Open Thread

baking requires patience and buttercream a cup of gin for fortitude.

hiya dona

Pie dough isn’t that hard once you learn the tricks of it. Cold butter/fat, cold water, chill it after you mix it, and once again after you shape it in the pan. But you do have to measure well, and not over mix/handle it.

Of course, there are ‘arguments’ as to which types of fat to use. I use 1/2 butter, 1/2 veg, shortening. Some use all butter or lard!

“Switzerland froze $3.6B of assets so Mubarak couldn’t appropriate them. I assume he had signing power over the account.”

In the 1950s the King of Iraq was killed in a violent revolution. The queen fled to New York where she proceeded to live off of NY bank account assets that had been set up before the revolution. The revolutionary government sued, claiming that the assets belonged to the sovereign nation of Iraq. In the case of Republic of Iraq vs. First National Bank of New York, decided by the famous judge Learned Hand, the court, interpreting a doctrine of international law known as the act of state doctrine, held that the lady could keep her money. My grandfather litigated that case on her behalf (technically, on behalf of the bank). I have a very nice painting she made of the Baghdad copper market. It broke her heart that she never could return to Iraq. She loved the country and its people.

jester, pie is about the easiest thing to bake. Just follow the recipe on the back of the crisco can. Once you’ve mastered the mechanics, graduate to using lard!!!!!!