Don't Let That Book-Learnin' Slow You Down None!

National Endowment for the Arts - Reading - New York Times: "In seeking to detail the consequences of a decline in reading, the study showed that reading appeared to correlate with other academic achievement. In examining the average 2005 math scores of 12th graders who lived in homes with fewer than 10 books, an analysis of federal Education Department statistics found that those students scored much lower than those who lived in homes with more than 100 books. Although some of those results could be attributed to income gaps, Mr. Iyengar noted that students who lived in homes with more than 100 books but whose parents only completed high school scored higher on math tests than those students whose parents held college degrees (and were therefore likely to earn higher incomes) but who lived in homes with fewer than 10 books."

There are homes where there are fewer than 10 books? If that includes cookbooks, then we're really in trouble.

I don't doubt that reading is declining in America, along with every other elementary skill, but I wonder if the results hold up if reading on the internet is included. Certainly, the stylistic range of internet content is wider, ranging from the devil-may-care style of blogs (which I love) to the New York Times, but it should count for something.

Also, might it also be true that Americans are writing far more than even ten years ago?

Thanksgiving 2007

Some clips opf MDC during Thanksgiving 2007 from my bro', Steven.

Apple ice cream for the holidays

Another ice cream recipe, but this time it's apple. The recipe is an adaptation from the Ben & Jerry's dessert book of B&J's peach (p. 38) and apple-strawberry (p.51) recipes. A perfect Autumnal treat. The trick here is to remember that apples are relatively high in sugars, so restrain yourself from adding much more sweetness to the ice cream. If you like, you can omit the cinnamon. And, remember, it's apple cider jelly, not apple jelly.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups peeled apples (Macintosh or Jona Gold are good).
• 0.50 cup apple cider jelly.
• 1 cup sugar (2 0.50 cup portions).
• 2 large eggs, or 0.50 cup egg substitute.
• 2 cups heavy cream.
• 1 cup whole milk.
• 0.50 lemon, juice of.
• 0.50 Tablespoon cinnamon, or as much as 1 Tablespoon.

Recipe
Break down the apples

1. Chop the peeled apples on the larger side of fine (I don't favor pureeing). I like chunks of apple in mine, so I put some bigger pieces (0.25-inch) aside then add them back once the rest of the apples are chopped.
   
2. Combine and toss the chopped apples, 0.50 cup sugar, and lemon juice. Then cover and refrigerate for 2 hours, tossing every 30 minutes.
3. Remove apple mixture from refrigerator, then pour off and reserve the juice.
4. Return apple mixture to the refrigerator.
   

Make the sweet cream base

1. Whisk eggs in mixing bowl until light & fluffy (1 - 2 minutes).
2. Whisk in remaining 0.50 cup sugar a little at a time, then whisk until completely blended (1 minute).
3. Pour in heavy cream and whole milk, then whisk to blend.
4. Add apple cider jelly, then whisk to blend.
5. Add 0.25 cup of reserved apple juice. The recipe can probably tolerate up to 0.50 cup, but because the juice is so watery, be careful not to add too much or your ice cream will have ice crystals. Or you can play it totally safe and just omit the juice; the apple ice cream already tastes pretty sweet and apple-ly.
   
6. Add 0.50 Tablespoon cinnamon. I've also tried 1 Tablespoon cinnamon, but it was just a little too much. Start with 0.50 Tablespoon and work your way up.

Make the ice cream

1. Prepare your ice cream maker as directed by the manufacturer.
2. Add sweet cream base to your ice cream maker and freeze as directed by the manufacturer.
3. When the ice cream seems to be near stiffening, add the apple mixture.
4. Continue freezing until the ice cream is ready. Makes a very generous quart.

Peanut butter ice cream

My ice cream making lore. I use a Kitchenaid mixer with the ice cream making attachment. What? Don't tell me you're still using your peewee electric ice cream making machine, or, gad, elbow grease? Below are some practical hints for making the peanut butter ice cream recipe in from Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book (1987) , pages 74-75.

• Very awesome and very peanut-buttery! Strongly suggest using a "natural" peanut butter.
  
• Recipe calls for 1/3 cup peanut butter. I say make that a generous 1/3 cup.
• The Kitchenaid whisk makes short work of dissolving peanut butter into the Sweet Cream Base.
• I augmented the recipe with malt (1/3 cup), which adds a maddeningly subtle complexity to the flavor. I couldn't lay my hands on Carnation malt, so I used Ovaltine which seemed to do the trick, but next time I might try 1/2 cup Ovaltine. Still looking for Carnation.0
• If you pour chocolate syrup or fudge over the ice cream, you get a peanut butter cup taste sensation, which I think is preferable to incorporating chocolate into the ice cream itself.
• As always, use pasteurized egg substitute.

David Edelstein, clueless film critic

After seeing "300" this weekend, I was perversely interested in what NPR's review was like. The review by David Edelstein was not only predictable, but really atrocious. You can listen to it hereabouts:

NPR : The Spartans and the Persians Battle in '300'

I wouldn't mind the negative review if it were pitched above the level of a "Church Lady's" outrage. So I ranted back to NPR:

"Edelstein is clueless: basically, Edelstein's review says that he has a problem with computer graphics and that he is easily distracted by big muscles. He's not reviewing a movie, he's carping. Look, "300" is not camp (Edelstein doesn't know the meaning of the word), and it's not conventional drama (like those two classical failures 'Troy' and 'Alexander'), so to evaluate the movie on those terms is to be obtuse. And "300" has nothing to be defensive about, as he presumes. "300" is a film interpretation of a >>graphic<< novel, yet Edelstein dimly takes issue with the movie's graphic stylizations, whether it's the computer-generated Persian hordes or the classical posturing of the male physique. And while Edelstein sneers that "300" is a "video game without a joystick," he misses the intense physicality stamped throughout the movie, both at the battle front and home front. Edelstein's presumption that only a Playstation-addled, testosterone-besotted teenage male could like this movie is certainly a bit harsh, but no more than interpreting his review as the work of an out-of-touch hack who cannot see over the generation gap, and cannot comprehend the trend that movies are not only visual, but becoming more graphical. Edelstein's cheap shots at actors' "pectorals" was an amusing reminder that some reviewers are easily frightened by the human body, unless it's Scarlett Johanssen's.

Outta beta/Back for 2007

Transferred Rabbit Hole out of beta so that it coexists with Hydroponic Hula. Am leaving for the Philippines and Hong Kong in a week and may try to record the trip by blog. We'll see.