Weaponless Warrior

I was interviewing a medulloblastoma survivor recently and while my goal was to figure out if he would be a good fit for our advocacy committee, he made me think.  One of his interests is in the language that we use to talk about illness in general and cancer specifically.  He is particularly bothered by the battle imagery that implies that you are in some way able to fight the cancer, and if you lose, that somehow you are a failed warrior.  Or if you are cancer free that somehow you have prevailed.  The reality is so much different than that.  We are using medicines and therapies and surgeries in order to eradicate something that is actually a part of us gone terribly wrong rather than some foreign invader.  If the cancer is eradicated, it is accomplished by the treatment and not something that we the survivor has done.  We show up.  That is about all that we can control.  Implying otherwise puts an undue burden on both those who survive and those who do not.  That is what I did.  I showed up, month after month, and I am hoping for the very best.

B&G Oysters, Boston, MA

This is a wonderful seafood place, chosen for it's lobster roll, which was indeed delicious, but it had so much more to offer.  We had dinner on a recent trip to Boston with a number of different people from different walks of life.  We didn't have a reservation, but were told that the outdoor seating was often available and the forecast was for clear skies so we should be okay.  The fun thing about hosting a number of people is that you can order something, like the enormous seafood platter that you wouldn't ordinarily have enough people on board to finish, and that was an excellent choice here.  The crab salad was perhaps the best I have ever had, and the octopus ceviche with a hint of grapefruit was also a highlight.  We did not venture off the fruits of the sea in our meal, so I cannot comment on other dining options, but we had a memorably excellent meal.

Berry Pilaf

This recipe comes out looking just this good, and it is very delicious.  Do not be put off by the number of steps, and we soaked the rice more briefly and it worked out fine.

• 2 cups basmati rice
• 1 teaspoon saffron threads
• 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 3 tablespoons very hot milk
• About 1/2 cup barberries or dried cranberries
• 3 tablespoons olive or peanut oil
• 1 large yellow onion, peeled and halved lengthwise, then sliced into fine half rings
• 1-1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 5 cardamom pods
• 2 1/2-inch cinnamon sticks
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 cloves
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Wash the rice in several changes of water. Put in a bowl, cover generously with water, then set aside to soak for 3 hours.
Meanwhile, in a mortar and pestle, combine the saffron and 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Pound together to create a fine powder. Transfer to a small bowl, then stir in the hot milk. Set aside for 3 hours.
Toward the end of the 3 hours, rinse the berries several times, then leave to soak in water for 20 minutes. Drain and pat dry.

In a medium skillet over medium-high, heat the oil. When the oil is hot, add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, or until they start to brown. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to cook until they are reddish brown. Add the drained berries and the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Stir once or twice, then remove from the heat.

Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Bring about 10 cups of water to a boil. Add the salt, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick, bay leaf and cloves. Stir once, then add the rice. Let it cook in the boiling water for about 5 minutes, or until it is three-quarters cooked but still has a thin, hard core. Drain in a colander.

Working quickly now, spread 1 tablespoon of the melted butter in a medium baking dish. Spread half the rice over it. Spread another tablespoon of the butter, plus half the saffron mixture and half the onion-berry mixture and some of its oil on top of the rice. Spread the remaining rice on top of the first layer. Pour the remaining tablespoon of butter over it, followed by the remaining saffron mixture and onion-berry mixture.
Cover tightly with foil and a lid and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit undisturbed for 10 minutes. Toss the rice gently to mix before serving.

Honor by Bernard van Orley (1525)

This is the upper left quadrant of the Honor tapestry.  It was the central tapestry in a series known collectively since the sixteenth century as The Honors. The series presents an allegorical guide to the qualities of a successful ruler in the face of unpredictable Fortune: Prudence, Virtue, Faith, Honor, Fame, and Justice. In Honor, a male personification of Honor is about to be crowned above his two-tier tribunal of honorable men and ladies from history, the Bible, and secular legends. At the center, a scribe checks the list of those honorable enough to be granted entry to Honor's pavilion. In the foreground, a wonderfully unruly mass of dishonorable legendary protagonists tries to scale Honor's walls.  One of only two sixteenth-century editions known to have survived, this set was made sometime after 1525 for Charles V's trusted advisor, and one of the most powerful men of his generation, Cardinal Erard de la Marck, prince-bishop of Liège.

