The Mind-Melting Hypocrisy of the GOP
The IVF whiplash continues. Plus, a delicious egg salad sandwich recipe
The hypocrisy of Florida Republicans was on full display this week. Amid the ongoing chaos around IVF following the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that deemed embryos “extrauterine children,” Florida Republicans postponed a similar bill that's been in the works, the legislators sponsoring the bill announced on Monday. From Jezebel:
“Although I have worked diligently to respond to questions and concerns, I understand there is still work that needs to be done,” Senator Erin Grall (R), the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement about the decision. “It is important we get the policy right with an issue of this significance.”
Grall’s nightmarish bill, called Civil Liability for the Wrongful Death of an Unborn Child and introduced at the end of 2023, would amend Florida’s wrongful death law to allow “the parents of an unborn child” to recover damages for the wrongful death of their embryo or fetus. Grall and her co-authors were the same Florida Republicans who introduced the state’s six-week abortion ban (currently blocked in court), so it’s pretty clear the decision to put the brakes on this bill has little to do with being “reasonable” and everything to do with optics.
I made a sandwich about it:
Anti-abortion Republicans who posture as being “pro-life” and “pro-family” are now having to justify stopping people with fertility struggles from being able to have children via IVF. Which is the opposite of being pro-family. What a conundrum!
Of course, now GOP lawmakers are scrambling to distance themselves from what’s happening, and are claiming to support IVF. The Alabama House of Representatives and Senate passed legislation to restore access to in vitro fertilization on Thursday. Lord help us.
Anti-abortion Republicans who posture as being “pro-life” and “pro-family” are now having to justify stopping people with fertility struggles from being able to have children via IVF. Which is the opposite of being pro-family. What a conundrum!
Nothing like creating a problem that you didn’t have that punches you in your own face so hard that you have to spend all your resources dealing with the black eye you gave yourself. And it’s so cringey to listen to these legislators talk about women’s bodies and reproductive rights without having a fucking clue what they’re saying. Here’s supreme dingus Rep. Tim Burchett of Tenessee on ABC News:
It’s hard to know what to say after watching something like this. I had to smoke a joint and go for a walk. I sure hope we can mobilize this year to shut this shit down!
A Table of Our Own
This week, I had the honor of seeing a wonderful documentary for Black professionals working in the plant medicine space. A Table Of Our Own, directed by Ayize Jama-Everett and produced by Kufikiri Imara, features conversations with Black leaders, healers, artists, scientists, academics, educators, cultivators, and healers who have experience in plant medicine at gatherings around the country. It’s moving, and funny, and gripping, and beautiful.
, who I’m lucky to call a friend, is prominently featured in the film, and he’s so fucking funny while being dead serious about the work. It’s massively inspiring to see someone be both.Filmmakers Jama-Everett and Imara created the documentary “because we’re tired of asking for a seat at someone else’s table,” they write on the film’s website. “Because the rhetoric around people of color in psychedelic spaces has mostly been for show. Because the lasting positive impact that these medicines can have on Black communities is not being fully acknowledged.”
“Because the biggest impediment to Black people participating in this work is not seeing Black people participating in this work. Because when Black people win, we all win.”
You can follow and support A Table of Our Own on Instagram and also donate tax-free to help get this essential film out into the world.
Konbi’s Egg Salad Sandwich Recipe
On to a recipe! When my friend Ali Lu agreed to make a sandwich with me, she suggested a Japanese-style egg salad sandwich. I’m so glad she did — this sammy is honestly less complicated than it looks, and it’s lipsmackingly delicious.
Co-chefs Akira Akuto and Nick Montgomery perfected this beautiful sandwich at their spot Konbi, in Los Angeles. I’m happy I got a chance to try it before the place closed — and that Akuto and Montgomery shared the recipe with NYT Cooking, so we can still make it for ourselves. Don’t be intimidated by the number of steps — it’s really about getting the jammy-centered and hard-boiled eggs right.
