Good morning, Christy — ROOTZ ‘n’ YUMS!

I am tired and waiting on my coffee. I love to cook, I teach rhetoric, and study medical discourse on abortion.

Fitz!

Good morning Christy!

Community building is like tending a garden. Very important to maximize yield. I so love FDL, thanks fo rdoing this, Christy…. On to th eimportant stuff:

I love pecans – As trees, they are a big pain – they get leaves last and drop them first and in between they drop beards and other crap. But the nut? Love it. Mrs. Imm. Is from out side Houston and he grandparents all lived in a town in-between Houston and Austin. Both sets of grandparents had huge, wonderful pecan trees. In fact, he mother’s father was such a fastidious German sort, that he grafted a good producing soft shell onto the trunk of a native, drought resistant small fruit hard shell. Hmmmm, free pecans all year round. So, I have sought out great pecan recipes. One of my favorites is pecan pesto, which I always have in my freezer if you want to come over.

But, the one recipe that was a great surprise is this one for Custard Apple Pecan Pie:

Ingredients
2 Cups pecan, roughly chopped (the size is up to you – I like dime sized pieces)
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, (melt one stick and let cool to room temp).
4 large apples (try the more tart, like Spy or Granny Smith)
¼ cup sugar
2 T Apple Schnapps or Brandy OR Cointeau or Triple Sec
1 ½ cups packed light brown sugar
1 ½ cups light corn syrup
6 large eggs
1 T vanilla
2 T flour
2 Pie shells (this one is your call)

Preheat oven to 325. Toast the pecan pieces on a cookie tray for about 8-10 minutes (until they smell good) and set them aside to cool.
Peel, core and dice the apples. In a big heavy skillet, melt the ½ stick of butter with the sugar on high heat. Add the apples and cook for about 12 – 15 minutes stirring, until apples are browned then add the schnapps and cook for another minute or so and then let the mixture cool.
In a bowl, combine the brown sugar, the corn syrup the melted butter and the flour. Beat until smooth then add the eggs and vanilla and beat again until smooth.
Put the apple mix into the pie shells. Pour the custard on top. Put the pecans on top of that, pushing them into the mix a bit – gently. Bake for about an hour in the lower part of the oven until crusts are golden and the custard is set (toothpick test). If you need to – at about 40 minutes check to see if pies need to be covered with tin foil to keep the top and edges from getting too brown. Cool – and eat and eat and eat.

As said last night by Ct Bob: Voila!

Christy,
I agree completely. I would have loved to be there and I fit the description to a T (well, except that I post). I’m just an ordinary, middle class, middle aged, citizen mommy. I always vote, I pay my mortgage etc… but through political blogs I’ve been drawn much closer to political activism than in all my previous years. The relationship of blogs to political activism is really something new. Previously you had to actively join a group and read their mailings and since each group was balkinized (”save the whales!” “Free East Timor” ) your energy and your attention was equally compartementalized. Thanks to informative blogs like yours, communities like Kos, and the hundreds of other writers and commentators from around the country people like me are able to
keep an eye on a variety of topics on a daily basis
keep an eye on the strategic issues in local races from afar
keep an eye and lend a hand both locally and nationally
donate locally and nationally
keep in touch with local and national political reps about our feelings
and get mobilized on an emergency basis to go picket, leaflet, register, etc….

all this is new. But most new of all is the connection between writer and reader, a connection that main stream journalists have outright rejected. There is no mainstream journalist (and I”m the grand daughter of an old school serious journalist) who takes seriously their responsibility to progressive causes or even, frankly, to civil and constitutional discourse. They absolutely reject what they call partisanship and what I would call respect for readers and their legitimate interests.

well, this is all too long, but I wanted to say thank you for all you do here on this blog, and on other blogs. I think it is an important new organizing force, it certainly has been in my life. Consider me introduced!

aimai

GAWWWWWWD, that sounds gooood, imm! Oh man.

Roots, Grooves and Love to All

Divide and Conquer

….will be applied to firedoglake.

…..so I encourage everyone to keep fighting.

Morning Redd and All. I have been lurking and commenting a little,Sometimes I have so much I want to say, but all the spelling bee champs jump you,so by the time I correct all the errors I see I usually just quit.FDL is my sanity,my hope,and a place to know people like myself.OT.( I wonder why the story of the two missing soldiers has not hit the blogs).In closing,I have found that Christy is right the only way to survive till November is to get involved in you town and Continue to BLOG and BLOG. God Bless You All. NaNaPam

“Andy of the hot kilt”

are photos available anywhere?

Welcome, NaNaPam and all, and nemmind the spelling police (we talked about them last night and decided they’re NOT THE POINT here).

Okay, Immanentize — ante up. Here’s the Chess Pie recipe that I was talking about — got it from Southern Living, and it’s a true Southern fave.

BUTTERMILK CHESS PIE
2 cups sugar
2 Tbsp. cornmeal
5 lg. eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp. pure vanilla
2 tsp. grated orange rind
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
3 Tbsp. orange juice
Pastry for 9-inch pie (I use the Pillsbury ones in a box, because frankly I just don’t have the time to make my own at the moment.)

Combine sugar and cornmeal in a large bowl; add eggs and buttermilk, stirring until blended. Stir in butter and next four ingredients, pour into pastry shell. (HINT: Make sure the citrus zests are finely minced — large pieces of peel in this pie are not so appealing.) Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes, or until set. Cool on wire rack; cover and chill. Yield: 8 servings.

For chocolate chess pie: Add 1/4 c. good quality cocoa to the filling (I use Ghirardelli.), substitute evaporated milk for the buttermilk (NOT sweetened, condensed milk, but plain old evaporated milk), and omit citrus rind and juice. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until set. Garnish with whipped cream and chocolate shavings before serving.

UPDATE: Forgot to add, for a real Appalachian version of this, you do stacked pies. Make two chocolate chess pies and one orange chess — but you make them in a tart pan that has a removable bottom. Once the pies are cooled, you ease them out of the tart pans, and stack them up like a layer cake. When you slice through, you get a three-layer pie. Seriously decadent (it’s actually too much for me, so we do one pie at a time, but it’s a cultural thing, so I thought I would share it with everyone else).

Here’s a column about the conference written by yours truly. I think I “get it”. Maybe someone can enlighten me further, just in case I don’t…

Do You, Mr. Jones?
Crashing the gate one link at a time

by Alan Bisbort – June 15, 2006

The World This Week
¨Because something is happening here but you don´t know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?¨
– Bob Dylan, ¨Ballad of a Thin Man¨

As they used to say in the 1960s, the revolution will not be televised. This still holds true. A revolution is taking place in this country and you wouldn´t know it if you watched TV. Indeed, the moment the first blogger set up shop on the Internet, TV news was rendered as obsolete as the manual typewriter. It´s going through the death throes now — shuffling anchors around, adding more info-tainment and angry white shouters — but why on earth would anyone with a shred of self-respect watch the idiot box when they can turn to the Internet and exchange ideas and weigh the thoughts of the best minds of their generation?

Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, creators of the two most popular political blogs on the Internet — MyDD and Daily Kos, respectively — have written the first travel guide to this brave new world, called Crashing The Gate . In the process, they´ve demonstrated that anyone who cares enough about the future of this nation and world can ¨crash the gate¨ by creating a ¨community¨ on the net. Their book will one day be looked at in the same light as Rachel Carson´s Silent Spring or Bill McKibben´s The End of Nature . It´s a call to arms, the subtitle of which gives the perspective: ¨Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics.¨ And they walk the walk, too. I bought my copy off them personally at a packed bar in New Haven a few weeks ago and they spoke at length to all comers. All I could think to say was, ¨Thanks for keeping us sane the past five years.¨

At the same event — sponsored by the My Left Nutmeg blog — I also met Ned Lamont, the Senate candidate whose campaign was jumpstarted by the likes of Kos and MyDD. Jerome and Markos each gave short but impassioned speeches about the ¨people power¨ that will end the culture of Republican corruption and Democrat enabling (and losing) that has defined the past five years. The bar was packed but the crowd was united by one common trait: complete disgust with the direction the country is going. The mainstream media is, of course, missing this, the era´s most important political story. Instead, they´re sitting around going, ¨Hey, you´re not supposed to do that. That´s democracy, or something. You´re supposed to sit on your sofa and listen to O´Reilley lie about Malmedy, Matthews suck up to DeLay, Russert play patty cake with Cheney, and Coulter attack the widows of those killed at the World Trade Center!¨

This week, Markos reprised his act at the YearlyKos Convention in Las Vegas. For four days, he hosted panels and workshops, and attracted the likes of Gen. Wesley Clark, ambassador Joseph Wilson, as well as top bloggers like Jane Hamsher (firedoglake), Duncan Black (aka Atrios), retired CIA analyst Larry Johnson, Peter Daou at the Daou Report — in short, names that will be familiar to the vast majority after the GOP majority is eliminated this November and full regime change takes place in 2008. The convention also got under-the-mainstream-radar coverage from Air America radio and C-SPAN´s website. Even Maureen Dowd was sniffing around for an angle (expect a snarky putdown of the convention in her Times column within the week, likely focused on participants´ wardrobes).

Meanwhile, in Congress, the fix is in for the telecommunications industry. The House did the bidding of its corporate masters this week by shooting down the Net Neutrality bill — intended to keep the telecommunications companies from hijacking and privatizing the Internet — which now goes to the U.S. Senate. It may fail this go-round but its day is coming, as more empowered people ¨crash the gate.¨

As they also used to say in the 1960s, you´re either part of the solution or part of the problem. Likewise, while we´re crashing the gate, you can either join in or get out of the way.

Send comments to
Email editor@hartfordadvocate.com

‘When people think, America wins.’ ~ Bill Clinton

~~~

Also, tried, tested and truly delicious;

http://www.foodnetwork.com/foo…..53,00.html

~~~

For me the pie is sweet enough to not add sugar to the whipped cream. A chocolate crust is bonus.

Ok – so I don’t really do desserts. But I do a fine lasagna, which I’d be happy to share:

1. Remove tray from box.
2. Cut film cover to vent.
3. Cook on High for 4 minutes.
4. Remove cover from tray (important, or your cheese product will stick to your plastic stuff)
5. Continue cooking on 50% for 4-7 minutes (ooh the tricky microwave manipulation part – just stick with it – after a few times, it’ll become second nature) (and as for the 4-7 minute part, I recommend 6:30).
6. After cooking, let stand for 5 minutes. (fwiw, I consider this part to be entirely optional.)

Enjoy!!

P.S. I would have also put my Chicken Alfredo recipe here too, but – it’s pretty much the same.

NaNaPam
Welcome and don’t worry about spelling — I certainly never do. The etiquette here at FDL is people help correct the front page post, but no one has EVER corrected my horrible spelling/typos in the comments. I occassionally self-correct when it looks horrible or the meaning is lost, but I believe it is rude to correct other’s spelling in comments (self serving attitude, I know). :~)

the Ladies here got smart: they simply deputized some of the spelling police — now posts get quickly corrected and quietly !

Oooooog, Christy — Chess Pie Nirvana! Wowf!

Awright, here’s my entry:

KIWI – STRAWBERRY TART

An easy-to-make, refreshing dessert for all seasons (in December here in lotusland, it goes by “Christmas Lights Tart”).

Pastry for one 9-inch pie
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla or [better yet] 2 tablespoons Cointreau
1 1/2 to 2 cups whole fresh strawberries, stemmed
1 kiwifruit, peeled and sliced into thin discs
1/4 cup apricot jam

Pre-heat oven to 425. Roll out pastry to 1/8-inch thickness; fit into a 9-inch false-bottomed tart pan. Cover bottom pastry with foil [c’mon, NOT the tinfoil from your hat — use fresh]; cover foil with dried beans, rice or pie weights. Bake pastry shell at 425 until sides brown and puff away from pan (about 12 minutes). Remove weights and foil; cool pastry completely. Reduce oven heat to 325.

In a bowl beat egg yolks; add cream, sugar and vanilla or Cointreau; stir to combine. Pour mixture into cool pastry shell and bake at 325 until firm (about 35 minutes). Cool completely. Arrange strawberries, stem end down, around rim of tart; cover middle of tart with single layer of kiwi slices. Heat jam just until melted and brush over fruit with pastry brush.

To serve, lift tart from rim of pan and place on cake plate or pie stand; convey to table; graciously receive acclaim.

10-12 servings.

Good morning. I have been out here peering in and applauding for about six or eight months. My son even helped me create my own blog, but I don’t post nearly as often as any of you.

I watched what I could on C-Span of the Yearly Kos and want to thank all of you for your efforts and direction in a time when the voices of our culture are so demeaning, critical, and outrageously cruel.

There is hope and we are it. Off to play golf. With much gratitude,
Teresa Ann

jayt #14 Thanks, I have been waiting for a lasagna recipe now I have to clean my coffee off my screen, heh heh

That summer standard: potato salad. This recipe will serve six, maybe.

RICH POTATO SALAD
1/4 cup salad oil
2 tbsp vinegar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
4 cups siced hot cooked potatoes
1 cup ripe olives, pitted and cut in slices
2 eggs, hard-cooked, shelled and diced
1 cup sliced celery
1/4 cup chopped dill pickle
1/4 cup chopped pimento
1 small onion, minced
1/2 cup mayonnaise

Blend the first four ingredients together; pour over the potatoes. Toss and set aside to cool.
Add the rest of the ingredients; toss and chill.

I just want to echo Christy. One of the real benefits to me of the coference was not being invited to some things becasue people don’t know who I am outside of FDL that much, and no one can pronounce my screen name. That left me space to meet readers, introduce Matt O. to Joe Wilson, etc. But rather than ramble on, I already see some newish screen names, and I want to give you a big shout out! More, please. . . pretty please?

If we get a good showing of lurkers surfacing, I’ll post my grandmother’s arroz con pollo recipe later. It will take a little time to write up.

Morning littermates! Hae a cookie recipe for you from my grandmother, it’s well-known in our hometown. But first some coffee please.

Guy in the kilt, think I saw your photo. Mmmm.
My husband won’t wear a kilt, he’s not Scottish but for some reason I married him anyway.

Imm, you are SO not off the hook ’til you fork over :) the recipe for your pecan pesto.

Lurkers–welcome! Trust me you couldn’t make any more mistakes here than I have! Maybe I’ll try to make a list after the break. Coffee break that is.

Man, Christy — I am so making that Chess Pie this weekend! Lotus, yum yum!

Tomato Pie!
The perfect summertime dish.

OK, pretend you have a thick southern accent (if you don’t) %u2013 here is my favorite very very bad joke which is sound based: How is a pie like my finger? My ring is on it. Ha ha ha ha!

At least 3 Large Tomatoes (red or green, your choice) thick sliced
Fresh Basil (10 leaves or more)
2 T fresh chives, chopped
2 cloves garlic (pressed or minced)
Salt
Pepper
2/3 Cup Mayonnaise (maybe a bit more)
1/2 Cup grated xtra sharp cheddar
1/2 Cup fresh grated Parmesan
1 Pie crust — pre baked and cooled.

Preheat oven to 350. Sprinkle the tomato slices with salt and let them stand for 20 minutes or so. Mix up the mayo, parmesan, cheddar, basil and chives. Place the tomatoes in the crust, cover with the mixture and bake for about 30 minutes. SOME extravagant folks put crisp bacon into the mix and sprinkle it over the top before they bake the pie!

Well, Potch-a-koo-TEC, please get to work on that recipe while we welcome the de-lurkers.

“…and no one can pronounce my screen name.”

Spanish is such a rigorously phonetic language in spelling so that with a few simple rules, Pachacutec is easily pronounced. Quechua (the most widely used indigenous language of the Americas) is usually written with Spanish spelling so that too shouldn’t be insurmountable …

I am a kindergarten teacher and have been teaching in a public school for 31 years. I am happily married, love my job and have two grown children. In order to stave off feelings of hopelessness when I realize how seriously our American experiment is being challenged I come home from school, sit at my computer and listen to AirAmerica. Then I spend hours reading my blogs. Why? This is OUR country and it has been wholly taken over by corporations whose interests are entirely inconsistent with the needs of our citizens. My blogs suggest ways to engage in the process of taking back what we have lost under Bush and support my desire to be part of the solution. I thank FDL for your efforts on behalf of those at most risk during these perilous times.

Immm at 4 — OMG — that pie recipe is a keeper. I’m going out to buy ingredients for that one today. Thanks so much for sharing it. :)

Whoops, imm — what do those question-marks equal?

(Side note: *ilson: I actually did a panel at the very close of the conference, and the panelists, other than the guys from MyDD were like, “Who? Whuh?” Funny stuff.)

I began lurking around DailyKos in 2003, I started commenting in 2004 sporadically and put up a couple of diaries. I used the blogroll to find other interesting blogs (like this one).

On a parallel path, I changed my party affiliation from Independent to Democrat in 2003. I joined the ACLU in 2003. I voted for Dean in the primary. I gave money to Kerry in 2004 and walked CD-4 for Stan Matsunaka. I have given literally thousands to various causes, candidates, and the ACLU since 2004. I will continue to give.

Meanwhile, I cancelled my subscription to the NY Times in 2004. I cut back the subscription on my local paper to Sundays only. I stopped watching TV news. I began to consume my news via links. DailyKos links to Firedoglake to the Washington Post to Glen Greewald to whereever. The best news is the news you find. I started watching the Daily Show.

Yea, things have changed. BushCO motivated the change and blogs have provided the means to communicate and protect the United States. If you can get me this involved in politics, things have changed. I’m not quitting until BushCO and his ilk are out of power.

aimai at 5 — great intro — so glad you pulled up a chair. :)

“wants change”
Me Too!!

great handle! Simple, yet direct.

Hi Teresa Ann at 18 – your linky no worky.

NaNaPam at 8 — don’t let the spelling police get you down — I don’t, and look how much I post. LOL Seriously, though, welcome and post whenever you like. Heaven knows I make enough spelling errors for everyone combined. *g*

Lotus — OOOPS cut and paste from Word which converted the fractions….

2/3 cup Mayonaise
1/2 cup grated xtra sharp cheddar
1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan

Pach,

I have a really great tortilla soup, Sopa Azteca, recipe…. Trade?

Reddhedd: While reading the internets the last couple of days, I was very surprised at how there are many out there who have been laughing about the YearlyKos convention. They remark about how there was also another convention in Vegas the same weekend that had 16,000 attend. Others say that more people go to a movie on a Tuesday night.

I think the thing they are missing is that each attendee is multiplied by the people who are contacted oce they get home. Take firedoglake, for instance. How many readers are there who actually attended the conference on line. And DailyKos, how many read there on an average day. And Marcy, and Matt O…..

If someone has a little time on their hands, it would be very interesting to create a spreadsheet on blogmeisters who attended the Vegas event and the number of readers they attract on a daily basis. I think the total on the bottom of this spreadsheet will give us all a better number to work with on the actual number who attended, versus the actual number who physically attended the affair.

After all, isn’t this how the MSM operates? They base their hourly “news sessions” on the number of viewers tuning in. Please, someone, let’s figure out how many people tuned in to the YearlyKos event? Count me in virtually please.

Got it, imm. Lawksamussy, I don’t know which one of your pies to OD on first, but I’ll soon find out!

OK, egregious? Meta? Others lurking?

After election 2004, I was so despondent the only thing I could do was watch the Food Network. The following recipe is from Paula Deen. Because it’s pumpkin, it’s better for Fall/Winter. It’s a great substitute for the tradional pumpkin pie. My favorite pumpkin pie is made with fresh pumpkin instead of canned, but this recipe works best with canned. And it’s quite pretty in a glass trifle bowl.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

2 (14-ounce) packages gingerbread mix
1 (5.1-ounce) package cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix
1 (30-ounce) can pumpkin pie filling
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon
1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping
1/2 cup gingersnaps, optional

Bake the gingerbread according to the package directions; cool completely. Meanwhile, prepare the pudding and set aside to cool. Stir the pumpkin pie filling, sugar, and cardamom into the pudding. Crumble 1 batch of gingerbread into the bottom of a large, pretty bowl. Pour 1/2 of the pudding mixture over the gingerbread, then add a layer of whipped topping. Repeat with the remaining gingerbread, pudding, and whipped topping. Sprinkle of the top with crushed gingersnaps, if desired. Refrigerate overnight. Trifle can be layered in a punch bowl.

# # #

I have a recipe for a frozen strawberry yogurt pie somewhere. That’s more a summer treat. Will look for it and report back later.

The mainstream media, including NPR, mostly dealt with the conference by derision. NPR compared it to a conference of Trekkies.

Live long and prosper, Beel!

Alan at 12 — great way to start the conversation. Speaking just for me, though, I have no desire to replace the corporate media. What I want is for them to concentrate more on truth and less on teh faux “balance” meme that seems to have sprung up everywhere. (Talked about this on the media panel, so I won’t repeat it ad naseum here for everyone.) For me, the single most important thing about this medium is that it reminds people that THEY have the power to change the status quo — and it reminds the politicians and the media that the rest of us have our own minds that we will make up, and that they can respect that or move over for someone who will.

Very important stuff. Thanks so much for sharing your article!

I’m a daily lurker here. Love the site.

How about some tasty rib eye steaks?

Makes 4 servings

Customers tell us this is the best rib eye they have ever had. It starts with a great cut of meat and a hot grill: proof that good food doesn’t have to be difficult to make.

* 4 tablespoons olive oil
* 4 (10-ounce) rib-eye steaks
* 2 tablespoons minced garlic
* 6 tablespoons Essence (recipe follows)

Preheat the grill to high. Brush the olive oil over both sides of the steaks. Rub in the garlic and liberally season both sides of the steak with the Essence. Place the steaks on the hottest part of the grill and sear both sides to seal in the juices. Transfer the steaks to a cooler part of the grill and continue cooking until the desired degree of doneness, turning once. We like serving this with caramelized onions and mashed potatoes.

ESSENCE

Makes 2/3 cup

The Essence seasoning is one that we make from scratch to get the perfect combination of flavor and spice. We use it in a variety of recipes.

* 2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
* 2 tablespoons salt
* 2 tablespoons garlic powder
* 1 tablespoon black pepper
* 1 tablespoon onion powder
* 1 tablespoon cayenne
* 1 tablespoon dried oregano
* 1 tablespoon dried thyme leaves

Mix the paprika, salt, garlic powder, black pepper, onion powder, cayenne, oregano, and thyme together in bowl. Store in an airtight container.

Note: This rub is delicious on beef.

Source: http://www.brothersjudd.com/bl…..t_217.html

jayt at 14 — LOL, we make that same lasagna here as well on occasion. :)

lotus at 17 — wow, that sounds yummy. And lovely to look at as well — who could ask for more in a food? *g* Thanks so much for sharing that.

Teresa Ann — welcome! So happy you dropped by, and hope you’ll keep doing so. May you avoid shanks and sink all your putts today. (Unlike me every time I hit the links…)

I am sitting here, more coffee, cutting and pasting all the recipes and sadly waiting for the Comcast guy to fix my modem or figure out what is wrong with our cable. I may have to take a break to get this dang pipeline fixed. If I go, know that I will be back.

I am so hungry right now!

ilson at 9 – guy in kilt photos on streetprophets.com – you might have to search a bit for photos of the interfaith service at yk.

I am a lurker here but found YK to be a transformational experience for me(a geezer mom, over 50 with an adopted son, now age 7). I was at the FDL breakfast, the panel, but often around the streetprophets quilt table (I am one of the lucky people who made the first quilt.)

And yeah, I feel like I should have a degree in Plameology by now, for all the time I spend on line reading! It was great to see you and our heroes Joe and Larry(I think I yelled at them in the hotel hallway, “Yeah, two heroes!”).

PJ at 20 — well, that’s gonna come in handy the next time we BBQ. Yummy! Thanks for sharing that one.

Here are my cousin Faer’s Pakistani Meatballs:

Meatballs:
1 lb Hamburger
8 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon ginger
1.5 teaspoon red pepper
3 tablespoons chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon yogurt
1 teaspoon garamasala
1 egg
Several hard boiled eggs cut to meatball size preference.

Mix egg, onion, spices, yogurt, and let it sit for a few hours before you mix it with the meat. After the meatball mix is finished, form the meatballs around the egg pieces. I like to quarter large eggs.

Meatball Sauce:
3 T. melted butter or ghee
2 T. ginger
1.5 t. garamasala
.5 t. coriander
8 cloves minced garlic
.25 cup grated onion
.5 cup yogurt
3 chopped squished tomatoes
chopped green onion stalks

Put onions and gralic in butter unitl soft and then add spices, stirring and theadd yogurt and little wateer to make a nice sauce. Add the tomoatoes and make sure to smash them. Add green onions and then seperately brown meatballs and add them to the sauce. Let simmer for one hour. Add water as needed.

Raita- cooling sauce to help with the burn
1 cup or more yogurt
smattering of fresh ginger and fresh cilantro
cumin to taste

Serve with rice and nan.

I’m a college administrator who saw Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth last night. It was an AMAZING documentary, so well done. I started reading Kos, Body and Soul, and Billmon back in the fall of 2003 with my now ex. I read FDL, Hullabaloo, Informed Comment, and TPM pretty much every day.

Christy,

Thanks for the invitation! I’ve been a lurker here for about a year, and FDL has been part of my daily routine since then. Classic FDL: I’ve been gearing up to dive right in, introduce myself, make a few comments, and voila! This morning’s post.

Thanks to you and Jane and Pach and everyone for your incredible effort and passion and style. After working the election in Ohio in November 2004, my cynicism and bitterness basically resulted in inertia. You guys, and Digby, Kos, and Atrios, reminded me we can do this and rejuvenated me. And thanks for that.

Like others, I arrived here because of Plame, and I was hugely impressed with the analysis and information that I wasn’t getting anywhere else. I stayed because of the community, the brilliant comments, and your thorough debunking of all things wingnut.

Looking forward to working with you all en route to November 2006!

So, hi! FDLers, rock on.

Fido

Just this AM my husband got peeved at me for talking back to CNN, re;Bushs bounce in polls @CNN he has a 5% jump,but I can come here and see (we are not alone we have blogs) like so many of you I am tired of all the hate that comes from the repugs,THEY made this mess that has become OUR Country. Then the news??? reports are HOW THE DEMOCRATS ARE DIVIDED,to them I say ” Keep on thinking that” ,They will Never under stand how WE can have an indepentent mind, and sill be function as TRUE BLUEBLOODED AMERICANS.

imm at 23 — oh lordy, that tomato pie sounds amazing. With a fresh green salad and some lemonade, I’d be in heaven. Thanks so much for sharing it. (Is anyone else getting really hungry this morning?)

years ago, I had fun baking “gingerbread boys” — classical, simple and tasty. Then my sense of political correctness got to me so I had to make equally “gingerbread girls”. At first it was just two chocolate chips on the chest. Then it got elaborate and ended up pornographic. I scandalized a Halloween Party one year with my anatomically-correct gingerbread folk …

wants change at 26 — well said, and fantastic screen name. Welcome to the lake. :) And thanks so much for teaching — my mom was a teacher for more than 30 years and, as a group, I think teachers are the single most valuable and yet undervalued professionals in our society. So thank you, on behalf of every single child whose life has been touched by yours — thank you for everything you do.

Fun fact: Didja know that “pie” (meat, fruit, vegetable, cheese) was the primary food item enjoyed by pioneers and farmers throughout the 19th century in this country? Simple to make, kept for a while, and was easy to eat in the fields.

