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Friday, May 09, 2003

Last week a daring pilot, now a lauded academic receiving an honorary degree! What a guy! Let's hear what he has to say... Bushism of the Day By Jacob Weisberg Posted Thursday, May 8, 2003, at 8:08 AM PT "I think war is a dangerous place."—Washington, D.C., May 7, 2003 So, when you're planning a summer cruise, try to steer clear of places where there might be SARS or wars. 10:06:56 PM    comment []

Pssst…er…phffft…This is Twyla. This morning Daddy left the TV on for us, on one of those channels that have the moving bands at the bottom of the screen that I like to bat at when I get bored and there aren’t any bugs in the house to torture. Daddy likes to look at this chart and when it gets up higher than I can reach,  he buys us really good cat food - like that Sheba stuff that doesn’t make enough noise to wake me up when he opens it. I like to know when the cat food opens and the cans of Fancy Feast always make a distinctive click so I can get to the cat food plate the same time as Claudette, who seems to have a sixth sense about all kinds of cat food.  It’s not like she has cooties or anything, but I like to get there early before she drools all over it. Anyway, even though there might be a little more Claudette drool, I really like the Sheba stuff, so I like it when Daddy is happy about the NASDAQ.   Myself, I’m enjoying the Sheba while I can because even though this tech-heavy index seems to be holding above the critical 1500 resistance point, there is nothing in the fundamentals to justify a 20% rally since the 1250 lows late in February, when we had to eat Chatham County dry food for nearly a week. Now that the bright flashing lights on the TV have stopped, I suspect the humans think that the worst is over. Over the years, I’ve noticed that the charts come down into paw range just before the bright flashing lights on TV and then go up again after the lights go out. So I sort of like what I see right now.   What troubles me is the Euro hitting a four-year high against the dollar just when you’d think the dollar would be strong because it’s the people in Daddy’s country who can make those bright flashing lights and you’d think that everyone would want to own their money. Daddy says a weak dollar is good for foreign kitties, because their owners can afford to buy more Sheba. He says it’s also good for the people who make Sheba, because they can export more, but that really doesn’t do much for me. I just hope that NASDAQ chart stays up out of reach, because I couldn’t stand having to eat that Chatham County crap all summer. I’d rather have hairballs. 3:24:15 PM    comment []

Currying favour with Saddam A fast-food owner in the southern Indian city of Madras known for his delicious preparation of biryani (or flavoured rice) has a new claim to fame: he cooked for deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Khaja Mohideen, who was a cook in Saddam Hussein's presidential palace in the 1980s, says he has only pleasant memories of his two years there. He got the job after passing what he calls a tough recruitment test in cooking. (The losers were beheaded) Mr Mohideen says the presidential palace had five modern kitchens each for Arabic, Indian, Chinese, continental and Egyptian food. (Not very good benefits, but excellent working conditions) Although he was never allowed to watch them eat - Khaja says he cooked for Saddam and about 50 other people. (insert lethal food fight mental image here) He says Saddam loved Indian food - specially Mughal treats - including south Indian lentil soup known as rasam and chicken biryani cooked with basmati rice. Saddam made it a point to ask Khaja to prepare his food with less salt and moderate spices. Chicken Biryani  Ingredients: 2 cups basmati rice 4 cups chicken stock 1 chicken,cut into large pieces 2 tsp jeera (cumin) powder 3 elaichi (cardamoms) 4 lavang (cloves) a piece of dalchini (cinnamon) 2 tsp aniseeds 2 tsp dhaniya 2 tej patta (bay leaves) 4 big elaichi ½ tsp red chilli powder 4 tsp salt A pinch of jaiphal (nutmeg) powder ¼ tsp yellow color ¼ tsp orange color 1 big onion,finely sliced 1 tbsp ghee 1 pod of garlic 1 tbsp badam (almonds) 1 tbsp kishmish (raisins)   Method: Soak basmati rice for half an hour. Make a bag of fine cloth with garlic, big elaichi, tejpatta, aniseeds, anddhaniya. Cook chicken with 5 cups of water and put masala bag in it. Cook till chicken becomes tender and only 4 cups of water is remaining. Remove chicken pieces and masala bag, and keep aside. Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan add onions and fry, when it becomes pink, add cardamoms and 1/2 tsp garam masala powder and 4 cups of water. When it starts boiling add basmati rice and chicken pieces, red chili powder and cook till water is completely absorbed. Now add badam and kishmish and both the colors and nutmeg powder. Allow to cook on low heat till done. 1:35:54 AM    comment []