Response to a Friend

I understand your point of view, but the only way conservatives are "affecting" their lives are by their opposition to gay marriage - and even in that case it's becoming more of a state's rights issue. I think gays should enjoy full "married" rights, and a lot of their demands are economically driven - insurance, health care, etc. In addition to the social dynamics in play, however, marriage is a traditional man-woman institution and should stay that way; civil unions are fine as it gives them the same rights as married couples.

Also, I know of no conservatives who are calling for the death of gays. Other than the wackos out of Kansas. Most conservatives I know are quite tolerant of gays. That said, they may not agree with what they consider the sin of homosexuality, but they also follow "hate the sin, love the sinner." As you are aware, a number of people close to me are gay - I don't love them any less and feel that my life would be a lot emptier without their presence in it.

The point I wanted to make it that those organizations make very pointed accusations about conservatives, and especially evangelicals in the US and get a lot of attention. Now think of how much attention they would get, how much influence on public opinion they could have, if they sounded the alarm about minority groups being discriminated against and killed around the world.

A case in point - remember the outrage a few years ago about female genital mutilation in Africa. It brought unwanted attention to those who were practicing it and raised public consciousness - the same could happen here. These organizations demand what they consider universal human rights - but they essentially ignore what is happening "universally," i.e. globally. It is important that people speak out about injustice and intolerance anywhere it occurs but, unfortunately, our country is so polarized at the moment it is hard for that to happen.

I also have one last thing to say. President Bush, as an evangelical, represents ALL that many of these organizations hate. Because of their hatred for the president and his values, anyone else holding these values is fair game and open for criticism and attack. This is unfortunate, because it takes away from the debate over substantive issues - it has turned this election cycle, indeed the last several years, into a competition as to who can yell at the other side the loudest, rather than a real debate on the merits of the issues.

Anyway, that's my two cents! Great seeing you on Saturday - the kids sure do adore you. Take care of yourself and I'll talk to you later.


An Update:

A story of an "honor killing" (murder) in Italy.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali's latest on women and Islam.

Both very good, give them a read.

Women, Islam, Gays, and Ostriches

So here we are with another one of my little rants masquerading as a post!

Item Number 1. While driving home from Lubbock, Texas last Thursday, I happened to catch Michael Savage's show on the am dial. Savage, who I find entertaining if a bit over the top at times, had a story about the top Imam in Australia, who said that women, essentially, deserved to be raped if they are not covered. That's right, folks, he compared them to a piece of meat left out uncovered. Well, if there is a piece of meat left in the open, of course the cats (Muslims) will eat (rape) that piece of meat (women). He said this, unequivocally. - and damned little was reported about it in this country. He was responding to prison terms given to young muslim men who committed a series of rapes in Sydney. The Imam further stated that "If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred."

On to Item Number Two. Arshad Misbahi of the Manchester Central Mosque in Manchester, England believes the killing of gays is justified - hey, it's in the Koran after all! Quite a few people have come out and stated that his position is extreme, that the Koran does NOT state that the killing of gays is warranted, it's just an "interpretation." An interpretation of what? From religioustolerance.org:

The Hadith are collections of sayings attributed to Muhammad.

IslamOnline.net records a fatwa (religious ruling) concerning an Iranian man who had been convicted of raping and then killing his 16-year-old nephew. The fatwa does not appear to differentiate between consensual homosexuality and homosexual rape; both are linked to adultery. Their ruling stated:

"Homosexuality, moreover, is an abomination and a grave sin. In Hadith, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, clarifies the gravity of this abomination by saying: "Allah curses the one who does the actions (homosexual practices) of the people of Lut." repeating it three times; and he said in another Hadith: "If a man comes upon a man then they are both adulterers." Here, he considered homosexuality tantamount to adultery in relation to the Shari’ah punishments because it is an abomination on the one hand and the definition of adultery applies to it on the other hand.....As for lesbians, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said about them: 'If a woman comes upon a woman, they are both Adulteresses'."

