Bookshelf Bliss - Brought to me by IKEA

I remember my sister looking at me like I was crazy when I picked her up from the airport in Minneapolis and suggested our first stop be IKEA. That was in May of 2005 when I graduated from college. She had an earlier flight than other relatives...and we had some time to kill...and its right there by the airport...and, though I didn't know it at the time, I am obsessed with this place.

Sidebar: How do I know when I am obsessed with something? I stalk it ...frequently... on Google News.

Being a moderately budgeted mid-middle class American, I have a deep appreciation for the low prices. As someone who completely lacks creativity, I love that whole rooms and apartments are on display - and you can buy pretty much everything you see. Even the books on the shelves in the showrooms are for sale. Craziness. Self-assembly is no biggie. To my credit are 3 bookcases, a dresser, and a couch. But, as with anything, IKEA is not without its critics.

 Thanks for ruining it for us Tyler Durden

Needless to say, I was thrilled when I heard there would be a store opening in Colorado. Especially because I have been in need of a new bookcase. I purchased 2 back in 2007 when we first moved to Chicago. I got it as a corner unit, with the intention to eventually buy a third to complete the set.

Circa August 2007

Noah and I ventured to the new store 2 days after it opened. I figured Friday night would be slightly better than Saturday. It was the most organized chaos I have ever witnessed; there were cops and volunteers directing traffic and everyone in the store meandered politely through what turned out to be one heck of a maze. Similar to when we bought our couch, the bookshelf we wanted was in the first showroom at the top of the escalator, right when you first enter. This just meant that we spent the rest of the time eyeballing all the other things we'll be saving for in the future: a new bed (they make their own memory foam mattress), pillows and bed linens, dishes, desks, and so on. The only downside: I think they have discontinued our sofa set. And I was really looking forward to adding to our current sofa when we move to a bigger place. Sadness.  Anyway, the bookcase was assembled by Saturday morning and, thanks to the magic of my book catalog spreadsheet, my books went from being strewn about to being neatly organized (first by genre, then by author, then by publication date). Nerd.

Circa August 2011

This picture, snapped on my iPhone, doesn't really do it justice. Now, when you sit at my desk in the office, you feel almost like you are being hugged by books.  Noah might want to replace "hugged" with "suffocated," but we probably won't have to share an office forever (I hope.). Thanks mostly to an awesome haul from my grandmother-in-law's book collection, I have about 50 new additions to the shelf. When you add together everything I have accumulated in the last 4 years it comes to about 150 books.  This begs the question, when will it stop? Shouldn't I be supporting my local library? When will paper books no longer be published, forcing me into a tablet device? In my lifetime? I hope not.

An Ironical Coincidence

Cherry Hand Pies

If you have had your eyes open in the produce section of the grocery store these days, you can't help but notice how beautiful and plentiful the cherries are during these dog days of summer. I recently subscribed to Bon Appetit after my subscription ended with Food and Wine. I wasn't really disappointed with F&W, but I wanted to change things up. I was flipping through my first copy during a pedicure and decided that these cherry hand pies would be perfect to bring to my family's picnic at Civic Center Park on the 4th of July. The Colorado Symphony was playing its patriotic tunes while the city and county building was lit up and fireworks were set off. What caught my eye about this recipe? I liked its easy, hand-held nature and I really liked that it used store-bought puff pastry. Sadly, I did not use this as an excuse to buy a cherry pitter. That gadget will have to wait.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 cups fresh cherries, stemmed and pitted, or about 12 ounces frozen pitted cherries, unthawed
• 2/3 cup dried cherries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 14-ounce package all-butter puff pastry, thawed in refrigerator
• Flour (for dusting)
• 1 large egg white
• 1 1/2 teaspoons raw sugar

Preparation (my comments in italics):

•  Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Stir cornstarch and 1 1/2 tablespoons cold water in a small bowl to blend. Combine fresh cherries (cut in half and pitted - a messy job!) and next 4 ingredients in a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until cherry juices are released, about 5 minutes. Add cornstarch mixture; bring to a boil, stirring often. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
• Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface to an 18x15" rectangle. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut dough into nine 6x5" rectangles. Whisk egg white and 1 tablespoon water in another small bowl for egg wash. 
• Working with 1 pastry rectangle at a time, place on a work surface and brush edges with egg wash (this is where I started to curse and throw forks). Scoop 3 tablespoons cherry mixture onto one side; fold dough over filling so that short ends meet, forming a 5x3" packet. Crimp edges with a fork to seal. Using a sharp knife, cut a few slits in top of pie to vent. Place on prepared baking sheet; repeat with remaining dough and filling. No matter what you do, cherry goo will leak out of some unforeseeable crack. 
• Brush tops with egg wash, then sprinkle with raw sugar. Chill for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375°. Bake pastries until tops and bottoms are golden brown, 30-40 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes on baking sheet. Transfer to wire racks; let cool completely. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Let stand at room temperature.

