Including Eeyore

As a psychiatrist I see my fair share of Eeyores. I think that the denizens of the Hundred Acre Woods are somewhere between a family and a neighborhood, and the way they allow Eeyore to be part of the gang is a pretty good example that the rest of us could learn from. Much like clinically depressed humans, Eeyore sees the world all too clearly. He is right more often than he is wrong and while what he predicts is not what the rest of them are hoping for, he is not villified for his clear eyed thinking. He is the friend who will tell you what they think, the unvarnished truth, and the glass is definitely half empty, maybe on the brink of running out completely, but you will not be blindsided when things go south, because you have been properly warned. The funny thing is that I am probably more like Eeyore than any other character in the Winnie the Pooh ouevre in my personal life, but in my work life I have a sometimes unsuitably rosy outlook, and that needs a coutner balance. I lost my work Eeyore when I switched jobs recently, and it strikes me that I need to find a new one.

Banana Chocolate Chip Cake with Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting

My spouse made this for our son's graduation party and it was so popular he has made it again, and wants to be sure we have it handy when he wants to make it next. It is from Simply Julia, which is a cookbook revolving around making things that taste good but do not reuire tons of time to accomplish. For me, that is what amounts to week night cooking. He doubles this, cooks it in two 11 x 15 pans, and makes it a party sized cake. The cake: 1 cup (125 g) flour 1 cup (125 g) whole wheat flour 1 cup (200 g) sugar 2 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. kosher salt 4 very ripe bananas 2 large eggs 1 cup (227 g) sour cream 1/2 cup (120 g) canola oil 6 oz. (170 g) chocolate chips (~1 cup) The Frosting: 6 oz. (170 g) chocolate chips (~1 cup) 1 cup (227 g) sour cream 1 Tbsp. maple syrup Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare two 8" round pans. Combine dry ingredients and stir together, Smash the bananas in a separate bowl, and add wet ingredients and stir. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and then add the chocolate chips. Divide batter into the 2 pans, and bake until the center is firm, about 35 minutes. Cool cakes and make the frosting by microwaving the chocolate chips until melted. It will probably take a minute, but do in 30 second bursts--stir after each because the chips retain their shape but can be melted inside. Add the sour cream and maple syrup. This is a very wet frosting so refrigerate before using. Frost the cakes the way you usually would and serve!

This Will Make It Taste Good by Vivian Howard

This is the follow up cookbook by the author of one of the best southern cookbooks I have seen, Deep Run Roots, which has a chapter on collard greens, one on watermelon, and one on blueberries, to name a few. It is straight ahead, written without either humor or nonsense. This one is another story entirely. The concept is great--spend some time making some master ingredients, and then use them to make a multitude of dishes that are flavor packed because you have spent time punching it up, so it can be then diluted into something else. I have made the two green sauces, and will make a few others. The outcome is really good, but the thing that I have trouble getting past is how cutsie all the names are. It is particularly irksome when posting on social media about the recipe, because while the end result is delicious, it sounds so sill y that I want to avoid it all together. It is a shame, because the end results are innovative and taste good. If you can overlook this, or better yet, if you can enjoy it, then I recoomend this cookbook.

Super Spreaders

Heather Cox Richardson touched on the subject of disinformation and it's spread. The algorhythms that are used on social media to feed you information that is tailored to your beliefs and interests are being manipulated in such a way to promote the development of deeply felt beliefs, some of which are founded on lies. The vaccine lies have been traced back to 12 liars, the super spreaders. The motives they might hold, be they nefarious or immature, matters less than the effect they have. I get that if they are designed to weaken America, like the Russian disinformation campaign that led to Trump being elected, the motive matters, but I think it matters less than what in fact happens. In this case, the combination of people who are deeply afraid of the vaccine and the spread of a COVID variant that is highly infectious is leading to pockets of infection that are overwhelming rural communities where not being vaccinated is a point of prideand mask wearing was never in vogue. So there is a direct link between the lies and people dying. It is hard to see how this helps conservatives. but much like all the other lies, it is hard to let go of, even when it is hurting them.

Flipped (2010)

I love the YA book that the movie is based on. It is a story, mostly the same story, but told from two different perspectives, a boy and a girl who are on the cusp of adolescence. It is the time when boys and girls are probably the furthest apart from each other in terms of maturity and perspective. The girl comes from a compicated family, where her father is supporting his disabled sibling in a private facility but leaves his family with very little in the way of money, so they live in poverty as a result. The boy has an uncomplicated family, but mid-story, his grieving grandfather moves in with the family, and he takes a liking to the neighbor girl. She is lit from inside, passionate and energetic, and she reminds him of his now deceased wife and he wants to help her. The book is a bit better I think but this is a story well worth watching, and family friendly as well.

