Road Trip

I'm going to take a road trip down to North Carolina to do a bathroom for my In Laws in the home they bought down there. We can use the money and I need the work.
I went onto Craigs List to find a cap for the back of my pick up. One of the draw backs of having a pick up is weather conditions and the cargo. I don't need to pull into a rest stop, come out and find all my tools are missing. I found one. It's green and I have mounted it already to my red truck, lol. I'll paint it when the weather warms up.
I will be taking my 13 year old daughter down with me and I must say, she is a whole lot more excited about the trip than I am. Maybe she will get a few extra days off from school.
Hopefully I can get most of the work done in the up coming week. I'll leave the painting for my father In Law. I'll have to hope everything works out well with the plumber and electrician. They are suppose to have the rough done already but the In Laws told me that they don't even have any walls up in the attic where they want the bathroom to be. Ahhhhh, the suspense.

The Christmas Gift

No, not nail clippings, Lol.

I thought things were going to be kind of bleak this year due to me being laid off back in November.  There definetly would not be 2 brand spanking new cars in the driveway Christmas morning. That would never happen any way but I have to poke fun of that stupid commercial on the TV. My employer called on Christmas Eve and we met, He had a 16 lb smoked boneless ham for me and a bonus that was totally unexpected and the best news ever that work will be coming up in about 3 weeks.

My wife and I finished our Christmas Shopping Christmas Eve afternoon.

My wife wanted to get me a gift, Something I have wanted for years. We started in one store where we knew the item should be but it turned out that it could only be had through ordering it. We decided to go to the dreaded Mall. We started at Sears. The gift was an attachment for a Kitchen Aid and Sears does sell them. Again no luck. We had to start going to each Department type store in the mall to search for the thing. I was ready to leave after Sears but my wife insisted we keep trying.I hate the mall because I can't stand being in crowds of people and the smell knock the air out of my lungs. The perfumes and the candle shops are just to much. I like candles but not every scent at one time. I would rather be exposed to the CS gas they made me breath in the Army than have to endure the scents in a mall

My wife took me through each department store for the attachment. We went in order to Sears, Macys and then to JC Pennys. Each store sold Kitchen Aids but none had the attachment we were looking for.

I thought we were done when we left JC pennys but as we exited the store my wife pointed to a Boskovs. I had never neven heard of the place. We went up the escalator to the kitchen appliances, over to the kitchen Aids and there it was, one box left. The gift was mine and the cost was about 20.00 less than any of the other stores wanted and it didn't have to be ordered. As a bonus, I also got a bench scraper for working with bread and pastry doughs. Mine went missing a few years ago and not one store we have gone into since has sold them.

I am very happy with my gifts. Oh, what was the gift? Did I forget to mention that? I did say it was an attachment for a Kitchen Aid.

I have always made homemade pasta by hand. I do have a hand crank roller that I use. actually a pasta roller with 2 cutters. 1 cutter for spaghetti noodles and one for fettuccine noodles. I  used the pasta roller on Christmas Eve night to make homemade lasagna noodles. What a difference time wise to make homemade pasta and I didn't have a flour mess from one end of the kitchen to the other.

The Kinks -- Father Christmas

My Kids Find This Very Amusing

Gotcha

Does Anyone Use The Multiply Auto Uploader?

I have tried to download this thing so many times. I keep ending up with the same results when trying to use it after I download it. I window comes up asking for my multiply ID and pass word. I sign in and it tells me I have the wrong ID.
Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong?

I am thinking I need a paid account with multiply but It's not telling me this. I am tired of seeing the Install Down Loader on my page, lol.

Snow And Ice Festival

I wish there was an easier way to down load a power point file than to post it as an attachment. If you would like to view this amazing presentation but don't have a power point Viewer you can down load one for free at Microsoft.com.
I searched you tube but the videos there didn't come anywhere close to this presentation.

Attachment: Snow_&_Ice_festival.pps

Merry Christmas. My favorite Version Of The Carol Of The Bells

Carol Of The Bells - By Trans Siberian Orchestra. I love Their Version.

An Ironic Chef Recipe

                         

My Ravioli Making Adventure.

Beefy Ravioli

I have always wanted a good recipe for beefy Ravioli. I have made several through the years but I have always tried a meatball type mix and the filling after the ravioli are cooked have always been very dense.  I finally came up with a good filling recipe and the Ravioli I made yesterday were excellent.

For the filling

1/2 pound of ground beef

1/2 packet of Beefy Lipton Onion Soup Mix. (they are called Beefy Ravioli, lol)

1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of pepper

7 Saltine crackers soaked in 1/2 cup of water

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese.

