I guess it is the title that got you, Ha! But I won't keep you in
suspense, for long. It is Saturday and it follows another bad night that
knocked the juice out of me. There is not much left to do anything
useful with this day. I got up at four this morning and read. By about
seven, I decided I should start the day. There was eggs and bacon and
stewed tomatoes for breakfast and I even made a small pot of coffee,
which I appear to have forsaken during the past weeks (?) since Kaarin
left. Then I went back to reading. From Jane Austin I propagated to
Agatha Christie. Her first book was a turn- down. 'Secret Adversary' is a
kiddy tale about a couple of brash, but supposedly smart youngsters
bringing a bunch of criminals to heel. Well, perhaps I am getting
ossified by now and I don't like brash kids who think they are smarter
than we are and eventually turn out to actually be just that. Knowing
what we know, i. e. experience demands a bit of respect, and deserves
it, does it not?
Well the next Agatha was the Mysterious affair of Styles and that is much better. My old friend Hercule Poirot is making his reappearance, though he is now apparently sidelined because of 'the war' and he is found in a small town in England. Somewhere near London, of course, but the only role London plays is to be the scene of the final trial and the main characters 'taking a house there' a la Jane Austin's nobility and Mr. Poirot finally cornering the real culprit whose identity surprises everybody. Nice plot, nicely told.
But I am stingy: when it comes to electronic books, I don't want to pay a penny and right off the bat I have no line on more Agatha. So my next one is F. Dostoyevsky, The Grand Inquisitor. Nice switch, is it not? Inquisitors are also looking out to bring culprits to court, and to make them face their well deserved punishment. Only they act within a very different environment than Agatha does. Less worldly, I guess.
Anyway, by the time I finished the Mysterious Affair I got hungry and cooked a late lunch / early dinner. I coated a top round with Grey Poupon Mustard, sprinkled some salt over it and covered it with a sweet onion slice - the wide part that you get when you slice large flat onions. I got my grill to between 400 to 450 degrees, dumped a fist full of apple wood chips into the bottom pan and put the roast on the perforated veggie sheet. Setting the timer for 50 minutes, I then sliced the rest of the onion into about quarter inch slices, sprinkled a little salt and drizzled some sesame oil and soy sauce and about ten minutes before the roast was supposed to come off the fire I put them on the grill next to it. On the kitchen stove, I did a pan of Rösti. If you do 't know what that is, but are truly curious, you must ask me ( schwizerbueb@gmail.com ). You can also google that, but they tell you how it really is done, not the bachelor-type easy and quick way.
When the roast was finished and had sat its time on the cutting board I sliced a couple of slices and served them with the Rösti and onions and a glass of Paisano. Wonderful! There are no overwhelming or exciting tastes. Everything germanically constrained, mild, subdued, whatever. But the whole combination of flavors came through so satisfyingly, I am now on my third glass of Paisano.
What is Paisano? Well it is a Gallo jug wine and has been around as long as I can remember. In the 'early' days, i. e. early 1960, they called it Chianti. Perhaps the emerging laws of the European Union put a halt to the naming of products that have a territorial claim, such as Chianti (Tuscany), Camembert (France) etc. In any case, Gallo's Chianti disappeared and Paisano came in and it is the most satisfying jug wine I know. Did you know that it won the first price ate the Boston Wine Exhibition back in the late 1990’s? The judges, all gold tressed and certified wine critics, selected it among all entries on the basis of what came from unlabeled bottles. It must have been a riot! The cheapest of all wines on site being judged the best.
I'm getting carried away. The fly? Oh yes, the roast had a streak of fat and I cut it out and set it it aside. That's where I saw the fly. There is only one in the house. It is a true house fly.
Well the next Agatha was the Mysterious affair of Styles and that is much better. My old friend Hercule Poirot is making his reappearance, though he is now apparently sidelined because of 'the war' and he is found in a small town in England. Somewhere near London, of course, but the only role London plays is to be the scene of the final trial and the main characters 'taking a house there' a la Jane Austin's nobility and Mr. Poirot finally cornering the real culprit whose identity surprises everybody. Nice plot, nicely told.
But I am stingy: when it comes to electronic books, I don't want to pay a penny and right off the bat I have no line on more Agatha. So my next one is F. Dostoyevsky, The Grand Inquisitor. Nice switch, is it not? Inquisitors are also looking out to bring culprits to court, and to make them face their well deserved punishment. Only they act within a very different environment than Agatha does. Less worldly, I guess.
Anyway, by the time I finished the Mysterious Affair I got hungry and cooked a late lunch / early dinner. I coated a top round with Grey Poupon Mustard, sprinkled some salt over it and covered it with a sweet onion slice - the wide part that you get when you slice large flat onions. I got my grill to between 400 to 450 degrees, dumped a fist full of apple wood chips into the bottom pan and put the roast on the perforated veggie sheet. Setting the timer for 50 minutes, I then sliced the rest of the onion into about quarter inch slices, sprinkled a little salt and drizzled some sesame oil and soy sauce and about ten minutes before the roast was supposed to come off the fire I put them on the grill next to it. On the kitchen stove, I did a pan of Rösti. If you do 't know what that is, but are truly curious, you must ask me ( schwizerbueb@gmail.com ). You can also google that, but they tell you how it really is done, not the bachelor-type easy and quick way.
When the roast was finished and had sat its time on the cutting board I sliced a couple of slices and served them with the Rösti and onions and a glass of Paisano. Wonderful! There are no overwhelming or exciting tastes. Everything germanically constrained, mild, subdued, whatever. But the whole combination of flavors came through so satisfyingly, I am now on my third glass of Paisano.
What is Paisano? Well it is a Gallo jug wine and has been around as long as I can remember. In the 'early' days, i. e. early 1960, they called it Chianti. Perhaps the emerging laws of the European Union put a halt to the naming of products that have a territorial claim, such as Chianti (Tuscany), Camembert (France) etc. In any case, Gallo's Chianti disappeared and Paisano came in and it is the most satisfying jug wine I know. Did you know that it won the first price ate the Boston Wine Exhibition back in the late 1990’s? The judges, all gold tressed and certified wine critics, selected it among all entries on the basis of what came from unlabeled bottles. It must have been a riot! The cheapest of all wines on site being judged the best.
I'm getting carried away. The fly? Oh yes, the roast had a streak of fat and I cut it out and set it it aside. That's where I saw the fly. There is only one in the house. It is a true house fly.
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