Two-alarm house fire in Truro

My husband, Jeff, took this pic... he was there, volunteering with the Red Cross.


TRURO - A two-alarm fire has gutted a house in Truro Thursday afternoon. The fire broke out at 32 Town Hall Road sometime around 3:20 p.m. Reports say an elderly woman lived at house and was not injured. The house is believed to be a total loss. Firefighters from across the outer Cape responded to bring in water by tanker to help quell the flames while others covered empty stations. No word yet on a cause. The American Red Cross also provided rehab to firefighters on scene. Photo courtesy of Jeff Stranger.

Article by Tim Caldwell

Animals are people, too.

Reuters/Reinhard Krause

Caged dogs photographed on a motorway on the outskirts of Beijing.



I just finished posting a comment to an article I read on Salon...
 
It made me catch my breath...in surprise, horror and shame.

To me, the worse part about the consumption of animals is, I feel horrible knowing how animals in this country are raised and slaughtered, and yet, I still eat meat and prepare it for my family. Meat is the centerpiece of my families diet. We eat a lot less of it than we used to, mostly for health reasons, but what will it take for me to, once and for all, remove it from the table?

The de-evolution of Chinese food in America

As a child, I always loved going with my mother on a trip to Centerdale. It was around a two and a half mile walk, and whether we were going to the A&P for groceries, or a trip to the 5&10, I knew one of our stops would be the China Jade Restaurant for their delicious luncheon special. :)

For under $5.00, we would stuff ourselves on Cantonese Chicken Chow Mein, Sweet and Sour Pork and, my favorite - Chow Har Kew, which would come to the table in a large oval silver pedestled bowl, full of crunch- cooked, piping hot bok choy, pea pods, water chestnuts, onions and ripply sliced carrots in a clear sauce, topped with six huge golden fried, batter dipped, butterflied shrimp that were way more batter than shrimp. The food was oh-so good, and the dishes had a taste like nothing my mother herself had ever cooked. It would be years before we would discover that the mysterious flavor came from an over abundance of MSG, a big no-no for most people today, and an ingredient that I suspect was in more American kitchens as "Accent", than in authentic Chinese homes.

Even then, I knew that what we were eating was NOT what real Chinese people ate.
This all came back to me after reading an interesting article and interview by Nina Lalli, with Jennifer 8. Lee, the author of  "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles." 
You can find it at Salon, 
http://www.salon.com/mwt/food/eat_drink/2008/03/11/fortune_cookie_chronicles/index.html
It's a nice article, and it sounds like an interesting book. :)
Now, I'm going to go and eat my instant Chicken and Abalone flavored oriental soup... of which I'm pretty sure no chickens or abalone were harmed in the making of...

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The Parade between two storms...

It rained all night, and it's supposed to rain again this afternoon thru midnight... and it's drizzly and grey this morning, but it looks like the St. Patty's Day Parade in Yarmouth is still a go! Jeff left a few minutes ago to the Red Cross Chapter House to get the URV ready to serve up hot chocolate and coffee to the parade participants, which I'm sure will be very welcome in this raw weather. Hopefully, the heavy rain and winds will hold off until the parade is over. Maybe a splash of Irish whiskey in that coffee would be nice. :)