven't posted yet - but I am even more excited to be upcycling new outfits from old clothes - teal pants and black cardigan with crepe ruffle, navy skirt and grey striped button down, and summer t-shirt dress (I'll be posting soon).  It's better for the environment AND my wallet.

17. Knit a sweater (Vignette Cardigan)
I knit one and I've cast on three others, because starting is the most fun part of a project!  

18. Knit a pair of socks
This was my first pair of socks with sock yarn and they are so decadent.  There is something really luxurious about hand knit socks.

19. Own no yarn that moved from PA
I'm counting those three cast-ons as using the yarn, so this is pretty much true.  All of my yarn now fits in the four wire baskets I have allocated for it, and I'm determined to keep it that way!

20. Put all photos in scrapbooks
Done, done, done!   

21. Learn to take better photographs
I really regret that I didn't put more time into this and I think I'll carry it over into the new year.  I do wish I took better photos, but I know it will take work.

22. Learn to draw
I started working on this and then realized that it really isn't that important to me right now.  

Yummy Things

23. Bake through Bread Baker’s Apprentice
I've learned to vary hydration levels (stiff dough for bagels and wet, sticky dough for focaccia), make lean pain de campagne and extremely rich casatiello, and leavened bread with direct fermentation (cranberry-walnut bread), instant yeast (stollen), and sourdough (pumpernickel).  My favorite development, though, is the sourdough pizza dough that has replaced my normal Friday dough.

24. Make brunch once a month
I love breakfast food.  This year we had apple-sour cream pancakes, Dutch baby, Southwestern omelet with extra crispy hash browns, waffles, spicy chicken biscuit sandwiches, peach and sausage kolaches, Moroccan merguez ragout with poached eggs, and migas.  

25. Try out six new canning recipes
Before summer rolls around, I'm using up my last stores of ginger pear butter, tomato jam, serrano jelly, ice-brined garlic dill pickles, peach butter, and - my favorite and already gone - chocolate balsamic strawberry jam.

26. Cook with a new ingredient each month
I tried out kala jeera, forbidden rice, pork belly, cocoa nibs, crab, caperberries, chia, and harissa, but I spotted three new fruits I'd never seen at the store today.

Strong Things
27. Run a half-marathon
I did it! I'm I ready to train for next year.

28. Compete in a 1 mile swim race
I missed the actual race (I was at my statistics course), but I've been swimming a mile most Sunday mornings.  

29. Complete two triathlons 
This year I completed the Spa Girl triathlon and Wurst Tri Ever.  Both had particularly fun swimming elements.  The Spa Girl was held at a resort and we swam the quarter-mile in the lazy river and the Wurst Tri Ever we road a water slide that dropped us into a spring-fed pond.

Last Thing
30. Purge things we don’t need from each room of the house
This has been so satisfying!  It is an ongoing project, and I think I may double back and purge more.

Three Dinners and a Movie

I've gotten behind on my Dinner and a Movie posts because I feel like my movie critiques aren't up to snuff and my food posts end up just being a thesaurus-worth of "this is tasty."  So, presented without additional commentary are three great meals for three great movies:

Thelma and Louise with fancier than diner Provençal Tuna Melt and Lightened-Up Banana Pudding (don't roast the bananas, they turn to mush).

Gone with the Wind with Hoecakes and Black Eyed Peas with Smoked Turkey Leg

Duck Soup with 1930s-era Philly Cheese Steaks with provelone instead of cheese sauce and Crispy Green Beans. 

Moonpie Kingdom

Geoff's birthday was last week- happy birthday, honey!  We've both been swamped since the beginning of the year and so he wanted to spend his birthday relaxing at home, watching movies.  Quite a few people had recommended Moonrise Kingdom to us so that was up first.  Like most Wes Anderson films, Moonrise Kingdom is self-contained to the point of existing in an entirely different universe, unlike some of the others, it seems a bit like the characters know they are in a Wes Anderson film.  Regardless, it's worth checking out for the beautiful scenery and the charming young characters.

