Pancetta Success

With everything else going on I did manage to find time to finish up the pancetta I started a while ago. After its week long cure I washed and dried it and then gave the meat side a healthy dose of coarsely ground black pepper. I then rolled it and tied it tightly and hung it in the basement for a couple of weeks to dry a bit. Today I sliced it into quarter pound pieces and wrapped it in parchment for freezing in plastic zip bags. I must say it turned out just beautifully. As you can see from the picture it is a nice deep red and just right as far as dryness goes. I will make a nice pasta sauce(Carbonara with Carmen and Kelly's fresh eggs) with some tonight. Another step in the quest to master charcuterie. Thank you Mark Ruhlman for the book and guidance. BTW the bacon turned out brilliant as well but I am especially proud of the pancetta. I now have to decide what curing adventure to tackle next. I'm leaning toward a traditional pepperoni but I am not terribly impressed with the stuffing capability of the KitchenAid sausage attachment as it took much time and effort to stuff the 5 pounds of Italian sausage we made the other week. We actually haven't eaten any of it yet since Madam didn't think a spicy Italian sausage meal the night before surgery was the best of ideas.

MIA

Yes I know I am MIA. Worked the weekend...closed Saturday night and then opened Sunday morning and closed again tonight. Tonight was the first night of our 'spring/summer' hours and we open at 6am and close at 10p instead of the regular 7a to 9p. I had two customers between 9 and 10. Don't forget that I am also helping Madam return to normal after her knee replacement last Monday. She is making good progress but I still have to pull her load for a while which means laundry, dishes, making beds, cooking, shopping and all the rest.
I have been trying to keep up with the news out of Japan. I have quite a few friends there and I have no word from them. Worry!
Did find time to go out this morning and get a new phone. I had a Samsung Impression which I hated. Horrible funtionality and the touch screen was a mess. No subtlety, no resolution ...nothing. The final straw was over the weekend when we "sprang forward" the damn thing  "sprang forward" all my calendar entries by an hour. IF I relied on the phone alone for getting me to work on time  I would have been screwed.
My new phone is the HTC Inspire 4G with the Android 2.2 opsys. It has so much functionality that I will be months learning it all.
That's all for tonight and I am off tomorrow...Hooray. Sleepy time.

Earthquakes and Tsunami

Serious goings on in Japan. Evidently this is one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded and it has done some massive damage. Positive energy to all involved. Tsunami's have struck the Hawaiian Islands but no major damage is reported and the West Coast is bracing for the same. If you haven't experienced Japan it is hard to visualize the density in which people live and work and such disasters are really amplified by the number of people affected. I can imagine the confusion.

Candle...both Ends

Madam's surgery went OK on Monday and as of this afternoon she seems to be doing as well as can be expected with her new right knee. I spent the morning at the hospital and then the afternoon and evening at work. Minimonk took over at the hospital. Madam comes home tomorrow and Minimonk will do the honors there as well since I, once again, have to work(and yes I feel guilty about shoving this off on Minimonk but if I don't work I don't get paid and I am too new to have any sick or vacation time accrued). I'll be off the rest of the week and can do the nursing, at least until Saturday afternoon and then we'll have to figure it out.
Anyhow, working late and getting up early to get to the hospital and then working has me a little tired and a glass or two of wine will have me bedded down in short order and since Madam returns tomorrow I will have to spend extra time tomorrow morning before going to the hospital and then to work to get the bed made and everything titivated so she won't return to a messy house. Madam is a meticulous housekeeper and expects it to be properly maintained in her absence. I, on the other hand, am my mother's son and while I don't leave dirty clothes laying about and hang up my towels and do my dishes, I don't mind a little clutter which is not acceptable.
To top all this off...I didn't have the time to make me a (lunch/dinner) for work and I went and had a Wendy's burger for dinner(Wendy's shares the parking lot of my employer). Yes, it is bad food but as far as I can tell it is better than the other options immediately available which are the ubiquitous MickeyD's and Taco Bell. I said a little prayer to the Goddess for the suffering of the steer in the CAFO and pretended the the lettuce, onion and tomato were organic. There was no irrational option for the bun as the Goddess laughed and scrunched her nose and there was no way anyone could be convinced that the bun had any redeeming value whatsoever. Hey, the fries had the skin on and were seasoned with what was professed to be sea salt. I forbade my brain to acknowledge the fact that non organic potatoes are in the top ten for pesticide residues.

Tax Breaks For The Wealthy Versus the Poor and Middle Class

Donna Cooper has an interesting post over at American Progress that compares the tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations to the proposed GOP cuts to the "safety net" non security programs in its budget. The oligarchy has made putting their special tax breaks such as deducting interest paid on vacation homes, estate taxes and the like off limits when it comes to dealing with some of our deficit spending. All these tax breaks should be on the table since tax breaks take a huge chunk out of Federal tax revenue. There are two sides to balancing a budget, revenue and spending.

Nearing A Breaking Point

The following is not from some liberal or progressive rag but from, Marketwatch, and you should really read the whole thing. Just remember to keep reminding yourself that this is not from the Socialist Workers Daily.Remember also that in addition to these issues we have the reality of high unemployment, rising food insecurity, rising housing insecurity, worsening health care availability, continuing attacks on virtually all the safety nets a socialized society needs and less and less optimism for a chance at even a reasonable middle class life.

Yes, the rich live in a different world. And no, information won’t change them. But a revolution will. Revolutions build slowly over a long time. Then, suddenly, a critical mass, a flash point, something totally unexpected ignites the ticking bomb.
It happened recently in a remote Tunisian village. Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old college graduate, unable to pay bribes, set himself on fire to protest police confiscation of his unlicensed vegetable cart. That triggered a revolution. And his death rapidly led to the collapse of a 24-year dictatorship.
Today we have four hot time bombs, tick-ticking, soon to make history; any one can easily accelerate the revolution that’s already killing Wall Street from within.

1. Wealth gap: Super-Rich vs class wars, death of democracy

The gap: In one generation, America’s wealthiest 1% has exploded from 9% to 23% of America’s income, while middle-class income has stagnated. Even Buffett admits: “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and winning.”
But my rich friend tells the real story, of their social disconnect. The rich just don’t care. They live in a different world, live by a self-centered code lacking a moral compass. The public welfare is honored only if supported by tax benefits.
The wealth gap is widening and soon something unpredictable will ignite a Wall Street revolution.

2. Wall Street’s doomsday capitalism vs rule by anarchy

A key Supreme Court decision accelerated and codified Wall Street’s ability to use billions stolen from taxpayers to lobby Washington and solidify its power, all for its own self-interest, through campaign payola, senators’ votes, presidential access, manipulation of regulators, grabbing tax benefits, etc. And it’s every man and woman for themselves.
Don’t believe it? Know this, democracy is dead and you’re in denial. Wall Street CEOs and Forbes 400 billionaires are either engaged in a secret conspiracy, or a classic anarchy picking apart America, oblivious of the fact they are setting up the next big revolution.

3. Pentagon’s perpetual war machine vs America’s budget time bomb

The mathematics of our $75 trillion Social Security and Medicare deficits often seem insurmountable, but can be recalibrated. However, the war-loving mindset of America’s neocons — fueled by China’s military actions, the insatiable expansion of our military spending and a Pentagon prediction that global population growth — is putting more and more pressure on the world’s scarce resources, and will, in turn, increase global wars and the demand for more war spending, increasing the risk of sudden revolutions everywhere.

4. Global population explosion vs resources, jobs, better lifestyles

As the world population explodes from 7 billion to 10 billion in the next generation, the demand for more jobs and the pressure on scarce resources will increase, while expectations will fall as the ratio of haves to have-nots increases, making the world all around Wall Street a burning powder keg setting up a revolution.
Bottom line: Forget jailing Wall Street’s dictators. It’s naïve and too late. We missed that opportunity. But a revolution will do the trick, give us a second chance to jail the crooks.
Until then, remember, these four factors are building to a head, merging into a critical mass that will accelerate into a revolution and destroy Wall Street from within: The widening wealth gap, capitalism’s new rule-by-anarchy, the high cost of feeding the Pentagon’s costly war machine, and the huge global population explosion.

H/T Susie

Thwarted - Partially

Today my first attempt at homemade bacon and pancetta is supposed to come to fruition. The pork bellies have cured in the their respective cures for a week. The bacon needs to be smoked but it is raining so I am just going to have to wash off the cure and keep it chilled until the first clear day I'm not working. The pancetta however will be hung to dry for a couple of weeks today. It will be washed of cure, peppered and tightly rolled and tied and hung in the basement to dry a bit. I will try some "undried" today however just to understand and know what it tastes like right out of the cure. Just a simple dish of pasta with bacon, garlic and onion. I'll take a couple of pictures a bit later after I get it all done.

