Tuesday, November 04, 2008

election night



1980. Josh Stanley and family move to St. George. He's in second grade. His flag football coach arrives at practice to find the entire team beating up Josh because he said he wanted Jimmy Carter to win the election.

Fast forward a few decades, Jonah (2nd grade) wears an Obama pin to school. His report:

"I didn't get beat up, but some kid pushed me down."
Me: "Was it because of your pin?"
"I don't know, he said he likes McCain, but we are friends so it's ok."

"Some kid told me Obama hates religion. Another kid said McCain thinks more like us."

"Somebody said, 'Obama wants to take money from the rich and give to the poor.' and I said, 'Like Robin Hood?"

We had a mock election around the dinner table. Final count: Obama 3, Nader 1, Undecided 1. We all voted for Steve Urquhart.

We also ate U.S.Senate Bean Soup (recipe from Joy of Cooking).
This soup has been on the U.S. Senate restaurant menu since 1901.
makes about 6 cups
Pick over, rinse and soak (bring beans and water to a boil, turn off heat and let sit for 1 hour OR put beans and water in a pot and let sit overnight.)
1 1/4 cups small dried white beans

Drain and place in a soup pot along with:
7 cups cold water
1 small ham hock

Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until the beans are tender, about 1 1/4 hours. Remove the ham hock. Discard the bone, skin, and fat; dice the meat. Return it to the pot along with:
1 large onion, diced
3 medium celery stalks with leaves, chopped
1 large potato, peeled and finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ground pepper

Simmer until the potatoes are quite soft, 20-30 minutes. Remove from the heat and mash with a potato masher until the soup is a bit creamy. Stir in:
2 T. chopped fresh parsley
Ladle into warm bowls. (Even better the second day.)

6 comments:

daisy said...

Yes, Parly said that kids in her class made fun of her because she voted for Obama.

Salem said...

who voted for Nader?

Erin said...

that would be colin. his name sounds like darth vader.

Mandy Wollenzien said...

Well if some little kid would have came to school in my class wearing a McCain pin they would have been pushed around. So coo-does (sp?) to the kid who dares to stand up to the crowd. In fact This monday Was wear your obama T-shirt to school day. Yes is was me the only white teacher in the school who didn't wear one. I'm glad I didn't get pushed around.

Elizabeth said...

Funny that Matt and Colin have so much in common - Matt voted for Obama because it most sounds like "your momma" :)

Elder and Sister McEvoy said...

Well with all that accompanied the election, at least you had a winning dinner! Guess what Mac sounds like?

Grandpa Mac