Testament of Youth (2015)

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The British really are obsessed with World War I.  It was the crashing end of the highly structured class system in Britain, with old families still able to maintain big houses and equally big staff well into the 20^th century, despite all.  Never mind that it was a false economy built on the backs of the sprawling British colonies, and that their insistence on maintaining that to the detriment of almost everyone led quite directly to World War II.  France was equally to blame with their priority on making Germany pay for the decimation of their countryside, no doubt about that.  It was a disaster, and yet none of the films about it really capture the enormity of it’s impact on history.  The cost in this film is purely personal.  Young men go gallantly off to war and come home crippled, maimed, or dead.  And in very large numbers, which changes everything.  Women volunteer as nurses and put themselves in the path of danger, but also in the know about just how terrible it all is.  They lose their friends, their lovers, and their siblings in large numbers.  The rich rushed into battle to do their duty rather than hiding out behind the lines and therefore everyone was affected.  A generation was changed and this is yet another very good depiction of the enormity of that.  Well worth a watch, very well done, and yet there really is nothing new here.

Spring Pasta Carbonara

This is a variation on the recipe from the New York Times.  I made it without bacon because I wanted it to be super easy to make (not that cooking bacon is an insurmountable task, but it does add to prep time and not everyone wants to add meat to every meal, and this could be a good Meatless Monday option.  I also did not add peas because we have great asparagus available now, but they could be added or substituted for asparagus.  This pasta has a richness from the eggs (yes, five whole eggs--but a pound of pasta goes far with this dish) and you will not miss the bacon if you go this route.

• 1 pound spaghetti
• 4-8 spears of asparagus, sliced diagonally 
• 10 fresh basil leaves, chiffoned
• 5 eggs, whisked, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons milk
• ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat a sauté pan over medium heat and add the bacon, cooking for about 5 minutes, until crispy. Transfer the cooked bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper towel and set aside. Return the pan with the rendered fat to the stove top for future use.
2. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. . Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for the amount of time recommended, or until al dente.
3. While the pasta cooks, heat a tablespoon of olive oil. Add the asparagus, and sauté for about 5 minutes, until cooked but still a bit crunchy. Remove from the heat, stir in the basil, and set aside.
4. Whisk together the eggs and milk. Have the egg mixture, Parmesan, and asparagus ready to toss with very hot pasta.  Toss vigorously to cook the eggs without curdling them then serve.

Mother's Day

Parenting is definitely the hardest job out there.  One thing about it is that you are really never off the hook.  They become adults and you are still their parent.  Certainly it is possible that your children might fire you.  I am sure that happens all the time, even if the firing lasts only minutes or hours.  There are parents who should be fired indefinitely,that is also true; those that physically and verbally abuse their children need to be kicked to the curb by their offspring if they are going to have any hope of a future life that is fulfilling to them.  There are no entrance exams to get into the club.  It is altogether too easy to become a parent and all too hard to remain one.  The other difficult lesson is that one size does not fit all children.  What works for one does not in any way guarantee that the same approach will work for the next.  So you cannot rest on your laurels if child #1 escapes drugs, disasters, and encounters with the law.  The next child might need something altogether different.  Cruelly, the children themselves think that fairness is the only way to approach them, and when you do something for one, the others have every expectation that they too will have the same benefits (but not necessarily the consequences).
This year my parenting game has been severely affected by having cancer.  Not surprisingly, my children have responded quite differently to life threatening illness in their mother, and I am just now starting to work on what I can do to help.  Before it was all more or less left to my spouse to deal with because I was just too ill much of the time to do more than attend to myself.  So that is the task between now and next Mother's Day, to better handle my job as a mother now that I have a big piece of uncertainty about my future to cope with.  Wish me luck because I am definitely going to need it.

The Big Short (2015)

This is a jaunty film about the meltdown of the financial system and the corruptness that underlies what happened.   How does it manage to keep it light?  First by focusing on those who saw what was coming and while they by no means tried to stop it, they did become increasingly alarmed when the market was not acting as it should and tried to figure out why.  The answer, as we all know, is that the system is rigged, and while a few banks and investment houses went down in the crash in 2008, few did and almost no one went to jail.  We could learn a thing or two from Iceland, where the financial crooks were treated as crooks and incarcerated.  Not so here.  The movie is packed with good acting.  Steve Carell is excellent, maybe the best that I have seen him, and Christian Bale has taken his wooden style of acting to where it needs to be and become quite good at portraying a kind of character.  Brad Pitt is almost unrecognizable and Ryan Gosling takes a double take to notice, but they both put in great performances in a film that almost flippantly tells the saddest story of the 21^st century in America.  It could well explain how an outsider like Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee, managing to escape the wrath of voters against the very moneyed class that the crash protected at their expense.  We all desperately want to believe the best of those with money, and that is simply not the case.  This movie makes that all very palatable to watch.