For Geoff's birthday treat, I decided to make "Moonpie Kingdom" peanut-butter moonpies.  For my birthday, I always want chocolate-filled chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, but Geoff likes his chocolate in moderation.  I never had a particular affection for prepackaged moonpies, but the idea - two cookies, filling, and chocolate can't go wrong. Geoff loves peanut butter so I decided to make cake mix peanut butter cookies like my grandfather used to make and fill them with a peanut butter and marshmallow filling.  I had thought of making my own marshmallows  but it was a weeknight and even I have my limits.  The sweetness of the filling needed some contrast so I used a 60% cacoa chip to coat everything.  I think these would be adorable in a mini-size as well.  And, if you are looking to make these even quicker Nilla wafers or mini Nilla wafers would be probably do nicely in place of the cookies.  Just give them some time to let the marshmallow soften then up.

Peanut Butter Moonpie Kingdoms
serves 8

16 New-Fashioned Peanut Butter Cookies
7 oz. Marshmallow Fluff
1/2 cup peanut butter
8 oz dark chocolate
1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1. Make up a half-batch of peanut butter cookies and cool completely.
2. Melt peanut butter in the microwave until flows easily.  Mix with marshmallow fluff.
3. Place a heaping spoonfuls of peanut butter fluff mixture on the bottoms of half of the cookies.  Top with a second cookie and refrigerate at least two hours to over night.
4. Melt dark chocolate with oil in a microwave-safe bowl.  Dip sandwiched cookies to coat.
5. Return moonpies to the refrigerator to allow the chocolate to set up.

Casablanca on a Bun

If I may state the utterly obvious, Casablanca is a FANTASTIC movie.  Most movies 70 years old tend to be slowly paced and a product of very different cultural norms.  Other than the tremendously stylish clothes and black and white film, Casablanca feels completely modern.  Moroccan food seemed to be on order, even though there seemed to be more drinks than food consumed throughout.  I'd had my eye on this recipe for kefta tagine from Leite's Culinaria for a while and I had broccoli and chard from my new CSA that went into these Moroccan-inspired vegetables from A Good Appetite. The lamb meatballs were nice, but I'm not a fan of cinnamon with meat. My favorite way to eat them were as a meatball sub dipped in au jus. The vegetables, however, were delicious, and I highly recommend them all on there own on top of couscous for a light dinner.  If you haven't seen Casablanca  recently, rent it again - it might be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Actually, it's not.  It was 80 degrees in San Antonio today.  But imagine if you lived in say, Fargo, North Dakota. You'd be pretty cold right now and longing for a hearty braise like this one.  Minnesota and North Dakota are both home to a large number of German immigrants and this recipe is an ode to them and the easy meals you need if you are a pregnant chief of police with ruthless murderers to track down.  Bone in pork chops get a quick sear before being braised in hard apple cider with onions, cabbage, and apples.  The sweetness is cut with a heaping tablespoon of mustard and some fresh scallions.  I served it over spaetzel (which I highly recommend), but if you are in a hurry, or drank the other five hard ciders while the pork chops braised, it would be great with a hunk of bread or some roasted potatoes.

I've seen a number of Coen brothers' movies, but never Fargo which is widely regarded as their best film.  The plot is a bit bizarre but it is all of the details that make it great.  The pacing, the characters breaking through the crust of the snow as they try and traverse the landscape, the creepy Paul Bunyan statue, the juxtoposition of those who are content and those who are trying to live beyond their means.  I always enjoy William H. Macy and Steve Buscemi, but this movie reminded me how much I like Frances McDormand who is quietly brilliant in this movie.  I may go ahead and become a Coen brothers' completist.

Braised Pork Chops with Cabbage and Apples
serves 4

4 bone in pork chops (about 3/4 - 1 inch thick)
1 onion, sliced
1 large apple, sliced
1/2 head green cabbage
2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
12 oz. hard cider (I used Harpoon)
1 heaping tbsp. grainy mustard
1/4 c. scallions, sliced on the bias
1 tbsp cornstarch, optional
2 tbsp water, optional

1. Heat 1 tbsp. oil until shimmering, salt pork chops and sear until browned on both sides, but not cooked through.
2. Set pork chops aside and add another tablespoon of oil if needed (my pork chops were very lean) and reduce heat to medium.  Cook onions until medium brown.
3.  Add cabbage and apple and cook until slightly wilted.  A deep fond will have developed in the pan.
4. Turn heat up to high and add half the cider, stirring vigorously to deglaze the pan.  Add remaining cider.
5. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low.  Add pork chops back in, partially submerging.
6.  Cover and cook 60-90 minutes.
7.  When pork chops finish cooking, remove gently and stir in in mustard.  If the sauce is too thin, you can thicken with a slurry of cornstarch and water.
8.  Serve topped with scallions.

