I can't see any market it would fly in. Frat types won't like the tea, most people will just be scratching their heads.

Y'know, they could really shock us and try to make a decent-tasting beer ;P

Nah, 'too much trouble'

I once added an entire box of Rosehip Tea to the boil while I made a batch of beer.  It created a refreshing sweetness that worked quite well for a 7% brew. 

This does not sound like a similar product.  This will not fly here in Canada!  Low alcohol and no caffeine?  For those who demand the least out of life?

...why!??!... tho I do recall diggin' this mixture a former fling once made fer me....I believe ice tea, lemonade, vodka & beer to be the ingredients but can't recall the name of the concoction...

Beer Hush Puppies

Fufu is a mash of yams or other starches served as an accompaniment to meat or vegetable stews. To eat fufu, pull a small ball of mush off with your fingers, form an indentation with your thumb and use it to scoop up stews and other dishes. Or place large balls in individual serving bowls and spoon stew around them.

Peanut soup is one of the more popular soups it's used to dip up.

Ingredients

* 4 yucca (cassava) roots, peeled and sliced
* 5 yellow plantains
* 1/2 cup butter

Directions

1. Place the cassava and plantains (with peels on) into a large pot, and fill with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and cook until cassava is soft, about 30 minutes; drain. Remove and discard peels from plantains, and return them to the pot. Mash with butter, then beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Use as much butter as needed to get the mixture moist enough to blend.

The Old Bear's Mushrooms Paprikash

1/2 large sweet onion, cut in half and sliced thin
1/3 cup butter
1 pound mushrooms, sliced
4 Tbsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 cup sour cream
salt to taste (optional)
crusty french bread

Melt half of the butter in a deep sauce pan. Saute onions until translucent and tender. Add the remaining butter and allow it to melt. Add the paprika and cayenne. This quantity of paprika will form a roux. Add the mushrooms and saute until tender. Do not overcook the mushrooms or they will lose their texture. Stir in the sour cream and allow to heat gently until warm. Serve over rounds of lightly toasted crusty French bread.

This recipe is easy to adjust as you cook. Add more butter or more paprika to get a nice, thick roux which looks almost like a flour-and-butter roux. We've found the 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne is just about right, but you may want a little more bite -- but be careful, because if you add too much, you'll lose the paprika under the cayenne and come out with something more akin to Tex-Mex Mushrooms, which is not the intent.

We've served this as an appetizer at a dinner party, as a light supper (with a small green salad and a crisp chilled white wine), and as a family lunch. Most people who try it are surprised by the robust flavor of the paprika because they're used to more traditional paprikash recipes which typically use about 1/3 of the quantity of paprika.

Algerian Eggplant Stew

* 2 medium-to-large eggplants, cut into bite-sized pieces
* 1 1/2 cups olive oil
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon black pepper
* 8 cloves garlic, minced (divided use)
* 2 (or more) jalapeño peppers, not seeded and chopped
* 1 Tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
* 1 small bunch cilantro (about 1 cup), finely chopped
* juice of 1 large lemon or 4 key limes
* 1 Tablespoon cumin
* 1 Tablespoon paprika
* 1 teaspoon turmeric

PROCEDURE

In a large skillet or saute pan over medium heat, saute the eggplant in the olive oil, salt and black pepper for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Then mix together half the garlic and all the other ingredients in a separate bowl, and stir them into the eggplant. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally; and then reduce the heat to low, and simmer uncovered for 20-30 minutes, or until the eggplant is completely soft. Add the rest of the garlic, stir for a minute or two, and remove from the heat. Cover, and let the stew cool to room temperature. Serve with a slotted spoon to drain off some of the excess olive oil. Serve it either as it is or as a type of dip with pita bread.

