baldilocks

How About a Moratorium on Shootings First?

LA City Councilwoman Jan Perry (not my council-critter) wants a moratorium on the opening of fast food joints here in South Central LA because someone is telling her that none of us down here in the 'hood can get a ready-made salad unless we go to the "other" 'hood.

"You try to get a salad within 20 minutes of our location; it's virtually impossible," said [executive director of South Central LA's Community Coalition, Marqueece] Harris-Dawson.

Apparently, neither Harris-Dawson or Perry hasn't been in a McDonald's or a Subway or darn near any fast-food restaurant lately. I have and guess what! They sell salads in all of them--and in Subway's case, a pretty decent one. I know exactly where this Community Coalition is located. Guess which fast food franchise is about to open up down the street from it.

Perry quoted research showing that although 16 percent of restaurants in prosperous West L.A. serve fast food, they account for 45 percent in South L.A. Experts see an obvious link to a health department study that found that 29 percent of South-Central children are obese, compared with 23 percent county-wide.

I'll tell you why children are obese and why no chi-chi food businesses other than franchised ones will be opening 'round my way. In order to help illustrate why, I'll paste the following paragraph, in which the only thing relevant to my point is the bolded phrase.

Polishing his minivan at the corner of Slauson and Vermont avenues -- where the dining options were KFC/Hot Wings, Taco Bell/Pizza Hut, McDonald's and, on the fourth corner, Quiznos -- Tony Dubon said he walks home and cooks a plate of eggs [Ed note: that's not salad] rather than eat at any of them.

A few weeks ago, I was in my car about to turn right from Vermont into a small shopping center located at Slauson and Vermont Avenues. I stopped to allow a pair of pedestrians to cross, then turned. Literally two seconds later, I hear gunfire behind me. I look in my rear-view mirror to see several young men, clad in white t-shirts, running as fast as they could. Gang members. I notice that the (stupid) people around me are running toward the shooting area as I am driving away from it. It's roughly 5:00PM on a weekday.

(It was only later when the magnitude of what had happened hit me. It was as if God had halted the shooters briefly so that I could get to safety; once I had turned into the shopping center parking lot, I was out of the line of fire and blocked by buildings on either side.)

Here's the point: city children are going to continue to have an obesity problem--not because of Mickey Ds, but because of a**holes like those gang members who would endanger anyone and everyone in broad daylight--at rush hour! Here's another point: few non-franchise chi-chi restaurants are going to locate in such areas because they can't afford the insurance and why should they spend the extra money? Who the heck would want to under such circumstances? I wouldn't.

All such a ban would do is depress the area further, deprive area kids of jobs and make gang-banging more attractive to some.

But maybe that's part of the social(ist) agenda of LA. BTW, salad fixings are always available in Ralph's and Vons. Free choice, folks. Every heard of it? And stop whining about food!

(Thanks to My Undead Brutha from anutha mutha)

What I'm Reading

It was written by Hog on Ice's Steve H. who is an Internet friend and a good guy who links to me and who enjoys it takes it with good humor when I beat up on him rhetorically.

Actually I bought the book a few years back but Steve is asking people to promote it again for whatever reason and I'm happy to do it.

I'm not reading it like one would read some other piece of non-fiction, of course. What I'm probably going to do, however, is pick some dish out of it and cook it for my great-aunt's eighty-seventh birthday tomorrow.

As you can imagine, Aunt A. pretty much eats what she wants at this point, allowing for salt content and dentures. As for me, I will be making my pilgrimage to a base gym tomorrow morning, as I have been doing every morning for the last three weeks, Sundays excepted. So we're throwin' down on Auntie's and the USA's birthday tomorrow.

Any suggestions, Steve?

Missing Ingredient

First posting will commence a bit later today, as I find that I am without an essential blogging element: caffeinated coffee. Additionally, I have to walk to purchase it. (Did I forget to mention that my car is out of commission again?) Anyway, there is decaf on the premises but, on top of not being able to provide what I need, it's yucky.

Will be back in a bit.

Eat the Oatmeal (UPDATED)

Help! Does anyone know how to open the old-fashioned can version of John McCann's Steel-cut Irish Oatmeal (pictured)? I had to stoop to eating Quaker's this morning. Not that I haven't stooped to it before, but I bought the McCann's because it has no sugar in it.

Oh. Did I mention that I've been on a diet? The South Beach^TM type. I'm feeling pretty good, having lost fourteen pounds in three weeks. Oh yes and then there's the exercise (again). This isn't the first time that I've been able to exercise myself down in weight, but I've never been able to stick to a diet before. The quick results, however, are encouraging.

A friend of mine--an ex-boxer--says that if I start jumping rope, the weight will drop off even more quickly. I don't know. I wasn't that coordinated back when I was jumping rope on a regular basis and now I'll have to strap down a pair of assets that I didn't have back then. Send armor.

And, no, there'll be no video.

UPDATE: Three and fifty (I'll let you guess).

UPDATE (2/22/08): Opened.

Not exactly Quaker--but I like!

Salad Day

(Ignore the date on the pic; I just made this a few minutes ago). Looks yummy, at least I think so. Redleaf lettuce, corn, garbanzo beans, black beans, white onion, green pepper, and, obviously, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms. My aunt put in a request for cucumbers, but I wasn't feeling those, so I peeled a half of one, sliced it and put it in a container.

Fresh vegetables (and fruit) make me happy (and easy to get along with). Okay, the corn and the beans were canned, but the principle still holds.

For Your New Year's Black-Eyed Peas Recipe

This day, I cooked the black-eyed peas--for a change.

Usually, my great-aunt cooks them, but she's trying to catch a cold and didn't want to be coughing all over the food. So I took her directions and did it myself.

Try this.

