The Quiet Man and Irish Soda Bread

We really do have to give old weather sayings and folklore their due. Nearly everyone has heard the expression that March comes in like a lion and goes out a lamb. Actually, what most people don't realize is that the expression is conditional: if March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb. If, however, it comes in like a lamb, it will go out like a lion. That has certainly been true this year in Boston.

Yummy Irish Soda Bread batter

March blew in gently, all soft breezes and dandelion-scented air. Towards the middle of the month, the temperatures hit seventy and eighty degrees. I walked around in my capris and sandals. I opened windows and admired the dappled sunlight streaking across my hardwood floors. It was too good to last, though. Boston has been stuck in a cold spell the past week, and some snow is even predicted for tomorrow, the last day of March. It seems as if March is exiting more like a polar bear than a lion.

Yummy Irish Soda Bread, front view

However, the nice thing about the month of March is that I know it is spring, no matter how cold it is. The crocuses and dandelions are blooming in my yard. Beautiful robins hop around the grass, celebrating the new life around them. Everything is green, green, green...including one of my favorite holidays, St. Patrick's Day. I celebrated St. Patrick's Day this year just the way I like it, surrounded by good food and family. I honestly don't understand people who want to get completely drunk on St. Patrick's Day. I think that's demeaning to Irish culture and a waste of an opportunity to observe such a lively spring holiday. This St. Patrick's Day, surrounded by my family and my fiance, I danced to The Pogues, laughed at my dad's funny green hat, devoured my mom's potato croquettes, and made my signature Grasshopper Pie. Moreover, I tried a great new recipe for a simply delicious Irish Soda Bread.

Yummy Irish Soda Bread slice

The movie I picked for today was The Quiet Man, but Dan hasn't had a chance to write the thought piece for that. And I haven't had a chance to watch it. I know, I know, shocker, but I've never seen The Quiet Man. I know it's directed by John Ford and it stars the iconic John Wayne. I've seen many of their collaborations in my Western film classes and elsewhere. I'm very curious to watch this film because I heard that it offers a lot of talking points. It is immensely popular around here during St. Patrick's Day, and some hold it up as a celebration of Irish-America and a love letter to the Old Country. However, others say that it enforces outdated stereotypes of a poor and rural country inhabited solely by "quirky" characters. As I said, I haven't seen the film, but I am excited to view it and better understand both sides of the argument.

Yummy Irish Soda Bread coming at you!!!

There's no argument, though, about this delicious soda bread. I adapted it from a Taste of Home magazine...I love that magazine to pieces; it never steers me wrong. What attracted me to this particular recipe was the fact that it contained sour cream, which I knew would give the bread a soft, creamy texture. My mother and I both hate foods that have really dry textures, so I decided that this was the bread for me. I also liked the addition of the caraway seeds. I wasn't too familiar with them, but they added the perfect hint of spice and tang to the bread. They reminded me of the fennel seeds my Nonna uses in her taralli, which are these savory, hard Italian pretzel-like treats. (I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that two days after St. Patrick's Day is St. Joseph's Day, a celebration of Italian-American culture. The pastries of the day are zeppole, or Italian donuts filled with cream. Yum!)

Yummy Irish Soda Bread
Adapted from Kerry Barnett-Amundsen's Taste of Home recipe
Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp caraway seeds
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups (16 oz) fat-free sour cream
• 3/4 cup raisins

1) Combine flour, caraway seeds, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and the sour cream. Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture until it is just moistened. Fold in raisins.

2) Spoon batter into a greased 9-in springform pan. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for ten minutes. Remove the sides of the pan to release bread. Cut into wedges, serve warm.

Next time: No clue. Any suggestions? I welcome all ideas. I only ask two things: (1) I cook on a budget, so no outlandish or expensive ingredients that would be hard for the average cook to obtain (2) I like to cook fresh and in season...if you suggest a pumpkin dessert, I will wait until October or November to make it because pumpkin is not in season now. By all means suggest any dessert you like, but know that you might have to wait awhile to see it! 