As a side note I am also off to find a meat grinding attachment for my big Kitchen Aid today. I'll try Bad Breath and Beyond first before I travel all the way to Cook's Warehouse and let's hope I don't wind up having to buy it at Williams-Sonoma. I need a meat grinder for my attempt at pepperoni and dry salami but I don't want to spend a fortune. Ideally I would like a grinder and a separate sausage stuffer but I think budget constraints will limit me to a combo deal.

Wear Nice Underwear

You need to start paying more attention to your underwear

Giving Transportation Security Administration agents a peek under your clothes may soon be a practice that goes well beyond airport checkpoints. Newly uncovered documents show that as early as 2006, the Department of Homeland Security has been planning pilot programs to deploy mobile scanning units that can be set up at public events and in train stations, along with mobile x-ray vans capable of scanning pedestrians on city streets.

The non-profit Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) on Wednesday published documents it obtained from the Department of Homeland Security showing that from 2006 to 2008 the agency planned a study of of new anti-terrorism technologies that EPIC believes raise serious privacy concerns. The projects range from what the DHS describes as “a walk through x-ray screening system that could be deployed at entrances to special events or other points of interest” to “covert inspection of moving subjects” employing the same backscatter imaging technology currently used in American airports.

Working, Working

I know I have been scarce around these parts but I've worked 7 days straight. I thought I had off until Sunday but they just called me to work tomorrow for 6 hours. I guess I should be glad for the hours but I am losing ground on my home stuff.
Madam decided to clean the oven a couple of days ago with the self clean feature...it's clean but it won't unlock. Been through all the possible fixes like turning off the breaker for 15 minutes and allowing it to reset but all it continues to say is "Unlocking the door" She only cleaned the top oven but since both ovens share the same controls it means the bottom oven is kaput as well. No baking around here until next week at best which is the first available time for a repair guy. I'm going to have to buy 'store bread'.
All the tomatoes have sprouted in the greenhouse so we are on a way to spring. Peppers are not showing yet but they are always slow to get going. I used last years seeds for the cabbage and broccoli and got almost no germination and I am still waiting for more seeds from Parks.
Madam goes for her knee replacement surgery on Monday so I will be sharing the nursing chores with Minimonk next week. Just a partial replacement but the recovery is supposed to be tough.
Lots of catching up to do with everything. I try and get a glance at the paper and hit the high spots on the web but it really takes a few hours a day to get a good handle on everything. I'm resting today mostly so I may have more to say on things in a bit.

It's A Small Effort But Really Stupid

What's new for the GOP? Since Nancy Pelosi was the prime mover behind an effort to make the Capitol a little greener, John Boehner has decided the place must go back to styrofoam cups and containers. No, it's true and while it is obviously a cheap shot at Nancy Pelosi's efforts to make the House greener I'll guarantee it is also a payoff to one of his big contributors. To hell with the environment, what's the problem with chemicals leaching into people's coffee? John Boehner has an important donor to pay back and he gets to snub Pelosi in the bargain. Gotta love it.

We Have Pork Belly

I managed to score two nice 4# pork bellies at Whole Foods today and the bonus is that they are locally grown. They said that they don't always have it available but I timed it just right it seems. According to Sausagemaker.com my curing salt should arrive today via UPS so I should be in the bacon and pancetta business by this evening. The price is right as well. Fresh, locally grown pork belly was $1.99 a pound. Check out the price of artisan cured bacon sometime. I'll need less than a dollar's worth of Kosher salt and pink salt(sodium nitrite) plus some sugar and a week of waiting and I'll have bacon... a little longer for the pancetta which will have to be air dried after curing. A new culinary adventure begins and if all goes well with this trial I'll invest in some Berkshire pork belly which is also available locally from a few growers. It takes so little to get me excited.
Now it is out to plow a bit of garden for the potatoes and peas. It's playing in the dirt time!

Divide And Conquer

In case you haven't figured it out, let let me share a little secret. This latest effort to destroy the public service unions is just a distraction. The oligarchy has done its job on us...the non union, non public service worker. Our wages have stagnated, we have no retirement or pension, we have no health care. The wealthy have more of the wealth and we are worse off than we were 20 years ago...and the outlook is not good either. Not so with the union protected public service worker. They still have pensions (though somewhat miserly), they have health care, they still make a fair wage but not the outrageous amounts being reported. The public service folks are the last bastion of middle class folks with some prospect of a retirement without cat food on the the table.
The oligarchy has decided that as long as we can be distracted by pointing out that the public service folks have it somewhat better than we do(and Goddess forbid on our tax money), we'll focus our wrath on them (or is it jealousy?). If the oligarchs can keep us focused on how less screwed those public servants are than we are, we won't have the time or energy to focus on what's really happening and that is the wealthiest few percent of the country are taking it all and the rest of us can just suck it up. We are being repeatedly and deeply screwed and the best way to distract us is to point to someone who is less frequently and not as deeply raped as we are especially since they are being less screwed on the taxpayer's dime.
You can point out all the other facets of this you want, but this is root.

Fight among yourselves rabble for what bits of food and security you can find and don't bother us.

Still Good

Miscellaneous stuff.

Weather still holding beautiful. More work done in the yard and all the rest of the seeds in flats. Got all the crepe myrtle trimmed back but I was getting tired and the fallen limbs will have to wait until tomorrow since I have to work again this evening and I don't want to go in dog tired. I got two new 4x4 beds put in next to the greenhouse yesterday and now I just need to get some soil to fill them. Probably going to be an herb bed and a rhubarb and horseradish bed.

Everybody keep good thoughts going out to the Kiwi's. Christchurch got hit by a bad earthquake and we need to send some good energy that way. Looks like a bad one. Bryan has more details.

Libya going to worse from bad. People dying. Military pilots defecting rather than bombing their fellow citizens. No real information coming out but all indications are that Qadaffi is in serious trouble. It is long past time for him to go.

Mini revolts here in Wisconsin and Indiana. The GOP attack on unions is creating some major hate and discontent and it seems both governors underestimated public support for the right of people to have unions to protect them from the oligarchy. This could be the beginning of something bigger.

All in all not a lot of great news out there.

Glorius Day

Going to be a fabulous day. Seventy degrees and sunny...a great day for getting out and gardening...too bad I have to work but if I am lucky I will be outside in the garden center. Got the garlic planted yesterday and the greenhouse cleaned and straightened for the next pile of seed flats. Harvested some spinach and chard from the greenhouse and pulled a few overwintering leeks which made for a nice little tart when added to a few of Carmen and Kelly's eggs from down the street. Thank you ladies and your chickens too!

Off to work for me, but you guys that have it, enjoy the springlike day.

Great flocks of large birds (sandhill cranes??) overhead yesterday headed North. What an inspiring spectacle!

Seeds Are Started

Though somewhat delayed by the circumstances of life, I got the first of my spring seeds started yesterday. I'll get some more done this morning before I head off to work the afternoon/evening shift. So far only broccoli, cabbage and chard are started but I will get the tomatoes, peppers, okra, eggplant and other stuff going in the next few days. It is always and exciting time for me. It just fascinates and thrills me when I take those tiny, tiny and apparently lifeless seeds and merely put them in moist earth and they respond by bursting forth with a promise of good food later on. I planted leeks a few weeks ago and they are up nicely and will soon need to be transplanted into individual little pots before going out to the garden. If it stays dry until the weekend(which is forecast) I should be able to get the small raised bed tilled and the garlic in. I look forward to this time of year every year. I renews my being when I can get to playing in the dirt and growing things. The seed potatoes and peas are waiting too and they may get to see dirt this weekend as well. Oh Joy!

New Fun In the Kitchen

All you regulars know that I like to cook and learn new 'food things'. I've shared my adventures in bread baking, cheese and butter making, homemade pickles, kraut and all that. The thing is that once you start making your own mozzarella and ricotta(the easiest cheese in the world to make) the store bought stuff just pales. My latest adventure is to learn charcuterie(the craft of curing, smoking and preserving meats). I just received my copy of Michael Ruhlman's  Charcuterie and I am off and experimenting. I'll start off slow with making bacon and pancetta but I intend to go the whole route including dry cured sausages. The challenge is going to be finding a local source for the meats such as pork bellies and back fat. The book has Internet resources for the supplies such as nitrites and nitrates and bacterial cultures and casings but the high quality meat required is going to be tough. We have one artisan charcuterier here in Atlanta the Pine Street Market but I want to be able to do it myself. I love bacon, pancetta, dry sausage, summer sausage and all that so it is a natural next step in becoming as self sufficient as possible. This time next year I expect to have at least one home cured ham hanging in the basement. Stay tuned.

A Week to Remember

I mentioned that Madam was ill for our trip home but I came down with the same stomach virus Saturday. I managed an hour at work and then had to come home. I didn't make it home without a mess however. The nausea was short lived but the virus put me down until this afternoon. I've managed a bowl of Cream of Wheat, a soft boiled egg and a couple of cups of chicken broth over the weekend. The gallons of water consumed over the weekend went through me like a "June Bug through a duck" and its left me a bit fragile but  I think I am well enough to head back to work tomorrow however, as I am recovering quickly. Madam is still rather punk.
We both must have picked up the virus from the nursing home when we went to pick up Mom's things. The place was quarantined and the staff brought everything to the lobby but I am convinced that is where we were infected even though we were careful. It is surely the same virus that sent Mom into the death spiral. Stomach flu, dehydration, bronchitis, pneumonia. From its effect on me, an otherwise healthy 6'2" 250 pound man, I can see what it might do to fragile 82 year old and 3 other 'inmates' including Mom's roommate passed away in the last week.
Feeling almost human and had a bowl of somen noodles with broth for dinner. I think I will live.
We'll be back when we have more time to chat and no it wasn't much of a Hallmark Day for Madam and I.

Thanks For Your Thoughts

I'm back home (Friday night). Thanks to all of you for your sympathies and they are much appreciated. The three of us sons made it home and between the three of us the arrangements weren't too difficult. The small and only funeral service in the town has known the family for many, many years. They buried my grandmother and grandfather, uncle, father and now my mother. Madam Monk was there to do the clothes, pick the music and write the obituary. It all went quite well, in spite of the cold temperatures and the snow the night before. If you are interested the obituary can be found here.

I'm exhausted, what with the drive and stress and I will need a couple of days to recover though I work the weekend and both are the early shifts. Arrgh!Madam has caught a nasty bug and is down hard. She managed the drive back without crisis somehow but she is now crashed.

Thanks again for the support and good vibes. She was a strong woman (which you will see if you read the obituary) and spent a lot of her life in service to others. She and Dad did a great job with us three boys and I just hope I told her often enough how grateful I was for everything she did for us.

Another milestone in life crossed and I am now the patriarch of the family.

P.S. and yes the obituary reveals my secret identity(well at least secret to some of you) but them's the breaks.
The picture is mom and dad on their wedding day 10-17-1947.

Sad News

Sorry for being missing but I am in Virginia arranging for my mother's funeral. She fell ill with pneumonia on Friday, was moved from the nursing home to a hospital on Saturday and passed on Monday at noon. We'll  be back sometime next weekend. Thanks for your thoughts.

Nothing Good Will Come Out of Egypt

I haven't waded in on the mess in Egypt. If you have visited here over the years you know how I feel about U.S. support for Israel (we should have cut them off years and years ago) and I feel exactly the same about our aid to Egypt. We have a long history of supporting oppressive dictatorships all over the world and especially in the Middle East. Juan Cole expresses my views completely. We continually make the the wrong choices on Israel and Egypt and all the rest. Don't forget Ortega, Saddam Hussein, and the Shah of Iran, just to name a few.

Here is another view from Foreign Policy that basically says the same.

St. Brigid's Day

Today we celebrate Imbolc,or St Brigid’s Day. In Scottish it's Là Fhèill Brìghde and in Irish Lá Fhéile Bríde, it is an Irish festival marking the beginning of spring. Most commonly it is celebrated on February 1 or 2 which falls halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox  here in the northern hemisphere. Traditionally it is the day when the ewes begin to lactate in readiness for the coming of the spring lambs. It is one of the 8 holy days of Wicca. This is a day when you should reinforce and cherish your connection to the earth and your land. It is a good time to begin your preparations for spring with the planting of seeds that will be transplanted a bit later after the danger of frost is past.

I am going to be a bit late this year since one, I have to work today and two my seeds haven't arrived. I have some saved seeds that I will get to on Thursday but I have, at least, gotten my rhubarb and horseradish starts in the dirt.

Go out into your yard(or a park) today and reaffirm your connection to the earth and express your thanks for its place in your life. Thank the universe for the coming of another spring.

Blessed Be.

Win The Future Eh?

It's a great slogan...well other than the fact the it contracts to WTF. As much as I'd like to believe that we have the wherewithal to actually take a shot at the future I am sorely disabused of the idea that we have the spit to do it. The reality is that we have moved all of the foundation of greatness overseas. Its in China and India now. Yeah, I know we still have good schools and some high tech invention stuff and all that, and that's great. The thing is we can't do the small shit any more. For instance, we can't make our own shoes or clothes. Fully 95% or more of it comes from China or somewhere. I dare you to find some "Made in the U.S.A" clothes or shoes. (truth be told New Balance still has one or two shoe lines made here.). We also don't make our own tools. In my part time job I sell tools and nothing is made in the U.S. and that includes DeWalt and Milwaukee. Every screwdriver, screw, saw, knife, chisel, bolt, blade, and tool pouch is made in China, as well as every light fixture, ceiling fan, electrical switch, receptacle, shovel, hoe, pitchfork, rake and pretty much everything else you find at your local DIY store.

In the Wal-Mart driven world we live in today there ain't nothing, to speak of, "Made in the U.S.A." and that is the fundamental problem. Have you noticed how many products today have "Distributed by" instead of "Made by"? There is a reason and that is because we don't make it here anymore. I know that we no longer manufacture vitamins and other food supplements here in the U.S....all of it comes from China. I wouldn't be surprised to find that all the toothpaste, shampoo, soap, and Goddess knows what else comes from there as well and is just distributed by P&G, Kraft, General Foods and the rest. Who knows, because you sure as hell can't tell from the labels on anything....it all says 'distributed by'. Just check your next load of groceries and see what I mean.

To get back to the point...I just wonder if we have the spit to 'win the future'. We have been wedded to cheap crap from overseas for so long do we even care? We have been convinced that a box of chemicals is food and most are perfectly happy with a plastic frozen pizza or a Hungry Man dinner. Not a positive indicator for the future. Jeebus, when Jamie Olive showed a potato and several other fresh vegetables to school kids in West Virginia none of them recognized or could name them!

If you want even more proof that we are too lazy/stupid/poisoned/drugged to 'win the future' just consider that a large portion of our fellow citizens actually pay attention when someone as butt ugly stupid as Sarah Palin opens her pie hole. That alone should tell you that we are probably doomed and I won't even bother to mention most of the elected Republican party.

Seeds and More Seeds

The first batch of seeds are now on order. It is always a trial to decide which of the hundreds of varieties and I always tend to fail on the extra choice side which means I order more than I will probably actually need. The thing is if you want just a couple of plants of a certain variety you still have to order a packet of 50 or a 100 seeds. The good thing is that if you keep them carefully they will last for a couple of years.
It is always a pleasure to scour all the seed catalogs but a trial to narrow down your order to something reasonable since they all look so good. I got away this year with less than $200 but only because I kept seed from last year and saved the heirloom ones.
I've still to order my heirloom seeds from Seed Savers but that will happen tomorrow just as soon as I can narrow down my order to something sane. I want to grow everything, especially all the heirloom beans but I have to restrict myself to just a half dozen or so.

Spring Is Coming

It's warmed a bit today and I've got spring fever and have the itch to plant something. I've been looking through seed catalogs and am just about ready to make the big winter order. As luck would have it I just came back from Home Depot where I needed a small submersible pump for the greenhouse and while there I took a stroll through the garden department. Lo and behold they had starts for both horseradish and rhubarb. I have been looking for both as they are two things I don't have growing in the home garden. I'll get them started in pots in the greenhouse today as it is too early for them to go outside and that way they will be ahead of the curve come proper spring. I'll get some dirt under my fingernails today after all. When the harvest comes we'll all have a nice rhubarb pie.

I also stopped by Pike Nursery on the way home and found some organic leek seed which needs to be started now as well. I've still got leeks growing in the garden in spite of the horrible freezing weather and snow. The outer leaves are a little worse for wear but the freezing hasn't hurt the inside and if anything I think the cold has made them sweeter than normal. They will be, of course, one of the key ingredients in my cock-a-leekie soup in honor of good old Robbie Burns tomorrow night. And yes, there is a wee dram in the forecast.


Off to play in the dirt.

Cock-a-Leekie Soup

Seeing as how it is almost Burn's night (January 25th) and as how I haven't posted a recipe in a while I thought I would share one for cock-a-leekie soup. This is a traditional Scottish soup that is often included as the starter for a Burn's night supper. It's a very simple recipe and this is just one of probably thousands and some even including prunes. I think this simple preparation works best as a starter. It's not too heavy and you need to save room for the haggis(great chieftain o' the puddin' clan) and the bashed neeps and tatties.

The traditional method involves the slow simmering of a whole chicken but a cup up chicken will do the trick as well... you just want to be sure you have both white and dark meat.

