Perfect Summer Dinner

It happens much later for us that for most of the country, almost Canada and all, 

but the bounty of Summer does get here. Freshly picked corn, tomatoes, peppers.

Just open this corn up, remove the silks, close it back up and on the grill.

None of this silly soaking for hours blah, blah. Now, I do sometimes do the full Martha and 

rub an herb butter mixture on the cob, then sealing it back in its leaves - that is lovely.

But for tonight, the simplicity of this was called for.

Also some slow cooked bbq chicken.

Koda and Neil

Just a beautiful sunset, a fitting way to end this sling shot of a month!

 Chicken , Corn, Farm Stand Salad .

living is easy

Everything is just exploding with color...

 Mendon, like so much of the east coast is having the odd Summer cool snap. AC off , windows open - and rain, lots and lots of rain. Woke us up again at like 4 this morning with the flashes and thunder - When we did go out later, we got inches of rain, yet again. But as you can see the yard is loving it.

 Back to the swimming hole for us today

 Followed by a lovely walk home - the temperatures really are so nice.

Weather guy said it was all coming to an end this weekend as we are plunged back into 

Summer - well Finger Lakes Summer.. it has only been 90 twice this year....

DATE NIGHT

And a good date night it was!!

Daily Koda

Where you spend a quick summer thunderstorm

dinner

I had not cooked any " real food " in a while, so a sort of cool rainy day put me inside.

Smothered Pork Chops

Mashed Potatoes

Roasted Beets

Beet Greens

w/ lemon and garlic

I sort of followed a recipe and I thought it was very good.

From Ina Garten

Ingredients

4 bone-in center-cut pork chops (about 1 inch thick)

Kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 large onion, sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped

1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

2/3 cup buttermilk

Store-bought biscuits, for serving (optional)

Directions

Sprinkle the pork chops all over with salt and the Cajun seasoning. Pour the flour into a shallow bowl. Dredge the chops in the flour, turning to coat, and tap off any excess. Reserve the remaining flour.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chops; cook until browned, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.

Add the butter, onion, thyme and a pinch of salt to the skillet. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of the reserved flour to the skillet and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add the chicken broth, bring to a boil and cook until reduced by one-third, about 2 minutes.

Add the buttermilk and return the chops to the skillet. Bring the sauce to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium low and cook until the sauce is thickened and the chops are just cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/smothered-pork-chops-recipe.print.html?oc=linkback

Daily Koda / Daily Garden

 The park folks finally got around to cleaning up the HUGE black walnut trees that were toppled in the micro storm, what? A month ago  -  Our small pile of minor damage is still in front of our house, but at least the trail is now clean again. Koda very much wanted to help the workers.....

We are in full Summer up here -

even though the temps will be in the high 40's tonight....

letter never sent

New Obsession.

My late night news blackout youtube ramblings some how led me to this show.

Paul Hollywood's Pies and Puds.

This one with my old obsessions bff Peter

THE STATE OF GAY - IN THE U.S.A.

TODAYS BIG NEWS!

As opposed to Fridays big news....

I have been so bad at this, updating, even to myself lately, just because it is just becoming a farce. Today's news was bigger than most have been because even though this case was heard in Virgina, the ruling from the 4th Circuit Court effects all of the Circuit, Yep, SOUTH CAROLINA just had its equality ban over turned. With 42 pages of exactly why we have to wait in these states... like so many others. YES, its way illegal to deny these same sex couples their CONSTITUTIONAL rights, but you will have to wait a bit more... ( aka farce )

This is the map of where we stand today, IF ( IF IF IF IF IF ) there were no appellate process or stays, with more rulings coming down every day. 

I do not understand the process enough to really know what is going on with all the 50 cases that are in the works. I could figure out Windsor v the US or Hollingsworth v Perry - easy straight forward, mapping their process was easy. Infuriating but easy to follow - when it is 50 cases like this, no more than that , there are multiple in each state, and with the Supreme Court already ruling on DOMA ...
Just seems like the high court could have just ripped off the band-aid as opposed to this drip drip drip method.
Today's ruling was more complex than any I have read before, really took me a long time just to wade into the legalise and still did not really know. Let's just go with it was a GOOD THING.....

