Let Them Eat Cheese

Since the pandemic began, sales of cheese in France has slumped over 60%.  The French are stocking up on what they consider "essential"items, and cheese is not one of them.  The result, producers of cheese will be left with 5,000 tons of overstock by the end of the pandemic, most of which will not be salvageable.  80% of cheese has a shelf life of about 8 weeks.

The French government is encouraging it's people to buy cheese, to maintain the French culture, the French tradition, the French heritage.  The industry needs to be supported.  It is a way of life for many rural farmers.

France has been one of the hardest hit countries in Europe, losing over 25,000 citizens to Covid-19.  Things are beginning to open up in France, and hopefully get back to their way of life soon.  This includes getting back to eating cheese (and drinking a little wine), one of the most French things I can think of.  I think of the quote "Let them eat cake."  Let's change that, for now, to "Let them eat cheese."

Individual Cherry Pies

Ron and I love cherry pie.  I buy the Claim Jumper pies when they're on sale for $3.99.  I couldn't buy the ingredients for that price.  When they're not on sale, I like to make little individual pies, cherry is our favorite.  They're so simple you can make them in about 45 minutes from start to finish, including cooking.  Eat one for dessert, then freeze the rest and save for another day.  Here's how to make individual fruit pies.



1 uncooked store bought crust
1 can cherry (or other fruit) filling
Sugar to sprinkle on top

Take one store bought pie crust and cut into 4-6 rounds using a cookie cutter.  Place the pie dough in a muffin pan, and have the pie crust come up the sides of the muffin pan.  Fill muffin pans with fruit filling.

Take another pie crust and cut strips to put on top of pie to create a lattice effect.  Then use a pastry brush, paint on a little egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake about 40 minutes, or until pie crust is cooked and fruit is bubbly.  Pies will be very hot, so allow to cool before serving.  Serve with vanilla ice cream for a special treat.  Freeze what you don't eat in a day or two.  Enjoy.

When Will You Go Back To Restaurants And Bars?

On Mother's Day I saw pictures of customers in a small diner in Colorado crowded into a restaurant, no distance between any of them.  None of them were wearing masks.  They all seemed to be having a great time, not a care in the world.  Will they pay the price?  We will find out in about 2 weeks.  It only takes one of them to be positive for the virus, even without symptoms, to infect dozens of people.  Is it worth your life to eat breakfast out as you might have done a few months ago?

Not to me.  No one enjoys eating out more than me, but I am not willing to risk my health for an hour of fun and a good meal.  Even if restaurants opened tomorrow, with social distancing inside, I would not go.  I don't think dining with servers in masks, barriers separating tables, and seats so far apart it would be hard to talk to your group, sounds fun.  Outdoor dining is a different story.  As far as we know, inside air is better than outside air, and your chances of contracting the virus are less likely.  Under certain circumstance I WOULD dine at an outside restaurant.  I'm thinking of a place like St. Tropez in the Lumberyard.  That would work. 

Bars?  Forget about it.  Part of the draw of a bar is the bustling, customer filled area, with lots of music, drinking and people in close quarters.  I don't think bars or breweries (without food) will open in California any time soon.

I do fantasize about the day we can go to our favorite restaurant without fear.  I'm afraid that time is not any time soon. 

People say that as soon as we have a vaccine everything will be fine.  Do they realize that as smart as scientists are and no matter how much money the government pours into research, vaccines can take a long time to develop, sometimes decades, sometimes never.  30 years after AIDS, we still don't have a vaccine, nor do we have one for Ebola.  I'm hopeful with so many scientists worldwide working on this, that one will be developed within the next 18 months.  Until then, I have to mostly enjoy my own cooking, and occasionally dine out at an outdoor restaurant.  My thoughts are with restaurant owners, and hope many can survive.

Native American Cuisine Old and New

Road Scholar is keeping me busy during April.  At least once a week they have an interesting and informative lecture.  The most recent one was on Native American cuisine, which didn't sound very interesting, but I had nothing else to do, so I watched.  Fascinating!

