Micah's Read of the Week, Vol. 59
Micah Recommends, The Islamic World 20 Years After 9/11, Robert E. Lee, Recipe Corner, and More.
Hello, and welcome to Micah’s Read of the Week.
This is a newsletter filled with things Micah Wiener finds interesting.
Check out the introduction post here and the entire archive of previous newsletters here.
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Micah Recommends
St. Vincent covering Metallica’s “Sad But True”
Metallica’s Black Album recently turned 30, and there are tons of tributes out there, including the best one, by St. Vincent.
This is an incredible reimaging of the classic song that maintains the legendary riff and groove but brings a new feel and level of soul to the track. And the guitar solo? Puts Kirk Hammett to shame.
Count Me In on Netflix
This new documentary is a love letter from drummers to drumming. It is so good.
From decider.com:
The drummers in Count Me In come from a variety of backgrounds though the emphasis is on rock drumming, its history, and its most notable players. The Beatles’ appearance on Ed Sullivan inspired a generation of musicians and seated center stage on an elevated drum riser was Ringo Starr, not just a backing musician, but a fully integrated member of the band. Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, who recently passed away, is celebrated for his groove. The Who’s Keith Moon and Cream’s Ginger Baker are credited for raising the bar and breaking new ground. “Every drummer in America in 1975 wanted to sound like John Bonham because he was the best,” says Hawkins of the famed Led Zeppelin percussionist and he’s not alone in bowing down before his throne. Some of the drummers cited are actually interviewed in the film and it’s fun to hear them lionized one minute and talk about their favorite drummers in the next moment.
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Back Door Cover
Football is back, baby!
Each week during football season, Brad Kee and I preview every NFL game with our professional betting expert Can't-Miss Mitch, and we recap all of the weekend’s action Mondays. Subscribe now and never miss another show. And if you enjoy it, please share it with a friend.
Mind of Micah
Last week on my other podcast, Mind of Micah, we featured two stories about the interesting and infuriating Bryson DeChambeau. We’ll be back with more content this week.
The Islamic world has changed over the past 20 years. The Taliban is about to feel it.
This piece by WaPo opinion writer and CNN contributor Fareed Zakaria is an eye-opener. Check this lede:
If you want to understand what Islamist militancy today is really about, pay attention to this statement by the Taliban’s spokesman last week: “China is our most important partner, and represents a fundamental and extraordinary opportunity for us.”
Let me remind you that China is credibly accused of massive and pervasive persecution of its Muslim population — including mass incarceration, systematic “reeducation,” 24/7 surveillance and, in some cases, forced sterilization. In other words, the world’s most ideologically committed Islamist government has said that its closest ally will be a nation engaged in what many observers call cultural genocide against Muslims. Lesson: The Islamist militant movement has always been more about power than about religion.
Twenty years after 9/11, we are still not clear on how to think about radical Islam. It is real, it is evil, but over the past two decades, it has lost the ideological argument. The real clash of civilizations was never between the West and Islam. It was within the world of Islam, between the existing regimes and their Islamist opposition movements, and more broadly between moderates and radical religious groups.
The rest of the piece is worth a read as well. This story isn’t going away anytime soon.
Robert E. Lee’s statue is gone. Now can we dismantle the myth, too?
Here’s another editorial from the WaPo’s Eugene Robinson.
Southern propagandists concocted and embellished the Lee myth toward the end of the 19th century, as part of a larger justification for erasing the gains made by African Americans during Reconstruction and reimposing a system of state-approved white supremacy. The statue, erected in 1890, was part of that project. One of the true good things it’s possible to say about Lee, who had died 20 years earlier, is that he would have been among the first to object.
“I think it wiser … not to keep open the sores of war,” he wrote in 1869, declining to help choose the locations for memorials at Gettysburg, “but to follow the examples of those nations who endeavored to obliterate the marks of civil strife, to commit to oblivion the feelings engendered.”
Of course, like any opinion piece, the author has a zinger. And the target is pretty easy to hit.
There was remarkably little fanfare Wednesday about the removal of the Lee statue — except from a Florida senior citizen who apparently believes there is still political hay to be made from the “lost cause” myth.
