Can't recycle plastic bags in Somerville

I'm sorry, but if you thought you COULD recycle plastic bags until reading this article, you are an idiot. Why else would there be an eco-friendly-bag revolution? Anyway I'm glad they are cracking down on this-- Somerville really makes so easy for residents already.

Plastics, Benjamin? Not in Somerville, not now. On Jan. 14, the city announced that residents could no longer put recyclables in plastic shopping bags, because the recycling plant can't handle them.

Some residents used them anyway to store extra bottles and cans. Employees simply shook the contents out of the bags, which can tangle up the machines.

"When the stuff was making money, they were willing to look the other way," said David Lutes, director of the city's Office of Sustainability and Environment. 

Now it's simply not worth the trouble.

Call me a stickler, but this rubs me the wrong way

No coats in the Oval Office? Turning up the thermostat in D.C., which isn't even a cold climate? These are times to be setting a better example than that!

The New York Times says:


Mr. Obama promised to bring change to Washington and he has — not just in substance, but in presidential style.

Although his presidency is barely a week old, some of Mr. Obama’s work habits are already becoming clear. He shows up at the Oval Office shortly before 9 in the morning, roughly two hours later than his early-to-bed, early-to-rise predecessor. Mr. Obama likes to have his workout — weights and cardio — first thing in the morning, at 6:45. (Mr. Bush slipped away to exercise midday.)

He reads several papers, eats breakfast with his family and helps pack his daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, off to school before making the 30-second commute downstairs — a definite perk for a man trying to balance work and family life. He eats dinner with his family, then often returns to work; aides have seen him in the Oval Office as late as 10 p.m., reading briefing papers for the next day.

Cassoulet...or, as my husband calls it, Goulet Casserole.

I am hoping the use of a slow cooker produces better results than my soup pot did when I tried making this last winter. It was not a big hit, which is saying a lot in a house that loves sausage and bacon.

Beloved by generations of French cooks, cassoulet is a rustic, slow-cooked dish made with white beans and a lavish assortment of meats, from duck confit or foie gras to sausages and succulent cuts of pork, lamb or poultry. This recipe features an adaptation of the Languedoc specialty from Thomas Keller, the internationally acclaimed chef of The French Laundry, in Northern California.

To simplify the dish for home cooks, Chef Keller developed his cassoulet recipe for a slow cooker.

Ingredients:

• 4 lb. boneless pork shoulder, cut into 8 pieces and trimmed of excess fat
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 2 Tbs. canola oil
• 1 cup panko
• 4 oz. thick-cut bacon, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch strips
• 4 cups coarsely chopped yellow onions (about 3 medium onions)
• 2 cups dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 can (35 oz.) peeled Italian plum tomatoes, drained and
  coarsely chopped
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 12 cups cooked Great Northern beans or other small white
  beans, drained
• 1 1/2 lb. fresh chorizo sausage, each halved on the bias
• 1 garlic head, halved crosswise
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus more for garnish
• 1 lb. baguette, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
• Extra-virgin olive oil for brushing
• Coarse sea salt, such as sel gris, for garnish

Directions:

Season the pork generously with kosher salt and pepper; set aside.

In the stovetop-safe insert of a slow cooker over medium-high heat, combine the canola oil and panko. Cook, stirring constantly, until the panko is toasted and golden, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer the panko to a baking sheet and season with kosher salt and pepper.

Add the bacon to the insert and cook until crisp on both sides, about 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Reserve the bacon fat in the insert.

Add half of the pork to the insert and brown on all sides, 7 to 8 minutes total. Transfer to a platter. Repeat with the remaining pork.

Add the onions and 1 tsp. kosher salt to the insert and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and softened, about 7 minutes. Add the wine and simmer until reduced by half, about 8 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, tomatoes and broth. Remove the insert from the heat and add the beans, pork, chorizo and garlic.

Place the insert on the slow-cooker base, cover and cook on low until the pork pulls apart easily with a fork, 9 to 10 hours. Skim off the fat, and remove and discard the garlic. Fold in the panko and the 1/4 cup parsley. Adjust the seasonings with kosher salt and pepper.

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat the broiler.

Brush the baguette slices with olive oil. Arrange the slices, oiled side up, on top of the cassoulet, overlapping them. Broil until golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes.

Let the cassoulet stand at room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving. Sprinkle each serving with the reserved bacon, sea salt and parsley. Serves 8 to 10.

Adapted from a recipe by Thomas Keller, Chef/Owner, The French Laundry. Courtesy Williams-Sonoma.

Looks yummy: beet salad

Golden and red beets are combined with watercress, creamy goat cheese and crunchy walnuts to create a colorful winter salad. Before you roast the beets, cut off the greens and reserve them for another use.

