Dinner

With nothing but fish or vegan coming down the pike,

 we celebrate the last Friday before Lent in true carnivore style

New York Strip Steak

Proper Slow Roasted Baked Potato

Asparagus 

w/ home made hollandaise sauce

Daily Koda

A beautiful bright sunny day - just icy cold.

All of this is VERY Dickie-like !

A video going viral today - many Dickie like actions!

Maymo and Puppy Penny

Happy B-Day Cindy!

Every Best Actress Oscars dress since 1929

From Cosmopolitan UK via TLo

I know you cant really see them here

so HERE is the link.

Front Door Cam

This is right now - Thursday morning - It just looks like every other day this winter.....

Dinner

This looks pretty awful, but it tasted really good!

HFBFF over for dinner 

and hitting his and my roots with some pre St Patty's

Boiled Irish Dinner! Not exactly where this menu came from...

Braised Pork Loin

Boiled White Potatoes

Boiled Carrots

Braised Napa Cabbage

w/ caraway seeds

The Square Official Trailer #1 (2013) - Documentary HD

One more documentary down, and this one will stick with me for a long long time. You would think it odd to call this film beautiful, but it is, on so many levels. HARD to watch at times, and so afraid for these brave people. You get to go into average Egyptians lives and you almost instantly care for them. So very honest - I really can not say enough good things about this film. So hope at some time the film makers give us more of their lives.

stupid is as stupid does

DINNER

Turkey Breast

Collard Greens

Squash and Cornbread Casserole

Sweet Potato

( and cranberry sauce )

Daily Koda

I understand that some of yall are getting the first peeks of Spring  - no so here in Southern Ontario. Very cold snowy day today, not easy to walk, the mild thaw and now deep cold made for LOTS of ice.  I dont think we are above freezing the rest of the week.

Dirty Wars - Official Trailer (HD) Documentary, Thriller

We watched this over the weekend, I wanted to see it for the longest time ( HUGE crush on Jeremy Scahill ) but working our way through the documentaries that are up for an Oscar this weekend - they are all on Netflix.



Disturning does not even start to describe this film, but do watch it. We as a country have to make a decision as to how we go forward in a post 9-11 world. I would agree with Mr Scahill that our current path is not working .

Blame Canada

Did the post church snacks yesterday - most folks go all sweet stuff, I went more cocktail party-ish. Made and mildly burnt some sausage balls while watching the Canadians win the gold medal hockey game. You would think that these folks had never seen a tea sandwich...

My Hero

Rep. John Lewis is a Southerner for the Freedom to Marry

Freedom To Marry, the campaign to win marriage nationwide, today launched a $1 million multi-state campaign to build majority support for marriage in the South. The new effort, called Southerners for the Freedom to Marry, will include significant field and media work over the next year in partnership with supportive organizations across the region. Bipartisan co-chairs include civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), who kicked off the campaign in a web ad; U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA); and George W. Bush advisor Mark McKinnon from Texas. “Our investment in the South comes at a pivotal time in the marriage movement,” said Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry. “The South is home to hundreds of thousands of loving, committed same-sex couples – and to a majority of the nearly 50 federal marriage cases now underway in courts across the country. Our new campaign will give voice to the many in the region now ready to move forward, including clergy, business leaders, conservatives, and family members, to show that all of America is ready for the freedom to marry.”

Be still my heart ....

NEW ( to me ) PETER GINN....

Tudor Monastery Farm Season 1 Full Episode 1

dinner

Pizza

Wings 

&

Movies 

w/ friends

Global Warming

Or at least 

Mendon warming.

Dressed the normal way I have been for months to go for our walk to day and almost got the heat stroke! Not sure how warm it was, but heavy coat, long sleeves, hat and gloves was oppressive. Fear not, sub zero by the end of next week. 

Welcome back , friend, you were missed.

dinner

Grilled Salmon

Green Beans w/ Potatoes

Roasted Carrots

w/ cumin seeds

The much to fast good bye

I did not come on board until the early 90's , I'm sure not until the PBS series was announced - but fell in love then and there, and came back often. 28 Barbary Lane was by now, full of old friends, and in this book Mr. Maupin lets us, and him, say good bye.
I wish it had been much longer, it took me only a few solid hours to read - and now they are all just in all of our heads from here on out. It is not perfect - no, it was not what I wanted it to be, the last of the series. But its not my book. Lives are what they are , and as off track as he sometimes get, these are Armistead Maupin's people, not ours. I wanted a Disney ending -all the surviving family together-  the fog rolls in off the bay, fade to black, but people change. San Francisco is not what it was in 1976 - places change. Very nice to have been able to spend a little more time with you all.

