My photo
Immovably fascinated by the world; it's properties, people, conditions, sensations, irony,
and all the amazing moments which, whether by enlightenment or scarring, bring about permanent change.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Bonnie & Clyde

I rented a Gainsbourg cd from the library, and heard this song;


It sparked something in me.
I was surprised I've never read up on these depression-era outlaws before...
pretty interesting stuff.

I read this;


found some photos of this good-looking, well-dressed pair...



They met over hot chocolate.
Some say she was making it for a mutual friend when Clyde came over.
Others say hot chocolate was Clyde's specialty.





Bonnie had a pet rabbit (meant to give to her mom)
named Sonny Boy who lived in their car.



Clyde Barrow -







Bonnie Parker -



She was charming, well read, film obsessed, and wrote poetry.




Her favorite food was red beans and rice.
Because their phones were taps,
her family would communicate in code over the line.
If her mom said "I've got some red beans and rice on the stove",
it would mean; there's going to be a meetup with Bonnie soon.



"Tell them I don't smoke cigars."
(in this infamous photo, she's kiddin around)

she smoked camels;



She was married to another man,
and was still wearing their wedding ring when she died.



She had two requests for her mother;
to be buried next to Clyde, and not to say anything bad about him.
Neither was carried out.

Can't wait to see this movie -





Faye won an oscar for this.



It was Gene Hackman's big break.






Tuesday, November 23, 2010

nectar of venus

I made the best fricking caramel sauce ever!
Then I drizzled it over the tops of fresh bakes vegan pumpkin pecan muffins.

They are XXX good. All gooey and orgasmic.
Don't they look sexy and satisfied?





The basic recipe is in julia's cookbook.

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water

simmer, swirling around sauce pan until clear.
cover and boil until thick and dark brown.
swirl until light brown.
cool pan in cold water.

warm up again.
stir in 1cup heavy cream
(for which i substituted with whipped 1/4 cup butter + 3/4 cup soymilk)
cool while stirring
add 2tsp vanilla
and 2dashes salt.

Ssssoooooooooo good.
I couldnt stop laughing and saying "mmmmm!"
I'm calling the sauce Nectar of Venus.

I've got a cup of it in the fridge.
I'll pop it in the oven to melt it.
Can't wait to try it on raspberry sorbet!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Applejack / Hard Cider




"Applejack is a strong alcoholic beverage produced from apples, popular in the American colonial period and thought to originate from the French apple brandy Calvados. Applejack is made by concentrating hard cider, either by the traditional method of freeze distillation or by true evaporative distillation. The term applejack derives from jacking, a term for freeze distillation.

From the fermented juice, with an alcohol content of less than 10%, the concentrated result contains 30-40% alcohol, is slightly sweet and usually tastes and smells of apples. Freeze distilling concentrates all of the alcohol by-products of fermentation including ethanol, methanol and fusel alcohols. Distillation by evaporation can separate these since they have different boiling points. Due to the higher cost and lower yield of alcohol produced from fruit fermentation, commercially produced applejack may be composed of apple brandy diluted with grain spirits until the drink reaches the desired alcohol content.

In New Jersey, applejack was used as currency to pay road construction crews during the colonial period. A slang expression for the beverage was Jersey Lightning.

Slang, AppleJack is also a drink with 3 parts apple juice and one part Jack Daniel's whiskey, served on the rocks."

-wikipedia





"Mulled cider can be made by adding 10 cloves, 1 cup of maple syrup, 4 cinnamon sticks and nutmeg to a quart of cider. Bring the cider and cloves to a boil. Add the syrup and stir until thoroughly mixed. Pour into mugs with a cinnamon stick in each and top with nutmeg. Applejack is a form of hard cider that can be made by placing a container of cider where it will freeze. A slushy ice will form on the top. Removing the top layer of ice will give you a concentrated form of hard cider. Remember when making applejack that with this drink, the alcohol content has been increased well beyond what the fermentation process will produce. Federal regulations that have been in effect since 1979 allow adult citizens to make all the hard cider they want, but the selling of this beverage or distillation to make hard liquor is illegal."

-http://www.allsands.com/food/recipes/appleciderreci_tsm_gn.htm






Hot Applejack Toddy
4 to 5 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 cup boiling water
1 1/2 ounces applejack or calvados

"Combine the cloves, cinnamon stick, and honey in a heat-proof snifter. Top with the boiling water and stir to melt the honey. Top with Applejack or calvados.

A traditional Hot Toddy is made with brandy, but I’ve also made them with dark rum. Today I thought I’d try one with applejack, making a sort of grown up hot cider. It doesn’t taste anything like cider, of course, but the applejack worked very well in this. Next time I think I’ll try sweetening it with brown sugar instead of honey. If you try this, increase the amount of sugar to maybe 1 1/2 teaspoons to get the same level of sweetness you get from honey. On the other hand, applejack is slightly sweeter than brandy so 1 teaspoon might be fine."

-(http://www.cocktailia.com/cocktail-recipes/applejack-toddy)

kitchens

Gorgeous -

















Gross -






Too modern for me -







Make it work-






Jack White's ol' Detroit kitchen -



more photos of Julia by Paul Child












Search my blog for