The Answer To The Burning Question...

Since writing about my breakfast preferences earlier today, I have been inundated with e-mails. All of them ask the same question. So, let me take a moment and answer all of you.



Van Camp's Pork & Beans is my favorite brand of baked beans. Target Brown Sugar Baked Beans rank quite high as well, as do Bush's (largely because I admire a dog who can keep a secret).

Wait... wait... I can't keep up the premise any longer. I haven't been inundated with messages about my favorite canned legumes. In fact, I've heard very little about the subject of my beans. To be more precise, nobody has contacted about beans. I'm still reaching to find something to write about.

I'm getting desperate.

Now that the taxes are done, I can curl up with some bad television, good reading and Van Camp's Pork and Beans.

On toast.

Something From Nothing

My brain 'taint a-workin' like I'd like fer it to today. For some reason, ever since I announced my intentions to blog regularly, I find myself staring at the blinking cursor on a blank white screen more than typing out words. I mean, for crying out loud, I just blogged about what I like to eat for breakfast! I almost stooped to writing about the potential gastorintestinal after-effects of eating eggs and beans in the same meal, just for a cheap giggle. Talk about trying to make something (a blog entry) from nothing (as in, who cares what I eat for breakfast?!)

I must be suffering a mental block. Actually, I prefer to refer to this condition as "cerebral creativity constipation" - a state of mind in which the natural flow of creative thought is constricted. No matter how hard I push and shove, the ideas just won't flow! I need a good, mental laxative. Maybe an evening of bad television and good books will loosen the mind up a bit.

However, it won't be tonight. Getting the taxes done tonight. Maybe tomorrow night. Yeah, that's it... bad TV and good reading tomorrow night.

Then I will find relief in my writing once more.

New Favorite Breakfast (or, Will She Still Love Me Tomorrow?)

My beautiful wife does not share my enthusiasm for my new favorite breakfast. It is an Americanized version of a tradition English breakfast:

2 eggs, fried overhard
bacon or sausage (whatever's in the fridge)
beans on toast
Coke Zero

I cook the meat, then fry the eggs, then warm up the beans (seasoning them with a bit of BBQ sauce, mustard and just a touch of maple syrup instead of brown sugar), all in the same skillet (although, obviously, not at the same time!) When time allows, I'll toss in some diced onions in the beans, sauteeing them first (the onions, that is).

The missus seems to have a problem with the beans on toast. It may sound a bit strange - a ladle of baked beans slopped over a slice of buttered toast. But, trust me... it is quite tasty!

This Week's 80's Music Moment

Talking Heads - Love -> A Building On Fire (Sire, 1977)

OK, you caught me. This 45 is not an 80's record. But it is the first release by a classic 80's band, Talking Heads.

Originally released in February 1977 (some seven months before their first album, Talking Heads '77), this recording is, in a sense, atypical Heads music. For one, guitarist Jerry Harrison had not yet joined the band (note the picture sleeve above). Also, the dense sound of the Brian Eno era was yet to be developed.

However, in many ways, Love -> A Building On Fire points to ear-tickling sounds to come. Lyricist / vocalist David Byrne's quirky, staccato delivery is apparent, as is his unique view of romance (later developed on songs like "Uh-Oh Loves To Town" and "Girlfriend is Better"). The sweetness of twittering birds and poppy melody call forth the pop-music-to-come on 1985's Little Creatures. The horns would come back in full force on the band's final album, Naked (1988) (remember "Mr. Jones" and "[Nothing But] Flowers"? OK, maybe not...)

In many ways, this disc - although not a hit when first released - helped launch the changes in music of the 1980's. Herein lies the seed that would sprout into a decade of pop music, for under this shell lies the musical germ of good 80's pop. Well worth a listen, and available on a few Talking Heads compilations (most recently The Best of Talking Heads [Rhino / WEA, 2004]).

New Mexico Post #2

West of Albuquerque, on old US 66

Mmmmmmm!!! Imagine the best elephant ear you've ever eaten, only denser and chewier.

If you travel to Navajo country, you gotta try some fry bread. It's made with dough, as opposed to batter (which is what elephant ears are made of). Sometimes it's served salted. The fry bread I ate was sweetened with honey. (It was also available with either powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, melted cheese or beans, meat & cheese - called a Navajo Taco).

Delicious!


Fry Bread from Four Corners

New Mexico Post #1

Somewhere to the north of Albuquerque

I seem to always have a song rolling through my head. For reasons I cannot explain, I could not get Wings' "Sally G" out of my head last week. Today, as we boarded our flight home from New Mexico, it was Thomas Dolby's "Flying North". As our plane touched down at MSP, I found myself singing "Gee, It's Good To Be Back Home Again" - the old John Denver song.

Downtown Minneapolis

New Mexico (and Colorado, Arizona and the tiny bit o’Utah we saw) was, in a word, breathtaking. I brought along a journal to record observations, memories, thoughts, etc… However, I decided to use our digital camera to record the memories – almost 1800 “memories” photographed over the span of five days. I will be sharing all 1800 photos on this blog.

Just kidding…

However, I will be sharing my faves over the next few blogs, and sharing our wonderful trip to the southeastern United States with all of you.

For tonight, however, I am very tired. Waylon & Willie need attention. So, let me leave you with this…

Near Gallup NM

Good night, friends.

Jumbled Encephalon Olympic Moment

The Olympic Games can be quite stressful for the athletes who are competing. For a few, it the stress can be excruciating. If one is not mentally prepared, they can crack under the strain.

This brings us to this thought. If an Olympic athlete totally freaks out and has a breakdown, and the IOC refuses to let them perform in the luge competition, does that mean he or she is de-luge-tional?

