Many years ago I took, and then co-taught, an Adult Religious Education course called “Building Your Own Theology.” Most of the class members were, like me, raised in other faith traditions before finding a Unitarian Universalist congregation. Over the years I’ve refined my “theology” into some core beliefs:
• This is the only life I have.
• Pay attention to what’s happening, and speak up for justice and compassion.
• Share time, knowledge, and resources with others. Someday I may need theirs.
• Everything changes. Nothing is static.
• In the words of an old hymn, “Revelation is not sealed”. There are timeless truths in ancient stories; however, we can’t see the current world through long-dead eyes, nor can we deal with our current problems using old ways. While smiting one’s adversaries was a preferred strategy 3,000 years ago, it doesn’t work so well these days.
• Science and reason can coexist with awe at the wonders of the Earth and cosmos. Example: My building emptied out during the solar eclipse in August. Even the most jaded physicians and scientists were slack-jawed at the sight of the Moon blocking the Sun.
Some of you are wondering if I believe in God. It’s complicated. While I don’t believe in an old white guy sitting on a cloud passing judgment on Earthlings, I do believe in a force (small f) that’s beyond any description. It can be seen in the night sky and in broad daylight. It can be felt in the gentle touch of another person. It can be heard in music. It can be smelled in the early spring, even before the daffodils bloom. Finally, this force can be tasted in fresh water and a good meal. In the words of another hymn attributed to the mystic Hildegard of Bingen, “I am that great and fiery force, sparkling in everything that lives…” It’s the miracle of life on a tiny rock in the vast universe.
Jan 09
Core Beliefs
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/01/09/core-beliefs/
Jan 02
A Safety Message
Okay, hipsters. I know black is the de rigueur color for apparel, but consider this: You leave for work in the dark, and come home from work in the dark. If you walk to and from a bus stop or parking garage, you may be hard for drivers to see at a crosswalk. If a driver can’t see you, you could wind up as a hood ornament. So lighten up already!
No, this doesn’t mean you need to wear all white. Wear or carry something that has a light or reflective material on it. For example, I have a black ski parka with white reflective stripes on it. You can put a small light on your backpack or book bag. Even running shoes can have reflective material on them. Anything that allows you to be seen in the dark will help.
Standing out can be a good thing in the winter. Visibility = safety.
PS: Get your nose off the cell phone when you’re walking.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/01/02/a-safety-message/
Jan 02
On New Year’s Day
We spent New Year’s Eve with our former neighbors. Our host made black-eyed pea soup, while Julian and I brought the fixings for raclette. After dinner we played Taboo. The party broke up around 11, so I was in bed by midnight. Julian was left to eat his stroke-of-midnight herring with the cats. (He believes that if you eat herring at the stroke of midnight, you’ll have a good year. I think he and his friend Scott concocted this superstition as an excuse to eat herring.)
As the U2 song says, all was quiet today. I thought about riding the bike up to Matthews Beach to watch the Polar Bear Plunge, but thought better of it when I checked the outdoor temperature. After lunch, Julian and I went for a walk around the former golf course (aka Bothell’s newest park). We started off on the back 9. A little snow and ice were still on the ground, but it was mostly mud. The gate between the back 9 and Blyth Park was open, which allowed walkers to do a larger loop. We crossed the street to walk the front 9. The front 9 is much boggier than the back 9. We were joined by many other people walking their kids and dogs on both halves of the park.
Happy New Year. I hope you all have a happy, healthy, and peaceful 2018.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2018/01/02/on-new-years-day/
Dec 31
Asian Groceries for the Newbie
Walking into an Asian supermarket for the first time can be an overwhelming experience. Who knew that there were so many varieties of soy sauce? What am I supposed to do with some of these herbs? And what is natto? Relax. Take a deep breath. Here is a guide to help newcomers to Asian cuisines negotiate shopping for ingredients.
- Start off small. Arm yourself with a recipe that requires just one or two unfamiliar ingredients. For example, maybe it’s a stir-fry that uses yard-long beans instead of regular green beans or an herb you’ve never tried before. That way you’re not out too much money if you don’t like the result. Alternately, you can try a sack of frozen potstickers or other item that you’ve enjoyed at a restaurant before.
- Get advice from a friend. If you have coworkers or friends who do more cooking in a particular cuisine than you do, ask them where and for what to shop.