*ilson at 55: I used to know someone who did that. You didn’t by chance live in the DC area in the 70s, did you?

Well, when the MSM is making fun of trekkies, they completely miss that (a) they nearly all are adults; (b) paid their own way; and (c) aren’t in costume. (I do recommend the museum part of the Trek thing: for one thing, they have a real moonrock. The ride could use some updating, but it’s not bad.)

Another receipt:

LEMON CAKE PIE

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt
3 tbsp butter
2 lemons, rind and juice
2 eggs, separated
1 cup milk

Sift together sugar, flour, and salt. Add melted butter, juice and grated lemon rind, beaten egg yolks, milk, and eggwhites beaten stiff.
Pour into a pastry-lined plate and bake in a slow oven.

Notes: Use small to medium lemons, or you’ll have too much lemon.
Slow oven means about 275F.
You can bake this in a dish without the crust.

Kenevan at 30 — well said, and welcome. Thanks so much for all your hard work on the campaign scene — very much appreciated!

The American people are not disengaged, Christy. It’s the “Mainstream” that seeks to disengage us and put the likes of Joe Klein in our place.

Oooo, lina, MORE delight. I may lose my mind on here this morning!

Christy: WE MUST USE THIS AS THE START OF THE FDL COOKBOOK: FOOD FOR THE REVOLUTION!

Imm, didn’t meta say she had to work this morning but would look in on us later? Can’t wait for her pastry-chef expertise.

And wasn’t she the one who brought up onion pie? Then I mentioned Eudora Welty/Katherine Anne Porter’s recipe for same. Here that is, as it appears on page 272 of the 2001 (17th) printing of Southern Sideboards, by the Jackson, Mississippi, Junior League (I hope — can’t get Preview to work this morning):

Onion Pie

CRUST:
Lump of butter size of an egg
Rounded teaspoon lard
Heaping teaspoon baking powder
Salt
Fairly heaping cup of flour (sift before measuring)
Cold sweet milk [Southern for “not buttermilk”]
1 egg yolk (optional)
FILLING:
3 large sweet Spanish onions
1 large Tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon flour
Salt and pepper
2 eggs
1 cup whipping cream

CRUST: Work together the softened butter, lard, baking powder, salt and flour. Add enough cold sweet milk to make a good firm dough. Well-beaten yolk of an egg may be added if desired. Line an 8-inch pie plate with rolled pastry. FILLING: Shave onions fine; fry in butter to a nice brown, really brown and much reduced. Add flour. Stir well; salt and pepper to taste. Beat the eggs till pretty light; mix with cupful cream; fold them into the fried onions gently till perfectly mixed. Pour into the crust and bake about 30 minutes or till brown and puffy at about 400F. Serve at once. Serves 4.
Miss Eudora Welty

This is from a recipe Katherine Anne Porter gave me, which she got in France; these
little pies are served hot at the wine festivals along with the bottle of wine.

Eudora Welty, America’s first lady of letters, is a native of Jackson and a sustaining
member of the Jackson Junior League. A noted short story writer and photographer,
Miss Welty won the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for her novel THE OPTIMIST’S DAUGHTER.

ccmask at 37 — exactly so. And once you start contemplating how much larger that could be, you begin to see the value in all of this. And it’s potential for change. An educated, motivated group of citizens is a very, very powerful force for change. And I can’t tell you how much it means to me to be a part of this particular group. :)

This recipe is great, especially since strawberry season is imminent. Believe me, you will like it.

Tuna Burritos

Ingredients (makes 5-6, doubles easily):

your favorite tortillas
1 good-sized tuna steak
fresh strawberries, sliced not chopped
several garlic cloves (3 is fine), minced
crunchy fresh greens, torn (Romaine is preferred)
sweet bell peppers, sliced
goat or jack cheese, shredded (or the one you like)
black beans (canned can work)
fruit salsa (I prefer Mrs. Renfros Raspberry Chipotle for this, really perfect)
chipotle powder
cinnamon
cumin
lime juice to taste
sour cream
guacamole (optional, make it your way)
Spice rub (I use Emeril’s Essence, homemade only)
1 1/2 cup tomato juice (optional)
1 1/2 cup orange juice (optional)
1/2 bunch fresh thyme (optional)
balsamic vinegar (optional)
honey (optional)
spciy brown mustard or dijon (optional)

1. Prepare the grill and the steak. Rub the tuna generously with the spice rub. I actually have found Emeril’s essence is quite good but don’t buy it, it ain’t the same creature. The recipe is:
2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme

Just mix well. If you add a 1 tablespoon of Chipotle, it is perfect, although its not really Creole anymore.

When the grill is good and hot, grill the steak for 1 minute on a side per inch of the steak’s thickness. This give’s you a nice grilled exterior and a ruby, raw inside. Double the time if you want it drier (although please don’t, what did that tuna ever do to you?)

Let tuna stand a couple minutes when done, then cut it into 1/8-1/4 inch strips.

2. Make the beans. Some people treat black beans from a can like a disease but I find when in a hurry I can doctor some up that are really tasty. So two ways:

Dried Beans:
Boil the tomato and orange juices together. At the boil, add 1 cup dried black beans, the garlic, and the thyme (you will remove later so tie them). Reduce to simmer and simmer 1 1/2 hours or until the texture suits you. Stir occasionally and start tasting for texture early. After about a half hour (let the beans get started), add 1 tablespoon of cumin (more or less to taste) and 1-2 teaspoons of chipotle powder (more or less to taste) and cinnamon to taste. Add the cinnamon one teaspoon at a time until you have a nice hint of cinnamon but nothing overpowering. It will add a mole-like taste to the beans.

Canned Beans:
1 can of mostly drained black beans (I like Goya for this). In a skillet on medium-high, with a little oil of your preference, start the galic (put in the cold pan and heat with the oil). As the garlic just starts to pop in the oil, add 1 tablespoon of cumin (more or less to taste) and 1-2 teapsoons of chipotle powder (more or less to taste). Once spices have cooked in the oil and garlic for a bit and as the garlic is fragrant and just starting to brown, add the beans. Fry the beans for a minute or two to start getting the oil flavors into the beans. Then add a little bit at a time until taste, a little balsamic vinegar, lime juice, honey, and mustard. You want to create a tart, mildly sweet taste but only as strong as you like it. I use about a tablespoon of vinegar, a couple teaspoons of honey, and maybe a tablespoon of mustard but I don’t measure, I do things in steps till is tastes good.

In both cases, you want beans that are sticky, not watery, but not dry. You can add a little more juice if you need to to get the texture right. Feel free to doctor the beans further as your wont, they just need to be flavorful with a tart, sweet, mild cinammon flavor to them. I often toss in my favorite hot sauces or cayenne or sliced jalepenos to perk them up. Have at it, just do things gradually.

3. Fixins: have the bell pepper (prefer red), greens, salsa, strawberries, cheese, and sour cream (and/or guacamole) ready to serve. Have people make their own burritos – beans first, cheese, the tuna stips, then slices of strawberry, salsa, then crunchy stuff.

I have found eliminating the cheese and sour cream altogether is fine if folks want to cut the dairy out.

A very flexible burrito design, the combo of strawberries, the black beans the the spicy grilled tuna is really dynamite. I have seldom had people go so nuts for a dish as this, and I have made some pretty tasty meals in my life.

lina: since the age of 14, I have lived in Indiana all my life (except for a couple of summers in Greenwich Village: 1959 & ‘60)

Lina at 40 — whoa, that sounds amazing! Thanks so much — definitely a keeper!

I love to cook.

One of the delightful and bewildering things about moving from the midwest to the SF Bay area, though, was the fish counter at the supermarket. In November and December, when the Dungeones (sp?) crab season begins, crab is cheaper than catfish.

No, that was not a typo.

My midwestern brain just could not process that one. First, who BUYS catfish? You go out and catch them back behind your house or at your neighbor’s farm pond. (I’m sure midwestern grocers carried catfish, but I don’t ever remember seeing anyone actually buy it.) Second, crab is cheaper? Wow – culture shock.

But I got over it. Damn, that crab is good. Still, when you’ve got a jonesin’ for some catfish, you gotta do what you’ve gotta do . . .

Prepare the catfish: Get out a deep dish pie plate and two fairly large mixing bowls. In the pie plate, put a couple cups of flour. In the second, put three eggs and a cup or two of milk, mixing them together. (Don’t sweat the measurements, folks; it’s catfish, not rocket science.) In the third, mix equal parts flour and cornmeal, then add pepper to taste. Take the catfish and dredge (not Drudge!) it in the flour, then dip it in the milk and eggs, and finally into the cormeal mix. Set it aside on a plate, until you’ve got enough fish to fill your fryer basket (or skillet). If it’s humid, and the fish are sticky in the breading, put them back in the cornmeal mix for a second dusting.

Fry the fish as you’d ordinarily fry fish.

Along with the fish, the best sauce is a mix of ketchup, horseradish, and a touch of worcheshire. Mix according to your own taste, and then serve alongside.

The whole three bowl prep process can be done alone, but is much more productive and fun if there are at least two of you. Three is better, and if you’ve got four, then they can do the frying and serve the others drinks.

My four year old (an Iron Chef in training) loves to do this. One of us keeps our hands dry, while the other does the wet. If your wet hand gets too messy, step aside, wash your hands in the sink, then get back to work – but you can do this and keep your hands relatively clean if you religiously keep one hand reserved for pulling the fish out of the milk and eggs (the wet hand) and the other hand dry for everything else.

Serve with a nice non-oaky Chardonnay (avoid Napa and Sonoma for this – try Monterrey County wines) or a cool/cold beer. My longago HS classmates swore by PBR, but I just swear at PBR. Try a good ale instead.

Enjoy!

I grew up in the deep south, and the first few years after I left home, got married and had children, I thought I had to do everything the hard way, including the cooking. My sister took me aside on the phone one day and told me about a simple peach cobbler recipe that works for peaches, blueberries, blackberries (although I prefer deep-dish with dumplings for blackberries):

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Ingredients:
1 c self-rising flour
1 c milk
1 c sugar (variable..and now I’m experimenting with other sweeteners)
1 stick butter
1 large can of peaches (and some of the syrup) if you don’t have fresh or fresh-frozen peaches

Use butter to lightly coat the dish.
Flour and sugar first, add milk and stir a bit to get out the worst of the lumps. Add peaches and a bit of the juice. Slice butter over the mixture. Bake until brown on the top. Serve hot (my family loves the stuff with a scoop of vanilla ice cream).

Christy, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate what you do here. I’m not an articulate person. This makes me good support staff. I admire those of you who can jump right in so articulately. Regardless, we’re on the same page. I want my country back and I’m willing to do what I can and what must be done to get it back.

lotus, Wow!

Put that on the table next to the Tomato Pie!

years ago on NPR, I heard a great essay by Verta Mae Grodner about the joys of reading cookbooks — I have been reading with gusto your recipes today and analyzing what makes them work …

Beel at 41 — well, having been to many a science fiction writer’s convention in my time, it was somewhat like that (well, without the costuming from some of the fans, anyway). But dismissing the folks involved derisively is rude and arrogant, especially given their commitment to political action. “Those people” are the same folks who go to PTA meetings and company picnics and whatever else goes on in communities all over the place — they are America. And the folks who reported on the conference would have done well to remember that — because they are also people that I like to call “potential former subscribers” to the publications for which these folks write. ;-)

Hi everyone!

FDL is a great community that I’m compelled to touch everyday. Although I have many activist friends in real life I feel I’m getting to know many more across the country I might never know because of FDL. I would have loved to be at YK in person but it was second best to watch some of it on C-Span and read the comments and feel like I was experiencing the connections.

All together we are the people who will turn things around and get our country back. It doesn’t hurt that many of us are “older” and know what this country can be. Now that we all know there is this wider comunity, it will contiue to grow and it will not be stopped by anything they throw in our path.

We will also spin out other non-politicians like Tester and Lamont to bring back a government for and by the people. And, we will work like maniacs to get them elected.

I have to go to work now but here’s the recipe for the best Pumpkin Pie…

9″ pie pan lined with pie pastry/crust
2 eggs beaten to a froth
1 1/2 cups fresh pureed pumpkin
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup apricot jam
Graham Cracker Topping (recipe below…
prepare while the pie is baking for the first 20 minutes)

Graham Cracker Topping:
1/2 cup fine graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup very finely chopped walnuts
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbsps melted butter

Combine crumbs, sugar, nuts, and cinnamon. Add the melted butter and mix until crumbly.
——————————————————–
Directions…Preheat oven to 350 degrees (pie will be baked for 20 minutes and then for another 30 minutes). Combine beaten eggs, pumpkin, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt and stir with a wire whisk until blended. Blend in evaporated milk, water, and apricot jam. Pour into prepared pastry shell. Bake until custard is partially cooked, about 20 minutes. Carefully remove the partially cooked pie from the oven and sprinkle the Graham Cracker Topping crumbs evenly over the entire top. Return the pie to the oven and bake about 30 minutes longer, until the Topping is browned and the filling jiggles when the pan is gently shaken. Remove the pie from the oven and set aside to cool (the custard will continue to cook to firm it up). Serve warm or cold.

CowPunk at 44 — oooh, that dry rub with fresh garlic sounds awesome. Thanks so much for sharing it. And welcome to the land of the delurked. (Great name, btw…)

CowPunk at 44:

Essence? You wouldn’t happen to have a Food Network TV show or four, would you? . . .

Welcome, and don’t be a stranger. Well, don’t be any stranger than the rest of us, anyway.

Kenevan at 50 — oh, man, I am so craving so naan right now. Thanks so much for sharing that one! :)

You bet, imm 69 — rat next to Kenevan’s cousin’s meatballs!

(Delirium sets in . . .)

I blogged about this locally, as a way of sharing the wealth with which I felt I had been blessed at YK, saying in part:

Even the lurkers had plenty to contribute: I heard enough insight and sharp analysis from fellow blog nobodies to have gotten new hope about the state of our nation. The best part is that these were regular people, with jobs and families and different points of view, but united in a common desire to take their country back from the bastards who stole it.

mommybrain…

If you happen to see this re: previous thread “Beggars and Thieves” #278. I know what you mean about the nuances between Van Nuys-Sepulveda and Colo. Blvd. We guys did it all. Through the LA corridor from Newport thru Huntington, Costa Mesa, Redondo and Long Beach, all the way to San Fernando and north to Ventura. Do you recall frats, surfers, hard boys and hodaddies and tar-balls? I can even remember when S. Fer. had orange groves. I just luv it when I run across someone who knows the old LA area! Back then So. Cal. was a wonderful fantasy land. Tailor-made and custom cut for the young. Full of dreams, the beach, parties and summers which seemed endless.

oltex @77: well said.

Christy Hardin Smith said: This is absolutely right. One of the things that I found most fascinating — and fun — about the YearlyKos convention, and about my short time at the Take Back America Conference earlier this week as well — was the large number of folks who introduced themselves to me, but who had never posted a comment here at FDL. (emphasis mine).

I looked for you during the long time I was at the Take Back America Conference, but alas, I missed you, and missed all the other bloggers who decided that YearlyKos was a more important use of their time. Perhaps it was, I can’t say. I do know that there were twice as many in attendance at Take Back America as at Yearly Kos, many of whom are avid blog readers (my “read daily” list has expanded to the point that there is now a sub-section entitled really read daily) and who, like myself, kept wandering over two the two rows of tables reserved for bloggers empty or nearly so for long periods of time. Perhaps many were at sessions recording reactions on the hoof for publication later, I don’t know. I suspect, however, that given the paucity of comments about Take Back America and the oceans of speculation about what, if anything, YearlyKos meant, most of the biggies in left-leaning blogdom were conspicuous by their absence.

Forgive me for harping on this point…I’ve made it on other boards which review Yearly Kos. Yearly Kos was badly timed and badly placed. It forced persons with good reason to attend both to choose between them, for both financial and time reasons. What a shame. If the left cannot coordinate it’s expanding core of experimental new media and its hard core, on the ground, nuts and bolts, cause oriented, election oriented workers, it creates the opposite of synergy. Washington DC could certainly have hosted YKos and TBA simultaneously. The Hilton probably could have accommodated both. If not a mini-hike would have been all that would have been necessary to get from one perfectly good conference hotel to another. If not simultaneous conference, why not segued conferences? Overlap a day or a few hours. Offer two-fer rates, bright people should be able to figure this out. We’re the bright people, remember? And we’ve got an election to win and ideas to promote and people to convince.

Sorry I haven’t contributed a recipe. If anyone looks at this post, replies, and asks for one, I’ll contribute either a recipe for the best Swedish Rye bread or the best Swedish Ginger Cookies or> both.

I can’t find my grandma’s sour cream sugar cookie recipe,so this is from memory:

It’s the standard sugar cookie recipe,but you add 1/4 cup more flour,and 1/2 cup of GOOD,full fat sour cream.Increase the baking time by about 2 minutes,and keep an eye on them towards the end,so they don’t burn.

Remove them from the oven and sprinkle with granulated sugar while the cookies are hot.The cookies are very soft and moist and simply are divine.

Here’s my lasagna recipe:

1)Boil one package of lasagna noodles according to package directions.Add a bit of olive oil to the water.Drain and set aside.

2)Oil a big baking dish,set that aside.

3)In a large bowl combine:
1 lb of ricotta cheese
1/2 cup of parmesan and/or romano cheese
1 egg
1/2 cup of torn fresh spinach leaves
5 or 6 large fresh basil leaves,finely chopped
1 cup shredded mozzerella

Stir well to mix

4)For the sauce,I use Prego Organic or a sauce with no sugar(and please no fake sweetners.If a sauce says it’s sugar free or no sugar added,make sure there’s no Splenda or aspartame stuck in there,it’s nasty).I add two jars of the sauce to 1lb of browned hamburger,drained.Let it simmer for about 30 minutes and add more fresh or dried herbs(oregano,basil,and just a pinch of thyme.

5)Spread about a cup of sauce on the bottom of the pan.Make a layer of noodles,spread the cheese mixture on and add more shredded mozzerella(I end up using about a pound for this recipe).Add another layer of noodles,and ladle on the sauce,adding more shredded mozzerella.Repeat this process until the pan is full.Make sure the top layer of noodles is covered in sauce so the noodles stay soft.

Place the pan on a large cookie sheet(to catch bubble over)and bake at 325 for about 40 minutes.Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving.This freezes well,so any left overs can be placed in individual microwave safe containers and frozen for up to three months.

Now where’s that oilfieldguy and his rollie pollies?!

All these delicious recipes! Mine, i fear, was just a time saver, though good enough for a weekday supper, when homework and chores and all that goes on in family life eats your time up. I forgot to mention adding a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg to the mix…and 1/2 tsp of vanilla. I never actually wrote the recipe down.

Lurking no more!

Like aimai, I’ve found in the blogs a vehicle through which I feel I’m making some difference (however miniscule). Whether it’s a $5 contribution to Tester or an email to Specter begging him to do his duty to protect the Constitution and the people of this country, my actions may be small things but they’re a helluva lot more than I was doing previously, and far more satisfying than screaming at the TV.

It’s funny, but I can’t remember which blog I visited first. It was about a year ago, my husband was watching yet another infuriating talking heads “news” program, and I fled into the spare room and hit the computer. He, poor darling, still can’t get enough of the bobbleheads. I spend the time cruising through the blogs, linking over to real news and becoming far better informed in the same space of time than I would have been had I the patience to watch the circus performers on CNN and MSNBC. (And when his shows are over, I come out and tell him what’s REALLY going on.)

LOVED the posts, videos and pix that came out of YearlyKos last weekend. Thanks to all of you who put them up and helped folks like me share part of the experience.

On that subject, I’ve read some sterling reviews of Harry Reid’s remarks. Does anybody know if there’s video or audio out there? I’ve been searching, fruitlessly.

P.S. One other thing I found through the blogs, and this happened recently. My stepbrother, whom I’ve not seen or spoken to in years, is a Fighting Dem in Missouri’s 9th district. http://www.burghardforcongress.org/ He’s up against an incumbent Republican who’s held the seat for 10 years now, and this quest is likely futile. But God bless him for trying.

I’d never heard of Tomato Pie or Onion Pie before today. There’s so much to learn here at FDL! Cut and pasted both recipes, and some of the others too.

Ok, here’s my contribution. Not pie, but really tasty.

Artichoke Dip

1 jar or can of artichoke hearts
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 large garlic clove, peeled and minced (or 1 teaspoon ground garlic from a jar if you’re lazy time challenged like me!)

Preheat oven to 350 F
Drain artichoke hearts and chop coarsely.

Mix all ingredients. Place in an ungreased baking dish and bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Should be bubbly and slightly browned.

Serve warm with crackers or toast. A loaf of French bread can be sliced and toasted in the oven while the dip bakes. Just sayin. ;)

TOW

Morning, everyone – am I the only one having a problem with mouth-watering after reading all these recipes? Geez…

This is my recipe for the Best Brownies Ever. Aside from their deeply chocolate-y flavor, they are quick, and easy (and do not involve opening a box!).

Preheat oven to 350 dgrees. Spray a 9 x 13 pan with Baker’s Joy, or grease & flour it.

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2 sticks butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 cup flour
1 tbsp vanilla
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a microwave-safe large mixing bowl, break chocolate and butter into smaller chunks. Microwave on High for 1 min 30 secs. It probably won’t all be melted, but stir it a bit to see how much more melting of chocolate you can get with existing heat. If chocolate still not melted, microwave for another 45 seconds or so. You don’t want to burn the chocolate, so better to have to microwave three times, than do it once and have to start all over!

Stir the butter/chocolate mix until all is melted and it’s not too hot.

Add sugar, and stir well with a wire whisk.

Add eggs, one at a time, stirring gently.

Add flour, stirring just until flour is blended.

Add vanilla and stir.

Add chocolate chips (you can also add nuts if you like them. I’ve also used a combination of chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and white chocolate chips).

Mixture will be pretty stiff. Plop it in the pan, and spread until even.

Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, depending on your oven, and how you like your brownies, until a toothpick inserted comes out with only a few crumbs on it. If it comes out “clean,” your brownies may be too dry.

Cool until you can’t stand not trying one (*g*). When really cool, dust with confectioner’s sugar, cut into bars and watch them fly off the plate.

These are so easy and quick that I could make them for a kid who announced upon waking up, “oh, Mom – I forgot I’m supposed to bring brownies to school today.”

Am off to get ingredients for a pie recipe I saw in Martha Stewart Living this month – two-layer strawberry cheesecake. Am making it for a Father’s Day brunch we’ve been invited to by my daughter’s boyfriend’s parents.

I’m thrilled that you posted this thread. It’s also kind of weird that you’ve done so just as I’ve been pondering some issues the last few days and was wondering who to talk about it with. I’m more of a lurker than a poster so I was uncomfortable posting about some of the following stuff because it always seemed off topic. So if anyone has any advice/input on what I’m about to write about I’d love to hear from you at lisadawn82 at yahoo dot com.

The first subject is grad school. I’m really fascinated by the intersection of the internet and it’s influence upon politicians and policy. I really, really want to learn some formal policy evaluation skills for my own policy analysis benefit but I also am dying to do formal research on the influence of blogs like this one on the political landscape. The closest program that I can find that meets those need is a Public Affairs Policy degree at American University in DC. Does anyone else know of a program that may address these two areas?

Second I’ve decided to do some research into progressive organizations like NARAL, NAACP, HRC and the Sierra Club on how they come up with their score cards on politicians and how they use them to endorse those said politicians. I’ll look at what committees these congressmen/senators are in, if their cloture votes differ from out of committe votes and how these votes are evaluated by these progressive organizations. I know that it’s going to be a long slog. I wish I had committed to this earlier in the election season so that it could be helpfull during the primaries. But since I hadn’t maybe it can just be used to pressure these organizations to get their head’s out of their butts and re-evaluate their priorities.

Way kewl thredd Redd & everybody!

As for cuisine, I like mine dirt-simple.

Potatoes au laziness:

Cut up and boil several new potatoes.
Put on a plate and mash up with a fork.
Add some salt, butter, garlic powder, and parsley.

Cucumber Ecstacy:

Peel and slice up a cucumber.
Put on a plate and drizzle with sweet rice vinegar and a scoche of sesame oil.

I’m sad I can’t share any of my family recipes. We are packing to put our house on the market and all but my basic cookbooks have been boxed and are in the back/bottom of the storeage unit.

I am going to try the recipes listed here and I promise to share our family favorites on another Saturday.

Sharkbabe at 86, Thanks, that’s more my speed.

OT.Please read”Cindy Sheehan,@ The Progressive
it is a speech she has written,explains Iraq inside our hearts. PS I caught it @smoking chimp.com

Lately I have been wondering how many “daily lurker’s” there are at FDL. It would be interesting to know how many of us are here everyday (every chance we get).

Even though FDL is on my “read first in the morning” list, I’m basically a lurker here. I comment more actively at DKos and BooMan Tribune. I just want to say, though, that some of the nicest, most interesting people that I met at YKos were FDL commenters. I’ve always thought that the FDL commenters were intelligent and thoughtful. It was a joy to find out they are also some of the nicest real life people people you would ever want to meet. It made me regret not signing up for the FDL brunch where I could have met even more. Maybe next year.

Sharkbabe,my hubby loves cukes.This year it looks like I have a bumper crop of them.I’m going to try making bread and butter pickles with vidalia onions this year.I haven’t done any home canning since I was a teenager,oughta be interesting,lol.

He likes his cukes with a greek style salad dressing,feta cheese and black olives all mixed together and marinated overnight.I make this at least once a week.It’s quite yummy,and light eating in hot weather.

lisadawn82 — Impressive interests! Welcome to the Lake. Have you checked out the Kennedy School at Harvard or the LBJ School at University of Texas. There are really smart, interesting people at each and the fun of grad school is that you get to do what you want (as long as you can find an appropriate advisor/mentor). Wherever you go, please work on that research agenda!

Peterr, so Monterey Valley chardonnays are less oaky? I’ve avoided almost all CA chards for that reason. Give me a nice buttery one anyday. I’ve also heard New Zealand chards are less oaky but haven’t found any in my local stores. Lots of Australian though.

Here’s one for you, Sharkbabe:

Get yourself some good fresh tomatoes. From your back yard if possible; from the farmers market if not. Avoid the supermarket here, folks. They’ve got to be ripe and ready to go.

Get yourself some good fresh mozzarella cheese – not the hard stuff wrapped in plastic, but the fresh stuff that comes floating in liquid.

Get yourself some good fresh basil. Not dried, but fresh. While you’re at it, get some good extra virgin olive oil, too.

Slice the tomatoes and cheese, then lay them out in alternating layers around a plate. Tomato and cheese, then overlap another pair of tomato and cheese, etc. You can get all fancy if you want, and make a cute spiral of them, or just lay them out more haphazardly. Once they’re all plated, drizzle some olive oil over the plate, and top with shredded basil. Serve at room temp. (You don’t refrigerate your tomatoes, do you? Kills the flavor . . .)

Bon appetit!

(And that’s it for my French.)

