When I first heard of John Cusack's upcoming movie, "Hot Tub Time Machine", I thought it was the worst concept for a motion picture since Michael Bay's racist robots in Transformers. An 80s themed vehicle for John Cusack seems like money in the bank (see Grosse Pointe Blank), but it also could be an idea that could go horribly wrong.
Anyway, the trailer was released today and I have to say... it looks good... the trailer does anyway.
What do you do when you find an old chateaubriand in the freezer.....well I stuffed it with some prociutto, sage and stuff..oil it up then grill it. Add in some good smoke and it was ok, especially for a piece of meat we got at the ghetto grocery store, by my house. Oops forgot the red wine mushroom reduction.
Music was classical. Thelonius Monk. An amazing jazz pianist who like so man from his generation fought his demons but made great music. I snuck it on behinds Terry's back.
The wine to salvage the situation was Aleksander's Cabernet Sauvignon. A lovely red wine from the Ruthven area.
So lets look at it:
Visual: very deep red with great legs
Aroma: very very dark cherries, black plums and dark black berries. Very nice nose
Taste: initially I found the tannins nice and soft . The acid was there and nicely balanced. What can I say about the fruit, dark, dark fruit there and taste. This is a well made smooth red. Does this area proud.
Man it doesn't sound like I like...I do very much and I want more but methinks its now all gone....but their Shiraz is great too so I'm ok.
So this wine is great and went well with the meat. Enough cajones to stand up to the smoke and reduction and didn't overwhelm the tenderloin. Oh so nice. Wonder what this would be like with a real piece of meat???? Probably even better.
Tootles
Well its Christmas time again and as usual I am depressed. I hate winter and of course, hanging with the family. Lots of wine usually helps but there are childhood issues with the bad food, my Gran saying we were all heathens for celebrating Christmas and then my mum seeing how much rum she could put on her Christmas Pudding so she could get back at Gran who was a devout teetotaller. Ah fun for all.
So I get reflective at this time of year and ponder some important issues.
Why?
Why do Americans do ham so much better than us? Yankee ham is great! I love it and can't get enuff. Bro is bring a Honey Baked for Christmas and while wonderful we found one from St Clair Mi that is way better. Why can't we do better. We do good prociutto though.
Why is our beer so bad. It used to be good. Labatt's Classic was always one of my fav's and what do they do...get rid of it. Why do we not have micro-brews???? My current fav is from Liberty Brewing in Pittsburgh. Golden Monkey...a trappist style....superb....Blue Moon, Bell's, Jolly Pumpkin....so good and made by maniacs. We are losing the Beer War. When I was young, this was not possible.....I cannot handle this and well we need a national effort like the space program to regain our supremacy.
Why does ever event a result of global warming? No salmon out west, no cod, too hot...too cold. Hey maybe overfishing has something to do about it!!!!! And remember they once grew crops in Greenland and we were under a glacier here at one time....so weather changes in cycles....oops!!! I hate pollution too btw. Part of my fond Xmas memories was going over the Rough River Bridge on Xmas Day and chocking from the fumes.....we've come along way and need miles more.
Why is the Canadian Footy (soccer) Team so bad. Hey with all the Italians, why can't we get a team together and hey, with all the Portuguese in Toronto why can't they produce at least one Ronaldo..... Its embarrassing btw. Well at least we still rule in hockey.
Butter....American butter is far better than ours...and cheaper....and their cheese...our cows should produce better milk but with our marketing boards we can't seem to get an and its a fortune...oi
Ok I feel better now
tootles
Current Standings
Picklez 141 (5th place, 10 points behind the leader)
BabySteps 132 (8th place but essentially last)
LG 136 (7th place)
Tiny Tanks 142 (3rd place)
12 right. Not too shabby. I haven't had to rely on the Mr. Quarter at all.
Week Fifteen Picks
It's really coming down to the wire here. Unless I do abominably, I should be able to stave off BabySteps. LG would have gained another point if she had picked a winner in the MIA game. Four Upsets this week.
