Nov 10

Semi-Formal

I received an invitation to our chief cardiac surgeon’s retirement party. The appropriate attire was listed as “semi-formal.” So the physicians and operating room staff should show up in dress scrubs? (I’d rarely seen some of them in street clothes in the five years I’ve worked with them.) Since Seattle is a pretty casual town, semi-formal in some sectors means a clean flannel shirt. My former department chair, an infectious disease doctor, does not wear ties at work because the neckwear could conceivably transmit bacteria from one patient to another. Since the party was at the end of the work day, that meant either wearing the outfit the whole day or changing into it before the party.  As a woman who’s lived in Dallas, where women wear fur coats to the Symphony in July, I had the additional mental baggage of that level of formality.

The solution: I wound up wearing a little black dress with a red jacket over it all day at work. I also wore my pearls and heels. Even though I was stuck in my cube all day, I’m sure some folks walked by thinking that I was dressed up because I had a job interview.  When I got to the party, I didn’t see anyone in scrubs – luckily, nobody had an emergent late-day case. The guest of honor, Dr. B, was in his usual suit and tie.  (He’s from Virginia, another more formal environment than Seattle.) Most of the other men wore  jackets, but not ties. Maybe this is my former department chair’s influence, but more likely because this is casual Seattle. As usual, the women were more dressed up than the men. A good time was had by all, despite the occasionally awkward attire for some. Dr. B was sent off in style with a lot of laughs.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/11/10/semi-formal/

Nov 04

Trying to Find the Words

The events of the last two weeks have left many folks numb from shock. First there was the series of pipe bombs sent to people and institutions that have criticized the current administration. A white man gunned down two black shoppers at a Kroger store in Kentucky. A man killed two women at a yoga studio in Florida. Then there was the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh that killed 11 mostly elderly people who had gathered for Shabbat services. The usual “thoughts and prayers” do not suffice. We need something deeper, that can nourish roots of compassion and sustain our own Trees of Life.

I believe in the Jewish concept of tikkun olam, to repair the world. You don’t have to believe in the Genesis story that the world was perfect before Adam and Eve ate the apple. You just have to look around. Our nation and our world are bruised and hurting. The list of items in need of repair is long, and can feel overwhelming. You do not need to be the sole savior. These are a few steps that anyone can take.

Step away from the computer and TV screens. This sounds hypocritical from a blogger, I know. Take the time that you’d usually be online to walk around your neighborhood. See what’s going on. Have new places opened, or old places gone away?

Talk face-to-face to real people, don’t just interact with others via email, texts, or Facebook. Do something radical and introduce yourself to the person mowing the lawn down the street. Chat with the woman in the grocery line with you.

Consider community. They can be ready-made, such as your workplace or congregation. If you don’t have one in place, create one by getting to know your neighbors. One of the most important things that happened when we moved to Seattle was participating in the Friday Night Follies with our neighbors. It’s enriched us with good food, conversation, and deep relationships. We’ve seen each other through successes, crises, and deaths in the families. The former “known teenagers” are now well into their 20’s and creating their own lives.

Join in a common goal. Maybe it’s fundraising for a youth soccer team, or working on a political campaign. Volunteer. Serve a cause larger than yourself beyond your own four walls. My favorite story in this vein is of a young girl who asked her friends to donate money to build wells in Africa rather than give her birthday presents. Sadly, this girl was killed before her birthday; however, her request went viral and raised far more money for the cause. How many children are benefiting from the gift of clean potable water as a result of this request?

It is not enough to send “thoughts and prayers”. We need to pick up our tools and get to work. Our efforts are sorely needed.

 

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/11/04/trying-to-find-the-words/

Oct 26

Time to Vote

Washington is a vote by mail state. The ballots arrived last week. While Julian was making dinner Wednesday night, I filled out my ballot and put it in the mailbox. He completed his ballot and sent it the next day. The beauty of voting by mail is that you can fill out your ballot in the comfort of your home, with the voters’ guides as reference. You don’t need to worry about being late for work because of the line at the polling place. It also negates many of the pesky voter-suppression strategies that seem to be in use in other states.

