Mar 19

A Sad Symmetry

I’m reading Mark Kurlansky’s The Basque History of the World in advance of our trip to San Sebastian and the Basque regions of Spain and France. (More about that to come.) The Spanish Civil War didn’t make it into my high school history classes. Generalissimo Francisco Franco was the butt of many Weekend Update jokes in the first season of Saturday Night Live when I was in college. I just finished the chapter in the book about the aerial attack on the city of Guernica on April 27, 1937 by Franco-allied German and Italian forces.

April 27 was a market day in Guernica, and the town was full of farmers and shoppers. German aircraft started bombing at 4:40 pm and continued for three hours. The purpose of the attack was to strike fear in the Basque people so they’d submit to Franco’s rule. Although the exact number of people killed will never be known (government records on the attack have never been released), Basques estimated over 1,600 mortalities in the three hours of bombing and machine gun strafing of those trying to escape. Franco tried to use the oldest alibi in the book: The Basques attacked Guernica themselves. Survivors and the few journalists in and around Guernica rapidly refuted Franco’s assertion.

If I changed the date, location, and name in the paragraph above, Guernica would be indistinguishable from what’s happening in Mariupol or other cities in Ukraine. For that matter, attacks on civilians from the air have been standard war operating procedure for the last 85 years. These are crimes against humanity, period, end of discussion.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/03/19/a-sad-symmetry/

Mar 12

But We Can Still Sing It

The Florida Legislature has passed a law that’s popularly known as “don’t say gay.” Teachers won’t be allowed to discuss topics related to lesbians, gays, and transsexuals. However, will Florida ban songs containing the word gay? Here are a few examples that might have to be eliminated. I obtained some of these from another blog.

  • Deck the Halls
  • Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
  • Here Comes Peter Cottontail
  • I Feel Pretty, from West Side Story
  • I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy, from South Pacific
  • Dites-Moi, also from South Pacific
  • The Great Pretender
  • Twistin’ the Night Away

My idea of fun would be to have a high school chorus record the lyrics of songs containing the word gay and play them on an endless loop in front of the Florida Capitol.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/03/12/but-we-can-still-sing-it/

Mar 05

T-Shirt of the Day

Seen on a t-shirt at Pike Place Market today: “Science is not a liberal conspiracy.”

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/03/05/t-shirt-of-the-day/

Feb 26

Brownies 1, Ego 0

Julian made some brownies the other night. He took some to his homeowners’ association board meeting. He came home crestfallen. One of the other board members told him to thank ME for making them.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/02/26/brownies-1-ego-0/

Feb 05

Pasta Fazool

When we’d visit Julian’s dad in Miami years ago, the question of what to have for dinner would inevitably be asked. Lenny’s stock answer: “Pasta fazool.” He liked the sound of the dish. There was also an Olive Garden a block away from his condo, although he didn’t like pasta fazool when he tried it.

I had another hankering for soup, so I decided to make pasta fazool. (The proper spelling is pasta e fagiole, but it always comes out as pasta fazool in America. I riffed off a recipe I found in Nancy Verde Barr’s We Called It Macaroni. I substituted canned cannellini beans for cranberry beans and elbow macaroni for ditalini. I frizzled some pancetta, then sautéed onion, garlic, celery, carrots, and bell pepper. A quart of broth went in, along with the beans. Finally, the elbows were cooked in the soup. I served the soup with fresh basil torn in at the table. I think Lenny would have approved.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/02/05/pasta-fazool/

Feb 05

Wok Around

Watching a skilled Asian chef stir-fry in a wok is culinary porn at its best. The flames from the gas burner curl up and embrace the sides of the wok while the chef furiously tosses the food with one hand and the wok with the other. In short order, your kung pao chicken is poured into the origami paper box for you to take home. You fantasize that you can duplicate this pyrotechnical alchemy in your home’s puny galley kitchen with a 50-year-old electric stove and combination microwave/”fume hood”. DON’T.EVEN.TRY. A few considerations:

  • Most home gas ranges don’t have the firepower that commercial ones do. You’d need a real vented hood to dissipate the fumes, moisture, and grease emitted by the cooking process. That combination microwave/”fume hood” only vents the emissions into your kitchen. It may not be vented to the outside, as we discovered when we installed our over-the-stove microwave several years ago.
  • The classic semi-spherical wok is unstable and thus hazardous to use on electric, smooth-top, or induction ranges. You can buy woks with small flat bottoms (we have one), but they’re still pretty tippy. In addition, the flat bottom needs to be in contact with the induction range surface to heat. Dragging a wok along the glass surface while you agitate your stir-fry is an invitation to buy a new cook top.
  • There’s also the issue of safety. Your puny galley kitchen may not have a fireproof backsplash behind the stove. Many stir-fry recipes involve shallow- or deep-frying the protein source at first. Trying to balance a wok full of hot oil, then disposing of said oil, is not for the clumsy. I wonder how many klutzy cooks wind up in burn units after trying to emulate Asian chefs they’ve seen on the Food Network or PBS. In other words: Friends, don’t try this at home.

