Went back and picked up a prior section because I was more curious to begin practicing writing my hiragana. There’s some interesting linguistics material and beginning grammar in this section. I’ll have to come back to it and practice some more to absorb both the vocabulary and the grammar.
Spent some time working on improving my actual writing skills as well.
So far I’m really liking this book after having looked at a list of many others over the past year. It quickly covers a lot of simple stuff that was otherwise hard won by reading bits and pieces of other books. They do an exceptionally good job of laying out the beginning pieces. I appreciate some of the workbook like exercises which make this a better book for a much broader range of learners.
The comment about Ramona being brave comes from this relatively lackluster chapter in which Ramona gets upset with her apparent choice of being called a tattletale or allowing Susan to be a terrible copycat. I can attest that the picture of a six year old making a growl-ly face and panther hands is true to life.
Lots of nice definitions and categorization, though I can already tell from other readings that some of the definitions, particularly for pre-ferments, aren’t always as solid as I’d like them to be. As if he were a mathematician, however, he seems to delineate a pretty tight set here that he indicates he’ll stick to throughout the book.
Four types of pre-fermented dough
Stiff/firm: pâte fermentée and biga (no salt)
Wet: poolish and sponge (or levain levure)
The girls bicker and are at each other’s throats until mom comes home to say they’re expanding the house and adding on an extra room. Ramona gets it first.
Somehow this isn’t as entertaining as prior incarnations of Ramona, perhaps because it was written a few decades later? There’s still a kernel of Ramona, but something seems off.
Jesus, Beezus!
Highlight (yellow) – Chapter 1: Trouble in the Park > Page 16
The Custard Continuum may have been one of my favorite parts of the book. I particularly like that he includes a recipe for butterscotch, which he’s right in saying that there are so few.
I am really struck by the dated anti-girl rhetoric in the story. The “you can’t take a girl anywhere” business is just a bit much in a more modern reading of this. While otherwise generally entertaining, I’m not sure I could recommend this to young boys or girls anymore without a touch of a rewrite to improve the gender equality in the piece.
I don’t mind that there’s a pointed difference in boy’s and girls’ bikes so much, but the ad hominem attack on Beezus “What could you expect when you went to an auction with a girl?” is just a bridge too far.
Mayonnaise: 20 parts oil: 1 part liquid: 1 part yolk
Hollandaise: 5 parts butter: 1 part liquid: 1 part yolk
Vinaigrette: 3 parts oil: 1 part vinegar
Rule of thumb: You probably don’t need as much yolk as you thought you did.
I like that he provides the simple ratios with some general advice up front and then includes some ideas about variations before throwing in a smattering of specific recipes that one could use. For my own part, most of these chapters could be cut down to two pages and then perhaps even then cut the book down to a single sheet for actual use in the kitchen.
Highlights, Quotes, & Marginalia
Part 4: Fat-Based Sauces
But what greatly helps the oil and water to remain separate is, among other things, a molecule in the yolk called lecithin, which, McGee explains, is part water soluble and part fat soluble.
Highlight (yellow) – Mayonnaise > Page 168
Added on Sunday, February 4, 2018
The traditional ratio, not by weight, is excellent and works beautifully: Hollandaise = 1 pound butter: 6 yolks. This ratio seems to have originated with Escoffier. Some cookbooks call for considerably less butter per yok, as little as 3 and some even closer to 2 to 1, but then you’re creeping into sabayon territory; whats more, I believe it’s a cook’s moral obligation to add more butter given the chance.
Highlight (yellow) – Hollandaise> Page 185
more butter given the chance! Reminiscent of the Paula Deen phrase: “Mo’e butta is mo’e betta.” Added on Sunday, February 4, 2018
