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Apparently, today is National Honesty Day in the U.S. Its purpose is to encourage everyone to be truthful today.
http://guardianlv.com/2014/04/national-honesty-day-is-april-30/



I confess to not always being truthful, but mainly I'm more apt to tell white lies, to protect someone else's feelings. I try not to intentionally lie to deliberately deceive or mislead someone for my own personal gain. Generally people who know me regard me as a fairly honest and trustworthy person.

I don't think that telling the absolute truth is always a good idea. Sometimes that can be a rather aggressive act--we talk about being "brutally honest". Is being brutal good?

What do you think? If you had to be totally honest all day today, would it help to build trust, or just create a slew of new problems? Is honesty always the best policy?

I try always to be honest - that's the way I was brought up. But it does cause problems. And where does one draw the line at being honest and being 'brutally' honest?

I try to avoid answering questions rather than tell a lie - but is that a fault in itself? And I am inclined to say "I'm all right" when I am far from all right.

Sir Walter Scott, in his epic poem 'Marmion' put it very succinctly:
'Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.'

Often I'm not sure other people want to hear the truth, they're seeking agreement, or support, or encouragement, and truthful responses might only lead to hurt feelings or conflicts. If we were totally truthful, all of the time, with everyone, I think it would be difficult to maintain our relationships or social functioning on an even keel.

We learn to be tactful, or diplomatic, which are often ways of dancing around the truth, or just trying to keep the peace, or of avoiding hurting someone's feelings, or avoiding an argument. Good social skills are often at odds with being totally honest.

If someone gives me a gift I really don't care for, but they've put effort and expense into getting it for me, should I really tell them I think they have lousy taste and, if I can't exchange it, I'll shove it in a drawer or closet so I don't have to even look at it? Or if an acquaintance invites me for dinner, and asks if I like what they've prepared, should I make negative comments about the food, if that's how I honestly feel about it? And, many people who are totally honest with a boss, might wind up losing their jobs.

I really try to avoid being dishonest, but I don't find it possible, or even desirable, to be totally honest, all of the time, with everyone.

Not easy to tiptoe through the mores of social life without white lies is it!

Just found this - yawns are so catching, read it twice, look at the images, and see if you start yawning or not!

After reading it twice, I was stifling an urge to yawn.

I better have some coffee.


And, since reading Mark Bittman's article in the NY Times this week, I've had an urge for a bagel with lox and cream cheese to go with my coffee.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/30/opinion/bittman-bagels-lox-and-me.html?ref=opinion


Bittman also asked people, "What's Your Comfort Food"? The responses are interesting, and diverse.
http://bittman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/30/whats-your-comfort-food/?action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article

I think our comfort foods are things we associate with our childhood or family traditions--mine are to a great extent.

Comfort foods from childhood? You are so right! My favourites are soft boiled eggs with soldiers I love them!

Mark's lox, bagel, cream cheese, yes!

Thanks for the link. I don't read him like I used to because of the paywall thing at the NYT. He used to have another site going (somewhat) but I lost track of that a few years ago. But, if it's a link put here, it will usually open for me, even if I am over the ten-count for the month.

Meantime, one of my next mad-cook days is going to involve Dan Lepard's Black Olive Bialy -
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/mar/27/black-olive-bialy-recipe-baking

Not a decades long comfort food to me, like Bittman's lox and bagel, but a riff on it. I never heard of bialys until, guessing, ten years ago.

What are the "soldiers"? The slices of toast?

Do you know how they came to be called "soldiers"?

I love things that remind me of my grandmother's cooking--she was an exceptionally good cook and made many ethnic dishes I absolutely loved, in addition to the best butter cookies I have ever eaten in my life--they would be my all-time favorite comfort foods.

And, when I have something like baked rice pudding, made with cinnamon and raisins, something my mother would make for me as a special treat, it takes me right back to my childhood.

Food can hold, and revive, memories, and it can comfort us...

Those black olive bialys sound good, osso--let us know how they turn out.

I've never been a big bialy fan, even with a schmear of cream cheese, they always seemed rather dry and tasteless to me. I'd much rather have a bagel for the same amount of chewing. Maybe I just never had a really good bialy.

I can't think of bialys without also thinking of the movie "The Producers"--the original, with Zero Mostel. I love that film.

