Results After 911

Recently in the news here I am hearing more and more about people that volunteered for rescue efforts and clean up efforts after 911 are paying for their heroic efforts now with extreme illnesses and death. No one will help them. Some must take about 15 medications a day and cannot afford them. Lawsuits have been won and the US Federal Government is to pay the bills but through red tape and what seems to be a refusal on the governments part help isn't coming for these people. More and more are dying due to the toxic poisons they have in their bodies.

Our Government provides medical care for prisoners, rapist, murderers, child molester, illegal aliens and to even tried and found guilty terrorist that were involved with the hijackings and future terrorist attacks.

The US Federal Government after 911 bailed out probably every major insurance company in this country. It paid off lawsuits by settling with families of those lost in the destruction. All major airline companies were saved from bankruptcy because they were given money by the Government. Billions was spent on airport security in airports that aren't owned by the public. US taxpayers dollars even bought an Olympic sized swimming pool for Iraqi Policemen. And lets not forget the millions if not billions of dollars and goods donated by concerned citizens of the US.

I don't blame any single one politition for the way we treat our hero's and those that reach out to help when help is needed. I blame every back stabbing, money grubbing, bend over here it comes again, control mongering, thieving, stealing, don't you dare say God, immoral,back door dealing, don't turn your back, we are better than you, your the idiots that keep voting us into office, we want your money freakin one of them.

The next time I am asked for a political donation I am going to donate one of those maggoty cheeses to them.

I recently copied a recipe from JudyE for an easy cobbler and easy it is. I made a blueberry cobbler yesterday using her recipe it it turned out excellent. I used frozen blue berries and I thought for that reason my baking time had been thrown off. I told JudyE that here in the north east we tend to like things on the sweet side too. I can see every southerner rolling their eyes over that because you all think us yankees ruined cornbread for that reason. I made a few minor changes to the original recipe that I copied from JudyE and I hope that she won't get mad at me for it. The following is a cobbler that I made today using some of the cranberries I still have frozen in the freezer left over from the holidays.

Cranberry Cobbler

Ingredients

½ stick of butter

1 cup of self-rising flour

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of milk

½ teaspoon of cinnamon

2 cups of frozen cranberries

½ cup of orange juice

½ cup of sugar

I was very tempted to add walnuts to the cranberry mixture but held off. Maybe next time.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a saucepan add the cranberries, orange juice and 1/2 cup of sugar. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer until berries pop. Remove from heat and allow cooling.

In a casserole dish, (I use an oblong dish that’s about 10” long, 8” wide by about 4” deep) melt the butter in the bottom of the dish in the microwave. About 45 seconds. Mix together the sugar and self-rising flour and cinnamon. Whisk in the milk but don’t over mix. Pour the batter over the melted butter and then spoon the cooled cranberry mixture over the batter. Do not mix.

Bake the cobbler for 60 minutes or until the entire top is a nice deep golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow the cobbler to rest for about 15 minutes before serving. Excellent served hot or cold.

My daughter's that just came home from school and looking for a snack just had some of this cobbler and thought that I had actually used cherries for some reason. They loved it and that's a plus for they won't usually eat cranberry anything.

Blue Cheese.

After doing my blog on Buffalo Wings after seeing Vic's Comment about liking Blue Cheese I had to blog about the subject.

I do not like Blue Cheese Sam I Am, I will not eat it in a house, I will not eat it with a mouse, not in a box or with a fox, I do not like Blue Cheese Sam I Am.

