I have not seen a good John Stossel special report in a while. He is always so darn logical and presents his material in such an accessible way. Here he brings to light the real problems with the whole global warming snafu and in the process draws the same conclusions I came to when I taught Environmental Science at the University of Phoenix after working in environmental law for several years.
Sometimes it helps to think about things from a different angle.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/04/how_about_economic_progress_da.html
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Friday, April 20, 2007
Managing Menopause
There are times in our lives when we need a good network of female friends-men will just not cut it. I am finding that Menopause is one of them. As I have begun experiencing what apparently are relatively mild hot flashes (girls, I pity those of you who are in the non-mild categories) it naturally becomes a topic of conversation with everyone I meet. Sorry, everyone, but I feel the need to explain why I am suddenly turning red and tuning out. Mind you, I am not really complaining-if this is the price for losing the menstrual period, then I am all for it.
As with everything else that involves medicine, it seems we are all desperately seeking relief in any place we can find it and comparing notes. My internet research led me to a couple of websites that listed the 33 symptoms of menopause.
I had them all. Don't we all?
It gave the usual admonitions about avoiding alcohol and spicy food. Yeah, right!
Well, that turned out to be true. Anniversary night dinner naturally involved a couple of cocktails. About 2 a.m. I awoke with a fervent desire to fill in for the Palo Verde plant by having APS plug into me. I could have lit the entire city with the energy that was emanating from my torso!
Then I asked my guru what I could do for my hot flashes. He referred me to the "premier herbologist" in the field. These people are sikhs so they have interesting names. Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa lives in the Pacific Northwest and conducts internet/phone consultations for $65 and provides recommendations for exercise and herbal regimens to address individual problems. He sends an advance questionairre that gets very personal. You fill it out and return it before the telephone meeting.
The consultation was amazingly pleasant. KP had the most soothing voice, something a hormonal old broad like me is going to immediately take to. Although he did not get my info sheet ahead of time that did not slow things down much as he found it and reviewed it while we spoke. He was very encouraging, referring to my issue as a relatively simple one. He promised to get back to me in a couple of days after he thought about it for awhile. I promised to show him to some real Mexican restuarants on his next trip down from Eugene, OR. Seems he always gets referred to chain restaurants when he is here. Can you imagine?
I am expecting to get relief as he led me to believe he was pretty sure we could "turn off" the furnace. I am currently waiting for the recommendations but in the meanwhile I found his website and thought I would share it in case any of you wish to follow up on this. www.kpkhalsa.com. You will see he is eminently qualified.
Also, another friend brought to my attention a herbal food supplement that is supposed to be nearly miraculous, particular for people suffering from chronic ailments. A psoriasis sufferer, I was interested and checked out that website. See for yourself at www.herbdoc.com. He seems a bit unconventional but you be the judge. I am told that the person who was taking it obtained great results on her health basic, i.e., blood sugar, cholesterol, etc. almost immediately.
I will keep you posted on my progress. Gotta run and stick my head in the fridge, having a hot flash!!!! Whew.
As with everything else that involves medicine, it seems we are all desperately seeking relief in any place we can find it and comparing notes. My internet research led me to a couple of websites that listed the 33 symptoms of menopause.
I had them all. Don't we all?
It gave the usual admonitions about avoiding alcohol and spicy food. Yeah, right!
Well, that turned out to be true. Anniversary night dinner naturally involved a couple of cocktails. About 2 a.m. I awoke with a fervent desire to fill in for the Palo Verde plant by having APS plug into me. I could have lit the entire city with the energy that was emanating from my torso!
Then I asked my guru what I could do for my hot flashes. He referred me to the "premier herbologist" in the field. These people are sikhs so they have interesting names. Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa lives in the Pacific Northwest and conducts internet/phone consultations for $65 and provides recommendations for exercise and herbal regimens to address individual problems. He sends an advance questionairre that gets very personal. You fill it out and return it before the telephone meeting.
The consultation was amazingly pleasant. KP had the most soothing voice, something a hormonal old broad like me is going to immediately take to. Although he did not get my info sheet ahead of time that did not slow things down much as he found it and reviewed it while we spoke. He was very encouraging, referring to my issue as a relatively simple one. He promised to get back to me in a couple of days after he thought about it for awhile. I promised to show him to some real Mexican restuarants on his next trip down from Eugene, OR. Seems he always gets referred to chain restaurants when he is here. Can you imagine?
