Theme: "Second Shift" - The second letter is shifted into the third letter, and the third letter becomes second letter in each new theme entry.
23A. Gust that rattles the blinds? : SLAT SHAKER. Salt shaker.
25A. Humor among buddies? : CRONY JOKES. Corny jokes.
44A. Where mixologists learn the ropes? : TRAINING BAR. Training bra.
55A. Commonplace ballet technique? : STOCK PLIE. Stockpile. One word.
76A. Holiday season store statistic? : WRAP SPEED. Warp speed.
84A. Buzzers that can't be seen? : HIDDEN FLIES. Hidden files.
108A. Ordinary dolt? : COMMON CLOD. Common cold.
110A. Termite? : WOOD CRAVER. Wood carver.
37D. Tools for removing reputation stains? : BLOT CUTTERS. Bolt cutters.
40D. Complaint department? : CRAB COUNTER. Carb counter. Notice the O and the C in 37D's CUTTERS are the only connectors between two huge sections of the grid? Ideally there should be more flow.
Can
you imagine the amount of research work involved collecting these theme
answers? Don and I discussed a similar theme a few years ago, ours with
a "Bottoms Up" approach though.
Gail likes to put two themers in Down slots. She also carefully designed her puzzle so none of the fill is longer than 8-letter long.
Typical Gail grid, smooth and clean. I did flounder in the SNEVA/NA'VI area.
Gail likes to put two themers in Down slots. She also carefully designed her puzzle so none of the fill is longer than 8-letter long.
Typical Gail grid, smooth and clean. I did flounder in the SNEVA/NA'VI area.
Across:
1. "SOS" group : ABBA
5. Race site for more than 300 years : ASCOT. Not EPSOM.
10. Traffic stoppers? : NARCS. Drug traffic.
15. Goes on and on : YAKS
19. Tradition born under King Kamehameha II : LUAU. All crosses.
20. The "It Girl" Bow : CLARA. Alexa Chung has been the "It Girl" for a few years.
21. Youngest of three dramatic sisters : IRINA. Chekhov's "Three Sisters". MASHA is the middle sister. Five-letter also. Olga the oldest.
22. Inner: Pref. : ENTO
27. No longer used : OBSOLETE
28. Tweeting source : NEST
29. "Très sexy!" : OO LA LA
30. Rich deposit : LODE
31. Nouveau-Mexique, e.g. : ETAT. I thought it's some kind of cuisine.
33. Put away : SAVED
35. Plumbing piece : ELBOW. I had to ask Boomer. Turns out it's the same as Ell.
38. 1983 Indy 500 winner Tom : SNEVA. We had him before. His name just constantly escapes me.
39. Sprint, for one : TELECOM
43. Colorado tributary : GILA
48. Genetic info carrier : RNA
49. Heaps : A TON
50. "Rubáiyát" rhyme scheme : AABA
51. Rare indication? : RED. PINK as well.
52. Peanuts, say : SNACK
54. Gere title role : DR. T. Three-letter Gere answer has to be Dr. T.
59. Steadfast : STABLE
60. NYSE regulator : SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)
61. Cancellation of a kind : STET. Another tricky clue.
62. "__ we all?" : AREN'T
63. Tracks down : TRACES
64. Made judgments on diamonds : UMPED. Lovely clue.
66. Winner of 82 PGA Tour tournaments : SNEAD (Sam). Nailed it. Golf trivia rarely stumps me.
67. Pipe cleaner : DRANO
68. Zen enlightenment : SATORI
70. "That sounds bad!" : OH GOD
71. Chiefs coach Andy : REID. Easy crosses.
72. Short lines at the register? : UPC. Short stands for Abbr. Good old clue.
75. Garfield, e.g. : PET CAT
78. PX customer : NCO. PX = Post Exchange.
79. Start of an attorney's conclusion : I REST (my case)
80. Masters gadget : TEE. Golf again.
81. Kiddie-lit monster : OGRE
82. D-Day city : ST LO
83. Round fig. : CIR (Circle)
88. Split-resistant lumber : TEAK
89. "Whatever you say, honey" : YES DEAR. Nice colloquial phrase.
92. Sends : MAILS
93. Cheap shots : BARBS. Please don't engage those mean anonymous posters. They don't deserve your time or attention. My hard-learned lesson over almost 8 year's work with this blog.
