sisu

That's Ka-Blamo

"When something is particularly great," says the Urban Dictionary, that's Ka-Blamo. Introducing the latest recipe in our Cold Turkey Cookbook, Chicken Ka-Blamo. It passed the taste test with flying colors -- the usual one paw and one thumb up -- at supper tonight. See below for recipe and calorie counts.

Tuck sweet talks the Babe as the pussycat contemplates the plate, just off screen below to the right. When a cat can't decide whether to go with the cat whisper or lunge for the entrée, that's double Ka-Blamo.

Aware that the chicken is there for the taking, Baby opts for a few extra cheek rubs before going for the jugular of Tuck's offering. Note the Tuckman's multitasking finesse, petting the puddy and balancing a mouthful of Chicken Ka-Blamo on his fork in one elegant gesture.

Okay. I'll have some now.

Chicken Ka-Blamo

1 can fat-free chicken broth = 10 calories

1 cup (4 oz = 2 shots) vermouth or other white wine = 110 calories

1/4 cup sliced leeks = 8 calories

5 cloves roasted garlic, pressed (or chopped fresh) = 20 calories

4 sliced mushrooms = 16 calories

1 tbsp freshly ground pepper = 16 calories

1/2 boneless, skinless chicken breast = 143 calories

20 snow pea pods = 28 calories

1/4 cup sour cream lite = 60 calories

20 cashews = 85 calories

TOTAL = 496 calories for 2 servings = 248 calories per serving

In a frying pan simmer leeks, garlic and mushrooms in broth and vermouth 10 minutes. Add chicken and freshly ground pepper, cover and poach -- "the surface should shimmer" -- another 15-20 minutes. Remove chicken to cutting board, slice diagonally into bite-sized pieces and cover loosely to keep warm. Continue cooking broth mixture, uncovered, until reduced by 2/3. Add snow peas, cover and cook 1 minute more. Return chicken to the pan, blend in sour cream and serve Chicken Ka-Blamo on a bed of Perfect Rice.

Making nice

Blogfriend and frequent commenter Gayle Miller of And you thought YOU were Cranky has tagged us with a "Nice Matters Award" for "those that are just nice people, good [distaff] blogfriends and those that inspire good feelings and inspiration!" Sugar and spice, anyone? See Dr. Sanity for the niceties of the word "nice." (Award design by Genevieve Olsen of Bella-Enchanted: Glitter and Grunge)

When we found ourselves tagged by blogfriend Gayle Miller for a "Nice Matters Award," after the initial pleasure at being noticed by one of our peers, we broke out in a severe case of virtual hives. The etiquette of blog-tagging memes requires the recipient to respond in kind, in this case to name seven of one's own blogfriends for "Nice Matters Awards." We've been tagged before -- by some of our very best blogfriends -- and just said no. As the assistant principal of the Discovery Canyon Campus school in Colorado Springs said the other day about why the the students will no longer be allowed to play the children's game of touch tag, "It causes a lot of conflict on the playground." How to choose one friend and not another? Give us ten, and we'll join the game:

Gayle of And you thought YOU were cranky:  Ah Sissy - expanding our minds and reducing our bumsize! What a WOMAN!

Greta* of Hooah Wife and Friends:  Nothing beats a day with Sissy and Tuck . . . Tiaras will be worn.

Jill* of Estate Vaults:  Wine or chocolate is always welcome.

Laura Lee of The Wide Awake Cafe:  Cats are intellectually stimulating. If you don’t believe it, check out Sissy Willis.

Mind of Mog:  Sissy has a great post up which sums it up rather well complete with Tiny and Babe. Awesome photos as usual.

Miss Kelly*:  Gorgeous.

Neo* of neo-neocon:  I love those visuals.

Patricia -- our blog daughter! -- of Pat's Pond:  I love the way you mix punditry, pets and party food!

Teresa* of Technicalities:  Her father, who comments as Goomp on her site, is just as terrific as I thought he would be.

Sherry of Bittersweet Me, who honored us recently with a Blogger Reflection Award:

Oh Sissy! what a rare gem this woman is in a sea of gravel. When I first start reading her blog I couldn’t decide if she was an absolute genius or a complete nutcase. She’s a genius no question at all. No one else can match her style or her enthusiasm in blogging. Her cats Baby and Tiny play the role of Forrest Gump and manage to insinuate themselves into 90% of the events unfolding around us and it’s a trip connecting the dots.

