For what its worth, I went to graduate school (early 90's) with the wife of a congressman from the mid-west. State/Party doesn't matter. She told me that the "conventional wisdom" for both partys on the hill was that "you can't do anything to pursue your agenda if you don't get elected, therefore, say/do anything to get elected, then you can pursue your agenda. . .". Somehow, I have a small problem with that.

Blast:

I read the book a few years ago and thought it was fairly good. Also a local store has the DVD on sale for $7.99, I have never seen the movie so I may buy it today.

Have you read The Streets of Laredo? Talk about wacky characters...

I guess you meant "Pot-au-feu" ...

Yes - My French has gotten REALLY bad - and I'm of French descent - in fact Dad's nickname is the same as your forum handle - He was born in St Remy

I had left-over Turkey Soup for supper tomight, the DW had made it up in the fall and froze about a gallon. No Turnips in it though but lots of carrots and celery, it tasted even better the second time around. That a funny thing about soup?

Mike

I suppose if a Libertarian or some other independent of similar bias were elected, they'd be approached with a choice, conform or be involuntarily removed.

Reading articles like this, I am reminded of the last 20 minutes of the movie "Fight Club". Imagine what could happen if, across the country, all the financial institutions were obliterated?

Personally, I would welcome someone mashing that big reset switch and putting us all back to a level playing field again.

More and more, I am inclined to believe that my retirement plan will consist of locating the most luxurious, safe and inmate friendly prison in the US, moving into it's jurisdiction, and committing a major non-violent felony, like setting up a bogus meth lab then turning myself in. Otherwise I believe I will be working till I drop. Besides, I know no one who has been able to walk away from their work routine and not have to get some form of financial aid, or otherwise seriously curtail their lifestyle choices. Even those with government pensions end up mostly going back to work as door greeters or some such.

We've been into soups since our Xmas party yielded so many leftovers. Good ole split pea with ham and rice, prime rib beef and barley, and turkey noodle soups. Next up is a spanish chorizo, chicken and lentil scratch recipe soup for later this week. Then a really good Sopa de Albondigas and maybe a nice Thai Beef Panang type soup.

Cheese tortillini and sausage soup is also very good. I like adding some chopped celery leaves to it.

As for "Streets of Larado", I have it on my bookcase but I'll probably need to be pretty desperate to read it. Lonsome Dove drove me away from that author.

-Blast, as directed by Thumper's mom.

Say it isn't so! My hero, Blast, is dissing "Lonesome Dove"?!?

Actually I agree about the book - average at best.

The "Lonesome Dove Miniseries (1989)" with Tommy Lee Jones, Robert Duval, Danny Glover, Frederick Forrest, Diane Lane, Rick Schroeder, Angelica Houston et al. however, is completely different. One of the best things I've ever watched on TV. They'd never be able to gather a cast with today's TV budgets. Don't waste a moment of time with the sequals.

PM me the recipe! I've been dying to learn how to make that!

-Blast

What kind of Chorizo? I use Mexican, Spanish and Portugese, but each are distinctively different (the spanish and Portugese less so) and get used in quite different ways.

Dried Spanish and Portugese chorizo broths out about like any other seasoned dried meat will. Mexican chorizo is best for frying in a pan with eggs.

Here's my mexican chorizo recipe. I abstained from adding the typical ingredients and went for meat products cityfolk would be able to swallow:

Big Ben’s Boosted Chorizo

2 lbs lean ground pork
4 tablespoons mexican chili powder
1 1/2 tsp Cayenne and 1 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika (if you like to step on it). Or 1 tablespoon smoked paprika (if you are feeling tender)
½ tsp Green or Chipotle Tabasco sauce
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 tablespoons Olive oil
1 ounce tequila (don’t waste the good stuff unless that’s all ya got)

In a bowl big enough to handle it, combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly (a large wooden spoon is good, bare hands are better). When well blended, cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours (the longer the better, overnight is the usual). When ready to use, remove as much as you need, cover the rest and refrigerate or freeze if need be. Break the sausage up in a medium hot skillet and add a jigger or so of water to induce the rendering process. Once the sausage starts rendering reduce heat to medium and continue to fry up until the water is gone and it is cooked through (this may be hard to tell, as the chili powder keeps the meat red, so judge by the sizzle). When the sausage is cooked through, serve onto warm tortillas burrito style. Usually I scramble in some eggs (usually more egg than sausage) to give it more character and stretch the sausage out amongst more servings. You can add any type of mexican style toppings, like grated cheese, sour cream, even guacamole and black olives to make the dish more robust. This is premium cowboy breakfast food, the kind I’d serve at the ranch house on Sunday after a full week’s worth of hard work, were I in the cattle business. In New Mexico they’d serve refried beans and rice on the side, but I think fried taters are a better “acouterment” (my Irish blood I suppose).
Alternatively, I will add some flour to the cooked sausage (enough to bind the fat into a roux) and water to make a gravy for my bisuits instead of using a country breakfast sausage and milk based gravy. Adding a few slices of jalapenos or some chipotle to the dish will only make it better, unless you can’t stand the heat. Otherwise it is pretty mild, but flavorful.