verbatim

I'm the Captain Now

It's never easy to find a movie that the whole family wants to see, but yesterday we settled on "Captain Phillips." Well, truth be told, Andy and I were planning to watch it with Pete, then we managed to persuade the girls to join us. (The lure of freshly made popcorn might have been implicated.)

As everyone must know by now, it retells the true story of a cargo ship with 20 crew members that is hijacked by Somali pirates. It is an intense nail-biter, even if you know how it's going to turn out (which Julie and I did not, but the others did, or at least somewhat). There's a looming, menacing threat of violence throughout, but in truth not that much violence is actually shown. The tension and suspense really had us all on the edges of our seats. We all liked it a lot, even Julie—and this was her first "action adventure" or "thriller."

If anyone has suggestions for movies that might appeal to the whole family, I'm all ears.

Oh, and while I have you: Andy and I have watched the first 6 episodes of "House of Cards." So far: meh. Andy in particular is having trouble with the fact that he doesn't like anyone at all, not even a little. I'm just not feeling drawn in—I don't really care what happens. (Maybe that's because they're all so despicable.) I think Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright are great in their roles; however, I don't care at all for Kate Mara. So we may not bother continuing to watch.

I'm in the Bathroom

How about an update on our bathroom project? It's going great, and it's fun to see the progress every day. The tile just started going into the shower stall yesterday. We're going with classic white subway tiles for the walls:

And the vanity went in today:

We're getting there....

Continuing Along the College Search Trail

Yesterday we visited Curry College in Milton, and today was Simmons, which is in the Longwood area of Boston, home to some of the best hospitals in the world, lots of colleges, and our home-away-from-home, Fenway Park! They were very different in almost every way, which just goes to show that it's important to visit a variety of schools to see what's out there. (And we're lucky that we have so many options to choose from around here, from large to small, from urban to suburban to out in the boondocks, from community college to Ivy League, and every possible option in between.)

Curry felt very self-contained; I believe the campus is even fenced in. There's no "off campus" to speak of, and it's in a quiet suburb. So that means that all social life, extracurricular activities, and so on have to happen on campus. They do have shuttle buses to take the kids downtown or to the nearest T stop or to a suburban mall, but otherwise, it's all Curry all the time. Everything we saw was very nice—the dorm rooms (bigger than at Clark, Steph noted!), dining hall, library, classrooms, and so on—but it did feel kind of provincial. I think Steph would do fine there, but I fear it would not give her enough of the total college "experience" I'm hoping for for her. I also didn't see any signs of student activism or community outreach, which was everywhere we looked at Clark. So we will keep Curry on the list, but it has shifted down a bit. 

But wow, Simmons was such a surprise. I was really impressed with it, and it quickly jumped to the top of Steph's list! They have some amazing programs, internship and study-abroad opportunities (Clark does too; I forgot to mention that!), and brand-spanking-new facilities. One important thing we learned was that it is part of the Colleges of the Fenway, a consortium of 6 neighboring colleges. Students at any of the 6 schools can take classes at any of the other schools, use the other schools' facilities (e.g., libraries and dining halls), and attend any of the events going on in the other schools. One reason this is a big deal is that Simmons is all women, so this way you might have classes with men, and you could certainly have a social life with men! Plus, don't forget that Simmons is in Boston, the most vibrant college town in the nation (250,000 college students and counting!). So everyone we spoke to said that it was not at all an "issue" that it was all women; as one young woman said, "I could never have gone to an all-women's school out in the middle of nowhere." And I have to say that it was kind of nice to see the all-women's residential halls.

We are also planning to look at Wheelock (though we don't have an appointment yet), which is another member of the consortium, so now we already know something important about it! Stay tuned....

Return of the Clarkie

Today we braved the impending snowstorm and headed out for our first college tour with Steph. We visited Andy's alma mater, Clark University. For those who don't know it, it's a small liberal arts school in Worcester; in many ways it reminded me of Wesleyan (my alma mater) in its size, setting, and overall "feel." (I told Steph that pretty much all of the good, small liberal arts schools in New England have this same general "feel.") She liked it a lot, and I was ready to sign myself up to go!

