February 2021
Bagel variation
27 02, 21 00:24 Filed in: A procratination
Bagel variation….
Today's procrastination is once again a baking bread narrative. For the past couple of days I've been contemplating returning to my neglected "shelf" started (I have one in the fridge which has also been neglected) and trying another sourdough something or other from the list is "discard" recipes. But ran into a problem: I had indeed neglected the starter too long, and the odor it gave off startled me. Like strong cheese gone bad.
After consulting the google gods, I concluded that the shelf starter could not be salvaged -- and so I followed the instructions of how to best dispose of the smelly remains. It was for just such an occasion that I kept a fridge starter (starting from scratch is an 8 day process), and luckily it seemed to be in tolerable condition for use as the source of a fresh shelf starter. However, it would take a few hours (and overnight) to revitalize a new batch, so I tried to find a non-sourdough recipe to work with. By now it was 2PM.
As it happens, King Arthur Flour sent around an email about twelve new recipes, and one got my attention: Stuffed Bagel Buns. I looked at the ingredients and figured it was worth the attempt. After all, it was something related to a bagel....
The basic "stuff" in this bun is a mixture of cream cheese and shredded cheddar -- and I had access to both. I made the dough (easy enough) and but it aside to rise (i.e., puff up) and then got to work on the cheese mixture with a bit of help on technique from Randi. This part called for creating 12 balls of the cheese mixture and putting them in a freezer to chill while the dough was proofing. After dinner I took the next steps, and Randi did the stuffing of the now very chilled cheese into it dough (which was then rolled into balls) while I took care of the water bath.
There were several points where we wondered if we were doing things correctly, especially when the cheese mixture started to ooze out of the buns during baking. But the recipe included a comment that the leaks of cheese were a side benefit we would get to enjoy after everything cooled.
The result is pictured at the start of the rolling period, and the one we shared after waiting an hour was very good. The rest have been refrigerated and several will warmed up for breakfast.
After posting the picture on FB, my son wrote that there is a Mexican restaurant near his place in Nashville that served something similar, except with cream cheese and jalapeños in the stuffing. That is something I will try in the near future. The recipe itself suggested adding fresh herbs into the cheese mix, but I stuck with the basics. Now I am tempted to try all sorts of additions to the mix.
It is a great recipe and can by found at the King Arthur's website.
Today's procrastination is once again a baking bread narrative. For the past couple of days I've been contemplating returning to my neglected "shelf" started (I have one in the fridge which has also been neglected) and trying another sourdough something or other from the list is "discard" recipes. But ran into a problem: I had indeed neglected the starter too long, and the odor it gave off startled me. Like strong cheese gone bad.
After consulting the google gods, I concluded that the shelf starter could not be salvaged -- and so I followed the instructions of how to best dispose of the smelly remains. It was for just such an occasion that I kept a fridge starter (starting from scratch is an 8 day process), and luckily it seemed to be in tolerable condition for use as the source of a fresh shelf starter. However, it would take a few hours (and overnight) to revitalize a new batch, so I tried to find a non-sourdough recipe to work with. By now it was 2PM.
As it happens, King Arthur Flour sent around an email about twelve new recipes, and one got my attention: Stuffed Bagel Buns. I looked at the ingredients and figured it was worth the attempt. After all, it was something related to a bagel....
The basic "stuff" in this bun is a mixture of cream cheese and shredded cheddar -- and I had access to both. I made the dough (easy enough) and but it aside to rise (i.e., puff up) and then got to work on the cheese mixture with a bit of help on technique from Randi. This part called for creating 12 balls of the cheese mixture and putting them in a freezer to chill while the dough was proofing. After dinner I took the next steps, and Randi did the stuffing of the now very chilled cheese into it dough (which was then rolled into balls) while I took care of the water bath.
There were several points where we wondered if we were doing things correctly, especially when the cheese mixture started to ooze out of the buns during baking. But the recipe included a comment that the leaks of cheese were a side benefit we would get to enjoy after everything cooled.
The result is pictured at the start of the rolling period, and the one we shared after waiting an hour was very good. The rest have been refrigerated and several will warmed up for breakfast.
After posting the picture on FB, my son wrote that there is a Mexican restaurant near his place in Nashville that served something similar, except with cream cheese and jalapeños in the stuffing. That is something I will try in the near future. The recipe itself suggested adding fresh herbs into the cheese mix, but I stuck with the basics. Now I am tempted to try all sorts of additions to the mix.
It is a great recipe and can by found at the King Arthur's website.
Comments
My brief foray into practical politics -- 1968
24 02, 21 01:01 Filed in: Reflection
This is a reposting from FB. Originally posted on August 26, 2020, it is me reflecting on my brief foray into practical politics in 1968.
