Funnel Cakes….

(this is Scott writing…)
Growing up in Pennsylvania, I’d always assumed that a funnel cake was a Mennonite “thing,” something you could only find at a county fair. (I grew up a sheltered “baptist.”)
Alas, nearly every for-profit food stand at this year’s Albemarle County Fair (south of Charlottesville, VA) has its own version of the deep fried summer treat.
I still recommend locals check out the Mennonite funnel cake stand, which has been there for over 20 years. Not just the best, and cheapest, Mennonite funnel cakes are even “good” for you — if you will. All the four food groups are covered; wheat, milk, eggs, sugar, and…. soybeans (oil). :-} They’re “good” too, as they “tickle your tongue.”
If they’re not too busy, you might even find friends who’ve lived a tour or two around Iran and the Middle East.
Reminds me of how various Iranian cities are known for their own wondrous treats, like Esfahani Gaz, Mashhad’s Nabat, Lahijan’s Kulucheh cookies, and one of my favorites anywhere, Sohan from Qom. (Think peanut brittle made with pistachios and saffron. Yum!)
Back to the humble funnel cake: last night, while beating the eggs into the batter, we hazarded to ponder parallels between (Mennonite) funnel cakes and the Middle East — along the lines of delicately woven lattices of hope and promise, threads of sweet human connections, peacemaking tempting fate in holy-charged conflagration — e.g., blistering 400 degree oil.
Get it wrong, soft goo to charred carbon. Cook ‘em just right, so… heavenly.

4 thoughts on “Funnel Cakes….”

  1. Change in the SOFA
    While American “journalists” might perhaps be forgiven for forgetting to ever ask Obama about the looming deadline for a referendum in Iraq, last week’s press conference in Washington, D.C., with Maliki might have offered such an opportunity.
    Yet, as far as I have been able to learn, not even the progressive reporters in the room breathed a word about it.
    I asked independent reporter Dahr Jamail what he was hearing from Iraq, and he told me:

    “From what I can tell, the referendum has not been canceled. This surprises me, because if/when it does happen, the vote will overwhelmingly be to reject the SOFA. Thus, I’m watching the situation closely, to see if it does indeed happen, and if so, how will the US react to the inevitable results…but also to see if it’s fixed, and then what happens in Iraq in the wake of that. Either way, there is nothing to indicate a real US withdrawal from Iraq, ever. So this begs the question, how will the US Government spin the referendum, if/when it happens. Yet, we’re already seeing Gates openly discuss the US use of Iraqi air space beyond 2011, and Maliki already making gestures towards a US presence in Iraq post-2011.”

    The problem is obvious. If the referendum is honest and verifiable, the occupation has to end in a year rather than never.
    If it’s rigged and the Iraqis protest, the US media might have a hard time condemning them while celebrating similar protests next-door in Iran.
    If the referendum is never held, and the Iraqis allow that, and the US media never mentions it, who’s harmed?
    I mean, who in the power structure in Washington, D.C., is harmed?

  3. threads of sweet human connections, peacemaking tempting fate in holy-charged conflagration — e.g., blistering 400 degree oil.
    Yap, when your nation showing their love and peaceful attitude toward ME people, then you could expect from them to treat you and handing you their own wondrous treats mixed with their love and their undoubtedly hospitality you never found like it in any place in our world.
    Btw, talking about blistering oil which has something to do to make their own wondrous treats, but their “Black Oil” is very thick coloured just like Condi Rice face, her patrol trucks fed “free“ from ME oil… Isn’t our Mullah?

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