Here is Candice Bergen (74) and her dog Bruce — the picture from a recent article about her in the New York Times.
Saturday/ Bruce
Friday/ Italian tomato sauce
I ran into a super-simple recipe for pasta sauce in the New York Times. Canned peeled tomatoes, butter, onion, a pinch or two of salt. That’s it.
The recipe mentioned San Marzano tomatoes. Would these be available on Amazon? I wondered.
Yes .. the original product from Italy! and so I ordered some.
Below is what I did to cook the sauce tonight.
There is a little basil with the tomato in the can.
I used Kerrygold Irish butter and white onion.
The onion is taken out afterwards.
I tossed the sauce with the pasta, and that was it.
No parmesan, so that I could savor the sunny, earthy tomato flavor better.
Thursday/ blue sky & dry tennis courts
Well, the rain stopped long enough today for the sky to clear .. and for the tennis courts at Jefferson Park to dry out.
So when the text messages from my tennis group came in asking who could play, I jumped at it. We had 52 °F/ 11 °C, which is still OK to play in. Temperatures down to around 45 °F/ 7 °C are increasingly dicey, and 40 °F/ 4 °C is a hard no for me.
Wednesday/ it’s December, so it rains
A major winter storm is bringing heavy snow into the Northeast of the country. Here in the Pacific Northwest we just have rain. (There is snow in the mountains, of course, but it’s not cold enough for snow on the city streets, yet.) November’s total came to 5.6 in, somewhat below the average of 6.6 in.
Tuesday/ Christmas lights
By sunset (4.18 pm), my neighbors’ Christmas lights across the street are already switched on.
Each of these Tuesdays, I sweep up the last bit of the leaves on my front lawn (to put in the yard waste bin for pickup).
P.S. There’s a ‘Biden for President’ sign on the white picket fence on the right.
All 538 electors voted Monday in the Electoral College*, and it’s now official: Joe Biden 306, Trump 232.
*From CBS news: Electors are not necessarily bound by law to vote according to the state’s results, and there were 10 “faithless electors” in 2016. But most states have laws that nullify the votes of “faithless electors,” and the Supreme Court ruled in July that states can punish them. FairVote found that since the founding of the Electoral College, there have been 167 faithless electors.
Monday/ success, with a sweater
I ordered another Banana Republic sweater online.
This one fits me very well, and it’s a keeper.
Sweater in fine merino wool, with pockets and hidden full-length zipper. I could choose between grey and black. Grey is neutral and versatile. Black is much more formal and powerful and (to me), just does not go as well with earthy colors.
Sunday/ vial, tray, carton, box with dry ice
Worldwide, dry ice production and making ultra-cold freezers, are being ramped up. I read somewhere that airlines are now allowed 15,000 lbs of dry ice in their cargo, up from 3,000 lbs. The stuff sublimates, which means it evaporates into CO2 gas directly from its solid form. The crew have to keep an eye on the CO2 levels.
Ordinary people will have to be patient. I hope I can roll up my sleeve for my first shot (of two) by say, April.
Saturday/ glühwein to go?
The traditional Christmas markets and the stalls with toys, snacks and glühwein are closed, and sorely missed, in Germany.
Friday night news dump
- The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) grants emergency use authorization for the Covid-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech.
- The pandemic is far from over (more than 3,000 deaths just on Thursday).
- Texas attorney general’s ‘lawsuit’ (stunt), to try to overturn the certified election results (certifying Trump is a LOSER) in four battleground states, is smacked down 9-0 by the US Supreme Court. The AGs of seventeen red states, and 2/3 of House Republicans had joined the lawsuit. (Hey Republicans, newsflash for you: the United States is still a democracy. Your attempt at a coup is now dead.)
- The Space Needle is lit up in green, in support of the Seattle Sounders, that will take on Columbus Crew in the 2020 Major League Soccer Cup Final on Saturday.
- Update Sat 12/13: Sounders lost 0-3 to Columbus. Congrats to Columbus.
Thursday/ and .. what is that thing?
