Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

This is the best book I have read in a long time, especially when you eliminate books that are exceptionally well written and yet in the end sadden your soul. Books that reveal that there is still more to be upset about. This book ultimately ends happily, after the author has woven a tightly knit tale that is propelled beautifully from start to finish. The book is set across two timelines and narrative styles, this sweeping book narrates the lives of two heroines: the young and brash Marian, driven to become an early pilot of undaunted fame in early twentieth century Montana; and Hadley, child-star-turned-disaffected-actress in modern day Hollywood. Marian and her twin brother grow up with their uncle, and have a less than privledged existence, but they have enough space to grow their passions. She becoems an aviator who grows up between the wars and ends up flying in WWII. Marion is the star and Hadley's role is really in telling the end of Marian's. The narrative fits so well together and is so well told that it was a touch of regret that I felt as the story wound to a well crafted close. It is at once timely and timeless, fits well in our modern, individualistic age, a clearly well-researched and carefully considered examination of American history. The dual protagonists are engaging and at times inspirational heroines, talented and capable women who offer a refreshing pair of female voices taking on traditional roles of adventure and daring. Really, it is sublime you will not regret reading this one.

Gochujang Glazed Eggplant

We have eggplant! Our garden has been successful in a number of ways that it hasn't been in year's past. Firstly, the weed retardant barrier that we put down worked better than ever before--none of us are enthusiastic weeders, me worst of all, and so that has really helped. There are some things that have been so so, but we are actively thinking of planting for the fall, which is a sign that we just don't want it to end. This eggplant is easy peasy and can be made ahead if you are working and having guests over the same day. 1 pound Asian eggplant (about 3 large; preferably Korean, or Chinese or Japanese), halved lengthwise and cut into 4- to 5-inch segments 1 teaspoon kosher salt 2 tablespoons gochujang 1 tablespoon soy sauce 2 packed teaspoons dark brown sugar 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil 2 garlic cloves, finely grated ½ cup olive oil 4 scallions, trimmed, cut into 3-inch segments, then very thinly sliced lengthwise, white and green parts separated Place the eggplant in a colander set inside a large bowl or the sink. Sprinkle with the salt, toss to combine and let sit for 30 minutes to remove excess moisture. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, add the gochujang, soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil and garlic. Whisk to combine, then set aside. To a large nonstick skillet, add the olive oil and the white parts of the scallions. Turn the heat to medium and fry the scallions, stirring often, until crispy and evenly browned, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fried scallions onto a paper towel. Reserve a small handful of raw scallion greens for garnish, then fry the remaining scallion greens in the oil until crispy and lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer fried scallion greens onto a paper towel. Remove the skillet from the heat and carefully pour the hot scallion oil into a glass container or measuring cup. After the 30 minutes of salting, dry the eggplant segments with a paper towel. Place the skillet over medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons of the reserved scallion oil. When the oil starts to shimmer and you see a wisp of smoke, add half the eggplant, cut sides down, and fry until browned and starting to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip once and cook another minute on the other side. Transfer to a plate, add 2 more tablespoons of scallion oil back to the pan, and repeat to fry the second batch of eggplants. (If you are lucky enough to have any scallion oil left, use it to fry eggs or to dress a salad.) Finally, sauce the eggplants: Add the first batch of eggplants back to the pan alongside the second batch. Reduce the heat to medium-low and pour the reserved gochujang sauce over the eggplants. Toss until evenly coated and the gochujang starts to caramelize, about 1 minute. Plate the eggplants on a large platter and garnish with the fried scallions and the reserved raw scallion greens. Serve immediately. (To store for later, transfer to a resealable container and keep in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days. This dish tastes great cold, straight out of the fridge, or at room temperature.)

Keeping Kids In School

Can kids do in person school this year? It seems doomed to failure, especially in places where there is no mask mandate and people are doing pretty much whatever they want. In my university town the college students are back and a quick jog across the library revealed that about 2/3 of students were not wearing masks. Vaccinated or not, they can spread COVID, and last year that was the beginning of the rising death toll. Never a recipe for success when it comes to public health matters. This year our governor is forbidding people from mask mandates, so it is unlikely to go well. The truth is this is exactly what happened in the Spanish flu pandemic. It became clear that wearing masks and keeping apart really slowed the spread of influenza, but after a while, people ignored that, and the second year of the pandemic was far deadlier than the first had been. It was partly because the flu itself got deadlier. Will that happen this time? The current variation is definitely more successful at spreading and there are definitely more children hosptialized, some because they are unvaccinted and some because they can't be vaccinated. None of this troublesome news seems to motivate people to do better, at least at this moment, and soon we will all be heading back indoors.

