book club, mario and advil

last night i hosted book club…  i was going to serve popcorn and beer, and looking back it might have been a better idea, but i would have missed learning a few things, and i always like to learn new things. in fact, sometimes i like to learn things i already know.

or should know.

or thought i knew...

new thing:  if i have read a book in the last year, and it is slated to be read for book club? i have learned that i won't remember to read it again, but do anything else that might look interesting instead. in the end, when there isn't time, wish i had read it... that last little part? i did know that of myself.  i believe that is called regret - i am intimately familiar with regret.

ok, moving on.

learning again thing:  it is very important to read, with some attention being paid to, the entire recipe of an item i am making for the first time...  case in point? mario batali's eggplant caponata.  the picture above are the first several ingredients cooking away in olive oil.  a generous amount of olive oil which is why everything is so shiny and pretty.  so pretty in fact that i became a bit distracted.

i kept adding ingredients, and it was still looking so darned good.  then i added the last three... and although it still looked good, when i tasted it... well, all i could wonder was 'did he really mean to add 3/4 cup of balsamic?', 'maybe it will mellow when it cools', 'maybe it needs to cook off that vinegary taste', and then again, 'did he really mean to add 3/4 cup of balsamic???'.  well, no. actually.  he meant i should add 1/3 cup.  ummmm.  those little eggplant sponges were in no way going to give up all that vinegar. so, i made it again.  it was tasty and really worth making it the second time...

learning again thing:  it is smart for me to make some recipes at least once before serving it to guests.  i didn't have as much success, i didn't think, with the orange tart, capri style.  i had nearly two cups of the custard that didn't fit into the tart shell.  wow!  my eggs were big but not goose eggs for crying out loud.  the custard that did fit to the very tippy top smelled quite good while it burned on the oven floor after slopping over and in between the shell and the pan.... nice.

new thing:  seven advil will make me goofy.  four were not doing the trick, so i took three more.  i seem to have hurt my upper back when i hit some golf balls at the driving range about six weeks ago. i keep waiting for it to get better, it keeps staying really tight.  apparently cooking in the kitchen didn't help so it was bothering me last night.  seven advils and a glass of wine helped... my back, not so much my brain.

thing i already knew:  my book club is full of great, wonderful women.  it was nice to be goofy with them, and have them eat my food and expose myself to the idea that i might be a little bit sylvie and have them still like me anyhow....

new thing:  it seems the recipes from my new mario batali's molto italiano cookbook are available through the food network... i don't know if it is all of them, but i wonder if i would have bought the book knowing that they were there?  probably, i love cookbooks, and the photography is so freaking great it almost makes you think you've eaten the dishes before you have prepared them.

new thing & thing i already knew:  jen wondered if it was strange that she had a little crush on mario batali... i said no. because.... if i could have one on kevin james, she could have one on mario batali...

Comments

[tanaya]

I've been looking for a book club, if you're ever open to a new member, please drop me a note...especially if you have wonderful food like this at your meetings!!!

[Jen]

Crushes are interesting, aren't they? The older I get, I find, the less I crush on predictable sorts. I mean, I think George Clooney and Clive Owen and Daniel Craig and- I could go on here... are hot, but there's soomething crushy about Mario. He's not movie-star handsome, and he does wear those awful clogs, but the man can cook. And he does look handsome on the cover of that book. Also, I heard him once on one of those NPR game shows, and he was funny, too. Funny guys who can cook: totally crushworthy.

[stephanie s]

totally with you... i don't know if kevin can cook, but he obviously can eat. and i do think he is funny - mostly because he can make fun of himself, and there ain't nothing wrong with that.

[laurie]

I LOVED this post. I'm going to serve all that gorgeous stuff next time I host MY book club. BUT WHAT DID YOU READ?

[heidi]

But what was the book???

[Kerri]

Good post.