Happy 21st Birthday, Alex & Jess DuMond!

The DuMond twins, Alex and Jess, turn 21 today. That's about 7,670 days since they were born. Some of those days were better than others perhaps, but by any measure everyone who knows Jess and Alex can celebrate their reaching this milestone.

Ironically, both DuMond twins are turning 21 while in Japan, where the legal drinking age is 20, so there's an element of the anti-climactic, at least in terms of toasting a birthday with a sip of adult beverage. In any event, even though we are on a different continent from Alex and Jess, we shall raise a glass and toast their birthday.

Some highlights of the past 21 years:

• Jessica Paige DuMond and Alexander David DuMond make their grand entrance almost simultaneously on 7/31/87 in a surgical suite in a hospital in Anchorage, Alaska. The room is filled with surgeons, doctors and nurses, all of whom have the sole focus of bringing Alex and Jess into the world.
• Both DuMond twins would go on to learn multiple musical instruments throughout their years of growing up.
• Alex and Jess graduated several years ago from two different high schools on the same night at the same time (Jess from Ashland High School in Ashland, Oregon; Alex from St. Mary's School in Medford, Oregon). Parental units had to divide and conquer in order for to have someon at both events.
• Both are pursuing advanced educational opportunities in Seattle, Washington.

Alex and Jess: All of the people who took part in raising you (mom, dad, stepmom, grandma, friends, neighbors), along with your aunt, uncle, nephews, niece, brother, sister-in-law and everyone else in your lives are proud of you and happy that you've reached full adulthood as smart and healthy humans. And above all, WE LIKE YOU AND WE LOVE YOU!

Recipe #15 - Eggs Florentine, DuMond-Style

Variations on the "Eggs Benedict" theme abound. It's basically poached eggs atop English muffins, along with a sauce and something yummy underneath the egg. We've been partial to making hollandaise sauce with a blender, which is easy and foolproof.

Makes four servings.

8 whole eggs

1/2 lb. spinach, washed and stemmed
1 Tbsp. butter
8 oz. frozen artichoke hearts, parboiled and drained
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced
2 ripe tomatoes, sliced

3 egg yolks
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter

4 English muffins, halved

Smoked paprika

Heat the tablespoon of butter in a large skillet and add the spinach. Cook until wilted all the way through and set aside.

Poach the eggs in an egg poacher pan or in boiling water. Drain the eggs and set aside. Poaching time is dictated by how soft or firm you like your eggs. We poach for about four minutes and let the eggs sit in the pan for a few more seconds. Three minutes will yield poached eggs that are quite "runny" with liquid yolks; five minutes will give you pretty solid yolks.

Toast the English muffins and spread with unsalted butter.

Put the egg yolks, lemon juice, salt and cayenne in a blender and buzz for a few seconds. Place the 1/2 cup butter in a measuring cup and put in the microwave until fully melted. Slowly pour melted butter into the blender while the blender is buzzing.

Put two English muffin halves on each of four plates. Place on each muffin half some sauteed spinach, some sliced avocado, a few pieces of thinly slice artichoke heart, and a slice of tomato. Top that with a poached egg, then pour enough hollandaise directly from the blender to cover the eggs.

Dust the tops of the eggs florentine with paprika and serve.

In Praise of Great Films - Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

Third in a series.

When we wrote recently about the movie Hud, a reference was made to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and its status as a "groundbreaking" film. What qualifies it as groundbreaking?

For starters, it was the first widely distributed film with "name" actors to contain a ton of profanity, along with very adult themes. The production codes which had ruled the movie industry since the 1930s were finally being brought down (and soon to be replaced by the MPAA and its rating system, which is still in place today). Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? utilized what at the time were shocking words in its dialogue.

But there is much more to this film than its profanity. It is a splendid example of a group of extremely talented individuals coming together to create something great. The movie's director was a then unknown 35-year-old Mike Nichols, who at the time had never made a film in his life. Imagine a studio today entrusting a major film with some of the biggest stars on earth to someone who had never directed a movie before. Nichols was nominated for an Oscar for the movie, and he wasn't the only one.

In all, the film earned an astounding 13 Academy Award nominations, with five wins. Included in the win column were Haskell Wexler's fabulous black-and-white cinematography, as well as art direction and costume design and two acting categories.

Speaking of acting, another amazing thing about this movie is the fact that its entire credited cast was nominated for Oscars. That's right: every single member of the cast was nominated. Elizabeth Taylor for best actress, Richard Burton for best actor, George Segal for best supporting actor, Sandy Dennis for best supporting actress (Taylor and Dennis won).

As one watches Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, it becomes apparent that the flick plays out like ... well, a play. Of course it does. That's because it was a play before it was a movie. The play was penned by Edward Albee; the screenplay was by the great Ernest Lehman, who was also nominated for Hello, Dolly!, West Side Story, North by Northwest and Sabrina (although he never won).