I am expecting to get relief as he led me to believe he was pretty sure we could "turn off" the furnace. I am currently waiting for the recommendations but in the meanwhile I found his website and thought I would share it in case any of you wish to follow up on this. www.kpkhalsa.com. You will see he is eminently qualified.
Also, another friend brought to my attention a herbal food supplement that is supposed to be nearly miraculous, particular for people suffering from chronic ailments. A psoriasis sufferer, I was interested and checked out that website. See for yourself at www.herbdoc.com. He seems a bit unconventional but you be the judge. I am told that the person who was taking it obtained great results on her health basic, i.e., blood sugar, cholesterol, etc. almost immediately.
I will keep you posted on my progress. Gotta run and stick my head in the fridge, having a hot flash!!!! Whew.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
You must check out Camille Paglia today
She and I are on many of the same pages; most high profile at this point the global warming thing. Go to Salon.com today!
And here is a link to another scientist who is also contending what I have said all along: how big are our ego's to think we can trump mother nature? http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21542564-2,00.html
The real problem with sensationalizing the global warming issue is that once it is shown to be false we risk a swing back of the pendulum by a cynicized public that is likely to make local environmental progress a very low priority. That could be a bigger catastrophe than a couple of degree temperature hike caused by the sun.
And here is a link to another scientist who is also contending what I have said all along: how big are our ego's to think we can trump mother nature? http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21542564-2,00.html
The real problem with sensationalizing the global warming issue is that once it is shown to be false we risk a swing back of the pendulum by a cynicized public that is likely to make local environmental progress a very low priority. That could be a bigger catastrophe than a couple of degree temperature hike caused by the sun.
Monday, April 9, 2007
The Fear of Aging in an Organic World
Being a bit of a libertarian I have a natural aversion to government programs. I suppose it is ancestral. My family did not come to Arizona 125 years ago because they are conformists. Nonetheless, there are some things that government must handle because the marketplace does not and cannot reflect the true costs. Take the environment for example. One cannot put an immediate, quantifiable value on clean air, clean water and clean land regardless of what hydrologists or the preeminent carbon trader Al Gore will tell you. Well, maybe land, but even that is inextricably linked to the air and water issues. Regulation is definitely called for.
Making our own decisions carries the burden of getting the right data. In our complex world this might seem impossible for the average person without the aid of government, but that is where any number of private sector organizations arise to fill in the technical and practical gaps in information; the American Consumers Union, the NAACP, Creative Commons, groups like that. To be sure, people are not going to self organize without some kind of ax to grind. But I would much rather get my info from a group with a clear, well-stated agenda than from the political process where data becomes forcemeat as it is grinds through the well-funded fists of platforms and political agendas.
What I have observed in my years inside and outside of the government is that just as sure as death and taxes any regulatory scheme is going to come complete with unintended consequences. And as a consequence, the more regulated an area becomes the less able we are to progress. Regulation stifles creativity and critical thinking and removes the aspect of practicality. This is evident in two distinct areas of which I became aware just this week: organic coffee and assisted living facilities.
The Food and Drug Administration is in charge of regulating the use of the word organic in connection with the sale of food items. Truth in labeling and that sort of thing--noble cause, right? It seems that the agency has recently proposed a rule change that will require every coffee producer world-wide to be subject to a certifying inspection by the FDA in order make the claim it is organic. Sounds sensible, right? Well, maybe if you are the FDA inspector who is going to get the boondoggle trips to exotic climes in order to make these inspections. How do I get that job?
The inspection and certification used to be accomplished by grower organizations who arose in the marketplace to self regulate and provide the consumer with the data they needed in order to make that organic coffee purchase. Suddenly, apparently, we don’t trust them so we need the reliable federal government to take on the task. Why? What horrors have occurred to justify this?
