Southern Comfort

After several evenings in a row of us being out or having people over, Topher suggested that we have a date night at home on Tuesday. Isn't he great? Knowing that his Georgia girl likes Southern cooking, he made a feast of comfort foods.

What We Ate:

• baked ham in a mustard-bourbon-brown sugar-ginger glaze - incredibly delicious! He used an Alton Brown recipe (this was a dress rehearsal for Christmas dinner, when both sets of parents will be in town and eating at our house!)
• collard greens
• baked macaroni & cheese
• homemade biscuits - we used the leftovers to make ham biscuits for breakfast the next morning
• Atlas Peak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon - a true Cab! very oaky & dry, but with a good finish

After dinner, we watched "The Interpreter" (2005) starring Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, and Katherine Keener. Kidman plays a UN interpreter who accidentally overhears a conversation about a plot to assassinate a corrupt African leader while he's delivering a speech to the UN General Assembly later that week. Penn plays the US Secret Service agent assigned to first investigate, and then protect her.

Both Topher & I had seen it before, but I like it and wanted to see it again. Sure, there are a few holes in the plot, and some parts are a little predictable; but overall I think it's an entertaining, not-too-violent political thriller - an African conflict film set on the floor of the UN.

Three Courses & Another Bergman Film

Last Friday night, our friends Randy & Kim invited us over to continue Bergman's film trilogy on faith and man's relationship with God. We started with "Through a Glass Darkly" a couple of weeks ago at our house, and last Friday we watched "Winter Light" (1963), the second in the trilogy.

As usual chefs Raines & Raines made a fabulous three-course meal: Randy's poached sea bass and Kim's ricotta gnocchi were both outstanding.

What We Ate:

• aperitif: Prosecco
• appetizer: Chilean sea bass, poached in olive oil with lemon rinds, served over polenta and topped with crispy pancetti, shredded parsley and a fried quail egg - paired with a Sauvignon blanc - so delicious! the fish was very flavorful but not overcooked, and the quail egg (so tiny!) was rich but not overpowering
• entrée: lamb shank, sautéed shitake mushrooms, and ricotta gnocchi - paired with a Montepulciano - after dinner, we kept eating the leftover gnocchi like popcorn - it was addictively good
• dessert: apple almond tart topped with vanilla ice cream - paired with an ice wine

(I also learned something about poaching that evening: as long as you keep the liquid/meat at a constant temperature, you can cook it as long as you want without fear of overcooking - you'll just keep infusing flavor. The French have a similar technique called sous-vide, where food sealed in an airtight plastic bag is cooked in a water bath at a constant temperature for a long period of time.)

After dinner we settled down - with coffee & more ice wine - to watch the movie. Like most Bergman films, it centers more around relationships & conversations than actions & events. The main character Tomas Ericsson is a small-town clergyman in rural Sweden; Marta Lundberg is the local schoolteacher and Ericsson's sometimes mistress. Approached by two church members Jonas & Karin Persson for spiritual counseling, Ericsson suffers a personal crisis of faith. The movie's story takes place all within 3-4 hours on one Sunday afternoon, between a morning communion service and an afternoon vespers service.

We had a good discussion afterwards: Kim & I firmly believe that the film's ending - including a conversation with the church's hunchback sexton Algot - is cynical & depressing, while Randy & Topher just as firmly believe that it's hopeful. We even went back and watched the last 10-15 minutes again. Too bad the guys still didn't get it. ;)

Further reading on "Winter Light":
Review in the NYTimes - May 14, 1963
Essay from The Criterion Collection - August 18, 2003
Essay by Tobias Wolff in The New Yorker - June 9, 2008

End of Summer, Beginning of Fall

Last Friday night Topher & I celebrated the end of summer and the beginning of fall with our friends Randy & Kim. We dined on an entree of fish tacos (a quintessentially summer dish) with a dessert of pumpkin pie (very autumnal).

What We Ate:

• fish tacos: grilled halibut (marinated in olive oil & lime juice), chipotle crema (sour cream + chipotle peppers in adobo sauce), shredded green cabbage, & cilantro - I love Topher's fish tacos (he used to fry the fish, which was great, but I think it's even better grilled), and they work with any white/light fish: halibut, grouper, tilapia, catfish, flounder, mahi mahi, etc.
• jicama salad: julienne jicama, carrots, red onion, & green bell pepper (a variant of this recipe) - since I'd never seen or eaten one before, it took me quite a while to find a jicama at the grocery store!
• refried black beans with a dollop of sour cream, and black rice
• to drink: a paloma
• for dessert: a slice of pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream

Afterwards we watched another film by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman: "Through a Glass Darkly" (1961), the first in his trilogy on faith and God. The film centers on four characters - Karin (who suffers from schizophrenia), her husband Martin, her father David, and her brother Minus - as they try to relate to one another during vacation on a remote island. It won the 1962 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

It's definitely a film of conversations, not events. I must admit that I'm still processing it, but I can say that I liked the music: Bach's Sarabande from Suite No. 2 in D minor. And one of Karin's schizophrenic episodes reminded me strongly of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story "The Yellow Wallpaper," a disturbing but good read from 10th grade.

Pork Belly and Bergman

This past weekend was my first experience with the films of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. On Friday night, Topher & I ordered pizza, drank Trader Joe's meritage, and watched "Wild Strawberries." It's about an elderly man who spends a day traveling through Sweden (from Stockholm to Lund, where he's being given an honorary degree), and along the way he revisits many of his memories and life's regrets.

Then on Sunday evening we had dinner with our good friends Randy & Kim and watched "The Virgin Spring," a story of tragedy, revenge, and atonement set in medieval Sweden. It was pretty intense but very good. To commemorate the occasion, the Raines served up a delicious, Asian-inspired feast.

What We Ate:

• appetizer: miso soup with dumplings and extra firm tofu - the "extra firm" is key here (at least for me), and I really liked the idea of putting the dumplings in the soup
• entree: seared scallops, sauteed bok choy, rice noodles, pickled daikon radishes, sauteed maitake mushrooms, and pork belly, all drizzled with gochujang sauce - honestly, I don't even know where to start ... this meal was amazing (and I learned quite a bit about Asian cuisine), but my favorite part was definitely the pork belly!
• dessert: lemon tart with homemade raspberry compote
• to drink: Marquis Philips Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 (quite jam-my and not nearly as oaky as most cabs) and a few others