OK, I was at the Bexar County CEC meeting last night; and of course their was lots of talk about Ciro's campaign, complete with resolutions, checks being written (started by a whopping $2,000.00 check by the Courage campaign), the whole ball of wax. Gina Castaneda, his campaign director was there, and as usual, she reflected Ciro himself, being quiet, patient, courteous.
Then David Van Os showed up, to a show of respect I haven't seen in a while. Right in the middle of a vote, everybody stood up and clapped as he walked in the door. He courteously waited until the end of the meeting, asked for the floor, and then began to talk about how Boyd Ritchie and his cabal are sitting on their assses while Ciro is facing Bonilla's Army.
Ciro is facing that Army with loyal but exhausted troops who have not had one single bit of help from the TDP, now or during the Special Election, a fact verified by Gina. She said that the campaign has asked for help in the run-off, but Boyd says they have no money and no people to help. Ciro is on his own, folks, in the most important frakkin' election left this year, and no-frakkin'-body, from the TDP to the DCCC is doing shit about it.
David went on to say that all the candidates in Texas faced the same ho, hum during the election; the TDP entering no fray, sending no personnel to any candidate from Barbara Ann on down the ticket. He told us that after Gregg Abbott was caught using official equipment and personnel in his campaign material, they did nothing, even though he pleaded with them to issue a press release, come out against Abbott. They refused to back their own candidate! And this happened all over the ticket, all year long. And you know why?
It's because what the TDP fat-cats do is, they take our money and then send it out of state to the DCCC, the DSCC, the Big Boys'Campaigns and PACs. The national groups get fat and sleek while the Texas Democrats, fightin' at home, don't even get left-over WWII C rations. We have to make our own frakkin' ammo and our own frakkin' guns, while the TDP sends all the good shit to John Edwards, Rahm Emmanuel and the Beltway Boyz.
Shame on them for asking when we are in such dire straits, and shame, shame, shame on Boyd Frakkin' So-What-If-I-Left-A-Candidate's-Name-Off-The-Convention-Program Ritchie.
You know what to do. Look into those sad Ciro eyes, then send a check - one more this year - to the last Texan Standing.
Then, call these people today, and let them know what frakkin' tools they really are.
(Cross-posted on Texas Kaos)
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
The bitchin' is gonna begin, now.
Bills filed yesterday by Frank Corte:
HB 16 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to certain municipal development programs involving areas having characteristics of blight or a slum.
HB 17 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to the establishment of a pilot program to provide a ballot by electronic mail to military personnel serving overseas.
HB 18 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to creation of a public education voucher pilot program for certain children.
HB 19 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to a school choice program for certain students with disabilities.
HB 20 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to the expulsion of students for assault of school employees.
HB 21 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to informed consent to an abortion.
HB 22 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to the regulation of certain physician's offices where abortions are performed.
HB 23 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to disclosing information to persons obtaining emergency contraception.
HB 24 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to a fee on sales of alcoholic beverages in certain municipalities to fund fire and emergency services and related educational activities.
HB 25 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to punishment for the sale of an alcoholic beverage to a minor.
HB 26 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to liability for injury arising from a motor vehicle accident.
HB 16 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to certain municipal development programs involving areas having characteristics of blight or a slum.
HB 17 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to the establishment of a pilot program to provide a ballot by electronic mail to military personnel serving overseas.
HB 18 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to creation of a public education voucher pilot program for certain children.
HB 19 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to a school choice program for certain students with disabilities.
HB 20 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to the expulsion of students for assault of school employees.
HB 21 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to informed consent to an abortion.
HB 22 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to the regulation of certain physician's offices where abortions are performed.
HB 23 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to disclosing information to persons obtaining emergency contraception.
HB 24 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to a fee on sales of alcoholic beverages in certain municipalities to fund fire and emergency services and related educational activities.
HB 25 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to punishment for the sale of an alcoholic beverage to a minor.
HB 26 Author: Corte, Frank
Last Action: 11/13/2006 H Filed
Caption: Relating to liability for injury arising from a motor vehicle accident.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Fruitcake, Again
OK, here it is, doorstop fans. But I must apologize for a small error yesterday. You only need 1 pound of butter, not 2 pounds. I was thinking cups. You need 2 cups of real butter. You will need a lot of big bowls.
For dark fruitcake:
Mix your 4-6 pounds of candied and dried fruit together. Candied ginger is a good addition. Pour over the fruit about 1.5 cups brandy, irish whiskey, rum (if you must), sherry, madeira or porter. Mix well. Let stand a few hours or overnight. (Are you beginning to see why it's not too early to start making these monstrosities?)
You can mix these dry ingredients and set them aside: 4 C. flour, 1 T. each cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, and 2tsp. salt. Adjust for your taste. I prefer allspice to cloves.
You can also separate and refrigerate your eggs if you wish - 16 of them.
You can also grease and flour enough loaf and tube pans to hold about 1.5 gallons of batter. Line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper, even the tube pans. Bundt pans don't line well with paper, which is why I don't use them, but I do cut out rings for my angel-food pans. Re-grease over the paper. Cover them in plastic, and refrigerate them, too, or put them in a relatively cool place.