Dinner

Yeah, this is me not wanting to go to the store for supper ......

Double Daily Koda

 Poor little dog was way housebound this morning, so we were very happy to be out and about in the afternoon. Stayed on his leash, or else he would have been in the swollen creek so fast.

Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain ..... and then some more Rain.

Today was a record amount of rain for one day , so said the weather guy - but I dont know if that was forever, or just for July 28th. It was a lot of rain. I was very surprised that we , the park, was not flooded more than it did- which was really none. 

EVERYTHING is lush and green

or red

Our backyard is beautiful, all Neil's hard work is paying off.

MORE LIONS ( quickly )

From JMG this morning we get this FANTASTIC ad for Guinness along with this :



Guinness & Co. is currently airing a commercial for its beer with a popular gospel hymn as background music. The song "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" is played during the entire ad and even though there are no lyrics it is unmistakably the beloved hymn Christians know and love. The cherished "Everlasting Arms" hymn has no place in a beer commercial. Christian music should not be associated with an advertisement promoting drinking. 

The choice of including this hymn in the ad disrespects the Christian faith. Take Action: Please send an email letter strongly encouraging Guinness & Co. to change the background music in their "Empty Chair" commercial. Ask that they no longer use a hymn out of respect for Christians.

HOUSEKEEPING

For any newcomers to kyle+blog world asking " what's with the odd numbers sometimes ? ". I am a way way lazy blogger, but really like to keep things on here , on the day that they happened, so as eleven oclock rolls around and Koda has to tour Mendon etc, I just plug in some some numbers to keep the date active and get back to it post midnight - or in todays case , way the next day. AND I get to post one of my favorite BANKSY's over and over again .......

Now you know.

Baby Michael Gets His Activist On ....

Came from this :

Why REM's OUT OF TIME is the most politically significant album in US history.

ARMADILLOS IN MOES AND JOES

I'm sure the 'Roids found us odd.

baseball

( sorry for the delay!  )

MY DATES

EPISCOPAL NIGHT AT THE REDWINGS GAME 2014

Once again organized by Neil and everyone said it was a big success. St. John's was split into to groups - but still nice folks around us. Started out a lovely night, a few raindrops fell - not really rain - and then a lovely full rainbow , so well worth it

crosseyed baseball selfie

Wings won in the bottom of the 9th 1-0 with a little two base blooper.

Cheered everyone up

 FOR

The Rochester Philharmonic that played afterwards 

Always fun 

 and then a night cap of some ball park fire works!

Dinner

Big Pink Bowl 

of 

Spaghetti

( was just tired of grilling )

Mid-Summer Garden

The lovely Summer weather goes on, warm to hottish days, and really, very cool nights. Very close to the all time record low in Rochester last night, I'm sure it was in the high 40's here. This really is the area to spend the Summer...

 Neil is in his garden sun up to sundown , and it is really showing, so much blooming now. He really should have two garden parties a year!

Daily Koda

Good long walk today, a couple of miles - so nice to be outside.

The City to Busy to NOT have a Giant Blue Spaceship ....

The Polaris, once king of the Atlanta skyline has re-opened after 10 long years of not spinning over the Hyatt Regency. An early John Portman gem, it was long since overtaken by the explosion of vertical downtown - but all Sondhiem-esque, is still here. The AJC has a review of the iconic restaurant.

ROUND AND ROUND AND ROUND YOU GO

( What I found most shocking about the article is that Nikolai's Roof, now greatly humbled, is still around....)

THIS IS A LIE

Please watch this one :

From Media Matters  : " Fox News host Megyn Kelly misinformed her audience by claiming that that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not issued a travel ban over Ukraine, in order to bash President Obama over Israel. In fact, the FAA has banned commercial travel over Ukraine since April."

How do we as consumers of news, on either side of the political divide ,deal with this?

It is not just Fox either, the other morning Joe and Mika went round and round on MSNBC with right wing Joe shouting down Mika claiming that St. Ronald of Regan was instantly back in DC when in 1983 the then USSR shot down a Korean airliner with a US Congressman on it. When in fact Ronnie hung out at his California ranch until forced to head back, very begrudgingly to DC.....

