kidzdoc Reads Globally in 2015: Part 4

Philippe Halsman, Dalí Atomicus, 1948




Currently reading:

    

A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
Trusting Doctors: The Decline of Moral Authority in American Medicine by Jonathan B. Imber
The Work: My Search for a Life That Matters by Wes Moore

Completed books: (TBR = book acquired prior to 1/1/14)

January:
1. Clock Without Hands by Carson McCullers (TBR) (review)
2. Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward (TBR) (review)
3. A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam (TBR)
4. A Distant Father by Antonio Skármeta
5. Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
6. The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh (TBR)

February:
7. In the City By the Sea by Kamila Shamsie (TBR)

Books purchased or received in 2015:

January:
1. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (2 Jan, Kindle e-book)
2. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula Le Guin (2 Jan, Kindle e-book)
3. The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness by Elyn R. Saks (11 Jan, Kindle e-book)
4. A Useless Man: Selected Stories by Sait Faik Abasiyanik (12 Jan, Archipelago Books subscription)
5. The Work: My Search for a Life That Matters by Wes Moore (20 Jan, LT Early Reviewers book)
6. DownBeat: The Great Jazz Interviews, edited and compiled by Frank Alkyer and Ed Enright (20 Jan, free book as part of 2015 DownBeat subscription)

2015 Reading Globally Themes and possible reads from my TBR collection:

First quarter: Indian subcontinent



Aravind Adiga, Between the Assassinations
Tariq Ali, Night of the Golden Butterfly
Tahmima Anam, A Golden Age
Vikram Chandra, Red Earth and Pouring Rain
Vikram Chandra, Sacred Games
G.V. Desani, All About H. Hatterr
Roopa Farooki, Bitter Sweets
Amitav Ghosh, The Calcutta Chromosome
Amitav Ghosh, The Hungry Tide
Intizar Husain, Basti
Rohinton Mistry, Such a Long Journey
Uday Prakash, The Girl with the Golden Parasol
Salman Rushdie, The Moor's Last Sigh
Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses
Kamila Shamsie, In the City By the Sea

Second quarter: Iberian peninsula



António Lobo Antunes, Act of the Damned
António Lobo Antunes, Fado Alexandrino
António Lobo Antunes, The Land at the End of the World
Bernardo Atxaga, Obabakoak
Juan Goytisolo, Forbidden Territory and Realms of Strife
Juan Goytisolo, Landscapes of War: From Sarajevo to Chechnya
Juan Goytisolo, The Marx Family Saga
Almudena Grandes, The Frozen Heart
Carmen Laforet, Nada
Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet
Fernando Pessoa, The Education of the Stoic
Mercè Rodoreda, Death in Spring
Mercè Rodoreda, The Selected Stories of Mercè Rodoreda
José Saramago, Baltasar and Blimunda
José Saramago, The History of the Siege of Lisbon
José Saramago, Manual of Painting and Calligraphy
Llorenç Villalonga, The Dolls' Room
Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Angel's Game

Third quarter: Nobel Prize winners writing not in English

  

Knut Hamsun (1920), Hunger
Thomas Mann (1929), Death in Venice
Halldór Laxness (1955), Independent People
Albert Camus (1957), The First Man; Exile and the Kingdom
Ivo Andrić (1961), The Bridge on the Drina
Jean-Paul Sartre (1964), Nausea
Miguel Ángel Asturias (1967), The President
Yasunari Kawabata (1968), Beauty and Sadness
Pablo Neruda (1971), The Essential Neruda; Canto General
Isaac Bashevis Singer (1978), Collected Stories, Volume 1
Gabriel García Márquez (1982), One Hundred Years of Solitude; Of Love and Other Demons; The Autumn of the Patriarch
Claude Simon (1985), The Trolley
Naguib Mahfouz (1988), Midaq Alley; Rhadopis of Nubia
Octavio Paz (1990), The Labyrinth of Solitude; In Light of India
Kenzaburō Ōe (1994), The Changeling
José Saramago (1998), Raised from the Ground; Baltasar and Blimunda; The History of the Siege of Lisbon; Manual of Painting and Calligraphy; Journey to Portugal
Günter Grass (1999), The Tin Drum
Gao Xingjian (2000), One Man's Bible; Soul Mountain
Orhan Pamuk (2006), Snow; My Name Is Red; The Museum of Innocence; Other Colors
J.M.G. Le Clézio (2008), Terra Amata; The Giants; War; Fever; The Book of Flights; The Flood
Herta Müller (2009), The Land of Green Plums
Mario Vargas Llosa (2010), Captain Pantoja and the Special Service; The Green House; The Way to Paradise; The Bad Girl; The Dream of the Celt
Mo Yan (2012), Life and Death are Wearing Me Out; The Garlic Ballads; The Republic of Wine

Fourth quarter: Women writing not in English

  

Isabel Allende, The House of the Spirits
Simone de Beauvoir, The Mandarins; She Came to Stay
Assia Djebar, Algerian White; Children of the New World; The Tongue's Blood Does Not Run Dry
Diamela Eltit, E. Luminata
Annie Ernaux, Cleaned Out
Sylvie Germain, The Song of False Lovers
Marlene van Niekerk, Agaat
Miral al-Tahawy, Brooklyn Heights
Delphine de Vigan, No and Me

2015 American Author Challenge

  

January: Carson McCullers, Clock Without Hands
February: Henry James, The Turn of the Screw
March: Richard Ford, Independence Day
April: Louise Erdrich, The Plague of Doves
May: Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith
June: Wallace Stegner, Crossing to Safety
July: Ursula Le Guin, The Lathe of Heaven
August: Larry McMurtry William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
September: Flannery O'Connor, The Complete Stories
October: Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
November: Barbara Kingsolver, Flight Behavior
December: E.L. Doctorow, The March

2015 British Author Challenge



January: Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger
January: Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
February: Sarah Waters, The Paying Guests
February: Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited
March: Daphne Du Maurier, ?Rebecca
March: China Mieville, The City & the City
April: Angela Carter, ?Nights at the Circus
April: W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage
May: Margaret Drabble, ?The Radiant Way
May: Martin Amis, The Zone of Interest
June: Beryl Bainbridge, Master Georgie
June: Anthony Burgess, ?Earthly Powers
July: Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out
July: Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
August: Iris Murdoch, The Sea, the Sea
August: Graham Greene, The Quiet American
September: Andrea Levy, Fruit of the Lemon
September: Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses
October: Helen Dunmore, The Siege
October: David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks
November: Muriel Spark, Loitering with Intent
November: William Boyd, An Ice-Cream War
December: Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety
December: P.G. Wodehouse, Love Among the Chickens

Books about Medicine:

TBR Books to Read in 2014 2015:



Tomes (500 pages or more):
      Nicole Barker, Darkmans
      Simone de Beauvoir, The Mandarins
      Douglas Brinkley, The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast
      Saul Bellow, The Adventures of Augie March
      Ralph Ellison, Three Days Before the Shooting...
      Ian Gibson, The Shameful Life of Salvador Dalí
      David Grossman, To the End of the Land
      Lawrence Hill, Someone Knows My Name
      George E. Lewis, A Power Stronger than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music
      A.J. Liebling, Just Enough Liebling
      David Macey, Frantz Fanon: A Biography
      Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety
      Paul Murray, Skippy Dies
      Patrick O'Brian, Picasso: A Biography
      Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason: The Modern Foundations of Body and Soul
      Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses
      William Trevor, Selected Stories
      Patrick White, The Vivisector

Non-tomes (less than 500 pages):
      Stuart Altman and David Shactman, Power, Politics and Universal Health Care: The Inside Story of a Century-Long Battle
      Kwame Anthony Appiah, Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers
      Bernardo Atxaga, Obabakoak
      Amiri Baraka, Tales of the Out & the Gone
      Eleanor Catton, The Rehearsal
      Patrick Chamoiseau, Texaco
      Jean Echenoz, I'm Off and One Year
      Percival Everett, Percival Everett by Virgil Russell
      Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
      Louise Erdrich, The Plague of Doves
      Paul Farmer, Haiti After the Earthquake
      Juan Eslava Galan, The Mule
      Jerry Gentry, Grady Baby: A Year in the Life of Atlanta's Grady Hospital
      Amitav Ghosh, The Calcutta Chromosome
      Juan Goytisolo, Forbidden Territory and Realms of Strife
      Juan Goytisolo, Juan the Landless
      Alistair Horne, Seven Ages of Paris
      Jonathan B. Imber, Trusting Doctors: The Decline of Moral Authority in American Medicine
      Robert Klitzman, When Doctors Become Patients
      Karl Ove Knausgaard, My Struggle: Book One
      Charles Lemert, Why Niebuhr Matters
      David A. Mendel, Proper Doctoring: A Book for Patients and their Doctors
      Simon Mawer, Mendel's Dwarf
      Claire McCarthy, Everyone's Children: A Pediatrician's Story of an Inner City Practice
      Ian McEwan, Atonement
      Andrew Miller, Pure
      Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
      Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Petals of Blood
      Reinhold Niebuhr, The Irony of American History
      Laura Katz Olson, The Politics of Medicaid: Stakeholders and Welfare Medicine
      Brian Orr, MD, A Pediatrician's Journal: Caring for Children in a Broken Medical System
      Orhan Pamuk, Snow
      Roy Porter, Madmen: A Social History of Madhouses, Mad Doctors and Lunatics
      Graham Robb, Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris
      Edward W. Said, Out of Place: A Memoir
      Mario Vargas Llosa, The Green House
      Richard Wright, Black Boy

Literature from the African diaspora:

Nonfiction from the African diaspora:
Jesmyn Ward, Men We Reaped

Boom! I'm first!

Er, hello, Darryl :)

>9 katiekrug: Hi, Katie! Boom, indeed.

Planned reads for January:

Tahmima Anam, A Golden Age
Amitav Ghosh, The Calcutta Chromosome
Intizar Husain, Basti
Jonathan B. Imber, Trusting Doctors: The Decline of Moral Authority in American Medicine
Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go
Marlon James, A History of Seven Killings
Hannah Kent, Burial Rites
Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger
Rohinton Mistry, Swimming Lessons: and Other Stories from Firozsha Baag
Carson McCullers, Clock Without Hands
Kamila Shamsie, In the City By the Sea
Jessmyn Ward, Men We Reaped

Getting in on the action early for a change. Love the Dali.

Happy new one, Darryl!

Hi Darryl - You're doing pretty well with your planned January reads. Happy new thread.

Struggling to keep up....hi Darryl. Nice new thread.

Planned reads for February:

Sait Faik Abasiyanik, A Useless Man
Frankétienne, Ready to Burst
Jonathan B. Imber, Trusting Doctors: The Decline of Authority in American Medicine
Henry James, The Turn of the Screw
Marlon James, A History of Seven Killings
Hannah Kent, Burial Rites
Rohinton Mistry, Such a Long Journey
Wes Moore, The Work: My Search for A Life That Matters
Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses
Kamila Shamsie, In the City By the Sea
Sarah Waters, The Paying Guests

>12 laytonwoman3rd: Hi, Linda! I suspect that most people have seen this photo, but I still love it.

>13 scaifea: Thanks, Amber!

>14 BLBera: Hi, Beth! I hope to finish two more books by Saturday, which will give me eight for the month, and keep me roughly on track to finish 100 books this year.

>15 brenzi: Thanks, Bonnie! It's good to see you here.

Hi Darryl, I've been lurking so I just thought I'd say hello!

Happy new thread Darryl! I hadn't seen the Dali photo before, so thanks for sharing it!

Wow on your third thread. Congratulations!

Hi, Darryl. Love that photo of Dali!

Your planned round-the-world reading is impressively ambitious. Looking forward to your comments on them. Hope you have a good weekend, buddy.

Happy new thread, Darryl!

I do hope you get a chance to dive into Burial Rites in February. That was one of my favourites from last year.

Happy new thread, Darryl. Wow, that's fantastic opening photo.

Yes, great photo! Happy new thread.

Happy new thread, Darryl. I love the Halsman Dali thread topper. There are 2 other photographs he did which are my favorites in addition to this one, and that is one with Alfred Hitchcock and a black bird at the end of his cigar, and one simple side profile of Audrey Hepburn, who I think never took a bad photograph in her life!

Waiting to hear your assessment of the Marlon James book...Bob Marley is a great interest to our offspring and I'm always looking for good reading to suggest to them.

Woo! I'm glad that this emotionally exhausting week is over.

>18 lauralkeet: Hi, Laura!

>19 Sakerfalcon: Thanks, Claire! Maybe this photo isn't as well known as I had assumed it was, so I'm glad that I posted it here.

>20 Donna828: Thanks, Donna! (It's actually my fourth thread.)

>21 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe. My main focus this year will be reading TBRs for the four quarterly Reading Globally challenges, as those are amongst books that I'm most eager to read. I didn't get any reading done during the week, but hopefully I can knock out two books by the end of tomorrow, and possibly another one on Sunday.

>22 jolerie: Thanks, Valerie! I definitely want to read Burial Rites next month, given its positive reviews here and glowing comments from Rachael (@FlossieT) when I saw her in Cambridge last year.

>23 Ameise1: Thanks, Barabra; I'm glad that you liked the photo of Dalí.

>24 banjo123: Thanks, Rhonda!

>25 cameling: Hi, Caroline! I'm definitely familiar with the Hitchcock photo:



Halsman seems to have taken numerous photos of Audrey Hepburn (can you blame him?). Is this the one you're referring to?



>26 tututhefirst: Will do, Tina. I'm eager to get to A History of Seven Killings, but I haven't made any progress in it yet.

Along for the ride--wishing you a happy weekend of reading!!!

There you are! I lost you; I don't know why.

>28 kidzdoc: What wonderful photos; I've never seen them! Audrey Hepburn is the epitome of class and beauty - inside and outside, IMHO. Reading about her is on my list this year.

Just checking in on the new thread, Darryl!

Hope you have a restful weekend Darryl!

Hi Darryl, I wish you a lovely weekend.

Happy weekend, Darryl! How's that Key Lime Pie coming along...?

>29 Berly: Thanks, Kim! I've started reading In the City By the Sea by Kamila Shamsie, which is a short coming of age novel set in Pakistan. So far it's an easy and pleasant read, and I should easily finish it today.

