OCTOBER 2013
Wednesday 2013.10.30
Seasons
It seems like every spring I look forward to summer; and each fall I anticipate the winter. I suppose it comes from having only two seasons here in Southern California, which I like to describe as summer and sort of summer. Winter isn't much of a winter here. Daytime temperatures might be in the high 60s to low 70s. People complain about the cold when it doesn't get above 60°F (16°C). I grew up in New England. A daytime temperature of 60 degrees in January or February was a balmy day to us. Winter here means the heater comes on at night, but not during the day because it's too warm in my house (especially if I'm baking).
I've been preparing for winter. That means draining and cleaning the evaporative cooler—I won't need it again until next summer. I also light my oil lamp and let it burn for several minutes to burn off the wax that builds up in the wick when the lamp is not used for a while. I rarely need the oil lamp. We are more likely to lose electricity due to summer fires up in the mountains where the transmission lines are located. Nonetheless, it feels good to be prepared.
A small winter storm moved through the area during Sunday night/Monday morning. It dropped very little rain (too bad, we really need it), but this is the second one this season. They're starting early. Hopefully we'll get more storms than ususal this winter and get some much needed water into the reservoir. The water from the first few rains soaks into the soil—very little runoff going into the reservoir. As the season progresses and the soil becomes saturated, the rains contribute to our water supply.
Winter is also a good time to run the oven, and not just to bake. I have a cast iron stove top griddle that needs attention. Earlier this week I sprayed it with oven cleaner, wrapped it in cellophane, and let it sit to dissolve the old blackened oil and grease on it. I also bought some flaxseed oil. Many people now believe it is the best oil for seasoning cast iron. Even America's Test Kitchen wrote about it in one of their magazines. You'll need to Google or Bing it to get the chemical details. It's something about producing the best polymer coating on the iron. After cleaning the griddle well, I've been adding thin coats of flaxseed oil and baking it in the oven. As I write this it is currently baking in a 525°F (274°C) oven, it's sixth coating. One more coating today will finish it, ready for grilling again.
Some other projects are also under consideration. I might do a little restructuring of this web site to organize the recipes better in the Archive. I'm also thinking of reducing the time I spend writing recipes and making videos—sort of a sabbatical, but I won't be completely away. There are some other creative projects I'd like to work on more. Nothing like this web site, but some things need doing that require a lot of time.
I'm also wondering how I can free up some time from YouTube. With the number of videos approaching 200, I get more and more questions in the comments. I feel like I need to respond, but most of those questions require that I do some research (that the other person could easily do as well). What to do? One friend suggested I disable all commenting on my videos. The idea stimulates me, like fresh air does. People and companies with lots of YouTube videos usually disable comments because responding to the many questions is too time consuming, especially if a video goes viral. Some people won't like it, of course, but I can't please everyone. No one pays me to do their research for them; so I need to think about myself on this issue.
If I do make major changes, it won't be until January. Meanwhile, I have enough recipes and videos "in the vault" to cover all my uploads through December 29.
Oh, and one more thing—Happy Halloween tomorow. Be safe.
Sunday 2013.10.27
Mood Food
When I think of comfort food, two thoughts come to mind. One might surprise some people.
My favorite comfort food is probably my mom's American Chop Suey. It's an Italian American dish of macaroni and meat ragu. My mother used elbow macaroni and the ragu was made with ground beef and caramelized onions. Some cooks add chopped bell peppers and/or other ingredients. Where the "chop suey" came from is anyone's guess; that's a purely American version of Chinese food. The dish is known by different name throughout the United States. The American Chop Suey name is common in parts of New England.
There is another mood food that might not seem like comfort food—vegetables. Depression has been a problem for me in the past. Thankfully, I don't need anti-depressants. I need vegetables. Depression reared its ugly head recently after some difficult dental work. I couldn't chew for a while. Liquid foods were recommended at first, then a slow movement to soft foods and eventually to firmer foods. Imagine graduating form soup to mashed potatoes and scrambled eggs. I ate a lot of ramen, which I left in the pan a few minutes longer, with the cover on, to soak up more liquid.
After several days of this I was irritable and impatient. The slightest thing would set me off. I was angry all the time. And I wanted to move to San Diego to get away from everyone. I even turned off my phone, claiming I needed a little quiet time.
