Saturday, January 21, 2012

The Age of Suspicion, by James Wechsler

I read the book The Age of Suspicion last week.

It is written by James Wechsler, who was
- smart enough to be admitted to Columbia University in 1931
- joined the Young Communist League and rose in the structure
- left it in 1936 (at the age of 25) after a trip to the Soviet Union when he felt like
the stories just weren't adding up
- worked for the Nation
with communists
- was VERY critical of the Hitler-Stalin pact in 1939 (he thought Hitler was a huge threat to democracy)
- worked at PM leftwing daily newspaper 1941-'48 with communists
- worked at the Daily News where he was very publicly critical of Communists (who he didn't feel were trustworthy) AND Joe McCarthy and blacklisting

He's a good writer, and it seemed like the story of smart strategic guy trying his best to be ethical in a flawed world.

I read it because I'm trying to understand the 40s and the creation of the United Nations.

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Have you listened to We Think We're People lately?

John & Ben Robinson, of the past podcast Supertalk (which you probably never heard of) on the late, lamented URradio (which you probably never listened to), are back with the fantastic new podcast, We Think We're People. No topic is too extreme, no recording equipment is too low-tech. For guests, we have comedians, sex columnists, maybe even you! (Seriously, we could use some more guests. If you're interested, drop us a line.) We Think We're People- the strange and funny podcast for people on the edge.

Listen to the latest episode here!
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Sunday, September 25, 2011

A New Asheville Podcast

From the wild and crazy guys who brought you Supertalk, a new podcast: We Think We're People.

Share and enjoy.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Something Wicked This Way Comes


Tony Kiss at the Asheville Citizen-Times writes "The world's best-known vampire, Dracula, has a way of rising from the grave. And now the same thing is happening for a Halloween production of “Dracula” at Asheville's historic Masonic Temple.

The new Dauntless Productions theater group will perform the Halloween classic Oct. 22-24 and 29-30 at the landmark temple, 80 Broadway St. The Dauntless group includes some members of the Montford Park Players ensemble..."

Read the rest of the article

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Sounds like a great event! Hope to see you there!

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Annual Vance Mum Sale!

Tomorrow, Oct.1, Vance Elementary will be having our annual Mum sale! First Step Farms will be dropping off gorgeous mums, daisies and asters at 9am and we will be selling them out in front of the Vance Elementary marquee on Sulphur Springs Rd. in WAVL until 4pm! Support Vance! Support First Step Farm! Get amazing fall gorgeousness!


Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Local Asian/Mexican fusion: Hickory Nut Gap chorizo with mung bean noodles

We're going for getting all our meats and produce either out of our own backyard or local farms. This year we started buying meats at Hickory Nut Gap Farm which is only 10 miles from our home in Oakley. It's wonderful to drive there and pick our own meats and eggs.

I also recently bought some mung bean noodles at a local asian market. I don't know the name of the market but it's on Tunnel Road. Mung bean noodles are a wonderful alternative to pasta and they are free of grains which some people are allergic to.

I cook by thinking of what is on my shelves and in my fridge and go from there. This recipe was born out of staring at a package of loose chorizo sausage.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 lb chorizo loose sausage (the delicous sausage I used was from Hickory Nut Gap)

  • 1 small cabbage shredded, I used a food processor so that it was very fine

  • 1/2 onion sliced fine

  • 1 bunch green onions

  • Tamari and red chili flakes to taste

  • 2 bunches (about 3 oz) mung bean noodles (purchase at any Asian market)


I first cooked the sausage until crumbly and lightly browned. I removed the meat and used the juices to cook the sliced onion and cabbage. Once it was cooked to a tender consistency I added the meat back in. I used some tamari to keep the cabbage cooking nicely ala stir fy.



I prepared about 3 oz of the mung beans. I put them in water in a pot on the stove. They do not need to come to a boil. They cook very quickly. When they are softened I simply put them in a collander and cut them up with scissors. They are infinitely long so if you don't cut them up they will be very difficult to eat.

I plopped the cooked mung beans into the veggie and meat mixture and mixed them all up. The noodles grow A WHOLE LOT. This was a first time experiment for me so I will be perfecting the experiment and if you use this idea play with it as thought it's an experiement too. The noodles are deceptive when cooked before you add the veggies. They expand! So I suggest not having too many expectations and just having fun.

Fresh green onions added at the last minute was a nice touch as well.

Below is essentially what it looked like, though I forgot to take a photo so I snagged this off of google images. This photo looks like perhaps there is no meat in it.


Also published at Cucina Naturale

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

Intro 1 - Lexington Avenue Arts & Fun Festival #LAAFF 2010 Asheville

Lexington Avenue in Asheville is about to explode this Sunday with LAAFF taking over the streets. Watch the video and we will see you there!

Asheville Vaudeville Auditions Sept 11th & 12th

Thursday, July 08, 2010

BlogAsheville has moved to BlogAsheville.com


Thanks to Ty Hallock and Top Floor Studio for setting up our domain name
Thanks to Eric Sopp and InsideDesign for designing our NEW site (top-down redesign with Twitter and Facebook functionality, plus a NEW and updated listing of all the local blogs...)

Thanks to YOU for reading!

If you are a BlogAsheville contributor, you need a new login for our new WordPress site. Just send email to jennifer (dot) freelance (at) geemail daht cahm. Except spell Gmail right...

See you on the internets on our NEW HOME at BlogAsheville.com