"Impact" is not a verb. The state of education in this country is appalling.

Food means a lot more things than sustenance and the ingestion of fuel. It is a comforting ritual which reminds us of our humanity and social bonds. Cooking is one of the most ritualistic activities in which humans engage; we'd all be eating cheese and crackers over the sink all the time otherwise.

Here is one ritual which I find particularly comforting whether I do it alone or with company (the latter is better.)

How to Make the Perfect Cup of Tea

Empty your kettle, then fill it with freshly drawn water from the cold tap. This is critical: the old water has either had the oxygen boiled out or evaporated since its last use. If you use filtered or bottled water for drinking because your local tap water is icky, use the same for your tea, please.

Put the kettle on. Just before it comes to the boil, pour a generous dash of the hot water into your teapot (glazed china or earthenware, by preference), swirling it round and round inside the pot before pouring it away. Warming the pot is not a meaningless ritual, but ensures that the water stays at boiling point when it hits the tea, encouraging the proper opening of the leaves.

Dole out one heaped teaspoon of tealeaves for each person, and one for the pot, straight into the warmed teapot. (Large-leafed teas -- such as jasmine -- are comparatively light for their volume, so add an extra spoon or so of these.) The kettle will have reached a galloping boil by this time, so pour the water over the tea. Take care that the water is not long boiling; over-boiled water loses its oxygen and results in a bitter, muddy brew of tea.

Allow the tea to stand and brew for anything from three to six minutes, according to the leaf size (less time for small leaves, more for large ones). Give the tea a good stir, and pour, using a strainer to catch leaves. If you take your tea with milk, you should add it to the cup, cold and fresh, before pouring the tea. (P.S. Tea bags are never a good idea. The tea they produce is simply not the same.)

You can turn this into a High Tea with plenty of dainty foods, or make a strong tea which is a break in the day.

As I have been doing for years, I like to break up the opinion and commentary with some of my favorite recipes. This is one of those quickies that you can toss together in minutes when you learn that friends will be dropping by for a glass of wine and a nosh rather than a full meal. It takes five minutes to put together once the crostini are toasted.

Crostini with Jazzed Up Chevre
Makes about 2 dozen pieces

1 three ounce log of chevre (goat cheese) coated with herbs
1/4 cup capers
1/3 cup finely chopped pitted Kalamata olives

20 slices of baguette crostini
Olive oil

Unwrap the cheese, place in a bowl and let come to room temperature, about 30 minutes. Chop the olives and drain the capers. Thinly slice the baguette, oil both sides lightly with a pastry brush. On sheet pans or cookie sheets, lightly toast the bread (about 3 minutes on a side) in a 300 degree oven and let cool. Place cheese, olives and capers into the bowl and blend with a fork. If the mixture is too tight to spread easily, add a little cream or white wine. Spread on the baguette slices and return to the broiler until the top of the cheese just begins to brown. Garnish with parsley and pass with a fruity pinot grigio.

Chevre has been a relatively recent discovery of mine. I was visiting friends vacationing on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. They arrived at their rental with a cooler full of goodies, including about a pound of chevre. With Triscuits, we demolished that log in about four days. Have you ever notice that your appetite goes through the roof when you are on vacation? Since Trader Joe's arrived in my neighborhood, I've gone through just about every incarnation of chevre that they sell and I admit to a preference for the logs rolled in ash. It brings out the inherent sweetness of the cheese and makes it a good partner for salty toppings.

Your neighboorhood megamart will carry generic chevre which benefits from this spruce up. You can buy specialty artisanal chevre on the Net and check your local farmers' market. Mine has a couple of artisanal cheesemakers that I try to help stay in business. Support the locals rather than the big multinationals.

If someone will fund the printing cost for a bumper sticker which reads, "No, Ralph. It's Over." I'll design it and get it printed.

There is hardly a one-to-one correspondence between my politics and those of ex-CIA guy Pat Lang, but when he hits the nail on the head, it gets a good, solid "thwack."

Obama is for Children

David Brooks is not my favorite columnists but I think he is right "on it" with this peroration.

Obamamania is just that, "mania." It is the historical equivalent of the economic hysteria that lead to such phenomena as the Dutch Tulip disaster or mass investment in Florida swamp land. Huey Long promised change as well. Obama promises change. What change? Tell us what change and how he will accomplish it within the boundaries of law and the constitution. His wife, a Harvard graduate, told us that for the first time in her adult life she is proud of the United States. She says she is proud because now real change is possible. Once again, what change? Single payer national health care? Mass transfer of wealth from one group to another maybe? How? Confiscatory taxation maybe? Widespread award of large federal set-aside contracts maybe? Further restriction of free speech to avoid emotional pain inflicted by "insensitive" statements or writing?

WHAT CHANGE????

Evidently a few people are beginning to sober up long enough to think of this man's presidency as something other than a global public relations stunt. Good for them.

Senator Barack Obama may well be the stuff of an historic president, someday. Right now he is running as a demagogue appealing to the childishness that lurks just below the surface in American popular "culture."

He could no more run the executinve branch successfully and enact a legislative program than an other slick talking novice politician.

Well, yeah, but the "experienced" pols haven't exactly been distinguishing themselves lately.