Hey Yooooou Guuuys!

Okay, confession time.  Goonies is one of those movies I've been pretending to have seen for years.  It's iconic to my generation and Geoff holds that it is the greatest children's movie of all time so I've been nodding along, "Oh, yeah....uh huh, yeah, it's been a while since I've watched it..."  Settled in with Geoff and Veronica (another Goonies fan), I was prepared to be underwhelmed.  Kids' movies so often don't hold up - but this one totally did!  It's the quintessential kids' wish fulfillment movie with some rad 80s clothes and surprisingly funny jokes.  Also, Josh Brolin.

If you have never watched Goonies or haven't seen it in years, check it out. And while you are at it, I recommend a dinner of grape soda and Hamburger Helper. If you prefer your dinner in non-box form, we really enjoyed Budget Bytes' Chili Cheese Beef and Mac.  The sharp cheddar cheese and kick of chili powder make this a more grown up version, but elbow macaroni will forever bring out the kid in you.  Or maybe the Sloth.

Lonely Man's Dinner

TV dinners and those divided plastic trays full of cafeteria food both exist in my mind largely in the black and white of Patty Duke and Dobie Gillis reruns.  Salsbury steak, in particular, is known to me only as a punch line in the realm of fake high schools.  But this Salsbury steak, given full TV dinner treatment by the Pioneer Woman, looked so good smothered in a thick layer of onions that I had to make it.  If you are looking for a lighter meal to fit your New Year's resolutions, I substituted ground turkey for the beef and I think bison might be even tastier if you can get it.  I might have overdone it on the onions, ending up with about a 2:1 onion to meat ratio, but they were so sweet neither of us minded.  Sweet peas in browned butter and smashed roasted potatoes finished out our (undivided, ceramic) plates.

And who needs a TV dinner more than a house-bound man in the 50s?  A man who spends his days, perhaps, watching his neighbors out his Rear Window?  I've been avoiding Alfred Hitchcock movies for a long time. Mostly because I'm a well-known scaredy cat and also because my mother was traumatized by The Birds (seriously, she still gets freaked out by the presence of more than about three birds).  I really enjoyed Rear Window and I was surprised to be surprised at the ending since it is more than 50 years old.  While Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly were both good, my favorite character was the nurse played by Thelma Ritter who was also fantastic in All About Eve.

Flush from not being scared by Hitchcock, I watched Strangers on a Train (good, not amazing) and my mom and I watched the new Hitchcock biopic between Christmas and New Years (truly excellent).  So now I'm ready for some more - what next?  Vertigo?  North by Northwest?  Or should I jump straight to Psycho and The Birds?

p.s. My memories of the few TV dinners I had as a child always included a really gross microwave brownie.  However, I have recently discovered this actually quite good version of a peanut butter chocolate cake from Budget Bytes.  You're welcome.  Also, I'm sorry.

Seven Sad Samurai

(Geoff takes a bite.)
"This is the best Japanese curry I've ever had."
(Second bite.  Puts down fork.)
"It might be the best dinner you made since we moved to Texas."
(Picks fork up again.)
"People would pay for this."
(Doesn't say anything else until his plate is clean.)

I tried my first Japanese curry in May at a second-floor restaurant in LA over the karaoke room we were about to occupy for five straight hours.  If you haven't had it, this curry shares very little with its Indian cousin.  The basis is a nice, dark roux that gets sweetness from a grated apple and spice from garam masala.  I started with this basic recipe from serious eats and added edamame and more carrots for some vegetables.  This would certainly be a satisfying vegetarian meal, but I have a serious weakness for pork tonkatsu.  It's just boneless pork cutlets dredged in flour, egg, and panko bread crumbs before lightly pan frying.  It's fantastic with this sauce, but just about anything would be.

The meal was served alongside Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, just the sort of cultural touchstone that I've felt left out on.  And I'll continue to.  I didn't want to admit this, but I turned it off less than an hour in.  It was just a bunch of people being mean to old Japanese men and I wasn't in the mood for three hours of crying.  I would be a terrible movie critic, but life is too short!  So my recommendation?  Make this curry, pull up some youtube videos, and karaoke at home.  You may even want to start with the Bare Naked Ladies, who probably didn't really watch Seven Samurai either.

