Egg, Green Chile and Cheese Casserole

I love breakfast and brunch. Many of my favorite foods appear on breakfast and brunch menus. I love casseroles, from mac and cheese to the egg casserole I have for you today. A few months ago I attended a wonderful pot luck brunch and my favorite food at the brunch was Judy's egg, green chile and cheese casserole. I had totally forgotten about this wonderful dish. I used to make it for dinner with a green salad and tortillas, but it's great as a breakfast or brunch item too. Here is my version of the dish.

Eggs, Green Chiles and Cheese Casserole

1 dozen eggs
1 pint sour cream
4 ounce can chopped green chiles
1 large grated longhorn or cheddar cheese or combination of both

Beat egg, then mix in sour cream. Spray 9X13 inch pan with cooking spray. Put a layer of cheese on bottom, layer of green chiles, and pour eggs and sour cream mixture on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until eggs are firm. Let it sit for 10 minutes before cutting into squares. Serve with salsa if desired.

Fifty Eighth Visit to Taft

After last week's fiasco with Phil and Ellen being turned away from visitation for speeding in the Taft parking loft, I crawled into the lot on Friday at less than 20MPH. I know the sargent at Taft means business. Friday was the coldest day of the year, in the low 30's and rain and snow were expected. I wasn't sure how long our visit would last, as I had to be concerned about the CHP closing the Grapevine. Fortunately the weather cooperated and we got our visit in, and back to San Diego before sundown.

Ron rarely talks about the staff at Taft, but he does have a new counselor who seems to really take an interest in the inmates. Here's what she did. Ron had a legal call scheduled for 1pm one day, and the counselor went to make the phone call and the lawyer didn't answer. Often if there is no answer, that's the end of it, and the inmate will have to reschedule the call for another day. This young woman, however, tried again about 15 minutes later, and then again until she got through. She realized that this was important to Ron and went out of her way to make sure he got his phone call. Events like that are few and far between, but so appreciated when someone goes out of their way to help.

Ron has said numerous times that everything is difficult at Taft. Here's just a little example of what he means. Shopping in the commissary takes place once a week, and the day of the week you shop depends on your unit's inspection performance. Ron's unit was last this week. I guess they're not very neat. Anyway, that means they shop on Friday. Friday Ron always has visitation, so he had to shop in the morning from 6:30-8:00am, before his visitors arrived. Unfortunately the generator was out and there was no shopping until later in the day. Bottom line, he now has to wait until next week to shop because he would have missed visitation in order to shop. Luckily he has enough phone minutes left, and the rest of the stuff he'll just have to wait until next week to get. As he says, nothing is easy.

As of now Ron has a release date of July 27, 2011. That is about 6 weeks later than he was expecting, and this has put us both on edge. We are trying to find out why things have changed and see if there's anything that can be done. You get your mind set on a particular date, you count the days, weeks and months until that date, then they change it on you. It's hard not to react to these changes, but we're trying hard to stay calm. Hopefully we will know more in a few weeks. As Ron always says, hope for the best, but expect the worst.

You Don't Have To Be Jewish To Enjoy the Jewish Film Festival

The San Diego Jewish Film Festival is in it's 21st year. It runs for 10 days in various venues around town. This year I decided to volunteer at the event. That was a great decision. I met many of the people involved in this who work hard all year to make it a great success. When I say you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy the Jewish Film Festival, I mean the films they show have universal appeal. The movies they show all have a Jewish theme, from romance to war and everything in between. The filmmakers are also Jewish, but that's nothing new. Many of the Hollywood films you see are made by Jewish filmmakers.

I decided to concentrate on documentaries this year. My favorite film in this category was "In Search of Memory." It was about the life of neuro scientist Eric Kandel, Nobel prize winning scientist from 2000. It was fascinating to learn of his early life in Nazi occupied Vienna, and how he and his younger brother (age 9 and 4) went to America by boat in 1939. He took his family back to Vienna to see his home and his father's habadashery store. He even met some people who knew his family 70 years ago. I got goose bumps just thinking about it. I highly recommend this film.

Other films that I saw included "Canvas Man," the life of Robbie Ellis, 64 year old wrestler and art dealer. Yes, you read that correctly. He is a fascinating man, and is well respected in both arenas.

I also saw a documentary about the life of boxer Max Baer, and a film about Jews in baseball.

The most disturbing movie I saw was called Habermann. It was the story of what happened when the Nazis invaded the area called Sudetenland, on the German-Czech border, a very mountainous, yet strategicically important area. Here Germans and Czechs had lived in relative harmony for over 700 years, until the Nazis arrived. I found the movie very disturbing to watch, as this was an historical event I was unaware of.

