Requiem for a lightweight

January 30, 2008 — Ned Raggett

Odd character, Rudy Giuliani. My first memories of him were as with most other people’s, I’d guess — some clean-cut guy who was a district attorney in New York City who made his name busting the mob a few times over. No bad thing, though in my youthful innocence I figured something like, “Okay, that’s done, so crime won’t be a big problem over there much any more.” Pitiful me.

Then he becomes mayor and I mostly shrug. I’m over near Los Angeles, he’s on the other coast, whatever. As time passes and I start to get to know people some more over in New York City and thereabouts, I learn that he’s not entirely loved, to put it mildly. In fact more often than not he sounds like a bit of a prick. Allegedly, however, he cleans up the streets, though it seems that the police force doesn’t exactly exhibit best behavior at all times.

He gets a chance to run against Hilary Clinton for the Senate and it seems that there’s a big ol’ battle royale forming and…he drops out. Turns out he’s a family man in the sense that he doesn’t mind exchanging one family set-up for another, which I’m sure his kids love. Clinton whomps the poo out of her opponent in 2000 and once again in 2006 and somewhere a lot of people growse about this fact to this day, probably.

Then there’s a day in September and the outgoing mayor is the Most Famous and Bestest Mayor and American EVER! for doing things like going on to Saturday Night Live and telling people it was okay to laugh again. We thank you. (We do?) And somewhere along the line he gets the idea that maybe the presidency isn’t that crazy a notion, even when Bernard Kerik’s legal troubles suggest that he’s not much of a guy for looking into pertinent details. (Maybe he busted the mob because they looked at him funny one day.)

This Washington Post story and this New York Times story [EDIT: and this Guardian piece] talk about how all that played out. Me, I shed no tears. I get the severe impression after all this time that this man was ultimately a coaster on reputation, no more or less so than many other people, no more or less so than your typical Presidential candidate, really. But for a while there he had the aura of invulnerability. Honestly, I’m glad to see it shattered.

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Embracing chance in cooking

January 30, 2008 — Ned Raggett

Here’s an example of chance working nicely — so, last week I made up this soup, but had plenty of broth left over even after storing a bit of it. In a random moment of inspiration I froze that remainder, figuring I’d get a good idea of what to do with it. Yesterday I had that idea — use it, rather than just water or a simple broth to cook up a slew of rice.

Worked like a charm! The broth’s rich but not overwhelming flavor settled into the rice perfectly, while the remaining beans, scallions and herbs made for an excellent flavoring. Some more of this combination is in the fridge tonight, meantime, for eating tomorrow. If you stop thinking of them as leftovers and start thinking of them as new possibilities for new dishes, your culinary world does expand nicely…

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Some cookbook recommendations

January 30, 2008 — Ned Raggett

And I might have more at a later time. However, a comment from friend Eve in my post yesterday regarding some recommendations for a seasonally-based cookbook made me realize a general post might not go awry. So here’s a short-list of what I’ve been using a lot lately and/or have a particular faith in, with reference to trying to eat vegetarian:

  • Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, as discussed yesterday, so I won’t dwell on it here again. Suffice to say, though, that this one I’m recommending while not having read a word of it — I just know it’ll be that excellent. Get it, thank me later.
  • John Peterson’s Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables — this one is already achieving a certain legendary status among folks as being a key text for anyone interested in CSA programs as well as organic cooking and vegetarian approaches. It’s actually probably the one cookbook I refer to the most, in part because of its excellent organization, broken into three main sections covering early, mid and late growing season fruits and vegetables. Combined with a chatty, easygoing series of pieces and some gentle reflection on the nature of organic farmwork, it’s a treat all around.
  • Laurel Robertson’s The New Laurel’s Kitchen, an older book that was among the first high profile vegetarian cookbooks when it was first published in the 1970s, then republished in the mid-eighties, but one which has still provided me with a slew of ideas over time. Friend Stripey lent it to me some time back and I’ve used it off and on over the moons when otherwise unsure of what to try. You can find a copy for pretty cheap through that Amazon link, worth having around!

    • Meantime, I’ve also checked out a book I noticed randomly at the library today: Larousse Gastronomique: Vegetables and Salads, a selection from the classic text’s latest revision focusing on said two fields. This is by no means a vegetarian cookbook — many of the preparations contain meat of some sort — but as a crash course in French cooking and recipes with a focus on vegetables in general, it already looks promising.

    There are many more books I could suggest, of course, and this is only meant to be an initial starting point — and I use random internet scrounges all the time for recipes (just plug in the random ingredients you have around the house and see what’s up!). Post any further recommendations here if you’ve got ’em…

Posted in Books, Food. Tags: , , . 3 Comments »
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