Another video

Hey there. Had a good Valentine's Day? Me too.

Now that that's out of the way, here's video you should watch, courtesy of the site The Reality Based Community: Jayne Torvil and Christopher Dean, skating for the gold at Sarajevo, in 1984. If you haven't seen it, you're in for a treat. If you have, it's great revisit.

Hope you all are the same...

Hmm.

A couple of times in the last few days, someone has described someone else as "Christians", meaning that they are honest and fair-dealing. In one case, the person was referring to themselves.

I don't think they hear the inherent bigotry of that. Or am I just being sensitive?

How's about YOU put your life on display, Jackson?

Lots of talk about the mother of octuplets here in SoCal. The most charitable thing I can say to the folks who are having a problem with this is, "Who the fuck made you arbiter of all that's good and holy?"

Really, now. Why are you so upset? She made a choice that you wouldn't have made, fine. I get that. But why the hating? She's not on public assistance, she's not asking you to baby-sit, you're not responsible for the baby's college funds, so what's the problem?

I think some people just can't get their heads around the possibility that someone might raise their children differently. One lady in the NY Times comments said something about taking the kids to soccer practice and the like, and doesn't seem to get that not every family is into the same sort of yuppie child-rearing. The Bad Yogi gets fish-eyes from some people because he and DW insist that YD not have a completely full day, every day of the week, and weekends too. Our opinion is that she needs down time and so would not be well served by being entertained 24/7. I imagine the lady in question is going to be in the same boat.

To me there's a distinction here between thinking that she made a mistake (personally, I think she's not terribly intelligent, but so what?) and dumping on her for what are supposed to look like moral reasons: It's not fair to the kids!!! I call bullshit. Many kids are still raised without being kept busy all the time, and they can learn to be self-directed, if they are not simply handed the remote. But there is the "idle hands make devil's work" meme running through our society, and I think that this is a major part of what;s going on.

Anyway, my prescription for these people is, Sit down and have a nice cup of Shut The Fuck Up.

Get 'em out, NOW

So, a few of the nominees have turned up with tax issues and the like, and are withdrawing. Good. Anyone in this day and age who didn't pay the nanny tax and still wants to be in public office is too stupid to be considered.

Folks, this isn't rocket science. These people KNOW that they are going to be scrutinized to the n-th degree. If they STILL can't get their shit together, they don't belong in public office. And if they are Democrats, that's fine with me: we need to clean house.

6 weeks later

Not that I'm counting or anything. And it's not for lack of something to say; maybe TOO much, really. So, when in doubt, fall back on what you know: in my case, that would be food.

We're trying to change the way we buy, cook and eat, so that there's less waste, better choices, not defaulting to eating out just because we didn't get it together to start something before it's late and the kid needs to eat. Also maybe eat less, but not a god-forsaken diet. Quick, stop me before I start to foam at the mouth about the diet indusdflsdkf;a {crash, bang, silence.}

{Deep breath}
Where were we? Ah yes, cooking and eating. As part of the changes, we're trying to get dinner on the table by 6 so that we're done before 7. That way, we're not trying to get YD into bed at 8 with a shovel or a bat. So, tonight I got it together enough to have 4 chicken thighs thawed by 5pm and started rooting around in the fridge for the rest of dinner. Hmm, science projects. After arm wrestling some dying cauliflower, I found a few things that were at least marginally edible. We ended up having chicken in chinese sticky sauce, caesar salad for DW and me, broccoli for YD and some pasta. Not bad for 50 minutes. I liked the chicken well enough to write down what I did, and for a wonder the caesar wasn't too sharp, but still mouth filling. Here's the recipe:

Sticky Chicky

4 chicken thighs, bone in, skin optional
3 T hoisin sauce
3 T Pepper Jelly (mild or spicy, your taste)
1 t powdered ginger
1 t garlic powder
2 t dried lemon peel
2 T cider vinegar (or just enough to thin a little)

Oven to 350˚
Cover a small baking dish with foil and spray with cooking spray or a little plain oil (I use a toaster oven for this dish. For all small chicken dishes, really.) Put chicken on tray skin side up, then put in oven for 10 minutes to start cooking. Meanwhile, mix other ingredients in small bowl or measuring cup. After 10 minutes, flip chicken and brush the glaze on thickly. Repeat in 5 minutes, then after 5 more (20 total: pay attention!), flip over and brush on skin side. Wait 5 minutes and brush on glaze one last time. Cook 5-10 minutes, or until you just can't wait any longer. The dripping glaze will have congealed on the foil and become dark on the chicken when it's done. We serve 3 with this.

OK? Now, since you've been nice enough to read this far, I won't bore you with expositions on whether anchovies belong in caesar salads (they do) or about coddling eggs (your choice, I don't bother.)

A couple of notes: Soon we will have my herb garden and I will NEVER run out of fresh ginger again! In the meantime, powdered is a barely acceptable substitute. And I had only enough garlic for either the caesar or the chicken. The caesar won.

Now go eat!