#Pakistan Cooking News

[blackkitchen]

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[lemurchick]

Another 'wonderful news' from Russia for your consideration! This week, the BRICS forum on traditional values took place in Moscow. And it was fucking insane.

In short, the opening meeting was BRICS countries representatives verbally jerking off on how well they oppress or plan to oppress their people especially women. The only person who bothered to contradict this narrative was Egyptian female writer Doha Mustafa Assy.

I will translate some quotes from the russian article. https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/7311174

Russia: "At some point the roles for women have begun to change towards independence and self-sufficiency. We, of course, love and respect our women very much, but we want them to pay more attention to their families, men and children. We do not want them to strive for business, politics, economics, power, or culture. <...> The main traditional value is the preservation of natural purpose, where a woman continues the family line and a man inspires her to give birth to children."

Pakistan: "Any traditional religion upholds and promotes social values and traditions. No father would want to harm his family. No mother would want to break up or disintegrate her family. This <rejection of family values> is deliberately imposed on us and promoted by some power circles”

Ethiopia: "In our country it is traditionally women who do the cooking, teaching children and other family duties. So the man's role is not as big as the woman's, and this tradition gives the man the freedom to behave like a child." (?????)

Uganda: [This country experience is “extremely important to the discussion of legislative protection of religious values,” emphasized russian politician Dmitry Kuznetsov, referring to the fact that in Uganda same-sex relations are prohibited, and in some cases violators face life imprisonment or even the death penalty.] “We did this to make sure that the country would be preserved. I would encourage countries to behave in such a way that the culture that exists in each country is not imposed on others.” btw Brazil and South Africa representatives didn't say a word here even though their countries legalized same-sex mafrriage years ago.

Brazil: "Marriage in no longer a goal for our citizens and the country has the highest divorce rate in history. Meanwhile, children are most often left with their mothers, with fathers unwilling to take part in their upbringing. As a result, many Brazilian boys are growing up without a father figure and 9% of male inmates in prisons don't even know their father's name. Shifting the balance in favor of women leads to the fact that the position of feminism is growing, and the number of people who identify as LGBT people is growing.” At the end of his speech, he marveled, “This is my first time in Russia, and I didn't know you guys were so conservative. I'm so happy, it's so impressive!” He also admitted that “the people of Brazil know nothing about Russia,” and Dmitry Kuznetsov promised: “We will come to you and tell you all about our saving conservatism.”

Egypt: As I mentioned in the beginning the only person who actively argued against this trend was Doha Mustafa Assy. She said: "We on the contrary has a struggle against patriarchy. Tradition and religion are not on women's side, they help men. A lot of women in Egypt ask for divorce only because they feel like slaves at home. He (the husband) has the right not to let her leave the house according to tradition. BRICS is India, it's China, it's Russia, it's Egypt. We are very different. And maybe what you are trying to do in Russia has already became a problem for us”.

To be honest I don't know what will come out of this forum. Maybe it's just empty posturing, maybe BRICS countries just sent people who had free time on their hand here as a formality. But I despair reading these quotes; twenty years ago we sent a singing duet posing as lesbians to Eurovision; ten years ago I was watching lesbian drama Blue Is the Warmest Colour in a full theater. Soviet Union gave women some attempt in an equal rights in fucking 1917 and we were the first country to send a woman in space. What happened? How has it turned this way? We are now friends with some of the most patriarchal countries in the world and with fucking North Korea. They are planning to remove the Taliban's terrorist status.

What the hell.

[psychicreadsgirl]

Pick a Novel: Keywords/prominent themes in your life

Pick the novel that draws your attention the most. If you can't decide between two, then look at the 2 readings. This is a general reading, so not everything will apply. Please take what resonates and leave what doesn't behind!

#1

Keywords: love, lust, passion, fun, temperament, cafe, sweet, bicycle, pen, books, music, loyalty, winter, sofa, furniture, thoughts, light, intuition, soulmate, art, obsidian, cake, carbonated water, skincare, socks, cooking

Celebrities/Public Figures: Audrey Hepburn, Min Yoongi, IU, Claude Monet, Angela Merkel, Andrew Carnegie, John Johnson, Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Howard Schultz, Sam Walton, Amancio Ortega, Queen Elizabeth I, Jane Austen, Jennie Kim

Countries: Italy, Canada, South Africa, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Greece, Madagascar, Qatar, Sweden, Zambia, Taiwan, Solomon Islands

Numbers: 11, 1, 5, 9, 80, 888, 6

Brands: Hermes, Tiffany, Apple, Instagram, Taobao, Lamborghini, Deloitte, Microsoft, Chopard, Givenchy, Patek Phillipe, Chloe, Alaia, Kraft,

Kpop songs: Young Forever by BTS, Shine by PENTAGON, Me Gustas Tu by GFRIEND, Run to You by DJ DOC, Love Lee by AKMU, Deja vu by TXT, Back Down by P1Harmony, Love shot by EXO

#2

Keywords: economy, job loss, new opportunities, play, drama, anger, frustration, lost, compass, computers, battery, feet, head, brain, summer, pearl, avocado, junk food, fried chicken, challenge, frugal

Celebrities/Public Figures: Grace Kelly, Billie Eilish, Keanu Reeves, Rosé, Jung Hoseok, Salma Hayek, Pablo Picasso, Princess Diana, Thomas Edison, Sergey Brin, Mary I, William Shakespeare, Lee Nayeon

Countries: New Zealand, USA, Maldives, Indonesia, United Kingdom, Venezuela, Lithuania, Nepal, Portugal, Poland, Lebanon, Mali, Netherlands

Numbers: 4, 99, 101, 33, 13, 14, 0

Brands: Masion Margiela, Amazon, facebook, Shein, PWC, Missoni, Moschino Couture, Toyota, citi bank, Chaumet, Polene, Pizza Hut,

Kpop songs: Love Dive by IVE, Shangri-la by VIXX, Sweety by Clazziquai, I NEED U by BTS, The Chaser by Infinite, Magnetic by ILLIT, My House by 2PM, ICY by ITZY

#3

Keywords: tales, gossip, lies, funny, movies, theatre, cell phone, cool, kpop, magenta, ancient, history, claws, cats, tiger, fall, jealousy, games, aquamarine, lemons, makeup, pencil, groceries

Celebrities/Public Figures: Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Morgan Freeman, Kim Seokjin, Jang Wonyoung, Matt Damon, Napoleon Bonaparte, Shinzo Abe, Steve Jobs, Voltaire, Kim Jisoo,

Countries: Ethiopia, France, Russia, Ireland, Argentina, Afghanistan, Libya, Rwanda, Nigeria, Pakistan, Morocco, Malta, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Iraq,

Numbers: 2, 7, 69, 25, 55, 79, 1182

Brands: Saint Laurent, miumiu, Starbucks, Mercedez-Benz, Nestle, Oracle, Tod's, Bulgari, Rolex, KFC, SUBWAY, Carrefour, Kellog's

Kpop songs: Supernova by aespa, Maestro by seventeen, Not by the moon by GOT7, Alone by Sistar, Hip by MAMAMOO, Good Day by IU, Bite Me by ENHYPEN, Work by ATEEZ, The Feels by TWICE

#4

Keywords: foreign, spicy, peppery, rice, no, objection, resistance, control, storms, thunderstorms, shower, tension, crush, pop, paper, mango, legs, fragrance, emerald, clothing rack, tomatoes, defeat,

Celebrities/Public Figures: Judy Garland, Margot Robbie, G-Dragon, Jeon Jungkook, Pharrell Williams, Emmanuel Macron, Bill Clinton, King Charles, Warren Buffet, Cleopatra, Kim Mingyu

Countries: South Korea, Philippines, Scotland, Spain, Albania, Guatemala, Malaysia, Iran, Romania, Honduras, Georgia, Croatia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Gambia, Guinea

Numbers: 31, 75, 412, 43, 486, 640

Brands: Chanel, Prada, Bentley, Gucci, Samsung, Disney, BMW, Hyundai, cisco, Van Cleefs & Arpels, Dior, Loro Piana, Shake Shack

Kpop songs: Gee by SNSD, If you by BIGBANG, Antifragile by LE SSERAFIM, Up and Down by EXID, OMG by NewJeans, Lion by (G)I-DLE, Hello by TREASURE,

#5

Keywords: death, mystery, mirror, reflection, shadow, black, grey, white, funeral, video, sprint, pool, gym, streets, metro, subway, chocolate, broken, knees, moon, ruby, surgery, teeth, race

Celebrities/Public Figures: Marilyn Monroe, Barack Obama, Kate Winslet, Kim Taehyung, Aamir Khan, Marie Antoinette, Elon Musk, Robert F Kennedy, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, Edward VIII, Charles Dickens, Abraham Lincoln, Park Bogum,

Countries: North Korea, China, Vietnam, Brazil, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Germany, India, Israel, Laos, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Congo, Cuba, Egypt, Mongolia