Happy birthday, Nonna! Felice compleanno!

Pumpkin-Sage Scones and Psycho

Happy Halloween!

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. Even if you pretend there is nothing special about this night, even if you go about your daily business, you can just feel the aura of mystery crackling in the air. Most everyone now knows that Halloween comes from Samhain, the old Celtic holiday dedicated to honoring the dead. I love the sublime sense of spookiness that envelopes Halloween night: the out-of-the-ordinary sensation that hits you when masked goblins and witches show up at your door. The way the dark night seems especially still, as if all the secrets and spirits of time past are suspended in the atmosphere. The flickering orange glow of jack-o-lanterns, which are perched upon windows like sentries standing a solemn vigil. And, of course, honoring the life, death, and rebirth of the Earth by cooking with late-harvest food. Like pumpkin.

It's also a modern Halloween tradition to scare yourself silly with horror movies. I'm not a fan of horror movies, as I happen to be really squeamish, but I make an exception for the classic flick Psycho, helmed by none other than the Master of Suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock. I love everything about this movie, from the characterizations to the retro-hip low-budget look, but most of all I love how Hitchcock made the film so scary without showing a lot. A lesson many modern horror directors should learn? You decide. But now enjoy Dan's thoughts:

Pyscho


The most amazing thing about Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is its simplicity. Everything that could be considered a production value-splurge exists only to create atmosphere and never extravagance. Although Hitchcock had been making color movies since 1948's Rope and used them to great effect in The Trouble with Harry, he knew the best way to shoot Psycho was in black-and-white. The infamous shower scene was behind this decision. Red blood is just plain gruesome. Suggested blood is far more nuanced and, ultimately, shocking. Indeed, much of the film is suggestion rather than explanation. The misunderstanding of this or the importance of black-and-white were the two most blatant mistakes in Gus Van Sant's garish remake. The Bates Motel, where weary traveler Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) meets her untimely demise, is only as dark and gothic as the secret its scrawny and creepy manager (Anthony Perkins, in the role that immortalized him) harbors in the house atop the hill.

If you've conversed with me long enough about film you know that Vertigo is my favorite Hitchcock movie, but Psycho is the one that best justifies his title as "Master of Suspense." It works almost flawlessly, the extraneous explanation at the end notwithstanding. The key to Psycho's success is how joyfully it pops each cliche it presents. Norman is hardly intimidating, not even when Marion upsets him when she mentions his dear mother might do better in a mental institution. The motel itself looks more disturbing than frightening. One of the heroes, or rather, one of the protagonists (since heroism is not celebrated in this movie) was first seen breaking the old Production Code taboo of premarital intercourse. In fact, Psycho, Some Like it Hot, and The Apartment are often labeled as the three films which brought down the Production Code. The lead character, in whom we invest so much, is knocked off before half the movie is over and, finally, motherly love has never been quite like this.

Best scene? Possibly the lead-up to the first murder. Hitchcock was by now so masterful at creating suspense that each cue--the silence, Marion's solitude, the abandoned motel--all spell doom. Our anticipation is rewarded when we see a foggy figure through the shower curtain opening the door and moving towards the shower. The curtain is pulled...and the rest is history!

*Shiver.* It's a classic. Thanks, Dan! Now for the recipe.

These pumpkin-sage scones were scarily good. They came from my trusty Baking: A Commonsense Guide book. Soft, buttery, with the perfect blend of creamy pumpkin and tangy sage...mmmm. Definitely more of a treat than a trick. They were devoured in a very short time. But enough of words! I bet you want the recipe, so here it is:

Pumpkin-Sage Scones
Adapted from Baking: A Commonsense Guide 
Ingredients:

• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 3/4 oz butter
• 1 Tbsp chopped sage
• 1-2 tsps milk

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. 
2. Sift the flour into a bowl along with a pinch of salt. Rub the pumpkin and butter into the flour using your fingertips. Stir in the sage.
3. Add the milk to make the mixture smooth and cohesive. Place the mixture on the tray. Shape it into a ball and roll it out until it is about 1 1/4-in. thick.
4. Cut the top of the round into eight segments (do not cut too deeply into it). Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly browned and cooked through. Serve warm.

