When my lovely wife Chris and I were recently vacationing in our undisclosed location, I forgot to mention that Biscuit was as well. She spent the entire time we were away with our pals and their two righteous children in their Brooklyn abode. She had a fabulous time. Here’s a pic of her eyeballing their cucumber salad and not their roasted chicken because she is a well-behaved hippy cat. I love this photo.
p.s. More Biscuit pics on the way this weekend. I can’t believe how big she’s gotten. I used to hold her in the palm of my hand and now it’s hard to scoop her up without using both of my hands.
Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, D-Brooklyn, has introduced a bill that would completely ban the use of salt in restaurant cooking.
“No owner or operator of a restaurant in this state shall use salt in any form in the preparation of any food for consumption by customers of such restaurant, including food prepared to be consumed on the premises of such restaurant or off of such premises,” the bill, A. 10129 , states in part.
The bill proposes a $1,000 fine on restaurants for each violation.
Give me, oh PULEEZ, give me a break here. First of all even the Mayo Clinic doesn’t recommend a completely salt free diet. Salt, after all, is needed by our bodies for essential functions. And second, many dishes simply can’t be prepared correctly or flavorfully without the use of some salt. If this law is enacted say goodbye to pickles, kimchee, sauerkraut and any other pickled dishes; soy sauce, worcestershire sauce and many other condiments; and most importantly FLAVOR!
New York has an incredibly vibrant restaurant industry. This heavy handed attempt to impose unnecessary dietary restrictions on anyone choosing to eat out would have a very dampening effect on the business of many restaurants for no apparent public benefit. I realize it’s not likely to pass but, jeebus, don’t those assembly peeps have anything better to do with their time?
If you think the food police are getting a little too aggressive here’s a website where you can sound off.
Admit it: You knew it was going to be amusing when MSNBC’s second-most addled gasbag, Chris Matthews, announced his intention to add an Olbermannesque “special comment” to his broadcast—the “Let Me Finish” segment (as if anyone could ever stop him!).
I look forward to tonight’s reflections on the humble, poor black people of the earth, avuncular mustaches, shishkabobs and concentrated numbers of warring religious factions in the HOLY city.
This music video is the creation of director and “pie baker” (WTF?) Molotov Mitchell, who has done work for WND, is a REALLY GOOD CHRISTIAN (he has “ZEALOT” tattooed on his arm), and, according to his YouTube channel, is inordinately obsessed with homosexuals (seriously, just scroll ... TEH GAYS HAUNT HIS HETERO DREAM WORLD!).
The only nice thing I can say about this video is that it’s better than anything the Young Cons have ever done and if that bar were any lower it would be poking up sod in China. And congrats to Islamophobic “Constitution Kate” and birther “The MZA” (Meathead Zipper Attack?) for being two of the whitest people I’ve ever seen in my life. Now everyone point and laugh because pasty wingnuts are rappin’ again! Yaaaaay! [via Instaputz and Wonkette]
Pity the American child—life’s been tough lately. Their parents got laid off. Their houses were foreclosed. And the out-of-gas SUVs they live in don’t have electrical outlets to run their Wii machines and PS4s.
Our generation of lost urchins gleans what comfort it can from Chicken McNuggets, Hostess Cupcakes and Kit Kat bars. The last thing it needs is a tall lady with frighteningly toned arms snatching the sugary treats from its pudgy hands.
Actual food offerings at the Florida State Fair circa 11:00 o’clock this morning:
I didn’t have fried butter, Oreos or Pepsi—I was still feeling nauseated from eating a funnel cake and riding the Tilt-a-Whirl just prior to spotting this booth. Maybe next year.
The other white meat. The National Pork Council, or some such organization, promotes eating pork as a healthy alternative to red meats. As the nutrition page on their website points out, lean cuts of pork are analogous to white meat chicken in terms of fat and calories and have even more vitamins. Assuming you’re not vegetarian or have other dietary restrictions, that would seem like a good enough reason to include pork in your diet, right?
Well now the semi-hotforanolderladypolitician President of Argentina, Cristina Kirchner, has taken the power of pork to a whole new level.
Semi-hotforanolderladypolitician President of Argentina, Cristina Kirchner:
Looks like the mere fact of Teabag Cosmo Boy’s election will kill health care reform after all. Barney Frank says so. Anthony Weiner is not optimistic. Massive corporate giveaway averted!
I’m sure the insurance companies will now voluntarily roll back preexisting conditions, excisions and other predatory practices. That’s what their stellar stock performance yesterday was all about—they’re just squirreling funds away for the coming epoch of pro-consumer largesse because that’s how they roll.
Anyway, water under the bridge, spilled milk, barn door closed after the horses skedaddled, etc. I just wish there were some other hill worth dying on, some truly populist issue the Dems could use to yank the phony “champion-of-the-little-guy” drape off Senatorfold* Brown and the rest of the GOP beefcake line-up, revealing them in all their glorious, fat-cat protecting nekkidness. Think, think, think.
What could be more annoying than a middle-aged Randroid? A navel-gazing, new agey middle-aged Randroid who recounts dialogues with his “deeper self…higher self”!
Jeebus H. Christ on an organic ornamental cabbage leaf, even Gandhi would have wanted to give Whole Foods CEO John Mackey five in the snot locker.
Where would media be without end-of-year lists to fill in while the high-priced talent parties away? Since we all seem to love ‘em and hate ‘em, I’ve gathered up a few that caught my attention this past week and lovingly share them with you.
Happy New Year from me and Mr. Gimme. May your favorite deity wish a much better year on us all.
For the uninitiated a cookie exchange is a holiday party where everybody brings a large batch of their favorite holiday cookies. The cookies are all set out on a table and when the gathering is over each guest takes home some of each kind so you end up with a nice assortment of different cookies.
Obviously we can’t reach into our computers and take cookies home (much as we’d like to!) but Dewberry and I thought this would be a great way to share recipes and give people a chance to try some new ones.
Our family favorite, by far, is iced sugar cookies. No, ours don’t look quite as good as the ones pictured above but they taste great! Any sugar cookie dough works but we’ve used Alton Brown’s the last few years with good results:
Sugar Cookies
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Serves:
about 3 dozen-2 1/2 inch
Ingredients
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 egg, beaten
* 1 tablespoon milk
* Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough
Directions
Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color. Add egg and milk and beat to combine. Put mixer on low speed, gradually add flour, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl. Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar. Remove 1 wrapped pack of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Move the dough around and check underneath frequently to make sure it is not sticking. If dough has warmed during rolling, place cold cookie sheet on top for 10 minutes to chill. Cut into desired shape, place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silicone baking mat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges, rotating cookie sheet halfway through baking time. Let sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes after removal from oven and then move to complete cooling on wire rack. Serve as is or ice as desired. Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.
Now this is me speaking. Be sure to use powdered sugar and not flour for rolling out the dough - you’ll end up with heavy, not very sweet cookies otherwise. And re-roll the scraps until there’s only enough dough left to eat by itself. ;-)
For icing either make your favorite white icing recipe or do what we do which is buy the pre-made stuff in the store. Divide into several small bowls and tint with food coloring. You can mix the basic colors to make all kinds of great shades. Have plenty of sprinkles, colored sugar and small candies on hand for decorating. Admire and devour.