94. Greenery-covered, as walls : IVIED
96. Liable to snap : EDGY
97. Heath-covered wasteland : MOOR
99. Captivate : ENAMOR
102. Mystery writer Buchanan : EDNA
104. Solitary sort : LONE WOLF. Evokes a dark image.
112. Generous offer : ON ME
113. Backspace over : ERASE
114. Did some whittling, say : IDLED
115. Hindu melody : RAGA
116. American-born Jordanian queen : NOOR. The beautiful Queen Noor.
117. Trifled (with) : TOYED
118. Tips off : TELLS
119. Keycard receiver : SLOT
Down:
1. "One more thing ... " : ALSO
2. Light source : BULB. Lovely clue as well.
3. They're heard in herds : BAAS
4. Bank offering : AUTO LOAN
5. Had a yearning : ACHED.
How I wish my grandma were still alive. She never complained. Just quietly dealt with the pain of her bound feet
and arthritic hands.
6. Political list : SLATE
7. Encrust : CAKE
8. Smelter raw material : ORE
9. Carwash challenge : TAR
10. Line at the beach? : NICE TAN. Not Bikini line.
11. LAX postings : ARRs
12. Real cards : RIOTS
13. "Inside Politics" airer : CNN. Hosted by John King.
14. Repeat : SAY OVER
15. Start of a quaint business sign : YE OLDE
16. "Diana" singer : ANKA
17. Co. known for music compilations : K-TEL. What does the K stand for?
18. Former Cubs slugger : SOSA
24. Brake : SLOW
26. "Piano Man" pianist : JOEL (Billy)
28. "Avatar" race": NA'VI . Another old friend whose name escaped me.
31. Room-size computer unveiled in 1946 : ENIAC
32. Jack's value, sometimes : TEN. Asked Boomer. He said it's Blackjack.
34. Somewhat : A TAD
35. "Holy moly!" : EGADS
36. Bath quantity? : LITRE. Bath city.
38. Clog cousin : SABOT. Do people still wear Sabots?
41. Rouen relative : ONCLE. Or TANTE.
42. Fabricates : MAKES
44. Mom's mealtime encouragement : TASTE IT. Is/was your mom a good cook? Mine wasn't. But my dad was. So was my grandma.
45. Critiqued : RATED
46. Drudgery : GRIND
47. Veggie sometimes pickled : BEET
52. High-end violin : STRAD. Or AMATI.
53. Tandoori bread : NAAN
56. She adopted Tigger : KANGA
57. Hospital holding area, briefly : PRE-OP
58. Principal roles : LEADS
59. Big steps : STRIDES
61. Fat-shunning fellow : SPRAT. So sad. Eat real stuff, just in small amounts.
65. Hang-around-the-house wear : MOCs
66. Scintilla : SHRED
67. Mower handle? : DEERE. Nailed it.
68. Highly seasoned : SPICY. Have you tried Trader Joe's spicy sushi rolls?
69. High-altitude home : AERIE
70. Was in the hole : OWED
71. First host of "America's Got Talent" : REGIS
73. High-tech classroom : PC LAB
74. Concocts, with "up" : COOKS
77. Tom Sawyer's aunt : POLLY. I don't think UNCLE TOM is allowed in LAT grid.
80. Lose energy : TIRE. Verb.
82. Sci-fi film classic : STAR WARS
84. Do cover : HAIR NET. Hairdo.
85. Fixed : EMENDED
86. Zip, in Zaragoza : NADA
87. Pudding fruit : FIG
90. Romantic evening switch : DIMMER
91. Rachael Ray sautéing initialism : EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil). Actually, EVOO is good for salad. Regular olive oil is ideal for sautéing, right?
93. Transvaal settler : BOER
95. Hold up : DELAY
97. Item sold in a kit : MODEL
98. How music may be sold : ON CDS
99. Business sch. subject : ECON
100. Prohibition : NO NO
101. It's used in rounds : AMMO. Too hot a topic to touch.
103. Shot contents : DOSE
104. Lounge around : LOLL
105. Mirror shape : OVAL
106. Component of some small Ferraris : LEGO. Got via crosses.
107. Kegger venue : FRAT
109. HUN neighbor, to the IOC : CRO. OK, Croatia.
110. It may be dry or sparkling : WIT. Not WINE!
111. Laudatory verse : ODE
Happy Birthday to our sweet Lucina, one of the few blog regulars I've met in person. Always a joy to read her cheerful and upbeat posts.
 |
| Windhover & Lucina, July 24, 2015 |
C.C.
