windy city weekend

If Emily Post had it her way, we would've celebrated our fifth anniversary with the gift of wood. Or silverware. We decided to buck tradition and take a weekend trip to Chicago instead.

Friday
If you didn't already know from my constant ramblings about this, I love Rick Bayless. And if we had thought of planning this little vacation at least six weeks in advance, then maybe we would've been able to get a table at Frontera Grill. Enter Xoco, Rick's newest place, which serves up a gourmet take on Mexican street food (and is located right around the corner from Frontera and Topolobampo). Thirty to forty minutes of waiting in line might sound like a long time, but it doesn't seem that bad when you are agonizing over the menu and deciding whether to get a wood-fired torta with homemade chorizo sausage, roasted poblano, and artisan jack cheese, or maybe a caldo of crispy pork belly, toasty-tender noodles, and woodland mushrooms . . . or maybe the torta filled with braised Tallgrass shortribs and caramelized onion?? I was going out of my mind, people.

However, when I got closer to the counter I noticed there was a shrimp and elote torta special on the menu board. YES PLEASE. I cannot fully express in words how much I love elote and shrimp, and those two things glued together with chipotle mayonnaise in between two slices of crusty bread was like a match made in food heaven. TJ had the torta de cochinita pibil (wood-roasted suckling pig with achiote, black beans, pickled onion, and habanero salsa), which was also tasty, of course, and I appreciated that the habanero salsa was actually really spicy and not as watered-down spicy as it often appears in other establishments.

For dessert we ordered churros and the Aztec hot chocolate (made with fresh-roasted cacao beans ground on location and spiked with chile and allspice). If there were a churro ratings scale, it would be Costco churros at rock bottom or probably even lower, and at the top would be Xoco churros, eclipsing even the very good churros we had at the Latino festival in Lexington last month and the ones we had at the zocalo churreria in Puebla.

Saturday
I think that TJ's main goal in Chicago was to get his hands on a cemita from Cemitas Puebla. Cemitas seem rather hard to come by in the United States, and it's hard not to dream about them after experiencing this beauty earlier this year. From our hotel, we made our way to Cemitas Puebla by foot, by train, by bus, by bus again after we realized we were going the wrong way, and then by foot. The owner, who hails from Puebla, was right there to greet us when we opened the door—he was very hospitable and quite excited to mention his appearance on Triple D on the Food Network. We decided to go big and split the cemita atomica, which is basically made of three kinds of pork with a ton of Oaxaca cheese on top. Highly recommend.

We really did do things other than eat food. For the rest of the afternoon we just walked—along the Riverwalk, down the Magnificent Mile, and around Millennium Park and Navy Pier. I wanted to experiment with photographing fireworks at Navy Pier, but it was raining and I also forgot my remote shutter release at home, which would've made it easier . . . so maybe next time. But it was nice to spend the whole day out and about, especially when your regular life involves staying indoors hunched over a laptop 24/7.

We figured that we couldn't go to Chicago and not have deep dish pizza, so for dinner we made our way to Giordano's. Not sure why we picked that one—might've been the closest to our hotel? The wait was pretty crazy and apparently I look like a Laurence because that's the name they put on our ticket. The pizza was good, though—I guess you can't really go wrong with a dish that involves piles and piles of melted cheese.

Later that night we made our way to Black Dog Gelato. The guy at the counter was really patient with our indecision, and we sampled a bunch of flavors like Goat Cheese Salted Caramel Cashew, which might sound odd as a gelato flavor, but it was amazing. TJ ended up going with Sweet Potato (good if you like the idea of sweet potato pie in gelato form) and I had a combo of Toasted Coconut and Mexican Hot Chocolate (which tasted just like a frozen creamy version of the drink we had at Xoco).

Sunday
Before hitting the road for Lexington, we had lunch at Johnnie's Beef with Santa Barbara friends who had just relocated to Chicago. We arrived at the Elmwood Park location maybe 10 minutes before it opened and there was already a line forming outside. That place runs like a well-oiled machine, though—took no time at all to get our order taken and food served. We both got combo sandwiches in order to experience both the beef and the sausage, except mine topped with sweet peppers and TJ's with spicy. The fries were great (thin and crispy, just the way I like them) and the Italian ice was fantastic . . . just wish I could've gotten to all of it before it melted. Also, as I have zero friends in Lexington (this is what happens when you choose to watch eight straight hours of election coverage instead of going outside and talking to people), it was really nice to hang out and catch up with our amigos.

In all, it was a fun and tasty weekend.

retail therapy

It's official: Rand Paul is my new Tea Party overlord, Russ Feingold is no longer a senator but somehow David Vitter is still a governor, and John Boehner will probably make history as our first orange Speaker of the House. Oh, it hurts (even though we all saw it coming).

So I bought a 35mm f/1.8 prime lens! And we made Rick Bayless's Texas Sheet Cake, which I do realize is named after a state that just reelected Rick Perry, but we had all the ingredients on hand and it sounded like the most delicious thing in which to drown our sorrows at 1:00 in the morning.

