Growing up in suburban Columbus, Ohio, I never really saw a pig in my future. Granted, there were pigs, cows, and horses galore in Ohio, but none in my neck of the woods. Fast forward to a rather bizarre move westward to Montana, and some very special new friends, and we have been gifted a pig!

It all began when our wonderful friends Bud and Laura decided to raise piglets for food this year. Laura asked me for name suggestions,  as apparently there is an unwritten rule that they have to be named after food if you are eventually going to put them in your freezer. I suggested Pattie and Link and she loved it. So it was to be. 

On the day of the piggie pickup, I got a call from Laura telling me that I had to come up with another name. Why? Because they had purchased a ”gift” piggie for us! Thankfully they would raise it on their ranch, but we would have visitation rights. Well, not very original, but my Dad’s favorite Looney Tunes character was Porky Pig, so we called her Porky.

When we went over to meet her, she came right to me for a neck scratch. (She is the one on the right in the photo.) She was precious, but then they all were.

I had hesitations about getting too attached, but I soon got it. These little pigs had a wonderful life. They ate good organic food, we would go over on weekends and feed them all sorts of things…corn, melon, squash,  apples, and of course their favorite, beer. How they loved the beer! They would run around and play, and were literally smiling.

When the sad day came for the butchering, we were okay with everything. They weren’t standing shoulder to shoulder in a feed lot, they were kept clean and well-fed, and the whole experience was full of good Karma.

We now have a freezer full of the most wonderful pork I have ever tasted, and with every forkful we have memories of our delightful days spent with Porky. 

 Last year my best friend, Lisa and I decided to succumb to the traditional ways of spring break and traveled to the Dominican Republic. This year we decided to go in a different path. We decided to visit local shops and restaurants here in Old Town Alexandria. With so many different choices, who could resist. It started on a Friday night. We came to Old Town and went to Rock- It Grill, a karaoke bar. It’s not the best looking bar on King St, but it was a lot of fun and there was a fun atmosphere inside. Definitely not for those who don’t like any chaos, but it’s your typical bar but of course, with singing. On top of visiting Old town during our break, we had one golden rule: No shopping at any chain stores. It wasn’t easy to follow and we did have a couple slip-ups (7-11 and CVS) but it really made the week interesting.

We started off by having lunch at Bugsy’s Pizza Restaurant and Sports Bar We had originally planned to eat at MoMo’s a Japanese restaurant with Amazing Sushi, on Queen St. But they were closed for another hour and our grumbling stomachs could not last that long. Now, the Cuisinettes are long-time customers of Bugsy’s. Who can resist thick, cheesy pizza and yummy chocolate cake. Lisa and I had the Margherita Pizza: tomatoes, basil, garlic and mozzarella cheese. I love their specialty pizza’s and this one has become my new favorite. Fully stuffed, we walked the town for a bit, admiring attractive window displays. King Street is full of different shops but the side streets have much to offer as well. On Union St, there is The Christmas Attic, with beautiful Christmas ornaments and household decorations. We passed The Sugar Cube on North Lee St, which is candy heaven. Although we were not able to go inside because of limited time, it’s on my list of stores to visit. Before we left, we walked up to Grape and Bean, to have a delicious cup of organic coffee. I am in love with this small but cozy restaurant and now Lisa is too. They have delicious salads and sandwiches but my favorite is their flatbread with crescenza cheese, prosciutto and truffle oil. They also have a friendly staff and a nice atmosphere. We were definitely coming back to Grape and Bean., or G n’ B, as I like to call it.

Our break happened to fall the week of St. Patrick’s Day and of course we were excited to be in Old Town for any festivities. We did not go to any Irish Pubs. We just aren’t into being in an overcrowded pub, feeling like packed sardines. So instead, we first went back to Grape and Bean to try some of the beers they carry. I’m not a fan of ales, but I actually did enjoy them and had seconds! The staff helped us find a place to go, and we headed up King St, to The Light Horse. They were not overpacked, but did have a crowd and we had to wait a bit to get upstairs to their dance room. The bartender downstairs was very friendly and let us try a bit of the beers before ordering, just in case we didn’t like the taste. After a very short wait, we were able to go upstairs, where they have pool tables, tables to sit and a dance floor and DJ. The place had a nice vibe to it and we made friends quick. Overall, it was a fun night and I was more than happy for choosing Old Town as my destination choice. The following night, I was in Old Town once again. This time for a dinner date with my sister at Grape and Bean. As I said before, it’s an obsession to go there. After dinner, we walked around King St. It was a great end to a wonderful week. 