Ingredients

1 pound or so of chicken breasts and thighs, skinned
4 cups chicken stock,
2 bay leaves
2 oz. or 1/3 cup long grain rice,
2 medium leeks, thinly sliced (using only the white a light green parts)
2 carrots, coarsely grated
1 pinch ground cloves,
1 tbsp chopped parsley
coarsely ground black pepper to taste
1 tsp fine sea salt or to taste (depends on how salty your broth is...taste it)

Process

Place the chicken in a pan with the stock and bay leaves. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.

Skim the surface of the soup and discard any scum that has formed. Add the vegetables, rice, cloves, and salt, bring back to the boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for another 30 minutes.

Remove the bay leaves and discard. While not absolutely necessary I like to remove the chicken, remove the meat from the bones and return the meat to the soup as it makes it a little nicer to eat.

This will make 4 nice bowls of soup.

Wally World's New "Healthy Food' Initiative

On the surface this is all apparently a move in the right direction. Wal-Mart is the biggest food store by a factor of two in the nation. One should never forget however that Wal-Mart is in business to make money. They are not a social service agency.

Marion Nestle tackles some of the issues and questions surrounding this new deal from Wal-Mart and she touches on some things that I think we need to keep in mind as we see this go forward.

We are still talking about mostly processed foods and highly processed foods with slightly less salt and sugar are still questionable food choices.

Two, lowering prices on produce can impact small farmers. Wal-Mart is famous for using their clout to drive companies out of business. We need to insure there is some balance here.

Lastly, no one is talking about Wal-Mart's nearly criminal low wages and working conditions and how these practices drive a lot of poorer people to make necessarily poor food choices.

GOP Belt Tightening

We are now seeing how GOP belt tightening will go. but basically, if it has anything  to do with arts, culture, public transit, infrastructure or the environment..its toast but Goddess forbid we touch defense spending.

The Republican Study Committee proposal would cut fiscal 2011 spending back to 2008 levels, which would save $80 billion, and push spending in fiscal 2012-2021 even lower, to fiscal 2006 levels, which would save $2.29 trillion, according to a summary. The proposal would strike funding for specific government programs, including the following:

• Corporation for Public Broadcasting subsidy: $445 million a year.
• National Endowment for the Arts: $167.5 million a year.
• Amtrak Subsidies: $1.565 billion a year.
• Community Development Block Grants Fund: $4.5 billion a year.
• New Starts Transit: $2 billion a year.
• Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants: $2.5 billion a year.
• Title X Family Planning: $318 million a year.
• Applied Research at Department of Energy: $1.27 billion a year.
• U.S. Agency for International Development: $1.39 billion a year.

Hobbit Marathon

I have mentioned the new BluRay disk player I got myself for Christmas. Pretty slick. It is an internet enabled model (Panasonic) and I have it hooked up to the wireless in the house so I have already watched some Netflix movies  via the tubes. It came with a one month free trial. My first impression is that there are really too few movies to select from that are accessible via the internet...I estimate only 1 in 10 movies available from Netflix are available so I am going to have to think about the monthly charge but it is only $8 or so.

Anyhow, I rented the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy on BluRay yesterday so it is going to be a marathon to get them viewed before they have to go back on Saturday. Believe it or not I have never seen any of the movies so I am looking forward to it. I did read the trilogy many years ago. I have, however, had a pint in Tolkien's favorite booth at the Eagle&Child pub in Oxford so that is something I guess.

I Like Covers

I have been seeing ads on the idiot box for the Tempurpedic mattress. I might consider it but I like to sleep with covers. I also don't normally drink wine in bed especially while Madam jumps up and down so I guess it is out.

Over The Edge

I'm come to the conclusion that it might be best for all concerned if we just went ahead and collapsed as a country. I mean let it all go. Why all this creeping slowly to the precipice? Get it over with. Screw the debt ceiling, let the bankers and wealthy have all the money, let the corporations that grow our food run amok and just get along with poisoning us all. Repeal the affordable care act, don't fund the new food safety laws, quit funding education and and all this 'socialist' welfare like food stamps and unemployment.  We might as make it a law that everyone has to own a gun as well.

I am, of course, being facetious but seriously... maybe if it got bad enough. If folks were going to door(at least to those people who still have doors) begging for food or a blanket to keep warm. If friends were suffering or even dying for lack of medical care. If you had to fight or threaten others to get food. The worst of the worst you can imagine is happening maybe people would wake up and pay attention to what IS happening. It's like the old joke about working with mules. First you have to whack them over the head with a two by four to get their attention before you can proceed to get anything done.

I'm just watching this daily slide or slow circulation around the drain and am wondering how bad it has to get before people wake up to the reality. Right now the GOP is wasting money and time voting to repeal the not so great but better than nothing Affordable Care Act and are offering nothing (really nothing) in return and in the process are building all their arguments on bald face lies in complete rejection of reality  and all the while knowing it is a waste of time and will go nowhere beyond the House.

Just today Jack Kingston (R-Ga) stated in the AJC that he was seriously doubting that the Congress would fund(1.5 billion dollars) the new Food Safety Modernization Act since America's food supply was 99.9 percent safe and the benefit just wasn't there for a .1% increase in food safety. Believe it or not, he and his staff reached the 99.9% number by taking the number of food related illnesses last year as reported by the CDC and dividing it by the number of meals Americans eat each year. While this is a valid 'statistic' it actually represents you chances of getting sick from your NEXT meal and is not a measure of our food safety. The actual number, as calculated by the CDC and others, is that 1 in 6 people will suffer from a food born illness within the next 12 months and that poor food safety costs us some 150 billion dollars a year. This rube is in charge of funding food safety....think about it.

Yes, all in all, it is probably just time to jump the shark or at least get to the point where people will begin towake to the reality of the crumbling of the American Dream. This waiting for the other shoe to fall is killing me.

I Refuse To Accept

I had to work today so I didn't get a chance to post this this morning. If you have been visiting here for any time you have figured out that I am probably what many call a socialist or at minimum a dirty hippie. What I really am is someone who tries to live a life of peace and love. I have embraced the teachings of the Buddha and to some degree it is because I lived through the struggles of Dr. King to find the way to a better future for all of us.
In celebration of Martin Luther King Day, a portion of his Nobel acceptance speech:

I accept this award today with an abiding faith in America and an audacious faith in the future of mankind. I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history. I refuse to accept the idea that the "isness" of man's present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts him. I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.

I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. I believe that even amid today's mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men. I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land. "And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid." I still believe that We Shall overcome!

Breakfast Heaven

I don't know if you know that you can now buy proper Irish butter in the U.S. I get my Kerry Gold at Trader Joe's since it is the best price I've found. Warning...once you try it you will be spoiled for any other butter. It's a little pricey but oh my how good it is.

Anyhow, a truly scrumptious breakfast treat is homemade bread toasted and smeared with lots of Kerry Gold butter and then topped off with Bonne Maman confit de framboise (raspberry preserves). It really can't get any better than this, especially when accompanied by a nice cup of strong Irish tea. And yes, it's what I had for breakfast along with a couple of sunny side up eggs and locally sourced market bacon. I'm happy.

Supermarket Navigation by Darya Pino

This diagram is all over the Internet. I got it from Marion Nestle at Food Politics. It is is worth sharing as it easily codifies Marion's rules about finding real food in the market. Which are:

• More than five ingredients (too processed)
• An ingredient you can’t pronounce (ditto)
• Anything artificial (ditto)
• A health claim on the front (these are always about marketing, not health)
• A cartoon on the package (it’s being marketed to kids)

The actual designer is Darya Pino (of Summer Tomato):

Hunkered Down

I know it has been quiet around these parts but I have worked a couple of days but otherwise Madam and I have just hunkered down. I did a little cooking...cheese souffle, meatballs, pizza, kept the birds in suet and seed and all of that. We got in quite a few games of Scrabble and watched a few movies. Nothing earth shattering.

Been reading all the stuff about Tuscon, Australia, Brazil and every thing else that seems to going awry. Glad to see the moose princess managed to put just a little more distance between her and any suspicion of intelligence or civility and the President probably made his best speech since taking the White House. Just amazed at the insanity that is evidently running rampant in Arizona where Glock sails have skyrocketed since the tragedy. WTF?

One of my regular customers is Aussie and he has been giving me the inside dope on the flooding. The pictures we are seeing here aren't doing the misery being experienced justice. Bad show all around.

Brazil's tragedy is even worse and expected to get even more so. Thousands missing.

Atlanta is slowly digging out from the winter storm...schools still closed and the roads are still spotty with snow and black ice. If you are careful no problems. It should get into the 40's today and tomorrow and that should help a lot.

Icebound

The weather folks were correct for a change. Lots of snow yesterday(about 6 inches here) plus the freezing rain overnight. I made it to work yesterday morning when it was still just snow on the roads but this morning it is nothing but ice. The arctic air is due this afternoon and we will see the middle teens overnight which makes the possibility of getting to work for my shift tomorrow pretty much nil. Not enough icing to cause power problems but the roads are horrible. I went out to get the paper this morning and the street is glazed over big time. It may be this bad all week if the sub freezing temperatures hold as predicted.

