Notions: John Dickerson's Blog: April 2008 Archives

Intriguing Olive Dish

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on April 30, 2008 8:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

First take about 1/2 lb. of olives. (Well, buy them, don't take them. You can't very easily make this in jail.)
Place the olives in a jar with a top and cover them with olive oil, removing the top first.
Smash one or two cloves of garlic with the blade of a knife and put them in the mix.
Add one teaspoon or tablespoon (I always forget the difference) of red pepper flakes.
Brown about a teaspoon of fennel seed in a skillet and throw that in.
Remove skillet.
Let it all sit for about 3 hours mixing every now and again.
Strain and serve.
If there are any olives left over after you've served this, you've done it wrong, but you can refrigerate what's left for about a month. (If you're brave and want to stretch that let me know how that works out).

You can threaten to ruin this recipe by shaving a little orange peel into the jar to give it a hint of fruit, but that's up to you.

Lincoln and Obama and Mexican War

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John Dickerson

on April 29, 2008 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Obama not the first to vote to fund the troops for a war he didn't believe in:

"You remember I was an old Whig, and whenever the Democratic party tried to get me to vote that the [Mexican] war had been righteously begun by the President, I would not do it. But whenever they asked for any money, or land-warrants, or anything to pay the soldiers there, during all that time, I gave the same vote that Judge Douglas did. [Loud applause.] You can think as you please as to whether that was consistent. Such is the truth; and the Judge has the right to make all he can out of it. But when he, by a general charge, conveys the idea that I withheld supplies from the soldiers who were fighting in the Mexican war, or did anything else to hinder the soldiers, he is, to say the least, grossly and altogether mistaken, as a consultation of the records will prove to him."

Lincoln in first Lincoln/Douglas debate. Found here.