The Simplicity of Soup
Sesame-Eggdrop (Veggie) Soup by Mollie Katzen
When it’s gray and I don’t feel like an inspired cook, I turn to soup. Tonight, it was a gingery Sesame Eggdrop Soup, with tofu, veggies and a cider vinegary bite. Citrusy Brazilian Black Bean Soup fed us the other night. Both are from the cute little Mollie Katzen’s Soups (a la Moosewood Cookbook) easel book from my friend Ann.
Katzen loves stirring eggs into her vegetarian soup for protein (as in her Mediterranean Lemon, like the Greek avgolemono), which I’ve also made.
Have you turned to soup lately? It’s hard to mess up. Any recipes you’ve made to pass along?
Small town Evite etiquette
In New York and even Baltimore, guests often wait until the last minute to respond to an Evite invitation, buying time to see if they approve of the emerging party list.
However, that’s apparently not an issue in Corvallis. We finally got around to sending out an Evite for a house-warming party last night. Already, nearly half of our 40-some invites have said they will attend. People are pretty genuine here.
Sandra Tsing Loh: like Oprah on Fire
Sandra Tsing Loh holds court at Wordstock in Portland.
Live Wire! at the Aladdin Theater in Portland.
The food wasn’t even the highlight of the weekend in Portland. No, that was seeing Sandra Tsing Loh, the writer, comic performer and feminist first amendment icon turned public schools activist, who is just about my favorite person on the page these days. We especially love her bi-monthly column in The Atlantic.
At the Live Wire! radio show Saturday night, she read a five-minute stream from her new tome, Mother on Fire, squirming with nervous energy and flailing her arms as she recounted the woes of a 40-something perimenopausal woman clinging to her last strings of sanity, as she and her young children navigate the segregated, class-obsessed world of education in L.A.
But uncensored Sandra, holding court for a full hour at the Wordstock festival Sunday, proved to be the real treat. She lamented a feminist movement (though she embraces it) that drained our public schools of uniquely nurturing female genius, a movement that has never exalted the mothers-on-the-move powerhouse organization for change: the mighty P.T.A.
And she blasted politicians (Barack Obama included) and other journalists in the chattering classes for not putting their money where their mouth is by sending their children to public school. It’s like cops living in the suburbs, away from the violent inner-city districts they patrol, she said. They don’t have that same stake in the community where they work.
Besides, Tsing Loh works a crowd just like your great supporter Oprah, bouncing around with a microphone to her seated audience members, treating them as equals as they ask a question to her face.
Stuff White People Like: Portland
Portland's downtown Saturday farmers market.
Still, we miss that East Coast diversity. As perfect as the Portland Farmers Market was, with its artisanal cheeses and breads, rainbow of winter squash, hearty greens, home-cured pickles and soothing herbal teas, it felt, well, somewhat sanitized and white. Baltimore’s two main farmers markets, on the other hand, in Waverly and downtown under the JFX overpass, forge community among the races, classes and cultures that might overwise be oblivious to eachother’s corner of the city. Baltimore has this irrepressible energy that you miss.
At the Holocene club Saturday night, the DJ played “Shake It To The Ground” by Baltimore’s own 15-year-old club queen, Rye-Rye. Ah, memories of shaking it one last time this summer at Artscape. Just read that the Sri Lakan/British MC M.IA. will release a Rye-Rye CD on her new record label. Sweet!
And for all you moms out there, this is “Stuff White People Like.”
Simpatica
Portland has no shortage of culinary mysteries, including rare supper clubs such as Simpatica Dining Hall. We keep indulging on food since we don’t spend money going out to bars with friends here.
Inconspicuously nestled in a warehouse district in Southeast Portland, the “restaurant” has one family-style seating Friday and Saturday nights (online reservations required) and Sunday brunches that require quite the wait.
The chefs and hostesses treat the 30-some customers as guests at their intimate dinner party. For $40 a person, we had these simple yet succulet four courses:
Fresh Porcini Mushroom, Fennel and Arugula Salad (with shaved parmesan and the raw porcini were delicately shaved and marinated in lemon/olive oil)
Handmade Pappardelle with Rabbit Sugo (spiced with pungent fennel pollen)
Herbed Roast Leg of Lamb (thyme, rosemary, marjoram, garlic) with Braised Cavolo Nero (black kale) and Natural Jus
Glazed Viridian Farms Pippin Apple Bread Pudding with Warm Brandy Custard
Yum-Yum! We aren’t worthy. We’re living beyond our means I fear.
