| Fruit, cream, even meat pies are honored today
To honor the humble pie, we asked our readers to share their favorite recipes. Spotsylvania County resident Pam McWhirt has been making chocolate pie for 38 years. She found the recipe in a cookbook she received as a wedding gift. The concoction started as a birthday dessert, then quickly became a family Christmas staple. Now, McWhirt's grandchildren beg her to bring chocolate pie each time she visits them. McWhirt's filling includes sugar, salt, eggs and cornstarch, but she also adds such premium ingredients as real vanilla extract and Pernigotti Italian cocoa. "I think [the cocoa] makes it even better than you can imagine," she said. Top-quality cocoa is not necessary, though. "Hershey's might do just fine," McWhirt said.
Flushed with shame at Britain
I was tipped, mid-morning, off a plane from Houston after 24 hours' travelling from Central America: three flights, three countries, endless hours of waiting around and a lot of toilet visits. We traipsed, blearily, through what appeared to be a temporary construction and down those long, long walks in which certain far-flung corners of Gatwick seem to specialise. And into the loos. Or at least, into a queue outside the loos. A line of American visitors spilt out into the corridor. It quickly became apparent why. One of the three cubicles had been locked shut, presumably blocked. Another I was told not even to show my daughter into in case it frightened her. I glanced, saw blood, retreated. The sole final cubicle, for which everyone was queueing, wouldn't flush without a repeated pumping of the button and most people were coming out embarrassed and apologetic that they had not managed it.
How to crush the terrorists
Afghanistan and Pakistan are not exotic faraway lands that the Western democracies can leave and forget about whenever they so wish. They are battlefields in a global war that recognises no frontiers. Amir Taheri is an Iranian commentator and author of Holy Terror: Inside the World of Islamic Terrorism .
Recipes with a taste of nostalgia
You can't taste nostalgia, but it's wafting through all those cherished dishes you loved as a kid. Think back to those childhood faves: chances are you wish you could recreate them to taste just the way your mother, grandmother or aunt used to make them. For those of us who grew up without getting those recipes, the delicious memories are about all we've got left. This fall, though, two new books on “lost" recipes are bringing us back to the past, when dishes such as German Potato Soup, Mile High Bologna Pie, Mashed Potato Fudge, Charlotte Russe and Orange Jellies were easy to find, and we ate them without guiltily wondering how much fat/salt/sugar they contained. My 10 siblings and I grew up eating beef stroganoff, chicken gravy and biscuits, fried bologna sandwiches, and homemade banana cream pie – and it was a sweet life indeed.
Sneaky Chef’s clever strategies, recipes for kids
Sneaky Chef Make-Ahead Recipe No. 1 — Purple Puree: If using raw spinach, thoroughly wash it, even if the package says “prewashed." Bring spinach or collards and water to boil in a medium pot. Turn heat to low and allow to simmer for 10 minutes. If using frozen blueberries, quickly rinse them under cold water to thaw a little, and then drain. Fill the bowl of your food processor with the blueberries and cooked spinach (or collards), along with the lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of water, and puree on high until as smooth as possible. Stop occasionally to push top contents to bottom. If necessary, use a second tablespoon of water to make a fairly smooth puree. This amount of spinach and blueberries makes only about 1 cup of puree. Double the recipe if you want to store another cup of the puree.
Pregnant Spears inadvertently becomes PETA poster girl
Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are hoping pet lovers get the link between a hard-hitting new Internet video and young Spears. In the film, which has been posted on PETA's website, a 16 year-old girl is encouraged to become sexually active. When the horrified girl asks, "What if I get pregnant?" the parents urge her to "pop out all the kids you can." The ad concludes, "Parents shouldn't act this way. Neither should people with dogs and cats. Always spay or neuter." PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk insists the ad was filmed before Spears announced she was pregnant last month, but she hopes people make the connection. She says, "Just as (Jamie-Lynn's mother) Lynne Spears is under scrutiny because of her underage daughter's pregnancy, people who fail to spay and neuter their animals should also be feeling the heat." "No one should be bringing more animals into the world when millions of deserving, wonderful dogs and cats are dying for good homes." And to make sure those close to pregnant Spears get the message, PETA bosses have arranged to air the ad on Jamie-Lynn's local ABC affiliate in her native Louisiana, TV network WGNO.
The pleasure of French Onion Soup
"I had dinner at Chez Pascal on Saturday night, and with it came the extraordinary pleasure of their French Onion Soup. It was by far and away the best I have ever had. Would you be able to procure the recipe, with the recipe for its stock as well (I feel that may be the secret to it)?" Matt Gennuso, chef and co-owner of Chez Pascal, with wife Kristin, says slow and steady wins the flavor race with French onion soup. But he does indeed use two different stocks to create his broth. "Traditionally onion soup was a peasant dish, and most often made by lightly caramelizing the onions and adding a clear broth," he said. Adding veal stock and sherry is a different interpretation of this, he added. You too can create different interpretations of this classic dish. Just start with a base of information that, having patience, will render you a better product.
Obama sheds money linked to indicted ex-political patron
Besides the contributions, Obama has fielded questions about Rezko's role in a June 2006 real estate deal involving Obama's home on the South Side of Chicago. On the same day the Obama's purchased the house, Rezko's wife bought an adjoining lot. Obama has said that the sellers had required that both of the lots had to be sold simultaneously. He has called the arrangement a "boneheaded" mistake, but has said Rezko was not doing him a favor. Prosecutors have charged Rezko with fraud, attempted extortion and money laundering in what they allege was a scheme to get campaign money and payoffs from firms seeking to do business before two state boards. .
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