IND @ JAC - The question isn't whether or not IND will rest their starters. The question is what JAC team is going to play and is the JAC 1st string as good as the IND 2nd string. Picklez Pick: IND
DAL @ NO - DAL sucks. There's no getting around it. They have the tools and the talent but not the will. Picklez Pick: NO
NE @ BUF - A suckfest to be sure. I don't think that NE is psyched out enough to lose to BUF. Picklez Pick: NE
ARI @ DET - Last time I checked, DET was still terrible. Picklez Pick: ARI
MIA @ TEN - Upset #1. In a question of "Who wants it more?" the answer is MIA. Picklez Pick: MIA
CLE @ KC - I was just as surprised as everyone else that CLE defeated PIT; however, the trend for PIT is to lay down for crummy teams. In fact, they got the AFC Sucktacular Trifecta (KC, OAK, and CLE). Picklez Pick: KC
HOU @ STL - Upset #2. Screwston is so unpredictable. Suck Louis is predictably sucky. Picklez Pick: HOU ATL @ NYJ - Upset #3. Redman didn't do too badly Sunday. I was pretty pleased with his performance. Sanchez has a habit of getting too cocky and throwing a lot of INTs. I think that the terrible ATL secondary is going to have a banner day. Picklez Pick: ATL
SF @ PHI - Who would have thought San Fransuckso would have beaten ARI? PHI is firing on all cylinders and is looking to pull ahead even further in their division. Picklez Pick: PHI
CHI @ BAL - Wow. Pork Cutlet is one of the worst quarterbacks of all times. Picklez Pick: BAL
OAK @ DEN - Will OAK surprise DEN with a road win? I think not. Picklez Pick: DEN
CIN @ SD - This could be a preview of a playoff game... Picklez Pick: SD
GB @ PIT - Upset #4. The season was over for PIT in their loss to OAK. It died when they lost to CLE. Picklez Pick: GB
TB @ SEA - Nothing I like more than meaningless crappy games. Picklez Pick: SEA
MIN @ CAR - This isn't as much of a "No Brainer" as it appears to be. CAR tends to get underestimated. Picklez Pick: MIN
NYG @ WAS - So if Peypey gets to sit for most of his game on Thursday, the power of Manning! will get charged up considerably for Eli's use on Monday. That's the theory anyway. Picklez Pick: NYG
There's this mom at the C's school. We'll call her Shelly.
Shelly is the proud, married nonworking mother of a 10 year old boy and a six-almost-seven year old girl. The girl's name some might think pretentious; others might think charming. I think it's cute, given the girl. It is the last name of a very famous rock star.
Shelly is probably four or five years my senior. She has blond hair and a rock that must give her left hand some serious carpal tunnel syndrome. She can dress up but is most often in her uniform of jacket, sweats, some sort of slide-on shoes, hat, etc. Hair ranges from "done" to seriously "undone". Much like mine, I suspect.
Shelly is known to me primarily for dislodging little salvos at the most odd times. Here are examples of Shellyisms:
Shelly: "Hey, [DD], is [C] really turning 8 this year? Can you change his birthday date and time?" (this in response to the evite sent out by C's dad. He sent it out announcing C turning 8 (um, 7!) and it was sent out two days after ANOTHER evite for EXACTLY THE SAME TIME AND DATE for another boy in the C's class).
Me: I explained to her that this year was not "my" year for the big birthday party, that I had pointed out the overlap to them, and no, C is turning 7.
Shelly: "Well, nexft year you can pay for the pony rides I guess. Each year you have to up the ante, and do something better than the previous... especially in your case".
...two weeks later...
Shelly: "So, [DD], how was [C]'s birthday?" Me: "I don't know. Like I said, it wasn't my turn"
Shelly: "Hey, [DD], are you going to be at the PTSA Christmas Party?"
Me (having replied on the Evite "No" at least a week prior): "Oh, sorry, I can't make it"
Shelly: "Oh that's ok, we'll all talk about you anyway."
Shelly says these things with a completely straight face and, it must be said, with a charming lack of concern. Her comments bring to light that you are required by the social norms here to up your birthday fabulousness each year for your child (C's was at the Cougar Mountain Zoo, I understand, complete with Santa and Reindeer), and if you don't show up to PTSA events you are thereby forfeitting your right to rebuttal on any comment made about you, you doc-marten-and-jeans-wearing single-mom hussy!