We look at Native American culture today and think about obesity, diabetes and other major health problems that are rampant on reservations today.  It wasn't always this way.  The earliest period of Native American culture was precontact, before Europeans arrived in North America.  During this period, their diet consisted of corn, beans, chilis, tomatoes, potatoes, vanilla cacao. Yes, they ate berries and nuts and animal protein that they hunted, but for the most part, a very healthy diet. 

The first contact period was when diet and health began to change.  Europeans brought with them sheep, pork, beef, wheat, apples and stone fruits, watermelon and cabbage.  Still, a pretty healthy diet.  It was when the American government came in and started to relocate Native Americans in the mid 20th century that things changed.  Along with relocation came government food.  What did the government send?  Lard, packaged cereals, and many other commodity food items that were not part of the traditional diet.  With that came the creation of Indian fry bread, delicious, but not so healthy.  Over a short period of time Native Americans became the least healthy of all Americans. 

Fast forward to contemporary times, and dieticians and doctors are trying to help individual tribes return to eating habits pre U.S. government.  New diet fuses food from all periods of development, concentrating on corn, squash, potatoes, chilis and bison.  Food is Medicine is the slogan that everyone is trying to promote.

Have you ever seen a Native American restaurant in your town?  Probably not.  I know that there are a few around, probably in areas where local tribes reside.  It is probably the most underrepresented and misunderstood food culture I can think of.  As Americans are always looking for something new and interesting to eat, my guess is that over time Native American restaurants will start to pop up in urban cities.  Other than fry bread, I don't think I've ever eaten anything from that culture.  I would love to try some of their foods.  Road Scholar has a program in Taos  and Santa Fe that does just that. 

How Quickly Television Has Adapted

I was watching Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives the other night, and was amazed at how quickly they had adapted the show to deal with Covid -19.  Usually Guy Fieri goes around the country in his vintage Mustang, visiting small restaurants turning out amazing food.  Because he can not do that right now, they have adapted.  Guy has a spectacular outdoor kitchen in his home in Northern California.  He has returned to restaurants he visited in the past, asked the chefs to send them the ingredients for one of their famous dishes, and let Guy cook the dish in his outdoor kitchen.  Thanks to Zoom, the four chefs he highlighted were on the screen, Guy in the middle doing the cooking at their direction, and a lot of chit chat going on between Guy and the various chefs.  It was a thoroughly entertaining show.  I was amazed at how quickly they got the show up and running.  There's a lot of technology involved, but it worked.  What a great adaptation to a difficult time.

Of course news shows and programs like 20-20, have also adapted.  Everyone is broadcasting from their homes, and have been for several weeks.  Television has changed the way they do things so quickly, I find it amazing.  Meterorlogists  broadcasting from their homes, Chris Cuomo coming to you live from his basement,  all the investigative reporters working from home.  I have to confess that I love looking at their homes?  They're usually in the kitchen area or the living room or a study.  The one interesting thing I have noticed is that all the reporters have bookshelves in the background.  They're all readers!!

Several years ago NBC tried to have Fritz Coleman, longtime weather man in LA, do the weather in both LA and San Diego.  Apparently it didn't work at that time.  My guess is, that today it would.  Very interesting how things change.  I try to look at the good, which is difficult right now, but I am optimistic because of our ingenuity.  Where there's a will, there's a way, and television has certainly figured out a way to continue to bring us quality programming.

Covid 19 Affecting Mental Health

Have you noticed an uptick in the number of adds on TV for mental health services?  I think everyone is experiencing some sort of anxiety, stress or fear.  Apps like Calm to calm you down have been around for awhile, but people are using them more these days.  My health care provider now has a phone service for customers to talk to a psychologist about their fears.  Many drugs on TV are offering relief for anxiety. 

I am also having difficulty sleeping.  I don't think I'm anxious or stressed, but obviously I am.  It's just an unimaginable feeling that things will never be the same again.  One of my friends keeps asking me, "When will this be over?"  The answer is, it will not be over until there is a vaccine that can prevent it.  That may be years away.  Like the flu, the vaccine they are working on now may prevent us from getting a bad case, just as current flu shots do not necessarily prevent the flu, but just keep you from getting a life threatening flu.  The answer is, we just don't know how long we will be so confined. 