Tzatziki Sauce (Greek Dressing/Veggie/Meat Sauce)

Ingredients

* 2 (8 ounce) containers plain yogurt
* 2 cucumbers - peeled, seeded and diced
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 1/2 lemon, juiced
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
* 3 cloves garlic, peeled

Directions

1. In a food processor or blender, combine yogurt, cucumber, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, dill and garlic. Process until well-combined. Transfer to a separate dish, cover and refrigerate for at least one hour for best flavor.

Cassava with Garlic and Citrus

3 lbs. cassava, peeled
Kosher salt, to taste
1/2 cup olive oil
16 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2/3 cup each sour orange AND lime juice
2 tbsp. roughly chopped oregano
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Cut cassava into 3″ lengths, then lengthwise into 6 sections; using a knife, cut away inner core of each. Place cassava in a 4-qt. saucepan and cover with cold water; season with salt and bring to a boil. Cook until cassava is tender, 8–10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2. While cassava is cooking, make sauce: Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium heat; add garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until garlic is fragrant and sizzling but not browned, 3–4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl; whisk in juice and oregano; add cassava, season with salt and pepper, and toss. Let sit for 10 minutes to marry flavors.

Kosayi (African Dipping Sauce)

[This goes with the Akara, or anything else]

African Dipping Sauce
500g or 9 Baby red capsicums
90g or 3 long red hot chillies
30g or 7 small red hot or habanera* chillies
2 tbsp vegetable oil
75g sugar
75 ml white vinegar
1 tsp salt
Olive oil

*If replacing the 7 small hot chillies (with habanera chillies) you must remove the seeds and veins before blanching them in boiling water.

A good kosayi should be not too hot, you can just feel the heat. The mixture will keep for about 6 months in the refrigerator - the older it gets the better it tastes.

Place the chillies and the whole capsicums in a large pot of cold water and bring to the boil.

Simmer for 25 min or until soft. Cover, turn off the heat and set aside to cool.
Drain and seed both chilli and capsicum, then peel the capsicum. Place in a food processor and blend to a creamy paste.

Press mixture through a fine strainer to remove any remaining skin.

Stir in sugar, oil, salt and white vinegar then place in a jar and allow at least 2 days to mature.

from the true-democracy dept

Reactions to the White House's We the People initiative have been mixed, but it is certainly one small step in the right direction. In Finland, they're taking a giant leap: letting citizens pass complete bills directly to parliament. The Citizen's Initiative Act**, which came into effect this month, requires Parliament to process any bill that collects 50,000 signatures from citizens of voting age. Alternatively, citizens can make a proposal for a bill, which will then be examined and potentially drafted by a ministry. To facilitate the process, a volunteer group in Helsinki has created the Avoin ministeriö (Open Ministry) website, an online tool* for drafting bills and proposals and gathering signatures.

The Open Ministry is an idea that Joonas Pekkanen came up with last December. Pekkanen, who has been involved in launching Internet-based start-up companies, saw a newspaper article about the citizens’ initiative. He began to recruit volunteer workers for the project from his circle of friends, and the group was formed quickly. The entire operation has started from the grass-roots level. No money from the government or any interest group is involved. Openness and involving everybody in the operation of the ministry has been the central principle behind the activity.

They plan to start small and get people comfortable with the idea, by first targeting a much-maligned dog tax that is effectively un-enforced but still on the books and actually costing the government money. Pekkanen plans to focus on submitting completed bills rather than proposals, saying “the aim is that citizens’ initiatives would have the best possible chances of being passed as laws by Parliament.”

There are similar projects underway in the U.S., but none go quite as far as this. Apparently there is going to be a delay while the Ministry of Justice builds a system for accepting legal digital signatures, but once that is taken care of it will be fascinating to see how this develops, and how responsive the Finnish parliament is to citizen-drafted legislation.

*Workshop of volunteers is building a website to facilitate the launching of citizens’ initiatives

**Citizens' initiative will be introduced in the beginning of March

Article

The problem is that Congress is quite unlikely to propose serious reform amendments, which means that the option in the Constitution for an Article V convention of state delegates must be used. But Congress refuses to obey the Constitution by ignoring the hundreds of state applications for a convention from 49 states, more than the single requirement of two-thirds of states in Article V. Learn more at the website of Friends of the Article V Convention, the nonpartisan national group advocating for the first convention.

