Hey! Where've you been?

Just a reminder to update your bookmarks and subscriptions with my new website: www.elizabethfuss.com. Lots of pretty pics over there. Along with some other stuff. Come on over!

ElizabethFuss.com

Hey folks. I'm back. Sort of. I've moved over to Wordpress at www.elizabethfuss.com. Please come check it out. You can see my blog, plus recipes, plus links to my other writing and even my resume. Exciting, right?

Let me know what you think, k?

Signing off for now...

Hey guys. I'm taking a break from blogging for a while. If something comes up that I can't resist, I might post something. But I'm in the midst of a huge creative block and need to remove some of the pressure, so no blogging for me until I have something worthwhile to say.

In the meantime, if you need to reach me, you can email me at elizabethfuss@msn.com.

See you in a bit!

Lizzy

The Melting Season

When I finished reading Jami Attenberg's The Melting Season, I felt it in my stomach. And my throat.

With a suitcase full of money and a soul full of secrets, Catherine drives across the country in search of answers, closure and a new life. The story weaves its way through the past and the present with intricacy and depth. The characters are rich like good chocolate cake, with complex elements and beautifully human characteristics.

It's a novel about sexual dysfunction, the evolution of a life and how the pieces all fall into place. It's heartbreaking. And beautiful. What I love about The Melting Season, is that it is a portrait of a whole person, broken parts, damaged soul, loving heart, all of it, told in lyrical thoughts and narrative, at times like poetry, at times like the simple words in my head, unembellished and honest.

It's very intimate and I wanted to cry for Catherine and hug her and fight for her. So yes, when it was over, and I finished reading this fine book, I felt it. And I might have cried. A little. Or maybe a little more than a little.

You can see the book trailer here. Buy it, check it out from the library, read it, love it.

With the new blog rules from some government agency, I guess I have to tell you that I received my copy of The Melting Season from the publisher before its release. But I was a fan of Jami Attenberg's way before that when I read her essay in Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant and her book The Kept Man. And I wouldn't write about it if I didn't love it. And I did. Love it, I mean.

Lamb with Parsnip Puree and Lemon Herb Cream Sauce

Here is the latest project with my sister Chelsea on her blog, Frolic. This recipe is lovely, wintery food with all the comfort and sauciness that food in cold weather requires.

A Sunday Morning Hash-Up

Hash is one of my favorite things, because you can pick and choose whatever comfort foods you love and have them all on your fork at once. I love this recipe because the chorizo has enough flavor for the whole dish. No additional spices needed. And the cilantro hollandaise adds a nice cooling, creamy texture and when mixed with the yolk of a poached egg, it's divine. Here's what I made:

Sunday Hash

1 lb. spicy chorizo

1 lb fingerling potatoes

1 pint grape tomatoes

1 leek, washed and chopped

2 T. olive oil

1/2 cup vegetable stock

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

6 eggs

white vinegar

kosher salt

Cilantro Hollandaise

6 egg yolks

3 T. heavy cream

3 T. chopped cilantro

1 tsp. lime juice

1 c. butter

Cook potatoes in boiling water until tender, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, brown the chorizo with the leeks and add the tomatoes. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the tomatoes burst. When the potatoes are done, drain and slice in half. Stir the potatoes into the chorizo mixture. Add olive oil and cook until potatoes are slightly browned.

Add the vegetable stock, scraping the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Cook over medium heat until the liquid is gone, about 5 minutes. Add kosher salt and pepper to taste, though you won't need much, if any, as the chorizo is fairly salty and seasoned well.

In a blender, add the egg yolks and the cream for the hollandaise. Blend on high until frothy and creamy. Add the cilantro and the lime juice. On the stove, in a small pan, melt the butter until bubbling, but not brown. Turn the blender on and slowly add the melted butter. Blend for about two minutes. Sauce will be thickened slightly. Set aside.

In a skillet, add about two inches of water and bring to a simmer. Add a sprinkle of white vinegar and a pinch of salt. Add eggs one at a time (working in batches if necessary), and cover. Cook for about 3-4 minutes, until the whites are set.

To serve, put poached egg on top of hash and cover with hollandaise.

