This is the most arresting and disturbing piece of reporting I’ve seen in a while.  Reporter Ramina Navai actually goes where most fear to tread, imbedding herself with the Syrian opposition to expose the unspeakably brutal atrocities exacted upon the Syrian people by their leader Bashar Al-Assad and his regime.  (The lengths they go to hide the identities of the participants, as in the photo above, is indicative of just how real the threat to protesters is.)

If you care at all about international politics and policy, human rights, or humans at all, you need to watch this (you can watch the full episode via the link).  The UN estimates that 3,000 people, including many children, have already died, and countless more have been wounded.  Syria’s opposition is beginning to talk about armed rebellion as the only way to stop the massacre, prompting what will most likely turn into a civil war that could have disastrous implications for the entire region.  Both the humanitarian and political implications are undeniable and the silence from the international community are deafening. 

I’m excited to announce positive outcomes in three of the most important ballot issues of this election year: Ohio voted to overturn a ban on the ability of public sector unions to collectively bargain, Mississippi rejected the most brazen and dangerous threat to reproductive rights we’ve seen in a while, and here in Maine we passed a people’s referendum renouncing legislation ending same-day voter registration. 

In a time when good news is hard to find, and hope for sanity in politics is a scarce commodity, I have to say that these results - along with the continued momentum of the Occupy movements is kinda heartening, even to this cynical soul. As progressives, we should savor the moment, but we need to keep prodding.  We need to hold President Obama accountable for taking these drips and drops of hope for a more rational discourse, a stronger social safety net that truly supports the most vulnerable among us, and fiscal and economic policies that will have a real effect in dismantling the consolidation of wealth and power and giving everyone the opportunity for a meaningful livelihood, and creating a groundswell.  A groundswell, focused not the people (already in progress), but among the lawmakers and those who have actual power to implement policy.  What we need is to turn on the faucet to a deluge of seemingly radical but ultimately practical measures that put people back to work with a living wage, protect consumers and hold business accountable for their role in getting us to where we are, and make sure people have the resources to fulfill basic human needs to food, shelter, and healthcare. 

After reading about the plight of New Zealand’s penguins that fell victim to a recent oil spill and their need for sweaters.  Yes, you read that right, penguins need sweaters.  Apparently oil impedes the birds ability to insulate themselves and they have a tendency to nibble at their feathers, which only exacerbates the problem.  And in order to solve the problem, some people came up with a creative and insanely cute solution: penguin sweaters, which both provide insulation and keep the nibbling to a minimum, and a New Zealand yarn shop created a pattern and put out a call for submissions.  Of course, as soon as I heard about this I enlisted my mom, who’s both a knitting enthusiast and has a special affinity for NZ after visiting while I was living there for study abroad in college.  She took up the call, and responded with this ranbow-tastic piece:

Once on the penguin, it should look something like this (warning the following images may cause overload in the brain’s cuteness receptors):

I tried really hard not to prejudge NBC’s adaptation of Prime Suspect, and held out hope that it wouldn’t be Law & Order-ized, but of course, depressingly true to form, no such luck. The British original is, dare I say it, one of the best series ever on television (it did win Emmys, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and a Peabody) - definitely the best show ever on TV  with a female lead.  Jane Tennison (played by an indomitable Helen Mirren), is the original “complicated” female lead, the archetype for the slew of Marry Botwins and Nurse Jackies, who are now almost ubiquitous.  The series, which first aired in ‘91 follows Jane’s career as she navigates the “old boys” network, having to prove herself as the sole female detective in The Met police force. 

Besides just being a great mystery series, Prime Suspect, most of which was written by a woman and utilized a female consultant (one of only four women in the Met when the series aired), allowed Jane’s character to be disarmingly real and complex without being obvious or melodramatic.  In her sensible shoes, drab outfits, and no-nonsense coif Jane definitely has an edge and some very human demons (she has a hard time relating to children, an affair with a married superior, an interracial tryst with a younger colleague, a slow decline into alcoholism, and endures one of the most refreshingly unapologetic depictions of abortion I’ve seen on TV) and while she is the main character, the show isn’t about Tennison and the statements it makes never get in the way of the story lines.

