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Keyhole and Reciprocating Saws
Learn more about the keyhole saw, designed to cut holes in different materials of differing diameters and the reciprocating saw, a powerful tool best suited for demolition work.
Keyhole Saw
Not many years ago, I would see keyhole saws in use almost daily; now, for many carpenters, keyhole saws have been relegated to the category of rarely used tools. The responsibility for this lies with the saber saw, which will perform most of the tasks for which the keyhole saw has traditionally been used—and does all the work with virtually no elbow grease required.
Nevertheless, the inexpensive and convenient keyhole saw has a place in the fully equipped carpenter's toolbox.
These days, the keyhole saw is sometimes called a compass saw although a few years back the standard keyhole saw had a narrower blade (and could cut quite fine arcs) while the compass saw's larger blade had coarser teeth and was better suited to curves with larger radii. Smaller keyhole saws were commonplace in years past, in part because they were traditionally made from the broken blades of larger saws. When they broke, the fractured blade would be chopped down and fitted to a suitable handle.
Despite the traditional names, what is sold today interchangeably as a keyhole or compass saw is a bit large for cutting keyholes. Still, the keyhole saw can be used to cut holes for large-diameter pipes, vents, plug or switch boxes, and other purposes. They are used away from the edge of a board, panel, or sheet of plywood, or for cutting in tight places where an ordinary handsaw could not be used.
The keyhole saw and its near relation the wallboard saw have wooden handles and thin, tapering steel blades. The teeth are usually coarse, in the eight- to ten-teeth-per-inch range. Blade length varies (some are as short as five inches) but can be up to 12 or 15 inches long. Some models are designed to use replaceable or interchangeable blades and are sometimes sold as utility saw sets. The handle comes complete with several blades, one of which may be designed to cut metal. The narrower the blade, the tighter the curve it can cut; finer blades are preferable for cutting plywood.
Reciprocating Saw
On different days, the average home craftsman wears different hats: plumber, electrician, carpenter, tiler, plasterer, whatever. On demolition day, this is the tool for you. The reciprocating saw is a larger, more powerful version of the saber saw. Though it is designed for cutting on the horizontal (with the blade moving backward and forward, unlike the saber saw's up-and-down stroke), the reciprocating saw can be used at all sorts of angles for demolition and rough-cut purposes. It isn't a high precision tool, though rough scrollwork can be done with it. More often, the reciprocating saw is used for its brute strength, to saw through walls or ceilings, creating openings for windows, plumbing lines, or other purposes.
The reciprocating saw, which is sometimes referred to by the proprietary name Sawsall, is a powerful tool and must be used with care. Two hands are needed for proper control, one at the pistol grip where the on-off trigger is located, and the other on the body of the saw to stabilize it while cutting. Some models come with variable speed controls, which make for more efficient cutting through various materials. Remember, metal-cutting is done at slower speeds, but softer materials like wood can be cut at a higher rate.
Blades for cutting wood, plywood, metal, plastic, and other materials are sold. They are available in various lengths ranging from about four inches (for scroll cutting) to as long as nine or even twelve inches (for rough cutting of wood). Metal-cutting blades are also sold that can cut through nails, bar and angle stock, and metal tubing.
Cordless reciprocating saws are also being introduced, though they are less powerful and less flexible. On a work-site with no electricity (or in an awkward position where a power cord would be in the way), the cordless models can make good sense.


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In another post I had put a link to my version of Rita McNeil's song "Workin' Man" that I had recorded on my computer. Sparky made the mistake of implying that it didn't suck too much. You can blame Sparky for this post because she is the one that encouraged me, lol.
I'll use this spot to put links to some stuff I have done while sitting in front of my computer and messing around with my little recorder and guitars over coffee, beer or a martini and sometimes a combination of all three. My audio quality control is done by my cocker spaniel Molly. When I start playing/singing and Molly doesn't run out of the room and head upstairs, I save that recording. She runs out of the room a lot.
I will keep adding to this list as I get things done and in some cases I'll show the lyrics and chords as I do them.
1. "WORKIN' MAN" (written by Rita McNeil)
2. "OLD ZEB" (written by Larry Kaplan)
3. "JEANNE'S WALTZ" (instrumental made up by Gary W)
4. "CUTE LITTLE SQUIRREL" (written by Gary W)
5. "JUST A RAMBLIN' GUY" (written by Gary W)
6. "BLOWIN' IN THE WIND" – instrumental (written by Bob Dylan)

subset: commoncrawl


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The Oscars take their revenge this year on Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross for winning the Music (Original Score) category with their innovative and beautiful score to The Social Network. This year, no electronics, no creative and emotional use of sound, nothing that might for a moment be considered contemporary. Instead, Oscar whore (and I say that with the utmost respect) John Williams gets two nods, while soundtrack cipher and perennial awards nominee (and winner for Lord of the Rings) Howard Shore gets another. The remaining slots go to Ludovic Bource for his quaint early 20th century approach to The Artist and Alberto Iglesias. Iglesias has composed some lovely scores, but Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is strictly by the numbers. Reznor and Ross were left completely out in the cold for their dark wall-to-wall score of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Jónsi was left in the cage for his beautiful soundtrack for We Bought A Zoo.
At least that's not as bad as the Music (Original Song) category which nominated only two songs instead of the traditional five nominees. Something odd with that. They are "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets, Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie (one half of Flight of the Concordes) and "Real in Rio" from Rio, Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett. McKenzie's tune is cute, but there's so much rock music in films these days, why is the Academy mired in a 1940s song mentality?
Music (Original Score)
The Adventures of Tintin, John Williams
The Artist, Ludovic Bource
Hugo, Howard Shore
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Alberto Iglesias
War Horse, John Williams
Complete Oscar List of Nominees
John Diliberto ((( echoes )))
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Tags: Academy Awards, electronic, Oscars, Reznor


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Welcome to the March 14, 2018 video-tastic edition of BCHL Today, a (near) daily look at what's going on around the league and the junior A world.
We talked yesterday about the one second round series I'm not psyched for. Today we get into Penticton versus Trail, a series I have high hopes for.
Specifically, I'm hoping Trail wins. Let me preface this by saying I covered the Vees for two seasons while working for the Penticton Western News so I'll always have a little affinity for the town and the team, but I'm tired of them winning.
They have become the BCHL's New England Patriots, an Evil Empire group that rolls around in a bus sloganed with 'Envy our Past, Fear our Future.'
They play in a beautiful building. They set league records for attendance. Their uniforms look nice and I'm sick of it.
So c'mon Trail!
I actually do think Penticton is going to be derailed this year, but I don't think the Smoke Eaters are the team to do it. Let's see if the numbers give them a chance.
The Vees and Trail met six times in the regular season. The Smoke Eaters won one, lost four (one in OT) and tied one. The two most lopsided losses (3-0 and 4-1) came in February when Trail was finishing the regular season on a bit of a slide. Three of the games were one-goal affairs and Trail beat Penticton 4-1 way back on Oct. 28.
Here are the highlights from a 2-2 tie on Jan. 12, 2018.
The teams were dead even offensively during the regular season, Trail holding a 218-216 edge in goals for through 58 games. The Vees were much, much, much better defensively, allowing 130 goals while the Smokies surrendered 203. The wildcard in that comparison is Trail goaltender Adam Marcoux, who came over from the Cowichan Caps in November and posted a 2.79 goals-against average and .917 save percentage in 24 games with Trail.
The Smoke Eaters may be better defensively with Marcoux than without, but a substantial edge still goes to the disciplined tight-checking Vees with their ace goaltender Adam Scheel. The Ohio native posted a 1.50 GAA and .929 SP in the first round of the playoffs, facing the Coquitlam Express and their pop-gun offence. Scheel faces a much tougher test now.
Here are the highlights from a 3-0 Vees win on Feb. 9, 2018.
If Trail has a calling card, it's an offence that included two players inside the top 20 in regular season scoring. Kale Howarth was 11th with 24 goals and 62 points and Ross Armour was 12th with 21 goals and 62 points. After a 52 point regular season, Levi Glasman is upping his game in the playoffs with seven points in four games so far.
Trail had 10 players hit double digits in goals during the regular season, including defenceman Connor Welsh with 12. Welsh (56-12-22-34) and Jeremy Lucchini (58-5-35-40) provide the Smoke Eaters two potent weapons on the back-end.
Penticton has an answer for all of that. Owen Sillinger had more goals (33) and points (67) in the regular season than either Howarth or Armour, and he's not a one-man band. The Vees had nine players hit double digits in goals. Jonny Tychonick missed that mark with nine tallies, but he ranked third among all BCHL blueliners with 47 points.
If he's back in the lineup, Nicky Leivermann gives Penticton another offensive option on defence. The 19 year old Minnesota native collected 10 goals and 37 points in 43 regular season games, but was knocked out of the Coquitlam series in game three after taking a blow to the head from Dominic Davis.
Penticton and Trail both have excellent power plays and the Vees are nails on the penalty kill, but the PK may be kryptonite for the Smoke Eaters in this series. In their first round sweep of the West Kelowna Warriors, Trail gave up six goals on 18 power plays against for a dismal 66.6 per cent success rate.
Taking a look at various sources this week, most prognosticators seem to be picking Penticton to win in five or six games, and that sounds about right. I'll go with the Vees in six, but I'll probably find some lucky orange socks to wear on game days.
A Prince George Spruce King grad is ESPN's Best Player in the World of the Week.
Minnesota native Bryant Christian wrapped up a four-year NCAA career last Sunday, playing his final game for American International College.
The nephew of longtime National Hockey Leaguer Dave Christian and cousin of current New York Islander forward Brock Nelson fractured his tibia on the first shift of the game, but chose to stay on the bench with his teammates.
@brychristian11 last shift as a Yellowjacket with a broken tibia. What an amazing leader and ambassador of AIC Hockey. He just wanted to wear the YJ jersey for one last shift. Thank you 11. #AICHOCKEYFAMILY pic.twitter.com/YhOIDNk8QC
— Eric Lang (@ericlang9) March 13, 2018
With his Yellow Jackets trailing 3-0 in the last minute of the game, the captain went over the boards for one more shift on a broken leg.
"To have our captain go out there because he wants to be on the ice for one last time, it made me a little emotional," AIC coach Eric Lang told ESPN.
Christian finished his college career with 149 games played, 17 goals, 43 points and 88 penalty minutes. He spent two seasons with the Spruce Kings (2012-14) before going to AIC.
The championship series for the B.C. Intercollegiate Hockey League starts tomorrow, with the Trinity Western University Spartans taking on the Selkirk College Saints.
Trinity Western has appeared in the BCIHL finals in three of the last four years but has yet to win.
Selkirk College won four in a row from 2012-16, but failed to qualify for the championship round last year as the University of Victoria took the title.
Here are the highlights from last year's final.
Several BCHL grads are in the mix on both sides. You may not remember them because they didn't stick long in the junior A circuit, but there are 12 of them.
See if these names ring a bell.
On the Selkirk side you've got Dane Feeney, who played seven games for the Cowichan Caps in 2011-12. Goaltender Brett Huber played two for West Kelowna in 2014-15.
Because Selkirk College is based in Castlegar, there are a few players with ties to the Trail Smoke Eaters, including netminder Patrick Zubick, who appeared in three games for Trail in 2014-15. Seth Schmidt logged four games for the Smokies between 2012-14. Dallas Calvin played for Trail and Vernon between 2010-15, appearing in 53 games. Cole Arcuri played for Trail, Merritt and Powell River, appearing in 66 games.
The Trinity Western roster includes two players I watched play for the Chilliwack Chiefs, Brandon Potomak and Stefan Gonzales.
Gonzales is interesting as one of the few active players with ties to the Quesnel Millionaires. Gonzales was on the Mills roster when the franchise was transferred to Chilliwack in 2011 and he ended up seeing time with West Kelowna, Victoria and Coquitlam as well.
Gonzales has the most BCHL experience of anyone in the finals with 168 games played.
Potomak was fun to watch during a 42 game stint in Chilliwack. He collected 13 goals and 36 points and was thoroughly beaten up at the end of that season, to the point where he took two full seasons off before lacing up the skates again this year. He was one of the TWU's big guns, with seven goals and 28 points in 21 regular season games.
Other BCHL grads are Evan Last (3 GP with Penticton, 2012-13), Elijah Vilio (1 GP with Surrey, 2016-17), Karsten Seidel (6 GP with Surrey, 2013-14) and Brendan Campbell (8 GP with Surrey, 2015-16).
See bcihl.ca
If you ever played a shift for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks, pay attention to this last item.
The team is holding its first ever Alumni Weekend this summer. Past players, coaches, staff, billets, and volunteers are invited back for two days of fun on July 20-21.
The Silverbacks will celebrate 17 years in Salmon Arm with a pro/alumni game and social on the 20th and a golf tournament and dinner on the 21st. The golf tournament will be played at the Shuswap National Golf Course and more details can be found online at sasilverbacksalumni.com
Eric Welsh is the sports editor at the Chilliwack Progress and has been covering junior A hockey in B.C. and Alberta since 2003.
Email email@example.com


