Alright. The dishes are washed, but I want to stay up later. K. came over for dinner and a movie tonight. We watched
Adam's Apples, a slightly twisted Danish black comedy. The menu included:
- red curry sweet potato soup
- sautéed greens (a mixture of mustard, spinach, collard greens, and turnip greens)
- crostini with a selection of cheeses (feta, grana padana, herbed Happy Cow), roasted garlic, marinated artichoke hearts, and black olives
Red Curry Sweet Potato Soup (from
Real Simple)
Ingredients* 1 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes, rinsed (about 3 large potatoes)
* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 onion, roughly chopped
* 4 tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
* 1 tablespoon red curry paste (found in the international section of markets)
* 1 (15 ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk
* 3 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
* 3 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
* 1/2 cup fresh cilantro stem
Directions1. Preheat oven to 400°F Put the sweet potatoes on an oven rack and bake for 50 minutes or until tender. Remove from oven and let cool. Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Sauté the onion and ginger until the onion softens, about 5 minutes. Stir in the curry paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the coconut milk and broth and gently bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, partially cover, and cook for 5 minutes. Skin the potatoes and cut into 1-inch chunks. Add the potatoes to the soup and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice and salt. Ladle the soup into serving bowls. Drizzle the sesame oil evenly over the servings. Garnish with the cilantro.
A few notes: The Co-op lacked cilantro, so I omitted it. Had it been available, I would've gladly used it. Cilantro is a magically delicious herb. I used low-fat coconut milk, replaced red curry paste with garam masala, substituted fresh lime juice for lemon juice, and threw in a few handfuls of spinach ribbons (another recipe suggested it...so I claim no credit for that). Close enough, I say.
Wisconsin Film Festival
In mid-April, I attended four films at the Wisconsin Film Festival. Here's a little recap:
OSS117: Lost in Rio is a French satire of 1960s-era spy movies. It especially pokes fun at Sean Connery's tenure as James Bond. If you can get ahold of a copy, I'd highly recommend it.
Romania's
The Happiest Girl in the World was less entertaining. It centered on a teenage girl who wins a car in a contest put on by a juice manufacturer. She and her parents go to Bucharest to film the commercial for the juice company and to claim her prize. However, tensions arise because her parents want to sell the car to advance their lot in life and she just wants the independence and freedom afforded by a car. It's a lot of bickering and watching her shoot and re-shoot the commercial, but it was interesting to see a movie about the Romanian people as they navigate their rather new relationship with capitalism.
Mid-August Lunch from Italy was the charming story of a middle-aged Roman man and his mother who agree to care for his building administrator's elderly mother over the mid-August holiday (Ferragosto) in exchange for some of his overdue condo fees. When the administrator shows up, he brings his mother and an aunt. And then the local doctor asks if he can add his mother to mix while he works the late shift. It's endearing to watch the man try to keep up with these feisty ladies, often with the addition of a glass (or three) of wine.
In
Masquerades (Algerian), Mounir is just trying to make a life for himself and his family in a small Algerian town. In a drunken outburst, he announces to the whole town that he's found a stellar match for his sister, Rym. (She lives with them and has bouts of narcolepsy.) Rym is in love with Mounir's best friend, but he doesn't know it. The fake story about the wealthy match is exaggerated as it moves from person to person in the town, and soon gets out of control. It was a sweet little film.