So, if you want to watch a Prime Suspect with some actual integrity, I highly recommend you go straight to the source and check out the original.  But, in the immortal words of Levar Burton, “Don’t take my word for it”.

In Which I Learn the Ancestral Pie Crust Recipe and Make a Near-Perfect Apple Pie

A couple weeks ago my mom and I took part in one of my favorite New England fall rituals: apple picking.  We got a bit carried away, ending up with at least 30 lbs of apples.  Of course, the first order of business was an apple pie - the perfect opportunity to finally learn how to make my Great-Grandma Schneider’s pie crust, having been regaled with tales of it’s flaky, melt-in-your-mouth goodness for so many years. The pie construction was actually quite a family affair, utilizing a really cool hollow glass rolling pin you fill with ice water (courtesy of my paternal grandmother), and a pie plate made by Swan Island Designs, the pottery business my dad used to own.

According to Great-Grandma Schneider, the keys to making a delectable and ultra-flaky pie crust are: very cold water, handling the dough as little as possible, and using the highest ratio of fat possible: lard.  We used the basic Joy of Cooking apple pie recipe for the filling.  I have to say, that it was pretty effing near-perfect.  The crust was, indeed, melt-in-your-mouth and ultra-flaky. (Thanks lard!) And cooked perfectly.  And while I do say so myself, I did had independent verification, to validate my assessment. 

We picked sooooo many apples we still have some left and we’re trying to figure out what to do with them.  So far, we’ve produced:

Straight-up Applesauce (apples, cinnamon, and just a touch of brown sugar)

Apple butter (x2) (Joy of Cooking)

Rosemary and Brown Butter Applesauce

Apple Spice Cake with/Brown Sugar Glaze

French Apple Tart (crust from scratch)

Poll taxes! ID requirements! Limited access to polls, oh my! Election day is fast approaching, time to take stock the unprecedented ways in which our voting rights have degraded over the past year.

What better place to start than close to home, in the great state of Maine.  I used to brag about Maine’s voting laws to my fellow poli-sci wonks: day-of registration, early voting, no prohibition on the currently/formerly incarcerated, no ID requirements.   From Patrick Caldwell’s excellent American Prospect article “Who Stole the Election”:

Most states struggle to get citizens to the polls; national turnout for a presidential election hasn’t topped 60 percent since 1968, and turnout for midterm elections hovers in the 30s. That puts the United States far below the participation level in other Western democracies. Yet for the past four decades, Maine has stood apart. With an array of regulations that encourage voting—the state has allowed voters to register on Election Day since 1973—Maine consistently places among the top five states for turnout. Seventy-two percent of the eligible population voted in 2008 when Barack Obama carried the state.

But alas, my confidence in my states commitment to democracy and fairness have been severely eroded, thanks to a bill paid for by big money provided by out of state Tea Party-crashers, and signed by our illustrious Governor LePage in June; same-day registration and early voting are no more, and ID requirements are in place.

More than the environmental deregulation, more than the attack on Maine’s social safety-net and service providers - even more than the removal of the mural from the lobby of Maine’s Department of Labor, these new voting restrictions signal a pernicious and fundamental shift in the nature of Maine politics.  Once heralded as a bastion of New England pragmatism, over the past few years Maine has become less and less insulated from the nationalized campaigns and “big money” influences, and general shift to the right, of contemporary American politics as usual. The 2009 ballot initiative to repeal Maine’s passage of marriage equality, whose “Yes on 1” campaign had its funding and strategy provided by the National Organization for Marriage Equality.  Enter the Koch Brothers, David and Charles, scions of Koch Industries, the largest privately owned company in the US, who are infamous for their anti-union, anti-Social Security, and questionable business practices, and arguably representing the biggest threat to American democracy.