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Furniture ERP
You may have a passion for turning creative designs into beautiful and functional furniture, fixtures or accessories – but you need more than great craftsmanship to run a successful manufacturing business.
Costs for raw materials, not to mention labor and transportation, are always in flux. Your catalog might include many thousands of product permutations in different colors, fabrics, metals, finishes, shapes and sizes, creating enormous complexity. Customers and distributors alike are putting pressure on you for faster delivery, more eco-friendly designs and lower pricing.
Discover how SYSPRO furniture manufacturing software can help you gain significant efficiencies, streamline your supply chain, and get your furniture and related hardware to distributors and consumers faster than ever, even at high volume.
SYSPRO Enterprise Resource Planning empowers your team to effectively manage areas like quality control, purchasing, inventory management, shop floor operations, sales, financials and more. All from a single integrated system, purpose-built for your industry needs.
Increase Sales and Manage Demand
- Provide employees with mobile access to information anytime, anywhere
- Manage complex pricing such as contract pricing, volume discounts, promotions and rebates
- Reduce paperwork with Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) to automate order processing
- Ensure customer satisfaction by effectively controlling the return and exchange of items with full visibility and tracking until the transaction is concluded
- Improve efficiency with repeat order customer templates
Optimize Supply Chain Efficiency
- Purchase more strategically with data-driven forecasts based on history, seasonality and supplier lead times
- Gain visibility to streamline MRP processes and optimize inventory
- Leverage advanced forecasting and planning to more closely match supply with demand
- Streamline purchasing workflow with seamless electronic trading
- Manage returns and exchanges of supplies and materials more efficiently
Streamline Production to Speed Delivery
- Generate accurate specs quickly for highly customizable products with a rules-based Product Configurator
- Manage design changes and related costs with Engineering Change Control
- Minimize bottlenecks and keep up with seasonal demand with advanced planning and scheduling software
- Track shop floor operations and gain work-In-progress visibility in real time to optimize labor
- Support product kitting across hundreds and thousands of SKUs
Enable Strategic Financial Planning
- Streamline management of revenue, payables, receivables and cash flow across multiple languages and currencies
- Simplify compliance with global and local financial regulations, such as International Accounting Standards (IAS), GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)
- Make better decisions by performing what-if analysis of accurate financial data
- Improve visibility into total costs to identify savings opportunities
- Gain better insights into buying and supplier trends, by customer and by product
Best-in-Class Furniture Software
Manufacturing operations management for your unique business
Without solid control over your operational and financial processes, you run the risk of production mistakes, late deliveries and out-of-control costs that hurt your margins. Whether you're selling high-end custom chairs or cabinet drawer pulls – spreadsheets can only take you so far.
SYSPRO ERP Software is built to solve challenges across your entire furniture and fittings manufacturing operation. Yet, they are completely flexible and customizable, too. Just like your customers, you can choose the design that suits your business best.
Take your organization to the next level of growth with a strong, integrated ERP technology foundation, from vendor who knows how to solve your specific industry challenges.


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Hubert Czerepok
Residency Finissage
Date: 28 August (Friday) 2015, 7 pm
Venue: Kecske Street Residency (1034 Budapest, Kecske u. 23.)
Hubert Czerepok has been resident artist of ACAX Goat Street Residency during the summer of 2015 with the support of the Visegrad Fund. As his residency is about to reach its end, we are warmly welcoming all to join on August 28 to a "residency finissage" where the artist will present his most recent works done in Budapest (and still in progress) in the frame of a one-night exhibition and informal gathering.
The next guest of the Check-in Budapest curatorial visitor program is:
HENDRIK FOLKERTS, curator of documenta 14: Learning from Athens
What do we face today?… Hendrik Folkerts (Curator of documenta 14, Kassel/Athens, 2017) in conversation with Barnabás Bencsik
Date: 7th July 2015 (Tuesday), 7 pm
Venue: Goat Street Residency (1034 Budapest, Kecske u. 23.)
Madness Is Like Gravity
Presentation by Hubert Czerepok
Madness Is Like Gravity - Presentation by Hubert Czerepok
Venue: Goat Street Residency (1034 Budapest, Kecske u. 23.)
Residency Unlimited (RU), New York - 2015
ACAX – Agency for Contemporary Art Exchange in cooperation with RU announced an Open Call for Hungary based contemporary visual artists to take part in a 3 months residency program (September – November 2015)
Out of the 23 artists applying, the selection panel organized by Residency Unlimited awarded this year's residency to Anna Fabricius.
The grant covers the travel, stipend, living costs and full benefits of Residency Unlimited (RU)'s program.
The World as Objectness
Four artists want to acquire a painting from a fifth one. They decide to buy it together. With the help of a legal adviser, they enter into a contract for shared ownership of this painting. But how can the geometrical structure of this piece of art be translated into legal norms? And what is it that the four artists now own?
Gabor Erdelyi, Andras Galik, Balint Havas, Dezso Szabo, Little Warsaw
Date: 8th December 2014 (Monday), 19.00
Venue: Goat Street Residency, Budapest
(1034 Budapest, Kecske utca 23.)


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[Originally posted on SFGate: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/rchoi/detail?entry_id=88328]
Should pediatricians be punished for asking about guns in the home?
Far be it for me, a Bay Area pediatrician, to tell Floridians about how to keep their kids safe. But having spent half of my life in the south (and I don't mean LA), perhaps I am only partially carpetbagging.
Florida's Governor Scott is on the verge of signing into law a bill that would penalize doctors for asking about guns in the home. The original bill shockingly included a $5 million fine and a five year prison sentence if a doctor asked about a patient's gun ownership, entered gun ownership information into a medical record, or refused to care for patients who declined to answer related questions. An unsatisfying compromise amendment between the NRA and the Florida chapter of the AMA limited the penalty to the possible revocation of a medical license and would allow questions about gun ownership and entry of that information into the medical record only if "medically necessary".
Similar legislation is making its way through the Alabama legislature.
Particularly bewildering to me were claims made by state legislators that gun safety was outside the scope of a pediatrician's practice. According to Marion Hammer, a past president of the NRA, "Families take their kids to pediatricians for medical care, not to talk about guns."
I would beg to differ.
While there are several directions I am very tempted to go with this outrageous bill, I am coming to rest here: my scope of practice is health.
Scope of practice traditionally refers to a license authorized range of a provider's services. Not surprisingly, the range of a scope is charged with turf battles between specialties and different health professions -like the time your neurosurgeon and orthopedic surgeon wrestled over who got to perform your back surgery.
The scope of practice I am talking about we all can own. I have a responsibility to ask about, diagnose, educate, and treat obstacles to health. For those who see children in their practice, discussing topics such as swimming pool safety and smoke detectors are routine at regular check ups.
But let me take it a step further. I would argue that nutritious food, safe medications, air quality, domestic violence, affordable housing, access to health care, sex trafficking, cultural factors, schools, safe neighborhoods, voting, human rights, international trade agreements, and the state budget, to the extent they impact health of my patients and communities, are also in my scope of practice.
Not only do I feel an obligation to explore these issues, my patients expect it of me. When my infant patient is drinking contaminated Chinese formula or if children can't play in their front yard for fear of gun fire, it is my problem too.
Commonly called the social determinants of health, addressing only the downstream impacts of unhealthy and violent circumstances in the form of specific diseases (or even death) is addressing a fraction of the problem and woefully insufficient.
So yes, to ask if a device that is associated with over 30,000 deaths a year and over 50% of suicides is unloaded, locked up, and kept out of reach of children is also well within my scope of practice.
At issue is not only whether or not a gun should be in the home, but also the right of physicians, free of legal entanglements, to provide the anticipatory guidance for an environment where their patient can thrive.


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Ambika La Parisian Mohali Master Plan Layout
Unofficial Website
Authorized channel partner
For More Info
Harry Dutt- +91-9855646392
Disclaimer:- Any content mentioned in the website & mail is for information purpose only and does not constitute any offer or guarantee whatsoever on the content mentioned above. Prices are subject to change without notice. It is solely your responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness and usefulness of all opinions, advice, services, merchandise and other information provided and you are strongly advised to check these independently. We shall not be liable for any deficiency in service by the builders/developers/sellers/property agents


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Learning to use the PeaceWalker methodology can help you improve your life and career no matter what field you are in. Teachers, managers, counselors, law enforcement, healthcare, security, business owners, CEO's and other professions have all benefited from this course.
What man actually needs is not a tensionless state, but rather the striving and struggling for a worthwhile goal, a freely chosen task.
-Viktor Frankl
Here are just some of the things you'll learn:
"Be the change you wish to see in the world."
~Mahatma Gandhi
Featured On
Michigan Counseling Assoc.