Instead of making the marketplace more reliable, this regulation will stifle commerce and put any number of coffee growers out of business. When you operate in a marginally profitable world such as agriculture (see government subsidies) any added expense can put you over the edge. I have seen this in action. As a former member of a CSA (community supported agriculture) I subscribed to a local farm and received a weekly share of the glorious fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables produced by the able hands of Charlie the farmer. I toured the place and knew for a fact that he used no chemicals and ably worked within the ecosystem to produce a wide range of seasonal produce. But Charlie could not use the word organic when he spoke about his product. You see organic now only has meaning if some government agent breathes life into it. Without that blessing, the word had to be deleted from every dictionary in Charlie’s farmhouse. You see Charlie simply could not afford to go through the lengthy and costly process of organic certification. Seems a bit Orwellian don’t you think? Imagine explaining this to a Sumatran coffee producer! Needless to say, Charlie eventually threw in the rake and moved on. I miss his handiwork desperately.
We also have a very specific system of regulating care in assisted living facilities. After all these people are out to make a profit off of the elderly who are unable to care for themselves. They cannot be trusted to do this in a safe and efficient manner unless we are there to tell them every step of the way just how to do their jobs. As a baby boomer I am completely traumatized by the thought of living like this which is enough to drive me to the gym 3 nights a week and to people like Charlie for my food. Now someone has come along with some innovative ideas on how to improve the nature of assisted living. But, they are so hampered by the existing regulatory system any creative suggestion for progress is limited by some generally enacted but specifically applied regulation. The example in the article was that some people can’t swallow pills but it takes a specific order from a doctor to allow smashing them into applesauce for ingestion. Is this a proper use of a doctor’s time? Not to mention the costs associated with making the appointment, providing the transportation, the copay and the loss of opportunity for the transporter, patient and doctor to be doing something actually useful.
Doctor Atul Gawande was extolling his new book Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance on the radio the other day. Inherent in his message about the reasons why 15% of the time doctors make erroneous diagnoses and why it took 45 years to find a way to truly reduce the spread of infection in hospitals via unclean hands, it dawned on me that his observations are examples of the regulatory sickness that has infected our society.
Just consider any number of the bills brought forth in the legislature every year. Do we really need more laws? Are we really incapable of doing anything properly without being given explicit instructions and then being watched over like children? And that presumes that government will ever have the actual budgets to adequately perform all these tasks.
You can’t call something organic unless someone lets you, even if you spell it without a capital O. No wonder so many seemingly intelligent people today cannot separate black and white. We have colored it all a very dismal shade of gray. And I live in fear that when my hair reaches that color and I am stuck in some regimented facility without enough resources to timely change my diaper I won’t really care if my coffee is organic or otherwise. Getting old is scary.
Making our own decisions carries the burden of getting the right data. In our complex world this might seem impossible for the average person without the aid of government, but that is where any number of private sector organizations arise to fill in the technical and practical gaps in information; the American Consumers Union, the NAACP, Creative Commons, groups like that. To be sure, people are not going to self organize without some kind of ax to grind. But I would much rather get my info from a group with a clear, well-stated agenda than from the political process where data becomes forcemeat as it is grinds through the well-funded fists of platforms and political agendas.
What I have observed in my years inside and outside of the government is that just as sure as death and taxes any regulatory scheme is going to come complete with unintended consequences. And as a consequence, the more regulated an area becomes the less able we are to progress. Regulation stifles creativity and critical thinking and removes the aspect of practicality. This is evident in two distinct areas of which I became aware just this week: organic coffee and assisted living facilities.
The Food and Drug Administration is in charge of regulating the use of the word organic in connection with the sale of food items. Truth in labeling and that sort of thing--noble cause, right? It seems that the agency has recently proposed a rule change that will require every coffee producer world-wide to be subject to a certifying inspection by the FDA in order make the claim it is organic. Sounds sensible, right? Well, maybe if you are the FDA inspector who is going to get the boondoggle trips to exotic climes in order to make these inspections. How do I get that job?
The inspection and certification used to be accomplished by grower organizations who arose in the marketplace to self regulate and provide the consumer with the data they needed in order to make that organic coffee purchase. Suddenly, apparently, we don’t trust them so we need the reliable federal government to take on the task. Why? What horrors have occurred to justify this?
