Season’s Beatings
Posted by crowbiz on December 10, 2009
Having a life is a serious impediment to operating a blog. This implies a lot of things, but that’s not what today is about….
All three of my fans have recently wondered about my absence here, but I’ve been able to console them face-to-face and make a loose pledge to step it up. Anyway, January is coming with its teeny, precious baby-Jesus-like bundle of time, so there’s a chance I may put finger to keyboard more in 2010.
Butternut Squash & Apple Cider Bisque
Servings: 16, Yield: 1gallon
Ingredients
1yellow onion, peeled and quartered
1 oz. garlic cloves, whole
3 pounds butternut squash, peeled and chopped
1 oz.brown sugar
12 fluid ounces Vermont apple cider
38 fluid ounces vegetable stock
10 fluid ounces heavy cream
1.5 tsp cinnamon1 pinch nutmeg
2 oz. butter, melted
1 fluid ounce cider vinegarMethod
Saute onion and garlic in melted butter until onions are soft. Add butternut squash, brown sugar, apple cider, vegetable stock, cider vinegar and spices. Bring to a boil and cook until squash is tender. Puree with blender while adding heavy cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
www.GourmetGirlMagazine.com ~ “Good Food, Good Wine & Good Living”
I can tell by reading this it will beat all my other recipes.
I spoke recently with a student at Columbia who was enthusiastic about the escalation of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. He argued that a full-blown counterinsurgency effort, which would likely take many years and cost many lives, was the only way to truly win the war.
He was a very bright young man: thoughtful and eager and polite. I asked him if he had any plans to join the military and help make this grand mission a success. He said no.
Bob Herbert
Some time ago I got an e-mail message from one of my students: She couldn’t come to class. She was having terrible problems, her life had fallen apart, she was just sitting and crying. She was sorry, but her assignment would be late.
Immediately, my mind went back to a familiar acronym: Headsss. The letters stand for an interviewing technique developed in 1991 for adolescent patients — H for home (the doctor starts by asking about the teenager’s home situation), E for education and employment, A for activities. And then, in a progression meant to move from less sensitive topics to touchier subjects, it is on to D for drugs and finally the three S’s: sexuality, suicide and safety.
These are not easy questions to ask — even home and education may be fraught subjects for many adolescents. Sometimes a teenager will say, “If I tell you something, will you absolutely promise to keep it a secret?”
More than 20 percent of the nation’s water treatment systems have violated key provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act over the last five years, according to a New York Times analysis of federal data.
That law requires communities to deliver safe tap water to local residents. But since 2004, the water provided to more than 49 million people has contained illegal concentrations of chemicals like arsenic or radioactive substances like uranium, as well as dangerous bacteria often found in sewage.
When I was raising my four children as a single parent there were many days when I took the easy way out.
Popcorn and apples for dinner, on a blanket on the living room floor: Picnic!
Taking the sweeties to the ice cream store for dinner to get out of cooking. Didn’t work, they wanted dinner anyway.
Going to the beach at 11 pm on a full moon night was my stand in for the evening bath.
But, no detail was missed when it came to Christmas. We always got our tree the day after Thanksgiving. We made the December calendar in November. We all sat down and decided how many days were devoted to cookie baking, ornament making, gift making, present shopping. Each day had something planned.
When I went back into the dairy business this didn’t end. It was harder to get each one done, but there was never any question I would do it.
Getting our tree was one of our treasured family traditions. Just down the road was a tree farm, and the trees were full and perfect, of course, because there was so much space between each tree. I’d pull the car into the side road so we would be hidden and we would walk way in the back.
And then, the hunt began. We had many criteria for our tree. Number 1 was that it was going to be one of the runty trees. We’d look for one that was really light on one side, not wanting to take the best trees. After all, we were stealing, but with a goal of pruning. We also wanted a smaller and shorter tree since we lived in crummy drafty farmhouse and we’d have to put it up on a table anyway. Cats and babies were the reason for that.
We’d run around, calling out to each other when we’d find the tree, then we’d all consult and come to the agreement that it wasn’t the one. And go on to the next discovery. Snow in boots, the dog racing around deliriously happy, someone would lose a mitten, and then, we would see the one.
Since I was the only adult, I had the handsaw. Everyone wanted a saw or two. That meant that I had to almost count the number of saws each child did. The tree would fall in the show, whoosh phumph, snow flying in our faces.
On either side of the tree my two oldest children would grab the larger branches and plow through the snow, which was usually 5-6 inches deep, leaving an obvious trail to our car.
We did not cover our tracks, the owner of that property didn’t live in the area, and they may never have gone to the back of their acreage. And for some reason I did not see the irony of my teaching my children to steal a Christmas tree.
We were poor. We needed food stamps, federal cheese and dry milk programs, the local food and clothes pantry and Christmas program gift boxes: for ‘girls 6-8′ and ‘boys -12-14′. I was more than grateful for the generosity of strangers, and my children were happy to have something, anything, under the tree.
The tree I stole for my children.
Books
A World Of Novels: Picks For Best Foreign Fiction
Our critic’s picks are as wide ranging in their subject matter as they are in geography.
From Dickens Himself, Notes On ‘A Christmas Carol’
The author’s manuscript is marked up with changes he made when performing his famous story.
Man Enough To Love ‘Eat, Pray, Love’
So what if it’s pure literary estrogen? David Sax says it’s the best comeback story he’s ever read.