Not only was the Kotch Bros. monetary and political influence instrumental in getting LePage elected in 2010 as part of a larger ultra-conservative and Tea Party strategy of leverage the Citizens United decision into transnational “super PACs” in order to funnel money to get their candidates elected in numerous elections across the country, they’re cornerstone donor for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), who make it their business to undermine the Voting Rights Act of 1965, thereby eroding American’s most basic rights.  Again, from Patrick Caldwell’s article:

The push against voting rights in Maine is just one example of the most direct assault on ballot access since the Jim Crow era. The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the influential corporate-funded group that writes model bills for Republican state legislators, has pushed Republicans across the country to impose new restrictions on voting and to overturn progressive laws like Maine’s. “I don’t want everybody to vote,” ALEC co-founder Paul Weyrich said three decades ago. “As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”

Unfortunately, ALEC’s reach is broad, Maine is far from the only state that is experiencing serious curtailments in access to polls. 19 laws were passed and 2 executive orders that were issued in 14 states this year, (all except one passed by Republican lawmakers) and a new study by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law found that they “could make it significantly harder for more than five million eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012.” Of course the Republican party line is that these regulations are necessary to prevent voter fraud, but many experts liken the new restrictions, especially those regarding ID requirements as modern day poll-taxes (legislation in Texas and South Carolina has to be approved by the Dept. of Justice because of those states’ history of minority-voter suppression).

Luckily, Mainers are smart enough to realize what’s really at stake.  To do your part, make sure you’re registered, and vote Yes on 1 (not to be confused with 2009’s ballot question #1), a citizens initiative to repeal the attack on our voting rights.

I had the particular pleasure of spending last weekend in Seattle with my one of my very best friends and favorite foodies, one Mr. Taylor Gruman, who gave me an amazing culinary tour of some of the best Seattle has to offer. 

Spinasse

I’m pretty sure we consumed multiple pigs worth of pork dishes over the weekend, beginning at the amazing Italian restaurant Cacina Spinasse.  We started out with prosciutto and peaches with a balsamic-based sauce.  Can you really go wrong with prosciutto and fruit? I’m pretty sure the answer is no, but this was elevated to a whole new level of awesome.  Next up: sliced cold pork loin with a tuna sauce.  I have to say I was slightly skeptical, but it actually makes for a really interesting and tasty dish.  Then it was on to an egg-based pasta called tarjarin topped with butter and sage and an insane ragu (pictured below).  It made it into NY Mag’s Grub Street blog posting titled “Pasta Porn 101”, and it’s definitely not far off - I practically had a foodgasm. 

We moved on to the main course, and yet more pork.  I had the pork belly with diced pickled apples and baby potatoes and it was spectacular - like I said, I’m a sucker for fruit and meat. Gruman had the pork shoulder with cucumber, of course it was also delicious.  But the highlight may have been the dessert: goat cheese mouse with ginger and caramelized puff pastry.  It was delicate and clean with a very slight tangy edge; delectable but not too sweet.  De-lish!  The perfect ending to a near-perfect meal.

Revel

Luckily we made it just in the nick of time to catch lunch.  The first thing you need to know is that the major decoration is several large oil portraits of none other than Hulk Hogan, Rowdy Piper, and Ken Griffy Jr.  The second, is that  Revel is owned by a husband and wife duo of Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi.  The food, while AMAZING was hard to describe as a genre, so I’ll let them do it (from their website):

Rachel’s Korean heritage informs her flavors through her impeccable training in classic French technique. Seif, raised in Chicago, and trained in Portland, Ore. brings a distinctly American flavor to the palate, balancing and complementing his wife both in the kitchen and at home.

