Anali's First Amendment

He's The One

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:32:00 +0000

That was quite a debate the other night. I was going nuts on twitter. Someone emailed me this logo, so I had to use it. Here's an interesting article stating "Barack Obama Will Defeat John McCain—This One's Over."

I'm getting ready to drive for the first time since my surgery. It's three weeks today. Oh, I just sneezed and it really hurt. I hope I didn't pop a stitch.

Anyway, I'm going go to the library to pick up The Secret Life of Bees, which I put on hold. I'm really looking forward to the movie.

Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2008. All rights reserved.

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Need Vietnamese Speaking Volunteers For Obama!

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 16:50:00 +0000

I just read this post on the blog Asian Americans For Obama '08
and thought I would help spread the word. Maybe someone will read this post on Universal Hub and go down to Northern Virginia. Here is an excerpt from the post.

"Over the weekend, a group of volunteers from Asian Americans for Obama and South Asians for Obama went to Virginia from New York to help with AAPI outreach efforts. We worked with the Falls Church Office and canvassed a number of their neighborhoods.

As some of you may know, there is a HUGE Vietnamese population in this area. We found that the group was largely comprised of undecided voters, some of whom leaned towards McCain (particularly the older generation) primarily because of his military ties, with little to no understanding about his policies.

However, when they heard about Obama’s policies, they tended to gravitate towards him (of course!). I was fortunate enough to be with a volunteer who spoke Vietnamese and she was able to sway a number of voters our way. She was terrific and she made such a difference.

Recent polling indicates that the race is very close in VA, so any help you can provide to get out the vote would be great. It really could make the difference in turning VA blue. ...

If you or anyone you know speaks Vietnamese and would be willing to volunteer at the Falls Church office for a week, weekend or any amount of time, I’m sure they would be very grateful. Please note that training is provided and no experience is necessary."

Please read the full post here.

Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2008. All rights reserved.

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Baking: From My Home To Yours

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:17:00 +0000

Many of you, especially those of you who love to bake, may recognize this post title as the title of an incredible cookbook by Dorie Greenspan. I only recently purchased it after making many of her recipes that I read about on other food blogs.

Her desserts have become such a staple in my baking, that I figured I owed it to myself to have the entire book. I was especially interested in purchasing the book after learning about a group of food bloggers who bake recipes from this book and blog about them every Tuesday on the blog, Tuesdays With Dorie (TWD).

There seemed to be SO many recipes! After buying it, I can attest that this book is gigantic and heavy. There really are a ton of recipes. Anyone who is interested in baking and looking for a starter cookbook, I would say this is the one.

I've had the cookbook for a couple of weeks, but I only baked my first recipe from it last night. I made the Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes from pages 215-217, but of course with many changes. Just to set things straight, I adapt recipes based on what I have in the house, my own particular preferences and food restrictions. I'm certainly not trying to improve her recipes.

Coincidentally, the TWD group will be making these cupcakes the last Tuesday in October. I guess my post can be a bit of a preview. I'm not a member, but it's fun to check in and see what they're up to. Tomorrow, Tuesday, October 7th, they will be making Caramel-Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake from pages 264-265.

All I can say is that these cupcakes did not disappoint. They are very quick to make. The batter is gorgeous and chocolate-pudding-like. They are really chocolaty, not too sweet, bite-sized portions and amenable to all sorts of creative decorating. I didn't feel like making frosting, so G and ate them with some whipped cream. I tried one with some marshmallow fluff, which was okay too.

These cupcakes will be another staple in my baking. You just can't go wrong with them and I made a fair amount of changes. Well, from the woman who has brought us World Peace Cookies and the Swedish Visiting Cake, I expected no less.

Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes
(Adapted from Baking: From My Home To Yours)
Makes 12 small cupcakes

1/2 cup softened Smart Balance (butter or margarine)
1 heaping Tablespoon unsweetened apple sauce
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup vanilla rice milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

In medium bowl, add Smart Balance, apple sauce, egg, vanilla extract, rice milk, and sugar. Use a large whisk to combine. Stir in dry ingredients. Pour batter in muffin pan with muffin liners. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. Enjoy!

Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2008. All rights reserved.