As we wrote in her comments, "Wow! I can’t wait to tell the administrator of the nuthouse about this. Thank you so much for making my day."

No boys allowed at this pretty-in-pink awards ceremony, but we're giving the last word to Barry Campbell of enrevanche for having the wit and wisdom to offer us a "Thinking Blogger Award":

Sissy Willis comes from a different part of the conservative tradition than I do, but her political posts are always closely reasoned and well argued, and her sublime naturalist instincts and visual aesthetic sense are always refreshing to encounter online. Plus, the woman loves to cook. #1 on the list of bloggers I've never met in person that I'd like to throw a dinner party with.

As Bernie & Phyl would say, "That's nice."

*Distaff bloggers who've broken bread with us at Chelsea-by-the-Sea.

Ties that bind

Puzzled by our pokiness in disentangling her tether from the chair, Sweet Tiny Pea pondered the mysterious workings of the mind of her servant this morning as we scrambled to get a couple of good shots, while she scanned the environs in our direction with backward-turned ears listening for clues. Note to self: The tether is looking a little frayed around the edges. 'Better get some new line before it breaks during one of the animals' adrenally-assisted double-barreled lunges, wherein they drag the chair across the yard in pursuit of some feline or other faunal intruder.

Tiny found herself enmeshed in a cat's cradle of her own making midmorning.

"Still pinching them, she moves her hands farther apart, until the string is taut," instructs Ifyoulovetoread.com (above photo) in "How to Do Cat's Cradle," an illustrated step-by-step tutorial in the "game in which a string is looped on the fingers to form an intricate pattern between a player's hands that can be successively varied or transferred to another player's hands."

We had tied the tether she shares with her brother Baby Cakes -- offscreen a few feet to the right in photos above and below -- to a lawn chair, with each cat having about 10 feet of play for alternate surveillance and napping exercises. Unsatisfied with her range of movement, she had made things worse by circling around and around the base of the chair seeking a way out.

Okay, Grandma. Put down that camera and get me out of this thing.

Update: Say cheese. Lots more pictures of all things bright and beautiful plus commentary at the wonder of it all at Modulator's Friday Ark #154.

A walk on the wild side

We took the camera on walkies today. Forsaking the less weedy residential streets of our daily quest for a slimmer waist and a fatter pocketbook, we concentrated on the lower end of Marginal, where abandoned parking lots and neglected, perfunctory "ornamental" plantings in front of industrial concerns provide the perfect setting for plants -- i.e., weeds -- who like to do their own gardening. Like Goethe's "frozen music," the balletic branching structure of the young Ailanthus (above) as it spirals heavenward is a physical expression of the dynamics of plant growth, as formulated in The Fibonacci Series. Click here for an elegant video explaining The Fibonacci Series. Update: A visually dazzling animated video tells the same story.

The bud cluster of a Sundrops (Oenothera fruticosa) had aroused the interest of a foraging ladybug. While we were focussing on her, an unidentified long-legged insect (lower left) made its way into the camera's field of vision, unbeknownst to us until we got the image up on the computer screen in Photoshop back in the studio. Unlike other members of Onagraceae -- the Evening Primrose family -- whose flowers open at twilight, Sundrops open during the day. They bloom all summer and are propagated by nurserymen for home gardens. Image = x 2.5.

Bug's-eye view of a Sundrops bud cluster reveals four-eyed pod people schooling through the ether. Red "eyes" are actually the sepals, which "will peel back and curl downward as the flower spreads out its petals."

Ripe fruits (x 4) of native woody vine Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) suggest miniature Concord Grapes, as might be expected from a fellow member of the Grape family, Vitaceae. 'Wonder what kind of a wine you could make of 'em?

During its first year biennial Common Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) -- a member of the Figwort (Schrophulariaceae) family -- produces a rosette of thick, velvety basal leaves. With plants like this, who needs teddy bears?

Its time come, the ripened pod (lower left) of a Black Swallowwort vine (Cynanchum nigrum) had burst forth with new life, each seed launched on a puffy parachute of silk. Not surprisingly, the Swallowwort is a member of the Milkweed subfamily, Asclepiadaceae. Classification update: Black or Louis’ Swallow-wort (Cynanchum louisea, previously Vincetoxicum nigrum and Cynanchum nigrum). Some spell it with, some without the hyphen between swallow and wort. AKA Dog-Strangling Vine, it is listed in the "Invasive Plant Atlas of New England."

