If, on your journey, you should encounter Veggie-Tales God... Veggie-Tales God will be peeled.

While I may not see my dream of acquiring a solid mag-block of Japanese steel knives fulfilled for a few years, using a protective rubber glove and this thing was shockingly effective today.   20 minutes saw 10lbs of medium-sized Russets go from washed to flawless-white & quartered.

I’ve tried to maintain a decent number of foodblogs since I cut back on the delicious RSS firehose that is Tastespotting, but I only have one that makes me laugh on a reliable basis. This Is Why You’re Fat is something I came upon while investigating the McGangbang phenomena and stayed for more.
Presenting:
Eggs Benedict Poutine

French fries, brown gravy and cheese curds topped with a poached egg, bacon, Hollandaise sauce

Neopolitan mini-cupcake set with wafer cookies and strawberry marshmallows dipped in white chocolate dipped in chocolate cookie crumbs

A wheel of brie stuffed with chocolate and baked in a puff pastry

The Rubix Cubewich

Cubes of pastrami, kielbasa, salt pork, salami, and two types of cheddar between flattened toast

While on the topic, I am stunned to see that the Gourmet Project has survived Gourmet Magazine – but one does reach a point in photography when it’s clear that their absolutely epic cover shots are within an amateur’s grasp with a little lighting, a $400 DSLR, and a fast 50mm prime. I just bounced my first flash for some family Thanksgiving shots on my aged Powershot S3 IS… and wow, it worked well. Since I used a spoon, it was useful for pumpkin pie afterwards. I see camera gear on my Christmas list.

Favorite food of the moment:
O’Tasty BBQ Pork Bao with Oyster Sauce

The least popular president in history with a 20% approval rating, Bush isn’t wasting any time being a ‘lame duck’, preferring to get past the breed’s legendary inability to get Congress to comply with their wishes by enacting his corrupt policy by unilateral fiat, even where it explicitly breaks the law.  I can’t say that there’s any change there.  I wonder if impeachment will still be off the table after the election?

Update: Looks like it.
However, Bush may have less leverage than expected:

It could take Obama years to undo climate rules finalized more than 60 days before he takes office — the advantage the White House sought by getting them done by Nov. 1. But that strategy doesn’t account for the Congressional Review Act of 1996.

The law contains a clause determining that any regulation finalized within 60 legislative days of congressional adjournment is considered to have been legally finalized on the 15th legislative day of the new Congress, likely sometime in February. Congress then has 60 days to review it and reverse it with a joint resolution that can’t be filibustered in the Senate.

In other words, any regulation finalized in the last half-year of the Bush administration could be wiped out with a simple party-line vote in the Democrat-controlled Congress.

The Agitator evaluates the desperately-trying-to-sound-relevant Office of National Drug Control Policy’s contention that the only potential job that someone who indulges in marijuana is qualified for is “burrito taster,” and begins to compile a list of the successful, famous, self-admitted pot smokers in public life:

• Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger
• astronomer Carl Sagan
• mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg
• billionaire rock star/songwriter Paul McCartney
• Barack Obama, president-elect
• Bill Clinton, 42nd president of the U.S
• John Kerry, U.S. Senator and 2004 Democratic nominee for president
• John Edwards, multi-millionaire, former U.S. Senator, and 2004 Democratic nominee for vice president
• Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, 2008 Republican nominee for vice president
• British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, and and Chancellor Alistair Darling
• Josh Howard, NBA all-star
• New York Governor David Paterson
• Former Vice President, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Oscar winner Al Gore
• Former Sen. Bill Bradley, who smoked while playing professional basketball
• Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and former New York Governor George Pataki