Instead of making the marketplace more reliable, this regulation will stifle commerce and put any number of coffee growers out of business. When you operate in a marginally profitable world such as agriculture (see government subsidies) any added expense can put you over the edge. I have seen this in action. As a former member of a CSA (community supported agriculture) I subscribed to a local farm and received a weekly share of the glorious fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables produced by the able hands of Charlie the farmer. I toured the place and knew for a fact that he used no chemicals and ably worked within the ecosystem to produce a wide range of seasonal produce. But Charlie could not use the word organic when he spoke about his product. You see organic now only has meaning if some government agent breathes life into it. Without that blessing, the word had to be deleted from every dictionary in Charlie’s farmhouse. You see Charlie simply could not afford to go through the lengthy and costly process of organic certification. Seems a bit Orwellian don’t you think? Imagine explaining this to a Sumatran coffee producer! Needless to say, Charlie eventually threw in the rake and moved on. I miss his handiwork desperately.
We also have a very specific system of regulating care in assisted living facilities. After all these people are out to make a profit off of the elderly who are unable to care for themselves. They cannot be trusted to do this in a safe and efficient manner unless we are there to tell them every step of the way just how to do their jobs. As a baby boomer I am completely traumatized by the thought of living like this which is enough to drive me to the gym 3 nights a week and to people like Charlie for my food. Now someone has come along with some innovative ideas on how to improve the nature of assisted living. But, they are so hampered by the existing regulatory system any creative suggestion for progress is limited by some generally enacted but specifically applied regulation. The example in the article was that some people can’t swallow pills but it takes a specific order from a doctor to allow smashing them into applesauce for ingestion. Is this a proper use of a doctor’s time? Not to mention the costs associated with making the appointment, providing the transportation, the copay and the loss of opportunity for the transporter, patient and doctor to be doing something actually useful.
Doctor Atul Gawande was extolling his new book Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance on the radio the other day. Inherent in his message about the reasons why 15% of the time doctors make erroneous diagnoses and why it took 45 years to find a way to truly reduce the spread of infection in hospitals via unclean hands, it dawned on me that his observations are examples of the regulatory sickness that has infected our society.
Just consider any number of the bills brought forth in the legislature every year. Do we really need more laws? Are we really incapable of doing anything properly without being given explicit instructions and then being watched over like children? And that presumes that government will ever have the actual budgets to adequately perform all these tasks.
You can’t call something organic unless someone lets you, even if you spell it without a capital O. No wonder so many seemingly intelligent people today cannot separate black and white. We have colored it all a very dismal shade of gray. And I live in fear that when my hair reaches that color and I am stuck in some regimented facility without enough resources to timely change my diaper I won’t really care if my coffee is organic or otherwise. Getting old is scary.
Friday, March 30, 2007
You, Too, Can Be a Banker to the Poor
My friend Maureen DeCindis forwarded this. It reminded me of the project where a cell phone is financed for a member of a poor village and that person rents minutes to other village members. This has become a profitable operation for the villages as a whole. It truly is the little things.
Nicholas D. Kristof/The New York Times
Published: March 27, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan
For those readers who ask me what they can do to help fight poverty, one option is to sit down at your computer and become a microfinancier.
That’s what I did recently. From my laptop in New York, I lent $25 each to the owner of a TV repair shop in Afghanistan, a baker in Afghanistan, and a single mother running a clothing shop in the Dominican Republic. I did this through www.kiva.org, a Web site that provides information about entrepreneurs in poor countries — their photos, loan proposals and credit history — and allows people to make direct loans to them.
So on my arrival here in Afghanistan, I visited my new business partners to see how they were doing.
On a muddy street in Kabul, Abdul Satar, a bushy-bearded man of 64, was sitting in the window of his bakery selling loaves for 12 cents each. He was astonished when I introduced myself as his banker, but he allowed me to analyze his business plan by sampling his bread: It was delicious.
Mr. Abdul Satar had borrowed a total of $425 from a variety of lenders on Kiva.org, who besides me included Nathan in San Francisco, David in Rochester, N.Y., Sarah in Waltham, Mass., Nate in Fort Collins, Colo.; Cindy in Houston, and “Emily’s family” in Santa Barbara, Calif.
