Pumpkin Flan
by the Editors of Easy Home Cooking Magazine

Yield: Makes 8 servings
Ingredients:
1
can (16 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin

1
can (12 ounces) evaporated milk

1-2/3
cup granulated sugar, divided

3
eggs, beaten

2
teaspoons vanilla, divided

1
teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2
teaspoon ground ginger

1/2
teaspoon ground cloves

1/2
teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4
cup whipping cream

1
tablespoon powdered sugar

Preparation:
1.
Preheat oven to 300°F. Beat pumpkin, evaporated milk, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla and spices in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until blended. Set aside.

2.
Heat remaining 1-1/3 cups granulated sugar in large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until melted and golden brown. (Mixture will be hot.) Carefully pour sugar into eight 4-ounce ramekins. Place ramekins in 15X11-inch baking dish and fill each cup with pumpkin mixture.

3.
Pour hot water into pan until filled half way up sides of cups. Bake 45 to 55 minutes or until knife inserted in centers comes out clean. Remove from oven; cool. Run knife around edges of each cup to loosen. Invert onto serving plates.

4.
Beat whipping cream, powdered sugar and remaining 1 teaspoon vanilla in small bowl with electric mixer at high speed until soft peaks form. Garnish each flan with whipped cream mixture.

Variation: The flan can also be baked in a 9-inch pie pan for 60 minutes.

Today is Lenny's birthday! He and Ari are stationed in Watertown New York.  Lenny's 6-year commitment to the Army is coming to a close, soon, and he and Ari (and kitties) will be able to move back to Utah where Lenny will go to college.  Pukha, as you can see in the news above, will be returning to college too, Oregon State University of Corvallis Oregon, where he plans to earn his Masters in Mechanical Engineering and work as a T.A.   Danny and Tutti are expecting their first child this summer, a son.  Angie called from Wisconsin this morning; she will tell her sons Jimmy, Chris and Peter, about the PickensCoop and hopefully we can get some more cousins to share news and photos.  Adam, my sister Roxanne's second son, will marry his fiance from Brazil in Charleston, S.C. the 12th of April at Noon.  I'm staying with my parents while my mother finishes recouperating from her hip fracture and have access to her oodles of photos of the kids and cousins when they were younger here for birthday parties.  My scanner is here too, and I hope to scan up a bunch of photos and post to the coop this w/e.   What are you doing for Lenny's birthday?  I hope it includes a great dinner and dessert, a great movie or games, a look at some photos, and maybe getting on the internet or phone and connecting.  Love always,  Momma

In T. Boone Pickens' war on terror, the enemy is foreign oil.

Pickens, the Republican Texas oil mogul, testified Tuesday before a Senate panel to lay out his new, self-titled "Pickens Plan" to boost renewable energy sources, get the U.S. transportation sector off oil and cut U.S. use of foreign petroleum.

Pickens told the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee that aside from getting away from foreign oil, he's for just about anything, from electric cars — like those advocated by Al Gore — to offshore drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Recalling a conversation he recently had with Gore, Pickens told the panel: "I said, 'I'm for everything that's American.' ... I only have one enemy, and that's foreign oil. That's what I want to get rid of."

He added: "I am convinced we are paying for both sides of the Iraqi war."

Making the change is necessary, Pickens said, because continuing to rely on foreign oil will result in $300 per barrel price at America's current consumption trends. He also said he believes U.S. national security is in dire straits with roughly $700 billion annually heading overseas to the Middle East and unfriendly countries like Venezuela in exchange for crude.

Pickens said installing wind farms, and later solar power facilities in the midsection of the United States, with government help, could produce 20 percent of electricity consumed domestically. That would alleviate the need to use natural gas to make electricity.

Under the Pickens Plan, natural gas along with biofuels would power all transportation, reducing foreign oil dependence — according to Pickens' numbers — by one-third.

Another panelist warned that Pickens' sketch is by no means flawless, although he agreed with the principle that America is far too dependent on foreign energy sources and should boost the use of renewable energy.

Gal Luft, executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, said countries like Russia, Iran and Persian Gulf states have the majority of world natural gas reserves, "so shifting our transportation sector from oil to natural gas is like jumping from the frying pan to the fire. This is a spectacular bad idea. ... We don't want to give at this point in time a gift to Iran."

Luft said reliance on oil dependence can't be reduced until the U.S. inreases its use of electric cars. He also also criticized Pickens' assumption that wind and solar power can simply replace natural gas.

"Our energy system is not a Lego," Luft said. "You don't take one cube and replace it with another. ... Nothing guarantees that it will displace natural gas. It could displace coal. It could displace solar. ... How do you control what the wind will displace?"

In his remarks, Pickens laid out a dire outlook for the United States, with foreign oil use continually rising up in the United States.

"This is more than a disturbing trend line. It is a recipe for national disaster. ... This is a crisis that cannot be left to the next generation to solve," Pickens said.

As far as oil prices go, he said that if nothing changes, "I have to think in 10 years, the demand for oil — because the price now is going up — in 10 years, you're going to have $300 oil. Maybe higher, I don't know."

