We worked tonight on two dinners--one for tomorrow night and one for tonight. French Onion soup (courtesy of Cooks Illustrated--a cooking magazine we cannot recommend enough) and an ad-libbed recipe for chicken tacos that I threw together for tonight.
And a film. SOF picked this one out, and it really caught us both off guard. I believe our friend SD recommended it, though we are a bit unsure. Once is a bit of a musical and mockumentary about an Irish singer (played by Glen Hansard of The Frames) and Czech girlfriend (played by Marketa Irglova--another musician) who perform several songs together in the film. Understated and wonderful, some of the songs are simply magnificent. We watched them again a few times over. And over. The story is simple and actually fades behind the songs.
9 comments:
Get the soundtrack to Once. Very much worth your time.
Also, kudos for finding Cook's Illustrated. We've been enjoying that for a couple of years now. They're serious about their recipes!
Since moving to OK from Chicago a couple of months ago, we've been enjoying being members of the Oklahoma Food Co-Op. Because we moved here around the holidays, the selection of fruits and veggies was small, but the meat, eggs, and cheese were all uniformly amazing. I'd never put much stock in the difference between store-bought and farm-raised/grass-fed/free-range, but since joining up and getting all this fantastic food, I'm sold.
In fact, it's Sunday morning free-range-egg omelet time. Happy weekend!
PS. I don't know if you have much time to do your own reading, but I can't recommend enough the books of Michael Pollan, specifically The Omnivore's Dilemma, and The Botany of Desire. He's consistently thoughtful, well-researched, and very accessible. He's able to introduce modern food issues (sustainability, genetic modification, mass food production and consumption) simply and reasonably, without being dogmatic or shrill.
Yeah, already downloaded the soundtrack, and listening to some of the Frames. Just realized that Glen was in the Committments, which now that I think of it, was how the film suggestion for Once came up. What a great little movie.
I am intrigued by the coop idea. How do you do this? How much do you need to buy and how often? Do you have a spare freezer?
Despite living in the capitol, the co-ops here are lousy. If we had one with a decent selection, we would join. With some things, I don't notice a huge difference, but certainly with meat. Unfortunately, my hunting luck was lousy this year, so no wild game for us.
Supposedly, the OK co-op is a model for many other co-ops across the nation, in organization, efficiency, and participation. Or so says my wife, who did the initial research.
What they've done, IMO, is make the web work for them pretty smartly. You can join via the website, as well as buy and pay for the items that are available that month (and everything works on a monthly cycle). I don't know about where you are, but here in Tulsa there's one pick-up spot where all the participants show up to get their loot, which arrives packed up in a Uhaul. Volunteers hand out all the items in your order. You can pay them via paypal, or at the pickup spot with a check. And you can buy as much or as little per month as you'd like, though that's hard to do after you've had a lamb roast, or ground buffalo, or those eggs. (Seriously. Man. Those eggs are awesome.)
I've been volunteering with them since we got here, as one of the home-delivery guys. I've enjoyed doing it, and though there's not pay for it, I get gas money refunded to me each month.
Anyway, it's been a positive experience so far, definitely. We were huge farmer's market goers when we lived in Chicago, and this has really helped to keep us eating and, you know, consuming, the way we like. It's been a real treat to have the process be well-organized, and the product a grade or two above the stuff we can find at Reasor's.
Hear, hear! I second Bitebark's endorsement of the food co-op. I pick up my order every month from the Unitarian Church in Norman. Aside from getting great products, I figure supporting the local farmers now will help build that infrastructure for later, when we can no longer afford to do things the way we've been doing them.
Nothing to say here, but I'm taking notes. Thanks! Keep the comments coming.
Seriously, dude. Can you please give us something we can read.
"Magnificent" really is the only way to describe the music from that film. Especially "Falling Slowly." Hands down, my favorite.
I love that soundtrack too. It is so funny. After compiling my own 2007 list and reading others, we have now noticed this soundtrack in a lot of best lists. NPR had it in the top 10 (I think).
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