It was fun for Andy to see familiar buildings that look the same or have been renovated, as well as completely new buildings. We saw the dining hall, library, science center, athletic complex, main academic building, and more. By pure coincidence, when the tour guide took us to see what a typical freshman dorm room looks, it was Andy's exact room from 1977! Imagine that.

Clark has an amazing program you can apply to as a junior. If you've maintained a 3.4 GPA during your first three years there, you can start taking graduate-level courses as a senior and then tack on a fifth year for free—and graduate with a Master's degree! Something like 40% of seniors do that, not surprisingly.

Clark's admissions policy is test-optional, which means that you don't have to send in your SAT scores if you don't want to! This policy is a rarity, but I sure hope that it catches on elsewhere. The SATs cause so much stress and really don't predict success in college. Many studies have shown that a student's performance in high school classes is a far better indicator of her performance in college classes than standardized test scores. We all know that there are good students who just don't test well, and then there are bright kids who ace their SATs but are lazy students; Clark would clearly prefer to admit the former type. I wish more schools would go this route, as Steph makes honor roll every semester but is not a great tester. 

Tomorrow we are visiting Curry College, which I know absolutely nothing about (Steph was attracted to it because there's a preschool on campus, and she thinks she'd like to major in early childhood education). Then on Thursday we're going to Simmons College, alma mater of both my mother and Andy's mother! There are many other schools on Steph's (not so) short list, but three visits for one snowy vacation week seemed like a good start.

Meaty Monday

I couldn't come up with anything for Meatless Monday tonight, so I decided that since it was a holiday, we'd take a holiday from Meatless Monday too.

Instead I tried a new pork stir-fry recipe that everyone liked. The sauce was yummy; there's nothing spicy in it at all to scare off the kids (in fact, you might want to zing it up a bit if you like it hot). I'll make this again, perhaps with a different veggie assortment, though, since Julie declared that snow peas are the only veggie she likes cooked, while Andy proclaimed that he does not like snow peas. And none of the kids like cooked carrots, even when they're nice and crisp-tender. So maybe less of both of those and a little broccoli? Regardless, serve it over rice to soak up the sauce.

Sweet and Sour Pork

1 pound pork tenderloin, cut into ½-inch pieces
2½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar, divided use
2 teaspoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons ketchup
3 tablespoons sugar
⅓ cup water
½ teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil, divided use
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
3 scallions, cut into ½-inch pieces
3 cups snow peas, cut in half

Toss the pork with ½ tablespoon of the vinegar and a pinch of kosher salt in a bowl. Mix the remaining 2 tablespoons vinegar, the soy sauce, cornstarch, ketchup, sugar, water, and salt in another bowl.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat. Add the pork and slowly stir until it turns mostly opaque, about 2 minutes. Remove the pork with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate. Discard the oil and wipe out the skillet.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil in the skillet, then stir-fry the garlic with a pinch each of salt and sugar, 15 seconds. Add the carrots and scallions and stir-fry until crisp-tender, 2 minutes. (Add a little water if the garlic starts to stick to the skillet.) Add the pork, snow peas. and soy sauce mixture; stir until the pork is cooked through and the sauce is thickened, about 3 minutes.

More Pasta, More Cheese

Last night's "Meatless Monday" meal was yet another variation on the pasta and cheese theme. We're not big on lasgana here, because most lasagna recipes call for ricotta—not a big fave around these parts. But this one uses cottage cheese, and lots of fresh spinach. I doubled the recipe, which made plenty for us for dinner. It's kind of tricky to cook up and drain a whole package of lasagna noodles (mine had 18 sheets), but I ended up with 15 survivors to turn into roll-ups, of which 4 were eaten today as leftovers. I used my big 10-by-15-inch Pyrex baking dish.

