Five cool tools for summer cookouts and honoring the contributions of gay and lesbian chefs for LGBT Pride Month are subjects of recent USA Character Approved Blog posts.
A fun, exhausting weekend road trip and a surprisingly debilitating summer cold are conspiring to keep me out of the kitchen this week. I’ll return next week with a recipe.
Grilling equipment used to consist of a fire and a sharp stick. Or maybe two sharp sticks, so you could use one to protect your meal from a saber-toothed tiger. Things have certainly evolved since then. Our tandem loves of grilling and of gadgets have converged to create a dazzling array of tools and accessories for outdoor cooking. Some come with a princely price tag—how many pizzas would you have to grill in your artisan fire pizza oven to amortize its $6,500 cost? Others are just, well, silly. Do you seriously need your grill thermometer to alert your smartphone when the steaks are done?
But some make a lot of sense. Like the steel grill pan above that keeps veggies and other small foods on the grill, not in it. For a look at five cool grilling tools that make summer cooking easier, check out my latest post on the USA Character Approved Blog.
Celebrating LGBT Pride Month, out in the kitchen
June is LGBT Pride Month. I have mixed emotions about celebrating it. On the one hand, its mere existence is wonderful. It is a worldwide recognition of the contributions lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and queer people have made and continue to make on a daily basis. LGBT Pride Month also stands up to the prejudice that still lingers here and around the world. In a proclamation last month, President Obama said, “I call upon all Americans to observe this month by fighting prejudice and discrimination in their own lives and everywhere it exists.”
My problem is that we need an LGBT Pride Month, that we haven’t gotten past the discrimination of people over their sexual orientation. It is, after all, just one part of who we are, like having curly hair or being left-handed or good at algebra. In our daily dealings with others, it should have no more and no less importance than any of these other traits.
One place that comes close to achieving that ideal is the professional kitchen. And one reason I think it’s so is that when you cram that many people into a cramped, hot space under often stressful, hurried conditions, everyone quickly becomes judged for what they can do, not who they are. Anita Lo, celebrated chef/owner of Annisa in New York, takes this idea further when reflecting on the high ratio of gay to straight female executive chefs. She asks, “Are gay women less bound by societal norms and therefore get further in this field?”
Help us celebrate the contributions of gay and lesbian chefs and food entrepreneurs; take a look at this recent slideshow and post on the USA Character Approved Blog.
the one place i thought that would be free of the perversion,guess not.good by.
I’m sorry you feel that way, bad idea, but I’m also a little surprised that you thought Blue Kitchen would be anything less than open to everyone. That is the very heart of making and sharing food, after all—welcoming everyone to the table.
I bought sheets I could have bought anywhere from JCPenney for their standing up to the homophobic bullies. I am buying Oreos for their recent ad (then passing them out at work because I don’t really care for Oreos). Too bad I can’t read you more for your post 🙂
Hope you shake that cold soon. Two words: Miso soup.
Thanks, Anita! We’re actually going to trek out the the ’burbs this weekend specifically to shop at JCPenney for the same reason! And I feel the same way about Oreos—may grab some from the office vending machine, even though it’s not miso soup. BTW, if you do want to read more of me, there’s always the archives.
Ooooo I love that Pitt Mitt! I could really use that. Perfect for kebabs. My oven mitts don’t look so good with marks. I like that grill fry pan too. Mine has no handle which is awkward. Regarding the thermometer, isn’t it a faux pas to pierce meat while still cooking?
Unfortunately I think LGBT prejudice will be here longer than we’d like. There is already a huge difference in recognition from my generation to my children’s and may take one or two more. I never knew of it’s existence until I was in my 20’s. The topics never came up…anywhere. No one discussed it. Looking back, some things are only now obvious and makes me wish I knew more back then. And it shouldn’t matter. It makes no difference to anything. But some will always be blind.
Randi, you’re right about not piercing meat too much when grilling it to avoid loss of juices. But still, that inner temperature is your best gauge as to whether something is done. I generally wait until I’m sure things are pretty far along in the cooking process before I start poking around. And always go for the thickest part of the meat and avoid touching bone, which will give you a false reading.
Yes, changing attitudes and overcoming homophobic prejudice will take a long time. The continuing struggles against racism and for equality for women are proof of that. But in all three cases, we’ve made strides. The challenge now is to keep all of these civil rights fights moving forward and not allow progress we’ve already made to be dismantled.
If Bad Idea isn’t staying for supper, can I have an extra scoop of whatever deliciousness you have cooked up?
Altadenahiker, you’re welcome at our table any time. And I’m not just saying that because you live two time zones away and probably won’t take us up on it.
Well, I’m glad I ate my sister-in-law’s Oreo dessert last night. I have mixed feelings about these cookies, but now I think I might buy some.
As for perversion, I don’t see any here, Bad.
Hi, Mimi! Great to hear from you—hope you’re doing well. From your blog, it looks like there are lots of changes going on for you now. Exciting!