Inauguration Day

“Soon after George W. Bush came to office, eight years ago, he told a confidant that ‘There's no Nobel Peace Prize to be had’ in Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy. He turned his attention instead to places farther east in the Middle East, with mostly horrific results. But, as Obama told his listeners at AIPAC last June, there remains the Talmudic imperative of tikkan olam, ‘the obligation to repair the world.’ In four years, or eight, he may well have won no Nobel medal, made no final repair. But the obligation of constant engagement is deep; the cost of negligence is paid in blood. And, what is more, history has proved that the seemingly impossible can be achieved: the Irish and the English have all but resolved a conflict that began in the days of Oliver Cromwell, and on January 20th an African American President will cross the color line and move into the White House, a house that slaves helped build.”

David Remnick, in the New Yorker

OMG - It's Shrimp Arnaud!!!!!

A yummedy holiday recipe (and I will spare you any shrimp jokes...)

Hey, you can buy Arnaud's remoulade sauce from Arnaud's restaurant in New Orleans, and I'm sure it would be delish, but I came by my receipt fair and square from the Antoinette Pope School Cookbook (Chicago), my favorite source of recipes new and old (but mostly old)...

Serves 4-6

1 lb cleaned, cooked shrimp, the bigger, the better (2 lbs uncooked shrimp will yield 1 lb cooked)

Arnaud sauce:
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tbsp paprika
1/4 cup strong mustard
1 tsp salt
1 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh green onions (w/tops)
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
1 clove chopped/pressed garlic
Lemon juice/vinegar as needed

Put 1/3 of the sauce on the shrimp (or all of it) and refrigerate for at least 4 hours...

Garnish with parsley, and serve with crackers...

To my taste, serve with lemon wedges and squirt as needed...

:=P

Prepare to fire the retro rockets...

I'm pretty sure that NONE of you out there eats enough cabbage. And - don't let my Second Life moniker fool you - neither do I (except on St. Patty's Day, LOL).

Though cabbage is available throughout the year, it's at its best during the late fall and early winter months. Cabbage belongs to the Cruciferae family of vegetables along with kale, broccoli, collards and Brussels sprouts. That means it's GOOD for you...

One cup of cabbage provides you with 90 percent of your daily requirement of Vitamin K (?, LOL), 50 percent of your vitamin C, and 15 percent of your dietary fiber.

The phytonutrients in cruciferous vegetables...

1) work as antioxidants,

2) signal our genes to increase production of the enzymes involved in detoxification,

3) lower our risk of cancer (including lung, colon, breast, ovarian, and possibly bladder) more effectively than any other vegetables or fruits, and

4) generally promote gastrointestinal health :=P.

Red kraut? Blue kraut? Yikes!!!! Red cabbage has leaves that are a dark red purple. However, this color varies depending on the acidity of the soil in which the the cabbage is grown. For this reason the same plant sports different colors in different regions (acid=red, alkali=green), and on cooking, red cabbage will turn blue! Vinegar, wine or fruit is needed to keep it a pretty ruby color. (Hehee - Has anyone tried red, white, and blue cabbage on the Fourth of July? Or maybe have it for the upcoming Inauguration Day?)

The holidays are of course, the perfect time to increase your cabbage intake. What goes better with that crown roast of pork, or your turkey or goose, than a sweet red cabbage concoction with golden accents. And a ubiquitous holiday side dish is Brussels sprouts - perhaps with some nutty overtures added to make it special.

Glazed Red Cabbage with Golden Raisins

2 tbsp butter
1 Clove garlic, chopped
1 1/2 lbs red cabbage, shredded
1 tbsp Honey
1 tsp Caraway seeds
1 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup red wine
1/3 cup Water
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a large pot or skillet over medium heat and sauté the garlic.

Add the cabbage, then stir in the honey. (You could put the raisins in now, but I would keep them out to maintain their color.) Cook for an additional minute. Pour in the wine and water, add the seeds, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, then cover and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for at least 15 minutes, probably longer, until the cabbage is somewhat wilted (to taste). Add raisins toward the end to plump them.

Season. Serve hot.


