Food for Thought: Robert Frost

Oh, how I love Robert Frost!  He's one of my favorite poets, if not the favorite.  This poem is especially apropos on this rainy Memphis day, which comes on the heels of a dry, dry summer:

Our Hold on the Planet

We asked for rain. It didn't flash and roar.
It didn't lose its temper at our demand
And blow a gale. It didn't misunderstand
And give us more than our spokesman bargained for;
And just because we owned to a wish for rain,
Send us a flood and bid us be damned and drown.
It gently threw us a glittering shower down.
And when we had taken that into the roots of grain,
It threw us another and then another still,
Till the spongy soil again was natal wet.
We may doubt the just proportion of good to ill.
There is much in nature against us. But we forget;
Take nature altogether since time began,
Including human nature, in peace and war,
And it must be a little more in favor of man,
Say a fraction of one percent at the very least,
Or our number living wouldn't be steadily more,
Our hold on the planet wouldn't have so increased.



Green tomatoes at the PAR garden



One street at a time?

Clean Memphis isn't the only organization that wants to clean Memphis "One Street at a Time."  The Broad Street folks are making it happen for themselves - a grassroots effort by the neighborhood stakeholders, which is really the only way this works.  See the story here and check out their website here.

Bomb the Blight!

Memphis is chock full of vacant lots.  No neighborhood is exempt and some neighborhoods are worse than others.  There's a limit to how many can be converted to community gardens or to playgrounds, so what to do with the others?  City and County government don't have the personnel to keep these lots mowed and even charging the owners for the mowing is futile; most don't even pay their taxes.  The process for taking property for unpaid taxes is cumbersome and long, although I'm hopeful that changes are in the works for that. 

In the meantime, an environmental artist here named Tommy Wilson has an idea called "Bomb the Blight."  He loads an air cannon with biodegradable balloons filled with wildflower seeds, gelatin, fertilizer and food-based paint.  He fires these balloons onto a vacant lot and the initial result is a splashy abstract painting!  Later the seeds (at least 25% of them, he hopes) germinate, paving the way for a wildflower garden next year.  So at least the lots are pretty!

He's going to "bomb" Washington Bottom (Washington at Watkins) at noon this Saturday.  Sadly, I'll be out of town.  But the next planned bombing is at the site of the former Anderton's at Madison and Barksdale on Sunday November 14 at 1:00pm.  I'll be there!  And on November 20, he'll do a site for the New Face for an Old Broad happening.

What a great idea!  You can read the whole story here.  And Mr. Wilson has a blog:  Bomb the Blight.  Check it out and maybe donate a little "seed money!"

CHILI WEATHER!

It’s chili weather in Blowing Rock!  Believe it or not, Ray's Weather is calling for snow next week!  Saturday was a lazy day and just called out for a big pot of chili.  We invited our neighbor, Jim W., to join us.  Walter fixed grilled cheese sandwiches and we had these cookies for dessert.

This is my go-to chili recipe - it can't be bad if it comes from Emeril!

After the chocolate chip cookies I made last week, Walter told me that his very favorite cookie is Oatmeal Raisin.  So I found this recipe and they were good - so chewy!  They were a little sweet for me, though, so next time I'll omit half the granulated sugar like it suggests in the notes and see how that works.

Big Chewy Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

From the episode: Cookie Jar Classics

Makes 16 to 20 large cookies

If you prefer a less sweet cookie, you can reduce the white sugar by one-quarter cup, but you will lose some crispness. Do not overbake these cookies. The edges should be brown but the rest of the cookie should still be very light in color. Parchment makes for easy cookie removal and cleanup, but it’s not a necessity. If you don’t use parchment, let the cookies cool directly on the baking sheet for two minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups raisins (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
• 2 sticks unsalted butter (1/2 pound), softened but still firm
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups rolled oats

Instructions

• 1. Adjust oven racks to low and middle positions; heat oven to 350 degrees. In bowl of electric mixer or by hand, beat butter until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time.
• 2. Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg together, then stir them into butter-sugar mixture with wooden spoon or large rubber spatula. Stir in oats and optional raisins.
• 3. Form dough into sixteen to twenty 2-inch balls, placing each dough round onto one of two parchment paper–covered, large cookie sheets. Bake until cookie edges turn golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes. (Halfway during baking, turn cookie sheets from front to back and also switch them from top to bottom.) Slide cookies on parchment onto cooling rack. Let cool at least 30 minutes before serving.

(I cooked these one cookie sheet at a time.)

Emeril’s Chili

EMERIL’S CHILI
INGREDIENTS
2 T veg oil
2 c chopped onions
Salt & cayenne pepper
¼ c tomato paste
2 lb stew meat or ground chuck
2 c beef stock
3 c crushed tomatoes
1 T chili powder
2 t ground cumin
1 t crushed red pepper
2 t dried oregano
2 T chopped garlic
1 c dark kidney beans
2 T all purpose flour
4 T water
1 ½ c grated cheddar cheese
Tortilla chips, optional
Sour cream
Jalapeno peppers
 
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onions & sauté until soft. Season with salt & cayenne.
 
2. Stir in meat, brown, then drain and return to saucepan. Add chili powder through beans.

3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat & simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour.

4. In a separate small bowl, mix flour & water together. Slowing stir into beef mixture and continue to cook for 30 minutes.

5. Add salt & cayenne to taste.

6. Spoon chili over chips, if desired, and garnish with cheese, sour cream, and jalapenos

Decorating in Blowing Rock

We got away from Memphis around noon on Thursday and drove to Asheville.  We intended to get there early enough to walk around downtown and eat someplace nice, but the drive took longer than we thought.  So we just ate at Waffle House (I LOVE Waffle House) then crashed.  Friday morning we went to a place called MoreSpacePlace and looked at Murphy beds.  No more sleep dilemmas for my IRR girlfriends!  That business taken care of, we drove to Hickory, where we bought a new dining table.  Those of you who have visited us here know that in the eating area we have this:


It’s nice and it’s been fun, but we have 10 people coming for Thanksgiving and that’s not the first time we’ve had a crunch around this table.  So we found a nice table that seats six comfortably and has a leaf that will allow us to seat eight.  It was a real challenge because this room is so small (9x11) and you have to allow for chair space.  But we found this table at the Henredon Outlet:

     and I think it will go great with these chairs:       

How I wish I could have had Ami at my side!  But Walter is a pretty good substitute.