Stephanie McKay is dedicating her performance to bring light to the widespread rape and murder in Darfur. Help bring attention to Darfur during the Olympics by visiting www. darfurolympics.org. GG loves Stephanie, what about you?
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Spanish Summer Fun on the Silver Screen in Silver Spring
A little summer silver screen relief. GG & her editor are big fans of Penélope Cruz. We are enjoying the current crop of fashion magazines with her on the cover (our copy of W is above) & are slipping into a Spanish mood. Sadly, we have not been to Spain (yet!) & we can't quite believe it. GG & her editor also enjoy PC's hilarious cameos on Ugly Betty - one of the few TV shows we watch regularly (we don't have cable). Penélope is also involved in many charities & for that we thank her. Especially for her work with UNICEF. We're going to ask our friend Maria Caterina di Perugia for her sangria recipe & have a Spanish summer party. Pourquoi pas?
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Ask the Candidates about Darfur
What Will You Do for Darfur as President?
It is time for the presidential candidates to tell us how, if elected, they intend to end the genocide in Darfur. Senator Obama and Senator McCain have expressed concern, but have yet to provide any concrete details of their plans.
Ending genocide must be a top priority on our next president’s foreign policy agenda, rather than empty rhetoric. The candidates should:
1. Formulate a clear policy on Darfur.
2. Post this on the “issues” section of their website.
3. Reference their Darfur policy in their stump speech.
Darfur Olympics: Day Five. Justice for the Darfurian People?
Darfur Olympics...Day Five:
Last month, the International Criminal Court (ICC) requested a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese president Omar al Bashir on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the people of Darfur.
In today's webcast, at left, Mia talks about the reaction of Darfurian refugees to the ICC genocide charges against President Bashir.
You can also read the reactions of Darfurian refugees to the charges against President Bashir on Mia's blog.
Coming tomorrow: Mia highlights life in the camps for Darfurian women.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Darfur Olympics: Day Four. Darfur & China
Day Four...
For the past five years, Beijing has been the most important economic and diplomatic supporter of the regime in Sudan, which is slaughtering its own unarmed citizens.
In today's webcast, at left, Mia talks about the Beijing Games against the backdrop of the refugee camp.
Background: In this interview from Spring 2008, Mia outlines how China is complicit in the Darfur genocide.
France: Menton & soup Menton recipe redux
Soup MentonServes: 6
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 35 to 40 minutes
This is an excellent summer soup that allows you to take full advantage of your garden (or the farmer’s market). A few shelled peas or several tiny cauliflower flowerettes may be added to it.
Ingredients
8 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, finely minced
1-pound fresh ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, & chopped*
2 cups new potatoes, cut into small cubes
2 cups young green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
Salt & freshly ground pepper
3 small zucchini, cut into cubes
½ cup broken-up spaghetti*
1-cup fresh basil leaves*
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese (if you don’t have fresh, leave it out, you’ll live)
Optional
3 egg yolks
Preparation
1. In a large casserole heat 3 tablespoons olive oil. Add the onions and cook without browning for 3 to 5 minutes.
2. Add the tomatoes, potatoes, & beans. Season with salt & pepper & cover with 6 to 8 cups of water. Bring the mixture to a boil & reduce the heat. Simmer the soup partially covered for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are almost tender.
3. Add the zucchini & spaghetti and continue simmering the soup for 12 to 15 minutes more or until all the vegetables are tender. Do not overcook. The soup must retain its freshness.
4. While the soup is simmering, combine the basil, garlic, & parmesan in a blender. Add enough of the remaining olive oil to make a smooth paste. You will need about 5 tablespoons.
5. Just before serving (off the heat), whisk the basil paste into the soup. Correct the seasoning & serve.
Remarks
For a more refined soup, mix the egg yolks with a little more of the broth, & whisk the egg-yolk mixture into the soup. In this case, the soup must not come to a boil again or the yolks will curdle.
A firm tomato, peeled, seeded & cut into tiny cubes, is a lovely addition to the soup just before serving
When including peas in the soup, they should be added no more than 5 to 8 minutes before the soup is done. Cauliflower flowerettes can be added together with the zucchini.