I've been awake since 3 am (ugh), so I'm still pretty fried and sleep deprived from the past five days at work. I'll probably take a nap shortly (it's just before 10 am here), and another one sometime this afternoon.

>30 avidmom: Hi, avidmom! I agree with you about Audrey Hepburn, of course. What book(s) about her are you thinking of reading?

Philadelphians are, of course, partial to Grace Kelly, and Philippe Halsman took many photos of her, including this one for Life:



>31 ronincats: Happy Saturday, Roni!

>32 souloftherose: Thanks, Heather! I hope that you have a relaxing and pleasant weekend as well. I won't do much today, other than read a bit and catch up on sleep. It will rain most of the day on Super Bowl Sunday, due to the same system that will dump large amounts of snow in the Midwest and Northeast, so I'll cook during the early day, read in the afternoon, and watch the game in the evening. I finished the last of the Creole jambalaya yesterday, and I'm very tempted to make it again, as it tastes heavenly, and I have a recipe for borscht that I might try as well. I'll either make that or try the Rockin' Moroccan stew recipe that Nancy posted in my last thread.

>33 Ameise1: That's a lovely and perfect photo for today, Barbara! Thank you; I hope that you have an enjoyable and restful weekend as well.

>34 scaifea: The Key lime pie from Publix looks and tastes great, Amber!



Hmm. Maybe I should stop eating it now, since it and the Creole jambalaya are supposed to be for you.

I never had Key Lime Pie, but since I first heard of it I wanted some. Now even more thanks to your picture. Yum! Is there a super-easy can't fail recipe anywhere that can be made with normal lime as well?

I love Key Lime Pie. But love anything with lime in.

>36 Deern: This looks a pretty easy recipe.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/keylimepie_5493

Or this one:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2155644/key-lime-pie

Hi Darryl -- boy those are some impressive lists! You must be very organized. You did raise a question in my mind, however -- are you sure Allende writes in Spanish? She lives in Marin County (north of San Francisco) and I had the idea that she writes in English. Tried to check that (quickly) and couldn't find an answer. Nevertheless, I'm most impressed by your planning AND your plans. Can't wait to hear more about the books you read.

>39 RebaRelishesReading: Yes Isabelle Allende writes her fiction in Spanish. See this interview: http://www.isabelallende.com/en/interview

It also comes up in this article: http://www.ncte.org/magazine/archives/122053

Love this quote from that last reference: “I can write a speech in English, or non-fiction, but I cannot be funny in English. Language is like blood, it’s so personal. In fiction, what matters is the tone, and to establish the tone you have to have total control of the language."

>35 kidzdoc: What book(s) about her are you thinking of reading?
Not really sure; there are a few 5 star ratings around here on LT for some bios. on her. It'll probably come down to whatever the library has available. ;) I'm more interested in her humanitarian work. She is still popular among the high school set I work with; I see lots and lots of T-shirts, bags, etc. with her image on them.

My senior kid's film studies class had to watch "Rear Window" and he saw Grace Kelly for the first time. His word for her was "perfect" - he couldn't believe she was real.

I had a nice 2½ hour nap, followed by lunch (African sweet potato soup over rice, which was good but not as good as the soup by istelf), and now I'm...ready to go back to sleep. I'll catch up here first.

>36 Deern: Good question, Nathalie. I'll leave that one to others, since I don't yet make cakes or pies, and because Publix, my local supermarket, sells superb Key lime pies (probably because Publix is based in Florida and its staff know what this pie is supposed to taste like).

>37 Caroline_McElwee: Agreed, Caroline. It's hard to go wrong with any meal that has limes or lime juice in it.

>38 lunacat: Well done! Thanks, Jenny.

>39 RebaRelishesReading: Thanks, Reba. Those lists are guides to help me track my reading goals and which books I'd like to read, although I often deviate from those goals to read something that strikes my fancy.

My copy of The House of the Spirits (Alfred A. Knopf, 1985) was translated from the Spanish by Magda Bogin, and it was originally published as La Casa de los Espíritus in 1982, so this book does count. I'll bet that she wrote in Spanish then, but writes in English now. Let's see...according to her web page she lived in Caracas, Venezuela from 1975 until 1984, so she would have been there when this book was written. She apparently moved to the US in 1984 or the following year, and taught Latin American literature at Montclair State College in New Jersey in 1985. She taught at UVa and Barnard in 1988, met her second husband that year, and moved to California in 1989, where she has resided since then.

>40 tangledthread: Well done, tangledthread! I was looking at that same web site (the first one you posted, which is her official web page), but I didn't look at that interview. She says that "I can only write fiction in Spanish, because it is for me a very organic process that I can only do in my native language." So, even though she has lived in the US for roughly 30 years her books continue to be written in Spanish.

That's an interesting quote. That raises the question of whether there are any well known or highly regarded authors who write fiction in more than one language.

>41 avidmom: Nice. I look forward to seeing what you read about Audrey Hepburn.

I think I agree with your son, BTW. However, I've also known several medical students and residents who were also stunningly attractive. One of my classmates at Pitt was, IMO, just as pretty as Grace Kelly, and she favored her as she was also blonde. However, she was at least 6 feet tall, so she was arguably even more striking, and when I first saw her I was practically struck dumb (as were most of the rest of the guys, and probably ladies, in my class). She was very down to earth, sweet, and very approachable, and even though we weren't close she always greeted me and everyone else with a warm hello and a friendly smile.

>41 avidmom: It's always sweet, and a little funny, when a young man 'discovers' a beauty. My teenage brother once came home very excited and asked my father if he has ever heard of an actress he had just seen, a woman he thought was completely beautiful. Name? Ingrid Bergman. We decided the kid had good taste.

>44 ffortsa: Ha ha! I think my first screen love was Natalie Wood, when she played Maria in West Side Story:

Wish I'd had a 2 1/2 hour nap today! Might have put me in a better mood. Glad I could have been of help with the pies.

I think that there are a couple of writers who have done more than one language. But the only example I can think of us Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o who originally wrote in English but now writes in Kikuyu. And translates back to English himself.

House of the Spirits is a lovely book. I re-read it a few years ago and it held up beautifully!

I read Allende's latest Ripper, and it was translated; everything I've read by her has been translated from Spanish. I think it would be extremely difficult to write quality fiction in a second language -- unless one were truly bilingual.

I'm now much more awake after another nap, which also lasted about 2½ hours. I'll finish In the City By the Sea tonight, but that will be my last book of the month.

>46 lunacat: I'm sorry that you had a rotten day, Jenny. I hope that Sunday treats you more nicely.

>47 banjo123: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o is a perfect example of what I meant, Rhonda. I seem to remember that at least one author wrote in two languages and translated her own work, but I can't remember who that is.

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed The House of Spirits.

>48 BLBera: I agree, Beth; that would be a difficult task.

Yep. When all else fails, Google has all (or at least most) of the answers. The article Multilingualism and literature: 10 authors who write in other languages lists these writers who have published books in two languages:

Vladimir Nabokov (Russian, English)
Sholem Aleichem (Hebrew, Russian)
André Brink (Afrikaans, English)
Elif Şafak (Turkish, English)
Samuel Beckett (French, English)
Jack Kerouac (English, French)
Rolando Hinojosa-Smith (Spanish, English)

>44 ffortsa: It's always sweet, and a little funny, when a young man 'discovers' a beauty

Young girls too. I was around when some high school girls discovered a picture of James Dean in the back of their history book.



>43 kidzdoc: Yep. I am privileged to be related to some drop-dead gorgeous gals and they are just as pretty on the inside as they are on the outside. :)

>51 avidmom: my mother always said I liked James Dean because she had watched 'Giant' while she was pregnant.

Thanks Darryl. Another bad day so far, with no real reason behind it so I'm hoping it's 'normal' female hormones and not a depression blip. I might go off for a nap today, and see if that is at all successful!

Hope you're having a lovely weekend.

>51 avidmom:, >52 Caroline_McElwee: Ah. May the icon of teen angst live forever in girls' minds.

>53 lunacat: I'm sorry that you're having such a rubbish weekend, Jenny. It seems as though a few people in your orbit have contributed to your blues, so I would propose a 2x4 therapeutic session:



Is the concept of "justifiable assault" valid in the UK?

I went out for my usual trip to the supermarket and to the local bagel chain for breakfast. Somehow the person who made my bagel (which should have been asparagus, mushroom and Swiss cheese with egg whites on a skinny everything bagel) left out the egg whites, so it was rather unsatisfying. I think I'll have a cup of yogurt, then start cooking the chicken and Andouille sausage Creole jambalaya so that it will be ready for lunch. I'll make the Moroccan lentil and vegetable stew this afternoon instead of the Rockin' Moroccan stew, since the latter recipe calls for sweet potatoes (which I had for lunch and dinner yesterday in the African sweet potato soup), and possibly borscht (Publix had some nice looking red cabbage and beets in the produce section today).

When can I expect you for dinner?

Hmmmmmm.....that would be.........never?

Why can't you do something with cheese and garlic? Then I'd be over like a shot!

>55 lunacat: Cheese and garlic would taste good on cauliflower florets. I can do that!

P.S. I think you would like the jambalaya.

BTW, are female hormones ever "normal"?

>56 kidzdoc: Nope. Definitely never normal.

I think scientists should come up with a way for every male of the species who dares to make a comment about PMT to experience the weird and wonderful (wonderful as in seriously odd) feeling of knowing you're being entirely illogical but can't stop anyway. The ridiculous cravings, the intense desire to slap people, and then the pain, the temperature fluctuations and the wanting to curl up on the floor of your bathroom and cry. They won't even be subjected to the actual 'physical' issues, just the pain and the hormonal junk.

Bet you no one would comment on PMT again.

I think I could just about manage cauliflower if done with cheese and garlic, but only if the proportions are 2:1 cheese to cauliflower.

Although I can't say that I'd be chomping at the bit to go through it, I think it would be useful for all adult males to experience a full menstrual cycle (anatomical issues notwithstanding). We would be far more understanding if that happened (or should be, at least).

I have enough cheese and garlic here to make a cheese and garlic with cauliflower side dish. Is 7 pm okay for dinner?

Happy New Thread, Darryl! And Happy Sunday! We are in the grip of our first major snowstorm. I am sure glad this is hitting today and not tomorrow.

Hope you are having a good weekend.

Happy Sunday to you too, Mark! I heard about the snowstorm that will pummel the Midwest and New England (again?). I just read that Chicago is supposed to get 12-16 inches of snow, and Boston will see 6-10 inches. We're only getting rain, which will probably start in the next hour, as the first line is about 15-20 west of the city.

I caught up on sleep yesterday, and it was almost completely a wasted day, but I've been much more productive so far today. This morning I bought groceries for the week, and I've already cooked two large scale meals, another batch of the chicken and Andouille sausage Creole jambalaya, which I'll have in a few minutes, and a large point of Moroccan lentil and vegetable stew, which I'll have for dinner. I'll finish In the City By the Sea by Kamila Shamsie this afternoon, and probably start A History of Seven Killings by Marlon James after I've finished.

We got a whole centimeter of snow here last night. Nothing too exciting.

Happy weekend!

>61 The_Hibernator: Happy weekend (what's left of it) to you too, Rachel! I'm glad to hear that Minneapolis missed out on the heavy snowfall.

The Super Bowl is living up to expectations so far; at halftime the Seahawks and Patriots are tied at 14.

I decided to make borscht, since I had enough time and because I wanted to have another vegetarian meal to have next week. The recipe is quite different from what I'm used to having in Jewish restaurants in NYC and Pittsburgh, but it still tastes good.



Here's the recipe, from allrecipes.com:

Russian Cabbage Borscht

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups thinly sliced potatoes
1 cup thinly sliced beets
4 cups vegetable stock or water
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
1 teaspoon caraway seed (optional)
2 teaspoons salt
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 large carrot, sliced
3 cups coarsely chopped red cabbage
black pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon fresh dill weed
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 cup tomato puree
sour cream, for topping
chopped tomatoes, for garnish

Directions:

Place sliced potatoes and beets in a medium saucepan over high heat; cover with stock, and boil until vegetables are tender. Remove potatoes and beets with a slotted spoon, and reserve stock.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in onions, caraway seeds, and salt; cook until onions become soft and translucent. Then stir in celery, carrots, and cabbage. Mix in reserved stock; cook, covered, until all vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.

Add potatoes and beets to the skillet. Season with black pepper and dill weed. Stir in cider vinegar, honey, and tomato puree. Cover, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer at least 30 minutes. Serve topped with sour cream, extra dill weed, and chopped fresh tomatoes.

It's an interesting recipe, but I'd love to be able to duplicate the borscht I used to get at Ratner's, a longstanding Jewish dairy restaurant on the Lower East Side of Manhattan that unfortunately closed about a dozen years ago. I still have beets and red cabbage left over, so I may try Ratner's recipe next weekend.

Hi Darryl,
the only borscht I have had was thick, in a pureed form, and served in a stemless wine glass along with an avocado concoction. It was delicious, but odd for my palate.

And the screen-siren talk had me thinking of katherine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story, which I just watched on VCR (the latest format in our home- on account of the availability of 50c videos, you see). It was a good film! My first on-screen crush was the entire male cast of Young Guns, in particular Lou Diamond Phillips. I thought he was beautiful.

>62 kidzdoc: I guess I won't be making that. Jeff has told me he doesn't like beets.

>62 kidzdoc: Stupidest play in Superbowl history! Half a yard and you have the best RB in the game.

After one of the most spectacular catches of all time.

Finally coming around for a 2015 visit, Darryl. I see you are reading two books I'm extremely interested in, City By the Sea and A Brief History of Seven Killings. I also want to know how you make those fancy red check marks.

>62 kidzdoc: Ooh, borscht sounds like a fantastic idea *adds it to menu for the week*

Happy new thread Darryl,

I followed with interest the discussions on Moon Tiger on your previous thread and appreciated the various view points very much. I belong to the group which enjoyed the book pretty much, even so that Claudia wasn't always a likeable character. However, I also came to the conclusion after reading all the comments that if the main character would have been Jasper instead of Claudia the reactions to the story would have been quite different.

Your Borscht recipe looks wonderful. I had in the summer the Latvian and Lithuanin versions which are beetroot, potato and cream as a cold dish. Delicious as well.

Brilliant challenges and I am particular interested in how you are going to fill your medicine category.

I am still reading Dr Mütter with Alex, too slow for my taste but that's the way it is. He really enjoys the book so far and is still eying to get his hands on my The Sick Rose: Disease and the Art of Medical Illustration. He has read parts of it already, but keeps begging me to give it to him for his own collection of books.

*sigh* Yet more food I don't like. A girl could starve, hanging out around here.

Question of the Day: If you have this:



Why would you do this?



Discuss.

>63 LovingLit: I'm also used to puréed borscht, Megan, so this was an interesting departure for me. It was a bit tart and tangy, but it was still tasty. From your description I'd guess that you had it served cold; I've only had warm borscht.

I'm ashamed to say that I've never seen The Philadelphia Story. I assume that I'm the only LTer from the Delaware Valley who can make that ignominious claim.

>64 thornton37814: Hmm. I wonder if you can make borscht without beets? Personally I would say no.

>65 TadAD: WTF was Pete Carroll thinking? C'mon man, feed the Beast! That was arguably the dumbest call in the history of sports; can you think of a worse one?

Oh...wait a minute. I know what happened. The Evil Genius Bill Belichick must have tapped into the Seahawks' communication system, and he was the one who called for the goal line pass, not Pete Carroll. Yes...yes, it all makes sense now.

That was an amazing catch by Jermaine Kearse. However, I still prefer this one (sorry, Caroline):

>66 AnneDC: Good to see you here, Anne! I find In the City By the Sea late last night, after the Super Bowl ended. It was a light, humorous and entertaining read, but not a particularly memorable one. I gave it 3½ stars, but I would still recommend it.

I've read the first few pages of A History of Seven Killings several weeks ago, so I'll start it again this week.

Here's the source for the little red check marks: http://www.shopwpthemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/CheckMarkSmallRed.gif

>67 evilmoose: Let me know if you try this recipe for borscht or another one, Megan.

>68 drachenbraut23: Hi, Bianca! I read your comment about Moon Tiger ("if the main character would have been Jasper instead of Claudia the reactions to the story would have been quite different") this weekend. I disagreed at first, but now I think that you're right. I don't think I would have had the same negative visceral response if the main character had been male. I'll have to think about this a bit more, and I should probably reread this book with a fresh set of eyes. Thanks for your excellent observation!

This was a nice recipe, and it was another one that was easy to make. It is different from Ratner's borscht, though; here is that recipe, from the October 21, 1968 issue of New York magazine:

Ratner's Classic Borscht Recipe

Ingredients:

2 bunches of beets
water to cover
pinch of salt
pinch of sour salt
1 tablespoon sugar
5 eggs
8 oz sweet cream
8 oz sour cream

Directions:

Peel and shred beets into fine strips 1/8 inch thick.
Boil in water for 1/2 hour.
Add sugar, salt and sour salt to the liquid and boiled beets.
Beat eggs well, add sweet and sour cream and mix thoroughly.
Stir slowly into the liquid while hot.
Adjust seasoning to taste.
Serve very cold, adding 1 tablespoon of sour cream as garnish.
______________________________________

That sounds right, as the borscht had little strips of beets in it. However, when I bought borscht from the Ratner's push cart across the street from the Empire State Building when I worked in NYC, I remember the borscht being sold hot.

I decided to substitute a Medicine challenge for the Canadian Literature challenge, and add an African Diaspora challenge. Instead of listing proposed reads I'll post the books I actually do read, as I have plenty of TBR books and there are at least two books about Medicine that I want to buy and read this year, namely On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss, and America's Bitter Pill: Money, Politics, Back-Room Deals, and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System by Steven Brill, which details the creation and rollout of the Affordable Care Act. That book was reviewed in The New York Times last week:

Anatomy of a Health Care Mess

I'm glad that you and Alex are enjoying Dr. Mütter's Marvels.

>69 lunacat: There's plenty of Creole jambalaya here, Jenny! I still think you would like it.

Sigh. I guess I'd better get dressed and go to work. I'm on long call today (10 am to 10 pm), so I probably won't be back here until Tuesday or later. Have a good week, everyone!

>71 kidzdoc: Theoretically, I suppose it is possible since dictionary.reference.com defines borscht this way: any of various eastern European soups made with beets, cabbage, potatoes, or other vegetables and served hot or chilled, often with sour cream. However, I have never personally heard of borscht referred to without beets.

I'm not so sure about the jambalaya, as I'm not a huge fan of rice although it is much better than potatoes, but my biggest bugbear would be I don't like my food all mixed together unless I'm the one doing the mixing. I prefer to have a mouthful of each separate item, rather than a big heap of everything.

Of course I don't stick strictly with that, and if eating something like a burrito or a taco then everything gets lumped in together, but somehow there are different rules in my mind for different occasions.

Case in point: we had hotpot last night done in the slow cooker, with thinly sliced potatoes on top. It contained chunks of beef, swede, mushrooms, carrots and onions in a gravy. While the others would put a little of everything on their forks, I like to work my way through the ingredients one at a time. So I'll have a mouthful made up of two chunks of carrot, a mouthful with a chunk of beef, a mouthful of onions etc. Only when I get to the last few bits that wouldn't make up a satisfactory mouthful on their own do I combine.

>71 kidzdoc: I think you've hit on the only possible explanation. Is Carroll known as a dictator? 'Cause, if not, you got an Offensive Coordinator, a quarterback, a running back...hell, you've got 53 players plus I-don't-know-how-many staff who should all have said, "HUH!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

The Super Bowl analyzed by Science: http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2015/02/02/pros-and-cons-of-super-bowl-scienc... .

Note that I didn’t watch it, I found out who was playing via LT threads, and I don’t see what’s to “discuss” in the gifs in >70 kidzdoc:.

I love football but I don't understand all the ins and outs. I did find this snippet interesting:

"the Patriots were anticipating the run and had eight players packing he box and crowding the line of scrimmage. Carroll later said on ESPN that with just one timeout and 25 seconds left, Seattle couldn't run the ball all three (potential) plays, and the Seahawks weren't going to get a better opportunity to throw the ball than what the Pats were showing defensively on second down."

I'm not saying it was the right call, but at least there seems to be more logic behind it than I originally gave them credit for in my initial, emotional response of "WTF, dumba$$" ;-)

Hi Darryl. I'm just doing the popping in and waving thing again.

Happy new Thread!

Well, it was exciting.

My question about the so - Called Superbowl - What was going on with that girl who was screaming something during the halftime show? Her hair was so high up on her head that I think she must have been constipated as a result.

I thought that was just about the DUMBEST half-time show I have ever seen. Why do you need costume changes and need to ride some kind of weird animal like thing? I thought it was Elizabeth Taylor processioning to meet Richard Burton in Cleopatra, except that Liz wore the same costume for the procession. Where is Bon-Jovi when you need them?

>50 kidzdoc: Going back to authors writing in more than one language, I think that several Welsh writers must have done this. I read and enjoyed Random Deaths and Custard by Catrin Dafydd a few years ago and I remember reading that her first two books had been written in Welsh whereas this one was in English, and for writers that write in Welsh I'm sure that that is not that uncommon.

>70 kidzdoc: Question of the Day, indeed, Darryl! I don't even know the game of football, but I know better than that!

>30 avidmom: and >41 avidmom: What a coincidence. I just finished a book about Audrey Hepburn and I saw this thread. The book I read was more of an advice book for modern women and girls about clothes, dating, make-up, and being a respectable person like Audrey using examples from Hepburn's life. But her humanitarian work is mentioned throughout the book. There is a chapter entitled "St. Audrey" that focuses on her work with UNICEF. The book is called What Would Audrey Do? by Pamela Keogh.

>50 kidzdoc: Curious. Did Google actually say Scholem Aleichem wrote in Hebrew? I would have thought Yiddish.

>84 ffortsa: He actually wrote in THREE languages...Russian, Hebrew and Yiddish, according to the article.

Passing on the borscht. And hiding my eyes on >70 kidzdoc: --REFUSING to watch THAT play again!!

Well, I like both borscht and jambalaya. On the topic of Cajun cooking, we are going tomorrow to a favorite Cajun place, Tapalaya. I think that I will get crawfish, which I love. They also have awesome grits and this amazing Mississippi Caviar (with black-eyed peas). Do you have a recipe for that, Darryl? Tapalaya won't share.

Good heavens, silence for more than 24 hours :-)

Maybe he fell off the planet. I do it often. Sometimes it's peaceful to be floating around in deep space for a while :)

Hm. Screen silence.
Is everything OK in Darryland?

>90 LovingLit:

He posted on FB about 7 hrs ago so I would assume all fine, just busy in RL. How dare it get in the way of t'internet happenings. ;)

^ phew. No foul play. That's a relief.

My week in a nutshell: Work 10-12 hours straight (lunch optional). Eat dinner. Write progress notes at home after work. Sleep. Repeat.

I still have a bunch of progress notes and off service notes to write, which hopefully I'll be able to finish before I nod off. I'll catch up here tomorrow.

It sounds like you have a wicked week. Hopefully, next week will be a better one. Last Friday was all day testing at Thomas Jefferson. We drove to Philadelphia Thursday and stayed at a hotel the hospital recommended. Thursday evening we walked to the Reading Terminal Market. It brought back so many memories. If you check my thread, you will see photos taken from the Philadelphia meetup.

I smiled while walking through the market and thought of what a lovely time we all had.

Oh wow, sounds like you were productive at least. ;)

Hopefully you have some time to rest after all that busyness!

Oof. I stayed up until roughly 11 pm writing progress notes on my computer, fell asleep in my glider until nearly 2 am, and woke up at 7 am to finish up just before the day team arrived at 8 am. I'm glad that this painful work week is finally over!

I'll catch up here, and possibly check back in later. I'm a bit too tired and crabby at the moment to be very sociable, but hopefully a caffeine bolus or two and an afternoon nap will set me straight.

>73 thornton37814: Neither have I, Lori. I think that beets are essential to all recipes of borscht.

>74 lunacat: I don't like my food all mixed together unless I'm the one doing the mixing. I prefer to have a mouthful of each separate item, rather than a big heap of everything.

Unfortunately I couldn't disagree with you more, Jenny! I love the combination of flavors and textures in dishes such as jambalaya and the vegetable stews I've made recently, the fabulous paellas I had in Barcelona last year, and the meals I've had at the vegetarian and raw food restaurants in London the past couple of years.

What items would be on your ideal dinner menu, Jenny?

I think I'll try two new recipes this weekend: curried cauliflower soup with chutney and cashews from my book Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, and carrot ginger soup, from the website GoNOLA.com (NOLA = New Orleans, LA). (Sorry, Jenny.)

>75 TadAD: Right, Tad. Someone should have (and probably did) question that inane play call by Pete Carroll.

>76 qebo: Interesting piece on the analysis of that fateful play, Katherine. That was a horrible play call, but credit must be given to Malcolm Butler who made an incredible play to jump the pass route and come up with one of the most impressive and important interceptions in the history of football.

I'll break down the animated gifs in >70 kidzdoc:. The top gif shows Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch shoving a New Orleans Saints defender out of the way as if he was a gnat. He is one of the best RBs in the game, and is nearly unstoppable most of the time. My point was, if you have a RB like that, and you have the ball on the opponents' 1 yard line with three chances to score the winning TD, why would you throw a pass into the teeth of the defense, where there is very little room to operate and a significant possibility that the pass could be intercepted?

>77 katiekrug: As I posted on my Facebook page I understand, and agree with, the rationale of throwing a pass in that situation (25 seconds left, 1 time out, 8 defenders stacked in the box to stop the run). However, that slant route was, IMO, the wrong one for that situation. I would have chosen a play action run/pass option instead: fake a handoff to Marshawn Lynch to draw the defensive line, linebackers, and possibly the left cornerback into the middle of the line, let QB Russell Wilson roll out to his right, along with a TE and a WR, and give Wilson the option to either run the ball into the front corner of the end zone if he is left uncovered, or, if the DB is marking him closely, loft a pass into the back corner of the end zone to the WR or TE, as one of them will probably be wide open. Probably the worst things that would have happened if that play was run is that Wilson would have been forced out of bounds short of the goal line, or the pass would have been incomplete; an INT would be unlikely, I think. And, if that play didn't succeed they could hand the ball to Lynch on third down, and again on fourth down if necessary. If they couldn't have scored after those three attempts then all credit goes to the Patriots defense.

>78 connie53: Hi, Connie! I hope that you're enjoying your weekend so far.

>79 BLBera: It was an exciting game, Beth, and it lived up to its high expectations. It's unfortunate that it had to end with that INT, though.

>80 benitastrnad: I have no idea, Benita. I didn't watch the halftime show, and I normally don't watch those events, as they are almost always more irritating than entertaining. I turned off my TV so that I wouldn't have to listen to it, switched on my radio to listen to the radio coverage of the game, and turned my TV back on when the second half started.

>81 SandDune: That makes sense, Rhian.

>82 lit_chick: Right, Nancy! That was arguably the worst call in the history of professional football, as it cost the Seahawks a victory in the Super Bowl.

Anyone remember the Miracle in the Meadowlands from 1978? Before Sunday that would have won my vote as the worst call in the history of the NFL. All Joe Pisarcik, the Giants' QB, had to do was take a knee to run out the clock and win the ball game. Instead he tried to hand the ball to RB Larry Csonka, which resulted in a fumble that was scooped up by Eagles' DB Herm Edwards, who ran the ball into the end zone for the winning TD:



>86 Berly: Yep. I don't blame you for not wanting to see that play ever again, Kim.

>87 banjo123: Mmm, crawfish...I was salivating at the thought of having crawfish étouffée last night, Rhonda, and I'm doing so again at the moment. I hadn't heard of Mississippi caviar before, so I looked it up, and it sounds delightful!



I also found this recipe from Allrecipes.com: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/mississippi-caviar/

Yep, I'll definitely try that sometime in the near future...

>88 Caroline_McElwee:, >89 lunacat:, >90 LovingLit:, >91 lunacat:, >92 LovingLit: Thanks for asking about me! I had no time last week to do anything other than check Facebook a couple of times a day during bathroom breaks. I read two pages of A History of Seven Killings by Marlon James on the train ride home last night, but that was the only thing I've read for pleasure (other than The New York Times) since last Sunday.

>94 Whisper1: Yes, it was a wicked week, Linda. Good luck on your upcoming surgery (it's on the 12th, right?).

>95 jolerie: I suppose it was productive, Valerie. All I know is that I worked my tail off, especially on Thursday when the hospitalist fellow informed us at the last minute that she wouldn't be coming to work and I had to pick up half of her patients and do four admissions in an hour, and had to deal with several difficult families that day and the next. There are many weeks that I like and enjoy my job; this week wasn't one of them.

I'm only off today and tomorrow, and I have another full week coming up. I'm scheduled to be off on Friday, but I've volunteered to be available if I'm needed, so I may end up working another full five day stretch. Right now I'm working well above a full time schedule, which for physicians is four days a week and one weekend a month. I'm in the middle of a stretch of five consecutive five day work weeks. That may not sound like a big deal, but considering that I almost always have to finish work at home until 10-11 pm every night after starting my day at 7:30 am it does make for a punishing schedule. Fortunately I'll resume my regular schedule in March, and in return I'll have another vacation free month to look forward to in the summer.

I'm so glad your wicked week is over Darryl. I hope you just put your feet up and do nothing for the weekend before your next full week. Keep your eye on .... the vacation summer month.

Darryl, you're burning the candle at both ends, for sure. Hope you rest up this weekend. I plan to make your amazing African sweet potato soup tomorrow.

>100 cameling: Thanks, Caroline. I have a ticket to see the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company perform at nearby Emory University tonight, but I'm so fried that I probably won't go, even though BTJ/AZ is my favorite modern dance company.

>101 lauralkeet: Definitely so, Laura. I have a couple of work tasks that I had hoped to do today, but they will have to wait until tomorrow or Monday.

I look forward to your comments about the African sweet potato soup. I'll probably have the last of it for dinner tonight.

Thanks to Luci for sharing with us the sad news that South African author and leading anti-apartheid activist André Brink died yesterday at the age of 79, as his flight was en route from Amsterdam to Cape Town. His most famous novel was A Dry White Season, and his last novel, Philida, was longlisted for the 2012 Booker Prize. I read that book and his previous collection of short stories, Other Lives, and I enjoyed both of them. I'll read A Dry White Season later this year, and I'll be on the lookout for more of his work.



New York Times: André Brink, South African Literary Figure, Dies at 79

That is sad about Andre Brink. He is on my to-read list.

>99 kidzdoc: I will be interested in how you like that Mississippi Caviar recipe. ours is a little different. Here is the closest we've got:

Cajun Caviar

• 1 (10 1/2 ounce) can black-eyed peas, drained
• 1/2 cup bell pepper, chopped (I use a mixture of red and yellow peppers)
• 1/2 cup green onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced (large)
• 1/3 cup pickled jalapeno pepper, chopped
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 tablespoon wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients and mix well.
2. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but overnight is best.
3. Keep chilled until ready to serve with tortilla chips, corn chips or crackers.

I did have crawfish etoufee and it was SO good! Also these awesome brussell sprouts roasted with lime, chile and honey.

Hope your next workweek is easier!

Whew, just caught up on your threads after being without regular internet for 2.5 weeks. First comment is so much discussion on food and cooking, love that as I've just had 3 months of continually eating out and am finally heading back into the kitchen. One dish I'm keen to attempt is gundi (Persian Chicken Meatball Soup). We had two trips to Salami, a small family run Persian restaurant in Florentin, an old commericial district in Tel Aviv and this was one of the three items on their (verbal) menu. The serving is just one huge meatball in a small plate of broth.

Going back to your last thread, I loved all the dicussion on Moon Tiger which I read and also didn't enjoy. I'll keep up with my plan of reading Lively's children's books and maybe attempt her memoir. I have to say that my Orange January choice, The history of love by Nicole Krauss was a brilliant read, heartwarming, engaging etc etc and a book that had the soulfulness that I found missing in both my BAC books, Moon Tiger and the restrained but excellent The Remains of the Day.

>102 kidzdoc: A great loss Andre Brink. A brave writer and always readable. Wrote his books in both english and afrikaans and was one of my favourite writers through my twenties.

Have a great weekend, Darryl.

Sorry to hear that you've had such an awful week, but I hope you can have a relaxing weekend, and that you don't end up needing to work on Friday.

He's back! Wow, it sounds like you might have preferred foul play to your hectic work week. I hope you get the chance to rest up and recuperate. And read.

More sad news: the Algerian author and women's rights activist Assia Djebar died yesterday, at the age of 78. She won the 1996 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, and was nominated as a finalist for the Nobel Prize in Literature on at least one occasion. Although I haven't read anything by her yet I own three of her books, namely Children of the New World, The Tongue's Blood Does Not Run Dry, and Algerian White, at least one of which I will read for the fourth quarter Reading Globally challenge.



Yahoo News: Algerian novelist Assia Djebar dead at 78

>103 banjo123: Mmm...that Cajun caviar sounds good, Rhonda. I may try that next weekend...oh, right, I definitely will! We're having a Mardi Gras party at work on the 17th, and I promised to make Creole jambalaya next weekend. I could make this as well and bring it in.

>104 avatiakh: Hi, Kerry! The gundi recipe sounds interesting; I'll be curious to see how it turns out for you. Your trip sounds fantastic, and I look forward to more photos and descriptions of it.

I haven't read and don't own The History of Love, but I enjoyed her novel Great House, so I'd be willing to try more of Nicole Krauss's work.

>105 PaulCranswick: Yes, the deaths of André Brink, and Assia Djebar, are major losses to the literary world. Which books have you read and enjoyed by Brink, Paul?

>106 lunacat: Thanks, Jenny. I had a nice two hour nap, and I will stay home tonight instead of going to the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company performance, even though I was looking forward to it.

I hope that you're doing better today.

>107 LovingLit: Ha! Foul play may have been preferable indeed, especially the past two days. The Atlanta area has been hit by a particularly virulent strain of viral gastroenteritis (vomiting and diarrhea), and I saw at least 10 kids with it this week. The two patients I sent studies on tested positive for rotavirus, which is another vaccine preventable illness. If either child had been vaccinated against it the chance of either of them getting sick enough to need hospital admission would have been no more than 1-2%.

Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear about André Brink's passing. I've only read A Dry White Season and I have this translated Looking on Darkness in my TBR Tower. I should add this to the list of books I want to read this year.

>110 cameling: Looking on Darkness sounds interesting. Thanks for mentioning it, Caroline; I'll add it to my wish list and look for it when I travel to London in the spring.

Very sorry to hear about Andre Brink. I read and enjoyed both Philida and A Dry White Season. Shame.

I just hate it when learning of someone's death prompts me to finally get around to reading a book. It seems so sad. Regardless, A Dry White Season moves up on the list. Hope you are having a restful weekend.

I am watching with increased frustration the "vaccine" debate which seems to have increased a notch or two in recent weeks .... seems to be going down a individual freedom versus societal good path, which in the USA I don't think will end well .....well maybe if they find the ability to enter other countries is restricted.

Guessing there was some major tactical error in Final game ? which I think is beyond this casual observer ... never mind cricket world cup is here soon - maybe we can get you all excited in the game? No ?

I like your method of dealing with the airhead halftime shows of recent years. I should try that. Unfortunately, this year I was trapped in a hotel room in snowy Chicago with a roommate who wanted to watch the game and the halftime show. I shouldn't castigate her much because I did convince her to walk with me to Giordono's Pizza before the game started in the middle of a record setting snowfall.

When you are in Chicago give Eataly a try. I didn't get to eat there but did have a gelato. I would be interested in your opinion.

Hm.. my generation got all the vaccinations without discussion, but I still got all the "childhood" diseases, including scarlet fever, measles and pertussis(?). In case of rubella I got it aged 3 and the vaccination was given years later, so it had no chance to work. But although it at best may have given me a shorter course of disease, I never questioned its use. I'd never see vaccination against those classical infectious diseases as a restriction of my personal freedom, on the contrary. Not too long ago people died from those things, so why not prevent if we can? Yearly flu shots - okay. Tried those, felt poorly for days each time and stopped some years ago. And as I understand it's always last year's virus they use, so you aren't really safe from this season's one anyway?

****
I've been to Eataly in Torino (the original one) and Milano. No chance to get a table in any of them, long queues for each restaurant. Great meats to look at and cheeses and I mainly loved the bread and foccaccia stations and of course the books.

I guess for the US/UK even Germany that shop concept isn't so super original and if it works in Chicago then it's because of the great reputation Italian food has in the world. In Italy however the concept of restaurants/ pizza station/ baking station integrated into a food shop is still new and quite revolutionary. You just don't "eat in shops" or "shop in a restaurant". Another element that makes is special here is that you don't just find your regional fare but food from all Italy and in great quality.

I've already been wondering if it works that well long-term in other countries with its high prices.

****
Caught a FB for the Cajun caviar. Another interesting way to use those "beans with eyes".

>116 Deern: No, they try to figure out what the next year's virus will be and make the vaccine from that. This year they missed - the one that's most prevalent was not included in the vaccine (it has two or three, as usual), so the immunization is limited (even more than usual). I don't know if it really helps, but it doesn't hurt me (I've never felt particularly sick afterward) so I get it anyway. If it actively makes you sick, yeah, probably not worth getting - though you may wish you'd gotten it any year that the real flu catches you. Insurance policy - worth it if you can afford it.

I know I had chicken pox and tonsillitis; I don't think I had measles and I know I never had mumps. No idea what rubella is (which shows that I grew up after vaccines!). Since we grew up overseas, we got every vaccine as soon as it was available - that's one thing the State Department doctors do focus on (for good reason).

>117 jjmcgaffey: I looked up Röteln in the online dictionary and it returned rubella or German measles. Rubella sounded better for me. :)
And of course I had the chicken pox and the mumps as well, but with light fever only. I can check them all off.

Flu shots were free in my old company, but I always got a light fever and pain in my joints from them, so I stopped. It's been at least 15 years since real flu hit me, I hope it keeps staying away.

There was some scandal in Italy this year about the flu shots, I didn't really follow it, but it seems they got/ developed a different vaccine than other countries and now we have the most flu cases in the EU.

>116 Deern: >117 jjmcgaffey:

Apparently the guess missed to such an extent in the UK that the vaccine was only effective in 3% of flu cases as opposed to the usual 50% coverage it gives. Also, the flu virus that has been prevalent this winter has been far more dangerous to the elderly than, for instance, the swine flu which seemed to affect the young and healthy. The WHO say that this years flu virus has mutated since they decided on which to vaccinate against, so they had no chance of being able to combat it.

All quite alarming, and an insight into problems I'd imagine will occur increasingly often as the viruses get one step ahead of us and our attempts, and bacteria and infections are able to withstand our antibiotics.

It's a gorgeous day in Atlanta! It will be sunny and warm, with a high of 66 F (19 C). I made my usual trip to Publix to buy groceries, and I'll make at least two, and possibly three, dishes today: the aforementioned Carrot Ginger Soup from GoNOLA.com, the Curried Cauliflower Soup with Chutney & Cashews from my book Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, and Zuppa Toscana, a new recipe that was posted on Budget Bytes a few days ago. I'll definitely make the cauliflower soup and the Zuppa Toscana, which looks heavenly (see photo below), and I'll make the carrot ginger soup if I have time. I'll start cooking now, as I'd love to spend the afternoon outside if possible.



I think I'll get those two meals going, and check back in a bit later.

Yes, that sounds like a tough week, Darryl. Hope you get some good time to kick back and relax.

>120 kidzdoc: This makes me really hungry, Darryl. Enjoy your day off work.

Ooooh, I *love* Zuppa Toscana! And 60-degree weather?! I'll be right over...

The Zuppa Toscana is ready!



Unfortunately the chef is not in a sharing mood. He is guarding the pot like a hawk, and he wishes to inform the customers of the café that he will provide them with the recipe (click on the hyperlink for the web site), and says that "they can make it themselves."

Zuppa Toscana

Ingredients:

½ lb. Italian Sausage (hot or mild) $1.46
1 yellow onion $0.32
2 cloves garlic $0.16
1 (15 oz.) can Great Northern beans $1.00
½ tsp smoked paprika $0.05
3 cups chicken broth* $0.36
1 cup water $0.00
2 cups half and half $1.69
3 medium red potatoes (1.5-1.75 lbs.) $1.67
1 bunch (8 oz.) kale, chopped $1.50
pinch red pepper flakes (optional) $0.02
freshly cracked black pepper (optional) $0.05

Instructions:

Squeeze the sausage out of its casing into a large pot. Sauté over medium heat, breaking it up into small pieces as it cooks. The sausage should contain enough fat to keep it from sticking, if not add a touch of olive oil. It's okay if a small amount browns on the bottom of the pot.

While the sausage is cooking, dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add them to the pot and sauté until the onions are softened. The moisture from the onions should help dissolve any browned bits of sausage off the bottom of the pot.

Drain and rinse the can of beans. Add the beans, smoked paprika, chicken broth, one cup water, and half and half to the pot. Place a lid on the pot and let it come up to a simmer over medium heat.

While the pot is heating, cut each potato into quarters lengthwise, then slice across into thin slices. Add the potatoes to the pot along with the pre-chopped kale. The kale will fill the pot when it's first added, but the heat from the liquid will wilt it within a few minutes. Stir it occasionally to help the wilting process.

Let the pot simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Season with red pepper flakes and freshly cracked black pepper if desired.
____________________________________________________________________

I've never had Zuppa Toscana before, but this tastes amazing! The recipe makes a huge pot, which can serve at least eight people.

The cauliflower soup has been going in my slow cooker for a couple of hours, and it will be ready in plenty of time for dinner. My refrigerator and freezer are nearly full of food, so I think I'll wait until Friday to make the carrot and ginger soup.

Sounds like some good cooking going on! Your Mardi Gras potluck sounds like fun. I hope you like the Cajun caviar. I have to give Mrs. Banjo the credit for it, as she is the one who found the recipe.

I enjoy your thread very much. I need to take a closer look at some of the books that you have posted.

I worry though about what we may miss from translations. A basic historical classic can be controversial when skilled hands release translations. A lively but disconcerting discussion can follow from those who know the original language well.

Translators are so often the unsung heroes. The difficulty of matching words under the sense and spirit of the writing seems so daunting.