Years ago,when I was first married, I lived in a small house on a lake in a community comprised of mostly elderly couples. Well, at the end of a long week, I received an invitation to attend an Association Meeting down down in the park on the lake the following Saturday. I was told to bring a covered dish and whatever I would like to drink. This allowed me to know that there would be food, but; I thought that the reason why they wanted us to bring a dish with a cover was because of all the ants in the park. My husband was a pilot and out of town at the time, but I decided to attend anyway. That Saturday morning, I arrived in the park in a flowing dress, my hair in long braids, with a dish and a cover for my dish. Imagine how embarrassed I was when others had food in their dishes! The women were very nice though and we all had a good laugh.
I am posting a recipe from Pillsbury that I have been making for years. I always make it the day before the party. Here is a picture of it….http://www.pillsbury.com/images/recipes/beautyshots/r12133fp.jpg

FRUIT PIZZA: I have been making this one for years. I always make it the day before the party.

1 Package of PillsburyRefrigerated Sugar Cookies
1 (8-oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Frest Strawberries, bananas, kiwi, blueberries and grapes.
1 Jar of Orange Marmalade

1 . Slice cookie dough as directed on package. Use a round pizza pan as your baking pan and as your serving dish. Cover the pan with foil. Take the first slice of cookie dough and put it in the direct center of the foiled pan. You will work from the inside out by placing the dough slices around the center piece, and gently overlap them so that there are no spaces in your “pizza” after it is cooked.
2 . Bake cookie dough using sugar cookie directions. Let cool for at least 15 minutes. Then, turn the dough upside down on a large plate and peel the foil off the bottom. Now put it back, right side up, on your pizza serving dish.
3 . In small bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with a spoon until mixed. Spread mixture over cooled cookie crust. Arrange fruit over cream cheese. I always start with a large strawberry in the middle, then slices of kiwi around the strawberry, then a row of grapes, then a row of bananas, until there is no more room.
4 . Take a third of a cup of Marmalade and add a couple of teaspoons of warm water into it and mix. Spoon or brush marmalade over fruit making sure that all is covered. Refrigerate the day before serving. Serve it in slices like you would a pizza.

And food for thought dept: Redd, the last three words of your post are also the title of one of my favorite essays, by Brenda Ueland – who asserts among other things that “listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force”

http://tinyurl.com/jogu8

(sorry some clown highlighted keywords)

LisaDawn82 @ 85, those sound like really relevant areas of inquiry; hope you’ll keep us posted on your progress. What if you emailed your proposals to a bunch of poliSci departments – run it up the flagpole and see who salutes?

Hi,everybody. I lurked at FDL for months before posting a comment. Now I post one every now and then. Still, I consider myself a newbie here. It’s wonderful even being a small part of this great community!

Here’s a recipe for a flourless chocolate cake that I adapted from an article that appeared in “Gourmet” several years ago. At the time, I needed to come up with a dessert for a houseguest who was allergic to both wheat and dairy products. Since then it has become a favorite with everyone in our circle of friends here in Portland, Maine.

Here ’tis:

3 1/2 oz. bar high quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened) such as Lindt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
Preheat oven to 375°F and butter an 8-inch round baking pan. A 9-inch round pan is too big and the cake won’t work well. Line bottom with a round of wax paper and butter paper.

Chop chocolate into small pieces. In a double boiler or metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate with butter, stirring, until smooth. Remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat and whisk sugar into chocolate mixture. Add eggs and whisk well. Sift 1/2 cup cocoa powder over chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined. Pour batter into pan and bake in middle of oven 25 minutes, or until top has formed a thin crust. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes and invert onto a serving plate.

Dust cake with confectioners sugar. Cake will keep well a day or two in an airtight container.

As my dear aunt used to say, although I’m sure she didn’t coin the phrase;

There is no recipe that a little chocolate or butter couldn’t improve.

TOW –

Amen to buttery Chards! Yeah, Monterrey wineries are much less oaky than their neighbors in Napa and Sonoma. Russian River chards are good this way, and Mendocino chards too. Aussies are great for this – they detest the oak.

My latest new discovery is the chardonnay made by “3 Blind Moose.” The label is great too!

I’m a longtime lurker here, although I post frequently at dKos. I’m not sure why… it may just be the difference between a community blog where I can contribute my own diaries… contrasted with the sense that this site is Jane and Christie’s (and friend’s) joint.

And that they’re all far more eloquent than I’ll ever be. But I’m here pretty much Every Single Day.

In any case, I’m de-cloaking to express my admiration, appreciation and solidarity. I thought each person on the Plame panel at YK2006 was a bona-fide American hero/ine.

The conference itself went beyond all expectations: it felt like the family reunion for the vast left wing conspiracy – both deeply personal and political at the same time.

NaNaPam, I know what you mean. I’m so self-critical that by the time I’ve revised and spell-checked etc. it’s a new thread, lol. But keep on posting. I feel the same way about this place.

Anybody ever do butter beans and ham hocks with fried corn bread, fried okra, greens and pan fries for supper? This is fine old Oklahoma haute cuisine. Raisin pie and/or rollie pollies for dessert. Simple, to the point, rib stickin’ stuff.

Or…how about gator tail, bbq’d oysters in the shell, biscuits, collards, and catfish w/ hotsauce. Rhubarb cake or peach cobbler for after dinner appetizer. And of course a bluberry swizzel mint leaf apertif.

Quite the groaning board we’re piling up, hey y’all? How good would it be to zap us all together in one place totin’ our “covered dishes”?

Well now, this is just uncanny — what should appear in my email 3 minutes ago than this from my food-editor pal. Mought as well pass it right along:

thought of y’all with this recipe [says she]:
Got it from a restaurant in Pensacola from a secret source. I can’t publish it, but I am nutty for it.

It’s killer; you wouldn’t want to do it too often. (but could cut the heavy cream to half-and-half; it still works.)

(A sauv blanc or even a fume blanc would work here. Or, an oaky chardonnay. That’s to drink. . . .Any good white would work
in recipe.)

Foodjan

Grits A Ya-Ya

8 strips bacon, diced
1 Tbsp. garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. shallots, minced
3 Tbsp. butter
White wine
1 lb. peeled and deveined jumbo shrimp
1 portabello mushroom cap, sliced
1/4 cup diced scallions
2 cups chopped fresh spinach
2 cups heavy cream
3 cups smoked gouda cheese grits (recipe follows)
Salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Add bacon and cook for about 3 minutes, then add garlic and shallots. Sauté and then add butter and a splash of white wine. When the butter is half melted, add the shrimp. When the downsides of the shrimp become white, flip them and add mushrooms, scallions and spinach. Sauté for 2 minutes. Remove the shrimp. Pour in the heavy cream and let simmer while stirring. When reduced by one third, add salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste. Return shrimp to the sauce and combine. Spoon the sauce and shrimp onto heaping mounds of cheese grits.

Serves 4

Smoked Gouda Cheese Grits:

Bring 1 qt. chicken stock and 2 qts. heavy cream to a boil. Add 1 lb. grits and cook on high heat for 5 minutes stirring rapidly. Add 1/4 lb. butter and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. Add 1 lb. diced smoked gouda cheese. Stir to incorporate to smooth consistency.

Welcome Lurkers!: Grandma’s Arroz con Pollo Fiesta

Ingredients

2 cut chickens, on bone, breasts cut into 2 pcs
1 lb (approx) cooked ham, cut into small cubes, about 1/8 to 1/4 inch each
1 large spanish onion, diced
4 cups rice; Uncle Ben’s will do
4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pcs.
2 large green bell peppers, diced
5-6 small packets of Badia Saffron, or equivalent spanish saffron
4 cups chicken broth
10 oz. green, pitted spanish olives (pimentos ok)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt & pepper to taste

The Night Before

Marinate the chicken:
Mix the chicken on a large bowl with the bacon, onions, ham, peppers and drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Refrigerate overnight.

The Day of the Feast

Remove the chicken from the mixture, reserving all the ham, onions, peppers and bacon on the side. Sprinkle the chicken in salt and pepper to taste, and two or three packages of the saffron. Mix the chicken a bit for even coverage. (You can’t go very wrong overdoing saffron in this recipe, so buy extra if you wish)

In a large dutch oven or other large sautee pan, preheat olive oil over medium or medium high heat. Braise the chicken pieces to seal in their juices, turning for even coverage. Don’t cook the chicken; just make the surace areas sufficiently white and lightly brown.

Remove the chicken from your sautee pan or dutch oven. Reduce heat to medium if necessary, then add the meat and vegetable mixture. Sautee lightly until onions and peppers soften. Preheat oven to 350 F.

If you’re using a large Dutch Oven, add the rice to the sautee mixture to seal it a bit, stirring to mix evenly. Don’t brown the uncooked rice; just let it preheat and soak in all the juices. Add the chicken broth and remaining saffron once that’s done, simmering for about five minutes. Add the chicken and olives (a little more olive oil won’t hurt), shut the lid on the Dutch Oven, and bake in 350 F oven for 1 1/2 or 2 hours, stirring occasionally (watch to see liquid absorbtion of rice to guage timing). If you’re not using a Dutch Oven, you’ll have to transfer this process at some point to a large roasting pan. Be sure to cook all this covered.

Serves about ten people, depending on your mixture of adults and kids. This is a family meal.

This recipe can be converted to a paella recipe, by strategically adding shrimp, mussels, scallops, cut lobster tails and Spanish chorizos during the last half hour of oven cooking.

Lotus, I’ve been making onion pie for years, but your inclusion of whipped cream — that blows my mind! Can’t wait to to try it!

For all you onion lovers out there, here’s a rockin hot dip I ran across at a friend’s birthday party a couple of weeks ago.

2 cups mayo, 2 cups shredded Jarlsberg, 2 cups chopped vidalia onions. Mix together in a bowl, pour into casserole dish, bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes til golden and bubbling. Lay out some Ritz crackers for dipping– and whatever else suits your fancy.

After reading all these posts, I think I need to go to the grocery store!

Hi Christy….

I have already had a pot o coffee ( I woke up early, beautiful sunrise here in Michigan!), but here is what I want to share.

Neo-Con Stew

1 part Informed Electorate
1 part Honest Vote Tabulation
1 part Complete Disgust w/Current Regime
1 part Ann Coulter (representative hypocrite, a must have for the stew)
20 million parts Rootz flavor

*Substitute whatever Repug hypocrite you wish. Your neighbor, your current representative, POTUS, Karl Rove etc.

Start cooking the stew now. Gather your family for a November dinner!

It is time to take action. The so-called patriots in our government are really chicken hawks. If your Rep or Senator support the war in Iraq and the GWOT in general, they should be considered criminal and voted out of office. This includes any Democrat.

Let’s take back our government. NOW!

OK kiddo — you right right ovah heah and sit by ME!

Underlying the whole bubbling energy and wisdom to be found on the blogs and especially FDL, Kos Atrios, TO, Digby and so on is the presumption that the cummunity WILL rise up and crash the gate and once inside can actualy DO SOMETHING SANE with our government.

What a lovely thought but I am too cynical and think this is too late in coming and it is probably naive to think that the security of the state will yeild to the will of the people.

Truth be told, we live in an illuision that we have a democracy. We don’t. We have some of the trappings of one, but we are clearly moving increasingly in the wrong direction.

The assault on democracy was largey under the radar as the monopolist plundered resources and exploited labor to define the essential pardigm of the republicans… it’s all about wealth, winning and unfetttered free markets and no government regulation. If you are a hindrance to wealth creation step aside.

The real consolidation of the growing facism came in the partnership of expediancey of the religious fundies and the corporate whores. This marriage created the prefect illusion that the move to the right was people powered with God as the guarauntor of the result. Big money allowed the fanatical fundies to do their bidding at the poles, voting suppressing votes and whatever it takes to get God’s Own Party in the con. This paved the way for the corporate whores to steal steal steal and if course make sure that no one would stop them.

Do you think this crew will let you vote them off the island? Hell no!!!!!!

Finally efforts like the roots project is galvanizing some action… little and too late. But perhaps this may the seed of what can rise when the big bubble called america bursts… and voting a dumbocratic congress in 06 is not going to prevent the inevitable. Burst, crash, plunge, slide… pick your word… the inertia will be simply too large to stop.

But before it does there will be lots of pain and suffering and when it all stops.. perhaps like a phoenix a people powered government car rise up. If we don’t take the rest of the world with us in our slide toward our demise… we will find much of the rest of the world is far ahead of us in the justice and equality departments.

Figure 2012 to be about the time we all can look around and decalre hell on earth. America.. the failed experiment… came to and end… hopefully it will be a whimper and not a bang… but we still have all those nukes to do something with. eh?

A recipe I do in the summer is simple and requires no cooking at all. The components will vary with their availability but the basics are found easily. More exotic ingredients are nice but nonessential.

A simple fruit salad. Use fresh produce. I live in a very rural area in S. Illinois, about ten miles from the closest market, a Kroeger’s, and they don’t stock stuff more unfamiliar to the natives than pineapples and bananas.

My usual “makings” include: bananas, pineapple, grapes (either purple or green, or both), peaches, pears, oranges, and whatever else catches my eye when browsing the aisle.

The personal touch involves attention to detail. I cut the grapes in half, and ditch the pits, if present. Section the oranges and remove the skin. For eveything else: peel, core, slice and dice. I try to get the pieces roughly the same size.

For additional juice, puree some of the fruit, add a splash of water if needed, add sugar to make it sweeter if you need to. Chill.

It’s fun to eat, looks nice, doesn’t heat up the kitchen, makes a good dessert, a great snack, and gives a poor cook a chance to shine at a family picnic.

My Mother-in-law’s Meatloaf

2 lbs fatty ground beef, laced with gristle, partially frozen
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to broil. Pat ground beef into a glob. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil until top is charred and dry and middle is still partially frozen. Don’t bother draining the fat.

Serve with instant potato flakes.

Angry Old Broad – I LOVE that homemade pickles & onions thing – good luck!

Peterr – I could live on fresh tomatoes & basil. Even [ducking] dried basil. That mozzarella extra sounds like heaven for my next indulgence occasion!

cathy: LOL

Jesus, lotus – I am gaining weight reading that recipe, but I am also drooling on the keyboard!

This is my favorite dessert recipe, from Tony DeLemba’s California Bistro, which I would highly recommend except that it seems to be out of print. He credits this recipe to his friend Jackie, so it goes under the name “Jackie’s Flourless Chocolate Cake”.

1/2 pound semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup unsalted butter plus 1 tbsp for pan
5 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
2/3 c. sugar
powdered sugar for dusting

Pre-heat oven to 300 deg. F.
Melt chocolate and butter in top of double boiler. Allow to cool.
Butter sides and bottom of a 10-inch cake pan, then line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper; butter parchment also.
Whisk egg yolks and vanilla into chocolate mixture. Whip egg whites with pinch of salt until soft peaks form; add sugar and continue to whip until they are firm and shiny. Do not overwhip.
Gently fold egg whites into chocolate mixture in three stages. I use a wide and slightly scooped spatula.
Pour into buttered pan and bake. At the hour mark, start testing, a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.
When done, remove from oven and immediately loosen the sides with a knife, then invert onto a cardboard cake circle and allow to cool. It is normal for the center to sink inward.
When cool, dust with powdered sugar and serve with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream.

Notes from constant user:
1. When you have made this one a couple of times, it takes about 20 minutes total.
2. This recipe is great with ingredients around the house. For special occasions, use expensive chocolate, imported butter, the freshest eggs, special vanilla. Even for everyday use, I recommend excellent chocolate.
3. I use a springform pan. The cake rises a lot during cooking, so the higher sides keep it in the pan. It also simplifies the removal.
4. If you don’t know about your oven, use an oven thermometer.
5. Skip the whipped cream. Instead, get a 12 oz. package frozen raspberrys. Bring to room temperature in the bag. Press berrys, a handful at a time, through a sieve. Add a bit of sugar, depending on the amount of juice. Bring to a boil, and reduce to a thin syrup. Cool in refrigerator. Drizzle that over powdered sugar topping.
6. It doesn’t take a lot of this one to make a serving.

Hello from Vancouver BC,

I’ve been reading a number of left-leaning US blogs since before the invasion of Iraq & was heartened to discover a wealth of kind-hearted, intelligent, articulate Americans who were truly concerned about direction taken by Bush & his cronies soon after 9/11; something not so obvious if one relied on traditional news sources.

Found FDL early last fall through links on the Plame leak & have stayed for the informative posts, lively discussions & light-hearted humour (reminiscent of Billmon’s early blogging days).

I remain a lurker not least because I don’t feel there’s much I can contribute to the discussion as a Canadian, other than to let you know that many of us up here support your efforts to take back your country.

Thanks for making us all feel so welcome!

Just thinking the same thing, Anne . . .

Hi to all. I’ve basically been a lurker until the CSPAN coverage of the YearlyKos convention. I’m a 40-something married mom of 9 yr old twin boys and full time caretaker of my 57 yr old mentally retarded aunt (she’s our 3rd child LOL). I have voted in almost every election since I turned 18 but never considered myself political until the 2000 election when I went to bed and Al Gore was president and when I woke up, Bush was. I found the liberal blogs during the run up to the Iraq war and thought I’d finally found heaven. There WERE other people out there who thought exactly as I did, and from then on I was addicted. After the ‘04 election I just wanted to pack up my family and move to Canada. Since then, I’ve written more letters to editors, called and emailed more politicians than I did family, gave money to candidates and causes and even have my boys calling Rove ‘turd-blossom’ and the right wingers ‘republicrappies’. I now yell obscenities at the T.V. and radio! I cant thank you enough you wonderful people here at FDL for keeping my sanity in tact at times when I just wanted to stand and scream!
Here is a great ‘CheeseCake Cups’ receipe that is easy and DELICIOUS

INGREDIENTS:
16 vanilla wafer cookies
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

——————————————————————————–

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Line muffin pans with cupcake papers.
Place one wafer cookie in the bottom of each cupcake paper. In a medium bowl, cream together cream cheese and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth. Pour over wafers in cupcake papers.
Bake in preheated oven 15 minutes, until golden and set.
Top with chocolate chips or cherry pie filling, if you like

I would like to share the following:
I read FDL every day. Sometime please get on the subject of chemical injury. The push of chem manufacturers and the support they get from the federal government is leading to much disability of a kind that makes even finding a place to live nearly impossible. People like me can’t tolerate many building materials and many products such as cleaners. My condition is the result of insecticide sprayed monthly and weekly for years in a closed, unventilated office. Right now I am a property owner of a property I can’t live in, so I rent it out. At the moment I am living in my car, though I am not broke at all. There is no hospital, assisted living or nursing home room here I can tolerate. The admin of these locally refuses in writing to change cleaning products. There may be a rental, and soon I will be having a place built to my specs. I was offered a room in an apartment which has an obvious odor indoors of pesticide, the perimeter of the building has been sprayed for ants, the lawn recently has had ‘weed and feed’ applied, containing 2,4,D — a chemical that is/was part (half?) the formula of Agent orange. My friends who live there are both seriously ill. There is so little in the general media about this that speaking of it sounds screwy, but thousands are living in these ways. Some so sensitized we can detect these conditions, others with different illnesses unaware of their sickening surroundings. All of it needs to be recognized and corrected. Though there are numerous activist groups I don’t see anything on the blogs relating to this situation, which certainly goes back to wrongful allocation of resources, wealth funneled to the wealthy rather than promoting the general welfare.

cathy 113 – too funny

Oh golly, cathy 114 — condolences and best wishes for a speedy recovery!

Christy (and all) — I saw Glenn Greenwald at Washington DC’s “Drinking Liberally” on Wednesday. And while what Glenn has to say is far from cheery, it was heartening to see people start to understand both what’s at stake and how to turn the ship of state.

I’ve thought for some time that Tip O’Neil’s dictum that “all politics are local” has, with the development of the netroots (seen in spaces like FDL and dKos) and the DNC’s 50-state strategy, found its feet in the digital age.

Personally, I don’t want cookie cutter candidates and astroturf democracy. I want a rich and challenging, loud and fractious political culture where no one voice or set of voices gets drowned out. I like my politics strong, like my coffee.

Thanks to you, Jane, Pach, and everyone else here.

I thought I would be the only lurker at Kos. Much to my surprise about 1/4 of the attendees were like me.

One of the impressions I came away with was that Kos was a close knit community and FDL was a close knit family.

RECIPE FOR DISASTER

Put George W. Bush in the White House.

ceeinbc, hello and thanks for the encouragement. You’d better beware of Bushco up there – you have a lot of lovely natural resources up there, and hey, he fomented a coup in Venezuela for that.

scory and Organic George — HUZZAH!

Oh, and a recipe:

Roast Chicken Stuffed with Oranges and Limes

One 4 to 5 lbs Whole Chicken
4-5 large cloves Garlic
4 Oranges
4-6 Limes
1 bunch Fresh Cilantro
1/2 Pepper (Habenero, Jalapeno or Chipotle)
4 tablespoons Ground Cumin
2 tablespoons Pepper
1 tablespoon Salt
2 cups Orange Juice
1 cup Sherry
Olive Oil
2 tablespoons Butter

Roasting Pan and Adjustable Rack
Basting Tube and Bulb
10 – 12″ saute pan
Small sauce pan

Pull the liver, giblets, heart, and neck out of the chicken’s body cavity. Set aside. Carefully and completely rinse both the body and neck cavities of the chicken with warm water. Drain all the liquid from the chicken.

Peel, and thinly slice all of the garlic. Using a sharp paring knife cut small slits approximately 1/4″) into the skin of the chicken and stuff a slice of garlic under the chicken skin. Remember to insert garlic slices on all parts of the chicken, including the legs and the back. (You probably won’t have a large enough chicken to get garlic under the wings’ skin.) About one tablespoon of garlic should remain; chop the remaining garlic and set aside.

Cut the oranges and limes into eighths. Set aside. Wash the cilantro and dry throughly, and coarsely chop about 1/4-1/2 cups and and set aside. Finely chop the pepper and set aside.

Mix together the cumin, pepper and salt. Rub the mixture evenly over the chicken.

Pour about 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the saute pan, and place over a high burner. When the oil fully coats the pan, and is just about to start smoking, put the chicken into the pan breast side down. Press the chicken into the pan, and allow to brown for 2-3 minutes. Carefully flip the bird on to its back, and press into the pan, allowing the chicken to brown. Remove the chicken from the saute pan, and reduce the heat. Add the liver, heart, gizzard and neck to the saute pan, and reduce heat to medium. Allow the liver, heart, gizzard and neck to brown. When browned, remove the meat to a cutting board and finely chop.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place tin foil in the bottom of the roasting pan. (You don’t have to – but you’ll thank me when it comes to cleaning up if you do.) Pour about 2-3 tablespoons into the bottom of the roasting pan, and place the rack into the pan. Put the chicken onto the rack, breast side up.

Stuff the cavity with the chopped cilantro and garlic. Squeeze the sections of orange and lime over the chicken. Make sure the juice completely covers the chicken. Once the section has been squeezed, stuff the section into the body cavity. Continue squeezing the orange and limes; when the bird is fully stuffed, place the squeezed sections into the bottom of the roasting pan. Once you complete juicing all of the sections, sprinkle the browned, chopped liver, giblets, and heart over the roasting pan. Add one cup of orange juice to the roasting pan, and place in the oven.

Allow the chicken to roast for 30 minutes. Then baste the chicken, drawing the liquid and pan juice up from the roasting pan with the baster. If you see any liquid in the body cavity, use the baster to draw it out and baste the chicken with that liquid, too. Baste every 15 minutes. If the roasting pan begins to dry out, add more orange juice. Baste three times. The chicken will have roasted at 350 degrees for one hour and 15 minute. Increase the oven heat to 450 degrees to crisp the skin.

After an hour and 30 minutes, check the chicken for doneness with either a meat thermometer or by seeing if the wing and leg move freely when you wiggle them. If the chicken is done, remove the bird to a cutting board, and allow it to sit for about 10 minutes before carving.

Using a slotted spoon, press any juice out of the orange and lime slices in the roasting pan. Remove the slices and any chopped meat from the bottom of the pan. Add the chopped chili. Pour a cup of sherry into the pan, and heat the roasting pan over a low burner. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to scrap any solids into the liquid. Pour all of the liquid into the sauce pan, and place on a medium burner. Bring the liquid to a simmer and reduce for about three to five minutes. Add the butter. Reduce the heat to low, and stir constantly until the butter melts and is completely mixed in the liquid. Remove from heat.

Carve the chicken. When plating the chicken, pour about one tablespoon of the reduction sauce over the sliced meat.

It’s not a proper Cuban recipe, but the effect of the meal is the same. Lots of great food, full of flavor and rich. I serve the chcken with homemade black beans (cooked slowly, with lots of garlic, onion, cumin and chili), saffron rice and fried plantains. I like to prepare a spicy salsa as well, but that’s up to you. Good beer, a big white wine (such as an Australlian chardonnay, a white Graves, a German Riesling or Bonny Doon’s Big House White) stand up well, as do mojitos or caipirinhas. If you keep the serving size down, a coconut flan for desert is a great end to a stunning meal.

Recipe for disaster:

1 – texas idiot
1 – superpower
0 tbsp. – oversight
1 – 7lb. carp
1- lapdog press corps
a dash of peeance freeance

Mix all ingredients thoroughly, bake in hot Iraqi sun. Remove from sun in 2008 and throw in the trash can. Enjoy!

damn, ccmask, I type too slow

Organic George 124 that’s beautiful.

Ok, Grandma Spindler’s Ranger Cookies:

1 Cup shortening (1/2 butter, 1/2 margerine)
1 Cup white sugar
1 Cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 Cups flour
2 Cups oats (old-fashioned)
2 Cups Rice Krispies
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375F. Cream shortening and both sugars. Add vanilla and eggs one at a time; beat. In a separate bowl, combine the salt, baking soda, and baking powder; add to the main mixture. Combine both cereals and the flour; add to the main mixture. Drop in balls onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes (or less). They will be quite soft and very light brown when they first come out of the oven. Let them rest on the cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes, then let cool completely on wire racks.

Hmm, no preview. Ok diving in headfirst.

jed: many of us here saw the movie: “The Incredible Shrinking Woman” with Lily Tomlinson showing possible side-effects of common household chemicals … since seeing it, I have been cautious about profligate use of “sprayed stuff”

The owner of the South Texas ranch where Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a hunting companion chipped in on the gift of a shotgun for presidential aide Karl Rove last year.

Specifically, a Beretta 687 Silver Pigeon II, a handsome 20-gauge shotgun worth $2,073 that Katharine Armstrong and 10 other friends gave the senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President Bush, according to financial disclosure forms released Friday for top White House aides.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200…..isclosures

Hi, all. I don’t have a recipe to post because I just microwave stuff and drown it in salsa. But I did want to share that today is my 36th birthday. My husband is taking me to a casino tonight. Not one of the big Vegas ones, but Casino Arizona — I told my son that it’s like Chuck E. Cheese for grownups.

I am a lurker who hasn’t ever posted here, but comes to this site every day without fail. I guess I lurk simply because I don’t have time to do more, and it all goes back to blogs. The internet became a sort of lifeline for me on election night 2002. I was so depressed with the results, I knew I had to find something positive on my computer, so I decided to look up Howard Dean’s website. (I had heard that the former Vermont governor was running for president, and I was curious.)