Here's to You, Senora Robinson

Haha.  So that "whole week of Dinner and a Movie" plan didn't go so well.  But I'll get to them!  Next up is The Graduate and a very 1960s meal - fondue!  I've always been a fan of fondue and I had been wanting to try this extremely non-traditional Fondue with Tequila and Chipotles.  I made a few substitutions based on what I had on hand.  I've found that as long as there is cheese and booze, you can improvise however you want with fondue.  Instead of the chipotles, I used fresh roasted Hatch chiles which were at their peak a few weeks ago.  Using white wine seemed strange in this dish so I substituted Lone Star.  It's the national beer of Texas!  I also decided to add some turkey chorizo, but I think that may have been guilding the lily.  I only make fondue about once a year, so I usually go fairly traditional, but I'm glad I took the chance and branched out.  If you have a favorite fondue recipe, please share!

Of course you can't have fondue without dippers!  While picking up a nice crusty loaf at the local baker is certainly an option, I opted to make the pain de campagne - a French country bread - from The Bread Baker's Apprentice.  It's a rustic loaf made mostly of white flour with a small amount of wheat flour for flavor and texture.  It comes together quickly and can be formed into boule for sandwiches or any number of other shapes.  With a bit of steam in the oven, I got a perfect ratio of crust to soft interior.  I formed half of the dough into an epi (wheat stalk) which not only looks fancy but also maximizes the exterior so that each piece has a crusty edge.  For some variety, I also roasted up a head's worth of cauliflower florets to dip in the fondue.

I enjoyed The Graduate mostly for the soundtrack (Simon and Garfunkel were a frequent presence in my childhood) and the casting of Mr. Feeney as the dad.  However, I had trouble keeping myself from seeing the movie other than through my own, modern lens.  I suspect that, in 1967, this was a tale of disaffected youth refusing to strive for their parents' suburban ideals and adults who aren't happy in the lives they built for themselves.  It's Rebel without a Cause, a toned-down Feminine Mystique, a bit of On the Road (like The Graduate's Benjamin, Sal Paradise just needs to get over himself, quit mooching off everyone around him, and find a job).  Perhaps because I've been a curmudgeon since age 18, none of this particularly resonated with me.  Dustin Hoffman, who was 30 playing 21 while looking 45, is funniest in his discomfort at being seduced by an older woman.  But I didn't much care for Benjamin and saw the movie through Elaine's eyes except for why she could possibly be attracted to him.  The moral of Elaine's story seemed to be "you are smart and driven young woman, here's a lazy, morose partner (who slept with your mom) to drag you down."  I would have been happier with the iconic final scene showing Elaine riding off in the back of the bus alone.

Royale with Cheese

We're kicking off an entire week of Dinner and a Movie posts with a modern (well, 18 years old) classic - Pulp Fiction.  Even if you haven't seen the movie, you have most certainly seen the "Royale with Cheese" scene.  Rather than try to imitate a Quarter-Pounder, or the more prosaic Royale with Cheese, I decided on the recipe for the Shake Shack burger I found on What's Cooking in Your World.  Except I didn't want to pay for sirloin tips and short ribs.  Also, my food processor is broken.  Also, I'm lazy.  So instead, I bought one pound of ground sirloin and it was still the best burger I've ever made. The key is that you don't mix anything into the meat.  In fact, you touch it as little as possible.  I just broke it into four pieces, heavily salt and peppered both sides, and the smashed a thin slice of onion onto one side before placing the burgers on a screaming hot cast iron skillet.  The resulting texture was slightly crumbly and really delicious.  I'm never mixing up my burger meat again.  You have to love a recipe where the end result is improved by putting in less effort.

Since the patties were so easy, you'll have more time to whip up a special sauce - equal parts mustard, mayo, ketchup, and pickles (homemade is great).  And, of course, you must have fries to go with your burger.  I have a favorite baked fries recipe that I've used in the paste that calls for coating the fries in corn starch to get that really crispy exterior.  This recipe from Ellie Krieger doesn't give the fries the same texture, but does call for toasting garlic in olive oil, using the garlicky oil to coat the fries before baking, and then sprinkling the crispy bits of garlic (and rosemary if your me) over the fries once they are done.  And that, my friends, is genius.

