I finished Magic For Beginners on Wednesday. This is a book I really wanted to love, but just didn’t. I mean, at the very least, it’s got a great title. It’s a collection of short stories, most of which start off normally enough, but which move into the magical or supernatural at some point. Maybe it was a little too magical for me? (Or a little too science fiction? It’s often a fine line between the two). I didn’t hate this book – I just feel ambivalent about it. It never really pulled me in, and I wanted so much more from it.

I caught the Julie/Julia project just as it was finishing (always late to the party), but I enjoyed it, and I looked forward to the book – with some reservations. I was worried that the book would read like a series of blog entries (there’s nothing wrong with a series of blog entries, mind you, I just didn’t feel like I needed them bound up into a book). The good news is that this is a book on it’s own. You don’t need to have read or to have loved the blog. It certainly tells the same story as the blog, but it does it in a way that’s appropriate for a book.

Julie and Julia isn’t great literature, but it is a fun, quick read. I like it when ordinary people take on extraordinary goals (and cooking all of the recipes in Mastering the Art of French Cooking in the space of a year is certainly an extraordinary goal, on all sorts of levels). It’s particularly good when, against the odds, they succeed.

More cooking from the Marie Claire Easy cookbook here! Last weekend I made the coconut bread, which was just delicious. I’m not really one for doing things in separate bowls, so I prepared the wet ingredients, poured (I didn’t sift) the dry ingredients on top of them, and mixed. It was fine. I probably could have cooked this for a little longer than the hour suggested, but it was fine as was. The recipe suggests toasting the bread, and serving it slathered in butter. This is a delicious way to eat it, although almost anything tastes delicious when covered in butter. I’ve also finally found a spreadable butter that I like: I’ve been using Olivio, which is spreadable, buttery, and delicious.

Pear & Jasmine Tea Sorbet

Summer Sorbets

Coconut Bread

I’ve been listening to the audiobook for Salman Rushdie’s Shalimar the Clown, and I have to tell you, it’s not an audiobook for the faint-hearted. Rushdie’s prose is beautiful, but beautiful in the long-complicated-sentences-describing-things-in-exquisite-detail kind of a way. You really have to pay attention!

I heard Rushie read from this book a year or so ago, and immediately knew that I’d prefer the audio version. However, this is not an audiobook I can listen to while I’m cleaning my room, or paying my bills. I really have to be sitting down and concentrating! (So far a bit of knitting is OK, but it can’t be too complicated). That said, the audio version is beautifully read, and I’m really enjoying it so far. I’m towards the end of the first third (Disc 4 of 15), but I’m not expecting to break any records getting to the end of this!

I wasn’t expecting great things from Seabiscuit, but I did enjoy it. Seabiscuit isn’t a great movie – in fact, it’s like any other horsey or sporty movie you’ve ever watched – but it’s well executed. Being of the horse/sport movie genre, there are plenty of soppy, sentimental moments, but this is to be expected. While Seabiscuit breaks no new ground, the acting is well done, the story is well written, and I certainly had moments when the emotional pull of the movie was almost too much, and I felt myself tearing up.

Since I’ve been in Boston I’ve been cooking exclusively from Marie Claire Easy.

The book is great – I’m yet to run into a dud recipe. Here’s what I’ve made recently:

Honey-Toasted Muesli: I’ve been meaning to make my own muesli or granola for a while now, and this recipe was just the thing I needed. I deviated a little from the recipe as written – I couldn’t find any dried peaches so I used pears instead, and the only triticale. I could find was in whole grain form, when I really wanted something rolled or flaky. Luckily, I found some rolled wheat which I used instead. When the muesli was toasting the kitchen was filled with a wonderful smell of honey (and I suspect this would really vary with the kind of honey you chose). I’ve eaten the muesli with thick Greek yogurt, and with milk, and while it’s pretty good either way I think I prefer it with milk. Next time I make it I think I’ll try mixing things up a bit. I’ll probably put in more fruit (perhaps some cranberries, too?) and I’d like to experiment with different nuts and seeds.

Leek and Pumpkin Risotto: I made this for dinner when Ben and Eduardo came around on Saturday. The only pumpkin/winter squash I could find was spaghetti squash, so that was what I used. I’ve had roasted spaghetti squash and it was delicious with great texture, but I really don’t think it’s ideal for risotto. I almost certainly used more squash than the recipe called for (although I didn’t weigh it, so I’m not sure) as well. There was nothing particularly offensive about this risotto, but it wasn’t exactly flavorful either, something that I think would have been improved by a more flavorful pumpkin. It smelled delicious, though. Still if you heap it with good Parmesan cheese, it’s still pretty good, and excellent winter soul food.

Lemon-Ricotta Cake: This wasn’t anything like I expected it to be, but it was excellent. The inclusion of the tea-soaked sultanas is a stroke of genius. If I did this again I’d grate my lemon zest a little finer, and if I had an 8-inch spring form pan I’d use it (I only have a 10-inch pan. It worked just fine, although the cake was perhaps a little thinner than I would have liked). I ate this with cream, and it was perfectly satisfying.

Lemon Delicious: I have a family heirloom recipe for lemon delicious (from my great-grandmother), and while I haven’t checked, this recipe is pretty similar. The outcome was everything lemon delicious should be. Light and fluffy with a creamy sauce at the bottom. Very lemony and very delicious. The recipe says it serves eight, I feel like this would be a stretch. Four of us had no trouble devouring it in a single sitting.

Cross-posted on What Katie Did.

This is also known as Mostly Mittens.

I’ve been a huge fan of Sarah Vowell’s stories on This American Life for quite a while. I even went to hear Vowell read from Assassination Vacation at MIT once. Sarah Vowell was great, but the event was decidedly weird, as is the case for many things at MIT. When I saw some of Vowell’s books on the bargian book table at my book store (a sign of a good book store is that you refer to it as your own) I snapped them up in a flash.

I’d already heard some of the stories in The Partly Cloudy Patriot read on NPR (I’m a This American Life geek), but for the most part the stories were new, and I found the stories that I had already heard just as enjoyable the second time around. I really enjoy Vowell’s insight and wit, and the fact that she’s a bleeding heart liberal doesn’t hurt either.

Cross-posted on What Katie Did.

I only watched one movie on my trip from Australia to the US: The Queen.

I had wanted to see this film for quite some time, so I was delighted to see it as an on demand movie on the plane. I really enjoyed the film. I thought the storyline and its insights were fantastic, and Helen Mirrin was wonderful.

However, I found the film a little difficult to watch, just because the British Royal Family is so often photographed. I found myself constantly comparing the characters in the film to the images I had of them in my mind. I found it very hard to let go and get lost in the film. I think the images of Diana (which were the real thing, and not played by an actor) didn’t help in this respect either.

Cross-posted on What Katie Did.

Laurie gave me a pair of tickets to use at the Film Festival that is part of the Perth Festival. Last night was my last night in Perth, so they needed using urgently! Mum and I headed out to the Joondalup Pines to take in The Valet (in French “La Doublure“).

I was keen to see this as it’s directed by Francis Veber, the same person who directed The Dinner Game and The Closet, two films that I enjoyed immensely.

Is The Valet as good as The Dinner Game or The Closet? I don’t think so, but it is pretty good. Like all the other Veber films I’ve seen, it watches a lie spiral out of control, in the most hilarious way. The Valet is really not a bad film – it’s genuinely funny, it’s very sweet, it has some nice (but not overbearing) morals, and it’s French. There could be more to complain about!

Cross-posted on What Katie Did.