Saturday Night Random

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Arcanaut

I’m not sure if this should be a post, but since it’s Saturday night and things are quiet here, I’ll put it up in the spirit of the old Plum Line At Night segments that BGinChi used to host, often about books. (And BG’s planning to stop in here when he has time, which is nice news.)

Some of you may have checked out my publishing website, which is linked to at my profile. I’ve just posted an interview question Bernie asked me to answer about the sensory experience of writing fiction. If you’re interested in how writing fiction gets done, you might want to look.

At the Plum Line, I’ve occasionally commented about things Wisconsin since I lived there for over two decades. As a political junkie, I’ve thought a lot about what’s going on there–that persistent divide that gave the country both the Progressive tradition and Joe McCarthy. During my Wisconsin years, particularly when I lived in the country, I was very aware of the outlook of many of neighbors and how that played out in politics. I wrote a lot of short stories that were informed by my affection for those neighbors and my interest in their attitudes.

For those of you who’re curious about what the real Wisconsin is, those stories are collected in In the Land of the Dinosaur: Ten Stories and a Novella. There’s info on it (including excerpts and music links) and other titles, including my Civil War War novel, Suite Harmonic, on the site. There’s also a related interview question from David Douglas (not somebody from the Plum Line) about the isolation of living in the country in Wisconsin. You’ll want emilymeier dot com.

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The San Francisco Treat

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Arcanaut

I was in Japan six years ago when I was asked a simple question. What is my favorite rice? My response was idiotic. I was in a big phase of cooking Indian food and in love with Basmati rice. Japan is famously proud of its rice and justifiably so. My defense is that my sons were ten days old and I was a little short of sleep. If you’re in Japan and someone asks you about your favorite rice, say Japanese.

I understand the Japanese devotion to rice as I share it. We typically keep 4 – 6 types of rice on hand. Basmati rice for Indian dishes. Tilda is my favorite (when in doubt, ask your Indian grocer his or her favorite). A few spices and a little oil elevate boiled rice into pilau. Koshihikara rice for sushi. Tamaki Gold is amazing stuff. White rice is always good to have around, especially when I want to make some arroz con pollo. Brown rice for the occasional dish when I want to pretend to be healthy. When I can find it, I buy Carnaroli rice for my very favorite rice dish of all.

My love affair with risotto started ten years ago, right around the time my love affair started with my beloved wife. I think it started when we watched Big Night. It is my very favorite food movie of all time. The cast is amazing. Stanley Tucci as Secondo, the manager of a failing Italian restaurant. Tony Shaloub as Primo, the talented and temperamental chef. Also Secondo’s older brother. Marc Anthony (better known as a Latin pop star) in a minor role and a scene stealer. Ian Holm as the owner of a nearby successful restaurant (he also played Chef Skinner in Ratatouille and Bilbo Baggins in LotR). Allison Janney as Secondo’s girlfriend.

Risotto is almost a running gag through the movie. The restaurant finally has a couple of customers, one of whom orders a seafood risotto. Who then proceeds to order a side of spaghetti with meatballs. [She likes starch!] Later, Secondo suggests that they take risotto off the menu as it takes a lot of time and is expensive to make. Primo counters with the suggestion that they add hot dogs to the menu. Finally, in the most amazing meal on film (Babette has nothing on the feast of these guys), they present a tricolor risotto in the colors of the Italian flag. For my part, I’d make a basil/parsley risotto for green, scallop risotto for the white, and a beet risotto for the red.

Since then, I’ve made many risottos. My favorites would probably be the basil/parsley, lobster, and bolognese risottos. I do have one risotto to my name. On the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, they make a lovely rice and beans. The key is using coconut milk and serving with chilero (spicy, pickled vegetables) on the side. We had some black beans at home and I was thinking of doing something along the lines of rice and beans. Then I remembered the Costa Rican variant. And so came forth my black and white risotto. It’s great with mango and pineapple on the side.

