OK, so quiche~~~

~~~Whatever kind you're making go to the frozen food aisle and get, say your frozen chopped spinach, broccoli, asparagus spears, mixed veggies maybe, imitation crabmeat for seafood quiche, sliced mushrooms is good for a nice mushroom quiche. The famous and always popular Lorraine quiche is simply done using diced ham. Anyway make sure you squeeze as much of the water out of the broccoli and spinach using a colander, you'd be surprised at how much water is in there! OK, so set that off to the side (mise en place, everything in place). Now you have your 6" pie shell, your 9"er if you prefer or hey, do both. Most important thing is your mixture, I use eggs, heavy cream, some 1/2 and 1/2, I mix it all up with my whisk (beat your eggs first of course), then I add some sugar, a dash of nutmeg (and I like a hint of cinnamon too, hehe), some red cayenne pepper for color, little white pepper as well, bit of paprika for the color too, a packet or two of Goya Sazon is great. You'll have to judge the quantity of these ingredients depending on how much quiche you're making. The grated cheese, they say it should consist of at least 75% Swiss and based on experimentation I have to agree here although I have seen in gourmet food stores all cheddar quiche and goat cheese quiche as well (dunno). Anyway with the Swiss Jarlsberg and/or Finlandia is the best. Don't use any low-salt cheese as your quiche will not turn out right, it'll look like an open-face grilled cheese sandwich that's burned. Now first into the pie shell I put some grated cheese, alot of quiche you see has a concave effect, I tend to use a little more cheese than most but don't overdo it. Ladle in your blended mixture and don't be shy. Lastly I put my spinach or broccoli or mushrooms or whatever on the very top and then I spoon in even a little more mixture so that when it cooks it'll all sink into the cheese but still be visible for a really nice effect. Into the oven for about 1/2 an hour it goes, usually a little longer if you're making a whole bunch. I like to go for that burned look, don't wanna blacken it of course but that nice browned on top look will have your guests ooohing and aaahing. Bon Appetit!

Yesterday I re-registered to vote

This time as a member of my state's Conservative Party (as Sean is fond of saying "I'm a conservative first, a Republican second"). Last time I voted as one of those influential and much-feared and sought after Independents. Years ago it was RTL (Right-to-Life). Now a pattern emerges here and that is I've been shying away from becoming an official Republican. I've analyzed this and I think it has to do with I'd be walking around one day and get poked in the butt with somebody's horn.

Ashley Alexandra Dupre Youmans - Part of the VRWC?

I'm surprised nobody has brought this up, that Sean and Rush may be running a prostitution ring to bring down high-ranking Democrats. No crack whores they, they have names straight out of some Harlequin tale or Gothic romance, nothing but the best for our Governors and Judges and Senators. Dig deep my friends, dig deep

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE

You really look like you could use a glass of water

The Associated Press just concluded a 5 month investigation into our water supply, turns out there are trace amounts of various pharmaceuticals in many major American cities, things like mood stabilizers, medicine for whooping cough, high blood pressure, you name it. Guy on the Newshour last night said not to worry, only traces but then a few minutes later says even those traces can have an effect on your body, also water filtration plants don't even test for pharmaceuticals. Eh, small price to pay for our overmedicated society. Tom Cruise, we'll give you this one.

Daylight Savings Time & a new feature

They should leave the clocks alone at this point and let Nature take its course, not sure of the official reasons why this practice is still followed, had to do with the farmers years ago and maybe schoolkids getting hit in the dark so dawn "starts" earlier in late Fall but anyway we all set our clocks ahead by one hour last Sunday morning (2 AM to be exact) and the next day I felt like there were a pair of invisible hands pushing on my shoulders, "come on you slowpoke!", after such an enjoyable day (the weather was fabulous) you can't help looking at the clock and when it says 5 you go it should really be 4. Let President McCain or HillObama work with the new Congress to get rid of this anachronism, it upsets our sleep patterns and biorhythms, whew!!! into the dustbin of History.

