Saturday Post

Its Saturday and its been a pretty productive day by my own standards. I am right in the middle of making delicious vegetarian lasagna for Clara, myself, and two friends of ours. At the same time I am also making vegetable broth from all the leftover vegetables we have collected over the last week and a half. This is one of those things that remain a work in progress. This is the fourth time I have made it and I am still learning how to do it and what the combination for a good taste is. This time I added some stalks of rosemary. We will see if it adds anything to it. I want to make my kitchen into a place where I do most, if not all of the cooking from scratch. Sometimes that is not possible, and sometimes there is simply not enough time. There is a massive difference in taste, and taking the broth as an example, last week we made a soup using the broth as a base and then adding some more fresh vegetables and pasta and letting them simmer some. The final taste was incredible and not even comparable to store bought broth.

I haven’t watched a single episode of Sarah Palin’s Alaska (I think that’s the name) but I can’t help but wonder if she runs for president, will she then have a reality show about how the whole thing goes? What would that be called? Sarah Palin Goes to Washington? Sarah Palin’s Washington? If anyone has any good ideas then please post them below.

The new congress spent some time reading the constitution for everyone to hear. I like that Time Magazine asks the question as to whether or not there is some kind of Constitution Cult that is rearing its head right now in the US. The quote at the end by Jefferson is pretty damning of the whole “original interpretation” idea. Well there will always be nuts among us, now we have people who fall for the American Religion. Classic.

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First Post

The New Year is here. It brought with it large explosions that lasted up to around four in the morning and then piles and piles of dirty snow and the wrappers and leftovers of the fireworks. The city, of course, is the one who will have to clean the whole thing up like they do every year. I think this is probably one of those ironic moments in Germany, a land so proud about being clean: that on New Year’s eve and day its ok to litter. Going to the baker in the morning was like walking through a bar just after they closed: half empty bottles and cups lined the street.

My first book of 2011 I actually started in 2010. It was Phillip Roth’s “I Married a Communist.” It was only the second Roth novel that I have ever read, but I will admit that it won’t be the last. While at times the story line was bland, the characters themselves kept the thing afloat and all the insights into the McCarthy era were extremely interesting and irritating at the same time. It will forever be one of those classic ideas to me that a country can call itself the greatest on earth and then turn around and tell its own people what they have to believe in order to be permitted to work.

That’s the thing I want to point out as we begin the new year: that our end results or present versions of old projects often have little to do with their origins and history. The original United States allowed for slavery and gave no votes to women, and yet if you speak to some people, they would give up everything they had to go back to that time of constitutional purity. I am guessing that most of these people have no background in American history beyond the third grade.

The book list for 2011 will keep the books that weren’t finished from last year as well.

1. I Married a Communist by Phillip Roth (finished)

2. Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (considering buying this after all the reviews it got)

3. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer (non-fiction)

4. Going After Cacciato by Tim O´Brien

5. The Green House by Mario Vargas Lhosa (hard to find in English)

6. Grimms Wörter by Günter Grass

7. Buddha’s Little Finger by Victor Pelevin (Currently reading in German)

Finally an apology for today’s post, I know it isn’t that great or fiery or whatever, but it’s the first one of the year so it needed to be gotten out of the way.

First picture of the year was a great success as well: Quiche with tomatoes, Asiago cheese, and spinach.