News & Views of Phillips Since 1976
Saturday March 8th 2025
Food Obsession: Something Different
by Jane Thomson
My readers (both relatives) are probably tired of my preaching about diet, obesity, waste etc., so I will tone it down.
These two recipes are good for summer. Neither is for “everyday”.
“Bill”'s” Smoked Oyster Salad (from Star Tribune, long ago)
3 cans of smoked oysters, drained
2 cups of cooked curly macaroni, rinsed
1 green pepper, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
3 ripe medium-size tomatoes, cut up
6 hard-boiled egg, sliced
Mayonnaise seasoned with a dash of ketchup
“Good squirts” of Tobasco sauce
Combine oysters, macaroni, green pepper, celery, 2 of the tomatoes and 5 of the eggs. Moisten with mayonnaise, seasoning to taste with ketchup and Tobasco. Chill. Serve garnished with sliced egg and tomato wedges. Serves 6 to 8.
This recipe is a good one to illustrate the point that you should read the whole recipe, instructions and all, before starting to make it as there are some time lapses involved. Obviously, since there are no instructions for heating the water, it is for experienced cooks.
Red, White and Blue Salad (also from Strib)
Have a glass 9×13-inch pan? This salad would look nicer in glass.
2 of 3 oz. packages of raspberry Jello
3 cups of hot water
1 envelope of plain gelatin
½ cup of cold water
1 cup of half-and-half
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp.… Read the rest “Food Obsession: Something Different”
Solitary Man & The Karate Kid
The Solitary Man
Solitary Man (2009)
***1/2
Millennium Films
Comedy/Drama
Running Time: 90 minutes
Director: Brian Koppelman and David Levien
Michael Douglas as graying old Ben Kalmen is neither villain nor hero in “Solitary Man,” Mr. Kalmen in his heyday was a sparkling car dealer for New York”'s Honest Car Dealership. He”'s saliently flawed in the morality department by cheating on his wife Nancy (Susan Sarandon) and disappointed his daughter Susan (Jenna Fischer) too many times to count.
Interestingly enough, Ben”'s not solitary by choice but because of his breaking trust with the ones he loves. His new girlfriend Jordan (Mary-Louise Parker) asks him to accompany her college-bound daughter Allyson (Imogen Poots) to a college interview at his alma mater. He”'s reluctant to go but he goes anyway. Later (as he has done in the past) he makes more injudicious choices.
Michael Douglas is one of those actors who can look like he”'s in crisis or about to get out of one. “Solitary Man” is no “Fatal Attraction” (1987) nor is it “American President” (1995) which Michael Douglas also starred in. Douglas, like Robert DeNiro in “everybody”'s Fine”, has alienated himself from familial circles in sated conclusion: everybody”'s dysfunctional.
Related Images:
Keep citizen journalism alive!
Bow to Rwanda
by Peter Molenaar
At the corner of 31st Street and 16th Avenue exists a modest reddish brown brick structure ”“- home to United Methodist Walker Community Church. For decades, the Peace and Justice Community has used this facility for planning meetings and public forums. It is a proud church.
About early April of this year, the pews were occupied by supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal, political prisoner wrongly convicted of murder. An exposition of developments in Mumia”'s case was delivered by a world famous professor of law. Shortly thereafter, Peter Erlinder would find himself imprisoned in far-away Rwanda.
Peter”'s initial call to Africa had been issued in the year 2003 by the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. He was to lead a defense team assigned to persons charged with perpetrating the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
Please google “Rwanda genocide” and follow the Wikepedia links.
No doubt, the anti-Tutsi genocide delivered by Hutu forces is near the top of the list of 20th century horrors. Perhaps one million people were exterminated in 100 days. That would be 10,000 every day, 400 every hour. The machete was the weapon of convenience.
However, the genocide occurred in the context of a civil-war with roots in the age-old humiliation of the Hutu under Tutsi domination.… Read the rest “Bow to Rwanda”