I sort of take solace in the fact that these kinds of things always spin the other way pretty fast—maybe tonight's events will give a boost to Obama's reelection bid in 2012? And did John Kerry just describe Harry Reid as being Dracula AND Lazarus in his press release? And how is it that I always find myself defending/cheering on Democrats with whom I'm not terribly enthused? Oh, right—because it could be worse.

halloween tamales

Yesterday I took my maiden voyage into tamal-making for our Halloween dinner party using Rick Bayless's recipes for Basic Tamal Dough and Chicken in Green Chile Filling.

At first I was a bit squeamish about using lard in the tamal dough, but I got over it. I figured if I was going to spend a whole day making these, I should do exactly what Rick tells me because he is the master (we went to Chicago last weekend and had dinner at Xoco, the newest jewel in his restaurant empire—it was fantastic. More on that trip later). And science to the rescue: a bit of research uncovered that lard has less saturated fat (bad) and more monounsaturated fat (good) than butter, plus zero trans fat unlike vegetable shortening. (I found this data by doing a basic search on the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference; also, interesting article on the lard renaissance here.) You'll want the fresh, tan-colored stuff (not the white, shelf-stable, hydrogenated kind), which I've usually seen sold in quart- or gallon-sized buckets at Latino markets.

Being a novice at making tamales, I was worried that these would be a huge fail, but they weren't too difficult to assemble and turned out amazingly light, fluffy, and flavorful. I think the trickiest part was spreading the tamal dough onto the corn husk, and I found it easiest and fastest to use a silicone spatula for that step. The hardest part was not having enough counter space to spread everything out—I think I'll have to make these (or a variation using banana leaves) again in my parents' kitchen during the holidays.

Oh, and the strands of white on the black beans in the photo is melted Oaxaca cheese—a grand discovery at our local supermercado. I was on the phone with TJ while he was doing the grocery shopping and all of a sudden he stopped and said, WHOA. For a second I was worried that something was wrong but actually he had just laid his eyes on the cheese. A very large ball of fresh Oaxaca cheese. I think it's a new item (which they'll hopefully keep in stock) since we're always on the lookout for it and hadn't seen it there before.

on perma-xmas, tea towels, and apple

Thank you for all of your nice comments on the office and for offering help on my Airport Express networking issues. Unfortunately, the problem has been languishing—I haven't had the chance to go back to it since my last post, but I'll shoot one or all of you an e-mail soon.

By the way, the office color scheme being perma-Christmas did cross my mind, but I think the greens being more limey than piney helps modernize it and makes it less overtly yuletide. What happened is that my existing storage boxes and media console already happened to be red, and I had other boxes that were green, so it all kind of fell into place and I decided that I might as well go all the way with it.

To continue with the theme, I'm thinking of getting one of these tea towels to frame and put on the wall.

 Or maybe of these:
Or this one. Just wish the green was chartreuse.

Speaking of apples, I can't wait for the "Back to the Mac" event on Wednesday. I've tired of all this iOS talk of late,, so it's exciting that Apple is finally going back to its roots. I could really really use a new laptop, so I'm crossing my fingers for a MacBook Pro update . . .

All of the tea towels, by the way, come from the brilliantly-named ToDryFor.com. I had a hard time choosing from all of the fun designs they have available.

the corner office

One thing I really like about living in Kentucky is that you get a lot of rental bang for your buck. We're really enjoying the new apartment we moved into in August—it's definitely the nicest place we've lived since getting married. The let's-move-to-a-new-apartment-every-year game can get pretty tiring, so I'm happy that we have this place to call home for at least the next three years.

And I finally get a functional office/craft room! So nice to have a space set aside for telecommuting and sewing. I wasn't planning on posting any pictures this soon because everything is still a work in progress (e.g., cord management problems and the other side of this room is a mess), but I can't hold back my excitement about these chartreuse chevron curtains:

I made the curtains using a simple tutorial for tab-top curtains from The Purl Bee. I omitted the tabs from my version and hung up the curtains using curtain rings. Didn't want to deal with a ton of yardage, so I got just enough fabric to hit the bottom of the window's apron. The medium-weight chartreuse chevron fabric, as well as the insulated white lining, are both from fabric.com—a great deal at about $7 and $4 per yard respectively, and free shipping to boot. Not too shabby, eh?

What's next for this room: put away the rest of the mess, finish and hang a wall quilt, find some under desk storage (I like these red filing cabinets from cb2), and get the Airport Express wireless printer setup up and running. I haven't been able to get it to work since we left Santa Barbara—I've reset it and fiddled around with a bunch of settings, but the last time I tried to connect it the home network slowed to a crawl and it took about an hour to print a page. I guess I'm not the most network-savvy person out there, so if anyone knows what the problem could be (cough JohnE) let me know.

It's been a while...

Our summer was busy and a little bit weird. Mostly consisted of me shuttered indoors hunched over a keyboard trying to meet work deadlines. We possibly heard a UFO while staying at my parents' house and went out looking for it but the search was not fruitful (at least as the memory wipe would have us believe). Then we went back to Lexington so TJ could start his second year of school and moved to a new and improved apartment.