- Pay attention to the store’s specialty. Even a large store may not carry all ingredients in a particular cuisine. For example, Uwajimaya in the International District of Seattle doesn’t carry the tapioca starch noodles I like. I have to go up the street to Little Saigon to get them.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions of the staff. In this respect, a small Asian grocery can be advantageous. I used to frequent a tiny Asian grocery run by a friendly Cambodian woman when I lived in Greensboro. She offered samples and gave advice on ingredients and their use. Taking along a cookbook with pictures can be helpful to communicate with staff who may not speak much English.
- Try an unfamiliar food. Last week I bought some purple sweet potatoes to include in my Christmas Eve roasted vegetables. They worked well, and added some color to the dish.
- Keep notes. Maybe you prefer one brand of fish sauce over another, or your family thinks one herb is nasty-tasting. I remember trying a brand of instant dashi (Japanese fish broth) that was awful. I also learned that Vietnamese-style fish sauces were less salty than Filipino brands. Keeping track can be helpful to avoid future mistakes.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/31/asian-groceries-for-the-newbie/
Dec 30
The Christmas Cookbook Haul
I got three cookbooks this year. One is a memoir with recipes, the other two are conventional cookbooks.
Unforgettable: The Bold Flavors of Paula Wolfert’s Renegade Life, by Emily Kaiser Thelin. This is the memoir with recipes, and has a poignant story behind it. Thelin (along with Andrea Nguyen) decided that Wolfert’s story needed to be told. Thelin and Nguyen started a Kickstarter campaign to get the book published. Wolfert is dealing with dementia, and the book cuts between past and present. The book is a true labor of love.
The Malaysian Kitchen, by Christina Arokiaswamy. In an earlier post, I joked that my ancestors took the Mayflower the long way to Plymouth Rock through Southeast Asia. They may have stopped in Malaysia along with Vietnam. Many of the recipes use ingredients that are easy to find (in Seattle, at least).
Pok Pok: The Drinking Food of Thailand, by Andy Ricker with J.J. Goode. Pok Pok is the go-to Thai restaurant in Portland. (One of my coworkers spent an hour on line earlier this week to eat dinner there.) Ricker highlights the food that goes along with alcoholic beverages in Thailand. Some of my friends would have to be very drunk to try some of these dishes, e.g., pork brains grilled in banana leaves. There are a few more accessible dishes that don’t require heavy inebriation.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/30/the-christmas-cookbook-haul/
Dec 25
Bothell’s Newest Park
While we were in France, the Bothell City Council finalized purchase of the former Wayne Golf Course. The vote was unanimous to purchase the back 9, mostly because the no votes for the front 9 vote were not in attendance. The park is already in use. Some folks have pick-up disk golf games on the weekends. There is a formal disk golf course at nearby Blyth Park, but the trees get in the way. Today we saw walkers and cross-country skiers on the back 9. This park will connect with the Burke-Gilman Trail and Blyth Park to create more than a mile of contiguous green space along the Sammamish River. Here’s hoping that other cities in the area follow Bothell’s lead to save open space from rampant development.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/25/bothells-newest-park/
Dec 25
White Christmas at Casa Sammamish
The Seattle area has not seen a white Christmas since the weeklong snowstorm of 2008. This was when our neighbors turned our street into a sled run for the annual Candy Cane Lane festivities.You can see pictures on Julian’s Zenfolio site. The then-Seattle mayor graded his handling of snow removal on the streets as a B. The voters of Seattle thought otherwise and voted him out of office the following year – during the primary.
The snow started falling yesterday during the Seahawks-Cowboys game. I was too busy chopping up and roasting vegetables to notice until just before we left for the annual Christmas Eve dinner-white elephant gift exchange. We took Julian’s car and made it to our friends’ house. After living in that neighborhood for 10 years, I knew the least steep way to get there. A fine time was had by all. Julian got a crafts with cat hair book, while I got a Rosie the Riveter action figure. We went back the way we came, without drama.
The snow was still around when I got up this morning. With luck, it will be gone before I have to go to work tomorrow. Merry Christmas!
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/25/white-christmas-at-casa-sammamish/
Dec 25
Bad Taxidermy
This critter was seen in a store in one of the passages in Paris last week. For some reason, Paris has several shops that specialize in taxidermy. One of these shops is on the chichi Boulevard de Saint-Germain.
