Cowboy Poets
7 Quick Takes Friday
1) Can anyone point me to a wonderful pilates exercise video? I’m looking for the most fabulous one there is of course. It would be especially nice if it had different lengths of workouts, and didn’t require a lot of fancy-schmancy equipment. Anyone?
2) I’ve written before about my sisters. We got together last recently for our annual sisters weekend and to attend a book signing for Ree Drummond’s cookbook “Pioneer Woman Cooks”. Ree has written a hilarious tale of how she met her Marlboro Man husband and went from being a city girl to a ranch wife living nearly in the middle of nowhere in Oklahoma. Her story, her photos and recipes are here. I grew up on an isolated cattle ranch in Oregon, and her posts and fabulous photographs really take me back. Highly recommended.
3) I’m starting a Gratitude Journal and am interested in reading others. Please leave me a link in the comments-thanks!
4) I have a family member and a dear friend who are both suffering from depression. I recently read this beautiful post. Can it really be as simple as doing the next thing? Go read it.
5) Business is slow at work, concern and anxiety are mounting. Hours have been cut back since September. I pray daily for economic recovery and for all those who are without work.
6) We are putting our boat in the water this Friday. It’s been “on the hard” for over a year, for some extensive renovation. It will be so good to get out among the islands this year, dropping our hook in some quiet little corner, sipping hot coffee early mornings in the cockpit, dumbstruck with the beauty and peace.
7) "There are moments on most days when I feel a deep and sincere gratitude, when I sit at the open window, and there is a blue sky or moving clouds." --Kathe Kolliqtz
Remembering Babita Girjamatie Guman, 9/11/01
Project 2,996 is dedicated to remembering the victims of 9/11.
Let us take a moment to remember Babita Guman. Babita, a 33 year old Guyanese woman, wife of Deodat and mother of Christina and Malissa. Babita, computer specialist at Fiduciary Trust, described as "self-assured, feisty, no-nonsense". Babita, last seen on the ground floor of the South Tower of the World Trade Center on 09/11/2001.
These few words do scant justice to the life of Babita Guman. She knew love in her marriage. She knew joy in her children. She labored, she struggled, she laughed, and no doubt there were days she cried. Her life was full. Babita had dreams of becoming a teacher, she encouraged her daughters to aim high. Babita yearned to exchange their one-bedroom home in the Bronx for something larger, where they could spread out, grow old, gather years of memories. And no doubt she knew great fear that brilliant autumn day when her world came literally crashing down around her.
Rest in peace Babita Guman.
My soul is full of whispered song;
My blindness is my sight;
The shadows that I feared so long
Are all alive with light.
~Alice Cary
Other tributes to Babita Guman:
It's Time to Stop Funding the National Endowment for the Arts
The NEA describes itself as "an independent federal agency supporting artists and arts organizations and bringing the arts to all Americans." That is the full scope of its mission. The NEA is not to be an extension of any White House administration, be it Republican or Democrat.
We are learning that the White House has been in a conference call with the NEA specifically to discuss the role the NEA might play in advancing the administration's policies.Read all about this here:
"What appears to be emerging is a concerted and deliberate effort by the White House and the NEA to encourage the art community to create issue specific art."
This is astonishingly nervy of this administration to pressure a taxpayer-subsidized entity to overtly support social issues policies. What is even more disturbing is the apparent willingness of the NEA to cooperate. It's time to cease subsidizing the NEA. Clearly it's no longer maintaining its independence. Taxpayers should not be expected to support an organization that wants to do much more than "bring the arts to all Americans".
Bad behavior must have consequences, or else that behavior becomes the norm. The actions of the National Endowment for the Arts are leaving the agency vulnerable to attacks on its credibility and rationale for existence.
Saturday Market, Heirloom Tomatoes, Corn Bread Salad - Bliss!
Got the Cornbread Salad recipe below from the wonderful Smittenkitchen.com!
Corn Bread Salad
Adapted from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook
As for the tomatoes, I know I went for the heirlooms (I’m a sucker for bright colors) but in general, I honestly see no reason to splurge on them when every tomato that comes off the field in late August is to die for. And why did I peel them? Well, because the Lee Brothers do, because their mama always did. I’d been so enamored with the skinless appeal of the tomatoes in last week’s tomato and corn pie, I wanted to give them another spin. I liked the effect a lot, but like upmarket heirlooms, your salad will lack for nothing if you use skin-on and pedigree-free tomatoes.
1 recipe Crispy Corn Bread (below) or 3 cups of 1-inch cornbread cubes
1 1/2 pounds ripe tomatoes (4 to 6 medium)
6 cups roughly torn sturdy fresh lettuce, such as Bibb, butter or Boston
2 cups bitter greens, such as arugula or dandelion greens
1 large Vidalia onion, trimmed, peeled, sliced crosswise as thinly as possible and separated into rings
1 recipe Buttermilk-Lime Dressing (below)
Preheat oven to 250°. Scatter the corn bread in a single layer on a half-sheet pan and bake until the pieces are lightly toasted, about 7 minutes.
If you wish to peel the tomatoes: Cut an X in bottom of each tomato and blanch in a large pot of boiling water 10 seconds. Immediately transfer with a slotted spoon to an ice bath to cool. Peel tomatoes and chop them. (The Lee Bros. also suggest seeding the tomatoes, but I drew the line there.) Otherwise, just chop the tomatoes with the skin on.
