Cauliflower with Dill Sauce

Oh dear Lord, this is truly amazing.  I was so glad we got a head of cauliflower at the Farmer's Market--so much zucchini, but really, we need some variety to hold us over until it is all cucumbers, tomatoes, and corn, a season that characterizes the next couple of months in the Midwest.

1 large head of cauliflower (about 2 pounds)
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
handful of arugula
1 tablespoon dill, chopped
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
2 tablespoons capers, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
120 ml (1/2 cup) olive oil, plus more for drizzling
sea salt
pepper

Turn on oven to broil.
1. Make the dressing. In a jam jar, mix the capers, mustard, garlic and vinegar. Let sit for 15 minutes to a half-hour. Add the oil, shake it up, and add salt and pepper. Set this aside while you cook the cauliflower.
2. Put the cauliflower florets on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and drizzle with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle on some sea salt and fresh pepper, too. Slide into the oven until it begins to brown, about 15 minutes. Take out the pan and turn the cauliflower over, so the other side gets brown, too. This will take about 10 more minutes. When the cauliflower is nice and roasted, remove from oven and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, put the cauliflower, tomatoes, arugula and dill. Add the dressing and gently toss.
It can be eaten warm or at room temperature (or as leftovers, cold, the next day.

Reflections on Grandparenthood

My first and for the moment only grandchild turns two today, and I want to take just a few moments to revel in what she means to my spouse and I.  While I do try to avoid this, I do occasionally put words into his mouth,  and on this subject I think he feels more of everything that I feel, that the impact of a grandchild has been explosive and mesmerizing.
In order to commemorate this moment right now, I made this very playful and hopeful quilt, that the world she grows up in has more possibilities for her than it had even for me and her mother, that the patriarch be gradually dismantled and in it's place we see real equality and respect between the genders, especially as the concept of gender is devolving within her parents generation.  I would not have predicted that, but there you have it.  May that ultimately benefit us all.
My heart is full with her, and she is all that we need.  We have no problem sharing her with everyone.  I feel no jealously, only an expansion of the love I feel for my friends and family in a new and different direction that I am very grateful to be able to experience.  It is so cool to be taught something brand new so late in the game, and today I once again revel in it, and on this occasion, mark it with a craft associated with me as well.

Vehicles of Change

The only thing wrong with this meme is that it should say if you hate what our country is doing, because the vast majority of people who are speaking out against the current regime love their country, but they hate what it has become.  Problematic is the inhumane detention of immigrants in such a way that harkens back to the Nazis, who separated people into us and them, and proceed to kill those that were perceived as other. 
So what happened?  There have been calls for people who do not agree with these policies to leave.  Drop for the moment that these same people were apoplectic about having a black president, and encouraged him to leave. I will return to that in another post.
There is the depiction of four junior congresswomen as the face of the Democratic party, and then the vilification of them.   As we have seen repeatedly with this leader, in order to deflect attention from himself, he paints a target on someone else's back and then encourages people to shoot at them, at times literally, so that he can slink back to his hole.  He is unsavable, beyond redemption. But we as Americans who love democrasy must fight to keep it.  Do all of the above.

Ginger and Rosa (2012)

The movie is about two girls born to two friends in 1945, with the shadow of the nuclear bomb and the Cold War being cast across their childhood.  Ginger and Rosa grow up in a London of weary shortages of food, living space and cheer. The girls become the kind of friends their mothers were: Ginger, whose father Roland was a conscientious objector during World War II, and Rosa, whose father isn't in the picture.
Ginger  becomes completely swept up in the Ban the Bomb movement's marches, and in her youthful fatalism then becomes convinced the Earth is on the brink of nuclear annihilation.  Such matters are more passionate to Ginger than to Rosa and this is where the split starts to occur. Ginger's dad, Roland, takes the girls for sails on his boat, and through its thin walls, Ginger is wounded to overhear conversations that can only suggest Roland has a personal interest in Rosa, who is her age but much more intrigued by the opposite sex. 
The tensions between Roland and Ginger's mother mount, and then the whole thing unravels for Ginger in a real and awful way.  Well told story that can be a bit painful to watch, but well worth it.

