— Goodie Mob (Soul Food Remix)
By Blue Bronc, Trail Mix Contributor
Can I call the Bern to go find where my ham hock went? How about Hillary coming to town and making me a big bowl of ham hock, beans and greens? No need to bother with the Republicans. To them, anyone who would eat a ham hock is not one of their voters (this is guessing they even know what a ham hock is).
All day I had been dreaming of a smoked ham hock in a pot meeting with a pound of split green peas, on onion, a few carrots and celery and some chicken stock. Okay, some thoughts for hot dogs. Not hot dogs in a plastic package which have a shelf life longer than my truck. Hot dogs and a smoked ham hock from the local Dutch/Amish Market (some confusion as both labels are used interchangeably). Hot dogs with a crunch, a smoked ham hock that is big and meaty.
While I was getting a turkey leg to smoke and a pile of chicken leg quarters, someone moved my grocery buggy. Little did I know that, when I took my cart and rolled over to buy a pack of hot dog buns. Hot dog buns that you do need to eat or freeze today. My cart with my hot dogs, smoked ham hock and two pork chops was not where I tossed my chicken and turkey parts. I got home and had two pork chops and a pound of bacon.
There is something about being in the midst of a couple dozen Amish men, women and children that I enjoy. I have been lucky enough to have grown up visiting their villages and towns since I was a young child. Their lives are very enticing. Oh the lack of anything beyond 1890 is something well known. The other parts of their lives are what I like.
Why would anyone not like a utopian socialist religious society like the Amish? Plenty of fun things to do. Milk cows. Muck the horse barn. Sew your own clothes. Sounds good so far, eh?
Republicans are fervently not Amish. The whole share and work together to make a better day causes them to freak out and stain their drawers.
How about Democrats? Amish? No. Some parts sound good, but being nice to each other every day and sewing your own clothes seem a bit much.
Bernie? How about Bernie in the old Amish community? Nah. He is a socialist, not a utopian socialist, which includes religion. Not that not being religious is a problem for a good share of Americans. His foreign events policy would be interesting to them.
Can you imagine living in a world where the pace is the speed of a horse and you have to do a lot of wood splitting to stay warm in the winter? A place where there is no television, radio or internet.
A place where you do not have to hear or see politicians like the group we have today.
“No need to bother with the Republicans. To them, anyone who would eat a ham hock is not one of their voters (this is guessing they even know what a ham hock is).”
bb, you forget about the gopers great southern strategy nixon and reagan democrats and those folks in white sheets with pointy hats. bet some of them know about hocks and jowls (no, not the jersey gov).
and where were you leading up to new years when stores like Kroger, publix and the little local iga were fully stocked with hocks and jowls and blackeyed peas and greens?
blueid said last thread: “We need a new recipe for fixin’ Martian taters.”
great piece from last night’s newshour
his concluding statement deserves repeating:
But, deserved or not, the lengthy disaffection that so many feel about so many important parts of our national life clearly puts a heavy burden on anyone asking for the trust of the citizenry. It may, indeed, reward those who seek power, not by offering to ease that disaffection, but to feed it.
And it’s worth asking, how does a nation thrive when, year after year, our motto is, in nothing we trust?
Is ham hock fever like swine flu?
I’m a vegetarian. You know, one of those pigs-are-people-too & meat is unsustainable for the Earth to thrive wackos.
I’ m ready for spring. I have hammock fever.
Looking forward to SNL tonight.
from newshour brooks and shields segment
JUDY WOODRUFF:…So, this is the first time, Mark, we have seen the two of them, just the two of them, on the debate stage. What did you make of it?
MARK SHIELDS, Syndicated Columnist: I thought they played their roles exceedingly well. I mean, you had the battle-tested, experienced, pragmatist concerned with results against this fresh new face, 74 years old, the outside crusader with a noble cause.
(LAUGHTER)
hungry for power games part 2 – more bite the dust, this time rand, martin and mike
Stephen honors the sacrifice of the brave tributes who fell in the Iowa caucuses.
marcus: Clinton, Sanders and why this is a dangerous moment for Democrats
The success of Sanders’s full-throated progressivism among the party faithful is no surprise, especially in liberal-leaning Iowa and New Hampshire. But, notwithstanding the current head-to-head polls that he likes to cite, Sanders at the top of the Democratic ticket threatens a general-election disaster, and not just for the top spot.