With the loan, Mr. Abdul Satar opened a second bakery nearby, with four employees, and he now benefits from economies of scale when he buys flour and firewood for his oven. “If you come back in 10 years, maybe I will have six more bakeries,” he said.
Mr. Abdul Satar said he didn’t know what the Internet was, and he had certainly never been online. But Kiva works with a local lender affiliated with Mercy Corps, and that group finds borrowers and vets them.
Video
More Video »
The local group, Ariana Financial Services, has only Afghan employees and is run by Storai Sadat, a dynamic young woman who was in her second year of medical school when the Taliban came to power and ended education for women. She ended up working for Mercy Corps and becoming a first-rate financier; some day she may take over Citigroup.
“Being a finance person is better than being a doctor,” Ms. Sadat said. “You can cure the whole family, not just one person. And it’s good medicine — you can see them get better day by day.”
Small loans to entrepreneurs are now widely recognized as an important tool against poverty. Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his pioneering work with microfinance in Bangladesh.
In poor countries, commercial money lenders routinely charge interest rates of several hundred percent per year. Thus people tend to borrow for health emergencies rather than to finance a new business. And partly because poor people tend to have no access to banks, they also often can’t save money securely.
Microfinance institutions typically focusing on lending to women, to give them more status and more opportunities. Ms. Sadat’s group does lend mostly to women, but it’s been difficult to connect some female borrowers with donors on Kiva — because many Afghans would be horrified at the thought of taking a woman’s photograph, let alone posting on the Internet.
My other partner in Kabul is Abdul Saboor, who runs a small TV repair business. He used the loan to open a second shop, employing two people, and to increase his inventory of spare parts. “I used to have to go to the market every day to buy parts,” he said, adding that it was a two-and-a-half-hour round trip. “Now I go once every two weeks.”
Web sites like Kiva are useful partly because they connect the donor directly to the beneficiary, without going through a bureaucratic and expensive layer of aid groups in between. Another terrific Web site in this area is www.globalgiving.com, which connects donors to would-be recipients. The main difference is that GlobalGiving is for donations, while Kiva is for loans.
A young American couple, Matthew and Jessica Flannery, founded Kiva after they worked in Africa and realized that a major impediment to economic development was the unavailability of credit at any reasonable cost.
“I believe the real solutions to poverty alleviation hinge on bringing capitalism and business to areas where there wasn’t business or where it wasn’t efficient,” Mr. Flannery said. He added: “This doesn’t have to be charity. You can partner with someone who’s halfway around the world.”
You are invited to comment on this column at Mr. Kristof’s blog, www.nytimes.com/ontheground.
Nicholas D. Kristof/The New York Times
Published: March 27, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan
For those readers who ask me what they can do to help fight poverty, one option is to sit down at your computer and become a microfinancier.
That’s what I did recently. From my laptop in New York, I lent $25 each to the owner of a TV repair shop in Afghanistan, a baker in Afghanistan, and a single mother running a clothing shop in the Dominican Republic. I did this through www.kiva.org, a Web site that provides information about entrepreneurs in poor countries — their photos, loan proposals and credit history — and allows people to make direct loans to them.
So on my arrival here in Afghanistan, I visited my new business partners to see how they were doing.
On a muddy street in Kabul, Abdul Satar, a bushy-bearded man of 64, was sitting in the window of his bakery selling loaves for 12 cents each. He was astonished when I introduced myself as his banker, but he allowed me to analyze his business plan by sampling his bread: It was delicious.
Mr. Abdul Satar had borrowed a total of $425 from a variety of lenders on Kiva.org, who besides me included Nathan in San Francisco, David in Rochester, N.Y., Sarah in Waltham, Mass., Nate in Fort Collins, Colo.; Cindy in Houston, and “Emily’s family” in Santa Barbara, Calif.
With the loan, Mr. Abdul Satar opened a second bakery nearby, with four employees, and he now benefits from economies of scale when he buys flour and firewood for his oven. “If you come back in 10 years, maybe I will have six more bakeries,” he said.
Mr. Abdul Satar said he didn’t know what the Internet was, and he had certainly never been online. But Kiva works with a local lender affiliated with Mercy Corps, and that group finds borrowers and vets them.