Numbers: 3, 97, 17, 19, 52, 98

Brands: Ralph Lauren, Celine, Ferrari, Huawei, Uber, intel, UPS, Calvin Klein, Piaget, Guerlain, Berluti, Pepsi, Cadbury

Kpop songs: Shut down by Blackpink, Seven by Jeon Jungkook, God's Menu by Stray Kids, Love Love Love by Epik High, Very Nice by SEVENTEEN, Birthday by Jeon Somi, Psycho by Red Velvet,

#6

Keywords: travel, toxic, break away, departure, memory, dreams, truth, unveil, diary, journal, coffee, jacket, shoes, hands, social media, news, competition, autumn, diamonds, electricity, TV, cheat, fashion

Celebrities/Public Figures: Jane Birkin, Kim Jiwon, Gigi Hadid, Charlize Theron, Park Jimin, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Maximilien Robespierre, Bill Gates, Queen Elizabeth II, Vladimir Putin, Henry Ford, James Joyce, Lalisa Manobal

Countries: Japan, Australia, Mexico, Iceland, Finland, Eritrea, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Bolivia, Botswana, Bahamas,

Numbers: 8, 646, 152, 37, 49, 22

Brands: Louis Vuitton, Lexus, Tesla, Fendi, Walmart, Nike, Siemens, Google, Cartier, Burberry, Ferragamo, Burger King, Unilever

Kpop songs: ROCKSTAR by LISA, Cherry bomb by NCT 127, Move by Taemin, Dramarama by MONSTA X, Love Scenario by iKON, Get a Guitar by RIIZE, Replay by SHINee, Candy Sugar Pop by ASTRO, Mr. Simple by Super Junior

[st-peculiar]

Kepler hcs. I’m doing this for you guys (I’m a liar. I have too many thoughts about him.)

-the biggest one for me is that he’s black/African American and I can honestly do a whole post about this hc specifically because it’s just too good. Maybe I will if I come up with a good starting point

-hates velvet. Awful texture

-had thought about owning a beehive at one point in his life

-gets way too impulsive when he’s bored. Just fucking look at the trivia list on his wiki page. Man probably climbed Mount Everest at least twice. Has made a stupid amount of impulse purchases on his company card.

-had a good relationship with both of his parents and this is important to how I see Kepler’s past and how he grew up and into who he became during canon

-he never told his old band mates why he left so to them, he just evaporated one day never to be seen again until they saw a news article about him fucking dying on a space mission. That led to the question of “who the fuck was our bari sax player and how did he get to space”

-enjoyed bugs as a kid. His mother called him bug as a nickname. Does not like ants, however. (I’m projecting. Leave me alone.)

-was on his high school wrestling team, one of the top players in his weight class

-world history was his favorite subject, I’ve got no reason for this. Gut instinct

-likes Chuck Berry’s music.

-wanted in multiple countries under multiple aliases, including (but not limited to) Canada, Guatemala, Chile, the Republic of Kongo, Morocco, Jamaica, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Seychelles. There are stories accounting for all of these.

-would probably get a kick out of the book House of Leaves. One of a few select books he would reread on occasion.

-he likes ikea only to walk around in. Never buys anything.

-was raised in a Christian majority community but never really believed in God. As a teen, he was pretty conflicted over it until he shoved all that down and forgot about it for the most part. The last time he thought of God was when, well. Yknow.

-owns a vintage record player that he repaired by hand with some help from Maxwell and Jacobi.

-while he owns just about every suit in existence, he primarily wears only one pair of formal shoes. Something something metaphor for how he views himself as a person something something

-the only personal effects in his Goddard office is a photo of him, Maxwell, and Jacobi on the bookshelf and a copy of Little Women, well worn (secondhand from his mother)

-very good cook. He took multiple cooking courses in his free time on his travels and picked up on a lot of local tips and tricks.

-favorite book ever is The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. It was the only extra item he brought with him onto the Urania. He uses a copy of the group photo as a bookmark.

I’ll post a Maxwell hc version tomorrow because I’m sleepy

[nerdsbianhokie]

Reading the World

In 2023, I challenged myself to watch a movie from every country in the world during the year, which I more or less succeeded. At the start of this year I decided to read a book from every country in the world (without the time restraint) and got a map to track my progress along with a challenge on Story Graph.

List of countries and books below the cut

Current count: 46

Afghanistan:

Albania:

Algeria:

American Samoa:

Andorra: Andorra: a play in twelve scenes by Max Frisch

Angola: The Whistler by Ondjaki

Anguilla:

Antigua and Barbuda:

Argentina: Our Share of the Night by Mariana Enríquez

Armenia:

Aruba:

Australia: Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia edited by Alexis West

Austria:

Azerbaijan:

Bahamas:

Bahrain:

Bangladesh:

Barbados:

Belarus:

Belgium:

Belize:

Benin:

Bermuda:

Bhutan: Folktales of Bhutan by Kunzang Choden

Bolivia:

Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Botswana:

Brazil:

British Virgin Islands:

Brunei:

Bulgaria:

Burkina Faso:

Burundi:

Cambodia:

Cameroon: The Impatient by Djaïli Amadou Amal

Canada: The Gift is in the making: Anishinaabeg Stories retold by Amanda Strong and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Canary Islands: Dogs of Summer by Andrea Abreu

Cape Verde:

Cayman Islands:

Central African Republic: Co-wives, Co-widows by Adrienne Yabouza

Chad:

Chile: The Twilight Zone by Nona Fernández

China: The Secret Talker by Geling Yan

Christmas Islands:

Cocos Islands:

Colombia:

Comoros:

Cook Islands:

Costa Rica:

Croatia:

Cuba:

Curacao:

Cyprus:

Czech Republic:

Dem. Rep. of Congo:

Denmark:

Djibouti:

Dominica:

Dominican Republic:

Ecuador:

Egypt:

El Salvador:

Equatorial Guinea:

Eritrea:

Estonia:

Eswatini:

Ethiopia:

Falkland Islands:

Faroe Islands:

Fiji:

Finland:

France: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

French Guiana:

French Polynesia:

Gabon:

Gambia:

Georgia:

Germany: At the Edge of the Night by Friedo Lampe

Ghana: Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey

Gibraltar:

Greece:

Greenland:

Grenada:

Guam:

Guatemala:

Guernsey:

Guinea:

Guinea-Bissau:

Guyana:

Haiti:

Honduras:

Hong Kong:

Hungary:

Iceland:

India: Coming Out as Dalit: A Memoir Of Surviving India's Caste System by Yashica Dutt

Indonesia: Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan

Iran: Darius the Great is Not Okay by Abid Khorram

Iraq: Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi

Ireland:

Isle of Man:

Israel:

Italy:

Ivory Coast:

Jamaica: When Life Gives You Mangos by Kereen Getten

Japan:

Jordan:

Kazakhstan:

Kenya:

Kiribati:

Kosovo:

Kuwait:

Kyrgyzstan:

Laos:

Latvia:

Lebanon: Beirut Hellfire Society by Rawi Hage

Lesotho:

Liberia:

Libya: Zodiac of Echoes by Khaled Mattawa

Liechtenstein:

Lithuania:

Luxembourg:

Macedonia:

Madagascar:

Malawi:

Malaysia:

Maldives:

Mali:

Malta:

Marshall Islands:

Mauritania:

Mauritius:

Mexico: Silver Nitrate by Silvia Morena-Garcia

Micronesia:

Moldova:

Monaco:

Mongolia:

Montenegro:

Montserrat:

Morocco:

Mozambique:

Myanmar: Smile as They Bow by Nu Nu Yi

Namibia:

Nauru:

Nepal:

Netherlands: We Had to Remove this Post by Hanna Bervoets

New Caledonia:

New Zealand: Tahuri by Ngahuia Te Awekotuku

Nicaragua:

Niger:

Nigeria: Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani

Niue:

Norfolk Island:

North Korea: A Thousand Miles to Freedom: My Escape from North Korea by Eunsun Kim

Northern Mariana Islands:

Norway: Blind Goddess by Anne Holt

Oman:

Pakistan: Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H

Palau:

Palestine: The Skin and Its Girl by Sarah Cypher

Panama:

Papua New Guinea:

Paraguay:

Peru:

Philippines:

Pitcairn Islands:

Poland: Return from the Stars by Stanisław Lem

Portugal: Pardalita by Joana Estrela

Puerto Rico:

Qatar:

Rep. of the Congo:

Romania:

Russia:

Rwanda: Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin

Saint Barthelemy:

Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha:

Saint Kitts and Nevis:

Saint Lucia:

Saint Martin:

Saint Pierre and Miquelon:

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines:

Samoa: Where We Once Belonged by Sia Figiel

San Marino:

Sao Tome and Principe:

Saudi Arabia:

Senegal:

Serbia:

Seychelles:

Sierra Leone:

Singapore:

Sint Maarten:

Slovakia:

Slovenia:

Solomon Islands:

Somalia:

South Africa:

South Korea: The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong -Mo

South Sudan:

