Tuesday eating from your yard tip~Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) came to mind this week because it has traditionally been used to help us deal with the heat and recover from heat stroke, as an expectorant or for a dispirited heart. Both the anise hyssop leaves and flowers are edible and taste like licorice/anise, so if you …
With National Bourbon Day occurring last week, it seems like a good time to take a deep dive into “America’s Native Spirit.” Bourbon is one of the first distilled spirits in the New World Well, the term bourbon may be a bit of a stretch, but the early settlers needed something safe to drink, and for far longer than …
Tuesday eating from your yard tip~Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) has many health inducing virtues, including more omega 3 than any other leafy green. While many Americans view purslane as a lowly weed, purslane is eaten all over the world. It is baked in bread, pickled and added to soups, stews, stir fries and egg dishes. Google …
I had used lavender to induce sleep, pain relief and for it’s anti~bacterial properties, but the first time I ate lavender was a lavender chocolate truffle at an Herb Society pot luck. When I asked about how it was made she referred to lavender flower, but English is tricky and I was born blonde so …
With the exception of the thirteen years of Prohibition, New York arguably can lay claim to the center of the cocktail universe since cocktails became cocktails. And even during those ‘dry’ years, it wasn’t missing too much of a beat. London has a serious claim and helped usher cocktails back from the brink of extinction in the 1990, and many other cities have …
Tuesday eating from your yard tip~ The garlic scape is the stem and seed head forming above the hardneck garlic plant. By cutting off the scape, the energy that was going into creating the seeds is directed back to creating the ultimate garlic bulb. Scapes even come with their own handle for easy gathering. The …
Now that we have moved past Memorial Day, we begin our transition into summer. This means my drinking habits have begun to shift to match the weather as well. A nice bourbon neat with a couple drops of water (to help open up the flavor) is perfect after a long day at work when the weather is cool or cold, but in summer I want a long drink full of ice. Which …
Tuesday eating from your yard tip~Rose was the herb of the year in 2012. The Herb Society invited the Rose Society to talk about roses. It quickly became apparent that while Rose Society people strive to grow the perfect rose, Herb Society folks are more interested in how you consume the rose, which baffled the …
Tuesday eating from your yard tip on Lamb’s Quarters (Chenopodium album). If you have any open dirt you most likely have Lamb’s Quarters. Consider it a free gift to fill your tummy. The cooked leaves and soaked seeds are edible, as are the very young leaves uncooked. The young leaves are tender, but like all …
Al Nakba, 1948 Like the loss of a child, I cannot fathom the emotions and turmoil that Palestinians share while being ruled by military order. In “Is Israel An Apartheid State?,” a summary legal study funded and coordinated by the Government of South Africa, apartheid regimes rely on three pillars to maintain domination. The state codifies into law …
Jews are being physically assaulted in London, Toronto, Belgium, Montreal, NYC, Florida, and here in LA. Synagogues are being vandalized all over the west. Chants of “Rape Jewish daughters!” “Who here is a Jew?” (Before beating random diners at a restaurant). Blood libel in our media, the mouths of colleagues, the well of the US …
With the power to aid digestion, freshen breath, calm farts and nausea, mint is an ideal culinary herb. Forget counting sheep, counting all the flavors of mint would lull anyone to sleep~peppermint, spearmint, Mormon mint, chocolate mint, ginger mint and on and on into dreamland. Mint leaves and flowers are edible and one of the …
“Behind Closed Doors” is a dark pop song about the unfortunate dark things that can go on behind closed doors. Domestic abuse is the most common crime in every jurisdiction in America (and probably the world) and has been on the rise during quarantine. This song’s subject matter is incredibly important and must be brought …
Falernum. You may know what it is, and you may not. You may even have a bottle in your home bar. And even if you have never heard of it, if you have had a properly made Tiki drink – you have likely had it without knowing. Falernum is in some ways the Caribbean seasoning of simple syrup. People …
When Fantastic Negrito shills, he does it with integrity. The Oakland blues-soul man has released “Root City,” an anthem for Oakland Roots SC, a three-year-old professional soccer team, and there are no sly, subliminal nudges for your custom in his video. He’s wearing a Puma tracksuit and sneakers in some shots, and he actually points out …
Remember the hype and saga surrounding the Jackie Robinson West Little League team from Chicago that competed for the Little League championship game in summer 2014? https://www.eastportlandblog.com/2015/02/21/champion-cheaters-by-mark-erickson/ Earlier this week the two lawsuits have been settled/dismissed. The decision by Little League International to strip JRW of its title remains, and the suit against two coaches …
