Idle Rambling On A Saturday Evening -- August 10, 2019

Guns, NRA, and the Second Amendment: there is such an incredibly great way to handle this issue. I would love to blog about it, but I'm not ready to wade into that quagmire. But there are some huge opportunities for Trump and/or his Democrat opponent, whoever that might be, to really propose a grand plan, ala "ObamaCare" and solve the problem at the federal level once and for all. It starts with going back to what the founders meant with regard to private ownership of guns: take the founders seriously but not literally.

Beautiful evening: poolside. Sun doesn't set for another hour but the shade of the trees has completely blocked it out.

Disneyland: update, August 9, 2019. I'll never see Disneyland again, nor will I ever see Disney World. I visited Disneyland more than a half dozen times; enjoyed every visit. During my last visits I would take my Wall Street Journal, find a place to have a cup of coffee on Main Street and pretty much stay settled until noonish. In the afternoon, do a few air-conditioned rides; a dinner; and, then watch the fireworks. I think the last time I went, one ride. Pirates of the Caribbean. Lots of great memories. Disney tickets are under-priced.

North Korea: it's too bad. The country lost its one opportunity. Will never get it again. The North Korean military, of course, doesn't see it that way.

Grilling: potatoes. WSJ.

Like woolly socks and puffy parkas, baked potatoes are usually considered cold-weather comforts. This miffs me, a cook who’d make potatoes my desert-island staple.

So I was thrilled when I flipped open “Charcoal,” a new live-fire cookbook from Los Angeles chef Josiah Citrin, and found a recipe for “loaded” potatoes with crème fraîche, aged Gouda and herbs. Charred and crackling on the outside, tender at the center, they’re what Mr. Citrin calls his “fire-roasted take on the standard steakhouse potato”—and what I call the answer to my warm-weather baked potato cravings.

With a little attention to temperature control, just about any grill can do double duty as an outdoor “oven”—and save you from toiling in a sauna-like kitchen. And grilling potatoes is a largely hands-off affair: less time stooped over the grill, more time sipping rosé.

I called up Mr. Citrin for a few pointers, and he assured me there’s no need to get hung up on fussy details. Sure, at his restaurant, Charcoal, Mr. Citrin insists on oversize, 1-pound Yukon Gold potatoes for their creamy, subtle flavor.

But he said it’s perfectly fine to substitute russets. And while he buries whole potatoes, naked, in a bed of smoldering embers—an approach that produces a charred jacket and sweet, smoky flesh—less dramatic yet hardly less delicious results can be achieved by wrapping potatoes in aluminum foil and cooking them over indirect heat on an ordinary charcoal kettle or gas grill.

Finally, and reasonably enough, for perfectly even, tender, fluffable flesh, he suggests parboiling the potatoes ahead of time, briefly, in heavily salted water. “There’s about a million ways to approach grilled baked potatoes, and they’re almost all great,” he said. 

Comment: I like the idea of burying whole potatoes, naked, in a bed of smoldering embers.

Tonight for dinner: twice-baked potatoes with spicy chili.

Hatch chili season in Texas, New Mexico, is underway.

FedEx split from Amazon: plenty of slack in the system. USPS needed this boost.

Recession just around the corner: heavy-duty truck orders hit lowest level in nine years. Class 8. I don't know about "specialty truck" business, e.g., Western Star.

Steyer: can he get into the debates? You know things are going badly when "free chow" resulted in a crowd of only 25 people (half of them, I bet, were "journalists.") At least he had time to shake everybody's hand. Twice. Necessary to be in the debates: at least 130,000 unique donors and reach at least 2% in four approved national polls before ... August 28, 2019 -- to win a slot on the debate stage in Houston. Steyer is currently polling, through August 6:

• 1%: the Economist
• 0%: SUSA
• 1%: Quinnipiac
• 1%: Politico

Best comment at the Steyer article:

I would like him to talk about a political system where outrageous sums of money are poured into election campaigns.

Six months until the first primary. Six months in Iowa. Wow, get a life. If I were a billionaire, I would spend it anywhere but in Iowa. And my mom is from Iowa so I feel I can say that.

Our Town, Iris DeMent