That began a journey that has been full speed ahead with no exceptions, despite disappointments. I remember trudging through ice and snow in December of ‘03 to get signatures so Dean could be on the NY primary ballot (I live in rural western NY, a very red zone), and marvelling at how good I felt. I soon realized that action was the best anti-depressant for me, that fighting was the only way for me to get through these dark times. So I have educated myself (several campaign trainings and lots of reading), and I have gotten involved to the point where I can’t really allow myself to do more than lurk on my favorite blogs. Last year I spent all my time keeping the GOP from forcing a judicial candidate down our throats who had a domestic violence conviction (with a gun, no less!).

And this year, I have put myself on the line. I am running for the NY Assembly in one of the reddest districts in the state. The crazy thing is, this isn’t tilting at windmills. People around here are so poorly served by one-party government that they can’t ignore it any longer. (The incumbent’s idea of a pressing issue to poll voters on was which turtle he should support as state reptile. I am not kidding — he had a front page poll on his website with that question for 2 months.) And everyone knows that Albany needs cleaning out with a shovel.

So I am cautiously optimistic. I am also insanely busy! Most of my blog reading has switched over to NY-centric sites, but FDL is one of the few general blogs I still try to make time for every day. The quality of the writing and analysis is both a resource and a refuge. Please keep it up!

man, I’m gonna save this thread in my personal archive!

DefJef 111 – as often as not I think the same. But I also believe there’s infinitely more going on in this life than we can ever see, and sometimes even massive things can flip on a dime if the right conditions have been created. We have to try.

OT….I guess Malliki’s crackdown isn’t working…While CNN and Noron on MSNBC are hailing the chimps 5% bump 17 people and 53 injured in 7 bomb attacks in the last 5 hrs in Baghdad.

Ooo, egregious 135 — you just took us all back 30-40 or more years. Wonderful.

scory – YUM!

scory @ 124: was that at Mark and Orlando’s on P st.?

immanentize @95 – I’m looking at UT Austin right now, thanks.

op99 – I hadn’t thought of that. Grad school and Grad school application is such a mystery to me. My whole family is definitely blue collar so I really don’t have a lot of people to talk about the process with. Plus, I’m just an older B plus student and no wildly brillant person and that make me just a tad bit intimidated by the whole process. Who’s going to want to talk to a middle age chick when there are tons of brilliant kids out there to invest in. But I’m trying to break that mentality. Thanks for your suggestion.

I’m a 40-year-old former rock star and proud father of two (girl 5 and boy 3). I also love to cook. Here’s a recipe the wife and I made up: Bengali-Style Crabcakes with a Ginger-Coconut sauce. Don’t be afraid–it’s more expensive than dificult! Serves two to three:

Crab cakes:
1/2 lb lump crab meat
2 tbs red bell pepper, minced
2 large scallions, minced
1/2 tbs grated ginger
1 tbs green chili, minced
3 tbs mayonnaise
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 small egg, beaten
Salt and pepper

Combine ingredients in a bowl. Form into patties and fry in clarified butter over medium-low heat until browned (about three minutes a side), covering one side during cooking.

Coconut-ginger sauce:
2 tbs mustard or olive oil
1 bay leaf
1 whole dried red chili
3 cardamom pods
1 clove
1/2 cup onion, minced
1 tbs green chili, minced
1/8 tsp turmeric
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp sugar
1 cup lite coconut milk
1/2 tbs fresh ginger, peeled and grated

Heat oil over medium heat (mustard oil can be “smoked off” briefly on high heat, then turned down). Fry bay leaf and red chili until chili blackens. Add cardamom and clove. Fry onion until brown. Add green chili and fry until soft. Add turmeric, salt and sugar. Stir to mix. Remove bay leaf, cardamom and clove.
Blend mixture with coconut milk until smooth. Return to pot and simmer over low heat for several minutes. Add grated ginger and simmer for a few minutes more. Correct seasoning. Serve hot.

Go Historical Pessimist!

Someone else said it upthread a little bit and I’ll say it again. America isn’t disengaged from politics, politics is disengaged from Americans. The people who own the bureaucrats and the news outlets know that an informed citizenry is dangerous to their ongiong rape of the American economy. The voice of the people has been taken out of politics. The internet offers a little hope but that too will soon go the way of teevee news. Face it, they have the money and the guns and we are just here to do the heavy lifting.

Who still believes they outlawed slavery after the civil war?

Anne @ 141: Yes. Oh yes. In fact, I’m getting hungry just thinking about it. :)

lina @ 142: Yup, sure was. Greenwald is as articulate in person as he is on the page and screen.

well, how great is this… to wake up to tons of recipes. thanks everyone, for sharing.

i don’t post comments all that often, though i read this site every day. usually anything i would say has already been said better, and more succinctly, than i could. it feels great to read the things i feel in the pithy, perfect comments of others. again, thanks.

here’s a recipe for Concord Grape pie that i found in a very early Martha Stewart book. it’s very simple, but fair warning… the de-seeding of the grapes is a bit time consuming but it’s a good way to take your mind off frustrations. *g*

hope you like the pie!

i saw the discussion of pie crust… scratch vs. store bought. either will work fine, but i included a no-fail recipe at the end, also martha stewart.

Concord Grape Pie
[makes one 8 inch pie]

pie crust for one 11 inch circle, chilled [recipe follows]

3 pounds [approx 2 quarts] concord grapes
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup cornstarch

glaze: 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon heavy cream

1. preheat oven to 400 degrees. line an 8-inch pie plate with crust rolled out to 1/8 inch, crimp edges and chill.

2. to decorate top of pie [there’s no top crust], roll out some scraps and cut into individual leaf shapes, or bunch of grapes, or anything you like. check out your cookie cutters. and place on wax paper and chill.

3. wash, halve, and pit the grapes, catching and reserving the juice. strain the grape juice and measure 3/4 cup. this is the most time consuming and labor intensive part.

4. in a medium saucepan, combine grape juice, sugar, and cornstarch. bring to a boil and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly. remove from the heat, stir in the grapes and let cool.

5. when the grape filling is completely cooled, pour into the pie shell. place the pastry ‘leaves’ and/or ‘grapes’ directly on top of the filling. brush the crimped edges and top of pastry decorations with the egg glaze.

6. bake for approximately 40 minutes, or until the grape juice is thick and bubbling at the center of the pie. cool completely before serving.

pie crust, aka Pate Brisee:

this pie crust recipe has never failed me. i think it’s the food processor that makes it work so well. less handling of the pastry. give it a shot if you have time. it makes 2 crusts. you’ll only need one for the concord grape pie. it freezes well and is good to have on hand. i usually freeze it in ‘flattened ball’ stage. it’s less fragile in my freezer.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water

Place flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor, and process for a few seconds until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 seconds. Add ice water in a slow, steady stream, pouring it through the feed tube just until the dough holds together. Do not process for more than 30 seconds.

Test the dough by squeezing a small amount together. If it is crumbly, add a bit more water.

Turn dough out onto a work surface. Divide into 2 equal pieces, and place on 2 separate sheets of plastic wrap. Flatten, and form 2 disks, using the plastic wrap to form the flattened disks. This makes it easier to roll later. Wrap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour before using.

Roll dough to 1/8 inch thickness on a floured board. Place in pan, trim and crimp/decorate edges as you like. Chill until ready to use.

Good morning. I lurk almost every day but sometimes contribute. I’m 45, married, mom to a 6-year-old peanut of my own, homeowner, self-employed writer. I was raised around Berkeley, Calif., but moved to Nashville 13 years ago – talk about culture shock! A blue girl in a red state. I read FDL every day – it’s the first blog I go to – and read others if I have time. I love you guys – you keep me connected.

Here’s a winner I make when we have company for dinner. Takes some prep, but if you get the white sauce just right it’s unbelievable. I got this on the ivillage site.

Southwest Tortilla Casserole

Serves: 8

1 15 ¼- to 16-ounce can whole kernel corn, drained
1 14 ½-ounce can stewed tomatoes
1 4-ounce can chopped mild green chiles
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 ½ cups milk
¾ pound skinless, boneless cooked chicken, cut into ½ inch cubes (2 ½ cups)
1 15- to 19-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
¼ cup chopped cilantro or parsley
1 ¾ cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese with jalapeno peppers
8 6-inch corn tortillas, each cut in half
chopped cilantro or parsley for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In bowl, combine corn, stewed tomatoes, and green chiles with their liquid. Spoon half of corn mixture into bottom of 13” by 9” glass baking dish.
2. Prepare white sauce: In 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, into hot vegetable oil, stir flour until blended; cook 1 minute. Gradually stir in milk; cook, stirring constantly, until mixture boils and thickens.
3. Into corn mixture remaining in bowl, stir chicken, black beans cilantro, 1 cup shredded cheese, and half the white sauce.
4. Arrange half the tortillas over corn mixture; top with the chicken mixture. Arrange remaining tortillas over chicken mixture; top with remaining white sauce, then remaining cheese.
5. Bake casserole 30 to 35 minutes until hot in the center and bubbling around the edges. Let stand 15 minutes for easier serving. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Tommy Yum — thanks for the clarifications!

(Hard to say which is more compelling here — the recipes or the foods-for-thought.)

On the issue of why the power of ordinary people coming together is not covered, consider this bit of a front page NYT article on wikipedia:

Wikipedia’s come-one, come-all invitation to write and edit articles, and the surprisingly successful results, have captured the public imagination.

Wikipedia’s come-one, come-all invitation to write and edit articles, and the surprisingly successful results, have captured the public imagination.

My emphasis. They just don’t understand the model. They don’t understand an environment within which, just for an example, 250 people would at a moment’s notice, offer to help Glenn Greenwald write a book for free. They just don’t get the idea of open source.

They also don’t get just how ossified the political system has become. The combination of gerrymandering and corruption (these are not unrelated issues, of course–gerrymandering enables corruption) has led to an unprecedented degree of insulation of elected officials from the public. the Bubble, as we call it.

The media’s participation in the cultivation of the bubble still puzzles me. I do understand that it’s partly about social pressures (but that doesn’t explain the savaging of Clinton) and partly about corporate control (but that’s tricky) and partly about the success of the Wurlitzer in making reporters fearful of controversy. But, still, there are so many big stories simply not being covered, as Murray Waas pointed out in his opening remarks on the Plame panel. In the past, these stories would make a reporter’s career.

Christy:

Like nananam, I rarely post comments, but find myself doing it more often. I used to read the Ny Times only and now FDL is the first bookmark I open.

I credit G.W. Bush with my political awakening. I escaped from an Eastern European country twenty years ago and always believed that American democracy is the best in the world. That is until G. W. Bush took power. One thing growing up in a communist country teaches you is to smell propaganda and dictatorship fast.

I’ve been really, really worried about this country in the last six years, and until 2004 and the explosion of blogs I felt alone.

I’m not a regular on this blog, but I read it every day and truly appreciate the level of conversation and don’t feel so alone anymore.

And a get a free cookbook as a bonus!

Thanx everyone.

Great post, great idea. I rarely write much – I get to scratch that itch in a more traditional medium – but I read FDL because it gives me hope. Not confidence, certainly, but hope.

We need to change the way we view each other and interact with our world. We need to stop acting like “consumers” and start becoming thoughtful, loving human beings.

Keep asking us to care. It’s an invisible lifeline, as well as a path to a better future.

jayackroyd,
I read the same article and thought the same thing. I teach Linux classes, and my some of my fellow instructors still think and still tell people that the Linux kernel is a mush of unedited, contributed code. They don’t get that code, like comments and contributions, can be reviewed and moderated. Anyone can contribute, but it has to be both correct and useful to be included.

Some Guy 67, WOW. I am getting the fixings for that black bean recipe. Thank you!
lotus, the onion pie recipe sounds so good.

I am going out shopping right now…Crabcakes are my absolute favorites…thanks all.

As a Russian Immigrant, probably a little older than most of you, survivor of the Stalingrad Siege, and one who “swam the north atlantic” to get here, I salute you all. I too, have been looking for a site where the talk is a little more serious, a little less fluff, and a little more realistic. I will have much more to say, I hope, in the days ahead. But right now I have to run. I would like to leave you with two little thoughts. 1. Not everyone with a slight critique of “this thing of ours” is a troll. 2. Sometimes my posts can be a little complex and I would appreciate my fellow bloggers being the arbiters, rather than a screener who, too often I’m afraid, makes that determination for you.
Other than that, FDL, after long and arduous searching, is the class of the field. For that I thank you all and bid you a wonderfull day.

Historical Pessimist, good luck! You’re right about Albany. It’s a disgrace.

Mzzzz. lotus (Scarlett) O’Hara…

Hold on to you gingham bonnet. I’ll be right theah… jus’ make sure that the ‘Okie’ chardonnay has an oh-so slight chill. I’ll bring the juleps.

Mama’s Pancakes
1/2 cup wheat germ

Historical Pessimist:

THAT’S AWESOME.

Later today, Howie will be profiling a similar journey by our own NYBri. You guys rock!

I read FDL and several other blogs everyday but almost never post. I’m not sure why as I am certainly opinionated! I am a lawyer who has never recovered from the election theft of 2000. During that saga, a friend told me about Bushwatch and Buzzflash, which led me to my all time favorite of MediaWhoresOnline. I’m also a big fan of Eric Alterman–actually read his first book Sound and Fury back when it came out. I think Altercation led me to Kos which led me to FDL. I work as a public interest lawyer in a conservative state, so I often feel like I spend most of my time beating my head against the wall. Although I am politically active on a local level, I tend to work on issue campaigns (transportation, growth management, etc.) and find the democratic political establishment extremely frustrating. As someone above said, blogs help keep me sane. I really appreciate the good writing and legal analysis of this site. (I’m a big fan of Glenn Greenwald for the same reason!) One of the reactions that I had to the coverage of YearlyKos (particularly the MoDo column) was that I don’t read blogs because I like to so much as I have to because I am so angry about what is happening to our country. I would give anything to go back to just living my life, being able to enjoy my kids and just checking in on the news of the day at the end of the day. Modo, bloggers don’t want your job–they just want you to DO your job so they don’t have to!

Another lurker. FDL is keeping me sane. Thanks for being here

scory: are you a regular at DL – dupont circle? I’ll be in DC week after next and might show up there.

Try again:
Mama’s Pancakes
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoons soda
1 and 1/2 cup buttermilk
2 Tablespoons oil
1 egg
Stir 1st 4 ingredients in bowl, leaving a “well” in center. Put soda in small bowl, add buttermilk. Stir till foamy and dissolved. Pour in well. Add unbeaten egg, pour in oil. stir center 1st, then all together, just until smooth. Bake on med. hot, lightly greased griddle.

Christy,
First I want to thank you for this site and all you do. It is one of the few rays of hope these days. Gosh it’s depressing out there, but I think wankery always implodes….cause it has no real substance other than fear. I don’t believe in my heart that this cabal will prevail in the end.
Also, I agree that you should do a cookbook, in the spirit of “The Republican Dictionery” by katrina Vanden Huevel I’m in that by the way!!! whoo whoo – big time. :) My claim to fame” was:
Stay the Course: Doing the same stupid thing over and over regardless of the result. ( I no longer think it’s just stupidity on the administrations part, I think it’s evil…….)

The proceeds of the FDL cookbook could go toward another conference. :) Suzanne

Here’s a great pie crust recipe. It’s my other claim to fame……yup, the Republican Dicitionery and apple pie. That about covers it.

Pie crust you will love.
For 10 ” pie or generous thick crust for 9 ” pie

2 cups flour ( flour rounded slightly above the 2 cup mark )
11 1/2 Tablespoons of shortening
2 Tablespoons softened butter
1 teaspoon slightly rounded, salt

Mix till mealy looking , do not touch with fingers. Use a wooden spoon or large mixer on slow

Add between 5 and 8 Tablespoons ice water. one at a time while stirring ( the humidity seems to affect the amount of water )

The dough should hold together past crumbly but not to all the way to pasty.

You won’t be disappointed. :)

From JHC @164
Modo, bloggers don’t want your job – they just want you to DO your job so they don’t have to!

Isn’t that the damn truth?! I agree completely.

Well, being a natural-foods vegetarian, most of you-all probably won’t want to see my favorite recipes, as they often involve lots of green veggies, garlic, steamers, woks, tofu, and brown rice. Besides, I cook by intuitive improvisation.
But I do love a good chocolate brownie and my personal (I feel like I am a co-owner) restaurant in town serves a slice of the Devine called “chocolate espresso pudding pie” that will raise the hair on the back of your neck and, well, put a person “in the mood”, if you will…
I was the primary organizer on my high school campus for our anti-war protests in 1969, such a pain in the ass to the administration that they graduated me early to get me off campus. They might have been behind my early surprise draft notice as well. But with business and family and life, I retreated to become a quiet progressive reader…until Kos and then FDL recharged my batteries.
To all of the pioneers, and especially to Christy and Jane, I send you heart-felt THANKS! —and a slice of chocolate delight—

From s #168
( suzanne)
I didn’t include the temp but it’s the standard for any crust.
Hi Frank P. :) A’s mom

Argh. Busy morning – I won’t be able to get back and read through till much later. I will try to dig up my grandmother’s butterscotch pie – meant to have meringue but my cousin would always steal it while it was cooling he and I would hide out and start in with no meringue. I was too chicken to do the stealing, but it wasn’t so morally repugnant that I refused to share the loot *g*

My final law school exam, which was derby day morning, he unexpectedly showed up with one – no meringue – and while we watched Derby color I had to make amends with my Grandmother on the phone. She was just distraught.

If I can’t find it – I’ll add a bannana bread recipe.

Stopped after the first chunk of comments – but Mike I read. You’re not required to post a recipe bc I don’t really have time to respond now *g* but I understand the concern. Unfortunately, the world is not the most well ordered place.

new thread cooking upstairs

Goooood Mooornin, FDL !

I’ve been a lurker here as well for about a year or more (and to other blogs as well…Think Progress, Americabblog, TMP, Daily Kos ) and what’s great about it is that it leads to other sites as well…which is all about information for me that the traditional media doesn’t even bother with. It was great to follow Ykos here and on the other sites (digby,tBogg) as well for the interest and concern that people have in re-directing our country from the disasterious path that the neocons have taken us down ! Literally destroying our country. I’ll be lurking here and posting a little when I have the time. I remember marching and protesting Nixon and the Vietnam war (and as an actor doing street theatre throughout the northeast and here in New York). The people finally won but after a tremendous loss that tore the country apart…and I think that that’s where all this divisiveness began. Never thought I’d despise anyone more that Nixon !! Enough of my rant…and I do have a great Apple Pie recipe
thru my grandmother and my mother(Colorado gals) …and the secret is the…apples…they only used Cortland apples….will post that later…hopefully, in exchange for Pach’s grandmother’s recipe for Aroz con Pollo…;-))
Thanks for keeping us informed !! Great site !

Logsndogs

D. Mason and shooter, you know we all have our snappish moments (you too), but we keep talking and get through them. Even when I don’t agree with some stance of yours, I’m still glad to have it in the mix. “Standpoint is everything” was the first thing they taught us in law school . . .

And to get back to the other theme going on here … You know what we’re running low on so far? Vedge. Who’s got some fave wedgetabobbles to share?

Here’s an easy spinach salad:

Dressing:
1/2 cup good olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 large clove garlic, smashed
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
plenty of ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in sealable jar, shake well, and let sit to get ‘em well acquainted

Salad:
1 package fresh spinach, rinsed under running water and spun or patted dry, stemmed and torn into bite-size pieces if need be
half a medium red onion, sliced into rings as thinly as possible (cut slices into quarters if desired)
1 can of mandarin oranges, drained
1 package of sliced almonds, toasted in a slow oven (or toaster) for a few minutes, until they color a bit

Pile spinach in bottom of salad bowl, other ingredients on top, with almonds last. Don’t toss or apply dressing until at table, or all the goodies will fall to the bottom and get soggy too quickly. You’ll have leftover dressing.

Damn! How did it get to be 11:00 already???

Gotta get out and get to the store and the gym (I think I have to work off the virtual calories I’ve ingested reading all these yummy recipes!)

Catch you all later!

lotus, of course not everyone here piles on dissenters like neo-cons, but some do. Still, I certainly appreciate the people who are willing to discuss alternative points of view with an open mind, I shouldn have mentioned them aswell.

Drive by post-

173 posts at 11:10 am EASTERN.

No wonder they’re shitting.

Love you all, and so proud.

Wow – So. Many. Good. Recipes!

Who knew that FDL could turn into God’s Own Potluck?

Pach — I make the French-ified version of your Grandma’s Pollo con Fiesta. I’m trying yours next.

Tommy Yum — I see those crabcakes coming soon to our kitchen. Oh yes.

Lina — I’m notably reticent about public appearances, but I might make an exception if there’s FDL support at the Dupont Drinking Liberally. Thursday at Timberlake?

Hey! That’s the same French press coffeemaker I use: the Bodum Columbia. But why hasn’t he pushed the filter all the way down? Surely he didn’t use so much ground coffee that the filter won’t go further down. (Sorry: enraptured by coffee.)

Geez – one more – a veggie recipe that is totally off-the-cuff:

julienne enough zucchini and carrots to where it looks like you have enough to feed however many people will be eating.

thinly slice or press as much garlic as you are comfortable with.

finely chop onion to comfort level.

Put some good olive oil in a pan, and when shimmering, add onion and garlic. Let sizzle a minute or two, then dump in zucchini and carrots and stir to combine. Add some kosher salt and freshly-ground pepper to taste.

Saute until the zucchini is tender and carrots still have some crunch. If it’s not going fast enough, you can cover the pan for a couple minutes and let the steam speed things up.

At the table, you can add a pat or two of butter, if you like. Some freshly grated parmesan – the good stuff (parmigiano reggiano or grana padano) also works.

If you throw in some cooked chicken, you have a one-dish meal.

Now, I really have to go!

Happy Birthday Motherlowman!

Long time lurker here with no recipe to post. Am looking for a different recipe, though, the one that will help us take back congress in the midterms and the White House in 2008. I am tired of allowing the conservative right wing define me. I want us, the progressive left, to define ourselves loud and clear. I want our party to be able to articulate a clear position on Iraq, on political corruption, on health care. I am looking for leadership that is not afraid to take strong positions. I think so much hinges on the midterms, and I vacillate between excitement and angst about it. If we lose, I can only hope it’s after having told the truth, defended a principle, and stood firm on our beliefs.

We blog from the olympic peninsula in the great northwest. We post photos and tell stories about living on the land, but we live and breathe politics– sun up to sun down.

I was a lurker from pre-Fitzmas until the Roots Project got underway. Lurker no more.

ccmask 37

multiplying the message%u2014I am spreading it around my congregation of around 200. Few of them lurk in this world, but most are interested and more and more will find us and find their voices.

RevDeb’s Challah

(took several years and way too many bad loaves of bread until I got it right!)

saffron – 6-8 springs
1/2 – 3/4 c. potato water
1 tsp. instant yeast
2 – 2 1/2 c. flour (King Arthur special bread machine flour works best)
3 eggs at room temp.
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. kosher or sea salt
1 tbs. olive oil
poppy or sesame seeds (optional)

Crush saffron with back of a spoon untill it is almost a powder, put it into potato water, mix – heat in microwave till temp. reaches between 90 – 100 degrees. Pour into large bowl, add 2 eggs and mix. Add yeast, sugar, olive oil, and flour – mix.

Let sit covered 1/2 hour in area no more than 100 degrees (put in oven with light on will be warm enough)

Add salt to above mixture using a mixer with the dough hook attachment and mix adding small amounts of flour gradually till dough is no longer sticky – knead by hand briefly. Let rise 1 hour covered in oven with only light on.

Briefly kneed dough and divide into four equal portions – roll each portion into a long skinny section- on non-stick cookie sheet or baking pan(parchment paper works well too) Arrange the strands so that all four are attached at one end. Braid strands by going under – over- under – over beginning left to right. Let rise 1 hour covered with pastry cloth in oven with light on.

With pastry brush. brush on beaten egg and sprinkle top with poppy seeds Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

jed at 123–You have my sympathy, or should I say empathy, I spent several years struggling with sensitivity to all sorts of chemicals. It was impossible to walk down the laundry detergent aisle.

Sounds like you are taking steps toward finding a home. If that doesn’t work out would you consider moving to another community? There are places that are not so heavy-handed with the sprays. Maybe a place that is more rural?

I assume you are already working to reduce your total allergic load, taking antihistamines, reducing dust and mold around you, no cats, taking vitamins, exercise, etc?

Hope you will keep us posted on your progress.

Hi Christy. So glad you’re doing this.

I’ve posted a few inane things, but mostly lurked and fed shamelessly off your posts, as well as many wonderful comments and links offered by the firepups. What an incredible group of people you are!
You all give me hope.

I became a hopeless political junkie while recuperating from long bout of knee surgery & down time – fall 1999 thru spring 2001. ‘Kneed’ I say more about why?! Started with C-Span & Molly’s/DuBos’ “Bushwhacked”, quickly learned to look for Hightower & branched out from there. Never looked back. But looked fwd a-plenty with growing horror at what was happening, seemingly under everyone’s blissfully ignorant noses.
For me with all that time on my hands, the growing nightmare was blatantly obvious.

Since then, I seem to have carved out an odd niche, ferreting out & feeding good links & commentary to an odd assemblage of wonderful family, friends & acquaintances, from college profs (who should have seen it earlier for themselves!?!) to our dear WV-native-born neighbors (literally coalminers’ babyboomer-kids; limited formal educ., but savvy as #%@%, & a fascinating peek into the world of those who vote based on “gut-feel” about character, etc., with JUST as much accuracy as the profs. ;-) Yes, writing letters to editors, pestering congresspeople endlessly – hey – it’s OHIO, groan. (And YES, I’m convinced ‘00 and ‘04 stolen).

It’s been horribly depressing to see, in gruesome detail, how the MSM has steadily deteriorated from so-so coverage to downright dishonest shilling for bushco, and getting away with it. Having been immersed in this stuff for several yrs now — spending much time watching the tv I knew the general public were using as their main news sources. You could track what was going to happen by how far a story had passed down the pipeline twd the general audience.

I used to cheer, literally, when salon.com or slate.com (I know, I know, believe me . . .) finally dealt with a subject, because that meant the MSM was next, & the lid would finally be blown off a pile of rotting junk bushco had been hiding.
I’ve rambled way too much, so gonna wrap this up by admitting,w/much thanks, that Christy and Jane, if not reversing my galloping depression, have certainly helped put it in a holding pattern. YES! With efforts like theirs, we can indeed do something to make things better out there.