Second Place by Rachel Cusk

I have gotten a great start on this year's Booker Prize long list, with this being the second book I have read within the first month after it was announced. That said, I wich I had read the end note first. It gives a context for the book, by stating that the novel is in some way paying a debt to the bohemian socialite Mabel Dodge Luhan and her 1932 memoir Lorenzo in Taos, about DH Lawrence’s chaotic stay at her artists’ colony in New Mexico. Apparently in the end he threatening his hostess and her future in some way, the whole thing was so traumatic. In this book there is an L who is the invited guest to the hostess' second place, not her primary dwelling, we are led to beleive, but there is also some aspect of who is going to win, when it isn't a race or a contezst, but somehow it seems like there is a com[petition, and a sadness that underlies the whole narrative. if I had known it was a book built on the framework of another, and what that was I might have felt like I understood it better, but I ended up feeling it was well written and plain weird.

Malted Brownies

My spouse has been baking ever since we binge watched the Great British Bake Off just before and then during the pandemic. We are both health care workers, and he works intensively with COVID patients, so we are doing nothing in our personal life to increase risk. We were vaccinated at the earliest point we could. Consequently, we are eating almost 100% food we made, or someone we know made. This might sound limiting, but it has really been a game changer in our home baking. These are from Dessert Person (or the Epicurious website) and they are fantastic. ¼ cup Dutch process cocoa powder (0.7 oz / 20g) 5 ounces (142g) semisweet chocolate (preferably 64 to 68% cacao), coarsely chopped 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3 oz / 85g), cut into pieces ¼ cup neutral oil, such as vegetable or grapeseed (2 oz / 56g) ½ cup granulated sugar (3.5 oz / 100g) ½ cup packed dark brown sugar (3.5 oz / 100g) 1 large egg (1.8 oz / 50g) 2 large egg yolks (1.1 oz / 32g) 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract ¾ cup all-purpose flour (3.5 oz / 100g) 2 tablespoons malted milk powder (0.63 oz / 18g) (optional) 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt (0.11 oz / 3g) 6 ounces (170g) milk chocolate, coarsely chopped (1 cup) Preheat the oven and prepare the pan: Arrange an oven rack in the center position and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8 × 8-inch pan with 2 sheets of foil, crossing one over the other and pressing the foil into the corners and up the sides. Lightly butter the foil and set aside. Bloom the cocoa: In a large heatproof bowl, whisk the cocoa powder and ¼ cup boiling water (4 oz / 113g) until smooth (this will bring out the flavor of the cocoa). Melt the chocolate, butter, and oil: Add the semisweet chocolate, butter, and oil to the bowl with the cocoa mixture and set it over a medium saucepan filled with about 1 inch of simmering (not boiling) water (make sure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the water). Warm the mixture gently, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove the bowl from the heat and let cool until lukewarm. Add the sugars and egg: Whisk the granulated and brown sugars into the chocolate mixture. It will look grainy and you might see some of the fat start to separate from the rest of the mixture, which is normal. Add the whole egg, egg yolks, and vanilla and whisk vigorously until the mixture comes back together and looks very thick, smooth, and glossy. Add the dry ingredients: Add the flour, malted milk powder (if using), and salt and whisk slowly until everything is combined, then whisk more vigorously until the batter is very thick, a full 45 seconds. Fold in the chocolate and bake: Add the milk chocolate to the batter and fold with a flexible spatula to distribute. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, spreading in an even layer all the way to the corners. Bake the brownies until the surface is shiny and puffed and the center is dry to the touch but still soft when pressed, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool, chill, and cut: Allow the brownies to cool in the pan until they are no longer hot, about 1 hour, then refrigerate until the bottom of the pan feels cold, about 1 hour longer (this results in a chewier texture). Use the ends of the foil to lift the brownies out of the pan and transfer to a cutting board. Slice the brownies into 16 squares.