A wolf-raptor cross???
I may not have made it to veterinary school, but I think this animal is along the lines of the jackalope.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/25/bad-taxidermy/
Dec 23
Quintessential Cookbooks
I was looking at the cookbook shelves this morning and thought about what I’d deem as the seminal cookbooks of each decade. Each choice had to sum up the food zeitgeist. Some decades were easier than others. Discussion is welcome.
1950’s: The Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook. My mother’s copy of this cookbook is in tatters, she used it so much. I think my sister has it now. I bought a facsimile copy about 20 years ago. The recipes bridge the frugality of the Depression and World War II with the prosperity of the postwar era.
1960’s: Mastering the Art of French Cooking, by Julia Child, Simone Beck, and Louisette Bertholle. This was an easy choice, even though I didn’t get a copy of it until many years later. (I was a child then, what do you expect?) This book shook America from its convenience food torpor and toward a higher plane of cooking.
1970’s: This decade wound up in a tie between Diet for a Small Planet, by Frances Moore Lappé, and The Vegetarian Epicure, by Anna Thomas. Lappé laid down the philosophical basis for eating less meat, while Thomas made going vegetarian palatable. Many of my college friends have both of these books to this day. Honorable mention goes to The Moosewood Cookbook, by Mollie Katzen, because of my time in Ithaca; however, I preferred the long-defunct Cabbagetown Café and its cookbooks by Julie Jordan.
1980’s: The Silver Palate Cookbook, by Sheila Lukens and Julee Rosso. Break out the power suits with shoulder pads and whip up some chicken Marbella. (Confession: I never made chicken Marbella until about 10 years ago.) Raspberry vinegar, a 1980’s ingredient if there ever was one, also figures prominently in the recipes.
1990’s: Taste, by David Rosengarten. This probably seems like an obscure choice to some, but hear me out. Rosengarten was one of the first Food Network celebrities who published a companion book to his show. He predated Emeril, Alton, Paula, Mario, etc. His recipe for Cuban black beans is one of our favorites.
2000’s: This was the most difficult decade for me to pin down. I went with three books. My personal favorite is Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table, by Mai Pham. I bought this book solely for the bun bo Hue recipe, but the other recipes we’ve tried make it a go-to volume. The other two are The Gourmet Cookbook and The Gourmet Today Cookbook, both edited by Ruth Reichl. As some of you will recall, Reichl turned Gourmet magazine from fusty and formal to a more accessible periodical for the times. The Gourmet Today Cookbook had the misfortune of being published just as Condé Nast decided to kill off the magazine.
2010’s: I realize we still have two years left in this decade, but I nominate Plenty, by Yotam Ottolenghi. This is the only book on the list I don’t have (yet), but I do have Jerusalem, by Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi. Ottolenghi’s books make the Mediterranean diet more exciting than just olive oil, hummus, and pita bread.
As I said, this is just one woman’s opinion. Feel free to chime in with your choices.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/23/quintessential-cookbooks/
Dec 23
Lessons Learned on This Vacation
As always, travel gives us a chance to try new things and see new places. As with last year’s vacation, we also learn new lessons.
- Keep the claustrophobia at bay. We were in the midst of huge crowds at every stop on the trip, not to mention long lines to catch the flight home at Charles de Gaulle Airport (see below). Much of this was a function of traveling during the holiday season. We gave up trying to see some of the light installations in Lyon because of the crowds. Our hotel rooms and rental apartment became refuges from the cacophony.
- Make use of the street markets and traiteurs for easy meals, so you don’t have to overbuy groceries.
- An occasional fish sauce or soy sauce fix is a good antidote to heavy French food. We found Asian food in every city on our trip.
- Finally, sometimes airlines will actually do right by passengers. We ran into snarls at Charles de Gaulle. The check-in line wasn’t onerous; however, the Border Control and security lines were hellacious. At the latter, Julian got pulled out for further frisking. (It’s always him, for some reason. Maybe it’s his past as a fireworks aficionado and high-energy physicist.) Luckily, Delta held the flight for us. We were the last passengers to board. And, miraculously, our luggage arrived in Seattle with us.
Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/12/23/lessons-learned-on-this-vacation/
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