MS ethology, ecology, much practical experience animal training: mostly horses & politicians.
Rabid tree-hugger, birder & all-around nature freak; avid veggie gardener. Love to cook — great way to get gourmet food without busting the budget (’cept that time I tried to serve the mr. barbecued stewing hen. hey, the skin was tasty!?! but even it was too tough to chew)
Favorite Recipe:

Cornell Barbecued Chicken

1/2 pint cooking oil
1 pint cider vinegar
3 tbsp salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp poultry seasoning (mix of sage, thyme, oregano etc.)
1 egg, well beaten

Mix with whisk, in order given. (May refrigerate for several weeks.)
Allow 1/2 broiler per adult or 2 children.
Turn every 5-10 min., basting at each turning. Basting should be heavier twd end of cooking time.
Adie’s note: Above recipe was developed by Cornell Univ. Poultry Sci. Dept. way back in the dark ages. To this day it’s REALLY popular in upstate NY, where they cook the stuff in big racks over long, open barbecue pits. I change the method slightly, so-as to avoid flaming up on our 21″ Weber, by piling briquets in center of barbQ, placing pieces of chicken around the edge of the grill, & keeping lid on the barbQ during most of the cooking time, so the meat cooks by indirect heat. Also helps avoid flame-ups to baste by dipping chicken pieces back in a bowl of the sauce when turning, rather than swabbing them on the grill; but the more times you can get ‘em into that sauce & back onto the grill, the better – for terrific flavor. Use the sauce ONLY to cook. (yes, it’s sour from the vinegar, till that cooks off; but you’re left with pure, wonderful chicken flavor)
Sorry for the long post. Back to lurking ;->

Good morning all, I have been lurking for a few months, and want to thank everyone for their participation. This is the new news, and it is rocking the corporate structure of what has been, until a few years ago, mainly their domain. It will soon be mostly over for them, which is good, but it puts a lot of responsibility on all of us to take this puppy and treat it with care, love, and as much truth as we can muster. I was at yearlykos and am glad I went, great energy and discussions, I think the highlight for me was sharring limo ride to airport with emptywheel, what a vibrant being, Everyone I met last weekend gave me hope in this time of darkness. We shall prevail, the light will overcome the darkness, just click your heels together, we will get back home! peace, Andy

I read here almost every day and haven’t posted.
I am very concerned at the moment about the “security violations” in the Busby election.
See Brad blog. The fact that software could switch one out of a hunderd or a thousand votes
and be untracable in “results”. The fact people
who question election results are viewed as “conspiracy nuts”. I was a poll watcher in 04
Where we had paper ballots. This year even rural PA has “machines”.

Great recipes!

Couscous salad
1pkg toasty pinenut couscous
make as per pkg let cool
1 bell pepper any color chopped
1 cucumber seeded and chopped
4 to 6 ears of corn cook and cut from cob
1 cup fresh parsley chopped
4 ounces pinnuts
combine all ingredients
dressing
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup salad oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 to 3 cloves garlic minced or pressed
whisk until well blended
pour over salad and mix
let sit 1 hour or more and enjoy

Greeting from Indianapolis, the district of Dan “they shoot watermelons, don’t they” Burton.I have been lurking here for a while and I was amazed at how quickly FDL rose to the top of my blogroll. The quality of the information as well as the humor is top shelf.

I am orginally from Greenwich, CT (home of Ned) and moved to the midwest about 20 yers ago. I am a digital color printing specialist by trade and a college football fanatic. The first blog I ever read was Media Whores Online (RIP)and from there found all the others. My dailys consist of Atrios, FDL, Americablog, Kos, TPM, and Steve Gilliard. I listen to the Young Turks regularly, but since the coming of Howard Stern to Sirius, it’s hard to change the channel. The only talking heads I watch are the sports reporters!

I am a card carrying member of the Democratic party, and a democracy bond holder. I believed strongly in what Howard Dean is doing in building the infrastructure for the long term, and you can only do that with a steady cash flow. I would urge all of you to check it out if you haven’t already.

I see the disconnect between the DC insiders, DLC etc and the rest of us like those at a corporate headquarters so are so disconnected from reality, they think the field is that big green thing behind their house. Those of you in a corporate environment know what I am talking about. The difference here is that we can make a difference, and we are. There will be more setbacks, a long term victory that will destroy the Gambino Republicans once and for all will be so sweet! Thanks Christy and Jane for providing an amazing forum.

Gorgonzola Flank Steak

1/2 Cup olive oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2T fresh lemon juice
1.5 T worchestershire
1T dijon mustard
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 t black pepper

Mix together and marinate the flank steak for 3 hours.

As you grill the steak, put the gorgonzola on after you have flipped it.

Rock on FDL!

Greetings Historical Pessimist and best of luck. I’m not too far from you in Rochester (too far to vote for you unfortunately). I wonder if Spitzer and Hilary being such shoo-ins will depress Dem turnout to the detriment of the down-ticket?

Howdy gang! There’s almost a cookbook here this morning! We could call it Firedoglakeside Dining, or something. Anyway, here’s my contribution. It’s for granola which my husband used to make when he managed a coffee house many years ago. I usually whip up 60 jars at Christmas for friends and family. (Last year I took a break after nearly 20 years of doing this so I have a garage full of empty jars waiting for refills). My son designs the label. In 2000 it said COUNT THE VOTES! GRANOLA. In 2004 it was a quote by Mother Teresa, “If we have no peace it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other” and a picture of Matisse’s Dance. So here’s the recipe:

Bob’s Granola
Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Hea on stove just until it blends 2 cups oil (safflower or canola) and one cup honey
Mix together:
9 cups rolled oats
3 cups raw cashew pieces
2 cups almonds
11/2 cups raw sunflower seeds
3/4 cup sesame seeds
3/4 cup raw wheat germ
Pour hot oil/honey mixture over dry mixture. Stir until everything is coated. Spread evenly over 2 9×15 baking pans with sides. Place pans in preheated oven. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes. Turn mixture with spatula and cook for 10 minutes. Turn again and cook another 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and spread 2 cups of raisins into trays while granola is still warm. Allow to cool. Place in airtight containers. It can last a couple of weeks, but at our house disappears rather quickly. Enjoy!

the vast majority of Indianapolis is represented by blazingly progressive Congresswoman Julia Carson — Dan Burton represents some rich exurbs and many acres of corn and soybean fields…

The worst typos are those that create words that fit–my person — noire is “now” for “not” and vice versa: the resulting sentence will make perfect sense, with exactly the opposite meaning.

For a recipe: this makes a terrific weekend breakfast.

New England Spider Cake

2 cups buttermilk
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup heavy cream.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together buttermilk and eggs in a bowl. In another bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir into dry ingredients and set batter aside.

2. Melt butter in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet. Pour in the batter. Using a funnel, pour cream into the center, slide skillet into the oven and bake until golden brown on top, about 45 minutes. Slice into wedges and serve warm.

Yield: 8 servings.

On my blog, I also just posted my recipe for bean salad and variations.

Firedoglake, Shakespeare’s Sister or Talor Marsh, in changing order, start every day of my life. I must bond with my favorite women’s words before I leap into the big boy blogs.

I instantly started crying in appreciation when I read this welcoming post and comments.
I am essentially a lurker, though I have posted several comments.

For me the blogs are like cooking. It can be as simple or as complex as it needs to be. Being unemployed and living as frugally as possible I have favorite recipes at 13 cents an ounce. Hummos is healthy, tasty, cheap and difficult to screw up.

2 cloves garlic — roughly chopped
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup water
14 oz canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans) — rinsed and drained
1/4 cup tahini
1 teaspoon salt

Put in a blender or food processor and mix it all.

It can be individualized to suit your own preferances in texture, spices or added treats. Like blogging . . .

S: to expand on your Pie crust post of post #168, have you ever made pasty? My grandmother used to make these pies all the time and I make them once a month. Me and my son love them!

Recipe for two:

s’s pie crust
6 peeled and sliced potatoes
1 lb. of stew meat
2 small onions, peeled and sliced.

Roll out pie crust. Take half the potatoes and layer them on top of pie crust. Take half the meat and arrange on top of potatoes. Layer one onion on top of meat.

Roll out another pie crust and cover the pie. Use your fork to go around and seal the pie. Use a large spatula to lift and place on a greased cookie sheet. Repeat and make another pie.

Cook on 350 for about 70 minutes or until golden brown. The fat from the meat keeps everything moist, but once in a while I ask the butcher for a piece of suet….place a piece of suet on top of the onions.

motherlow at 156

To some degree, open source is a counter-intuitive concept. It’s very similar to the concept of natural selection, which is also counter-intuitive. People are deeply wired to believe in directed design, IMO. (I found myself, just yesterday, describing my dog’s heart as if it were a sentient being.)

But, sheesh. The success of that model has now been proven over and over again. The left blogosphere itself, following (in sometimes different ways) Jerome and Markos’s, model of collaborative authorship, is an instantiation of the model.

Those Linux naysayers need to read The Cathedral and the Bazaar.

On recipes, I don’t bake. I do cook, but I don’t measure, so any recipes I like are unhelpfully minimalist. I learned how to cook from two editions of The Sixty Minute Gourmet. There are recipes in there, but they are, from my way of thinking, actually instruction books in technique. (Saute the protein in a little fat, degrease the pan with wine, add herbs and a little more fat. At the same time prepare the starch and the vegetable. Serve with the sauce you’ve just made in the protein pan on top of the starch. These principles carry over–when I cook with a wok I’m doing essentially the same thing.)

marksb @170, I don’t think I should let you near my wife, because she is a natural-foods vegetarian with a weakness for chocolate brownies and fudge. However, I am the improvisational cook in the house (she needs detailed recipes, I just throw stuff together and it works or it doesn’t). Anyway, what are the chances of you posting that recipe for chocolate espresso pudding pie?

Sorry about the hummos recipe – I hurried the preview. The amounts are 1/4 cup for water, lemon and 1/2 water.

But as I said, these aren’t hard and fast measurements either.

I have an idea about the media that is inspired by the recent rubber stamp rebublicans campaign, and the Crashing the Gate campaign. I participated in both of those campaigns, and was delighted when they both had an actual effect on the legislative branch.

Why can’t we target certain journalists by delivering to them, in person, a copy of Lapdogs, along with a note specific to the journalist. We could also deliver a copy of Lapdogs to each Democrat in the House and Senate (in the same fashion as the Crashing the Gate campaig) with a note that we would like them to not only read it, but also to carry it with them openly, everwhere they go.

I pledge support to this campaign by agreeing to donate 20 books to get it started.

By the way, more in the spirit of this line of comments, I am a 50 year old lawyer from Texas that was a conservative Republican until I started paying attention during the Clinton years. I apologize profusely for my former voting history.

I love FDL, and read it daily (three or four times), but have only posted once before. The excellant legal writing and work on the Plame case drew me here, and has kept me captive ever since. Nonetheless, I suffer from fear of posting in forums, although I don’t really understand why.

ccmask: Thanks! I can’t wait to make the beef pie….it sounds GREAT
From: s – ( Suzanne )

Amazing thread, I’m copying recipes. Honestly though, Some guy, is the tuna steak with strawberries REALLY good? Really? It’s alot to take on faith…

I’m a sometimes Lurker who reads FDL several times a day — not FIRST because I was raised Catholic and I would Never go to my favorite thing first, (you have to practice a little self denial) but I have a ritual. FDL is third, but it’s where I spend the most time, and I would never miss it.

My name is mostly true except I’m CLOSE to SF, not in it, and I don’t actually make people smaller. (I’m a child psychologist, so they actually start out pretty small). I do a lot of forensic work and training for family and juvenile law, so I’m always especially interested in those discussions.

I’ve been married 20 years to a british citizen, and no children of my own, which if you did what I did every day you would understand. We are birders, campers and canoers. I have always been fairly liberal, but not very political. Since 2001 my habits, news intake, and interests have become consumed with this administration, and making sure my friends and colleagues are as scared as I am. For the past two years we have had a running total of the number of soldiers killed in Iraq on the side of our house, which our congressman visited.

Ohhh and I was born 7 blocks from where I live. Which has got to be rare.

Okay, so from the native California, here’s a very west coast recipe. And honestly, you have to try it to believe how good it is.

Grilled Romaine Lettuce:

Slice Romaine lettuce hearts in half
brush with olive oil
Sprinkle with salt and pepper
Wrap with 1 or two pieces
of pancetta (italian bacon)
Use toothpicks to hold together
Grill over medium hot coals about 2-3 minutes a side, until pancetta is cooked and the lettuce edges are slightly blackened.

Eat immediately!

The recipe works with endive or other greens as well. Believe me you will never hesitate to throw some lettuce on the barbie again.

Plus, you are well educated, media savvy, and you can cut through the bullshit and the spin with the best of them and get right to the heart of the issues. 

Alas, none of us are running for office. That the above description doesn’t apply to the Democratic Party is very telling. The people have been ahead of their supposed leaders for years, all to no avail. I therefore suggest living as if we had already won and not wasting any more time on educated the idiot classes (media, politicians, etc.).

ccmask — what seasoning do you recommend for the pasties? (Are you Cornish?)

jeffreyw @114

Sounds like my old stompin’ grounds. Kroeger may be limited, but there’s lots of catfish in those ponds . . . The fruit salad sounds great.

(If the picnic’s close to home, or transportation isn’t an issue, try piling the fruit salad into a hollowed out half of a watermelon – centerpiece and salad, all in one.)

BECHINALT RECIPE
(for the culinarily progressive)

When I was in high school in Lawrence, Kansas the local Lions club gave each of us “honors” students (i.e. weenies) a $25 bookstore gift certificate. The more erudite spent it all on a stereoscopic version of Shakespeare’s folios, which allowed instant identification of minor textual variations.

I bought as many cheap paperbacks as I could.

Among them was a $1.50 self-published pamphlet called the Impovershed Student’s Guide to Cookery, Drinkery and Housekeepery, by Jay Rosenberg. It contains a recipe I have made all my life, and love, but, er… not everyone shares my enthusiasm.

For starters, it’s based on chicken gizzards.

Turn around! Come back! Please…

Let me try to warm you up. Do you like gravy? Garlic? Okay, now imagine a huge steaming bowl of intensely garlicky, thinned-out-but-chunky gravy, eaten with dipped, crusty french bread, and maybe a salad on the side. Add a glass of wine or beer if you want. IMO, simple honest food doesn’t get much better than this.

Here’s my highly annotated and adapted version of Mr. Rosenberg’s recipe:

(Serves 4 with some left to freeze, or cut all ingredients in half.)

BECHINALT

Put 2 pounds of washed chicken gizzards in a pot. Cover with about 4 cups of water. Add salt and lots of freshly ground pepper and simmer till cooked, about one hour (or less in a pressure cooker). This part can be done in advance and finished later.

Remove gizzards from broth and cut into small pieces.

Meanwhile, in a deep frying pan or dutch oven or big pot, cook 5 cloves of pressed garlic and one large chopped onion in 3 tablespoons of butter. Stir in 5 level tablespoons of flour and make a smooth paste (adding more butter if necessary.) Remove from flame and pour in about 2 cups of the *boiling* broth, stirring constantly. Careful, this will be sputtery.

Return to flame, pour in the rest of the broth, add the gizzards, with about 1 teaspoon thyme (or 2 t fresh), and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add more salt and pepper as necessary . If you have some, add 1/2 to 1 cup of white wine. Beer would probably work, too. Feel free to boil down or thin out the liquid to your taste. I like a clam chowdery texture.

Just before serving, mix in 2 cloves of fresh mashed garlic.

Eat bechinalt from bowls with fork or spoon, dipping pieces of fresh crusty french bread in the sauce.

Oh man, shrink in sf, does that sound luscious!

Very pleased to meet you (not raised RC but I know what you mean about delaying the gratification of FDL until I’ve seen at least a FEW other sites) . . .

More than 50% of Hoosiers don’t approve of Bush and they really hate his butt buddy Governor Mitch Daniels who is trying to lease our toll road for 75 years to a foreign company. Here’s hoping this little red state turns blue in 06′ and 08.’ We’re looking good in the 2nd district (Joe Donnelly vs. Chris “the count” Chocola (my home), the “bloody” eighth (progressive Dem Baron Hill), and the ninth with Sheriff Dreamy….Brad Ellsworth. OH. MY. GOD. Is he ever gorgeous. A possible 3 seat gain for the Dems and Nancy Pelosi. Let’s make John Murtha the next Majority Leader. Help these Hoosiers out at their respective act blue pages! Just doing my part to take back America and spread a little decadence around the blogoshpere. Thank you Jane, Christy and all the regulars for giving us this forum.
BANANA UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
4 bananas, sliced
1 tsp cinammon
1 package banana cake mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour (8 inch) pans. Combine butter and brown sugar, divide and spread evenly between the 2 pans. Sprinkle pecans evenly over both brown sugar mixtures, arrange banana slices evenly over each.

Prepare cake mix according to package instructions adding cinammon. Divide batter into the 2 pans.

Bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Turn cakes upside down on a platter or plate, tap bottom and carefully remove pans but if some caramel sticks to the pan just plop it back on.

You can use a yellow cake mix and its just as good.

Almost never post. Read nearly every day. I am writing now only to emphasize how many of us who do not post are fully connected to FDL (which I took to be an I Ching gua that I couldn’t recall.) Christy, you are a wonderful writer–and Jane, too–so full of heart. Thank you for your humanity, your energy, your wit. Thank you for the hope you offer us in the midst of this political nightmare.
I am a writer, professor, grandmother.
We love you. Many thanks.

I live in Los Angeles and try to read FDL at least once a day, sometimes more. I think the whole idea of blogging is wonderful and very American thing to do. People speaking out and expressing their ideas in a very public way. I can’t think of anything more democratic than that. Thank you and keep up all the great posts!

OK Christy, You called me out of the closet!! I too have been lurking here acouple of years.Your
idea that there are more like me who have never posted until now could help the movement exponentially become more potent, intrigues me!!

OK, here I am, tell me how I can be a force for change. How do you think nationally, and act locally?! How does a person with skeleton’s in the closet, come out in the public and behave politically with integrity, without getting hacked to pieces by political forces that disagree with your views, and will dig vigorously for those skeletons to use them against you? Thank you !!!

A former lurker, Flydog

I’ll continue to enjoy and benefit greatly from lurking. You good folks are too fast for my surviving brain cell – my comments would never make it out of the Evil Parallel Universe! After years as a professor of geology I discovered my head is not hard as a rock. The resulting injury took away my profession, but it made me slow, not stupid.

The Bush/Cheney/neocon/Repug disaster has been obvious since 9/11/01, even through my mental fog. What excuse do all those Busheviks have for not seeing the obvious?

Togna Bologna

P.S. – I recently moved into Nevada City Cohousing, where we take turns cooking Common House meals for everyone. Some of these Progressive recipes are going to be enjoyed by all of us!

You are completely “right on” about our countries thirst for actual leadership. It has been absent thru out the bush regime.

Hooray for all the new people! Come on, lurkers, we know you’re out there. Chime in.

Organicgeorge said it best.

I’m popping my cherry here and de-lurking. I was devastated after the 2004 election… Thought I was the only sane person left in the country.

I WANT MY CONSTITUTION AND THE BILL OF RIGHTS BACK, dammit! That’s why I climbed into the car and drove my 50-something self six hours to Vegas, even though I’ve never posted a comment on a single blog.

You guys have given me hope. I’m mobilizing.

Now, an important comment about Peterr’s mozzarella salad:

A real, fresh buffalo mozzarella is the way to go. Order it, if you can’t find it locally, from realmozzarella.com. (Mozzarella is actually supposed to *taste* like something!) Drizzle a truly fine balsamic (from Modena) on it. (If it costs less than $30/bottle, it ain’t fine.)

Love you. All of you. Thank you for being here.

John @ 202
Alas, none of us are running for office.

Actually, if you read this thread, there is one lurker who is running, another whose BIL is running and NYBri who running for State Senator for NY.

I don’t know the other two, but I do know Brian from working on ePluribus Media. I doubt he would even have contemplated running, if not for blogs in general and the Plame story in particular, as that was the trigger to launch ePM.

What is powerful about the blogs for me is that ordinary people are realizing they do have the power to step up and run. And they are.

Flydog, I’m not Christy but I can (at least partially) answer your question.

You don’t have to become the public figurehead/target to be active and productive in this. Join your state Roots Project, write letters to the local paper, contact your congresscritters, pick some good candidate’s campaign to help, be a poll-watcher … on and on, but those are some examples of ways to be effective while maintaining the privacy you need.

Welcome!

Bionic — Howie has a great feature on NYBri coming up in a bit. It’s fantastic — and VERY inspirational, and I hope everyone enjoys it. (And perhaps gets an idea for themselves or someone they know…)

That’s the real issue behind ”Net Neutrality”. Real discourse must be stifled and stopped.

Hello all:
I read FDL every single day, and it is the most aware and quick-witted bunch of people I have ever met.

I am a retired sociologist/statistician/database guy and still stay connected with my roots in sociology. I can say that what is happening in American society today is very much like major social changes in history. The atmosphere is electric, and even though you may feel despondent sometimes about the current state of affairs, I believe you will be surprised at how quickly things can tip over in the near future.

As for recipes, one of my favorites is this:

Steamed blue mussels with stuffed zucchini.
Use a very large pot (like a canning kettle) to steam the mussels, about a pound of mussels (in shells) per person (we like more per person, actually).

A bottle of good white wine
A quarter pound of butter
A handfull of chopped parsley
About six large garlic cloves crushed and chopped
Check the mussels and discard any that are open

Put the mussels in the pot, pour in the wine, toss in the butter parsley and garlic; salt and pepper to taste. Steam til shells are open.

Stuffed zuccini
Use a melon baller to scoop out the flesh from two medium zuccini, and put the meat into a food processor, grinding until about the size of bread crumbs.
Mix the zucchini with a cup of panko bread crumbs.
Mix in a half cup of parmisan (the kind in the sprinkle container, not the solid kind)
Add a small amount of chopped basil leaves if you wish. Salt and pepper to taste.
Put the filling mixture back into the zucchini shells and steam in the microwave until shells are tender and mixture has the parmisan is melted.
When the mussles are open, drain the liquid into a pan without getting any of the sand in the bottom of the steaming pot into it. Heat and reduce. Use this as a dipping sauce for the mussels.
Serve with garlic bread and a good white wine of your choosing.
-sofistic

In typically head-whacked fashion, I forgot to say the most relevant thing. After meeting Charlie Brown, now the Dem candidate for Congress against John Doolittle in CA 04, I joined Charlie’s volunteer staff as photographer. Photos of his election night party, which turned into a celebration of winning the primary, are posted at:

http://flipperty.smugmug.com/gallery/1539277

To jeffreyw @114 and Peterr re: Southern Illinois. I know it well. Spent the first two decades of my life as a resident of Richland County. A New Yorker now by way of Bloomington, Ind., St. Lou, New Orleans and Chicago. Haven’t done the west yet, but it’s on my agenda.

As a first-time-ever poster (thanks for the invite, Christy!), I may be breaking protocal here, but I’m going to toss out a DRINK recipe. Because it’s Saturday, after all, and heck, if we lurkers are coming out of the shadows, we might as well come OUT.

This recipe comes from “The Pocket Bartender’s Guide” by Michael Jackson. (No, not that one.) If you like cocktails, this book is a must-have.

Since it’s BBQ season (for you folks lucky enough to have backyards or front porches or any kind of personal outdoor space), the Orange Fizz.

2 oz. gin
2 T. lemon juice
2 t. triple sec
1 1/2 t. sugar syrup
2 dashes orange bitters
1/3 c. orange juice

Shake with ice. Strain into a glass. Add ice and club soda. Enjoy!

I can’t believe it’s past noon already. I gotta get to the store.

Thanks, everybody, for the recipes and the community and the hope.

Ooo, sofistic, would you please cross-post that recipe on the previous thread (which some of us are specially saving). Thanks!

In fact, would anyone who’s posted a recipe here please add it there?

Gwoovy!

Oh shoot — sorry — got my threads mixed up.

sweet. This post, Christie, reminds me of what it felt like to discover blogs in the first place. (been reading obsessively & commenting plenty since the beginnings of the buildup to the Iraq war) Living rurally, mostly working at home, I felt dizzy from the spin, overwhelmed by the unanimity of drinkers of bullshit. It was a little bit like the old parable about the hermit who comes down from the mountain to the nearest village and discovers that everybody there has gone stark raving mad– something in the water, I think– and he wanders around, mystified and heartbroken and dreadfully lonely— And in the end, of course, he drinks the water.

Well, I felt a little that (except I wasn’t thirsty, not at all, am not a hermit, yowled with my friends) Still, there was that dreadful appearance of unananimity everywhere you looked. Horrible. Scary.

And then I wandered onto the net and found– The Agonist, first, then MyDD and phew, sanity, brains, values, snark…

I’ll never forget the relief & the comfort of parsing the bullshit in a community of smart, unfooled, untreacherous people. Fabulous. And taking action. Addicting.

I spend most of my net time at dailyKos. But Firedoglake is becoming more and more a part of my day.

So this is my first post but I suspect it won’t be my last. You guys are great.

Hello, littermates. RE: what 71 *ilson46201 says about loving to read cookbooks; in Judaism, there is The Teachings of Our Fathers, a compilation of wise sayings studied on the Sabbath from Passover to Shavuous or Rosh Hashana. And,I have always considered cookbooks to be The Teachings of Our Mothers – compilations of wise ways to nourish the family, carry on cultural ways, and to express love.
I have adopted a flourless chocolate torte recipe from Gourmet. This is a blending of the wonderful gift of chocolate from the Americas with the ancient custom of eliminating flour from our diet.

CHOCOLATE TORTE
8 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (or kosher-for-Passover pareve margarine)
8 large egg yolks
1 cup plus 1/3 cup sugar (one cup plus one third cup sugar)can be reduced
5 large egg whites
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line bottom of 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides with parchment paper. Stir chocolate and butter in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Cool until lukewarm.
Using electric mixer, beat yolks and 3/4 (three quarters) cup sugar in large bowl until pale and very thick, about 4 minutes. Add chocolate mixture in 2 additions and beat until well blended. Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites in another large bowl until foamy. Gradually add 1/4 (one quarter)cup sugar and beat until whites are stiff but not dry. Fold 1/3(one third) of whites into chocolate mixture. Fold in remaining whites in 2 additions. Transfer batter to prepared pan.
Bake torte until crust forms on top and tester inserted into center comes out with some moist batter and some moist crumbs still attached, about 55 minutes (top may crack). Run small sharp knife around torte to loosen. Cool in pan on rack (torte will fall and crack). Remove pan sides. Invert torte onto platter. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome and store at room temperature.) Bon Appetit April 1999 (Good for Passover)

NOTE: I once made this in cast iron skillets as the kitchen had no fancy baking pans.

Good afternoon from coastal Connecticut! I’m a 45 yr old mom of one eleven yr old girl. Ex-navy vet married to an another ex-navy vet.
And yes we are voting for Ned Lamont. I was fairly apolitical until 2000, when I stayed up all night and watched to my horror as the election was stolen from Al Gore. I found FDL (and alot of other good blogs) during the Katrina nightmare last year. I married a Southern boy from Tennessee and can thank my inlaws for this delicious recipe:

Sweet Potato Casserole:

3 forty oz. cans sweet potatos – drained
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup Heavy cream
1 stick butter – melted
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Put in a large bowl and beat the crap out of it until smooth, maybe add more cream if too thick. You want it smooth not pasty.

Put in square baking pan

Topping:
1 cup browm sugar
1 cup self rising flour
1 cup chopped pecans
1 stick melted butter

Spread topping on sweet potato mixture then bake at 350 for 30 minutes or so. Serves 8 to 10 people (About a thousand calories a serving but, who cares you’ll die fat but happy!)

oops, from Bon Appetit, not Gourmet.

TiredTexan

Lapdogs to journalists is a great idea. Drop me a note at jay at ackroyd dot org, and we can try to refine the idea.

*waves* I actually posted for the first time yesterday in the brainstorming over the Net Neutrality thing. I guess that moved me out of the “true lurker” category.

I started reading FDL a while ago when I was searching for female voices in the liberal blogosphere to supplement what I was reading from Glenn Greenwald, C&L, Digby and Kos.

