17 posts tagged “general rantings”

Joe the Plumber speaks for you. And he'll speak to you for just $19.95.  

I've been a die-hard Democrat my entire life. If I changed my affiliation I'd probably be thrown out of my family. But, I try hard not to make across the board negative statements about Republicans. I've visited enough political blogs lately to see the damage it does, and I'm disgusted by the name-calling that occurs from both sides. Repubs think Dems are elite snobs with their heads up their butts, and Dems think Repubs are hicks and podunks with their heads up their butts. Nothing good comes from this. It just creates more animosity.

However, I've recently seen some truly disturbing videos documenting the behavior of McCain-Palin supporters. This is from Youngsville, OH. It seems some people in the middle of the country haven't been reading Miss Manners lately.

 Here's one from my beloved home state of PA. Apparently it's funny that women in Wasila, Alaska were required to pay for their own rape kits. And this newspaper article covers what happened at a Palin rally at Elon University, in my adopted state of NC. I've gone from one backwater state to another.

McCain's people claim they don't condone this behavior. I suppose it's possible that Sarah Palin didn't hear someone calling for Obama to be killed at one of her rallies. But the campaign ads have been designed to stir up fear and hate among the Republican base, whatever that is. If the people at these rallies are McCain's base, maybe he shouldn't be running for president. Why would any responsible candidate want support from a bunch of mean-spirited whack-jobs? I've always said people can't be responsible for all of their fans (Kurt Vonnegut has some seriously idiotic fans), but John McCain isn't trying to sell a book or a CD. He wants to run the country. Two people who not only appeal to these total wingnuts, but seem to be encouraging them, shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the White House.

I might as well join in the frenzy. Sarah Palin is the scariest woman to come along since Phyllis Schlafly. In case there's anyone out there who hasn't heard these stories yet, here are a couple links:

Book banning

Programs for teenage mothers

She's anti-choice, even in the case of rape or incest. She's pro-death penalty. She believes in abstinence only sex education, and she thinks creationism should be taught along with evolution. (Geez, even the Pope knows better).

Her snide remark about community organizers ("I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities," said during her acceptance speech on Wednesday at the Republican convention) is the topper. The Republicans have been all about community organizing ever since Bush the 1st's Thousand Points of Light speech. They don't want government money going into social programs. They want people in the community to raise the money themselves. Doesn't she know that the right-wingers who get themselves elected to the school board, in order to ban books, stop sex education and force creationism into curricula, are community organizers? I'd love the hear the discussions about damage control going on at McCain headquarters.

With all that stuff, I couldn't care less about her being a lifetime member of the NRA. It's the only thing that makes her seems remotely normal.

Palin is a the example of the worst kind of woman in our post-second-wave-of-the-feminist-movement world. She's a mean girl. queen bee her little world, a world where she can fire anyone who doesn't bow to her demands. They will not have a date for the prom if she has any say in it. And forget about making cheerleader.

Palin is no friend to women. She's no friend of the less fortunate. She's no friend of the environment. I'm not a praying woman, but I might become one. Should McCain actually win the election, I'll be praying for his safety every night.

Flip-flops don't make good walking shoes. Someone actually got money to research this. I could have told them the same  thing. 

Good lord, I've managed to get myself into a flame war. I've been on-line for almost 8 years, and I've never gotten into one before.
Why do people think it's OK to insult someone just because there is some anonymity on the internet? Is it so hard to call someone out in a civil manner?

I've seldom been the target of this type of person. A poster on a board I go to called me obsequious and simpering, after I told him (no surprise) that he was always rude to other posters and asked him to be more civil (I think the term I used was "engage in civil discourse", which gave my fellow posters a good laugh). And I think that's it, until this clown, trinityrez, came along. So I'm a loser, I'm envious, I behave like a child, I'm illogical, and I have no life. JP said it's kind of true that I have no life, but there's no way the troll knows that. And seriously, can't he be more imaginative than to say I have no life? That's the go to insult when you can't come up with anything else? I don't even know what the hell it's supposed to mean anymore.

I can't even pretend that I don't care what trinityrez has to say about me. If I didn't care, I wouldn't be writing about it  now. The bigger issue, though, is why some people think this sort of behavior is OK.

God, Mean People Suck.

I've been cooking since I was 10. My best friend found this quite impressive, as she wasn't allowed in the kitchen when her mother made dinner. With 7 kids, her mother found it easier to banish them all than to try to teach them to cook. My mother, on the other hand, went back to work when I was 3, and she needed all the help she could get.

I knew how to light the old gas stove with a match when I was about 8. I was frying chicken when I was 11. As a young adult, I considered myself a great cook, as did my friends. When I think about my limited abilities then, I have to laugh at my reputation.