Americans should wake up, stop their delusional thinking and recognize that the US Constitution needs to be updated through reform amendments. We the people must pressure Congress to convene the first Article V convention. Otherwise the Supreme Court will continue to make interpretations that are more political than legal in nature and the federal government will continue to erode personal freedoms and liberties. And more and more other democracies will operate under better constitutions.

from Punk Planet Fanzine.

Well, I have a special DIY file in store for all you straight-edgers out there. Yep, it's the DIY guide to making jug wine! It's time to lose the edge, because today I'm gonna show you how to throw together some simple ingredients from your cupboard to make wine. It's fun, it's easy, and it'll give you a great headache the morning after you drink it. What a deal.

The first thing you need to make your jug wine is a jug. Otherwise, it wouldn't be called jug wine, would it? So, find a one gallon glass jug somewhere. I'm talking about the kind of jug that has the little loop for your finger. You know, the kind you see in movies about hillbillies, except preferably in clear bottles. Sometimes you can buy apple cider in these jugs, or maybe a local supply store might have them available. There might even be one hiding out in your parents basement somewhere, just waiting to be used.

Anyway, get yourself a jug and some liquid bleach. You'll want to clean the jug out with warm water and the bleach, so that there won't be as many impurities in your wine. If you don't do this, weird things will grow in your jug along with the wine, and it will taste horrible (of course, if it tastes horribly anyway, you can always blame it on impurities). Be sure to get all of the bleach rinsed out of the jug after you are done. Bleach in your wine isn't exactly tasty or good for you either.

The other thing you're gonna need is a large balloon. One that will stretch wide enough to fit over the top of the bottle. This will be our airlock, and I will discuss its use later.

Now it's time to gather the ingredients for your wine. The first recipe I'm gonna tell you about uses items that are readily available at any grocery store, or you might already have them laying around your house. This recipe makes some pretty wicked tasting stuff, though, but it is palatable when mixed with your favorite citrus soft drink. It sorta turns it into a wine cooler. Anyway, we're doing this for fun, regardless of how the final product turns out... right?

So, you'll need 3 twelve ounce cans of grape juice concentrate -- the frozen kind you buy in the freezer case at the supermarket. It can be the cheap stuff. It won't make much difference. You'll also need 2 cups of regular white can sugar (the stuff you use every day on your cereal), and 1 package of baker's yeast, which is usually located on the same aisle as the bags of flour in the store.

Let the frozen grape juice thaw out, and pour it in the jug. Toss in the two cups of sugar after that, then dump in the yeast (make sure that the yeast isn't lumpy -- if it is, crush it until the lumps are gone). Then, fill the jug up the rest of the way with lukewarm water. Finally, put something over the top of the jug and shake it so that everything mixes together pretty well.

Now, take the balloon you found earlier (if you're lucky, it'll say something cool on it, so that when it expands you'll have a jug with a message), and put it over the top of the jug. Don't inflate the balloon at all, just stretch it's mouth over the mouth of the jug. The balloon will act as an airlock to keep oxygen and impurities from getting to the wine, but will allow the carbon dioxide which occurs from the fermentation process to expand from the bottle.

Put the bottle in a warm (70-80 degress) place, and let it be. When the balloon starts to expand, you'll know that the yeast has started working and that the fermentation process has begun. Check your wine every day, and when the balloon seems to be getting pretty full of carbon dioxide, gently pull an edge of the mouth of the balloon away from the mouth of the bottle. This will let the carbon dioxide rush out, without letting any oxygen get in, because of the pressure from the balloon. Don't deflate the balloon entirely, because then oxygen will be able to get into the wine and ruin it.

