Big Leather Couch

Picked up Matt on Friday and we spent the weekend attending 4 of Peter's baseball games around some time spent over food including...his favorite, ribs on Father's Day.

Also spent some time watching the US Golf Open, something I have always enjoyed on the F.D. Weekend.

Writing this before Rory takes the course for his final round. Hoping he has screwed his head on straight. I do think it is cool with the crowd chanting "RORY RORY," reminiscent of the calls for the other guy who was not to be seen this year. Peter asked, "Do you think Tiger is watching?" My immediate answer was "Not a chance."

Seriously, I know times are busy...and y'all can't always listen, but if you want to check out a show, tonight' should be a blast!




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How was your weekend?

What did you do?

Saturday was baseball and then helping Nancy prepare for her business trip. I also made a nice London Broil which I had marinated in my Vacuum Sealer marinading dish. It sucks open the pores of the meat to allow the marinade to be drawn in. A few cycles on the machine is like marinading for 24-48 hours.

Sunday began with a trip to the emergency walk-in clinic with Peter who was suffering a sore throat. After a three hour wait, we ruled out strep, but went on antibiotics for 10 days.

Nancy left on her trip and will be coming back on Friday. This will get more frequent in the future, but that is another story for another time.

Edwin Donald "Duke" Snider
(September 19, 1926 - February 27, 2011)

There was some sad news, as it was announced yesterday that Hall of Fame outfielder Duke Snider has died. He was 84.

From BEN WALKER, AP Baseball Writer
The former Brooklyn Dodgers star died early Sunday of what the family called natural causes at the Valle Vista Convalescent Hospital in Escondido, California.

Snider was part of the charmed "Boys of Summer" with the Dodgers in the late 1940s and 1950s. He helped lead Brooklyn to its only World Series championship in 1955.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced his death on behalf of the family.

Snider was part of the charmed “Boys of Summer” with the Dodgers in the late 1940s and 1950s. He helped lead Brooklyn to its only World Series championship in 1955. Snider also won a crown with the Dodgers in Los Angeles in 1959.

Snider hit 407 career home runs.

By the time the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles (before the 1958 season), I was not old enough to know about the team. I do know he was beloved in New York and in the coming days there will be an outpouring of sadness from fans of a certain age.

He was a center fielder and left handed hitter and played for the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers from 1947-1962. He then came back to New York to play for the NY Mets in 1963 and finally, to the horror of many Dodger fans he played his final season for the San Francisco Giants.

MUSIC ON THE COUCH

MONDAY, February 28, 2011
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I did find one story that credited the email to another person. I am now in discussion with the author to see if my sources (ABS NEWS) were correct or her sources were.

In looking at some of the stories, I did find a very cool site. It is called D-Day - Normandy and Beyond" Eyewitness Memories of World War II. What an incredible site. If you go there, on the left sidebar, look for VETERANS STORIES. Click on that link and then click on STORIES 1-50. Scroll down to #47 and you will find Darrell "Shifty" Powers posting of some of his memories that were not recorded in the book "Band Of Brothers".

Then take some time and read some of the recollections of these men who served so bravely.

Additionally, there are pictures and newsreel footage. There is a space to remember those who have passed and even a section for stories about the survivors of The Holocaust. Though there is only one story there, it is one to read.

TO BEGIN....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LOVE!!!!

Today is my angel's birthday and we will
not even be together as she travels.

KISSES AND HUGS!

Hoping your Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus Holidays were spectacular and you did not have to utter one HECK-A-DOODLE the entire time...

We had a most wonderful time. Christmas Eve, I went down and met Nancy to do some shopping for Christmas Eve dinner, Christmas Day Antipasto and New Year's Eve dinner. Then on back home to start prepping dinner.

Now, in our home Christmas Eve is the dinner of the 'Seven Fishes'. This comes from Mom Joan's side of the family really. Many southern Italians around the world celebrate Christmas Eve with a Feast of the Seven Fishes (festa dei sette pesci), it is also known as La Vigilia (The Vigil).

It is a meal that typically consists of seven different seafood dishes. Some Italian families have been known to celebrate with 9, 11 or 13 different seafood dishes. This celebration is a commemoration of the wait, Vigilia di Natale, for the midnight birth of the baby Jesus.