True, more Americans overall identify themselves as liberal — up from 17 percent in 1992 to 24 percent in 2014, according to Gallup. But that leaves the vast majority with a different outlook, 34 percent who describe themselves as moderate, 38 percent conservative. How, exactly, are they going to respond to a democratic socialist’s call for a political revolution?
Sanders’s answer is that he could inspire a grass-roots revolution, producing a flood of new voters, as he said in Thursday’s MSNBC debate. I’m all for new voters, but I worry — and, more to the point, Democratic officeholders worry — about what happens when the Republican onslaught is unleashed against the essentially unknown, unvetted Sanders.
At the February 3rd Democratic town hall, Hillary Clintonchallenged critics to name a time when her cozy relationship with big donors influencedher policy decisions.
According to her biography, Hillary persuaded then President Bill Clinton to veto the legislation tightening bankruptcy laws that would disproportionately hurt single mothers. But when Hillary Clinton was elected to the Senate from New York and another version of the same bill came to the floor, she did an about face and voted in favor of it. I think single mothers out number big bankers as constituents but not as donors.
Well I grew up in California so those ham hocks go in a huge pot of pinto beans and have more than a little kick added to them in the cooking. These are then eaten with warm fresh made corn tortillas unless you happen to have made a side trip to New Mexico and discovered the wonders known as Sopapillas. Recipe at the link. People call them little pillows, but the name really means “holding soup.” The history is over 200 years old from the Albuquerque area where my step grandmother was born and raised.
These are basically a fried bread except that isn’t the way they taste. Served with the main meal, the top is torn off and beans are stuffed into the wonderful fibrous insides. For desert, they are drizzled with honey and sprinkled with cinnamon. For the vegetarian author, just imagine anything you want inside and put it in the pillow before eating. You will love it.
Since this is a political place, in honor of the Dreamers endorsement, I’m going with Sopapillas for Hillary from a place that wasn’t always part of the US but managed to get across the river. ?
All I can say is yum.
Yup…. got my mouth watering too.
Jamie… I LOVE sopapillas… especially the dessert kind.
Leaving shortly for the wild wooly northern part of NH. Yes… another ski bum vacation for Rick and a hot tubbin’ one for me. Gonna watch the first half of the SuperBowl at a micro brewery pub. We will take our mini iPad so at least I’ll keep up with all the postings here. Everyone play nice while I’m away.
ps… Pogo… I’ll wave to all your old buddies when we drive through Campton.
Pogo,
Yum is right! Ham hocks and beans or greens, the ultimate comfort food. Especially on a bitter cold day. Throw in a slice of fresh cornbread and you have yourself a real meal.
Sanders is no Jimmy Stewart who in real life starred in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. He had no trouble playing the role of Jefferson Smith because, three years later the same Jimmy Stewart enlisted in our Army as a private. That was in 1942 when he was over age and under weight.
Four years later he had risen through the ranks and through leadership positions in units of the 2nd Bomb Wing based in England. He led 20 B-24 missions into German held territory in Europe. During the four years he spent in that War, he went from private to full colonel in four years based on courage, leadership ability, skill and mettle. He stayed in the AF Reserves and retired as a Brigadier General some years later.
I honestly don’t believe that Sen Sanders has shown personal characteristics or sense of duty that would allow him to match the committed devotion to country as did the fictional, but aspirational, Jefferson Smith or the very real BG Jimmy Stewart.
Craig or anyone from the area: Do you know anything about Sierra Blanca? The charges are all over Twitter damning Bernie Sanders for his actions as follows:
Some more on the nuclear waste from Vermont to poor Hispanic Sierra Blanca
jace and pogo, don’t forget the chopped onions atop those hocks, hoe cake and beans (also rice to round it out) and a side of greens splashed with pepper vinegar.
Not faulting Senator Sanders for taking a New Hampshire break for a side trip and head to NY for SNL. All the politicians are doing one of those appearances. I would just like to point out that Hillary Clinton is using the same available time to visit Flint, Michigan to familiarize herself with the water situation. The lady does indeed do her homework.
I sense a very close general election. Given what the republicans have to offer I’m not sure why it should be close, but I just fear that once again it will come down to a handful of votes in a handful of states.
