I missed the Republican Presidential candidate debate last night because I had to attend a social event with my wife. I read a couple of newspaper rehashes of it this morning though.
It's becoming clear that none of the announced candidates are viable challengers against Barack Obama. The Republicans will have to run somebody else. The only one I can think of is still David Petraeus and that's just a wild guess. I don't even have any reason to believe he wants to be President. It's likely he doesn't.
We'll just have to see who emerges. Somebody will. Until then, the guys they have are just enthusiasticly inept volunteers, keeping the lights on, the open sign on the front door and stamping parking validations out for curious browsers, without any hope of ringing up a sale.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Thai BBQ Chicken, Better than You Get In Restaurants
A friend of mine opined to me recently that just about the best tasting thing you can eat is a well prepared chicken leg and thigh quarter. I'm not exactly sure about that. The World is full of wonderful things to eat and interesting ways to prepare them. I do think though that a chicken leg, well prepared, is with good reason a star of many, if not most, regional and ethnic cuisines.
I like to grill chicken outdoors. One of the reasons i like to is that it's so good and was totally beyond me for many years. When you think about it, you almost never get good BBQ chicken, whether you're at somebody's house or in a restaurant. It takes a lot more effort than most people are willing to put into it. I like to do it in the South East Asian style. Let me tell you how I do it.
Leg thigh quarters are good to use because they have some fat in them and an unbroken skin, covering the whole piece, this helps to keep the juices and fat in the meat.
I make a marinade. You can put anything you want in it, depending on how you want your chicken to taste. I use soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, MSG, garlic powder and a little sesame oil. I usually let it marinate for at least a couple hours, shaking it up every once in a while. When I take it out of the marinade, I dry it out on paper towels, maybe let it sit awhile for the excess to drain off and the skin to evaporate even dryer. Then I put it in a big bowl pour some Canola or grape seed oil over it and toss it so that all the skin surface is lightly coated then sit again awhile so that the oil permeates into the skin.
I never put chicken directly over a direct heat source. You're gonna have to cook it for quite awhile and the grease from the bird will flame up and burn your chicken black, even while the inside is still raw and bloody. That was pretty much how most of my efforts always turned out. So you fire up under one side of your grill and place the chicken on the other side. As you cook and turn the pieces, you're going to want to rotate the pieces closest to the heat away and replace them with the pieces that were farthest away, for uniform cooking. At some point, after the skin is dark and crispy, the tendons holding the meat to the ankle end of the drumstick are going to start to give and the meat will move North. The knee joint will start to feel loose and wobbly. That's when you know the chicken is done. Just as that's happening, you want to take the chicken off the grill and put it back in your big mixing bowl. Pour this stuff that you buy in your local Asian store called Nuoc Cham Ga (translation: Sweet Chili Sauce for Chicken) on it and give it a few light tosses, just like you did with the oil, so that all surfaces have a light coverage. Put the chicken back on the grill. If you can adjust the heat, you might turn it down a little. You leave it back on the grill long enough to crust up a little, you don't want it to burn or blacken. Then you're done. Always serve this with more of the sweet chili sauce for dipping or pouring. Be generous. It's real good and I buy it for about $2 a quart bottle. It's always a loss leader item. Vietnamese, Thais and Filipinos buy the stuff by the case.
I like to grill chicken outdoors. One of the reasons i like to is that it's so good and was totally beyond me for many years. When you think about it, you almost never get good BBQ chicken, whether you're at somebody's house or in a restaurant. It takes a lot more effort than most people are willing to put into it. I like to do it in the South East Asian style. Let me tell you how I do it.
Leg thigh quarters are good to use because they have some fat in them and an unbroken skin, covering the whole piece, this helps to keep the juices and fat in the meat.
I make a marinade. You can put anything you want in it, depending on how you want your chicken to taste. I use soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar, MSG, garlic powder and a little sesame oil. I usually let it marinate for at least a couple hours, shaking it up every once in a while. When I take it out of the marinade, I dry it out on paper towels, maybe let it sit awhile for the excess to drain off and the skin to evaporate even dryer. Then I put it in a big bowl pour some Canola or grape seed oil over it and toss it so that all the skin surface is lightly coated then sit again awhile so that the oil permeates into the skin.
