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Thursday Evening Open Thread

Posted: September 13, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: just because, open thread | Tags: , , , , , |47 Comments

I need a break.  How about you?

Pink Martini cocktail recipe

Ingredients

  1. 2 Parts ABSOLUT VODKA
  2. 1 Part Dry Vermouth
  3. 4 Dashes Orange Bitters
  4. 2 Teaspoons Grenadine

Kicked Up Ambrosia Salad Parfaits

Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2000

Picture of Kicked Up Ambrosia Salad Parfaits Recipe

Total Time:
20 min
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 pint fresh blackberries, rinsed and hulled
  • 1 pint fresh raspberries, rinsed and hulled
  • 1/2 pint fresh strawberries, rinsed and quartered
  • 2 large bananas, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch slices
  • 2 medium oranges, peeled and cut into segments
  • 2 cups medium diced fresh pineapple
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 2 tablespoons chiffonade fresh mint leaves
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup coconut flakes, toasted

Directions

In a large bowl, combine all the fruit. Add the lemon juice, mint and sugar. Mix well and set aside. In a cold bowl of an electric mixer, combine the cream, sugar and vanilla. Using an electric mixer fitted with a whip attachment or hand-held mixer, whip the cream until soft peaks form. To assemble, spoon some of the fruit mixture in the bottom of each parfait or martini glass. Sprinkle some of the coconut over the fruit. Spoon some of the whipped cream over the coconut. Continue layering until all of the ingredients are used. Serve immediately or chill until ready to serve.

Go On!  Party like a God or Goddess!!!

The Cocktail Dakini sez: The Party is ON!


47 Comments on “Thursday Evening Open Thread”

  1. bostonboomer says:
    September 13, 2012 at 10:17 pm

    I love that “god” cartoon!

  2. RalphB says:
    September 13, 2012 at 10:19 pm

    Fucking Brit tabloids! Wanna bet where this came from?

    U.S. denies premeditation report in Libya attack

    The newspaper, The Independent, plastered its cover with the headline, “Revealed: inside story of US envoy’s assassination,” and reported inside: “The killings of the US ambassador to Libya and three of his staff were likely to have been the result of a serious and continuing security breach … American officials believe the attack was planned.”

    The article continued: “According to senior diplomatic sources, the U.S. State Department had credible information 48 hours before mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi, and the embassy in Cairo, that American missions may be targeted, but no warnings were given for diplomats to go on high alert and ‘lockdown’, under which movement is severely restricted.”

    Shawn Turner, spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, emailed: “This is absolutely wrong. We are not aware of any actionable intelligence indicating that an attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi was planned or imminent.”

    The Drudge Report gave the story banner, red-type, siren treatment, with a photo of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: “PAPER: U.S. WARNED OF EMBASSY ATTACK BUT DID NOTHING.”

    • dakinikat says:
      September 13, 2012 at 10:35 pm

      Oh, for pete’s sake …anything coming from Drudge is just more propaganda and I’m sure it will show up on fox! right?

    • bostonboomer says:
      September 13, 2012 at 10:39 pm

      The Independent isn’t a tabloid. It’s a very fine left wing paper, equivalent in quality to the Guardian.

    • bostonboomer says:
      September 13, 2012 at 11:11 pm

      The security guards left their posts in anger about the “movie.”

      According to security sources the consulate had been given a “health check” in preparation for any violence connected to the 9/11 anniversary. In the event, the perimeter was breached within 15 minutes of an angry crowd starting to attack it at around 10pm on Tuesday night. There was, according to witnesses, little defence put up by the 30 or more local guards meant to protect the staff. Ali Fetori, a 59-year-old accountant who lives near by, said: “The security people just all ran away and the people in charge were the young men with guns and bombs.”

      Wissam Buhmeid, the commander of the Tripoli government-sanctioned Libya’s Shield Brigade, effectively a police force for Benghazi, maintained that it was anger over the Mohamed video which made the guards abandon their post. “There were definitely people from the security forces who let the attack happen because they were themselves offended by the film; they would absolutely put their loyalty to the Prophet over the consulate. The deaths are all nothing compared to insulting the Prophet.”

      • bostonboomer says:
        September 13, 2012 at 11:18 pm

        That Politico story is f’d up. From my reading, any warnings were about being prepared for the anniversary of 9/11. I don’t think the state dept. knew about the you tube video. Politico is trying to make it sound worse than it is–they don’t even link to the story in the Independent.

        But it has been reported here in the U.S. that the attack may have been planned ahead by al Qaeda or some other group, so why is that surprising? It’s just Drudge and Politico trying to gin up something to help Romney.

        • JJ Lopez Minkoff says:
          September 13, 2012 at 11:32 pm

          The Independent article says:

          According to senior diplomatic sources, the US State Department had credible information 48 hours before mobs charged the consulate in Benghazi, and the embassy in Cairo, that American missions may be targeted, but no warnings were given for diplomats to go on high alert and “lockdown”, under which movement is severely restricted.

          Okay, then four paragraphs down:

          According to security sources the consulate had been given a “health check” in preparation for any violence connected to the 9/11 anniversary. In the event, the perimeter was breached within 15 minutes of an angry crowd starting to attack it at around 10pm on Tuesday night. There was, according to witnesses, little defence put up by the 30 or more local guards meant to protect the staff. Ali Fetori, a 59-year-old accountant who lives near by, said: “The security people just all ran away and the people in charge were the young men with guns and bombs.”

