Good morning GUSelverino/as!!!! Getting close to the big day!!!!! Annie Lennox's Birthday is December 25th!!!! Yayyyyyyyyyy!
Ok, watch this video and I dare you to say Annie Lennox isn't flumptytail. Look at flumpty's avatar!!! We all know a famous person who is also talented and adorable.
Now other stuff I like:
A woman who is talented on many levels and is generous and loving -- even though the video is really doofy:
Leonard Cohen AND Judy Collins!!!!!!!! I was 17 when this was recorded. Holy crap -- we all look so much something something now.
This song, which Linda Ronstadt couldn't get produced for quite a bit (arseholes) has just been incorporated (album) as a national treasure in the Library of Congress. This woman could sing any style. Utterly stunning.
And sorry but -- the Stone Poneys and Linda who looks all of 13!!!!!!
Lordy! Why do I not have one CD of this woman who I love. She is so brilliant.
!!!!!! 1960!!!!! The beautiful Joan Baez. Holy Moley, what a voice!!!!
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And then my Mom always sends me great stuff. She's out now (I'm typing late on Saturday night) with her "Bereavement Group." You never ever heard of any group that has more fun than this bunch of bereaving old people. Damn.
Castro eating ice cream with American peeple in 1959. Thanks pre-Obama!
This is opening day of the Golden Gate Bridge. If you squint and look about halfway up the center and see a single guy walking -- that's silkie. He's hoping to find a breakfast buddy on the other side on the wrong coast. Sad -- but I think he's recovered. Seems chipper.
Slow-Cooker Roast Beef with Mushroom Gravy
from Cook's Country
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
For an evenly cooked, medium-rare roast from the slow cooker, we first salt an eye-round roast overnight, brown it well in a skillet, and then build a gravy in the same pan. Cremini mushrooms form the base of the gravy, along with onion, tomato paste, flour, and beef broth. To boost the mushroom flavor, we add potent porcini mushrooms. The roast and gravy cook together for 1½ to 2 hours, for a perfect rosy medium-rare roast. Be sure to slice the roast as thin as possible to ensure tenderness.
Trim all visible fat from the surface of the roast. Note that the roast needs to rest for at least 18 hours after salting. If your roast is less than 4 pounds, begin checking the internal temperature at 1 hour. Take the temperature as quickly as possible.
INGREDIENTS
1 (4-pound) boneless beef eye-round roast, trimmed
Kosher salt and pepper
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, trimmed, halved, and sliced thin
1 onion, chopped fine
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups beef broth
1/8 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, rinsed and minced
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Sprinkle roast all over with 4 teaspoons salt. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 18 hours or up to 24 hours.
2. Pat roast dry with paper towels; rub with 1 tablespoon oil and season with pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Sear roast until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Set roast in slow cooker.
3. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to now-empty skillet and heat over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add cremini mushrooms, onion, tomato paste, and 1 teaspoon salt and cook until vegetables have softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour to coat vegetables and cook for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in broth until incorporated, scraping up any browned bits. Add porcini mushrooms and thyme and bring to boil. Pour broth mixture around roast. Cover and cook on low heat until meat registers 125 degrees (for medium-rare), 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
4. Transfer roast to carving board, tent with foil, and let rest for 15 minutes. (Leave slow cooker on “warm” setting to keep gravy hot.) Whisk butter and parsley into gravy and season with salt and pepper to taste. Slice roast thin against grain and serve with gravy.
MOLASSES SPICE COOKIES WITH ORANGE ESSENCE
from Cook's Illustrated
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Our ideal molasses cookie recipe would produce a charmingly crackled and crinkled cookie with an uncommonly moist, chewy interior and a spicy flavor with undertones of dark, bittersweet molasses. To make this molasses cookie recipe a reality, we started with all-purpose flour and used butter rather than shortening for full, rich flavor. The precise right amounts of molasses, brown sugar, vanilla, and spices gave us the flavor we wanted. Taking the cookies out of the oven when they looked underdone gave our molasses cookies the chewiness we required.
