Tickle Box Repair #3

(Retold after hearing it from the TED radio hour as told by the guy who wrote all the pixar movies (Toy Story to Monsters Inc. to Finding Nemo)

A visitor walks into an Irish pub along the coast on a rainy afternoon and noticed that there's just one other patron. A dower looking man nursing a pint. He sits down beside him and the man says to the stranger," You see this bar here? I built this bar. Top to bottom every single detail is my handy work! But do they call me McGregor-the-Bar-Builder? No."

He then indicated a photo of a farm house surrounded by a stone wall hanging behind the bar and said, "You see that photograph? D'ja know who built that stone fence in it? I built it. One sorry stone upon the other until they all fit perfectly, but do they call me McGregor-the-Fence-Builder? No."

Turning to the window that looked out upon the cove, he said, "And look ye there! You see that pier? I built that pier, too. Sunk every one of the pylons, framed 'em up I did and laid each one of the planks. Most times on rainy days like this one and worse, I tell you! But do they call me McGregor-the-Pier-Builder?"

"NO!" he shouted, and after taking another sip of ale, continued, "But fuck one goat....."

Pride Birthdays and Memorials for the Week ~ June 9th to June 15th

A Day In The Life Of Romeo

Romeo, a.k.a. My Little Angel of Light! (well, in this photo, at least) had a great day of being said angel. Two trips to the markets and left at home alone to his own devises were perfectly uneventful. 

My trip to the local SHEE SHEE Dog Shop "The Big Bad Woof" proved a mixed bag. Romeo has really taken a shine to those Himalayan Natural Dog Chews (the ones "made in the Himalayan highlands using traditional methods and an ancient recipe of boiled yak and cow milk, salt and lime juice.") They take him a good long time to decimate, so he can enjoy them over the course of many days. They are insanely expensive, but how can I deny him any good thing when he is the constant source of amazing grace to me? Still, they were out of the medium-sized three pack and only had the large single sticks. I prefer the 3 pack because they last a lot longer. The nice young man at the register took down my name and without additional charge placed a special order for me, and I bought one of the large ones, of course, to tide him over. He'll enjoy it, but he's not a Saint Bernard.

The plus was the purchase of a fine brush. Mind you, he doesn't shed much, but he does shed some. I thought the brush would help and also he might jolly well like being combed. As fate would have it, HE LOVES IT! I'm convinced that it's the closest thing this little fellow with his knipped nuts will ever come to an orgasm. It positively puts him to sleep he's so enamored with the gentle rubbing sensation. Score!

After our nap around 4 pm, we set out for a walk, and I met a neighbor that I have been aware of for nearly two decades but before today could not have had a prayer of identifying in a police line up. She lives on a side street at the bottom of the hill and across from my actual friends Beth and Cathy. It seems that as I have often heard of her doings via these ladies over the years, she had likewise been appraised of mine. So it was a delightfully awkward first official hello on the low trail along the creek while her dog Jack and Romeo discovered between one another all of those essential smells that constitute detente between dogs.

No doubt buoyed by this delightful happenstance Romeo and I set out for the high power line hill climb and made the full circle of a hike measuring about 2.5 miles.

Later still, I discovered Romeo on our bed bathed in this wonderful light and snapped up this pic. What joy!

Today's Sermon

Knife

From my loneliness,
a lantern takes shape
to be used in an emergency
during rainstorms.
Or donated
to miners working in a gold mine.
From my loneliness,
a carriage is made
to be used at tourist spots.
Or when the express train
derails in bad weather.
From my loneliness,
a bridge will be built
to be used during and after
the war for tanks to cross.
Or to suddenly be blown up.
From my loneliness,
a knife is honed
to cut paper or peel an apple.
And when it rusts,
it will be plunged into my heart.

~ Zeeshan Sahil, 1961 - 2008
   translated from the Urdu by Faisal Siddiqui, Christopher Kennedy and Mi Ditmar

Green Vegetable Soup with Egg and Lemon

Dinner: Green Vegetable Soup with Egg and Lemon. As I do not measure things very well I will just do my best here, even though the recipe comes from my new Cookbook. I don't really follow recipes either! 

I started with 32 oz of Chicken Stock (3 cups?) and added another 3-4 cups of Water, a dash of Kosher Salt, a Chicken Bouillon Cube, and got the broth to heating. To this I added all chopped or sliced in various ways to suit my fancy (all ingredients fresh) this array of vegetables:

1 glove of Garlic crushed and diced
1 bunch of Oyster Mushrooms
a heaping fist full of Green Beans
The leafier central stalks from a Celery stalk stems and leaves
1 bunch of Scallions
1 medium-large Zucchini
the sad partially dehydrated remains of a Red Pepper--about 25% of the original bloke (found in fridge)
1 large Jalapeño Pepper
1 8 OZ pack of baby Spinach
Black Pepper to taste.

Separately I whisked very well 2 Eggs and then whisked into them the juice of 1 large freshly squeezed Lemon.

After the veggies had cooked tender on a low-medium heat (I dunno 30 minutes or so from when the first ones went in--add the spinach the last 5 mintues) Turn off heat and let all boiling cease. Then take a ladle of the hot broth and very slowly whisk it into the egg and lemon juice mixture--you are bring the temp of this mixture up without cooking the egg--if the egg curdles, to much hot broth too fast, got it? There is no rush here. Repeat with two more ladles of the hot mixture and then slowly stir all of it back into the soup.

Bottom line? TO DIE FOR!

A Gift In The Mail: "Apples For Jam"!

