There's Beauty in the Bellow

Currently reading: Economics in One Lesson , Henry Hazlitt. Assigned by my boss. Very cool. Obama is an economic dunce measured against Hazlitt's principles. The Book of Common Prayer . Why don't we pray prayers like these anymore? The BoCP is full of prayers for victory, for aid in "running after" God's promises. It seems that we pray only for our own advancement and blessings; we are continually praying for health (we have so many people ill and in distress!). But I'm also reading the book of Job. Why don't we pray for outcomes like Job's? The Tristan Chord: Wagner and Philosophy , Bryan McGee. About a pompous bore by a pompous bore. Majesty: Elizabeth II and the House of Windsor , Robert Lacey. Fun read. God was very gracious to England in bringing George VI and the present Queen to the throne. England might not exist at all if Edward VIII had continued his reign into World War II. In other news, I have a diploma now. And the GRE is a week from this...

Well, I ate roasted brussels sprouts with toasted walnuts and a dollop of plain yogurt. What did you eat? Crackly, salty, creamy, crunchy, warm, cool, and plenty of umami. Hey, they needed to be eaten and this morning was my window to cook them. I was going to save them for lunch, but after sampling one, they couldn't wait. If you can find brussels sprouts still on the stalk, grab 'em. They stay fresh much longer than the ones already cut off. Plus the stalk makes a fun little totem. I used Ina Garten's recipe for roasted brussels sprouts--so simple: just evoo, salt, pepper, the cute mini cabbages (the larger ones cut in half) all roasted at 400. They converted several people at the last church supper to brussels sprouts.

All sorts of odd responses to food and ideas as to what's "healthy." Turkeys were more expensive this year. One woman rather complained about it, saying something to the effect of "I don't even know why we eat turkey." "Well, maybe we'll switch to eating pork someday," I replied. "I hope not," she said, "that's even worse for you." Huh? Who comes up with these distinctions? Maybe I have been suckered by the "Pork: the other white meat" campaign. I've heard about the evils of all animal protein, or the relative healthiness of fish or poultry over red meat, but this was new. Another woman, pushing a toddler in her cart, bought coconut milk. I asked about it, since it was new to me and looked yummy. "Well, I wasn't going to feed her cow puss, and I didn't wan't to do soy because it's been so genetically modified, and I didn't want to do almond milk because it has nuts in it, but coco...

#1: Slice asparagus stems in half lengthwise and steam. Pile asparagus, thinly sliced radishes, sliced pears, toasted walnuts, and your last dollop of ricotta onto a plate. Sprinkle with fresh thyme, salt and a splurge (ie, a copious rain) of black pepper. Drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette. Sit down at the table with your salad. Inhale. Make sure to try different combinations of flavor and texture. Radish and asparagus. Pear and radish, with ricotta. Pear and asparagus, then with a walnut, then with ricotta. Ricotta and asparagus, swirled in the balsamic vinager. #2: Slice and saute a couple mushrooms with a little butter and salt. Once you have them in the pan, make a phone call: by the time you have gotten off the phone, the shrooms will be well underway. Wilt some spinach in the microwave for about 30 seconds. If you have gotten distracted and your mushrooms have gotten a bit cold, include them in the last step. Top with your mushrooms, thinly sliced radishes, chopped grapes, walnut...

If we cannot control our appetites for food, then how are we to discipline our appetites for violence, sex, pleasure (caffeine, drugs, alcohol, etc) or the accumulative appetite? Obesity is entirely our own fault. We are individually responsible for whatever "conditioning" leads us toward this "disease."

Critics depend upon structured arguments to make their points. A novelist primarily structures not arguments for the reader but experiences. Unlike our more random encounters with the actual world, the experiences we find in a novel are entirely verbal in origin, and they are shaped by their creator specifically with us, the readers, in mind. As we progress through a novel, we live in its world with an intense, imaginative participation very rarely, if ever, generated in us by any kind of purely expository writing. Thus somewhere--exactly where, no artist and no critic has ever discovered--between the immediacy of a lived, concrete encounter, and the limited intellectual engagement created by expository prose, exists the mysterious participatory experience offered by imaginative literature. The Religious Dimension of Jane Austen's Novels , Gene Koppel, 122.

Wash, rinse and dry grapes. Wash, rinse and dry cilantro. Pick a firm grape. (Usually the firm ones fall off first when you shake the bunch.) Tear off a few leaves of cilantro. Deposit cilantro and grape in your mouth. Bite into the grape with your back teeth so that it bursts in your mouth. Press the cilantro against your tongue as you eat.