Dec 12

The Borscht that Keeps on Giving

Julian made a pot of borscht last night. He used a recipe out of Anya Von Bremzen’s Please to the Table. Borscht takes as many forms as there are Eastern European grandmas. There are light, summery borschts and heavy, wintery ones. This version was a hybrid. The broth wasn’t thick, but there were plenty of vegetables. The problem is, this recipe made A LOT of borscht and there are only two people to eat it. (Luka and Neli have no interest in beets.)

After dinner, it was time to make up the grocery list for the week. Julian came down with his proposed menu for the week:

  • Saturday: Leftover borscht
  • Sunday: Pasta with borscht sauce
  • Monday: Borscht rarebit
  • Tuesday: Borscht smoothies
  • Wednesday: Sloppy borschts
  • Thursday: Borscht à la king
  • Friday: Quenelles (fish dumplings) in borscht

I drew the line at smoothies.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2020/12/12/the-borscht-that-keeps-on-giving/

Dec 09

Ah, Texas!

The Texas Attorney General is suing the states of Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin in an attempt to overturn their election results. Republican attorneys general from 17 other states have filed an amicus brief. Maybe Democratic attorneys general should sue Texas for some of the politicians it’s sent to Washington over the years.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2020/12/09/ah-texas/

Nov 27

Duck for Thanksgiving

I wrote a short story with this title when I was in 8th grade. The main character’s mother was highly adventurous in the kitchen. This was in contrast to my mother, who had to feed three finicky kids and didn’t dare cook outside the lines. I don’t remember the full story, but the last sentence was something to the extent that I expected squab to be on the menu the following year. Had I ever eaten squab (pigeon) at that time? Hell, no, and I still haven’t tried it.

Julian and I have done our share of Thanksgivings à deux over the years. Most of the time we’ve done turkeys. This year, however, we did duck. We were going to try a sheet pan deconstructed duck with sriracha and roasted fruit. I found the recipe in the Washington Post. We managed to find fresh figs – for a price. Unfortunately, the figs were compost and the duck didn’t thaw by Thursday morning. Back to the tried and true duck à l’orange.

As sides, I made dressing, fennel salad, cranberry-orange relish, and pumpkin pie. I wasn’t happy with how the pie turned out. It had too much clove, which drowned out the fresh ginger I’d grated into the filling.

Before dinner, we had a Zoom happy hour with the Seattle friends we usually gather with on the holiday. Our beverage at both happy hour and dinner was Château Ste. Michelle dry riesling. Even though it was a socially distanced holiday, we made it festive.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2020/11/27/duck-for-thanksgiving/

Nov 25

The Least Favorite Tradition

Thanksgiving is associated with a variety of traditions in our home. The bread- and pie-baking. The cranberry-orange relish getting ground up in the food processor at the crack of dawn. The cooking SOS phone calls from friends. My least favorite Thanksgiving tradition? The last-minute mad dash to the grocery store to pick up some essential item we’d forgotten.

I have claustrophobia. My idea of Hell is having to go to a grocery store the night before a major holiday, fighting my way through crowded aisles to get the necessary ingredients, then standing on an endless checkout line. I had this happen one year when we lived in Dallas. We lived in a dry neighborhood and I worked in a wet one, so I had to pick up a bottle of wine and a few other things after work.

This year’s pandemic adds a whole new layer of torture to this ordeal. Some virus-deniers picketed one of our favorite grocery stores earlier in the week because it required customers to wear a mask. All of the stores hereabouts require masks, so I don’t know why they chose this market in particular. Maybe the protesters like the fish department better than others.

We had a few things we were about to run out of, so I went to the grocery store this morning. I went to a larger store in the hope that I could stay out of others’ way. Fortunately, there wasn’t a large number of shoppers to impede my progress. However, one man was wearing his mask below his nose. I avoided being within ten feet of him. Surprisingly, I found everything I was looking for. I didn’t have to wait on line to check out. A triumph!

Despite this successful shopping trip, I’ll let Julian run to the grocery store tomorrow if we discover another ingredient is missing at the last minute.I don’t want to press my luck.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2020/11/25/the-least-favorite-tradition/

Nov 21

Takeout Night

Family-owned restaurants are struggling to survive during the pandemic. Some restaurants in southern climates can serve customers at open-air tables that are socially distanced during winter months; however, this strategy won’t work in places like Seattle or Syracuse. These small businesses are among the highest risk to fail, and need our help.

We’ve resolved to do takeout food once a week. We choose a different local restaurant each time. (The choice often takes more time than the actual ordering and picking up.) This is how to make sure the restaurant of the week gets the maximum amount of money from your purchase:

  • Call the restaurant directly and place the order. See next bullet for why.
  • Pick up the order yourself. Online order and delivery services charge restaurants a high commission. Don’t forget to bring your mask if you need to go inside to get your order.
  • Pay with a credit card, since many restaurants are having trouble making change with the shortage of cash. (Too many people with jars of coins on their dresser that they’re not using at the local coffee shop.)
  • Don’t forget to tip, especially if you live in a state that allows restaurants to pay sub-minimum wage to tipped workers. That may include cooks and dishwashers if the restaurant expects waitstaff to pool tips.

While not a perfect solution (PASS A RELIEF BILL ALREADY, CONGRESS!!!), ordering takeout from family-run restaurants can help them stay in business until the pandemic subsides and they can offer indoor dining again. Consider doing so if you can afford it.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2020/11/21/takeout-night/

Nov 20

Two Hundred Fifty Thousand

The United States has surpassed 250,000 deaths directly attributable to COVID-19. This nation is number one in the number of cases and mortalities – unenviable statistics. While finger-pointing has gone on since the beginning of the pandemic, I believe blame needs to be placed where it properly belongs.

