Claudia — Page 1635

On Food & a Sweet Tooth

January 18, 2011 at 2:11 pm by Claudia

We’re in the middle of a snow, sleet and ice event here at MHC. Can I tell you how sick of winter I am? It hasn’t even been a month since the blizzard that came our way the day after Christmas and we’ve had 3 major snowfalls and now this. Last night, as we listened to the weather report, Don immediately worried about whether we had enough sweets in the house in the event we were ‘trapped’ here.

I looked around and announced that I had enough on hand to make oatmeal raisin cookies. I will be starting on those shortly…after I recover from yet more snow shoveling. We aren’t doing too well with our addiction to sweets, are we? It’s always harder in the winter months and this winter is a pain in the….

Since it is cold and gray and snowy, I treat myself to this everyday:

Wouldn’t you? But it can’t be any cocoa, it has to be this cocoa:

Double Chocolate or Hazelnut Chocolate. Ummm-mmmm good.

When we lived in San Diego, the local Whole Foods carried a cookie that I was addicted to. Chocolate Truffle Heart Cookies. They were more like a cookie sandwich and they were the best cookie I’ve ever had. I would treat myself to one or two every week. (Of course, I was thinner then and sweets didn’t immediately go to my waist.) I longed to figure out how they were made. Never did. And after a while, whoever was making them stopped supplying them to Whole Foods. I went into mourning. Believe me when I tell you that I have googled and googled and have never found the right recipe for them.

I’ve also misplaced some of my Grandmother’s recipes. She was the baking queen. She made the most wonderful Butter Tarts and a little treasure called Current Cakes. Can’t find the recipes. Maybe they are buried in a box in the shed, but I don’t think so. I get sad when I think I may have misplaced them forever. Meredith, do you have copies of them?

But I do have her recipe for Cloud Biscuits. I make these often, especially this time of year. They are really just a variation of Baking Powder Biscuits, though I personally think they are the best version.

Cloud Biscuits

2 cups flour

1 tsp. sugar

4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup butter

1 egg, beaten

2/3 cup milk

Mix together dry ingredients. Cut butter into dry ingredients until well chopped. Beat the egg with a fork and stir into milk. Add egg/milk mixture to dry ingredients. Mix together thoroughly until dough is formed. Put on floured board and knead until blended. Flatten out until smooth and cut with cookie/biscuit cutter. Place on oiled or buttered cookie sheet and bake at 450 degrees for 10 -12 minutes. Depending on the size of your biscuit cutter, the recipe makes about 12 biscuits.

A few notes about this recipe: The original recipe called for much more salt and I’ve cut it back for health reasons and also because I thought the biscuits tasted too salty. You’re welcome to up the amount of salt if you choose. Don’t make the mistake of flattening out the dough too much (as my niece and I did the first time we made them together.) The dough should be at least a 1/2 inch or more thick. That’s the secret to the ‘Cloud’ part of the biscuit. They rise beautifully that way.

My oven seems to take a minute or two longer than the 10 minutes called for in the original recipe so I’ve changed it to 10-12 minutes.

Mark this day down in your calendars: It’s the first, and perhaps last, time I’ve shared a recipe on this blog.

Be sure to scroll down to read my book review of The Death Instinct. It’s a fascinating book.

Book Review: The Death Instinct

January 18, 2011 at 1:03 am by Claudia

Today I am reviewing The Death Instinct by Jed Rubenfeld for TLC Book Tours. As always, I am provided with a copy of the book for my honest review.

About the book: New York, 1920. World War I is over. But the Roaring Twenties have not yet arrived. Factories are closing, families are losing their homes. Jobless men are forbidden to drink by the new Prohibition laws. The streets of Manhattan teem with seething resentments and inarticulate passions. Wall Street … explodes. It is the most destructive and deadly terrorist attack ever committed on United States soil. Caught in the blast are war veteran Stratham Younger, police detective Jimmy Littlemore, and the beautiful but secretive Colette Rousseau. A mysterious trail of evidence, together with a series of inexplicable attacks on Colette and a secret buried deep in her past, lead the three on a harrowing but thrilling journey from Paris to Prague, from the roof of the world’s tallest skyscraper to the secret underground vaults of the U.S. Treasury, from the Vienna home of Sigmund Freud to the halls of Congress in Washington, D.C. As the frightening, seemingly disjointed pieces of the puzzle come together, Younger and Littlemore unravel Colette’s secret – and the shocking truth behind the terror in Wall Street.

