lunchtime short takes

[cellio]

The evil melding-of-church-and-state bill passed the House. Bah. Yes, it doesn't really mean anything on its face; it's just a resolution for the president to say some words to endorse religion, and he does that on his own all the time anyway. But it's still offensive coming from Congress. I don't want to live in a theocracy, even if I got to choose the theology.

I got an auto-response from my representative yesterday saying, basically, thanks for the email and expect a paper letter in several weeks. He voted for it, so I'll probably get some patronizing piece of drivel about how in these tough times we all need to unite and do God's will or some such. Sadly, an elected Democrat from Pittsburgh need not fear reprisal at the polls. (How did your rep vote?)

Speaking of government, I should really get around to ordering a copy of my birth certificate. Maybe even getting a passport, just so I'll have it. I can probably make off with my parents' copy of the former to help with the Pesach trip to Canada in a few weeks. I've never had my ID challenged at the border, but times are different now and I'm travelling with a non-citizen who was born in the middle east.

Speaking of Pesach (sort of), frozen gefilte fish is much better than the stuff that comes in jars. I'm never going back.

Speaking of religion (ok, the transitions are getting weak): For those who were interested in the "conversion reruns" journal, see shira_reruns. It'll get off to a slow start (I didn't write as much at the beginning), with the pace picking up in June.

Apropos of nothing (hey, I can tell when transitions are a lost cause), I had a very pleasnt lunch with a friend and past co-worker yesterday. It's way too easy to lose track of people when you no longer see them on a daily basis. He also found this journal, which intrigues me because it's not googlable. Not that I mind, of course; I was just surprised.

I've advanced another hole on my belt, and many of my pants now require a belt. Woo hoo. But Pesach is going to be bad for this, isn't it? I guess I should work on keeping matzah consumption down; being dense, it's probably even worse than pita for calorie/benefit tradeoffs.

Comments

[bantiarna.livejournal.com]

I wrote my representative as well, but I did not get a note back. The republican also voted Aye on the bill. This thing leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.

[magid.livejournal.com]

The frozen gefilte fish is not the same species as the jarred, at all (as it were) - definitely more wonderful in every regard.
"

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

I love the frozen gefilte fish logs.

One of the neatest things you can do is take a log, thaw it *just* enough so you can take off all the paper, put it in a pan, cover it with tomato sauce or salsa and bake it in a 350 oven for a couple of hours. Cover the pan if you're cooking chicken at the same time. Serve it *warm* with the sauce. Really delicious, and *really* easy.

[cellio]

Ooh, that sounds tasty!

[magid.livejournal.com]

The first time I ran into gefilte fish logs baked with salsa, it was explained to me that the hosts (both guys) made it for "loser lunch" every week ("loser lunch" being whenever they didn't get an invitation out....).
µ

another yummy thing and my own personal ramblings

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

another yummy thing is to take the gefilte fish log, thaw it thoroughly, mix it with some salt and pepper (maybe some matzoh meal, depending on desired consistency), form it into little balls, flatten them, and pan fry them lightly. Serve them cold with some tomato sauce (lightly spiced) spooned over them. It's delicious (even though it sounds a little weird).

I will NOT eat jarred gefilte fish. I think it's one of the most nasty creations ever. I'll eat it freshly made (very few people I know make their own anymore) or the frozen stuff. If I'm eating the gefilte fish straight, I prefer the sweet kind (though some people can't tolerate the sugar).

Re: another yummy thing and my own personal ramblings

[cellio]

Mmm, more yummy possibilities. I will have to lay in a supply. :-) (I bought one package to see if it was any good, but I used it up with the conventional cooking method.)

sweet or regular

[estherchaya.livejournal.com]

yes, but did you get the sweet stuff? It's way better. And the calorie difference isn't that big, particularly if you're careful about portion size. It's yummy, yummy, yummy.

Re: sweet or regular

[cellio]

The sweet is much tastier than the regular, yes! Not that regular is bad -- just, y'know, not up to the standards that it could strive for with a little effort. :-)

[nsingman.livejournal.com]

Sadly, an elected Democrat from Pittsburgh need not fear reprisal at the polls.

This is a bit of a surprise to me. I thought Pittsburgh, though a big city in Pennsylvania, was a bit conservative (and way more conservative than Philadelphia).

Not that I'm terribly surprised. Most Democrats (including my congressman, Bill Pascrell [NJ]), while willing to vilify Republicans as theocrats, hit their knees almost as hard when these sorts of things come up for a vote. Defense of Marriage Act, anyone? :-)

One of the nice things about being a libertarian is not being caught by surprise when Democans or Republicrats pull this sort of thing.

[cellio]

Pittsburgh is very heavily Democrat; the spring primary is usually referred to as "the election", at least for local offices. I can't remember if the Republicans even bothered to run anyone against our current House rep.

A friend once consed up a Risk variant around the Pittsburgh map (it was for a party on election night). The game also involved factions -- the Squirrel Hill Democrats, the South Side Democrats, the (something else) Democrats, the Repulicans, and the Libertarians. The latter two were handicapped in various ways; they weren't really playable positions. :-)

I'm also a libertarian, by the way, and also feel that the two dominant parties are pretty much interchangable in most things. I really wish election laws/policies weren't so heavily rigged in favor of just two parties.

[rectangularcat]

One of the reasons I love Canada is that we now have 5, that is 5 ,major parties since the early 90's, Granted not all of them are represented in each riding -like the Quebec separatist party - the Bloc Quebecois or the Canadian Alliance (whose official abbreviation used to be CRAP - Canadian Reform Alliance Party) which was born out of an anti-Quebec/anti-immigration stance- but it's cool nonetheless.

Living in the US for so long, I haven't been able to vote in a major election in forever. I wasn't a US citizen and I was also a non-resident of Canada. That didn't keep the Tacoma Court district to make me try to do jury duty... hehe. I had to prove I wasn't a citizen - too bad, I think that I would have enjoyed it.

I was pro-Nader in your last election. I had the buttons and paraphernalia and everything. It was quite fun to get discussions going around my work which was heavily Republican (lots of ex-military types) - they were all for Nader since in their view that wasn't helping Gore. Too bad that I could not vote!!! Just love stirring the pot sometimes. Although in retrospect, I think that I would have researched my choice further had I been really able to vote.

[rectangularcat]

From experience, they will single out your friend and just wonder how the two of you got into the same car. My ex-roommate travels all the time with her birth certificate from Indiana and that has satisfied them - although it's just a piece of typed paper with no seal or anything. Since I got my passport in the early 90's, I've never traveled with my birth certificate since it is in French only (back in the 80's it was even worse since it was a baptismal certificate and much wordier). I remember befuddling the immigration guys in Port Huron, MI when I'd have to cross the border.

I've been having less trouble crossing the border with my passport since it only has my mom's French-Canadian maiden name rather than my green card which has my complete name (and thus my dad's Egyptian last name). I guess there's also the pesky question of what a permanent resident of the USA is doing living in Canada...

Anyhow, we are planning to go to an event in the US tomorrow. If it is more unpleasant than I expect, I am sure to log in into my LJ. (Unpleasant in the sense that those US immigration guys have made me cry on more than one instance and I am a pretty tough person to make cry)

[goljerp]

My Congressman voted against the bill. I'm happy about that, at least.

Pesach: it's a tough time to keep to a diet... or to keep cholesterol levels down. Good luck!