Think!

Hi All or None,

Be forewarned, this is a rant. I'm pissed off and I can't take it anymore. My post from yesterday opened up this discussion at work and when people started giving armchair advice for the Katrina victims, saying they should pack up and get a new life elsewhere, it was all I could do to keep my claws sheathed. I guess I really do need that massage tomorrow, huh? :)

The victims of the flooding in New Orleans shouldn't have to pack up and move elsewhere. New Orleans is their home and it was torn apart by a lackadaisical government and the corps of engineer’s poor building and not properly maintaining the levees. If you broke it, fix it. Don't put these people up in trailers for a year while you let their homes sit broken and full of debris. Don't tell them it would be easier to move away from all they know and own. Get into the city and fix it! Don't promise them money and maybe give it to them a year later. Don’t allow the insurance companies to not pay these people. It really seems like the government is helping get all the poorer people out of New Orleans, so vultures can swoop in a buy these people's property for nothing and then turn around and sell it for sky high prices. If we ignore this, there won't be a New Orleans.

For the people posting comments to my topic yesterday, saying that it's too easy to blame the government about this situation. I completely agree with you. From the way that the office, that says it represents and serves us, conducts itself, it is entirely far too easy to blame the government.

This is the government that can spy on us illegally, and put us into a war to find Osama Bin Laden and weapons of mass destruction, and then go after Hussein (which is strictly for oil. Don't let that aw shucks got to protect the country talk about weapons and terrorism fool you. This war is strictly about money, which is what most wars are about.)

This is the government who turned the biggest budget surplus ever into a $8,507,362,238,764.27 budget deficit as of Aug 25, 2006. That’s 8.5 trillion dollars. Just thought I’d spell that out for you. :) This is the congress that doesn't use the system of checks and balances to protect our rights that are being infringed upon by the executive branch. This is the government that is using this so called war on terror to further their own agenda.

You do remember that the Bushes are in the oil business, right? And that they waged a war in the Middle East, where there's oil, right? So, you take out the evil dictator and make it easier to make money of your own on oil once you're out of office? Right? Hmm...sounds funny when you think about it. We believed this was about terrorism??? That's hilarious.

So, yes, for me, it's entirely way too easy to blame the federal government about what's going on with the state of our union and all the other messes overseas that Bush has pushed us into. When you’ve fucked up so much, it’s hard not to blame the government. This is the government we elected to stand for us and pass laws for the good of the nation? Really? I only have to say this, “Is it 2008 yet?”

Thinking about Hurricane Katrina

Monday and Tuesday, I watched "When the Levees Broke" on HBO. This is a documentary by Spike Lee about the victims of Katrina in New Orleans and includes interviews from local residents, state and city government officials. I want to say that I've never been so moved by anything I've seen on television ever. The documentary talks about things that weren't really talked about in the main stream media, like that New Orleans wasn't hit by Hurricane Katrina. It was missed by Hurricane Katrina. It was the levees breaking the day after Katrina that flooded and destroyed the city and killed so many people.

The documentary also interviewed professors at LSU who talked about a research study conducted by FEMA a year before the hurricane, called Hurricane Pam. The study used a computer model to see what would happen to New Orleans if it was hit by a Category 5 Hurricane. The study showed that the levees would fail, flooding New Orleans and yet Fema or the government did nothing about this. I've never been what you'd call fond of our present government, but I thought at least in a national disaster that they would do what needed to be done. But people in New Orleans still live in trailers, sometimes with no electricity or sewerage systems.

That the federal government has money for these people yet it's tied up in red tape is a mockery of our government and what it is supposed to stand for. That there are still houses that stand full of debris and who knows what else is ridiculous. The government should have people down there cleaning out people's houses and helping them rebuild.

New Orleans was called the City that Care forgot, but it's more like the city that the government lied to, forgot about, and then fucked over. It's beyond ridiculous that we live in America (a country that will go overseas to help out another country within 48 hours) but the federal government waits 5 days after a major national disaster to start helping our own people. The government waits 5 days while people are without food, water, and sit dying in the heat and filth of a city where all the sewers have backed up.

There are no words to describe how fucked up that is. After watching this documentary, I feel just like I felt after watching the news footage last year, but more angry and frustrated. I want to help but without money, I don't know where to start. Someone needs to help these people because the government isn't. And the national media has forgotten about New Orleans for the most part.

