Precise and righteous
Hello friends and HELLO new subscribers, so happy to have you along!
It’s been a week, right? My emotions are so scattered it’s hard to know where one ends and another begins. I feel some fear and anxiety re: coronavirus, plus frustration with how the current administration is handling the outbreak. Mainly I’m angry about Elizabeth Warren’s departure from the presidential primary.
I’m so mad that we went from the most diverse spread of candidates ever, including five women, to a contest between two white male elders. Where’s the progress? Yet as a friend reminded me while a cluster of us ranted on the school playground yesterday: Elizabeth Warren isn’t going anywhere. And the five women, the men and women of color, the gay man - their presence in the campaign cracked the door open a little bit wider for the next round of candidates and voters.
Yesterday’s rage threatened to pull me under. But today, I’m riding it out and thinking about what I see as one of Elizabeth Warren’s greatest gifts to women and all those girls she pinkie-promised: that women can and should display our anger; that we should use it to fuel our collective power. Rebecca Traister wrote in Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger,
“Women’s anger will be — as it has long been — cast as ugly, unappealing, dangerous, something to be shut down or jeered. Nothing, we have long been assured, is more unattractive in a woman than anger, and those messages will be especially damaging — as they have always been — to nonwhite women.
But these are all strategies that have long been used to get people, including women themselves, to look away from, disregard, and suppress one of the great drivers of social upheaval and political change in this country: their own fury.”
As a candidate, Elizabeth Warren often suppressed her anger, until she didn’t - and when she let loose, it was not unattractive. It was precise and righteous.
I’m sure that Warren will use her rage as fuel to keep trying to change the way this country operates. I want to, too. We're meant to keep trying.
Really, it's what women have been doing FOREVER - women have forever been out there continuing to try - trying to be president, trying to get clean water for their communities, trying to integrate schools, trying to close the wage gap - the list goes on and on. Clearly we're built for it.
Rage on,
Leigh
WE ALL GOTTA EAT:
It’s true. Here’s one thing I’m cooking these days:
I was recently featured in my friend Erin’s Family Dinner newsletter, which was a nice thing! Family Dinner is a local farmer's market delivery service and I love it. They bring in beautiful meat, fish, produce, and dairy along with fun treats from local makers in the Boston area. The curation’s great, as is the delivery - so simple and good! I shared this recipe from My Kitchen Chalkboard with her - which is just the thing for a blustery night like tonight.
Shrimp and Grits
Serves 4
For grits:
1 cup stone-ground cornmeal
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
For shrimp:
4 pieces thick-cut bacon, cut into ¼-inch pieces
24 shrimp, peeled and deveined
½ yellow onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
½ cup chicken stock (or water)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
Kosher salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
½ cup chopped green onions
Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Whisk in the cornmeal and a pinch of salt. (I find that some continuous whisking in the beginning means you don’t have to stir the grits throughout their cooking time.) Whisk until the mixture begins to bubble and thicken, then reduce heat to medium low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cornmeal has fully absorbed the water, is fragrant, and pulls away from the sides of the pot, 20 to 25 minutes. Stir in the butter. Taste and adjust seasoning. Keep warm over low heat, stirring occasionally.
Place the bacon in large, heavy-bottomed skillet and turn heat to medium. Cook until most of the fat has rendered and the bacon is brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Turn off heat and place bacon on a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Drain off all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat (reserve it for another use).
Season the shrimp with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Return the skillet to medium heat and add them to the pan. Cook, turning once, for about 2 to 3 minutes on each side, depending on the size of the shrimp. They should be pink, but not totally opaque, after you’ve seared them.
Transfer shrimp to a plate, reduce heat just a nudge, and add the onion and garlic to the pan. Cook, stirring, until the onions and garlic have softened, adding up to a tablespoon of the stock to keep things from sticking, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Add the remaining stock, increase heat to medium high and cook, stirring, until the stock has reduced by half, about another 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and return shrimp to the pan. Cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes, then add the lemon juice, butter, and Tabasco sauce. Cook, stirring, until sauce has thickened, about another 1 to 2 minutes.
Right before serving, reheat the grits if necessary over medium-low heat, stirring until they’re warmed through. Divide portions of grits between bowls, then top the bowls with the shrimp and sauce. Garnish with bacon, chopped green onions and a few grinds of black pepper. Serve with more lemon wedges and hot sauce at the table.
(photo by Tara Morris)
Have a good weekend, all!
XO