TRUE CONFESSION!

Like an ongoing series, after a brief break I’m continuing with the subject of movies and books.  I’m not sure if this is Season 3 or Season 4.  Whichever one it is, I am sure you will catch up, not having missed much.

Reading was encouraged when my late brother and I were children.  On our birthdays, and every Christmas, we received four books each as part of our gifts.  I read all of Enid Blyton’s tales.  Childhood wasn’t a childhood without Blyton’s protagonists playing their roles in it.  Rex Dixon’s exciting, western adventures of “Pocomoto” held me in awe.  

I loved the March Sisters exploits, and was found, many times over, with my head buried in the pages. The March family stories were poignantly related by Louisa May Alcott.  The books were read so often I could almost recite the text verbatim.

The June Allyson, Elizabeth Taylor, Margaret O’Brien, Janet Leigh, and Peter Lawford 1949 film version of “Little Women” was a firm favourite, viewed more than once.  In my humble opinion...it remains the best version.  I guess it is because the movie (and the books – “Little Women”, “Good Wives”, “Little Men”, and “Jo’s Boys” – all played such  major roles in my childhood.

Literary gems by Ruth Park, the Brontes, Dickens, Hans Christian Andersen, Robert Louis Stevenson, R.M. Ballantyne, Alexandre Dumas, John Bunyan, Lewis Carroll, Daniel Defoe, Paul Gallico, Richard Compton, Anna Sewell etc., etc., et al were page turners.

Clearly I remember the afternoon Mum and Nana arrived home from shopping to find me drowning in a torrent of tears, sobbing my heart out.  Both rushed to me wondering why I was so upset.  I’d just read the section in “Black Beauty” where Ginger, Beauty’s friend (horse) had died. Heartbroken, I couldn’t contain my tears.

In my possession I have a hardcover copy of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. The book has been part of my life since I was a small child.  The pages are yellowed, frayed and fragile.

A notation on the first page reads:  “Monkland...Presbyterian Sabbath School.  First Prize – Awarded To – John Hay, Third Class...Date: January 1904”. 

John Hay was my grandfather; my mother’s father.  He passed away before I was born.  Monkland is a southern section of Gympie, the town of my childhood and teen years.  

The book goes to no one when I depart this planet.  With just me being the “Last of the Mohicans” of my mob...I have nobody to whom I can bequeath the old, battered and torn treasure. The condition it is in...like someone plastered and bandaged after a major traffic accident...it’s not suitable to be given to one of the local Op Shops, or similar.

  

I hope books...of the paper kind...are read and treasured by current and future generations; that children of today spend valuable time with their heads buried in books, not glued permanently to screens of varying sizes and shapes.  I hope their shelves are lined with books, as ours were when my late brother and I were children.

In the early Sixties, Leon Uris’ compelling, historical novel, “Exodus” hit bookstores with loud acclaim.  The book was in everyone’s hands. The story was on everyone’s lips.  

The movie, featuring a stellar cast, with Paul Newman and Eva Marie Saint in leading roles, along with Peter Crawford (he got around that fellow while marrying into the Kennedy Clan), Sal Mineo, Jill Haworth, Lee J. Cobb and Jill Haworth, was due for release in July, 1962...the Australian release.  

Post haste, attired in a tight skirt and high heels, not Lorna Jane, Adidas or Nike, I hit the pavement running, off to one of Gympie’s bookshop to grab a copy of the novel, wanting to read the book before the movie was released and arrived at the Olympia Theatre.

Now, this is where my true confession comes into play.

The first and only time throughout my working life I took a “sickie” was one Wednesday in 1962. 

During my working life I never took “sickies”. My belief was if I took a “pretend sickie”, karma would bare its teeth, and bite me on the bum.  Payback for my transgression would be I’d get sick for real.  Why tempt fate? 

That Wednesday in 1962 I dared to tempt fate.  

Feeling fit and well, albeit a little guilty, I took a “sickie”.  I spent the daylight hours lying on a rug, on the grass, in our front yard, reading, and savouring Uris’ epic novel to its final word.  So engrossed was I in the international bestseller...a moving story based on the 1947/48 founding of the State of Israel...I shirked my secretarial nine to five duties at the law office of Tozer and Jeffery, Solicitors, Upper Mary Street, Gympie. 

Never again did I repeat such a sneaky deception - there or elsewhere. 

However, I did read the book more than once, but on my own time, on those occasions.  I watched the movie more than once, too.  The film didn’t disappoint.  I would suggest both to anyone.

There!  That’s off my chest and mind!

Braised Beef Cheeks: For marinade:- add 1 bay leaf, 3 cloves and 2 star anise to 300ml red wine, bring to boil. Once boiling, remove from heat. Cool before pouring over 4 beef cheeks in bowl. Refrigerate for at least 10hrs. Strain beef from marinade, discard liquid; dry beef with paper towel. Heat heavy based pan until near smoking. Add some olive oil to pan; seal beef; get as much crust on the meat as you can without burning it. Remove and rest beef. With pan still on high temp, add 1 chopped onion, 2 chopped celery stalks, and 1 chopped carrot; brown. De-glaze pan with 300ml red wine and 100mlm port; reduce by half. Add 1lt veal stock, 2 bay leaves, 2 star anise, 2 cloves, and 4 sprigs thyme; bring back to a boil. Preheat oven 140C. Place beef cheeks in braising tray; cover with the liquid and vegetables. Cover with baking paper and two layers of aluminium foil. Cook in oven 2.5-3hrs, until beef is tender. Rest at room temp; allow liquid to cool before removing cheeks. Strain vegies and aromatics from liquid; reserve liquid; split it in half. For one half of liquid, reduce over med-heat to form a glaze. For other half; reduce to sauce consistency; season with sherry vinegar, a touch of lemon juice and salt; serve drizzled over the beef cheeks.

Israeli Salad: Combine in large bowl, 2 cubed Roma tomatoes, 450g cubed, seedless cucumber, 1medium red onion, finely chopped and 3tbs finely chopped parsley. Pour over the dressing; combine juice of half a lemon, or more if needed, 2-3tbs olive oil, 1-1/2tsp sumac powder; season to taste.  If desired, add ½-1c crumbled or cubed feta, ½ red capsicum, cubed, 1 can drained, rinsed chickpeas, ½ to1c coarsely chopped olives, 1tbs minced dill or mint, and pita chips.  Break 6 large pita into 8 wedges each; then split each into 2 layers; spray with oil; bake in oven until they begin to colour; cool completely before using.