The old Lobsterman will return on Wednesday, the 30th.
Pax…
Month: March 2016
optics, Barry, OPTICS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Barbarians are at the Gates…
Europe is in a state of its highest security alert…
At least 32 confirmed deaths, and hundreds wounded (dozens in critical condition!) from three coordinated attacks in Brussels yesterday…
Belgium and France both on country-wide lock-downs…
Door-to-door commando searches in selected neighborhoods throughout Brussels…
And, our president yesterday…
Embarrassing! Too bad Bill Ayers couldn’t have made the trip…
January 20, 2017!
REDEMPTION in the KITCHEN
“Burnt.”
The critics, for the most part, hated the film.
My wife and I really enjoyed it!
If you love great food; love cooking yourself; enjoy the preparation as much as sitting down and eating; and, could talk about recipes, sauces and deserts for days, you’ll like the movie as well. If you like ‘bad boy’ earns REDEMPTION by being an A-Hole along the way, you’ll like this film.
The cast is fabulous. From Bradley Cooper, who plays the ‘bad boy’ chef, looking to recover from a wild spree of cocaine, booze and troubled women in Paris (where he ruins his career, albeit temporarily, as well as damaging friendships and running into $$$ issues with some ugly folks, to the wondrous charms of Emma Thompson, who plays a shrink to perfection, the movie’s cast is great.
Brief heads-up: if you’re going to see this film thinking it’s worthy of Oscars, don’t bother. If you want to spend a couple hours just being entertained by some very talented people, with an old-fashioned story, and tons of cliches, then see it. The cinematography is stupendous. One feels like you’re part of the halibut as it’s being prepared in a world-class restaurant / kitchen.
Just like anywhere else in life, high-end kitchens have their fair share of insanity and vanity. I have often made the remark that the two most temperamental personality groups that I ever spent time with are: thoroughbred jockeys and quality chefs.
We can NEVER forget the penance of shucking 1,000,000 oysters in New Orleans, and how that fuels the kindred soul of such a personality (Cooper). The road back is what we’re entertained by…at least we were. REVENGE and REDEMPTION, as I’ve said before, are two of the most powerful words in the King’s English!
My only complaint: NOT enough Emma Thompson!
See it…
You know what the secrets to L-I-F-E are? A great wife, and an endless supply of butter!
BON APPETIT!
BRUSSELS
This morning in Brussels, Belgium (headquarters for NATO), there were three separate terrorist / Islamic State (has claimed responsibility) attacks. Two bombings, in separate concourses, at 8:00 (local time) at the Brussels International Airport. A third bombing took place at the Maalbeek Train Station (in downtown) at the height of the business traffic around 9:00 (local time).
As I post, there have been 32 confirmed deaths, and over 230 injured from these three coordinated attacks.
From ninety minutes of the attacks, the French – Belgium border was closed. The Brussels Airport has also been closed until late tomorrow, at this point. Both the city and country have been put on a state of that nation’s highest level of alert.
Here is a portion of Obama’s comments, in Cuba, as regards Brussels…
A few hours later…
Our president just DOES NOT understand optics! Europe is once again under attack, literally, from the Islamic State, and our president feels it’s more important be in attendance at a ball game. It shows resolve? You’ve got to kidding me!!! The headquarter city for NATO is hit by a coordinated jihadist series of assaults, and his fanny is in a stadium (in f!#king Cuba) yauking it up with ESPN, rather then on Air Force One heading back to D.C.
I love his comparison of himself to the actions? of David Ortiz, from the Boston Red Sox.
There is nothing like the “F” word, right, Barry?
January 20, 2017!
THE PASSION
Holy Week.
My wife and I attended the Saturday night Vigil Mass – in celebration of Palm Sunday – as we began the celebration of the holiest week of the year with the Lord’s Passion, then to the culmination a week from today, with the Easter Vigil.
Without question, and without an ounce of doubt, this week – historically – has meant the most to me, personally, as a practicing Catholic since I was about five or six. That’s when I can vividly recall looking back on when, why, and how much Holy Week meant to my immediate family. From attendance of daily Masses to the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday to the Easter Vigil. The seven days of this week were indicative of my family’s Faith, in addition to our collective acknowledgement of the suffering endured by Our Lord.
This year, the Passion for Palm Sunday reading was taken from the Gospel of Luke. In portions of these great passages of Sacred Scripture, we hear Jesus cry out in a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit;” as when he had said this he breathed his last. The centurion who witnessed what had happened glorified God, and said, “This man was innocent beyond doubt.” – Luke 23: 46-47
I’ll conclude this blog by recommending a timeless book, Life of Christ (1958), by Venerable Fulton John Sheen.
