There's a new food network on cable!!! The Cooking Channel debuted on Memorial Day. Granted, it is a spin off of the Food Network, but it has a lot of stuff I haven't seen before and some favorites that I haven't seen in a long time. I almost busted a stitch during on episode of The Galloping Gourmet in which the dish actually went wrong. I have seen him set fire to his set before (he used to drink quite a bit of wine while cooking), but I've never seen one actually fail. It was fascinating. Meanwhile, Julia Child is doing a buffet for 19 people and making her own puff pastry (not in the same show). And there are new chefs for me to enjoy. All of this new inspiration has had an impact. A few of the shows were making fried chicken. On one show, an early episode of Tyler's Ultimate (there's also a cookbook) in which these elderly and well seasoned cooks at an Inn in Cape May, New Jersey flavored their cooking oil with onions and fresh herbs. I'm using a similar strategy with flavoring the buttermilk I marinade the chicken. And If I'm having fried chicken, I must have potato salad. In this case, I'm trying something I just saw today on Alex's Day Off. Chef Alexandra Guarnaschelli (who writes the most sensual descriptions of food I've ever seen) bakes her potatoes for the salad.
The cupcakes from last week tasted really good. I overfilled the cups, thus they were a might strange looking, but boy did they taste amazing. I think they were all gone by Wednesday. We did share a few of them with Craig, but the bulk of them were eaten by Jon and me. Shameful! In my defense, I did eat a lot of fruit last week and certainly will today. Jon remains unrepentant. I meant to get photos even though they were mutants, but we laid into them so fast. And then, they were gone. We're pushing back the attempt at raisin bread. I've been more or less coach-ridden most of the week. My energy isn't lasting long enough this weekend to do more than cook meals. And that's been with a lost of rest breaks. I've really been wanting to whip up an new batch of stocks, but I haven't been able to go out and shop yet. Maybe next week I'll be able to do both. I'm chafing to get to the newly discovered Mar Vista Farmer's Market, but that may be a ways off. I have to behave myself. Aside from the exhaustion, everyone I know has been yelling at me about moving too fast. I think they've even been checking up on me. I get calls from people at odd times making sure I'm home and not doing anything. Some of my actors have even been calling.
I've been behaving. It doesn't take much physical exertion to edit the promotional clips for the re-release of Demon Under Glass. It's more mental torture. Jon has me using something more advanced than Movie Maker. It has a screen that reminds me of an airline cockpit. There's a lot going on, in other words. Luckily, I'm only doing the first pass at editing. Jon gets the sweat out the fine details. He likes doing that. I'm not sure how I'll do wading through the various takes to get the performance I want. I may enjoy it, or there may be a smoldering crater where my PC sat. I can't give too much in the way of insights into what we're up to. Everything I could say is a spoiler of sorts. Be patient.
I have been doing some work on the various fiction projects piled up around my work area. And working on them has brought up some interesting things about the craft of writing. But my energy wanes now that the chicken is friend and the potato salad is chilling. I think I should get a nap. Then, more cherries.
Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment