Network Bowl-a-Thon Makes a Difference In Women's Lives

So you've heard me rant about politics and women's health a lot lately.  Because there's so much to rant about!  But really, this cartoon sums it up -

Humor helps.  But if you're feeling enraged about the dialog surrounding women's health lately (you know the one that equates pap smears and birth control with mani-pedis or the one that holds panels with absolutely no women) then I have a great antidote for you!

You can stand up for women and change women's lives, all through my Bowl-a-Thon page!  You don't have to wait for Obama to change his mind about Plan B, or hope the Bishops enter the 21st century; you don't even have to scream about (oh goodness the host of things I could list here) stupid comments about using aspirin as birth control - although sometimes that's fun and cathartic.  This isn't about what politicians are and aren't willing to stand up for - it's what YOU are willing to stand up for.  Supporting my Bowl-a-Thon team with a gift means real change in women's lives.  Thanks in advance for all your support!

The Opposite of Religious Freedom

You know, I'd rather talk about rights than freedoms.  Because freedom, well, sometimes I hate Freedom.  I hate Freedom with a capital F that is used in political rhetoric.  Freedom has been taken out of context to mean a whole lot of things I don't agree with.  In this country you are free to be poor and uneducated, free to be uninsured and unfed.  But in my mind, a good education, healthcare, food and shelter - those aren't freedoms, they're human rights.  They are inalienable.  Oh and it might seem I like I don't need to mention this part, but they belong to humans.  They don't belong to corporations and they can't be voted on.

I do believe that health care is a human right.  I think taking care of people to keep them healthy is better and cheaper for our country, but it's also the moral thing to do.  Even if they can't pay for it or don't have a job who pays for it for them.  And, as crazy as it might sound to some, women's health and by extension reproductive health, are also parts of health care.  We don't want mani-pedis and ponies, we just want health care for the parts we have that You (the big patriarchal You, yea the one that held a panel on birth control access that was ALL MEN) don't have.

In the recent birth control flap, it became clear that the Bishops didn't just want an exception to birth control coverage for Catholic institutions, they wanted an exception for anyone who wanted it - like the Catholic who owns a Taco Bell or runs a bank.  And then came Sen. Blunt saying we should let ANY employer deny you coverage for ANY health care for ANY moral/religious qualm you may have, which was properly dubbed the Blunt Measure.

But you the individual, the human, the employee have a right to health care.  And that includes, this needs to be repeated, women's health and reproductive health.  It is not freedom when your employer says, you cannot have this coverage because of my religious beliefs.  That is not religious freedom; it is the opposite of that.  It is allowing others to push their religious beliefs on people who may not agree and who are held captive by their economic relationship with their employer.  Freedom with a capital F is about Freedom from your government, not freedom from you employer so that we are Free from Uncle Sam, but a slave to capitalism.

Hei La Moon: Dim Sum in Boston

Jake and I wanted to go out for dim sum and I was very skeptical.  The first time he ever took me out for dim sum I was also skeptical.  That time it was because I'd never been and I didn't know if I'd like it; this time it was because I didn't have any confidence that Boston could give us something as delicious as we had in New York.  But, I was happily proven wrong.

Hei La Moon serves up great dim sum.  It's the Chinese version of tapas, and we love us some little plates.  In typical fashion, they have the rolling carts and the bamboo baskets filled with delights like steamed rice and pork, shrimp dumplings, and pork buns.  While the cost is a mystery until you're done (waitresses mark your receipt with stamps based on the number and size of the baskets they give you) you never really have to worry about it.  We feasted for $30.  There is no better deal.

Then we walked around China Town and had delicious fried pastries filled with red bean paste and covered in sesame seeds.  Yum! I can't wait to go back!