The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

This is one of the things on Obama's 2020 reading list that I would not have read if not for him. Or at least not this soon, because this is a voice that will be heard again, I have no doubt. It is chronicles of the author's own undocumented life and that of her parents, but also of scores more, who live in and around the margins. There is so much here that I did not know and need to hear. The first is something that I learned at a lecture I went to last week, which is that undocumented is the way to talk about this. They are Americans, but they lack documents. The other is that while I would have guess there were a lot of undocumented workers at Ground Zero, this is a good account of that. I did not know that there are a fair number of undocumented people living in places like Flint, failed communities that were abaondoned by the state as well as the federal government, and that their isolation and fear of deportation put them at a higher risk from the lead poisoning than others because they did not have the knowledge or the resources that even other poor citizens had. The bottom line is that there are a lot of people who are part of the fabirc of our everyday lives who are undocumented and yet necessary, and that until we get serious about solving the working poor issue, we will never make a dent in the immigration issue. It is sn issue as old as the country itself, and with no concensus on the path to take. This book humanizes the issues.

Cherry Crush

My husband always enjoyed making cocktails, but during the pandemic, a time when we could not go out for a drink at all, was a growth season for his bartending skills. He has always had a deep and wide spirits, liquor and bitters collection, and I have made a flavored simple syrup or two in my time, but we took the opportunity to really expand our horizons. In May we had to go to a big city for a car exchange and we did a curb side pick up at an extraordinarily large liquor warehouse, and we have now gotten to the point wherre there really is no reason to go out for a drink because what we have going on at home is really top notch. This is just one example, utilizing the fresh cherries we have going on. My spouse thought this was a bit too sweet but I thought it was just right. You could back down on the agave syrup if you like a less sweet beverage. 2 oz bourbon 3 pitted cherries 2 T lemon juice 1 T agave syrup 2 dashes cherry bitters Blend with 1 cup ice; garnish with mint sprig and a cherry.

Summer in the Tetons

Our pandemic purchase, if you do not count moving up the date of our outdoor remodel from someday to this summer, was a house in the Tetons. The timing was right in a lot of ways. We were selling the house in town that we had for our kids who were students. The last of them has left a year before and our youngest was so unlikely to want to live there that despite really loving it, it was time to let it go. We had only gone one place the whole year of COVID, which was to visit our only child who lives away. And while we were there we visited the Tetons. It was so peaceful and beautiful, how were we to resist? We did not, as it turns out. We were not the only ones to think that it might be nice to live in such a gorgeous setting, and it was hard to get something that would suit, but in the end we did and this summer we are doing the thing that is great fun. We are bringing the next generation to the mountains. We still have to go to Vermont with them but they will be able to enjoy the West this year.

Spinach and Pancetta Meatballs

You can make this with turkey, but when you have half a cow, you have lots of ground beef and many different meatball recipes. The thing I like about this one is that it has some greens in it and it adds pancetta, so you get some pork flavor without resorting to ground pork (which is desirable if you are using up beef, but if you also have a pig, then you can afford to use a different recipe). 1 pound ground meat 1 ounce thinly sliced pancetta, finely chopped (1/4 cup) 1/2 onion, finely chopped (about 3/4 cup) 8 oz of chopped spinach, blanched and drained of all water 1 garlic clove, minced 1 cup fresh breadcrumbs Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper 1 large whole egg 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsely Gently mix tmeat, pancetta, onion, garlic, and breadcrumbs in a large bowl; season with 1 teaspoon salt and a pinch of pepper. Stir in the egg and yolk, herbsd and spinach. Form mixture into 1-inch meatballs. Heat 1 to 2 tablespoons oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Cook the meatballs in a single layer (work in two batches, if necessary), turning as needed, until browned on all sides and cooked through, about 7 minutes. Transfer to a plate, serve with sauce of your choice--I prefer marinara. These are very good in meatball sandwiches.

The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles

This book is riding a wave of popularity and when I saw it on the shelf at my local library, I caught that wave and rode it. Ironic, because the American Library in Paris is the central figure in the book. It is true that storiess set in occupied territory during WWII are not inherently light, but this one somehow is. I woke up early one morning, started it because the style is light enough to be read on a short night of sleep, and by the end of the day I was finishing it up. The hook is that all the characters love books and reading, and many of them are bound together by the love of the written word-=-just like we are as readers. This one tells of two women, sepatated by many decades, who are young and seeking love. They are blind to things, they hurt people unthinkingly, and they come to see the errors of their ways, a bit later than ideal but also completely understandably. The backdrop of war is the one difference, and it might have been a more powerful juxtaposition if the story was told in the pandemic, because while this has not been great, it is nothing like what was faced in the time of war. The issue of communities and what binds them together is touched upon, but not too deeply. You can definitely read this on vacation and it will give you a little to think about, but not too much.