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Syracuse and Temple clash in Gotham Classic
New York, NY – The third-ranked Syracuse Orange put their unblemished record on the line on Saturday afternoon, when they take on the Temple Owls in a neutral site affair at Madison Square Garden as part of the Gotham Classic.
Fran Dunphy's Owls are an impressive 8-2 on the season and over the first nine games of the year, had just one setback, that being a 90-67 loss at the hands of currently top-ranked Duke. The Owls were able to string together a pair of wins after the loss to the Blue Devils, but let a third straight win slip away with a rather stunning 72-62 loss to Canisius on Wednesday.
Jim Boeheim's squad has yet to taste defeat on the year and is one of just eight teams left without a loss on its record. The Orange moved to 10-0 on the season with a 72-68 win over Detroit on Monday and in the process gave Boeheim his 900th career win, just two wins shy of tying Bobby Knight for second place all-time behind Mike Krzyzewski.
Syracuse holds a 16-13 advantage in the all-time series with Temple, but the Owls won the last meeting, a 65-54 decision in the third-place game of the 2002 NIT at MSG.
The Orange got off to a fast start, shooting 55.6 percent from the floor in the first half, heading into intermission with a 40-21 lead. The Titans fought back after the break and made a game of it, but Syracuse was able to hold on and deliver Boeheim his monumental victory. James Southerland led the way offensively with 22 points, thanks in large part to a 5-of-8 showing from 3- point range. Michael Carter-Williams had a strong outing as well, recording a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists.
Syracuse has dominated at both ends of the floor, ranking second nationally in scoring margin (+25.6). The team is averaging 83.4 ppg, while holding foes to just 57.8 ppg and a meager .345 shooting (leads the nation). Southerland has been outstanding coming off the bench, averaging a team-best 15.9 ppg. Brandon Triche can also score at a high rate at 14.5 ppg. Carter-Williams is the catalyst though, averaging 12.3 ppg, while leading the nation in assists (10.7 apg). C.J. Fair provides frontcourt balance with 11.3 points and a team-high 6.8 rebounds per game.
The Owls struggled with their perimeter shooting, converting just 4-of-28 from behind the arc, including an ugly 2-of-16 in the second half, in a 10-point loss at home to Canisius. Khalif Wyatt led four Owls in double figures with 17 points in the setback. Jake O'Brien added a season-high 14 points, while Will Cummings and Anthony Lee chipped in with 10 points apiece.
Temple has been successful this season despite modest offensive numbers. The team is averaging 70.1 ppg on the year, shooting .413 from the floor and a meager .296 from 3-point range. Wyatt leads the team in both scoring (14.5 ppg) and assists (3.9 apg). Scootie Randall has been a huge part of the team's success, making his presence felt after a washed-out season last year due to injury. Randall is netting 13.7 ppg and is tops on the team in rebounding (7.5 rpg). Lee (10.4 ppg, 6.6 rpg) and Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson (9.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg) bolster the play up front.


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Phone: (888) 851-7788
9555 Woodlane Dr.
Dimondale, MI 48821
Serving Greater Lansing, MI
Search Inventory:
*Price, if shown, is Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) and does not include government fees, taxes, dealer vehicle freight/preparation, dealer document preparation charges or any finance charges (if applicable). MSRP and/or final actual sales price will vary depending on options or accessories selected.
**Please be advised - Manufacturer Showrooms display all makes and models, not necessarily in stock. Please visit our New Inventory page for a list of our in stock units.


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Limp Bizkit's Wes Borland Goes on Twitter Rant About Former Bandmate DJ Lethal
It's no surprise Twitter has been an outlet for musicians to express their thoughts and directly communicate with their fans. So, when Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland let some of his tweeting out, he had some candid words to say via Twitter about former bandmate DJ Lethal.
In response to a fans query about letting Lethal back in the band, Borland tweeted, "Sorry. No. Not going to happen. Thanks for your support, but that's a wrap. We started without him and we'll end without him."
When pressed again, Borland bluntly replied, "Dude. Just f—ing be glad the four of us are together and don't trouble yourself with the inner workings of the band."
It doesn't end there. The saga continued when the fan declared that Borland was not a founding member of Limp Bizkit and so Borland eventually stated, "We've given Lee 1000 chances. Stop. Just stop. You don't have a clue about anything. Please just stop. Because I am right now."
He seemingly concluded "As I said. I'm done. My last reply to this topic. Lethal is out." But then a short time later responded to another fan, "Lee coming back is completely up to him, not us. And so far, it seems like he doesn't care to come back."
So, despite all those Tweets, it does look like there's some room for DJ Lethal to return to Limp Bizkit.


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Holga Photograph
Railroad tracks depicted in black & white by a Holga camera.
Steam Engine Detail
The power of a steam engine can be seen in looking at one's massive cylinders and primary drive wheels
Old Railroad Station Office
The office of the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad with its large old wooden oak desk is now a relic of the past.
Thurmond West Virginia
Old abandoned downtown Thurmond West Virginia is shown with the CSX railroad tracks and its old wooden sidewalk.
Two Old Diesel Railroad Engines
Two old diesel railroad engines sit in Elkins WV.
Night Photo of NW Engine 611
The Norfolk & Western steam locomotive 611 is captured on a foggy night at Lambert's Point in Norfolk Virginia
Working on a Steam Engine
A railroad worker works on a Shay steam locomotive at West Virginia's Cass Scenic Railroad State Park.
Two Diesel Engine in For Service
Two old Norfolk & Western diesel engines sit at the service facility at Lambert's Point Yard in Norfolk Virginia.
Steam Engine Driving Wheel
#765 Railroad steam engine driver covered with steam
Site of the Driving of the Golden Spikes at Promontory Point Utah
Looking west from the site of the driving of the golden spikes at Promontory Point in Utah.
Water Spout for Steam Locomotive at Thurmond West Virginia
A water spout formerly used to water steam locomotives stands like a sentinel in Thurmond West Virginia along the CSX Railroad mainline. The water spout no longer exists today.
Shay Locomotive #4 Pulling Train at Cass Scenic Railroad West Virginia
Shay Engine #4 double-heads a steam train excursion up to Bald Knob at West Virginia's Cass Scenic Railroad run by the State of WV.
Nikel Plate 765 Steam Locomotive
Nickel Plate #765 pulls a train near Meadow Creek West Virginia.
Wesstern Maryland Steam Locomotive #734 Being Serviced in Cumberland Maryland
Western Maryland steam locomotive is being serviced in its yard in Cumberland Maryland with a lot of steam engulfing the engine.


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Stocks edge higher, extending a hot start to July
Boeing helped the stock market edge higher Monday, extending a scorching start to July.
The plane maker's stock was one of the standouts as the Standard & Poor's 500 index moved higher for an eighth straight day, putting it on track for its longest streak of gains since January.
Boeing gained $3.47, or 3.4 percent, to $104.60 after it was found the plane's batteries were not the cause of a fire on one of its 787 aircraft at London's Heathrow airport Friday. Earlier this year, smoldering batteries on two 787s caused the plane to be grounded for more than three months.
Stocks rose to record levels last week after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank would not ease its stimulus before the economy was ready. The central banker's comments also stemmed a rise in Treasury yields.
"The general bias to the market is up," said David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Funds. "You can see a clear path to economic growth in the United States."
The Dow Jones industrial average was up 29 points, or 0.2 percent, to 15,494 as of 2:15 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose three points, also 0.2 percent, to 1,683. The S&P is up 4.8 percent so far in July, putting it on track to surpass the 5 percent gain it had in January.
The Nasdaq composite rose eight points, or 0.2 percent, to 3,608.
Small-company stocks had the biggest gains Monday. The Russell 2000 rose six points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,042, bringing its gains for the year to 22.7 percent. That's far ahead of the S&P's gain of 18 percent.
Investors will be listening to comments from Bernanke again this week for more clues about the central bank's outlook for the economy. The Fed chairman will give his semi-annual testimony to Congress on Wednesday. The central bank is currently buying $85 billion of bonds a month to keep interest rates low and to encourage borrowing and hiring.
The pace of companies reporting earnings will also increase this week.
"We expect modest earnings gains and we expect that management teams will guide for a cautiously optimistic view in the second half," said Jim Russell, a regional investment director at US Bank.
Earnings for the second quarter will rise by an average 3.2 percent for S&P 500 companies from a year ago, according to data from S&P Capital IQ. Earnings at financial companies are expected to rise by 18.8 percent, the most of any industry group.
Citigroup gained Monday, leading other bank stocks higher, after reporting earnings that beat analysts' expectations for the second quarter as investment banking profits surged. The bank's stock rose $1.04, or 2.1 percent, to $51.86.
A closely watched report on U.S. retail sales Monday morning had some disappointments for investors. Americans spent more at retail businesses in June, buying more cars and trucks, furniture and clothes, but they cut back on many other purchases, a mixed sign for economic growth. Retail sales rose just 0.4 percent from May, less than analysts had forecast and less than the 0.5 percent increase the previous month.
The market's advance was held back by news that economic growth in China, the second-biggest economy in the world, fell to the lowest since 1991, hurt by weak trade and efforts to cool a credit boom. China's economy expanded at an annual rate of 7.5 percent in the second quarter, down from 7.7 percent in the same period a year earlier.
Slowing global growth is one of the biggest threats to this year's stock rally, said Uri Landesman, President of Platinum Partners. He predicts that stocks may be poised to slump as much as 15 percent in the coming months. Landesman said this year's market advance overstates the outlook for the economy.
"Most of the world's economies are sucking wind," Landesman said. "It's going to be very difficult to keep (the U.S. economy) going with weak exports."
In commodities trading, the price of oil rose 33 cents to $106.29 a barrel. Gold rose $5.90, or 0.5 percent, to $1,283.50 an ounce. The dollar rose against the euro and the Japanese yen.
In government bond trading, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.56 percent from 2.58 percent Friday.
Among other stocks making big moves, Leap Wireless soared $9.10, or 114 percent, to $17.08 after the carrier agreed to be acquired by AT&T for $1.19 billion, or $15 a share. The deal was announced late Friday. AT&T fell 28 cents, or 0.8 percent, $35.53.