A close relative of the Funnel Web Spiders in our own backyard had set up housekeeping among a cluster of milkweed pods in the verge along Marginal Street. The doctor was in.

The ubiquitous Cabbage Butterfly -- AKA Cabbage Moth -- was on the scene, taking its fill of the intoxicating nectar of a Canada Hawkweed (Hieracium canadense).

Update: Pajamas Media links.

Update II: TigerHawk links and touches our heart with a sweet and sentimental notion:

Both my grandmothers and all their many sisters would have loved her post.

Good stock.

"A Dragon gulped the shining moon"

"An eclipse of the Moon (or lunar eclipse) can only occur at Full Moon," explains MrEclipse.com in his helpful "Lunar Eclipses for Beginners, "and only if the Moon passes through some portion of the Earth's shadow. The shadow is actually composed of two cone-shaped components, one nested inside the other [click on link for diagram]. The outer or penumbral shadow [visible around circumference above] is a zone where the Earth blocks part but not all of the Sun's rays from reaching the Moon. In contrast, the inner or umbral shadow is a region where the Earth blocks all direct sunlight from reaching the Moon." We caught the moon in mid eclipse as it hung -- as if suspended from the spacious firmament on high -- over our own airy Mystic River Bridge early morning. Note streak of dayglo pink, lower left, a record of bridge traffic movement during the extended photographic exposure it took to grab the ambient light from the murky dawn.

We got up with the chickens -- and the cats -- to catch the totally awesome total lunar eclipse this morning:

A Dragon gulped the shining moon last night,
And in the blackness I saw what I had missed.

          --Han Shan Te'-Ch'ing, 1600

It was well under way around 5:35 by the time we gave up on featureless, out-of-focus hand-held efforts and got down to business, setting up our tripod on the front porch, where we caught the image above of the vanishing orb framed by the Mystic River Bridge as topographical model (see below) of Fuji.

This 3-D digital topological model of an unidentified cathedral by Vinod Srinivasan of Texas A & M University illustrates our comparison of the Mystic River Bridge's open architecture to a topographical model of Mount Fuji.

"Mt. Fuji in clear weather with a southerly breeze" (Ink on paper/woodcut, c. 1831, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam) by Katsushika Hokusai, one of the first Japanese artists to gain widespread renown in the West. Born in Edo (now Tokyo). "he is considered one of the outstanding figures of the Ukiyo-e, or 'pictures of the floating world' (everyday life), school of printmaking." His prints were "enthusiastically collected by such impressionist artists as Claude Monet, Edgar Degas and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, whose work was profoundly influenced by them."

Mount Fuji in our own front yard.

Update: Miss Kelly links with music to our ears:

Sissie got up wicked early Tuesday morning and captured a wondrous photo of the lunar eclipse, perched above the Mystic River bridge. Gorgeous.

As we wrote Miss Kelly in our own comments, "The artist's eye never sleeps."

The world is her village

It's a shame those two don't get along. Images of Hillary and Nouri from "Hillary Clinton's Iraq-Afghanistan photo album," mid-January 2007, photoshopped into the clip-on sunglasses of Tuck's "Senor Hand," who made a surprise visit to the studio this morning.

"If it seems odd that members of a bitterly divisive and relatively do-nothing Congress should criticize the Iraqi government for similar flaws," writes Neo-Neocon with ironic understatement in "Finessing the surge" -- a Pajamas Media must-read analysis of how the Beltway mind works -- "it’s just another example of the human tendency to counsel 'do as I say, not as I do'”:

But something funny happened on the way to General Petraeus’s September 2007 report to Congress: the surge begin to work.

And now the Democrats face a different prospect if the trend continues: they may have to acknowledge that they were wrong in opposing the surge (in certain cases, in writing it off before it truly began). They might even lose the 2008 election as a result. Or, if victorious, they would have to make tough decisions about how to prosecute the rest of the war. If the latter occurs they will, ironically, find themselves in what might be called “the Nixon position” -- that is, they’ll have to decide how to finish a difficult war that another party’s administration began.

