Sensitive Constitution

INTERVIEWER

You don't drink. Have you tried any consciousness-expanding drugs?

OATES

No. Even tea (because of caffeine) is too strong for me. I must have been born with a rather sensitive constitution.

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The Science of Justice

I think it's time we broke for lunch…
Court rulings depend partly on when the judge last had a snack

AROUND the world, courthouses are adorned with a statue of a blindfolded woman holding a set of scales and a sword: Justice personified. Her sword stands for the power of the court, her scales for the competing claims of the petitioners. The blindfold (a 15th-century innovation) represents the principle that justice should be blind. The law should be applied without fear or favour, with only cold reason and the facts of the case determining what happens to the accused. Lawyers, though, have long suspected that such lofty ideals are not always achieved in practice, even in well run judicial systems free from political meddling. Justice, say the cynics, is what the judge had for breakfast. Now they have proof.

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Private Eye

I got the job as a PI because I was dating the head of the agency. He trained me and then I got my license. Those were fun days (or rather, nights). Lots of stakeouts - and donuts! I gained a ton of weight on that job. I also wrote a script during the many hours sitting in my car. It was about a woman who outsmarts her cheating husband by becoming an amateur detective.
-LMF

Lester Esser a Personal Chef

Powdered Gold, a true story by Lester Esser

I recently ran into a friend, who mentioned a story that I posted on my facebook page when I was just starting up my personal chef business. I have fun making things seem darker than they really are.

Powdered Gold

It’s hard to believe, I’m nearly 50 years old and I’m in The Legacy Mall parking lot’s looking for my connection. A woman friend I’ve learned to trust over the years. It all seems too sleazy like I’m playing a younger man’s game. I know the stuff she has is the highest quality. After all I am unemployed and need something to occupy my time other than red wine. I do get by with a little help from my friends.

Several cell phone calls back and forth. I find her. It’s all too cute, her child in the back seat of the Volvo. She says she’ll drive me back to my car, you don’t want to carry the stuff through the parking lot and you did order 16 lbs. I hop in; I pull the cash out of my pocket and hand it to her. “We good?” I ask. She smiles and nods her head. I point her in the direction of my vehicle. Driving home the excitement is almost too much, I smile happy to have in my possession, the powdered gold, 16lbs of high quality, organic, baker’s ground whole wheat bread flour.

Progress

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Frank Norris

The novelist “of all men cannot think only of himself or for himself. And when the last page is written and the ink crusts on the pen-point . . . he will be able to say: ‘I never truckled, I never took off the hat to Fashion and held it out for pennies. By God, I told them the truth. They liked it or they didn’t like it. What had that to do with me? I told them the truth; I knew it for the truth then, and I know it for the truth now.’”

—Frank Norris
World’s Work, October 1901

Stay Connected

Social support is key to health and can even help you live longer. It is one of the first pieces of advice women share.
At this stage, women need other women -- friends with a rich life experience and wisdom to share.
I measure my success in terms of the richness and closeness of my connections with good people.
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Calcium Rich Foods

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3AM March 5th

The pain was so severe I had to go to bed at seven
I dreamed of dusting skinny white vertical Venetian blinds at City Hall
I held on to my anchor hoping to return to sleep
My dog heard me thinking, I was wide awake, so we both got up and went downstairs
I fed her and the cat who was surprised, he had been asleep on a pile of sweaters in a box next to the boiler.
I turned on the light and the classical music radio station in my office and started hunting for poems to match my mood

Poem in your Pocket

Save the date: Poem in Your Pocket Day 2014 will be held on Thursday, April 24.

On Poem in Your Pocket Day, people throughout the United States select a poem, carry it with them, and share it with others throughout the day.

You can also share your poem selection on Twitter by using the hashtag #pocketpoem.

Poems from pockets are unfolded throughout the day with events in parks, libraries, schools, workplaces, and bookstores. Create your own Poem in Your Pocket Day event using ideas below or share your creative ideas with us by emailing npm@poets.org.

Favorite Lunch at 10:30 AM

My new favorite lunch is a salad made of spinach, black olives, freshly chopped mushrooms, red onion slices, with sprinkles of balsamic vinegar and olive oil, Adobo, and raisins and if possible toasted almonds sprinkled on top. When we have leftover roasted potatoes I warm them up and add them too with a squirt of ketchup. I have sourdough wheat toast on the side.

