No Joke

Is this for real?

I Prescribe Doughnuts

Happy Sabbath, or Sunday, or whatever it is to you.

A day or two ago, I read the book of Romans, and in it, Paul said we were not to get agitated over which day we chose to give to God. That’s good to know. I assume I understand him correctly:

In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable. 6 Those who worship the Lord on a special day do it to honor him.

I got a great surprise when I turned on my computer today. A reader left a comment on my main site. Apparently, my book is HELPING his health. I never saw that coming. Glad to hear it, though. I blogged it here.

I think he’s onto something. If you want to gain weight, this book is tough to beat. The cheesecake, fries, biscuits, flan, and brownies may be the worst (or best) items. The steak, on the other hand, is probably healthy, if you don’t eat it with a big serving of carbs.

Temptation Gets the Best of Me

Here is some bad news. Putting the blueberry cornbread in the freezer will not make you safe. Unfortunately, it microwaves really well, in about 90 seconds.

And even more sadly, while I was eating the second half of the pone I made the other day, I remembered the dark maple syrup Mike gave me.

Do NOT make this stuff.

Los Angeles Decides Only Caucasians are Smart Enough to Design Their Own Diets

Have you read about this? The Los Angeles city council has approved a one-year ban on new fast food restaurants…that only applies to minority neighborhoods.

Did I just wake up in a George Orwell novel? Can this really be happening?

Here is the rationale. People in South Los Angeles are 50% more likely to be obese than people elsewhere in the city. And about 45% of restaurants in that area serve fast food. Therefore the answer is to take the fast food away from them. I know I’m crazy, but it seems to me that the only real solution to obesity is personal responsibility. Let me go even farther. I think minorities have the same right to decide what they eat as Caucasians. I guess I should be locked up.

This ban is blatantly racist. Once again, leftists are showing us they think minority members are too stupid to take care of themselves, and because leftists lack the ability to perceive their own faults, they don’t even realize they’re doing it. If a leftist does a thing, it can’t be racist. You have to wonder how far that principle can be pushed. Maybe in a few years, black people and Mexicans in Los Angeles will be required to turn in their driver’s licenses, so they can lose weight by walking. Hey, it would be healthy. And think of the lives that would be saved, because fewer drivers will be on the road, having accidents.

The sad thing is, minority activists probably won’t even perceive the racism. They’re so used to milking the big white Santa Claus, they’ll think this offensive paternalism is “progressive” and enlightened.

If I were black or Hispanic, and I lived in Los Angeles, I’d be irate. And I’d be very worried about “helpful” ideas the council might foist on me in the future.

Liberals think “the soft racism of lowered expectations” is a canard. They think it’s something conservatives say in order to avoid helping minorities. And regrettably, a small faction of true racist idiots infests the political right, and sometimes their set of hateful, stupid ideas intersects with the well-intended set of ideas of the conservative mainstream. But overall, conservatives are sincere and right when they say the left treats minorities like children or as if they’re slightly retarded.

Fast food restaurants locate in poor neighborhoods because they serve food the poor can afford. You can’t put a Spago on every corner in Compton and expect good results. And you don’t have to get fat just because you eat fast food. Companies like Wendy’s and McDonald’s realized a long time ago that they needed to offer stuff that was healthier and lower in calories, and those items are available right now. Everyone remembers the famous case of the woman who got mad at propagandist Morgan Spurlock, decided to eat at McDonald’s every day, and lost weight. And you don’t have to eat fast food; any fool with two pots and a stove can cook. And if you choose to eat fast food and be fat, that’s your right.

Minority members are going to have to decide whether or not they want to run their own lives. Consenting to the heavy-handed mothering of the leftist state means giving your rights away. If you live in South L.A. and you’re not offended by the fast food ban, you don’t realize how little respect the ban’s proponents have for you.

So Good it’s Disgusting

I still can’t believe how good the blueberry cornbread was. But as reader Greg says, it may need cream cheese. So I bought some today, and I’m making another pone.

I hope I don’t ruin my skillet.

Blueberry Cornbread

Check this out.

They Melt in Your Yard, not in Your Hands

Curiosity overcame me in the checkout line today, and I bought a bag of wild cherry M&Ms.

I just tried them. They taste okay. It’s a little odd to mix cherry flavoring into chocolate, but it’s not bad. The big problem is that they smell just a little bit like dog poop.

I am a New Man

I want to apologize AGAIN for saying anything that seemed even slightly critical about the Pope. I have been Googling around, and I can see that I did not understand how protective his flock is. I saw an article online that said completely benign things about his home and lifestyle, and Catholics were posting furious comments. If that made them mad, it’s no wonder I caught hell. My remarks were somewhat negative. They were extremely mild, but I can see that that doesn’t matter.

I think you could get lynched for something like this, if you did it in front of the wrong crowd. I didn’t understand, because there is no Protestant equivalent. There is no one Protestants are that sensitive about. You can say things about Jesus that you can’t say about the Pope. So I would like to move on. Hooray for the Pope. What a fine person he is, in all respects. I cannot praise him highly enough, so I will not bother trying.

In other news, the Manly Grub forum died last night, but it’s working again. Kudos to Hostrocket, my new hosting company. They responded to my support ticket, fixed everything, and gave me a clear explanation of what went wrong, all in about three minutes. I have to thank Kenny for recommending them.

I hope the forum is easier to navigate than it used to be. I don’t understand why it suddenly went offline. Maybe the Catholic Defense League hacked it, or maybe it was just a run of the mill divine smiting.

I Didn’t Sign up for This

Really sorry about the lame blogging lately. I’ll tell you some sad facts about being a writer. You have endless leisure, and you can do what you want with your time. Until you publish something people actually might want to read. Then it’s almost like having a real job.

The book is going into a second printing, and retailers are placing more orders, so I have stuff to do. I can’t lie here on my fat rear end and blog all day. Instead I lie here on my fat rear end doing other things. I might be able to turn this book into a success. I keep thinking it would be great to have a cooking show for men.

I have not abandoned you. I shall return.

Here’s one thing I’ve done. I reworked the Manly Grub forum. I didn’t understand how the software worked the first time around. Now I’m starting to get a clue. I’ve broken things up into three general areas. General, Food, and “Beer, Wine, and Booze in General.” Hmm…two “generals.” I better fix that. The food category is broken down into a bunch of boards, like Steak and Miscellaneous Meat and Breakfast. The booze board is broken down into various types of liquor and beer and so on. Makes a little more sense now.

More photos are going up, and people are posting recipes.

The other day I threatened to come up with a recipe for blueberry cornbread, but I haven’t made good on it yet. Blueberries are really getting nice now. They’re fatter than they were in June, and they’re two bucks a pint. Probably cheaper at Costco.

Be back when I have more time.

Or Next to the Steak

I just put up a shameful post at Manly Grub. It’s about the healthy breakfast I eat most days. You can’t eat pork fat at every single meal, unfortunately.

I put up my final recipes for pita and hummus.

Crap

Had a problem with the blogroll at Manly Grub. If your site fell off, it doesn’t mean I delinked it. I am working to get all the links back up.

If you’ve ever heard of St. Louis gooey butter cake, go over there and tell me about it.

How Wrong You Are

It’s 9:16 a.m., and I’m already tired. Lots of things going on.

I’m too lazy to write a whole blog post right now, but let me point you to one. Longtime reader Wormathan used my recipe to make a blueberry cheesecake, and it’s gorgeous.

You can see it here.

Don’t forget to join the forum.

EWWWWW

I did a radio show to promote the cookbook, and host Mike McConnell told me to steal his idea and write a book based on it: “Sounds Disgusting; Tastes Great.”

So I put up a board in the forum, with exactly that theme.

I am sure you will have no problem filling it.

Scones

I am now putting unpublished recipes up at Manly Grub. There is a link to them in the sidebar, and you can also find them on the forum.

Today’s treat: scones made with bacon grease, cream cheese, and rum-soaked raisins.

I want to thank everyone who joined the forum. It looks like it’s going to get plenty of business. Now I have to worry about bandwidth expenses. The hosting company says bandwidth is unlimited, but I have a feeling that is something they only say until it starts to hurt them.

Ordinarily, I get around 340 page views per day. Today it’s over 4,000. The unique visits aren’t high, but maybe they will be in a month.

People are posting recipes and food photos. I have a beer board up. I’m now putting submitted photos in the Coppermine gallery.

Come on by, if you get bored.

By the way, a well-known Blogosphere personality will be starting his own forum pretty soon. I am not cleared to reveal the news, so I can’t tell you who it is. But I’ll pimp it when the time comes, and you WILL join or face my disapproval. I know that would just tear you up.