I participated in an interesting conversation today that reminded me how ‘bus stigma’ is self-reinforcing. Scene: at work, in the lunchroom. Our company owner, a very smart guy based in Irvine, is visiting us this week. He asked where the nearest Red Line MAX station to the office was, to find out how to get […]
Monthly Archives: November 2012
Smitten Kitchen cookbook adventures (4)
#5: Slow cooker black bean ragout Apparently a ragout is a main-dish stew (related to the Italian ragu), usually cooked long and slow. Now you know! This is a basic bean dish, probably not that different from one you’d find in any veggie or vegan cookbook, and that’s exactly what I wanted for post-Thanksgiving. It […]
Smitten Kitchen cookbook adventures (3)
#4: Butternut squash and caramelized onion galette This is one of the recipes that immediately hit me with a “Where has this been all my life?” kind of force. I love winter squash, lately I’m obsessed with caramelized onions, and anything that involves expanding my pastry dough repertoire is a fun challenge. I decided to […]
Smitten Kitchen cookbook adventures (2)
Update on the gratin: I baked some delicata squash tonight and pureed a bit of it with some vegetable broth, to put under the leftover gratin. As I expected, it was delicious that way. #3: Kale salad with dried cherries, walnuts, and goat cheese My lackadaisical grocery shopping also interfered with the execution on this […]
Mees 2: Was auto dominance inevitable?
One of the most interesting myths that Mees spends time debunking in this chapter is actually not that auto dominance was inevitable (since I didn’t believe that to begin with) but the idea that American public transit declined and died because of a conspiracy by the auto industry. His analysis is that the tram industry […]
Smitten Kitchen cookbook adventures (1)
I just got the Smitten Kitchen cookbook and have been drooling over the recipes. I decided to make a few this week and see how it went. #1: Fingerlings vinaigrette with sieved eggs and pickled celery ZOMG, if you’ve never put eggs through a sieve (and really, who has?) you are missing out. This salad […]
Mees 1: “Density as destiny” is a convenient story
One of the most interesting points that Mees makes early on is that the story of “density as destiny” where transit is concerned is convenient for a lot of people on both sides of the spectrum. Road-builders who’d like to keep building roads can say that they have to, because density is insufficient for effective […]
Car2Go: less horrible, possibly useful
Car2Go seems to have fixed most of the problems that I mentioned in my previous post about their website and I was actually able to successfully use it recently. I was going to pick up my bike from the shop, and I had a time crunch because I had to be home by six. At […]