I can't wait until next week: on Thursday is the third season premiere of Fringe, and on Sunday is the kick-off of Amazing Race 17 and the MTV premiere of 9500 Liberty. The latter is a documentary of what went down in my home county in northern VA a couple of years ago when the Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance requiring police to check the immigration status of people they had "probable cause" to suspect of being undocumented. Huge culture war ensued. Droves of immigrants left the county, which generally made existing economic woes even worse. The ordinance was overturned after a few months. Take heed, Arizona.



For those that may not have cable access but want to find out more, the creators of 9500 Liberty have a Web site and a channel on YouTube, where the project originally started and which contains dozens of clips (some of which made it into the feature-length documentary).

Have a nice weekend, all, and talk to you again in about another four months, probably.

cuetzalan

A couple of days ago we took a trip to Cuetzalan, a small mountain town located in the Sierra Norte region of Puebla. We went on a Sunday, the day of its bustling and colorful tianguis (market), where indigenous people from surrounding villages (mostly Nahua, I'm told) come to gather to buy, sell, and trade goods.



When I have more time I'll add captions to the photos.

birthday adventures

Tacos árabes con queso, limon, y salsa roja para el birthday boy.

A taco árabe is a chewy, pita-like tortilla (pan árabe) loaded with roasted pork that is thinly carved from a vertical rotisserie. The dish was invented by Lebanese immigrants and have become a tradition in Puebla.

On the recommendation of a local, for dinner we tried the taco árabes from Antigua Taqueria La Oriental. Unsurprisingly, it was really good. To go with the tacos they served two different kinds of salsa—a smoky and spicy red (TJ's favorite) and a limon-y green (my favorite) speckled with oregano (at least I think).

Next we tried some ice cream from a shop located a block away from El Parian crafts market...

Make mine uva (grape) con vanilla! TJ had galleta (cookies and cream). I think the flavor in the upper right corner is chicle . . . interesting. But so many flavors to choose from . . . good thing we're here for four more days.

Before the feast of tacos árabes and ice cream we took a day-long trip to Cuetzalan, an indigenous mountain town about 2-3 hours away from Puebla City. I'll get around to posting pictures from that adventure soon.

Tomorrow: hitting the talavera shops and candy street.

aqui estamos

After driving to Virginia, taking flights from Washington to Miami to Cancun to Puebla, and getting stuck in traffic on the autopista, we finally arrived at our hotel late Friday night. So far we have:

Taken a day trip to Cholula and had our picture taken in front of Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de los Remedios, a church built by the Spanish on top of a pre-Columbian pyramid (the world's largest, at least when measured by volume);

Eaten mole poblano, tinga, and various types of pipianes;

And walked around the zocalo and rode the double-decker turibus for a quick tour of Puebla City.

Lots more things to do in the next few days, and more pictures and blogging to come. Just wanted all concerned parties (i.e. my mom and dad) to know that we've arrived safely and having a good time so far.

quick shrimp pozole

As you know, today is Cinco de Mayo—a day on which many Americans celebrate Mexican culture and the defeat of the French by the Mexican army in 1862 at the Battle of Puebla, mostly by breaking out the salt-rimmed margarita glasses and eating a plateful of nachos.

In commemoration of this kind of fake U.S. holiday, I made a kind of fake pozole. Because making pozole the traditional way with dried, uncooked hominy is rather tedious and time consuming, and sometimes a lot of times you just don't have all day.

I used this Bon Appetit recipe for Shrimp and Scallop Posole as the base for my recipe. I ended up swapping out the clam juice for chicken broth; replacing the salsa verde with some of TJ's homemade salsa roja that's been hanging out in the fridge for a couple of weeks; doubling the hominy 'cause that's my favorite part of pozole; eliminating the grated lime peel; replacing the sun-dried tomatoes with plum tomatoes; doubling the shrimp and leaving out the scallops; and throwing in a dash of cayenne for some kick.

For the record, while the soup was a tasty, tasty success, canned hominy really does pale exceedingly to the real thing. I had a can of generic Kroger brand white hominy and a can of Bush's white hominy; it turns out that I prefer the former, which was chewier and larger-grained.

Quick Shrimp Pozole

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced (or if you're feeling extra lazy like me, a nice spoonful of that minced garlic in a jar)
• 3 cups water
• 3 chicken bouillon cubes
• 2 (15-ounce) cans white hominy, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup salsa
• 2 plum tomatoes, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or more if you're adventurous)
• 2 pounds uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined, tails on
• 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro, divided

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic; stir about 30 seconds. Add 3 cups water and next 5 ingredients to pan; simmer 5 minutes.

Add shrimp and 1/4 cup of cilantro to simmering broth, adding 2-3 cups of additional water to thin soup as much as you like. Simmer until shrimp is just opaque in center. (Edited to add: at this point, you'll also want to skim and discard any foamy stuff that rises to the top of the soup.) Season with salt and pepper. Divide among bowls; sprinkle with remaining cilantro.

