CityMama™

Hey all you MOMocrats and MOMocrats supporters out there: help yourself to a button!

Code:

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My reasoning may be flawed, but it's mine.

Why I have a problem with Hillary Clinton.

And so it goes.

John Edwards may be out, but MOMocrats ain't going anywhere.

Please hop on over and check out the freshly Botoxed MOMocrats.com. Our focus today is "W(ho)TF do we vote for now?!" If you have strong feelings about Hillary or Barack, please come on over and join the discussion.

I'm more committed than ever to putting a Democrat in the White House (especially after watching those fools debate last night), but the person I vote for is going to be held to John Edwards' standards and will have to uphold his principles and ideals. I am a progressive who wants the kind of radical change Edwards was pushing for. Centrists need not apply.

It's going to be an interesting year.

Undecided

John Edwards dropped out of the race today. So. Sad.

For the first time since I voted for Nader in the primary all those years back, my head and my heart were aligned when I chose my candidate. (I've already voted for Edwards via absentee ballot and don't regret it.)

I now fall into the very undecided camp and I know that whomever I vote for it will be a trade-off. In the end I will vote the party line, but Hillary and Barack, if you are reading this: you are going to have to work hard for my vote. All the pundits this morning are speculating as to whom Edwards' voters are going to support and I can honestly say Hillary and Barack, you probably won't know (because I won't know) until I cast my vote. I dare say I am not alone. (P.S. I don't mean to imply that I will pick a Republican. I mean to say that it will be a gut-wrenching decision until the very end.)

Here in California it seems like every other TV commercial is for either Clinton or Obama. I have never been one to warm to the idea of political commercials and while I was frustrated that Edwards didn't have the money to make these expensive media buys, in a way, I was happy he didn't. He could never compete financially with the two celebrity candidates, and that for me was one of the things that drew me to him. Funny thing though, both Hillary and Obama's ads have adopted softer tones. They speak slowly, in hushed voices, and instead of spewing their campaign messages, both are now espousing Edwards messages of "standing up for people," that there are two Americas, and health care for all.

Ironically, John Edwards gets more coverage today than he has his entire campaign. I wonder if today is the first day that people are finding out that he was the first Democratic candidate to put forth a health care plan and the first, despite his initial vote for the war which he apologized for, to ask Congress to withdraw funds for it?

Today is a sad and frustrating day for me, but one thing's for sure: I will always be proud that John Edwards was my candidate for president of the United States. He would have been a great one. I hope he gets his chance again. I hope America will be America again. Come November, we'll see.

Tempura was a little ambitious for a Monday night dinner

A sunny kabocha squash. I feel more awake already.

...especially when I only got about 5 hours of sleep the night before. All day long my planned chicken karaage and vegetable tempura dinner loomed ominously. Whattheheckanutcrack was I thinking?

Once my visiting sister and I got home from errands and picking up Bunny from school, I didn't even want to think about making a complicated dinner. We lazed the afternoon away but then, around 4:00 I got a second wind. I decided to suck it up and get dinner going. And once it got going, it just rolled right along.

See?

The veggies are channeling Bell Biv Devoe saying, "Do me, baby." Kabocha doesn't need to be peeled before cooking. (I ended up using only about half of the veggies I cut. I'll do something with the rest of them later in the week. The kabocha lends itself to miso soup, so that will be lunch one day this week.)

Meal Planning Monday—1/28/08

Before we get into this week's meals can we please talk about Rock of Love II for a minute? (Spoiler alert: stop reading and skip to menu if you don't want to know who got voted off last night.) Is it wrong that I am starting to feel a little possessive of Bret Michaels? When I see him talking to skanks like Daisy (Is she even legal? Please.) or that hideous French stripper, I just want to pull him aside and yell, "Run! Run away, Bret!"

Last night's episode was a gem. The "strollerderby?" Brill. I felt so dirty laughing so hard. How cute was Baby Bret? Didn't it look just like him: the glasses, the hat, the baldness? I am going to miss zee Fronch tranzlations, but Angelique and her fake-ass li-- everything had to go. Kristy Jo: discuss.

