Saviolo
Saviolo's JournalYogurt Saffron Chicken Recipe
Just got back from a nice vacation up to the Algonquin woods, and temperatures are finally starting to inch their way down here in Toronto, so we're going to do some cooking again! This week we have a Middle Eastern inspired recipe with a yogurt and saffron marinated chicken that we then went ahead and grilled. You could also roast this very easily, and it would turn out just fine. My recommendation would be a cast iron grill pan, but you could do it in a regular cast iron skillet or a roasting pan.
Do yourself a favour on this one, and use dark meat. We used boneless skinless chicken thighs, and they came out really well. Also, we had a little bit of sticking on the grill, but you can avoid that by rubbing an onion on the hot grill before you put the chicken down, or even brushing a little bit of vegetable oil on the grill first.
Chayote, beet, and celeriac slaw recipe
So, temperatures are finally starting to come down a little here in Southern Ontario. Yay! But it's still too hot to cook, so here's another raw slaw! This one is crunchy, delicious, and really beautiful to look at, too. It's a very simple recipe and goes as a great side for lots of things. We ate it with the ceviche we did last week, and it's also perfect for picnics, or as a side for grilled meats.
If you can't find chayote (or mirleton), you could probably replace it with cucumber. You could also probably replace it with julienne apple, but it would take on a very different flavour profile, for sure. I suspect it would still be delicious!
Basic ceviche recipe!
So, it's still too hot to cook. Cooking over the stove is uncomfortable and gross and turning on the oven makes me sweat just thinking about it. So, here's an amazingly delicious cool and no-cooking-required dish: Ceviche!
For anyone not familiar, ceviche is a Spanish (and Mexican) dish that involves cured raw fish in citrus juice or another acid. Traditionally it is white fish that is used, and for our ceviche, we used sea bass, rock fish, and halibut. It takes a little bit of time (the fish needs time to cure), but is really delicious and absolutely worth the wait. We like to serve this this tortilla chips and we also made a great beet and cucumber slaw to go with it (that will be next week's video).
We used a serrano pepper on this one (I think I accidentally called it a guajillo in the video), but if you want a bit more zing, feel free to move up the Scoville ladder. A couple of Thai bird chilies, or even a scotch bonnet or habanero! You can also use whatever white fish you like, so find out what's fresh at your local fish shop. We generally avoid cod because it so frequently has parasites, but your fishmonger should be able to advise you.
All of West Virginia's Supreme Court justices impeached over spending
Source: NBC News
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia lawmakers completed the extraordinary move of impeaching all four state Supreme Court justices Monday night for spending issues, including a suspended justice facing a 23-count federal indictment.
Beth Walker became the final justice to be impeached when an article was approved stating all four justices abused their authority. It said they failed to control office expenses, including more than $1 million in renovations to their individual offices, and not maintaining policies over matters such as working lunches and the use of state vehicles and office computers at home.
Minority Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee that approved the articles last week had tried to speed up the impeachment process in the hopes of beating an Aug. 14 deadline for arranging a special election in November if any justice is removed from office or leaves office. Instead, the committee took its time, even conducting a tour of the state Supreme Court offices earlier this month.
Republican Gov. Jim Justice will be allowed to appoint new justices to replace any who are impeached — with no requirement that they be from the same party as the incumbent. Democrats have accused Republicans of attempting to wrest the court away from voters, who elected the current justices in nonpartisan elections.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/all-west-virginia-s-supreme-court-justices-impeached-over-spending-n900461
Pence outlines plan for new Space Force by 2020
Source: APNews
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence has announced plans for a new, separate U.S. Space Force as sixth military service by 2020
Pence says it’s needed to ensure America’s dominance in space amid heightened competition and threats from China and Russia. He says that while space was once peaceful and uncontested, it is now crowded and adversarial.
President Donald Trump has called for a “separate but equal” space force. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has endorsed plans to reorganize the military’s space warfighting forces and create a new command, but has previously opposed launching an expensive separate new service.
Read more: https://apnews.com/4df1085b19d54e9b864e857012fecbb6/Pence-outlines-plan-for-new-Space-Force-by-2020
And this response by the president:
https://twitter.com/RealPressSecBot/status/1027586862326542336
Sesame Soy Shrimp Omelette Recipe
So, something a little different from us this week. This is an Asian-inspired recipe based partially on a dish we had at a local restaurant, and partially on a recipe that came to us from a Taiwanese friend. It's a very simple and delicious recipe, and you can adjust the flavours as you see fit by adjusting the herbs and spices you add to the egg mixture, and you can also make some flavour adjustments to the marinade (we used a very simple basic one, here).
