Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Let's do it again! Obama...2012!
- Got Osama Bin Laden!
- Got 1.3 million jobs created with no GOP help
- Ended war in Iraq
- Repealed DADT
- Added Sonia Sotomeyer to the Supreme Court
- Added Elena Kagan to the Supreme court
- Saved the auto industry and 1.5 million jobs
- Mortgage modification to save homeowners' homes
- Reforming healthcare making it affordable
- ONLY President to receive the Nobel Peace Prize while in office
...and you can order the "Let's do it again" T-shirts here!
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Republikkkans in the European press!
Although the entries below are somewhat dated, they give a glimpse into what the European press thinks about the (then) Republican candidates for the office of the Presidency of the United States. Need I say more?
Germany:
The Republican presidential contest in America is a "freak show," said Marc Pitzke in the German Der Spiegel. The candidates vie with one another to spew the most outrageous hard-right positions, denying evolution while endorsing torture and joking about electrocuting illegal immigrants. How did a major party in the world's sole superpower become a "club of liars, debtors, betrayers, adulterers, exaggerators, hypocrites, and ignoramuses?" These know-nothings are enabled by a U.S. press that has been "neutered by the demands of political correctness" so that it can't say what's obvious: These people are daft! Instead, it "proclaims one clown after the next to be the new front-runner." The current favorite, Newt Gingrich, is actually considered an intellectual merely because he can create sentences with multiple clauses. Scarcely a one has even the most basic grasp of foreign policy. One said Africa is a country, another that the Taliban rule in Libya. Collectively, "they expose a political, economic, geographic, and historical ignorance that makes George W. Bush look like a scholar.”
France:
That's the scariest part, said Lorraine Millot in the Paris Liberation. The only GOP candidate who knows a thing about diplomacy, Jon Huntsman, is dead last in most polls. The others "careen to extreme positions that include starting new wars and abandoning old allies." And that's when they even have a position. Herman Cain, now thankfully out of the race, was the front-runner even though he couldn't find a single coherent word to say about President Obama's policy on Libya. He even boasted of knowing little about foreign countries. And yet it was his adultery, not his astounding ignorance that brought him down.
England:
There's a simple explanation for this bizarre phenomenon, said Max Hastings in the London Daily Mail. In the "lunatic, gun-toting badlands of America's Hicks-ville, Tea Party country," it's considered suspiciously elitist to show any interest in modern science or the world beyond America's borders. "Say what you like about British politics, no MP of any party would dare to offer themselves as town dog-catcher while knowing as little about the world as the Republican presidential candidates." We take public service seriously. Yet we in Britain, and everyone in the rest of the world, will suffer if "one of the lunatics" vying for the nomination makes it to the White House." The American political system has seldom, if ever, looked so inadequate."
England:
Don't worry, said Matthew Norman in the London Independent. The fact that Gingrich is the latest threat to Mitt Romney's inevitability just "confirms how inevitable" Romney's nomination is. The thrice-married, ethically challenged Gingrich is unlikable in the extreme. Which means the nominee will be Romney, "the slimiest, phoniest opportunist to run for president since...well, ever. " So sit back and enjoy this circus passing for a presidential election. It can't possibly end in a GOP victory. Can it?
Germany:
The Republican presidential contest in America is a "freak show," said Marc Pitzke in the German Der Spiegel. The candidates vie with one another to spew the most outrageous hard-right positions, denying evolution while endorsing torture and joking about electrocuting illegal immigrants. How did a major party in the world's sole superpower become a "club of liars, debtors, betrayers, adulterers, exaggerators, hypocrites, and ignoramuses?" These know-nothings are enabled by a U.S. press that has been "neutered by the demands of political correctness" so that it can't say what's obvious: These people are daft! Instead, it "proclaims one clown after the next to be the new front-runner." The current favorite, Newt Gingrich, is actually considered an intellectual merely because he can create sentences with multiple clauses. Scarcely a one has even the most basic grasp of foreign policy. One said Africa is a country, another that the Taliban rule in Libya. Collectively, "they expose a political, economic, geographic, and historical ignorance that makes George W. Bush look like a scholar.”
France:
That's the scariest part, said Lorraine Millot in the Paris Liberation. The only GOP candidate who knows a thing about diplomacy, Jon Huntsman, is dead last in most polls. The others "careen to extreme positions that include starting new wars and abandoning old allies." And that's when they even have a position. Herman Cain, now thankfully out of the race, was the front-runner even though he couldn't find a single coherent word to say about President Obama's policy on Libya. He even boasted of knowing little about foreign countries. And yet it was his adultery, not his astounding ignorance that brought him down.
