fajita platter

not only has it been a while since I posted, I've also gotten back on the book reviewing bandwagon. and that means lots of clickable reviews for you! as I teased you about last time, there are now reviews up for Ian McDonald's Brasyl, Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, and Paul Park's The Tourmaline. Go read, and then hit the library or your favorite bookstore. tell 'em skiffy sent you. when the clerk gives you that "what??" look, quickly snap a photo with your handy dandy camera phone, and e-mail me the picture.

The clickfest continues. . . elsewhere in the book world, I've had a few run ins with Reading under the influence, and I've decided Gary Wassner's GemQuest would make an excellent anime series.

new book aquisitions include Food and Wine Magazine's cookbook of the year 2005, and a fun cute read called Garlic and Sapphires, by Ruth Reichl, a reknowned food critic that I've never heard of. the book is funny, but I bought it for the 4 star restaurant cheat recipes. That cookbook will keep me happy for a long time, not to mention it's got gorgeous photos.

Library aquisitions include Peter Watt's Blindsight, which i kept hearing a lot about online. I'm about 70 pages in, and the hallucinations have begun to subside. it feels little like Charles Stross, a little like the movie Event Horizon, and just maybe a little like Sagan's Contact. The freakishly semi-lobotimized and self-mutilated crew is chatting with aliens, who know the word cocksucker. I'd love to know where aliens with a 200 word vocabulary learned that word. I'm pretty sure I read Watt's Starfish a few years ago, and didn't care for it at all. But this Blindsight things is f'ing addictive. Also in the library bag are Paul Park's The White Tyger, (no surprise there), and something called City of Oranges: An Intimate History of Arabs and Jews in Jaffa, by Adam LeBor, which starts in the 1920s and follows families, via interviews, to their present day situations. I do not know yet, if this will be good or not.

I could have sworn I heard someone say Fajitas. oh wait, that was me. This is obscenely easy, and tastes almost like you're at Don Pablos.

Cilantro Lime Fajita marinade for approximately one pound of chicken or steak
2 limes
2 scallions, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp minced fresh cilantro
2 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 to 1 tsp dried red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp coriander

I highly suggest using fresh cilantro instead of dried. it's one of those herbs where it really does make a difference.

cut your meat into 1/2 inch wide strips, and lay in a dish that will hold it all in a single layer. if you want, add some sliced sweet peppers and onions. roll the limes around on the table a few times (it helps loosen up the juice). cut them in half and squeeze the juice into a bowl. mix in all the other incredients. pour the marinade over the meat, and leave in the fridge for a few hours. when ready to cook, remove meat and grill or broil till cooked to your liking. sautee the peppers and onions in as little liquid as possible in a frying pan on the stove. serve with tortillas, shredded cheese, and salsa.

sharp salsa (pico de gallo)
half a small onion, diced, or a bunch green onions, diced.
3 medium to large tomatos, seeded and chopped
juice of 1 lime
1/3 cup fresh chopped cilantro
1/4 tsp dried red pepper flakes, or 2 hot peppers with seeds, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
good pinch salt.

blend all ingredients, serve immediately.

ok readers, you got books, you got food. what are you still sitting here for?

it's too hot to think.

it's too hot to think. it must be too hot to buy books, as well. Or maybe I just don't want to sit in the stuff car for the 15 minutes it takes to get to Barnes & Schnoble?

I managed to go 2 weeks without buying books! aren't you proud of me?? but i did hit the library. got my grubby little hands on Ian McDonald's Brasyl, and Paul Park's The Tourmaline (book 2 in his Roumania series), some Manga, and a Japanese cookbook filled with ingredients I've never heard of. I'm nearly done with Brasyl. It's good. it's really freakin good. but it's really hard to read. Props to McDonald for setting an quantum computational epic in Sau Paulo. Good for him for sprinkling the novel with all flavorings of Brazilian slang and culture. too bad only about a quarter of the Portuguese words are in the glossary in the back. Too bad even more that I don't speak a lick of Portuguese, or know jack about South American indigenous peoples and their religious pantheons. So the books is rather hard to follow. But I must be enjoying it, since I'm 50 pages from the end and can't put the stupid thing down. Stay tuned for a full length review. Same with Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, I owe both of these books at least 600 words a peice. maybe more.

I'm still working through Pandora's Closet, and it's quite enjoyable. Not every story is a gem, but it's very nice that each story is short, so I can read one each night before I go to bed, even if I go to bed really late.

Should have some thoughts next time on the Paul Park book, as I haven't even cracked it yet. But i remember the first book in the series A Princess of Roumania being light, fun, and surface. and easy read. I could really use something like that right now.

it is too frackin' hot to cook. but i do it anyways. this side dish is easy, quick, cheap, and yummy hot or cold.

Potatoes & Mushroom

12oz fresh mushrooms (any kind you liked)
1.5 lbs potatoes
4 garlic cloves, minced
leaves from a bunch of parsley or basil
salt & pepper
more parsley or basil, to garnish
shredded cheese (optional)

pre heat oven to 350. slice potatoes & mushrooms. in a large bowl, toss mushrooms and potatoes with herbs, garlic, salt and pepper (to taste). grease a large baking dish that will hold everything in a shallow layer. pour everything in the baking dish and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until potatoes are just nearly cooked. stir it up once or twice while it's baking (this is not a caserole type dish). sprinkle a thin layer of cheese on top, and bake another five minutes. let cool a few minutes, garnish with herbs, and enjoy!

and it's even easier to make than it looks.