B
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
BETWEEN
THE ROWS
WENDY SCHMIDT
The joy of
growing
houseplants
When I was growing up, I started
keeping houseplants. The fi rst kind
of plants I collected were “wandering
Jews.” They come in plain green (Trad-
escanthia fl uminensis) or variegated
purple striped leaves with a silvery
sheen (Tradescanthia zebrina). Trades-
canthia is the spiderwort family, native
to the new world from Canada to South
America. They’re easy to propagate by
planting a single leaf.
The “day fl ower” is also a member of
that big family. It is a groundcover vine
with the same shape of fl ower, hardy
and found growing outdoors. Day
fl ower is herbal and medicinal.
Spider plants are very prolifi c rela-
tives and easy to propagate. All of these
plants grow readily from cuttings.
African violets (Saintpaulia) are of the
gesneriad family — closely related to
cape primrose (streptocarpus) and
gloxinias.
The African violets found growing in
the wild today are mostly in Tanzania
and Kenya, protected under trees and
other foliage, out of direct sunlight.
All of the houseplants I mentioned
have similar requirements for success-
ful growth.
• fi ltered sunlight (sunny windowsill
not in direct sunlight)
• loose soil so that the roots get air
and water, and the soil needs to almost
dry out before you water again
• you can water from the top, but
better results are obtained when
setting the pot in a pan of water 30
minutes.
If you have garden comments or
questions, please write to greengar-
dencolumn@yahoo.com. Thanks for
reading!
Making
sense of the
new federal
dietary
guidelines
Barbara Quinn
Monterey Herald
They’re here … the long awaited and
debated 2020-2025 Dietary Guide-
lines for Americans (DGA). What’s the
big deal? This document — updated
every fi ve years by the Departments of
Agriculture (USDA) and Health and
Human Services (HHS) — represents
the most current science-based advice
on what and how to eat and drink for
our best health.
If you’re looking for this newest in-
stallment to insist you eat this or don’t
eat that, you may be disappointed.
Rather, the 2020-2025 DGA’s focus on a
“pattern” of eating that has been shown
to carry health benefi ts. Within that
pattern, we can make choices that best
fi t our individual needs and prefer-
ences.
I like that. There’s room here for
meat eaters and vegans alike. And
for the fi rst time, these guidelines are
presented according to our life stages,
including pregnancy, infants and tod-
dlers.
These updated guidelines do,
however, advise us to limit — at every
life stage — our intake of four dietary
components: added sugars, sodium,
saturated fat and alcohol. There’s not
room for much of these in any healthful
dietary pattern, say experts.
See Nutrition/Page 2B
Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune--TNS
Potato hash with poached eggs prepared and styled by Shannon Kinsella.
B RINGING B ACK T HE
C LASSIC B RUNCH
Whole grain, buttermilk, potato, lemon
ricotta — we love them all in our family.
Brunch. The dine-in restaurant occasion I My pet peeve is the metallic taste of excess
miss most during this pandemic.
leavening found in boxed mixes and some
I’m not really thinking of those all-you-
recipes, so I nearly always make my own dry
can-eat grand buffets (although that sounds mix. Ingredients on hand inspire the use of
decadently delightful). Rather, those leisurely various fl ours, seeds, nut and fruit additions.
outings with good friends that involve wait- A love of muesli cereal translated into the
staff, luxurious food and a way-early-for-me version below, chock-full of oats, almonds and
cocktail or two. A stroll might follow to aid
dried currants.
digestion and keep the conversation fl owing,
I stock bags of frozen cranberries for this
before the need to nap pulls me to the couch. speedy cranberry, fi g and ginger jam. Make a
These days, working at home means the
double batch and package in small refrigera-
couch often doubles as desk. The cocktail
tor containers to gift to your former brunch
hour creeps into consciousness at dusk. The buddies with the dry pancake mix and
snack drawer beckons all day.
instructions for cooking.
This January, I declare time to cook our
Bacon and potatoes are a match made
own restaurant-worthy brunch dishes. Eggs in heaven — especially when indulging in
covered in a creamy sauce, bacon-y potatoes, breakfast-for-dinner. The hash that follows
seed and nut pancakes sweetened with jam. can be served in individual skillets topped
It makes no matter to the cook when you
with an egg — reminiscent of pancake house
enjoy them — Sunday morning, Tuesday
skillet meals.
evening or Friday lunch.
Like many, I struggle to poach eggs so
I never have enough pancake recipes.
they look beautiful and stay soft-set. The
JeanMarie Brownson
Chicago Tribune
best technique I’ve found is simply to keep
the barely simmering pan of water swirl-
ing when you add the egg. The movement
of the water helps coat the yolk with the
white. Once done, after about 3 minutes, use
a slotted spoon to transfer the egg to a bowl
of lukewarm water. The eggs hold in this
manner nicely while you reheat the potato
mixture to piping hot. Top everything with
a lemony, mayonnaise-based sauce — easier
than making hollandaise.
I always enlist help while cooking brunch
— someone to act as the barista and bartend-
er while I concentrate on the stove. Serve mi-
mosas with the pancakes and bloody marys
with the bacon potato skillet.
Fortifi ed, we reminisce and marvel at the
skills of the staff at our favorite brunch spots.
Let’s support them in these diffi cult times by
ordering takeout meals, tipping generously
and sending donations. New memories are
on the horizon.
See Brunch/Page 3B
The magic of movie theater
buttered popcorn, made at home
Pandemic-Times Life Hack, that
a lengthy fi rst-person preamble
Prior to the coronavirus pan-
usually must be endured. Let’s also
demic, I went to the movies a lot,
truncate the parts that explain the
often alone, and I’d see pretty much genesis of the idea (pathological
anything, because the golden-salty
jealousy of friends’ new in-home
greatness that is movie theater pop- theater-grade popcorn maker,
corn makes seeing almost anything unwillingness to purchase one), the
worthwhile.
science of popcorn (hey, there’s water
I’d order the large size (only a
in there!), and all the permutations/
dollar more — they’re practically
hardships of the development of the
paying you to get it!), eat until my
recipe (so many different kinds of
mouth hurt, then put the rest in a
oil! So many batches!! I’ve been so
plastic bag to take home.
thirsty lately!!!).
Yes, I brought a plastic bag to the
Really, all credit here is due to
theater expressly for this purpose.
the miracle of modern(ish) food
And over the course of a dozen
science, specifi cally the proprietary
pre-COVID-19 Dinner at a Movie
process that brings us all Flavacol.
reviews, it was my total pleasure
This violently orange powder — it
to learn more about the nuances of
is the exact color of Kraft Macaroni
movie popcorn from Seattle Times
& Cheese dust — is made of salt,
fi lm (and book, and popcorn) critic
artifi cial fl avor, two shades of FD&C
Moira Macdonald. I miss the movies Yellow and magic. It comes in a
and I miss Moira — but I can still
charmingly vintage-design quart-
see both of them, if only on a home
sized milk carton (unless you want
screen. I’ve probably missed movie
to order, say, a 45-pound pail) from
popcorn an inordinate amount over Gold Medal Products Co., out of
the last 17 years, I mean, 10 months. Cincinnati (slogan: “Snacks, Smiles
But enough about me — it is
& Success!”).
a special irritant of articles such
See Popcorn/Page 2B
as this, promising The Best-Ever
Bethany Jean Clement
The Seattle Times
Dreamstime/TNS
The golden-salty greatness that is movie theater pop-
corn can come to life at home.