The trick I learned was to brown the ground beef first, which I did with the Beefy Onion Soup mix. I waited until all the moisture from the beef cook off and then allowed it to cool. I then mixed in the rest of the ingredients, draining off whatever water was left from the soaking crackers. I Mixed the filling very well and then refrigerated it overnight.

Now I have always wanted to make Ravioli pleasing to the eye too. I do have a Ravioli Maker that goes onto my hand crank pasta maker but it doesn't allow for very much filling in a Ravioli at all so I have only used it a few times. 

I usually just lay out a sheet of pasta, put several dollops of filling onto it. Moisten around the filling with water and then set another sheet of pasta over it and seal the edges and then cut the Ravioli into squares. When boiling the Ravioli the seal is very poor. The filling usually leaks out into the pasta water. These Ravioli are always very rough in size and texture. 

I have tried Wanton wrappers which work out very well but I don't usually have onto wrappers sitting around. 

I went online to see what I could find for Ravioli Makers. I came across molds that kind of resemble ice cube trays. They are metal and come in different designs for Raviolis. The prices ranged from around 26.00 to 69.00. Sorry, I'm not paying that much for an ice cube tray.

I decided to make my own version of a Ravioli Mold. I went to work and came out with a pretty good first attempt invention. You will see it in the following pictures. Yes, I did do pictures.

Before those though, My pasta dough is very simple, 3 cups of flour, 3 eggs. I Always use 1 egg for each cup of flour. Just a bit of olive oil. I combine these ingredients to form a crumbly mixture and then slowly add up to 1/4 cup of water to form a nice stiff dough. I then let the dough rest before rolling it out. I use my pasta roller for this. I have done it by hand but the pasta roller makes the process a whole lot quicker.

                             

 

My old Pasta Roller. This is what I used back in the day. Today I use the sme concept of a roller but it mounts on my Kitchenade. 

 

My Invention, Ravioli Mold. It Doesn't look like much but what did you expect? 

                            

The Filling

Sheet Of Pasta

                     I then pushed the meat filling into the pockets and

                              Brushed water around the filling.

                              I place a sheet of pasta over the filling.

                             I roll over the pasta pressing everything into the mold and 

                              sealing the pasta.

Roll the pasta to seal the pasta and then flip over the mold. 

Roll over the mold to seal the Raviolis

Lift off the Ravioli Mold and trim the outside edges with a Pastry Cutter. 

Cut individual ravioli

Place Ravioli on a sheet pan that has been sprinkled with cornmeal. 

I just make a plain Marinara type sauce and kick it up with some hot pepper flakes. I cook the Ravioli at a gentle boil until they float to the surface. Give them about five more minutes and then add them to the sauce and allow them to simmer in the sauce for a good ten minutes. I gently stir them every few minutes to make sure they don't stick to the bottom of the pan. This recipe makes fifty 2"x2" Ravioli. When I get a chance I will do my recipe for Butternut Squash  Raviolis.

If these ravioli are to be saved, once they are all cut and placed on the sheet pan, just set the sheet pan in the freezer and freeze the ravioli. Then place the ravioli in a freezer bag for later use. Just remember, even if frozen. When placed in boiling water, once they float, they are cooked. 

Butternut Squash Ravioli Recipe. 

Very simple. 

Half the squash and brush with olive oil or butter and bake at 375 until soft. About 30 minutes.
Allow squash to cool and scrape out squash into a mixing bowl.

Process about 10 gingersnap cookies in the food processor to make coarse crumbs and mix them into the squash mixture. I also add a 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon at this point. The squash mixture should be stiff enough to hold its shape on a teaspoon. 

Fill ravioli as done above. 

Here is the twist that will make anyone's day.
Boil the ravioli until they float and remove them from the water and let them cool. Set up a dredging station with 3 stations, the 1st with flour, the second with a bowl with an egg mixed with just a touch of water and the 3rd a cup of plain breadcrumbs.
Dredge the boiled and cooled bread crumbs in the flour 1st, then into the egg wash and then toss and coat with the breadcrumbs. Do about 10 ravioli at a time and then deep fry them in 350-degree oil until golden brown. 2 minutes top. Remove them from the oil and toss the fried ravioli in a sugar and cinnamon mixture. I usually use about a half cup of sugar with a 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon.
These fried ravioli are amazing and I have never met a kid that does not like them. 