©Recipe from Perla Meyers, The Seasonal Kitchen, A Return to Fresh Foods, Vintage Books edition, 1975.
*Remarks from GG’s editor.
This is an old (early 1970s) cookbook & some things might drive the au courant version of a food snob mad, such as breaking up spaghetti & tossing it into a soup. My dears, stop the hissy fits, it’s so unbecoming. Intentional pasta breakage occurs in Italian & French kitchens every day of the week. It is a good way to use those odd bits at the bottom of boxes & such. Just don’t do it when you’re serving pasta as the star—then, there is hissing at GG Central.
*About the tomatoes…well, we don’t have a reliable fresh supply & so really, really good tinned ones, drained & crunched are OK, if you don’t tell Perla Meyers. But really, do try to get fresh ones, especially this late in August on into October (really). Or whimper to friends & colleagues who have gardens. When it comes to fresh produce, have no shame. That’s according to GG. Blame her.
*About the eggs: it makes a divine difference & we highly recommend it to non-vegans & French-fancy-averse cooks who are chicken (ha!) about it (or lazy, might we say?). Still, don’t do it if you aren’t going to use the egg whites for omelettes or soufflés or meringues (freeze them). Egg whites make a fabulous facial masque, by the by. Haven’t done it in years, but we're fairly sure egg whites haven’t changed. Anyway, the yolks aren’t necessary but do try it at least once to show how open-minded & sophisticated & non-alarmist you are about eggs-as-lethal weapons.
*Other unnecessary remarks. We finally faced up to our blender-less kitchen (as in: it's a problem) Friday night. A “baby” Cuisinart is not the best for this paste or any other. Our blender conked out ages ago & we’ve been getting by with pesto (yes of course, we use Marcella Hazan's, why do you ask?) that’s all flaky…with basil bits that look like pests, not pesto…ugh. The basil goes brown, of course, the minute one chops it (which is why we tear it onto salads & so on). So by all means, if you find yourself without one (& have the means), buy a new blender. Otherwise, muddle through & eat it yourself (it is good), but don’t serve it to guests; save your pennies for a new or used one, or haul out the old mortar & pestle & pound out your frustrations. Just don’t scare the cat for heaven’s sake.
Rosemary, sage, catmint, & basil (green & purple) bouquets still grace the kitchen, living room, & bath from the ever-generous Maria Caterina di Perugia's garden. Some rosemary & sage are already dried & stored for the coming autumn. Heavenly feeling. More photographs (uh, scans), recipes, etc. later. GG's editor is preparing dejeuner, trying to ignore the terrible world news.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Menton, France & soup Menton
GG & her editor confess that they've not been to Menton on the French Riviera (yet!). However we are taking a break from all the death & sadness of the Olympics, Darfur, untimely death of that funny guy Bernie Mac, poet Mahmoud Darwish's death last night, the outbreak of war between Russia & Georgia...among so many awful things--yikes! So why the photo of Menton? We have often made a soup called soup menton by Perla Meyers. GG's editor bought her first cookbook, The Seasonal Kitchen in the late 1970s upon her return from studying in Strasbourg. This is one of her favorite summer soups & it's simmering away as we type. We include the recipe above (adjust according to what is in the kitchen & in season). Oh dear, the lazy way out (scanning dog-eared, smudgy book) isn't going so well. But our soup awaits & we doubt anyone will be making this ce soir. So we'll re-do a lovely copy tomorrow. Ciao, bisou, xoxo, darlings!
The World is Mad--GG wants to get off...or at least go to the seashore...
Wars & rumors of wars...OOF, is all we can say.
Darfur Olympics: Day Three. Caring For Families
Today's dispatch from Mia Farrow & Darfur Olympics. Coming tomorrow: Mia talks about the Beijing Olympics at a refugee camp.
"Refugees have insufficient food, shelter, clean water and medical attention.
In Darfur, there are roughly two million people who have been outside the reach of humanitarian aid for years.
As the violence in the region has worsened over the past few months, humanitarian groups have been forced to scale back their operations, leaving a greater number of Darfurians without assistance.
In today's report, Mia talks to refugees about how they survive life in the camp."