Black Bean Risotto

Ingredients

Brodo

4 cups chicken stock
1 cup coconut milk (2/3 of a can)
½ cup dry white wine (or more broth)
Soffritto
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/3 cup finley minced onion
Riso
1 ½ cups Arborio or California short grain rice
1 ½ cups cooked black beans or 1 can, drained and rinsed
Condimenti
½ cup coconut milk (1/3 can)
½ bunch cilantro, washed, thick stems removed, chopped to make ¼ – ½ cup
Queso duro or fresco, crumbled for garnish

Method

  1. Bring broth to a steady simmer in a saucepan on the stove. Add coconut milk and return to simmer.
  2. Heat the butter and oil in a heavy casserole or dutch oven over med. heat. Add the onion and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes until it softens.
  3. Add the rice to the soffrito, stir using a wooden spoon until the grains are thoroughly coated. Add the wine and stir until it is completely absorbed. Add the simmering broth, ½ cup at a time. Stir frequently until almost completely absorbed and add the next ½ cup.
  4. Add coconut milk and cilantro and remove from heat. Stir completely to combine with the rice. Add the black beans near the end of cooking.
  5. Put the risotto on serving dishes. Sprinkle with crumbled queso. Top with chilero or serve on the side.

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Dead Man Walking

Posted on September 20, 2011 by Arcanaut

Note: Please be kind – this is my first attempt at posting and I rushed it because of its timely nature. I will be gone most of the afternoon but will try and check back here and there when I can, so please don’t think I posted and ran away — SCat

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles denied clemency this morning to Troy Davis who is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection tomorrow evening at 7 p.m.

If you have not recently seen or heard about his case, a decent overview is given here. In brief, Mr. Davis was convicted of shooting Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail in 1991. The murder weapon was never found, no physical evidence linked Mr. Davis to the crime, and since that time 7 of the nine witnesses who testified against Davis have recanted – several claiming that they were coerced by police. The eighth witness originally claimed he could not identify anyone involved in the crime and the ninth witness actually has himself confessed to the crime to friends and family members in the last few years. Mr. Davis has had his execution stayed on three separate occasions – in 2007 by the state parole board, in 2008 by the US Supreme Court, and in 2008 by a federal appeals court. With the decision handed out this morning, it is highly unlikely his execution will by stayed again.

As a progressive and a Roman Catholic, I admit that the death penalty is one issue that I have struggled mightily with in my life. I wince at the thought of the state wielding that sort of power, I am sickened at the idea of executing the innocent, and I am appalled at the role that race or poverty often play in these cases. On the other hand, I see obviously guilty monsters like Timothy McVeigh or David Westerfield and I have a very difficult time mustering up any degree of sympathy for their plights; and as I watch the family of Officer McPhail on tv fighting for their loved one, I wonder: how would I respond in their shoes? How would I feel if it was my husband or my child that had been violently taken away from me? Would I be secure enough in my faith to not seek revenge through the justice system? Could I take a step back and question the evidence and wonder whether the right person was convicted?

I don’t know and hope I never know the answers to those questions, but when a case like Mr. Davis’ arise, it clarifies the main issue for me: how can we execute someone when such profound questions of innocence and guilt remain?

I am going over yonder
Where no ghost can follow me
There’s another place beyond here
Where I’ll be free I believe.

— Steve Earle, Over Yonder (Jonathan’s Song)

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For Better or Worse, but not Alzheimer’s

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Arcanaut

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson told his “700 Club” viewers that divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer’s is justifiable because the disease is “a kind of death.”

During the portion of the show where the one-time Republican presidential candidate takes questions from viewers, Robertson was asked what advice a man should give to a friend who began seeing another woman after his wife started suffering from the incurable neurological disorder.
“I know it sounds cruel, but if he’s going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her,” Robertson said.
The chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, which airs the “700 Club,” said he wouldn’t “put a guilt trip” on anyone who divorces a spouse who suffers from the illness, but added, “Get some ethicist besides me to give you the answer.”
Most Christian denominations at least discourage divorce, citing Jesus’ words in the Gospel of Mark that equate divorce and remarriage with adultery.
Terry Meeuwsen, Robertson’s co-host, asked him about couples’ marriage vows to take care of each other “for better or for worse” and “in sickness and in health.”
“If you respect that vow, you say ’til death do us part,'” Robertson said during the Tuesday broadcast. “This is a kind of death.”
A network spokesman said Wednesday that Robertson had no further statement.
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http://www.contracostatimes.com/rss/ci_18901026?source=rss
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Cowboys Never Say They’re Sorry

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Arcanaut

Perry’s doubling down on his “Social Security is a Ponzi scheme” is a familiar tactic.  Perhaps he wishes he had not published that in his book, but once he did, he now seems committed to defending the idea and the language.  He also shows this same committment to tuition assistance that may benefit illegals in Texas and the wisdom of Texas’ execution policy.  To be fair, he has backed off on the HPV vaccination kerfuffle, but he’s not backed off very far.