I can easily cast a vote for either Clinton or Sanders, but if it is going to be a nail biter I would much prefer that HRC be the candidate.
I qualify this prediction by saying that I take a backseat to no one when it comes to being completely wrong. I guess that makes me a pundit.
Jamie, from this local story back then:
An agreement allowing Maine and Vermont to ship their radioactive waste to Texas was signed into law by President Clinton last month. Under terms of that deal, Maine and Vermont will pay Texas $55 million for the long-term storage of their refuse.
sounds like the blame could spread to more than bernie… big dawg had a hand in it too maybe
still a quintessential NIMBY deal for the bern.
Jace http://trailmix.cc/home/2016/02/06/i-got-the-fever-for-some-ham-hocks/#comment-3196
I totally agree with your post..
Jamie, mother jones noted the flint strategy also reprinting this week a piece from the new republic. here’s an excerpt:
She raised the issue again, unprompted, during the Democratic debate in South Carolina, saying, “I’ll tell you what, if the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would’ve been action.” Finally, she made the case for holding one of the newly added Democratic debates in Flint, and got her wish on Wednesday when the Democratic National Committee chose the location for a March 6 debate.
the media has done nothing to cover trump in any kind of a meaningful way.
maybe the left needs to publish some books about trump
carl hiaasen: When the applause dies for Jeb Bush
It’s a grim battle for the sane wing of the Republican Party, which means placing at least third in New Hampshire.
The positioning is crucial because Trump’s vaudeville act is starting to fray, and the icy zealotry of Cruz scares many conservatives.
If this were a script, you would now write in a timely entrance by the seasoned, well-credentialed Jeb Bush.
Except, wait — there’s baby-faced, inexperienced Marco ahead of him. Way ahead.
Here’s a guy who has accomplished zero in the Senate, flip-flops when he feels the heat and can’t even manage his own credit cards. How is he beating an old pro like Jeb?
By successfully casting himself as a fresh and electable alternative. Rubio’s only got one speech, but he’s good at it. Ironically, he grew up to be slicker and more calculating than his mentor.
Tony,
I saw what happened to this community in 2008-09. Still the folks here vote overwhelmingly republican.
I am just afraid voters have short memories.
Patd,
I’m sure that Governor Snyder will be glad to have a Democratic debate held in Flint. LOL.
Wish Rachel Maddow were moderating it. She has been all over the Flint water story.
Jace, yes, i agree voter’s do have short memories.. I guess 8 years is a long time for some.. Can’t get how they forget the disaster, GWB?? Still, all my Republican clients talk as if the Bush years were the good old days..
Grace said yesterday Obama’s promise to radically transform America has happened.. When i asked, how has your world been radically transformed, no answer.. Yet, i remember when Obama was elected Grace only wanted cash for work as she said Obama would be in our bank accounts.. Glenn Beck had also convinced her the Obama militia would be coming to our neighborhoods.. Lol, but none of that has happened but it makes no difference..
Jamie, I don’t know anything about the Vermont nuke dumping but it sure does sound really stinky for Bernie
Poor Tweety, he’s so yesterday! http://www.mediaite.com/tv/matthews-hillary-is-letting-sanders-get-away-with-a-lot/
“Still, all my Republican clients talk as if the Bush years were the good old days…”
Tony,
Go figure. The American economy shedding 6 or 7 hundred thousand jobs a month, and the world economy on the brink of disaster. Those were some really good old days.
The Obama economy hasn’t been as robust as any of us would have liked but it is a vast improvement over what he inherited. It might have been even better if he had been working with a ‘loyal opposition’ rather than a party of disloyal obstructionists. That’s why no republican will ever get my vote.
Well Said…..
There’s a pair of doves atop the tool crib in the back yard cooing over each other. Brought a happy smile to my face.
Craig,
I looked into it some more. It’s ugly but not quite to the degree of the anti-Bernie reports. You can damn a whole lot of politicians on this one. The material is of the type from gloves, film, radioactive medical material etc. not canisters from Nuke plants. It’s filthy but fairly low dose. Unfortunately, it just joins all the garbage from New York, Vermont, and other east coast states because of a deal made with the State of TX.
Apparently there is really big money to be made by the state by turning a very poor but low population area with lots of empty space. Apparently that’s where the fewest people to kill, wildlife to eradicate, and nothing you can farm or graze happens to be located.
