Biscuitland

Biscuitland has a new home. It's untidy at the moment. Mind your head!

Crushed

Biscuitland is under siege. Something screwy is going on and all the formatting is askew. I've tried editing posts to fix them and it won't take the edit. I'm very, very frustrated.

Sour

Experiencing technical difficulties brought on by trying to move this blog to a different domain. You'll notice all my links are gone. Boo.

Drippy

We are slowly going insane. Thanks to the melting snow dripping off of the rooftops all around us, like some urban Chinese water torture. Just thought I'd share.

Frankentruffles

My first attempt at truffles. Sigh. Being a perfectionist, it *kills* me that these aren't perfectly round but I'm just so proud to at least have attempted them. And they taste pretty darn good, with that little splash of Grand Marnier I stirred into the chocolate. Why have I waited so long to try these?!

Mezze!

We welcomed a new babysitter into the fold last night. It was time for our former sitter to move onto something different. Meh. It happens, right? You sort of get burned out after a while. I'm glad things ended well. And LittleBiscuit seems to like the new lady. We'll see how things progress. Anyway, I kept forgetting to post pics of my haircut. Yes, I decided to go with a fringe, or bangs, as we Americans say. Sniff. Taken with "date" eyeshadow but still in my thermal shirt. Hah!

Dining at Byblos is always a treat. MrBiscuit and I haven't been there for months and were practically drooling as we hurriedly made our way through the slushy streets to the warm environs awaiting us.

We scrambled out of our coats and settled down in our favorite comfy spot underneath the vine-like plants spread over our heads, like the famed hanging gardens of Babylon. Three generations of local Lebanese men gathered around a table in the corner and played a game of backgammon while sharing a hookah and a pot of coffee. In short, it was quite cozy.

No white Lebanese wine being available, we chose to start our meal with Ksara Prieure, a full-bodied, fruity, and medium dry red. MrBiscuit had his usual shot of arak.

Dinner! Starting from the left: tabbouleh, the very best hummus snoubar on the planet, kalaj jibneh (cheese baked in pita), and finally, the most perfect falafel.

Rounding out the meal, we have sojok, slightly spicy sausage slices (say *that* five times) in a thick tomato sauce:

The Ksara seemed a bit dry to drink alone but went well with the food, especially the sojok. MrBiscuit gave me the inspired idea of dipping the kalaj jibneh into the hummus. Genius, that man.

I'm ashamed to admit we rarely finish all the food we order but this time, the ending was different. Witness the devastation:

The rest of our date didn't go so well. We headed over to Slovanský dům to hit the cinema. I was looking forward to seeing An American Haunting. I had read about the Bell Witch and, having lived in Tennessee myself years ago, I thought it might be interesting. Plus, I like jumpy, spooky movies.

I warned MrBiscuit that I'd read there were re-shoots and a massive re-editing of this film after a poor initial showing. That doesn't bode well, does it? Usually when that occurs, the movie ends up seeming less than cohesive. And that is one of the problems which plagued An American Haunting.

The Powers That Be decided to tack on some modern storyline to the beginning and end (and in the middle, grounding the film to a screeching halt for the sake of continuity, which didn't work overall, imo) and add a voice-over by Sissy Spacek's character, Lucy, tying the past to the present. (Can I add that I really hope I age as well as this woman? She looks amazing!)

Despite all the clues you are given, you still might miss the Big Reveal, which involves sexual abuse and the creation of a poltergeist alter-ego as some deus ex machina to explain the ghost and its raison d'être. Note: nothing in my reading on the Bell Witch mentions this hypothesis but that doesn't mean it has no merit.

The movie is dis-jointed and a waste of mood and talent. I'm sure the leads were pretty pissed to discover how their movie ended up when finally making it to the screen. Hey, at least it's only 90 minutes.

