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sarea
Okay, I've now decided that reason #1 to bake bread, other than it being fun, is the smell of baking bread in your house. Ohmygod it's so good.
I finally baked bread! And it's good!! Very soft and fluffy ... I was so afraid that my first effort would yield results of, well, a rock. For my first attempt I didn't want to do anything complicated (to up the chances of it turning out well), so I made a simple "World Bread" recipe that's basically just a white loaf.
The fully active culture. To this I added more flour, butter, sugar, salt, and milk. The recipe yielded two loaves.
One of the unbaked loaves after proofing at 85°F for 2.5 hours. It actually rose a lot more than I thought it would -- I was afraid it would collapse while baking. Luckily that didn't happen.
Baking loaves in the oven. Not a good pic, but I couldn't resist taking it. They looked great from my POV; I was pleasantly surprised (I was still expecting disaster from my first attempt).
The finished loaves. Here's where I hit my first snag ... the recipe hadn't said to oil or butter the loaf pans, so I didn't, and it was a real pain to get them out. I had to use a knife to cut them out, but luckily the bottom didn't stick. Did make the sides look a little cut up though. :/
One of the loaves, cut in half.
A close-up shot of the crumb -- love those holey parts. I don't know if you can tell from the photo but the bread is really, really soft ... as fresh bread should be. I let it cool a bit then cut myself a slice and made a quick turkey sandwich. Mmm. The bread has a very light sourdough flavor.
My next project is either going to be a cheese-onion loaf or possibly a free-form loaf (like French bread), assuming the stuff I ordered arrives by the time I want to make it.
Today for lunch I went to a Cajun-style restaurant called Alligator Soul. A week or so ago, I interviewed a woman from Louisiana. After the interview portion we got to talking, and crawfish was mentioned. It's been something I've longed to try, because I love seafood/shellfish, but have never been to the South (except for one day in Dallas, but I'm not counting that). Doing some research online, Alligator Soul was the only place even remotely near me that served actual whole crawdads (as opposed to bits of it in a gumbo, or jambalaya, or whatever). It seems that every other Saturday they do a crawfish boil during the lunch hour, so I went today.
The place itself is a little run down, but that kind of added to its charm. The service was really friendly. And the crawfish plate for one that I ordered came with 1 pound of crawfish, along with some fixings. I also ordered a "side" of catfish, because I love fried catfish. When the food came I was stunned at how huge the portions were. I know crawfish aren't that big, but I wasn't expecting THAT many in a pound. And it came with two corn on the cob, three huge red potatoes, two halves of a roasted garlic bulb, and two good-sized spicy sausages. And all this for $10.95. O.o The side of catfish was basically a deep-fried filet with some really yummy tartar sauce that was great too. And it was only $4.50.
I wish I had brought my camera so I could have taken a pic of the giant platter of crawfish that arrived at my table, but oh well -- maybe in two weeks. :D They were good, kind of a cross between shrimp/lobster, but their shells are so hard that my fingers were hurting part of the way through from opening the shells. The pics that follow are my leftovers, because it was just too much food for one person. Look at how much is in my leftover box (which was really deep)!
Look at all that food. And it's only half what I actually got.
A close up of the so-called "mudbugs"!
Saw The Dark Knight yesterday with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
corianderstem and leiliaxf after stuffing ourselves with delicious sushi. I thought the movie was great. It was so ambitious and what's impressive is that they pulled it off. Heath Leger deserves all the accolades he's getting ... he had never much impressed me before as an actor (even though I had nothing against him), I just put him in the category of Hollywood hunk, who got famous due to his looks and being in the right place at the right time. This really was not just a great performance for him, but for an actor, period. I really hope he does get an Oscar for the performance.
The only thing that I didn't enjoy more about the movie is that I was able to predict too much of it. I mean, it wasn't *predictable* because that would have garnered a different review from me -- predictable would have made it a bad movie. It was a *good* movie, but I guess this is an example where I feel like I've watched too many movies and it works against me.
I totally predicted:
- Gordon wasn't actually dead
- The driver of the armored vehicle taking Dent to jail was Gordon
- During the 'hostage' situation, that the clowns were actually the hostages
- Typing in "Lucius Fox" would cause everything to be destroyed
- The Joker reversed the addresses for Rachel/Dent, so that Batman would end up saving Dent instead of Rachel
- Ramirez was the mole, like super early on, the first time a mole possibility was mentioned
The one thing that stands out for me because I didn't predict the result was that BOTH ships would not end up blowing the other up. I was thinking that the "good/normal" people would choose to blow up the prisoners, and by flicking the switch they blow themselves up instead -- and we're made to think about the implications of that, that those were supposed to be the "good" people but they ended up being more bloodthirsty/cowardly than the murderers/thieves/etc., and ironically paid the price. I liked what did happen as well as the message ... but I think I also liked it because unlike so many of the other "twists," I hadn't expected it.