This recipe goes extremely well with the spicy fermented slaw we made a little while back, and is a very nice light dinner. You do want to make sure that you let the shrimp marinate for at least half an hour, and for up to 2 hours so they get lots of good flavour penetration but don't start to cure in the soy sauce.
3 members of Trump's Mar-A-Lago Club have been secretly running the Veterans Affairs Dept.
ProPublica has an article here: https://www.propublica.org/article/ike-perlmutter-bruce-moskowitz-marc-sherman-shadow-rulers-of-the-va
The Shadow Rulers of the VA
How Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike Perlmutter and two other Mar-a-Lago cronies are secretly shaping the Trump administration’s veterans policies.
Last February, shortly after Peter O’Rourke became chief of staff for the Department of Veterans Affairs, he received an email from Bruce Moskowitz with his input on a new mental health initiative for the VA. “Received,” O’Rourke replied. “I will begin a project plan and develop a timeline for action.”
O’Rourke treated the email as an order, but Moskowitz is not his boss. In fact, he is not even a government official. Moskowitz is a Palm Beach doctor who helps wealthy people obtain high-service “concierge” medical care.
More to the point, he is one-third of an informal council that is exerting sweeping influence on the VA from Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Florida. The troika is led by Ike Perlmutter, the reclusive chairman of Marvel Entertainment, who is a longtime acquaintance of President Trump’s. The third member is a lawyer named Marc Sherman. None of them has ever served in the U.S. military or government.
Yet from a thousand miles away, they have leaned on VA officials and steered policies affecting millions of Americans. They have remained hidden except to a few VA insiders, who have come to call them “the Mar-a-Lago Crowd.”
VA spokesman Curt Cashour did not answer specific questions but said a “broad range of input from individuals both inside and outside VA has helped us immensely over the last year and a half.” White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters also did not answer specific questions and said Perlmutter, Sherman and Moskowitz “have no direct influence over the Department of Veterans Affairs.”
But hundreds of documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and interviews with former administration officials tell a different story — of a previously unknown triumvirate that hovered over public servants without any transparency, accountability or oversight. The Mar-a-Lago Crowd spoke with VA officials daily, the documents show, reviewing all manner of policy and personnel decisions. They prodded the VA to start new programs, and officials travelled to Mar-a-Lago at taxpayer expense to hear their views. “Everyone has to go down and kiss the ring,” a former administration official said.
Lots and lots more at the link in the article. Not that this should come as a surprise to anyone, really. Grifters gonna grift.
More and more we're seeing how the hyper wealthy and super-connected live a life completely divorced from the vast majority of human beings living in the USA or the world.
No matter how much you hate Paul Manafort, it's not enough, here's why:
Robert Evans does a podcast called Behind the Bastards, which tells the sometimes humorous and always interesting back stories behind some of history's greatest monsters. He's done folks like Stalin, Osama bin Laden, Harvey Weinstein, King Leopold II of Belgium (wiped out millions in the Congo), and Idi Amin.
This week he did a two-parter on Paul Manafort.
Part 1.
Part 2.
From the description:
There's too much to summarize here in any meaningful way, but if you want to get a good look at the type of people that Trump is willing to surround himself with, here's a great start.
Sesame-based Asian slaw recipe
It's still hot as balls, so we did another simple and cool summery dish. This Asian-style slaw is something my hubby came up with on his own after having something similar at a Japanese restaurant. The original iteration was just with cucumbers, which was also delicious, but he felt like he wanted to expand it a little and include some other veggies to make a sort of fusion recipe. It's dead simple, but you do need to let it sit for a little while in the fridge after you've dressed it and before you serve it. Also, the toasted sesame seeds at the end really elevate the dish.
This is a vegan recipe, as well. It stores well, and you can keep in in the fridge for a few days after you've made it. It may not look like a lot of dressing, but a little bit goes a long way. Sesame oil has a very intense flavour, and soy sauce is quite salty, so in the case of this recipe, less is definitely more.
Cool Kids vs. Organizers - Infographic
A friend of mine posted this on Facebook, and I think it's amazing. I'm way too much of a cool kid, but I want to try to be a better organizer:
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: Ottawa, Ontario
Home country: Canada
Current location: Toronto, Ontario
Member since: Wed Oct 29, 2008, 04:34 PM
Number of posts: 3,280
