Monday, December 31, 2007

Oyster Mushrooms

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This is A's favourite mushroom recipe:

Fry the mushrooms whole in butter (with a little oil added against the burning of the butter) on a high heat for only a minute until brown .
Turn them over for another minute, sprinkle them with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, and serve.

The quickest recipe ever! You don't even need to clean the mushrooms, or cut them.
Ideal!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Dr. Phil

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I adore Dr. Phil. Not the man as such, the man in the show. He is such a clever manipulator. Full of debilitating one-liners like “How is that working for you?” or “You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge.”
Immediately we are sucked into the logic of his reasoning. We, the audience, are not always certain in what direction he is heading. We need to hang on his lips to find out if he will be on his or on her side; if he will bear bait the grandmother; if the victim is truly a victim and not a perpetrator. For he does like to turn things around for us at times, our Dr Phil. However, as soon as we see where he is going, we follow him like lambs, we applaud his every word, we nod in agreement, for he speaks the thoughts that we already had, or should have had, in our minds.
O, he is so understanding, so wise, so funny, so charming, and we fall for him like blocks.
I love it: his arch manipulation, the drama, the naiveté of his guests who must be really keen on their fifteen minutes of fame to pour out their most horrid secrets.
Or they try to hide them. But then they have misjudged their host, for he is on to them! He ambushes, smirks and Whammee, gotcha! We are given even better drama.
Commercial? O yes, absolutely! And this is clearest on the shows when Phil has turned into a Santa and he is giving away present after present on behalf of certain companies. Those days I turn off the TV.
But all the other days I am hooked!

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

These Things Happen

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(If they do, there is hope.)

A U.S. Marine squad was marching north of Fallujah when
they came upon an Iraqi terrorist, badly injured and

unconscious. On the opposite side of the road was an
American Marine in a similar but less serious state.

The Marine was conscious and alert and as first aid was
given to both men, the squad leader asked the injured Marine
what had happened.

The Marine reported, "I was heavily armed and moving north
along the highway here, and coming south was a heavily armed
Insurgent. We saw each other and both took cover in the
ditches along the road. I yelled to him that Saddam Hussein
was a miserable, lowlife scumbag who got what he deserved,
and he yelled back that Ted Kennedy is a fat,
good-for-nothing, left wing liberal drunk who doesn't know
how to drive."

"So, I said that Osama Bin Laden dresses and acts like a
frigid, mean-spirited woman! He retaliated by yelling,
Oh yeah? Well, so does Hillary Clinton!"

"And, there we were, in the middle of the road, shaking
hands, when a truck hit us."

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Mousse au Chocolat

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This is such a luxurious dessert, and yet not difficult to make. And the great advantage is that it can be made in advance, so all you have to do at the end of your dinner party is to appear among the ooh!s and ah!s of your guests.

Slowly melt 200 grams of truly dark chocolate with 120 ml of warm water in a double boiler. When softened, take off the heat and stir to a glossy shine.
Split 3 large eggs and stir the yolks into the chocolate.
Whip the egg whites into soft peaks. Gradually add 40 grams of light brown castor sugar. Keep whipping until shining.
Gently fold the whites into the chocolate mixture. This will take some time, but it is not difficult.
Pour into elegant glasses or cups and chill in the cellar of fridge.

This will serve 5 people.