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

[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. :-)