Gunsmoke's Ken Curtis

I am a major fan of an old TV show called Gunsmoke. My favorite character on the show was Ken Curtis, better known as Festus Haggen. I swear that some where in the branches of my family tree we are kin, lol. Any ways, I thought I would share that Ken Curtis was also a pretty good singer. I am sure you that have seen the show can remember a few of his diddies while riding old Ruth.
Ken Curtis had actually been in a pretty good group called the "Sons Of Pioneers". Here is a little sample of his talent,

Bumper Stickers

Bumper Stickers If You Can Read This, I've Lost My Trailer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 'IF YOU CAN'T FEED EM, DON'T BREED EM!' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Constipated People Don't Give A Crap. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Horn Broken...Watch For Finger. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Earth Is Full - Go Home. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So Many Pedestrians - So Little Time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cleverly Disguised As A Responsible Adult. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If We Quit Voting, Will They All Go Away? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eat Right, Exercise, Die Anyway. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Illiterate? Write For Help. ~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Honk If Anything Falls Off. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cover Me. I'm Changing Lanes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ He Who Hesitates Not Only Is Lost, But is Miles From The Next Exit. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I Refuse To Have A Battle Of Wits With An Unarmed Person. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You! Out Of The Gene Pool - Now! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I Do Whatever My Rice Krispies tell Me To. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fight Crime: Shoot Back! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ (Seen Upside Down On A Jeep) If You Can Read This, Please Flip Me Back20Over... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stop Lights Timed For 35 mph Also Are Timed For 70 mph ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Guys: No Shirt, No Service Gals: No Shirt, No Charge ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If Walking Is So Good For You, Then Why Does My Mailman Look Like Jabba The Hut? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ax Me About Ebonics. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Body By Nautilus; Brain By Mattel. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Boldly Going Nowhere. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caution - Driver Legally Blonde. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Heart Attacks: God's Revenge For Eating His Animal Friends ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Honk If You've Never Seen An Uzi Fired From A Car Window.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ How Many Roads Must A Man Travel Down Before He Admits He is Lost? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GROW YOUR OWN DOPE --- PLANT A MAN. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ - 'POLITICIANS & DIAPERS BOTH NEED TO BE CHANGED OFTEN, AND FOR THE SAME REASON.'

 

Turkey Tacos

I hope everyone survived the opening day of Holiday hell.

Tacos
Turkey Tacos
Everyone loves a turkey taco
Sassy kids, finicky kids, kids that need a smack
Whiny kids, Ridlyn kids even kids with attitudes love
Tacos, turkey tacos.
The tacos kids love to crunch.

Ha ha, I wonder what creative meals show up using left over turkey? We were burned out on turkey after the sandwiches for lunch yesterday. I have been teasing the kids with turkey tacos and have grossed them out rather well.
For a change I did make Mexican food last night though. No turkey, lol. I just made beef enchiladas and beef tacos. I wanted something with turkey but used chicken instead. I invented a Mexican version of General Tsao chinese chicken which we ate on home made flour tortillas. I spiced it up rather well and it turned out to be a hit. The kids actually consumed all of it and the Ole Elpaso Taco filling went to the dog.

I'm thinking that today I will make some turkey soup even though I nwill probably be the only one to eat it.

Pumpkin Bread

One of my favorite memories of a food while growing up was my mothers pumpkin bread. I have tried many recipes through the years and never had much success making it. It didn't matter how long I baked it or the heat, for some reason I could never get it right and always ended up with a gooey center.

I finally came up with  a recipe that produces the best pumpkin bread and I made several loaves yesterday. I wasn't home when my daughters came home from school to find when I did arrive that most of one loaf that I had made in a bundt pan has almost been entirely eaten. I asked them how the pumpkin bread was and they gave me that surprised look, "pumpkin Bread, like we thought it was carrot cake". I didn't know whether to be offended or honored because I know that they love carrot cake. I also knew that it definitely had a very nice pumpkin flavor.

The recipe

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

 



       Ingredients

  *   1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
    * 1 cup vegetable oil
    * 4 eggs
    * 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
    * 3 cups white sugar
    * 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
    * 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
    * 1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
    * 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
    * 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
    * 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
    * 1 teaspoon baking powder

   

DIRECTIONS

   1. Combine pumpkin, oil and eggs. Sift together dry ingredients. Combine the two mixtures, blending thoroughly.
   2. Pour into 2 greased 9 x 5 x3  inch loaf pans and bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 1 hour.

