Sunday, November 30, 2008

Adios Pierre

Pierre is in the pot turning into Turkey Stock for either soup or Gumbo.At least he didn't scream like a Lobster when I put him in but then he was a dead Turkey pretty well picked over.

Monday, November 24, 2008

The Fixins

I went and bought my Squash today and another Pumpkin Pie.But what do I see but King Crab for just under 9.00 a pound so it's King Crab on Tues night and they also had Raspberries for 1.00 a package which was like 4.00 off so I had to buy two packs of those.The only thing I was sort of bummed about was when I got home I saw the stickers on the two Butternut Squash said they were from Mexico.Now I've got nothing against the produce from there but this is Thanksgiving after all an American tradition and since I was eating fresh local farm raised Butternuts a few weeks ago I bought off a farm stand in Naples and in Wolcott N.Y. I feel a little cheated.Also I will mention I think the Butterball holds up best on the Weber.If I'm going to spend 75.00 to 80.00 for one of those breed turkeys it's going in my oven.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Pierre the Turkey

I picked up my 14.5 pound Butterball Turkey for the Weber Grill on thurs and have named this years Turkey "Pierre" just because the Bruins are in front of Montreal right now and the Canadiens have had a lot of guys named Pierre play for them.It's an attempt to get the Turkey off the Bruins back.I thought I had everything I need so I could hunker down till Turkey Day but realised I forgot to buy a big ol butternut squash and bread for turkey sandwiches.Plus I bought a Pumpkin Pie but already had a slice so that will be gone by Monday.So I'll have to make one more trip to the store this week to get the missing links.

Officer Perry

So I'm reading the Truro,MA news site the other night and there is a story about some 63 year old lady getting busted for selling cocaine and smack.The investigating and arresting officer was a Sgt. Dave Perry and I thought the name rang a bell.I emailed my buddy from Babes days who lives in Rochester now and asked him"Is this our old friend officer Perry?" and indeed it was.We were pretty well acquainted with officer Perry back in the late 70's when we were all a lot younger and did foolish things.But my friend Tom's crowning moment with the officer came one July afternoon when we were cruising down Route 6 in his 64 chevy pickup which he had bought a few weeks before.Unknown to me he had put the plates from a VW he had the summer before and we had cruised around in all summer till it died.Officer Perry however on this fine summer day noticed my friend Tom had car plates on a pickup truck and pulled us over.We all got caught up on what we had been doing since last summer when we had"met" a few times and we laughed and then he wrote another ticket and we said we were sure to meet up again real soon which we did during a rather loud night party at our compound in the North Truro Family Camping Area on Highland Rd.It's good to know after all these years Officer Perry is still on the job.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Waiting for the bus by Trader Joes

On Monday I went over to Trader Joes and while waiting for the bus to come home in 90 degree weather I noticed a bunch of Oak Trees down Westwood Blvd. The thing I noticed were not only were the leaves turning a rusty red they were also dropping leaves.Now I know this happens but sitting on a bus bench in hot weather just seemed odd.Today while waiting for the bus I looked up the street to a slight rise and what at first I thought was stationary turned out to be a truckload of Port a Potties coming down the street at me.It's a strange thing to see the blue of the pottie buildings gleaming in the sun as the truck drives past.I wonder if the driver makes use of one instead of pulling in some place.Finally last night on the "Trout Towers" blog there was mention of musical folks named Kenny and I mentioned Kenny Rankin.That led me to see if the Kenny Rankin album was on CD.In the summer of 81 that LP was played a whole bunch in our North Truro bayside cottage except for Wed which was Reggae Day.The album was produced by Don Costa who did several classic Frank Sinatra albums.Now Kenny is very low key but this album is an unknown gem.He does great vocal versions of When Sunny Gets Blue,Heres that Rainy Day,While my Guitar Gently Weeps,On and On and a beautiful Groovin along with a few others.So I found out the CD is no longer in production but I bought one of four new listed on Amazon.I still have the LP but I had to get the CD once I found out it's not being made.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Smoke near the Water

I went outside earlier to get some Parsley and thought at first my neighbors were having a fire in our fire pit but it was dark on the patio.It wasn't till I was back inside and walked into my bedroom I realised I was smelling smoke from the fires North and South of here.Now that I know I've been smelling smoke all night though it is unusual because I'm not that close to either fire.Speaking of neighbors it was Sweetpeas 5th on Friday and she wanted to go to a place called Crickets at Santa Monica airport where you can actually get fried crickets(They have normal stuff also).She likes them and Knuckle Sandwich claimed tonight he had a fried scorpion there last night though it was a passing thing he mentioned tonight as they were leaving so I'll have to ask his parents.I gave Sweetpea"If you give a Cat a Cupcake" book and some other one about a small duck(without Gilbert Gotfried's voice).She gave me a piece of her really good chocolate pudding type B-Day cake.Did I ever mention here my idea to do classic books in audio form with Gilbert Gottfried as the reader.I think it's a real money maker.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Westside Pavilion

Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I'm happy to report that I visited both the Century City Mall and Westside Pavilion Mall this week and both are fully decorated for X-Mass.In fact some of the bigger stores are also decorated in the malls.I really don't know why they bother taking the decorations down.I solved it a few years ago when I just left the icecicle lights in my living room window and a small artificial tree with lights in my livingroom up all year.They have been there four years now.I turn the lights on Thanksgiving night and leave them on till orthodox X-Mass or my Feb B-Day whatever mood strikes me.The only thing I put away is my snow white small stuffed Bumble from Rudolph which sits beneath the tree.He wouldn't stay white if he was exposed to L.A. air all year.I just dust off the tree and lights and I'm good to go.If I buy a real tree I put it out on the patio with just clear lights so we can have fires in the pit and look at the tree.The only other thing I need to do is nail the X-Mass Moose stocking to my front door.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Grape Vines above Naples

Naples New York

Purple Reign

I made several trips down to Naples,N.Y. while home.Naples sits just beyond the end of Canandaigua Lake and was always the far end of our stomping grounds back in the day.When we were holed up at a lake cottage it was the closest place for supplys.It is a beautiful little village and I have been going there since I was a wee lad.One of the big things in Naples is grapes and the Grape Festival which was a few weeks before I came.The Grape festival is big time now and even the fire hydrants in the village are now purple.Wine is made of course but the Naples thing I most enjoy is Grape Pies.Nowdays in fall Grape Pies are all over.It used to be you pulled up at a farm scattered around the main and back roads grabbed a pie and left your money in the box and those are still around but now there are folks really selling them big time.There's Monicas Pies made famous by the Food Network who has a whole cottage industry going with pies then there's the farm market south of the village that sells Suzies Pies my fave.There are signs with arrows pointing down side streets in the village for Cindy's Pies and the little lawn chair you see with Mom's Pies when you leave Bob's and Ruths restaurant now closed for the season that also sells grape pie and in the past grape ice-cream and shakes. Others are Laurie,Brenda, and the many farmhouses.I have yet to see a man's name in front of the pies being sold though there is one farm stand above Naples that carries the family name .There's Grape Bread,Grape Tarts though I'm surprised Widmer or one of the other Wineries hasn't tried making a premium Grape Soda.Then there are the Grape Vines themselves all around the area though the ones running down to the lake are vanishing fast as Canandaigua Lakefront property and other Finger Lakes lakefront is fast approaching Lake Tahoe prices.I may be biased but the Finger Lakes are very beautiful country any time of year but in fall I think they are most beautiful.Lots of backroads and the main roads are two lane.Rolling hills down to long blue lakes and lots of farms producing all kinds of good food.*This post covers some of the same blab as Cider and Grape Pie from October or Sept but I'm getting old and the memory goes.I had an uncle that could tell the same story several times during the course of a party and not recall telling it earlier.I'm going to reach that point at a much earlier age than he did.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Pumpkin Musings

Back from roaming around my home stomping grounds and this time it was harder than ever to go west again.Of course being on vacation and working and living there is a whole nother story but the pull is getting stronger.I ate a lot especially grape pie and Rochester Dogs at various places including the Rochester Hot chili type sauce on them and have discovered my stomach will no longer tolerate hot sauce mutiple days in a row.Bought some Maple Syrup an old neighbor and her husband make on their farm from their own trees and had a lot of good meals at friends houses and at restaurants.I became addicted to the Broccoli and White Cheddar Soup Wegmans sells in their hot soup bar and am in love with the sub rolls they use for sandwiches which have a nice outer crunch.As for the pics I am on the left On the Erie Canal and on the right In the Erie Canal.It was Halloween Day we took my friends late brother in laws trawler from Fairport,N.Y. where it had been for two weeks in a better effort to sell it back to the Marina in Macedon where we took it last fall to spend the winter.It was another nice cruise and this time six were on board.We docked and while the boat was being tied up I decided to jump onto the dock.I jumped ,slipped a bit and my right knee buckled on me at which I lost balance fell onto my side and bounced/rolled off the dock into the next slip which was empty except for the water.It was just like in the movies when you hit the water wearing cool weather clothes.I went down thinking okay thats far enough now lets go up but that did not happen right away and when I came up went down a bit again then came up sputtering.The dock was to high to climb out and when they said I should swim back out to the back of the boat and it's ladder I showed them one of my fingers worked.I wasn't about to swim into deeper water with sixty pounds of wet clothes on me.Then my friend said to swim towards the front dock which I did and found I could touch bottom there.I then paddled under the dock and crawled under it onto the rocks by land where I slip slided my way onto dry land looking like swamp thing my pants and shirt now sporting a nice sheen of green slime.Some one produced a blanket and a bottle of brandy and I stood there looking like a deranged Indian Chief.In a final twist this lady with us had a digital camera.Lucky Me.We all had a good laugh and I took a lot of nautical ribbing the next few days.I think of all those times in high school and college wasted jumping out of boats and never fell into anything and now this.One morning there was a dusting of snow so I headed south towards Naples where the hills and fields had a bit more snow.It was quite beautiful.I drove by one field of Pumpkins and each one had a little white hat of snow on it.A few days later driving by the same field the snow was gone but crows were scattered about on tops of the pumpkins giving them a comical halloween look.To top it off I missed my flight in Chic to L.A. on Thursday and spent the night at Hyatt Regency O'Hare eating 13.00 Cheeseburgers and 16.00 single malts.

In the Erie Canal

On the Erie Canal