Candyhog blog

Thin-sliced French ham cut with a muffin cutter to look like pepperoni

Old people and young people have different ideas about what goes on their half of the pizza. After it came out of the oven, everyone was happy.

Micro koi, aka goldfish!

It's summer and the micro pond has been retrofitted with micro fish. They eat mosquitos and, unfortunately, have been known to feed the heron in the past.

Enjoy.

 

Surprise landing

Targeting error

Today Facebook targeted ads to me *kinda* well...they got me with Anthony Bourdain and Mario Batali in Seattle (not that I'm going, but I live here and love those guys) but they go the wrong Richard Thompson.

I can get the real art and music of the real Richard Thompson by tapping into his iTunes and visiting the upstairs studio.

Today's Must-Read

Reminiscent of the McCain Golf Gear Product-Reviews-as-Artform episode, Amazon's #1-selling apparel item has 333 product reviews, and counting. A striking majority of them are masterpieces! A couple of examples are excerpted below, but do yourself a favor and read them all.

Great compliment for my skin art

Unfortunately I already had this exact picture tattooed on my chest, but this shirt is very useful in colder weather.

Why can't Amazon have more stars? 5 ain't enough!

So I'm looking for threads that say, "Hey baby...I'm real boss!" when I stumble upon this epic creation. The wolves spoke to me in a language all their own; it was like German, Mongol, and Bitchin all mixed together. I mean, one wolf howlin at the moon is major...but three???

I ordered next-day air (if only there was same day!), and, of course, a size smaller than usual to ensure the closeness of the wolves to my chest hair. When the package arrived, I tore it open, and I SWEAR angels sang. I think it was Freebird. I immediately removed my "No Fat Chicks" shirt, and replaced it with this finery. Lemme tell you: AW YEAH.

I'll spare the details of my conquests since I started wearing this shrit; suffice to say, I'm swimming in a sea of babes the likes of which are usually found on those K-Tel infomercials. I'm also more confident at work, and expect to be promoted to cashier soon. I owe everything to this shirt (I should say "shirts", since I now own 23 of them).

PNW weekends are action-packed in the summertime

The weekend was spectacularly sparkly, kicked off with a divine dinner at Chez Shea and closed with the 9-year-old's wanderings leading to the discovery of a homegrown John Denver Tribute Concert at the bottom of the hill. No, I didn't go.

(Wrinkles flies in the ointment: Stupidly missed the fabulous annual Hyla Chili Cookoff with its middle school carnival, and Bloedel Reserve too busy to get a reservation to stroll.)

Gorgeous day

Perfect setting

Jalapenos with the crudo

Perfectly dressed

It's all about the snail butter

Dessert!

Separated at Birth?

A piece of hardware embedded in my living room floor, and iPhone's awesome Scrabble Teacher...

 

The joy of parsnips!

Ignore the tax forms!

— A

Easter in the PNW is best spent indoors, in my book

 

Updated Vintage Crab "Louie"

"A West Coast invention variously credited to eating establishments in San Francisco and Seattle, this careful arrangement of, at minimum, crab, lettuce, hard-boiled egg and pink "Louis dressing," cropped up around the start of the 20th century to showcase the Pacific Northwest's favorite crab, the mighty, the marvelous Dungeness."

— Seattle PI

Richard made a version for us with a spiced-up dressing (yay) that ended up being enough for 7 luncheon guests, who were not in attendance (Hence the TV remote control). It was delicious, though, and styled in a less-creepy fashion that that shown in the PI (above). That picture reminds me a little of those restaurants whose signs feature pigs in chef's coats carrying trays of roast ham.

A couple of essays

Too bad you can't use the word torture lightly anymore

Otherwise, I'd say it's torture that the USPS came out with an Edgar Allen Poe stamp just a couple of months before the upcoming rate hike. Or at least that's when I got clued in. Unfair! I only bought 2 sheets and I know even so I'll be buying sheets of 1- or 2-centers 'ere long.

