Some of the PoliNation staff have been talking about changing up a bit of the sidebar art, perhaps as a way to man-up the blog somewhat, since we are a mixed crowd, after all. I haven’t discussed this book room photo with anyone yet; I’m just putting it up for discussion. However, if it turns out that the regulars like it, I will also offer to photoshop someone of your choice in the empty green chair. It occurred to me that it might be fun to have Ronald Reagan or Mark Twain or Claire Boothe Luce sitting in the chair, reading. I have no preference, but anyone who suggests the winning figure (voted on by all) stands to win the grand prize, which I will provide. Probably some kind of booze, like a six-pack of Bluebird Bitter or Pig’s Grunt Ale, but possibly something Chrissy fermented. Who knows?
In general, I find the reading room photo appropriate, since the early days of the Honey Trail blog (one of our predecessors) involved a good bit of book review and reading suggestions. Even today we have occasional reviews of books and movies like the old days. Any other ideas? Any votes on the reading room photo above? Of course, blog founders, like Rose or Bob or others may exercise veto power, so don’t be shy. I’m particularly interested in hearing from Harvey and Hoot and Frankly, since I think they have shown interest in reading lists in the past, but there are many others, of course.
This is such an inspiring story! Veronika was the child of addicts living in Detroit. If anyone had an excuse to be a loser, it was her. She declined. And she’s helping other women to say no to poverty and victimhood too.
Even if this shark doesn’t…
To see Kirstin running away from James O’Keefe and to get the back story, go to Rebel Pundit.
And to see lots more graphics, including one by James, himself, go to iOTWreport. First posted at Blog of MonteCristo. The best one might be this one from BigFurHat depicting Kirstin, the Democrat Party director for Louisiana, and Mary Landrieu driving their car off a cliff as Thelma and Louise. That’s especially appropriate today, since both of them are losing the Louisiana Senate run-off going on now.
Police officers in Boynton Beach, Florida, responded to a 911 hang-up call made by a 2-year-old girl on Saturday — but they had no clue something so amazing would come out it. When they inquired about the accidental 911 call, the officers inadvertently learned the family was going through a tough time and wouldn’t be able to afford a Christmas tree or gifts this year.
But the officers weren’t annoyed by the accidental 911 call, they were motivated to help.
Boynton Beach police officer Terrence Paramore told NBC’s Today that the home the kids in the home “weren’t smiling” and didn’t appear to be happy.
“They were missing something,” he added.
As they left the home, Paramore and his partner, Barry Ward, were already on the same page. They devised a plan to surprise the family with a Christmas tree and ornaments to decorate it. So, they headed to the Home Depot and started throwing items in their cart.
The officers then activated their body cameras and delivered the Christmas surprise to the struggling family.
The look of pure joy on one of the children’s face, a 7-year-old girl, was more than worth the effort.
“I told my wife, ‘This is going to inspire people.’ It’s going to inspire people to go out and help other families. That’s the big thing with me, I just want to pass something on and keep it going,” Paramore said.
CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Wait until you see what these cops did [1:21]
All of a week ago, I told my fermenty friends that kombucha sounded horrible, which just goes to show you shouldn’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it!
I can’t believe fermented tea (even worse, it’s sometimes called “mushroom tea” EWWWWWW) could be SO SCRUMPDILLYICIOUS!! It’s amazing (and it is NOT made with mushrooms).
There’s no tea flavor and the natural fizz is fun on the tongue. Natural fizz is like champagne … tiny bubbles, not the fat ones that artificial carbonation produces. “Booch” not only tasted great to me, but my grumpy gut started to feel better. It has a long ways to go before it’s healthy, but I slept better last night so YAHOO!
Then, weirdness of all weirdnesses, this morning when I went to make my first cup of coffee, it smelled HORRIBLE to me.
Usually, nothing smells as wonderful as that first morning waft of coffee aroma coming out of the can. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t have my cuppa first thing, but I was probably vomiting or feverish or something. Anyway, I opted for a delicious breakfast of goat kefir, apple smash and toast. Then, I brought a small glass of booch to my desk. I’m curious to see if I get a caffeine withdrawal headache and/or develop a craving for coffee later on in the day.
D and I have made up two batches of fermenting vegetables and are eager to taste them next week. I have ordered materials to start brewing kombucha too. At $3.50 a bottle, it’s cheaper (and healthier) than Starbucks, has fewer calories (and is healthier) than soda pop, but home brew will cost pennies, so yeah, I’m going to become one of “those” people.
I’m buying my supplies @ http://www.culturedfoodlife.com/. Donna’s “Trilogy” DVD is well worth the price. It’s a good introduction to the hows and whys of fermented kefir, kombucha and vegetables. She knows a lot and is very enthusiastic and easy to listen to, but most importantly for me was that she shows from her own kitchen how EASY these foods are to prepare on a regular basis.
I’m so excited to learn about how easy, delicious and HEALTHFUL these foods are! I received my first order for airlocks, lids for the airlocks and solid lids for after fermenting is complete. They fit my canning jars. Ferments oxidize the metal lids that come with the jars, so the plastic is kind of a must have and the foods don’t touch the plastic, so that’s okay too.
