Filed under: Food
Sometime round October, when I purchased Kara Zuaro’s book, I Like Food, Food Tastes Good. In it, I also mentioned Battles the band’s offering of Roast Bone Marrow.
Sometime in November, my family went to London for a holiday whilst I was in Sydney. There, they feasted on the gory delight that is veal marrow at Fergus Henderson’s St. John. (Incidentally, you can find some hilarious vids on the webby.)
Then we have a telephone call in December when I was about to head home for x’mas and dad mentions eating at St. John and marrow and I was like, hey I made that recently. I had no idea that this was Fergus Henderson’s signature dish when I read the Battles recipe in October. Bam, this became one of the dishes I was made for x’mas when I went back. I like the way Battles describe it as being “Drunk Rabbit, Blended Smooth with a Straw”.
I also like the way Henderson nonchalantly describes it in the video above, one of the many hidden gems on the IHT website. I’m told by dad that he studied architecture before at AA in London which is a pretty big damn deal if you’re an architect. The restaurant looks and feels like a school canteen as well apparently, which my dad raved on about. The man also had no formal training in cooking and also suffers from Parkinson’s disease. So much restecp.
Ps. Roast Bone Marrow is delightfully simple.
You need veal marrow bones. Its the middle section of the veal leg bone. Get your butcher to cut 3″ or so pieces right in the middle for you. You also need salt. Get the best you can. You also really really want some very dry, crusty toast but not rock hard. Optional is a parsley salad but I find the freshness goes well with the richness of the marrow.
You can clean the marrow by soaking it in cold salted water and changing the water every now and then until the bones are no longer pink. You could also scrape the bones for a cleaner look and roast the trimmings for a sauce. Or, you could simply acknowledge the fact that you are an evil bastard that ordered the sawing off of the middle 3″ portion of a baby cow’s legs to feed your appetite and forget the cleaning bit.
Step 2 is to lightly oil a baking tray or whatever and line the dry bones onto it. Cook these until the marrow in the middle puffs up, something like 20-30 minutes at 220 degrees celsius. Or just hit it full whack and watch. You don’t want all the marrow to melt, you just want it to be this gray squiggly mess which comes off the bone in almost one complete pile.
Whilst the bones are roasting, you have time to prepare the toast and the parsley salad. For the salad, toss it in a simple dressing, nothing too overpowering. Say just 1 part white wine vinegar and 3 parts extra virgin olive oil for instance.
When the marrow is done, remove from the oven and consume immediately. Watch the video above for tips. I personally like to sprinkle a touch of salt on top of the marrow, suck it out and stuff some bread and parsley in my face whilst red wine drips from the side of my mouth onto the pile of bones below.
Once in a while, which is like every few days, there comes a song that I fall in love with and listen to it on threepeat. Sometimes, it also carries a poignancy relevant to my own life at the time. Right now, it’s Peter, Bjorn & John’s Young Folks.
I saw a film today, oh boy! Charlie Wilson’s War, starring Tom Hanks and Julia Carrot Julienne Roberts (If you read her last name in mandarin, it translates as carrot/radish julienne. Who knew?!) was our pick based on the fact that it would start 10 minutes from the time we bought the tickets.
Another in a long line of American films criticizing American action/inaction in world affairs, this one was more than bearable and quite good honestly. For an American film, the humour was particularly dry, in part to relate to the “issues” its discussing I suppose. Its based on a true story about a congressman who wills the US to aid Pakistan and Afghanistan to war against the Soviets back in the 80s through his persuasive politicking.
Tom Hanks plays the rather affable lead character who’s a womanising, whiskey drinking diplomat who also happens to have a heart. Julia Roberts is the woman who uses a combination of her femininity and anti-communist drive to inspire him. She is literally Cruella de Vil’s long lost twin. Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays the CIA guy who acts as the grunt that makes things happen through his crude methodology and also a sort of “zen master” that is the medium behind the message.
“You wanna maybe get outta here or something?”
