John & Belle Have A Blog

Ollie Ollie In Come Free

Well, it wasn't as bad as all of that. Zoe maintains that the United people were actually pretty friendly (they were). The girls responded well to getting woken up at 3am and shuffled around the airport. There were no tears at any point. We also got to use the new portable DVD player to watch movies in the airport (thanks mom!), so that was great. Also, American people in general are very friendly and chatty, which I had sort of forgotten, so strangers helped us with our things and were quite nice. I still feel tired but that's hardly surprising, and the girls are sleeping great. Huzzah!

Brand Identity: Teh Suck

Zoe has some fixed opinions about air travel. She is convinced that Changi airport (which she calls 'Chinese Airport') is the best in the world, and that 'something is wrong' with the LAX domestic terminals, because 'people don't clean the bathrooms properly'. Also, she thinks that all domestic US airlines (referred to indifferently as 'Chicago airlines' in honor of some terrible layover there, I think) 'are no good', that 'the people on the plane aren't friendly'. Finally, she believes the people running the security checks are 'stupid' because they ought to be able to tell she's 'not a bad guy', and it's dumb to insist on X-raying her favorite stuffed animal Cranberry rather than letting her carry her through the metal detector, because anyone can see that Crannie is full of plastic beans and not bombs. I have no idea where she got these craaazy ideas. Everybody wish me luck as I embark on a stupid travel plan (which I approved of at the travel agent's, I have no idea why). I leave here at 20 of 6 in the evening, enjoy a layover of several hours in SFO, and then take the red-eye (!) to Dulles (!?), arriving at what will be 3am to our addled, barely adjusted to West coast time brains. Mmmm, brains. What now? Oh, yeah, and I have both girls and no John. Oh well, surely the sparkling customer service at United will overcome Zoe's negative preconceptions.

Merry X-Mas!

Click for a bigger - slower - image.

Vital Corrections

Oh No! I was looking through some recipes just now and I found two mistakes. This is why real cookbooks have editors and people who try out all the recipes. Moldy Mice actually have one STICK of butter per cup of flour, not one cup, a mere doubling of the crucial ingredient. Also, back in my ginger-cake schooldays I left the white sugar out of the gingerbread. It needs 2/3 c white sugar in addition to all that other stuff. So, sorry holiday bakers! I'll update the original posts later. Also, that pumpkin-seed brittle I made at Halloween is even better with hazelnuts instead of pumpkin seeds (using 2 /12 c rather than 2 cups because there's more empty space in a cup of hazelnuts) and one more T butter, and put it into a smaller pan, like a 9x13 glass baking pan, so that the brittle ends up about 1-inch thick. And line the pan with foil. It's more like what Australian people call honeycomb. I did walnuts yesterday and it's very good as well, but I think hazelnuts are the best. And can I recommend the fudge? Merry Christmas everyone!

Holiday Pavlova

Where are my Australian holiday dishes, the masses demand. Well, Australian people eat Pavlovas all the time, but this is a particularly festive one.

For the Meringue:
6 egg whites
1 c super-fine sugar (caster sugar), or granulated is OK
2 t corn starch
1 t white vinegar

1. Separate the eggs when they are cold and then let them come to room temperature before proceeding. Make sure the bowl is completely clean and grease-free, and maybe give it a good wipe with a cut lemon to be sure. Or if you have a copper bowl, now is the time to bust that out, because here's its big moment. Preheat the oven to 250. Put a piece of baking paper on a cookie sheet and trace around a big plate to put a circle in the middle.
2. Beat eggs whites till fluffy, and then begin to add the sugar by tablespoonfuls, and keep beating till the mixture is glossy and stiff.
3. Gently fold in the vinegar and corn starch. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to put a generous half of the egg-white mixture on the sheet so it fills up the circle evenly. Then spoon the remaining stuff around the egde, forming a rim. Bake for 1 hr 15 minutes, and then prop the door of the oven open with a wooden spoon handle and let cool completely. Easiest just to do this at night and let it cool overnight. It will keep for a few days in an air-tight container.

For the Cranberry Curd:
1 12-oz bag fresh cranberries
juice of one lemon
1 c sugar
2 t cornstarch
2/3 c water
4 egg yolks
6 T unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1. Bring cranberries, lemon juice, sugar and water to a boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook for 5 minutes or so, partially covering with a pan lid since the cranberries will pop. Smush them around with a wooden spoon.
2. Force the berry mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl; clean the pot. Mix up the yolks with a whisk and add them to the now-somewhat cooled berry mixture. Return the mixture to the clean pan and cook over medium heat for about 4 minutes more, stirring constantly. The curd should thicken slightly but don't let it boil. If you draw your finger down the back of the wooden spoon it should leave a clean trail in the curd. If you are worried about it you should keep a dishpan full of ice water nearby and if it starts to separate plunge the bottom of the saucepan into the ice water bath and whisk like crazy.
3. Pour the cranberry curd into a bowl and add the butter a few pieces at a time, whisking all the while, until all have been incorporated; put a piece of plastic wrap over the surface of the curd and refridgerate till very cold. (Again, why not do this the night before, then it's really easy).

To Assemble:
1 pint whipping cream
1/3 c super-fine sugar (or regular)

1. Whip the cream and sugar till it holds soft peaks. Fill the well in the meringue disk with whipped cream, and pour the cranberry curd over the top (I reserved about 1/4 of it to have on toast because it seemed like plenty.)

Very festive and actually pretty easy, which makes me wonder why this recipe is so long. Hm. Looks great, though, and is like eating a tasty, tart, marshmallow scruptious-mush. Yay Australia! Yay Russian ballet dancers!

