The Susanne

Or should I say that time of the semester: it’s essay time! Four essays to be written and handed in within the next couple of weeks, the first one due tomorrow. And let me just say, that as fascinating and fun I find the play I’m supposed to write my essay on, Ben Johnson’s Volpone, the question is proportionally boring and uninspiring:

“The majority of the characters of Ben Jonson’s Volpone are devotedly self-seeking, and vary only in their methods and their degree of ruthlessness.” Discuss this statement.

Seriously, what’s there to discuss? Yes, they’re devotedly self-seeking! That’s one of the major themes of the d*** play!  And yes, they are all different and so they must inevitably vary in their methods, as well as their degree of ruthlessness! Ahh…I’m frustrated.

There is no relevant criticism to be found on the subject either, I’m guessing because it’s such an obvious theme that no one has bothered to write about it. Feel my frustration! Does anyone know this play? Anyone willing to rescue me from my current state of hopelessness by assisting me to another view on this subject and/or giving me some pointers on how to write this essay, will earn my eternal gratitude and possibly dinner if they live near enough.

Of course, all work and no play (well, one play, but you get my drift I’m sure) makes Susanne a very dull girl.. and hungry too! Luckily delicious, light meals can be put together in a jiffy if you’ve only got a few staples at hand: a little rocket, some cherry tomatoes and a few wafer thin slices of parmeggiano reggiano and you’re good to go! Well I am, anyway. Sadly, snack time and ranting time over, it’s now time to get back to work. Yey.

Last night as I was settling down with my books, ready for a night of hard core studying, a sudden surge of loneliness came over me. I felt desperately sad and pathetic, newly single and home alone on a Saturday night! Yesterday was also the one month anniversary of my break-up, which only made things sadder and more pathetic, in my mind at least. So when C called me, on her way home from Göteborg, I thought I’d never been so happy to hear another person’s voice. A few hours later I found myself on her sofa, glass of wine in hand, giggling and discussing where to go out. We ended up at a party with C’s friend M’s friends who are all civil engineers and it was the weirdest, funnest and funniest group of people I have met in a long time. Firstly, they all looked the same! Actually they all looked very different, but somehow they still managed to look identical. Quite the conundrum! Secondly, they were all dancing! All the time! Grown men (and a few women) dancing to Bob Sinclair and DJ Ötzi, taking up all floor space and a couple were even spotted dancing on chairs. Strange, you say? Unbelievable, you say? You don’t have to take my word for it: I took pictures!

The last couple of days I’ve been trying to get rid of some of the stuff that’s been accumulating in my fridge and pantry — it was at the point where I felt very guilty about buying any food because I already had so much, plus there was really no room for new food anyways. So I made two ‘throw everything in a pot’ meals which both turned out amazing! Yesterday it was a seafood-noodle stir fry which i made with kimchi flavoured ramen noodles and seafood from my freezer. The noodles were an impulse purchase, I actually had no idea what kimchi was but I had a vague feeling I’d heard about it somewhere before, most likely on Elyse Sewell’s LJ. My desire for learning ignited, I poked around a little on this wonderful thing that we call the Internet, and learned all about kimchi. Who knew fermented vegetables could taste so good? I used a little of the kimchi broth to make the stir-fry sauce, along with soy sauce, garlic, hot sauce and onions. Fried up the noodles with green beans, sugar snaps, some carrot and onion, and the seafood. Mmmm!

Today I made a sort of bulgur ‘risotto’, with julienned carrot and sliced onion, and an asian type glaze which I made from onion, garlic, loads of ginger and soy sauce, with just a little corn flour to thicken. It was so yum! And healthy too, if you don’t count the tons of salt in the soy sauce. And I’ve always been a bit extreme when it comes to my salt habits, so nothing new there…

Last night I found I couldn’t sleep (might it possibly have been because of my sleeping marathon the day and night before, I wonder?) and had this intense craving, not for eating anything, but for cooking! Everything, anything, whatever, I just wanted to cook. I get this weird feeling sometimes, and I’ve yet to realise how or why or where it comes from — all I know is what Lord Henry so famously says in Picture of Dorian Gray:

The only way to get rid of a temptation is
to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for
the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its
monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful.

So.. I decided to try and make Gordon Ramsay’s ‘Perfect Scones’ from his book Gordon Ramsay’s Secrets. I failed. Reading ‘a good pinch of fine sea salt’ as just that, a good pinch, my first attempt at Gordon’s scones were nowhere near perfect. I had to throw them out, and went back to bed feeling deeply disgruntled.