I'm still known as a great cook, probably better than I actually am. I'm a simple cook. I don't make gourmet food. I'll spend hours on some dishes, but I don't make anything that's too complicated, has a large amount of ingredients or calls for something that requires a special trip to the store. And I'm starting to feel like a fraud.

I read a few food blogs - The Accidental Hedonist, Eat at Joe's, and Michael Ruhlman's are my favorites. I read them every day.I check out others occasionally, and I often don't know what people are talking about. They use terms I've never heard, talk about ingredients I know nothing about, and do food combinations I've never considered using.

When the discussion on Ruhlman's blog get really animated, I have to back out. I feel like I don't belong there. Some of the commenters on his blog are the worst example of foodies - condescending know-it-alls who will condemn you for using Land O' Lakes butter and call you a hypocrite for not wanting to see a pig being slaughtered. And when they start throwing around the names of high-end restaurants they're so entranced with and chefs they worship, and talking about the food they make, I don't know if I'm out of my league, or if they're just self-important blowhards trying to impress Ruhlman and Anthony Bourdain, who occasionally blogs there.

Maybe they're on to something and I'm being left in the dust. I'm a firm believer in Ina Garten's advice to have about ten recipes that you've mastered, and using them as a jumping off point. That's pretty much how I cook. I do try new things, and I've learned as much from my mistakes as I have from my successes. Even so, I could well be stuck in a rut, and I'm staying too far in my comfort zone. A step out would never hurt me. But do I also have to cook my way through The French Laundry Cookbook to prove to myself I still have it? I gotta say, Thomas Keller scares me.

It's not that I think I'm not good enough; it's more about not feeling adventurous enough, I suppose. I am thinking about cooking my way through a cookbook, but which one? I hate The Joy of Cooking. I'm not doing The French Laundry. I can at least come up with a different book to use. I've considered starting with a section from Mark Bittman's The Best Recipes in the World, broken down by country of origin instead of type of food. I'm so comfortable in my American/faux Italian niche, even that scares me. Which might be the best reason to do it.

Aunt Jenny posted this link in the comments section of my last entry. Aside from the raisins, which I am not a fan of, this sounds like a terrific recipe. Aunt Jenny is a proponent of using great chocolate. Because I can never remember what the hell she keeps telling me to buy, I stick with the Baker's Unsweetened. However, better chocolate can only give you a better brownie.

Of course, I can't go without saying something about a couple of the comments on the recipe.

"I'm currently eating my healthier version of brownies right now! How appropriate! They have no butter but are made lovely and rich by the addition of prunes. Sounds a bit grim but they are delicious!! They can probably be found on the Shape website. Love the idea of the rum soaked raisins"
and
"Recently, I made carob (can't eat chocolate anymore, regrettably) brownies using pureed white beans to cut the butter in half. Worked out marvelously. Here's the post on it."

OK, from what I've heard, carob sucks as a substitute for chocolate in baking, but the commenter can't eat chocolate, so I'll let that go.  What I can't let go is the obsession with making absolutely everything you stick in your mouth healthy. Brownies are supposed to be decadent. Substituting prunes for butter? Using half butter and half pureed white beans? If you're that afraid of butter, eat a fucking apple instead.

Anyone who decries chicken fingers as merely kids' food deserves a cyber smack.

Bento box lunches! I'd never heard of bento boxes before I found this website. This is wonderful. Below the first entry you come to is a brief explanation about bento boxes. Check this out. Not only are the recipes great, but the photos are fabulous. What's really cool is much of the food that's featured is what she makes for her toddler-aged son. No  Lunchables for her child.
I think I love her.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check out this post and the accompanying comments about molecular gastromony on Michael Ruhlman's blog. Look, I'd never heard the term until about two months ago when it started being thrown around because Marcel from Top Chef was into it. Apparently he was big on foam. Which... whatever. All I knew what that I had no idea what it means. When I saw Ruhlman's post, I was thrilled. Maybe this would clear it up. Well, not so much. I was able to figure out that Ruhlman doesn't like the term, but I can't figure out what the linked letter in the post is saying. I continue to read the comments though. I've decided that "Molecular Gastronomy" is like 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's probably important, but everything about it is so boring I just don't care. I was reading the comments and kept waiting for Keir Dullea to die.
Ruhlman points out that making stock is molecular gastronomy. So is salting your food. OK, so cooking is chemistry. I think we've known that for a while. Alton Brown's been talking about it for years. And with him you get hand puppets.

