Grace

Hi everyone! I'm new here and thought I should share this Summer recipe to say hello!

Some of you might recognize it from the latest issue of the LCBO Food & Drink magazine.



CHUNKY CUCUMBER, WATERMELON & FETA SALAD


1/2 English cucumber
1 seedless watermelon wedge, 10 to 12 cm (4 to 5 inches) wide
1 TBSP (15ml) red wine vinegar
1 small clove of garlic
3 TBSP (45ml) olive oil
1/4 tsp (1ml) each salt and pepper
1/4 cup (50ml) shredded mint leaves
1/3 cup (75ml) crumbled feta cheese (optional)

STEP 1

There is no need to seed or peel the cucumber. Slice cucumber lenghwise then again lengthwise. Finally cut crosswise into chunks, about 2.5cm (1 inch) in size. Cut watermelon into the same size chunks as cucumber. Place both in a large bowl and toss.

STEP 2

Whisk vinegar with garlic, oil, salt and pepper. Drizzle over watermelon mixture and stir. Add mint and feta and gently toss. Tumble onto a platter and serve at room temperature.

Enjoy!

http://www.asofterworld.com/index.php?id=460

Here is today's comic! And when you are done with that (and we hope you like it!) then here is an amazing story about daredevil dinosaurs who visit earth from mars, which is where they live since they escaped earth. I love this story.


"Why would a dinosaur need a gun?" asked the shop owner.

"Self-defense."

The owner's gaze dropped to the three-inch claw that had chipped his display case.

"These are killing claws," said the dinosaur, whose name was Tark. "For sheep, or cows. I merely want to disable an attacker with a precision shot to the leg or other uh, limbal region."

"Uh-huh," the owner said. "Or maybe you figure humans shoot each other all the time, but if someone turns up ripped in half the cops are gonna start lookin' for dinosaurs."

Tark carefully pounded the counter. "There used to be a time," he said, "when gun dealers would actually sell people guns! A time . . . called America. I miss that time."</a>

I'm getting really annoyed with my new glasses. They seem to let me see better, mostly, kinda, sorta, but I'm getting a lot of headaches and eyestrain using the computer.

I'm starting to wonder if I need a different scrip for computer use.

I really don't want to have to make another appointment to see the eye doc, though - I'm not sure my insurance will cover yet another visit. But it's ridiculous how much my eyes and head hurt, and how I have to keep leaning in to see the screen. This scrip is supposed to be right! So why can't I read a screen properly? We've made every physical adjustment it's possible to make, and they are okay, if not brilliant, for non-screen use...

I wish I could afford another pair, that I could perhaps just get an even STRONGER set of lenses in. Is it possible to over-correct?

The website is back up, finally!

http://www.asofterworld.com

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Fluxblog/~3/-gMRrEJ-TCo/the-pains-of-daily-life

http://www.fluxblog.org/?p=2613

Julian Plenti “Only If You Run”

1. “Julian Plenti” is Paul Banks, the main dude from Interpol, which is the quickest explanation as to why this sounds so much like Interpol.

2. At the same time, it doesn’t sound quite like Interpol. There is a wider range of sounds on this song, and even more so on the album, and it lacks the sterile formality of that band’s incredibly disappointing third LP.

3. It is difficult to listen to these Julian Plenti songs without getting the impression that the democratic collaboration of Banks’ regular band was holding him back. He might still enjoy working with those guys, but obviously he had some ideas that didn’t mesh with those players for whatever reason.

4. However, the thing is, nothing on this album would surprise you if it was actually credited to Interpol. It’s just more relaxed, and the arrangements are often more colorful and varied in texture. Banks can’t help but to sound exactly like himself — his melodic and lyrical style has become too recognizable, and his voice is too particular to pass for anything else.

5. Banks is very good at conveying a sort of blank sympathy with his voice, and that really comes through in “Only If You Run.” There’s a lot of goodwill in this song, but it is oddly muted. Nevertheless, the feeling rings very true.