46 comments:
DNF (or FIW, since I WAGged the final cell a couple times with no ta-da before I had to give in). Embarrassing, since sci-fi is one of my fortes, and that final natick was SNE_A+NA_I. We just had golfer SEVE Wednesday, now racer SNEVA (and SNEAD, which I knew).
HOLY MOLY! To start with blasphemy on a Sabbath day!
EGADS is "Me God" in an euphemistic way!
That's taking in vain
The good Lord's name!
What could be worse! OH, GOD, you don't say?
I'll tell you the tale of my poor ONCLE Dan,
Who went to the beach, to get a NICE TAN.
He timed his exposure --
A sno-cone cart tipped OVER,
Dyed him cherry-red, from his head to his can!
The animal tamer had a brand-new intern,
Fetching and comely and eager to learn.
But he near came unglued
When the girl showed up nude --
"You said TRAINING BARE was the lesson this turn!"
Greetings!
Thanks, Gail! Sparkling theme! Thanks, CC!
SNEVA and REID were all perps. Otherwise OK!
Cheers!
Morning, all (and a Very Happy Birthday to Our Dear Lucina)!
Very enjoyable puzzle today. I got the theme early on and found it to be a delight, except that for awhile I thought it was always going to involve the first word in each theme answer and that held me up for a bit when it suddenly wasn't. The only theme answer I really struggled with was CRAB COUNTER, but only because the underlying phrase is one I'm not that familiar with. Or with which I'm not that familiar, if you prefer. Either way, the perps revealed it one letter at a time until I got to the very end, and I was even thinking it might end up being CRAB COUNTRY for awhile.
I'll take CC's word that we've seen SNEVA before, but are we really expected to know that? Having it cross NAVI seems a bit on the cruel side, although I suppose more people have seen "Avatar" than know anything about 1980s Indy racing. Fortunately, I've seen "Avatar" and managed to remember the name of the alien race.
Good Morning,
Thanks Gail for the challenge to start the day. Clever puzzle. This was a DNF for me because I couldn't cross NAVI and SNEVA. I don't like SciFi so I didn't see the film, and I don't watch car crashes--umm, I mean races. Luckily I saw the theme at COMMON CLOD and I was able to fill in lots of missing/wrong letters. Like much of my time here, I always learn something new.
C.C., thanks for the explication. Your advice on BARBS is well-received by me. Even when I am tempted to comment to an Anon, I let it go. I know some are just "shy" and prefer the anonymity, but others. . . .
Have a fine day.
Good morning!
I liked Gail's puzzle, and got the theme early on with SLAT SHAKER. That helped a lot further down. Hand up for EPSOM. I misread "kegger" as "kegler" and inked in LANE. FRAT showed up in short order. I'm not a racing fan, but with the S and A in place, I was able to put in SNEVA. Lucky. I saw Avatar when it first came out, but didn't remember the name of the big blue people. I can see how that V turned into a Natick for some.
I thought the clue for IDLED was a bit weak. Otherwise a good puzzle.
Thank you Gail and C.C., No slips and an impressive theme.
I want to wish Lucina a very happy birthday. She is a truly thoughtful and positive person and a joy to read.
Oops, forgot. Happy birthday, Lucina, and may you enjoy many more.
Nice critique C.C. I SLOW starting in the NW, not knowing the SOS group, ABBA and didn't think the tradition was the HULA. I only had CLARA and ORE but did notice that its only connection was in the ELBOW LODE area. It was fairly blank until YES DEAR. Going from there I got WRAP SPEED and that gimmick told it all. After that fill, it was a normal Sunday pace with the usual unknowns filled by perps.
One write over that had me wondering before I corrected it was CRAP COUNTER to CRAB. STAPLE fit but I didn't think that Rich would allow CRAP. I also filled VIN for WIT but quickly changed and the cross of LEGO and RAGA had me wondering because it was a guess. Other than that I had trouble in the MW with ABOUT before I REST, MUMU before MOCS, SALTY before SPICY, and SATORI was 100% perps. ABBA & AABA and NOOR & NAAN in one puzzle.
