My Left Pinkie

Eureka!

Ladies and gentlemen, I have cracked the code of No Knead Bread.

My dear friend M (known around Teh Intarwebs as bramish) pointed me to this recipe, No-Knead Bread. Apparently it was all the rage on said Intarwebs a few months ago. My other dear friend H gave me some King Arthur French-Style Flour and some sourdough starter yeast for Christmas (along with some instructions for sourdough bread, which I promptly disregarded--I don't do instructions...sort of.) After some trial and error (as in, this is the second loaf I've made), I hit the jackpot. I give you No Knead Bread, Revisited--Again:

1 1/2 cups water, vaguely warm-ish
1 tablespoon table salt (I'm a salt Luddite, I guess)
3 cups bread flour
1/4 tsp. instant yeast
3-4 Tbsp. olive oil

In a large ceramic bowl, combine half the olive oil, the salt, the yeast and the water. Add the flour slowly and mix it with a wooden spoon until you have a big ball o' dough. Park it in a non-drafty spot in the kitchen for at least 18 hours. Punch it down and form it into a vaguely round shape and let it bench proof for approximately two hours. During the last 30 minutes, pre-heat your oven to 450 and stash a large covered pot in the oven so it pre-heats. Then swirl the remaining olive oil around in the bottom of the pot and throw your doughball in. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake another 20 minutes.

(Note: For better instructions, see the Steamy Kitchen blog for adorable photos of Jaden's kid. My methodology is identical to hers. The only differences in the recipe are the olive oil and the fact that I add a lot more salt than she does.)

The first time I made this, I was ecstatic about the crusty crust, but disappointed with the flavor of the bread. I cured that by doubling the amount of salt I used. The olive oil in the pot made the bottom crust caramelize and gave it a very yummy flavor the first loaf didn't have. So...eureka!

I'm in a ranting mood...

Maybe it's the season, maybe it's the craziness at work (ohhh, the craziness), maybe it's wishes unfulfilled on the job front and on the companionship front, but I'm in a pissed-off mood. So...I rant. Some of this will be political and some won't. But it's my blog and I'll cry if I want to.

• First and foremost, this  video cracks me up. Those of you who know me know that I fancy myself a bit of a grammarian, so when I heard this song on the radio tonight I cracked up. Grammatically correct rap music...SHOCKING! (One might expect the lyrics to be "She move her body like a cyclone. She make me want to do it all night long." But it's not. It's actually grammatically correct. w00t for that!)
• Second, I don't know why, but when I'm in a bad mood, this song always cheers me up for some reason. I like the message--when you're down and feeling blah, just change one thing and maybe it'll pull you out of your rut.
• Speaking of YouTube, stop by thamewt and participate in Matt's ZAP! project. He's collecting questions from various YouTube users about diversity and life experiences, and posting the questions and answers online. The two questions posted so far relate to LGBT issues, and Matt's responses are spot-on. I don't know if he's planning on doing strictly LGBT issues or if he'll expand his horizons, but props to him for doing this. And he's just so effing cute.
• Speaking of LGBT issues, I'm officially coming out at work. I'm planning on doing it subtly. I don't even own any Pride swag, so I ordered a Pride pin last night. I'll wear it for a few days and see if anyone notices. I'm also going to stop lying when the subject comes up, and start standing up for the LGBT community when it's appropriate. We have a customer who has called a couple times this week seeking help because when he became a customer, he was a Joseph, but now she's a Joanne. This has resulted in much amusement from my coworkers, and it's starting to make me ill. Also, I was in a meeting today and one of my coworkers said, "That's so GAY!" I wanted to slap her. I know that when I come out their attitudes won't magically change, but at least they won't say these things in front of me, and at this point that's the best I can hope for. Anyway, I'll wear my Pride pin along with my Obama pin and see who notices.
• Speaking of Obama, I'm kind of disillusioned with political blogging and with the whole political process at the moment. The latest capitulation on Iraq, along with the clusterfuckery with the Michigan primary/caucus boondoggle has got me questioning whether it's even worth it for us regular joes and janes to get involved with the political process anymore.
• Speaking of getting involved in the political process, I got an email from my friend Lisa today that she was planning on going to the Muskegon County Democratic Party meeting tonight. I just happened to have the night off, and I had planned on going to one of these meetings at some point anyway, so I decided I'd tag along. Yeah, not so much. Our beloved party makes a lot of noise about being a "big tent," but it's time for us to walk the walk. As some of you know, I have a disability and walk with a cane. The Muskegon Democratic Party holds their meetings at a CIO Hall downtown. Now, I know it's December and I know it's Michigan, but in the event one could find a parking spot downtown, one also has to negotiate several feet of snow and ice in order to even get in the door. This isn't the first time I've run across this, and it's starting to irritate me. In the event that the time-space continuum developed a giant tear and I did end up moving to Lansing, this would be a constant problem for me to have to deal with. ::sigh::
• So instead of going into the meeting, I sat outside and watched through the window as the meeting attendees filtered in. What is the Muskegon County Party going to do when Gary Conrad finally up and dies? He's been the chair for something like 25 years. I only saw one person, a young woman about my age, who appeared to be under 50. Everyone makes a lot of noise about the youth movement and how the youth of America generally vote further to the left than their parents and grandparents, but the party establishment sure isn't doing a very good job at reaching out to young people. As I sat there, all these people filtered into the run down old union building and shook hands and smiled, like they were reconnecting with old friends they had lost touch with.
  
