:: Ray's Periodic Rantings ::

:: Saturday, November 26, 2005 ::

Food Successes and Failures

In retrospect, my Thanksgiving menu went well, with a few exceptions.

- I smoked a fresh, free range Bourbon Red turkey on the weber grill. I used mesquite wood and added charcoal twice for a total of about three hours of cooking for a 14 1/2 lb. turkey. I removed it from the grill when the breast meat exceeded 170 degrees F. All I can say is, wow. The flavor was fantastic and the meat was astonishingly moist and juicy. I'm not usually a big skin person with fowl, but this meat with a proportional amount of skin tasted like and had the consistency of smoked sausage. I think the truest testament to just how moist is that the reheated leftovers, two days later, are still more juicy than a lot of turkey that I have eaten right after it was cooked on Thanksgiving Day.

- I used a madeira gravy recipe that I had first tried last year. It, too, was quite yummy. I don't know that it complimented the turkey as well as something else might have, but it was fantastic on the 'taters.

- I mashed yukon gold potatoes with butter, milk and sour cream. They needed a bit more milk, but they were good.

- I made Heather's sweet potato casserole, like last year. I halved the recipe this time, per her advice (last year the full recipe turned out to be an absurd amount, even for 8 people), but I also tried to reduce some of the butter. In the potatoes themselves it was no problem, but I cut too much out of the flour and pecan topping, and it refused to brown nicely in the oven.

- I seared halved brussels sprouts in bacon grease with some minced garlic, then simmered them in a cup of homemade chicken stock, my usual treatment. Not bad.

- Mary simmered fresh cranberries with lemon and clementine zest, clementine juice, and a bit of sugar, which turned out nicely.

- The biggest failure of the menu occurred the night before, when I tried to fry fresh sage leaves. I have only eaten them once, several years ago at the Soul Kitchen, and I remember them as being light and crispy with wonderful flavor. For my attempt, I looked at several recipes on the net, and they all seemed to call for using vegetable oil at 365 degrees F, and cooking a few leaves at a time for anywhere from 5 to 15 seconds. I bought my first candy thermometer for the occasion. Perhaps it wasn't properly calibrated, because I tried several batches for varying periods of time, and they all seemed to come out greasy and soggy. I plan to check the calibration on the thermometer for future use, but if anyone has any other suggestions I'd love to hear them.

Just about the only traditional Thanksgiving dish I haven't yet attempted is pumpkin pie (I did a creditable sage dressing several years ago). I contemplated attempting one this year, but I have to admit that it is a bit intimidating. If I did do it, I'd want to do it with my own roasted pumpkin, and I have no idea how it would turn out. As it happened this year, the Bakers Square pie brought by our guest turned out to be just fine.

At the moment I am considering various leftover turkey options, as there were only three of us to eat a fairly big turkey. Despite the cheesy site name, a few of the recipes here look interesting.

For heating straight leftovers, Mary and I ran into a crisis tonight. Our venerable old microwave crapped out, stone cold dead. The sound it made as it died led me to believe that it is not economically repairable. I would buy a new one right away, but the house that we have bid on has one installed above the stove. We don't know how the whole thing will turn out or when we will be moving in, so it looks like we will be living without a microwave for a while. Such are the dilemnas presented to us by life.
:: Ray 9:39 PM [+] ::
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Wally World Protest

As mentioned earlier, today Mary and I braved the cold to protest Walmart's business practices at their store in nearby Rolling Meadows. We didn't stop very many people from shopping today, but I'd like to think we planted a seed in at least some minds. I made eye contact with lots of drivers that read my sign: "LOW PRICES SUBSIDIZED BY FOOD STAMPS AND MEDICAID!" The event drew media coverage on one local TV station. Watch and enjoy. (Quicktime file, 1.4MB)

To read about the issues and understand why you should not support this company by shopping there, look at WalmartWatch.
:: Ray 7:05 PM [+] ::
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Letter to the Wall Street Journal

(Sent just now to wsjcontact@dowjones.com)

Dear Sirs,

I don't read the Wall Street Journal every day, but when I do, I appreciate its business-oriented slant on the news. Tuesday's articles on the privatization of disaster relief and the company that makes pop-up turkey timers are excellent examples, informative and enjoyable to read.

When I reach the Opinion pages, however, more often than not I see something that makes me regret having given your company so much as a dime of my money.

Tuesday's offender was George Melloan's piece, "At Last, the Beltway Takes a Holiday." For starters, Mr. Melloan's tone reinforces every stereotype of the Journal being run by old school Wall Street fat cats who wouldn't hesitate to foreclose on their own mother's' homes if the payments were late. But it is Mr. Melloan's outrageous contentions that are really rich. Between the tone and contentions, one imagines him sharing a cognac and cigar with Rush Limbaugh while comparing stock portfolios and chucking about the "little people."

