I’m dutifully reading The Progress Paradox, as are you, no doubt.  But otherwise, my reading list is about as deep as a puddle these days.   This morning I read the nutritional information on a box of cereal, but that’s about as complex as it gets.


                                                 

By the end of the weekend, I’m going to try to kickstart my intellect. 

Here’s what I’ll be thinking about reading.  You should read it, too, so we have something to talk about.

Andrew Sullivan wrote “May the Judgment Not Be Too Heavy Upon Us,” on The Daily Dish about the contradictions and hypocrisy and outright scariness of the willingness of cretins like Dick Cheney and misguided “Christians” to advocate torture.

Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, authors of Nurture shock: New Thinking About Children , have an article at The Daily Beast, “The Child-Testing Craze,” that every parent or human on the planet with a stake in public education THAT MEANS YOU, should read.  While you’re at it, read the book. 

Maybe it’s because I saw a preview for Sex and The City II, which looks idiotic but I’ll see it I’m sure because, Hello?  Mr. Big?  I’d watch him read the phone book on the big screen for three hours, but I want to read the book that Carrie Bradshaw was reading in the first idiotic Sex and the City movie, Love Letters of Great Menby (?? compiled by??) John C. Kirkland. 

And because it’s February, and February sucks, and I’m feeling apathetic and pasty and yuck, I’m going to read all the trashola Janet Evanovich Ranger Stephanie Plum Novels.  Again.  For the fourth third second time.  I know.  It’s really sad.  And I’m obviously not going to read them ALL this weekend.  Probably.  And no, we’re not going to discuss the fact that someone has cast Katherine Heigl in the role of Stephanie Plum for the movie version of the first book.  If we pretend it didn’t happen, maybe it will go away.



Yesterday’s Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa, adapted from Epicurious.com, originally appeared in Gourmet in July, 2007.

Whisk together a bunch of lime zest and lime juice – the recipe calls for 2 tsp zest and 2 TB juice, but I’d go all out with the lime juice and add as much as you can get your hands on – 2 TB melted and cooled butter, 1 TB veg. oil (you could skip this, I did and nobody missed it), and 1 tsp. sugar.  Why?  I don’t know.  Also add some salt and pepper or else you’ll be stuck in blandville eating your bland dinner.

Do the whole washing and rinsing the quinoa thing.  It’s irritating, and those little grains get everywhere.  If you skip this step, I’ll never tell, and I’ll probably respect you more.

Cook 1 cup quinoa in a pot of boiling water, uncovered, for about ten minutes.  Drain it, put it in a sieve, and set the sieve over 1 inch of boiling water in a big pot.  Cover the quinoa with a dish towel, put the lid on it (it doesn’t matter if the lid doesn’t fit, because why would it?  On top of a sieve and a dish towel?).  Steam it all over medium head for about ten minutes.  Remove from heat and let stand for about five minutes.

Add the lime-butter stuff, a can of rinsed black beans and a bunch of diced fresh  tomatoes to the quinoa and mix it all together.  Add more pepper, and salt if you don’t have high blood pressure or aren’t prone to bloating.

Good warm, good cold.  Better with some interesting hot sauce.