I dropped ten years on the first day. Yes, it's paradise. The sounds of the city. The all-night "Spätis," meaning "Laties"--they're open 24/7. Lots of them, too. Restaurants: the Uzbeki one, the Brazilian one, the pizza place. A Lidl and a Rewe a short walk away. People on the street look purposeful and stylish--or stoned and stylish. A woman ran up to compliment me on my velvet cancer lady hat--I did not inform her it was just a cancer lady hat--because she admired the way the deco butterfly went with my scarf. Which it did.  Where I'd been living for the last twenty-odd years, that scar ..read more

It's the latest in cancer meds for women with estrogen-positive, progesterone negative, her2 negative or low metastatic breast cancer.  Another funny name of another funny pill. Supposedly it looks like Viagra: Needless to say it doesn't have the effect I'm told Viagra has, but how would I know? I'm a Viagra virgin. Never took the stuff, never saw the stuff. Elascestrant might also be compared to "that gentle little blue pill" advertised for insomnia back in the day. Like most cancer meds, it's pretty strong stuff, but the pretty blue patina makes it seem friendly. To me, anyway. And th ..read more

Bored? Want something new? This is easy and tasty. Ingredients: Chicken drumsticks Salt and pepper Vegetable of your choice (I used a red bell pepper) Elephant garlic Can of creamed asparagus soup (or mushroom, or anything else you think might go with chicken). If you want to get fancy, a container of cream. I didn't happen to have any around when I made this, but it turned out fine.   Steps: Arrange chicken legs in Pyrex baking dish Slice pepper and distribute pieces around chicken. Ditto with garlic Salt and pepper to taste Pour can of soup over all:  Put in oven at about 20 ..read more

  Ingredients: One elephant garlic clove, pressed (or any large clove of garlic) Lemon juice from half a large lemon Good greek olive oil (slosh it in--a tablespoon or two) Fresh ground pepper to taste Bits of deli chicken slices and/or ham A ripe avocado Grated fresh Parmesan or Grana Padano Most of a head of Boston lettuce (but you could use other) First, press the garlic and add the lemon juice and olive oil. Beat all together and add the pepper to taste. Then the meat, the avocado (in small pieces), the Parmesan. Last the lettuce. Toss well. Enjoy with a glass of rosé.  I find ..read more

Haven't used the thing in a blue moon. But why not? It's there, it does everything for you, and all you have to do is load it up.  I loaded as follows: A piece of parchment paper (since fish otherwise tends to stick to the bottom of the pot) A few slices of fresh fennel A piece of frozen salmon Salt and pepper A slosh of white wine A handful of cocktail tomatoes A few slices of lemon on top: Took about an hour and a half, since the fish was rock-solid frozen. Over rice, it was quite delicious. A glass of wine, a plate of perfect fish, and Netflix (binge-watching Suits at the moment ..read more

 Nikki Haley said, “We’re not a racist country. We’ve never been a racist country.” That's true and untrue. The Declaration of Independence is remarkably forward-looking. In 18th century colonial America, women could not vote--about 60% of men, mostly white, mostly landowning landowning men could. But the idea of all citizens voting was there--it just took a while to include women and nonwhite persons. The famously ambiguous Declaration states: "all men are created equal," a loopily insane statement if taken to mean "of the same talents and attractiveness"--unless you've read through Jeff ..read more

In a nuanced Quillete article, John R. Wood reflects on Dr. Martin Luther King's connections to the notion of systemic racism; having fought for basic decency for African-Americans, King wanted to tackle the economic problems of the poor, believing that whites in favor of ending crimes against blacks were not pushing for actual equality. Yet King regretted the Black Power Movement--Wood points to this: “Let us be dissatisfied until that day when nobody will shout ‘White power!’—when nobody will shout ‘Black power!’—but everybody will talk about God’s power and human power,” Dr. King declared i ..read more

Side-effects are well-documented; some of us have them worse than others. But we're all bald, and for most of us, that means no eyebrows and no eyelashes. Which means your eyes take on the look of a lizard's--note that many lizard eyes have pupils and irises resembling human ones (apart from being surrounded by Green reptilian skin). But none of those reptiles can bat their eyelashes. Until recently, I had about six eyelashes (a young relative counted them at Thanksgiving). Now I'm down to one, and it looks embattled. A very few eyebrow hairs remain, but they're going too. Eyeliner does camouf ..read more

There's nothing like duck at Christmas! Buy a bunch of duck thighs, preferably the French kind. There are a lot of complicated marinades on the net, but this one's easy: Put plain sesame oil in a little pan. Heat. How much? Oh, around a half a cup. (Not the dark roasted kind! The neutral kind). Slice in lots of garlic plus one little red onion. Stir. Squeeze a bunch of oranges into the pot; pour in at least half a bottle of maple syrup.  Add a sprig or two of thyme and one or two of rosemary and any other nice-looking flavor packet you have lying around. Somebody gave me organic spice pac ..read more

 This is generally yummy, but also particularly good for ladies on chemo who have what I call "Mr. Allnutt Syndrome" or worse. You remember the scene in The African Queen: Mr. Allnutt's stomach gurgles loudly while he's enjoying tea and toast with the ultra-proper missionary lady and her staid brother.  So if the chemo's getting to your digestive tract, here's a recipe that helps--the basic idea being varied vegetables, a round one, a leafy one and a root one at least once a day (and cooked! Not raw). For example, onions, squashes, cabbage are round. Leafy greens: kale, bokchoy, spin ..read more