Especially amusing was, "Meanwhile, sensible reform programs, such as the president's proposals for giving future retirees a larger and more-certain Social Security annuity through personal accounts, have been left on the cutting room floor." Even most Republicans have given up on that whopper! I A quick look at Britain and Argentina reveals that the only beneficiaries of private accounts are the fund managers, and that the retirees' benefits are less-certain and likely smaller.

Another good one was, in reference to our involvement in Iraq, "This is a continuation of the war against the U.S. that began with the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, continued through the embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam and the attack on the U.S.S. Cole and reach its dramatic denouement with the fiery destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001." Mr. Melloan blissfully ignores that allegations of prewar links between Al Qaida and Saddam Hussein have been proven false, and that the current insurrection increased in intensity remarkably after the Abu Ghraib incident and bears all the hallmarks of an armed resistance against occupiers, which in fact, we have become. We are making things worse by being there, and it is time to get out.

With Mr. Melloan trumpeting such Bush Administration fallacies as if they were gospel, has the Journal looked into whether he is secretly on the Administration's payroll? Perhaps he is submitting copy through a wormhole in time, from the year 2002? Honestly, this kind of pap belongs in the Washington Times, not a serious paper about actual business, and certainly not one that purports to print factual news.

The Bush Administration is imploding under the sheer weight of its own incompetence and dishonesty. If the editorial staff of the Wall Street Journal can't see this or bring itself to acknowledge it, then you are in for a nasty surprise, and so are your readers.

Sincerely,

Ray Koltys
(my address)
(my phone)
:: Ray 2:18 AM [+] ::
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Wally World

Wednesday night, Mary and I drove to a Unitarian church in Palatine to watch a screening of Robert Greenwalds new film, Walmart: The High Cost Of Low Price. The smartass in me wants to say that it was just a longer version of the Jib Jab guys' newest short, Big Box Mart (very funny and worth watching). Even I was surprised, however, to learn about Walmart wickedness in the areas of third world sweatbox labor and negligence regarding parking lot security.

Greenwald is no Michael Moore. He makes a straightforward documentary without grandstanding on screen, but his point comes across loud and clear: Walmart is a behemoth that is destructive to the standards of living of almost everyone who comes in contact with it. I encourage you to see this movie and see for yourself why this company should not be supported by your patronage.

On the day after Thanksgiving, Mary and I plan to join a protest outside a local Walmart store. Should be fun!
:: Ray 2:37 AM [+] ::
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The politically incorrect post

Mary and I decided to do dinner and a movie after work tonight (Friday night). We walked over to the AMC 21 in the Gold Coast neighborhood and bought tickets for any movie other than Harry Potter (we will see it in a week or two, when you don't have to wait for an hour in line). We both get a bit indecisive when we are hungry, so after wondering for a while where to go for food, we walked into the new Lucky Strike restaurant/bar/pool hall/bowling lanes in the same building.

Wow.

This place is hopping! And it is huge! In addition to the aforementioned restaurant, pool tables, and bowling alley, there are three bars with big lounge areas, all stunningly designed and furnished. There was a bit of a wait for an actual table, but after wandering around a bit we found a nice, comfy sofa to crash on and order dinner from. The music is a bit loud, but the atmosphere is great and more importantly (here comes the un-PC part) the waitresses are total babes dressed in black miniskirts and gogo boots. Forget the chain with the girls in orange shorts...this place is the shit! Fortunately for me, I have a wife who is enjoying it just as much as I am (I am writing this as we chill for a while before dessert because we have some time to kill until the movie starts).

The food is considerable more upscale than the orange shorts place (with some sophisticated dishes, and not all fried). We had an herb-citrus grilled shrimp appetizer with a slightly sweet sauce that complimented it quite nicely. Mary enjoyed her ahi tuna burger, and I had a turkey burger that was considerably better than the Erwin burger that I had a couple of weeks ago, though to be fair it is partly because my Blue Moon didnŐt knock me on my ass the way the Erwin half-price martini did. The fries came in little paper sacks on the plate...the menu has a few retro touches like that.

I look forward to the chocolate decadence that we will order in a while. But for now we will both enjoy the sights, and I will have another beer.
:: Ray 1:32 AM [+] ::
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A Letter to Target

Raymond Koltys
My Address
My Town, IL

November 15, 2005

Robert J. Ulrich
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Target Corporation
1000 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN 55403

Dear Mr. Ulrich:

I write to you as a long-time Target customer. Since the late eighties, I have frequented target locations in the Detroit and Chicago areas, most recently the store on Mannheim Rd. in Rosemont, IL. I own furniture from Target, and plenty of clothing, as well. I regularly purchase consumables such as toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies, batteries, light bulbs, and even furnace filters at Target. There are Target decorative lights on my deck, and lawn ornaments in my yard. I even registered at Target for my wedding (love the KitchenAid mixer). In short, I am a dream customer.

That is, I was until last week.