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Sarah Palin Tried To Kill Me!

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:02:00 +0000

It was truly one of the worst nightmares of my life. G and I watched the debate last night between Biden and Palin. She did hold her own by not answering most of the questions and focusing on what she wanted to talk about. I thought Biden did a great job. Especially when he really brought it home about how McCain was no maverick when it comes to the really critical issues.

Anyway, here is my Palin nightmare. I think I was locked in a basement. It was really dark and I was so scared. All I could see was a gigantic vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting and multi-colored candies on top. I don't remember even seeing Palin, but her presence was looming and ominous. I knew she was there and that I had to get away, because she was going to kill me. I was getting more and more terrified and I couldn't see to get away from her. I was paralyzed with fear and trying to scream.

Then G woke me up and was saying that it was okay, that I was having a nightmare. I was still terrified and told him that Palin was evil and she was trying to kill me. Then he started laughing.

Having that nightmare reminded me of another post where I wrote about how people had been dreaming about the candidates. Hopefully I'll sleep better tonight.

This also reminded me of the "My Name Is Sarah" Project. Here is their mission statement.

There are thousands of "Sarahs" across the nation who reflect America's values and share a vision for the future of our country. They're mothers, workers, educators, providers and they're voting in November for Barack Obama. By telling these women's stories, the "My Name Is Sarah" project aims to raise awareness among women in key swing states about the compelling reasons women like them are supporting Obama for president. Read their stories, post your own Sarah Stories.

I think this is an interesting concept. Read more here.

Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2008. All rights reserved.

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Little Post - Big Instruments

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:45:00 +0000

I had this idea of a very grand and beautiful post signifying my wonderful and triumphant return to blogging. Well, it's not gonna happen. I'm back, but at the moment, I'm ready to take another nap. Right after this post. Tomorrow, it will be two weeks since my surgery.

The first week was kind of blurry. I was sleeping a lot from the meds and kept noticing that I was always waking up, which I guess means I was constantly falling asleep without realizing it. So much for all the comments encouraging me to blog while buzzed.

I finished reading Dirty Girls on Top last week. I loved it even more than the first one and hope that there will be a third novel. There's nothing like a good novel to take you away when you're recovering.

You might remember this post, where I found my affinity for Saint Theresa, who is the Saint of little ways. Over these past few weeks, I've really noticed some little things that meant a lot. On my last day of work, my co-worker A, gave me this wonderful book, Garden Spells, by Sarah Addison Allen. It was such a wonderful surprise. I read the book in just a few days. It was perfect! Full of food, magic, and mystery. Another novel that really took me away. Thank you A!

My surgery was at Beth Isral Deaconess Medical Center. I am so grateful that I found the doctor that I have. He is really an amazing person. And just about every person that I encountered there was absolutely wonderful also. Oh and T, your good anesthesiology vibes worked! When I met my anesthesiologist, she was really friendly and upbeat with a gorgeous smile. My parents and G were with me when I was waiting for everything to get going.

When I was wheeled into the OR, the lights were so intensely bright. I looked around and saw all these GIGANTIC metal instruments on tables off in the corner. I started to get really nervous. At least to me they looked gigantic, because I assumed they were going to use them on me. I think I made a comment about all this and someone said, "Don't worry. We'll give you something to relax ...." That's all I remember before waking up and G telling me that the surgery went great.

Although I had lots of phone calls and visitors while I was in the hospital, another little thing meant a lot. Two young guys were pushing a cart full of magazines around and asked me if I wanted something to read. I asked if they had to be returned and they said, "No, you can keep it."

I picked Food & Wine. It was an old issue from January, but I've cut out a few recipes that I plan to make when I'm up to it again. It really cheered me up to get the magazine. They are given to BIDMC patients by Volunteer Services through the Annie & Philip Berman Endowment Fund. Something small can really make a difference.

Well, I'm getting back to my old self and starting to visit blogs again. I was reading this post the other day and a picture immediately came to mind.

Karen asked "What are some of the things you own that you think are pretty iconic representations of who you are?" I immediately thought of my kitchen drawer filled with baking pans. I really miss using them. I'm ready to bake again.

Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2008. All rights reserved.

