Motley Moose – Archive

When FDR said “We have nothing to fear but fear itself” he could have been summing up what faces Americans today. The TV news networks are all pushing interviews with Senators and Congressmen (mostly Republicans) who tell us that the Christmas Eve flight bombing attempt, the shutting down of our Yemen Embassy (apparently not abandoned by cut off from any visitors), the killing of CIA people in Afghanistan and other events and rumors of events are reasons not to close Gitmo and to increase military presence in…gosh, how many countries?…Yemen and other spots.

Nothing makes for a better lunch than soup and a sandwich. However, you don’t have to limit this menu to lunchtime. We had this for dinner tonight. Flavorful, warm, and filling. The perfect food for a cold winter evening.

You will need about 1 1/2 hours to prepare the meal, but the actual hands-on cooking time is less than 30 minutes. The soup could be made ahead of time to save even more time when you are ready to dish it up.

The soup recipe is an amalgam of several different recipes I’ve read and advice from our own resident chef – hubiestubert. I love having a chef on this blog. The panini recipe is from Wolfgang Puck. This was the first time I’ve made a grilled sandwich with mayo. It worked great.

You don’t have to run out and buy fancy cheeses and $15 per pound Prosciutto to make these sandwiches. Nor do you have to buy special bread. You can use regular sliced bread or Italian bread and whatever cheese and meat you have in your fridge. After all, the panini recipe listed here is nothing more than a fancy grilled ham-and-cheese sandwich. That being said, I purchased a couple of loaves of rustic, artisan sourdough bread and bought Prosciutto, Gouda cheese, and fresh Mozzarella. I think it was worth the extra cost and effort.

Hope you enjoy the recipes and pictures.

Here he is in all his incredible glory…

Today both the US and Britain closed their embassies in Yemen.  In the wake of Eunuch the Crotch Bomber’s failed attempt to blow up Delta flight 253 on Christmas Day – a journey that for him began when he went to Yemen to “learn Islam”, as he told his father – an increasing amount of attention is being paid to the almost-failed state.

This is the second part of a series of posts analyzing the swing state Florida. Part three can be found here.

Florida can be considered as three regions distinct in culture, economics, and voting patterns. Northern Florida is deep red; the I-4 corridor is light red; and the Miami metropolis is moderately blue.

Until recently, Florida was far different from what it looks like today. It was the quintessential Southern state, and it was fairly empty in terms of people. Florida’s voting record reflected its southern roots. Until Eisenhower won it twice, Florida was part of the Solid South. In 1964, LBJ ran well behind his national average, due to his support for civil rights. The next election, George Wallace took 29% of the vote. Then in 1976, Jimmy Carter resurrected the Solid South for the last time, winning Florida by 5%. That was also the last time a Democrat ran above the national average in Florida.

More below.