Voting is a right AND a responsibility. People lost their lives to gain universal voting rights. There is a stained-glass window in Sage Chapel on the Cornell University campus that honors Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner. These three men were murdered in Mississippi in 1964 for registering  black  people to vote. Many others, known and unknown, were arrested or beaten attempting to vote. Susan B. Anthony was arrested in 1872 for the crime of voting. Anthony and most of her contemporaries in the women’s suffrage movement didn’t live to see the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution passed, which gave women the right to vote.

You may be thinking that your vote doesn’t matter. Let me give you two examples to counter that claim. The 2004 gubernatorial election in Washington was decided by less than 150 votes. This was before Washington adopted vote by mail. If 150 people had not gone to the polls that day, the results would have been reversed. Last year an election for the Virginia House of Delegates wound up in a tie. The eventual winner was drawn by lot.

My purpose in writing this post is not to convince you to vote one way or another. Rather, I just want you to vote. In my opinion, if you abdicate your right to vote, you abdicate your right to complain if the election doesn’t turn out in your favor. Fill out the ballot and mail it in, if you live in Washington. Washington state is paying the postage for you. If you have to go to a polling place, make the time to go. Just vote.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/10/26/time-to-vote/

Oct 21

[Insert Ethnicity Here] Beef Salad

When we grill steak, we usually have leftovers for the following night. One of our go-to preps is Thai Beef Salad. Put sliced beef and any stray fruit (mango, pineapple) and vegetables (cucumber, carrots, tomato) on hand atop a bed of lettuce. Make a dressing with fish sauce, lime juice, and a little water and dinner is served.

The other night I expanded beef salad into a new nationality. Julian had made chimichurri to accompany the steak on the first night. Chimichurri is a garlic, parsley, and cilantro pesto-like sauce that’s popular in South America. This time, I used kale as the green. The vegetables were tomato, cucumber, olives, and bottled piquillo peppers. The chimichurri served as a good dressing on the salad; in addition, the garlic in the sauce assured that we didn’t have to worry about vampire attacks.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/10/21/insert-ethnicity-here-beef-salad/

Oct 20

Sunset for the Garden

The padron peppers have pooped out. The basil was becoming brown, as was the red shiso. It was time for these plants to go the way of all things – the compostable can. I’m having to do the composting in installments, since our can needs to hold yard waste and kitchen scraps. One pot of basil is still on the upper deck. The rau ram is still going strong, so I’ll wait to dispose of that. That doesn’t include the calendula, cilantro, geranium, sedums, and fuchsias in front. Now I get to cogitate about next year’s crops.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/10/20/sunset-for-the-garden/

Oct 18

Words of the Week

I learned a new word from a New York Times article this week. Tsundoku is a Japanese term for the stack of books that you’ve bought but have yet to read. I’m sure Julian would have a corollary term to tsundoku. So, in a pre-emptive strike, I’ll coin it for him. Tsuncooku is the shelves of cookbooks that I haven’t cracked open in years.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/10/18/words-of-the-week/

Oct 15

Pumpkin Spice Plague

I have nothing against pumpkin in its appropriate role. We make a mean pumpkin pie. I also enjoy pumpkin bread and cookies. However, I draw the line at pumpkin spice everything else. For example, a garage on Sand Point Way in Seattle was hawking pumpkin spice oil changes. One assumes that the garage owner had tongue firmly in cheek when that sign went up, but one never knows…

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/10/15/pumpkin-spice-plague/

Oct 13

Now That’s Offal!

The mere thought of cooking and eating organ meats causes a visceral (pun intended) reaction in many people, including my sister. “EEEEUW, innards!” You may have been served a leathery piece of liver by your mother as a child. Or you may have  had a traumatic experience dissecting a frog in high school. [I could rant about how kids never have fun in high school biology labs these days, but that’s a subject for another post.] However, I’d like to point out the advantages of cooking and eating organ meats. (Terry, curb your gag reflex for a few minutes.)

