A Strange Land

I brought the chocolate cake, R made Picadillo.  Ancient history resurrected.  Well, some parts of it in any event.  So, at long last, after much harassment of R by me, the original Picadillo recipe from Berkeley, circa 1976, plus some thirty years of evolution.  A handful of this and a handful of that.

The parts in parenthesis are my preferred changes or additions.  I never could leave well enough alone.

Picadillo

2 lbs. ground beef (1 lb. pork, 1 lb. turkey)
2 onions (3)
all of a bulb of garlic
3 green peppers
3 jalapenos
6 Roma tomatoes
2 small cans Contadina tomato paste
6 apples ( sometimes less depending on how full the pot is)
2 jars ripe olives (green olives)
2 handfuls raisins (or more, to taste)
2 tbsp. vinegar (more or less to taste)

Rough chop everything that can be chopped: onions, garlic, green peppers, Jalapenos, Roma tomatoes and apples.  Leave the olives and raisins whole.  Using a big stew pot, start by browning the meat.  Add the onions and garlic while the meat browns.  Add the rest of the ingredients more or less in the order given.  Cover the pot, reduce the heat so that the conglomeration burbles gently and let it stew for at least two hours.  Letting it cook longer does no harm and generally improves the flavor.  This freezes really well, so when I make it I have frozen leftovers for months.

There were two chocolate cakes actually.  One with a lovely raspberry sauce between the layers and the other, a darker chocolate, was laced with rum and frosted with Mocha frosting.  Both were delightful.

Sadly, the cake was not reciprocated at the appropriate date in April!!  Hmmm….or at any other date appropriate or not, now that I consider the matter.

I have to admit, I don’t quite understand the people who want to pass Proposition 8.  Do they not value marriage?  Are they selfish?  It would seem to me, that if you value marriage as an institution, if you think that it contributes to the stability of couples, families and society in general, you would want all couples to be married.  There are serious decisions that are made when considering a marriage.  Do I want to bind myself to this person legally?  How will we manage our finances?  Do we love each other enough to be together “forever”?  Do we want to raise a family together?  These and other questions like them get asked when considering a long term, serious decision like marriage, but not when simply living together.  If you believe that this creation of a strong familial unit helps create a stable society and is so effective in doing that that we offer tax breaks to support it, then you should support marriage as an opportunity for all couples.

Another possibility, I suppose, is that the people supporting Proposition 8 are just selfish.  They enjoy the benefits and responsibilities of a marriage and just don’t want to share the joy.  Well, that would be rather sad and despicable of them personally, but is certainly no reason to deprive other people of the joys, sorrows,and responsibilities of marriage.

Finally, I have heard that some people support Proposition 8 for religious reasons.  Well, it is perfectly acceptable to believe whatever you like religiously.  It is even encouraged.  However, one of the great things about this country is that just because you believe something to be true, you don’t then get to impose your beliefs on other people.  We all have the same rights and the rights are protected.  They include the freedom from having someone else’s religious beliefs imposed on us.  We, well, most of us, wouldn’t want it any other way.

So, let us all marry whomever we would choose and then let the divorce lawyers enjoy a windfall.

No on 8