Cooking in the West

As 2021 rolls in, we look back on 2020 with horrified hindsight and look forward with hopefulness to a good 2021. As I sit here reflecting on the pandemic of 2020, my mind wandered back to Y2K. Remember Y2K? We thought the computers would not recognize 2000 because the dates were formatted in two digit numbers. We were convinced that we would wake up on January 1, 2000 in the Dark Ages. We anticipated power outages, data loss, and the end of society as we had come to know it. Everyone bought a generator, stored up food and water, printed all their computer files and stored them as hard copies, etc. When we awakened on January 1, 2000, we were pleasantly surprised to find the programmers had saved the day, and life as we knew it was unchanged.

Twenty-one years later, we have much more technology than we had in 2000. Every child with most of his/her permanent teeth has a smartphone. People post pictures of their food and rant for hours about things they have very little knowledge and no control over on Facebook, and politicians and celebrities use Twitter to "communicate" with the masses. You can watch your grandkid's Christmas program live from 3000 miles away. You can order just about anything you need and likely have it delivered to your doorstep the next day or the day after. We love our technology, but is it really healthy for us?

We have The Amazon Alexa which we mostly use to create a playlist for music and check the weather. We have the Echo Dot for bathroom music, and we have the Amazon Show, which I mostly use to find recipes online. I am not really concerned that the little devices are collecting data about us, because really there is no data to collect other than what music we like and what kind of shampoo we use.

We have smart plugs that turn on the coffee maker or the Christmas tree. We have a robot vacuum that terrorizes the dog and sort of rolls dog hair into little twisted strands that can then be picked up by our upright vacuum or a broom. We have a Ring doorbell that chimes 50 times a day and sends me a video every time a cat or a deer or a magpie passes by the front door. Even though we have a few fun little gadgets, all in all, we are pretty much still Luddites as compared to most of the high tech people in the world.

What are Luddites you ask? I don't know, but ironically I asked Alexa and found that they originated in England in 1811 as followers of a disgruntled textile worker named Ned Ludd, who organized workers to destroy equipment, because the new technology was going to take away jobs. Hmmm...sounds kind of prophetic like the self check-out line. I think old Ned was on to something 200 years ago that will not hold a candle to the ramifications of the advancement of artificial intelligence.

Alexa also told me that within the next ten years, technology could bring us babies with augmented intelligence. There is already technology out there that may improve or outright replace the current CRISPR gene technology, but genetic editing of the human embryo is here to stay. In the future, maybe parents will just say, “Alexa, modify my embryo so that it is a genius who is amazingly good looking and will be a world champion bronc rider and most importantly, it shoes horses,” and nine months later, the perfect baby will be ready for pick-up.

According to Alexa, a journalist named Zoltan Istvan predicts that within 10 years, people will begin to elect to replace their biological heart with a mechanical heart in order to stave off a possible heart attack out of the blue. Additionally, artificial hearts will be Wi-Fi enabled and could be sped up with a smartphone to outrun an ornery cow when you want to and slowed down to sleep better at night. The greatest challenge with artificial hearts would be making sure they don’t get hacked. As a Luddite, I think the greatest challenge of an artificial heart would be programming it to function properly. I would have to have the grandkids on standby to keep my heart pumping without a glitch if it was controlled by a smartphone or tablet. I really don’t think that, despite the heart risk factors in my family, I am ready to go under the knife and come out with a robotic heart that my grandchildren would control with a joystick controller or worse that my enemies could hack into.

One technological advance that I do feel will be useful is the car that drives itself. This technology already exists, and it is probably in the nick of time in my case. I can see myself ten years down the road leaving the driving to the car. I will still have to have those grandkids around to enter the destination where the car is programmed to take me, as I will have forgotten where I was going long before I would get there.

Alexa has a lot more predictions for the future, but I am already terrified by these. I am seriously considering a movement to erase technology from my life. Maybe 200 years from now, those who follow my lead will be known as Metcalfites; however it will probably be a short lived movement, because we will likely all die out without our phones and tablets and robotic vacuums.

This week I have some great recipes that I got from Alexa (before I decided to pull her plug). Thanks, Alexa!

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 can cream of chicken soup

8 oz. sour cream

1 tube Ritz crackers, crushed

¼ C. melted butter

Poppy seeds

Boil chicken and cut into cubes. Mix soup and sour cream. Add chicken and mix well. Spread in a baking dish. Crush crackers in sleeves and toss in melted butter. Sprinkle over the casserole. Shake the desired amount of poppy seeds over the casserole. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown and bubbly (30 to 45 minutes).

Chocolate Cake in a Mug:

4 T. flour

4 T. sugar

2 T. cocoa

1 egg

3 T. milk

3 T. oil

3 T. chocolate chips

Splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to a large mug and mix well. Add the egg and mix. Pour in the milk and oil. Mix well. Add chocolate chips and vanilla. Mix. Put the mug in the microwave on high for about 3 minutes. The cake will rise above the cup’s edge. Cool slightly before serving with whipped cream or ice cream.

Potato Casserole:

8 C. frozen hash browns

8 oz. cream cheese

2 cans cream of celery soup

1/2 C. chopped onion

1/8 t. salt

1 t. seasoned salt

1 t. garlic salt

1 C. shredded cheese (Cheddar or your choice)

Blend soup and cream cheese over heat until smooth. Add remaining ingredients except cheese. Pour into a baking dish and cover. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover and top with cheese. Bake for 30 minutes more. (Less cooking time may be needed if hash browns are not frozen.)