Month: September 2011

Rally on Prop 8 standing

A couple of weeks ago we took part in a rally and attended a court hearing about the latest detour in the Prop 8 saga: whether the proponents’ have standing to appeal the case when the official state defendants (the governor and the attorney general) refuse to do so. My opinion is that they do not, but in any case the outcome of this particular hearing at the California Supreme Court (due in under ninety days now) is only meant to advise the Ninth Circuit as it ponders whether the proponents have federal standing.

Anyway, we watch and wait. But I did want to share some of the sights and sounds from the rally that morning, courtesy of our good friends.

Check out Julie Bernstein’s site for her full set of rally photos.

Here is a video by Sean Chapin, showing the contrast between the anti- and pro-equality sides:

You really see what our side stands for: love.

Tags courts, marriage equality, prop 8

uncategorized

Where was I?

I haven’t written much at all about 9/11 on my blog, but I did want to write down (mostly for my sake, before the details fade from memory) where I was that day.

At the time, I was living in Washington, D.C. (I had moved there in the summer of 2000.) On the morning of September 11, 2011, as usual I took the Metro to my office in Bethesda, Maryland, and arrived sometime around 9:00 a.m. After I settled in at my desk, a coworker came to me and said that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. At first I thought it was an accident, “just” a plane crash, but as the morning progressed and I kept reading news about the other planes online, it became clear that this was an organized terrorist attack.

I stayed at my desk the whole morning. Some others were watching the news on TV in another part of the office, but for some reason I stayed glued to my computer and kept reloading the major news sites, though they were slow to access. By noon, our company said we could go home if we wished. So I left for my apartment, stopping at the supermarket for food on the way.

It was eerie. I lived less than a mile from the White House and a couple more miles to the Pentagon. Who knew if there would be even more attacks? I would hear helicopters and didn’t know what to think. The afternoon wore on. I called my parents and some friends to let them know I was safe, and watched more news on TV. After a while I had to turn it off and try to rest.

Tags 9/11

baking project

Pie project: Lattice-top fresh peach pie

Post author By Jeff Tabaco
Post date September 5, 2011
3 Comments on Pie project: Lattice-top fresh peach pie

Another month, another pie! For my August pie, with Thom’s input (he loves peach) I went to Cook’s Illustrated and found a recipe for a lattice-top fresh peach pie. OK, to the pics!

After blanching and much peeling, pitting, and slicing:

I was up for the new challenge of a lattice top, and I have to say, it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. For some reason I imagined having to actually weave the strips of dough, but it’s just a matter of laying down and folding back the strips, strategically of course.

After a cut and crimp (sounds like a salon treatment) and a dusting of sugar, it’s ready for the oven:

Et voilà. I’m very happy with how it turned out. Unlike a couple of the other pies I’ve made, this one set up really well via the instant tapioca (the recipe calls for potato starch, which is finer than tapioca). It’s a minor aesthetic thing, but if I were to make this again I would grind the tapioca a little more so that it disappears more easily into the filling.

Mmm, peachy! There were leftover dough strips and filling, so I made that into a kind of mini-tart, which Thom and I ate that night as a preview before sharing the pie the next day.

More photos of this and other pies are in my pie project set on Flickr.

Tags cooking, food, pies