Damn Afghanistan

The decision of how to leave Afghanistan has been made by several presidents, and the work of winding down and backing out has been underway almost since the beginning, almost to no avail. The decision of when to pull the plug, to say that there is nothing more that can be done that will actually change the outcome in Afghanistan was hard because it would always look like failure. So that can has been kicked down the road, until now. Why so? The Taliban wouldn't cut a deal because time is on their side, and they merely have to wait it out until the US leaves. Despite spending more on Afghanistan than on rebuilding Europe after World War II, little progress has been made. It would not be surprising if the Taliban controlled all of Afghanistan within a decade. So Biden's move was both bold and also doomed.+ Afghanistan is a notoriously difficult country to govern. Empire after empire, nation after nation have failed to pacify what is today the modern territory of Afghanistan, giving the region the nickname “Graveyard of Empires, ” even if sometimes those empires won some initial battles and made inroads into the region. If the United States and its allies decide to leave Afghanistan, they would only the latest in a long series of nations to do so. As the British learned in their 1839-1842 war in Afghanistan, it is often easier to do business with a local ruler with popular support than to support a leader backed by foreign powers; the costs of propping up such a leader eventually add up. The closest most historical empires have come to controlling Afghanistan was by adopting a light-handed approach, as the Mughals did. They managed to loosely control the area by paying off various tribes, or granting them autonomy. Attempts at anything resembling centralized control, even by native Afghan governments, have largely failed. We are in good company, if that is any consolation.

Grilled Chicken with Herbs

We served this chicken, the so called Simon and Garfunkel chicken, at a graduation party for one of our kids. It was a big deal kind of a party, becasue not only do we have a nursing school graduate, but also we haven't had a real party since another one of our kid's weddings, and it just felt important to have nice food for the occasion. This chicken fit the bill. We did it on the grill, but the recipe calls for baking it, but the really nice feature for an outdoor BBQ party is that you can cook it most of the way-->stop-->then heat it up on the grill. Here is the rub: ▢1 tablespoon dried crushed parsley ▢2 tablespoons dried crushed sage ▢1 tablespoon dried crushed rosemary ▢1 tablespoon dried crushed thyme ▢1 tablespoon dried crushed oregano ▢1 tablespoon dried crushed basil ▢10 bay leaves ▢1 tablespoon ground black pepper ▢1 tablespoon sugar Measuring. Measuring the ingredients is a bit tricky since some of the herb leaves may be powdered, not crushed. The big chunks, like oregano, have more air in them, so try to compensate by adding more or less depending on how much air in your raw materials. If your measurements are not precise or if you lack one or two ingredients, no wars will break out, but I think the sage, bay leaf, and rosemary are essential. Crushed bay leaf may be hard to find so you can use whole bay leaves. Just take about 10 leaves and crumble them in your hand, measure the crumbled amount and add more if necessary. The pepper will add a little heat, but not much, but you can cut it out if you're a wimp or amp it up if you're a tough guy. Optional. At one time I had included 1 tablespoon dried crushed hot red pepper (cayenne or chipotle) in this recipe. I have removed it because I decided I like the recipe better without the heat. If you want a capsaicin jolt, go for it. Method Measure everything and dump it into a blender; see "Measuring" note about the bay leaves. Put the lid on the blender (very important), and run it on medium for a few seconds, turn it off, and run it again. Continue pulsing about until you have a powder. Dump the whole thing in a jar and label it. How to use this stuff. If the food has not been been brined, then sprinkle with salt, ½ teaspoon per pound. If it has been brined, then skip the salt. Lightly coat your chicken or potatoes or asparagus or whatever with water (the ingredients dissolve better in water than oil), sprinkle on the rub liberally, even if you are a conservative. If time permits, let the seasoned meat sit in the fridge for an hour or three. Grill, smoke, or roast.

Simply Julia by Julia Turshen

I am slowly warming to this cookbook, which was wildly popular with our Food 52 Cookbook group. The great thing about having a group of above average to excellent cooks all focusing on the same cookbook at one time is that you get some great ideas about what recipes to try yourself. The premise of this is that you are cooking on a week night and you want to put food on the table quickly that tastes more complex than the time you have devoted to it would ordinarily render it. There is a lot to be said for this approach, and having a book that does that and nothing else is definitely worth some space on your shelf. There are several of everything. For example, a number of different meatball options, and you can sub the ground meat you have. There are several dressings that are unusual and dump and shake and dress and serve. I found the soy based one too salty, but my gut told me it would be, and I would try it again with less tamari. There is something for every meal of the day, including dessert, and there is some snack food/appetizer options. The writing style is breeezy without being irritating, and as more people try things from this in my cookbook club, I am likely to return to it more often than I have cooked from it so far. If you are looking for easy peasy, give this one a whirl.