Ingredients:

• 3 golden beets, trimmed and washed
• 6 red beets, trimmed and washed
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
• 5 Tbs. crème fraîche
• 1 Tbs. chopped fresh dill
• 1 tsp. minced shallots
• 4 cups baby watercress
• 4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
• 1/3 cup toasted chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Place the golden and red beets on a baking sheet. Coat the beets with 3 Tbs. of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cover the baking sheet with aluminum foil and roast until the beets are fork-tender, about 1 hour. When the beets are cool enough to handle, peel and cut into 1-inch wedges. Meanwhile, in a salad dressing emulsifier, combine the lemon juice, crème fraîche, the remaining 5 Tbs. olive oil, the dill and shallots. Squeeze the lever to emulsify. Season the vinaigrette with salt and pepper. Arrange the beet wedges in a layer on a platter and top with the watercress. Garnish with the goat cheese and walnuts. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad and serve immediately.

Serves 6.

(Williams-Sonoma Kitchen)

boston in winter

I shall revisit this in July.

Mayors, sharing a common cause

Swept into office with grass-roots campaigns stressing financial reform and change, Salem's Kim Driscoll and Gloucester's Carolyn Kirk know they share a lot in common.

Besides being the first women elected mayors in their cities, they're also self-described "working moms" who balance 60- to 70-hour workweeks with family.

While they run two of the oldest seaports in the country, their greatest asset - and similarity - they said, is their passion for balancing the budget, a skill that has become even more challenging as their cities brace for anticipated cuts in state aid.

Green Line now stops at the West End

More than 50 years after bulldozers flattened the brick tenements of the West End, the neighborhood finally has its very own MBTA stop.

New signs are being hung today at the Green Line trolley stop formally known as Science Park.
The new name: Science Park/West End.

That West End designation won't show up on any T maps.
It is a symbolic local change that will only be visible in the 30 plus signs on the trolley platform and at the bottom of the green stairs that lead some 50 steps up to the station at the foot of the Charles River Dam.

For the MBTA, the bestowing of a secondary local name to stations is becoming increasingly common as a part of other, larger renovations.

The designation Boston Public Library was added to the local signs on the Green Line at Copley Station. And on the Red Line, the label Peabody Square was added to signs at Ashmont Station.

This station has much worse problems than not having the correct name.

Also, I'll point out that it's been a couple days and I've not seen these signs anywhere in Science Park as I pass through on my way to and from work.

Top kitchen toy? The cell phone

Yes, this is just another weapon in my arsenal for The Fight to Buy Amanda an iPhone.

The tech revolution has been a long time in coming to the kitchen. Our coffee machines are so advanced that they can practically drive us to work, but Internet-controlled toasters and Web-enabled refrigerators became punch lines.

One high-tech cooking tool, however, has transformed the kitchen lives of many Americans: the cellphone.

It has become the kitchen tool of choice for chefs and home cooks. They use it to keep grocery lists, find recipes, photograph their handiwork, look up the names of French cheeses, set timers for steak and soft-boiled eggs, and convert European or English measurements to American ones.

"Relics of the good old days"

Joel Stein asks: between stainless steel, bottled water and designer jeans....what were we thinking?


He offers a list to look back on in shame before your grandchildren.


MY FAVORITES:

Williamsburg, Brooklyn: Paying $3,000 a month to live near Manhattan? Exactly as near as the Sweathogs lived? You can wear librarian glasses, play in a band and go to readings in Iowa City too. Either way, you're not in New York.

Dog gyms: We got so lazy, we needed people to motivate our pets to run around. Somewhere, I'm sure a chef was paid to prepare a dog's own poop for him.

When foreclosures outnumber new homes

The Boston.com Real Estate Blog says:

Here’s another bad sign of the times.

The number of people losing their homes to foreclosure across the country is now outstripping the number of new homes being built.

More than 860,000 homes were foreclosed on last year, a new report by RealtyTrac finds.

Overall, banks and other lenders sent out more than 3 million foreclosure notices last year, signaling the start of the foreclosure process.

That means more than 200,000 homes last year were seized by banks and other lenders than were built by developers.

I applaud this

Pat McDonagh, a code enforcement officer in Boston, photographed an unshoveled sidewalk on Sachem Street in Mission Hill.

Hub combats sidewalk scofflaws

Code inspectors have taken to the streets this winter with a new weapon, palm-size computers with touch screens that snap photographs of treacherous patches of ice, snow, and slush.

Thumbnail images are stamped on tickets and printed instantly with a wireless 32-ounce printer slung over an officer's shoulder like a purse.

Officials hope the immediacy of the photographs will act as a deterrent, reducing the number of slick sidewalks that twist ankles, flare tempers, and force some pedestrians to walk in the street, which can be dangerous.


