Potatoes in the Mist

Someone on Twitter put up a link to a Moby song, and it made me remember another Moby song I used to play during savasana when I taught yoga. Eventually I found it on Amazon Prime. 35 Minutes. Probably the most relaxing song ever.

I'm making a root vegetable soup from the Times. 6 tbsp butter, onion, celery...saute...then add 3 branches of rosemary, 3 cloves garlic, 2 bay leaves, 3 1/2 cups root vegetables cut in 1-inch chunks, 2 tsp salt, pepper and 7-8 cups of water. For the root vegetables, you can use any combination of sweet potato, potato, parsnips, carrots, turnips and/or rutabaga. I ended up using sweet potato, parsnips and carrots. You bring to a boil, simmer for 30-40 minutes, take out the rosemary branches and puree with an immersion blender. Then you can add the juice from half a lemon and a little more salt if you want. Now I'm wondering whether to puree it or not. I'll leave it for now. Update: I pureed it but left chunks. One of the best soups I've made.

You can download software on your laptop that will replace Donald's face on the news with images of salad. 

Trump seems to be dragging his feet appointing a secretary of state. I think Romney would be great. But some Trumpers are mad at him for criticizing Trump. (But so did Nikki Haley, who still got a cabinet position.) And as my mom put it, "He's not crazy enough." Hopefully Trump will appoint him anyway.

When presidents had a little dignity? Trump has assaulted women, failed to pay his contractors, embezzled from his foundation, has massive conflicts of interest, settled a fraud lawsuit for $25 million (obvious admission of guilt, even though he won't say it), destroyed emails in lawsuits, lied like crazy...yet he has a Teflon effect like I've never seen. Moreover, he won't move to the White House! It costs NYC $1 million a day to protect him. (Actually, that's the one thing I can relate to him about. I like to sleep in my own bed too.)

I spent 3 and a half hours with Zoe's kindergarten class. It was fun, and they were cute, but it was exhausting! I don't know how the teacher does it. Granted, a music teacher & a dance teacher came, so the teacher got to be "off" for 2 hours. But still. My mother in law was a first grade teacher for 5 years before becoming a guidance counselor, and she said it was very tiring. 

So Trump refused to meet with the New York Times initially, saying they were "nasty" and accusing NBC of giving him "too many chins." Today he gave in and met with them, and said some things that made him seem more sane/empathetic. He said he is not going to prosecute HRC, "she has suffered greatly." He said he doesn't really like the electoral college and would have preferred to win the popular vote. I agree with him on the electoral college - I saw some math on Facebook - a Wyoming citizen's vote is worth 362% of a Californian's vote. He went on to say that he has "an open mind" about the Paris climate change accord. He disavowed and condemned the alt-right movement, though he wouldn't admit that Steve Bannon was a part of it. So that was disappointing. But it would be amazing if he doesn't mess up the climate.

It's funny, I saw Hamilton a year and 2 months ago. No one had heard of it, and D had to talk me into it. "A play about Alexander Hamilton? All rap?" I wasn't sure it would work. It was very good (and also a little sad; both Hamilton and his son died in duels, which were held in New Jersey, because "everything is legal in New Jersey). There was a haunting scene where Hamilton and Burr got into a boat and pretended to row across the river to duel.

I made another good slow cooker soup. 1 cup dried white beans (I used Great Northern) 1 can diced tomatoes Chopped onion, carrot & celery 2 bay leaves 1 sprig rosemary Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil Water Chopped zucchini (add near the end) Parmesan rind Salt 3-4 cloves chopped garlic  Another good antidote to election stress - James Taylor. 

I threw together a slow cooker chickpea soup which came out really well, so I'll write it down here. My jumping-off point was a non-slow cooker recipe in the Times. 1 cup dried chickpeas (no need to soak them) Parmesan rind 1 can diced tomatoes (14 oz) 2 bay leaves 1-2 sprigs rosemary 3 cloves of garlic, chopped 1 onion, chopped 2 carrots, chopped 2 celery stalks, chopped Water (you can decide how much to use) Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil Put everything in the slow cooker and cook on low for about 5 hours. Alternatively, you could give the chickpeas and water a head start for an hour or so before adding everything else. The vegetables were completely tender but the chickpeas were slightly crunchy (but still very good).

I can't help reading the news, but I'm making a point of setting it aside each day and knitting. It helps. I'm making a red sweater for Zoe. 

A neighbor/family friend was arrested at the Dakota Pipeline protest in New York yesterday. She sent me a video of the "paddy wagon." 

When Hillary lost, I felt helpless. What I didn't realize was that opportunities would come up every day. Call Nancy Pelosi to ask her to investigate voter suppression in WI, FL, NC. Call your local rep & ask that s/he refuse to work with the Trump transition team until Steve Bannon is removed. Sign a petition asking the electors to vote for Hillary, in deference to the popular vote. (4 million signatures and counting). Help Foster Campbell get elected to the Louisiana Senate (resulting in 51-49 Senate, instead of 52-48). Donate to environmental groups, gun control groups, the ACLU. Donate to Chris Murphy, the senator who vigorously opposes gun control. As Rep. John Lewis would say, #goodtrouble. 

