Why did my Hiccups come back?

I used to be notorious for my hiccups.

And then suddenly they just went away.

When I worked at a desk job, years ago - it was almost like clockwork: 5pm would roll around...

hic.... hic.... hic....

that would of course be followed by snickers from my co-workers who would all be staring at me and smiling. they found it funny. to me it was just normal.

but i've always hiccuped on a daily basis since infancy even - according to my mother. she would dread it when someone would make me laugh while i'd have the hiccups because it would be a minimum 10 minutes of hiccups.

hic... hic... hic...

But shortly after I quit my job at the mortgage company - the hiccups just faded away. what was a daily occurrence lasting several minutes - sometimes multiple times a day simply became a single random HIC every once in a while.

I started working again, and this job has me sitting at a desk for several hours a day sometimes. And once again:

hic... hic... hic...

So i'm wondering - what is it that makes me get these hiccups?

It's not just when i'm sitting down at the desk in front of the computer. I'll get them while standing at the stove cooking. Or driving around. Or sitting back having a coffee with a friend.

Perhaps it's the act of sitting up at attention for several hours a day? When I was a student, I'd be sitting at a desk for several hours - and I always had hiccups.

Could it be that holding that posture or staying in a seated position for long periods of time daily makes me somehow get these random spasms in my diaphragm that hit me at different times throughout the day?

Hmmm... it's a theory.

I can't seem to get enough!

Tonight's dinner featured more goodies from the Hollywood Farmer's Market.

I sliced up a "Green Zebra Stripe" tomato & a "Pink Stripe" tomato (which didn't really have any pink coloring that I could tell - it was mostly yellow with some variations to the tone)- and drizzled them with some Adam's Ranch Olive Oil, and finished them with a sprinkling of Maldon sea salt & pepper.

The main course of the meal was leftover Halibut (not from the farmer's market - but safe according to the Seafood Watch guide) with a chunky tomato vinaigrette (using another heirloom which i can't remember the name of, sorry).

Quite colorful considering that all I had was fish & tomato.

I'll still be eating more tomatoes this week as you can see from the platter of them on the counter behind my dinner plate.

I also purchased a Winter Squash. I guess I'll roast it some time this week. I've never tried this variety. actually - I'm a novice at Winter Squash... Only tried roasting a butternut squash once, and Pumpkin Pie from Marie Calendar's doesn't count.

This week in Apples:

I want to know more about them. There are so many varieties out there. So I'm buying one of each to see which variety i truly like most.

Old-Fashioned Red Delicious: It has a matte red skin with green striping to it (no picture - I ate it already). Different looking from what we find in the supermarket - the highly waxed - gleaming deep-red apples. The texture wasn't as mealy as the supermarket type (++) but it still had that "Red-Delicious" taste - which I don't like.

Next up - Jonagold & one that starts with the letter 'M' and i think there was a 'u' in it... but I forgot the name. It's green.

Ratings
***** - Love it
**** - a keeper
*** - ok - good for variety
** - meh - I've had better
* - never again

Old-Fashioned Red Delicious apple **
Pink Stripe Tomato - *****
Green Zebra Stripe Tomato - ***
Lindner's Bison Kebab cubes - *****
Lily's Eggs (Chicken) - *****
Lily's Eggs (Eggs) - *****

Better than nothing?

My representative - Henry Waxman - disappointed me today.

He voted Yea on the $700billion bailout...

But seriously - how could he know through osmosis that he was not representing me? I didn't try contacting him on how I felt.

So I went onto my Senators' webpages (Barbara Boxer & Diane Feinstein), and emailed them how I felt. My header screamed:

"NOOOOO - I do not support the bailout!"

Why should the irresponsible parties who created this disaster be rewarded at the expense of the taxpayers?

I didn't buy a house I couldn't afford.
I didn't buy a new car that I couldn't afford.

I'm still driving an '89 toyota camry that I inherited 8 years ago.

I also take the bus to save $$ on gas.

So why should I help fund those who spent beyond their means and were too greedy?

and the bankers... why do they get such exorbitant salaries, bonuses & golden parachutes?

shouldn't they pay that money back first before the rest of us foot the bill?

