Well, dear readers, I am quite contented right now. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I, BK, am quite contented right now, just like a contented cow, a cow that will, of course, be coming home very soon. The reason for my being a contented cow is because that is how I always feel after a superb meal and that is what I had last night at the home of muse Margaret and her ever lovin’ Richard. There just aren’t many better things than dinner at the Jones’s, and that is because it’s like having a warm, family meal with warm, wonderful people. And not only that, muse Margaret is a great cook – not a fancy-shmancy cook, but a great cook of simple down-home comfortable foodstuffs. And that is what we had last night. She made a chicken dish that was so out of this world that I’m going to share the recipe for it. Like all wonderfully wonderful dishes, it is simplicity itself, with ingredients that, at first glance, might make you scratch your head, but when combined and cooked result in one of the best chicken dishes I’ve ever had. She got the idea from a recipe in a magazine, and has made it a couple of times before. It’s just a chicken breast, rolled in crumbled Ritz crackers (crushed, like breadcrumbs), garlic, and shredded cheddar cheese. It’s just an amazing array of flavorful flavors and I just became obsessed with it immediately. And so here is what we are now calling Margaret’s Chicken:
16 Ritz Crackers (crushed – she leaves them in the little package and uses a rolling pin to crush)
6 oz. cheddar cheese (grated)
3 cloves garlic
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted)
Heat oven to 350 degrees. On a plate, combine crushed crackers, grated cheese, garlic and ¼ tsp. of salt and ¼ tsp. pepper.
Dip chicken in melted butter then cracker mixture, pressing to help it adhere – place on foil-lined baking sheet.
Sprinkle any remaining cracker mixture on chicken and drizzle with remaining butter.
Bake 30 to 40 minutes. And voila, a perfectly perfect dinner.
She served it with Spanish rice and green beans, and also had some tomatoes with chopped celery. For dessert, she made a chocolate pudding pie (she’s a great baker) with fresh whipped cream. All in all, faboo.
Prior to that yummilicious meal, I’d had a very energetic day. I got up after a decent night’s sleep, answered e-mails, had a couple of telephonic calls, and then I did some banking and lugged for big boxes o’ memorabilia back to storage. This was, of course, not as simple as it sounds, since I had to do one box at a time, get them all on the elevator, and then get them all to the actual storage locker, which is not anywhere near the elevator. So, that all took time, but at least those boxes aren’t in my living room anymore. I then picked up a couple of packages, including, rather astonishingly, the Albert Glasser material I won on eBay on Friday. It included many cassette tapes of Glasser’s music, a lot of letters (all this stuff was sent to a Glasser fan and writer of genre articles), some sheet music, and, best of all, Glasser’s unpublished autobiography. Of course, I immediately skimmed through that massive tome – in truth, it’s not very well written or organized, but I read some really fun stories, and there are quite a few mentions of our very own Mr. Bert I. Gordon. I do think with some really careful editing, deletions, and reworking, it could be a fun book. I am going to talk to the person I believe is the only remaining relative and see if she’d like to do anything with it. I had a really nice visit and meeting with Mr. Kevin Spirtas, who wants to put together an all new show, so we’ll be working on that over the next few months. After that, I did some work on the computer, and then it was time to go to dinner.
After I got home from dinner, I finished watching a motion picture on the DVR entitled The Bird Cage. I’d only seen it once before, and thought it had some funny things in it. But, it’s really illuminating to see it right after having seen the original film it’s based on, La Cage Aux Folles. While it’s quite close in structure, everything is just a beat off and where the original is effortless and hilarious, this one works too hard in almost every instance. Oh, with such pros as Mike Nichols and Elaine May, they can’t really destroy anything because they DID keep the structure intact and the farce of the original is indestructible. But they added topical political stuff, and they get way too serious at certain times. Robin Williams just makes you really appreciate how subtle and wonderful Ugo Tognazzi is in the original. Mr. Williams tries but the effort is effortful, not effortless like Mr. Tognazzi, who just IS the character. Nathan Lane is fine, but again, Michel Seuralt is so brilliant and so original, that Lane pales in comparison. That’s not to say they both don’t have their moments. Gene Hackman does well, as does Dianne Weist as his wife, but they’ve added some unnecessary stuff that just bogs things down. Hank Azaria has some funny moments, too, but again, the original actor just WAS the character. The film is not served well by its oh so smart-ass musical score, “arranged” by Jonathan Tunick, which features snippets of Sondheim songs (and why?), as well as some disco stuff. What the film really needed was a SCORE – like what Ennio Morricone did in the original. In any case, for me, The Bird Cage is a muddle, but I was glad to see it again.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I am a contented cow who needs to get his beauty sleep.
Today, I should be able to get some ME time in, but I do have to write liner notes, I do have to do errands and whatnot, and I do have to have a dinner meeting with our very own Miss Alet Taylor.
Tomorrow, CDs will arrive early, and Mr. Cason Murphy will thankfully join me to get everything packaged up and shipped. It will probably take a few hours to do, and then I’ll buy him a nice luncheon.
Thursday, I have a lunch meeting, and Friday, I think I’m just starting the long weekend – I’ll finish whatever isn’t finished concerning our new release, and do a few other things, but that will be that and then I’m really looking forward to the long weekend. I do have several things to attend to on Saturday, then I have a 4th of July partay to attend (the usual Tony Slide and Bob Gitt bash), but otherwise I shall relax and recharge, not necessarily in that order.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, finish liner notes, do errands and whatnot, and have a dinner meeting. Today’s topic of discussion: I do love our recipe days, so share one of your favorite recipes – appetizer, main course, or dessert. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland a contented cow.