kochleffel

This is Black Box Riesling, 2020, from California. It's slightly sweet, a bit more than I like, but it doesn't have enough character to stand on its own if it were dry. I like it better as an aperitif than to complement a meal.

A long time ago I was involved in raising funds to convert a small college library from Dewey Decimal to Library of Congress numbers. I was amused to learn that the main tools required were a computer terminal (for access to OCLC, since almost every book would already be listed there) and an electric eraser. Now I maintain a synagogue library where some of the volunteers would like to implement the Dewey Decimal System, not that they plan to do the work themselves or even know how. In face, Dewey isn't a good system for a very specialized library, because most of the books have the same general subject and too many receive the same call numbers. There is an adaptation of Dewey for Jewish libraries that provides more granularity, and I have worked with a trained librarian to implement it, but it's more complicated than we need or could cope with. Chili, any kind, wold be OK with me, but what I had tonight was the same turkey-veg casserole as last night. I've made a hotel reservation in Arlington, Virginia, for part of the week after Christmas in the hope of seeing the current exhibitions at the National Gallery. It can be cancelled up through Christmas Day if the weather forecast is unfavorable.

In honor of today's meal suggestion I added baharat seasoning to the casserole for tonight's dinner, and then remembered that baharat is more typically Arabian than Moroccan. Please don't accuse me of cultural appropriation when it's just a lapse of memory. While it cooks I'm drinking Riesling, not a local one, just cardboardeaux. Thanks.

I would probably be OK with either the Moroccan meatballs or Roy's alternative. I often use Middle Eastern spices in cooking, although not specifically Moroccan. Will pass on the drink unless it's made lactose-free. Two news stories to share. The first is about group A strep, which we were discussing yesterday, specifically "invasive" cases that can become life-threatening. “Rates of iGAS are highest at extremes of age — in children and the elderly,” Michael Marks, an associate professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine told The Post. “This is not fully understood but may reflect immunity.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/12/06/what-is-strep-a-infection-symptoms/ The second is about a sheep dog who, protecting his sheep, killed eight coyotes, and was nearly killed himself. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/09/sheepdog-coyote-attack-killed-eight/ I'm managing a Hanukkah dinner and concert on the 18th, and it's very wearing. The musicians are very easy to work with; it's the dinner that's the problem, especially accommodating various dietary needs (vegan, gluten-free, low carb), which the constituents expect but the volunteer cooks are not very sympathetic to. (At least they're not telling me "There are no vegans" or "There is no such thing as celiac disorder," which the prior generation of cooks said.) Low carb cannot really be accommodated when potato latkes are the main event, but I'm insisting on vegan and GF options. It's fine for the cooks, who get the applause if most of the people are able to eat the food, not for me since I receive the complaints--and our constituents are indefatigable complainers. I said last night that I'd retire today if I hadn't invited a rather famous speaker for the spring.

The almost-tortilla pie worked out well even though most, maybe all, of the ingredients were wrong; I especially liked the shallots in it. I made it in a brownie pan, not because of the day, but because the flatbreads were rectangular.

I'm at my office, after starting a Carbonite full restore for a new computer (not the one I'm using). I might as well go home, since it won't finish today. When it's complete, all the files from the old computer will be in one new folder on the new one and then we can choose which to keep and where to place them. Yet today, if possible, I need to shop at the big supermarket. I've postponed it several times and it will be less crowded this evening than tomorrow morning. In addition to regular shopping, I want to start stocking up shelf-stable foods for a winter emergency. Dinner tonight will be non-tortilla pie made with the flatbread that I actually have, aduki beans, shallots, tomato sauce, and cheese, with salad.

I didn't try iguana, but I did have goat at an open-air restaurant along the road to Westpunt. It doesn't taste like chicken, but you might mistake it for beef. I've eaten goat a few times in the U.S. but the goat here wasn't as good (or the preparation wasn't).

It houses the Gouverneur de Rouville restaurant, which is very good. There are outdoor dinner seating on the long balcony and bar seating on the smaller one, plus an interior courtyard with more tables. Once the manager mentioned to me that most Americans seem to be in a hurry to pay their checks and leave even though, in the evening, there is nothing else to do.