In Massachusetts we are having a senseless primary between an impatient young Kennedy and Ed Markey, and of course this sparked memories of at least one Kennedy campaign I was involved with back in my college days (I was "nominally" the Southern Colorado College coordinator for the Robert Kennedy presidential campaign).
It was March 1968, and RFK had recently entered the race, throwing the McCarthy supporters in Colorado (I was one of those) into turmoil; but we had to choose sides....
When it was announced that Kennedy would make a Denver stop on his swing through the west, several of us who were involved in some "official" capacity (again, in my case nominally since the effort was not well organized by then) were asked if we'd like to fly from Pueblo to Denver to attend his campaign event.
I had never flown before, but could not pass this opportunity up. As I recall, several of us were stuffed into a small private aircraft (more on that later) and took off early to get to the Denver airport so we could be part of the motorcade that would take Kennedy from Stapleton to the speaking venue. (The flight path from Pueblo to Denver is not for the weak kneed -- passing by Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak meant getting bounced around quite a bit.)
What I recall is shaking the man's hand and getting into a vehicle just two cars behind the lead car. If you look at this photo, I think you can see a convertible two cars behind the RFK car, and I recall as well the crowds and the slow pace (so he could reach out and shake hands) through the Five Points area where this was taken. (At that time Five Points was the African American neighborhood in Denver.)
I don't recall much else -- the rally or the speech -- other than as soon as it was over Kennedy headed to the airport and we made it back to our plane for a no less "bumpy" flight back to Pueblo.
The events of 1968 turned tragic, of course, and I never recovered whatever political activism (and ambitions) I might have had after the King and Kennedy assassinations in April and June. Finding this picture and thinking about those days sharpened my sense of loss for my days as a budding political actor.
From FB Comment:
With her sharp eye, Randi thinks that might be me in the photo. I was in the third car, but why would my head stand out unless everyone else in the car was slouching? It looks like the motorcade had stopped and I might have been trying to get a better view of what was going on. In any case, fond memory of an event when everything seemed to be looking up...
In Massachusetts we are having a senseless primary between an impatient young Kennedy and Ed Markey, and of course this sparked memories of at least one Kennedy campaign I was involved with back in my college days (I was "nominally" the Southern Colorado College coordinator for the Robert Kennedy presidential campaign).
It was March 1968, and RFK had recently entered the race, throwing the McCarthy supporters in Colorado (I was one of those) into turmoil; but we had to choose sides....
When it was announced that Kennedy would make a Denver stop on his swing through the west, several of us who were involved in some "official" capacity (again, in my case nominally since the effort was not well organized by then) were asked if we'd like to fly from Pueblo to Denver to attend his campaign event.
I had never flown before, but could not pass this opportunity up. As I recall, several of us were stuffed into a small private aircraft (more on that later) and took off early to get to the Denver airport so we could be part of the motorcade that would take Kennedy from Stapleton to the speaking venue. (The flight path from Pueblo to Denver is not for the weak kneed -- passing by Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak meant getting bounced around quite a bit.)
What I recall is shaking the man's hand and getting into a vehicle just two cars behind the lead car. If you look at this photo, I think you can see a convertible two cars behind the RFK car, and I recall as well the crowds and the slow pace (so he could reach out and shake hands) through the Five Points area where this was taken. (At that time Five Points was the African American neighborhood in Denver.)
I don't recall much else -- the rally or the speech -- other than as soon as it was over Kennedy headed to the airport and we made it back to our plane for a no less "bumpy" flight back to Pueblo.
The events of 1968 turned tragic, of course, and I never recovered whatever political activism (and ambitions) I might have had after the King and Kennedy assassinations in April and June. Finding this picture and thinking about those days sharpened my sense of loss for my days as a budding political actor.
From FB Comment:
With her sharp eye, Randi thinks that might be me in the photo. I was in the third car, but why would my head stand out unless everyone else in the car was slouching? It looks like the motorcade had stopped and I might have been trying to get a better view of what was going on. In any case, fond memory of an event when everything seemed to be looking up...
Bridge Over Troubled Water (1969 Video)
24 02, 21 00:21 Filed in: Comment
This was originally a FB post that I think is worth retaining.
FB friend Steve Kelman posted about the 50th anniversary of the release of Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Waters album, and that triggered a memory of the first time I heard (actually viewed) the title song. In 1969, even before music videos were a "thing" (MTV wasn't even launched until 1981), and months before the release of the single or album, CBS televised a special, Simon and Garfunkel's "Songs of America" (produced by Charles Grodin), that included a video version of Bridge. Even though we are learning a lot about the origins and inspiration for the song (none of it really political), it was Grodin's idea to use it as a political statement. The presentation of Bridge and other songs in the documentary was regarded as so political at the time that the original sponsor (the old AT&T) pulled out and a new sponsor was found for its one and only airing.