Two 'I Love Woonsocket' Stories

Friday I met sweet patrolman Anthony when he was standing guard over the rotorooterish truck cleaning the storm drains on our street. He was surprised when I said that I loved the city. I told him "Let me count the ways." After listening carefully he smiled in agreement and said, "I have a new friend."

After my MIRACLE SOUP cooking class Father Dennis came in to the kitchen and I offered him my freshly made corn chowder and a slice of warm braided wheat bread, and he loved it! We chatted about the neighborhood. "The police are excellent in this city," I ventured. "I agree," he said, "although I am not inclined to like the police after living in New York." I nodded, I understood. He told me a story. "One night I was standing here at my window on the third floor, holding my cat. When I looked out I saw a body in the street below. I reached for my cell phone," he said, tapping his thigh pocket. "When the police drove up, I watched them very closely," he said, "and they were very good with her. I was impressed. The woman was very drunk and I guess she had decided to take a nap in the street." He smiled.

Flour Power

World peace through bread!

Last night I scooped 6 cups of medium grind whole wheat flour and teaspoon of Fleishmann's Instant Active Dry yeast, some of my sourdough starter goop, and a Tablespoon of Kosher salt into a big bowl and added about 3 cups of wrist temperature (warm) water to moisten. I stirred it and set it out to rise overnight in the bowl covered with a wooden cutting board. In the morning the dough had risen to the top of the bowl. I shaped the dough into 4 grapefruit sized balls and fit them snugly in my pre-greased dutch oven. I covered it and let it proof in my warm oven while I took a shower and then baked it at 450 until done. (about 50 minutes) The dough rose beautifully and has segments from the 4 risen dough balls. The dough remembers!

No Accidents

Last night a friend told me this story. Her brother asked her if he could store his gun at her home. Only if you take it apart the weapon in as many tiny pieces as possible and place one piece in the attic, one piece in the cellar, one piece in the garage, and one piece in the tool shed, and no ammunition whatsoever in my house, and you can't tell me where you hid the bits. Then I'll let you, she said. You're crazy! He said, but he complied.

A Spontaneous Pot of Meatloaf

I often don't know where I'm going when I cook. I just begin with my hunger. It is just like how I write or make a painting!

Last night, I was outdoors in the damp and biting cold walking Lily. I ran into a friend who was also walking her dog, we walked together telling stories. Then I came home and read. Then suddenly I was HUNGRY, and I remembered the frozen beef! I took two frozen beefcakes (two muffin size blobs of chuck) and threw them in my cast iron dutch oven on high and stirred the frozen blobs while tossing in freshly chopped onions. The meat defrosted as I kept stirring and adding things; chopped carrots + celery, Worcestershire sauce, a dash of ketchup, Adobo, Cholula, cumin, oregano, garlic powder, sourdough slices cubed. I added canned crushed tomatoes, I taste tested, (yum) and added more tomato and more bread. Then I placed it in the oven at (350) to bake a bit, but mostly keep warm until Bill got home 20 minutes later. It was excellent! I will do this again on purpose next time.

Migraines

Migraine Article
Migraine Food Triggers
Abdominal Migraines

I Dreamed

I dreamed I was wading in the Blackstone River when a huge red black and white head of a snake came swimming by making a drumming sound. It was a python and I had been forewarned. I should have jumped into the canoe but I didn't move and it swam away. I called to my friends "He didn't get me," but he circled back and bit me in the ball of my left thumb. I knew this was it. "I am left handed, I am an artist, I am going to die," I said to anyone who would listen. On the way to the doctor's office my car door fell off its hinges. It was a door like an old 1950's Philco refrigerator door. Bill wanted to try to fix it but we kept going anyway, we were close. "I am going to die" I said to everyone in the waiting room. "I was bitten by a python in Pawtucket." Someone in the waiting room told me the medicine will kill you anyway. My breathing became labored, my body was beginning to tingle and go numb. Then Bill woke me up to tell me he made coffee and he was on his way to school. I am alive and my thumb is fine. And I was not bitten by a python in Pawtucket.