Guru Watch

He even looks a little like Dr. Wayne Dyer so I had to do a double take but caught Dr. Daniel Amen's show on some PBS station the other night. Now these gurus all begin good and rational and that's how they suck you in, just look at the sheeple in their audiences with their mouths agape in Awe, but then they say something that you really have to question and one of Dr. Amen's points about brain health, the subject of his lecture, is this, that if you don't get a minimum of 6 hours sleep every night you will suffer from chronic stress. Now not to downplay the importance of a good night's sleep not to mention its pleasures but there were many times I went to work the next day with 4 or 5 hours sleep and functioned fine, it's not ideal and you're likely to feel somewhat tired during the second half of the day but imo his position seems rather radical, many of us don't get the mandated 8 hours of sleep a night for various reasons and yet we live our lives. One wonders where the very lucrative pharmaceutical industry ties into all of this, is there some Lunesta connection but keep your eye on the gurus folks, a new feature here (woo hoo!).

One of my favorite talking heads

Mark Shields of The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, uncommon common sense for someone with liberal leanings, said a few years back that it is important for the Democrats to not appear too pro-abortion, did they listen? The other night he said something incisive and not a little profound, "liberals have to learn to be a little tougher and conservatives have to have a little more compassion." Looking back on your life how many of you remember a liberal boss whom you thought was a pushover but he or she gave you some tough love and looking back on our folks, many are so perfectly blended, very conservative but when push comes to shove very compassionate as well, strict in our upbringing but would never let you be homeless either. Maybe by his liberal comment Shields had in mind people like Barack Obama and on the other side his conservative comment seems to point directly at Michelle Malkin, many great points about the subprime mortgage crisis in her recent columns but where's that dash of empathy and fellow-feeling? You may not agree but hats off to Mark Shields for so many great years on the Newshour.

"Agents of intolerance" can come in handy...

...around Election Time in a big way. Yeah, time was John McCain lumped the Rev. Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson/Jerry Falwell together in one big Fringe Element, "to the left to the left to the left" and then the right, but these days as Bill Moyers discussed on his Journal last night McCain and the Rev. John Hagee are buddy buddy these days. Sure he's a very prominent minister and vocal advocate for the State of Israel, he rails against the threat radical Islam poses to the rest of the world but he also refers to the Catholic Church as the Great Whore of Revelations, he's not Bill Donahue of the Catholic League's cup of tea to put it mildly and McCain fobs it all off as "I can accept somebody's endorsement without agreeing with all of their views." Dunno but this seems way over the line, it's being tolerant of intolerance if you will.

All Aboard!!!

As I recall our friend Newt said at the time that should the Republican Party not nominate a true conservative he might feel the tug, nay the moral duty to run as a bona fide right-wing American...ummm...

Whatever it turns out to be, HillObama or ObamaHill vs. McCain the general election may well turn out to be a referendum on the War, this could be good or bad for McCain as his powersurge pretty much defines him now, conventional political wisdom I guess would have it bad. "They" say that he'd have an easier time of it against her than against him (I'm still waiting for the soon-to-be-published book "The Collective Wit and Wisdom of They", if you're a regular reader of my blog or even an occasional eavesdropper you know that I quite often go outside of They). For the younger generation which seems pretty much primed to vote this time 'round Obama more symbolizes Kama Sutra and McCain Viagra, Nickelback vs. AARP, 2 1/2 Men up against I Love Lucy...I just get tired of the same talking heads is all, how 'bout Pee Wee Herman opining or even Barney the Purple Dinosaur?

Thought people mellowed with age

What's up with these liberal dinosaurs? always hating, never participating. Last time we checked Gloria Steinem embarassed herself on the NY Times Op-Ed page making the case that Bubba flashing Paula Jones was not sexual harassment but Clarence Thomas asking Anita Hill out more than once was, now she opines that McCain being a POW of the Vietcong for 5 1/2 years doesn't entitle him to the presidency (although methinks he's entitled to a free lapdance or two). Don't recall McCain running on this however, maybe I missed this as his platform, dunno but apparently everyone mellows with age except liberals, always fighting, always dividing the Universe into Good & Evil,

it's old.

Obama/Hill vs. McCain/Thompson

at least this is the way I see it. I agree with Beth, the idea of Obama in the White House is starting to get scary. Yeah I surfed the Obama Wave for a while there but to think of having him sitting in the Oval Office making major, and I mean major foreign policy decisions especially in a time of war and meeting rogue leaders like the upcoming Raul Castro with no preconditions, even Madame would never do this. BTW McCain needs the more conservative Thompson to balance out his own ticket, it sure as hell ain't gonna be Rudy.

Trouble in Paradise

What if Adam and Eve had never sinned? there would be no disease and death, be fruitful and multiply and so replenish the Earth but would God eventually have to come down and set limits? birth control people, you're all bumping into each other, a kind of Genesis conundrum.