I didn't have a 9"x5"x3" bread pan. Mine is 9"x5"x5" and I filled it 3/4 full. I had enough of the mix left over to also fill a bundt pan half way. After baking for an hour I checked them and put a skewer into the one in the bread pan and it wasn't done. The one in the bundt pan wasn't either. I baked them for another ten minutes and the one in the bundt pan was done but not the one in the loaf pan. I baked the one in the deep loaf pan for a total of 1 1/2 hours before the skewer came out clean.

The reason for liking this recipe.... If anyone has seen my NY Apple cake recipe, besides for the pumpkin pie spices, it's almost the same recipe.

It Takes Fifty Years To Learn...

1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved and never will achieve its full potential, that word would be "meetings."

3. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

5. You should not confuse your career with your life.

6. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

7. Never lick a steak knife.

8. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

9. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.

10. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

11. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age eleven.

12. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.

13. A person who is nice to you but rude to a waiter is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)

14. Your friends love you anyway.

15. Men are like fine wine. They start out as grapes, and it's up to the women to stomp the crap out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with.

Thanksgiving around a ping-pong table

Must watch! How Obama Got Elected.com "Informed" Obama voters

If you have the time to watch this I would really appreciate your feed back.Be nice.

This Is For All You Turkey Hunters Out There

Southbank - Turkey Shoot

        <<<<<CLICK IT

Five Levels Of Lucky

The next time you think you were lucky because you spotted a quarter on the ground think of what these people may have thought afterward.

United States Military Veterans Day Tribute

I am sure that most of us Veterans can relate to this.

ADVICE FROM AN OLD TENNESSEE MOUNTAIN MAN

Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.
Keep skunks and bankers and lawyers at a distance.
Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
Words that soak into your ears are whispered... not yelled.
Meanness don't jes' happen overnight.
Forgive your enemies.  It messes up their heads.
Do not corner something you know is meaner than you.
It don't take a very big person to carry a grudge.
You cannot unsay a cruel, or unkind word.
Every path has a few puddles.
When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
The best sermons are lived, not preached.
Most of the stuff people worry about ain't never gonna happen anyway.
Don't judge folks by their relatives.
Remember silence is sometimes the best answer.
Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older
and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.
Don't interfere with somethin' that ain't botherin' you none.
Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.
Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with, watches you from the mirror every mornin'.
Always drink upstream from the herd.
Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that
comes from bad judgment.
Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it back in.
If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around.
Live simply Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest up to God.

.

Chicken Ala King, Help!

Many years ago I had a recipe for Chicken Ala King. For the sauce part of the recipe called for tempering in a few egg yolks which gave the sauce a really nice yellow color and rich texture. Does anyone have a recipe that resembles this?
I have had a request for a chicken and homemade pasta dish for dinner and have been wanting to make Chicken Ala King for awhile now.

Waffles

I finally bought a nice Belgian waffle maker. I have a regular waffle iron but have always been disappointed with the little thin waffles it makes. The new waffle iron makes nice thick waffles so of course it has been getting some use. I made up a batch a few days ago with a homemade batter with the egg whites folded in for some nice airy waffles and served them with some nice hot apples and cinnamon that I cooked up real quick and whipped cream.
This morning I am going to make some regular waffles and some corn bread waffles. The regular waffles are going to get blue berries and the corn bread waffles are going to have sausage gravy over them.
The sun is shining today for the first time in 5 days so I am thinking that a nice breakfast will make the day a bit more enjoyable. After breakfast I think I will just stare out the window at all the leaves that have fallen this week and just wish them gone. lol. I'm thinking that they need a few days to dry out some so that will be my excuse for not raking today. Have a wonderful Sunday everyone.

A First In American History

Boomp3.com

Yes my friends, the title that brought you here , A First In American History.

For the first time in the History of the United States we have had an election and someone different has been elected to become the President. President Elect Obama is Hawaiian. I am sure that all people of Hawaiian Decent are cheering around the world and in the streets at this out come.

I do believe that Hawaii  became the 50th state to the United States in 1959. I am sure that adult Hawaiians told their young ones that there was no way  one of them could ever be elected as the President of this country but the ground breaking news is that one has. If only Don Ho was alive to see this day

Now the question is, how many other Hawaiians will be asked in to fill the positions in President elects administration? I can't think of very many Hawaiians but am thinking that the WWF wrestler the Rock, a Samoan could probably do a pretty good job as secretary of defense. Who else, who else, who else? Oh yeah, Thomas Magnum could be used to crack down on all these banking scandals taking place as a Federal Prosecutor Against Corruption and Dano from Hawaii 5-0 could be his lead Federal Investigator. Things are looking up already.

