KITCHEN ADVENTURES: TRAYF! …Okay, only the actual cheeseburger was trayf, and I’m not going to tell you how to make a cheeseburger. But here are two new things I’ve made in the past couple days. A thing to eat with your cheeseburger: Chop up some heirloom tomato* and jalapeno. Saute it in the pan with your burger. (Obviously, this won’t work if you have a grill, rather than a studio-apartment kitchenette; in that case, I guess saute the vegs in... Read more

PROPAGANDHI: So, Romero. The basic thing to know about this movie is that it’s Braveheart for people who respect Oscar Romero more than they do William Wallace. Into which demographic I gratefully leap! No joke–Braveheart for pinko pacifists is twenty times better than Braveheart for Braveheart fans. …But that doesn’t make it a good movie, you know. I think probably it’s impossible to make a movie about Oscar Romero that I would dislike. But oh Lord, this movie came close!... Read more

Rockefeller’s not for me–He’s not for the GOP!He is for the welfare state.He has had more than one mate.Rockefeller’s not for me–He would rather feel happy!–to the tune of “Rock of Ages” or “Smells Like Teen Spirit” Read more

BY THE SHORES OF SANS-SOUCI: A few years ago, I re-read The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues, a kids’ book by Ellen Raskin (The Westing Game). TTP&OC; was even better than I’d remembered it–funny and poignant, a puzzlebook with a compassionate heart. This past week I revisited another Raskin book, Figgs & Phantoms, which I’d remembered as being the best thing I’d read by her. It really isn’t. I know why I thought so: Figgs & Phantoms picks up on... Read more

FIRST NYTIMES STORY ON 9/11, via About Last Night. Read more

This is not the place to enlarge upon the sensations of a man who feels for the first time a ship move under his feet to his own independent word. In my case they were not unalloyed. I was not wholly alone with my command; for there was that stranger in my cabin.–Joseph Conrad, “The Secret Sharer” Read more

LE MONDE INTERVIEW W/RENE GIRARD ON ISLAM, CHRISTIANITY, AND 9/11. Ultimately via Godspy. Read more

TIMES OF LONDON: HARDLINE TAKEOVER OF BRITISH MOSQUES. Letters to the editor in response here. I should note that this is something about which I know no more than you can find in this post. Read more

KITCHEN ADVENTURES: “CARROTS AND LEMONS,” SAY THE BELLS OF ST. CLEMENT’S. In which I make a stock! But first, Lemon-Roasted Spicy Carrots. The minor goals of this dish were 1) to cook carrots without peeling them (peeling is my absolute, no-holds-barred least favorite kitchen task), and 2) to use a lemon I bought for reasons which now escape me. I turned the oven to 375, lined a baking tray with tinfoil, chopped off the greenery and the scrubby little tips... Read more

WE ARE ALL IN THE GLITTER, BUT SOME OF US ARE LOOKING AT THE STAIRS. Read more