Gail e-mailed because her local grocery store is now getting clams in the fish section of the market. She found a recipe for steamed clams at Foodie Crush:
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter , divided
- ¼ cup minced garlic
- ¼ cup chopped green onion
- 2 pounds small clams or cockles
- 1 ½ cups white wine
- 2 chicken bouillon cubes with 1 ½ cups water or 1 ½ cups chicken broth
- juice of ½ lemon
- ½ cup cream or half and half
- Chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
- In a large sauté pan over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the garlic and green onion and cook for 3-5 minutes or until softened, stirring occasionally. Add the cockles and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the white wine and bouillon cubes with water or the chicken broth. Bring to a boil then reduce to a rolling simmer and cook until the clams open up, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Add the remaining tablespoon of butter and the cream and stir. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately. Serve with sourdough bread.
She thought others might enjoy it and maybe they are seeing clams in their local supermarkets right now -- she lives in South Dakota. That's a great idea. And, to answer your question, Gail, I love clams.
There are many great things about living in Boston. And our access to sea food? Might be top of the list.
I love steamed clams, I love fried clams. I love clams. I love scallops. I love cod, I love bluefish, striped bass . . . Fish is good for you. This is from Harvard:
Fish is a very important part of a healthy diet. Fish and other seafood are the major sources of healthful long-chain omega-3 fats and are also rich in other nutrients such as vitamin D and selenium, high in protein, and low in saturated fat. There is strong evidence that eating fish or taking fish oil is good for the heart and blood vessels. An analysis of 20 studies involving hundreds of thousands of participants indicates that eating approximately one to two 3-ounce servings of fatty fish a week—salmon, herring, mackerel, anchovies, or sardines—reduces the risk of dying from heart disease by 36 percent. (1)
Eating fish fights heart disease in several ways. The omega-3 fats in fish protect the heart against the development of erratic and potentially deadly cardiac rhythm disturbances. They also lower blood pressure and heart rate, improve blood vessel function, and, at higher doses, lower triglycerides and may ease inflammation. The strong and consistent evidence for benefits is such that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the American Heart Association, and others suggest that everyone eat fish twice a week. (2, 3)
Unfortunately, fewer than one in five Americans heeds that advice. About one-third of Americans eat seafood once a week, while nearly half eat fish only occasionally or not at all. (4) Although some people may simply not like fish, the generally low consumption is likely also caused by other factors, including perceptions about cost, access to stores that sell fish, and uncertainty about how to prepare or cook fish. Still others may avoid seafood because they worry that they—or their children—will be harmed by mercury, pesticide residues, or other possible toxins that are in some types of fish.
Should you forgo fish because of the contaminants they might carry? It’s a controversial topic that is often fueled more by emotion than by fact. Here’s what’s known about the benefits and risks of eating fish and other seafood:
- Known or likely benefits: In a comprehensive analysis of human studies, Harvard School of Public Health professors Dariush Mozaffarian and Eric Rimm calculated that eating about 2 grams per week of omega-3 fatty acids in fish, equal to about one or two servings of fatty fish a week, reduces the chances of dying from heart disease by more than one-third. (1) Both observational studies and controlled trials have also demonstrated that the omega-3 fats in fish are important for optimal development of a baby’s brain and nervous system, and that the children of women who consume lower amounts of fish or omega-3’s during pregnancy and breast-feeding have evidence of delayed brain development.
- Possible benefits: Eating fish once or twice a week may also reduce the risk of stroke, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and other chronic conditions. (11)
- Possible risks: Numerous pollutants make their way into the foods we eat, from fruits and vegetables to eggs and meat. Fish are no exception. The contaminants of most concern today are mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, and pesticide residues. Very high levels of mercury can damage nerves in adults and disrupt development of the brain and nervous system in a fetus or young child. The effect of the far lower levels of mercury currently found in fish are controversial. They have been linked to subtle changes in nervous system development and a possible increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The case for PCBs and dioxins isn’t so clear. A comprehensive report on the benefits and risks of eating fish compiled by the Institute of Medicine calls the risk of cancer from PCBs “overrated.” (5)
Being Catholic, we do fish on Friday every week. In addition, we have clams probably at least twice a month. We eat some kind of shrimp dish every week. We have calamari rings with pasta at least twice a month. So that's 13 helpings of fish a month if we only have fish once on Friday. If I'm going to the hospital cafeteria, I have it twice on Fridays. I also have -- not the family, just mean -- canned tuna at least once a week, sometimes twice.
I love fish fillets. I wasn't big on catfish until C.I. shared a wonderful recipe with me about ten years ago. I could have that fish and fruit with rice dish every day, in fact. It's so tasty.
If you like fish, there's a lot out there.
