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Nov. 5th, 2004 11:53 amThe cooking has begun.
It's a friend's birthday today. The party is tomorrow, and he requested cassoulet.
This is the third different cassoulet recipe that I've used over the six years that I've now been making it. My local library didn't have a copy of the cookbook that I usually use, so I went through several and found that The New Basics cookbook has a recipe that tastes right on my mental palate.
Having said that, just under two hours into the recipe (the total cooking times are about 12 hours, but some of it will be done tomorrow just before serving), I've already made some changes. The beans have had just a hint of allspice added to their solo cooking.
When that cooking is done in about five minutes, the beans will be left to cool in the liquid. That hint of spice will seep throughout and add something. I've also put thyme on the lamb bones that are cooking in the oven, and a bay leaf in with the pork rind.
Cooking usually makes me feel better. Maybe tomorrow when I see my friends eating, I'll feel my usual joy at cooking.
The duck and the lamb just came out. The beans are in their cooling phase. The pork rind will enter its cooling phase soon, and then I get to fry up the pork, lamb, giblets, and onions. The salt pork goes in too, and the first baking will take place. The sausage and duck meat get added tomorrow before the second baking.
Later this afternoon, I'll cook up a carbonnade flammande. Even the porter that's going into it is locally grown. Just to prove that I always listen to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
siderea. Actually, I'd bought the ingredients before I read her LJ, but the advice she gives is the best advice a cook can follow -- that it's also a political statement of sorts is just icing on the cake. And some of the artisanal cheeses from Vermont are heavenly.*g*
Two days later, and I still can't get over the fact that Kerry didn't get what he was supposed to do. He #$%*^%$!@ conceded. It proves that neither side understands the poor. I doubt that there will be a turnout this high again in our lifetimes, because the candidate gave into pressure and conceded.
This has nothing to do with whether or not he could have won. But so few people really understand statistics. To the people who don't, it looks like he gave in. For those of us that thought the message of 2000 was that every vote should be counted -- and be seen to be counted -- it was the worst possible betrayal. The Democrats don't even understand what they've done. But their traditional constituents do.
Anyone who wants to talk me out of trying to immigrate has two months to do it before I put in the preliminary paperwork. They then have 25 months while the paperwork is grinding inexorably. Not that any place seems to want this broken down carcass.
Worst mailing list timing? The helpful health hint that arrived today telling me that optimism will add years to my life and aid my immune system. Why do I always get these right after having been kicked in the teeth and kidneys by life?
It's a friend's birthday today. The party is tomorrow, and he requested cassoulet.
This is the third different cassoulet recipe that I've used over the six years that I've now been making it. My local library didn't have a copy of the cookbook that I usually use, so I went through several and found that The New Basics cookbook has a recipe that tastes right on my mental palate.
Having said that, just under two hours into the recipe (the total cooking times are about 12 hours, but some of it will be done tomorrow just before serving), I've already made some changes. The beans have had just a hint of allspice added to their solo cooking.
When that cooking is done in about five minutes, the beans will be left to cool in the liquid. That hint of spice will seep throughout and add something. I've also put thyme on the lamb bones that are cooking in the oven, and a bay leaf in with the pork rind.
Cooking usually makes me feel better. Maybe tomorrow when I see my friends eating, I'll feel my usual joy at cooking.
The duck and the lamb just came out. The beans are in their cooling phase. The pork rind will enter its cooling phase soon, and then I get to fry up the pork, lamb, giblets, and onions. The salt pork goes in too, and the first baking will take place. The sausage and duck meat get added tomorrow before the second baking.
Later this afternoon, I'll cook up a carbonnade flammande. Even the porter that's going into it is locally grown. Just to prove that I always listen to
siderea. Actually, I'd bought the ingredients before I read her LJ, but the advice she gives is the best advice a cook can follow -- that it's also a political statement of sorts is just icing on the cake. And some of the artisanal cheeses from Vermont are heavenly.*g*Two days later, and I still can't get over the fact that Kerry didn't get what he was supposed to do. He #$%*^%$!@ conceded. It proves that neither side understands the poor. I doubt that there will be a turnout this high again in our lifetimes, because the candidate gave into pressure and conceded.
This has nothing to do with whether or not he could have won. But so few people really understand statistics. To the people who don't, it looks like he gave in. For those of us that thought the message of 2000 was that every vote should be counted -- and be seen to be counted -- it was the worst possible betrayal. The Democrats don't even understand what they've done. But their traditional constituents do.
Anyone who wants to talk me out of trying to immigrate has two months to do it before I put in the preliminary paperwork. They then have 25 months while the paperwork is grinding inexorably. Not that any place seems to want this broken down carcass.
Worst mailing list timing? The helpful health hint that arrived today telling me that optimism will add years to my life and aid my immune system. Why do I always get these right after having been kicked in the teeth and kidneys by life?
