I am a Foodie...and it is Glorious!

October 16, 2016

The culinary industry has been transformed as chefs become renowned for their craft

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I have been an avid diner over the course of my life.  In my younger years, restaurants were just a place for my family and I to enjoy each other's company and to enjoy our favorite eateries. 

However, over the last 15 years, I have noticed an explosion in interest in the craft of the culinary arts.  The Food Network has turned chefs into celebrities (the term "Celebrity Chef" I find insulting, but I digress).  

This has formed millions of fans who turned the restaurant business, and the craft of cooking, into a multi-billion industry, and these patrons who created fandoms of legendary restaurants, such as Per Se (NYC) and The French Laundry ( Yountville, CA) and their chefs (Thomas Keller) into global legends.

I have the utmost appreciation of the efforts and dedication that many of these gifted chefs spend to make meals some of the greatest memories for people who patronize these restaurants.  These talented artisans turn meals into lifetime memories and experiences that become part of the human life story.  I am enthralled when I see these chefs make their masterpieces into meals for personal enjoyment.  

Some of my best memories with my family (and sometimes myself) have been to eat at many of the finest restaurans in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., New York, Montreal and Vancouver to name a few.  Many of the restaurants are on my foodie bucket list, such as Alinea in Chicago, which has won Michellin stars, Boloud and Le Barnardin (NYC), Noma in Denmark, the Fat Duck (England) and El Bulli (Spain, which has since closed).

I hope to try many of these great locations before my time on earth has passed.  They will most certainly be worth it.

Dessert at Alinea (Chicago-Chef Grant Achatz)


Apple Taffy made with helium (Alinea, Chicago)

       

Debate II Results: I am now resigned to believe Hillary will win November 8th

October 10, 2016

Why I feel Hillary will win the Presidency of the United States on November 8th

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I watched intently the second Presidential debate on Sunday, October 9th.  It was interesting to see Donald Trump change from the clumsy debater to someone who appeared calm and didn't invade Hillary Clinton's personal space, like senate candidate Rick Lazio (R) did in a debate in 2000 for Hillary's first campaign for senate in New York.

As I have stated in my previous blog posts, I tend to go back and forth on this election. Not because I feel Trump would be a good President, in fact, I think he would be a poor President.  However, he seems to be the grenade that would blow up the current political system, one that favors the large dollar donor class, Wall Street and the fields of finance and tech.  Most Americans are angry that their lives have not improved, and wages have either remained stagnant or decreased, while the 1% have seen their fortunes rise.   That is what Trump would represent, and that is why I feel he has the support he does.  Most of the media feel that his support his mainly white and male, but I believe he could not have won the Republican primaries if his support consisted of that small demographic.  I think liberals will be in for a shock on election day, and find out how much of the country supports him.  Not enough to win, but make it very close.

However, after the second Presidential Debate, while Trump did tend to make some improvement in terms of his posture, composure and what he said, I feel that most voters who saw the debate didn't really move in his direction.  He needed to show that Hillary will be more of the same type of leader in the White House, with little change in terms of what will be accomplished. Specifically, towards economic policies that would help the large segments of American society that are struggling in this global economy.

Hillary did just enough to convince her supporters that she has enough horses to win on November 8th, but not enough for a large mandate.  She is a corporate Democrat, and the changes she will push won't make the economy grow to the levels it needs to do, I feel.  Asher Adelman, the real-life character that Wall Street's Gordon Gecko was modeled on, felt that Bernie Sanders had the right idea of growing the economy. Mr. Adelman believed that in order to grow the type of economy that America needs, the low and middle classes need higher wages in order to spend money.  Those types of consumers are what determines if the overall economy of the country is good, because when they spend money, it forces banks to lend, which is how banks improve their financial holdings.

So, based on the debate this evening (Sunday), Hillary Clinton performed well enough to convince America she is the best candidate, but for the usual elite crowd of people, who as before, will benefit the most.

Nothing will seriously change, unless a similar populist to Mr. Sanders comes around and makes a better push for the White House, and succeeds in getting there.

The Negatives for Trump and Hillary just keep getting worse

October 7th

What is going on with these two candidates? Enough already!
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With the shocking new "revelations" recently about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, it seems this election is about to get a whole lot worse.

It is not a shock that unearthed "hot mike" recordings of Donald Trump and Access Hollywood's Billy Bush were heard on their way to a taped event,  which were released to the general public today.  In it, Bush and Trump can be heard talking in lewd terms about several women that Trump and had met, and attempted to sleep with, and generally debased their reputations with "guy" talk aboard a bus on their way to watch Trump take part in a soap opera acting session, or something to that effect.  While I am not surprised that it was somehow found and released just before the 2nd Presidential Debate, and the the timing reeks of politics, it does not help the embattled Trump's image with many female voters, one in which his mysogonist opinions and poor outlook towards women in general are well known and discussed.  It presents a serious calamity with women voters, and seriously harms Trump's general election prospects, which were an uphill climb to begin with.  Now, there is talk that he should drop out, but he is the type of person who will not, and that will force the GOP to determine if they chalk up this election as a loss, and work to obstruct President Clinton for the next four years.

