Help! Does anyone understand Jean Cocteau's Orphic Trilogy?

I am watching The Blood of a Poet (1930) right now and I say, it is a bit too surrealist and avant garde for my liking.  I know, I know.  Seminal work, amazing masterpiece, etc. etc.  But I'm very much a philistine, and I've yet to come across a decent explanation for what really makes it so good.

I remember watching Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast, my favorite fairy tale, and not enjoying that very much either.

8pm Sunday supper for two

Izzy came over and we were both wanting something warm and comforting (I had a stomachache after a weekend of indulgent eating), so we pooled the contents of our fridges and made some tasty noodle soup.  

Used miso paste as a soup base and boiled udon noodles in it for some body.  Added some Chinese veggies, leftover Costco chicken, ahi tuna, enoki mushrooms, and tofu.  Topped with toasted seaweed and a perfectly soft-boiled egg.  Very simple and tasty.

Happy Friday! With more Grannis family loving.

I for some reason cannot stop watching/listening to this video.  Something about the black-and-white, the measured pacing, the echo-y stairwell, the heartachingly good harmonizing. 

Lord these girls are gorgeous.  I would be happy to have a trio of daughters who sing like angels, as the Grannis sisters do.  And I have to agree with vchu that the most captivating one is Misa, the shy bookish-looking one on the left.  

And the original "God in My Bed" by K's Choice, for comparison.  Personally I prefer the Grannis sisters' rendition.

9pm supper for one/Late Foodie Tuesday: I made this beautifully simple fennel salad but forgot my camera so you'll have to take my word for it.

I hadn't had much experience with fennel before I started working at G.  Mostly the chefs there braised or sauteed it, and I decided I didn't like the texture or the flavor - too stringy and unpleasant, like celery, but even tougher.  

I've been kind of flirting with the idea of giving fennel another try, mostly because I see it so often in the market, and because the frond-y part of it resembles dill, which is one of my favorite herbs.  Finally I figured maybe fennel would taste better raw and sliced paper-thin, like green bell peppers do (I hate green peppers cooked.  So brash - yuck!).  So I bought a bulb the other day and figured I'd find a way to make it work.

Let me tell you: if you think you hate fennel, try it shaved, or sliced paper-thin, in a bright and fresh salad.  You might need a mandolin to get the job done, or if you're careful like me, you can just slice it yourself.  

I took a cue from my go-to Molly Wizenberg, and also the lady at Simply Recipes, both of whom I can rely on to bring me simple and delicious recipes.  I knew what I had to do:
  • Trim, wash, and slice one fennel bulb paper-thin
  • Juice a lemon (which I got fresh from my coworker's tree)
  • Make a dressing with the lemon juice, some good Spanish olive oil, salt, pepper, chopped parsley (which I grow right in my kitchen).  I like to whip the dressing separately before tossing in with the salad to kind of "fluff" it up.
  • Add some bright and colorful watermelon radish, sliced thinly, for contrast.
  • Toss everything together with some grated parmesan cheese
I have to say it was a beautiful thing when I was done.  the slices of fennel were layer-y and translucent, but had a strong flavor of licorice and a pleasing crispety-crunch.  The lemon did a lot to cut through the strong herbiness of the fennel, and the parmesan gave it this yummy savory quality that made me want to gobble up a giant bowlful of the salad.  

Instead, I exercised some restraint and ate half of the salad I made with half a pita bread and some Costo chicken.  Dee-lish.

Vancouver Olympics: General downtown ruckus

I wish I had gotten video of people chanting "JAPADOG! JAPADOG!" as we stood in line for those savory-scrumdillyumptious hot dogs.  But I didn't, so you'll have to be satisfied with these random moments of Canadian fanaticism.

Granville St. in downtown Vancouver, where they had closed off traffic so people were free to roam about in their Canada hockey jerseys, high-fiving each other randomly, shaking their cowbells, and breaking out into bouts of "Oh Canada."

And close to Robson St. where people were generally excited and honking their horns as they drove by:

And finally an impromptu rendition of "Oh Canada" on Vancouver's very own Skytrain, on the last train to Richmond that night.  I just can't imagine Americans breaking out into "The Star-Spangled Banner" on, say, BART or the NYC subway.

Vancouver Olympics: Short Track Speed Skating

Hands down the most exciting event we could have attended.  We sat in a little pocket of USA fans, right behind a couple of girls who seemed to be short track groupies, with T-shirts that said "I Heart JR" and "Team Celski," who would scream out Apolo's name every time he came out onto the ice.

P.S. Katherine Reutter is ADORABLE.

Here's a clip of the men's short track relay, definitely such a cool event to watch.  It's like a ballet.

Here's Katherine Reutter's silver medal ceremony:

And her victory lap:

And the US men's bronze medal ceremony for the relay.  Man they worked hard for this medal!

And finally, "Oh Canada" played to honor the gold medalists in the men's short track relay.

Vancouver Olympics: Food

Food in Vancouver is out of this world.

  • 1 Fish 'n' chips on Granville Island
  • 2-3 Izakaya at Guu with Garlic (pictured here are the okonomiyake and cream corn croquettes)
  • 4 Souffle thick toast, pearl milk tea, and HK style coffee at Leisure Tea & Coffee
  • 5-10 Fried chicken cartilage (crunchy!), kimchee yaki udon, various dellishous skewers (quail egg wrapped in pork, savory mochi topped with kraft singles, etc) at Zakkushi Grill.  Also had their ginger beer which was light and tasty.
  • 11 Green tea macarons at Chicco Bakery
  • 12 Ridiculously rich cheese ramen at Kintaro (handmade noodles in homemade pork bone tonkatsu broth topped with shredded mozzarella and the fattiest pork slices I've ever seen).  I actually preferred the shio ramen with lean pork.
  • 13-14 JAPADOG, quite possibly the greatest thing we ate in Vancouver. Totally worth the 30 min wait.  In the rain.
  • 15-16 Dandan noodles and beef chow fun at No. 9 Cafe in Richmond.