I really never understood the meaning of the reason for the 'Seven Fishes' until a few years ago. The tradition of eating seafood on Christmas Eve dates from the medieval Catholic tradition of abstinence. As a Catholic, you were never to eat meat on Friday's or Holy Days. Now, we did not always follow that on all Holy Days. I mean, what is Christmas without a big Roast beef?

From wikipedia:
There are many hypotheses for what the number "7" relates to, one being the number of Sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church. Another theory is that seven is a number representing perfection: the traditional Biblical number for divinity is three, and for Earth is four, and the combination of these numbers, seven, represents God on Earth, or Jesus Christ.

Out of the 'typical fare', we always teased the menu slightly. Most years, while growing up, we would drive to New City, NY to my cousins Donnie and Linda's, where there would be 20+ people gathered. A large table was set up in the family room and the food flowed throughout the evening.

A typical menu was:
* Stuffed calamari
* Stuffed-baked clam
* Deep fried calamari
* Deep fried fish and shrimp
* Linguine with clam sauce
* Baccalà
* Octopus salad
* Mussels Fra Diavolo

This year I bought some fresh clams and some Talapia. I made a white clam sauce with half the clams and steamed the rest to eat alone. The Talapia, I soaked in milk with dill and some Texas Pete's Hot Sauce and then floured it before sauteing in some olive oil and butter.

The boys came by for a while to read "A Night Before Christmas", a tradition they have with their mom, and open one present before going back to their dad's for the evening.

Some neighbors stopped by and we talked for a while and by the time everyone had left and Nancy and I finished cooking dinner, we finally sat down to eat about 10:15 or so. By the time we finished getting ready for the morning and opening a gift from each other it was almost 2:30 in the morning.

We woke around 8:30 and immediately began prepping breakfast. The boys had been promised one of our special breakfasts. Nancy and I kick a** on this...French Toast (using Italian Bread), BACON, pork sausage patties, home fries, and scrambled eggs.

The boys arrived and we left everything ready to finish up in the kitchen and moved into the family room. The boys opened their presents with abandon and then they headed to the neighbors to compare bounty.

Nancy and I got breakfast ready when the boys and the neighbor kids showed up. Asked if they wanted to join us, both kids, Katy (14) and Jacob (9) accepted readily, so we set two more plates and sat down to dig in.

It was great!

Unfortunately, then I had to run home, as a package had been delivered after I had left the day before and it could not sit outside until I returned home that evening.

Once that was done, we all headed to Nancy's sister's home for their Christmas celebration. As mentioned above, I was bringing my antipasto platter. The meal was all finger foods.

It is different from what my family has done, but the meal you eat is not as important as the people you spend the time celebrating. After the meal, presents were exchanged and then Nancy's mom (Momma Dot), put the kids to work, breaking them into two groups - boys & girls - and sending them off to come up with a Christmas song to sing, the winners to get more bounty!

The boys did a much better job than the girls did and collected their gain. I have been warmly welcomed into this family and it is very special. Nancy's sister told me "Well, you are now being treated as a family member, you and Nancy are getting a gift together." It made me smile.

AND it turned out there was a Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Fesitvus/Gift Of The Magi Miracle on top of it all!

Y'all know the story of The Gift Of The Magi, by O' Henry (not the candy bar, the poet), wherein Jim Dillingham Young and his wife Della are a young couple who are very much in love with each other, but can barely afford their one-room apartment due to their very bad economic situation.

For Christmas, Della decides to buy Jim a chain which costs twenty dollars for his prized pocket watch given to him by his father. To raise the funds, she has her long hair cut off and sold to make a wig. Meanwhile, Jim decides to sell his watch to buy Della a beautiful set of combs made out of tortoise shell for her lovely, knee-length brown hair.

Although each is disappointed to find the gift they chose rendered useless, each is pleased with the gift they received, because it represents their love for one another.

Well, here is how it worked in our world this year...

Our good friend MATT-MAN from "Bagwine Ruminations" owned a leather jacket....

Matt-Man told everyone he looked hot in the jacket, and his friends all told him it was so, instead of telling him the truth that he looked like an un-cast extra on a remake of West Side Story set in Des Moines, Iowa...

On Friday, I began digitizing some cassette tapes. Mom Joan and Dad Vince left their cassette deck behind. About 15 years ago a friend worked in the Warner Family of companies. They released a CD set that was The Warner/Chappell Collection. W/C is the music publishing arm of Warner brothers.

