The beginning of a new era: the dinner diary

couscous with fresh spinach salad

1 box (near east) couscous
water
1 clove garlic
1 Tbs olive oil
coarse salt
black pepper
1 6oz. jar marinated artichoke hearts
1 tomato
1 cucumber
6 oz. baby spinach
3 heart of palm spears
Craisins (c)

Mince the garlic and add to the water, oil and pinch of salt in a small pan as directed on couscous box - once water is boiling, add the couscous, stir, cover, remove from heat - let stand for 5 minutes.

Dice the tomato, cucumber, and heart of palm. Pour the jar of artichoke hearts, and marinade over the chopped vegetables in a large bowl. Add coarse salt and pepper to taste, Craisins, and 1 tsp lemon juice to the salad, and mix. Toss the baby spinach into the dressed salad.

To serve:
plate couscous in a wide, shallow mound, and serve the salad, and ample dressing, on top. Mix as you eat, and enjoy!

For those of you who are separators... it's o.k. if you don't want to mess up your plate. Just eat the couscous on the side. :-)

From the 'hood to NYC

So - eventful weekend all around - catching up with old friends, re-visiting high school years in all their glory, celebrating an engagement, and oh, witnessing a robbery at gunpoint.

Yes. You read correctly. Sid, Shifra and I were walking up the block after skipping stones and sunning on the Hudson, when we noticed a sign for a clock, christmas and gift shop.

Thinking of checking it out - we see two high school age guys talking on the path into the store (which was lined with wind chimes. Very quaint).  The boys look at us, one kneels on the ground and starts theatrically weeping and bawling. Ok - so we figure they're just kidding around... and then the other boy takes a quick look at us and  BOLTS off. Within seconds a cop is out of his  cruiser, running after him, gun in hand shouting to stop and drop the weapon. WEAPON!? We definitely didn't notice the gun at the time, but it all suddenly makes sense.

THEN - the kid who was crying, runs over to a minivan that screeched to a stop, jumps in, and they take off. Very strange.

So - it all ended well, I suppose - they have the suspect in custody, and as witnesses, we stuck around and provided statements and contact info to the NYPD.

The best part? I mention I'm from out of town, and this is the coolest thing to happen to me - and the cop says, welcome to NY, where are you from? I say - oh downtown Baltimore - he looks at me in surprise and says, gee - it's much worse down there! I'm surprised this is the first you've seen!

Crazy. Welcome to Baltimore. Where the NYPD would rather not be posted.

http://www.hickorydock.com/

I concur

This letter was sent to me via a large e-mail - and I thought it was so true and important to be sent around. 


This pilot 'hit the nail' right on the head in his open letter.
The paper stated that some Muslim doctor is saying we are profiling him because he has been checked three times while getting on an airplane
The following is a letter from a pilot. This well spoken man, who is a pilot with American Airlines, says what is in his heart, beautifully....
Read, absorb and pass this on. 
'YOU WORRY ME!'  By American Airlines Pilot - Captain John Maniscalco
 I've been trying to say this since 9/11, but you worry me.  I wish you didn't.  I wish when I walked down the streets of this country that I love, that your color and culture still blended with the beautiful human landscape we enjoy in this country.  But you don't blend in anymore.  I notice you, and it worries me. 

I notice you because I can't help it anymore. People from your homelands, professing to be Muslims, have been attacking and killing my fellow citizens and our friends for more than 20 years now.  I don't fully understand their grievances and hate, but I know that nothing can justify the inhumanity of their attacks. 

On September 11, ARAB-MUSLIMS hijacked four jetliners in my country.  They cut the throats of women in front of children and brutally stabbed to death others. They took control of those planes and crashed them into buildings killing thousands of proud fathers, loving sons, wise grandparents, elegant daughters, best friends, favorite coaches, fearless public servants, and children's mothers. 
The Palestinians celebrated, the Iraqis were overjoyed as was most of the Arab world.  So, I notice you now. I don't want to be worried.  I don't want to be consumed by the same rage and hate and prejudice that has destroyed the soul of these terrorists  But I need your help.  As a rational American, trying to protect my country and family in an irrational and unsafe world, I must know how to tell the difference between you, and the Arab/Muslim terrorist. 