I never put chicken directly over a direct heat source. You're gonna have to cook it for quite awhile and the grease from the bird will flame up and burn your chicken black, even while the inside is still raw and bloody. That was pretty much how most of my efforts always turned out. So you fire up under one side of your grill and place the chicken on the other side. As you cook and turn the pieces, you're going to want to rotate the pieces closest to the heat away and replace them with the pieces that were farthest away, for uniform cooking. At some point, after the skin is dark and crispy, the tendons holding the meat to the ankle end of the drumstick are going to start to give and the meat will move North. The knee joint will start to feel loose and wobbly. That's when you know the chicken is done. Just as that's happening, you want to take the chicken off the grill and put it back in your big mixing bowl. Pour this stuff that you buy in your local Asian store called Nuoc Cham Ga (translation: Sweet Chili Sauce for Chicken) on it and give it a few light tosses, just like you did with the oil, so that all surfaces have a light coverage. Put the chicken back on the grill. If you can adjust the heat, you might turn it down a little. You leave it back on the grill long enough to crust up a little, you don't want it to burn or blacken. Then you're done. Always serve this with more of the sweet chili sauce for dipping or pouring. Be generous. It's real good and I buy it for about $2 a quart bottle. It's always a loss leader item. Vietnamese, Thais and Filipinos buy the stuff by the case.
Friday, September 09, 2011
Check these guys out
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
There's a Meetin' Here Tonite
Did you watch the debate between the announced Republican candidates for President tonight at the Ronald Library in Simi Valley? Nobody said anything but I bet it was at least 110 degrees out there today.
I thought Ron Paul gave the performance that enunciated the commonly accepted contemporary Republican Party doctrines best and also seemed the most intelligent. I thought Governor Huntsman seemed to represent the most mainstream contemporary American views and seemed the most sane. Neither were that well received nor seem likely to find success in upcoming primary elections.
The big dogs seemed to be Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. Neither seemed that magnetic or attractive to me but both got through the evening without doing themselves any additional major harm. Mitt seemed to be trying to skew himself a little farther to the Right than he is usually seen. Rick Perry seems to be comfortable staying well to the rugged, individualist Right, where he has been lodged since he switched from Democrat to Republican, two decades ago.
Unless a new, major Republican candidate emerges soon, I would have to say that Rick Perry seems most likely to be the Republican who emerges from the primary election season next year as the opponent facing Barack Obama. I do not see any third party threat emerging and if one were to somehow materialize, it would probably be one that draws votes more from Perry than Obama, who would likely beat Perry in any case.
The upcoming election season, even if there is a lot of tub thumping, name calling and firing of cannons into the clouds to bring down rain, looks to be shaping up as a real yawn. Too bad. I like a closely fought contest and think it is good for the country and the health of our political system.
Michelle Bachman was a disappointment tonight. She acted like somebody had slipped her a big slug of Lithium.
Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are both wily, experienced career politicians, who have held major office and are comfortable and capable in a nationally televised debate situation. I expected one or both of them to acquit themselves much better than they did.
One interesting aside. None of the debaters tonight received the kind of enthusiastic, spontaneous, general ovation from the audience over some point they made or tag line, appealingly delivered, that have become common in these kinds of forums.
I thought Ron Paul gave the performance that enunciated the commonly accepted contemporary Republican Party doctrines best and also seemed the most intelligent. I thought Governor Huntsman seemed to represent the most mainstream contemporary American views and seemed the most sane. Neither were that well received nor seem likely to find success in upcoming primary elections.
The big dogs seemed to be Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. Neither seemed that magnetic or attractive to me but both got through the evening without doing themselves any additional major harm. Mitt seemed to be trying to skew himself a little farther to the Right than he is usually seen. Rick Perry seems to be comfortable staying well to the rugged, individualist Right, where he has been lodged since he switched from Democrat to Republican, two decades ago.