The Texas Toxic Tour
Not sure which of the “Invade something & bomb it” politicians this one should go to, but given hims Messianic presentation, let’s go with Ted Cruz
https://youtu.be/l-ClOcxsDDY
This is a very interesting link to Bernie and his connection with the University of Chicago:
http://mag.uchicago.edu/law-policy-society/political-education
I’m off to Publix. Anybody need anything?
Lol, yes, I need a Publix Turkey sub, Boarshead.. The apple crumb pie if it’s on sale :0)
The Knopfler tune is wonderful. Th boy c an still write a good tune and has his voice.
The Texas toxic tour was pretty sobering. Wouldn’t want to live anywhere near that hell hole. Good view of a deregulated world where industry polices itself – but we know this. It’s played out this way every time business calls its own shots. Hell the EPA wasn’t formed because the environment was doing well.
I’ll get the sub, Tony, but you’ve missed the pie. It was $3.99 three weeks ago.
pogo, more for you
That’s what it is
It’s what it is now
There’s frost on the graves and the monuments
But the taverns are warm in town
People curse the government
And shovel hot food down
Lights are out in the city hall
The castle and the keep
The moon shines down upon it all
The legless and the sleepless
vanity fair story: Puppy Bowl 2016 Preview: A Skunk Referee and Hot Cheerleader Chicks
Flatus, lol, its was and i got one.. So good i’m ready for another.. :0)
What’s not to like about mark? You’ve reminded me to add his channel to my Pandora app. I really loved the album he did a few years ago with Emmy Lou Harris.
Just set the channel up. Guess which song it played first? Hint – that’s what it is.
Tony, gotta wonder about judges who don’t respect the law. Seems like an irreconcilable conflict to me.
Pandora radio. What a great invention!
Yes Jamie, Sanders did vote for H.R. 629 (105th): Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal CompactConsent Act. So did 119 Democrats including Nancy Pelosi. Bill Clinton even signed it. Your point is?
I couldn’t find much on Sierra Blanca personally, and even less when looking up 1998 demographics. I did find some information about the poverty rates, which look to be about 20%, but other than that the most interesting thing about the city was that Fiona Apple was arrested there, September 2002.
Also I guess I’m back again under my old original username from the 5th grade. Hi!
Puppy Bowl – the best show, something I record and watch whenever I get the need to feel good.
The problem with the store bought hocks are they lack meat. The Dutch/Amish market ham hocks are like mini-hams.
Spent the day moving my big record case to the family room. Filled it with my 78’s collection and my classical and jazz 33 1/3. Listening to those old records is a blast. Who would have known a record title of “Everyday and Twice on Sunday” or “I Promise To Not Slip Around You Again” were just about a kiss at the garden gate?
Gene Autry, Bing Crosby, Ann Southern, Kate Smith and many I never heard of. Lots of music, many of the records are over one hundred years old too. Great stuff! And, the early days of Jazz music, a favorite of mine.
Pogo
Yes, it seems crazy to me. A judge who is supposed follow the law doesn’t and its ok.. The contradiction, wow..
Me, welcome back, all grown up..
Jace, yep. And I suffer the 5 second ad every so often. I may have to pay for Sirius, but I’ll take the free version of Pandora.
Tony, I’ve had this discussionwith one of our local judges. She’s an all or none judge on the issue. I can respect that, but not the Texass’ only traditional marriage position. It’s intellectually dishonest in the legal context.
Pogo, weren’t the missionaries first in Texas? Tony, They’re going to FedEx your Sub to Ft. Lauderdale. Do you want the tracking number. They promise it will be there in time for the game.
Yep. That’s Texas, even after W. (Perry & Abbott are no better than Bush, and I actually find Abbott about on par with Turd Cruz as to his evil-asshat factor.)
There are many Flint-like towns around the country. Look at the methane leak in California, or the folks who have had health problems because the fracking fluid got into their water supply.
I wonder what was contaminated as the transported that stuff half-way across the country?
We need young thinking, unselfish thing, creative thinking. The old ways, run by Wall Street-owned politicians in Congress, have to be displaced with higher ideals. We’ve got to at least reach for something new.
