Last night, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds gave the condition of the state address in the House chamber, live broadcast on Iowa Public Television. In it, she introduced this year’s version of her voucher plan, calling it the Students First Act. In part, she said,
Regardless of the reason, every parent should have a choice of where to send their child—and that choice shouldn’t be limited to families who can afford it.  My school choice bill will create education savings accounts for families who choose to send their child to a private school. The State will contribute $7,598 to that account, which is the amount of funding the State provides for each child who attends a public school.   For students currently attending a private school, the plan will be phased in, focusing first on the families with the lowest income levels. And in three years, every family will have a choice in education. And no child will be limited by income or zip code.  My education plan starts with school choice, but it doesn’t end there. As I said, this is about making sure every child receives a quality education, regardless of the school system they’re in.Â
Governor Kim Reynolds Condition of the State address, Jan. 10, 2023.
As a mouse chased its tail around in circles.
A game of Monopoly unfolds:
Mediterranean, Baltic, Ventner, Marvin Gardens.
A buffoon in scholarly robes
says
Life is one big Monopoly game.
Simon,
in abstinence from intoxicants,
says
No, it's not.
Life is what you perceive it to be.
As a mouse chases its tail around in circles.
~ Walling Court, 1974
Oakland Cemetery after a foggy morning, Solon, Iowa.
While driving north on Southeast 14th Street in Des Moines, the Iowa State Capitol rose above the horizon in brilliance befitting its 19th Century aspiration. If something happened to the structure, I’m not sure it would be rebuilt with the stunningly beautiful design I witnessed on Saturday.
The 90th Iowa General Assembly begins on January 9. Republicans have a majority in both chambers of the legislature, so Democrats will play defense. Tuesday, Jan. 10, is the governor’s condition of the state address, although we pretty much know what she will say. Despite the Republican trifecta, Democrats stand ready to fight for Iowans like me.
“There’s no question last year was tough for Iowa Democrats, but I’ve got hope. I’m not giving up on my state and the place I’ll always call home. House Democrats are ready to get to work and fight for you and the people of Iowa,” wrote Iowa House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst in an email.
I signed up for the legislative newsletter from my State Senator Dawn Driscoll. If my State Representative Brad Sherman has one, I’ll sign up for it as well. I plan to watch the legislature more closely than I did last year. Eternal vigilance is the price we pay for liberty, according to the July 8, 1817 Vermont Gazette. That is more than evident this year.
Purple tips of Iris emerge
from among green swords
oscillating
in wind too strong for blooms.
We'll move the root stock
to a sheltering place
past the Lilac hedge
where grackles browse...
Mix soil with bone meal
and decaying manure
a bed for bulbs
beneath mulch and wind.
We should get this done
when the blossoms fade
before distraction comes
with summer's calm.
~ Spring 1996
Insurrectionist occupying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office on Jan. 6, 2021.
Lost among 15 ballots for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives this week was news that during the second half of 2022 inflation dropped to near the two percent targeted by the Federal Reserve. Chill on inflation, Republicans. Biden has got the runaway economy your party made well in hand. Combine more normal inflation with the lowest unemployment rate since 1969, and robust jobs growth, the administration should be honking its own horn.
Be assured, the news media is ignoring this positive story. Reporters find the drama and tussles during the speaker votes to be of more interest. Tension among Republicans mounted during voting:
During the final ballot, every Republican got to yes for Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker. We don’t know the extent of concessions McCarthy made to get those votes. We do know there are uncertain waters in our future. Now is the time for Democrats to stay the course.
I will say this about Jan. 6, 2021: American society has bred and indoctrinated some of the dumbest people around. I understand what “Hang Mike Pence” and “Stop the Steal” mean. While repulsive and opposed to our constitutional legacy, the ask was at least coherent: reinstate Donald Trump as president.
As the U.S. House of Representatives elects a speaker for the 118th Congress, we are exposed to all manner of malarkey, including the statement from a U.S. Representative-elect from Georgia that former House Speaker Paul Ryan refused to implement MAGA policy and that’s why he was removed. For some reason, I believe electing a Democratic majority to the U.S. House in 2018, followed by the swearing in of Nancy Pelosi as speaker, was the reason… but what do I know.
House Republicans will do everything possible to make us forget about Jan. 6, 2021. Whether you are a Republican, Democrat, or something else, the nation’s best interests are served by remembering that day, determining what happened, and telling the truth about it. People who broke the law should be brought to justice. Whether we are too dumb as a society to do that is an open question.