Thaw

First time for a little surfing in a while - way above freezing all day long - rain tonight, will just be a big old mess...

Old School and Old School FUNNY

Is the Tonight Show going to become must watch tv ???




Good thing John Stewart is on again at like 1:00 or something -

The Daily Show
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Your Friend the Collard Green

Martha, or one of her many worker bees, gives us the new ( to them ) 

WONDER GREEN

( from what I am reading kale is o-v-e-r )

COLLARD GREEN RECIPES

• I will be trying #5 the Chicken / Collard Green/ Sweet Potato Stew very soon.
• I have also been playing with my own version of a Southern Collard Green Dolma - sort of a rolled up New Years Day - BEP/Rice - some spicy sausage  - will keep you posted on that one.

If you are a foodie at all the MSL website has been totally revamped and has some very good cooking info on it, but its a little wonky to navigate, so it will take you some time. Everyday Foods is a favorite of mine.

UGA to gay athletes: We welcome you .

UGA's athletics chief says the Athens campus would embrace a gay athlete, just days after a player on a rival SEC team came out on his way to the NFL.
 UGA Athletics Director Greg McGarity via Columbus Ledger-Enquirer when asked about Missouri's Michael Sam coming out: "I think, and I've heard others say this, that you would hope in time that this would not even be an issue," athletics director Greg McGarity said Tuesday. 
"I think our environment with our coaches and our student-athletes has always been one of acceptance of really everything," McGarity said. "Our environment is to be inclusive. Our environment is to be color blind. Our environment is (to say) that you're a student at the University of Georgia, and that's what matters most."

UGA to gay athletes: We welcome you — Project Q Atlanta

dinner

This started out life as trying to be slow cooker beef stew, but sort of ended up more of a free form pot roast. I had never tried it before, I thought it was very good. There was a lot of really yummy , thick gravy still in the crock pot.

You brown your meat - this was two beef shanks and some regular stew beef - add it to the slow cooker with all your veggies, potatoes, carrots, garlic, onion, celery - what ever you like. Then in the same browning pan, toast some tomato paste - a good amount, half a little can. Then add some flour, then wine and beef stock. I added some rosemary and a big slice of orange peel, but its very forgiving - make it your own.

If anyone wants some exacts, just let me know.

beautiful day - but......

Like we have said ad nauseam - thaw/melt is not such a great thing. Sure it felt great to be outside this morning and afternoon, but as the say wore on we got this. Grey and wet - and AND tonight it has re-froze and when we head out in the am - it will be a slippery mess.

CURLING FEVER!

I am pretty sure that Neil and I will have to go into some sort of curling withdrawal program after Friday. The gold medal match will be Great Britain v Canada with the bronze match China v Sweden.

Daily Koda

We're having a heat wave!

First time all month that the temps got above 32º and it was a lovely day, even with the tiny bit of RAIN! that we got this afternoon.

 We were both in very good moods this morning!

Beautiful !

Jimmy's $100 Tonight Show Bet

I watched this  , post ice dancing last night, at least the first part - and thought this was funny as all get out. Also means that I have now seen more of the Jimmy Fallon tonight show that I ever saw in 22 years of the Jay Leno tonight show.. Joan Rivers being on was a big deal, the backstory for those that don't know.

DINNER

Leftover vegetable soup!

The joys of making a big pot on Sunday night.

Annual Daily Koda

Koda had his annual check up today -

he is just fine :)

then we took a walk around The Mendon House.

How could I not with this headline : "So yes this is LITERALLY the 600-years-old butt song from hell "

From Andrew Sullivan via all of the internets we get this today :

Hieronymus Bosch's

The Garden of Earthly Delights

1490/1510

Zooming in on hell side of the triptych we see :

A college student in Oklahoma has translated the painting into modern notation and made a recording

From Slate:

LISTEN HERE

Animaniacs - Presidents

Dinner

Cold and snowy - still - so MORE SOUP ! 

Back to that k+b favorite 

Lidia Bastianich's Minestrone

And were delighted that our neighbor Karin AND Fletcher the wonder 

Gorden Setter

Neil made a cheese tray

 All of the out of doors is a wine cooler

 It really is good soup, perfect for a night like tonight

Just some salad and bread -

Fletcher had to pee

 but then kept a watch over everything

THIS was a real fine, and will become a go too staple for me .

