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Saturday, March 08, 2003

In a 9-paragraph brief, Just War - or a Just War, former President Jimmy Carter quickly gets to the heart of the matter. We are about to invade a sovereign country on a false pretense. My conservative friends will be quick to point out to me that Jimmy Carter did not win the Nobel for economics, but their eyes will glaze over when I reply that it was the massive deficits of the Vietnam War that caused nearly catastrophic inflation in the 70s - ended not by Reagan, but by tight-fisted (and Carter-appointed) Fed chaiman Paul Volcker. At some point, the piper must be paid - but while we dance to his tune and celebrate a pre-victory party over the rat's demise, maybe we should turn off the TV and reflect a bit. The initial cost is American idealism; but the long term cost is a well-established international pulpit on the moral high ground. The entire justification for this investment of national prestige is a bogus construct - imaginary al-Qaeda sites in Kurdish territory, faked documents on fissionable uranium contracts, a Blair dossier plagiarized from a grad student's thesis, and aluminum tubing that presents no more of a threat than a spudgun. We are sacrificing our American moral credibility for that? It took our honorable President 52 minutes to present his shotgun case; it took former President Jimmy Carter 9 paragraphs (one of them a single sentence) to simply dismiss it. A single rifle shot from a sniper, but no one will hear it. Truth speaks succinctly, but lies can go on indefinitely. Ergo, truth does not play well on 24-hour news channels. May I get fully pretentious and quote Mr. Shakespeare's view on the case for war? Thank you! I am now humbly pretentious: “a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing” [Macbeth]  9:50:12 PM    comment []

As the irrelevancy meme about the UN gets airtime, it's a good time to check out who joined, who quit, and who was expelled.from the League of Nations to which the UN is now being compared. Read the timeline, then take the quiz: (1) Who was the first country to withdraw? (2) Who were the second and thord countries to withdraw? (3) Who was the last country to withdraw? (4) Did the USA ever join? (5) Who was the only country to be expelled? Answers: (1) Costa Rica in 1925, (2) Germany and Japan in 1933, (3) Haiti in 1942, (4) No (5) The Soviet Union in 1939.   3:35:02 PM    comment []

What the hell is THAT? Glad you asked. Thought you never would. It is an attempt to make salted in the shell peanuts. They're raw peanuts in a brine with Aleppo pepper and tabasco. This could be a disaster, but not much is invested. The vacuum seal is to get the air out of the peanuts so the brine can get in. Next they'll be drained in my colander, put back in the vacuum to draw out excess brine, dried out in the dehydrator until they approach their green weight, then roasted in the oven for 25 minutes at 325 F degrees. 2:35:38 PM    comment []

Tiger in the marshes When I read Bruce Cole's Thursday entry in Saute Wednesday, I made a mental note to be on the lookout for asparagus. Then I promptly forgot it. This morning I was cruising for pork loin and other ingredients to be used this weekend and noticed that the asparagus bin was bulging with fresh asparagus. I couldn't think of any immediate use for it, but stared at it appreciatively. Then, while selecting button mushrooms for the Beef & Guinness Pie, I spotted the habaneros. Satan took control of my mind and I began repeating "Hot pickled asparagus...hot pickled asparagus.." like a hiphop loop in hell. There's pickling spice in there, a slice of ginger, some peppercorns, and a clove of garlic. Oh, and the hab. Getting the asparagus to stand up straight was a bit like building a ship in a bottle. After that, the curse was completed with a boiling 50-50 mixture of white vinegar and water, capping, and processing in a boiling water bath for 30 minutes. 10:45:09 AM    comment []

Life Imitates Blog! Now that my misunderstanding with Janet The Snake has passed, Maybe Pesky the Rat will be free to do some investigative reporting in North Dakota on this breaking news in Rocklake, ND, brought to my attention by Scott Simon on NPR's Weekend Edition: TURKEY TERRORS (Rocklake-AP) -- Turkeys are terrorizing the Towner County town of Rocklake. Sheriff Vaughn Klier says the wild birds are harming property, making a mess and just generally being a nuisance. Deputy Jerry Martin says one woman was even trapped inside her car by the turkeys -- and he had to chase them away with a broom. The turkeys were raised on an area farm -- and when the family moved away they were left to fend for themselves. Greg Link with the state Game and Fish Department says other cities like Minot and Wahpeton have also had problems with wild turkeys this winter. He says male turkeys tend to get aggressive as it gets closer to spring -- because they're protecting their mating areas. 9:47:50 AM    comment []

Pork Jerky Marinade Candidates Definitely... Soy sauce Pineapple Brown sugar Ginger Mustard powder Maybe... Sake, rice vinegar, or bourbon Lime juice Cumin Coriander 7:08:48 AM    comment []

Teach a man to smoke a fish... And you'll never shut him up. I ran into "John" last night or maybe he ran into me. He thanked me for telling him how to brine and smoke fish, which I only vaguely remember doing. He described his process to me, which sounded nothing like anything I would tell anyone to do. He uses a charcoal smoker at high heat, which basically cooks the fish, but it was intended that I be in listen-only mode.  He's a pleasant man, don't get me wrong, and a published writer. In Joycean manner, he wove a verbal tapestry with Australian catfish, grandchildren, smokers, fishmongers, skinless salmon, mutual acquaintances, Nova Scotia, chainsaws, dead trees, and marinades. He gulped down the last swallow of his second beer and left. My feet tired from standing, my neck tired from shaking my head affirmatively, I pulled up a bar stool and bellied up to the bar beside Liz.  6:10:46 AM    comment []

The weekend is finally here. I've planned two cooking projects, both of which I've blogged about during the week: (1) Beef and Guinness Pie and (2) Pork Jerky (you can scroll down or go here for the pie recipe and see my homework on the jerky so far here). (1) The Saveur picture has a table knife beside the pie, from which you can estimate a depth of 4 to 5 inches. Since the recipe serves 6-8 people and only Liz and myself will partake, it will require scaling. That means I'll have to get a new baking dish - or maybe use a non-stick loaf pan that I already have. Halving the recipe seems like the best idea, Liz agrees with me that scaling it down any further would make the baking difficult to control. There will be leftovers, but the beef can be removed and baked into little puff pastry pies another day. Given the 3-4 hour baking time that the beef mixture undergoes, I considered using a crock pot (I've been looking for an excuse to buy one) and blind bake a lower crust. Liz just shook her head "no." The recipe is a variation on Steak & Kidney pie, which has no lower crust. The mushrooms: I have enough home grown, but the picture shows quartered button mushrooms and they would look better. I'll use those if I can find them. (2) On to the pork jerky. Since I'll use curing salt, the meat will be the color of ham. That will raise certain expectations about flavor, which I'd like to avoid. The answer is in the marinade, maybe a teriyaki base. Sweet is good (it isn't for beef jerky). Fruit, maybe pineapple. The cut of meat will be pork loin, very lean. More research is needed on the marinade, obviously. The rest is cut and dried. 5:46:37 AM    comment []