Scene:9 to 5 establishment parking lot north of Center City Philadelphia, South of Plymouth Meeting, West of Washington Crossing and East of Bala Cynwd.
Victim:Sparky Duck
Item Victimized:Motorized transport sold after the year 2000
Source:Under a Feathered Ducks Ass and to the left. Though luckily not while the duck was present
Time:Between the Siesta and someone's Happy Hour, though not one Duck's
Injuries:none physically, though mentally, who knows yet
Cause:Unknown
Outcome:still to be determined, hence the title of the post and the so far secrecy.
Ok, I promise its not as bad as it sounds, but its the way I process it.
I am not ready to go into details yet, since I thinking that I am both one lucky duck and one really unluck one, but today we almost had Barbecued Sparky Duck to go. More to come probably, well maybe, we will see.
I love to cook, everyone that reads this little blog knows that. And I search the web all the time for recipes. Recipezaar is one place where I get alot of good ideas. There are thousands of recipes there, including ones that you can cook camping, not that I am going to go camping anytime soon. Also, Dragon's Kitchen is great for some original recipes, including her famous Sausage and Potato Gnocchi.
I also wander over to Bleeding Espresso on Wednesdays. She is an American living in Italy and while I often have to convert her recipes from the metric system so I can make them, they are always so freaking tasty. I figured I would share what we will be enjoying tonight, so you will know what I am doing at 7 pm. I am hoping Sognatrice does not mind that I am sharing, but it is also getting her recipes more notice, which is a good thing, no?
Pasta all'Amatriciana
2 tablespoons olive oil 1 small onion, diced 1 garlic clove, diced 100 grams pancetta arrotolata, unrolled and cut into bite-sized chunks 1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley 1 can peeled tomatoes 500 grams penne pasta water and salt to boil pasta grated pecorino romano cheese to garnish
First put on the water to boil for the pasta, and then chop all your ingredients as described above.
Put olive oil in skillet and heat on medium. Add pancetta, and let cook for about five minutes, until the pancetta renders its fat. I know, yum, right?
Then add the onions and cook until translucent. Add garlic and parsley and let cook for another minute or so.
At this point, your water should be boiling, and you can add salt and the pasta to the water (or do this whenever your water *is* boiling after this point).
Now add the tomatoes to the skillet. You can run them through a grinder or roughly chop them first depending on how you like them. You can also add some of the pasta water to thin out the sauce a bit; I usually use about 1/4 cup.
Let the sauce simmer for about 1o minutes or until the tomatoes taste done to you. You can add salt, but do so sparingly because the pancetta is salty and you've also added salted pasta water.
When the pasta is just short of al dente, remove, strain, and combine well with the completely cooked sauce, still over medium heat.
Once the pasta has absorbed some of the sauce and become fully al dente, remove and serve immediately. Garnish with grated pecorino romano cheese.
A note: Don't worry if your timing isn't exact the first time you make this--it'll get easier the more you make it, which is only more incentive to keep pancetta in your fridge.
Brooke Langton is turning 37 today. I am sure there are plenty of people out there who would like to look this good at 37 or 32 or 27 even. Heck, I am one of those people!
On a side note, I am beginning to feel sorry for the people over at ESPN. The game last night was a sintillating showing between Pittsburgh and Miami. Yep, a nail biter 3-0. And they actually had a 40 minute delay due to the weather. Yep, thats the kind of game that is going to have people come back later on to see the kickoff. A note to all you Steeler fans out there, No freaking way is Pittsburgh the number 3 team in the NFL when they lose to the NY Jets and almost lose to the hapless Miami Dolphins!
With the improbable way the Eagles played last night, even though they lost to the Patriots, there is a slow building groundswell to play AJ Feeley at QB the rest of the way in place of superstar, Donovan McNabb. As for me, I am all for it!
Not only does AJ seem to make his decisions quicker and actually try to get rid of the ball if he is under pressure, rather then get sacked, but he also has that certain IT factor to him. McNabb is not a leader, a loss like that last night would have sloughed off his shoulders as the breaks of playing football. Feeley still sounds down, almost 24 hours later, sounding like someone stole his puppy. The fans of Philadelphia want someone who lives and dies the games just like we do, and McNabb, with his carefully calculated image and sullen attitude is not that kind of guy.
So I hope Coach Reid gets off his fat ass and makes a decision that makes sense, playing AJ Feeley next week against Seattle.
This news is almost an exact copy of news that I would have heard growing up in the 80s. Some of the names have changed, but in the end, its all the same. Lets take a not so short trip down memory lane, courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer. US Scales Back Political Goals in Iraq Hey, good news everybody, if you keep moving the goal post, you will actually score occasionally. Seriously, apparently the administration is shifting its idea of success in a Iraq from a unified country and government, to a country that has a budget and is not blowing each other up every week. Kind of like dealing with a couple of teenage boys, make sure they earn there allowance and don't attack each other in the back seat.
Oral Roberts Tries to Regroup after Leader quits- This is just Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell or Jim Bakker all over again. This time though the evangelist was not bilking his lambs, he was bilking the students of the school, to the tune of a $26,000 senior trip for Richard Roberts daughter and convincing the political science majors to work on the campaign of a candidate for Tulsa mayor. You know what the say, never trust someone with 2 last names, or in this case, hell 2 first ones.
Labor Party Wins big in Australia- Paging Tony Blair, Mr Tony Blair to the white I could have told you that would happen courtesy phone please.
