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John Powers
John Powers is the pop culture and critic-at-large on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross. He previously served for six years as the film critic.
Powers covers film and politics for Vogue and Vogue.com. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including Harper's BAZAAR, The Nation, Gourmet, The Washington Post, The New York Times and L.A. Weekly, where he spent twelve years as a critic and columnist.
A former professor at Georgetown University, Powers is the author of Sore Winners, a study of American culture during President George W. Bush's administration.
He lives in Pasadena, California, with his wife, Sandi Tan.


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Where Caribbean-style reefs and world-famous shipwrecks come in red, white and azure blue.
By the editors & readers of Scuba Diving
Destination Snapshot
Water Conditions: Diving is year-round. The best conditions are from May to September, with relatively calm seas and good vis--except during tropical storms and hurricanes. For the latest dive conditions, check the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) buoy reports at http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/.
Visibility: On clear days, visibility soars to 120 feet, but averages are closer to 60 to 80 feet. Winter storms can stir up chop, and along the shallow reefs visibility can drop to 30 feet or less, but when the storms pass, visibility can improve with just a couple of tidal shifts.
Water Temperatures: Range from the 70Fs in mid-winter to 80Fs in summer.
Reef Report: Two reef structures are found throughout the Keys. Shallow patch reefs start about one mile from shore and are dominated by sea fans and soft corals. Between three and eight miles offshore are the spur-and-groove formations of the fringing coral reef that draw most divers. Most of the commonly dived reef sites rarely exceed 40 feet in depth, with clusters of brain, star, pillar and elkhorn coral rising 10 to 15 feet from the bottom. Some deeper portions of the outer reef, however, feature mini-walls that drop off to 80 to 100 feet.
Marine Life: There are more than 600 varieties of fish in Keys waters. Many of the reefs are literally crawling with spiny lobster and crabs, and it's not uncommon for divers to encounter stingrays, nurse sharks and spotted and green moray eels.
The Upper Keys: Key Largo, Tavernier and Islamorada
On any road trip through the Keys, you'll hit the mother lode of diving not far south of Miami's urban sprawl. Key Largo, the largest island in the chain, claims to be the "Dive Capital of the World," and it's home to some of the most famous reefs in the United States--Elbow, Molasses, Carysfort and French reefs. The combination of proximity to the cleansing waters of the Gulf Stream and the mass of this island serve to obstruct the pass-through of the turbid waters of Florida Bay and ensure consistently stellar water clarity.
The Coast Guard Cutters Duane and Bibb, sunk off Key Largo in the late 1980s, also make Key Largo and neighboring Tavernier a premier wreck diving destination. The Upper Keys will become an even greater wreck diving destination with the addition of the 510-foot Spiegel Grove--one of the largest U.S. artificial reefs ever sunk solely for divers. As this issue went to press, a Virginia shipyard was still cleaning and preparing the ship. Watch for the arrival of this world-class wreck dive in December.
Plantation, Windley and the Matecumbe Keys are collectively called Islamorada, but are better known as the "Sportfishing Capital of the World." For the same reason anglers (mostly catch-and-release these days) revere Islamorada, sport divers do too--fish. Lots of fish. There's plenty of great diving on Alligator, Crocker and Davis reefs as well as the wreck of the Eagle freighter. Islamorada is also one of the best places to be for lobstering during the season, which runs from August to March.
Key Largo
"Very good diving and you get your money's worth."
- N.S., Westfield, Mass., May '00.
"I thought the reef was beautiful and well-protected. There was a plethora of marine life on the reef."
- J.S., Orlando, Fla., Sept. '00.
"Islamorada is a great value for the dollar."
- A.B., Stow, Mass., March '00.
"They've got a little bit of everything. I especially like the wreck diving, but there is also a lot of good reef diving."
- E.W., Clearwater, Fla., July '00.
At Mile Marker #66, you hit a string of small islands culminating in Vaca Key, and the town of Marathon--the physical and operational center of the islands. It also happens to be a great jumping-off point for some excellent diving as well.
The reefs here are exposed to more of the nutrient-rich water that flows from the Gulf of Mexico, and the vis may suffer a little at times. But at high tide you can count on 50 to 60 feet of visibility. Much of the diving centers around Sombrero Reef, a hat-shaped dome topped by a light tower. You can also explore fingers of coral on Delta Shoals and Coffins Patch, interact with friendly nurse sharks at Samantha's Reef, and experience the ever-popular Thunderbolt shipwreck. The Sanctuary Preservation Areas throughout the Florida Keys offer some of the best marine life in this hemisphere, and off Marathon both Coffins Patch and Sombrero Reef are SPAs. If you haven't dived these reefs in a few years you'll be amazed at not only the sheer quantity of fish, but also how friendly they've become now that they are no longer in jeopardy from spearfishing or hook-and-line angling.
"Thumbs up! The diving was excellent and there were lots of big fish and lobster."
- R.R., Cleveland, Ohio, Aug. '00.
"Good diving for beginners, excellent photo opportunities and lots of fish."
- P.S., Dallas, Texas, June '00.
"Marathon diving is the best-kept secret in the Florida Keys."
- M.B., Carroll, Ohio, July '00.
Lower Keys: Looe Key to Key West
Crossing the Seven Mile Bridge affords one of the most scenic vistas of the whole trip, and at its southern end, the bridge deposits you on Long Key. From here, you'll be island-hopping through the Torch Keys, Big Pine Key and onward to Key West. But slow down here, for there are some fascinating stops to make along the way, from viewing the rare and endangered Key deer to the immaculate reefs off Looe Key.
This protected five-square-mile reef is a series of well-defined coral grooves stocked with life from crabs to free-swimming morays to nurse sharks. Shipwreck enthusiasts will love the Adolphus Busch, Sr., a retired freighter that rests perfectly upright in just 100 feet of water. In the few years the Busch has been on the bottom, she has transformed from a derelict freighter to a virtual fish magnet, with massive schools of tomtate grunts, horse-eye jacks and barracuda. But the stars of this undersea circus are the three resident jewfish commonly sighted.
And finally, there is legendary Key West--where diving is almost as popular as any and all forms of sun-drenched hedonism. Key West has its own spur-and-groove reefs with abundant coral and plentiful marine life at sites like Nine-Foot Stake, Lost Reef, Western Dry Rocks and the Sambos (Eastern, Western and Middle). There are two prime shipwrecks in Key West: the Cayman Salvage Master, a 187-foot Coast Guard buoy tender sunk in April of 1985; and the 75-foot vessel dubbed Joe's Tug. Coming soon will be the Vandenberg, a 520-foot behemoth of a ship that will make a stunning artificial reef, eclipsing even Key Largo's massive Spiegel Grove by 10 feet.
Looe Key
"Easy diving and great visibility. We enjoyed seeing lots of smaller sea life, as well as spotted eagle rays, tarpon, nurse sharks, gray reef sharks, two large southern stingrays and a jewfish."
- S.W., Southgate, Mich., July '00.
"Great diving for beginners. You can stay down for hours on one tank."
- R.F., Merrick, N.Y., July '00.
Key West
"I was pleasantly surprised at the abundance of marine life."
- C.P., Summit, N.J., Feb. '00.
"Great for shallow dives, and Key West is a blast topside."
- A.B., Aurora, Ill., July '00.

subset: commoncrawl


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In 1964, Barry Goldwater won the Republican nomination for president and probably lost the election at the same moment.
I would remind you, he said in his acceptance speech, that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. Some reporter remarked, Oh my God, he's going to run as Barry Goldwater!
Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is running for president and he apparently intends to run as Gov. Rick Perry of Texas. He recently described evolution as a theory with gaps.
In Texas, we teach both creationism and evolution because I figure you're smart enough to figure out which one is right. He also declared that scientists have manipulated the data on global warming and that scientists are coming to question that doctrine.
Perry is precisely right that evolution is a theory with gaps. The same is true of the theory of relativity and the theory of quantum dynamics. Theories are what science relies on to guide research and great theories almost always have gaps. You can't do physics without the best theories available, despite the gaps, and you can't do modern biology without evolution. Creationism, which means the attempt to use scientific evidence to support a literal interpretation of Genesis, isn't a theory at all and has no scientific utility.
Perry has more of a case on global warming. That term indicates both a body of scientific research and a political agenda based on that research. Global warming activists have sometimes exaggerated their case and there are honest and well-informed scientists who question the evidence and the arguments behind the theory. However, that doesn't mean that the scientific consensus behind global warming is weakening just yet.
Perry's statements are unforced errors. Whatever he thinks of evolution, he won't be designing a high school science curriculum in the Oval Office. Whatever he thinks of climate change, he has not the expertise nor will he have the time to parse the many complicated issues involved in the science. His remarks, though questionable, were neither ignorant nor immoderate, but they will be used to show that he is a right wing ignoramus. The Obama campaign and its allies in the press will bring them back to the front page again and again.
He might have said that presidents are not required to have opinions about evolution. He should have said that, whatever the truth about the climate, the U.S. government is not about to adopt policies that will increase the price of energy and hobble economic growth.
