Egg Report

 

At Trader Joe’s Ann Arbor, February 26, 2025

Today in the New York Times: “Why Is Egg Shopping So Unpredictable?” —

“Stores across the country have instituted egg purchase limits, but they’re more common at grocers known for low prices. On Saturday, the Aldi in Inglewood had a two-dozen limit. Trader Joe’s has imposed a one-dozen limit nationally. Costco is limiting customers to three 24-count packages of eggs at some locations across the country. Purchase limits help temper panic-buying, or spikes in demand caused by lower prices.”

Today in the Guardian —

“Trump campaigned relentlessly on the cost of living and made a big (and unrealistic) promise to bring down food prices on day one of his term. Now, it’s clear he has no realistic plan to lower the cost of groceries; eventually, even his most devoted followers are going to figure out that you can’t eat the culture wars. To riff on Macbeth again: all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten the astronomical price of eggs.”

Remembering Jean Margat and his Mona Lisa Collections

 

Jean Margat invented the term Jocondologie. He first used the term in the May, 1959, issue of the French journal Bizarre which he wrote and illustrated, using objects from his Mona Lisa collections (shown above). I just learned that Margat died this month at the age of 100. I knew him as a collector of Mona Lisa objects, which he eventually donated to the Louvre in 2014. See this brief write up from the Louvre: “Kitsch.”

I corresponded with Jean Margat for a while, and exchanged a few collectibles and photocopies of Mona Lisa materials. This was in the 1990s, so of course all was by postal service, with letters and packages crossing the ocean very slowly. I am not at all sure that he ever adopted the Internet for his many Mona Lisa contacts, but I had lost touch with him by the time that could have happened.

Jean Margat was more seriously known for his engineering accomplishments, as shown in the following google page as it appears this week:

Mona Lisa in Paris

Thinking of Jean Margat and his Mona Lisa collection reminds me of all the time that I spent in Paris searching for  (or just observing) Mona Lisa appearances. I also remember the one time that I met Jean Margat. At his suggetion, we spent an hour or two over coffee at the famous Procope cafe and restaurant in Paris. He brought several large binders full of wonderful Mona Lisa images and objects to show me, and we enjoyed a conversation about his collections. Thinking of him, I’ve been looking over some of my old photos of Paris and Mona Lisa art. Here are a few examples.

A memorable mural on a wall in Paris in 2008.

Post cards for sale: I obtained many of my Mona Lisa cards by searching the post card stands
throughout Paris.

A Mona Lisa in a shop window.

A Mona Lisa magazine cover. I think Jean Margat sent me this image.

I think Jean Margat also sent me this magazine cover.

My most recent visit to the Mona Lisa. It’s way too crowded!

Blog post and photos © 2008-2025 mae sander

In My Life This Week

Source: Fiona Katauskas in the Guardian

Escape Watching

“Willy Wonka” — a very silly and watchable film from 1971.

“The Battle of Algiers” a very serious Italian film from 1967, which we had always wanted to see.
The colonial war in Algeria is mostly forgotten by now, at least by Americans (if we ever heard
of it in the first place). The horrors of war and politics never seem to change. 

Escape Reading 

Here are the books I’ve been reading during the past week, along with a quote from each that shows how the authors use food to create characters and atmosphere.

Ann Cleves: The Long Call. A good police procedural.

Quote from The Long Call — “The house felt different without Simon. Empty. Quieter. It wasn’t that he’d made much noise, except when he was cooking and those had only been good sounds: the rhythmic beat of a knife on the chopping board, the sizzle of searing fish in a pan, the rattle of pots. He’d given up drinking quite so much recently and so even those noises had been calmer, less frenetic.” (p. 333)

Alice Munro (1931-2024) has recently become notorious for being a hideously cruel mother.
Despite this, I decided to read some of her stories, which I didn’t find especially wonderful.
If they had to find a Canadian woman for the prize, I wish it had been Margaret Atwood.

Quote from “The Progress of Love” short story by Alice Munro — “I didn’t have a problem right away with Beryl’s story. For one thing, I was hungry and greedy, and a lot of my attention went to the roast chicken and gravy and mashed potatoes laid on the plate with an ice-cream scoop and the bright diced vegetables out of a can, which I thought much superior to those fresh from the garden. For dessert, I had a butterscotch sundae, an agonizing choice over chocolate. The others had plain vanilla ice cream. Why shouldn’t Beryl’s version of the same event be different from my mother’s?” (p. 44)

Every story in this collection of the best from last year seems better to me than the
stories I read by Alice Munro. Sad.