"If we continue to drift like we're drifting, you're going to be importing 80 percent of your oil. And I promise you, it'll be over $300 a barrel," Pickens said, responding to a question from committee chairman Sen. Joe Lieberman. "If we do nothing, it's going to be over the top," Pickens said.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are under increasing pressure to take legislative action on energy prices hovering around record prices, something Lieberman took note of in his opening remarks.

Despite his dark predictions, Pickens' plan was received warmly on Capitol Hill. Lieberman described it as "can-do" and "bold."

The Pickens Plan is a "classically American message of honesty, determination and can-do optimism. ... The plan has attracted attention because it is bold," said Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

"Apparently, it took $4 a gallon gasoline ... to make all of us angry and anxious enough to get serious about breaking our national dependency on foreign oil," he said.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, likened his plan to President Kennedy's call to land a man on the moon, and Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, called it "music to my ears."

Collins later said: "I'm very excited about Boone Pickens' plan, but I don't think it's the whole plan."

Among the things Pickens is looking for are tax incentives for industry such as the production tax credit. He said extending that measure for 10 years would create the stability for companies need to invest in long-term projects.

The Economist magazine last week reported that Pickens' plan isn't entirely altruistic, however. According to the magazine, Pickens' company Mesa Power has invested $2 billion in a Texas panhandle wind farm. But Pickens, chairman and founder of BP Capital Management, also regularly points out he doesn't need the money.

One of Pickens' companies also owns about 90 of the roughly 500 publicly available natural gas stations with another of his companies, Clean Energy.

Pickens' appearance before the committee was only one of several scheduled appearances in Washington. In what four years ago might have ended in a public pillorying, Pickens on Tuesday was also to meet with the House Democratic Caucus. Pickens made no friends among the group with his 2004 backing of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign, which sought to sink Sen. John Kerry's presidential bid.

Pickens told the Politico newspaper in Tuesday editions that he's getting attention from both sides of the aisle, and hopes to get the current presidential field to pay attention: He wants his plan put in place within the first 100 days of the next administration.

He also told the paper he feels like this is his contribution to help the country.

"I didn't want to come and go in this life and feel like I had something that would've helped the country. So I thought, 'What the hell, it's time to stand up and be counted,' " Pickens said, as quoted by Politico

The photos from the recent trip to Corvallis Oregon are uploaded on Flickr (julie5pecanz),  See the the flickr gallery link on the left side of the home page. 

David & I drove to Sacramento where he had state board testing for acupuncture licensing.  From there we continued North, driving through the mountains.  Large sections of the road that night were under construction.  As I drove in the dark, coming around curves and watching for the various signs regarding the construction, and then as we got closer to Medford where we had a room reserved, my eyes were riveted towards signs watching for our exit.  I was wondering what the flashing lights were behind me... Thought it may be an ambulance so I pulled over.  The officer said he had been following me and had clocked me at 94 mph !  I told him, "I've just had my 9th grandchild, and I have driven from San Diego to see her.   I told him I had never seen my spedometer read that high.  He suggested I look at the spedometer more often.  After the overnight stop in Medford, Oregon, David took the helm and we continued on to Corvallis, Oregon, where we met David's daughter, Ann, for lunch at a Tai restaurant.  She had driven down from her home near Salem, Oregon.  After Pukha got off work at the University, we drove to his house where we saw the new one, Lila Ciel,and Bodhi, Tracy & Pukha.  We had dinner at the Riverview, a Mongolian barbecue.  Fantastic.  Bodhi is very well behaved and a neat eater, even without a bib, nothing ended up on his shirt.  The next day Ann met us in Corvallis and we drove to the Oregon Newport Beach.  Ann had an idea that we could make smores on the beach over candles.... It worked!   We also played frisbe and jumped rope using a long piece of seaweed.  The ocean was beautiful, clear and cool, the sand was clean and soft.   We drove back, singing (it's close to a 1-hour drive) through along a beautiful tree-lined road.  Back at the park in Corvallis by the Senior Center David and his daughter Juggled and she showed him a photo calendar she has put together with quotes from Maria Montesorri.  That evening Pukha cooked a fabulous fresh dinner at home, and Lila opened her eyes for photos.  While Pukha and Tracy put the children to bed, David and I went back to the Corvallis Senior Center for the Live Band Dance and had a blast, met lots of nice people, one of which, Marilynn, when she heard we liked to play racquetball, gave us her name and membership number to the Corvallis Athletic Club, sponsored us as guests.  Saturday morning early, David and I drove to the club, had a blast playing racquetball.  Pukha called to meet us back at the hotel so we could go to the Farrmers Market.  David & I and Pukha and Bodhi walked through the booths, Bodhi blew bubbles at a booth which advertised preschool.  The market was full of eyepopping colorful flowers, fruits and vegetables.  We lunched at an Indian restaurant Downtown Corvallis - buffet with so many options, including Goat stew.  Delicious!   Back in the car with Pukha and Bodhi, Bodhi & David played a little drum set we had brought with us.  But, alas, it was time for Bodhi's nap, and we needed to get back on the road headed South.  We said goodbye, and hope to get together again in the near future!.  Oregon is Beautiful!  We highly recommend the Trip and will do it again when we can.