And I liked Momofuku's recipe for chinese scallion pancakes.. talk about chewy and delicious. I think I have tried only two bialys ever and I probably agree with you. There were at a donut shop. Nothing at all like real IMJoy bagels, made differently, of course.
http://momofukufor2.com/2010/01/green-onion-pancakes-recipe/

Food food food, I love it, but I can see it can be boring.

So, how's your doggie?


Oh, re The Producers, I never saw it, or if I did, I don't remember, but it was one of my friends' favorite movie.

I love it too. Boring? Surely you jest.

Here's a Bittman recipe from this week. He used to make this for his daughter. It became her comfort food.
http://bittman.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/30/white-beans-and-greens-with-garlic-and-olive-oil-or-emmas-beans/

Doing fine--we both managed to survive puppyhood. This week we celebrated our first anniversary of being together, I gave him a new toy, he gave me a hug and made an affectionate play bite at my nose. He's passionate about everything, including food, particularly anything I happen to be eating. I must take some new photos of him now that he's all grown up.

Yes, please on the photos.

The thing I got about Mark Bittman was his interest in simplicity while having stuff taste good (and health and eco matters). For example, I know a lot about white beans and olive oil but I like his getting it out there.

Soft boiled egg with slices of bread or toast are thought of as nursery food and different stories are told to persuade a child to eat. Some people say that the egg is Humpty Dumpty and the bread soldiers have come to put him together again.

Basically, the soldier, in British English, is a thin strip of bread or toast; cut in straight slices they are reminiscent of soldiers on parade. The toast is sliced in this manner so that it can be dipped into a soft boiled egg that has had the top of its shell removed.

That's a delightful way to persuade a child to eat a particular food or dish.
I recall both of my parents doing something very similar with me, and I loved the stories.

And, when I was served spinach, I always joined in singing, "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man," since Popeye's strength was associated with spinach. I really didn't need any coaxing to eat my vegetables, I've always liked vegetables. Getting me to eat a soft-boiled egg would have been impossible--I only like eggs if the yolks are completely cooked. My mom would make me a jelly omelet--it was really a scrambled egg folded over some strawberry or apricot preserves--if she wanted to see the egg disappear. French toast was another sure-fire hit.

It's funny, but I only remember eating breakfast on weekends or when I didn't have to go to school. I have no recollection, at all, of eating breakfast and then going off to school.

Been sitting in the reading room, catching up on the news, and I came across this disturbing story.
http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2014/05/minnesota_teen_accused_of_plot.html

Is it conceivable that this boy's family had no inkling of what he was doing, or planning to do?

Frightening.

Today is the Kentucky Derby.

Will the ladies be donning their best hats for the event?

Shall we make wagers on which horse is our favorite?
http://www.kentuckyderby.com/horses

So far, I think Dance with Fate looks good, but I could change my mind by post time. I tend to use the unscientific method of choosing a horse because I like the name, or the way it looks. How do you pick the one to bet on or root for?

The mint juleps are ready and waiting.

I'm all for California Chrome, the present favorite last I read, for sentimental reasons re the trainer, the gorgeousness of the horse, the abilities of the horse, the ability of the jockey, Victor Espinoza.
Hope it works out for them.

Meantime, my main hope as usual is that no horse or jockey gets hurt in the crowded field.

First horse I ever picked (watching parade to post on tv, long ago) was named Swaps. I liked the name first.. plus the looks. He won. This time, the trainer of California Chrome, Art Sherman, was exercise boy on Swaps all that time ago, plus Swaps is listed somewhere back in Chrome's lineage. Plus that the horse is pretty good..

Though I used to go to Santa Anita several times over the years (plus the nearby LA Arboretum on the same days), I think I only bet on a horse once. It's not the betting that interests me. We used to sit in the infield and watch maybe five races. Good times.

When I was in my late teens and early 20's, I loved to go to the trotters at the local racetrack. I tended to bet on the drivers as much as on the horse. But, what I really liked, and found most exciting, was to go down and stand right next to the finish line, as up close and personal as I could get, to watch them whizz right by me.

Since then, I've enjoyed going to thoroughbred races, but, as time has gone by, I've mostly enjoyed watching horse racing on TV. When I did go to the track, I usually did bet, but generally on the favorite to show--I don't like losing money. The bet just gave me a rooting interest, but I could be just as enthused without placing one.

Like you, I hope that there will be no injuries today.

California Chrome is indeed a most attractive horse.