Don Draper and the Beauty of Being Human

It was so easy when I was young to decipher bad from good. Adulterers are bad. Christians are good. Thieves are bad. Mothers are good. So easy. Then when I was in middle school, I met my grandfather - a feisty old man who diligently smoked, told us unbelievable stories from his Adventures in Life, and had more women than we could comprehend.

He would call us drunk on Sunday nights while we watched The Wonderful World of Disney. "Hello, Miss America!" he would slur, as my sisters and I giggled. He was a philanderer, a storyteller, an alcoholic, a generous man with a big heart, a skilled poker player, a champion boxer. I told my best friend about him once and she told me it was "sad" that I had a grandfather like that. Was it? I remember thinking that I shouldn't love him so much because of his faults, but I couldn't help it. I didn't think it was sad. I thought it was interesting and a little exciting.

My mother felt differently about him, and rightly so, as his version of fatherhood left her and the rest of the family alone and distant, fighting for normalcy in their lives in the 1950s. She loved him, though, and kept him in our lives once we became acquainted with him. He was a good man. With lots of flaws. Some of them hurtful. Some of them endearing. All of them human.

Don Draper, the central figure in AMC's Mad Men, is such a man. Easy to hate in the beginning, because of his constant sexual escapades and abandonment of his family. Then easy to love, as his character deepens, becomes enriched with secrets, history, pain and compassion. The traits weave together into one of the most complex characters I've seen on television. Played by Jon Hamm with a smoldering control of emotions, Don Draper is a hero and a villain in one. Just like my grandfather.

Peggy, Don Draper's secretary-turned-copywriter, similarly makes morally questionable decisions, making me cringe at times, cry at others. Her character, both pathetic and fierce, is stoic, showing almost no emotion, apparently outsourcing the task of feeling to the audience on her behalf. But there is something fighting within Peggy's character to get out - and while I was trying to figure out what that was, I became addicted to Mad Men.

Or more accurately, I became addicted to the complexity of the characters. I could go down the list of all the characters, all shown in a very human light, and weigh their good and bad qualities to determine if they are good guys or bad guys. But why? With few exceptions, human beings are not exclusively good or bad. With no exception, human beings are flawed. Most people are doing the best they can with what they have to work with. Very few television shows embrace humanity with such richness.

This show - Mad Men - is a beautiful show, no doubt you've heard. Beautiful people, beautiful sets, beautiful design. But the depth of the characters, the constant tug of war between good and evil within each person's soul, that is the most beautiful part of this show.

Mac and Cheese, please.

Today I made this Walnut Crusted Stilton Mac and Cheese with Caramelized Onions and Chelsea photographed it for her blog. It's my original recipe and it's mighty tasty, if I do say so myself. Recipe and more photos here.

My version of a Spanish Tortilla.

Sometimes recipes simmer in my head all night, like a stew in a crock-pot. When I wake up in the morning, somehow all the kinks have been worked out and the recipe is perfect and ready to be tested. This morning, I woke up and immediately went to the kitchen to create that which had been simmering through the night. It was a delightful breakfast.


Spanish Tortilla with Leeks and Tomato Salad

2 medium sized russet potatoes, thinly sliced
1 leek, thoroughly washed and thinly sliced
3 T. olive oil
8 eggs
3/4 c. half and half
1/2 c. cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 c. romano cheese, grated
Kosher salt
fresh ground pepper

1 c. grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 c. kalamata olives, chopped
1 shallot, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 leaf of fresh basil, torn into small pieces
1 T. olive oil
1 T. balsalmic vinegar
Kosher salt
fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a cast iron skillet, saute leeks in 1 T. olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. Cook until lightly golden brown. Remove from skillet and set aside. Heat remaining 2 T. olive oil in skillet until just smoking.

Arrange potato slices slightly overlapping, covering the bottom of the skillet, making multiple layers, if necessary, and seasoning with salt and pepper on each layer. Sprinkle sauteed leeks evenly over the potatoes. Cook over medium heat, so that the potatoes can get crispy, about 5 minutes. Do not stir.

In the meantime, in a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, half and half, and cheese and season with salt and pepper. Pour mixture into the skillet over the potatoes. Remove from the heat and place in pre-heated oven.


