Slog

1 pound chicken livers
2/3 cup thinly sliced onions
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed (1/2 teaspoon)
2 bay leaves, crushed
1/4-teaspoon thyme leaves
1 cup water
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened
Freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons Cognac or Scotch whisky
A piece of tomato skin and green of scallion for decoration (optional)
1 envelope unflavored gelatin for aspic (optional)

Place the livers, onions, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, water, and 1-teaspoon salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook at a bare simmer for 7 to 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes.

Take out the solids with a slotted spoon and place them in the bowl of a food processor with metal blade. (Reserve and strain the liquid to make the aspic.) Start processing the liver, adding the butter piece by piece. Finally, add the second teaspoon salt, the pepper, and Cognac or whisky and process for 2 more minutes so that the mixture is very creamy and completely smooth. If the mixture looks broken down, with visible fat, let it cool in the refrigerator for about 1 hour to harden the butter, then process again until the mixture is creamy and smooth.

Pour into a mold. Decorate or refrigerate to set and serve as is.

Russian Cabbage Soup

1 tsp sunflower oil (I used olive oil as it's healthier)
1lb bone-in stew meat (I used beef)
1 clove minced garlic
3 cups chopped cabbage
4 cups beef stock
4 cups water
12 oz sauerkraut
12 oz jar of stewed tomatoes
2 bay leaves
6 peppercorns
2 medium sized potatoes, diced
Salt/pepper for seasoning

In a large stockpot, heat the oil and when ready, sear the meat until nicely browned. Remove from the pot and set aside.

Lower the heat to low and saute the garlic for a minute and then add the cabbage. Cook the cabbage, stirring frequently, until slightly wilted.

Add the stock and the water and then everything else, but potatoes. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 2 hours. Skim the fat and season with salt and pepper. Add the potatoes and cook for another 20 minutes.

Comments (41) RSS

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The retardation started early in Puget Sound as some Polish guy who drives around a 1970s El Camino, let it warm up just as I was trapped in my 1988 mazda 626 which takes about 45 minutes for the heat to get warm enough to defog the windshield.

The guy parades his car around like it's a classic...but it's actually just and old car with the majority of the bright yellow paint still ok -- it's more an argument for salting the roads than for V-8 power.

This thing is tuned for maximal toxicity and I was enshrouded in chemicals that only those from the pre-catalytic converter days can remember.

Posted by From The Hill on December 30, 2008 at 8:32 AM

Robert L. Jamieson, anyone whose car goes into a wild spin because slush was splashed on the windshield should not be driving under any conditions.

Posted by elenchos on December 30, 2008 at 8:39 AM

It is time for Seattle to takes it's money from Metro and have it's own transit agency. Seattle money to pay for Seattle Transit!

Posted by Seattle Transit System on December 30, 2008 at 8:41 AM

You are a fucking idiot. You continue to talk about the recent snow and the City's complete lack of action as though it didn't pose serious safety risks for Seattle's citizens. Yes, it would have been wonderful if everyone could have chilled out at home and relaxed, but that's just not based in reality. Several elderly people on my block were barely able to leave their houses for over a week, let alone get to a grocery store or pharmacy. The response that you continue to defend in post after post was a serious threat to many in our community. I'm sure any of of the thousands of people who were stranded - or even worse the people who had to brave the icy death-wish known as "Metro" - would applaud the common sense approach of BUYING MORE FUCKING PLOWS. If you're going to comment on city policy, you need to think outside of your bubble.

Posted by Jaime on December 30, 2008 at 8:45 AM

ECB give Chicken Little can of Rize, Chicken Little drink Rize, freak out, pate out, CHICKEN LITTLE BECOME CHICKEN LIVER PATE!

CHICKEN LIVER PATE ON RITZ CRACKER WILL MAKE A LOVELY APPETIZER FOR YOUR NEXT SOCIAL GATHERING!

And no, I don't feel like letting it go.

Posted by The Incredible Sulk on December 30, 2008 at 8:50 AM

how is garbage and recycling not being picked up better than salting roads?

Posted by Oscar the Grouch on December 30, 2008 at 8:50 AM

I have to agree with Jaime at #4. The city failed and Erica, Robert Mak already took the job as the City of Seattle Brown Noser!

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger on December 30, 2008 at 8:51 AM

This will all be forgotten about by, oh, mid-February.

