she just couldn't make food that tasted good

My mother's mother was an institutional cook in the Depression, I think she learned methods of stretching things and making do with very little, and quantity over quality. Or she learned to hate cooking after spending years helping her mother in various work camps.

In Arizona, chili = tomatoes, onion, chili peppers (green, powder, whatever), garlic, and cilantro if you like it, cooking not necessary. All that plus beans = chili beans. All that plus meat = chili con carne. But in its essence, salsa is chili.

Oh my god. Today just SUCKS at work. Using lunch to try and regain my zen. PB and I are totally butting heads and I'm just done. We just wrestled a giant hutch down four flights of stairs. And I pulled my back again. I think everyone did.

ita, thank you for that. I appreciate the effort - it is hard to get the meaning of a spin which is so local, even in Israeli terms.

As for a useful link, you can have that: [link] - it's a Google Translate of a major media commentary site here. It's the best I can offer at the moment as it'll take me a lot of time to translate the whole piece. And please, feel free to ask me about this or anything else in Israel - all of you. I have my strong opinions (and the burning desire to throw out this government, but that's for another conversation), but I'd love to try and... well, not explain, but describe some of the things here.

Meanwhile, that scum-of-the-earth who span it - quit journalism in order to become a politician. So now, officially, it's a spin. And the thing that kills me in all of this is not that he did it on the backs of school girls - but that this spin buried a lot of important crucial stories. Like that horrid law, that passed very late last night - that I, for one, find it very hard to live with, especially after my volunteering with the Ministry of Justice's National Anti-Human Trafficking unit. Of all of the laws this government passed, this one is a new low. [link]

I'm just cranky that I'm having spring allergies, and it's freaking January.

the weather is fucked.

we are all gonna DIE!

beset with self-esteem and body image demons. But I remembered one other funny Wire moment...dude getting his balls busted by his girl and he says "Man, I can't *wait* to jail."

I put the beans in a dutch oven (any oven-safe pot with a tight-fitting lid will work), cold water to cover by an inch to an inch and a half (an inch in a large pot, inch and a half in a smaller one), add some salt and a bay leaf, and bring it to a boil on the stove. Then I transfer it to a 250 degree oven, covered. Stir after 40 minutes and add more water if necessary. They're done 20-50 minutes later. Grand total time: usually about 1.5-2 hours.

Gris, I'm going to have to try this next time I make beans.

2012 can already go to hell.

1. Found out yesterday my home has lost value since I refinanced in 2003, enough to make it $11K underwater, so no refinance. Not guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, so no special government program for me.

2. Today I got Official Word from the Short-term disability claims company that my morbid obesity and diabetes were determined by their doctor-on-a-leash to be preexisting condition for my staph infection.

3. The alternator on the (new to me) minvan may be going out.

4. My truck, which I parked Jan 1st, has a dead battery.

5. My sister Jeannie's coworker, who was going to buy my car, has not scraped up the cash, AFAIK.

Blecch.

I'm so sorry Dan.