Other Hadiths also discuss liwat (gay sexual activity) and Sihaq (lesbian sexual activity).

"When a man mounts another man, the throne of God shakes."
"Kill the one that is doing it and also kill the one that it is being done to."
"Sihaq (lesbian sexual activity) of women is zina (illegitimate sexual intercourse) among them."

Traditionalist orthodox Muslims generally claim that the Hadith literature contains the authentic sayings of Muhammad. Many liberal Muslims doubt the authenticity of at least some of them. The latter suggest that during the times of the first Caliphs, Muslims did not know what to do with individuals guilty of "liwat/lutiyya". No sahabi (companion) of Muhammad could quote a saying or decision of Muhammad relating to this question.

There seems to be no tolerance for gays in Islam, even though buggery of kids is common, not only with boys, but girls as well. This from Ayatollah Khomeni:

"A man can quench his sexual lusts with a child as young as a baby. However, he should not penetrate. Sodomizing the baby is halal (allowed by sharia). If the man penetrates and damages the child, then he should be responsible for her subsistence all her life. This girl, however, does not count as one of his four permanent wives. The man will not be eligible to marry the girl’s sister. It is better for a girl to marry when her menstruation starts, and at her husband's house rather than her father's home. Any father marrying his daughter so young will have a permanent place in heaven."

These pronouncements are from Islamic leaders! Islam is simply not compatible with Western, European, Judeo-Christian values. The Reformation, the Enlightenment, Constitutional Law, all of these Islamists desire to end, replacing it with Sharia law, in which women can be killed for being suspected of committing adultery, and gays have no rights. I am tempted to link to a video of the stoning of a woman convicted of adultery in Iran, but, really, it is quite horrendous, so no link. Women's and Gay Rights groups in the US continue their attacks on Conservative Christians, completely ignoring the giant, purple-spotted, pink elephant with the scimitar waiting to get into the room. Christians are an easy target, they typically do not riot in the streets, burn cars (Paris), call for the deaths of the infidels (Danish cartoons) and lop heads off when they are offended - they take out ads and write letters to the editor!

Oh yeah, and it is estimated that several hundred gay Palestinians have crossed and are living illegally in Israel, where they feel safer. Yep, the same Israel which Kofi and others would have us believe is an apartheid, racist, fascist state. Truly unbelievable. My only real hope is that people will go on-line, ignore CNN, MSNBC, BBC, ABC, CBS and others, and look for other sources of news and information that are factual and straightforward - not shilling for a particular political party. There is an abundance of information out there that we, here in the US, do not get to see unless we look, and I truly hope that we are not ostriches, hiding our heads from that which we either find disgusting or simply do not want to confront.

So, there is my happy, beginning of the week post. Get off your ass, look at Jihadwatch, LGF, MEMRI, and others, and see what's really going on.

Oh, yeah, and have a great day!!!!!!!

Another 'Oh, yeah," I know there are moderate Muslims who do not really subscribe to the Jihad rhetoric of kill the infidel, stone, behead, blah, blah, blah... but they really do need to speak up NOW- it's been over five years since 9/11 and the US and western Europe are realizing just what Islam is about and the moderates are conspiciously silent. Germany is learning, Holland is learning, France is learning, Sweden is learning, Denmark is ...............................

And the United States is learning.

Lubbock to Cruces

Well, another trip found me hundreds of miles from home, this time in Lubbock, Texas. Now don't get me wrong, Lubbock, I'm sure, is a great place to live, raise a family, go to school, whatever. But I will say it straight out - I am DAMNED GLAD that I do not live there! As "the leprachaun" would say, no offense to Lubbockons, Lubbockenos, Lubbockese, or whatever they call themselves. I am just glad I don't live there.

Unlike my trip to Fort Collins, Colorado, I had to drive to Lubbock, much like the Flagstaff trip which I wrote about. Now, on the way, I noticed that there was a cut-off between Portales, NM and Muleshow, TX so I took it - no problem, until I returned home.