This morning, however, I awoke with renewed gusto. I made another batch and voila! Perfect scones! I’m very pleased with myself. They were light, airy, flavourful and delicious. And even though I didn’t have any sultanas in the house and I only had store-bought raspberry jam, not home made strawberry as Gordon recommended for his scones, I must say I’ve just had a very enjoyable breakfast. Scones, jam, English tea and Harry Potter audiobook. Perfect! I’m ready for a new day — of house cleaning, studying and maybe even some fårikål?

Today’s inspiration comes from Cooking with Amy who’s participating in the Hunger Challenge, in which you’re supposed to make up recipes for meals costing no more than US $1 per serving, living within the budget of those unfortunate enough to have to rely on food banks. She’s doing an amazing job, not one of her recipes so far has failed to make my mouth water! Today, she was happy to report that food chain Tyson Foods has joined the Hunger Challenge and is going to donate tonnes and tonnes of high-protein foods (such as chicken, meatballs and lunchmeat!) to food banks all over the San Fransisco Bay Area.

And not only that — You and I can help! All you have to do is post a comment here, and Tyson will donate another 100 pounds (that’s about 45,5 kg) of food! Go on, no excuses… Just do it!

…was yesterday! I’m gutted I missed it. I’d even been out and bought a kilo of mutton and a head of cabbage and was only going to take a quick little nap before I started cooking… And whaddya know, I woke up this morning at 8, feeling nowhere near rested and completely horrified that not only had I missed out on National Fårikål Day, I’d also missed the first episode of Hellstrøm Rydder Opp, the Norwegian version of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. I’d been looking forward to it for months now, swaying between excitement at the show and disgust at the old Norwegian man trying to ‘be’ Gordon Ramsay. In the end, though, nothing was to keep me from watching the show. Oh yea, except falling asleep! Or should I say going into hibernation. Or a coma. Not sure what to call it, but I’m very surprised that I actually managed to sleep that long. Almost twenty hours straight — I didn’t even wake up once, so when I finally awoke this morning I was fully dressed, on top of my bedspread and with only a woollen blanket protecting me from the frosty morning air. After getting up, somewhat gingerly, and chatting to my mate R on msn for a little while, I dragged my sorry beehind into the shower and came out fifteen minutes later feeling refreshed — and got started on my fårikål!

Now, just because I missed out on the actual day it does in no way mean I’m willing to miss out on fårikål. I just love fårikål, it’s so delicious in all its simplicity! Mutton, cabbage, salt and whole peppercorns, who knew that would make such a scrumptious combination? I know wikipedia claims you’re supposed to add flour to the dish to thicken the sauce, but I’ve never had it with flour and frankly I can’t imagine it tasting any better with flour in it. Actually I’m willing to take on anyone that claims fårikål is supposed to made with flour — I’ll fight till death!

Boiled potatoes, though, are a must. And a cold beer to go along with it. Luckily some people left behind the odd can of beer when they were unceremoniously kicked out of my party on Saturday night (after I passed out, I’m ashamed to admit) so I’ve got the beer thing sorted. For those who want to avoid alcohol a non-alcoholic beer would be good, or even just a glass of ice cold water!

I posted my own recipe for fårikål way back in June when there wasn’t a piece of mutton to be found anywhere. So I have had to wait until now — but good things come to those who wait and this is definitely a very good thing! I think I’ll make traditional Irish Stew next — as good as the modern version with beef and Guinness and loads of yummy vegetables is I do love the traditional recipe very much also. And I’m definitely hoping to be able to make fenalår — cured leg of lamb. This is a lengthy and smelly process though, so I’ll probably have to do it at the parents’ house.. So we’ll se if I get around to it! Mmmm, and now I’m on the subject of delicious lamb and mutton dishes my mouth is watering at the thought of mum’s amazingly delicious lamb stew with green beans and tomato. Ohh, yum! I guess I’ll be eating a lot of both mutton and lamb this autumn. What a lovely thought! I just love autumn!

Also I did end up going to the network’s website looking for a rerun date for Hellstrøm Rydder Opp. I didn’t manage to locate it, but what I found instead was much, much better: Web TV! Yey! So I’ve now watched the first episode and my feelings about the show are just about unchanged. On the positive side I realised that as this show is shot in Norway and mainly in Oslo, I’ll be able to visit some of the places after the makeover! Which is something I’ve dreamt of since Kitchen Nightmares came out. As for the entertainment value of Hellstrøm Rydder Opp, though, the whole thing was a little bland and the dialogue somewhat staccato. Oh, how I missed Gordon’s passionate excalmations!  But to give credit to the poor man (Hellstrøm) it can’t be easy trying to fit into Gordon Ramsay’s shoes. And he really is an amazing chef. I’m just not sure if he’s really the right man for this kind of thing… I guess I’ll just have to keep watching the show to find out ;)