Parallax - MakeMediaMRY-2025

           Reading an article on the global success of taxing ultra-processed foods, subsidizing & requiring healthy school lunches, & regulating advertising I had a thought, a memory. In the 80's, when I worked on Saturday morning running cartoons & other programs from the network it was not unusual for NBC to air a McDonald’s commercial just before my local break where I ran the identical commercial back to back. 30 years later I had a classrooms full of the children of the children who were watching those commercials, hearing them have heartfelt opinionated discussions on the relative qualities of McDonalds french fries versus Burger King and others.

           I’ve always been galled hearing people saying they are “having Starbucks”. What I should have said: “You aren’t having Starbucks, Starbucks is having you.”

           Another cena milagroso, wish I could remember the details of how I brought it together. It was all a deviation of what I’ve been doing in recent weeks. The einkorn noodles simply with a little garlic & that umami powder I brought from the Crestone cabin. Carrot & broccoli steamed in the microwave, that one 99 second @ half power that I’ve learned is enough when the carrots are cut into small cubes. Added lime juice & tarragon, a bit of salt, instead of the pesto I’ve been using for days, and would have been happy with again except for the need to innovate, then finally some cilantro.

2 of those chicken breast strips I’ve been using brined with comino, garlic, pinch oregano of and a palmfull of basil. Sauteed until brown then added onion until it was brown, then sliced poblano, finally tomato & cubed potato, simmered until the potato was cooked.

           On the left bank, the U.S. side, it’s called the Rio Grande. On the Mexican side, the right bank, it’s called the Rio Bravo. Odd that both names are Spanish. Perhaps that reveals the way the two cultures are so intimately intertwined while resolutely maintaining a separation, a frontera and línea.