The festival also showed romantic comedies, an Arab comedy that is very popular in Israel, and lots of short subjects by emerging filmmakers. Unfortunately I missed the latter. I always like the short subjects.

We have an Asian Festival in San Diego each year, and I will look for it when it opens. These films are of interest to everyone. They're not intended just for the identified group. Unfortunately most of them never make it to general release, so you have to catch them at the festival when they're here. Someone last night told me that some of the Jewish films can be seen on line, but when I looked at the site he gave me, I found nothing. If anyone does know how to see these films on line, please let me know and I will post it. There are many I could not see for lack of time. I don't need much of an excuse to go to the movies. I love them, and this was a worthwhile way to spend a few hours.

Thai One On

Ron and I love to eat out, to try new places with good friends. One couple we love to go out with is Cookie and Jeff. Now that Ron is not around, the three of us have continued to get together occasionally for a night out, always trying something new. I feel lucky to have good friends like them. They always want me to pick the restaurant, but I was having difficulty coming up with something we could all agree on, so Cookie chose one of her favorite Thai restaurants in Vista, Thai One On. Cute name I said to myself. I hope the food is as good as the name. It was.

The restaurant is in a shopping center (what's new) on Melrose Drive, near College. The decor is warm with a very Thai feeling. Lots of umbrellas on the ceiling and walls painted bright colors, lanterns on the wall and a Buddha in the entry. I was comfortable right away. The food was outstanding, and I'm just sorry I couldn't sample more dishes. I will have to go back another time, as they have lots of fish dishes done many different different ways which I would love to try. Here's what I ate (or sampled).

Fresh spring rolls is one of my favorite Asian food items. It's a mixture of fresh veggies and either tofu, chicken or shrimp, rolled in a rice paper, served with a peanut dipping sauce. This is usually served as an appetizer, but I eat it as a meal. Their version was delcious. I loved their peanut sauce. I also had Tom Yum soup, which was a clear broth with mushrooms, tomato, lemon grass, lime lives, kafir and glangal. A little spicy (you can tell them how much spice you want on every dish from 1-10), but I just loved it. Jeff ordered Pad Woon Sen, a wide noodle dish with sprouts, brown sauce, a variety of seafood, and crushed peanuts. It was great. Cookie ordered the honey roasted duck, beautifully presented all sliced up on a plate of lettuce with broccoli florets around the plate. Although that's all I actually tasted, everything else I saw come out of the kitchen looked delicious. I have to go back and try Krabi Town Beach Fish, which is sole, stir fried with lemon grass, red onion, lemon juice, Kaffir lime leaves and cashew nuts. That sounds good to me.

I especially like the fact that you can order the food to suit your palate, from no spice to extra hot. If you lke curry, they offer red, green and yellow curry dishes. The Siam Beef Salad is another dish I will definitely want to try in the future. When we lived in LA there was a hole in the wall Thai restaurant a few blocks from our house where my son Phil and I used to go for lunch. It was the best beef salad I have ever had, and in fact I stopped ordering that dish years ago because nothing ever lived up to the beef salad at this little restaurant years ago. But I have a feeling, from the description of the salad, that this will be one I will like. So, as soon as I get the extra baggage I'm carrying from too much holiday eating off, I will be back to Thai One On.

Our Number One Export to China: Waste

As I was driving to the airport a few weeks ago after my visit to Colorado, my son Phil asked me if I knew what our largest export to China was. I couldn't possibly imagine, and after a few feeble guesses, he says "It's trash." Trash? I couldn't believe it, but as I thought more about it, it made perfect sense. We no longer produce many goods or services. Electronics, garments, autos and customer service are all made or performed somewhere else. We are the biggest consumers of all of these products, so what we are left with is a lot of trash.

Historians tell us that by the very end of the Roman Empire, goods were pouring into Rome from all over the known world, but about the only thing being sent out of Rome was human waste and garbage. We're not there yet, but we're well on our way. The number one thing that China buys from us is our garbage. China's number one export to us is computer equipments ($50 billion), while our number one export to them is waste paper and scrap metal (approximately $8billion).

The trade deficit with China has exploded over the past 10 years, in fact it has skyrocketed 300%. Wealth, factories and jobs are leaving the U.S. at an alarming pace. According to a disturbing new study by the Economic Policy Institute, if the trade deficit with China continues to increase at its current rate, the U.S. economy will lose over half a million jobs this year.