And I was recently reminded (and outraged by the lack of media awareness) that McCain was one of the Keating 5. Hello? bailout part II?

So perhaps I'm a little bit all over the place... I didn't want to write too long a letter - I wanted to get my point across.

But I took a few moments out to contact my senators to tell them how I felt. They supposedly represent us - and if we don't tell them how we feel, then how can they truly represent us?

Or am I being an Idealist here... do they really care about serving their constituency or have they been bought?

Sigh... at least I tried...

McCain: The Most Reprehensible of the Keating 5

Click Here for a link to a very enlightening article on presidential hopeful, John McCain's involvement in the Lincoln Savings & Loan debacle... back during the first Bush Presidency.

The burden of the FDIC insurance payments was given to the taxpayers...

Who's going to be paying for this $700 Billion bailout?

you.
me.
our kids.

How are we going to fix those potholes?
oh funding's been cut
New books at school?
the money's been funneled elsewhere.
Repair Levees?
it will have to wait.

Our infrastructure?
crumbling.

How do you Melt Meat?

While vacationing with my parents in Julian, CA - about 15 years ago - we decided have dinner in that charming little mining town in San Diego County before our long drive home. We had a choice of 2 restaurants... we went to the Fondue place.

That was my first time having fondue. We had a cheese fondue - and dipped pieces of bread, blanched broccoli, and some other veggies... I remember the waitress now - explaining how to stir from the bottom, and to shake off the excess cheese "twirl [the fondue fork/skewer] against the rim of the pot - and never, ever tap!"

Mom: You know, we have a fondue set.
Me: Really? How have I never noticed it?

Yes, my parents had a Fondue set - probably a wedding present or something... I guess it was the rage back in the late 60's early 70's...

About a week after our return home, I asked about the fondue set. She pulled the whole set out.



Me: what are all those little dishes for?
Mom: for the condiments.
Me: what condiments? we didn't have condiments with our cheese.
Mom: it's for the Meat Fondue.
Me: (completely perplexed and horrified) How do you melt meat?

apparently, you cook cubes of meat in hot oil that's burning in the pot... no cheese involved.

The fondue set has been in my possession for the past 8 years and last night was the 2nd time I used it - and the first time for meat.

When I bought the cubes of Bison meat from Lindner's Bison at the Hollywood Farmer's Market, I saw a suggested recipe for fondue. I popped the package into the freezer when I got home. I wasn't ready to cook it yet.

I was having computer issues, and I bartered computer clean-up assistance in exchange for a home cooked meal. Even though i thought I'd washed my hands of him... turns out, I needed Mike's help... he does a great job of pissing us all off (within our circle of friends) - but somehow he just weasels himself back in. pretty smooth if you ask me.

He got his bison he'd wanted.

I got my computer fixed.

While waiting for the meat to marinate, & the computer to de-frag - we walked to the museum (LACMA) . We did a brisk walk through - from the Ahmanson building - where the Magritte painting (at right with Mike) is now housedto the new BCAM - then back home through Hancock Park (that's the name of the park) where the La Brea Tar Pits are.

You know - the Idea of Fondue is so much better than the Reality. It's such a pain set the whole thing up.

BUT - IT WAS DELICIOUS!!!

was it the bison?
was it because it was basically fried in a pot of oil?
was it the marinade?

Whatever the combination - the meat was delicious.

And in keeping with that 60's spirit (I've been watching Mad Men - great show), we had cocktails with the meal - Bloody Marys - followed by vanilla flavored Brandy on the front porch with cigarettes. Not only did I smoke... I chain smoked - about 5!! That's all they do on that show - smoke, drink, & have affairs.

All I can say - I was hurting this morning.

But I still made it out to the Hollywood F.M. and spoke with Mrs. Lindner - and bought a brisket. It's in my freezer now.

Keating 5

If you can't learn from the past - you'll be granted the opportunity to re-live it.




For anyone not aware of the Keating Five, here’s a very simple summary:

Charles Keating owned a savings and loan in California. He was illegally using the money of his bank’s customers to give loans to himself and friends that they didn’t have to repay, and to speculate on risky real estate investments, which was strictly forbidden by U.S. law (the latter was one cause of the Great Depression).