One thing I can't eat though -- this is me, I'm not judging anyone else, is baby octopus. I sometimes see that in the sushi section. Tiny little octopus and, sorry, I can't eat it. I feel bad. But again, that's me. Other than that, I don't think there's a fish I don't like except I do not eat tilapia because of it's possible connection to Alzheimer's. That runs in the family so I do not use aluminum pans or eat tilapia. (And I don't think there's an established link -- just a causal one; however, it does run in the family, so it's something I factor in when planning meals.)
If you haven't already, please read Kat's "I've had it with BLACK POWER MEDIA and its attack on African-American" which is a really important piece.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Thursday:
Grassroots groups organized quickly after a similar effort in Michigan last week far exceeded its goal of 10,000 votes for “uncommitted” brought in more than 100,000 votes, or 13% of the vote.
A smattering of Super Tuesday states – Alabama, Colorado, Iowa, Massachusetts, North Carolina and Tennessee – had an option on the Democratic ballot where voters could decide not to commit to a specific candidate. These options included “uncommitted”, “noncommitted delegate” and “no preference”.
The St. Paul City Council unanimously approved a non-binding resolution Wednesday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.
Why it matters: St. Paul's vote is the latest sign of discontent on the left with the Biden Administration's policy toward the Israel-Hamas war.
The big picture: A growing list of U.S. cities — including Minneapolis — have passed similar resolutions.
The Associated Students board was considering a resolution Wednesday night that would comply with the protesters’ demand.
A recent Arab Opinion Index poll, which involved 8,000 people from 16 countries across the region, showed anger over the Gaza war and America’s response at record highs, with 76 per cent of respondents saying their position towards the US had become “more negative”. The pollsters said the survey showed “the Arab public has lost confidence in the US”.
Malaysian prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, has criticised the west for its attitude to the situation in Gaza during a speech at the Australian National University in Canberra. He said countries should not apply international law selectively.
“Unfortunately, the gut-wrenching tragedy that continues to unfold in the Gaza Strip has laid bare the self-serving nature of the much-vaunted rules-based order,” Anwar said.
“The differing responses by the west to human suffering defy reasoning.”
Anwar questioned why the west had been “so vociferous, vehement and unequivocal in the condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while remaining utterly silent on the relentless blood-letting inflicted on innocent men, women and children of Gaza”.
“Sure, there are exceptions, but they are few and far between,” he said as he delivered the 2024 Gareth Evans Oration, named after a long-serving former foreign minister.
Flanked by photos of hungry children and destroyed buildings, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders
said in a speech Wednesday that the Biden administration must stop
merely asking the Israeli government to halt its indiscriminate bombing
of Gaza
and begin using real leverage to bring about an end to the war and
ensure the free flow of aid to the territory's starving population.
"The U.S. government should make it clear that failure to open up access immediately and feed starving people will result in the Netanyahu government not getting another penny of U.S. taxpayer military aid," said Sanders (I-Vt.), who noted that "right now we have the incredible situation where a U.S. ally is using U.S. weapons and equipment to block the delivery of U.S. humanitarian aid."
"And if that's not crazy," the senator added, "I don't know what is."
Five months after Hamas launched multipronged attacks on Israel, almost half of Gaza’s buildings lie in ruins and at least 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry, which, along with aid agencies, is warning that some of the most vulnerable children in the territory have begun to starve to death.
The Israeli military controls swaths of the Gaza Strip, and it has threatened to attack Rafah, a southern city where 1.5 million Palestinians have fled, unless a cease-fire deal is reached by next week. Israel has not achieved its military goals: destroying Hamas in response to its Oct. 7 attacks, which killed 1,200 people, and rescuing the 100-plus remaining hostages taken that day. It is unclear whether either is even possible.
Abroad, the worsening humanitarian tragedy has heaped international pressure on Israel. Even friends such as the U.S., which gives Israel $3 billion in weapons and other military aid every year, have joined the chorus, rhetorically at least, pressuring Israel urgently to allow more aid into the enclave, where Palestinians are huddled in encampments and sleeping on the streets.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
A U.N. convoy of food trucks trying to bring 200 tons of food into northern Gaza was turned back by the Israeli military today. A convoy of 14 trucks waited for three hours at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint in central Gaza before it was turned away by the Israeli military and later stopped by a large crowd of desperate people who, quote, “looted the food,” according to the World Food Programme. This comes as Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on Palestinians seeking to get aid in northern Gaza, killing at least 119 people in the most deadly attack February 29th.
Hunger has reached catastrophic levels in Gaza. The Palestinian Health Ministry said today the death toll from malnutrition and dehydration has risen to 18, adding, quote, “The famine is deepening and will claim thousands of lives if the aggression is not halted and humanitarian and medical aid is not immediately brought in,” unquote. Children, pregnant women, those with chronic illnesses are most vulnerable.
