~~~ 

Weekend Brunch Eggbake

Spray inside bottom and sides of an 11×7 glass baking dish with cooking oil spray.

Put in 1 and 1/2 cups salad croutons or toasted breadcubes.
Add 1 can of cut asparagus spears, drained.
Add 1 and 1/2 cups shredded monterey jack or colby-jack cheese.
In a medium size bowl, beat 6 eggs.
Add 1 and 1/2 cups milk to the beaten eggs.
Whisk together eggs and milk.
Pour egg mixture over the croutons, asparagus and cheese. 
Slice 3-4 roma tomatoes and arrange slices in a layer on top of egg mixture.

Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes, or until eggbake is puffed up and golden brown on top.
Serves 6 fairly hungry people.
Serves 4 fairly hungry people if 2 of them are teenaged boys. 

~~~

 

Posted: October 15th, 2007 under Chez Tild, General, the Tild Test Kitchen.
Comments: 5

The largest lizards in the world are capable of “virgin births”.
Scientists report of two cases where female Komodo dragons have produced offspring without male contact.
Tests revealed their eggs had developed without being fertilised by sperm - a process called parthenogenesis, the team wrote in the journal Nature.
One of the reptiles, Flora, a resident of Chester Zoo in the UK, is awaiting her clutch of eight eggs to hatch, with a due-date estimated around Christmas.

Kevin Buley, a curator at Chester Zoo and a co-author on the paper, said: “Flora laid her eggs at the end of May and, given the incubation period of between seven and nine months, it is possible they could hatch around Christmas - which for a ‘virgin birth’ would finish the story off nicely.

“We will be on the look-out for shepherds, wise men and an unusually bright star in the sky over Chester Zoo.”

[Read the rest]

The only other thing I’d want to add to this post would be the video of Bert Parks in The Freshman, singing “There she is…Your komodo dragon…”

Damn, that would have been the perfect finish. YouTubers, start your engines!

~

Posted: December 22nd, 2006 under Christmas, General, General.
Comments: 2

And They Cook, Too

• A Blogger Cookbook Fundraiser for
  Doctors Without Borders
• Compiled and edited by Ginger Mayerson and Kathy Flake
• Illustrations by Carol Colin and Robin Riggs
• Cover Graphics by Tild~

 

From the introduction:

Last year on October 8 an earthquake, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, hit Kashmir, the northern part of Pakistan. Being a native Californian, I know that’s no small cheese. Unfortunately, by October 8, 2005, I was tapped out from Katrina giving and could not give to my favorite charity, Doctors Without Borders, also known as Les Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). There was no doubt in my mind that MSF would be on the spot, doctoring in Kashmir, then and even now, and around the world wherever they are needed, as usual.

And so, partly out of guilt, but mostly out of admiration, the plan for this cookbook fundraiser was born. Now, I don’t cook very much and my basic culinary philosophy is “Shake it out of the box and eat it.” However, I very much admire people who make an art of cooking and even make it look fun. I also read a lot of blogs, all kinds of blogs from all over the world: political, art, culture, whatever, and I noticed many of these bloggers posting recipes. Sometimes I’d print them out and put them in my very neatly organized, but seldom consulted three-ring Recipes binder. Every now and then I’d think how nice it would be to have all those online recipes in a book format… And an idea began to take shape..   

– Editor Ginger Mayerson

 

Back in February of this year I was honored to be asked by Ginger Mayerson to contribute to this great project.  I did the front and back cover graphics for this terrific collection of progressive bloggers’ recipes and essays which went on sale in late March.  

By early July, sales of And They Cook, Too had generated nearly $400 in donations to Doctors Without Borders. 

See the Table of Contents and more…

…including the list of bloggers who contributed recipes and/or their time and effort in assembling this project.

As you will see, there are some pretty big names on the list:

Body and Soul, Majikthise, Mad Kane, The News Blog/Steve Gilliard, Sadly, No!, Dohiyi Mir, Elayne Riggs, Agitprop, Pam’s House Blend, and the list goes on…

Makes a perfect Christmas gift for the progressive people on your list.  Why not treat yourself and also buy a copy for your very own? 

Please support the worthwhile cause of Doctors Without Borders by buying a copy of “And They Cook, Too” today.

Thank you and Merry Christmas!

