Posts Tagged ‘Baltimore’
NPR Announces Cuts: New Depth to Journalism’s Woes
NPR headquarters in DC/Flickr Creative Commons/By NCinDC http://www.flickr.com/photos/ncindc/2729739913/ )
This is really sad news, because NPR’s non-profit, listener-supported model has been seen as one of the few bright, viable models left in journalism. Some 64 people will lose their jobs and 21 open positions won’t be filled. They’re cutting shows Day to Day and News and Notes, NPR’s one African-American focused show, led by Baltimore native Farai Chideya.
How will this affect the expensive multi-media training NPR was planning to give all it’s journalists?
It’s been a bad week for journalism. But the news about Tribune’s bankruptcy (my former employer) was far less surprising than NPR’s woes.
Will the 12.5 percent of the nation unemployed and under-employed only continue to rise?
Turkey Tortilla Soup: Thankful that I Froze Thanksgiving Leftovers
No offense, Dad, but we’re tired of the same savory turkey-vegetable-rice soup we make every year with Thanksgiving leftovers. We wanted to make a soup we would actually make in its own right this year. And I had the stock and shredded turkey meat all ready to go in the freezer. If this bird had to die, at least we are using every inch of its meat.
Then I found the perfect tortilla soup recipe that has the wearied post-Thanksgiving cook in mind. It’s from the Baltimore-based food blog Coconut & Lime. Fire-roasted tomatoes and green chiles gave the soup a smokey tang. Grated cheddar, avocado and tortilla chip toppings cooled the heat of the mildy spicy soup. Man, is this recipe a keeper! I might add black beans next time to make more of a turkey chili.
Any other notable turkey soup recipes out there?
Dungeness: Better than Lobster, Better Than Blue Crabs
We had sweet, delicate, freshly-caught Dungeness crab on the Newport coast tonight for my parents’ last dinner here in Oregon. I know I’ll take flack for this, but I think I like Oregon’s crab better than Maine lobster or Baltimore’s blue crabs. It’s less rich.
Our timing couldn’t have been better. Dungeness crab season commenced Dec. 1. The crabbing appears to be sustainable and well-regulated here.
I recommend the Local Ocean Seafood Restaurant and fish market, where we ate, right on the Newport harbor. Raw crabs retail at the market for $4.50/pound and the staff is quite friendly.
Before dinner, we sampled beers at Newport’s famed Rogue Brewery. It’s by no means our favorite micro-brew here. But I liked the Hazelnut Brown Nectar and the Honey Orange Wheat enough to bring 22-oz. bottles of those home.
Obama and Sweet Potato Pie
We’re having a spiced pumpkin tiramisu-like cake for Thanksgiving dessert. But I do love sweet potato pie, especially the praline-topped ones my former colleague John-John used to make. It’s also our President-Elect’s favorite kind of pie. See this video on the best sweet potato pie around D.C.
Another former colleague, Rona Marech, wrote a deliciously descriptive features story about that Henry’s Soul Food place near D.C. They can’t wait for Obama to come try some.
Chinese Delights in Corvallis and Baltimore
Sesame Tempeh.
We grabbed a late dinner at China Delight here in Corvallis, since we had a two-for-one coupon. And we heard the Sesame Tempeh was incredible. And it was: a heaping portion of sticky-sweet, crispy coated perfectly fermented cubes of soy that pack as punch of a protein punch as meat. China Delight’s wait-staff was super-friendly, they served local draft beers and the eclectic menu (from Szechuan to Cantonese) featured ample vegetarian options.
Funny, because perhaps our favorite Chinese place in Baltimore was similarly called Chinese Delight. We went there for the Peking Duck. Neither place should be judged by its non-descript, tucked away exterior.
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.
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.”
Nary a trick-or-treater
What’s the point of owning a house when you don’t get a single trick-or-treater? We were prepared with a bowl full of gummy bear packets and organic, corn syrup-free Oregon-approved lollipops. I propped several kinds of pumpkins up on our front stoop (we didn’t carve them…hoping to make pie with them instead).
But not a soul came by. Perhaps we’re too much of an outlier, too close to the smelly Oregon State dairy farm. Or perhaps the kids had their fill treat-or-treating earlier in the day at businesses downtown.
Growing up in Richmond, our long driveway scared trick-or-treaters away. And they didn’t bother us at our apartment in Baltimore. I guess they won’t here either.
Giving in to a flu shot
Those ubiquitous flu shots (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mccord/295079027/sizes/m/#cc_license)
Flu shots weren’t for me, I thought. Why would I want to be injected with the inactive viris, at the risk of getting flu symptoms now, to guard against the uncertainty of getting it down the road. Then there’s thimerosal, the ominous mercury preservative still apparently used in the vaccine.
But then I had the flu bad last winter in Baltimore. We’re talking a 103-degree fever that made my brain swell and throb, a fever that hurt so bad it made me cry. I had to practically crawl to the parking lot after the flu hit me at work. My whole body ached when I coughed.
Still, I wanted to embrace the natural, echinacea-can-keep-me-healthy Oregon lifestyle. I was just going to tough it out this year. But then we heard the flu hits really hard here, particularly in a university town that students, scholars and athletes from around the country and across the globe pass through. Plus, with our health insurance, the $15 shots were free through the Oregon State health center.
Now there’s a slight tingling down my left side where I had the shot and my toes feel achy. My throat is a bit scratchy. Are these symptoms psychosomatic or real? I just better not come down with full-fledged influenza this year.
Did ya’ll get flu shots this year? Do you think the benefits outweigh the risks? You certainly don’t here about the shortage of flu shots like we had in 2004, now that more drug makers have flooded the market.
Barack Obama and David Simon: a Daily Show/Colbert Report Double-Header
We all knew Obama would do a telecast interview on The Daily Show tonight, an appearance perhaps eclipsed by his 30-minute infomercial. But it surprised me to see Baltimore’s finest David Simon follow suit on The Colbert Report. What was the hook for Simon’s appearance? The Generation Kill mini-series ended this summer, with little fanfare. There was no mention of his new New Orleans-set project. Colbert was struggling to make the interview relevant. He seized upon David Simon’s characters that defy easy protagonist/antagonist classification and his critiques of a capitalist culture that requires institutions to “do more with less.”
“Barack Obama says he loves your show: is that because you’re a socialist,” Colbert dead-panned. That segewayed into a more substantive defense of progressive taxation.
Colbert hit a nerve talking about how Simon resented the prize-obsessed world of newspaper journalism. That’s why you went into TV then, Colbert said, taunting, because we don’t care about prizes at all. You know Simon has to be somewhat bitter about the lack of Emmy recognition for The Wire. Maybe he himself was Pulitzer Prize-obsessed while at The Sun, so he had to leave before that impulse got the better of him.
He’s proud to be one of the first on the 200+ plus Sun newroom staffers who have taken buy-outs over the past 15 years. So in some vague way we’re part of the same club.
“Journalism kind of spit me out,” Simon said.
BaltimOregon to Maine 