orichalcum

Since I'm not teaching at the moment, I've been trying to throw some extra energy into cooking, especially baking. There are three reasons for this:
1. I like baking already and have a new bread machine.
2. Baking is an activity that can be done with Mac around and doesn't involve hot things and split attention problems.
3. I'm trying to cook and eat healthier for our family and in particular lower the amount of preservatives we eat and increase the amount of whole grains.

Some things have met with more success than others. For instance, I tried to bake a whole-wheat cornbread, following the Bob's Red Mill recipe on the back of the bag. We all love cornbread and I wanted a recipe that wasn't 3/4 white flour.

Unfortunately, what I got was a very dense, slightly sour tasting bread, with none of the light sweetness that you typically associate with cornbread. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't very tasty.

However, I also had acorn squash on hand, which led to the following successful impromptu ( Stuffed Acorn Squash Recipe: )

Another recent success was a low-fat moist whole-wheat carrot cake from the Cook's Book, which I can post if anybody's interested in; the frosting was mostly mascarpone cheese (1/3rd the fat of cream cheese) and the sweetness came from fresh squeezed orange juice.)

Also, TJ's wild mushroom risotto is seriously improved by beginning with a saute of wild mushrooms, onions, and garlic.

And the Moosewood Blueberry Muffins are still very tasty, if a bit denser, with a ratio of 1/4 whole wheat flour to 3/4 white; I'll try increasing it even more next time.

Clinton surrogate and Machinists union President Tom Buffenbarger: "Give me a break! I've got news for all the latte-drinking, Prius- driving, Birkenstock-wearing, trust fund babies crowding in to hear him speak! This guy won't last a round against the Republican attack machine. He's a poet, not a fighter."

Obama supporters...are all lesbians? My stereotypes are getting all confused. Oh, wait, maybe lesbians drive Volvos, and Obama supporters drive Priuses (because of their trust funds, presumably)?
That must be the crucial difference. Also, less sushi. (I hear the sushi in Iowa is terrible.)

The same man also made a comparison between "the editor of the Harvard Law Review or a fighter for working families" and called him "a trained thespian" and "silver-tongued." So maybe, um...Obama is a rich gay guy and Clinton is a straight working-class woman? Is that the message here?

Write the worst blurb you can imagine for a favorite and very good book. ( I don't think there are any spoilers here, but if you've never taken any English class or read any children's fantasy, stop here. )

Lloyd Alexander, one of my favorite childhood authors, died today at 83, two weeks after the death of his wife of 61 years.

I think I'm most startled by the fact that I never realized he was an American; I always assumed he was Welsh. He said that his last and forthcoming book, the Golden Dream of Carlo Ccuchio, is "his life's work." I, at least, will be buying it.

I loved his strong, spunky women, like Eilonwy and Vesper and Mickle and Nur-Jehan, who were so often more physically competent than their menfolk, and made me want to be a redhead. I loved his affectionate treatment of oddballs and misfits, like Ffleweddur Fflam, and his excellent evocations of settings ranging from ancient China to Wales to Arabia. I loved the stories of his heroes' personal growth and their reliance on the simple things - friends, families, the power of stories.

I loved Gurgi.

I read the Prydain Chronicles when I was 8; the Westmark series when I was 11, the Vesper Holly series via retsuko when I was 14. I will read them to my children.

( Some favorite quotes: )
All that writers can do is keep trying to say what is deepest in their hearts. --Lloyd Alexander

From an article about the 2nd authorized sequel to _Gone With The Wind_:

"Ms. Tennant’s contract specified that she retain Ms. Mitchell’s tone, vision and characters. It also forbade Ms. Tennant from including “acts or references to incest, miscegenation, or sex between two people of the same sex.”"

To be fair, the 2nd-choice author of the 2nd sequel was allowed more freedom, and joked that his opening line would be: “After they made love, Rhett turned to Ashley Wilkes and said, ‘Ashley, have I ever told you that my grandmother was black?’ ” Finally, they settled on a third author, who was allowed "a minor interracial affair and a suggestion of closeted homosexuality" in his final draft, after many conflicts with the estate of Margaret Mitchell.

But still. Miscegenation??? It's the 21st century, people. And you know what? In the 19th century, a whole lot of white people and a whole lot of black people were having sex with each other too (many under duress.)