Meanwhile, the Israeli bombardment continues, with shelling and airstrikes today in cities across the Gaza Strip, including in Rafah, Khan Younis, Deir al-Balah and elsewhere. At least 30,700 Palestinians have been killed, over 72,000 wounded in Gaza over the past five months. Nearly the entire population has been displaced from their homes.
For more, we go to Cairo, Egypt, where we’re joined by Susan Abulhawa, a Palestinian novelist, poet and activist, author of several books, best known for her debut novel, Mornings in Jenin, an international best-seller translated into 32 languages, considered a classic in Palestinian literature. She’s the founder and co-director of Playgrounds for Palestine, a children’s organization, and the executive director of Palestine Writes Literature Festival. She just returned from Gaza after spending two weeks there, is now in Cairo.
Susan, welcome to Democracy Now! If you can talk about what you saw? You have written, “Some are eating stray cats and dogs, which are themselves starving and sometimes feeding on human remains that litter streets where Israeli snipers picked off people who dared to venture within the sight of their scopes. The old and weak have already died of hunger and thirst.” Describe your trip.
SUSAN ABULHAWA: So, that part of the essay is in the northern region, where nobody really is allowed to go. Trying to venture into the north is a suicide mission. There are tanks and snipers positioned, and anyone trying to get there is basically killed. As you just mentioned, aid trucks are not getting in, either. They are intentionally stopped. And it’s an intentional starvation, basically. I was primarily in the south, in Rafah. I was able to go to Khan Younis and to Nuseirat and a few other places in the middle region, but that became increasingly more dangerous.
I want to say that the reality on the ground is infinitely worse than the worst videos and photos that we’re seeing in the West. There is a — you know, beyond people being buried alive en masse in their homes, their bodies being shredded to pieces, these kinds of videos and images that people are seeing — beyond that, there is this daily massive degradation of life. It is a total denigration of a whole society, that was once high-functioning and proud and has basically been reduced to the most primal of ambitions, you know, being able to get enough water for the day or flour to bake bread. And this is even in Rafah.
And the people in Rafah will tell you that they feel privileged because they’re not starving to death, while their families in the north, the ones that they can reach, because Israel has basically cut off 99% of communication — what remains are basically communications by people who have, you know, set up some ingenious ways to keep internet in the north. But most people in the north have no idea what’s happening. As a matter of fact, at one point — I’m sure you all know Bisan Owda, who is on Facebook. She explained to me she often goes up to the border between Khan Younis and the middle area in the north where you can’t go beyond, and she explained to me that an aid truck, that sort of pushed its way through but was eventually fired on, had — people came up and ran up, thinking that the war was over and people were returning to the north. So, most people in the north are in total darkness and hunger and really have no way of communicating, no way of figuring out where to get food.
And, you know, what we’re hearing on the ground is surreal. It’s dystopic. What I witnessed personally in Rafah and in some of the middle areas is incomprehensible. And I will call it a holocaust — and I don’t use that word lightly. But it is absolutely that.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Susan Abulhawa, I want —
SUSAN ABULHAWA: The stories I heard from people are — sorry, go ahead.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, no, Susan, I wanted to ask you — you write in your article, “At some point, the indignity of filth is inescapable. At some point, you just wait for death, even as you also wait for a ceasefire. But people don’t know what they will do after a ceasefire.” Could you talk about that, even if there is a ceasefire —
SUSAN ABULHAWA: Yeah.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: — the level of destruction that the people face now in terms of being able to rebuild their country?
SUSAN ABULHAWA: I mean, that’s how much people have been reduced. I mean, the ceiling of their hope at this point is for the bombs to stop. And, you know, everybody wants to go back. They talk about pitching a tent on their homes and figuring things out. But a lot of people are trying to leave. There is a brain drain, basically. Those who can afford it, those who can raise the money, those who are able to get jobs elsewhere, who have professional skills, are trying to leave. They have children. All the schools have been destroyed. College students have nowhere to go.
You know, what’s happening to people isn’t just this death and dismemberment and hunger. It’s a total denigration of their personhood, of their whole society. There are no universities left. Israel intentionally bombed schools and blew them up, presumably to ensure that rebuilding could not take place, that reestablishing a society cannot take place without the infrastructure of education, of healthcare, and, basically, foundational structures for buildings.
AMY GOODMAN: Susan, I wanted to follow up on what you said about a holocaust. And you also used the term “genocide.” And you say, “Genocide isn’t just mass murder. It is intentional erasure.” Can you take that from there?