And They Cook, Too

• A Blogger Cookbook Fundraiser for
  Doctors Without Borders
• Compiled and edited by Ginger Mayerson and Kathy Flake
• Illustrations by Carol Colin and Robin Riggs
• Cover Graphics by Tild~

~

Posted: December 18th, 2006 under A Blogger Cookbook Fundraiser, And They Cook, Doctors Without Borders, General, General, Gift Ideas.
Comments: none

Or:  How I spent my weekend

(burning my fingertips slaving over a hot krumkake iron and what thanks do I get, huh? Huh?)

No, I’ll never be Rachel Ray, grinning maniacally out at you from every box of Triscuits on every shelf at every grocery store in the universe

(not to mention haunting the Wege’s nightmares with her patented recipe for fast-acting saltpeter.) 

On the other hand, I’ll probably never inspire the volume of online idolatry and loathing that Our Little Miss Ray-Ray does

(altho I recently found out that I’m a goddess to the world’s few but devoted waterbuffalo fetishists, so that’s something.)

No, what I’m getting to is that I spent several hours of this past weekend making at least 8 dozen krumkake for the annual office Cookie Exchange.  Yep, I’m a regular trouper; a real team player. I’m just thankful it wasn’t a Lutefisk Exchange.   Tild don’t play dat. 

I invoke my namesake, my Swedish grandma Tild often enough in this blog, but you may not be aware that — me being the tragic product of a mixed marriage —  I also have a Norwegian grandma. Her name was Betsy Dallelie, and this krumkake recipe is hers.

Grandma Dallelie’s Krumkake

6 eggs, room temperature
1 C. sugar
1 C. melted butter
1 tsp. whipping cream
1 C. flour
1 tsp. (rounded) ground cardamom

Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl until frothy.  Add the (cooled) melted butter, whipping cream and sugar; mix well. 
Sift the cardamom together with the flour. Add 1/2 of the flour and cardamom mixture to the eggs and sugar mixture; stir in completely, then add the other  1/2 of the flour and cardamom;  mix well. 

Heat up your krumkake iron.  Lucky me — 20 years ago my inlaws gave me a  nonstick electric double krumkake iron like this one.  Even tho it’s nonstick, I still season the griddle surfaces with a little Canola oil cooking spray while the iron’s cold.       

Drop a generous teaspoonful of batter in the center of each krumkake design on the heated iron surface and close the iron lid; cook for about 10 seconds, then open the iron and using a fork slide each krumkake out onto a paper towel on the table next to the krumkake iron.  Let the krumkake cool for a few seconds, then roll into a 2″ diameter hollow tube shape (it will end up looking kinda like cannoli or manicotti). 
Don’t let the krumkake cool off too much or it will be too crisp to roll up.

Finally, I mix about 1/2 tsp cardamom into 1/2 C. powdered sugar and dust the tops of the finished krumkake.  

Makes at least 4 dozen, with plenty of  miscellaneous mistakes and discards left over for the in-house Taste Test Team, which in my case means two teenagers and one only slightly older spouse.  

There.  And I didn’t say “Yum” even once. 

~

     

  

 

Posted: December 11th, 2006 under General, General, the Tild Test Kitchen.
Comments: 6

WHAT:  The 27th Annual John Lennon Tribute featuring Curtiss A with a little help from his friends

WHEN: 7:00 PM, Friday December 8th, 2006

WHERE:  First Avenue, located at 701 First Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN 55403-1327.    General Information:   612-332-1775 or  info@first-avenue.com
 

 

This year I’ve got Friday the 8th off, so I’m heading downtown early to get to First Avenue well before 7PM, in hopes of staking out a spot on the main floor in front of the stage.

Wish me luck; by 7 the place will be jammed to the rafters.

Now in its 27th year, the annual Curtiss A  Lennon tribute show, as always on December 8th, seems to get more popular with each year that passes.  Rightly so, too, because for  people who cherish John Lennon’s memory and love his music it’s one of the most tremendous nights of Lennon celebration on the planet. 

Since the spouse works downtown now, he’s going to head over to First Avenue after work and join me in the midst of the ravening horde.  I predict that the number of under-40s in the crowd will be countable on no more than two hands, and may very well be outnumbered by the walker-equipped geriatrics. I can’t remember ever feeling more at home and more comfortable at First Avenue or 7th Street Entry.  At the Curtiss A Lennon show, being 54 years old means being on the young side of the demo.