text: WASHINGTON - The Chungs, immigrants from South Korea, realized their American dream when they opened their dry-cleaning business seven years ago in the nation's capital. For the past two years, however, they've been dealing with the nightmare of litigation: a $65 million lawsuit over a pair of missing pants. Jin Nam Chung, Ki Chung and their son, Soo Chung, are so disheartened that they're considering moving back to Seoul, said their attorney, Chris Manning, who spoke on their behalf. "They're out a lot of money, but more importantly, incredibly disenchanted with the system," Manning said. "This has destroyed their lives." The lawsuit was filed by a District of Columbia administrative hearings judge, Roy Pearson, who has been representing himself in the case. Pearson did not return phone calls and e-mails Wednesday from The Associated Press requesting comment. According to court documents, the problem began in May 2005 when Pearson became a judge and brought several suits for alteration to Custom Cleaners in Northeast Washington, a place he patronized regularly despite previous disagreements with the Chungs. A pair of pants from one suit was not ready when he requested it two days later, and was deemed to be missing. Pearson asked the cleaners for the full price of the suit: more than $1,000. But a week later, the Chungs said the pants had been found and refused to pay. That's when Pearson decided to sue. Manning said the cleaners made three settlement offers to Pearson. First they offered $3,000, then $4,600, then $12,000. But Pearson wasn't satisfied and expanded his calculations beyond one pair of pants. Because Pearson no longer wanted to use his neighborhood dry cleaner, part of his lawsuit calls for $15,000 â the price to rent a car every weekend for 10 years to go to another business. "He's somehow purporting that he has a constitutional right to a dry cleaner within four blocks of his apartment," Manning said. But the bulk of the $65 million comes from Pearson's strict interpretation of D.C.'s consumer protection law, which fines violators $1,500 per violation, per day. According to court papers, Pearson added up 12 violations over 1,200 days, and then multiplied that by three defendants. Much of Pearson's case rests on two signs that Custom Cleaners once had on its walls: "Satisfaction Guaranteed" and "Same Day Service." Based on Pearson's dissatisfaction and the delay in getting back the pants, he claims the signs amount to fraud. Pearson has appointed himself to represent all customers affected by such signs, though D.C. Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz, who will hear the June 11 trial, has said that this is a case about one plaintiff, and one pair of pants. Sherman Joyce, president of the American Tort Association, has written a letter to the group of men who will decide this week whether to renew Pearson's 10-year appointment. Joyce is asking them to reconsider. Chief Administrative Judge Tyrone Butler had no comment regarding Pearson's reappointment. The association, which tries to police the kind of abusive lawsuits that hurt small businesses, also has offered to buy Pearson the suit of his choice. And former National Labors Relations Board chief administrative law judge Melvin Welles wrote to The Washington Post to urge "any bar to which Mr. Pearson belongs to immediately disbar him and the District to remove him from his position as an administrative law judge." "There has been a significant groundswell of support for the Chungs," said Manning, adding that plans for a defense fund Web site are in the works. To the Chungs and their attorney, one of the most frustrating aspects of the case is their claim that Pearson's gray pants were found a week after Pearson dropped them off in 2005. They've been hanging in Manning's office for more than a year. Pearson claims in court documents that his pants had blue and red pinstripes. "They match his inseam measurements. The ticket on the pants match his receipt," Manning said.


text:
Kim Kardashian may be shying away from the cameras, but the new mom is experiencing nothing short of pure baby bliss with beau Kanye West, a source close to the reality star reveals in the new Us Weekly, out now.
"Kanye, Kim and North always take naps together," the source tells Us of how the famous duo spend time with their tiny bundle of joy. "The three of them cuddle and just hang out."
The pair's low-key snuggling is a far cry from their usual parade of paparazzi-ready moments, but friends of the couple say the new parents couldn't be happier.
"I can say Kim's doing amazing," the reality star's BFF Jonathan Cheban tells Us. "She's really happy and the baby is the most beautiful thing."
Kardashian, 32, and West, 36, welcomed their first child together five weeks early, on June 15, and have been laying low — at Kris Jenner's L.A. home — ever since. Regular social media maven Kardashian has only broken her Twitter silence a handful of times, to wish sister Khloe Kardashian a happy 29th birthday and niece Penelope Scotland Disick a happy first birthday.
"Hope my little Peep had the best 1st birthday today," she tweeted on Monday, July 8, along with three little icons of a happy face, a heart, and a sun.
Just a few days earlier, on July 4th, Kardashian and West made their first outing together, to Bruce Jenner's Malibu beach house to celebrate the holiday — but stayed indoors while the rest of the family played and posed outside.
"Kim, North and Kanye stayed inside at the party," the source told Us. "They had family time."
Sign up for Us Weekly's free, daily newsletter and never miss breaking news or exclusive stories about your favorite celebrities, TV shows and more!
For more about Kim and Kanye's first few weeks as parents to baby North West, pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands now.
For access to all our exclusive celebrity videos and interviews – Subscribe on YouTube!


text:
Hecuba hĕk´yo͝obə [key], in Greek mythology, chief wife of Priam, king of Troy. Hecuba bore to Priam 19 children, including Paris, Hector, Troilus, Cassandra, and others who were prominent in the Trojan War. To save Polydorus, her youngest son, from the Greeks, Hecuba sent him to Polymnestor, king of Thrace. After the sack of Troy she was allotted to Odysseus, who on his way home stopped at Thrace. Learning there that Polymnestor had murdered Polydorus, Hecuba, in revenge, blinded the king and killed his children. She is an important character in Euripides' plays Hecuba and The Trojan Women.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Folklore and Mythology


text:
What happens NOW?
We partook of the impartation of life at the MMC 2008, all of us, 60,000 men. We all had a bite or two and we all experienced this life – something awesome changed inside of us…
Are we going to take hold of this life we have received at the MMC and commit ourselves to it, no matter what? The lives we live are tough and we face confrontations and challenges daily. Each and everyone that met with God at the MMC will still have these confrontations and challenges, but it will seem different, because we look at it through different eyes. This new life is first a dying and secondly a resurrection. We succeed only when we die to live. The theme of this year's MMC was Dying to Live, and rightly so because we were called to die.
Jesus Said:
…If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
(Luke 9:23)
Taking up your cross is the process of dying; it is your walk towards death. Jesus' words was that we have to die daily, not just carry a heavy load…
Our success lies in the way we die…
No matter what the circumstances are we must die daily to everything else and live for Him, our Lord God and King, our Life-giver. For true life is only found in Him. When we die to everything else the salvation we found in Him becomes our resurrection…
John the Baptist said:
He must increase, but I must decrease.
(John 3:30)
and Paul said:
…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death; if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead.
(Philippians 3:10-11)
We have to begin each day with God, dying if need be. We have some good traditions and habits, but we also have bad traditions and habits. These bad things must be killed daily in order for us to follow Him. Killing these bad habits is hard and at times it feels like we are dying with it, but do not fear for HE is our resurrection!!!
I don't know about you, but I don't die easy. Dying is painful and tough. I cling to stuff that I should actually let go of, which only increase the intensity of the whole dying process. Dying to self does not come easy, but it is possible and together we can do it. It is important to know that you cannot do it alone, you need God first and also the support of family or friends that are willing to walk to death with you that you may "attain to the resurrection of the dead"


text: For more than 40 years, the Memphis Crisis Center has been the voice of hope for thousands of people just like you. People who've lost their jobs, lost their family, lost their way. People who deserve the chance to feel better, if just for a moment. People who need a place to call for hope.


text:
Rosettes ~ A Scandinavian Treat
24 comments:
I used to make these when I was in grade school... we called them funnel cakes. OMG oh so good!ReplyDelete
They look like marvelous winter funnel cakes! I have never seen such a tool; I need to keep my eyes open for these.ReplyDelete
They are so beautiful! I remember when I was little and my mom went to the farmer's market. There was this older gentleman there who sold rosettes. We loved them! So much so that when I was a little older I bought my mother a rosette set for Christmas one year!ReplyDelete
We actually had a teenage babysitter who would make these for our two girls while we were out. They were always a treat.ReplyDelete
I love these M..I 've had my Rosette Maker for almost 30 yrs!ReplyDelete
Little treats..
You did them very proud!
They look so good Mari. These weren't part of my family's heritage so I have always loved them as a special treat at other homes. I love the crisp first bite covered in that sweet coating of powdered sugar - and your photos just make me wish I had a magical screen to reach in and grab one. When you say mini rosettes how big across are they? The ones I usually see are abou 3 inches.ReplyDelete
Mari - so delicate looking..I remember a neighbor always making these..you're right, they never lasted very long!! Yours are beautiful!ReplyDelete
Oh my, I remember these from my childhood. I haven't seen a rosette iron in years. They are so Christmasy and remind me of big snowflakes.ReplyDelete
Wonderful photos, Mari.
we made these when i was a little girl, your food brings back so many memories, its obvious we grew up in the same time and place!ReplyDelete
Wow Mari, these bring back memories! My mom would make them a few times a year when I was a kid too. I wish I still had her irons. For some reason they used to sell all the equipment at fairs when I was a kid (I just turned 50 now), but I don't seem to see them there anymore. Probably because people don't fry at home as much anymore.ReplyDelete
Similar in texture are Polish Chrusciki, which my family made each holiday. I have a recipe for those on my website, and now that you mention it, those would be a good blog post for me.
Thanks for the inspiration! (again)
BTW Em -- funnel cakes are entirely different -- kind of a chewy batter that gets drizzled into the hot oil via a funnel instead of being dipped on an iron. These are light and crumbly.
You really do make the most beautiful pastries/cookies/etc. Where on earth do you find the time? I am in awe of how artful your baking is.
Mari...I'm leaving your page open while I pack because your music is so, so beautiful! What a lovely gift. (I love these cookies, too.)ReplyDelete
These are one cookie I have never made. I used to love eating them though on those special Sundays when some of the ladies at our church would bring them for coffee hour. Yours look perfect. I wish I had a bite!ReplyDelete
we also call them funnel cakes, but whatever their name they are SO YUMMY!!!ReplyDelete
Thanks for sharing, and hope to see you at my blog again!
Mari, these brought back fond memories ... With a Swedish grandmother and a Norwegian grandfather, these were really common around holidays. Thanks for the memory.ReplyDelete
What a beautiful cookie! I have never seen these before but now I am anxious to make some!ReplyDelete
Cheri I realize funnel cakes are made differently. My point was that in my childhood, even making them with the rosette tool (which we used), they were called funnel cakes. Not saying that was correct, just saying that is what they were called.ReplyDelete
I see, I wasn't sure. Cause they kind of have that look, although the rosettes are much more ornate. Didn't know these were also known as funnel cakes.ReplyDelete
Wonderful memories for me :) I made them years ago also.ReplyDelete
oh, these look delectable! If only they sold them in the U.S.!ReplyDelete
ur rosettes r soooo pretty..... i jumped on to ur site thru tastespotting n loved the picture of ur house.. it looks so ful of joy n festive..... happpy holidays.ReplyDelete
Oh wow, these look awesome!ReplyDelete
these are new to me and really would love to try them, they look amazingly good!ReplyDelete
thanks so muchReplyDelete
for me things are different i bought the set when i didnt know what are these for even the nothging was written on the box
but i thought it looks nice for a dough we use but i didnt try it
and i kept searching for it original use till i found it here thanks agian
can i do it without eggs as my kids are allergic to eggs


