Frisian Oat Curry (from "Hope's Edge: the Next Diet for a Small Planet", by Frances Moore Lappé and Anna Lappé)

This makes a lot, so you could certainly halve the recipe.

2 1/2 cups oat groats
4 cups vegetable broth (or water), divided
4 cups diced apples (about 1 pound, or 3 medium)
4 cups diced onions
3 T. lemon juice
2 T. butter (I use olive oil. I suspect Frisia has more cows than olive trees ;-)
3 T. curry powder (preferably a gingery mix)
3/4 cups raw, unsalted cashews (4 oz. by weight)
1 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
3/4 cup raw, unsalted almonds (4 oz.)

Rinse the oats. Put them in a heavy-bottomed large Dutch oven while still damp, and heat, stirring, until the grains begin to burst. Add 3 1/2 cups vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Let oats and broth simmer on low for 30 minutes. Turn off heat, cover pot, and let oats steep another 10 minutes.

Peel, core, and dice apples into 1/2 in. cubes. Sprinkle them with 2 T. lemon juice.

Dice the onions into 1/2 in. cubes. Heat the butter/olive oil in a large pot. Add the onions and cook on medium-low heat for about 5 minutes, until softened. Add the apple and stew together for 5 more minutes. Sprinkle the curry powder over apples and onions, stir, and cook briefly.

Add the cashews. Add remaining 1/2 cup of liquid and bring to a boil, then turn heat to low. Add salt, pepper, and more lemon juice to taste.

Toast the almonds, let cool, then chop into fine pieces.

Stir onion mixture into oats. Cook on low heat for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with toasted almonds and serve.

I'm reading the CA supreme court ruling. Looks like they've decided to hear the case, but denied the injunction. The vote is 6 - 1 to hear the petitions, Kennard voting against hearing the petitions, Moreno joining the majority but also granting the injunction. All responses, amicus curiae briefs, etc to be filed by Jan 21 2009

Yet another picture of the backs of our heads, and our fabulous rainbow kippot. ;-)

I was shocked, appalled, and dismayed to see that Reverend Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, who spoke at our Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) Biennial this past December, wrote the following to his congregants: "For 5,000 years, every culture and every religion - not just Christianity - has defined marriage as a contract between men and women. There is no reason to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2% of our population.”

Of course, I know that his speaking to a progressive organization doesn't alter the fact that Reverend Rick Warren belongs to a regressive, oppressive, organization. But he doesn't have to lie! Disregarding whether marriage prior to the modern era was anything like it is now, it is a lie to say that all current cultures and religions are anti-gay! There are, of course, many religious organizations that have performed same-sex marriages for many years. Unitarian Universalists and United Church of Christ (Obama's church) are among the largest Christian denominations performing same-sex marriages. In the Jewish Reform movement, we have ordained openly gay clergy, so same-sex marriage is obviously not an issue.

Furthermore, Reverend Rick Warren's claim that this anti-marriage amendment only affects 2% of our population is a blatant falsehood. Not only does the gay and bisexual population far exceed 2%, banning our marriages doesn't just affect same-sex couples! Think of the children! Not to mention our parents and other family members, and our friends who have to listen to us rant.

I recommend to Reverend Rick Warren that he not attempt to speak to a progressive audience again, we will not stand for it.

Rally in front of the San José/San José State University Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library

The Billy DeFrank center had a No on 8 aftermath meeting scheduled. They were expecting maybe 25 people. After a one-hour meeting, we took to the streets.

I just found out that Camden Pet Hospital donated $3000 to the Yes on 8 campaign, so I'm looking for a new vet. My dog has Addison's Disease, and I spend at least $150/month on his meds.

Contributor name Camden Pet Hospital
Occupation Veterinarian
Employer NONE or N/A
City San Jose
State or country CA
ZIP 95124
Position Support
Amount $3,000.00
Payment type Monetary
Transaction date 9/25/2008
Committee name PROTECTMARRIAGE.COM - YES ON 8, A PROJECT OF CALIFORNIA RENEWAL

Contributor name Walter Hoge
Occupation Veterinarian
Employer CAMDEN PET HOSPITAL
City San Jose
State or country CA
ZIP 95120
Position Support
Amount $100.00
Payment type Monetary
Transaction date 10/14/2008
Committee name PROTECTMARRIAGE.COM - YES ON 8, A PROJECT OF CALIFORNIA RENEWAL

Boycott Camden Pet Hospital!

Here's the injunctive petition filed today against Prop 8. http://www.nclrights.org/site/DocServer/CampaignPetition.pdf

The LDS church coerced its members to donate millions of dollars to buy deceptive ads in California. If you go to this site: http://www.sfgate.com/webdb/prop8/?Search+Again=
and search on supporters in Utah, and sort by amount, you can get an idea of the magnitude. Of course, there are Mormons in other states as well. Many Mormons did oppose their church hierarchy on this issue, and some were active in opposing the proposition.

