“To win the people, always cook them some savoury that pleases them.”
Today does not encourage going outside. It is cold, rainy and dreary. All I can see through my window are drips falling from the roof edges and the brown leaves of the oak tree. I’m declaring today a stay in my cozies day, a day to be at home dry, warm and comfy. I must have sensed the sort of day it is as I didn’t wake up until after 10. I can’t remember the last time I slept so late.
Winter has reared its ugly head. The nights are downright cold. Tonight is predicted to be 30˚, and during the rest of the week nights will be much the same. That’s coat weather. That’s down comforter weather.
A nor’easter is predicted for Wednesday into Thursday. The storm will bring heavy rain and wind with gusts up to 40 miles per hour. The wind, of course, will be strongest at the coast causing beach erosion and flooding. It is beginning to seem as if we are all bit players in a science fiction movie about multiple disasters.
After tomorrow all those political ads will be gone, and I’ll answer my phone again which seems like the perfect reason for a celebration, a party, one with balloons, food, alcohol and revelers and not a single candidate. I suspect most of us were oblivious to those ads as we had long ago made up our minds as to which presidential candidate will get our vote. Some simply vote the party with no thoughts about policy or performance. Some vote not for but against a candidate. Others have crazy reasons to vote one or the other, reasons often based on misrepresentations or outright falsehoods as the truth often goes by the wayside in a fight for votes. If you are still on the proverbial fence, I have come up with the perfect reason for you to check your ballot for Mr. Obama and not Mr. Romney. Robocalls have been made for both candidates by celebrities. Pat Boone is on the line for Mitt Romney, not especially enticing. Matt Damon is the Obama man. No contest there!
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsThis entry was posted on November 5, 2012 at 12:27 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: Barack Obama, cold, Matt Damon, Mitt Romney, Pat Boone, political ads, political lies, rain and wind, voting
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November 5, 2012 at 12:57 pm
Beef Stifado (Stew)
Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
1-1/2 pounds boneless beef chuck cut into 1-1/2-inch cubes
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
12 ounces small white boiling onions, peeled
1 pound tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2-1/2 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme OR 1 tsp dried thyme
2-1/2 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary OR 1 tsp dried rosemary
2-1/2 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano OR 1 tsp dried oregano
1 bay leaf, crumbled
1 tsp ground cumin
2 cups dry red wine
1/2 pound feta cheese, crumbled
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Instructions
Preheat over to 350 degrees F.
Heat oil in heavy 4-to 5-quart Dutch oven over medium high heat.
Toss beef with flour in large bowl.
Add beef to pan in batches and cook until brown,stirring occasionally,
about 3 minutes per batch.
Transfer browned beef to bowl.
Add onions to pan and cook until light brown,stirring frequently,about 5 minutes.
Add tomatoes,garlic, herbs and cumin to pan.
Stir in wine and bring to a boil.
Cover and bake in oven until beef is tender,about 2 hours.
(Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Rewarm to 350-degree F oven before continuing.)
Stir feta into stew.Return to oven and continue baking until cheese is heated through,
about 10 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper and serve.
November 5, 2012 at 1:08 pm
Morpfy,
This dish sounds great. I’ve saved it in my files and think it will be perfect on a chilly winter’s day!!
November 5, 2012 at 1:12 pm
I am ready to stick my head in the oven. The creator of the tv mute button should be canonized.
Whoever wins the presidency will take credit for the economy getting better in the next 4 years, which it is bound to do anyway. Do we really need a president?
Snow showers here this afternoon–too early for that stuff.
November 5, 2012 at 1:23 pm
Bill,
Move over, and I’ll join you. Bill Clinton just called!
It’s true. The economy is on the upswing and has been in various areas for the last few months. I’d like a queen-I’m always one for pageantry!
The snow came earlier last year! Remember theOctober storm?
November 5, 2012 at 1:14 pm
Much the same weather here butv we won’t get any storm tomoorow, But temperatures will drop tonight so we’ll moist likely have blck ice on the roads in the morning. I really don’t like that!
We’re following Your elections with great interestv over here, they will broadcast from the US all night tomorrow unbtil we know Obama won once again 🙂 He would get somewhere between 75% – 80% here if we were one of Your states 🙂 One newspaper asked their readers and they got 89% for Obama 🙂
I don’t like Romney but the people behind him scares me a lot! Tea party people and right wing christians, not people I like and I really don’t want them to have any power what so ever!
Have a great day!
Christer.
November 5, 2012 at 1:26 pm
Christer,
I figure the same thing here-frosted windshields for the first time. Luckily for me I go out after the ice has melted.
I can only hope he wins again. I lived through Romney being governor here, and I don’t know if I could live through him being President. My state will be an Obama state.
Romney is right and left on every issue. He agrees with it then he denounces it. The tea party is scary!!
November 5, 2012 at 1:28 pm
Hi Kat,
It’s sunny up north of Boston but it started out quite grey. It’s still cold, though. It’s only 43 F and feels colder. I, too, am in my cozies but I feel the need to go out and do something. It will probably pass as soon as I open the door to the outside. 😀
The house phone takes the political calls and the ringer is turned off so I don’t even know until I decide to clear them. Bill Clinton has called me twice so far.
The phone used to get calls only from Republicans because it was in my mother’s name but since I bundled my services it gets calls from both sides. Twice the fun. 🙂
Mute button is in heavy use here as well.
Stay cozy.
November 5, 2012 at 1:31 pm
Hi Caryn,
I have laundry to do, and that will be more than enough for the day. I’ll feel accomplished.
Bill has only called once. I have my machine on so I hear who is calling if the number is unidentifiable. Only Brown has called on the Republican side.