Gov. Perry's Texas has enjoyed an astonishingly strong job growth. Under President Barack Obama, national economic growth has been dreadful and millions of jobs have been lost. Regardless of who deserves how much credit and blame, Perry can argue that he represents the one and Obama the other. If he wins, that is what he will win on. He should adopt the mantra of the 1992 Clinton campaign: It's the economy, stupid.
Kenneth C. Blanchard Jr. is a professor of political science at Northern State University. Write to him at firstname.lastname@example.com. The views presented are his and do not represent Northern State University.


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Very Fine repro.Very pleased with it.
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Very nice artwork. Very please with color and clarity.
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A very good, well printed item that stands pride of place in my front room.
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Hung on wall behind sofa in recently remodeled family room. Craftsman style decore.
Beautiful poster
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Nice smaller accent piece for the other piece I purchased.
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Vocal Range – Mezzo
Singing – Musical Theater
Dancing – Jazz
Languages – American English
Height – 5 feet 5 inches / 165 cm
Hair – Blonde
Eyes – Brown
Body Type – Average
Ethnicity – White/Caucasian
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photo gallery: Clumsy Thumbsy Autocorrect
20 of 57
Where's My Phone?
Kinsey B. from Jackson, Tennessee sent in this text conversation with her mother. We've all been there.
Send us your "Clumsy Thumbsy" Autocorrect!
Comments - 133
Page 1 of 9
Watching "The Bachelor" and texting a friend... me- Go Clare! Kelly- Shaggy. I'm playing catch up with Dr. :) -Shhhhh -Dvr -Stupid spell check! Lol. Me- Bahaha! I'm sending this to Ellen. :)
Posted at 7:37PM on March 10th 2014 by Carrie Peveler
In Louisiana we love eating boiled crawfish with all the side dishes but not quite with this side item...this is a true example of auto correct gone wrong!!! I texted my friend this yesterday, "Hey Carlyss Boil & Go is doing a special on crawfish, I was gonna see if you wanted to go in on some. They are $5.50 per lb if you get 10 lbs or more, and it comes with free corn & prostitutes... POTATOES! Free Potatoes! Not Prostitutes!!!" She got a kick out of that one.
Posted at 8:08AM on March 5th 2014 by Tressa
We have a chat group on whatsapp called "Filmy Foodie funks". The conversation was between Anjali and Rahul who are husband and wife, myself and our another girlfriend. Anjali: Hey guys, Just cocked this today. Rahul: OMG. LOL. Angali: No I mean cooked, grilled chicken with saland Sweni: Hmmm...Rahul, we know who is wearing the pants. Sweni: Salands? Yogi: After reading this message, I am so cocked. Rahul: I must say we were bit tipsy last night.
Posted at 8:10PM on February 18th 2014 by Yogi
Hey ellen first I want to say that I am a big fan my dad is a plumer and my mom is working for a coppente.
Posted at 7:34PM on February 10th 2014 by Ariana Cabezas
Hi Ellen I'm Carmen from New Zealand and I think that you should totally come here and do a show because I bet that us 'kiwis' would love to have you here and you can see how it feels like to be a 'kiwi' not literally become a kiwi because I love the way you are as an American :) And if you do come,I dare YOU to come and bungy jump of the sky tower in Auckland and I will come to see you there!!!!!!! Just letting you know I'm only 10 years old.And I love watching your show especially Clumsy Thumbsy Autocorrect! I don't even know If I should be watching that?! I love you ellen!!!!
Posted at 5:10PM on January 29th 2014 by Carmen
hi Ellen I'm a big fan of yours. I am turning 13 on July 31. I live in Vancouver Canada. I love you soo much and I want to see you preform live on my birthday. But my parents cant pay for the flight, hotel, food ect. when we are there. I babysit but no one needs a babysitter. Can you please give me a little shout out so I can work and pay of the bills to see you and get your autograph in my book I started to make about you? thank you for your time! love your jokes. :) love hallel slakov :)
Posted at 5:42PM on January 27th 2014 by hallel
Maria Sanu : Right done now? is it what you said Rasha Ashik Mustafa : idk i mena in the beginning it should be 7th July since that is the Audution date then thetas it and just write a month earlier when we are fingerling and @?#!$ gangirling* fangirling* Maria Sanu : Haha really! fingering xD Rasha Ashik Mustafa : dant even start with that $#?@! dont* ?$@#! I have a bad typo day today Maria Sanu : we could totes sent some #?!@$ like that to ellen
Posted at 12:05AM on January 26th 2014 by Rasha Ashik
I asked my sister if she could take me to the shops Me: Can you take me to the shop? Sister: we would have to take the midgets car Me: midgets? Sister: **Mothers Sister: auto correct -_-
Posted at 11:28PM on January 22nd 2014 by Allison B
The following is a text exchange between me and my partner regarding me walkin gour dog Diego... Me: I will feed and walk him and then drive over him. Jim: I like it except for the last part. Me: LOL. Oops. Drive him over. Jim: Ok that sounds better:-)
Posted at 10:13PM on January 20th 2014 by Andrew
this was really on facebook today- I can't use real names!! Cleaning out my panty, finding stuff that expired a year ago. I think this may be telling of my housekeeping skills..... Like · · 23 minutes ago · Debi ***** you are finding expired stuff in your PANTY? that might be an issue
Posted at 10:12AM on January 15th 2014 by Carolyn Farrell Kelleher
My 19 year old daughter sent me this text Daughter: I feel #!@?$ lol omg I feel sick* Mom: OMG Daughter: I hate autocorrect lol
Posted at 6:12PM on January 10th 2014 by Krista Jenkins
So I talked to Bonnie and it looks like we are having Christmas at her house. :) She talked to Mom and Mom was happy that someone wanted to take over Christmas. So, that will be good since she has a lot more space. Talk to u later : Ok what time? Bonnie didn't say but would guess noon :) Pliers dokie Auto correct! Okie LOL:) Send it to Ellen!!
Posted at 7:48PM on January 9th 2014 by April Atkisson
I'm part of a facebook group called TOP TIPS 4 MUMS with most members based in North-West London, UK. A woman posted "Can you please recommend me a breast cleaning in nw london?". Apparently she meant breast clinic. Some of the reactions were: A what? a breast cleaning??? u sure? Breast feeding clinic ??
Posted at 3:49PM on January 8th 2014 by Rachel Roth
My daughter and I were exchanging texts about me washing my grandson's coat. Mom: I was gonna wash Ry's coat but it says Dry Clean Only. It needs a cleaning pretty soon. Kate: Wash it anyway. I did, just on genital. Mom: On WHAT?!?!?!? OMG woman, I don't wanna b around when you do the laundry!!! Kate: Lmao! Now I understand autocorrect issues!!!
Posted at 11:29AM on January 5th 2014 by Linda
this is clumbsy instruction manual. I just bought a new tablet. The instruction manual says "When CPU in high-speed operation, especially in 3D games or in ong time playback high-definition video, the fuselage will have the phenomenon of fever. Also says, " Storage capacity that dishonest nominal for android system occupies about hundreds of MB storage capacity, also in order to install the software needs, the system must lay off certain storage capacity, so the actual usable space and nominal space have deviation." ???????????????????????
Posted at 1:27PM on December 18th 2013 by joann
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Amazon with SFT Inc the 100 8" Glow Stick Bracelets for $6.99 with free shipping on $25+. Contains 100 assorted color 2-glow 8" bracelets, and 8 to 12 hour glow time on most colors.
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Hi there,
Okay I've been photographing the moon of recent for the "Time Lapse" project (See thread in General Discussions Area), there are a few things that you can do.
First and for most you need to stablise the camera so use a tripod. If you don't have one then you need to come up with an idea of how to keep the camera still by resting it something like a table or bench and elevating the camera so you can see the moon through the eye piece.
Next shutter speed, sounds strange but I assume you are shooting at night, (sometimes the moon can be seen in daylight hours) therefore you will have slow shutter speed which means the camera has to be kept very still. You can try to increase the shutter speed by increasing the ISO this may help a little.
The other thing that I found was metering. In the lense the moon was a relatively small disc in the middle of the large dark background. I switched to Spot Metering so the camera exposure is set by the meter looking at a small area in the middle of the lense instead of metering the whole frame your shooting. Found this increased the exposure from 1/3rd of second to around 1/60th of a second.
Your still going to need the tripod/steady surface to stand the camera on though.
The only other tip I can give is line up the shot and take it using either remote switch that plugs into the camera or use the timer on the camera.
Post a couple of shots and see if we can help you more.
Good Luck


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Some utilities have additional requirements, such as minimum version of OpenGL required.
For more information, please refer to the webpage of the utility you are interested in.


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Calories inPlanet Sub Sub (6 Inch) Crab Californian
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How did the teams perform?
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Page 1 of 5
I don't think they (Barca) will defend the champions league tittle this season, but stll a wonderful team.