A little aside on depression: I earned my master's degree in counseling psychology and I was effective when working with clients who suffered with depression. If someone were to come up behind you and poke you with a needle, how would you react? Turn and smile? "Oh, that was lovely"? You'd yell, give them a fierce look, and maybe a black eye. Pain makes us angry. I think of depression as the pain of living. It's a constant psychological pain, which can trigger anger in some people.
As soon as I was able to eat good solid foods again, I went to the warehouse store and came back with a big container of salad greens, a box of Roma tomatoes, and some bags of frozen vegetables. I already had homemade salad dressing in my refrigerator. I've been eating salad everyday. I also made vegetable soup with mixed vegetables and some homemade chicken stock. Within 24 hours I began to feel better.
I no longer have free access to the research journals available through the local university's library system. If I did, I'd look to see if there are any published studies that show a correlation between mood improvement and increased vegetable consumption. I only have my own experience to go on.
Vegetables work for me. I can't prescribe them. I'm not a licensed dietician, nor am I a doctor or medical practitioner. But I do know that I feel a lot better now that I am eating my veggies again.
Wednesday 2013.10.23
Knowing Bread Dough
I started cooking for myself when I was 18 years old. That was when I moved into my first apartment. A year later I was living in a garage conversion (it was very nice) on a road called Mechanic Street in Pawcatuck, Connecticut. The only downside to living there was that there was just enough room between the back of my cottage and the embankment of the railroad tracks for the landlord to store his lawnmower. Well, that, and I had to climb up onto the roof to turn the TV antenna to get either channel 12 Providence of channel 10 Boston.
That was when I purchased my bread pans, which I still have. I attempted baking bread many times down through the years. I was successful with quick breads, such as banana bread or cranberry bread, but my yeast breads were always failures. I baked bricks. There were several reasons why.
For one, I tried to make dough by the feel of it. It if felt pliable and soft, like modeling clay, it seemed right to me. It wasn't. It needed a lot more moisture. I know now that the dough should be slightly sticky and moist.
For another, I measured wrong. Most recipes list the flour quantity in cups. What is a cup? I have measuring cups, but it turned out there is a lot of variation in the quantity of flour in the cup, depending on whether is scooped out of the flour container, spooned into the cup, or sifted into the cup. A cup of scooped flour can contain more than 5½ ounces (156g) of flour. Sift flour into a cup until it is full and it might contain as little as 4 ounces (113g). Spooning flour into a cup amounts to about 5 ounces (142g) or a little less.
I also learned that when a recipe only measures the flour by volume, not by weight, there is a good probability the flour is averaged at 5 ounces per cup. There is no guarantee, of course. I have seen recipes that don't say "2 cups sifted flour," which would be 9 ounces (255g), but from testing the recipe the flour was obviously sifted rather than scooped or spooned.
The failures are the reason why my bread pans lasted so many years. I gave up baking yeast bread many times and several years would pass before I attempted it again, only to meet with another failure. The pans were seldom used.
Enter Julia Child. It was only in the past few years that I received DVDs of the French Chef cooking shows she did live on WGBH in Boston. I watched her back when I lived in Connecticut, but French cooking always seemed too advanced to me, despite how easy she made it look. And, coming mostly from Italian parentage, I preferred Italian food at the time.
She wasn't perfect either. One of my favorite videos is one in which she is making French bread. She plunges a measuring cup into a flour container and scoops out the flour. After leveling off the top with a knife, she says the cup contains 4½ ounces of flour. "Oh, this ought to be good," I thought. I had already seen another video, done much later, in which she shows the proper way to measure flour for baking.
She starts to mix her dough and if it obvious, both to her and to us, that the dough is too dry. She briefly comments on that fact and sets the dough aside, saying she already has some dough prepared in advance. Then she moves the bowl again, this time into the sink, as if hiding it. When I tell people about this episode, they jump to her defense, as if she is the perfect goddess of baking. She is as human as the rest of us and that is part of what I love about her. She made mistakes, but she kept going.
Now I weigh my flour for baking. I use a digital scale and measure to the exact ounce. The scale is accurate to a tenth of an ounce; so I get a good measurement. I also know what to expect in the bowl. I use my stand mixer. When I see the dough pulling away from the side of the bowl as the dough hook kneads it, but still sticking in the bottom, I know the dough is the right consistency. I can adjust by adding a little water or flour if I don't see what I want in the bowl.
