Texans like beef. We grew up eating beef. None of that plant-based meat for us. Burgers made of ground beef. Meatloaf. Steak, yum, yum. Brisket smoked over pecan wood. Sunday pot roast. Special occasion prime rib with au jus. Thin-sliced open-faced roast beef sandwiches made of white bread, mashed potatoes, roast beef, and gravy. Mississippi roast beef with pepperoncini peppers. Roast beef hash with bell peppers and potatoes, served with fresh sliced beefsteak tomatoes. Beef. It’s what’s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My doctor says I have to cut back on my red meat (can you see the tears?). I am trying to eat more poultry and fish. Easter has passed, and I only ate the ears from my solid chocolate Dove bunny. Life moves quickly. It is definitely spring in southeast Texas. I’ve been away from my desk for a bit, and don’t have a bunch of time now. Papers are piling up, trash overflowing – for a minute. Seven more days to get your taxes in on time. Texas politics is a blood sport. Food prices are crazy, as are some of the men and women of the Texas legislature. Took Sis’s advice and watched Arsenio. Worth every minute. His book is next on my list. Don’t forget. Don’t be all hat and no cattle. Put your money where your mouth is and support KUHT (our PBS affiliate) and KUHF (our NPR affiliate). We’uns gotta get our culture from somewhere. Subscribe to Texas Monthly; it comes in print and digital versions and makes you look smart when friends stop in. 1,019 more days.
Kintsugi 4/8/26
Lagniappe
On replay: Anne Lamott has recently written, with her husband Neil Allen, a new book, Good Writing: 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences. Like her earlier classic book on writing, Bird by Bird, this is worth the money and the time. Buy it, don’t just check it out from the library, if you want to improve your writing.
I like chicken piccatta. Capers, lemon, parmesan, what’s not to like? It’s not your easy after-a-long-day-at-the-office recipe, but it’s worth the tiny bit of extra time and trouble. Here is a recipe for chicken piccata meatloaf from allrecipes.com! Very faithful and delish. Or make the chicken breast version. You may not have capers and shallots, but get them. They make all the difference.
Ingredients
Meatloaf
cooking spray
1 pound ground chicken
1/2 cup panko (Japanese-style breadcrumbs)
1 shallot, finely minced
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 large egg
1 tablespoon finely minced parsley
1 tablespoon capers, chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Glaze
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot, finely minced
2 tablespoons capers
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 1/4 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes
chopped parsley, for garnish
Directions
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Lightly spray an 8×4-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
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For meatloaf, stir together chicken, breadcrumbs, shallot, Parmesan cheese, mayonnaise, egg, parsley, capers, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in a large bowl until just combined. Transfer mixture to the prepared loaf pan.
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Bake, uncovered, in the preheated oven for 40 minutes.
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Meanwhile, for glaze, stir together mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, lemon juice, and garlic powder in a small bowl.
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Remove loaf from the oven and spread mayonnaise mixture over the top. Return to the oven and bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest portion of loaf reads 165 degrees F (73 degrees C), 10 to 15 minutes more.
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Remove loaf from the oven, and let it rest 10 minutes.
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While loaf is resting, prepare the sauce. Heat oil in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallot, capers, and garlic to the skillet and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Pour in wine and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until liquid is reduced by half, stirring occasionally, 6 to 7 minutes.
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Whisk lemon juice into reduced sauce. Add cold butter, and stir constantly until well incorporated and slightly thickened. Remove from heat.
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Slice meatloaf and drizzle generously with sauce to serve. Garnish with chopped parsley.
Fresh perspectives: become a laundry detergent tester here. Get a few free samples and some clean clothes out of it, and perhaps even a buck or two.
Texas weather: Expect some showers and storms in West Texas today, South Texas on Thursday, East Texas on Friday, and much of Central Texas over the weekend. The sprinkling each day will add up to a good bit of rain in northwest Texas, with a fair amount in Central and Southeast Texas as well. (more)
I thought this was interesting.
The Meat You Eat: What’s Good for You? Webmd.com compares different kinds of meat: beef, pork, bison, goat, chicken, lamb, and liver. I eat them all except bison and beef liver. I need to follow Michael Pollan’s advice: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
Arsenio on Fresh Air with Tanya Mosley.
or for you visual folks…
My mother would have described me this past week as running around like a chicken with its head chopped off. Wildly, seemingly aimless. Crazy wild until you run out of juice, then immediate collapse. Me. I do not like paperwork. At all. For any reason. That’s all I’ve been doing for the past 6 days. Paperwork and other necessary but unpleasant tasks. So I’m back in the land of the living. After a glance through my email at the news feed headlines, I think the headless chicken routine may not be over. I saw so much bullsh*t. So much. Is there anything pleasant for the remainder of the week and this upcoming weekend? Decide to do good. Every little bit of good counteracts some other bit of not-good in the world. Listen to or make music. Read a paper and ink book, not an e-book. Give money to someone who needs it. Beware of false prophets. Support our important institutions, like NPR and PBS. Feed someone who needs it. Save a few coins for the rainy day that is surely coming. We can make it 1,025 more days. We can. We must.
Wild Cooking Woman 4/2/26
Good stuff, true stuff, and other stuff…
This is so true.
I am reading Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age by Ibram X. Kendi, This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me (Maggie the Undying,1) by Ilona Andrews, and Death of the Author: A Novel by Nnedi Okorafor. Tried to start, but haven’t had much quiet time. Headless chicken, you know. I will keep you up to date if they turn out to be worth being bothered with.
We all need an easy, delicious recipe. I used peaches, and it was easy and delicious.
What God Do They Worship In There? The Black Social Gospel and the Crisis of American Christianity
Gary Dorrien on the Black Social Gospel and the Prophets the Church Forgot
The most profound insight in American Christian theology is the one James Cone named in The Cross and the Lynching Tree: that the crucified Christ stands with the lynched, that Calvary and the courthouse tree in Memphis are the same event read from different ends of power.
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Do you have someone in your life who lives alone or far away? Are you going on vacation because you need a break from caregiving? (yes) Here are some free ways to help check on them while you’re away:
- https://buddyhelp.org/ Offers free emotional support through volunteer listeners and also provides access to professional online therapy.
- https://www.snugsafe.com/ A free app that sends daily check-in reminders. If you don’t respond, your emergency contacts are notified.
- https://checkinbee.com/ Sends daily text messages asking for a simple reply. If no response, designated contacts are notified.