Effective Interrogation

People make all kinds of arguments regarding interrogation and torture. Americans can all agree that a major goal is to protect the United States, but many people also consider other issues, such as human rights and the effect that our actions have on our relationships with other countries. However, we can eliminate every single other issue and only consider the goal of protecting America's interests, and the answer is still that we should not torture suspects.

Torture is not effective. Interrogation experts insist that the way to get information out of a suspect is to pretend to be their friend. Here is a wonderful example of this truth:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1901491,00.html#

So why is it so hard to put our personal feelings aside and do what's right for America?

Marinara Sauce

Use sea salt to grind oregano and basil in your hands. Add to sauce. Repeat every 10-15 minutes.

Sandwiches

My mom is not a fan of your typical sandwich. She feels that the ratios of price to nutrition and price to fullness are too high. But Erinne and I do not make typical sandwiches.

In the past I have made a number of large sandwiches with many ingredients. If I recall correctly, during grad school I earned a small reputation for this. But it was always so difficult to pile everything on without the sandwich falling apart.

I recently realized that there is one ingredient in the sandwich that does not really need to be there. An ingredient that wastes space and does not provide as much flavor as everything else.

Last week we went on a picnic with some friends. Everyone brought their own sandwiches. The vegetarians brought some sandwiches that looked very delicious. Last night I went to the grocery store to pick up some deli meat to make lunch to take to work. Nothing was on sale, and nothing looked particularly delicious. And then I realized that the meat is totally unnecessary!

Here are things we like on our sandwiches:

• Cream cheese
• Avocado (Philip only)
  
• Sprouts (alfalfa, bean)
• Nuts (pecans, walnuts)
• Marinated and grilled mushrooms
• Grilled red onion
• Peppers
• Eggplant (Erinne only)
• Spinach

Your typical lettuce is worthless on a sandwich. It takes up too much space and does not provide flavor. Darker, leafier greens are better, such as spinach or radish leaves.

We buy bread that is high in protein, and along with the cream cheese and nuts, this gives us as much protein as we would get from a meat sandwich. Plus we get lots of other nutrition that you would not get in a plain sandwich.

Russian Pancakes

This is all you need to know make some deliciousness:

• 1 egg, 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk.
• Use a large, shallow, greased skilet.
• Tilt the skillet to spread the batter around and keep it thin.
• Top it with every wonderful thing you can find
  

Tonight we topped our pancakes with strawberries, bananas, pecans, and maple and agave syrup. It was basically the best thing ever.

We have a 2.5-hour birthing class on Monday nights. We take the bus back halfway and walk or take the train the rest of the way, so we don't get home until around 9:30. On the bus ride home, we spent a while thinking about what we would like for dinner (basically trying to remember all the recipes we knew but hadn't made in a long time), when I remembered these so-called "russian pancakes" from More-With-Less. Stopped on the way home to grab some toppings, and by 10:00 we were stuffed and happy. Ada must have liked it, too, because she is doing jumping jacks.