I love baking bread now. After decades of failure, I am finally making some delicious and proper textured breads. If only I had seen that French Chef show in which Julia showed how to properly measure flour back when I was living in Connecticut. I would have known. So many years wasted. But that's the past. I have the future. For my web site and YouTube channel I want to make many breads. It is one of the most satisfying baking projects I know, probably because I failed for so many years and now I am succeeding.
This week I am featuring Hawaiian sweet bread. Look for Portuguese sweet bread in coming weeks, and whole wheat bread afterward.
Sunday 2013.10.20
This Old Machine
I'm a guy. Some guys like mechanical stuff, be it cars and trucks, motorcycles, airplanes, or more esoteric things like winches or pumps. I've always been fascinated with machines.
When I was in high school I learned to repair typewriters. It was my after-school job for a while and I worked for an office machine company for a few years after graduation. Thank goodness I didn't pursue it as a career. Where are the typewriters now?
I also build my own computers; so I am not limited to mechanics. Good old mechanical devices, however, are objects of beauty as well as durability. Take my old industrial sewing machine. It's is a Singer 31-15. I got it for free when I was in college. Well, actually, I worked for it. Someone needed some work done during a summer, but they had no money in the budget to pay me. I told them I'd work for this machine, which I knew they had in storage.
Why did I want it? Because I had learned how to tailor. I learned many things when I was in college. I was always looking to learn something new, especially if it meant working with my hands—carpentry, plumbing, painting, even tailoring. Cooking too. My attention was drawn to this machine recently when someone asked where I buy the aprons I wear in my cooking videos. I make them. They're easy.
I wondered how old my machine might be. A little research on a Singer sewing machine web site, and noting the serial number, revealed that my machine was built in 1942, nine years before I was born. It's 71 years old, and still purring along like a kitten. I do keep it cleaned and oiled. Recently I had a new leather belt installed. The machine is old, and I certainly wouldn't describe it as pretty, but it is nonetheless a thing of beauty, as far as machinery goes. And I even have the original owner's manual.
For those who might like the particulars: There's a 1/3 horsepower electric motor under the table and this thing is fast! A lever under the table raises the presser foot when actuated with my knee, allowing me to keep both hands on my work. At the bottom of the table there is a large metal plate. Pressing that with the feet engages a clutch, which runs the machine. The legs under the table are fitted with casters so that I can roll the machine away from the wall to vacuum under it. The table alone without the head (the sewing machine part) is so heavy, it took two people to lift it into my car to get the replacement leather belt.
I am looking into building new computers by the end of the year. My current computers are only five years old, but they are slow compared to the faster computers available, especially when encoding videos, which is my main project on these computers. Imagine if a computer was still working perfectly after 71 years. They certainly don't make things like they used to. But in some ways, they do make them better.
Wednesday 2013.10.16
Back on Soft Foods for a While
When dentists go bad: Have you ever been the victim of an unscrupulous dentist? When I was a child, our family attended a dental group for care. One day the newspaper published a story about one of the dentists in the group. He had been drilling small holes in healthy teeth, knowing they would turn into a cavity and therefore another billable procedure. He was caught because some patients, who rarely had cavities, decided to see a second dentist after visiting this guy. That's when the clean small holes were found. I might be the victim of such a dentist.
I tried a new dentist because my former dentist is expensive. See below. The new dentist seemed nice enough. He fixed a problematic tooth by adding a crown. Less than a year later there is a whopping big cavity in the side of the adjacent tooth. It is suspicious because I don't get cavities. Dental hygienists always compliment me on my dental hygiene. It has been decades since I needed a cavity filled. Also, the cavity was more deep than wide and it was in an area along the outside of my jaw—an easy area to brush and keep clean.
Second, he wanted to extract the tooth. No filling. No crown. Just pull the tooth. Now I'm really suspicious. Get rid of the evidence?
Now that I have a second monthly check coming in, I decided to return to my former dentist. Expensive, but you get what you pay for. He could neither confirm nor deny my suspicions. Given my dental history, the cavity seemed unusual for me, but there was no proof. Nothing could be done but go forward. I discussed the option of pulling the tooth. He was opposed. Why pull an otherwise healthy tooth? Proper dentists only remove a tooth if it is causing problems that cannot be solved any other way. Also, he said my age was a factor. At 62, the recovery could be long and there could be complications. Just fix the cavity and save the tooth.