…Well, in the middle of the demo, anyway.  :)    

 

Roll up for the mystery tour:

Yes, my droogies.  Many years and many pounds ago,  back in the day when I had permed hair and a discernible waistline, we spent a week in Blighty.  

Armed only with unlimited- use- for- 7- days Explorer Passes for the London underground, and unlimited- use- for- 7- days Brit Rail passes for the rest of England, we raced around the country like maniacs, going up to Salisbury to see Stonehenge one day and down to the seaside at Brighton the next.   Of course we went to every Beatles-affiliated location in London that we could find, such as Abbey Road (Duh. And yes, we do have pictures of ourselves walking across the famous crosswalk.)

 

My favorite part of the trip was the day we made the pilgrimage to Liverpool and spent the day 

being driven all over town by an enterprising Liverpudlian who parked his  Studebaker station wagon in front of the local Beatles museum, down the block from the original Cavern Club, and offered a four-hours-long Beatles Tour of Liverpool.  We said Oh Boy, Yeah! and jumped right in, along with a couple from Switzerland who didn’t speak any English other than Beatles lyrics, which they sang instead of speaking.  We sang too.  One of the first stops was (see above) the house where John Lennon lived with his Aunt Mimi.  

All during the tour I kept thinking about what our tour guide’s  life must be like:  every day driving around town from morning til night with his car full of delirious yokels from a hundred different countries, all singing PENNY LANE IS IN MY EARS AND IN MY EYES! HERE BENEATH THE BLUE SUBURBAN SKIES! at the top of their lungs….

Speaking of which, this is the real Penny Lane:

 No sign of a fireman with an hourglass, (and in his pocket is a portrait of the queen), who likes to keep his fire engine clean, but as you can see there is a taxi with a “Flaming tasty!” Burger King ad on its side, which will have to do. 

 

And so, as the sun sinks slowly in the west, we bid adieu to grimy, overcast Liverpool with a picture of one of the last stops on the tour, Strawberry Field (as in “-s Forever”), one of John Lennon’s favorite places.  Please be assured, all evidence of the spouse’s  early-80s perm has been pixilated for your protection.    

We will be found at First Avenue on Friday night — not looking very much like those kids in the pictures, but yeah we will still be singing  LET ME TAKE YOU DOWN CUZ I’M GOING TO …. STRAWBERRY FIELDS at the top of our lungs.

~~~

 

 

Posted: December 6th, 2006 under Curt Almsted, General, General, John Lennon.
Comments: 4

I agree with all the picks Bob Cesca made for his new Shut The F*** Up list, but especially these:

1) Republican trolls who wrap up their anonymous and incomprehensible criticisms of progressives with the phrase, “and that’s why your party never wins,” need to shut the f*** up.

2) The cowards who so easily disregard our liberties by shrugging off the president’s illegal wiretapping; the cowards who shrug off the Military Commissions Act and the death of habeas corpus; and the cowards who shrug off torture with the phrases, “I’m not doing anything wrong, so I have nothing to worry about,” or, “You can’t [blank] if you’re dead,” ought to shut the f*** up.

[...]

7) Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and other homophobes who use the “San Francisco Liberal” label for Speaker-Elect Pelosi must… you know. We all understand that it’s right-wing code language meaning “homo-values.” If that’s what you mean, just say it. That is, unless you’re not man enough.

[...]

10) The devilish wordsmiths who think it’s strategic and clever to refer to the Democratic Party as the “Democrat Party” need to stop it. Shut the f*** up. The official name of the party is the Democratic Party, with the “ic” at the end. Yeah, I know. Newt Gingrich and Frank Luntz invented the idea of saying “Democrat Party” or “the Democrat leadership” or “the Democrat voters” in order to emphasize the “rat” syllable, leaving a rat-like subliminal hint in the minds of listeners. President Bush, in his so-called “conciliatory” press conference Wednesday, used this incorrect pronunciation several times.

Read the whole thing here.

Add James Carville to the list too. Will someone please tell me again: why does Carville still have a job with the Democratic party?

~~~

Posted: November 11th, 2006 under General, General.
Comments: 1

And now for something completely different:  While we’re still in the aprés election afterglow, let’s veer off the path a while and reflect on the fact that it was 31 years ago today that the gales of November claimed the oreboat Edmund Fitzgerald and all 29 souls aboard. 