Optional: top with shredded cabbage, sliced radishes, and a squeeze of lime. Eat with a guacamole-smothered tostada on the side.

fave song friday: "when they fight, they fight"

Generationals is a New Orleans-based duo (made up of ex-Eames Era guitarists Grant Widmer and Ted Joyner) that opened for the Apples in Stereo at Cosmic Charlie's a few weeks ago. We picked up their debut album, Con Law, after the show. What I like about the record is its modern approach to 60s pop—while the songs cross various genres, the production never seems to stray very far from the sounds of that bygone era (think Phil Spector, George Martin). You can stream the whole thing here.

"When They Fight, They Fight" is the lead single from Con Law. It's one of those songs that'll sound good with the car windows rolled down on a lazy July afternoon—I really like its sunny, summery sound and Motown girl group sensibility.

Fan-made video of the song 'cause Apple shut down Lala today:

soup and bread (for stormy weather)

The weather has turned cold and rainy, which always makes me yearn for something warm and comforting in my belly. I'm also trying to work more fiber and whole grains into our diets, which gave me an idea:

Split pea soup and yeast-raised cornbread. (Click links for recipes.)

This is my go-to recipe for split pea soup, but I can't remember if I've ever blogged about it. I forgot to pick up the dried green split peas when I went out to buy ingredients today, so I ended up using a bag of yellow split peas I found in the back of the cupboard. It worked out just fine (couldn't really tell the difference, though I've read that yellow split peas are milder than green) and I'm glad I was able to use it up.

I've been wanting to try the yeast-raised cornbread recipe ever since I saw it on 101 Cookbooks (whose cornbread photo is much, much prettier and more drool-inducing than mine)—there was just something about those corn-flecked, chive-studded, melty butter-topped whole wheat rolls that was calling my name . . . and they did not disappoint. I'm pretty sure I like these rolls better than traditional cornbread; they were crusty outside, tender inside, and perfect for mopping up that last bit of soup in the bowl.

fave song friday: "dignified dignitary"

[Photo credit: You Ain't No Picasso]

Last Friday, we saw Apples in Stereo, a founding ensemble of the Elephant 6 collective and one of the greatest indie pop acts ever, at a place called Cosmic Charlie's right here in Lex. Tickets were cheap and the venue was small and not an hour away (more if you count traffic)—all pluses in my book.

Lexington was the first stop on the Apples' tour to promote their new album, Travellers in Space and Time. Consequently, lots of talk on stage about time travel and being from the near-distant future. Robert Scheinder explained that unlike other bands that foretell of a world befallen by robot apocalypse, their vision of the future is a more happy, peaceful one where man rises above the challenges before him. When you combine all of these things with the lighting, artificial fog, and band members dressed up in crazy futuristic costumes, you know that you're in for a good time.

Interestingly enough, this was probably the most entertaining show I've attended since seeing The Flaming Lips and Beck share the same stage in Salt Lake City in 2002. Maybe I have a thing for bands that have a preoccupation with the future and the fall of man at the hands of robots.

The whole Apples set rocked and was so joyous and fun. One of my favorite moments was when the band brought out a trumpet and sax player to back them up for "Go!" As for the new songs, I think they sounded really great live—they had an extra spark that I can't quite pick up from the studio version. I also think the near-distant time travel theme is appropriate. The Apples in Stereo are probably best known for their bright and catchy 1960s pop/rock sound, and Travellers in Space and Time for the most part definitely beams them a few years forward into the realm of the 1970s and 80s.

They opened up their show with a song called "Dignified Dignitary," which might be my favorite song from the new album. It kind of sounds like something that the Beatles and Pavement would've collaborated on. And it talks about actuaries, something TJ knows a little about.

Dignified Dignitary - The Appl...

cincinnati saturday

Since Cincinnati is about only an hour away from Lex, we drove up on Saturday afternoon to visit with my college bff and her husband and to meet their happy little baby Evy. We hadn't see them since our wedding four and a half years ago, so it was splendid to spend some time with them and catch some sights around the city.

I finally decided to trade in the old point-and-shoot for a brand new Nikon DSLR. Hurrah! After much soul-searching, I decided that my first lens would be the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8. Sharp, super fast, and great depth of field—love it. But now I can't stop thinking about how much fun I could have with such things as a super wide angle lens and how nice it would be to upgrade my computer hardware and software to complete the package. I hate having expensive hobbies. I should just go outside and play with some sticks.

So the photo above is of a park bench in Eden Park, which we strolled by on our way to the 2010 Butterfly Show at the Krohn Observatory. The park is so nice—we saw a duck pond, playgrounds for the kids, and scenic overlooks of the city and the Ohio River. I bet it's a great place to watch the sun set.

The park also has a replica of the Capitoline Wolf. I was wondering what Cincinnati had to do with the whole Romulus and Remus story (perhaps the only thing I remember from all those years of Latin), but as it turns out, legend has it that Cincinnati, like Rome, was built upon seven hills.