I was standing in an Army Chow Line one day on a Saturday and the usually menu was either burgers or chili mac. I decided on a burger that day. I made my way to the fixing bar and decided to put a dollop of mayonnaise on my burger.A pretty big dollop at that. Well I sat at the table and took a big ole bite of my burger and my mouth filled with the taste of the best description I have for the flavor was of moldy bread. That's when I realized that I had made a mistake and put Blue Cheese Salad dressing on my burger by mistake. I could not get that moldy taste out of my mouth no matter what I tried. I still have it today. I guess that Blue Cheese needs an acquired taste to like it. I have been living with the memory of that taste for years and still have not acquired a liking for it. I

If you take a block of Blue Cheese and look at it you can see the mold in it. It makes me think of other scary cheeses that I have seen some eat. I saw a cooking show one time and I think the host was Mario Batali. He was in Italy and the show was on Italian Cheeses. I saw these 2 older Italian guys eating a cheese that was kind of creamy on the inside. They were using crackers and reaching into the center of the cheese to get the creamy part to spread onto the crackers. The disgusting part is that they were working around maggots. I forget the name of the cheese but call it Maggot Cheese. I will stick to traditional cheeses. No Blue Cheese and no Maggoty Cheese for me.

Casa Marazu Maggoty cheese (Rotten Cheese)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casu_marzu

Risk of enteric myiasis: intestinal larval infection. Piophila casei larvae can pass through the stomach alive (human stomach acids do not usually kill them) and take up residency for some period of time in the intestines, where they can cause serious lesions as they attempt to bore through the intestinal walls. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, pain in the abdomen, and bloody diarrhea.

Mac Made Buffalo Wings

I Have mentioned several times that I like to make and eat chicken wings. Here in the North East we call them Buffalo Wings. I'm not sure how far across the country Buffalo Wings have spread as a culinary delight so I figured if you haven't heard of them I would introduce them to you and hope that you will try them.

Buffalo Chicken Wings

Frank's Louisiana Hot Sauce is not terribly spicy. We like to combine it with a more potent hot sauce, such as Tabasco, to bring up the heat. You will need to double the ingredients in the blue cheese dressing

Serves 6 to 8

Sauce 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter 1/2 Cup hot sauce, preferably Frank's Louisiana Hot Sauce 2 Tablespoons Tabasco sauce or other hot sauce, plus more to taste 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar 2 Teaspoons cider vinegar Wings 1 - 2 Quarts peanut oil (or vegetable oil) for frying 1 Teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 Teaspoon ground black pepper 1 Teaspoon table salt 3 Tablespoons cornstarch 3 Pounds chicken wings (18 wings), cut up (see illustrations below) Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing and Vegetables 21/2 Ounces blue cheese, crumbled (about 1/2 cup) I'm not a fan of Blue Cheese and don't use it. I included it in the recipe for it is traditional. I make the dressing without it. 3 Tablespoons buttermilk 3 Tablespoons sour cream 2 Tablespoons mayonnaise 2 Teaspoons white wine vinegar 4 Stalks celery, cut into thin sticks 2 Medium carrots, peeled and cut into thin slices The dressing is to dip the veggies in and to help you recover from the spicy sauce on the wings. I increase the amount of sour cream by 2 tablespoons to compensate for not using the Blue Cheese.

Chicken See Illustrations Below: Cutting Up Chicken Wings 1. For the Sauce: Melt butter in small saucepan over low heat. Whisk in hot sauces, brown sugar, and vinegar until combined. Remove from heat and set aside. 2. For the Wings: Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line baking sheet with paper towels. Heat 2 1/2 inches of oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat to 360 degrees. While oil heats, mix together cayenne, black pepper, salt, and cornstarch in small bowl. Dry chicken with paper towels and place pieces in large mixing bowl. Sprinkle spice mixture over wings and toss with rubber spatula until evenly coated. Fry half of chicken wings until golden and crisp, 10 to 15 minutes. With slotted spoon, transfer fried chicken wings to baking sheet. Keep first batch of chicken warm in oven while frying remaining wings. 3. For the Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing and Vegetables: Mash blue cheese and buttermilk in small bowl with fork until mixture resembles cottage cheese with small curds. Stir in remaining ingredients (up to carrot and celery sticks). Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Can be covered and refrigerated up to 4 days. 4. To Serve: Pour sauce mixture into a large bowl and add chicken wings, toss until wings are uniformly coated. Serve immediately with the carrot and celery sticks and blue cheese dressing on side. 5. To Make Ahead: The fried, unsauced wings can be kept warm in the oven for up to 1 1/2 hours. Toss them with the sauce just before serving. STEP BY STEP: Cutting Up Chicken Wings 1. With a chef’s knife cut into the skin between the two larger sections of the wings until you hit the joint. 2. Bend back the two sections to pop and break the joint. 3. Cut through the skin and flesh to completely separate the two meaty portions. 4. Hack off the wingtip and discard.

