Just wanted to let everyone know that I have discovered rhubarb—and I highly recommend it to one and all! I had it for a really delicious breakfast yesterday—roasted rhubarb and yogurt. And also for dessert the night before, with Haagen-Dazs vanilla. And…really…for a snack after work yesterday…by itself. It’s just that good.

I have always enjoyed the occasional strawberry-rhubarb pie, but I never really thought of buying rhubarb. (Especially twice in a week.) And for something other than pie. But it is great roasted, and very simple. It comes out happily tart and satisfyingly fruity.

Quick prep: Wash and trim the rhubarb, chop it in pieces, and place it in an oven-safe dish. Add a heaping 1/4 cup sugar for about 4 stalks (once you try it, adjust to taste). Roast in a hot oven (anywhere between 350 and 450 degrees F) for about 25 minutes, until very soft. It practically purees itself in the oven, but with a delicious, roasty flavor.

Spring is rhubarb season. Get it now! We’re wondering if you can freeze it for out-of-season enjoyment. I’m sure you can—washed, dried and chopped should do it.

I read about roasting rhubarb in Ruth Reichl’s Garlic and Sapphires (otherwise, this is her least engaging book) a couple years ago, and I don’t know why I haven’t tried it till now.  Reichl also points out that you may often have the oven on anyway—roasting chicken or veggies. Why not add a pan of rhubarb?  And she mentions that it makes a nice accompaniment to pork…which may or may not be of interest to anyone…

This posting on Slog today reminded me of a conversation our esteemed editor Daniel and I had today about animal cruelty and the whole foie gras controversy (there was a story in yesterday’s NY Times about it, and with the photo of those cute baby duckies at the top, who could live with themselves by force-feeding them until they practically explode?). As a longtime vegetarian, the whole idea of what foie gras just makes me squeamish.
But, as Daniel so graciously pointed out, the modern industrial methods of assembly line meat production really are far more cruel. Can anyone say Fast Food Nation? And Daniel’s question, “Why don’t the activists focus on stopping that cruelty instead of on the foie gras farmers, which is cruel but not as cruel?” [I’m paraphrasing here. It was a long day] is a good question. Besides, he added, “It’s really, really good.” [paraphrasing again, but you get the point.]
What this has to do with Zoo I guess is the whole question about what constitutes being cruel to animals.
We know the guy having sex with the horse died, but we couldn’t really ask the horse how he felt about it. The horse was destroyed in the aftermath. I haven’t seen the movie, by the way, but that’s because I hardly see any movies these days. I’m interested though, and not just for research purposes. Sex with animals is now illegal in the state of Washington [what do you want to bet the bill’s primary sponsor, Pam Roach, is likely as much a meat-loving legislator as most anyone else], anti-cruelty folks will just have to focus their efforts on meat production and perfume testing.

One of the things we in the Jewish world hear from time to time is that with the current rise in anti-Semitism and saber rattling from the Middle East, that we’re at the eve of 1938 - just before Nazi Germany began asserting its authority and placing heavy restrictions on Jews, as well as beginning the violence against them. It always seems a bit over the top, but it was enough of a concern that some big machers in the Jewish world decided to have a conference about it [on the JTNews site, via JTA]. The verdict: not quite.

Virtually every presenter at the gathering April 22-23 noted the limits of any analogy to 1938. That was the year of Kristallnacht and the surrender of the Sudetenland to Nazi Germany in a policy now known disparagingly as appeasement, symbolizing Europe’s failure to appreciate the depth of Hitler’s ambitions.
Presenters noted instead the obvious differences today, including the existence of a Jewish state with a strong army; the power and wealth of Jews in the West, particularly in the United States; society’s general intolerance of brazen anti-Semitism, even if the more subtle anti-Zionist variety is increasingly accepted; and a greater assertiveness by Jews, as demonstrated by the very fact of a conference convened to address the threats to Jewish survival.

What interests me more than the fact that they would have a conference about this is that the specter of our annihilation is used as a press release. I’m not sure who they think they’re reaching, maybe aside from the middle aged folks with thick wallets who can afford to give because of the perceived threat, but it doesn’t resonate. Maybe it’s to our own detriment, but when you hear it so much, either we tune it out or we think the screamers are crying wolf. And frankly, these days I think more of us would rather give our hard-earned money to environmental organizations anyway, because really, who cares about nuclear bombs when we’re underwater from the ocean levels rising?

Okay, so I’m a day late. But it’s worth noting, that 59 years after the formation of a Jewish state, that it exists today as a vibrant, loud, if not crowded place. That’s not to say it doesn’t have issues with terrorism, occupation, incompetent leadership and sex scandals. But at the torch-lighting ceremony that kicked off the Independence Day, the speaker and acting president Dalia Itzik called on her country’s enemies to “replace your Katyushas and Qassams with computers and loving education,” according to Ha’aretz.

It’s also worth noting that the day before Yom Ha’atzmaut, the day of independence, is Yom HaZikaron, Israel Remembrance Day, which commemorates those who have died in all of Israel’s wars. A fitting tribute, I suppose.

Tommy Thompson, the man who occupied the building at one of the highest points in Madison, Wisconsin, and GOP presidential hopeful, obviously knows his Jewish history. Today’s Forward reports that on Monday, as he addressed the Union for Reform Judaism’s Reform Action Center, he made what he called a pitiful attempt at humor:

“I’m sort of a reform public servant, 38 years in the government,” Thompson said, in what some attendees described as an attempt at humor. “I’m in the private sector, and for the first time in my life I’m earning money. You know that’s sort of part of the Jewish tradition, and I do not find anything wrong with that. I enjoy that.”

Perhaps he learned from one of our wizened old sages?

After concluding his address, witnesses said, Thompson was pulled aside by the RAC’s director, Rabbi David Saperstein, and then he returned to the podium to issue an apology.
“I just want to clarify something because I didn’t in any means want to infer or imply anything about Jews and finances and things,” Thompson told the crowd. “What I was referring to, ladies and gentlemen, is the accomplishments of the Jewish religion and the Jewish people. You have been outstanding businesspeople, and I compliment you for that. And if anybody took what I said wrong, I apologize. I may have mischaracterized it. You are very successful. I applaud you for that.”

Thompson reportedly made other comments that could be construed as anti-Jewish, or at least ignorant, while attempting to curry favor as he seeks to win the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. The Forward called his candidacy a “long-shot.”