Set against the backdrop of the devastating Wall Street bombing of September, 1920 – a real historical event that remains unsolved to this day – The Death Instinct expertly blends fact and fiction, killing and passion, suspense and adventure in a page-turning thriller about the hidden depths of our most savage instincts.

My Review: First, let me say that I had no idea that this horrific act of terrorism occurred in the early part of the 20th Century. On September 16, 1920, a bomb exploded on Wall Street. This act of terrorism killed and injured 400 people. To this day, the crime has not been solved. Mr. Rubenfeld uses this event as his starting point in writing this fascinating and compelling historical mystery. Employing a mixture of fictional and real historial characters, the author weaves factual events together with a story line involving a police detective, war veteran, a French woman (who has trained under Marie Curie) and her younger brother.

The mystery is tremendously detailed and Rubenfeld paints a vivid portrait of New York City in 1920, as well as Europe after the end of World War I. The action takes place in the United States as well as the Continent. This terrorist act “remained the most destructive act of terrorism in the United States until the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995.” In Rubenfeld’s telling of the story, we see strong similarities between 1920 and now – in the mood of the country and the rush to war.

This book is very well written and extensively researched. We learn about Sigmund Freud, Marie Curie, radium poisoning (fascinating and horrific), the toll of the First World War on soldiers and citizens and corruption among government officials.

I found it hard to care very much about the character of Stratham Younger. He is world weary and cynical about everything, partly due to what he has gone through in WWI; nevertheless, that doesn’t make for a strong protagonist. It keeps him removed in a way that is off-putting. His relationship with Sigmund Freud seemed a bit too contrived and I never really bought it. While these other sections of the plot were interesting, I was most compelled by the effort to solve the bombing led by Detective Littlemore. This, to me, was the heart of the story. My compliments to Mr. Rubenfeld: His writing made this event so riveting that I want to learn more about it.

Rubenfeld has written a complex and absorbing historical mystery. I think you will find it fascinating.

About the Author: Jed Rubenfeld is the author of the international bestseller The Interpretation of Murder. He is a professor at Yale University Law School and is one of the country’s foremost experts on constitutional law. He wrote his undergraduate thesis at Princeton University on Sigmund Freud. He lives in Connecticut with his family.

The Death Instinct is being released this month by Riverhead Books.

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Congratulations to my friend Jim Parsons on winning the Golden Globe for his work on The Big Bang Theory. Jim was my student in San Diego and is also my friend. It couldn’t happen to a nicer, more talented guy.

We’re headed into a day long snow and ice event here in our neck of the woods. I’m hoping the weather predictions turn out to be over-hyped. Send positive thoughts our way!

A Cold, but Sunny, Sunday

January 16, 2011 at 12:30 pm by Claudia

What’s that? Sun flooding the living room with light? Yes, the sun is shining. It’s still very, very cold…but the sun is shining. Is it only January 16th? That means at least 2 more months of winter, doesn’t it? I keep reminding myself that harsh winters are what make spring all the more beautiful and appreciated.

I used to live in Southern California. Where it was in the 70’s yesterday. What am I, nuts?

Did I ever share this find with you? I don’t think I did.

I won this vintage doorstop at auction a couple of months ago. I bid on it thinking I might offer it in an Etsy shop someday. Of course, I also fell in love it.

And it’s really heavy. I mean, heavy. The shipping costs would be prohibitive, don’t you think?

I’d better keep it here. It’s the smart thing to do.

I’m going to resume work on the dollhouse today. It has remained in the same state it was in last February when I had to stop work on it to start my prep work for the Shakespeare Festival in San Diego. It needs another coat of primer and then, gosh darn it, I’m going to paint the rooms and start furnishing this baby. I will have to remove the crochet that is currently on the roof. I put it there each evening so that a certain furry boy who loves yarn cannot get to it.

When we adopted Riley we were living in rented cottage in Westchester County. At some point during the first night he spent with us, he wandered into the office/studio and ate some of my yarn. Luckily, there were no side effects. Whenever I have yarn out, he immediately comes over, sniffs around and tries to lick it. That boy.

I’m off to get some work accomplished. Tuesday, I will post a book review. It’s a new mystery that I think you will like.

On Food & a Sweet Tooth

Book Review: The Death Instinct

A Cold, but Sunny, Sunday

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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