The Year Has Begun

It is once again a time of reflection and renewal.  I like to think about all the things that are good and beautiful about life on this amazing planet of ours.
I started out the new year a bit under the weather, so not the most joyful beginning, but I was able to have apples and honey and since I have a good job with good benefits, I was able to take the time I needed to recover. 
And that is not a given in the United States.  Something that has been true for a very long time, our whole time as a country, in fact.  The thing that briefly fooled us into thinking that we might have progressed in a significant way as a society was that our legislators passed laws that made a very flawed system of insurance available to a broader group of Americans who previously could not afford health care and did not get it through their jobs.  We are a strange people, where the majority of people want health care, and they want to retain it for themselves and their family, but they do not realize that in doing so, many of them require government help to do so.  There is yet another threat in the Republican run Congress to dismantle health care coverage for most, and hopefully this is not the year where we take a giant step backwards.

Monitoring Carbon Emissions From Space

 Carbon emission treaties have basically been on the honor system, but do they have to be?
Could power plannt emissions be tracked from space? The short answer is probably, to some degree, with more help.
 Researchers have shown that observations by Earth-orbiting instruments can be used to estimate carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from individual power plants. NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2, which was launched in July 2014, was designed to monitor the movement of CO₂ in and out of ecosystems worldwide. Despite the satellite’s generally broad focus, its sensors are able to measure CO₂ concentrations in the air to within about 1 part per million in areas covering 3 square kilometers or less. When the team combined OCO-2 data from selected passes over certain power plants in the United States with computer models of how emissions plumes would disperse, its estimates of those plants’ emissions were within 17% of actual emissions those facilities reported for those days.
The question then becomes, does that help?

Chicken Tandoori

We did a big Indian cooking extravaganza and this was one of the new recipes that we tried that worked well.  No red dye, and no tandoori oven.

• 8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs (about 2 1/2 pounds)
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Kosher salt
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons plain yogurt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 small red onion, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 2 -inch piece ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 4 teaspoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 3/4 teaspoons hot paprika
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• Cooked rice, for serving (optional)

Preheat the broiler. Make shallow cuts in the chicken thighs with a sharp knife. Toss the chicken with the lemon juice and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in a large bowl.
Pulse 2 tablespoons yogurt, the vegetable oil, onion, garlic, ginger, tomato paste, coriander, cumin, 11/2 teaspoons paprika and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a food processor to make a paste. Toss the chicken in the mixture and let marinate 15 minutes.
Place the chicken on a foil-lined broiler pan. Broil, turning once, until slightly charred and a thermometer inserted into the center registers 165 degrees F, 5 to 6 minutes per side.
Meanwhile, combine the remaining 1/2 cup yogurt and 1/4 teaspoon paprika, the cilantro and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Top the chicken with the yogurt sauce

Coffee Shop (2016)

I usually refrain from reviewing movies that I am not recommending, but I am making an exception for this one.  The reason is that Netflix recommended it for me, and I thought it sounded like a light romantic comedy that I have a tendency to enjoy (even though I know that they are neither realistic nor enlightening in most cases).  In other words, my bar for enjoyment of this sort of movie is pretty low and realistic of what to expect from the genre.  And yet I find myself disappointed.
Three things did not work for me.  The first is that the dialogue is stilted.  I like the setting in a coffee shop, the shop itself is really nice, the philosophy of customer service, quality, and community is one that I really like, but it all fell pretty flat.  The story itself was a little bit clunky, with some unnecessary turns--this is not, after all, a murder mystery.  We know who is going to end up with whom, and no need to complicate it.  The third is that there was a little too much "by the grace of god" for my taste.  One thing I did love, besides the coffee shop itself, was the beautiful Alabama Gulf Coast.

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

Indian Curried Hard Boiled Eggs

Here's the thing.  It is often hard to find a good vegetarian filling appetizer that is not cheese and crackers, or hummus and vegetables.  Both of which I like a lot, and I have often used deviled eggs in this role (for the non-vegans).
When making an Indian meal recently, I delved deep into Madhur Jaffrey's Vegetarian India.  These need ALOT of spice in order to be flavorful, but they are pretty and easy to make.  Then I made egg salad with the left overs and that was delicious.

Hard boiled eggs
Tumeric
Chili Powder
Black Pepper
Salt

Melt butter and oil in equal parts in a frying pan.  Add the spices in the intensity that you want (don't skimp on the turmeric, because it is largely what colors the eggs).  Slice the eggs lengthwise, not so deep that you hit the yolk, and repeat around the circumference, about 6 times for each egg.  Add to the mixture and toss repeatedly until covered, then remove from the heat and serve.  I actually served them room temperature.