“Just watched as a massive crane took down the magnificent and very famous statue of ‘Robert E. Lee On His Horse,’ ” former president Donald Trump wrote in a statement. “If only we had Robert E. Lee to command our troops in Afghanistan, that disaster would have ended in a complete and total victory many years ago.”
Recipe Corner
We’re keeping it simple (and carb-free) this week. Only 4 weeks until the wedding.
Sate Daging (Soy and Ginger Beef Satay)
FOR THE SATE
1/4 cup soy sauce, preferably light
2 tablespoons rice vinegar or white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 (2-inch) piece ginger (about 1 ounce), peeled and grated
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon palm sugar or light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 (14- to 16-ounce) rib-eye steak, cut into 1- to 1 1/2-inch cubes (may substitute the same weight of tempeh, cubed, or 8 to 12 ounces button or cremini mushrooms, halved)
Sunflower oil or another neutral oil, for the grill
Cooked white rice, for serving (optional)
FOR THE SAMBAL
1 tablespoon sunflower oil or another neutral oil
1 to 2 long red chiles, deseeded and finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 cup unsweetened, unsalted smooth peanut butter
4 teaspoons kecap manis , or more to taste (may substitute with 2 teaspoons soy sauce and 2 teaspoons light brown sugar)
2 teaspoons tamarind paste (may substitute with 2 teaspoons lime juice and 2 teaspoons brown sugar)
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt, or more to taste
1/4 cup water, plus more as needed
Make the sate: In a large bowl or gallon-size resealable bag, combine the soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, sugar and coriander. Add the beef (or other protein or mushrooms) and toss until thoroughly coated. Marinate in the refrigerator for 10 to 45 minutes; if using meat, it may be marinated overnight.
Make the sambal: In a small saucepan over medium heat, heat 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil. Add the chile and garlic and fry, stirring until softened, 3 to 4 minutes.
In a small food processor, combine the peanut butter, kecap manis, tamarind paste, salt and cooked chiles and garlic. Pulse briefly, then add a splash of water to loosen the sauce and pulse again. Gradually add 1/4 cup of water and continue to pulse until the sauce is pourable. Taste, and season with additional salt or kecap manis, if desired.
Lightly oil the grates with sunflower oil. Preheat the grill to 450 degrees. If using a charcoal grill, heat the coals until they smolder or cook skewers over indirect heat.
Thread 4 or 5 cubes of beef (or other protein or mushrooms) onto 6 skewers (see headnote). Cook the skewers for 1 to 2 minutes on each side for medium, or until lightly charred and done to your liking. Drizzle some of the sambal over the skewers and enjoy.
Brined Grilled Zucchini with Mint Salsa Verde
It’s time to brine our vegetables.
4 cups water
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 pounds zucchini (3 large zucchini), halved lengthwise
1 cup fresh mint, chopped fine
1 cup fresh parsley, chopped fine
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Whisk water and salt in large bowl until salt is dissolved. Add zucchini to brine and weigh down with plate to keep submerged. Let sit at room temperature for at least 45 minutes or up to 1 hour. Transfer zucchini to paper towel–lined plate and pat dry. Discard brine.
For a Charcoal Grill: Open bottom vent completely. Light large chimney starter filled with charcoal briquettes (6 quarts [4½ pounds]). When top coals are partially covered with ash, pour evenly over half of grill. Set cooking grate in place, cover, and open lid vent completely. Heat grill until hot, about 5 minutes. For a Gas Grill: Turn all burners to high, cover, and heat grill until hot, about 15 minutes. Leave all burners on high.
Clean and oil cooking grate. Place zucchini, cut side down, on grill (directly over coals if using charcoal) and cook until zucchini are well charred on bottom and flesh just begins to soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip zucchini and continue to cook until skin side is charred, about 2 minutes longer. (Zucchini should be slightly soft at edges but still firm at centers.) Transfer to serving plate.
Stir together mint, parsley, oil, vinegar, capers, garlic, and pepper flakes in small bowl. Season with salt to taste. Spoon salsa verde over zucchini and serve.
Where else can I find Micah content?
Podcasts: Mind of Micah, Back Door Cover, Too Much Dip
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