News 9/12/10

(17th Century Illustration of everyone's favorite extinct bird. The Dodo.)

• The New York Times highlights John Boehner's ties to big business ahead of midterms that could see him the next Speaker of the House.

• Turks vote to restructure their constitution, ostensibly to get out from under military rule. New Parliamentary power over judiciary causes some concern. The extremely close vote looks likely to increase the schism between secular and Islamic Turks.

• Japanese continue to detain Chinese captain, crew and vessel over tussle in disputed waters.

• Yvonne Addis has written a short and nifty letter to the editor over at the Mason City Globe Gazette about persecution of gays by the church. Says Addis: "ignorance from the pulpit is harming many of our young people by teaching them to hate themselves rather than to accept themselves for who they are." Thanks Yvonne, whoever you are.

• Lesbian couple from Vonroe, Tennessee have their house burned down with the word "Queer" spray painted on the side of their garage. Community rallies to provide safety, shelter and supplies to the women. Here's the PFLAG Marysville site where you can go to help the couple and their college age daughter.

• High ranking Saudi Diplomat seeks asylum in the US. He has criticized his government, is friends with a Jewish woman and he's gay.

Cornbread Dressing (&Turkey & Mashed Potatoes)

Dr. Snickerdoodle and I enjoyed comfort food last night. We shared a turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and veggies, but the center of the meal was old-fashioned cornbread dressing.

It all starts with leftover buttermilk cornbread and some basic ingredients.


2 chopped shallots
3 chopped celery ribs
4 eggs
1 cup of heavy cream
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
about 1 tablespoon of herbs (thyme, sage, rosemary, oregano)
salt and pepper to taste

Once your shallots and celery are chopped, mix them in a large bowl with the cream, stock, eggs, herbs, salt and pepper. Then crumble your leftover cornbread. I baked a full batch in a 9-inch skillet. We ate two slices of that batch and I used the rest of it in this dressing. Add crumbled cornbread to the bowl and mix thoroughly until everything is very moist. Carefully scrape it all into a buttered baking dish.

Bake in a preheated, 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. To help brown the top, turn on the broiler and watch dressing carefully for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.

Here it is. Hot and bubbly right out of the oven. You can just see our roasted turkey thighs and drumsticks, above.

During the baking I drained a pint of chicken livers, sprinkled them with garlic salt and roasted them on a cookie sheet for 25 minutes. They came out of the oven crispy on the edges and creamy in the center. NEVER OVERCOOK LIVER. Overcooked liver is foul and bitter. Properly cooked liver is creamy and delicate and mild in flavor.

Traditional southern cornbread often has chopped chicken liver baked into it. I prefer to have greater control over how long I cook my liver, so I bake it separately. Then I mince it and garnish the dressing when I plate the turkey dinner.

And here it is again. Roast turkey, herb and garlic mashed potatoes, cornbread dressing with roasted chicken livers and a side of steamed veggies:

A perfect farewell to our cool, overcast weather.

Bon Apetit!

Homophobia in Turkey

Women and Family Affairs Minister Aliye Selma Kavaf remains under fire from Turkish gay rights groups who are totally pissed off that she referred to gayness as "...a disease (that) should be treated."

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has refused to reprimand Kavaf because his political party is pretty damn conservative.

The larger implications of this kerfuffle include European Union concerns that Turkey is not serious about signing on to member state agreements regarding basic human rights, which are requirements for joining the EU.