Sparking joy, legal style

Every once in a while, when reading a boring legal decision, you come across a judge (or his or her clerk) who decides to spice things up a bit. In fact, I have a colleague who published a book called Judges Say the Darndest Things in which he collected some of the more colorful excerpts from legal opinions. I recently came across a particularly boring decision in a case brought by a company's shareholders against the company's directors claiming that they intentionally devalued the company's stock, thereby injuring both the company and its shareholders, including the plaintiffs who filed the action. That's about as dry as it gets. But the judge was frustrated by the excessive number of pleadings and motions that had been filed in the case, so she decided to take a cue from Marie Kondo and spark some joy (or what passes for the legal equivalent of joy, anyway) by doing some decluttering:

     In 2019, Netflix released a television series featuring Marie Kondo, a Japanese home organization professional and bestselling author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. In the series based on her bestseller, Kondo shows her acclaimed organizational method in action and provides viewers with tips on how to implement it in their homes and lives. And the series spawned a new viral verb phrase: “spark joy.” As the cornerstone of Kondo's method, the phrase helps viewers and readers decide whether to keep an object in their lives. If, when a person picks up the object, it does not “spark joy” in the person, the person should discard the object.

     The current organization of this case—with its two operative complaints, two motions to dismiss, a motion to abstain, a motion to strike, and a motion to stay discovery—does not “spark joy” or clarity of legal issues. As such—and more precisely for the legal reasons discussed below—the court will discard these motions and pleadings in their current state in an attempt to declutter this case and to bring clarity and organization as the case moves forward.

Trondheim Capital Partners, LP v. Life Ins. Co. of Alabama, No. 4:19-CV-1413-KOB, 2020 WL 7223375, at *1 (N.D. Ala. Dec. 8, 2020) (footnotes omitted). I don't think it's a particularly good fit with what Marie Kondo is about, and reading the rest of the opinion is certainly not an exercise in joy sparkage, but "E" for effort, anyway.

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A while back, Dylan told me I need more sauces on UaKS. He didn't say what for, so I was left to my own devices. I've auditioned a few candidates, so far without great results. Until today. This one from Meera Sodha was a big hit with a dish to be debuted in the next episode (nothing like a good cliffhanger!), but it will also be good with Minimalist Salmon Tacos and Trader Joe's Beef-less Tacos, among other things. I've added this to the new "Sauces" section of the Recipes page.

Spicy Cashew Sauce

Adapted from Meera Sodha from The Guardian (Apr. 21 2018) and East (2019)

Time: 18 minutes (not including cooling time)

The sauce will have a different character depending on what kind of chile powder you use. The version I made with ground chipotle powder is perfect for tacos. I haven't tried but I'm sure you can substitute a chipotle pepper in adobo sauce for the ground chipotle powder. Sodha says you can also use this sauce for "sandwiches, salad dressings, and most things you could imagine putting a creamy hot sauce over."

300 grams (1¼ cups) water

100 grams (~¾ cup) raw, unsalted cashews or cashew pieces

1 garlic clove, peeled

27 grams (2 tablespoons) sunflower or canola oil

1 teaspoon ground chipotle flakes, hot smoked paprika, or red chile powder such as Kashmiri

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

    1. Place the water and cashews in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, then adjust the heat to maintain a steady simmer (medium-low did the job for me). Simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the garlic, and leave to cool to room temperature.

    2. Pour the cooled water, cashews, and garlic into a blender—the small cup of a bullet-style blender works great for this job, but a regular blender is fine, and a mini food-processor may work too. Add the oil, chile powder, and salt. Blend until smooth.

    3. Transfer to a 12-ounce or larger squeeze bottle or jar (use a funnel if you have one). Sodha says you can store this in the fridge for up to 1 week, but I think it should last longer than that. The recipe makes about 1½ cups, so if you can't use that much in a week or two, you may want to halve the quantities.