Quote from  “Democracy in America” short story by Allegra Hyde — “I turned onto my back, my hands behind my head, pretending to ponder Honey’s question. The rented room was above a local grocer and below us the register clanged with the afternoon rush, shrill with its clattering belly of coins, the swish of paper money, credit card beeps, as locals purchased pumpkin pie filling, mint ice cream, meat, for one of their culture’s holidays. This was the kind of American town I had come to see, but it had not yet shown me what I wanted to know.” (p. 146)

I keep trying to read fantasy and si-fi, but it rarely speaks to me.
Definitely this well-regarded novel did not speak to me.

Quote from Binti — “I stood up, realizing that my time of death was not here yet. I took a quick look around the giant hall. I could smell dinner over the stink of blood and Meduse gases. Roasted and marinated meats, brown long-grained rice, spicy red stews, flat breads, and that rich gelatinous dessert I loved so much. They were all still laid out on the grand table, the hot foods cooling as the bodies cooled and the dessert melting as the dead Meduse melted.” (p. 30)

Escape Eating (In Real Life)

Lots of Clementines and Mandarins.

I made Beef Bourguignon according to the recipe of Julia Child (which I know by heart).
We enjoyed it with a salad and some of Len’s bread.

A light dinner salad. Farro and arugula are under the apples.

Mugs from the past.

 Blog post shared with Deb at Readerbuzz — © 2025 mae sander

Hokusai Cats

Hokusai, "Tiger in the Snow" (1849)

Last week I posted some images of birds by the Japanese artist Hokusai (1760-1849). Today I'll add some images of cats from his remarkable number of woodblock prints, notebooks full of sketches, and various paintings. Hokusai was enormously productive throughout his long life: his work includes over 30,000 paintings, sketches, woodblock prints, and images for picture books.

First, you have almost certainly seen Hokusai's most famous work, which is widely reproduced and often parodied or imitated.

Hokusai, "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" from 36 Views of Mount Fuji.

Hokusai’s Cats

Blog post by mae sander 2025, shared with Eileen’s Critters.

Lunch at Zingerman’s Roadhouse

We hadn’t been to Zingerman’s Roadhouse for around six years, and decided to give it another try.
In the past, we’ve felt that it wasn’t as good as it claims to be, and the prices are high.

Len’s Montreal Reuben sandwich: price $22.
The smoked meat was cut very thick, which is odd for a deli sandwich. Fries OK, not great.

My lunch: fried Pierogis and a spinach and citrus salad ($16 and $12).
The pierogis had been fried quite a long time before they were served, so I found them somewhat soggy.

Some T-shirt designs. Zingerman’s businesses sell lots of swag.
Our verdict: we will try again in another six years.

 Photos © 2025 mae sander.

Coffee Cups and Art

New in my Living Room

Recently, I haven’t had any drink-centered photos to share with Elizabeth’s Tuesday Drink blog party, but today is different. First, in my living room, a new way to hold a cup of tea or coffee.

This is my new coffee and tea cup holder that fits over the arm of the couch.
Len made it for me last week.

Also a good place to leave my iPad…

… or snacks like this jar of goldfish crackers.

In the Museum Shop: Mugs

Cat mugs in the gift shop at the University of Michigan Museum of Art.

At the Museum

Dark Presence III (1971) by Louise Nevelson

La Raza Art and Media Collective 1975 – Today
Mural by George Vargas.

Blog post and all photos © 2025 mae sander

Pinky and the Brain

 

Dislocations

My Country’s Capitol: Photos Over the Years

Departing on a plane…from the Washington Monument to the Capitol Building.

At a kite festival…

Walking by the Capitol on a beautiful autumn day.

Photos © 2007-2015 mae sander.