Nimbu Paani (Indian Gatorade)

This is also known as Indian Lemonade, but you might also call it Indian Gatorade because it has salt and sugar in it, and as we face both a heat index over 100 degrees, and the fact that the planet is warming at an alarming rate, we might want to tuck this away in the recipe cupboard for first aid as well as enjoyment.
There are a number of different variations.  Using black pepper is one option, but coriander or cumin can be added.  Fresh mint can be added to the blender as well.  Finally, for an adult beverage, vodka or gin can be added.

• Lemons – 4 ( 1 sliced for garnishing )
• Fresh Mint sprigs – 4 – 5 (optional)
• Sugar –6 teaspoons
• Salt – a pinch
• Black Pepper or Cumin or coriander--optional
• Water – 4 c. chilled water
• Ice cubes

Instructions

1. Take a large Jug, add a cup of water. Now add sugar (you can adjust the sweetness as per your taste) and stir till it dissolves into the water nicely & completely. Squeeze all lemons and add the juice to the same jug. Add pinch of salt and pepper and continue to stir. Now add chilled water and crushed ice to the jug and stir again. Add in few mint leaves to it too. Serve in chilled glasses garnished with lemon slices and mint sprigs.

Columbia Sportswear's Tim Boyle Takes on Racisim

For the second time in 13 months Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle has publicly blasted the Trump administration for its immigration policies.

In recent speeches and tweets, Trump has fiercely attacked four members of Congress, all of whom are liberal Democrats and women of color. One of the four, Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, is a Somali immigrant. The three others were born in the United States.  Trump’s attack prompted a Charlotte, N.C. crowd last week to begin chanting “Send her back, Send her back”.

“I saw the news that the President of the United States had been using Twitter to tell some members of Congress to go back to the countries they are “from” Boyle wrote. “That kind of taunting language is far more extreme than the refusal to process a routine visa application, but there is a theme through both that should be unacceptable in any organization and certainly at the top of our government.”

Boyle reminded his staffers that Columbia exists today as one of the state’s largest private companies only because his mother, Gert Boyle, found refuge and welcome after fleeing Nazi Germany in 1937.

 “We understand, from personal experience, what it means when government leaders demonize any group as being inferior, unworthy, and fundamentally unwelcome to be a part of a country,” Boyle wrote. “We were incredibly fortunate to be able to move to the great state of Oregon. The ideals in the U.S., while not perfectly executed, supported the notion that we would have the same opportunities as others, and we feel strongly about paying that forward.”

“Telling any citizen to “go back home” is offensive,” he wrote. “This is home." 

Leave No Trace (2018)

This is a pretty painful film to watch.  Ben Foster, a rising star as an actor, plays a combat veteran who is living in the woods on public land with his daughter.  It is unclear what it was like before his wife died, but he was just very ill equipped to raise her in a traditional way, despite loving her deeply.  The two of them manage to cope quite well, in that the father is teaching his daughter and they are most definitely homeless.  The relationship between them is companionable, and the daughter feels safe and cared for.
Then they get hunted down by police and after much ado, they are housed in a pretty rural setting, and while the daughter seems to blossom a bit, the father is clearly very stressed and not managing.  So they are on the road again.
The end of the movie is not what you would hope for, but probably much closer to the truth about the struggle that combat veterans have with PTSD and being closed in.

Don't Like the Law of the Land? Leave.

Just because you don't like your current government does not in any way mean that you do not love your country, and to say that it does is both offensive and unAmerican.  When those who are super duper happy with the current president and his racism were very vocal when Obama was president.  Some suggested that he was not American because he wasn't born here (wrong) and claimed that he was Muslim and followed sharia law (also wrong).  They were not asked to leave, nor would I say that they were unpatriotic.  I would just say that they were racist.  At the time I did not say it publicly, but now that there are responding to the race baiting, both in rallies and on social media, they are out of the closet.  They are wearing their racism on their sleeves and it is perfectly okay to say so.