(rim shot and cymbal)

Friday night, 10:20 pm.

I'm lying in our crowded bed with my lovely wife and spoiled cats. We're hunkered down for the night, watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and pondering the day's events.




I'm way too tired. I don't have anything necessarily deep to share tonight. Nor do I have anything particularly entertaining. Maybe it's the heavy fried supper from Perkins we ate a few hours ago.

Anyway, here are a few random thoughts that are floating around my tired cerebral aquarium tonight...

I am wondering why Yoko Ono was speaking at the Olympics. Did I miss something? Was she a skier at one time or something?

I can't believe the venison brat I ate for lunch was still good. It smelled OK. It tasted wonderful. It had to have been in that freezer for over a year. I hope it wasn't from the 2003 season.

A good hoagie roll can make even a 15 month old venison brat taste fresh.

God's timing is always perfect - even (especially) when we wish it was time for something else.

The weatherman said snow flurries today. So much for accurate prognostication.

I gotta remember to grab that Rob Bell book tomorrow.

I gotta remember to grab some new jeans tomorrow.

I gotta remember to get my homework done.

I gotta set some goals.

Goal #1: Stop procrastinating. I'll work on that one later.

Luciano Pavarotti should ease up on the spray-on tanning stuff and black hair dye. He's beginning to look like George Hamilton's stout half-brother.

Drowsy blogging does not create the best writing.

I'm going to bed now.

This Week's Phrase In Dutch

In a previous blog life, I used to share a Dutch word of the week. It was my way of helping the world become more bewust Nederland.

Now, I would like to share with each of you a phrase in Dutch each week. You can use these phrases to amaze and awe your friends, family and co-workers. They will be absolutely verbaasd (or astounded) at your grasp of the Dutch language.

Here is this week's phrase in Dutch:

"Mijn noedels rusten bij uw voeten."

"My noodles rest at your feet."

Enjoy!

RIGATONI A'LA HANNIBAL

I cannot claim total credit for this yummy pasta dish. In fact, it is adapted from a pasta dish I had at a local Italian eatery recently. Ohhhhhh... so so so good!!

16 oz rigatoni, cooked
5 or 6 mild Italian sausages
1 stick butter
1 yellow onion, chopped coarse
3 cloves garlic
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
15 oz. can of fava beans, drained (hence the "a'la Hannibal" in the name)
15 oz/ can of diced tomatoes, drained
1 tbsp. dried oregano
12 oz. can of evaporated milk
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 pkg. crumbled Feta cheese

In a skillet, brown sausages, making sure they are cokked through. Remove from skillet and slice into 3/4"-1" thick pieces.

Drain the grease from the skillet. Melt butter and saute onions, garlic and mushrooms. Once onions are translucent and mushrooms soft, add beans, tomatoes and oregano. Turn down the heat and cook through, stirring often.

Pour milk into the mixture in skillet. Stir and heat, then add sausage and pasta. Let all of the ingredients comingle. Stir in Parmesan cheese just before serving.

Plate this tasty dish up and top each serving with a liberal douse of Feta cheese.

Be ready for heaps of praise and lips a-smackin'!

Your Fake Horoscope for Thursday, 2 February 2006

Your Fake Horoscope for this week:

ARIES (March 21 - April 19)
Tonight, your "Happy 233rd Birthday, Vincenc Tomas Vaclav Tucek!" party will be a disappointing bust, when you sadly discover that, not only does nobody know who Vincenc Tomas Vaclav Tucek is, nobody cares, either. That is, nobody except Lewis, that guy two cubicles down from you who smells like ripe cheese and cigarette smoke. (Vincenc Tomas Vaclav Tucek was a composer - not that anyone cares.)

TAURUS (April 20 - May 20)
Happy Chinese New Year! Tonight you will amaze your friends when, over a platter of Moo Shoo Pork, you tell them that Chop Suey was invented in America, not China. However, in your Clavenesque spew of knowledge, you should stop claiming to personally know General Tso, the man responsible for the delicious spicy chicken dish. Your bluff will be called.

GEMINI (May 21 - June 21)
Love means never having to say, "Is that Visa or MasterCard?" Love always takes American Express.

CANCER (June 22 - July 22)
Better run to your local megamart. The third season of "Chico and the Man" comes out on DVD tonight. Included is the episode where Chico (Freddie Prinze) runs over cantacerous Ed's (Jack Brown) foot with his VW van. Special guest star: Charles Nelson Riley as the wise-cracking owner of a local deli.

LEO (July 23 - August 22)
Try not to look surprised when you learn that "acid reflux" is not some "fancy scientific term" for an LSD flashback.

VIRGO (August 23 - September 22)
Happy Groundhog Day! Today, Puxatony Phil will see Al Roker's shadow, signifyiing six more weeks of Willard Scott.

LIBRA (September 23 - October 22)
Not only will your chewing gum lose it's flavor on the bedpost overnight, it will peel a large piece of varnish off the wood. Do not put it back in your mouth.

SCORPIO (October 23 - November 21)
Your friends were right. "Vehicle" was not performed by Blood Sweat and Tears, or Chicago, It's Ides of March.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 - December 21)
Your lucky number is: 56,384,272.98367. Good luck!

CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 19)
The moon is in Aries, Pegasus is aligned with Orion, and Norma in accounting is the one who keeps taking your parking spot at work. Abandon your plans to flatten her tires - the garage is loaded with hidden cameras, and Norma's son is a pro-football linebacker.

AQUARIUS (January 20 - February 18)
Today is the day to fulfill your destiny. Fulfill your dream by following your passion for Extreme Knitting.

PISCES (February 19 - March 20)
Watch your mood today. When good fortune smiles upon you, do not smack that silly grin off his face.