          Wissam Buhmeid, the commander of the Tripoli government-sanctioned Libya’s Shield Brigade, effectively a police force for Benghazi, maintained that it was anger over the Mohamed video which made the guards abandon their post. “There were definitely people from the security forces who let the attack happen because they were themselves offended by the film; they would absolutely put their loyalty to the Prophet over the consulate. The deaths are all nothing compared to insulting the Prophet.”

          Mr Stevens, it is believed, was left in the building by the rest of the staff after they failed to find him in dense smoke caused by a blaze which had engulfed the building. He was discovered lying unconscious by local people and taken to a hospital, the Benghazi Medical Centre, where, according to a doctor, Ziad Abu Ziad, he died from smoke inhalation.

          Sounds to me that they were on alert because of the anniversary of Sept 11th…and that extra security checks where done….but the Embassy guards did not stick around to provide security when the attack was too organized and strong (I mean they targeted the safe houses too, like they new exactly where to hit.) and then those questions about loyalty regarding the insulting film? Hmmm…makes me wonder if there was security breaches before hand…way before hand. I don’t think the film caused this particular attack on the embassy. I think it had been planned and they were patiently waiting for a moment to act. Kind of like Romney and that “prepared” attack narrative that they pulled the trigger on before the facts came out.
          I don’t know, maybe I am just too tired and need to read all that again tomorrow.

          • JJ Lopez Minkoff says:
            September 13, 2012 at 11:36 pm

            It says warnings given to other missions…embassies around the world, so they were talking about warnings for the anniversary of 9/11? and not this specific attack in Benghazi?

    • RalphB says:
      September 13, 2012 at 11:55 pm

      I frankly don’t give a damn how good the paper normally is, they screwed the pooch with their secondary headline which is not supported by the story. Doesn’t matter though it’s gonna be spun until it’s not recognizable by the wingnuts. In this case, their headline is worthy of a tabloid.

  3. RalphB says:
    September 13, 2012 at 10:36 pm

    Ed Kilgore has a funny column about the constant victims of the lonely wingnutosphere.

    The Endless Whine

  4. Seriously says:
    September 13, 2012 at 10:42 pm

    What? No marshmallows and no canned fruit? That ambrosia reeks of anti-Americanism.

  5. dakinikat says:
    September 13, 2012 at 10:57 pm

  6. NW Luna says:
    September 13, 2012 at 11:19 pm

    GIVE ME THAT OLD TIME RELIGION
    Words by Pete Seeger
    Tune, traditional

    Chorus:
    Give me that old time religion
    Give me that old time religion
    Give me that old time religion
    And that’s good enough for me

    We will pray to Aphrodite
    She’s beautiful but flighty
    In her silken see-thru nightie
    She’s good enough for me.

    We will pray to Zarathrustra,
    Pray just like we used-to,
    I’m a Zarathrustra booster,
    He’s good enough for me.

    We will pray just like the Druids,
    Drinking strange fermented fluids,
    Go dancing naked through the woods,
    They’re good enough for me.

    We will pray to the god Buddha,
    Of gods there is none cuter,
    Come in silver, brass or pewter,
    He’s good enough for me.

    We will pray with those Egyptians,
    Who built pyramids to put our crypts in
    Covered up with strange inscriptions,
    They’re good enough for me.

    We will pray to Ra and Ahmen
    Just like Tutankhamen,
    And teach our friends embalming,
    They’re good enough for me.

    Hare Krishna he must be laughed on,
    To see me dressed in saffron,
    With my hair only half-on
    He’s good enough for me.

    I will rise up at early morning,
    When my Lord gives me the warning,
    That the solar age is dawning,
    He’s good enough for me.

    We won’t worship like the Persians,
    We’ll sacrifice no virgins,
    Please control your carnal urgin’s,
    It’s good enough for me.

    We will all worship the Mother
    Not the womb of any other
    Virgin, crone and mother
    She’s good enough for me

    We will pray for New Age Aquarians,
    And hang out in Planetariums,
    Lotta um are Unitarians,
    They’re good enough for me.

    We will pray to a god named Odin,
    In their wooden boats go floatin’
    Filled Europe with forbodin’
    He’s good enough for me.

    We will pray to the Quakers
    Oft confused with the Shakers,
    Of war they are not makers,
    They’re good enough for me.

    We will pray to the god Shiva,
    the one with many sleeva’s
    Who destroys all disbelivas
    He’s good enough for me.

  7. ecocatwoman says:
    September 14, 2012 at 4:25 am

    I just watched TRMS & Rachel had some interesting info. Chris Stevens memo that Wikileaks obtained pre-dated his appointment as ambassador was about al-Qaida in Derna. The city of Derna, to the east of Benghazi was/is an Al-Qaida stronghold, sending fighters to Afghanistan. A group named for the blind mullah imprisoned in NC for his involvement in the 1st Wall St bombing, had made 2 earlier attacks in Benghazi – on the Red Cross & the embassy. Rachel showed a video of an NPR/PBS reporter on the burned embassy grounds. She had spoken to people on the ground who said 4 vehicles had driven through the gates of the embassy & it appeared to be a well-planned attack. Stevens had been locked behind an iron gate, in a safe area. It’s thought the key couldn’t be located & locals pulled Stevens through a window to get him out. Bottom line was that the video had nothing to do with the attack – it had been planned well in advance. Here’s the link to the segment: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908#49027233

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