Barca are a powerhouse, but nowhere near as good as last year, I don't think they are winning the Champions League this year.
letting eto'o go was something that just happened...lets move on...barca played average against almeria...they played impatiently (i'm pretty sure most barca fans who watch most of their victories) see barca play slow then quick then slow then quick...but kudos to almeria for a full 90 min of pressure to rush barca into mistakes...and at a good time when xavi and iniesta hadn't played for a long while together...thus...the mid usually rushed the ball forward and the final ball mostly came from forwards rather than the mid's..which is not barca's strong suit...once iniesta and xavi get more games under thier belts this season...no matter how much pressure you put on them in the mid...they will still each you alive in that area...and messi, ibra, henry, pedro, jeffren, bojan...are all gunna have field days in front of the net
barca made a big mistake by letting Eto leave i think hes better than ibramovich and they will regret it
I beg to differ. There's a reason why Etoo was shipped out. But Ibra isn't really that bad. He just needs to score more outside the La Liga (*champions league -hint*).
We just can't expect the team to play superbly every matches, there will be some downturns during the season.
We just can't expect the team to play superbly every matches, there will be some downturns during the season.
Winning is never a downturn. Granted they could have done better and the score should have been 3 or 4 nothing. But you are right no team is always perfect.
for the millionth time your wrong. The defense has changed around. Messi is so selfish now that hes the worlds best player seems hes full of himself. If you watch every game you will find that Messi sees better chances all the time but decides to go for it himself. Henry has been out for a while. Henry is also not in good form this season. He hasnt scored a goal in like 15 games. Ibrahimovic is 5 goals in 6 matches... Your gonna blame everything on him???
Wow that was slow, interesting to see. Barca looked mortal today. Nice goal by Pedro. Cheap tackle by Puyols. Did he get a red card?
Amazing talent Messi, i just wish he would cut out his diving.he does'nt need to cheat.Fair enough he was touched but not near hard enough for a trip.shame.Good win,3 points is 3 points
barca plyd great...i would have liked to see zlatan have done more than just flop inside the 18, but overall ball movement is arguably the best around
i just can't wait for the match between barca and real madrid... i really do like both teams but i don't like c. ronaldo but Real with ronaldo is dangerous!!
not the best game but still 3 points. and so what if it wasent the best game ?! manchester united got 1 point from an own goal in the last minute ?!
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Victoria County History
A History of the County of Essex: Volume 4: Ongar Hundred
W. R. Powell (Editor)
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Citation Show another format: BHO MLA Turabian Chicago MARC21 Wikipedia
'Bobbingworth: Charities', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 4: Ongar Hundred (1956), pp. 18. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15533 Date accessed: 11 March 2014. Add to my bookshelf
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CHARITIES Footnotes
Robert Bourne of Blake Hall (see above), by will proved 1666, left a cottage and land to provide clothing at Christmas for four poor old people of the parish. (fn. 74) The rent was £4 5s. in 1708 and £13 in 1866 when the property was sold for £500 which was invested. The house seems to have been used before then as the parish poorhouse. (fn. 75) In 1950 the income of £13 9s. 4d. was used to buy clothing vouchers of £4.
John Pool, by will proved 1839, left £100 in trust for the repair of three graves in the churchyard. This was not legally a charitable bequest and the legacy was apparently never paid, although in 1921 it was thought that the income had once been received. (fn. 76)
For the Bell Acre see above-Church.
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Last Call
"f*** spinnin on my pivot homie, im finna travel til the ref blows the whistle on me"
This is just one of many lyrics that I love. Just simple but very clever! That's how I live too! I don't stop for no one. I take care of my fam and friends and do what I need to do! COLEWORLD!!
Videos : Latest J Cole videos
Music: Latest Music From J Cole
Fan Activity: Latest fan comments & messages


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We thank you for choosing ZaReason and supporting the Linux community. To those who attended the 12th Annual Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE 12X) and experienced our ultimate gaming machine Zeto, we appreciate your support by spreading positive words about our products.
If you are looking for new laptops for yourself or your loved ones, don't forget our new 14" ultra-portable Ultralap 440 and versatile 15.6" Strata 7440.
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The ZaReason Team


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Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Xbox 360
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- Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is an explosive open-world action game set in a massive, highly reactive, war-torn world.
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Mercenaries 2: World in Flames features the latest and most dangerous in civilian and military tech, everything from shiny new sports cars, to the future-tech satellite-guided bunker-busting mini-nuke. Tanks, APCs, boats, luxury automobiles – you name it, you can have it delivered to you in real time. And if you run out of cash you can always 'acquire' the gear you need in the field.
If you see it, you can buy it, steal it, or blow the living crap out of it in Mercenaries 2: World in Flames. Play your own way, or play Mercenaries 2: World in Flames with the help of a friend in the new cooperative multiplayer mode.
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames Features:
Cooperative Multiplayer!: Play the main Mercenaries 2 campaign with the help of your friends.
Play with fire! Mercenaries 2: World in Flames' Ground breaking, general purpose fire technology lets you set fire to buildings, vehicles and people. Shoot holes in the sides of fuel trucks, watch the oil spill under the feet of unsuspecting enemies and light it on fire with a match!
Travel over/under water! Don't worry about drowning ever again: use watercraft or swim to traverse the oceans, rivers and lakes of Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.
Build your own Private Military Company!: Increase and customise your support options in Mercenaries 2: World in Flames by recruiting other mercenaries you meet in the game!
A massive, reactive, and completely unscripted game world!: The world of Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is larger than all of the maps of the first game combined and is jam-packed, full of colorful characters and environments. And this time, every action you make has ramifications throughout the entire country.
Cool new toys!: Dozens of weapons, vehicles and support options are available for to use to blow the crap out of everything in Mercenaries 2: World in Flames! Use the new grappling hook to latch on to flying vehicles and commandeer them in the sky!
Work for the highest bidder!: Clients in Mercenaries 2: World in Flames will offer you money, information and other resources in exchange for your services – provided you haven't done anything to annoy them!


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Today marks the beginning of the Williams's House Blog. We gave our website a complete makeover last fall and have now decided it's time to engage ourselves in today's social networking. We also view our blog as an opportunity to share guest experiences, local events and activities, news about restaurants, and general happenings on the Island. It will be interactive and we look forward to sharing our guests comments and blogs for other guests and website visitors to enjoy. We are setting up carriage rides as one segment and hope to capture all the guests that enjoy this unique esperience. We will also have a wedding section for sharing the exciting and enjoyable weddings that occur at the William's House (about 15-18 each year). We hope visitor's to our website, former and future guests find the blogging enjoyable and fun!
Byron and Deborah Mccutchen
Tags: front porch, innkeepers, owners


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(1) The Food: The main dining venue, Discoveries, as well as the two premium restaurants, Prime C and Aqualina were absolutely wonderful. If you don't want to step foot in the buffet, you don't have to! The only time we did was on the departure day when that was the only restaurant open for lunch, and it was fine. We are not big fans of buffets, so we chose to dine in the other three restaurants. I can say that the BEST soups I have ever had in my life, I have now had aboard the Azamara Quest. The only thing that I felt fell consistently short were the desserts. I am a sugar-addict, so that disappointed me.
(2) Entertainment: My husband and I are in our 30's and consequently were one of the youngest couples on this cruise. However, I felt like the entertainment provided targeted everyone. From the comedian the first night to the Celine Dion tribute show, we never felt bored. My husband really enjoyed the casino, and I loved the shops! The Cruise Director is TOP NOTCH and a very talented entertainer himself!
(3) Ports of Call/Excursions: We only booked one shore excursion through Azamara, as we prefer a more private touring experience. However, that one excursion was really good. We went to the Selinunte Ruins and really enjoyed the trip.
(4) Rooms/Amenities: The Club Continent Suite is akin to a very nice hotel room. The veranda was lovely. Yes, it is hard to sleep in some mornings (when they are lowering tenders, for example!) but the rooms are great. The bath tub was a nice bonus after all the walking we did day after day! The butler totally adds to the experience and truly does make sure that you have all your needs and wants met (thanks, Ravin!) and the Suite Steward (room attendants) are brilliant...you hardly know they are there but every time you step back into your suite it is perfectly neat and tidy (thanks, Emmanuel!)
I must say that the Hotel Director and his staff are wonderful! Any issues you have are immediately addressed (and those issues are few) and they WORK VERY HARD to ensure your cruise is EXTRAORDINARY!!!!!
(5) Public Spaces: LOVED the Mosaic Cafe, the entertainment there, and the staff. LOVED the spa, the gym, and the ability to get away to quiet corners of the ship when you desired.
I was so surprised that by the end of the week, the crew knew our names, knew our likes and dislikes, and made us feel like we had been cruising with them for years. AMAZING CREW! They MAKE AZAMARA and without them it would not be as special.
Would I change anything on this trip? Not much! The only suggestion I would give to Azamara would be to work on the organization of their theme parties (White Night) so that the wait staff/servers know their tables/sections, and know to clear plates, take drink orders, etc. The rest of that party was great.
Met some amazing people, had amazing fun, and we are already considering where we will travel next with Azamara.