Children and the Delta Variant

August has seen a dramatic rise in children with COVID being hospitalized, some of them going to the ICU. Pediatric ICU's are filling up, and there may not be room at the inn soon, which should be terrifying, but from what I can tell from news reports coming out of regions where the unvaccinated exceed the vaccinated is that they have no regrets and they are definitely not getting vaccinated. Which means that they are perfectly comfortable with killing other people, including children. Around the country, child hospitalizations for Covid-19 have increased to levels not seen since January, when U.S. cases and deaths were at their highest levels, according to the latest government data. Doctors in the hospitals hardest hit by the recent surge say the situation is worse than it was in January. It happened fast: As of mid-August, U.S. hospitals were tending to an average of more than 1,200 children a day, twice the number from the end of July and four times from the start of July, according to an NBC News analysis of data released this week by the Department of Health and Human Services. The data show the U.S. facing another peak in child hospitalizations as the delta variant of the coronavirus hits communities hesitant to get vaccinated. So while unvaccinated adults are filling ICUs in parts of the South, minors in those areas are filling up the pediatric wings at an alarming pace. And it is getting worse not better, again because too few people think about their community, that there is a greater good beyond yourself to think about. Get the vaccine and stop sickening and killing children.

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

This author is apparently well known for her novels that take scenarios from the front page of the news, crises that brew in real life, and imagines the stories and the people who lie immediately behind, the people who perpetrate such crimes. In this case it is not a pandemic (ironically, she has already done that one), but rather the financial crisis. He lead character is a cross between Bernie Madoff and an international man of mystery sort. The high roller who fooled everyone who gets caught and dies in prison. The book probes into the man himself and the people who are wrapped up with him by association, if not actually benefitting excessively but more by association. then there are the victims of the crime, the people who chased the dream of staggering profits without work, who then lost it all. It is a tale of greed, some of it naked and out in the open, some of it propelled by wanting something that sounds unbelievable to be true, but once again, it is too good to be true. The people in these stories are starkly drawn and intensely interesting, which is the magic of the author herself as a storyteller. She is also almost too good to be true. I read this because it is on Obama's 2020 reading list, but I would seek out other books by this author.

Peach Brown Butter Pudding Cake

This is a variationon a southern pudding cake, loaded with fresh fruit, served warm with whip cream or vanilla ice cream. You can top with slivered almonds or not, depending on your crowd. I had this at a friends' house and a fellow guest made it, but cooked it on site. The goos news is that it bakes while you are having dinner, and it should be quite browned ideally. 3 cups fresh nectarines or peaches in 1/2-inch slices, or a combination about 1 pound 5 ounces sugar (about 3/4 cup) 1 teaspoon lemon juice 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 3 ounces flour (about 3/4 cup) 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder ⅛ teaspoon salt ¾ cup buttermilk ¼ cup sliced almonds ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 2 tablespoons Demerara sugar Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the fruit slices, 1/4 cup sugar and lemon juice. Stirring constantly, bring the mixture to a simmer, then take the pan off the heat. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and cook, swirling the pan occasionally, until it smells very nutty, turns golden, and flecks of dark brown appear, 2 to 3 minutes. Pour the brown butter into an 8-inch-by-8-inch baking dish. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Pour the buttermilk into the dry ingredients and mix just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Scrape the batter on top of the brown butter, use a spatula to even out the batter but be careful not to mix it into the butter. Scatter the nectarine slices and juice on top of the batter without stirring. Sprinkle with the almonds, nutmeg and Demerara sugar. Bake until golden brown, 50 to 55 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm.

Sudden Population Shift

These are the local statistics for my neck of the woods. I live in a red state, one that voted for Trump despite the fact that more of us died per capita than in the country as a whole, and re-elected a governor who literally said that she was not going to close businesses because the hospitals still had beds. She cares not if people needlessly die, and as of now, she endangers more of us each and every day with her lack of attention to public health. Despite that, we are protecting ourselves and our community. We are vaccinated, and I have every reason to believe that as the guidelines about getting booster shots start to emerge, that we will comply with these quidelines as well. Today, however, our university town opens its doors to students starting the fall semester today and all bets are off as to how that will go. It went exceedingly poorly last fall with a rise in COVID and hospitalizations directly linked to students returning and bars being open. Data rolled in showing that communities that had universities had excessive rates of COVID infections amongst non-student residents, and that having a univeristy nearby put you at greater risk of both infection and death. So what happens next? Will we do better this time around or will history repeat itself? The delta variant lays in wait for us to let down our guard. One way or the other, we will know soon enough.