MAKES ABOUT 22 COOKIES
Measure the molasses in a liquid measuring cup. If you find that the dough sticks to your palms as you shape the balls, moisten your hands occasionally in a bowl filled with cold water and shake off the excess. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time. If baked two sheets at a time, the cookies started on the bottom rack won’t develop the attractive cracks. The cookies should look slightly raw and underbaked when removed from the oven. If you plan to glaze the cookies (see recipe under related content), save the parchment paper used to bake them.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup granulated sugar (about 7 ounces)
3 teaspoons grated orange zest
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (11 1/4 ounces)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon table salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool
1/3 cup dark brown sugar (about 2 1/2 ounces)
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup molasses (about 6 ounces), light or dark
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In workbowl of food processor, process 2/3 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons orange zest until pale orange, about 10 seconds; transfer sugar to 8- or 9-inch cake pan and set aside.
2. Whisk flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in medium bowl until thoroughly combined; set aside.
3. In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and 1 teaspoon grated orange zest with brown sugar and remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low and add yolk and vanilla; increase speed to medium and beat until incorporated, about 20 seconds. Reduce speed to medium-low and add molasses; beat until fully incorporated, about 20 seconds, scraping bottom and sides of bowl once with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to lowest setting; add flour mixture and beat until just incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping bowl down once. Give dough final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no pockets of flour remain at bottom. Dough will be soft.
4. Using tablespoon measure, scoop heaping tablespoon of dough and roll between palms into 1 1/2-inch ball; drop ball into cake pan with sugar and repeat to form about 4 balls. Toss balls in orange sugar to coat and set on prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are browned, still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone), about 11 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Do not overbake.
5. Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes, then use wide metal spatula to transfer cookies to wire rack; cool cookies to room temperature and serve. (Can be stored at room temperature in airtight container or zipper-lock plastic bag up to 5 days.)
The sole reason I should be Jewish (ok, also too brisket and Yiddish and also music and . . . .)
Killer Potato Latkes
from Andrew Zimmern's Kitchen (he should be one of my many boyfriends!!!)
These Jewish potato pancakes are so good that posting the recipe alone is a mitzvah (blessing) of the highest order. Bubbelah, you should always trust me with this stuff. Growing up, we ate a lot of potato pancakes at Hanukkah. The Festival of Lights refers to a lamp in the temple that was supposed to have only enough oil to last the Maccabees one night, but instead lasted for eight, enough time for them to repel the oppression of the Seleucids and renounce the assimilation of the Hellenistic Jews. But the holiday celebrates the miracle of the oil, not the military victory, so fried foods are often featured at Hanukkah feasts. Problem is, most potato pancakes, or latkes, are awful. Luckily for you, these are amazing. Every year at our house, we have a Hanukkah night when we invite the neighbors and stand around the kitchen shoving these hot, crispy little beauties into our mouths as fast as you can say “dreidel, dreidel, dreidel.” Enjoy.—Andrew Zimmern
1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
Sea salt
2 pounds baking potatoes
1 large onion, finely diced
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup matzo meal
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
Vegetable oil, for frying
Applesauce, crème fraîche, smoked salmon, salmon roe and dill sprigs, for serving
In a medium saucepan, cover the Yukon Gold potatoes with cool water, season generously with salt and bring to a boil. Cook the potatoes until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain well and immediately pass the potatoes through a ricer into a large bowl.
Working quickly, peel and grate the baking potatoes on the large holes of a box grater into a medium bowl. Press with a clean kitchen towel to remove excess moisture. Add half of the grated potatoes to the riced potatoes.
Transfer the remaining grated potatoes to the bowl of a food processor. Add the onion and pulse until the potatoes and onions are very finely chopped.
Transfer to a fine-mesh sieve and press with the back of a spoon to extract as much liquid as possible. Add the potato-onion mixture to the large bowl.
Stir in the eggs, matzo meal, white pepper and 2 teaspoons of salt.
In a large, heavy skillet, heat 1/4 inch of oil until shimmering. Working in 3 batches, spoon 1/4 cup of the potato mixture into the oil for each latke; press slightly to flatten.
Fry over moderate heat, turning once, until the latkes are golden and crisp on both sides, about 7 minutes. Drain the latkes on a paper towel-lined baking sheet and sprinkle lightly with salt. Serve with applesauce, crème fraîche, smoked salmon, salmon roe and dill.
MAKE AHEAD
The fried latkes can be kept at room temperature for up to 4 hours. Reheat them on a baking sheet in a 375° oven for about 5 minutes, or until warmed through and crisp.
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