The BIG issue in Ohio

jobs going overseas, NAFTA and GATT, plants closing, massive layoffs. Now here Republicans don't have any edge whatsoever although of course as has been amply pointed out in our blogs McCain ain't your typical conservative so maybe he can feel their pain but the issue naturally is a winner for any Democrat. Repubs are perfectly fine with the NWO (New World Order) stuff and they tend to belittle and disparage those who disagree with them...but I like Beth's point in her blog today about how most of us are going for McCain reluctantly whereas Obama excites real passion on his side. I used the analogy that for our side it's like going out with someone who you're not exactly crazy about like bothering some overharried secretary at work 'cause you're lonely as opposed to someone you really dig, who you're on the same page with, the connection (pizzaz, sizzle) in other words your dream date (I'm just chock full of the metaphors lately). Imagine an Obama-ite saying he ain't much but he's the best we have! Now I don't share Obama's political philosophy of course but he does excite me, like Stacy's mom he has it going on, turn gay for a day, have his baby,

dunno.

Hey brother, can you spare a couple of hundred?

Now I didn't know this but they were talking about panhandlers on the radio the other day and apparently alot of them are raking in the big bucks, sometimes $300 in a single day! Now I'm not overly judgemental about the homeless, there but for the grace of God. I know Sean and Rush take the position one should never be without a place to live, that they don't want to work. Wanting to work, that's a poor framing of the issue. Like Beth and I were talking the other day and we both agreed who exactly loves to work anyway? ain't the issue but they may have a point that they've stretched to an overgeneralization. You never really read or hear about some homeless guy having to be talked down from a bridge 'cause he's been out of a job for a couple years, maybe that's Sean's point, as long as they have a soup kitchen to go to and a place to sleep maybe they prefer it to your 9-5, dunno but I don't want to lose my compassionate conservative edge either...

GERALDO should just...

...get back inside Al Capone's vault and lock the door. Says there's no way the GOP will get the Hispanic vote, they're gonna go for the Dems 'cause of the illegal immigration issue. OK, let's explain this one again. Geraldo & co. bring up a chair and get a cup of coffee, class is now in session.

The difference between rights and privileges

(be quiet there in the back) "OK, so you've broken some law, a law, you didn't kill anyone or rob a bank, but you've committed a crime nevertheless, so what are we to do about it? The illegal alien has broken the LAW, violated our immigration policy and there are a myriad political views on the best way to handle this but if we allow you to stay and in effect we have (even conservatives like Sean Hannity) because we haven't deported you yet, then this is what is known as a privilege but you really have no absolute right to be here. Shakespeare said sometimes justice needs to be tempered by mercy but that's for us to decide, you cannot arrogantly demand a right for yourself that doesn't exist...OK, this is just a short class to get us started, to lay the proper legal bedrock for a sensible discussion of this controversial topic. We'll continue this at 9 sharp tomorrow morning so have a good day."

GERALDO (whispering): "This teacher sounds like a gran pendejo."

"WHAT?!?, you know I took a little Latin in the high school. If you can't control yourself..."

Karma and the Christian faith

Daniel Ruwe's excellent blog about religion got me thinking about faith in general. Pope Benedict said once about mainly the Eastern religions, I believe this was when he was still a cardinal, that the Christian faith is naturally and far superior to these systems based on good and bad karma. You see if I'm a Christian and have wronged somebody else or they have wronged me we can simply ask for each other's forgiveness and move on with our lives, we don't have to get stuck in that karmic rut. Beth and I once had this debate, maybe it started at some forum, I forget, but it was about forgiving and forgetting. My position, simply forgive and forget, her position you can forgive someone without forgetting. I think I understand her point better, it's like if a husband strays and his wife forgives him she will always remember the fact, the original act, if she had moral "amnesia" about it all this would hardly keep him in line. At any rate no karma to deal with, ain't that a bargain?

