Book: One Day

A couple in London gets together for the first time on the day they both graduate from college.  The book follows them on the same day of the year for the next 20 years or so as they go in and out of relationships and eventually….spoiler alert if anyone is reading this……….get married…gasp…and then eventually she gets hit by a bus.  It’s a good read though, but I thought it was very sad on different levels and the main guy character is a douche bag (well in my opinion anyways). I notice the picture I posted is from the movie they made of the novel a few years ago which I remember got very bad reviews.  I could understand as their really isn’t much action in the book.  But I’m curious to see how they made the book into a movie.  I hope it’s on netflix….our new best friend.

PJH rating:  three and 1/2 stars

 

Eat Out: Tommy’s

We have finally reached the end of our self inflicted exile from going out to eat or ordering take out in the month of January. (we cheated and went to Panera once, Chipotle once and to the Olive Garden…but those don’t count right?).  Anyways, on 2/1/2012 Courtney and all the girls picked me up from work and we went to Tommy’s for lunch. We have been going to Tommy’s for over 20 years ever since we used to live around the corner even when it burnt down ( a couple of times).  It’s always a great place to go and food is always good.  I had felafel with hummus and sesame sauce, Courtney had spinach pie with mushrooms, Grace had a meat pie and Claire had…hmmm…what did you have Claire???  Sophie had a Judy – classic.  Split an order of fries and Soph and Grace washed their’s down with milkshakes. I walked back to work as the ladies took off to go afternoon bridesmaid dressing shopping .  It was a great stroll as we have been having this freakishly warm winter here in lovely Cleveland.

EatOnEdgecliff Rating:  A (It’s a Cleveland classic after all)

Book: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

The tale of outcast Oscar Wao told in relation to his mother, his sister and his sister’s boyfriend.  Mostly set in the Dominican Republic and later in New York and New Jersey.  Lot’s of spanish in book that I didn’t get, but a good story and interesting reading about the craziness of Dominican Republic under Trujillo.

PJH Rating: Four stars

Fettuccine with Ham, Mushroom and Peas

This is a weekly stand by that we have been making for years and years.  It’s not really much of a recipe, but we base it on a recipe from a cookbook that I think somebody gave us as a wedding present – almost 23 short years ago.  Everybody likes it and it couldn’t be easier to make.  (Jack always gripes about the mushrooms but tough luck Jack.)

We made this last Sunday and made it even better because we made homemade pasta.  We haven’t made pasta in a super long time and me and Sophie had fun doing it together.  I don’t think she ever made it before.

The pasta dough recipe we use is from the New Basics. It makes about the equivalent of one pound of dried pasta:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 eggs

Place the flour in a food processor, and with the motor running, add the eggs one at a time.  Continue processing for 15 seconds.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until it has formed a smooth, firm ball.

Cover with a kitchen towel and let rest for 30 minutes.

Divide the ball into 5 pieces.  Use pasta maker to roll out each ball for whatever kind of pasta you want.

Back to the ham, mushrooms and peas: in goes the butter:

Adapted from 365 Ways to Cook Pasta, Marie Simmons

Paglia E Fieno

  • 6 T. butter (we usually use much less)
  • 12 oz. mushrooms, sliced
  • 1/2 to 1 cup of frozen peas
  • 1 cup heavy cream (we usually use skim milk because it’s in the fridge and it works fine…but of course tastes better if use use whole milk or half and half)
  • 1/2 cup slivered cooked ham
  • 1 lb fettuccine
  • lots of parmesean
  1. Heat 3 T. butter in skillet; add mushrooms and saute for about 5-10 minutes.  Add the peas and cook for a few minutes.  Add 1/2 cup of cream, heat to boiling and simmer until thickened.  Add the ham and season with salt and pepper.
  2. Meanwhile, cook the fettuccine in boiling water until cooked al dente.  Drain when done.
  3. Throw the fettuccine in the skillet with the mushrooms, ham and peas – put in more butter and cream if you want it.  A scoop or two of pasta water is good also.  Add lots of parmesean cheese and more salt and pepper if you want.

Enjoy

Book: Ed King, David Guterson

Have read several other books by David Guterson.  Snow Falling on Cedars is one of my all time favorites.  This one follows Ed King, whose 15 year old mother gave him up on a doorstop and he ended up being a huge technology guy – aka Bill Gates / Steve Jobs.  It’s a crazy modern take on Oedipus Rex so you basically know what’s going to happen which is part of the fun.  The novel is told from several different points of view, his mother, his father and his.  His mother was my favorite.  Definitely a good read.

PJH Rating: 4 stars

Book list 2011

I had a goal of reading 36 books in 2011.  I am happy to report that I have met that goal and read 38!  hurray.  My goal for this year is 40 books.

My top 5 in alphabetical order:

  • The Imperfectionists, Tom Rachman
  • The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver
  • The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, Walter Mosley
  • Room, Emma Donoghue
  • The Witch of Hebron, James Howard Kunstler

Here is my list in order of when I finished.  My rating is 1-5 with 5 being outstanding.

  • Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins;  *** 1/2
  • The Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein, ****
  • Razing Jake, Charlie Carilo, ****1/2
  • How Evan Broke his Head and Other Secrets, Gart Stein, ****
  • Mocking Jay, Suzanne Collins, ***
  • Room, Emma Donoghue, ****1/2
  • Three James, (Author???), ****
  • Letter from Point Clear, Dennis McFarlan, ****
  • Fugitive Pieces, Anne, Michaels, ***
  • The Paris Wife, Paula McLain, ***1/2
  • The Other, David Guterson, ***1/2
  • The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, Walter Mosley, ****1/2
  • Sister Mine, Tawni O’Dell, ***
  • Making Toast, Roger Rosenblatt, ****
  • The Metropolis Case, Matthew Gallaway, ****
  • Keeping Time, Stacey McGlynn, ***
  • Shadow Tag, Louise Erdrich, ***1/2
  • Fall of Giants, Ken Follett, ***
  • Faith, Jennifer Haigh, ****
  • The Lacuna, Barbara Kingsolver, *****
  • The Confession, John Grisham, ***1/2
  • The 19th Wife, David Ebershoff, ****
  • Calebs Crossing, Geraldine Brooks, ****
  • Year of Wonders, Ann Patchett, ****1/2
  • Gone with a Handsome Man, Michael Lee West, **1/2
  • Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand, ***1/2
  • The Vices, Lawrence Douglas, ***1/2
  • The Astral, Kate Christensen, ***
  • Lamb, Bonnie Nadzam, **1/2
  • The Gap Year, Sarah Bird, **1/2
  • The Thing We Didn’t Say, Sarah Bird, ***
  • The Way Things Look to Me, Roopa Farooki, ***1/2
  • The Witch of Hebron, James Howard Kunstler, ****1/2
  • The Things We Cherished, Pam Jenoft, ***
  • Father Mucker, Greg Olear, ***1/2
  • World Made by Hand, James Howard Kunstler, ***1/2
  • The Imperfectionists, Tom Rachman, ****1/2
  • One Second After, William Forstchen, **1/2

Christmas, 2011

Christmas is over.  We spent all morning today putting everything away and cleaning our house which I hate to confess I enjoy as much as Christmas.  Here’s some photos from this year.

We didn’t put our tree up until a week before Xmas.  We dragged the kids out of bed at 8:00 AM on saturday morning which they weren’t too happy about.

Like I said…not too excited…

Chrimas Eve was a nice night.  See food post here.

Emily Jane sharing the holiday spirit.

Shea spreading some holiday cheer with her recorder.

The Purcell boys chrimas rap.

Not sure who brought the fake teeth?  But very attractive.

present time….  Grandma and Grandpa always gives everbody a book, an ornament and jammies.

obligatory group jammie shot:

excited girlies.

Eat Out: Sushi Rock

Courtney, Sophia and I braved the malls yesterday afternoon to return a couple of things that we have been putting off all week.  Sean and Claire were going to Sushi Rock to use up a Groupon so we invited ourselves to go along with them. (Thanks Sean).

Sushi Rock started with a place on West Third in the 80’s and opened a place in La Place in Beachwood probably ten years ago or so.  I think we have been there once.  We got there around 8:00 and our reservation wasn’t until 8:30.  We sat in the lounge and had a beer and Sophie had a shirley temple.  (When I ordered the Shirley Temple at the bar the bartender asked what kind of grey goose I wanted in it…really??)

Claire and Sean arrived at 8:15 and we sat down at 8:30.

We had calamari for an appetizer and then ordered four different kinds of sushi.  Sophie had an order of fried rice.  The calamari was perfect – good crunch, just the right spice served with a nice sweet spicy sauce.  Even Sophia tried one.  Sophie’s fried rice was good…tasted different with sushi rice but was tasty.  All the sushi rolls were good, we had a deep fried one which I never had before.

Aren’t Sophie’s new glasses cute?

Eat On Edgecliff Rating:  B+  -food was good, atmosphere a bit run down, cheesey/dated and the service could be better, but definitely a good place to go for sushi.

Eat Out: Chinato

My parents brought all the adults out to dinner on Wednesday for their Anniversary.  48 years! How lucky are we?  We went to Chinato on E.4th and Prospect.  Chinato is Zac Bruell’s newest restaurant that opened earlier this year.  We love all of his restaurants: Parallax, Table 45, L’Albatros, and Chinato.  It’s hard to decide which is my favorite as they are all so different and each of them are awesome in their own way.

We started out with cocktails, wine and beer and ordered 4 different appetizers to pass around: scallops crudo, fried artichoke leaves, mussels with wine and fennel,  and eggplant involtini stuffed with shrimp.  We then split a few order of gnocchi which were tender as can be in a butter and garlic sauce.  mmm mmm.  Everyone ordered their own entree.  I had porchetta which was pork belly wrapped around  braised pork shoulder over greens.  Awesome.  Courtney has braised beef served over polenta and greens.  Everything was excellent.  For dessert we ordered 5 different desserts and passed them around.  Lemon cornmeal cake with lemon ice cream, chocolate mousse cake, panna cotta, tiramisu, and the gelato sampler which was chocolate, vanilla and cherry.  My pick for the winner was the lemon cornmeal cake – which I just found a promising recipe that I will try – but everything was great.

We talked my parents into going across the street after dinner to the irish bar and have a Guinness to wash down all the good eats.  It was a fun night and great to celebrate with everybody.  (sorry no pictures)

EatOnEdgecliff rating: A