Autumn Light: Season of Fire and Farewell by Pico Iyer

This is a memoir, written by the travel writer Pico Iyer.  He finds himself in Japan, which for decades has been his chosen second home. He is there because his Japanese wife, Hiroko, a seemingly more pragmatic and uncomplicated soul than her spouse, has just lost her nonagenarian father, a man who survived the bombing of his native Hiroshima because he was away, fighting in World War II, which he misses.  She is now grappling with next steps while Pico is trying to catch up with what has happened.
The death feels quick and unsettling to him, again probably because he arrives in the aftermath, going to the two-room apartment he’s shared with his wife for years in the Deer’s Slope community near Nara, Japan.  So it is both home and not home at the same time, which is unsettling for him, just as Japan is neither home nor not home.   He allows the coming the fall season to reveal the beautiful impermanence of life, and to reflect on that.  It is contemplative and a mixture of hope and questioning.

Juliet, Naked (2018)

This is admittedly a pretty predictable romantic comedy, but as I like all three co-stars, I had a good time watching it.  Everything does not have to be epic.  I can use a little diversion every once in awhile.
So here is the story.  Duncan ( Chris O'Dowd, playing the terrible self absorbed boyfriend like he was born to the part) has an obsessional infatuation with Tucker Crowe (played by Ethan Hawke).  He collects all of his bootleg recordings, has pictures of him all over the room he stores his music in, writes a blog with a following of similarly obsessed fans, and devotes time everyday to fan the flames of his love for Tucker's music.  Reminded me of Grateful Dead fans of years gone by.  His girlfriend gets fed up with him one night and writes a comment on a blog post that she disagrees with, and guess who responds to her by email?  Tucker Crowe, agreeing with her assessment of which recording was better.  And so their unlikely friendship begins.  A good light date night kind of fare.

We Are All Americans

Republicans, rise up and declare the president a racist, someone whom you do not agree with, or be painted with the same brush.  The targeting of these women as unAmerican by virtue of the color of their skin, their religion, and their gender, and most importantly, because they disagree with him, is the definition of unpatriotic.  He is unAmerican.  It isn't just me who thinks these things are unacceptable.  Teddy Roosevelt said very clearly what is and is not patriotic. 
“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.”

Spring by Ali Smith

This is the third installment in what will be a quartet of books that reflects directly on the here and now in Britain on the verge of Brexit.
the story’s main narrative, which is the tale of Richard Lease, a semi-successful film director. His friend and one-time collaborator Paddy (Patricia) Heal – a scriptwriter – has died of cancer, and he has taken himself north on impulse. His internal monologue is full of regret, harking back to conversations with Paddy on her deathbed the previous spring, or reaching further into their past together.version of the daughter he no longer speaks to in the real world.
The other central figure in the novel is Brit – Brittany Hall, employed at a UK immigration removal centre by SA4A, the sinister security firm that has appeared in the previous books. Brit, a decent, educated, intelligent young woman, works within a system that reflects Britain’s shameful stance on the detention of refugees (which pales in comparison to what the United States is doing right now, or course). The books are a unique voice commenting brilliantly on what is so very wrong with the world today.

No (2012)

This is a very interesting story that is well told. 
A simple vote: "Yes" or "No." It's 1988 and Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet agrees to a referendum under pressure from the international community: if the nation votes "Yes," (rather, "Si") he remains in power, "No" then he leaves and there are new elections. Ad-man René Saavedra (played by the ever popular Gael Garcia Bernal) leads the team campaigning for "No," using the marketing strategies of the American Cola Wars. To complicate matters, his boss Lucho Guzmán (Alfredo Castro) heads the "Yes" team.
Here are the rules: Each night, each side receives 15 minutes of airtime on national television to present its case. The "Yes" gang depicts Pinochet's leadership as an economic success, modernizing the country, introducing microwave ovens in the home -- all now at risk of socialist takeover if the communists of the "No" campaign succeed. Instead of focusing on the Pinochet regime atrocities, Saavedra creates an atmosphere of hope for the future of Chile and against all odds, and much intimidation, they win.