You see, one of the reasons I have always chosen to shop at Target was that I had the impression that Target was a fairly responsible corporate citizen. Specifically, I didn't read in the news about abused employees or vendors driven to bankruptcy by Target, and I appreciated that. But then I started to see stories about Target allowing a pharmacist at one of its stores to refuse to fill a prescription for emergency contraception, and it was all over.

The job of pharmacist is to fill prescriptions written by a doctor, pointing out possible drug interactions, but not judging the doctor's or patient's decisions. Anyone unwilling to do this job, such as the Target pharmacist in question, belongs in different line of work. Would you hire a Muslim or Jew to stock meats who refused to handle any pork? Would you hire a Christian Scientist who refused to dispense any drugs at all as a pharmacist? Why would you tolerate any employee who refused to do the job as described?

I have read your company's response to the outrage over this matter, issued today by Jennifer Hanson and I find it problematic. Specifically troubling is this sentence:"The emergency contraceptive Plan B is the only medication for which this policy applies." Is Ms. Hanson saying that as an Equal Opportunity Employer, Target respects only its employees' beliefs having to do with emergency contraceptives? That sounds fairly discriminatory to me.

Worse still, in order to accomodate the beliefs a few of its employees, Target has chosen to discriminate against a vast number of its customers. You see, freedom of religion is also freedom from religion. The founders didn't only want to be free to practice their own religion -- they didn't want any other religions imposed on them either. When someone's so-called freedom of religion is invoked to allow that person to impose their judgement on someone else, the civil rights of the judged party have been violated.

If the result of such a violation is an unwanted pregnancy, that is even worse. Is Target Corporation or the pharmacist in question prepared to financially support the child resulting from such a pregnancy, unsuccessfully prevented because of the critical delay in getting the prescription filled?

As you can tell by now, I am passionate about this issue. More importantly to you, I am passionate enough about it to speak with my credit card. I won't be shopping at Target stores until I read that Target's policy has been corrected to make it clear that pharmacists may not refuse to fill any prescription on religious grounds, and I will be telling all my friends about what I am doing and why. I hope to read about a correction of Target's policy soon.

Thank you for your attention in this matter.

Sincerely,

Ray Koltys

Note to my readers: props to the Rude Pundit and AMERICAblog, whose posts on this issue inspired my letter. Easily offended folks might prefer not to read what the Rudester has to say.
:: Ray 1:17 AM [+] ::
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This culture we live in

Today I got lunch at the food court in the building where I work. A new food service company recently took over the operation, and they are doing a decent job of it. I had a brat (beer braised) and some sweet potato fries (yum).

Something caught my eye just as I was leaving the grilling station to head for the cashier. The cook was putting fresh burgers on the grill. They were the pre-formed patties (the ones that look rectangular from the side because the edges are so straight) that come fresh or frozen from the factory, but these were slightly different. Instead of being extruded round or square, these were extruded in an irregular shape, like a child's drawing of a flower, so that when cooked and on a bun, they would look hand-formed. Only when you see them coming out of the package are you aware that each one is irregular in exactly the same way.

I have ranted before about our mass-production society. I have judgements about it, and in many respects I prefer the European way, such as each town having its own bakery, butcher, pastry shop, etc. Like many people, I have warm associations with hand-made things and food, and I expect them to be of higher quality. So I have to chuckle a bit and admire the cojones of a mass producer who brazenly exploits this by creating the illusion of hand-made in an otherwise clearly factory-born product. Find out what people want, then make and sell as much of it as you can -- it's the American Way.
:: Ray 1:09 PM [+] ::
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House Hunting

Have you purchased a house recently? If not, then you may not know how radically house hunting has changed in the past couple of years as a result of the internet and mapping software. I was pleasantly surprised.

Mary and I are looking for a new home. We want one in the NW suburbs along the same rail line that we currently use for our commute, with three bedrooms, room for an Airstream in the driveway, and within our price range. Oh yes, and we want it to be within walking distance of a train station. There isn't yet software in use that can determine all of this for us, but the next best thing is pretty cool. Almost daily we get an automatic email from our realtor indicating that new or price-changed properties meeting our basic criteria are waiting to be looked at on a website. We connect to see list of them with descriptions and photos. Nothing radical there. Where it starts to get cool is that each one also has a link to a map superimposed over a satellite photo. I use the maps to pre-qualify houses by location (is it near the train station?), then Mary looks at the description and photos to determine whether it is suitable for our needs. We print a list of candidates for drive-bys, and then quickly whittle the list further to the ones we would like to see inside. We call our realtor and get the appointments, lickety-split.

In this manner we have, over the course of three or so weeks, filtered almost 300 listings down to twenty or so drive-bys, and about a dozen showings, all with surprisingly little effort expended. In short, the internet has done for real estate what it did for dating (this from the guy that has happily married women he met on the internet not once, but twice).
:: Ray 1:26 PM [+] ::
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