I killed my Enzos

I never dreamed I'd be doing 2 obits in the space of less than 24 hours, but this time I am announcing the death of my beloved Enzo Angiolinis. I murdered them. Accidentally, but I murdered them. A couple of nights ago I was bouncing down my steps on my way to a date when I took a tumble and as my legs were going out from under me, the heel on the right Enzo caught the stair step, snapped right off and cannonballed across the room. I was totally fine - grabbed the bannister and saved myself just in time - but my Enzos were dead.

Now, before you start thinking I'm nuts for writing an obituary on a pair of freakin' shoes, these weren't just any old zapatos, you understand. First of all, they were Italian, and that would be enough because Italian shoes are the bomb diggity in terms of design, craftsmanship and quality materials; but second of all, they were also gorgeous and sexy - as you can see by the photos I took of me wearing the one good shoe, for posterity. (Check out the dark bronze leather braided straps, dark chocolate stack heel and the greenish-brown natural horn embellishment in the T-strap!) Thirdly, they were amazingly comfortable - it's truly a Nightmare on Elm Street to try to find shoes that even halfway decently fit my size 10 Idaho potato-picker paddles, which are broad AND have high arches. When I wore these suckers, I hardly knew they were on, and I could walk all over the place in them with nary a complaint from either foot or shoe. But if that were not enough, the shoe fairy lavished even more luck on me with the price - I snagged them for $12 at a consignment store (Tabu on Roswell Rd) and normally Enzos retail for $150 or more. So, this morning I was REALLY feeling the loss of these shoes.


In desperation, I took them to my cobbler, a very serious Korean guy. I carefully proffered them with all the mournful devotion of a child with a sick pet, and asked him if there was anything, ANYTHING, he could do. He screwed up his face and tsk-tsked at the carnage before him, the chipped heel, torn leather, broken nails and snapped-in-half metal reinforcement.
"Look, I can put new metal refossment but iss reery too spensive, iss not worth it."
"How much would it be?"
"Thirry-fi dollah."
"Oh. Well, $35 isn't THAT bad if I could wear them again ... after all, I only got them for $12 ..."
"No, you don't unnerstan. Even if I do metal refossment, these shoes nevah be same again. Nevah. Iss not worth it."
"But ... man, I love these shoes, what a bummer! Are you SURE there is nothing that can be done?"
"Nooo. Just throw away."
"Throw them away?!? I couldn't just throw these in the trash, that's a sacrilege! Wait a minute ... if I left them with you, would you want to see if you could fix them up in your spare time and your wife might want them ... ?"
The guy cocked his head toward his wife to get her to come over. She looked the shoes up and down, folded her arms, shook her head, and clucked her tongue. I turned around and looked imploringly at the 20something black girl standing in line behind me, hoping to find some support in my desperation, but she, too, solemnly shook her head, then gave ne a sympathetic pat on the shoulder and said, "Girl, just let it go."

When I got home I dejectedly text-messaged my best friend Jen telling her my Enzos had died, and of course, she totally understood and went with me to Nordstrom's for some shoe therapy. It was meant to be, I suppose. The shoe fairy was good to me once more (I suppose she thought I'd suffered enough grief for one day), and I not only came away with one pair of shoes, but THREE pairs I really like. :-) Pennies from heaven ...

You'll never find ...

Sadly, the world has lost what the great Frank Sinatra once dubbed "the silkiest chops in the singing game." Entertainer and humanitarian Lou Rawls passed away today from lung and brain cancer at the age of 72, ending a lengthy, amazingly multitalented career in soul, blues, jazz, acting, and even dancing. Although it is more likely that history will remember him for his musical contributions, he preferred to be remembered for his work with underprivileged teens through the United Negro College Fund and other community organizations.

I saw him in an interview with FOX News only 3 months ago, and he looked and sounded great, and was extremely upbeat. I don't recall that he ever mentioned he was fighting cancer, or if he did, he only referred to it in passing, saying he was being treated for it and he was going to be fine. The main thing he was focusing on was working with Outkast's Andre 3000 on Andre's upcoming Prohibition-era movie My Life in Idlewild, scheduled for release in 2006, the soundtrack for which was composed by Outkast and basically creates a whole new genre called swing-hop that fuses 30s and 40s swing with hip-hop. To the best of my recollection, Rawls said he was dancing and helping out with the choreography, and I've been trying to look it up on the Internet to confirm this but have found no information on his involvement.