Racism Gone Public

No more dog whistles, the president has gone flat out public as a racist.  When asked about it a day later he said, really, he couldn't care less what people called it, lots of people agree with him.  That, sadly, we have seen to be true. 
Why am I so outraged?  Hard to say, there are so many potential sources of discomfort and disquiet.  This is somehow the tipping point for me to start seriously ranting.  There are literally hundreds of things that the current president has done that are despicable, but telling women of color that they should "go back where they came from" is the very definition of racism.  As MLK said, “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”  Our racist president is trying to squash these women, but he is causing the rest of us to rise up.

A Cook's Tour by Anthony Bourdain

First warning is that there is a lot of debauchery in this book.  Enough that it might be off putting if you are not familiar with Bourdain's work.  The second is that as I was closing in on the end of the book, he has a meal at Thomas Keller's restaurant in Healdsburg, The French Laundry, and after reading so much about places that he did not care for, his overwhelming star worship of the chef and the food that he ate there made me make a reservation to eat there, months from now, but guess what?  You have to pay up front, so there you have it, this book could really end up costing you,
Unlike his shows, which largely seem to focus on places to go and visit, there are equal parts gross and ideal here.  It is hard to have a bad meal in Portugal, and Bourdain does not spoil that destination for future travelers.  His experience in the Khmer Rouge controlled  part of Cambodia is another story.  If you like non-traditional food writing, this is right up your alley.  I enjoyed it despite some roughness around the edges.

The Gatekeepers (2012)

This is a documentary from Israel which interviews six former heads of Shin Bet.  Here is a fair warning.  It is pretty terrifying, even if you have very neutral feelings about the Israeli-Palestinian situation, or the Middle East in general.  These guys talk in a very straight forward manner about just exactly what their job entailed and how they accomplished things.
Its first lesson is that in tracking and targeting terrorists, politicians want black-and-white answers, while these intelligence officers usually inhabit in the grey of doubt. If they strike, they might kill civilians. If they do not strike, they might leave Israel vulnerable to an assault. But, if they give their heads of state the incorrect answers, they risk widespread humiliation. Thus, public perception might be valued more than Palestinian lives. And the film offers a second lesson, which is that this godlike power to kill is unnatural. It corrupts all involved. 
However, the most chilling aspect, however, is the blunt commentary about the work itself. These men accept that national security has no morality.

Larrakitj Burial Poles

These burial poles, called larrakitj, are on display at the Ian Potter Museum in Melbourne, Australia. 
Larrakitj were once created by the Yolngu (indigenous peoples from the northeastern Arnhem Land region) to house the bones of their dead. For these traditional burial poles, only the most perfectly symmetrical hollow trunk eucalyptus trees were used. Once stripped of bark, the surface would be decorated with detailed paintings intended to guide the deceased to their spiritual home. Larrakitj still play an important role in Yolngu mortuary rites and memorial practices, but no longer function as receptacles for human remains.

Bastille Day

Just a few years after the American Revolution and just two years after the Constitutional Convention hammered out a document that everyone could more or less sign on to in the United States, the French Revolution got rolling.
The storming of the Bastille, a prison that had long held political prisoners, followed a period of food shortages, increased taxes, and the militarization of Paris.  It was a far cry from the “liberté, égalité, fraternité” that we think of today. There were wild swings in loyalties, those who started it were killed by those who followed, accusations flew, and in the end, Napoleon came to power and they replaced  a king with a dictator.  Not the kind of progress they were hoping for surely.
The biggest lesson learned from this period has to be that big changes are hard to muster.  Edmund Burke said it best in well known letter published after the American Revolution, government must arc towards progress, but not veer to far or too quickly.  In the United States we are headed at least back to the 1970's in terms of environmental protection, the 1950's in terms of social values, and the era of dictators in terms of leadership.

