I know what you’re thinking. Who needs another baking powder biscuit recipe? This sounds like an appetizer party-nibble to me. Hey, who even hosts cocktail parties anymore?
Okay, maybe this was what I was thinking yesterday morning when my feet hit the floor, earlier than usual, to channel Dorie and bake this week’s FFWD recipe. However, I’ve learned not to underestimate Ms. Greenspan who carefully tested and selected each of the 300 recipes that appear in her cookbook. So, within fifteen minutes the onions were sizzling in the skillet; the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder, whisked together; the milk and butter bits, ready-to-mix.
Carmelizing onions at 6am in the morning. That’s a first!
I measured the dry ingredients, put them into the bowl with the softened onions and poured in the liquid – whole milk.
Another fifteen minutes later, and barely through listening to NPR’s Morning Edition’s first segment, I placed the baking sheet into a 425 degree oven.
Ready to shove into a 425 degree oven
CAUTION – My biscuits were finished to perfection, top and bottom, in 9 minutes, half the time that Dorie suggests.
To put this biscuit in the “little quick bread” category (which it is) seems a great disservice. To reserve it primarily for cocktail circuit fare is just plain wrong! The faint flavor of carmelized onions blended wonderfully with the orange marmalade and raspberry preserves I spread on two of the warm biscuits. Served with an omelet or frittata, even better. What a feast to enjoy to honor International Women’s Day (March 8th).
Who knew? A baking powder biscuit + carmelized onions + raspberry preserves. Mmmmmmmmmm
Really, these biscuits are so subtle in their taste and texture they will work with many different food choices. Why not make them a house special, as Dorie suggests. Rather than baking off all three-dozen biscuits, I froze some on a baking sheet until they were solid, packed them airtight and placed them in my freezer where they will last for two months.
SNAP #28 – WHO SPEAKS FOR THE TREES WITH NO TONGUES?
Last Friday, while buying a movie ticket, eager to see The Separation, an Academy Award-winning foreign film about modern day Iran, I noticed the “See The Lorax” button on the lapel of the young ticket seller.
The lovable Lorax, a feisty guardian for trees, air and water, created by Dr. Seuss. blogs.wvgazette.com
“Is the movie coming out soon?”, I asked.
“I think so,” he mumbled, “sometime in mid-March.”
Then, I popped the right question, “Did you ever read The Lorax?”
Grinning widely, his face lit up. “Oh, yes, it was the first book I ever read,” he said. “I liked it but it was so long. It was really hard.”
I laughed, loving this kid, chuckling about his remembering Dr. Seuss‘ book about a loopy, walrus-mustached oddball, who speaks up for trees, water and air, as lengthy and difficult.
As I gave my ticket to the ticket-taker, a young man in his, I would say, mid-twenties, volunteered that he had “read The Lorax in grade-school.”
“My teacher had me write a book report,” he remembered. “I made a 3-dimensional clay display of the Lorax standing on the stump.”
“I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.” Dr. Seuss pankmagazine.com
Just then, the young ticket seller came bounding out of his booth, “I just called the manager and he says The Lorax is opening today.”
Excitement reigned!
“That makes sense,” I said, “because today is Dr. Seuss’ 108th birthday.”
March 2, 2012: Happy 108th Birthday to every child’s good friend, Dr. Seuss
When I finally walked into “The Separation”, the young people selling popcorn as well as those hired to sweep it up, had also congregated in the Lobby to trade Lorax memories. I have no idea who was selling movie tickets!
A feel-good moment, for sure.
So, here is the Snap. Every time we connect with a kid, be they 10, 20, 30, or 40 years of age, it’s a good thing. For them, and, more importantly, for us. Frivolous as it may sound, I believe with ever fiber of my being, that such interactions are an essential element to aging well and happily.
That doesn’t mean, as I’ve often written, we need to look, act, speak, or be like these younger generations. Horrors! We just need to try harder to relate to them. The effort needs to come from us, since Americans-the-Younger are already rushed, busy, self-absorbed, stressed, pressured, under-financed and over-booked. Even casual encounters, like my theatre experience, are happy and amusing moments.
