Grilled Cabbage with Chili Garlic Butter

On a recent vacation where cooking featured heavily, this was another cabbage dish that was a win--it wasn't much to look at but it was surprisingly good to eat. A little more sauce wouldn't go amiss, but it was very good as it was. 1 large, round white cabbage 2 tbsp olive oil flaky sea salt For the dressing 2 shallots, peeled and finely chopped 2 red chillies, halved, deseeded and thinly sliced 6 garlic cloves, peeled and minced 100 g (3 1⁄2 oz) butter 1 tsp flaky sea salt 1 small bunch of parseley, roughly chopped Cut the cabbage into four or six wedges, depending on how large it is, and brush the cut surfaces with olive oil. Set the wedges cut-side down on a very hot grill to char for 4 minutes, then flip and grill the other cut surface for 4 minutes. Finally set the wedges on their rounded sides for a final 4 minutes, just to soften the cabbage a little. Remove to a platter and sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt. While the cabbage is charring, combine the shallots, chilli and garlic with the butter and set in a small pan on the side of the grill over a low- moderate heat, enough to just melt the butter and lightly confit the vegetables. Stir occasionally, cooking for about 12–14 minutes or until the shallots are soft and look translucent. Remove from the heat, add the salt and chopped dill and mix well. Pour the butter dressing all over the warm cabbage and serve straight away for best results. To cook without a BBQ Use a lightly oiled, preheated griddle pan on your stove top and cook the cabbage wedges just as you would on the fire. Prepare the dressing on your stove too, in a small pan over a low heat.

The Territory (2022)

This was shortlisted for the Academy Award this year and it tells a story that is hard to tell cinematically. The movie opens with a speech by Jair Bosonaro pledging to take indigenous land and essentially nationalize it. His administration undermined the government agency tasked with protecting those rights, issued regulations that are harmful to Indigenous people, and halted the recognition of their traditional lands. The government has also weakened the federal environmental protection agencies, the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA, its Portuguese acronym) and the Institute for the Conservation of Biodiversity (ICMBio), leaving Indigenous territories even more vulnerable to encroachment. The movie has a hard time telling a compelling story but it is always dedicated to it its main advocacy for the Amazon rainforest’s Indigenous Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau people. For three years, director Alex Pritz and a small crew filmed the struggles by the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau people to keep their Indigenous land. There are fewer than 200 of them left, but they have great pride in their culture and the land of their ancestors. The protection of their land is essential for more than their own livelihood and rights, but also the world—the Amazon rainforest holds a great deal of importance as the “lungs” of the world. To watch this land then be destroyed gradually by invaders who are wielding chainsaws and setting fire to large swaths of land is harrowing in its own right, and then their feelings of entitlement to do so is appalling. The package is not neatly tied up or succinctly told, but it is none-the-less compelling.

Four Treasures of the Sky by Jennifer Tinghui Zhang

The history of racism against Asians runs deep in the American history and this multi-layered story demonstrates the darker side of settling the West. It is told in the voice of a well-considered memoir and is as lyrical as an epic poem. The book opens with 13-year-old Daiyu, named after a beauty who has been cursed with a tragic fate, is kidnapped. It’s the first day of spring. Her parents have already disappeared, vanished in the middle of the night from their small fishing village. Her grandmother has already shaved her head, put her in boys’ clothes, and sent her to the nearby city of Zhifu. Once there, Daiyu has a series of lucky breaks but faces inevitable hazards, which is a pattern that is repeated throughout her life. She lives life as a boy and life as a girl, and while the sexual exploitation that marks her stint of living in her real skin is both predictable and horrifying, her life as an Asian man in 19th century America is not remarkably better. There are so many layers to this book. In the many roles she must assume to survive, Daiyu somehow retains her optimism and kindness. She falls in love even though she can never express the depth of her feelings to anyone. Although you can sense the futility of her impossible dream to reunite with her parents. Daiyu uses this as her strength and meaning behind her every effort and decision in this generous, brutal, and heartbreaking novel.

Braised Red Cabbage with Vinegar

This is an excellent recipe to have in your back pocket--introduced to me by one of my kids, so even better--it uses a ubiquitously available vegetable, very winter friendly as well, affordable, and this comes together in no time. It can be served warm, room temperature, or cold, all equally good. Any vinegar will do, and you can add a little stock if the braising turns to burning. 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 cup chopped onion 4 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed 1 1/2-pound red cabbage, cut into ribbons 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds 3-4 tablespoons red wine vinegar Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté until beginning to brown, about 8 minutes. Add cabbage and cumin seeds; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss until cabbage is wilted, about 4 minutes. . Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmerBOUT 10 minutes. Add vinegar. Cover and cook until cabbage is tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

The Great Experiment by Yascha Mounk

The subtitle of the book is: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Succeed. It was yet another work of non-fiction on Obama's reading tlist in 2022 that I read based soley on that, his recommendation. He will make me care about politics and how it can be an agent for positive change. Apparently the egis of this book came from the author speaking on German television in 2018, where he remarked that Germany was “embarking on a historically unique experiment – that of turning a monoethnic and monocultural democracy into a multi-ethnic one”. He was immediately deluged with emails from far-rightists who felt his comment corroborated their belief in a conspiracy to eradicate the white race. This might have prompted him to reflect that the word “experiment” was perhaps a less than optimal way to characterize mass migration and its consequences. Instead, he went away and wrote an entire book around this very theme. This is not so much a book full of solutions or policy suggestions but rather a string of observations. He identifies the elements of the caste system within all cultures, and not to give too much away, elements of autocracy leverage the fear of losing the advantage of being on top to prize away democracy for power and financial gain. This is the lesson of Trump, that racism is alive and well, but can be triumphed over if we pay attention.