85 Years Ago

My mother was born 85 years ago today.  We are 25 years apart in age, so there is always a perspective of the quarter century between she and I.  When my parents had their 50th wedding anniversary we did a look back at that year, but I had never done it for the year my mother was born.
1934 saw the turning point in the Great Depression in America with unemployment decreasing to 22% (which sounds terrible, but is down from about a third of the population), whereas in other parts of the world  it was arguably one of the worst years of the Great Depression with the world's economy hit rock bottom. As the situation seemed increasingly hopeless, more and more people turned to whoever promised them a better life. At this time in history, the rising leaders used peoples' fears and prejudices to rally support and create a scapegoat for the world's problems.  That sounds familiar.  Hitler declared himself the fuhrer, Stalin was on a rampage, and Mussolini was re--elected, solidifying support for Fascism.  On the other hand, Bonnie and Clyde were caught and John Dillinger was gunned down in a shoot out--the America of old was closing out and our era of rise was beginning.

My Hawaiian Quilts

 I have always loved these quilts, where you start with a square of fabric folded into eighths, cut it out, and then unfold it, like a snowflake.  I made this quilt about 15 years about from a Dover Publication book of patterns. 
Hawaiian quilting history has deep cultural roots in the islands. Before the missionaries arrived, Hawaiian quilts were made of fabric called kapa, which was pounded from the bark of the wauke (paper bark or mulberry) tree. They dyed the bark cloth and decorated it with geometric block prints to use for bedding and festive clothing.

Around 1820, missionary wives brought woven fabrics and steel needles and taught the Hawaiian people how to make patchwork quilts.
Legend has it that a breadfruit pattern was the first true Hawaiian quilt design. Some Hawaiian women laid some fabric on the grass to dry. They noticed a shadow from the branches of the breadfruit tree on the fabric. The Hawaiian women then cut out the shadowy design and laid it onto another fabric and appliqued and quilted. Thus, the birth of the first Hawaiian quilt.
Here is the breadfruit pattern that I cut out a couple months ago, for a full sized quilt.

Tingarri Dreaming, by Dini Cambel Tjampitjinpa (Pintupi)

I love the designs and the geometry of Australian aboriginal painting.
Before Indigenous Australian art was ever put onto canvas the Aboriginal people would smooth over the soil to draw sacred designs which belonged to that particular ceremony.
Body paint was also applied which held meanings connected to sacred rituals.  These designs were outlined with circles and encircled with dots.
  Uninitiated people never got to see these sacred designs since the soil would be smoothed over again and painted bodies would be washed. This was not possible with paintings.  Aboriginal artists abstracted their paintings to disguise the sacred designs so the real meanings could not be understood by outsiders.
Dot painting originated 40 years ago back in 1971.  Geoffrey Bardon was assigned as an art teacher for the children of the Aboriginal people  in Papunya, near Alice Springs.  He noticed whilst the Aboriginal men were telling stories they would draw symbols in the sand.   Bardon encouraged his students to paint a mural based on traditional dreamings on the school walls. The murals sparked incredible interest in the community. He incited them to paint the stories onto canvas and board.  Soon many of the men began painting as well.

Gangster Squad (2013)

This is at heart a shoot them up movie with an all star cast.  So raised a bit above the fray by the talent there in, but contrained by the quality of the script.  It's late 1949, and as the holidays approach, former-boxer-turned-Chicago-mobster Micky Cohen (played in pretty unpleasant fashion by Sean Penn) has expanded Meyer Lansky's Jewish mafia to Los Angeles, where's he's planning to monopolize drugs and gambling and squeeze his bosses out of the equation. He means business, and is killing everything in his way to prove it.  The cops are largely on the take, as are the judges, but there is one, John O'Mara (played by Josh Brolin), who is not.  He tries to rally up a posse of cops to take him down before they have to strong a toe hold in the city.  Emma Stone is playing a dangerous game as Micky's bought and paid for girl but also the girlfriend of  Ryan Gosling, a cop with some ambiguity as to whether he is all in on the plan, at least at the beginning.  The good guys try to round up the bad guys and the shooting begins.