This recipe comes from my favorite cooking and recipe site. Americas Test Kitchen or Cooks Illustrated.

The Garden Circle Awards Video

I am learning here so give me a break, lol.I made a video for the Garden Circle Go Cart Race Awards by using a site that Wukky uses. For some reason I ended up using Yahoo Video. Ialso used windows movie maker and have much to learn about the program. If anyone has any advice I sure can use it. I know learning to spell the word "AND" would be helpful, lol.

What Flavor Jello Do You Like?

Once while chatting in Garden room 2 one day as usual the conversation turned to food and cooking. I believe that with gardening sooner or later cooking has to come into the picture.

For one reason or another we started talking about of all things jello. A weird food item to talk about but hey, who doesn't like jello? As with so many different foods and what they are called or ingredients used it seems that things are different around the world. Case in point and a fact that I found very surprising about jello is what we call the different kinds. Let me explain. Where I grew up and someone asked you what kind of jello you wanted the answer was to say purple, red, yellow orange or green and blue. (this also goes for ice pops or pop sickles) I was kinda thrown off to find that different areas use a flavor name. Hm, grape jello. Who woulda thought? Cherry or strawberry, lemon, orange and lime, lol. I love jello, jigglers, wigglers, parfaits, salads, with fruit and throw on some cool whip please.

I never thought jello really had a fruity type flavor. I never have or want to read the ingredients to check if there is any real fruit used in it. As long as we all like jello who cares what it is called. And of course it is so easy to make.

Pineapple Jello of course even by me is called Pineapple Jello. I like to make it by boiling the water called for, 2 cups. Dissolve the jello in it and then mix in about 6 ice cubes to cool it off. Stir stir and stir. I then pick out the little tiny pieces of left over ice chunks left because they stopped dissolving and then mix in about 6 oz of pineapple yogurt and whip with a whisk until it is well blended and then refrigerate for several hours. The finished product is a surprise so you'll have to make it for the surprise and delicious results. I think that this is the way to go for n easy and quick dessert and I think that with the addition of yogurt it might possibly be just a bit healthy too.

A request regarding the Garden Circle Go Cart Race.

I have been asked by 2 fellow bloggers, Chris alias Farmer Jones and SugarPi, if they could enter the Garden Circle Go Cart Race. Those of you that know them know that SugarPi lost her father last week and the 2 of them for obvious reasons could not enter their Go Carts on time.

I have asked the Judges if they could be allowed to enter for the race and overall,it's a yes. It has been suggested that since rules are rules and to be fair to all that have done their best to abide by those rules to ask all of the Go Cart Racers to voice their opinions.

So to all of the Garden Circle Go Cart Racers that have qualified for the race coming up this Saturday, Let me hear what you think.Your input will be the determining factor.

What Mac's Been Cooking

I Know that I haven't blogged a recipe in awhile so I figured I would share one with everyone that is sure to start a Sunday morning off just right.

Mac’s Ultimate Pancakes

Ingredients

1-½ cups of unbleached white flour

1-1/2 tsp of baking powder

3 tbls of brown sugar

½ tsp of baking soda

½ tsp of salt

1 mashed ripe banana

½ cup of crushed walnuts

1-1/2 cups of milk with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice

2 tbls of melted butter

2 eggs separated

1 tsp of vanilla

½ cup of chocolate chips

Directions

In a mixing bowl add all of the dry ingredients and mix very well.

Heat what ever you are going to use to cook your pancakes to a medium high heat. A griddle works great but if you use a skillet you can use more butter for the actual cooking of the pancakes for a better texture. Think of all the extra calories, lol.

Add the 2 egg whites to a bowl and with a mixer beat to stiff peaks.