Thinking about the fun we had, Lisa and I have made Old Town our new place to go. D.C has a lot of variety and more to choose from, but Old Town has a feeling of comfort. The atmosphere is friendly and we felt safe walking up and down King St. There are so many different restaurants and shops that we are still planning to visit them, one visit at a time.

August 2010

  I wanted to take my daughters on a great adventure type vacation. Somewhere educational but totally unforgettable too. Stephanie and her husband Rick were out in Helena, MT and Nancy had already been twice and said she thought the girls would have a ball out there. And what better way for them to see everything from here to there than to travel by land. I considered renting an RV, but decided against it. I’m just not a great long distance driver , but I am  a goodpassenger. Three days by train was an exciting option.  The Amtrak website is very helpful and easy to navigate. One call to their 800 number and our trip was booked.

Monday afternoon: After much confusion at the Fredericksburg train station as to what side of the tracks was the correct side, we boarded the first of three Amtrak Trains that would ultimately get us to Shelby, MT.  This was the girls first time on a train, including mom, and we were all so very excited.

We arrived at Union Station in Washington, DC where Nancy & Robaire  met us for a quick lunch and to help us board the next train. With tummies full of triple chocolate cake, we boarded our Chicago bound train.

We boarded without incdent and waved our very happy good byes toNancy & Robaire.  Families wth children and persons over 60 get to board first. There is lots of direction from the Amtrack folks so entering & exeting is smooth. The one thing I found difficult was actually physically boarding the train with the girls and all our carryons. The stairs to the upper level is extremely narrow and tight. Mom had to carry everything!

 

Soon we were setteled and on our way out of te station. Later that night I found out that the trains get very cold. The girls had warm pj’s and blankets but mom forgot her sweater (the only thing I forgot). Some lessons are best learned the hard way.

Activity books sent to the girls by Stephanie were extremely helpful in keeping us all entertained.   Board or card games were a great ways to pass the time. There were certainly moments when I didn’t think the girls were going to make it, but then I would pull out a new activity or markers or we would make up a game to play and that would keep us busy for a couple of hours.   The trains are very comfortable and have generously sized seats with plenty of leg and storage room, a huge plus when traveling with children.   The views are great from just your seat, but the viewing cars have large windows and seats facing them so you can look out and see th towns go by all day.

 

 There are a few options for dining on the train as well. The dining cart for complete hot meals, a café lounge for snacks and heat up food (hotdogs, sandwiches and such), or you can bring your own food and eat either at your seat or in the observation cars.

The café lounge is ok but it gets expensive ($2.25 for a bag of Skittles candy for the girls). I would definitely recommend bringing your own snacks and fruit.

Tuesday: We spent about 5 hours in Chicago’s Union Station. I bought a sweatshirt in anticipation of our last cold night on the next train.  We freshened up in the cleanest restrooms I’ve ever seen, ate lunch in the food court, colored in picture books, watched people hurrying along to catch their trains, and took pictures.

After what seemed like a lifetime, we boarded our next train which would have us in Shelby, MT by the following evening.

Wednesday: North Dakota is such a huge state! It seemed that we would never cross into Montana. The girls weren’t asking “are we there yet?” they were asking “are we still in North Dakota?” They really seemed to enjoy just looking out the window at all the space out there. It was all so new to them but I think they really understood just how far from home we really were.

We arrived in Shelby and not a moment too soon. The girls were really starting to get restless.  North Dakota is a huge state and we seemed to be crossing it forever. Its such a comfort  to see a familiar face when arriving to such an unfamiliar place.  Our wonderful Stephanie was already there waiting to sweep our luggage and 3 very tired little girls into her car.

 

 The first leg of our journey was complete. We were  in Montana with Stephanie. Everyone survived the tree day train ride and spirits were high. We were filled with anticipation for the fun that lay ahead, but first we all needed cowgirl hats!!

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes there is courage in numbers.  I had lurked on the Mrs. Wheelbarrow site for
weeks, (I found it through Twitter) but I thought, no way will you have time to
participate in this marvelous salume adventure. Then one day Domenica Marchetti (www.Domenicacooks.com) waltzed in and
voiced the same yearning.  So we have
teamed up to share the heavy lifting.  She
has also written a blog about our trials in rolling and tying it, so I won’t go too much into that part.