Another day in Biscuitland

Well, the snow is melting. There's much sadness in the Biscuit household. We really wanted to go sledding but instead bummed around town, running errands and jumping in any clean pile of snow we could find. Let me tell you, that's difficult in this city! It's rather messy out there right now. A sunny BiscuitChild and her eagle: Our simple dinner of nachos. I put two leftover pork chops in the food processor for a bit and mixed with some salsa. I think next time, I'll make a creamy cheese sauce rather than just melt shredded cheddar on top. Those wacky Czechs! What is this all about? LittleBiscuit has been buzzing around me constantly, pestering me to make a chocolate dessert she will like. She's one tough customer! I found a recipe for chocolate madeleines on La Tartine Gourmande which looked like just the ticket for our girl. However, we couldn't locate a proper mold for the madeleines. I just used tiny "basket" forms and they turned out quite tasty! I thought about turning them over and drizzling a chocolate glaze or ganache over the top but I'm glad I didn't. These are rich and chocolately enough just as they are. We gobbled up two each while playing Disney's Scene It. LittleBiscuit won. Of course. Homeschooling note: LittleBiscuit has come up with her own way of sorting numbers and unwittingly is teaching herself about place value. She says all the tens live in a little house, all the twenties have their own house, all the thirties in their house and so on. I drew a picture of what she described and showed her how she could always figure out how many "ten houses" were in a two digit number, for example. I just love when unschooling pays off. This knowledge is truly hers. No one can take it from her. She discovered it all on her own. Rock on, LittleBiscuit!

Loaf

Today has been a mixture of loafing moments and bursts of cleaning fits. In my quieter moments, I thumbed through my new cookbook, The New Best Recipe, and found a yummy tuna casserole. Yeah, it *sounds* boring but it turned out to be delicious and just what we wanted on a day like this. I used papardelle noodles instead of fettucini and halved the onion. LittleBiscuit overcame her repulsion of Work and helped tear apart the baguette in order to make homemade bread crumbs. We pretended to be preparing treats for the tiniest of birds. Hey, whatever works! Thanks, my little sous chef! Ready to eat: Tomorrow, if this snow doesn't melt, we hope to go sledding! No loafing for us! And because this is such a short post, here's a bonus picture of my little YogaBiscuit in front of a fishtank in dire need of cleaning:

Fluffy

It's snowing in Prague! I woke up to this lovely view outside my bedroom window: Fluffy goodness: On the way to the veggie market: Road sludge: After buying our veggies, cheese and bread, we walked down to Samurai for some lunch. Yah! Warm sake in a nice, relaxing tatami room! The waitresses, ever helpful, always bring bins of colored pencils and finger puppets for LittleBiscuit. We're so spoiled. Before consuming 9 (!!!) pieces of tuna and salmon sashimi: Snow angel in the fountain: Catching snowflakes, that ever-popular Kid Thing: And finally, my jeans, by the end of our walk: (Don't worry! I was wearing my thermals and wool socks underneath, like a good girl.) Pork: it's what's for dinner. Also starring risotto, using the recipe from the Joy of Cooking cookbook, and steamed asparagus:

Meals of yesteryear

Okay, maybe not yesteryear. More like *last* year. In December. I made this lovely lasagna with spinach, ricotta and some hot 'n' spicy sausage. It was the prettiest and tastiest lasagna I've ever made!

Next, we have three sweet little beauties wearing a lovely chocolate...oh to hell with that. I was going to describe the soufflés as if they were in a fashion show but let's just cut to the chase, shall we? Three chocolate soufflés with a splash of Grand Marnier. I didn't like how the sugar coating on the ramekin stuck to the edge of the soufflé. Unfortunate, that. On to 2007... Post-New Year's illnesses struck the whole family. Enter, two sick siblings, also suffering from a mysterious photographic disease I like to call, "red eye:" Chocolate chip cookies. Good for what ails ya: Some zucchini with bacon and onions, which I served over brown rice along with roast chicken and homemade gravy: Note on gravy: instead of wine, I used a tawny port in my gravy and it was divine! Try it and tell me what you think. It's unique but tasty. Tonight's dinner of linguine with vodka cream sauce: LittleBiscuit, eating linguine with parmesan. She's a hopeless teetotaler. She won't eat anything with the slightest bit of alcohol in it. I suppose that's a good thing in a child, isn't it? That's it, folks! I didn't take a lot of food photos over the holidays. I wish I had!

