First the Town Crier - Now The Blog

I was drawn to the TV news watching the Iowa Presidential caucus campaign and the New Hampshire primary campaign watching with great interest. News reporters and TV journalists flocked to both campaigns telling us that the future of American politics hung on the outcomes. It was almost impossible to ignore these two events.

According to the 2010 United States Census, Iowa has a population of 3,053,787 and seven electoral votes. New Hampshire has a population of 1,321,445 and four electoral votes. Yet as little actual power as these two states have, the whole world was watching them with bated breathe.

In The Influencing Machine by Brooke Gladstone, she states that from time immemorial, there have always been media shaping how we look at the news and even what news we look at. It is just now in modern times with the advent of the internet, TV, radio, social media, and even blogs such as this that we have myriad sources of news and an even better chance of finding out what’s going on. Yes, with all the sources of news, it just gets better for all of us if we want to know what’s happening out there.

I’m not sure that I agree with Brooke Gladstone’s point of view. Despite all the internet connections and blogs, TV and radio is a more powerful attention grabber for most people. After we’ve seen the TV images, we may read another version of the event or a thoughtful article, but our impressions have been formed. the visual images are almost impossible to erase. First there were the town criers. Now we have the internet. There is so much more to sort through and assess. We have to take all the news sources with a grain of salt or maybe a huge block of it as we try to figure out what's really happening.

And speaking of salt, my recipe for the week is stuffed baked eggplant. It only calls for a little salt to taste, but you’ll enjoy eating it as you listen to the latest news. Just don’t believe everything you hear while you’re eating it. The preparation time is about 25 minutes. It serves two if it's the main dish or 4 to 6 people as a side dish.

                                                        Baked Stuffed Eggplant             

 1 eggplant

¼  cup raw white rice
¼ cup quinoa
1 cup water
1 onion chopped
½ green pepper diced
olive oil
about ½ dozen green olives
walnuts broken into small pieces
pine nuts
½ Tbsp lemon juice
4 Tbsp tomato sauce
cumin, tumeric, garlic, and salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350º.

Put the rice and quinoa in a pot with the water to cook.
While the grain is cooking, cut the eggplant in half length wise and scoop out the meat. Cut in small pieces.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Add the eggplant meat, pepper, and onions and sauté.
Add the rest of the ingredients. Cook for another 5 to 10 minutes.
When the grain and vegetables are ready, stuff the eggplant shells with the grain on the bottom and vegetable mixture on the top.
Bake for 30 minutes.