Political Dissonance

So the farce that was the investigation into allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brent Kavanaugh is over and now We The People will wait for the final and meaningless full Senate vote. If I sound bitter, it’s because I am. All that I, a patriotic American, held dear to my heart has been rototilled into the ground by a series of bad Presidential administrations and worse Congresses. This is still the greatest country in the world, but that grand distinction has been slowly unwinding since Clinton’s second term, even possibly since the assassination of JFK in 1963. Let’s face it, Ronald Reagan was no saint, and while Jimmy Carter appears to be a truly good man, he was a dreadful President.  If Gerald Ford hadn’t pardoned Richard Nixon ... who knows, right?

If I wasn’t already on prescription medication for depression and anxiety, I would be a mess. There is a great sense of wrongness that permeates our society. I am relieved to a certain extent that my retirement due to disability has given me a reasonable excuse to withdraw from the broad social milieu. I belong to no political party, because they all make me gag at their hypocrisy. I don’t miss going to court, because after 24 years of unwarranted blame and egregious verbal abuse, I finally admitted to myself that the majority of judges in all jurisdictions and at all levels of government are entitled, egotistical little demigods.

We The People are getting what we deserve. There exists a huge swath of bigoted, racist, anti-Semitic, xenophobic, misogynistic bullies, who are now totally unrestrained by conscience or social convention from expressing and acting upon their worst instincts. The soulless and dishonorable head of state has set a pernicious example and too many Americans have fallen into a joyful lockstep with his nasty ways.

So now it’s over, proof positive that there is no honor among thieves. But what the hell ... we’ve had an accused sexual offender on the Supreme Court since 1991. What’s one more?

And the Angels wept

Life Is An Art

So I went to Home Depot looking for herbs and vegetables, and walked out with nothing. There was no cilantro, no turnip greens, and no decent specimens of flat-leaf parsley. Even the strawberries looked limp.  I have a small strawberry patch on the side of the house, and I wanted to expand it a bit, but no such luck. Winter squash seems to be available, right alongside the summer squash. I know that doesn’t make sense but this is, after all, Central Florida.

When the weather ignores the calendar and continues to creep into the 90’s, gardening has to remain on hold. I  have little control over body temperature, and a few minutes too many weeding vegetables will send me to bed and keep me there for two solid days.

On Thursday my mother-in-law and I had that rare perfect day where both of us felt pretty darn good and were able to make a number of stops before getting lunch. (I could write volumes about how lucky I have been these past 45 years, but let me sum it up in one sentence: I have the Best Mother-in-Law in the world.) One of those stops was at Lowe’s to check out their herbs and garden plants. What they had looked better - tomatoes, peppers, collards, romaine, and flat-leaf parsley - but there was still no cilantro worth buying, no turnip greens, and no strawberries whatsoever. I have some seeds I ordered, so I’ll go ahead and start those, but until I find some decent fruit and vegetables ready to plant, I’ll be spending my time indoors doing stuff.

Which brings me to my knitting. I’m pretty sure there is a small group of people in Russia who follow me here or on Pinterest because of my interest in knitting, especially socks and lace knitting patterns. To them I say “hold tight” for another day or three, I promise to get back to the fascinating topic of the Fish Lips Kiss Heel.

But today I want to tell you about one of my other favorite air conditioned activities, one that I recommend highly for those seeking tranquility while having to spend inordinate amounts of time sitting around the house.

Coloring books.  A favorite from my kindergarten days at P.S. 217 in Brooklyn. I was a little hyper and not well-socialized back then, to the despair of my teacher, but sit me down with a bunch of crayons and some construction paper, and I was entranced.  I always colored inside the lines, by the way. Still take pride in that accomplishment, along with graduating law school.

These days there are coloring books for adults, and I am hooked.  I blame/thank my former supervisor Raquel, who gifted me a cat coloring book and some colored pencils back in the early days of my banishment/retirement from the practice of law. Since then I’ve expanded my collection of supplies, including today’s delivery from Amazon.

I love color, especially as it presents in nature. I find the peace in my soul as I stare open-mouthed at a perfect flower, or a bright red cardinal, or a ladybug. And even though the monarch butterfly caterpillars consumed a great deal of the dill and basil in my garden, I forgave them because observing their rich colors was a fair exchange for the tzaziki sauce and Caprese salads that were never prepared.