When you are ready to complete the task, drain the fruit, saving any liquid.
Cream 1 pound of butter with 1 pound of dark brown sugar very, very well. (Feel free to use light brown, if that is what you have. Or white if you want lighter colored cake.) Good, light creaming is important because there is no leavening in this cake - what little rise there is comes from air beaten into both the butter and sugar and the eggs.
Beat the egg yolks you set aside yesterday. Beat them until they "ribbon" and are lighter in color. Add them to the butter mixture, first by folding, then by more beating. We are beating air in here. Beat in any liquid from the fruit now.
At this point, you gently fold in the flour mixture, using a light hand to keep as much air in the batter as you can. If your batter is too thick, add some booze. Combine with the butter mixture.
Beat the 16 egg whites until stiff. Gently fold them into the butter-yolk mixture, trying not to deflate them too much. Air, air, they need air!
Add two pounds of nut meats to the fruit, and sprinkle another 1 cup of flour over the fruit-nut mixture. Using your hands, be sure it is all covered by a few grains of flour.
This is when a lightbulb will go off in your head. You will be thinking, "Oh, now I see why I should have sterilized my sink before I started this. I have no bowls big enough for this job."
So, in your sink, or in an enormous bowl, using your hands, incorporate the fruit and nuts into to batter. You will see that there is very little batter for a lot of fruit and nuts. In the olden days, they liked it this way. You can always use less fruit and nuts next time. But, for now, onward. You are over halfway through!
Pour into prepared pans. I can't tell you how many, because I don't know what your pans hold, so that is why I warned you to prepare all your loaf and tube pans. I usually fill 4 small loaf pans and three 4X8 loaf pans with this batter. They do not rise a whole lot, so you can fill them 3/4 full, or more. I bake the small ones for about 1.5 hours at 300 degrees, and the larger ones about 3-4 hours at the same temperature.
Remove them from the pans when they are warm, not hot. Cool completely.
You aren't done yet.
Soak enough cheesecloth to wrap the cakes up in your liquor of choice. Wring out the cheescloth. Wrap each loaf individually in about four layers of cheesecloth. Wrap each one tightly in heavy-duty foil, and store in a cool, dry place, like your beer fridge. OR, do what my gran did - store them in a big crock completely covered with powdered sugar. Bury them in powdered sugar. They need to rest at least one month.
To serve, take out, unwrap, and let sit at room temperature for about 2 hours, then slice into very, very thin slices. Serve with Earl Grey tea. To store again, re-wrap in cheesecloth and sprinkle with brandy, then re-wrap in foil.
Or, you can buy some fantastic fruitcake at Costco and go to a spa for the day with the time and money you save at Costco.
For dark fruitcake:
Mix your 4-6 pounds of candied and dried fruit together. Candied ginger is a good addition. Pour over the fruit about 1.5 cups brandy, irish whiskey, rum (if you must), sherry, madeira or porter. Mix well. Let stand a few hours or overnight. (Are you beginning to see why it's not too early to start making these monstrosities?)
You can mix these dry ingredients and set them aside: 4 C. flour, 1 T. each cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, and 2tsp. salt. Adjust for your taste. I prefer allspice to cloves.
You can also separate and refrigerate your eggs if you wish - 16 of them.
You can also grease and flour enough loaf and tube pans to hold about 1.5 gallons of batter. Line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper, even the tube pans. Bundt pans don't line well with paper, which is why I don't use them, but I do cut out rings for my angel-food pans. Re-grease over the paper. Cover them in plastic, and refrigerate them, too, or put them in a relatively cool place.
When you are ready to complete the task, drain the fruit, saving any liquid.
Cream 1 pound of butter with 1 pound of dark brown sugar very, very well. (Feel free to use light brown, if that is what you have. Or white if you want lighter colored cake.) Good, light creaming is important because there is no leavening in this cake - what little rise there is comes from air beaten into both the butter and sugar and the eggs.
Beat the egg yolks you set aside yesterday. Beat them until they "ribbon" and are lighter in color. Add them to the butter mixture, first by folding, then by more beating. We are beating air in here. Beat in any liquid from the fruit now.
At this point, you gently fold in the flour mixture, using a light hand to keep as much air in the batter as you can. If your batter is too thick, add some booze. Combine with the butter mixture.
Beat the 16 egg whites until stiff. Gently fold them into the butter-yolk mixture, trying not to deflate them too much. Air, air, they need air!
Add two pounds of nut meats to the fruit, and sprinkle another 1 cup of flour over the fruit-nut mixture. Using your hands, be sure it is all covered by a few grains of flour.
This is when a lightbulb will go off in your head. You will be thinking, "Oh, now I see why I should have sterilized my sink before I started this. I have no bowls big enough for this job."
So, in your sink, or in an enormous bowl, using your hands, incorporate the fruit and nuts into to batter. You will see that there is very little batter for a lot of fruit and nuts. In the olden days, they liked it this way. You can always use less fruit and nuts next time. But, for now, onward. You are over halfway through!