Okay let's get back on track with this week's meals. The [*] indicates that the item is local (grown or raised within 100 miles of me). I strive for at least one item in each meal to be locally sourced. Thankfully, I live in Northern California so it's not too hard.:

• Mexican Monday: Will not be Mexican. My sister is supposed to come over so I plan to break out the deep fryer again and make chicken* karaage and vegetable tempura with kabocha squash*, Japanese eggplant*, sweet onions*, and asparagus (so NOT local).
• Tuesday: This. And corn on the side. (The cabbage and organic beef are local to me.)
• Wednesday/Sandwich night: Portobello "burgers" with garlic* aioli* (local eggs & olive oil) and all the fixins*.
• Thursday: This. (But with a whole, cut-up kosher chicken because I like parts.) And salad*.
• Friday: "Picnic in the Living Room Family Movie Night"—not sure yet.
• Saturday: Dinner out to celebrate Alisyn's birthday* (The restaurant is known for using local products.)
• Sunday: Salmon, mashed cauliflower* with goat cheese*, salad*.

I'm also going to try the almost no-knead bread recipe (from Cook's Illustrated) this week. I wasn't too impressed with the no-knead bread recipe that had everyone going crazy nuts last year. I love to knead, so we'll see how the "almost no-kneading" goes. Color me skeptical.

How 'bout you?

Sunday Night Dinner: Pumpkin-basmati-coconut laksa soup

A squeeze of lemon and a scattering of dried chilis made mine perfect.

Sunday night dinner after a long, long day away from the house. Two girls fresh from a bath. A pot of soup. And silliness.

The recipe is from Jamie Oliver. (P.S. Soon we have to discuss his new show which I adore.) As I was frying the fragrant mix of fresh garlic, ginger, chili pepper, lemongrass, and lime leaves with a little cumin thrown in, J. noted, "Our house smells like a hippie house."  Which in J.-speak is a compliment. I would make this again, but would definitely add more broth next time. I also used brown basmati rice which was delish.

Yes, they did gobble it up...

...both of them...

...and Pooh, too.

You inspire me: Bibimbap

When I read Kat's post this week (and saw the pictures), I knew exactly what I was going to making for Friday night's picnic-in-the-living-room dinner: Bibimbap (Korean mixed rice bowl). (This is why I always ask you guys what you are cooking!)

A quick trip to my local Korean market was all that I needed to collect ingredients for my bibimbap, but it can also be made with ingredients you find at your local grocery store. It's a rice bowl topped with a little meat and lots of veg and can really be tailored to your fancy. Want it completely vegetarian or vegan? That can be easily arranged. 

One thing I would recommend, however, is that you seek out the vinegared chili paste (kochujang) that give the dish its spicy kick. If you don't have a Korean market near you, you can find everything you need at kgrocer.com or koamart.com. (for example: vinegared kochujang or kimchi--I've tried it, it's very good)

Billary voters: Please consider the long view

My eye is on South Carolina today. Knowing that John Edwards won't win the primary (but will win delegates), leaves me to focus on what's going to happen with Hillary Clinton.

For a long time now, we at MOMocrats.com (and others) have been sharing post after post and poll after poll which shows that John Edwards is the only candidate who can beat ANY of the Republican front runners come November. So why doesn't this matter to people who are going to vote for Hillary or Barack anyway?

If you are going to vote for Hillary Clinton, especially, please consider this, and my favorite quote:

By February 6, Democrats are likely to be stuck with the two weakest candidates. As Marc Cooper wrote here, once Hillary locks up the nomination, the rumors about Bill will come fully unzipped, diminishing her chances in November. Meanwhile, Obama's numbers among whites are dropping, largely because of Billary's attacks, whether you consider them to be coded racist appeals or merely color-blind Rove-ian hit jobs.

If I didn't know better, I'd say that by cutting off the race's possibly strongest Democrat--first from media coverage and now from polls--the corporate media could be misleading us toward another Republican administration.

And if you are going to vote for Hillary, you had also better start donating money to Huckabee's campaign.

My strong feeling about why Edwards is being ignored is that people are so wrapped in picking a historic candidate they can't pull themselves away from that circus to consider all the candidates and where they stand on the issues. "Do we pick the woman or the mixed-race guy?" This isn't "The Price Is Right." People don't have to pick between the Mustang convertible or the trip to Sandals. There is another option out there, and that option can beat McCain. And Romney. And Giuliani. And Huckabee. And Paul. Isn't that something to consider when picking a candidate?

As Leslie Savan implies in her column, I sincerely hope that Billary continues to show her true colors by continuing with the smear campaign we all knew was coming. Because lately, it doesn't seem to be translating into votes. Clinton=smarmy. If you don't believe that, read this latest display of slimy behavior. What won't Hillary do to win this race? Oh boy, I sure hope we have a chance to find out. Keep it up, Hillary. Let's see where your loyalists are then.

Hot Links (formerly Friday Link Love) for January 25

I want to be able to share links anytime, not just on Fridays as I have done in the past, ergo Hot Links.

Feel it.
Shop it.
Read it.
Bow down to it.
Admire it.