Okay, now that dinner is ready, what about the movie?  I really liked it.  I forgot how much I enjoy Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, and even Bruce Willis.  I've seen some other Tarantino movies before so I was familiar with his pacing and love of violence.  I really like the way his characters speak - analytical and stylized - and I'm a real sucker for Uma Thurman so I was already predisposed to enjoy Pulp Fiction. The movie braids together apparently disparate story lines into a single film with a jittery timeline that clearly comes together in the end - a storytelling technique I usually enjoy as it allows your understanding of events to evolve in a natural way.  (Sidebar: Whenever there are multiple stories, you expect them all to come together by the end of the film.  Am I the only one who wants to see a movie where all of the storylines tie together except for one.  Man, that would drive people crazy.)  I'm not sure what I can say about Pulp Fiction that hasn't already been said and re-said so I'll just conclude by saying that if you haven't seen it (I can't the only one to wait 18 years, right?) and you have the stomach for the violence, you definitely should watch it.

Did this blog post leave you hungry for burgers, but wishing I was a better movie critic?  Check out my friend Bryan over at Bryan Loves Movies where he gives each movie a "Snack Food Analogy Rating" as in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is pudding.  Even when I think I’m really in the mood for pudding, I always end up eating about half of it and tossing the rest aside."

Rosebud was Her Biscuit

My quest to catch up on some of the most iconic movies of all time has already paid dividends. In the last week, I read an article about the Cold War referencing specific characters in Dr. Strangelove and listened to a episode of my new favorite podcast, NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, in which the machinations of Addison DeWitt from All About Eve were discussed. (Although the list is always getting longer, in the past 48 hours, Geoff has asked me "You haven't seen Clockwork Orange, have you?" and "Oh, I guess you haven't seen Demolition Man?" and "You don't recognize the theme from The Natural?").  

Citizen Kane is, according to the American Film Institute, the greatest movie of all time; however, all I knew about it going in was that (do I need to call spoiler alert for a 70 year old movie?) rosebud was his sled.  I had no idea why that mattered or really what the movie was about.  In truth, though the quest to understand the meaning of rosebud is the driving force of the plot, you can know the answer from the beginning without a losing much.  This is evidenced by the fact that that my version of the DVD features a sled with "Rosebud" on the menu screen you have to look at to play the movie.

Overall, I was surprised at how funny it was given that it is a critique of wealthy man (based on William Randolph Hurst) whose money can't buy him happiness.  I'm not much of a cinephile and I don't generally notice things like how a shot is framed, but there were several times where I was taken in by a particularly clever detail that would be innovative even today.  For example, the passage of time is shown not by the (now cliche) changing of the seasons out a window, but by the changing seasonal puzzles one of the characters puts together.  Geoff pointed out that there are a number of other elements that have become commonplace in modern films, but would have been completely novel in 1941.  (Google research indicates that Citizen Kane  was among the first movies to use flashbacks, particularly in conjunction with unreliable narrators and to put the entire depth of field in focus.)   Not to mention that Orson Welles was 25 years old when Citizen Kane came out and had never directed a movie before.  I'm no expert in film (thus the need for this 30 by 30 goal) so I'm not in a position to determine if it is or isn't the greatest film ever made; so all I can say is that I was as entertained by this 70 year old film as anything that came out in 2011.

So I've mentioned in the past the difficulty of picking a meal inspired by a film I've never seen.  However, some early searches suggested that there is a pivotal breakfast scene in the movie.  While a wealthy man in the 1940s would have servants to make his breakfast, busy working people today tend to stop for a breakfast sandwich from a drive-thru.  I decided to take my inspiration from this more modern morning meal - spicy pan-fried chicken on a biscuit.

For four servings, I cut two large breasts in half and brined them in pickle juice with two serrano chopped up, seeds and all.  I left them in the brine for about 8 hours before draining and coating them in flour. To cook, I added a small amount of butter and oil to a cast iron pan over high heat.  Once seared on both sides, I slid the pan into a 400 degree oven alongside a pan of biscuits (PSA: check the expiration date on your baking powder, my biscuits came out flat!).  Both were done in about 12 minutes and ready for a quick dinner.  Pepperjack cheese is a nice addition to kick up the heat even more and a bowl of sweet summer melon to cut the spice.  This was my first experiment using pickle juice as a brine and I wasn't sure what to expect.  The chicken was extremely moist and not particularly pickle-flavored.  It's nice to use up something you would otherwise dump down the drain, but I think a regular brine would work just as well.  Remember, money can't buy happiness, but it can buy breakfast!