A wonderful thing to find in the mail box! A gift and such a gift, a book of recipes arranged by colors. How nifty. Thank you, so much ADF~ You rock!

Four of the recipes that caught my attention this evening as I perused my new cookbook on the deck with Romeo asleep at my feet before the rain started.

Green Vegetable Soup with Egg and Lemon

Chicken Cutlets with Tomatoes and Capers

Cabbage Salad with Oranges and Lemons

Lamb and Green Bean Casserole

Banana Oatmeal Bars!

My friend Tom Welch posted this recipe and on a coolish, rainy Thursday evening I made them. And the are very nice sweet, but not too sweet. Thanks, Tom!

Make A Difference, Not A Bitch-Fit

Morale's been on the wane around school as the year comes to a close, so with the help of a couple of other "pan-staff" members, we came up with a list of personal positive comments for everyone in the building. EVERYONE from the weekend maintenance crew to the second grade teacher who helped open the building back in 1990. We really tried to make them as specific as possible--not generic stuff. Then I wrote them out on kites that I made complete with curly ribbon tales and plastered a couple of walls in the staff lounge with them. I don't know if it will help to lift spirits, but it had just gotten to the point where someone had to do something. See a problem, offer an anecdote, right? There's always something you can do, besides complain, too.

The school year ends on the 17th, but a lot of staff will back much of the rest of that week already giving time to plan for next year. When you have such a dedicated group of teachers, there's nothing frilly or extra about showing them appreciation and we all need to be better at that.

Summer Legos

My Legos are so ready for summer vacation!

My Newly Surface Street!

An event not dissimilar to the passing of Hailey's Comet.  Certain once in a lifetime.  My street has been resurfaced!  Tax dollars at work.  It's no secret that in Maryland, we PAY higher taxes; but we also have a HIGHER QUALITY of life!  Go figure--you get what you pay for...

Romeo, El Guapo

Your regular pic of my little man, Romeo!

Dinner Last Night: Garlic Roasted New Potatoes and Zucchini Sautéed in Onions & Red Pepper

After a long Monday...a easy meatless Monday dinner: Garlic roasted New Potatoes and Sautéed Zucchini in Onion & Red Pepper with shredded Parmesan Cheese.

To make the meal work, I prepared the potatoes and placed them in the oven before heading out the door for Romeo's evening constitutional. Once home with only 20 minutes left on a 75 minute @350˚ roast time. I began the onions and red pepper to sautéing with some Montreal Streak Seasoning--like that certain hot sauce from the commercial on the radio--I put that shit on everything! By the time the Zucchini was sliced and added there was about 10 minutes left on the potatoes, just enough time to gently cook the zucchini. My prep time 25 minutes with just over 50 minutes of exercise in the middle.

And gosh it was good!

Sunday Past's Dinner: Pork and Peas Pappardella with a Tossed Salad

Pork & Peas Pappardella, I've got the hang of cooking again!

Ingredients

4 slices of Bacon (for the grease only)
8 oz of Pancetta
1 lb Country Style Pork cubed
1 Onion
8 oz Button Mushrooms
1 Red Pepper
2 jalapeño Peppers
3 large Scallions
8 oz pkg Peas

For Sauce (Alfredo basically)
.25 C Butter
1 C Heavy Cream
1.5 C mixed Parmesan and Asiago Cheese

When combined with the reduced juices from the other ingredients the end result is more gravy like in it's color, but very yummy.

Cook and remove bacon (save for a BLT)
Brown Pancetta and remove
Brown Pork turning (2 minutes)
Add Onions and Jalapeños and cover and cook on medium for 20 minutes
Add Mushrooms cover and simmer for 60 minutes

Make Alfredo Sauce

Add in Scallions, Red Pepper and Peas and mix together.
Add Sauce and cook until it comes to a light boil mixing thoroughly.
Serve over Pappardella!

Keeping the peas, red pepper and scallions just heated against the melt in your mouth tender pork is a key to this dish's allure.

Lego Possibilities!

I found these awesome images of a vintage building restored in New York City that are just screaming out for a Lego replica!  Ah, blessed muse of Lego inspiration...

And the Corbin Building also comes with Blueprints!  Be still my latent Architect's heart.

And...and that is AND~ Elevation schematics for architectural features.  Is this what Heaven is like?

Happy PRIDE Month Everyone!

Joyous Pride month everyone! Let us find in ourselves and our tribe a never ending fount of talent, compassion, and integrity--the stuff of pride. 

Here's a flag design that I made a couple of years ago on a challenge from the Radio Program Studio 360. Cheers!

Pride Birthdays and Memorials for the Week ~ June 2nd to June 8th

Breakfast, Late, Fast And Easy!

A French Butter Cheese, Canadian Bacon, 1 Egg, and Avacado wedges on Onion Roll with Dijon Horseradish Mayo.

Great Walk Early With Romeo

"Who wants to go for a walk?"  Most common example of a rhetorical question in the Randuwa/Romeo household!

Beautiful white flowering bush, some cousin of Honeysuckle.

The crook in the creek early in the morning.

"Dad, where does this trail go?"

"Romeo, I have no idea.  Let's go!"

Wild cousins to the coreopsis.

 Twice as far the view from the base would give us looking back from where we've already come.

And looking up to where we are going....

More cousins, these of the common milkweed.

At the apex, a little "shed" surrounded by fences and warnings that no doubt has something to do with the high volume electrical wires overhead.  And the view beyond with a gully midway that looks like it holds an open ditch with no guarantee of fordability.  End of the line.