Dream

I hitched a lift down the street in the back of a Ryder box truck with a friend. There were people packed inside with furniture piled up around them in a chaotic mess. An infant, a nude black baby, rolled out between two pieces of blond furniture and fell into my arms. "Keep him, he's yours," a man said, staring at me. This has happened before, people trying to give me their children, I thought. I handed the baby back to the man. "This is not a thing, this is a human being," I said to him. "Are you going to live your life like a nun?" the man said, angrily. He seemed to know that I didn't have any kids. "Let's get out here," I said to my friend traveling with me and we jumped out before the light. I turned the corner. I was walking down East School Street and the parking lot was flooded. It was an urban pond. Then I saw a dead man in the water facing up, smiling. I recognized him as one of the locals. I ran inside my house and frantically looked for the police phone number. When they answered I said "Are you sitting down, this is gruesome, a dead man is in the water."

80 Hour Sourdough

I made an 80 hour sourdough. Once the dough came alive, and I used starter and Fleishmann's Active Dry Instant Yeast, I refrigerated it for days. I baked it Friday. It is fabulous, and full of sexy European style air bubbles.

Keeping Track by Melody Moezzi

For about a year now, I've been using a bound paper planner. I still do most of my scheduling online, but my paper "planner" is special. I don't actually use it to plan anything. Rather, I use it to keep track of things that significantly affect my life.

It all started with a neurologist who suggested I keep a migraine diary to keep track of events (eating cheese or smelling coffee, for example) that preceded a migraine. The diary helped and got me thinking that if such documentation could identify migraine triggers, maybe it could do the same for mood. Keeping track of my sleep and excercise--as well as positive experiences, blessings and accomplishments has helped me enormously with mood regulation. So today I thought I'd share some of the things I track every day in my "planner" in the hopes that some of you might find this practice as useful as I have.

* Sleep: When did you fall asleep last night? When did you wake up this morning? Any naps?
* Mood: How would you rank your mood today? [Create your own scale.]
* Exercise: Did you exercise today? If so, what did you do and for how long?
* Pain: Were you in pain today? What kind and for how long?
* Medication: What medications (including dosages) did you take today, especially new or as-needed (PRN) medications?
* Spiritual Practice: Did you pray or meditate or engage in any other centering activity today?
* Gratitude: What are at least five things for which you are grateful today?
* Accomplishments: What did you accomplish today? Nothing is too small.

It's entirely possible to keep track of all of this in a regular weekly planner. It takes only a few minutes a day and can truly improve your life. And if that's not enough incentive to at least try it, most 2014 planners ought to be on sale by now.
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Juliet Macur

The mad scientist conjured up what he called “weird concoctions” of substances like ephedrine, nicotine, highly concentrated caffeine, drugs that widen blood vessels, blood thinners and testosterone, often trying to find creative ways to give a rider an extra physical boost during a race. He’d pour the mix into tiny bottles and hand them to riders at the starting line. Other times, he’d inject them with it. He wasn’t alone in this endeavor. Soigneurs all across Europe made homemade blends of potentially dangerous mixes and first drank or injected those potions into themselves. They were their own lab rats.
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Spinach Salad + Roasted Potatoes

I took my leftover roasted potatoes and warmed them in the microwave. They were very good sliced smaller and sprinkled on a bed of fresh spinach with fresh slices of mushroom black olives sliced, and slices of raw onions. A quick dressing: Hellman's mayo and balsamic vinegar mixed with a fork. A few blobs on top does it.

Pay me in Spinach

You could pay me in spinach! I love spinach mushrooms, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and onions this much.

I love corn and pumpkin too. I love oats! I love wheat and barley and rye.

When I learned how to cook I didn't realize that I was really learning how to live. My window into cooking was through making simple wholesome things. I made applesauce in nursery school, granola and blueberry and apple pies when I was in junior high, and breads and soups when I was a freshman in high school. I lived on my home made onion soup and popcorn and home made yogurt in college. Then I learned a lot of things working as a prep chef in a restaurant. More recently I started introducing meat as a spice into my repertoire, making Chinese dumplings. I still love vegetables more than anything. You really could pay me in spinach . . . . and black olives!

The Bread Monk

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Bread Guru

Article
Any way you slice it, a Poilane loaf is real French bread - Smithsonian

‎Very early in his career, Lionel Poilane, the owner of the world-famous Poilane
bakery on Rue du Cherche-Midi in Paris, discovered that there was plenty of ...