Rest in peace, Lou.

The most ohmyGodincredible chili ever

Well, in response to the many friends and acquaintances who have axed (as opposed to asked) for this recipe, without further ado, here it is. :-)

I have to admit it's not actually a recipe in the sense that there are specific measurements. I just do everything to taste, dump it in the CrockPot (the glories of which will merit a whole 'nuther blog entry) and let it stew. My secrets are 1) loooowww slooowww cooking 2) tons of garlic and onions in all different forms to get a sort of "layering" effect and 3) QUALITY meat. The better quality meat you have, the better tasting your chili is gonna be.

WHAT YOU NEED:
- 2 cans kidney beans (I like to use 2 cans Bush's dark red kidney beans), undrained - use juice and all
- 1 lb ground sirloin
- 1 chopped fresh onion
- At least 2 cloves of minced fresh garlic
- 1 packet of Campbell's Onion Soup mix
- 1 lg can tomato sauce
- 1 mini can tomato paste
- 1-2 cans chopped tomatoes OR stewed tomatoes, undrained - use juice and all
- Beef broth
- Garlic pepper salt, fresh ground pepper, chili powder, dried oregano, fresh oregano, cumin, chopped dried onions, onion powder, minced garlic in a jar, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce, all to taste. I personally add some of ALL of these things!!! Regarding which brand of hot pepper sauce to use, I really like Glory, it adds a lot of flavor without adding a lot of heat. Tabasco is okay but I like Glory better.

WHAT YOU DO:
SLAP (as opposed to a genteel positioning in the middle of your frying pan; tastes better when you SLAP things in the pan) that ground sirloin with the chopped onion and garlic in some olive oil (and red wine if you've got it) until onions are JUST transparent. Everything is going to cook some more in the CrockPot so you don't need to have the meat well done. Break up the meat into teeny pieces with a spatula while it's sauteing so you don't end up with huge hamburger patty-like blobs; you want your meat to be thoroughly distributed through the chili.
DUMP (as opposed to a prissy pour; it tastes better when you DUMP) the meat mixture and everything else in your CrockPot and add beef broth if the mixture seems too dry, but remember that when you're cooking things in a CrockPot you need only 2/3 or 1/2 as much liquid as you would if you were cooking the same dish on the stove.
CrockPot everything on LOW heat for 8 hours. It is best to get this started in the morning, then do your thing for the day and when you come back for supper it will be done!
Optional: eat on top of spaghetti or rice, sprinkle with cheese, or add a dash of hot sauce, sour cream, whatever ... Chili is all about personal preference, so do whatever floats your boat! But this chili is SO GOOD I like to eat it just by itself in a bowl with nothing else added.

Serves 4 very hungry people (if they're guys and they want seconds) or 8 slightly hungry people. When serving, bask in the compliments and groan about how difficult it was to make. ;-)

Tax cuts for the rich (the eeevil rich)

I've always said it's impossible for individuals who have taken at least 1 course in economics and have at least a rudimentary knowledge of macroecon and microecon to be Democrats/liberals/progressives/what-have-you, and that those with economic credentials who spread agit-prop peddling socialism, government programs, increased taxation and the like as viable solutions to the nation's ills are flat-out lying to their audience.

For the edutainment of those in need of the basics, as well as those who could use a refresher, here is a great exposé of the truth about tax cuts, attributed (incorrectly) to an economist at UGA. See the Snopes scoop on this article. While I have no information on its true authorship, having taken a few courses in econ I can confirm that the content itself is solid.
* * * * * * * * * *

Sometimes politicians can exclaim; "It's just a tax cut for the rich!", and it is just accepted to be fact. But what does that really mean? Just in case you are not completely clear on this issue, we hope the following will help.

Tax Cuts - A Simple Lesson In Economics

This is how the cookie crumbles. Please read it carefully. Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh $7.
The eighth $12.
The ninth $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20."

So, now dinner for the ten only cost $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So, the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six, the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share'?

The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being 'PAID' to eat their meal. So, the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free.But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man: "But he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than me!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night the tenth man didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore.

There are lots of good restaurants in Europe and the Caribbean.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. Distinguished Professor of Economics
536 Brooks Hall University of Georgia

What Animal Were You in a Past Life?

Look!!!!! It's Wee Wee!!!!!!!

You Were a Lynx

You are a great knower and keeper of secrets. A bit psychic, you can bring out hidden truths.

What Animal Were You In a Past Life?