Chicken Breasts Dijon

This is an easy week night meal that is relatively low fat and very flavorful.  We served it with a green salad, roasted cauliflower with panko and parmesan, and green beans with mushrooms.

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 onion, minced (about 1 cup)
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups  stock
• 1 cup  white wine
• 1/2 cup Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme plus thyme leaves for garnish
• 1 tablespoon  butter

• Heat oil in a large heavy Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Place chicken in Dutch oven and cook until brown on both sides, 12-15 minutes total. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
• Place leeks and onion in same pot and sauté until tender, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and sauté until tender, about 2 minutes. Stir in broth, wine, Dijon mustard, and minced thyme and bring to a simmer. Return chicken to pot. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.
• Transfer chicken to plates. Bring liquid in pot to a boil; cook until sauce is thickened and glossy, about 15 minutes. Whisk in butter and season with salt and pepper. Spoon sauce over chicken and garnish with thyme leaves.

The Garden of Words (2013)

The Garden of Words is from the talented director Makoto Shinkai. The film follows Takao Akizuki, a 15 year-old aspiring shoe designer, as he ditches his first period of school on rainy days to draw shoe designs in a park that is lushly green with a shelter of sorts. On one particular rainy day, Takao encounters the much older Yukari Yukino drinking beer and eating chocolate in his favorite spot. What follows is their interactions over the course of the rainy season and beyond. Yukari has been shamed and she is slowly drowning her sorrows in two of the lesser destructive vices available to her, and Takao is both trying to save her and trying to design a shoe for her that will make him forget that she is almost twice his age.

The reason to watch this film, which is well under an hour in length, is not so much for the story line but for the lush scenery that is the hallmark of Japanese animation.  The people's faces are so undetailed as to be anonymous but the landscape and the rain are just spectacular, the best I have ever seen.

Oil Cloth, Oaxaca, Mexico

The name is historical rather than accurate.  Oil cloth was cotton material that was upholstery weight and then heavily oiled to make it more or less water repellant.  The industry was moved from the Untied States to Mexico long ago, but what is widely produced today under the name oil cloth retains the vibrant colors and fruit and floral designs but is now made entirely of plastic.  It is the tablecloth that graces eating establishments throughout Oaxaca, whether the diner is eating inside or out.  The designs are festive and cheerful, and the product is very affordable.

On my last trip to Oaxaca I neglected to bring back any oil cloth, save ones that had been made into bags.  I regretted that oversight and remedied it on my most recent trip.  My purchase was made at the Sunday market in Tlacalula, where there are many options to choose from and best of all, none of them is really a bad choice.  It is the sort of thing that you see so much of when you are there you wonder if it is trite to bring home, but in the end you are glad that you did.  A bonus is that it is very easy to fit into a suitcase.  I have not completely settled on what I will do with the cloth I brought home but I am very glad to have it.

Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill

This is a small novella that is almost poetry in its succinctness about life.  It is not all sugar and spice and everything nice.  She is a woman who has dissolved a long term relationship and looking back on it with somewhat of a microscope.

The main character, somewhat annoyingly referred to as "the wife", is a wickedly funny and poignantly vulnerable woman.  It is annoying because she is so not the wife, other than that she was married.  That is almost the last thing that she is.  Which is a good thing.  It may be ironic, now that I think about it, because she falls so far outside the prim and proper boundaries of wifehood.  I love that because there is almost nothing about me that fits well into the mold that word conveys, and she is entirely out there about it.

The story opens with a chronicle of her early adult years, including marriage and the birth of her daughter, giving the reader a rare window into the character’s insecurity and hesitance. It’s a simple premise, elegantly conveyed with spartan prose; life is full of twists, bumps, disappointments and personal tragedies, often with only a modest helping of joy on the side. It’s that chronic rift between what we want, or thought we would have, what we ended up with, and how we made peace with that, or we didn’t.  A quick and restless book that lands well.

Tristam Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (2005)

The novel by Lawrence Stern that this movie is based on was a rambling and very lengthy book that began before the birth of Tristam Shanty and ended, a thousand or so pages later, shortly after his birth. It has been described as a classic and yet unfilmable book.

