We Will Get By -- With Cornbread

3/16/2020

Christopher Gregory, The New York Times

My family has a little text-message chain going on – perfect for this time of troubles: Two elders and six certified adults.

On Sunday, we started playing can-you-top-this for comfort food, with accompanying photos.

Upstate: Quarantine with saag chicken.
Long Island: Sausage in wrap. Bit of birthday cake from the freezer.
Deepest Pennsylvania: "We see your saag paneer and we raise you by homemade chicken and minestrone soup."

That got us through Sunday. The Monday NYT in the driveway brought a column by Margaret Renkl, who has become one of my top-ten favorite bylines in the paper – from Alabama, now living in Nashville. She writes so well about ecology, and life. Her column was about making corn bread on a cast-iron skillet, to ward off the blues.

The words reminded me how much I loved roaming the region a few decades ago. I remembered a modest luncheonette in Oak Ridge, Tenn., which featured – in the early 70’s! – a fresh vegetable plate, okra, white beans, tomatoes, whatever was in the kitchen, plus buttery, crumbly corn bread.

I’ll bet Margaret Renkl’s corn bread is even better.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/15/opinion/comfort-food-coronavirus.html

Then there was the email from my man Mike From Whitestone, supplier of daily wisdom via the Web, designed to get us through.

I had never thought of it that way.
Mike also sent this one:

To close, may I suggest this chorus from the Grateful Dead. Make it your mantra for the day, for this time of the troubles -- with fresh cornbread on the side.

Alan Rubin link

3/16/2020 04:54:19 pm

There is something very comforting about doing special things with food. It is even more rewarding when using cast iron.

I would love to have a cast iron pan, but our household is trying to down-size rather than add.

However, I bake bread using a 5-quart Lodge cast iron pot that rivals anything available commercially.

https://leitesculinaria.com/99521/recipes-jim-laheys-no-knead-bread.html

If you are interested in baking bread by this simple method, then look at Jim Lehey’s book” My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Kneed Method.” He owned the Sullivan Street Bakery in NYC.

The biggest problem was that we ate it too fast and gained weight.

I also have a 15” Lodge cast iron pizza plate, which I’ve wanting to use to make rolls of different shapes.

It is finally time to give it a try.

I’m not concerned about gaining weight as I picked up a treadmill today.

This is the time to do inside projects and most importantly, stay healthy.

George

3/16/2020 05:08:29 pm

Alan: you are a very versatile guy. Good for you. GV

Randolph

3/16/2020 05:24:13 pm

George and Alan,
You young boys are making me smile. I’m a big fan of that Alabama now Nashville girl. She is kind, clear and a wonderful writer.
George I also complement you on your Grateful Dead selection. Excellent!

Alan you and I are on the same page. I also own a 5 quart Lodge cast iron pot. It is a work of art.
Best of all, I am in possession of and still cooking with, my mother’s Lodge cast iron skillet that I estimate to be about 70 years old.

In your honor it will be cornbread tonight.
RF

Alan Rubin link

3/16/2020 05:48:51 pm

Randolph, that is fantastic. Using great tools is even more special when they have been in the family for a long time.

I used my father's dark room equipment for years after he died. I had learned B&W printing from him when I was ten years old.

I would still have his Bessler enlarger with all its lenses if I knew I would again be back into a house. We had moved into a NYC apartment and I switched to digital photography.

Years ago I took a B & W printing course with Yale Joel, who had been Time/Life photographer. He got me to see in B & W even when using color. If you are seduced by color, you usually miss seeing the the best image(s).

There is nothing like watching an image emerge on a blank sheet of printing paper.

Andy Tansey

3/17/2020 09:38:02 am

I have shared this with family and Grateful Dead fan friends, and it resonates. Comfort food and song. I hear that the Italians and Spaniards are singing. On Friday, in a depressed and anxious mood, I joined a friend in the community room at this coop apartment complex with our guitars. After a couple of comfort drinks of beer and singing and strumming, I realized I had forgotten all about the crisis until we strummed and sang Touch of Grey, heartened but also reminded by the chorus:
I will get by
I will get by
I will get by-y-y
I will survive

Until the end:
We will get by
We will get by
We will get by-y-y
We will survive

As of yesterday, they closed the community room until Furthur notice.

George

3/17/2020 12:48:48 pm

Andy: thanks. You could Wander around like a troubadour — public service. I love the photo in the NYT of people on balconies in Italy. Do you have a balcony? GV

George Vecsey

3/17/2020 01:49:56 pm

Andy,, hope I didn't sound facetious. Every loss hurts...whether it's lunch with friends or BB not around or plans changed. No SNL. Until further notice, the music is still there. Thanks for making it and sharing your good time. GV

Roy Edelsack

3/17/2020 05:14:20 pm

Ok. I'll see your "Touch of Grey" and raise you with the Dead's "The New Minglewood Blues":

"If you can't believe me, it'll make it hard to believe in you.
'cause we all need each other, well you know it's true."