Reflections on Passover

Once again the week of Passover has come and gone, and once again I have managed to mistakenly eat hametz.  This time my excuse is that I woke up from surgery and the only thing that was appealing on the list of possible things to eat was graham crackers.  I was well into my second bite before I realized and switched to ice cream.  I have had a much more celebratory holiday season since I started eating kitniyot two years ago (which means that I am only avoiding the 5 grains that the Torah says to avoid--wheat, spelt, barley, rye, and oats--rather than all the legumes and additional assorted grains, as the Ashkenazy tradition has dictated for eons.  That is a game changer.  It means that Mexican food (corn) and Asian food (rice) are on the menu, and it is less of a hardship and more of a holiday.  But it still means that I think about the restrictions for eight days, and with that I think about the toll that slavery takes.  We are in the midst of a resurgence in open prejudice in the United States.  Some people want to blame immigrants and those living in poverty for their life troubles, rather than those who make literally thousands of dollars an hour balking at paying a minimum wage of $15/hour to their employees.  It is absurd in the extreme.  The theme of personal freedom and social justice run rife with the Passover story, and while I am not a huge fan of matzah and I am surprised each year by how hard it is to keep Passover, it is well worth the time to think about these themes while enjoying the fourth or fifth matzah ball of the week.

Dinner with Friends

I have been struggling with my appetite for months now, and over that time I have noticed that I eat much better when I am eating out.  Be it a restaurant or a meal at the house of friends, I am much more likely to eat like my normal self than when I am home, especially if home means being left to my own devices.
I just had a wonderful dinner with friends recently, where the hosts spent time and effort on creating a memorable meal, with great success.  The appetizers were delicious--I ate so many I was worried I wouldn't have anything left for the meal, but that thankfully did not happen, because the meal and the dessert were every bit as wonderful as the pre-meal options.  The thing that I love about eating in people's homes is that it is more private and more relaxed.  There is no orchestration of when to leave, other than the clock and the obligations of the next day.  That always puts me in a good frame of mind--I might not always stay there, and over the past six months there have been a number of times where my fatigue or my pain have limited me more than anything else, but I am constantly and gratefully reminded that dinner with friends is a wonderful thing.

The Runaways (2010)

This movie is about Joan Jett's first band and her entry into the world of being a woman in rock and roll.  We watched this because my youngest son is taking a gender and film class, and I have to say that in general and with this movie specifically, the road for women in rock is not an easy one.  You can see why 95% of the music business is made up of men.  I also see that lauding the recently and suddenly deceased Prince for his support of women at all levels of music, from performers to those who are behind the scenes, is very important.  He made a difference.
Suffice it to say that the movie is just what you would expect.  The women get carried away when they are on the road, their producer is a very unlikable guy, the band does not easily get the respect they deserve, and in the end, only the ones with grit manage to thrive.  It is a good depiction of that, and unlike The Rose, it is not painful to watch.

The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie

This is the authors first novel, and her voice reminds me of Curtis Sittenfeld, who I like very much.  Veblen and Paul are getting ready for their upcoming marriage.  He is in the middle of an experiment that could make him both rich and famous, and may be a bit distracted and not at his best as a result.  But their first meeting with each of their families does not go at all well.  Veblen's mother uses her hypochondriasis to keep everyone around her very close and Paul seems like a real threat to her now limited hold on Veblen.  Her father has resided in a mental institution for years and may be the healthier member of the parents.  Paul's family is equally damaged.  his parents lives revolve around his older brother who has some sort of mental condition and Paul spent his childhood being marginalized and afraid to bring anyone home to see his family.  They have both left home in many ways, but as their marriage gets closer, several things combine to derail them.  It is a very good read and I highly recommend it.

Radish Slaw

My eldest son made this to go with roast beef sandwiches, which it is apparently delicious in, but I liked it just as a side salad.

1/2 lb. shredded radish
1 1/2 Tbs. white vinegar
1 Tsp. kosher salt
1 Tsp. sugar
1 Tbp. olive oil
1 Tbs. horseradish
Parsley to taste

Mix the ingredients together and serve.

The Secret of Kells (2009)

This is a film about a young and very brave medieval monk named Brendan, a sacred book, a storied monastery, a fairy girl, an alarming creature and a forest containing little nuts that make brilliant green inks. The fairy girl is quite real, as Brendan can see for himself.  Or is she?
The Irish are a verbal people, preserving legends in story and song. The Book of Kells is a painstakingly illuminated medieval manuscript preserving the four gospels, and every page is a work of art. Many monks created it over many years.  Perhaps the viewer is to think that  Brendan was one of them. Brendan befriends old Brother Aidan, a traveler who has arrived bearing the precious book. Some pages remain to be created, and Aidan says Brendan must help. He can start by disobeying the Abbot, venturing outside the walls, and gathering the nuts he needs to make the ink.
This and his further adventures are a little like an illuminated manuscript itself. Just as every margin of the Book of Kells is crowded with minute and glorious decorations, so is every shot of the film filled with patterns and borders, arches and frames, do-dads and scrimshaw images. The colors are bold and bright; the drawings are simplified and 2-D. That reflects the creation of the original book in the centuries before the discovery of perspective during the Renaissance.
The movie has a wide appeal, with a gap in the middle. I think it will appeal to children young enough to be untutored in boredom, and to anyone old enough to be drawn in, or to appreciate the artistry.