More Winter Weather

The talking heads are saying we will have a pretty good winter storm tomorrow night. That will make two so far this winter and there are a lot of winters we don't get snow at all. According to the TV we might see six inches here north of Atlanta but the bad part is that is is supposed to turn to freezing rain on Monday. The ice is what really sucks. I have to work today, Sunday and Monday and tomorrow and Monday are all early starts. Monday will be the challenge. If there is a lot of snow and ice the ten miles or so to the workplace will be tough. All main surface streets but a couple of nice hills along the way. My Hyundai, with front wheel drive and traction control, is pretty good in the snow but I worry about the idiots that aren't too swift at driving in snow and ice. It's really a zoo here in Atlanta when we get snow.

Third In Line For the Presidency...Think About It

From Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner, asked by NBC's Brian Williams to name a federal program that could be cut:

"I don't think I have one off the top of my head."

This is the guy that is 3rd in line for the presidency! How can a person spend 20 years in Congress, and who has just waged a brutal midterm campaign that focused almost completely on the need to slash government spending, not be able to come up with a single program cut off the top his head? The taxpayers are sure not getting their money's worth out of this clown.

Paging Dr. Freud, Paging Dr. Freud

Rep. Steve King (R) lauds Speaker Boehner's 'mendacity', says it's beyond reproach.

I spit my tea all over my screen. This might be actually 'speaking truth to power'. LOL

h/t TPM

No Surprise Here

While it is the most profitable business in the world making obscene profits daily, it just isn't ever enough. Thanks to our bought and paid for friends in Washington the criminals running BP felt sure there was no down side for them to try and squeeze just a little more money out of the Macondo well.  Recent reports show that we are still at high risk for more such disasters.

Many of the poor decisions taken on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig before the fatal blow-out on 20 April were taken to save time and money.

"Whether purposeful or not, many of the decisions that BP, Halliburton, and Transocean made that increased the risk of the Macondo blowout clearly saved those companies significant time (and money)," the report said.

In a separate chart, it identified nine decisions that increased risk; seven of these saved the companies time. BP was involved in all nine decisions.

BP, which owned the well, did not enforce the proper controls to manage those increased risks, the report said. "BP did not have adequate controls in place to ensure that key decisions in the months leading up to the blow-out were safe or sound from an engineering perspective."

Cabbage Is For More Than Cole Slaw

Now that the Rethugs are back into power and pledging austerity(they are lying of course about shared sacrifice...what they mean is sacrifice for us grunts and none for the wealthy) I thought maybe it would be good time to talk about some more "cheap eats". When you mention cabbage to people they usually think of cole slaw, or corned beef and cabbage or even sauerkraut but they very rarely consider it in other ways. Not that there is anything wrong with any of the above but there are options when looking for something to do with a cabbage.

With a little seasoning you can do a lot with a cabbage and with cabbage we are talking "cheap eats" as you can get a head of cabbage for less than a dollar many times and a head of cabbage can go a long way.
This recipe is for a 'cabbage foundation' that you can take in any number of directions. It's nutritious, filling and tasty and depending on what you add to your 'cabbage foundation' it can be a complete meal. The following is sort of "Indiany" with the turmeric but I'll have some other variations down a little bit later.

For the 'cabbage foundation' you'll need:

a head of cabbage that weighs in at about 3 and a half pounds or so
3 tablespoons of peanut or canola oil (if you only have vegetable oil then use it) and there is always clarified butter.
1 1/2 tsp of whole cumin seeds
1 tsp of ground turmeric
a pinch of two of red pepper flakes (use according to your heat tolerance)

1 tsp kosher salt or to taste

Core and finely chop the cabbage just as you would for a coarse cole slaw...about 1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces.
In a large pot or wok heat the oil the turmeric, cumin seeds and red pepper until you can smell the spices and the oil is hot. Add half the cabbage and stir for about two minutes or until the cabbage starts to wilt a bit. Add the rest of the cabbage and cook for another ten to twenty minutes or until  the edges of the cabbage begin to brown a bit(this depends on how high you have the heat and all). Season with salt and serve.

This is in its simplest(and cheapest form) but you can add to this. To add some additional protein try adding two cups of frozen peas when you add the first cabbage or instead of peas try canned chick peas or other beans (just rinse them first). Another great addition is to add nuts to the hot oil before you add any cabbage and toast them briefly before proceeding. Unsalted cashews, peanuts, pecans, walnuts, almonds, whatever, again about two cups or two handfuls. Adding both beans or peas and nuts of some type will pretty much make this a complete meal. Don't overlook other additions such as raisins or frozen corn. The 'cabbage foundation' is pretty flexible and don't feel like you are stuck with cumin and turmeric either. Other herbs and spices are friendly with cabbage as well. Thyme, oregano, Herbes de Provence are good choices as is chili powder and paprika. The texture and flavor of the cabbage is a good backdrop of any number of things just don't overdo the spices and drown out the cabbage. A teaspoon or at most two when heated with the oil will do a fine job of flavoring a nice pot of cabbage.

Here is a combination worth trying if you are a Mexican food lover. Instead of turmeric use a tsp and a half of good chili powder, keep the cumin seeds and add a tsp of dried oregano...the red pepper flakes are optional here and will depend on your chili powder. Add a cup and a half of pine nuts to the oil with the spices before the first cabbage and cook for a couple of minutes. A can of drained and rinsed pinto beans or black beans  go in with the first cabbage and a handful of raisins with the second batch of cabbage. Another variation would be to use smoked paprika instead of the chili powder. Don't overlook the 'baking section' of your spice cabinet either. Allspice, nutmeg and even cinnamon can add an interesting note to this dish but then we might be talking pecans, walnuts, and dried cranberries. Remember...NO Rules!

Enjoy!

Not So Good On the Bee Front

Via Grist, more really bad news in the bee world, with new findings that "four previously abundant species of bumblebee are close to disappearing in the United States."

If we lose the bees we starve to death....that's a fact!

Not So Fast On That Tofu

Somehow Americans have been convinced that all things "soy" are good for you. That is not actually the case. People also point to the fact that 'soy' is a major part of the Asian diet and has been for centuries but again, that is a little misleading. Most of the soy that Asians eat is fermented as in miso or soy sauce and they actually eat very little of it. Americans however, are consuming it in huge quantities in tofu, soy milk and as TVP and as additives to other foods.

If you have added a lot of 'soy' to your diet I suggest you read the link above. Unfermented soy is very high in 'phytoestrogens' and these are similar enough to human estrogen that the body reacts to them in unwanted ways. This is especially true of children. One study in New Zealand found that infants fed soy milk instead of cow or human milk had seventeen thousand times the estrogen level in their blood than those fed cow or human milk. High levels of estrogen in males suppresses testosterone and can have bad impact on you know what. It has also been found that soy increases the likelihood of Alzheimer’s disease.

It is just something you ought to be aware of. Never overlook the fact that soy beans are a huge agricultural product in the U.S. and as such the purveyors of same have a financial reason to keep us in the dark about how their products affect us.

Floods Down Under

These floods are really unprecedented and unbelievably vast but don't even mention global climate changes.  Oh! and Al Gore is still fat!

Getting The Oil Squeeze

Oil extended a rally above $92 a barrel on Monday, spurred by expectations that a global economic recovery is gathering strength and as market bulls set their sights on $100 a barrel.

U.S. crude was trading 77 cents higher at $92.15 a barrel by 1108 GMT (6:08 a.m. ET), just off a session high of $92.20, its highest since October 2008. It settled at $91.38 on Friday, marking an annual gain of around 15 percent and the highest year-end price since 2007.

Brent was up $1.20 a barrel at $95.95, off an intraday peak of $96.04, also the highest since early October 2008.

This is not boding well for a recovering economy.  Every gas station I passed today had the price of regular at about $3 a gallon. The cheapest was Quik-Trip at $2.949. This continuing run up is going to keep our recovery at 1 - 2% at best and that means no jobs and basically no growth. The prices are being run up by the speculators hoping to make a few bucks off the world's misery before things turn worse but the weakness in the dollar is contributing. Can't say it is very encouraging.

HFCS Again

I've talked here at length about the dangers of consuming High Fructose Corn Syrup. People continue to research it and new findings about how bad the stuff is for humans are almost daily occurrences. Here is an article from Dr. Mercola that summarizes what we know about the bad stuff HFCS can do to you. In spite of the commercials from HFCS producers that it is just like sugar. It is not and too say so is a lie.

Here is the bottom line. The sugar fructose is toxic to humans. Historically humans only consumed maybe 15% of their sugar as fructose, mainly from fruit. That small amount is tolerable. Recent tests have shown that the HFCS in most sodas is actually 65% fructose(not the 55% we were told). Regardless, that is too much fructose for the body to deal with. Fructose is not metabolized like glucose, which when unused passes out of the body. Fructose is solely processed by the liver and unused fructose is stored in the body as fat and not passed out. An extra HFCS soda a day can add 15 pounds to your body weight in a year.