The Krohn Conservatory was pretty cool. Of all the plant life, I liked the orchid display the best . . . maybe that's my fondness for Adaptation showing. I was hoping to see more butterflies, but they were more scarce than I expected. Could it be  . . . murder? Every time I got close to one some kid would barge over and make a grab for the poor thing. I understand that children of a certain age are curious, have limited motor control, probably don't mean any harm, and that butterflies are exciting and OOH PRETTY . . . but still. It was sad to see so many of these creatures poked and prodded to death, literally.

And of course, no trek to Cincinnati would be complete without a trip to Findlay Market for some Liège-style waffles (thanks to A + J for humoring me on this). These waffles are sweeter—they have a caramelized sugar coating—and are much, much denser than the typical Belgian waffles that we Americans know and love. The batter looks like a ball of cookie dough being smushed in a cast iron press.

The waffles are being ambushed by strawberries and whipped cream so you can't really see them in this picture, but they looked (and tasted) really, really good. On the flip side, at Findlay we also had the worst tacos I've eaten in my life. So bad that neither me (the least picky eater you'll ever meet) or TJ (who has never met a taco he didn't like) didn't want to finish them. If you ever find yourself there, do bypass the tacos and go for the gyros at Areti's, which were fabulous. The meat was flavorful and piled on high, the tzatziki was thick and a little garlicky, and the pita was soft and buttery and just a bit crispy on the outside. The gyros also had a good ratio of tomatoes and onions, which I appreciated.

april 1 is national census day

Forget April Fools' Day—today is also National Census Day, the day by which the Census Bureau would like everyone to return their forms, please. This is exciting stuff.

Ways to celebrate National Census Day (in addition to mailing back the survey, of course):

• Listen to the hold messages on the Census Bureau help line to hear all sorts of interesting facts and figures about this zany country in which we live. Just call (301) 763-2222. It's a dedicated phone line that simply recites all of the month's scripts, so you don't have to worry about going through automated prompts or talking to the feds. I just called earlier today and it still works. (My favorite fun fact: "Usually associated with fruit, Vitamin C is also found in potatoes—which is good, because while Americans on average consume 18 pounds of fresh citrus a year, they eat 39 pounds of potatoes." I wonder how much of that is in French fry form.)

• Check out this really, really cool interactive map that shows how well various communities around the nation are doing in returning their census forms. Interestingly, all of the top five states are in the upper Midwest. Our state is currently showing a 55% participation rate. Come on, people of Kentucky! Are we going to let Wisconsin beat us? We can surely do better than that.

• Watch Season 1 Episode 6 of The West Wing, "Mr. Willis of Ohio." Sam Seaborn taught me everything I know about census-taking methodology. (Though I suppose being married to a stats person helped in that area, too.)

Happy National Census Day, everyone.

fave song friday: "stereo"

Earlier this month Pavement released a best-of collection. They are also back together and on tour for the first time in more than 10 years. Am I excited about this? CERTAINLY. I'm scheming to see them at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago this summer.

I love the song "Stereo" for being my earliest memory of getting to know Pavement, for its great guitars, for its fantastic bass line, and of course, for these infamous lyrics:

What about the voice of Geddy Lee
How did it get so high
I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy
(I know him, and he does!)

It never gets old.

Stereo - Pavement
from the album Brighten the Corners (1997)

health care mailbag #2

First of all, thanks to those who have commented. It's always good to have an open, civil dialogue about issues like these even if we disagree. Now, here's something that jumped out at me from the comments section:

one poll showed that 47% of doctors will retire if this bill goes into affect.

I think I found the poll in question and since I am such a stats nerd, I had to analyze it. The poll was conducted and published by a newspaper called Investor’s Business Daily (IBD). Their report on it can be found here.

Of their polling method, IBD writes:

Our questionnaire went out Aug. 28 to some 25,600 doctors nationwide. Of that substantial sample, we got 1,476 responses. One hundred of those were retired, leaving 1,376.

This makes their response rate 5.8% (1,476/25,600), which is an unacceptably low rate. For perspective, a good rate for a mail survey (I’m assuming theirs was a mail survey but they don’t specifically say) is around 70%. Trying to make assumptions about a population with only a 6% response rate is impossible and so this poll ends up meaning absolutely nothing. This doesn’t even bring up other possible things wrong that they didn’t discuss, such as how they acquired the list of 25,600 doctors to begin with, how they worded the questions (since they didn’t provide a sample questionnaire), etc.

Getting some background about this newspaper might help explain why so many doctors did not participate and why those that did respond might not accurately represent the population of doctors in the United States. IBD made the news back in July 2009 when they printed this statement about health care and Stephen Hawking in an editorial:

People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the UK, where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.

Except that Stephen Hawking has always lived in the UK and receives treatment from their National Health Service. Hawking later made a statement defending the NHS saying that he is alive still because of them. This mistake at least gives the impression that IBD is more interested in disparaging health care reform than they are in the facts. Since this incident predates the attempted poll in question, it is likely that many doctors disregarded this request when it was received it in the mail (explaining the very low response rates). Those that would respond would likely be those more sympathetic to the views of the newspaper, creating an extremely large percentage of them to respond in similar ways.

health care mailbag

thejerry had an interesting question regarding the opposition to health care reform in the comments section of my last post. I thought I'd repost it here and provide my two cents, as it seems like something worth exploring in more detail.