How can we as a country , as a people, have any hopes of being an informed populace if we are spoon fed right OR left wing propaganda on a daily basis. Neil and Koda get to hear me yell at the tv every day .

Daily Koda

 We had an early morning trip to the vet for Koda.

He is fine, just some annual shots .

 Back Home

and into his day time guarding spot.

( the Fed Ex and UPS guys are very tricky and must be watched for , at all times )

.The inconvenient Civil War did cause Atlanta trauma

And I relive it every day, down at the Cyclorama.

Only now I will be going to Buckhead and the Atlanta History Campus and not GRANT park.

From the Atlanta Business Chronicle : Atlanta's Cyclorama will move from Grant Park to Atlanta History Center in Buckhead, Mayor Kasim Reed announced Wednesday.

As Atlanta Business Chronicle reported first three years ago, city leaders wanted to move the historic painting commemorating the Battle of Atlanta to a newer, higher profile venue to draw more visitors. In 2012, Reed told Atlanta Business Chronicle he was determined to restore the Cyclorama into a significant attraction for the city.

The world's largest oil painting will be housed in a new 23,000-square-foot building that will be constructed at the history center. The $32.2 million project is being financed privately at no cost to city taxpayers.

"I can't think of a better custodian for this historic work," Reed said.

"The Atlanta History Center and the Cyclorama painting are a perfect fit," added Sheffield Hale, the center's president and CEO.  ( THE REST WITH SLIDE SHOW  )

A CRY FOR HELP

I dont get it, really. Sure the GOP gerrymandered Athens out of the 10th , but there are plenty of non knuckle dragging folks living here . First Paul Broun and now this FOOL ?

From MSNBC : Jody Hice, a conservative pastor who believes First Amendment protections do not apply to Muslims and warned of a homosexual plot to sodomize children may soon be going to Congress.

Hice won the Republican primary in Georgia’s 10th District on Tuesday. Given the district’s hard conservative lean, Hice will likely win the general election in November. 

Hice would replace Republican Congressman Paul Broun, who is currently one of the most socially conservative members of Congress. Broun’s greatest hits include denouncing evolution and the Big Bang as “lies straight from the pit of hell,” calling for Muslims to face additional scrutiny at airports, and alleging that President Obama had a plan to take over the country with armed civilian militias. 

Establishment Republicans probably breathed a sigh of relief when Broun gave up his seat for an unsuccessful Senate run this year. Not only would they not have to deal with him in the Senate election, but they were free of him in the House too. But it looks like his replacement, who Broun endorsed in the primary, will carry on his legacy. 

In a 2012 book, “It’s Now or Never: A Call to Reclaim America”, Hice argued that Islam is “a complete geo-political structure, and as such, does not deserve First Amendment protection.” 

According to Right Wing Watch, Hice compared homosexuality to alcoholism and opposed a ban on gay conversion therapy in a by warning on his radio show that “we are enslaving and entrapping potentially hundreds of thousands of individuals in a lifestyle that they really are not – and it’s all for the sake of political correctness.”

In his book, he cited a 1987 essay by gay writer Michael Swfit declaring “We shall sodomize your sons, emblems of your feeble masculinity, of your shallow dreams and vulgar lies,” a quote Hice said “reveal[ed] the radical agenda that is currently threatening our nation.” He didn’t mention that the essay was a satire. 

Hice also popped up in a 2004 article in the Athens Banner-Herald on how local women were entering politics more often. His take: ”If the woman’s within the authority of her husband, I don’t see a problem.”

MENDON FARMERS MARKET

Every Tuesday between four and six we have this great

little very local farmers market that I ALWAYS forget to go to, but not today!

It is just right down the road at the fire station.

( where we vote and have our Firemans Carnival )

Just local farmers ( most of whom seemed Amish or that Amish light one  )

But super nice.

just picked blueberries!

You could just tell by the way these veggies felt that they were right out of the dirt

I came home with the very first tomatoes of the season, some beets, a couple of cucumbers 

and a very large bunch of basil

There was a HONEY GUY, an EGG LADY a MAPLE SYRUP GUY -

and a couple of people selling free range organic meat.. mostly lamb, I think we may try it next time.