Just recipes and music I'm enjpying lately

An Honest Description of Myself with a Glass of Whiskey at An Airport, Let Us Say, in Minneapolis, by Czesław Miłosz

Michael Starobin — Thu, 05 May 2011 03:47:37 +0000

My ears catch less and less of conversations, and my eyes have weakened, though they are still insatiable.

I see their legs in miniskirts, slacks, wavy fabrics.

Peep at each one separately, at their buttocks and thighs, lulled by the imaginings of porn.

Old lecher, it’s time for you to the grave, not to the games and amusements of youth.

But I do what I have always done: compose scenes of this earth under orders from the erotic imagination.

It’s not that I desire these creatures precisely; I desire everything, and they are like a sign of ecstatic union.

It’s not my fault that we are made so, half from disinterested contemplation, half from appetite.

If I should accede one day to Heaven, it must be there as it is here, except that I will be rid of my dull senses and my heavy bones.

Changed into pure seeing, I will absorb, as before, the proportions of human bodies, the color of irises, a Paris street in June at dawn, all of it incomprehensible, incomprehensible the multitude of visible things.

(translated from the Polish by Robert Hass and Czeslaw Milosz)

My favorite Mahler recordings

Michael Starobin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 05:54:51 +0000

I'm posting this in celebration of Mahler's birthday (July 7th, 1860). These preferences change all the time; and there's a lot of Boulez here because the series he recorded over the last decade or so made things so CLEAR. They are great 'study' recordings. With age I seem to prefer the clarity.

Bernstein's recordings are an old preference from discovering Mahler in my teens. And a few years ago I picked up his full cycle with the Vienna Phil that was recorded between his two cycles for Columbia/Sony and DG - I think it's a great cycle, in addition to getting to watch him perform.
And Barbirolli is another old fave - slow tempos that somehow stay exciting.

1st - Bernstein, NYPhil

2nd - Bernstein, NYPhil

3rd - Horenstein, LSO

4th - Bernstein, NYPhil

5th - Boulez, Vienna

6th - Barbirolli, New Philharmonia

(but I also like the Mitropoulos, NYPhil)

7th - Boulez, Cleveland

8th - Boulez, Berlin

Das Lied - Kletzki, Philharmonia

(Fischer-Dieskau, Dickie)

9th - Barbirolli, Berlin

10th - Rattle, Bournemouth

Honorable mentions:

Tennstedt's complete set

Bernstein's complete DVD cycle with Vienna

(recorded between his two CD cycles)

The NY Phil set of historic Mahler recordings

other good recordings of the 6th:

Boulez, Horenstein, Szell

Sunday, 4 A.M., by Elizabeth Bishop

Michael Starobin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:02:15 +0000

An endless and flooded
dreamland, lying low,
cross- and wheel-studded
like a tick-tack-toe.

At the right, ancillary,
"Mary" 's close and blue,
Which Mary? Aunt Mary?
Tall Mary Stearns I knew?

The old kitchen knife box,
full of rusty nails,
is at the left. A high vox
humana somewhere wails:

The gray horse needs shoeing!
It's always the same!
What are you doing,
there beyond the frame?

If you're the donor,
you might do too much!
Turn on the light. Turn over.
On the bed a smutch -

black-and-gold gesso
on the altered cloth.
The cat jumps to the window;
in his mouth's a moth.

Dream dream confronting,
now the cupboard's bare.
The cat's gone-a-hunting.
The brook feels for the stair.

The world seldom changes,
but the wet foot dangles
until a bird arranges
two notes at right angles.

- Elizabeth Bishop

Seafood Gumbo (Silver Palate's "The New Basics")

Michael Starobin — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:48:53 +0000

This is a simple dish to prepare, but the plentitude of seafood used makes it very impressive (and a bit expensive.) It's been a hit at a few Christmas parties (where I double or triple the recipe.)

Seafood Gumbo

8 ounces kielbasa or Cajun sausage, cut into 1-inch slices
1/3 cup olive oil
1 pound okra, stems removed
2 cups diced onions
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 cup coarsely chopped red bell pepper
5 cups chicken stock
1 cup coarsely chopped green bell pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3 cups chopped plum tomatoes,
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper slightly crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
12 ounces sea scallops
12 ounces Maine cooked lobster meat
8 ounces lump U.S. crabmeat, cartilage removed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

In a large pot or Dutch oven, saute the sausage over medium heat until brown, about 15 minutes. Remove it from the pot and set aside.

Add half the oil to the pot. Then add the okra and cook over medium heat until slightly soft, about 15 minutes. Add the remaining oil, onions, bell peppers, and garlic. Stir, and cook another 10 minutes.

Add the chicken stock, tomatoes, cumin, cayenne, salt, black pepper and bay leaf. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

Add the shrimp and scallops to the gumbo and simmer another 5 minutes. Then add the lobster, crabmeat, and parsley, adjust the seasonings, and heat through, 2 to 3 minutes. Serve immediately.

System of a Down

Michael Starobin — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 07:02:55 +0000

System of a Down

This is a metal group that both of my sons (Josh and Sam) have been enjoying. They stand out from a lot of the metal that my son, Sam, is into - maybe it's the humor of their lyrics, or the fact that everyone in this Southern California based band is ethnically Armenian - and that certainly flavors their sound.

Don't get me wrong - while there's some alternative sounding moments, this is contemporary metal which is a lot harder than the metal of the 80's. (Some of the other metal bands Sam is listening to - Fear Factory, Disturbed, Stone Sour and Stratovarius.)

For more on System of a Down, here are links to iTunes, Amazon, and AllMusicGuide.

Short Ribs With Coffee and Chilies (Mark Bittman)

Michael Starobin — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 06:30:12 +0000

I've cooked this one a few times now, twice for large dinner parties - always gets a great reaction. I can never find the pasilla chiles locally (I substituted some dried 'california' chiles) and the only chipotles I can find are the canned ones. But it still tasted great!

Short Ribs With Coffee and Chilies

Published: February 13, 2008 (original recipe here)

Time: At least 3 hours

1 tablespoon oil
4 large or 8 small short ribs
Salt and pepper
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 dried pasilla chili, stemmed, seeded and minced
1 dried chipotle chili, stemmed, seeded and minced
1 cup dry red wine
1 cup strong coffee.

1. In a heavy pot that can later be covered, drizzle oil. Over medium
heat, brown ribs well, adjusting heat as necessary to get a dark
crust. Take your time, and season with salt and pepper as they cook.
Remove them to a plate and turn heat to low.

2. In same pot, cook onions, garlic and chilies, stirring
occasionally, until onions are soft, about 15 minutes. Add wine and
coffee and reduce over high heat by about half. Return ribs to pot,
cover, and cook over low heat (or in a 300-degree oven) for 2 to 3
hours. Cook until very tender — beyond when meat falls off the bone —
turning every hour or so. Taste and adjust seasoning and serve.

Yield: 4 to 8 servings.