My youngest son is taking a film class that is entirely made up of films that are odd adaptations of novels, and this certainly fits the bill.  It is a film about the making of a film based on a novel about the writing of a novel.  There are frequent breakings of the fourth wall, and even a fifth one.  The movie is within itself so often that it is hard to see how many mirrors we are reflecting off of, and Steve Coogan is the perfect actor to pull the whole thing off brilliantly.  Download the first 10 or so chapters of the book off of any number of websites that offer both the text and the audio version free of charge and then watch this movie.  It is an adventure in slow motion.

Steamed Hot and Sour Bok Choy

I read something form my Facebook feed about buying Asian vegetables from an Asian grocery, which I definitely agree with.  This recipe takes a big bag of bok choy, which I got for less than $2.00 and it was absolutely delicious.  If you are looking for a low fat preparation method, steaming is a great way to go, and this has lots of flavor, good crunchiness, and you eat it forever.

• 2 ½ lbs bok choy
• 2 ½ tablespoons minced fresh ginger
• 2 ½ tablespoons minced scallions, white part only

Dressing

• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 1 ½ tablespoons Chinese black vinegar
• ½ tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon hot chili paste or dried chili flakes

1. Wash and trim the bok choy. Cut the leaves along the length in half and then into 2 inch sections. Cut the stems into 2 inch pieces. Toss the fresh ginger and scallions with the bok choy in a bowl. Arrange bok choy mixture on a heat proof plate or parchment or wax paper covered steam basket (see note below)
   
2.  Place the bok choy in the steamer and steam 5 to 6 minutes, or until the bok choy is tender. Arrange the steamed bok choy on a serving platter, spoon the dressing on top, and serve.
   

Lost Love

I think Valentine's Day is a difficult holiday, especially for those who mourn the loss of someone they loved.  This poem comes from Catullus, a Roman neoteric poet who knew everyone who was anyone in Rome at the end of the republic. 

If there is any pleasure for a man in remembering former
good deeds, when he thinks himself to be dutiful,
nor to have violated a sacred trust, nor in any contract
of the gods abused divine power to deceive men,
much joy remains for you, Catullus, in this long life,
furnished from this thankless love.
For whatever man can either say or do well
for anyone, this has been said and done by you:
having been entrusted to an ungrateful heart, all that perished.
Therefore, why do you now suffer more?
Why not be obstinate in your mind and bring yourself back from thence
and cease to be unhappy in front of the unwilling gods.
It is difficult to set aside a longstanding love.
it is difficult, but let us do it at any hazard.
This is the only safety, and you must overcome this,
whether it is not possible or it is possible.
O gods, if it is your will to have pity,
or if you have ever brought your help to any already
at the extreme, in death itself, look upon my unhappiness and,
if I have lived life in a pure manner,
remove this plague and ruin from me,
which stealing upon me inmost as a lethargy in my limbs
expelled the happiness from all my heart.
I no longer ask for that, that she chooses me in return,
or, because it is not possible, she chooses to be chaste:
I wish that I myself be healthy and put aside this horrible disease.
O gods, give this back to me for my piety.

Magic in the Moonlight (2014)

I am reasonable certain that Woody Allen and I would not get along.  The feeling would be mutual.  His personal life is unknown to me in it's most intimate details, but what we know for sure, that he married the daughter of his long time lover, does raise questions, especially after what he acknowledges is years of therapy.  However, many creators of works that I have enjoyed and continue to enjoy are less than exemplary people in their personal lives, so I will continue to watch movies made by a man whose work I have enjoyed literally all of my life.