Yields 4 sandwiches
Ice cubes, for ice baths
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon Kewpie mayonnaise, plus more for spreading on bread
1 tablespoon crème fraîche
1 ½ teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons Dijon mustard, plus more for spreading on bread
Kosher salt
12 large eggs
Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
8 slices milk bread, brioche or white sandwich bread
Make Yourself a Sandwich
Step 1: Fill a large pot with water, leaving a few inches of space at the top, and bring to a boil over high. Prepare 2 ice baths in 2 medium bowls.
Step 2: Prepare the dressing: In a small bowl, stir together the scallion, mayonnaise, crème fraîche, vinegar and mustard. Season to taste with kosher salt.
Step 3: Once the water reaches a boil, gently drop in all 12 eggs and let the water come back to a boil. As soon as it does so, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook the eggs at a gentle simmer, 8 minutes. Transfer 6 soft-boiled eggs to one ice bath. Continue to cook the remaining 6 eggs until hard-boiled, another 6 minutes, then transfer them to the second ice bath. Let sit, 5 minutes. Crack all cooked egg shells by gently hitting them all over with the back of a spoon.
Step 4: Working directly in the bowl, peel the hard-boiled eggs, keeping them partly immersed (the water helps loosen the shells). Transfer the hard-boiled eggs to a cutting board and chop them into ¼-inch pieces. Gently fold the chopped eggs into the egg salad dressing using a rubber spatula. Season to taste with kosher salt.
Step 5: Working directly in the second bowl, carefully peel the soft-boiled eggs. Transfer the peeled eggs to the cutting board and slice them in half lengthwise. The yolks should be creamy but not runny. If the yolks are runny, make another batch of soft-boiled eggs. (You’ll only need 1 soft-boiled egg per sandwich, so snack on any extra or imperfectly peeled pieces with some flaky sea salt, if desired.)
Step 6: Slather mustard on 1 side of 4 bread slices and mayonnaise on 1 side of the remaining 4 bread slices. Sprinkle flaky sea salt on the halved soft-boiled eggs. Arrange 2 halves down the center of each slice of mustard-slathered bread, laying them yolk side down, and positioning them so the narrower tips point outward toward the crust of the bread and the wider, rounder portions (with the yolks) are in the middle of the bread. Place both halves close enough so that they touch in the center of the bread.
Step 7: Divide the egg salad among the sandwiches, gently plopping ½-cup scoops of egg salad on top of each pair of soft-boiled eggs on each of the 4 bread slices. Using an offset spatula, spread the egg salad evenly toward the crusts in all directions until bread is covered.
Top with the remaining slices of bread, mayonnaise side down. Using a serrated knife, carefully slice the crusts off on the left and the right sides of each sandwich. (These should be the 2 sides that are parallel to the soft-boiled eggs.)
Step 8: Rotate each sandwich 90 degrees and cut each sandwich into thirds, cutting parallel to the crust sides of the sandwiches, creating a beautiful exposed cross section.
Tuck a napkin in your collar or lap, remind yourself that your NO is a complete sentence, as Ali says — and enjoy this delicious sandwich, which you made for yourself!
Last Licks
I’m healing my heart right now, with a lot of help from friends; I’m in Idyllwild with friends at a cabin right now as I write this, in fact. (Thank you Kate, Erin, Laura and the gang!!) I’m also listening to lots of breakup playlists and podcasts, and watching breakup movies. And whoo boy, did Nora Ephron ever knock it out of the park with her big breakup movie! Have you ever seen Heartburn? It’s based on her novel of the same name, about Ephron’s marriage and divorce from famed journalist Carl Bernstein. It stars Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson. It’s so good, and it was just what the doctor ordered. If you’re going through a big breakup, maybe you’ll find Heartburn as satisfying as I did.
Anyhow, that’s it for this week, friends. I’m going to eat some mushrooms and go on a hike in the woods now. Thank you so much for being here. It means the world to me. More soon! MJ ❤️