England:
There's a simple explanation for this bizarre phenomenon, said Max Hastings in the London Daily Mail. In the "lunatic, gun-toting badlands of America's Hicks-ville, Tea Party country," it's considered suspiciously elitist to show any interest in modern science or the world beyond America's borders. "Say what you like about British politics, no MP of any party would dare to offer themselves as town dog-catcher while knowing as little about the world as the Republican presidential candidates." We take public service seriously. Yet we in Britain, and everyone in the rest of the world, will suffer if "one of the lunatics" vying for the nomination makes it to the White House." The American political system has seldom, if ever, looked so inadequate."
England:
Don't worry, said Matthew Norman in the London Independent. The fact that Gingrich is the latest threat to Mitt Romney's inevitability just "confirms how inevitable" Romney's nomination is. The thrice-married, ethically challenged Gingrich is unlikable in the extreme. Which means the nominee will be Romney, "the slimiest, phoniest opportunist to run for president since...well, ever. " So sit back and enjoy this circus passing for a presidential election. It can't possibly end in a GOP victory. Can it?
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Pew study on current events!
This is an interesting test. Unfortunately, the results indicate that the majority of Americans don't have a clue about what's going on in the world. I'm really not surprised. Sad to admit that...but it's true!
Winter Pork Stew
Okay…I’m not a cook. Right now, I have about a dozen meals in my culinary repertoire. I make a mean spaghetti and meat sauce…and Aunt Nancy’s chicken (recipe coming soon) is always a hit. I chatted with my best friend last week. He is quite the gourmand and was putting together a pork stew to take to a wine tasting party the following day. He said it was awesome and assured me I could do it…even with my limited culinary skills! Game on!
The Recipe:
The journey:
I wanted to prepare this as a surprise for my wife…before she got home from work (I’m unemployed)!
For starters…if a recipe has more than 6 ingredients…it’s not for me! However, in this case, my friend, once again, assured me that I could do it. He told me that it was the chopping, dicing and cubing…more than anything else! My first dilemma was…what’s the SIZE difference between cubed, chopped, and diced. After a google search I found a definition for the latter two…diced (about the size of a pencil eraser) and chopped (about 5/8” square). I never did find a definitive answer for cubed! (see epilog).
Now it was time to go shopping for the ingredients.
Before leaving I had to google an image of parsnip. I’ve never had parsnips before! Seriously! I found out that they look like white carrots. OK…this is an x-rated version of parsnips!
I called my friend for the 4th or 5th time asking a few more questions…many of which still had to do with diced, versus cubed, versus chopped. He asked if there was a Williams Sonoma nearby. There was! He then recommended that I go and buy this! He assured me it would be quite the time saver! I left the house and took a side trip to the local William Sonoma…and then proceeded to my local supermarket.
During my search for parsnips (the white carrots) I passed an aisle and low and behold…right before my eyes were packages of “chopped waxed turnips” and “chopped” sweet potatoes. Of course they turned out to be more than I needed and twice as expensive of doing it myself…but I snatched them right up anyway! Then I proceeded to the butcher counter and asked for the pork. I wound up with a piece weighing in at about 2 ½ pounds…bone in!
The process:
Combine ½ cup of flour, salt, pepper and thyme in a re-sealable plastic bag.
Add “cubed” pork, toss to coat, then shake off the excess. Brown ½ the meat in 1 Tbsp. of oil in a Dutch oven (fortunately I know what that is…and we have one!) or large pot over medium high heat, 7 to 9 minutes.
Transfer (the browned pork) to a plate. Brown the remaining pork in the remaining oil and remove. Reduce heat to medium. So far so good!
Add onion, carrot, celery, garlic and bay leaf to the pot; “sweat” for 5 minutes. (WTF is “sweat”?)
Deglaze (google it...I did) the pot with wine and simmer until (the wine) is nearly evaporated.
Then stir in the broth and the “reserved” pork (aka…the pork you’ve already cooked!). Bring the stew to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer (covered) for 30 minutes.
Stir in sweet potatoes, russets, turnips and parsnips. Cover and cook for 30 minutes more.
Combine butter and 2 Tbsp. flour. Add to the stew. Simmer 5 minutes to thicken. Remove bay leaf and season stew with salt and pepper!
“Wha la!”
Epilog:
I can’t wait until recipes tell you the number of pieces versus the number of cups! This would eliminate the guesswork! For example, 1 ½ cups of sweet potatoes wound up to be the equivalent of one large sweet potato! Same for the russet potato!
Bottom line? This is a keeper! Live and learn! Thanks to my best friend…and my wife! Served over broad egg noodles! Bon Appetite!
ps. Didn’t take a picture of the final outcome. It didn’t look like the first picture (above)! But again…it was damn good!
