Food book survey

I took the photo above when I was making a leek and walnut sauce for a chicken recipe from The Healthy Slow Cooker by Judith Finlayson.



I was skeptical when I saw this green mush in the food processor, but the results were excellent; Jeff even went back for seconds. Speaking of food books...



Just finished reading The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears in Paris at the World's Most Famous Cooking School on my iPhone and LOVED it.

The true story follows Kathleen Flinn, who returned from vacation only to find that her corporate job had been eliminated. Instead of looking for another "normal" job, she cleared out her savings and moved to Paris to pursue her dream of getting a diploma from the famous cooking school: Le Cordon Bleu. Flinn has an engaging writing style, and the book was a fascinating glimpse into the workings of the school as well as a level of cooking that I will never achieve. Also fun to see how she coped with the language barrier.

The book also includes a bunch of recipes which sound mouthwatering but not terribly low-fat. :-)

Anyone who loved Ruth Reichl's food books is likely to also enjoy this book.


And OOOOH! I just noticed that a new Reichl book just came out last week!! Now the quandary: buy Not Becoming My Mother: and Other Things She Taught Me Along the Way now, or wait for paperback? Hmm...

To you foodies out there: What are YOUR favourite food books?

First dip in the lake!

Jeff and I went up to the cottage with his parents this past weekend. The last of the ice was going out when we arrived (see above photo). 'Twas very cool to hear the crackling and hissing of the slush as it shifted, gradually melting into the water.



After we crossed the lake, we found that the power was out at the cottage. JBR collected ice from the lake to keep our food cold.



A phonecall to Hydro prompted a helicopter to buzz the shoreline looking for line problems, and a couple of Hydro guys came to check on our situation. We had power back on by early evening...wow, that was fast (considering how few customers they have in that area at this time of year).



Below: Russ Matthews, who won Jeff's annual Canoe Lake Ice-Out Prediction poll.



While sitting in the hot sauna, I decided to have a quick dip in the recently thawed lake. I almost chickened out, but Jeff promised to stand by the edge of the deck to help me get out. Good thing, too -- as soon as my body hit that icy water, I knew I wanted to get out as soon as I could. Holy cow. It was not my most graceful exit from the water (the words "flailing" and "shrieking" come to mind), but it certainly was exhilarating.



I ran back into the sauna, but it still felt as if I had an invisible cushion of cold air all around my body for several long minutes despite the heat; I love that sensation, and it's one of the reasons I always try to jump in the lake at ice-out. It's almost as if every cell in my body is quivering with "WOOHOO! WE'RE ALIVE!" (and "DON'T YOU DARE DO THAT AGAIN!"). Heh.

You can see more of my ice-out pics here.

Jonathan Coulton with Paul and Storm at the Lula Lounge in Toronto

As Jeff said last night, it was the best concert we've seen in several years.

It was the first time either of us had been to Lula Lounge. Nice venue, though the whole dinner seating vs regular seating was a bit confusing. The tickets say "Dinner reservations guarantee best seating," but this isn't necessarily true.

The best seats, IMHO, are the small tables right in front of the stage, perfect for couples. If you're a larger group with a dinner reservation, you'll be put in the booths against the far walls at either side of the restaurant. You'll still see the performers, of course, but this isn't the best seating.

The non-dinner seating is behind the small tables in front of the stage, and appears to given out on a first-come, first-served basis on the night of the performance. If I'm wrong about this, someone feel free to let me know. Also, those with dinner reservations still have to line up with everyone else.

It seemed to me that the dinner tables were given out on a first-come, first-serve basis (e.g. you don't have a specific table, no matter how early in advance you book), though I might be wrong about this. Also, be sure to confirm your reservation closer to the performance date! I called the day before and found out that they had NO RECORD of my dinner reservation. Fortunately they still had room for more dinner reservations, and our seating was good -- Jodi, James, Jeff and I had a table for four near the railing. After dinner, Jodi and I moved our chairs up to the railing so we had a better view of the stage.