I've been playing with www.pandora.com today. I've added stations for California Guitar Trio, David Byrne, Flim & The BB's, Josh Groban, Laurie Anderson, Paul Winter, Warren Zevon, and Mozart. Now we're listening to them shuffled, while we decorate the sukkah.

We cut the PVC pipe for the sukkah today, and put it together for practice. Here's a video that a friend of ours made. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmAY9ng8HbE We got the plans from him, but cut the size down a little.

As suspected, Bear's sarcoma is a hemangiopericytoma. Unlikely to metastasize. Somewhat likely to recur, eventually. Aggressive radiation therapy would lessen the likeliness of recurrence, however the chances that he will die of this, versus old age or his Addison's disease, seem very slight to me.

Bear is out of surgery and is already awake. I haven't talked to the oncologist yet today.

Bear's scheduled for surgery tomorrow. Lung x-ray was clear, and prostate was OK. I was surprised at how well he tolerated that!

Bear's been diagnosed with soft-tissue sarcoma, he has a lump on his
foreleg. I'll call the oncologist tomorrow.

Just ordered a Soda Club water carbonator thingy.




I doubt if we'll accumulate quite as many syrup flavors as Harold....

While I was "back east", my great-uncle Neel died. I postponed my return flight so I could go to the memorial. His wife was my maternal grandmother's sister. Here's his obit from the church program:

-----

Neel Jack Price was born on May 18, 1915 in Wheeler, Texas and died on July 26, 2008 in Locust Grove, Virginia. His parents were John Riley Price and Cora Jane Wood. He was the second of four children.

Neel married Ruah Victoria Lee on February 14, 1942 during their final semester at the University of Oklahoma, having eloped to circumvent the nursing school marriage restriction. Several months later Neel received his MD, Vicki received her RN, and they moved to Washington, DC for Neel's internship at Gallinger Hospital (aka DC General). In 1943 upon completion of his internship, Neel was commissioned into the US Army Medical Corps, assigned to the 88th Infantry Division, 351st Regiment.

As a US Army field medical officer, with his first child on the way, Neel served continuously on or near the front lines of battle during the height of WWII's Italian Campaign. Having arrived there just after the battle of Anzio, he set up his temporary aid stations as the action advanced through small towns and on icy mountainsides including Monte Casino. The brief walk through Rome for its liberation in the spring of 1944 was followed immediately by a grueling thrust through northern Italy into southern France. During this time, Neel focused his efforts on saving lives and improving medical procedures and equipment. In addition to official Army recognition he received an award from the Italian government and a gift from a German officer in appreciation for his unbiased treatment of German wounded. Neel's official service record includes the Legion of Merit Medal, two Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts and a Meritorious Service Medal.

After returning home to Washington, DC, Neel completed his medical training with a residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology, and began a career spanning more than forty years. He retired from full-time medicine in 1989 after a long professional association with Howard Treichler, Edward Kolvereid, and Harry Beaver. Neel was an acknowledged leader in the medical community and a noted early supporter of a struggling new facility named Fairfax Hospital. He later served as its Chief of OB-GYN for eight years, the last Chief to serve in that capacity as a volunteer. After retirement, Neel volunteered his medical services into his late eighties. Throughout his renowned career, Neel was a modest man with the noted flaw that he would talk endlessly about his family.

Neel was the father of six children: Neel Price, Jr. of Great Falls, Virginia; Joyce Keplinger of Locust Grove; James Price of Hot Springs, Arkansas; Victor Price of Great Falls; Jonathan Price of Arlington, and Laura Mote of Locust Grove. Neel was further blessed with twelve grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

While rearing his own children in the "fear and admonition of the Lord" Neel seldom missed an opportunity to include the other children in the neighborhood. Many Sunday mornings, two large carloads of Prices and neighborhood children were driven to church and fed at McDonald's on the way home.

Neel J. Price, MD was a sincere believer in God's sovereignty, and the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Most people who admire his career accomplishments are also aware of this crucial aspect of his character. He was a faithful member of the First Church of the Nazarene in Washington, DC for sixty years. When he and Vicki moved to Locust Grove they made Craigs Baptist Church their place of worship.

Vicki died March 12, 2005. Neel and Vicki will be laid to rest together at Arlington National Cemetery.

Now that Adobe has announced support for 64 bit OSs, I'm replacing my old dual Xeon, SCSI raid, 1GB machine with parts recommended by Wired magazine. Their list was for a gaming machine; I doubled their memory to 8GB and added an enterprise rated hard drive.

INTEL Core 2 Duo E8400 3.00 GHz 1333 MHz 775 6MB L2 Cache $228.23
GIGABYTE GA-EP35C-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Dynamic Energy Saver Ultra Durable II Intel Motherboard $139.99
2 CORSAIR XMS2 DHX 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X4096-6400C4DHX - $268.00
EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - $209.99
Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST3750330NS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $219.99

The video card is a bit of overkill for running Lightroom/Photoshop, but nothing exceeds like excess. ;) This setup should use a lot less energy than the old one.