More “Wingtips on the Ground” from Iraq

I received a notice today that my friend and former colleague, Aaron, had posted more good stuff on his blog Wingtips on the Ground.  I was particularly amused by this photograph:

I also noticed that my updates must not have been coming through, because he has put up a lot of new posts I had not seen that included a plethora of interesting information about diplomacy and the security situation in Iraq. I think Aaron is a natural diplomat; while I was in Japan, I watched how he interacted with people and, although I don’t think he knew it, I tried to emulate him in a lot of ways. It gives me hope, knowing he’s on the ground in Iraq; if anyone can cut through cultural difficulties, it is Aaron. I loved the pictures of him with Iraqi kids, too.  I loved the Iraqi children I worked with when I was volunteering here with refugees; like children in Japan, there was an innocence and lack of materialism that we do not see as much here in the U.S.  Thinking about Aaron working on bringing drinking water and soccer fields to rural Iraq certainly makes my day — and Aaron, if you need more chocolate chip cookies?  Just say the word.

Tags: diplomacy, Iraq, US policy, war

You know, I just saw this article in the New York Times about helping kids eat healthy foods, and all I have to say is, New York Times, do you realize that you’ve opposed every parenting book published since 1985 that wasn’t sponsored by the Christian Coalition (motto: nothing like a good smack to help Johnny eat his broccoli)?

I mean, how dare you suggest that we should not let our kids eat whatever they feel like eating.  I know several serious authors — serious! — who insist that toddlers instinctively know what their nutritional needs are, and will eat exactly as much as they need to fulfill those needs.  Which makes perfect sense, because I, as a perfectly functioning adult who can cook an entire meal, instinctively know what tastes good is good for me.  Which just doesn’t explain why I eat so many cookies…

My favorite tip in the article, however, is the one about dressing up the vegetables with a little fat.  When I lived in Japan, I was surprised to find how delicious the vegetables were.  Cabbage dishes that melted in your mouth, spinach concoctions that tasted of sesame and rice wine, sprouts browned to perfection in a savory sauce — oh, there were some classy veggies!

Then, when we moved to Arizona with Ben, I noticed a similar phenomenon; Abuela vegetables.  Ben, who wasn’t a big fan of greens as a baby (still isn’t) would ask for 2nds and 3rds at Abuela’s house — even when it was purslane, a green weed she used to pick in the arroyo.  Ben learned to say frijoles before he could say mama, practically, and uncle George loved to give him the choice of Abuela’s beans, or ice cream, just to watch Ben choose the beans (he always did, indicating an early talent for sucking up).  Anyway, the secret of Abuela’s vegetables isn’t really a secret; they were fried in garlic-saturated oil, they had chunks of Mexican cheese nestled among the greens, or they swam in a lovely butter sauce.  They were about a thousand calories per bite, but they were also full of all the wonderful nutrients that we desperately want kids to eat.

I’ve decided that the problem here is that most Americans eat vegetables like they do penance.  Tofu has a bad name; just try offering tofu to an American male, and you’ve immediately challenged his manhood (try it in the summer, raw and ice cold with some spring onions on the top, drizzled with soy sauce — even my father loved it).  Also, we don’t love our vegetables the way we should; they linger in the fridge and wilt, so that by the time they’re cooked they’re practically compost.  I’m not pointing a finger here; I’m equally guilty.  I’m just saying it’s no surprise that kids don’t like vegetables, when so many of our traditional dishes (peas and carrots, anyone?) are mushy and tasteless.

Anyway, I know how hard it is to get children to eat well — oh yes, I know! — and I’m sure Ben will be forever traumatized that we make him count up bites when he’s reluctant to try something (listed as a parental mistake in the article, incidentally).  But, I had an elderly Japanese woman tell me if I wanted my kids to eat vegetables, to start them off easy, with tempura (breaded, deep-fried vegetables with a dipping sauce).  With that in mind, I’ll share the recipe, and much luck to everyone in getting their kids to eat a decent meal.

Vegetable Tempura
For vegetables, any will do — carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, beans, onion, lotus root — you can try just about anything. Just cut the vegetables into manageable pieces; for potatoes/sweet potatoes/lotus root, cut thick circles. For broccoli, each large floret can be dipped and fried, and for carrots, cut a large carrot into thirds and then cut into four strips. Medium to large shrimp are also delicious dipped in the batter and fried.

Dipping sauce (you can buy this in the store also, check the Asian foods aisle):
1 cup dashi broth (this is fish broth; you can also substitute 1 cup water and 3 tsp salt)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon mirin (if you don’t have it, add 1 tbsp cooking sherry plus 1 tbsp sugar)

Put all ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil, then let cool. Heat a frying pan with a couple inches of vegetable oil in the bottom.

Photo courtesy of An American in London

Tempura batter:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
3/4 cup ice-cold water

Very lightly mix the eggs, flour and cold water (the colder the better) in a bowl until ingredients are just blended but the batter is still very lumpy. Test oil temperature by dropping a little bit of the batter into the oil; if it sinks for a second and then rises up, it’s the right temperature. Dip vegetables into the batter and then fry in the oil. Carrots and green beans can be dipped in clusters of 3 or 4 and fried together. Frying too many bunches at once can cause the temperature in the oil to drop, making the resulting tempura a bit droopy, so watch the temperature.