It is tough to get hold of the original video of Bridge as presented in that show, and the one posted here is not only of poor quality (a video of a BBC broadcast), but it is also interrupted by a commercial. Nevertheless, it is worth the effort view it as a political artifact of the time.
The video itself is posted as part one of the CBS special which is posted in three parts. To get the full political impact of Bridge, the video will start @11:20. (If anyone has a cleaner copy, please let me know -- I believe there was a DVD release of the show issued, but it is no longer available.)
https://dai.ly/x51647l
The best "backgrounder" on Bridge is found at https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200122-the-forgotten-political-roots-of-bridge-over-troubled-water.
FB friend Steve Kelman posted about the 50th anniversary of the release of Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Waters album, and that triggered a memory of the first time I heard (actually viewed) the title song. In 1969, even before music videos were a "thing" (MTV wasn't even launched until 1981), and months before the release of the single or album, CBS televised a special, Simon and Garfunkel's "Songs of America" (produced by Charles Grodin), that included a video version of Bridge. Even though we are learning a lot about the origins and inspiration for the song (none of it really political), it was Grodin's idea to use it as a political statement. The presentation of Bridge and other songs in the documentary was regarded as so political at the time that the original sponsor (the old AT&T) pulled out and a new sponsor was found for its one and only airing.
It is tough to get hold of the original video of Bridge as presented in that show, and the one posted here is not only of poor quality (a video of a BBC broadcast), but it is also interrupted by a commercial. Nevertheless, it is worth the effort view it as a political artifact of the time.
The video itself is posted as part one of the CBS special which is posted in three parts. To get the full political impact of Bridge, the video will start @11:20. (If anyone has a cleaner copy, please let me know -- I believe there was a DVD release of the show issued, but it is no longer available.)
https://dai.ly/x51647l
The best "backgrounder" on Bridge is found at https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200122-the-forgotten-political-roots-of-bridge-over-troubled-water.
Pretzels, version 1
21 02, 21 16:05 Filed in: Baking
Disclaimer: While I've decided to start posting my experiments in the kitchen, these are not to be regarded as anything more than somewhat public notes on various experiments with baking.
When I was a kid (pre-teen years), my father brought home one of the children's chemistry sets. This was my opportunity to explore the world of science, and I was a miserable failure at it. That has also been my experience with cooking and baking -- an enthusiastic start, often ending in failure.
(An aside: My father, who was a toy "buyer" for a major department store at the time, was able to bring home all sorts toys, games, etc, each time he visited the wholesale "jobbers" located in lower Manhattan. In one case, he also arranged for a cousin who was a few years older than me to get a more advanced version of the toy chemsitry set. After a few weeks he proceeded to cause a minor explosion and fire in his apartment. It should be noted that he eventually earned his PhD in chemistry and became one of the world's leading forensic chemists.)
Back to my baking.... Retirement has gone well so far, especially since I found several things to distract me from my original plans of completing long delayed writing projects. One distrction has been baking, and I have been using Facebook posts to show off some of my hits (and a few misses). Another distraction has been the relaunching of this dormant blog. So, I says to meself, why not combine the two. Why not torture those who stumble on the blog with notes about my most recent attempts at abuse the kitchen and all its utensils?
Today's experiment is baking soft pretzels based on on YouTube recipe that caught my eye as I was searching for something else. I needed to try something after a disappointing attempt at another bagel recipe (which I will write about in a day or so when I finally "get over it").
The recipe is found at https://youtu.be/oDG0JSrA7eo, and is well presented by "Chef Bill Parisi". I offer a pasted version of his recipe at the end of this post.
The recipe is a simple one, although it involved a step or two I had yet to encounter.
One was making my own light brown sugar. We had dark brown sugar in the cupboard, but reading about the difference between dark and light I concluded I should either run to the store to purchase some (out of the question these days) or find some substitute. A bit of googling got me to a site that said the best substitute for light brown sugar is to make some light brown sugar! What that involved was mixing a tablespoon of molasses into a cup of granulated sugar. Voila! Light Brown sugar! (Absurdly simple, and I now have a ziplock bag of light brown sugar in the pantry.)
A second requirement that was new to me was making a egg wash. It seems absurd that at 74 years old I have never separate an egg into yolk and white components. (Hell, I just learned how to crack open an egg without causing a shell-y mess....). This required a demonstration from Randi, but since we needed only one yolk for the wash I still haven't put this new bit of practical knowledge to use. A lesson to apply the next round of pretzels or the challah bread I plan to bak in the near future.
