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Below are the 25 most recent friends journal entries:

July 11th, 2009
09:29 pm cooking [emeraldkrystal] [Link]	Thank you Thank you for all your advice on how to frost cupcakes... Here is a picture of my son's birthday cupcakes. They turned out beautifully. (2 comments \| Leave a comment)
10:24 pm cooking [snappledapple78] [Link]	Frozen roast chicken I belong to a local food buying club and they had a deal on chickens this week. I ended up with a frozen roasting chicken that's about 4lbs. I'm planning on making that for dinner tomorrow (Sunday). How would I go about defrosting it? Should I take it out tonight and put it in the fridge? Or put it in the sink with cold water tomorrow? That's what I was thinking. I remember my mom doing that with turkeys for Thanksgiving. Which would take forever with the size turkeys she would get. Anyway, how long would it take to defrost this way? Changing out the water every so often, too, right? Or is there a better method? I'm planning on just simply cutting a head of garlic in half, cutting up a lemon and maybe getting some thyme and stuffing the chicken. I'll probably get some small potatoes and some carrots and roasting the chicken on top of that. And I'll save the carcass for chicken stock. Oh, while I'm at it, what is the difference between stock and broth? From what I've understood, stock is usually made with the bones and it takes much longer than stock, which would be made with a whole chicken. Is that correct? Thanks for the help everyone! Tags: help: how to, meat: chicken (Leave a comment)
07:26 pm cooking [gotyellowcard] [Link]	Black Bottom Cupcakes chocolate cupcakes with a cheesecake middle. more at my food blog HERE x-posted ( recipe also behind cut ) (Leave a comment)
10:52 pm docjeed [Link]	I think I need an icon of a Pirate manager curled into a fetal ball. (Leave a comment)
07:33 pm commonreader [Link]	CPSIA Destroying People's Lives, As Was Presumably Intended The owner of Bumkins, Jakki Liberman, said she agrees with the spirit of the law, but said its messy implementation has cost her thousands of dollars. She said her company creates and designs fabrics and patterns for her products, which adds to the problem. Every batch of fabric she buys must pass a lead test. The testing isn't cheap, she said, as each batch costs about $1,000. If she buys another batch, even if it's the same, previously approved product, Liberman must pay another $1,000. The size of the batch has nothing to do with the amount charged for testing, so she said she opts to buy larger batches of the same fabric. "If I'm making bigger batches I'm going to have less assortment," she said. "From a cost standpoint, this is pretty crippling on the manufacturer's side." Liberman said the testing adds about 25 percent to the cost, but she said she can't raise the price of her products because people won't buy clothing that costs more than current prices. "If the test was inexpensive, or even deductible from a tax standpoint, it'd be easier," she said. "In the first quarter, we spent $25,000, and where is that in your budget?" More from the article: Andrew Douglas serves as operations director for Boon Inc., a toy company based in Chandler. He estimated that his company has absorbed about $400,000 since the law was enacted two years ago. He attributed some of the expense to educating his factory's labor force. "The legislation is still a moving target, and that's what I think is most frustrating for everybody in the industry," Douglas said. Western reinvented the baby carrier with her own spin, by making them so they can be adjustable. She said her product grew in popularity, but the recent regulations presented financial obstacles she couldn't overcome. "You basically have a couple of options," she said. "You can choose not to comply. You can choose to comply, pay the money and jump through the hoops. Or you can go out of business." Every component on her carriers needed to be tested individually, she said. Every thread color, every button, every buckle. Each carrier included 21 different components, and every compliance test cost her $100 per component. She said she couldn't afford to pay the $2,100 to test a batch of carriers, so she closed shop. (Leave a comment)
09:40 pm nurse_students [letspretendtobe] [Link]	Crazy! NCLEX Question..what do you think? Okay I this will be the last one of these that I post for a while. I'm happy I'm starting this material early, because it looks like I might have to change my whole way of thinking to make it through this class. This question shocked me more than the other one I posted. I'll post the answer/rationale once a few people make a suggestion. Maybe the question isn't that crazy, maybe I'm just sleepy..enjoy! A client is admitted to the inpatient unit of the mental health center with a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. He's shouting that the French government is trying to assassinate him. Which response is most appropriate? 1. " I think you're wrong. France is a friendly country and an ally of the United States. Their government wouldn't try to kill you." 2. "I find it hard to believe that a foreign government or anyone else is trying to hurt you. You must feel frightened by this." 3. "You're wrong. Nobody is trying to kill you." 4. "A foreign government is trying to kill you? Please tell me more about it." (11 comments \| Leave a comment)