George

3/17/2020 07:27:20 pm

Roy: thanks for words of perseverance from 20s blues and 60s Dead. I had never looked up genesis of songs. Amazing the things you learn on quarantine.
Be well. GV

Andy Tansey

3/18/2020 07:25:44 am

Roy, thanks for the reminder of that verse, as I recall from an older rendition. We had played The New, New Minglewood Blues two weeks ago, with all sorts of verses from the '70's and '80's, but not that one.

And, yes, we have a balcony.

Randolph

3/18/2020 09:27:47 am

George, Alan and others,

First, I would like to thank Alan for his recommendation on the bread book. Yes I bake bread. My go to books for decades: the Tassajara bread book published in the late 60s and laurels kitchen published in the mid-70s.

For all you Gratful Dead freaks out there, I honor you by playing on vinyl at this moment an album entitled, Old an in the Way with Vassar Clements, David Grisman, Pete Rowan and a fellow by the name of Jerry Garcia. They sing :

Old and in the way, that's what I heard them say
They used to heed the words he said, but that was yesterday
Gold will turn to gray and youth will fade away
They'll never care about you, call you old and in the way

Peace and love brothers,
RF

George

3/18/2020 10:16:09 am

Randy: thanks. I will look it up. When i was around Nashville, Clements was everywhere. Couldn’t make a record or have a country show without him.
Garcia-Grisham collaborated on “songs for kids” near the end for Jerry. His Shenandoah induces tears. So sweet. Thanks.

Randolph

3/18/2020 10:29:30 am

George,
Old And In The Way was recorded I think in 73, but might not have been released until a couple of years later. At least I bought my first edition vinyl back in 1975. It ended up introducing a whole New generation to Bluegrass and old style music. Of course I was already on the bus.
Cornbread for all,
RF

Andy Tansey

3/18/2020 06:43:00 pm

Far reach into my memory, but "You're either on the bus or you're off the bus. You cannot be both on and off the bus." Tom Wolfe's Electric Kool-Aid Acid Tests, or just a rumor from an old Dead Head bus driver?

Randolph

3/18/2020 10:39:28 am

George,
I forgot to tell you the most interesting piece of trivia for all of the Greatful Dead fans.
I think this album was produced or maybe directed by the Owlsey, dude, who produced mass quantities of the most famous LSD on the
planet.
Peace and love our back,
RF

George Vecsey

3/18/2020 07:09:10 pm

Randy: Yes, what a series of careers he had. Died in Australia in his 70s.
Okay, we're talking about songs about hope. How about Greg Brown's song, "The Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home." Sung by his wife, the great Iris Dement:

Come along, my dear, the time is growin' near,
We'll have to walk down where the field is overgrown.
Consumption has claimed his life and we dare not miss the sight,
Of the train carrying Jimmie Rodgers home.

Well, we had some hard times these last few years,
Lost the farm, almost lost our spirits, too.
Yeah, but it's the strangest thing; when we heard that man sing,
Oh, we knew somehow we'd make it through.
etc.

So, who is our Jimmie Rodgers?
GV

Randolph

3/18/2020 07:36:25 pm

George,
I am a big fan of Iris and Greg, but I am not familiar with that song. I will hunt it down.
Your question is important. This is a time when we could use a voice like Jimmie; one of healing, compassion and kindness. Qualities that on some days seem endangered.
Keep breathing George.
RF

Please give Ms. Whipple all my best. Tell her that I have been doing some research on Washington County, Maryland : trying to find the Whipple who my grandfather was named after.

Mike From Whitestone

3/19/2020 03:58:12 am

George, Everyone, wishing you all safe travels and somewhere to be safe these days in particular. There certainly is no place like home.
George thanks for posting my memes too! It lightens things up for sure.
My entry into the food circle for this string, Baked Garlic/Panko Cod in Olive Oil.
Corned Beef a close second this week.
One day at a time.
Thanks for the outlet GV.....a good night for the blue bag process.

Andy Tansey

3/19/2020 07:24:35 pm

Mike:

"One day at a time" has been a conscious theme for me. The last couple of nights I've said to myself "I got through another day."

Now to neighborhoods: the aforementioned community room and balcony are in Whitestone. Pizza is good comfort food. What's your favorite? I'll start the bidding with Freddy's on 150th Street, a door north of 14th Avenue, in Whitestone as long as I've been. I do believe that one's initial favorite always biases taste. Nobody's pasta sauce is better than Mom's.

