A Novel Approach to Racism

         On cold winter days, it’s great to stay in, read, and cook so I finished reading the novel Parting of the Waters by Kim McLaren. After reading it, I felt as though the waters had indeed opened up and swallowed its readers whole. This story of the relationship between two Philadelphia journalists, Porter Stockman, a white man, and Lenora Page, an African-American woman, is fraught with suspense. Throughout the story, the reader is on pins and needles wondering if they will be able to get past their individual world views to forge a relationship or if the prison of their racial upbringings will render it impossible. Since you may decide to read the book, I won’t spoil it by telling you the end.

What surprised me the most about this book, which was published in 2001, are the racial hatreds voiced by many of the characters. I grew up in an the ‘50’s and ‘60’s when most people had little exposure to people ethnically different from themselves. Many people I knew were quite prejudiced. When I moved to Chicago in the mid seventies, I was aghast at the racial divide here. Although it seems to have gotten less severe in the last 20 years,  racism is still a major problem. I thought I had heard feelings about all the prevailing stereotypes but Kim McClaren’s characters say some things I have to admit that I never heard before, proving again that one is never beyond learning something new.

         After reading Parting of the Waters, I wondered: Do people really think these things about each other? If they do, America has an even longer way to go to achieve unity than I had thought. It makes Barak Obama’s election seem like a miracle. I hope as the year goes forward, I will hear about more efforts to work on this issue.

         Meanwhile, in this spirit, I felt the need to cook and make something that could bring people together so I did. Here is a Spanish recipe for turkey meatballs. Everyone should like it. The prep time is 20 minutes and it serves four. It’s good served over orzos or couscous. I got the recipe from the Chicago Tribune about two years ago and it’s become one of my good easy recipes.

                                 Smoked Paprika Turkey Meatballs

         1 pound dark turkey meat

         1 egg

         ¼ red onion, chopped very fine

         ¼ cup dry breadcrumbs

         ½ tsp salt

         ½ tsp sweet or spicy smoked Spanish paprika

         garlic powder to taste

         6 sprigs parsley

         1 tablespoon olive oil

         4 heaping tablespoons tomato sauce

         1 cup dry red wine

1.      Mix the turkey, egg, onion, salt, paprika, and parsley together in a medium bowl. Form the mixture into 2-inch balls.

2.      Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook meatballs turning on all sides until they’re brown, about 8 minutes.

3.      Add the tomato sauce, wine, and garlic. Spoon the liquid over the meatballs. Reduce heat to simmer and cover. Cook for 20 minutes.

          

Learning An Important Truth As I Celebrate Martin Luther King Day

As I wait for the journalism student from Northwestern University to interview me as a member of the Community Of One http://www.acommunityofone.org/ I am realizing something: I am a historic relic. Yes, at the age of 62, I am part of what's becoming a vanishing breed, one who can remember firsthand participating in the Civil Rights Movement.

Growing up in Valley Stream, New York City, I attended high school in a hotbed of defacto segregation. Because of segregated housing, only two African-American students attended my high school. My parents were part of a group that founded a fair housing committee in our suburb. I was part of the high school youth group and spent a lot of time advocating for equal rights on Long Island. We were never subjected to the dogs or the hoses or any of the violence of the South, but we faced some ostracism for our activities. I haven't been back on Long Island in many years so I don't know what Valley Stream is like now. I hope it's different than when I was growing up there.

I was fortunate to hear Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speak in person several times at rallies at Madison Square Garden and at the Island Garden. His speeches were an inspiration to all of us Black and White, young and old. I'm sure that they were a formative part of my coming of age. As I marched with the Community Of One in Evanston, Illinois, I remembered many marches that we were in to support the Civil Rights Movement in the south and to support people in nearby Malverne who were demanding bussing for integrated schools in their school district. For me, the march through Evanston was a fitting re-enactmant as we remembered how so much changed for the better within a few years in large part because of Dr. King's leadership. The Chinese have a curse: May you live in interesting times. Looking back, I feel that it was a blessing.

I feel fortunate now to live in Evanston where I could be part of the committee of the Community Of One planning this year's MLK events. We still have a way to go, but at least we're working on it. I took some pictures of the Evanston events which was a first for me technophobic as I am. I share them with you now. I think these pictures speak for themselves.

After This Tragedy, What Is Left To Say?