Thank God for the mute button!
November 5, 2012 at 2:38 pm
I’ve had Brown and Warren a few times each. The skeeviest ones are from the PACs. Hate them. Especially the GPS something or other group. I always feel that I should wipe down the phone after listening to those things. 🙂
I have played Lexulous, made a photo book of Rocky pictures and bought some ebooks. I feel very accomplished. 🙂
November 5, 2012 at 4:07 pm
Caryn,
My laundry is in the dryer; I brought down some stuff from upstairs to the cellar and from here to upstairs. I’m exhausted!!
November 5, 2012 at 2:07 pm
bill is in town today, beating the drum. i wish all of us luck…it will be
a relief when the news itself is more maddening than the commercials!
November 5, 2012 at 4:08 pm
greg,
Wow, he’s on my phone here and there with you: the man is talented!!
I now have a greater appreciation for commercials>
November 5, 2012 at 2:28 pm
It sounds like I may have dodged a bullet and moved from Ohio just in time. Before I left there, I couldn’t believe the number of political ads on TV (both parties). At least 75% were political. Can’t imagine how it could have gotten worse, but I’m sure it did. Then I got to this extremely red southern state and until a week or two ago… nada… nothing! No political commercials. Why waste the money, I suppose.
Why waste the money indeed? My vote hasn’t been influenced with or without those commercials. And I doubt very seriously many others have either. Yet I heard the amount spent on commercials this year just passed the TWO BILLION DOLLAR mark.
That’s simply obscene. Think what good could have been done with all that cash.
No calls for me, but had I gotten them, I suspect I’d be annoyed as well. And I suspect I’d probably tell them what they want to hear just to end the call quickly (assuming I picked up). That way, my party of choice would know where I stand. The party I disagree with (putting it mildly) would think I agree with them and I’d skew their numbers.
I wish I had it in me to say, “No matter who you’re for, vote.” That’s the politically/socially correct thing to say. But I don’t have it in me. If you plan to vote for _ _ _ _ _ _, please don’t vote!
November 5, 2012 at 4:14 pm
im6,
Not only do I have to watch the Massachusetts ads but also those from New Hampshire so I am doubly annoyed. My favorite name is Ovide Lamontagne. I don’t know how those people stopped on the street who just happen to love the candidate in question can say his name without a grin.
I was amazed by a story in the Boston Globe about the amounts spent buy those running for congress. Even that was obscene.
I answer few of them but if I get caught I usually tell the truth. I said Warren to the Brown caller, and there was a pause then a thank you and a click.
I agree with your last paragraph, and I suspect and am afraid that more voters from the other side are voters in most elections.
November 5, 2012 at 4:27 pm
Saw a report on TV this morning about a battle in the San Fernando Valley (CA) between Rep. Howard Berman and Rep. Brad Sherman — two incumbent Democrats now competing for one redistricted seat. Amount spent so far for ONE Congressional seat: over $2 million. Didn’t Brown and Warren agree not to accept PAC funds? I have to applaud that (even if there’s little else to applaud Brown for).
November 5, 2012 at 4:31 pm
What they agreed to was not to encourage super PACs from airing ads. Both have taken money:
“Overall, Brown has collected nearly $3.1 million from the political committees — more than five times as much Warren’s $559,000.”
November 5, 2012 at 4:02 pm
Kat: Wamted to let you know I was ok. No pwr in my house and it is very cold. I am staying with friends in nearby Toms River NJ until the lights come back on. My beloved Jersey Shore has been destroyed. I am at the Brick NJ library for my internet access for the moment. If anybody wants to help please make a donation to their American Red Cross chapter. I’ll be online again soon – –
Coleen
November 5, 2012 at 4:18 pm
Coleen,
I am so sorry that you’ve had to go through this. The pictures and films I have seen are horrifying. The destruction is just so overwhelming. I am glad you have friends with whom you can stay.
I hope you will be back home soon with lights and heat! We’re all thinking about you!!
November 5, 2012 at 8:54 pm
Beautiful weather today again here in North Texas and forecasted to be beautiful tomorrow for election day.
Yesterday we started getting some of the anti Obama super Pac ads that are sponsored by unknown secret billionaires. The Supreme Court, Citizen United decision, a couple of years ago brought by Karl Rove, gives corporations the same free speech rights as a person. This decision erased all of the Watergate campaign finance legislation that tried to keep transparency in campaign financing.
Unfortunately, some businesses have been sending their employees E-mail messages that if Obama is reelected they might have to lay off people. One reason I want President Obama to be reelected is to show the billionaires that couldn’t buy themselves a Presidential election. But they sure spent a ton of money trying. If they had paid that money to the government the national debt could have been greatly reduced 🙂
November 5, 2012 at 9:03 pm
Bob,
I hope that beautiful day brings people to the polls.
The idea of Romney being President is scary. All of the many reforms will be repealed. The upswing in the economy that has already begun will then be credited not to mr. Obama who has been responsible but rather to Mr. Romney who has not been. He is a waffler.
November 5, 2012 at 11:14 pm
And he makes me think that he is trying to sell me a used car. Campaign fiancé reform is now meaningless and the Presidency is up for the highest bidder.
In the 1970s, I forget exactly when, I read a story in the Dallas newspaper about a State legislator who introduced a bill, lobbied the bill to the floor of the Texas house and then proceeded to vote against his own bill. His wife booed him from the gallery. When the reporter asked why he voted against his own bill he said the following. My campaign was backed financially by a wealthy resident in my district. All he wanted in exchange was one vote. This was the bill he wanted me to vote against. Money talks and everything else walks. Welcome to democracy.