What went wrong:
Admittedly, my Achilles heel in the kitchen is the creation and manipulation of yeast doughs and pastries. What should have been pull-apart sheets of refrigerated puff pastry actually turned out to be a warmer, softer blob of dough. I think this is a result of defrosting on my kitchen counter too long. Eventually I rolled out 9 relatively symmetrical rectangles.

Then the egg wash screwed me. I brushed the egg wash on the edges before attempting to "seal" them and I thought to myself, "I have seen this done a thousand times before on Food Network." But instead of making a better seal, it made the edges of the pastry slippery and harder to contain the cherry filling. I gave up after trying it on 2. I did have success achieving the lovely golden brown color by brushing egg wash over the top of the pastries when all was said and done. Even the ones that I thought were sealed better still leaked cherry goo during baking. Perhaps this is unavoidable. Perhaps my biggest disclaimer would be: this recipe not suitable for those with OCD.

I may have under-baked them, but my family seemed to have no complaints.

What went right:
The filling was absolutely delicious. I was very proud of myself and I liked the combination in texture between the fresh cherries and the re-constituted dried cherries. I suppose canned cherry filling would do in a pinch, but instead of an unnatural red color, I had a beautiful deep red/purple. Pitting that many cherries is no picnic, but I improvised a tiny scoop with the tip of my vegetable peeler. I feared that cherry juice would be hard to get off of my counter tops, but it turned out to be less difficult than removing red velvet cake batter stains.

Overall, I would say that I need to improve my pastry and bread making skills in general. With that taken care of, I could see a lot of great uses for this recipe with other plentiful summer fruits.

4/5 whisks from me.

HP 7.2

I will be brief and relatively spoiler-free about the final chapter of the Harry Potter films. I saw the movie in IMAX 3D with several friends on opening day (7/15/11). Even though a new pair of contacts has seemed to remedy my consta-cry through 3D films, I still contest that 3D just doesn't do it for me. I think it is more trouble than the semi-cool effects are worth and I hate that I have to wear someone else's recycled glasses.  I believe I will attempt to see it again in 2D and bring Noah along this time. He hasn't seen a single one in theaters and this will be his last opportunity. I also want to revisit it myself because I know I was distracted by the violent urge to pee about 1/4 of the way in. That all being said, this film was fantastic!

I remembered enough from my two readings of the book to know that most of the action was going to take place in 7.2. The Gringotts break-in and the battle of Hogwarts did not disappoint. Our audience applauded only once, aside from at the end, and that was when Mrs. Weasley called Bellatrix Lestrange a bitch before ending her. So very awesome. Am I spoiling? Sorry.

Similar to when I read the book, I cringed at the ending when we flash forward 19 years. Daniel Radcliffe with 5 o'clock shadow? Rupert Grint with a bit of a beer belly? These things were awkward for me. Better than casting a different actor? Probably; but still very uncomfortable. I think in both literature and film I would have been satisfied with "happily ever after."

5/5 Whisks - an easy win because all they had to do was not murder the ending to an already epic story.

"Remember Me" - The title should have said it all.

I am probably not doing myself justice to begin a new blog by critiquing such an underrated film. To be completely honest, I bumped this film up on my Netflix queue due to the surfacing of my long withheld crush on Robert Pattinson and the Twilight Saga.  I have friends who can vouch for how long I managed to avoid reading the Twilight books and seeing the films. But I digress. I wanted to see Pattinson in another role and my curiosity got the better of me.

I somehow had an inkling that the story told would be a sad one. What I didn't expect was for it to be book-ended by tragedy, loss, and a feeling of futility.  This being the case, Pattinson didn't get to really escape his brooding, angsty, late-teens/early twenties pigeon hole.  I am able to overlook this, much like I have in Twilight (because eye candy is still delicious on mute), and I found myself more engrossed by the story being told.  The more predictable part of the story was the relationship between Tyler and Ally (Pattinson and de Ravin).  Damaged goods attracted to damaged goods. No brainer.

What was engrossing was Tyler's devotion to his younger sister, Caroline (played by Ruby Jerins). She ran away with my attention in this film and I was captivated by her strength and naivete. Their chemistry as siblings was very touching - as was his defense of her when she is neglected by their father (Pierce Brosnan).

********SPOLIER ALERT********
I have honestly not sat with a gaping mouth over a surprise ending since The Sixth Sense. I could have been paying more attention to the specific time and location, all of which were disclosed. If I had, I would have perhaps been more prepared to expect what would happen to these characters on September 11, 2001. The greatest criticism I have read was how "disrespectful" this fictional tale is to the thousands of real life stories could have been told.  I disagree with this wholeheartedly for several reasons. First, other, true stories have been told in other films and other venues. Say that this had been a true story.  Then someone just would have claimed that there was a more deserving story that should have been told instead. Second, this film was not about 9/11.  The point of this film was to encourage us all to stand firm for what we believe in and be the living embodiment of our beliefs every day. Carpe diem and all that shit, you know? To circle back to my first point, I think the fact that Tyler's fictional life was ended on 9/11 only helps to solidify my feelings of true loss on that historic day.

I give this 4/5 whisks. One for taking me by surprise. One for making me cry. One for Pattinson. One for the bold statement.