So how can mere mortals stir-fry in the average home kitchen? Use what you have and adapt. Your landlord is unlikely to pay to install a high-end gas range in your galley kitchen. Besides, there may not be a gas line to tap into on your street. (That was the case when we lived in Seattle.) Here’s how we stir-fry without a wok on our induction range:

  • Cut the food into bite-size pieces, just as you would if you were going to use a wok. Things will cook faster.
  • You can use any frying pan you have, even non-stick.
  • Heat the pan to medium rather than high before adding the oil. Use just enough oil to keep food from sticking.
  • Depending on the protein source you use, you may need to stir-fry that first and remove it from the pan before adding the vegetables. Instead of furiously stirring the meat, let it sit on the bottom of the pan for a minute or so before turning it. Brown both sides so it’ll be done at the end of cooking. If you’re using tofu or a meat substitute, follow the directions on the package.
  • Toss in your aromatics (garlic, ginger) and stir just until you can smell the garlic, then add the vegetables. Long-cooking ones such as carrots go first, mushrooms second so you can evaporate the water they exude.
  • When the long-cooking vegetables are close to tender, add the protein back to the pan and stir in whatever sauce you’re using. Let that cook until everything is done to your liking.
  • Some people have side burners on their gas grills that might be suitable for wok cooking. I’ve never tried that on ours because we have a wooden deck and siding. I definitely wouldn’t use the side burner on a breezy day.

You can stir-fry successfully without a wok or heavy-duty gas burner. You won’t look as macho as the chef at your local Chinese restaurant, but the food will come out fine and you won’t burn down your home in the process.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/02/05/wok-around/

Jan 29

Why Not?

Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen Breyer has announced his retirement. President Biden has pledged to appoint a Black woman to Breyer’s position. Many qualified women are reported to be on the list of potential nominees. Allow me to add a name: Anita Hill. She’s distinguished herself in legal education for over 30 years. I’m in good company: Jimmy Kimmel has also put forward Hill’s name. (Go to 7:00 of this video. He lays out the particulars better than I can.)

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/01/29/why-not/

Jan 21

Covid Clogs in the Health Care Pipeline

The Covid-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on health care. Rural and urban hospitals alike are struggling with high amounts of sick patients and lack of staff to care for them. This has adverse effects on everyone in need of care, whether vaccinated or not.

Consider the example of a 60-year-old who needs a heart valve replacement. The surgery may not happen or, if it does, the process could be complicated by the pandemic. Here are the potential obstacles to optimum care:

Getting in the door. Many hospitals have had to pause elective surgeries. Unless the patient is in serious heart failure, the surgery will have to wait. If our patient is in heart failure and arrives in the emergency department, the wait to be seen may be over 12 hours.

Getting into the operating room. Although elective surgeries may be paused, urgent or emergency procedures aren’t. If the operating rooms are short staffed, the most critical patients get care first. Supply chain issues may limit the stock of prosthetic valves available.

The intensive care unit (ICU). Hospitals have a fixed number of ventilators and respiratory therapists to supervise ventilated patients. In the early days of the pandemic, ICUs were filled to capacity in many hospitals. No ICU bed, no heart valve surgery.

The regular medical/surgical floor. The omicron variant causes less severe respiratory disease than the other variants, which means many infected patients don’t need ICU care. When our heart valve patient is ready to be transferred out of the ICU, they may have to wait until a bed on the floor becomes available.

Discharge. Let’s say our heart valve patient lives alone and needs a short stay in a nursing home. As short-staffed as hospitals are, the situation is even more dire for nursing homes or rehab facilities. The patient may have to stay in the hospital for days until a nursing home bed becomes available. That can significantly increase costs for all payers. Sometimes the patient’s in house long enough to go home; however, if the patient is homeless or has family members who are sick or unvaccinated, the stay can be extended.

The solution is to get Covid under control. We know how it needs to be done: Masking, vaccines, and social distancing. It could be you or a family member who has essential medical care delayed.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/01/21/covid-clogs-in-the-health-care-pipeline/

Jan 19

Fried Rice

Got leftover rice? A few random vegetables? An egg and/or other bit of protein? You’ve got your work-from-home lunch. Fried rice need not be ordered from your neighborhood Chinese takeout joint. Cooking it takes less time than waiting for GrubHub to bring you an order. Here are the basics:

Clean out the fridge of leftover cooked rice, any vegetables, and meat or tofu. Chop up the vegetables and protein into bite-size pieces. Crack open the egg into a dish and beat it with a fork to break up the yolk. Sauté the vegetables in a little bit of oil until heated. Add the protein and rice; stir-fry. At this point, you can add a little soy or fish sauce. When everything is warm, make a well in the middle of the rice mixture and pour in the beaten egg. Quickly stir the egg into the rice mixture, making sure that the scrambled egg is evenly distributed throughout. Serve it up.

This afternoon I made this with two scallions, a carrot, leftover broccoli and sauerkraut. I used a slice of deli turkey for the protein. Gemisch at its best.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/01/19/fried-rice/

Jan 13

Taste Thresholds

Aging is supposed to increase the taste threshold for sweet and salt. In other words, it takes more sugar or salt to satisfy you. In my case, it’s the opposite: My threshold for sweet has decreased with time. Stuff that I’d gladly eat when I was younger is way too sweet for me now.

I can attribute this in part to no longer drinking soda. I stopped drinking cola in high school, and other sodas in my 20’s. It didn’t matter whether it was sugared or diet, I discontinued drinking them. I figured I had better use for those calories, i.e., chocolate. I remember stopping at a fast food joint with my sister on a visit to New York years ago. The restaurant didn’t have any diet non-cola soda or unsweetened iced tea, so I had to order a diet cola. I damn near gagged, it was too sweet.

Last week our friend Bruce visited from Michigan. I had some fresh pineapple left over in the fridge, so Julian “encouraged” (translated: nagged) me to make pineapple upside-down cake. The amount of brown sugar the recipe called for seemed excessive to me. My suspicions were confirmed after the cake was finished. No matter, our guests enjoyed it. If I made that recipe again, I’d definitely cut back the brown sugar by at least a third.

It should surprise no one that Julian and I have divergent views on what’s too sweet. He loves pecan pie, but most of the recipes are cloying to me. He will drink sweet tea from time to time, whereas I cannot abide it. Yet he thinks baklava is too sweet. Go figure.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2022/01/13/taste-thresholds/

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