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Find us on |
Members of the 2011-2012 PRIDE include:
- Senior Band Members and Other Featured Members
- Brass:
Piccolos – Robyn Smith and Jordan Warren
Alto Saxophones – Nick Luciano, Sarah Robinson, LaTia Bostick,
Tenor Saxophones – Chris Money and Mick Rodriguez
Mellophones – Ben File, C.J. Mowery, Liz Overman and Ryn Crawford
Trumpets – Ashton Alexander, Cory Kluttz, Taylor Lee and Steven Gibson
Trombones – D.J. Colson, Darby Reedy, James Everidge, John Lincourt and Brandon Douglas
Baritones – Morgan Soulantikas
Tubas – Austin Snider, Zach Veitenheimer, Patrick Karriker and Patrick Moore
- Drumline:
Brandon Lloyd, Brandon Brown, Brent Messenger, Cherokee Blackmon, Collin Taylor, E.J. Richardson, Jennifer Goble, Melanie Hudson and Doug Crawford
- Color Guard, under the direction of Liz Crawford:
Amber Strickland, Arsherres Jenkins, Chelsea Retalic, Chelsey Lowery, Jackie Davis, Jessica Clawson, Jessica White, Olivia Jones, Quashona Smith, Rachael Moore, Taryn Jenkins, Whitney Campbell, Heather Purvis, Devan Purvis and Brittany Saddler
- Front Rhythm Section:
Richard Plummer, guitar, and Dillion Shull, bass guitar
- Drum majors :
Brent Messenger and Sarah Robinson
- Mascot:
Rose Crawford
- Director of Bands:
Dr. Steve Etters
- Percussion instructor:
Peter Zlotnick


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Katherine Grainger lauds GB women in sport
Latest Football News - 1 year ago
Watching: Subscribe for the latest sports news from PA: bit.ly Olympic gold medallist, Katherine Grainger, is proud of the performances of Great Britain's female athletes over the past 12 months. Breaking news: www.youtube.com Sports news: www.youtube.com Entertainment news: www.youtube.com Follow PA Sport on Twitter: www.twitter.com The Press Association: www.pressassociation.com
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Thinking about organic wine (in chapters)
What DDT could do, safely, to mosquitoes in tropical Africa, other pesticides do to fungi and nematodes in California's wine country. Safely -- perfectly safely? I don't know. But notice this. No high Namibian or Gabonese official will ever be able to ban 1,3-Dichloropropene for our fields and vineyards as EPA director William Ruckleshaus was able to ban DDT on behalf of all Africa and indeed all the world. Go green as an individual if you like, but as a society we'll take our own risks.
The second plausibility problem with organic food, the whole "health of the planet" thing, is also a problem which fantasy solves. Organicism's Herculean style in the fields, necessary to give us the clean, unbuggy produce we think is normal, actually seems to be worse for our Fragile Home than what is grimly called "monoculture." Both people who admire the practice and those who don't agree: the organic farmer must actually stake out more land and use more fertilizers, water, and labor, exemplified in hand weeding and mulching, for example, than conventional farmers do. The organic farm, pre-industrial for a purpose, has got to spread itself out so that the carrot, D. carota var. sativa, has a chance for a remotely worthwhile yield in the face of all those rules governing "companion plantings" and not harming hungry pests. This is why organic produce is nobly expensive.
To be fair, there are a few scientific papers and research studies advising that organic farming is not that much more inefficient than conventional farming; but this seems to be the best that can be said of it, and the statement still leaves unanswered questions. A year and a half ago the website Hodgeslab, maintained by a biochemist and Ph.D candidate at Berkeley, cited two studies on the matter, a Science article from 2002 and a Cornell University study from 2005. The one averred that organic farming is "80% as efficient" in terms of yield per acre, the other that yields of the two types are "identical" and that energy and water use is actually reduced, and soil quality improved, under an organic regimen. ("This has implications for global warming" -- yes, perhaps, especially if we consider how much energy the organic farm's ballooned labor force will use to get to work, and how much water they'll drink at work, and shower with after work.) Interestingly, the most encouraging of the two reports nevertheless admits that a Gaia-friendly husbandry is useless for cash crops. "Cultural practices" and the need for intensive labor mean the willfully pre-industrial farm is never going to feed post-industrial demographics. It is also not a promising choice for crops plagued by more pests than the studied cereals are: among which, first on the list is grapes.
Whom to believe? Perhaps looking at the organic farm from another angle would help give us useful information. An article about forestry at National Atlas tells us that, of the "nearly" one billion acres of forests covering America when Europeans arrived, we as a nation have cleared, mostly for agriculture, a whopping -- 300 million acres. That two-thirds of what was forest remains so, or has been returned to second growth, while our all too well-fed population has exploded like a 3 liter box of organic wine would seem to prove, absent scholarly studies, what efficiency really looks like. Something to think about, the next time you enjoy an afternoon in a suburban forest preserve. Why is the terrain so flat? Why are there bricks laid out seemingly to no purpose here and there in the dirt trails, and why are there weird, neglected cement structures half buried among the trees? Maybe it was an onion or spinach farm, as our own local woods were, and is no longer needed as such.
I don't doubt that an individual organic farm produces good food. I don't doubt your backyard garden does the same, without your spreading chemicals on it. "Organic farmers do what you would do," Hodgeslab tells us. They start vegetables from seed in greenhouses for example, and grow them until they are strong enough to be planted out, and to out-muscle weeds on their own. Yes, this is what we would do but are no longer obliged to do, because modern industrial farming has freed us all from the need literally to sustain ourselves. We are freed to do other things with life -- itself a type of efficiency -- and we accept what economists call the trade-off of having to wash fruits and vegetables which, granted, may carry a trace of an herbicide or pesticide whose terrors environmentalists have tended to lie about anyway.
The carrot remains the same, and the crux of the matter, the agenda, remains make-believe. Fantasy and, frankly, buzz words can quell doubts about health-of-the-planet issues just as they can about personal safety and pesticide issues. The words always sound so wholesome, so inarguable. The entire environmentalist project is proudly summed up in the simple, good word green. Or consider "sustainable farming" and "reducing carbon footprints." Think it over. The first is a tautology, surely. Mankind learned how to farm some ten thousand years ago. In what sense is it not sustainable? The only people for whom it might not be sustainable would be organic farmers, who hobble themselves with an acting-out of risky, pre-modern practices that American agriculture especially triumphed over, quite some time ago.
And as for the second, well. To take that seriously, you first must swallow hard, shut your eyes, and forget all you've learned lately -- since the publication of organic farming university studies in 2005, certainly -- about scientist-activists like Michael Mann and Phil Jones, ensconced in universities, throwing out inconvenient data negating that joy of their lives and that point of their careers and fame, "global warming." If it seems preposterous that good-souled greens would ever lie about matters so serious, allow me to remind you of the passions of Mr. Ruckleshaus.
Where does wine come into this? (You might think we had forgotten the exploding Brand X organic boxed wine with which we began our story. Not at all.) If organic wine makes the customer happy and gives an added fillip to sales for a while, fine. I simply think it's important to recognize make-believe where we see it, because make-believe is not in all ways harmless. We are dealing here not merely with food and drink and consumer buying patterns, but with a social movement that gives sheltered Westerners an intoxicating new sense of spiritual discipline -- beware, Africa -- but also doesn't take questions well and has long had cruel friends in awfully high places. And that has an unpleasing, and little noticed, attachment to violence.
I was on the phone with a wholesale wine salesman. "Do you have any more of Brand X on the shelves?" he asked. "Because we're having a problem with it exploding."
This salesman is an ex-actor with a fine "chesty" voice and a fondness for the quick pun, so I was about to try to give him one of my best and reply, "You mean, exploding sales, or just exploding?" Har har. But I didn't get the chance. He went on to say that a few of the boxes -- we are talking about a boxed wine, I should explain, 3 liters per -- had actually made a mess in the trunk of his car and that the same thing was happening elsewhere. At the warehouse, I presume. He did not dwell on details and anyway is working strictly on commission, so tends to be in a hurry to get on to his next, paying gig.
I told him we had none left on the shelves and he was relieved. No one wants customers bringing home wine and having it explode on them. Three liters equals four bottles. That's a big mess.
The problem child in this case is not just a boxed wine but an organic boxed wine. Its packaging proclaims "No Sulfites Added." (NSA is a common acronym.) Unfortunately, it is sulfites you need to counteract the yeasts and benign bacteria that may be present and may continue to work in a wine after it is made and bottled, or boxed. What is happening, therefore, to Brand X is that fermentation is still going on among all the unsulfited life sloshing about in the box. The buildup of gases eventually reaches a critical point. The cellars of Champagne used to be notorious for startling noises and a detritus of glass shards on the floor each spring, as warm weather reached even underground, and bottles of plain chardonnay or pinot noir whose remaining yeasts had been stultified by cold reawakened, re-fermented, and set about making, well, Champagne. Originally this was not what Dom Perignon wanted his wines to do; the bubbles which we now think so delightful were considered a flaw. Little did he know he was also making organic wine. But then, he could hardly help it. He flourished around 1700, when everything was organic, pre-industrial, pre-preservative, pre-pesticide -- pre-safe -- whether anybody liked it or not.