When the feds found out what was going on and launched an investigation into Keating and his company, Keating called five U.S. Senators whom he had wined, dined, and lavished with hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations and personal gifts for years.


Keating asked the five Senators to tell the feds to bug off, and the five Senators, later known as the Keating Five, obliged, meeting with federal investigators twice and pressuring them to stop investigating Keating’s crimes. They bought Keating some time, but the feds didn’t give up and eventually Keating was nailed. The reason the feds were so persistent was because Keating wasn’t playing with mere chump change. Keating blew $3.4 billion through illegal personal loans and bad investments, and the FDIC eventually had to reimburse Keating’s customers who had been ripped off. (The FDIC is a part of the federal government funded by taxpayers dollars, so when Keating stole from his customers you and I were the ones who paid for it.
)

(Background Info - Keating wasn’t the only Savings and Loan owner who was committing fraud, 20% of the S&L’s that failed during that three year period were found to have been caused by fraud and/or insider trading. The failure of the Lincoln Savings and Loan and other S&L’s pushed the country into a recession, costing the U.S. government $126 billion dollars in FDIC insurance payouts to investors. All of this came to a crescendo during the first year of the presidency of George H.W. Bush, who pushed through the S&L bailout plan to keep the economy afloat.
)

When the involvement of the Keating Five was made public, a scandal erupted and the Senate Ethics Committee launched their own four month long hearing into whether the Keating Five senators had violated Senate ethics rules. It was a giant mess (see the Keating Five Videos section). The other four Senators left office either immediately or within one term. John McCain was formally rebuked by the Senate Ethics Committee for exercising “poor judgment” for intervening with the federal regulators on behalf of Keating, but because McCain accepted Keating’s gifts of travel and vacations to Bahama while McCain was a member of the House of Representatives (he served one term there before moving to the Senate), the Senate claimed they had no jurisdiction to censure McCain.
(However the meetings to pressure federal regulators occurred during the first few months of McCain serving in the Senate in 1987, so that excuse doesn’t hold up)

John McCain then went back to the drawing board and re-invented himself as “the Straight-Talk Express” and the media gobbled it up. “Tax-Evading-Criminal” doesn’t sound as catchy as “Straight-Shooting-War-Hero”.


Ever since the scandal, when McCain lies today, it’s never questioned, because he’s a “straight talker”. The man has more skeletons in his closet than any politician in history. The Keating Five is just one bone.


There are two fantastic articles about the Keating Five we highly recommend reading.


One is from 1989, written by the Phoenix New Times, called McCain: The Most Reprehensible of the Keating Five. That article does a good job of capturing the anger at the time at John McCain and the other corrupt Senators. It took an incredible spin job for McCain to have survived the scandal.



www.mccainkeatingfive.com

More Tomatoes

I can't help but eat tomatoes right now... They just look so good at the farmer's markets.

This is my modified caprese salad:
slices from 2 different colored heirloom tomatoes,
watercress,
buffalo mozzarella,
a drizzle of Adam's Ranch Olive Oil,
a pinch of Maldon sea salt,
fresh ground pepper,

and voila!

Gotta mix it up a bit! if you have great looking watercress, skip the basil...

This past Saturday, I was at the Santa Monica Farmer's Market, and picked up a bottle of the most delicious olive oil (from Adam's ranch - click above in the recipe for the hyperlink). Cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil... so smooth, so rich, so yummy! And it's local (ding!). It was price-y but it really made me want to test it out and savor the flavor - and it is indeed worth the extra bucks. It's comparable in price to some of the fancier label imported brands... but I've never found one that really stood out to me before - enough for me to take notice, at least.

And the idiot that is me wanted to test out my intolerance to dairy by getting buffalo mozzarella - just to see... but what did I also do? Got goat's milk yogurt AND had some Lemon Bars that Lisa & I baked the other day (with real butter)... So how can I tell what caused this recent breakout? sigh... one thing at a time, dork-o!

Lisa & I have been cooking together again... we are pretty damn good cooks - i might add! Lisa's dating a chef... and he was duly impressed by our tilapia last night. Good in, good out... we buy only the best (organic, seasonal, local).

She takes pictures of everything she makes... so I will too. Provided i remember to take a picture before digging in.