Movies seen this year: ---The Prestige, starring the luscious and tremendously talented Christian Bale and equally yummy Hugh Jackman ... and Scarlett Johansson's tits. Honestly, you don't really need her. Just her tits. Yeah, I figured out part of this film early on but the ending was a nice surprise. I felt it dragged in places and went on too long, as usual. The writing was good, the acting was okay and we got to see David Bowie onscreen, which is always a treat. Even when he's bloated and aging. It's okay, Dave. We forgive you. We'll forgive you anything! Except maybe splitting up with Iman. Don't press your luck, there, Dave. Back to the film... go see it! It's a nice change from the rest of the drivel in the cinemas right now. And no, it's not like The Illusionist. It's better. ---Night at the Museum with LittleBiscuit. Why was this film made? Who told Ben Stiller his comedic style would work in a film like this? Because I don't think it does. So many of the scenes fell flat and seemed slapped together. I could sniff out the "bad guy" from a mile away. But you know what? I'll bet this movie makes a ton of money. Sigh. Oh, one cute thing. Stay for at least the beginning of the credits. You get to see Dick Van Dyke hoofing it up. And because I'm white and nerdy, here's a treat from Weird Al.

TeenBiscuit

I finally got MrBiscuit to put pics from our May California trip on my computer. We're both such slackers about that sort of thing. I'm going to swallow my pride and post these even though I'm about 10 pounds heavier in them. I can't resist posting pics of TeenBiscuit! She lives with her dad, my ex, in Cali. The Biscuits flew there to see her and MrBiscuit's sons, who attend uni in that state as well. Oh yeah, and we went to Disneyland too. MrBiscuit's father kindly chauffeured us about. He's a gem! LittleBiscuit and TeenBiscuit, wearing a shirt I sent her, who are meeting for the first time: TeenBiscuit with her signature anime character hand gesture, eating at The Cheesecake Factory in The Grove: LittleBiscuit is already hating all this picture-taking nonsense: Pics in Chinatown (Forget about it, Jake): Sun Yat-sen and Biscuitgirls: (See those jeans LittleBiscuit is wearing? Those are above her ankles now! She's grown a lot this year! And TeenB is rocking her new threads from our Gap spree.) Mama and TeenBiscuit (no, I'm not pissed off...the sun is in my eyes and I'm blind!): TeenB in a cheongsam and shoes we found in Chinatown: Hanging in the hotel (TeenB in another Chinatown score): Chillin' with D (MrBiscuit's son and my illustrious Theatre Biscuitstepson), TeenB, my huge butt and LittleBiscuit, hiding from the camera. Not a good angle for any of us except TeenB, who is practicing her cute poses: We were too busy to get many Disneyland pics until the second day, which means we missed all the pics of D Biscuit and M Biscuit and D's friend, Andy. We all had a blast! But here are a few from the following days: MrBiscuit there on the left and LittleBiscuit attempting to free the Sword from the Stone: TeenB gives it a try: Jalopy race: LittleBiscuit looks ready to murder someone but honestly, it's only because she's forgotten her sunglasses. She, like me, hates that blasted sun in her eyes: Sisters, sisters, never were there such devoted sisters: Um, yeah: LittleBiscuit is doing the camerawork on this one: ToonTown: It's a Small World After All. Also, check out TeenB's Corpse Bride T-shirt: MamaBiscuit got kind of emotional on the ride, most likely due to That Song being played over and over and over and over...It's been known to bring many a stalwart visitor to tears. More fun to be had: And finally, TeenB and her man, G: