Happy Birthday to my brother today! He turns 20.

Bill and I will be going to Bloodroot Restaurant in Bridgeport, CT for a "special pre-New Year's Eve Brunch" featuring:

Soysage Biscuits, and Gravy w/Caramelized Apples

Linzer, Korova, and Gingerbread cookies & more Winter Fruits Persimmon Sorbet

Champagne and Non-alcoholic beverages

What's a soysage biscuit? I have no idea. But how can I say no to feminist vegetarian cuisine? I dare say it might even be vegan. I'm especially intrigued by "winter fruits". Around these parts, "winter fruits" translate as "a bushel of apples in the basement" and maybe a few hardy squash if you decide to bend the definition of "fruit". Tut tut, are those persimmons locally grown? j/k Bloodroot, I love you.

Incidentally, my girlfriend Deborah Madison is a freaking genius. Some of her recipes don't resonate with me but it's her most simple ones that have blown my mind when my meager improvisational cooking skills falter. Bill and I tend to roast most squash in the oven, and we were shaking our heads on the blah roasted delicata. Since we had a small windfall of the dainty squash, we decided to turn to Ms. Madison for some alternative ideas. Why the hell not, let's slice it up and pan fry it. Turns out freaking delicious. The outside carmelizes a bit and brings out the sweetness and all it requires is some olive oil in a cast iron skillet. WTF, Deborah. Let's get married. Bill doesn't mind that I have a harem of cookbook authors because I SHARE.

Ah, dear two or three readers, towards the end of summer. I don't write much here. Summer fresh veggies and fruit are awesome. My latest Union Square desires:

I'm lately becoming obsessed with the thought of foraging for mushrooms, but I haven't mustered up the commitment to actually go foraging with the local mycological club. So, the next best thing is to purchase semi-wild mushrooms. Honey Hollow Farm currently has chanterelles, but I suspect the stand often sells out and packs up before lunchtime. I got up early once to buy them, and I was disappointed when I cooked them up and ate them, but I think it's because I was expecting something meaty like portobello, but it's not. It's pretty tasty though. I'd like to try them again -- if I can ever purchase them again. They sold for $19 a pound which sounded like highway robbery until I saw that Dean & DeLuca were selling much smaller ones for $45/lb. WHAT??? Were they foraged from a magical forest or something? The D&D ones didn't even look that good. Looked like they had been sitting around for a couple of days, whereas the Union Square ones still looked perky. Like trumpet-shaped boobs.

Keith's Farm has his famous rocambole garlic. P cut into one and the skin inside was still soft and moist, and the garlic itself is crisp like the inside of an apple. Freakin' amazing, and it's totally a seasonal thing. I've tried keeping his garlic around for the winter, but it just doesn't keep well, I don't know why.

Tristar strawberries are back in season. I guess strawberries have two seasons -- early summer and late-ish summer. Berried Treasures and Sweet Mountain Berry have Tristars. Supposedly, Tristar strawberries have a strain of wild in them. The seeds sit up higher in the flesh, and it has little mini-antennae thingies that stick out just under the leaves. The berry itself is smaller than the usual sized strawberries we're used to in supermarkets, and even at the other Union Square stands. P likes Tristar strawberries better than the regular ones, but that's because he's a classy guy. Blueberries are in season now too. Fantasy Fruit Farm has big sweet ones. Supposedly blueberries help ward off dementia, which is useful because my family has it in spades.

Toigo Orchards rocks. No stand at Union Square, but P and I frequent their stand at Tompkins Square Park on Sunday. Amazing peaches, truly. I'm thinking about buying a jar of bourbon peaches for the winter to try. $12 a jar, which is (yes, I know) pricey, but online they're selling for $15. I take it that bourbon is a pricey liquor? Also, I am strangely drawn to one of the farmhands who works the stand. He reminds me of my alluring smoky attractive friend George Basil. When I visit the Toigo stand, I like to make conversation with "my friend George Basil" and I almost always buy something. George Basil, you are a good salesman!

I'm not much of a beer drinker. Lately though, I've been getting into microbrews, especially ones that are from breweries in the area. I don't like carbonation, so I find that hand-drawn cask-conditioned ales are right up my alley. And behold, there is a British group that celebrates and encourages the return and rise of cask-conditioned ales.
http://www.camra.org.uk/

I'll be going to the Hop Devil Grill in the East Village tonight with P. and his friend, Radium. There's going to be a christening of a tap exclusively for the Belgian beer, Delirious Tremens. Free t-shirts, hats, and hijinx galore! Also, Thursday is cask day at the Hop Devil, so I'd be curious to see what's on offer this week.

http://www.hopdevil.com/

My very first cask-conditioned ale was a Sixpoint Brownstone. I had it at d.b.a.

http://www.drinkgoodstuff.com/ny/default.asp

It tasted a little like dark chocolate, with some pleasantly burnt edges. It was warm and nary a carbonated bubble appeared. It was my kind of beer. I liked it. Sixpoint Brewery is a fairly new microbrewery based in Brooklyn. I think only one of its beers is bottled. The rest of its beers can be found on tap (or in cask) in selected bars in the tri-state area, and maybe Massachusetts.

http://www.sixpointcraftales.com/

I'm not much of a blogger about my personal life, because I'm just not the type to get confessional in a cold open space where goodness-knows-who will read it and assume they know me. Gah!

Having said that, a former improv classmate of mine named Rachael has been writing very interesting posts lately, all stemming from her being tagged to list 5 things that people didn't know about her.
http://www.rachaelmason.blogspot.com

I'm just eating it all up, because 1) she has definitely lived through some pretty wiggy stuff, and 2) she grew up in NYC, just like me -- she in Manhattan, me in Queens. Also, there are a few similarities in the details.

I don't think it's toooooo self-indulgent if I make my own list, untagged and loose-tongued? I've been in a foul mood and of icky body tonight, so I could cheer myself up with some memories of yonder.

1) I worked in a nudist health spa in England.
2) I lived in a vegetarian feminist cooperative in college.
3) Once I was propositioned by a stranger to get together and engage in mutual masturbation.
4) I won the school spelling bee in 6th grade.
5) I briefly was the organist at my church when I was in high school.

That's it. Hope my readers (all two of you) enjoy. I do feel a bit more cheered.

As for food:

I need to up my insoluble fiber intake asap. I bought salad mix and a bunch of chard from Union Square Greenmarket on Saturday. It's really hard this time of year to find dark leafy greens by the bunch at the Greenmarket. I was only able to find it at the stand that used to have the "hydroponic" banner. They grow a lot of Asian greens. The lady who helps out at that stand recognizes me, and will talk to me, because we can sort of communicate in Cantonese. She will often dig up the nicest bunch for me, or give me a little price break on salad. Sweet! Once she asked if I was pregnant, because I looked big in the belly. I think it's because I was wearing three layers under my coat. Also, maybe I've gotten rounder in the middle over the year.

Nothing says "dark leafy greens" like chard and kale. I didn't know what chard and kale were until late in college. I thought Swiss chard was a type of cheese. My housemate, Devin, had picked out a recipe that required chard, and my other housemate, Misti, and I were in charge of shopping for all the ingredients of the week. We walked around the supermarket, absolutely baffled, because we didn't know what chard was. I discovered lacinato ("dinosaur") kale at the Harvest Food Co-op in Cambridge, MA. This was maybe during my last winter in college. I was fascinated by the ridges in the leaves. It's hard to mask the healthy hearty dark greens taste of chard and kale. I wouldn't want to, anyway. I know that by eating it, I'm scrubbing out my insides, and I derive immense satisfaction from that knowledge.

It's been awhile since I posted, so sorry.

Here's something very unfood-bloglike. But I thought about it today, and in a sick way, I find it a little amusing because human beings can be so fucked up that we tsk tsk on the one hand, and we laugh with the almost embarrassing realization that to some degree, we can identify with elements of that fucked-upness on the other hand.

I have a theory about John Mark Carr, the man who has confessed to killing JonBenet Ramsey. Here's a roughly paraphrased conversation that I had with my dad in the car.

Dad: He's a pedophile, you know.
Me: I know. It doesn't sound like he killed her, though. Sounds like he's confessing to something he wanted to do, but didn't actually do.
Dad: But he's a pedophile!
Me; So if he's guilty of hurting a kid, lock him up. I just don't think he committed this particular murder.
Dad: What does it matter? Lock him up, then justice is served.

My dad can be an overly simplistic man. He speaks to everyone in very simplistic quasi-sentences, as if we can't handle him speaking complete sentences in English. Bear in mind, he is a native speaker of English, my siblings and I are native speakers of English, and my mom is bilingual. His desire to oversimplify things often spills into the political and social arena. It makes talking to him very frustrating. Like today, he asked me if I would need to "take a poop" before he drove me back to my apartment. Shouldn't "take a poop" be phased out of father-daughter discussions after the age of 6? But guess what, kind readers. It turns out I did have to TAP. So who's got egg on her face now?

Back to John Mark Carr. He's made all sorts of specific statements about how he went about kidnapping her, but none of the facts add up to his account. He claimed that he picked her up from school in his car and drugged her, but she didn't have school on the day she was killed, and the autopsy doesn't show signs of drugs. His ex-wife claims that he was in another part of the country when the murder occurred. He's making really intense statements, like "I loved JonBenet," "It was an accident," but here's my grand theory: He's just fantasizing and embellishing on a crime that he wishes he committed. Something that might even get him off, if he's got gruesome pedophilic killing urges. And all of this international attention on him now as a sick JonBenet-loving-killing pervert might perversely get him off some more.

I'm no psychologist. That's my pop-shrink analysis. Onward!

UTI infections and cranberry juice are like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. It's the battle that one can't have without the other, and everyone knows about the epic pairing of the two. When I first heard about UTIs, the mention of cranberry juice was not far behind. I tend to get UTIs when I'm sick with stomach cramps, and I stop eating and drinking fluids (which is bad). I inevitably get dehydrated, and that's when the UTI shows up. I'm on the upswing of some virus now, but according to the doc, I've got traces of a UTI, so I'm hitting the cranberry juice bottle.

Usually, my options are something along the lines of Ocean Spray. This time, I decided to mosey into my local neighborhood health food store to see what Neil had in stock. I left with two bottles of Lakewood 100% organic cranberry juice, not from concentrate. The only ingredient is "fresh pressed juice from certifed organic cranberries." Cost? $8.99 for a quart. Neil warned me that it's pricey. Cranberries are pricey, though, if you try to buy them as berries on their own, so the price kinda made sense.

This juice doesn't pull any sugary tasty shit on you. It is all cranberry juice, and it warns you to dilute it with water or other juice because it's full strength intense cranberry all the way. It's not sweety tart. It's plain ol' tart in an almost unpleasant way. Forget about drinking it straight -- it's too strong by itself. Adding water dilutes it a little, and adding another juice (like orange) distracts away from the tart, but it hasn't become tasty for me yet. But it's such an educational experience in viscerally realizing that the Ocean Spray stuff is sugary processed crap that smooths the cranberry down your throat, but how much cranberry juice is really in that bottle? When you're fighting a UTI, would you want to gently paw its face with a cute little feather riding crop, or would you want to take charge and rough it up and kick it out of the neighborhood? I get the sense that Lakewood is for big haters of pussy infection.

I'll let you know when I stomach through a whole bottle.

Long time no update. Good news: I've been to Japan, and I had some rocking food there in unexpected places. More on that later.

I went to the Broadway Panhandler for their big moving sale. I spent an obscene amount of money. But I am now the owner of some of the things I wished to covet 3 months ago, with some variations:

1) I now own two Microplane grater thingies. One's the size of a big cheese grater, and the other one is a small handled one that I can stick in a drawer that's good for zesting. Yay!

2) I thought about buying a stick blender, but I opted to go for a heftier, hopefully sturdier regular Cuisinart blender. It's made of glass, so I'll need to be careful, but I bought it because I'm assuming that Cuisinart is a reliable brand. I don't actually know. Yay!

3) I bought some of those little utensils that you don't think about until you need 'em, like a peeler, measuring cups, slotted spoon ... I bought two expensive silicone oven mitts because I'm using cast iron pans almost exclusively now, and I often need to lift a really hot and heavy pan with both hands. They're sitting on top of the fridge now, but when I use my cast iron pans, down they come. No no, I'm not using Le Creuset ... damn those pots and pans are really expensive.

4) Tangent: I bought a chef's knife -- in Tokyo! It's my baby. I also bought a stone to sharpen/hone it, but I haven't used it yet. I'm scared to, and my knife is still sharp. It's a Kenmax, which is probably a meaningless brand in the world of Japanese knives, but it's the in-house brand of the store where I bought it. The store's name is Kamata, and it's all knives in there. I was dazzled. The knife man seemed to know his stuff. The store's been there since I dunno, I'll have to look it up again, maybe late 1800s, early 1900s? Rows and rows of knives behind glass, and open drawers that allow customers to pick up knives to get a feel for them. It's the only way to get a knife -- it's important for the owner to be really comfortable with the grip. Those jazzy-looking hyped Global knives are really expensive, and feel really weird in the hand. I wouldn't recommend them.

5) I bought matching Peugeot salt & pepper grinders. Pricey, wooden, made in France, so here's hoping that they last forever. Goodbye, Unicorn Magnum! I wanted you, but you weren't on sale.

6) Little Cuisinart chopping machine. Looks like a tiny mini food processor. Might be useful to grind up nuts or chop garlic. Got it for something like $11.

7) Utility/paring knife, by Wustof. I also bought kitchen shears by Wustof, which have been quite useful.

8) Cast-iron square grill pan by Lodge. It's my first brand-new Lodge piece. I saw an old man carrying it, which convinced me that it was possibly a good deal, although in hindsight it probably was just okay. Technically, it's already seasoned, but I think I'll do it again. Do I even need a square grill pan? I sure hope I do.

9) Tangent: bought a small Griswold skillet in an antique store in Fairfield, Connecticut! I don't care too much for the smallness of it, but the urge to own a Griswold was too great. The iron is so smooooooth. I need to give it a scrub and a seasoning. I'd love to do some little things in it, like an egg, to see how it holds up. Relatively inexpensive investment -- something like $13. It's not a mega-valuable Griswold, based on what I've seen on ebay, but that's okay.

What I still want to covet:

1) Mortar and pestle
2) Wooden chopping board
3) Rolling pin
4) Silicone spatula
5) yogurt strainer
6) salad spinner
7) yogurt maker? I'm conflicted on this one.
8) Thermometer

I'm such a consumer! Boo me. Yay products!

I don't have much time to write, but for the 3 of you who read this blog, I apologize for the hiatus. I love to eat, and I have certainly had interesting eating experiences since the last time I've written, but time is always lacking.

I'm in a kitchenware covetousness mood. Here are the things I'd like to own, one day:

1) Unicorn Magnum Plus peppermill. It costs more than $40. It's 9" long (that's right, boys), so it doesn't need to be refilled as often as the little ones. Apparently, the awesomeness of the mill is in its efficiency. One little twist of the wrist yields a lot of pepper. Bless her heart, my sister eBayed a cute little brass peppermill from Turkey as a gift to me, but it's always a battle of wits when I wind its handle, and I never get enough pepper.

2) (Thai) stone mortar and pestle. I've never used on before, except maybe in high school chemistry lab. I liked the hands-on earthy method of grinding things down, and with stone, the sound would be awesome. I've done a tiny bit of research, and people seem to like the Thai stone ones.

3) Chopping knife and/or cleaver. My roommate has a Wustof, which is nice, and I've been borrowing it, but I should get my own. Don't know what I should get.

4) Microplane grater. So pretty. So effective.

5) Handheld blender. It was a typical appliance to have in England, but I haven't seen them so much here. It's a big space-saver. Maybe it's not so popular here because Brits are used to having little counter space, being such a small island and all, and as a country, we like big. Big cars, big appliances, big energy spenders, big.

6) Wooden chopping board

7) General kitchen items, e.g. spatula, measuring cups

8) Kitchen scale, because weight is more important than "spoons" and "cups".

9) Vegetarian Soups from Deborah Madison's Kitchen. Yesh, I know it's not kitchenware, but the photos in her cookbooks are food porn, especially the ones in Local Flavors. And I love soup.

Bye!

Sorry for the lack of updates. (I'm apologizing to all three of you who read this here blog.) I've been so exhausted these past few weeks. Improv improv improv -- classes, shows to perform in, shows to watch. But I'm done with it all for the next few weeks, and I'm not-so-secretly relieved. A break would be good for me, I think.

So I've decided that my blog needs a serious injection of funny. Not painfully funny; maybe an incidental funny. I think lots of funny things happen every day -- not in a forced way, but human beings can be seriously ridiculous. Especially in NYC.

Here's something that I thought was funny:

Last week, I was talking to one of my co-workers about my law firm's company party, which will take place at the Waldorf Astoria tomorrow. Ooh la la, right? Fancy dandypants, hmm? My co-worker, C, expressed worry about what she should wear to the party. I said, heck, maybe I'll wear what I wore last year. It's a nice dress that I can throw on in 5 seconds, which is great for the low maintenance me, and it's actually a very presentable outfit for party occasions, which is great for the "I don't want to cause a ruckus in this silly conservative environment" me.

My co-worker looked at me in dismay. "Oh no, you can't do that. You can't wear the same dress!"

That sounds like a dare.

If only I can find the dress. I hope it's not plastered under a box on my floor.

I think this little situation was funny because the whole concept of firm-wide holiday party at a very expensive location is absurd. What, so I might be approached by a young single handsome lawyer as I poise myself in a cupcake ballgown with chardonnay in hand? Who the hell cares whether I wear the same dress twice? The social groups that gossip together at work, will be the same social groups that sit at the same tables, gossiping together at the party. The lawyers and other staff that never ever brought themselves to talk to me at work, will most likely never bring themselves to talk to me during the party. The food will probably suck, because my firm likes to cut corners in stupid ways. Oh, about food: if I wear something that I perceive as being super-duper-too-nice, I will probably eat less, because I wouldn't want to accidentally drop food on it.

That, my friend, is insidious. I love to eat. Clothing should not hinder my desire to pig out, but oh yes, sometimes it does, and it's shameful.

What is truly funny is the fact that I'm still at the same job. The last year me would be absolutely horrified. This year me is almost equally horrified.

I'll be heading to Barbados in two days. Yah!

Ugh, P and I didn't get to sleep until after 3am yesteday, and I needed to get up for work less than 6 hours later. My body is quietly breaking down. I felt awful at work, but then I took a decent nap at P's place before my improv show, and I definitely felt better. The show went pretty okay. Munchausen's last Harold! We'll be hosting in two weeks.

At work, I bought a 16oz. immunity booster Tropicana OJ. For lunch, I bought a freshly squeezed cup o' OJ. I clung desperately to the Cold-eeze, Airborne (effervescent tablets and chewy throat lozenges), and warm water. I still feel crappy, but what's that? I should get to bed? You're right. But I'm having a bowl of cold but brightly orange gazpacho before I take some meds. My stomach is pretty empty, and gazpacho is as good as any tummy filler. I made it from scratch, with some red and yellow tomatoes. I didn't realize that the yellow color would come out so strong.

Letmetellyou about my cast iron skillet find!

I *suspect* that it's an old Lodge, but I don't know how old, and I'm not absolutely sure that it's a Lodge. I just signed on as a registered visitor to the Wagner and Griswold Society (WAGS), at www.griswoldandwagner.com. It's a forum for cast iron kitchenware collectors. It's addictive to just lurk and read.

I bought my lastest find at an Astoria thrift/antique store called Second Best (I think?). It's right by Astoria Blvd and 31st St. I found it half-hidden in a laundry basket filled with other items, like a broken-open old jewelry box, and Italian-made wooden cheese grater box, and curtains. The skillet is quite heavy, and it's only marking is the number 10 on the underside of the skillet. It also had a "self-basting cover", the style of which is characteristic of Lodge, I think. The cover also has the number 10 inside. No logo. The cover is rusty on top, and the skillet could definitely use a scrubbing. I need two hands to lift/carry the skillet with the cover on top. Heavy!

Asking price? $20. I balked at the price a little, and I passively and circuitously tried/mentally wished to have the owner lower it, but she didn't budge. She claimed that all the cast-iron skillets that she sold in the past often sold fast, and she's savvy about the benefits of cast iron. I was doing some mental math. Sure, it'll need some work, but word on the WAGS forum is that Lodge ware today just isn't what it used to be. And to buy a new Lodge skillet of that size today (it's larger than the 10 inch one -- I roughly measured the diameter to be about 12 inches across the top), would probably cost at least $20 without the cover. The cover would probably run at least another $20. Most old ("vintage") Lodge ware isn't valuable to collectors now, except the acorn pan, whatever that is. Lodge went through a fairly long period of time when it didn't place its logo on their products, so today it's hard to date them, or even ascertain whether it's truly a Lodge or not. That's made it difficult to make them collectible items. But, hey, acquiring an old affordable and reusable piece that has a history kinda has an appeal, I think.

Anyway, I'm curious about my skillet's lineage. Hopefully, I'll be able to get P to come to Astoria to take digital photos of the skillet so that I can post it on WAGS. I'm going cast iron crazy!

I'm very fond of the full fat authentic Greek yogurt made by Fage Total. As an Astorian, I see it in stores everywhere. I think it's the least expensive at Titan supermarket, which is on 31st Street, about a block away from Astoria Blvd. It's a Greek supermarket, and you can even sample the olives! (I've never done it, but I see little plastic-container spitoons along the olive barrels.) Anyway, Total yogurt is mmmmm decadently thick. It's fantastic with honey, fruit, jam, whatever. It's ridiculously good. You gotta go blue-container, full fat. The no-fat stuff has the thickness, but none of the flavor. It was pretty gross, in my opinion.

My mission is to find a local yogurt that's just as yummy and thick, because local is better, and the farmers that provide it can also give you more information about the conditions and treatment of the animals from where the yogurt originates. Fage claims that it doesn't use milk from cows pumped up with bovine growth hormone, which makes sense if it's made in Greece, because I think only the US (and maybe Canada) are crazy enough to endorse it. However, how do Fage's milk sources feed their cows? Are they fed industrialized grain and weird cannibalized cow parts? Can they move around with some freedom? Not only is it a question of compassionate care with the animal's health and well-being in mind, but most of the time, when an animal is treated well, it will produce better eggs, or milk, or wool. If you eat meat, then chances are, it will also taste better.

Here are the yogurts I've tried besides Total: Krinos ("Greek-style", which means it was made in the US); Stonyfield Farm (whole and low-fat); Ronnybrook Farm (maple and coconut); Hawthorne Valley Farm (plain and maple); Coach drinkable Yo-goat (made from goat's milk); and most recently, 3-Corner Field Farm Sheep's Milk Yogurt.

Of all the yogurts above, the 3-Corner Field Farm yogurt and Krinos are pretty much tied for thickness. Krinos is available in supermarkets here. I bought the 3-Corner yogurt at the Union Square Greenmarket. It definitely has a sheepy taste, and it carries a bit of a hefty price ($6 for a small take-out container's worth). I know that sheep's milk yogurt is generally more expensive, because sheep just don't produce as much milk as cows, and not as many farmers have sheep farms. Also, 2-Corner Field Farm is a small farm. www.dairysheepfarm.com. To escape the sheepy taste, I doused it with ginger-maple syrup (from the Vermont maple folks at Greenmarket), or honey (either linden flower honey from Tremblay Apiaries, or bamboo honey from Twin Oaks Apiary, both at Greenmarket).

Ronnybrook has a reputation for high-quality dairy products. Its stand at the Greenmarket is always swamped with people buying milk (in redeemable glass bottles!), ice cream, or some other yummy. So I tried the yogurt. The cream rises to the top of the yogurt, so it's superthick on top, but it's runny/practically drinkable underneath. Same thing goes for Hawthorne Valley. I've tried mixing it up, but the runniness is a turn-off.

Yo-goat is drinkable. I've heard that goat's milk is good for ya, but uh, goat's milk has a goaty taste, and the plain drinkable yo-goat is no exception. I avoid the flavored ones because I want to minimize those kinds of additives in a product -- I'd rather add my own sweetener.

Total's yogurt is strained, which is why it's so thick, I guess. I read someplace that even a city bumpkin like me could strain yogurt, which would be nice. Also, I guess I could even make my own yogurt. Hmmmmm. Oh, so many things in life to do, so little time ...

Check out bexn's blog. It's da food (not bombs). http://www.bexn.net/

My ode to tea! Here's my collection:

Loose: camomile, honeybush, rooibos, red raspberry leaf, earl grey creme.

Bagged: hawthorn berries, peppermint.

I bought the camomile from Aphrodisia in Greenwich Village. The woman who runs the place has a lot of different herbs and spices and teas in there. There aren't many stores like it around. She also carries organic camomile, although she was out of it at the time when I purchased my (non-organic) camomile.

I first tried honeybush when I was working at a mostly vegetarian cafe in Brighton, UK. It carried a lot of different teas (mostly bagged), and one day, I tried the honeybush. At first I thought it tasted like dirt. Then it grew on me. I re-acquainted myself with it at Teany earlier this year, and then I went in search of it at Aphrodisia. She has it. I don't remember if it's organic. Honeybush has an earthy taste, but then it gets fuller and deeper the more you drink it, and it's never gone bitter on me, no matter how long I've steeped it. I think it's South African. No caffeine.

Rooibos also is from South Africa, I think. I bought a box of it (loose) in England before I left. Technically, it has "expired," but I'm gonna keep drinking it because I've got a memory attached to it. It was quite popular in Brighton, which, like all of England, is culturally fixed to tea, but has a healthy bent to it as well, so people there lean towards finding good non-caffeinated options. It's also called "redbush." The tea is red. Personally, I think it tastes freaking good with milk and sugar/honey, but some people can have it plain. I think it tastes thin by itself, but it smells good however you want to drink it.

Red raspberry leaf: non-caffeinated. It's got astringent properties. I drink it about ten days before my period, because supposedly, it reduces cramping. I believe it -- drinking red raspberry leaf tea, combined with using the Keeper/washable pads has made my menstrual week much more bearable. (More on this in a future post!) The tea actually tastes pretty good, health properties notwithstanding. I find it comforting, like green tea or plain ol' black tea (Chinese-style).

Earl Grey Creme: The tea of choice for Teany's customers. I usually don't like Earl Grey at all -- overpowering flower-type smell that ruins the tea, in my opinion. Earl Grey Creme somehow tones down the flower smell, and softens the edge with a little bit of vanilla. It's good! I bought two tins: one for myself, one as a gift. The price is steep: $10 for a 2-ounce tin. I'll cough up the money this once, but I'm convinced that Teany is making a killing on it, so I'm hunting down its potential sources. I've got a suspicious eye on www.specialteas.com. Teany carries an Earl Grey called "Earl Grey Royal." Well, so does SpecialTeas. Even more incriminating: SpecialTeas has an Earl Grey called "Earl Grey de la Creme." Hmmm. I'm thinking about buying a bag of the de la Creme, to see if it's the same.

Hawthorn berry tastes like plastic. I bought it from Neil's Natural for my parents to try, because supposedly, hawthorn is good for high blood pressure. My mom said that there's a Chinese herbal soup that is made from hawthorn, that can be made to taste a million times better. So no more hawthorn berry tea, although Neil is my favorite Flushing neighborhood health food man.

Peppermint: one day, I will try brewing it fresh. In the meantime, for the purposes of quick brewing and digestion, I will keep bags of it around.

I bought a small tub o' quark cheese from the Hawthorne Valley Farm stand at the Union Square Greenmarket last Saturday. I've been slowly digging in. A few days ago, I scooped out a few tablespoons and liberally sprinkled on some cumin powder. It was okay. Just now, I finished up a small batch of quark mixed with a clove of raw rocambole garlic (purchased from Keith's Farm stand at the Greenmarket), salt, and a few grinds of Tellecherry pepper. (Oh yes, freshly ground peppercorn is so much better than getting a bottle of ground pepper.) I ate them with some water crackers from Whole Foods, which I purchased a few weeks ago when I went into a bout of minor stomach sicky twist.

Am I the only person who's suspicious of Whole Foods? All the vegetables and fruits there look perfect, even the organic ones. It's a supermarket that super-glorified, and super-expensive. Okay, yes, sometimes I will run in and get stuff. Usually it's dry goods, or crackers, or something that can't be purchased either at the Greenmarket or at the East 4th Street Co-op. But I cannot fathom waiting on the hugest line on earth on a Saturday inside Whole Foods, while the Greenmarket is vibrant and hopping literally right across the street. Whole Foods cult members, trust me, if the food you want to buy is in season, then chances are, you can get that heirloom tomato or pound of fiddleheads or bag of peaches for cheaper at Greenmarket, plus more of the money will go directly to the farmers. Whole Foods is a middleman. Farmers who sell their own goods have to wake up day in and day out to plant, harvest, irrigate, sort, wash, bunch, pack, drive, and sell their food to you. Wouldn't it make sense for the farmer to get most of the profit, based on the extent of labor necessary to maintain a viable business? Unfortunately, it usually ends up that the farmer gets the shit end of the stick, because cross-country travel, middlemen dealings, blah blah blah, all add up to very little profit for a farmer.

I'm convinced that there's a resurgence in cast-iron kitchenware use in this country.

With the exception of my family's old-school wok, all of my mom's pans and her current wok are all Teflon/non-stick. Cast-iron is perceived as a early 1900s kinda material with a hint Southern fried chicken.

But now, cast iron is making its way to a new generation of young cooks. (That's me.) Some of us have never seen, let alone used, a cast-iron skillet in their lives (That's me again). Is cast iron the new knitting? Will skinny boys and gals in big sunglasses, terrycloth jumpers, and legwarmers wave Lodge pans above their heads (using both arms)?

On Saturday, I was on my way to the Union Square Greenmarket when I stumbled across a street flea market. I bought 3 cast-iron pans -- 2 of them are 6.5 inches in diameter (quite small), and the other one is 8 inches (also pretty small). One of the little ones, and the 8-inch pan are Lodge; the other little one is a Benjamin & Medwin. (Does anybody know where Benjamin & Medwin cast ironware is made?)

I'm not really used to using such small pans, but the price reeled me in: $5 for the whole pile. $5 for three cast-iron pans! Hello? All of them are in pretty good condition. Nothing that a light scrub and a dose of seasoning wouldn't fix. Also, after a bit of internet research, I realized that there are people who will only try to buy secondhand cast-iron, because it'll already have been seasoned, plus there's the belief that really old-school cast-iron was constructed better than the stuff that gets made now. And, reusing is good for the environment! Cast-iron rivals a turtle in life-years. Who knows how old my pans are? (My Lodge pans have a little heart logo underneath its name logo. I checked out P.'s recently purchased Lodge -- it doesn't have the heart.)

Things to Do:
Season cast iron pans.
Season old-school wok (which is almost as old as me).
Cook with them.
Rinse.
Oil.
Repeat.

INFORMATION ON HURRICANE KATRINA RELIEF (from various sources)



We Are No Longer the Refugees & Immigrants: Blacks in Need of Katrina Refugee Housing & Other People of Color

Charles Chea (chea@asiavists.org)

For the last three days, I have been sending out e-mails and making phone calls to give information about ways in which people can contribute to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. I spent time talking with individuals, with family, and with organizations suggesting the best direction they could take in this effort. I contacted people, regardless of race or class, because natural disasters do not see race or class either. However, it is unfortunate that race and class are pervasive issues in the prevention and remedy of natural disasters.

Therefore, as an Asian American, I make it a pertinent effort to outreach to my fellow Asian Americans and emphasize what their contributions could mean in the long-run. The efforts of Asian Americans to collectively contribute to affected areas like New Orleans and Biloxi will not only help with immediate problems, but the gesture will have its place in the history of diplomatic cross-cultural relations. The majority of the Asian Americans that I have contacted are making financial contributions, as well as material contributions of clothing and food. Some are donating humble amounts, while others are getting together with their community organizations and the companies for whom they work. This is a safe distance most of us keep because we have other priorities. But since this tragedy strikes at the heart of a major black community in the United States, the contributions of non-black people of color must be larger than usual, and for good reason.
-
Donations can only go so far in the complexity that is Hurricane Katrina. It is not just a natural disaster, but an American Pandora’s Box exposing decades of racial inequalities for the world to see. We are seeing images that could be mistaken as photos from Haiti during its crises. In New Orleans, a majority population of black people are being barricaded from entering Algiers, the least affected and most livable area in the city currently. They have faced the subconscious of a racist nation in full blast, most notably with the now notorious pictures depicting Blacks as looters and whites as finders. Even worse, there have been reports of relief workers discriminating, such as first rescuing vulnerable [white] tourists in the midst of chaos.

There is race-based selectivity happening which is determining whether or not black people will live or die.

The United States is based upon a subconscious caste system that has been most oppressive against blacks and has long existed before this current catastrophe. Non-black people of color have long benefited from their struggle with numerous black heroes and movements that made the global Third World a major agenda. We can talk about the black
Buffalo soldiers in the Philippines who abandoned the U.S. Army to fight on behalf of the Filipino struggle against colonialism. We can talk about the petitioning and outspokenness of the black community when Japanese-Americans were being interned. We can talk about Malcolm
X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Assata Shakur, the Black Panthers, and other major black figures who opened their arms to the struggles of Asians, Latino/as, and Native Americans. They sat on major platforms and could have simply ignored us for the sole benefit of the black community, but they praised us and spoke on our behalf, especially Asians and Asian Americans.

The solidarity of the past, unfortunately, is fading quickly. I have witnessed it being bleached away for sometime because of the growing opportunities afforded to non-black people of color. Frustration from both black and non-black people of color have further irritated solidarity and the alienation continues. Many activists across the racial spectrum have been working on trying to solve these issues, but it has been a long and slow failure because of the inability to find an agreeable and stable platform.

Some have completely abandoned the possibility of ever seeing true solidarity and have adopted a pessimistic way of reasoning. Others have been taking moderate steps, hoping to salvage and rebuild upon its original foundation. The rest can only see revolution as the way of breaking down this oppression, shifting things to a completely new platform and rebuilding from there. I agree with the revolutionists, believing that the original plans of solidarity can not be salvaged, but rather reinvented and rebuilt. With this, Hurricane Katrina can be the entry to new ways of change, but only if Asian Americans, Latino/as, and other non-black people of color take the opportunity to do so.

-
In the following weeks, months, and perhaps years, refugee housing will be needed for many of those who have faced the devastation. The majority of these people are black, and while people of all races will need help, it will be blacks who will find it most difficult in their search for housing. For those of us who are not black and honest with ourselves, we understand that a lot of our families and friends have a wanton stigma against blacks even prior to Hurricane Katrina. Undoubtedly it will continue after all are evacuated, and without intervention, it will continue in the selection of housing. I have spoken to some Asian Americans already, a few who were refugees themselves at one time, and they have already been vocal about their preference to host Asians, and if not Asian, then whites. The request is not only racially disproportionate to the number of people in need of help, but it is also a racist notion that can further break us apart.

This delicate situation also means that we can push it the other way, if we take steps to promote fair refugee housing among all communities, but especially the ones with whom we are most familiar. Asian American activists must make it a consistent effort to diminish the anti-black stigma in our community, while it should be expected other communities do the same. This time is most dire, and as we have seen with the failure of the government, racial prioritization hinders a true humanitarian effort -- a platform where race should be of least concern and the _expression of a united humanity takes physical form. We must push our community, no matter how resistant they are, to understand the grave affects of anti-blackness in the United States. This means being vocal with our colleagues, friends, family, and strangers. If the larger population of non-black people of color were to take black people within their homes (perhaps the most private physical domain there is), it would be immensely powerful in bringing the community together.
-

Of course, this is easier said than done. As I have stated earlier, personally, it has been very difficult to outreach on this premise so far. But I need to keep trying. The acknowledgment of black oppression and their contributions to the struggle of others is the original American gospel. It is now, in this time especially, that they need our help.

I am pleading to activists, organizers, and educators to prioritize education about anti-blackness in our communities and to collaborate this with the promotion of refugee housing. If we are to be true to the fight for racial justice, we must fight this stigma.

I am asking people who do not fit in those categories to consider the words in this letter and to become everyday educators. Educate yourself about the history, educate others, and open doors for refugee housing.

If you do not feel moved by the history I have presented, please consider the value of selflessness. Forget race, forget class, and just consider the fact that these people's lives were destroyed in the hands of nature.

Nothing, be it race, class, or a lack of transportation, should get in the way of black folks and a warm home.

Grassroots/Low-income/People of Color-led
Hurricane Katrina Relief
http://www.sparkplugfoundation.org/katrinarelief.html

updated: Mon. Sept. 5, 2005, 1:54am ... this list is growing as communities regroup -- please keep checking back!

Where to donate to organizations who are:

Organizing at the grassroots level in New Orleans, Biloxi, Houston and other affected areas
Providing immediate disaster relief to poor people and people of color
Directed by, or accountable to, poor people and people of color
Fostering the democratic inclusion of poor people and people of color in the rebuilding process
(For notes on why it's important to support local, grassroots relief efforts, read here.

From: Yee Won Chong
Subject: Progressive Hurricane Relief



Friends, from our friends at Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. There are some progressive groups in the gulf region who were hit by the hurricane and have relief funds. You might consider donating to these funds to more ensure that the relief funds are spent with progressive values and low-income people in mind. It has contact info for relief efforts by: Enterprise Corporation of the Delta; Louisiana ACORN; Southern Mutual Help Association, and a few community foundations in the region. I'm not endorsing any of these efforts, but I believe in the judgement of our friends at Mary Reynolds Babcock. George Bush today said that no one thought the levys protecting New Orleans would break. Apparently the White House is applying the same good logic they used in Iraq to their emergency planning and response right here

at home. cheers

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Colleagues,



If you are like us, you are wondering how to help in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. We are hearing from grantees and community foundations in or near the devastated areas who are positioned to help with emergency relief and long-term recovery. We are passing this information along to you. If you wish, pass it along to others who may want to contribute to effective nonprofits with track records of service in the Gulf Coast region.



We will pass along information on other groups as it comes to our attention. Our intent is to help nonprofits we know get the word out about their relief and recovery needs, and to give our colleagues options for your giving. If you know of nonprofits to be included in future communications, please send us information about them.



Babcock Foundation staff



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



List of Organizations



1. Enterprise Corporation of the Delta:



ECD is a strong CDFI based in Jackson, with credit union branches in New Orleans and Gulfport. It has set up a Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund for anyone willing and able to make a contribution to help the region recover. ECD will coordinate its lending and relief efforts with the Red Cross, state and municipal governments, CDFIs, and others.



If you would like to make a contribution, please send your check to:

Enterprise Corporation of the Delta

c/o Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund

222 North President Street

Suite 220

Jackson, MS 39201



You can contact ECD at (601) 944-1100 or you can go to their website for more information (www.ecd.org).



2. Louisiana ACORN



Louisiana ACORN is a statewide community organizing group with local members throughout LA. It is affiliated with the national ACORN org.



Anyone who wishes to make a contribution, send in your donation to:

ACORN Hurricane Recovery & Rebuilding Fund

739 8th Street SE

Washington, DC 20003



You can also make an online contribution at www.acorn.org.



3. Southern Mutual Help Association, Inc.



Southern Mutual Help Association in New Iberia, LA has an urgent call out to any organizations and donors that can assist them with helping the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. SMHA has a solid track record of working with rural people and communities in Southern LA. Please contact Lorna Bourg, smha@southernmutualhelp.org or by phone (337) 367-3277, with any assistance or contributions.



4. Gulf Coast Community Foundation



The Gulf Coast Community Foundation in Biloxi, MS will have a mailing address to receive contributions. In the meantime, they are using the facilities of www.networkforgood.org. Just type in Gulf Coast Community Foundation and Mississippi.



5. Greater New Orleans Foundation



The Greater New Orleans Foundation has established a fund to receive on-line contributions for hurricane relief in that community. Go to the foundation's website (www.gnof.org) and click on Hurricane Katrina Recovery Fund.



6. Baton Rouge Area Foundation



The Hurricane Katrina Displaced Residents Fund – will benefit those individuals evacuated to Baton Rouge from the hurricane impacted areas in Greater New Orleans, who are now unable to return for what maybe an extended period.



The Hurricane Katrina New Orleans Recovery Fund – will focus on the rebuilding of infrastructure to provide basic human services to residents of these devastated areas.



If you would like to make a contribution, please send your check to:

Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund

402 N. 4th Street

Baton Rouge, LA 70802



You can also make an online contribution at http://www.braf.org and click on Hurricane Katrina Relief Page link.

From: SFanpeach@aol.com [mailto:SFanpeach@aol.com]
Subject: helping asian american victims of katrina



hello, all. jeremy liu of ACDC, Boston, was kind enough to forward me this information about relief efforts in houston to help asian americans -- mostly southeast asian americans -- affected by hurricane katrina. if you would like to target your aid to the asian american community, which could face additional obstacles of language and culture or could fall under the radar screen of mainstream relief efforts, please consider the groups listed below. or you might want to contact the local OCA (organization of chinese americans) to see whether there is some coordinated effort in your area. thanks.



stephanie



PLEASE DONATE NOW TO THE

KATRINA APIA RELIEF FUNDS



Everyday, the number of families displaced by Hurricane Katrina will continue to grow. These families from Louisiana, Mississippi, and possibly even from Alabama will continue to arrive in Houston, seeking help from local Houstonians. The immediate help these families are looking for is housing, food and medical needs.

In an effort to encourage local businesses and service providers to provide assistance, we need your support to specifically support the efforts of the local Asian/Pacific Islander American Community to address the needs of people with language and cultural barriers. We currently have thousands of people coming to Houston and the local APIA community is working together to provide assistance to people in immediate need.

Currently BPSOS, HOPE Clinic, CCC, and many other APIA other organizations are on the ground helping people with FEMA applications, Food Stamps, immediate vouchers for prescription medicine to the non-insured, food, and other assistance.

OCA-Greater Houston has set-up an online donation system to assist in collecting online donations to be distributed to the 2 APIA community relief funds that do not have online donation capacity. Please give what you can. Go to www.ocahouston.org <http://www.ocahouston.org/> and click to make an online donation by credit card or paypal.

The Katrina disaster is not something that is short-term. We are looking at a 4 month minimum time period where people will need shelter and assistance. As the donation funds come in, assistance will be provided in the order of medical, food, shelter, and other basic needs.

If you are not making an online donation, please send checks to:
CCC-Katrina CARE
9800 Town Park
Houston, TX 77036.

Houston Asian Relief from Katrina (or HARK)
c/o Council Member Gordon Quan
P.O. Box 1562
Houston, Texas 77251



501(c)3 Tax deduction information will be sent to all donors from these 2 funds.

Sent to me by my uncle, who got it from someone else:

Subject: Timeline to the New Orleans disaster




Thought you might like to read this timeline that somebody sent me about the disaster in New Orleans and the Bush administration's part. If you watched Bill Maher's show on HBO last night, this info will sound familiar.



Subject: FEMA, New Orleans delta flood control projects, Bush 'actions': a chronology


CHRONOLOGY.... Here's a timeline that outlines the fate of both FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) and flood control projects in New Orleans under the Bush administration. Read it and weep:

January 2001: Bush appoints Joe Allbaugh, a crony from Texas, as head of FEMA. Allbaugh has no previous experience in disaster management.

April 2001: Budget Director Mitch Daniels announces the Bush administration's goal of privatizing much of FEMA's work. In May, Allbaugh confirms that FEMA will be downsized: "Many are concerned that federal disaster assistance may have evolved into both an oversized entitlement program...." he said. "Expectations of when the federal government should be involved and the degree of involvement may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level."

2001: FEMA designates a major hurricane hitting New Orleans as one of the three "likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this country."

December 2002: After less than two years at FEMA, Allbaugh announces he is leaving to start up a consulting firm that advises companies seeking to do business in Iraq. He is succeeded by his deputy, Michael Brown, who, like Allbaugh, has no previous experience in disaster management.

March 2003: FEMA is downgraded from a cabinet level position and folded into the Department of Homeland Security. Its mission is refocused on fighting acts of terrorism.

2003: Under its new organization chart within DHS, FEMA's preparation and planning functions are reassigned to a new Office of Preparedness and Response. FEMA will henceforth focus only on response and recovery (DHS).

Summer 2004: FEMA denies Louisiana's pre-disaster mitigation funding requests. Says Jefferson Parish flood zone manager Tom Rodrigue: "You would think we would get maximum consideration....This is what the grant program called for. We were more than qualified for it."

June 2004: The Army Corps of Engineers budget for levee construction in New Orleans is slashed. Jefferson Parish emergency management chiefs Walter Maestri comments: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay."

June 2005: Funding for the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is cut by a record $71.2 million. One of the hardest-hit areas is the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, which was created after the May 1995 flood to improve drainage in Jefferson, Orleans and St. Tammany parishes.

August 2005: While New Orleans is undergoing a slow motion catastrophe, Bush mugs for the cameras, cuts a cake for John McCain, plays the guitar for Mark Wills, delivers an address about V-J day, and continues with his vacation. When he finally gets around to acknowledging the scope of the unfolding disaster, he delivers only a photo op on Air Force One and a flat, defensive, laundry list speech in the Rose Garden.

A crony with no relevant experience was installed as head of FEMA. Mitigation budgets for New Orleans were slashed even though it was known to be one of the top three risks in the country. FEMA was deliberately downsized as part of the Bush administration's conservative agenda to reduce the role of government. After DHS was created, FEMA's preparation and planning functions were taken away.

Actions have consequences. No one could predict that a hurricane the size of Katrina would hit this year, but the slow federal response when it did happen was no accident. It was the result of four years of deliberate Republican policy and budget choices that favor ideology and partisan loyalty at the expense of operational competence. It's the Bush administration in a nutshell.
--

Monetary donations can be sent to these outlets,
> which
> we have confirmed are REALLY delivering services to
> folks in need……..
>
> BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund
> PO Box 803209
> Dallas, TX 75240
> OR you can make an online donation by going to
> www.blackamericaweb.com/relief
> This fund has been set up by nationally syndicated
> radio personality TOM JOYNER
>
> NAACP Disaster Relief Efforts
>
> The NAACP is setting up command centers in
> Louisiana,
> Mississippi, and Alabama as part of its disaster
> relief efforts. NAACP units across the nation have
> begun collecting resources that will be placed on
> trucks and sent directly into the disaster areas.
> Also, the NAACP has established a disaster relief
> fund
> to accept monetary donations to aid in the relief
> effort.
>
> Checks can be sent to the NAACP payable to
>
> NAACP Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund
> 4805 Mt. Hope Drive
> Baltimore, MD 21215
>
> Donations can also be made online at
> www.naacp.org/disaster/contribute.php
> FYI, the NAACP, founded in 1909, is America’s oldest
>
> civil rights organization
>
> www.teamrescueone.com
> Set up by native New Orleans rapper Master P and his
>
> wife Sonya Miller
>
> You can mail or ship non perishable items to these
> following locations, which we have confirmed are
> REALLY delivering services to folks in need….
>
> Center for LIFE Outreach Center
> 121 Saint Landry Street
> Lafayette, LA 70506
> atten.: Minister Pamela Robinson
> 337-504-5374
>
> Mohammad Mosque 65
> 2600 Plank Road
> Baton Rouge, LA 70805
> atten.: Minister Andrew Muhammad
> 225-923-1400
> 225-357-3079
>
> Lewis Temple CME Church
> 272 Medgar Evers Street
> Grambling, LA 71245
> atten.: Rev. Dr. Ricky Helton
> 318-247-3793
>
> St. Luke Community United Methodist Church
> c/o Hurricane Katrina Victims
> 5710 East R.L. Thornton Freeway
> Dallas, TX 75223
> atten.: Pastor Tom Waitschies
> 214-821-2970
>
> S.H.A.P.E. Community Center
> 3815 Live Oak
> Houston, Texas 77004
> atten.: Deloyd Parker
> 713-521-0641
>
> Alternative media outlets where you can get a more
> accurate and balanced presentation of the New
> Orleans
> catastrophe….
>
> www.diversityinc.com
> www.alternet.org
> www.blackelectorate.com
> www.npr.org
> www.daveyd.com
> www.slate.com
> www.bet.com
> www.allhiphop.com
> www.democracynow.org
> www.blackamericaweb.com
>
> PLEASE VISIT all these websites.
>
> Five things you can do to help immediately
>
> 1. Duplicate what we are doing elsewhere in New York
>
> City, in your city or town, on your college campus,
> at
> your church, synagogue, mosque, or other religious
> institution, via your fraternity or sorority, or via
>
> your local civic or social organization.
>
> 2. Cut and paste the information in this eblast
> about
>
> Items needed by survivors of the New Orleans
> catastrophe
> Monetary donations
> Where you can ship non perishable items
> Alternative media outlets
> Five things you can do to help immediately
>
> and share this information, as a ONE SHEET, with
> folks
> near and far, via email, or as a hand out at your
> event, religious institution, and with your civic or
>
> social organization.
>
> 3. Voice your opinion to local and national media,
> and
> to elected officials, via letter, email, op ed
> article, or phonecall, regarding the coverage of the
>
> New Orleans catastrophe, as well as to the federal
> government’s on going handling of the situation.
>
> 4. Ask the hotel you frequent, such as the Marriott
> or
> Holiday Inn, to give your hotel points to an
> individual or family in need of a stay for a night,
> a
> few nights, or longer, depending on how many points
> you have. Be sure to get confirmation that your
> points
> have been applied in that way. Encourage others to
> do
> the same. Also inquire if your airline frequent
> flyer
> mileage can be used for hotel stays as well.
> Finally,
> either offer to pay for hotel rooms, or encourage
> others to do so, including your place of employment
> or
> worship or your organization.
>
> 5. Dare to care about other human beings, no matter
> their race, gender, class, sexual orientation,
> religion, geography, culture, clothing, hairstyle,
> or
> accent or language. Like September 11th, the New
> Orleans catastrophe is a harsh reminder that all
> life
> is precious, as is each day we have on this earth.
>
> AND REMEMBER that our attention and response to the
> New Orleans catastrophe needs to happen in three
> stages…DISASTER, RECOVERY, and REBUILDING. We need
> you
> for all three stages.
>

A. is from New Orleans. Now she lives in Brooklyn, but she's got family and friends who are from New Orleans, who kept her updated on the situation there. Below is her email.