            After watching President Obama address the crowd at the University of Arizona, I am at a loss. What is there to say after the President has so eloquently spoken? I feel that anything I could say would sound trivial.

            I could say that guns don’t kill people. People kill people. Nevertheless, if  Loughner hadn’t had such easy access to guns and ammunition, he would have had to use a knife, his fists, or another less lethal weapon and the six victims may have been beaten up but would still be alive. Now isn’t the time to say it, so I won’t. Maybe we can think about it next week or next month as we try to make our country live up to its better self.

            In the meantime, I am grateful that Martin Luther King Day is coming this Monday. I can focus away from this tragedy and work on the events planned in Evanston, Illinois by the Community Of One for Monday, January 17^th. For more information on the event, visit our website at www.acommunityofone.org. During events throughout the day, all participants will be encouraged to sign a peace pledge. At our first event, a coffee at the First United Methodist Church, nonprofit organizations and local government agencies, will be on hand to recruit volunteers to help their fellow citizens in various projects  throughout the year. In light of all the tragedies of the past year, it is a small step but I think it will be a good step in the right direction. If you live nearby, I hope you come to one or more of the events.

            Another way for me to focus on something else is to cook. It felt appropriate for me to try another recipe from Peace de Resistance, the Women’s Strike for Peace Cookbook. their recipes are always quick and I wanted to be finished with dinner in time to watch the memorial. It also felt soothing to remember people who had worked hard for peace.

            I tried their recipe for Oven Fried Chicken. It serves four and the preparation time is 15 minutes.

                                                         Oven Fried Chicken

1 frying chicken disjointed

¼ cup margarine

½ cup dry white wine

½ teaspoon tarragon

½ teaspoon basil

Salt, pepper, garlic powder, and chives to taste

Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Put chicken on a shallow baking dish skin side up. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil, and chives. Melt margarine or butter in saucepan and add tarragon. Slowly add wine. Spoon a little of this mixture over the chicken every 15 minutes. Cook for about one hour.

Martin Luther King Day 2011 in Evanston, Illinois

 Tuesday evening was the last meeting of the Community Of One Evanston before the 2011 Martin Luther King Day observances on January 17th. I feel really fortunate to live here and be part of the committee of The Community of One www.acommunityofone.org that is planning the day’s activities. The group is comprised of faith organizations and Garrett Seminary. This year Y.O.U. (Youth Organizations Umbrella Inc) and the City of Evanston will also be participating. Check out our website to see all the planned activities.

 The day will begin with a coffee at 9:30 AM at the First United Methodist Church during which time nonprofit organizations will be at tables recruiting volunteers for the coming year. From there, the group will have a peace march at 10:30 AM to the Music Institute of Chicago where Y.O.U. has planned a program. Some of the marchers will leave from there at 11:30 and march to the Second Baptist Church for a convocation including a keynote address by Rabbi Andrea London of Congregation Beth Emet. The Y.O.U. has activities planned for the day. Those attending at Second Baptist may stay for a light reception and a seminar at 2:30 PM on diversity. The last activity will be a candlelight vigil at 4:30. 

With all the divisions that still exist in our society, I feel hope being part of a group that is honoring Dr. Martin Luther King’s memory by having a day calling for unity by promoting volunteerism and encouraging everyone present to sign a peace pledge. By the way, those attending are encouraged to bring nonperishable food items for a collection for Connections for the Homeless.

Coming home from this meeting late, there was little time to cook. Fortunately, my leftovers came to the rescue. For this occasion, I defrosted chicken breasts in soy sauce and peppers. As leftovers, the preparation time is one minute. Just defrost in the morning before work and then put in a pot on top of the stove and cook on a low to medium heat when you’re ready to eat.

Chicken Breasts with soy sauce, peppers, mushrooms, and onions

(Serves 6) Preparation time is about 25 minutes but freezes well. Make two or three times what you need and freeze the rest.

6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

¼ cup plain bread crumbs

3 tbsp olive oil

1 green pepper sliced

1 onion chopped

10 mushrooms sliced

2 tbsp minced garlic

ginger powder to taste

½ cup soy sauce

¼ cup lemon juice

1. Roll the chicken breasts in bread crumbs
2. Heat a deep skillet on top of the stove. Add the olive oil. Saute the chicken breasts lightly for 3 minutes on each side.
3. Add minced garlic and vegetables to the skillet. Remove from pan and drain oil.
4. Turn down the heat and add soy sauce, lemon juice, and ginger powder
5. Put the chicken and vegetables back in the skillet and cook covered for about 45 minutes.