Video
More Video »
The local group, Ariana Financial Services, has only Afghan employees and is run by Storai Sadat, a dynamic young woman who was in her second year of medical school when the Taliban came to power and ended education for women. She ended up working for Mercy Corps and becoming a first-rate financier; some day she may take over Citigroup.
“Being a finance person is better than being a doctor,” Ms. Sadat said. “You can cure the whole family, not just one person. And it’s good medicine — you can see them get better day by day.”
Small loans to entrepreneurs are now widely recognized as an important tool against poverty. Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his pioneering work with microfinance in Bangladesh.
In poor countries, commercial money lenders routinely charge interest rates of several hundred percent per year. Thus people tend to borrow for health emergencies rather than to finance a new business. And partly because poor people tend to have no access to banks, they also often can’t save money securely.
Microfinance institutions typically focusing on lending to women, to give them more status and more opportunities. Ms. Sadat’s group does lend mostly to women, but it’s been difficult to connect some female borrowers with donors on Kiva — because many Afghans would be horrified at the thought of taking a woman’s photograph, let alone posting on the Internet.
My other partner in Kabul is Abdul Saboor, who runs a small TV repair business. He used the loan to open a second shop, employing two people, and to increase his inventory of spare parts. “I used to have to go to the market every day to buy parts,” he said, adding that it was a two-and-a-half-hour round trip. “Now I go once every two weeks.”
Web sites like Kiva are useful partly because they connect the donor directly to the beneficiary, without going through a bureaucratic and expensive layer of aid groups in between. Another terrific Web site in this area is www.globalgiving.com, which connects donors to would-be recipients. The main difference is that GlobalGiving is for donations, while Kiva is for loans.
A young American couple, Matthew and Jessica Flannery, founded Kiva after they worked in Africa and realized that a major impediment to economic development was the unavailability of credit at any reasonable cost.
“I believe the real solutions to poverty alleviation hinge on bringing capitalism and business to areas where there wasn’t business or where it wasn’t efficient,” Mr. Flannery said. He added: “This doesn’t have to be charity. You can partner with someone who’s halfway around the world.”
You are invited to comment on this column at Mr. Kristof’s blog, www.nytimes.com/ontheground.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Items of note
Here are some things you might find interesting. I did.
*If you missed Grey’s Anatomy last night (as I did because I was at yoga finding my nirvana) you can watch it on ABC.com. If you have a laptop you can take a bubble bath and watch it at the same time.
* For a counterpoint to Al Gore, this is a compelling documentary of a group of scientists (fancy that!) with an interesting take on the global warming issue. Despite the use of facts and graphs I did not find it boring at all. I have studied this stuff and even taught an environmental science course (which is kind of like Al Gore teaching a global warming course when you think about it) and I must say I am more convinced by the scientists.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4520665474899458831&q=BBC+Global+Warming
*While working at your computer you can listen to the most wonderful streaming music http://www.kcdx.com/ is Rock and Roll, nonstop and it streams right to your computer. Bookmark this spot.
*My (second) favorite columnist is back! Camille Paglia is once again writing for Salon.com on the second Tuesday of each month. Her razor intellect, wit and Teflon coating make her the best reading this side of Doug MacEachern!
* For a compelling novelization of the horrific experiences of the Lost Boys of Sudan as seen through the eyes of Valentino Achak Deng, read Dave Egger’s “What is the What”. I could not put it down. Eggers himself has an interesting story and is the editor of the Best American NonRequired Reading. Wiki them for more info.
* Here is a perfect recipe for a rainy spring dinner. It uses my favorite all time small kitchen appliance: the stick blender with food processor attachment. If you don’t have one it is worth putting on your birthday present list; better than perfume, as the aroma of the cooking food is the best perfume you could want.
Asian Split Pea Soup
1 cup dried split peas
4 cups water
½ tsp salt
Combine and cook over medium heat or in a pressure cooker until the peas are tender.