This is an amazing event for Hawaii. I don't really think much has happened in Hawaii to bring it such Stately Bliss. Oh, there was the time that the Brady Bunch spent the week there and that's about it to my recollection.

So fellow Americans, I say I am congratulating the state of Hawaii for making history. I must not forget one other fact, congratulations to Delaware too. For the first time in history a Delawarean has been elected as Vice President. Congratulations Delaware.

Attachment: Don Ho - Tiny Bubbles.mp3

Grease Babies

http://members.shaw.ca/anabw/grease.htm



Click above

A Hero And True American

I woke this morning with the feeling of sadness and disappointment because I know in my heart that a terrible wrong has been done to someone I hold a very deep respect for.

A number of years ago the Carpenters Union that I am a member of  held it's 100th anniversary in Chicago Illinois. At this convention I had met and listened to John McCain  address myself and fellow union members numbering in the Thousands. He told us his experiences  as a prisoner of war and of what he had to do to over come what he had to go through. He talked politics and discussed issues regarding Unions in America and where he stood on issues concerning the building trades. When he finished making his presentation not a single person there did not stand and give him a standing ovation.

I realized at that point that there before me was a true American Hero and there are not many today that can be called that. Times have changed and heroes are seemingly becoming a thing or status from the past. Children need heroes and this man was definitely someone who should be looked up to.  I was honored to have been able to shake his hand.

I must note that at this convention In Chicago, where Obama lived, he did not attend this event. During this political campaign, the Carpenters Union turned it's back on John McCain and did nothing but bad mouth him and where he stood on issues regarding the trades.

As these years have passed I had started watching  the career of this man. Certain bills would come up for a vote and at times I would wonder why he wouldn't vote the way I would have wanted him to and why he would take the stance of being on a fence and never getting off on one side or the other but learned that he would vote the right way. He wouldn't play a political game just because he belonged to a certain party and believed that the rights afforded to us through the constitution should be changed because of a bill being pushed through by any party.

A big push by John McCain in the past concerned monies spent during political campaigns. For this reason he had to stick to his guns while running for President. Only Public funds would be used for his campaign.Obama agreed to do this also. That agreement didn't last long with Obama though. Obama floored the McCain campaign by out spending 3-4 times the amount of money, much of which came through private funds.


It has always saddened me to see the amount of money any politician will spend to win an election. I would think that that money could be put to so much better use. I as many Americans have, noticed how the media has backed the Obama campaign. It's not a question of why, the answer is all the money he was spending. People including the net work executives like that money and making money is their business.

Information regarding Obama's relationships which included his America hating Minister  of some  20 odd years, (how long has Obama lived in the Chicago area anyway?) His relationship with known domestic terrorist whom may have helped Obama start his political career, his relationship with a Jew hating Palestinian Terrorist, the people working with him on his campaign that made hundreds of millions of dollars from golden parachutes after leaving Freddy Mac, was never really addressed but it was more important for the media to attack Sarah Palin for her cloths and shoes and Joe the Plumber for asking Obama a simple question. Money talks and Obama sure knew where to spend it.

John McCain may not have been the perfect person to be the President of this country but again, who is? No one person can please everyone but as a person that met the man, (met the hero) I personally feel that he was the person for the job and earned the right to become our next President.

I am very worried about what is to come next. Our country now has an inexperienced leader for the rest of the world to see. We have a stock market that reacts to investors being taxed, we have businesses that will look else where for employees. Incomes are going to start falling dramatically. Money will start to disappear. Work and services will be done for cash, goods sold for cash, workers paid under the table. At least illegal workers will get free health care.  "God Help Us All"...

An Interview With God

My wife sent this to me and I thought it so beautiful and had to share it. It's very inspirational and the pictures used are beautiful.



           Inspirational Quotes

50 Of The Most Interesting Buildings

Very Interesting     Click very interesting. It's a link, lol.

The Empire State Building

I blogged these but thought it better to post them here so that they could be viewed with more options.

You Wanted Pictures

I took several shots of the Empire State Building to share the view that I discovered.

I Had to reach out the window for this shot. I Took a shot on this one so that if anyone would like they can zoom in.

Enjoy.

A Cool Trick With Mountain Dew

Working In Brooklyn...Oooooops

I am the type of person that gets very involved in my work and I very rarely take advantage of the sites around myself. Well to give you a fine example of what I am talking about, here goes.