The crazy thing is that this didn't have to happen. Sure, Hurricane Katrina would have come and caused wind damage and some flooding, but if the government and the corps of engineers that built the levees had done there job, the major flooding that killed people and destroyed homes wouldn't have happened. That breaks my heart. To know that all the little kids who lost their Moms and Dads, all the parents who lost their children, could have been saved. No words can express that level of disappointment with our government, the organization that's supposed to help us.

Piense antes de que usted cocine con los chiles calientes

Hello all or none, I'd been sick last week and just came back to work yesterday. So, that's why I haven't been posting. But to make up for it, let me tell you a hilarious story.

My best friend's birthday was Friday and we had a gathering Sunday that I cooked for. The menu was Mexican food so I thought I'd pull out my authentic Mexican cookbooks and get to work Saturday night. So, I was in the process of making a salsa roja for the first time and the recipe calls for you to toast dried chilies in a skillet and then put them in a blender with roasted tomatoes and canned chipotle peppers and some water.

No one ever warned me about this step, so I'm putting this out there to hopefully help others from hurting themselves.

• Do not put your face over the blender after you've blended the mixture of peppers and
• Do not put your face over the skillet while you're toasting the dried chilies.

My face has never burned so much. I had pepper burns all around my nose and mouth. So, I put a cold rag on my face and it helped a little, but as soon as I'd take it off it would start to burn again. Then, I mixed up a paste of baking soda and water which just made the burning worse. After some thought, I finally found some whipping cream in my fridge and put it on my face and it stopped the burning. So, I walked around my kitchen cooking with drying whipped cream on my face. I was a sight.

And I cooked so much on Saturday and Sunday, that my back is now killing me and I feel like I've been beaten. Thankfully, my job has gladly decided to give out bonuses Friday, so I'm taking Saturday as a Spa day and I'm getting my hair cut and colored and a massage. I'm so happy I would do a backflip if I could bend backwards. :D

I think I might email Rick Bayless to add a addendum to his cookbooks asking people to be cautious when making salsa in the blender so they don't burn themselves. lol

Penser à Mme Julia Child

Hello all or none. :) I made pretty good on my promise to do nothing this weekend. I spent most of my time over at my friend's house hanging out and watching TV or cooking. Which was a nice change of pace. I was web-surfing Friday and found out that the 2nd anniversary of Julia Child's death was Sunday and that her birthday is this Tuesday. And I knew that me and my group of foodie friends needed to honor her. We normally have some sort of dinner gathering on Sunday nights, so I thought we'd have a French dinner with lots of rustic, simple country French food, nothing crazy fancy. But we ended up having a French brunch.

Let's just say this. To all the people who normally attend our gatherings, thanks for not coming. That was some of the best food I've had in a long time and I was really happy I didn't have to share. :D Quiche Lorraine, Pommes Anna, Country French Bread, Pain au Chocolat, Croissants, and fresh fruit, tomatoes, and yogurt. Hmmm.mmm. And I have leftovers. I know all this is not traditionally French. The French normally have coffee and bread and a cigarette. But this was possibly the best breakfast I've ever had.

I was telling one of my co-workers about the breakfast and that we were doing it in honor of Julia Child and my co-worker didn't know who she was???!!! I almost had a fit. Then, I calmly explained that Julia Child was one (if not the first) chefs on TV, that before Julia most Americans ate mostly canned goods and fresh food was not the norm. That because of Julia, American housewives demanded fresh produce and bought good kitchen equipment, and starting cooking real food. Julia changed the way American ate and shopped for food. She also changed television.

I remember watching her when I was a kid and teenager. Giving instruction and information with no pretension or ego. Which if you watch the Food Network that lack of ego is something of a novelty. She was funny, bright, and genuinely loved food. The more I watch Food Network, the more I realize how amazing she was. I think watching her on PBS at such a young age really formed how I think about food. And after reading her latest book, My Life in Paris, I think even more highly of her.

I think it's really sad that people don't know more about her. But when they get fresh greens or specialty cuts of meat from the grocery, they should know that Julia helped make that happen. And if they don't know, I'll tell them.

You Think?