How do I differentiate between the true Arab/Muslim Americans and the Arab/Muslim terrorists in our communities who are attending our schools, enjoying our parks, and living in OUR communities under the protection of OUR constitution, while they plot the next attack that will slaughter these same good neighbors and children? 

The events of September 11th changed the answer.  It is not my responsibility to determine which of you embraces our great country, with ALL of its religions, with ALL of its different citizens, with all of its faults.  It is time for every Arab/Muslim in this country to determine it for me. 
I want to know, I demand to know, and I have a right to know, whether or not you love America .  Do you pledge allegiance to its flag?  Do you proudly display it in front of your house, or on your car?  Do you pray in your many daily prayers that Allah will bless this nation, that He will protect and prosper it?  Or do you pray that Allah will destroy it in one of your Jihad's? Are you thankful for the freedom that only this nation affords?  A freedom that was paid for by the blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots who gave their lives for this country?  Are you willing to preserve this freedom by also paying the ultimate sacrifice?  Do you love America ?  If this is your commitment, then I need YOU to start letting ME know about it. 

Your Muslim leaders in this nation should be flooding the media at this time with hard facts on your faith, and what hard actions you are taking as a community and as a religion to protect the United States of America .  Please, no more benign overtures of regret for the death of the innocent because I worry about who you regard as innocent. No more benign overtures of condemnation for the unprovoked attacks because I worry about what is unprovoked to you.  I am not interested in any more sympathy.  I am only interested in action.  What will you do for America - our great country - at this time of crisis, at this time of war? 

I want to see Arab-Muslims waving the AMERICAN flag in the streets.  I want to hear you chanting 'Allah Bless America '  I want to see young Arab/Muslim men enlisting in the military. I want to see a commitment of money, time, and emotion to the victims of this butchering and to this nation as a whole.  

The FBI has a list of over 400 people they want to talk to regarding the WTC attack. Many of these people live and socialize right now in Muslim communities.  You know them. 
You know where they are.  Hand them over to us, now!  But I have seen little even approaching this sort of action.  Instead I have seen an already closed and secretive community close even tighter.  You have disappeared from the streets.  You have posted armed security guards at your facilities.  You have threatened lawsuits.  You have screamed for protection from reprisals. 

The very few Arab/Muslim representatives that HAVE appeared in the media were defensive and equivocating.  They seemed more concerned with making sure that the  United States proves who was responsible before taking action.  They seemed more concerned with protecting their fellow Muslims from violence directed towards them in the United States and abroad than they did with supporting our country and denouncing 'leaders' like Khadafi, Hussein, Farrakhan, and Arafat.   

If the true teachings of Islam proclaim tolerance and peace and love for all people, then I want chapter and verse from the Koran and statements from popular Muslim leaders to back it up.  What good is it if the teachings in the Koran are good, and pure, and true, when your 'leaders' are teaching fanatical interpretations, terrorism, and intolerance?  It matters little how good Islam SHOULD BE if huge numbers of the world's Muslims interpret the teachings of Mohammed incorrectly and adhere to a degenerative form of the religion.  A form that has been demonstrated to us over and over again.  A form whose structure is built upon a foundation of violence, death, and suicide.  A form whose members are recruited from the prisons around the world.  A form whose members (some as young as five years old) are seen day after day, week in and week out, year after year, marching in the streets around the world, burning effigies of our presidents, burning the American flag, shooting weapons into the air.  A form whose members convert from a peaceful religion, only to take up arms against the great United States of America, the country of their birth.  A form whose rules are so twisted, that their travelling members refuse to show their faces at airport security checkpoints, in the name of Islam. 

