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

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Saturday, November 20, 2004

NBA Brawl: AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- Players and fans exchanged punches in the stands near the end of a Pacers-Pistons game in one of the worst brawls in NBA history. The mayhem left several people injured and prompted a police investigation. APEC Brawl: SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) -- President Bush stepped into the middle of a confrontation and pulled his lead Secret Service agent away from Chilean security officials who barred his bodyguards from entering an elegant dinner for 21 world leaders Saturday night. Several Chilean and American agents got into a pushing and shoving match outside the cultural center where the dinner was held. Bush noticed the fracas after posing for pictures on a red carpet with the summit host, Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and his wife and first lady Laura Bush.   9:23:10 PM    comment []

N Korea 'must halt weapon dreams'     The geopolitical/economic reality: China controls the oil tap to N Korea and can choke them off at will. It won’t take much, they're already gasping for breath. However, China also buys about a $billion in US Treasuries each week, making them our number one creditor. Last week, Greenspan announced that current deficit rates are "unsustainable" and Congress had to piece together a debt limit increase just to keep the country going.  China wants Taiwan back. It’s a done deal. 8:43:00 PM    comment []

The T-Day (5 days and counting) Menu   No cooking today, but lots of hunting and gathering.                 7:58:34 PM    comment []

There were no pumpkins at Lowes’ Foods when I stopped there for some basics (pistachios, cream, lemon, etc.) so I got this Gold Cup squash instead for the “pumpkin soup.” It will do. The craziness of this menu! The pumpkin is served as prelude and the cranberries are in a tart for dessert! Traditionally, you think of cranberries, which nobody eats anyway, served with the turkey and the pumpkin pie for dessert. I’ll post the entire menu shortly.   7:51:21 PM    comment []

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WARNING: Reading material contains Darwin, may endanger your mortal soul. Blue Pennsylvania should know better. All they have to do is look to our head of state to see the natural outcome of “intelligent design.” Science is not religion and oil is neither blood nor water. To deny science is to deny existence, the holocaust, and global warming. Global Mean Temperature is a measurement and it has been rising since the 20th Century began! See? To deny measurement is to deny the basic tool of science, in effect to admit that Rene Descartes’ evil genius is superior to God, capable of corrupting even the simplest syllogism. Biology only explains what we think, to the best of our slowly advancing knowledge. Religion is for the soul and it has no thermometers. If you confuse religion with science, that evil genius, let’s call him “Satan,” has possessed you and it’s time to get right with God - like pronto! You'll get us all damned, you fools!   6:05:02 AM    comment []

The onion-rye flatbreads are done, the first material evidence that the countdown to T-Day has begun. The train has left the station. It was good to get the skepticism filters raised early, that thing about poorly proofed yeast. The writers of these recipes are humans and so am I; I start with their blueprint and adjust as necessary. It’s only Gourmet, not the friggin’ Bible. In that spirit, I only sprinkled enough caraway to adorn, since Liz doesn’t care a whey for those insinuating seeds. I compensated by hitting the surface with pretzel salt. The recipe said to be careful applying the egg wash just before baking, so you don’t collapse the dough. I applied the wash, seeds, and salt before the rise and had nothing to worry about. The flatbreads will be wrapped in foil for freezing and probably some Saran Wrap® as well. They’ll be reheated in the foil come T-Day. Next up: Cranberry jam for the cranberry-eggnog tart. A skeptical glance at this receipt reveals it is really cranberry jelly they want – since the final step is “force jam through a fine mesh sieve, discarding skins and seeds. Cool, stirring occasionally.” Yes, incredibly messy! I’ll extract the juice with steam in my Mehu-Liisa and can enough extra to pass along to my friends at work. The recipe calls for orange juice too, so I’ll throw the orange zest up there in the steam extractor too, give the jelly a little soul.   4:58:02 AM    comment []

Department Of Silly Words   Were you one of those nerdy kids who learned to pronounce and spell “antidisestablishmentarianism” just because you heard it was the longest word? When My Weekly Reader had a science feature about tripolyphosphates, were you able to have the syllables rolling off your tongue by recess? Did you delight in singing Supercalifragilisticexpialidociuos, um diddle diddle, um diddle ay? Then click here to be whisked off to the NYT, and read about a magic lake in Massachusetts named “Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg.”   4:06:28 AM    comment []