Quad City Pizza

I am not a native Iowan, but I have lived there almost half my life and for more than a quarter century. Plenty of time to have heard of an Iowan style of pizza, but when I read about Quad Cities pizza recently in Food and Wine magazine, I had neither heard of it nor had I had it. The majority of the pizza consumed during the pandemic has been made on site. We are particularly fond of the Neopolitan version, with the thin chewy crust that starts with a sourdough starter, and gets all its loft from wild yeast, but we have also made Roman pizza and Chicago style pizza (this is one that pretty much I alone enjoy). We got the special Brick cheese and made a Detroit pizza once (unlikely to be repeated), but again, no idea about the pizza that is made just down the road a piece from us. That changed last weekend when we went to one of the places where it originated. The dough is slightly sweet secondary to some malt being added, it is sliced traditionally in strips, it has alot of fairly bland cheese on it, which sits on top of all the topping, and the original is made with a very under-flavored port sausage. All I get about this is the ground pork--I did not care for it, but port is very Iowa, and so to have an Iowa pizza without it makes no dense, but stick with the Italian version! The crust was the best part is all I can say, and while we are glad we tried it, we are not going back any time soon.

Hamilton (2020)

I feel very late to this party. Not as late as a firend of mine who just recently discovered that Downton Abbey is a good series, but the fact that this is an amaxing show will come as a surprise to very few people. Lin Manuel Miranda is a genius, and so it comes as no surprise that when he read Ron Chernow's biography of Hamilton and wanted to share the story with a broader audience that he collaborated with the historian and produced a hip hop rap musical. Why wouldn't he? It is so remarkably done, so many double entendres, with all the Founding Father's played by black and brown actors. The complicity of the writer's of the Constitution in perpetuating the enslavement of people is front and center, and no one gets off lightly in the telling of the nation at the ground floor of development. Highly recommended and streaming on Disney. Miranda said a high point for him was seeing phrases from his songs written on signs at Black Lives Matter rallies, things like "I'm past patiently waiting" and "History has its eyes on you". The things that we fought over then we are still fighting over now. Know your history.

Homemade Guignolet

As cherry season is winding down, this one is a great one for an excess of cherries that you might have. It comes from David Lebovitz's Drinking in French--a great book that should be in every cocktail book library, and you can preview some of his recipes for both food and spirits on his website, which I recommend. This comes together in a couple of minutes and is delicious. 1 lb. fresh cherries, pitted 1 quart (1L) fruity red wine 1/2 cup (125ml) vodka 1/2 cup (100g) sugar 1 cinnamon stick 1. Rinse the cherries and pat them dry then pit. Put them in a large jar that has a lid. 2. Pour in the red wine and vodka. Add the sugar and peppercorns, cover, and shake well to dissolve the sugar. Let stand one week, shaking the jar a few times once per day. The leaves will wilt into the wine after a day or so, so not to worry if they aren’t all marinating in the wine at first. 3. When ready, strain the liquid into a bottle using a funnel and a mesh strainer (or cheesecloth). Discard the leaves. Chill the cherry leaf wine until ready to drink.

Mister Jiu's in Chinatown by Brandon Jew

I think this is an amazing compendium of the story and the process of cooking at one of the most iconic Chinese American restaurants in San Francisco, which is the most iconic Chinatown's in the United States--second only to Vancouver in North America. The restaurant has a wonderful window onto the street where you can watch dumplings being hand made, and with that, you know that you are in for a treat. I have only eaten there once right before the pandemic, and for drinks and appetizers only, but the food and the atmosphere are enough to bring me back. The recipes are largely both complex and detailed. My Food 52 cookbook group did this last month, and the people who dove right in, expecting each recipe to be a project rather than a breeze, were the happiest. We plan to do some longer term exploration of the recipes, but the story that is told (which is about a third of the book) is well worth reading as well.

