Thursday, June 30, 2016

BROADWAY IN MENDON



For the very first time ever a Broadway show was broadcast live in hd to the world. Ten bucks to ... I forget the website and BOOM!  there is was in our living room.


We do the live Opera thing at the theaters so we are familiar with the concept. We both really enjoyed it, a very sweet little show , with extraordinary talent. It is not that same, no - but could be a real kick if this catches on. 

Daily Koda




No filter or anything on this photo, still spots around us that are plenty green, and we are technically not in a drought, just abnormally dry. Or so the map makers say. Every day has been sort of dry bright and sunny - just hens teeth weather up here - so the days are all sort of running tougher .

The tan is drought, the yellow, abnormally dry!




1968 - and nothing would ever be the same



Wasting away in a little along time Netflix and chill - I came across this - and got lost in a couple of hours of just mind blowing film making. I was six, so this was all , other than what I have read, news to me. This was the year that really did change everything, the world blew up and had to be scotch tapped back together. Part of what just knocked me for a loop right off the bat was the statement that in 1968, television news was THE MOST TRUSTED institution in the country.

If you have ANY recollection of this , watch it. If you have the tiniest bit of political geek in you , watch this - if you just want to see two high class queens going at it tooth and nail, watch this.

Part of what makes it all so amazingliy fascinating , other than the dozens of direct parallels to the current election , is coming to this film from 2016, when we know what is going to happen, these folks do not.

Yes, that is a BLUE Texas and a RED California 

( four years from now was even worse )


Wednesday, June 29, 2016

This will break your heart...





“The 49 heroes who lost their lives on June 12 were brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, friends and neighbors, boyfriends and girlfriends, husbands and wives. They were mostly young and mostly Latinx. But above all, they were human beings who were loved, and who had hopes and dreams for long, full lives,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “It has been only a few short weeks since we lost 49 people to a deadly act of hatred. It is our responsibility to keep their memories alive and honor their legacies by ensuring our nation acts to end anti-LGBTQ hate and gun violence. We are incredibly grateful to Ryan Murphy, Ned Martel and the 49 artists who came together to create this beautiful and lasting tribute.”
In the aftermath of the Orlando tragedy, Murphy asked how he could help drive awareness about the dual epidemics of anti-LGBTQ hate violence and gun violence that, together, claimed so many lives at Pulse nightclub. The result was this moving tribute, filmed over the course of three days, at FOX Studios in Los Angeles.
“The hate that stole these 49 individuals from all those who loved them has been allowed to flourish in our country for too long,” said Ryan Murphy, Emmy Award-winning screenwriter, director and producer. “No person is born hating another, and we have an obligation as Americans to stand up against prejudice and bigotry that would incite violence against someone simply for who they are. I am proud to have joined with Ned Martel, my talented colleagues, and the Human Rights Campaign to honor these 49 heroes and stop the hate.”
Their stories are told by (in order of appearance): Lady Gaga, Chris Pine, Cuba Gooding Jr., Connie Britton, Matt Bomer, Sarah Paulson, Angela Bassett, Lea Michele, Colton Haynes, Sophia Bush, Jane Fonda, Harry Shum Jr., Denis O’Hare, Rob Reiner, Melissa Benoist, Caitlyn Jenner, Edgar Ramirez, Max Greenfield, Chaz Bono, Cheyenne Jackson, Emma Roberts, Kerry Washington, George Lopez, Evan Rachel Wood, Sofía Vergara, Diego Boneta, Nina Jacobson, Demi Lovato, Tyler Oakley, Yeardley Smith, Kid Cudi, Kaitlin Olson, Kevin McHale, Jamie Lee Curtis, Lee Daniels, Chace Crawford, Evan Peters, Gerard Butler, Katey Sagal, John Stamos, Laverne Cox, Jordana Brewster, Wes Bentley, Finn Wittrock, Darren Criss, Kathy Bates, Anna Paquin, Guillermo Díaz and Joe Mantello.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

What did you say ?



Neil finally gets some hearing aids!

Or at least started the process... the TINY little pods come later in the week

Daily Koda



 Our little mini drought is really starting to get serious - the lush greens of summer are being the beat down yellows of a real drought!
 The sun has been great, and pretty rare for us, but we do need some rain!

Monday, June 27, 2016

dinner

It has just been very strongly hot and dry the last week or so , still cool at night, but the days are just stretching into dog day territory very quickly. The slow passing of yellow days coming too soon this year, and the lack of rain is really starting to become an issue.