Posted by laterite on December 30, 2008 at 8:53 AM

You don't want salt, you don't want plows. Taking a few snow days isn't an option for a lot of people. You've got to compromise somewhere.

Posted by Jen on December 30, 2008 at 9:00 AM

snow is just like an earthquake. make a note of it.

Posted by infrequent on December 30, 2008 at 9:02 AM

Except after an earthquake, the roads don't magically go back to normal. Also half the city burns down.

Posted by Greg on December 30, 2008 at 9:06 AM

@8 This will all be forgotten by next Wed.

More important than plows*, is to make sure the "Pothole Levy" money is used to fill all the new holes. Nickels still intends to divert most of that money into the Paul Allen Dream Boulevard, formerly known as Mercer Avenue.

* Really, we have 5 or so years (and an economic recovery) before the next gigantic storm to save up for those.

Posted by mareada on December 30, 2008 at 9:10 AM

that cabbage soup looks off the hook.

Posted by SeMe on December 30, 2008 at 9:12 AM

ECB - way to implicate yourself in the horrible torture of animals to make your pate, you yuppie bitch.

Posted by ECB = YUPPIE BITCH on December 30, 2008 at 9:21 AM

Kery Murakami should stop waxing nostalgic about the Deluxe on Broadway. That place sucks. Nice people, sure, but the food? Mediocre. Same can be said about too many other Broadway establishments.

Columbia City's restaurants, on the other hand, ROCK. Sicilian, Ethiopian, American - you name it, that neighborhood's got some of the best food in town.

Posted by dc.al.coda on December 30, 2008 at 9:22 AM

Doesn't the city get a lot of its revenue from sales tax? And didn't having completely impassable streets make a negative impact on sales? The lost revenue is exactly what snow plows are worth.

Even if we do get more plows, Jaime @4, should such a snowstorm happen again private citizens, i.e. you and me, would be well-served to look in on our elderly and infirm neighbors and offer to help them. Bad weather and natural disasters are good times to know your neighbors. There's a reason why Alaska has laws requiring people to stop and help stranded motorists -- if conditions are bad enough then waiting for the proper authorities to come along is a death sentence.

Having lived in a city with a full fleet of snowplows (and winters full of snow) I can attest that even there the residential streets get done last and can stay unplowed for weeks if the snow keeps falling.

Posted by flamingbanjo on December 30, 2008 at 9:22 AM

flamingbanjo, why are you shunning the government intervention in facilitating health and commerce. why leave it to personal responsibility and generocity in this regard and not others?

Posted by neoliberal snow on December 30, 2008 at 9:35 AM

@14 - Pate is not foie gras. It's just whipped livers. Nice of you to get all righteous about something you don't understand though.

Posted by liver ≠ torture on December 30, 2008 at 9:39 AM

A deal for conservatives: You don't let any more Bush's run for office, and we won't let any more Kennedy's run for office. That seems fair, no?

Posted by Mahtli69 on December 30, 2008 at 9:39 AM

If you care about elderly/disabled citizens, why not more social workers instead of more snowplows? They would be cheaper, more effective, and helpful 365 days a year instead of one week every 5-10 years. More snowplows would be nice of course, but we have much more important priorities right now, especially with state general assistance and other important social services about to be cut completely and a huge deluge of un/under-employed homeless people about to flood the streets.

Snowplows will help you get to work on time -- even though, at Jamieson said, Portland has twice as many snowplows as us and still has its fair share of problems. Snowplows won't stop people from freezing to death, though.

Posted by snowplows are not a top priority on December 30, 2008 at 9:41 AM

Seattle gets more in transit than it pays out in transit taxes. People in remote areas pay the same and get less service. Sure, it's their choice to live in the middle of nowhere, but having a Seattle-only bus system would mean less service and/or higher costs for Seattle residents.

Posted by Seattleite on December 30, 2008 at 9:44 AM

Slow day. What, are you guys trying to publish a paper or something?

Posted by Greg on December 30, 2008 at 9:44 AM

@Flamingbanjo #16 - Uh, yeah. How do you think I found out that people couldn't get to where they needed to go? I checked in on them. Duh. Isn't that just basic human decency?

Posted by Jaime on December 30, 2008 at 9:46 AM

"Seattleite" lives in Mapple Valley

Posted by Reality Check on December 30, 2008 at 9:47 AM

@20 - How are social workers supposed to get to work without snow plows or at least a minimally functioning public transit system?