I was also thinking food for Nouveau-Mexique until I realized it was the FRAWNCH ETAT instead of Espanol ETAT. I do live in Nouveau Orleans. And with that, I bid you adieu.
Good Morning:
Another clever offering from Gail but a DNF for me due to drawing a blank on Irina, corny, and nice tan. I guess the brain was somewhere else. I caught the theme right away and that always helps with the solve. I didn't know Sneva but had heard of Na'vi because that movie got so much hype. (Not a fan of Sci Fi.). CC mentioned most of my fav clues.
My mother was a wonderful cook. Not gourmet, mind you, but good, solid, yummy meals. I don't think we ever had a meal without potatoes in some form or another. And I swear she put her beloved onions in everything under the sun! She made melt-in-your mouth pie crust (with Cristo, of course) and a Chocolate Fudge cake that one of my brothers still waxes poetic about. Unfortunately, her youngest child did not inherit her culinary skills.
Thanks, Gail, for another enjoyable Sunday challenge and thanks, CC, for the breezy review. Re EVOO, I think Rachael Ray uses it for just about everything. She got her start in the food world giving cooking demonstrations in a local (Albany area) gourmet food store that has since gone out of business.
Last but by no means least, a very Happy Birthday to our dear Lucina who brings so much joy and delight to us each day! Enjoy your special day. 🎂 🎁 🎈 🎉
Have a great day.
Finished, but in poor time. Got the theme early with SLAT SHAKER (Hi d-o!), which helped with most of the grid. But the top center-right (10A block) stumped me for a while, and I thought this would end with a DNF. The only entry was 11D ETAS which should have been ARRS. But I eventually took that out, concentrated on the theme, and guessed CRONY JOKES, after which the block filled easily. I think the only unknown name was Tom SNEVA.
Some interesting combinations: ABBA & AABA & BAAS, CLARA (EL)BOW, SNEVA & SNEAD.
I had been under the impression that sabotage derived from throwing sabots into machinery in order to cause breakdowns. However, this source gives a different history. There, I've learned something today, that should be enough for December, right?
Thanks Gail & CC. And happy birthday Lucina, many happy returns of the day.
Thank you G.G. and C.C. for a great start to the week.
I thought the three sisters were the Gabor sisters; Magda was the only one that fit, but she was the eldest. I finally got "Irina" with perps but needed C.C.'s explanation as to
as to why it was correct.
Have a lovely day, everyone.
Hello, friends!
Thank you, C.C. for thinking of me today.
I enjoyed Gail's puzzle and saw the gimmick at SLATSHAKER. It was fun to suss the rest of them. Too many sports references always frustrate me, though. More later as I have to go.
My mother was a wonderful cook and worked in the restaurant industry for many years.
Have a delightful Sunday, everyone!
A bit of golf trivia: Slammin' Sammy Snead never won a U.S. Open.
A jack is worth 10 points also in cribbage, 500 rum and other card games.
I see that we are taking the Lord's name in vain again this Sunday morning (70A, 35D).
Great! NAVI and RAGA were good. Gimme a “got ‘er done” on this fabulous puzzle. SLATS… gave me the gimmick and …BRA told me it could be the second word as well.
Musings
-Is my sister the only who uses Word showing HIDDEN characters?
-My first 300+ yr horse race city
-OBSOLETE – wall phones are going the way of the buggy whip
-My SAVED iPhone pix got lost during transfer to my new iPhone
-Diamond RATERS (45D later) gave way to umpires
-It’s gonna be in the 60’s all week. Where are my TEES?
-TEAK takes 80 – 120 yrs to mature but is sustainable on plantations not in old growth forests
-This LONE WOLF pledged his love by borrowing Laverne’s trademark “L”
-Strikeover ERASURES made my typing teacher EDGY!
-Our TARRED hometown streets made car washing tough when it was fresh
-SOSA got caught (3:31) with his hand in the steroid jar
-Most love or hate BEETS. I’m in the former group
-The USA OWES somebody 18 trillion dollars
-HBD, Lucina!
