Family Dinners, as an election nears…..

    The midterm elections are upon us so family dinners can get rowdy. I am thankful that each of us knows, instinctively, that family must come first, that we cannot stomp off into the wilderness of political anger and bitterness without doing terrible, maybe even irreparable harm.  Over the years, a fair amount of that occurred.  When it did, it was always the oldest generation heaping scorn upon the “uneducated, illiterate” younger generation.  Many of us, (the middle generation), were huge disappointments to the radicals on one side of the family equation.  We were supposed to be properly educated, teachers…the loftiest of professions.  We were supposed to be like-minded with regard to politics.  During Watergate, we were supposed to be as outraged as they were.  We were NOT supposed to be changing diapers, preparing meals, helping with homework, etc.  Those hopelessly domestic chores were beneath the intellectual class to which some of the older ones had pretensions.  Bottom line?  I had thoroughly corrupted their son, for whom they had greater hopes than the daughter of Republicans.  That was a blow too low to endure with grace and so they were graceless.

    But tolerate each other we did.  Grandchildren can cure almost any cultural or political chasm.  If they don’t, there is really something wrong with the adults involved.  Grandchildren make families of the strangest of strange bedfellows.  Even though my in-laws did not like or approve of me, they loved our children.  They saw themselves in them, wanted to share with them their passions and sheltered them as if they were their own, even if they regretted I was their mother.

    But I digress….that the election Nov. 7 is crucial and completely up in the air is making us all twitchy.  To me, there should not be a question.  Clearly, the dems do not grasp the nature of the threat posed by Islamic fanatic jihadists.  The democratic leadership…Pelosi, Reid, Dean, are all, in my view, seriously challenged in the priorities department.  Each is so desperate to regain power, none has the sense to notice the damage they are doing to the country by making common cause with the terrorists.  Not one of them listens carefully to what the President says.  Instead they leap at every opportunity to say he lied, misled, etc.  The fact is that Bush did not lie or mislead.  Anyone can read every speech he gave leading up to the war in Iraq.  It’s all there.  But they choose to ignore the truth in favor of spin.  It is always thus, as my grandmother would have said.

    But the radicals in the family, and they are radicals, not just lefties, see a grand neo-conservative conspiracy in everything this administration does.  They are no less willingly submissive to conspiracies than the 9/11 kooks who claim that planes did not bring down the WTC, Bush did.  They fear American religious people more than they fear Islamic suicide bombers.  This never ceases to astonish me.  These are not stupid people….or at least I didn’t used to think they were.  9/11 changed everything, especially how friends, families, and colleagues relate to one another.  What is interesting is who can remain friends despite their differences and who cannot.  This is where the wheat is separated from the chaff.   It is those in academia who cannot remain friends with anyone who, like Chris Hitchens for example, woke up on September 11th and was catapulted to other side of the political spectrum. It is the academics, among others, who are the ones who were blaming America on September 12th.  The rest of us, the ones who blame the terrorists are mind-numbed idiots to them.  Go figure.  Here is one thing I know for sure:  academia sets out to, and is surprisingly successful, at defeating common sense in favor of post-modernist, multicultural, politically correct tyranny.  Unless the pendulum swings in the other direction, I don’t want any of the little ones to go to college.

I’m dreading tonight’s dinner…too close to the election.  Here is one of the dishes I am going to make…hopefully it will lull the sharpest edges of political bitterness.  Serve it with a green salad and some fresh fruit.




                Chicken Tamale Pie

3 tbl. extra virgin olive oil
1 tbl. unsalted butter
1 lg. brown onion, chopped
3 - 4 anaheim chiles, seeded and chopped
4 - 5 cloves garlic, minced

In a heavy pan, saute the vegetables in the oil and butter for about 10 minutes or until softened.  Add:

4 cups poached chicken, shredded or cubed
1 1/2 C. corn kernels (C & W frozen petite)
2 lg. tomatoes, peeled and chopped
4 - 5 fresh jalapenos, chopped
1 can pitted olives, chopped coarsely
1 tbl. chile powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 c. grated cheddar cheese
1 bunch fresh stemmed cilantro

Set aside and make the cormeal mixture:

In a large, heavy dutch oven, bring  4 1/2 C. water and 1 tsp. salt to a simmer.  Add 1 1/2 C. El Molino cornmeal, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or an electric hand mixer.  Cook over med. - high heat until the mixture begins to pull away from the side of the pan.  Remove from heat and add 1 stick unsalted butter cut into pieces and 1/2 C. grated cheddar cheese.  Add salt and pepper to taste and stir until the butter and cheese are completely incorporated.

Spread 2/3 of the cornmeal mixture onto the bottom and sides of a heavy baking pan or casserole, at least 10" in diameter.  Add the chicken mixture and spread remaining cornmeal over the top.  Bake 1 hour at 350.

Serve with sour cream and fresh lime wedges.