In a large measuring cup add first the milk and the lemon juice and mix well. Allow to sit for a few minutes and you will have buttermilk. Add the 2 egg yolks and mix well.

Add the Buttermilk and egg mixture to the dry ingredients and then add the melted butter, mashed banana, vanilla and mix well. After the mixture is smooth fold in the egg whites. This is my secret step for making the most ultimate light and airy pancakes ever.

Spray your skillet or griddle with cooking spray or use a pat of butter. Pour ¼ cup of batter for each 6” pancake. As the bottom starts to cook, sprinkle chocolate chips over the surface. As the outside sets and the top gets good and bubbly flip the pancakes. These pancakes are very airy due to the egg whites and will really rise. Allow them to finish cooking for about another 30 seconds and serve with a pat of butter and the syrup of your choice.

I like to make a pancake that I call a log cabin style pancake. I do not know if anyone has ever heard of this method but I would like to share it with you if you haven’t. When I pour pancake batter into a skillet or onto the griddle I like to pour it rather slow. The batter stream is in the middle and slowly works its way outward. This method actually forms rings on the surface of the pancake that is cooking like the rings you would see on a log or stump. This method of pancake making is greatly appreciated on camping trips and when doing outdoor cooking.

This recipe will make 10- 6” pancakes.

The Excellent Go Cart Designs

I know that everyone out there must be sitting on the edge of their seats just wondering whats going on here with this Go Kart Race and design contest. Well this weekend all participants that want to enter the race entered their vehicles and fine entries they are showing the creativeness, skill and humor of each and every one of them. The official Judges for the designs have their hands full trying to determine the best designs for each of 3 categories, Best design, Most original and of course the most humorous.

So for your viewing pleasure below are the entries.

Dixie's Wukky Wombat.

Wukky's Gnomes In Black.

Misty's (Mac's Going To Eat Her Wheels) Go Kart.

Vic And Fudgewocket's Fudgewocket Rocket.

Angie and Victoria's Flower Power To The Max.

Gloggy's Dawghouse Blues.

Shandie's Go Kats.

Cyn's Pixie Mobile.

The Blushing Buffy

I want to thank all of the participants for their hard work with their designs. You have all done a job to be proud of. I applaud each and everyone of you. Now, get some rest and get ready for the Garden Circle Go Kart Race.

The Garden Circle Go Kart Designs, Judgement Time

To all Participants of the Garden Circle Go Kart Design Finals.

To enter your Go Kart for Judging please post a blog with a picture of your Go Kart and do a short blog of its features. If the Go Kart is being submitted by a team please post the name of all team members and the name of the team Captain.

I want to wish everyone the best of luck. Now get those Go Karts posted and win win win.

A soon to be NJ Law

Tonight I have to vent some regarding this Hello Hole of a state that I live in. NJ tax payers pay the highest property taxes in the country and is also the most politically corrupt. Government gets bigger and bigger by the day and now there is a big pretense taking place because of the fact that we are taxed to the max but there is never enough money.

The reason I am venting today is over a bill that is sitting on the governors desk. About 6 months ago Sate Law Makers reached out to Public school Administrators and asked what state mandates could be cut to help reduce operating cost of these schools. To the Administrators of the public schools I give them credit for they sent a huge list to the state.

Well, leave it to Law Makers to get a list. Well they reviewed it over a several month period and finally made a decision on what they would cut. The great law makers of my state decided that Public schools here will not be mandated to provide any curriculum in regards to any Patriotic type Holiday. That's Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Presidents Day, Thanksgiving etc.

I am sure that if you look at the listed Holidays you will notice that Martin Luther King Day is not listed. It is the only curriculum that will still be mandated to be taught.

I am just sick over what is happening in this country. Our children are already being taught that their belief in God has no place in Public. Now they will lose any education regarding how are country was built, the reason for the wars that were fought, to remember those who have died for this country.

I remember a time when immigrants came into this country it was for the reason of wanting a better life and that they wanted to live the so called American dream. The Immigrant was proud to learn the English language and to learn American history. Not anymore. Now the illegal immigrants in this state will not be required to learn what I feel is important curriculum. Oh, the day is still a holiday but the reason for the holiday isn't important. And oh yes, for the public school teachers who are considered state workers here and all state workers here in general will still get the days off with pay.