As I left Lubbock, the wind was roaring at about 50 miles an hour - yeah, it sucked. I was driving a Honda Odyssey and it was hell keeping it on the road. The wind did not let up until I got to Roswell, NM. One thing I really liked on the road from Muleshow to Portales, though, were the prarie dog colonies. Every little patch of land that was not being irrigated seemed to have a colony on it. Those little guys are really cute! So once I got to the Hondo Valley, west of Roswell, the landscape really changed. When you are in Portales, or Clovis, or Vaughn, you really are in the western edge of the great plains. Leave Roswell heading west, however, and you are in a different world, that of cattle ranching in the valleys, desert rivers, and Billy the Kid. I always enjoy this part of the drive - I wrote my thesis on this part of New Mexico- Billy the Kid country, and it is, in a word, beautiful. Okay, here is an example.

Once I entered the Hondo Valley at Riverside, at dusk, with the hills all around, I noticed a small alfalfa field on the left side of the highway, down in the valley. In this field were maybe a half dozen cows. Along with the cows were about a dozen Mule Deer, and in the tree line along the river, at least two dozen wild turkeys. Simply beautiful, and easy to understand why people sought out this place to settle a century and a half ago. Ruidoso was cold and windy when I stopped for gas and hot chocolate and I totally bypassed Alamogordo.

So anyway, I got home about 8:30 in the evening, after leaving Lubbock about 3 (Texas time) and was glad to be home to three tired, but excited kids, and my wonderful wife. Of course it took two days to get all of the tumbleweeds out of the nooks and crannies in the van, but so be it - I was home.

No Terrorist Threat?

Patrick Poole posts a well-reasoned response to an upcoming article in Foreign Affairs by Ohio State prof John Mueller. Regarding the idea that there is no longer a terror threat because we have not been attacked in the US since 9/11, he writes:

Of course, there are a number of factors that have prevented al-Qaeda from striking America again, most importantly our military assaults against them abroad and vigorous law enforcement measures at home. This includes the destruction of Al-Qaeda’s Taliban safe haven, intensive signals surveillance and human intelligence gathering, the capture and dismantling of their terror cells around the world, the identification and freezing of their financial assets and disrupting their sources of income, and the U.S. military pushing what remains of al-Qaeda’s leadership into the remote mountain caves of Waziristan.

Spot on , read the whole thing yourself!

Cacti

When I linked a couple of weeks ago to the cactus-study group on Yahoo, Michael and Tom both had questions about how I grow some of the plants that I do. It does get into the teens here in the winter, with moisture at really in-opportune times. I have, in the past, had to run out and cover the plants with pots, but now that most have been in the ground for about 4 years, the seem to have adapted to the soil and climate here. In addition, many of the non-native plants grow under a spreading Mexican Elder tree which provides a bit of frost protection.

The tree also adds nutrients to the soil. The "soil" here is sand and gravel, with whatever organic matter comes from decayed leaves and bird droppings. Probably not an ideal mixture, but it allows the soil to be enriched much as in habitat. I do not use any additional fertilizers (though I probably should!) but I do some supplemental watering in the summer. Oh yeah, most of these plants were in 3 or 4 inch containers when I got them and have been in the ground for 3 or 4 years now. Well, except for the echinopsis, which was in a gallon pot, and the first plant that I had. Now the plants:

An unknown Parodia - if you know what it might be please let me know in the comments!

Leuchtenbergia principis on the left, Notocactus roseoluteus on the right.

Astrophytum ornatum.
An unknown Echinopsis, my first plant.

Parodia magnifica.

Mammillaria parikinsonii.

Mammillaria compressa

Mammillaria elegans.

Not sure about this Mam.

One of about two dozen various Echinopsis, earlier this Summer.

