21 And 4 Other Movies

I've been watching (and reading) a lot of movies the past few days. I watched 21 today and almost had a coma. Here are my ratings and the review of 21.

21 F

My new worst flick ever! Based on a true story about a math genius who was persuaded by his teacher to join a group of blackjack card counters to cheat the casinos in Las Vegas. Yeah, I know, what is so exciting about card counting but with the right script and director it could be good, example: Rounders with Matt Damon and Edward Norton. Not 21 though, which I declare is nothing more than 2 hours of cliches, slo-mos, mnemonic gestures, and several wig changes by Kate Bosworth. If I had taken a shot of my homemade mango vodka each time those annoying scenes come on I would have gotten plastered after the first half hour. I waited and waited and waited for the movie to pick up its pace but after one hour nothing thrilling is happening. It's as riveting as watching paint dry. Watching bass fishing perhaps is more exciting than this movie. I got up to do something in the kitchen without pausing the player and listened to the dialog and did not miss a thing. At the ending scene when Kevin Spacey was being confronted by the security chief I uttered: come on Keyser Söze, walk out of there! This movie is definitely NOT chicken dinner worthy.:D

My rating for 3 Hong Kong and 1 French movies: All A, Highly Recommended

THE WARLORDS
Period movie, brotherhood, betrayal, ambition, lots of gore and martial arts. With Jet Li, Andy Lau, and Takeshi Kaneshiro

TOKYO RAIDERS
Asian James Bond with cool gadgets and sexy assistants, nonstop dizzying kung fu action, cheesy, comedy, romance, yakuza, the most ridiculous but entertaining chase scene with motorized skateboard and small bicycles in the chaotic streets of Tokyo. With Tony Leung and Kelly Chen

INFERNAL AFFAIRS 3
Sequel/Prequel to Infernal Affairs (remade by Hollywood as THE DEPARTED). With Tony Leung, Andy Lau, and Kelly Chen

MOLIÈRE
A fictionalized account of the "lost" 2 years of the French actor and playwright Molière's life after he got out of prison for unpaid debts. Hilarious, laugh out loud funny, beautiful cinematography and music, accurate costumes and sets for the period. Played by Romain Duris who is the lead actor in one of my favorite movies last year, THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED, a French remake of the American movie, FINGERS.

Country Ribs With Fresh Plums

fresh cherry plums add a hint of sharpness to this country ribs dish
The great thing about summer is the abundance of fresh fruits and every year there are more varieties of fruits that previously were not widely available. The past years I tried all kinds of pluots and last year I had some mango nectarines which are very sweet, not a hint of tartness at all. This year very small round yellow and bright red plums started appearing at the farmer's market and a few groceries. I love that they are sweet, very juicy, and softer than the large black variety and therefore perfect for snacking. A container (almost 4 cups of fruits) at the farmer's market costs $5 which is cheaper than the grocery's. I'm not sure if these are European or Japanese variety, I was told they are called Myrobalan or cherry plums. I thought of using some of the plums with country ribs and searching for recipes online I found that most are Asian style using plum preserves and a lot of spices. The recipes did not appeal to me because I imagine the spices overpowering the delicate flavor of the plums so I created my own recipe using sweet plum wine and I seasoned the pork with very little garlic and ginger shoots. The dish is so delicious and the slight tartness of the fruits enhances the subtle garlic flavor of the country ribs. I will make this dish again maybe with pork chops or duck.

they are slightly larger than bing cherries

Country Ribs With Fresh Plums
3 pounds country-style ribs
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 clove garlic, finely minced
2 teaspoons finely minced ginger shoots or 1 tsp grated ginger
½ teaspoon freshly ground Tellicherry black peppercorns
½ cup plum wine
½ cup fresh plum puree
2 cups whole plums (yellow or red)

• Combine sea salt, sugar, garlic, ginger, peppercorn, wine, and plum puree in a small bowl and mix until sugar and salt have dissolved. Put ribs in a gallon freezer bag, pour the marinade making sure ribs are evenly coated and leave in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Transfer the ribs and marinade on a baking dish and bake for 1 hour. Flip the ribs and bake another 1 hour.
• Remove the baking dish from the oven and pour the cooking liquid into a skillet. Return the ribs to the oven and bake 30 minutes more or until ribs are golden brown. Add the plums to the sauce in the skillet and let cook uncovered over medium-low heat without stirring for 15 minutes. Taste sauce and adjust seasoning.
• Transfer the ribs on a serving dish, spoon the sauce and fruits on top. Good with either rice or crusty bread.

