Sorry, no photo

I was a little bit late with the St. Patrick’s Day dinner of corned beef and cabbage. We had it last night and it was great. I did it a little different than last year, slow cooking the flat brisket for about 4 hours and the cabbage for 30 minutes. I began with a 4 pound flat with very little fat on it. I put it in the slow cooker and added enough beef broth to cover it. I also added the spice packet that came with the brisket. First I brought it to a boil and then reduced it to a simmer for the next 4 hours. As soon as the brisket was fork tender, I removed it and covered it with foil, placing it in the microwave to rest and stay warm. Now it was time for the cabbage. I quartered one head of cabbage and trimmed the hard center out of two quarters. Those I placed in the liquid remaining in the slow cooker and brought it up to a boil again. 20, or 30 minutes at the most, and it’s done. Watch the cabbage carefully and remove it if it’s starting to come apart. You want it to be slightly firm and not floating around the pot in pieces. Now you can remove the brisket from the microwave and slice it. I put the slices right down the middle of the plate and placed the cabbage quarters on each side of the slices. Looked good. You will have to trust me, I forgot to take a picture of it.

And what is it with corned beef and cabbage that makes me want to speak with an Irish accent? Is there something in that aroma that fills the kitchen?

Schwarzenegger

Calls Rush 'Irrelevant'

Our acting governor has finally made sense! Mr. Limbaugh is an entertainer only. His views on anything should be suspect. By the way, entertaining is never to be confused with rocket science...they are completely different. Rocket science requires brains.

But, what's Prada?

We watched the movie, The Devil Wears Prada last night. I can tell you that I wasn’t tempted to snooze during this movie. Fascinating! Because of my personality type, INFP, I was on edge and tense for the whole movie. That was because the acting was so good; so believable, that I was drawn right into the conflicting emotions of the characters. Here is a rare case where the book was poor but the movie was great. And all due to acting skills.

A Great Moral Play?

In honor of Saint Patrick’s Day, we watched the film, Waking Ned Devine. What a fun movie! It might be worthy of watching one more time as the Irish accents were a bit thick and sometimes difficult to understand. Not that the film suffered, no, not at all. It was understandable even when the words weren’t. Maybe I can find it on-sale somewhere?

At the movies

We took the time to watch a very long movie last night; but it was worth it. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. Mr. Depp was brilliant as usual and the movie, though long, was delightful! When’s the next one? The ending of this epic made it clear that there was another movie to be made.

I must admit that the special effects are a big draw for me…even more than the acting or the story. I love CG! And I only saw one scene where the effects were less than seamless. There is a scene where a run-away water wheel is revolving its way through the jungle and suddenly the effects were obviously wrong…to my eye.