From what I understand, within a few weeks, restrictions will start to be lifted.  You will be able to play tennis and golf (and pickleball), you will be able to walk the beach, surf and boogie board, and hike.  You will probably soon be able to dine in outdoor restaurants with some social distancing.  You will not be going to concerts or dance clubs any time soon.  You will be able to fly, but seating will be changed, possibly leaving the middle seat empty.  Lufthansa sent out a memo today requiring ALL crew and passengers to wear face coverings while flying through August 15.  I'm sure many other airlines are doing something similar.

Bottom line, we just don't know how long this will last, and we have to just go with the flow.  Enjoy the simple things, and sometime soon we will be back to doing some of what we used to enjoy.  It's kind of how things changed after 9-11.  We had to get used to new security, new restrictions at airports and large gatherings, etc.  Some things were never the same after 9-11, it will be the same for Covid 19.  I've always called life a roller coaster ride.  We are at the bottom of the hill now, and hopefully will soon be going up.

Do You Know What Pretexting Is?

I first heard the term "pretexting" while reading the fascinating book by Ronan Farrow, Catch and Kill.  It's about the lies and deceptions that are told to bury stories, in this case the Harvey Weinstein story.  The term was used in Ronan's discussion of the practice used by The National Enquirer to gather information on a specific story, then pay off the victim, then bury the story.

Pretexting often involves a scam where the liar pretends to need information in order to confirm the identity of the person he is talking to. It is a form of social engineering, in which an individual lies to obtain privileged data.  A pretext is a false motive.  It could be presenting oneself as someone else in order to obtain private information.  It may be creating a completely false identity.

Private investigators and others who gather information often use pretexting.  Such deceptive practices, I can hardly believe it.  In the financial field, the Gramm-Leach Act in 1999 banned the use of pretexting to gain access to financial data.  We've got to be careful of random calls by people posing as someone they're not to gain access to your personal information.  Scammers are out there.  Beware!

Music Therapy Can Help The Sick

In the 1980's, David and Philip took piano lessons from a most remarkable teacher.  Howard Richman was a young man with an amazing gift to teach, as well as being a fine pianist himself.  David and Phil took  lessons from him for several years, and became good pianists, and more importantly, developed a lifelong enjoyment of music.  They actually already had a love of music from my dad, but lessons with Howard reinforced it.  At the time they were studying with Howard, he was developing natural healing music tapes.  He continues to be interested in this today, using music therapy to heal the physically and mentally ill.  He also owns a music school in Woodland Hills, where he teaches teachers how to teach.  He has music students all over the country, using online lessons.

I thought about Howard today when I saw a commercial for a show on TV about how music therapy can help with everything from anxiety to eating disorders.  When Howard first developed his tapes in the 80's his ideas were new.  Today, most professionals appreciate the  positive impact music therapy can play in many illnesses. Look at the face of an old man in pain, then introduce soft music, and you will likely see his face soften too.  Music is good medicine for the body, mind and soul.

Reopening America

Many states have started to reopen, defying the guidelines of the federal government and advice of most doctors and public health officials.  We won't know for a few weeks how this all works out.  What most experts think is that 10-14 days after the reopening of beaches, hair salons, tattoo parlors and restaurants, there will be a spike in positive cases of Covid-19. Older people seem to take the pandemic more seriously.  Where I live people are always wearing masks in public and are maintaining social distancing.  Younger people seem to say "We've got to get back to business,"  and "When will I be able to go to a bar or club, or go to a concert?"  I guess these people still think they're invincible.  Almost 75,000 people have already died in the U.S. from Covid-19, and the virus is NOT going away any time soon.

I think we need to determine as a country the value of life.  Is it worth a single life to open the beach and allow groups to congregate?  For me, no.  If we continue to lose life at the rate we are going, we will have lost more than 100,00 souls by the end of June. 

