Day of the Dead
For Art, today is a day of remembrance; a day in which to remember the dead. Tonight, after dinner, a few of us will join Art and Terry at our only cemetary to remember the dead, both those related to us and of equal importance, to remember all the troops who have died because of an administration that operates in darkness, in tenebris.
Administration Only Knows How to Operate Covertly
We apologized to all the neighbors as they arrived because we're playing Mozart's Requiem and our thoughts are both on our dead and on the darkness and immoral subterfuge under which this administration operates. As Schuyler fixed our drink for tonight, called a Horse's Neck and made with an affordable brandy, he mentioned that it came off as funny to him that this White House, which only operates under cover of darkness, always afraid of playing in the light of day, would get so teed off at Harry Reid for calling a secret Democratic Senate meeting on the investigation into the validity of the administration's claims that war on Iraq was called for. Schuyler thought Senator Bill Frist had come off as awfully snippy and snide, kind of like everybody else in this administration. Mr. Reid is only interested in getting the admistration to be truthful with the country, something the administration, and especially the president and the vice-president are unwilling to do.
What is Dick Cheney Hiding From The People?
Never before has a vice-president held so much power, and never before have we had a vice-president who tried so hard to skuttle our democracy. His chief-of-staff has just been indicted for lying to a grand jury, perjury, and obstructing justice, and now, rather than cleaning house, Cheney has appointed two of his devils to take Scooter Libby's place. One of them, John Hannah, is the official to whom the Iraqi National Congress fed information on Iraq that turned out to be erroneous. The second devil Cheney selected to replace Libby is David S. Addington, whom Human Rights Watch in Washington has accused as being one of Cheney's architects for the policy that led to the abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also, according to the Inter Press Service News Agency, he "regards international law with undisguised contempt." Nice fellows, no?
Now, Liz commented, if Scooter Libby was Cheney's right-hand man, and he's been indicted, did Cheney order Libby to go after Ambassador Joseph Wilson and out his wife, Valerie Plame? Did Libby leak information about Ms. Plame under orders of Dick Cheney? Why, Liz wanted to know, has the vice-president been so reluctant to go before the people and clear things up? Did Libby commit perjury to protect the real miscreant, Cheney?
Dick Cheney, Slimier Than Nixon and Agnew
Alex interjected that two other officials who ran afoul of the law at least had the cojones to go before the public and explain their actions. When Nixon, as vice-president, was covered in scandal, he gave his famous Checkers speech and tried to clear his name. Even Spiro Agnew, when he was embroiled in a criminal investigation tried to explain his actions in the open. Gee, Alex exclaimed, things have gotten pretty cheesy when you're compared to those two, and you lose. Cheesy, slimy, a government of rats Alex said, is not what the United States wants or needs. He remembered that in a commencement address at Harvard in 1977, Barbara Jordan had said: "What the people want is very simple. They want an America as good as its promise." And, Alex concluded, we're getting shafted, we're not getting, from these rats, as good as our country's promise.
Dinner On All Soul's Day
The teenagers were ravenous, but aren't they always? One of them banged on the dinner gong a bit ahead of time, so we finished our drinks and went to our places at the dinner table, hoping we hadn't made tonight's cooking couples rush to get us started. But, no need to worry, Charlotte was, as usual, cool as a cucumber and had her part of dinner quite ready. She served us some delicious shrimp tamales she had learned how to make quite recently. They can be a lot of trouble to make, but that's just the kind of dish Charlotte enjoys preparing. As a starter course to whet our appetite, the tamales were perfect. Charlotte served them with a dry, light white wine, a MacMurray Pinot Gris from California's Russian River Valley.
Max and Charlotte, with several of their large Le Creuset stock pots, which hold heat beautifully and allow the soup to remain warm without scorching, prepared Fresh Mushroom and Tarragon soup. The medley of mushrooms of course came from Art and Terry's organic produce greenhouses, as did the fresh tarragon sprigs. The Le Creuset pots are perfect for making soup, but because they are heavy, Charlotte really puts her immersion blender wand to good use. Hers is a 500 Watt hand blender from Braun. Instead of having to empty the pots into a blender, the immersion blender allows her to take the blender to the pot, so to speak. Paired with another dry, light wine, a Murphy-Goode Fumé Blanc from Sonoma County, our dinner continued to be, simply put, splendid. I know that sometimes my English tends to be a bit archaic, and I can't help it of course, since it's in my blood, but I would describe dinneres prepared by Charlotte and Max as vastly good.
Max, who delights in grilling, tonight grilled swordfish on skewers, with cucumbers and zucchini, and served the fish with a sauce he made with basil, chives and olive oil. He served the fish on a bed of delicious and fluffy white rice he and Charlotte always prepare with de-fatted free-range chicken consommé. They paired the fish with another Pinot Gris, this time a Montevina Pinot Grigio from California.
We almost always have a bit of fruit sorbet between the fish and the meat courses, and tonight we were served small dollops of blueberry sorbet, preparing us for Max's meat course, a Roasted Leg of Lamb with Pancetta. On the plates, he served only one side dish, a perfect salad of Wilted Spinach and Mustard. The Napa Valley Paul Hobbs Cabernet Sauvignon they paired with the lamb was such a good choice.
For Some of Us, The End of a Perfect, Thought-Provoking Evening
We went back to the great room in order to be able to have our dessert and after-dinner coffee with the younger set, some of whom help us in the kitchen and in serving, in exchange for spending money. Shelley had fixed individual Vanilla Apple Tartlets, served them warm, with some homemade vanilla ice cream. Just as we were saying our goodnights, Alex reminded us that we couldn't be having these free discussions and good dinners if some United States citizens weren't willing to speak out about the evil that today is permeating the government, and promoting regime change so that we can once again become the kind of government Barbara Jordan extolled.
Summary:
Operating in the dark like bubonic plague-spreading rats, the government officials of morally bankrupt George Bush filthily slink along the gutters they've gnawed throughout the halls of every institution in Washington. Never, never, has this country dragged itself in rat manure the way its doing today. Somebody, all of us, have to work to clean those gutters, impeach all who gnawed them, beginning with the Capo, Bush, and going down to the lowliest but still unbearably slimy official. We have to take our country back. Right now, we're not a shining city on a hill. How bereft these filthy rats are of any valuable values.