 

Actually on
the Pancetta Project, she did most of the heavy lifting by ordering, and doing
the original prep work at her house.  I
did the trussing which I learned from a butchering course I took years
ago with an excellent but very cranky German butcher.  You truss it as if you were casting stitches
onto a very meaty looking knitting needle.    

 

After being reassured by Mrs. Wheelbarrow that we
could cut into it in a smaller amount of time than recommended in the
Charcuterie book, Domenica  brought it
over and we cut it in half. 

Tada! We now had pancetta to play with.  I thought about doing something with a salad
being inspired by the salads with poached eggs, lardons, and mustardy
dressing.  But then I was leafing through
my tired copy of  Rogers Gray Italian Country Cookbook and found this lip smacking recipe for Penne all’Amatriciana.  The
little head note in the recipe says “The secret to a successful amatriciana is
the initial infusion of the pancetta and onion.” Sold!

 

9 ounces pancetta cut into matchsticks

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 dried hot chile peppers, crumbled

2 red onions, peeled and chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary

2/3 cup red wine

28 ounces peeled plum tomatoes, drained if very
liquid

Handful fresh oregano

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

9 ounces penne

1 cup Parmesan, freshly grated.

This was a pretty lucky slice, just a tad over 9
ounces.  If I had my way

with recipes,
everything would be by weight.  Then, I
cut the strings and unrolled it so I could cut into little strips.

Place the pancetta, oil and chiles in your sauté pan. And then turn on the
heat.  I used a chile from Turkey hat we
sell in the store called Marash.  It ‘s
mild but very flavorful and fruity.

Saute them together until the pancetta is very
crisp.  Then you add the onions and the
rosemary and continue to sauté until they are light brown and crisp.  Add the red wine—it should reduce almost
immediately—then the tomatoes.  I used
the  Italian cherry plum tomatoes that we
sell in the store from D. Coluccio & Sons in New
York.  (very
neat place to visit).  Season with salt
and pepper and oregano torn from stems. Bring to a boil and then simmer about 45 minutes.  It should be thick and not soupy.  The cookbook suggested 9 ounces of penne but
I used the farfalle   made from a whole
durum wheat  and I used a pound of it .
This pasta is not at all like whole wheat pasta here, which I don’t like.  My guests ate it all before I could take a
picture.  They did take time to sprinkle
on the shaved parmesan before. 

 

 

 

I knew very little about my maternal grandmother, other than that she was born in Wilkes Barre Pa, had loved music and gone to a music conservatory with her sister in Ithaca.  She met my grandfather who was an engineering student at Cornell.  He fell in love with her, but she resisted, she wanted to travel and she sent him unsigned postcards from European watering holes and Egypt.  She did marry him and wore a wedding dress with Belgian Rose Point lace.  Her father had given each daughter a large sum of money when they were about to be married;  her sister spent it on a Grand Piano and Edna spent it on the Rose Point lace. I still have the her lace: my mother wore it on her wedding dress, I wore it as part of my veil, my niece wore it as part of hers and my youngest daugher may use it in her wedding in Italy. 

My grandfather, Lloyd Garrison Gage, went to Montana to visit a fraternity brother from Cornell University in New York and became entranced with the copper mining industry. Butte was sitting on the richest copper vein in the world at that time…the same time Thomas Alva Edison discovered the light bulb.  Copper wiring was necessary to relight the world. The fraternity brothr was the son of the Kohrs family.  They owned the largest cattle ranch in Montana (10 million acres!).  It is a national park and museum today that is worth  going to but that is another blog.   

Edna went with  her new husband to Butte, Montana where he earned a very nice salary as a mining engineer for the Anaconda Company.  Butte was a roaring, wealthy mining town with opera stars in their theaters and brothels underground.  Edna and Lloyd’s house was at 806 Park Street and she entertained there with great style (this I learned from little articles my great aunt Edith saved)  She even had a party just for ladies and the all came dressed in men’s attire.  I had a few photos of her humorously frolicking in her back yard, hanging laundry overlooking strip mines. 