Which brings us to the great question -- I hope we're not shocked --: organic, shmorganic?
In my opinion, yes. It's not just because of the aggravations and failures of methode-champenoise, double magnum boxed wines. It's because organic wine, like organic things in general, logically can only be make-believe. Harmless make-believe, perhaps. But really. Let's think.
It simply makes no sense that a fruit or vegetable grown "organically" is any different, as a product, from one grown conventionally. Surely species don't change, surely an apple or a carrot, or a grape, does not emerge with a totally new color or new and better properties thanks to organic farming. At the end of the day Daucus carota var. sativa, the carrot, remains D. carota var. sativa. The great thing that organic farmers do, it seems, is to avoid pesticides, on the theory that a carrot not sprayed with protective scary chemicals is better for us "and for the planet" than one so treated.
That sounds plausible. When we think of ingesting poisons, we shudder. It seems right that food should come to our table without them. (Incidentally, The Organic Garden by Christine and Michael Lavelle, Hermes House, 2003, recommends, of all things, sulphur as a natural pesticide.) But there are two problems with this nice plausibility, and they are both problems that make-believe solves.
One is that we lack our ancestors' everyday experience with buggy food. Oh, I doubt it happened all the time, but I doubt also that everything from the grocery store was as pristine as we expect now. (Little snapshots of a previous era can be very startling. Katherine Mansfield wrote a memoir called In a German Pension, in which she describes a woman shuddering in revulsion at a gentleman's kind offer to share some fresh spring cherries. "I understand," he soothed her. "Ladies often don't care for cherries. It is the little worms ...." It was 1909.) We seem to think clean, sound fruits and vegetables are normal while pesticides literally cloud the issue, just as we tend to presume healthy children are normal while vaccines are dangerous impositions on the ordained functionings of the body. Not quite. Insect life cycles and larvae are perfectly natural, as are things like diphtheria and polio, and far more serious these last.
Because we think spotless produce is normal and won't tolerate anything less, we open the door to the only task the organic farmer may be permitted to do: he must go to Herculean efforts to make sure he gives us D. carotus var. sativa, while he is yet stripped of all the easy modern tools that have long made the carrot what we want, technically. He has to give us the default carrot, you might say, which is also an emotionally magical carrot, a carrot of pre-industrial escapist fantasy.
The buyer gets the emotional satisfaction of a adhering to a religious discipline, really, along with eating good produce. It seems people will pay for and enjoy that discipline, even when the produce itself can't be organic despite the grower's best efforts: "Even for organically grown fruit and vegetables," advises the site Natural Holistic Health, "it is wise to wash because the farmer in the next field over could have been spraying pesticides that inadvertently entered the organic farmers [sic] crops." So for those who believe, it seems that even D. carotus var paradoxica, the illusion of the illusion of obedience, is what matters.
"Green" consumers (and producers) will probably want to point out now that pesticides, after all, are meant to kill life and so surely it must be better to have no contact with them than any. That sounds right. Still it leaves open the question, what are they, and where?
For a long time intellectual fashion has persuaded us that those clouds of pesticides are, to mix a metaphor, laid on with a trowel and that our bodies stagger under their accumulating toxicity every day. Natural Holistic Health muses that, when we get sick, who knows but what it won't be from that. "When you or your family members are diagnosed with a chronic illness doctors cant [sic] often pinpoint an exact cause. Is the cause the pesticides from your produce and processed foods? You'll never really have the answer." Possibly not. But remember that our forebears ate organic everything all their lives, and still died, often shockingly young. (What of? I don't remember, literally. The green movement, like the anti-vaccination movement, feeds off historical amnesia.) In any case talking of illness, do let's re-introduce ourselves to just one of humanity's stern old bunkmates, malaria. The classic example of the safe, effective, tragically and hysterically banned pesticide is DDT. It helps stop malaria, or would do if it were allowed. Michael Crichton writes, in his article "Environmentalism as a religion run amok:"
I can list some facts for you. I know you have not read any of these in the newspaper, because newspapers do not report them. I can tell you that DDT is not a carcinogen, did not cause birds to die, and never should have been banned. The people who outlawed it knew that it was not toxic and halted its use anyway. The DDT ban has caused the loss of tens of millions of people, mostly children, whose deaths are directly attributable to a callous, technologically advanced Western society that promoted the new cause of environmentalism by pushing a fantasy about a pesticide, and thus irrevocably harmed the Third World. Banning DDT is one of the most disgraceful episodes in the 20th-century history of America.
From reading Crichton you must conclude it was not merely tragically and hysterically banned, but maliciously banned. Let the little brown people far away die -- God, there must be plenty of Gabonese or whatever already -- while mosquitoes in their backyards live and thrive; we want to feel good about protecting Spaceship Earth, our Fragile Home. It's because we enjoy uninfested food and can expect to live past thirty, all thanks to modern chemical miracles, that we can afford both to forget the people who still do live hideously close to nature, and yet jump through emotionally satisfying hoops to pretend we do, too.
Perhaps you don't care to trust Michael Crichton. Trust, then, the words of the man who banned the godsend chemical, EPA director(1972) William Ruckleshaus. According to an article called "100 things you need to know about DDT" at the site Junkscience.com, as an assistant attorney general he testified to DDT's "exemplary" record of safe use in the ending of malaria, explaining regretfully later to environmentalist leaders that, while in court, he had had to submit his emotions to scientific facts. (He was a member of the Environmental Defense Fund.) He banned it later because his position atop the EPA gave him the power frankly to "make policy" as he liked.
A preliminary P.S.: could the tide be turning? A new documentary on the banning of DDT, 3 Billion and Counting, premieres in Manhattan on Friday, September 17. That's tomorrow.
This recipe comes to us via an old-fashioned source, not often encountered in these high-tech days of cable TV and satellite cooking shows and a thousand food blogs, all their own feasts of unique and delicious content. It comes to us by word of mouth.
Recently a customer asked for a good chianti to use in cooking. After she had chosen, she opened up and revealed the secret of what to do about all the fresh, homegrown tomatoes with which good gardeners are overrun at this time of year. I listened, blinking in amazement at the simplicity of it, and then as soon as I could, I wrote it all down on whatever came to hand. A paper plate in the employee break room sufficed.
Unhappily, I am not one of those good gardeners blessed with too many homegrown tomatoes, nor do I know anybody who has such a store. (You might think me either laughably or tragically deprived, this being mid-September for heaven's sake. Or maybe both.) My immediate neighbors and I tend to concentrate on highly inedible geraniums and New Guinea impatiens, or in my case, goldenrod. But since you might be pomaceously luckier than me, I share the recipe. Tomato-poor, the beautiful photographs I acknowledge to come from Katie, who lives right here in the same town, cooks, gardens, takes pictures, and shares all -- sumptuously, pomaceously -- on her blog, Katie's Passion Kitchen.
Come to think of it, lush homegrown tomatoes might be better served simply by being harvested, sliced, and eaten as is, rather than soaked and herbed and dried as this recipe outlines. But perhaps you have enough to justify doing it all. Or perhaps the recipe would really shine as a sort of supporting vehicle for store-bought tomatoes, which are not much more than just acceptable, year round. Your choice.
Slice fresh tomatoes thickly, and soak them to cover 24 hours in chianti. Drain them, and reserve the wine for use in the same way again -- but only one more time, I was told.
Lay the tomato slices on a baking sheet and sprinkle them with herbs -- parsley, basil, and oregano. Place the baking sheet in the oven, set to the lowest temperature possible -- 175 or 200 degrees F. Bake, or rather dry, the tomatoes for 8 to 10 hours, or overnight, until they are leathery but not crisp.
Freeze them in freezer bags for storage, and use them in all kinds of ways throughout the long, gray-brown days of winter: in breads, in soups, in stews, in sauces, in omelettes, in anything.
A sampling of Katie's recent posts for you to enjoy -- and I am happy to assure you, she far outcooks me:
The packaging got me. I took a field trip to a large local liquor store and, while browsing, couldn't resist a little brown bottle of beer with a pretty picture of a medieval lady on the label. It's called Duchesse de Bourgogne Belgian ale, made by Brouwerij Verhaeghe, Vichte, Belgium.
And it is so very good. Of course I know next to nothing about beer, so you have no reason to trust my judgment. Come to think of it, there seem to be as many kinds of beer in the world as there are wines, so when you further consider how daunting a prospect it is to learn a bit about the latter, and then further muse on how little time I devote to the former, well -- all of it should further illumine the awful depths of my ignorance.
The few beers I have tried have disappointed, being either very strong, black-brown porters or stouts resembling a besoured liquid pumpernickel bread with foam on top; or faintly inoffensive paler brews tasting more or less like a handful of aspirins dissolved in water; or very crisp, very light, fizzy concoctions tasting like one or two aspirins only, dissolved perhaps in a pitcher of very weak and heavily carbonated lemon-lime soda. Every time, it has been the bitterness I can't cope with. Some people rave about loving "hoppy" beers, and those who know much more than I do have listened to my complaints and then recommended to me brands which they consider "not too hoppy," or as exemplifying "the malt flavor more than the hops" -- just what I'd like.