You should end up with lightly cooked vegetables nestled in a crisp batter shell. Dip in the sauce and enjoy!

Thanks to the book, Japanese Family-Style Recipes by Hiroko Urakami, for the ingredients list; substitution suggestions, however, are mine.  The photo of vegetable tempura can be found at the interesting travel site An American in London; for some reason it won’t allow me to put the link in the caption.

Marti and I spent a long time tonight talking about politics, about who is principled and who isn’t, or if “principled” even really applies to politicians. But one thing is clear: I’m a Democrat because of my principles, and because I believe that more Democrats share those principles than Republicans. It took me a long time to get to this place where I agree with one side rather than the other, but I truly believe that allowing religious interests to seep into our politics will make us little more than a theocracy — no better than any Islamist country that elects its ministers to office. Call them Imams or Preachers or Pastors or right-wing nutjobs — they all stink in politics.

Afterward, though, after talking about all this, I felt really sad.  Sad enough that I could not sleep, and here I am, up at 3 a.m., writing a forbidden post on politics.  But what can I say?  It’s infuriating.  I mean, the media is terrified to criticize the Republican candidates, there is a media blitz about an aging beauty queen who is completely unqualified to sit public office, let alone the White House, and in all this I fear that we will, again, slide backwards with another conservative election.

What matters the sex of the candidate if that candidate does not support women’s rights? I am sick of puppets. Marti admires the Republican party for this strategic move on the chessboard; I just find it sad. As always, women are being lied to and manipulated when their best interests are not at heart. Someone who makes rape victims buy a rape kit in order to be examined — not a women’s advocate. Someone who publicly refused to take maternity leave because she thought it was unnecessary — not a women’s advocate. Someone who touts abstinence-only sex education, then turns around and flaunts her pregnant, teenage daughter to the world — not a women’s advocate.  I might shoot a gun, be able to skin and quarter a deer and know just the right way to cook a sage grouse, but that doesn’t make me qualified to run the country.  Nor does it mean I have conservative values.  Those are just skills — the skills of someone who grew up in the backcountry.  I, at least, can speak multiple languages and am familiar with what, exactly, the job of vice president is.  Perhaps I should apply for public office?

Is that what the glass ceiling is all about?  Realizing that it’s really not that big of a deal, this representation of all the people in the United States?  I mean, why have women held back, if all you need is to cater to men’s opinion, and show your pretty face?

I wait for the day when a female candidate is not another move on the chessboard, but a real political figure, with the education and experience she should have in order to hold the highest office in the land.  Someone who actually cares about women’s issues, even if it means that she might not be as popular.  Someone who is honest and truthful, and makes me proud that another woman is running for a public office.  Maybe it’s just a dream, but didn’t someone say once, I have a dream? We all have one. I’ll keep dreaming mine.

Barack Obama 2008

I loved, loved, loved this absolutely fabulous skit from Saturday Night Live. Whenever I feel particularly rabid about politics, I am comforted by the fiction of Douglas Adams, particularly this quote about the two-headed president of the fictitious Imperial Galactic Government (they don’t allow presidents with a whole brain), which is clearly a stab at the U.S. (after all, he’s British, and he didn’t say prime minister):

The President is very much a figurehead - he wields no real power whatsoever. He is apparently chosen by the government, but the qualities he is required to display are not those of leadership but those of finely judged outrage. For this reason the President is always a controversial choice, always an infuriating but fascinating character. His job is not to wield power but to draw attention away from it.

As you well know, I also enjoy the work of comedians such as Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, particularly when it comes to politics; it helps to laugh. I did enjoy this SNL piece, however, and loved their choice of Tina Fey, who really is a dead ringer for Palin.

I get wayyyy to worked up over politics, and tonight, just as I was fuming over certain things (like why teenage pregnancy is suddenly no big deal to certain political groups) I saw this great video by Steve Colbert.

I also found a supremely interesting article by the associated press, which can be read here, about truth and lies in politics today (as one of my favorite bloggers put it, “it’s a report from the AP, not some spooky liberal blog that wants to kill babies.”)

Anyway, I plan to go back to sticking my head in the sand and trying to avoid political events as they unfold.  I did not watch either of the conventions, and I cling to what my dear friend Margo McNabb says: “Real politics are local.”  I’m sorry to say I was ill and had 3 ill people to look after during local elections this year (September 2nd is such a strange date for elections) and so I missed them, but I do agree with her and hope NOT to miss them again.  And it’s true; what the board of supervisors does in Tucson affects my life a lot more than distant Hill politics.

Ok.  So, I am taking a deep, liberal bleeding-heart yogic breath in and trying to let go of the fury, but before I do, I have to include this article as well:  Praise for Pregnant Teen Shows Double Standard, where the author considers what the rhetoric would be like if Bristol Palin were a pregnant black teen instead of a white one.  Okay!  I’m done!

Honestly, though, growing up in a split family — my dad got married at 17 as well, and divorced within 10 years, as half of shot-gun marriages do (more than twice the national average) — I have to say I feel very sorry for Bristol Palin.  Maybe this was the only way she could get her mother, who is working two jobs, caring for a special needs child and now campaigning for a national race under the guise to family values, to actually pay attention to her.

Guess what Bristol — you got it.

Tags: family values, Palin, Politics, teen pregnancy, vice president