I do not blame the virus. It’s not an autonomous being. Its only mission is to find a target cell and hijack its genetic apparatus to produce more viruses. No, I blame certain sentient creatures. For starters, our political leaders and their capon-esque enablers have failed to formulate a coherent, nationwide strategy to test, trace, and treat the disease. Is it any wonder that two out of the three branches of the US government are COVID-19 superspreader venues?

I also blame the virus-deniers. They eschew masks in the name of “freedom”. Freedom isn’t free, to use a popular conservative phrase. It takes hard work. It also takes cooperation between people. You can’t fight a pandemic by being a rugged individualist and doing what you damn well please.

Hospitals and their staffs are overwhelmed as a result of the inertia and denial regarding the pandemic. In some states, there are no intensive care beds available. This limits the number of other serious illnesses or procedures that can be performed. A patient who’s forced to wait for an elective coronary artery bypass surgery may wind up in the emergency room with a massive heart attack – or worse. As bad as the situation is in large city medical centers, rural hospitals have it even worse. These facilities can’t attract traveler nurses or outside doctors because of salary requirements, so the existing staffs are stretched thin. In North Dakota, the governor has decreed that nurses and doctors who are positive for the virus but asymptomatic to keep working. This puts patients, staff, and their families at risk.

We need a single central strategy to deal with the pandemic, not 50+ separate ones. This is going to cost money; however, the cost of the current strategy is too much in terms of lost lives and productivity. This can’t wait until the new administration takes office. The current cast of characters needs to have pressure put on them to do right by the American people. Get mad, raise hell, buttonhole your recalcitrant representatives. And stay healthy.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2020/11/20/two-hundred-fifty-thousand/

Nov 16

On “Cooking”

You’ve probably seen the ads for home-delivered ingredients that you construct into dinner, or pre-packaged meals that you microwave or cook in a special oven. The concept of prefab meals is common in weight loss programs such as Jenny Craig or Nutrisystem. However, the new companies are targeted toward busy families.

The selling points of these companies are easy to follow recipes, less food waste, and less need to go shopping. Julian refers to these meals as “cook by number.” There are many limitations to these programs.

  • You’ll still have to go shopping for staples. Not all of the food you eat in a given week will come in the box. And these companies don’t deliver tissues, paper towels, or toilet paper.
  • Consider the capacity of your refrigerator and freezer. The standard-issue apartment freezer could easily get stuffed with meal constituents for a family of four.
  • While we’re on the subject of cold storage, these meals may be packed in dry ice in styrofoam containers. Dry ice could be a coveted commodity once Covid-19 vaccines get shipped across the country. One of these vaccines has to be shipped and stored at -94° Celsius (about -137° Fahrenheit). And how environmentally sustainable is all of that packaging?
  • The amount of food for a particular meal may not be sufficient for households with teenagers.
  • Families who have food allergies or intolerances may have problems finding meals that everyone can eat. Although a given meal may be “free” of allergens, the packaging machines may have been used in previous runs for allergens such as gluten, corn, eggs, dairy, or nuts.

While these companies offer portion control and easy recipes for novice cooks, it’s not clear to me that they save money. Sustainability is also an issue. Bottom line: Learn how to use a knife and make your own meals with ingredients you buy yourself.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2020/11/16/on-cooking/

Nov 15

Pick Up Your Masks

The Seattle area has a relatively high percentage of people who wear masks. Unfortunately, many folks who drop masks don’t pick them up. On my short bike ride yesterday, I noticed at least two discarded masks along the trail.

In the words of the 1960s ad campaign, please don’t be a litterbug. Pick up your mask if you drop it and dispose of it properly.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2020/11/15/pick-up-your-masks/

Nov 01

In Praise of the Living

Halloween is rapidly followed by All Saints’ Day and Day of the Dead. While these days commemorate those who have gone before, I think we need to honor the living who are enduring much in these times.

  • The “essential workers”: Police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, grocery workers, retail pharmacists, farmers, farm workers, and food processing plant workers..
  • Hospital personnel who have rejoiced when they’ve saved lives and mourned when they couldn’t.
  • Nursing home workers, who are doing their best to keep their residents healthy. Special props to the staff of my mother’s facility. NONE of the residents have developed COVID-19 to date.
  • Families who can’t gather for holidays, weddings, or funerals.
  • Children who have been forcibly separated from their parents – and who may never be reunited.
  • Teachers who are attempting to teach students remotely with iffy or nonexistent internet access.

We are in debt to these people and many others.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2020/11/01/in-praise-of-the-living/

Oct 31

The Chain of Cranes

I noticed a chain of origami paper cranes tied to a footbridge in the park across the street from our home. A note was attached to the chain. The cranes were folded in memory of an emergency room nurse who died of COVID-19. We’ve gone to the bridge twice since our initial discovery. The chain of cranes is still there, a little weathered but intact.

The challenger in Washington’s gubernatorial race is a virus denier. His whole platform seems to be that citizens of Washington shouldn’t have to wear masks in public places, that it’s an abridgment of freedom. I’d like him to be confronted by family members of the over 2,000 people in our state who’ve died of COVID-19, like this nurse. Only by sacrificing a little freedom in the short term can we gain control over the virus and resume our normal activities. Mask wearing and social distancing save lives.

In memory.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2020/10/31/the-chain-of-cranes/

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