In my house, we will commemorate the event today the same way we do every November 10th:  with an informal, all-day singing/ humming/ whistling of (what else) Gordon Lightfoot’s song “the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”. I’ll bet we’re not the only ones who do this.  Can anybody think of a more memorable, more spine-chilling tune?

It’s still hard to believe that only 31 years have gone by since that fateful night on Lake Superior. I remember reading about it in the Strib a day or two later.  Then, years before the experts could finally piece together the true story of what happened to the Fitz that night, a song turned the event into legend.

Today it feels like the story of this shipwreck has been passed down to us out of the misty past by generations of our ancestors. A testament to the myth-making power of a song.

“In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
in the maritime sailors’ cathedral
the church bell chimed ’til it rang 29 times
for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald”

Here’s a dandy site which has a line by line reading of Gordon Lightfoot’s lyrics interwoven with the true story of the wreck of the Fitz.

One of my favorite songs of all time. Pretty damn spooky, and it tends to stay in your mind for days on end. I know I’ll be humming it from now on into next week.

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

by Gordon Lightfoot

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy.

With a load of iron ore - 26,000 tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early

The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconson
As the big freighters go it was bigger than most
With a crew and the Captain well seasoned.

Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ships bell rang
Could it be the North Wind they’d been feeling.

The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the Captain did, too,
T’was the witch of November come stealing.

The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashing
When afternoon came it was freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane West Wind

When supper time came the old cook came on deck
Saying fellows it’s too rough to feed ya
At 7PM a main hatchway caved in
He said fellas it’s been good to know ya.

The Captain wired in he had water coming in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the words turn the minutes to hours
The searchers all say they’d have made Whitefish Bay
If they’d fifteen more miles behind her.

They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the ruins of her ice water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man’s dreams,
The islands and bays are for sportsmen.

And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered.

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors’ Cathedral
The church bell chimed, ’til it rang 29 times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early.

© 1976 Moose Music, Inc.

Posted: November 10th, 2006 under General, General.
Comments: 2

….Midterms,
and all through the state,
the GOP phone banks
were all working late

The robots were making
repetitive callz
To irritate folks and then
blame it on Walz

….

Well, that’s it. I’m exhausted. Maybe I can come up with a few more stanzas tomorrow, but for now that’s all I got.

Regular readers may have noticed a lack of posting here for a few days. I’ve been taking some time off… 6 days in a row; it’ll be the longest continuous time away from my job I’ve had all year. So far I’ve been frittering away my time staying up til 3am watching crappy old movies and studying Paint Shop Pro tutorials, and then sleeping til after 11am. Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

It’s been really really relaxing, actually. Today I finally did something productive for the first time since Friday: I brought my horrible 9 year old Ford Exploder to the local Quickylube and got a couple hundred bucks of scheduled maintenance and winterizing done, then met a VOF (Very Old Friend) in Uptown for lunch at the Lotus and a cup of pistachio gelato and an afternoon of bookstore crawling and pissing and moaning about our endlessly tedious twilight years. Heaven, I tell ya.

But that’s all over now. Enough of this mindless hedonism. For me tonight, the schedule is: off to bed at 10, with the alarm set for 4:45 am. I’ll be at my polling place well before 7, just in case there’s a line. (There will be; there always is.)

Then I’ll toss into the back of the ‘Sploder 6 bags of power bagels and 10# of honey crisp apples that I’m donating for the care and feeding of my fellow GOTV door-knockers, and I’ll be off to the Hopkins DFL office for an Election Day spent roaming the highways and byways of the 3rd CD.

There’s still time to hook up with your favorite campaign and help make a difference tomorrow. Go here for a listing of the metro Democratic Party campaign offices and volunteer opportunities.

See you on the street tomorrow.

Never give up; never surrender!

Posted: November 6th, 2006 under General, General.
Comments: none

Yes, I know I’m one of those wet blankets who’s lately gotten fed up with reading about the upcoming election. So sue me, I’m breaking my moratorium. Over at MinnMon today Joe Bodell takes a closer look at Minnesota’s 3rd Congressional District. Being a resident of the 3rd, and after working the phone banks a few times this month I can confirm Joe’s analysis of what’s happening there:

Minnesota’s Third District is a battleground on many levels. Although the congressional race between 15-year incumbent Jim Ramstad and his DFL challenger Wendy Wilde is not considered competitive by many outside observers, the DFL does have reason to be optimistic in this district. A deep bench of candidates at the local level devoted to people-powered campaigns and challenging the status quo means a long-term commitment to progressive campaigns and candidates, and a huge shift toward the Democratic Party in 2004 in formerly-blood-red places like Edina presents a tremendous opportunity to build a permanent majority at the state level. Many in DFL circles believe a Democratic wave is building at the local level, and if victory does not come this year, it is only a matter of time.

