Friday evening roundup

A no-fly zone is not something to be taken lightly.

While some look to Turkey for a democratic model for the Middle East, Turkey is backpedaling on its own democracy.

I don't think all the non-fashion fashion world offenses here are equally egregious, hypocritical, or tasteless, but I love the name of the article.

While we're on article names, I don't think having kids is foolish, but I think a lot of this has to do with why some parents are so sanctimonious.

I have to run in a second, but allow me a quick food-related ramble. A few years ago, I came upon the term 'poor people food,' which I'd never heard of previously, even though I certainly consumed a lot of it in ignorance of its socio-economic associations. I always thought, and still think, that food is food (corollary: crap is not food). I've devoted space on this blog to the message that you can eat well for as little as it costs to eat poorly, if not less. Conversely, I think the concept of 'poor people food' is silly.

Jamie Oliver was rightly excoriated for serving beans on toast at one of his London restaurants, but not because beans on toast can't be amazing: it's because (1) Heinz paid him to do it and he neglected to disclose that; and (2) you don't go to a posh restaurant to have a celebrity chef make beans on toast. If you fell for it, sponsorship or not, well, I don't know what to say.

Anyway, I'm running out the door and I needed to make a quick dinner to get me through the evening. So I toasted a couple of slices of (whole, sprouted grain) bread and defrosted half a cup or so of pinto beans and topped the toast with them, and topped the beans with some (store-bought) salsa--what can I say--Costco has yummy, organic, no-sugar-added salsa, but you can make some yourself if you're hard-core or have more time. Anyway, it was really, really good. And yet so simple, and inexpensive. All I'm saying is, my 'poor people food' is better than some of the stuff I've had in pretentious restaurants.