Where do I begin on this one? I guess first things first. We were fortunate enough to buy a 10 acre farm in Temperance Mi. about 40 miles from Detroit. It had a brand new 10 horse barn and a new house. Could we, should we? Yessss! Let's get a new truck. Why get a Ford, we had horse friends, let's call them Betty and Tom, and every time we went to visit them he would always complain about the "GM POS," I was driving. He worked for Ford, and always told me to move up, get a Ford, they make the number 1 truck in the world.
I knew someone that worked at a local Ford dealership in Monroe Mi. (pronounced Munro) the home of Lazy Boy, Monroe Shocks and Jim and Sue Barton.
Uncle Everetts Rig
So I went out and looked at some trucks. I told him we were going to have a camper on the truck. A side note, my father in law is a very giving person and he thought we were crazy for going into debt for a truck and camper. He said Uncle Everett has a pick up with the camper on it for $300. As you can see, "you get what you pay for" I told my father in law that we had to haul a horse trailer and Everett's rig couldn't handle it.
Back to the truck deal, I told the salesman what we wanted the truck for, figured out the GVW's, engine needs, towing ability, and the constant "Yeah, the truck we picked can do it all'
Then I got the usual "What can I do to get you into your new truck today?" The close was, "look, you're putting a camper on this "veeehicle"(that's how he said it) right? I said yes, he said forget the rear bumper, you can't use it anyway, hey, you save $400. bucks.
I think I had the truck for a week, everyone was happy, my wife, my kids even my Ford buddy.
That's not Rose
Rose and Razz Youth Equitation
Champion
EMAR
Rose, my wife Jackie's baby sister used to come out and ride the horses and sometimes stay on weekends. Sometimes we won some money betting on her, but most of time we lost. Just kidding, this was a typical weekend for Rose. Free horseback riding. Look what "free" horseback riding did for her! Remember the rear bumper I didn't have put on the truck? One day at work I was taking a break and happened to be looking at my new truck and noticed the whole right rear fender had vanished. I took a closer look and I thought, hit and run. Damage estimate $2500. The whole bed would have to be replaced. Then I noticed rust on the damage, this happened a while ago. I asked Jackie about it, she said, OMG, we wanted to get an ice cream at the corner store, we were in a hurry and something stopped us. It really sounded bad, but Rose got out and looked and said it was ok. What side did she look at, oh, my side. No damage, the whole passenger side vanished underneath itself and you saw no damage? It seems they rammed a cement sign protecting post at full speed in reverse! That's what the horrendous thud was.
I think that's a curtain
rod hanging off the back.
They were watching
"The Price is Right"
Moral of this story, always have a rear bumper on your car or truck. Make sure you don't waste any of a $2500. dollar ice cream. A few years later we got another new pick up and as you can see by the picture,
I got the most durable and expensive rear bumper that was available, but this time I really didn't need it. She found another way. I think that's a window curtain hanging off the back, no one was hurt but changes of underwear were in short order.
I promised music critiques, I love Karmen, watch her band guys, they love her too! It's about time, something fresh and happy! Enjoy the Video! Please comment, we would love to hear from you!
I did a post not long ago about my favorite baseline favorites. I mentioned B.B. King and Robert Cray in the same sentence, and stated that I thought Robert Cray could possibly be in the same league as B.B. This is an excellent video of four guitar legends. Where is Robert Cray? I guess I must be wrong.
I have always loved the blues, growing up with 11 brothers and sisters could have something to do with it. Anytime you said "can I have" the auto response was "NO". My first musical instrument was of course, the Harmonica, I wrote a song about my sister Mary, but it's still not ready for prime time. I have a "we were so poor"story. One winter we couldn't afford to heat our house, and since my brother Joey was the only one that had a pair of sneakers, my mother would make him run around the block three times. When he got back from his run, he would take his sneakers off and we would all gather around the sneakers, and warm our hands.
Now back to business, I am so pumped to tell you this, I can't wait, this is so huge, I'm so excited, oh,oh the phones ringing and the puppy needs to go out, rug or phone? Rug! If you want to see pictures of our Aussie "Katy" it was on my last post. On April 23rd 2013, at DPAC in Durham NC. at 7pm, one half hour from where I'm typing, only a half hour from Raleigh NC, the Capital city, 20 minutes from Sam's club and Trader Joes, 18 minutes from Petsmart and BJ's Wholesale club, did I mention Bed Bath and Beyond?
