Today's Wall Street Journal has a sad little piece by JoAnn Anderson about the supposed death of the romantic comedy, which is basically Miss Edith's favorite film genre. Miss Edith will sit through fairly abysmal romantic comedies because, in her experience, even terrible ones will have some single scene that strikes a chord, or has some particular sweetness to it, or has some other redeeming quality. So Miss Edith read this article with considerable interest, and found herself disagreeing with it more strongly than even you would expect.
The article posits that the genre has basically died because of the sexual revolution and because folks just aren't as witty as they used to be. I don't agree with this at all. I think the genre has been altered by the sexual revolution, and that it's certainly harder to find a genuinely well-written romantic comedy, but that the genre is far from dead.
The article cites "Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've Got Mail" as being among the best examples of the genre in recent decades. This made me want to tear my hair out. I like "You've Got Mail" in spite of myself -- this is a subject for another day, I'm afraid -- but I have always thought "Sleepless in Seattle" was beyond overrated. The idea that these Nora Ephron projects, which are both essentially remakes of earlier movies, are truly the best of the genre in recent years, could only be put forth by people who really haven't been looking. They've been looking for romantic comedies in all the wrong places, my friends, and overlooking movies that, okay, maybe didn't do well at the box office, but which I really believe have legs, or gams if you will.
Please, people, have a gander at these movies. They're all of relatively recent vintage and maybe you can't stand Hugh Grant or whatever, that's fine... but don't forget that these movies are little gems that I really believe can stand on their own two feet. Four feet. (It takes at least two people to make a good romantic comedy.) Whatever.
I present this list in no particular order, and will probably add to it as I remember worthy contenders...
Intolerable Cruelty (George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones, a Coen Bros. production)
Music & Lyrics (Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore -- thought this would suck but you know, it's really grown on me)
Four Weddings and a Funeral (how this didn't get mentioned by JoAnn Anderson is beyond me)
Bridget Jones' Diary (Renee Zellweger, who I generally loathe, and Hugh Grant, and Colin Firth -- and yes, I even enjoy the sequel very, very much)
Moonstruck (for Christ's sake: neither Cher or Nicolas Cage have ever done anything else in their film careers to hold a candle to this perfect movie)
Flirting with Disaster (an early Ben Stiller movie, with Patricia Arquette, Lily Tomlin, Alan Alda, George Segal, Tea Leoni, and Mary Tyler Moore)
While You Were Sleeping (an early Sandra Bullock vehicle, completely charming, with Peter Gallagher and Bill Pullman and some great character acting)
I've got a madcap life to lead, right now. If anyone else would like to contribute to the list, feel free.
Incidentally: it's not that I think the list of movies they showed at the Ethics and Public Policy Center -- which was the inspiration for Anderson's article -- is a bad list of movies; not at all. I just think people aren't giving credit where credit is due.
Friday, August 01, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
By Request: Biscuits
Hello, readers. Reader. You know who you are.
I am, to be honest, a little surprised that I've been asked to provide a recipe for biscuits, but what the hell; maybe you know you don't like the one you've got in that big fat cookbook collecting dust on the shelf. Or maybe you just don't own a cookbook. Maybe you know you could look it up online, but are worried that the recipe wouldn't be up to Miss Edith's exacting standards.
Have no fear.
Now, this biscuit recipe is posted to go with the previously posted Tomato Pie recipe, which is from Laurie Colwin's More Home Cooking. In that essay, she actually gives a biscuit recipe, but I'm going to admit something sad: there's another recipe I prefer. And so that is what I will share with you.
The following is from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, which is really the best basic cookbook from the last twenty years at least -- The New Joy of Cooking is also excellent, but I count that as being in a different category, really. JoC is required. Bittman isn't required, but it would be a really, really, really good investment, and I cannot recommend a cookbook more, with this one caveat, which is that the desserts never seem to work out for me. But every other chapter is BRILLIANT.
Anyhow: biscuits.