She gave birth to my mother in Butte and died four years later while pregnant, from a respiratory illness.  Some thought it was pneumonia as she was at a party and sat by an open window when it was cold.  My mother kept some of her clothes which I used to play dress up as a child and I have some of her jewelry.  Rick took some photos of her house in Butte which is now up for sale.  I would like to be in it one day just to  get a sense of who she was in her short life.  Having just finished reading Angle of Repose, of course has intensified an interest in this very mysterious, beautiful, courageous woman. 

 

On the last day of February, 2010, Rose Gray died.  She and her partner, Ruth Rogers, at the River Cafe in London influenced how I cooked Italian food immeasurably.We actually went there before we travelled to Italy. Their cooking was adventurous, with a concntration on seafood We have carried every River Cafe title we can get our Cuisinette hands on. She epitomized the best of chef owners. She worked in the kitchen, she led an ethic of everyone does everything (including the owners) She was kind to novice cooks and swishy patrons alike.

She fell in love with Italy and Italian food and noted food combinations that are astounding in their simplicity, and ease of accomplishment. We have been to River Cafe several times, and at one lunch, she was handling fish orders in the wood fired oven right by our table. She smiled cheerily to all and it was then I noted her trade mark pink sneakers. This was a chef who started out in her 50s! Do look at her obituary in the The Guardian. And if you can find one of the River Cafe cookbooks, do not hesitate to purchase it. The sauce for for Vitello Tonnato, one of my husbands favorite summer dishes comes from their cookbook. In fact, my husband made me make it “their way” rather than the food processor or blender method. I resisted, I almost cried because I was working in the store and trying to get dinner ready for our guests that night. But he prevailed, maybe I discovered my own inner Rosiness. It is by far the best way to make this sauce. My favorite pumpkin raviol recipe is from River Cafe, as is my scallops with capers and sage, but her best loved recipe at La Cuisine has got to be Chocolate Nemesis. So thank you Rose, I never knew you personally but I am grateful for your wonderful recipes and gracious style.

A few years ago, Bob  and Kevin  (one of the Soiree du Film cast couples) started a new tradition: hosting a meticulously themed dinner and viewing othe Oscars.  The Board of Directors for La Cuisine are also invited.  One year as a surprise, all of us surprised the hosts by coming in costumed as contenders for Best Picture.  Every year, though, a series of red circle carpets are laid out, devilish contests are devised, and Robert usually walks away as the winner of the Oscar Gift Basket even though he rarely sees any films in the current contest for Oscars.  Apparently he has sources of information which he will not reveal.  This has left the two movie mavens, Nils and Bob, almost speechless with rage.

Bob always creates a special cocktail for the occasion and this one is called Oscar’s Pear Thyme Fizz

In a cocktail shaker, include several sprigs of fresh thyme and ice and then add 1.5 oz Vodka, 1.5oz Absolut Pear, .75oz fresh lemon juice, .50oz simple syrup.  Shake vigorously and pour through a cocktail strainer.  Top with a spash of champagne and garnish with a thin slice of pear.  There will be tiny sprinkles of thyme in the drink.  It is lovely to look at and even more delightful to drink!

They served roasted pear and gorgonzola crostini with this cocktail which is an inspired match; he followed this recipe from Sips & Apps by Kathy Casey:

2 firm red skinned pears, cored and sliced thinly (about 24 slices) Mix 1T olive oil, 1T balsamic vinegar, dash sea salt, 1 tsp minced fresh thyme in bowl and coat pears with this mixture Roast on a silpat or parchment in a preheated 450 F oven for 12-15minutes until golden and edges start to carmelize.  Pears should be spaced apart.  (this part can be done 3 days in advance)

When ready to serve, lay out matching number of herbed crostini and top with either slices of Cambozola or 1t crumbled Gorgonzola.  Lay pear slices on top.  Bake about 4 minutes, top with 1/4 t balsamico  (we adore the Maletti balsamico)of your choice (she suggests balsamic glaze).  Garnish with sprigs of fresh thyme.  Her herbed crostini slices are thin slices of baguette, drizzled with a mixture of 1/3C olive oil, 1/2 t each dried basil and thyme leaves, dash of cayenne, 1 t minced FRESH garlic with some sea salt.  Brush slices, lay out on bake sheet, and bake until just crisp in a medium heat oven.

Bob was inspired by the film about Julia Child (no one cared about Julie Powell in this group). and created this menu from all the recipes from Mastering the Art of Cooking Vol I, which included Onion Soup,  the much seen & discussed Boeuf Bourgignon with potatoes with a killer Creme Anglaise praline.