I was 12 when this movie was released and didn't see it then. I watched it in early adulthood, and while I was amazed by the artistry involved, I realized I never could have handled it as a kid. This movie is as inappropriate for children now as it was in 1966. Its characters are vile, weak, abusive, obscene, horrid people who play creepy mind games and inflict psychological damage on those who share space with them.

This isn't a movie for everyone. Black-and-white, no happy endings, cruel dialogue and not a single character you can sympathize with. Yet it stands as an American classic.

Oh, and did I mention that the entire cast was Oscar-nominated?

Recipe #14 - Seafood Etouffee

Yes, we skipped #13. Not that were triskaidekaphobics, but still...

Is it creole? Is it cajun? Is it French? We suspect it's all of the above in one way or another.

Regardless of the origin, the key to an etouffee is creating a dark roux, which will then thicken the rich, spicy sauce.

Most classic Louisiana etouffee recipes feature crawfish (aka crayfish), a freshwater crustacean resembling tiny lobsters. We often can't find fresh crawfish (despite our easy access to great fish retailers here in the Puget Sound area) so we're guessing you'll have the same problem. Thus we're substituting shrimp and crab, which are obviously more accessible to the masses.

Makes about six servings.

1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup white flour

1 large onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
6 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
3 bay leaves
1/3 cup minced flat-leaf parsley
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
14 oz. can tomato sauce
1.5 cups rich vegetable stock

1/2 lb. medium shrimp, shelled and deveined
1/2 lb. fresh crab meat

Heat oil in a sauce pan and add flour. Stir continuously over medium heat until the roux turns a deep brown color.

Add the onion, scallions, celery, bell pepper and garlic and cook, stirring often, until vegetables are softened and cooked through. Add the salt, cayenne, tomato sauce, stock, bay leaves and parsley. Bring up to heat and then allow to cook at an even simmer for about 20 minutes.

Shortly before serving, add the seafood and cook for about five minutes until the shrimp is opaque but not overdone.

Serve the etouffee over long grain white rice, along with a steamed green vegetable and a green salad.

NOTE: You can feel free to substitute other seafood for the shrimp and/or crab, such as lobster, halibut, scallops or shellfish. And by all means if you have access to actual crayfish, use it!

Recipe #12 - Broccoli Multi-Pepper Cheddar Chowder

Broccoli is one of our favorite soup ingredients. The first President Bush uttered the famous anti-broccoli remark during his term in office, and while we can understand the fact that some folks don't like this great green veggie, we appreciate its taste, texture and nutritional value.

Makes approximately six servings.

2 cups small trimmed broccoli florets
2 medium red potatoes, peeled and diced
1 sweet Walla Walla onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, cored and diced
1 poblano pepper, cored and diced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 Tbsp. minced Italian parsley leaves
1 Tbsp. minced cilantro leaves
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. dry mustard
2 Tbsp. flour
4 cups rich vegetable stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
Salt & pepper to taste
1/4 lb. sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Put the broccoli florets in a pan of boiling salted water and blanch for two minutes. Drain the broccoli and put into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.

Heat the butter and olive oil in a soup pot. Add the potatoes, onion, peppers and garlic. Saute vegetables until tender, then add parsley and cilantro and cook for another minute.

Add the flour and mustard and stir to combine well. Cook for another minute or two, then add the stock. Simmer gently until the soup thickens somewhat, about ten minutes.

Stir in the cream and cheese, along with the blanched broccoli florets. Season with a little salt and pepper. Simmer gently until the cheese is fully melted and the chowder is smooth and hot.

This soup is great with a hunk of warm crusty sourdough bread and a cool Caesar salad.

In Praise of Great Films - The Fractured Timeline and Great Nonlinear Movies

Second in an ongoing series.

A recent edition of Entertainment Weekly listed the top films of the past 25 years, and the classic Pulp Fiction (1994) landed at the top. If you haven't seen this flick, check it out. It's a prime example of what we call the "fractured timeline" (aka nonlinear) type of storytelling. Watching a film that unspools in a manner other than a straightforward, linear timeline isn't for everyone. But for those who marvel at how a movie can reveal itself in unorthodox ways, Pulp Fiction is great fun.

But it got us to thinking about other movies with nonlinear stories. Obviously, you can look to other films by Pulp's Quentin Tarantino, such as Jackie Brown (1997) and Reservoir Dogs (1992). Both of these films jump around in time, although in each case the fractured storyline is easy to follow and serves to energize the movie.

Tarantino is certainly not the first filmmaker to break up the timeline of a movie to tell a story in a unique way. Another director to repeatedly utilize the technique is Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who has three great films with the nonlinear theme:

• Amores Perros (2000), a Mexican film about several lives interconnected to a horrific car accident.
• 21 Grams (2003), also about several lives linked by an awful car accident, although this one is in English with Oscar-nominated performances by Benicio Del Toro and Naomi Watts (not to mention one of Sean Penn's best turns ever as a dying heart patient).
• Babel (2006), which interlocks four different storylines (in this author's opinion, that was one too many) in as many languages, and features fine acting chops by Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt, Gael Garcia Bernal, and a host of unknown Japanese and Arab performers.

