Author Archives: Liz Miller

Gratitude, Community, and Eating Fresh/Eating Local

Two of the contributors to this site, Epluribusunum and Pariahdog, came over to our house for dinner Friday. And they brought with them a dozen eggs that had been laid by their very own chickens that very day. The eggs were things of beauty, all different colors and sizes. Most of them were a pastel blue. And Stevens and I and our son ate our way greedily through most of them over the weekend (as I write this there are 5 left).

Really fresh eggs

Honest-to-goodness fresh eggs from real chickens.

 

This is what I did with three of the eggs.

I mixed them with flour, yeast, salt, honey, and milk into a dough. Then I set the dough into a greased bowl to rise.

 

Dough in a bowl

Letting the dough rise

 

When it had risen for two hours, and was doubled in size, I punched it down, divided it in three equal portions (yes, I weighed it, I’m a geek), made them into balls and let them rest for 15 minutes.

Then I made each ball into a long rope and braided them together.

 

Dough Braid

Dough braided together.

 

Then I let it rest for another thirty minutes while the oven preheated to 375.

I brushed it with a mixture of egg yolk and water, and put it in the oven for 40 minutes.

When it came out of the oven, it looked like this:

 

Challah

Beautiful Challah Bread

 

Looks delicious, doesn’t it? And the picture doesn’t do the flavor justice. YUM.

 

Better than the bread, better even than the eggs, was the intense, fun, and unfailingly interesting conversation that we shared Friday night over dinner, and late into the night.

My dear friends, I am so grateful for the eggs, but way more than that, I am grateful for your friendship.

BREAKING!!! Prop 8 in California ruled unconstitutional!!

The Ninth District panel ruled that taking away the existing rights of a minority is not kosher. Read the whole story at Prop8TrialTracker.

The ruling applies only to California’s special circumstances, but if it stands, it could put the kibosh on efforts in states like Iowa and New Hampshire to repeal marriage equality.

The proponents have a week to ask for an en banc review. If they don’t get one, they have 90 days to ask for a Supreme Court review.

Thank you, Ninth Circuit! I really needed some good news today.

[crossposted at DoorbellQueen]

Blogging for Choice

This was really supposed to happen yesterday, but yesterday I was working for Choice in a different way (the NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia C3 Board met).

Today I’m going to blog for Choice by asking all my pro-Choice readers in the MD-VA-DC region to buy a ticket to this Thursday’s Roe v. Wade Anniversary Dinner.

Over 60 anti-abortion, anti-birth control, anti-women statutes were enacted last year. This year, as many or more are being introduced. Please help us save women’s lives, help us keep abortion safe, legal, and RARE by buying a ticket, attending the dinner, and working to make every baby that is born a welcomed and wanted Choice.

Spam posts redux

Just deleted another (and yet another!) spam post (and banned the posters).

I do NOT want to have to change our posting permissions, but it may come to that. Please be prepared for a change to come.

A reminder, a rumor, the RPV, and a round (reposted from Doorbellqueen.com)

A reminder that you’ve got limited time if you want to be a voting member of the LCDC. I don’t really understand why they have the deadline, but there you go.

A commenter on Too Conservative said that Bob Moses is running for Chair along with Evan MacBeth. So at least there’s a choice? If you’re interested in voting?

Personally, I think not allowing on-site registration is a mistake, but it ain’t my party.

The RPV seems to be making their own errors, but at least I can laugh at those.

Last but not least, here’s a little something to lighten the mood:

No. Spam. Seriously.

I just had to delete a user and their post because they were selling some form of snake oil. No. No Spam.