I think I found the answer to my earlier question here http://www.jewfaq.org/name.htm so I have deleted it in case anyone found it offensive.
Also, Happy Birthday Lucina !
Hello Puzzlers -
Seemed harder than an average Sunday, at least in places. Hand up for being pretty uncertain at Navi and Sneva. The latter looks improbable, but there it is. The theme definitely helped out.
Morning, C.C.! I never heard of the new "It" girl. She has a presence on YouTube, I see, and from there you soon get the idea she's intelligent and articulate. Nice!
An especially Happy Birthday to dear Lucina, whose kindness comes across so easily. Many happy returns!
That was an enjoyable puzzle. I would get stuck and then find a 'key' that would open a whole section. Then I would go on until I got stuck again and then need another 'key' and so it went. I was very pleased with myself for figuring out the theme early on. That helped a lot.
I like beets just fine. But I like beet tops (greens) even better. Like spinach or collards...
I understand and appreciate that advice about not engaging the mean anons. However, I think there are two sides to it. When somebody gets picked on who may be somewhat thin-skinned, if the anon says something mean and everybody else ignores the remark, it can seem if they are giving tacit agreement. That's a very uncomfortable feeling.
Lucina, you deserve a very special day. I hope it and the rest of the year is a pleasant one for you. Best wishes!
Back in olden times I served aboard an Essex-class aircraft carrier. Those bird-farms had TEAK flight decks. When the ship was decommissioned they ripped up some of that deck, polished it up, and made presentations to the "plank owners" -- original crew.
Loretta Lynn wrote
"The work we done was hard, at night we'd sleep 'cause we were TARRED.
I never thought of ever leaving Butcher Holler."
How rude of me: Lucina! Enjoy your day. Happy Birthday!!!!!
Oy Vey! Got eVerything except that Vexing V!
I hope you have a wonderful birthday Lucy!
Happy Birthday, Lucina!
WBS/WEES - I was stumped at the SNEVA/NAVI cross. I was the movie years ago, and the name of the people just didn't stick. The driver was new to me.
C.C. - I'll make you some tuna rolls one day. My friend's dad is a retired commercial fisherman and he still gets whole fish fresh off the tuna boats in San Pedro. I've got plenty of sushi-grade yellowtail and albacore in my freezer! We have a sushi-fest every few months.
You're right - cooking with genuine EVOO is a waste of good oil! Use it for dressings, garnishes or steeping roasted garlic, red peppers and the like. Never use it for mayonnaise - the whisking process breaks it down, leaving a bitter taste. For mayo - if you've got a stick blender, put one egg yolk, a cup of canola oil, a tablespoon each of dijon mustard and water, the juice of half a lemon and a pinch of salt into a jug and blend. In two minutes, you'll have the best mayo you've ever tasted. I grate a clove of raw garlic with a microplane into it right at the end. It's all I can do not to eat it straight out of the jug! You'll never eat the store-bought stuff again.
Food! Have a great day, everyone.
Happy birthday wishes to you, dear Lucina.
WEES on the puzzle, including the natick V and thinking at first that the letter swap was only in the first word. I, too, thought Nouveau Mexique was some kind of ethnic cuisine. Cool puzzle, though, and good brain exercise. I like Gail's puzzles.
After I filled all the letters I got no tada, so I thought the S in SNEVA and SABOT was wrong. Nope, I did guess that right; where I goofed up was in spelling SNEAD as SNEED and LEAD as LEED.
My mom, frankly, was not a very good cook. She could ruin pretty much anything, and many of our meals were dry and tasteless. I learned from her much later that she absolutely hated cooking day after day. When she first got married, she told me, she thought married life would be a continuation of the carefree, party life she used to enjoy. Then we kids came along and she was completely unprepared to be a mother. I was raised mostly by nannies and my older sisters. Dad was a good provider in the sense we always had a house to live in, food (poorly cooked) on the table, and good clothes to wear, but I think he considered the task of taking care of his family to be a duty, not a pleasure. Mom and Dad spent large amounts of time, and presumably money, throwing big cocktail parties and bridge parties. We children would often eat the leftover hors-d'oeuvres the next morning while Mom and Dad slept in till noon.
I used to be a plumber. I have soldered and screwed together many pipes, tees, and ELBOWS. It's handy to have that experience.