It’s good served with white rice.

For reheating, put in a pot and heat on low to medium heat on top of the stove. I called my husband when the meeting was over and told him to start reheating. When I got home, dinner was ready.

2010 Ends In Disappointment, Hope, and Peppers Stuffed With Couscous

In September, at the start of the Jewish New Year (5771), I started this blog seriously intending to spend less time in the kitchen and more time doing my part to make the world a better place. (See the first post- Honoring An Old Recipe For Social Change In America). Now that the start of 2011 is upon us, it’s another opportunity to take stock. I am disappointed to tell you that despite the efforts of myself and countless others, the world isn’t a better place yet. Surprise! There’s still a lot to do if you’re so inclined. Our homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and food pantries still face a booming demand.

Because it’s a new year, I’m hopeful that next year, we’ll make some more progress. After all, the health care bill was passed and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was repealed. Maybe in 2011, we can further social and economic justice in some way, perhaps by reforming our immigration laws.

In the meantime, I vowed to spend less time in the kitchen and more time making the world a better place. While trying recipes from Peace de Resistance, the Women’s Strike for Peace cookbook published in the 1960’s, I found some quick, nutritious recipes; but, alas, trying new recipes takes time and I probably spent more time in the kitchen than I had planned. I did get involved in some projects to make the world better and I’ll be talking more about them in the weeks to come.

The week between Christmas and New Years is a slow one in which most activities take a respite. It gave me time to experiment with another recipe and so I tried peppers stuffed with couscous in tomato/lemon sauce. It serves four and the preparation time is about 20 minutes. My husband, who isn’t a vegetarian, raved that it was delicious.  I highly recommend it.

Peppers Stuffed With Couscous In Tomato/Lemon Sauce

4 red or yellow peppers

4 tbsp olive oil

½ cup couscous

½ cup water

1 onion, chopped fine

2 tbsp minced garlic

¼ cup almond slivers

2 tbsp raisins

lemon juice

mint leaves

1 egg, beaten

cinnamon

coriander

½ cup vegetarian tomato sauce

½ lemon cut into pieces

garlic powder, parsley, pepper to taste

1.Cut the tops off the peppers and take out the cores. Set aside.

2. Couscous

Boil the water and add a tbsp of oil, garlic powder, and lemon juice. While the water is boiling, sauté the onion and minced garlic in olive oil. When the water is boiled, stir in the couscous. Turn off heat and let stand 5 minutes. Add the sautéed onions and minced garlic, raisins, almond slivers, beaten egg, mint leaves, coriander, and cinnamon.

3. Stuff the peppers with the couscous mixture.

4.Tomato Sauce

Put the tomato sauce, lemon, juice from lemon, parsley, garlic powder, and pepper in deep skillet. Mix together. Cook on low to medium heat on top of the stove covered.

5. Add the peppers to the sauce and cook for about 45 minutes on a low to medium heat.

It goes well with Greek salad.

Happy New Year everyone. I hope we all have a joyous, healthy, and peaceful year.

               

Observing A Jewish Christmas

When I first moved to the Midwest, people would often ask me what I was doing for Christmas. When I said, “I’m Jewish,” the response was often, “Yes, but what are you doing for Christmas?”

Coming from New York, that response always amazed me. Nevertheless, I’ve come to enjoy being here in the vast minority. When life was more hectic, I appreciated the enforced chill out day. It was a day off work in which nothing was open except the movies and Chinese restaurants (That stereotype is totally true. We all love Chinese food.) so we were forced to relax.

 Now that my life isn’t as busy, I don’t need to chill out as much. When we lived in Painesville, Ohio, our whole congregation volunteered. My husband and I volunteered at the local hospital in a group effort to give our neighbors a day off on their holiday. I’ve always looked back on that as a great idea.

 In a larger community, that kind of group effort isn’t possible. Nevertheless, there are a lot of opportunities to volunteer for those who want to. In Chicago, the Tov Network has many volunteer opportunities during the Christmas Season www.juf.org/tov although none on Christmas day itself. Being curious, I googled volunteer opportunities on Christmas in Chicago and got too many possibilities to mention all of them. The first two that I came across were www.FeedtheChildren.org/Christmas and another one I found was www.Volunteer.christmas.org. There are many things to do on a local level if you're interested. And remember, a lot of people volunteer on Christmas but there’s need all year. All these organizations have many opportunities if you want to volunteer in 2011.

