Keeping You Honest

On Jan 18th, it seemed like all the internet was suddenly aware and suddenly pissed off about a couple of bills. One of them was first introduced in October of 2011 and the other May of 2012. These two bills were SOPA and PIPA.

These two bills, one in the House and the other in the Senate, had been quietly gathering support and co-sponsors for quite some time.

Even though the two bills have been effectively killed, it is premature to declare victory on this matter, as much of the internet seems to be doing.

I think it would be a good idea to keep pressure on the Senators and Representatives that support the bill, as well as to put pressure on and keep pressure on the companies that have supported this bill.

While looking around, I did find an extensive list of companies who support these measures. Some of the companies listed were surprising, though it also had the usual suspects.

So, while this is certainly good news, and cause for celebration, let’s not stop fighting just yet.

This article is both my first article on food (at least since the redesign) and also will be detailing my first attempt at cooking with ox tails.

For this recipe, I first looked at a number of different stew and soup recipes, but didn’t see any that really jumped out at me. They all provided an inspiration of sorts for me to create my own.

First, I started off with a package, about 2 pounds worth, of beef ox tails.

Raw, but rinsed beef ox tails

They don’t look too appetizing right now, right?

But it’s OK, they look a lot better once they were browned and cooked and such.

Many recipes I looked at called for the ox tails to be dredged in flour prior to browning them. I did not do this this time, but I think I may try that next time I make such a dish.

After I had the ox tails ready, I poured some olive oil into a skillet and got it nice and hot, then added the meat in to brown.

One word of advice, it is always a good idea to pat dray any meat you have rinsed before you put it into hot oil. The water droplets will cause it to pop and sizzle quite a bit. And asides from the potential burns from the flying hot oil, it makes more of a mess,and clean up sucks as it is without making it worse.

Though this photo isn’t as clear, these tails have been mostly browned, and look a lot closer to edible. But there is still a long way to go before this dish is ready.

While I was browning the tails, I put a big stock pot on and filled it with fresh, clean cold water, then added in some bay leaves, onions, celery and carrots. In this instance, since I was just making the initial stock, I used the pieces of the celery that I would normally discard, however, the onion and carrots were parts I would normally use, since I did not have any of the “scraps” readily available.

I also added salt and pepper, parsley, a little cumin, some beef stock from a roast I had cooked previously, and some hyssop with garlic – my own little secret ingredient. Once the tails were fully browned, I added them to the stock pot and set it to high, then covered it and let it cook.

I did have to remove some of the liquid, as it was threatening to boil over on me, but I used that stock to cook some ramen.

This I let cook on high for a few hours, then turned it down to simmer for several more hours. My stock pot has a strainer built in, makes doings things like this, or cooking pasta very easy, as I just have to lift out the inner basket to strain it out.

During the time this was cooking, I was watching movies and exploring Google+, but how you spend it is up to you.

This time could also be well spent with a good cigar or a nice pipe.

For the final phase, I moved the tails into a slow cooker, then ladled the stock over it. I then added some large chunks of onion, celery and carrots, and a little more salt & pepper. I set this to low, and went to bed. It was, a little after midnight at this point.

In the morning, I set it down to low, put one of the larger joints into a bowl, then spooned some of the veggies and broth over it.

This is what I wound up having for breakfast. The broth was very, very rich. I have two batches of the broth saved back, as well as some of the ox tails and veggies. I think next time, I will want to add some potatoes, a little flour to thicken it, and also some tomatoes, to make it into a thicker, hearty stew.

But I am pleased with this effort and look forward to experimenting again in the near future.

There is a lot of talk about change. Usually those who talk about it the loudest are the members of the party currently NOT in power. But, as a regular every day citizen what can you do to effect change? Well, I am glad you asked.

The first thing you need to do is understand what the current state of things are. This is accomplished by a number of different methods – talking to friends and family (take this with a grain of salt, their views may be biased or not accurate), researching the law on whatever issue you are interested in. Check local, state and federal laws for a full picture, as well as any applicable regulations. I will detail some ways of finding this information shortly.

Once you have an idea of the current state of things, the next step is to get set up to monitor proposed changes. There are several tools available for doing this, such as frequent visits to (or joining) the site Open Congress, an excellent source for reading existing and proposed laws. Joining an national activist group, such as the National  Rifle Association (NRA) or the Cigar Rights of America (CRA), professional organizations such as the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) or the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) or even local or regional groups such as the local PTA. Many of these groups will have a newsletter of some sort and will send out notices regarding proposed laws that will affect their members.

Finally, take action. Be polite, but be firm and be consistent. Email and write to your representatives, talk to your friends, family and neighbors. Get your community involved. Don’t get discouraged, and don’t give up, even if you lose some battles or don’t see the changes you want. Learn from your efforts, and keep trying. Real change is possible.

One last word of advice. If you don’t make time, you won’t have time.