I know very little about economics, but was just shocked by the fact that we export $8billion worth of trash to China. We used to be a productive nation, everyone wanted our goods. Now, very little is made here, thus very little is exported. I don't know what the answer is, I don't even know the questions to ask. I do know that we better start manufacturing something or we're in jeopardy of losing our status as a superpower.

The Health Benefits of Acai Berries

Unless you've been under a rock for the past few years, you've seen acai berry juice in markets, acai berries served in restaurants, and many other food products containing this new superfood. So what are acai (pronounced ah SIGH e) berries and what are their health benefits?

The acai berry is an inch-long reddish, purple fruit. It comes from the local acai palm tree, which is native to Central and South America. It is a relative of the blueberry, cranberry and other dark purple fruits. Research on the acai berry has focused on its possible antioxidant activity. Theoretically, that activity may help prevernt diseases caused by oxidative stress such as heart disease and cancer.

Some studies show that acai fruit pulp has a very high antioxidant capacity with even more antioxidant content than cranberry, raspberry, blackberry or blueberry. Studies are ongoing, though, and the jury is still out. People eat the berries to address various health conditions. So far, acai berries have no known health benefit that's any different than that of other similar fruits.

You might see acai touted in some weight loss products. Few studies have tested the benefit of acai in promotion weight loss. For now, plenty of research supports eating a diet rich in antioxidants, and there's no doubt that the acai, along with most other berries are something to include as part of a healthy diet. Whether they do anything more than other berries is still debatable.

The farming of the acai berry has been a boon to Brazilian farmers. Many of the farms also process the fruit into pulp or liquid form and then export it to the US. This has created great opportunities for Brazilian businessmen and farmers. The planting of these palm trees along the river protects against harmful slash and burn farming. Now a large part of the rainforest is certified as meeting Forest Stewardship Council standars, a complex set of social and enviornmental and social conditions.

The acai berry is a great antioxident, may be helpful in weightloss, and is helping improve business for Brazilian farmers. That's three good reasons to at least give acai berries a try.

Fifty Seventh Visit to Taft

Friday started out as day full of excitement. Ron's high school friends, Philip and Ellen, were coming to visit, all the way from Phoenix. Philip and Ellen have visited twice before, a testament to what they think of Ron. Not many people will drive 500 miles to visit a friend.

I arrived early, just after 8am. I had heard it was snowing and I wanted to get to Taft before they closed the Grapevine. I got there so early that Ron was still in bed. He wasn't expecting me until 9am, but when he heard his name called to the visitors room, he was up and dressed in about 2 minutes.

Thursday morning, the day before he was scheduled to visit Ron, I got a call from Philip saying he had left his wallet in Phoenix and he did not have his drivers license. Did I think he could call Taft and tell them he was coming to visit without a license? I said, "Absolutely Not." No way would they let him in without a license. Just last week, a young woman who visits her boyfriend regularly came to Taft with a drivers license that had expired the day before. Although they knew her, she had to go to the DMV in Taft and get her license renewed. Three hours later, she finally returned to visit her boyfriend. So after that experience, I knew Philip was not getting in without a license. So he called his son in Phoenix, who Fed Exed his wallet to Kinkos in Los Angeles, where Philip was able to pick it up at 9am Friday morning. I thought surely we would have a great visit on Friday.

On Friday, about 11am I looked out the window to the area where visitors check in and I saw Philip and Ellen waiting to be checked in. Philip waved his license in the air showing us that he had picked up his wallet. The next thing I knew, Philip and Ellen were talking to guard in charge and he was escorted out the door, back to his car.

His visit was rejected. Why? He was speeding in the parking lot of the camp. There are lots of speed bumps and a speed limit of 20mph, but in his zeal to see Ron, he drove over the speed limit. There was no discussion, no warning, just rejection. We were both so upset by this, so I went out to talk to the guard. He explained the situation, saying the rules are the rules, and there are no exceptions. I felt especially badly for Philip and Ellen who had made the long trip for only this purpose. I guess it was never meant to be, from the time Philip left home without his wallet. I told them later when we talked, that the next time they would see Ron would be in San Diego, when he returns.

Overall it was a disappointing day, but it did give us time to talk, something we never tire of. He shared with me some Taft stories, not about himself, but about others, who have had a difficult time. Ron says it's all about attitude. The way to survive without problems is to keep a low profile and have a good attitude. No arguing, back talking or disagreeing with your superiors. Just blend in. This makes the prison experience easier and without incident. We're in the homestretch and Ron has had no incidents, so he just needs to hang in there with his great attitude a little while longer.