Movie night report

[jwgh]

Last night, Tom Kraemer, Kibo, and muffyjo came by to watch movies. I had a good time, and I think everyone else did too!

The whole thing was a bit silly in that the movie night was originally intended to celebrate plorkwort's visiting of Boston and was held in Providence to make it more convenient for kerri9494 to attend. However, in the event, plorkwort was sick and couldn't make it and kerri9494 had previous plans. They were missed. (sanspoof and her husband were also going to come but had to bow out at the last minute, which was also too bad.)

I made rice and orange chicken for dinner. It came out quite well, if perhaps a bit spicy. While I was cooking dinner the others watched a couple of short films: George Lucas in Love and Ramen Baka Ichidai.

After that we watched Shaun of the Dead, which I had not seen previously. Tom brought it and I have to say it was pretty great.

Then it was time to watch a Kibo-provided movie. He had brought probably about twenty movies. After consulting with muffyjo Kibo decided that Battlefield Baseball was the right choice, which turned out to be very true. It's the story of a high school baseball team that competes with another baseball team composed of rejects from The Road Warrior. It's completely over the top and all of the characters die at least once.

Next we watched an illegal copy of the new Doctor Who episode (anoter first-time viewing for me). Kibo was fairly critical of it. I liked it fine. I think the pacing would have been better if it were closer to a full-length Doctor Who series (a three to six parter in other words). Anyway, I look forward to eventually seeing more episodes.


Next up was good old The Incredibles. I had seen this in the theater.

At this point it was about one in the morning or so, so the general idea was that it was about to go, but Kibo wanted me to see a little of The Starlost, a Canadian teevee series which is considered by some to be the worst television science fiction show ever, despite the involvement of Ursula K. LeGuin and Harlan Ellison. (Ellison has written about his horrible experiences writing for the show. He hated it so much that he removed his name from the credits, so the show now claims to have been written by 'Cordwainer Bird'.) We only watched a few minutes, but it was enough to see some truly horrible visual effects and a strange interlude where a bunch of guys in gold spandex confront the main characters, only to suddenly start worshipping one of them when they learn she is a woman. That's probably about as much of this show as I need to see.

It was a good bunch of movies and good company. Thanks to muffyjo and Kibo and Tom for coming, and regrets to plorkwort and kerri9494 and sanspoof that you couldn't make it; we'll have to do this again sometime when it is more convenient for all.

Comments

[glitter-ninja.livejournal.com]

Feh. I couldn't get a group of people at my house to watch a dozen movies unless I kidnapped them and bound them with some particularly strong duct tape. You know, the kind with threads woven into it. I'm jealous. (Well, except for the Tom Kraemer part. But I hold grudges.)

Man, I want some orange chicken.

[jwgh]

This is not a common event at Casa Haller, let me assure you.

[muffyjo]

The orange chicken cleared my sinuses and left a warm glow in my throat. I assure you, it was wonderful. You should convince him to cook it for you sometime! Or at the very least, see if you can wrangle the recipe.

Urgent Despatch!

[sunburn.livejournal.com]

Sire,

I am Contemporaneously Afflicted with a Blockagge of the Sinnuses and I have been Commended to Appeal to you for the Formulum for your meal of Galus Galus prepared with Citrus Sinensis, the combination of which I am Reliably Informed has Remedial Qualities for my condition.

Please you Reply Forthwith, as I am delaying at Considerable Cost the sailing of My Fleet's Most Prized Indiaman as I await the precise description and volumne of Spices required for the Correct Diminution of the Blockagge.

I Thank you in Advance.

Your Most Humble, &c.
sunburn

Re: Urgent Despatch!

[jwgh]

OK. The recipe I used is based on one in The Chinese Kitchen by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, which is an excellent cookbook. The main modifications were:

• The author thought that a half-bound of chicken would serve six. I DON'T THINK SO!
• The cooking instructions involve deep-frying the chicken, then deep-frying the chicken again, and then pan-frying the chicken. In my variation I basically skip to the third bit of frying, which I imagine makes the dish healthier, means you use a lot less peanut oil, and makes the whole process less complicated and time-consuming. The result is still hella tasty.

So.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized chunks.