Have you read the same work done by different translators?

The curried cauliflower soup with mango chutney and cashews is done:



Ingredients:

1 tbsp coconut oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
2 tsp curry powder or paste
1 medium sized head of cauliflower, trimmed & chopped
1 medium Yukon Gold potato, peeled & diced
6 cups vegetable stock
1/4 cup mango chutney
1/4 cup roasted cashews
1 tbsp minced fresh parsley leaves
salt

Directions:

1) heat oil in med skillet over med-high heat. Add onion & carrot, cover & cook about 5min until softened. Add curry powder & stir to coat.

2) transfer onion mix to slow cooker. Add cauliflower, potato & stock. Season with salt, cover & let cook on low for 6 hours.

3) Add the chutney & working in batches, puree the soup in blender/food processor or use an immersion blender to puree right in cooker. Taste & adjust seasonings as necessary. Serve garnished with sprinkling of cashews & parsley.

Number of Servings: 6
___________________________________________________

Hmm. This was quite a disappointment, as it is very bland despite the inclusion of mango chutney, red curry powder and cashews. (I'm still stuffed from the bowl of Zuppa Toscana I had for lunch about 5 hours ago, so I only had a tiny bowl of this soup). I'll have to add some spices to it, and possibly more curry powder, to see if I can breathe some life into it. Oh well, at least it's a healthy and inexpensive soup and it wasn't hard to make, but I almost certainly won't prepare this again.

Taking advantage of a long weekend in my part of the world to get caught up with threads! Congratulations on Thread #4!

Love the Halsman photos! I have never had key lime pie - Love lemon meringue pie, when it is done right - and I am now starting to realize I have been missing out on quite the flavour sensation. I must attempt to make one..... it uses a crumb base, right, because I am terrible at pastry and feel like a failure in the kitchen if I have to rely on store bought pie crust.

>38 lunacat: - Oh, the second recipe looks yummy! Good thing I: 1) know what HobNobs are, and 2) can buy them where I am! I am guessing, in a pinch, one can substitute a traditional graham wafer crust.

>62 kidzdoc: - I have steered clear of borscht most of my life but that recipe looks tasty. The recipe in >72 kidzdoc: is one that is similar to what my grandmother used to make.... wasn't a fan of that as a child. ;-)

*makes note of Cajun Caviar recipe*

>120 kidzdoc: - That Zuppa Toscana does look wonderful and looks like it should be pretty easy to make a vegetarian version, although we have a market that makes the best bison and sun dried tomato sausages.....

I am now all caught up and super hungry. Happy Sunday, Darryl!

>96 kidzdoc: 'll break down the animated gifs
Ah, “this” is a person. :-)

>127 kidzdoc: My sister-in-law makes an excellent curried cauliflower soup but I’ve been unable to extract a recipe; she just puts together a little of this and a little of that by instinct. Annoying.

>112 lit_chick: I agree, Nancy. Brink's death was sudden and unexpected, and it's sad that neither he nor Assia Djebar will be honored with a Nobel Prize in Literature (both writers were nominated on at least one occasion, I believe).

>113 AnneDC: Right, Anne. I had planned to read at least one of Assia Djebar's books for the fourth quarter Reading Globally challenge, but I wasn't planning to read A Dry White Season or anything else by André Brink this year, even though I enjoyed Philida and Other Lives. I'll also move A Dry White Season higher on my TBR list, and look for more of his work soon.

I'm still pretty sleepy, despite an afternoon nap, as I didn't sleep well last night. I'll probably turn in early tonight, as I'm on call for admissions again tomorrow.

>114 roundballnz: Alex, the measles outbreak in the US has received extensive media attention and energized grassroots public support against the anti-vaccinationists, more so than at any other time that I can remember, and politicians in California and other states are considering legislation to make it more difficult for parents to receive exemptions from having their kids vaccinated.

I and essentially all of my pediatrician colleagues are strongly pro-vaccine, especially those of us who work in hospitals and care for patients with vaccine preventable illness, such as the two kids I treated last week with acute rotavirus gastroenteritis (the 6-8 others I saw may have had the same infection as well, but I didn't order tests for them). I think it is cruel, dangerous and borderline neglectful for these parents to not vaccinate their kids, especially for some of the asinine reasons they choose. Fortunately it's relatively rare for me to see a completely unvaccinated child, especially compared to kids in states like California and Wisconsin, and the few times I've taken care of such a child with a serious illness like meningitis from a bacterium that is included in the routine immunization series the parents have seen the light of reason and expressed their desire to have their children immunized ASAP.

>115 benitastrnad: Thanks for recommending Eataly, Benita. There is one in Manhattan, on 5th Ave near 23rd St. I've passed by it on at least a couple of occasions during visits to the city, but I haven't gone inside yet. I'll pay Eataly a visit later this year, during a visit to my parents' home.

ETA: Did you hear the news that the legendary UNC basketball coach and Emporia, Kansas native Dean Smith died yesterday? He was a class act, IMO.

>116 Deern: I was born a little less than six years after Jonas Salk's polio vaccine (which was created at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, my alma mater) was announced, and two years before the measles vaccine became available in the US. Essentially all of the children of my generation received routine vaccinations too, as our parents were fully aware of the high morbidity and mortality associated with those two pathogens. I routinely visited "shut ins" with my mother when I was a young child, who were church members that were bedridden, and at least a couple of them were afflicted with paralytic polio. I also knew several older children and adults who wore leg braces as a result of polio, and a cousin of the neighbors directly across the street from my parents' house who I came to know well was also paralyzed from the legs down from polio. My grandparents and those of their generation would have undoubtedly known of families whose children died of diphtheria in the 1920s and 1930s, so they would have insisted that their grandchildren get vaccinated as soon as they could.

Parents nowadays are almost completely unaware of how deadly those childhood pathogens were in the first half of the 20th century, and they grew up without the fear that polio outbreaks caused in NYC and elsewhere. (One reason that I never learned to swim is that my parents, and especially grandparents, forbid me to take lessons at the local municipal swimming pool, which is how many children contracted polio in major cities like Jersey City and NYC).

I don't think I ever contracted measles, mumps or rubella, but I'll have to ask my parents about that. My worst childhood illness was chicken pox, which I caught from my younger brother when I was 15 years old. I was out of school for roughly two weeks, and I was sick as a dog for most of that time. (I still haven't forgiven him for that.)

I used to feel achy and a bit run down after I received the influenza vaccine, but it doesn't seem to bother me at all now. And, whatever ill effects I suffered from the flu jab pale in comparison to the disease itself. I've only had it once since I moved to Atlanta in 1997, which occurred during the year that the vaccine was a particularly poor match against the circulating strains. I get the vaccine every year, which has become essentially a requirement for working in the hospital, but even if it wasn't a requirement I would get it anyway, as I care for at least one or two dozen kids every year who are hospitalized due to complications of the flu, and I would almost certainly come down with it if I wasn't vaccinated (and, worse yet, I would spread it to other susceptible patients, families, and co-workers).

And as I understand it's always last year's virus they use, so you aren't really safe from this season's one anyway?

Actually that's not the case. Here's information about the selection process from the CDC:

How are the viruses selected to make flu vaccine?

The influenza (flu) viruses selected for inclusion in the seasonal flu vaccines are updated each year based on which influenza virus strains are circulating, how they are spreading, and how well current vaccine strains protect against newly identified strains. Currently, 141 national influenza centers in 111 countries conduct year-round surveillance for influenza and study influenza disease trends. These laboratories also send influenza viruses to the five World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centers for Reference and Research on Influenza located in Atlanta, Georgia, USA (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC); London, United Kingdom (National Institute for Medical Research); Melbourne, Australia (Victoria Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory); Tokyo, Japan (National Institute for Infectious Diseases); and Beijing, China (National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention) for additional analyses.

The influenza viruses in the seasonal flu vaccine are selected each year based on surveillance-based forecasts about what viruses are most likely to cause illness in the coming season. WHO recommends specific vaccine viruses for inclusion in influenza vaccines, but then each individual country makes their own decision for which strains should be included in influenza vaccines licensed in their country. In the United States, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determines which vaccine viruses will be used in U.S.—licensed vaccines.

I'll have to see if I can go to Eataly in NYC during a weekday, either before or after the lunch crowds arrive there.

FB = food bullet?

>117 jjmcgaffey: Right, Jennifer. And, in general, even when the influenza vaccine isn't a good match against the circulating strains, as is the case this year, the vaccine usually affords at least some protection, and vaccinated individuals generally don't become as sick as one who are unvaccinated. I received the vaccine this year, was exposed to at least 15-20 kids with proven influenza (based on a rapid influenza test at their doctors' offices or clinics not affiliated with Children's, or on a respiratory viral panel that Children's offers), but I didn't develop any flu-like symptoms when we were seeing infected kids from late November through December.

Rubella is German measles. It generally doesn't make infected children and adults very sick, but fetuses of pregnant women can develop severe sequelae or stillbirth from congenital rubella syndrome. I think I've only seen one or two kids with this syndrome in my career, thanks to the MMR vaccine.

>118 Deern: Even if I didn't have to get the flu vaccine for work or had concerns of passing it on to others I would get it anyway, as I have asthma and would run the risk of developing a significant asthma attack and/or an influenza lower respiratory tract infection if I didn't. And, even if I wasn't asthmatic I'd rather put up with a mild fever and achiness than deal with a full blown attack of flu.

>119 lunacat: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US reported last month that this season's vaccine is only 23% effective in preventing visits to health care providers, which is mainly due to a difference between the H3N2 strain of virus in the vaccine and the H3N2 viral strain that is circulating here.

Early Estimates of Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness — United States, January 2015

>131 kidzdoc: My music teacher (who we all adored) wore leg braces because of childhood polio but I wasn't aware that it could be fatal until I read Shiloh Autumn, a historical fiction novel set in the Dust Bowl era, in which one of the children dies from the disease. It was probably one of the saddest things I've ever read.

Sadly, a lady I used to teach Sunday school with years ago died a few weeks back from complications of the flu. She developed pneumonia and when they went in to drain the fluid surgically (it had gotten that bad), she went into cardiac arrest. She was probably in her early to mid 40s. We were all so shocked and saddened. I know she had fibromyalgia, so I'm assuming that she was on meds. for that, which may have made it harder for her to fight off an infection.

As I understand it, the vaccine doesn't prevent you from getting the flu, but rather if you do catch it, makes it much less severe, therefore, the complications are less likely. Is that right?

>121 jnwelch: It was a tough week, Joe. Hopefully I'll only have to work four days this week, as I don't feel fully rested as I usually would on Sunday night. Fortunately I don't have to go to work until 10 am tomorrow, so I should be able to get a good night's sleep tonight.

>122 Ameise1: Thanks, Barbara. I'm sorry that you're sick, and I hope that you're feeling better by now.

>123 scaifea: According to my Facebook post the nurses I work with are starting to lay claim to the Zuppa Toscana, Amber, so you'd better come over soon!

>125 banjo123: The Zuppa Toscana turned out great, although the cauliflower soup was a disappointment. One of my partners is going to make or bring a King Cake for Mardi Gras, but my partner who is from south Louisiana won't be working on Fat Tuesday and I don't know if anyone else will bring anything.

Darryl, I made the African sweet potato soup and it was really tasty. The best part is the leftovers I'll have for lunch tomorrow!!

>126 Forthwith: Thanks for the visit and compliment, Michael! I'll be able to read and review more of the books I've posted starting next month, when my work schedule lightens up.

I agree with your comment about the great importance of a good translator in an accurate portrayal of the author's intent. I've read numerous books that seemed to be translated well, and others (especially ones written in French) which seemed stilted and were largely inscrutable. We had a nice discussion about translators in the past year or two in Club Read, after some of us read books by notable translators about the process, including Why Translation Matters by Edith Grossman and Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything by David Bellos (I read the first one, and I own but haven't yet read the second one).

Hmm...speaking of translated books, I wonder if the longlists for the Best Translated Book Awards have come out yet. Checking...no, the longlists will be announced on March 2nd. The 2015 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize longlist will also be announced next month.

>128 lkernagh: Hi, Lori! I'm mildly envious of your long weekend, after three straight five day weeks and two day weekends (which seem like six day weeks and one day weekends).

I haven't tried making a dessert in years, so I can't comment about the crust in Key lime pie. (Hmm...have I ever made a cake or pie? I don't think so.)

I talked to my mother on the phone a couple of hours ago, and she would like for me to make borscht, as she enjoys it but hasn't had it in many years. I'll probably try Ratner's recipe instead of the one I made last weekend.

I would think that you could make a vegetarian version of Zuppa Toscana, using two cans of Great Northern or other white beans in place of the sausage. The bison and sun-dried tomato sausage sounds great; I'd love to try that (I wonder if Ted's Montana Grill offers it?).

>129 qebo: Do I detect a mild hint of jealousy at your SIL's cooking prowess, Katherine?

>133 avidmom: Philip Roth also wrote a very good recent novel centered on polio, namely Nemesis, which is set in Newark, New Jersey in the mid 1940s.

My best friend's mother-in-law died due to complications of H1N1 influenza several years ago. She had received a bone marrow transplant after she was diagnosed with a very rare form of chronic leukemia, and despite her grim outlook she seemed to be on the verge of making a full recovery until she was stricken with the virus. I've taken care of several children who developed influenza pneumonia or a secondary bacterial pneumonia who were very ill and had to have pus drained from the pleural space (which surrounds the lung), and I know of at least two children who I didn't directly care for who died due to influenza during the year that the vaccine didn't work well. The kids I saw this year in the hospital fortunately weren't that sick as those in previous years.

If the woman you mentioned was on steroids or other immunosuppressive agents it would have made it much more difficult for her to fight off any infection, including influenza. That's almost certainly what happened to my friend's MIL, as she was on an immunosuppressive regimen to keep her from rejecting the bone marrow transplant she had received at the time that she contracted H1N1 influenza.

As I understand it, the vaccine doesn't prevent you from getting the flu, but rather if you do catch it, makes it much less severe, therefore, the complications are less likely. Is that right?