Spain: Mammoth by Eva Baltasar

Sri Lanka: The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka

Sudan: The Translator: A Memoir by Daoud Hari

Suriname:

Sweden: Fire from the Sky by Moa Backe Åstot

Switzerland:

Syria: The Book Collectors: A Band of Syrian Rebels and the Stories That Carried Them Through a War by Delphine Minoui

Taiwan:

Tajikistan: The Sandalwood Box: Folk Tales from Tadzhikistan by Hans Baltzer

Tanzania:

Thailand:

Togo:

Tokelau:

Tonga:

Trinidad and Tobago:

Tunisia:

Turkey:

Turkmenistan:

Turks and Caicos Islands:

Tuvalu:

Uganda:

Ukraine:

United Arab Emirates:

United Kingdom: Poyums by Len Pennie

United States of America: Reclaiming Two-Spirits: Sexuality, Spiritual Renewal & Sovereignty in Native America by Gregory D. Smithers

United States Virgin Islands:

Uruguay:

Uzbekistan:

Vanuatu: Sista, Stanap Strong : A Vanuatu Women's Anthology edited by Mikaela Nyman and Rebecca Tobo Olul-Hossen

Venezuela: Doña Barbara by Rómulo Gallegos

Vietnam:

Wallis and Futuna:

Western Sahara:

Yemen:

Zambia:

Zimbabwe: We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

[burgerking-official]

Hello people. I am wishing you a happy new year from Burger King.

I wish a happy 2024 to all people in Abkhazia, Afghanistan, The Aland Islands, Albania, Algeria, Aotearoa, Andorra, Angola, Antarctica, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Artsakh, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Catalonia, The Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, The Cook Islands, Colombia, Comoros, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa, Cornwall, Costa Rica, Cote D’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Curacao, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, The Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, England, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Euskadi, The Faroe Islands, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gagauzia, The Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Guyane, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, The Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mann, The Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, The Netherlands, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Northern Cyprus, North Korea, North Macedonia, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, The Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Senegal, Serbia, The Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sint Maarten, Slovakia, Slovenia, The Solomon Islands, Somalia, Somaliland, South Africa, South Korea, South Ossetia, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Transnistria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkiye, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, The United Arab Emirates, The United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, The Vatican City, Venezuela, Vietnam, Vojvodina, Wales, Western Sahara, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

If I missed your country, I don’t care. I’m too tired to care.

[xpuigc-bloc]

Exquisite esquites

By Mia Leimkuhler

If I were mayor of Picnictown, every picnic would have the following: a blanket, a 1:1 dog-to-human ratio and esquites. The blanket’s there because grass is itchy no matter what the most outdoorsy person in the group says; the dogs because dogs are great. The esquites are essential because my favorite outdoor corn is elotes, but they don’t travel nearly as well as esquites. (The laws of Picnictown consider how easy it is to carry your picnic things on public transportation.)

This is barely a compromise, though, because Kay Chun’s esquites capture all the beloved and balanced elements of elotes: sweet summer corn, tangy lime, creamy cotija (and crema), spicy ancho chile. The smoky flavor you get from grilled corn is here, too, as the kernels are charred in a hot skillet until browned and caramelized. Perhaps the most enticing part of the recipe is this note from Kay: “Leftovers transform quickly into a great pasta salad the next day; simply toss with cooked pasta and olive oil.” Picnictown loves a resourceful pasta salad.

More picnic decrees, because it’s the first day of summer! Make Zainab Shah’s sheet-pan chicken tikka thighs ahead of time, and then toss some roti or naan in your tote bag for effortless but extremely delicious sandwiches. Ali Slagle’s green bean salad with dill pickles and feta is perfect all by itself, but if someone else wanted to bring a container of cooked barley or farro, that would be a really nice collaborative grain bowl picnic moment. (For even more lovely, easy picnic ideas that travel well, check out this recipe collection.)

Every June, the summer produce flows into and overwhelms my corner grocery store, and every June I am positively giddy about it. Right now the shelves are buckling from so many cherry tomatoes, and I’m doing my part with salad e-shirazi, basil and tomato fried rice and salmon and tomatoes in foil, a five-star, five-ingredient dinner from Mark Bittman.

I am trying to be more adventurous with my vegetables, branching out and bringing home goodies I don’t usually cook. I’ve never really loved bitter melon (I’m not alone), but I do like bitter things — extra dark chocolate, dandelion greens, Campari. So I’m going to try this stir-fried bitter melon with eggs, a recipe from Chutatip Suntaranon (known as Nok) adapted by Cathy Erway.

The creamy scrambled eggs, salty soy sauce and molasses-y brown sugar will mellow out the harshest edges of the bitter melon. And I trust Nok — I’ve had the pleasure of dining at Kalaya, Nok’s restaurant in Philadelphia, and Nok never misses.

Lastly: It’s hot out there, and I’d like to give you an excuse to stand in front of the open refrigerator after a long afternoon in Picnictown. Here’s Lisa Donovan’s new recipe for buttermilk tres leches cake, which is best served extremely chilled, straight from the pan. I interpret this as spooning giant mouthfuls of cold, creamy cake into my mouth while bending into the fridge, but if you’d like to use plates and forks and a table, by all means.

IN THIS NEWSLETTER

Sign up for The Veggie newsletter

Tanya Sichynsky shares the most delicious vegetarian recipes for weeknight cooking, packed lunches and dinner parties.

#the new york times #cooking

#mia leimkuhler #picnic #kay chun

#make zainab #matk bityman

#cathy erway #nok #lisa donovan

#sheer-pan chicken tikka thinghs

#basil and tomato fried rice

#salmon and tomatoes on foil

#butyermilk tres leches cake

#recipe’s #the veggie newsletter

#tania shichynsky #dinner parties

#packed lunches #food

#original food #xpuigc #pucex

#olaf peterson #de tot

[fatehbaz]

We must understand the journey [...]. [T]he kings and queens of Europe [...] said that those Black or Brown or Indigenous [...], they could be exploited. [...] In the case of the UK, [...] [i]t was the profits of slavery, slave products which built the universities, that financed the inventions, the canals, the banks like Barclays Bank, the Bank of England [...] to send wealth back to the North. [...]. So [...] what it does is it creates the world  as we know it, and then [...] the anti-colonial struggles of the forties, fifties and sixties begin to challenge it. [...] So no longer did you need guns and rifles and gunboats. You could control economies by the power of [...] trade rules [...]. And we see that today with unsustainable debt repayments, [...] corporations taking profits out of the Global South and bringing it back to the banks and corporations in the Global North. So in reality, this logic of racialized capitalism, colonialism, imperialism, is still apparent today. And it's the same logic. [...] [T]here has been an attempt, and it's been largely led by international institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF, to create a narrative that over the last 30, 40 years, that somehow because of development or globalization, we've seen a reduction in poverty and inequality in the Global South. This is the classic trickle-down.  [...]

It's the fact that this is all legal. This is legally done.

We've created both a global tax system, a global trade system, and then a punitive system managed by institutions like the IMF and the World Bank and the WTO, which punishes countries if they challenge that logic, and if they, for example, decide to prioritize their own people.   [...]

---

So in Pakistan, as we know, 33 million people have been displaced by a climate flood -- when they are responsible for less than 1% of global emissions. [...] But Pakistan, for every 100 that the Government raises in tax revenue, it pays 83 of those [...] back out in debt repayments.

And what you've seen increasingly is country after country being trapped in this cycle of needing to beg for more debt-creating loans to pay the last debt-creating loans, and each of those loans coming with conditions.

Recently, Sri Lanka was unable to pay its debt. There have been huge protests on the streets of Sri Lanka, by movements, as people were unable to afford food, even kerosene to cook with [...]. People were unable to get to the hospital. The government was telling people to eat less, not to eat three meals a day. [There was] a huge uprising of people and the government that was in power fled; the new government, which was imposed in Sri Lanka, went to the IMF and said, we want to negotiate restructuring our loan, because once you default on your loan, the way our economic system is set up, you will be punished. Because every bank, every corporation, wants their debt repayments. So people are forced to go back to the IMF.

And the IMF told Sri Lanka, we will give you another loan, if you do three things: you cut your public expenditure -- so the very money that you need on public services -- second, you weaken your labor laws -- [they] don't want unions being strong in [Sri Lanka] -- and thirdly, you have to privatize what's left of your utility. Which were operating for the interests of the Sri Lankan people. They want them now to be put onto the open market and, like many countries in the Global South, the main drivers of our economy, are actually not in the hands of either our governments or our peoples, they are still controlled by the same Western multinationals.

---

Now, if we had a picture, if we could show two maps, we could show a map  of the colonial world and the influence of the different countries of Europe on the different parts of the world, and the commodities that were drawn from those countries, to feed back to supply chains, to feed consumption and the industrial processes in the Global North.

But if you did the same map right now, you'd see the exact same commodities flowing from the Global South to the Global North, because countries were forced to and [told,] you will provide and produce this commodity because we want it, not because it's needed by your people [...]. It’s because you will grow cotton, you will grow coffee, you’ll export oil [...].