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Update: Surgery Went Very Well

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:49:00 +0000

Thanks for all the prayers and good wishes. My surgery went really well. Today is my first day on the computer, but blogging and serious pain medication don't mix well, so that's all for now.

Arte y Pico Award

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:14:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, I was given the Arte y Pico Award by T from Notes of an Anesthesioboist.

"Anali's First Amendment, for the thoughtful way in which she sees - and helps readers see - the world and its little details."

Thank you for the sweet words T!

RULES

1.You have to pick five blogs that you consider deserve this award in terms of creativity, design, interesting material, and general contributions to the blogger community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each winner has to show the award and give the name and link to the blog that has given him or her the award itself.

4. Each winner and each giver of the prize has to show the link of “Arte y pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. To show these rules.

And below are the five creative bloggers who inspire me whenever I read them. Thank you for sharing your talents and making the world a better place.

Michelle at Bleeding Espresso is an attorney/freelance writer who loves to cook and tell us about her life as American living in Italy. Her pictures and words take me away, so I can see the sights and imagine the scents of her lovely village in Calabria.

Gunfighter is the father of two beautiful girls, a husband, and a citizen of our nation's capitol. He talks politics and guns, but don't let that scare you. He's all heart. You never know when he'll decide to cook up a recipe or bless you with a haiku or two.

Zen Chef blogs at Chefs Gone Wild, where he makes me even more wild about food than I thought was possible. He's mastered the art of self-deprecation as well as the art of cooking and we lucky readers get to go along for the ride.

BipolarLawyerCook is another attorney/freelance writer who loves to cook, but she lives locally and I've had the good fortune to meet her in person. I love to see life through her eyes when she peeks a glimpse at something that might seem small, but is inspired to wax poetic, so we can all experience the beauty and mystery.

Enyasi at Little Brown Girl 2.0 has inspired me offline for decades. She's my cousin and the one who inspired me to start blogging. Her blog is full of crafts, food, and words that continue to comfort and inspire.

Congratulations everyone! I hope you like your awards.

Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2008. All rights reserved.

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My Birthday + Some News

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 04:46:00 +0000

Chocolate Devil's Food Cupcakes photo by chotda.

My actual birthday is Thursday the 11th, but things are a bit hectic, so I'm doing my birthday post today. How old will I be? Well, Sarah Palin and I have the same number of years. I don't like her for a VP, but I do like how everyone keeps saying how young she is!

I've been in the mood for some cupcakes, so here is a cupcake slideshow from flickr. Happy Birthday to me!

As a birthday gift to myself and to all of you, I've finally organized all the recipes that I've blogged about here and on And Razzleberry Dressing. Now you can find all the recipes by category in the new Recipe Index at the top of the right sidebar and by clicking here.

Unfortunately, I also have some not so great news. My blogging may be rather spotty over the next few weeks. I'm having surgery on the 18th and will be in the hospital for several days. I'll be at home recovering for about three weeks and should hopefully be fully recovered within six weeks. Please say prayers or just send some good thoughts!

Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2008. All rights reserved.

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Dear Readers

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 19:44:00 +0000

Today, I received a very nice email from someone. In order to protect their privacy, I won't say who it is or quote from it, but it did make me think. It was respectful and really just showed me what a class act this person really is. I appreciate that they took the time to express their feelings.

The essence of the email was that they disagree with many of Obama's policies and that they are far more conservative in their beliefs. They said that they weren't commenting on my political posts because of this. I hope my response did not seem too curt, but I basically said that we can agree to disagree and that we all do need to express our opinions.

I know that it's pretty clear that I'm a liberal Democrat. This election is very important to me and I will be blogging about it a fair amount. I hope that I do not offend anyone, but one of the main reasons for this blog is for me to express my opinions. That doesn't mean that I don't want any conservatives here. We liberals and conservatives certainly can all appreciate some good food! There's baking in addition to the politics! And I won't delete someone from my blogroll just because they are conservative.

I admit that I don't read many political blogs that are conservative, but I guess I never really thought about the political leanings of those who don't necessarily write about politics. I may be babbling at this point, but I just wanted to say that I hope we can all get along here and I want people to feel welcome even if we have different political views.

Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2008. All rights reserved.