We will NEVER allow the attacks of September 11, or any others for that matter, to take away that which is so precious to us:  Our rights under the greatest constitution in the world.  I want to know where every Arab Muslim in this country stands and I think it is my right and the right of every true citizen of this country to demand it.  A right paid for by the blood of thousands of my brothers and sisters who died protecting the very constitution that is protecting you and your family. 
I am pleading with you to let me know.  I want you here as my brother, my neighbor, my friend, as a fellow American. But there can be no gray areas or ambivalence regarding your allegiance, and it is up to YOU, to show ME, where YOU stand. Until then.
'YOU WORRY  ME!'  

What's for dinner?

I'd like to start with a GIGANTIC shout-out to my friends Andy and Dalia Dukatz, who hosted a huge Friday night meal and then had so many leftovers they didn't know what to do with them. Being the gracious friend, neighbor, and poor student I am, I helped take some of it off their hands. WELL - long story short - I've been eating a LOT of chicken and rice, and gazpacho (plus some AWESOME cake).

Tonight, I saw someone mention BBQ on their profile page... and needless to say, I got really hungry. I mentioned this to my brother online - and HE said - I am too - I'm ordering Chinese. And then I got even more ravenous. Thus, my search for a sweet and sour sauce recipe began.

Now keep in mind, I kind of fudge measurements, but thanks to the following recipe: I will never pay for Chinese food again. It tastes the same. YUM.

1/3 c. vinegar (apple cider, white, rice... whatever)
3 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs ketchup
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs honey
---mix in microwave - safe dish

4 tsp. flour
8 tsp. water
---mix in separate container until smooth

combine the two mixes in the microwave container and zap for 1 minute. Stir, another minute in the microwave, stir again. (you get the picture) Basically... by the time you're done... it looks like you just squeezed out a bunch of clear sweet and sour sauce packets with a panda bear wrapper.

I also added some hot sauce separately on the plate - super delish.
*This makes about 1/2 C. of sauce, thick, awesome for pouring, dipping, glazing, or making 'duck sauce chicken'

On a related note - I am now stuffed to the gills with the cheapest Chinese food I've ever had.

"Alexander and the terrible horrible no good very bad day"

http://www.medicalalumni.org/bulletin/spring_2009/lead2.html

This morning I woke up, checked my e-mail and was planning on rolling out of bed and signing into small groups.  The first subject that caught my eye was "sad news" from a woman in the administrative offices at the school. I figured it would be sad, but I never expected what she had written.

Dr. Larry Anderson - my first medical school professor - passed away this weekend. I am still mostly in shock, and can't fully appreciate what is going on. All I can think is - I had a conversation with him on the corner outside Taylor lecture hall on Friday at 3:45... and I'm so glad that I did.

He was telling me that he was just in Michigan, and I joked - did you get a bell's palsy? Which was one of the first subjects that he spoke to us about, in reference to his home state of Michigan. I continued by telling him I was hoping to incorporate a large part of our class' time together in anatomy lab into my freshman follies skit. When I told him what I had planned, he laughed heartily, and I went on my way to see my preceptor. He
called down the street "have a good weekend!" Excited that I would be able to share my  comedic skit with him the next Thursday, I called back " you too!"

On Saturday, I finalized my sketch, and already had in mind that it would be dedicated to Dr. Anderson - and now I can only mean it more. I hope he'll be watching and laughing up in heaven at his last first year medical class... but by no means the last class to learn from him.

Today is a sad day my friends. It is the day I realized that not only have I underestimated the amount of money I need to get through the semester... but also that I may not make it through the summer. And so, I ask for your help. I'm a poor medical student, and I took out sufficient loans. HOWEVER - then I was hospitalized for over a week, incurring thousands of dollars in medical expenses. It hasn't been a walk in the park, and now I realize that I am at the point of volunteering for malaria inducing medical trials.