---

All text above are words of Asad Rehman. As interviewed by Kamea Chayne. Transcript published as “Asad Rehman: The End of Imperialism in a Radical Green New Deal (Ep378).” An episode of the podcast Green Dreamer. 25 October 2022. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

[oflights]

hi allie! i love all your fics and for the prompt request i would really like something in the make this leap universe. anything, really but if it could involve more food making by draco i’d be really happy. i love food and cooking and that fic is probably one of my favorites ever. but again, it can be whatever you feel live writing! thank you!

hi!! i'm so sorry this took forever; i've started this a few different times and just never quite got going with it. i started writing this version in my head during jury duty today, though, so i was excited to get it down when i got home!!

this is 1.2k words (😭 it's not funny anymore!) of extremely sappy, domestic married fluff in the Make This Leap universe. enjoy!!

Draco finds the cookbook when he’s digging around in the Potter vault for Harry’s birthday.

Shared access to vaults hadn’t gone unmentioned when they’d first married—there were some tender memories there for Draco in particular. But they’d been successful business partners first, already mingling finances, and Harry had been very cheerful and upfront about it: “What’s mine is yours, but most of the good stuff went into the restaurant that burned down, so there’s not much there.”

Beyond gold, which Draco is lucky and successful enough to not have to care about, the Potter vault does have some interesting items that Harry had seemed to lack the emotional wherewithal to really catalog. Draco doesn’t blame him, has never pushed it, and thought it rather lucky as he was considering Harry’s birthday present. The plan was to find some heirloom he could restore, to tell him that if he ever wants to find the emotional wherewithal, Draco will be there to support him.

He finds the cookbook instead.

A good portion of it isn’t in English, which is exciting—Draco loves getting to mess about with Translation Charms—and Draco lacks cultural context for much of it, utterly unable to relate to generations of an immigrant family trying to keep traditions alive through food as much as possible even through countless changes. He still pores over it eagerly, captivated by notes in English in some of the later recipes, itching to try some.

He doesn’t know if he can get an actual birthday present out of this or if it’s just a cooking project he wants to nerd out about, but he tells himself the goal is the former to justify the latter. He stays late a few nights at the restaurant, practicing some of the simpler recipes, realizing he has no idea what he’s doing and if he’s doing anything right at the same time he realizes he doesn’t care, is just having a good time experimenting.

He feeds only some of it to Harry, not telling him what he’s doing or where the recipes are coming from, just telling him he’s trying new things and is charmed by all the vegetarian options. Harry also lacks cultural context, which is demonstrably more tragic, and Draco stops feeding him the experiments the more that tragedy reveals itself. Instead, he starts asking around for help.

In the past, Draco’s learned French cooking in France, Italian cooking in Italy, Eastern European cooking in Eastern Europe, Cambodian cooking in Cambodia—but he can’t exactly hop over to modern day Pakistan for lessons without his husband knowing about it. So he puts feelers out through his network of chefs with what turns out to be a very heartwarming story: he wants to cook the food in this cookbook for his half-Desi husband, and he has no idea what he’s doing.

It gains some traction—fucking Sebastian Quantrill has the nerve to write Draco about doing a story for it when he catches wind, resulting in some extremely colorful threats amidst his denial should Harry find out before Draco’s ready; Sebastian writes back that this is usually the point where Harry threatens to obliviate him, to which Draco responds that obliviate is the least of Sebastian’s worries from Draco, and after that doesn’t hear another word from him—and it takes time, as these things do.

But eventually Draco manages to schedule a few lessons a week with a retired chef through her daughter, who has to translate for them. The chef, a tiny Pakistani woman named Maryam who isn’t taller than Draco’s shoulder and calls him a name her daughter refuses to translate every time he asks for measurements of something, had run a hole-in-the-wall takeaway place straddling the Muggle and magical world for years with her husband, closing it up only when he’d passed.

Draco loves her immediately, and thinks the eventual real birthday present might be introducing her to Harry. Cooking with her is a genuine joy, reveling in the way she shoves him out of her path and laughs at his failed attempts at perfecting his puri after professing to be excellent at flatbreads.

They’re some of the best cooking lessons he’s ever had, if only because one of the conclusions he comes to is that he’ll never be good at this the way Maryam is, and that all he can do is give it a good enough try. “That’s what love is,” she tells him through her daughter, who is tearing up a bit. “A good enough try. As good as you can give.”

It’s the sort of lesson Draco wishes he could’ve had when he was younger, throwing himself into being the best chef he could possibly be because it felt like the only way to be as different as he possibly could be from the kid he’d been growing up.

Draco is a chef, though, so he cooks up what he thinks is a good enough try for Harry’s birthday breakfast: halwa puri (with his best puri yet, starting at sun-up to get it right) with a potato and chickpea curry he’d gotten as close to perfect as possible. These were the recipes with the most notes in English in the cookbook, the most described failures to learn from, so Draco’s excited.

Harry lights up when he comes downstairs, and Draco’s heart swells—Harry’s enthusiasm for his cooking hasn’t faded in all these years, and Draco just loves him for it. “This is all—” Harry starts, sitting down and studying dishes, blinking a bit as Draco whips out the cookbook and drops it carefully in front of him.

“The recipes are from this,” Draco says, dragging his seat around to Harry’s side of the table and leaning over the book to show him the right pages. “I took some lessons—”

“Draco,” Harry says, his voice a little wet. Draco ducks a grin into Harry’s shoulder; he loves his sappy husband who gets weepier as they age.

“Shut up, I had no idea what I was doing. I’ll introduce you to my teacher, you’ll love her—but these are fundamentally family recipes. She could teach you too, if you want, we could do it together, and use this—”

“This is my mum’s handwriting,” Harry says in wonder, looking down at some of the scribbled English notes. Draco’s eyes widen, feeling a little silly that this had never occurred to him, and he gives a short laugh.

“Well, great minds, then.”

“Wait—that bit’s my dad’s, I think.” Harry squints down at it, Draco leaning over to join him in squinting, his own reading glasses stubbornly abandoned on the bedside table for the sake of vanity.

“I should’ve known; it’s barely legible, like yours.”

“They cooked together, too,” Harry says. He looks up with a sniff, catches Draco squinting, kisses his crinkled brow and whispers “Accio Draco’s reading glasses. You vain git.”

“Nice, that’s nice—after I cooked you this amazing breakfast—”

“You’re amazing,” Harry tells him, shaking his head. “You’re—you took lessons.”

“I wanted to get it right!”

“You’re a professional chef!”

“I’m whiter than snow—” His glasses smack him in the side of the head, then, making Harry burst out laughing, making Draco join in, warm and in their kitchen, a good enough try spread out on their table.

[brookston]

Holidays 11.8

Holidays

Abet and Aid Punsters Day

Aboriginal Veterans Day (Canada)

Aicardi Syndrome Awareness Day

Colorism Awareness Day

Day of Baku Metro Employees (Azerbaijan)

Days of History and Memory (Kyrgyzstan)

Euterpe Asteroid Day

Feast of Pamphleteers

Global Day of Action Against Waster Incineration

Going Ramos Day (Aklan, Philippines)

I Hate to Cook Day

International Cleaning Woman Day

International Day of Radiology

International Hug an Exchange Student Day

International Human Animal Bond Day

International Vampire Day

Intersex Day of Remembrance (a.k.a. Intersex Solidarity Day)

Leadworts Day (French Republic)

La Almudena (Madrid, Spain)

Merchant Sailing Ship Preservation Day

Moon Festival (Elder Scrolls)

National Aboriginal Veterans Day (Canada)

National Adam Day

National Ample Time Day

National Ashley Day

National Canine Companion Graduation Day

National Christopher Day

National Dunce Day

National Elevate Day

National First Generation College Student Day

National I Read Canadian Day (Canada)

National Irene Day

National Journalists Day (China)

National Kyle Day

National Leon Day

National Loneliness Awareness Day

National Parents As Teachers Day

National Shot Day

National Signing Day

National Spatial Planning Day (Indonesia)

National S.T.E.M. Day (a.k.a. National S.T.E.A.M. Day)

National Thalassemia Prevention Day (Pakistan)

Nice Boobs Day (Japan)

Octave Day of All Saints (Anglicanism)

Personal Liberty Day (Chicago celebration of Prohibition's repeal)

Plastic Free Lunch Day

Rorschach Test Day

School Sport Jersey Day (Canada)

Scylla Asteroid Day

Shakespeare Authorship Mystery Day

Symphonic Metal Day

Talk Money Day

Victory Day (Azerbaijan)

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day

World Day Without Wi-Fi

World Gift Day

World Pianist Day

World Radiography Day (a.k.a. X-Ray Discovery Day)

World Town Planning Day

World Urbanism Day

World Ventil8 Day

X-Ray Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Cook Something Bold and Pungent Day

Harvey Wallbanger Day

National Cappuccino Day

National Pupusa Day (El Salvador)

National Roast Dinner Day (UK)