"Hi everyone-

I want to forward you all a few messages from a colleague of mine about what's really going on. I finally spoke to some friends and one of my aunts in Baton Rouge. My friend Stephen, who evacuated to Opelousas, was finally able to call me this morning. His first words to me were :"Where is Haliburton? Where is the National Guard? Where is Bush?" The amount of sadness and horror I think we all feel, especially those of us from the area, is now being run over replaced with complete frustration and rage. It has been days since this started. Why are people dying on the streets of dehydration and hunger? Where are the food drops and the National Guard and army reserve? Why is Bush "surveying the damage" from Air Force One and yelling about price gouging at the gas pumps instead of doing something for all of the people left behind? I have been crying about every five minutes this morning just from sheer frustration at having to watch thousands of poor black AND white people suffer through this. My aunt in Baton Rouge says that now, all of the people being drooped there from New Orleans are looting Baton Rouge too. An LSU arena is now being turned into a morgue. Where are all these people supposed to go? Where is the money that should have been in the federal budget to deal with something like this? Because I will say that as a person who grew up in New Orleans barely a block and a half form the levee, it was never a question of if, but always WHEN. WHEN would it break and do this? And where is Haliburton to rebuild our infrastructure? Where are our food drops and where are the troops to help us out? Where are the people I haven't been able to contact, where is my mom's brother and nephew and nieces and my great aunt lele? What we're being shown on tv is not nearly half of what's happening down there. We can't forget what was happening in New Orleans BEFORE the hurricane--drugs, murder, poverty, lack of jobs, and resources, etc. How do you think all that is playing out now? Aside from being horrified at the level of complete devastation and disaster, we should be outraged at the lack of organization, resources, and concern from the powers that be. I certainly am. But please at least let other people know what's happening to people there, both those who managed to leave and the ones who were left behind.

peace,

A.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Here's Damon's message:


Dear Friends,

I've been inundated with e-mails, text messages and voicemails over the last couple of days - everyone asking how my family is doing. Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers on our behalf. I have not been able to reach everyone, so I'm sending out a mass e-mail - sorry for being so impersonal.

My folks are okay! My parents and older sister drove to Houston. My sister and dad are running into friends in a mall in Houston - it's like little New Orleans.

I'm sure the house is severely damaged, if not actually destroyed. The house located is on the last street in Orleans Parish (bordering Jefferson), in a small triangular neighborhood bordered by the 17th Street Canal (the one whose levee was breeched), Airline Highway and another canal (which intersects the 17th Street canal). Even though the breach was down by the lake a few miles a way, it may still affect the 'hood. You can check it our on Google Earth (free download. Just punch in our address: 3511 Cecil street, new Orleans, la. My folks may have to rent an apartment for weeks in Houston or they may go to my younger sister's place in ATL. It will be tough. My dad is an architect and he designed much of the house himself, and actually built a good bit of it with his bare hands. But hopefully we can rebuild.

The scene in New Orleans is bananas:

I just saw some live streaming video from the local TV station (www.wwltv.com) I saw the full spectrum of humanity: video of a little girl crying saying she doesn't want to get caught in the water; families who have lost loved ones and all possessions; looters; people helping people; folks who stole U.S. Postal service trucks, milk trucks, etc; two police officers who were themselves seemed to be looting; black folks helping whites and vice versa; stretches of Interstate highway over the water destroyed (I don't just mean damaged, but completely GONE). Bodies are floating everywhere, though that was not shown on TV. People have nothing - no clothes, no cells, no ID, nothing...wheelchair bound people have no wheelchairs. It's wild. People are fighting for their lives and have been for about three days now.

Communications are really bad. Folks can call out from 504 area code numbers, but not in - sometimes you can get through if you try like 20 times, but usually not. Text messaging seems to be working, though. The Superdome is hot and the stench is terrible, esp. in the restrooms. Those folks will be moved to the Astrodome in Houston soon.

I have not reached most of my friends, but did speak to my best friend (Jeremy Jones) and know that he and his children are safe. But he cannot find his dad, who stayed behind so he could help people. I heard from my find Jesse Hardin who worked at the Aquarium - he is now in D.C. and looking for a job -- anywhere. I also heard via e-mail from my boy Eric Hatfield whose mother is the mayor's chief administrative officer. The mayor is the man, by the way - he's doing a fine job without much help from the feds. I cannot understand why there is not more help - no food drops or anything, even though people are starving. The Army Corps of Engineers is useless as far as I can tell. They opted not to fix the levee breeches for some undisclosed reason. Maybe they decided to save people instead...who knows??? The mayor seems a bit ticked off about this.

So much for that B.S. about New Orleans not being hit as hard as other places...
The update below is from my friend Derek Brooks, who is a doctor at a hospital in downtown N.O., but is now in Baton Rouge:
________________________________________________________


The situation has worsened.

There have been at least 2 suicides at the Superdome.

The looting is out of control. One policeman has been shot in the head and several looters have been shot on the spot and killed. There have also been carjackings. The news is underreporting. It is anarchy according to a policeman friend in the Superdome.

The levee repair plan has been aborted. The entire East Bank is being evacuated mostly by buses, but there are considerations to bring in cruise ship and military carriers and ships also. The entire East Bank will be underwater by the mid morning tomorrow.

I am, along with most other health care professionals that I have spoken with, been overwhelmed with patient care. We are on disaster call at my hospital and working excessive hours. The number of trauma patients coming in from New Orleans are numerous. There are so many injured people. If you can, please go donate blood. For the few doctors on this list, if you can come to Louisiana to help, do so. It is like a war zone.

The situation is apocalyptic in south Louisiana. This will undoubtedly be listed as the worst natural disaster in the modern history of the United States.

I will update again on Thursday when I get off of work.


D.

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This message is from my friend Marc Luckett, also in Baton Rouge:


I'm back in Baton Rouge(aka The new New Orleans). It's crowded and the power is still out in a lot of parts of the city. There are a lot of ambulance sirens every so often. My apartment complex was so crowded there was hardly anywhere to park. Out of all the people that left New Orleans I'd say about 75% of them are in B.R. right now and it doesn't look like they'll be leaving for weeks, maybe even months. New Orleans pretty much doesn't even exist right now. To say things look bad is a gross understatement. I've never seen anything like this before and hope I never do again. This is like the natural disaster equivalent of 9/11. New Orleans is getting most of the news coverage because it's a major city but places like Gulfport and Slidell got hit even harder if you can believe that. New Orleans will take the longest to re-build though because it's underwater and what's scary is that as I write this the water is still rising. We need God on a daily basis but now more th
an ever. Let us not forget from Whom our blessings, healings, and strength comes from. Pray.

________________________________________________________


That's the nes I have to share.

What can you do?
Pray, give money, give blood...

I know one thing. We wil lrebuild. The emotional connection to hte city is too strong. It's realyl a city that was both never meant to be, yet was inevitable at the same time. and Mardi Gras will happen next year - and it will not be the drunken party that tourists have tried to turn it into. Instead, it will be a celebration of life and our unique New Orleans culture - the way it was intended to be, and really is in most of the city's older neighborhoods. We will move on, but never forget.

"New Orleans is the soul of our country, and we have to save it." -- Wynton Marsalis

Best to you all.

-D."

It's wonderful to see and hear about the generosity of people, from all walks of life, who want to give and relieve some of the suffering that the survivors are going through now. If everyone gave a little bit, it adds up to quite a lot, and I'm sure it makes a difference and makes things a little bit better for the survivors.

With such generosity of spirit (and really, it's an impulse based on reason and common sense -- who doesn't want to relieve the suffering of innocent people, especially children, the old and infirm?), we have to wonder: what the hell was our government doing while New Orleans flailed through a hurricane predicted way in advance? Everyone scraping together cookie jar money is one thing, but our government has huge stockpiles of resources that could have saved lives early on, and prevented chaos. We paid for those stockpiles with our tax money: battleships with medical facilities, large military bases (some unused), rescue equipment, airplanes, really big major things that most individual citizens don't have access to. Where were the big corporations that the government kowtows to, that (again) so much of our tax money goes towards? Some of them have private jets that zip them around the world. Surely, a CEO with a big heart and deep pockets could have offered to step up, if our government was too chickenshit to do it.

I'm glad some Republicans are finally waking up to the reality of this inept administration, and I'm glad that they're condemning Bush's inactions. It's one thing to funnel loads of money into "fighting terrorism": sure, okay. How about putting money into taking preventative measures that could have saved New Orleans? How about an effective evacuation plan? How about at least providing the homeless, the sick, and the hungry with basic supplies? They're not homeless because they're lazy bums (and that's a whole new can o' worms to open) -- they're jobless and homeless because a hurricane destroyed their homes and uprooted their lives. Immediate humanitarian effort of your own people should be a no-brainer, from any point of view. Not only is it the sensible and reasonable thing to do, but if you're a cynic like me, ya gotta know that media images of suffering stemming from direct lack of government action are gonna tarnish your image. Duh.