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Community Organizing - Not A Laughing Matter

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:15:00 +0000

Anyone who is following me on twitter, can see that I'm completely disgusted with McCain and Palin. I watched Guiliani and Palin's speech last night and had to turn it off before McCain spoke. My blood pressure has probably gone up with all this nonsense.

I CANNOT even believe that they were laughing over Obama having been a community organizer. Laughing! Wasn't Martin Luther King Jr. a community organizer? Would they laugh at him. Actually, probably. They didn't want to make his birthday a holiday.

And then having the nerve to "remind" us that Republicans were the ones who ended slavery. Yes, Lincoln was a Republican, but do they really believe that Lincoln would be a Republican today? I mean seriously. Give me a break!

Wasn't this country founded by community organizers? People coming together and rising up against the British. Great movements start by ordinary citizens taking matters into their own hands and demanding action and change by the powers that be. Wasn't that what sparked the French Revolution? Gandhi's push for freedom in India? And if you really want to go back and go deep, couldn't it be said that Jesus was a community organizer? I digress, but you get my point.

I also want to share some information that I found via Politico. This article states that in 2006, Palin answered a Gubernatorial Candidate Questionnaire. Because the information was allegedly taken down, it is now found in Google's cache by clicking here. Here are a few of the questions and Palin's answers.

Complete the sentence by checking the applicable phrases (you can check more than one).
Abortion should be:
Banned throughout entire pregnancy.
Legal to save the life of the mother.
Legal in case of rape and incest.
Legal if the baby is handicapped.
Legal if the baby has a genetic defect.
Legal in the first trimester.
Legal in the second trimester.
Legal in the third trimester.
Other:__________________

SP: I am pro-life. With the exception of a doctor’s determination that the mother’s life would end if the pregnancy continued. I believe that no matter what mistakes we make as a society, we cannot condone ending an innocent’s life.

Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of for explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?

SP: Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.

Will you support an effort to expand hate-crime laws?

SP: No, as I believe all heinous crime is based on hate.

Do you support the Alaska Supreme Court’s ruling that spousal benefits for state employees should be given to same-sex couples? Why or why not?

SP: No, I believe spousal benefits are reserved for married citizens as defined in our constitution.

In relationship to families, what are your top three priorities if elected governor?

SP: 1. Creating an atmosphere where parents feel welcome to choose the venues of education for their children.
2. Preserving the definition of “marriage” as defined in our constitution.
3. Cracking down on the things that harm family life: gangs, drug use, and infringement of our liberties including attacks on our 2nd Amendment rights.

This election is going to be a tough one. But I feel very good expressing my First Amendment Rights here, while I still have them. Vote Obama & Biden!!

Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2008. All rights reserved.

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Books & DVDs For Free!

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:43:00 +0000

I know that this is not what booksellers want to read. Over the past few months, I've been increasing my visits to my local public library.

The library system in Quincy is excellent. The main branch was renovated a few years ago. It's just gorgeous.

There's a cafe in the lobby. It has an atrium ceiling filled with light and they have all sorts of programs. One of them, which looks very interesting to me, is called Cooking With Books, where people look at new cookbooks and share recipes. This month's theme is Apples. Yum!

Anyway, I've taken out several good books and DVDs. There's such a wide selection of everything here. I recently read An Accidental American, by Alex Carr. A really good book filled with suspense and international intrigue.

I'm currently reading, Chez Moi, by Agnes Desarthe. This is a wonderful food book about a woman who opens her own restaurant. However, as much as I love all the food and the quirky characters, in terms of cleanliness, this restaurant is my own personal nightmare. Sometimes I feel like I have clumps of hair and dirt between my teeth, because I'm getting so grossed out by reading it. I've never felt such ambivalence while reading a food book.

I have two books on hold, which I should be getting out by the end of the week. Dirty Girls On Top, by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez and Petite Anglaise, by Catherine Sanderson, another blogger who got a book deal.

Have you been visiting your local library? And just for fun, here's a cool blog to check out called Librarian On The Run. It's written by a funny local blogger who happens to be a librarian.

Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2008. All rights reserved.

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Another Plea For Votes!