Shaping the pretzels was a task Randi wanted to do, and my role was to try to make sure the proofed dough was divided into twelve reasonably similar size pieces. This is a task I have problems with when shaping bagels -- and I was no better in this instance. Still, through Randi's valiant efforts the twelve seems fairly equal.
Another part of the process I failed to carry out properly was draining the water from the recently water-bather pretzels. This would create some "soggy bottom" pieces after the initial bake and required a return to the over for a couple of additional minutes with soggy-side up. That worked and as a result two of the recently reheated batch have been consumed. The rest will likely be gone by tomorrow morning at the latest.
==================
The Recipe (sic)
https://youtu.be/oDG0JSrA7eo
Chef Billy Parisi
174K subscribers
These delicious homemade soft pretzels are so easy to make at home that you’ll never buy them at the store again.
Ingredients for this recipe:
• 2 cups of warm water between 110° and 115°
• 1 ½ tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 packet active yeast
• 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
• 3 ounces melted unsalted butter
• 5 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon oil
• ¾ cup baking and 1 gallon of water
• 1 egg yolk whisked with 1 tablespoon cold water
• coarse kosher or sea salt for topping
Makes 12 pretzels
Prep time: 15 minutes
Resting Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 20 minutes
procedures:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 450°.
2. In a standing mixer bowl, add in the water, brown sugar, and sprinkle on the yeast, whisk together and let it sit for 5 to 7 minutes or until it forms a foamy raft on top.
3. Add the hook attachment and turn the speed to low and pour in the salt and butter.
4. Add in the flour 1 cup at a time until combined and knead the dough on low to medium speed for 5 minutes.
5. Add oil into a large bowl or container and place in the dough. Cover with a towel or lid and rest until it doubles in size, about an hour
6. Before it is time to form the dough, bring the baking soda and 1 gallon of water to a boil in a large pot.
7. To form the dough, take a small piece and roll it out until it is a 24” long rope. Form the dough into a U shape and holding each end cross over each other and pull down to make a pretzel with the ends slightly over the other part of the dough.
8. Turn down the boiling water to a simmer and cook each pretzel dough 1 to 2 at a time for :30 each and then place back on a cookie sheet tray lined with parchment paper or with a silpat
9. Once all of the pretzels have been cooked in the baking soda solution, brush the tops with the egg wash and season heavily with coarse kosher or sea salt.
10. Bake in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.
CHEF NOTES:
• How To Reheat: Place on a tray and wrap in foil and bake in the oven at 350° for 5-6 minutes or until hot. Likewise you can also heat in the microwave until hot.
• Make Ahead: You can make pretzels up to 1 day ahead of time and reheat before serving.
• How To Store: Keep wrapped in plastic in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
• Feel free to make the pretzels as thick or as thin as you’d like and also consider making pretzel bites or rods.
• When adding the water to the stand mixer I usually like to go a little hotter like 118° because the bowl is usually a little chilly and drops the temperature of it by a few degrees making it perfect for the yeast.
• You may need more flour when kneading the dough in the stand mixer. The goal is that the dough be very soft but not sticky.
• A silpat is a non-stock baking sheet made of a blend of silicone and fiberglass. They are super versatile, can handle high heat and last a really long time.
When I was a kid (pre-teen years), my father brought home one of the children's chemistry sets. This was my opportunity to explore the world of science, and I was a miserable failure at it. That has also been my experience with cooking and baking -- an enthusiastic start, often ending in failure.
(An aside: My father, who was a toy "buyer" for a major department store at the time, was able to bring home all sorts toys, games, etc, each time he visited the wholesale "jobbers" located in lower Manhattan. In one case, he also arranged for a cousin who was a few years older than me to get a more advanced version of the toy chemsitry set. After a few weeks he proceeded to cause a minor explosion and fire in his apartment. It should be noted that he eventually earned his PhD in chemistry and became one of the world's leading forensic chemists.)
Back to my baking.... Retirement has gone well so far, especially since I found several things to distract me from my original plans of completing long delayed writing projects. One distrction has been baking, and I have been using Facebook posts to show off some of my hits (and a few misses). Another distraction has been the relaunching of this dormant blog. So, I says to meself, why not combine the two. Why not torture those who stumble on the blog with notes about my most recent attempts at abuse the kitchen and all its utensils?
Today's experiment is baking soft pretzels based on on YouTube recipe that caught my eye as I was searching for something else. I needed to try something after a disappointing attempt at another bagel recipe (which I will write about in a day or so when I finally "get over it").
The recipe is found at https://youtu.be/oDG0JSrA7eo, and is well presented by "Chef Bill Parisi". I offer a pasted version of his recipe at the end of this post.
The recipe is a simple one, although it involved a step or two I had yet to encounter.
