Reading, Writing, and Sourdough

In 1950, the Cold War between communists in the Soviet Union and communist-fearing Americans led by the likes of Senator Joseph McCarthy was feverish. President Truman -- as all Presidents must -- was attending to domestic crises when North Korean communists invaded the southern half of the country. General Douglas MacArthur, a man of Trumpian self-assurance, insisted the communists could be demolished in the background while MacArthur posed for press photos in the foreground. Edward Almond, Commander of the U.S. Marine X Corps was a MacArthur sycophant who directed the marines to push the North Koreans out of the south. Mission complete, he ordered the marines to continue their march to the Yalu River on the Chinese border. General MacArthur posing during the invasion of Inchon On Desperate Ground  manages to paint a picture that remains in focus when seen from spy sattelite and when magnified to individual marines trapped along the Chosin Reservoir. X Corps was surrounded...

Marra B. Gad was born of a Jewish mother and African American father and adopted at birth by a Reform Jewish family in Chicago. Her new family loved her to pieces and she was raised in Reform Jewish tradition, which is to say Hebrew School, camp, Bat Mitzvah, and an ample supply of desserts. Only Marra's skin is black and many aunts, uncles, and cousins treated her with thinly disguised, racist contempt. Most blatant of all was Marra's great aunt Nette whose love and approval Marra coveted. Nette finally says aloud what has been obvious for decades, "Nothing is worse than being black." And yet in a triumph of human spirit and fundamental teachings of Judaism to provide succor to the unwell and aging, Marra serves as Nette's primary care giver as Nette succumbs to Alzheimer's. The Color of Love  reminds us that we are all made of multiple pieces -- religion, age, temperament, weight, nationality, sex, gender -- and that skin color, like the size of our e...

10-grain breads. Every year, Sue's brother Marty flies in from California for a holiday season of serious cooking. We collaborate on some baked things, but mostly I try to keep loaves of bread around to handle leftovers. This year Marty made prime rib, sous vide salmon, elk roast, Danish smorrebrod, and affiliated dishes too numerous to list.  I've begun experimenting with recycled breads and have had great success using old ryes. I break a stale bread into chunks and add water to soften. In the two loaves (above) I reused a Danish rye that was insufficiently cooked the first time round so it wasn't a great eat. The original loaf contained flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, wheat and rye berries. To the mash I also added chopped walnuts, oats, and corn meal. If you count the spelt flour in the dough, the final loaf had 10 grains, a moist interior, crisp crust, and enough deliciousness that the first loaf was gone by afternoon and the second disappeared th...