I'm confused why some of this stuff (like employers required to provide health insurance, or expanding coverage by 30 million) makes people so angry, since that is what we all want for ourselves. . . . So what's with the mobs? Do they even know what they're mad about?

I'm confused about this, too. I just wonder where all of these protesters were when George W. Bush raised our national debt exponentially, green-lighted domestic wiretapping, etc. But I do believe that a good portion of the anger has been created and encouraged by many Republican lawmakers and conservative commentators, who have been very good at stirring the pot of divisiveness and fear among their constituents and audiences with over-the-top rhetoric and by loudly parroting scary catchphrases to rebrand aspects of the health care debate that they oppose (or simply just made up: see Sarah Palin and death panels). So the reconciliation process becomes the "nuclear option" and public-funded health care becomes "socialized medicine," just as in a separate example, the federal estate tax becomes the "death tax." Stephen Colbert actually had a good segment on this "define and conquer" tactic on his show a couple weeks ago.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Define & Conquer
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care reform

It's disheartening to see such levels of ignorance and poison in the political atmosphere, but now that the health care bill is being signed into law, presumably making it harder to mischaracterize the reform effort, it'll be interesting to see the public reaction to it and what will happen to the Republicans now that they've seemed to bet their whole party against it.

more musings on hcr

So health care reform (which I've been living and breathing for the past 24 hours) was passed last night, and surprise, the earth is still spinning and the sky isn't falling. To add to TJ's previous post on the distortion of polling numbers regarding HCR:

The New York Times has a handy graphic detailing key provisions of the Senate bill passed by the House last night, in addition to proposed changes in the reconciliation measure. Similarly, The Daily Beast has a breakdown of what is and isn't in the health care bill. Very helpful, straightforward stuff.

As far as the reaction from less-than-thrilled Republicans . . . I read on Rachel Maddow's blog earlier this afternoon that congressional wannabe Gunner DeLay (cousin to The Hammer) is calling the GOP effort to repeal the health care bill "a new civil rights movement." One commenter responds:

"Civil Rights? Civil Disobedience? What are they going to do? Sit-in at their insurance company and demand to be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition? March and sing "We shall overcome the extended coverage for our children?"

Well played, JoJerome. Well played.

It seems that the notion of the GOP triumphantly reclaiming power this year and immediately repealing the health care bill is becoming an increasingly prevalent idea among both crazy (I'm looking at you, Michele Bachmann) and mainstream Republicans (e.g. Mitt Romney, John McCain). Yes, historically, the incumbent party does not usually fare well in the midterms, and yes, Tea Party-esque hysterics get a lot of play (and thus more visibility) in the media. But among the many reasons that such a repeal would be unlikely, there's the fact that the math just doesn't add up. Republicans would require 67 votes in the Senate to override a presidential veto, and even if they won every seat held by a Democrat in the upcoming midterm elections, they would still be 8 senators short of the number needed for a two-thirds majority. And now that health care has turned into a story of policy, would it be smart politics for the Republicans to run against the tangible benefits that many Americans will see from this bill?

public opinion on health care

The big news from yesterday is that the Senate health care plan will now be made into law after getting enough votes in the House. This bill is not perfect by any means, but it is a move in the right direction. Insurance companies will no longer be permitted to deny coverage to kids because of pre-existing conditions or drop coverage for people who get too sick. It also allows to parents to keep their kids on their insurance plan until the age of 26 and fines companies for not offering insurance to their employees.

Republicans have been doing everything in their power to convince everyone that this plan is an evil communist/nazi plan that will kill your grandma and destroy America. They have also repeated that this bill is extremely unpopular and sometimes offer public opinion polls as proof. Most of the time these polls are taken out of context and ignore important details important in really understanding public opinion.

Take a look at one conservative's explanation of the unpopularity of the health care bill:

A new CNN Opinion Research poll, conducted over the weekend as the House debated Obamacare, finds that 59 percent of Americans now stand opposed to the health care legislation in Congress. Just 39 percent of the poll’s 1,030 respondents said they favored the bill.

This CNN Research Opinion poll is given as proof that Democrats are in trouble and that Republicans will takeover in the midterm election because the majority are on their side. What they fail to mention is why the 59% of respondents oppose this bill. It turns out a good portion of those individuals interviewed oppose the bill because they think it is not liberal enough (13%). So in reality, only 43% oppose the bill because they believe it is too liberal while 52% either support the bill or think it should be more liberal. Hardly the picture that is portrayed by the right.

Similar conclusions can be made from the poll regarding public perception on how effective this bill will be. 61% think this bill will be beneficial for themselves or for other families while 37% think it will not help anyone. The only question that really supports the Republican point of view is that 70% think the deficit will increase. However, this question does not distinguish between short- and long- term deficits so its hard to know whether some respondents actually felt that it would temporarily increase the deficit but reduce the deficit ($130 billion in 10 years and $1.2 trillion in the decade after that according to the CBO) in the long run.

dessert weekend

I've been interested in making a coconut cake ever since I saw a Bobby Flay Throwdown on the subject several months ago, but TJ doesn't like coconut (such a travesty) and a towering treat such as this seems to demand a special occasion.

