Pecans for Passover!

This Passover pecan meringue recipe is an easy way to create a sweet ending to the Seder (Passover holiday dinner).

Preheat oven to 275 F. degrees. (This is in El Paso - 3400 feet high.)
Ingredients for 40+ cookies, depending on size
2 large egg whites
generous 1/2 cup brown sugar  - light or dark
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon McComick's Gingerbread Spice
1 and 1/4 cups pecans - finely chopped
30-40 pecan halves for topping cookies
Beat egg whites, gradually adding sugar, salt, spice until whites are stiff and shiny.
Gently fold in finely chopped pecans.
Place teaspoonfuls of meringue on non-stick cookie sheet (options: use a non-stick silicone
mat or parchment paper)
Lightly press pecan half on top of each meringue.
Bake 25 to 35 minutes. Meringues should be firm, dry on top.
Remove gently with cookie spatula.
Enjoy!!!

Bye bye El Paso Times; hello El Paso Inc.

After 26 years of free lancing for my local newspaper, the El Paso Times announced they are no longer interested in "local" food writers. "We'll cook from wire services, thank you."
OK with me - just a bit of a chore answering former fans/readers: sorry, I can't help with new ideas for Passover, or a sauerkraut recipe (reader loved my non-vinegar pickles and is ready to tackle cabbage!)
But - the next issue of El Paso Inc Magazine (summer) will have a food column with my best microwave fish recipe - plus a travel column comparing suite class on Carnival and Costa. Yeah!

Politics? Waiting for Donald's implosion. Soon.
And waiting for some Republicans (other than McCain) with enough gumption to get this Russian stuff out and over!

I turned 88 in December but my best friend and feinschmecker, otherwise known as husband Ben, celebrated his 90th b-day on March 17, 2017. A few extra aches/pains, balance problems and occasionally forgetting  where he put his phone (that starts at age 25) are not enough to keep us down. We're off on a repositioning cruise across the pond - from Miami, FL to Italy. And then we'll fly home! Keep in touch and I'll tell you all about it when we return.

First - head should be amended to "You Don't Look 87" - but what's a few years more or less in the 8th decade?
June 2016 and the world looks less appetizing than ever before. Social media is good and bad - but unfortunately the bad - instant spreading of misinformation (read:lies) - is very very bad.

I have great difficulty in understanding the ridiculous criticism of Hillary - mostly based on a vitriolic column by William Safire in the 1990's (NYTimes) and then carried forward (and embellished) with great glee over the years - way before her run for the presidency - by Republican/Conservative flacks.
The so-called "misdeeds" (proof please?) when performed by men are just accepted and life goes on.
(Like Colin Powell with his private e-mail server.)

And our namby-pamby media outlets who catapulted Trump to his standing by broadcasting his ridiculous speeches without a hint of questions/discussion by press. Media could learn a few things from UK interviewers who keep pressing when the responder evades, avoids an answer or changes the subject.
A question about Trump University - why is there no discussion about a Texas suit a few years ago that was ready to go to trial - brought by Texans bilked of mucho dinero by this so-called "learning institution"? Our excuse for a governor (Abbott) was Attorney General at the time and the case was dropped. Interesting that Trump contributed $35000 to Abbott's Governor campaign........

And "Bernie" who refuses to give in; he enjoyed the adulation and his moment in the sun promising undeliverable goodies. Oh yes - we can get all the good stuff  if we're willing to pay 50% or higher taxes on everything. There's no pie in the sky folks! (Back in the 1930's playing in the schoolyard, in The Bronx, NYC,  we would call him a "sore loser".)

And what about ridiculous Paul Ryan who doesn't have the guts to even allow a vote  (which could easily be defeated) on revised gun laws and "solves" his problems by closing up shop and sending all the Reps. home.  Oh yes - his future plans for health - Oy! (Medicare ok for present users since his mom has enjoyed its benefits!)

What's good about Social Media? I really like seeing photos and hearing nice things about my close friends and relatives on Facebook. And an occasional Twitter from people I respect adds a bit of seasoning to my life.

Go Hillary!!!