The New Wilderness by Diane Cook

This is a book about a community of strangers attempt to live in a natural world made inhospitable by the climate crisis in this tale of survival and strife. The cataclysm of civilisation has overwhelmed all but a single natural preserve called the Wilderness State, home to the last remnants of North American wildlife, and a small band of nomads called the Community. Bea, a young mother who has made the impossible and inadvisable decision to join an experiment in the Wilderness State in order to save her little daughter, Agnes, from the wasted City, whose poisoned air has been killing her since the day she was born. She is the protagonist at first, but even that is a shifting role in this book of a different sort of Hunger Games. She is one of 20 initial volunteerswho are part of an experiment allegedly intended to determine whether humans can exist in nature without destroying it. It goes about as well as you might think, with all the usual pit falls, including hoarding, sexual predators, lies, and manipulation. all with a particular twist and well written. It is interesting to read in the midst of a pandemic, where most people do not die, but a lot of people do. Right now about one in every 500 Americans has died of COVID, and the count is continuing to rise. Here there are very few left, and as is always the case, both in real life and in post-apocalyptic fiction, there are haves and have nots. What resonates is how leadership and power end up being distributef, as well as who cares about whom. There are a lot of people who you could see kicking out of you Community because they thinkonly of themselves, and this books brings that into the ugly light that it is.

Homemade Salsa for Canning

Oh my gosh, the garden is going crazy with tomatoes, and so even though it is not Labor Day weekend, which is out usual day for heavy canning of tomatoes, we got started early. In addition to a primavera sauce (because we have lots of other vegetables on hand as well so why not?) and some pizza sauce, I took another stab at making and canning salsa (my last attempt was about a decade ago and it did not go well....). This one is good going into the jar, and hopefully will be just as good coming out. 9 cups peeled and chopped tomatoes 2 1/2 cups chopped bell peppers 2 1/2 cups chopped white onion 4 medium jalapenos, chopped (with seeds for a hotter salsa, without for a milder one) 8 large cloves garlic, chopped 6 teaspoons canning salt 1/2 cup cider vinegar 1 (12 ounce) can tomato paste Instructions Remove the skins from the tomatoes. To do this, make an “X” in the bottom of the tomatoes, then place in boiling water for 60 seconds. Then, remove the tomatoes from the water and place directly into a bowl if iced water to shock. The skins should slip right off. (I use my spider to transfer the tomatoes from the boiling water to the ice water without getting splashed.) Make the salsa. Place all of the ingredients in a large pot (you will need a 10qt. saucepan for this batch, or split the ingredients among 2 saucepans) and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until thickened and cooked. Prepare cans to be sealed. Ladle the cooked salsa into clean, sterile jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rims of jars with a damp, clean, paper towel, then place lids on top. To make filling easy, I highly recommend a wide funnel designed for canning jars. Process using a water bath (or better yet, pressure can them). To do this, bring a large saucepan filled with water to a boil. Your saucepan needs to be tall enough to have the water cover the jars by 2 inches- though the jars will displace some of the water as they are added. Add the jars to the water bath and cover with a lid. Process for 30 minutes, then remove. I use these tongs to make things easy.

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.

The Baby Journey

One of my friends, a woman who had one child when I met her, with one on the way, and who now has five, calls parenting the baby journey and I like to think of it this way. I like her too, and I love her attitude, and this is one thing I am borrowing from her and making something that matters to me from something that matters to her. Today is the anniversary of my becoming a parent. It comes in the midst of a surprisingly busy part of the summer, even though it is full on COVID again, and I just want to briefly put the brakes on and think about that fateful moment, where I went from being childless to being a parent. When I was pregnant with my first born a small glitch occurred at the end which delayed my delivery. It was a very hot month, and I was ready to be done with it. Then one of my attendings said to me that I should enjoy these last few moments of not having any children because I would be a parent for the rest of my life. I did not really understand it then, but I do now. So a big happy birthday to my eldest, who is himself a life long parent now.

Tandoori Chicken

This is the recipe to use with BLSL chicken breasts to make Chicken Tikka Massala, but it can be also used to make a tandoori chicken with chicken quarters. 1 lb. (0.4 kg) chicken Oil, for basting 1 lime, cut into wedges MARINADE: 1/2 cup Greek yogurt 1 teaspoon ginger, finely minced 1 teaspoon garlic, finely minced 1/2 teaspoon Garam Masala 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 2 tablespoons lime juice 1 tablespoons oil 1 1/2 teaspoons salt or to taste, optional 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder Red coloring, optional Clean and pat dry the chicken with paper towels. Mix all the ingredients of the Marinade in a bowl. Stir to combine well. Add the chicken to the Marinade and marinate for at least 2 hours, or best 4 hours. Preheat the oven to 400°F (207°C). Line the baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a wire rack over it. Place the chicken on the wire rack. Bake for 20 minutes, then turn the chicken over and bake for another 20 minutes. Using a small brush, baste both surfaces of the chicken with the oil a couple of times during baking. Broil the chicken for 1 minute or until the skin is slightly charred. Remove from the oven and serve immediately with lime wedges. NOTES