And like, it's not like all those things would have been that hard to predict ... all the possibilities kind of do go through your mind when you're watching a movie like this, but the fact that I was able to call almost every one throughout the movie just made it a little less fun/interesting. That in no way means that I didn't like it or wouldn't see it again -- it was a great movie and I definitely would.
I wonder if Katie Holmes HAD come back, it would have provided more continuity, and they wouldn't have wanted to off her? I mean, yes, I know something had to happen to turn Dent, but it easily could have been a daughter, a wife, or someone else important to him. It didn't have to be Rachel. I don't know enough about the canon to know whether this is part of it, so it *was* inevitable, or not. For some reason I thought Rachel Dawes was a character they had made up. I don't think Maggie Gyllenhaal is particularly attractive, but they didn't even TRY to make her good looking. Bad lighting, bad color scheme (did she ever wear anything that wasn't black?), etc. She and Katie Holmes share similar features/coloring, but the resemblance pretty much ends there.
I love Christian Bale, but the voice he has to affect for Batman bothers me. I'm like, clear your throat dude. I totally understand why he has to do it, but that doesn't mean I like it. (Speaking of Christian Bale, I wonder if he's like, fuck it, I tried to be a serious actor and do a bunch of indie films, but just bring on the cash and fame with the mainstream stuff since I can't seem to get there with the little stuff. Or if it really did take this long for Hollywood/people to cotton that he's good looking and a good actor.)
The funniest thing came near the end. When Gordon's wife appeared on screen I was like, who is that? She looked so familiar to me. During the hostage scene when Dent is threatening Gordon's family, she looked even MORE familiar and it was really bothering me that I couldn't place her. I turned to Alicia and asked if she knew. Alicia: "Oh. I don't know. She doesn't look familiar to me at all." Then when the movie was over, I asked Sharon. "Hmm I was wondering that myself. She does look familiar." Alicia: "Really? I didn't recognize her, whoever she is." So we waited for the credits ... and I finally saw her name. "MELINDA MCGRAW! It's Melissa Scully!" And then we laughed about how lame Alicia was that it was XF-related and she didn't even think the actress was familiar at all. Haha!
I finally baked bread! And it's good!! Very soft and fluffy ... I was so afraid that my first effort would yield results of, well, a rock. For my first attempt I didn't want to do anything complicated (to up the chances of it turning out well), so I made a simple "World Bread" recipe that's basically just a white loaf.
The fully active culture. To this I added more flour, butter, sugar, salt, and milk. The recipe yielded two loaves.
One of the unbaked loaves after proofing at 85°F for 2.5 hours. It actually rose a lot more than I thought it would -- I was afraid it would collapse while baking. Luckily that didn't happen.
Baking loaves in the oven. Not a good pic, but I couldn't resist taking it. They looked great from my POV; I was pleasantly surprised (I was still expecting disaster from my first attempt).
The finished loaves. Here's where I hit my first snag ... the recipe hadn't said to oil or butter the loaf pans, so I didn't, and it was a real pain to get them out. I had to use a knife to cut them out, but luckily the bottom didn't stick. Did make the sides look a little cut up though. :/
One of the loaves, cut in half.
A close-up shot of the crumb -- love those holey parts. I don't know if you can tell from the photo but the bread is really, really soft ... as fresh bread should be. I let it cool a bit then cut myself a slice and made a quick turkey sandwich. Mmm. The bread has a very light sourdough flavor.
My next project is either going to be a cheese-onion loaf or possibly a free-form loaf (like French bread), assuming the stuff I ordered arrives by the time I want to make it.
Today for lunch I went to a Cajun-style restaurant called Alligator Soul. A week or so ago, I interviewed a woman from Louisiana. After the interview portion we got to talking, and crawfish was mentioned. It's been something I've longed to try, because I love seafood/shellfish, but have never been to the South (except for one day in Dallas, but I'm not counting that). Doing some research online, Alligator Soul was the only place even remotely near me that served actual whole crawdads (as opposed to bits of it in a gumbo, or jambalaya, or whatever). It seems that every other Saturday they do a crawfish boil during the lunch hour, so I went today.
