Raging Back

I have seen this bubbling up all around me. The rising anger of the vaccinated towards those who refuse to be vaccninated, the selfish amongst us who cannot even have a needle in the arm to protect those around them, to help their community, and by virtue of that, their country and our economic stability. I had an encounter today that summed up my personal feelings of anger about it. I have been talking about the vaccine with everyone I see since November. It is a public health emergency, with people dying unnecessarily, straining the resources of the health care system, and putting us all at risk both medically and financially. Not to mention the psychological strain it puts front line health care workers under and their on the job risk of contracting the disease. Today is the first time that I was questioned for doing so--I answered them back, swiftly and with reasons from a number of different fronts. When I mentioned it puts children under 12 at risk, they said, without a thought, "I don't have children at home." This epitomizes the anti-vaxxers. They care not who they harm, not children, not the elderly, they care only for themselves, they are mean in spirit, and this is the bad part--I have lost my empathy. They no longer have a corner on the anger market. At first I was sad about this, but then I remember--it was anger that propelled people to the polls in 2020 and so maybe a little anger goes a long way.

The Color of Water by James McBride

The author is the very best kind of memoir writer--a writer well established in writing award winning fiction, who is writing about his mother well before she is actually dead. She is a white woman who is the child Polish Jews who is evasive with her children about both her race and her past. She lives in the black community because that is where she feels most at home, and has 12 children with 2 different men, choosing to remarry a black man after McBride's father, a black minister, dies before he is born of cancer. She has a multiply traumatic past, with prejudice and the Holocaust in the near past, and sexual abuse by her father fueling her escape from her family of origin. She is fierce and complicated, and as McBride unpeels the layers of who she is, there is much to be amazed by. It is a loving tribute that inherently explores race and parenthood, opportunity and choices, and what it means to him to be both black and Jewish. The author notes in the reprint that by writing this, which it appears he did with the aid of his mother, but perhaps without the permission of his siblings, at least at first, that talking about family is not only complicated but it can stir intense feelings in others.

A Rainy Day in New York (2019)

This movie is the strangest thing. I guess first and foremost it is a Woody Allen movie, and he has always stood out as being different--his dialogue is top notch and he gets quality actors that are pitch perfect for the material. The music is reminiscent of the era, always with a tinge of jazz, a clarinet to remember, and it matches the mood, maybe even creating it sometimes. He is a craftsman of the highest caliber so he manages to pull off a well constructed product. All this does not necessarily add up to a movie that you will love, but it is well done, and this movie is no exception. The thing that is challenging is his personal legacy as a man who preys on younger women who might be enamored with his power and money as much as with him. Setting aside the charge that he abused his own daughter, the fact that he slept with the daughter of his significant other and then married her is disturbing. Farrow herself was his muse and then his lover. No matter how you see his personal life, the character that Elle Fanning plays really reeks of someone who is about to be taken advantage of. Then there is the main character, Gatsby Welles. I kid you not, that is his name. He is kind of like Jay Gatsby's great great grandson, in a family scenario where they lost their fortune in the crash but regained it later. If Jay had kids. Timothee Chalomet plays the role of a restless, talented young man with a penchant for risk taking and a talent for gambling so well, and he is by far the most interesting character. So despite the cliches and if you haven't just stopped watching, this is a movie that will give you something to think about.

Zucchini Cheese Gratin

This is a Julia Child's recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking--so it goes way back, and there have been some modern updates that make it even easier.Some parboil the rice, but all I did was soak it until I was ready to assemble and it worked beautifully. The other great thing about this recipe is that it uses grated zucchini, and a lot of it. I had an over-sized zucchini (who can help it when they grow 5-6 inches a day, I ask you?) and it was only a pound and a half, so I had to add more. So a bonanza for using those big ones that does not involve making zucchini cake with them. Butter for dish 2 1/2 pounds (about 1 1/8 kg) zucchini 2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (I use Diamond brand, use 1 1/2 of other brands) 1/2 cup (90 grams) plain, uncooked white rice 1 medium onion, minced (about 1 cup) 5 tablespoons (75 ml) olive oil, divided 2 large cloves garlic, mashed or finely minced 2 tablespoons (15 grams) all-purpose flour (optional) 1/2 cup milk, as needed, although water or broth of your choice would work just fine [1/2 cup needed for streamlined directions, less for original] 2/3 cup (55 grams) grated Parmesan cheese, divided Salt and pepper DIRECTIONS: Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Oil or butter a 2-quart baking dish, or 2 smaller 1-quart dishes (as I did, with the intention of freezing one). Prepare zucchini: Wash zucchini and trim ends. Halve lengthwise, and if seeds are particularly large, core them out. Coarsely grate and place in a large bowl. Prepare remaining ingredients: In a large frying pan, cook the onions slowly in 3 tablespoons oil for 8 to 10 minutes until tender and translucent. Raise heat slightly and stir several minutes until very lightly browned. Stir in garlic and cook another minute. Add uncooked rice that you have soaked in water then drained, and sauté for another two minutes. Season generously with salt and pepper. Assemble gratin: Transfer to bowl with zucchini and stir together with 1/2 cup liquid of your choice (I used cream because that was what I had and they suggest whole milk). Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Transfer to prepared baking dish. Bake gratin: Turn into a 2-quart baking dish, or 2 smaller 1-quart dishes. Bake uncovered at 425. For extra color, you can run it under the broiler for one minute at the end. You can cook it right away, or let it sit until 30 minutes before you want to serve it.