Unless a new, major Republican candidate emerges soon, I would have to say that Rick Perry seems most likely to be the Republican who emerges from the primary election season next year as the opponent facing Barack Obama. I do not see any third party threat emerging and if one were to somehow materialize, it would probably be one that draws votes more from Perry than Obama, who would likely beat Perry in any case.
The upcoming election season, even if there is a lot of tub thumping, name calling and firing of cannons into the clouds to bring down rain, looks to be shaping up as a real yawn. Too bad. I like a closely fought contest and think it is good for the country and the health of our political system.
Michelle Bachman was a disappointment tonight. She acted like somebody had slipped her a big slug of Lithium.
Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are both wily, experienced career politicians, who have held major office and are comfortable and capable in a nationally televised debate situation. I expected one or both of them to acquit themselves much better than they did.
One interesting aside. None of the debaters tonight received the kind of enthusiastic, spontaneous, general ovation from the audience over some point they made or tag line, appealingly delivered, that have become common in these kinds of forums.
Stand By Me
The Democratic Party is bigger than the Republican Party. It always has been. That is truer now than ever before. This is the key to presidential politics in America.
When Hubert Humphrey was beaten by Nixon, when Carter and Mondale were beaten by Reagan, When Gore and Kerry were beaten by Bush, they were not beaten by Republican voters. They were beaten by Democratic voters who crossed over and voted for the Republican candidate.
The key to becoming a Republican president is not the level of support that you have in your base but how many Democratic voters and Democratic leaning independents you can steal from the other side. The job for the Democratic candidate is completely different. His job is not to garner crossover votes from the Republicans but to keep his base from deserting him.
Obama is despised by the Republican base like no other Democratic Presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter. In the end, Jimmy Carter came to be seen unfavorably by many Democrats as well. That is what lost him his second term.
Most Republicans believe that Barack Obama is the illegitimate son of a blood thirsty, hereditary Kenyan, Mau Mau chieftain and a wandering hippie Earth mother (I've met several Wingers who swear she was a Jewess, as well), a Muslim Manchurian candidate, a mentally deficient recipient of affirmative action educational and life achievement accolades, a communist, secretly hates White people, plotting furiously to bring about our national downfall and not a legal, natural born, citizen of the United States of America. I think it's unlikely that many Republicans will vote for Barack Obama in 2012, don't you? They could get themselves a side show lobsterboy, with a corkscrew penis, who bites the heads off of live chickens, run him and he would poll a lot better among Republican voters than Barack Obama. You might think that's a joke but are Rick Perry and Michelle Bachman really that far off from the corkscrew penised, lobsterboy, geek?
So here's the real question. Will any Democrats vote for the Republican candidate for President of the United States in November of 2012? Like always, I think that depends on who they run. If they're smart they'll take a lesson from history and run another one of those "uniter, not a divider, guys". That's what's always worked before.
When Hubert Humphrey was beaten by Nixon, when Carter and Mondale were beaten by Reagan, When Gore and Kerry were beaten by Bush, they were not beaten by Republican voters. They were beaten by Democratic voters who crossed over and voted for the Republican candidate.
The key to becoming a Republican president is not the level of support that you have in your base but how many Democratic voters and Democratic leaning independents you can steal from the other side. The job for the Democratic candidate is completely different. His job is not to garner crossover votes from the Republicans but to keep his base from deserting him.
Obama is despised by the Republican base like no other Democratic Presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter. In the end, Jimmy Carter came to be seen unfavorably by many Democrats as well. That is what lost him his second term.
Most Republicans believe that Barack Obama is the illegitimate son of a blood thirsty, hereditary Kenyan, Mau Mau chieftain and a wandering hippie Earth mother (I've met several Wingers who swear she was a Jewess, as well), a Muslim Manchurian candidate, a mentally deficient recipient of affirmative action educational and life achievement accolades, a communist, secretly hates White people, plotting furiously to bring about our national downfall and not a legal, natural born, citizen of the United States of America. I think it's unlikely that many Republicans will vote for Barack Obama in 2012, don't you? They could get themselves a side show lobsterboy, with a corkscrew penis, who bites the heads off of live chickens, run him and he would poll a lot better among Republican voters than Barack Obama. You might think that's a joke but are Rick Perry and Michelle Bachman really that far off from the corkscrew penised, lobsterboy, geek?