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:35:00 +0000

Those votes are starting to trickle in. However, I could still use your help over the next couple of days. You'll need to register at the website in order for your vote to count. Click here to vote.

Here is the current state of the voting as of 11:40 am.

I'd go back for two (maybe three) scoops! 20 votes
Just one scoop, please. 11 votes
This isn't quite my flavor. 19 votes

Thank you for your support!

Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2008. All rights reserved.

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A Small Request

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:47:00 +0000

Remeber this post with a recipe for some delicious Vanilla Coconut Ice Cream?

Well, I tweaked the recipe and entered it into this Recipe Contest on Apartment Therapy's The Kitchn.

Please check out my entry here. I'm Entry #26 in the Best Lick! 2008 Ice Cream Contest.

Any votes for me would be very much appreciated! I think voting is only allowed for a couple of days. And the last time that I checked, there was much room for improvement.

Also, there's no Flickr Friday this week, but I might bring it back every few weeks or so.

Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2008. All rights reserved.

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Sunday Driving

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:32:00 +0000

View Larger Map

For some reason, I got it in my head, that I could take Route 93 North from Quincy to Rockport. That is most definitely wrong.

Because I have such a horrible sense of direction, I normally have the good sense to print out directions. But I was feeling relaxed and carefree and thought I remembered the basic way to get there. Serendipity would take care of the rest. Well, it did in fact, but we never made it to Rockport and we accidentally left the state.

So G and I are in my Bug cruising up Route 93. The sun is shining and there's a warm breeze blowing. In New England, we savor these days. We store them in our memories and pull them out later in order to withstand the brutality of January and viciousness of February. So we're driving. And driving. And driving. And not seeing signs for any of the towns that are on the coast. Then we we see a sign welcoming us to New Hampshire. Well, that wasn't in the plan.

We decided to go with the flow, since we were in no real hurry. We drove a little bit and exited near Londonderry to find someplace to eat. We were both getting hungry and thought that we could find a hidden gem that I could blog about. I told G that when we found the place, we'd know it when we saw it. And we did.

We drove past a few fast food places and some uninspiring looking eateries. Then we saw a bright yellow house with seating on the outside. It looked really quaint, like we could get a good old-fashioned New England meal there. We pulled up and saw that they were serving brunch until 4:00. The parking lot was pretty full, which seemed like a good sign. We walked in and were greeted right away. We decided to sit outside, so we could enjoy the sun.

The restaurant is called The Homestead. I really recommend this place. Our waitress was really nice and her timing with the food was perfect. We started with Bruschetta, which was really good. There was more vinegar than I usually like, but it worked.

I have no more food photographs, because G was hungry and was not "feeling" the food photography at that point. Anyway, I had the Crab Cakes and he had the Baked Stuffed Haddock. We shared and both really liked everything. The portion sizes were generous too. Also, their bathroom was very clean. Always a good sign.

After our meal, we decided that we needed to drive South East. Living on the East Coast, if you keep driving East, eventually you'll hit water. We took a very circuitous yet somewhat scenic route. We ended up on Route 128, which is what we should have taken to begin with. *sigh*

We finally saw signs for Gloucester and Rockport. At this point, we were getting a bit tired of driving and decided to save Rockport for another day, so we took one of the Gloucester exits.

We parked and got out of the car. The wind had kicked up and it was noticeably cooler by the water. I grabbed a scarf from the trunk and wrapped it around my shoulders. We walked around and watched the boats lining up to wait their turns to go under the raised draw bridge. We even saw a boat being pulled by a tug boat.

It started to get even colder, so we headed home. I made these chocolate chip cookies and we watched the closing ceremonies for the Olympics. Not a bad Sunday. Not bad at all.

Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2008. All rights reserved.

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Flickr Friday - It's all about you!

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:30:00 +0000

Bailar by ChicagoEye.

I was reading this post on decor8, which got me thinking. One of the fun things about using flickr is looking at pictures taken by other people. You can tag your "favorites" and then look at them whenever you want. At the moment, I have 269 favorites and counting!

Blogger Ez summed up my feelings exactly when she said that "... there was a semblance of order to the things I liked. I spotted a trend immediately, and have been fascinated to see myself revealed through the collection of my favorites ever since."

Day 352 by 365 bunnies.