One was making my own light brown sugar. We had dark brown sugar in the cupboard, but reading about the difference between dark and light I concluded I should either run to the store to purchase some (out of the question these days) or find some substitute. A bit of googling got me to a site that said the best substitute for light brown sugar is to make some light brown sugar! What that involved was mixing a tablespoon of molasses into a cup of granulated sugar. Voila! Light Brown sugar! (Absurdly simple, and I now have a ziplock bag of light brown sugar in the pantry.)
A second requirement that was new to me was making a egg wash. It seems absurd that at 74 years old I have never separate an egg into yolk and white components. (Hell, I just learned how to crack open an egg without causing a shell-y mess....). This required a demonstration from Randi, but since we needed only one yolk for the wash I still haven't put this new bit of practical knowledge to use. A lesson to apply the next round of pretzels or the challah bread I plan to bak in the near future.
Shaping the pretzels was a task Randi wanted to do, and my role was to try to make sure the proofed dough was divided into twelve reasonably similar size pieces. This is a task I have problems with when shaping bagels -- and I was no better in this instance. Still, through Randi's valiant efforts the twelve seems fairly equal.
Another part of the process I failed to carry out properly was draining the water from the recently water-bather pretzels. This would create some "soggy bottom" pieces after the initial bake and required a return to the over for a couple of additional minutes with soggy-side up. That worked and as a result two of the recently reheated batch have been consumed. The rest will likely be gone by tomorrow morning at the latest.
==================
The Recipe (sic)
https://youtu.be/oDG0JSrA7eo
Chef Billy Parisi
174K subscribers
These delicious homemade soft pretzels are so easy to make at home that you’ll never buy them at the store again.
Ingredients for this recipe:
• 2 cups of warm water between 110° and 115°
• 1 ½ tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 packet active yeast
• 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
• 3 ounces melted unsalted butter
• 5 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon oil
• ¾ cup baking and 1 gallon of water
• 1 egg yolk whisked with 1 tablespoon cold water
• coarse kosher or sea salt for topping
Makes 12 pretzels
Prep time: 15 minutes
Resting Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 20 minutes
procedures:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 450°.
2. In a standing mixer bowl, add in the water, brown sugar, and sprinkle on the yeast, whisk together and let it sit for 5 to 7 minutes or until it forms a foamy raft on top.
3. Add the hook attachment and turn the speed to low and pour in the salt and butter.
4. Add in the flour 1 cup at a time until combined and knead the dough on low to medium speed for 5 minutes.
5. Add oil into a large bowl or container and place in the dough. Cover with a towel or lid and rest until it doubles in size, about an hour
6. Before it is time to form the dough, bring the baking soda and 1 gallon of water to a boil in a large pot.
7. To form the dough, take a small piece and roll it out until it is a 24” long rope. Form the dough into a U shape and holding each end cross over each other and pull down to make a pretzel with the ends slightly over the other part of the dough.
8. Turn down the boiling water to a simmer and cook each pretzel dough 1 to 2 at a time for :30 each and then place back on a cookie sheet tray lined with parchment paper or with a silpat
9. Once all of the pretzels have been cooked in the baking soda solution, brush the tops with the egg wash and season heavily with coarse kosher or sea salt.
10. Bake in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.
CHEF NOTES:
• How To Reheat: Place on a tray and wrap in foil and bake in the oven at 350° for 5-6 minutes or until hot. Likewise you can also heat in the microwave until hot.
• Make Ahead: You can make pretzels up to 1 day ahead of time and reheat before serving.
• How To Store: Keep wrapped in plastic in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
• Feel free to make the pretzels as thick or as thin as you’d like and also consider making pretzel bites or rods.
• When adding the water to the stand mixer I usually like to go a little hotter like 118° because the bowl is usually a little chilly and drops the temperature of it by a few degrees making it perfect for the yeast.
• You may need more flour when kneading the dough in the stand mixer. The goal is that the dough be very soft but not sticky.
• A silpat is a non-stock baking sheet made of a blend of silicone and fiberglass. They are super versatile, can handle high heat and last a really long time.
Our neighbors, the Rafters
13 02, 21 09:24 Filed in: A procrastination
Our home is located along a relatively busy street and is situated between, to the rear, a commuter rail stop and, to the front, a hill with a few residences and lots of wooded areas.
Somewhere back in those woods resides a somewhat large "rafter" of wild turkeys who every so often can be spotted foraging in the morning for food among the trees and bushes of those homes. We are more likely to see them pecking away early in the day during spring, typically with a few large adult birds and their trailing young ones. Rarely do we see them on our lawn, and then for only a few minutes before they waddle back across the road where cars speed by at 30-40 mph.