So here's the real question. Will any Democrats vote for the Republican candidate for President of the United States in November of 2012? Like always, I think that depends on who they run. If they're smart they'll take a lesson from history and run another one of those "uniter, not a divider, guys". That's what's always worked before.
Friday, September 02, 2011
Cat O' Nine, Tale O'Five
There's this couple I know. One I've known for most of my life. The other I knew for awhile before they got married, almost thirty years ago now. Pretty smart, both of them. Got that extra nickel and dime to go with their IQ dollar. They both have college degrees. Both did some graduate work. One has a Masters. Neither has ever been unemployed since they got married. One has a mid level civil service job. The other owns and operates a small business. "Biddness", as GW Bush was so fond of saying in his time. Salt of the Earth, don'cha know. Backbone of America, yeah.
I remember, they flew down to Cancun for a quick, five day honeymoon. Got a real good package deal, as I remember. Saw those Inca ruins. Splashed in the warm, blue waters. Laid in the white, Sunny sand. Bob had never been out and around much before that honeymoon. He was so green he didn't realize the snacks, sodas and little bottles of good liquor in the "complimentary" mini bar of their room weren't really free. They replaced them every day, of course. He went through a couple hundred bucks worth before he learned the awful truth. He had to call home and get somebody to wire the money to cover it because he was too embarrassed to tell Peggy. I don't think they've been on a vacation since.
They live out in what is referred to in SoCal as the "Inland Empire", where the denizens of the snaking, multi culti, urban sprawls of LA, Orange and San Diego came not so gently together, to miscegenate in the once rich farm and ranch land of Riverside and the barren, arid rolling hills and cholla studded, semi desert grasslands of San Berdoo, producing huge bedroom communities of largish, air conditioned, boxy, stucco homes, mostly built since the late 70s.
My friends raised three boys. One's still in high school. The other two are still at home though. College didn't work out and there's no jobs. Never were, really. The real jobs were always 30, 40, 50 miles away. "Were" is the key word here.
Anyway. My friends are in bankruptcy. Their house is in foreclosure. There were expenses. They became over extended. "Biddness" isn't as good as it used to be. Gubment jobs is cuttin' back and downsizin'. Tea Party style! Yeah, man! I guess they'll be starting over. At 60. They're still workin' though. Praise the Lord! Better days ahead.
I remember, they flew down to Cancun for a quick, five day honeymoon. Got a real good package deal, as I remember. Saw those Inca ruins. Splashed in the warm, blue waters. Laid in the white, Sunny sand. Bob had never been out and around much before that honeymoon. He was so green he didn't realize the snacks, sodas and little bottles of good liquor in the "complimentary" mini bar of their room weren't really free. They replaced them every day, of course. He went through a couple hundred bucks worth before he learned the awful truth. He had to call home and get somebody to wire the money to cover it because he was too embarrassed to tell Peggy. I don't think they've been on a vacation since.
They live out in what is referred to in SoCal as the "Inland Empire", where the denizens of the snaking, multi culti, urban sprawls of LA, Orange and San Diego came not so gently together, to miscegenate in the once rich farm and ranch land of Riverside and the barren, arid rolling hills and cholla studded, semi desert grasslands of San Berdoo, producing huge bedroom communities of largish, air conditioned, boxy, stucco homes, mostly built since the late 70s.
My friends raised three boys. One's still in high school. The other two are still at home though. College didn't work out and there's no jobs. Never were, really. The real jobs were always 30, 40, 50 miles away. "Were" is the key word here.
Anyway. My friends are in bankruptcy. Their house is in foreclosure. There were expenses. They became over extended. "Biddness" isn't as good as it used to be. Gubment jobs is cuttin' back and downsizin'. Tea Party style! Yeah, man! I guess they'll be starting over. At 60. They're still workin' though. Praise the Lord! Better days ahead.
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