Delta Dawn

Delta Dawn, what's that flower you have on Could it be a faded rose from days gone by? And did I hear you say he was a-meeting you here today To take you to his mansion in the sky? And so on and so on it goes. The delta variant of COVID is rampaging through the country, worst in places where there are no mask mandates and fewer people are vaccinated, but it is everywhere. We are now well over 100K people testing positive a day and we are starting to inch back up to a thousand people a day dying. And the real numbers of people who have the virus is likely to be well above that. The Provincetown outbreak taught us a lot. The first is that while for most of us this is our first epidemic, for gay Americans, this is the second round, and they learned a hard fought lesson that knowledge is power. We owe the largely vaccinated vacationers on Cape Cod who underwent testing for the knowledge we have going forward. But what good is it doing? The vast majority of those who are dying and severely ill are unvaccinated, but we now know that vaccinated people get sick with the delta variant and that they can definitely spread it. There are two thing that really break my heart about this. Besides just how insanely stupid it all is. The first is that there are more and more children who are hospitalized--many of them too young to be vaccinated. Just at the moment that they are trying to reopen schools. We cannot even for a moment prioritize children. The other is that for healthcare workers who have spent the whole pandemic watching people die are now watching senseless preventable deaths. It just has to take a toll on their mental as well as physical health. So mask up!

Charred Summer Squash Salad

This is a great recipe if you have lots of summer squash! It is great on it's own, but you can add some fresh uncooked juliened or mandolined squash to the salad, or a can of chickpeas, or char up some corn to toss in. A bunch of fresh chopped tomatoes would be good. It is flexible and it screams of summer. Neutral vegetable oil 4 pounds assorted summer squash, ends trimmed 2 medium Vidalia onions Sea salt Black peppercorn in a pepper grinder 1 lemon (for juicing) Extra-virgin olive oil 12 fresh basil leaves 1/4 cup mint leaves 1/2 cup fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley leaves Preheat a grill and grease the grates. Slice the squash in half, lengthwise (or pole to pole). Slice the onions in half, across the equator (keeping the root end attached to hold the onion together). Place the vegetables, cut side down, on the grates. Let cook until the cut surfaces of the vegetables are darkly charred. The vegetables should still be crispy (al dente) at the core. Flip to the other side for one minute, and then transfer the vegetables to a sheet tray. Let rest on the sheet tray until they cool down to room temperature. Slice the squash and onions (being sure to remove the root end of the onion) into bite-sized pieces. In a mixing bowl, season the squash with sea salt, cracked pepper, fresh lemon juice, and extra virgin olive oil (to coat). Tear all of the fresh herbs, and mix them in.

Moist Cornbread

I had this amazing cornbread, served with butter (more butter, I should say) and spectacularly delicious honey, and I can honestly say I have been thinking about it off and on since then. The combination of a low cornmeal to white flour ratio, a high butter to everything else ratio, and the moistness that corn adds all add up to a winner. 1 Cup Cornmeal 3 Cups All-Purpose Flour 2-3 c. corn off the cob 1 Cup Sugar 2 Tablespoons Baking Powder 1 TeaspoonSalt 2/3 Cup Vegetable or Canola Oil 1/2 Cup Butter, melted 2 Tablespoons Honey 4 Eggs 2 1/2 Cups Milk First, grease a 9×13 dish. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Measure out the dry ingredients and add them to a large mixing bowl. Sift or mix them together with a whisk. In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, melted butter, oil, butter, milk, and honey. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir together, just until moistened. Pour the sweet cornbread batter into the 9×13 pan and place it in the oven for 45-50 minutes. Cover the cornbread loosely with foil for the last 10-15 minutes of baking time so the top doesn’t brown too much Remove the pan from the oven and allow it to cool slightly before serving.