I know it's hard to stay apart and stay home.  Things will reopen if people continue to follow the rules.  See how well small countries like New Zealand and Australia have controlled the virus.  Granted, they are very small countries, but their leaders took drastic action early, and have stopped the spread of Covid-19.  Many governors have stepped up and lead with strength and reason.  Cudos to them.  I wish I could say the same about our federal leadership.  Pathetic. 

This is not the time to protest and scream about our freedoms being taken away.  This is the time to band together for the good of the country, for the good of our way of life.  If we don't act smart, thousands of lives will be unnecessarily lost, and our very democracy will be badly damaged, if not destroyed. 

This  will ultimately end.  Either a vaccine will become available, or we will get used to a new way of doing things.  We are strong enough to get through this, and move on with healthy, happy America.

Where Do Birds Go To Die?

Birds, beautiful birds with such natural grace and brilliance, are all around us, yet how often do you see a dead bird?  Hardly ever.  Why is this?  That's a question that I've always wondered about.  

The truth is, that when birds feel weak or suffer from illness or injury, they make seek refuge in a safe, secluded place in which to gather strength and recover.  Sometimes that place is on the ground, under dense cover.  Other times it is perched deep in the shelter of thick foliage, hidden from potential predators.  So, when death comes, the body of the bird is hidden.  It becomes light in mass for its size and doesn't last long.  Scavengers take what they can in short order.  Nutrients from the body return to the earth, enriching the soil.  Small animals may consume the bones which are a rich source of calcium.  

In a short time, all that's left of the bird are its feathers.  These are reminders of the grace and beauty of one of earth's most beautiful creatures.  This is all part of the life cycle, and in death, the bird returns to the earth to help replenish it.  Finally, I have my answer to what I have wondered for so long.  Where do birds go to die?

Winston Churchill: Wanted Dead or Alive

When Winston Churchill escaped from a prison camp in South Africa, after surrendering to Boer soldiers in 1899, he was sough after by his captors, but ultimately escaped.  It's a fascinating story about Winston Churchill, war journalist during the Boer War (1899-1902), in fact the highest paid war correspondent of his time.  Churchill had served in the British military prior to the Boer War, but went to the frontlines in 1899 as a civilian (although he still wore a military style uniform and carried a pistol) war correspondent.  Churchill ended up getting more action than he could have imagined!

His war assignment took him to the front lines, where he was working with Captain Haldane, an aspiring military man.  Churchill convinced him to take him on a dangerous patrol of an armoured train.  The Boers got wind of the train, and ambushed them, derailing the train with a boulder put on the tracks.  Many men were killed in the ensuing battle.  Churchill tried to move the damaged train, and finally got the engine going.  With the help of other British soldiers, they got the engine going.  Captain Haldane ended up surrendering to the Boers, but Churchill jumped into a ditch and continued fighting.  Fortunately or unfortunately he had forgotten his pistol, and was forced to surrender.  He and the other captive British were shipped to Pretoria, and put in a prison.  Churchill tried to get out of his predicament because he was a journalist, but the Boers would not let him go.  He and Captain Haldane plotted their escape, finally able to leap the walk at dusk when they were changing guards.  Churchill was separated from Haldane and another man who escaped with him, and spent several days riding trains, jumping from one to another, trying to head east.  He landed in a small mining town, where he knocked on the door of the house.  He got lucky.  The house was owned by the only Englishman within miles.  The Englishman fed him, and got him on another train (with a disguise, as he was now being tracked by the Boers), finally ending up in Portuguese East Africa.

The British authorities got him to Durban.  Churchill became one of the most famous men in the world because of his daring escapades and heroism.  In 1900 Churchill rejoined the army and continued fighting in the Boer War.  Ironically, at the end of the war, he liberated the prison camp from which he had escaped, just a few years before. 

Whenever I think of Winston Churchill I think of a portly old man with a cigar in hand, and the leadership he provided Great Britain during WW11 and beyond.  I never knew about what he did as a young man, long before he became involved in politics.  I will never hear his name and think of him the same.

FYI.  I learned all this from a Road Scholar lecture that I listened to on Zoom.  There is so much interesting content out there, but you've got to look for it!