Five things make a weekend

[shewhomust]

1. On Saturday morning the Graphic Novels Reading Group hit Borders, with a budget and the instruction to buy graphic novels for the library. This was fun. I'm not convinced that it's the best way for the library to select which graphic novels it buys, nor even, necessarily, the best way to gather the group's input on which graphic novels it buys. For a start, quite a bit of our list was just not there to be bought (Grandville, to pick the most glaring example). We went off for a cup of coffee, returned for one last trawl round the shelves, and still didn't manage to spend up to our budget. Still, fun...



2. Despite, or perhaps as a result of, having been jabbed against both seasonal ands swine flu (in both arms, only one of which is still sore) I have for the last few days been on the verge of a cold. I think. Mildly sore throat (which for me is usually the first symptom to appear), mildly ticklish nose, tendency to overnight headaches, not sleeping too well and sleepy all day as a result. It hasn't got noticeably worse, but it hasn't got better either. Irritating.



3. When I'm anxious about something, it expresses itself in a recurring dream in which I have to do something and just can't somehow seem to get down to doing it. Of late it has - finally - stopped manifesting as being back at school and having to sit an exam. I don't think I'm particularly anxious about anything at present, still less about the impending meeting of the Council's Planning Committee (which will decide whether to proceed with the Market Place redesign), but when I'm not sleeping well I get to remember my dream.
   
   And on Saturday night I dreamed that I was trying to get to the cathedral for the Planning Committee Meeting (relocated there because it's a larger space), but was impeded by work which had been carried out in the Bailey (why was I going up the Bailey? shouldn't I have turned up Owengate? don't know, but the Bailey it was): they had roofed it over and painted it yellow.
   
   "I wouldn't put it past them," says durham_rambler



4. I have a bottle of pomegranate molasses, a kitchen-clearing ( perhaps house-cooling is the opposite of housewarming?) gift from weegoddess. Google gave me recipes, and on Saturday evening we had chicken with walnut and pomegranate sauce (and, for that matter, this evening we had chicken salad in pomegranate dressing, but this evening is no longer the weekend). I cheated a little with the recipes, in that I poached the chicken as per the poached chicken recipe, and then reheated the breast meat in a simplified version of the walnut sauce (I can't find the recipe I used, but next time I'd start with Claudia Roden, and go on from there).
   
   Anyway, the pomegranate molasses is delicious, much less heavy than the name suggests: sweet and tart and scented. Encouraged, I have bought some actual pomegranates. I thought I didn't like them, or rather, I thought they weren't worth the effort of removing the bitter pith and dealing with the seeds - but it's time to try again.



5. I'm a fan of Bob the Bolder's photos on Flickr, but I've only just discovered that he also blogs at Durham Daily Photo, which does what it says on the tin; all the local news that fits, served up with pretty pictures. I've made an LJ feed (durham_photos) so I don't miss anything in future.

Comments

[sovay]

I have a bottle of pomegranate molasse

Oh, wow. I will have to find that.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

I'd only previously seen it at the Borough Market, where I bought a bottle as a gift for a foodie friend - but it seems to be fairly available online.

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

My favourite way of cooking with pomegranate molasses is to fry some onions in olive oil, add chopped chook, add pomegranate molases, add slivered almonds.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Almonds rather than walnuts, then? OK, I could do that!

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

Almonds work better with pomegranate in my experience (which is limited - I most eat pomegranate raw, being a Philistine). Almond milk works too. Sometimes I use almond meal and some slivered almonds, to give texture.

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

I always love pomegranates - but have found dealing with them much easier since I started taking Nigella Lawson's advice (in a wonderful recipe that cooks lamb until it falls off the bone and can be - and is - shredded by forks, is soaked in pomegranate juice, mixed with fresh mint and pomegranate seeds, and served as a warm salad. Yum.)

If you want the juice only, cut them in half and either squeeze them in your hands or use a lemon squeezer. To get the seeds out pretty much intact, cut the pomegranate in half, then hold it cut side down over a large plate and hit the non-cut top and sides with a wooden spoon. The seeds will start to fall within half a dozen hits. This really, really works. All those years of peeling and dividing into sections and it was this easy...

NB: When I say seeds I mean the individual bits of fruit with the seeds in, naturally, not the actual hard bit in the centre of each fruitlet.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that's worth a try. How do you feel about eating the seeds (actual seeds)?

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

They don't taste of anything, but you have to be wary of them sticking between your teeth! Actually, I don't notice them any more, but I have been eating pomegranates since I was about six!