The Republican party cannot support him publicly anymore, and many senior party officials must work overtime to protect their candidates who have winnable races despite the Trump albatross around their necks.  Trump supporters will vote for their guy anyway, and this problem will be a left-leaning media story until November 8th.  The GOP is in a world of hurt, and their problem candidate is about to explode party unity. The Republicans are trapped on a runaway train, going at high speed, with no crew in the engine, and there is no sign that train will stop until it is derailed.  There are going to be many sleepless nights at GOP headquarters.

Hillary has new problems of her own, which will be covered by Fox News extensively, and by conservative websites and blogs.  Wikileaks has released transcripts and emails from Hillary's speeches and emails from John Podesta, a Hillary campaign advisor.  In her speeches, Wikileaks shows that what Hillary says in public about issues that progressives support (No TPP, no Keystone pipeline, etc), she supports those items, which will damn her to Bernie supporters as well.  Allegedly, Hillary also supports reforms for Wall Street, but insists that Wall Street insiders must lead the charge, which will anger Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. I bet he does regret endorsing her now too.  Also, Hillary is an advocate of an open, global economy, one that is contingent on an "open borders" policy.  With immigration policy at the heart of this presidential campaign, this is going to hurt her. However, no liberal media network (CNN, MSNBC) will cover it. Those networks will spend most of their time on Trump's anti-woman narrative.

It is a shame, because the immigration issue could be a winner for the candidate that provides cogent, honorable and pragmatic immigration law and policies.  A good friend of mine, Kevin Lynn, has written something related to this as a writer on a progressive blog:

http://progressivesforimmigrationreform.org/someone-left-truth-rain/

This election could be about issues that need addressing, and the American voter is anxious to hear solid policy positions, but the campaign now will be about two horribly unpopular candidates, and their increasing negartive narratives. This is a sad time for this country.

Shame on us.

I go back and forth about Trump

October 1, 2016

Uugghhhh...I go back and forth about Trump the person, and presidential candidate

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After watching the presidential debate, I felt Hillary had made enough points where the general perception would agree that she won the debate.

However, I am still not a fan of her, nor her policies.  I don't think she would make the right decisions on the global stage relating to the use of our militiary.  Her supporters tend to praise her actions as our country's chief diplomat.  I didn't think her time as Secretary of State accomplished much. Hillary will not change Obama's interactions with foreign leaders, nor will she lower the military's foreign engagements.  I feel that she will make Syria worse (unless President Obama can work with Putin to agree to a meaningful cease-fire before he leaves office). It could explode a wider war in the Middle East, including a much anticipated civil war between Sunni and Shia Musims.

Her economic policies don't inspire much confidence in me, but I will give her the benefit of the doubt.  It will be a wait and see approach.  Economic policies tend to take a few years before they warrant a verdict by economists and business interests.

I feel that Hillary will ensure Wall Street will continue to have strong influence on her business policies, and that will cause major tension with liberal and moderate citizens who believe banks and large corporations have too much influence in Washington, D.C. Additionally, those corporate interests write laws that benefit and protect them at the expense of the American voter.

I desperately wanted Donald Trump to be a real change agent, but he has proven to be an amatuer (quite literally) in the general election campaign, making stupid statements, wasting time with beauty pageant controversies, etc.  He needed to show that he has the temperance to handle the world's most difficult job.  His actions do not inspire moderate voters to cast their lot with him.

This election has turned out to be a choice between two bad options, two flaming piles of elephant turd, if you will.  Neither is that appealing, and for some, one is downright scary.  The campaign of 2016 will do down in American history as the race with no good options (including the Green and Libertarian parties).

Pray for Us.

Why I think Hillary will win the presidential campaign

September 30, 2016

Why I think Hillary will win the presidential campaign

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Much as been made of the recent presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on September 26th.

What should have been an interesting contrast between a (faux) populist, Republican modern-day P.T. Barnum and a corporate Democrat, turned into a farce of comical proportions.  Trump should have focused his attention on what he would do for the American people, and what his business skills (allegedly) would do to improve the economic outlook of millions of American citizens who live anxiously day-to-day and wonder about their futures. Because Trump is a political neophyte, and is not used to debates, he fell into traps that Hillary laid for him.  She is a skilled debater, who uses her legal acumen to force Trump into defensive postures on his life and personal faults.  This debate was for him to win, since the country had low expectations regarding his ability to hold his own with with a formidable legal mind.

Donald Trump needed to just focus the narrative of the debate on the future of the country, and provide simple analogies to show that Hillary Clinton is not a change agent. Rather, Trump need to provide she is a continuation of the Washington, D.C. Establishment providing for their elite members, at the expense of the American people and their quality of life.

He fell into traps Hillary provided due to his massive ego and insecurity, and as a result he had to defend her assertions at the expense of her fatal flaws as a candidate and her political history.

Since he did not do any of the things mentioned above, he will now have to react to her challenges to his competency, temperment, and leadership, rather than her lack of new ideas.  I believe that the remaining  story will fall under Hillary lobbying false narratives, provided by her campaign and the Democratic party, instead of showing the country that Mrs. Clinton is not going to be the transformative candidate she claims to be, outside of her gender, which is still signifiant nonetheless.

Mr. Trump had the opportunity to lay out a foundation of his goals to change the direction of the country.  However, he will be forced to parry and counter Hillary Clinton's strategy of making the race about him, rather than the tiresome scandals of the Clinton brand.

-AK