Reading, Writing, and Sourdough

  The author's grandfather was the only member of his Polish family to survive the Nazi's death camps. Grandpa died before the author was born, but according to the author's father, after the war ended, the grandfather spent 20 unsuccessful years tilting against Polish and German bureaucracies in an attempt to reclaim his apartment building in Sosniewicz, Poland.  Menachem Kaiser reengages the struggle for restitution in part to see if he can find an attachment to the grandfather he never met. With a jaundiced eye at other so-called Holocaust tourists - Jewish descendants just like himself searching for some abstract kind of connection to lost family or closure - Kaiser learns the building is worth $400 and cannot fathom why his grandfather suffered such anguish to get it back.  What makes the book interesting is Kaiser's musings on the nature of homelands, the meaning of forcible loss of property, and then as he gets closer to potential acquisition of his grandfather...

  A yarn as wide as the Texas landscape. It is 1864 and Simon the Fiddler makes a living the best he can by playing jigs, reels, waltzes and hornpipes. It's not quite as disreputable a profession as being an actor, but a lot of venues include the kinds of saloons and dance halls that the upper classes tend not to frequent. Until the Union Army conscripts him, that is, and he has to play fiddle and soldier for a year. At the war's so-called conclusion - it doesn't so much end as degenerate into a kind of barely controlled chaos as Union forces occupy the state of Texas and barely maintain order - Simon teams up with three additional veterans and together they escape their army duties to play music, barely make ends meet, and have adventures along the Gulf Coast and the Mexican border. Paulette Jiles evokes of the landscape and era of post Civil War Texas with such acuity you can hear individual birds sing, grasshoppers hum, and feel the heat of an unrelenting sun. The ...

 In this tight little book (originally a 6-hour podcast) Gladwell lays out the question of whether warfare is best fought to minimize collateral damage to civilians and fundamental infrastructure, or, on the other hand, ended most expediently by maximizing an opponent's losses with the intention of bringing about a speedy end to the conflict.  In World War I, airplanes were used for the first time, but mostly to fight other airplanes. As WW II approached, an elite group of pilots wondered if the advent of precision bombing could not only alter the outcome of the war, but transform warfare altogether. In theory the Norden bombsight, an analog computer, contained enough calculations and adjustables that a bomber could finally land a bomb on a strategic target like a fuel depot, transport junction, or a factory that made spare parts for the enemy's planes. Precision bombing could, in theory, end the enemy's ability to fight. In practice, however, the bombsight was less than su...

  Most often, when I make bread without a recipe, I assemble ingredients entirely by the look and feel of the dough and however the spirit moves me. Something told me in advance that English muffins leavened with a rye sourdough starter might be good so I measured as went along. The recipe can be found here . Please send me photos and suggestions, if you decide to give it a try. Frying the muffins in a buttered, cast iron skillet made both sides crisp, crackly, and already slightly buttery. The muffins are much heavier than the aerated versions produced by Thomas's, but the sweet rye, creaminess imparted by buttermilk-enriched dough, and the sour notes unique to rye starters combined to make a perfect base for everything from a schmear of butter to more complicated sandwiches with multiple toppings. They could also serve as buns for vegetables or meat coming from a barbecue. One side. And the other.

Jess Walter supplies a fine amalgamation of fiction and history, melding historical figures, most notably Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a fiery rebel who fought for the rights of working class men and women (and founding member of the ACLU) with a pair of fictitious Irish brothers searching for work in Spokane, Washington at the start of the 20th century. Lumber and mining barons are bulldozing the earth, earning and spending millions of dollars. Hobos, tramps, Native Americans are hired and fired at will, surviving on pennies a day, eating pilfered chickens, living in unwashed clothes, and sleeping in flophouses or open fields. Organized labor has taken its battle from wars in mining and timber camps across the west and heads to Spokane for a standoff with heartless employers. The Wobblies (I.W.W.) are enjoined by anarchists, communists, and socialists, but have their heads cracked by police, vigilantes, Pinkertons, and infiltrators hired by politicians and executives intent upon saving ord...

Every spring when ramps arrive in the local woods and I receive bunches in my CSA, I make pesto, and also some kind of ramp pancakes. This year I chopped my ramps, mixed them with whole wheat sourdough starter, a cup of buttermilk, and crushed cumin seeds. I made a dozen and a half: a perfect accompaniment to a spicy pot of curried red lentil dal.  

 Last week I made Maurizio Leo's Rustic Italian Sourdough . The bread has flour from durum wheat in it. Durum wheat is typically used to make pasta, but its golden yellow color imparts rich, slightly sweet flavor to bread, which I love. Most people know that fresh homemade bread smells incredible and tastes much better than anything that comes from a store. When it is still warm it feels sensuous, and for most bread lovers, even the sight of fresh bread makes our mouths water. That covers four senses: sight, taste, smell, and feel. But finished bread sounds good, too. When it is done, a tap on its base will resonate like a drum, but pay close attention to this clip. When a loaf comes from the oven, it crackles with goodness.