My friend Margaret is hosting a party for her son's high graduation. She decided to serve pulled pork sandwiches to the guests. Margaret is a very frugal shopper, so when she heard that Schnuck's had pork roasts for $1.19 a pound, she cornered the market. See exhibit A.
I had an endoscopy today. By all accounts, my internals are at least in pretty good shape for a gentleman who recently passed the 6 decade marker. See exhibit B.
We Cornhuskers and thrilled and delighted to become members of the Big Ten Conference, and look forward to many spirited contests with our new neighbors.
A couple weeks ago, I encountered an old work buddy of mine. The subject of Facebook came up, and we agreed to be friends. Subsequently, I have been reunited digitally with others who I had lost track of, but were "friends of friends". Now, we're back to being friends directly. Yay!
I previously had reserved my friends list to relatives, but have cautiously added people who I have known for a long time, and who are disinclined to reveal personal hygiene matters on line.
Spring has brought new arrivals to my bird feeder. I have seen but not captured photographically hummingbirds. Here are the other newbees, including Iowa's state bird.
No new holes in one to report, but I've been busy trying.
Spring is in the air. And a young man's thoughts turn to...GOLF.
I played for the first time last Wednesday and albeit a bit rusty from the long layoff, my game was pretty good. I'm looking forward to the season with anticipation, just like every one of the last 35 years. With an eye toward practicality, I invested in a cart bag. This type is intended to be strapped to the back of a cart, not carried on your back. If I decide to walk, I can always rent a pull cart from the course.
Over the winter I became interested in photographing birds for the first time. I got a bird feeder and suet block. Soon birds appeared that I not only didn't realize that we had, but couldn't identify . Some quick internet searching remedied this woeful lack of knowledge on my part. Here are a few pics. You guess the bird.
My one non bird picture is a daffodil with special significance. My mom planted it over 20 years ago, and in spite of total neglect, it has bloomed every spring. It even survived a total relandscape . Here it is.
I have a calendar named Bad Dogs. One of the features is "Early Bad Dog Warning Signs." I offer exhibits A and B. Exhibit A is a partially munched dog biscuit lying in the hallway. Exhibit B is the DOI (Dog Of Interest). I rest my case.
Today we have a 2 part entry. Our 1st is a wonderful biscotti recipe I found on allrecipies.com. It's called Murietta's White Chocolate and Macadamia Biscotti. I halved it, because it calls for 4 cups of flour, and that's a lot, even for the KitehenAid. My only advice is to cool the logs for an hour or 2 prior to slicing, as they are quite soft, and tend to crumble. They don't last long.
Now for the heavyweight showdown you've been waiting for: Spaghetti OS vs. Ubuntu OS.
A couple days ago, my nephew Nick commented on Facebook that the creator of Spaghetti OS had passed on. As a former system administrator, this was disturbing, even though I had no experience with Spaghetti OS. I guessed you stuck electrodes into a plateful and somehow there was an organic/electrical phenomenon. Since I was already considering adding an OS to my PC, I decided to install Ubuntu OS, which Nick and his dad Pete both seemed favorably impressed with it. Success!!
I'll continue to update you on my doings with Ubuntu, and may even open a can of Spaghetti o's to celebrate.
Kenabeck
Monday, November 9, 2009
The joy of regifting
As you recall, I recently gave my Sis Pat my reamaining copy of "A man, a can, and a plan" cookbook. All accounts on her blog Subjective Soup have been very positive. I'm thrilled and delighted that she and Milt have gotten so much joy from the publication.
My own approach to gastronomy is slightly different. I have about 3 feet of bookshelf space devoted to cookbooks. Everything from The Great Book of French Cuisine to Cast Iron Skillet. I am single, so I only seriously cook when the mood strikes. This is fairly often. Most of my fare is simple. I make chili, spaghetti sauce, and the like twice a year in an 8 quart stock pot. That solves what to eat tonight easily.
I lived in Germany for 3 years, and have also visited Europe several times, so I have had the opportunity to dine in some serious shrines. In France, the thing to do is to order the Menu Degusation , which is 7 or 8 courses. You don't ask what is in them. You just eat em. Count on 2 to 3 hours of pleasure.
Sunday, my friend and sous chef Margaret was bound and determined to take a shot at spaghetti Carbonara, a wonderful Northern Italian pasta dish. I gathered the ingredients and turned her loose. The recipe called for 8 strips of bacon, but she used the whole half pound. Bravo! It also said to drain the bacon fat, which she didn't. DOUBLE BRAVO!! If you're going to pound down the calories,carbs, and fat, go for the gusto! I also grilled a couple fillets on the Weber.
The recipe is fairly standard, the this one is from Recipes.com called sphagetti carbonara II. I am still debating the next episode, but I am leaning towards chicken with leeks and cream, because is takes little prep and you eat it right away. Coq au vin has to sit in the oven for a couple hours.
Max (Maxine) is my 4 year old boxer. I got Max from an animal shelter. My guess is that Max made it to the shelter because she was too much for the original owners. My vet proclaimed Max the bipolar boxer.
Be aware that MAx's name was carefully chosen before I got her. My previous dog was a very loving Doberman, Steffi. Steffi was at first declared to be Boris, named after Boris Becker, the famous German tennis player. Subsequent examination proved him to be her, so Steffi she became. Kind of like Walter/Wendy Carlos.
When people come to visit, I always have Max outside. If they misguidedly say they want to meet her, I acquiesce. Then they are gleefully attacked, with love.
Max is a perfect lady in the house with me, and I wouldn't trade her for anything.
