Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Oh yum!

Another scrumptious treat gleaned from the NPR archives, this time from The Splendid Table: Panna Cotta. It's like soft homemade vanilla ice cream with a little bit of sour cream tartness, but it's chilled, not frozen (sweetened and flavored cream thickened with a little gelatin). It's easy to make and wonderful. I'll be spending the next 17 hours dreaming about how amazing it is going to be scooped on top of homemade pie... swoon.

Can you tell I love putting together the Thanksgiving feast?

IBWO Index

Since there's been some renewed interest in them, here are the links to the major Ivorybill stuff I posted earlier this year:

Luneau video discussion
State-by-State survey of potential Ivorybill habitat

Please post any comments to the original postings, rather than here. Thanks!

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Thanksgiving Chutney

OK, everyone who listens to NPR regularly has heard way too much about Mama Stamberg's cranberry relish. But at the bottom of this page is a different recipe for a magnificent garlic-ginger-cranberry chutney that is one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted. I made it last year as an experiment and there was not nearly enough of it. I'm making a double batch this year.

Robert Altman, 1925-2006

Inimitable:

http://imdb.com/name/nm0000265/

I think we'll watch Gosford Park tonight.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Home with the Armadillos...

One of the things that surprised me the most about moving here was to discover that I had armadillos living on the property. Last I had lived in the south, those critters didn't occur anywhere near this far north, at least east of the Mississippi. The county extension agent told me that they have been spreading north with the fire ants, following along a couple of years after the ants are established in a county. Interesting phenomenon, a native predator expanding its range in response to an invasive alien prey item. Last month on the trip to Pace Point, we saw a roadkill armadillo just about 6 or 7 miles south of the Kentucky line; I wonder if they've made it north of that border yet?

So this makes me wonder, now that there are armadillos in Tennessee too, does this mean that GOOD country music will start coming out of Nashville now also, instead of the pop-dreck-suburban swill they are pushing now?

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Ding, dong...

The witch is dead!

OK, she's just slapped around, and will be really pissed off once the shock wears off. But the evil Rumsfeld-Bush-Petroleum Junta has at least been given a setback in its plans for world domination.

Now about Virginia... the media seem to be especially timid, as though they are terrified to actually proclaim that the Democrats will now control the House AND the Senate. But look at that VA senate race. 8,000 votes or so separating the candidates, and only about 1000 uncounted ballots noted in the county tallies. Sure, recount, absentee, provisionals, etc. But these generally don't affect the size of the vote differential by as much as 8,000. Come on, CNN, NPR, all the rest of you, admit it! The new Senate will break out 51D vs 49R, and you know it!

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