Do your part to help out, and support my cause,

Love,

Your favorite starving student

DT

Let's think about it this way

Hypothetical situation:

A public bus in downtown DC explodes, killing all the passengers and several bystanders. Hamas claim responsibility. How would the USA react?

Actual situation:

Two buildings filled with workers in downtown NYC are struck by hijacked planes. Al-Qaeda claims responsibility. USA invates Afghanistan and bombs the shit out of it, takes over the government, and continually maintains presence - essentially telling the terrorists - they have NO right to exist - in their own land or anyone else's.

Actual situation:

A public bus in Meron, Israel is bombed, 23 are killed and over 180 seriously injured from the blast. http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2003/8/Suicide%20bombing%20of%20No%202%20Egged%20bus%20in%20Jerusalem%20-%201

Reaction? Pause the peace process. Bush sends condolences, but encourages talking. Violence is not the answer. Retaliation is unacceptable. Be the bigger person.

Now... what do you think the USA would have done in the hypothetical situation listed above?

My guess? Bomb the shit out of "Palestine"

It just happens to be, that unfortunately, Hamas knows that an action against the USA would be a REALLY stupid thing to do. So they just continue to kill Israeli children, soldiers, mothers, fathers, siblings, and veterans.

The Jihad never ends. Well - I know one way to end a struggle. My father called it "the six foot rule." If one child hits another - they are forcibly separated and the attacking child is relocated six feet from the victim. Should the violator approach the victim again past his six foot line in any direction - let's just say bad things can happen.

I think the Israeli's/Palestinians need a six foot rule. First violator gets kicked out by a few kilometers. Period.

Oh wait - the Palestinians are always the instigators? Oh... I guess that's not fair since they'll ALWAYS be punished. Huh. What to do, what to do. Hmmmm well - I guess the USA would just say - well maybe if the Israeli's move out they'll stop.

OK - Maybe we should really leave Afghanistan to its own devices. Let them come back with liquid bombs, trucks filled with explosives and shards of metal, and gaseous biological warfare.

In response to Al-Ahram bull shit

I came across an online article via a friend's facebook page. Intrigued, and personally impacted by the subject, I proceeded to read the piece. More than anything, it just made me angry at how distorted the ideas were. I dedicate this post in response to the backward belief that peace can come with people who send messages by blowing up school buses full of children. Who promise peace, if we just give up some land - and then continually propel rockets into our cities, send suicide bombers into our malls, who are willing to sacrifice their OWN people, just as long as it harms US as well. If we are not allowed to wage war in defense of our own survival - we are sitting ducks. At this point - the Palestinians are simply a lying five year old throwing a tantrum - and everyone around is just pandering to their unreasonable requests - while putting an innocent older sibling in the corner for crimes they didn't commit.

The world has gone mad... How has land been claimed, 'purchased', declared, and owned throughout history? By war. By fighting. By taking action. How did the Turkish Empire come to be? The Arabs walked in, conquered the land, and took over. Why should we not have the same right? We ask for a state the size of NEW JERSEY - and the Arabs, owning Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, .... shall I go on? If NONE of those countries would take in the Palestinians - a people that fully endorses violence against women and children in order to make a point and do damage - why should we have to? The reason these people are living in such disarray is because their TERRORIST GOVERNMENT uses money provided by charitable donations and war efforts NOT TO BETTER THE LIVES OF THEIR PEOPLE, BUT TO BUY WEAPONS AND LIVE IN PALACES. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/135871

If you don't believe me - why don't you visit the country and see for yourself. I can sympathize with children, and innocent bystanders - but not with mothers that teach their infants through a Jihad preaching sesame street, a Barney program that tells four year olds to hate, kill, and torture Jews. Without asking questions.
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=17707


Call me paranoid - but when "upstanding Israeli citizens are stripped of their residency rights" - could it possibly be because they were strapped head to toe with TNT? Maybe they tried to enter a central bus station or mall carrying a bag filled with explosives?

