Salon.com > Nancy Spiller

I want my HGTV!

Mon, 30 Apr 2001 19:04:00 +0000

I'm addicted to cable television's Home and Garden TV. Ever since HGTV joined our local lineup, I've been mesmerized by this encyclopedic video shelter magazine with its steady stream of design chat, remodeling rambles and how-to tips. I haven't been this turned on by television since a childhood steeped in family sitcoms. Then I pined for the perfect world à la "Father Knows Best" and "The Donna Reed Show." I now recognize pipe dreams when I see them -- hence my attraction to HGTV.

I watch HGTV not because I want to spend every spare minute stenciling walls, building backyard ponds or rearranging bathroom fixtures, but because I've had it with home-improvement projects. The network provides a comforting reminder why I should never give in to any of the urges illustrated. I've arrived at this point of home-improvement ennui after spending more than a decade doing damage control on a 74-year-old house that the kindlier maintenance people, those who still return my phone calls, dub "decrepit." My husband and I have replaced, restored, recovered, refinished, replumbed, rejigged, reorganized, painted, patched, planed and bolted seemingly every inch of our ancient abode. Many nights I've cried for a landlord to rescue us. Once I thought I was going to have to call the police to eject a siding salesman from our living room. I've earned the right to plop down in our snuggle chair and get high on the fumes of other people's handiwork.

Let’s give them something to talk about

Wed, 17 Jan 2001 00:58:00 +0000

Batter for frying: Mix a cup or two of all-purpose flour with a pinch of salt and enough sparkling water or beer to make it the consistency of cream. If it's too thin, add more flour. Let it sit and thicken some more for a half-hour or more.

Anchovies for frying: Get enough fresh anchovies for a half-dozen or more per person. If you can't find fresh anchovies, fresh sardines can be substituted. If you can't find them in your local fish market, they might be available fresh and live at a coastal bait shop. If the fishmonger hasn't cleaned them because he's too tired or busy that day, fillet the fish by snapping off its head and slipping your finger in at the exposed neck, gutting the fish from top to bottom and removing the spine and skeleton. Rinse clean and pat dry.

Squash blossoms for frying: Fresh zucchini blossoms are preferable, but blossoms from other summer squashes can be used. Inspect the interior of the blossom for bugs and pick them out if necessary, rinse the flowers with water and pat dry. Insert a sliver of mild but flavorful cheese, soft enough to melt, like fontina, and press the end of the blossom closed.

Anywhere but here syndrome

Wed, 17 Jan 2001 00:49:00 +0000

I am gutting a fresh anchovy in a kitchen in Umbria as if my happiness depends upon it. And it does. My fingertips are red with blood and muck as they remove the entrails. Sliding from the wide-eyed silver fish head to its tail, I feel the nubby, sharp firmness of its spine as I lift the skeletal remains away from the flesh and smell the salt of its sea perfume. This earthy, tactile undertaking is like a faith healing, grounding me, for this moment, in Italy.

It has not always been so on this Italian cooking school adventure shared with other travelers. Thanks to the magic carpet of conversation, we've tromped through the jungles of Indonesia. We've visited the Sultan of Brunei. We've toured the vineyards of France. We've seen the latest architectural wonders in Bilbao, Spain. Finding myself held captive by my garrulous companions and the stories they need to constantly tell, I feel I've been everywhere but here, the Italy I had traveled so far to savor.

I'd come for a weeklong cooking session, assuming it would be my most intimate encounter yet with the country I loved. I would not only be eating the local foods but shopping for and preparing them. But food and cooking in this crowd soon became a form of self-defense, a way to mute my companions' streaming travelogues and salvage my trip, a way to connect to the here and now.