Sandwich Day (Earl of Sandwich’s Birthday)

Try a New Recipe Day

Independence & Related Days

Montana Statehood Day (#41; 1889)

Pohnpei Constitution Day (Micronesia)

2nd Friday in November

Comfort Food Friday [Every Friday]

Domino Day [2nd Friday]

Fish & Chips Friday [2nd Friday of Each Month]

Five For Friday [Every Friday]

Flashback Friday [Every Friday]

Follow Friday [2nd Friday of Each Month]

Friday Finds [Every Friday]

Frugal Friday [2nd Friday of Each Month]

Fry Day (Pastafarian; Fritism) [Every Friday]

International Mushy Pea Day [2nd Friday]

National Donor Sabbath Weekend begins [2nd Friday]

National DTC (Direct-to-Consumers) Friday [2 Fridays before Black Friday]

National Walk to Work Day (Australia) [2nd Friday]

TGIF (Thank God It's Friday) [Every Friday]

Weekly Holidays beginning November 8 (1st Full Week of November)

Jersey Shore Restaurant Week (Jersey Shore, New Jersey) [thru 11.17]

San Francisco Restaurant Week (San Francisco, California) [thru 11.17]

Festivals Beginning November 8, 2024

ArmeniaFest (Carrollton, Texas) [thru 11.10]

Big Boy's Main Street Cook Off (Thibodaux, Louisiana)

Bilbao International Documentary and Short Film Festival (Bilbao, Spain) [thru 11.15]

California Wine Festival Huntington Beach (Huntington Beach, California) [thru 11.9]

Cayman Brac (Cayman Islands) [thru 11.17]

Eat Drink SF (San Francisco, California) [thru 11.17]

Garagiste Wine Festival (Paso Robles, California) [thru 11.10]

Lake Erie Maple Expo (Albion, Pennsylvania) [thru 11.9]

New England Christmas Festival (Uncasville, Connecticut) [thru 11.10]

Ricefest (Riceboro, Georgia) [thru 11.10]

Santiago International Book Fair (Santiago, Chile) [thru 11.17]

Sebastian Clambake (Sebastian, Florida) [thru 11.10]

South Carolina Peanut Party (Pelion, South Carolina) [thru 11.9]

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Tallinn, Estonia) [thru 11.24]

Tarpon Springs Seafood Festival (Tarpon Springs, Florida) [thru 11.10]

Waterfowl Festival (Easton, Maryland) [thru 11.10]

Feast Days

Adeodatus I, Pope (Christian; Saint)

Appreciate Your Loved Ones Day (Pastafarian)

Arduino Cantafora (Artology)

Big Bird’s Daddy (Muppetism)

Bram Stoker (Writerism)

Charles Demuth (Artology)

Clarence Gagnon (Artology)

Cybi (a.k.a. Cuby; Christian; Saint)

Demetrius (Orthodox Church; Saint)

Deusdedit (Christian; Saint)

Elizabeth of the Trinity (Roman Catholic Church; Blessed)

Erika Abels d'Albert (Artology)

The Feast of the Four Crowned Ones

Feast of the Kitchen Goddess (Pagan)

Festival of the Mania (Ancient Rome)

Four Crowned Brothers (Christian; Martyrs)

George Bouzianis (Artology)

Godfrey of Amiens (Christian; Saint)

Fuigo Matsuri (Honoring Hettsui No Kami, Kitchen-Range Goddess; Shinto; Japan)

Intersex Day of Remembrance

Isabella of Castille (Positivist; Saint)

Johann von Staupitz (Lutheran)

John Duns Scotus, Blessed (Christian; Saint)

Kazuo Ishiguro (Writerism)

Lighting the Twin Flame Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Mae West Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Mania Festival (Old Roman)

Margaret Mitchell (Writerism)

Martha Gellhorn (Writerism)

Masashi Kishimoto (Artology)

Mundus Patel (Ancient Rome)

Saints and Martyrs of England (Church of England)

Samantha Shannon (Writerism)

Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the other Bodiless Powers of Heaven (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Threefold Tripling (Sacred #27; Celtic Book of Days)

Tysilio (Christian; Saint)

Willehad of Bremen (Christian; Saint)

Wish-Granting Championships (Leprechauns; Shamanism)

Yam Offering Day (Haiti; Everyday Wicca)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Premieres

Ace of Spades, by Motörhead (Album; 1980)

Buddy’s Circus (WB LT Cartoon; 1934)

Carol at the End of the World (Animated TV Series; 2023)

The Complete Stories, by Flannery O'Connor (Short Stories; 1971)

Days of Our Lives (TV Soap Opera; 1965)

Doctor Sleep (Film; 2019)

8 Mile (Film; 2002)

Everybody’s Talking’, recorded by Harry Nilsson (Song; 1967)

The Goodies (UK TV Series; 1970)

Henry V (Film; 1989)

Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino (Novel; 1972)

Jailhouse Rock (Film; 1957) [Elvis Presley #3]

Klaus (Animated Film; 2019)

Led Zeppelin IV, by Led Zeppelin (Album; 1971)

Life with Father, by Clarence Day Jr. (Play; 1939)

The Little Wise Cracker (Barney Bear MGM Cartoon; 1952)

The Mechanical Handy Man (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1937)

Metropolitan (Film; 1935)

Midway (Film; 2019)

Mutiny on the Bounty (Film; 1935)

Night School, 21st Jack Reacher book, by Lee Child (Novel; 2016)

Oh, Kay!, by George & Ira Gershwin and P.G. Wodehouse (Broadway Musical; 1926)

Quo Vadis (Film; 1951)

The Robber Bridegroom, by Eudora Welty (Novella; 1942)

Robin Hood (Animate Disney Film; 1973)

Sacred Arias, by Andrea Bocelli (Album; 1999)

Sheer Heart Attack, by Queen (Album; 1974)

Stairway to Heaven, by Led Zeppelin (Song; 1971)

Surfin’, by The Beach Boys (Song; 1961)

Thor: The Dark World (Film; 2013)

12 Years a Slave (Film; 2013)

Today’s Name Days

Gottfried, Willehad (Austria)

Angel, Gavrail, Gavril, Mihaela, Mihail, Ognyan, Ognyana, Plamen, Plamena, Rada, Radka, Radko, Rafail, Raia, Raika, Raina, Rangel (Bulgaria)

Bogdan, Bogoljub, Gracija, Gracijan (Croatia)

Bohumír (Czech Republic)

Cladius (Denmark)

Nele, Nella, Nelli (Estonia)

Aatos (Finland)

Dora, Geoffroy (France)

Gottfried, Karina, Willehad (Germany)

Angela, Angelos, Gavriel, Michalis, Stamatis, Stamos, Taxiarchis (Greece)

Zsombor (Hungary)

Goffredo (Italy)

Agra, Aleksandra, Sandors, Sandra (Latvia)

Domantė, Gotfridas, Severinas, Svirbutas (Lithuania)

Ingvild, Yngvild (Norway)

Dymitr, Godfryd, Gotfryd, Hadrian, Klaudiusz, Sędziwoj, Sewer, Sewerian, Seweryn, Wiktor, Wiktoriusz, Wiktoryn (Poland)

Gavriil, Mihail (România)

Bohumír (Slovakia)

Godofredo, Segundo (Spain)

Vendela (Sweden)

Michael, Michaelina, Raphael (Ukraine)

Geoff, Geoffrey, Jeff, Jefferson, Jeffery, Jeffrey, Mercer, Montana (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 313 of 2024; 53 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 5 of Week 45 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Hagal (Hailstone) [Day 13 of 28]

Chinese: Month 10 (Yi-Hai), Day 8Bing-Zi ()

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 7 Heshvan 5785

Islamic: 6 Jumada I 1446

J Cal: 13 Wood; Fryday [12 of 30]

Julian: 26 October 2024

Moon: 41%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 5 Frederic (12th Month) [Sixtus V / Charles V]

Runic Half Month: Nyd (Necessity) [Day 2 of 15]

Season: Autumn or Fall (Day 47 of 90)

Week: 1st Full Week of November

Zodiac: Scorpio (Day 16 of 30)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 11.8

Holidays

Abet and Aid Punsters Day

Aboriginal Veterans Day (Canada)

Aicardi Syndrome Awareness Day

Colorism Awareness Day

Day of Baku Metro Employees (Azerbaijan)

Days of History and Memory (Kyrgyzstan)

Euterpe Asteroid Day

Feast of Pamphleteers

Global Day of Action Against Waster Incineration

Going Ramos Day (Aklan, Philippines)

I Hate to Cook Day

International Cleaning Woman Day

International Day of Radiology

International Hug an Exchange Student Day

International Human Animal Bond Day

International Vampire Day

Intersex Day of Remembrance (a.k.a. Intersex Solidarity Day)

Leadworts Day (French Republic)

La Almudena (Madrid, Spain)

Merchant Sailing Ship Preservation Day

Moon Festival (Elder Scrolls)

National Aboriginal Veterans Day (Canada)

