Before our daughter Kristin redeployed to Iraq, Kristin and I started the process of making a wine that would be ready to consume on her return… and there it sat until now. I had promised to open a bottle to ensure that it was developing along acceptable lines and waited until she had returned … it is a bit dry but nice.
So, I offer a toast to all my family members present and past who have carried arms in service to our country… and especially a thank you to my daughter Kristin (Iraq) and her Uncle Jim (Afghanistan)… and to all the men and women in in our armed services… thank you.
"when you look in the mirror, it's nice to like what you see"
In a local web siteand in Cal Poly’s student newspaper , eachreported that the proposed joint venture between Cal Poly and Saudi Arabia failed – in as much as a contract was never signed. This was a project that was doomed as soon as it went public and the real question is why it took so long to die?
The Cal Poly student newspaper gave no apology or admission of wrong doing by the administration … the only thing really reported was of the project contract’s failure to be signed. Admitting one’s mistake is the first step to ensuring it won’t happen again…. or is it they just regret being caught?
“Noori’s assistant, Jo Ernest, stated that “the agreement was not signed by all the parties,” and consequently did not come to fruition.
Dean Noori was unavailable comment on the apparent end to the collaborative effort.”
I am not convinced that the project is dead, I think it has merely gone underground and time will tell if it resurrects itself in some form or fashion. I do not feel like gloating as far too many whistle blowers risked their careers to bring this information to the public eye and for that many of us thank them sincerely.
Hopefully, Cal Poly will begin the process of looking in the mirror and making the necessary changes until they like what the rest of us want to see…. and this — IMHO — starts at the top.
Roger Freberg
Here’s one of my last posts on the subject with links for those who missed all the fun
I love reading cookbooks because they don’t always tell the truth. Often they will omit key steps or ingredients and the picture of the culinary marvel in the book may not always match up with the disaster you prepared. For those of you who have blamed yourself, it may have not really been your fault.
There are some genuine reasons for the discrepancies. First, the pictured food product may not even be what it is purported to be! For example, an old photographer’s trick was to use flat Coca Cola to substitute for coffee in a layout. Why? Because, real coffee looks muddy with a matte finish in a photography while Coca Cola has the right glossy shine and deep black color.
However, another reason is that it might not even be the same product. This became apparent when I was asked recentl about WHY my ‘Meringue’ turned out so well. At first, I was going to tell the usual lies about how their Meringue didn’t work out because of the weather, phases of the moon or their marital happiness… but I opted for the ‘truth.’ Not everyone can handle the truth and the revelation that their cookbook had ‘lied’ to them came as a bit of a shock. There was a bit of reaction as they referred to my cornstarch addition as ‘goop’… but jealousy is an awful thing! 😉
So how do we avoid being ‘lied to’ in our cookbooks? Well, there are a couple of easy rules to follow:
1) Add some very old cookbooks to your collection that contain more steps and more ingredients… the pointers will be invaluable. Chef Escoffier , at the turn of the 1900’s, was saddened by the trend towards recipe simplification and ease of preparation which has continued to this day. 30 meals in 30 minutes has it’s place, but not when you want to make something special.
-- the I Ching or "Yì Jīng" of American Cooking --
2) Buy ‘nitch’ cookbooks. These are cookbooks that teach you everything about something specific. I just bought a cookbook produced by a Baking Powder company in 1908… invaluable!
-- no secrets are held back here! --
3) If a recipe doesn’t work out in your cookbook, set the book aside because the other recipes are probably going to be just as flawed. Albert Einstein once said,”Insanity (is) doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Cookbooks are like people, they have personalities and you have to find those you like.