My current job is white-collar but I have been a member of the UAW. Immaculate Conception is outside my professional competence. I once sold a rather primitive digital camera on ebay by describing it as the digital equivalent of a box Brownie, that is, no settings to bother with, but I suspect that the day is for another sort of brownie. I mentioned Willemstad yesterday when the Eurodam was there. I've never visited Curacao on a cruise but I spent a week there once. I didn't have a good camera with me, so there aren't many photos that I can upload. AIDA cruise ship docked in St. Anna Bay outside my hotel. Larger ships use the Megaport, south of the Riffort. The Queen Emma Bridge lighted at night. Entry of the Mikve Israel-Emanuel synagogue, the oldest in the western hemisphere. It was founded by Dutch Jews coming from the former Dutch colony in Brazil after it became Portuguese territory. Interior of the synagogue. I happened to be there when there was a wedding, for which they light all the candles in the chandeliers. The former Reform synagogue, now housing government offices.

Some of the Advantage plans that I looked at, the least expensive, actually were regional. That would be a stopper here even for some who don't travel, because people here with serious heart problems often go to the Cleveland Clinic, or to Sloan Kettering for cancer treatment. One friend previously treated at Sloan Kettering is now being treated at Yale-New Haven. Etc. Many of the plans are national, but you still don't know what the list of hospitals and doctors outside your area will be. In large metropolitan areas, sometimes only one or two of the major hospitals will be included. Years ago, as an employee in northern Ohio with no choice of plans, I had one where the preferred hospital for tertiary care in Cleveland was Metro General, not University Hospitals or the Cleveland Clinic. Same organization for me. For anyone new to Medicare supplements, every company that offers a plan with a specific letter (such as F or G) will have exactly the same benefits, and it's Medicare, not the company, that determines what is covered, but the premiums can be quite different. A few of the plans we've been discussing are only available to people who became eligible for Medicare before 2020, although you don't have to have been signed up then.

Dinner tonight is turning out to be baked leeks, carrots, and vegan sausage. I have some flatbread (not real tortillas) on hand so tomorrow might be adaptation of the recent tortilla pie. I had broccoli with lunch, so it will be about 6, if not 7, servings of vegetables today. The carrots are just boiled, which isn't the way I like them best. If anyone has a suggestion for shallots, I'd like to receive it. Another Misfits order came today; these are all from last week, but now I also have Brussels sprouts, more broccoli, and Swiss chard, plus a honeynut squash from the week of Thanksgiving.

Yes. I chose Plan G, moving from Plan F. The only difference was that Plan G doesn't cover the Part B deductible, which is capped at $233, but the premium was more than $400 less than Plan F. I looked at Medicare Advantage plans; while many of them included all the local hospitals and doctors, plus the university hospital in Rochester, I had too many questions about their networks in the rest of the country, a consideration since I probably wouldn't buy travel insurance for trips within the U.S.

FWIW, there is a good restaurant in the small airport at Sitka, Alaska. It's particularly known for pies, and if you want to buy a whole pie, TSA will let you carry it aboard the plane with no discussion about whether it might be a liquid or gel.

I know how to run a cotton-candy machine but I hate doing it -- you end up coated in sugar. I haven't been to Red Bay, and this may not be the best time of year to visit there, but I wish I were anywhere but here. Aboard the Eurodam would suit me, because I love Willemstad. Tortillas again?

My project for this evening, after a work meeting on Zoom, is to make up my mind about a Medigap policy for 2023, because enrollment ends tomorrow. My employer pays for it, but I'm due to retire during the year, probably in June but possibly sooner, and then will be paying for it myself. I'm leaning toward switching from Plan F to Plan G; while Plan G has a deductible that Plan F doesn't, the difference in the premium is greater than the deductible. I'm not interested in plans with still lower premiums but also with higher deductibles and/or copays, because I think simplicity and better coverage are better for my health. I might order short ribs from a menu but probably wouldn't cook them myself. Polenta is OK with me, but mashed potatoes, rice, or noodles would be, too. One side of family, fwiw, wanted potatoes with everything while the other side wanted noodles, but all of them hated rice. I'm ex-McMinnville but I don't know the winery; it may new be since my time there. (For a while I wrote a wine column in an underground newspaper and knew most of the winery owners.) I've been to Norway but not to Stavanger.