How much? It depends. He cautioned that the cavity is so deep, the decay is probably up against the nerve. I should be howling with pain, but I didn't feel anything. The decay is so extensive, a filling won't support the top of the tooth. A crown is the best option. I agreed.
He began the procedure, saw the nerve actually bleeding from inflamation, and stopped. Root canal time. He does root canals, but not on molars. They are too complicated. It is better to see a specialist.
Yesterday I saw the root canal specialist. Really nice guy. He gave me a lot of confidence. And then came the estimate. After my dental insurance pays its share, my out-of-pocket cost is around $1,000. Then I need to go back to my dentist for the crown. I know that will be more than $400, likely more for those procedures the insurance won't cover in full. I don't expect to come out of this for less than $1,800 of my own money—all for a cavity that should never have been there in the first place.
I guess this delays building new computers for a while.
Meanwhile, I'm back on soft foods. Ramen time again. And, of course, analgesics (now it hurts) and antibiotics. Grrr. And just when I was beginning to get going again with the cooking. This past week was really productive—Romaine Wrapped Scallops, Steak Sandwich, and Lamb Shanks with Prunes Tagine—a Moroccan stew. The recipes and videos will be uploaded here and to YouTube in coming weeks.
Oh well. I have projects to keep my mind off my tooth. Tomorrow I will install a new locking doorknob on my front door. The old one is making me nervous. It's so old and dodgy, I'm afraid it will fall apart while I'm out of the house—locked out without a way to get in. I just replaced all the window screens. I don't want to tear through a new screen to enter through a window.
Sunday 2013.10.13
Seasonal Pleasures
For many years there was one pleasure I longed for—being home, warm and dry, while it rained outdoors. There were many days at work when I was in the office, rain pouring down outside, and the windows steaming up from umbrellas and raincoats dripping in a corner, humidifying the room. The smell of wet clothing, boots, and shoes comes to mind.
One pleasure I made a point of enjoying in retirement each winter was sitting in my living room, the house warm, my clothes dry, all the curtains wide open, and the look and sound of rain outside. If it isn't too cold or windy, I even like to open a window to smell the rain. I enjoyed that pleasure on Wednesday.
I live in Southern California. Starting around April/May, the rains go away. It hasn't rained here in many months. The winter rains typically don't start until some time in November. This year we had an early storm.
Storm is a word I still find difficult to accept. When I lived in New England, a storm was an event—heavy rain, howling winds, sometimes thunder and lightning. A rainy day was simply a rainy day. Here, even a 30% chance of showers counts as a storm.
I really like the rain here because we have so little of it during the warmer months of the year. Rain washes things. After five or six months of no rain, the earth here can get fairly dirty. Often the first rain of the year smells bad because all the filth gets wet and starts to stink. A few good rainy days washes all that stuff away and the place gets a nice clean smell afterward.
Wednesday's rain didn't do much of anything. There was barely enough of it to wet the roads, let alone form any puddles. The brief showers were followed by periods of sunshine, which had the advantage of drying everything before it had a chance to smell. I did open all the curtains and a couple of windows. There was enough of a breeze to blow the fragrance of rain indoors. It was pleasing.
I mostly sat at my dining room table, which is right in front of my largest windows. In fact, that entire wall is nearly all windows. I sipped hot coffee, staring out the windows, watching the rain fall. I can't explain why I enjoy it so much, but it makes for a pleasant day.
Some people think I'm weird to believe this, but I think ants warn us about the rain. The past few years I barely saw any ants indoors. This year, I've been chasing them with ant bait traps for a few weeks. I haven't seen them carrying eggs yet, so I don't know that they're moving indoors. They have in the past. When they try to move their nest indoors, usually somewhere in the walls or ceiling, it usually rains a lot that winter. That's when the ant bait traps come out. If they like the trap and carry the poison back as food, it destroys their nest and the ants disappear within 24 hours.
I asked a friend down in the city if he had issues with ants this year. He said, woefully, that they've been really bad at his house. I'm hoping for a lot of rain this winter. We need it. Our reservoir is less than half full. The reservoir upriver from it is nearly empty. That's a small reservoir and it therefore fills quickly. The overspill pours into our reservoir, which is very helpful. I monitor the rainfall reports often during the winter.
As another winter season begins, I think I am prepared to enjoy it. Hopefully it will satisfy me with plenty of rain to observe.