I started thinking that it would be fun to look at all of YOUR favorites. If you're already on flickr, please leave me a link to your favorites in the comment section.

If you don't have a flickr account yet, this would be a great time to join and leave links to pictures that you love. Let us all see you.

Or just leave any kind of nice comment. I'm easy like that. Have a great weekend everyone!

Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2008. All rights reserved.

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Paper People Checks & Race

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:54:00 +0000

This is a very random post that I wasn't planning on doing, but I cannot seem to stop myself from writing it.

I ordered some new checks the other day. I usually purchase something cute and take a billion hours choosing the design. I saw these new Paper People Checks, which are absolutely adorable. I was thinking about ordering them, so I went further into the website to choose my people. I was looking for a cute little brown girl. I think there are approximately 100 characters to choose from, but none of them are brown. I found that rather odd.

If I'm going to buy something like a card with people, I look for one that has some diversity of people shown. They couldn't have one or two brown characters out of 100? They even have pets and random objects for some of the characters.

Again, my curiosity and irritation got the better of me, so I wrote to customer service saying how I loved their new line of checks, but why no brown people. This morning I received this reply.

"Thank you for contacting us. It is the artist's belief that her Paper People are just that.....Paper People....void of color at all and more about what is inside our souls rather than our external appearances. We appreciate your feedback and it will be forwarded."

This reminded me of someone who said to me that she didn't consider me black. Huh? I know that she considered it a compliment, but it wasn't. I think that she just meant that I differ from her idea of who is a black person and how "we" behave. I get that a lot and it irritates me to no end.

It's like the whole idea of a color-blind society. Ignoring color should not be the goal. People are different colors. Nature loves diversity. We should be able to acknowledge and embrace our differences, not merely be tolerant. The goal should be to not treat each other badly or differently based on color.

So after I read this email, I became curious about the artist, Laura Kelly. Her work is beautiful. And she actually has some cute little note cards with some brown people.

I don't know what the deal is with the Paper People checks. I agree that we should care more about what's in our souls than by external appearances. However, I think that the customer service representative failed to see that by choosing not to represent people with any color, by default all the characters are white. Just my two cents for the day.

Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2008. All rights reserved.

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A Twilight Walk On Castle Island

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:40:00 +0000

During the twilight hours on Sunday evening, G and I took a walk on Castle Island.

After having so much rain the previous few days, the weather finally cleared up and we figured it would be a nice time to visit.

Castle Island is located in South Boston, which is practically a walk from Quincy, but I had never been there.

It's also very close to Logan Airport, so there are planes flying overhead seemingly every two minutes. Some of them are flying pretty low too.

From Castle Island, you can also get a different view of the gas tank and the JFK Library.

I cannot fully vouch for the validity of this Wikipedia entry, but it states that Edgar Allen Poe's famous short story "The Cask of Amontillado" had its genesis in a story he heard while on Castle Island.

Poe is one of my favorite writers, so for me, this was quite an interesting piece of trivia. Luckily our walk was not as creepy as a Poe story, although things did take quite a bad turn later on.

As we walked, we enjoyed the sights and of course I took some pictures. The sun still gave us some light, but it had almost set by the time we left.

We were both famished after our walk and realized that neither of us had eaten any fried clams this whole summer season. Clearly, we had no choice but to drive to Wollaston Beach and buy some fried clams and French fries. Very unhealthy, but oh so tasty!

We really enjoyed our meal. Until a few hours later. I won't say where we made our purchase, but both of us were up for hours later that night clutching our stomachs in agony. Maybe Mr. Poe's influence was lurking around there after all.

Anali's First Amendment © 2006-2008. All rights reserved.

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Flickr Friday - Jam

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:38:00 +0000

Pump up the jam! Remember that song? Loved it!

Not only can you pump it up, but jam has several other meanings and uses. You can jam by taking part in a jam session. You can get stuck in a traffic jam. You can jam your foot on the brakes, to avoid hitting the car in front of you, because you’re stuck in a jam. And of course, there is that delicious edible variety of jam that adds fruity goodness when spread on a scone or toast.

