Saturday, April 5, 2014

midnight oil


How many times have you come home late, tired and nearly famished?

You, too?


Do you keep a decent larder through the week? Shallots...lemons...arugula? 

Stuff like that?
I had some cooked rigatoni in the fridge, too. So.


I picked up some shrimp on the way home and then used all the stuff I had on hand.

Bacon should always be nearby so start with bacon.


Lift it out to drain and sauté some shallots in the rendered bacon fat.


Now throw in the pasta and some black pepper. 
The bacon is salty enough.

Add raw peeled shrimp and chile powder.


See where we’re going, here?


I had corn on hand, cut from the cob last summer. 

Then frozen. 


So I threw the last of that in, too. 

What the hell.
We’ll have fresh corn in a dozen weeks.


Keep it moving but let the pasta crisp, cut a lemon, and let’s get ready to finish.


First the greens. Toss to wilt.

Chop and return the bacon. Toss again. Had I a red pepper that would have added pretty color. But I didn't. 

That's the deal with mise en place.



Grated cheese is never wrong, but a big squeeze of lemon is exquisite. 

It makes a hot, fresh pasta dressing with the oily bacon fat.


Dee-licious. This ain’t health food. 
But hey.

Friday, April 4, 2014

face value


northjersey.com

The New Jersey Star-Ledger is the largest news gathering organization in the state, with a linage back to 1832.

archive


They’ve won three Pulitzer prizes for investigation and reporting.


But the Star-Ledger is on track to lose $19million this year.

Last July they sold their Newark headquarters to hang on.

theguardian

In 2008 they laid off 40% of their newsroom.


This past January they laid off another 18 reporters.
britannica.com

Yesterday they layed off 40 more, dropping their news staff of 350 to one hundred editors, photographers and reporters.

govinfo.edu



Digital natives don’t pay for news reporting.


FaceBook doesn’t actually gather news, 
but that’s where folks invest their time today.

pew

But don't worry.

variety

No one will miss accurate reporting of the world’s events.


size matters




We live in a truly remarkable city, 
almost a country unto itself.


New York Magazine celebrated just how amazing we really are.


Planet Earth hosts 196 different nations, and NYC alone would rank #20 on the globe.


If we were a country and NYPD were our armed forces, our defense budget would rank just behind Greece.


But ahead of North Korea.


Our citywide Gross Domestic Product is about $413.9 billion.
That’s enormous, just behind all of Russia.

reuters
The entire country of Russia.


And it’s still ahead of Switzerland, with all their banks.


In sheer population we are about twice the size Ireland,


or New Zealand


or Israel.
And nearly half of us are foreign born.


Hair is big in Texas.


But by every global metric, the big that counts is here at home.


Have a great weekend!

Thursday, April 3, 2014

grand


and centrally located.



livin' la diva loca



Total Divas was just renewed for a second season, and the Diva’s sure are proud.

E



And why not?


They just enjoyed the second highest viewership total in their brief history for last night's (Mar. 30, 2014) edition.

It’s a kind of a fairytale as long as your idea of a fairytale involves beat downs.
The “wrestling” starts at about 3:15. lol

The 9 month old reality series follows the girls 
inside the ring and out. 

It’s not easy being a Total Diva.