The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary

Hope you like me are mostly using re-useable bags instead of plastic bags. This beautifully done four minute video mockumentary tells a lot, providing much impetus for reducing, reusing, and recyling. Found it thanks to the Wondering Rose blog, where I had landed thanks to author Anne Rice and the saintly Sister Margaret McBride [more on them in another blog post, most likely].

Do you know how many plastic bags are used each year just in California? 19 billion. That’s Nineteen BILLION! Of which only about 5% are recycled. Most of the bags, like the plastic bottles (which I wrote about in my earth day post on April 22 2010) end up in the Great Pacific Garbage patch ~~ Roseanne Freed, Wondering Rose

Just looked at Rose / Roseanne's bottle post -- gotta redouble my effort on NOT using plastic bottles, too. Join us!

Target Ain't People

Thanks to the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, corporations are allowed to pour even more cash into our elections and they are not even having to identify themselves. In the case of Target, a Minnesota law forced them to 'fess up. Target is only one -- we must get off our rears and re-claim our democracy. It is We the PEOPLE and not We the corporations!!!! Check out the MoveOn.org sponsored boycott Target site, http://targetboycott.org.

Francis's Crowd Pleasing German Potato Salad

(When my dad gave this recipe to me years ago he neglected to put the amount of potatoes but he was making it for a family gathering so I think it was probably a five pound bag of potatoes, perhaps more, leave me a msg if you figure it out.)

Cook potatoes with skins in salted cold water. Cool-peel-cube.

1 quart of water
6 T cornstarch
1 C vinegar
6 t sugar or to pleasant sweetness

Onion larger than a golf ball, chopped very fine
Salt & pepper to taste

3/4 # of bacon chopped 1/2 " across, sauteed to pleasing brown, stirring occasionally till done. Remove bacon and set aside. To bacon fat add water mixed with corn starch, vinegar, etc. Heat for thickening. Add onions to cubed potatoes. Then add thickened sauce to potato mixture and stir lightly till well mixed. Heat slightly before serving. Add bacon and serve.

My dad would make the above and place it in a yellow insulated covered serving container and take it to family picnics and get raves. I no longer eat meat and I miss this salad. The memories, though, I still have. I give the recipe as promised to my bacon eating kids and friends.