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United States, North Carolina, Carrboro, English, Paul, Male, 56-60, All Music, All Food.

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Friday, February 28, 2003

Deception wrapped in a lie inside a fraud Bush’s press secretary, Ari Fleischer, denied that Bush’s comments suggested war was inevitable but said the Iraqi announcement was irrelevant.         “The president views this as continued trickery, continued deception. I think it’s fair to say that the Iraqi regime is a deception wrapped in a lie inside a fraud,” he said. No, it is not haggis he's talking about, but don't you get the feeling that the first-string phrasemongers have retired to sealed bunkers, and that Ari's material has been farmed out to slave wage boilerplate sweatshops in Asia? I think it's fair to say that not even Bush would come up with something that lame.   Wanna try your own? Here's what you do...go to the online Roget at Bartleby.com. Type in a random word. I tried "shellfish" and I got this page: Class III. Words Relating to Matter Section III. Organic Matter 1. Vitality 2. Special Vitality   366. Animal. I scrolled down a bit and found "LIZARD":  LIZARD, saurian, iguana; eft, newt, chameleon, gecko, Gila monster, dragon, horned toad, horned lizard. Now the tricky part. Your basic form is "a __(a)___ wrapped in a ___(b)___ inside a ____(c)_____."  For word (a) you want a multisyllabic word. This is critical. You want to appease the sycophants in the back row and completely go over the heads of the plebians. The best word for that is obviously "saurian". It is sufficiently obscure that only the diehard herpetologists will elbow each other. "Eft" is even more obscure, but it only has one unimpressive syllable and might be heard as "left", which would be confusing. Now the second word. (b), There are only two monosyllabic words and we've already eliminated "eft". That leaves only "newt."  Finally, it is time to bring it on home, to let the steerage in on the joke, but we're out of single syllable synonyms. Guess we'll have to improvise. If we have to go to two syllables, it has to be a word everyone understands, a common one, one that forms a mental image: Easy, it's "dragon." Let us see what we have created: "A saurian wrapped in a newt inside a dragon" Wasn't that fun? Did you enjoy it? I knew you would. 7:21:47 PM    comment []

pssst...wanna watch some cooking videos? 4:44:12 PM    comment []

Down Home Dinner These are Goya Roman Beans and right now they're in the pressure cooker with smoked pork neckbones and a couple dried chile peppers. They will accompany fried catfish, done in an "east meets south" variation. The catfish will be coated with egg yolk, then rolled on a little seasoned panko. Incidentally, The March 2003 issue of Saveur has an East Meets South recipe (p 87) - Cajun Egg Rolls! Just like a spring roll, but loaded with boudin. 4:04:15 PM    comment []

Okay, who's the wise guy who put the funnel on the Magi's head? (I'm not mad, I'm gonna leave it there. This permanent creche is supposed to be funny) 3:50:21 PM    comment []

Claudette. Following my convention of naming cats, she got her name on the way to her future home, riding in the car with her late sister Lucille. The voice of Buddy Holly was on the radio singing Peggy Sue and that was going to be her name, but it had one too many syllables for a cat name. So she got her name from The Roy Orbison song and her sister got hers from Little Richard. Claudette is nearly 13 and nearly blind. She gets around like one of those robots that move until they hit a wall, then turns right and tries it again. She still hears very well. When I put on a ambient tropical rain forest CD a while ago, she ran from the room before I heard a thing. She hates that CD. She likes the birds but the thunder makes her run. She has no trouble finding the cat food or the litter box, and knows where it's sunny and soft for a nap - and that's really about all a cat needs to know.  On an unrelated note, except to say that Claudette never runs away when Aimee Mann sings, I did not sufficiently credit Aimee Mann when I posted the lyrics to Wise Up (with the picture of Twyla and the Volcano). Amazon does not have a sample from Wise Up, but Buy.com does. There you will hear her wispy strength in the high register and you'll want to buy the CD, I guarantee. If you've seen Magnolia, you'll remember this song was used as the transition between acts, with every member of the ensemble lip-synching a line or two in their solitary space. The eerie one was Jason Robards, dying in the movie as well as in real life, bedridden, eyes closed, lip-synching Aimee Mann. After Paul Thomas Anderson made Boogie Nights, he was asked what his next project might be. He replied that he would like to make a movie sewn together by a lot of Aimee Mann songs. Check out IMDb's trivia page on Magnolia for a lot more. 2:26:01 PM    comment []

Today is a cleanup day. Confession: I have spent some time blogging the past few weeks when I should have been cleaning. Not just cleaning, but putting things away - my kitchen had claustrophobia-inducing clutter. Things like cans of aerosol olive oil or empty curry jar. Just sitting there. While I subscribe to Mise en Place for preparation, I don't always do the followup after eating. Today is my day of penance. The computer room is a mess too. Among the clutter here was a placemat from Pietro in Seoul, the place where I had thin crust pizza with a ketchup sauce and sliced weiners for "sausage", served with a side of sliced sweet pickles. The crust was very good. So was the beer. The picture I should have scanned 5 weeks ago is now finished and I can discard this well-traveled placemat. What you see is Possam kimchi spaghetti. 9,700 Won translates to about $8.12, not a bad price for lunch there. I did not try it. It intrigued me as maybe one of the bad things that happen with fusion recipes. I don't know for sure because I did not try it. I've already thrown away the placemat. 12:13:40 PM    comment []

We have done it before and we can do it again, for our land LONDON, England (Reuters) -- An 80-year-old British pensioner has been called up by the Ministry of Defence for possible action in Iraq, the Sun newspaper reported on Thursday. 3:45:45 AM    comment []

Proverbs 25: 14-22 25:14. As clouds, and wind, when no rain followeth, so is the man that boasteth, and doth not fulfil his promises. 25:15. By patience a prince shall be appeased, and a soft tongue shall break hardness. 25:16. Thou hast found honey, eat what is sufficient for thee, lest being glutted therewith thou vomit it up. 25:17. Withdraw thy foot from the house of thy neighbour, lest having his fill he hate thee. 25:18. A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour, is like a dart and a sword and a sharp arrow. 25:19. To trust in an unfaithful man in the time of trouble, is like a rotten tooth, and weary foot, 25:20. And one that looseth his garment in cold weather.  As vinegar upon nitre*, so is he that singeth songs to a very evil heart.  As a moth doth by a garment, and a worm by the wood:  so the sadness of a man consumeth the heart. 25:21. If thy enemy be hungry, give him to eat:  if he thirst, give him water to drink: 25:22. For thou shalt heap hot coals upon his head, and the Lord will reward thee. Especially now... *"vinegar upon nitre," probably means "vinegar upon    soda" (as in the marg. of the R.V.), which then effervesces. 3:12:53 AM    comment []