Herbaceous Sauce

Vivian Howard's new book, This Will Make It Taste Good, centers on a few things that you make, and then gives a wide range of recipes that you can use these basic recipes in as a flavor backbone. The annoying part (for me) is that a number of recipes have very cutesy names that sound silly to me. The bottom line is that this is a very flvorful and versatile pesto that is well worth making. 2 heads Garlic (about 20 cloves), peeled 2/3 cup Extra-virgin olive oil 1 cup Packed fresh basil leaves .25 cup Packed fresh parsley leaves .25 cup Tightly packed fresh dill, mint, chervil or cilantro .25 cup Scallions, roughly chopped, green parts only .5 cup Parmigiano Reggiano, grated (use a Microplane) 3 Tbsp Fresh lemon juice Zest of 2 lemons 1.5 tsp Kosher salt DIRECTIONS In a small saucepan, bring the garlic cloves and olive oil up to a simmer over very low heat. If it begins to sizzle and boil, pull it off the heat and allow it to cool slightly before you return it to the hot eye of the stove. The idea is to slowly poach the garlic in the oil rather than fry it. This could take as long as 20 minutes if you keep the heat extremely moderate. When the garlic is done, it will be soft and just slightly browned. This garlic confit plus its oil are kitchen heroes in their own right and can be used anywhere you want mellow garlic notes. You could stop this recipe right here and save those little garlic bombs in the fridge for a month, as long as they are submerged in oil. Pureed, the cloves are especially useful as a means to thicken and add flavor to sauces. But you don’t get to herbdacious by calling it quits early. Once the garlic confit is completely cool, put it and all the remaining ingredients in the most powerful blender you have and let it rip until the mixture is smooth and green. Store herbdacious in a sealed container in your fridge for up to 2 weeks or in your freezer for up to 3 months. Makes 2 cups.

Summer of Soul (2021)

This is an incredibly uplifting documentary about a festival that I did not even know happened. In the summer of 1969, also dubbed the Summer of Love because it is the summer when Woodstock happened, another music festival happened too. The Harlem Cultural Festival, a six consecutive weekend musical event that happened in the late summer of 1969 in Harlem, featuring black performers for a largely black audience happened and someone filmed it. That film never saw the light of day until now, but it is remarkable. The performances were remarkable, the quality of the film, 50 years on, is also remarkable. But for me the most remarkable part was the audience, full of people who are well dressed, so happy to be in the audience, and so clearly enjoying the show. The documentary interviews a number of people who performed at the festival, but also they found people who were in the audience. They filmed them watching parts of the festival, and the joy they expereinced re-watching what they had long ago experienced was pretty magical. Please watch this, it is uplifting in every way. It is streaming on Hulu, and showing in theaters if you are all about the sound of this wonderful music.

Second Pandemic Birthday

Today my mom joins many of us in having a second pandemic birthday. We are all grateful to have been vaccinated, some of us several months ago, and slowly, gradually we started to see each other again. This has been hard on each and every one of us, and most of all young school aged children (and their parents), but followed closely by the very old, which is where my mother lies on the lifetime spectrum. I am very proud of both she and my father for how completely they followed the COVID guidelines, getting groceries delivered in, and not seeing any of us without a mask for over a year. We did arrange to have their great grandchildren play on their front lawn a few times when weather permitted, but it didn't happen very often and it certainly wasn't the same as sharing a meal with them. The thing about it is that their time is likely to be the most limited of any of us, so that year plus represents a piece of the time they have left. Why does that matter so much to me? We all treated them like this was very important, that we stay apart in order to all survive this, but so many people did not care about that at all. And in Iowa, our government cared the least of all. There was no protection from them for the most vulnerable of all, saying that people would "do the right thing". Well, if that were true we really wouldn't need the police at all. The governor should be first in line to defund the police, but of course she is not. She just doesn't care at all for the very old, and she isn't crazy about the rest of us either. Despite that, we made it.

Crumble Coffecake

My husband has been on the hunt for the perfect coffee cake for two weeks now, and we are not there yet. This version is a not too sweet crumble cake, that is perfect for coffee drinkers who like that European level of sugar, but wasn't quite enough for my home front. It comes from Simply Julia, a cookbook for week nights. This can be doubled for a 9 x 13 cake. 1 Cup All-Purpose Flour 1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder 1/4 tsp Kosher Salt 1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil 1/2 Cup Granulated or Raw Sugar 1 Large Egg 1 tsp Vanilla Extract 3/4 Cup Buttermilk, well-shaken Crumb Topping Ingredients: 1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour 1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour 1/3 Heaping Cup Granulated Raw Sugar 1 tsp Baking Powder 1 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt 1/2 Cup (1 Stick) Unsalted Butter, at room temperature Powdered Sugar, for serving Prior to making, take the butter out to warm to room temperature. Prepare the 11 x 7 baking pan by spraying with cooking spray (as in Pam or Olive Oil spray). Preheat the oven to 350° Make the Cake Batter: To a medium bowl, add both flours, baking powder and salt. Whisk well to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Transfer the batter to the prepared baking dish. The batter will be thick, smooth with a rubber spatula. Make the Crumbs: Place the flours, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl and whisk well to combine Add the room temperature butter and mix to form large crumbs. The best way to do this is to use your own clean hands. Rub the mixture between your fingers to form crumbs about the size of marbles. It’s ok for them to be uneven. Evenly sprinkle the crumb mixture on top on the cake batter. (It will be a thick layer.) Bake about 35-40 minutes. Test for doneness using a toothpick or clean knife inserted all the way through the crumbs and into the cake. It will remove clean when the cake is done. If there is batter on the knife, bake for another 3-5 minutes and test again. Cool completely to room temperature. Once completely cooled, sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut into square to serve.