Instead of soaking them, she had me bring them to a boil and let them bubble for two minutes. Then she told me to turn them off and let them sit for an hour. After that, I was told to turn them on very low, add specified ingredients and seasoning (in this case,

--leftover canned Christmas ham from the freezer,
--a couple of stalks of celery,
--a medium white onion,
--a half of a large bell pepper,
--a clove of garlic,
--a pinch of salt
--1/2 tsp of black pepper
--and 1/2 tsp of Parsley Patch seasoning

and let them cook until done, while, of course, checking on it).

Of course, one can tweak the recipe to one's own food and seasoning choices.

I must say that it's quite good, and my aunt says that it's better than hers (though she may be prejudiced).

As an alternative, check out the 'Black Family Reunion Cookbook' (published by The National Council of Negro Women, Inc., who should know what they're doing) for an excellent black-eyed pea recipe, among other things.

Happy New Year to All!

(Originally posted in comments at Booker Rising)

UPDATE: December 31, 2005 9:09 PM PST: Happy New Year to my East Coast countrymen and all of those in between them and the international dateline!

Salad on the Menu Again

Okay, this one does sound *a little better* than mine. Just a little. However, mine requires nothing Belgian!

3 Belgian endives (I [Smug Canadian] usually use 4)
1 Fuji apple (any apple will do)
1 cup and a half of pomegranate seeds
Quarter cup of olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice (you can easily use much more)
Half a cup of walnuts
Salt and fresh-ground pepper

The aptly named Smug Canadian has the rest of the directions.

The Green (Yellow, Red and Orange) Party

Yes, I can occasionally be caught live in the kitchen. Look quick.

When growing up, my dinner task was making the salad. My mom bought the goods and I prepared them to her exacting specifications. As a result, I am very, shall we say, anal about salads (as I am about most things that I care about).

A clean vegetable is a happy eater. Wash as far down as possible, wash as far up as possible, then, wash ‘possible.’ That maxim goes for many things.

Lettuce: anyone who uses iceberg lettuce in a salad should be shot. (Okay, that’s a little harsh; maybe, er, reeducated.) Use red-leaf, romaine or butter leaf lettuce or some combination thereof. Spinach is also yummy.

Croutons and bacon bits are masks for a salad prepared by a lazy salad-maker. If your ingredients are good, fresh and varied, you don’t need that caca.

Buy the right mushrooms. Get the ones that are closed at the junction between the body and the stem. Don’t buy the big ones that look like they’re more for smoking that for eating. Don’t buy them too brown. Cut the stems off but not so far down as to where you can see the inside of the body.

Use red onions and/or scallions, because they look prettier and taste better than yellow or white onions. Cut most of the flower of the scallions off because they are bland. The root is the good part.

When I’m the only one eating the salad or am sure of my audience, I will put a chopped clove of garlic and a chopped Serrano chili pepper in my salad. (You folks who are not from the south-west part of the US or are not of Mexican descent might not know what a Serrano is. It’s a little, tiny green pepper that is HOT. I like HOT.)

Two of the ingredients that my mom didn’t require, but I usually use now are: carrots and cucumbers. Yes, peeling them is a pain—and please peel the cuck—but, boy, do they give great texture and taste to the salad. Split the cuck down the middle, by the way.

Sometimes I will top the salad with canned crab. There are two places here in LA from which I've bought the crab: Food for Less and Trader Joe’s. The FFL version is cheaper and the TJ’s version is prettier, but they both taste about the same. I don’t put anything heavier than that in the salad. Chicken, beef and pork are for the main course.

No yellow, orange or white dressings should be used. Hey, if you want to hide the taste of your salad, just tear up some iceberg, chop up a big, fat tomato and pour Thousand Island all over it. Blech. I like a non-obnoxious Caesar or just some olive oil mixed with balsamic vinegar.

If you must put some seasoning on your salad, a bit of Mrs. Dash will do the trick; oh, and black pepper.

What did I forget? Tomatoes, of course, are required; cherry types cut in half (if you grow them, you’re blessed); bell pepper—green and chopped.

If you think salads are boring, you’re missing out on one of the great pleasures of eating. Time, attention and varied ingredients are all that are required. Don’t forget to make it beautiful as well. Eating is almost as much about the eye as it is about the tongue.

Burp.

Be Merry When You Eat and Drink

John Hawkins at Right Wing News takes a poll among rightish bloggers, asking with whom in history or in present they would share a meal.

The usual suspects abound: Jesus, Shakespeare, Ayn Rand, FDR. Zzzzz.

Now I’m all for learning from the great thinkers and doers in history, but when I go out to eat with someone, I want to laugh and have fun, as well as enjoy my meal. I want to joke around as well as have those Great Intellectual Conversations. I want to Laugh Loud and invite dirty looks from the other patrons. And I want to inspire loud laughter in return, if possible.

Who would I like to dine with?

• Frank Zappa (in military intel circles, rumor has it that he was one of us; I know those guys are fun)
• Benjamin Franklin (brilliant and knew how to party as well)
• Donald Rumsfeld (a guy that devastatingly funny in public is probably a riot in private)
• Dinah Washington (a kindred spirit)
• Derek Jeter (MMMM. Okay, forget what I said about athletes)
• Laura Ingraham (that girl is hilarious; we’d be pointing and laughing at people all evening)
• Stevie Wonder (have you ever seen this guy on a talk show? Oh my God, what a funny guy; plus I wouldn’t have to obsess too much about how I looked)
• Stephen King (another funny guy; horror and humor are an intoxicating mix)
• Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (a guy that can keep a sense of humor after spending time in a Soviet gulag has got to be a great dinner companion)
• Okay, well, Jesus (the wine wouldn’t stop flowing until He knew I’d had enough)