Some people vote the same way every time: Rs for Rs, Ds for Ds. Then you have the wildcards. The wave. The pendulum. The moody middle swayed by who knows what -- "Dancing with the Stars" perhaps or McDonald's dollar menu? Who knows... I don't... Ask the people at Pew.
Anyhow, if I had to venture a guess, I would bet that some fussy pendulum-riders were already skittish about health care reform (i.e. they fear change -- they can't love the outrageous health care bills that are bankrupting them and their families) and they got a few too many e-mail forwards from wackadoo friends about Obama trying to take over private businesses (I guess we should just funnel tax payer money to big business to save them and not takeover?) and then the White House got pissy about Fox News and then somebody got too meddlesome in gubernatorial elections (when there's a country to be running) and there are a fair number of folks throughout the country who arent sure about whether that dude in the White House is Muslim/born in the U.S. -and/or- just they're just plain racist/ignorant/fill-in-the-blank and there you have it...
[extended run-on sentence for your reading pleasure... I hope it helps someone's superiority complex. Maybe I should make this post public to infuriate the masses. You're welcome.]
You can't ask for more than that, can you?
Especially in private messages from strangers...
Note to self: give this a whirl --- maybe this weekend or next
From Cooking Light
Our variation on the classic French wintertime dish uses meaty squash for body, rendering it much more healthful than the original. Though not as traditional as a turkey, ham, or roast, this is a great main course for a smaller holiday gathering or intimate dinner party.
8 servings (serving size: 1 3/4 cups)
Ingredients
- 1 whole garlic head
- 4 ounces pancetta, chopped
- 2 cups vertically sliced onion
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 4 1/2 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash (about 2 pounds)
- 1/2 cup organic vegetable broth (such as Swanson Certified Organic)
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4 (16-ounce) cans cannellini or other white beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 (1-ounce) slices white bread
- 2 tablespoons grated fresh Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.
Remove white papery skin from garlic head (do not peel or separate the cloves). Wrap garlic head in foil. Bake at 350° for 1 hour; cool 10 minutes. Separate cloves; squeeze to extract garlic pulp. Set half of garlic pulp aside; reserve remaining garlic pulp for another use. Discard skins.
Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add pancetta; sauté 5 minutes or until crisp. Remove pancetta from pan, reserving drippings in pan. Add onion and 1 tablespoon oil to drippings in pan; sauté 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low; cook 25 minutes or until onion is very tender and browned, stirring frequently. Stir in vinegar.
Preheat oven to 375°.
Add garlic pulp, pancetta, squash, and next 6 ingredients (through bay leaf) to onion mixture, stirring well. Place bread in a food processor, and pulse 10 times or until coarse crumbs measure about 1 cup. Combine breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, and 1/2 teaspoon olive oil; sprinkle evenly over squash mixture. Cover and bake at 375° for 50 minutes or until squash is tender. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes or until topping is browned. Discard bay leaf. Sprinkle with parsley.
Nutritional Information
- Calories:
- 259 (27% from fat)
- Fat:
- 7.7g (sat 2.6g,mono 3.6g,poly 1.4g)
- Protein:
- 9.5g
- Carbohydrate:
- 38.8g
- Fiber:
- 8g
- Cholesterol:
- 11mg
- Iron:
- 3mg
- Sodium:
- 679mg
- Calcium:
- 131mg
Charity Ferreira, Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 2006
What’s your favorite quick, easy, and healthy recipe?
Presented by Intel, Sponsors of Tomorrow.
I was going to share something but it really varies by the week/month/season... the important thing is to be prepared with the basics: good oils, vinegars, salt, pepper, herbs, and whatever fresh produce you can grow or keep on hand... having other stuff like canned beans and tuna, olives and cheeses in the fridge, frozen veggies and pasta can be a lifesaver too. I think that having that stuff around and being creative is half the battle -- the other half? Knowledge and willpower -- good luck there!
... to see how many will actually appear here...
I kid you not.
There's a dozen or two there right now on the main Vox Group Explore page.
For some reason, they don't seem to be attracting many "members."
K has a good response to a fear-mongering e-mail about Obama, broaching that ever tricky subject of generational issues. (Boomers get snarly with me when I bring this up - anyone else have that problem? Of course, I may not be the most diplomatic about it.) Here's a taste:
Xers and Y's want a resurgence of the middle class and a standard of living that is at least half as good as that of our parents. We've never had any delusions that Social Security would be there for us; we recognized that you mortgaged our future during the Regan era. X'ers and Y's don't want to take away Social Security from you, or your Medicare, or any other benefits you may acquire merely for living longer. We do want what you had an opportunity to have when you were our age. WE have suffered as Boomers have cut X and Y benefits at work while keeping them for themselves, we have suffered as Boomers have held on to top middle- and upper-management jobs when their predecessors had long since retired and given way, we have suffered the ramifications of your investment drive and the "everything for the shareholder" mentality. We are sick of it. The Obama vote was about being through marching to the Boomer drumbeat and addressing the concerns of the shrinking middle class and the poor of the US. It is about giving a damn about the rest of the population of this little planet...
Nicked from minimania.
alcohol: Gin and tonics. Guinness. Strongbow cider. Single malt Scotch. (Recent addition) - Misterio Malbec (cheap AND good!)
believe in god?: Believe in something. Perhaps not exactly "God", in the Judeo-Christian sense.
chocolate: Dark and bitter, the bitterer the better... but I have a soft spot for white chocolate as well, even though as it was put in a short play in this spring's Asphalt Jungle, "White chocolate is like -- cheese slices!"
d&d character: I used to play mostly Rangers.
eggs: Perfect in so many ways.
food: Spicy. Complicated. Exploring cultures through food.
gemstone: Amethyst.
hairdresser: I have no hairdresser loyalty; I speed-date hairdressers.
icecream: Currently PC "Cream First" vanilla with chocolate splinters.
jeans: Questionable and torturing item of clothing. Usually Silvers, after lots of tedious failed dressing-room shimmies.
karaoke choice: The only time I ever sang at karaoke, I chose (from a List of Lame) Red Hot Chili Peppers' Under the Bridge. It was in totally the wrong key for me.
i want 100Mb Internet access to my home: I have high-speed at present; it is sufficient.
left or right handed: Right. Except when throwing things; my aim is marginally better (although not good) with my left hand.
music: Lots of everything. I've recently been listening to Sweatshop Union, Ute Lemper and Satie.
nationality: Canadian and British.
operating system: Windows, with aspirations to move to Mac. I'm saving.
perfume: Jo Malone's Wild Fig & Cassis.
my mp3 player is a: Creative Zen 8GB Microphoto. I've also got a Creative Stone for running. The Stone is tetchy.
quest: Creativity and freedom.
rant: Bad spelling, and people who take Twilight seriously.
seafood: Is awesome. I haven't been able to form a real relationship with octopi and squids as food, though.
twitter: Tweetdeck at home. Usually just web.
uncontrollable urge to: Blow everything and go into the wilds.
vice: Laziness.
what i wear to work: Clothing that is far too trendy and peculiar.
x-men character: Storm.
yesterday i: Got up, took pictures of our Civic Square for an ad I'm doing, went to work, went to a piano lesson, came home, had supper, transferred the photos off my camera to a memory stick, lay down "for a minute" and went to sleep. And slept for twelve hours, interrupted only by the Creative Genius coming to bed with a migraine, moaning about it until I sleepily convinced him to take an Advil, going and taking an Advil, doing a Pain Dance around the bed, coming to bed, and begging me to rub his head. Then I fell asleep again.
zodiac sign: A lot of Pisces.
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