National Adam Day

National Ample Time Day

National Ashley Day

National Canine Companion Graduation Day

National Christopher Day

National Dunce Day

National Elevate Day

National First Generation College Student Day

National I Read Canadian Day (Canada)

National Irene Day

National Journalists Day (China)

National Kyle Day

National Leon Day

National Loneliness Awareness Day

National Parents As Teachers Day

National Shot Day

National Signing Day

National Spatial Planning Day (Indonesia)

National S.T.E.M. Day (a.k.a. National S.T.E.A.M. Day)

National Thalassemia Prevention Day (Pakistan)

Nice Boobs Day (Japan)

Octave Day of All Saints (Anglicanism)

Personal Liberty Day (Chicago celebration of Prohibition's repeal)

Plastic Free Lunch Day

Rorschach Test Day

School Sport Jersey Day (Canada)

Scylla Asteroid Day

Shakespeare Authorship Mystery Day

Symphonic Metal Day

Talk Money Day

Victory Day (Azerbaijan)

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day

World Day Without Wi-Fi

World Gift Day

World Pianist Day

World Radiography Day (a.k.a. X-Ray Discovery Day)

World Town Planning Day

World Urbanism Day

World Ventil8 Day

X-Ray Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Cook Something Bold and Pungent Day

Harvey Wallbanger Day

National Cappuccino Day

National Pupusa Day (El Salvador)

National Roast Dinner Day (UK)

Sandwich Day (Earl of Sandwich’s Birthday)

Try a New Recipe Day

Independence & Related Days

Montana Statehood Day (#41; 1889)

Pohnpei Constitution Day (Micronesia)

2nd Friday in November

Comfort Food Friday [Every Friday]

Domino Day [2nd Friday]

Fish & Chips Friday [2nd Friday of Each Month]

Five For Friday [Every Friday]

Flashback Friday [Every Friday]

Follow Friday [2nd Friday of Each Month]

Friday Finds [Every Friday]

Frugal Friday [2nd Friday of Each Month]

Fry Day (Pastafarian; Fritism) [Every Friday]

International Mushy Pea Day [2nd Friday]

National Donor Sabbath Weekend begins [2nd Friday]

National DTC (Direct-to-Consumers) Friday [2 Fridays before Black Friday]

National Walk to Work Day (Australia) [2nd Friday]

TGIF (Thank God It's Friday) [Every Friday]

Weekly Holidays beginning November 8 (1st Full Week of November)

Jersey Shore Restaurant Week (Jersey Shore, New Jersey) [thru 11.17]

San Francisco Restaurant Week (San Francisco, California) [thru 11.17]

Festivals Beginning November 8, 2024

ArmeniaFest (Carrollton, Texas) [thru 11.10]

Big Boy's Main Street Cook Off (Thibodaux, Louisiana)

Bilbao International Documentary and Short Film Festival (Bilbao, Spain) [thru 11.15]

California Wine Festival Huntington Beach (Huntington Beach, California) [thru 11.9]

Cayman Brac (Cayman Islands) [thru 11.17]

Eat Drink SF (San Francisco, California) [thru 11.17]

Garagiste Wine Festival (Paso Robles, California) [thru 11.10]

Lake Erie Maple Expo (Albion, Pennsylvania) [thru 11.9]

New England Christmas Festival (Uncasville, Connecticut) [thru 11.10]

Ricefest (Riceboro, Georgia) [thru 11.10]

Santiago International Book Fair (Santiago, Chile) [thru 11.17]

Sebastian Clambake (Sebastian, Florida) [thru 11.10]

South Carolina Peanut Party (Pelion, South Carolina) [thru 11.9]

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Tallinn, Estonia) [thru 11.24]

Tarpon Springs Seafood Festival (Tarpon Springs, Florida) [thru 11.10]

Waterfowl Festival (Easton, Maryland) [thru 11.10]

Feast Days

Adeodatus I, Pope (Christian; Saint)

Appreciate Your Loved Ones Day (Pastafarian)

Arduino Cantafora (Artology)

Big Bird’s Daddy (Muppetism)

Bram Stoker (Writerism)

Charles Demuth (Artology)

Clarence Gagnon (Artology)

Cybi (a.k.a. Cuby; Christian; Saint)

Demetrius (Orthodox Church; Saint)

Deusdedit (Christian; Saint)

Elizabeth of the Trinity (Roman Catholic Church; Blessed)

Erika Abels d'Albert (Artology)

The Feast of the Four Crowned Ones

Feast of the Kitchen Goddess (Pagan)

Festival of the Mania (Ancient Rome)

Four Crowned Brothers (Christian; Martyrs)

George Bouzianis (Artology)

Godfrey of Amiens (Christian; Saint)

Fuigo Matsuri (Honoring Hettsui No Kami, Kitchen-Range Goddess; Shinto; Japan)

Intersex Day of Remembrance

Isabella of Castille (Positivist; Saint)

Johann von Staupitz (Lutheran)

John Duns Scotus, Blessed (Christian; Saint)

Kazuo Ishiguro (Writerism)

Lighting the Twin Flame Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Mae West Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Mania Festival (Old Roman)

Margaret Mitchell (Writerism)

Martha Gellhorn (Writerism)

Masashi Kishimoto (Artology)

Mundus Patel (Ancient Rome)

Saints and Martyrs of England (Church of England)

Samantha Shannon (Writerism)

Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the other Bodiless Powers of Heaven (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Threefold Tripling (Sacred #27; Celtic Book of Days)

Tysilio (Christian; Saint)

Willehad of Bremen (Christian; Saint)

Wish-Granting Championships (Leprechauns; Shamanism)

Yam Offering Day (Haiti; Everyday Wicca)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Taian (大安 Japan) [Lucky all day.]

Premieres

Ace of Spades, by Motörhead (Album; 1980)

Buddy’s Circus (WB LT Cartoon; 1934)

Carol at the End of the World (Animated TV Series; 2023)

The Complete Stories, by Flannery O'Connor (Short Stories; 1971)

Days of Our Lives (TV Soap Opera; 1965)

Doctor Sleep (Film; 2019)

8 Mile (Film; 2002)

Everybody’s Talking’, recorded by Harry Nilsson (Song; 1967)

The Goodies (UK TV Series; 1970)

Henry V (Film; 1989)

Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino (Novel; 1972)

Jailhouse Rock (Film; 1957) [Elvis Presley #3]

Klaus (Animated Film; 2019)

Led Zeppelin IV, by Led Zeppelin (Album; 1971)

Life with Father, by Clarence Day Jr. (Play; 1939)

The Little Wise Cracker (Barney Bear MGM Cartoon; 1952)

The Mechanical Handy Man (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Cartoon; 1937)

Metropolitan (Film; 1935)

Midway (Film; 2019)

Mutiny on the Bounty (Film; 1935)

Night School, 21st Jack Reacher book, by Lee Child (Novel; 2016)

Oh, Kay!, by George & Ira Gershwin and P.G. Wodehouse (Broadway Musical; 1926)

Quo Vadis (Film; 1951)

The Robber Bridegroom, by Eudora Welty (Novella; 1942)

Robin Hood (Animate Disney Film; 1973)

Sacred Arias, by Andrea Bocelli (Album; 1999)

Sheer Heart Attack, by Queen (Album; 1974)

Stairway to Heaven, by Led Zeppelin (Song; 1971)

Surfin’, by The Beach Boys (Song; 1961)

Thor: The Dark World (Film; 2013)

12 Years a Slave (Film; 2013)

Today’s Name Days

Gottfried, Willehad (Austria)

Angel, Gavrail, Gavril, Mihaela, Mihail, Ognyan, Ognyana, Plamen, Plamena, Rada, Radka, Radko, Rafail, Raia, Raika, Raina, Rangel (Bulgaria)

Bogdan, Bogoljub, Gracija, Gracijan (Croatia)

Bohumír (Czech Republic)

Cladius (Denmark)

Nele, Nella, Nelli (Estonia)

Aatos (Finland)

Dora, Geoffroy (France)

Gottfried, Karina, Willehad (Germany)

Angela, Angelos, Gavriel, Michalis, Stamatis, Stamos, Taxiarchis (Greece)

Zsombor (Hungary)

Goffredo (Italy)

Agra, Aleksandra, Sandors, Sandra (Latvia)

Domantė, Gotfridas, Severinas, Svirbutas (Lithuania)

Ingvild, Yngvild (Norway)

Dymitr, Godfryd, Gotfryd, Hadrian, Klaudiusz, Sędziwoj, Sewer, Sewerian, Seweryn, Wiktor, Wiktoriusz, Wiktoryn (Poland)

Gavriil, Mihail (România)

Bohumír (Slovakia)

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Michael, Michaelina, Raphael (Ukraine)

Geoff, Geoffrey, Jeff, Jefferson, Jeffery, Jeffrey, Mercer, Montana (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 313 of 2024; 53 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 5 of Week 45 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Hagal (Hailstone) [Day 13 of 28]

Chinese: Month 10 (Yi-Hai), Day 8Bing-Zi ()

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 7 Heshvan 5785

Islamic: 6 Jumada I 1446

J Cal: 13 Wood; Fryday [12 of 30]

Julian: 26 October 2024

Moon: 41%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 5 Frederic (12th Month) [Sixtus V / Charles V]

Runic Half Month: Nyd (Necessity) [Day 2 of 15]

Season: Autumn or Fall (Day 47 of 90)

Week: 1st Full Week of November

Zodiac: Scorpio (Day 16 of 30)

[blackkitchen]

Poo Poo

Poo pin o

Polo l pic oo

Ll KY

[beardedmrbean]

All 41 construction workers trapped inside a tunnel that collapsed in the Himalayas after a Nov. 12 landslide have finally been rescued, authorities said Tuesday.