Wednesday 2013.10.9
More Geek Stuff
In Sunday's blog entry I said I'd use today's blog to talk about my plans to build two dual-boot computers. I apologize for the geek stuff. I am more than a cook and building computers is something that interests me, especially now, because I set this fall as a goal for building new computers. Call me an enthusiast.
As I've mentioned in previous blogs, these new computers will be "dream machines." At my age (currently 62), these might be the last two computers I can build. So I am pulling out all the stops. I've been waiting for the new Intel Ivy Bridge Extreme CPU, which is now available for $1,050 (USD). Expensive, yes, but these really are "dream machines."
What is, and why, dual-boot? For those not familiar, a dual-boot system is one in which you can power up the computer with either of two operating systems (OS)—in my case, one would be XP and the other Windows 7 (Win7). The computer (this one) on which I maintain my web site and edit my videos is dual-boot. Mounted in one of the bays along the front of the computer there is a device into which I can insert a bare hard disk drive, close and latch the door, and then power up the computer. I have two C: drives for this computer, each with a different OS. To use either OS, I simply insert the C: drive hard disk before I boot. Ergo: dual-boot.
I need both operating systems because most of my software is XP compatible. I like Win7 and I have a newer version of one software suite that requires an OS beyond XP. All my other software and utilities, however, are good in XP and I see no reason the change.
One problem with this computer is cooling. The C: drive is outside the pathways of cooling air. So I had to fabricate an aluminum frame to hold a cooling fan, which I installed in the bay below the C: drive. The computer can run all day and when the drive is removed from the computer, it is barely warm to the touch.
In the new computers cooling will not be an issue, which frees up a bay. I plan to use solid state drives (SSDs) for the C: drives in my new computers. They don't heat up like mechanical drives and require no special cooling. And I'm also planning another scheme, if I can do it…
I have only one copy of Windows 7 and it appears to be an OEM license. If what I am reading is correct, it can never be installed on another computer, even if I destroy the first computer. Only one installation is ever allowed. Bummer. I'll call Microsoft when I am ready to build, with the hope that I might be able to do a new installation. If not, Win7 is still available, and inexpensive, on Amazon (less than half the price I originally paid). Bummer again, but better than paying $141 again.
The scheme, hopefully, is that I'll install Win7 on one computer, but I might be free to use the C: drive in the other computer. They will both be dual boot. I won't be able to update the OS in the other computer because it will have the wrong key for the computer's serial number (in the CPU). However, at the very least, I might be able to use it in both computers and update it in one. That's the least of my concerns. With the money I'll be spending to build these two computers, having to buy Windows 7 again won't make a huge difference.
What matters most is speed. Encoding a video for YouTube can take nearly three hours. From the reviews I've read, many reviewers claim that the Extreme CPUs are lightning fast when it comes to video encoding. That's my goal.
Okay, enough geek stuff.
Sunday 2013.10.6
I love it when something goes better than planned, when it turns out better than I hoped for, exceeding all expectations. First a little background…
I record my videos using a professional video camera, a Sony PMW-EX1r XDCAM. At the end of my day of shooting I offload the video clips from the camera to one of my office computers. I then edit the video using software. I've been using an old software version that I was allowed to load onto my computers because the company for which I worked let me do some assignments from home. After I retired I conveniently left the software on my computers.
This week I received a newer version—actually, the latest version. I'm always skeptical when someone offers me software. Where did they get it? How do I know it doesn't contain any viruses? After all the effort of loading it, will it even work?
I hate keygens. If you don't know what they are, they are little programs that generate an installation key for loading an application onto your computer, illegally. Pirates love them. If there is going to be a computer virus anywhere, it will typically be in the keygen.
I am so anal about protecting one of my computers from viruses, I don't even connect it to the Internet. The network port is disabled. It is the computer on which I maintain my web site's local files. After I update all the files and I'm satisfied everything is ready to go, I temporarily connect to the Internet, upload my files to my hosting service's server, and then disable the connection again. I doubt the computer is on line for more than five minutes each week. I don't even upload my videos on that computer. Those are sent to YouTube from a different computer. I have two computers—one is my web site/video computer and the other is my "everything else" computer, including the connection to the Internet.