The Recipe:
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. each kosher salt, black pepper & dried thyme
- 2 lb. pork stew meat or shoulder, trimmed and cut into 2-inch cubes (“huh…2 inches”...I don't think so!)
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
- 2 cups chopped onion
- ½ cup chopped carrot
- ½ cup chopped celery
- 1 tsp. chopped garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ dry white wine
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken or beef broth (32 oz. Box = 4 cups!)
- 1 ½ cups of peeled and cubed sweet potatoes (that’s about one large sweet potato for us non-cooks).
- 1 ½ cups peeled and cubed russet potatoes (that’s about one large russet for us non-cooks).
- 1 cup of diced turnips
- 1 cup diced parsnips (turned out to be about two “carrot sized” parsnips…see comment below
- 2 Tbsp. Unsalted butter, softened
- 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
The journey:
I wanted to prepare this as a surprise for my wife…before she got home from work (I’m unemployed)!
For starters…if a recipe has more than 6 ingredients…it’s not for me! However, in this case, my friend, once again, assured me that I could do it. He told me that it was the chopping, dicing and cubing…more than anything else! My first dilemma was…what’s the SIZE difference between cubed, chopped, and diced. After a google search I found a definition for the latter two…diced (about the size of a pencil eraser) and chopped (about 5/8” square). I never did find a definitive answer for cubed! (see epilog).
Now it was time to go shopping for the ingredients.
Before leaving I had to google an image of parsnip. I’ve never had parsnips before! Seriously! I found out that they look like white carrots. OK…this is an x-rated version of parsnips!
I called my friend for the 4th or 5th time asking a few more questions…many of which still had to do with diced, versus cubed, versus chopped. He asked if there was a Williams Sonoma nearby. There was! He then recommended that I go and buy this! He assured me it would be quite the time saver! I left the house and took a side trip to the local William Sonoma…and then proceeded to my local supermarket.
During my search for parsnips (the white carrots) I passed an aisle and low and behold…right before my eyes were packages of “chopped waxed turnips” and “chopped” sweet potatoes. Of course they turned out to be more than I needed and twice as expensive of doing it myself…but I snatched them right up anyway! Then I proceeded to the butcher counter and asked for the pork. I wound up with a piece weighing in at about 2 ½ pounds…bone in!
The process:
Combine ½ cup of flour, salt, pepper and thyme in a re-sealable plastic bag.
Add “cubed” pork, toss to coat, then shake off the excess. Brown ½ the meat in 1 Tbsp. of oil in a Dutch oven (fortunately I know what that is…and we have one!) or large pot over medium high heat, 7 to 9 minutes.
Transfer (the browned pork) to a plate. Brown the remaining pork in the remaining oil and remove. Reduce heat to medium. So far so good!
Add onion, carrot, celery, garlic and bay leaf to the pot; “sweat” for 5 minutes. (WTF is “sweat”?)
Deglaze (google it...I did) the pot with wine and simmer until (the wine) is nearly evaporated.
Then stir in the broth and the “reserved” pork (aka…the pork you’ve already cooked!). Bring the stew to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer (covered) for 30 minutes.
Stir in sweet potatoes, russets, turnips and parsnips. Cover and cook for 30 minutes more.
Combine butter and 2 Tbsp. flour. Add to the stew. Simmer 5 minutes to thicken. Remove bay leaf and season stew with salt and pepper!
“Wha la!”
Epilog:
- Later that day…after all the chopping and dicing and cubing, my wife informed me that if a recipe calls for cubed…it usually indicates the size of the “cube”! This recipe didn’t!
- For this recipe…I think the suggested “2 inch cubed” PORK would have been too huge and I suggest (and opted) for 1 ½ inch or slightly less pieces.
- My wife also let me know that, if I had asked, the butcher at the supermarket, he would have “cubed” the pork for me!!!
- The last sentence in the process said to add salt and pepper “to taste” (whatever “to taste” means)! I didn’t! After the first bite…my wife and I looked at each other…and although we agreed it was delicious…it seemed sort of bland…to which my wife said…”it needs more salt and pepper’!
- More wife advice. “Did you season the pork first” (with salt, pepper, etc.)? My response…”No”! The recipe said to add salt & pepper (along with the thyme) to a re-sealable bag and shake! The Mrs.’ advice is…always…and I repeat…ALWAYS…season the meat first! Lesson learned!
I can’t wait until recipes tell you the number of pieces versus the number of cups! This would eliminate the guesswork! For example, 1 ½ cups of sweet potatoes wound up to be the equivalent of one large sweet potato! Same for the russet potato!
Bottom line? This is a keeper! Live and learn! Thanks to my best friend…and my wife! Served over broad egg noodles! Bon Appetite!
ps. Didn’t take a picture of the final outcome. It didn’t look like the first picture (above)! But again…it was damn good!
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