JACK ATKINSON - EDITOR'S HELLO!

SUMMER 2020 – What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been!

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01
Jun

Dating and Summer Go Together!

(UPDATE: End of Summer 2020)

Summer has always been when younger folks frolic in the sun and water, picnic and hang with all of their friends, but dating during COVID-19 has become a very Victorian affair. Are dates mostly now about “conversations” rather than going and doing activities face to face with lots of other people? Physical first dates and casual contact are enjoyed with masks on! In 2020, being exposed to other people’s respiratory droplets is not recommended, and that is unavoidable when couples kiss or are physically intimate. AH! – What a Long Strange Trip (SUMMER of 2020) Has Been!

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(UPDATE: August 16, 2020)

Caesar Salad (recipe below)

PREPARING FRESH FOOD / HOME COOKIN’ / ACTUALLY SPENDING MOST OF EVERY DAY AT HOME!

Our Sequestered COVID-19 Summertime was spent enjoying home like it was 1940. Cooking/eating great food, reading what we want, playing musical instruments for fun, online ZOOM meetings, some radio listening (no tv here), computer time for work, news, and streaming Netflix, making great progress on several huge personal projects, playing real card games on the kitchen table, and visiting with friends via the telephone.

We remember last summer fondly – when we flew to Miami for a week, and also took a fun road trip to San Antonio, Santa Fe, and Taos.

Our big plans for this summer included Beaver Creek, Colorado and Downtown Chicago, but the coronavirus pandemic put The Big NIX on all of that fun. So instead we have had the STAYCATION of a lifetime.

There have been mixed emotions about this weird time of spending months inside in and around your home. I have lived in a small apartment in New York City, alone, in a high-rise. That does not sound like fun as a 6-month lockdown. Our family lives in a house with a nice private back yard and we have spent countless hours out on our covered front porch enjoying the parade of people walking their dogs, riding bikes or simply enjoying a walk, masked up, and playing by the rules of staying 6 feet apart.

A major trend this summer has been about complaining: regarding no vacation, difficulty traveling, and having to mask up in public and having to social-distance even with friends. Personally, this COVID19 (staying at home most of the time) thing has been one wonderful long vacation at our house-hold, (the honest truth)!

Jack Atkinson – Editor

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Caesar Salad

Ingredients

For the dressing:

  • 3 pasteurized large egg yolks
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 2 tablespoons anchovy paste
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • dash hot pepper sauce
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

For the salad:

  • 1 large bunch romaine
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup shaved or shredded Parmesan cheese
  • Croutons for topping

Instructions

Step 1: Make the Caesar dressing – In a blender, combine the first 10 ingredients for dressing; cover and process until blended. While processing, gradually add oil in a steady stream. Stir in Parmesan cheese. Chill until serving. (Can’t find anchovy paste? Whole anchovies work well, too.)

Step 2: Prep the lettuce – Tear romaine lettuce into bite-sized pieces and place in a large salad bowl.

Step 3: Assemble the salad – Pour dressing over lettuce and toss to coat. Sprinkle with cheese and croutons. Add freshly cracked pepper or a squeeze of lemon juice to taste. – For a restaurant-like appeal, serve your salad on chilled salad plates.

(Update August 8, 2020)

Here is Our Magical Weight Loss Leek Soup

by Mireille Guiliano 
“Dr. Miracle, the family physician who helped me wake up and recover from my weight gain, was something of a gourmand. He gave me a number of recipes, but none more important than the one he gave me for the first, and only, ‘tough’ weekend. On reflection, it wasn’t so tough at all, because of his ‘magical leek soup,’ which was a trick used by many of the locals in my hometown for generations. He had prescribed it to both my mother and grandmother at one point or another.”
Leeks are a mild diuretic, and 48 hours or so of leek soup would provide immediate results to jump-start the recasting. For me, it was the start of a lifelong commitment to wellness as well as the beginning of my appreciation, my love, of leeks, about which there is much more to say. It is a trick I still use from time to time; do try it the first weekend.
The printed recipe follows.
Recipe for Magical Leek Soup 
Serves one for the weekend 
2 lbs. leeks
Water to cover in a large pot
1. Clean leeks and rinse well to get rid of sand and soil. Cut end of green parts leaving all the white parts plus a suggestion of green. (Reserve the extra greens for soup stock.)
2. Put leeks in large pot and cover with water. Bring to boil and simmer with no lid for 20-30 minutes. Pour off the liquid and reserve. Place the leeks in a bowl.
Instructions:
The juice is to be drunk (reheated or room temperature to taste) every 2-3 hours, a cup at a time.
For meals or whenever hungry, have some of the leeks themselves, ½ cup at a time. Drizzle with a few drops of extra-virgin olive oil and lemon juice. Season sparingly with salt and pepper. Add chopped parsley if you wish.
This will be your nourishment for both days, until Sunday dinner, when you can have a small piece of meat or fish (4 – 6oz.–don’t lose that scale yet!), with two vegetables, steamed with a bit of butter or oil, and a piece of fruit.
Alternative: 
Pity those who don’t love the sweet taste and delicate texture of leeks. Eventually, you probably will. But if it’s not to your liking, follow the example of my cousin in Aix-en-Provence. After the birth of two sons she needed to shed a few pounds, but didn’t love leeks. A neighbor suggested a variation of “magical leek soup” with the “trick” of hiding the leek among other flavorful and healthful ingredients. You too may prefer the Provençal version, known as soupe mimosa.
Mimosa Soup Recipe 
1 head of lettuce
½ lb. carrots
½ lb. celeriac
½ lb. turnips
½ lb. cauliflower
1 lb. leeks
2 hard boiled eggs chopped
½ cup chopped parsley
Water to cover in a large pot
1. Clean and chop all ingredients in rough pieces and, except for the cauliflower and parsley, put them a pot. Cover with water, bring to boil and simmer with no lid for 40 minutes. Add the cauliflower and cook for another 15 minutes.
2. Pass all the contents through a food mill.
3. Serve in a bowl and add more parsley and pieces of chopped hard boiled eggs.
Instructions:
Eat a cup every three hours (room temperature or reheated) or so all day Saturday and Sunday until you have a Sunday dinner of fish or meat, two steamed vegetables with a dash of butter or olive oil, and 1 piece of fruit.
The Mimosa Soup recipe is somewhat less liquidy and magical than the leek soup, but it nevertheless is an effective and tasty alternative for weight loss.
Both versions are so good, and an adventure for most palates, that you will have a very hard time seeing them as prison rations. Especially if these tastes are new to you, you may want to jot down your impressions of fthe lavor and fragrance in your personal journal. In time, this exercise will intensify your pleasures, and you may want to keep a regular diary of your experiences gastronomiques, including some wine notes (just as serious oenologues do).
(Source: book, French Women Don’t Get Fat)

