Crowded

(Pics courtesy of (2) allmusic.com [Split Enz] and (1) crowdedhouse.com)

Vic and I went to see Crowded House on Saturday night. There was a ball game right across the street from the House of Blues, so the wait for dinner was excruciating -- but we walked right in to see the band.

The show was spectacular, a best-of concert that featured nearly every song that I wanted to hear (except Into Temptation, for me; for Vic, World Where You Live was missing). They did Hole in the River, an evocative, haunting yet beautiful song about, of all things, a suicide in the family (written at least ten years before the suicide of original CH drummer Paul Hester):

She left her car by the river
Left her shoes beside

and, taking my breath away, Message to My Girl. That's a =perfect= pop song that comes from the very earliest days of the band -- actually, the band's source, Split Enz, did a version at the end of its days, when it was morphing into Crowded House. Neil did it solo, at a piano: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUC_jE78FNE

Even Vic left saying the show was fantastic, and he's not a CH fan!

Crab Remoulade

1/2 c mayonnaise
1/4 c sour cream
1 tb capers
8 oz crabmeat
1/2 c celery
3 tb chives or scallion tops
1 t chives or scallion tops
1 tb lemon juice
bag pita chips

Drain capers. Pick over crab. Finely
chop celery. Chop chives.
Whisk 1st 3 items together, then stir in
crab, celery, tb (not t) chopped chives,
& lemon juice. Season w/pepper.
Transfer to serving bowl & garnish with
t (not tb) chives. Serve w/chips.
Yield: 8

Broiled Figs

2 fresh figs
1/2 oz blue cheese or Gorgonzola
4 walnut halves

Halve figs lengthwise. Distribute
cheese and nuts on top.
Broil just until cheese is melted,
under 1m.
Yield: 2

Whaleback

This is the townhouse from which we returned last night. It was splendiferous: decorated beautifully and outfitted smartly. I highly recommend it! We found it on vacationrentals.com, listing 47948.

There was a bottle of wine and a package of Trader Joe's chocolate peanut-butter cups waiting for us when we got there. You gotta love that.

Greedy Little Things

There are at least three hummingbirds living outside the living room windows here. They buzz around the four feeders all day. They twitter at each other, fight, and eat all day long: the hummingbirds of New Jersey?

Mini Vaca

My younger sister and I are in NH on a mini vacation, Saturday to Wednesday. We both had a number of things we needed to get done, wordsmithing. So we rationalized that somehow it made sense for us to come up here to Loon Mountain, where happily the phone doesn't ring and no one interrupts -- no offense intended to the callers and interrupters.

I'm using some of this time as though I'm on the Outer Banks, trying out recipes. See below!

Gorgonzola Quiche

Adapted from Julia Child!

3 oz crumbled Gorgonzola
6 oz cottage cheese
2 tb butter
3 tb heavy cream
2 eggs
1/4 t salt
1/4 t white pepper
1/4 t cayenne pepper
4 green scallion tops
9” frozen pie crust

Soften butter overnight. Put rack in
upper third of oven.
Thaw crust 15m while preheating oven
to 400. Cut scallion tops on
diagonal, about 3/4" long.
Prebake crust 8m. Remove, poke holes
in bottom w/fork, and put in 2m more.
Remove crust and lower temp to 375.
With fork, blend cheeses, butter, and
cream, then beat in the eggs with mixer.
Season to taste, then stir in scallions.
Pour into shell and bake 25-30m.
Yield: 6