He reminds me of George W. in this personality trait, although he’s like GW on steroids.  This trait keeps ringing a bell–why is this so familiar?.  It can’t just be GW and Rick Perry.

Perhaps this is a western ranching state, macho male, “never complain, never explain” kind of cowboy bravado.  That’s it!  I’ve heard this a million times.–people who pride themselves on never changing their ideas, their language, their minds lest they appear weak.  Changing equates to weakness.  No wonder that people like President Obama are so offputting to them–he’s the epitome of what a western Marlboro-man would consider a drugstore cowboy with his emphasis on nuance and air of reasonableness.  In fact, he’s constantly being criticized now for being too conciliatory.  [edit]

Perhaps this personality type is not a ranching state phenomena, but that’s what I’m familiar with.  In California, which is certainly western, but not much ranching culture in the cities, where I was involved with all sorts of entrepreneurs (who are definitely alpha types), this type of allegiance to prior statements was very uncommon, in fact nonexistent.  They could change on a dime and frequently did so, and actually prided themselves on their ability to adjust to changing conditions.  In fact, the venture capitalists evaluated people on their ability to quickly abandon losing strategies and develop new strategies, without emotional damage. 

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Hello, World

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Arcanaut

Hi all,

First and foremost, I’d like to thank Kevin for getting this going. I’ve scanned over a few posts and it looks promising. I have a little blog of my own that took a summer break. In case anyone is interested, the blog is fairlingtonblade.blogspot.com. My posts tend to be either about cooking or raising kids with autism. I’d thought about politics as I certainly have a bit to say about that. I didn’t go that direction, because there’s plenty of political blogs out there. Mind you, there’s plenty of blogs about autism (autismtwins is a favorite) and cooking. Originally, I was planning to emphasize my work as the secretary of a bowling league, but never got around to it. That might change.

Second. I look forward to discussions with those who hold opposing opinions. Ever since the Post redesigned the comments section, it wasn’t worth starting a thread and I tended towards snark. I rather enjoy chatting politics with conservatives–my best friend from grad school was a die hard Republican. Funny thing is that he’d been a die hard Democrat and then went to a party convention in Minnesota. Anyway, this should be fun.

Finally, who is the Fairlington Blade? For that matter, what is a Fairlington Blade? I picked up the Fairlington bit as that’s the area where I live. It’s a combination of Fairfax and Arlington, though it’s not on the border between the two. Technically, I don’t live in Fairlington, just in a neighboring development in Alexandria that appropriated the name as it’s a bit more shi shi (than Bradlee Towers.

The Blade comes from my favorite football team, Sheffield United. [Note: I grew up in Nebraska so I’m a die hard Huskers fan. Still, it makes sense to me that the game in which a foot strikes the ball has primacy.] For those who have seen The Full Monty, you’ll know that Sheffield is a steel town. The name is famous for cutlery for hundreds of years. So, Sheffield United is the Blades. I also liked the sound of the name Fairlington Blade. It sounded Zorro-esque. It’s also gotten me accused of being a not so closeted gay to my immense amusement. It doesn’t help that the local GLBT newspaper is the Washington Blade.

So, that’s the nickname. What lies behind it? I’m Paul Lane. I’m a research physicist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. I’ve been studying organic semiconductors for about 20 years. I went to college at Macalester in Minnesota, grad school at Iowa State and have since bounced around quite a bit. Post-doc at Utah, four years as a “professor” in Sheffield, England, and the last ten years at research labs in Boston or Washington, DC.

The non-political posts should be fun too. My biggest cooking passion is Indian food, though I make decent sushi and killer risotto. I’ll have fun chatting about the kids too. There’s a good saying. If you meet one kid with autism, you’ve met one kid with autism. Mine are five year old twins and different as night and day in their needs. Both would be considered high functioning and just started kindergarten. Parenting a special needs kid isn’t that different in kind from a typical kid. There’s just a lot more meetings.

BB

P.S. Edited for completeness. I did like the accidental “Second. Whatever.” from the draft post.

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