Bake for 25 minutes until the top is golden brown and firm to the touch. Let cool for 5 minutes.

While it is cooling, make the tomato salad. In a bowl, toss together all ingredients of the tomato salad. Mix well.


Run a knife around the edge of the skillet to prevent sticking and flip the skillet upside down to turn out the tortilla. Cut into slices and top with the tomato salad.

Yield: 8 servings

Photos by Chelsea Fuss.

Where I don't remember anything.

"Remember when we used to come here when we were kids?" No. "Really? You don't remember sitting on the waterfront?" No. Not even a little bit. My sister and I were eating lunch in Poulsbo, Washington on the picturesque waterfront. I think I blocked out all my memories from middle school and high school in Olympia and any weekend day trips we may have taken as a family. She insisted that we used to go to Poulsbo all the time. I seriously have no recollection of any of it.

It's a nice little town with independent bookstores, bakeries and little restaurants. Just the type of town my parents would have taken us to and just the type of town that I would have sneered at and pouted while we ate at a quaint little bakery. I was a miserable kind of a teen, with lots of acidic attitude and smoldering rebellion that never quite erupted.

Twenty years has whipped me into relative normalcy and I now appreciate quaint towns as I am supposed to. And Poulsbo is very nice.


We ate lunch at JJ's Fish House on the waterfront while my sister recounted her memories of Poulsbo. I ordered the cod fish and chips. She ordered the halibut.

Now I have to say that I still don't get fish and chips. Is the fish supposed to have flavor? Or is it all about the sauces? Because the two big hunks of fried fish were bland. Very, very bland. The tartar sauce was full of tarragon and definitely helped the fish. But if it's all about the sauce, what do I need the fish for? The fish was covered in a tempura batter and had literally no seasoning in it and left a pool of oil on my plate, which I wasn't thrilled about. I love intense flavor though, and maybe the bland fish is supposed to be a canvas for the sauce, in which case it succeeded in being just that.


The poppyseed coleslaw was very flavorful and my favorite part of the meal. This is now my new memory of Poulsbo. A pretty waterfront, and a crunchy, sweet poppyseed coleslaw. The rest of it will go the way of my adolescence. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Unemployment makes for a busy kitchen

So apparently having a little time on my hands has created a monster in the kitchen. This is my latest creation. Recipe is over here.

Pandoro French Toast with Lemon Rosemary Butter and Blood Orange Butter

Another collaboration with Chelsea over at {frolic!}. My recipes, her photos. You can see more photos and the recipe here.

Sleepless. Because I want to go to Seattle.

I've felt something calling me to Seattle lately. Oh who am I kidding. The food is calling me. The food. And maybe the artsy literary types.

The New Guard Dinners - art, music and food by up and coming artists.

Delancey - a new pizza restaurant owned by Molly Wizenberg and her husband.

Spring Hill - I've heard an awful lot about this place on Twitter lately.

Union Restaurant - Because of what Kari wrote.

Kim Ricketts Book Events - Because how awesome is this. Cooks and Books? Words and Wine? Um. Yes.

Photo from TripAdvisor.com

Spaghetti with Mascarpone Sage Meatballs: Comfort Food for {frolic!}

My sister Chelsea (also known as {frolic!}) and I are collaborating on a new feature for her blog about comfort foods. I create the recipes and the food and she's the photographer. Our first collaboration is Spaghetti with Mascarpone and Sage Meatballs. So good! Check out the recipe on {frolic!}.

I knew you all along, John Roderick

Mississippi Studios is still an intimate venue, even after the big remodel. I was a big fan of the airstream trailer and the white canvas outside where they used to beam flickering black and white movies in the summer. But what I loved most about the small little venue was the cozy red interior that made it feel like you were in North Portland's living room. The little pillows on the chairs and the long red curtains that served as the backdrop to so many musicians over the years. The pillows and the curtains are gone, but it's still cozy and red, albeit a little more spacious.

On a Sunday night not long ago, I went to Mississippi Studios for dinner and talking and music and inspiration. Michael Hebb made dinner for 30 and John Roderick and Kathleen Edwards were there, in conversation and song, celebrating Roderick's newly published book of tweets, Electric Aphorisms.

