Barbie Doll

So, Caribou Barbie didn't flub anything big last night, spouting the party line and sounding, yanno, like a "real" person, using the vernacular to the max and smiling all the while like a Stepford wife. No, that's Mrs. McCain. Got to keep the roles, straight, ladies.

When she didn't have an answer or want to answer, she talked about something else, usually the Democrats raising taxes. Hammering it home. Hammering it home.

Yada. Yada. Well, that's what a Barbie doll does, is repeat things, right? Remember when Barbie said, "math is hard," and there was a big flap?

Of course the greedy bad men on Wall Street are all Republicans, so I don't know how that goes over. Maybe it plays in Peoria. Granted the financial crisis is hard to understand, but the New York Times had a good understandable article on it this morning. Too bad Mrs. Palin doesn't read newspapers.

I guess she just sits around and waits for someone to tell her what's happening. What it the "someone" lied? Jeez, this is kind of scary.

I'm having my writing group for dinner Monday. This is the menu. Someone is bringing an appetizer, but I don't know what.

Chicken Marbella
Green Beans with Walnuts
Rice

Joan’s Salad

Stuffed Baked Apples
Joan’s Cookies

Come on over if it sounds good. I cut most of the bad fats so nobody will freak out.

Tonight we're having tuna and noodles. I don't use cream of mushroom soup but make a white sauce from scratch and season with onion, green and red peppers and hot pepper flakes. Seasoning is all. We put crushed potato chips on top and bake for a spell. Sounds like a down home recipe hockey moms would go for. I was a hockey mom once, but we didn't call them that, just a mom. We raised kids and didn't "parent." Different world.

Tuesday, I begin a class on Food Writing at Brown University in Providence. And so it goes.

Grapeshot

Maureen Dowd is right on!

Maureen Dowd's column in the New York Times today has humor, irony and sticks it to Sarah Palin on any number of issues.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/opinion/10dowd.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Wish I would have said that. Now if only she had mentioned polar bear helper. . . .

Grapeshot

Look Ma! No Interviews

I am aghast that Ms. Palin has yet to be interviewed. Am I crazy, or does everyone else think it's incredibly weird that a vice-presidential candidate cannot participate in an interview. Tonight S.O. mentioned that lots of guys are planning to vote for her, and my reply was unprintable in a family blog like this, but a little hint is what would the guys be voting with, and another hint is that it wasn't their brains.

Seems incredible to believe men are as stupid as women. The Hilary loyalists were hard to understand, There is an old saying, "cutting off your nose to spite your face," and it seems to happen every day.

I know my sex to be emotional, that being one of the bats I used to be beat over the head with on one job. Practically daily. "You're too emotional."

But guys? Voting for Caribou Barbie? Fantasies of the hunt? Goin' fishing? Fantasies of her coming on to them? I mean really. More people should have a life.

Today in Boston, you would have thought the Pope died, with all the caterwauling about Tom Brady. Now I love Brady and Belechik, something about their intensity is really appealing, but the man is injured, not dead, and football is a game of injuries, and the Pats have had their days in the sun and no one seems to want to take their lumps, as it were.

Grapeshot, your humble blogger, has been heard to say, "bah, humbug!" any number of times.

And today, again, the rains came.

Tonight, dinner was a pick up affair, with my own take on eggplant parmesan. We have three ripe tomatoes, garlic, onion, and a bit of green pepper. We had fresh fettucini, and one medium eggplant. Some parmesan and a modicum of mozzarella. And always basil, parsley,oregano and sage. Herbs make the meal.

It was incredibly tasty. I cooked everything in one skillet (except the pasta) and put it under the broiler for a minute or two for the cheese to melt. Vegetarian is good, but this was not low fat or low calorie. We can fight over the little bit left for lunch.

No polar bear helper or caribou helper or evern salmon helper involved. Would you shoot a caribou? Would you leave the polar bears to drown when the ice all melts? Such great creatures, and some politicians would write them off without a shrug.

I don't know. I don't know.

I wouldn't.

God, Mother and Country

After much internal dialogue, I decided to listen to Sarah's speech last night, but finally turned it off because it was a god, mother and country speech and the best one, by far the best was delivered in the Riverwoods Village Hall about a million years ago by Barb Carmen, and after that impassioned rhetoric, none of them passed muster. Sorry. Sarah.

I will watch McCain's speech tonight. Wonder if he will mention the so-called issues in a way that will tell us his plans. The Republicans seem to be learning hard on God, mother and country. I don't think those are the issues. Well, maybe they are.

Sometimes, one thinks of emigrating, not seriously, but nonetheless, the thought intrudes. How can it have come to this?

Since most of us have families of some sort, or did at one time, no matter how dysfunctional, I fail to see how having a family qualifies one for much of anything. If someone could please explain, I promise to listen.

Take Four Ripe Tomatoes . . .

Zowie, the harvest is great, and we must have vitamin C coming out our pores. Last night we had tomatoes provencal, which were so good we have to have them again. We finished the dish with our eggs and bacon this morning. Yum-O. You can find a recipe on the web. I took a short cut and used Panko and put the garlic, parsley, thyme and parmesan into the crumbs. My recipe called for broiling the tomatoes, then broiling again with the crumbs. You have to be ever-vigilant that the crumbs don't burn.

http://www.jacquespepin.net/members/recipes/tomatoesprovencale.html

We had shish-kebab with a green pepper from the garden. It tasted to fresh and sweet. I used decent sirloin for the meat, and also had mushroom and onion on the skewers. We topped off the dinner with corn on the cob. No dessert last night. Not necessary.

My marinade is something I've used since I was a young bride--and it's always good. Herewith:

Marinade for Shish-Kebabs

For 4 skewers

Juice ½ lemon
1/3 c. olive oil
½ cup sherry (dry)
1 T. Worchestershire sauce
1 T. salt
½ t. pepper
1 t. curry powder
½ t. ground ginger
1 small onion, grated
Mix together and marinate beef or pork for two hours--you could probably use for lamb or chicken, too, although I always go for the beef.

Here's a blogger who thinks with me. I loved the "All America Summarize Proust Contest." Remember, Sarah cooks with Polar Bear Helper.

http://lotsasplainin.blogspot.com/2008/08/all-american-summarizing-proust-contest.html