Cherry Pie

my cherry amour

cherry pies baked in 5-inch springform pans

I got so excited last Saturday when I saw sour cherries at the farmer's market. I have never seen them before in groceries except of course the ones in cans. I should kick myself for not getting more than one container because I already had half a basketful of fruits when I saw them. I found out they freeze very well for use during off season so I'm hoping the vendor will have more tomorrow. One container yields almost 4 cups which I halved, 2 cups I made into tiny pies and the other 2 cups are macerating in cherry brandy syrup to fill a layer cake I'm baking later. I agree they make the best pies (or pahs as some Virginians say it), they're sweet and tart and so delicious specially with butter rich crust.

Sour Cherry Pie
for pastry:2½ cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup very cold butter, diced
¼ to ½ cup ice water

for filling:
4 cups pitted sour cherries with its juice
2½ tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup sugar
zest of half a lemon

to bake:
1 tablespoon cold butter, chopped
heavy cream

• Prepare the pastry shells: combine flour, sugar, and salt. Using your fingertips, work in chilled butter into the flour until the mixture resembles small peas. Add ice water 2 tablespoons at a time, stirring until it forms a ball. Gather the dough and divide into 2 pieces. Form into balls and flatten into disks. Wrap separately in plastic film and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• Prepare the fruits: combine the filling ingredients in a bowl, set aside.
• Remove one dough from refrigerator and roll into an 11-inch round. Ease onto the pie plate. Refrigerate while rolling the second dough round.
• Fill the bottom pie crust with filling. Dot with chopped butter. Top with the second crust, pinch edges to seal. Brush top with heavy cream. Bake for 10 minutes then reduce heat to 400 degrees and bake for 40 more minutes or until golden brown.

sour and bing cherries

I'm Sweet On Sour Kamias

For me, one of the downsides to living far from the Philippines is I never get to enjoy my favorite Philippine fruits such as the greenest Indian mangoes, unripe guavas, kamias, semi-ripe green tamarind, and santol. They all have one thing in common, they are all sour ranging from the extreme to moderate and sweetish. I was reminded of my love for these pucker-inducing fruits when I read Marvin's recent trip to the Philippines. Staring at the photos of green mangoes and the kamias with sea salt had me salivating and wanting to pluck them right from the computer screen. One of my favorite snacks was kamias freshly picked from the tree, dipped in rock sea salt. I used to stand in front of the tree and ate them until I had my fill. Kamias is used in the Philippines as a souring agent for soups and for stewed mackerel (tulingan). My mother also chops or slices them as condiment for noodles. Although I prefer eating these sour fruits as they are, I also love them candied.

kamias photo source TopTropicals.com

dried kamias

Spanish mackerel ready for stewing in dried kamias, sea salt, and fried pork fat

Stewed Spanish Mackerel
2 medium-size whole Spanish mackerel, cleaned and slashed lengthwise
hydrated dried kamias, reserve liquid
sea salt to taste
a very small piece of pork belly with fat, sliced and fried crisp
banana leaf, optional

• Line a skillet with banana leaf, sprinkle with half a T of sea salt, half of the dried kamias and half of the fried pork fat. Place fish on skillet, sprinkle with another half T of sea salt, top with the remaining dried kamias and pork fat. Pour the reserved liquid in the skillet and add enough water to cover fish. Let boil, cover the skillet and cook over medium heat until almost all the liquid has evaporated. Serve with steamed rice.

I'm sending this post to this week's Lasang Pinoy Sundays