Wake Me Up, Before I Go Go (Seriously, I have to be at work early tomorrow. Someone wake me up).

[sisabet]

I went to bed. I had to get up because the vids were in here. EEP.

So I am the proud owner of a set of Vividcon discs. Preliminary findings indicate that it is fun to watch the Luminosity Vidding Dynasty set of vids (Art of Dying and Rockafella Skank) but then you find out your nephew still has your copy of Kill Bill and you are sad.

Also, if you have the discs - be sure not to miss dualbunny's vids "Olivia" and "Volcano Girls" (both on disc 2). Olivia is a vid set to the animated movie "The Last Unicorn" and is just lovely and heartbreaking and so very romantic and doomed. "Volcano Girls" (premiered at Club Vivid) is Buffy/Faith and not to be missed.

Dude, I have 2 dishes in the sink. No *wonder* I can't sleep. Sheesh.

Also - I made eggplant soup tonight under laurashapiro's careful instruction and it was tasty. drdawn is obviously reading my LJ as she showed up for the leftovers (I'll be out of town for the weekend and waste not want not. Frugality better end in me owning Farscape Season 1 is all I am saying).

Comments

[dualbunny.livejournal.com]

Dude, I was sitting here, forcing myself to refresh my f-list one more time before collapsing into bed, and I saw this and actually felt my cheeks heat up. So, it could be the sleep deprivation talking, but awww, you made me blush. :)

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Yay, the soup worked! Now I want to try it. I made my own "cream of leftovers version 3.0" last night. Lamb and carrots and parsnips and mushroom stock and some leftover barley. Oh! and fennel. Why was it so good?

I totally agree about you owning Farscape. You deserve it. We deserve the vids. (:

[renenet.livejournal.com]

Why was it so good?

It was the fennel.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Maybe so. I think of fennel as something you serve with pork or fish, though. I was afraid it'd be weird with the lamb, but it really wasn't.

[renenet.livejournal.com]

I said that because all I know about fennel is that it has strange and magical properties (some of them dark and nefarious) and that it tastes delicious in unlikely places. I learned this from heres_luck, of course. It's entirely her fault that I have no rational way of relating to fenel; all is mystical and, frequently, ominous. But powerful. You put it in the "pork or fish" box at your peril.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Now I am afraid of a vegetable.

::cowers in corner::

::pokes fennel with a stick::

[renenet.livejournal.com]

Do not taunt happy fun demon mutant the fennel.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Hee!

[heresluck]

Careful -- it might poke back. *g*

I note in passing that fennel is excellent on pizza.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

I'm still not up to making my own pizza. Maybe P. could get excited about it -- he's the baker in the household. Meanwhile, I spend too much time thinking about what else to do with fennel. So far, I've come up with:

-- rolling it into a pork tenderloin (works in theory; in practice it was an abject failure)

-- julienning it along with onions, carrots, and peppers and putting it into a foil packet with lemon and herbs to bake with fish (excellent)

-- sautéing it in a pan with olive oil and a smidge of white wine alongside slow-cooking pork chops (very good)

-- poaching it with celery in white wine, butter, and herbs as a side dish (gimme gimme gimme)

Other good combinations?

[heresluck]

I haven't done fennel with pork -- that sounds great.

Fennel's really good with fontina cheese; I like to quarter the bulbs, parboil them, and then bake them with a little fontina grated on top. That's my Dinner Party Fennel, which I usually serve with parmesan-breaded chicken and stuffed baked tomatoes.

It's also really good sauteed in olive oil and then tossed with penne, chopped fresh tomatoes, and olives. I don't think it's great with cooked tomatoes or in sauce, but raw fresh tomatoes seem to work.

Also good with leeks. Mmm, leeks.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Oooh, the baked-with-fontina recipe sounds outstanding! Definitely gonna try that. I like the idea of the pasta recipe, too; I'm always looking for new things to do with pasta.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Hey - when I make something with leeks (maybe next week!) what part do I chop up to use? Like if the recipe says "1 cup chopped leeks" does it mean just the white part or the white and green part?

And is it fennel that tastes like licorice?

And I am making soup tonight with sweet potatoes, red peppers, onions, garlic, chopped up apple (because I am finding I like apple in everything and they were on sale) and chicken stock and I didn't have any white wine but I did have apple juice and vodka. So wish me luck!

[heresluck]

With leeks, you want to use the white part and the pale green part -- there's usually about an inch of pale green between the white and the dark green.

The dark green is really good for making vegetable stock; you throw it in a pot with the ends of the onions, the potato peelings, the apple core, ends of carrots, squash innards, etc., add about 6 cups of water, and cook for 20-30 minutes. Then put a colander over the pot where you have the soup vegetables and just strain it right in. Good times.

[heresluck]

Oh -- and yes, it's fennel that tastes like licorice. And your soup sounds good. I want to hear how it turns out!