Still no luck. No luck until now, when, let loose unchaperoned in the wilderness of a megastore beer aisle, I picked entirely by label. Why not choose the pensive, veiled Flemish princess, all garbed in gold and black?
I brought it home, chilled it in the fridge, forgot about it for a few days, and then opened it and poured. Wa-la, as bad novelists say when they want to be insufferably cute.
The beer's color is a beautiful clear amber-red, the head frothy, enormous, and long-lasting. (This is said to be a measure of quality, I believe?) The taste, thankfully, was entirely sweet without a hint of bitterness that I could sense. It reminded me of a very delicate, thoughtful, and grown-up cola, a comparison which I hope will not be taken amiss. More astute drinkers have reviewed Duchesse de Bourgogne elsewhere and have noted its fruit and chocolate tastes and its pleasantly sour, dry finish, reminiscent even of balsamic vinegar. Needless to say I did not recognize anything like that. I only found it rich and delicious, actually finished the entire bottle with my lunch (and felt strangely as though I'd like a nap afterward), and now look forward to returning to that store for more. I'll have to remember to bring money, to be sure, since an adorable 11.2 ounce bottle costs $5.99 plus tax.
Technical details are spelled out simply on the label and at the website of the U.S. importer, D&V International. Duchesse is a combination of 8- and 18-month old beers, the 18-month old portion having also been aged in oak barrels.
Its being named for a late-fifteenth century duchess reminds me of old testimonies we read, in histories and biographies, of ale being a major part of everyone's diet when water was unsafe, wine unreliable and expensive, milk reserved for cheesemaking, and coffee and tea unheard of. Ordinary families brewed their own beers, while the lord of the manor hired an ale-wife to brew for a great household's needs. Even children guzzled their daily pints or more, we are told, beginning with breakfast and carrying on. I have never understood how children in any era could have been prevailed upon to drink down, every day, the flagons bitter stuff that I don't like. Now, having tasted the Duchess, I begin to understand. If the ales of centuries past were anything like this, I'm sure any four-year-old and I could happily imbibe at the crack of dawn, and lunchtime too, for pleasure as well as calories, carbohydrates, and necessity. And the low alcohol level meant -- and means -- that getting a "buzz" would be among the least of its attractions.
I'm pleased also to report that, according to good sources, not only are Flemish red ales "the most wine-like of beers," but Duchesse de Bourgogne specifically is "the high priestess of Flemish reds" and enjoys "a cult-like following." How thrilling. Induct me.
... and thanks to all who entered and gave me advice about how to manage a giveaway (this is only my second). Thanks also to CSN stores, which sponsored it and will be sending a $55 gift certificate to the nice lady whose email I pulled from a hat -- no kidding, well it's not really a hat but more of a nice clean bowl, but I do write down all the emails on individual slips of paper, including multiple entries, and then fold them and jumble them up and pick with my eyes closed -- anyway, they will be sending the good news to Katrina, of the blog Wakeboarding Mama.
The company is I.D. Vin -- Identite & Developpement, "le marketing au service du vin." When you surf to their website, put on the sound on your computer, so you can hear the lovely trilling of French birds (I presume) in French vineyards.
The company works to publicize the wines of a long list of clients, concentrating it seems on winemakers of the Rhone, the Loire, the south of France, and Bordeaux, although they serve exports (Chile, Spain -- good old Freixenet) as well. Part of what they do for their clients is to make short wine tasting videos in which a French woman, sitting calmly in a very plain, white-backdrop setting graced by natural light, greets the viewer with a pleasant bon jour, then observes, smells, tastes, and comments upon a wine. She concludes with food and wine pairing recommendations. Each video lasts about two and a half minutes, and is accompanied by sidebar links to the winemaker's home website and to a fiche de degustation, a PDF of technical information about the grapes used, aging methods, and so forth.
If you studied a little French in high school you might enjoy the challenge of trying to understand a native speaker on a topic with which you are somewhat familiar. I was able to grasp perhaps one sentence in ten, and that was with obvious contextual clues If nothing else, in one of them you can hear the French pronunciation of the Spanish "Freixenet," which I was told should be pronounced "fresh-net" but which the nice lady simply rolls off the tongue the way it is spelled: FREX-eh-net.
The first video of the series is embedded below. At almost five minutes long, it is a primer on wine tasting in general, and I wish I could understand more of it because our I.D. Vin hostess gives very particular advice about swirling a wine vigorously even in a restaurant where people might be looking at us oddly, and about holding a good sip just at the front of the mouth, and sloshing it about above the front teeth, between upper lip and cheek. This makes you look inelegant but seems to be important in experiencing and judging a wine's tannin. (In all the videos, these women take good healthy mouthfuls too, and they swallow and they appear to be judging unrehearsed, though of course they are not going to say of their clients' products, "C'est la lampee" (swill.) She also says something about all rose wines having or being something "sauf exceptions," without exceptions, but I confess that went over my head too. At the end, luckily, she encourages us all to form "votre propre opinion" on any wine, and then she calmly says "au revoir." In this primer video, the bottle and glass of "Chateau la Pompe" hold, of course, only water, as our hostess says we have long since noticed. Frankly I wouldn't be too sure. It took me a while.
And la pompe, my dictionary tells me, means "on draught." All in all, a bit of stimulating fun for your bon week-end.
A Loire valley cabernet franc, light and acidic, food-friendly, "juicy," just what Willie Gluckstern in The Wine Avenger said we should all drink when we tired of huge, California cocktail-cabernets.
By itself, underwhelming. Acidic, yes.
With food, faintly licorice-like. (I don't like licorice.) Retail, about $15.
Harrumph. Is a 2005 cabernet franc far past its prime?
You will find a little more about Domaine Dozon at Blog de Laure Dozon. Here -- if you will trust my translation abilities -- Mlle. Laure says that she is a fifth-generation family winemaker, and that she returned to her family's business after working briefly in industry and earning some sort of degree in studies involving food and agriculture (I am unclear on the phrase "un DESS en agro-alimentaire"). The domaine itself comprises 24 hectares ("ha") of land, most of it planted to vines older than 35 years, south of the city of Chinon, along the left bank of the river Vienne. The Vienne is a tributary of the Loire, and is not to be confused either with the French city Vienne far away to the southeast, nor with the Austrian capital Vienna, which is (confusingly enough) spelled Vienne in French.
There, bon! The main red grape planted at Domaine Dozon is cabernet franc, also called locally "berton." The white grape is chenin [blanc]. Laure's father, Jean-Marie, is still in charge of the operation and my guess is that Laure handles publicity and marketing in addition to any other duties. About fifty people showed up for the July 11th balade/picque-nique in the vineyards this July, for example, so successful a turnout that the domaine hosted another one in early August. If you go to Laure's blog, or to her flickr page, you can see her photos, and virtually accompany the pique-niquers on their balade (stroll). My, the day looked hot.
And by the way, as you are enjoying (or possibly harrumphing over) your glass of Loire red, don't forget the giveaway from CSN stores, running through noon this Friday. Should I publicize the winner's name? And how does one say "giveaway" in French?
You may remember that last month I was lucky enough to be able to host my first giveaway, of a gift certificate good at CSN stores. This the online aggregate shopping site whose 200+ stores offer practically everything you can think of for home, garden, and office, from Corelle dinnerware to home bars to baby things to luxe products. In July, I asked my nice readers to tell me what they would likely shop for at CSN -- I said in my case it would be an immersion blender -- and then leave their emails to be entered into the drawing for the gift certificate.
For my second giveaway, I am able to offer a $55 gift certificate, good again at any of CSNstores' 200 sites. In order to enter into the drawing for this one, I'd like my nice readers to give me some blogging advice.
When I pick a winner in a giveaway, should I then publicize who it is? I didn't do so last time, because the people responding seemed rather private sorts. They seemed not to be jump-up-and-down, "pick me!" bloggers, interested in networking and link exchanges and so on. Some had blogs that obviously weren't current, some had no online presence at all. When you enter a giveaway, do you want to know, a week later, who won the drawing? Do you want the others to know it was you?
I'm just curious. Some bloggers are hugely thorough in the way they host a giveaway: they'll give you many chances to enter -- encouraging you to tweet it, become their google follower, grab their blog badge, and more. I suppose that approach attracts entrants who in turn enjoy being out there themselves, networking and blogrolling, and who would appreciate the further buzz of being declared the winner. But what about entrants who seem private?
What do you think? Give me your take, along with your email, and I'll put your name in the hat for a drawing of a $55 gift certificate good at CSNstores. This contest can only be open to readers from the U.S. and Canada, and it will last a week, until noon CST next Friday, September 3rd.
And I'll tell you what else I'll do. I'll offer a chance for another entry for anyone who visits either of my two other current blogs, and leaves a comment on any post there. One entry per person at those sites, please. They are Vellum (I like to review old books), and Best of Luck Placing it Elsewhere (I like to write, take photographs, and garden).
