So You Want to Be a Lawyer?

My eldest son sat for the bar exam and is hoping to begin his career as a primarily transactional attorney later this month.  While my spouse and I fail to understand the attraction, he seems utterly and completely contented with this career path.  For him it is a perfect fit.  And when I think about it more, I understand the allure.  First and foremost he is not someone who shies away from conflict.  While my spouse and his brothers would run for cover whenever my ire was raised, he would brave the storm and even go so far as to put himself in harm's way.  He would acknowledge that I seemed upset but then ask what I thought could be done to make things better.  How could he help?  What would it take to improve the situation?  This is a very constructive approach to dissipating anger, and to his credit, it is also coming from someone with the heart of a mediator.  That is the kind of person that you want to be your attorney, someone who will figure out what it is that is most important to you and help you to get to that point.

I wish him all the luck and success that he richly deserves as he embarks on the next phase of his life, and may his next trip around the sun hold all that he hopes it will.

Zucchini Flan

Tis the season to eat LOTS of summer squash, and so it is time to find recipes, both new and old.  Really squeeze the water out of the zucchini for this one.

• 1 ½ pounds zucchini, thinly sliced
• Salt and pepper
• 4 eggs
• 2 ½ cups milk or half-and-half
• Pinch of grated nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon chopped thyme
• A few torn basil leaves
• 2 tablespoons butter for greasing baking dish
• 4 ounces grated cheese, such as Gruyère or Cheddar

1. Heat oven to 375. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add zucchini and blanch for 1 minute. Drain and spread zucchini out to cool on a towel--get as much water out of the zucchini as you can. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
2. Beat eggs and milk with 1/2 teaspoon salt, then add nutmeg, thyme and basil leaves.
3. Butter a 2-quart low-sided baking dish, and arrange blanched zucchini over bottom. Scatter cheese over zucchini, then pour in custard.
4. Bake for 30 minutes or until custard is still a bit jiggly, but an inserted knife comes out clean. Cool to room temperature before serving.

Youth (2015)

I liked this movie very much but I am not sure I entirely get it.  It definitely examines art and the effect that aging has on an artist, but beyond that I am not sure what to think of it.  Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel play two 80 year old friends who are at a remote spa in Switzerland.  Michael Caine plays a world renowned composer who has a lot of baggage to sort through at the end of his life.  He has a daughter who has mixed feelings about him.  She is resentful that he played around on her mother, and that there is no fixing that problem.  Her childhood was framed by that, as well as by her father's fame, and she is trying to let go of her anger with him and to move forward.  Keitel plays a director who has one muse, and actress played by Jane Fonda.  She flies to the spa to tell Keitel that his latest work is terrible and that she will not act in a movie with him again, and the aftermath is disastrous.  And surreal.  But that is par for the course in this movie that confronts many aspects of being at the end of your life.  It is a gritty picture of what that entails.

Noonday by Pat Barker

The cover of this book heralds the authors' claim to fame, that she won the Booker Prize, and this book is very much what you would expect from an author who had won that prize.  She writes beautifully and it is all about the telling of the story rather than the story itself.  She has written extensively about love and loss as it relates to the British experience in Word War I and this book is no different except that it takes place in WWII.  It is linked to two other books that feature Paul and Elinor, completing the trilogy.  As you might expect, there is more to the story than the war, but rather it provides the back drop against which the action takes place, and some of the reality of war, the way it makes everyone feel that life is temporary and could end at any moment, play a role in the decisions that the characters make.  It is not necessary to read the other two books in order to enjoy this one, but having done so adds to the enjoyment of this one.

Lime-Marinated Chicken and Tomatillo-Corn Salsa

We had this at our most recent family dinner, which was a pot luck.  My eldest son made this along with a very good pineapple mojito.  The salsa would be good with a lot of things, and is made with ingredients that are available now.

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Juice and peel of one lime
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 6 cloves)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
•   1/2 onion sliced thickly
• 5 tomatillos, (about 1/2 pound) papery skins removed, rinsed
• 1 ear fresh sweet corn, husked
• 1 medium  chile
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• Fresh lime wedge

1.  One at a time, place each breast, smooth side down, between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Pound to even 1/2-inch thickness (see tip below).
2. In large resealable bag combine the 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons of the lime juice, the garlic, salt, and pepper. Add chicken, press air out of bag, and seal. Turn to coat evenly. Marinate, refrigerated, for 1 to 2 hours.
3. Prepare grill for direct cooking over medium heat (about 400 degrees F). Prepare Tomato-Corn Salsa: Brush onion, tomatillos, corn, and chile with olive oil. Grill vegetables over direct medium heat, with lid closed as much as possible, until onions are lightly charred, tomatillos soften and begin to collapse, corn is tender, and chile is softened and lightly charred, turning as needed. (About 10 minutes for onion, and 12 to 15 minutes for tomatillos and chiles.) Place chile in bowl. Cover with plastic; let steam 10 minutes.
4. Peel off skin from chile; discard. Remove stem and seeds. Place vegetables (except corn), cilantro, brown sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in food processor or blender. Whirl until pureed; stir in corn. Add more brown sugar or salt to taste.
5. Increase grill temperature to high (about 500 degrees F) or add additional coals and heat until high heat is reached. Remove chicken from bag, letting excess liquid drip back into bag; discard liquid. Grill chicken, smooth side down, over direct high heat, with lid closed as much as possible, until well marked, 3 to 4 minutes. Turn; grill just until cooked all the way through, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a platter.
6. In bowl whisk together sour cream, the 1 tablespoon olive oil, lime peel, remaining juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. To serve, spoon salsa over chicken. Pass lime sour cream, lime wedges, sliced jalapenos, and cilantro. Makes 6 servings.