Speaking of whom, to add a bit more protection, I spared one of her caretakers rides on the bus and drove her home to 90-** 185th Street. Part of the ride was down 188th Street, right between Andy Cuomo's and the resident incumbent's 'hoods and right past my first married home on 85th Road and - I understand - right past the home of a darn good newsman! (Since I speak of neighborhoods . . . .)

Mike From Whitestone

3/19/2020 08:31:50 pm

Hi Andy, its my mantra for a few reasons and a core value I share with Bill W , many more including our hosts friend, Bob Welsh.
Whitestone Pizza on 14th gets the major 'slice' of our catering . Great guys there.
Pizza Amore is good but cash only....
Happy St Josephs Day to all today too!!

George

3/19/2020 09:00:25 pm

Andy: one day at a time works for all. I will get by — today. Serenity Prayer, too. I learned from AA people while helping my friend Bob Welch, RIP, write his book.
As for 188 st, you couldn’t see Casa Cuomo or TrumpHaus from the bus (q-75?) but you could see ours. Busy street. Lunatics. Occasional crash. Anyway, even with Trump/Virus 50-50, we will get by. GV

George

3/19/2020 09:22:28 pm

Andy/Mike: speaking of food (above) and Queens, Lemongrass and Ginger on 150 st. Was terrific Vietnamese place a year or two ago. Haven’t been lately. Not the Queens of my youth, and thank goodness for that.

Comments are closed.

QUOTES

Measuring Covid Deaths, by David Leonhardt. July 17, 2023. NYT online.
The United States has reached a milestone in the long struggle against Covid: The total number of Americans dying each day — from any cause — is no longer historically abnormal….

After three horrific years, in which Covid has killed more than one million Americans and transformed parts of daily life, the virus has turned into an ordinary illness.

The progress stems mostly from three factors:
First, about three-quarters of U.S. adults have received at least one vaccine shot.
Second, more than three-quarters of Americans have been infected with Covid, providing natural immunity from future symptoms. (About 97 percent of adults fall into at least one of those first two categories.)
Third, post-infection treatments like Paxlovid, which can reduce the severity of symptoms, became widely available last year.
“Nearly every death is preventable,” Dr. Ashish Jha, who was until recently President Biden’s top Covid adviser, told me. “We are at a point where almost everybody who’s up to date on their vaccines and gets treated if they have Covid, they rarely end up in the hospital, they almost never die.”

That is also true for most high-risk people, Jha pointed out, including older adults — like his parents, who are in their 80s — and people whose immune systems are compromised. “Even for most — not all but most —immuno-compromised people, vaccines are actually still quite effective at preventing against serious illness,” he said. “There has been a lot of bad information out there that somehow if you’re immuno-compromised that vaccines don’t work.”

That excess deaths have fallen close to zero helps make this point: If Covid were still a dire threat to large numbers of people, that would show up in the data.

One point of confusion, I think, has been the way that many Americans — including we in the media — have talked about the immuno-compromised. They are a more diverse group than casual discussion often imagines.

Most immuno-compromised people are at little additional risk from Covid — even people with serious conditions, such as multiple sclerosis or a history of many cancers. A much smaller group, such as people who have received kidney transplants or are undergoing active chemotherapy, face higher risks.

Covid’s toll, to be clear, has not fallen to zero. The C.D.C.’s main Covid webpage estimates that about 80 people per day have been dying from the virus in recent weeks, which is equal to about 1 percent of overall daily deaths.

The official number is probably an exaggeration because it includes some people who had virus when they died even though it was not the underlying cause of death. Other C.D.C. data suggests that almost one-third of official recent Covid deaths have fallen into this category. A study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases came to similar conclusions.

Dr. Shira Doron, the chief infection control officer at Tufts Medicine in Massachusetts, told me that “age is clearly the most substantial risk factor.” Covid’s victims are both older and disproportionately unvaccinated. Given the politics of vaccination, the recent victims are also disproportionately
Republican and white.

Each of these deaths is a tragedy. The deaths that were preventable — because somebody had not received available vaccines and treatments — seem particularly tragic. (Here’s a Times guide to help you think about when to get your next booster shot.)
***

From the great Maureen Dowd:

As I write this, I’m in a deserted newsroom in The Times’s D.C. office. After working at home for two years during Covid, I was elated to get back, so I could wander around and pick up the latest scoop.
But in the last year, there has been only a smattering of people whenever I’m here, with row upon row of empty desks. Sometimes a larger group gets lured in for a meeting with a platter of bagels."

--- Dowd writes about the lost world of journalists clustered in newsrooms at all hours, smoking, drinking, gossipping, making phone calls, typing, editing.
***
"Putting out the paper," we called it.
Much more than nostalgia.
---https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/29/opinion/journalism-newsroom.html

We Will Get By -- With Cornbread

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