Another Episode of "Read It. Watched It. Ate It."

I told you how much I loved Ithaca by Claire North, but I wanted to take a break before reading the second book in that trilogy, so I decided to try one of her many other non-Greek books. (This is one prolific writer, and in fact Claire North is a pseudonym; she also writes under her real name, Catherine Webb, as well as under other pseudonym, Kate Griffin.) The one I picked was The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, which one reviewer described as "Groundhog Day on Red Bull." To wit: Harry August was born in 1919, lived and died, and that was it. Until he was born again, under the same circumstances, but with all the knowledge and memories gained from his past life. And then again. And again. He eventually ends up finding others like him, known as ouroborans or kalachakras, and that's all I'll say plot-wise. I can't even imagine how the author constructed this intricate story. My brain hurt at times from trying to get a grip on the physics of time travel, but mostly I was absolutely fascinated and didn't want to put the book down. If you like realistic fantasy, and in particular are interested in time travel, definitely pick this one up. She's a terrific writer.

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I was nervous about seeing "A Complete Unknown" because I feared they'd somehow wreck it, but I was wrong! Andy and I both really loved it. They nailed the vibe of the early folk era—you know I am a die-hard folkie, although granted this all took place just before my time. (You might recall how much I loved the Coen brothers' "Inside Llewyn Davis," and I still listen to that soundtrack all the time.) But interestingly, I was never a huge Dylan fan—in the sense that I didn't rush out to buy every one of his albums or even once go see him in concert. That said, he has easily a dozen (probably more!) songs that I consider absolutely perfect—and you know them all too, even if you're not at all a folkie. There's a reason he's the only songwriter to ever win a Nobel Prize in Literature! But if he'd just issued all his songs as books of poems, he never would've reached his audience, so that's how we all got to know his nasal, twangy voice. (And on the flip side, if he hadn't been a songwriter, he never would've made a name for himself doing covers.) Anyhow, you've probably seen the interviews with Timothée Chalamet where he talks about ending up with more than 5 years to practice his guitar, harmonica, and singing (because of the pandemic and then the writers' strike), and he did a great job! Edward Norton as Pete Seeger was also astonishingly well cast. But it was Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez who really knocked my socks off. Because of the computer chip embedded in my brain, TikTok now shows me endless clips from the movie alongside clips of the actual concerts they performed in, and it's really remarkable how they pulled this off. Anyhow, as I often say, if you think you will like this, you probably will.

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So far every recipe I've tried from the Chinese family cooking site The Woks of Life has turned out great, and last week's was no exception. It wasn't hard to do and we found it positively lip-smacklingly scrumptious. Cleaning up my Le Creuset afterward was no picnic (see below—I overdid it a bit) but totally worth it.

Red Braised Pulled Pork

4½ pounds boneless pork shoulder (aka pork butt; the piece I got was only about 3½ pounds. It doesn't matter.), cut into 4-inch chunks and trimmed of excess fat
2 tablespoons vegetable oil 
¾ cup Shaoxing wine
⅓ cup sugar
⅓ cup regular soy sauce (I always use low-sodium.)
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce (I don't have this, so I used the recommended substitution of 2 teaspoons regular soy sauce, ½ teaspoon molasses, and ⅛ teaspoon sugar—you could also just use additional regular soy sauce.)
2 bay leaves
1 star anise (First time I ever used this! It had a very strong fragrance while cooking, but it mellows out.)
3 cups water

Arrange your oven racks so you can fit your big Dutch oven inside, and preheat to 375°F.

Heat the oil in the Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in batches, brown the pork on all sides. Return all the pork to the Dutch oven, then add the Shaoxing wine, sugar, both soy sauces, the bay leaves, star anise, and water. Stir well. Cover and bring to a boil on the stovetop. Once boiling, transfer the Dutch oven to the oven, uncovered. Cook for about 2½ hours, checking the pork every 45 minutes or so; stir and add more water if the pot starts drying out. I should have checked sooner during the last 45 minutes, because it had started to get kind of charred. You definitely want some charred bits, as they are unbelievably delicious, but I lost some pork that got stuck to the pan (see above re cleaning out my Dutch oven...). The pork should be completely caramelized and tender and falling apart. I went to fish out the bay leaves and star anise but couldn't find them—turns out the bay leaves were stuck to the charred bottom, and I never did find the star anise! Maybe it dissolved? Anyhow, pull the pork apart with 2 forks. As you can see above, I served it with white rice and baby bok choy, but you could go with noodles or scallion pancakes or whatever you like ... I was thinking of tortillas and hoisin sauce next time! 

Comments

[sillygirl]

Love to read your reviews of books and movies and series!

[Margaret]

Not being a Dylan fan, I've been hesitant to see the film.

[Karen]

I'm curious now to see if you'd like this though. So many of his songs from that era are iconic, like "Blowing in the Wind."