part one, part deux

Take the jump for fun and interesting facts worth knowing like "how to keep out rats and mosquitoes" and helpful tips on how to prevent the creaking of bedsteads. more...

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HOOK 'EM HORNS!

UPDATE: Can you say "Squeaker," boys and girls?

What a great football game! That it was the national championship just made it even better. It's about time the BCS delivered what it promised years ago when it was established---an actual, undisputed National Championship game, wherein the football would be, you know, good. Good football for me has never been a seventy-point demolition of the opposing team; it's a squeaker that has you shouting at the tee vee set. Tonight's game definitely qualified as good football.

Congratulations to the Longhorns!

UPDATE DEUX:

"F@#$ You, Heisman Voters"

And because I can...

Mmmmm. Tasty.

Posted by: Kathy at 01:05 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 I'm with ya, but I fear there's a reason UT is ranked #2.

Posted by: Bob at January 04, 2006 01:44 PM (yMzz+)

2 From a strictly Machiavellian standpoint, I'm cheering for the 'horns as well. If Vince Young can lead Texas to a national championship, there's a pretty good chance he'll go pro and skip his senior season. Considering that ISU plays AT Texas this coming fall, I think that would be a good thing.

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at January 04, 2006 06:04 PM (6krEN)

3 Russ, I've got one nephew who graduated from UT last year, and his little brother is a student currently. I'm rooting for reasons other than those related to the ISU program. Besides, they're a Big XII school. You have to root for them. It would be a big boost to the conference if they won the National Championship!

Posted by: Kathy at January 04, 2006 07:59 PM (hbcMs)

4 Of course, that is a perfectly good reason to root for the 'Horns. Conference solidarity is a good thing in small doses. When I think about it, the best reason to root for the 'horns is the blind lovefest the national media is laying on USC. Anything that has the possibility to make guys like Skip Bayless, Jim Rome and Michael Wilbon look like schmucks is good in my book.

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at January 04, 2006 09:24 PM (6krEN)

5 Vince Young just claimed the title of "Dude who SHOULD have won the Heisman". 200 yards on the ground, 267 in the air, and three rushing touchdowns (including one ab-so-freakin-lutely wonderful scoring play where he bowled over a couple of Trojans on his way to the corner of the endzone)? Vince was a one man wrecking crew last night.

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at January 05, 2006 06:02 AM (6krEN)

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Margi tagged me with a "list out five weird things about you" meme, and I thought this one sounded familiar and, as usual, I was right...

...because I'd done it before. Hence the title "easy meme."

Heh!

I'm not going to tag anyone because, well, quite frankly, I haven't been paying attention to this one as it made its way round, so I don't know who's done it and who hasn't. Suffice it to say, if you're game, have at it.

Posted by: Kathy at 10:29 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 Story of my life: Day late, dollar short. /

Posted by: margi at January 04, 2006 11:14 AM (nwEQH)

2 That Ipana toothpaste is gettin hard to find, ain't it?

Posted by: Bob at January 04, 2006 01:49 PM (yMzz+)

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Part One is here.

Take the jump for such interesting factoids as how to "prevent oil from becoming rancid," how to deal with "troublesome ants" and---the one I'm sure you've been waiting for with bated breath---"how to cure hiccoughs." more...

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1 Sure-fire cure for "hiccoughs": One lime wedge Angostura Bitters Sprinkle bitters liberally over lime wedge. Soak it with the stuff. Have the affected party suck the entire slice of lime, bite and chew off the fruit to the rind. Chew and swallow. (You can't just suck the juice out and not chew the fruit. That is key.) Hiccoughs will be gone. Ask any bartender worth a damn.

Posted by: Margi at January 04, 2006 12:39 AM (nwEQH)

2 BTW, I am LOVING the excerpts from this cookbook. I have an old version of "The Legal Secretary's Complete Handbook" that's pretty funny but not nearly as good as this.

Posted by: Margi at January 04, 2006 12:52 AM (nwEQH)

3 I'm glad someone's liking them. Haven't received a great deal of feedback on these, except for your lovely statement.

Posted by: Kathy at January 04, 2006 10:34 AM (hbcMs)

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Is it just me or is cinnamon flavored toothpaste a sign that western civilization has gone to the dogs?