Spinach Lasagna Roll-Ups

8 lasagna noodles 
2 cups finely chopped baby spinach, from about 3 ounces
1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
2/3 cup shredded mozarella cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper 
1 cup spaghetti sauce

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x9-inch baking dish.

Cook the lasagna noodles in plenty of salted boiling water according to the package directions. Remove when they are al dente and lay out on a clean towel to dry and cool.

In a large bowl, mix the spinach, cottage cheese, half of the shredded cheese, the Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, and a generous quantity of black pepper.

Divide the spinach and cheese mixture evenly between the noodles, spreading the mixture over the entire length of each noodle. Roll up the noodles from bottom to top and place in pan, side by side, touching. Pour the tomato sauce over the rolls and sprinkle the remaining shredded cheese over the top.

Bake until heated through and bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes.

Feeding and Being Fed

Yesterday was a great day, bookended by two very different food experiences. First I went with a group from my temple to Rosie’s Place, the oldest women’s shelter in the country. Rosie’s serves lunch and dinner on weekends and breakfast, lunch, and dinner on weekdays, and all meals are high in fiber and low in sodium and fat. At any given meal there might be 50 or as many as 150 homeless and low-income women being served. Rosie’s also has 21 beds, but anyone can just walk in for a meal. Anyone who isn’t drunk or high, that is, since Rosie’s is a dry shelter. Rosie’s receives no government funding whatsoever and instead is supported solely by personal donations. They also provide other services to these women, including wellness services, educational assistance, and legal advice. It’s an amazing place.

Our group of 15 arrived at about 10:00, donned aprons, and got to work preparing lunch. Ben and Cara run the dining program like a well-oiled machine, even with a bunch of people who don’t know what they’re doing. In no time at all we had made a giant vat of tomato soup with lots of veggies and rice, served with baguettes and butter. Then we made a gorgeous salad of lettuce, cucumbers, green and red peppers, tomatoes, feta cheese, pine nuts, dried cranberries, and chickpeas, all tossed with a lovely vinaigrette. Served alongside was balsamic chicken breasts, and an apple for dessert. We all worked nonstop, and hard, from washing dishes to chopping veggies to cleaning out the coffee makers. It was a thoroughly rewarding experience, and the women were all very appreciative. I am looking forward to going back!

Having done the feeding, later on it was my turn to be fed. As you know, I’ve been working with Michael Ruhlman for almost two years now, since that fateful day when he contacted me about copyediting his cookbook on schmaltz, which was originally going to be just a self-published iPad app but later got picked up by Little, Brown and is now a gorgeous book. Since then I have edited two more of his books (Egg is coming out very soon, and I’m just now finishing up How to Roast), plus a bunch of other smaller things, from his autobiographical Kindle single to recipes to accompany his Le Creuset video series to his near-daily blog posts. But … although we email and text all the time, we had never actually met! Until last night.

Michael was flying in from Cleveland to appear at an event here in Boston called Beyond Bubbie’s Kitchen, at which lots of local chefs (Tony Maws, Michael Leviton, Jim Solomon, etc.) prepare traditional Jewish food in innovative ways. Michael was there to talk schmaltz, one of his favorite topics. So he put me and Andy on his guest list, and we went!

Andy spotted him as soon as we walked in. My first impression? Michael Ruhlman is tall. Like, really tall. I guess from all those cooking videos where he’s shot from the waist up, it had never occurred to me how tall he is. I’m really short, so everyone around me looks tall, but he’s really tall. So we chatted for a while and milled around, sampling things like duck confit latkes, schmaltz buns with lamb belly and prune compote, veggie kishke, guava knishes, and more. (Just like Grandma used to make!) Then Michael was interviewed by someone from the Globe about his love of schmaltz (and fat in general) and spoke on his favorite topics of how important it is to cook your own food, use real ingredients (fat is not bad, chemicals are bad), and use your common sense. Then he signed books and had another interview. And then we were sprung. Andy left to go home and feed the kids, and Michael and I headed off to a bar (which shall remain nameless for reasons that will become obvious momentarily but which is in a very well-known restaurant in a very well-known hotel).

