Book: The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin

This book is subtitled "Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court." Well, probably not, but still, this book is worth reading. It mostly covers the Rehnquist court. (John Roberts succeeded Rehnquist as Chief Justice after Rehnquist died.) I now actually know the names of all the current justices. I learned that Sandra Day O'Conner was tremendously influential as the swing vote, as was Anthony Kennedy. I learned that Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia are very, very conservative but of totally different temperaments. Mr. Toobin gives many glimpses into the justices, their personalities and their passions for the law and its interpretation, going back to the Constitution, continually refining and defining how much authority individual states should have and how much the federal government should or should not do. Roe v. Wade continues to be a hugely important decision, with the increasingly conservative Republicans always trying to limit and constrain Roe v. Wade, and liberal Democrats continuing to work at keeping it intact.

I came away with awe and envy of Judge John Paul Stevens' intellect, undiminished at his advanced age.

Toobin does state that during the aftermath of the election of 2000, "...the justices displayed all of their worst traits--among them vanity, overconfidence, impatience, arrogance , and simple political partisanship. These three weeks taint an otherwise largely admirable legacy. The justices did almost everything wrong. They embarrassed themselves and the Supreme Court." David Souter was the only justice who was "shattered" by Bush v. Gore. He believed this case "mocked" the tradition "where the independence of the judiciary was the foundation of the rule of law." The other justices just "tried to put Bush v. Gore behind them..."

Justice Stevens said "Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's Presidential election, the identity of the loser is pellucidly clear. It is the Nation's confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law." And Toobin goes on to say that one of Stevens's clerks "...prevailed on him, just this once, to give up his favorite word--pellucidly--and substitute the more familiar [word] perfectly, which is how the famous sentence now reads."

Book: Paul and Me by A.E. Hotchner

An account of the friendship between Paul Newman and A.E.Hotchner. After Newman was wildly successful as an actor, he began his wildly successful food line, donating all the profits to charity and then founded The Hole in the Wall Gang camp for terminally ill kids. Hotchner was a partner in both of these ventures. Whether or not this is a true and fair portrait of Paul Newman, he is presented in the book as both an ordinary and extraordinary guy. Hotchner and Paul were drinking, traveling, fishing and boating buddies, along with being partners in the philanthropic enterprises and collaborating in various performing arts, with Hotchner writing scripts and Paul performing.

Paul was married to Joanna for over 50 years and she is mentioned only in passing as are his children, but I don't think Hotchner intends for this account to be more than it is: primarily stories of their friendship. Paul had 5 daughters and a son who committed suicide which was devastating to Paul. Yet, he admits he didn't reach out to his son in ways that might have made a difference, and his son was handicapped by having such a famous father with fame, fortune and another family.

Paul's love for life comes through in tales of his race-car driving, his practical jokes, his boats, his belief in his salad dressing that led to the Newman Own food products and his genuine joy in making the lives of compromised kids a little better.

While this book is limiting as far as who Paul Newman really was, it does not pretend to be anything more than a fond tribute to a friend.

Fruited Grain Salad

Another success. This has 3 grains: wheat berries, brown rice and barley. I undercooked them a bit, so the salad was nutty but I liked that texture. It also has green onions, red plums, raisins, apples, fresh mint, oil and vinegar. It makes a lot, like 8 to 12 servings.

On to Middle Eastern Spinach Soup, which sounds gross to me. But it's the first recipe in the second "Menu" and if I'm going to cook through a cookbook, I cannot skip recipes.

Rose-breasted grosbeak

I walked outside at 0745 this morning and this beautiful bird was feeding at my neighbor's feeder. And, yes, the little sparrow is a Swamp sparrow. I watched a couple of them this morning, rummaging in the muck and roots streamside.

Palm Warbler

I live four miles from a wonderful linear park, a riparian habit, that has yielded many birds already this spring. I got amazing looks at ruby-crowned kinglets, for instance, which are the avian equivalents of a high-energy 5-year-old (Donovan comes to mind). While the bird guides say the "ruby" is hard to see, I often saw it this spring, but not as a crown. It was a narrow stripe on the cap and, one day, I watched a ruby-crowned forage below me while I stood on a viewing deck over the Pine River and got several good looks at the elusive "ruby crown." I also saw golden-crowned kinglets early in spring, usually in small groups. Warblers seem almost sluggish in comparison to kinglet mania.

This morning, I saw my first palm warbler for the year, close up, and an easy sighting. No craning my neck or hoping it would hop into better view or frustration. In the same spot, I noticed a secretive skulking sparrow on the opposite bank, moving in and out of view. I watched it for quite awhile and THINK it was a swamp sparrow, but am not positive. It was grey and rusty but seemed also to have fine breast streaking. Roger Tory Peterson does say "Immature Swamp Sparrows in spring migration are continually misidentified as the Lincoln's Sparrow."

Chipping sparrows

The past two days were very birdy in my neighborhood. The wind was strong from the east and it was overcast but calm over the lake. I am battling one particular, smart, hyperactive, black squirrel with an attitude. I do this solely by moving the TWO baffles, a little higher, a little closer together, a little lower, etc. The squirrel figured out how to move away from the pole, judge the distance and leap onto the lower baffle, which was only about 2 inches from the higher one! Along with being unreasonably pissed off, I was also entertained.

Some goldfinches are now brilliant yellow and black. There was a loon on the lake and I saw two brown thrashers under the feeder near the bushes. And, at dusk, there were 11 chipping sparrows, small and elegant, picking up the loose seed on the lawn.

Cream of Red Pepper Soup

I am going to try to cook my way through Mollie Katzen's Still Life with Menu, my totally unoriginal idea inspired by Julie and Julia.

SO, to date, I have prepared the first three recipes.

The first was Cream of Red Pepper Soup, and this illustrates why I decided to do this project:

I would page through my 20+ cookbooks and seldom try a recipe. There was always something quite not right. Like, I don't like creamed soups, for instance, so I didn't expect to be impressed by this red pepper soup, but I was! It was colorful and tasty, flavored with garlic and cumin. I did have minor difficulties trying to roast the peppers in my very compromised oven in the Lake Michigan cottage. The peppers slid off the cookie sheet and nestled against the back wall of the oven. The oven itself is a hazard to work with, and the thermometer is totally off. But I sort of learned how to roast peppers. The soup was blended at the end and I could have strained it according to the author, but I liked the slight texture of the not-quite-totally-pureed peppers.

The second recipe was Praline-Butterscotch Bars...butter, brown sugar, pecans, etc. I messed up a bit with the order of ingredients, but it didn't matter. We ate these within 36 hours and I sent 6 home with Maria.

The third recipe in the first "Menu" was Spring Vegetable Salad. I loved this also. It had asparagus, snow peas, carrots, summer squash, new red potatoes, green beans, all steamed and mixed with oil, garlic, mayonnaise and herbs. I made one change. The recipe called for 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice to be added just before serving. I added only 1 teaspoon to each serving and mixed it just before I ate it. Except for Betony, who had a serving when she was here, I consumed the whole salad in 4 days. It would even be tasty with no lemon juice added, IMO.

The final recipe in the first group is a Fruited Grain Salad and tomorrow I need to go scout out raw wheat berries.