Marketplace reports from WYPR in Baltimore
We were surprised to hear the public radio economics show Marketplace was reporting on location from Baltimore today. Host Kai Ryssdal was in town to describe how the fallout from the financial crisis in affecting America’s cities beyond the power centers in New York and Washington. He says the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center ER is a good snapshot of the local economy.
The hospital serves a large population of former Bethlehem Steel and GM plant workers who had good industrial jobs ripped out from under them long before this current economic crisis.
You can here the story here: marketplace_cast3_20081106_64
The kindness of in-laws
Despite the election excitement, my spirits have sunk a bit since the dreary grey days have commenced here. So I was especially cheered to receive packages today from both my sister-in-law and in-laws (those terms still don’t quite roll off the tongue).
Julia in New York sent us an NYPD shirt (her unlikely new employer) and a sweetly crafted Brooklyn bag perfect for farmer’s market shopping. The gifts really capture the two worlds she’s living in there.
And Dan’s parents kindly sent another book from Powell’s. I’ll finally visit this great booksellers in the flesh when in Portland for the Wordstock festival this weekend. The book is What Should I Read Next? by Jessica Feldman, their University of Virginia English professor friend who coincidentally grew up here in Corvallis. Feldman is also on the board of the acclaimed Virginia Quarterly Review. Her new anthology compiles recommended readings in literature, history, politics, math, science and religion, etc. from 70 UVA professors.
Proud to be a (native) Virginian
Virginia going Democrat for president is big election day news. The former capital of the Confederacy relinquishes its ghosts to cast a vote for social change.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/04/AR2008110404110.html
Maryland, of course went overwhelmingly for Obama, and approved slot machine gambling and early-voting. Those were hot issues while I was at The Baltimore Sun.
And in Oregon, Obama surely won but the Gordon Smith-Jeff Merkley Senate race was too close to call. This seat is essential for the Democrats to gain the coveted 60 seats, so much so that Obama taped a TV endorsement for Merkley. This Democratic activist Steve Novick had an aggressive plan to take on the incumbent Republican Smith. The WW launched his campaign, his policy proposals got favorable coverage from the mainstream media and popular bloggers, but then he lost to Merkley in the primary. I heard him speak on political reporting at a recent journalism conference.
How about a 50-cent bottle deposit?
Recycling bin, trashcan, yard waste bin at Corvallis curbside (from left to right).
- Returning bottles for 5-cents a pop.
They do everything a little differently out here in Orygun. Take the trashcans, for example. Our recycling bin is a big roll-can while a smaller vessel accommodates our trash, encouraging us to throw out less. And glass doesn’t even go into regular recycling, because Oregon gives you five cents per bottle you return to the grocery store. To reduce waste and incentivize recycling, Oregon was the first state to pass a bottle bill in 1971. But the bottles often aren’t returned to the stores of purchase, which means the beer and beverage distributors profit. That five cent deposit hasn’t kept up with inflation. It just doesn’t give people the same push to return the bottle it used to.
But a more substantial 50-cent deposit seems reasonable (of course consumers have to pay that on the front end). At the University of Oregon, I recently bought a Eugene-made kombucha drink you paid a 50-cent deposit on. It made returning the bottle that much more of a priority.
Do you think the bottle bill works? What deposit amount do you think is appropriate?
They do everything a little differently out here in Orygun.
Link to this article;
You say chorizo, I say linguica
Use Portuguese linguica or Spanish chorizo instead.
- Portuguese Kale and Potato Soup (Gourmet Jan. 1990).
Soup is what I like to make for Sunday dinners come fall. It’s a hearty start to the week and economical, leaving you with several lunch-size portions for the days to come.
I stumbled upon this recipe for Portuguese Kale and Potato Soup, a variation of that country’s national soup, known as caldo verde. I couldn’t find dry cured Spanish chorizo so I substituted Portuguese linguica sausage instead, which of course is how it would be made in Portugal. Mexican chorizo would probably taste fine too, it just wouldn’t retain its shape when removed from the casing and crumbled to sautee.
I also threw in diced turnips with the potatoes, as this recipe for Spanish Galician soup also inspired me. You could also add tomatoes, beans or whatever other veggies you have lying around. I topped the soup with grated parmesan to serve.
Vegetarians could substitute soy chorizo for the pork sausage or try just a simple Potato-Kale Soup without meat. The kale gives it a tangy kick that more demure potato-leek soup (though still a personal favorite) lacks.
BaltimOregon to Maine 