Pretty much. If you are vaccinated against any pathogen, including influenza, it usually takes about two weeks for the body to develop passive immunity (active immunity results after an infection with a pathogen, as the body's immune system develops a response against it). So, people who develop the flu after they received the vaccine either contracted the virus in that two week period before they were fully immunized, didn't develop a robust immune response to the vaccine, were infected with a strain of influenza that wasn't covered by the vaccine, or were infected with another respiratory virus. If you are fully protected by the vaccine and are exposed to the virus you would be colonized by it, and as a result you may develop mild symptoms until your body's immune system clears the virus, or you might not have any discernible symptoms at all. Even if you do develop symptoms the chance of you developing a full blown case of the flu and complications from are considerably less than if you weren't vaccinated at all.

>135 lauralkeet: I'm glad that you liked the African sweet potato soup, Laura! I still have one serving left, and I'll make it again when I visit my parents later this month.

I haven't been to the Doctors' Lounge in the hospital in weeks, as I've been bringing leftovers for lunch every day, including this soup.

>136 kidzdoc: Well, she actually enjoys cooking which might explain how she has developed skill. I follow recipes precisely because I have no idea what will happen if I deviate.

>131 kidzdoc: We now have a probable case of measles in Lancaster (more on my thread) so I dug out immunization records going back to childhood to make sure I'm covered (yes). The local newspaper has been informative, but is also collecting opinions on Facebook about requiring vaccinations...

I made the African sweet potato soup today, too and it was absolutely delicious.

I was going to be clever and throw it in the crock pot before going out for the day .... and .... my crockpot died. I think it was more than 35 years old and used frequently. Poor thing. It gave its all.

I had also made your roasted cauliflower as a Super Bowl munchie last week. It was also very good and the leftovers were even better!

A while back I read District Nurse, one of Faith Baldwin's working-girl romances from the 1930s. The heroine is a community nurse in New York working amongst the poorer communities, and one section of the novel has her preparing for the expected summer polio outbreak; another case deals with a baby with diphtheria; both of which, and the associated deaths, are accepted as unavoidable. It seems to me too that the anti-vaccination brigade has no grasp of how things used to be, or the death and misery associated with these diseases which we now have the ability to prevent.

>138 qebo: I'm sure it's obvious that I enjoy cooking and trying new recipes, even though I'm not at the point where I can combine ingredients to make a tasty meal. I'll sometimes make slight deviations to the recipe, but generally I'll follow them to the letter, and I've been very pleased by the majority of recipes I've tried so far.

My home town of Jersey City had its first case of measles last week, which was also the first one in NJ in 2015. I wouldn't be surprised if Atlanta had a case soon, if it hasn't had one already.

>139 streamsong: I'm glad that you liked the African sweet potato soup too, streamsong. Was it you or someone else who said that they were going to cut back on the spices in the recipe? If it was you, what did you eliminate or substitute?

I wish I had made the whole spicy roasted cauliflower instead of the curried cauliflower soup yesterday.

Your crock pot has earned its rest! My microwave suddenly stopped working a few weeks ago, after 21+ years of faithful and reliable service. It may be just a fuse, since it was working perfectly until it suddenly shut down. I'll take a close look at it soon, but hopefully I won't need to buy a new one.

>140 lyzard: Yep. As George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." I hope and pray that the anti-vaxxers' misguided campaign doesn't lead to a large scale resurgence of measles, diphtheria, polio and other vaccine preventable diseases within and outside of the US.

>142 kidzdoc: No, I didn't adjust the spices, although I did use less jalapeno and was very careful about the seeds. I thought it turned out mild but very flavorful - I loved the lime juice at the end. I used Thai Kitchens curry paste, which, I have seen dissed on other boards as being too mild (actually the word being tossed around was flavorless). But, short of ordering it online, that is what was available in small town Montana.

>131 kidzdoc: I don't think I ever contracted measles, mumps or rubella.......My worst childhood illness was chicken pox
I had all those as a kid! Oh, apart from Rubella. We were vaccinated against that as tweens, in my last year of primary school. But I am sure it was only the girls that got it. Maybe I wasn't vaccinated to the extent that my kids are now. They get MMR shots and menengitis ones, and whatever else is on the schedule. Wilbur rebels against getting his flu shot (kids have to have one and then the dreaded booster- they know what to expect!) but I have mine as it is free at university. My lovely other gets a free one at work, and the kids are free too seeing as they are kids. So we are all good.

>142 kidzdoc: I am still thinking about that whole roasted cauli, I will have to try it one day!

eta: the Cajun jambalaya was fantastic. I fiddled with the proportions a bit, less liquid and rice, but it turned out well. I used smoked kransky from my local butcher, and that contributed a great flavour. I added a chilli sauce to mine but not the kids' meals. A hit!

My husband came down with the Chicken Pox shortly after we were married. You do NOT want to get it as an adult. He had the vaccines, so his case was probably not as bad as it could have been, but he was so sick! He had the pox down his throat and could barely swallow. For me, it was not such a big deal. I remember getting it when I was about 8. And then my sister and then my brother. My poor Mom. It went on forever!!

I downloaded three more recipes. : ) Thanks!

Did you happen to catch American Experience on PBS tonight? Very interesting look at tuberculosis. The Frontline episode after it is Being Mortal.

>1 kidzdoc: I was thinking about reading the Wes Moore book. Looking forward to your comments on it.

>146 Oberon: Daryl, you can watch the Being Mortal Frontline at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/being-mortal/

I hope this week is going better than last week Darryl.

I was surprised when I took my kids to get their routine vaccinations awhile back that they were now offering a vaccine for the chicken pox. I got it as a kid a long with most people I know so I was just curious as to why they are offering it now? I always thought it was a normal part of growing up.

The chicken pox vaccine is a relatively new one...introduced in 1995 in the US.

>150 jolerie: I had the same reaction when we started getting vaccinations for our kids. Made me wonder if chicken pox, which was pretty much a rite of passage for kids growing up, is going to quickly become one of those diseases that only rarely flares up in under vaccinated communities or maybe even eradicated all together.

Well I just had my Yellow Fever jab a couple of weeks ago despite my innate fear of needles. I was a bit miffed actually because the authorities in Ghana didn't refer to the required card even on a single occasion.

Btw there are supposed to be often fairly severe reactions to the vaccination. I had none at all but both Peter and Tim who joined me in Ghana were quite ill in the days afterwards. Tim even had blurred vision for 48 hours.

>150 jolerie: Maybe because of shingles? Or because kids aren't getting chicken pox (for whatever reason), and therefore are getting it for the first time as adults - which as >145 Berly: said, is really nasty. Or just because they can - they found a functional vaccine, so why not use it? If, of course, it offers at least as good immunity as an actual case of chicken pox.

I remember when Charlie's doctor asked us if we wanted to include the Chicken Pox vaccine, explaining that it was fairly new and that some people don't want it. I very nearly shouted my "YES!" response. Of course I want him to have a chicken pox vaccine! And every time I go to the doctor I ask if I'm old enough yet for the shingles vaccine - I live in all sorts of fear for that particularly nasty bit of nature.

This week has been considerably worse than last week, and it's all but certain that I'll have to work tomorrow as well, along with all of next week. I'm way too busy and tired to reply to posts right now, and I think I'll take an LT holiday until the weekend after next.

Sorry to hear about your heavy work load. We'll miss you, but know you will report in when possible . . .
Take care of yourself.

We'll miss you, Darryl, but don't stress out over us!

Sorry to hear that things are so bad but I'm sure you're making the best decisions to take care of yourself, and we'll be happy to see you back when things aren't so difficult and exhausting! I hope things begin to settle down soon, and don't force yourself to be here when it takes up too much of your reserves.

Hang in there!

Sorry you're having a tough week.

I just heard about this book on the radio (BBC Radio 4) and I thought of you:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/11376529/Reading-the-World-...

Sending you my best wishes for a less-stressful few days.

>156 kidzdoc: yikes! That does sound tough. Rest up where you can Darryl! See you on the other side. :)

>156 kidzdoc: Point to this as a reminder if anyone expresses envy when you’re gallivanting around Europe next summer. You definitely pay your dues.

Wishing you the energy to cooe with your manic work schedule Darryl. And deep sleep when they let you at your pillow.

NO! You can't go on break. I was just going to tell everyone how all your fantastic recipes have changed my life!! OK. I'll continue and you can read about it later....

I just made my fifth Darryl recipe in two weeks, which is more new recipes than I have made in the last year! My family is so excited. I even went out and found a new app to store recipes and I am loving it. I chose One Tsp. You can upload website recipes or hand-type in old favorites. It allows tags and you can upload pictures. It makes shopping lists for you....

Darryl, and friends, thanks for making cooking fun again! Tonight's hit was Zuppa Toscana.

: )

We don't have the chicken pox vaccine offered as standard in the UK, although the shingles vaccine is given to older people. There is some clinical reason although I'm not sure that it sounds convincing to me. I had chicken pox in my early twenties, and was off work for two weeks, so I can confirm that it is not nice. J, who had it when he was two, seemed to feel a bit off-colour for a day or so. I had all the other childhood diseases as I was pre-vaccination: apparently I was quite poorly with measles but don't remember at all,

Oh dang, Darryl! I'm sorry that work is so heavy and stressful right now. We'll be here when you get back...

I hope work lets up for you soon, Darryl!

Sending best wishes to our favourite doctor. I see Hani proposed some Korean noodles for you over on FB......I hope you can manage to get nourishment and rest enough to come back to us soon buddy.

Thinking of you Darryl and hoping the workload eases soon.

Hi Darryl, My vacation started today and I hope to catch up and then keep up reading all posts in my starred threads. I'll ask Peet, my husband, if he wants to try your cauliflower soup. It looks delicious!

:( Sorry that work is so tough, Darryl! Here is hoping for a wave a pediatric health to sweep through Atlanta.

Coincidentally, I just had the shingles vaccine yesterday, along with a follow up on the pneumonia vaccine. I was glad to have it, but my arm is sore today.

Hang in there, Darryl! We will see you on the other side. Sending you energy filled vibes. :)

Hope you can catch a break very soon, Darryl!

Way back a thread or two ago, I made your (well, Heather's) jambalaya, and it was really good! For some reason it was a little too liquid-y, so I'll add a bit more rice next time, and maybe a little more seasoning. As it was, it was yummy, and I'm glad to have an easy, satisfying meal on hand.

Hurry back from your LT holiday!

I hope the work load is relatively light this week, Darryl.

But before I forget, I want to add my bit to the vaccination discussion. I was a child of the 50s, without vaccinations except for smallpox--I remember having that scar on my arm for years. I had measles, German measles (I was 5), chicken pox twice (both times attested to by a doctor, and mumps in 5th grade. I remember a lot of miserable days. When I was in 6th grade, the Salk vaccine became available and our whole school was transported to some public building to be given it--we were so glad it was a sugar cube and not a shot! One of my classmates had polio as a young child and had a twisted leg and a limp as a result, however. For my generation, I think vaccinations have always had a positive connotation. Unfortunately, I got shingles two years before the age when I would have been offered it as a matter of course.

Well, this weekend has been another failure on the reading standpoint so far, as I've only read about 40 pages of The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie all week. Next week will be the last one in my five week stretch, so I'll have much more time to read starting next weekend.

It has been a very successful cooking weekend though, as I've made several new recipes that I'm very fond of, so I thought I'd post them here now instead of waiting until next weekend. The first one is Winter Potato, White Bean, and Kale Soup, courtesy of the website One Green Planet:



Ingredients:

1 sweet potato, diced
a couple purple/blue potatoes, diced (enough to have equal amount potatoes)
1 tablespoon sesame or olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can (15 oz) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
small handful sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
4 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoon nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons Herbes de Provence or thyme
3 or 4 handfuls kale, chopped
sea salt & fresh cracked pepper to taste

Instructions:

In large pot or dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat, add potatoes and cook for about 5 minutes. Add onion and garlic and cook an addition 5 to 10 minutes, or until everything starts browning a bit.

Add broth, nutritional yeast, beans and sun-dried tomatoes, bring to a boil, cover, turn down heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes…just until potatoes are tender.

Remove from heat, add kale and let wilt. Serve with crusty bread and top with cracked pepper and almond parmesan.
_____________________________________________________

This is very tasty! I couldn't find nutritional yeast at Publix, and I have no idea what is, so I used Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast instead. I chose this recipe because I still had half a bag of kale left over from last week's Zuppa Toscana recipe, and because it sounded particularly good. I wasn't disappointed.

Happy Sunday, Darryl.

>178 kidzdoc: nutritional yeast ... Active Dry Yeast instead
Oh dear, as a long-time veggie, this is one I actually know a bit about...
http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2011/10/what-the-heck-is-nutritional-yeast.html

I made the winter potato, white bean, and kale soup yesterday for lunch. Heather (my group's former administrative assistant, who provided me with her excellent white chicken chili recipe and her amazing chicken and Andouille sausage jambalaya recipe) gave me a recipe for crawfish étouffée earlier this week, as I told her that I was sorely in need of a fix for it. I did find peeled and deveined crawfish at Publix yesterday morning, but it didn't stock cream of shrimp soup, which is an essential ingredient in Heather's recipe. I consulted the store's meat manager, as he knows me from my past requests for meats there; Publix had some beautiful looking shrimp on sale, so I bought a pound of it and I took his recommendation to use cream of mushroom soup in place of cream of shrimp to modify the original recipe:



Here is Heather's original recipe that she sent me:

Crawfish étouffée (makes 6 to 8 servings)

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons butter
2 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
3 rib celery, chopped
1 pound peeled crawfish tails
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can cream of shrimp
1/2 cup water
½ to 3/4 cup dry white wine
Salt, cayenne and hot sauce to taste
Minced green onions for garnish
Add Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning to taste

Instructions:

In a heavy pot, melt the butter and sauté the onions, garlic, bell peppers, and celery until wilted.

Add the crawfish tails and cook for 10 minutes.

Add the soup, water, and wine and stir. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the seasonings and simmer another 10 minutes, add the green onions and serve over steamed rice.

Note: If you have extra serve it over baked fish.

I like this recipe after one day. Cook it and refrigerate for one day.

_________________________________________________________________

This was very tasty, but different than the étouffée that I'm used to, as this recipe employs a blonde roux instead of a brown one. I did buy a pound of crawfish on Saturday, so I'll make crawfish étouffée this coming week, although I'll add a can of tomato sauce to Heather's recipe.

