January Kitchen Thoughts

What’s New?

New recipe box which I’m starting to populate with other people’s recipes.
Len made me this recipe box. Yes, I mostly keep recipes in a database, but this is a fun retro choice.

New rubber ducky and new tiny cookware. The Ducky is for Eileen’s Critters!

New table caddy: Len also made this.

In My Kitchen In January

It’s been a very quiet month in my kitchen. Few new gadgets, not very adventurous cooking, but lots of good food to enjoy quietly as the snow has been falling. We did try a few ready-made food products. I’ve posted several of these photos during the month, but I wanted to show them again in this wrap-up.

Impulsively at Trader Joe’s we bought two “stirring spoons” with which to make afternoon cocoa.

Zingerman’s Bakehouse features UP style pasties, a flaky pastry with either a diced-potato filling or a
potato-and-beef filling. (UP means Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where the miners once brought these for their lunch) 

Another Trader Joe’s ready made foods: a meatloaf with red sauce. Not bad. 

Impromptu cuisine leads to sort-of-new combinations.
Maybe never to be done again in the exact same way.

Shrimp stew with TJ’s olive bread. 

ABC Stew: Apricots, Beef, Carrots and quite a few other ingredients.

Also Len’s incredible cinnamon rolls.

Pork chops for a simple, classic dinner.

Our neighbor Anne brought us croissants of various shapes.

Mona Lisa is back on the refrigerator this month

Bringing an old cookbook to life again

Meatballs served with mushroom and onion gravy and fresh vegetables.

Alice Cooks

Alice cooked creamy pasta and brought us bread sticks and salad to accompany it.

Alice brought heart-shaped pasta and other anticipations of Valentine Day.

Home made crumpets, fruit, mushrooms, and smoked salmon for brunch at Alice’s apartment

What do I want to cook?

These are the New York Times recipes that I’ve saved in hopes that we will some day cook them.

A toast from Alice

We are so happy that Alice is now living in Ann Arbor as a graduate student
at the University of Michigan.

Outside the Kitchen: Sad Thoughts

Blog post and all photos © 2026 mae sander

Shared with In My Kitchen and Readerbuzz

Horror Show in Minneapolis

Signs and Marches

Artists’ Visions

Sources of this Art in Minneapolis

It’s very wrong of me not to credit each art work and photo, but I don’t have time and I want to share these important insights. Here are the sources:

https://www.fastcompany.com/91481771/minneapolis-protest-art

https://www.uuworld.org/articles/ice-march-photos-unitarian-universalism

https://www.fastcompany.com/91480108/these-clever-anti-ice-signs-are-taking-over-minneapolis

https://illoz.com/edel/news/9186

https://mspmag.com/arts-and-culture/protest-art-anti-ice/

In Our Time

 

Snowed In and Reading

Machiavelli by Ross King

After reading the very long history of the Renaissance by Ada Palmer, I decided to read a biography of one of the most memorable characters of the era. Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power by Ross King is a wonderful study of a complex man. Over time, politically motivated opinion-makers have converted his memory to a caricature, especially because of his notorious book The Prince and its most famous quote that isn’t really there: “The ends justify the means.”

I enjoyed learning the details of a highly accomplished political man and the complex forces in the many political entities in Italy in his time. Here is a long quote about what Machiavelli said about morality and the obligation one has to do good and follow moral principles:

Machiavelli … does not hold that this conventional morality is entirely practical in the brutal world of Italian politics. “The gulf between how one should live and how one does live is so wide,” he writes, “that a man who neglects what is actually done for what should be done moves toward self-destruction rather than self-preservation.”

Nostrums having to do with keeping oaths and showing mercy are all very laudable on paper, but the man who transfers these moral precepts into the political arena will find himself drastically compromised. Machiavelli offers a new approach to political morality: “The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among so many who are not virtuous. Therefore if a prince wants to maintain his rule he must be prepared not to be virtuous, and to make use of this, or not, according to his need.” Qualities that the world considers virtues will lead a leader to ruin, while those regarded as vices will often bring safety and prosperity. Good leadership requires a prince to “know how to do evil.” (King, p. 156)

The Maid by Nita Prose

Molly, the narrator of this novel, is a maid in a luxury hotel whose observations of the vast gap between herself and the very entitled guests create an amusing read. However, the gap between Molly and the people whose rooms she cleans is not just amusing, it implies that you should think about the way society privileges you (assuming that you sometimes are in the position of the guests). 

Molly’s  observations include lots of unflattering details about the guests and their possessions. I like this one: “Isn’t it interesting how luxury has an unmistakable scent, as unmistakable as fear or death?” (p. 141)

Is the US a class-based society? As I read The Maid, I found this question both directly and indirectly a motivation throughout much of the story. Both Molly and her recently-deceased grandmother felt that working as hotel maids was their vocation, and they had a commitment to doing a really good job. The other workers in the hotel were vividly described in Molly’s narrative, in contrast to the way they acted as if they were invisible — and were really unseen by the guests. 

The novel is not just a study of the work done by the employees of a hotel: it also tells a story about a rather dramatic death of a hotel guest, about a complex criminal network that took advantage of the hotel, and of how Molly (working with several of her co-employees) basically sleuths out the details of the criminal activities, how they happened, and who was responsible. Altogether, this makes the book hold one’s interest though it’s pretty long — to me it was worth reading.

Blog post © 2026 mae sander

 

Dinner in our deep frozen town

 

I think the low last night was minus 10° F.

Dinner for a cold evening: ABC stew

Day 1: I cooked the stew, then refrigerated it overnight.
ABC: Apricots, Beef, Carrots (plus lots more ingredients).