Posted by Jaime on December 30, 2008 at 9:48 AM

Oh - and Jamieson, the hack, says "...a caller phoned the paper last week to say side streets close to the mayor's West Seattle home were looking good." I live in the Admiral district. Admiral Way was plowed and sanded, but the side streets - including the mayor's - were not.

Posted by Seattleite on December 30, 2008 at 9:48 AM

@20, how are social workers going to get around? My girlfriend's mom couldn't make site visits for foster children because the roads were so bad. At the end of the day facilitating transportation allows social services to be distributed.

On the other hand, buying plows and salting for a once a decade event doesn't make much sense in the face of all the other problems at are doorstep

Posted by Social Workers can' on December 30, 2008 at 9:50 AM

Hamas: dedicated to elimination of Israel

a/k/a in it for the long haul.

(Shhhhhs, only headlines focusing on Israel as instigating things are allowed; Hamas is not an actor in history, it is an object, not to be viewed as accountable for its aims, nor its conduct in sending thousands of rockets, nor its breaking the ceasefire and bringing all this on).

Posted by PC on December 30, 2008 at 9:52 AM

I'm so bored. When will Slog entertain me?

Posted by c to the andice on December 30, 2008 at 10:15 AM

Republicans are equally mystified as to why anyone would be offended by "Barney Frank the Magic Faggot."

Posted by Original Andrew on December 30, 2008 at 10:16 AM

Can anyone actually smell garbage?

Posted by w7ngman on December 30, 2008 at 10:25 AM

@27/etc, my point is that social services can't be distributed if there are none. There are budget cuts to every state/county/local social service program and many of them are being eliminated altogether. I don't know about the foster care system, but there was a skeleton crew of other social workers making emergency home visits during the ice and snow.

More snowplows could assist poor/elderly/sick/disabled people during the one snowy week every 5 years, but for less cost we should provide social workers/social services for the other 259 weeks during that time. This week the snowplows are (probably) back in their sheds, but social service agencies are back to planning who to layoff and what services to cut with the new state/county budgets. For some of them, the answers on who/what to cut are too easy -- everyone and everything.

Posted by snowplows are not a top priority on December 30, 2008 at 10:29 AM

@32, my wife administrates a social program in Seattle (chronically addicted/ill homeless related) and her program is not underfunded nor is it getting cut -- as a matter of fact, she was just able this week to get a new program off the ground, thanks to a grant coming through for the coming year. All of her program's year end work has been happening over the last two weeks, and none of that was made any easier by the horrible condition of the roads and lack of buses, that kept her staff and contacts from manning their Seattle offices at various times over the last couple of weeks.

Posted by sometimes snowplows are a priority on December 30, 2008 at 11:10 AM

No modern American city can possibly be expected to have more than one job or duty at a time, right?

Posted by Fnarf on December 30, 2008 at 11:15 AM

@3 for the win.

An easier method would be for Seattle to secede from King County and form Sealth County as a giant finger to former Sen. Slade Gorton.

Then we could laugh at the idiots who live outside our county.

To be inclusive, though, we should annex Mercer Island after a naval bombardment removes all America-hating Socialist Republicans there ...

Posted by Will in Seattle on December 30, 2008 at 11:44 AM

@33, I should have been more specific... there are many many many social services programs in Seattle/King County that get funding from a variety of sources, but the people these programs serve are getting cuts. There are hardly any very low income people in social service programs who aren't on GAU/health benefits or use day treatment centers that are getting eliminated entirely or face massive cuts once the state/county budgets take effect. So yes, some programs aren't being cut right now, but most are, and the people who need help the most are facing the largest cuts.

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…

Posted by snowplows are not a top priority on December 30, 2008 at 11:58 AM

It would seem that next to no one on this blog gives a shit about Gaza.

Posted by wf on December 30, 2008 at 12:53 PM

Not really, wf.

But then, it's half a world away.

Posted by Will in Seattle on December 30, 2008 at 2:01 PM

No one anywhere ever has ever given a shit about Gaza. That's part of the problem.

Posted by Fnarf on December 30, 2008 at 2:35 PM

@39 Least of all you FNARF.

Posted by wf on December 30, 2008 at 4:05 PM

No, wf, Fnarf is right. It's just a strip of beach they forced some of the Palestinians on, and wouldn't let them embark from, and really shouldn't even exist.

Posted by Will in Seattle on December 30, 2008 at 4:24 PM