Why did I pick jam as the theme for this week? Well, I was lucky enough to win a contest on Zen Chef’s blog Chefs Gone Wild. What a nice surprise! If you love food or just like reading a blog written by someone with a great sense of humor, check out his blog.

What did I win? Three jars of homemade jam! Yum! I’ve only opened one jar so far and it's so good! Hopefully, I’ll figure out a way to cook or bake something interesting with these. So far I’ve just been using it on toast, but I’m enjoying it just the same.

Searching for jam on Flickr, there are pictures of all types of jams. I had no idea that so many people attended Pearl Jam concerts. Check out all these jam pictures on flickr and my faves too.

Also please check out my Guest Post today over at Gunfighter’s blog. There’s a new recipe up! Enjoy the weekend everyone!

*Updated 8/24/08* Who would think that listening to NPR would remind me of another one of my favorite "jam" songs? Teddy's Jam! They played it yesterday between segments while I was driving. I realized that I had to update this post. I burned some serious calories dancing to this tune back in the day.

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Celebrate Farmers' Market Week

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:14:00 +0000

One of these pictures is not like the others. Can you guess which one? Ha! I know pretty lame. Sometimes I just can't help myself. Actually the last one that I included kind of throws things off...

Anyway, last Friday, I finally made it to Quincy's Farmers' Market. My intent was to buy a few things and take some pictures for the 888 Flickr Pool. Here is my submission. I went a few years ago, but don't remember being too thrilled. This time I was pretty happy. Although, I missed the cooking demonstration sponsored by Taste Quincy. And on a side note, the website shows that the Manager of the Farmers' Market is named Anneli! I couldn't help but notice!

Quincy's Farmers' Market hours are fairly limited. According to the website, it's held each Friday from 11:30 to 5:30 at the parking lot across from the Courthouse. I was told that from noon until 2:00, one or two Quincy restaurants prepare food and give out samples. The cooking demonstration is taped and broadcast later on Quincy Access Television. I didn't get the gentleman's name, but he was with the Taste Quincy crew. I know bad reporting, but I just asked him quickly.

I'll have to try and go back soon to see the cooking demonstration. I don't have cable and our Farmers' Market season in Massachusetts doesn't last very long. Time is running out. If you live in the area and can't make it this Friday to Quincy, then next week may be even better.

Governor Patrick declared August 17th - 23rd, to be Farmers' Market Week in Massachusetts last year. I'm not positive, if it's officially the same this year, but I guess we can just go with it. There are Farmers' Markets all across the Commonwealth , so hopefully people will get out and support their local farmers.

Back to my visit. There was a nice assortment of fruits, vegetables, a few flowers, and some baked goods too. Can you see the cheeseburger cookies here in the package? Aren't they the cutest? They were good too! They were from O’Brien’s Bakery, which is right on Beale Street in Wollaston.

I bought these flowers. I'd like to get some sunflowers next time, but they sell out early. I bought some bread, string beans, peaches, green peppers, and two Zephyr Squash, which are these long green and yellow squash in the picture above. I used the green peppers in a stir-fry with some onions that I served with chicken, but I didn't take any pictures. I still have to cook the beans and the squash. Maybe I can make something tonight.

The peaches were some of the juiciest that I've ever tasted, but they weren't very sweet. I cut them up and put them on some oatmeal with raisins, almonds, brown sugar and some Trader Joe's Organic Blue Agave Sweetener. It was really good.

So that's my post. Sorry I mislead you about the tomatoes. But I'm sure you'll forgive me.

*Updated 8/17/08* You might also be interested in this blog's Farmer's Market Report.

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Sneak Peek

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 16:08:00 +0000

Flickr Friday - Chocolate Chip Cookies

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:09:00 +0000

I haven't had a chance to do much coooking or even baking the past few weeks. But ever since I saw the recent NY Times article about chocolate chip cookies, I've been pondering the ubiquity of the chocolate chip cookie. And the food blogosphere has been buzzing about it too.

When I started thinking about this week's Flickr Friday, I couldn't help but wonder how many pictures of chocolate chip cookies could be found on flickr. There are a lot! Look at this slideshow and enjoy.

Check out my flickr favorites this week as well. Have a good weekend everyone!

