Sure, an' Happy St. Paddy's Day to ya!
Dublin Parade
To go with your Corned Beef n' Cabbage, m'dears ~
Colcannon
By CHEF DIANE STOPFORD, EXECUTIVE CHEF, DEAN AND DELUCA
SERVES 4-6 ACTIVE TIME 10 min. TOTAL TIME 30 min.
In Ireland, a steaming bowl of colcannon is the ultimate comfort food. It was traditionally served on Halloween, when a ring or coin was hidden in the cream mountains of mush. The lucky recipient of the ring or coin is said to find wealth or marriage within a year. It is now often made for St. Patrick's Day.
Ingredients:
3 lb potatoes
1 small onion
1 bunch kale
3 Tbsp salted butter (Irish butter such as Kerrygold is preferable)
1 cup whole milk
Salt
Directions
1. Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, drain well and return to pot.
2. Finely slice onion and simmer gently in milk until the onion is soft, drain, reserving the milk.
3.Meanwhile remove stalks from kale and roughly chop. Place kale in a pot with one inch of boiling, salted water. Cover and cook for 3-5 minutes until kale is tender but still bright green, remove from heat and drain.
4. Mash potatoes with three quarters of the butter, add the onion and kale and beat together with a wooden spoon. Gradually add the milk until the potatoes are soft and creamy. Serve immediately with remaining butter on top.
Howard's my fella, today and all others.
ReplyDeleteLots of Illinois political news today. The Tribune reports that Rep. Bill Forster may run for Mark Kirk's Senate seat. Foster harshly criticized Kirk's efforts to undermine negotiations with Iran. I personally like Foster because he is a scientist, a physicist formerly employed at Fermilab. Other Democrats mentioned as possible Democratic challengers to Kirk include Rep Tammy Duckworth, with whom a feel a sense of identify because she is disabled. (I made monthly contributions for both Foster and Duckworth last election cycle.)
ReplyDeleteAnd just in from Huffington Post: Rep. Aaron Schmock (R-18) has resigned following disclosure of the amounts he had billed taxpayers for lavish trips and office decorations.
And I read the Tribune's account of the first one-on-one debate between Rahm Emanuel and Chuy Garcia. If you just listen to the rhetoric, Garcia has my support hands down. But neither candidate has a believable plan for dealing with the city's financial problems. Which resemble those of the state of Illinois, only worse because of the way Daley sold off city assets and borrowed heavily in in his final years to avoid raising property taxes.
ReplyDeleteAs an Oak Parker, I cannot understand why Chicagoans seem to have such an objection to property taxes but little problem with sales taxes. That's one reason I consider Chicago politics so totally opaque. And I notice that my request for feedback about whether I should throw money through the darkness to Garcia has been met with deafening silence.
(Another reason I consider Chicago politics opaque: I note that both Rep. Mike Quigly, a noted progressive, and Sen. Dick Durbin are supporting Emanuel.)
In nonpolitical news, I got my teeth cleaned and a tooth filled today. The tooth had somehow developed an odd-shaped hole on the side and a couple of old fillings were due for replacement. In fact, there was a bit of decay under one of the fillings. One thing notable was that the dentist now had a tiny hand-held camera that she used to take pictures and show me close-up what my teeth looked like.
ReplyDeleteI told the dentist about a scene in Heinlein's The Door into Summer, written in 1956 (Cat will know this book). The plot involves a man who uses cold sleep to get from 1970 to 2000 then, less than a year later, gets back to 1970 via time travel. In 1970 he has occasion to go to a dentist, who is totally amazed by the dental work in his head. As I remarked to the dentist, the end product hasn't really changed that much. But the techniques are totally different.
I rather like that story from The Door Into Summer, Bill. :-)
ReplyDeleteI have to make a dentist appt, too.
Yeeeaaagghhhhhhh!!!
ReplyDeletePresident Obama is Redefining "Lame Duck"
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/17/politics/obama-politics-white-house/index.html
As for neither candidate's plan for Chicago being feasible, consider that Garcia could get some good idears from Howard Dean, who is endorsing him. Consider also how badly Rahm Emanuel dissed Dean. Maybe begin by voting for the person who has the best character, as then you'll have the most potential for good.
ReplyDeleteI never viewed Rahm as dissing Howard. Rahm's job was to elect as many Democratic Congresspeople as possible in 2006. Howard's was to build the Democratic party long-term. The two goals were simply in conflict. Howard stuck to his guns, of course, and was absolutely right to do so.
DeleteAs for character, I know absolutely nothing about Garcia. Maybe he's another Harold Washington, maybe he isn't. And it would be nice to think that Howard could wave a magic wand and rescue Chicago and Illinois from too many decades of financial leger-de-main intended to hide the fact that taxes were too low, but I don't have that much confidence. Still, as the governor who balanced Vermont's budget, he may have some ideas.
It's too mean!
ReplyDeleteThere's a storm level Aurora tonight and it's SNOWING here!
At one point it was technically possible to see it as far south as the White House!
http://www.softservenews.com/Aurora.htm
Political points well taken, all. I must plow through the transcript of a deposition (mine) ere cock's crow (hopefully before the witching hour). Things have let up a bit at work but remain rather more demanding than I should prefer. Still better by far than the opposite.
ReplyDeleteAlan