Category: entertainment

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it’s baking season again! (soon Ralph, real Soooon!)

When the weather turns a little cooler, you'll remember why you have an oven! Above are a few delightful things to make this season: a Beef Wellington, Turducken ( and all the various combinations), Key Lime Pie, Chocolate Pie, Cherry Pie and George Washington's Egg Nog if you dare!

With Thanksgiving and Christmas, I will definitely be making one of those glorious bird-within-a-bird meals and to make it special… I have ordered a simply largest bird I can find! Looking at the Turkey above, it looks for all the world like a turkey that has been tied up a bit; however, with the exception of the legs and wings, there are no bones in this turkey. This is a   Turducken!

Turduckens  have been a yea old favorite for a long time. For hundreds of years meals of birds within birds have been served. The key for me is to de-bone them and remove all the skin but the outer turkey! The trick is to start assembling with the largest bird and add each bird until you get to the smallest while not forgetting to add the appropriate stuffing at each layer. Laura likes to refer to my effort as a fancy ‘meat roll’, but I think it is delicious every time! It also has a habit of attracting my daughters from wherever far flung environment they may be… which is nice.

Here’s the basic composition:

Turkey – corn bread

Goose – chestnut stuffing

Chicken – mushrooms and saffron white rice

Pheasant – cashew stuffing

Duck – wild rice

Besides a   Turducken,  I have a prime rib aging right now, a whole leg of lamb ( I have some Greek tenderizing ideas for this), hams and , of course, there will be dessert. Desserts are usually special in most families and so it is with us. Pumpkin pie is a staple and Christmas Cookies are varied… but we always find a time for George Washington’s Egg nog!

Stating thinking and planning, because August heat doesn’t last forever!

Roger

Here’s the basic recipe, plus How to de-bone a Turkey

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California Midstate Fair Preview

It's off to the Pig races! Karla drew this nice drawing for one of her entries into this year's midstate fair. Karla didn't win this year, but she was thrilled to be there!

The California Midstate Fair has been something our family has been going to every year… well… since forever. This year was a little different as Karla decided to share some of her art work with the world. My daughters always loved to watch the pig races when they were active and we have missed that little edition to the fair; however, Karla brought them back for her entry this year.

The culinary arts — such as they are — will not be forgotten this year as ‘pork’ products seem to be one of the Fair’s favorite offerings!

Chocolate covered bacon? hmmm... interesting decadence.

Two of my favorite experiences was to shake the hands of both great Americans Toby Keith and my favorite entertainer Bob Hope…. obviously on different occasions. However , Karla had a great time last night visiting with all the other artists ( a very competitive lot), sampling the food and talking about her art.

Karla's theme: a MOUNTAIN of fun -- Bull Riding CLICK to read more about the fair!
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Dragon’s Lair revisited

The iconic game of the 80's is still going strong! However, it nearly failed to survive and few know the story.

Some time ago, I tried to get my hands on a video game that came out on Wii last year with little success. It was the Dragon’s Lair Triology. I have it today as it finally arrived yesterday. By today’s standards it seems a bit slow moving, especially since the game video will run until you arrive at a scene in which you have a choice to make. It’s simplicity seems quaint but let me tell you a little about how it all began (early 1980’s) and how it might not have made it without the help of a three year old girl.

I remember driving to one of our stores in which we had placed a new Dragon’s Lair. There was a line that stretched for several block of eager young men willing to spend $.50 for a try at this revolutionary new full size arcade game ( it is important to know that most top games were a quarter and many older games were 3 for $.25). Oh yes, there was a local news film crew.  Looking back, it is hard to remember WHY there were any reservations in buying these games, but then ‘victory has many fathers.’

Now available for your iPhone!
Now available for your iPhone!

In my early days, as the marketing guy for a convenience store chain, I would be asked my opinion on a wide range of issues. Was the price of our milk too high? Can we sell more gasoline with a promotion? However, the toughest question to ask anyone concerns emerging technology, especially when it costs a lot of money upfront. There was also this little problem that although Dragon’s Lair was setting the industry on fire, there was — as I remember it — this little problem with the manufacturer’s cash flow, which raised a lot of legitimate questions by retailers. At this time, if I didn’t have a ready answer, I would call in my team of experts… in this case my 3 almost 4 year old daughter, Kristin.

Kristin, would come with me to work every Saturday and I would turn her lose in our video game warehouse where this new game was lurking. We set it on ‘unlimited lives’ and left it to Kristin. I would always support any game she would play for 15 minutes straight, but this one had special appeal and she played it all morning UNTIL she won! I related Kristin’s experience and all were ‘sold’ and the rest is history. Every store wanted one… and there were 1300 stores.

Who knows what might have happened if Kristin didn’t touch the controller that day?

 

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A Great Florida Vacation if you are in the Spirit

A selected view of our Florida Working Vacation....

I do enjoy traveling and sampling the cuisine wherever we go. Sometimes some of the discoveries are quite enlightening. For example, while in Florida , it became necessary to travel between Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando. I thought it would be fun to try  SPIRIT Airlines for a couple of reasons. First, the CEO of Spirit was part of a study lead by our daughter Karen assisted by her sister Kristin and an all star class and presented at this years Association for Psychological Science conference. Secondly, Spirit has it’s fans and detractors and I wanted to see for myself. On the bad side, we were faced with long delays coming and going, I would never consider Spirit with a tight itinerary. However, on the positive side, the flights were superb and the landings extraordinarily gentle. It is clear that the pilots were skilled. The big thing for me was the ability to buy a big seat without first class prices! Would I use the again? You bet, but I would build in a bunch of time for delays.

It’s been a long time since I was in Orlando (1997) and Ft. Lauderdale and Miami (1980), so returning to Florida was a bit like remembering the boy and then meeting the man years later. I was in Gainesville (2006), but college towns really never change in attitude.

I did very much enjoy the beachside ambiance of the  Aruba Cafe in Ft. Lauderdale.  Which reminds me. Have you ever noticed how food is always more expensive in states with high taxes? I noticeably blinked when I saw how inexpensive a quality dining experience was in Florida. Taxes, like a rising tide lifts all boats…. Jumps retail prices in a factor economist refer to as a multiplier effect. It’s hard to find anything with a competitive price in high tax states like New York, Massachusetts or California.

Oh, Laura my bride of 39 years had a little business to do while we were in Florida, but it gave us a chance to visit some nice folks including our daughter Kristin, her beau an his family.

It was a nice vacation.

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a time to pause and reflect at graduation(s)

after two weeks of witnessing graduations planning a couple of celebratory parties ... it's time to come home and recharge the batteries!

My daughter Kristin earned a masters degree in engineering at the University of Virginia and will be teaching at West Point in the fall … and our daughter Karen earned her Ph.D. at the University of Tennessee Knoxville … and will be teaching at the University of Louisville also in the fall. Congratulations, Ladies!

All this hard work makes me tired.

Dad