Smoking Bishop

Smoking Bishop
I discovered Smoking Bishop via Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. At the very end, a reformed Scrooge tells Bob Cratchit:

“A merry Christmas, Bob!” said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. “A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you, for many a year! I’ll raise your salary, and endeavour to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob! Make up the fires, and buy another coal-scuttle before you dot another i, Bob Cratchit!”

Ingredients

• Six Seville oranges (a bitter-sweet orange available in Europe, often used for orange liqueurs like Cointreau) or four or five oranges (navel oranges work well) and one large grapefruit
• Whole cloves
• 1/4 pound of sugar
• One bottle of robust red wine
• One bottle of port
• Friends to share the Smoking Bishop with you.

Procedure

1. Bake the oranges in a moderate oven (350 F / 176 C or so) until much of the orange skin turns pale brown.
2. You don’t want the fruit to be cooked; you merely want to encourage the oil to emerge since it will add flavor and aroma to the Smoking Bishop. 
3. Turn the fruit at least once.When you can smell the oranges, or see or feel the orange oil on the rind of the fruit, they're probably browned enough. You don't want to smell something vaguely like burned toast.
4. Remove the oranges from the oven, and let them cool for a few minutes. Insert five or six whole cloves in the peel of each orange. 
5. Place the oranges in a warmed glass or porcelain baking dish, with a quarter pound of sugar, and a 750 ml. bottle of a robust red wine. (We are using a Spanish La Granja 360 Tempranillo Garnacha Cariñena blend from Trader Joe’s, but Gallo Hearty Burgundy or a similar basic hearty red would work quite well.)
6. Cover the dish, and leave it in a warm place for 24 hours. 
7. You might check it every few hours and stir the sugar gently to encourage it to dissolve.
8. Remove the fruit from the mixture, cut the citrus in half or quarters and squeeze them to remove the juice, adding it to the sugar and wine.
9. Pour the mixture into a saucepan (or crock pot) using a sieve and add a 750 ml bottle of port.
10. Heat the mixture gently, without allowing it to boil, and serve in warmed glasses or mugs.

Chicken Salad

This recipe by Elise Bauer for chicken salad came from Simply Recipes. I’ve made some minor changes. I’ve modified the recipe to suit my mom’s dietary requirements and preferences.

The aspect of this recipe that makes a huge difference is poaching the chicken. I used to roast my chicken for chicken salad, or pick the meat off a roasted chicken. Poaching makes the chicken really tender and moist.

And save the poaching liquid; it makes a great base for broth/stock, or it’s lovely for cooking rice.

Ingredients:

For the salad:
1 pound boneless, skinless (raw) chicken breasts or chicken tenders, cut into chunks
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 medium red onion or “sweet onion” chopped red onion
1 whole apple, cored and chopped (Think Granny Smith or Pippin)
Chopped walnuts (1/3 to 1/2 cup, depending on your preferences)

Notes:

• The original recipe calls for 4 to 6 green olives, pitted and minced; I leave the olives out because my mom is not a fan. She is a fan of nuts, so I added walnuts. 
• The original recipe calls for adding shredded lettuce to the salad; lettuce is not something mom can have much of, so I leave it out.

For the dressing:

5 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Lemon curd
2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Notes:

• The original recipe calls for plum preserves, or any sweet berry preserve or a lesser amount of honey. I don't have any; I do have some intensely lemony lemon curd, that was not as sweet as most. 

Process:

1. Poach the chicken: Put 2 quarts of salted water in a pot, and bring it to a boil. 
2. Add the cut chicken breast to the water, and return the water to a simmer. 
3. Cover the pot and turn off the heat
4. Let the chicken sit for 15 minutes at least while you prepare everything else. This is important. Salmonella is a bad thing.
5. While you wait for the chicken to finish cooking, mix the mayonnaise, lemon curd, and lemon juice together in a small bowl. Check the flavor; add salt and pepper, and additional lemon curd and/or lemon juice to taste. 
6. In a large bowl, mix the chopped celery, bell pepper, olives, red onion, and apple.
7. Add the dressing to the chopped vegetables. 
8. After at least 15 minutes, remove the chicken from the poaching water and dice it into smaller pieces as needed. 
9. Add the chicken to the dressing and vegetables, and mix, coating everything evenly. 
10. Refrigerate until ready to serve. 

A. H. Bullen on Thomas Middleton

One of Middleton's early editors, A. H. Bullen, wrote:

I have read at various times much indifferent verse and much execrable verse, but I can conscientiously say that The Wisdom of Solomon Paraphrased is the most damnable piece of flatness that has ever fallen in my way.

Cited in: Wells, Stanley. Shakespeare and Co.: Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Dekker, Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton, John Fletcher and the Other Players in His Story.

David Bowie on art

All art is unstable. There is no authoritative voice. There are only multiple readings.

— David Bowie via The Guardian.

Easy Peach Cobbler

Southern Living

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter 

1 cup all-purpose flour 

2 cups sugar, divided into 1 cup portions

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon baking powder 

Pinch of salt 

4 cups fresh peach slices 

1 tablespoon lemon juice 

Ground cinnamon or nutmeg (optional) 

Preparation

1. Melt butter in a 13- x 9-inch baking dish or casserole.
2. Combine flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt; add milk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter over butter (do not stir).
3. Bring remaining 1 cup sugar, peach slices, and lemon juice to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly; pour over batter (do not stir). Sprinkle with cinnamon, if desired.
4. Bake at 375° for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. Serve cobbler warm or cool.

Notes

• You can use frozen peaches, or canned, or cherries or blueberries or blackberries or raspberries, or a mixture. Consider draining some of the syrup off and adjusting the sugar for canned fruit. 
• You absolutely do not need 1 cup of sugar in the fruit mixture. Adjust the sugar after tasting the fruit, especially if you're using canned or sugar-packed frozen fruit. You want to taste the fruit, but you also want to have a fruit juice and sugar syrup that thickens (and you can cheat by adding a little flour or corn starch and using less sugar). 
• With some judicious pouring and butter distribution, you can use smaller individual cobbler dishes. 
• Serve with ice cream on warm cobbler, or even heavy cream. 

Two Questions to Ask When Decluttering

From Joshua Becker’s Becoming Minimalist To Declutter Any Room, Ask These Two Questions

Those two questions: “Do I need it?” and “Why do I have it?” form the basis for your best decluttering efforts going forward. They will prove to be enlightening and will open up new ideas about what items to keep and what items to remove.

Rachel Maddow on Coming Out

The single best thing about coming out of the closet is that nobody can insult you by telling you what you've just told them. —Rachel Maddow