When property owners find a green envelope for a code violation stuffed under their doors, they are staring at evidence they will have to explain if they plan to appeal.
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Kristof: Where sweatshops are a dream

I’m glad that many Americans are repulsed by the idea of importing products made by barely paid, barely legal workers in dangerous factories.

Yet sweatshops are only a symptom of poverty, not a cause, and banning them closes off one route out of poverty.

At a time of tremendous economic distress and protectionist pressures, there’s a special danger that tighter labor standards will be used as an excuse to curb trade.

When I defend sweatshops, people always ask me: But would you want to work in a sweatshop? No, of course not.

But I would want even less to pull a rickshaw. In the hierarchy of jobs in poor countries, sweltering at a sewing machine isn’t the bottom.

The best way to help people in the poorest countries isn’t to campaign against sweatshops but to promote manufacturing there. One of the best things America could do for Africa would be to strengthen our program to encourage African imports, called AGOA, and nudge Europe to match it.

Immigrants forced to margins of Italian society

Once a poor country that sent millions of its citizens abroad to find work, Italy now imports workers. The country has an aging population and low birth rate, and it depends on immigrant labor to maintain its economy and welfare benefits.

But despite the country's demand for laborers, Italians are extremely reluctant to welcome immigrants.

Italy now has an estimated 4 million to 5 million immigrants — about 7 percent of the population.
Surveys show that among Europeans, Italians are the most suspicious about immigrants.

A majority believes immigrants have too many rights and that many of them should be deported, and that immigration has brought only crime.

Talk of an immigrant "invasion" is widespread.

See also a troubling report, the first part in this series: "German minorities still fight to be seen, heard."

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Metrowest Daily News: 1 in 200 kids are vegetarian

Anecdotally, adolescent vegetarianism seems to be rising, thanks in part to YouTube animal slaughter videos that shock the developing sensibilities of many U.S. children.

But there isn't enough long-term data to prove that, according to government researchers.
The new estimate of young vegetarians comes from a recent federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study of alternative medicine based on a survey of thousands of Americans in 2007.

Information on children's diet habits was gleaned from about 9,000 parents and other adults speaking on the behalf of those under 18.

Vegetarians are most often female, from higher-income families and living on the East or West coasts, according to previous studies.

Bicycle your way to fitness

This is appropriate for me, since my "big gift" this year was a bike trainer. Now if only I could figure out where to store it in my 600 square foot apartment (yes you read that right, and yes I do have a 6'4" husband and a hyperactive cat to work around).

From the LA Times:
Work out like a pro with the help of an ex-Olympian. The first steps: Set a realistic training schedule, then get on your bike and go.

Globe will sell space for ads on front page

The Boston Globe will soon join a growing number of newspapers nationwide that are selling front-page advertisements as a way to generate additional income.

Globe spokesman Bob Powers said today that the newspaper will start publishing front-page ads during the first quarter of this year, but is still working out the details, such as price, size, and location on the page.

The news comes two days after The New York Times Co., which owns the Globe, said it would sell front-page advertising and published an ad across the bottom of its flagship paper, The New York Times.

YUM - Vegetarian chili, courtesy of Integrative Nutrition

Vegetarian Chili

Prep Time:
15 minutes
Cooking Time:
30 minutes
Yields:
8 servings

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil1 medium onion, chopped3 cloves garlic, minced2 tomatoes, diced, (or one can organic diced tomatoes)1 carrot, cut into quarter moons1 tablespoon chili powder1 teaspoon ground cumin3 cups cooked or canned red, black or kidney beans1 cup water2 tablespoons organic tomato paste1 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:
Heat oil in a large heavy pan and sauté onions and garlic for 3 minutes.
Add tomatoes, carrots, chili powder and cumin and sauté for 5 minutes.
Slowly add beans, water, tomato paste and salt.
Cook on low to medium heat for 20 minutes.

Notes:
Add as many veggies as you like such as bell peppers, zucchini and corn kernels.

Somerville armory converted into arts center

At the old armory on Highland Avenue, the Massachusetts National Guard has long since exited stage right.



But come March, Shakespeare will take over the soldiers' former quarters with a production of his military play, "Coriolanus."

It will mark the transformation of the building into Somerville's first major community arts center.

The project was immense. The 30,000-square-foot space had stood largely unused for 30 years when Joseph and Nabil Sater bought it in 2004. The building and renovations have cost more than $4 million, Joseph Sater said.

"It is a wonderfully evocative space," said Ben Evett, artistic director and founder of the Actors' Shakespeare Project, now based on the second floor. He envisioned actors descending from the ceiling on ropes.
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Ring in the new year with today's video

Express yourself.

N.W.A. |MTV Music