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Left On Red

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 03:35:00 +0000

You can turn right on red while driving in Massachusetts. It's a serious pet peeve of mine, when people don't do it.

I ofen drive through this intersection in the Financial District, but going straight ahead and not usually turning left. I started noticing people taking a left on red and thought it was quite brazen of them. Then someone told me that it's okay on a one-way street. I had no idea, so I looked it up. It appears to be true.

And more importantly, did you know that you cannot drive a horse drawn sleigh unless you've attached three bells to the harness? Keep that in mind for the next time.

*Updated 8/12/08* Adam over at Universal Hub, picked up this post and it generated a decent number of comments. There is some strange speculation about who I am and why I wrote this post. I wonder why they just didn't come over to my blog and try to figure it out instead of all the guessing. Anyway, just thought I would share.

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Serious Blog Problems - Please Help!

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 13:59:00 +0000

My blog is having serious problems. Depending upon what computer and what browser I open my blog in, it looks completely different.

I'm not a very tech savvy person and have just been faking a lot of this blogging stuff. So far, it seemed to be working. I've used some CSS and HTML to change the look, but maybe I did something wrong. I may need to scrap this template and start from scratch. I figured out how to take a screen shot of my computer screen, but cannot figure out how to cut and paste it into this blog. *sigh*

By the way Suldog, when I Googled "how to post computer screen shot on blog" this post of yours came up as number 2!

I wanted to show the different ways that it's appearing and ask what all of you see. On my computer at home in my Verizon browser, everything looks fine. But on another computer that I use, my right sidebar dropped way down to the lower part of the screen. That's happened a few times and I'm not sure what causes it. It's especially bizarre, because everything looks fine at home.

Then this morning, I decided to try the Mozilla browser and my blog looks even worse! Not only is the right sidebar dropped down to the bottom of the screen, but my blog header is not centered. It's way on the left! I have no idea what's going on with this blog! How does this blog appear to you?

Any suggestions on how to post screen shots and what to do to fix this? Are there any people out there who could give me a not too expensive blog makeover and fix all this madness and add some more style too? Please contact me. I've been thinking about doing some changes anyway.

*Updated* August 5, 2008 - Thanks for your suggestions Chris! I made the left margin smaller and removed most of the widgets. Hopefully my blog is loading faster for all of you. It also looks a little better in Firefox. The right sidebar is back to normal. I still have to figure out the problem with the header though...

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Flickr Friday - Fire Hydrants

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:59:00 +0000

I took these photos of colorful fire hydrants about a month ago. Since then, I've been on the lookout for more. I haven't spotted any in real life, so I figured I'd look on flickr.

Here's a hydrant from Second Life called The Little Fire Hydrant Who Could by Torley.

I found a purple fire hydrant with some history and a green fire hydrant with a face that's a mystery. This one is colored pink. And this one I don't know what to think!

This one made me take a second look. Strange Shadow For A Fire Hydrant by Darin Barry.

This is One Big Fire Hydrant by Steve Webel.

But this one is truly the biggest! This hydrant is edible. Do you agree that this one is sexy?

Click here to see all the fire hydrants that people have photographed and posted.

And my collection of favorites keeps growing. I hope you check it out. Have a good weekend everyone!

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Remember That San Francisco Treat?

analisfirstamendment@hotmail.com (Anali) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:00:00 +0000

Rice-A-Roni! I still have that jingle in my head from decades ago as a child. We didn't have Rice-A-Roni often at home, because my mom mostly cooked everything from scratch. I think we had it a few times, but I don't recall the taste that much. It's mostly the television commercial in my head with happy smiling people riding the cable cars. It made me want to visit San Francisco, which I did actually. A few years ago. But I still haven't been on one of those cable cars.

Why am I writing about this? Not so coincidentally, NPR's series Hidden Kitchens by The Kitchen Sisters has the story of Rice-A-Roni called Birth Of Rice-A-Roni: The Armenian-Italian Treat. Here is a portion below.

When the DeDomenicos moved into a place of their own, Lois often cooked Mrs. Captanian's Armenian pilaf. At a family dinner one evening, after a long day at the pasta factory, Tom's brother Vince stared at his dish of pilaf and said, "This would be great in a box."
Check out the whole story here.

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