  • First and foremost, how does a n00b like me even get involved in that? Had I actually been physically able to get into the meeting, I would've sat quietly in the back and been ignored.
  • Second, the county party meets once a month for about two hours. Meanwhile Mary Valentine is in the middle of a recall fight; the MDP and the Michigan Legislature have bungled the primary thing so badly that it's hard to even keep track of; presidential candidates are out-and-out ignoring Michigan until February 5, when they'll undoubtedly come to town with their hats in their hands; our rock star of a governor is being relentlessly railroaded by anyone and everyone, virtually ensuring a Republican governorship for years to come; Grover Norquist and his band of minions are mounting a serious attempt to pull the union safety blanket out from over Michigan's workers; AND THE WAR IS STILL RAGING. This is not the time for coffee and cookies, kids. It's time to roll up our sleeves and DO SOMETHING.
• Speaking of "n00bs," props to Webster's for picking "w00t" as their Word of the Year. I use "w00t" all the time, at least in print. It doesn't make nearly as much sense when spoken. Ten years from now, I doubt anyone will be using w00t on any kind of a regular basis, but it makes a great statement about what an impact the Intertoobz have had on our daily lives.

I feel better. Sort of. Still apprehensive about The Four Month Saga and irritated over job woes, but at least I splattered my problems all over the screen. That's what a blog is for, right?

Hoekstra gets campaign money from lobbyists and defense contractors? SHOCKING! Or...not.

At dKos, MichiganGirl puts together a pretty damning list of contributors to Hoekstra's campaigns. Boeing, GD, LockheedMartin, NorthrupGrumman, Loral, L3 Communications, UnitedTechnologies, Raytheon, a slew of defense industry lobbyists, and good ol' Erik Prince of Blackwater. As she says in the diary, the Lying Dutchman has a vested interest in making sure the war goes on and on and on and on...

Thanks, Pete.

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll1057.xml

ENDA passes. Hoekstra votes no. Are you shocked?

Didn't think so...

mASSachusetts

I should be studying for my LOMA test tomorrow, but instead I'm updating ye old blog. Yeah, that's pretty much par for the course with me. Anyway...let's go bullet-style, shall we?

• Stormy's Great Massachusetts Adventure ended yesterday with a very bumpy flight into GRR. As I've mentioned before, the purpose of the trip was to scope out New England and see if it was a place I could handle moving to. Michiganders rejoice, for I am staying put...at least for now.
• What struck me once I left BDL airport was how dirty and run down everything is. I know MA was settled and developed long before MI ever was, but the whole place doesn't seem very well taken care of. Between that and the gloomy weather, I just felt depressed for most of the weekend.
• I also felt claustrophobic. MA just doesn't have the wide-open countryside feel that west Michigan does. I was driving back from Grand Haven this afternoon and things just felt right again--wide open spaces, parking lots, a bit of conspicuous consumerism, etc.
• The highways in MA are weird, yo. Here in MI we have these nifty things called mile markers, and the exits are all numbered, and lo and behold, the numbers match. In MA the exits are numbered sequentially--there may be one mile between exit 1 and 2, but there may be ten miles between exits 2 and 3. There's no way to know how far you are from the exit you're supposed to be getting off at, which is really disconcerting when you're in unfamiliar territory.
• The 65 mph speed limit is an abomination and should be abolished.
• Turnpikes? Are you kidding me? Maybe it's because I come from Michigan, home of the Big Three where driving is a God-given right, but I resent having to pay $2.10 just to get on the highway.
• Yes, the Italian bakery in Northampton kicked ass. Yes, it's cool that Northampton is full of liberal crunchy-granola types (latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving liberals, as it were). I've never seen so many Priuses and Subaru station wagons in one place in my life.
• Snow. MA gets lots of it, and I've had enough to last me a lifetime. Plus, with my physical issues I just can't help but think that November-March would be a nightmare. I'm already a social butterfly and basically a shut-in, but having to deal with sidewalks makes me even more of a shut-in.
• Amherst was kinda cool. A little more space, a little less run-down. Way expensive, though, and kind of in the middle of nowhere.
• As a liberal and a foodie, I've been reading about Trader Joe's for years. Ladies and gentlemen, I have seen the land of (organic soy) milk and (locally-harvested clover) honey, and it is Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's is the shit.
• Dunkin' Donuts. Seriously, WHAT is the obsession with Dunkin' Donuts? They're EVERYWHERE. Here in MI we have ONE that I know of, but in MA you're always within spitting distance of one.
• I didn't notice it until I was in Amherst and standing in front of one, but there's a much lower concentration of churches in MA than in MI--bonus points for MA.
• As a liberal, every time someone mentions grocery stores they always say to bring your own bags (reusable canvas bags, ideally) and avoid plastic shopping bags. At Trader Joe's, people actually *do* that. It was surreal.
• Sunday was awesome. I had lunch with thirteen Kossacks, all of whom are wonderful and amazing people. Special props to Bill (BiPM, to his friends and fans), Michael (THE Michael!), 42, PoliSigh and mem from somerville for being five of the most wonderful people on the planet. I really enjoyed hanging out with all of you. And somehow I managed to fit all the New England swag into my suitcase...imagine that.
• I was much less discouraged by New Hampshire than I was by Massachusetts. But New Hampshire is a non-starter. Just the sight of the New Hampshire bumper sticker and the PSU t-shirt wigs me out.