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Take the jump if you're interested in things like "how to clean marble busts" or "a paint for wood or stone that resists all moisture." more...

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Yep. Within the "Sauces and Dressings" section there is a subsection of catsup recipies.

Not "ketchup."

Catsup

In a variety of flavors beside tomato!

Take the jump if you're interested and have mad canning skillz. more...

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After the jump. Replete with commentary from moi.

Just a quick note: I can't scan these pages, at least not until the binding is repaired, so I will try and get as close to how it looks by manuevering fonts, etc. more...

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I received an interesting Christmas present this year.

Now, as you can see this cookbook isn't in the greatest shape.

I have to make an effort in the next couple of days to have it rebound. Miraculously, other than a bit of wear and tear on the title page, the pages are in great shape; it's just the binding that needs more than a wee bit of tender loving care. But it's not surprising that the binding is in such sad shape---after all it's nearly a hundred-years-old.

And, as it turns out, was my grandmother's.

I've mentioned before that I'm a late-in-life child. Well, not really. My parents were forty and thirty-eight when they had me---not so very old nowadays for reproduction purposes---it's just that since they already had seven kids it seemed unlikely at the time they'd keep going for it. I'm glad they did, but because my parents were also late-in-life children, the generation spans are wide in my family---my paternal grandmother was born in 1889, if that gives you a clue. As a result of this span, I never got to know any of my grandparents. I heard stories about them, of course, and I vaguely remember my paternal grandmother---commonly referred to as "Granny" in our household---but as she died when I was four, there's no specific memory I have attached to her. My grandfathers are long gone, and then there was my mother's mother, who seemed even further removed from the rest: she died in 1938, when my mother was six-years-old.

This is her cookbook.

I don't know much about Grandmother Kamloth. Mom doesn't talk about her. I know that I have her nose because there's an old photograph of her hanging on the wall at my parents' house. I know she was born in this country, the daughter of a florist who emigrated from Switzerland. Apparently, she came from a well-to-do family because when my Dad was researching our family tree, he went looking through old Omaha phone books and found that their residence had two lines, rather than just one---apparently one was for the servant's quarters. At some point in time, she married my Grandfather and had three daughters, the youngest of whom was my mother.

I also know that her name was Helen. Helen Haas Kamloth. A nice German girl from Omaha.

But that's about all I know.

That's why I titled this post "artifacts" because this cookbook feels like an artifact to me; something to be studied to learn more about the person who owned and used it. It's not a personal. It's just something that belonged to her. I have no emotional attachment to this cookbook because it was my gradmother's. I don't know that I will learn more about my grandmother by actually owning it, but it's quite cool nonetheless. My family is not big on handing things down. Not only do I not have any memories of my grandparents, I don't have any of their belongings, either, and neither do any of my siblings. Now, while I'm sure some of you, my devoted Cake Eater readers, are gasping at the loss of family history and are about to chastise the Cake Eater parents for not keeping better track of things, please realize that, well, there weren't a lot of things for us to inherit. Remember, I'm only one generation removed from the boat in some instances: it takes time to build up a legacy. My folks were busy looking forward and dealing with what they had on their plates; looking back and living in the past is a luxury they didn't have time for.

Anyway, I digress, as usual, but this cookbook, it turns out, is chock-a-block full of interesting things that I'm choosing to share with you, my devoted Cake Eater Readers. Yes, that's right. In a very Lileks-ish Gallery of Regrettable Food fashion, I shall be sharing excerpts from this fab cookbook, which is not only a cookbook, but rather:

"A Comprehensive Cyclopedia of Information for the Home"

Containing

COOKING, TOILET AND HOUSEHOLD RECIPES, MENUS, DINNER-GIVING, TABLE ETIQUETTE, CARE OF THE SICK, HEALTH SUGGESTIONS, FACTS WORTH KNOWING, ETC.

By

HUGO ZEIMAN AND MRS. F.L. GILLETTE
STEWARD OF THE WHITE HOUSE

So you see, my devoted Cake Eater readers, this shall be good fun.