Now the food producers are trying to get the FDA to allow them to call HFCS, corn sugar on their labels. For now the food folks have to tell you that they use HFCS and maybe soon it will be corn sugar but regardless it is easy to avoid if you just read the label. The good news is that some folks in the food industry are taking the dangers of HFCS seriously and have stopped using it and switched back to plain white sugar.

It's Going To Be A Long Year

I don't know of any other way to put it. The GOP controlled house is going to demonstrate how profoundly insane they really are and we, as a nation, are going to be held hostage by them. We are going to have to rely on the sanity of the Administration and that means we are going see and very spectacular unwinding of progressive government in the near term.

It is going to be ugly...Here is Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) made on "Meet the Press " yesterday.
Graham was asked about raising the federal debt limit, and he acknowledged that failure to do so "would be very bad for the position of the United States in the world at large." Graham added, however, that he's nevertheless inclined to play a radical game of chicken, with the economy and the stability of the United States' role in the global financial system hanging in the balance:

"I will not vote for the debt ceiling increase until I see a plan in place that will deal with our long-term debt obligations, starting with Social Security, a real bipartisan effort to make sure that Social Security stays solvent, adjusting the age, looking at means tests for benefits. On the spending side, I'm not going to vote for debt ceiling increase unless we go back to 2008 spending levels, cutting discretionary spending."

"very bad for the position of the United States" he says. He is lying because, regardeless of the the evidence, he is not stupid. He knows that defaulting on our debt would be catastrophic, to say the least, for the world economy and it would make the melt down of 2008 look like a hiccup.

These idiots are going to play chicken with the world economy knowing that President Obama will cave on all their demands rather than see the world economy destroyed on his watch. Very ugly business.

1/1/11

I got nothing to say I just wanted to have that title on the tubes. I'm working tomorrow but off the rest of the week so there actually might be something to read here. I can't say I have good vibes about the coming year or two so we'll play it a day at a time.

An Excuse For Conservative Insanity

I have always felt that the people I know that are hard rock conservative and/or 'jumped by Jesus' seem to be wired a little differently. While this study isn't carved in stone yet it makes 'gut sense' to me. I mean really, how else do you explain the insane behavior?

Political opinions are considered choices, and in Western democracies the right to choose one’s opinions — freedom of conscience — is considered sacrosanct.
But recent studies suggest that our brains and genes may be a major determining factor in the views we hold.
A study at University College London in the UK has found that conservatives’ brains have larger amygdalas than the brains of liberals. Amygdalas are responsible for fear and other “primitive” emotions. At the same time, conservatives’ brains were also found to have a smaller anterior cingulate — the part of the brain responsible for courage and optimism.
If the study is confirmed, it could give us the first medical explanation for why conservatives tend to be more receptive to threats of terrorism, for example, than liberals. And it may help to explain why conservatives like to plan based on the worst-case scenario, while liberals tend towards rosier outlooks.
“It is very significant because it does suggest there is something about political attitudes that are either encoded in our brain structure through our experience or that our brain structure in some way determines or results in our political attitudes,” Geraint Rees, the neurologist who carried out the study, told the media.
Rees, who heads up UCL’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, was originally asked half-jokingly to study the differences between liberal and conservative brains for an episode of BBC 4’s Today show that was hosted by actor Colin Firth. But, after studying 90 UCL students and two British parliamentarians, the neurologist was shocked to discover a clear correlation between the size of certain brain parts and political views.
He cautions that, because the study was carried out only on adults, there is no way to tell what came first — the brain differences or the political opinions.
But evidence is beginning to accumulate that figuring out a person’s political proclivities may soon be as simple as a brain scan — or a DNA test.

h/t Susie

Actos Drug Ripoff

As many of you know I am a Type II diabetic. Because of that I take a couple of different drugs to help me control my glucose levels. When I lost my medical insurance I dropped one of the drugs, Actos, because it is so terribly expensive. I tried to control my glucose without it but gradually it has crept back up to to an average fasting level of between 140 and 160. Not acceptable. I decided last week that I am going to have to have it in spite of the cost so yesterday I filled a 30 day prescription for the tidy sum of $262.34. The quick math means that each pill costs me $8.74. If I lived in Canada I could get it for a third of that. This kind of blatant ripoff by the drug companies of Americans is really sickening. This one pill represents well over 50% of all my monthly drug costs. To put it into perspective...if I had to depend on the income from my part time job as my sole means of support this one drug would represent about a week's after tax pay and that just sucks.

Government Crime

I was reading about the Fulton Country (one of the metro Atlanta counties) paying lobbyists a couple of hundred grand to lobby the state house against splitting Fulton County and forming a new Milton county from the Northern burbs. Fulton County which includes the city of Atlanta gets the lion's share of its revenue from the wealthy northern part of the county and the wealthier northern cities want to split off and keep some of that money for their own use. Several new cities have been formed in the north in the last few years(Milton, John's Creek and Sandy Springs) but Fulton hasn't reduced it's budgets to reflect the reduced costs for services taken over by the new cities. I can see why Fulton wants to keep the money but at the same time I resent paying taxes which are being used against me. I would get a lot more from my taxes if I were to become part of a wealthy county like Milton. Just seems wrong to me to pay for lobbying against my best interests.

Yes, Virginia

Eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York’s Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history’s most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.

“DEAR EDITOR:
I am 8 years old.
“Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
“Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’
“Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

“VIRGINIA O’HANLON.
“115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.”
VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Happy Christmas to All

It's Christmas morning and Atlanta is expecting its first 'white Christmas' in over 130 years. It's currently only 36F but the grounds is cold and we may actually see a bit of accumulation this afternoon. Let's hope it only does the grass and trees and not the streets since I have to be at work at 745a Sunday morning.

Minimonk is working today(we did our Christmas last weekend as a result) so we are not having a big deal around here. As forecast I did a pizza last night for the Christmas Eve dinner and with help from the latest Cook's magazine think I have finally mastered a proper pizza dough. I was doing most everything right except I was making the dough and pizza on the same day. This time I made the dough the day ahead and let it slowly ferment for 24 hours in the fridge. It made a huge difference in the texture and flavor. I also moved my baking stone to the top of the oven and cooked the pizza at 550F(the highest my oven will go). It turned out brilliant. If you like doing your own pizza at home from scratch let me know and I will share the process/recipe. It is actually terribly easy and the results are well worth the little effort. You can make a good pizzeria pizza at home and it will beat any of that frozen stuff hands down.

I mentioned we were having a movie marathon as well. Very disappointed in what we have seen so far. The Legend of the Guardians (the owl movie) put Madam to sleep. Serious Moonlight with Meg Ryan put me to sleep for most of it. Despicable Me was not worth the time but Madam liked the little 'minions'. Finally, The Kids are All Right with Annette Benning was a big disappointment as well. We still have Inception and Salt to watch today so maybe one of those will please.

Everyone enjoy your Christmas Day and if you are traveling please be careful. From the paper this morning it looks like a wicked day for air travel as Delta has canceled some 300 flights already and the snow is all over the Midwest and moving South. I think it is going to be a good day for a pot of Tuscan Bean Stew. That recipe from 2008 BTW is the most popular thing I have ever posted on the blog and still get a few hits a week from it. It is a worthy recipe though and I am glad everyone enjoyed it.

Happy Christmas

A Couple of Days Off

I have been working full days since last Sunday but now I am off until the day after Christmas...I try and catch up on the tubes after I finish dinner each night but invariably I find myself waking up sitting in front of the computer and not remembering reading anything and just stumble off to bed. From the look of Google reader I haven't read much as there are thousands of posts waiting. I'll try and get caught up with everybody over the next few days.

These max workweeks(32 hours) appear to be going away as I am only scheduled for 12 hours the second week of January. I will say that I am extremely glad I am not depending on this little bit of income for anything important like feeding a family or paying rent. Seeing as how I have never 'punched a clock' before this, it  is interesting and you really get a different perspective on what a lot of people face for most of their lives. How many hours am I going to get this week and next? What will I do if I only get 12 or 16 hours? How am I going to make it? Very different perspective even though you had an "intellectual idea" of what low income people face daily, it is not the same as seeing it first hand. Granted some of it is still 'intellectual' since I don't HAVE to work but it is no longer completely so.

Madam and I just went out and got a bunch of movies to take us through the holiday. Since we 'did' Christmas last weekend it won't be repeated again. Got a couple of new ones like Inception and Salt, as well as the owl movie and Despicable Me and another one or two. Hunker down and vegetate is the order of the day. Plenty of wine and snacks and crock pot BBQ chicken is bubbling away, albeit slowly. The menu for Christmas eve is currently a homemade pizza for which I must make the dough for tonight.