Do the Repugs dare run Rubio for the top spot? Really, they don’t look like they have a viable candidate after all of those contestants. Tonight should be interesting.
blueid, do you hear any more talk about julian castro as a dem veep now that marco is making news?
Just the other day I came across a brace of hamhocks and wondered, hmm, what’s this? Turns out one of them went into the red beans and the other, like the Dude….abides.
i was just about to write a rhythm and blues rock opera this one time, calling it “Hamhock, Prince of Harlem”. Was going to star all the old great R&B singers, kinda like the blues bros turned out, but different.
and that’s the Hamhock, the whole hamhock, and nothing but the hamhock.
Also, I’m in a hammock in a hummock…..
and im not flummoxed.
Lol, perfect timing.. Love Publix and i’m a few miles away.. Ha..
It wasn’t so long ago that things were slower. We didn’t carry phones with us or have machines on landlines to record missed calls. We had three networks and PBS, and you had to be home to watch a show when it was on or you missed it. TV even went off the air overnight. We didn’t have microwaves or fast food places everywhere you turned. We still have the option to live like that, but it’s difficult. It would be our version of an Amish lifestyle in an always-connected world. A couple of years ago, I attempted to stay offline during Lent. I know that I caved at some point.
What is everyone having for Super Bowl snacks?
I suspect a Martini or Manhattan or something like that. Maybe a glass of Gnarly old vine. But, I doubt anything fancy like Champagne de Margerie au Bouzy even though my Broncos are playing. I remember the first time they were in the Super Bowl, XII (IIRC). I was on travel and stuck in LA. A newly married couple were seated next to me in the restaurant, I thought they might like a glass of champagne, nah, they were Mormons, and sticking to the no alcohol vow. In the bar I went to I was the only Bronco fan. I should have switched sides early in the game.
With friends like these you don’t need enemies. I reported how being for Hillary got you called every name in the book on Twitter. Now we are getting several verified reports like these about the Bernie Bros even heard in mentioned briefly in passing (as much as MSNBC would allow).
PatD – Not a peep, although I have expected he would be her pick. The DNC started grooming him for something big when the let him give the keynote. He did a PSA for something a few months ago.
If Rubio is the GOP nom (and if Hillary is the Dem nom), it would be harder to go after Rubio’s youth/lack of experience if she picks Castro. I’m sure he’s on her short list.
I can envision Sanders/Warren, too.
Flatus, don’t know what missionaries being in TX has to do with whether a judge today has to follow federal interp of breadth of right to marry under US Constitution, and selectively extending and denying that right to citizens. Am I missing something? I don’t think there’s a dispute over what’s traditional marriage.
BB – The recipe for Martian taters is now clear: Vodka
So strong that folks will see little, green men.
http://trailmix.cc/home/2016/02/06/i-got-the-fever-for-some-ham-hocks/#comment-3302
Jamie – Do you have any other references to this than an unsourced Facebook post? Not entirely doubting it, but if I had a dollar for every time I read a false piece of information on Facebook I’d have a small loan of a Million Dollars
jamie,
this is not the first time Bernie supporters have ventured into the area of questionable tactics. Got on the wrong side of the unions in Vegas by impersonating union workers in some of the casinos.
I don’t blame Bernie. Grassroots campaigns often lack the discipline of their more traditional counterparts.
That said Bernie needs to put out the word that he doesn’t approve of these tactics.
Shame on Claire McCaskell. Does she have so little faith in her candidate’s abilities that she has to scold any female who doesn’t support Hillary? “…a special place in hell for women who don’t support other women.” Really?
Talk about telling women they SHOULD be voting with their lady parts. Words of desperation???
McC and Debbie Wasserman-Shultz should start a comedy act.
RIP Edgar Mitchell.
Blue Bronc,
No super bowel snacks really. No party just Cheryl and myself.
Beer before the game, whiskey after if the Broncos lose.
Dinner; lamb chops, potato and turnip mash, Brussel sprouts and whole wheat rolls. A bottle of Malbec to go with. lemon bars and coffee after.
Go Broncos!
Blue in Dallas,
Agree totally. Neither HRC or her surrogates should be making the case that if you are a woman you should be voting for Hillary. They should be making the case for voting for the best candidate period, regardless of gender.
If Hillary is to win, that is how she has to win. The gender thing simply doesn’t cut it.
NEW Thread, debate night
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