“The happiness on the faces of the workers and their families is the biggest inspiration for me,” said Pushkar Singh Dham, chief minister of the state of Uttarakhand, where the construction was taking place, in a post shared on X (formerly known as Twitter).

“It is a matter of great joy for all of us that all the 41 workers trapped in the tunnel under construction in Silkyara (Uttarakashi) have been rescued safely. Initial health checkup of all the labor brothers is being done in the temporary medical camp,” he continued.

Rescuers drilled through rock and concrete to reach the workers, with the evacuation beginning more than six hours later after they broke through the debris, per Reuters. The workers were then freed after 17 days stuck in the collapsed construction site.

Related: Drone Captures Terrifying Close-Up Footage of People Trapped in Pakistan Cable Car Before Rescue: Watch

The Guardian reported that the first worker emerged around 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday. The rescued workers were met with garlands of flowers placed on them, and cooked meals were being prepared outside of the chamber. Footage shared by BBC News showed the workers being cheered on and applauded as ambulances transported them away from the site.

Jyotish Basumatary, a brother of worker Sanjay Basumatary, told The New York Times: “I will accompany Sanjay when he gets out. I feel at peace at the moment. We feel energized and happy to be told the ordeal will be over soon.”

On Nov. 12, a landslide resulted in a part of the 2.8-mile tunnel that was being built by the workers to cave in approximately 650 feet from the entrance, the Associated Press reported. The news agency added that workers subsisted on food and oxygen that came through steel pipes.

Related: At Least 162 Dead in Myanmar Jade Mine Collapse Caused by Landslide: A 'Preventable Tragedy'

According to CNN, initial rescue attempts were hampered when the heavy machinery needed to drill through the debris broke down, prompting the rescuers to dig using their hands. When the drilling was finished, CNN added, a large pipe was brought in through the exit shaft's last portion so the trapped workers could finally evacuate. 

“I feel relieved and happy to learn that all the workers trapped in a tunnel in Uttarakhand have been rescued,” Droupadi Murmu, the president of India, posted on X.

She continued, “Their travails over 17 days, as the rescue effort met with obstacles, have been a testament of human endurance. The nation salutes their resilience and remains grateful to them for building critical infrastructure, even at great personal risk, far away from their homes. I congratulate the teams and all experts who have acted with incredible grit and determination to perform one of the most difficult rescue missions in history.”

Dham also said on X that the rescue operation "became a wonderful example of humanity and teamwork."

A majority of the trapped workers hailed from some of India’s poorer states, the Times reported, with their relatives saying that the workers made about $250 a month.

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Florida neighbors band together to recover (AP) When ankle-deep floodwaters from Hurricane Helene bubbled up through the floors of their home, Kat Robinson-Malone and her husband sent a late-night text message to their neighbors two doors down: “Hey, we’re coming.” The couple waded through the flooded street to the elevated front porch of Chris and Kara Sundar, whose home was built on higher ground, and handed over their 8-year-old daughter and a gas-powered generator. The Sundars’ lime-green house in southern Tampa also became a refuge for Brooke and Adam Carstensen, whose house next door to Robinson-Malone also flooded. The three families met years earlier when their children became playmates, and the adults’ friendships deepened during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. So when Helene and Hurricane Milton struck Florida within two weeks of each other, the neighbors closed ranks as one big extended family, cooking meals together, taking turns watching children and cleaning out their damaged homes. “Everyone has, like, the chain saw or a tarp,” Robinson-Malone said Sunday. “But really the most important thing for us was the community we built. And that made all the difference for the hurricane rescue and the recovery. And now, hopefully, the restoration.”

Thousands march in Spain to demand affordable housing (Reuters) Thousands protested on Sunday in Madrid to demand more affordable housing amid rising anger from Spaniards who feel they are being priced out of the market. “Spaniards cannot live in their own cities. They are forcing us out of the cities,” said nurse Blanca Prieto, 33. Spain is struggling to balance promoting tourism, a key driver of its economy, and addressing citizens’ concerns over unaffordable high rents due to gentrification and landlords shifting to more lucrative tourist rentals. Residents of the Canary Islands and Malaga have also staged protests this year against the rise in tourist rentals. Seasonal hospitality workers struggle to find accommodation in these tourism hot spots, with many resorting to sleeping in caravans or even their cars.

Russian Strikes on Ukrainian Ports Target Shipping (NYT) Russia has stepped up its assaults on Black Sea port infrastructure and civilian shipping in recent days, in what Ukraine says is an attempt to disrupt its exports and damage its economy. The attacks are part of an intensifying campaign of strikes on the city of Odesa and the region along Ukraine’s southern coast. Since last Monday, Russia has carried out five attacks in the area, killing 14 civilians and injuring 28, the U.N.’s Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported on Friday, citing local authorities. The strikes on ships were mostly aimed at those flying flags of small countries unlikely to retaliate against Russia. Last Monday, a container ship under the flag of Palau was hit, Ukrainian official said. The day before that, a missile damaged a vessel under a Saint Kitts and Nevis flag, according to the regional military administration.

Pakistan’s internet slows to a crawl as blame falls on government (Washington Post) Mobile internet in Pakistan has been painfully slow for over two months. Now, technology experts and political activists are accusing the government of intentionally throttling the internet to suppress political protesters. Digital rights activists fear that Pakistani officials are installing new controls to more tightly monitor social media and to censor political content.

China’s ‘New Great Wall’ Casts a Shadow on Nepal (NYT) The Chinese fence traces a furrow in the Himalayas, its barbed wire and concrete ramparts separating Tibet from Nepal. Here, in one of the more isolated places on earth, China’s security cameras keep watch alongside armed sentries in guard towers. High on the Tibetan Plateau, the Chinese have carved a 600-feet-long message on a hillside: “Long live the Chinese Communist Party,” inscribed in characters that can be read from orbit. Just across the border, in Nepal’s Humla District, residents contend that along several points of this distant frontier, China is encroaching on Nepali territory. The Nepalis have other complaints, too. Chinese security forces are pressuring ethnic Tibetan Nepalis not to display images of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, in Nepali villages near the border, they say. “This is the new Great Wall of China,” said Jeevan Bahadur Shahi, the former provincial chief minister of the area. China’s fencing along the edge of Nepal’s Humla District is just one segment of a fortification network thousands of miles long that Xi Jinping’s government has built to reinforce remote reaches, control rebellious populations and, in some cases, push into territory that other nations consider their own.

Sri Lanka closes schools as floods hammer the capital (AP) Sri Lanka closed schools in the capital Colombo and suburbs on Monday as heavy rains triggered floods in many parts of the island nation. Heavy downpours over the weekend have wreaked havoc in many parts of the country, flooding homes, fields and roads. Three people drowned, while some 134,000 people have been affected by flooding, according to the country’s Disaster Management Centre. Sri Lanka has been grappling with severe weather conditions since May, mostly caused by heavy monsoon rains. In June, 16 people died due to floods and mudslides.

Can the Government Get People to Have More Babies? (NYT) In 1989, Japan seemed to be an unstoppable economic superpower. Its companies were overtaking competitors and gobbling up American icons like Rockefeller Center. But inside the country, the government had identified a looming, slow-motion crisis: The fertility rate had fallen to a record low. Policymakers called it the “1.57 shock,” citing the projected average number of children that women would have over their childbearing years. If births continued to decline, they warned, the consequences would be disastrous. Taxes would rise or social security coffers would shrink. Japanese children would lack sufficient peer interaction. Society would lose its vitality as the supply of young workers dwindled. It was time to act. Starting in the 1990s, Japan began rolling out policies and pronouncements designed to spur people to have more babies. The government required employers to offer child care leave of up to a year, opened more subsidized day care slots, exhorted men to do housework and take paternity leave, and called on companies to shorten work hours. In 1992, the government started paying direct cash allowances for having even one child (earlier, they had started with the third child), and bimonthly payments for all children were later introduced. None of this has worked. Last year, Japan’s fertility rate stood at 1.2. In Tokyo, the rate is now less than one. The number of babies born in Japan last year fell to the lowest level since the government started collecting statistics in 1899. Now the rest of the developed world is looking more and more like Japan.