If my brain turns to mush from too much TV/movies/wine/snacks/pizza etc. and I don't get back here then everyone have a merry holiday and I hope Santa is very nice to you.

Power Night

Tuesday is a lunar eclipse. It will be visible from most of North America

Tuesday is also the Winter Solstice - the longest night.

Tuesday is the first night that a lunar eclipse has occurred on a Winter Solstice in 456 years.

For those of you not really attuned to the theory and practice of 'magick' then you should know that, according to people who should know, your personal power to effect change and do 'magick' is increased a thousand times while the moon is in eclipse since its power is blocked. The full moon and its effect goes without saying.

If you have need of some 'magick' in your life then tomorrow is your best chance in some 500 years to make it happen...Just saying.

Early Christmas

We are actually celebrating Christmas today since Minimonk has to work on the real day. I already have the pumpkin pie out of the oven and about to put the apple tart in. Mashed potatoes and soul food sweet potatoes(home grown) with either peas(home grown) or broccoli(home grown). Of course, fresh dinner rolls. (see previous post) We are also having our once a year treat of a Honey Baked Ham. Undoubtedly the best "city" ham there is. I actually prefer country ham but I am the only one so "city" ham it is. Oh, and deviled eggs.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Classic Dinner Rolls

As everyone who regularly visits here knows I am a big fan of fresh bread. I lean towards heartier breads like whole wheat and rye and make sourdough whole wheat every week for our daily bread. There are times, however, when the bread should be delicate and slightly sweet and maybe a bit airy. A feast like Thanksgiving or Christmas calls for a classic dinner roll. Nothing complicated but full of yeasty flavor and the perfect vehicle for soaking up a bit of gravy. There is also a requirement that the rolls keep fairly well so that a proper leftover turkey or ham sandwich can be enjoyed the next day. This recipe is for the Classic Dinner Roll. Not fancy and not difficult to make. It also has the advantage of being a bread you can make the day before...even to the step of forming the rolls and refrigerating overnight and having them ready to bake just before dinner on feast day when other cooking chores require your time. There are thousands and thousands of recipes that are similar and usually the difference is in the eggs... Whole eggs, just the yolks or a combination. I like this recipe as the yolks bring additional fat and tenderness to the roll and leaving out the whites eliminates any chance of a 'rubbery' product. The other key to tenderness is not overworking the dough. This rendition is for a stand mixer like my big KitchenAid but you can do this by hand and if doing so you probably want to knead the dough no more than about 15 minutes...just until it springs back when punched with two fingers.


Make Ahead Old Fashioned Classic Dinner Rolls

18 oz. or 510 grams or about 4 cups of all-purpose flour(I use King Arthur A/P but any good unbleached flour will do
1 package or 2-1/4 tsp.  rapid-rise yeast (you can use regular active dry yeast but your rise time will be longer)
1/3 cup sugar ( I actually use barley malt syrup instead of sugar but sugar works fine)
1 1/2  tsp. Kosher salt
1 cup milk (whole milk works best but I usually only have 2% and its fine) There is also a version of this recipe that uses  evaporated milk,just use 1/2 cup of evap.milk and 1/2 cup of water.
4 oz. (8 Tbs.) unsalted butter ( plus a little more for the pan and hands) Yes, that is a whole stick of butter...I didn't say these were diet rolls.
3 large egg yolks

Add the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in the bowl of your mixer, with a whisk mix to combine.

Heat the milk and butter in a small saucepan, stirring gently until the butter melts, and it reaches 115F to 125F degrees(no real need for a thermometer here...it should just feel warm and not hot). Pour the milk and butter mixture over the dry ingredients and add the 3 egg yolks. Using the dough hook, mix on low speed until everything just comes together and forms a shaggy mass. Turn off the mixer and let the dough rest for 15 minutes to allow the flour to absorb the moisture. Finally, on medium high speed, mix/knead for about 8 minutes. The dough should 'clean' the sides of the bowl when it is done.

Turn the dough out of the mixing bowl on to a very lighly floured surface and shape it into a ball. Lighly grease a large bowl(twice the size of your dough ball) with butter, and place the dough, seam side down inside. Cover with plastic wrap and set the bowl aside and let it rise until it doubles in size. This should take 45 minutes to an hour depending upon the temperature of the room, but the doubling is what is important. If you are using regular active dry yeast this will take maybe a half hour longer...maybe a little more.

Once your dough is doubled, dump it out on a clean surface like your kitchen counter. You shouldn't need to flour the surface as the dough is soft but not too sticky. If you have some sticking problems then use a little flour to help you along. Now gently deflate the dough by pressing it with the palms of your hands. I usually fold the dough over itself(the left third over the middle third and the right third over that). Using a dough blade or knife divide the dough into 16 equal pieces. With lightly buttered hands form each piece into a ball by stretching and pinching the bottom together. The goal is to get a smooth stretched suface on the top of the roll. It may take a couple of stretches and pinches to get the ball smooth and round.  Place them evenly on a roughly 9 x 13 inch lightly greased baking pan ( I use a jelly roll pan) with the seam side down.

Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until almost doubled, about 30 min. While the rolls are proofing heat your oven to 375°F making sure the rack is in the middle of the oven. Remove the plastic and bake the rolls until they’re browned, about 20 min. These are best served warm.

Feel free to brush the uncooked rolls with an egg wash (one egg beaten with a tablespoon of water) if you want glossy rolls.

Note: Like I said above, you can make  this recipe a day  in advance. Simply cover the rolls with plastic wrap right after shaping and place them in the chill chest.  The next day, about 3 hours before dinner,  remove the pan from the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours until the rolls warm and double, and then bake the rolls at 375 F.

These are nice generous rolls and you can still have a nice sized roll by making 24 rolls instead of 16. (Hint: Instead of first dividing the dough in half, divide it into thirds and then half the pieces three more times.)

This recipe doubles well but double is about all my KitchenAid will handle in a single batch. I sometimes use 750 grams of flour and adjust the rest of the ingredients accordingly (increase by 50%)

American Woman

When I  read this I immediately thought of the 70's rock song by the Canadian band "Guess Who".

From the beginning of his detention, Manning has been held in intensive solitary confinement. For 23 out of 24 hours every day—for seven straight months and counting—he sits completely alone in his cell. Even inside his cell, his activities are heavily restricted; he’s barred even from exercising and is under constant surveillance to enforce those restrictions. For reasons that appear completely punitive, he’s being denied many of the most basic attributes of civilized imprisonment, including even a pillow or sheets for his bed (he is not and never has been on suicide watch). For the one hour per day when he is freed from this isolation, he is barred from accessing any news or current events programs. Lt. Villiard protested that the conditions are not “like jail movies where someone gets thrown into the hole,” but confirmed that he is in solitary confinement, entirely alone in his cell except for the one hour per day he is taken out. In sum, Manning has been subjected for many months without pause to inhumane, personality-erasing, soul-destroying, insanity-inducing conditions of isolation similar to those perfected at America’s Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado: all without so much as having been convicted of anything. And as is true of many prisoners subjected to warped treatment of this sort, the brig’s medical personnel now administer regular doses of anti-depressants to Manning to prevent his brain from snapping from the effects of this isolation.
Just by itself, the type of prolonged solitary confinement to which Manning has been subjected for many months is widely viewed around the world as highly injurious, inhumane, punitive, and arguably even a form of torture. In his widely praised March, 2009 New Yorker article—entitled “Is Long-Term Solitary Confinement Torture?”—the surgeon and journalist Atul Gawande assembled expert opinion and personal anecdotes to demonstrate that, as he put it, “all human beings experience isolation as torture.” By itself, prolonged solitary confinement routinely destroys a person’s mind and drives them into insanity. A March, 2010 article in The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law explains that “solitary confinement is recognized as difficult to withstand; indeed, psychological stressors such as isolation can be as clinically distressing as physical torture.”

There is absolutely insane and it makes me ashamed that my country has turned into such a brutal and repressive regime and that it can inflict such treatment on someone that has not been convicted of any crime and was actually(from all evidence) doing what he thought was in the best interest of the U.S. 

I guess what really bothers me the most is that this will not be picked up of the MSM and even though it is likely that the President knows about this nothing will be done. What is even more disturbing is that this is probably happening to others in this home of the free and the land of the brave. Stalin, Pol Pot,  and Idi Amin would be so proud.

You should read the whole article by Greenwald at Salon

Not Warm Blooded Enough

I'm normally pretty warm blooded and am not really that to sensitive to cold. Last night and today has made me drag out the long underwear. It was 12F this morning and on my way home from work last night it was 22 with 25 mile an hour winds. I head off to the job again at noon today and I will be better insulated. This is about 30 degrees below normal for us and it is brutal. Most everything outdoors is suffering and even the normally cold hardy plants are burnt from the cold. And yes, it set a new record for cold for the date. Tomorrow it is supposed to warm a bit but the warming will bring precipitation. Not nice.