It was a lovely evening. I found myself pulled into the conversation on stage between Publication Studio's Matthew Stadler, the book's publisher, and Roderick and Edwards. They talked and sang about truth and lies and fans and Twitter and crying and death and murder while I ate winter salad, beef stew with creme fraiche and dinner rolls. The red walls aided the stew in keeping me warm and feeling homey.

Roderick said he had written a song about a public tragedy, one that was displayed over and over on TV. The space shuttle disaster. He talked about how humbled he was when he heard that people at NASA had listened to the song. Then, he started playing the song.

I hadn't heard The Long Winters prior to the week of the dinner - I had heard of them, but never listened to their music. I did no research before I went - I like to discover in person. But the amazing thing was, as he started playing the song, The Commander Thinks Aloud, I recognized it. In fact, it was a song that I loved and had listened to hundreds of times for years on a random CD that I had because it felt emotional and hearty to me, but I never knew who sang it or what it was about. It felt intense and powerful in a sing-your-guts-out kind of way. I love those kind of songs. And when he started playing it, I got all choked up because now it all made sense. And I loved it even more.

I began feeling amorous towards everyone on stage, towards the people around me, as I experienced the moment with them. Of course, they had no idea and I swallowed my emotional reaction. I left in a hurry when it was over, as there was going to be mingling and heaven knows I'm awful at mingling and I didn't want to ruin the spirit of my moment.

It was awesome. And I still love my moment.

A Words Week

This week is a good week to appreciate words. Just because. Here are a couple of events that will help you appreciate your favorite words:

Friday, December 18th
Write Around Portland Community Reading & Anthology Release
6:30 - 8:30pm
First United Methodist Church, Collins Hall
1838 SW Jefferson St.

The new anthology is called More Than a Book, with a special introduction by Dave Eggers, who was the very reason I got involved with Write Around Portland to begin with. It's a free event, and like I have said many times before, these events are inspiring and life changing. I hope you can make it. All of you. Yes, I'm looking at you.

Saturday, December 19th
Live Wire!
8:00pm
Aladdin Theater
Tickets

An always entertaining, funny and inspiring evening, Live Wire! is a variety show taped live once a month at the Aladdin Theater for broadcast on OPB. Poets, singers, storytellers and other fascinating people are interviewed by the fabulous and funny Courtenay Hameister. Music and good words. This is seriously the best use of $20 on a Saturday night. And come prepared to write a Haiku.

A Festive Dessert

Today I tried an experiment in fruit crisp. We had a ton of cranberries in the fridge, so I decided go crazy with cranberries. And pistachios. The Five Spice Chinese spice gives it a nice bite that complements the sweetness of the crisp. And the vanilla adds a mellowness to the cranberries. It was quite tasty.

Cranberry Crisp with Pistachios

7 1/2 cups cranberries
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp Five Spice Chinese spice
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup pistachio nutmeats

1. Add cranberries to the food processor and pulse several times until cranberries are roughly chopped.

2. Melt 1/2 cup butter in a large pot over low heat. Add 1 cup brown sugar and stir over medium heat until combined. Add cranberries and apples, spices, vanilla and salt.

3. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Then add to an 8 1/2 by 11 pan.

4. In the food processor, add 1/4 cup butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup oatmeal and 1/2 cup pistachio nutmeats. Pulse until ingredients are combined and clumping together slightly. Crumble on top of the cranberry mixture.

5. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream.

An Experiment in Fish and Chips

We feed my British grandmother every Sunday. She eats a lot for a 91 year old and if there's one thing I like about her it's that she can appreciate the taste of well-made food. She said a couple of weeks ago that she'd been craving fish and chips like she had when she was a child. I sort of took it as a challenge. Never mind that I have pretty much no experience cooking fish (I'm scared of it) and pretty much no experience deep frying anything (a few burns thwarted my desire to have access to delicious fatty foods in my own home).

I started out by heading over to Rick's Wild Seafood food cart on SW 3rd and Ash downtown Portland. (I have to specify Portland since I live in the suburbs and West Linn is my frame of reference now. *sob*) Plus, they sell frozen cod for $3.40/lb, so I decided to pick some up while I was testing their professional fish and chips.

