Four Fun Things

I live in the PNW where wild salmon is readily available but prohibitively expensive, making such sandwiches a rare treat. How/where are you sourcing affordable salmon?

Tamara- I’m in the PNW and I get my Salmon at Costco. It comes in big portions but I freeze it and just take out what I need to cook at a time. It’s high-quality and reasonably priced.

I hate to be a dissenting voice, but salmon, especially if it’s sourced cheap (most likely farmed) comes with a huge cost (as do most if not all “cheap” things).
Our rivers and oceans in the PNW are already severely depleted due to overfishing, dams, climate change, pollution, etc.
So much so that our resident Orcas are starving, in decline, and needing to go far and away to find salmon to survive.
At this point it is the tribes doing a huge amount of work to keep the salmon thriving and healthy. We would all do well to honor their work, traditions, and the circle of life and source salmon rarely and only from those that you know to be sourcing it wild and sustainably.
There are many articles but here is one: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.thenewstribune.com/news/state/washington/article252655748.html

I felt the same way when I read “Talking to Strangers” by Malcolm Gladwell: if everyone read that book, the world would be a better place. I agree; it fundamentally changed the way I see so much of life.

PS – It took me a long time to figure out why this comment was even here, since I skipped the HBO show blurb. haha! Also, “not hip”??? People who don’t find Gladwell’s books a welcome intellectual challenge, don’t get to define hip ;)

Is Malcolm Gladwell not hip??? I love his books. Outliers was so interesting. Talking to Strangers felt so simultaneously devastating and important for the current times. His theses are interesting, well researched, and enjoyable to read. I guess it is the sort of material that would be annoying in the hands of a d-bag, but that’s no reason not to enjoy it!

Tell me how to cook please!!

Tomato cobbler may be a winner. Joy the Baker has a great recipe with blue cheese biscuits on top, but any kind of drop biscuit, even from a can, would do. I like Bloody Marias…with tequila instead of vodka. Slow roasting tomatoes, onions, and garlic, then throwing into the Ninja for homemade sauce is great with tomatoes that are a little past their prime. It freezes well too.

If you check back Celeste, this is one of my favorite recipes. I will only make it with my dad’s farm-grown, Midwest tomatoes, so basically, the best you can find!

https://smittenkitchen.com/2015/08/angel-hair-pasta-with-raw-tomato-sauce/

I don’t like angel hair pasta so I use linguini instead.

My husband loves this dinner too.

Hi, S! They definitely don’t gloss over those issues, rather they are the main focus of the show! Give it a try (or not, but probably best to reserve negative comments unless you have actually seen it).

It actually touches upon all of those subjects (except COVID) quite frequently- the socioeconomic disparity between the staff and the guests, how out of touch many of the guests are, how tourism affects the ecosystem, how the land was usurped from native Hawaiians, etc.

S, the point of the show is actually what assholes these white people are, and issues facing native Hawaiians whose land was stolen to build hotels is a central part of the plot. You certainly don’t have to watch it, but just thought I would point out that it may not be what you think it is.

Since you didn’t watch it, you don’t actually know what you are talking about. The show explores the issues of white privilege, colonialism, materialism, etc….It’s satire!! I loved it, and I’m glad that CoJ is acknowledging the zeitgeist!

It actually doesn’t gloss over those issues…

I just watched it, and actually I thought it was very critical to rich white people in a very diverse place…Maybe I missed something? Granted, I am not american, so maybe there is that.

I will check the article you recommended.

I don’t think the show is necessarily perfect and would agree there are definitely things TV needs more of than more shows about rich white people…But without giving anything away, if you watch a few episodes in you may find that one of the key things that drives the series forward is the result of colonization of Hawaii and the conditions/circumstances it has forced locals into. Would disagree it’s glossed over. My personal take (albeit as a white viewer) was that the lifestyles of the rich white people were super disturbing it’s exclusively a negative commentary on them+made me uncomfortable in a productive way and in no way encouraged (at least my own) tourism. I found the only likeable characters in the show to be the natives…but I did love the show overall for the commentary, humor, and suspense

I can’t help but feel like you missed the entire point of the show, which was to highlight and critique the exact behavior you describe! It’s not voyeuristic, it’s critical.

Thank you for the comments, everyone. I’m glad the show touches on these issues, which is more than I expected. However, as far as I’m aware, it was created by a white director who isn’t from the islands and focuses on white, wealthy hotel guests. I just don’t find wealthy dysfunctional white people amusing anymore, and I’m white. There’s so much more to the state than hotels and tourism, and to me that trope is so tired, even if it’s satire. And, no offense, it doesn’t seem like anyone commenting on here is actually from Hawaii. I might watch the show just to evaluate it, but I have zero interest in it otherwise. To each their own!

Yes it focuses on white, wealthy hotel guests – but not in a flattering way. The fact that the director is not from Hawaii does not mean they are not informed on the issues you mention. I believe this show may open some viewers’ eyes to what’s going on. Recommend that you give it a try, you may be surprised by what is explored and exposed. Thanks for reading this :)

You should probably watch it, because that’s the point of the show.

Yup, my thought too. Lovely to look at and I’ll overlook the stems but I better not be biting into pits!

Do you have a child? My kiddo (4) thinks pitting cherries is the BEST. He won’t actually eat them…

Are the cherries as pretty as that picture – no…. But he consistently gets the pits out effectively. The cherry pitter was about $7 on Amazon.

Putting in a second for everyone to try SK’s zucchini butter pasta! Even my picky 7 year old loves it! When my zucchini plant was going gangbusters we were eating it at least once a week.

agree! we’ve been making her farro tomato dish for years, and just recently tried the zucchini butter pasta. no one in our house even likes zucchini, but it’s been so abundant in our farm box lately that we’ve been trying to like it. that dish was sooooo good that i look forward to getting zucchini now!