I and Economic Prediction

     The grandkids, Caroline, Daphne, Rowan and Anna
      were here for the Thanksgiving weekend. What fun!

I know nothing about the economy, though I often fool myself into thinking I do; so don’t listen to me (except for pure entertainment) when I go on and on about economic matters.
by Charlie Leck

In 2008, when the economy went very sour, one of our daughters was looking around to purchase a condo in Manhattan.

“How long will this economy be in this rut?” She asked me in the waning months of 2008.

“Oh, I expect,” I replied, “that things will pick up strongly during this coming winter and certainly by spring.”

Well, it’s a full four years since I offered up that answer and prediction, and the economy is still in serious doldrums and appears stuck in a rut. However, friends of mine are saying (really) that they now expect things to improve in the country. The Congress seems to be in a new mood to cooperate and, if they do, they ought to be able to kick this sick economy in the ass and get it going again.

California, for instance, is showing some signs that its economy is waking up from its four year slumber.

“There is evidence of job growth, economic stability, a resurgent housing market and rising spirits in a state that was among the worst hit by the recession.” [New York Times, 28 November 2012, California Shows Signs of Resurgence!]

We’re seeing some of the same kinds of signs here in Minnesota. The big retail stores seem to be doing well in this after-Thanksgiving shopping moment. And, there is lots of major construction in our downtown Minneapolis area and a couple of new, amazingly large projects have recently been announced. Houses are starting to sell again in both the suburbs and the central city – and prices seem to be moving upward. Car sales have been high for the last year.

It all puts me in a better mood. I really think we’re in full-scale recovery. Federal income taxes will rise for us in the coming year, but we’ve been both expecting and hoping for that. It’s only fair – especially if it will get this economy rolling again (and Democrats have been arguing for over four years that this is just what the economy needs).

By mid-summer we’ll all be singing “Happy Times are Here Again!”

But, just remember, I really don’t know what I’m talking about. I may be so optimistic because the just passed Thanksgiving holiday was so wonderful and I was left in such a good mood by it. Having four grandkids around for a few days can do that to an old guy.

I hope your Thanksgiving was grand also. And, I hope you were also surrounded by lots of love and kin.

The excitement left me pretty worn down. I’ve set aside a couple of hours this afternoon for a long, recuperative nap. I plan to dream of younger years, when I could run along the lakeside for an hour or more and not give it a second thought. Now, the walk down our driveway to the mailbox leaves me aching and breathing hard, but I love life more now than ever and I’ve come to grips with these aches and pains. When my wife slipped out the door this morning, to go tend to some old folks who enjoy her so, she gave me a little peck on the lips. Those little moments mean everything now-a-days – everything! We celebrated our wedding anniversary on Monday. When I wrote across the bottom of the card that I loved her, I meant it as much now as ever – “I love you more now than then, when I did not think I could love you more!”

Do your part, will you? Let’s get this economy rolling again!

_________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

Sweet, Sweet Thanksgiving

    Granddaughter, Anna Rose, and Uncle Warner

Our dining room table was pushed to the brink, I think, when we gathered 20 adults, children and various animals around it for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a spectacular feast with a variety of appealing dishes that would have rated high marks even from the testy food critics at the New York Times.
by Charlie Leck

Though we led with a big, free-ranging and organic roast turkey at our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, it was surrounded by so many wonderful accompanying dishes that even Mark Bittman of the New York Times would have approved. (See his column of 20 November 2012: All Hail the Sweet Potato.) Indeed, as Bittman promised, the sweet potatoes were delicious and surprising.

Bittman, a brilliant food blogger and an extraordinary cook, thinks that the turkey is generally a waste of time…

“At the hands of all but the most experienced, careful or lucky cooks, the more than 700 million pounds of turkey we’ll buy this week will wind up with breast meat that’s cottony-dry and leg meat that is underdone, tough, stringy or all three…

“It’s not entirely the turkey’s fault; when you think about it, few holidays are really culinary [1], and in general Thanksgiving is a celebratory feast that has little to do with the harvest or the brilliance of the food but rather family and memories and, usually, obligations.

The Thanksgiving Sweet Potato
And, he thinks the sweet potato is the savior of this holiday dinner so boldly headlined by the turkey (his column so deeply impressed me that I gave extra-careful attention to my sweet potato this year and I found it an absolutely wonderful and compelling experience)…

“If you bake a sweet potato properly – in its skin, with a few holes poked in it (they’ve been known to explode, in a messy but not dangerous sense) – you will get a combination of textures that no other food can offer, and with no added ingredients: sweet stickiness from the caramelizing liquid that oozes from the inside out; a little bit of crunchy chewiness, from the parts of the skin that this liquid helps brown; a soft, velvety yet slightly leathery skin, perfectly edible; and, of course, the meltingly tender, ultra-luxurious flesh, which can range from creamy white to familiar orange to deep red and even purple, and is perhaps best enjoyed with a sprinkle of salt.

“I’m not one to extol the nutritional benefits of one plant over another — we should be eating more of all of them, and less of tortured, chemically enhanced birds — but sweet potatoes are almost unfairly potent, especially when it comes to beta-carotene (happily, made more bio-available when eaten with a little fat), fiber and a host of micronutrients, including not only common ones but those whose benefits are still being explored. If that alone isn’t a reason to eat them, it’s a reason to consider eating them instead of a bag of pretzels when you’re craving starch, or a handful of cookies when you’re craving sweets.