  • They’re economical. A pound of chicken livers costs much less than a pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Chicken gizzards cost even less per pound than chicken livers.
  • They’re nutritious. Organ meats are an excellent source of protein. Liver contains more iron than muscle meats. The iron in all meat products is more absorbable than from plant sources, so an occasional meal containing liver will be advantageous to iron stores in children and premenopausal women where iron-deficiency is common.
  • They’re sustainable. (Hey, a term to which millennials can relate.) Our thrifty forebears used every part of the hog or steer they slaughtered. By eating organ meats, you’re assuring that more of the animal is being used. Chances are that you may be eating organ meats without realizing it. Take a look at the ingredient label on sausages, hot dogs, or cold cuts sometime. Pâté is just a fancy French term for chopped liver, often mixed with other meats.
  • They can be quite tasty when prepared properly. Several friends anxiously await Passover and Rosh Hashanah, as that’s about the only time of the year that Whole Foods carries chopped liver. I didn’t like beef/calf liver until a former roommate made it with a tomato sauce and didn’t cook it to shoe-leather stage. Her adage was that tomatoes or egg can make anything palatable.

So what to do with these organ meats? I’m concentrating on giblets (chicken livers and gizzards) and liver, since they’re the most readily available in supermarkets. My standard prep for chicken gizzards and hearts is dirty rice. The other night I made stir-fried chicken gizzards from a recipe in Nicole Routhier’s book, The Foods of Vietnam. I should have used the food processor to cut up the gizzards into manageable pieces. Julian makes a mean pasta with chicken livers. In the 1980’s, calf’s liver with a pan sauce of red wine vinegar was a standard prep. I’ve made it several times. And there’s always old-school liver and onions; however, I advise cooking the liver briefly so it stays tender.

My experience with other organ meats is limited. We did try sweetbreads once in a foods lab. (A classmate actually discarded the package, thinking it was trimmings.) I tried chitlins (or chitterlings, alias hog intestine) once at a Black History Month event at the Dallas VA Medical Center. My preceptor at the VA had pulled an all-nighter to clean and prep them, so I felt obliged to give them a try. If you venture into Hispanic or Asian groceries, you may see kidneys, blood, or other organ meats. (Q: How do they keep the blood from coagulating? A: Probably the same way that hospital labs do for some blood samples, a whopping dose of citric acid.) Blood cake, clotted blood, is sometimes used in Vietnamese cuisine. The one organ meat I do not plan to consume is brain. The mad cow disease episode that occurred 15 years ago hereabouts dissuaded me from ever eating it, along with gross-out scenes from horror movies.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/10/13/now-thats-offal/

Oct 06

Another Collector

The oak tree doesn’t fall far from the acorn. Several years ago my mother started collecting cookbooks “with the names in them”, i.e., fundraising cookbooks. Most of them are from churches, Junior Leagues, or ladies’ auxiliaries. However, one of them completely caught me off guard. It was from a group of British women in East Bengal, now the nation of Bangladesh.

“Mom, do you know where this cookbook is from?” I asked. She replied that she’d just gotten it with a bunch of others at a thrift store. Sometimes treasures can be found amidst the regular stuff.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/10/06/another-collector/

Oct 04

The Bookcase Build

Finding, buying, and taking delivery of our new bookcases were easy. The next tasks were as follows:

  • Empty the old bookcases;
  • Move said old  bookcases to the upstairs storage room;
  • Assemble the new bookcases;
  • Move the new bookcases into place;
  • Anchor both old and new bookcases against the walls (we do live in earthquake country);
  • Put the books in the new bookcases (and maybe a few in the old ones).

Both of us have gotten our strength training this week. Monday I cleared out the bookcases and stacked books on living room, bedroom, and upstairs landing floors. The upstairs looked like an explosion in Kitchen Arts & Letters. We made room in the storage room for the old bookcases and hauled them upstairs. Once Julian finished constructing and anchoring the bookcases, I started loading the books. We wound up with extra shelves because we needed room for tall books. We’ll see how long it takes for me to fill up these. (That sound you just heard was Julian screaming.)

Before.

After.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/10/04/the-bookcase-build/

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