The poor girl at the cart was bundled up - it was freezing yesterday! I ordered my fish and chips and the girl re-fried the chips (which is what the British do. I checked online. So it must be accurate!) and threw the fish in the deep fryer. A few minutes later, I was warming my hands on the hot fries and fish, and filling my belly rather quickly. It happened to be my breakfast and lunch that day. The fish was crunchy and I could see the herbs in the crust. A squeeze of lemon was just what it needed. It was tame in flavor, which is the experience I have had with all the fish and chips I have ever had. Which is not many. Because as I said before, fish scare me. A bit.


Because my sense of what one pound of cod would amount to in fried fish is bizarrely off, I decided to play it safe and over do it by getting five pounds of cod to take home. FIVE. As it turns out, that is quite a lot of fish. Hello, freezer.

So anyway, this morning I started on my journey to make a real British fish and chips dinner. I started out by making the tartar sauce. Quite easy, actually. Sweet pickles, capers, flat leaf parsley, two teaspoons of spicy mustard, a dash of Worcestershire sauce and a cup of mayo in the food processor. Mine turned out a little green due to perhaps an over abundance of parsley, but I liked it that way.

I made coleslaw with shredded cabbage and one shredded sweet onion and a vinegar-based dressing and let it marinate. Chopped up the Russet potatoes into thick, bite-sized pieces, tossed them with olive oil and salt and threw them in the oven to bake. I wasn't going to attempt frying everything. Especially because my parents don't generally eat fried food, and I didn't want to kill them off.

Keeping that in mind, I decided to make some baked fish as well as the traditional beer-batter fish. You know. Gotta please everyone.

The beer batter was very simple. Self-rising flour + a little salt & pepper + seafood seasoning + one bottle of beer (I used a brown English ale); whisked together until thickened and smooth.

For the baked fish, I dredged it in flour + seasoning, then egg bath, then homemade breadcrumbs with herbs. For both kinds of fish, I seasoned the fish first with salt and pepper and seafood seasoning. I am sort of a flavor fiend, so I seasoned probably way more than is traditional. But I liked it. A lot.


The fish baked for about 20 minutes at 350 and the fish fried in 3 inches of hot canola oil for about 2-3 minutes, depending on the size of the piece of fish. I was by no means consistent in the sizing, so we had small pieces and large pieces. The fried fish was moist and flaky and perfectly cooked. The seasoning came through in the crust quite well. The baked fish was drier and maybe a bit overcooked, but still tasted good.

To round out the British meal, I heated up some peas, then drained them and smashed them with yogurt and salt and pepper.


It was a hit. My grandmother loved it and said it was just like her mother used to make. I wonder if my great-grandmother was a flavor fiend, too.


*Photos of my fish and chips dinner by the lovely Chelsea Fuss.

Wherein I Tell You My Diabolical Plan

So I've been busy lately. Just kidding. I haven't. I've been taking a big fat break from life since Thanksgiving. And it's been nice. Lots of naps and working out and cooking and taking deep breaths. And. I've formulated a plan for my jobless life. And I'm really excited about it.

I'm going to be partnering with my dad in his accounting practice to do payroll, bookkeeping and HR consulting for small businesses, an area that I've been working in for the past 10 years. I'm excited to be bringing my expertise and knowledge to his business.

I'm also going to be spending a great deal of time writing. Which I am thrilled about. I'll still be blogging, but I'm aiming at something bigger. And also maybe tackling a little freelance writing.

Whatever happens, I'll keep you posted. Because I feel like you are all my friends. I've met several of you recently and I just have to say how wonderful it is to see you in person and exchange pleasantries in real life. Thanks for reading.

**P.S. If you need any payroll, bookkeeping, HR consulting services, or someone to write crap for you, please drop me a line at elizabethfuss (at) msn (dot) com.

Word to the Wise(men)

On December 2nd, Back Fence PDX, Mortified and True Stories join forces for a stellar storytelling event. You should go because: 1. It will probably be funny, 2. Support storytelling in Portland, 3. I am going. I went to a Back Fence PDX event a couple of weeks ago, I met a bunch of people and laughed my ass off. Well, not totally. I still need to exercise and not eat crap. But it was fun anyway. So check it out. For tickets, go here. For more information, go here.