Even with all that , I just could not eat one more burger or grilled anything on a well crafted salad. I needed cooking and spice. The BBC Food page on Facebook came to my rescue yesterday.



 From the BBC 
Aloo dum is possibly the most common vegetable curry in India. It’s almost like chips with everything here, aloo dum with everything there. It’s either easy to make or hard, depending on what you want to do with it. If I was describing it to somebody I’d just say boil potatoes, fry them with garam masala, add some tomato, chilli, turmeric and salt and it’s done; then, if you like, throw in frozen peas just before the end

 This is a vegan dish, but I added some cubed up chicken breasts. It hit the spot exactly, but in the end was a mistake as it just made the kitchen super hot. 


HILLARY AT PRIDE



This was just the cherry on the sundae that was the insane news week that last week was ... until this morning when SCOTUS dropped kicked the radical Christians .  Sit ins, Brexit, National Parks, Gay Against Guns, on and on. The little week that could.

Story from the NYT
( and nice to see Sandra Lee all healthy )

Hillary Clinton Surprises by Attending Pride Parade in New York

Saturday, June 25, 2016

TAKE ME OUT


For a whole bunch of different reasons, the main one being it was COLD for a good part of the early baseball season - this was our first game of the year! A good way to kick off for us : having the swanky parking!
Our pal Jack is in town and so we get to use his " on the board of the Redwings " perks!
A very nice Saturday afternoon so a BIG crowd - one of the biggest I have seen, may have even been a sell out. It was also some sort of little league day, they all paraded around before the game - including some of the little guys from our back yard.
Happy New Year
( late )
Neil with his first Muck Dog of the year and our pal Larissa 
It really was just a perfect day

One of the many joys of Minor League Baseball - chucking water balloons at kids with colanders glued to their heads. God Bless America, indeed.
Kodak still reigns here at Frontier Field!

Wings ended up losing the game by a single run, but other than that it was a great day/night!

RIP BILL CUNNINGHAM

Such sad news today with the passing of the New York Time's iconic photographer Bill Cunningham. He had suffered a stroke about a week ago . A top of the list go to every sunday morning, his ON THE STREET was a must read/see, and no one covered parties like he did. ( not that it was the same after Brooke passed ...)

Sad for us, but not at all for him - doing what he loved , his last spread was three weeks ago.Living the life he wanted right up until the very end, he was 87 !  .Something we can all hope for.

The trailer for the documentary about him


NYT OBIT

HAPPY PRIDE

Thursday, June 23, 2016

UK to EU : FU !




We spent the night watching the BBC - and the crashing of the United Kingdom . 
I do love watching British politics - and the coverage of it.

Such a strange night - and most of the world was shocked.
More about this later on...( its VERY late now...PM Cameron just stepped down..)

PRIME CAT


While watching the live shot from #10 Downing tonight, this cat just walked up and hung out a bit. All that commotion going on around him - and he just went about his business.




Dinner



SALAD NICOISE!

Neil was supposed to have a little lunch meeting here at the house today, 
but it fell through, so - we get the lunch for dinner!

They were going to have the salad with just your normal day to day tuna salad - but for us, I went to Wegmans and got some yummy real salmon - TUNA!  it was very late when I was posting this.... This really can be done lots of ways, and normally I do a great big platter of it - its a great way to serve lots of people. But went for individual tonight.

Here is a good palate recipe to use, and this dressing is very good - just, like every other time, use more garlic ...







Daily Koda



Another beautiful day here in the Finger Lakes of New York.
But we are getting very dry up here - one step above a drought! 
So, we need some rain and soon.

Very cool tonight - could be in the upper 40's!

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

WE COULD BE HEROS

In this new technology age the old adage of " don't pick fight with folks that buy ink by the barrel " is a bit moot. BUT, I think that the new rule to live by is " don't pick a fight with Congressman John Lewis if he can in any way sing " We Shall Over Come "

 

What a crazy and out of the blue day this was in the House today!.

I really did not pay that much attention this morning or early afternoon as I was out and about doing things, but as the day wore on and this sit in grew and grew - I was just glued! WHAT was going to happen when Speaker Ryan came back in the chamber!?! ... This sort of things does not happen in Washington!  The rules junkie in me or lets go with protocol fan that I am - is a bit upset by chucking decorum out the window. ( what is going to stop the guy nuts or abortion nuts from doing the same thing) The JOHN LEWIS fan boy thought this was the very best move ever !

The GOP cuts off CSPAN so the Democrats just go with like a Facebook live - and took the entire country with them!

And we thought all the political excitement would be in the UK today!

