Friday Round Up

I have decided to call my Friday ramblings the "Friday Round Up" as opposed to the Friday Wrap Up. Round up seems to describe this link gathering better than wrap up.

The United for Peace and Justice March takes place this weekend in Washington, DC. For more information including schedules, etc., visit DC Metro Action. One of my favorite sites.

The Howard Association is a benevolent association whose home is in Norfolk, VA. This association was formed druing the 1855 Yellow Fever epidemic. 1 in 3 Norfolk and Portsmourth, VA residents were killed during this epidemic. People sent in contributions to set up a hospital, orphanage and to help lay the dead to rest. Gulf Coast and Atlantic coastal communities ponyed up supplies and medical personnel as well.

In the 150 years since the Yellow Fever Epidemic the money has continually been used for medical relief.

The Howard Association was merged with the Norfolk Association in 1986. Now here comes the very cool part of the story. When Hurricane Ophelia was approaching (this was around September 14, 2005) the Association sent a check for $50,000 to the Greater Baton Rouge Area Foundation. A Virginia newspaper story noted that this was in a symbolic way a partial repayment of a 150 year old debt to the Gulf States.

I can remember when I first learned to make a bechamel sauce. Now I was never overly thrilled with making sauces, all that infernal stirring was just too boring. I could be curled up somewhere reading the latest Nancy Drew instead of stirring some sauce. Bechamel was different though. I knew if I learned how to make a bechamel sauce then I could make my mothers fabulous recipe for macaroni and cheese. To this day I still make a bechamel sauce as the base for mac and cheese. For the milk component I've used cream, whole milk, skim milk, but they still can't compare with making it from milk that comes from a cow that you know personally.

I came upon deep fried macaroni and cheese the other day and boy did it set my mouth to watering. I can feel my arteries clogging just looking at the picture.

If you ever come to my home to visit you will eat a lot, laugh a lot and generally have a good time. However, upon entering my home you will be asked to either remove your shoes or to don a pair of paper booties. You know, the kind that are worn in operating rooms, by hazmat teams, etc. The reason for this is twofold. I don't know what you have been traipsing through all day, and you probably don't know what you have been traipsing through either. I don't want my home dirtied, and as an asthmatic I don't want to breathe all sorts of foreign matter from the outside. Perhaps I should invest in this.

And speaking of clean floors the folks from iRobot have done it again. I think everyone has seen or heard of Roomba. You know the cute, gliding,Frisbie-shaped vacuum cleaner. Well now there is Scooba. Scooba preps, washes, scrubs and dries your floor.

Have a wacky weekend.