I’ve spent some evenings calling registered voters in the 3rd who are still showing up on the ‘Undecided’ lists.
–And no, this is not push polling or anything of that ilk. The idea is to keep the calls quick and simple. When you’re calling between 5 and 9 pm do you think anyone is thrilled about talking to you? You do? OK, then take a quick look out the window and tell me how many suns you see and what color the sky is on your planet. Ooooooh. Yes, green and purple does sound delightful!

So anyway, when someone picked up I’d introduce myself as a volunteer with the DFL Coordinated Campaigns, and just ask the person if they know yet who they’re planning to vote for in the upcoming election. I’d start with: “Who do you think you’ll vote for in the US Senate race, Amy Klobuchar or Mark Kennedy?”

Sorry, that’s all I’d name — remember what I said about quick and simple? Many people will hang up as soon as they hear it’s a campaign call. Every second counts.

If I got an answer I’d ask about the Governor’s race: Mike Hatch or Tim Pawlenty? and if they answered that one, I’d then ask about the 3rd CD and if they still gave an answer and weren’t making noises like ‘How long is this gonna take? I don’t have time for this!” then I’d go on to ask about the races for the state House and Senate.

The quick summary: of the people I spoke to in the 3rd who gave an answer about the US Senate race, at least 90% said they’re planning to vote for Amy Klobuchar.

Most of them answered simply “Amy”. (Hey, we don’t need no steenkin’ last names!) And also there was something about the way they said “Amy”. They said “Amy” in the same way that you’d answer your idiot brother when he asks for the zillionth time what’s the capital of Idaho? “Boise. Duh!”

Amy. Duh!

I got the most responses on the US Senate race as that was the question we’d start with and after that people would start losing interest and refuse to answer any more, but still I’d have to say that the people who did hang on to give us their picks on the other races named Democrats surprisingly often — especially in the local contests.

As for me, I’m done with the phone banks. Now it’s GOTV time. As in the past two elections I’ll be spending election day walking through various 3rd district neighborhoods knocking on doors and helping folks get to the polls if they have no other way of getting there. This is hands-down my favorite campaign activity. It’s exhausting and sometimes maddening, but also gives a huge jolt of exhilaration and empowerment and the feeling that you’re really making a difference. If you’re still looking around for something to do to help your candidates in this election, call your local campaign office and volunteer for election day activities.

GOTV. Duh!

UPDATE:

It’s now less than a week away. Wanna help GOTV next Tuesday? Here’s a link to the DFL GOTV signup page.
If you need some inspiration to get you motivated, try Georgia10’s little peptalk Democrats Do It Better.

Now go see what you can do!

Posted: October 30th, 2006 under General, General.
Comments: none

Via Salon:

Bill O’Reilly appears on “The Late Show with David Letterman” tonight, but Page Six has already seen the tape and reports the goods. After calling the Fox pundit a “bonehead,” Letterman ventures a question on the war:

Letterman: Let me ask you a question — was there more heinous, more dangerous violence taking place before in Iraq, or is there more heinous, dangerous violence taking place now in Iraq?

O’Reilly: Oh, stop it. Saddam Hussein slaughtered 300,000 to 400,000 people, all right, so knock it off… It isn’t so black and white, Dave — it isn’t, ‘We’re a bad country. Bush is an evil liar.’ That’s not true.

Letterman: I didn’t say he was an evil liar. You’re putting words in my mouth, just the way you put artificial facts in your head!

Letterman later admits he hasn’t read O’Reilly’s book, “Culture Wars” — “I looked at it. I said, ‘What is it, a book on sailing?’ ” — and ends the interview by looking at his watch: “Oh, gosh, where has the time gone? I have no idea what I’m talking about — but I don’t think you do, either.”

(Page Six)

This oughta be good for some big laughs. Simonize your watches, kids!

{Flounder} Oh boy, is this great! {/Flounder}

Posted: October 27th, 2006 under Buffoons, General, General.
Comments: none