All About Eve

The movie has some really great lines from both Bette Davis ("Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!") and Celeste Holm ("The cynicism you refer to, I acquired the day I discovered I was different from little boys!").  The machinations were delicious and the 1950s clothes so much more chic than anyone wears today.  The film revolves around the women, although the men clearly control the theatre world and the downfall of the villainess comes about largely because a man now "owns" her in a way that seems quite creepy to my modern sensibilities (there is also a rather depressing quote about how a woman isn't a woman unless she has a man - like smoking while pregnant, some ideas are best left in the 1950s).  I recommend checking out All About Eve if your idea of action is backstabbing and witty repartee.  And can I say, Bette Davis does withering disdain like no actress since.  This film is definitely slower-paced than most modern films, but there is a lot more going on than it seems on the surface.  Definitely a film that's good to knit through.

Despite lots of drinks (we opened a bottle of wine, but didn't even approach Margo Channing-drunk), there isn't much in the way of food in this movie, so I went with period-appropriate dinner party fare.  We started with jumbo-sized canapes - creamed mushrooms on English muffins.  Then, a deconstructed wedge salad (chopped romaine topped with blue cheese, tomatoes, and bacon) which is an old-school favorite of mine.  And for desert, the most 1950s dish I can think of - pineapple upside down cake.  I used pecans in lieu of the classic maraschino cherries and I sort of missed them.  How cool would the fluorescent green ones look in the middle of the pineapple?

Zakuski: Or How I Learned to Quit Worrying and Love Russian Food

This is the first of a many-part series that I like to think of as "Educating Ellen."  It seems that there are a number of cultural touchstones that I somehow completely missed.  In an effort to catch up on the movies that everyone has seen but me, I added "watch classic movies" to my 30 by 30 list.  I thought it would be fun to make dinner to go along with the movie, which is made difficult by the fact that, of course, I haven't seen any of these movies.  So, free association will sometimes come into play.  For example, this meal was decided as follows: Dr. Strangelove -> Cold War -> Soviet Union -> Russian Food.

Unfortunately,my knowledge of Russian food is caviar and borscht.  Luckily, one of my favorite food bloggers, Deb at Smitten Kitchen, has some great Russian small plates (zakuski) recipes including Russian Brownbread, spicy bean salad, and eggplant caviar.  I love small plates, and these are simple and can all be made a day or so in advance.  I also cooked some mushrooms with dill and kasha (buckwheat) and, to balance out the peasant food, a tsarist dessert - Strawberries Romanov.

Having come into the world of Russian food expecting borscht and potatoes, the assertive flavors of these dishes was an awesome surprise.  The savory dishes all have an earthy undertone, frequently cut through with vinegar, pungent raw garlic and onions, or intense spice.  All of the dishes were great, but I definitely recommend ending your meal with a breath mint as my breath was so bad I was offending myself.  Strawberries are at peak ripeness is Texas, so I added only a tiny amount of sugar and the juice of an orange to the strawberries and just a splash of vanilla extract to the cream as I was whipping it.  If you are ever looking for a lighter alternative to biscuits for strawberry shortcake, I think those Romanov's really knew what they were doing with the meringues.

This is my first Kubrick film  other than Sparticus (I have never been able to sit all the way through 2001: A Space Odyssey) and everything I knew about the movie is summed up in that screen shot at the top of the post..  For me, Dr. Strangelove was intensely, laugh-out loud funny and I'm sure that aspect of the dark comedy was there in 1964 but it took me until the final scenes to realize how incredibly frightening this would have been when the movie come out two years after the Cuban Missile Crisis. I suppose one of the most interesting aspects of movies that become cultural icons is how much their meaning has changed over time.  While I certainly appreciate the message that military one-upsmanship is a losing proposition (see also, War Games, a movie I DID see in my childhood), the urgency is lost on me as someone who barely remembers the Berlin Wall coming down.

I've got a pretty full list, but I'm always open to recommendations.  What do you think are the movies that absolutely everyone should see?  Name anything you like, I probably haven't seen it.