I drove down to the Beacon Hill branch of the Seattle Public Library today, to return a very overdue book.
(For some reason the Capitol Hill branch of the Seattle Public Library near me, does not accept books in its book depository).
Wednesday/ the days are still shrinking
Three o’clock is still good for a walk outside, as the last of the sunlight catches the homes across the street. Four is now too late.
.. which reminds me of the little pun ‘When is a door not a door? When it is ajar’.
Tuesday/ William Shakespeare gets his shot
William Shakespeare (81), became the second person to officially receive the Pfizer-Biontech COVID-19 vaccine, at University Hospital Coventry, England.
(My apologies to the current day-William Shakespeare that had appeared in the original picture, for replacing his visage with one of The Bard. I could not resist).
In 1593, a year or so before Shakespeare wrote ‘Romeo and Juliet’, a powerful wave of the bubonic plague struck London. Theatres closed for 14 months and some 10,000 Londoners died. People died in all kinds of ways in Shakespeare’s plays, but nobody ever died of the plague. Thinking of the plague was terrifying, and any references to it in plays, was almost completely taboo.
Monday/ homemade soup: the best
The onion and carrots that I had bought for making red lentil soup with, were not going to last forever. So I finally got going today, and got it all in the pot. Voila! It’s a welcome change from the same old grocery store soup I have had for many weeks now.
Sunday/ Rudy joins a long list
Rudy Giuliani (76) finds himself in hospital today after testing positive for Covid-19. Giuliani is Trump’s lawyer. I don’t believe he has ever worn a mask in public.
Already a national laughing stock for his embarrassing cameo in the ‘Borat Subsequent Movie’ film, he has not let that stop him from making evermore outlandish, baseless claims about election fraud.
It’s hard to keep track of the hordes of Trump administration officials and staffers that have contracted Covid-19, but the New York Times comes to the rescue (see below).
Saturday/ the new stations on Berlin’s U5
Here’s another reason for me to go to Berlin again some time (first reason is the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport): the expansion of the U5 U-bahn* line that had started in 2010, is now complete.
*Short for Untergrundbahn, ‘underground railway’.
Friday/ scenes along Denny Way
It was sunny and 54°F (12 °C) today. I walked down to Denny Way, to check on the construction across from the Denny Substation.
P.S. Amazing that there is NOT A CAR IN SIGHT. It is 4 pm on a Friday afternoon. Normally, Denny Way would be PACKED with rush-hour traffic trying to make it to Interstate 5.
Thursday/ way back, in the vaccine line
I took the little quiz in the New York Times that produces an estimate of where I will fall in the Washington State line for getting my vaccine. (I’m in the ‘Everyone Else’ category; the equivalent of Group 5 or Group E for boarding an airplane).
The result:
Based on your risk profile, we believe you’re in line behind 268.7 million people across the United States.
When it comes to Washington, we think you’re behind 5.8 million others who are at higher risk in your state.
And in King County, you’re behind 1.6 million others.
Wednesday/ golden mushrooms
I did have a few of the large fly agaric mushrooms in my backyard in October (red with white spots), but they were not as big as last year’s.
I have not seen these golden ones before in my backyard, though. Looks like they are golden Pholiota (Pholiota aurivella). They are supposedly edible; some people report that they taste like marshmallows without the sugar.
(That does not sound tempting .. and as I’ve said before, the only mushrooms I eat are ones from the grocery store!).
Tuesday/ here’s December
The top of the Space Needle is now dressed up with its Christmas tree lights. [Picture from Space Needle @space_needle on Twitter].
Monday/ better late than never
Two items in the ‘Better Late Than Never’ category, in the fight against the pandemic, were in the news today.
1. Dr. Scott Atlas, Trump’s coronavirus adviser resigned. (His ‘expert advice’ appalled public health experts).
2. Washingtonians can finally activate or download the Coronavirus Exposure Notification app. (In Western Washington, the number of new daily cases jumped six-fold just from September to November). The diagram below shows how this works.