I started searching for blogs because I live in Ohio. Having read the Conyers report and Mark Miller’s book, I’m terrified we’re going to see yet another negative result in 08 unless we change over the entire Ohio state government to the Democrats who can then put an end to the electoral abuses in the state. The problem is, in order to get that done, we have to win what’s going to be an unfair election in Ohio this fall. I’ve been meaning to reach out to the OH Roots folks about this, but haven’t gotten around to it yet.

I don’t have a blog of my own. I’m strongly considering running for a state-level office in the next couple of years and it seems a little too dangerous. Plus the blogs are the big thing *now* but in 2 years who knows? (My day job is being a media studies scholar.)

Um, recipie wise… well, my family always makes Toll House bars (you know a chocolate chip cookie dough but in a pan?) in a 13 x 9 pan, which makes the bars a lot thicker, so they don’t get so well-cooked.

lisadawn82 I just finished my doctorate and at 33, I’m one of the youngest ones in the program. Depending on the school/program, a lot of grad students are often older, so don’t let that hold you back. Also, you should look for schools where the poli sci or public policy programs allow for you to do interdisciplinary work with the communications department, as that is where you’re likely to find advisors who can help you with the blog and new media side of your work.

DRST

Christy, Jane, and all, thanks for the invitation to post a comment. I have read every word that Christy, Jane, and guest posters have written on FDL for a long, long time. Actually, I have posted a couple times over the last several months, and I’ve read the comments enough to realize the very real concerned and important community that exists here. I guess I am a mild Plamaholic, but I am more concerned about the place Bush has taken our country with the help of the rubber stamp Repubs and disappointed at the lack of Dem leadership and the traditional media’s shocking abdication of responsibility. The whole picture has been often quite depressing, so FDL has been an indispensible daily read. So, here’s to Christy, and Jane, and all of you FDLers. Keep it going and look for me to jump in once in a while. Thanks.

n an exclusive interview with a New Hampshire “citizen activist network,” President Bush’s senior political adviser, Karl Rove, claimed that conservatives have broadened their appeal through the Internet while liberals have used it to “mobilize hate and anger,” RAW STORY has found.

“I do also think that the Internet has proven to be a more powerful tool on our side than it has been for the other side,” Rove told VictoryNH.com, a non-partisan Website founded by a former Ambassador who has raised and contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to strictly Republican candidates.

“It has proven to be a tool on our side to sort of unite Conservatives and have a healthy intra-movement dialogue,” Rove explained. “But it’s essentially been something that has helped us gain in influence and broaden our appeal.”

Rove had harsh words to say about the effectiveness of liberal and Democratic blogs.

“Among Democrats, my sense is that the blog world has tended to strengthen the far Left of the Democratic Party at the expense of liberal, but somewhat less liberal, members of their party,” Rove said.

Instead of “focusing on good ideas,” Rove opined that the “Internet for the Left of the Democratic Party” only “mobilize hate and anger.”

“It has tended to sort of drive their party even further to the Left rather than focusing on good ideas that would help unite people around common goals and common purposes,” said Rove.

“Instead, the Internet for the Left of the Democratic Party has served as a way to mobilize hate and anger %u2014 hate and anger, first and foremost, at this President and Conservatives, but then also at people within their own party whom they consider to be less than completely loyal to this very narrow, very out-of-the-mainstream, very far Left-wing ideology that they tend to represent,” Rove continued.

“I think the Democrat focus, or at least the Internet blog world focus, if you will, is, ‘How can we punish our enemies and express our anger?’” Rove added.

Rove also applauded conservative talk radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity for holding “elite” and “big institutions” to “account,” which he believes has been “enormously healthy for the system.”

“Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and other talk radio people (but really pioneered obviously by Rush) have really changed the nature of the way that people get information and the way that the political dialogue is carried on in the country,” Rove said.

DRST–glad to see more Ohio folk getting involved. I think it would be helpful to focus on getting a Democratic Secretary of State this year, that’s who will be in charge of counting the votes for President in ‘08.

Contact: Jennifer Brunner’s campaign and get involved!

Okay, Chess Pie and tomato pie recipes have been saved. Thanks and…. YUM!

Was just scrolling down through this fiesta again, and realized I left out an important feature of the spinach salad at 175: fresh mushrooms — as many as you want. (I use just the common ol’ white ones, cut ‘em in halves or quarters — whatever is bitesize — and sprinkle them liberally with fresh lemon juice to sit in until it’s time to add ‘em to the salad bowl.) Sorry it took me so long to realize what was missing . . .

I’m not much of a cook, but my mother makes the best pot roast ever. She uses a Silverseal roaster, chuck roast, onions potatoes and carrots, and the secret ingredient — Kitchen Bouquet. mmmm . . .

One favorite recipe — stove top tofu.

Butter; onions; miso; canned mushrooms; and tofu.

Brown the onions and butter in a frying pan; add the mushrooms and miso; then add the tofu. Simple and delicious.

If miso is unavailable, soy sauce can be substituted. I cube the tofu, but it could be sliced; it usually turns to mush, but I’m not much of a cook.

Beel at 41: The mainstream media, including NPR, mostly dealt with the conference by derision. NPR compared it to a conference of Trekkies.

Funny thing, though — since the rise of science-fiction conventions, science fiction and fantasy have gone from being a fringe, geeky genre to a major part of the TV, movie, and publishing (Harry Potter et al.) landscape. It’s become absolutely mainstream.

Rove has good reason to be afraid.

What I most want to say is that I never believed the old line, “All politicians are the same.”

However, if they are, it’s partly my fault for not being involved enough.

The blog communtity has offered opportunity to get much more easily involved and to show politicians that they better not be all the same. It’s scared a few journalists, too, I hope into maybe doing their jobs again — or for the first time.

It really wasn’t that long ago that journalists were blue collar. People of the people digging for information to help their fellow man.

Then, with the celebrity that befell “Woodstein” after Watergate (especially Woodward) they became part of the heirarchy — and thus part of the problem.

Suddenly they were rich. They wanted to protect their new found wealth. Appartently they figured the best was to do that was to lie for the republicans and shill for them as well and become their lapdogs… really they aren’t an accepted part of the wealth community — they’re being tolerated and used… but they don’t see it — cause they don’t want to. They’re desperate to be part of the world they report on. They used to be better than the world they reported on. They are mostly blind… There are still a few to be counted on: Keith Olbermann, Amy Goodman… no one in the mainstream that I can think of though… However, we can elevate them to the mainstream with our power. Once we do, will they still be with us or will they also become part of the problem? This is what scares me most…

Well, now I must go and take care of my wife’s car… I’ll be back to check on the progress of this wonderful get together and thank FDL and many others for making it possible

The onion pie too. Sounds fantastic… and I’ve never made a pie! That’s gonna change starting now. :)

Portobello Mushroom Caps
this is vegetarian, good as a side dish or a main dish

Ingredients
4-5 garlic cloves
2-3 onions (”1015″ or Vidalia are best)
3-4 large portobello mushroom caps
low-fat white cheddar cheese
extra virgin olive oil
white wine (I use Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio, but I suppose anything will do)

Basic Procedures
Use the biggest non-stick skillet you have. Helps if it has a lid.
Chop the onions and garlic fine. Throw it in the pan with some olive oil, medium-high heat. Keep stirring, let it cook down. I like to get the onions just slightly brown, then reduce to low heat, but keep stirring for a bit.
You can take the gills out of the mushroom caps, or not. Take the stems off, though. The caps seem to soak up more wine with the gills left in.
Put the caps in the pan, upside down, on top of the onions. Fill the caps with wine, cover and let simmer 20-25 minutes. Check occasionally, add wine if needed.
Slice enough cheese to cover the caps. Lay cheese slices on caps, cover and continue simmering until cheese is melted (usually 2-3 minutes).
Remove lid and serve. Onions can be served as a side dish, or on top of the mushroom caps. Usually some of the cheese will run into the onions as it melts. Don’t worry about it. Put it on your plate and eat it.

Not a recipe, but a pastry tip:

Freeze whatever fat your recipe calls for, mix the flour and salt, then GRATE in the FROZEN butter or whatever using the big holes in a box grater (or food processor). Then stir in the liquid – maybe a little more than you usually use. Roll out right away. Makes flakey pastry like you wouldn’t believe. And I’ll confess right here – I use lard. Since I only make pie a couple times a year, I’ll probably live.

Janet

Like Some Guy @ 2, I teach rhetoric and also poetry, in the CSU system and to veterans who are struggling with alcohol and drug problems. Live in LA. First non-poetry book is on legal rhetoric — specifically how 1-Ls are taught legal writing. Second book to be called The Rhetoric of Bush’s Wars; title reference is to Burke’s classic “The Rhetoric of Hitler’s Battle.” Thesis is that between infantilizing media and secretive/criminal administration, we being pushed toward the exact opposite of a Jeffersonian democracy (i.e., reasoned decisions based on freely-available information). The upside is that the admin and its media allies are so hamhanded at it — using over and over and over again the oldest tricks in the book — that we have a chance of recapturing reasoned discussion as the basis of our political culture. May be overly optimistic, but w/o that idea I wouldn’t be able to do the book.

Hey all,

I’m a 23 year old student from the Netherlands (somewhere in Europe, look it up ;)), lurk here every now and then. Since your first reaction will probably be: “what’s he doing here?”, let me explain.

The Gore-Bush election troubles surprised me, but the in Europe quite prevalent -those crazy Americans- sentiment also caught me, and i did not think much more of it at the time. 9-11 hit, and many people were really shocked in my hometown. I remember well how people were speaking about it in the streets, people who really didn’t know eachother well.

In the aftermath, the war on Al Qaeda in Afghanistan was widely supported and deemed justified by much of the media and political figures in the Netherlands, but also in most parts of Europe.

Then came the drive for the Iraq war. My country was on the “coalition of the willing” list, and the prime minister was hated with a vengeance for it. There were big protests being held, and if i now say that some 80% of the country flat out hated American arrogance/ignorance, i am not exagerating. The hate amongst students was almost tangible, everybody knew Saddam was no real threat, everybody knew the case at the UN was at least in part bogus. Most of the sceptic intelligence agencies in Europe had their say, and they were given primetime coverage.

Bush was portrayed as a weak dumb powerhungry fearmonger, put into the presidency by corrupt policies. Questions like: “Why do they really want to go to war?” were asked and answered. A running joke was that the mission was always called Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL). It was a bitter joke however, and this was i think the first time i learned about Haliburton, PNAC and the like.

This was also the time that 9-11 itself was put under scrutiny by some documentaries, and they left the really bad feeling that something was very fishy about it and the response to it.

Suffice it to say, i had better not meet too many americans at that time. Daily media would show the suffering of Iraqi people, and while before their life probably had not been easy either, that was definately not the solution.

Then came Fahrenheit 911. Give Michael Moore some love. He may be a wacky figure, but he opened many eyes. Apparantly not all Americans were arrogant, stupid or ignorant. In hindsight it’s obvious, but when all the stuff you see is either Bush, Rumsfeld or Cheney, it’s kinda hard not to associate those feelings.

The rest is easy, through michaelmoore.com i looked around at democraticunderground.com then crooksandliars.com for all the media i can’t see here, and since the Plame affair i’m occasionally lurking here.

The nice thing is that you give me a different perspective from what i get through traditional media (you know, Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld and Cheney saying dumb things about old and new Europe, or more specifically about the Netherlands). There’s some very clever and insightfull people around here, that unfortunately are not in a position to do make a difference yet.

I keep reading now and then, because i keep hearing these very dangerous things. Cracking down on internet freedom, wiretapping and datamining, never ending wars on undefined terrorists, derogatory religous undertones when speaking to large parts of the world. Ignoring education and science while empowering and integrating religion. The fact that not everybody is up in arms against these things really really scares me. These things go slow, fester underground and all of a sudden it is too late and a fascist powergrab has been completed. History may judge that the past ten years were a close call in the USA, but that will depend a lot on what happens now. (which is the reason i’m lurking here).

What you might like to hear is that most of your views would be considered right to far right if uttered in the dutch political landscape. So if anyone ever tells you that your views are fringe left, ultra-progressive, call them on it, they should open their eyes some more.

Another reason i’m lurking is that otherwise i might get into these lengthy debates, cause i can’t really not rant on and on and on, so i’d probably better relurk now.

Take care.
Really, take care of it!

Absolutely, Janetlr 240 — crucial to have both the fat and the liquid as cold as possible for good, flaky piecrust! Whether you mix it in a processor or with a pastry blender or fork, try to touch it as little as possible to keep your hands from warming it up too much. You HAVE to touch it some, of course — just try to minimize that, if you can.

#205: That Bechinalt sounds fantastic. Gizzards are great, folks. They’re often packaged with chicken hearts these days. :sigh: I remember when I could buy chicken hearts for 10 cents a pound–the same price as chicken wings…

Speaking of recipes that are SO much better than they sound:

Janet’s Chocolate Mousse Pie
Serves 8 to 12

This recipe, a household favorite, wows guests who — even after finishing a sinfully rich slice of pie — never suspect that the main ingredient is tofu. In the past, I’ve always billed the dessert as heart-healthy, based on studies suggesting that soy products can offer cardiovascular and anti-cancer benefits. In fact, I adapted this recipe from a fattier and more heavily sweetened version that was served 6 years ago to me and other attendees of the First International Symposium on the Role of Soy in Preventing and Treating Chronic Disease.
Despite the pie’s soy base, however, I often felt a twinge of guilt over the heavy dose of chocolate present in each slice. With the newly emerging data on dark chocolate’s flavonoids, I now feel less self-conscious about serving this popular dessert. I can point out that its bounty of chocolate may actually contribute to the pie’s offering of a cardiovascular double whammy. And the stearic acid in chocolate, although a saturated fat, is the type that doesn’t appear to raise serum cholesterol.

Want a triple whammy? Serve with a cup of strong, flavonoid-rich darjeeling tea. The especially good news: This pie is so rich that it’s easy to be satisfied with a very small slice.

2 boxes of low-fat Mori-Nu silken tofu (12.3-ounces each, any firmness) — No substitutes (other tofus don’t get as smooth). Mori-Nu comes in a cardboard box and is not always in the refrigerated section — it might be on the regular shelf.

1 10-12 ounce package of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 tsp. sugar (but see below)
1/3 tsp. water
chocolate-cookie no-bake pie shell (or no shell: serve as a pudding, which is what I do)
raspberries or strawberries (garnish) (see below)

Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler until the chips retain their shape but are soft as warm butter. Remove from heat and let stand a couple minutes.

Pur�e the tofu in a food processor — about 2 minutes — frequently scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl to ensure that all of the tofu is converted from a soft brick into a warm-pudding consistency. Add the water to the sugar, then mix both into the tofu. Add the softened chocolate and stir until thoroughly mixed. Pour into a chocolate-cookie pie shell and swirl the top to make soft peaks, like frosting a cake. Garnish with berries. Then chill to set. Ready in 1 hour.

Other possible toppings: orange marmalade, mandarin oranges in a glaze. And/or add chopped nuts (slivered almonds, walnuts, pecans, or black walnuts).

I sweeten with 2 Tbs agave syrup (low glycemic index) and add 1 tsp vanilla extract.

[Personal note: My wife totally didn’t like this pie — tofu?!! — until she tasted it. She agreed with the description above: sinfully rich and smooth and delicious.]

Okay, here’s a classic from my Mennonite childhood. Pretty much the only cake I make, and people love it. You can make this with pretty much any fruit in season, but you may need to make a little more of the crumb mixture if you use something super-juicy like rhubarb. I especially like it with rhubarb, fresh peaches, or in winter with canned sour cherries in light syrup. Dark Italian prune-plums is a classic.

Platz
Mix and set aside:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup butter

Combine cake ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup shortening (I use butter)
1 egg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder

Spread batter in greased 8×12 pan. Top with fruit, and then with crumbs. Bake for 25-35 minutes at 375.

I usually make this in a 9″ round spring-form pan – it’s a little prettier for serving. A little ice cream or whipping cream on the side doesn’t hurt either.

This is starting to remind me of what I say when people ask me for a recipe – do you want the recipe or what I actually did.

Because the other thing I like is a pinch of ground cardamom (with peaches, yum) or nutmeg in the crumbs, or a little grated lemon rind.

Enjoy!

Janet

Re: Treckers = Bloggers

Journalist do see us as a threat. They are the ones who got a degree in communications, they had to cover all the mall openings and local accidents stories as they worked their way up the corporate ladder to become national reporters.

Can you imagine how they feel when just anyone, can write and have a voice that it heard. They are the chosen ones here to tell the masses what is news.

If this blogging thing takes off they might lose their impact on the political and social fabric of American life. They may have to get a real job or at least do some real research instead of rip and read from political publicist.

I read a good fried catfish recipie above, and thought I would add my “special” how to fry fish method. (We usually have crappie that was caught that day, they are small white fish. Any kind of white fish filet will work.)

I mix equal parts of flour and dry buttermilk pancake mix. (for the two of us that is usually 4 heaping tablespoons each.) Then I add paprika, salt, pepper, and a big tablespoon of parmesian cheese garlic sprinkle. Stir well.

Pat the fish filets dry with paper towels and dip in a bowel of buttermilk. Shake a little, and then dip in the dry mixture. I put the coated filets on a paper plate and do the whole mess of fish before frying.

I have a small fry pan that is a little deeper than the usual ones – it is getting grubby but I haven’t been able to find another one where the size is perfect. Fill with cannola oil and heat. Water sprinkled on top should sizzle and it is hot enough.

Fry the filets, turning once, until light golden brown. (There is something about the dry pancake mix that makes them brown nicely.) Do a few filets at a time, blot carefuly with paper towels, and eat while hot.

If you are in to cornmeal, you can do the dry mix in equal parts of flour, pancake mix, and cornmeal, plus the spices.

AS for me, I am not exactly a lurker, though I don’t comment too often on FDL. I am 62, partially retired, working at a third career as a contract medical paralegal. (Worked in health care for years and unfortunately got to know the hospital attorneys way to well – thus my “new” career at age 56.) Turns out I am really darn good at what I do, which is essentially to read medical records, analyze them, do research, and then prepare chronologies and summaries that the attornies can effectively use.

I have a low user ID at Kos. I found it quite a while ago now, after reading about it at InstaPundit (of all places). Never looked back! I am a self proclaimed Plame-a-holic, and found FDL pretty early on.

So many good blogs, so little time. I probably spend over two hours a day reading blogs. For the first time in my life I have contributed to political campaigns. I have contributed to Lamont, and probably will again, after I get my next check. I have learned a bunch about things economic, thanks to Bonddad and other such writers at Kos.

I think that Rove and the like do not really understand the dynamics of the left blogosphere. It is not just about politics, that that is important. I have learned so much about economics, peak oil, Plame, how congress works (or doesn’t work)… I could go on and on. The thing they don’t understand, and perhaps are beginning to fear… can be summed up in what Bill Clinton says. When people think, Democrats WIN. Learning about things you did not know much about before, makes you have to become active.. in some way.

This is way at the end of this thread. I doubt many will read it. But I just needed to contribute my bit, in the spirit of the thread. And if you like fried fish, please try my version.

Welcome, Condor — and all our other visitors from outside the U.S.!

As you know, your story is one of the things that drives us craziest: that just because Bush ended up taking the presidential oath twice — though never honestly elected once — everyone around the world has given up on Americans and thinks we’re all behind him!

That. Is. Appalling.

I recall hearing, on 12 or 13 September 2001, about a German Navy ship passing a U.S. Navy ship at mid-Atlantic and raising a huge banner across its bridge, reading (in English) “We are all Americans now!”

I can’t tell you how wonderful stories like that made us feel in those terrible days.

To think that our wretched misleadership has completely squandered the world’s goodwill and support for our country — well, that will haunt the rest of our days.

Thank you for joining us at FDL, and do please stay . . .

Hi, Grandma Jo — what an interesting job you have, and what good fish-frying tips too. Got a hushpuppy recipe you’d like to share?

Mary at #172

You get a recipe based on good intentions…. I’ve had enough of those in my 65 laps around the circuit. So, partly because the cookie section seems to be somewhat under-populated,

Aunt Augusta’s Pepparkakor
(There should be all sorts of diacritical marks, but I haven’t a clue how to put them in. Just think ginger cookies and you won’t be far wrong.)

2 1/4 cups. stick margarine
6 c. flour
3 c. sugar
3 eggs
3/4 cup dark molasses (light for the cowardly)
3 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground allspice
1 tablesppon ground cardamom
1 tablespoon dried orange zest
1/2 teaspoon salt.

cream margarine, sugar, eggs, molasses, and spices. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. When mixed thoroughly, put in the fridge and chill (the dough–well, chill yourself, too, if you feel like it).

Whenever you’re ready, pinch off the dough into balls about the diameter of a quarter, dip in granulated sugar, and put on a cookie sheet. Separate these about 1 inch as they’ll flatten out when baking.

Bake in a 350 degree oven. If you like your cookies soft, bake 10 – 15 minutes. If you like them crunchy (as I do) add another 5 minutes. Eyeball it the first time or so. None of these old Swedish recipes is exact.

This is a triple recipe. It usually lasts me a couple of days unless I’m really hungry. :-) Actually the dough refrigerates well, and making a big bunch at once means cleaning the bowl/beater only once. Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency.

If you don’t absolutely love these, mail them to me and they won’t go to waste.

The original version of this recipe called for bacon renderings, (and not just because fat was rationed during World War II) and those who aren’t too worried about listening to their arteries clog might try substituting some for the margarine I use. It does make a difference, and if I happened to have bacon around I’d probably do it.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy these as much as I did when Auntie Gusta, and Grandma, and mom, and now I make them.

Mike

p.s. I seem to not be able to make the preview thingy work. I get ERROR There was a connection problem with the server. What am I doing wrong?

So many delightful dishes! And chess pie- My Mom’s specialty once upon a time. Thank you…

Fresh ripe Figs
Goat Cheese
Pancetta
Rosemary sprigs
Slice figs, sandwich around a nice chunk of goat cheese, wrap in pancetta; skewer with a rosemary sprig; grill under the broiler until done to your likeness. Mmmmm

Mike 250, Preview has been on the fritz all day (wouldn’t you know).

Those cookies — and Janet, your Platz — sound crazy-good! EVERYTHING does. I gotta go before I faint . . .

Y’all, Christy has just announced (at 111 upstairs) that Jane has had to leave to be with her re-hospitalized mother. All good energy to them, please.

I am in my 50’s. I have been licensed as an attorney for 30 plus years. I read this blog daily and apprecieate all of your work. I havent posted yet and probably won’t in the future, nevertheless I enjoy your work.

Jon

Jon Garrett, I hope you *will* post again :)

We want to hear your views, sounds like you have a lot of valuable experience.

lotus 248:

That’s one of the reasons i come back, i’ve found that here (progressive blogosphere) there are some really wellmeaning and intelligent people. And the grassroots approach is really hopegiving.

I hope that people will (and probably already do) understand that there is more diversity, that many things are really to blame on faulty government and not on all americans. But the feeling shown in that great frontpage of the Daily Mirror (iirc?) is still very present.

I really doubt that governments in Europe are clean either, but i feel our media is functioning a bit better. That’s probably also the reasons blogs are nowhere near as big an issue in Europe, opposing views can get more coverage.

Don’t worry about me not staying (barring some internet liberty law side effects), but i’d rather not haunt you too much with my point of view. Focus on more important things, register people to vote, get Democrats in congress and the Senate. Get Conyers ready, get the Senate comittee ready. Misleadership is one thing, letting them get away with it is something different altogether.

I really hope you can hold them accountable.

longtime lurker. I learn so much from FDL, driving my husband crazy with Plame-ological factoids. I still haven’t had sufficient coffee to post a recipe. It is a totally killer nutritionally incorrect potato salad that I’ve made since the seventies, but never written down the quantities. I will make it for Father’s Day so I can figure it out and post at next available recipe-festivus

Hi everybody, from deep in EPU territory. I’ve been lurking for ages, and practically get the bends when I’m away from internet access for a weekend. This site is my favorite by far for news and for the careful analysis that has largely gone awol in the MSM.

I was interested to read the comment earlier today, relating how much of what turns up in print came directly from PR firms. That’s really depressing, though hardly surprising. Real investigative journalism is so rare, it sticks out when it apears somewhere – like the Blade articles on the various messes in Ohio, or the Globe’s work in uncovering the church sexual abuse stories.

I’m registered republican, so I can vote in primaries in a red district, but the joke’s on me! My town went all Democratic last year, and there will never be a republican primary challenger to our current congressman.

Thought I’d share a longtime favorite recipe. The pairing of raisins and garlic in a pasta recipe may look odd, but believe me, it works. Every single time I make this for someone who has not had it before, I am asked for the recipe. It comes from an Italian cookbook by Ed Giobbi from back in the ’70’s. It uses stuff that keeps for ages in the pantry or fridge, so it’s a good one for unexpected guests.

Spaghetti alla foriana

4 T. olive oil
2 T. finely chopped garlic
3 T. finely chopped walnuts
3 T. finely chopped pine nuts
1 t. oregano
salt and pepper to taste
4 T. white raisins
1/2 pound spaghetti
grated Romano cheese
2 T. butter

Heat oil in skillet. Add all ingredients but raisins, cheese, spaghetti, and butter. Cook, stirring, 3 %u2013 4 minutes, add raisins, lower heat, and continue to stir until raisins puff up and brown a bit, approximately 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook spaghetti, drain. Toss the spaghetti in the sauce, add butter, toss again. Serve with grated Romano.

Serves 3.

Sorry. That’s 3 to 4 minutes. Somehow the dash got translated.

imman, we are W A I T ing for your pecan pesto :)

I’m an occasional commenter here, there and around the usual suspects. I found FDL about the time of Judy going to jail and Redd & Jane were playing the guessing game of who in the VP’s was opening their pie holes to Fitz. I’ve got friends at work who read the morning missives in our morning news scans and we all love to read here. I lived in Santa Monica and am familiar with the people Jane has dealt with in her career. I also relate to ReddHedd (hi Christy!) via her morning bird blogging and family life. But to have the depth of analysis, great story telling and top of the line snark – well – its great to know the community is here and I have found you. Seattle salutes the FDLers and move to take our country back. Thanks a heap guys.

Well, so much for dieting around here! Can’t resist this invitation to jump in and say hi. This midwesterner has been coming to this site for sanity and explanation of the many things that have made no sense as explained by the MSM. I’ve never been too political before, but it matters too much now.

No glamorous recipes at the moment, but a tip or two to try. Using any recipe for buttermilk pancakes, I use blueberry Yoplait original and then make up the rest of the volume with regular milk. Of course, if it’s too thick, just add a little more regular milk.

Make couscous like an Algerian. Take a tablespoon of olive oil and mix it in the pan with the dry couscous. A lighter oil can be used if you prefer. Then just cook like rice–that is, put the water in and bring it to a boil, then take it off the heat, cover it, and let it steam for 15 minutes or so.

My name was inspired by being out shopping and a kid calls out “Mommy,” and 10 heads turn to see what’s the matter. My kids are 24 and 25, but some of us just don’t outgrow mommihood.

Christy, I could gush all day about what FDL has come to mean to me. Thank you for all the work that you and Jane and all the others do. And the pictures!! Each one a stroke of genius–I love it.