Conservative Catholicism

Recently there have been a spate of posts, comments, and stories which have dealt with Christians and Catholics (I'm not sure why I seperate those, but always see it that way) and the upcoming midterm elections. A letter in a recent National Catholic Register raised the question about Catholics' support for pro-abortion Democratic candidates. Additionally, today at Frontpagemag.com was this article, on "Red Letter" Leftists. If you do not want to read the article, it describes a group of "Evangelicals" who are tired of what they call the "single issues" of abortion and marriage defining the religious-political debate, and argue that true Christianity means adopting all of the typical Democratic talking points:

We are evangelicals who are troubled by what is happening to poor people in America; who are disturbed over environmental policies that are contributing to global warming; who are dismayed over the increasing arrogance of power shown in our country’s militarism; who are outraged because government funding is being reduced for schools where students, often from impoverished and dysfunctional homes, are testing poorly; who are upset with the fact that of the 22 industrialized nations America is next to last in the proportion of its national budget (less than two-tenths of 1 percent) that is designated to help the poor of third-world countries; and who are broken-hearted over discrimination against women, people of color, and those who suffer because of their sexual orientation.

In addition, they feel that placing anti-war activism and environmental causes out front, above abortion and marriage issues, more closely follows the teachings of Christ and what he said, hence the "red letter" tag. Abortion is the hot button issue here, the issue they believe should be minimized, and by bringing forward a liberal agenda, they hope to appeal to those Christians who feel that social justice consists of more than simply the two issues of abortion and marriage.

Unfortunately this could work very well with Catholics, in addition to Evangelicals. What has to be noted, however, and which the article states, is that these evangelicals, the "Red Letters," are "progressives," first and foremost, liberals, Democrats, with a very specific and clear agenda. It amazes me how many Catholics here consistantly vote Democratic, because of these social justice issues. I do, however, have one comment.

The most basic social issue, a social right, and one which Catholics, as well as Evangelicals, should remember, is the right to life. It all starts there. If you fail to protect the unborn, you show a true hypocrisy that the environment, giving to the poor, and all of the other "Red Letter" issues cannot overcome. You have, in essence, denied human beings the most basic right there is. Democrats, or at least the majority of them, support abortion, and hence the denial of this most basic human right. It seems to me that, to truly believe in Jesus and follow his example, you MUST not allow those that say it's okay to kill kids to control the country.

It's all at stake in November.

Pork Loin

Okay, I think I have finally realized that the politics and book reviews that I had hoped would make up this blog are slowly taking a back seat. I have been asked (again) to post recipes, so here is one I made this weekend for my Mom and Aunt who were visiting.

Take a pork loin, wash and dry it, and open it up. What you need to do is take a good knife and slice it thin as you roll it out, kind of like a butterfly cut for chicken ( I guess!) Put it in foil or saran wrap and beat it flat. What you want is a long, wide piece of meat that can be stuffed and rolled back up, so do what you think!

Once the pork loin is laid out flat, you need to stuff it. I take about a half cup of fresh chopped thyme, basil, oregano and sage, sprinkle it on, then add crumbled feta (the garlic and herb feta works well) and sauteed mushrooms. Roll it back up and tie with butchers twine. I didn't have twine and held it together with toothpicks - trust me - the twine is better! Now heat up a pan that can also go in the oven (love my Calphalon - a Christmas gift from Melissa!) Sear it all around, then add about three seeded Roma tomatos and place in a 425 degree oven for about 45 minutes.

After it is cooked through, remove the meat and place it on a plate back into the (now off!) oven, to stay warm so you can make the sauce. Also peel the tomatos and set them aside. Deglaze the pan with a bit of chardonney, scraping up all of the bits, add about two tablespooons of butter, then cook up a large thinly-sliced shallot and two cloves of garlic in the butter-wine mix. Once they are cooked through, add the tomatos you had set aside, some more of the chopped herbs, about a cup or so of the wine, and a cup of roasted butternut squash. Bring this all to a boil and cook through, then place in a blender and puree. Put it back in the pan, add a bit more butter after it's heated up again, and sauce the now-sliced pork loin with it - yummy, but don't overdo the sauce, as it's got a nice strong flavor!!!

Tomorrow, the cheesy herb mashed potatos to go with it!

Look Ma, No Shoes! (in the cactus patch!!!)