At one time I had a third computer that I used solely for looking at dubious software. If a friend handed me something new on disc, it was opened on that other computer first. If a virus attack trashed the computer's operating system (OS), it was easy to format the C: drive on that computer and start with a clean OS.
So maybe that explains some of my trepidation when someone says they have a "free" program, "the latest version!", that they downloaded from some torrent site about which I know nothing. I have never linked to a torrent site and I never will. I have more than one friend who swears by them. Movies, music, software, pictures, whatever, all free for the cost of waiting for the download to finish. No thank you.
I ran my virus scanner on the software several times, not only on the archive files but also on the extracted files after de-archiving them. Every scan assured me there were no threats. Satisfied, I finally loaded the software onto my computer. I've been testing it and it works really well. Every silver lining, of course, has a dark cloud. Almost nothing created with the new software is backwards compatible with older versions. Switching means cutting the cord with the past. I'm not ready to part with XP yet.
Meanwhile, I'm more than satisfied. The software works and it's fun to use. However, other than having a few nice new features, it does exactly the same things, and in the same amount of time, as my older software. I am leaning toward building the two new computers to be dual boot, which is another long story; so I'll save that one for Wednesday's blog.
Addendum on the Santa Ana event mentioned in Wednesday's blog: Yesterday afternoon at 1:30 the temperature outside was already nearing 90°F (32°C) and the humidity was down to nearly 10%. I ran the evaporative cooler and tested the temperature of the output air—it was 66°F (19°C). My home was comfortable all day.
Wednesday 2013.10.2
Anticipation
"C'mon…c'mon…c'mon." Sometimes I feel like Cartman standing in front of the toy store waiting for the Wii. I'm waiting for cooler weather. I have a pile of potential cooking projects, but the kitchen gets too hot. I don't mind the heat. I prefer it. I moved to Southern California for the warmth. The problem is in the videos. As a friend told me when I first started doing cooking videos: If I look like I'm perspiring in the video, I project the message that this recipe is difficult and a lot of work. So cooler weather means a cooler cook in the kitchen.
This morning's weather forecast says we are due for another Santa Ana event toward the end of this week. Most of you probably don't know that means. To the northeast of here are the desserts. Occasionally, mostly during the fall, the wind shifts and blows off the desserts over Southern California and onto the ocean. These off-shore winds are hot and dry. The humidity can drop to single digits and daytime temperatures can climb into the 90s (30s C). I live on the coast.
On the bright side, most of the impact will be to counties east of here. We'll catch the fringe of the event. On the dark side, this is when the arsonists come out and cause millions of dollars of damage to homes and properies.
Santa Ana winds are the perfect time for my swamp box (evaporative) cooler. It does best when the temperatures are above 80°F (27°C) and the humidity is low. The lower the humidity, the more evaporation, and the more efficient the cooler. I've been eyeing the cooler lately because it's almost time to drain it and clean it out for winter storage. Hopefully this week will be the last time I'll need it until next summer.
On the plus side, my new studio lighting in the kitchen uses LED bulbs rather than incandescents. They're cooler—so cool in fact that I can touch the bulb when lit. (The color temperature is better too.)
What projects are in the pile? Someone recently asked for Savanah Deviled Crab. I think those are clam cakes, but I still need to do more research. This year's Seafood Festival at the harbour is scheduled on the 12th of this month. If I can attend (I might be doubled booked on my calendar) I plan to buy more sea scallops at the market there because I want to try another of Gordon Ramsay's recipes. I was told a store down in the city typically stocks lamb shanks. There is a lamb shanks recipe in my Moroccan cookbook I want to try. I want to make focaccia again, but with a different wet/dry ratio for the dough. And just yesterday I saw an America's Test Kitchen show in which they made a French Apple Cake, which satisfies a request from someone in upstate New York who wants a recipe for apples (they are inundated with them).
And, of course, winter is soup weather. I'm well stocked with chicken stock. It should be a good soup winter.
I always get antsy for winter weather during this time of year. There is the anticipation of the hearty winter foods. I love summer. Here in Southern California I claim we have only to seasons—summer and sort of summer. Nonetheless, the winter season, especially when it rains, is the time to enjoy being home, snug and dry, and enjoying those comfort foods we all love and enjoy.
As a Post Script: I heard on CNN this morning that root canals and Brussles sprouts are more popular than Congress right now. Root canals are boring—they take too long (as does Congress)—but Yippe! for Brussles sprouts. I love them.