Palestinian Poet Mahmoud Darwish - RIP
We are so sorry...and sorrier still that we could not see eye-to-eye on matters political, quite often, especially of late. Still, he was a poet of immense talent & courage; he took his duty to his fellow exiles very seriously. No poetry about or connected to Palestine & Israel--especially with regard to Jerusalem & the Galilee (where he was born)--can be discussed without Darwish's profound contribution. Below is the statement on his website today. More as the funeral approaches; he will be buried in Ramallah. Ha'aretz newspaper has published an obituary that can be accessed here. Poet Carolyn Forché's anthology Against Forgetting: Twentieth Century Poetry of Witness included Darwish in the War in the Middle East section, along with Adonis, Amichai, & others. in the presence of Absence
Mahmoud Darwish has quietly left us on Saturday 9 August 2008 after 67 years of a life jumping from one peak to another, rising higher every time, transcending his own successes. He was a beautiful human being, able to see what no one else can see: in life, politics, and even people, expressing his visions in a language that seems to be made only for him to write with. When he decided to take on this difficult surgery we thought that he can beat death, like he did several times before… but he, it seems, with his prophetic insight, could clearly see his “ghost coming from afar”.
He wanted to surprise death rather than wait for the “time bomb” that was his artery to explode unannounced… he went prepared, as he always is, leaving us behind to “nurture hope”.
An Italian respite...
GG's editor is too tired to find the scads of southern Italy photographs she took herself over--yikes--3 decades (she was 5 when she began...ahem)...but we're wishing ourselves to Massa Lubrense...Sorrento...Vico Equense & so forth. Lovely friends live there & we do wish we could be with them tonight. Some Sorrento limone, some limoncello...here is a recipe to make it & a link to buy it...Shirley Hazzard's book Greene on Capri would be the perfect thing to reread while gazing out over Capri itself. Such a great book. Then we'd reread her other books. A Hazzard-fest. Perhaps tuck in to a Henry James, to whom she has been compared. Wings of the Dove? Hmmm. Then we'd be off to Venice, as well.
More on that later...scheduling this for middle of the night posting in the hope that it will connect to our dreams.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Darfur Olympics: Day Two. How Refugees Live
In this webcast, Mia Farrow looks out across the expanse of a refugee camp for Darfurians, and describes how people live and still manage to hope after five years. "Our partners, Gabriel Stauring and Katie-Jay Scott of i-ACT / Stop Genocide Now, produced this event in Chad. Please visit their website to help bring Darfur's voices to the world." Coming tomorrow: Mia speaks to a woman about caring for children.
Happy Birthday, Reetika
Friday, August 8, 2008
REM's Performance for Darfur
As the 2008 Olympics occur in Beijing, genocide in Darfur will still continue with the economic and diplomatic assistance of the Chinese government. REM is dedicating their song to Darfur to ask that China stop supporting the Sudanese regime and take the effective steps needed to end the genocide. Please visit www.darfurolympics.org to learn more.
* SPECIAL OLYMPIC PROMOTION * from the Amber Chand Collection - The Darfur Baskets of Strength have arrived in the U.S.
An email just sent out by the Amber Chand Collection. Please go to this link & see the beautiful baskets for sale...and great links to information & video. There is a special offer that will help Team Darfur.A quote from Amber:
"Today, 45 weavers in the Women's Center in Kassab Refugee Camp are supported by their work creating The Darfur Baskets of Strength for our Collection. Your purchases really DO make a difference."
Talib Kweli Performance for Darfur
Talib Kweli is donating his performance to Darfur to ask that the world does not turn a blind eye to genocide. To learn more about what you can do, please visit www.darfurolympics.org.
US Olympian & Team Darfur member Lopez Lomong Carries Flag into Bird's Nest Stadium tonight in Beijing - video
Very exciting video & photographs coming out of China. We're all so proud of Lopez. The Team Darfur blog will be updated soon, but there are some good entries dated 6 August. Also a reminder to readers to access Mia Farrow's alternative programming from IDP camps tonight at Switchovertodarfur channel. More news will be posted over the weekend as it becomes available.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Bisou!
GG & her editor
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