6. I smile a bit every time I hear Banks sing that he has “tasted degradation.” This is mostly because I find it very easy to imagine this guy indulging in BDSM, but it’s also because I think of this song by Nine Inch Nails, and picture him with a fancy goblet of degradation at Trent Reznor’s Fountain of Decay.

Pre-order it from Amazon.

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1574

Last month, it was Barack Obama whose (allegedly) imperial ego was said to be signaled by (fictitious) overuse of first-person singular pronouns. (Follow the link for discussion of columns on the topic by Terence Jeffrey, George F. Will, Stanley Fish, and Mary Kate Cary.) A few days ago, Peggy Noonan's devastating attack on Sarah Palin ("A Farewell to Harms", WSJ, 7/11/2009) presented a similar argument:

She wasn't thoughtful enough to know she wasn't thoughtful enough. Her presentation up to the end has been scattered, illogical, manipulative and self-referential to the point of self-reverence. "I'm not wired that way," "I'm not a quitter," "I'm standing up for our values." I'm, I'm, I'm.

This characterization of Gov. Palin as excessively self-oriented is hardly new, as you can discover by searching the web for {Palin diva}. But is her rate of reference to self, at least as crudely quantified by the count of first-person pronouns, evidence of excessive ego-involvement, compared to politicians of the past?

I'd say that the evidence is at best equivocal. Since last month's flurry of pronominal punditry left me with a handy little script for counting things, I compared Gov. Palin's July 3 resignation speech against three somewhat-similar speeches –

• Richard Nixon's 1962 concession in the California governor's context (the famous "You won't have Nixon to kick around any more") speech;
• the 1968 speech in which Lyndon Johnson announced that he wouldn't run again;
• Richard Nixon's 1974 resignation speech.

I looked at two crude measures of ego-involvement: the rate of first-person-singular pronouns, where a higher rate suggests more ego-involvement; and the ratio of first-person-plural pronouns to first-person-singular pronouns, where a higher ratio suggests less ego-involvement.

Speech	Total words	1st sing. forms	Percent 1st sing.	1st plur. forms	Plur/Sing ratio
RN 1962 Concession	2480	152	6.1%	26	0.17
LBJ 1968 Won't Run	4129	83	2.0%	114	1.37
RN Resignation 1974	1806	83	4.6%	40	0.48
Palin 2009 Won't Run	3100	124	4.0%	101	0.81

By these measures, Palin is more ego-involved than LBJ, but less than Nixon.

We expect prepared speeches to have a lower rate of first-singular pronouns than extemporaneous speeches — but Nixon's 1974 resignation still weighs in at 4.6%. As discussed here, George H.W. Bush's first press conference exhibited a rate of 5.5%, and George W. Bush's first two press conferences came in at 4.5%. So the rate of 4.0% in Sarah Palin's press conference is actually rather low, given that the topic was in fact her own status and plans.

For a speech that's epically "scattered, illogical, manipulative and self-referential to the point of self-reverence", you should take a look at Richard Nixon's 1962 concession speech. I couldn't find a transcript on the net, so I bought the .pdf from the NYT's archive, and transcribed it into html form here. An .mp3 of the audio — apparently minus a bit at the beginning — is here. [Update: Ben Zimmer, whose Google Fu is strong, points out another html copy here, apparently also derived from the NYT transcript.]

Note he says in several ways that he's not complaining about the press, while complaining about the press — these days, politicians generally omit the protestations and get right to the complaints. And I found it interesting that it was so important to him to insist that he never attacked his opponent's patriotism or "heart" or other "personal considerations".

(If you listen to the audio while reading the transcript, you'll see the usual editing of disfluencies, but also some puzzling larger divergences, which I'll analyze and comment on in a later post. I also invite you to observe that the Richard Nixon of 1962 was a frequent uptalker — again, I'll discuss this in more detail later.)