We're not normally a big fan of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's but can't help nodding in agreement with his exasperated response yesterday to uppity Democrats' calling for his ouster:

“There are American officials who consider Iraq as if it were one of their villages, for example Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin . . . This is severe interference in our domestic affairs.”

Had he been doing his homework on the woman who would be Leader of the Free World, Mr. al-Maliki would have realized that for Hillary "It Takes a Village" Clinton, not only Iraq, but the entire world is her village.

America the invisible*

"Grant Wood's 'American Gothic' (left) meets Senators Waffles and Hillary! (REUTERS/Chip East photo)," we captioned this photoshopped diptych -- posted back in April of 2004 -- of no-nonsense Iowans and those who would have their votes then (Kerry) and now (Clinton).

As Hillary moves center stage on the Heartland hustings, this post from the 2004 campaign season resonates:

As John Waffles Kerry and Hillary! mingled with the commonfolk at a New York state town meeting yesterday, we were reminded of an anonymous quotation cited by ScrappleFace last month in "9th Circuit Court Overturns New Iraq Constitution":

"Democracy cannot be entrusted to millions of people who have never been to law school," an unnamed judge wrote for the panel. "Ultimately power must rest in the hands of those who know what's best for others. That's the American model, and that is what we should export to the world."

Not to mention Bubba's immortal "Sure, we could cut taxes, but what if you spent your money wrong?"

Did you catch presidential candidate Rudy on C-Span the other day telling it like it is about tax cuts vs increases? Without naming names but using the pronoun "her" -- much to the amusement of his listeners -- he cited Hillary's notorious "We're going to take things away from you on behalf the common good"?

*Post title refers to "Invisibles," the first ad of the Clinton presidential campaign, wherein "Hillary says that everyone who has been invisible to George W. Bush won't be invisible to the next president." Isn't that special?

Beauty is but a flower*

Daylily (Hemerocallis) pods are bursting with the new generation. According to Landspro.com, you should harvest them now, put into a ziploc bag with vermiculite and place in direct sunlight. In two weeks tiny green leaves will appear. When most are 4" tall, you transplant each seedling to its own pot. 'Sounds like a plan.

The daylilies of high summer have gone to the dogs:

We're programmed to read into things. Turning the original photo 90° counterclockwise, we were delighted to see two big-eyed doggy faces peering out at us. (Photo on right: © 2005 Trix Rosen)

Was it only eight weeks ago the day beauty was dazzling every passing bee and fly with her charms?

*Blog title is taken from "In Time of Pestilence" by Thomas Nashe.

Heat advisory in effect

There's more than one way to cool a cat, as Baby demonstrates on this typical summerish afternoon in Chelsea-by-the-Sea. Here he self-aerates by placing himself on one of our wrought iron, expanded-mesh chairs out on the terrace. A haiku from our childhood -- the very first we'd ever come across, which at the time elicited giggles of derision from us kids but to a riper ear is pure poetry -- comes to mind:

Cool, oh how cool, dangling one's legs over the veranda.

Temperatures may be soaring (93.4°), humidity tropical (49%, with dewpoint 72°F) and a NOAA "heat advisory in effect until 7 p.m. EDT," but through it all the Babe maintains the regal bearing that is his birthright.

Taking a break from the cooling tower, he stretches out on bricks cooled by the shade of a potted palm, assuming 2.75 on The Catfort Scale.

For more cool cats et al, visit Modulator's Friday Ark #153.

"It changes the typical way of making lasagna"

"I love ironing. I'd forgotten. Haven't done it for years," we commented to Tuck this morning. "I do too," he replied. "It's very satisfying." Now that those unwanted pounds are going the way of all flesh, we've turned a fresh eye to the wardrobe of closeted garments that have been hanging in suspended animation during the Lard Years. Above, a many-colored cotton Ralph Lauren outsourced to India, air-drying in the shade of the Silver Maple, a bumped-up version of the madras plaids that were all the rage in our salad days.

All that is old is new again when you're riding the Cold Turkey Wave. Those old clothes we haven't been able to squeeze into for too many years (see photo above) are waiting in the wings to make their reappearance on the stage. Then there are the recipes of a lifetime standing in line for their auditions to get a coveted part in the Cold Turkey Cookbook. It's Better than Lasagna was a featured recipe in our sis's Newcomers Club Cookbook for 1978. She inscribed our copy of the yarn-bound tome with her usual warmth and wit:

To the most dedicated eater I know -- Bon Appetit!