The place itself is a little run down, but that kind of added to its charm. The service was really friendly. And the crawfish plate for one that I ordered came with 1 pound of crawfish, along with some fixings. I also ordered a "side" of catfish, because I love fried catfish. When the food came I was stunned at how huge the portions were. I know crawfish aren't that big, but I wasn't expecting THAT many in a pound. And it came with two corn on the cob, three huge red potatoes, two halves of a roasted garlic bulb, and two good-sized spicy sausages. And all this for $10.95. O.o The side of catfish was basically a deep-fried filet with some really yummy tartar sauce that was great too. And it was only $4.50.
I wish I had brought my camera so I could have taken a pic of the giant platter of crawfish that arrived at my table, but oh well -- maybe in two weeks. :D They were good, kind of a cross between shrimp/lobster, but their shells are so hard that my fingers were hurting part of the way through from opening the shells. The pics that follow are my leftovers, because it was just too much food for one person. Look at how much is in my leftover box (which was really deep)!
Look at all that food. And it's only half what I actually got.
A close up of the so-called "mudbugs"!
Saw The Dark Knight yesterday with
corianderstem and leiliaxf after stuffing ourselves with delicious sushi. I thought the movie was great. It was so ambitious and what's impressive is that they pulled it off. Heath Leger deserves all the accolades he's getting ... he had never much impressed me before as an actor (even though I had nothing against him), I just put him in the category of Hollywood hunk, who got famous due to his looks and being in the right place at the right time. This really was not just a great performance for him, but for an actor, period. I really hope he does get an Oscar for the performance.The only thing that I didn't enjoy more about the movie is that I was able to predict too much of it. I mean, it wasn't *predictable* because that would have garnered a different review from me -- predictable would have made it a bad movie. It was a *good* movie, but I guess this is an example where I feel like I've watched too many movies and it works against me.
I totally predicted:
- Gordon wasn't actually dead
- The driver of the armored vehicle taking Dent to jail was Gordon
- During the 'hostage' situation, that the clowns were actually the hostages
- Typing in "Lucius Fox" would cause everything to be destroyed
- The Joker reversed the addresses for Rachel/Dent, so that Batman would end up saving Dent instead of Rachel
- Ramirez was the mole, like super early on, the first time a mole possibility was mentioned
The one thing that stands out for me because I didn't predict the result was that BOTH ships would not end up blowing the other up. I was thinking that the "good/normal" people would choose to blow up the prisoners, and by flicking the switch they blow themselves up instead -- and we're made to think about the implications of that, that those were supposed to be the "good" people but they ended up being more bloodthirsty/cowardly than the murderers/thieves/etc., and ironically paid the price. I liked what did happen as well as the message ... but I think I also liked it because unlike so many of the other "twists," I hadn't expected it.
And like, it's not like all those things would have been that hard to predict ... all the possibilities kind of do go through your mind when you're watching a movie like this, but the fact that I was able to call almost every one throughout the movie just made it a little less fun/interesting. That in no way means that I didn't like it or wouldn't see it again -- it was a great movie and I definitely would.
I wonder if Katie Holmes HAD come back, it would have provided more continuity, and they wouldn't have wanted to off her? I mean, yes, I know something had to happen to turn Dent, but it easily could have been a daughter, a wife, or someone else important to him. It didn't have to be Rachel. I don't know enough about the canon to know whether this is part of it, so it *was* inevitable, or not. For some reason I thought Rachel Dawes was a character they had made up. I don't think Maggie Gyllenhaal is particularly attractive, but they didn't even TRY to make her good looking. Bad lighting, bad color scheme (did she ever wear anything that wasn't black?), etc. She and Katie Holmes share similar features/coloring, but the resemblance pretty much ends there.
I love Christian Bale, but the voice he has to affect for Batman bothers me. I'm like, clear your throat dude. I totally understand why he has to do it, but that doesn't mean I like it. (Speaking of Christian Bale, I wonder if he's like, fuck it, I tried to be a serious actor and do a bunch of indie films, but just bring on the cash and fame with the mainstream stuff since I can't seem to get there with the little stuff. Or if it really did take this long for Hollywood/people to cotton that he's good looking and a good actor.)
The funniest thing came near the end. When Gordon's wife appeared on screen I was like, who is that? She looked so familiar to me. During the hostage scene when Dent is threatening Gordon's family, she looked even MORE familiar and it was really bothering me that I couldn't place her. I turned to Alicia and asked if she knew. Alicia: "Oh. I don't know. She doesn't look familiar to me at all." Then when the movie was over, I asked Sharon. "Hmm I was wondering that myself. She does look familiar." Alicia: "Really? I didn't recognize her, whoever she is." So we waited for the credits ... and I finally saw her name. "MELINDA MCGRAW! It's Melissa Scully!" And then we laughed about how lame Alicia was that it was XF-related and she didn't even think the actress was familiar at all. Haha!
no subject
Date: 2008-07-20 09:15 am (UTC)And I think what was meant to be surprising about the Dent/Rachel switch isn't so much that it was switched, but that she actually *died*.