text:
Story by
Jon Russell
Jon Russell was Asia Editor for The Next Web from 2011 to 2014. Originally from the UK, he lives in Bangkok, Thailand. You can find him on T Jon Russell was Asia Editor for The Next Web from 2011 to 2014. Originally from the UK, he lives in Bangkok, Thailand. You can find him on Twitter, Angel List, LinkedIn.
Days after Google unveiled its $35 Chromecast dongle to bring the smart TV experience to regular TVs, British satellite broadcaster has got in on the act after launching Now TV Box, a Roku-like set-top box.
The box is available for £9.99 and brings the benefits of Web TV to any television. Customers can enjoy ongoing access (sans contract) to BBC iPlayer, Sky News, Demand and the BBC News App. That's in addition to Sky's own Now TV service, which features notable channels like Sky Sports and Sky Movies.
Of course, the Now TV Box also brings Web services to TVs, so the likes of Facebook and Spotify can light up living rooms around the UK via the box.
The Box — which measures 8.4cm x 8.4cm x 2.4cm — plugs in via an HDMI cable and, once connected to WiFi, is up and running. It's similarity to Roku, couple with Sky's $11.9 million stake in the media company, suggests the device may be a white-labelled version of the Roku player.
"Millions of people are switching on to the convenience and flexibility of on-demand TV, choosing when and how they want to watch," said Director of Now TV Gidon Katz, Director of Now TV. "For under a tenner, the NOW TV Box offers the best terrestrial catch-up, plus pay-as-you-go access to must-see sport and the option to enjoy latest blockbuster movies on demand – all on the big screen."
Sky has diversified its television offering from straight-up satellite in recent times, and the introduction of the Now TV Box looks like an interesting move to boost subscriptions of its Web-TV service.
Launched in 2012, Now TV offers Sky channels via a more flexible monthly subscription plan. It finally brought Sky Sports into the mix in March this year, letting users access all its main sports channels for £9.99 for 24 hours — a price that may not appeal to all but represents an alternative offering to a full-on Sky subscription.
The boxes are available to buy now from nowtv.com. The Now TV service itself can be accessed from the Web, devices running iOS and Android, Xbox, PS3 and Roku set-top boxes.
Headline image via BEN STANSALL / AFP / Getty Images
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text:
A vibrant and refreshing salad to help usher in the spring season. . .
To read the blog post and see the recipe, please come on over to my new blog home, Diet, Dessert and Dogs! Just click here.
There's also a great giveaway over there you might like to find out about. . . 🙂
© 2009 Diet, Dessert and Dogs
The Nerd Makes Good: A Double Ode to Okra*
March 14, 2009
If you're reading this, you've landed on the old site. Please visit the shiny, new Diet, Dessert and Dogs by clicking here.
As always, thanks for reading. I look forward to hearing from you on the new site!
("Um, Mum, you are taking us with you, aren't you? Because (and sorry to have to tell you this), we actually have more fans on this blog than you do.")
* Or, Give Pods a Chance!
[Okra pods, in the raw]
I have a confession to make. I haven't told you all about this yet because, quite frankly, I was afraid you'd reject me. Move that cursor elsewhere, and click. At best, roll your eyes. Maybe snort in disgust. Maybe gag, even.
But I've decided it's time. I mean, really, what kind of lasting relationship can we have without full disclosure?
So I'm just going to come out and say it:
I love okra.
Are you running for the hills yet?
Oh, I know what you're thinking: Okra? That polygonal pod that's a staple in gumbo, and mostly reviled? That much-maligned member of the marrow family (but cocoa is in that family, too!) that most people reject without so much as a nibble? That pariah of the produce aisle that's often referred to as gluey, viscous, slimy or mucilaginous–with seeds that remind you of those bowls of peeled grape "eyeballs" we all stuck our hands into at Halloween when we were kids?
Yep. That okra.
I adore okra's long, lantern-shaped pods, the vibrant green skins with just a hint of fuzz and the wagon-wheel innards when you cut them across. I love the mild, slightly woodsy flavor and the pop of the seeds in your mouth. I could eat okra every day, and never tire of it.
I think it's heartbreaking that okra gets such a bad rap. Okra is like the pimply nerd at school–the reject, the Carrie, the Napoleon Dynamite , the Ugly Betty. The last kid to be chosen for the baseball team. The scrawny kid on the beach who gets sand kicked in his face. The pink-and-too-frilly kid who takes her dad to the prom. The computer geek nobody wants to date so then he quits high school and starts some computer company run from his parents garage and redeems himself by becoming the richest guy in America. . . oh, wait. That would make him Bill Gates, wouldn't it? And then he'd actually be much sought after, wouldn't he? Well, heck! To my mind, that IS okra!
[A bit of spice, a bit of bite, a bit of lemon zest: an endearing combination.]
I think we should give okra the accolades it deserves. Let's nurture its low self-esteem. Let's compliment its grassy hue and lovely symmetry, tug its cute little tail at the narrow end and make it blush. Sure, it was born a green vegetable (already at a disadvantage compared to, say, watermelon). And then there's the goo factor. But sometimes, with a recipe that takes our humble ingredient and pushes it to be its best, well, that little green lantern can really shine. That's what I wish for my buddy, okra.
In these recipes, okra is elevated to something that transcends its reputation. It's like okra gussied up for a date. Okra getting an A+ in physics. Okra at its best self–I know, like okra after taking one of Oprah's "Be Your Best Self" weekends! (Just imagine the introductions at that seminar, sort of like David Letterman's ill-fated attempt at hosting the Oscars: "Okra, meet Oprah. Oprah, okra.").
Besides, okra has much to offer us. Described by WholeHealthMD as having a taste that "falls somewhere between that of eggplant and asparagus," it's a good source of Vitamin C and several minerals; and the seeds offer up protein in every pod, along with 4 grams of both soluble (known to help keep cholesterol levels in check) and insoluble (great for regularity) fiber in a one-cup (240 ml) serving.
[Still slightly al dente in this photo; cook a bit longer if you're an okra neophyte.]
These are two of my favorite okra dishes, ones that we consume fairly regularly here in the DDD household. The first is another adaptation from my dog-eared copy of Flip Shelton's Green, a Moroccan Spiced Okra-Quinoa Pilaf. I've made liberal changes to this one, including altering the base from rice to quinoa. The spices are subtle with a barely detectable undertone of lemon zest in the mix. Served sprinkled with chopped nuts, this pilaf is a meal in a bowl all on its own.
The second dish comes from one of my all-time favorite cookbooks, Indian Cooking Course by Manisha Kanani. Again, I've made a few alterations to the original, which asks you to dry-cook the okra on the stovetop; I've found that adding chopped tomatoes and allowing the tender pods to stew in the juices produces a more appealing taste and texture. Although a masala curry, this one isn't the least bit spicy, yet is still rife with the flavors of tomato, cumin, coriander and fresh cilantro. It's a perfect side dish for Indian food, of course, but we also enjoy this as an accompaniment to burgers or cooked grains.
So go ahead, give okra a try! Who knows? You may even like it. And don't worry, the secret will be safe with me.
Moroccan-Spiced Pilaf with Quinoa and Okra
adapted from Flip Shelton's Green
Okra Masala
adapted from Indian Cooking Course by Manisha Kanani
© 2009 Diet, Dessert and Dogs
Please Standby
March 11, 2009
I'm going to be dashing around town for the next couple of days, doing cooking classes (short notice, but if you're in the Toronto area, I'll be at the Bayview/Sheppard Loblaws tonight at 7:00–would love to meet you!), and then my friend Babe is coming to town tomorrow, so I won't have much time for cooking (except for other people, that is).
When we were undergraduates, my friend Babe had a roster of what she called "permadates." These were straight guys who were no more than friends, but were willing to stand in whenever a male presence was required–at a work function, say, a family wedding or bar mitzvah, a school reunion, etc. She'd call up the permadate and he was always happy to receive a free meal, free booze, and maybe some dancing in exchange for allowing Babe hang on to his rippled bicep and elbow for the evening. A win-win!
I think the same concept extends to foods as well. Don't we all have our own favored dishes, the go-to recipes that we whip up when we need something that will impress, will look good and taste good–and which won't expect any "favors" at the end of the evening? These are the "permadishes," the old standbys that never disappoint.
I've been relying a lot on "candida standbys"–simple foods that are compatible with the ACD–this week. A lettuce wrap here, some baked tofu (without soy sauce, of course) there, here a roasted veggie, there a baked sweet potato, raw almonds and pumpkin seeds everywhere.
Then I realized I've already got quite a few candida-friendly dishes right here on this blog–dishes that are already in my repertoire, but happen to be suitable for the ACD. These are great for anyone who's battling candida, but even more, for anyone who's seeking a cleaner, less toxic, anti-inflammatory, immune-boosting diet as well.
Until I cook again, I'll leave you with some of these reliable favorites. Nothing like a good permadish to get you through a busy week!
- Raw Almond-Veggie Pâté (omit miso if you're sensitive)
- The Perfect Guacamole
- Cheela (Chickpea pancakes)
- Avocado Mayonnaise
- Lentil-Tomato Spaghetti Sauce (omit the spaghetti, of course!)
- Roasted Garlic and Pumpkinseed Pesto
- Balti Tofu and Chickpeas in a Thick Creamy Coconut Sauce
- Kitchari (an anti-candida stew)
- Quick and Easy Tofu Masala (omit mushrooms for ACD)
- Sweet Potato and Kasha Burgers (use non-fermented soy sauce, such as Bragg's)
- Cauliflower, Parsnip and Bean Mash
- Kale and Avocado Salad
- Dandelion-Potato Salad (some diets permit potatoes in moderation)
- Spiced Cauliflower Soup
- Easy Millet and Red Pepper Pilaf
- Sweet Potato "Fries"
"Mum, how about considering us permadogs? You know you can count on us. And of course I always rely on my big sister to take good care of me, too."
"Aw, zip it, Chaser–you're making me blush."
A Bowl Lotta Love
March 4, 2009
Diet, Dessert and Dogs has moved!
If you're reading this page, you've landed on the old site. Please visit the new location by clicking here–and don't forget to update your readers and blogrolls!
As always, thanks for reading. I look forward to seeing you at the shiny new Diet, Dessert and Dogs!
"Um, Mum, we are coming with you, aren't we? Because (and sorry to have to tell you this), we actually have more fans than you do on this blog."]
[Thanks to everyone who left such sweet comments and encouragement for the hellish week of marking! (And I know I still owe some of you emails. . . coming soon!) Some of you who are students noted that you'd be doing as much work on the other side of the red pen. Whether students, parents, teachers or the lucky few whose only connection to academia is reading about it in the newspapers–hope you all survived the past crunch week or so of midterms, study week, or finals. Now get ready, 'cause there's a lengthy return post ahead–on to the food!]
[Base of rice and buckwheat; sautéed rapini and chard with onions and garlic; tahini-miso sauce; sprinkled with hemp seeds.]
I'm sure we've all met her (or perhaps we are her?): that woman who's incredibly competent at dispensing affection, comfort, nurturing or support–yet seems to ignore her own emotional needs and physical well-being.
Well, I admit it, I'm as guilty as the next gal. Ten days away from the DDD home base had me reflecting often on this whole notion of self-love. Actually, that was only one among a plethora of topics on which I mused during the hiatus, which included (but was not limited to) the following:
- how much I miss blogging when I'm away. I was struck by a true sense of void during this time, and it astounded me. Honestly, who are "they" who post studies about the Internet and prophecies of doom regarding how it diminishes social skills or limits interactions with other people? Seriously. In some cases, I'm in contact with blog buddies more often than my "in-person" friends (some of whom live only five minutes away). Don't let anyone tell you that the society of bloggers isn't a bona fide community of lively, vibrant, and very much interactive people–all of you!
- how many different ways one can answer the same exam question (more than you might think, but not quite as many as the meaning of life, the universe and everything).
- how to create a tasty, grain-free breakfast pancake. I wanted something that didn't require refined, or even whole-grain, flour–and I found it! (more on that anon).
- how this &%$!!?* winter refuses to retreat, even though it's March already and why are you still hanging around, Mr. Jack Frost, can't you tell you're not welcome anymore and nobody wants you here, so just go away and don't come back, ya big bully!