Grammy Shakedown

I was so happy to see my girl Adele sweep the major categories and win six Grammys!  I appreciate that the Grammys are more variety concert than awards show though.  And here are my opinions on the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good
I mean, Bonnie Rait and Alicia Keyes singing Etta James and then giving an award to Adele- what a one, two, three, four punch of amazing female voices!  Bruno Mars impressed with an old school number and showed he really has moves.  Interesting duets are always a staple of the Grammys (with none perhaps more  memorable than Eminem and Elton John) and this year Rihanna and Coldplay had another interesting mix.  If there was a category in this phrase for "great" it would be Adele's performance, and in particular those first few a cappella notes.  I literally got goosebumps.  She is so amazing and her emotion and grace during her standing ovation - nothing but classy.

The Bad
Taylor Swift singing in the middle of an Amish diorama grinning like a bumpkin who never realized she was famous - not cute and not buying it.  Katy Perry is generally awesome, but she should probably stick to shooting fireworks/whipped cream out of her boobs and singing catchy pop hits and leave the more intense pop/rock ballads to Pink.  The Grammys are also a great place to learn about new talent, like The Civil Wars, who rocked an awesome folk intro.  But then there's those bands, like Bon Iver, who actually never wanted you to know about them in the first place, and accept Grammys with phrases like, this is hard to accept because I really just wanted to write music for the intrinsic rewards.  Honey, please.

The Ugly
But then, really, Chris Brown, really?  His agent must be amazing because he performed twice!  Have we all forgotten that picture of Rihanna's face?  It seems the arts community is always eager to elevate the art over the artist - I mean remember Roman Polanski?  And Brown's song had the repeating lyrics "look at me now;" it was, and truly no pun intended, a slap in the face.  There's also no category for just plain weird, but if there was I think I would put the religious/dramatic performance by Nicki Minaj here.

NNAF Cupcakes

As you all know I love cupcakes (see here, here, here, and here) and I also love my lovely co-workers so I decided to combine those two things and have a cupcake decorating get-together at my apartment.

I've been starting to collect cute cupcake papers and these colorful ones really caught my eye at Target.  So we made matching frosting and I took out all the sprinkles I have and we went nuts!

Incidentally, purple and green (okay this is sort of teal) are NNAF's colors.  What could have been more perfect?

Little tip: if you're like me and don't own a piping set, you can just fill ziplock bags with the frosting and then snip off one of the corners of the bag and voila, makeshift piping bags with adjustable size tip!

My Favorite Super Bowl Commercials

Firstly, let me say that I didn't think the array of commercials was really that great.  Did they feature a lot of celebrities? Yes.  A lot of super heroes?  Also yes.  Did they hock a lot of beer?  Of course.  I still don't understand though why 95% of the commercials seem to target men, when women make up 46% of the viewing audience.  Every commercial seemed to be about beer, trucks, and action movies.  And then there are those awful Go Daddy commercials.  But, some gems prevailed with genuine humor over sleazy marketing, and these were my favorites:

M&Ms are sexy and they know it...

Matthew Broderick relives the glory days...

Chevy shows a sense of humor...

Madonna Rocks the Super Bowl Halftime Show

Lada Gaga, move over!  Madonna is unstoppable as the original wild child of pop music.  Katy Perry, Britney Spears, do you think any of them will be performing over 50?  Doubtful.  She manages to stay so current, but so iconic. 

The spectacle itself was of a similar magnitude to the Chinese Olympics opening ceremony.  She had an entire army of Roman soldiers, a cheerleading squad, and a full gospel choir.  She managed to do a montage of her greatest hits from decades ago and incorporate current artists like MIA, Nicki Minaj, LMFAO, and Cee Lo (in sequin preacher robes!) showing that Madonna still knows how to have a good time. 

And then to end the whole thing with no nip-slip and world peace?  Genius. 

Healthy Super Bowl Snacks

Aside from Thanksgiving, the Super Bowl may be the 'holiday' that revolves most around food: the chicken wings, the pizza, the guacamole, the chips.  And I didn't want to miss out on those things.  So I fiddled a little with a few classics - chili, Tex-Mex layer dip, and nachos - to make healthier versions. 