It's not the practice itself that offends me, although I'm not a fan of clever food for its own sake. Nor do I want my food to be amusing. That's what my dinner companions are for. I also don't want irony or winking, from either my food or my dinner companions. It's too much damned work.
Like Ruhlman, I don't like the term because it's vague. It makes little sense to anyone who's not an insider. But I'm also skeptical of extreme techniques done in its name. A chestnut on the head of a pin? I don't want my food to scare my guests. If I did, I'd let them bring green bean casserole to my house. And what does one taste of cold potato-truffle soup in a cute little dish have to do with chemistry? How is that molecular gastronomy? It's pretty. And different. And I suppose it's innovative. Except it's not. It's just presentation.
Anyway, read the post and the comments. I'm interested in your ideas about the term and the practice. Maybe you can clear this up for me. And I think I'll just be roasting a chicken for dinner tomorrow.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On a really exciting note, JP made spaghetti with marinara sauce for dinner last night. This was the first time he's  made it, and he wouldn't let me in the kitchen. I was resting on the couch and it was all I could do to stay there. He'd yell a question at me, I'd yell back the answer. Finally he asked "What else should I put it?" "What else do you think you should put in?" "I don't know." "How about a little chicken broth?" " Oh, that's a good idea. Anthing else?" he asked. "Beer." "Oooh, yeah."
I cringed a little when I heard him using the pepper grinder. Ach, too much!, I thought. He also used a little too much olive oil to saute the garlic and onions. But it was fine. It was more than fine. It was really good. The flavors were nicely blended and it had lots of spice. So there wasn't too much pepper in it.
That boy has a gift.

Let's start with the funny stuff. Some of you may recall that I worked for a short time at the Aveda Institute in Chapel Hill, and that I was fired the evening before the school opened. Some crap about not having the students' interests in mind. Wait. What? The students hadn't even started. I wasn't even allowed to meet prospective students, even though I was Coordinator of Student Relations, or some stupid thing.
I signed a letter from the owner, acknowledging that I had read it, but I was in such shock that I didn't read it. I just wanted to get out of there.
I hadn't driven in that day so I had to take the bus home. It was raining. I was walking down Franklin Street with bags full of my stuff, trying not to cry. I sat on the TTA, one pathetic tear at a time running down my face. JP met me at Jo and Joe's for a beer. (Side note: I  miss Jo and Joe's. Come back Joanne.)
Over the next week or so, I asked the owner several times for a copy of the letter, even promising him in writing that I wasn't going to sue him. H refused to even acknowledge that he had received my e-mails. I finally gave up, because I was just too tired and feeling too much  like a loser to pursue it.

The other day I received something in the mail from the Aveda Institute. What in hell could they possibly send me? Hey, look, it's a $5 gift certificate for a service! Aww. I was moved. To bitch. For one thing - cheap fuckers. For another, are they kidding?
So, should I tear it up and throw it out? Should I tear it up and send it back? How about sending it back  in one piece, with a letter to the Director telling her she needs to update her database? Also, can I finally have a copy of that letter?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I mentioned here recently that I spend a lot of time on various chat forums, two of which are involved in an ongoing board war. These two sites are related, with members from both sites. It's all very convoluted, and if I tried to explain the setup or the situation, it would be too long;didn't read, and you'd all end up more confused than I am. Suffice it to say that there's a certain amount of discussion on both boards about various members of the other boards (board A talks about board B, and vice versa). Someone also discovered that there is a super secret, closed, invitation only discussion site for some of the old timers on one of the boards.  Are you still with me?
Anyway, there's also been some discussion about  carrying stories - running to someone and telling them that someone else is talking smack about them. Some people want to know anytime someone else is talking about them. Others, like me, don't really want to hear it unless it's going to do us some good. Do I really need to know that someone who doesn't matter to me called me a bitch? No. Would I want to know that someone I'm close to has designs on JP? Yes. Cause I will cut a bitch if I have to. Or, more likely, quietly stake my claim.
I think motivation is the most important factor. Did someone tell you this out of concern for your well-being, or to stir up some shit? I hate gossips. They're mean spirited and shallow. No good can come out of running and telling you that so and so said something bad about you, if the messenger is just looking for some amusement.

On a related note, another subject that has come up is whether it matters what someone on the internet says about you. There's been a lot of "it's just the internet" tossed around during these board discussions. I've said it myself, but you know, I don't really believe that. If you spend a lot of time talking to people on the internet, you're still developing a relationship with them. It may be guarded, and the discussion may be isolated to just a few subjects, but the relationships till exists. I was nicely welcomed and easily fit in with the talk and the fun on both boards. I've been called awesome and funny. I have also been called obsequious and simpering. I have a really tough skin, and can take a joke at my own expense better than a lot of people. But obsequious and simpering is not a joke. I was hurt, and shocked, and it made me question myself and the way I behave. Because I'm pretty much the same person on the internet as I am in real life - sometimes bitchy, funny, self-deprecating, but always trying to get along with people. Do I try so hard that I look like a suck up? The guy who said this to me is a rude, obnoxious jackass, but that doesn't mean he isn't right.
I think it does matter. We all deserve at least a modicum of civility. Believing it doesn't matter what people say about you means that it doesn't matter what you say about other people. And, to me, that means that the only thing that matters is what's going on in your own tiny world.
So much for the world wide web.