The real killer though, was the quiz. It was men against women and the leading photo is of the winners. So here are the questions and let us know if you could answer them without referring to Google! 

1.      Boys ______  For me to say that Avatar is better than Titanic is not the highest possible praise, especially if you are not an ardent fan of Cameron’s grafting of a poor-boy/rich-girl love story tacked onto the true saga of that doomed ship which set sail from Southampton back in 1912.  But prior to the success of Avatar, it became a night to remember with enough moviegoers to become the all-time top-grossing film with a take of just over $1.8 billion.  Incidentally, Avatar just recently capped the $700 million mark.  Even with that figure, Titanic still ranks sixth in real dollars, after all of the following except:

a.       Gone With the Wind (#1)

b.      Star Wars (#2)

c.       The Sound of Music (#3)

d.      Ben Hur

 

1.      Girls _____  What James Cameron earned from Titanic’s enormous success was the cachet (11 Oscars, tying the record with Ben-Hur and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King) and cash, to actually make Avatar, which has been called the most expensive picture ever made estimated to be in excess of $368M (though, again in real dollars, that record is probably held by which of the following films:

a.       1972’s The Godfather, Part I

b.      1963’s Cleopatra

c.       2001-2003 The Lord of the Rings

d.      1962’s Lawrence of Arabia

 

2.      Boys ______  Although it measures just 13½ inches high, the Oscar statuette stands tall as the motion picture industry’s greatest honor.  Officially named the Academy Award® of Merit, the Oscar is given in recognition of the highest level of achievement in moviemaking. The statuette stands atop a film reel base featuring five spokes, signifying the five original branches of the Academy: actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers. Although the statuette remains true to its original design, the size of the base varied until 1945, when the current standard was adopted.  How much does an Oscar statuette weigh?

a.       5 lbs

b.      6.5 lbs

c.       8.5 lbs

d.      More than 10 lbs

 

2.      Girls _____  This year, the academy chose to nominate 10 films in the Best Picture category vice the tradition five nominees.  When was the last time that the academy had ten films vying for the top honor?

a.       1934 when It Happened One Night won?

b.      1939 when Gone with the Wind won?

c.       1943 when Casablanca won?

d.      Never

 

3.      Boys ______ Oscar rarely splits the vote between Best Director and Best Picture.  This year, 5 of the ten nominated best picture candidates have director nods — so the five films with director nods (“Avatar,” “The Hurt Locker,” “Inglourious Basterds,” “Precious” and “Up in the Air”) are considered the “real” best picture candidates.  How many times in the 81 years of Oscar has the Best Director and Best Picture been split?

a.       11

b.      15

c.       19

d.      21

 

3.      Girls _____  The best-picture and director categories this year have shaped up as a showdown between ex-spouses James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow who directed films that have dominated earlier Hollywood honors.  James Cameron’s “Avatar” won best drama and director at the Golden Globes, while Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” beat out Cameron at the Directors Guild of America Awards, whose recipient usually goes on to earn the best-director Oscar.  No woman has ever won the directing Oscar, and until Bigelow, no woman had ever won the Director’s Guild honor.  Bigelow, whose films include “Point Break” and “K19: The Widowmaker,” is only the fourth woman nominated for a directing Oscar.  The other three women include all of the following except:

a.       Sofia Coppola for 2003’s “Lost in Translation,”

b.      Jane Campion for 1993’s “The Piano”

c.       Barbara Streisand for 1983’s “Yentl” and

d.      Lena Wertmuller for 1975’s “Seven Beauties”

 

 

4. Boys______  Audio Question – This 1988 Cinderella story set in a ruthless NYC business      environment garnered Sigorny Weaver and Joan Cusack Best Supporting Actress nominations.  Carly Simon won the Oscar that year for this song in which Oscar nominated film for Best Picture?

 

4.Girls _____  Audio Question – This 1998 film ended up being a surprise winner when it beat out Saving Private Ryan for Best Picture.  It also garnered Judi Dench an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and the film also won the Oscar for Best Musical Score for this music.  Name the Oscar winning picture.

