Second Breakfast

Joe. My. God.: Dubya Speaks Of World War III

Joe.My.God writes about Dubya ratcheting up the rhetoric of war regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

This all reminds me of a great quote from Season 4 of the West Wing:

“Franz Ferdinand, who was the nephew of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor, was killed by a group called the Black Hand, and because they were a Serbian nationalist society, the Empire declared war on Serbia. Then Russia, which was bound by a treaty, was forced to mobilize, which meant that Germany had to declare war on Russia. Then France declared war on Germany… and that was World War I. Because the Emperor’s nephew was killed.”

And from “The History Boys”:

Mrs. Lintott: Can you, for a moment, imagine how depressing it is to teach five centuries of masculine ineptitude? [...] History is a commentary on the various and continuing incapabilities of men. What is history? History is women following behind with the bucket.

Where is our JFK? Hell, I’d even go for George H. W. Bush at this point.

Why Do Republicans Have More Gay Sex Than The Gay People I Know?

I remember swiss chard being one of those weird, vaguely “old world” vegetables that my great-aunts (”the Nanas”) grew in the family garden at their house (which was essentially a ‘victory garden’ that we continued after the war). The strong, bitter green flavor was something I disliked as a child, but as an adult I have come to almost crave. Apparently our taste buds gets less sensitive as we age, and so stronger flavors are more pleasant for us old folks.

This is another of my “one pot entrees”, which we like in our house since they make tasty lunches for the rest of the week. Its also a good way to use beautiful chard, which is something you’ll find in-season at the farmer’s market right now.

Items

• 1 lb swiss chard, washed well to remove any sand or dirt.
• 1 lb fusilli or similarly-shaped short, substantial dry pasta.
• 3 Tb olive oil
• 3/4 - 1lb of pork sausage. This could be hot or “sweet” or even chorizo (or a mixture) depending on your preferences and what you have on hand. I used some sweet and a little rather mild chorizo I had in the freezer.
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, halved, and cut into thin slices (or to taste)
• Red pepper flakes, to taste
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup chicken or tomato-free vegetable broth
• 3/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Parmagiano-Reggiano or Pecorino-Romano cheese for serving

Method

1. Cook pasta carefully according to packet directions. Reserve 1 cup of salted cooking water.
2. Toast the pine nuts in a little pan over medium-high heat so they’re slightly browned on the outside.  This will intensify their flavor considerably.
3. Heat oil in large sautée or chef’s pan over medium-high heat. Remove sausage from casing (if required) and brown in the oil, breaking sausage into small pieces and stirring often.
4. While sausage is cooking, cut the ribs out of the swiss chard and set aside. Roll the leaves up, and chop into thin strips.
5. Cut off the bottom third of the chard ribs (I find the bottom to be sometimes too bitter), and finely slice the remaining ribs (much like you would with celery).
6. When the sausage is browned, add the garlic, and cook for a minute or two. The add the chard, chopped stems, and broth. Cover.
7. Wilt the chard, stirring occasionally, until the chard is bright green but isn’t completely soft. Season with salt and black pepper to taste, and red pepper if you like it hot.
8. Drain the pasta, reserving 1 cup water, and add the pasta, pine nuts, and a little of the water to the sausage and chard mixture, tossing to combine. Add more of the reserved pasta water if the dish seems too dry to you.
9. Serve with freshly grated cheese.

Serves 4-6.

I liked Fforde’s “Lost in a Good Book” (Has it been three years? I guess it has), and was intrigued by the premise of this novel, which is the second in Fforde’s “Nursery Crime Division” series. This is a wickedly funny book, and inhabits the same, or a very similar, literary universe of his Thursday Next series. The book is chock full of literary allusion, jokes, asides, terrible puns, and twisted retellings of familiar stories.

Instead of trying to provide a synopsis of what is a wonderfully weird story, I’ll provide some of the dramatis personae:

Jack Spratt (with two t’s, thank you) is the chief detective in the Reading (UK) Nursery Crime Division, and himself a Person of Dubious Reality (PDR). His partners are Mary Mary (yes, that one, who is indeed quite contrary) and a semi-transparent alien named Ashley.

Henrietta “Goldilocks” Hatchett is a reporter and Friend to Bears, who meets a bad end after a cottage rendezvous ends in an unexpected return home by the three ursines living there. The question that Jack ultimately asks is “Was there a fourth bear?”

A series of unexplained explosions in the country seems to be connected to a group of extreme cucumber growers.

Dorian Gray sells Jack a used car that never breaks down or gets damaged, but whose likeness in the trunk does. Is it too good to be true?

The Gingerbreadman, an insanely murderous, ten-foot-tall pastry (is he a cookie or a cake? the story hinges on this fact), has escaped from the asylum, and is on the loose. Is he going to seek revenge against Jack, who put him there in the first place?

Quang Tech, run by the incredibly reclusive Qwangle-Wangle, is somehow connected. But how?

There are some laugh out loud moments here. Great fun.

I came across Nancy’s Apology, a great blog by a Quaker woman living in Canada. She has a wonderful post on the Christian underpinnings of Harry Potter which I found quite interesting. Go on, read it. I’ll wait.

She writes a little more recently on how wars end, and how there’s no end in sight for the one we’re in today.

As I commented on her post, this makes me a little sad and a little afraid. The drumbeat towards conflict with Iran is getting louder each day, a course that would be insane for our country and the entire Middle-east and South Asia.

We’ve been watching Ken Burns’ “The War” at home over the past few days (God bless TiVo), and I’m struck with the feeling about, even with the nuances that Burns provides on the “really, really bad parts” (and the terrible, brutal, and unnecessarily cruel things some American soldiers did), one cannot help but feel an enormous contrast between “the necessary War” that was WWII, and the utterly unnecessary conflicts we’re engaged in now.

Yet, as many have said “they declared war on us”.

Even six years later I lack the clarity to really parse what’s happening in the world. I feel a weird sense of nostalgia for “back then”, where America had a moral compass in the world. Now as I think about my country I feel more a sense of shame, confusion, sadness, and anxiety than any sense of pride or justification.

Does that make me a traitor? I’m sure Ann Coulter would say so.