Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Amazing Teriyaki Meatballs and Weekend

Guysss, we reached 1,000 pageviews! I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty exciting. 

This week might be my favorite so far; excellent movie and deliiiicious dinner. Both being rather straightforward, so on to how you can recreate the fun: 






















So the story of this recipe starts last winter when a friend showed me a little Japanese food place in New York where you just order skewers of things. I ordered some teriyaki meatballs that turned out to be dipped in magic, and so the mission to recreate the sauce began. There were many enjoyable iterations, but not until a few weeks ago did we discover that the secret ingredient is mirin—so don't leave it out! It is a sweet cooking sake that you can probably procure somewhere with international goods or at a Japanese grocery store.  After you find the ingredients this recipe is plenty easy and crazy tasty, definitely appropriate for wowing others. (I should note, this is not your gooey sweet teriyaki sauce, this is flavor I cannot even describe.) 

Bring ⅔ cup mirin to boil in a saucepan/small pot and simmer for 5 minutes.

Reduce heat and add:
               1 cup soy sauce (or tamari, for the gluten-free)
               4 ½ tsp. rice vinegar
               1 tsp sesame oil
               ⅓ cup white sugar (honey or maple syrup have also proven delicious)
               4 cloves of garlic, minced (give or take, your call)
               1 tbs. minced fresh ginger (I only had powdered on hand and it was fine)
               Dash of red pepper flakes and black pepper (to taste)
(initial recipe from allrecipes)

Now that you've got that, I suggest pouring it over some ground meat (we went with turkey) and letting it marinate for about half an hour. Then fry it up! You kind of want to squeeze the extra sauce out of the balls when you make them so they firm up.* Serve along side rice and broccoli for full dinner effect. 
                 -syd

*ugh, meat. Don't forget to wash it before you start. And freeze leftovers. Since I went vegan before I really started cooking I never learned how to deal with meat and sometimes I forget these things.




Weekend (2011)
Written and directed by Andrew Haigh
Trailer

I was hesitant about this movie at first because the trailer made me think "too boy-centric and seemingly boring," but after I watched it I was blown away because it is just a REALLY good movie.

True to the title, the movie takes place over a weekend in Nottingham, England. After a night hanging out with his straight friends, Russell ventures off to a gay club to find some company. He meets Glen, and what starts off as a potential one night stand becomes something a lot more meaningful.

The two have this wonderful balance. Glen, the outspoken artist who doesn't "do boyfriends," is radical and constantly challenging social conventions. Russell, who is kind of awkward and shy, seems to be weighed down by his internalized homophobia, but has his own introspective views on life, happiness, and sexuality.

If you're hard of hearing or have trouble understanding accents, I suggest putting on some subtitles because the conversations are the best part of this movie. We found ourselves nodding and knowingly glancing at each other throughout. I actually teared up quite a bit with my hand clenched over my heart.

Overall rating
Syd: 8/10 teriyaki meatballs
Lore: 7/10 teriyaki meatballs

Queer rating
Unanimously 10 out of 10 teriyaki meat balls.
There is a part where Glen is talking about straight people not seeing gay things because "it's not their world, they'll go see murders, pictures of refugees, but gay sex? Fuck off." And it's so true! Make your straight friends watch this with you to questions their inherited story lines. 

I tried reviewing this the best that I could without giving too much away. If you're into discussion and/or talking about norms and queerness, watch the movie and let us know what you think!

-Lore

6 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. As in ... the voices you make on youtube??

      Delete
    2. Nooo, I mean yes now they are on youtube, but I mean my/your imitation of people on youtube.

      Delete
  2. You two are very entertaining and have excellent taste. Thanks and keep it up!

    ReplyDelete