 

5.Boys ______  The line up for Best Picture this year includes the animated feature film “Up”.  When was the last time that an animated film was nominated for Best Picture?

a.       1992 for Beauty and the Beast

b.      1995 for Pixar’s Toy Story

c.       2001 for Shrek

d.      2003 for Finding Nemo

e.       2007 for Ratatouille

 

 

5. Girls _____  If keeping score for Oscars was like baseball, then these women would be batting a 1000.  All of these actresses have been nominated and won the Academy Award twice for Leading Actress except which film star?

a.       Jodi Foster – 2/4

b.      Sally Field – 1979 Norma Ray & 1984 Places in the Heart

c.       Vivien Leigh – 1939 Gone With The Wind & 1951 Best Actress Oscar for portraying Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire

d.      Hillary Swank – 1999 Boyz Don’t Cry & 2004 Million Dollar Baby

 

 Email us at info@lacuisineus.com, if you can’t get the answers.

 

 

 

 

We have not been very bloggish these past months because we are all scrambling around the software switch.   But I did have to take a day off and organize The Manly Dinner.  Robert has had this absolute killer bottle of wine that had to be paired with steaks from Peter Luger.  We are always trying new steak vendors, and still the best is http://www.peterluger.com/.  Once you have closed your eyes at the price and clicked on the Submit button, they arrive second day air and unfrozen.

You can throw away all those annoying mailers from Omaha Steaks, this is worth the price even though you get two bottles of their steak sauce (which I leave out on the sidewalk and they always go home with someone) and some fairly innocuous milk chocolate coins.  Two Porterhouses will feed 8 people.  Plus save the bones for French Onion Soup and the sticker shock lessens.  . 

The wine is called Screaming Eagle and I give you their website so that you can see how forthcoming they are! http://www.screamingeagle.com/.  Once upon a time he was on their mailing list, but then the offerings became more insurmountable every year and he fell off the mountain.  This bottle is the 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon and after tasting it, I don’t think a winemaker or grape can do any better.  Donna Lewis who like me is just along for the wine ride said:  “I could drink this every day!” 

We really do have a 30 year old  wood fired stainless steel grill called The Grillery which did a superb job even thought it was raining. Nils and Robert pulled the grill right up to the door to the deck and stood inside the doorway to grill.   The menu was pretty simple since we had these stars competing with each other.    For appetizers we had the parmesan twists from Puff, a nifty cookbook on just puff pastry.  The Resident Wine Maniac picked Selosse Initial Brut (Anselme Selosse was a radical and lonely reformer of biodynamic champagne 20 years ago).  Grilled scallops with capers and Cavalli Aceto Silver on a bed of  Arugula.  This is  a recipe adapted from River Cafe cookbook (now out of print in the US, alas).  This was  followed by the steak with bread to mop up the sauce.  The sauce is melted butter with the steak juice mixed in.  So easy and so basic!  Sonia did a fall salad with roasted squash and greens which we had three cheeses which the owners  from La Fromagerie had selected.  Breads were from Grape + Bean.  Chris Lewis had given the RWM a killer bottle of Banyuls which begged for a chocolate dessert and here it is from another out of print cookbook by Simone Beck.  She was the recipe genie for Julia Child when they wrote their cookbooks.  I have changed the recipe a bit over the years.

Le Diabolo

Butter & dust with cocoa powder an 8 inch cake pan which has a parchment circle in the base  Manque from Gobel has slant sides and creates a cake that is easier to glaze.    

Beat 3/4 cup Golden Baker’s sugar with 4 egg yolks until a creamy yellow.  Melt 6 ounces of a mild bittersweet couverture (55-62% cocoa solids) with 3/4 cup unsalted butter just until they are smooth.  A  good gauge copper or aluminum saucepan is best for this.  Check out our Chocolate Couverture section that Stephanie has slaved over on our website for ideas on how intense you want the chocolate to be.

Add this to the yolk and sugar mixture until blended.  Add 4 tbs cake flour and 2 tbs almond flour.  Beat the 4 whites with a pinch of salt until stiff.  Stir 1/4 of the white mixture into the chocolate lighten it and then fold that back into the remaining whites.  Fill the pan with the batter (It should be about 3/4 full) Bake in a preheated 375 F oven for about 25 minutes.  Outside should be solid but the center a bit creamy.  Allow to cool before unmolding.

Make a glaze with 3.5 oz of the same chocolate by melting it with 3 tbs espresso and 3 tbs unsalted butter.  Pour over cake and garnish with toasted slivered almonds.  You should refrigerate this cake if not serving it the day you make it.