Best wishes to you all.
Good morning,
WES regarding SNEVA/NAVI
On the other hand, I really liked the reversal and double play behind the "Line at the beach" clue (10D). Automatically, my mind went to TAN LINE, but when I sussed out NICE TAN, I liked it because it could be not only an alternative to the old tan line but also a "pick up line." In actually, however, I have never tried to pick up anyone at the beach, but I would hope I would come up with something a little less banal. Has anyone here ever heard/used a good pick up line at the beach?
Also, is the LEGO in Ferraris (106D) simply referring to Lego building blocks? Or, is a LEGO some obscure car part? Can any auto buffs out there enlighten me? I have been to the Lego store quite a lot with my five-year-old son, and I definitely do not recall any Lego Ferraris. Maybe the "misdirection" of this clue was too oblique.
Enjoyed the clever theme - though a few came a little slower than others. My last one to fall was CRONY JOKES - partly because instead of ARRs I had ET and waited for the A or D to fill in later on the down answer.
My mom was just an adequate cook - I always thought it was probably because my grandma was a fantastic cook and she was probably intimidated growing up. I realized if I wanted to cook one of my grandma's dishes that I couldn't rely on the recipe she gave me - I had to watch her and jot down what she DID, because she would leave out key steps and/or ingredients in the written recipe.
Thanks Gail, CC! and Happy Birthday, Lucina!
106. Component of some small Ferraris : LEGO
in the box
Have fun, Kevin.
Hi Y'all! I always find Gail's puzzles intimidating, but amusing. This one was a prize for the latter.
I caught onto the theme early which helped. I had a troublesome strip diagonally in the upper center from STOCK up through TRAIN, SNEVA, ETAT/NAVI, NEST, NICE ARRS. I had CRONY JOKES, but had to red-letter run SNEVA, NAVI & ENIAC for every letter. We've had ENIAC enough, I knew I should know it. Never heard of SNEVA, tried PETTY.
SOS group wasn't the (US) Navy.
I knew what they wanted, but always forget the bar code letters UPC.
Hands up for thinking the Ferrari = LEGO connection was too obscure to be allowed.
My mom had her cooking moments especially with desserts, but she mostly "concocted" some weird dishes rather than cook food anyone wanted to eat. I was skinny and had stomach problems until I got my own kitchen and my dad was anorexic. He'd come to my house on holidays and stuff his face until it was almost embarrassing to me. Mom would watch him eat with an insulted look on her face. It helped that I had home grown prime beef or roasted a turkey or ham. Mom's most memorable turkey she cooked overnight in a paper bag at 250 degrees which sapped all moisture from it. Inedible even for her. She tried to save it next day by grinding it to powder and adding lots of mayo and pickles.
Happy birthday, Lucina, and may you have many more years for us to enjoy!
Well, again, I got only about 3/4 of this puzzle, but enjoyed what I got--many thanks, Gail. And C.C. your expo is always helpful, and thanks for telling us about Lucina.
Lucina, you are a wonderful blog companion--have a wonderful birthday today!
And have a great Sunday evening, everybody.
Late to the dance. I was at a dinner dance Christmas party all afternoon. I caught on to the second shift quickly. NAVI, SNEVA did me in.
Sweet Lucina, I hope you had a wonderful birthday.
Argyle @ 3:38, Thanks for the link to the Ferrari Lego kit. I like that it is for ages 14 and up. What a cruel gift to give someone who can neither drive nor ever own such a car. After building it, what is a fourteen year old supposed to do with it? Get on their knees and roll it around the carpet... sounds kinda sad.
I built model planes. Didn't seem cruel I couldn't fly them...except in my imagination.
Was that before or after inhaling a
little too much glue? ;~)
On another note....
Happy Birthday Lucina!
Argyle, That''s funny because I was going to mention how I grew up building model airplanes with my dad. And yes, it isn't nearly as cruel, except for the part where you had to scrape the glue off of your fingers. Then again, that was part of the pride of a hard afternoon's work.
At age 12 my (air force pilot to be) son and his dad built a GI Joe model plane. It hung from the ceiling in his bedroom the rest of his growing up years. A few years ago I wrapped it up and gave it to him for Christmas as a joke. He was so excited to see it again and gathered his sons to tell about building it with his dad. He said it was the best gift he got that year. This is a guy who has piloted planes in far places and all over the US. He builds Lego models with his boys. I bet he and his 16 yr. old would love the Ferrari model. Not to play with but to display and dream over. RRRRRM RRRRRM!