It was started back to 1929, when Jack Warner, president of Warner Bros. Pictures Inc., founded Music Publishers Holding Company (MPHC) to acquire music copyrights as a means of providing inexpensive music for films. Among the historic compositions of which the publishing rights are controlled by WMG are the works of Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.

I had duped it onto cassette and now I am adding it to my iTunes. It is a remarkable collection of music. On one cassette there is Talking Heads, Frank Sinatra, Barry White, Bing Crosby, Willie Nelson, The Coasters, Madonna and Wham!

It was a 40 disc set, that took up 26 90-minute cassette tapes. So much Ella and Lena Horne and the like. I am having a blast transferring this stuff.

In the evening I met Nancy and the Boys to see a Mississippi River Kings hockey game. A Church group form where they lived prior to their home now, comes up to see a game every year and it was really nice to meet some of the people I have heard about over the last year.

Saturday was the last of the shopping for New Year's (except the fish, which I ordered yesterday and will pick up on Wednesday morning), Prep some of the dishes and spend the day alone with Nancy.

She has to go back down to Jackson Sunday afternoon to finalize two more deals...my baby is rockin' this job!

As we said the other day, we will have a post tomorrow, and then Wednesday morning you will find a New Year's Eve Mix to enjoy.

Our next post after that will be Monday, the 5th, here pictures and stories (those that can be shared), of New Year's Eve will be shared.

The following Monday, we will begin anew with New Music Monday...bringing you 2 new artists and giving you the chance to own their music.

Spread the word if you will...let people know there is music out there to be had!

See y'all tomorrow.

From the newest digitization...two I really love having at my fingertips once again...

Mr. Wilson Pickett, "634-5789"...and Ms. Ella Fitzgerald, "Blue Room"...

ENJOY....

Also taking care of a friend who sent an email asking if I cold collect a grouping of the song "Please Come Home For Christmas"...found 13 versions that are being burned and packaged...I LOVES spreading the joy of TUNEAGE!

This is a new one floating around the bloggosphere, with JAY of "Cynical Ba**ard" and SONGBIRD of "The Ice Box" both posting it yesterday...seemed like a fun thing to do on a Friday, so...simply answer the questions in the comment area:
1. Who are you?
2. Are we friends?
3. Something I have and YOU want?
4. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it.
5. Describe me in one word.
6. What was your first impression of me?
7. Do you still think that way about me now?
8. What reminds you of me?
9. If you could give me anything what would it be?
10. How well do you know me?
11. How do you see me in the future?
12. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn’t?
13. Are you going to post this in your blog and see what I say about you?

New Year's Eve Dinner is sold out! LOL...

We will be 10 having a six-course meal that will begin at 6:00pm for cocktails, first course served at 7:00pm and then one course each hour until dessert/coffee/champagne/liqueurs/booze at midnight!

I have already begun to prepare the menu. Y'all will have to wait until after the holiday to find out what it is, but I will tell you the courses and they are:
1) Appetizer
2) Soup
3) Pasta
4) Salad
5) Main
6) Dessert

Been 3 years since I have been able to do this and I am PSYCHED!

DANG..almost forgot to mention (AGAIN!!!) that last weekend, Nancy's youngest Peter got his first deer. He brought home some venison, so we will be cooking some of that this weekend.

AND...her oldest, Ernie is starring in the HS production of "Beowulf (on a budget)" this weekend.

This his first attempt at theater and he was awarded the lead! I go tomorrow, front row seat with the video camera charged and ready.

OK, weekend music for y'all...

Have a great one!

This is The String Cheese Incident...a jam band that came together in the 90's and found a niche putting on shows at ski resorts, summer festivals and small venues. Band members are Michael Kang (acoustic/electric mandolin, electric guitar, and violin), Michael Travis (drums and percussion), Bill Nershi (acoustic guitar, lap steel guitar, and electric slide guitar), Kyle Hollingsworth (piano, organ, Rhodes, and accordion), and Keith Moseley (bass guitar).

The band has essentially broken up a few years ago with each of the members doing side projects, but they tend to end up playing the same summer fests and areas, so there are times they are on stage together.

This is their version of the classic "Orange Blossom Special", recorded at the Warfield Theater in San Francisco, CA:

ENJOY....