- how, with the economy as bad as it is, I'm hoping the HH and I might still save for our dream home (okay, I'd be willing to cut some of the frills and just be happy with a daydream home). And while we're both incredibly lucky to still be gainfully employed, on the topic of saving money and stretching a dollar, I've been mightily inspired by the frugal and fantastic Melody over at MeloMeals.
- why, once again, I have been willing to risk my health, well-being and future for the evil (and truly, ephemeral) charms of that sepia seductress, chocolate.
[Oat groats and amaranth base; grilled eggplant and grilled marinated tofu; broccoli, avocado and green onion; orange-fig sauce.]
Yes, folks, it's time to focus on the "diet" portion of this blog yet again.
When I first began to ponder how I'd spend my break from the college, I considered traveling to a new locale, attending a retreat, picking up old hobbies like sewing or knitting–but it never occurred to me I'd get sick instead. Then, at my annual checkup last week, I discovered that my old candida afflction has reared its yeasty head yet again, and this time, with a potency that could rival the combined superpowers of the X-Men.
I've decided that in order to rid myself of this recurring problem once and for all, I'll need to return to the anti-candida diet (ACD). I'll be facing a highly restrictive diet and a few detoxes or cleanses along the way (no wonder I've been avoiding it). But I've had it with the persistent cycle of diet, dessert and destruction (you thought I was going to say "dogs," didn't you? heh heh!). To paraphrase that seminal queen of weight loss, Susan Powter, "the insanity must stop!" (And what the heck ever happened to her, anyway?).
I'm going on an anti-candida diet so I can be healthy. So I can move more easily, and feel comfortable in my own body. So I can express a little more self-love and self-care through my diet and lifestyle. (Anyone familiar with Sally's fabulous blog already knows what I mean by this: treating my body, mind and spirit with the kindness, reverence, and care it deserves.) So I can enjoy a social life without being fixated on food. Oh, and so I can lose 40 pounds by my highschool reunion this May. **
My last "true" candida cleanse occurred nine years ago, and in the interim, my eating habits have slowly reverted to those that got me in trouble in the first place (chocolate too often; sweets too often; wine too often). After reading the diet on this site (which is slightly less ascetic than the regimen I followed before), I think it's doable (the only recommendation with which I disagree is to use aspartame or aseulfame, so I'll just omit those).
To those of you who've been reading for a while, I understand if you're skeptical, and I apologize. After all, I've tried more than a few times to cut chocolate and sugar from my life. Well, I've learned it's never a great idea to publicly declare such a complete lifestyle overhaul on the blog, because later on, if you don't meet your lofty goal, your initial vow is indelibly there for all the internet to see. With that in mind, I'll restrict my candida commentary to the Progress Tracker page (may as well give it a new use, as I long ago stopped recording my weight over there).
And since I've already done a bit of baking over the past couple of weeks, I can intersperse the spartan dishes with more interesting fare. If I play my screens right, you folks will barely notice a difference.
[Rice and brown lentil base; spinach leaves and steamed sweet potato wedges with chopped green onions; topped with almond-curry sauce.]
The first step is to prepare the system with a week or two of clean, whole-foods eating that doesn't worry about yeast or fermentation (yeast and fermented foods will be cleared out next). Rice or noodle bowls are a great place to start.
[Barley and amaranth base; grilled red pepper strips and onions; steamed broccoli; sprinkling of cashews and sunflower seeds; topped with tahini-miso sauce.]
Meals-in-a-bowl like these have become very popular at health-food restaurants and stores around North America. There's a local haunt that serves an amazing bowl called, appropriately, "The Mish-Mash Bowl." Every meal contains either brown rice or quinoa, topped with your choice of four toppings from three categories (protein, veggies, or good fats), then drizzled with your choice of one or two dressings.
My own variation on the Mish Mash is a quartet of at least one healthy grain plus a protein, healthy fat, and complex carbohydrate (ie, veggies). I was amazed at how satisfying–and how filling–a clean, healthy bowl can be. The marriage of fresh, colorful veggies with chewy grains and the crunch of nuts or seeds is entirely enchanting (almost as enchanting as that vixen, chocolate–though in a different way, of course).
In putting these together, what I discovered rather quickly is that "the sauce makes the bowl." A grain bowl sans effective topping is sort of like a perfect outfit without the right shoes or accessories–it may be good quality, it may be tailored , it may even sport a designer label, but without the proper accoutrements, it's just a length of beige, beige, beige.
With a winning sauce, however, these bowls are stellar; they're delectable; they evoke impatient yearning; they're Zagat-worthy. And, much like those lines of toddlers' clothing that allow the kids to dress themselves by choosing one top and one pre-coordinated bottom, they're fun to mix and match, just to see what comes up.
The combinations here are simply starting points to get you going; play around with different grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, veggies, and sauces. Use these sauces with any combination you please, or go with my mixes–either way, you'll be treating yourself with love.
**I asked this question entirely tongue in cheek–so please, no need to send me emails detailing how unhealthy a 40-pound weight loss in 8 weeks would be! I have no intention of actually losing that much. Besides, at the rate I've been going this past year, a FOUR pound loss by May would be nothing short of miraculous.
Tahini-Miso Sauce
Almond and Curry Sauce
Orange Fig Sauce
© 2009 Diet, Dessert and Dogs
PS, I Love You: V-Day Dinner 2009
February 18, 2009
If you're reading this, you've landed on the old site. Please visit the shiny new Diet, Dessert and Dogs by clicking here.
As always, thanks for reading. I look forward to hearing from you on the new site.
("Um, Mum, we are coming with you, aren't we? Because (and sorry to have to tell you this), we actually have more fans on this blog than you do.")
[Dig that romantic lighting in this photo!]
I have a new love, and it's not the HH.
("What? Mum, you're not getting a divorce, are you? Because who's going to walk us in the morning if Dad is gone??"). Now, before I go and scare The Girls, I should specify that I'm not referring to a human object of my affection. I'm talking about a new food-related amore: celeri rémoulade. ("Phew! Mum, you really shouldn't scare us that way. We're very sensitive, you know.")
Let me backtrack a bit and explain. Even though the HH and I do celebrate Valentine's Day, for the past few years we've done so a day or two after the fact, in order to avoid the too-crowded-too-expensive-too-mushy restaurant crowds who seem to roll out like fog off a San Francisco pier all on that one day. Last year (the first V-day to occur after I started writing this blog), I broke all previous records and assembled a multi-course, ultra-extravagant, über-romantic and oh-so-dirty dinner (no, no, no, that would have scared the dogs even more than a breakup! We'd never offend their delicate sensibilities that way. I meant "dirty" as in, "generating a lot of dirty dishes," silly!). I vowed that this year, we'd move to the other end of the spectrum, with a simple, quick, yet equally delectable meal. ("Thanks, Mum. That divorce scare was more than enough for one day.")
I'd actually chosen the appetizer over a month ago, after reading about celeri rémoulade on Molly's blog. Her description was so alluring–rapturous, almost–citing the "clean, fragrant crunch of celery root, and the alchemy of mayonnaise and Dijon mustard. . . . somewhat rich [with a] flavor [that's] light, bright, even hungry-making, a perfect start to a meal," that I knew I had to try it out. The only glitch, of course, is that traditionally, the dish contains copious amounts of both mayonnaise and yogurt (the vegan versions of which are a tad too processed for my liking). Never mind; I decided to deal with that later.
For the main course, I considered a recipe for Tempeh Stroganoff I'd found in an old (October 2007!) issue of Vegetarian Times.
[11:32 AM. Ricki and the HH sit at the kitchen table, sipping tea and nibbling on muffins. The Girls lie on the carpet in front of the fireplace, Chaser sprawled with her belly facing the fire, while Else lies curled in a ball.]
Ricki: How about this tempeh stroganoff from Vegetarian Times?
HH: No.
Ricki: But it sounds delicious! And it's even gluten-fr–
HH: Uh-uh. No. Nada. No way. Nein. [As if to remind Ricki of a forgotten promise]: No tofu.
Ricki: But it's not tofu. It's tempeh.
HH: Tempeh, tofu–same difference. No soy products.
Ricki: [pouting] Well, but, this is what I want for dinner!
HH: Okay, fine. I'll make a steak and have the stroganoff as a side dish.
Ricki: That's why I love you, sweetheart. Happy Valentine's Day! Kiss kiss squeeze squeeze hug hug. . .
Okay, I didn't really say that. But I did think it. Here's what I did say:
Ricki: Well, in that case, I think I'll make it with these fabulous tempeh meatless balls that I read about on Happyveganface.
HH: Still not eating it.
Me: That's fine, HH. But just because you're cooking your own steak doesn't mean you don't have to help me make the stroganoff.
HH: Okay.
Ricki: That's why I love you, sweetheart. Happy Valentine's Day! Kiss kiss squeeze squeeze hug hug. . .
We figured we could whip up the stroganoff in under an hour (bake the meatballs while I made the sauce; julienne the celery root while the stroganoff simmered), having time to leisurely prepare the meal ensemble while listening to some Rodrigo, exchange good-natured banter, toss cashews to The Girls and sip our favorite bargain basement champagne, sort of like we used to do in the early days of our relationship. We'd have the early part of the day to relax in our jammies, peruse the newspaper, play with The Girls, check favorite blogs, and so on. Perfect!
After a chillaxing day (browsing the paper, taking The Girls for a trail-walk, visiting the workout club–how ya doin', burly guy with the black knee socks? Nice to see you again, septuagenarian couple with the matching T-shirts! Nice day, isn't it, bleached blonde with the flirty giggle!), we finally turned to dinner.
Perhaps I should have planned this "easy peasy" meal just a tad more carefully. (Of course, by the time I got round to cooking, I was semi sloshed on Segura Viudas, which may have contributed to my somewhat inefficient kitchen artistry–but still).
First, I discovered that the cashews (the main ingredient in the homemade sour cream) required an hour's soaking, which set our prep time back by an hour. No problem: I'd whir together some homemade vegan mayonnaise (I used the recipe in Cozy Inside, but this one sounds just as good) and whip up the meatballs while the nuts soaked. Then, I'd quickly prep the sour cream and throw together the stroganoff while the HH grilled his steak. We'd be done and ready to dig in by 7:00 PM at the latest.
[7:00 PM. Having forgotten about the initial chopping and sautéing involved, Ricki is still mixing ingredients for the meatballs. Sounds of rumbling tummies can be heard in the background.]
HH: So, um, what's our ETA for dinner?
Ricki: Well, I'll just pop these meatballs in the oven–I couldn't bear to fry them–and then make the mayo and sour cream, and then I can whip up the stroganoff, and then the celeri rémoulade, oh, and then I guess we should think about dessert–
HH: I thought this was going to be a quick and easy dinner.
Ricki [pouting]: Well, now, I suppose it HAS been easy for YOU, hasn't it, Mr. Lazypants? I mean, I'VE done all the work so far, I'm standing here covered in onion juice and flour and cashew crumbs, and YOU'VE been sittng there all day reading the paper and playing with the dogs, sipping your champagne, now, haven't you?? Well, I wouldn't be complaining right about now if I were you, mister, you'd better watch yourself, or else—
HH: Um, well, I'm actually happy to help. Just tell me what to chop. Oh, and here's your Valentine's Day present [brandishing chocolate].
Me: Oh, that's why I love you, sweetheart! Happy Valentine's Day! Kiss kiss squeeze squeeze hug hug. . .
Ultimately, we didn't sit down at the table until well after 8:00 PM (have you ever julienned a celery root by hand??? Insanity, I tell you–sheer insanity). But the results were well worth it. The celeri rémoulade was, as Molly promised, fresh, crisp, light, and entirely irresistible. I really did fall in love, and ate two servings before even thinking about my stroganoff.
The main course, too, offered a winning combination of succulent, filling meatless balls atop a plate of velvety, herbaceous sauce. It practically hummed its smooth melody of rich, sour cream and savory, toothsome mushrooms.
It may have been more complex than anticipated, and it may have taken six times as long as anticipated, and it may have been cobbled together from seven different recipes intended for seven other purposes. . . but this meal was remarkable all the same.
After all, who ever said the road to true love was an easy one?
In case you'd like to reproduce the meal yourself (if you happen to have three and a half hours to spare some weekend), here's how I assembled it.