I am taking a lunch break today and just happen to stroll over to a window of the penthouse suite today to grab a view of where I am working and to glance to my right and what do I see? The Empire State building a few blocks away as the crow flies. Now I may not know all that much about cities but I do know that when you see the Manhattan sky line The Empire State Building is usually in it. I will say no more.

Working in Brooklyn

It has been one of those weeks. My boss called me on tuesday night and told me that permits for a job we were to start hadn't come through yet and if I would mind working in Brooklyn for a few weeks. What was I suppose to say? I told him I didn't prefer to go to Brooklyn but as usual I would do what I would have to do.

Going to work in Brooklyn consist of getting up at 3:45am and hitting the road. meeting with someone and driving to the job site. I am glad that I don't have to drive into the mess of traffic in the city though. There are no traffic regulations in Brooklyn, at least none that are enforced.

I am surprised how many new sky scrapers are being built. I counted about 15 just on the route we drive. Of course every street seems to be tied up due to the construction sites and to make it worse any job-site not using Union labor had strikers and picketers out front. I am a Union Carpenter so I just laid low going into un chartered territory for myself. At least the building I was working in wasn't being picketed.

The job that I am working on is for the wife of one of the owners of the Philadelphia Eagles football team. A million dollar apartment off the Chelsie Pier on the 9th floor. The entire building is under construction with several of the apartments with residents already in them. Of course the residents in these expensive units are snobs and have to complain if we try to start working before 9am. We walked out of an elevator the 1st day there at around 8:30 in the morning and of course the resident in the other unit on the floor had to have a fit and complain. We were actually told the next morning that we could go into the building but were not even allow to talk to one another until 9am.

I hope that the owner of the unit we are working on has the entire football team come over for a party and this neighbor dares to knock on the door and complain about the noise and a couple of the players practice a few tackles on him.

The work that I am doing is to replace the existing newly built closets with computer stations, cabinets and pocket doors. I won't go into detail regarding how we have to go about putting in the tracks and such for pocket doors that have 8' solid doors with openings that are 8' wide. These are very heavy doors. One set of these doors will actually be used on a 30' section of an open kitchen and dinning room plus living room as a divider.

Any ways, I mentioned the new buildings going up. What is strange to me is that these things only have 2 apartments it looks like per floor. So average that each building is maybe about 40'X80". I am surprised at how something so small can go straight up so many stories and a good wind couldn't just topple them over. I would think they would have a much larger base and work off that.

BBQed Turkey

We recently broke down I bought a new little toaster oven. Our old one we have had for forever and we decided when moving to throw it out. You never realize how much you use something when you don't have it anymore. Making toast, bagels, frozen pizza, pizza bites and so on. It is really nice to have one in the summer too for baking. Even for bread. You don't have to heat the big oven in the sweltering heat and bring the indoors to unbearable heat.

The new one we purchased was a stainless steel model with a convection oven and a rotisserie. A Walmart special for around 70.00.

Today we celebrated a Thanksgiving for our Canadian friends. I decided to do a turkey roast on the rotisserie. Everyone has had a craving for my bbq sauce all week long and have been requesting it so guess what went onto the turkey roast? I basted and basted the roast with my homemade bbq sauce for the last half hour or so and I built up a beautiful glaze. MMMMM, it turned out excellent and I was pleasantly pleased with myself.

I know that most people consider Sunday as the 1st day of the week but I have always considered it to be the last and a day of rest. The BBQed turkey was a nice touch for ending a long week.

Inspector Pays A Visit

As most of those that read my blog know, My family just moved. My In-laws had the house before us and have lived here for close to 25 years.
Just the other day I get a notification from the Zoning Inspector stating that  the corner of our property where there is a fence and several bushes, that there is a sight obstruction. The fence has been there way before my in-laws even had this house. Plans are already set for over the winter when things are slow a new fence is going in. Now just a few years ago all the woods behind this house were removed and homes went up to form a development. On the side of the house with the sight obstruction is where the builder put in the street to the development.
The fence on our property is just a wire fence with grapevines growing on it and a few of the bushes could use some trimming so I figured I would go out yesterday afternoon and do what needed to be done. I received the notification in the mail on Friday afternoon and it stated that the obstruction needed to be cleared by this coming Tuesday. I have been grumbling though because I felt that the grapes and bushes have the right away in this matter but it's not like I can fight the system.
So yesterday afternoon I got the trimmer out and started on what was growing on the fence. Hah, what a mistake. What was growing on the fence was what was actually holding the fence up. Through the years my father in-law had stuck scrap pieces of 2"x4"s in when a post had rotted out and wrapped pieces of cloths hangers around those and the fence to keep it up right. I ended up taking down about 60' of the fence and what a job that turned out to be. It was the first time in my life I had to use a chain saw to remove a wire fence due to all the roots of vines, bushes and trees growing through the fence. Seems that the nice people living in the development used the road side of the fence to discard all their beer bottles, soda bottles, snapple bottle ect. for years too. I filled a recycling bin with what I uncovered. Seeing as how this fence was going along the side street now we have lost the privacy factor and the noise buffering. I guess the next project will be to put some shrubs along the property and the sidewalk. I have plenty of Rose Of Sharrons that I can transplant to the location because my father in-law has them planted all over the place willy nilly.
I trimmed back the bushes and am just waiting for the Inspector to say that they are in the way too. Looking down the street I can't believe that no one has any bushes or even a real tree in their front yard. I can't believe it. Am I going to be told that I have to cut down the trees next? I wonder what would have been said if there was a nice Blue Spruce growing on this corner of the property?

