Happy New Year 2013!!

Sending you all very warm wishes for a Happy and Prosperous 2013!!

James and I rang in the New Year with my Mom and our dear friend, Anne-Marie Trout.  We watched a great movie with Judi Dench and Maggie Smith called Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which was funny yet touching.  We then moved on to Dark Knight Rising which I got on Blue Ray for Christmas.

Sad to see the holidays end once again, but I'm excited about the next year.  I guess my resolutions are pretty much the same as last year...I really need to get my weight down a bit more and continue to focus on my health issues.  I have an audition for an accompanist position in Loomis on the 15th of January for a church there.  I am spending some time every day practicing for that appointment.

Another resolution I have for this next year is to blog more...and I intend to do many of them as vlogs.

I hope you had a great New Years' Eve celebration and I send much love to you all!  Have a blessed year!!

And here we go...

The US Supreme Court has agreed to take on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as well as Proposition 8.  As you may know, both have been ruled unconstitutional by lower federal courts.  In fact, the anti-gay side has lost in every federal court ruling so far.

Well, the buck is about to stop.  The Supreme Court will be hearing arguments in the cases sometime in March with a ruling anticipated in June.  I know that there will be a fair hearing in the case, but it's still nerve-wracking to sit and wait on this one.  James and I had to sit in front of a TV to see if the California Supreme Court would keep our marriage intact after Prop 8 passed.  Now we have to sit and wait to see if the rights of our brothers and sisters will be restored.  We'll also see if DOMA will finally be ruled unconstitutional once and for all...at least Section 3 of it.  We'll still not be able to move to another state outside the nine states that currently allow gay marriage and be considered legally married since none of the lawsuits pending at the court address anything but the denial of federal benefits such as Social Security and the right to file joint tax returns.

So, I guess we wait.  The Court gave themselves an out in both cases...they could rule on a technicality called Article III standing...basically whether or not the defendants can show they are in a position to bring a case before the court.  Technically, they could decide that the defendants don't have standing and let the lower court decision stand without ever ruling on the merits of the case.  To me, it's a chicken-shit maneuver, but let's face it...the Justices may not be ready to rule in favor of gay marriage for the entire country.  And they may not want to hit millions of folks in the LGBT community with a ruling that denies them basic citizenship rights for another generation.  They may decide to split the decision with basically a win for the gay community on a technicality in the prop 8 case and a win for the anti-gay forces inasmuch as they don't force same sex marriage on the entire country.

I don't see them doing that with the DOMA case.  It would only impact gay married couples in the states they are already married.  It's pretty much a no-brainer...and DOMA is so blatantly unconstitutional that no one would be surprised when they rule it as such.

Sending blessings and light to everyone today...whatever side you are on in this situation, please find your peace and remain patient until it is resolved next year.

My favorite stuffing recipe...

With Thanksgiving coming up fast, I wanted to share my favorite stuffing recipe.  This wins rave reviews every year.

Ingredients


* 16-ounce bag stuffing cubes
* 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the pan and topping
* 1 pound fresh sage sausage, casing removed
* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 3 boiled eggs
* 2 Granny Smith apples
* 1 to 2 ribs celery with leaves, chopped
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
* 3 cups chicken broth, homemade or low-sodium canned
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
* 2 eggs, beaten

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Put the stuffing cubes in a large bowl and set aside. Butter a 3-quart casserole dish.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and break up with a wooden spoon. Cook until it loses most of its pink color, but not so much that it's dry, about 5 minutes. Add the sausage and pan drippings to the stuffing cubes.

Melt the remaining butter in the pan. Add the onion, apple, celery, and salt. Cook until the vegetables get soft, about 5 minutes. Add the broth and parsley and bring to a boil.

Pour the vegetable mixture over the stuffing cubes and toss until evenly moistened. Slice and add the boiled eggs to the stuffing cubes. Mix in the beaten eggs. Loosely pack the dressing in the prepared pan and cook uncovered until the top forms a crust, about 40 minutes. Drizzle about 2 tablespoons of turkey pan drippings or melted butter over the top. Cook until the top is crisp and golden, about 20 minutes more.

You can also cook this in the turkey. I double the recipe for more than 6 people because it goes so fast.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

I'm a good southern boy at heart...minus the lawn sofa and gun rack in my car...and I love to cook comfort food that reminds me of home.

I made sweet potato biscuits last night and they turned out amazing.  Wanted to share the recipe with you guys.

It's easier if you have a food processor. If you don't have a food processor, you can put the ingredients in a bowl and use a fork to cut the butter into the flour.

Mix the following in the processor:

2 cups of flour

2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of shortening

1 tsp. of salt

4 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda

Mix the ingredients for about a minute until the mixture looks a bit like corn meal. Then add 1 medium sized sweet potato (baked and peeled) and mix until it forms into a dough.

Remove from the food processor and into a bowl. Add two tablespoons of shortening or vegetable oil and mix with your hands until smooth. Add 4-6 tablespoons of buttermilk and mix with your hands until the dough has a nice soft but firm texture.

Roll the dough on a flat surface until it's about 1 inch thick. Use a drinking glass to cut out the biscuits. Place on a baking pan (don't grease the pan...makes the bottom of the biscuits very hard) at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.

If you want to make regular biscuits, just eliminate the sweet potato and increase the amount of buttermilk to about a cup.

This recipe makes about 9 to 10 biscuits. 

Enjoy!