Napa Cabbage Salad with Miso Dressing

We have been getting oodles of Napa cabbage from our CSA this summer, and so I have been experimenting with different flavor profiles to serve it with.
This is really more of an eggplant salad from Ottolenghi that I have paired down to the cabbage and dressing component, removed the sesame seeds because I was having them in a pea salad to go with this meal (but you could put them back in), and used the vegetables that I had.
Kohlrabi, carrots, radishes, teeny tiny broccoli sprigs, snow peas, red onion, it all could go in.

Shred cabbage, and make the other vegetables similarly bite sized.

The Dressing:

• 3 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons red miso paste
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced

Blend ingredients--may have to heat them up a bit if the miso is stiff to get it fully blended, which  is important.  Mix with the salad vegetables and cabbage to taste.

The Female Persuation by Meg Wolitzer

This is a story that largely focuses on women as they move through a business world that has been inhabited almost solely by men--up until now. It is set in the not too distant past, so there is none of what is shaping the landscape today.  Not a president who has five children by three different women, a man who has bragged about sexually harassing women, and been buoyed up by those who too wish they could be what he is.  This is back when the veneer that we might all share values under one nation was something we could believe in.  That time is gone for the foreseeable future.
The book is not rendered irrelevant by those developments; rather its subtle, powerfully ambivalent forays into what has been called second-wave feminism, the nature and limits of co-operative action and the intersection between the political and the personal can function as depth charges whose ripples continue to rock our unstable little boats.  This is about mentorship, relationships, where they take us and how we get there.  Very enjoyable read.

Closed Circuit (2013)

The interest of government to keep the extent of their surveillance out of the public eye, and the perceived need to quell the mistakes made are well played out here, and a bit more unsettling in the era of a President who wants to be a totalitarian leader.
There is a bombing at the start of the movie,  a suspect is in custody, and a trial set.  Some of the evidence in the case is so potentially explosive that not even the defendant himself is allowed to see it for himself. In such cases, defendants are allowed two lawyers—one who will defend him in public and a special advocate who defends him during the closed sessions. The two lawyers are not to talk to each other, but in this case they do, because they see a government conspiracy underneath the surface, and a government willing to commit murder to get the outcomes it wants.  They have been chosen exactly because of their weakness and not because of their brilliant lawyering.  If you fear your own government is out to get you, this will be a good reminder that it could be so.

Tomato, Strawberry, and Basil Salad

Now that it is well and truly summer, we have had more than enough days over 90 degrees with steamy humidity that if we had no more it would still have been a hot summer, and the garden is starting to produce at an exponential pace when compared to a month ago.
So that means it is time to turn back to Ottolenghi in a big way.

1½ tbsp white-wine vinegar

1 lemon – finely pare off 3 wide strips of peel; then juice, to get 1 tbsp

1 tsp caster sugar

Salt and black pepper

½ large red onion, peeled and finely sliced on a mandoline

350g medium vine tomatoes, roughly cut into 4cm pieces 

150g strawberries, hulled, cut in half lengthways, then into 5mm-thick slices

5g basil leaves, roughly torn

2½ tbsp olive oil

The only time involved here is in the marinating of the onion in lemon and vinegar to create the most brilliant dressing. After that, all you have to do is toss everything together at the last minute (this salad doesn’t take kindly to being left to sit around) and serve with grilled fish or a range of similarly summery snacks.

Whisk the vinegar, lemon juice, sugar and a quarter-teaspoon of salt in a small bowl, then add the onion and lemon peel, and leave to pickle for at least an hour, preferably two or longer, stirring a couple of times. 

Make the salad just before you’re ready to serve. Put the tomatoes in a sieve set over a large bowl and leave to drain for five minutes. Meanwhile, drain the pickled onions, reserving the pickling liquid to use in the dressing. Remove and finely chop the lemon peel.