So here I am in my cactus garden, barefoot as usual - even in the middle of October. The temperature today was in the 70's after the previous nights (and mornings) rain. We had a lot of thunderstorms the last day or two so I took advantage of the wet soil to put in new cacti that I bought recently. A half-dozen parodia, 4 echinocereus, and 4 echinocactus. In the photo are several echinopsis that have been in the ground for four years, as well as various mammillaria, including about three elongata varieties. I have a couple of hundred cacti, over half are Echinocereus coccinae that I have rescued from "development" and really need new homes, as I'm in the process of re-doing the native landscape in the back. Even though I need to find the local plants homes, I continue to buy other plants when I can and "grow" the cactus garden.

Anyway, that's me, in the cactus garden with no shoes, as usual!

Butternut Squash Soup, for Preeti (and Nell, and whoever!!!)

So, this time of year you begin to see "special" dishes show up in restaurants. Throughout Europe, particularly France and Italy, seasonal items make their appearance. In our modern American age of having just about every ingredient, from herbs, to spices, to produce and even wild game, available any time we like, it is nice to get back to the idea of cooking in season. Here in southern New Mexico, it's a bit of a stretch to discuss seasonal ingredients - we don't have the wild boar or mushrooms of France, the new olive oil and produce of Italy, or the freshly killed fall hams of Germany, but we can still do seasonal dishes.

Now one of the items that is coming into its own in gardens here is butternut squash. Restaurants across the country will soon be selling their Golden Squash Soup, "a delectible combination of fresh winter squash, herbs, and cream, an incredibly nuanced combination..." So anyway, even Campbells, with their new soup in a carton have gotten in on this. What strikes me though, is that this soup is really easy to make, costing a fraction of what you would pay in a restaurant, and, well, it's just really good.

The ingredients you need are 2 butternut squash, olive oil, butter, garlic, sage, red potatos, tomato paste (yep, I cheat!), and heavy cream - with salt and pepper to taste. It's really that simple, so let's begin.

Now if you have your own pick-it-yourself farm that has the squash, go there and get it. You will find that it is far better than the stuff from Walmart, Albertsons, etc. We get our produce from Lyle's Farm, on the western edge of town, and it's fantastic! So take two medium to large butternut squashes, halve them, scoop out the seeds, wrap in foil, and put into a 425 degree oven for AT LEAST 45 minutes, as you want the flesh to be very tender. Once the squash is done, you can proceed.You will also need to boil about 6 - 8 red potatoes, without skins, until they are tender.

You wil need two large cloves of garlic, chopped fine, with enough olive oil to cover them, and about two tablespoons of butter. Throw this into a pot (two quart or so, but a large stock pot works best!) and once the garlic is cooking, add about two cups of water or chicken stock. Now add the squash that you have scooped from the shells, making sure that the liquid covers it completely. Add your cooked potatoes, two tablespoons of tomato paste, and about a third of a cup of FRESH finely chopped sage. I guess you could add rubbed sage from a jar, but I really don't know how much. (Sage is easy to grow, and hardy, so put it in the garden!)

Now bring this mess to a boil, turn it down and simmer for about 40 minutes. You need to then puree it. You can use a "boat motor" or spoon it a bit at a time into a blender, whatever works. Once it's all pureed, bring it to a simmer again. Just before serving, add a pint of heavy cream, making sure it's incorporated fully. All you need to do now is serve. Fresh garlic croutons and fresh sage leaves on top add a nice touch.


An easy soup that tastes as good as anything from a fine restaurant. Perfect on a cold night with a loaf of crusty bread. Enjoy!!!!


Oh, a short note. Butternut, like all winter squash, can be kept for a long time. We have kept it in a cool garage for two months and had it cook up okay. So, if you can get it cheap, stock up, as there is a lot you can do with it - and additional recipes will be forthcoming!