I am sorry to say that when the Governor signs this Bill into law for this state it will just be the beginning. Surrounding states will follow and the ripple effect will just travel across the entire country.

IRS AUDIT,

The IRS decides to audit Ralph, and summons him to
the IRS office. The IRS auditor is not surprised when Ralph shows up with his attorney.

The auditor says, "Well, sir, you have anextravagant lifestyle and no full time employment, which you explain by saying that you win money gambling. I'm not sure the IRS finds that believable."

"I'm a great gambler, and I can prove it" says Ralph. "How about a demonstration?"

The auditor thinks for a moment and said, "Okay. Go ahead."

Ralph says, "I'll bet you a thousand dollars that I can bite my own eye."

The auditor thinks a moment and says, "No way! It's a bet."

Ralph removes his glass eye and bites it. The auditor's jaw drops. Ralph says, "Now, I'll bet you two thousand dollars that I can bite my other eye."

The auditor can tell Ralph isn't blind, so he takes the bet. Ralph removes his dentures and bites his good eye.

The stunned auditor now realizes he has wagered and lost three grand, with Ralph's attorney as a witness. He starts to get nervous.

"Want to go double or nothing?" Ralph asks. "I'll bet you six thousand dollars that I can stand on one side of your desk, and urinate into that wastebasket on the other side, and never get a drop anywhere in between."

The auditor, twice burned, is cautious now, but he looks carefully and decides there's no way this guy can manage that stunt, so he agrees again.

Ralph stands beside the desk and unzips his pants,but although he strains mightily, he can't make the stream reach the wastebasket on other side, so he pretty much urinates all over the desk.

The auditor leaps with joy, realizing that he has just turned a major loss into a huge win. But Ralph's attorney moans and puts his head in his hands.

"Are you okay?" the auditor asks.

"Not really," says the attorney. "This morning, when Ralph told me he'd been summoned for an audit, he bet me twenty thousand dollars that he could come in here and urinate all over an IRS official's desk and that you'd be happy about it."

There Goes A Judge

To all Participants of the Garden Circle Go Kart Race. Angie aka Cookie has been removed from the Judges panel and will be joining with a secret team member to compete in the Go Kart Design and Race. It is with a great sadness to lose her as a Judge but I wish her and her team mate much luck in the competitions.

The Official Garden Circle Go Cart Race Rules

1- All participants must post a picture of their Go Carts on the day of judging.

2- A participant can enter a Go Cart for Judging but does not have to race.

3- Teams can be formed for each Go Cart for design purposes but only one member of that team can participate in the actual race itself. A team name must be on the submitted Go Cart for judging. (Revised)If more than one team member wishes to race using the same Go Cart, both team members must use the same picture of the teams Go Cart and arrive at each destination at the same time.

4- To enter the race a Go Cart must be entered for judging on the weekend of judging.

5- All Go Carts must have at least 2 wheels.

6- All designs for Go Carts will be kept to a clean non-offensive nature. Any design that the judges determine to be inappropriate will be disqualified.

7- No official of the race can enter a Go Cart design or participate in the race. (An Official may participate as a team member)

8- Go Carts will be judged on 3 categories. 1- Most Original, 2- Funniest, 3-Best Design. Each category will have 1^st, 2^ND and 3^rd place trophies awarded depending on the number of participants and designs.

9- This Go Cart Race and Go Cart designs is for Having Fun Purposes only. If any problems arise due to some one being offended or upset and fighting amongst participants arises the Go Cart Race will be immediately called off.

10- Any concerns or request regarding The Garden Circle Go Cart Race can be submitted to MacIII’s blog page.

11- The weekend for Go Cart design Judging will be the 13^Th and 14^Th of January 2007.

12- Espionage of car designs is permitted only before the date of the judging.

The Go Cart Race

A- The Go Cart Race will start with a message in a participant’s mailbox.

