In an unusual weekend for me, I was able to completely avoid any real work and had nothing but down time. I ended up catching up on cooking, movies and books. To be honest, I'm not sure how there wasn't any work to do, but I didn't spend too much time worrying about it (although I did spend time looking at houses online in Kent and Bothell). At work, we were in the middle of an office move and my girlfriend decided to spend Saturday with her brother by going to the Home Show.
I had anticipated seeing Grace at some point, so I had made an effort to look up some recipes I thought she might enjoy. Her love for all things citrus had me investigating lime, lemon and orange bakery goods. I ended up taking a shot at a Key Lime Cookie recipe. The cookies came out okay, the lime flavor is more of a strong finishing taste, but still good.
They were a bit of pain to make for two reasons that became more clear during this weekend; my kitchen sucks and I don't have the right equipment. Now, there would be some who would blame the cook instead of the tools, but hey I'm the cook so screw you. My kitchen isn't laid out properly, especially in relation to counter space and outlets. I also had some trouble trying to get zest from the lime. I used a multi-faced grater, but it was a mess and not very useful. If I'm going to do this again (or any other type of zest required recipe), I think I need to get a microplane grater.
I also baked a Madeira Cake from Nigella Lawson's book "How to be a Domestic Goddess". I thought this came out much better. It's a very simple recipe and very tasty in a simple, uncomplicated way. It's utterly fantastic with a mug of green tea. It's very similar to a pound cake, but far more delicious. As an aside, I have a thing for Nigella Lawson. It could be her accent, her sexy smile, voluptuous body, culinary competence or just the way she moves. I would obviously vote for all of the above. Although it's a bit funny, since Grace was operating under the assumption that I watched a completely different Food Network show, Semi-Homemade, only because of that host's boobage (which honestly I don't even remember thinking about until she mentioned it).
Finally, I made another batch of Spaghetti Carbonara from Ruth Reichel's book "Garlic and Sapphires". It's a completely easy recipe and far better tasting than I imagined the from the first time I read ingredient list. I'm going to try some of her other recipes in the near future. It was also nice since I finished her book this weekend as well which was a nice impetus to do this again.
While cooking and eating the results, I watched "Silent Hill", "Syriana" and "Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang". I've been very behind on my Netflix queue so it worked out well. "Silent Hill" was lame, it didn't come off as either creepy or scary. Instead it was about as commonplace as any low-grade horror film and unfortunately provided another nail in the coffin in the genre of game-to-movie crossovers. I really enjoyed "Syriana", mostly because it did a great portrayal of how I would imagine the level of corruption, deceit and pandering that exists in that world. However, the best of the bunch was "Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang", it was written and directed by Shane Black (writer of "Lethal Weapon", "The Last Boy Scout" and "The Long Kiss Goodnight"). It was terrific and very funny, even with the level of self-awareness it exhibits during the story. I can't remember the last time that I was laughing out loud along with a movie, it had some really great lines. It was good enough that I called my friend halfway through the movie and told him to go rent it immediately.
In between all of this I was able to finish a couple books:
Garlic and Sapphires - As mentioned before, this was interesting. She gets into great detail about her efforts to disguise herself during her work as the food critic. Her stories are interesting and the differences between the common folks and the "recognized" are expected, but still frustrating (speaking as a clearly defined member of the common crowd).
The Warrior Elite - This is an inside look at the training of a SEAL class, specifically 228. I've seen TV shows on Hell Week and read articles on the training, but this is an insightful look of the daily activities of the BUD/S training for all the phases. Reading the amount of physical exertion, pain and emotional turmoil of the evolutions was interesting, but I didn't figure it would pull me in as much as it did. I actually got attached to some of the trainees and their stories to the point that I was a up with their success and down with their failure. It was heartbreaking to read about some of the DOR's, especially the ones based on medical issues. This was a good read and I have more respect than ever for the SEAL teams and their training.
It was a good weekend, very lazy and very rewarding. I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to do that again, but it was a nice change of pace.
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