Granted, my friendships with younger people are not as comfy or historically significant as those 25-year treasured relationships where we can finish each others sentences. And, young people DO NOT gather to talk about health issues, Social Security and obituaries. (Although, in time, they will, won’t they?) But, these friendships have a richness of their own. They have value.
If you want to enrich your cultural understanding of a young family’s daily life in Iran, see “The Separation,” a 2012 Oscar winner. If you’d rather watch a film about a shortish and oldish and brownish and mossy character who speaks with a voice that is sharpish and bossy, see The Lorax.
“The Separation”, 2012 Academy Award-winner for Best Foreign Film openfilm.com
I joined. I follow and am followed. I pin and am re-pinned. I create my boards and am impressed, inspired and invigorated by the boards of others. Everything about this spunky new social-networking tool hits my pins…..uh, make that, buttons. It rains feel-good, drip by drip by drip.
Petula Dvorak, a writer for the Washington Post, recently called Pinterest “digital crack for women.” If that’s the case, then I’m addicted.
Pinterest – a visual bookmarking site that lets you “pin” and share images of things you deem worthy of sharing.
For those of you unfamiliar with this site, let me explain. First, Pinterest, a virtual pin board of pictures, is the fastest-growing Web site in history. Last month, according to Forbes, about 11 million unique visitors navigated through. It is on-line scrap booking at its simplest. You’re the pinner, filling memory boards with images of your interests. If others like your pinned images, they can re-pin them to their boards. I have created 9 boards. I follow a gal who has 38, another, 52.
As New York Times writer David Pogue recently wrote, “The ability to round things up into tidy collections is powerful and visual.”
Apple Pie, Pinned on PINTEREST http://mashable.com/
Wedding Photo, Pinned to PINTEREST http://mashable.com/
I first learned of Pinterest last year when Lynn Burgoyne, a professional artist and educator, mentioned she was dropping Facebook and moving to Pinterest as her social networking outlet. Since she is such an innately imaginative woman, a powerhouse of creativity, I was interested. Lynn sent me an invitation (no longer required), and I joined.
I recently asked Lynn what distinguishes this new kid from other on-line social networks?
“I was attracted to Pinterest because I needed some creative stimulation,” Lynn replied. “Facebook allowed me to connect with people I know and with long lost school buddies. It was wonderful but after a while I was totally bored. I felt that I was wasting precious time and wasn’t being productive throughout the course of the day. A friend introduced me to Pinterest and a whole new creative world opened up to me! It’s a smorgasbord full of visually stimulating ideas!”
Even the Washington Post’s Dvorak is impressed with the site graphics. “These bulletin boards are simple, clean spaces,” she says, “and are filled with cool pictures of food, crafts, fashion, travel spots, home remodeling, decorating ideas, fitness tips, hairstyles, furniture, architecture, kid projects, pithy sayings, cute animal photos, and cheeky wedding plans.”
To my thinking, it’s worth a visit to this site just to read a few of the hundreds of labels given these imagery boards. For example: Besotted with This; Sweet on the Standards; I Carry a Torch; Gris Galore; Felt Up; Their Dish & My Dish; Green Eggs & Pam; For Crying Out Loud; Women Roaring; Whacked My Funny Bone; Noah’s Intention; Ways to Save Moo-lah; Nuts about Nutella; and R U Worth Your Salt?
Lynn, who has created 97 boards, has 627 followers and has been re-pinned 12,076 times, making her one of the more successful pin-pals. “I’ve been on Pinterest for over a year” she says. “Since then I’ve been inspired to paint three paintings, produce a beautiful garden with a bumper crop of goodness. My culinary art skills have improved. I’ve read books that I might not ever have known about and saved money doing DIY projects. I’ve come up with new art project ideas for my students and become more educated in world culture, travel, art, music…the list goes on!”
As for me? I joined Pinterest last Fall. Since I’ve never bonded successfully with any social-networking sites nor even played interactive computer games, I’m surprised (and, pleased) with this playful, responsive and, yes, time-consuming, platform. It’s relatively easy to gear up and start pinning, although I admit to being helped by computer-geeks-the younger.