Place lettuce, greens, 3 cups of toasted corn bread, onion and tomatoes to a large bowl and toss to combine. Drizzle with buttermilk dressing, season with salt and pepper, and toss again. Serve immediately.
Do ahead: If you’re making this for a picnic or pot-luck — and oh, you should — I suggest keeping the croutons in one container, the dressing in another and the salad mixture in a third; this is best freshly assembled, or in the 30 minutes after.
Buttermilk-Lime Dressing
Adapted from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook
Less heavy than a traditional green goddess dressing, but oh-so-much “greener” than my standard buttermilk dressing, this would be equally good on a salad as it would be as a dip (add 1/3 cup sour cream or crème fraîche, and a bit more salt) for something deep-fried. (They suggest okra, green tomatoes, oysters or hush puppies. I say “yes, please”.)
3/4 cups whole or lowfat buttermilk (whole preferred)
5 tabespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (they say from 3 to 4 limes; I only needed 1 1/2)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (optional, this was my addition to give it more zing)
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup finely minced fresh basil
1/4 cup finely minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup finely minced green onios
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
Whisk all of the ingredients together in a small bowl until combined. Can covered tightly and stored in the fridge up to two days.
Thin, Crispy Corn Bread
Adapted from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook
1 tablespoon lard or unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups stone-ground cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups whole or lowfat buttermilk (whole is preferred, here’s how you can make your own)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Grease a 12-inch skillet with one tablespoon of the lard or butter, leaving any excess in the pan, and place it in the oven.
In a large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together. In a medium bowl, whisk the egg until frothy and then whisk in the buttermilk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix thoroughly. Melt the remaining butter in a small skill (or your microwave) and whisk the butter into your batter.
While the fat in the large skillet is smoking, carefully remove the skillet from the oven and swirl the fat around to coat the bottom and sides evenly. Pour the batter into the skillet; it should “sizzle alluringly”, says the Lee Brothers. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the top of the bread is golden brown and the edge has pulled away from the side of the skillet. Remove from the oven and either serve hot, in six wedges, or let cool and reserve for Corn Bread Salad (above).
Antihero
He could have been an alcoholic lying on a street corner sleeping off his inebriation, like so many others in this city, but he also wanted to act. He jumped in front of a camera and cried for food which, along with yearning for change, has become the national obsession. His spontaneity, and the emphasis he gave to asking for “grub” has turned the brief video of Juan Carlos, alias Pánfilo or Dimwitted, into a “superhit” on the alternative information networks. I don’t remember other visual material that has gone viral so quickly in our society, not even the video of Eliécer Ávila versus Ricardo Alarcón from last year.
Pánfilo would understand, a few days after the broadcast of his image, that his demonstration had been denounced. His words were like a red circle around his head, a lighted announcement at the entrance to his house, or a finger pointed at his life. The magnifying glass of power, which hangs over us all, focused on him and begin to rummage through his weaknesses. Managing to stay afloat with no work, he had been prosecuted for theft, probably bought rum on the black market, and the many other outrages that we Cubans commit every day to survive or escape. It was enough that he was sincere in front of the microphone and took off his mask to feel the scalpel of repression slicing through his existence.
In a society marked by punishments against those who express their opinions, neither fools nor children say what they think, only drunkards. Thus, I wasn’t surprised at the news that they found Pánfilo to be a criminal and charged him with “pre-criminal dangerousness” for which he was given two years in prison. The judicial process must have sobered him up faster than a bucket of cold water and an extremely strong coffee. Although there is still the possibility of appealing this decision before the court, he’s unlikely to get off without punishment because it is lesson aimed not only at him. If they don’t condemn him, who will prevent the corner alcoholics, the neighborhood drunks, from standing in front of a camera and starting to shout for everything we lack: Food! Future! Freedom!
The above is a post from Generation Y, a blog writtin by a Cuban woman living in Cuba that I've mentioned several times before. It's interesting to consider the differences between a demonstration/protest in the US at townhall meetings and this one in Cuba. So far, we here in the US are not prohibited from demonstrating. But in light of recent, somewhat aggressive stances taken by our own White House with regard to the health care plan protests, we must be warned that our freedom to demonstrate, protest or complain is only as certain as our commitment to defending it. Being encouraged by the administration to turn over email addresses and names of those who "misinform" is the first step to curbing our right to free speech. This man in the video will end up in prison because of this act. Let's never forget that in this country the voters are the ones with the power, not the state.
Sunday
My daughter introduced me to Ben Harper years ago. This is very nice I think.
Joy and Sorrow
Can you feel it? I'm talking about that vague sense of a summer drawing to an end. The slow winding down of busy summer schedules, the light changing somehow, ineffably; the fragrance of drying grasses, the stillness in the morning, when just a day ago (I swear!) I marveled at the insistent cacophony of hungry young birds. Their chirping reminded me of my own children when they were small and needy and noisy. Children and fledglings have grown and gone too soon, just like this summer has ripened too quickly. We have fog in the mornings now, and though it always burns off, I know fall is creeping closer, hidden in the silence of that fog. You might imagine that this makes me a little melancholy, and you would be right. But it also fills me with gratitude. Gratitude for a beautiful hot summer, gratitude for hilarity and fun with old friends, gratitude for a family that is healthy and happy, thanksgiving that all my needs are met. "... joy and sorrow are inseparable. . . together they come and when one sits alone with you . . . remember that the other is asleep upon your bed." Kahlil Gibran