There has been NO single person of faith that has had a greater impact on me than Sheen, with his writings, books and presence. He passed away in December 1979, at the age of eighty-four. But, it is as if he is still with me today, as it was back in 1964-1965, when I had the occasion to have been with him twice that year – once as an invited speaker at Providence College in the fall of ’64, where I was conducting my undergraduate studies; as well as later in the spring of ’65 for a Lenten Retreat that I attended. There was NO person better to share bread and water with!
There isn’t a night that I don’t watch Sheen on YouTube, before going to bed. Thankfully, he’s still with us.
VEGETABLE BEEF SOUP
Personal cuisine. One’s favorites! We ALL fall prey to those “special” tastes, don’t we?
Today’s lunch was going to be that time for me.
Vegetable Beef Soup. NOT many edibles are any better!
One of our favorite restaurants within the metroplex is a place called Livingston’s Cafe. It is a generational place, from grandfather down to granddaughter, and it serves breakfast and lunch. Literally, the best in the region. It’s the kind of restaurant that I grew up on in Maine. Family style food. There is NOTHING better, in my humble opinion. Sadly, such places are going the way of the delivered newspaper. And, Livington’s Cafe is just simply wonderful! The owner is a very special lady. She’s the “keeper” of ALL the treasured family recipes for just about everything from home-made biscuits to home-made pies. Are you getting the picture?
One of items on the menu is family recipes for soups. Their best one, as far as my taste buds are concerned, is Vegetable Beef Soup. It’s fabulous!
Well, as my wife and I walked into the foyer for lunch, today, she pointed to mounted board menu, and uttered the words that brought joy to my ears, “They’ve got your soup!”
Life will be sustainable for another 24-hour period, I thought. Yes, my soup!
After saying hello to one and all, we sat down and began to order – we don’t even need a menu any more, you know that kind of place – with me rushing to say, “Let me start with a bowl of the Vegetable Beef, please. And, bring it out as hot as possible, I want to scorch my tongue and throat.”
Trouble, immediately… You know “that” look when you think you going to get what you really want, and haven’t slept all night just thinking about how good it will taste when you get to the restaurant, and, then, WHAM! you get hit with cold water reality.
“I’m sorry, it’s Cream of Broccoli today. I forgot to change the menu board.”
What happened next, I can’t be sure of. They may have called EMS; it could have just been smelling salts; or, it may have been a cold-compress to the temples. Can’t really remember. Up until about an hour or so ago, everything is a BIG blank within my frontal lobe – loss of my higher cognitive functions – brought on, it would appear, by my traumatic experience / loss of a highly desired edible choice of mine, I thought, for lunch today.
I’m NOT sure who said it, but there’s a quote that I try to keep in mind every day, “Hope is a veneer for tomorrow, over today’s disappointment.”
Gosh, I love Vegetable Beef Soup…
THEIR RESERVATIONS have been CONFIRMED
It’s my sincere hope that some of you have been paying attention to the tragic human disaster that has befallen the citizens of Flint, Michigan, over the past fifteen months.
Guilty parties – Democrat and Republican alike – have NOT taken a modicum of responsibility toward correcting the drinking water crisis throughout the Flint community, and its immediate surrounding areas. Nor, rectifying the contamination within the water infrastructural / filtration system of this region of the state of Michigan…over time.
And, as we ALL know it’s going on in ALL our fifty states – to our infrastructure and roads – as I type this post out.
Here’s a sampling of the last month plus from the Congressional hearings into the Michigan travesty…
Dr. Edwards is one of the few truthful people involved with the facts…
There is “special spot in Hell” for BOTH Snyder and McCarthy, I’ve confirmed their reservations!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rep. Chaffetz does a number on these two imbeciles…
Fiat lux!
OUR COUNTRY’S STATE
I went to bed last night in a state of utter frustration, as a result of yesterday’s five primaries. THE WEAVE is now firmly in place to secure the GOP nomination for the presidency in July at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
If my maternal grandmother (from whom my love for the game of politics comes from) woke up this morning, she would say, “I’m simply in a state of apoplexy!” She could use the word ‘apoplexy’ in / with anything that upset her, other than with me…of course.
We’re looking at a situation, this morning, where there are five seconds of the clock, with NO remaining time-outs, it’s third down, and you’re down by four points, with the ball on your own forty-five yard line. Theoretically, time only for one play!
The brilliance (?) of the GOP elites this morning centers around them making waves, stupidly, of organizing the possibility of a third candidate, such as the likes of troubled Senator Kelly Ayotte (NH), or, current Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. Ms. Ayotte (a John McCain protege) is already struggling in her own bid to just get re-elected in her home state. Makes NO sense at all! And, I can NOT envision Paul Ryan being a party to the further tearing away of the fabric of the GOP any more than it already is on 16 March 2016.
Plus, a third candidate (independent run?!) campaign would “guarantee” 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to Grandma Hillary.
But such rumors as we’re hearing from the Republican party this morning do NOT surprise me in the least, considering that the party is under the leadership of its head Munchkin, little Reince Priebus. I can almost see last night’s angst within the Council of Munchkins, as they watched the results being tabulated, can’t you?