When my mother's sister died (decades ago; I was in high school), one of my mother's friends, who didn't know the sister or anyone else in the family, sent flowers to my mother at our home.

I suppose we all complain at times about the postal service. But during the shutdown in 2020, when my office was allowed to stay open (with only one person working at a time), we weren't permitted to allow constituents into the building. Many of our members had a habit of bringing checks and documents in person -- not only because that was what they had always done, but because they liked to come in and chat. I started telling them about a "wonderful new thing called the post office" where you could put something called a "postage stamp" on an envelope and a government employee would take it and slip it through our mail slot the next day. If they insisted on coming in person, we could only allow them as far as the vestibule, where they could drop the envelope in a basket and leave immediately.

Chicken recipe: 6 bone-in chicken thighs 1/2 cup apricot jam 2 TB onion soup mix 1 TB balsamic vinegar 1 TB olive oil Combine jam, soup mix, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Line a baking pan with aluminum foil, arrange chicken on it, and spread the mixed ingredients over the chicken. Bake at 350°F. for 45 minutes to 1 hour. This is derived from a classic recipe that uses bottled salad dressing, a much larger amount than the liquid ingredients here. Originally the expected dressing was a vinaigrette, but there is a well-known variation that uses Russian dressing and pineapple preserves. What I think about that cannot be posted in a public forum.

HEFFALUMP!

I lived for several years in a beach house on Long Island Sound. A crew from Connecticut Light & Power replaced the line to my house during a gale. I thought they would wait until the wind died down, but they said that the condition was potentially dangerous--that is, to me; doing the work was dangerous for them.

Why is it a problem?

I'll never admit it.

The Junior Cat is in favor of cheetahs but still believes that she is a leopard.I would rather have a tuna melt, or Roy's alternative menu. It will probably be quite a while before I bake cookies again, but I made snickerdoodles and chocolate-dipped toffee cookies last month.

I could envision making a tortilla pie. Since my home cooking doesn't combine meat and cheese, I might make it with beans, or with fake meat. I've had the wine many times, more when I lived in the Northwest, but living now in a different Riesling-growing district, I'm less likely to buy it. I was supposed just to transit Reykjavik a few years ago en route to the Faroe Islands, which at that time required getting from Keflavik, the international airport, to the Reykjavik city airport, but I missed the connection. As it was a Friday and Atlantic Airways, the national airline of the Faroes, doesn't fly that route on weekends (they use the plane for holiday flights from the Faroes to the Mediterranean), I was there for close on three days, and then had half a day more in the return. My photos are similar to many of those posted, but here are a few that might not be. Breakfast condiments at the Hotel Natura, which abuts the Icelandair HQ and looks out over the field at RKV. A noteworthy monument that I don't think is mentioned in guidebooks. 500500 This evening I was at our stand in a winter street fair for three hours. Three cold hours, not because the weather was so very cold -- it was 41° F. -- but because of being nearly motionless in the wind for so much of the time. We decorated our stand as if it were Hanukkah, which isn't really until two weeks from tomorrow. It was pretty popular, but to be honest, anything whatsoever that seems reasonably safe for people to do is popular now.

There are inherent issues with internet service on ships because it's by satellite and because it is often oversubscribed, but your location in the ship also matters. In a cruise this summer on RCI, I had a forward-facing cabin, and the connection there was unreliable. It was better midship, and when I needed to place an order online (because of an expiring reward) I did it from the ship's library, where my iPad would stay connected. I will pass on the pork chops, and while beef short ribs are OK with me, I think I'd prefer that they not be grazed. I think that dinner tonight will be salmon, roasted leeks, and tiny gold potatoes. I'm supposedly off from work today, but have been dealing with an enraged member. We're holding a Hanukkah dinner on the 18th, and reservations and payment have to be made online in advance. A member mailed in a check (wrong) to another organization (not us - wrong), and called to ask whether they should stop payment (no, just ask the other organization not to deposit it) and send a new check to us (no). Member didn't like being asked to reserve online: "I'm an older person and I don't like to put my credit card on the internet. You shouldn't expect people over 70 to do this." (News flash: I am over 70 myself.)