One person attempts to employ a liquid explosive on a plane from Britain - and the entire WORLD reacts by banning all liquids.

I will not voice my own opinions of what their actions have earned - but think about these things when you defend a people who would kill your 18 year old son, brother, or friend, only after slicing them to death hang them out the window by rope, and proudly show their trophies.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://thebetterpartofvalour.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/ramallah-lynching-blood-hands.jpg&imgrefurl=http://thebetterpartofvalour.wordpress.com/2007/06/&usg=__sEWIg7aSVbL7OTs1T6CrQUqJJwk=&h=406&w=300&sz=32&hl=en&start=15&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=3mk2PJOTpFvenM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=92&prev=/images%3Fq%3Darabs%2Bblood%2Bhand%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26tbs%3Disch:1

This is what I'm trying to say.

"Of course there is a verifiable narrative of Palestinian implacability to any real peace with the zionists....

The Arabs of Palestine refused partition in 1947 with the Jews of Palestine.

Before 1967 the Kingdom of Jordan was in possession of Judea & Shomron...but we heard no shouts of occupation then.

Before 1967 Egypt was in possession of Gaza...and we heard no occupation then.

The newly found Palestinian Liberation Organization began in 1964, its first place for independence was in attempting to topple the Heshimites in Jordan...which retaliated in killing 10,000-20,000 palestinians (depending on the source) in a month(black september).

In 1988 london agreement...again the answer was no, answer violence (1st intifada)

In 2000 Oslo process....at camp david again the answer was no, answer terror (2nd intifada)

In 2006 disengagement, Israel did not negotiate but simply left to allow Palestinian self rule...answer Democratic election of Hamastan, and a v-2 strategy of thousands of rockets launched indiscriminately into Israeli population centers.

Then with the Livni-shelf agreement....the answer was again no.

The Palestinian's have shown only that they would rather destroy a state then build one of their own. They have shown that their hate and implacability is what drives their "occupation"...but it is really self imposed occupation in order to retain and generate the engineered posture of victimhood that generates so many apologists and misanthropes.

Those that refuse to hold the palestinian to account for his barbarous terror strategy, his diplomatic meneuvers in bad faith,and a culture that embraces hate, intolerance and revisionist history...are enablers to Palestinian barbarity and implacability."

Quoted from http://www.amazon.com/tag/history/forum/ref=cm_cd_dp_rft_tft_tp?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx33HXI3XVZDC8G&cdThread=Tx3JL5IFVDM7S5M

You were brought from the wreckage

The commercial is on that is sponsored by Sarah Mclachlan... you know - the one that makes even grown men cry because it shows puppies dying and kittens starving... Sometimes it worries me that when this one comes on I get more emotionally disturbed than when they show the villages of malnourished African children. Although - it also disturbs me that with all the things going on in the world she can afford to sponsor commercial efforts for the ASPCA.

Not that I don't think the cause is important - I have a rescue cat myself - I just feel that celebrity efforts could be put to better use.

But mainly when I see the commercial (or even just hear the beginning of the song) it just brings a whole blanket of depression down on me - it's just such a disheartening collection of video clips.

spontaneous quote of the day, "Could you spend a few minutes for AIDS research?" "Yes, I could, but I'm not sure we'd get very much done"
-Scrubs.

Seems like im officially connected to the cyber world from anywhere and everywhere...

Confessions on life death and god. gotta love postsecret

Sometimes, I worry that you were the love of my life, and now I have to live the rest of it without one because you were too scared to open your eyes.

Where is a place I can store my exhaustion so that when I can pick it up when I'm ready for it? Like a daycare... for tiredness.

There are times when I talk to you, or look at pictures of you, all of you, it makes me smile and then choke on my tears... I miss you so much - when is our reunion? When do I get to feel whole. Content?

Isn't it odd that such an abstract part of us with no nerve attachment to the brain can leave us in so much pain? Feel so raw? Hurt like nothing else.