Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Pod brewers: Shopping for coffee perfection

For those obsessing on what to give (or get) the coffee perfectionist, the WSJ has a list, video, and interactive graphics:
Making a Better Cup at Home
More U.S. Homes Adopt Single-Cup Machines as Coffee Culture Goes Self-Serve

My mom makes her expresso in a traditional stove-top brewer that is decades old. Amazon has one for $20.56. The 3-cup size leaves you the option of having more than one cup, or boiling some milk for a nice cafe au lait.

And remember, if you buy through the above links, I make a small commission at no cost to you, which is a nice way of supporting this blog.

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How to roast

Yes, Romney lost. Life goes on, and one must eat. Continuing the Le Creuset how-to series, Michael Ruhlman shows us how to roast:


You can buy the roasting pan from Amazon, with free delivery on time for Thanksgiving.

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How to bake bread

Needing to be on a low-carb diet, I don’t bake, but many of my readers do. Le Creuset is starting a series of how-to videos with sales pitch (h/t Al Dente via Mr. Bingley) taught by cute guy Michael Ruhlman, starting with bread baking:

Very simple.

Blogging about the world’s troubles shall resume later.

UPDATE,
Well, what do you know! Amazon carries them,

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Julia Child makes boeuf bourguignon


It’s been a very hard week, even when I had a wonderful birthday, so the other day, after a friend mentioned the movie, I took some time to watch Julie & Julia, which I missed when it first came out.

Yes, it’s a chick flick.

I must have been the only blogger on earth to not know that Julie Powell blogged her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking , an endeavor that brought her fame and movie rights. This is yet another thing (like coming up with Ninja Turtles action figures named after Renaissance artists) I wish I had thought of first; would blogging my way through Cocina Criolla bring me movie rights? And, if so, would J-Lo want to star in it?

But I digress.

The movie is two stories in one, Ms Powell’s, and Mrs. Child.

What a revelation it was.

While I have been known to do Julia Child’s “Bon appetit!” falsetto at times (two glasses of Malbec help), watched her on TV, and bought The Book (no way I’d cook all 524 recipes, thank you) I knew very little about Julia Child. It turns out Julia was a very strong woman who worked for the [warning: annoying audio starts when you click on the next link] Office of Strategic Services – the movie doesn’t dwell into that – during war, traveled the world, married a great guy and had a fabulous marriage, and persevered in bringing about a literary (and culinary) masterpiece.

Best of all, Julia was resilient, fun, and terrific.

Compared to larger-than-life Julia, poor Julie comes across as self-absorbed and whiney. Paul Child is interesting, strong, and supportive; Julie’s husband pales by comparison. The movie also takes a few jabs at Republicans, a distraction that has nothing to do with anything other than perhaps Paul Child‘s career in the Cold War years.

In all, you wish the movie had more Julia and Paul.

Purists will also notice that the movie’s boef bourguignons (there are at least three) have lots of carrots and celery cooking in the stew, while the recipe in The Book (volume 1, page 316) only has 1 sliced carrot. Julia’s TV recipe in the first show of The Frech Chef omitted the carrot altogether,

“Bon appetit!”

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