Hello, didn't post yesterday from the sheer enormity of email in my work inbox from being gone for one day. But the funeral for my Great Aunt ended up being ok. It was so hot outside and the preacher wouldn't stop preaching for like 45 minutes. I'm like heloo, It's 100 degrees outside and it's 10:00 in the morning. Also, I hate when members of the faith don't know the person who's passed on, and they talk about nothing related to the person. They just preach at you. Grrr. Give me someone who can say something about who the person was and how they lived and then be done with it. Especially when it's 100 degrees outside. :)

Last night, my best friend and I, watched Domino. It was something that looked fairly cool and had guns and a cute guy (Edgar Ramirez) so we thought it might be good. It was the most horrible movie I think I've ever seen. Ranks right up there with Magnolia as my 2 least favorite movies. Supposedly, it was 128 minutes, but it felt like I was sitting on the couch for 3 hours. About 45 minutes into the movie, I turned to my friend and asked (just to make sure I wasn't the only one) if she was liking the movie. And she agreed that it was horrible too. We talked to ourselves for the last hour. I would have turned it off if not for her. The best part of the whole movie is when Edgar Ramirez (Choco) is getting ready to fight he pulls the elastic out of his hair and shakes his head. He had beautiful long wavy hair. That's it. 5 seconds of hair and there's the highlight of the movie (for me at least.)

Also, Wednesday night, I watched the lost Dave Chappelle Episodes. I think Dave shot stuff and never got the chance to finish it and the powers that be at Comedy Central took it and expanded it over 3 episodes to make money. Because that was nowhere near Dave's level of comedy. Or maybe he really was on crack. :) Just kidding. But I will wait the baited breath for something that Dave authorizes and until then I'll watch the old episodes, the Block Party movie, and his interview with James Lipton on Behind the Actors Studio, which was brilliant.

Food for Thought

I had a headache and was a little hungry, so I went to the vending machine. I should have known that this would only make my headache worst. This is a rant, just warning you. Fritos for $0.70 and a Sprite for $0.50. Corn chips, and high fructose corn syrup with flavorings??? So, basically all I'm ingesting is corn. Which basically is a food you feed to animals to increase their weight. Not only am paying $1.20 to make myself fatter, but I'm also becoming more chemically dependent on all of the shit they inject into our foods.

And not only does my company allow this vendor of evil into the workplace, that's the only option they have. So, unless you bring something (which I never have the mental forethought to do), you either don't eat or eat unhealthy. It is beyond amazing to me how the food industry can pimp their poisons and pay the government to help them and advertise that it's good for us and we are stupid enough to believe them.

I've been reading some really good but scary books lately, Skinny Bitch and The Omnivore's Dilemma, both of which are really amazing books about the food we eat and how it's killing us. And I would really like to become less dependent on processed foods. My best friend and I went for a month without red meat and now I find I'm much less attached to it. My next big hurdle is trying to go without white or processed sugar for a month to wean myself off it. And recently with all the shit that's been going on, moving and family issues, I have resorted to going back to caffeinated drinks and that's probably one reason why I have a headache right now. Argh!

Ok, I'm going to stop ranting only because it's making my head hurt worse.

Just A Thought

I was reading a blog, Angry Black Bitch (http://angryblackbitch.blogspot.com/), that a friend emailed to me. BTW, it instantly became one of my daily must-reads. And it occurred to me, that blogging could be a forum for me. A cathartic release of word. Which is something I haven't done in far too long. Writing for myself was something I had to do when I was in school just to keep myself sane. And after school, I got caught up in the trivialities of working a lame-ass job and trying to take care of myself. I got caught up in surviving, but not really living.

This past year, when I turned 25, I was so scared. For reasons I didn't understand until now. I haven't done anything since high school. My main accomplishments in 6 years have been buying my car (slowly, 1 year to go :D), moving out of my parents' home, and knowing myself a little better. I've been so scared of how little I've done with my life and how to change it for 9 months now. But with the death of a close relative, I've realized how precious life is and how I have to try my best not to fuck it up. To actually LIVE my life. So, when I'm in that bed, lying there dying, I'll know that my life actually meant something.

I've always been able to lie to myself (we'll do it later, I'll get it done) but I've never been able to lie in my writing. If I write it, I need to be able to justify it. Must be too much time writing for newspapers. Yes, I still have morals, just no motivation. :) So, this is my forum to express myself and learn more about me through word. And for others to learn about me, if they care to. But this time, I'm doing me.