Some thoughts on the Sean Bell case

I've given the background to this tragic case many times in my blogging and it's easy enough to google. I was never into the whole bachelor party scene but that's just me. Re strip joints there are upscale ones and seedy ones, I'm not advertising for them but you do have men who go to these places not to relax and have a good time, they get some watered-down whiskey under their belts and before you know it there's a stabbing on the sidewalk. Happened once outside a place in Yonkers here and another incident in a "gentlemen's club" in Mt. Vernon once. Now the one Sean Bell and his friends went to on that fateful night was known for rampant drugs, guns and prostitution and the four officers in Queens who are about to go on trial for taking Mr. Bell's life were there because of the type of place it was. Moral of the story and as insensitive as this may sound Sean Bell was not in a good place, wrong place at the wrong time, and I'm sure the young woman whom he was going to marry that day knows this in her heart of hearts. I'm also more than a little tired of all the cop-bashing out there and personally have grown more pro-cop over the years, I most often give them the benefit of the doubt in these complicated cases. We'll see what happens but this case bothered me from Day One.

The speech Rudy never gave

I still say that there is almost a poetic requirement that the Mayor of 9/11 be the One to continue and eventually win the War on Terror but most people don't seem to agree with this script, Life need not be that artistic I guess but Rudy's big mistake was this. He courted his party's conservative base way too late in the game, if you're going to woo you have to get your application in early otherwise you're transparent, maybe a bit frenzied and not at all sincere. He should have laid the groundwork a year or two ago with a major speech or two soley on the Life Issues as in, "Upon further reflection I've come to the conclusion that the abortion issue lends itself best to some kind of legislative solution which Roe vs. Wade pre-empted. How can the Supreme Court, any Supreme Court, act like a bunch of OB-GYNs and dictate to the nation as a whole that aborting the fetus is legal up to the 3rd month or the 6th or even up until birth? You can even have some choicers who believe early abortions are ok but who are against some of the later mid-term ones still allowed by the Court. The late Harry Blackmun, who wrote the majority opinion in Roe, endlessly complicated the issue and for this reason I've adjusted my earlier pro-choice views. Federalism is the best way of dealing with this contentious and highly emotional issue."

If he had done this early enough some of us might even have gotten a faint whiff of sincerity in the man, we all reserve the right to change or modify or calibrate our views over time and it would have showed that he gave further thought to the issue. It's just a hunch but I think most conservatives would more than gladly put up with a true pro-choice federalist in office.

Are you a...

...bang your head against the wall type of conservative? Used to listen to Sean Hannity for awhile but stopped, I understand he's for the War and all but I was worried there for awhile, he's one of those Ann Coulter type conservatives who can't seem to accept the fact that there's so many different kinds of political views out there let's just accept it and live with each other, doesn't mean you have to lose your passion though, just keep it in perspective. Take Coulter's books, of course her first one was funny, forget the title but it probably went along the lines of Liberals are Stupid and We're All Good but she's churned out like 10 books now and the formula never changes. I myself, being older in Life now, gotta watch the high blood pressure, hating is so yesterday which is why I have Laura Ingraham linked up to my blog. Passionate and conservative, highly intelligent and yet she can totally disagree with a big-time lib and yet say "but we still like them." She's the type of rightie you might accidentally catch in the Mall one day having a cup of java with Al Franken in the Food Court. Dunno, I'm just tired of banging my head against the wall my whole life. I don't want Hill as president but I'm with Beth on this one, the Sun will still rise the next day and we'll all go about our everyday lives.

Seems we're living in the Golden Age of Psychos

Well not a few months don't go by before there's another one, this time at some college in Illinois, seems some erstwhile bright and normal student hid behind a curtain onstage during a geology lecture and shot and killed five students and injured several others before taking his own life. Now whenever this happens you will duly note how the meds are to blame or, more specifically the fact that the person stopped taking his meds. Well if a pill is the only thing holding this person's life together then God help us all, he ain't living right. Vast majority of people who are mentally ill are not dangerous or violent although they can be annoying at times point being if you have a strong moral code and compass to begin with you can go bonkers but only up to a point. You may walk into a road and babble to everyone, tell everyone at work that they're conspiring to get rid of you but there are limits to your madness, the Good Lord gave you free will, if you're against killing to begin with maybe they'll just put you away in a nice home overlooking a lake somewhere for a time. Our friend Britney may do all kinds of whacked out things but she hasn't pulled a Columbine or VA Tech yet, my guess is her moral code is still there although frayed around the edges. Now I'm not against medical progress by any stretch but methinks they're pushing pills on society. You don't have to agree with me though, that's a'ight.

Fat Acceptance

I am sympathetic with the whole Fat Acceptance Movement. I don't make fat jokes and if you're in that category you don't need people constantly reminding you of your state, as if you didn't know. BUT it ain't good for your health in the long-term.