I was told that my neighbor, an 80 some odd year old lady who's husband, a retired police officer died a few years ago, was sued for a 180.000.00 because a tree on her side of the corner was blocking the view of the intersection. I don't know how anyone could sue over the fact someone has a tree in their yard. Especially when the tree was there before any intersection was installed.

 

A MacRant

I have to blow off some steam here. With all this crap going on with the stock market, the bail out bill, banks and insurance companies going under.......

I want to rant about gas prices. 4 years ago here I was paying from 1.50 to a 1.79 for a gallon of gas. We had it good here in the US compared to the rest of the world. The price per barrel of oil averaged around the area of $70.00 .

In the last year the price per barrel went up to almost $148.00. Gas prices here where I live topped at 3.99 a gallon average.
With what's going on with Wall Street the price per Barrel of oil has dropped down to $87.00 a barrel. The price at the pump is 3.39 a gallon.
Anyone doing any math here?

The price per barrel of oil is almost down to where it was 4 years ago but we are still paying several dollars more per gallon.
I hear the excuse that the dealers have to use up what they already have in their tanks because it cost more but, when the price of oil goes up the price at the pump goes up over night. Why aren't people screaming about this?

For the past few years I thought the reason for the high price per barrel of oil was because the oil producing countries were raising the price per barrel. Obviously that's not the case. The suckers on Wall Street are controlling the price of Oil.

Trying to contemplate what is happening with the economy leads me and my "Farsider mind to the Twilight Zone" believe that everyone is freaking out that Obama will be elected our next President thanks to the liberal media and their polls. I think that Americans are in a panic. All the big executives are pulling up stakes and leaving with large sums of money leaving the companies they work for very short on cash and the investors are freaking out due to the lack of money and seeing the big wigs jumping ship.

Anyone with money knows that if Obama becomes our next president he will tax and tax and tax and give everything to those that aren't contributing. People are grabbing what they can fast and probably hiding it in some off shore account where Obama can't get it.

 I scream everytime I hear that one of these CEOs or executives is walking off with hundreds of millions of dollars but again, it must be contactual. All planned. Just like here, when certain State workers  retire,  they walk off with big pensions and hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax payers money for never being sick and having 20 some odd years of un used sick days, or vacation days ect... Believe me, if public or government workers could find a way to walk off with millions they would too. I believe that these big guys with the money they are walking off with are planning for the future and want something that can't be taken away.

As far as the banks and insurance companies, I may be wrong, but don't think so, but I could swear that after 9/11 the US government went in and bailed out the banks, insurance companies, airline companies and anyone else that cried the blues.  Every time some industry starts to fail now there seems to be the feeling that government has to come in and do a bail out. I am thinking that now, if the government doesn't step in and provide a check, someone is going to cry fowl and lawsuits will be filed.You can't help out one without helping out everyone. That's not fair.

Grrrrrrr, Who is going to put their foot down and say it has got to stop?

