1. I don't think all the episodes have dropped yet. I've listened to every available episode of the podcast, This is Jeopardy. I've enjoyed the detours of this podcast. For example, one episode focused on a weekly quiz night at O'Brien's Irish Pub in Santa Monica, reputed to be the nation's most challenging barroom quiz night and a magnet for past Jeopardy champions and contestants.
I enjoyed listening to the stories about the people who show up at O'Brien's and was appropriately intimidated by the difficulty of the quiz questions.
Most of all, though, I enjoyed how this episode transported me back just four years in time to when I started driving regularly to Spokane, sometimes along with Linda, usually once, but sometime twice, a week to join Mary and Kathy to play trivia, mostly at the Northern Quest Casino, but also at Rock City Bar and Grill and few other spots.
I had a blast joining them, puzzling over questions, having a cocktail or two, and enjoying some solid bar food.
It all came to an end in mid-March of 2020 as the pandemic took hold.
It was fun remembering those evenings. No matter how well (or not) we competed, we had fun together and branched out from playing trivia to doing other things together -- a movie one night, happy hour at Luna, a reunion with Hugh at Perry Street Brewing, sushi at the South Hill Grill, Kathy and I went to a Zags women's basketball game -- all of this came back to me this afternoon. We lost a wonderful time of fun and enjoyment when the trivia games ceased and we all stayed home a lot as the pandemic isolated us from one another.
2. Around five o'clock or so, I broke open tonight's HelloFresh bag and had a blast fixing Debbie and me Spicy Tunisian Bulgur Bowls. When this bag came in our weekly box, I was stoked. I love bulgur. I love Mediterranean food. I love "bowls".
Tonight's meal was 100% worthy of my excitement.
First, I made carrot sticks and roasted them, seasoned with harissa powder, a new spice in my life.
At the same time, I put the bulgur on to cook in water and vegetable stock.
I then cooked up chopped zucchini and later added tomatoes seasoned with a Tunisian spice mixture.
I made two condiment in separate small bowls. In one, I combined chopped cilantro leaves with olive oil, garlic powder, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. I the other, I mixed sour cream with lemon juice.
Before long, everything was ready. I put dried apricots and a slab of butter in the bulgur and then divided the bulgur between two bowls. I topped the bulgur with the roasted carrots, cooked zucchini and tomatoes, and roughly chopped pistachio nuts. I divided the cilantro/lemon/garlic mixture between the bowls and topped each bowl of food with the creamy lemon sauce and chili flakes.
This bowl had so much going on. The apricots sweetened the bowl a bit, the spices and chili flakes gave it subtle heat, the spices were various and exciting, and the presence of lemon in the cilantro mixture and the sour cream sauce was refreshing and tasty. The textures of the bulgur combined with the vegetables felt good in my mouth and each bite was an adventure in variety and pleasure.
3. After dinner, Debbie and I listened to the first episode of 60/20, a podcast from the JFK Library examining the 1960 national election in which John F. Kennedy ran against Richard Nixon. This opening episode focused on the primary season running up to the Democratic Party convention held in Los Angeles. I won't go into great detail, but the primaries didn't have nearly the importance in 1960 that they would come to have, say, by 1968, but JFK's approach to these primaries, his getting out to primary states well in advance of voting days and his decision to reassure voters that, as a Roman Catholic, his first obligation was not to the Vatican, but to the Constitution not only worked, but foreshadowed how future candidates would approach these primary elections.
Listening to this podcast took me nostalgically and happily back to my senior year at Whitworth. In the spring of 1976, I was a member of the 20th Century US History theme dorm and from February until the semester ended in March, the nearly twenty of us in the dorm watched both primaries closely, listening to analysis on television and the radio of candidates' strategies. Tonight, I was struck by how Jimmy Carter seemed to have learned from JFK's strategy of getting as well known as possible in the early primary states well ahead of the primary elections. He had early success and built the momentum that carried him to the nomination.
I also remember clearly Ronald Reagan's effort to seize the GOP nomination from the incumbent president Gerald Ford. As I remember it, Regan's strategy was to focus on wedge issues and exploit them to establish that he was the more conservative of the two. The wedge issue I remember most clearly was Reagan's attack on the Panama Canal treaty negotiations, talks that resulted in the USA ceding to canal to Panama. Like Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms, Reagan's position was that the canal belonged to the USA and that the USA ought to keep it. I remember this particular wedge issue as being very effective in energizing the more conservative wing of the GOP and that it helped build support for Reagan and increased his popularity among the more conservative Republicans.
We had superb discussions about this and many other issues in the lounge of our dorm. Akili buzzed with respectful debate and discussion and helped me solidify what candidates I supported and why.
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