Strange World (2022)

This movie did not make the final cut for a Best Animated Movie nomination this year and part of me gets it. All the basic elements of this movie are all too familiar. There’s a family of adventurers, a dire mission to save the planet from a mysterious ecological crisis, an absent father, a present father, three generations of insecure men, and a bunch of under-developed female supporting characters whose personalities range from strong to loving, understanding and nurturing. For all it's lack of original plot and story line, there is amazingly lush animation that is pretty jaw dropping to watch and experience. The movie zips along at a good clip, and there are some surprise moments that are really fun to watch. This really is in the Disney tradition of a movie for kids that their parents won't be bored out of their minds because the dialogue is pretty well done, and matches the fast pace of the action.

If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery

This book, which is more eight interlocked stories than a novel per se, is constructed with heart, intensity, and a surprising amount of humor, considering the central themes. The linked stories center on Trelawny as he struggles to carve out a place for himself amid financial disaster, racism, and flat-out bad luck. His parents, who are a mix of colors and cultures, have emigrated from Jamaica in the 1970's looking for opportunity and a better life. After a fight with his father―who is reckoning with his failures as a parent and his longing for Jamaica―Trelawny is left homeless, and works a series of odd, often hilarious jobs. Meanwhile, his brother, Delano, attempts a disastrous cash grab to get his kids back, and his cousin, Cukie, looks for a father who doesn't want to be found. They are all experiencing the danger of climbing without a safety net. The book is all about what it means to be in between homes and cultures in a world at the mercy of capitalism and whiteness. It is occasionally lyrical, studded with sly commentary and contagious laughter, all the while delivering body blows.

Descendant (2022)

This is about the ship Clotilda and the living descendants of those who were aboard it; this is an oral history lesson with some facts to back it up. The ship, built and financed by wealthy Mobile, Alabama resident Timothy Meacher around 1856, was used to bring the last slaves acquired in the international slave trade to America in 1860. Since this type of slave trade had been deemed illegal in America by then, and was punishable by death, Meacher burned and sank The Clotilda afterwards to cover up his crime. The descendants of the 110 victims of Meacher’s treachery settled in Africatown, a section of land now incorporated into Mobile, Alabama. The denizens there, past and present, were privy to the first-person narrative of Cudjoe Lewis, once believed to be the only living survivor of the Clotilda. Lewis told his story not only to his kin, but also to author Zora Neale Hurston, who wrote it down for her 1931 book, Barracoon: The Story of the Last Black Cargo. The text of this documentary is about the search for The Clotilda, which up until 2019 has never been found. The descendants talk about what they know about their past, what has been passed on through generations, but also about what they think about the present and the future in terms of responsibility and reparations. That for me was the most fascinating part of the story; there is no single belief or stance, and the responses are thoughtful and balanced. Black history is American history, but so often it has been corrupted, miscategorized, bowdlerized, or flat-out ignored in schoolbooks and classes. Erasure cannot be done to oral traditions, so long as there is someone alive to tell the tale and pass it on.

These Precious Days by Ann Patchett

This book of essays is filled with intensely personal stories from the author's life. No one is safe, and she acknowledges that. She has written about her spouse, her marriage, her family of origin, and her best friend from graduate school in the past, so people in her present are fair game for reflection and sharing. The reader feels invited in, like the author has included you in the circle of warmth and friendship that exudes from her writing. It’s clear that Patchett forms deep and lasting friendships; the tone of the stories that she relates, the generosity of spirit they convey and the fact that we often hear of the same people through the years in various essays all speak to this being true. To her credit, Patchett, while forthright in describing her relationships, is never unkind. She speaks of all these people with great fondness, and she shines the same light on herself and her character that she shines on others. This is wonderful to read, and like the bookstore owner that she is, she left me with two book recommendations that I immediately took out of my library to read.

The Bad Guys (2022)

In the month lading up to the announcement of what will and won't be in the running for the Academy Awards, I like to watch things that might be nominated, based on a superficial reading of lists by those who make a living generating such lists, and that is how I agreed to watch an animated cartoon about bad guys. My son had been trying for quite some time to get me to sit down and watch it, and I almost did on a trans-Atlantic flight that had a particularly sparse selection of movies that I hadn't watched. I am here to say that while I do not think this is in the top five animated movies of 2022 that I have watched (which is a far smaller number than those that are nomination-eligible), this was a fun movie to watch. I didn't know until after watching it, but the story is based on the kids’ graphic novel series of the same name. It follows a group of fun-loving criminals who lean into their rap as the villains of the animal kingdom for thrills and profit. Wolf is their silver tongued charismatic leader and Snake is the cranky but loyal safecracker side kick. Shark is the enthusiastic master of disguise, but the amusing running bit is that it’s always totally obvious he’s a shark and Tarantula (Awkwafina!) is the speedy and resourceful hacker, an assignment where it would indeed be useful to have eight arms. And the main skill the quick-tempered Piranha seems to bring is toxic flatulence, which at first seems like a gratuitous gag to make kids in the audience giggle. In any case this gang of pigeon holed misfits go about planning and executing crimes until they have a turning point, and work for the greater good. The script is surprisingly well done, and it is overall enjoyable to watch.