Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

The current Supreme Court is a rogue court. Very dangerous.

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Nothing worth doing is easy.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Fight them, without becoming them!

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Archives for December 2017

Anyone in the Market for Christmas Miracle?

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My sister Devon and her husband are on the way to the beach to meet my parents, brother, and other sister, so that means I get to sit her foster pup for a few days. You all saw a picture of her the other day, but here it is again:

She dropped her off this morning, and let me tell you, this may be the sweetest dog this side of Lily. She was rescued from Mississippi, and suffered horrible malnutrition, so much so that her brother died. She had rickets, so her legs didn’t form correctly, so she’s as bowlegged as a cartoon cowboy, and she is only 19lbs and the vet thinks she is almost 85-90% grown. At any rate, I can not tell you what a lover she is. She is also my new shadow- everywhere I go she follows me so close that if I stop short she runs into me.

We took a ride to Kroger:

I got her a 4 piece chicken nuggets because I like to spoil Devon’s dogs, and she loved them. At any rate, she is just an angel. She has the softest coat I have ever felt, and loves to snuggle. She slept with the other dogs with no problem, and she and Lily are sitting on my lap right now as I write this.

She is also so delicate when you give her treats and she love to rub noses and I have been administering long belly rubs and she drools on my arm when I do it.

If someone needs a Christmas miracle, holler, because if I did not have three i would totally adopt this dog. She’s a Lily, which as dar as I am concerned is the highest compliment you can give.

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Leftover Day Open Thread

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Sure, it looks like a bucket of feeble suds and rolled gym socks now, but the contents of this pot are slowly forming the basis for the most delicious French onion soup ever, which will be consumed with relish* this evening:

Every Christmas, we have a four-bone prime rib for Christmas dinner. The dogs get two of the ribs. The other two ribs get lightly sauteed in olive oil and placed in a stock pot, along with bay leaves, thyme, garlic, onions, carrots, celery and salt. After it simmers for a few hours, the stock is strained into containers and cooled.

Meanwhile, a few pounds of onions are slowly caramelized (which takes nearly an hour — don’t listen to the recipes that lie about this!) in butter and oil with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar.

White wine is added to the onions and cooked nearly out, then in goes the broth, which is simmered again for a while with the onions, then in goes a bit of extra butter and perhaps some sherry. Then seasonings are adjusted as need be, and the soup ladled into oven-proof bowls, topped with toasted baguette slices and then topped again with modest piles of Gruyère and placed under a broiler until golden brown and bubbly. There is no better soup, in my opinion, even though French onion soup can be treacherous!

As I mentioned in the morning thread, I received Julia Child’s post-WW2 years memoir, “My Life in France,” as a Christmas gift, and I’ve been reading it. Very interesting. I wish I could invite her over for some French onion soup! She would have made a fine jackal; she was a big old libturd just like us, only not quite so snarly.

I also received an electric wok. Looking forward to finding some recipes for that, preferably ones that incorporate fresh ginger since we have scads of that growing. Please feel free to share any you know of in comments!

Open thread!

* “Relish” as in great enjoyment, not a condiment! ?

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Orrin Hatch: Utahn Of The Year

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As you can see, the Salt Lake Tribune named seven-term senator Orrin Hatch Utahn of the year. That seems to be as far as Hatch or his aides read before tweeting. Let’s look at the editorial.

These things are often misunderstood. So, lest our readers, or the honoree himself, get the wrong impression, let us repeat the idea behind The Salt Lake Tribune’s Utahn of the Year designation.

The criteria are not set in stone. But this year, as many times in the past, The Tribune has assigned the label to the Utahn who, over the past 12 months, has done the most. Has made the most news. Has had the biggest impact. For good or for ill.

Prophetic words to start! Here’s the reasoning.

It has everything to do with recognizing:

  • Hatch’s part in the dramatic dismantling of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.
  • His role as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee in passing a major overhaul of the nation’s tax code.
  • His utter lack of integrity that rises from his unquenchable thirst for power.

Each of these actions stands to impact the lives of every Utahn, now and for years to come. Whether those Utahns approve or disapprove of those actions has little consequence in this specific recognition. Only the breadth and depth of their significance matters.

Always worthwhile to read more than the headline before tweeting. Or is this more gaslighting from the ever-gaslighting Republican Party?

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Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Not All Heroes Wear Capes

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… But I hope this one was wearing a good pair of work gloves. Per the Washington Post:

It was one of those gag cards you can buy in a drugstore. “Merry Catsmess!” read the caption. And in a personal touch, as if for emphasis, Robby Strong had enclosed a box of horse manure.“To Stevie,” he wrote on the envelope, meaning Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, for whose doorstep the manure was bound.

“We’re returning the ‘gift’ of the Christmas tax bill. It’s bulls‑‑‑.” Strong wrote on the card. “Warmest Wishes, The American People.”

And then, he says, he went through with it. On Saturday, Strong hand-delivered the manure to two Los Angeles homes he believed belong to Mnuchin — one in Beverly Hills, and one a mansion in Bel Air that consequently got a visit from Secret Service agents and a bomb squad.

“I wanted to ring the door and hand it to him myself,” Strong told AL.com the next day, after his early Christmas package had locked down one of the richest neighborhoods in the world.