This year, I’m volunteering at home by being on call for the Red Cross disaster Mental Health team. While I’m home hoping that the phone doesn’t ring because someone has suffered a terrible disaster, I’ll be doing some cooking. Winter weather always makes me want to stay in and cook. Arghhh! As Toad said to Frog in the memorable children’s book by Arnold Lobel, “Wake me up about half past May.”

I tried this recipe yesterday from Peace de Resistance. This book was written by busy women. Most of their recipes are quick, tasty, and nutritious. If you try this one, you’ll have plenty of time left over to volunteer and help make the world - or at least your corner of it -a better place. Preparation time was 15 to 20 minutes. Clams and spinach serves 8. It’s good served over spaghetti.

                                    Clams and Spinach

4 packages frozen spinach chopped  

1 can mushroom soup, undiluted

2 eggs, slightly beaten

2 cans minced clams, drained

4 tbsp. Butter

1 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Pepper

¼ cup slivered almonds or pine nuts

garlic powder, oregano, and basil to taste

Preheat the oven to 350°. Either cook the spinach per directions or defrost in the morning. Fully drain the spinach. Add the mushroom soup, eggs, clams, butter in small chunks, salt, pepper, and other seasoning. Mix and put into a shallow casserole. Sprinkle with nuts and bake in a 350° oven for about 30 or 40 minutes. It’s very easy and tastes good. Now I think I’ll try some other recipes. There’s plenty of time leftover.

Merry Christmas everyone!

           

           

           

             

Ensnared On the Internet, I Find Tangine

           The internet is supposedly making the world smaller connecting us all to each other. I’m amazed by how I am instantaneously connected with people as far away as Europe, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, and Australia. At the same time, we’re each connecting in our own houses on our individual computers.

            While we connect on-line with people from around the world, we forget how to treat those we encounter every day. How many of you are surprised by announcements on the bus or the el to give priority seating to the elderly, the disabled, and pregnant women? Didn’t everyone know that before? How annoying is it that at plays and movies people have to be reminded to turn off their cell phones? About a year ago, we went to a play during which a woman received three cell phone calls. We’re so used to watching movies on DVD’s in our own spaces that we forget how to be courteous in public, a major downside of the internet age.

            A positive are the instant surprising connections. I had a bunch of sweet potatoes that I needed to use up and decided to look on the internet for a recipe for sweet potato tangine. It’s a Moroccan dish that I probably wouldn’t have even heard of 15 or 20 years ago. A couple of clicks on Google led me to a choice of 10 or 20 recipes. I chose the following recipe for sweet potato tangine with lemon couscous. It serves about 4 to 6 people. The preparation time was about 30 minutes most of it spent getting the ingredients together, but we now have plenty of. We tried it last night and it was really good.

                                                            Sweet Potato Tangine

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, thickly sliced

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tsp ras-el-hanout (Even in ethnically diverse Skokie, I didn’t know what that was nor where to look for it so I left it out of the recipe.)

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp smoked sweet paprika

½ tsp ground cumin

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

2lb4oz sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks

1 14 oz can chopped tomatoes

2 tbsp honey

½ tsp saffron

7 fl oz water

1 ½ oz. Preserved lemons finely chopped (I cheated and used lemon juice)

4 ½ oz dried apricots

4 oz green olives

1 ½ oz whole almonds

1 small bunch coriander (I didn’t have that in the house either and used the powder)

Heat a large, deep frying pan with a lid until hot. Add the olive oil, onions and garlic and cook 2-3 minutes.

Add all the spices and fry for one minute.

Add the sweet potatoes and stir well.

Add all the remaining ingredients, stir well, and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

                                                            Lemon Couscous

7 oz couscous

2 tbsp olive oil

½ oz preserved lemons, rinsed, drained, pulp removed finely chopped

½ lemon, juice only

2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves to serve

Place the couscous in enough boiling water to cover.

Add the olive oil, preserved lemon and lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Stir well and set aside for 3-5 minutes or until the liquid has been absorbed.

Add the coriander leaves.

Serve the couscous and then serve the tangine over it. It was so good even with some substitute ingredients. Imagine what the real thing would taste like.