Hi-
I am going to an outdoor concert this weekend and we are bringing dinner to eat there. I volunteered to make a tomato, mozzerella, basil salad.
I was wondering if anyone had good recipies? Also, I would like one that can travel easily. I will have a cooler in the car, but it will be made about 12 hours before it is eaten, so it has to be able to sit in the fridge/cooler for a while with out getting bad.

Thanks!

I may have to have my therapists check my knee today. The area around my main incision is angry and red and even a little bumpy. Very inflamed and rash-like. Allergic reaction to what's left of the adhesive? Infection? I have no idea.

*frets*

Hello, sorry if this a silly question, but what is the best way for me to defrost a small piece of beef which i want to use in a stew tomorrow.
Should I leave it on a plate in the fridge overnight?
Defrost it in the microwave?
Help? I know it might be a very basic question, but I'm a novice cook & want to get it right.

Thank you. :)

How long do beans and chickpeas take to cook in a simmering/casserole/soup sort of dish. its simmering now and I was wondering how long until they are actually done. I have half an hour set on the timer so far.

cheers for any help

http://music.for-robots.com/archives/002579.html

Blue Roses - I Am Leaving. I've been doing a lot of walking around and listening to music. This is partially out of boredom; I didn't start my new job in Boston until today, and last week was extremely boring. (I know, I know, but I'm not complaining. Boredom is underrated and underappreciated.) I was walking around Newton listening to the Pains of Being Pure at Heart last week, and I realized that it's a very good pastime. You get exercise, you get to listen to music, you get out and about in the world. Am I 70 years...

Although not a mixed cd, a friend of mine made this and oh my! it makes me such a happy person! So I thought I'd share.


db- The Challenger's

I discovered a Penzeys spice shop in town the other day and had heard of it from this community, so I decided to drop in. Needless to say, the employees were super nice, and the selection was incredible (and really not that expensive at all).

Anyway, I could've bought the whole store out, but decided to just go with a small bottle of cinnamon. And what better to do with cinnamon than homemade cinnamon rolls?

I figured I'd use their recipe. It calls for flour--what kind of flour should I use? I have all-purpose flour, cake flour, and bread flour.

Also, I have a big thing of bread that I'm never going to finish. This spells bread pudding. Anyone have a good recipe?

Thanks! :-)

( Cinnamon roll recipe under the cut )

Thrifting is part of my daily routine, so my home is pretty much filled with thrifted items. Here are a few of my most recent finds.


Found at an Arc thrift store in Colorado paid $14 for it, but I couldn't leave it there...

( Image heavy post )

What to do with a lot of them? I am planning on freezing some for sauces later, or lasagna. But I was thinking of making Tomato soup, but there are SO many recipes out there! What is everyones favorite?? I really like creamy soups. These are just regular medium sized tomatoes, probably have about 18 of them.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks! I love you guys!!

hi ppl!

do you have any creative ideas on what can one put in a sushi roll? i usually make it with confiu (or god know how u spell it) avocado, tuna or slamon and tamago. ah and chives. but may be there r other things that will go great with tuna or slamon,,,
see, i'm in need of a special eve since things didnt go so well lately so i really need something good (talk about emotional eating :P ) So, any advice is welcome!

My brother is a newly single father. He also happens to be a vegetarian :)

As a gift, I'd like to compile a cookbook for him with recipes that are easy for a single-working parent and, hopefully, some that are kid-friendly as well. He's got a pretty well-appointed kitchen although I don't believe that he has a crock pot at the moment, I can always rectify that.

Comfort food recipes are especially appreciated :D Thanks!

(My brother is lacto-ovo and the kiddo is 2 years old. No allergies or other restrictions.)

P.S. I asked about comfort food recipes to prepare for him when he visiting about a month ago and, thanks to everyone's advice, I ended up going with Vegetarian Korma and Roasted Vegetable Lasagna. But were delicious!

I was upset after visiting my local library and having a bird commit suicide into my windshield (cracking it terribly) so my hubby took me thrifting about a week and a half ago--some of this is from then, and some earlier:

( Books, some dishes and random other stuff... )

I found some good stuff!!! ^_^