Paul and Storm opened for Jonathan Coulton as well as performing a few songs with him in his set. They were HIGHLY entertaining, and their harmonies and arrangements were great, plus they had a wide variety of material. You can hear samples of their material on their website.

One of my favourites: Nun Fight. :-D

Also love the fact that they obviously knew the crowd ("Ok, now yell 'argh' PI times!" (pause as audience responds without hesitation) "Wow, that really WAS 3.14159265 times...")

Jeff liked them so much that he bought all three of their CDs plus one of their Evil Minion t-shirts.



Next up: Jonathan Coulton. I was sooooo excited to finally see him perform live, and I wasn't disappointed. I had a mental list of songs that I fervently hoped he would sing, and HE SANG EVERY ONE OF THEM IN HIS SET, WOOHOO!



His set included: The Future Soon, Shop Vac, Still Alive, Curl, Code Monkey, My Monkey, Birdhouse In Your Soul, Creepy Doll, I'm Your Moon, I Feel Fantastic, Mr. Fancy Pants, Skullcrusher Mountain, Mandelbrot Set, You Ruined Everything, Re: Your Brains, Betty & Me, First of May, plus a number of others I can't recall right now. Some of the songs were requests that people had sent him on Twitter after he had asked what people wanted to hear.

I love the amazing effects gizmo he was playing during Mr. Fancy Pants, and especially how he played it; he was obviously having a lot of fun. :-)

Jonathan called up Paul and Storm on several songs, and the arrangements/harmonies were fantastic. I especially enjoyed the rapport between the three of them.



To those who are seeing him (and Paul and Storm!) tonight: You're in for a treat.

Seeing Jonathan Coulton at the Lula Lounge tonight!

Woohoo! Jeff and I are meeting Jodi and James at the Lula Lounge tonight to see Jonathan Coulton perform. I've never seen Coulton live, so I'm pretty excited. Thanks to Tom Jeffers for giving me the heads-up about this show -- he and others are going to see it this weekend.

Paul and Storm will be opening for him. From their JoCopedia page: "Paul Sabourin and Greg 'Storm' DiCostanzo are an Arlington, Virginia-based comedic musical duo. They had formerly been half of the a cappella group Da Vinci's Notebook. When that group went on hiatus the two struck out on their own, with Paul playing keyboard and penny whistle and Storm on the guitar. " You can find out more about them on their blog.

I got hooked on Jonathan Coulton's songs after hearing Tony Fabris perform Skullcrusher Mountain at a filk convention.

By the way, don't you think Coulton bears an uncanny resemblance to my friend Rand (posing with Jodi) in the photo below?



Anyway, I've been posting some of my favourite Jonathan Coulton tunes on my Blip.fm account. Plus I'll include a few here:







Less than 12 hours to go!

Dollhouse may NOT be cancelled after all

Just saw this article (*Be warned the article has plot spoilers!*) in the Chicago Tribune.

Although Dollhouse tv ratings haven't been stellar, it's apparently done well on other platforms. so there's a chance it could return. Here's Joss Whedon's take on the subject:

"I assumed it was dead in the water because the network was refusing to air the thirteenth [episode]," Whedon said. "Not refusing, but just not interested. I assumed that meant the bell tolled for us. And they made a point of calling and saying, 'That is not what it means, and we'll keep you posted.'

"I think they want it to succeed. I think they're getting it," he added. "They need it to succeed enough for them to pay for it. So I'm oddly hopeful but I'm also ready for anything.""

Fingers crossed.

Some Blatherfeedback from Shane McEwan (for those of you who read my Waiting For Frodo comic strip, Shane was the Weta guy):

"I was disappointed by the early episodes of Dollhouse primarily because I was hoping for something more like Firefly. But as the show has progressed I’ve been enjoying it more. I ramble on about it in the latest episode of my OzPod podcast."

Thanks, by the way, for all the feedback in Livejournal as well.