ice in the river

Homemade pasta

Last week, I thought it would be fun to make homemade pasta using a recipe from an article in Bon Appetit magazine that featured a chef from southern Italy. Gray cat sat in the chair while I rolled out the dough, and John helped me form the dough into smaller shapes.
These shapes are called orrechiette: "little ears", but they look more like small pea pods.

Conference on Heresy, Blasphemy, and Freedom of Expression

I'm heading off to a conference at the University of Central Florida this Thursday. The conference is on Heresy, Blasphemy, and Freedom of Expression. These issues have received interest from folks interested in ethics and communication, given the issues raised by Muslim outrage over unflattering depictions of Muhammed.

In my paper, I argue (surprisingly perhaps for those who know me) that blasphemy should be taken seriously, but that it's not strictly concerned with the divine. For instance, Ward Churchill, the phony Native American UColorado professor blasphemed, I think, when he said that those in the WTC on Sept. 11, 2001 were 'little Eichmanns.' My argument for that claim is in the paper. Also, there's a succint overview of Thomas Aquinas's views on blasphemy, on which I draw. Anyway, here it is:

Blasphemy Paper

Corn Muffins

Today we made black eyed peas for lunch. We also made some corn muffins using a recipe out of The Rather Sweet Bakery Cookbook that Marianne gave us for Christmas.



These muffins were the best corn bread/muffins we had ever put in our mouths.

They were slightly crunch on the outside, and the insides were as light as air.

I had one with peanut butter in it for a snack this afternoon. I drank some milk with it, but I didn't need it to unstick the peanut butter from my mouth. That is how moist, light, and fluffy these muffins are.

This was the first recipe we tried from this cookbook. We are excited to try more, since this one turned out so well!