Categories
News, Spin

More Than Three Little Words

When I have taught or trained in editing or writing or somesuch, I always bring out a personal lesson: What is wrong with the headline “Suspect Arrested”? For those who did reasonably well in high school English, you’ll recall having been taught that such sentences or phrases are in the passive voice and that you […]

Categories
Main Courses

Soba So Good

I have bad luck making grain salads at home. For vegans, these can be cooling whole meal salads, so it’s a big deal, especially in summer. They fail on me: Pasta salads either dry or gummy, rice salads that crunch. This soba salad, though, I’m starting to make weekly. It’s Japanese in origin, with soba […]

Categories
Body, Home, Street

Décolletage but Above the Neck

Week before last I was in an office for an appointment. We each observed physical distancing and wore cloth face coverings. We had an animated discussion. As the young professional talked her mask tended to slip down along her nose, caused by her jaw moving no doubt. In larger enclosed spaces, stores to be clear, […]

Categories
News, Spin

Subtotal Recall

Of all the things I might remember about fifth grade — that would be age 11 plus-minus — why does the state-mandated Arkansas history semester stay in my noggin? Before today, I thought it was because this was the first and last time I cheated on a test. Not because I needed to. The smart […]

Categories
Holiday Cuisine

Pooh-bah Ben’s Haroset

This is a combination of Sephardic, Near Eastern, Middle-Eastern and Israeli recipes. This is a large recipe — about 8 cups/2 quarts — but halving all ingredients amounts works fine. As it freezes — and thaws — nicely, it’s a good idea to freeze leftovers as the fruit relish goes bad after a couple of […]

Categories
Holiday Cuisine

Thanks, Giving

Here is a Thanksgiving menu that I’ve been refining the last three years. It’s low-fat whole-food plant-based vegan. We’ve found that when you reduce the oil to near-zero you can move around after the dinner rather than lumber with groans over to the TV room. First is the “meat” or the protein-focused entree. It’s a […]