Little Green Dress Sauce

This is not much to look at, but it packs a flavor punch and is worth the really unbeleivably excessive time it to put together. While my spouse was pitting olives and amassing the ingredients, many of them being processed separately, I put together two salad for a party of 50 we were having the next day. And prepped for a third. But he served it with a grilled chicken that had a simple herb rub, and it was a big hit. Vivian Howard gives quite a few wasy to use this in her new book "This Will Make It Taste Good". Try not to be put off by the cutsie names and her slightly annoying approach to organization in this. There are some gems to be had here. Ingredients 2 medium shallots 2 garlic cloves 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar ⅔ cup Castelvetrano olives, pitted 1 ½ tablespoons capers, rinsed 2 oil-packed anchovy filets 1 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley (about 1 cup packed) 2 1/2 ounces packages fresh mint (about 1/2 cup packed) ½ cup tasty extra-virgin olive oil Grated zest of one lemon ¼ cup fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon hot sauce ½ teaspoon kosher salt In a small food processor mince the shallots and garlic, then stir them together in a small bowl with the red wine vinegar. (We want the shallots to pickle a bit, so set mixture aside about 20 minutes.) Meanwhile, mince the olives, capers, and anchovies in the food processor. Transfer to a medium bowl. Pick the leaves and small stems from the parsley and the leaves from the mint; mince in the food processor. (It may take a little while to get them all fully processed.) Transfer herbs to the bowl with the olive mixture. Add the pickled shallot mixture, lemon zest, lemon juice, hot sauce, 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt to the bowl with everything else. Stir it all together and let the vinegary puddle of green sit for a minimum of 30 minutes before serving. Makes 2 cups.

Boycott Option

I am not one to rush into a political discussion, and I do not follow politics beyond reading articles. I don't have a politics blog that I prefer, and I walk away from discussions that get too heated for my taste. That said, I have been reading and thinking about democracy and what can threaten it. Certainly the insurrection in Washington, DC on January 6th this year, incited by the loser of the election and our president at the time, is something to reckon with. Any politician who supported such a blatant attempt to overthrow a democratically elected government is suspect, and any corporation that supports such a policitian is potentially problematic. Toyota gave $55,000 to 37 GOP objectors this year, and that is definitely a problem for me, even though it is not a lot of money when you think about the huge sums of money in politics. Why? That is a quarter of the bloc that voted to nullify President Biden's win after the Capitol siege. Toyota gave more than twice as much — and to nearly five times as many members of Congress — as the No. 2 company on the list, Cubic Corp., a San Diego-based defense contractor. The Japanese automaker's donations this year included a February contribution to Rep. Andy Biggs, an Arizona Republican who has been one of several vocal election conspiracy theorists. A Toyota spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Axios: "We do not believe it is appropriate to judge members of Congress solely based on their votes on the electoral certification." Why not? Seriously, why not? That is a litmus test for your belief in our form of government.

Cashew Asian Rice Salad

This is a great rice salad, filled with great vegetables and a flavorful rice. It is the only rice salad that I have had that I thought i might make again. For the Coconut Rice: 1 1/2 cups dry jasmine rice 1 (15 oz) can unsweetened coconut milk 1 clove garlic, minced 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup water For the Salad: 2 red bell peppers, finely chopped 1 (8 ounce) bag shredded red cabbage 1 1/2 cups shredded carrots 1 small red onion, finely diced 1 cup cilantro, chopped 3/4 cup green onions, thinly sliced 1 cup cashews, finely chopped For the Ginger Peanut Sauce: 1/3 cup natural peanut butter 2 tablespoons honey 3 teaspoons freshly grated ginger 2 tablespoons rice vinegar 2 teaspoon sesame oil Water to thin Lime wedges Instructions Rinse the dry rice well until the water runs clear. In a medium-sized pot, mix together the rice, coconut milk, garlic, salt, and water. Bring to a boil. Once the pot reaches a rolling boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and let simmer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn off heat and let sit (with lid on) for an additional 10 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed. As you wait for the rice, make the peanut sauce. In a small, microwave-safe bowl, combine the peanut butter and honey. Microwave for 15 seconds, or until the peanut butter thins. Stir well. Add the ginger, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Stir again. Thin as desired with water. Fluff the rice and combine it with the chopped vegetables and cashews (I reserve a few whole cashews to garnish with, but it’s not necessary). Drizzle with a bit of the Ginger Peanut Sauce and taste– you might not need to use all of it. Serve with lime wedges.