This morning however, on a very cold winter day, there was a rafter of fifteen to twenty adult birds exploring the mostly snow covered hill in search of food. They tended to gather in areas under an older tree where the ground was exposed, using it as a launching point of sorts. Smaller groups would wander off to explore for more food-rich patches, while others flew into the giant evergreen to (I assume) seek food among the branches. The sight of the adult turkeys flying was strange enough -- even wild turkeys are a bit bottom heavy and I suspect any flights are more like extended leaps. They didn't stay in the tree for long, but it was enough to disturb whatever other birds had been nesting in the upper branches. Suddenly there were smaller birds taking flight.
But the oddest thing to observe this morning was a small rafter of five birds crossing the street and exploring our front and side lawns and bushes for exposed areas where they could forage. Obviously without success. Watching them make it back across the road was a bit nerve wracking, but they waited for an opportune time and made their way back to the other side thanks to several drivers who showed some patience.
It could be that what we witnessed this morning is actually a daily occurrence that we happened to catch sight of because we looked out the window at the right time. But there is another explanation.
Over the past week or so a tree removal company had been busy taking down several large trees from those properties directly across the street. It was a three day project involving some dead trees, but most were old and stood tall, probably providing lots of exposed ground for the turkeys to forage. With those trees gone and in light of recent snow falls (which are likely to continue intermittently over the coming week), the turkeys are trying to adapt to the modified ecology created by our neighbors.
Wonder if they will be making more visits across the road….
Somewhere back in those woods resides a somewhat large "rafter" of wild turkeys who every so often can be spotted foraging in the morning for food among the trees and bushes of those homes. We are more likely to see them pecking away early in the day during spring, typically with a few large adult birds and their trailing young ones. Rarely do we see them on our lawn, and then for only a few minutes before they waddle back across the road where cars speed by at 30-40 mph.
This morning however, on a very cold winter day, there was a rafter of fifteen to twenty adult birds exploring the mostly snow covered hill in search of food. They tended to gather in areas under an older tree where the ground was exposed, using it as a launching point of sorts. Smaller groups would wander off to explore for more food-rich patches, while others flew into the giant evergreen to (I assume) seek food among the branches. The sight of the adult turkeys flying was strange enough -- even wild turkeys are a bit bottom heavy and I suspect any flights are more like extended leaps. They didn't stay in the tree for long, but it was enough to disturb whatever other birds had been nesting in the upper branches. Suddenly there were smaller birds taking flight.
But the oddest thing to observe this morning was a small rafter of five birds crossing the street and exploring our front and side lawns and bushes for exposed areas where they could forage. Obviously without success. Watching them make it back across the road was a bit nerve wracking, but they waited for an opportune time and made their way back to the other side thanks to several drivers who showed some patience.
It could be that what we witnessed this morning is actually a daily occurrence that we happened to catch sight of because we looked out the window at the right time. But there is another explanation.
Over the past week or so a tree removal company had been busy taking down several large trees from those properties directly across the street. It was a three day project involving some dead trees, but most were old and stood tall, probably providing lots of exposed ground for the turkeys to forage. With those trees gone and in light of recent snow falls (which are likely to continue intermittently over the coming week), the turkeys are trying to adapt to the modified ecology created by our neighbors.
Wonder if they will be making more visits across the road….
Kansas, Crime and Earl Warren: The strange case of Madge Meredith
09 02, 21 17:26 Filed in: A procrastination
As a reflection of how I manage to combine "research" with a tendency to procrastinate, here is a bit of completely irrelevant history I came across between breaks in today's impeachment trial.
For no particular reason (other than having lived in Kansas for a number of years), movie lines involving Kansas have always gotten my attention. The most famous, of course, is Dorothy's observation: “Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.”
While channel surfing during opportune moments of the impeachment trial, I happened upon a TCM movie, "Trail Street," a 1947 western starring Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan, Anne Jeffreys and "Gabby" Hayes. The relevant line, however, came from the female second lead, Madge Meredith:
"Kansas, where women wear their lives up trying to bleed a crop out of wasteland, working and waiting for something that's never going to happen..."
For no particular reason (other than having lived in Kansas for a number of years), movie lines involving Kansas have always gotten my attention. The most famous, of course, is Dorothy's observation: “Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.”
While channel surfing during opportune moments of the impeachment trial, I happened upon a TCM movie, "Trail Street," a 1947 western starring Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan, Anne Jeffreys and "Gabby" Hayes. The relevant line, however, came from the female second lead, Madge Meredith:
"Kansas, where women wear their lives up trying to bleed a crop out of wasteland, working and waiting for something that's never going to happen..."
Being a curious sort and having time to waste (not really), I dug a bit further into Meredith's background, and it turns out there was an interesting side story involving this otherwise obscure actress.
