Everywhere I go I find a pal

Peter Weinschenk, Editor, The Record-Review

It was quite a sight at the local polling stations I visited on Tuesday.

I saw veteran poll workers, paper masks cupped over their mouths, dutifully working the election and placing service to their country and our democracy over their own personal safety.

I saw voters who insisted on casting ballots, despite the dangers of catching COVID- 19.

I saw members of the Wisconsin National Guard assist in the local elections. They, too, put service over safety.

The day before the election, clerks predicted a light turnout with people staying home because of concern over COVID-19. That was wrong. Voters turned showed up at the polls in droves.

Our democracy may be navigating some rough seas at present, but, from what I observed on Tuesday, it still burns in the hearts of the people of this state.

People still care.

What I saw on Tuesday was inspiring.

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All of us these days are spending time at home in semi-quarantine as we wait for the COVID-19 pandemic to pass.

It’s tough to sit and wait for the time to pass.

That’s why I decided I am going to learn to hip-hop dance. This may or may not have been a good decision.

I am now trying to learn the shuffle, specifi cally the Running Man move.

I have viewed several YouTube videos all who feature young, athletic female dancers explaining the moves step by step. They make the shuffle look pretty easy.

My problem is that I am a hip-hop klutz. I can’t really figure it out. My legs go up, they go down, and then back and forth. My arms wiggle to and fro.

The problem is that I have no flow. My body doesn’t want to groove with the music in a coordinated, smooth way. In short, I appear ridiculous.

I find all of this frustrating. I think I have pretty good musical sensibilities, but this ability doesn’t extend to my feet and hands.

I am not giving up, however. I will continue to work on my hot shuffle steps. If anything, it’s excellent exercise.

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In my COVID-19 hibernation, I’ve been entertaining myself with cooking.

This past weekend, I discovered Lebanese food and it was great.

I made this meal where roasted lamb, carmelized tomatoes, lettuce, yogurt and spicy hot harissa glopped inside homemade Lebanese Mountain Flat Bread.

Think Middle Eastern taco and you are not far off.

The flavors were marvelous and with the harissa, a combination of chilis, garlic and spices, it was flaming hot, too.

You can begin to understand why everybody in the Middle East fights all of the time. They are fighting over food. It is so good.

Making the flatbread was interesting. You start with a bubbling mixture of yeast, flour and water (a “sponge”) that turns into a dough that sits in the fridge overnight. The dough is rolled out paper thin and heated on a cast iron fry pan. You get these lovely gas bubbles in the flatbread.

What I learned in all this is about pizza. I thought of pizza as bread. That’s wrong. It’s really a kind of super-duper flatbread.

I have never been satisfied with my homemade pizza. I will come at from the flatbread angle. I think I will see improvement.