This stamp honors Edgar Allan Poe, one of the leading figures in American literary history, on the 200th anniversary of his birth. Poe is best known for his stories and poems of horror and the macabre, such as the "Raven" and "The Telltale Heart". In addition he was a noted editor and literary critic. He is considered to be the father of the modern detective novel as well. His works also touched on such diverse fields as physics, cosmology and cryptology.

While I was musing on torture, front-of-mind since the last administration unlawfully lifted so many restraints against it, i was reminded of Julio Cortázar, an Argentinian an writer who wrote a short story on the subject that I read in the 80s and remember finding very striking.

Casual research didn't turn up anything about the story, but I did find out that torture was a distinct theme within Cortázar's work:

Libro de Manuel (1973) focused on the political condition of Latin America. In this case the various characters shuttle from a mysterious Zone and the City according to Godgame-like instructions they cannot understand or disobey. The novel formed a manual for the child Manuel, a sort of collage of press clippings, and among others revealed torture techniques used by U.S. soldiers in the Far East and juxtaposed them to similar tortures suffered by Latin American political prisoners.

I was interested and unsurprised to learn that Poe was a major influence on Cortázar:

From 1952 he worked for UNESCO as a freelance translator. He translated among others Robinson Crusoe and the stories of Edgar Allan Poe into Spanish, Poe's influence is also seen in his work. Los Reyes (1949) was Cortázar's earliest work of fantasy interest. The long narrative poem constituted a meditation on the role and fate of the Minotaur in his labyrinth. Cortázar's first collection of short stories, Bestiario, appeared in 1951. It included 'Casa tomada' (A House Taken Over), in which a middle-aged brother and sister find that their house is invaded by unidentified people.

Patience rewarded!

After a long break — sorry about that, folks — I'm back with a very serious issue with which I need help. Richard made us a scallop lunch today and plated it two different ways. Can you believe that?!

It's like Who Wore It Better all over again.

Please vote and let your voice be heard by at least 7 people!!!

Passion, compassion, and evident truths

Andrew Sullivan's Passion of Ted Haggard is a very generous and compassionate post about the difficulties of self-actualization for gay people who are not allowed to marry, especially those trying to sustain religious beliefs.

I don't really understand about religion in the  modern world, but I sure do understand about marriage.  Without the ability to marry and be anchored in society in the same ways as everyone else, gay people are forced to the margin with many attendant pleasures and, these days, strong community, but also a missing core of effortless, innate inclusion in the mainstream flow of life.

In fact I once naiïvely told a closeted friend of mine, little knowing he was gay, that if I were gay I might opt to live as a straight person, so I could have a place within the world that was similar to everyone else's. And this from the sister of an out and proud gay man!

Obviously, living a straight life for any reason doesn't and can't work for gay people. And shouldn'teven be thought of. And the only way to obviate even the thought, let alone the awful consequences that shatter multiple lives when such a thing is attempted, is to accept and encourage codification that gay people are entitled to each and every right, sacrament, and privilege afforded to heterosexual people.

As Sullivan says with the brave passion of an insider:

That is why I am so insistent on marriage. It alone heals this deep wound and brings gay men and women into the human family where they can finally be allowed to flourish for who they are, rather than to become the contorted, distorted shapes the rest of the world is comfortable with. Anything else actually sustains the wound, because it imprints the indignity and perpetuates the pain.

Explanations

A good question regarding the previous post: What does it have to do with the Wii? We've been playing Wii Carnival, which inspired Walter to make a real-life carnival in the dining room. Luckily, no balloons and darts were involved. Just ALL of our plastic cups.

And in regards to the peanut farm, here's a view of it in which you can actually see it:

You too can make your own. All you need is a dilapidated Olde Mill that turned out to be too big for your fishtank, some peanuts, and a Sharpie!

Us, in a nutshell, thanks to the Wii

Today, I casually took a picture that seems to capture and encompass the character of our family.

In this picture, whether you can identify them or not (think "Hidden Pictures" from Highlights Magazine), are 4 people, 3 fish, some peanut people on a rusty peanut farm, a possible rolled-up armadillo, and evidence of a cat. Feel free to ask questions in the comments area!