Brussels Sprouts with Chestnuts

2 1/4 cups peeled roasted chestnuts (or 12 oz canned whole chestnuts, or cooked, peeled, vacuum-packed ones)
1 1/2 lbs Brussels Sprouts, trimmed
3 tbsp Butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 400°F
Using the point of a sharp knife, make a small cut on the flat side of each chestnut
Bake chestnuts in their skins for 20 minutes
Trim the stems of the sprouts and deeply score with a cross
Allow chestnuts to cool slightly, then peel removing both the outer and inner shells
Place the Brussels sprouts in boiling water in a large saucepan and cook until just tender (5-10 minutes, or longer if preferred)
Drain well

Return to the saucepan, with the chestnuts and butter. Over a high heat, toss until the butter is melted. Season to taste, and serve immediately.

X--> Alternatively, instead of butter, you can sauté 6 slices of bacon, chopped, in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp, about 4 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels and drain. Heat bacon drippings in skillet over medium-high heat. Add lightly cooked Brussels sprouts and chestnuts and sauté until Brussels sprouts begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup water and cook until brussels sprouts are tender and most of liquid is absorbed but mixture is still moist, about 3 minutes longer. Stir in bacon. Season to taste and serve.

*Hey, use your imagination, and if your cooking doesn't turn out, don't blame me. (Thanks to Rod Blagojevich's erratic and quid pro quo funding, my not-for-profit test kitchens just aren't what they should be. :=P)

Dipsomania

Holiday Colors Layered Crab Dip

This is really good and really fast. (As with all my recipes, adjust it to your taste and needs...)

A lot of people disdain canned crabmeat. I think it can be delicious. In any case, canned crabmeat is better than no crab in your crab dip, or, worse yet, pollock.

You can get lump crabmeat in a can (chunks picked from the body or backfin). On a budget, however, you might want to settle for flake or regular crab, small pieces from all parts of the crab. You may find blue crab from the East Coast of the United States, but more likely it will be from Southeast Asia. Trader Joe's crabmeat is supposed to be good. A lot of people like Phillips crabmeat, which comes in plastic tubs, but it's from Vietnam, and the meat is less rich and not as sweet as blue crab meat from the mid-Atlantic states.

Soaking the meat in ice water for 10 minutes, then draining it and patting it dry will take out a lot of the "canned" taste. I have also heard of using milk water or lime water, depending on what you're gonna do with the crab. Never forget to pick over the pieces to remove all bits of shell or cartilage that got into the can along with the meat.

Ingredients:

3 8 oz. tubs of soft (spreadable) cream cheese (use Kraft)
1/4 cup grated onion
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 12 oz. bottle Bennett's chili sauce
2 8 oz. cans crab meat
4 Tbsp. fresh parsley (or just use sprigs)

Instructions:

Mix cheese, onion, Worcestershire and lemon juice together. Spread in (maybe 3) shallow highly decorative serving dishes. Spread chili sauce over top. Spread crab over chili sauce. (This is why you might want nice crab. If you mix it up, who cares.) Sprinkle with parsley. (DO NOT PUT ON THE CHILI SAUCE AND CRAB UNTIL YOU ARE ALMOST READY TO SERVE IT.)

Holy Cannoli!!!

There's a popular Italian dessert called cannoli that was invented in Sicily in about 1 A.D. I never really liked cannoli, and I just figured out why... The reason I never liked them probably is that I usually get the supermarket kind (or something similar). There are several special things about making cannoli that everyone who wants to savor the real thing should know. These special things make them more expensive and more trouble, but good.

Many places use mass produced shells that are dense and hard in order to increase the shelf life of the filled product. The shell should be as thin and light as possible, and it should only be filled when you are ready to serve it. Also, wine is an essential ingredient in the shell as it produces little bubbles that make it airy.

For more flavor you need a blend of sheep's milk and cow's milk ricotta. You can do a 70/30 blend - you decide which is 70 and which is 30, LOL.

Sometimes cannoli does not have candied citrus in the filling. The making of the filling becomes more time-consuming with the candied citrus, but you must have it for the authentic product.

Chocolate - only use tiny dark bitter chips and not too many. You want to complement the orange peel, not overpower it.

Garnish with chopped Iranian or Sicilian unsalted pistachios (NOT colored peanuts!!!!).

It is said that you will never find two cannoli recipes that are exactly the same, and many swear that the taste and the experience of eating a well made cannoli can never ever be forgotten. Well, here is one of the many recipes, but a classic version nevertheless.

Shells (12 shells)

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sifted confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 small egg lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon white wine
shortening, for frying

Filling (serves 8-10 - you is prolly gonna lose some shells)

1 pound fresh italian ricotta cheese (70/30 mix)
3/4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
1 or more teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon finely chopped glazed cherries
1 tablespoon chopped citron or candied orange peel
2 tablespoons semi-sweet mini cocolate chips
Chopped pecans or walnuts, or, preferably unslated Iranian or Sicilian pistachios
heavy whipping cream for proper consistency (2 tablespoons)

Directions

To make shells, mix flour, sugar and salt in a bowl.