I agree that a lot of the little plot twists were "predictable" - but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the movie at all. This really is the best superhero movie I've ever seen, and yes, a great deal of the credit goes to Heath's performance. You know I always liked Heath, and thought there was more going on than just being a lucky pretty boy, but even feeling that, I still didn't know he had *that* in him. Like... I mean, you said it, this performance is fucking stunning, for any actor. It's really not just on account of his death people are blown away. And I mean, I saw Brokeback, where he was supposedly perfect and got the Oscar nom, and I thought he was *good*, but this - this was in a class all by itself. It made me even sadder he's dead.
That crazy deep voice Christian does for Batman is apparently the reason he almost turned down the role!! Because he didn't know if he could do it w/out sounding stupid. It would appear the jury is still out in some corners. :))
And re: Christian selling out - no one thinks he has. They're now giving the new Terminator film street cred because Christian is in it - they're like, it has the Bale golden seal of approval, all he touches turns to gold!!
Robbie didn't even recognize Melinda McGraw, and she knew she was going to be in the movie!!! OMG I am the only true X-Files fan of ALL OF YOU.
All of your food is belong to me. ALL OF IT.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-20 09:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-07-20 09:52 am (UTC)And true, Rachel's death did surprise me ... but according to others, she had to die to give the hero true purpose or whatever. I guess the fact that she "loved" and was going to marry Dent, and the whole, I can't be with you unless you let go of blah blah blah, just turned me off, so I didn't really care that she died. And we didn't even see Bruce cry or anything. I didn't like it in Spiderman when Mary Jane did it either, so at least I'm consistent.
Personally, and I think I'm alone in this, I actually liked the first Batman/first Spiderman more -- just the feeling they left me with after the theater. I think that's what everyone else is feeling from this movie. Even though I respect DK's message, I really watch superhero movies for the guilty pleasure part where they're ... well, a superhero -- but you know, not in a BAD way, like the Fantastic Four or whatever. But I think actually we have talked about this before, the other thing is that I usually prefer the set up of the mythology more than diving deep into it.
Also, I never claimed to be the biggest XF fan ever or anything!! In fact I am totally lukewarm about the movie. I give myself props for even thinking Melinda was familiar looking. In fact, my total non-love of XF after it was over makes me think that the same thing is going to happen to WoW ... when I burn out on something, I really burn out on it. However I'm still curious to see the movie, and other people's enjoyment of it and the "event" feel of it totally will make me go. But if no one was into it I'd probably wait for DVD.
Next time you're up here we so have to go to this crawfish boil. It's like the Thrasher Corner Pub's all you can eat crab, except it's not all you can eat (just feels like it), it's inexpensive, and it's good. Okay, maybe it's not like it at all. Also, they have a platter for two that's THREE POUNDS and I'm like, my god are they going to bring a tractor trailer in and dump it on the table. Oh, and they have a "side of fried chicken" for $4.50. But apparently it's not actually whole chicken pieces, it's basically chicken fingers. But still, I've gotta try it. In fact all their "sides" could be meals. :))
no subject
Date: 2008-07-21 04:20 am (UTC)You'll remember I was kind of iffy on her when Katie played the role, and I thought it might have been because Katie reads younger to me - but now I'm willing to say that I think it's just the character. She was whiny and self righteous and annoying and I'm glad she got blown up thinking the guy she'd been stringing along since childhood was still going to save her.
I get really, really, really irritated by female love interests who think they're soooo much better than their male counterparts, who are, yes that's right, HEROES.
For sure the first Batman leaves you with a better feeling leaving the theater, because it's hopeful. There's a little bit of hope in this one, but it's -- as the title reflects - dark. And it's not really about Batman, this movie was Harvey Dent's story. Aaron Eckhart did a great job, but for me personally, I still just don't like him - he doesn't do it for me, so he falls flat, even though I can't objectively criticize anything in his performance.
Like, I think TDK is the better movie - all the themes are better, the performances (aside from Christian, who is almost incapable of giving a bad performance at this point) are stronger, etc. But I went to a 9am showing with my Dad today, and while I still thought it was great, it's definitely not infinitely rewatchable. I would rather watch Batman Begins easily.