P.S. And I actually have used two Corelle serving bowls for twenty-four years, and yes, they are pretty, lightweight, and practically indestructible.
Good luck to all.
There is nothing quite like the summer afternoon. The later afternoon, mind you -- the hours from about 4:30 to about 6:30 in June and July, when the angle of the sun subtly shifts, and green growing things and clouds and wind and people, too, all seem to pause and take breath, all look about a little more freely again after a long paralysis, a baking, of heat and light. You know how it was when you were younger and spent a summer day at the park or the pool or the beach. The early part of the afternoon was timeless, and glaring bright. You were very busy with sand or toys or water. But then there came a brief interregnum, perhaps only ten minutes -- it's hard to notice just when it is -- which changed everything. The sun shifted. Shadows grew. You might have felt just as hot and you might still have gotten a sunburn just as bad as an hour ago, but you became aware of how long you had been there. A sense of time returned. The youth of the day no longer stretched before you. The very place of the sun in the sky, radiating across that longer distance, seems to say "home" and "dinner."
The real evening hours, from about 6:30 until dark, are even better. There's a sense of mercy about this time. The abating heat, and all that summertime life slowing and stopping to rest, seems almost more miraculous, because more necessary and more designed, than its rising to activity in the morning. Declining light, still warm, fingers gracefully into yellow lilies and purple coneflowers and all their coolly swaying green foliage. It strikes up pale green and pale opal, a memory of noon, into distant treetops even as porch and garden fade into murkiness. It strikes up, pink or gray, into the last summer clouds drifting east miles beyond that. Cicadas rattle and buzz, and the last birds sing, and very late afternoon has become evening has become night. The fireflies come out. Then, sad to say, arrive mosquitoes and big stupid June bugs that fly right into your head. Nine o'clock. Time to go in.
The late afternoons and evenings of summer seem to me perfect. I'm sure it's a matter of taste. Some people prefer the gorgeous mornings instead, or other gorgeous times of the year, and all for good reasons. I know someone who likes rainy fall afternoons best, because she doesn't feel obliged then to go outside and Get Some Fresh Air.
There is one teeny, tiny problem with these gorgeous summer afternoons and evenings, and that is that those of us searching for liquid refreshment during them may find that wine, delicious as it is, is not nearly as thirst quenching as we'd like. What we must turn to on these hottest summer days is that blessed invention, dreamed up (legend says) at the St. Louis World's Fair in the hot summer of 1904 -- iced tea.
A Wikipedia article on iced tea will tell you that indeed the story of iced tea being popularized "or even invented" at the 1904 fair is an urban legend, iced tea appearing in cookbooks and on dinner tables, at least in the United States, as early as the 1860s. This same article will tell you all about the variations on the blessed and thirst-quenching theme. Among them there is plain black tea, poured over ice, garnished with a lemon slice, and sweetened with sugar or not. This is most restaurants' version of the tipple. There is Southern "sweet tea," black tea steeped and sugar added to it while hot, and then this concoction poured over ice. There is half and half or Arnold Palmer tea, a mix of iced tea and lemonade, which strikes me as a ruination of both beverages. There is "sun" or "refrigerator" tea, made by plopping tea bags into a jar of water and setting the jar in the sun or in the fridge until the water takes on a brown color. Which strikes me as a ridiculous notion. The whole point of iced tea surely is that it starts with brewed tea, which is to be had by bringing good cold water to a boil and then steeping tea leaves in it to make, um, tea. If that is too much effort, why not place the jar on the kitchen table over night in the dark, and call it "night tea"? Perhaps the suggestion there would be too off-putting.
Iced tea being so necessary to the coping-with of a midwestern summer, I offer my recipe. This is an heirloom from my family -- as is the glass pictured above, the last of a set that I grew up with, snapped here because one of these fine days I feel sure it is going to break and be lost forever -- and is the only version of the drink you will ever really need. (I honestly don't know too many people who know how to make it this way, except my cousins.) We are not Southerners, but our iced tea is properly sweetened; it's not half and half, but it does involve your squeezing a lemon into the tea, and not simply jamming a lonely slice onto the rim of your glass where it does no earthly good at all. I should have explained already that of course this is an iced tea you must make by the pitcher, juicing the fresh lemon, measuring the sugar, adding the water, and stirring fully. Before that, it is understood of course that you have already brewed your tea in the style outlined above, bringing a pan of freshly drawn cold water to a boil, adding the tea bags (and plenty of them), and letting it all cool and steep through the hot afternoon to downright manly strength. This is the gift and masterpiece of a careful hostess; it is not by any means that restaurant monstrosity touched on above, black tea sloshed over ice -- dull and dreadful, a mouthful of watery tannin -- and the idea of attempting to sweeten it by stirring a stingy packet of sugar into the jammed ice! Nor is it some sort of thing made by diluting with cold water a powder that smells intensely like a new box of crayons.
No. One must have standards. This is True Iced Tea. Imagine the voice of Family Guy's malicious baby Stewie instructing you, as he glares sideways through half closed eyes. "This is true Iced Tea. Do not make it improperly. Every time you make it improperly, I shall kill you."
Proper Iced Tea
Bring 1 quart of cold water to a boil. As soon as it comes to a full rolling boil, turn off the heat and drop in at least 6 to 7 teabags, depending on your taste and on the strength of your tea. (I'm sorry but the ubiquitous Lipton is the weakest and most pallid of all choices, a circumstance made all the more unfortunate by the fact that it is so often the only choice on grocery store shelves. And I suppose a purist could measure in the loose tea of his choice, about 6 or 7 Tablespoons.)
Let the tea steep and cool. Remove the teabags, squeezing out their excess first. Pour the tea into a pitcher that holds about 3 quarts of liquid. You may make your iced tea after five or ten minutes if you are absolutely in a hurry, but do use a metal pitcher in that case, since scalding hot tea might crack your waiting glass or plastic vessel.
Cut a lemon in half and squeeze the juice into the tea, discarding the hulls. Add 1/2 cup sugar. Fill the pitcher with cold water until it is almost full. Stir until all the sugar is dissolved. Stir, stir, and stir. (Very important. Think Stewie: every time you fail to stir and dissolve the sugar completely ....) A few peels of lemon zest, taken from the lemon halves with a vegetable peeler before you discard them, may be tossed in now to give the iced tea an extra zip of lemon flavor.
Pour over ice cubes in individual glasses. Done. Perfection. You may double the recipe to make two pitchers, and you may add an herbal or fruit-flavored tea bag or two.
And you may drink it with anything you like. Notice how well its sugar, acidity, tannin, and thirst-quenching-ness all go with the grilled foods, or spicy, easy-to-make summertime Mexican dishes that are hard to pair with any wine.
Do have another big glass after dinner on the porch, as the tilted light of a summer afternoon-turned-evening strikes up into trees and clouds. and everything softens to coolness and rest. Only June and July and maybe a little of May give us these gifts. August tries, but in August we lose a full hour of daylight from the month's beginning to its end. Soon enough fall will come, and with it the appropriate hearty foods, and lots more wine, again.
It is still mid-summer as far as I can see, no matter if the kids are back in school, and the boatloads of Halloween candy have arrived in the store and are sitting on palletts all over the receiving dock. Why yes, the stuff will all be two months old by the time the little ghosts and goblins exclaim over it dropping into their bags on a (likely) freezing cold night at the end of October! And by then, the Christmas cookies will already have replaced the candy behind-the-scenes ....
But this is still summer, and still the season for picnics and potato salads. The recipe for this one may look daunting with its immense list of ingredients, but it really isn't difficult. Simply separate, in your mind, the three basic tasks: fry the bacon; make the creamy dressing; and cook the potatoes and assemble the salad as you would any other. It comes from Of Tide and Thyme, by the Junior League of Annapolis, Maryland, 1995 (reprinted 2003). I have encountered this cookbook in two places: at the local Goodwill resale shop, where I bought it, and at the Chicago Public Library's main branch on State Street in the Loop. Who knew? Perhaps the Junior League had something of a following.
First, fry the bacon until crisp, and drain it on paper towels. Crumble and set aside.
Boil the potatoes and the eggs, and cool and peel both. Dice the potatoes. Remove the yolks from the eggs, set aside the whites, and mash the yolks in a small bowl.
Make the dressing: mix the mashed egg yolks, mayonnaise, mustard, sour cream, and salt and pepper. Set aside.
Chop the reserved egg whites and combine them with the potatoes, bacon, onion, celery, and the Italian dressing if using.
Now, the scrumptious coup de grace: fold in the sour cream dressing.
Chill at least two hours.
We didn't wait that long.
There is Caberlee and Coopernet, and Ernie Banks' 512 Chardonnay. Mike Ditka has a pinot grigio and a merlot, and Dick Butkus' picture is on the label of his Legends 51 cabernet sauvignon. Proceeds from sales of this last help benefit his foundation combating steroid use among teen athletes.