I'll follow up this post with copies of emails I got from a friend, A.

Over an iced coffee and a terribly-brewed cup of tea, M. and I talked about our puzzlement over why some people dream of joining the cast of Saturday Night Live someday. It's been terrible for a few years now, and I wouldn't wish it on anyone to appear on that show, because it'll sink your reputation, I think. When Saturday Night Live first started up, it probably had a lot at stake, and yet, there didn't seem to be a slick uber-commercial vehicle behind the whole operation. It's so obvious when you see the beginnings. Some of the sketches are quirky -- they're not funny in any obvious way, but clearly someone put some thought into them, and they weren't driven by slap-happy wacky recurring characters. Some sketches performed back in the day would never be able to be performed today, because the network is so strict about what it will allow on-air. The network honchos want to know which characters got big laughs last week, and they want to see them back in sketches the following week. Sketches that aren't surefire mainstream neutral haha don't make it. MadTV on Fox is no different. It's a fucking bloody shame, because for comedians and writers (many of whom are improvisers) to get on either show, they have to tough out tons of competition and elaborate auditions. There's no doubt that the cast members of both shows are capable of incredible thought-provoking sketches, because if you can do intelligent improv spontaneously, you sure as hell can write and perform a kick-ass sketch written and rehearsed way in advance. As things stand now, it's an incredible waste of talent to have the cast and writers do stuff that so clearly sucks.

Lest you think I'm some kind of obnoxious side commentator, let me explain where I'm coming from. (And you're right: I am an obnoxious side commentator.)

I've been taking long-form improv classes for almost a year. I started mid-September of last year at the Upright Citizens Brigade school, otherwise known as UCB.

The school was started by the group, called the Upright Citizens Brigade, which is composed of Amy Poehler (now on SNL), Matt Walsh, Ian Roberts, and Matt Besser. They all studied in Chicago under the improv guru, Del Close, at Improv Olympic (now called IO, because the real Olympics people don't want regular unathletic peons to bandy the word "Olympics" around lightly). The UCB group moved to New York to perform, and it eventually got a show on Comedy Central, for two seasons. The first season is out on DVD. I confess: I have not seen any of it.

The group then found a theatre space to call home. It was a tiny little place that used to be a strip joint in Chelsea. In 1999, it started up an improv school, and the group members started to teach, along with other teachers like Armando Diaz and Ali Farahnakian. There was a whole drama surrounding the departure of Armando and Ali, which I won't go into now, but I dare you to search for it on www.improvresourcecenter.com.

Anyway, back to my short improv history. I started at the UCB for Level 1. www.ucbtheatre.com. It was fun. After the class ended, the school wasn't going to offer any new classes until after New Year's, so I took a class with Armando Diaz back when he was teaching independently. He is a big teddy-bear improv guru dude. That class blew my mind, because he creates a supportive environment, and he'll be economical with words to drive home a really important concept. He is now teaching at Magnet Theater, and you can't go wrong with taking any classes there with any of the teachers. www.magnettheater.com.

Fast forward to now. I've taken classes with Armando (now at Magnet), I've taken more classes at UCB, and I've taken classes with Christina Gausas, who is so wonderful. I've only been doing this for a short amount of time, and already it's very apparent that there's a scene, and either you're really "in", or you're trying to work your way in.

Nobody makes money doing improv, with the exception of the people who teach improv, and the very very very few who end up using those skills to land on TV. Everybody wants to be in the "very very very few" group. Many students at UCB are especially guilty of this -- not in a malicious way or anything, but their ambition is so transparent that it's scary. Some of my former classmates want to succeed in improv so that they can be "just like those people on stage". Some want to end up on SNL. Some people think that by meeting and being taught by influential people at UCB, they might get their foot in the door faster.

What door? Faster towards what? That door doesn't open unless you've got something truly unique to offer, and honestly, to where does that door lead? You really want to go there? Of all the improvisers out there, why should you be noticed? How are you notable? Yes, networking is important. Yes, it is incredible when all the "right" people know who you are, like you, and are looking out for you. However, you need to have the goods to back it up.

There are literally at least a thousand students and performers flowing in and out of UCB at any given time, and classes are often packed to capacity. SNL and other comedy show scouts have been known to show up at UCB shows to check out the talent. NY is undergoing an improv explosion, especially among young (twentysomething, some younger) white middle-class males. People doing improv just to rub shoulders with comedians who appear on VH1 ... I dunno, it just cheapens the meaning behind improv.

Improv is about making connections with your group, and with your scene partner(s) on stage. Trying too hard to be funny, or to create a wacky character or plot, just ruins it for everyone, because it's a selfish move to showcase your hilarious skills. Instead, people should focus on building a great scene together. Just as history repeats itself, all different relationship scenarios have already been played out in improv, to the point of cliche. "Mom (or Boyfriend, or Husband), I'm pregnant." "I'm going to have an abortion." "Will you marry me?" The trick is to really own the moment and honestly care about stuff that's being said, and treating it like it's an actual conversation in real life, while adhering to some general improv tenets (or you can break the rules, as long as the scene moves forward). Granted, it's not always going to be hilarious, but life can throw you real crazy shit that can't be made up, and it's often funny. Improv can do that too.

I'm not claiming to have the right answer, (or worse, I AM THE ANSWER, bwahahaha). I'm still new to this stuff, I'm taking classes, I'm trying to get over my crappy bouts of initiation stage fright. In the UCB cool scene, I am a nobody, and that's fine by me. The people who have the right to strut around are the ones who have been doing this for years and years, way before it was cool, when they had to scrape together money for this crazy little hobby that people couldn't understand, because it's art made up on the spot, never to be performed again.

You couldn't pay me enough to be on SNL, because how would SNL utilize me, a young bespectacled Asian American woman who simultaneously looks younger and older? The male Black SNL cast members are relegated to roles as DJs, fast food workers, and Starr Jones. How many laundromat/manicure
scenes would SNL like to stick me in?

I'm tired. Tirade closed.

For my birthday, I asked my sister to get me a pepper grinder. She ordered one off of eBay, and it was shipped from Turkey directly to my humble Queens abode.

The pepper grinder is brass, and it looks exactly like this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/BRASS-COFFEE-GRINDER-PEPPER-MILL-NEW-IMPORTED_W0QQitemZ6201384588QQcategoryZ13930QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

My sister bought this particular one because she liked the way it looked. It's a bit of a tough grind, but the pepper comes out much sassier than the ground pepper in a spice bottle. I bought almost two ounces of Tellecherry peppercorns from a spice/loose tea/herb store in Greenwich Village, called Aphrodisia. Apparently, many Wiccan witches prefer to buy their supplies there. Anyway, I love poking around spices and teas. One day, I'd like to learn how to use herbs medicinally. I have half a thought to jump into an Eastern medicine training program, but I don't know if that's what I want to devote myself to at this point in my life. Maybe later.

I love to think about food, and I love to eat, so perhaps this will be somewhat of a food blog.

I picked up my week's share of food at the Stanton Street Settlement this evening, in the Lower East Side. This is its first year participating in a CSA (community-supported agriculture) program with Windflower Farm. My friend, P. (names have been changed to protect the innocent), and I are splitting a share, because it's an insane amount of food. P. isn't home much at night, and it's daunting for him to open the fridge and have the greens poking out at him, so he feels like he's waging war against the veggies, in a race against time. He doesn't like the pressure. I don't mind, except since most of it is organic, it can't stay stagnant in the fridge for long, and I am also not home much at night. We split veggies, fruits, and eggs. I'll post the link when I'm not lazy.

This week's share:

5 peaches (not organic)
3 pounds of nectarines (not organic)

1 carton of free-range eggs

2 yellow tomatoes
4 red tomatoes
a carton of Juliette (long plummish-shaped) tomatoes
1/2 pound lettuce
3/4 pound braising greens (I still don't really know what to do with them except steam)
3 peppers
3 cucumbers
a bunch of carrots
a bunch of basil
2 squashes (I picked zucchini)

I still have two carrots and two yellow summer squash, a tomato, and a lot of stone fruits from last week. Oh, and so many eggs. I was hoping to make a peach cobbler last week, when I took the week off from work, but I didn't get around to it. I never bake, and I don't even know if I've ever eaten cobbler, so making one would be kinda crazy, but what else does one do with more than 10 pounds of stone fruits in the crisper?