Monthly Archives: September 2026

RECIPE >>> FISHY HOT POTATO SALAD

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Fishy, hot potato salad (for two): SHARING ONE TIN (120 grams)

Ingredients:
SARDINES
Fresh garlic
Two large yellow potatoes
Head of romaine
8-12 cherry tomatoes
Mayo and Dijon mustard
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Powdered turmeric; black pepper
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Crush and peel one or two fat cloves of garlic, setting aside while prepping the spuds. Rinse and puncture both ‘taters, putting them on either side of the garlic teeth in the microwave on top of a wet paper towel, under a glass bowl; zap on high for 3:33 minutes. Next, flip the spuds being careful of escaping steam; add 4:44 more minutes. Meanwhile chop romaine and cherry tomatoes.  Put a potato in each of two bowls, and dice.  Add sardines, and dolps of mustard and mayonaise.  Mash the mixture coarsely.  Top with lettuce and tomatoes, dressing the salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Dust with turmeric; grind on some black pepper. (Serve with a good nonalcoholic dark beer such as Negra Modelo 0%.)

I shared my recipe at NYTimes, Sept 14 2026:  (five likes; updated )

¿¿Will we defend our CONSTITUTION??

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Retired Federal Judge Michael Luttig (Conservative) saved our democracy just prior to J-6.

Judge Luttig persuaded Mike Pence to reject Trump’s fake electors.  HEADS UP:  An excerpt from his detailed essay about what’s likely coming in January 2027:

Trump and his Republican allies have been preparing for this final battle since January 6, 2021. For the past six years, they have embarrassed themselves and the U.S. with their preposterous, win-at-any-cost denial that Trump lost the 2020 presidential election and their deceitful slander of America’s democracy. Since his return to the White House, Trump’s every unconstitutional act in his effort to seize control over the midterm elections—each hailed by his prostrate Republican Congress—has been toward the end of ensuring that Republicans retain a majority in the 120th Congress.

Trump told talk show host Dan Bogino on February 2, “The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over. We should take over the voting.’… The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.’” The Republicans have dutifully fallen in line.

SOURCE:  https://www.rsn.org/001/the-final-battle-for-americas-democracy.html

(Note: this essay first appeared in The New Republic.)

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>>> DUAL CITIZENSHIP <<<

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My wife and I first visited Mexico in 2009 as a result of watching a food show with Chef Rick Bayless.  We had been looking for a winter retreat from the snows of Buffalo NY.  In 2013 we bought a home here.  We love the tranquility, the ambiance, the friendliness of the local population, but something changed a few years ago.  The politics of a certain northern nation became alarming, even threatening. There was talk of invasion, or missile strikes on suspected drug labs in the high plains. Lessons from the past caught my attention.

In 1938 Mexico ejected US citizens and other foreign workers, mostly petroleum technicians, after the US State Department meddled in their politics as a result of labor turmoil, regarding wage issues for Mexican petroleum workers, and union organizing.  (Mexico nationalized the oil platforms, claiming the resource to be the property of all Mexican citizens.) So, not wanting to become a victim of such ejection, I began to consider dual citizenship a few years ago to prevent a similar experience, potentially causing us to lose our home.

Gaining my Mexican pasaporte was an education which has me reflecting upon the nature and duties of citizenship.  I’m no expert on this topic, but I’m glad for the experience, and am delighted to be a naturalized citizen here, where I’ve been welcomed into the culture.  Yeah, it requires patience and adaptability, as no system is perfect; but dedication to citizenship contributes to personal improvement, and can benefit the wider community.  I continue taking a Spanish tutorial every week with a linguist, and that has enhanced the experience of living in a new culture. (But the “nanny state” up north still wants their bite.)

As Kermit the Frog once said: It isn’t easy being green — but I ain’t no greengo, no mo’ !   >>>

Foto by Roderick Sia, Unsplash