Playing with my food

A nameless thing-- I had some dried lima beans from the farmer's market. (I'm counting the months till the May, when the farmer's markets will be running again.)

Now, about lima beans-- I used to hate them. That's because canned lima beans are disgusting and frozen limas are vaguely ok at best. However, fresh limas (see above about the farmer's markets) are wonderful and cooked from dried can be very good.

Anyway, the limas seemed to want sausage, and I got some at Di Angelo's. Unfortunately, I don't remember what kind of sausage, but I'll find out if anyone cares. It was moderately spicy, with the flavor so nicely balanced that I didn't add any other spices.

I was thinking tomatoes and spinach, but dcseain recommended mustard greens instead of the spinach, and that worked out well.

And I was thinking, "Bake it, with swiss cheese on top". The cheese turned out to be Compte Badoz from Di Bruno Brothers across the street. (What's the opposite of a food dessert? I think I live in a food rain forest here in south Philadelphia.) This is a spectacular cheese, especially melted.

$15/pound cheese isn't ideally frugal living, but this one improves a meal enough that it's clearly a win (in terms of money for quality) over eating out.

Anyway, I didn't have a large enough baking dish to do this in one batch in the oven, so it was stovetop. The lima beans were cooked separately (usual bean recipe-- soak, boil briefly, skim the scum, simmer till done, which was maybe an hour). Sonny Di Angelo (who makes and sells the sausage) believes in browning the sausage until it's about half cooked, then simmering it the rest of the way. I'm not sure this is better than just frying it, but it does produce a nice texture.

Anyway, while the sausage was browning, I threw in the stalks from the mustard greens. When the sausage was brown enougn, I added chopped tomatoes (roughly the same volume as the sausage). They added enough liquid to simmer the sausage. When the sausage and tomatoes were just about done, I added the chopped mustard green leaves, which only needed a little time.

I wasn't sure it was hot enough to melt the shreeded cheese, so I gave it a minute in the microwave. Browning in the oven might have been better, but I don't think it could have been much better.

Not only is this tasty, I was surprised that it turned out to be a pretty dish. The lima beans are ivory-colored, the sausage is brown with a little red, and the tomatoes and mustard greens add red and green.

Playing with my food

A nameless thing-- I had some dried lima beans from the farmer's market. (I'm counting the months till the May, when the farmer's markets will be running again.)

Now, about lima beans-- I used to hate them. That's because canned lima beans are disgusting and frozen limas are vaguely ok at best. However, fresh limas (see above about the farmer's markets) are wonderful and cooked from dried can be very good.

Anyway, the limas seemed to want sausage, and I got some at Di Angelo's. Unfortunately, I don't remember what kind of sausage, but I'll find out if anyone cares. It was moderately spicy, with the flavor so nicely balanced that I didn't add any other spices.

I was thinking tomatoes and spinach, but dcseain recommended mustard greens instead of the spinach, and that worked out well.

And I was thinking, "Bake it, with swiss cheese on top". The cheese turned out to be Compte Badoz from Di Bruno Brothers across the street. (What's the opposite of a food dessert? I think I live in a food rain forest here in south Philadelphia.) This is a spectacular cheese, especially melted.

$15/pound cheese isn't ideally frugal living, but this one improves a meal enough that it's clearly a win (in terms of money for quality) over eating out.

Anyway, I didn't have a large enough baking dish to do this in one batch in the oven, so it was stovetop. The lima beans were cooked separately (usual bean recipe-- soak, boil briefly, skim the scum, simmer till done, which was maybe an hour). Sonny Di Angelo (who makes and sells the sausage) believes in browning the sausage until it's about half cooked, then simmering it the rest of the way. I'm not sure this is better than just frying it, but it does produce a nice texture.

Anyway, while the sausage was browning, I threw in the stalks from the mustard greens. When the sausage was brown enougn, I added chopped tomatoes (roughly the same volume as the sausage). They added enough liquid to simmer the sausage. When the sausage and tomatoes were just about done, I added the chopped mustard green leaves, which only needed a little time.

I wasn't sure it was hot enough to melt the shreeded cheese, so I gave it a minute in the microwave. Browning in the oven might have been better, but I don't think it could have been much better.

Not only is this tasty, I was surprised that it turned out to be a pretty dish. The lima beans are ivory-colored, the sausage is brown with a little red, and the tomatoes and mustard greens add red and green.

Individual petitionary prayer and Judaism

It looks as though I misrepresented the status of individual petitionary prayer in Judaism. I'd been told by an observant Jew (and heard the same from another Jew whose level of observantness I don't know) that it's forbidden in general. Optimistically assuming that this is correct, it's actually only forbidden on the Sabbath (which seems to be reserved for prayers of thanks), but perfectly well allowed the rest of the time.

Here's a take on the question which includes

I suggest that it is time to acknowledge this reality and reinstate the opportunity for petitionary prayer in the Shabbat Amidah.

