Smoky Cauliflower Dumpling Soup

I was thinking today about all the realms in which I used to have some level of expertise. 

For example, I started taking violin lessons in 4th grade, and learned to read music, a skill that I have lost. I studied German in high school and college, and while I could still get by in a basic conversation, that's about the extent of it now. I have had jobs that gave me expertise on subjects ranging from the defense industry to federal energy policy to Pakistan, but I have not stayed up to date on any of those things.

My college honors thesis was on French nuclear weapon testing. Possibly the only thing left in my brain on that topic is an ongoing fear that nuclear war is still a possibility, and that is why I still read with interest each year about the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ action on their Doomsday Clock. This year, the Bulletin warned that we are ever closer to a global catastrophe of one sort or another - the closest we have been since 1947. Damn.

Climate change is a big factor in our current precarious situation, according to the Bulletin, which recommends:

The countries of the world should publicly rededicate themselves to the temperature goal of the Paris climate agreement, which is restricting warming “well below” 2 degrees Celsius higher than the preindustrial level. That goal is consistent with consensus views on climate science, and, notwithstanding the inadequate climate action to date, it may well remain within reach if major changes in the worldwide energy system and land use are undertaken promptly. If that goal is to be attained, industrialized countries will need to curb emissions rapidly, going beyond their initial, inadequate pledges and supporting developing countries so they can leapfrog the entrenched, fossil fuel-intensive patterns previously pursued by industrialized countries.

This is not new advice. You know it. I know that you know it. You know that I know that you know it. I'm going to keep beating this drum, though, because I despair at people's disinterest in solving the problem. I do what I can to focus us on this issue.

While I can no longer tell you what aircraft are on the Marine Corps' wishlist or what level of foreign aid the US provides to Pakistan, I have developed some modest expertise over the last couple years on the contribution to climate change of animal-based food production. In 2013, FAO reported that the livestock sector represented 14.5% of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions globally. Achieving a sustainable global food system "requires a combination of substantial shifts toward mostly plant-based dietary patterns, dramatic reductions in food losses and waste, and major improvements in food production practices," according to the EAT-Lancet Commission.

To do my small part towards pushing that Doomsday Clock hand back away from midnight, I seek and try recipes without meat and dairy, like "Smoky Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Herbed Chickpea Dumplings" (An Edible Mosaic), and I encourage you to seek and try them too. 

Am I putting a napkin on my lap, or taunting an angry bull?

I adore smoked paprika and so I liked this dish. I made the dumplings with regular rather than chickpea flour. It wasn't amazing, but it was comforting on a wintery day. 

Speaking of wintery days, we had about 18 inches of snow dumped on us this week. My backup dancer took this slow-motion video of me reaching the end of the shoveled part of the sidewalk.