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Happy New Year to you, my devoted Cake Eater readers!

I hope the hangover was worth it!

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From the 2006 Worst Case Scenario Daily Survival Calendar:

{Clicket on the image for larger.}

It's such a dangerous calendar it requires a liability waiver.

Now that's a calendar!

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Well, no sooner do I get home from Christmas vacation than it becomes all too apparent that I spend little or no time with children on a regular basis.

In other words one of my darling nieces or nephews got me sick.

Chest cold has morphed into a horrible sore throat and a head cold. Don't ask me why it went backwards, but it did. It's been quite the fortnight for the husband and myself as far as illness is concerned: he had a cold last week; he got a stomach bug earlier this week when we were in Omaha and I now have a cold. We can usually go all winter without seeing this much illness action. Alas, however, this winter is different as we're trying hard to have a life. It's a toss up, you know. You can either sign up for the patented Hermit Defense System (TM) and never get out and about. Or you can get out and about and pay the price for it.

Have no fear, my devoted Cake Eater readers, for I have goodies for you and I shall unload them right now whilst I'm feeling particularly alert.

• Leon Spinks, who beat Muhammed Ali and is now working as a janitor at the Columbus, Nebraska YMCA for $5.15/hr. and fighting off dementia and all other assorted ills tells you "it ain't what you do, it's how you do it."
• 0 to 60 in 2.5 seconds, 1001 horsepower, to bury the needle you have to go 253 mph, and it smokes its maker's grand prix model.

  Have I mentioned that you can actually purchase this fine automobile?

  If you have the means---one point two million before taxes---I highly recommend picking one up.

• Sheila---the lucky wench---got to see Notorious on the big screen. (I'm green with envy)
• Have I mentioned that I'm a grandma?--- a blog grandma.
• This game had some of the worst officiating I've ever seen.
• In one of my very few examples of follow-up, via this post from St. Patrick's Day it turns out Fausta was right when she postulated that The Manolo is Day By Day Jan's super fantastic papa.

  See here, here and here and tell me she's not right.

And there's your cheap thrills for the day, babycakes.

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Two things for rabid commenter, and all around Cake Eater Fan, Russ from Winterset:

1. The husband and I looked south yesterday when we passed the sign demarcating the beginning of Madison County, IA, as if just by glancing to the southeast we could catch a glimpse of the MASSIVE Winterset skyline. We thought of you. Briefly. And then we kept going.

Sorry about that. Our bad.

2. When the hell is Iowa State playing? I'm too lazy to go looking and I know you'll know.

Posted by: Kathy at 11:12 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I simply cannot believe y'all stuck around this long without any fresh content.

Either I'm really pathetic. Or....{insert drumroll here} you, my devoted Cake Eater readers, are pathetic.

And, really, my devoted Cake Eater Readers, do we really want to go there?

On either count.

I think not.

I'm freakin' exhausted right now, but blogging will resume shortly.

Like later in the day.

Cheap thrills will be available for all and sundry at that time.

In the meantime, I'm going to go and load some eggnog up with cheap brandy.

Cheers!

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{ed. This post will stay at the top until the 25th}

I shall leave you, my devoted Cake Eater Readers, with my smiling seven-year-old face to warm your heart with holiday cheer.

Yes, that's me. I already know I look like a boy, so you needn't tell me.

Anyway...we're on the road today, and I have a feeling the next couple of days will be inordinately busy so blogging will be light, if not non-existent, and I wanted to catch you, my devoted Cake Eater Readers, while you're still stuck at the office, but before you get drunk. I know you're just waiting to be let loose on that vat of spiked eggnog that's sitting out by reception for the office Holiday party. I realize the siren song of the nog is tough to resist, so I will keep the holiday greetings short and sweet.

Ahem.

A very Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Cheery Saturnalia, Wonderful Winter Solstice, Krazy Kwanzaa, etc., to you, my devoted Cake Eater readers.

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Well, maybe you'll only laugh if you're from Minnesota, but I find this just freakin' hysterical.

Dealing a stunning blow to Gov. Tim Pawlenty and the Legislature, a Ramsey County judge Tuesday struck down a tobacco fee that promised to raise $401 million over the next two years for the state.