The dip was by far the tastiest.  It's just a layer of fat free cream cheese, a layer of re-fried beans, a layer of diced tomatoes with chopped green chilies, jalapenos, and red onion, a layer of fat free cheddar cheese, a layer of chopped artichokes, and a layer of guacamole.  I ate it with Special K crackers instead of tortilla chips, but anyone eating it with chips would never know that this was a healthy dish. 

For the nachos I had to use tortilla chips because otherwise it wouldn't be nachos!  But I topped them with two slices of reduced fat cheddar, a jalapeno slice, salsa, and a little dollop of fat free sour cream and fat free re-fried beans. 

 

As the main course, I made turkey and vegetable chili.  I just brown lean ground turkey and then add  two cans of red beans and every veggie I can imagine: onions, peppers, carrots, celery, zucchini, broccoli, diced tomatoes, corn, and mushrooms.  It ends up being mostly vegetables, but there's enough meat and spice to make it feel like a really hearty chili.  The best part is, I now have lunch for the rest of the week!

Komen v. Planned Parenthood - WE WIN!

We won! We won! We won!  Sometimes I feel like we never win, but when Susan G. Komen announced they were reversing their decision to de-fund Planned Parenthood I felt like doing a victory dance.  A lot of times it feels like conservative forces are way better at raising money, writing letters, and getting their voices heard.  They seem like a better organized, more homogeneous group and us liberals with our big tent just never seem to shout with the same voice (hello Occupy!).  But thank you social media, because boy did we SHOUT!  We took over the internet shouting!

We did it with humor like in this cartoon, or in this Colbert clip.  We did it with our electronic signatures when 250,000 signed the MoveOn.org petition.  We did it with our wallets when Planned Parenthood raised $400,000 in 24 hours following the announcement.  Have I mentioned, WE DID IT!

Despite the not intended to be factual statements you may have heard from Sen. Kyl, Planned Parenthood is a full-service, affordable, accessible reproductive health organization.  I was saddened by Komen's decision to be single minded and political in its ideological pursuit rather than putting women first.  (If you're having doubts about the motives of this move, check out this screen shot of what Komen VP Karen Handel re-tweeted during the debacle).  

Komen should be about women's health and about providing women with access to the best health care possible.  And for many women (1 out of every 5 women actually) that means using Planned Parenthood for health care.  To read some of these women's stories, visit this wonderful Tumblr.  And remember, sometimes the good guys do win.  

Sisterhood of the Traveling Hot Dog Casserole

Recently my friend Kristen sent me a recipe for a chili cheese dog casserole.  At first I thought it wouldn't fit in with my new healthier eating (22 pounds lost and counting!) but after looking at it I saw that I could make a few tweaks.  The original recipe was:

Ingredients:
1 package (8-1/2 ounces) corn bread/muffin mix
1 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 package (1 pound) hot dogs, halved lengthwise and cut into bite-size pieces
1 can (15 ounces) chili with beans
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese, divided

Prepare the corn bread as instructed on the box and spread half onto the bottom of a greased 8 inch casserole dish.  Soften onion, celery, and green pepper in a saute pan.  Add the hot dog pieces until browned.  Combine with chili and 3/4 cup of cheese and spoon over cornbread layer. Top with remaining cornbread and cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 28-32 minutes.  

I substituted 97% fat free hot dogs, fat free cheddar cheese, and homemade turkey and vegetable chili and eliminated the sugar and oil.  And it was still delicious.  The soft sweetness of the cornbread with the salty, rich goodness of hot dogs and chili make for a comforting combination.  It's really more like a chili cheese corn dog casserole, and if there's one thing I love, it's corn dogs.  


I'm not the only one to make this recipe.  Kristen made a healthy version too using low-fat canned chili and turkey dogs, which makes sense given her blog on health issues.  And Pam (who also has a blog you can read here) made the regular version, which suits her love of hot dogs.  Shared by three friends, this casserole dish full of tasty Americana is worth a shot in your kitchen too.