This morning I got up early again, went to Publix, and bought the few ingredients I needed to make Southwest Breakfast Scramble from Budget Bytes, as I had half a dozen eggs and two Andouille sausage links left in my refrigerator:



Ingredients:

6 large eggs $1.35
2 Tbsp butter $0.15
1 (15 oz.) can black beans $1.19
2-3 cups tortilla strips $0.63
1 cup salsa $0.99
1 cup shredded cheese $1.20
handful fresh cilantro $0.17
to taste salt & pepper $0.05

Instructions:

Drain the black beans and rinse them briefly with water. Let them drain while you prepare the rest. Crack six eggs into a large bowl and lightly whisk them. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium-low heat.

Once the butter is melted, pour the eggs into the skillet. Let them cook slowly over medium-low heat. As the bottom layer begins to set, use a spatula to drag the outside edges in towards the center, allowing the uncooked egg to run back into the empty space. Continue to gently move the eggs around in the skillet in this manner until they are about 75% set. The eggs will continue to cook as you add other ingredients, so you do not want to over cook them at this step. Season the eggs with salt and pepper if desired.

Add the drained beans and 2-3 cups of tortilla strips to the skillet. Gently fold them into the eggs, breaking the tortilla strips into smaller pieces as you go. Spoon one cup of salsa over top of the egg mixture and then sprinkle one cup of shredded cheese over top.

Place a lid on the skillet and turn the heat up to medium. Allow the skillet to heat for five minutes, or until mostly heated through. While the skillet is heating, pull the cilantro leaves from the stems and give them a rough chop. Remove the lid and gently fold the ingredients in the skillet, so that the cheese gets a little mixed in and melts slightly. Sprinkle the cilantro over top and serve hot.
__________________________________________________________

Mmm!!! Beth used Mission Tortilla Strips, which Publix stocks on its shelves. This recipe makes four full sized portions, so I'll have this for breakfast several days this week.

That all looks delicious, Darryl!

For lunch today I made Red Cabbage and Sausage Soup, which I found online after I searched for recipes that used red cabbage and sausage, as I wanted to use up the ingredients I had left over from my previous cooking experiments from the past two weeks.



Ingredients:

1 cup black eyed peas, dry (or 2 cups cooked)
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 leeks, chopped
2 tablespoons corn starch
6 cups vegetable stock
1 lb red potatoes, washed and cut into ½ inch pieces
½ lb pork sausages, cooked and then sliced into ½ inch pieces
½ lb red cabbage, shredded
½ cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
smoked paprika as garnish

Instructions:

Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven. Add garlic and leeks and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring often.

In a small bowl, combine corn starch and ¼ cup stock. Whisk until corn starch dissolves. Pour corn starch mixture into dutch oven and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add remaining broth, potatoes, and sausage. Season with salt and pepper, bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add red cabbage and black eyed peas to pot and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Lastly stir in cream and cook for 4-5 minutes more. Remove from heat, ladle into bowls, and top with smoked paprika.
______________________________________________________________

This was another hit. I used black beans instead of black-eyed peas, and half and half to replace heavy cream, so my version is much darker than the one in the original recipe. I also used green onions in place of leeks. This made a huge pot of soup, and I'll add this to my list of favorite recipes.

My group is supposed to have a Mardi Gras party on Tuesday, so I'm making another batch of chicken and Andouille sausage now (it should be done in about half an hour). Atlanta is supposed to get a winter storm, with snow and frozen precipitation starting tomorrow morning, though, so the jambalaya and the étouffée may serve as dinner for an overnight slumber party tomorrow night. I'm on long call tomorrow, so I'll pack an overnight bag and food for a couple of nights, just in case.

And, last but definitely not least, here's another version of Heather's amazing chicken and Andouille sausage jambalaya:



I didn't realize that my local Publix actually does sell authentic Andouille sausage, from Savoie's in Opelousas, Louisiana, so I used it instead of the very admirable Johnsonville New Orleans Andouille sausage from Wisconsin.

I'll take a nap, and then catch up on previous posts afterward.

In all the vaccination debate I read this article, written by a woman whose blog I follow, about being pro vaccination but absolutely terrified of vaccinating her younger children after her oldest had her first seizure days after receiving her first vaccination.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/02/150214-vaccine-family-doubt-meas...

All those soups look delicious! We're having soup weather here. Very cold, with possible winter weather overnight. I have the last of a batch of chicken & rice soup in the refrigerator.

I was vaccinated twice for measles - once with the kill virus as an infant or toddler, then with the live virus before starting 1st grade. I still got measles in 8th grade when we had a local outbreak. I was sick for two weeks but only missed one week of school because there were so many snow days that week.

I had chicken pox in the summer between my sophomore and junior years of college. I had been exposed multiple times as a child but never got sick. My brother had two mild cases of chicken pox as a child, then a really bad case when he was in grad school at Georgia Tech.

Hi Darryl! I hope the expected winter storm is mild and that your on-call period is a nice mixture of non-boring business, but non-hectic uneventfulness.

Soup does sound appealing with the snow and ice headed our way.

I didn't attempt to open a book yesterday, as I've lost interest in reading for the time being. I'm unable to concentrate on any book for more than five minutes at a time. Thankfully Friday will mark the end of my five week work stretch, when I worked 125% of a full time schedule (as opposed to the 80% that I normally work) and for all intents the end of my concentrated work schedule from November through February, as I'll only have two more work days in the month after Friday. I won't visit my parents this coming weekend; instead I'll stay here, catch my breath, and hopefully read at least a couple of books during that five day break.

Even though it will be great to have another vacation free month off from work this summer, along with my usual four weeks of vacation, I doubt that I'll do this again next season. Last year we weren't that busy, so the four month intense work schedule was much more doable than this year and late last year, when we've been near or at maximum bed capacity and set records for the most number of patients that my group has admitted in 12- and 24-hour periods, including my 26 admission night late last year (which was tied by one my partners last week).

I'm glad that I did so much cooking the past few weekends; otherwise they would have felt like completely wasted days off.

It looks as though we'll miss out on any significant snow or frozen precipitation in the immediate metropolitan area, although the counties and states to the north of us won't be so lucky, unfortunately.

I still have a good hour before I have to get ready to go to work, as I'm working from 10 am to 10 pm today, so I'll catch up here as best I can (although I may skip over some posts, as I'm still tired and mentally fuzzy).

>143 streamsong: I think I stuck to the African sweet potato soup as written. I now think it was one of the Club Read members who said that she was going to cut back on the spices when she made it.

>144 LovingLit: I'm glad that you liked the Creole jambalaya, Megan! I've followed Heather's instructions each of the three times I've made it, including yesterday, and it has turned out perfectly moist and not too wet or dry each time. My 9" x 13" baking dish is nearly full to overflowing each time I've made it, so I have to be a bit careful when I stir it, especially at the halfway point when the ingredients want to escape the dish and land in the oven or on my kitchen top.

>145 Berly: I remember having chicken pox lesions in my pharynx and larynx too, Kim; I had it when I was 15 years old. It was a much more miserable and disabling illness for me than it was for my 10 year old brother, who passed it on to me.

>146 Oberon: I missed "Being Mortal" on Frontline, Erik. I'll watch it this coming weekend or sometime next week, though.

>147 avidmom: I should be able to finish the Wes Moore book either this weekend or sometime next week, Susie.

>148 tangledthread: Thanks, Erik!

>149 lunacat: Thanks anyway, Jenny. Last week wasn't a better week, but hopefully this one will be. Actually it will be even if we're super busy, as it will be the last one of my five week stretch.

>150 jolerie: I'm going to pass on answering that question, Valerie; I have no idea what the vaccination schedule is in Canada.

>151 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks, Linda.

>152 Oberon: There are still chicken pox vaccination failures, Erik. Having said that, though, I haven't taken care of a child that was hospitalized due to a sequela of chicken pox in many years. When I was a pediatric resident from 1997-2000 I would see about half a dozen patients every year who were hospitalized after contracting varicella and developing pneumonia or a secondary bacterial skin infection.

>153 PaulCranswick: Wow. I've never had to take or administer the yellow fever vaccine so I don't know anything about it, Paul.

>154 jjmcgaffey: The chicken pox vaccine doesn't provide 100% protection (but no vaccine does), but it is one of the more effective ones we have, if memory serves me correctly.

You certainly entitled to a nice weekend, Darryl. I hope you will read some good books and you feel less tired.

>155 scaifea: Right, Megan. You don't want chicken pox, and you really don't want shingles!

>157 brenpike:-166 Thanks, Brenda, Linda, Jenny, Katie, Luci, Claire, Megan, Katherine, Caroline and Kim! I appreciate your kind words and sentiments.

>161 elkiedee: Thanks, Luci! I'll be on the lookout for that book.

>166 Berly: I'm glad that you've enjoyed the recipes I've posted, Kim! Sharing them with others is nearly as rewarding as making them.

>167 SandDune: That's interesting that the varicella vaccine isn't part of the routine childhood immunization schedule in the UK, Rhian.

>168 scaifea:-171 Thanks Amber, Stasia, Paul and Laura!

>172 connie53: Unfortunately I didn't like that cauliflower soup at all, Connie. I decided to freeze it, but I seriously doubt that I'm going to eat it, so I'll probably discard it and never make it again.

>173 banjo123: I eagerly await the wave of pediatric health in Atlanta, Rhonda! We've had a run of rotavirus gastroenteritis this month, and RSV has reared its ugly head again as well.

>174 jolerie:-177 Thanks Valerie, Laura, Jim and Roni!

>175 LauraBrook: Hmm. I wonder why your jambalaya was too liquid, Laura? I've been using tomato sauce instead of tomato soup; I could imagine that using soup would make it more liquid.

>177 ronincats: Vaccinations certainly had positive connotations for my generation (I'm toward the tail end of the Baby Boomers) and the previous ones, who regularly saw children die or become permanently disabled as a result of vaccine preventable illnesses.

>179 Ameise1: Thanks for the Sunday wish, Barbara. Yesterday was a productive day, even though I didn't get any reading done.

>180 qebo: Ah. Thanks for the information about nutritional yeast, Katherine. So I clearly used the wrong type of yeast! No matter, the soup tastes very good, although next time I use an ingredient that is unfamiliar to me I'll research it first before I go to the supermarket and assume that it sells it.

>183 connie53: All of the four new recipes I tried were delicious, Connie, and of course the Creole jambalaya tastes as good as ever.

>186 lunacat: Thanks for posting that article, Jenny. I'll read it later today or tomorrow, as I should start getting ready for work soon.

>187 cbl_tn: Are you going to get caught up in the wintry mix in Tennessee, Carrie! I hope it doesn't affect you and Lori too badly.

>188 The_Hibernator: It looks as though Atlanta will escape the worst of the winter storm, although the counties and states north of here won't be so lucky.

>189 thornton37814: Good luck with the upcoming storm, Lori.

>194 connie53: Thanks, Connie. I can't wait until Friday is over!

I'll try to check back in during the week, but I'll certainly be back on Saturday. Have a good week, everyone!

Yay for you being able to come back soon, and for the last week of this nightmarish block of work for you. Five days to go - I hope it goes really quickly!

>182 kidzdoc: This looks YUM! One of my favourite American-style breakfasts is huevos rancheros and this looks similar enough to be right up my alley!

Hope this week goes quickly and is as painless for you as possible.

The winter weather is still west of us. The local stations are predicting the worst weather between 4 and 8 this evening. I-40 seems to be the dividing line between snow and sleet/freezing rain. I am south of I-40 so I'm likely to get more ice than snow. Lori is north of I-40 so she is likely to get more snow than ice.

I hope you have an undemanding week before your long break since that means there would be fewer sick children.

Have a quiet week of work, Darryl. It sounds like you're swamped.

Love the recipes! I will have to make one of them soon as our winter is really cold here and all the food looks really good for
cold weather.
My "go-to" cookbooks for vegetables are The Very Best of Recipes for Health by Martha Rose Shulman( I make her Spicy South Indian Cauliflower and Warm Chickpea and Broccoli Salad a lot!) and Invitation to Mediterranean Cooking by Claudia Roden.

Yikes, working 125% sounds un-doable to me, Darryl. I know the additional summer vacay will be nice, but I understand why you aren't going to do this schedule again next year.

I know what you mean about the reading doldrums. I am taking two college courses this semester and the reading for that alone is keeping me busy, so my reading time available has been curtailed, This, in turn, as slowed my reading pace considerably. I am required to read On the Reproduction of Capitalism for one course and an now 60 pages behind in the reading for that course alone. Add to the crunch in time, the fact that I seem to have picked at least one clunker that is interesting enough, but not a compelling read Night Watch by Sarah Waters and I too am in a slow reading spot. Not so with the rest of my life - which seems to be buzzing by at an alarming rate.

Wow, you sure deserve your next quiet weekend! How impressive that you get all the (pre-)cooking managed along with the workload, but it's probably really the best way to stay healthy and well-nourished during such a stressful time. I might try the first recipe and maybe the red cabbage one with a veggie sausage, but first I must make that African soup again.

>196 kidzdoc: Too bad, Darryl.

>180 qebo: I appreciate that information too. I might have been tempted to assume nutritional yeast was the same thing as brewer's yeast, which I see now might have spoiled the soup. I should have remembered the bitter taste, as my grandmother was fond of brewer's yeast as a vitamin supplement, and sometimes sprinkled it on our oatmeal.

>178 kidzdoc: Nutritional yeast is great. It has a wonderful nutty, cheesy flavor. I use it to make vegan cheese sauces, add it to soups, and sprinkle it on sandwiches and pasta. A lot of people use it as a popcorn topping. There are quite a few brands now. Whole Foods carries it in their bulk foods section. My favorite brand is KAL; I think it has the best flavor. The downside to KAL is that it's the most expensive. If you have trouble finding nutritional yeast in your local grocery stores, you can order it online from Vitacost or iHerb.

Here is the link to the Wikipedia page. It describes how nutritional yeast is made and its fortification (or lack thereof) with vitamins.

>199 kidzdoc: So far, we have mostly sleet and freezing rain/ice. There's been a bit of snow, but the main part of the snow is supposed to occur this evening.

Sorry to hear you've been having such a busy time at work Darryl. I hope this week is less busy.