Another cool example of a movie that tells a great story without a straightforward timeline is the innovative Memento (2000), by Christopher Nolan, who has since made some other classics, including Insomnia (2002), Batman Begins (2005), The Prestige (2006), and the upcoming The Dark Knight, opening July 18th. Actually, Memento doesn't qualify as a fractured timeline flick because the story is told exactly backwards. Very inventive and positively gripping storytelling.

But if you think nonlinear movies are limited to the past decade-and-a-half or so, you can go back in time for prime examples such as Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950) and Citizen Kane (1941), the classic by Orson Welles. Rashomon uses a ruptured timeline by necessity, as it presents an act which is seen by a number of different witnesses (and thus shown to the audience as many times). The latter film is thought by many to be the greatest film of them all, and it does indeed jump around in time, though not as frenetically as, say, Inarritu or Tarantino's examples.

Perhaps the best case in point with respect to fractured storylines is one of the great Stanley Kubrick's first features, The Killing (1956). A friend of mine, writer/director/artist Dana Augustine, lent me a copy of this movie years ago, and I was amazed by how the story played out. Decades before Pulp Fiction was made (and in fact seven years before Quentin Tarantino was even born), this film utilized the fractured timeline to great effect. Sterling Hayden and Coleen Gray headed a fine cast in this story about an elaborate heist attempt at a horse race venue. It's worth seeking out here.

For those who just don't like their movies told in a nonlinear way, that's fine. But for anyone who digs an occasional fractured storyline, every one of the films described in this post is worth a look.

Recipe #11 - Fourth of July Herbed Potato Salad

Potato salad is always a summer favorite, especially on the 4th of July. This is a variation on the classic, with the addition of some fresh herbs to give it fresher flavors.

Makes four servings.

3 medium new red potatoes
3 fresh whole eggs

2 shallots, peeled and minced
1 bunch scallions, cleaned and finely sliced on the diagonal
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. minced fresh chives
2 Tbsp. minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 Tbsp. minced fresh basil

1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. dijon mustard
Salt & pepper

1 tsp. paprika

Put the potatoes in a pot of cold salted water and place over a high burner on the stove. Bring to a low boil and simmer for about 20 minutes. Test with the tip of a knife to make sure they're very tender. Set aside to cool.

Pierce one end of each egg with a needle and place in a small saucepan. Cover with cold water and put over a high flame. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for ten minutes. Remove the eggs and set aside to cool.

Bring the olive oil to heat in a saute pan and add the shallots, garlic and scallions. Saute until just barely tender. Set aside to cool.

Put the mayonnaise and mustard in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste and whisk briefly. Dice the potatoes and roughly grate the hard-cooked eggs. Add the onion mixture, the minced herbs, the potatoes and the grated eggs to the mayo-mustard mixture in the bowl, and stir gently to completely combine.

Dust the top with paprika and serve.

Recipe #10 - Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

We recently put this one together based primarily on what we had on hand at the time. We had it with homemade mediterranean veggie burgers, but it would go great with a piece of grilled fish.

Makes six servings.

2 15 oz. cans low sodium chickpeas, drained and thoroughly rinsed

1 small bulb fennel, finely diced
1 medium shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 red bell pepper, cored and cut in four pieces

3 ripe red tomatoes, cored and diced
1/2 cup chopped kalamata olives
2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/2 cup prepared basil pesto (recipe follows)
1/3 cup mayonnaise
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
Salt & pepper

3 cups mesclun salad greens
2 Tbsp. crumbled feta cheese
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Put the drained chickpeas in a large mixing bowl.

Heat the olive oil in a saute pan and add the fennel, shallot and garlic. Saute until just cooked through, about four minutes. Cool slightly and add to the chickpeas.

Meanwhile, preheat the broiler and cover a baking sheet with foil and spray with non-stick spray. Put the pieces of bell pepper, skin side up, on the tray and place directly underneath the broiler heat element. Roast until the skin blackens considerably. Remove immediately and slide the roasted pepper pieces into a paper bag. Close the bag up tight and let cool. Then remove the pepper and peel all the skin off. Dice the roasted peppers and add to the chickpea mixture.

Add the tomatoes, olives and feta cheese to the salad.

In another bowl, whisk together the pesto, mayonnaise and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the dressing to the chickpea mixture and stir gently to combine everything. Chill the salad for 30 minutes.

Put the lemon juice, feta and olive oil in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Put the salad greens in a bowl and add the lemon-feta vinaigrette, tossing gently to dress. Put a small handful of dressed greens on each plate and top with a mound of the chickpea salad. Serve!

BASIL PESTO

Fistful of fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
8 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and buzz it until it becomes a smooth paste, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary. Adjust flavors as appropriate. (If you want a more pronounced garlic flavor, throw in a few extra cloves. Same goes for the other ingredients.) If the pesto seems too thick, add more olive oil. Store in an airtight jar or sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator, or freeze for later use.