Sunday Drive: O Magnum Mysterium

The Annuncation, El Greco, circa 1590-1603

As performed by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge:

The Third Sunday of Advent, 2016

Waitin' for the Weekend

Grab It and Go

Or, as I can just hear somebody saying, how do I explain to my six-year-old that it's not stealing?  This radical new approach to retailing is more than your Head Trucker can get his head around.  And what if, like me, you have no super-duper-nuclear-waveband-hypertechtronic-cell-phone-thingy?  And what about all the cashiers who will be thrown out of work? And what if, if, if -- ?? 

I'm not ready for this, are you?

The Crumpet Controversy

Tempting, yes - but is this a real crumpet?
Picture from King Arthur Flour Company.

Just to show that the Blue Truck remains undaunted in its mission to shed light upon the pressing issues of the day, and to follow fearlessly wherever the pursuit of Truth may lead, we now take you to the wilds of Indiana for this revealing exposé.  Viewer discretion is advised, depending on how you really feel about pikelets and barm.




More 18th century cooking videos can be found at James Townsend's YouTube channel.


Bonus video: Are your crumpets too heavy? Maybe you're overdoing the flour.

Sunday Drive: Away in a Manger

The Annunciation, Hans Memling, 1480.
Click to enlarge.

As performed by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge:

Second Sunday in Advent, 2016

Waitin' for the Weekend

Sunday Drive: Once in Royal David's City

The Annunciation, Leonardo da Vinci, circa 1472

As performed by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge:

FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT, 2016

The Pork Boys Do Thanksgiving 2016

Just a few pics to show you fellas how it went at our house.  First, a couple of pics of last month's Halloween decorations, all the credit for which goes to M.P., the creative partner (I just do the dishes):

Click to enlarge.

Some daylight photos of the Thanksgiving table:

The hors d'oeuvres included egg salad and pimento cheese, both homemade, as were the whole-wheat wafers; also cheddar and swiss cheeses, pepperoni slices, and sliced beef roll-ups.

The appetizer was fluffy, savory quichettes hot from the oven, with egg, ham, broccoli, and cheddar wrapped in a flaky homemade crust.

M.P. set a beautiful Thanksgiving table with a gold damask cloth and a handmade cornucopia, partly filled with found items from the yard and garden.

The turkey took a long time to cook, M.P. basting it in a slow oven for about ten hours, but when it was finally done, it was worth the wait:

A couple of side dishes are pictured below:  maque choux (a Cajun corn mixture) and the classic green bean casserole, which I made from the original Campbell's Soup recipe - it's getting to be one of my specialties. Since we didn't have a can of French fried onion rings, M.P. sliced an onion very thinly and fried the rings himself.  He also julienned by hand a whole can of regular green beans, which he says was not so daunting as you might think.

I also made a sweet potato souffle topped with mini marshmallows (not pictured, alas), which I've been doing for the last forty years or so, a very simple thing but always a crowd pleaser. M.P. made his marvelous featherbed rolls, so called because they are so soft and light - wonderful with a big pat of butter:

We also had a few other things I should have gotten pictures of - the homemade sausage M.P. used in the dressing, flavored with fresh herbs from the garden, also his lovely homemade pecan pie, and my store-bought pumpkin pie, but at this point hunger overcame photography, so I will close with a picture of my full plate, moments before it mysteriously vanished:

From 12 to 2 o'clock:  sweet potato souffle; 3 to 6 o'clock: turkey and dressing; 7 to 10 o'clock:  maque choux; squeezed in from 10 to 12:  green bean casserole.  Not pictured:  real mashed potatoes, which I had no room for, and the giblet gravy and cranberry sauce, which were waiting just offstage to be added.

And of course we will have plenty of good leftovers to feast and refeast upon for a good long while, as is only to be expected. So despite a rather tight budget this year, we ate very well and were most grateful for all our blessings, culinary and otherwise.

How did it go with you fellas?

Waitin' for the Weekend

Noah Mills

Yes We Cran

For a few chuckles and groans, here's President Obama pardoning the National Turkey (note to overseas readers:  that is not Donald Trump, not yet) for the last time:




Here's wishing peace, good cheer, and a very Happy Thanksgiving with all the trimmings to my truckbuddies.

Is the Law Really on Trump's Side?

Embed from Getty Images

The law's totally on my side, meaning, the president can't have a conflict of interest.

--Donald Trump, interview with the New York Times, November 22, 2016

Perhaps some of my truckbuddies were as surprised as I was to hear that the Orange One is not required by law to place his business holdings in a trust when he takes office. But it's true, and as a public service, your Head Trucker has tracked down what the law says about it. The relevant statute is Title 18 of the United States Code, Crimes and Criminal Procedure, under Part I of which Chapter 11 deals with Bribery, Graft, and Conflicts of Interest - here is the first part of the contents of Chapter 11, via the Legal Information Institute of Cornell University:

Click to enlarge.

Section 208 of Chapter 11 deals with Acts affecting a personal financial interest, and applies to all federal officers and employees; but Section 202, subsection (c), specifically exempts the President, Vice President, Members of Congress, and federal judges. Read it yourself:

Click to enlarge.

This law was passed by Congress in 1962 as a comprehensive reform of conflict-of-interest guidelines.  Here is what the Washington Post's Fact Checker has to say about it:

The law doesn’t say the president can’t have a conflict of interest. But Congress, under Title 18 Section 208 of the U.S. code, did exempt the president and vice president from conflict-of-interest laws on the theory that the presidency has so much power that any possible executive action might pose a potential conflict.

“As a general rule, public officials in the executive branch are subject to criminal penalties if they personally and substantially participate in matters in which they (or their immediate families, business partners or associated organizations) hold financial interests,” the Congressional Research Service said in an October report. “However, because of concerns regarding interference with the exercise of constitutional duties, Congress has not applied these restrictions to the President. Consequently, there is no current legal requirement that would compel the President to relinquish financial interests because of a conflict of interest.”. . .

While spoken in classic “Trumpese” that fails to capture the nuances of the law, the president-elect did rightly point to an exemption for the president and vice president in conflicts of interest laws. And while such an exemption exists, the theory was that the presidency has so much power that any policy decision could pose a potential conflict. The law assumed that the president could be trusted to do the right thing and take actions to avoid appearance or presence of impropriety — not that the law is “totally” on the president’s “side” or that it would allow the president to use the exemption to his favor.

Trump’s statement does not quite rise to the level of a Geppetto Checkmark, nor does it qualify for a Pinocchio. So we will not rate this claim. Trump, nevertheless, should be more careful about his wording on this point. It’s quite possible he will face a number of conflicts of interest during his presidency. The law may offer an exemption for the president, but political reality — and perception— often does not.

So there you have it. Trump can legally, in his words, "run my business perfectly and then run the country perfectly. There's never been a case like this." The only hindrance is the provisions of Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the Constitution:

No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.

But little good will that do with a man whose global business organization far outruns anything the Founding Fathers could have imagined.

Some other pertinent readings on this topic if any of you boys are interested enough to look at them:

• Bloomberg View, June 2016: Conflicts of Interest? President Trump's Would Be Amazing
• Congressional Research Service, January 2014: Financial Assets and Conflict of Interest Regulation in the Executive Branch
• Lawrence R. Silberman, Acting Attorney General, September 1974: Letter to the Senate Rules Committee on the assets of vice-presidential nominee and millionaire Nelson Rockefeller