Ina Garten's Old Fashion Apple Crisp

Ingredients

5 pounds McIntosh or Macoun apples
Grated zest of 1 orange
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

For the topping:

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 by 14 by 2-inch oval baking dish.

Peel, core, and cut the apples into large wedges. Combine the apples with the zests, juices, sugar, and spices. Pour into the dish.

To make the topping, combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal, and cold butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the mixture is crumbly and the butter is the size of peas. Scatter evenly over the apples.

Place the crisp on a sheet pan and bake for 1 hour until the top is brown and the apples are bubbly. Serve warm.

Really very easy - I followed the recipe except I only had three pounds of apples. It worked out just fine. I did not use all of the topping, but should have - it is just wonderful. It does need to cook the full hour, if not longer.

Can't sling a ( pink ) dead cat.....

Long time k+b reader Susan's church was headlined in Atlanta's gay newspaper The Ga Voice this morning. At least on line, I don't even know if this is a published paper - and I can't now remember the name of the old Atlanta lgbt weekly.

A very nice article

St Mark's Methodist Atlanta

Sa-tur-day .....

Sure half the country is having weather that is just as crazy as it can be. I full out expect North Georgia to have frogs or locusts any day now. Here in the Finger Lakes winter just rolls on. Really one of the best ever. Loads of snow over the last few days making walking easier than when there was ice, although it has been really cold

 You can't really tell here , but it was snowing really hard WHILE the sun was shinning - the devil beating his wife ... in a igloo ?

We had dinner downtown with out pals Jack and Linda and I did not take any pics at all, which really sort of sucks, because they live right on the Genesee river and it is frozen solid, would have made some beautiful pics - but it was dark, etc. We watched the Syracuse basketball game after dinner. Sort of weird, but folks up here have a tad of college fever for the first time since I have lived up here

Hit Wegmans on the way home

A selfie in the snow

MORE!

The Colbert Report
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Valentine's Dinner

Anyone who has spent any time in the restaurant business lives in total fear of going out on this night, even on a non snowy Friday, so I just made us  - and you will see I use that term loosely -a very nice dinner at home

My Funny Valentine

A Be-Mine Cocktail 

Go big or go home - right off the bat,

 your jumbo cold water lobster tail

Swordfish 

w/ wild mushrooms in a coconut sauce

Basmati Rice

Baby Boc Choy

A very nice bottle of Champagne - that I am going to write the name of, just so I can remember

Champagne Collet Brut

This is an awful photo of a darn good meal - that I did not make. Wegmans sells these " make at home " meals or something they are called. The nice chef lady was giving away bites of this the other day and it was just off the charts good, so after our movie on Thursday, I went back and got us two. All you do is pour the sauce over the fish and roast for a bit - easy and delicious!

Again a bad photo of a lovely pudding - Eton Mess with Chambord flavored strawberries - in a red solo cup martini glass. We are all about the class.....

LOVE DAY

Same sex marriage in the US of A.

You know , it is sort of my job to keep up with this topic - and to keep you , my tens of readers up to date on the advances of liberty in our great nation. But, I tell you what - even me, with my nose to ever changing computer screens is have a hard time keeping up with where we are these days. Here on love day, lets take a minute to figure it out.

JUST LAST NIGHT , a Federal judge in VIRGINIA became the third judge in what, two weeks  - do declare state bans unconstitutional  - ALL in light of Windsor v United States.

President Obama thanks Edie Windsor
in the Oval Office last Wednesday.

The judge ruled with an immediate stay of his ruling, putting purple Virginia in the same came with bright red Utah and Oklahoma as states with marriage bans overturned but on stay  - awaiting what ? Three different rulings in three different cases all on hte exact same thing. Why did the Supremes not just toss that Jim Crowe baby out with the Edie Windsor bath water, ??

Fire and outrage and tales of the end times coming from the usual mouth breathers about Virginia and really at this point they can just use the exact same states rights , word of Almighty God clap trap bs that they have used on the other states. It is the exact same thing. The judge in Virginia even started off his ruling with the words from Loving V Virginia - all but daring a higher court to change his position.

