Talking to representatives

This is stressful, and I don't know how much good it will do, but I'm trying. This week it was calling my senators and congressmember about getting the CIA report on Russian hacking released, at least to the electors, before the electoral college votes.

I got through to someone at Senator Markey's office on Tuesday, and got Senator Warren's voice mail twice (once for the Boston office and once for the DC one).

This morning I called Senator Warren's office again, and left voicemail. Then I called Rep. Clark, but first I looked at her web page, saw that she has already issued a statement about this, so got to make the easier call: "Hi, I'm redbird, I live in Arlington, and I'm calling to thank the congresswoman for her statement about this." The staffer asked for my name again, and I spelled it for him, after which he thanked me for the call.

I also tried calling the national Director of Intelligence, to urge him to get the report to the electors, and got "please press 9 to leave a message," did so, and was hung up on, so I assume a lot of other people got there before me.

(Yesterday I took a copyediting test, which I hope will lead to paid work, and decided that was enough to ask of myself for the day.)

chana masala

switterbeet mentioned this recipe recently, and I read it and decided to give it a try, since it calls for garam masala, ginger, and garlic, but no hot peppers, and looked fairly easy.

I made it this evening, serving it over rice instead of sweet potatoes, and adrian_turtle, cattitude, and I were all quite pleased. Adrian was a little surprised that it contains coconut milk, which makes it very nice and creamy (and different from what we're used to seeing in Indian restaurants).

I left out the cilantro, and used olive oil instead of coconut oil, which worked quite well. (I suspect canola or a similar neutral-flavored oil would also be fine.) I also used slightly less coconut milk than it calls for, that being what I had, and might use slightly less next time.

I'll be making this again, which is why I'm posting this. It's vegan; that isn't an issue for the three of us, but I'm glad to add to my small repertoire of vegan meals that I like and hence am comfortable serving to guests.