Day 2: I rewarmed stew in oven, then adjusted seasoning on top of the stove.

The table, ready for our guests Alice and Carol to arrive for dinner.

Parsley and cilantro garnish a plate of stew. We ate it with couscous and crusty bread.

Ingredients for ABC Stew

Spice Rub: adjust amounts to your taste

Coriander

Cinnamon

Cumin

Paprika

Ground ginger

Red pepper flakes

Remaining Ingredients 

2 pounds beef stew meat

olive oil

2 medium onions, finely chopped

2 large carrots, sliced

1 15-ounce can of chickpeas, drained (optional)

1 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes

2 cups chicken stock from concentrate

1/2 cup dates, pitted and quartered

1/2 cup dried apricots, halved

1/4 cup prunes, halved

Salt & black pepper

Serving

1/4 cup cilantro and parsley, chopped

Couscous

Crusty bread

Directions

Day 1: Mix the ingredients for the spice rub in a covered bowl; coat the beef with the spice, cover, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

In a large frying pan with a lid, heat olive oil over medium-high heat: use enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Add the meat and stir to coat in the oil. Continue to cook for about 5 minutes until browned. You may need to do this in a few batches. Transfer browned meat to a bowl.

Turn the heat down, and add the onions to the pan. Brown them for about 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the browned meat, chickpeas (if using), tomatoes, and stock. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Then add the dates prunes, and apricots. Simmer for another 1 1/2 hours. The beef should be very tender and the liquid should be thickened. Remove to oven-proof cooking pot and refrigerate over night.

Day 2: At least 1 1/2 hours before serving, reheat the stew in the oven. Adjust the thickness of the sauce by either boiling it down or by adding more liquid until result is as you like it. Season with salt and pepper. Top with cilantro and parsley and serve over couscous.

Dessert

Alice’s cookies and Blueberries

Photos © 2026 mae sander

Axolotls

 

An axolotl in Lake Xochimilco, Mexico  —See this article on Axolotls, published this week,
which inspired me to look up more information about them.

An axolotl on a 50 peso note (source)
The image is based on a mural by Diego Rivera.

Everyone loves the smiling face of the axolotl, a type of salamander that lives in a small number of waterways in Mexico City. Very few axolotls survive in the wild — it’s an endangered species. One of them lives in a special axolotl museum in Mexico City called Axolotitlán. They are relatively widely available as pets in the US, though prohibited in some states. Axolotls are not very cuddly as their bones are fragile, so they shouldn’t be handled, only admired in an aquarium. Quite a few children’s books and toys represent these appealing critters. For more info: a detailed article about them appeared in Smithsonian a few years ago. 

One of many kids’ books about axolotls.

What, Me Worry?

If you were a fan of Mad Magazine in its glory years, you may remember the poem by Alfred E. Neuman.

Axolotls

 I wandered lonely as a clod, 

 Picking up old rags and bottles, 

When onward on my daily plod 

 I came upon some axolotls 

Beside the lake, beneath the trees, 

 A sight to make a man's blood freeze.

Some had handles, some were plain— 

 Skins green and orange, in the main. 

My hair stood up, my blood ran cold. 

 I fled with fear upon my soul. 

I find my solace now in bottles, 

 and I forget them axolotls. 

                                                   —Alfred E. Neuman

A mural of an axolotl (source)

This post is to be shared with Deb’s Readerbuzz. Sami’s Murals, and Eileen’s Critters.

Photos as credited, text © 2026 mae sander

Identities

“After hundreds of years, if there were so many sinners left, what had the Inquisition accomplished? They might root out Jews and Muslims and Erasmists and alumbrados, but then what was left?” (p. 367)

“When Luzia had seen the burnt bread, she hadn’t thought much about passing her hand over it and singing the words her aunt had taught her, “Aboltar kazal, aboltar mazal.” A change of scene, a change of fortune. She sang them very softly. They were not quite Spanish, just as Luzia was not quite Spanish. But Doña Valentina would never have her in this house, even in the dark, hot, windowless kitchen, if she detected a whiff of Jew. Luzia knew that she should be careful, but it was difficult not to do something the easy way when everything else was so hard.” (p 6)

From the beginning, The Familiar is a book about secrecy and identity. Luzia, at the center of the novel,  has both an out-facing identity as a servant in an impoverished upper-class home in late-medieval Spain, and also a secret identity as a Jew who would like to flee to Salonika where she could practice her true religion openly. The novel adds an element of magical realism to this identity: Luzia can also do magic. 

Here is  Luzia’s view of the conversion which her ancestors had experienced a few generations earlier:

“Their great religion can make bread into flesh and wine into blood. But they don’t believe that any amount of holy water or prayer can truly make a Jew a Christian.” (p. 121)

“I have been baptized, she reminded herself. She went dutifully to mass. She knew her Pater Noster, the Ave Maria and Salve Regina, her psalms and commandments. She would happily eat ham and mend a dress after sundown on the Sabbath. And yet she felt her magic like a damning thread, binding her to the past, and to every Jew in every synagogue who still bent their head in prayer.” (p. 198)

The counter-theme of this book is a completely different identity: that of an immortal and magically created human-like being named Santángel who becomes Luzia’s friend and ally in struggling to survive and escape. He says: 

“In another life, in another world, I would be called a familiar. My gifts are not my own. They exist only to serve others. People fear me because I want them to, because their fear makes my life easier.” (p. 165)

The plot of this book is elaborate (maybe too much so). There are many twists as the stories of several characters are being told. That’s all I have to say about it. 

Blog post © 2026 mae sander

Remembering Martin Luther King