Food for Thought




I hope this fun little map embiggens well...

I have never had a garbage plate and I dont like white hots.. BUT, other than that!
We are almost in the WINE section .. I do like wine.

Also the tiny little dot of Pie ala mode is Cambridge NY, where my good pals Scott and Lisa live!

Off To A Good Start

 After the ups and downs of heat and way chilly weather and a few bad storms earlier in the week - today was just as close to a perfect summers day as you would ever want to have.
 and we made the most of it!

Monday, June 20, 2016

even with all that , I would not say it was a bad day.



In my house, middle of the day, minding my own business, I stepped on a wasp, and it stung me. Right in that super tender little spot where your next to pinky to attaches to your foot, BANG!. The photo is about life size - it was some rare Amazonian super wasp born up by the global warming.

 Later that day Koda and I are out walking ( I was a real trooper dealing with the pain ) and walk up on , almost surprising a mother skunk and her three babies... did not get sprayed. Then tonight got just  plumb wacky .... but all in all , not a bad day.

We are 42ed Street, We are the Children.

Friday, June 17, 2016

Dinner - or our adventures with a 16$ chicken.

At our little Tuesday farmstand there are two local farms that have meat. One is lamb, poultry and beef, the other is just chicken. I have always wanted to try one of these - organic, free range, yard bird sort of chickens, so this last market, I just bought one.

On sale for four bucks a pound! He or she was a little over four pounds but he just charged me the 16 bucks. It was frozen - I think they may have to be, because the only ones I have ever seen were.... but I really have no idea

 Looked and felt very different from your normal Wegmans fryer - odd thing to say about a dead chicken, but it looked much healthier - skin looked uniform.  And it was very heavy for its size - a solid muscular chicken! Was not as clean on the inside, but that is to be expected. I spatchcocked the bird and marinated it in olive oil, lemon, garlic and thyme, all day long.

 Our good pal Jeffery came over for a bit, they are sadly moving away on Tuesday, and be brought us over a few things they didn't want to move, including some grass fed free range ground beef from his family's farm - It was a surprise theme day!  Had a few beers and chatted , was nice being outside.

 later on that evening, Koda and I grilled 
 I got the grill really hot and the plunked the bird skin side down on the hot rack right above the fire, to get some color on the " front " , then moved it to the higher rack and turned the heat down a bit... and just let it cook. I did do some basting with a lemon thyme mix i made up.

 Tossed on some not local corn about half way through. And I do this the way lazy mans way when I dont do the full Martha treatment. Just trim off about the top inch of the ear, only to remove the little silks which will burn easily, but you dont even really need to do that, and just onto the grill - none of this soaking businesses - they get nice and charred on the outside and lovely and sweet/tender inside.
 so
organic, free range yard bird chicken
w thyme and lemon

Summer Corn 
w/ loads of butter

Little Salad

Very different little beasty that you are accustomed to eating that is for sure. If you had only had this your whole life and were giving a nice plump Wegmans roasting chicken, you would have no idea it was the same animal. The flavor was nice - it tasted like chicken ( I'm guessing ) not like the herbs and flavorings that you must use on a modern factory chicken. The texture is much more dense - hard to describe - nothing in the least mushy about it.

Would I do it again - probably not. I like what I get from the store, but happy that I gave it a shot. We are going to try the lamb at some point and will get back to you on that.

ALSO! in keeping with our theme, some more of those perfect freshly picked strawberries!
with angle food cake and yogurt 

Summer at Last


 After those couple of early days of really hot and humid weather , we have been stuck in a pattern of down right cool weather! But today, at at last, full summer. Koda and I were out making the best of it
 " listen to the mummer of the cotton wood trees "



 I am not really a rainbow flag sort of guy, at all, but Neil came home and put it up on Sunday - seemed like the thing to do, and it is just still up...


happy thing


We  have been all the lucky this week, another good friend bought us these very colorful roses as just a have a good day present!

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Dinner , Tuesday .

FARMERS MARKET DAY!
It really is nice having this little market/event right across the street from us.
Still a little early for a lot of produce, but got some salad greens, some tiny spicey peppery radishes and some just picked sugar snaps,


But todays find was this

I was all the excited, the lady manning the booth said I was the only 
person who even knew what it was ,

I should have taken some how to photos, but I had a lot going on.
Basically a sort of take on saltimbuccca 

Chicken cutlets, Serrano Ham and the Sorrell 
rolled up...



It had been a long time since I had done any real cooking -
enjoyed doing it and it was very good!