If anything, Hoffman’s character is far too obviously the most likeable. He’s beyond cool in a campy, awkward fashion, given his rotund figure, straight shooting mouth and a blank stare partly obsured by amber glasses. His devil may care attitude comes across hard and heavy whilst his delivery is inch perfect. I’m totally rooting for him to win a second Oscar for this role simply because he’s goddamn awesome. (His first was a Best Actor for Capote) I sort of wish I could have a tache like that.
The film is really well paced and engaging at every turn. It juxtaposes the hedonistic lifestyle of the lead with his rather selfless, morally “upright” drive to accomplish his love interest’s goal of killing commies. This is set against the idea of Newton’s 3rd law and raises debate over morality, religion and American interventionism/stupidity. Its interesting how a “no-name” congressman manages to punch above his weight so spectacularly and with such panache. Its also interesting how the atypical, nameless cronies seem to have no balls.
Charlie Wilson’s War rages on it seems.
Filed under: Fashion
This Raf Simons x Eastpak duffel backpack is sex. Available @ Oki-Ni.
If you are the sort that craves to see a film that positively spends every single minute cramming as many Citizen Kane references into it, then Jumper is it.
Its a sci-fi fantasy, based on a book, about a dude played by Darth Vader who can teleport to wherever he wants. Strangely, Amidala does not appear. Instead, its some chick from the O.C. Also, the black guy from Pulp Fiction is the villain of the piece, literally trying to strike down upon Darth Vader with great vengeance and fu-rious anger using an electric stick. Billy Elliott also appears as well and true to form, he is quite jumpy in this show too.
From the snow globe to the final wintry scene and the main character himself, its almost like some sort of revised, albeit quite awful, version of the monsterpiece it attempts to emulate.
I say attempt, gentlemen, I say attempt, because, gentlemen, because, it’s really not that great. I had my best moments gasping when the snowglobe dropped to the floor during one climactic scene. (Notice my own, half-hearted, Dostoyevsky reference above.) Otherwise, I was pretty much shrieking in agony every time Christensen smirked, which is pretty much the whole time. Ack!
I would also like to mention that whilst I think Rachel Bilson is quite cute, my friend wanted to bitchslap her for portraying an utterly worthless character that epitomizes the frail woman so oft encountered in books written by authors who unconsciously marginalize female characters in their books as a result of the stereotypical image of submissive, weak-willed women who need protecting and a prince charming/happy ending, stuffed in their face from when they were still wetting their cots dyed a subtle shade of baby blue, whilst their sister’s is a vile, baby pink.
Rosebud!
I might be a lil late on this one because I was in week long mastur… conversation with regards to this episode. Still, credit where its due, late or not.
Restecp to my main man Edison Chen for doing the du on Gillian Chung, Cecilia Cheung and a buncha others and henceforth providing the entire Chinese male populace on the face of earth, enough meat beat material for a generation or 3!
I specifically refer to the pictures of Cecil in a “police” uniform. Also, I would like to propose a minute’s silence to the crushed hopes of a billion teenagers that were hoping to marry one half of Twins, with particular mention of one mate of mine, whose tears are flooding Sydney as we speak.
Another mate deplores the lack of vaginal shaving amongst Asian women in general and hopes that Gillette, Schick et al, will conspire to produce a better product for the nether regions. This is one instance when environmental, forest loving wussiness should go out the door.
Also restecp to the HK entertainment scene in general, which has until now, been diminished by the tiresome hourly scandals from Hollywood. I always knew you were reserving yourself for one big blast.
And to everyone compromised, “We will always support you!”.*
*You know, in the typical post mando-pop concert, 13 year old girl chanting style with placards and pom-poms.
Filed under: Music
I am not a big dance music fan even though I once replied with “Chemical Brothers” when posed with a fave band question. That was totally untrue. Maybe it was at that instant when I was posed the question but it isn’t anymore. Point is, I am not a big dance music fan.
But I like Steve Aoki’s mixset album, Pillowface & The Airplane Chronicles, particularly the remix of Klaxons’ Gravity’s Rainbow. This is basically the kind of shit that would make my body move in discordance with my brain. This and the Happy Mondays of course.
You can order the album off The Cobrasnake’s site and get some extras like a cushion with the likenesses of Aoki and The Cobrasnake printed on either side.