Other sports-themed wines, mostly from Event Wines, serve a similar purpose: they are a fun buy for the fans, they bring crowds to (and drive sales for) retail stores when the celebrity on the label arrives in person for a few hours to chat and sign autographs, and of course they help raise money for many good causes. What I find odd is that all these celebrity-athlete-themed wines feature men on the label, and are directed to men, or to women buying gifts for men -- I dare say, sometimes buying gag gifts for men. It's not a question of my wanting to see "equality" in novelty wines or anything like that. It's just that most wine buyers are women buying for themselves, and I should think that if Event Wines can do a roaring business with this line of product, they could do an even more roaring business with novelty wines marketed to women. And when I say marketed to women, I mean, talk to us about something besides breast cancer.
Think of the women athletes who could grace the label of a charity wine. Figure skaters. Gymnasts. Downhill skiers (remember Picabo Street?). The Olympic women's soccer teams and hockey teams who did so well in past years -- the details are not at my fingertips, but any market researcher able to put together wrestler Don "the Magnificent" Muraco's Flying Head Butt merlot, benefiting Usos The Samoan Family Foundation, could certainly think up a wine for Kristi Yamaguchi or Nadia Comaneci to sponsor. Then there are the sports of fencing, archery, or anything equestrian to consider. They are little known, but the image of a woman with a rapier, a bow, or a horse on a wine label is bound to appeal to any woman buyer.
Could it be that Kristi Yamaguchi's or, say, Peggy Fleming's fees would be far outside what Event Wines could afford? Could it be that these women and all others like them would have no interest in either wine or charitable giving, whereas Curt Schilling ("Schardonnay") and Mike Ditka really do have?
Or is it all just a matter of taste?
From Julia Child's French Chef Cookbook, where they are called Concombres persilles, ou a la creme -- parslied or creamed cucumbers. Why not both, I ask? These, I presume, are what Amy Adams as Julie Powell spears with a fork in Julie and Julia, as she raves, "these cucumbers are a revelation." The French Chef Cookbook is not the same as Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but it is drawn from the television show which had its origins in Mastering, which in turn of course inspired Powell's blog and the movie.
But we move on to deliciousness. It's perfectly simple. Think French, and pour on the cream.
To begin, peel 6 cucumbers, cut them in half lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. (I used only 3 very large cucumbers, reasoning that perhaps the vegetable was grown and harvested smaller in Julia's day, and so today's three equals yesterday's six. We are after all talking about the produce of 50 years ago. The recipe seemed to come out fine.)
Cut the cucumbers into lengthwise strips, and then cut the strips into short pieces. Toss them in a bowl with 2 Tbsp wine vinegar (I used white wine), 1 and 1/2 tsp salt, and a dash of sugar. Let them stand 20 minutes. Drain and dry on paper towels.
In a large heavy skillet, heat 2 to 3 Tbsp butter. Add the cucumbers and 2 Tbsp minced shallots or scallions -- I used yellow onions, which also seemed fine. Cook everything slowly, tossing frequently, until the cucumbers are "tenderly crisp but not browned."
Meanwhile, simmer 1 cup of heavy cream in a small pan, reducing it by about half. Mince 3 Tbsp parsley.
"Just before serving, toss the cucumbers with the cream and parsley. Turn into a hot dish."
And spear with a fork, and eat, and exclaim. These cucumbers are a revelation. If you want to see Julia herself prepare them, look up her old 1960s-era television show; this recipe, along with a few more for garlic mashed potatoes and a turnip and onion casserole, is a part of the sixty-ninth show, "Vegetables for the birds."
The accompanying wine -- a rich buttery chardonnay, perhaps? Better, a delicious sweet riesling? Your choice.
Sometimes you do find out the danged-est things.
My family has strong links to beautiful eastern Iowa, thanks to an aunt and uncle and cousins who moved there almost forty years ago. Cedar Rapids and Iowa City are the collective family stomping grounds, with excursions to Kirkwood Junior College (for a horse show) and Riverside ("future birthplace of Capt. James T. Kirk") an exciting part of more recent reunions. It so happens that among the small towns in the vicinity is Swisher, from whence a cousin took his bride many years ago.
Imagine my amazement, then, to look over some promotional materials for Cedar Ridge Distillery, maker of whiskey, rums, brandies, gin, vodkas, grappa, lemoncella, and "lamponcella" liqueurs, and see that the company address is actually Swisher, Iowa. My goodness. It brings back memories of long car trips through cornfields and soybean fields under glaring summer suns, of stalwart looking but sometimes decayed mid-western farms beside I-80, of the slowly rising, forested hills approaching "the River" -- the Mississippi has no other name, once you get close to it -- and of arrival in small, hilly towns where the houses are neat and old, the shady gardens full of summer color, and everything looks just slightly, interestingly ajar because you know this is someone else's home and not yours.
But about the lamponcella. I can't do better than to quote the promotional materials.
"Lampone" is Italian for raspberry. Cedar Ridge Lamponcella is the raspberry companion to our very popular Lemoncella. To create this sweet, intense raspberry liqueur, we start by soaking tanks of fresh raspberries in triple-distilled 192 proof spirits. This "geist" [a German word?] is then distilled again to create an awesome raspberry eau-de-vie [French for water of life, i.e., fruit-based brandy]. This eau-de-vie is then added to tanks of sweet raspberry puree, resulting in 64-proof liqueur. Cedar Ridge Lamponcella can be served straight up, be mixed 50/50 with Clearheart Vodka [the company's own] to make a beautiful, tasty raspberry martini, or drizzled over cheesecake or ice cream for a delicious dessert. (64% alcohol/vol.)
It sounds excellent, although I think there is a mistake here in declaring the same number, 64, represents both the alcohol content and the proof of the final product. And I would have excised the adjective awesome, which is practically meaningless now.
Still. Minor quibbles. And they say their Clearheart Vodka has been praised in the New York Times, by cocktail editor Colleen Graham. "Perfect and spectacular," she said.
And all in Swisher, Iowa! I feel as if it all redounds to my credit, somehow.
Columbine Special Reserve, Casablanca Valley, Chile
strong "New Zealand" aroma -- is this gooseberry?
grass -- kiwi peel -- something like very faint cigarette smoke --
mouth puckering acidity -- somewhat hard (even chewy?) finish
I do like my sauvignon blancs to be as New Zealand-ish as possible. It seems I can never find one as bursting with grapefruit as I'd like -- the hunt for them is akin, in the sphere of white wines, to my hunt for an agreeable chianti among the reds (I want them as horsy and gamy as possible).
Nevertheless this was very good -- a pretty successful return from the field, you might say. (Although to be fair, the quarry came to me, via a salesman's sample.) And which William Cole winery are we talking about? There is the William Cole vineyards, owned by William and Jane Ballentine, that makes cabernet sauvignons in Napa Valley's St. Helena, and there is the William Cole vineyards, owned by Chilean native William Cole, that makes all sorts of wines in Chile's Casablanca Valley. He is the one who names some of his wines "Columbine," after the software company he used to run in Colorado, whose state flower is the columbine. Ah, there we are.
So good with a hot summer night snack of crackers and fresh mozzarella cheese. Retail, about $10. Even better.
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Welcome to LAVC Community Services DepartmentREGISTRATION FOR COMMUNITY SERVICES WINTER/SPRING 2014 CLASSES IS NOW OPEN Helpful Links
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Instructor-Facilitated Online Learning in partnership with Education to GoAll can be taken from the convenience of your home or office. Every course includes expert assistance. See pages 41-43 of our brochure for an exciting variety of ONLINE CLASSES and register at - http://www.ed2go.com/lavc/index.html The Community Education Program is pleased to offer these online career training programs in partnership with Gatlin Education ServicesGatlin Education Services (GES) is the world's largest provider of web-based, instructor supported training programs to colleges and universities nationwide. Their open-enrollment programs (students can register at any time) are designed to provide the skills necessary to acquire professional caliber positions for many in-demand occupations. Certificate of completion provided after successful completion of each of these training programs. Most of the entry level courses are designed to be completed in 90-180 days. For Gatlin Education online courses, please register at - Gatlin: online career training course |


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ENFORCEMENT TO INCREASE FOR OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLES STATEWIDE SANTA FE -- New Mexico law enforcement agencies will conduct roadblocks, saturation patrols and safety blitzes statewide in an effort to educate the public and check for compliance with the requirements and safety provisions of the Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Act. The act defines an Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) as any motorized vehicle designed specifically for off-highway travel, including all-terrain vehicles (ATVs, often called four-wheelers), snowmobiles, dirt bikes and go-carts. State residents are required to register all Off-Highway Motor Vehicles through the Motor Vehicle Division if the vehicles will be operated on public lands. Nonresidents can purchase temporary permits from the Department of Game and Fish. The law prohibits any riders under age 6 from operating an ATV on public land. The law also includes specific regulations for riders younger than age 18. Riders under age 18 must:
Department of Game and Fish officers will be assisted by officers with the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, New Mexico State Police and county sheriff's departments during the statewide OHV education and compliance efforts. For more information about the Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Act, please visit www.B4uRide.com. For information about the off-highway motor vehicle program, please call the Department of Game and Fish at (505) 476-8140. ### |


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