 

 

 

Migrating data, marrying the website to the instore software has taken a toll on all of us.  Many of you, I know, are tired of listening to the whining of the Cuisinettes, so my New Year’s resolution is to get this out to everyone who has requested the Soiree du Film picks for 2008-2009.  As you know from previous blogs, this is a group of 3 couples that meets each month and the host does a dinner and picks a film for us to watch.  We currently have a score of 0-10 with fractions (this was a very acrimoniously reached decision).  My next dream is to share with everyone the menus and one recipe, so stay tuned.

First Flick in March was The Painted Veil which got  7.17.  A drama based on a Somerset Maugham novel.  Glacially slow, but the unfolding of the protagonist’s life and her resolution in the end was very well done.  Beautiful cinamatography and haunting music set the mood of this film and the performances of Edward Norton and Naomi Watts were top notch

We next met on Friday the 13th and were treated to the eponymous film which was made in 1980 and got a resounding 2.17 score.  We think Sonia gave it a 5 because she is French and you know, they all love Jerry Lewis. But if you have never seen a slasher movie and want to tiptoe gently into this genre, this might be a good place to start.

In July we saw Sordid Lies which averaged 6.08.  Kevin and I liked this movie better than anyone else in the group.  I thought it was a more than passable black comedy on Southern rednecks (only partial pun intended) and would recommend it to anyone who needed to understand from a humorous point of view the lifestyle and socialogical makeup of this very visible but misunderstood  American ethnic group.

August was our turn and we showed C.R.A.Z.Y. ( a recommendation from Stephanie Gorenflo’s daughter, April)  Tough movie and it received an average of 8.17 out of 10.  It is a movie about a French Canadian boy who comes to the realization that he is gay and the effect it has on his very conservative Catholic family.  I think this is a must see not only for the story, but for all the attention to  the scenic details.

September’s choice from Sonia and Nils was a French musical!  But of course, this was not Sondheim or Lerner & Lowe.  Love Songs is a bittersweet pastiche of characters and their travails in finding love.  Sonia’s review was “tralalalala” and the combined SDF score was 7.17.  Check it out if you want to see a different take on the musical format for film.

We then moved to Kevin and Bob’s house (everyone’s favorite movie venue) in October for The Fall which was probably one of the weirdest films I have ever seen.  The trouble this guy went through to obtain morphine in the hospital where he was a patient, made my head hurt.  It takes place in Los Angeles in the 20s where an injured stuntman comes up with incredible stories to entertain and entice an injured child.  But of course they become her stories too. Our group score for this 5.92.  Some really cool filming and the idea was very intriguing, but someone, please, call an editor.

In November Robert and I showed Silverado which had been highly recommended by Cuisinette Consort Rick Gorenflo.  I have linked the review from a London Guide because none of us (except Sonia and Kevin who gave it a 6 and a 4 respectively) got it.  I had returned from Montana and wanted to show a really cool movie about the West.  It scored so badly that  it got only 2.67, slightly higher than Friday the 13th.  Oh well, Rick, maybe I need another trip!

The Bertrands picked The Return a Russian film from 2003 that had gobs of awards thrown at it.  This is not a stolid USSR movie but rather one that is evocative of classic Russian literature.  The appearance of a father to two sons who have no memory of him, the emotions and force of nature underline the tragic and finite comprehension of the characters.  Lots of discussion followed this movie and it garnered a group score of 7.67.

We were now into January of 2009 and Kevin & Bob had chosen The Counterfeiters which turned out to be a perfect movie for me.  I gave it a 10 even though Holocaust movies, while not quite being a dime a dozen, are certainly in the surplus range.  The story, the incredible direction, acting, costuming, editing made it a complete film for me. 

Robert and I had seen Half Nelson on one of those Netflix larks where they shoot you down a slide of “if you liked this, then we think you would enjoy this film”.  Well, we did and decided to share it with the other SDFers.  It received a group score of 8.17.  This is a small story, well acted, with much left to images and the viewers’ imagination.  The film does not try to give a large picture or resolution(hand held cameras play a part in this).

Our finale was at Sonia & Nils’ house and they showed us a 1994 French film (of course!) called L’Enfer.  It reminded me somewhat of a Marguerite Duras novel.  It was pretty well acted and the storyline was clever.  The story continually spirals downward so don’t expect an uplifting  film. In fact it was given a fairly low score: 4.83.