For the coating

• 2 tbs egg whites
• 1/2 tsp Mei Kuei Lu Chiew or gin (guess which I used?)
• a dash of white pepper
• 2 tbs peanut oil
• 5 tbs cornstarch

For the sauce

• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 4 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp Mei Kuei Lu Chiew or gin
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp white rice vinegar or distilled vinegar
• a dash of white pepper
• 2 tbs chicken stock

Other ingredients

• a couple of tablespoons of peanut oil
• 7 small whole dried chiles
• 2 tsp minced fresh ginger
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 2 scallions, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 1/2 tbs chopped fresh orange zest
• 2 tbs diced red bell pepper

Instructions

1. Place the chicken in a large bowl and add the chicken coating ingredients one at a time, mixing in by hand. This is every bit as gross as it sounds, but try to mix it all together pretty well.
2. In another bowl, mix the sauce ingredients and reserve.
3. Put the oil in a wok and heat to 400 degrees, or do what I do and turn it up to 'high' and hope for the best. Cook the chicken until the coating is cooked on all sides.
4. Add all of the 'other ingredients' and cook for a couple of minutes.
5. Add the sauce. It says here to 'cook until absorbed', but that will basically never happen, so just cook it until the sauce is boiliing nicely and the chicken seems to be cooked through, which will probably be about ten or fifteen minutes.

It's nice to serve this with rice and possibly some slices of oranges.

Incidentally, I should mention that I gave away copies of 'Nebulous' mp3s to Kibo, Tom, and Muffy.

Re: Urgent Despatch!

[sunburn.livejournal.com]

Excellent recipe, and excellent on Nebulous. I looked through that book at the bookstore, if it's the one I'm thinking of, and was happy to note that it had recipes for my favorite dim sum item, char siu [in] hom bau. (I'm going to attempt some this week or next, time allowing-- I've got a Jamie Oliver recipe that's less fussy with the ingredients, though-- unlike EVERY OTHER Jamie Oliver recipe, seems like these days.)

The only problem with this recipe is that, since I'm a wuss and don't make my own chicken stock, it's tad bit of a pain to open something just to get 2 tbs. Ditto the small amount of red bell pepper, but that, at least, I can save and throw on fajitas or something. Anyway, I'm gonna use water for that step, heh.

Also, if you don't know how hot your wok is, this is a good excuse to spend lots of money on a laser-sighted infrared thermometer. It'll get you one step closer to Total Kitchen Gadget Saturation.

Or, you could be aware that the smoke point of extra-virgin olive oil is just over 400, refined canola oil is right at 400. So a drop of either could help you estimate measure your temp. Excellent wok hey!

[muffyjo]

Thank you for hosting. It was fun. I am sorry that there are no more pistachios left for anyone else, but I really did appreciate them. And the hot and spicy peanuts were lovely. Great company, absurdly funny movies and a good time to be had by all. It's been a while since I've seen 4:00am from that side of the day. And worth it.

[jwgh]

I'm glad you had fun! It was great to see you again, and your willingness to act as chauffeur was greatly appreciated!

[sanspoof.livejournal.com]

Sad, sad us! I'm really sorry I forgot about Hosting the Sibs this weekend. Or rather I am sad that my parents were vague enough about it that I never pinned it down mentally. Sigh.
Anyhoo, husband = squaracter, by the bye.

[jwgh]

Sad! But there will be other opportunities, I am sure.

[plorkwort.livejournal.com]

Waaah! I'm very sorry I wasn't able to make it. I was alternately asleep and asniffle all of Friday and yesterday (today feels like it'll be more of the same), and wouldn't have been very good company. Waah!

[jwgh]

Next time for sure!

May I be of ... assistance?

[dawn-guy.livejournal.com]

The Starlost? Geez, that takes me back. I loved the show as a kid and enjoyed Ben Bova's (http://www.islets.net/oddities/starcrossed.html) and Harlan Ellison's stories about it when I got older. I'm not sure if Keir Dullea (Devon in the series) was more wooden than the young Bill Shatner.

I wonder if the shows are available for purchase on DVD somewhere, just so I can imprint catbear on them.

Re: May I be of ... assistance?

[sunburn.livejournal.com]

I actually saw Keir Dullea about 6 months ago-- he was pretty wooden in person-- it was a Seattle appearance of "Selected Shorts," and he read a story evidently of his choosing, one of the more tired Sherman Alexie stories about homeless Indians in downtown Seattle.

Starlost!

[vardissakheli.livejournal.com]

My BFFBB and I were just talking about that recently. There must have been a revival of it in syndication in the late 70s, because I remember seeing it then as if it were a new show. It's like a whole season of For the Earth Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky but with no James Blish to add spurious bees to the computer.