October 4, 1996. My first date with my wife. I was thirty and she was only 19. I was working at a bookstore and used to try to follow her, keeping my eye on her as she perused the stacks, hoping that I was not too obvious. On campus, and even sometimes in town, we would run across each other, and pretend not to be stalking each other. I guess we each married our stalkers, as we like to joke about it, but it's been ten years now and we have three absolutely beautiful children and are each others best friends. I'm not going anywhere and she still lets me hang around so I guess we are in it for the long haul.

I love my wife with a passion that I cannot describe and have from the first time we saw each other. Few people get to live with their true soul mates, and I am one. I owe everything that I have become to this woman I call my wife and best friend, and all I can do is hope that we have many more decades together before we are called back to where we came from. Of course I'll be in Depends by then and if she still takes care of me then - well...

Anyway, I love you Liss, even more with each day, and I thank you for the beautiful family that you have given me and for giving me back my confidence, my self-esteem, and the knowledge that there are truly good, honest, loving people in this world.

The drive from Flagstaff, Arizona home took from 3:00 in the afternoon (Arizona time) to 12:30 in the morning, and was actually pretty interesting. Driving from the mountains of northern Arizona to the southern Chihuahuan desert of New Mexico, half of it in the dark, was something I'll never forget.

I had been in Flagstaff on a recruiting trip and was eager to get home, so rather than staying with my father in Avondale, west of Pheonix, I decided to go ahead and drive home. I was surprised at how nostalgic the route would be.

When I was about 13 or 14, my Dad decided to take us all to California to visit my step-mother's mother, my step-grandmother I guess you would say. The first day we left Amarillo and drove to Albuquerque - a rather exotic place to a kid from the Texas Panhandle. The next day we left and drove on I-40 toward Flagstaff but Dad, not being in a hurry, thought the day would best be spent at Petrified Forest/Painted Desert National Park, about three hours or so west of Albuquerque. I remember that time fondly, as we drove through the park, stopping to look at whatever we wanted to. That night we stayed in Holbrook, or Winslow, I don't really remember. We headed on west the next day, through Flagstaff and beyond. I was fascinated with the park and never remembered the trip there until last week, when I drove past it.

About an hour out of Flagstaff I saw a sign:

Tune to 1610 am(I think) for
information on Meteor Crater
National Monument

Meteor Crate? Cool! A little farther on was a sign for the exit to Meteor Crater ( as well as a Subway shop!) "Meteor Crater, only 5 miles from the highway!"

Wow, I thought, I didn't know it was so close and looked off to the southeast and there it was. I called my wife on the cell and told her about it, thinking it would be neat to bring the kids a little memento from Metoer Crater. I mean, the astronauts trained there for the Apollo missions, and it IS the largest best preserved impact crater in the world - how could I not stop? So, I got off the highway at the exit and drove the six miles south, while always watching the impact rim in the distance. All I wanted to do was see it quickly and visit the gift shop for something for the kids, but once I got there I realized the entrance fee was fifteen dollars. Now, it really is not much, but I was on a rather limited budget and didn't know how much more gas I was going to need to put in the van, so I turned around, disappointed, and went back to the highway. An hour ahead was Petrified Forest National Park.

Just outside the boundary of Pertified Forest was a small rock and gift shop, advertising petrified wood for a dollar a pound. Now even low-grade Arizona wood costs more than that, but I thought I would take a look and see if I could find something for the kids, so I pulled into the parking lot, not expecting much. Boy was I surprised! There was an enclosed area full of petrified wood, with many trunk pieces weighing up to a hundred pounds, and it was not low grade stuff either! I selected three fist-sized pieces of reddish-orange gem-quality Arizona pertified wood and paid less than three dollars for the lot. The kids are going to love this! And back onto the highway I went.

Well, time passed and I was getting close to Gallup and the sun was going down. I was low on fuel, both for the van and for myself, and decided to stop and fill up, then get something to eat. Gallup was one of the classic Route 66 towns, and it has maintained the glitz and glamor of this all-American road. The buildings along main street, Route 66, have been restored and the neon was bright as I made my way into town from the highway - it was beautiful! Bright blues, purples, oranges, greens, and reds were everywhere and it was obvious that Gallup takes pride in its place along old Route 66. All I could think of was watching the movie Cars with my son a few months ago. This entire time I had been listening to an AM radio station and now found out that it was from Oklahoma City. All the way over in the western part of New Mexico and I was listening to something two states away.