Put the strawberries in a bowl with the drained tomatoes and add three-quarters of the onions, three-quarters of the basil, two tablespoons of pickling liquid, the oil and a quarter-teaspoon of salt. Stir gently, then transfer to a large, shallow bowl. Arrange the remaining pickled onions and basil on top, then scatter with the chopped lemon peel. Finish with a good grind of black pepper and serve at once.

Declaration of Independence

Today we celebrate the beginning of one of the few truly successful revolutions for independence in modern history.  Those brave men and women fought to not be ruled by kings, and they got the vast majority of it right.  We continue to have a cleft about what is right and wrong, which transcends political administrations.  The thing is, at the very beginning there was thought given to denouncing slavery.  Thomas Jefferson wrote:
"He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither.  This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian King of Great Britain.  Determined to keep open a market where Men should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or restrain this execrable commerce.  And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people on whom he has obtruded them: thus paying off former crimes committed again the Liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another."  That would have been a game changer, but it did not make the final version.

What We Had (2018)

This film relates to all of us who live in the modern way, disconnected from our past, and lacking in close family ties or prescribed ways of growing old.  The story is also about the kind of undying love of a man for his wife, even as her memory of their life together cruelly slips away from her because of dementia. It is further complicated by the fact that they had is not what either of their children have had, both of whom are struggling with connection and happiness in various ways. 
The exact pieces of the story are not so important as the emotions that underlie the whole situation.  Ruth (played pitch perfect by Blythe Danner) is slowly losing her memories.  She doesn't always remember even her husband or children, and while there are moments when she can see what is happening to her, her grasp on her own history is so tenuous that she isn't even that upset.  And she is wandering in a dangerous way.  Her husband doesn't want to move or to be apart, but the sibling who lives nearby (played by Michael Shannon) is at the end of his rope, so angry all the time about what he sees happening and his powerlessness to combat it.  The one who lives away (Hilary Swank) slowly tumbles to the stress they are all under.  The unpleasantness of the end is laid out in spectacular detail and is beautifully acted.

Momofuko Seiobo, Sydney, Australia

In what proved to be a very celebratory month around my birthday, this meal in Sydney was a real highlight.  It was Caribbean inspired food that had wonderful and spicy flavors.  The seafood rich Australian continent provided the substrait with which to work that kind of magic.  There are a number of things that I love about this place.  The first is that we were seated at the bar that surrounded the prep cooking, and as we were literally the first reservation, we literally got to watch our food being prepared.  That is fun, although it will complete convince you that you are never making this at home. The second thing is that while the beverage pairings (for while most of them were wine, some were not) is always a bit of a sticker shock, that when it is done well (and you do not need to drive) it can enhance the experience with a synergy that is wonderful, so long as it doesn't break your banK.

So if you get a chance, this is a restaurant and a chef that is well worth seeking out if Down Under.

O Canada!

And now for a little Canadian history lesson.  The autonomous Dominion of Canada, a confederation of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the future provinces of Ontario and Quebec, was officially recognized by Great Britain with the passage of the British North America Act on July 1, 1987.

During the 19th century, colonial dependence gave way to increasing autonomy for a growing Canada. In 1841, Upper and Lower Canada–now known as Ontario and Quebec–were made a single province by the Act of Union. In the 1860s, a movement for a greater Canadian federation grew out of the need for a common defense, the desire for a national railroad system, and the necessity of finding a solution to the problem of French and British conflict. When the Maritime provinces, which sought union among themselves, called a conference in 1864, delegates from the other provinces of Canada attended. Later in the year, another conference was held in Quebec, and in 1866 Canadian representatives traveled to London to meet with the British government.
On July 1, 1867, with passage of the British North America Act, the Dominion of Canada was officially established as a self-governing entity within the British Empire. Two years later, Canada acquired the vast possessions of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and within a decade the provinces of Manitoba and Prince Edward Island had joined the Canadian federation. In 1885, the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed, making mass settlement across the vast territory of Canada possible.