The Dig (2021)

This is a beautiful film, with a great story, well told, and the cinematography is brilliant. It is quiet, but really satisfying. The front of the house story is this. It is set in May 1939, as Europe lurched towards war and Hitler on the brink of invasion of Poland. A widow, Edith Pretty (played by Carey Mulligan) hires an amateur excavator/archaeologist Basil Brown (played by Ralph Fiennes), to dig up the huge mounds on Edith's property in Suffolk. She and her now deceased husband bought the property with the intention of finding our what was underneath them and for various reasons that becaome clear later, she doesn't feel like she can wait. Brown is kind to every one. He speaks to the precocious young son of Mrs. Pretty, a boy whose head is filled with stories and fantasies about the cosmos, in such a way as to educate him and make him feel heard. He is a serious excavator used to being taken advantage of, and while he underestimates her at first, Mrs. Pretty does right by him. As he dug, mostly on his own with little help, he came across the skeleton of an 88-foot ship dating to the Anglo-Saxon period. This was the first phase of what has been called one of the most important archaeological discoveries in British archeology. The next phase was discovering the burial chamber within the ship, filled with a treasure trove of almost perfectly-preserved artifacts, made from gold and garnet: a stunning helmet, shoulder clasps, a golden belt buckle. A king must have been buried there, for all the effort to bury him in his ship and all the wealth they left with him. This is a great story of how Pretty sponsored the dig and then donated the artifacts to the British Museum, where they sit to this day, known as the "Sutton Hoo find."

Shakespeare in a Divided America by James Shapiro

This book, which the New York Times picked as one of the five best nonfiction books published in 2020, is addressing the fact that America has always been divided, from the very beginning, and then examining what our long standing love affair with Shakespeare tells us. He looks at the popularity of particular plays at particular times, and weaves that in with some specific things that happened in the time period he is examining in that chapter, then brings about some insight into what we can draw from the two things put together. There is the longstanding obsession with Othello at the time of the Revolutionary War, which tells the story of a white woman in love with a black man. The prohibition of such relationships and the apparent shcok related to it does not jive with what was happening in the SOuth, with slave owners raping their slaves and the evidence, their offspring, were irrefutable evidence of their crime. he tells this part through the eyes of a British actress who had to leave because the hypocracy was too much for her to bear. She had a slave owning husband herself, after all. It then goes forward to the Civil War, with several interesting stories, including Ulyssess S. Grant being quite feminine, to the point where he was cast in female roles in Shakespeare plays, which did nothing for his career advancement, and to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by a Shakespearean actor. Booth played Brutus in Julius Caesar, and he was convinced that people, at least people in the South, would see if as a valiant act on par with Brutus killing Caesar. He was a bad judge of the climate, and was widely villified throughout the United States, the South included. The divide that the author explores throughout the book is the divide between those who think that men are created equal and those that do not. He explores next the changing role of women, and then on to modern politics, but the underlying message is that Shakespeare shows us the range of human behavior, and that we can continue to learn from what his plays contain and tell us.

Bean Salad

This comes from the author of Open Kitchen and she correctly identified me as someone who stocked up on dried beans during the pandemic. These are made with Corona beans, which are quite enormous and use two things coming out of the garden right now--fennel and garlic scapes. And tomatoes, if you are lucky, which we are not yet. This is suitable for a pot luck or a BBQ. For the dressing: 4 garlic scapes, roughly chopped (1⁄4 cup) 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar 1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 1⁄4 teaspoon dried oregano 1⁄4 cup Italian parsley leaves, lightly packed 8 tablespoons olive oil Pinch of sugar For the salad: 6 cups cooked beans (see instructions below) 1 cup Castelvetrano olives, pitted and torn in half 11⁄2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved 8 ounces fennel, sliced (2 cups) 1 stalk celery, thinly sliced 1-2 fresno chilies, sliced 11⁄2 ounces shaved Parmesan Fresh herbs to finish, such as chives, parsley, basil, celery leaves 1 In a mini food processor, blend all of the dressing ingredients until smooth. 2 In a large bowl, combine the dressing with the beans, olives, tomatoes, fennel, celery, and chilies. Top with parmesan and herbs. To cook dried beans: Cover 1 pound of dried beans with at least 4 inches of water in a large saucepan. Bring to a strong boil, turn off and let sit for at least 1 hour. Drain, rinse, and put the beans back in the same pot, and cover with at least 3 inches of water. Add 1 stalk of celery, 1⁄2 an onion with the base of the roots intact, 2 cloves of garlic, 1⁄2 teaspoon of salt, and bring to a strong boil. Stir and simmer over low heat until tender (time will vary depending on the type of bean you have, but these large corona beans took 1 hour and 15 minutes). Let the beans cool in their liquid until just warm, then drain and rinse them before adding to the salad.