B.B. King and Robert Cray are together on the same stage at DPAC (Durham Performing Arts Center) To see these two together playing at the same venue is incredible to me.
My favorite bass guitarist, Bernard Harris, give a listen.
Growing up in Boston, we were taught about the British Red Coats, Paul Revere, the Minutemen, the Boston Tea Party all the events that led us to become a "Free United States". Some customs left with the "yankee" culture, drinking tea instead of coffee is favored among locals. Za-rex instead of Kool-aid. Dinner is called "suppa"and the bathroom is called the "pissa" which is the second word in describing something fabulous. Something fabulous in Boston speak is of course, "wicked pissa"
I remember every Sunday, my mother would make Sunday dinner. She timed it just right, home from Mass, a beautiful roast beef with roasted potatoes, baked Italian tomatoes and Yorkshire pudding. It was named after Yorkshire, England, I would guess, with a pat of butter and beef gravy, the stuff is to die for. One thing we always did was save the salad for last, almost like dessert. The reason that made the most sense to me, some of the heavy duty Italian meals, spaghetti and meatballs for example could use a little help in the digestion process, the roughage that salad provides, makes sense. I've looked at a lot of video concerning the proper way to make Yorkshire Pudding, this one came the closest. I'll let you watch it and then I'll give you my recipe, which is similar but with a few Boston tips. He's very close. My little secrets are add an extra egg or two, measuring is unnecessary. Batter should have the consistency of pancake batter, Whisk until all lumps are gone. I use Jumbo cupcake tins . Preheating the pan, #1 most important, Preheat oven to 425 degrees, I use melted butter to grease the cups. Fill cups 3/4 full. Butter should be almost smoking when the pan is hot enough. If you want the pudding cups darker in color add a drop or two of Kitchen Bouquet seasoning sauce. Oven roasted potatoes were also part of our Sunday tradition. Happy Holidays to you all and enjoy or endure you families for the holidays! I'll put up the roasted potato recipe for you.
Give me a break ! Joe the absolute "King of Cuisine" has torn contestants apart about their cooking attempts, not meeting his standards, Gordon with his comments about quality and "Standards". The only guy that's genuine on this show is the Fat guy!
Let's go back to the show where they first mentioned Wal-Mart quality beef. I asked are you kidding me, forgive me I get caught up in the show, I thought if this is a trend, this show and the guys in it can go to hot place!
Last episode for me was "Cooking on the Trail" with Wal-Mart steaks. You know it would be different, yet still unforgivable, if they needed ratings, but they don't. I didn't know these guys were for sale, but as far as I'm concerned, Kitchen Nightmares, Hells Kitchen and anything else Mr. Ramsey and his buddies put their blessing on, can Kiss my butt!
Their credibility is out the window with me, the spirit and hearts of people have been ruined by these clowns.
I was about ready to shut down Hells Kitchen anyway. Too many F bombs, so little time. The whole concept is beginning to looked staged to me. Are those people real? Do they really cook in restaurants? Now, the only time we "eat out" is on the patio! The restaurant business is dead, I have a good friend that has to close his place at 3 pm, breakfast is his busy time. Time for new hope and change, the sooner the better!!
What a crock of poop! Where's Gordon?
What happened to the aging process, the quality purveyors, USDA Prime, everybody and their brother sells USDA Choice. Is Wal-Mart now the "Peoples Choice"? Far from it, Wal-Mart beef sales pretty much suck, and they lured these guys into giving Wal-Mart credibility, the only thing achieved here, was them losing theirs! Look at Joe's expression at the end, it's like. thank God I didn't say it!
I just got back from a trip to Wal-Mart, Strip Steak and Rib Eye @ $11.49 a Lb. Filet Mignon $14.49 a Lb. Presentation, pre-packaged, looks terrible. Looks nothing like steak presented on video. 1/2 inch steaks on a grill will never cook right. 3/4 or 1 inch steaks will finish properly and at the right doneness. Remember "standards" according to Chef Ramsey. Do they think all home cooks are morons? Picked up these Strip steaks at a local Super market (Harris Teeter) $7.99 a Lb.(on sale) and I hand picked them from the meat case, from a butcher. They were fabulous! Photo enclosed. Look, I'm not picking on Wal-Mart, but the meat business is way out of their league. Stick to what you do best, screwing over the little guys.
Newsflash! Wal-Mart is the exclusive vendor to Master Chef, produce, meat, everything! Adios, Mu chachos!
