freckles make me strong.

One point I want to make is that all of us are going to have responsibilities to get this economy moving again. And when I saw an article today indicating that Wall Street bankers had given themselves $20 billion worth of bonuses – the same amount of bonuses as they gave themselves in 2004 – at a time when most of these institutions were teetering on collapse and they are asking for taxpayers to help sustain them, and when taxpayers find themselves in the difficult position that if they don’t provide help that the entire system could come down on top of our heads – that is the height of irresponsibility. It is shameful.

And part of what we’re going to need is for folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint and show some discipline and show some sense of responsibility. The American people understand that we’ve got a big hole that we’ve got to dig ourselves out of – but they don’t like the idea that people are digging a bigger hole even as they’re being asked to fill it up.

And so we’re going to be having conversations as this process moves forward directly with these folks on Wall Street to underscore that they have to start acting in a more responsible fashion if we are to together get this economy rolling again. There will be time for them to make profits, and there will be time for them to get bonuses – now is not that time. And that’s a message that I intend to send directly to them, I expect Secretary Geithner to send to them – and Secretary Geithner already had to pull back one institution that had gone forward with a multimillion dollar jet plane purchase at the same time as they’re receiving TARP money. We shouldn’t have to do that because they should know better. And we will continue to send that message loud and clear.

(excerpt from an e-mail I sent to the project manager this morning)

Tim and I have decided that if you need to set up a field office in Kauai to get all of this work done, that is not a problem for us. We are happy to get down in the sunny, sandy trenches with them for as long as it takes.

(update)

We get that times are tough and we want to do our part. Tim and I are also considering offering to sleep in tents on the beach at least part of the time to cut costs.

Dear lady at the bus stop,

While I appreciate your enthusiasm there is no need to wear both the Obama/Biden pin and the tree-huggers for Obama pin. You are wearing office clothes with white “just for the commute” sneakers, a sage green North Face jacket and you have foregone the matching purse for a practical and seemingly rugged backpack. While I suppose possible though unlikely that you vote republican, the tree-hugger proclamation is assumed.

Nobody loves me,

Nobody cares,

Nobody picks me peaches and pears.

Nobody offers me candy and Cokes,

Nobody listens and laughs at me jokes.

Nobody helps when I get in a fight,

Nobody does all my homework at night.

Nobody misses me,

Nobody cries,

Nobody thinks I’m a wonderful guy.

So if you ask me who’s my best friend, in a whiz,

I’ll stand up and tell you that Nobody is.

But yesterday night I got quite a scare,

I woke up and Nobody just wasn’t there.

I called out and reached out for Nobody’s hand,

In the darkness where Nobody usually stands.

Then I poked through the house, in each cranny and nook,

But I found somebody each place that I looked.

I searched till I’m tired, and now with the dawn,

There’s no doubt about it-

Nobody’s gone!

-Shel Silverstein

My second resolution last year is a one I made three years ago and abandoned.  I am back to try again, and this year I am determined.  

I am going to make 52 new recipes this year.  I will make one new thing a week.  I plan to occasionally double up to make up for kitchen-less weeks when I am confined to a hotel.  

I will post my recipes here as well as my commentary on the culinary journey.  

This week: Thai Basil Eggplant