The Brewing War With Israel Is Boosting Iran’s Young Hard-Liners (Foreign Affairs) The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s influential, ideological armed force, has been riven by divisions between its older, conservative commanders and its younger, radical ranks. The former generally favor exercising some restraint when it comes to Israel, whereas the latter want to go directly after the Islamic Republic’s nemesis. Typically, the older elite have held more influence with the supreme leader. But as more and more IRGC commanders and partners have been killed, the younger generations have gained the upper hand. They have done so by questioning the competence of their elders but also by suggesting that some IRGC elites are actually Israeli assets, including Esmail Ghaani, the IRGC commander who controls Iran’s Quds force—which, in turn, controls Iran’s network of proxy militias. After Israel killed Nasrallah, Khamenei’s calculus appears to have been shaped by this younger cohort. It is part of why Khamenei launched the October 1 attack.

Netanyahu Is Killing Us To Set Us Free? Logic, Grief And Resistance In Beirut (Daraj/Lebanon) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed us, the Lebanese people, and offered us a gift: a massacre. He sent soldiers to the Lebanese border town of Maroun al-Ras, raised an Israeli flag there, and sent the picture to the whole world. Netanyahu, who has so far killed more than 40,000 Palestinians and about 3,000 Lebanese, addressed us directly—and said that he is killing us for the sake of our future [by destroying Hezbollah]. Netanyahu tells us that he wants to give us after killing us, a homeland, one that is no more than a graveyard and no less than a colony. This speech he addressed to us is truly amazing, a summary of what awaits us if Netanyahu, owner of the “massacre doctrine,” achieves what he wants.

U.S. to Deploy Missile Defense System and About 100 Troops to Israel (NYT) The United States is sending an advanced missile defense system to Israel, along with about 100 American troops to operate it, the Pentagon announced on Sunday. The move will put American troops operating the ground-based interceptor, which is designed to defend against ballistic missiles, closer to the widening war in the Middle East. It comes after Iran launched about 200 missiles at Israel on Oct. 1 and as Israel plans its retaliatory attack. The THAAD battery, a mobile defense system, will give the Israel Defense Forces another layer of protection to defend cities, troops and installations from short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles like those deployed by Iran in its last attack.

Netanyahu tells U.S. that Israel will strike Iranian military, not nuclear or oil, targets, officials say (Washington Post) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the Biden administration he is willing to strike military rather than oil or nuclear facilities in Iran, according to two officials familiar with the matter, suggesting a more limited counterstrike aimed at preventing a full-scale war. In the two weeks since Iran’s latest missile barrage on Israel, its second direct attack in six months, the Middle East has braced for Israel’s promised response, fearing the two countries’ decades-long shadow war could explode into a head-on military confrontation. It comes at a politically fraught time for Washington, less than a month before the election, and President Joe Biden has said publicly he would not support an Israeli strike on nuclear-related sites. When Biden and Netanyahu spoke Wednesday—their first call in more than seven weeks after months of rising tensions between the two men—the prime minister said he was planning to target military infrastructure in Iran, according to a U.S. official and an official familiar with the matter.

Is Israel deploying a ‘surrender or starve’ strategy in Gaza? (Washington Post) Northern Gaza, already pummeled by a year of ruinous war, is in the grips of a punishing new Israeli offensive. Israeli forces encircled the battered Jabalya refugee camp in a bid to “systematically dismantle terrorist infrastructure,” according to an IDF statement. Israel issued evacuation orders to some 400,000 remaining residents in northern Gaza, telling them to go to areas farther south that are already teeming with the displaced and still hit by Israeli bombardments. Airstrikes have killed dozens. Aid workers described a catastrophic scene. “It is like hell to be honest,” Fares Afana, the head of ambulance services in northern Gaza, told The Washington Post in a voice note on Sunday. Israeli forces were attacking the Jabalya refugee camp “for the third time and its surroundings in Beit Lahya and Beit Hanoun,” Afana said, and the camp was surrounded “from all sides.” Humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders said Friday that thousands of people—including five of its staffers—were trapped in the Jabalya camp. “Nobody is allowed to get in or out—anyone who tries is getting shot,” Sarah Vuylsteke, a project coordinator for the organization, said in a news release. The intensifying siege will “continue as long as required in order to achieve its objectives,” the IDF said in a statement. It comes alongside an apparent blockade. No food trucks have entered at all in October. Such a tactic may fuel further accusations that Israel is deliberately starving Palestinians in Gaza.

[mariacallous]

Certain rituals and traditions that are fixtures in the annals of your life simply mean something by virtue of their existence. For me, the traditions that hold the most weight almost always have to do with food.

My family came to this country from the former Soviet Union in the late ’70s. New Year’s was the biggest holiday of the year in the U.S.S.R. for all people, including Jews. For post-Soviet Jewish immigrant families around the world, New Year’s, or Novy God, is still one of the most important holidays of the year. Traditionally, there’s feasting, dancing, music, the gathering of family and friends, and often you’ll find a New Year’s tree, too. That tree is not to be confused with the exactly identical-appearing Christmas tree. Yes, even my grandparents had a New Year’s tree during my childhood. Like many other Soviet Jews they didn’t know it as anything other than an entirely secular joyous winter tradition. I remember having to keep the fact that we had a tree a secret. This was before the term “Hanukkah Bush” became a thing, and I knew enough from attending Jewish day school to recognize that Jews having a tree in their home might be taboo.

The tree wasn’t ever as important as the food we ate. My grandmother loved to make a four-course meal, and the first course featured a variety of salads, smoked fish and red caviar. I can’t remember a first course New Year’s feast without salad Olivier on our table. salad Olivier, or Russian potato salad, is an extremely popular Russian dish, and it is nearly synonymous with Novy God. You’ll be hard pressed to find a Soviet-style New Year’s celebration without it. While it’s considered celebratory, the salad is made with humble ingredients: boiled potatoes and carrots, peas, pickles, hard-boiled egg, mayonnaise and often some kind of meat like a Mortadella or smoked ham.

The salad was first prepared by Lucien Olivier in the 1860s. Olivier was the French chef of a famous restaurant in Moscow called The Hermitage; hence the very French name for this now-popular Russian salad. Also, Russians were obsessed with French culture at that time. Salad Olivier was an immediate hit, and it became the restaurant’s signature dish. Originally, it was made with crayfish, capers and even grouse. After the revolution, simpler and easier-to-come-by ingredients were more commonly adapted into the recipe. These ingredients are also all conveniently available in the dead of winter.

The popularity of the salad spread beyond Russia to Eastern Europe, the Balkans and even to Iran and Pakistan. In fact, in our family we call this dish salad de boeuf (pronounced as “de beff”), which is what this salad is inexplicably called in Romania and Western Ukraine. Boeuf means “beef” in French, and this salad contains no beef at all.

In each geographic locale, the salad might differ slightly. Sometimes the potatoes are mashed instead of cubed, or there’s shredded chicken instead of smoked meat, or sometimes there’s no meat at all, as was the custom in our family. What makes this type of potato salad uniquely a salad Olivier is the presence of potatoes combined with carrots, peas, pickles and hard-boiled eggs. Everything should be chopped to roughly the same size. The appeal of something seemingly odd and vaguely average is ultimately mysterious, but the combination of hearty firm potatoes, sweet cooked carrots, crisp pickles, earthy peas and silky eggs in a creamy tangy dressing just works. The ingredients meld together, each losing its own particular edge to combine to make a complete range of salty, sweet, tangy, satisfying tastes in each bite. I think this salad’s enduring and far-reaching popularity proves that it’s eaten for more than tradition’s sake.

If you’re going to attempt to make this for the first time there are a few things to know. For one, this recipe reflects how my family likes this dish. If you’ve had this before, it might be slightly different from what you’re used to. More importantly, the quality of each ingredient matters to the overall success of the dish. I like to use Yukon Gold potatoes because they hold up well and have a pleasant rich sweetness, but you can definitely try it with your favorite potatoes. Taste the carrots before you cook them; they should be sweet and flavorful, not the dull astringent variety you sometimes find in the supermarket. The best pickles for this dish are ones that come from the refrigerator section, that still have a crunch, and are brined in salt with zero vinegar added. They’re also known as “naturally fermented” pickles. The type of mayonnaise you use is also key, and I swear by Hellmann’s/Best Foods.

While our family assimilated to American life in all kinds of ways and happily observed all of the Jewish holidays, celebrating New Year’s was an unspoken honoring of our past. My family loves America; they are proud they could come here and offer their children a better life, which included being able to be openly Jewish and free from religious persecution. And yet, there will always be a meaningful connection to their place of origin, particularly to the food they ate as children, and to a life that formed their identity. Whether we acknowledge that or not, or even fully realize it, eating salad Olivier at the new year offers that link to our past.

Notes:

You can cook the potatoes and carrots up to two days in advance, and store in the refrigerator. 

This salad need to sit for 1 hour before serving, and can be made up to a day in advance.

This salad stores well for two days. You can also make this without the dressing up to three days in advance, then add the dressing before serving.