It Is Patriotic To Be Vaccinated

Everything about this poster I agree with, just so long as you remove the "stop". To be vaccinated is to be patriotic. Vaccines allow the economy to run again. They allow children to have in person school. They allow us to go indoors together. All of these freedoms will be taken away from us by those who refuse to get vaccinated. When I first read about the backlash against those who refuse to vaccinate, I didn't get it, but now that we are back up to days where there are 100,000 positive COVID tests every day, even when most people who are vaccinated are no longer getting tested for every symptoms of COVID that they might have, which means wee are about to see another rise in the death toll as well. Yes, it is largely people who are not vaccinated who are dead and dying these days. But the latest finding from the Prvincetown outbreak is chilling. When you are vaccinated and you are exposed to COVID, you get it, and you also spread it. Which means that until we have less COVID, we are back to masking. So please, all you anti-vaxxers, for the sake of the country you say you love, show it. Get vaccinated so we can all go back to some semblance of normal. And stop killing each other while you are at it.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Very much in the style of some Ishiguro books, this is a very trippy book, one that might put some people off or even way off. I am not one of them, and for me, it gives a context within which to think about artifical intelligence that is both realistic and sisturbing at the same time. It is not so much scary as it is thought-provoking. I am enough of a realist to see that no matter what I think about AI and robotics, the computer tech and the technology will march along without caring all that much what I think. Klara is an artifical friend, a robot for sale in a store. She has what seem to be emotions and the ability to think and learn, but she also imbues the sun with supernatural powers and abilities. In the beginning it looks as though she moght be overlooked, left to remain on the shelf, unbought and unappreciated. She is an outdated model, afterall. Think what your 2013 computer is worth today. One day a girl who caught her eye returns and it seems that she might be just the thing for a family with a sick child and she goes home with them. What follows is the part that the reader needs to contemplate what we might and might not do in the future, and how we might react to it. I highly recommend this writer and this book.

Mask Up!

Today is the birthday of one of my parents, and both of them are quite elderly. They followed all the recommendations to a tee. They barely left their house all through the pandemic, I did not see them without a mask and I did not eat with them for over a year. Today I want to remind you all that today, right now, in the case of COVID, it is the unvaccinated who are getting sick and dying. Almost to a one. So the lies being told about the vaccine are killing people and COVID is the vector. So no matter what, in a health care setting, where there are people who have compromised immune systems, it is mandatory that we all wear mask. Do it for the people who you care about. And stop harrassing health care workers. Health care should be a right, but acting any way you want is not.

Naan

I had this recipe at a friend's house recently and it was blow you out of the water incredible. It will be hard to not eat it all before the food is ready. 1 teaspoon sugar 1/2 cup warm water 1/4 oz. (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup plain yogurt 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon oil some oil, for greasing the skillet 3 tablespoons melted butter In a small bowl, add the sugar, warm water, and yeast together. Stir to combine well. The yeast should be activated when it becomes foamy, about 10 minutes. Transfer the flour to a flat surface and make a well in the middle. Add the yeast mixture, yoghurt, salt and oil, knead the dough until the surface becomes smooth and shiny, about 10 minutes. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let it rise in a warm place (for example: beside the stovetop or warm oven). The dough should double in size, about 1 hour. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions. Roll the dough to a 8” circle using a rolling spin. Heat up a skillet (cast-iron preferred) over high heat and lightly grease the surface with some oil to avoid the dough from sticking to the skillet. Place the dough on the skillet. When it puffs up and bubbles and burnt spots appear, flip it over and cook the other side. Repeat the same until all dough are done. Brush the naan with the melted butter, serve warm.

Memorial Drive by Natacha Trethewey

This is a powerful read, something that I found because it is on Obama's 2020 reading list, but it is also on the New York Times 100 Notable Books. I have not read the author's poetry, which is what she is known for, but apparently it deals with the murder of her mother by her stepfather, and the overall content of this memoir will not be as shocking. The book is filled with descriptions of old photographs that reveal family history and mythology, the snapshots allowing us to see what these people couldn’t anticipate, the omens and grim premonitions they missed. Throughout the memoir, Trethewey explores the role that wilful forgetting has played in her life. After her mother’s murder on June 5, 1985, Trethewey spends many years attempting to ignore or silence the past. She becomes estranged from herself, but her memories of trauma keep circling back. This is so true for trauma, regardless of the source. In this case, she saw it coming, her mother saw it coming, it just wasn't prevented. The story is all the more compelling because of the supporting documentation. News footage. Cassette tape recordings. Transcripts of telephone conversations between her mother and the murderer. These documents perform a similar function in the book, working to fill blanks in the author’s memory and to create a fuller picture of a beloved mother. One of the most gripping moments in the memoir is when Trethewey presents the contents of a twelve-page document that her mother had been writing at the time of her death. Twenty-five years after the murder, Trethewey finally reads these words and hears her mother speak about her abuse, her escape from the marriage, and her hopes for a new life. It is heart breaking and probably alot more common than we know. The majority of women who are murdered are killed by men who profess to love them. This lays all that out.