In June 1947, obviously after the film was released, Madge Meredith was arrested and subsequently sentenced to five years in prison for her role ("complicity") in an assault on her former manager and his bodyguard.
The story does not end there, for an investigation by a special legislative committee investigating criminal justice in California concluded Meredith was framed and that the police mishandled her case. "In July 1951, Gov. Earl Warren commuted her sentence to time served and issued a statement of disgust at how her trial had been handled."
Warren's specific comment: "This is a bizarre case, perhaps more fantastic than any moving picture in which the defendant acted—but certainly having many of the attributes of a scenario."
One result of the framing of Meredith was that her alleged victim had laid claim to her Hollywood Hills home. On release from prison she was able to reclaim her home. But she was never able to reclaim her film career.
The only other notation in the bio sketch is that she died in Hawaii in 2017.
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POSTSCRIPT: Madge (Majorie May) actually has a wikipedia page!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madge_Meredith
As it happens she did have a post-prison career — one credited role in 1953 and several uncredited roles after that. Her obituary in a UK paper provides more details.
As for Earl Warren, he went on to a more illustrious career.
Accountability and the Reaffirmation of Unity
08 02, 21 16:56 Filed in: Comment
(The following is one of my "Drafts" — but in reality it is a failed commentary/op-ed. I submitted it to the NYT, realizing it was much too long, and after three days of no response — which means they were not interested — I sent it to the Outlook section of The Washington Post. And now, after a week at WAPO I am going to give up. A colleague who read the submission pointed out that it is both too long for those outlets and perhaps too heavy on the historical stuff for the typical reader. And so I post it here hoping maybe a couple of folks might stumble across it and find it informative.)
Since the events of January 6, calls for accountability have saturated our airwaves as a stunned nation seeks to deal with the aftermath of the violent attack on the Capitol. Investigations and indictments have followed as we seek to identify and bring to some form of justice the most visible among the rioters. The growing demands for acco
untability extend as well to those perceived to have incited or supported the mob. In addition to a presidential impeachment in the House and calls for conviction in the Senate, there is an outcry for the censure – and even expulsion from office -- of members of Congress now characterized as part of a “sedition caucus”.
Moreover, some prominent Republicans, shocked by the role the Trump-dominated party machinery played in the violence, have given the call for accountability an organization form by establishing the “Republican Accountability Project,” with its website (accountability.gop) declaring that “Accountability is the only way forward for the Republican Party.”
In the heated rhetoric of the past several weeks, we hear calls for “unity” as a counterpoint to accountability, implying that the latter will only worsen an already divisive situation. Marco Rubio, for example, regards calls for accountability as a tactic being used by the left “to try and crush” its political opponents. Why throw fuel on the remaining embers? It is time to let things cool down, Rubio and others argue, and to get beyond some irrational desire for retribution and punishment.
However, such an argument reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of accountability and its historical role in the Anglo-American tradition of governance. Underlying the demand for accountability is the idea that to hold someone to account is to make them “answerable” for some action that has violated agreed upon standards of behavior expected of members of the shared endeavor we call civil society. Implied in that view are two fundamental assumptions of how we govern ourselves: first, the existence of a body of widely accepted norms (oftentimes in the form of laws) that reflects how we manage our expectations of each other; and second, the availability of some fora (e.g., courts) where those charged with violations of the agreed upon rules and standards can be called to account for their behavior.
Accountable governance, in other words, is built on a foundation of shared values and norms, and each time we are called upon to enforce those standards – that is, to hold others to account for alleged violations of mutually agreed upon expectations -- involves more than seeking retribution and punishment. Rather, each instance of accountability involves a reaffirmation of the collective commitments we make to each other.
While we associate modern forms of accountable governance with democracy and the rule of law, its roots in the Anglo-American tradition can be traced to events in Britain more than nine centuries ago. As any student of English history knows, in 1066 William, Duke of Normandy, was victorious at the Battle of Hastings and thus began the Norman Conquest of Britain. I emphasize "began", for it would take at least another decade for him to complete the subjugation of the Anglo-Saxons who had ruled England since at least the 5th century. Under the Anglo-Saxon regimes, all loyalty to the person nominally designated as the British king was filtered through an elaborate arrangement of dukes, earls and other aristocratic designations. The Anglo-Saxon kings had been chosen in a manner somewhat similar to how the College of Cardinals selects the Pope. Unlike his predecessors, William initially pursued his claim to the British throne by using force to overwhelm – and frequently replace – those who might resist his entreaties.
