BOWLED OVER by TABBOULEH

BOWLED OVER by TABBOULEH

 

Make this incredible Lebanese bowl featuring  Tabbouleh, hummus, falafels & so much more.

Let’s be clear. Blogs are blogs. Power Point Presentations are not. According to my more seriously-minded techie pals, PPP are something else entirely. They are more, well, seriously minded. Humph!

After watching a PPP listing ten potential benefits of them, we seemed almost on the same page. I especially honed in on (1) Broadening visual impact; (2) Improving audience focus; (7) & (8) Building Spontaneity & Interactivity and (10) Increasing Wonder.

 

Traditionally Lebanese Tabbouleh is a green herbal salad with a touch of spices and a dollop of grains.

 

Call me crazy but I think it’s all about those Bullet Points. This week’s post screams for bullet points, emoji style. So let’s do it. Give it a read… seriously.

 

👩‍🍳  GRAND RAPIDS was GRAND

Shortly before Thanksgiving, as usual, I bid farewell to Colorado. While it’s a 650-mile drive through Utah and Arizona to Henderson, Nevada, where I’ll be for the holidays, it’s no chore. The iconic landscapes of sandstone buttes, arches and mesas visible throughout my drive are gloriously breathtaking.

 

In 1976 I was in Kansas City for the Republican Convention when Gerald Ford was nominated. That’s why I saved his library for last. As you can see, I am on the floor of the Convention and rather awestruck by Dan Rather.

 

After arriving in Henderson, I grabbed my bag, boarded an Allegiant jet and flew to Michigan. Where. It. Was. Snowing. Gerald Ford’s Presidential Library is located in Grand Rapids. His was the last of the thirteen libraries administered by the National Archives for me to visit. It’s been a five-year project which has taken me and friends accompanying me to California, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Texas, New York, Massachusetts and Michigan. (Hoover. West Branch, Iowa 1962.)

 

This statue is at the Ford library entrance.

 

Suffice it to say, it was thrilling to visit Ford’s museum, not only to reach my goal but also because in 1976 I attended the Republican Convention in Kansas City when he was nominated. Even better, the Library’s staff supervisor and her cohorts were excited for me.

 

I’d filled out all the appropriate forms and we’re just getting ready to put the last Presidential Library stamp in my Passport Booklet.

I am the 75th person to visit all 13 libraries. There were gifts,  an engraved crystal paperweight with a commendation to follow from the Archives. Who knew? Next stop: Chicago, 2020

 

This is the stairway ladder to the rooftop of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon which enabled 978 Americans and 1,120 Vietnamese to board helicopters and escape to American ships waiting offshore on April 29/30, 1975.

 

👩‍🍳 EYE SPY the INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

 

The small white dot you see below is the 360’ International Space Station that was launched in 1998. Since Year 2000, 230 astronauts have flown in this habitable artificial satellite. Only the moon and Venus are brighter in the night sky. NASA  has a free App, Spot the Station, showing when it will pass over your location.

 

During the Thanksgiving holidays, in Bishop with my family, we saw a video of the three ISS astronauts wishing Americans “Happy Thanksgiving.”  So our family (three generations)  was ready, willing and looking to return those wishes when the ISS flew over at 6:04 pm last Friday evening.

Melissa spotted it first. Sounds crazy but we hollered and waved. In 1961 I remember Alan Shepherd being the first American to fly into space. He flew 116 miles high before safely returning to earth. The flight lasted 15 ½ minutes. I can only imagine what Clara and Emma will see during their lifetimes. Thanks, Jane Carey, for introducing us to this App.

 

👩‍🍳 TABBOULEH & the INCREDIBLE LEBANESE BOWL

 

 

David Lebovitz’s idea of Tabbouleh is a ‘bowl heaped with fresh herbs, a few tomato chunks, and very, very few bits of bulgur (cracked wheat.)’ He’s borrowed this recipe, our CooktheBookFridays choice this week, from highly acclaimed Lebanese chef Anissa Helou. David claims it’s not only authentic but highly addictive. I agree. Recipe below.

I substituted 1/2 cup cooked Quinoa instead of bulgar to make it gluten-free. Click this Link for the many ways to serve or enhance Tabbouleh.  Using  inspiration provided by the Minimalist Baker, I created this Incredible Lebanese Bowl.

 

My friend, Dipika Rai, makes the most delicious falafels. To be honest, every delicacy she makes is delicious. We haven’t yet made falafels together so I improvised.

 

 

Sometimes it’s all about the box, the box, the box. Of the two, I prefer Knorr.

