Wednesday, July 31, 2024

Kitchens and Politics, July 2024

In My July Kitchen 

New plate from the Ann Arbor Art Fair.

I'm sharing my July kitchen activities and food thoughts with Sherry and her blog party called In My Kitchen. It's been an exciting month, with lots of cooking: in fact, I have already posted photos of quite a few things that we ate. During the month, we’ve had visitors; moreover, we have been following the eventful news about the upcoming elections and the excitement of the Paris Olympics. I've also been enjoying the blog party Paris in July, where more than 20 bloggers have shared posts about books, movies, art, food, and other topics with a French theme.

But let’s look around my kitchen: first the refrigerator —




Cooking and Baking This Month

From the following photos, you can see that the innovative recipes and baking in our kitchen are now done by Len. I still do my share, but I tend to make our old favorites and easy meals — not worth photographing.  And he does the novel recipes, especially from the New York Times and a couple of recent Asian cookbooks. Len has been baking bread and trying new recipes for several years since I began to feel burned out (and since he retired from teaching at the University).

Len made pizza.

Dinner for two nights. Miriam made the New York Times farro salad. Len made the seafood dish.
I concocted the leftover versions.

I made Aloo Gobi — a dish of potatoes and cauliflower with Indian spices.

One French dish we made this month: I made the base and Len torched this crème brûlée.

More delicious baking from Len.


For more photos of our July meals, see this post from Monday:
 

Beyond My Kitchen: Kamala Harris and Food

Kamala Harris in the kitchen (a few years ago).

Some great facts about Kamala Harris:

  • Harris loves to cook. According to a New York Times article, she "scrolls cooking sites and relaxes at the end of the day by reading cookbooks. (Her favorites are by the Italian cook Marcella Hazan and the California chef Alice Waters.)" She has made a few cooking videos, and has given informal demonstrations of her recipes during campaign events.
  • Harris has consistently promoted policies and legislation to combat hunger and poverty. Unlike her Republican opponents, she has made efforts to provide more federal food aid — not to cut benefits for those in need. In 2020, as a Senator, she cosponsored the “Closing the Meal Gap” act which extended food benefits during the pandemic. She advocated for increases in funding for summer meals for children who were dependent on school breakfast and lunch programs during the school year. These children otherwise might go hungry when school was out-of-session. She also worked to expand eligibility for school lunch programs.
  • “As part of the Biden administration, she of course supported a major expansion a of the tax credit that greatly reduced child poverty but expired in 2022 in the face of unified Republican opposition.” (source)
  • Harris favors better wages for food workers; for example, she supported McDonald’s workers in Iowa in 2019 as they went on strike to obtain a $15 hourly wage and the right to form a union. 
  • Harris has promoted efforts to improve working conditions and to ensure better pay for agricultural workers. The United Farm Workers has already endorsed her for President: 
“Since the very beginning of her career in California — the nation’s largest agricultural producer — Kamala Harris has proven herself a loyal friend of all working people. … Vice President Harris has stood with farm workers as California Attorney General, as a United States Senator, and as Vice President. The United Farm Workers could not be prouder to endorse her for President of the United States. Together, we continue the work of building an America that works for all of its working people. ¡Sí Se Puede!(https://ufw.org/harrisendorsement7212024/)
 

And Olympic Gold



Blog post © 2024 mae sander 

15 comments:

  1. More delicious food. I bet Len has fun baking too. i love making pizza not he grill, but I usually go for a thinner crust than Len's. Does it take a long time to cook through and not burn the bottom of the crust? Hugs-Erika

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  2. That's a lovely bowl. I like the shape of it.

    You have your fridge set the same temp as mine. Some of those magnets I've never seen before. What an eclectic mix.

    I want a cardamom roll. They look delicious.

    Nice info on Harris, most of which I didn't know. And congrats to the Olympians on gold.

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  3. A yummy post!
    I'd love a spouse who cooks. He did boil hot dogs for us the other day.I was grateful!
    I'd love a large fridge, as well. Oh well.

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  4. Mouth watering treats! My daughter and I have been so scattered this summer that we've been doing far too much take away. It's time to start cooking again.

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  5. I hope that Harris wins this term as President, and that she can stamp her mark on Closing the Meal Gaps year round. Lovely shares of food in your kitchen, and enjoy the rest of the Olympics :)

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  6. Ooo, all the food looks delicious. I saw Harris' YouTube food videos somewhere and got such a kick out of them. She's a breath of fresh air.

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  7. Wow, lovely variety for your meals this month! It all looks "company ready" and ready to enjoy. The pottery bowl is lovely!

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  8. Last time I was in France I was in my early 20´s, so that is 30 years ago - but great memories.
    Crème brûlée we call "Brüll-Creme" - Screaming Creme, LOL (I never had this dessert).
    Great I´m having breakfast reading your post! Just a slice of bread with cheese, ham and horseradish - tastes great going through your meals!
    I am for food aid! Here people get money. What do they buy? Cigarettes and alcohol. Give them food-stamps.
    Single mothers get the cheapest noodles with tomato-sace for their kids so they have a smoke and booze. Not all, of course, but (too) many.
    When I worked for cgs I got those stamps (as we had to pay 50% extra at the customer´s canteen being "guests") - it does not hurt (other than some think you are out of work and treat you like sh#t).
    Farmers here protested big this year - now there is silence. Must do research, thank you for the reminder!
    As Ukraine - gone from our news, too.
    I hope your election goes "good". "Right" would not be the proper word, someone belongs to jail, I think....

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  9. I love your kitchen posts but they always make me hungry. You must have AC because you're baking. I had the oven on to bake Rick's birthday dessert yesterday and thought the house would explode with heat! I'm catching up here. Been a bad blogger of late and I fear more to come!

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  10. The pizzas and the creme brulee look wonderful .... I always get hungry looking at your food photos.
    Go Kamala ! And USA. (and Canada too).

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  11. thanks for joining in again Mae. That's nice to know about Kamala. Someone who loves cooking is good in my eyes. And I like to read cookbooks to relax too. I do less cooking these days (but more preserving); thankfully hubby has always cooked! Love your new plate from the Fair too. And your fridge magnets. I keep buying them even tho i don't need them...Just like i keep buying tumblers...Have a great August.
    cheers
    sherry

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  12. oh those cardamom scrolls look amazing and I'd love to make them!! I'm currently in the tropics where my sourdough son is thriving even off tap water (in France I usually have to feed him filtered water at the least, if not bottled...) don't have heaps of ingredients like my usual kitchen, just the bare minimum, but perhaps a scroll or two might be in the plans next week. I had no idea that Kamala was into cooking, I also wind down by reading cookbooks that I never cook from.. anyhow, have a great month!
    dreams of sourdough at http://ayearindarwin.blogspot.com

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  13. Hooray for Kamala. I can’t wait until we can call her President Harris. Many years ago I knew a fellow who had visited Golda Meir in her office and she made him a cup of tea. I suspect Kamala might do the same.

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  14. Did Len cook before or only since he retired? You two are certainly cooking up a storm and are quite the team in the kitchen :) Everything looks delicious but I especially love the look of the cardamom rolls, so professional! Loved the fun facts about Kamala too.

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