Home stretch Darryl!! Hang in there. I am glad you had time to do some more cooking--I can always count on either a new book or a new recipe!! I am going to look for NUTRITIONAL yeast next time I make it to the grocery store. ; )

Darryl, I'm horribly behind on your threads, and will strive to catch up so I can add timely comments. To a non-cook, your recipes and pictures are an inspiration. One of these days I"m going to have to find my kitchen again.

Sorry to read about the crazy busy work week(s) you have been having, Darryl. Great cooking! I just snaffled a bunch of recipes on this last visit to your thread. ;-)

>1 kidzdoc: and >192 kidzdoc: I read The Other Wes Moore a couple of years ago and was most impressed. I must try this one too -- maybe this summer since he'll be at Chautauqua while we're there.

Thought you might be interested in the topic of today's recipe sharing:

Cauliflower

(This is one of my favorite recipe boards, although it's not as active as it used to be).

I'll definitely try the Roasted Cauliflower and Mushroom Quinoa Salad in Balsamic Vinaigrette
as I'm trying to get a stash of good quinoa recipes.

ETA: oooh look there's a quinoa thread going there today, too.

Don't like this schedule you're working, Darryl. It's very odd around here without your presence. Although I'm sure there are children benefiting from our deprivation, so I'll take comfort from that.

I feel the same way Linda?
DARRYL! COME BACK !!!!

I hope you are doing well, Darryl. Miss you!

I'm back on the scene, baby! (Apologies to jazz trombonist Bennie Green.)



This week was another extremely busy one, although it wasn't quite as hectic or maddening as last week was. We were inundated with dozens of infants and toddlers who were sick with RSV bronchiolitis and rotavirus gastroenteritis, and as soon as we could discharge one child from an inpatient room there was another to take her place.

Fortunately I'm off for the next five days, although I'll have to attend two meetings at the hospital on Wednesday. I'll work a 5 pm to 1 am shift on Thursday, have Friday off, and then start another five day stretch next Saturday. Hopefully the inpatient census will have decreased substantially by then.

Needless to say I haven't read a page of anything since last Saturday. I'll probably focus on short and fairly easy to read books for the next five days, then hopefully resume a more normal reading plan next month.

>200 lunacat: Thanks, Jenny. The past five days did pass relatively quickly, and knowing that I had a substantial break to look forward to was a major inspiration.

I forgot to mention that I cancelled my planned trip to Philadelphia visit my parents; I was supposed to have flown there later this morning. They aren't feeling well, and the weather there isn't going to be great, so I'll visit them sometime next month or possibly in April.

>201 Sakerfalcon: I just had the last of the Southwest breakfast scramble, Claire, and it still tasted great. I'll probably make another batch sometime next week.

I probably won't cook as much this weekend, as I have a lot of food left from last weekend's cooking frenzy.

>202 cbl_tn: From what I can tell it looks as though you and Lori are getting another batch of winter weather now, Carrie; I hope that it isn't too bad. We escaped with only rain and some isolated ice patches on the roads on Monday night and Tuesday morning, and we'll get lucky again today. It will be a rainy weekend here, but it will be much warmer, with high temperatures in the mid to upper 50s, which is normal for Atlanta at this time of the year.

>203 BLBera: Thanks, Beth. It definitely wasn't quiet, as we admitted 25-30+ patients to the hospital every day this week. I lucked out on my long call on Monday, as the rain and mixed precipitation kept many kids away from our ER until the following day, but we were very busy for the rest of the week.

I'm glad that you survived your busy week and can now relax. Hopefully you can get some reading in and report - its not the same without you.

>204 torontoc: I loved all five of the recipes I tried last week, Cyrel. You're right, the soups were perfect, as this was one of the coldest weeks we've had in Atlanta for several years. Even though I mistakenly used brewer's yeast instead of nutritional yeast in the winter potato, white bean and kale soup it still tasted great; I had a bowl for lunch at work yesterday.

Thanks for mentioning those two cookbooks. I'll start looking at the ones I've acquired recently to get more recipes, especially for vegetarian soups and stews.

>205 lit_chick: That was a rough stretch, Nancy. It would have been much less painful if I had a few days off in the middle of those five weeks. If I do this again next year I'll have to insist that I get some sort of respite in between long work stretches.

>206 benitastrnad: You sound quite busy too, Benita. At least you've had time to read for pleasure, though! I'm still stuck on one book for the month, and I think I've only read about 250 pages since January.

>207 Deern: Right, Nathalie. Cooking helped ensure that I didn't eat a lot of junk in and outside of the hospital, and preparing those meals made me feel productive and satisfied, as all of the recipes I've tried, except for the cauliflower soup, were winners.

Yay for survival and five days off. I hope you can get some good naps and reading in to recharge those batteries.

>208 connie53: I discarded the rest of the cauliflower soup a few days ago, Connie, as I could barely stand the smell or taste of it. I suspect that the recipe is fine, and that the problem is that I must not like puréed cauliflower (although I love it raw or cooked as florets). So, if you like cauliflower soup you may still want to try that recipe.

>209 laytonwoman3rd: Blech; brewer's yeast sprinkled over oatmeal sounds horrible. Fortunately the yeast didn't lend a bitter taste to the winter potato, whie bean and kale soup, although I'll use nutritional yeast the next time I make it.

>210 Tara1Reads: Thanks for that helpful information on nutritional yeast, dieKatze! There is a Whole Foods Market about a mile from where I live, so I'll buy some next week and experiment with it.

>211 thornton37814: I hope that your weather today is better than it was on Monday and Tuesday, Lori.

Hi Darryl! I'm glad you made it through your marathon schedule! Yes, Lori and I are getting hit yet again, but the end is in sight. The winter storm warning extends through 1 p.m. At my house I had a little more snow overnight, but it has already turned into a wintry mix. I'm praying for very little freezing rain as I don't want another power outage. I lost my TV to the last one. We have a 3 hour window this afternoon with no watches or warnings, then we start a flood watch through tomorrow. My home is on a high enough elevation that flooding is not the threat for me that it will be for others.

>212 souloftherose: Thanks, Heather. It was a busy week, but it wasn't as hectic or stress filled as the previous two weeks were.

>213 Berly: Thanks, Kim. I'll have to find some new recipes to try this weekend and next week. I'll almost certainly make crawfish étouffée tomorrow, and I may try Heather's recipe for white chocolate bread pudding. She made a batch for my group's Mardi Gras party this week, and it tasted fabulous. She did confirm that her recipe for étouffée uses a blonde roux instead of a more typical brown one, so I'll stick to it instead of adding tomato sauce when I make crawfish étouffée tomorrow.

>214 ffortsa: Good to see you here, Judy. I'm glad that you've been inspired by my recipes. They are all easy to make, and most aren't very labor intensive.

>215 lkernagh: Thanks, Lori! I will revisit your thread later today, as you've also been posting some great looking recipes.

Darryl, it's good to hear that you have some time off work. You deserve it. Happy weekend, hopefully full of reading.

>216 RebaRelishesReading: I own The Other Wes Moore, but I haven't read it yet. I'll definitely finish The Work: My Search for a Life That Matters this weekend or early next week.

>217 streamsong: Thanks for that link, streamsong! I'll definitely check it out today. I haven't cooked anything with quinoa in it, so I'll look at that page as well.

>218 laytonwoman3rd: Thanks, Linda! I didn't like that schedule, either, but it's very nice to know that I've been missed here. Yesterday essentially marks the end of my autumn and winter hyper schedule, but I'll be on a pretty similar stretch starting next Saturday and lasting for the following three weeks.

>219 lauralkeet: Thanks, Laura!

>220 connie53: Thanks to you too, Connie!

>223 catarina1: Thanks, catarina; I'm very eager to resume reading again, after several weeks of being too busy or uninspired to do so.

>225 lunacat: Thanks, Jenny. Yes, there will be afternoon naps taken today and probably for the next three days. I'm feeling sleepy now, so I may take a nap shortly.

>227 cbl_tn: Hi, Carrie! I'm glad that the winter weather in Tennessee will soon pass, although that flood warning doesn't sound good. I'm slightly aware of the topography of the Knoxville area, as a good friend of mine grew up in Sevierville and graduated from UT; I and another friend stayed with him at his mother's house for a weekend several years ago, when the three of us went to Neyland Stadium to see Tennessee host Akron (my other friend has undergraduate and law degrees from that university). I'll have to ask Monty if the catfish shack we ate at on our way to Sevierville is still there. The restaurant sold catfish that it raised in a pond next to it, and it was the best catfish I've ever had.

>229 Ameise1: Thanks, Barbara! I hope that you have a great weekend as well.

Yay! All it took was a visit to Amber's thread to remind me that I had wanted to try the recipe for the Caribbean style Carrot Ginger Soup that I saw on the GoNOLA.com web site. I have all the ingredients here, including coconut milk and shrimp, so I'll make this later this morning, and let you know how it turns out.

I almost forgot: earlier this week the famed neurologist and author Oliver Sacks wrote a touching Op-Ed article in The New York Times, in which he mentions that he is now dying of incurable metastatic cancer. He writes about his goals for his remaining days on earth, and the thought of facing his imminent mortality.

My Own Life

>231 kidzdoc: Sevierville is a lot more prone to flooding than my neighborhood is. The downtown area floods about once a decade or so, usually in the spring when the mountain snow melts. I hope your friend's family doesn't have to deal with that this weekend.

You would have taken U.S. 441 from Sevierville to Knoxville for the football game. It's the main corridor for those of us who live in South Knoxville. I've made that trip more times than I can count.

>233 kidzdoc: I love the end statement from that article:

"Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure."

How so very lucky we all are, and how rarely we recognise it.

>234 cbl_tn: Monty's mother died in 2013, Carrie, and he is living with his family on the Eastern Shore of Maryland (he works as an aerospace engineer at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station). I can't remember if his father is still alive or where he lives, as Monty wasn't close to him (Monty's father left his mother to raise him and his brother).

>235 lunacat: Well said, Jenny.

Lots of good food and interesting discussions, Darryl. Glad you're getting a bit of a break from the hyper-schedule. I like Jenny's quote from the article in >235 lunacat:, too. Debbi and I have a pretty open day today with a Bulls game tonight, and we'll be appreciating the luck of it.

Sad news about Sachs; I heard it on the news, but will look for the editorial. I've loved his essays. Have a restful time off, Darryl. You deserve it.

Darryl, we got about 4 inches of snow at my house overnight this morning. We had a brief period of freezing rain around 6:00 a.m. this morning, but it quickly turned back to snow. We had much less of the "mix" than what Carrie described in Knoxville. I, too, live at a high enough elevation that flooding won't be an issue at my house; however, the question will be whether or not I can make it to the grocery store, etc. I've seen photos of the main roads in our city taken by the police and sent to the local TV station to discourage travel, and I don't even want to attempt to go out until some thaw begins. I've just got to try to go before the low spots between here and the grocery store are flooded.

>222 kidzdoc: cancelled my planned trip to Philadelphia
Yeah, not a weekend to be in the northeast.

>233 kidzdoc:, >238 BLBera: Oliver Sacks
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/opinion/oliver-sacks-on-learning-he-has-termin...

Thanks for posting that and I hope you fully enjoy your stretch of time off.

The carrot ginger soup is ready!



Here's the recipe, from the website GoNOLA.com:

Carrot Ginger Soup

Ingredients:

2 pounds carrots
1 thumb-size piece of ginger root
About 7 oz. of coconut milk
2 -2.5 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
Lemon zest to taste
Salt to taste
Black sesame seeds or freshly cracked pepper for garnish

Recipe:

In a saucepan, boil the carrots and ginger in water for about 20 minutes. Drain, reserving the water, then puree the carrots and ginger. Combine with the reserved cooking water and coconut milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add the shrimp and fennel. Cook for about 6 minutes, or until the shrimp are cooked through. Turn off the heat, and add the lemon zest and salt. To serve, garnish with sesame seeds or black pepper.
________________________________________

This turned out very well, and the addition of the shrimp made for a very filling one course meal. I couldn't find the zester that I bought recently, so I added lemon juice to the mix. This soup was a perfect choice for a cold and damp day, and I'll add this recipe to my list of favorites.

Wow. It doesn't have green items in it. I'm quite shocked Darryl. ;)

>237 jnwelch: Thanks, Joe. I'm glad to have this stretch of days off to recuperate, as I'll start another nearly as intense schedule for 3-1/2 weeks starting next Saturday.

You and Jenny are right, of course. I have so much to be thankful for that it's almost overwhelming to think of all of the blessings I and my family have received over the years.

>238 BLBera: I posted a link to the editorial at the bottom of >233 kidzdoc:, Beth ('My Own Life').

>239 thornton37814: I'm glad that your freezing rain didn't last long, Lori. Do you have to travel on hilly or winding roads to get to the grocery store? Hopefully you have enough supplies at home to last for the next few days; it's supposed to warm up here in Atlanta today and tomorrow, and hopefully the same will happen there.

>240 qebo: True, Katherine. I called my parents on Wednesday to tell them that I had decided to postpone my trip, and my mother was relieved, as she was about to call me to encourage me to stay here.

>241 Berly: Thanks, Kim. I hope that you enjoy your weekend as well.

>243 lunacat: It's still a healthy recipe, Jenny! Since it doesn't contain anything green I can assume that you'd like some, right?

Carrot soup looks interesting, minus the shrimp, might put away for when winter comes calling down under

>246 roundballnz: The carrot ginger soup would taste good without the shrimp, but their inclusion made this an especially interesting and satisfying meal.

Hmm, well, being orange I'm slightly more likely to try it, but I don't like lumpy or thick soup so that rules out my participation in your meal. One of these days you'll cook something I'd like to eat!

>248 lunacat: I didn't expect that you would go for the carrot ginger soup, Jenny, but I thought that you would love the Creole jambalaya. What about Caroline's Irish lamb stew?

>249 kidzdoc: I'd eat the Irish lamb stew but it still wouldn't be a favourite. The lamb is fine but I don't like all the chunks of vegetable and the broth. As my best friend says - I like a large number of ingredients and meals but I'm very particular about how things are prepared and cooked. Basically I'm just a fussy eater!

Give me a nice fresh salad with a side portion of cheese and I'd be a happy girl. I love salad, as long as it hasn't been too messed with :)

>250 lunacat: My quest to find a recipe that Jenny will like continues...