Pour into prepared pans. I can't tell you how many, because I don't know what your pans hold, so that is why I warned you to prepare all your loaf and tube pans. I usually fill 4 small loaf pans and three 4X8 loaf pans with this batter. They do not rise a whole lot, so you can fill them 3/4 full, or more. I bake the small ones for about 1.5 hours at 300 degrees, and the larger ones about 3-4 hours at the same temperature.
Remove them from the pans when they are warm, not hot. Cool completely.
You aren't done yet.
Soak enough cheesecloth to wrap the cakes up in your liquor of choice. Wring out the cheescloth. Wrap each loaf individually in about four layers of cheesecloth. Wrap each one tightly in heavy-duty foil, and store in a cool, dry place, like your beer fridge. OR, do what my gran did - store them in a big crock completely covered with powdered sugar. Bury them in powdered sugar. They need to rest at least one month.
To serve, take out, unwrap, and let sit at room temperature for about 2 hours, then slice into very, very thin slices. Serve with Earl Grey tea. To store again, re-wrap in cheesecloth and sprinkle with brandy, then re-wrap in foil.
Or, you can buy some fantastic fruitcake at Costco and go to a spa for the day with the time and money you save at Costco.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
The Kitchen Is Now Re-opened. Let The Bitchin' Begin! (And The Beginning of Fruitcake Season, As Well)
Well, the campaign is over, no more good girl. It's time to tell it like it really is. But first, a word about fruitcake.
You know, that stuff that only your great-uncle liked, but your grandmother made literally, 20 pounds of every year? Because that was the recipe yield? Well, I want to talk a little bit about it. You see, my grandmother made it, rice pudding, and roast lamb. That was all she could cook. Well, she made soup with the leftover lamb and called it hotpot...
Anyway, I have a son-in-law that really loves fruitcake. He loves the cheap-ass stuff wrapped in clear plastic that is on the shelf with the Little Debby as much as he likes the homemade stuff wrapped in cheesecloth soaked in brandy and aged in a tin for two months. But I want to talk about the latter.
My dad hoarded my gran's brandy-soaked, cheesecloth-wrapped, tin-stored fruitcake. And he kept it in the fridge in the garage; the fridge we stored the beer in and the fridge he fermented the kosher dills and kraut in. So the fruitcake needed a good, tight tin in that fridge. My dad, Bill Kasser, did like his drink. And he had a bedtime snort of about 3 inches, followed by a ever-so-thin slice of that fruitcake, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring. He made a 4 pound fruitcake last. 'Til I discovered fruitcake when I was about 16. And that's when he started making it, using Ann Gillan's recipe, which I will share tomorrow. But this is what you will need:
About 4 pounds of your favorite glace'd fruit. I use cherries, pineapple, golden raisins and orange peel. No figs, no currants, no lemon peel, no angelica and no citron. But feel free to use that shit if you want to.
About 2 pounds of nuts. I like pecans since I married a Texan, but walnuts work.
About 4 cups of middlin' brandy. You can use rum, but I think it overpowers the fruit, especially the dark rum.
About 2 pounds of butter.
Your favorite spices - easy on the cinnamon - and include the nutmeg.
And literally, your sterilized kitchen sink. Also, take out all your loaf and tube pans. Wash them, dry them well.
Oh, I forgot the cheesecloth.
No, it's not too early, trust me on this!
See you tomorrow.
You know, that stuff that only your great-uncle liked, but your grandmother made literally, 20 pounds of every year? Because that was the recipe yield? Well, I want to talk a little bit about it. You see, my grandmother made it, rice pudding, and roast lamb. That was all she could cook. Well, she made soup with the leftover lamb and called it hotpot...
Anyway, I have a son-in-law that really loves fruitcake. He loves the cheap-ass stuff wrapped in clear plastic that is on the shelf with the Little Debby as much as he likes the homemade stuff wrapped in cheesecloth soaked in brandy and aged in a tin for two months. But I want to talk about the latter.
My dad hoarded my gran's brandy-soaked, cheesecloth-wrapped, tin-stored fruitcake. And he kept it in the fridge in the garage; the fridge we stored the beer in and the fridge he fermented the kosher dills and kraut in. So the fruitcake needed a good, tight tin in that fridge. My dad, Bill Kasser, did like his drink. And he had a bedtime snort of about 3 inches, followed by a ever-so-thin slice of that fruitcake, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring. He made a 4 pound fruitcake last. 'Til I discovered fruitcake when I was about 16. And that's when he started making it, using Ann Gillan's recipe, which I will share tomorrow. But this is what you will need:
About 4 pounds of your favorite glace'd fruit. I use cherries, pineapple, golden raisins and orange peel. No figs, no currants, no lemon peel, no angelica and no citron. But feel free to use that shit if you want to.
About 2 pounds of nuts. I like pecans since I married a Texan, but walnuts work.
About 4 cups of middlin' brandy. You can use rum, but I think it overpowers the fruit, especially the dark rum.
About 2 pounds of butter.
Your favorite spices - easy on the cinnamon - and include the nutmeg.
And literally, your sterilized kitchen sink. Also, take out all your loaf and tube pans. Wash them, dry them well.
Oh, I forgot the cheesecloth.
No, it's not too early, trust me on this!
See you tomorrow.
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