Deconstruction

We love Top Chef. So much so that we found ourselves enjoying the following quick[fire] snack the other day:

Deconstructed Nachos!

Ingredients: Doritos, Tillamook Cheddar slab.

Revision

That last post was way too long. There's better way to put it. Pushing gay rights through a hostile gantlet and risking failure like the Hillary Health Care program would be a bad and ineffective approach to actually achieving equality. How smart to open the conversation and let people have it out in a civilized public way, while modelling coëxistence and elevated, caring dialogue. Obama will prevail against bigotry, but in a post-feminist, post-60's-culture-wars sort of way. Insightful journalists have been onto this angle for awhile.

— A

Struggling through a few things, but easily

I really do dislike Rick Warren, and the antipathy begins at the awful facial hair and schlubby clothing, continues through the get-rich-quick scheme of facile self-help populism, and of course lands squarely at the door of his advancing a less tolerant and inclusive worldview. Warren promotes disaffection for both homosexuality and atheism.

So why am I, the sister of a gay man, pretty sanguine about Barack Obama's invitation to Rick Warren to open the upcoming inauguration with a prayer? I mean, I have intolerance of my own when it comes to  religion.

My lack of outrage is based on:

• Obama's and Warren's mutual claim to lack of agreement on all issues, underscoring Obama's message of inclusion — now we see it in action, not the too-often disdained "rhetoric." Obama is the president of all the people, not just me. I have always wanted someone in office who served the best interests of everyone collectively, and you can't do that by being divisive. We've seen that.
• This is a moment at an inauguration, nt an appointment, so Obama gets big inclusion points without compromising any piece of the governmental agenda or policy. Which remain intact and ready to go.
• Obama created a peaceable context in which to make the boldest-ever-made, unequivical presidential statement in support of equal rights for GLBT (sounds like a sandwich!) people.
• The ensuing surge of airtime given to eloquent, unequivocating advocates of gay rights: it's beautiful! Go Mayor Newsom of SF, your appearance on MSNBC was great. And everyone else helping those who lag behind get up to speed with modern, tolerant, inclusive, secular life/governance in a populist, global society.

And if you don't believe me that this is all about coöption and inclusion and progress toward healing and reintegrating, the Chicago Tribune lays it all out:

The congressional committee handling the arrangements for President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration has released the program for the event which will include famous entertainers like Aretha Franklin, Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman and a couple of well-known preachers, Rick Warren of Saddleback Church and Joseph Lowery, former head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

There'll be two childrens' choruses from San Francisco (Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, a former mayor of that city, chairs the committee) the U.S. Marine Band and the U.S. Navy Band Sea Chanters. It looks like musical groups from the other services didn't make the cut.

The poet will be Elizabeth Alexander, a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize.

Lowery may prompt a bad flashback for President Bush. It was the now 86-year old preacher who castigated Bush's policies at Coretta Scott King's funeral two years ago as Bush sat only a few feet away.

— Abigail

I am a sheep

There is no shortage of snowy "Can you believe it?!" photography being passed around the NW today, so let me pile on!

In the picture below, our house looks like a Christmas card...if I weren't so lazy/busy I'd Photoshop in some cheery lights or other signs of habitation.

At the time this was taken, I was huddled over my computer at my desk as usual (when not in Redmond doing things many other people could do just as well for Microsoft), and RT and the boys were sledding on the hill.

The big newsflash there was that the neighbor, Zoe, in Kindergarten this year, won the  Sledding Championship for BOTH our driveway and hers. Watch out world!

Also, regarding Christmas, this is the first year that both boys have been opening their advent calendar windows first thing each morning without needing to be prodded.

OK, OK, I'll include a sledding snapshot. It's not very interesting except to document that our snow was not the usual, wussy almost-snow, it is significant in volume. And though mundane in the extreme, this picture is so much more interesting than the incessant pictures on TV of cars in trouble on bridges, topsy-turvy, etc. Trust me!

— Abigail