Sad. Sad. Sad.

Gawd, the world sucks. Did you hear the latest on this Slumdog Millionaire child star? While the flick made a gazillion dollars around the world, received Oscars galore, and drew attention to the slums of Mumbai, it is sad to say that the children of this movie just can't catch a break in life.

Over the weekend, we learned that the father of Rubina Ali has put his daughter up for sale/adoption at the whopping price of 200,000 pounds! The optimistic side of me wants to believe that he's making the ultimate sacrifice for his daughter ... giving her up so that she can actually have a real fighting chance of getting out of the slums. The cynical -- and sometimes more realistic -- side of me knows that while she may find a decent family because of her notoriety, there are tens of thousands of other little girls who are trafficked every day as sex slaves and that when the media stops following her story, she may also fall victim to this modern day slavery.

I don't know what to make of this, but the media is portraying papa as a sleazy selfish dude who finally found his meal ticket. Just sad and depressing all around at whatever angle you take it. Depressing that there is such extreme poverty and suffering in the world where a father has to give up his daughter. Depressing that there is a father who would be willing to sell his flesh and blood to the highest bidder, knowing that her future may be one of slavery and rape. Depressing that there exists sickos in the world who keep the sex trafficking of children alive and well in 2009.

Yep, the world sure does suck.

Can Something Dirty Ever Be Healthy?

Ever since watching dirty rice be prepared on The Food Network on both Home Cooking with the Neelys and Paula Deen, I've been really craving southern and cajun/creole cooking. After the pimple on the lip from excessive fried chicken eating (I haven't used my deep fryer since), I thought it was probably a good idea to maybe try to be a little smarter in my food choices. Broke and unemployed means I don't have the luxury of buying new clothes so I better try to fit in the clothes I do have! And since my Friday night consisted of me, myself, and I, it seemed like a good time as any to experiment in creating a healthier-yet-tasty version of dirty rice.

Traditional dirty rice is prepared with pork sausage and chicken liver with the holy trinity of veggies in New Orleans cooking -- bell pepper, celery, and onion -- and sometimes all cooked in bacon fat. Mix in a couple cups of white rice, a small pat of butter, salt and pepper to taste and garnish with chopped parsley. Simple and really yummy. I could eat this all the time!! But, I was trying to avoid eating too much white rice, pork sausage tends to be way fatty, and bacon fat is deadly. And what to do with the chicken liver? While I love eating pate, I've never cooked chicken liver before and wasn't ready to dump a whole lotta food if I didn't like it.

I ended up substituting in cajun chicken sausage and ground chicken in lieu of the pork sausage and liver, and went with brown rice cooked in chicken broth to substitute for the white rice. To cut calories, I cooked my veggies in olive oil instead of the bacon drippings. I also eliminated the addition of the butter at the end to cut additional calories ... while the butter adds subtle flavor and gloss, it won't make or break your dish. To add extra flavor and heat, I figure it couldn't ever be wrong to add cayene pepper to a New Orleans dish. The end result? DELICIOUS! It was definitely missing the distinct flavor of the chicken liver, but I didn't mind. Plus, the brown rice upped the nutrition value since its so packed with fiber and I wasn't consuming extra fat from the bacon grease.

You know, a few years ago, I would never be caught home on a Friday night in LA, but these days getting dirty on Friday night alone actually wasn't so bad. AACK! Did I just say that?!? Maybe today is the day I get an extra pair of stretchy pants and look for that bird ...

Goodbye Solo ... eh.

A couple of nights ago, the Do-Gooder and I went on a movie date to check out Goodbye Solo at Sunset 5 Laemmle.



I think I've either outgrown these indie flicks where I have to sit around and come up with my own theories and interpretations, or I've really gotten that lazy where I don't even want to use my brain to analyze themes in a film. Probably the latter -- fart jokes and an explosion with a gratuitous boob flash is all I'm capable of these days.

The movie is about the unlikely friendship between a Senegalese cab driver and a crabby persnickety old Southern white man, each of whom appear to be at the crossroads of their lives. In case you ever watch it, I won't give away the details but I do have one piece of advice. If you're feeling sort of down or maybe lost in life, do not -- I repeat DO NOT -- go watch this film. Just a one way train of depression.

Harry Potter!

I just saw the latest trailer of the new Harry Potter movie on E! and Pink Is The New Blog and ... IT LOOKS GREAT! But, I am a geeky fan so, truth be told, I'd probably watch it even if it looked crappy.



Wooing, good thing you're back in LA so that you can accompany me and your hubby to the midnight showing on opening night. You know you loved it last time, and didn't it feel good to stay relevant and be able to converse about the movie with your co-workers the next morning? Granted, we don't have co-workers anymore ... but at least we can still try to be hip like the kids these days.

Even POTUS Pays His Fair Share.

The internet has been buzzing about the Obama tax returns, and looks like even the President could not evade the IRS. The Obamas paid a whopping $855,323 in federal income tax ... yowzers. They did pull in about $2.6 million so I guess its all relative, but just the number of $850K in taxes was kind of shocking.

To see the charitable donations the Obama family made, read the full article at HuffPo here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/15/obama-tax-returns-for-200_n_187420.html

Maynard!

Look at this precious gem! The arrival of a new dog in the White House made me yearn for a furry animal again, which led into a 3 hour search online for dog adoptions, and finally to Maynard.

Isn't she precious? You can find her and other lovable dogs at www.perfectpetrescue.com!

Anderson Cooper Knows About Tea Bagging!

Aw, this is why I love this man ... how many people do you know can say tea bagging on national television and still sound kind of professional?