Meanwhile, in a food processor combine:
1 onion, chopped
4 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp dried red chile flakes
1 T coriander seeds, ground
2 tsp cumin seed, ground
½ tsp ground tumeric
¼ cup fish sauce
2 tsp light brown sugar
In the bottom of a heavy bottom soup pot heat 2 T oil until very hot. Add the above mixture and cook until the color deepens and it becomes very aromatic, about 8 minutes.
Add: 4 cups chicken broth.
Cook about 20 minutes at a slow simmer. Add the cooked peas and continue to cook for several more minutes.
Puree with an immersible blender or in batches in a regular blender.
Serve topped with a dollop of plain yogurt, chopped cilantro, mint and cucumber.
Makes 4 servings.
*If you missed Grey’s Anatomy last night (as I did because I was at yoga finding my nirvana) you can watch it on ABC.com. If you have a laptop you can take a bubble bath and watch it at the same time.
* For a counterpoint to Al Gore, this is a compelling documentary of a group of scientists (fancy that!) with an interesting take on the global warming issue. Despite the use of facts and graphs I did not find it boring at all. I have studied this stuff and even taught an environmental science course (which is kind of like Al Gore teaching a global warming course when you think about it) and I must say I am more convinced by the scientists.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4520665474899458831&q=BBC+Global+Warming
*While working at your computer you can listen to the most wonderful streaming music http://www.kcdx.com/ is Rock and Roll, nonstop and it streams right to your computer. Bookmark this spot.
*My (second) favorite columnist is back! Camille Paglia is once again writing for Salon.com on the second Tuesday of each month. Her razor intellect, wit and Teflon coating make her the best reading this side of Doug MacEachern!
* For a compelling novelization of the horrific experiences of the Lost Boys of Sudan as seen through the eyes of Valentino Achak Deng, read Dave Egger’s “What is the What”. I could not put it down. Eggers himself has an interesting story and is the editor of the Best American NonRequired Reading. Wiki them for more info.
* Here is a perfect recipe for a rainy spring dinner. It uses my favorite all time small kitchen appliance: the stick blender with food processor attachment. If you don’t have one it is worth putting on your birthday present list; better than perfume, as the aroma of the cooking food is the best perfume you could want.
Asian Split Pea Soup
1 cup dried split peas
4 cups water
½ tsp salt
Combine and cook over medium heat or in a pressure cooker until the peas are tender.
Meanwhile, in a food processor combine:
1 onion, chopped
4 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp dried red chile flakes
1 T coriander seeds, ground
2 tsp cumin seed, ground
½ tsp ground tumeric
¼ cup fish sauce
2 tsp light brown sugar
In the bottom of a heavy bottom soup pot heat 2 T oil until very hot. Add the above mixture and cook until the color deepens and it becomes very aromatic, about 8 minutes.
Add: 4 cups chicken broth.
Cook about 20 minutes at a slow simmer. Add the cooked peas and continue to cook for several more minutes.
Puree with an immersible blender or in batches in a regular blender.
Serve topped with a dollop of plain yogurt, chopped cilantro, mint and cucumber.
Makes 4 servings.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
I'll be the judge of that
March, 2007
Welcome to my blog. Never being a diarist, I don't expect to fill this with day to day musings. But this is a wonderful way for me to purge all these things that are constantly popping into my brain. Love it or hate it, I don't mind. As Doug says, "there are no bad experiences, just good copy." If you want to comment please do. But try and refrain from doing what I see in most comment posts to articles and that is just calling people names. I would love a substantive discussion though, but as you might glean from my first post, beware, as I might get bored and move on. My only gripe about this format is that I cannot serve you an appetizer while you are reading it.
If I really get rolling, though, I might do something with recipes. Who knows! The google is the limit!
Welcome to my blog. Never being a diarist, I don't expect to fill this with day to day musings. But this is a wonderful way for me to purge all these things that are constantly popping into my brain. Love it or hate it, I don't mind. As Doug says, "there are no bad experiences, just good copy." If you want to comment please do. But try and refrain from doing what I see in most comment posts to articles and that is just calling people names. I would love a substantive discussion though, but as you might glean from my first post, beware, as I might get bored and move on. My only gripe about this format is that I cannot serve you an appetizer while you are reading it.
If I really get rolling, though, I might do something with recipes. Who knows! The google is the limit!
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