Going Home

We're flying back to America - Oregon, to be specific. You'll probably hear from us again in a couple days. (Below you can see an artist's representation of our trip, not shown actual size, shape, speed or anything else.) Superzoë and Super Mei-Mei are dodging meteors. Mei-Mei is holding on to big sister for protection, which only makes sense.

Do I Need The Green Suede Reproduction 70s Nikes?

Well, things are sort of coming together for the trip. I have too many clothes and I decided I needed 5 pairs of shoes. No, it makes sense:
1 pair high-heeled cowboy boots
1 pair 4-inch T-strap Prada heels
1 pair flats (brown velvet with blue embroidery)
1 pair medium-height peacock blue shoes
1 pair black Chuck Taylors

I realize I'm not totally up to speed on the idiotic liquid restrictions and so on. Are they going to make trouble about liquid medicine for the kids? Can we take our ipods and laptop on the plane? Fill me in, suffering homeland readers. We have to fly from SFO to Eugene, so this is relevant. I can't figure out where we're refuelling on the trans-Pacific run, because it doesn't say on the itinerary. There's no direct Singapore/SF flight. I guess probably lovely CKS airport in Taipei (not actually lovely.)

On reflection, my shoes don't totally make sense in Eugene terms, but I'm also going to DC. Hard to think that DC is coming up so strong on the snappy dressing front, but we're talking about Eugene here. Thatsa nicea Goretex windbreaker. Actually there's an incredibly great vintage store in Eugene, and maybe some college chicks wear the clothes they got there around, but I can't see them under the raincoats? Don't think I'm hating on Eugene; it's a great place, with beautiful surroundings, tasty food and great used bookstores. It's just not a fashion Mecca.

Breaking News

Zoë has gained...one, one wonderful pound! (Thunderclap) Ha ha ha ha! Yes, in the last 6 weeks alone. Incredble stuff. I knew putting those extra yolks in the scrambled eggs was going to do the trick eventually. (Explanatory note: she also gained one pound over the preceding...year and four months, which meant we weren't exactly rocking the weight-height charts. 5 1/2, and 35 lbs.) So, that's great. Can I offer anyone a devilled egg? Grilled cheese sandwich with extra butter? Hunk of cream cheese?

Look for even less blogging in the near future, as we run around headless-chicken style attempting to pack/do last-minute chores/send papers to the MLA. Then on to 23 glorious hours of plane travel. Eh, I shouldn't complain about it so much. I always build it up in my mind and I think it's never really all that bad. I'm feeling somewhat better, too.

'Russian' Estoti Commingles Granoblastically With 'Russian' Canady, aka 'French' Estoty. Let's Start There

I know MY commented on this re: Congresspedia before, in a note I'm too lazy to look up now, but there is something silly in the NYT Magazine article about how s33krit blogs will revolutionize intelligence gathering. It's actually a good idea, although the prospect of CIA/DIA flamewars looms large. The thing is, they're calling their 'open-source' spy wiki 'Intellipedia'. Obviously they're echoing Wikipedia, but they've chosen the wrong part. What they're making is, in fact, a wiki, so it ought to be Wikintellia or something.

Tangentially related, the internet let me down today. I wanted someone to have drawn a map of Antiterra from Nabokov's Ada. But Wikipedia met me with the sad words: "This article about a fantasy book is a stub." Peter Lubin sniffs in an otherwise good article that "it would be unfortunate if, as with Tolkien's boring hobbits, a cute little cult of Antiterra developed (with maps, and vocabulary, and sinchilla mantillas). That is not likely to happen." On the contrary, it would be awesome, although maybe no one should be allowed to bring their 10-year-old daughter to AntiterraCon. (Finally, why when they make movies of Lolita do they insist on having her played by a 16-year-old? She's twelve. It seems to me to betray an unseemly sympathy with Mr. Humbert.)

For The Love of Little Apples!

Sorry we haven't been posting much around here. John has been busy with work stuff and I have been sick. Sooooo sick. I'm really getting bored with being sick, although that's actually a big step up from the two days I was too sick to be bored. I've been watching Veronica Mars and I just finished Season One. I thought it was great, and I'm hoping Santa will bring me Season Two, although I'm curious about what they'll do without the Lilly Kane multi-story arc to hang things on.

I have to get on the plane in 6 days for a 20-hour flight. WhadmIgonna doooo, d00dz? Erg! No, wait, that's a unit of measurement. Urg! What do people eat when they don't want to eat anything, besides saltines and toast? I'm making some roasted sweet potato wedges, that sounds moderately palatable. Maybe, chicken salad? Oh, I know, the BRAT diet--applesauce! (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Turbot. No, it's actually Trout Toast.) Maybe the auntie sells applesauce. Or she sells apples, I could just make applesauce, or have John make me applesauce (?).

Everybody send me good mojo so I get well soon. Weller. I'm going to suggest to my specialist that he load me up with a special 24-hour drug cocktail judiciously composed of anti-nausea medication, painkillers, and diazepam, with maybe a little something in the extra energy line, so I can get to the US in one piece, but foolish doctors often don't trust my nigh-instinctual Rx powers. If only we lived in a libertarian utopia, I wouldn't have all these guild-member types gatekeeping on me. Monopolists! Rent-seekers! Jim Henley and I shake our fists at you!

LIKE AN UPDATE, EXCEPT I DIDN'T HIT POST YET: John is making me applesauce. He can learn how to use the food mill. It, like, mills food.