Incivility and vegetable cream cheese

On knocking on doors for Obama in a swing state, and getting verbally knocked down*

People are mean, especially conservatives who live in gated communities in the desert. "I already got a visit from you people before. I was rude to the last guy and I'm going to be rude to you. This just pushed me over the edge: I'm voting for McCain," said the old man in the house at the end of the street, before slamming the door.

A morning's tally: 40 doors knocked on, 13 confirmed Obama votes, 6 definite pro-McCain and/or anti-Obama votes, 1 threat to call the police, and 1 young woman who said through a metal door that she hates Obama because "he's the reason [she] went through hell in the foster care system." That's not to say that the state in question is leaning so heavily toward Obama - we were actually working off a list of "good" leads.

* We were asked not to blog about this because it could derail the Obama campaign's attempts to influence the story of the day. But as a former journalist, I don't believe campaigns should dictate what stories are covered. And I doubt any reporter would be thrilled to quote another, even former, reporter anyway.

On a delicious twist to a breakfast staple

Last month, I had a wonderful vegetable cream cheese at Absolute Bagels in Harlem. I made my own version this morning:

Vegetable Cream Cheese
- 1 green onion
- 2 radishes
- 1 small carrot
- 1 cup of plain cream cheese

Chop the vegetables very finely into confetti-like bits. Combine well with cream cheese. Use on your bagel.
(I just used the veggies I had on hand, but Absolute Bagels' version had chopped bits of broccoli, carrots, and red onion. Very pretty, and completely delicious.)