Miers, the demise

To, I suspect, no one's great surprise Harriet Miers is no longer a candidate for the Supreme Court.

Me, I was certain the nomination was dead (not just doomed) when Arlen Specter (Sen-R, Penn) sent his list of questions to her, which addressed

-Limits on how long terrorism detainees may be held.
-Constitutional factors in judging presidential power to detain aliens outside U.S. borders.
-Ways you judge the majority and dissenting opinions in the Supreme Court's 2004 rulings on the rights of war on terrorism captives.
-Legal factors to be weighed in deciding whether terrorism captives are to be held as "enemy combatants" and whether they have legal rights.
-Constitutional factors in judging whether Congress gave the President too much power in approving war in Iraq.
-The constitutional nature of the Korean conflict, as a war that Congress did not declare.
-Similarly, the constitutional nature of the Vietnam conflict.

(and thanks to iocaste for having this handy summa of them)

All of those questions touch on the one thing near and dear to this White House, the president's power, and privilege.

Bertie, "It's ok to beat 'em if the President says so" Gonzales wrote a memo, which, in effect, claimed the President had the powers of a Roman tribune: The magistracy of tribune of the people (tribunus plebis) was established in 494 BC, about fifteen years after the foundation of the Roman Republic in 509. The plebeians of Rome seceded as a group until the patricians agreed to the establishment of an office that would have sacrosanctity (sacrosanctitas), the right to be legally protected from any physical harm -- and the right of help (ius auxiliandi), the right to rescue any plebeian from the hands of a patrician magistrate. Later, the tribunes acquired a far more formidable power, the right of intercession (ius intercessio), to veto any act or proposal of any magistrate, including another tribune of the people ("veto" is Latin for "I forbid"). As the chief representative of the Roman populus, the Tribune's house was required to be open to all at all times, day or night.

The tribune also had the power to exercise capital punishment against any person who interfered in the performance of his duties (the favourite threat of the tribune was therefore to have someone thrown from the Tarpeian Rock). The tribune's sacrosanctity was enforced by a solemn pledge of the plebeians to kill any person who harmed a tribune during his term of office.

(check the Wikipedia entry for more complete details)

I said when Roberts was nominated that the most frightening aspect of his career wasn't his views on privacy, but his regular (and habitual, looking at the jobs he held; and those he didn't) deference, and defence, of executive power. Which was reflected in his rulings from the DC Court of Appeals, most notably the case of Hamdan v Rumsfeld where he was part of the panel which said we can hold "enemy combatant" as non-POWs and try them in military courts.

Meirs looked to be more of the same (and a cynic might say she was chosen for just that reason).

So, when Specter threatened to shine light into those dark corners (as well as the threat of having demands for papers, yet again; which this White House, from it's earliest days has been loathe to release, even in light of the Supreme Court decisions in Clinton v. Jones which said the Executive has very little privilege when he uses counsel on the public payrol) well, I knew she was going to be scuttled.

Long promised food porn, with pictures

To go back a bit (you have to suffer more than just food porn) Maia and I went to Faire, where we celebrated our anniversary.

Me, I did what she told me too. She wanted a Singletree flask, with horses. She happens to like a cosmopolitan, as tweaked by me (a gold rum in lieu of vodka, a dash of either Gran Marnier, or Cointreau) and since she doesn't drink much, and most have too heavy a hand when pouring (esp. at the faire where much is lived large and hostpitality a virtue) she likes to carry her own spirits. An old pasta jar full of booze is a small bit of declassé and so I went and got it.

Now, for all that Maia's family is fond of telling each other what they want (to the point that sometimes the giftgiving is settled with the question, "What do you want for, "x" holiday?" as well as simple declarations of what one wants. These are seen as perfectly normal, and not in the least rude), I am of a tradition in which gifts are little tokens of appreciation. Something the giver thinks the gifted will enjoy, be it dear, or mean, in price, the choosing is more than trifle of the worth.

I went to our jeweler, and got her something she's been complaining of not having, some rose earings; these had garnets where the stamens would be. I also knew she wouls be stopping by, and so just left it with Steve and Benita to deliver as they saw fit.

Then I went and spent the day with a friend, making him look the more well to do noble. This was a pleasant foolishness, as David carries what can only be described as a punch-bowl on a stem, where a normal man would have a goblet, cup, or stein. The thing isn't quite full when a magnum's worth of ale is put in it; and he likes Belgian brews.

I cut myself off at 4 in the afternoon, with a Guinness, bought by the third member of our little troupe. We'd spent the day riffing on the relative prowess of each other, using the size, material and whatever other attributes of our cups we might bring into (or have dragged in by the customers). A pleasant ribabldry was the nature of the day.

I also took some time to browse. Oso was there. This is an amazing sword and bladsmith. He has, in the past several years, taken to making patterned steel. Beautiful stuff. Many moons ago he made a katana styled blade, with brass tsuba and pommel, and a piece of oryx horn between them. I wanted it. It was as close to perfect in a sword as I have ever handled. One-handed or two, it was light, quick, and balanced. I could've used it to cleave armies. Even an inept swordsman (and while I'm not in the practice I used to be, nor even in the practice I want to be, I am not inept) could do some real damage with it. Lovely to look at, and thrilling to handle. At $1,200, it was a steal, but beyond my means.

Now his stuff is better (and no less dear). If he made rapiers, well I'd want one. Simple fittings, utilitarian to look at, but imagine the looks I'd get when 32" inches of watered steel was put on display. And light, did I mention light, which makes for quick, so it would be whipping around when I was taking practice. Ah, things which pass for toys in my middle years.

There were new potters. Some with very nice looking stuff. Maia asked if I'd looked at one of them, he had, she said, amazing textures. I went and looked, and he did. The glazes were matt, and smooth. Not glassy smooth, more a sense of brushed satin; in earth tones. Some of them had bands of bare stone (done by placing wax on the bisque, so the glaze won't stick) and into that he had scribed wheat, the heads drifting in a breeze.

And I saw a set of three (in blue, high gloss) of bowls. I went to look at them and he commeded a set of the speckled brown (sort of like spotted eggs). I lifted one (it too, like Oso's cutlery, was light) and below it was a piece of paper, "Happy Anniversary Terry, Bake More Bread.".

She had bought me lingerie (for those who don't know, a guy buys a woman lingerie, because he wants her to wear it).

So, I knew we were having lasagne for dinner on Tues., I'd done this so I could make some bread. This just made it easier. I had been complaing for a while that the largest of our bowls is a little small for making more than a single loaf at a time. This was no longer a problem.

Monday I made a batch of dough, and decided to see just what the bowl would do.

It was a pretty big loaf. I shaped it into a ring.



For those who want a sense of scale

( Maia )

I also made some sourdough. I bought a book The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Reinhart. Really good book, and he explained why my sourdough tastes like normal bread. It's the yeast. No, not the local stuff, but the way yeast, in general grows. It's fast. You can double a cup of starter and the next day, split it, put half back in the fridge and sponge it up to make a couple pounds of bread.

The bacteria, however, which make the acids which make it sour, take days to catch up to that much volume and so there isn't any bite.

The cure, so Reinhart tells me, is to let the starter sit, for up to four days (after that the enzymes start to break the gluten down and the bread stops getting so much rise... this can be fixed by adding gluten [pokes about the cupboard, whattayaknow, I have about 8 oz. of essential wheat gluten, so I guess I can cope). I let the starter rest in a cool, dark place, for about three and half days and made a loaf of bread.

I also made about 60 percent of the dough from the starter. Bliss. It was creamy, (though the crumb was a little dense) had good crust and a bite. Brighter than SF sourdough, and a slow finish. It was repeatable. I have a batch in the garage right now, and will be making some to take to Barry when we head to L.A. this weekend.

The lasagne. Vegetarian. I like veggies, but regrettably the popular ones and I don't agree. Spinach? Wonderful if raw, a potent emtetic if I try to swallow it cooked. Broccoli? Nope. Eggplant? Foul.

So, to make a veggie lasagne I use capers, olives, and tomatoes. Line the pan with dry noodles (most sauces are fairly wet, the sauce will get to at least 180, and then the starches will absorb the excess liquid and you get done noodles, and no watery slop on the plate.

Place a thinnish layer of sauce on the noodles.

Take some ricotta (you may substitue cottage cheese, or stretch it, should your taste; or budget demand it. You may smoothen it, and mellow the flavor with marscapone. You can sharpen the flavor with assagio, romano or [what I do] with ricotta you have bought some weeks in advance and allowed to rest in the fridge), and mix it with dried oregano, and fresh marjoram. Rosemary if that suits your fancy (I find it starts to get too complicated, and muddy, sort of like a medieval meat pie, but that's just me) and spread the mix on the sauce.

Layer on some small capers.

Repeat the noodles, sauce, cheese (if you want to make your own pasta, lasagne is a wonderful dish for it, because one need not use a machine. A rolling pin and a wooden board is perfect. A charming benefit is the noodle sheets can be made to fit the pan, one layer, one noodle). This time add chopped olives (black, green, kalamata, picholine, sicilian, niçoise, whatever takes your fancy. The sauce can be adjusted to suit the olives, just recall the capers will be a bright, and astringent note).

A layer of noodles (if you are using dried, press them down between layers) sauce cheese, etc..

Keep doing this up to the top of the pan. Leave at least 1/4 inch (and a half is best) to pour in a lot of sauce, so the edges of the noodles don't burn in the oven.

About twenty minutes before it's done, toss on the mozzarella (or, for a more punguent layer, provolone). For fresh, chop it small, or aged/mass, grate it.

The first course was a soup.

Take some olive oil, get it hot. Into this toss some cubed potatoes; peeled. Cook them until they make a slight fond, but don't let them brown. While this is going on, add an onion, chopped small.

When the fond gets a little more defined, add a couple of cups each of chopped celery and carrots (you may grate the carrots if you choose, but I just slice them thin). Let them sauté for a couple of minutes.

Just as they are finishing, place about a quarter cup of tomato paste in the hot spot of the pot (It's got to be a big pot, I use my 12" dutch oven) and let it heat through. In a cooler part of the pot, place some crushed garlic. When the garlic starts to brown, add 4 qt.s hot water (you can set it to simmer on a back burner, it has to heat up anyway, so you aren't wasting energy).

Toss in some bay leaves (not less than two, nor more than four) and some piece of parmagian rind.

Cover and let sit on high simmer until the potatoes are disolved.

It can be served as is, or turned into any number of soups. It's a great base for minestrone. Black pepper, (or some warm/hot peppers to taste) will give it some bite.

That was last week.

This week I was lazier. I made a mulligatawny. Took some veggie and chicken stock from the freezer. Added 1 1/2 lbs dried peas (I couldn't find brown and yellow dal [which are varieties of lentils] so I made do).

Simmer, stirring on occasion to keep the bottom from scorching.

Add curry powder, turmeric and cumin. I wanted it to be more yellow, so I powdered some saffron and added it.

Monday I made a large loaf of flattish bread. Sliced the top off (so it was mostly flat, and about two-inches thick). It had been par-baked and, after scalping, I put it in a 375F oven to finish, and start to toast.

The plan was Welsh Rarebit.

In a pan I put some cream and butter (if making dairy sauces, start with cream, even when milk is the end point, because cream won't scorch, you can dilute later; though this recipe doesn't call for it).

That's when I discovered I had no worcestershire. No problem. Some soy, a dash of nam pla and a splach of balsamic, good to go. Some seeded mustard with horseradish and then the cubed cheese (about 3/4 of a lb) goes in, slowly at first and stir until it's smooth and thick.

Open the oven, ladle it on the bread, and put it on the high shelf, with the oven on broil. Five minutes later (which a pleasant freckling of toasted brown cheesey spots, it comes out.