Thank you so much, my dear Blog friends, for your kind comments and good wishes. I want to tell you that I had an absolutely wonderful day! I'm still not feeling 100% well so my BFF came over with a gift, spent the afternoon with me then went out and returned with ribs and all the trimmings. While he was here he installed Windows 10 for me. So far I like it. It was a lovely day!
Jayce:
Your story of growing up made me sad and I hope things have completely turned around for you.
StarTrek B/4 StarWars messed me up...
Being Mr. Mom I was always looking for a way to add different side dishes to
a meal for the kids.
Being CrossEyedDave, my thinking was, kids like rice, & kids like peanut butter,
what if I mixed them together...
To this day they never let me forget how horribly disgusting this particular
food combination turned out to be! (little balls of heaven they were not...)
Lucina, I hope your day turns out tastier! Happy Birthday!
Jayce - what Lucina said (sorry, Lucina, Happy Birthday-glad it was a special day!)
But I think you have a happy life now per your bio, and I'm sure your children have benefited from your childhood experiences.
@Kevin at 6:21 - my boys loved building all sorts of Lego - pinnacle was the Milennium Falcon but they didn't feel bad about never getting to drive it. It's the building that's the fun. We just watched the Lego Brickumentary documentary and it's amazing all the things adults are building with Lego - fascinating.
Glad you had a wonderful day, Lucina!
Lurker said...
HBD Lucina! I've got a potato soup recipie for you (I made it tonight) if you want. I was thinking about you as I was building it. Great to hear you had a good day even if you're not up to par.
Kevin - What is sad is when you have a real mini-Farrari (Alfa Spider) and it won't start :-( I've spent all day (when I wasn't cooking) trying to get it to start.
Jayce - Along side the potatoes, I also made 1.5 gal of Hamburger-Veggie soup. Come over for some (not your) home cookin'.
Cheers, -T
AnonT:
Absolutely! I love your recipes and I've made your smashed potatoes many times.
Lucina:
In a heavy bottom'd pot... Olive oil, chopped onion & 4 cloves garlic (back off, I'm Italian).
Once translucent, add 1/2c diced carrots, 1/4c celery, & 3/4 gal chicken stock. Bring to boil & then simmer. After a quick nap, add 4lb cubed (2" x 2"-ish) golden/butter potatoes. 3 tbls salt & pepper to taste. When potatoes become soft, blend w/ emulsion blender. Add 1/2cup of heavy cream (slowly, while stirring) and then 1 &1/2 cup sharp cheddar. Finish w/ 1/4 c. fresh (or ~3 tbs dried) dill & 1/2 lb diced ham.
Top w/ cheese, bacon (my sous, er, youngest, fried it up) & dill. Heaven / coma in a bowl.
BTW, the carrots aren't mandatory - my wife won't eat them so I sneak 'em into dishes :-)
Share the tamales recipe one day! :-)
Cheers, -T
Thanks, AnonT! I love carrots so they'll go in. It sounds yummy.
It is almost 1:00 am and I have just stumbled across one of my favorite movies, Moonstruck! So, expect a later than normal post tomorrow !
(I'm a sucker for schmaltz!)
Irish Miss, I remember liking Moonstruck at the time but I haven't seen it since. Was that with Cher and somebody else, maybe Nicholas Cage? A love story in an Italian family?
Your Bedtime (Farrari) Story for Freeeee...
Cheers -T
The kids loved this movie and it was fun / cute.
Lucina, Happy Birthday! Sounds like it was a good one.
My Mom only cooked if it was fast and quick so usually meant somewhat burnt. We had fried Spam once a week. Yuck! My sister and myself began cooking for the family at about age 13. Anyway at age 21, I wanted to show my husband how well I could cook and he gained 20 pounds the first year we were married. I had to slow down a bit.
Since I can't stand long enough to fix a holiday meal, my daughter comes home and does all the cooking using my recipes. She is a very good cook.
I've been awake 27 hours without sleep again so I'm going to see if I can sleep now.
Post a Comment