Continue checking your wine. After a week or ten days, the balloon should stop expanding. That means the fermentation process is done, and the wine is ready to drink. However, there will be a bunch of yeast caked to the inside bottom of the glass jug, so carefully pour the wine into another container (a clean plastic jug would work), trying not to disturb the yeast deposits. You probably will have half an inch of cloudy wine left in the glass jug if you pour carefully. Dump this out. It won't hurt you to drink it, but it won't taste good either. The other option is to siphon your wine, using a clean piece of plastic tubing, from one jug to the other. If you are careful, and don't stick the tubing in the yeast deposit, you will probably come out with a better end result.

Cap your plastic jug and throw it in the fridge to cool. That's all there is to it. It's fun, it's easy, and it's definately DIY. Realize, of course, that you can buy a jug of cheap wine at the store that probably tastes better, but what kind of fun is that?

If you want to get more involved in your wine-making, the best idea would be to visit your local brewing store. Here you'll find various extracts for making wine, along with champagne yeasts, and corn sugar, all of which will yield a better flavor than using ordinary household items. In addition, bakers yeast will only ferment the wine to around 14% alcohol content, while champagne yeast will run around 17 or 18%.

If you'd like to try making some more challenging and better tasting wines, a good source might be found at your local library. There have been a bunch of books written about home wine making, some of which give recipes specifically for making wine in gallon glass jugs. One excellent source that I've found is by H.E. Bravery. It's called "Successful Wine Making at Home." It was written 20 or 30 years ago, and gives a number of recipes for making wines from different fruits and vegetables!

If you don't drink, that's cool (yeah, forget what I said about straight-edgers above) but if you do, and want to try a truly interesting DIY experiment, then grab a jug, some sugar, yeast, and grapejuice, and start brewing.

We've been fucked since 2000... :(

This sounds like the last British general election. You will get fucked either way.

Story here

So who are you going to vote for, a Dem. who smothers our rights and has a poor transparency record, or a GOP guy who hates the poor and anyone who's not Christian?

You may want to bookmark this place, lots of recipes- The Pepper Fool

Ingredients

This is a seriously hot sauce; use it with caution. Keep away from pets, open flames, unsupervised children, drunks, and scoundrels. To preserve the unique fruity flavor of the chiles, the habaneros are not cooked. When handling habaneros use food-safe gloves and thoroughly wash knives, cutting boards, and utensils with cold soapy water and then hot soapy water.

2 large carrots (1 1/2 cups) peeled & chopped)
1/2 medium red onion (1 cup) peeled & chopped)

1 1/2 cups white vinegar

1/2 cup water

6 cloves garlic (2 tablespoons minced)

1/4 cup fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup coarse grain or Creole mustard

12 to 14 habanero chiles, seeds and stems removed (3/4 cup minced)

Combine the carrots, onion, vinegar, water, garlic, lime juice, salt, pepper and mustard in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes or until the carrots are soft. Remove from heat.

Use an immersion blender or food processor to puree the mixture. Add the habaneros and continue to puree until smooth. Pour into sterilized jars or bottles and process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.

African Sweet Potato and Peanut Soup

[This calls for sweet potatoes, but you can use plain potatoes, no problem]

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger root
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch ground cloves
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
4 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped, unsalted dry-roasted peanuts
1 pinch cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
1 bunch chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute the onion 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Mix in the garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, and cloves. Stir in the tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrot, and continue to cook and stir about 5 minutes.
Pour water into the saucepan, and season the mixture with salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes.

Remove the soup mixture from heat. In a food processor or blender, blend the soup and peanuts until almost smooth. Season with cayenne pepper. Return to the saucepan. Whisk in the peanut butter, and cook until heated through. Serve warm topped with fresh cilantro.

