Alfred Herrhausen Assassination Ground Provisions

On November 30, 1989, Deutsche Bank board member Alfred Herrhausen was being escorted to work in an armored car when a roadside bomb exploded, piercing Herrhausen's door and severing his legs. He bled to death. Member of the Red Army Faction were prime suspects, but no one was ever charged. Incidentally, the US Senate just passed legislation that makes it possible for the police to detain US citizens indefinitely as terrorists. Does anyone need further proof that we live in a police state? (November 30 was also the day in 1999 that the opening ceremony of the WTO gathering in Seattle was delayed by protests.) A more benign fantasy-model, then: Icelanders refuse to pay off national debt they aren't responsible for, draft new constitution. Read an article about the US media blackout from August here.

I consider this blog an archive of experiments. Other outlets present just their successes, but here I give you many of my missteps, too. I have no idea if that's helpful or useful. In any case, last night I tried to prepare the tropical root vegetables ñame and yautía. (It's uncanny how much the former smells like semen.) I wasn't paying enough attention to the knife, because I chopped off a bit of my thumb.

Next time I'll boil and fry my ground provisions. And not cut into my fingers.

serves: 2-3

prep. time: 30 min.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 ñame, cubed

1 yautía, cubed

1/2 c. red lentils

1/2 c. yellow split peas

1 can tomato paste

olive oil

juice of 1/4 lemon

cayenne

coriander

DIRECTIONS

1. Toss ground provisions in oil. Bake for 5 minutes at 425F, worry that they'll cook too fast; bake for 20 minutes at 350F, worry that they won't have cooked enough; bake for 5 minutes at 450F, overcooking them.

2. Simmer lentils and peas for 30 minutes. Mix in a whole can of tomato paste because you'd feel guilty about throwing some out but you don't use it often enough to keep it around. Regret using the whole can. Mix in lemon juice before realizing that it probably doesn't need to be more acidic. Mix in a couple of spices in futile attempt to flavor it.