SUSAN ABULHAWA: Exactly. I mean, one of the — like I said, one of the things that Israel has been keen to do in Gaza is to erase remnants of people’s lives. So you have, on an individual level, homes, complete with memories and photos and all the things of living. And I’m sure you know Palestinians typically live in multigenerational homes. We’re not a mobile society. And so, these homes have several generations of the same family completely wiped out. On a societal level, you have — Israel has targeted places of worship — mosques, ancient churches, ancient mosques. They have targeted the museums, cultural centers, any place that — libraries. Any place that has records of people’s lives, has remnants and traces of their roots in the land, have been intentionally wiped away.
You know, it’s really frustrating for us to read Western media talk about, you know, Israel is targeting Hamas and whatnot. They’re not. This has always — and when you’re on the ground, you understand this has always been about displacing Palestinians, taking their place and wiping them off the map. That has been Israel’s stated goal, I mean, even in this instance and before, in 1948. It has always been their aim, to destroy us, remove us, kill us and take our place. And that’s what’s happening now in Gaza. It’s what happened in 1948, in 1967. And every new Nakba, every new escalation, is greater than the one before. And here we now arrive at a moment of genocide and holocaust, because the world has allowed Israel to act with such barbarity with impunity.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, I wanted to ask you also — you mentioned the world reaction. More people have died in Gaza in less than five months than have — civilians — than have died in Ukraine in over two years, in the war in Ukraine, and Ukraine has 40 times the population of Gaza. I’m wondering your sense of the failure of the — especially of the Western nations, of Europe and the United States, to act?
SUSAN ABULHAWA: The Western world has lost any semblance of moral authority, if they ever had any. Or, you know, I think that maybe there was an illusion of moral authority previously, but I think — you know, what we have always known is that we are dealing with genocidal colonizers. But I think that is more apparent to the rest of the world at this hour. And I think what’s also happening is that Americans are coming to understand, increasingly, though not nearly enough, that they’re being lied to.
AMY GOODMAN: And we’re going to take up that issue in Part 2 of our discussion, which we’ll post at democracynow.org. Susan Abulhawa, Palestinian novelist, thanks so much.
- Suffering in Gaza: At least 20 people have died in Gaza due to malnutrition and dehydration since the war began, including a 15-year-old boy who was declared dead at the Al-Shifa medical complex on Wednesday, the enclave's health ministry said. Gazans told CNN their children are starving to death and mothers cannot breastfeed their babies. In the southern city of Rafah, a displaced health worker has warned thousands of babies could die of starvation if Israel continues its severe restrictions on food, fuel, water and medication from entering Gaza.
- Israel blocking aid: The United Nations said almost 40% of aid missions it coordinated in Gaza were denied or impeded by Israel last month. In February, 86 of the 222 missions in areas that needed coordination were denied or impeded by Israel, said the agency's humanitarian affairs arm. In response to the deepening humanitarian crisis, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will travel to Cyprus this week to discuss creating a maritime aid corridor to Gaza.
Israel has generated “famine-like conditions” in the Gaza Strip “while obstructing and undermining the humanitarian response”, according to a new report by humanitarian group Refugees International.
The group’s research in Egypt, Jordan and Israel revealed that Tel Aviv “consistently and groundlessly impeded aid operations within Gaza, blocked legitimate relief operations and resisted implementing measures that would genuinely enhance the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza”.
For six days, more than 50 countries, the League of Arab States, the African Union and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation presented testimony to the International Court of Justice (ICJ, or World Court) about the legality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. The overwhelming majority of them, largely from the Global South, told the court that the occupation was illegal.
The historic hearing, which took place February 19-26, was held in response to the United Nations General Assembly’s December 30, 2022, request for an advisory opinion on the following questions:
(a) What are the legal consequences arising from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, from its prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures?
(b) How do the policies and practices of Israel … affect the legal status of the occupation, and what are the legal consequences that arise for all States and the United Nations from this status?
The General Assembly asked the ICJ to discuss these issues with reference to international law, including the UN Charter; international humanitarian law; international human rights law; resolutions of the Security Council, General Assembly and Human Rights Council; and the 2004 advisory opinion of the ICJ finding that Israel’s wall on Palestinian land violated international law.
Israel regularly thumbs its nose at the World Court. It ignored the court’s ruling that the wall was illegal and refuses to implement the ICJ’s provisional order to refrain from committing genocidal acts and ensure humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Before the hearing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the court: “Israel does not recognize the legitimacy of the proceedings of the international court in The Hague regarding ‘the legality of the occupation’ — which are an effort designed to infringe on Israel’s right to defend itself against existential threats,” he said. “The proceedings in The Hague are part of the Palestinian attempt to dictate the results of the diplomatic settlement without negotiations.”
Although Israel didn’t appear at the hearing, it submitted a five-page statement which called the General Assembly’s questions “a clear distortion of the history and present reality of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” Israel didn’t even attempt to defend the legality of the occupation, focusing instead on why the ICJ should not render an advisory opinion.
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