A big 24 hours for Abe Lincoln

Check out these two CNN stories on Lincoln artifacts discovered over the past day or so:

Last Photo Taken of Lincoln

Message Found Inside Lincoln's Watch

Pumpkin Bars

Yesterday afternoon, Tuesdays being my day off, I made pumpkin bars from the recipe that Maria left me in the comments on my first crock pot post. (I had asked for them when she mentioned them on Faith and Family.) They were so amazing that I simply have to repost the recipe.

Pumpkin Bars
3/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup cooking oil 1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Mix dry ingredients. Beat eggs, add sugar, then oil; add dry ingredients
with pumpkin and nuts. Pour in 9x9x2-inch greased baking pan. Bake at 350
degrees for 30 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Remove from pan and frost, if
desired.

I didn't have a 9x9 pan, so I put mine in one that was more like 5x6. (Do pans that size even exist?) Mine were much thicker, I'm sure, than Maria's are, and had to bake for more like 40-45 minutes. I think I'd try to go with the larger pan in the future, as these go very quickly (and, um, I'm the only one eating them), so it'd be nice to be able to make them stretch/control myself more easily. I highly recommend these.

Maria said that she had added oatmeal and chocolate chips on top, which sound good, but having given up chocolate for Lent, I went with the basic recipe. I tried to add nuts, but failed at doing so. (After crushing some walnuts, I left them on the other side of the counter and didn't realize I'd forgotten them until I was cleaning up. Then I tried to figure out what to do with them. Did you ever try to snack on crushed walnuts with your fingers while watching tv? I recommend a spoon.)

I also made a pumpkin soup last night, but I don't have the recipe right now to post it. Does anyone else have any good pumpkin recipes? I have a ton of pumpkin puree in the freezer, and I'm looking for things to do with it!

Synchronicity

I came across this blog about Synchronicity. It's kind of New Age-y for me, perhaps, but a good opening for one of the coolest coincidences I've experienced.

A few months ago - it was Homecoming, I think, so in September or October - a number of friends and I were meeting for dinner in Georgetown. As Rhett and I sat on the bus, me crocheting (I was still working on the baby blanket then), the bus made a stop and four of my friends got on. They thought it was a moderately cool coincidence - until Rhett and I explained that we hadn't gotten on the bus together. With no more plans than to meet at a certain restaurant at a certain time, I'd gotten on the bus near my house. As it passed Rhett's apartment, he got on. And several stops later, the rest of my friends got on.

I think having watched everyone get on in succession left me much more impressed than everyone else. Plus, I'm easily amused.

Disenchanted

The most difficult thing, for me, about the recent change in regulations regarding embryonic stem cell research is the public reaction.

If you check out the comments on various media stories that came out yesterday, they're overwhelmingly along the lines of "Finally! Now science can move forward!"

NY Times

CNN

Washington Post

It very much disturbs me that most people don't even see how this could possibly be a problem, how it could be anything but a good thing.

I never thought I'd see the day when I wouldn't want science to move forward, but when scientific progress becomes synonymous with "killing innocents," I become very skeptical about science.

All of the sudden (or maybe not so suddenly. . .) human beings are viewed as tools, as a means to an end rather than goods in themselves.

And don't try to tell me they're not human. If they're not human, let's just sidestep the ethical quandary by using guinea pig embryos, why don't we? Try to object to that without insisting that the embryos have to be human for stem-cell research to work.

Necessarily lethal medical experimentation on subjects who can't consent. People as a means to an end. Killing the innocent. Who thinks this is okay?

Obama's Remarks on Embryonic Stem Cell Research

In which we learn that the best way to "restore scientific integrity to government decision making" is to allow government funding of medical research on subjects who lack the ability to consent.

As if we weren't already 3/4 of the way down the slippery slope

Even the NY Times can see that government funding of embryonic stem-cell research will lead to the wanton creation and destruction of human life at the whims of mere mortals:

Obama is Leaving Some Stem Cell Issues to Congress

If you're going to claim that creating, experimenting on, and destroying embryos is "controversial and fraught with ethical implications," how can you not realize that the destruction of embryos for stem cells for research, is, you know, "controversial and fraught with ethical implications"? (Not to mention just plain wrong.)

Pic from the New York Times

Hehe. Is it juvenile that I find this endlessly amusing?

7 Quick Takes Friday Volume X

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1. I've been thinking about getting my tonsils out. I wish I knew what the indicators were for needing your tonsils out. Is getting lots of sore throats enough? Because that's exactly what I've got. They're usually just part of a cold, but they're the first symptom I get, and they outlast the rest of the cold by weeks. I'll get over a cold, and feel completely fine and healthy, except for a lingering sore throat that won't go away. I got over my last cold weeks ago, but the sore throat only went away last week - and now I've got a whole new cold, complete with new sore throat. I felt so icky Tuesday morning, when this came on, that I skipped class and sat on the couch in my PJs all day.

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2. On that note, am I the only one who likes crunchy foods when I have a sore throat? Chips, crackers, cookies, granola bars. The last thing I want when my throat hurts is what seems to be expected - yogurt, applesauce, ice cream. I'm wishing the only tortilla chips in my apartment didn't belong to my roommates, because I'd be eating them by the handful (instead of sneaking one or two at a time throughout the day, that is).

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3. And on that note, I love the theory of feeding a cold and starving a fever. Totally gives me license to eat what I want. (Shouldn't, but does.) Especially because, when I have a cold, I feel like eating a lot (see #2). And since I came across this article, I figure that's just my body telling me to do what's best for me. Bodies love to do that.

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4. So, I wrote my first three quick takes when I was sitting at home on Tuesday, miserable in the throes of a beginning of a terrible cold. I usually don't call in sick to work or class, but after skipping class Tuesday, I got up early to e-mail my boss that I wasn't coming in Wednesday, too. Then I went back to sleep for another 5 hours. When I woke up - still a little congested - I felt a million times better. You mean it might be better to take a break and recover than to forge bravely on ahead as if I weren't sick at all? On the other hand, it could be attributed to feeding my cold with cookies throughout the afternoon.

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5. This Quick Take was almost a link to my cousin's music. She's and up-and-coming singer-songerwriter, and she's awesome. (That's not just bias speaking, everyone I know who's heard her thinks the same.) She was even on the radio recently. But then I chickened out, because I'm not sure I want the people I know in real life getting wind of this blogging thing until I'm a little more comfortable in my skin, at least. Best not to have any connections to the real world at first.

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6. My crock pot meal was a great success. I love this thing.

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7. A thought that I can't get rid of lately: Why can I accept on faith so easily something as literally incredible as bread and wine becoming Flesh and Blood at Mass, and yet have such trouble with something as conventional as sex being for marriage?

"I love you, too, snookems"

Rhett and I celebrated our first anniversary last Tuesday. Monday night, as midnight rolled around, he composed a text message to me that read, "We shared our first kiss exactly a year ago. I love you, Scarlett."

Note that I said he composed a text message to me. I didn't say that he sent a text message to me.

The response he got, from a friend we'll call Paul: "Thank you, Rhett, but I'm afraid no such thing happened. I love u too snookems."

It's been a week. I'm still laughing

Anti-War Protests at Church

An article from my home-town paper about a group who's protesting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by showing up at churches on Sunday morning, during services, and holding banners - not outside, but inside the church - with anti-war messages.

Anti-war protesters take cause to churches

I have nothing against anti-war protests - I might even agree with them; the war's one of those issues where I'm not sure where I stand - but this is absurd, not to mention rude. They say they've "visited" Protestant, Catholic, and Unitarian churches, but no synagogues or African-American churches.

I wonder how either of my churches would react if something similar happened. I think the ideal would be to ignore them completely, having them quietly escorted out if there are ushers available, but I can't help but assume that they would cause a major distraction, pull everyone's focus away from the Mass, and make it hard to regain concentration, even after they'd left.

Here's a blog post, from the newspaper's religion blog, discussing whether their tactics are even legal.

Might Makes Right

I think this is a really good post by Mary Jo Anderson. This is my favorite quote from it:

In "freedom of choice," the baby has no choice; thus, the procedure is simply a
"might makes right" move against an innocent being.

If we can do it, there's no reason we shouldn't do it, right? Right? Oh no, wait. That "logic" is completely immoral. I also like the "Choose what?" response she discusses. Check it out over at Inside Catholic!

Crock Pot! Woo Hoo!

Saturday night, Rhett and I were at a friend's and she was telling us how much she loved her crock pot. Another friend joined in with praises, and by the next afternoon, Rhett and I had gone out and each gotten ourselves a crock pot. (This is the one I got.) He bought a slow cooker cook book, too, but I thought it was too expensive, so while he's been cooking away, I've been endlessly searching the internet for recipes that utilize ingredients I already have in the house. (Hint: in the future, go shopping the day after finding lots of recipes to try, not the day before.) My cooking style tends to be pretty simple, so the ingredients I have in the house are, too. The first recipe I'm going to try, tomorrow, came from About.com and is reproduced below:

Italian seasoned chicken with potatoes, cooked in the slow cooker.

Cook Time: 7 hours

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• 1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (or mix basil, oregano, crushed red pepper, and garlic powder to equal same)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
• 4 to 6 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges or thick slices

Preparation:

Place chicken in bottom of Crock Pot. Sprinkle with half of the Italian dressing, spices, and the grated cheese. Put the potatoes on top or around the chicken. Sprinkle with the rest of the dressing, spices, and cheese.

Cook on low for about 6-8 hours, or until the chicken is done and potatoes are tender.
Shared by Ness - www.thriftyfun.com

Chicken, potatoes, Italian dressing, basil, hot pepper, garlic powder, grated cheese - I've got all that! I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm dying to try a pumpkin soup. Several months ago, when I had an uncut Halloween pumpkin just begging to be used, I cut it up, cooked it, pureed it, and froze it. I couldn't let it all go to waste. It is now waiting in my freezer for me to figure out how to cook with pumpkin. My throat is bothering me a little, too, so soup sounds perfect, but they all call for milk! I don't drink milk, and whenever I buy it, it goes bad, so I don't keep it in the house. (I thought my roommate usually did, but she doesn't seem to have any now for me to, um, "borrow.") As soon as I can get some milk, I'm going to make me some pumpkin soup!

I ordered a slow cooker cookbook on amazon, too - cheaper than the one Rhett bought! - so once that gets here, I'll have lots more things to try. As it stands, I'm super-excited about crock-pot cooking, anyway!