Besides needing to breathe air and drink water, human beings and other living creatures also need to eat.
In that regard, I must salute my former neighbor Susan back in DC, a really fantastic cook. Even from a distance, she has been whetting my appetite with her savory dishes, many described and sometimes depicted in photographs. I can almost smell and taste them from here.
My son and I now living together in W Va. are not very advenuresome cooks, especially since my son is taking a weight-loss, appetite-suppressing drug, while aiming to lose 30 lbs. He was always chubby as a child, so that his normal state. Meanwhile, at a steady 109 lbs. myself, I rarely feel hungry, but still try to eat 3 small meals a day, which can sometimes be hard. Living together in the same household, my son and I have different dietary needs.
My former DC neighbor describes several dishes she is preparing now. They look quite delicious and probably would appeal to both my son and me.
Shredded Chicken Tacos, Mustard Honey Chicken Breasts w/ Arugula and White Onion Lime Dressing, and Pork w/ Caramelized (fried) Cucumbers. Here are those 3 dishes, in photos.
I do wish I were actually there to sample them. She could easily make this into a business, but prefers to keep it as a hobby,
My older daughter Melanie, living in Florida with her daughter and grandson, is also a fantastic cook. The 3 of them share a small 2-bedroom, one-bath apartment, with Melanie sleeping on the living room couch. Mel would like to start a food delivery service offering homemade dishes to neighbors, but that would require an initial investment in pots and pans and a larger kitchen than they currently have.
Many years ago, when I was hosting large dinner parties for my late ex-husband and his colleagues at our home in Washington, DC, we often cooked at the dining room table using a rather risky Korean table-top chimney heated by live coals, requiring eaters to use individual wire baskets to cook their own food. I am not sure that is even done any more. I've looked online and haven't found anything looking anything like our table-top chimney. Maybe it had proved too risky. Once my visiting father offered to carry the chimney to the table, but dropped it on the floor, making a big mess and burning the rug. At the time, I was doing everythng possible to help my husband advance in his career, so hosting large dinners was part of those efforts.
My late former husband of 24 yesrs, Tom Joe, as readers may already know, was of Korean descent and totally blind. I had helped propel him forward in a career that eventually won him a very lucrative Ford Foundation award. However, that award actually came to him only after he had already divorced me to marry his young office assistant. At that time, I was still fighting to get child support after he had emptied all our bank accounts (doubtless with the help of the woman who became his second wife). A chain smoker of unfiltered Camels, he died of lung cancer in 1999. When my ex-husband died, I was not mentionied in his obituary nor invited to his funeral, as most readers already know.
Even before my ex-husband's death, I began making humanitarian visits to Cuba, and giving out donations there in US dollars.
In 2000, at age 62, I joined the Peace Corps in Honduras, staying on for 3 1/2 years as a health volumteer, then returned to DC to work part-time as a Spanish hospital interpreter. I also started making annual humanitarian trips to Honduras at my own expense, always taking with me a new wheechair and medications to donate and giving out generous cash donations there after my arrival. Much of my life experience is described in the 2 books whose titles appear on this blog.
My last Honduras trip in June 2024 has previously been reported here. Now my passport has expired and, at age 87, I am not sure about ever going back, as travel there is quite difficult and really rather risky.
I may look now like most other women my age living in Berkeley Springs, W Va. And few local folks know anything about my history. Many have lived here their whole life, with some almost seeming to regard Washington, DC as some exotic foreign place. Most have never traveled even that far. Very few even know that my son Jon was born in Colombia. So let's forget all about Cuba, Honduras, or any of the 40 countries in Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia where I've had important missions. Now Berkeley Springs, W Va. is our own small world, which may be enough.
CNN, a new analysis from Trump’s alma mater suggests that his immigration crackdown – a centerpiece of his second term – could do the exact opposite [of what he says it will do].
Trump’s policy of mass deportations would shrink most worker paychecks, erode gross domestic product (GDP) and spike the already-massive federal government budget deficit, according to a Penn Wharton Budget Model analysis shared exclusively with CNN.
Almost any policy or political action has unanticipated consequences, but those for mass deportations are fairly predictable and basically quite harmful. (Trump seems unaware of them.)
Macron now says France will recognize Palestine statehood. Will the UK be next? Will a Palestinian state sharing a border with Israel even be allowed to exist? Not if Donald Trump and Netanyahu can possibly prevent it. But they may now be fighting a losing battle in terms of world opinion.
NY Times, Sharing a Bed With Your Kid? It’s Totally Normal in Asia
It is also totally normal in Latin America and Africa, at least from my observations there, often beginning with a new mother keeping her baby close at night for nursing. A father sharing a bed with a child, however, is quite rare from what I have seen and is often considered suspect. Most places in the world and probably for centuries, new mothers have always slept with their babies, with benefits for both, but also with a risk that a mother might roll over, smothering her child.
This lawsuit raises a new question, does the presumptive father of an unborn child have any rights whatsoever? Fresh ground is always being broken in terms of the recognition of "rights." Whatever is decided in this case will have implications for others going forward.
"Rights" are not actually universal or static, but rather always evolving, reflecting and influencing the very definition of "rights." I've aleady mentioned how laws, attitudes about, and support for abortion have been changing and how assistance for new mothers has increased everywhere, regardless of their marital status. Being married is no longer required for becoming a mother.
Support for deportations may also be waning as strong arguments are now being made against them..
Trump’s policy of mass deportations would actually en up shrinking worker paychecks, erode gross domestic product (GDP), and spike the already-massive federal government budget deficit, according to a new Penn Wharton Budget Model analysis shared on CNN. If such deportations now seem immanent, since Mr. Trump appears determined to carry them out, additonal arguments need to be considered. Trump's mindset has not evolved with the times; in fact many observers consider him to be senile (as in his recent confusion in trying to put tariffs on Brazil).
I've always contended on this blog that our country really needs more immigrant workers right now, as we aren't producing enough workers of our own. That's actually why those same workers are coming here. Having and raising children may have gone out of fashion in our own country, although now may be having a resurgence because unless new young people come along, that is the end of a country and even of a civilization. But we cannot afford to wait for newborn American babies to grow up, as we need more workers today, so let's welcome the immigrants coming here now to help us out.
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