Next time: World War II Applesauce Cupcakes and Saving Private Ryan

Mango Nut Bread and Apocalypse Now

Hi everyone! I'm Ally, and together with my older brother Dan, I'm going to be providing recipes to go along with our favorite films. Basically, the way this blog is going to work is that Dan will write a review of a film, and I will post a recipe for a baked good that fits that movie. It's the easiest way to combine our two hobbies, film and baking!

Our first film is Francis Ford Coppola's classic war movie Apocalypse Now, from 1979. I had never seen Apocalypse Now until I showed it to my History Through Film class while student teaching, and I was immediately enthralled by Coppola's vision and tone. As it charts the journey of Army Captain Willard to track down the renegade Colonel Kurtz in the jungles of Vietnam, Apocalypse Now effectively feels like a descent into madness. The bizarre soundtrack (who can forget the creepy use of The Doors' "The End" at the beginning?) and the very surreal images made this one of my my favorite war films. So without further ado, here are Dan's thoughts on the film:

Apocalypse Now:

One may be tempted to call Apocalypse Now the greatest war movie ever made. While that is not an unreasonable judgement, it feels like a bit of a short change, since Apocalypse Now is so much more than a mere war film. Sure, there is plenty of combat footage as Capt. Willard (Martin Sheen) navigates his way through war-torn Vietnam in order to find the deadly renegade Col. Kurtz (Marlon Brando), but just like Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, the literary work that provided the film's structure, Apocalypse Now's themes transcend the confines of its genre.

Few filmmakers have covered as much as Francis Ford Coppola did here. There are surface topics about imperialism, the psychological effects of war, and the devastation of villages. But there are deeper elements at work here such as who we are and who we become. What is insanity and what is evil? What standards should be applied to evaluating evil and insanity in a time of war?

Kurtz is evil. Of that there can be little doubt. He's had many people killed and commands an army of soldiers patrolling his compound. The question is, what drove him to become the monster he is? Finally, is Willard, or at least, his commanders who sent him on this mission, any less evil? Apocalypse Now's lack of easy answers to these questions, along with astounding performances from a stellar cast and direction from a New Hollywood genius, make it a masterpiece in a class of its own.

Thanks, Dan! And now for the recipe.

I was inspired by one of Apocalypse Now's most memorable scenes, when Willard and his chatty crew member Chef went looking for mangoes deep in the jungle, to make a mango nut bread. I got this recipe from the excellent Taste of Home magazine, and it can be found on their website here.

I never had mango nut bread before, just banana nut bread, so I was curious to see what this would taste like. I'm happy to report that I loved it! The bread is soft and silky, and the mangoes add a pop of texture and summery, tropical flavor. You can omit the dates if you like, but I thought they added a pleasantly tangy and nutty twist. In short, this is a great bread to eat as a snack or for breakfast along with coffee or tea. It's also healthy and really easy to make. Hopefully, you won't have any surprise encounters with tigers while making this like Willard and Chef did!

Mango Nut Bread
Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs (I like to use EggBeaters because they're healthier)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups chopped mangoes
• 1/2 cup chopped dates
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or macadamia nuts (I used walnuts; macadamia nuts are hard to come by where I live)

1) In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a smaller bowl, beat the eggs, oil, and vanilla with an electric mixer until blended. Stir into the dry ingredients until just moistened. Fold in mangoes, dates, and nuts. (Note: Don't worry if the batter seems dry and doughy; it will freshen up once the mangoes are added).
2) Spoon into two greased loaf pans (8 x 4-in). Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool for at least ten minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Well, I hope you liked that. Feel free to let us know what movies or baking recipes you'd like to see on our blog.