What would the Kentucky Derby be without the Mint Julep? What would horseracing be without the iconic Kentucky Derby? And what would the Derby be without the Mint Julep (or those hats)? And to keep this train of thought going – what would the julep be without mint? The first two questions are hypothetical – but the last …
French Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus) is the parlor trick of herbs. When you bite into a fresh leaf, first you taste the anise flavor then wait a moment and your tongue temporarily goes a bit numb. French tarragon in the old herbals is often referred to as the little dragon because of it’s winding roots. It …
(Jim Steinman, left, with Meat Loaf, right) How magical was Jim Steinman? Well, he wrote brutally honest songs about men lusting after women, gave them orchestral bombast and delivery by the mighty-lunged Meat Loaf, and they’ve been wedding reception standards ever since. Look up “Two out of Three Ain’t Bad” on YouTube, and people are still …
Five years ago today, Prince boarded the Mothership. Yesterday, he sprinkled some Purple Dust on Minnesota. (Chauvin verdict) Live music is returning to Chicago! Less than four miles from my house, https://northshorecenter.org/event/fareed-haque/ Fareed Haque has collaborated with Billy Cobham who is the favorite drummer of my son’s long-time (age 5-16ish) drum instructor. The warmup band, The …
Tuesday eating from your yard tip~wild violet leaves and flowers are edible. Euell Gibbons called wild violets nature’s vitamin pill because the flowers and leaves are packed with vitamin C and the leaves have more vitamin A than commercial greens. Besides being nutritious the flowers make a lovely edible garnish on salads, soups, desserts and …
The Negroni. When the snow and cold begins to fade in the Spring, my thoughts always turn to the classic Negroni. I’m not sure why. The drink is lovely – even on cold snowy days. But there is something about the thought of sitting on the porch without a coat or sweater, sipping on this delightful little drink that makes spring seem springier. The classic …
Dandelions are a treasure trove of potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, vitamin A,C,K and B6. Dandelions are edible from the root to the flower except for the milky filled hollow stem~but even that has uses, but just not for feeding our tummies. The green parts are bitter, but the yellow of the flower is not. I …
SMHSMHSMH. “I woke up this morning and I got myself a [rude awakening].” George Floyd Part II. WTF! I wrote in August 2020 about George Floyd and my familiarity with the site of the civil unrest in Minneapolis: https://www.eastportlandblog.com/2020/08/24/bola-wrap-non-lethal-police-tool-for-use-in-mental-health-crisis-interventions-by-mark-erickson/ This morning greeted me with the murder of Daunte Wright, another unarmed Black Male being murdered …
It was just a detail in our itinerary my wife slipped in – when we return from a three-week Mexican vacation, we’ll take five dogs with us. Whaaaat!? Yes, volunteers with Mexican and Canadian rescue groups had taken care of the details; we would just be “flight angels” (mules), chaperones on the aerial leg of …
https://www.blackagendareport.com/biden-harris-look-ready-keep-us-afghanistan-say-no https://twitter.com/search?q=maydayafghanistan&src=typeahead_click Remember when people lauded the “brave” Afghans for their resolve to beat back the Russkies out of the country during the 1980s occupation? You may not have learned that Russia sent geologists and engineers to survey – not for oil – for mineral wealth. Afghanistan has rich deposits of gold, silver, platinum, copper, …
Shinjiro Torii (left) and Masataka Taketsuru (right) Whiskey, combined with a non-alcoholic carbonated mixer, served over ice in a tall glass is called a whiskey highball everywhere in the world. Except for Japan. In Japan, this is simply referred to as a Highball. The origins of the term highball are grey. Some believe it has to do with the American Railway. Some believe …
Tuesday eating from your yard tip~Onion Chives (Allium Schoenoprasum). The pink flowers and the leaves have a subtle onion flavor making them both visually and palette pleasing. My favorite way to eat chives are chopped up and heated with a quarter size of oil, to flavor the oil, before I throw in my eggs. Today …
Rare photo of Jack Daniel (middle, white hat) next to George Green, son of Nathan ‘Nearest’ Green taken around 1900. Sometime around 1855, a young 6 year-old named Jasper went to work for a preacher, grocer, and landowner in Lynchburg, Tennessee named Dan Call. His mother had died from complications resulting from his birth, and there …
(Photo above is of nettles emerging in the spring.) You would be hard-pressed to come up with a plant with as much medicinal and nutritional power– as well as being a stellar textile– as Stinging Nettles. This is the time of year to harvest the leaves of these natural wonders because they are best while …