Because I trust him implicitly in all matters culinary, I let Gruman do the choosing, and he definitely didn’t fail.  We started with the corned lamb, arugula, and spicy nuoc cham salad, tender and just enough spice to make it interesting without over powering.  Then on to the smoked pork belly, sauerkraut, sweet chili noodles, and the short rib, shallot, scallion dumplings - I swear they actually melted in my mouth, so much butter goodness.  I also had the blueberry tarragon soda which, aside from being very pretty, was as light and crisp as it sounds, a lot of flavor without any cloying sweetness.  Then, just when we thought we were done, chef Seif himself stopped by to say “hi” to Gruman (who, it turns out is something of a scion in the Seattle restaurant scene, thanks to his mom, Lissa Gruman, who’s PR firm reps some of the best restaurants in town, including Revel and Spinasse).  Seif is one of those chefs who just exudes an intense love of food and his craft, which is so great to see.  Of course, he was kind enough to send us out two of the best desserts I’ve ever had, chocolate bread pudding with caramelized apple and caramel sauce, and caramelized pear and ginger ice cream, candied fennel, and a shortbread cookie. My taste buds just about shorted out from excitement. By the end I was in a total daze of food-enduced euphoria.  So there you have it. 

corned lamb salad

blueberry tarragon soda

Harvest Vine

The last stop on the tour, literally the last thing I did before I was off to the airport, was The Harvest Vine, a Basque-inspired restaurant with one of the most beautiful open kitchens I’ve seen mostly due to the copper overlay in the bar to compliment the copper pots hanging from the ceiling.  I really wish I had a photo - I always get so into the food, I need to remind myself to take more pictures…  Unfortunately I had double food-blogging fail and also forgot to write down the names of the dishes we had, and of course they’ve since changed the menu for Seattle Restaurant Week, so you’ll have to bare with me. Let’s see… first up we had hot peppers sauteed in olive oil and sea salt.  I’m not a huge pepper fan, but these were tasty little buggers.  Something about the sea salt tempered the heat but still let the flavor out - I did have a couple that were hotter than the rest, but still not so hot that it overwhelmed the taste.  And then there was cheese.  Lots of yummy Spanish cheese with various accoutrements, my favorite of which was a candied squash preserve.  

The torilla Espanola (egg wrapped with serrrano ham, pictured above) was a good, although we all agreed it could have had a little more kick - would have been great as a brunch item.  After that we moved on to scallops with jamon foam, pork with potatoes, and my personal favorite of the evening: thin slices of cold smoked duck breast served with tomato jam.  It was light and juicy and the the tomato jam added just enough acid to cut through the fat.

For dessert we chose the chocolate walnut tart (above), the perfect ending to a pretty near-perfect weekend. 

Kitsap Peninsula

As if chocolate and food weren’t enough, I also got to see some of the sites outside the city, including a jaunt out to the beautiful and relaxing Kitsap Peninsula.  I got to partake of Washington’s ferry system (the most extensive in the country), and some great views thanks to the wonderful weather I brought with me from SF (you’re welcome WA).   

Abi, Gruman, and the Chocolate Factory

One of the best parts of my trip to Seattle was getting to tour the Theo chocolate company, America’s only bar to bean chocolate company.  While most chocolate makers buy already processed coco, Theo sources and process their own beans and ingredients, all of which are organic and fair trade… and really effing delicious. 

BAKLAVA!

The other day I decided to take a stab at making one of my favorite desserts of all time: baklava, a Turkish dish made  of filo dough, nuts, honey… and just a little butter.  Fun fact: baklava is one of the oldest desserts still consumed today.  If you’ve never had it, you are definitely missing out (if you’re in NYC I suggest you check out Damascus Bakery in Brooklyn, or Pasha on the UWS).

I used this recipe from epicurious.com, which I chose for the addition of citrus in the syrup.  I basically followed it as written, except that I used a combo of walnuts, almonds, and pistachios (what can I say, I’m nuts about nuts!) and added in a little powdered ginger (I also ended up using far less butter than the recipe called for).  I served it with vanilla fro-yo, but I’ve also had it with whipped cream, which was equally delicious.

It actually ended up being less complicated than I expected, there are just a lot of steps - also make sure to take note of the 8hrs of  marinating time while it soaks up the syrup after baking.  Oh, and remember that frozen filo dough takes FOR EVER to thaw and there’s really no safe way to defrost it quickly.  (I almost screwed myself on this point, luckily I got to Whole Foods super early and the re-stock hadn’t actually had a chance to freeze yet!)