So I color, in every medium I can get my hands on. I even have the 96 crayon box from Crayola, because I always wanted it as a kid. The best, most peaceful, tranquility-inducing medium remains the colored pencil, however. Practically hypnotic, endlessly relaxing. I might even add “therapeutic” to that list. The airy repetitive movements are so very soothing. You can start and stop how ever many pictures you want; no one will be grading you on your coloring completion skills or color realism.  This is truly for fun. In today’s world of harsh reality, economic upheaval, and mind-blowing political shenanigans, any fun we can find is precious.

Two Whole Days

That’s two whole days lost to fibromyalgia. Crap.

And on the third day, I was able to get out of bed without crying. Yes, I still had to swallow certain pills, breathe in the vapors from a particular essential oil blend, and rub some pain cream on my hands and at the junctions of my neck and shoulders before attempting to remove my aging carcass from my bed.  That’s just daily reality, my new normal you might say, but there were no tears, or deep groans, or fear of putting my feet on the ground. Just a couple of well-placed profanities, and I was off to the Keurig.

Hope springs eternal that I will be able to make it to Lowe’s or Home Depot today to pick out the plants for this season’s vegetable garden.

During that 2 day hiatus I wore the same pajamas, threw up almost anything I tried to eat, and watched countless episodes of Doctor Who.  I slept a lot, too.  Napped with the cat, who has apparently quietly taken on the job of nap partner. That honor used to belong to my little girl Yorkie, Chelsea, but she crossed the Rainbow Bridge about 2 months ago. It’s interesting to watch how pets react to the loss of a sibling, and as you might imagine, I’ve had plenty of opportunity to observe that.

Anyway, I also indulged in my newest obsessions: perfecting my use of the Fish Lips Kiss heel on the sock I was knitting, and researching something called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. I’m torn as to which one I should babble about.

In the meantime, I need to get a bit political. About this whole Supreme Court fiasco - perhaps the prosecutor-for-hire was correct when she stated that no prosecutor would file criminal charges against Kavanaugh, but .... wait let me put on my lawyer hat. As you might imagine, I don’t wear it much these days. But, that’s not the applicable burden of proof. Even if criminal charges can’t be filed, the victim could conceivably file a civil suit, with its much lower burden of proof.

And that’s all I’m going to say about that. For now, anyway.

Be Here Now

 I’m back.

Don’t know why I am doing this now, don’t know how long I’ll be here. Over the past 8 years, I’ve been trying to enjoy the good moments whenever they happen. 

So what if it took me over an hour to get out of bed? Who cares if my inability to self-regulate my body temperature had me pulling on warm knitted socks and huddling under one of Cory’s woolen baby blankets while the thermometer is set for 78 degrees? What’s the difference if I ate fried green tomato potato chips for lunch because I’m unable to navigate a treacherous flight of stairs to the kitchen?

I’m here now, like Baba Ram Dass, and that’s the best I can manage at this time. The pain is, for just this moment, delightfully underwhelming. Is that me or is that Flexeril? Who cares?

Anyway, don’t be fooled by my overt mellowness. Just this morning, to the thunderous cyber-applause of my Facebook friends and relatives, I referred to Lindsay Graham as an “Insincere, lying little f*ckweasel ... Graham has crawled so far up Trump’s over sized ass he can tell you what The Donald ate for breakfast.”

To celebrate my return to the blogosphere, here’s a recipe I’ve probably published before, but what the hell, it’s worth another look:

Cindy's Spectacular Jambalaya

This is totally my version of jambalaya, so I have no one to blame but myself if you find it displeasing.  But if you love one-pot dishes with everything and then some, please try this.

6 slices bacon, quartered crosswise

2/3 cup canola oil, divided

1-14 oz. package Johnsonville New Orleans Brand Andouille, sliced

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed

10 cloves garlic, chopped

3 onions, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped, including leaves

2 large green bell peppers, chopped

3 stalks of fresh thyme, with multiple stems on each

2 bay leaves

2 cups uncooked rice

1-14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes with garlic, basil, and oregano

1-10 oz. can Ro-Tel Original Tomatoes with Green Chilies

1/2 pound chopped ham

1 quart chicken stock

1-8 oz. container fresh oysters, drained and rinsed (optional, but we love oysters)

1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

Seasoning:  kosher salt, coarse black pepper, Emeril's Original Essence.  No exact amounts are given, so season to taste.  Remember that the sausage and the Ro-Tel tomatoes will add quite a bit of spice to the dish.