A Horror Show In Washington

Good things about our government: I read about a recall of canned tuna that was issued a few days ago. “Canned tuna sold at grocery stores in 26 states and in Washington, D.C., was recalled because of botulism risks, the Food and Drug Administration and Tri-Union Seafoods said on Friday.” I had a can of tuna from Trader Joe’s that I was worried about, so I looked on the FDA website. (“Canned Tuna Sold at Trader Joe’s and Costco Is Recalled Over Botulism Risks,” New York Times, Feb 12, 2025) 

My tuna wasn’t involved in this recall, but in retrospect, I started to worry about a much bigger issue: what’s going to happen to the FDA? Thousands of jobs in the Federal Government are being discontinued, and many services that I would say are vital are being “thrown in the wood chipper” (as Elon Musk himself describes it). I began thinking of all the ways the government contributes to my well-being and my life style. So many agencies do good things that I depend on: the FDA, the NIH, law enforcement, farm support and on and on. 

Will all inspection of food be discontinued, so that we have to accept whatever we get from the food processing industry? Will we have to trust slaughter houses to keep meat sanitary and safe? Who will track down the cause of a cluster of salmonella cases or e-coli outbreaks? Will auto safety measures and regulation be abandoned? Will drug manufacturers be allowed to release any drugs the choose, without even the limited testing that’s been done up to now? It’s been easy in the past to dismiss the benefits of government regulation in our lives, but if you think about it, we really depend on it. Do you trust the big food processors? Do you trust big pharma? 

Regulation of food and agriculture has been a response to public concern for over a century, with many emerging issues in the last few decades. I’ve been reading a book about the development of attitudes in the US about processed food, healthy eating, and the development of many ideas about what is safe and desirable. Specifically: 

“Concerns about the purity  and safety of the food supply had been around for a very long time,  but technological changes that accompanied twentieth-century  industrialization, such as the growing use of chemicals in food  production and the industrialization of agriculture, raised new concerns about risks related to everything from chemical additives, preservatives, and packaging to the use of antibiotics in  animal agriculture.” (Charlotte Bilekoff. Real Food, Real Facts: Processed Food and the Politics of Knowledge, p.55)

There are many valuable services at risk. I love to travel. The government supports the interstate highway system, the National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, and National Seashores. The government enables the functioning of air travel through airports, air traffic control, and more. Like almost every senior in the US, I depend on Social Security and Medicare. If you live here, you can probably think of quite a few government programs that benefit you. What’s in jeopardy? We don’t know yet. The acquiescence of the Republican majority in congress to anything the President and his minions demand is a horror show in and of itself.

We are helpless, destabilized, and  bewildered, when confronted with so many attacks on government programs and the Constitutional rule of law in such a short time. In less than a month, we’ve seen the demolition of  cultural institutions; for example, the Kennedy Center (see Ann Telnaes cartoon left, from her Substack). International programs, particularly USAID, have been gutted. Support for assimilation of legal immigrants has been discontinued through defunding of welfare agencies, not to mention cancelling citizenship for American-born children. We’ve heard false accusations of fraud in many agencies and disruption of law enforcement  such as firings at the FBI and showdown at Justice. Alarming trends include cuts in funds for medical research supported by the NIH, ending fights against corruption such as shuttering the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and cancelling other protections, and placing incompetent appointees in high positions (the anti-vax Kennedy for health is the most extreme) …and on and on — every newspaper has numerous articles about the destruction of organizations that were put in place by acts of Congress but are being destroyed by unprecedented fiat from the Executive branch.

We are also helpless in view of some extreme acts of cruelty towards immigrants, even if they are here illegally. We may have a bad conscience when we think about the knock on the door in the middle of the night, and the flights full of shackled people. Echoes of roundups of the Jews in Nazi Germany? I fear so.

I feel more helpless than ever as I watch this nightmare emerging —

“The pandemic reduced normal human interactions. Severed from one another, Americans deepened their parasocial attachment to social-media platforms, which foment alienation and rage. Hundreds of thousands of people plunged into an alternate mental universe during COVID‑19 lockdowns. When their doors reopened, the mania did not recede. Conspiracies and mistrust of the establishment—never strangers to the American mind—had been nourished, and they grew.” (Source: The Atlantic)

Did I miss anything? YES, absolutely. Every time I read the headlines there’s another outrage. A final quote:

“R.F.K. Jr. is now in charge of the F.D.A., N.I.H. and C.D.C., to which Americans said, ‘OMG,’ ‘WTF’ and ‘FML.’” — JIMMY FALLON

Blog post © 2025 mae sander,