A Promised Land by Barak Obama

Obama is a remarkable man. I remember when we flew to Denmark just a souple of days after the election, everyone riding a bit high on emotion. Here, in the United States, we elected a black man with a Muslim sounding name. The Danes were impressed--they said a Swede couldn't get elected in Denmark, much less someone who looked so different from them. We came to find out that roughly half of us were elated whereas about a third of us harbor white supremacy traits and hated him deeply and without cause. Is this presidential memoir too long? Definitely. And I have to disagree with some other reviewers. It is also ponderous, but in the way that the author himself is. It was his downfall in terms of trying to persuade people, that he couldn't just get straight to the point, he had to give you every piece off background information that he himself used to arrive at his decision, so that you could see it all yourself. In my mind, not necessary, but it is the hallmark of this man, this president. You should read it because it will remind you of him--he reads the audio version, so you can really remind yourself--he really is a slow speaker, you will also remember that and maybe increase the speed a bit. He walks the reader through every major decision of his first term, what the plan was, what went wrong, and what he would do differently, if anything. It is definitely worth the walk down memory lane, but as someone else noted, could Michelle write the sequel? Or at least take a stab at editing it.

Earth On Fire

What comes around goes around. I met some people I work with face to face this week for the first time. We did it outdoors and we have all been vaccinated, and while the delta variant is raging all around us, people are once again dying unnecessarily, and it may not have been altogether perfectly safe, we did it anyway. In a couple of weeks it probably wouldn't happen would be my guess, but it was good to finally talk to each other. One of the things people who are relative strangers do in this scenario is to talk about their families, and it made me thing back to when I started having kids. It was something I definitely did not want to do. The Cold War was coming to a close, but there were still a lot of nuclear weapons in the world, and the fact that one of them might bring about the end of a habitable planet was something I had to face, but I wasn't sure I wanted to bring someone into the world to face. I was and still am hopelessly in love with my spouse and so we did indeed have kids. What I did not see coming at the time, but is now abundantly clear, is that we don't have to detonate a bomb to ruin the planet, we just have to go about business as usual, making few if any changes in how we operate, and the planet will self incinerate. Today is my youngest child's birthday, a child who survived cancer when he was five, only to face this. I hope he can grow old on this planet, but to do so will require real change.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

This is the coffee cake that I have been making all my life. My mother made it,a nd a version of it is in the original Moosewood cookbook, the one I got in the late 1970's and cooked out of throughout my college and medical school career. I had Moosewood before I had Julia Childs. Silly me, I should have had both, but I did not grow up cooking and so I used what I knew. In any case, I have made some variation of this for over 40 years. I put cranberry sauce left over from Thanksgiving in the middle, I use thinly sliced apples there sometimes, and I have always used yogurt, even before it was cool to do so--and I use flavored ones that are going bad with good effect. Cake: 8 tablespoons (113g) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup (198g) sugar 2 large eggs, at room temperature 2 cups (240g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup (227g) sour cream or yogurt, at room temperature Topping: 1/2 cup (99g) sugar 2 teaspoons cinnamon 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/2 cup (57g) chopped walnuts or pecans, optional Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9 1/2" tube pan, or a 9" x 9" pan. To make the cake: Beat together the butter, sugar, and eggs. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternately with the sour cream or yogurt, stirring after each addition. To make the topping: Combine all of the topping ingredients, stirring until evenly crumbly. Spread half the batter in the pan, and sprinkle with half the topping mixture. Repeat with the remaining batter and topping. Bake the coffeecake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Glass pans may take an additional 5 to 10 minutes to bake through completely. Remove the cake from the oven; if you've baked it in a tube pan, wait 10 minutes, loosen the edges, and carefully turn it out of the pan. Place the cake right-side up (topping up) on a plate to serve. If you've baked the cake in a 9" x 9" pan, just serve it right from the pan. Serve the cake warm or at room temperature. Wrap the completely cooled cake airtight, and store at room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage.

