As I drove into work this morning, lamenting the fact that all morning radio show hosts sound so horribly, inexorably uninformed, I started thinking about what my own education lacks.
Math would be the obvious one, but since I did well in advanced math classes from 7th to 11th grade, that's not entirely appropriate.
Science is another possibility, but I made it to, and through, AP Chemistry in 12th grade, and I wasn't completely bad at it.
Mechanical skills would be a strong contender, but now I have an able tutor (J) who walks me through the basics of car fixin', construction, electrical stuff, and the like.
So I settled on my inability to speak or to write fluently in another language. I took three years of French in high school, as most public schools demand, and that wasn't nearly enough. I dabbled in German for a semester, but the instructor was too awful to even consider another semester. The only thing I got out of another 2 years of college-level Spanish was the ability to count to 100 en espanol. I can't even trill my r's.
Now, it's back to French. I'm great at guessing the English/Latin cognates, which makes reading a lot easier. I'm starting by reading through the Radio-Canada.ca site each morning; other suggestions for sites would be appreciated!

Contrast this article by Ron Kovic (author of Born on the Fourth of July ) with the "patriots" featured over at Operation Yellow Elephant .
I'm well aware that joining the military in any capacity is an intensely personal decision. I also believe strongly that any pundit, politician, member of the 101st Fighting Keyboardists , and citizen - and their children who are over 18 - should have been the first ones on the planes over to Iraq to "bring them democracy."

This past weekend, we started to look for a place from which to order a wedding cake. The actual wedding is not for awhile, but I'm a planner, and we're planning ahead. Besides, it was a chance to eat cake, something that I don't believe I have ever refused.
Some advice: don't tell the bakery staff that the cake is for a wedding. An event? Sure. A celebration? Of course. But the minute the words "wedding" or "bride" get introduced, the price skyrockets and options become incredibly inflexible. I was disappointed. How hard is it to bake 4 square cakes, of a normal, average height, with white frosting, simple light purple piping on the edges, with lots of space for fresh flowers on the top (supplied by me)? Apparently, this bakery "doesn't do that," although they clearly had the pans by which to do them.
I have a very simple idea for the cake that does not involve tiers, excessive architecture, or complicated frosting. If I wasn't worried about doing other things that day, like getting married, I'd be content with baking and decorating this dessert on my own.
Aside from figuring out who to invite and how to print my invitations, the only other thing on my mind for this "event" is finding a sparkly pair of shoes in some shade of silver or purple.

This is a highly modified version of Rachael Ray's Shepherd's Pie recipe. The first time I had anything like this was just a few years ago; the assembly takes a bit of work and preparation, but it made enough for two large dinner servings, one lunch and one set of leftovers.
Ingredients
5-6 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 big tbsp. plain yogurt; you can also substitute sour cream
1/3-1/2 c. milk
1-2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 c. chopped mushrooms
1-1.5 lbs. ground beef; per (e:ladycroft), you can also use a meatless product
1 cup beef broth
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. flour
paprika
Tools
large pot
large saucepan
small saucepan
colander
whisk
potato masher
rectangular casserole dish*
(*you can use a 9 inch round pie pan, but you'll probably end up with enough ingredients for two. Either make two, or adjust the ingredients down)
Steps
Peel, slice and dice all veggies.
Add potatoes to large saucepan; fill with water, add a few shakes of salt, and cover; heat on high to boiling until the potatoes are ready to be mashified.
Put other chopped veggies in a bowl; set aside.
In large saucepan, brown up the ground beef; salt and pepper to taste; use some olive oil so the meat doesn't stick or burn.
Once the meat is done, add the veggies; cook until the onions turn translucent.
In the small saucepan, combine the butter and flour; whisk until the butter is melted; add the beef broth, and whisk for another minute; this mixture will turn into a thickish gravy (but not horribly thick). Don't leave any lumps!
Once the potatoes are done, drain them, add the yogurt and milk; mash 'em up!
Put the veggie-meat mixture as a first layer; drizzle the gravy over it; you can add a cup of cooked peas at this point, but I didn't have any on hand.
Pile the mashed potatoes on the casserole; smooth with a spatula.Sprinkle some paprika on the top, and place under the broiler until the top potato layer is just browned; mine formed a thin, flexible crust.
Eat and enjoy. Add salt to taste. The worst part of this recipe is the cleanup - all those pots and pans don't fit in our dishwasher, and they fill up the sink!

I took a quick, random poll of e/peeps to see what I should try tonight: mini pies or honey muffins. The muffins won.
I read a very old cookbook at Jeremiah's grandma's over Christmas, and the theme was zen macrobiotic cooking. The main idea I grabbed from this wacky book was that cooking is best done alone, and while you're in a good mood, so that's what I did. To get in a cooking mood, I cleared off a spot on my counter, put on my apron and a headband. For Christmas, my brother crocheted me an awesome scarf with a matching headband; I wear it inside, sometimes. This put me in a beatific baking mood.
Anyway, from that same shelf, I borrowed a book called The Complete Yogurt Cookbook. This inspired me to use yogurt, that of course I made myself. Hooray for yogurt makers. It's a healthy, natural way to add moisture and nutrition to baked goods, without the hydrogenated ickiness of oils.
Here goes ...
Ingredients, dry
1 1/2 c. a.p. flour
1/2 c. corn meal (I used white corn meal)
1/4 c. sugar (to taste)*
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon (or more)
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp. ginger
Ingredients, wet
2 eggs
1/2 c. plain yogurt
1/3 c. honey
1/4 c. milk*
1 tsp. vanilla
Tools
large bowl
spatula/spoons for mixing
muffin tins and/or bread pans
Steps, short version
Combine dry ingredients; add wet ingredients; bake as muffins or bread at 350 degrees for 20 minutes +.
Steps, long version
Combine the dry ingredients. I read on a baking blog (yes, they do exist) that using more baking powder makes for a fluffier muffin, so that's what I went with.
For my next attempt at these muffins, I'm going to omit the ginger completely. Ginger adds a strong flavor, and I fear I added too much in this version. It threatened to overpower the honey flavor; instead, I may bring out the vanilla flavor even more with more extract.
I used vanilla sugar, instead of "regular" sugar. [To make this sugar, just take a container (I used an empty salsa jar), pop in a whole vanilla bean, and fill with sugar. Shake each day for a week or so, and voila - vanilla sugar. You can replenish the sugar for a long time, which is useful, as vanilla beans can be expensive.] More sugar will make a much sweeter muffin, but will also alter the texture and make it more carmelly/sticky. Alternately, you can use less sugar or use sugar substitute. Brown sugar would work well with this.
Combine the wet ingredients. Whisk the eggs with the honey (melt in the microwave if it's too stiff) and vanilla. Reserve the milk. I used "real" honey - raw, unprocessed stuff that I bought at a place called the General Store down in Colden.
Combine the dry and wet ingredients. Mix thoroughly, and add the milk (or up to 1/3 c.) if necessary. You want a "muffiny" dough. I don't know how else to describe it. It has to be thick, not runny. Fill the tins to about 2/3 - do not overfill, or else you'll have a mess.
The yield was 12 muffins and one small bread loaf. I used my (new) silicone bakeware (muffin tins) and a small loaf pan. The silicone bakeware is fantastic, leaving a lightly crispy crust and a fluffy, beautifully textured inside.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, at least 25 minutes for the bread loaf.
Store in an airtight container. I plan on eating most of these myself, just to make sure the taste of each is acceptable. Call it my rigorous quality control process.