And since celery root is available in Ontario in February, this post is my submission to Maninas's event, Eating with the Seasons, for February.
Vegan Celeri Rémoulade
adapted from Orangette
Meatball Stroganoff (GF option)
based on a recipe in Vegetarian Times, October 2007
Last Year at this Time
: Juicy Cuisine and Crunchy Granola
© 2009 Diet, Dessert and Dogs
[Diet, Dessert and Dogs has moved! If you're reading this page, you've landed on the old site. Please visit the new location by clicking here–and don't forget to update your readers and blogrolls!
As always, thanks for reading. I look forward to seeing you at the shiny new Diet, Dessert and Dogs!
"Um, Mum, we are coming with you, aren't we? Because (and sorry to have to tell you this), we actually have more fans than you do on this blog."]
Are you looking forward to V-Day next week? Seems most people either love it or hate it. Being from the "never too much schmaltz" school of romance, I love Valentine's Day. Even during all those years before I met the HH, I'd always endeavor to celebrate somehow. I'd send cards to my friends or my sisters. I'd invite a gal pal for dinner so we could sip Shiraz together and muse about how few good men there were out there. One year, I think I even bought myself roses (must have been my "I am woman, hear me roar" phase).
Last year, I composed a fairly elaborate (and, as I recall, extremely disorderly) meal for the HH and me. Given my frenetic schedule these days working on the book (the Index is done! The book has officially moved from the "writing" to the "production" stage! Whoo!), I assumed I'd have no time to repeat last year's amorous performance (I meant preparing the meal, silly! You crazy romantics, you!). But then I saw Susan's post about this year's Vegetable Love contest, and how could I resist? (Not that I find Fatfree Vegan Kitchen's charms any more alluring than those of the HH, you understand).
The contest asks you to create a romantic dish using one or more vegetables of your choice. Last year, I came up with a Vegan Molten Chocolate Cake recipe using puréed zucchini and spinach. I loved the taste of the cakes, but the molten filling was temperamental–sometimes it formed a lovely, floating cloud of lava in the center of the cake, as it was supposed to do; other times, the filling got sucked up by the batter and all that remained was a tiny disk of tar-like chocolate at its core. You'd think I'd give up on sweets with veggies in them. But no. . .
As I'm sure I've mentioned before, sweet potatoes are my favorite vegetable. I love sweet potatoes in just about anything (or, as I've seen the phrase skipping around the blogosphere lately, I lurrrve sweet potatoes). When I was on the anti-candida diet several years ago, sweet potatoes became my favorite veggie (and my favorite brekkie). They're a healthy vegetable. They're orange. They're sweet. And their name sounds like a term of endearment: "Oh, why so coy, my little Sweet Potato? Come on over here and let me help you out of that peel." Why not use them as the basis for a sweet filling in a Valentine's Day truffle, then?
This year's recipe really should have made it into the cookbook–it's that good. What you'll end up with is an insanely creamy, smooth, rich-tasting truffle filling, vibrantly orange and steeped in citrus flavor. In fact, no one would ever guess it contained one of the world's healthiest roots. I fed 0ne of these beauties to the HH, and he literally licked his fingers clean, enthusing, "This tastes exactly like a really fine quality, high-end chocolate!" This from a guy who'd normally consume chocolates with cream, butter and white sugar. "There is no trace of sweet potato flavor in these," he went on. "All you taste is the orange" (enhanced with a splash of Cointreau–though you can use orange juice if you prefer alcohol-free confections).
Even if you're not into chocolates, the filling on its own makes a fabulous, versatile frosting. Rich and fluffy, sweetened with agave and boasting the added fiber of the sweet potato, I'm guessing that the total GI (glycemic index) of this frosting is fairly low and could be used successfully by those on a variety of restricted diets. (See instructions in the Variation, below).
I'll definitely be making these again for V-Day (the half-batch I concocted is already long gone). Even if you don't celebrate the Big V, it's worth making a batch of these. Give yourself a little gift of Vegetable Love this year.
This is my submission to Susan's contest. You have until tomorrow at midnight to enter if you're so inclined!
Spiked Sweet Potato Truffles or Truffle Cups
© 2009 Diet, Dessert and Dogs
Nava's Sweet and Sour Cabbage and Bread Stew
February 3, 2009
If you're reading this, you've landed on the old site. Please visit the shiny new Diet, Dessert and Dogs by clicking here.
As always, thanks for reading. I look forward to hearing from you at the new site.
("Um, Mum, we are coming with you, aren't we? Because (and we hate to have to tell you this), we actually have more fans on this blog than you do.")
Now is the discontent of our winter.
The dozen or so of you who were reading my blog last year at this time probably remember how much I hate the snowy season. (How much, you ask? As much as Gepetto hates dishonesty. As much as Ellen loves Portia. As much as the calories in a deep-fried Mars Bar (with whipped cream on top). As much as union disagrees with management. As much as my eternal incredulity at the popularity of Julia Roberts.) This morning, when I emitted a plaintive little lament about the fact that we've already surpassed last year's (record-breaking) snowfall for this date, the HH helpfully piped up, "Yeah, and we've still got over a month more of this to go!" Gee, thanks, sweetheart.
So, what to do about a wall of pelting snow every time you leave the house, ice crystals forming on your eyebrows, the grey rime that coats your glasses like vaseline on a camera lens?
Make soup, that's what.
When I was a carefree singleton* back in the early 90s, I developed a Friday evening cooking ritual. After arriving home from work, I'd change into sweats and a T-shirt, then spend most of the evening cooking food for the following week. By the end of the week, I was usually too pooped to socialize anyway, and I found cooking to be incredibly meditative. (Besides, if anything better male intellectually stimulating came up instead, I wasn't irrevocably tied to my plan; I'd just cook the following day). I'd pack the prepared dishes into plastic containers, then freeze them for consumption later on. A relaxing evening plus seven days of healthy, homemade food–a pretty good arrangement, I thought.
In those days, I tended to cook a lot of soups. Perhaps I was subconsciously emulating my mom, whose chicken soup graced our stovetop every Friday evening as far back as I can remember. In fact, the very first recipe I cooked in my very first apartment was soup–split pea and ham, as I recall (which is odd, since even then I didn't really like meat, and I'd never tasted ham at all before that–or since). In the interim, I've expanded my repertoire a bit, enjoying a variety of traditional or exotic or unusual soups over the years. With its ability to embrace any and all stray vegetables, then bathe them in a warm, soothing broth, vitamin and mineral-rich soup is an ideal meal-in-a-bowl.
Strangely, once the HH and I began seeing each other, I all but stopped making soups on Friday nights (he seemed to think our courtship should take place alongside a wine bottle rather than a stockpot). Then, a couple of weeks ago, I received a copy of Nava Atlas's newly released Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons (this is a 4th edition of her earlier Vegetarian Soups for All Seasons) as part of the book's virtual tour. Suddenly, soup was back on my radar. And I must tell you, I think this book has singlehandedly renewed my zeal for soup making.
The book is divided by season, so it made sense that the fall and winter offerings would appeal most right now, with innovative and interesting combinations like Broccoli, Apple and Peanut Soup or Almond-Brussels Sprouts Soup (which I just enjoyed for lunch today–splendid!), and classics like Hearty Barley-Bean Soup or Minestrone. But the spring and summer were equally tantalizing, with recipes for Creole Eggplant Soup and Gingery Miso-Spinach Soup and Strawberry Colada Soup. (Now I have yet another reason to wish winter would end soon.)
With our seemingly irrepressible mountains of snow (now taller than the HH, who is over 6 feet/1.8 meters) outside, a hearty winter stew seemed just the right antidote. This Sweet and Sour Cabbage and Bread Stew is a perfectly warming, filling, tasty combination, with a substantial broth, in which you simmer a variety of winter veggies, all imbued with a subtle sweet and piquant tang. Initially, the HH was a bit reluctant to try it (paradoxically, the guy will eat anything and everything if it's derived from an animal, but is entirely unadventurous when it comes to vegetable dishes). After the first few spoonfuls, however, he pronounced it "a keeper" and was content to have nothing more than this for dinner.
I'm happy to say that I'm even looking forward to getting back in the swing of Friday evening soup-a-thons. And these days, I won't be cooking alone (hear that, HH?).
"Mum, you know that we'd love to help you cook, too, if we could. There's just this little matter of the 'no opposable thumbs' thing. But we're still more than happy to help clean up the leftovers."
* Okay, I was never "carefree," but more like "unattached, at loose ends, having no weekend plans." The closest I've ever gotten to "carefree" was probably during that time before I embraced all the responsibilities and anxieties of adulthood–like, maybe, when I was three.
Sweet and Sour Cabbage and Bread Stew
from Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons
by Nava Atlas
© 2009 Diet, Dessert and Dogs
Flash in the Pan: Sautéed Greens with Onions and Apples
January 12, 2009
DIET, DESSERT AND DOGS HAS MOVED! Please visit the shiny new home of DDD by clicking here.
[Sometimes, you just want to eat something now. I've decided to offer a mini-post every once in a while, for a dish that comes together incredibly quickly or else is so easy to make that no recipe is required. Here's today's "Flash in the Pan." (For other FitP recipes, see "Categories" at right).]
[With Collards, Chard and Red Onion]
It's been a truly crazy past week, what with our new semester starting up today at the college and my cookbook deadline being perilously close.* (And let's not forget the Golden Globes from last evening–didn't B & A look marvelous amidst the hubub and Moet & Chandon? And did you hear that Tracy Morgan is the new face of the US? But Mamma Mia, that Ms. Streep is timeless! ) With all that, there's been no time for handiwork in the kitchen.
Instead, here's what I've been eating lately–and by "lately," I mean pretty much every day. I've made this three times in the past six days: it's quick, it's easy, it's delicious and it contains nature's most nutritious vegetables, leafy greens. And with all the deep browns, ochres, ambers and ecrus I've been consuming over the past few weeks, I figured it was time for some green.
[With Collards and Yellow Onion]
Besides, I adore leafy greens and have been trying to include them in my diet more often. Jagged, zippy dandelion greens are like the tough kid in the schoolyard, the punk who wears his black leather jacket like a trophy and loiters in the corner of the schoolyard chain-smoking. With a hard and bitter exterior, he's really a sweetheart once you get to know him. Collards, with their elegant, frond-like shape, are the modern jazz dancers of the group, deftly swaying side to side as they harmoniously meld the delicate and the cacophonous. And kale, my very favorite, is the ditzy neighbour, the plucky, perky best friend, the Mary Richards of leafy greens; she fidgets and bobs and sighs histrionically, clad in her ruffly collar and matching cuffs–she's a little wacky, maybe, but always honest and reliable. How could you not love greens?
This dish was created when I had intended to try out a recipe for brussels sprouts and apples I read about on Vegalicious a while back. When I discovered I had no sprouts, I opted for the greens instead (heck, they're all brassicas, right?). Using the other recipe for inspiration, I threw this together. It was ready in ten minutes, and I was left to marvel that something so simple could taste so good.
The barely-wilted greens are chewy and toothsome, while the apples and onions, having softened and caramelized slightly, provide a balancing sweetness to the slightly bitter leaves. The addition of lemon juice here, besides imparting an appealing tang, renders the minerals in the vegetables more bio-available (and thereby more easily absorbed) so you can best benefit from their high mineral content.
* As to the cookbook, right now, it looks as if the publication date will be mid-April; I'll report back as soon as I'm given a "firm" date from the publisher. What this means, however, is that my blogging may become slightly more sporadic over the next few weeks, as will my commenting on other blogs. But know that I'll keep reading and enjoying all of your blogs even if I don't make my presence known. And I do hope that you will still comment here–I always look forward to, and read, every single comment on this site–it is truly a high point in my day!
Sautéed Greens with Onions and Apples
inspired by this recipe
© 2009 Diet, Dessert and Dogs