Love's Kitchen (2011)

This is very much a fluff romantic comedy, but it has two things going for it as far as I am concerned.  The first is that it is streaming on Amazon Prime, so you can download it onto your device to enjoy while you are traveling outside the confines of free Wifi (really, I love that you can watch movies on the plane, but you are constrained to the parameters of the flight itself--you can't start when you want, and if the plane lands, you don't get to catch the end of whatever it is you  might choose to watch) and are someone for whom the volume of viewing that you do makes purchasing the movie cost prohibitive.  The other is that it is set in a restaurant, so food is part of what is central.  This one is set in the British countryside, and tells the tale of a talented chef who is thrown seriously off his game by the sudden death of his wife, and is working his way back to being a sought after chef.  It is nothing earth shattering, but it is fun.

And It Is Khan For the WIn

The Republican presidential candidate would almost be funny if he weren't so frightening.  The whole white supremacy thing that Steve King said and then Rudy Gukiani repeated at the RNC shows that it is not just him, it has a place in the party.
#nottheonion is no longer a funny hashtag but a short hand that truth is stranger than fiction.  The fact is that I can no longer tell what is news and what is satire. No joke. The line between the real and the absurd has blurred to the point that we have someone who is the candidate for a major party who repeatedly puts it out there that he is simply unable to do the job he seeks.
He recently aptly and succinctly demonstrated his complete lack of understanding of the First Amendment by saying "Mr. Khan has no right to stand in front of millions of people and claim I have never read the Constitution." As a matter of fact he does.  And just so you know, your record of truth telling is sadly lacking, Mr. Candidate.  He calls Hilary Clinton, the most truthful candidate of the 2016 election season, a liar and a crook.  In reality the problem is with him.  He is not competent to be a U.S. government teacher, much less the president of the United States.  But then we knew that already.  It is just that he feels compelled to remind us day after day.  Please stop.  I am heartened that Republicans felt that way about Barry Goldwater in 1964.  Maybe we can come back from the brink of this insanity.

Zucchini Sticks

This is a really delicious way to have zucchini that can be served as an appetizer.  You can make it gluten free by using a gluten free bread crumb and you can make it vegan by eliminating the Parmesan cheese and using a vegan mayo, an egg substitute, and using olive oil instead of butter in the dip, or make another sauce altogether.

Sweet Onion Dip

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 medium sweet onion, about 1/2 pound, peeled and sliced
• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• salt and pepper to taste

Zucchini sticks

• 3 medium zucchini, unpeeled, cut into 3"-long stick
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 cup coarse, dry bread crumbs
• scant 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon mixed Italian herbs
• olive oil spray
• 1/2 cup egg substitute; or 2 large eggs

1. To make the dip: Melt the butter in a medium frying pan over moderate heat, and add the sliced onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions soften, then caramelize. This should take about 15 minutes. The lower the heat, the longer it takes, but the less likely you are to burn the onions.
2. Once the onions are a medium brown, remove from the heat and add the vinegar.
3. Place the onions and vinegar into a small food processor. Add the honey and mustard, and process or blend until smooth.
4. Add the mayonnaise and salt and pepper to taste, stirring to combine. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to serve.
5. To make the zucchini sticks: Place the zucchini sticks in a colander over a bowl and sprinkle with the tablespoon of salt. Let the zucchini drain for 1 hour or longer; rinse and pat dry.
6. Combine the Panko, Parmesan, and pizza seasoning; set aside.
7. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment, and spray the parchment with olive oil.
8. Dredge sticks a few at a time in the egg, then roll in the crumb mixture. Place the sticks on the prepared baking sheet.
9. Bake sticks for 12 minutes, turn over, and bake for an additional 10-12 minutes, until golden brown and crisp.

My Last Day WIthout You (2015)

This is a on the one hand another movie where a couple has a day to make an impression on each other strong enough to make them think that they might give it a go.  The twist in this one, which we know from the very beginning, is that he has come to New York for close an entire division for his German company, and she worked for that company.  The job was a stepping stone towards her independence and her goal of becoming a song writer and singer, and when she finds out that he is the cause of her losing that job and all that it stands for, she seeks revenge.  She is in general a tough nut to crack.  She is complicated, being both a God-loving daughter of a preacher and a cold hard citizen of being black and growing up in a swing neighborhood.  She is intense and passionate, and you can see why the German is attracted to her.  He does his best under trying circumstances, and it is a romantic comedy so you know how that turns out.  Streaming on Netflix.

Barkskins by Annie Proulx

This is a sweeping epic novel that goes back to the founding of Canada and moves forward.  There are two major families that we follow throughout the book, one of them white settlers and one of them largely Native American.  The story is a sweeping saga that spans three centuries and that is both its beauty and its constriction.  On the one hand it is a brilliantly told story that encapsulates the history of the nation to our north.  The author is a storyteller of the finest kind, and this book is no exception.  The thing that I wish it had was more detail about each individual character.  The problem with a book that spans 300 years is that if you want a more in depth portrayal of any one character you are not going to get it.  I actually would have liked a longer book, weirdly enough.  But this one is well worth wading into.