The airlock gadget isn’t absolutely necessary. Fermenting creates CO2. You have to relieve the pressure by either opening the lid briefly each day (“burping”) or use an airlock that allows the gas to vent as it is formed. Besides me being an airhead who could easily forget to burp the jar, the airlock prevents mold growth on the surface of the fermenting food.
The mold is harmless and can be scraped off, but ick. The airlock not only eliminates the daily burping that can allow mold spores to contaminate the food, but also inhibits any growth of mold spores that might have snuck in when the jar was filled. When you open the lid, room air goes into the headroom space; with the airlock, the headroom space fills with CO2, which is most inhospitable to mold. It’s that sweet?!
I chose pickled garlic for my first ferment, because we both love garlic. I figured it was the most likely thing we would both like even after it’s been pickled. The recipe claimed the fermenting retained the goodies in the garlic that cooking destroys while softening the flavors so it’s not objectionable to eat raw. That sounded good … maybe it’ll be good as a salad garnish or something. (The raw, chopped garlic was stinky, but the stuff we put into that jar smelled WONDERFUL!)
Mostly, I just wanted to (A) try fermenting and (B) end up with a jar of chopped garlic in the fridge so I would stop grabbing the powdered cuz I’m too lazy to peel and chop messy, smelly garlic when I’m cooking! And speaking of messy and smelly … that was us yesterday afternoon. It was fun working side-by-side in the kitchen though. We even talked about something besides politics. 😉 In seven days, the pickled garlic will be ready to eat; I will swap the airlock lid for a solid lid, put the garlic into the fridge and use the airlock to start fermenting something else. The fermented garlic is supposed to stay good for 9 months or more!
We tried this with mixed results: How To Peel a Head of Garlic in Less Than 10 Seconds
It kinda, sorta worked, but not really. Our garlic heads were so TIGHT, we had to crowbar the cloves apart. Removing the paper-on-paper skins is a cinch; it crumbles apart. It’s that last, inner layer of papery skin that wants to stay stuck to the edible part of the clove until death do us part. This was where we found the rattling worked brilliantly. It didn’t remove the inner skins on every single clove, but it did loosen them all so that when we went to slice off the little stem ends, all the remaining skins politely slipped right off.
Kitchen Tip: No matter how much your back and feet hurt, do NOT take a big breath and SIGH in the vicinity of loose clove paper. You’re welcome.
This is an excellent site for learning about fermenting. I bought my supplies here.
Jesus already did that.We are called to save the little piece of the world that He assigns to us.
The following meditation on James 2:17 — “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” — is by Dave Branon at Our Daily Bread.
The administrators of thehigh school in Barrow, Alaska, were tired of seeing students get into trouble and drop out at a rate of 50 percent. To keep students interested, they started a football team, which offered them a chance to develop personal skills, teamwork, and learn life lessons. The problem with football in Barrow, which is farther north than Iceland, is that it’s hard to plant a grass field. So they competed on a gravel and dirt field.
Four thousand miles away in Florida, a woman namedCathy Parkerheard about the football team and their dangerous field. Feeling that God was prompting her to help, and impressed by the positive changes she saw in the students, she went to work. About a year later, they dedicated their new field, complete with a beautiful artificial-turf playing surface. She had raised thousands of dollars to help some kids she didn’t even know.
This is not about football—or money. It is about remembering “to do good and to share” (Heb. 13:16). The apostle James reminds us that we demonstrate our faith by our actions (2:18). The needs in our world are varied and overwhelming but when we love our neighbor as ourselves, as Jesus said (Mark 12:31), we reach people with God’s love.
Cathy Parker heard God calling her to “grow” artificial turf on a field thousands of miles from her home. These two young men felt called to help the homeless in their own Australian community have something their mums provide for them for free … clean clothes.
Free Australian Mobile Laundry Service for the Homeless[4:42]
And kids? Please understand that parents who CARE scream at their kids like this dad did because they CARE. If this guy were a bad dad, he’d have laughed and taken photos. Also, his “give me the shirt” was typical manic parent behavior. I got a call from the ski club director while my kid was still supposed to be on the slopes. My first words were something inane like, “Are you all having fun?” I knew in my heart that this call was NOT going to be good news, but I couldn’t quite face it, you know? Fortunately, Mama Buzz had only sprained, not broken her arm, so that part did turn out good.
Some of the PoliNation staff have been talking about changing up a bit of the sidebar art, perhaps as a way to man-up the blog somewhat, since we are a mixed crowd, after all. I haven’t discussed this book room photo with anyone yet; I’m just putting it up for discussion. However, if it turns out that the regulars like it, I will also offer to photoshop someone of your choice in the empty green chair. It occurred to me that it might be fun to have Ronald Reagan or Mark Twain or Claire Boothe Luce sitting in the chair, reading. I have no preference, but anyone who suggests the winning figure (voted on by all) stands to win the grand prize, which I will provide. Probably some kind of booze, like a six-pack of Bluebird Bitter or Pig’s Grunt Ale, but possibly something Chrissy fermented. Who knows?