2 cups all purpose or cake flour, plus more as needed
1 scant tsp. salt
3 tsps. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2-5 tbs. cold sweet butter
7/8 cup plain yogurt or buttermilk
Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl or food processor. Cut the butter into bits and either pulse it in the processor or, if working by hand, cut it into the dry ingredients. You can do this by using two table knives, cutting the butter into tiny pieces and coating them with flour, acting as if you're somehow scimitaring the stuff, or you can use a pastry knife thingy, which is fine but a pain to use, or you can do it by hand, which is easiest and probably fastest, but you have to watch out that your hands' warmth doesn't just melt the butter. What you want is for the butter to lightly coat the dry ingredients -- you want a final product that looks like very coarse bread crumbs, say. The fat is what's gonna make for flakiness here, so the slightly uneven distribution of butter is key -- if you wanted uniform distribution, you'd melt the butter, and then mix, but just don't do it, ok?
Thank you.
Now: with a large spoon mix in your yogurt or buttermilk and stir until you've got a ball of dough. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead ten times. You may add a little flour if the dough seems unbearably sticky but don't let it get too dry.
For tomato pie, divide into two parts -- I generally have the bottom layer slightly thicker than the top layer, so halving the dough wouldn't be quite my routine -- and then continue on with your tomato pie recipe.
For biscuits, cut into shapes as your heart desires. Bake at least 7 minutes in a hot oven (450 deg.) for a pale biscuit; longer baking time will make for a darker crust.
These are excellent Sunday morning biscuits, by the way. And you can do things to them to make them snazzy for parties or something -- put in some cheese, or herbs, or little bits of pimento, or whatever floats your boat. Tasty.
I am, to be honest, a little surprised that I've been asked to provide a recipe for biscuits, but what the hell; maybe you know you don't like the one you've got in that big fat cookbook collecting dust on the shelf. Or maybe you just don't own a cookbook. Maybe you know you could look it up online, but are worried that the recipe wouldn't be up to Miss Edith's exacting standards.
Have no fear.
Now, this biscuit recipe is posted to go with the previously posted Tomato Pie recipe, which is from Laurie Colwin's More Home Cooking. In that essay, she actually gives a biscuit recipe, but I'm going to admit something sad: there's another recipe I prefer. And so that is what I will share with you.
The following is from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, which is really the best basic cookbook from the last twenty years at least -- The New Joy of Cooking is also excellent, but I count that as being in a different category, really. JoC is required. Bittman isn't required, but it would be a really, really, really good investment, and I cannot recommend a cookbook more, with this one caveat, which is that the desserts never seem to work out for me. But every other chapter is BRILLIANT.
Anyhow: biscuits.
2 cups all purpose or cake flour, plus more as needed
1 scant tsp. salt
3 tsps. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2-5 tbs. cold sweet butter
7/8 cup plain yogurt or buttermilk
Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl or food processor. Cut the butter into bits and either pulse it in the processor or, if working by hand, cut it into the dry ingredients. You can do this by using two table knives, cutting the butter into tiny pieces and coating them with flour, acting as if you're somehow scimitaring the stuff, or you can use a pastry knife thingy, which is fine but a pain to use, or you can do it by hand, which is easiest and probably fastest, but you have to watch out that your hands' warmth doesn't just melt the butter. What you want is for the butter to lightly coat the dry ingredients -- you want a final product that looks like very coarse bread crumbs, say. The fat is what's gonna make for flakiness here, so the slightly uneven distribution of butter is key -- if you wanted uniform distribution, you'd melt the butter, and then mix, but just don't do it, ok?
Thank you.
Now: with a large spoon mix in your yogurt or buttermilk and stir until you've got a ball of dough. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead ten times. You may add a little flour if the dough seems unbearably sticky but don't let it get too dry.
For tomato pie, divide into two parts -- I generally have the bottom layer slightly thicker than the top layer, so halving the dough wouldn't be quite my routine -- and then continue on with your tomato pie recipe.
For biscuits, cut into shapes as your heart desires. Bake at least 7 minutes in a hot oven (450 deg.) for a pale biscuit; longer baking time will make for a darker crust.
These are excellent Sunday morning biscuits, by the way. And you can do things to them to make them snazzy for parties or something -- put in some cheese, or herbs, or little bits of pimento, or whatever floats your boat. Tasty.
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