It’s so interesting and fun to “meet” someone when you sort of already “know” that person! I mean, in many respects we’ve worked very closely together, but of course not side by side. It’s very rare that I get to meet the authors I work with, and I’ve probably worked with Michael more than with any other author, so this was a great occasion.

But, back to the drinks. Michael orders a Maker’s Mark on the rocks, and I do my usual foofing-around because I’m picky about my vodka (Michael says, “Can you really tell the difference?” “Yes!”). I end up with Ketel One over ice with a big hunk of lime. Not bad at all. Some time later, a different bartender comes on shift, and this time Michael asks for a Maker’s Mark Old Fashioned. Now, those of you who read his blog know that nearly every Friday he does a post called “The Friday Cocktail Hour” to help us all kick off our weekends. Sometimes it’s a classic cocktail, like The Manhattan, and sometimes it’s a completely new drink he invented, like The Robertson. This is all by way of saying that although you may think of him as mostly an expert on food and cooking, he also knows his booze.

The drink arrives—brought by yet a third bartender—and Michael just stares at it.

“Is this an Old Fashioned?”
“Yes.”
“It looks like it has soda water in it.”
“Yes.”
“An Old Fashioned never has soda in it.”
“Yes, it does.”

By this time, I’m dying. The look on Michael’s face is one of complete incredulity (this is not his first time ordering an Old Fashioned, not by a long shot), the journeyman bartender is being obstinate, and I’m this close to bursting out laughing. Michael tastes it and says, “It tastes like an Old Fashioned. With soda water.” The bartender agrees to remake the drink, but maintains that an Old Fashioned always has soda water.

As soon as the bartender leaves, I pull out my iPhone and whisper, “We have to look it up!” Michael says, “It’s right there on my blog!” I remind him that he can’t corroborate his opinion with his own blog, so he says to go to Wikipedia. Sure enough, there’s the recipe for an Old Fashioned, without a trace of soda water to be seen. I tell Michael that I’m dying to show it to the bartender, and he says he figured as much. (Yes, apparently, I would be happy to edit bartenders, too.) After a few minutes, and me petulantly sucking the ice from my second Ketel One, he laughs and says, “You really want to say something, don’t you?” But I manage to hold it in and not make a scene.

And that was it; Michael had an early morning flight to look forward to, and I had to get home and ready for my own week, so we said goodnight and I hopped in a cab.

It was a great day to be me, wouldn’t you say?

Two Thumbs Up

You know I am not generally a fan of movie adaptations of my favorite novels, but this weekend I finally watched "Life of Pi" and felt that it really did justice to Yann Martel's book. I chalk that up to director Ang Lee.

I read the book when it first came out (thanks to Scott's recommendation) and loved it. I was nervous when I heard it was being made into movie, and I had trouble even imagining how it could be done. Andy, on the other hand, had never read the book; after seeing (and loving) the movie, he wondered if he'd even like the book. So there you go.

Plot summary but no spoilers: Pi is an Indian teen who grows up in a zoo. The family decides to move to Canada, but there's a shipwreck and all the people and animals die. Except for Pi and Richard Parker, the zoo's Bengal tiger. On a tiny lifeboat. And that's all I'll say. (Except that now I am calling all of our cats Richard Parker. I have a feeling it will stick with Luna.)

The cinematography is gorgeous, the acting is wonderful (mostly Pi at different ages), and the story is faithfully retold, including the ending. It can be enjoyed on many levels—from the most basic adventure tale to a very deep and philosophical meditation on life and truth.

I miss Roger Ebert's film reviews (and insightful tweets), but luckily there is always his archive to go back to. Here's what he said about this movie:

Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" is a miraculous achievement of storytelling and a landmark of visual mastery. Inspired by a worldwide best-seller that many readers must have assumed was unfilmable, it is a triumph over its difficulties. It is also a moving spiritual achievement, a movie whose title could have been shortened to "life."