Ramsey County District Judge Michael Fetsch ruled that the fee of 75 cents per pack violated a settlement between the government and tobacco companies that barred the state from seeking additional money from the firms to pay for health care costs related to smoking.

The ruling could jeopardize the comfortable budget surplus that the state has been counting on and pose a major embarrassment to Pawlenty and legislative incumbents just in time for a critical election year.{...}

Now that's funny. The part that's not so funny is this:

"We are very disappointed by the court's ruling and will ask for an immediate appeal directly to the Minnesota Supreme Court," Pawlenty said in a statement. He also is considering "using existing administrative authority" to apply the fee at retail outlets.{...}

{my emphasis}

Did you get that? Pawlenty wants to keep collecting the tax while he appeals it---even though it's not really clear that he can appeal it due to the terms of the settlement---and is considering using administrative authority to apply the tax fee. It's apparently so important to the Governor to keep collecting this tax fee that he's willing to violate the state's consitution to do so.

Can you say "illegal" boys and girls? The better question is can Governor Pawlenty say it?

I agree with Doug and David---it would be much better for Pawlenty in the long run to just drop this stupid tax fee and move on. There is another way to find $400 million dollars to balance the budget: it's called reduced spending. The guv didn't even have to cut spending. He just had to reduce it---you know, spend a little less than normal and he would never have had to start up this tax health impact fee business to begin with.

Pawlenty, in an effort to not piss people off, has pretty much pissed everyone off. There's a life lesson in all of this, if you're willing to look for it.

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Dearest Jonathan wants to know about our Top Ten Movies.

Twist my arm.

1. Casablanca I can't add anything remotely interesting to the discussion regarding this film. It simply is the best movie ever made and if you have issues with that, well, you're a nutter. Sorry, but you'll just have to live with your diagnosis.

2. Raiders of the Lost Ark How can you not love this movie? It is, yet again, proof that Lucas can come up with the story, but it's best left to the professionals, namely Lawrence Kasdan and Stephen Spielberg, to tell it. And boy can they tell a good story!

3. Rear Window Back when I was in eighth grade, this was one of five Hitchcock films---Rope, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Trouble with Harry and Vertigo---- that were re-released to movie theaters. This was the first Hitchcock film I ever saw and it will always be my favorite. I still want to be Grace Kelly when I grow up (and, more importantly, I want her clothes from that movie!).

This, of course, says nothing about how wonderful this film is in its own right.

4. Godfather II: You'll have noticed that The Godfather wasn't on this list. My, what sharp little eyes you've got. There's a reason and I can give it to you in one word, two syllables: De Niro.

5. The English Patient: I love this book and I love this movie. Although, it's not because of my well documented Colin Firth crush. No, I love this movie because of Ralph Fiennes eyes, Juliette Binoche's smile and Naveen Andrew's calm ("Comma.") I love the book because Ondaatje's one of the true masters of bringing a memory to life. You can smell a scene when he's done with it, and he's never tiresome in his description---which is a problem I have with much of literary fiction. Anthony Minghella brought this book to life---and it's wonderful.

6. It Happened One Night: If you've ever wondered what it is about Clark Gable that, once upon a time, drove women mad, this is the film to watch. Trust me on this one.

7. Grand Illusion: Most people won't be familiar with this movie, because not only is it old, but it's foreign. It's a masterwork of director Jean Renoir and it's well worth seeing.

8. Bridge Over the River Kwai and

9. Lawrence of Arabia

Oh, dear. I had a hard time narrowing it down which David Lean films are my favorites, because, quite frankly, I love this man's movies. First and foremost, I love how they look. I love how you get a sense of magisterial scope with Lean's films, but how the background never seems too unwieldy for the character's to manage, even when it is. All that breathtaking scenery that the characters seem impervious to, it's like it's a reminder to look around and see what sort of magisterial scope there is to your own surroundings. Second, these two films had the most memorable acting jobs. Alec Guinness especially, in Bridge Over the River Kwai was incredible, as was Peter O'Toole in Lawrence: they held up to the scenery.