I came up with a slow cooker recipe, and it came out well, so I'll write it down here. Olive oil 1 sliced onion 2 sliced carrots 2-3 stalks celery, chopped 1/2 tbsp minced garlic 1/2 tsp each dried basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme Salt About 3 cups low sodium vegetable broth; added a little water 1 can tomato paste 1 chopped zucchini A few handfuls of swiss chard 1 cup dried red kidney beans About 1 cup dried Great Northern beans 1/3 cup soup shells Saute the onion in olive oil until lightly browned. Combine the onions and everything else in the slow cooker (except for the soup shells, swiss chard and zucchini). Cook the soup shells in boiling water for 5 minutes. Set aside the soup shells, swiss chard and zucchini. Cook everything else in the slow cooker for 4-5 hours on low (or until beans are reasonably tender). Add soup shells, swiss chard and zucchini and cook for 20 minutes more.

Four years. 

I've never felt this bad about election results. I feel actual fear that we will become a fascist nation. But there was a call with Hillary for her supporters. She said that we should get involved with defending the causes that Trump is a threat to, the causes that are important to us. So I donated to an environmental group and a gun control group. It did make me feel better. 

I guess we're going to have to coexist with people who voted for Trump. But I feel for Obama too. I saw a closeup of his face as he was shaking Trump's hand, and it was bleak. This was not what he wanted. His staff looked like someone had died. I guess something did - the American dream. At least for four years. Whoever runs in 2020, I'll campaign hard for them, and if he wins again, I'll go ballistic. 

Some of my male cousins voted for Trump. One of the same cousins is crusading to end the pipeline. Um, Trump's personal investments ride on the completion of the pipeline. http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/11/10/what-trump-victory-means-standing-rock Did my cousin really think Trump was going to be a friend to the environment? Only comfort is, my male cousins all live in Massachusetts, so their votes for Trump meant diddly-squat.

This election is pissing me off! She won the popular vote. A coalition of working-class whites elected Trump. Why do they think he will help them? He refused to negotiate with his Vegas hotel union. He is NOT a friend of unions or the working class. It's abundantly clear that Trump is not interested in anyone but himself. He is a textbook narcissist. What are these working-class whites rebelling against? 8 years of prosperity and 30 million jobs added? Why don't they thank Obama for the auto bailout ?

I hear Toronto is the warmest Canadian city.

I tried a recipe from the New York Times tonight. (You can find it here. ) Based on this dish, I have concluded that Swiss chard has more personality and texture than spinach, but less than kale.

I made 20 more calls today so far. One woman said, "Of course!" when I asked if she was voting for Hillary.

Hillary's schedule today: Noon - Pittsburgh 4:00 - Michigan 7:30 - Philly with Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Chelsea Clinton, Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen Midnight - North Carolina with Bill Clinton, Lady Gaga, Bon Jovi Wow!

So relieved that Comey cleared Hillary! 

Eric made these, and they are awesome!

I was invited to join a secret group on Facebook - Pantsuit Nation. It's a collection of posts, stories from mostly women and some men, about voting for Hillary and the excitement of voting for our first woman president (I hope). Some people waited for 3-4 hours to vote early. One woman's Clinton yard sign was stolen, so she mowed an H into her lawn. One woman's mother told her, shortly before dying, "If you don't vote for Hillary, I'm going to come back and haunt you." One guy wrote, "I'm a guy who voted for Hillary because Trump is evil, and by the way, I'm single" - followed by a winking smiley. Overall, the page is just so positive and life-affirming, in the midst of great anxiety. 

Salman Rushdie sums it up. Trump is going to court on December 16 on charges of child rape. The "liberal" media won't cover it, but they love to talk about email. If the election is rigged, it's rigged against Hillary.

200 calls now. And it was a great day for it. Everyone I spoke to was a Hillary supporter, and many had already voted. I always call Ohio, they're very polite...and an important swing state. There was a New York Times article where you could play with outcomes. I figured out that if Hillary wins Florida and Pennsylvania, she's basically safe. If she wins Florida and Pennsylvania, plus one other swing state (like Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, etc.), she's 100% safe. So I looked at the list of phone banks to see if there were any in Florida or Pennsylvania, but I didn't see any. So I will stick to Ohio for now.

Up to 150 calls now and I've maxed out my campaign donation. An individual can't give more than $5400 (that's the total for the primary & general election). I'll keep making calls though. One of D's high school classmates went to PA and knocked on tons of doors.

I've been sublimating election anxiety by making calls for Hillary. I'm up to 75 calls now.

(from the New Yorker)