Jack by Marilynne Robinson

The relationship that is at the heart of this book is an unmarriage, forbidden and yet real. Jack Boughton is white to Della Miles black. When the two walk together in St. Louis, they do so at their peril. Each minute they spend together in public is an act of trespass; to be near her, he knows, is to endanger her. Della is a schoolteacher and the daughter of a Methodist bishop; Jack, the son of a Presbyterian minister, is en drunk, and erratically employed. Their marriage cannot, and does not, exist on paper, yet it is the thing that they risk everything for. This unwelcoming world is no surprise to Jack and Della, and Robinson fittingly sets one of their longest scenes together in a cemetery. There is no safe place for them, but there are fewer spectators among the headstones and obelisks than elsewhere; there is also, of course, the stark presence of death. The exploration of racism set in the near past is a quiet reminder of the reality of life in America, a country unwilling to publicly deal with it's history of slavery, and so it simmers below the surface, never going away, never getting better. Like all of Robinson's books that are linked togehter since Gilead, this deals with human bonds. It is quietly stirring, and well worth reading.

Mary's Chicken Tikka Masala

We have a tikka lover in our house, and this is the best yet. 1 lb. (0.4 kg) tandoori chicken 4 tablespoons butter 1 teaspoon finely minced ginger 2 teaspoons finely minced garlic 1/2 cup (120 ml ) canned tomato paste 2 tablespoons chili powder 1/2 teaspoon garam masala 2 tablespoons ketchup 1/2 teaspoon sugar salt to taste 1/2 cup (120 ml) water 4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream/yogurt 2 sprigs cilantrom leaves only, roughly chopped INSTRUCTIONS Cut the Tandoori Chicken (click for recipe) into bite-sized pieces. Set aside. Heat the butter in a pan over low heat. Add the ginger, garlic, and saute for about 1-2 minutes or until aromatic. Add the tomato paste and chili powder, stir to mix well, about 30 seconds. Add the Tandoori Chicken and Garam Masala into the pan, stir and let simmer for 10 minutes. Cover the pan with its lid. Add the ketchup, sugar, salt, water, and simmer for another 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the heavy whipping cream or yogurt, stir to combine well with all the ingredients in the pan. Transfer the Chicken Tikka Masala to a serving platter and garnish with the chopped cilantro leaves before serving.

Pickled Tomatoes and Peppers

This recipe is yet another master sauce from her cookbook This Will Make It Taste Good. This is one that she sells in a jarred form, so if you are short on refridgerator space or just not up for the challenge, you can still try them. They are then used in a multitude of ways as a flavoring agent. That is the focus of the cookbook, that you spend some time putting together something that is very highly flavored and then you can use it to make things that are easy peasy (which she calls no brainers--do not get me started on how silly the wording in this cookbook is, but the ideas are very solid) or you can use it in something that is a bit more like traditional cooking,b ut this is the flavoring agent. 2 pounds plum tomatoes, cut into quarters lengthwise 1 bunch scallions, sliced thin 5 jalapeños, sliced into thin rings 3 tablespoons minced fresh ginger 3 tablespoons minced garlic 1½ tablespoons Brown Mustard Seeds 1½ tablespoons Cumin Powder 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1½ teaspoons Spicewalla Cayenne Chilli Powder 1½ teaspoons Spicewalla Turmeric ½ cup unseasoned rice wine vinegar ¾ cup white wine vinegar ¾ cup packed light brown sugar 1½ cups extra-virgin olive oil Put your tomatoes in a large, wide, heatproof bowl that is plenty large enough to hold all the ingredients. I like to assemble and start to “pickle” my weapons there on the counter, letting their flavors marry as they cool down. Then, once they’re mixed together and have reached room temperature, I transfer them to smaller containers suitable for the fridge. (This recipe is sized to just barely fit into two quart-size mason jars, but you may have a little extra. While you can try to pull it all together directly in the jars, that might just be a big mess waiting to happen.) In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, bring all the ingredients except for the tomatoes and the olive oil to a boil over medium heat. Let it boil for 1 minute. Then add the olive oil and bring back to a boil. Immediately pour over the tomatoes in the big bowl, pressing them down to make sure they are submerged. Let the tomatoes and the liquid cool to room temperature without the aid of an ice bath or anything to speed the process along. If you’ve got room in your fridge, the big bowl can go in there. But if the weapons sit out at room temperature overnight, that’s totally fine. The more slowly they cool down, the more quickly they will pickle. Once they’ve cooled, transfer the weapons to jars and refrigerate for a minimum of 3 days or up to 3 months.