Cooking the NYTimes and Other Assorted Retirement Activities

WARNING: A SNARKY RANT TO COME (not that most of my posts don't have some degree of snarkiness in them) Well, well, well.  Since I last wrote,   would you have ever predicted all the s*#t that's happened in the interim?  Naw, me neither, and I do enjoy a substantial dose of sarcasm every day. A few different comments/things I've read or heard have been bubbling up, churning their way into a blog post and I've chosen to combine them here. I listen to far too many podcasts for my own good.  One I've come to heavily rely on during these unprecedented times (anyone else ready to see Webster's retire the word unprecedented) is the Osterholm Update: COVID-19 from the University of Minnesota.  In his most recent podcast, Dr. Osterholm described two phenomenon he's seeing: COVID Fatigue, probably familiar to most of you, and COVID Anger.  In short, people are exhausted and pissed.  There's a dynamite combination.  Subsequently I read an article about stag...

We're into meteorological fall   and if I have a second favorite season...no, that's the holiday season, Halloween through New Year's...okay, meteorologically, it is fall.  I'm fortunate enough to live in the True North, where the colors can be spectacular for a few weeks; the days, sunny with bright blue skies; temperatures which require sweats or jeans and sweaters and also insist that the Flip Flops be returned to their hiding place in the closet.  I always bid them a fond farewell and thank them for their fine work over the past few months, reminding them their sojourn in the storage boxes is temporary and once the Spousal Unit ™  returns his Santa Suit to its Christmas bag, it will only be a matter of days before they hear, "Who wants to go to Florida?" The air takes on a distinct odor, carried on the increasing volume of wind, as we move away from summer.  It smells like September--just a little less full of summer breeze and more impending crispness....

  I began this blog when I retired, as I had intentions to Cook the NY Times recipes as written, then share same with you, dear readers. Needless to say I've veered off the beaten path if not gone over the cliff with other topics, seldom writing anything about cooking. At least for today, that changes.  I do want to thank the NYTimes Cooking section as it has pushed me outside my cooking comfort zone.  A definite kitchen changer for me is the book Salt, Fat, Heat, Acid   by Samin Nosrat.  There's a terrific Netflix show by the same name. We are smack dab in the midst of Farmer's Market season.  I hope you are aware of where the closest Farmer's Market is to you and that you frequent it as often as possible until the outdoors ones close.  Around here, that's sometime in October and by then, many of the veggies showing up in abundance right now will be a distant albeit delicious memory. You're probably aware that food found at the Farmer's Markets a...

TO:  Parents, Grandparents and those stewing in anger and frustration over the opening of school FROM: Mary O'Brien, Career Educator, Retired School Administrator RE:  Redirecting that well deserved sense of Righteous Anger You might feel like this right about now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwi6_Ugq8jA I get it. You get it. We all get it. There is nothing good bubbling within the fast approaching start of school. Virtual?  Wonderful!  Horrible! Hybrid model?  Wonderful!  Horrible! In person?  Wonderful!  Horrible! The purpose of this memo is to encourage you to blow up your well deserved sense of Righteous Anger directed at the decision your school board has made about when, where, how, etc. the return to school. I wish to convince you to turn that Righteous Anger to where it belongs.  Not with your state or local administration. No, fling it directly at the White House and Republican members of Congress.  Throw it like you flung m...

Just a guess here, but I'm thinking that you, like me, have a (relatively) long list of things you miss.  You missed.  You continue to miss on account of the unprecedented COVID-19.  Some probably have more degrees of significance than others.  On the good days, you're able to put the list into perspective. When the days aren't so smooth, at least for me, the list becomes a thousand ton weight pressing on all internal organs, smooshing them into one indistinguishable mass.  (There's a descriptor, right?) Something I have found very useful when I'm feeling smooshed, and even when I'm not, is practicing yoga.   I can viscerally remember the first yoga class I took.  It was shortly after my mom "went down", becoming bedridden following the rupture of an abdominal abdominal aneurysm.  (She lived 4 years, way beyond statistical prediction, and was the happiest bedridden woman on the block during most of that time, but I digress).  At the end ...

Well, hmm.  Here we are, weeks after the Grand Opening, and in a surprise to probably just about no one, cases of COVID-19 are rising in places where people are gathering without social distancing and wearing masks. Today I found myself reminiscing about three laws that were passed to protect us from ourselves and others.   Law Number One: the seat belt law. Gradually studies demonstrated that wearing a seat belt in your car protected those belted in from serious injury in case of an accident.  (Anyone remember the PSA "Seat Belts Save Lives?") Slowly but surely, from 1966-1970, seat belts became a standard feature in new cars.  People complained about wearing them.  Vociferously.  Seat belts choked you.  They prevented you from turning the steering wheel.  It was more difficult to reach the ash tray when wearing a seat belt.  You couldn't change the radio station or adjust the volume if the seat belt was holding you fast in place. ...

Recently my Flip Flop Friday post indicated that I had no words.  Fortunately, people far more thoughtful and articulate than I have shared their words and in that way STOOD UP to make a difference.   Talking with those of us who are of a certain age, I've heard and shared the refrain: "I thought we did this work in the '60s.  The Civil Rights Act.  The Equal Rights Amendment.  We thought we made the world a better place for the generations to come." Wrong. I still don't have the words.   I've gone back and read the words of those who made an indelible mark on my mind, heart and soul during the '60s.  What I've discovered is they are probably a little too comfortable since those were the words that initially motivated me to do social justice work.  And what I've also discovered over these past few weeks is that I am, indeed, a little too comfortable with my self-assigned place in the social justice movement.  In other words,...