I do like the move that Allen has made to Europe, with a mixture of American and European actors.  This movie is set in his favored time period, the first half of the 20th century, and most of the action takes place in the south of France.  It is 1928, and the magician Stanley Crawford (Colin Firth) is enjoying widespread acclaim in the guise his stage persona, the Chinese conjurer Wei Ling Soo.  He has the added protection of an elaborate costume to protect him from being widely recognized in public, which works both for and against him. He is a man with many talents, but he is an insufferable and  arrogant man who is so absorbed with his righteousness that he is oblivious to the discontent that he sows around him.  Stanley despises claims by phony spiritualists that they can perform real magic and he gleefully unmasks them.  He knows every trick in the book, except one.  He inadvertently trusts the wrong man. At the behest of his friend, Stanley he travels to the Côte d'Azur to expose a young medium named Sophie (Emma Stone). However, Stanley gets conned, at least for a while.  He is surprised, shaken, and amazingly gracious when confronted with evidence that Sophie's gifts may be real.  The movie has a good supporting cast in Hamish Linklater and Marcia Gay Linklater, both of whom were in The Newsroom together.  It rolls to a gentle and witty ending and is quite enjoyable.

Cheese Pupusas with Curtido

This recipe comes from the New York Times, and while we have had very few pupusas in our time, we were moved to try it based on a recent trip to Mexico.  This Salvadorean street food is simple and easy to make.  If you are intimidated by masa harina this is a good place to start because they are more forgiving than tortillas in terms of the texture and wetness of the dough.  Harder to screw up.

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups masa harina (9 ounces by weight)
• 1 ½ cups water or a bit more if the air is very dry
• 12 ounces chihuahua or mozzarella cheese, grated 
• Vegetable oil, as needed
• Curtido, for serving (see below for recipe)

1. In a large bowl, mix the salt well into the masa harina. With your hands, knead the water into the masa harina in a few additions; work in all the water evenly. The dough will feel like stiff mashed potatoes and should hold together without cracking. Lay a 12-inch square of a plastic grocery bag on a smooth work surface.
2. Divide the cheese into 9 roughly equal piles. Roll a 2-ounce ball of dough in your hands, about the size of a golf ball, and pat it out in your hand to form a disc a little larger than your palm. (If the dough is very sticky, lightly moisten or oil your hands.) Pat a pile of cheese onto the masa, leaving just a little space around the edges (cup your hand slightly if it helps). Carefully close your hand to bring the edges of the disc closer, and use your other hand to pat and pinch it together to enclose the cheese in a rough ball. Patch any holes with a little more masa, but don’t worry too much — cheese that leaks out will brown deliciously in the pan.  Pat out the pupusa on the plastic square, forming a disc about 4 inches wide.  I used my tortilla press for this part--but don;t push all the way down--the pupusa should be about 1/4" thick. Repeat, forming a second pupusa.  You can make them smaller if you want to have appetizer sized pupusas.
3. Heat a large nonstick sauté pan over low heat, and very lightly grease it with oil. Place the pupusas in the pan, and cook until richly browned in spots, about 4 minutes.  Don't worry if the cheese starts to bubble out. Flip the pupusas, and cook another 4 minutes, until they’re browned and cooked through. Serve finished ones immediately with curtido.

 Crutido

• 1 pound cabbage, finely shredded (green or red or both)
• 2 ½ cups water
• ½ of a medium onion, thinly sliced
• ½ cup white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• ½ to 1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
• Black pepper, to taste
• Ground cumin, to taste

1. Combine all ingredients in a large, clean bowl. Use your hands to squeeze the vegetables in the brine, then fully submerge them under it.  Put something heavy (and clean) on top if needed. Let sit at room temperature for at least 3 days, or longer to your taste; the flavor will deepen and mellow over time. When it’s to your liking, transfer to clean jars, making sure brine covers the vegetables, and store in the refrigerator. Can keep for weeks.

Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer

This is a Young Adult novel by a well known author of adult fiction, and while I picked it up belated to it's nomination for the National Book Award, it is well worth reading.

Jam, short for Jamaica, is depressed.  She had a short but intense relationship with Reeve, and when he dies, she is inconsolable.  Her parents and her doctor are concerned enough that they decide she needs to go to a boarding school that specializes in supporting and educating traumatized teens.  Once there she gets picked for an English class where they study Sylvia Plath the entire semester--which sounds like it could induce depression, but it does not.  The students get a journal that the teacher supplies and that journal takes each one of them to the time and place where their trauma occurred.  It is like a kind of virtual reality and they relive the time and place until they are able to let go of the trauma.  A kind of in vivo exposure therapy that they under go individually but with the advantage that they support each other as a group.  It is a wonderful story that is well told.