You can take It's Better than Lasagna anywhere. We used to make it for the groaning board of our legendary Christmas parties but as of yesterday hadn't made it for years, perhaps decades. Last night it was what was for supper, and today we're having it cold for lunch, rechristened It's Better than Leftover Pizza (above photo) and looking for all the world like something irresistible from the dessert trolley.

Toothsome and calorifically reasonable as long as you eat just one slice per meal, It's Better than Lasagna -- with a bit of tweaking -- easily won a starring role in the CT Cookbook. It was our sis herself who said "Tweaking to one's taste is the secret to secret recipes" the other night as we were reminiscing about "A Bride's Secret Recipe Starter-Kit," a compilation of family recipes she had given her about-to-be-daughter-in-law as a shower gift a couple of years back. We halved the amounts of hamburger, tomato sauce, noodles, cream cheese and sour cream, used cc and sc lite instead of regular -- 'don't know whether they even had lite versions back in '78 -- and substituted parmesan for the cheddar (more about that below) called for in the original recipe. And, of course, we used five instead of one clove garlic:

It's Better than Lasagna

1/2 lb lean hamburger = 297 calories

1 medium coarsely chopped onion = 46 calories

1 1/2 cups tomato sauce = 180 calories

1 tbsp freshly ground pepper = 16 calories

1/2 cup sour cream lite = 120 calories

1/2 cup cream cheese lite = 240 calories

5 cloves roasted garlic = 20 calories
(How to roast garlic. We skipped the pan and wrapped the garlic in foil, but 30-35 minutes at 400° does the trick, and we adore the pictures at this link)

3 cups noodles (dry) = 440 calories

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan = 216 calories
(See discussion below re parmesan vs. soft cheeses)

PAM cooking spray = 0 calories

TOTAL = 1,575 calories for 8 servings = 198 calories per serving

Spray frying pan with PAM and brown hamburger over high heat, coarsely chopping and stirring with spatula. Lower heat, add chopped onion and cook 3 minutes more. Add tomato sauce and freshly ground pepper and simmer on low 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, mash roasted garlic and mix with sour cream and cream cheese.

Cook noodles al dente, drain and toss with sour-cream-and-cream-cheese mix. Assemble IBTL in layers in a 9" round or 8" square baking pan (We used our exquisite white fluted ceramic quiche dish, seen here with nesting Sweet Potato aux Peeps):

Spread half noodle-sour-cream-and-cream-cheese mixture into baking pan and spread half hamburger mix on top. Repeat the two layers with remaining ingredients. Top with grated parmesan and bake in preheated 350° oven 20-25 minutes.

Comparing calories in that Danish ham and Havarti half sandwich we had the other day (285), this little stick-to-the-ribs number (198 calories) has 87 fewer than the sandwich. Which segues nicely to the cheese issues referenced above. Let's listen in to yesterday's imail session for the finer points of hard cheese vs. soft cheese:

We: I would like to know more about cheddar vs parmesan in IBTL. For research purposes.

She: Cheddar is oozier. The harder the cheese, the less it oozes. Mozzarella is the typical lasagna cheese but lacks the punch of cheddar. That's why I like this recipe. It changes the typical way of making lasagna.

We: I had always made it with a combo of parmesan and mozzarella but didn't happen to have any mozarella on hand.

She: "I can't understand WHY my lasagna didn't turn out just like yours."

For the record, here's how the cheeses one might use in IBTL weigh in:

1/2 cup shredded parmesan = 216 calories

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella (whole milk) = 228 calories

1/2 cup shredded cheddar = 228 calories

Not that big a deal. Next time, to achieve the proper balance of flavor and ooziness -- and in solidarity with the Danes! -- we'll use a combo of one part parmesan to two parts Havarti. Meanwhile, it's true what they always say. Not unlike revenge, IBTL is even better served cold the next day.

Update: Lean Cuisine's Lasagna -- a fave of Goomp's -- has (ahem) 260 calories to our 198. We'll be traveling down east tomorrow and -- do we dare? -- may try our own IBTL on him for a taste test.

Update II: Pajamas Media links: "It’s better than lasagna, that’s what."