Good thing my brother had his 25th birthday party on Saturday. I decided on a recipe from the October 2001 issue of Bon Appétit for Giant Coconut Layer Cake, and it turned out beautifully. My absolute favorite part of the whole thing is the coconut filling. Ah, butter and heavy whipping cream.

Since one dessert is never enough when it's party time, I made some truffles. Last Christmas, Rhett and Monica introduced us to this tasty, decadent treat, which look pretty fancy but are a snap to make. I made the original Oreo version (recipe here) with a white chocolate shell and experimented with a peanut butter version using Nutter Butter cookies. I think it is impossible to choose which one I liked better. Next time I want to try mint Oreos, or maybe lemon sandwich cookies.

Last but not least: chocolate cupcakes (in Christmas-themed cupcake liners because they're the only kind my mom had in stock). But not just any kind of chocolate cupcake: vegan chocolate cupcakes. I had to try to make at least one slightly healthy thing, especially since the birthday person likes to stay fit and eats nothing with fat or butter in it. I think he's adopted or something. This particular cupcake recipe comes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. I've debated before on whether or not to purchase the cookbook but I think I'm sold after trying this recipe.

Happy birthday, Daniel!

fave song friday: "thirteen"

Music has always been an important part of my life and TJ's (we probably never would've met if it weren't for a shared affinity for certain bands), so I'd been thinking of starting a weekly music feature on this blog. The idea is that every Friday (or more likely, as many Fridays as we can manage), one of us will try to post and stream one of our favorite songs to share.

Alex Chilton died at the age of 59 on March 17, so I couldn't think of a better time or way to start this little experiment than by posting a Big Star song in his honor. He had a real gift for melody, and Big Star basically pioneered power pop in the 1970s but seems to be one those bands that have been long overlooked despite casting a long shadow over the landscape of rock music. Its influence—on bands like R.E.M., Teenage Fanclub, Weezer, The Replacements, and Wilco, just to name a few—is pretty incredible.

"Thirteen" is an acoustic, perfectly sweet and melancholy ballad from the Big Star album #1 Record. It's been a long time since I first discovered this song, but even today I'm always struck by it when I hear it. It's just a perfect, honest portrait of youth and the feelings of nostalgia and loss.

Also, a bonus track: a cover of "Thirteen" that I love the most, by Elliott Smith.

Thirteen - Big Star
from the album #1 Record (1972)

Thirteen - Elliott Smith
from the album New Moon (2007)

making (and eating) dumplings

When we first moved to Lexington, one of TJ's fellow grad students invited us to her home for some homemade dumplings. She and her fiance are Tibetan and have been making dumplings (momos) since they were kids. They made both the filling and wrappers from scratch, and it was amazing to watch how fast their fingers flew as they formed perfect pleats to fold each dumpling together. Needless to say, the finished product was delicious and inspired me to try dumpling-making myself.

So far, I'm still much slower and sloppier in dumpling assembly and I haven't attempted to make the wrappers from scratch yet. Of the ready-made wrapper brands that I've used, I think I like Wing Hing the best. (The LA Times compared nine different brands and rated Gyoza No Kawa, which I haven't tried, number one.)

I learned basic dumpling techniques from Use Real Butter, which has a fantastic photo tutorial for Chinese dumplings (similar to momos) and a tasty, tasty recipe for pork filling. (Someday I'll have to try the shrimp filling recipe, too. And when I'm feeling braver I'll attempt the recipe for dough.) This site also clarified for me that steamed = dumplings while pan fried  = potstickers. I love the crispy, golden bottoms that you get from the pan frying method, but the healthier steamed version—which we went with today—is pretty tasty, too.

These are also great because you can make a ton in one sitting and freeze for later the ones you don't cook right away.

the best news

Fringe has been picked up for a full 22-episode third season. Hurrah! I can rest easy now.

And the show is up against Lost in Hulu's March Madness-inspired television bracket. The numbers so far are pretty close. I had to go with Fringe for its superior alternate universe storyline.

Less than a month to go before the second season continues . . .

springing forward

As with many things in life, I always feel like the odd one out by saying "daylight saving time" since it seems that everyone else on the planet says "daylight savings time." But I'm sticking to it—who's with me? In honor of losing an hour of sleep tonight, here's an interesting grammar tip from WebExhibits:

The official spelling is Daylight Saving Time, not Daylight SavingS Time.

Saving is used here as a verbal adjective (a participle). It modifies time and tells us more about its nature; namely, that it is characterized by the activity of saving daylight. It is a saving daylight kind of time. Because of this, it would be more accurate to refer to DST as daylight-saving time. Similar examples would be a mind-expanding book or a man-eating tiger. Saving is used in the same way as saving a ball game, rather than as a savings account.