 

TABBOULEH by Anissa Helou, from A Paris Kitchen cookbook

Serves 8-10
(TIP: This is a large amount of Tabbouleh. I halved the recipe and adjusted the other ingredients to my taste. Even so, I added a 1/2 to 2/3 cup of Quinoa, more than the recipe specified.)

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 – 1/2 cup of fine bulgur (I used Quinoa but any grain will work))
3 medium firm ripe tomatoes, diced into small cubes
2  spring onions or scallions, trimmed and very thinly sliced
14 ounces flat-leaf parsley, most of the stalks discarded, leaves washed and dried
2 cups mint leaves, washed and dried, no stems
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
salt to taste
juice of 1 lemon, or to taste
1/3 to 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Using a grain of your choice, prepare it according to its directions.

2. Put the diced tomatoes in a bowl to drain and set aside while you prepare the herbs.

3. Using a sharp knife, grab as much of the prepped parsley and mint as you can handle in a bunch, and slice them very thin, to end up with nice, crisp slender strips.

4. After draining the tomatoes of their juice, put in a large bowl. Add the spring onion or scallions and herbs.

4. Sprinkle the bulgur all over. Season with the cinnamon, allspice and pepper. Add salt to taste.

5. Add the lemon juice and olive oil and mix well. Taste and adjust the seasonings (you may need more) if necessary.

6. Serve immediately. (I ate this salad for 3 days. Of course, “immediately” is the best.)

 

Over the holidays we enjoyed the company of 9-10 Wood Ducks at Stephen & Melissa’s pond. They are among the most stunningly beautiful of all waterfowl. They are also very secretive and skittish. We kept a low profile so they would hang around. They did. Two males and one female (L).

PASS the PORT, Please – SNAP OUT OF IT

PASS the PORT, Please – SNAP OUT OF IT

SNAP # 28, PASS the PORT, Please

This is not a Snap about Port. Perhaps, it should be. At a restaurant recently, I watched a woman swig down two goblets of this sweet red wine, served on the rocks, before receiving her entrée. Although I realize Port is “just not for dessert anymore”, she was clearly not needing to Snap-Out-0f-Anything by the time I finished my dinner and left.

PORT, THE PRIDE OF PORTUGAL, PHOTO BY IMAGE SOURCE PHOTOS

Nor is this a prompt about obtaining an American Passport for international travel. Not that it isn’t a good        idea. According to the State Department, the number of Americans who have passports, as of January 2011, is 114,464,041. Since we’re  a country of more than 300 million people, that translates to one out of every three Americans who can travel abroad. In other words, 2 out of 3 of us can’t even travel to-and-from Canada!

BUY LOCAL –  See the USA

We all love Dora the Explorer, graphicshunt.com

If international travel isn’t an interest, or, even if it is, here’s an idea that should appeal to the Dora Explorer in all of us.

Last month I visited the historic Piedras Blancas Lighthouse with my friends, Walt and Shirley Lowe. Located near Hearst Castle on the central California coast, this lighthouse was critically important during the California Boom era when tall ships and cargo vessels were trying to navigate the dangerous hidden shoals and submerged rocks of the craggy coastline. Today, about 30 lighthouses, now obsolete, survive here, perched majestically along the Pacific coast. At least twelve are open to the public.

Piendra Blancas Lighthouse, circa mid-1800s, St. Simeon, Ca., Photo by lighthousefriends.com

As we were leaving, what had been a fabulous tour, Shirley remarked to Walt, “Oh, we have to get our stamp.”

Say what?

The Lowes explained that the US Lighthouse Society sponsors a Passport Program. The passport, with its blue vinyl cover is a look-alike of the official US passport and is used by lighthouse aficionados as they travel throughout the country. When you visit a participating lighthouse (there are 60 of them) you have your passport stamped with a custom-designed work of art. Each stamp is different.

At the gift shop, Shirley asked “to be stamped”. The volunteer obliged. Plop went the newly-inked stamp. Done.

Not one to enjoy being caught flat-footed, I wanted to know more about this passport business.

“Why, yes,” another friend, chimed in, “I’ve had a Passport for the National Parks for years.”

US National Parks Cancellation Station, Government Photo

According to the US Parks’ website, the Passport® to Your National Parks, launched in 1986, includes not only blank pages for stamps but also color-coded maps, pre-visit information, illustrations and photographs. It also includes a free map and guide to the national park system.

Even Elderhostel (now called Road Scholars) issues participants a passport so they can track their program attendance. Although they distribute actual lick-and-smack-down stamps for each program, the idea is the same. The late Glenn Schwartz had 96 Elderhostel stamps in his book, leaving a treasured memory for his family. Schwartz, who was an engineer, travelled near and far, from the Boundary Waters, in his home state of Minnesota, to as far away as Antarctica.

