Fruitful Weekend

Spent the better part of Sunday turning these:

Into:

 


Every year we get Navel oranges and Tangelos from our local FFA's fundraiser.  Much to my shame, last year the majority ended up as fuzzy green/ blue balls of squish.  So this year I was determined not to waste them.  The Tangelos turned into juice and I suprêmed the Navels for canning.  I'm not sure what I'll do with canned oranges, but now I have 3 years to figure something out.  I do know that most of the orange juice is headed for the freezer just as soon as I find my ice cube trays, I'm rather sick of oranges.  

Tomorrow I'll throw the remains to my neighbor's chickens, they'll enjoy the treat.

Schadenfreude and Honesty

As it's been mentioned around the blog-o-sphere, New York forgot to exempt their own police officers from their most recent gun banning extravaganza.  I'm sure they'll pencil in that exemption before the ban comes into effect, but it is amusing to watch them gawp about while trying to save face.  Something funny has to come of something so farcical.

One telling quote that I found via Weer'd in an abc article about the snafu is this:

State Senator Eric Adams, a former NYPD Captain, told us he's going to push for an amendment next week to exempt police officers from the high-capacity magazine ban. In his words, "You can't give more ammo to the criminals"

Wait... it's like he's saying that he knows criminals aren't going to follow the ban.  So, tell me Senator Eric Adams, if you already knew that criminals were going to ignore the new restrictions, what was the point?  Sounds like an arbitrary way to make criminals out of honest men. 

A Spark of Light in the Darkness

We need more stories like this!

The 5-0 vote of the board Wednesday night to allow handgun training for four custodians to be able to tote weapons at the K-12 campus at the Williams County school came after last month's deadly shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
School officials say that having armed personnel - believed to be the first for any school system in Ohio - is designed to thwart incidents of violence and prevent what happened in Newtown, Conn., from occurring here

With all the gun-ban doom and gloom hanging over our heads, it's encouraging to see a school embrace the idea of arming staff.  This story is even more heartening since it's relatively close to home. 

From the details given, it looks like they're going about it the right way; it's voluntary and they're providing the training.  Kudos to the Williams County Schools.

I Did It

I actually called my representatives in Congress.  I don't know if it did any good, I wasn't eloquent and I forgot half of the things I wanted to say, but there's one more slash mark in the "does not support gun control" column. So maybe it'll count for something.

Christmas Crack!

Also known by its common name 'Peppermint Bark'
I used this recipe for the basics.

Ingredients (I recommend doubling):
12 oz Dark Chocolate
12 oz White Chocolate
8 Candy Canes

Directions:
Line a large cookie sheet with tinfoil

Put unwrapped candy canes in a ziplock bag & beat into small pieces with anything you have handy (I used a meat tenderizer - what aggression?)

While beating candy canes into submission, bring water to a simmer in a double boiler.

Temper or melt the dark chocolate in the double boiler.  Personally, I used the Wilton wafers and didn't bother with tempering. 

Spread the dark chocolate on the waiting cookie sheet.  The original recipe said 1/8", I took it down to roughly 1/16"*

let the dark chocolate cool while you clean the top pan & melt the white chocolate.  The original recipe says to put it in the fridge for cooling.  I found that putting it directly into the fridge made the edges curl up.  The second tray I did I left on the counter and just popped in the fridge for a few minutes at the end.

Mix 3/4 of the peppermint into the white chocolate and spread out over the dark chocolate. 

While the white choc. is still tacky, sprinkle the remaining peppermint bits over top.  Cool the same way as the dark choc.

When cooled, break apart by hand. 


The whole process takes ~20 min and costs ~$5 per recipe. 

* My first attempt the layers turned out 1/4" thick and when I tried to break it apart it split between the layers.  Too thick & too cold = no bonding between the choc. layers.

'Tis The Season -Arrg!

I kind of sympathize with this woman in Portsmouth calling the cops about the Salvation Army holiday bell ringers.

“I listen to this for 200 hours a year,” said Hamilton-Parker, who works in a downtown shop near the annual bell ringers. “This is my fourth year and I can't take it anymore. I'm so sick of it.”

She said the bell ringing starts in the morning, clangs all day long, then continues into the night. According to her calculations, she listens to 40 hours of Salvation Army bell ringing every week, for five weeks a year, or 200 hours a year.

Maybe I'm a Scrooge but every time I hear that obnoxious ringing my urge to dig out change gets smothered by my rising need to choke the bastard with the bell.   It's not even the pitch, it's the frequency - it's like they're trying to match the bpm of a hummingbird's wings.  You'd think the ringers would get carpal tunnel within a week.  I would go stark raving mad having one camped outside my office window from Thanksgiving 'til Christmas.

Homicidal urges aside, they do get any convenient pocket change after Turkey Day.  However, I do refuse to drop a penny in those kettles before Thanksgiving.  The deal is, they get to assault my eardrums and guilt me out of change starting the day after Thanksgiving and I get to ignore them with prejudice anytime before I've had my turkey feast.  It's like turning on Christmas music or busting out the Christmas decorations before Aunt Mary's burnt the rolls and Uncle Ed's passed out after his 3rd helping of pie, some things Just-Aren't-Done. 

/end rant

Election Night Movie

I lieu of watching states turn red or blue while talking heads trade witty repartee, I've put in V for Vendetta - more fitting don't you think?