Cream of Hearts of Palm Soup

1 large can or jar hearts of palm, preserved
6 cups light chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup double-heavy cream
12 0z. potato, peeled and cubed

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. butter

1 large leek, finely sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
salt and white pepper to taste

cayenne and chive to garnish
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Drain the hearts of palm, then slice into thin rounds. Reserve. Melt the butter in a medium sauce pan, and lightly saute the sliced onion until golden. Remove the onion, and add the broth. Bring to boil over moderate heat, then reduce heat to simmer. Whisk the cornstarch into cold milk until dissolved, and then slowly pour the mixture into the hot broth. Add salt and white pepper to taste. Continue to cook, continually stirring, until the mixture thickens slightly. Add the slices of hearts of palm and remove from heat. Off heat, stir in the grated cheese and serve immediately.

Tamarind Salsa For Steak

Ingredients

5 ripe plum tomatoes
60 g tamarind pulp, diluted into 150ml of water
0.5 tsp cumin seeds, roasted and crushed into powder
1 small red chilli, seeds removed
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, chopped
0.5 tsp ground black pepper
0.5 tsp turmeric
0.5 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp olive oil

Tamarillo Sauce For All Of  Your Meats

Ingredients:

1 pound tamarillos Native to South America, this egg-shaped fruit is...
½ cup brown sugar , firmly packed
¼ cup water
¾ cup beef stock or olive oil
½ teaspoon five-spice powder
1⁄3; cup water (extra)
1 tablespoon brown sugar (extra)

1 fresh red chili

Directions:

1
Peel and chop tamarillos, combine with sugar and water in pan, simmer, covered, about 5 mins.
2
or until tamarillos are soft. Blend or process mixture; strain.
3
Return mixture to pan, stir in stock, spice, extra water and extra sugar, simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes.
4
Freezes well.

Posted by John Battles! (maximum thanks!)

Non - Gourmet cooking for regular guys....Gurls , too.
From John Battles to You

Chicken , right? In whole or in part. A whole chicken , at least , you get the liver , too, but , you men, especially , wash that chicken REAL good (Legs and wings suggested if you can't find a whole chicken.)). THEN.....Get the best and hottest red sauce you can tolerate (No one's going to call you a wuss if you don't want it coming back to haunt you tommorrow..), use as a marinade , mixed with , or separate from your fave non - wimpy BBQ sauce.The Jack Daniels or Budweiser sauces are actually pretty tasty. Plus , it (Sort of ) invoves alcohol, so , there's your hangover defense , right there. It's the grand deception , you know....Dab liberally with KOSHER salt. Makes all the difference. BROIL , but , check regularly so as not to overcook. That;s all. You can refridgerate and save for later , like when you stumble in after a "Garage Rock Night" (But when do those happen ?).....

If you like Ethiopian food , as I do , my advice is to go a good Ethiopian restaurant.

I was eating that stuff when Ethiopia and Eritrea were still at war....Oh ? Are they still?

I'm here to lay something simple on you , is all.

I can't advise , strongly enough , that if chicken's your thing , try a Kosher whole chicken at least once. It's so damned good , you don't have to PUT anything on it ! (Tho' my quick pick would be apricot preserves , administered liberally.

And , regardless of what you've been told , chicken liver beats beef liver , hands down.....

Tam Tam crackers or ch'allah bread is a must.

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Probably posted this in the wrong format, but I "Double Dog Dare You".......

Orange Ice Tea

Ingredients

Syrup:

1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup sugar

Tea:

2 cups water
7 black tea bags (recommended: Red Rose)
3 cups sparkling water, chilled
1/2 small orange, thinly sliced
Ice
Fresh mint or basil sprigs, to garnish

Directions

Special equipment: a 60-ounce (7 1/2 cups) pitcher

For the syrup: In a small saucepan, bring the orange juice and sugar to a boil over medium-high heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool for 20 minutes.

For the tea: In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add the tea bags and remove the pan from the heat. Allow the tea to steep and cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes. Remove the tea bags and discard. Pour the tea and syrup into a pitcher and refrigerate until ready to serve.

To serve: Pour the sparkling water into the pitcher and add the orange slices. Pour the tea into 4 ice-filled glasses. Garnish with fresh mint, or basil, and serve.