“The sweet potato, of course, is not only fit for baking: it can be grated and stir-fried; sliced and steamed, sautéed, broiled or roasted; wrapped in foil and baked in a fire; fried or, even better, cut into “fries” and baked with a little oil until crisp (or included in tempura); made into soup, a pasta sauce, a filling for ravioli or pie; used as a thickener; dried and eaten as a snack; reheated and drizzled with olive oil; braised in curries or soy-based dishes or European-style stews. Turkey, actually, is not nearly as versatile.”

Well, I gave it up for Mr. Bittman and even tried to propose a toast to him, but it was immediately taken up as some sort of joke by the diners and they laughed the toast and me off before I could even commence. So instead I proposed some sort of delight in the year past and gave thanks for it and offered the hope that the coming year would be as successful and happy.

    The glorious sweet potato!

But I kept giving eye to a remarkable standing rib roast that my NYC daughter had spent a great deal of time preparing on Thanksgiving morning and presented at just the exactly right moment when the Thanksgiving dinner commenced. It had been roasted at a very high temperature for a very short time and then allowed to come to perfection in a closed but tightly sealed oven for the next two hours or so. She had also rubbed it affectionately and thoroughly in a concoction she had invented that morning right in our own kitchen from ingredients she stumbled upon in the pantry.

So, with the help of some remarkable wine recommended by my favorite wine seller up in town, the sweet potatoes and the boufe magnifique were my personal winners at the table yesterday; but, perhaps, they had been aided by the wondrous beet salad and the carefully constructed green lettuce salad that joined them on our table. Bittman, as he usually is, was correct about the turkey. It is a necessary part of the Thanksgiving dinner, but, my, it is certainly not to be considered the star of the table’s list of players.

Follow it all with more wine and the taste sensations drawn from the Apple Crisp and the Pumpkin Pie and you know that Thanksgiving has again been more than simply wonderful.

One wonders, however, how any Thanksgiving dinner, surrounded by such happiness and love could ever be anything other than wonderful!

_________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

Thanksgiving Thought

Photo by C Leck

Here’s a Thanksgiving thought for you on this special holiday.
by Charlie Leck

This came to me in an email from Sojourners and I happily pass it along to you:

Blessed are those who consider the helpless.
The Eternal will stay near them,
leading them to safety in times of bitter struggle. [Psalm 41:1]

_________________________

Why not become a follower?
If you read my blog regularly, why not become a follower? All you have to do is click in the upper right hand corner and establish a simple means of communication. Then you'll be informed every time a new blog is posted here. If all that's confusing, here's Google's explanation of how to do it! If you don’t want to post comments on the blog, but would like to communicate with me about it, send me an email if you’d like.

Thank Goodness

Is Thanksgiving a great holiday, or what?
by Charlie Leck

Almost everyone we know across this nation considers Thanksgiving Day his or her favorite holiday. We're with them. We think Thanksgiving is the only holiday to which we actually look forward. If we were to ask all these folks the reason for this, their answers would be pretty much the same as ours. Thanksgiving Day is laid back and it's all about family and very close friends. There is no pressure to come up with gifts. Just relax and enjoy the day. Granted, there is lots of work involved. It's not easy to lay out a feast for a dozen or more people.

We're going through the pre-Thanksgiving period right now and it is pressure packed. Our list is long. Get the yard looking as good as possible. Clean the entire house top to bottom. Take the shopping list to the grocery store (boy, is this a job). Line up the perfect wine and an acceptable beer. Figure out the seating arrangements. Around here, it's the woman of the household who goes nuts getting everything ready. She truly loves Thanksgiving and she gets very excited about seeing family and friends, but she puts enormous pressure on herself to make everything just perfect. It was pretty intense this past weekend. We think the vacuum cleaner motor must have been worn out. It was running constantly. The whip the mighty woman carried was cracking pretty loudly. It kept us jumping – at least as well as an over-weight, old-timer can jump.

On Thursday it will all be worth it. Grandkids will show up with shiny, beautiful faces. Daughters and deeply loved and appreciated sons-in-law will be on hand. A few friends will be here, too.

And, as we gather at the table, anxious to dig in to the incredible feast prepared by many people, we will bring everything to a halt. We won't ask for time to pray; however, we will suggest we all spend a brief moment thinking about something very specific.

Dear, departed Grandpa Wakefield always had thanksgiving dinner at his lovely farm house. There would be 20 to 30 gathered. Grandpa would always bring everyone to a stop at one point during the day and ask that each person say something special in accordance with his instruction. One year it was: "Express what you are most thankful for about this past year." Another year it was: "What are your goals for the coming year?"

All the diners were always embarrassed and it was difficult to get the expressions from the gathered crowd; but one by one each of us would respond to Grandpa's request and it was always touching and wonderful. It was also the moment each of us always remembered about our Thanksgiving Day.

Since Grandpa died, we've tried to pick up this tradition, but we don't have his "balls" about it. Grandpa never got embarrassed. He was totally sincere and he expected people to respond sincerely. Grandpa Wakefield made Thanksgiving wonderful for us and we will always remember this wonderful thing about him.

In Grandpa's spirit this year, we'll ask everyone to think about him and all our memories of him and to say something about what they remember most about him. This is the first time we've given gatherers an advanced warning.

We hope you have a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving Day!