11:37 p.m.

Hey guess what America?

I just saw a raccoon and it's baby just wheel up on the porch to sneak a little birdseed in the middle of 30 m.p.h. gusts of wind and sheeting, non-stop rain.

You ain't got no problems baby. Got it?

For the people that are really in trouble, this is for you:

Hurricane Toasts.

Versatile

Some of you may or may not know that I cooked professionally for a decade and these days I'm as far away from that period of life as I could possibly be in both choice and circumstance.

Some days I really miss the creativity of it and the camaraderie of a kitchen brigade, but in reflection, cooking is not the glamorous lifestyle, nor as rewarding as it is portrayed on the Food Network. It is a lot of long, stressful, sweaty hours broken by moments of brevity, brotherhood and twisted humor. Just ask the green cook who gets sent down to the next restaurant to borrow "powdered water." Or the guy that burns his fingers after watching you pull some floating food out of the deep fryer with your bare fingers (he didn't see you stab your fingers in the cold butter first for a protective sheet of fat).

Anyway, sometimes I feel the spirit and try to keep my chops sharp and below is an example:

This is poached egg over sautéed spinach, mushroom, tomatoes and bacon with farm cheddar and black pepper grits. A fine country breakfast and this is one of the 100 ways you can use an egg in cooking. One way for each pleat in a chef's toque.

I don't know, just thought I'd share. It's raining from Slowicane Dolomite and I'm bored.

Maybe I'll cook something.

Slowicane

Well, Hurricane Issac sure ain't no Dolomite. Yes, you'll have to dig deep to understand that reference.

I pray for the people in the low lands south of here. I've read that the parishes in southern Louisiana have received over a foot of rain. That is a lot of rain for a place that is virtually underwater on a normal day.





Here in central Mississippi at least we have hills and anyway, we have beer and ice and won't be working tomorrow and well, hell yeah!

Nothing much to report here. I'm making chicken stock, does that qualify as news?

Spiraling

The first band shaped clouds are rolling in......

And the press is busy scaring the living hell out of everyone......






And the authorities claim preparedness......






Me?






Well, I'm just praying for a day or two away from the responsibilities of work. I have plans of another kind......

Ché Boluda

Doesn't this sound like someone we know?

The international bond market has shunned Argentina since its 2002 sovereign debt default and subsequent embrace of policies that emphasize state intervention in the markets and heavy government spending meant to stoke economic growth.

Are you sure this doesn't remind you of someone?

Annual inflation, clocked by private analysts at over 20 percent, was another worry voiced in the survey. The government fines economists who publish their inflation estimates, which tend to double or triple the official figures.

Punishing your enemies for calling out your own incompetence?

Intervening in matters of private capitalism?

Geez, you'd almost think this sounds just like Barack Obama.

And you'd be exactly right.

Awesome!

I've been waiting for a video like this. Surely the global warming video's are next. But this is just GOLD! GOLD I TELLS YA!!!

Rudy destroys Biden over "Y'all"

Oh dear God I love this man... Could you imagine a Rudy/Christie campaign? Delicious!