A Honey-Do for Pinterest Users someecards.com
It’s important to note, however, that Pinterest primarily attracts females (80%) but is not geared to aging Baby Boomers like me. To my thinking, that’s the narcotic. I feed off the frenzy of the enormous creativity produced by countless younger generations of women. Their imaginative ideas help me visualize, more fully, their thinking process and the rhythm of their vibrations. It’s fun, really, really, fun, to look and learn from them.
For Lynn, who lives in an isolated area of California’s Sierra-Nevada Mountains, it’s another critical lifeline to a bigger world. “I have interacted with several “pinners”,” she says. “The first to come to mind is Sam. We share similar tastes in art as well as other interests, and I’ve learned a lot from his pins as he is a world traveler and collector of art in every form!”
Like anything that is the newest, latest and greatest, the buzz has landed Pinterest squarely in the media spotlight. According to the Wall StreetJournal, it has also grabbed the attention of Silicon Valley angel investors who have, to date, pinned $37.5 million onto the Pinterest boards. Although the closely held company, created by Ben Silbermann of Des Moines, Iowa, wouldn’t disclose financial figures, it is currently valued at around $200 million, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Ben Silbermann, PINTEREST founder (middle) shopsweetthings.com
It seems to me that New York Times writerDavid Pogue puts this phenomenon in proper perspective. “It might seem hard to believe,” he writes, “but yes, even in the Facebook-Twitter-Tumblr-LinkedIn era, there’s still room for yet another successful, popular social media site. At least there’s room online. Whether there’s enough room in your busy life is a different question!”
When you think “salmon”, I’m pretty sure “with Lentils” doesn’t come to mind. Despite my rush to judgment, it still doesn’t seem to be an “entre deux” combination. But after my initial, “Saywhat?”, followed by my thinking, “Has Dorie gone off the deep-end?”, I settled in to prepare Roasted Salmon & Lentils, this week’s FFwD recipe choice, for a week-end dinner.
A fresh, fleshy cut of salmon, salt-and-peppered, ready to roast.
I purchased a 1 1/4 pound salmon fillet, thickly cut from the center, from our resident fishmonger. Since the French du Puy lentils, suggested by Dorie, weren’t available to me, I settled for generic green lentils which were delicious. Although lentils, like all dry beans, require a sort, soak and simmer, preparing them is quite simple.
Sea Salt from Slovenia, a flavorful addition to the Salmon.
Dorie’s method for roasting salmon was also neither difficult nor time-consuming. Twelve minutes in the oven, at high heat, produced a perfect pink-in-the-middle result. Here is when I want to give a little credit to sea salt! Ardyth Sohn, a friend who recently spent six months in Latvia as a Fulbright Scholar, gifted me with a canister of Piran Salt from Slovenia. (I love when friends bring me food souvenirs from foreign travels.) The salmon filet pretty much was left on its own. Salt, pepper and a dash of olive oil were the only additives. This salt definitely formed a friendship with the salmon to enhance its flavor during the roast.
Since receiving this treasure, I’ve become interested, make that, obsessed, with choosing the right salts for cooking purposes. Currently I’m also experimenting with a Smoked Salt from the North coast of Denmark. My wish list includes Maldon, an English sea salt which is arguably considered “the ultimate finishing salt for salads and fresh vegetables”. Penzeys, a Wisconsin-based spice company, sells an interesting Grey Sea Salt from France and a domestically-produced Pacific Sea Salt http://www.penzeys.com/. Culinary specialty stores, like The Meadow in Manhattan and Portland, http://www.atthemeadow.com/shop/ offer many choices.
Smoked Sea Salt from the North coast of Denmark
To serve this dish, per Dorie’s directions and against my better judgment, I put the lentils in a warmed shallow soup plate and plunked a piece of salmon, on top. After a light olive oil drip-and-drizzle, I sprinkled parsley on the salmon. This week’s recipe is a complete meal. And, to my delight, a delicious one.
Saturday night at the dinner table…….
For our First Friday with Dorie Postings, we do not provide the complete recipe because we encourage you to purchase Dorie’s wonderfully-written book,”Around my French Table”. The book, which costs less than the 1 1/4 pounds of the salmon I purchased this week, is loaded with 300 culinary gem-ipes, providing bonus tips, bonnes idées, and variation why-nots (italicized bonus sidebars, scattered up and down each page).You might try http://iarethefoodsnob.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/dorie-greenspan’s-roasted-salmon-and-lentils/ to view this recipe. To see the valuable critiques of other French Friday with Dorie cooks, go to http://www.frenchfridayswithdorie.com/.
