Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Haunted House

A young couple very close to me is hunting for their first house. They had looked at dozens of homes, none of which had been "just right" until they found a lovely Victorian in a quiet neighborhood full of old growth trees. The house was love at first sight and a bargain to boot. After several visits to the home they met the sellers' realtor. She informed them that the couple that had previously owned the home had moved out after only living there for four weeks because, they claim, the house is haunted.

Now being modern, rational people my friends immediate response was to laugh. It's easy to laugh such things off at 2pm on a sunny afternoon, but, curious about what led the former owners to this belief, they started asking questions as to what had happened to drive them away. The realtor informed them that beds had been mysteriously unmade, there were "unexplained noises" and the constant feeling of being watched. Undeniably creepy stuff (at least from where I'm sitting.)

Lots of people don't believe in ghosts, they are completely immune to tales of the supernatural and scoff at those who believe in anything that lies outside the rational. Other people believe in ghosts, have no doubt of their existence, and find this thought comforting; they like the idea of lingering spirits who wish to commune with the living. I am not one of those people, oh sure I know that the existence of ghosts is extremely improbable and I have never had any experience I would classify as "uncanny", however, I find even the possibility of a ghost completely and utterly terrifying. I just can't believe that a happy spirit would hang around on this earthly plain, nope, only angry ones with scores to settle. And I know that if the word "haunted" was even mumbled regarding a home I purchased I would spend many evenings cowering under covers and jumping every time a floorboard creaked or a door out of plumb moved on its own.

My young friends find themselves in a strange position-having to balance their desire for this pretty little house with the knowledge that there will forever be a shadow cast by doubt over their  purchase. It's an unusual dilemma in a house hunt, one far outside the typical concerns of drainage issues and leaky pipes. If they do decide to go ahead with the purchase I wonder how much they could get knocked off the asking price in light of their spectral roommates? And I wonder how they'll sleep at night...I'm guessing with the lights on.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Good Character

When someone is described as being a "character" as in "She's quite a character" this is usually a thinly veiled euphemism for "weirdo" or "oddball". (Perhaps this is why Steve Buscemi is described as a "character actor".) Anyway, when people on HGTV are house shopping and looking at some bland, new construction, suburban box they often complain about the lack of "character". Well this is something I cannot relate to as my house-and every house I've ever lived in-has had character in spades.




I've never lived in new construction, ever. I cannot imagine a home with plumb walls and faucets that don't drip and windows that don't stick shut. It would seem strange to me to have modern conveniences like a dishwasher, garbage disposal and non-creaky floors. But over the years all these quirky, slightly akimbo homes have had things that no new home ever could, like a medicine cabinet with a label from the 1930's about poison control (syrup of ipecac anyone?), or strange niches in which to hide, or atomic era light fixtures. Older homes-character homes if you will-have stories to tell, about their past and about past owners. They are frustrating, mischievous and infinitely lovable. Older homes assert themselves, they will not be ignored, instead they must be attended to and coddled. Their fences mended, leaks plugged and shrubs pruned. They lack all the polish and uniformity that new homes seem to ooze.



It is also said that struggles and experiences build character. And that adversity enhances ones character. Renting or owning an older house is certainly a challenge. It will obfuscate and frustrate, but in the end it is eminently worthwhle to know that your home is full of history and memories and maybe the occasional friendly ghost. I'd take that over a dishwasher any day...well, ok, most days.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

NYE

Decided to throw an impromptu New Years Eve fete. Since it was last minute I kept the menu simple and served a signature cocktail.
Menu:
assorted cheese and crackers with fresh and dried fruit: apricots, blueberries, pears
shrimp cocktail
spinach artichoke dip
endive and pear appetizer
sun dried tomato bruschetta
bakery cookies and a small cake
served a classic Gin Fizz for the drink.

Here are some recipes:
Spinach Artichoke dip
drain and chop a can of artichoke hearts
combine with 1/2 package of softened cream cheese
1/2 cup of sour cream
1/4 cup mayo
12oz of thawed and drained frozen spinach
1 cup grated parmesan
season with black pepper
stir together and put in butter baking dish
top generously with grated parmesan
bake for 45 minutes at 350-top will be slightly browned and bubbling

Endive Appetizer
wash and separate leaves of belgian endive (sometimes exterior leaves are bitter so discard the first few layers)
add to each leaf a dollop of gogonzola cheese, a thin slice of Asian pear and a few chopped walnuts
This is pretty, elegant and fresh. Perfect two bite cocktail snack.



Gin Fizz
1oz Gin (Hendricks is a good choice for this)
lemon and lime juice
thin sliced lemon/lime for garnish
simple syrup (heat 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of water til boiling, sugar dissolves and syrup reduces)
ice
Brut champagne
shake ice, gin, fruit juice and simple syrup together
pour in fluted glass with citrus slices
top with champagne

Thursday, January 3, 2013

The Hobbit

So, I am a nerd generally and a Tolkien nerd specifically. I have read the Lord of the Rings...more than once and seen the Peter Jackson movies...also more than once. I have never liked the novel The Hobbit as much, it's essentially a fairy tale, written for a very young audience. It's shorter, the language is simpler, the narrative less sophisticated and the themes less dark. Nevertheless, I was excited to hear that The Hobbit was going to be made into a movie. I was shocked to hear that it was going to be made into three movies. It is not a long or complicated saga and could easily have been brought to the screen in a normal 2 hour film run time. But I am, as aforementioned, a nerd, so I was pretty excited for the first movie to be released, because any Tolkien is better than no Tolkien.

Now that I have seen The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey I am...concerned. It is 2 hours and 45 minutes long and could easily have been cut by at least a half an hour with  nothing lost. There is an abundance of tiresome battle sequences, worst of all the battle between two stone giants that adds nothing to the story and does not appear in the book at all. It is a silly Godzilla-esque vignette which was, quite frankly, embarrassing. Also the CGI burdened sequence in the goblin city is grotesque and time consuming. In many scenes, especially early on in the film, there is so much on screen it is hard to know where to look. This amounts to so much visual clutter that I found it to be a bit dizzying. (I don't understand why directors find it necessary to throw millions of dollars at the screen in the form of confusing, extraneous CGI)

Peter Jackson must have listened to the complaints of the legions of LOTR fans when crafting The Hobbit because he is leaving nothing out. Much of the dialogue is verbatim from the text and he is even adding things he omitted from the first three movies-Radagast the Brown Wizard most notably-which do not even appear in The Hobbit. There is some back story about the history of the Dwarves and lots of foreshadowing about what is to come in the LOTR...which of course everyone has already seen.

But, it's not all bad, it's not even mostly bad. The company of dwarves is charming, there are lots of intimate shots of Bag End-the Bagginses home in The Shire-Bilbo himself is sweetly understated and humble, Rivendell is as lovely as ever and the Riddle Game between Gollum and Bilbo is amazingly tense and engaging  (those may be the best scenes in any of the four movies). Hopefully,  between now and the release of the next film, Jackson will listen to the fans and critics and trim some of the pointless battle scenes in favor of more character development and moments in the quiet countryside as the company makes its long, slow way to the Lonely Mountain.