The Knife "You Take My Breath Away"

Today's video is called "You Take My Breath Away" and the video is AWESOME. It's one of the best 80's throwbacks I've seen in a while.

Enjoy!

xo

The Knife "Pass This On"

Have you heard of The Knife??? If not, you're in for a treat.

The group consists of siblings Karin Dreijer Andersson (also of Fever Ray) and Olof Dreijer and they crank out some dark, yet catchy pop songs. Over the next week, I'm gonna post a song or two of theirs each day for you to check out.

Let's start with one of my favorites. This song is called "Pass This On" (and NOT "I'm in love with your brother" as people previously thought).

Check it out. I hope you dig it as much as I do.

xo

The Charter for Compassion

It was never my intent to get political on this blog, but with the recent rash of suicides, I thought I would post this video, and share the info below with everyone I could.

xo



The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the center of our world and put another there, and to honor the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and emphatically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others, even our enemies, is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion. 

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the center of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings, even those regarded as enemies.


We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

AFFIRM the Charter today @ http://charterforcompassion.org/

50th Anniversary of The Flintstones

Today marks the 50th Anniversary of The Flintstones.

Oddly enough, I remember that one of the first sponsors of the show
was Winston Cigarettes!

Anyway, I thought I'd share a little commercial clip with you today.

Enjoy!

xo

Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash

Many years ago, I was having a work function at my home. I found out that 80% of the guests were vegetarian! After freaking out a bit, I did some digging and found this recipe from the 70's. I made a few changes and it was a HIT!

INGREDIENTS:
3 medium sized acorn squash, halved
3 cups apples, chopped or sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
1 cup yellow onion, chopped
1/2 cup golden raisins
2 tbs butter (or butter substitute)
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar (or soy cheese substitute)
1/8 c water
1/8 c apple juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 350F. Cut each squash in half, lengthwise and scoop out the stringy seeds.

Bake (cut side down) for about 40 minutes, in a 13x9 pan with little water and apple juice.

Meanwhile, prepare the stuffing.

Saute apples and onion in butter until tender. Let cool (so as not to melt the cheese) for about 10 minutes. Combine apples, onion, raisins, cheese, salt, pepper and spices in a bowl until combined. Taste to correct seasonings. Fill each of the squash halves with an equal amount of stuffing. Bake for another 20 minutes.

If the pan gets dry, add a little more apple juice or water.

Serves 6

Enjoy!

xo

Sausage Rolls

This recipe is taken from Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course, Delia Smith’s Complete Illustrated Cookery Course and Delia Smith's Christmas.

I love Delia Smith, and think everyone should own at least one of her books. They're brilliant.
 
I intend to make a couple batches of these rolls soon, so I thought I would share a recipe I've used for years with you to enjoy. I think she's got a Vegetarian Roll recipe that I'll try to find for those of you who do not eat meat.

xo


You will need 3 baking sheets, lightly greased.

Pre-heat the oven to 425°F
 
Ingredients for the quick flaky pastry:
6 oz frozen butter
8 oz plain flour
pinch kosher salt

Ingredients for the filling:
1 lb good-quality pork sausage meat
1 medium onion, peeled and grated
2 level teaspoons chopped fresh sage
1 egg, beaten


Method

The butter needs to be rock-hard from the refrigerator, so weigh out the required amount, wrap it in a piece of foil, then return it to the freezing compartment for 30-45 minutes. Meanwhile sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. When you take the butter out of the freezer, open it up and use some of the foil to hold the end with.

Then dip the butter in the flour and grate it on a coarse grater placed in the bowl over the flour. Keep dipping the butter down into the flour to make it easier to grate. At the end you will be left with a pile of grated butter in the middle of the flour, so take a palette knife and start to distribute it into the flour (don't use your hands), trying to coat all the pieces of fat with flour until the mixture is crumbly.

Next add enough cold water to form a dough that leaves the bowl clean, using your hands to bring it all gently together. Put the dough into a polythene bag and chill it for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. When you're ready to make the sausage rolls mix the sausage meat, onion and sage together in a mixing bowl. Then roll out the pastry on a floured surface to form an oblong (as thin as you can). Cut this oblong into three strips and divide the sausage meat also into three, making three long rolls the same length as the strips of pastry (if it's sticky sprinkle on some flour).

Place one roll of sausage meat on to one strip of pastry. Brush the beaten egg along one edge, then fold the pastry over and seal it as carefully as possible. Lift the whole thing up and turn it so the sealed edge is underneath. Press lightly, and cut into individual rolls each about 2 inches (5 cm) long. Snip three V-shapes in the top of each roll with scissors and brush with beaten egg.

Repeat all this with the other portions of meat and pastry.If you are going to cook straightaway, place the rolls on baking sheets and bake high in the oven for 20-25 minutes. If you want to cook them later, store them uncooked in a freezer box and freeze until needed. Although you can store the cooked and cooled sausage rolls in an airtight tin, they do lose their crunchiness. For this reason I think it is preferable to remove a few at a time from the freezer and cook them as required.


Copyright © 2009 Delia Smith/New Crane Internet Limited, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

COICA

In the United States, a new law proposal called The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) was introduced last week, and there will be a hearing in front of the Judiciary Committee this Thursday, 9/30/10.

If passed, this law will allow the government, under the command of the media companies, to censor the internet as they see fit, like China and Iran do.

Please see the following article from the Huffington Post for more information.

Stop the Internet Blacklist

And if you are a US citizen, please take the time sign this petition
DemandProgress.org - Petition to Stop the Internet Blacklist!