And I believe her, too.
On both counts.
With our upcoming cross-country adventure looming, the Beloved and I decided to celebrate our own Christmas a little early this weekend. On Saturday, we stayed in our jammies, opened our stockings and exchanged gifts. Penny got her first stocking and was excited to find a couple of new toys and a few treats.
We said no tv or computer and we stayed in, lit the fireplace, listened to Christmas music and read. The weather cooperated for such a day by providing a much too rare all-day rain. Pretty much a perfect day.
The Christmas feast this year was a Bobby Flay recipe that we’d decided on – a veritable mouthful: Pan Seared Duck with Red Chile Pear Sauce, Bourbon-Brown Sugar-Asian Pear Relish and Potato-Blue Cheese Cakes. We had it with an excellent Novy Family Syrah.
This week is busy with a lot of prep and packing. I did stop by AAA today while I was out and scored this important travel aide:
We hit the road in THREE DAYS!
Somehow I missed the news that iMeem.com was being acquired by MySpace back in November. This is incredibly bad news for people that enjoy listening to online music.
After a little research, it appears that iMeem was in financial difficulty even though it was a huge hit with the Internet Community.
I am disappointed. I fully understand capitalism and how the world works... but, there is a part of me that would rather see iMeem gone, than whatever POS MySpace will deliver from the ashes.
So, where does it leave us? For starters, I would guess that most of my playlists on this blog no longer work. iMeem accounts have been wiped out; however, reports are that MySpace is trying to recover the accounts and playlists. Thousand of artists will not be paid for their music due to the nature of the financial deal.
I guess it's time to find another music site...
Articles:
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-post-imeem-myspace-music-is-suddenly-the-bad-guy/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/18/AR2009111803467.html
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/03/imeem-crunched/
What can I tell you that you don't already know? It's a Buffett album, but one that doesn't match the quality of the last few albums.
The Good: It seems like Buffett has finally departed from his attempt to duplicate the "It's 5 O'clock Somewhere" success. Of course, his efforts have produced some good duets and songs; however, it's time for Buffett to make the music he wants to make and not the music he thinks will get him CMT awards. Just my opinion, you actual mileage may vary.
The Bad: The album... I would put this in the category of "Beach House on the Moon". One or two songs you will like, the rest you will ignore.
Sean Daly at the TampaBay.com / St. Petersburg Times gives a less than stellar review: "Buffet Hotel: Don't Bother Checking In".
Buffett's new album is called Buffet Hotel — and no, that's not a misspelling. The Buffet Hotel is a West African musical hot spot. In rather fascinating liner notes (which are by far the best part of the album), Buffett credits this peculiar creative zone for Malian musicians as a source of his own newfound inspiration. The songs you are about to hear, he writes in a warm hand, retell his wild adventures to the far reaches of the world. Except they don't. Instead, Buffet Hotel is basically stuffed with the same crass, hackneyed ingredients he's been ho-humly regurging for years. |
It seems that a lot of PH, echo this opinion on facebook.
Props go out to Mr. Daly for actually reviewing Buffett's album without dismissing it as island anomaly among the utterly disposable rap, hip-hop, and club music released this year.
This is a public announcement. I filed my divorce papers today, hired an investigator to find the boss, and will most likely be hiring them to serve the papers.
The whole thing has run me about $300 plus what I have to pay to have the papers served. Shenanigans. I'm sort of irritated about the money, but guess what? I'm more irritated that the Boss has been taking advantage of me all these months. Really and truly, I probably would have given her all the way until December 2010 to get her stuff out if she had just cooperated, but now, she will have until June 30, 2010 (if she shows up to court). I may be able to ask the court for a change to the agreement if she doesn't show. That means on Feb. 4, 2010 everything in the house will be officially mine to throw away.
The thing is that I probably have another 6 months worth of cleaning to do. I don't know. Maybe two full weekends if I pony up the money for a dumpster. It's mainly scraps of paper, fabric and stupid art stuff.
END OF LINE
My Groups
-
Love where you live Updated: 2 hours ago
-
50 in 365 Updated: 8 hours ago
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