So...I'm staying put, at least for now. As I was driving through Grand Haven today I realized GH has all of the things I'm looking for in a hometown, except the warm weather. Must investigate this further.

Hoekstra Loves FISA and Telcos

Via Chris Dodd's incredibly cool Internet Director Tim Tagaris: Pete Hoekstra 'demands' Chris Dodd donate his recent contributions to charity.

Last week Dodd vowed to filibuster the latest iteration of FISA, wherein Republicans are offering retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies who illegally turned over telephone records to the government. The whole thing turned into a bit of a blogswarm, and by the end Joe Biden and Barack Obama had vowed to filibuster, too. When the Netroots found out about Dodd's filibuster threat, the money came pouring in, and the Dodd campaign banked $150,000 in one day. Now The Lying Dutchman seems to think it's dirty money (and money from Erik Prince's sister isn't?) and wants Dodd to donate it to charity.

Sez Petey: "Al Qaeda is not going to give us a break just because we're having an election,"

The article isn't very clear about Hoekstra's thought process. Apparently Hoek just thinks Dodd is playing politics and putting our lives in danger for the sake of winning an election...which is insane. Dodd is a genuine guy, and to accuse him of wanting to filibuster a bill as a means of winning the White House is just stupid. He's going to filibuster it because it's a bad bill, and lets the telcos off the hook for violating the existing FISA law. It's The Lying Dutchman who's playing politics here.

And Pete...spare us the tired old lines about al Qaeda. If the next words out of your mouth are "We're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here," so help me I will SCREAM.

Meanwhile...SUPPORT SCOTT KILLIPS! Send Pistol Pete packing!

Oh, snap!

So The Lying Dutchman is so incensed at the $310,000 turtle-proofing fence that he's offered to come to Michigan and help the Michigan government make better spending decisions. Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd:

"I think it's important to note that Congressman Hoekstra and his party have presided over the runaway spending in Washington," Boyd said this morning. "Why in the world would we ever take a lesson from him in how to spend money?"

I don't know about turtle fences, but Liz Boyd's salary is definitely money well spent. Kudos, Liz.

Pete Hoekstra Hates Children

Pete Hoekstra voted against S-CHIP again. 55,000 Michigan children will now have to do without healthcare coverage, thanks to the will of a bunch of rich businessmen.

Riddle me this, Pete: if it's not okay to extend taxpayer-funded healthcare to America's youngest and most vulnerable, why is it okay to extend taxpayer-funded healthcare to Congress, whose members make upwards of $150K a year? If their parents, working two jobs to make ends meet, are expected to be able to buy into their own health insurance program, why aren't YOU required to buy into YOUR own health insurance program? Do you even care, or do you just take your healthcare for granted?

Quick Question

I'm boycotting MichLib at the moment for political reasons and BFM doesn't do open threads, so I ask you, loyal reader(s?) of MLP...

What does our bench look like in the Michigan 5th? I just realized Dale Kildee is 77 years old...

Shorter Pete Hoekstra:

http://www.mlive.com/news/chronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1192038302121300.xml&coll=8

Hoekstra told us Monday he voted against the measure because he believes it was "a poorly written bill" that represents "an unprecedented expansion of U.S. law" since, in the congressman's understanding, it could provoke a diplomatic crisis if it resulted in foreign nationals working under contract for the U.S. government being subject to U.S. law. Hoekstra added he does not believe this bill has any chance of making it through the Senate or to the president's desk because of the deficiencies he describes.

The Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, MEJA, would tighten rules on military contractors (paid mercenaries, i.e. Blackwater). Pete Hoekstra voted no. Translation: Betsy DeVos told me to vote No, and she writes the checks, so I voted no. Just for the record, the vote was 339-30, a bipartisan veto-proof majority.