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

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Sunday, January 25, 2004

David Kay Challenges Bush Administration Assertion That Iraq Had Illegal WMD-Related Bake Sales To Finance Steroid-Enhanced Intramural Soccer Teams 10:09:36 PM    comment []

A detail from that bizarre shot. Like a Hubble deep field shot. Can you see Uranus? <evil snicker> 8:38:34 PM    comment []

T’ain’t a fit night out for man nor beast!   Not sure how this photo happened. It’s sleeting, but that doesn’t explain the globes. An earlier picture, without flash, had none of these artifacts. Maybe frost formed on the lens.   8:31:58 PM    comment []

Blair-O-Meter Support for Tories soars to 11-year high LONDON - Support for Britain's opposition Conservatives has soared to an 11-year high as Prime Minister Tony Blair faces one of the most daunting weeks of his political career, according to a poll published yesterday. The Conservatives, at 40 per cent, are enjoying their largest lead over Mr Blair's ruling Labour Party since 1992, with the government back on 35 per cent, said the YouGov poll published in The Daily Telegraph. 4:15:27 PM    comment []

3:36:10 PM    comment []

Fresh from the oven. 2:50:05 PM    comment []

Here are the un-smushed ingredients, just thrown on top. Sun-dried tomatoes, sweet Italian sausage (reeking of fennel!), chunks of mozzarella, pignolias, and (if you look real close) a sprinkling of coarse sea salt. It’s been almost 3 hours since the rise began, so it’s about ready to bake. Just before it comes out (well, obviously this can’t be done in the oven, but you know what I mean), it will be finished with some grated Grana Padano cheese. Probably overdone in the toppings department, but I couldn’t stop. 2:10:03 PM    comment []

The weather outside is frightful. 12:54:35 PM    comment []

Liz won’t make it over today; the roads are just too dangerous. Freezing rain is predicted and may take out the power, but the focaccia must go on! Yesterday, I added 3 cups of flour, half a cup of water, salt, and 10 tablespoons olive oil to the starter to make the ingredients match those in the Fine Cooking article. Here you see the ingredients chosen to be smushed into the dough during the “dimpling,” the process of pushing down with your fingers to force the dough to the corners of the baking pan. Obviously, there are ordinary sliced ripe olives and less obviously, fresh rosemary, oregano, and thyme. Hey, did I tell you that the word focaccia was derived from the Latin word focus? Yep, I did. It’s one of those things worth repeating. 12:11:36 PM    comment []

Blair-O-Meter   Blair's moment of truth (Hutton Inquiry) Cook: PM should admit he was wrong to wage war on Iraq Tony Blair should admit defeat on the issue of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and use the opportunity of the Hutton report this week to set the record straight, Robin Cook, the former foreign secretary, said yesterday. Mr Cook, who quit the Cabinet in protest on the eve of the Iraq war, made his call after David Kay, the chief weapons inspector in Iraq, stepped down and said there were no WMD stockpiles to be found in Iraq. His successor as head of the Iraq Survey Group is Charles Duelfer, who recently said that there were "probably not" illegal weapons in Iraq. However, since his appointment, he has stressed that he is keeping an open mind. 6:11:56 AM    comment []

Protestant Chili   Mistakes were made, but the were corrected by menial, repentant labor. The recipe clearly stated that the chile skins must be completely pulverized after roasting and seeding. It clearly stated that a blender should be used. I, the sinner, decided to use a food processor. As a result, nearly every bite had a disturbing and indigestible piece of chile skin. If thine eye offend thee, pluck it out – but food should never be wasted!   The penance began with picking out individual chunks of beef, wearing a rubber glove so that the sins of our forefathers would not be transmitted to the redemption-updated chili. This soon became too tedious, even for a northern European soul, so the sacred strainer was removed from its case. The beef was rinsed and the holy fluids collected in a bowl beneath. The scarlet pepper skins were added to the liquid, blended, and strained again. It was simmered, diluted with holy water, and more masa harina stirred in. The cleansed beef was added. The chili has been born again.  5:39:46 AM    comment []