Back onto the highway, heading for Albuquerque now. Just west of the city, I saw a cut-off, a short-cut, from I-40 to I-25 at Los Lunas and here I had to go through the dial on the radio again, finally picking up a statio from St. Louis! This route should NOT be taken at night, as it's a small two-lane road through the sage and brush west of Albuquerque -I'm sure it's beautiful during the day but at night it's a bit nerve-wracking. In Los Lunas I stopped for gas again, and got some botteld water for my parched bones, then got onto I-25 heading south - with no stopping until I got home to Las Cruces. I lost my St. Louis station and had to settle on one from Denver(!) this time and after about two hours or so was only about half an hour from home, but I was VERY tired, as it was now midnight and I thought I would fall asleep if I didn't get out and stretch so I pulled over at a rest stop and got out.

There were the requisite trucks at the rest stop and several cars with drivers dozing peacefully (I hope!) in them. When I went into the restroom I was bombarded with flying praying mantises! They apparently are attracted to the light and the insects it brings in. While I was there another car stopped. The man driving had three rather elderly women in the car with him. He was a Navajo from Gallup and was on his way to San Antonio. "If I can keep driving, I can make it there in seventeen hours. I used to be a truck driver so it's no big deal." Well, I felt better about my last half hour of driving time, got into the van, and got home about 12:30.

Home. My wife was anxiously awaiting me, my three kids were all tucked into their beds safe and warm, and I was worn out, and that was the drive from Flagstaff.

Good Night.

Someone requested that I start blogging with recipes, food experiments, and food disasters that I try, so here goes.

Last night I came home and knew I had to come up with something for dinner so, looking around, I saw that we had some frozen chicken, a couple of acorn squash that had been sitting in the garage for about a month, and a bag of baby carrots. Well, what the hell do you do with that?Here's what!

First of all split the the squash , remove the seeds, drizzle with a bit of olive oil (ALWAYS keep olive oil on hand,) and tuck some rosemary sprigs (from the garden) into the hollows. Get them onto a 425 degree oven. They are going to need about 45 minutes to soften enough and you can get the chicken going.

Now, for the chicken, you can leave it frozen, but finely chop a little less than a quarter of a red onion and four cloves of garlic. (I love that stuff!) Now, drizzle as much olive oil as you like in a hot pan - remembering that olive oil is a very healthy "food of the gods", use it liberally! You can also put about an eighth of a stick of butter - then dump the onions in. Once they are cooked through and getting glassy, dump the garlic in and cook it through quickly. REMEMBER!!!! If you cook garlic too long and it browns it gets bitter and ruins the whole dish so watch out! Once that garlic is cooked, pour in about two cups of chicken stock (always have this on hand!) and place the chicken in the pan, as well as about a half cup of chopped herbs. I went into the garden and picked thyme, basil, sage and oregano, but you could add marjoram and whatever else you like. (It seems like my kitchen flower garden is slowly becoming an herd garden!)

Once you have added the chicken and herbs, add a small package of baby carrots and cover. Once it has reached a boil turn it to medium and cook for about 40 minutes. You could also add mushrooms and red wine, preferably a pinot noir, if you like and slow cook this. I guess it would then be a version of coq a vin, without the bacon! Sure would be good though!

So after about thirty minutes it will cook down quite a bit and you need to really watch it at this point, making sure you have at least a bit of liquid in the pan. Now check on your acorn squash. Remove the squash, if it's tender, scoop the flesh out of the shells into a small loaf pan, add some butter, brown sugar and chopped pecans, and return to the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes - all the while keeping an eye on the chicken. Once the squash is done (which my wife says she could make a meal of alone!) the chicken should be ready. Serve it up and eat it! Even the kids liked it!

That's all! Next up -Butternut Squash Soup!