Which got me to thinking………

I am on a mission to see all the Presidential Libraries, all 13 of them. Presidential Libraries are not really libraries but rather archives and museums, bringing together in one place the documents and artifacts of a President and his administration. To date I have visited the libraries of Herbert Hoover (West Branch, Iowa) and Harry Truman (Independence, Missouri). These treasures are fascinating and, in my opinion, one of America’s uncrowned glories.

Wondering if there was a passport for my quest, I pulled up the National Archives web site. Holy Tippecanoe and Tyler Too! In June 2011 the National Archives began issuing it’s own “Passport to Presidential Libraries,” that visitors can carry with them on their travels to Presidential Libraries across the nation.

I’m on it!

Anyone interested in a long week-end in Texas next Fall? I can knock off three libraries in one visit. Or, California, two? Better yet, join me as I swing through the South? My route includes four.

Have map and “Passport to Presidential Libraries”. Will travel.

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Photo by eventective.com

The Yin & Yang of Travel

The Yin & Yang of Travel

We all have a Yin & Yang about us, don’t we?  So it goes, in my family, with this essay devoted to the two Y-genes of my daughter, Melissa, who is still maneuvering through her 40’s, and is  a writer, wife, and mother.  Melissa’s Yang is that she says Yes to everything she’s asked to do.  Her Yin is that she cannot say No.

She seems, however, to have successfully stretched 24 hours into 28-1/2.  How do I know this? In a recent four-day period, counting up all her commitments and deadlines, plus 7-hours for sleep each night, I calculated she needed at least 114 hours from lift-off to completion rather than the Sun-to-Moon’s four-day expectation of 96.

And, while I hear that sometimes, just occasionally, this makes her a little grouchy, her family thrives and she’s the Princess, if not always the Queen.  Never one to mettle, knowing that it’s not my business, and having tossed out “running yourself ragged” and “too much on your plate” much too often, I’ve learned to just hold on tight, allowing some of her energy, creativity, and passion to filter into my life.

Her latest over-commitment was substitute teaching for several days at her girls’ school.  Besides the regular course of study, she also helped direct a school-wide talent show and baked bread. Yes, her class actually baked bread for the entire school.  That exercise whirled somewhere around the curriculum of mathematics, following orders, patience, and butter.

Quite honestly, her forté, writing, is what her students is not. She miraculously has them scribbling down everything from poems to newspaper articles, which were actually published with bylines in the school newspaper. (Don’t even ask if she helped with its launching.)

One day she pulled down a map of the United States, told her kids to write down five places they would like to visit, and, then, a paragraph each, explaining, Why. Their answers were varied, their reasons, interesting,  New York City/Statue of Liberty; Washington D.C./Lincoln’s Memorial, of course.  But their overwhelming desires were to visit our “outdoors”, from the Badlands and Four Corners to Mt. McKinley and the Grand Canyon.

Which got me to thinking about the wanderlust of my generation……. this is dream-fulfillment time, folks, time to drag out that folder brimming with foreign travel clippings, and, make reservations. If not now, when?  Already tucked away in my drawer, carefully considered, are my 7 for-sures and my 2 probably-nots.

1.the Galapagos;
2.the Concentration Camps of central Europe;
3.any unexplored areas of France;
4.an African Safari;
5.Berlin;
6.Petra, located in Jordan, south of the Dead Sea;
7.a cruise through the Panama Canal Lock System; and, the probably nots,
8.the Roman Antiquities in Libya;
9.Easter Island’s Moai.

But, Melissa’s class enticed me to come back home, to think locally. At this point in our lives, have we forgotten there’s no place like home, isn’t it where the heart is?  Are there still some gems here for me to discover and enjoy.  Think about it.  Haven’t I already got this country covered?

In a word, No.

With a nod to those students, now tucked away in my drawer, carefully considered, are my see-America-first 6 for-sures, no probably-nots, with more to follow:

1.the Presidential Libraries – These are one of our country’s underrated, uncrowned glories. Beginning with Herbert Hoover’s library in West Branch, Iowa (which I have visited along with Eisenhower’s in Abilene, Kansas), there are now 12.

http://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/

2.Glacier National Park
3.the Everglades
4.Civil War battlefields trip/tour
5.Birding the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail
6.San Antonio

God Bless America.

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
– Innocents Abroad,  Mark Twain

Photo: I recently enjoyed late afternoon at the magnificent South Rim of the Grand Canyon, arguably this country’s greatest natural wonder.  Flying overhead, at the time, were nine California Condors,  each one a wonder of the feather variety.