I could go on, but I think we can move along.

10. L.A. Confidential: What's not to like about this movie? The story is incredible. The acting is phenomenal, particularly from Kim Basinger. Who knew? Surely 9 1/2 Weeks never tipped anyone off to her talents. Russell Crowe's Bud White strains at the leash; Guy Pearce's Ed Exley is so icily ambitious and controlled until he isn't, but James Cromwell's Dudley Smith, well, he takes the cake with that Irish accent and his casual acceptance of corruption.

Ahhhh....now that's a movie.

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Hello all,

This is Christi, the Cake Eater Sister. I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season and you are not going too crazy getting ready. On that note, I just wanted you to know that I will be very busy in the next few days cleaning and baking for my sister, Kathy the Cake Eater. You see, she and the Cake Eater husband will be coming to stay with us for Christmas. There is much to get ready, since I have put off any cleaning for over three weeks. I just won't have the time to read this blog. So, Kathy, don't blog about anything exciting, as I don't want to miss much.

We are very excited to have the Cake Eaters to visit. It is not often that they are able to travel and we are so happy they chose to stay at our humble abode. We'll see how happy they are when the children wake them up nice and early on Christmas morning!

Merry Christmas!

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In Germany, apparently, when you're sentenced to life in prison for killing a US Navy diver and hijacking a TWA jet, you get out of prison after almost nineteen years.

Then you get to get on a plane and leave the country. Where you can then disappear.

BEIRUT, Lebanon - A Lebanese man serving a life sentence in Germany for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jetliner and killing of a
U.S. Navy diver has returned to Lebanon after being paroled in Germany, security and guerrilla officials said Tuesday.

Mohammed Ali Hamadi arrived in Beirut four days ago on a commercial flight from Germany, a Lebanese security official and a Hezbollah guerrilla group said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

It was not known where Hamadi, who spent 19 years in prison, went after entering Lebanon.

The U.S. Embassy in Beirut refused to comment on Hamadi's release or whether the United States will pursue his arrest. The slain diver's brother called the parole "absolutely disturbing."{...}

{my emphasis}

Oh, and there's this little bit that gets the eyebrows to rising:

{...}German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said there was no connection between Hamadi's release and the recent freeing of former hostage Susanne Osthoff, a German woman released over the weekend after spending more than three weeks as a captive in Iraq.{...}

Hamadi was released last Friday. Ostoff was released by her captors in Iraq over the weekend. He was allowed to leave the country, which is pretty unusual in any parole situation, no matter what country you're in.

You can draw your own conclusions.

Thanks Germany!

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And they said it couldn't be done! They said, "gee, those people don't have any historical experience with democracy; they won't know what to do with it. Should we really try and impose our western values on them?"

And the answer is, "Yep."

WASHINGTON - As the political battle intensifies over President Bush's efforts to spread democracy to Iraq and the Middle East, an influential human rights organization, Freedom House, has found that the past year brought significant improvements in personal and political rights across the region.

Reports of increased freedom emerged from Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the Palestinian territories, and observers attributed the results to the Bush administration's support of fledgling democracies worldwide.

The findings were released yesterday as part of Freedom House's Freedom in the World 2006 report, a global survey of political rights and civil liberties published annually by the organization since 1972. The report evaluates countries based largely on criteria drawn from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and rates countries under the categories "political rights" and "civil liberties" on a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 indicating the greatest level of freedom.

This year's Freedom in the World based its evaluations on events that took place between December 1, 2004, and November 30. During that time, according to the study, the number of electoral democracies increased from 119 to 122, the most in the report's 33-year history.

In the Middle East, the sweep of successful democratic elections was the decisive factor in improving the region's ratings, Freedom House's research director and a co-editor of Freedom in the World, Arch Puddington, said yesterday.

The most significant change, Mr. Puddington said, took place in Lebanon. Freedom House uses countries' numerical ratings to divide nations into three categories: "free," "partly free," and "not free." This year, Lebanon transitioned from "not free" to "partly free," largely owing to its "Cedar Revolution" in February and March, Mr. Puddington said.{...}

Go read the whole thing.

{Hat Tip: Fausta}

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