It was rule-by-conquest, but as a form of governance the constant reliance on the threat of coercion would not prove sustainable. This became evident when troubles in Normandy forced William to return to France and leave the governing of England to those he regarded as trusted deputies. By 1084 the situation in England had deteriorated and William returned to Britain to once again reassert his authority by force of arms. By then it was clear that rule-by-conquest had its limits in a feudal society where the allegiance and obligation of each individual was restricted to those at the next highest rung in hierarchy of titled landholders.
In its place he created a different form of governance, one based on accountability.
The effort involved two steps. First, he dispatched agents of the court to conduct a comprehensive survey of all the properties that comprised the royal “realm.” Conducting that census reflected his claim (established through coercion) that any and all things within that realm ultimately belonged to the Crown. Compilations of those surveys – known as the Domesday Books – were eventually delivered to William's castle in Salisbury where the crucial second step took place. There, in August 1086, William convened a meeting of "all men of any account." At that meeting each and every "accountable" person – regardless of station or status in the feudal hierarchy – took an oath of fealty to William. This was more than an oath of allegiance or loyalty. It was an oath acknowledging their accountability to the sovereign and commitment to meet the duties and obligations that came with being subject to the Crown. Although often overlooked in the annals of history, the taking of the Oath of Salisbury marks a pivotal moment in the history of Anglo-American governance. It represented a fundamental shift from rule-by-conquest to rule-by-accountability, and its impact can be seen in other watershed events in the development of modern democratic governance – from the Magna Carta to the American Revolution to the ongoing efforts to create and sustain regimes based on democracy and the rule of law. Today, the acceptance of accountability as a fundamental premise of modern American government is pervasive and unquestioned. Accountability is baked into our political culture, and hardly a day goes by that we do not hear someone call for greater accountability to be applied to some actor whose actions do not live up to the expectations we have of each other as members of our civil society.
Certain scandals and tragic events – from Watergate to 9/11 to Katrina to the recent attack on our national Capitol-- amplify calls for accountability focused on finding fault, assessing blame, and exacting punishment. On the surface, it is a view of accountability that stresses "answerability" and the need to "reconquer" those engaged in unacceptable behaviors. But every so often we need to be reminded that underlying our efforts to hold individuals accountable is an act of unity based on a reaffirmation of basic commitments we have to our shared values and norms as members of this imperfect civil society.
BLOG III
08 02, 21 16:19 Filed in: General
BLOG III
In 2004 I initiated a blog while residing in Belfast, Northern Ireland where I was a Fulbright fellow at Queens University. Under the title "Accountabilitybloke", it served its purpose as a place where I could reflect on events of the day and often rant about my adventures in Belfast. When I returned home and took on a new position at the University of New Hampshire in 2005, the blog got less and less attention from me overtime and I eventually stopped adding content while letting keeping it accessible to others.
Overtime I shifted more of my comments and reactions to Twitter and Facebook where I remain active today.
In 2014, however, I decided to give blogging another try, and I set up the first version of Dribs and Drafts. I was attempting to use the new blog as a platform to share my experiences and thoughts about teaching online. But I failed to sustain that effort -- and looking back it is obvious that I'd start each year off with a few posts and then not follow up.
So this is the third launch -- Blog III -- but now to help fill a void left by retiring from teaching. I retired last May, and while I do not miss the teaching per se, I do miss the opportunity to make commentary and snide remarks in and around the classroom. I do have Twitter and FB, but they are not quite suitable for some of the lengthy diatribes I'd like to engage in. I am maintaining the odd title of Dribs and Drafts -- although I am not quite sure why.
In any case, welcome to my new blogging site -- feedback and reasonable interaction welcome.
Mel
In 2004 I initiated a blog while residing in Belfast, Northern Ireland where I was a Fulbright fellow at Queens University. Under the title "Accountabilitybloke", it served its purpose as a place where I could reflect on events of the day and often rant about my adventures in Belfast. When I returned home and took on a new position at the University of New Hampshire in 2005, the blog got less and less attention from me overtime and I eventually stopped adding content while letting keeping it accessible to others.
Overtime I shifted more of my comments and reactions to Twitter and Facebook where I remain active today.
In 2014, however, I decided to give blogging another try, and I set up the first version of Dribs and Drafts. I was attempting to use the new blog as a platform to share my experiences and thoughts about teaching online. But I failed to sustain that effort -- and looking back it is obvious that I'd start each year off with a few posts and then not follow up.
So this is the third launch -- Blog III -- but now to help fill a void left by retiring from teaching. I retired last May, and while I do not miss the teaching per se, I do miss the opportunity to make commentary and snide remarks in and around the classroom. I do have Twitter and FB, but they are not quite suitable for some of the lengthy diatribes I'd like to engage in. I am maintaining the odd title of Dribs and Drafts -- although I am not quite sure why.
In any case, welcome to my new blogging site -- feedback and reasonable interaction welcome.
Mel