Season’s Readings: Top Picks From Indie Booksellers
Reading recommendations from people who know — booksellers from around the nation.
You Can’t Put A Bow On An E-Book
Highly hyped books are drawing customers to stores, boosting vendors’ hopes for a merrier holiday.
The Best Five Books To Share With Your Friends
Some books you just can’t keep to yourself. Glen Weldon shares his list of recommended titles.
Walter Kirn: Living, Or Something, In The ‘Air World’
The novelist discusses airlines, dollar signs, and his book Up In The Air.
the meaning of life is a teacup?
PERUGIA, Italy — Tensions and cultural misunderstandings ran high on Saturday after an American college student was found guilty here of murdering her British housemate.
Rather than clarifying the saga of what prosecutors said was a sex game gone fatally awry, the conviction on Saturday of Amanda Knox, 22, a Seattle college student, for killing her roommate, Meredith Kercher, 21, seemed only to heighten the conflicting public opinions aired in two years of fierce international news coverage.
As the yearlong trial unfolded in the media as much as in the courts, Ms. Knox was often depicted in the United States as an innocent abroad, a fresh-faced young woman caught in the vagaries of the Italian justice system.
Yet in the Italian press, she was a blithe, dope-smoking party girl who had accused a former boss, Patrick Lumumba, of the crime before changing her story. (She later said the police had pressured her to accuse him.) On Saturday, she was also found guilty of defaming Mr. Lumumba, whose lawyer called her a “little she-devil” in closing arguments last week.
The trial also tapped into longstanding town-and-gown tensions in Perugia, where residents blame foreign students like Ms. Knox for helping transform the picturesque city into a pub crawl.
The Knox family insisted Saturday that this cultural clash and the concern with the gossipy details of Amanda’s personal life obscured the focus on what really happened on Nov. 2, 2007.
“It appears clear to us that the attacks on Amanda’s character in much of the media and by the prosecution had a significant impact on the judges and jurors and apparently overshadowed the lack of evidence in the prosecution’s case against her,” the family said in a statement.
The family vowed to continue its campaign to free Ms. Knox. Asked if they would appeal, her father, Curt Knox, replied, with tears in his eyes, “Hell, yes.”
Ms. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison, and her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 25, to 25 years. A third defendant, Rudy Guede, 22, is appealing a 30-year sentence for sexual assault and murder. He has admitted to being at the house the night of the murder, and his DNA was found on Ms. Kercher’s body.
For many in Britain and the United States, what was on trial here was Italian justice.
In a statement after the verdict was delivered early Saturday, Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, said, “I have serious questions about the Italian justice system and whether anti-Americanism tainted this trial.” She added, “The prosecution did not present enough evidence for an impartial jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Knox was guilty.”
Ms. Kercher’s family saw it differently. Relatives held a rare and sober news conference here on Saturday, where they expressed “satisfaction” with the verdicts.
“Ultimately we are pleased with the decision, pleased that we’ve got a decision, but it’s not a time for celebration, it’s not a moment of triumph,” said Lyle Kercher, the victim’s brother.
Another brother, John Kercher Jr., added, “Her presence is missed every time we meet up as a family.”
Asked if they were convinced by the verdict, Ms. Kercher’s mother, Arline, said, “You have to go on the evidence, because there is nothing else.”
Prosecutors used both forensic and circumstantial evidence against Ms. Knox and Mr. Sollecito, whose defense lawyers failed to convince the jury.
Beyond the atmospherics, Italian legal experts said, the case appeared to have been deliberated on the merits. “It’s true that the longer the trial, the longer the pain, but it also means that there can be an in-depth analysis of the facts,” said Michele Ainis, an expert in Italian constitutional law. “I hope that happened.”
“Our justice system is certainly in rough shape,” he added, “but it has a lot of self-correcting mechanisms.”
In the Italian system, the end of this yearlong trial closes only the first chapter. Unlike in the American system, where appeals center on issues of law, not fact, in the Italian system, appeals are automatic and defendants can ask to retry the entire case in a first round of appeals.
From there, the case can go to Italy’s highest court, which is required to hear every appeal.
It may be years before a definitive sentence is reached.
“The Art Mob Cleans Up”
2009 Winter Concert SeriesThe Art Mob, an uncommon a cappella singing group, has never figured out how to clean out large bank accounts, scam its favorite fans, or even make any money. Now we set our sights to complex questions concerning the nature of dirty and clean, and the pleasure and pain to be gained from either or both.
Although we do not have the luxury of “Clean Hands Tainted with Gold,” our hands may be cleaner after “Washing Dishes with My Sweetie,”, but only when “The Prodigal Girl” has been rescued.
The Art Mob has dug deep into the fertile loam of our musty song books and long-term memories to excavate a selection of songs from our collection of temperance, seafaring, Victoriana, Shape Note, Irish ballad, radio gospel, hymns, jazz, and vaudeville songs. Don’t miss your chance to clean up with the Art Mob, now in its 30th year of off-kilter, down and dirty entertaining.
Friday, December 4 at 8:00pm
Ronald Feldman Fine Arts
31 Mercer St., NYC, 10013Saturday, December 5 at 8:00pm
Ronald Feldman Fine Arts
31 Mercer St., NYC, 10013Sunday, December 6 at 3:00pm
Ronald Feldman Fine Arts
31 Mercer St., NYC, 10013Admission is by donation.
My niece grew up listening to her parents rehearse with The Art Mob, and now she’s one of them!!