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

Tabasco sauce, to taste

Slap Ya Mama white pepper blend seasoning

You will need a large, deep, very heavy pot for this dish.  Cook the bacon until crisp, then remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel-lined dish. Add about 1/3 cup canola oil to the pot.   Add the sliced andouille and saute for about five minutes, then remove to the same dish as the bacon.  Season the chicken with Emeril's Essence, using your fingers to distribute evenly, and saute in the same pot till the chicken is no longer pink on the outside, but not completely cooked through.  Remove and add to the dish with the bacon and the andouille.  Crumble the cooled bacon with your fingers.

Add another 1/3 cup of canola oil to the pot and bring up to heat.  Add the garlic, and once it becomes fragrant (within a minute) add the onions, celery, bell peppers, bay leaves and thyme (throw in the whole stalks).  Season well with kosher salt, coarse black pepper, Essence, and 1 tablespoon of light brown sugar.  Saute for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid sticking.

Add the rice, stirring to coat with the cooking liquid.  Add the tomatoes and the ham.  Pour in the chicken stock.  Add back all of the cooked bacon, andouille and chicken.  Stir, bring up to a boil, reduce to low, cover and cook until the rice is tender and the liquid almost gone, about 25 minutes.  Check about halfway through to make sure the rice is not sticking to the bottom of the pan.  Add the oysters, cover and cook 2 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook another 2 minutes until the shrimp are pink and the oysters firm.  Discard the bay leaves and thyme stalks. 

Taste to check the seasoning.  I added more salt and pepper, Slap Ya Mama seasoning and some (quite a bit) Tabasco. We like ours spicy but not painful. 

"Fish Fingers and Custard" - Happy Heinz and Honey Beef Chuck Riblets

Still on about Alton Brown ... I told you he was a geek. So I was looking through his new cookbook and saw this recipe:

In my opinion as a Whovian and super-annuated geek myself, you can't get much geekier than that. I suppose I'll have to try it one of these days.

Lately, there are a lot of things going on in my life, or so it seems, involving family.  Specifically, family I never knew I had. In the very recent past, I have been contacted by two entirely separate branches of family, seeking information I might have about mutual relatives.  Having taken the same path some years back, culminating in discovery of my birth father's family, I have been more than happy to help where I can. Through one of these recent inquiries, I was also reconnected with family, this time on my birth mother's maternal branch, after 40 or more years.  I realize I have a bit more to say on the subject of family, long lost and otherwise, but that post will have to be a couple of days down the road.  At this moment, I am in the throes of a nasty fibro flare, and after the last 3 days getting up too early to run to too many places to take care of too many things, all I can think of is sending this post off for publishing and taking a nap.


Happy Heinz and Honey Beef Chuck Riblets

2 pkg. beef chuck riblets, about 1 3/4 lb. each package (Walmart carries these. Look for a sale, and you will really have good cheap eats)

1 bottle Heinz ketchup

1/4 cup Heinz 57 sauce, plus enough honey to bring level in glass measuring cup to 1/3 cup total

Any seasoning blend or spice rub that you love on beef.  I chose Mild Jamaican Jolt, which I have used on chicken and goat in the past. You can find the recipe on the blog.

This is the method of cooking Emeril used for his Pork Candy Ribs.

Each package has 2 half-racks of the riblets. Remove them from the packaging and pat dry with paper towels.  Tear off 4 pieces of aluminum foil, large enough to wrap each half rack snugly.

Lay each slab, bone side up, on a piece of foil. Spread a small amount of ketchup across the backs, using a spoon to smooth the ketchup around.  Sprinkle some of the spice rub onto the ketchup. Turn the rack over and repeat on the meaty side.  Wrap the ribs in the foil as air tight as possible.  Repeat with the remaining racks of ribs, then place all of the packets in the refrigerator and allow them to chill overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Place the packets in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake for 3 hours, reversing the baking sheet front to back one time at the halfway point.  After 3 hours, open each foil packet but do not remove from the baking sheet.  The meat should be very tender.

Divide the combined Heinz 57 sauce and honey evenly over the ribs.  Return the uncovered ribs to the oven for just 10 more minutes to set the sauce. I did not cut into individual ribs, but if you want to do so, let them cool at room temperature about 15 minutes.