A Greyhound Bus leaves the Chicago Terminal several times a day and routinely rolls across the Mississippi River, the Great Plains, and the Rocky Mountains to its destination in the Golden State.
Just as frequently, a bus leaves Los Angeles and in silent recognition the drivers pass and wave. Partners conveying anonymous individuals.
In Iowa we see these buses and occasionally ride them laden with food and gifts, but mostly we dream a little about the places they are going and then return to more immediate business.
After business comes a drink and the sleep that is so sweet in Iowa, while buses move on to the blackness of Chicago and the setting sun of the Golden State.
~ Summer 1974
We must be free
to follow our
search for knowledge
wherever it may lead us.
Without regard for
what people say,
without regard for
what already exists.
Though it be
a long, lonely road,
we must go
alone,
yet in
communion with
the many who have set out
like us.
Though we will be alone,
we will also be in
the best company.
~ Summer 1983
Go-to Summer Meal – Sliced tomato, toasted whole grain bread, basil pesto , salt and pepper.
We make about two dozen regular meals based on what is available from a well-stocked pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. In season, we adjust meals to include fresh vegetables from the garden. Cooking has become ingredient-driven in our kitchen garden. If we have an ingredient on hand, it is likely to go into a meal. That is different from the way Mother put food on the table when I lived at her home.
I do seek new recipes. If one comes along requiring a special ingredient we don’t stock, it is usually discarded as I move on to one that fits into our food universe. Seldom do we adopt new recipes without modification to accommodate our outlook about cooking process and vegetarian cuisine. Our meals are pretty basic and that is a good thing.
For example, I don’t follow a recipe for making bread. Water, all purpose flour, yeast, sugar, and salt can make a decent loaf. I start by measuring hot water from the tap into a bowl. I measure a teaspoon or so of dried active yeast and a scant teaspoon of sugar, whisk, and let sit for the yeast to activate. Then I add the flour with a pinch of salt, and knead it into a ball for the first rising. After it doubles in size, I turn it out on the counter and knead a few minutes. I form it into a loaf and put the bread pan into a warm oven for the second rising. Once doubled in size, I take the pans out, turn the heat to 375 degrees, and bake for 30-35 minutes. The result is almost always good.
There isn’t a bread recipe, yet maybe there is. The picture I have of myself while making bread is of interaction with ingredients rather than following a recipe.
Beginning after World War II, changes in the availability of processed food and the rise of community cookbooks reflected a new era of home cooking. Review some of the recipes in these cookbooks and find reference to gelatin, shortening, instant pudding, boxed cake mixes, sweetened condensed milk, and other processed foods. Ingredient measurements for a recipe assumed a certain sized bag of frozen vegetables or can of beans before a time of larger purchases from wholesale clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club. In part, this is due to the rise of larger grocery stores with diverse supply chains. In part, it is due to a growing population influenced by television advertising and national brands. As we are coming to recognize, it is part of a movement toward consolidation of the food production industry into a small number of large, integrated companies. We had 15.5 ounce cans of beans because that is what the manufacturer made and was available at the local grocer. It is easier to use canned beans than preparing dried beans, so we did. Having read dozens of community cookbooks, I found recipes in them were often quite similar to one another.
The advent of short-form video about cooking may be influencing how we cook. I viewed hundreds of cooking videos on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. What I found is while some of the ingredients changed, common threads run through a majority of them. The substance of food preparation was similar and came from a relatively small list of ingredients. Additionally, a video presentation was not a “recipe” but more the idea of a recipe. I wrote about this in September. I believe our cuisine is poorer for dealing with ideas rather than the taste and economics of actual dishes on our plates.
There is a dynamic between a new recipe, our habitual cuisine and our pantry. Because of my experience as a cook, I am more likely to take the idea of a recipe and use it to make a meal than I am to use a recipe as a starting point for grocery shopping and process control. Making three meals a day is not that complicated, nor does it take a large variety of recipes.
It is normal to adjust recipes. A well-known recipe is for Toll House cookies printed on the Nestle brand of semi-sweet chocolate chips. When I made this recipe, I added a tablespoon of flour to the cookie dough to produce a firmer cookie. Cooks everywhere make such minor adjustments to recipes.
The key transformation as a cook is to stray from recipes completely. To become like that bread-making cook I described and visualize what the dish will look like using techniques needed to create the dish. They say we shouldn’t stray too far from the reservation. Straying from recipes may be the best way to cook.
Journey Home 
You must be logged in to post a comment.