George III and Edmund Burke

What was the role of King George III in the abruption of America from Britain? Was the revolution against a tyrannical and possibly mad leader? Probably not the whole story. George had some strikes against him from the get go. He was reportedly crippled by shyness, which is a hard row to hoe for a future king. His mentor and teacher became more powerful when George assended to the thrown at age 12, and played an outsized role even after he reached the age of majority. There have been a lot of theories about King George III, that he was a devoted family man and poorly understood, but a prominent politician of the time, Edmund Burke, the so called father of conservatism, thought he was the devil incarnate, a cruel leader and a poor politician. The retaliation of England towards America in the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party led to hardening opposition to Britain's rule. King George III was blamed but really it was the attitude of Parliament couple with an underestimation of the strength of the foe that led to the Declaration of Independence. Was King George in control of his faculties? In 1969 it was proposed that the episodic madness suffered by King George III (1738–1820) resulted from an acute hereditary porphyria, variegate porphyria, caused by deficiency of protoporphyrinogen oxidase. The diagnosis was based on the historical archive and a re-examination of the medical evidence and the appearance of new historical material have suggested that porphyria did indeed exist in the Royal Houses of Europe. The more recent analysis of hair obtained from George III contained no genomic DNA, but metal analysis revealed high concentrations of arsenic. Since arsenic interferes with heme- metabolism, it might have contributed to the King's unusually severe and prolonged bouts of illness. He may have gotten arsenic in the context of the medication George III received from physicians.

Representation and Taxation

The Boston Tea Party continues with valuable lessons even to today. It all started when the British decided that the colonists were not pulling hteir weight and that they should to start paying their fair share of public expenses. Depending on how you look at it, they had a point. Defense of the colonies, from the French and the people who already lived there, had cost a pretty penny and if you were looking at it as investment property in the short haul, then you were definitely not getting your money's worth. If the long view was that in order to benefit from the land you had to retain it, then making the few people who lived there cover the upfront costs was going to be a hard sell. The colonists themselves weren’t opposed to taxation in principle; they were angry that they had no official say in the matter, since they had no seats in the British Parliament. So it brought to the forefront the unfairness of taxation without representation, which is essentially what Washington, DC has today. The fact that we didn't have a vote in what happened to us led us down the path to revolution. It would behoove those who are actively seeking to restrict voting and thereby tax and fail to allow representation to remember our past.

Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge

This is a good Independence Day weekend book to read. The book is inspired by the life of Susan Smith McKinney Steward, the first Black woman doctor in New York State and the third in the country, and her daughter, who married the son of an Episcopal bishop from Haiti. Libertie’s hometown is based on the real nineteenth-century community of Weeksville, a town of free Blacks in Brooklyn during Reconstruction. Libertie's mother has a mystical quality to her, but while she can heal the body, the spirit that has bewen harmed by slavery does not heal so easilty. There are a lot of layers to this book, but the story itself is about a mother-daughter relationship, wrapped in an exploration of race, gender, and colorism. Libertie's mother would like her to follow in her footsteps as a physician and a healer. She is not as gifted as her mother, and she struggles in school. When she ends up failing out of college, Libertie makes the rash decision to marry her mother’s protégé Lucien Chase, the son of an Episcopal bishop, and follow him to Haiti. She hopes that Haiti, as a Black-led republic, will offer her a different life than she can find in the U.S., but soon discovers that the island has its own problems and is still not free of the bitter disease of colorism. It is beautifully written, suffused with layers of hurt and pain.

Graduating From The July Effect

This is the first year in almost 40 years that July 1st is just Canada Day. As a medical student, resident in training, academic physician, and for almost 20 years in charge of some aspect of the training program, July 1st was the first day of a new year. There was a time when it was the year that counted the most, so much more so than the changing of the calendar. As I inch towards retirement, I have taken a step back from a job with more headaches than rewards and found one that is slower paced, with more collegiality and less in the way of day to day drama. There are things that I miss about being involved with a training program, specifically the trainees themselves, and I have made an effort to seek out some options to do a little bit of that, but today it strikes me that July is just not what it used to be to be, and I can even consider taking the weekend off sometime soon. That was never an option when I was in charge of the incoming residents--it was their first and most terrifying day of work, after all. The only problem is that I am not in love with traveling in the heat of the summer (maybe there were things about my old job that really did suit me!). In any case, it is complicated to change what you do, especially when you did it as long as I did, but it is also important to plan for a future with more leisure and today it feels like I am taking one more step in that direction.