So here 2/14/14 is where we stand - with above mentioned UTAH, OKLAHOMA and VIRGINIA sort of kind of limboish on this map 

AND remember looking at this that FEDERAL same sex marriage IS the law of the land. So even in that God Hates Fag Crimson of the deep south, you and your husband are going to get federal rights. The striped as far as I can tell is everything but the word marriage in Wisc. Nevada and Oregon.

I am too busy ( lazy ) to break down the % of the population but its has to be getting up there.. what will the tipping point be. Can any state ban stand if and when any of the three stayed cases is ruled on. Or will we have to fight this to the very end. I mean, can Mississippi keep their law if Oklahoma can't ?

OSCAR UPDATE - UPDATED

We saw this film yesterday, loved it, read down to best actress for my views, but I do want to say this may be , 100% top 10 , one of the worst movie posters ever, This is not a goofy buddy pic, kooky Brits doing kooky things at all . And a huge WTF to the air brushing of Dame Judi in this. They look the same age. I said to Neil on the drive home last night that Judi Dench was " brave " too allow that camera in THAT close over and over - Which is a VERY ageist thing for me to think and say, but in botoxed Hollywood it is very true. She looks very much her age in the film  - which is a WONDERFUL thing!!

Best Picture

Dallas Buyers Club OR Nebraska 

But would not be at all upset, surprised yes, upset no if Philomena won

• American Hustle
• Captain Phillips
• Dallas Buyers Club
• Gravity
• Her
• Nebraska
• Philomena
• 12 Years a Slave
• The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST ACTRESS

Having not seen Phiomena yet, I am in camp..... I guess Sandra Bullock, just for the scope of the role....Cate Blanchett was very good in Blue Jasmine, I just did not like the movie all that much. But either . As far as " acting chops " go - its all Meryl - she was the wood chipper in Fargo in some of those scenes, in a good way, but I dont think they will give it to her, again.  

Forget all of this - hands down, now that I have seen them all : the award needs, should - and I am leaning towards WILL go to Dame Judi Dench. Her portrayal of a real ( and I mean nothing pejorative about any of the following adjectives ) simple, honest real woman is a master class of acting. She and Meryl Streep are the complete opposite ends of a spectrum on this one - The wood chipper verses the tea cozy - and where as Ms Streep not only keeps you at arms length with her blood spattered role, Dame Judy pulls you in - takes you along with her - allows you to love and feel for the character. 

I told Dahn last night that I rarely cry at not dog themed movies - and Neil and I both had a gasping mini breakdown at one scene in this  - I am guessing you will as well. 

Dame Judy gets #2 ( and #1 was really sort of an odd award - so she needs a " real " one )

• Amy Adams - American Hustle
• Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine
• Sandra Bullock - Gravity
• Dame Judi Dench  - Philomena
• Meryl Streep  - August : Osage County

BEST ACTOR

Chiwetel Ejiofor OR Matther McConaughey - and really leaning more towards the latter, although Bruce Durn was freaking amazing in Nebraska. A hard choice. 

• Christian Bale - American Hustle
• Bruce Dern -  Nebraska
• Leonardo DiCaprio - Wolf of Wall Street
• Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years a Slave
• Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

100% should go to June Squibb, but will go to Lupita Nyong'o , and she was very good, just not in the film that much....but for her first film out she was outstanding .

• Sally Hawkins - Blue Jasmine
• Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle
• Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years a Slave
• Julia Roberts - August: Osage County
• June Squibb - Nebraska

SUPPORTING ACTOR

I would vote for Jared Leto , but Michael Fassbender was just as scary and evil as a man can get with out being Hannibal Lecter 

• Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips
• Bradley Cooper - American Hustle
• Michael Fassbender - 12 Years a Slave
• Jonah Hill - Wolf of Wall Street
• Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club

DIRECTOR

Hmmmm... since Gravity was ONLY in the director's mind, you would guess him, but my vote would be for Alexander Payne

• David O. Russell - American Hustle
• Alfonso Cuaron - Gravity
• Alexander Payne - Nebraska
• Steve McQueen - 12 Years a Slave
• Martin Scorsese - Wolf of Wall Street  

We are going to break down,  and watch the crap fest hyper masculine overdrive mess that I know Wolf of Wallstreet is - JUST to get them all in.

Daily and Nightly Koda

We missed out on this one.

The massive Southern and East Coast storm really did not come this far into New York. NYC and the coast was hammered. Koda as always loved the snow.

The very tail end of it tonight .... but no big deal