Strong works as a psychologist for Los Angeles County, he told 89.3 KPCC, and expects that delivering animal feces to the man in charge of the U.S. Treasury Department could jeopardize his job. But Strong doesn’t sound as if he regrets it…

As proof of his commitment, he posted photos of himself — shovel in hand, serene smile beneath his beard — loading manure into a box the size of a mini-fridge. It looked much like the box a news helicopter would later observe being dumped out by police in Bel Air, as so many police and federal agents swarmed the street that Mnuchin’s neighbors couldn’t leave their driveways…

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Apart from a round of applause, what’s on the agenda for this abbreviated year-end week?

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Also, I’m not sure one can believe anything from The Sun, but you know the very suggestion is gonna chafe someone’s thin, orange-tinted skin…

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Late-Night Monday Open Thread: Wrap Up the Leftovers

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We gorged ourselves at our favorite Chinese restaurant, and still came home with enough leftovers for the rest of the week. Beef with mushrooms, Singapore rice stick, and Yang Chow fried rice all reheat nicely — don’t think we didn’t plan in advance…

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Who Wants Dessert? Peanut Butter Cup Pie

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I did a wee bit of baking for today. My sister in law requested that I make her a peanut butter cup pie. Which I did. I also made another salted caramel cheesecake (recipe at the link). So I hope everybody wants dessert!

(sorry about the lighting…)

Peanut Butter Cup Pie

Crust:

1 and 1/2 cups of crushed chocolate graham grackers

1/2 stick of sweet unsalted butter melted

Coat a 10 inch wide, as deep as you’ve got pie pan with cooking spray or wipe with sweet, unsalted butter. Combine the crushed chocolate graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter. Spoon into the greased pie pan and pat down from the center to the sides and then up the sides. Place in the freezer.

Dark Chocolate Ganache Base

4 ounces dark chocolate chips (use semi-sweet if you prefer)

4 ounces heavy whipping cream

Place the dark chocolate chips in a bowl. Bring the cream to a boil and pour over the chocolate chips. Let stand for five minutes. With a whisk, combine the hot cream and the melted chocolate completely to make a ganache. Remove the pie crust from the freezer. Pour the ganache into the bottom of the pie crust and with an offset spatula (or a non offset spatula if you prefer), gently work the ganache around the bottom of the crust and up the sides before it sets. Place in the refrigerator.

Peanut Butter Filling (Mousse)

10 ounces heavy whipping cream

20 ounces of peanut butter

2 to 3 tablespoons of sugar

Whip 10 ounces of heavy whipping cream to stiff peaks and then place in the refrigerator. Whip 20 ounces of peanut butter – whatever type you prefer – until the color begins to lighten and it becomes very, very smooth. Add between 2 and 3 tablespoons of sugar (to taste and depending on how sweet the peanut butter you’re using is). Continue to whip for another 3 to 5 minutes until the sugar is thoroughly incorporated.

Remove the whipped cream from the refrigerator and fold it into the whipped, sweetened peanut butter. Once the whipped cream and peanut butter are thoroughly incorporated remove the pie crust from the refrigerator and fill the crust with the peanut butter filling (mousse). It should look like this:

Place the pie back in the refrigerator and refrigerate for at least four hours (I let mine sit overnight).

Now we make the top.

Dark Chocolate Ganache Topping

8 ounces dark chocolate chips (use semi-sweet if you prefer)

8 ounces heavy whipping cream

Place the dark chocolate chips in a bowl. Bring the cream to a boil and pour over the chocolate chips. Let stand for five minutes. With a whisk, combine the hot cream and the melted chocolate completely to make a ganache. Remove the pie from the refrigerator. It must be cold. Pour the chocolate ganache onto the center of the pie and then use an offset spatula to work the ganache out to the edge of the pie so it mates up with the top of the crust. It should look like this:

Place it back in the refrigerator for at least a 1/2 hour before serving so the ganache can finish setting up on top. When ready to serve, remove the pie from the refrigerator, slice it, plate it, and eat it. Or if you’re really hard core just eat it straight from the pie pan (you know who you are…).

What I really need to do is get a silicon pie mold. Then I can chocolate ganache the entire inside of the mold, then fill it with the peanut butter mousse, then ganache the top. Once it is all set I can just pop it out of the mold and have a very large, stand alone peanut butter cup.

Anyhow: open thread!

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And a Very Merry Christmas to All of You

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I had a really nice day today. Woke up and wrote hostile things on twitter for a while, then took a nap. Got up, showered, cleaned the kitchen and made some brownies with walnuts and extra chocolate chips and a batch of home made ice cream, and went over to Gerald’s for an early afternoon Christmas dinner. Came back, and Taylor came with me to watch the Steelers game (Gerald is a Browns fan and Taylor is a Steelers fan, so he usually comes here or to my parent’s house), and now we are watching Rogue One.

I ate too much ham at dinner and they made deviled eggs which are a real weakness for me so I had to nap during the Steelers game.

About a decade or so ago (who knows, time flies), a very nice woman named Anne from NYC started sending me handcrafted knitted catnip balls for Tunch. Tunch is long gone, but Steve is still around, and every Christmas his package arrives. So, here is my Christmas gift to you- Steve getting stoned to the bejeezus on catnip:

He’s such a good boy. I really love him. At any rate, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or whatever.

BTW- I am in the market for a new Ottoman and chair for my living room. Any recommendations?

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