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One of my favorite food sites is 101 Cookbooks – lots of yummy, interesting, healthy, and most importantly, vegetarian food. (Don’t worry friends, the infamous vegetarian-hating, bacon-loving Ted Brassfield has not converted – this is She, guest blogging while He cooks up fish tacos for dinner.) I usually leave the adventurous recipes to Ted, but it just so happened that I was perusing 101 Cookbooks and came across a chile blackberry syrup recipe on a day when I had a pound of blackberries in the refrigerator. So I hopped over to our Latin market, picked up some guajillo chiles (the one item I didn’t have on hand), and gave the recipe a whirl. The result? A gorgeous, deep purple syrup with a bright blackberry flavor (not at all jammy) and a healthy dose of heat (yowzer!).
Having just finished the last of the 32 ounces made in that first batch, let me share a few suggestions for usage:
- Add a dash to sparkling water for a refreshing summer drink (though there was a bit too much heat for me to consume much of it this way)
- Add some bourbon to make a Briar Patch, a delightful little cocktail
- Ted’s brilliant creation: shake with shochu for a lighter cocktail that perfectly highlights the flavors of both the syrup and the liquor
- We topped off a blueberry crumble, made by our friend Alexandra, with some syrup – so very berrylicious!
- And the piece de resistance? Ted added some to his fish tacos tonight. I was skeptical, but by god, it was actually quite good!
A half billion eggs have been recalled. Tyson just issued a recall of deli meat shipped to Walmart. And the host’s comment on NPR‘s American Public Media’s Marketplace: “Vegan, anyone?”
Two quick responses: First, I hope that he is not sued under the veggie libel laws, as I really enjoy Marketplace. (For that matter, I hope that I am not sued under the veggie libel laws.) Industrial agriculture has way, way, way too much influence in our legal system. The latest proposal in Colorado was to add a year of jail time to anyone who disparages and discourages the eating of Colorado Food… Terrifying; you may remember that Oprah had to spend $5 million bucks to beat the accusations of Texas cattle ranchers after her comments regarding a beef recall. Not all of us have those resources!
Second: Vegan is NOT the answer! Vegans would have been screwed by the Organic Peanut Butter Recall and the various spinach and salad mix recalls of the past few years. No, the answer–for those who can afford it–is to move away from industrial agriculture and enjoy local food. Not exactly local to me, but a wonderful stop on a camping trip last year was Polyface Farms. They have a truly sustainable, free range, and holistic setup for eggs, beef, rabbits, pigs, etc. Phenomenal food, enthusiastic workers, and beautiful land. They were criticized (and had legal action brought against them) for their open air butchering–which they do because they want consumers to know every step of the food process–by big Agriculture, but the action was dropped after they proved that their meat was exposed to a fraction of the bacteria present at the mega-rendering facilities. Better food through transparent methods (also works for software, legislation, and oil spill cleanup). Big fan.
America’s future will be built in Rural America. But it won’t be a continuation of these practices. Nope. Poliface is closer to what we will need than the CAFIs.
The Tea Partiers are coming, the Tea Partiers are coming!
I am very excited about this opportunity to engage people from outside my narrow-minded neighborhood in intelligent discourse about the role of immigration in contemporary society. I might even get to meet one of those 19-percenters who hope to remove our foreign-born President* from office. (In the interest of full disclosure, I am pretty sure that I was born in Colorado, but I don’t have any newspaper clippings with my birth announcement, so I hope that they can see past my Canadian relatives and that we can talk like real Americans.)
As of right now, I am planning on meeting misguided people at the metro station and politely requesting that they not take advantage of my tax dollars on their way home–they should instead take a pedi-cab or a foreign-oil-fueled vehicle back to their hotels. Because this will only help inform their decisions on the way back, I have submitted a suggestion to Metro to add a special surcharge for all farecard-based travel this Saturday (after all, if someone has a SmartTrip Metro card, they are probably already subsidizing the system with their tax dollars) to offset any tax-payer subsidized taint of the transit system; I don’t want some innocent tea-partier to unknowingly encourage taxation during their visit!
Unfortunately, I have made a grave error in my plans for this weekend. I invited an immigrant. He is a nice guy, but, as an immigrant, he has taken an American job from the lovely people who will be gathering at the Lincoln memorial. Perhaps if I ask him to wear a pin that says “I am a Canadian and I am sorry for taking an American job. If you have a master’s degree in foreign relations, we can discuss how to return what is rightfully yours,” we might be able to get another American employed. It would be unfortunate for my friend to be deported, but one ought to be consistent!
*Normally, I would not footnote what I consider obvious sarcasm respectful disagreement over facts, but in light of the intense debate over this issue, please let me state unequivocally that the Earth is an irregular sphere, Newton’s description of gravity is pretty good for my daily life, and President Obama was born in the United States.
You might have thought that after their new privacy controls debacle, Facebook would have carefully checked the layout of their latest innovation privacy destroying tool, “facebook places,” before launch. You would be naive.
The latest update to the site I joined to share silly photos with friends-far from the prying eyes of employers and parents-now shares your location whenever you “check in” (read a message, accidentally leave the app open, etc.)
How convenient! Now everyone can know that you went to the opera… Or that when you called in sick, you were at the ball game. Or that you skipped church to go to Dawkin’s lecture.
But wait, you say, Ted is a Luddite. Facebook offers improved privacy controls. If you have your boss on limited profile, she might not get that update. And, better yet, you can just turn off places. Sure, it won’t help you in that last example, but you’ll be safe from getting caught playing hookie.
Wrong.
Your coworker didn’t turn off places and you haven’t restricted him from being able to share your info. It appears as though your coworker’s update may automatically share your location with the boss.
But you thought that after the last round of privacy mistakes that facebook would have tied the “no places” setting to the friends can’t share places setting? You thought wrong.
It’s time for another round of “find the right facebook settings” game. Hope you enjoy playing!
Hero is an overused word. In this case, it is appropriate.
Seven years ago, when Nicholas was the CEO of an Internet Service Provider in New York, the FBI brought him a National Security Letter demanding a significant amount of information about several of his customers, and
although the letter’s gag order “was totally clear that they were saying that I couldn’t speak to a lawyer” about it, he immediately contacted his personal attorney, and together they went to the ACLU in New York, which agreed to represent him.
Set next to the San Diego ferry landing, Candelas is the most wonderful late night non-dive I have ever encountered. After one of my classic nine pm realizations that I hadn’t eaten, we headed off to an irish pub, the only place that was open on the island… Fortunately, the kitchen had just closed. Our waitress recommended that we head to Candelas for the “late night”happy hour.
Every night, the entire bar menu, and the entire bar, half off. A very tasty neuvo-mexican menu, a phenomenal wine list, and great service. Everyday after ten.
Pretty crazy and pretty awesome.
Here are pics of my tasty jicama, mango and carrot salad and my carne asada tacos.