Cut in butter.

Add enough egg liquid to from a medium dough, not too firm and not too soft.

Knead for a few seconds and cover dough with a warm bowl. Let stand for 30 minutes.

Divide dough into 12 uniform pieces, and roll into 5.5 inch rounds.

Place loosely on lightly greased cannoli forms overlaping the end and pressing to seal, flaring out the edges slightly. Let stand a few minutes.

Fry one or two at a time in hot melted shortening (about 360°F) for approximately 1 minute, turning to brown all sides (or deep fry).

Remove from hot grease and drain on paper towels, seam side down.

Let cool a minute or two before trying to remove metal tube.

To remove the tube hold cannoli shell down on the paper towel and carefully slide the tube out one end.

Leave cannoli shells on paper towel, seam side down, to cool completely. (Shells can be made and stored between paper towels in an airtight container several days prior to filling.)

Combine 70/30 mix of ricotta cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract.

Add only enough cream for the proper consistency.

Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Shortly before serving, add cherries, citron, nuts, and chocolate chips into the ricotta mixture, being careful not to over mix. Pipe into shells.

Garnish with additional confectioners' sugar, candied fruit, nuts, shaved chocolate, and/or whipped cream.

Keep refrigerated until time, but not too long.

AARRRRRGH!!!!!

OpenSpace Sim Prices SHOULD NOT Be Going Up! VOTE To Stop This ridiculous increase! (JIRA MISC-1776)

Effective 1st January 2009
Monthly maintenance USD$75->USD$125
Upfront fee USD$250->USD$375

"We will no longer offer an educational or non-profit discount for new Openspaces. As mentioned earlier, this is due to the increased back end resource required for us to support Openspaces in the way that they are now being used. For the small number of Educators that already have Openspaces, we will be contacting you directly to discuss this change."

Educators? What about those who are students of virtual world and what those worlds can become? These are the people who have created Second Life as we know it.

Academic pricing is ubiquitous in the real world. Anyone creating something of value and not-for-profit should be offered the possibility of doing so at reduced cost, even if it requires some proposal or certification process. One shouldn't have to be affiliated with an insitution: how many true artists are?

There is a clear rationale for the educational discount: the people getting the discount (often as high as 50 percent) are using the product for teaching and learning. So the seller is both supporting education (the development of human capital) and is also promoting their product, in this case a successful SL, full of user-developed fun and entertainment. These discounts feed into a much bigger package - these developers (whether technicians or artists or both) produce great resources for the casual user, student, or trainee professional, and this encompasses wide and inspired educational goals.

There are those who might say the new price is not excessive. The fact is, it's a huge price differential, and will destroy much of what is good about Second Life.

So log in and vote or you may be saying goodbye to you favorite SL attraction, and to many you haven't even seen yet.

http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/MISC-1776

A Chocolate Confection for Gudrun...

Theobroma cacao: food of the gods...

Montezuma drank it before visiting his harem...

Casanova preferred its seductive powers to those of champagne...

Several recent studies showed that between 40 and 70 percent of women prefer eating chocolate to having sex... (?????! I thought you could do both! And I know they go good together!!!!)

Chocolate contains several soothing :=) substances: phenylethylamine which occurs naturally in the brain and reaches peak levels during orgasm; tryptophan, cuz it makes serotonin, causing sleepiness (the reason you fall asleep after Thanksgiving dinner), but which also can produce feelings of elation; and finally anandamide which binds to cannabinoid receptors in the brain (and which means "internal bliss"). So it may cause feelings of love, passion or lust; rapid mood change; a rise in blood pressure; increased heart rate; and feelings of well being. But is it an aphrodisiac? Naaahhhhh!


Gudrun's "Almost Better than Sex" Cake (no credit for Robert Redford)

1 box yellow cake mix
1 3.5oz pkg instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1 8oz carton sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup water
1 4oz pkg German's chocolate (grated)
1 6oz pkg chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
Combine all ingredients thru water and mix well.
Stir in choclates and nuts and mix again.
Grease and flour 10-inch tube pan.
Spoon in batter.
Bake in 350 degree preheated oven for 1 hr to 1 hr 15 mins or until toothpick comes out clean.
Cool 25 mins.
Remove from pan.