Knowing that the Rabbis frowned on such prayers didn’t stop our ancestors from saying the “mi shebeirach” prayer for healing on Shabbat. They even inserted a disclaimer in the prayer, the words “Shabbat hi milizok,” which can be loosely translated as “we know that we’re not supposed to cry out to You on Shabbat, but we’re going to do it anyways....” So there is precedent in the tradition for my suggestion.

Please note that I have no opinion about whether the Amidah should be changed or what the status of individual petitionary prayer should be or whether not doing it on the Sabbath contributes to the quality of the day. However, I'm charmed by there being a word for "we know there's a rule, but we're going to break it anyway". A stiff-necked people, indeed.

I try to forgive other people's ignorance, considering that I can't even get the details right about what is either my own culture or at least the culture next door.

Individual petitionary prayer and Judaism

It looks as though I misrepresented the status of individual petitionary prayer in Judaism. I'd been told by an observant Jew (and heard the same from another Jew whose level of observantness I don't know) that it's forbidden in general. Optimistically assuming that this is correct, it's actually only forbidden on the Sabbath (which seems to be reserved for prayers of thanks), but perfectly well allowed the rest of the time.

Here's a take on the question which includes

I suggest that it is time to acknowledge this reality and reinstate the opportunity for petitionary prayer in the Shabbat Amidah.

Knowing that the Rabbis frowned on such prayers didn’t stop our ancestors from saying the “mi shebeirach” prayer for healing on Shabbat. They even inserted a disclaimer in the prayer, the words “Shabbat hi milizok,” which can be loosely translated as “we know that we’re not supposed to cry out to You on Shabbat, but we’re going to do it anyways....” So there is precedent in the tradition for my suggestion.

Please note that I have no opinion about whether the Amidah should be changed or what the status of individual petitionary prayer should be or whether not doing it on the Sabbath contributes to the quality of the day. However, I'm charmed by there being a word for "we know there's a rule, but we're going to break it anyway". A stiff-necked people, indeed.

I try to forgive other people's ignorance, considering that I can't even get the details right about what is either my own culture or at least the culture next door.

More Jewish Stuff

There's more discussion of Why There Is No Jewish Narnia at osewalrus and ashnistrike.

A eulogy for Philip Klass (William Tenn), an excellent science fiction writer who did the sort of classic satire which seems to have fallen out of the field. It includes a link to him reading his "On Venus, Have We Got a Rabbi", which is very sad, funny, and intelligent-- and hopeful from a certain angle. There's an interview for the first 40 minutes of the interview-- you could skip it, but where else are you going to find out that John Cage was a very good poker player? [1] Also, I'd say that Tenn was one of the best talkers in sf. One of my favorite programs items was just Tenn by himself talking for an hour.[2]

Sooner or later, every Jewish community hangs by nothing [3]. Jews are moving out of a Swedish town because of a combination of violence from Muslim immigrants and a left-wing Mayor who says that the violence is simply a natural reaction to Israeli policies. News story from interactiveleaf.

[1]Well, here, but I'm not going to transcribe the whole interview for you. The experimental composers of the era tended to like science fiction. There's probably a dissertation in there for someone.

[2] I've seen a discussion on rec.arts.sf.fandom of what program items people remember most fondly, and I think there was a consensus that they consisted of one or two well-chosen people who could just talk about whatever they wanted.

[3]A quote from the Tenn story. I hope a day comes when this doesn't make emotional sense any more.

Addendum:More discussion of "There Is No Jewish Narnia" at here, mostly listing more writers, but also with a discussion of whether Jewish symbols are as good fantasy fodder as Christian symbols.

More Jewish Stuff

There's more discussion of Why There Is No Jewish Narnia at osewalrus and ashnistrike.

A eulogy for Philip Klass (William Tenn), an excellent science fiction writer who did the sort of classic satire which seems to have fallen out of the field. It includes a link to him reading his "On Venus, Have We Got a Rabbi", which is very sad, funny, and intelligent-- and hopeful from a certain angle. There's an interview for the first 40 minutes of the interview-- you could skip it, but where else are you going to find out that John Cage was a very good poker player? [1] Also, I'd say that Tenn was one of the best talkers in sf. One of my favorite programs items was just Tenn by himself talking for an hour.[2]

Sooner or later, every Jewish community hangs by nothing [3]. Jews are moving out of a Swedish town because of a combination of violence from Muslim immigrants and a left-wing Mayor who says that the violence is simply a natural reaction to Israeli policies. News story from interactiveleaf.

[1]Well, here, but I'm not going to transcribe the whole interview for you. The experimental composers of the era tended to like science fiction. There's probably a dissertation in there for someone.

[2] I've seen a discussion on rec.arts.sf.fandom of what program items people remember most fondly, and I think there was a consensus that they consisted of one or two well-chosen people who could just talk about whatever they wanted.

[3]A quote from the Tenn story. I hope a day comes when this doesn't make emotional sense any more.

Addendum:More discussion of "There Is No Jewish Narnia" at here, mostly listing more writers, but also with a discussion of whether Jewish symbols are as good fantasy fodder as Christian symbols.