B- The Racer(s) must use a picture of their Go Cart as their picture while racing.

C- The race will consist of racing to certain blogs and looking for a clue in the blog and a comment must be left in regards to that clue before continuing to the next destination. The Clue the racer(s) must find will be in the blogs Comments regarding the race.

D- Times of comments left on Blog Destinations will be recorded and after the race has been completed the times recorded will be added up and the best times accumulated for completing the course will win 1^st, 2^ND and 3^rd place trophies.

E- If any participant is discovered cheating by 1 of the judges then they will be disqualified. This will be up to the judgment of the judges and no questions will be asked.

F- Bribes to The Official Judges will only be accepted if the said bribe is found acceptable to the judges.

G- All participants of the Garden Circle Go Cart Race must at all time remember that this race is intended for fun purposes only.

H- The Garden Circle Go Cart Race will take place on the weekend of the 20^Th of January 2007 and end on the 24^Th of January 2007.

I- All winners announced on the 27^Th of January 2007. An awards ceremony will be held and trophies will be handed out at that time.

II- Remember, Have a good time.

The Official Judges At This Time

VeroMariquita, Judy E, MacIII,

Rules can be amended at any time by the Judges.

Special notice, Angie aka Cookie has been removed from the Judging panel.

As of 10/1/2007 the Garden Circle Go Cart Race has Official Medical Staff. Suzi has Volunteered To handle all Medical needs of The Go Kart Race. Any Medical needs or anyone else that would like to volunteer for the medical staff please contact Suzi.

The Garden Circle Go Cart Races Coming Soon

The Garden Circle Go Cart Races Coming Soon

All Participants please sign up for the Garden Circle Go Cart Race on this comment section. I hope that it will be everyone for this should be an exciting event.

Each participant will be asked to have a Go Cart. Each Go Cart will be judged. I will be asking privately for volunteers to help me judge the Go Carts in several different classes. Examples, Most Original, Funniest, I can’t believe you entered a rock ect. Please use a sense of humor with your designs for I would like to keep this fun. Do not post a picture of your Go Cart until the day of judging please.

Trophies will be given for the best designs.

Teams can enter a car together but only one team member may participate in the actual race.

I have spent some time thinking about how to have this race and the following is what I have decided to do. I will pick a certain date for the race to begin. The race will begin at my blog where the Racers will get the green flag. A comment must be posted to start and The Go Cart must be used. Each racer then will have to make it to certain other blogs with their Go Carts and the comment that the racer will leave will be recorded. The time will be on the comment. At certain check point’s permission will be needed to proceed. The racer then must go to another Blog Check point and then to the next and so on. Who ever makes it to all the check points with the best time will be declared the winner. It doesn’t matter what time you start the race due to different time zones, but you must complete the race in the time frame that will be posted.

The Garden Circle Go Cart Race winner will recieve a trophy for their accomplishment for First Place. There will also be Trophies for 2nd and 3rd place.

I will ask different bloggers from around the world to volunteer their blogs as check points to keep this fair due to the different time zones.

I hope that we can all have fun with this. If anyone has any other suggestions or an idea on how to make it easier give a shout.

WORK SUCKS

Sorry about the title to this blog but any other description of work just didn't come to mind at the moment, here or there. Well, the holidays are over and it's back to the grind stone. Yippee, yeah right. I can't believe that I just went through a 3 day week end. I love the type of work that I do but sometimes after a long day of work and then the ride home, every muscle in my body tightens up like rigomortis is setting in. Kinda like running and the coach telling you to keep moving after your laps are done or you are gonna regret it. Seems that the 1 1/2 hours I spend driving home doesn't allow me the opportunity to flex and stretch.

But as I said, I am going to take 2007 one day at a time. I'll take the ibuprofin one day at a time too just to make the evenings just a wee bit more enjoyable.

Ok, now to be serious. I sit here all weekend in blog land and then its off to work. I come home and come for my evening visit and what do I see? Go cart races. I miss all the fun. If I was around I woulda had the chance to ride on Vic's shoulders.