Yet another lurker defrocked!. I have even purchased Jane Hamsher’s books. I am a retired lawyer,mom, political activist and general all around rabble rouser,albeit one who lurks on the ‘nets. First campaign was “Clean for Gene”, then a couple of local campaigns, then retired til Dean entered the scene. Now: bigtime DFA supporter, local races, NARAL PAC board. I do not donate to the DCCC anymore, but rather use the many fabulous blogs to research local candidates and support them individually, for example,Lampson(TX) and Lamont(CT). Burner(WA) and Brunner(OH)and Busansky(FL) are also great
candidates to hit only 2 letters of the alphabet. Of course, all of this will pale beside the inportance of funding groups like Voter Action, which is actively trying to reform the outsourcing of counting votes to the best-connected and least transparent private businesses in history. So now, back to the main event, and away from the exposure of one lurker.

Time to wake up on Sunday morning down here. Stars are out, the thickest Milky Way and bright Southern Cross, and so the temperatures headed downward. I’m huddled by the space heater and the computer, which would describe part of every day here. Thanks for giving me hope. I regularly get asked, “What happened over there?” by people here. There is so much residual loyalty to Americans, so much disbelief in what has happened to our government. Thank you for the roots project and for all you are doing to make being a citizen an honor, instead of the mark of a dupe.

Wow, I’m saddened to hear the news about Jane’s mom. Now I’ll go into denial about that by posting the best scones recipe – ever. (I’m still a little proprietary about my catering recipes, but maybe I’ll get over that soon.) Anyway, these are Pasta & Co. scones, made with oatmeal, apricots and sour cherries. years ago I worked the morning shift at the Pasta & CO in downtown Seattle. Had to get there at 6:30, and not being a “morning person” the one thing I looked forward to was making myself a cappucino and getting the first hot scones out of the oven.

These are so quick and easy to make. I would suggest keeping your bread board very floured. You really don’t want to the dough to get at all sticky.

2/3 cup dried sour cherries
2 dried apricot halves, cut into 1/4 inch dice
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup plus 3 tbls. flour
2-1/2 tbls. brown sugar
1-1/2 tbls. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tbls. cold butter, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 350* F
Soak cherries and apricots in hot tap water for 15 minutes.
While fruit soaks, place buttermilk and egg in mixing bowl. Without stirring mixture at all, add oatmeal and let soak for 10 minutes.
Drain fruit well, add to buttermilk mixture – Do NOT stir.
Place flour, brown sugar, baking powder, aking soda, salt and butter in food processor bowl equipped with steel blade. Process until very well blended.
Using circular motion, gently fold flour mixture into buttermilk mixture. Do not overstir.
Turn dough onto floured surface and pat it into a round about 1 inch thick. The dough will be very sticky. Do not add flour and do not knead. Lightly flour a knife to keep it from sticking to dough, and cut into 6 equal wedges. Place wedges on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes on middle or top shelf of oven. Check, and if necessary continue baking anouther 4 minutes until golden brown.

After they come out of the oven I usually let them cool just for a minute, then break one in half and add butter to the inside. Yum. And that’s an understatement.

oy vay – nix the “one cup cornmeal.” That’s supposed to be “one cup “OATMEAL”. You know, the main ingredient to the recipe.

Sheesh.

[Fixed it. — CHS]

Before I got to the convention, I wondered what it was about this particular gathering that made me to get off my butt, pony up my savings and just go. I mean, you all could have been real slick imposters for all I really knew: elitist, snotty, too good for us all, types.

The people in this community are who and what they appear to be: the genuine article. Funny, intelligent, articulate. Did I say funny? Oh yeah, they were funny, too. To say I spent the weekend with 1100 of my closest friends would not be an exageration or wishful thinking.

If anyone has any doubts about this here internets stuff, relax. And celebrate. This is as real and as wonderful as it gets.

Ah, golly. Make that “1-1/2 TEASPOONS baking powder”.

Okay, I’m going to the dog show now. Or maybe I’m just going to the dogs?

Twisted Martini @ 189: I’m just back from the store: went out to get a flank steak. Can’t wait. :) Many thanks.

I started reading FDL when the Plame issue heated up, and was truly glad to be able to learn about what was really happening instead of having my knowledge limited to the MSM. Since then, I’ve been a daily visitor, once in a while adding my comments to the mix, but not often. I’ll do it more — you’ve really got me thinking, all of you — and I can’t say enough about how hopeful it makes me feel. We are facing a terrible crisis in this country, but to read the daily headlines, you’d never really know it.

And a big WOW thanks! to everyone for posting all the wonderful recipes. Good food, good friends and conversation is what we all need in these dark times.

Here’s my own contribution. It’s too warm right now for it, but come fall and winter, I can promise you’ll enjoy it.

Wren’s Almost Authentic Hungarian Goulash

This recipe is one of my favorites when the weather gets cold. It’s simple, easily adaptable to what you have on hand, and always elicits appreciative Mmmmm’s from family and friends.
You need:
Onions
Potatoes
Hamburger
Garlic
14 oz. cans of chopped or stewed tomatoes
Beef or vegetable broth
Tuscan herbs or a medly of oregano, sage, rosemary. etc. You’re looking for savory.
Here we go:
1. Chop two big onions
2. Pour a 50-cent piece sized round of olive oil in a Dutch oven, turn heat to medium
3. Put in onions, then crumble hamburger into the pot
4. Add about a level tablespoon of sweet or hot paprika (your choice), six grinds of black pepper corns, a shake or three of salt and a heaping soupspoon of minced garlic (more, if you’re a garlic-lover like me). Sautee’ until meat is browned and onions are limp and translucent. Drain fat, return meat and onions to pot.
5. Add 2 cans diced tomatoes with liquid and two cans of beef or vegetable broth, then a pinch of sugar to neutralize the acidity in the tomatoes. Add a bay leaf and, liberally, fresh ground Tuscan herbs.
6. Bring the goulash to a boil, then turn the heat down low and simmer for two hours, stirring now and then. Taste occasionally, adjusting the seasonings to your liking. I leave any further salting to the taste of each diner.
7. Peel, then cut five or six good-sized potatoes into eighths; peel and chop five carrots into half-inch chunks. Add carrots and potatoes to the pot and simmer until fork-tender.
Goulash should be warmly spicy (not overwhelming) and very savory, a sort of stick-to-your-bones, filling comfort supper for chilly fall and winter weather. And the meat can be anything you like the best, too – chicken works well, chunks of lamb stew meat are divine (sauteé first), and pork is delicious, too. You can, of course, also leave the meat out entirely, if you don’t like eating food that once mooed, clucked, oinked or bahhhhhed. Serve the goulash in wide bowls with warm, crusty bread and butter. A nice, rich, dry red wine or a cool pale ale rounds out this dish nicely, and a liberal dose of wine to the pot doesn’t hurt either. Other veggies that work well with this are sliced celery and frozen or canned corn, liquid drained before adding.
8. Bon apetit!

I’ll join in the recipe swap. This is my favorite chicken recipe. It’s not mine, I stole from the food network. However, it’s a change from the usual run of chicken. Goes great with almost any kind of squash and with some garlic french bread is really tasty.

Spicy Chicken
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis
Show: Everyday Italian

Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

4 chicken thighs with skin and bones
2 chicken breasts with skin and bones, halved crosswise
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons Chili Oil, recipe follows
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup pitted, coarsely chopped green olives
4 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
1 1/2 tablespoons drained capers
2/3 cup dry white wine

Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a heavy large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes per side. Remove the skillet from the heat. Stir in the garlic, olives, 3 tablespoons of parsley and capers. Add the wine. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until the chicken is just cooked through, turning occasionally, about 10 minutes.

Transfer the chicken mixture to a platter. Spoon the sauce over. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of parsley and serve.

Chili Oil:
2 cups olive oil
4 teaspoons dried crushed red pepper flakes

Combine the oil and crushed red pepper flakes in a heavy small saucepan. Cook over low heat until a thermometer inserted into the oil registers 180 degrees F, about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat. Cool to room temperature, about 2 hours. Transfer the oil and pepper flakes to a 4-ounce bottle. Seal the lid. Refrigerate up to 1 month.

Yield: 2 cups
Prep Time: 2 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Inactive Prep Time: 2 hours

Lotus: #203 My grandmother was Irish, my Dad Italian. The only thing to use on the Pasty is salt and pepper. That’s it. It is an easy dish if you are good at rolling out the pie crust. I use Flako Pie Crust because I am too lazy to make my own. Try to pick out stew meat that is not too lean–the fat helps to moisten up the pasty while it’s cooking. Which is why (if I remember) I sometimes add a piece of suet to the top on the onions.

An introduction… Name is Christine and I live in eastern Iowa. I’m a mainframe computer applications programmer for a large teaching/research hospital. I’m 40, single, with one sister and 3 wonderful nieces (that were adopted from China). I’m a former military brat and traveled the world by the time I was 10. Imagine going from Italy to southern Mississippi where it was seriously frowned upon for talking in a foreign language, let alone thinking in it. So, I’ve forgotten most of the Japanese, Italian, and German that I learned oversease.

I think I found FDL through C&L several months ago. Y’all ‘talk’ way faster than I can read, so I don’t post much. I really appreciate that discussion can go on without getting insulting and foul languaged. (ok, I do utter the bad words, but when it’s really called for)

Mike at 250….. That is awfully close to the gingerbread recipe I have. I swiped my Mom’s cards and she got it from a magazine around 40 years ago (I think). Change the cardamom with lemon and you just might have it. My cooking skills came from helpimg my mother at meal times. 99% of what I cook has no ‘formal’ recipe for them. It’s all by taste. But, here’s a egg drop soup that can hit the spot many a day.

Egg Drop Soup: ( this is for one, just mulitpy for however many you want to serve)
1 egg, thoroughly beaten (until frothy) and set aside
In sauce pan:
1 can chicken broth
soy sauce
lemon juice
tobasco sauce
ginger powder
garlic powder
onion powder
celery salt
white pepper
poultry seasoning

bring to rolling boil
while stiring slowly add the egg and let boil until egg is cooked.

You can thicken this with a little corn starch mixed with some water. Make sure to bring back to rolling boil for a few minutes to cook out the taste of the starch.

This is also the base for sweet and sour soup.

Shit. Now I’m going to have to go to the library and xerox all these recipes (don’t have a printer hooked up), and swing by the grocery store and get pastry or something. I don’t bake either, but some of this stuff looks easy.

FDL is remarkable and unique. I feel much appreciation.

OT, did anyone see the AFI top 10 list of most inspirational films? Have you done that here? Definitely will see Mr. Smith Goes to Washington again soon.

OKAY!!!!!! Ya’ll I am new to this site and I am not a lurker like my partner of 16 years. I just wanted to say that I loved to watch the convention in Vegas! We want to be there next year, and I was wondering….. Is any other person awake politically except us?? I wonder how people can be so complacent now.Are they not mad about how the gov’t is screwing us?? Wages do not meet the economy,medical care and insurance are off the charts and all my partners company offers is a 2%-3% raise every year????? We are middle income here,me with disability due to Ms( Multiple Sclerosis) and her income,things are tight and we have a strict budget.P.S I used to be a chef and I still cook for family so ask or inquire for recipes too. I have lots. Thanks for listeningare the people brain dead here in Tn.. I am not a true southerner,just a transplant from Az.

man…this is a pretty beautiful thread, with all the folks de-lurking. I am an infrequent poster but several-times-daily reader who thanks God for this site.

Recipe? Me? Uhhh…well, it’s not far on the evolutionary scale from Top Ramen… but it’s very simple and brings back memories of hot Saturday evenings when Pops, for whatever reason, was left to fend for us in the kitchen…

Mercury’s Dad’s Korean War Spaghetti

spaghetti
sliced white onion
hard boiled eggs, sliced
catsup
soy sauce
lots of black pepper

Boil Spaghetti. Toss everything into a shallow bowl and mix ingredients to taste, quickly and with a minimum of thought or fuss. Make sure TV is on. Open a cold beer, following that one with a couple more.

Enjoy….

Hi all! I delurked at FDL during the Great Rubber Stamp Campaign, and post occasionally but usually get EPU’d (like now, prolly).

I’m a retired pharma researcher, originally from Connecticut, but now living in Missouri. My OTHER favorite blogs are Eschaton, Shakespeare’s Sister, Pandagon, Digby, and those cheeky boys at Sadly, No!

I have voted Democratic Party in every election since I was 18 and have served as a delegate to CT State Convention; and here in MO, worked on the Kerry campaign, some phone banking, but mostly updating the voter database. I’ll prolly be doing that again this summer–what fun!

Anyway, love FDL, read it every day.

Okay!! Ya’ll I am not a lurker!!
Just wondering where the brains of people are???? I am “married to a woman” for 16 years. Committed and lesbian..How do we threaten traditional marriage per se?? Not even straight couple (all) get married to reproduce.
We have several friends that do not want kids. We enjoy our autonomy and not every couple straight or gay wants to have kids. Also Are most people brain dead?? Following the lead er off the cliff ?? Will America wake up and realize that you can never trust the gov’t??
Question authority and investigate the truth,read between the lines.Trust no one.

also,I am a retired chef due to MS(Multiple sclerosis) so I have lots of tips and recipes for anyone to use,just ask. No offense to already posted ideas.Loved to watch the happenings in Vegas. We will try to go next year!!!
No bias and love the mother earth
tawanda

This thread has been simply awesome. I’ve culled out 16-17 recipes here – this summer is going to be a good one for trying them out. My oldest daughter is coming home in two days from her first quarter at a university to the west of Tokyo, and I am really looking forward to sharing these with her.

I love FDL. I read it every day, and I also want to add my thanks to all of the other readers who have expressed their gratitude on having such a terrific forum to read the very, very insightful and no-holds-barred commentary from Christy and Jane. The regular cast of contributors to FDL are also a terrific bunch – I can almost always count on getting a good shot of humor from them. Thanks Fire Dogs.

My contribution is BBQ beef ribs. I kind of make up the BBQ sauce each time I make it, but I’ve recently been adding a half cup or so of a oyster flavored sauce to a base of ketchup, soy sauce, worcester, along with a small jar of a chinese specialty sauce like chili garlic sauce or plum sauce. Over here in Okinawa, the commissarys do carry a wide variety of oriental condiments and sauces, and I’ve experimented well with the various choices.

Anyway, my favorite Sunday PM routine is to cut up a rack of beef ribs, season them well (I want to try the Emille’s-style rub that others have posted here today), and nuke them in the microwave to pre-cook them a bit. Fire up the BBQ and cook them on the upper rack to keep down the flareups from the grease running off the ribs. After 30 minutes or so, I’ll coat heavily with the sauce, and turn repeatedly for another 20 minutes, basting heavily with the sauce.

The best part of this BBQ recipe is sharing all those beef rib bones with my 5 dogs. The older ones know the routine and patiently wait until they get their gnawed-on rib bone, which they proceed to strip completely clean. We’ve got a new puppy who has only had a rib bone once since we got her. It’s going to be fun to watch her get a big bone of her own later today when I do this. She’s still displaying that incredible puppy energy even in the Okinawa heat. She annoys the hell out of the other dogs, and that’s fun to watch the interaction that is constantly going on.

I suppose it’s a guy thing, but I’m at a high point of contentment when I can sit in my small garden under my big wood and canvas umbrellas, drink some good cold beer, and watch and listen to my ‘kids’ gnaw on those rib bones. To me, that’s hog heaven.

Thanks again Fire Dogs. It’s after 5 AM here on Okinawa, and I haven’t gotten much sleep. I’ll crash for a while, get up and brew some coffee and get ready for a good Sunday rib cookout.

Semper,
OkiDave

Ive been a lucker for over a year,silly bloggers were being drawm in

Do as I say not as I do and drink beer not wine. There are less calories in beer.
If you fall off the wagon ( hey Chimpster!) eat plenty of grapefruit and spinach. Yr liver will thank you. I won’t repeat my replay of the dinner scene from ‘ Hannibal’ with Jane as Clarice and Rove as the rude cop – just my recipe for peace in the Middle East.
1) Take a tactical retreat to the Murtha line
2) Take a strategic coalition review
3) Call a virtual summit that includes all parties and put some teeth in the UN and world court. Garnish with some nuclear disarmament and serve with French fries on the side.
Chin chin!

OK, last entry, I believe.
This may make you gag, but it will certainly make you laugh til you are sick.

Presenting: Steve Don’t Eat It!

http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-ar…..eat_it.php

Delurking. I didn’t go to YK, I don’t comment much on other people’s blogs (I’m an old Usenet vet, and I had my fill of long threads and flame wars there, so how much I’ll post here is an open question).

But, seems like delurking is called for, so I’ll delurk.

I’m glad you’re doing what you’re doing at FDL. It’s very quickly moved to must-reading status on a daily (hell, sometimes hourly) basis, and I appreciate everything that you do here.

By way of background, I’m an attorney in Central PA (The “T” to those of you familiar with the political geography of the Keystone State. It’s the part of PA that James Carville referred to in his famous quote that PA is Philly and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between.) I was a political columnist for a weekly publication here for a few years, and have been an occasional op-ed contributor to various PA papers, including the Philly Inquirer.

I’m looking forward to joining the discussion around here. Thank you, Christy, Jane and all the rest for what you do around here.

Probably a good thing the book discussion is going to start late. Now I can find read review the book one more time. Just kidding of course.

I’ve been lurking for some time and visit FDL regularly. I don’t know whether to be amused or disgusted that MSM seems to have missed the point of YearlyKos. Are they truly that dense, or are they pretending to be that thick in hopes of downplaying the ominous significance of disparate individuals communicating and sometimes coordinating their efforts via the ‘net? Have I become paranoid, or does it seem that almost all of the MSM output these days is carefully crafted to keep us fearful, stupid, and divided?

Here’s a recipe for sour cream waffles. I made them this morning so the tiny waitress of the household could deliver them to Daddy’s bedside as an early Father’s Day present. I put fresh blueberries in them today, which makes for a delicious waffle, but I may be still be scrubbing that Belgian waffle iron when Libby comes to trial in January.

1 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/4 c. sugar
3 eggs
1/2 c. + 2T melted butter
2 T. vanilla
1 c. sour cream

Mix the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately, then combine them. I have used Egg Beaters and canola oil instead of real eggs and butter and the quality of the waffles hasn’t suffered. (I don’t do fake sour cream for anybody.) Makes about 4 waffles and they freeze EXTREMELY well.

I have a Belgian waffle iron and usually make a double batch. I freeze the waffles singly on a plate or rack (uncovered) until they’re hard, then slice them into fourths with a bread knife. I store them in a zip-loc bag. After thawing, you can pop them into a toaster and they come out beautifully.

IowaChristine at 273

I’m not surprised at the resemblence: I grew up in Minneapolis Minnesota, the grandson (and grand-nephew) of Swedish Immigrants, and though I live in Rhode Island now, I can still say ya betcha and ufda! with the best of them. (For those of you who don’t know that particular code, listen to Prairie Home Companion on your local PBS Station. All those who live in Lake Wobegon are my relatives). While you’re at it, read Garrison Keillor’s Home Grown Democrat which is the best explanation of why anywon with a brain and heart is one of those critters.

Anyhow, I suspect that if we were to exchange tuna casserole recipes we’d find more than a few similarities there, too. At church suppers (I was raised on those) there must have been 1,000,000 “secret” variations on that theme…Mushroom Soup (and none of that fancy portobello stuff) was universal, however.

I saw your Senator, Tom Harkin and your Governor, Tom Vilsack at Take Back America. Impressed by the former. . . Gotta run… Prairie Home Companion is on. :-)

Mike

whoops. Profound apologies for all the bolding. [blush] I missed closing something or other.

I’m a lurker for the most part, but enjoy reading and seldom bloging some snark. I’m dislizkit dislexit I can ‘t fukcing spell, so I don’t post much. It takes time away from reading FDL, DailyKos, TPM, Ornicus, Jesus General, Talk Left, Leftcoaster, and Emptywheel. (my daily dosis)

I now live in Denmark, but always felt that I was in a small minority of thinking people when I lived in the States. Reading blogs like FDL is a refreshing experience. So many articulate and smart people, all off whom seem to be using the thinking part of their brains. And funny too. I loves the snark!

My recipe is from Guinea Bissau. Tuna fish in peanut butter sauce:

2 tsp oil
1 large onion
1 can tomato paste
2 – 3 tablespoons hot stuff (I use quick curry paste very hot!)
1 lb. fresh (frozen works too) tuna (or any firm white fish like cod, etc)
1 – 2 cans (from the tomato paste) water
½ cup peanut butter (organic without added oil)
½ cup water
1 lb bag of frozen baby peas

Chop the onion and fry in a saucepan or pot for a couple of minutes
Add tomato paste and water, give a stir, and then add the fish
Adjust with water until just covered. Cover and boil until fish is tender ( 5 to 10 min.)
In the mean time mix the ½ cup of peanut butter with the ½ cup of water
I also nuke (defrost in the microwave) the peas
Add the peanut butter mix and the peas, and slowly heat until boiling

Serve on top of a good rice. Use soy to taste.

If the fish is real fresh, I take it out of the pot when tender, and then add it again when the sauce has boiled.

I’ve been EPU’d but still can’t find out where to buy the t-shirt.
I’d also like to buy a t-shirt that says “I was frist at FDL, and I’m proud of it!”

OMG, I forgot Americablog, Crooks and Liars, and prbably others, oh ya and it’s spelled Fitz.

Treebark 188

I can attest to your couscous recipe, a perfect dish for a picnic at shakespeare tonight. Thanks!

Percy, I think the bechinalt sounds wonderful. An ex-boyfriend of mine was crazy about chicken gizzards. If I’d had that recipe 5 years ago my life would be…wait, it’s a good thing I didn’t.

Since I’m genetically incapable of simply following a recipe; I’m thinking of adding some sliced portobello mushroom. With your permission, of course;-)

Welcome to all the new Unknown Lurkers. At Halloween time I was known at work as the Unknown Chef, my spatulas wore little matching paper bags with eye holes on them which got a great laugh.

I’m retired now but have a wedding to cater very soon, I’m going to have to completely change my whole menu after reading all these amazing recipes today!

ccmask, oh yum I love pasties, a delight famous in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where I’m from, pasty shops all over. Up there we are known to put a Tbls of rendered beef suet right into the pastry dough to give it a touch of elasticity and flavor. The meat is usually a very coarsely ground stew type meat, or a lean ground beef can be substituted. Along with the sliced potatoes and chopped onion they have shredded carrots and the secret ingredient is a touch of shredded rutabaga (1/3 the amount of the carrot is a rule of thumb). Little bit of salt and pepper.

Everything gets mixed up in a bowl then spooned onto pastry rounds the size of a dinner plate, folded in half and the edges crimped and sealed with the tines of a fork, and baked for about an hour. They were made to be able to pick up and eat, we shake our heads and tut tut the shops who dice the potato instead of slicing which holds them together. Some people will put ketchup on them but my favorite way to eat them is smothered with a good beef gravy, or just plain. You’ve got me homesick now :)

Hi all– semi-lurker here. I delurked a while back, then clammed up for a long time, and have posted a couple times the last couple days. Native Californian here who has always been rather political. I was an idealist during high school, then quickly turned into a cynic, and avoided politics for at least a decade (still voted religiously in each election, but that was about it). I’ve since become politicized with a vengeance since the 2000 election, and stumbled onto FDL as L’Affaire Plame emerged. I try to read once a day, but as others have said, I can’t keep up with all the comments/threads! Started my own blog at the urging of my wife last year, and keep it up as I can. A mixture of the political/personal, but nowhere as good as FDL or others.

Great recipes so far! Not exactly helping my diet, heh. Here’s my contribution– a variation of my mother’s recipe.

VEGETABLE ENCHILADAS
1 can enchilada sauce
1 package corn tortillas
1 3/4 cups shredded/grated cheese (I’m lazy, so I use Sargento Mexican Shredded Cheese)
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 medium white onion
1 can black olives
4-5 jalapeno peppers or 3-4 serrano peppers

Heat for maybe 1-2 minutes on medium the enchilada sauce, just enough time to warm the sauce. Dice the red and green peppers, the jalapenos/serranos and the onion; put into individual bowls. Empty the olives into a plastic container, slice into rings approx 16-20 olives (I use roughly half a can); you can then store the remaining olives in the fridge. Put the olives in their own bowl. Empty the cheese into a bowl as well. For the tortillas, I used to lightly fry them in a pan with a dollop of olive oil, keeping the tortillas in the pan just long enough to warm/soften them up, but now I do it the lazy way and wrap them in a cloth napkin and put in the microwave for one minute to heat/soften them. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Empty just enough enchilada sauce in a 9×6 pan to cover the bottom, and maybe a little over that. Dip each corn tortilla in the sauce so one side is covered, then place it in the pan- as you progress, one side will be on top of the others, while the other side will be flat in the pan. Sprinkle in each tortilla the amount of cheese, onion, peppers, and olives you want– a small handful of each should be enough (with the exception of the jalapeno/serrano– two or three pieces should be enough per tortilla. Roll the tortilla so the seams overlap, then place seam side down. The pan should hold between 8-12 tortillas when you’re done. Take the remaining enchilada sauce and pour over all the tortillas. Sprinkle the remaining cheese/veggies on top. Put in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, uncovered. I usually turn off the heat and let it sit in the oven for up to 5 minutes more. Take it out and let it stand for up to 5 minutes. Can serve with a salad, or with beans and rice.

Thanks for all you do, everyone– an informed and engaged citizenry is what keeps this nation alive.

Hola FDL’ers! This is the first site I load each morning and the last one I read at night. Everyone here is so funny and so so smart. I have commented a few times… back in the beginning of ‘Retaligate’. I came for the Plame but I stayed for the sense of community, like minded people and such great humor. FDL is snarkalicious! So many ha ha’s …. so little time to read them all.
Keep it up everyone… I would be lost without you in my day!

Pesto

1 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup olive oil
2 or 3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup walnuts or pine nuts
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter (room temp)

Wash basil and remove stems. Pack tightly in cup to measure. Combine with oil, garlic, walnuts and salt in food processor and blend to make a paste. Then blend briefly with the cheese and even more briefly with the room temp butter. Toss with hot noodles or spaghetti. Serves 6

I ddin’t go to YearlyKos but in my younger days I went to a lot of SF conventions, not the media related ones, the convenitons about the written word, and everything I’ve read about YearlyKos reminds me of those wonderful conventions. From the people who would travel half a continent to attend, people spending all their time at the convention running the show,all without pay or any expectation of pay.The comraderie, the intelligent discussions. SF or politics it wasn’t the genre of the convention it was the chance to meet people like you, who share your beliefs and values. They were a celebration of community. Just reading all the warm and glowing comments about YearlyKos fills me with happy memories. If there is a paradise for lefty bloggers,YearlyKos is it.

Someone wanted veggies…

Summit House Creamed Corn au Gratin

1 lb frozen corn kernels
12 oz whipping cream
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
pinch white pepper (ok, black if that’s all you have)
1 1/2 tbsp melted butter
1 1/2 tbsp flour
3 tbsp Parmesan cheese

Combine corn, cream salt, sugar and white pepper in a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer 5 minutes. Make a roux from the butter and flour, and to corn, mix well and remove from heat.

Transfer corn mixture to casserole. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and brown under broiler.

Serves 6.

Really tasty creamed corn!

pulling these all together in a PDF file so we can share them. My contribution to the cause… Who wants to host?