text:
Vail Daily obituary: Marie Claire Moritz, 1939-2013
Vail, CO Colorado
The Vail Valley lost a unique spirit this week. Marie Claire Moritz lost her battle with leukemia Feb. 6. She had lived in the Vail Valley since 1967.
Marie Claire was born in 1939 in Montereau, Seine at Marne, France, just outside of Paris. Marie Claire's strength of spirit was formed at a young age, as she had to endure many hardships. At the age of 6, her mother, Jeanne Lize Vigne, had to send her to an orphanage where she remained until she was 17. These years after the war in the orphanage were difficult for Marie Claire but she did not let this define her. She could even joke that she was like Madeleine as a child, walking the streets of Paris "two by two" visiting the museums and sights. Marie Claire had a sister and brother, but they were both killed at a young age in accidents.
At 17, Marie Claire moved to England and worked as an au pair to help her learn English. She wanted to save money to go back to France and have a small home with her mother, but unfortunately her mother passed away before this could happen.
Marie Claire met her future husband, Walter, while he was working for the Dudley Hotel in Hove, England. Together they immigrated to America in 1964 when Walter got a job offer from the Drake Hotel. Marie Claire worked at Carson Pirie Scott as a photographer and loved it. She laughed that she landed the job after she lied about being a photographer – but she had flair and a good eye and pulled it off! She also liked to tell the story of how she and Walter went to rent an apartment in Chicago but they couldn't as they weren't married – so they got married the next day on their lunch break!
Marie Claire and Walter met other foreigners in Chicago who talked about "this new little town in the Rockies." They decided to pack up and move to Vail, hoping for new opportunities. Baby Sasha was along for the ride. They came to Vail in 1966, where Walter's first job was as a chef at the Lord Gore. The Lord Gore was "the place" in 1967, largely due to Walter's cooking.
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Walter and Marie Claire realized their dream of opening their own restaurant in November 1967 when they opened the St. Moritz in the old Wedel Inn. Jean-Claude was only one month old when the restaurant opened, and Marie Claire reminisced about how she brought him to the bar in a basket, as she had no sitter. She also said she dipped his "schnooli" (pacifier) in whiskey to quiet him down! One-year-old Sasha was probably already behind the bar serving drinks or washing dishes! Misha was born in the early years of the St. Moritz and all three boys spent a lot of time in the restaurant, helping and eating. Marie Claire said it was a good thing she had a restaurant or she would have gone broke feeding the boys!
The St. Moritz quickly became the gourmet spot in Vail. It was known for its lobster thermidor and steak Diane. The St. Moritz and La Cave instigated the perception that Vail was a culinary destination as well as a ski area in the early days. Many VIPs and locals frequented the St. Moritz and enjoyed the fine food and family atmosphere. In 1977 the Moritzs sold the restaurant but they weren't out of the business for long. They opened La Tour in 1980. This restaurant was also a success, and people again enjoyed the combination of gourmet food from Walter's kitchen and the friendly atmosphere supplied by Marie Claire. Everyone felt welcomed by her when they entered La Tour.
Anyone who knew Marie Claire knew how much her boys meant to her. After her bleak childhood, she wanted to make a wonderful life for them. She would do anything for them, including their French homework (she got caught), and Misha thinks he may have won some ski races due to his mother doing the scorekeeping! Marie Claire enjoyed attending all of the boys' sporting events and learned about "American football." She enjoyed cheering on the Broncos and called Jean-Claude every Sunday to ask "what channel are the Broncos on?"
After nearly 20 years of operating La Tour, Walter and Marie Claire decided to sell the restaurant in 1998 and retire. The couple was able to enjoy one year of retirement together before Walter passed away in 1999. Marie Claire always said that she was glad that she and Walter had traveled so much through the years. She said that they "did it all" and never waited until they had the money or the time.
In recent years Marie Claire kept herself busy with her children and grandchildren. She had always wanted a daughter (many people remember her dressing Misha in pink) and she was blessed with seven granddaughters – Misha and Kaia's four daughters and Sasha's three. She also enjoyed reliving her life with three boys through Jean-Claude and Ellen's three sons. Marie Claire remained active in her "club" where her involvement has impacted many people in this valley. She also spent time volunteering at Vail Valley Medical Center.
Marie Claire was known for her wonderful accent, which never left her after all these years living in the U.S. She caused many laughs with her pronunciation of words. She was full of life, honest and an animal lover. She touched many lives in this valley and will be sorely missed.
Marie Claire was preceded in death by her husband Walter in 1999. She is survived by her three sons, Sasha, Jean-Claude and Misha, Jean-Claude's wife Ellen, and Misha's wife Kaia. Her 10 grandchildren meant the world to her: Sasha and Amy's daughters Eloise, Lily and Grace; Jean-Claude and Ellen's sons Sebastian, Alec and Theo; and Misha and Kaia's daughters Annika, Liv, Kjersti, and Solveig.
A memorial service will be held at the Vail Chapel Feb. 16 at 1 p.m. A reception will follow from 3 until 6 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Marie Claire's memory to the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens or the Vail Valley Charitable Fund.


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We are not alone. NASA's Mars rover vehicle has found irrefutable proof that intelligent life exists on the Red Planet.
The agency is preparing to announce the historic discovery. Details will be released in a few days, but we have obtained an advance copy of the agency's press release.
Apparently, the rover vehicle was parked in a "busy" zone; an area of the planet strewn with rocks and craters. NASA left the rover there for a few days to carry out routine maintenance. Just before the remotely-controlled vehicle was due to be moved, a NASA engineer noticed a parking ticket on its windscreen.
According to the press release: "This is the most convincing evidence to date that Martians exist."


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