Ironically, Stuffed Daffy Balls In Vodka Sauce

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hours,

Ingredients:

• Vodka Sauce:
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup minced sweet onion
• 4 cloves garlic, pressed
• 2 (14.5-ounce) cans petite-cut tomatoes
• 1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
• 1 large carrot, finely grated
• 2 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano or 2 teaspoons dried
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup vodka
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• Meatballs:
• 1-1/2 pounds ground Daffy (preferably 80/20 ground chuck)
• 1/2 pound Italian-style pork sausage
• 2 extra-large eggs, slightly beaten
• 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1/2 cup minced sweet onion
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
• 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 24 (about) small balls fresh mozzarella cheese (about 1-inch in diameter each - see Note)
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano
• Hot cooked pasta such as penne, rigatoni, ziti, or linguine
• Fresh oregano sprigs for garnish (optional)

Preparation:

Prepare Vodka sauce:heat Olive Oil in a large pot. Add minced sweet onion and gently sweat onions until soft. Add pressed garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, grated carrot, oregano, water, and Vodka, stirring to combine. Gently simmer until thickened and vegetables begin to disintegrate. Add additional water if tomato sauce becomes too thick. Season with Kosher Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. While sauce is cooking, prepare meatballs.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a jelly roll pan with non-stick foil.

To make meatballs, lightly mix ground Daffy, sausage, eggs, bread crumbs, garlic, sweet onion, oregano,salt, and pepper until combined. Do not over mix.

Place about 2 tablespoons of Daffy ball mix in your hand. Press a small mozzarella cheese ball into the center of the meat. Form the meat around the cheese until it is completely enclosed and round into a ball. Repeat until all meat is used.

Bake about 25 minutes or until Daffy ball juices show no pink color. Transfer cooked meatballs to the Vodka sauce. Serve over hot cooked pasta and garnish with fresh oregano sprig, if desired.

Note: The small fresh mozzarella cheese balls are carried in the deli section of most large markets and warehouse grocery stores. They come in a tub submerged in water. If you cannot find the small balls, use the larger mozzarella rounds cut into 1-inch squares.

Yield: 8 to 12 servings, depending on portion size

Dafferky An Ironic Chef Request

2 lbs. of Daffy's flank steak
1/2 cup of soy sauce
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoons of seasoning salt (recommend Lawry's)
A couple drops of Tabasco Sauce

Slice Daffy's flank steaks diagonally with the grain of the meat into very thin slices (If slightly frozen it slices more easily).  Combine ingredients and marinate meat overnight or 12 hours.  Be sure all pieces are covered (coated) with marinade.  Drain excess marinade.  Place meat on paper towels to soak up marinade. Meat should be squeezed as dry as possible in paper towels.  Place individual pieces of meat on rack in oven at 140 to 160 degrees for seven to 12 hours, or until meat is dry throughout.  Leave oven door ajar (slightly open) during the drying process.  Meat can also be hung in the oven by placing a wooden toothpick in each piece and strung from the rack.  Store finished jerky in an airtight containers.

Place in box and UPS to Zee over night delivery.

Ironic Chef "Home Made Daffyroni"

It Has been awhile since the Ironic Chef has posted a recipe but special times call for special recipes and seeings as how certain beast leave Holy messes all over the place I figured a special tribute to thy special beast daisy is in order.
Okay, for this first part everyone had better stand back just a bit cause this could get sorta messy. On second thought, I'll just close the door for a few and if any bellowing in several different languages are heard, please just ignore them. I will try to get this over with as quickly as possible. BRB.


"Zee, get up from behind that table. Let people know who is turning the crank on that grinder."  I actually stole this fine candid shot from Zee.

B. Now then, I had better wash up and get some of this spatter cleaned up and disinfect the work area.

Through the years I have made a point of letting everyone know of my fondness for pepperoni. So for todays tribute to beef I will do the honors of sharing a recipe for home made Pepperoni, ahem, Daffyroni.

Description:

This Daffyroni is a flavorful homemade cured Daffy meat, on the dry side, formed into rolls, baked, and sliced

Yield: 5 lbs (or 5 rolls)

Ingredients:

5 pounds lean ground Daffy meat ( There is a whole lot more Daffy but I wanted to keep this recipe to a smaller portion)
5 heaping teaspoons of Morton's "Tender Quick" curing salt
2 1/2 heaping teaspoons of mustard seed
1 teaspoon ground pepper
2 1/2 teaspoons garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Instructions:

Day 1: Mix all the ingredients and knead well. Refrigerate in sealed container (or air-tight with plastic wrap).

Day 2: Knead again; cover and continue refrigerating.

Day 3: Form Daffy meat into four rolls. Place rolls on an oven grill pan or wire rack; place the grill/rack on/inside a cookie sheet, so excess fat can drip. Bake 7 hours at 150 degrees. Turn rolls 45 degrees every 2 hours.

Store in the fridge or freezer.

Daffyroni is excellent served in a pasta sauce, on pizza or even sliced on crackers with a slice of cheese.

If anyone else has a few recipes using Daffyroni as a themed ingredient feel free to share. I'll be looking forwards to seeing your recipes.