This is not a Snap about Port. Perhaps, it should be. At a restaurant recently, I watched a woman swig down two goblets of this sweet red wine, served on the rocks, before receiving her entrée. Although I realize Port is “just not for dessert anymore”, she was clearly not needing to Snap-Out-0f-Anything by the time I finished my dinner and left.
PORT, THE PRIDE OF PORTUGAL, PHOTO BY IMAGE SOURCE PHOTOS
Nor is this a prompt about obtaining an American Passport for international travel. Not that it isn’t a good idea. According to the State Department, the number of Americans who have passports, as of January 2011, is 114,464,041. Since we’re a country of more than 300 million people, that translates to one out of every three Americans who can travel abroad. In other words, 2 out of 3 of us can’t even travel to-and-from Canada!
BUY LOCAL – See the USA
We all love Dora the Explorer, graphicshunt.com
If international travel isn’t an interest, or, even if it is, here’s an idea that should appeal to the Dora Explorer in all of us.
Last month I visited the historic Piedras Blancas Lighthouse with my friends, Walt and Shirley Lowe. Located near Hearst Castle on the central California coast, this lighthouse was critically important during the California Boom era when tall ships and cargo vessels were trying to navigate the dangerous hidden shoals and submerged rocks of the craggy coastline. Today, about 30 lighthouses, now obsolete, survive here, perched majestically along the Pacific coast. At least twelve are open to the public.
Piendra Blancas Lighthouse, circa mid-1800s, St. Simeon, Ca., Photo by lighthousefriends.com
As we were leaving, what had been a fabulous tour, Shirley remarked to Walt, “Oh, we have to get our stamp.”
Say what?
The Lowes explained that the US Lighthouse Society sponsors a Passport Program. The passport, with its blue vinyl cover is a look-alike of the official US passport and is used by lighthouse aficionados as they travel throughout the country. When you visit a participating lighthouse (there are 60 of them) you have your passport stamped with a custom-designed work of art. Each stamp is different.
At the gift shop, Shirley asked “to be stamped”. The volunteer obliged. Plop went the newly-inked stamp. Done.
Not one to enjoy being caught flat-footed, I wanted to know more about this passport business.
“Why, yes,” another friend, chimed in, “I’ve had a Passport for the National Parks for years.”
US National Parks Cancellation Station, Government Photo
According to the US Parks’ website, the Passport® to Your National Parks, launched in 1986, includes not only blank pages for stamps but also color-coded maps, pre-visit information, illustrations and photographs. It also includes a free map and guide to the national park system.
Even Elderhostel (now called Road Scholars) issues participants a passport so they can track their program attendance. Although they distribute actual lick-and-smack-down stamps for each program, the idea is the same. The late Glenn Schwartz had 96 Elderhostel stamps in his book, leaving a treasured memory for his family. Schwartz, who was an engineer, travelled near and far, from the Boundary Waters, in his home state of Minnesota, to as far away as Antarctica.
Which got me to thinking………
I am on a mission to see all the Presidential Libraries, all 13 of them. Presidential Libraries are not really libraries but rather archives and museums, bringing together in one place the documents and artifacts of a President and his administration. To date I have visited the libraries of Herbert Hoover (West Branch, Iowa) and Harry Truman (Independence, Missouri). These treasures are fascinating and, in my opinion, one of America’s uncrowned glories.
Wondering if there was a passport for my quest, I pulled up the National Archives web site. Holy Tippecanoe and Tyler Too! In June 2011 the National Archives began issuing it’s own “Passport to Presidential Libraries,” that visitors can carry with them on their travels to Presidential Libraries across the nation.
I’m on it!
Anyone interested in a long week-end in Texas next Fall? I can knock off three libraries in one visit. Or, California, two? Better yet, join me as I swing through the South? My route includes four.
Have map and “Passport to Presidential Libraries”. Will travel.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Photo by eventective.com