Arrogance and Divisiveness - not a recipe for good times

Netanyahu said he speaks for "all Jews". Not so - he does not speak for me. He's no better than the war monger groupies who saw the (non-existent) weapons of mass destruction all over the place and got us on the path to war(s) - which will never end.
Arrogance - he's always right and knows better than anyone else - is not the path to follow in the mid-east or any other part of the world. It can only lead to estrangement, anger and more wars.
Too bad the pols in D.C. have made this a political issue and given Netanyahu a platform for his PR rhetoric.
Nothing to be done except sit at my desk and kvetch....

Harrowing hypocritical Hobby Lobby

They just don't "get it" - those who think their "religion" is the only one to follow. Supreme Court ruling for Hobby Lobby this week was frightening and opens up a new "Pandora's box". Imagine - a corporation has more say than a woman does about her body! Noticed an apt bumper sticker the other day: "I'll believe corporations are people when Texas executes one."
Too many people are complacent about this latest anti-women blast from the highest court....perhaps they'll complain a bit down the road when the country is full of unwanted children (getting into trouble because of inadequate parenting) or new epidemics hit us because another "religious" group is against vaccinations or medications that contain substances from animals and other sources that buck particular religions.
This is how despotism starts - nibbling away at freedoms and eventually leading to horrific conditions.
But - then again - why should we learn from history...............

I don't look 80 because I turned 85!

Talk about infrequent blogs - almost a year since my last post!  No shortage of stuff to kvetch and kvell about during that time, though. Turned 85 in December - still writing my food columns, traveling and generally looking forward to every day.
Always nice to kvell about family - granddaughters: Miriam's bat-mitzvah, Sarah attending high school! Daughter, Professor Susan T. Avila will be Chair, Department of Design, Univ. of California at Davis  starting July! Daughter Joan volunteering as tax advisor for people who need help in MD. Great kvell stuff.
Kvetch? State of Texas has a firm hold on idiot behavior....certainly would be nice if Wendy Davis could buck the old boys and become Governor.
And the kvetchy health care rhetoric - conservative/tea party garbage -  goes on and on - I think if Obama offered a cure for every dread disease the pols would find fault. We should've extended Medicare to everyone - gradually, of course - but that would've messed up the money grabbing insurance companies. They stand to rake in bundles of dough from this health plan.
Biggest problem - most people don't know how to use the health system. Most pains and aches don't need doctors/tests/ medication. We've been primed to become fearful about our bodies - and rush for help at the drop of a hat. Required reading - any book by Dr. Nortin Hadler (MD from Harvard, now in North Carolina)  Sobering advice for professionals and lay people.
Talking about reading - what is it with graphic artists who think it's easy to read narrow pale colored fonts on shiny  red backgrounds or other stupid color combinations. What happened to easy to read black on white? And new cookbooks? Oy!  I refuse to review one when I need a magnifying glass to read the ingredients.
Off to Chicago next week to the International Home and Housewares Show - surely the greatest show on earth for anyone who spends time in the kitchen and around the house!
And I'm excited about my 70th reunion - High School of Music and Art - graduated in June 1944! Wonder who will show up in June 2014. They all have to be of a certain age. Vamos a ver.

The sad state of Texas

Not sure what the real underlying reasons leading to the new Texas abortion law are all about - can't be about saving lives because Texans believe in shooting/electrocutions and other forms of doing away with people. Can it only be about getting votes? Displaying Texas macho manliness? Whatever - it goes hand in hand with other forms of political hypocrisy. The pols claim they're doing this for women's health.....and where did they get their medical degrees? (Guess they don't know that pregnancy comes with its own problems and it means nine months of disturbed body functions - certainly not a picnic of wellness.)
Doctors have to perform in surgi-centers? Have hospital privileges? How come these rules don't apply to all the doctors/staff at free standing emergency type set-ups in Texas?
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists took a full page ad in the Austin, TX newspaper - basically saying to the pols - get out of our exam rooms - what goes on there is strictly between patient and doctor.
Problem is that abortions have been performed since antiquity - and will always continue. Against your religion? Fine. Don't opt for an abortion, and/or have all the babies you want. But don't impose your choice on the women who don't want to carry a pregnancy to term. It's their bodies, their rights and their choices -  not to bring an unwanted child into this world.
BTW: is it possible that eliminating legal abortions is just what the underworld ordered? Mafia-like criminals standing in the wings - ready to collect mucho dinero performing risky procedures under unsafe conditions? Crazy? Far fetched? Hmmmm.