Nevertheless, many people feel the word savings (with an 's') flows more mellifluously off the tongue. Daylight Savings Time is also in common usage, and can be found in dictionaries.

Adding to the confusion is that the phrase Daylight Saving Time is inaccurate, since no daylight is actually saved. Daylight Shifting Time would be better, and Daylight Time Shifting more accurate, but neither is politically desirable.

On a related note, I am in the market for a non-fugly alarm clock. Below, I have gathered a collection of candidates from around the Web. Thoughts? I'd buy that small font clock in a heartbeat, except that I couldn't justify spending $380 on something I'd likely thrash while violently fumbling around for the snooze button in the morning.

 Clockwise from top left: wooden clock ($199); Starck alarm clock ($100); retro quartz alarm clock ($68); model three clock radio ($299); small font clock ($380)

Clockwise from top left: cube clock ($45); green alarm clock ($30); WoodStation ($136); on/off clock ($35); anything clock ($69)

this too shall pass

Attention OK Go: less music, more music videos!

puebla here we come

Just booked a week in Puebla, the land of my ancestors, in May.  Yes!

in your eyes

It's custom makeover time for the ol' blog. I'm not as tech-smart as I'd like to be, so it took me forever to figure out what I had to modify in the default HTML template in order to incorporate the graphics for the new layout. It was a lot of "Uh, maybe I'll put 20 pixels of padding here and see what happens." It seems to have worked out, though. I really hope it looks something like this:

 

Because the website-makin' classes I took were literally so 10 years ago, and I'm worried that I may not have executed it correctly depending on who's looking.

I saved the old code just in case.

ETA: I'm one of those people who can't stop fiddling with and overthinking/overworking things, so after I originally posted this I got the idea of adding a chevron pattern to the background . . . I'm digging the subtle zigs and zags. But will probably change my mind about it in a few weeks.

there's an app for that

Appetizer, that is. Sorry, Apple fans. For the Super Bowl, I made sweet and spicy pork empanadas from Rick Bayless's cookbook Salsas That Cook. The pastry was a bit of a challenge to work with (next time I'll be taking the pre-made pie dough route), but it turned out nice and flaky and the filling gets a serious two thumbs up—a nice balance of savory and sweet. You can't lose with Rick by your side.

We also had slow cooked pulled pork for the taco bar. I love recipes that involve five-minute prep but result in maximum tastiness. One thing to note about that recipe is that it's kind of vaguely worded when it comes to what to do with the "divided" spices. I think the poster basically meant that you should distribute the spices equally on both sides of the roast. I just combined the spices into one bowl and sprinkled the mix all over the meat—seemed to work out just fine.

Also, TJ made not one, not two, but THREE different salsas (which you can kind of see in the background of the pork picture, behind the mounds of guacamole and cotija cheese). All delicious in their own way, though I think my favorite was the roasted tomato/jalapeño.

Every Sunday should be Super Bowl Sunday. Except without all the stupid GoDaddy ads and stereotypical dumb guy/overbearing woman commercials.

well done, bad robot

This is turning into the television shows co-created by J.J. Abrams blog, but I literally have nothing else more exciting going on in my life right now, so . . . how about that episode of Fringe tonight? Holy moly. As in all the best Fringe episodes, this one brought the alt-verse wackness and super creepiness, and it was angsty as all get out. Congratulations, writers!

I've been waiting to see how they would reveal what we all already knew about Peter and saw it looming as soon as Walter mentioned Olivia's superpower, but it was no less awesome when it happened. They did it brilliantly. No huge blow out, just a poor, sad, ashamed Walter quietly begging, "Olivia, please don't tell him," and whoa, the look on Olivia's face. So much for that nice evening out with Peter. That glimmer would be really distracting as you're trying to get to know each other better over drinks, wouldn't it? (NOT A) DATE FAIL. Anyway, what a great scene, and such fantastic performances by the leads.

I can't wait until the show returns from its seven-week hiatus. Yes, seven weeks. But maybe this is a good thing—between Fringe and Lost, I'm not sure how many parallel universes I can handle at once.

ticket, please

Hee . . . the travel site Kayak.com has a fake listing for an Oceanic Airlines flight from Sydney to Los Angeles. You can find it by searching for a one-way flight between those cities on September 22. And the price is $4815.16 plus $23.42 in taxes and fees—perfect. (h/t: Boston Globe).

I heartily enjoyed tonight's big season opener. They didn't waste any time getting the crazy started, did they? And Kate is annoying as ever. "Nothing's irreversible"? Wrong again, Jack!

what we did on our winter vacation

Spent three weeks watching five seasons of Lost, finishing just in time for the premiere of the sixth and final season next Tuesday. BRING IT ON.

Oh yeah—also spent a lot of time with family in Virginia; ate some really good BBQ in Memphis; made some Oreo truffles (hat tip: Rhettonica); read a couple of good books; sided with Coco; bought some fabric for a Dresden plate quilt that I will start but will surely never finish; reconsidered moving to Sweden upon hearing news of the Supreme Court's transformation of corporations into a real live boy.

Good times.