05:27 pm commonreader [Link]	I Lol'd These ideas (among many other equally horrifying recommendations) were put forth by John Holdren, whom Barack Obama has recently appointed Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, and Co-Chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology -- informally known as the United States' Science Czar. In a book Holdren co-authored in 1977, the man now firmly in control of science policy in this country wrote that: • Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not; • The population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation's drinking water or in food; • Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies seized from them against their will and given away to other couples to raise; • People who "contribute to social deterioration" (i.e. undesirables) "can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility" -- in other words, be compelled to have abortions or be sterilized. • A transnational "Planetary Regime" should assume control of the global economy and also dictate the most intimate details of Americans' lives -- using an armed international police force. Yeah right, in the USA, a country where there is zero institutional support for sterilizing crazy crack mothers of dozens, this is going to go over soooo well. How stupid are the people promulgating these ideas? Apparently stupid enough to believe that ordinary people can't count. Even if there is a global population crisis, it is a temporary blip caused by the Green Revolution. Look at the Mexican numbers in the wikipedia article. The way in which "overpopulation" affects most of my readers personally is due specifically to the Mexican population boom caused by the Green Revolution. If that boom hadn't happened OR if we controlled our southern border the USA would have nothing resembling a population crisis, not even what we have now which doesn't even bear a very good resemblance to a population crisis. You were probably stuck in traffic today and you probably have a hard time buying a house. It's not that bad. It's not COERCED ABORTION BAD. And, it wouldn't even be like it is, if not for massive Mexican immigration caused by the population boom caused by the Green Revolution. American fertility is already controlled to the point where semi-coercive pro-natalist policies are what sensible tyrants should be thinking about. So either these people are stupid, or they actually want to cause a race war. With Mexicans. That will be the most boring race war that ever was. I am so disappointed. eta: someone has edited out the Mexican population numbers from the wikipedia article and I am too lazy to go look them up. (6 comments \| Leave a comment)
08:11 pm nurse_students [letspretendtobe] [Link]	NCLEX question what would you pick? Hey everyone, I was reviewing my up coming work for my psych nursing class that is starting in fall. I've been doing NCLEX for that section of the book, to get some exposure before the lecture/tests/quizzes. Anyway this was my first question in psychotic disorders. I got this so wrong lol. I am just curious to see what everyone will say. I will be back to post the answer and rationales from the book. Every day for 2 weeks, a client with schizophrenia stands up during group therapy and screams, "Get out of here right now! The elevator bombs are going to explode in 3 minutes!" The next time this happens, how should the nurse respond? 1. " Why do you think there is a bomb in the elevator?" 2." That is the same thing you said in yesterday's session." 3. "I know you think there are bombs in the elevator, but there aren't." 4. "I know you have something to say, you must do it according to our group rules." I have added the answer with rationales in a comment below!updated (18 comments \| Leave a comment)
05:11 pm cooking [cherrynirvana] [Link]	Substitution Question Can anybody recommend a good substitution for balsamic vinegar? It turns out that the boyfriend is unable to have it without getting a severe stomach ache so we'd like to find a suitable replacement. (10 comments \| Leave a comment)
07:51 pm cooking [c_is4_catherine] [Link]	V8 Juice So I bought a container of V8 juice (low sodium, to be specific) to use in gazpacho (mmmm gazpacho) and now I have a whole bunch of the juice left over. I'm not a huge fan of just drinking it... Any ideas of how to use it up? (9 comments \| Leave a comment)
06:00 pm cooking [layers_of_eli] [Link]	Cheddar Chive and Bacon "Cupcakes" with Avocado Frosting I mentioned that I'd post the outcome of my Cheddar Chive and Bacon Cupfakes with Avocado Frosting. Thanks for all your help! ( here's the scoop: recipes and photos ) More info and pictures (including process photos) can be found at my baking blog, Willow Bird Baking! Tags: bread: biscuit, dairy: cheese, dessert: cupcakes, fruit: avocado (17 comments \| Leave a comment)
09:08 pm cooking [drunken_hedghog] [Link]	Roast Lamb Advice I have a boned and stuffed joint of lamb for a roast dinner tomorrow. My problem is that I'm not sure how long and at what temperature to roast it. Is there any formula, such as 30 minutes per pound plus 30, and does anyone have any recommendations as to the best temperature, or temperature combinations (i.e. first half hour at gas mark 6, then down to gas mark 4)? I can easily convert both Centigrade and Fahrenheit temperatures, so please use whichever you prefer. If you have any general tips on cooking lamb I'd be grateful; I'm more used to working with chicken, beef and pork. Tags: meal: dinner, meat: lamb, type: roast (Leave a comment)
03:55 pm cynical_nurse [pokygirl2001] [Link]	LOLZ ur eyedentetuh theef. We all got an email last week that if anyone was in a patient's chart for more than twenty minutes, then we would be subject to a suspected HIPAA violation and be audited, blah blah blah blah blah. "Patient's chart" being any part of the computer where the patient's name is displayed across the top. Puhleeze. Because it takes twenty minutes to read a name or write down a SS number. I'm sure I've had a patient's name on a chart for more than twenty minutes, I'm certain of it. Because sometimes when you're in the back room where a patient isn't likely to wander, and you have a DTaP and a IPV and a Hib to enter into the retarded immunization section that doesn't work, and an allergy shot comes in and another TB test comes in and the little old man in room three needs help going to the potty, then yeah it stays up for twenty minutes. I can't move from a page or lock the system with information left incomplete, because it deletes it. Oftentimes I turn the monitor off, it takes a ballsy patient to touch the monitor but they all find the computer mouse tempting. Or then, I may be sitting there for twenty minutes with the chart up actually, you know, attempting to DO MY JOB on the shit slow as molasses fiddly software we have. Imagine that. (2 comments \| Leave a comment)
04:18 pm dpolicar [Link]	On hypocrisy So, with all these sex-related scandals popping up lately, there's been a lot of schadenfreude going around the blogosphere about the hypocrisy of political leaders, in a party strongly associated with the idea that a specific set of sex and family roles should be rigidly defined and enforced, at the same time violating the rules associated with those roles in their private lives. It's generally followed by a series of exchanges to the effect of "Hey, insert-liberal-politician-here had sex scandals too!"/"Yeah, but his party isn't demanding rigid compliance to sexual mores." All of which reminds me of the accusation made on my f'list a while back -- and in print more than once -- that liberals aren't prepared to assert an actual moral position, so all they are able to do is accuse their opponents of hypocrisy, which is their weakness... that it's better to hypocritically defend the Good than not to to defend it at all. I actually agree with that last part, as far as it goes. Given that someone is a murderer, I would rather they be a murderer who pushes for the (continued) criminalization of murder than one who pushes for its legalization. I would rather they work to reduce the social factors that encourage murder, and work to introduce factors that inhibit it (1). And this is precisely because I think murder is a bad thing. That is, yes, OK, hypocrisy is bad, but murder is worse. The same goes for other bad things. It's better not to do them, but if you do them, it's still better to work to eliminate the factors that contribute to them. Yes, that is sometimes hypocritical. Hypocrisy isn't the worst thing. I'll add to this (though it's also beside my point) that, completely independent of the hypocrisy of it, my problem with the (continued) criminalization of non-mainstream sex and family roles is the immorality of having "two differing measures in your house" (2) -- one for your kind of family and one for another; one for folks like you and one for other folks. Institutionalized prejudice is immoral. Full stop. 1 - It is, of course, even better that they not murder. And, also, I don't trust their motives. But both of those are beside my point right now. 2 - Deut 25:14 Tags: omphaloskepsis (10 comments \| Leave a comment)
02:23 pm docjeed [Link]	I can has mural! My friend Puff (deathling) was in town visiting, and came over to hang and paint a mural on one of my walls. Before I bought the house, I offered her a tableau to express herself, and she accepted, so here's the (near-final) result: ( You, perhaps, expected something else? ) (6 comments \| Leave a comment)
09:43 am mactavish [Link]	( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) (4 comments \| Leave a comment)
11:50 am kylecassidy [Link]	cats on my porch The mountain of things what get signed slowly abates. I need to have it in the mail today. We watched Cube last night. brunch on the porch I've been listening to Royksopp's cool song "What Else Is There?" and thought I'd see if I liked anything else of theirs so I went to iTunes but all the songs have very long intros --all longer than the sample, so you basically get 30 seconds of "oompa oompa ooompa" and then it fades out. iTunes should grab their samples from the middle I should be signing stuff, but Milla wants me to scratch her head and she's very persistent. Current Mood: accomplished Current Music: lonesome dove (45 comments \| Leave a comment)
10:26 am chikkiboo [Link]	The Fabulous Adventures of James & Bond Part 3: You Only Die Once Chapter 2 2800 words ( in which we meet a russkie ) Tags: james and bond (Leave a comment)
11:07 am cooking [gemfyre] [Link]	Telling apart plain and SR flour I was just about to make a loaf of bread when I realised the recipe called for plain wholemeal flour. In a cannister in the kitchen I have SR wholemeal flour. I have half a packet of SR wholemeal flour in the pantry. In the pantry there is also a container which I've labelled SR Wholemeal which is full. Now, a part of me thinks that I probably wouldn't have bought that much SR Wholemeal, seeing as I've made this bread recipe before and knew I'd need plain wholemeal for it. So I have this feeling that the stuff in the container I've labelled as SR may actually be plain flour. Is there any trick to tell them apart?? (12 comments \| Leave a comment)
08:05 pm cooking [smurfetts_lamb] [Link]	Cold salads with carbs - rice, pasta, lentils, beans, barley I am making a large meal for 20-40 people next weekend. I have to make it the day before. I need to serve it cold since we are camping. I have some ideas in mind. But I would really like to hear about your best cold salad recipe. Something that will taste fabulous the second day. Chilling it will be easy. I just need the tastey recipes. Thanks all. (10 comments \| Leave a comment)
04:51 pm cooking [rollinsgirl] [Link]	looking for variety I entertain a lot, and my friends always love the appetizers that I put out. only problem is, I have the same 5 things in my repertoire and I think they are getting a little tired. So what appetizers do you all do for cocktail parties that aren't too fussy, and are always a hit with your friends? Here is a favorite among us: Mexican Corn Dip: 1 11oz. can Mexicorn, drained 1 cup mayo 1/2 cup parmesan cheese 1 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded 6 or 7 sliced jarred jalapenos, chopped Mix all ingredients together and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes serve with Tostito's "Scoops" YUM! (6 comments \| Leave a comment)
05:57 pm cooking [x_whitney_x] [Link]	I guess I'm kinda old fashioned, while I love reading food blogs and cooking websites...my favorite is still cookbooks! I have some of my cookbooks that are my standbys and I use them all the time! I want to get a few more new cookbooks. What is your absolute favorite cookbook? (no specific type, anything from baking, specific cuisines or even just a good all around cookbook.) (15 comments \| Leave a comment)
04:24 pm cooking [micalela] [Link]	Squash My boyfriend gave me a spagetti squash sometime last month. I'm not a cook which is why I'm in this community to learn. :) I have no idea what to do with this thing. I also have no idea how to tell if it's good or not. What can I do with it? (6 comments \| Leave a comment)
07:01 am jordan179 [Link]	Obama lets over 1000 Palestinian former Saddam supporters into America ( You are about to view content that may not be appropriate for minors. ) Current Mood: amused Tags: america, barack obama, diplomacy, iraq, palestinian, political, refugee (12 comments \| Leave a comment)
10:38 am theferrett [Link]	Man vs. Wild Weasel Watching Man vs. Wild leaves me continually flabbergasted. Because they drop Bear Grylls into some Godforsaken wilderness with nothing more than a knife, and he uses that knife to make whatever he needs. He makes a little tent out of evergreen twigs. He makes an impromptu coat out of a dead deer. He makes a rotisserie for his fish to cook on. And then, when he's done, he just leaves them there. Every time, as he walks away, I'm like, "You built that! Take it with you! You might need it - and don't you want a souvenir of this time here?" But no; Bear walks away without a care, leaving the thing he made behind. I cannot understand that. I come from a family of hoarders. When we finally moved my Grammy and Grampop out of their house to bring them to the nursing home, it took three large dumpsters to clear the detritus. I remember clearing out old business correspondence from the attic with my cousin ("Dec 6th, 1952: This is to confirm I have to received your letter") and saying to her, "Well, they kept everything but the kitchen sink." And then, not ten minutes later, discovering two kitchen sinks in a back closet. One had a hole in it. But it might have been useful later on, you know. You could have patched that up. So when Bear just walks away from that ladder he lashed together from twigs and vines, leaving it behind as if it's nothing more than a pile of twigs and vines, I'm aghast. "Don't you want that?" I cry. "You never know when you'll need a broken ladder!" And inexplicably, I feel sorry for the ladder. Bear made it, he gifted it with life, and now this poor ladder is sitting in the wilderness, never to be useful again. Never mind that it was never useful in the first place - it broke before he could climb across the river to the cave - but Bear never gave it a second chance, man. I imagine the ladder feels pretty terrible about that. Then I wonder whether this is some bizarre function of human nature. I didn't grow up in the wilderness; I had the suburbs, where the only living nonhuman creatures were dogs and squirrels and little brown birds, and that was pretty much it. Do we have some innate instinct to look for life around us? In my vaccuum of wildlife, did I map a form of low-grade sentience onto my books (who wanted to be read) and my stools (who meant to bark my shin) and my videogames (who felt left out when I didn't play with them) just because my lizard brain couldn't comprehend the vaccuum of life surrounding me? Or is that my hoarder family instinct giving me an excuse - the world itself wants to be with me! I can't just leave it behind! Bear Grylls doesn't care. The man has no trinkets, no nostalgia, no additional weight; when it's done, he moves on, leaving a trail of Stuff that instantly decays into detritus. I admire it, even as I can't understand it. (37 comments \| Leave a comment)

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