The Lost Middleclass

I thought the following paragraph was a minor jewel when it comes to explaining the political weirdness right now. It's from Peter Goodman at Huffpo

Was it not just a couple of weeks ago that The Conversation was all about the supposed five-alarm emergency of the federal budget deficit and the hellish consequences that surely awaited the continuation of profligate spending? Never mind. The political establishment decided to tack another $900 billion on the federal tab to stave off an apparently more dire crisis: the prospect that tax cuts lavished on people wealthy enough to worry about mooring charges might soon expire.

the rest of the article is worth reading as well.

Even Colder

The forecast for Atlanta is to see 20F tomorrow night and the low teens for Monday night. Ouch, very unusual to have this cold of weather until after the New Year. I will lose the winter garden for sure with this hard freeze. The only thing to do is to harvest what I can of the turnips and broccoli and try and preserve it somehow. None of the cabbage is big enough to do anything with. I'll have to do it all today since I work tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday. Still have to finish the insulation in the garage as well plus get my car from the shop...the darn hood wouldn't open(broken cable) and I discovered this after I left the door ajar overnight and it ran down the battery. It's under warranty but still a pain. I also have to go to Tractor Supply and get a replacement heater for the greenhouse since the one little 1500W heater won't be able to protect it if it gets into the teens. Going to be a busy Saturday.

Holy Thorn Tree

Some low life scum cut down the Holy Thorn Tree at Glastonbury in Western England. What a senseless act of vandalism. The tree is known as the place that marks Joseph of Arimathea's arrival in Britian after the crucifiction of Christ. While the tree may recover and there are, in fact, other thorn trees nearby this one had special significance. This is not a good way to start the day.

Update: Madam reminded me of the deal with someone putting poison on the Treaty Oak in Austin, TX. What goes through someone's mind when they due such patently stupid things?

Gone By 2025

Don't Read This
It describes why the U.S. will be a has been empire by 2025. Not a very uplifting article and in a lot of ways very depressing.

It Looks So Easy

Something I have been meaning to do for years has come to fruition today. I went to Home Depot and bought enough insulation to do the ceiling of my garage. I added a foot or two of insulation to the attic last year(I had it done) but I decided I could do the garage myself. The pink panther people have this nice R30 insulation all wrapped on plastic that is nice to work with but getting in place is  a lot harder that it would appear. I got a third of the area done this afternoon but it was a tough slog. I'll try and finish it up tomorrow.
Once I get it all done I am hoping that the tile floor in my bathroom won't be quite so frigid on these cold mornings not to mention keeping the bedrooms above the garage a little toastier. If you have some areas that need a little more insulation now is a good time to get it done as the tax credits for such stuff expire the first of the year. It also doesn't hurt that Home Depot has it all on sale right now.  40 cents or less per square foot.

RIP, Elizabeth Edwards

Dead at 61. A fine lady who faced a lot of undeserved tribulation in her life. The world is a lesser place without her.

Update: According to CNN the planned protest of the funeral by the cretins from the Westboro Baptist Church fizzled. The five idiots who did show up should have been run out of town on a rail.

Cold Georgia

I haven't been down to the garden yet today to see if the broccoli, cabbage and turnips survived the cold snap. Been working from dark to dark for the last four days and it has gotten colder each night. My greenhouse manage to hold to 39F last night but I fear for the outside stuff. We saw the low 20's last night so I am probably out my fall veges...we'll see.

With the cold such as it is and me in cooking withdrawal I feel the need for something warm and hearty so I am on my way to Whole Paycheck to get some local beef for a stew. I also bought all the stuff for "Chex Mix" last week and I'll probably do that this afternoon as well. We call it "nuts and bolts" here and I make mine a little spicier than the traditional blend. I also add a bunch more nuts and leave out the little toasted bagel thingys and just use the little pretzels. Madam and I also prefer the Wheat Chex to the other Chex so I double up on those. In other words my "nuts and bolts" is nothing like the original. It's not the Xmas holidays without a big batch of "nuts and bolts" around. Minimonk is coming Thursday to bring me a horse trailer full of leaves so I'll have a big bag of mix to share with her. She loves the stuff as much as I do.

Off to market and then to cooking.

Let Them Expire

I hate taxes as much as the next guy but I think it is wrong to extend the Bush cuts. We can't afford it, especially extending the cuts for folks with incomes over $250,000. Yeah, the extension of unemployment benefits would be nice for those affected but the reality is that some six million of us or more have already exhausted the maximum of 99 weeks and this agreement doesn't add another tier. It is going to hurt a lot of people but maybe it will also wake them up and figure out who actually cares whether they suffer or not the Dems or the GOP.
So my vote is to allow all the tax cuts to expire and then reintroduce cuts for the middle class next year and dare the GOP to vote against them.

Remember Pearl Harbor

Don't forget it's Pearl Harbor Day. Take a moment to remember the brave soldiers and sailors who made the ultimate sacrifice that day. My late father was there and was fortunate to have escaped with just minor injuries. Regardless of whether you feel it was a setup to get us into the war or whatever a lot of brave people died or were injured that day. My flag is flying.

Long Weekend

BTW I am working the PT job Friday through Monday so it will be quieter than usual around here.

Great Political System We've Got

Yesterday the Senate voted 53-36 in favor of the President’s tax cut plan, which, to any rational person, would make it seem like the President won.

Wrong... in America, this means that the 36% of the Senate who voted against the tax cut plan win, trumping the majority view point in the Senate as well as a clear majority in the House, the President, and the majority will of the American people. Now that is a political system.

Isn't it nice that we can make sure that nothing interferes with the plutocracy?

An Opportunity for Sanity

It looks like outgoing Madame Speaker had one more trick up her sleeve:

This afternoon, House Democrats will hold an up or down vote on vote on President Obama’s plan to extend tax cuts to income below $250,000, and they’ve figured out a way to prevent the Republicans from pulling procedural tricks that might sink it—a straight vote on whether or not wealthy people deserve an additional tax break.
[....]Dems once believed they were faced with two mixed options for holding this vote. The first was to hold an up-or-down vote under the normal rules. But that would give Republicans the opportunity to introduce what’s known as a motion to recommit—a procedural right of the minority that would have allowed them to tack an extension of tax cuts for high-income earners on to the legislation.
The second option—suspending the rules—would have foreclosed on that right, but would have required a two-thirds majority of the House for passage: 290 votes, an impossible hurdle.
But Democrats figured out a way to avoid this. They’re attaching their tax cut plan as an amendment to a separate bill [the Airport and Airway Extension Act, to wit]. That legislation already passed the House, and has just been returned from the Senate. The rules say it can’t be recommitted. So the GOP’s hands are tied.

h/t Balloon Juice

Not LGM's But Very Interesting Just The Same

via Gizmodo

At their conference today, NASA scientist Felisa Wolfe Simon will announce that they have found a bacteria whose DNA is completely alien to what we know today. Instead of using phosphorus, the bacteria uses arsenic. All life on Earth is made of six components: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur. Every being, from the smallest amoeba to the largest whale, share the same life stream. Our DNA blocks are all the same.
But not this one. This one is completely different. Discovered in the poisonous Mono Lake, California, this bacteria is made of arsenic, something that was thought to be completely impossible. While she and other scientists theorized that this could be possible, this is the first discovery. The implications of this discovery are enormous to our understanding of life itself and the possibility of finding beings in other planets that don't have to be like planet Earth.

Europe Gets Winter Early

Got a photo from my friends in Eyam in Derbyshire, England. I'm just guessing bit it looks like at least 18 inches of snow on their patio and they say they are snowed in. From what I can see from the news, all of Europe is getting hit hard even Edinburgh airport and London's Gatwick airport are closed. People are even dying from exposure in parts of Europe. My friends were laughing that they had rented an apartment in Portugal for all of February in hopes of missing the worst of winter but were still smacked.

Hold The Football Charlie Brown-- Just One More Time

The day after the President sat down with the GOP leadership and everybody came out of the meeting back slapping and ass kissing and promising to make nice the GOP publishes a letter to Harry Reid stating that...


 their intention is  to hold the chamber hostage until the tax policy debate is resolved.

"[W]e write to inform you that we will not agree to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to any legislative item until the Senate has acted to fund the government and we have prevented the tax increase that is currently awaiting all American taxpayers. With little time left in this Congressional session, legislative scheduling should be focused on these critical priorities. While there are other items that might ultimately be worthy of the Senate's attention, we cannot agree to prioritize any matters above the critical issues of funding the government and preventing a job-killing tax hike."

You know, of course, that Republicans will block everything until they're satisfied that the wealthy are aren't going to suffer any tax increase, regardless of the impact on other priorities and then they'll try to block  everything else anyway. The are going to screw America and Obama regardless.