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(UPDATE LATE JULY 2020)

Dear ARTSandFOOD.com® Readers!

Just checking in with you! These days each of us individually are tired of working from home, cooking and eating at home, watching movies at home, and guess what, the whole family is here with us, each with individual wants and needs! It has been like Thanksgiving – with families all in one room all day – every day for seven months! We know this pandemic will end someday but we are also concerned about what the future holds. At ARTS&FOOD® we are committed to continue bringing you interesting distractions with weekly additions of ART and FOOD articles to brighten your day and makes life excellent, not just tollerable.

You can also catch us on Instagram @artsandfoodmagazine, and Facebook at artsandfoodmagazine – please LIKE, FOLLOW AND LEAVE A COMMENT.

We are very excited about ARTS&FOOD® Magazine (our experiment in new publishing and the future of magazines).

Thank you for your patronage and tell your friends about us.

We are all in this together.

Jack A. Atkinson Editor, Publisher and Founder ARTS&FOOD® (artsandfood.com® magazine)

 

JUNE 2020

Our Changing World:

MASKED-UP,

SOCIALLY DISTANCING

& WASHING OUR HANDS!

Oh My!

In the News.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon blasts off on May 30, 2020 as the FIRST manned mission into space on a commercially built American-made rocket.

SPACEX launches American NASA Astronauts, to a successful rendezvous with the International Space Station and brings them safely back home again. America (through SpaceX) has a viable space program again. The Astronauts’s capsule splashed down on their return trip from the Space Station on August 2, 2020 in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Florida.

Parachutes deployed on splash down into the Gulf of Mexico.

At one time so many of us dreamed of being an astronaut. Today, the thought of being confined inside a tin can for a lengthy stay in space, with no way to get out, no fresh air, no green grass or trees, without the therapeutic effects of wind in our hair and atmosphere filtered sun on our faces, well NO THANK YOU!  Our answer is, we tried a version of living completely with-in a small space for months during the winter/spring 2020 season of shelter-in-place and quarantine. Frankly, it’s not the kind of life humans were designed for living! 

 

MASKED-UP, SOCIAL DISTANCING & WASHING HANDS!

With the onset of summer’s heat, the President has said this heat will slow the Corona virus down. So being outside has been deemed a lower risk option probably worth taking, as long as we take precautions and practice safe habits like masks, social distancing, and washing our hands often!

The Mad Hatter’s tea party, showing how crazy life can get.

Yes, 60 to 70 days of being locked-up under the same roof with your spouse, two middle school kids, an infant, three dogs, two cats and a mother-in-law, has made Americans distraught because of this prolonged confinement! We are all ready to say, “Damn the RONA, we gotta get outta this house!” 

God Bless America, WOW! We have now added mass protests across America to our platter of crises! Certainly confinement, loss of work, economic chaos, money problems, frustration with an invisible COVID-19 virus, trying to be safe as a surgeon immediately before surgery, etc., have created a tender-box of frayed nerves. Add “obvious injustice” and BOOM, the “I can’t take anymore!” response has kicked in and the pressure cooker must let off steam!

We have gone from saying  “We are ALL in this together!” to saying “What the heck is going on here? We demand justice for ALL!” Another crisis has created the perfect storm of shocking events. We wake up every morning in our constantly changing world, wondering “What next!?!”

TIME TO TAKE A BREATH!

Please think of ARTSandFOOD.com® Magazine as a calming cool breeze, a walk in the grass, a pleasant dinner with friends, YOUR ESCAPE from problems. ARTS&FOOD® Magazine is dedicated to the humanities, the best positive contributions mankind makes to the human experience. We are focused on All Things BEAUTIFUL and DELICIOUS!™

NO DOUBT WE NEED SOME DISTRACTIONS FROM THE STRESS.

SO CARVE OUT SOME “ME” TIME DURING THIS SUMMER OF 2020!

LET’S MASK-UP,

SOCIAL DISTANCE,

WASH OUR HANDS,

BE SMART,

STAY SAFE,

EAT SOME GOOD FOOD,

ENJOY SOME GREAT ART,

RELAX OUTDOORS READING A BOOK,

AND

TREAT EACH OTHER

WITH RESPECT, KINDNESS AND LOVE…

HOW WE WOULD WANT TO BE TREATED!

 

Hello – Jack Atkinson founder of ARTS&FOOD®.  If you love the arts and you love food, life certainly can be beautiful and delicious.

Jack A. Atkinson JUNE 2020

Founder, Editor, Publisher of ARTSandFOOD.com®

Official Website for the Arts & Humanities.™

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