Pier Piling & Seagull Study by Patrick McDonnell

All Day - Every Day Specials

Julie's Corner Bar

Richmond St./E. Clearfield St.
Philadelphia, PA 19134

$1.50 - Rolling Rock Draught - pint

$1.75 - Yuengling Lager - pint





Dakotahs

2629 Lehigh Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19125 (215) 427-9262

$1.25 - Yuengling Premium - 16 oz. can


Note: Smoking allowed at both establishments






Bonus Round:

Better-Than-Ever Fresh Potato Salad


In the spring and summer months, the potatoes all but disappear from the tables at my local market to make room for the season's beautiful salad greens and fresh herbs. There are, however, new potatoes crop up towards the end of spring and into the summer months. It seems only logical to make a summer potato salad that integrates the fresh herbs with these fresh potatoes that, when cooked, are more moist and dense than other types of potatoes.

Herby Potato Salad
Serves 4 to 6

2 1/2 - 3 pounds Red Bliss potatoes, washed
Sea salt
12 scallions, washed, dried, and cut into slices (green and white parts both)
1 cup basil leaves, stemmed, washed, and dried
¼ cup tarragon leaves, stemmed, washed, and dried
½ cup parsley leaves, stemmed, washed, and dried
freshly ground white pepper
2 tablespoons water
8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 shallots, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and sliced thin
2 tablespoons smooth (Dijon) mustard
1 tablespoon chopped capers and 2 teaspoons of the caper liquid

1. Bring the potatoes to a boil in a pot of water and reduce to a simmer. Season the water with a pinch of salt. Simmer the potatoes gently -- no need to rush them as they cook -- until they are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife.

2. Meanwhile, in a food processor (or blender), combine the scallions, basil, tarragon and parsley. Alternatively, chop and blend all of the herbs in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the water over the herbs and blend. Pour 5 tablespoons of the olive oil through the top of the food processor in a slow, steady stream and blend until almost smooth. Taste for seasoning. Set aside.

3. In a bowl large enough to hold the potatoes, whisk together the red wine vinegar, shallots, mustard, capers, and caper liquid. Whisk in the remaining olive oil. Taste for seasoning. Drain the potatoes of their cooking liquid and discard the bay leaves.

4. While the potatoes are still warm, combine them in the bowl with the dressing and lightly crush them with the tines of a fork. Season lightly with salt and pepper and toss them in the dressing. You can almost see the potatoes absorbing all of the great flavors! Finish by adding the herb and olive oil mixture. Stir to blend. Keep warm at room temperature until ready to serve.

Tip: You can make the salad the day before and refrigerate it overnight. A few hours before serving, take it out to bring it to room temperature.

Paid Advert

Can You Spot The Deceit?

The Local Wire

Philadelphia Daily News Staff Report:

ASPCA condemns Vick's signing with Eagles

New Eagles quarterback Michael Vick's handlers approached the American Society for the Prevention of Animal Cruelty months ago about doing educational work against dogfighting, but the organization immediately turned them down because of "his indescribable and barbaric acts of animal cruelty" while running an illegal dogfighting operation, the group revealed on its Web site yesterday. The remarks, the first public comments from the group, were written by ASPCA president Ed Sayres.

"[T]his organization and I personally have seen the acts of cruelty committed by Mr. Vick first hand - acts so heinous that the public has never laid witness to them," Sayres wrote, noting that the ASPCA helped process evidence that led to Vick's 18-month imprisonment.

Sayres condemned Vick's return to the NFL and signing with the Eagles: "Today, it is difficult to see him in the uniform of a Philadelphia Eagle because of the startling lack of judgment and moral character he has demonstrated over the past several years. It is questionable whether he will have any credibility as an educator on the dog fighting issue."

Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said he is convinced that Vick is remorseful and deserves a second chance.


More:

Philadelphia Embarrassments by Clark DeLeon

Closed On Monday

The Fishtown Branch of the
Free Library of Philadelphia
will be closed Monday,
August 24th, 2009 to cover
Staff Shortages at other
branches.

(Signage posted at said location)

Receipt

-------------------------------------------

Sunoco #7200
3200 Richmond Street
Philadelphia, Pa 19134

08/19/09 09:10:09

BA BEAR CLAW...............1.49
CRACK N SNK..................0.99
LV MILK WHOL..............1.79
TURKEYHILL T...............2.39

Subtotal..................$6.66
Sales Tax..................0.00
Total.....................$6.66
Cash (USD$)..........$6.66

Change..................$0.00

Transaction Id#96318


Thank you for
Shopping Sunoco

-------------------------------------------

Squandered Opportunity - Health Care Deformed

When Barack Obama assumed the presidency, there was talk that former Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean might be his Secretary of Health and Human Services. That would have made Dean the administration’s point-person in the fight for health care reform. It also would have increased the likelihood that reform would be real.

But Dean was rejected. And, now, the prospect of real reform is fading fast. Dean said last week that the only thing that made health-reform legislation proposed by House committees worth doing was the public option. In that legislation, the physician and former Vermont governor argued that “the last shred of reform is the public option.” In fact, without the public option, the Obama approach — and that of compromise-prone Democrats in Congress — looks increasingly like a step in the wrong direction.

That’s because the “reforms” currently under consideration threaten to undermine Medicare and Medicaid — with radical cost-cutting schemes — while steering hundreds of billions in federal dollars into the accounts of for-profit insurers and the pharmaceutical industry.

This is not “change we can believe in.” This is change that serious reformers will find “very difficult” to support, as Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, said Sunday on CNN. Johnson explained that progressives would have a tough time backing legislation that did not include a public option.

“The only way we can be sure that very low-income people and persons who work for companies that don’t offer insurance have access to it, is through an option that would give the private insurance companies a little competition,” explained Johnson, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Congresswoman Johnson is exactly right. Without a robust public option, what the Obama administration and compromised Democrats in the House and Senate are talking about is not “health care reform.”

It is “health care deform” that does not begin to address the crisis created by insurance industry profiteering — and that could well make the “cure” worse than the disease.


John Nichols is a Washington correspondent for The Nation magazine.

published Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Metro Newspaper - Philadelphia


More:

This Is Reform?

It’s never a contest when the interests of big business are pitted against the public interest. So if we manage to get health care “reform” this time around it will be the kind of reform that benefits the very people who have given us a failed system, and thus made reform so necessary.

Forget about a crackdown on price-gouging drug companies and predatory insurance firms. That’s not happening. With the public pretty well confused about what is going on, we’re headed — at best — toward changes that will result in a lot more people getting covered, but that will not control exploding health care costs and will leave industry leaders feeling like they’ve hit the jackpot.


Click here for complete Op-Ed by Bob Herbert, published August 17, 2009, The New York Times


Healthcare Cont:



After his brilliant beginning, the president suddenly looks weak and unreliable. That will be the common interpretation around Washington of the president's abrupt retreat on substantive heathcare reform. Give Barack Obama a hard shove, they will say, rough him up a bit and he folds. A few weeks back, the president was touting a "public option" health plan as an essential element in reform. Now he says, take it or leave it. Whatever Congress does, he's okay with that...


Click here for complete editorial By William Greider published in The Nation

Closed On Tuesday

FYI - The Port Richmond Library Branch (Free Library System of Philadelphia) will be closed Tuesday, August 18th. No reason was given for said closure.

Cookie Fortune

Compromise is always wrong if it means sacrificing a principle.

Learn Chinese:

Bean Sprout - dou ya

Lucky Numbers:

46, 22, 24, 15, 30, 9


Bonus Round:



courtesy of All Over Coffee by Paul Madonna