Mike 250 – THANK YOU! Anything with allspice AND cinnamon AND cardamon is going on my list.

Here are a couple for the thread.

Butterscotch Pie:
Mix together: 1 cup brown sugar, 6T flour,2T Butter. In a separate bowl – combine 1/2 cup hot water, 1 cup milk, 1/8 teasp. salt, 2 egg yolk, beaten. Mix in the brown sugar etc. and place all in a double boiler – cook until thick, stirring continuously.

When thickened poour into previously baked pie shell, sprinked 1 teasp. flour on crut before adding in the butterscotch mixture.

A bit of work – but worth it. If you are up for it and really want to spoil perfection with a meringue ;-):
2 egg wihtes – cold
pinch of salt – whit to a stiff froth, then add 2 “slight pinches” cream of tarter and beat until stiff. Then add 2 T sugar, whip until light and dry, spread on pie, cook at 350, 12 minute.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

This is a basic pound cake, but it was my favorite from early on. It had the name “Birthday Cake” which I never really thought about until I was well in my 20s. My family is from W.Va too, and one part worked in the mines. In those days – the mine was everything and owned everything. Miners bought at mine owned stores, but also miners on shift ate in mine kitchens. The cooks and miners were like extended family and the cooks always tried to do something a little special on a miner’s birthday, but there were time, complexity and mostly cost/ingredient limits on what they could do – the response was this poundcake.

Cream togehter 1 cup butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and add 5 egg yolks(reserve whites). Separately sift together 2 1/4 cups flour and 2 teasp. baking powder. Add to creamed mixture, alternating with 1/3 cup of milk. Beat the egg whites until stiff and add them at the end to the mixture. Bake at 350, 50-60 minutes.

Wow.. could call this the 5lb. post. Oh…. recipe neutrality. Ode to James Beard and Apicious.
Thanks everyone, I can’t wait to try several new ideas.
Want delicious deep fried fish?
Coat filets in yellow mustard before cornmeal. You will not taste mustard . Fabulous… especially catfish.

Or clean whole fish, crappie or bass… scale, gut, wash. Rub whole fish in garlic powder and pan fry in peanut (best) or veggie oil.

Farmers market has peaches, blueberries. peas, spinach, potatoes. I have to eat such wonders raw, for a few days, before I can start cooking again.

EPU’d, as usual..

Best way to eat TOFU…

Cut block in half lengthwise, cut in half crosswise, cut into 8 sections the 3rd way. there will be 32 pieces about 1/2 inch square and 1 inch long.

Put on a greased cooky sheet in a 350-400 oven. Bake until golden on the outside about 45 minutes at 350, and a little less at 400. The hotter the oven, the puffier the tofu. This gives ordinarily soft tofu some “tooth”.

Make “dipping” sauces. Our favorites are mustard mayo dill, spicy peanut, salsa, garlic cuke.

If you bake 2 blocks (cut up), you can save half for the next day’s stir fry.

“recipe neutrality” – good one!

Just want to thank all and sundry for their generosity in this thread.

Janet

Oh, and can anyone suggest an alternative to catfish in all the yummy-sounding catfish recipes? I live in a catfish-free zone. Would pickeral fillets be too thin?

This is a fine Excellent Parallel Universe. Can we just stay here forever? Will the NSA even be able to find us?

Tune In Next Week

When Clare reintroduces us all to

Crockpot Magic !!!

Just found out what being epu’d is.

Thank you FDL for all you do

I’ll turn ou the lights now

Good night John boy

Just checking in now, to see this invitation to comment for Lurkers like me. I’d never even heard that term before I attended YKos, and the FDL breakfast. One of my old college friends told me 4 years ago about how “blogs” were going to change everything, and he’s told me that often in the years since. He was at YKos, too. I hope to begin finally posting for real on a semi-regular basis.

I’m most interested in addressing rhetorical strategy now that KRove is back and hitting his stride. Let’s get over the fact that Fitzmas ain’t coming this year, and get back to focusing on winning in November. As many pointed out yesterday in discussing the lame new Joe-mentum ad, Rove’s strategy has always been attack the opponent’s strength by calling it a weakness. In 2000, they called war hero and POW McCain unstable because of his days as a POW. In 2004, they called decorated vet Kerry a coward and a fake. The response was a lame “no i’m not, you are”, rather than taking the page out of the Rove playbook and attacking W’s perceived strength — he’ll keep the nation safe from terrorism — as his greatest weakness. Kerry starting coming close to that in the debates, but (as Robert Wright has written) he only argued that W wasn’t doing a good job of allocating resources, rather than asserting that W’s whole approach of American infallibility endangers us because W creates more terrorists than he eliminates.

KRove comes out swinging, calling Murtha and Kerry cowards. Dems fall back in the same patterns, pointing out turdblossom’s many deferments, rather than attacking W’s alleged strength on the issue of Iraq — resoluteness — as a huge weakness instead: inflexibility, pigheadedness, dogmatism, all of which create more terrorists.

Who will refuse to fall into Rove’s trap and turn the tables? Bloggers, including soon-to-be-former Lurkers, like me. Spread the meme.

Thanks for inviting me to comment.

Lotus at 63 – FOOD FOR THE REVOLUTION! – I love it!!

You know I can’t even remember when I started reading FDL – it’s just seems like it’s been part of my life forever. The only other time I posted was a while ago when you had a similar call to lurkers.

It was cool watching DK on C-Span – it also made me much more likely to go to one of the Drinking Liberally get togethers (and for sure DK next year) – I was always hesitant because I figured everyone would be very young – but based on the images from DK and what people are saying here, I’d be right at home with the rest of the “graying” gang!

I really love FDL and enjoy Jane and Christy maybe because they speak in a voice I can understand and relate to (won’t find recipes and Marc Jacobs shoes in Daily Kos!) ;-) Seriously, I love what you do – keep it up!

Hi!

Just Checking FDL out because big orange is down. Been meaning to check y’all out because I was impressed with those I heard from FDL at ykos.

So far so good. This post is perfect. The news of the day at ykos was *not* that warner and reid and dean and boxer were there. the news is that people are crawling of the woodwork in droves and wanting to make a difference in our country and throw the bums out.

Late to the party, but I’ve bookmarked the page so I can come back and copy the recipes, and I’ll bet I’m not the only one. Here’s a recipe for Cranberry Conserve. Make it and you will never buy canned cranberry sauce or make the fresh-food-processor-refrigerator kind again. Take it to Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner if you’re invited, or serve it if you’re the host/hostess. It’s from CordonBluegrass, the cookbook of the Junior League of Louisville. I’ve adjusted the quantities to account for the fact that cranberries now come in 12 oz. bags. (The original assumes 1 lb. of cranberries.)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix 12 oz. of fresh cranberries with 1 1/2 cups of sugar in a 9×13 pan (or a Pyrex casserole) and cover tightly with foil (or the glass lid.) Bake for 1/2 to 3/4 hour, stirring two or three times to dissove the sugar. The berries should remain whole but will be squishy, so stir carefully. The juice and the sugar will form a syrup. Cool the mixture, and then add 3/4 cup of a good orange marmalade, preferably English and dark-ish and a little on the bitter side, and 3/4 cup broken walnuts. (The recipe calls for English walnuts, but they are very expensive and frankly no better tasting in this than American. Just don’t stint on the marmalade. Buy the good stuff.) Stir together and chill before serving. This keeps well in the refrigerator and will serve a lot of people with enough left over to make those turkey sandwiches with.

Christy, here’s a Kentucky recipe for chess pie. Just the basics, and is it good:

CHESS PIE

1/2 cu melted butter
1 1/2 cu sugar
1 1/2 t corn meal
1 1/2 t vinegar
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Use mixer at low speed to combine ingredients. Do NOT Mix too much.

Combine sugar and melted butter. Then add eggs and remaining ingredients.
Pour into unbaked 9″ pie shell.

Put pie in oven and immediately turn down to 400. Cook at 400 for 15
minutes, then at 300 about 20 minutes. Pie filling will puff up full. Give
pie a little jiggle to be certain center is firm (it usually takes somewhat
longer than it says–especially if you use fresh eggs). Place on rack to
cool. Pie may be browned before serving.

Long-time lurker on this and many other progressive blogs, but particularly partial to FDL. As another ex-yooper, happy to see the pasty discussion at 195 and 292 (just say ya to rutabegas, eh?). Public interest lawyer in Chicago, age 58, happy with my work and family. Especially happy to see all these young smart people working to turn our country around again.

Here’s a great spring and summer recipe for a Chinese chicken salad.

MILLIONAIRE CHICKEN
1 head romaine lettuce, or a whole bunch of leaf lettuce
1 chicken–or if you happen to have a bunch of chicken breasts in your freezer that you want to use up, they’ll work fine too.
Sauce A:
3 T. oil
2 scallions, chopped
4 slices fresh ginger, minced
1/2 t. hot pepper flakes
Sauce B:
2 T. honey
4 T. soy sauce
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 t. salt
Boil the chicken, let it cool, take off the meat, and chop it into 1″
squares (more or less).
Arrange the lettuce leaves on a platter (I usually chop them up too).
Arrange the chicken chunks over the lettuce.
Combine Sauce A in your smallest pan and cook over medium heat 3 minutes.
Combine Sauce B and add it to Sauce A as soon as the 3 minutes are up.

Pour the warm sauce over the chicken and serve.

What a great thread. I had no ideas there were so many foodies reading here.

I’m at least a daily reader, almost never post here. Would like to see something written about the reinstatement of bonuses to government employees by Bushco, who’s been paid what for their incompetence. Seems like an issue with traction.

Not going to post a recipe, don’t really cook by them, other than as a reminder of ingredients not to forget.

Some current favorite ingredients:
sea salt
smoked paprika
herb de provence
zataar
sriracha hot sauce
bufalo jalapeno sauce
bufalo chipotle sauce
passionfruit pulp (frozen)
montreal steak seasoning
chinese dried sliced garlic
fresno chilis
merguez
linguisha
assorted fruit syrups from the adriatic
sicilian olive oil
nanami togarashi
kecap manis
orange blossom honey
Ning Ji brand SpicyPot Sauce

Favorite foodie sites:
chowhound
foodie forums
foodpornwatch
meathenge
cooking for engineers
big green egg forum

To shrink in sf 201, yes, strawberries on grilled tuna in a burrito is delicious. I have served it several times and no one has said anything but yum. Now, if you are not big on fruit, particularly strawberries, all bets are off.

Wow! What a thread! Good folks, good food, good conversation. It doesn’t get much better than that as far as I’m concerned. I wanted to share my recipe for tomato pie. A wonderful, easy-to-prepare dish that makes a great meal in and of itself.

As an old West Virginian in exile (now in sunny Florida) I learned to cook from my grandparents, parents, and aunts. Cooking was always a family affair, with the kitchen bustling with folks doing their own thing yet chatting and joking it up at the same time, much like the FDL family I’ve grown so fond of.

When we finally sat down to eat, a short prayer brought us into focus and then the meal became like a family meeting, with everyone sharing their latest triumphs, failures, concerns, and longings. Sprinkle in a lot of hilarious anecdotes and you have the makings of an hours-long lovefest.

Here on FDL I find it so heartwarming that I can go away for a while to do my mundane work and then, when I come back, I can join in again without missing a beat, just like it used to be with my extended family. Thanks guys and gals for coming together to make the last few years not only bearable but delightful!

Tomato Pie

Take a pie crust (homemade or store bought) and bake in the oven until nearly done but not browned. Make sure you place some pie weights (I use a piece of wax paper and a bag of old beans) to keep the pastry from puffing up).

While the pie crust is baking, slice 3 or 4 nice tomatoes, a handful of mushrooms, a small onion, a couple of small zuchini, and any other veggies that strike your fancy. Saute all in a skillet with a little butter and some garlic to taste until slightly tender. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and your favorite fresh or dried herbs. Italian blends work well and I prefer fresh basil, thyme, and oregano myself.

When the crust has cooled slightly, layer your favorite shredded cheese, the sliced tomatoes, and a layer of the sauteed veggies over and over until the pie is full. Depending on your crust and the slices of tomato, this may be 2 or 3 repeat layers.

For the topping, mix 1 cup of parmesan cheese with 1 cup of mayo. You can use low-fat if that’s your thing. Spread gently over the top layer of tomatoes or veggies and then sprinkle liberally (of course!) with bread crumbs.

Bake at 350 for 20 to 30 minutes, until lightly browned on top.

Here’s the hard part: letting the pie cool until serving. If you cut it while it’s too warm, it will fall apart but if you let it cool it will hold together better. The smell of this baking has been known to bring unknown neighbors to the door. It is absolutley delicious as a lunch or dinner main course and I always serve it with corn on the cob and a nice fresh green salad, along with a nice pitcher of sweet tea. Life is good!

I hope some of you will try this recipe. It really is delicious and easy to prepare and it just tastes so much of summertime!

I discovered FDL a few months ago after watching Christy in C-Span one morning. I am a married mother of two Y chromosomes (18 and 11) who has always considered myself to be a moderate until just before the 2004 election when I suddenly found out (from neocons no less) that I was a liberal, pinko, communist etc because I didn’t approve of this administration’s policies, LOL!!!

I was never a very political animal until the late ’90’s. At that time I found myself shocked by the pursuit of Clinton. Then along came the 2000 election…I thank Bush for opening up my eyes to politics. I am a better imformed citizen these days and so are my children…..My husband and I are now more politically active in our community and give to the various candidates nationally when we can

I am from Texas (although I NEVER once considered voting for Bush when he ran for Governor)-so here is a recipe to match:

Cream of Jalapeno Soup

1 1/2 Tablespoon unsalted butter
5 jalapeno peppers, stemmed and seeded
3/4 cup finely chopped red onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 avacado, peeled and diced
2 cups diced tomatoes
8 cups of heavy cream
1 bunch cilantro, stemmed and chopped
Kosher salt to taste
freshly ground pepper to taste

Mince the jalapenos and set aside. In a large heavy saucepan, heat the butter over a medium flame. Add the jalapenos, onions, and garlic and saute, stirring, until the vegetables are soft. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the avacados, tomatoes, and cream. Lower the temperature and return the pan to the heat, watrching, and stirring so the cream doesn’t separate. Bring the soup slowly back to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes to reduce by 1/3 and to blend the flavors. Be sure to stir the soup occasionally to prevent sticking or scorching. Season with the salt and pepper. Just before serving, stir in the chopped cilantro. Serves 6. Preparation time: 1 hour.

The “heat” of this dish will vary from time to time depending on the “heat” of the peppers that are used:-)

Mike: ever see the “How to Talk Minnesotan” video from way back? Still just as funny today.
From hotdish (casserole) country, a couple of side dishes with ham, turkey or whatever main meat.
Asparagus Casserole
1 can (15 oz or so) asparagus tips/pieces
3 slices bread (I like to use a multigrain or whole wheat) toasted & cut in pieces
1 egg
2TB milk
1/2 tsp pepper (or more)
14 tsp celery seed
1 TB butter
Grated sharp cheddar cheese, at least 1 cup, more or less as you prefer
In small bowl slightly beaten (w/fork) egg
Drain asparagus but reserve liquid & add to egg
Add milk & seasonings, mix
Butter small glass loaf or other shape pan
Layer: toast pieces, asparagus tips, cheese, end w/toast pieces
Dot top w/butter
Pour liquid egg mixture over top
Bake 350, 30 minutes uncovered

Easy Potatoes: (this is one of those once in a awhile forget the fat content casseroles easy to put together for a group..we always have this July 4th at the family lake cabin)
2# or 1 pkg frozen ore-ida plain chunky (not grated) hash browns
Butter 9×13 glass or other pan
Place hash browns in pan, salt & peper
Mix:
1/4 C melted butter
1pt sour cream (not lo-fat)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1/2 C (or more) chopped onion
Pour over hash browns. Sprinkle 1/2 C shredded (I like sharp) cheddar cheese over, then top with 2 C crushed plain potato chips. Drizzle with another 1/4 C melted butter
Bake 300 for 1-1/2 hour uncovered (or 325 to 350 in less time if you have another dish in the oven)

A little more history on the “pasties”….My grandma told me that in the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s in New York, these treats were very popular for the workers of the world, busy building skyscraper after skyscraper, going higher and higher…. Their wives would prepare the pasties and send the men out onto the avenues with their steel lunchboxes. Husbands would open their boxes while sitting on steel beams (with absolutely no safety nets below)way up in the sky eating their homemade pasties. It was a cheap meal but it was filled with both a good amount of nutrition and plenty of love.

One of my favorite stops each week is to skyscrapercity.com The buildings being planned are unbelievable throughout the world. I purchased the book “Divided We Stand” by Eric Darton, right after the 911 catastrophie. It is the history of the WTC, and the land it compromised, in it’s earlier beginnings as radio row….

Thus from the air would be taken wealth.
- William J. Wilgus–quote is taken from a memoir published in Transactions, the journal of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1940
… the drilling of granite teeth, the cackling of mechanical birds, the thudding of Cyclopean iron doors, accelerating avalanches of brick, the collapse of deserted warehouses; explosives that cause no excitement, pistol shots that are quite without consequences. Nor does one care to find out what these noises are. One goes on with whatever one is doing incurious and wholly indifferent.
- Edmund Wilson, The American Earthquake

OK, egregious, Lotus said to post this over here as well:
egregious %u2014 I didn’t forget you, just had the cable hook-up down most of the day and had to go out last night. Pecan Pesto:

Put: 1 Cup Pecans, (toasted for 8 mins at 350 on cookie sheet), A full large head of garlic, cloves peeled, One cup (mushed down) fresh clean Basil leaves, 1 Cup grated parmesan or Pecorino, 1/2 cup good olive oil (I like Zoe) and one T salt INTO your cuisine art and pulse until it is a well-mixed coaurse mixture. You can double or triple as you like. Using a blender works too, but you will need more olive oil.

Imm

Long-time lurker (gosh, that sounds sinister!), first time poster. Started reading blogs sometime in 2003, when I began to notice that virtually all the stories in newspapers and on tv news seemed to come from the same 3 AP feeds — and they all sounded like propaganda!

Thank you for all you do here. Its refreshing to read articles from authors who are capable of critical thinking. That, and recipes, too!

Here’s one for bread & butter pickles (Angry Old Broad at 95 reminded me of it). It won first prize at the county fair in 1973!

20 to 30 medium sized cucumbers
8 small onions, chopped
2 largge sweet peppers, chopped
1/2 cup salt
4 cups white vinegar
5 cups sugar
2 tbs. mustard seed
1 tsp. tumeric
1 tsp. whole cloves

Slice cukes very thin. Combine with onions, peppers and salt. Let stand for 4 hours, then drain. Combine vinegar, sugar and spices in a large preserving kettle. Bring to a boil. Add drained cukes. Heat thoroughly (do not bring to a boil after adding cukes). Pour into sterilized mason jars & seal.

I just sat down for a “break” from the wedding goings on (son getting married July 8th). Between work, the showers, the mommy thing, and the eldest daughter thing, I have had minimal time. But it’s sprinkling outside, and here I am, back at FDL. Don’t know why I picked this particular thread, but it is yummy!
I haven’t read all the recipes – I’ve bookmarked this thread to go back to later.
But here is a recipe for Spinach Lasagne.
I originally made it because there is no red sauce, and I was feeding a multitude of young parents and their younger children. I had off-white carpeting…(silly me)
It is delicious.

SPINACH LASAGNE:
8 oz lasagne noodles (cook, drain)
2 pkgs frozen chopped spinach (thawed, drained)
1 (24oz) container small curd cottage cheese
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 eggs
4 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (1 lb)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
*********
Cook and drain noodles
Cook or thaw spinach, drain and set aside
Combine cottage cheese, margarine, salt,
pepper, garlic powder, and eggs.

In a greased 13×9×2″ baking dish alternate
layers of noodles, cottage cheese mixture,
Monterey cheese, spinach & Parmesan cheese.
Repeat layers

Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or
until hot and bubbly.
Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

*Monterey Jack and Mozzarella Cheese may be
used in any combination to equal 4 cups.

Everyone loves this – even meat eaters and spinach haters. IIRC

Enjoy!

I had a restaurant for a long time in Fort Lauderdale. I was famous for my chili dogs. I used to make 60 pounds of chili a week. People started pestering me (and some bribing me (Republicans) for pints and quarts to take home. So, my ten year old son came up with an idea. The next day I took him to the dollar store, picked up eight ice cube trays, made up a half batch of chili and he dropped a tablespoon into each cube in the trays. Once they were frozen, he popped them out and bagged them. He got 50 cents apiece for the cubes. They started selling like hotcakes so we quit doing it because he couldn’t keep up with it. Next, he picked all the oranges off our two trees, squeezed them and was getting $2.00 for a 16 oz. glass. When the tree was bare, he began to sell Pokeman cards. I had every kid in the neighborhood hanging out in the back of the restaurant trading cards.

Today, at eighteen, he works days doing Cad drawings as an apprentice to an engineer, attends evening classes in college, and studies at night while earning a salary as a licensed security guard. He is amazing! And, did I tell you, it just so happens that he cooks too! He makes a mean mozzerella bread and a meatless spaghetti sauce…

MOZZERELLA BREAD
From the bakery, order a large 12″ round Italian bread with Sesame Seeds.

He takes a large round loaf of bakery bread and slices it into as many layers as he can, the long way (not up and down slices like white bread) Starting at the bottom layer, he butters it with a mixture of butter, fresh parsley, and loads of garlic. Then he takes a handful of minced mozzerella and tosses it on the butter spread. He takes the next slice and does the same until the bread is put back into the original shape. He takes the last of the butter and garlic and coats the whole outside of the bread, sprinkles grated cheese all over and wraps it in foil. Bake it at 300 degrees for about 45 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

EGGPLANT SAUCE
The bread goes great with Spaghetti and Eggplant Sauce. Peel and dice a whole eggplant. Brown it in a pan with oil, tomatoes, onions and garlic. Once cooked, throw in a one pound can of Hunts Traditional Sauce (or Ragu, Prego, or homemade, of course)and serve on top of spaghetti. It is a great Meatless Sauce.

I come here a few times a week so I don’t know if that qualifies me as a lurker. I’ve never commented here before, and likely will not make a habit of it, as I’m on the other side of the fence ideologically from y’all.

But since I’m taking so many promising recipes from this thread – the cream of jalapeno soup looks especially good – I thought I’d leave one myself.

It’s a large-ish recipe, as I usually take it to gatherings or to the office to share with co-workers, but it can be easily pared down.

Warning – this is really intended for folks who have a grill with a side burner. You can do it indoors, but open lots of windows as you’ll probably set off the smoke alarms and the fumes from the jalapenos will burn the eyes and nose.

Chipotle Salsa

7 or 8 large firm tomatoes, sliced about 3/4 inch thick
3 large onions, also sliced
10-12 jalepenos, cut in half lengthwise
10 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tsp chopped cilantro
Salt, pepper
1 small can chipotles

Brush tomatoes, onions, jalepenos, and garlic with oil (I use olive oil). Using a cast iron skillet and very high heat, blacken the tomatoes, onions, garlic and jalapenos. The idea is to heavily singe just the outside of the vegetables but not the inside so don’t overcook.

Using a food processor (this will take several batches), liquify the contents of the can of chipotles. Then follow with the cooked tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, garlic in mixed batches ’til smooth. Combine batches in large bowl, add cilantro and lime juice. Salt and pepper to taste (I usually start with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, sometimes I add more, sometimes not). Mix well and serve warm (it’s good cold as well, but best warm). Variation: add 3 tablespoons vinegar.

Will store in ‘fridge for several days, up to a week with vinegar added. I’ve never tried freezing but suspect it wouldn’t harm it.

And thanks to all for the recipes. If we agree on nothing else, at least we can agree to eat well!

My previous incomplete post is why I mostly lurk. I’m all thumbs when it comes to posting. I must say that I consider FDL to be the most insightful and up-to-date site for following the true goings on.

Like others, 2004, left me in a funk, and I feel the same funk settling over me following Rove’s apparent ability to avoid accountability.

Any way, keep up your fine work, as all of us lurkers are relying on your brilliance to get us through the day.

Recipe for tasty drink.

Note: play with recipe quantities to taste.

Take One glass

Fill 4/5ths with cold water

Top off with two to three jiggers of Ocean Spray Cran-Mango Juice.

Enjoy

I lurk, therefore I am…….devoted to FDL. I feel somewhat “isolated” in bluest of the blue SF Bay Area. We *do* have the Feinstien problem, but otherwise it’s preaching to the choir as far as rabble-rousing is concerned.
FDL is first stop and it inspires and impresses me and says it better than I ever could.
Thanks so much to all of you, especially our two incredible Women.
I was a chef for 25 years and am tickled by many of these contributions–thanks.

I also meant to say that I’m a blue dot in a red state (dare I say Kansas). Aside from a few folks who are members of Liberally Drinking, I’m surrounded by neocons. I’ve given up watching the news, and I used to be a news junkie. I am also having a hard time reading any newspapers, as they seem so obviously slanted. I hope to catch next year’s bloggers conference.

i read your site all the time and like it a lot

the one thing i would really like to see, as someone who agrees wholeheartedly with most of the posts: really serious discussion of the policies that we need, and where we have to go. for too long, the liberals — and i am one — have sat back waiting for the fascists to self destruct. we really should be helping them more.

Okay, repost….

Khoreshe Rivas … Persian rhubarb sauce for rice

4 tbsp butter or margarine
1 to 1 1/2 lb beef, cut-up for stew
1 medium onion
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 lb rhubarb, cut in 1 to 1 1/2-inch pieces (frozen will work)
1 cup chopped parsley
1 to 2 tsp mint (optional)

Brown the meat and onion in the butter or margarine, with the seasonings.
Add 2 cups water and let simmer 30 to 45 minutes; add more water if needed.
Add the rhubarb and parsley (and mint if using) to the meat and let simmer another 15 to 20 minutes.
Serve over rice.

You can use chicken pieces, but substitute poultry seasoning for the cinnamon and nutmeg.

Another semi-regular lurker who’s been blown away by all the fun and recipes here. As one of four cooks in the household (I’m the point in a f-m-f triad of 13 years’ duration, and we have a “male domestic maintenance entity” [he dislikes the connotations of “houseboy”] currently living with us), I’m sure we’ll be using many of the fine recipes. Thanks to all the FDL people for their fine work.

As a contribution, here’s a drink recipe:

“The Devil’s Cream Soda”*

6 oz. Vernor’s Ginger Ale (must be Vernor’s, trust me on this)
1-2 oz. vanilla vodka
ice
glass
place first three ingredients in the fourth. Consume. Repeat until necessary

While I do comment occasionally, it’s usually something silly like “Kilt? I gotcher kilt right here” (second photo down)

*Drink name from Esther Friesner

What a cozy and appetizing thread, Christy!

When I’m not eating lentils as Diogenes counseled, I’m usually eating these, an-easier-than-pie treat for when you don’t know whether you want something sweet or something salty:

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

1 bag pretzel rods
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
Assorted toppings

Heat the chocolate chips in your microwave until thoroughly stir-able, but not molten. Dip each rod 3/4-way into the melted chocolate and spin until well-coated. Then, before the chocolate has a chance to harden, roll the pretzel in any topping that sounds good to you. I like to use coconut, toffee chips, miniature marshmallows, or crushed walnuts.