Reince, you and the rest of Munchkinland have deserved baring witness to the enlarged, and growing weekly, bounties of one Donald John Trump. You and your “circle of little folks,” and big money donors ignored Carrot Top from the start, back in late spring of last year. And, in the process of the following nine plus months, really since the official Trump announcement on June 16th, the GOP has become fractured. Immeasurably!!! Almost every 24-hours, it seems to me, there is another miscalculation, or faux pas.
It is safe to say, NONE of the Munchkins are members of Mensa…
Drop the idea of a third candidate run, Reince.
Start the process – NOW – of consolidating around both Cruz and THE WEAVE, and negotiate in good faith on who can / may / should get what come January 20, 2017.
Which means that ALL you clowns concerned, at the moment, have to grow-up (NO easy task!); dispense with the “theatrics;” and start to display a noticeable unity toward the mood(s) of the middle class of this country for starters.
Five ‘key’ focus points: IMMIGRATION POLICY; JOBS; TRADE; NATIONAL DEBT; and, HOMELAND SECURITY.
HOLD YOUR HORSES, GRANDMA H!
It would seem to this lobsterman, that Grandma Hillary Clinton just can’t comprehend her continuous missteps as regards the tragedy of September 11, 2012.
September 11, 2012 will be one of those ‘days of infamy’ that Madam Secretary, while serving as the country’s Secretary of State, will carry to her grave.
Without explanation, once again, Grandma H struck again last night during her segment of a Town Hall session held on MSNBC, when asked about the ramifications of America getting engaged in the Libyan Civil War of 2011, and the over-throw of Qaddafi, resulting in the violent terrorist assault of the CIA / State Department compound in Benghazi, on September 12th.
Listen to her explanation, especially at the very end of this below video…
And, “we didn’t lose a single person.” Excuse me? What the f#!k is she thinking to make such a crass remark??!! Seriously.
We lost Ambassador Chris Stevens, and three other courageous Americans that night, Grandma H!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As I’ve said before, to use an old Maine expression, ‘she is way over her skies.’ And, has been for the better part of forty years.
Remember, this person may well be on her way to taking up residence again at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue after tonight’s Super Tuesday 2.0.
Where are James Comey, his F.B.I. investigators and the rule of law (as it applies to conducting government business on one’s personal server) vis a vis Hillary Rodham Clinton’s conduct?
The clock may strike the witching hour after the results are tabulated from today’s primaries, for BOTH parties.
Prepare to repel ALL boarders, aunts and uncles…
IDUS MARTIAE
The Ides of March.
I would suggest that you take care to avoid any one with the name Spurinna throughout the course of your activities today. Spurinna was a haruspex. In ancient times it was defined as a “seer” of sorts based on the inspection of sacrificed animals’ body parts. Sadly, there are NO longer any more trade schools offering such a degree today.
The famous Greek historian, Plutarch, has it that Spuinna had warned Julius Caesar that harm, and bad things, were going to befall Caesar no later than the Ides of March – meaning today, March 15th.
As we ALL know the great Caesar had much more on his plate at the time of his warning from Spurinna: the transition of a professional soldier, by training, to that of ruler of an empire; re-alignment of the military; consolidation of his confidantes; and, the personal establishment of complete political power. Thus, Caesar had little patience / acceptance of the divinatory hand-wringing of a ‘seer.’ Unfortunately, there was NO marital force like a Nancy Reagan to benefit the greatness of Caesar, and set his calendar of events accordingly! However, it must be said, Caesar’s wife had had recurring dreams about such bad tidings for her husband, including the night before his assassination. Gents, there are times we ALL must / should listen to the wisdom of our better half.
Thus, March 15, 44 BC turned out to be a “bad day at the Senate” for Julius.
Any one who has ever taken a course in Western Civilization also knows that there are two other critical historical events that occurred on March 15th: a) Czar Nicholas II abdicated his throne in 1917, ending a 304-year dynasty, and ushering in Bolshevik rule (the seeds of which would bring about one Bernie Sanders to the political landscape of the United States roughly one hundred years later, think about it); and b) in 1939, Hitler takes over the provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, effectively wiping Czechoslovakia off the maps of the world.
Fast forward some seventy-seven years to today, and what do we ALL have to confront, and witness, Super Tuesday 2.0. Whoa!
Florida, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and North Carolina, keep your eyes peeled as you go to the voting stations in your state today. Don’t stop, talk and / or listen to any one wearing a toga.
We may just be witnessing the initial staging of the “death of an American Empire.” And, I mean that in its most troubling sense, with the likes of what we, the citizens of this wonderful country, have facing us with the six remaining candidates – Democrat and Republican – in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Lastly, word of advice. Today is NOT the day to work on your brackets!
Lobster on the Prairie 