My Kitchen, My World - Puerto Rico Trip Postponed

The cold that derailed our trip to Ireland last week is also interrupting this week's trip to Puerto Rico for My Kitchen, My World. Stay tuned, though, as next week's trip is to Iran!

Even though I cannot travel even in the culinary sense, my cold apparently can: from sore throat, to head cold, to chest cold, to conjunctivitis with a lingering cough. Ugh.

I'm just focusing on trying to get through my last three weeks of school. Then, I get three weeks in December to do absolutely nothing until I start bar exam preparation in January.

Nothing sounds blissfully divine right now. I wish it were December already!

This typo courtesy of The Seattle Times

From today's Seattle Times:

Wapato teen dies after being shoot from a car
A 16-year-old boy has died after being shot by occupants of a car during a confrontation on a street in this small town outside of Yakima.

WAPATO, Wash. —
A 16-year-old boy has died after being shot by occupants of a car during a confrontation on a street in this small town outside of Yakima.

___________________________________

They might fix their error after figuring out that "shoot" is not past-tense. They got it right in the first sentence of the article, quoted above, so I have to categorize this error as being strictly a typo. Still not acceptable in a major newspaper, IMO. I mean, words are their business.

Another American Monstrosity - The Donut Burger

This is something I just couldn't let pass by without comment. I have seen several blog postings over the past month about the donutburger a/k/a the Luther Burger. One might think the name is a reference to the devilish or gluttonous quality of sandwiching fatty ground beef between two donuts, but rather the name refers to Luther Vandross who apparently invented or popularized this monstrosity.

I hate to be crass, but I'd like to point out that Luther Vandross' Wikipedia page states (citations ommitted here):

Vandross had diabetes, a disease that ran in his family, as well as hypertension. On April 16, 2003, just four days before his 52nd birthday, Vandross suffered a stroke in his home in Manhattan while eating a Luther Burger. Though the cause of Vandross' stroke was not specifically attributed to diabetes, diabetics have been identified as being much more susceptible to strokes than non-diabetics.

You can see a video about the "Where is your God now? Burger" on the Serious Eats website here, created by writers and producers Christopher F. Smith and Jeremiah Birnbaum of San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking.

In fact, if you want to fast-track yourself towards heart-disease, here is a recipe for a glazed doughnut bacon egg cheeseburger from Serious Eats reader, Chris Zelenak, here.

Let me just say for the record that I think this - like the socks-and-sandals phenomenon, dipping your french fries into a milkshake or the McGriddle sandwich by McDonald's - is just wrong, wrong, WRONG.

Another error from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

I know I shouldn't be pointing fingers. Goodness knows that I probably have typos in each and every blog post. However, I also don't employ a staff of proofreaders. Also, since most newspapers in the United States (probably excepting the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times) are written at an 8th grade level, shouldn't we expect that they manage that without error?

In an article this morning from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is yet again another grammatical error:

One person was killed around 2:30 a.m. in a single car accident on the 1600 block of Aurora, their car splitting in half, after striking a light pole, Seattle police spokeswoman Renee Witt said.

The victim's identity has not yet been released and police are continuing to investigate. The victim was the only person in the car, Witt said.

Did you catch it?

My Kitchen, My World - Ireland Trip Postponed

Last week's My Kitchen My World voyage was to Ireland.

Unfortunately, debunking Marlo's theory that once one is showing symptoms one is no longer contagious, and thus it is safe to cough on one's mother, I caught her cold and have been very sick since last Saturday. Don't get me wrong, laying around the house in my bathrobe is a dream, but I really don't have time to be in a Nyquil-induced coma right now.

Plus, my sore throat really hurts. Anyway, with no signs of getting better by now, I'm postponing the Ireland trip. This week's trip is to Puerto Rico, but my participating will depend upon whether I beat this cold in the next couple of days. I'm crossing my fingers...

Dispatches from France re: The Election

When I was 16 years old, I lived in France for a year as an exchange student. I kept in touch with my family and visited them again during the Summer of 2007 (see prior blog posts here). My American family is very conservative (as in Fox-News-Watching, Rush Limbaugh Loving, Armed and Dangerous Conservative) so it is a comfort to me to at least have one set of parents that are aligned with my desire for social justice in the world.

In the past two days, I have received the following message from my French sister-in-law, Marie-Helene, who is married to my brother, Olivier:

Yesterday morning I cried but my tears were full of wishes.
I am very happy for you and your country .
kises

And the following message titled "America is back!" from my French brother-in-law, Bernard, who is married to my French sister, Pascale:

hi dear roxane !
congratulation for this victory !
obama is elected , fantastic !!!
really that's great for your country and your people , you are a great people indeed !
forget mister busch and now with obama god bless america

love
bernard , pascale and sons

By contrast, my naturalized American mother, who was born and raised in Cairo, emailed me a quote by George Washington about good rising out of despair. I think she's trying to console herself after the Republicans' defeat. I can understand how she feels as I cried for months following the election of 2004.

I also feel like telling her she's right in a way, that a black man had a chance of being elected President in America because the last white man with the job bungled it so badly. I hate to say it, but I think America is still racist enough that if Barack Obama was running against Bill Clinton in 2000, that I don't think he would have had a shot. This truly was good rising from despair. Our country has taken a great leap forward, although there is still work to do for true equality.

Nonetheless, I'm extending my American family the courtesy they never extended me in the past eight years. I'm not gloating to them about this fantastic win. I'm just quietly celebrating with my French family and happily thinking about what's possible for America's future.

Senior Night

On Friday instead of celebrating Halloween by opening my door every two minutes for trick-or-treaters, I went to "Senior Night" at the football game at Marlo's school. The seniors on the cheer squad and football team were escorted through an honor guard of athletes as their names were called.

Marlo was escorted by her Grandma Lydia and her Grandpa John, accompanied by a dozen pink roses and a balloon bouquet that I bought for her.

I think she was really happy to have had such a nice fuss made over her, which she deserves.

My Kitchen, My World - Germany

I picked the My Kitchen My World destination this week. In honor of Oktoberfest, I selected Germany.

I made Hofbrau Beer Brat's from Trader Joe's (who I love, love, love), with roasted potatoes, carrots and onions, served with with pub beer mustard.

First, I browned some onions and carrots.

Once the onions and carrots were softened, I added diced potatoes that I pre-cooked in the microwave.

I then removed the vegetables and browned the brats.

Once the brats were browned, I put both the brats and the vegetables into the oven. Why? Because I had to go pick up Marlo from work and I wanted dinner to be ready for her when she got home after her long day. (On occasion, I can be a nice mom...)

And Voila! Dinner was dished up within minutes of getting home. Marlo loves mustard in all forms so she really liked this meal. I enjoyed it too.

You can see what the other Chefs with Passports have created here.