I do not know of anyone, anywhere that could have said way back in late August that this game between Kansas and Missouri would be as big as it is. Not a single soul could have foreseen the fact that the winner of tonights game from Arrowhead Stadium, could probably be the number 1 team in the nation and also be one win a way from a shot at a National Championship. That would be like predicting that Cavemen would have been a hit sitcom and then being actually right.
So how did we get here over the last few weekends. Well simple, the Ducks lost to the dreaded ACL and then lost to Arizona and the Big Game was last weekend as well. Michigan vs Ohio State. Michigan has turned into a great defense, but injuries made there offense pretty useless. Ohio State has a stellar defense and a solid running game with the legs of Beany Wells. But there QB throws passes like a girl. So, it should have been no suprise that the Buckeyes pulled out a horribly boring 17-7 win. Snoozer!
One good thing from last week was the loss by Oklahoma. My hatred for Bob Stoops knows no boundaries, so to get the chance to watch his team become befuddled and bewildered by a spread run and gun offense was magnificent. By the time the coach was making adjustments, the Sooners were down 28 points and had to fling the ball all over the field to even make the game close, not exactly an Oklahoma strongpoint. Yes, the Sooners lost.
I am going to have to plead ignorance on the LSU/Arkansas game yesterday. I was in work all day and the Bayou Bengals vs Razorbacks is not exactly a high topic of conversation in my office. Go ask Wordnerd, maybe she knows something.
By the way, the BCS will officially be an utter complete mess if Kansas loses tonight. A Jayhawk loss will mean the only undefeated team left will be the litte respected Warriors of Hawaii. Let the chaos begin.
This should be interesting, since my mind is kind of like silly putty right about now. Nothing like a 11 hour day to take you back to the toddler stage.
Is it me, or is this whole Black Friday thing a tad overrated? Or at least overplayed. At least this year it is too me. I look threw all my circulars and there is really nothing exciting to buy. Oh you can get some cheap Chinese toys, which are an adventure too themselves. Or the lighted reindeer is $10.00 off, which is actually something I am after, but I do not really think there is much of a Cabbage Patch craze this year.
Its either the sales or not that special, or what everyone wants they already have. I know for me, the Xbox 360 never made a huge dive price wise, so I am just going to have to bite the bullet and get one for myself. Thats part of the master plan you know, so I can ask for lotsa games for Christmas.
So, any good sales out there, injuries worthy while shopping, or am I right on when I say Black Friday kinda fizzled.
This is not going to be one of my official Thursday Thirteen's this week, because I really am not sure if I am going to really do 13 things today, but we will see how many things I have and walla, it may turn into 13 of them.
1.Get that Turkey to defrost. One of the problems with trying to avoid the early rush at the food store is that the frozen Turkey is bought closer to the actual day of use. And as of 10:30 this morning, the bird still was not defrosted. So its getting an ice water bath as we speak.
2.Green Bay vs Detroit. Out of all the football games on Thanksgiving, now there are 3, the Detroit game is the only one I consistently watch. Its on at just the right time and this year, I have two of my fantasy players involved, Greg Jennings and Donald Lee, both of Green Bay. Plus, who doesnt like watching Brett Favre?
3.Get the Christmas decorations out. Our plan today, since it is just Mrs Duck and myself was to start Christmas decorating today. For sure we are going to get the tree out and up. We may or may not decorate/light it today, because who knows how the cats will react to there first Christmas tree.
4.Decorate a little bit outside. It feels like it is close to 70 degrees outside. So, I will definetly take this opportunity to at least get up on a ladder and string some Christmas lights outside. I usually like to wait for the ground to be cooler to put some of the reindeer/snowmen/stars in the ground out, but no wind and warm temps is the perfect time to be on a ladder.
5.Apple, Sausage and Sage Stuffing. Its gotta go in the turkey well once it does not feel like an iceberg, so the stuffings gotta be done early.
6.Enjoy some Martinis. Hey, whats a holiday without at least some liquor. Just have to start a little bit earlier so I get a good nights sleep for a long long long day at work tomorrow.
7.Call the relatives. We have family flung all over the United States this year, so its going to be quite a few phone calls that need to be placed.
8.Relax. I really plan to get back into Anya's book once again and certainly recline a little bit, just because thats really what this Holiday is about. Giving thanks for a comfy chair and a full belly.
9.Whatever Mrs Duck wants to do. The above listed is just my gameplan. I am sure the wife will have some input that might be a little bit different, involving a tad more work on my part. But, thats why I love her, she always makes things a bit better.
Happy Thanksgiving to my US Blogger Buddies. To Everyone else, um Happy Thursday!!
One great thing about Thanksgiving while I was growing up, was the great, sappy, funny Thanksgiving episodes on TV. So, as we all prepare for the Turkey coma, lets look back at some of what YouTube offered me. Chandler's Worst Thanksgiving (Friends)
We do not really consider this to be last minute, its more like we like to go out and make all of our decisions carefully. Plus, I am hoping a Tuesday night before Thanksgiving will be alot better then the weekend before Thanksgiving, because that was a nightmare.
So, what do you all do with your turkeys. I know I can just put some herbs on the skin and then butter underneath, but since it will just be the two of us this Turkey Day, I figure I could try something a little bit different. Mrs Duck is adventurous enough.
So, give me some recipe hints for your bird. Send me some ideas for your stuffing. The veggies gotta be something that someone allows there inner Paula Deen out for. Share share share.
Plus, if you do my shopping list, I will have more time to try and get the last minute gifts for Mrs Duck, whose birthday is Saturday.
I am experiencing two levels of fears today, and I get to dump them all over the Poetry Train. One level is the oh I hope the new people like me and I hope I like them. This fear is kind of silly, but it is also something that I think every person gets the first day of a new job, or at least the first day in a new situation. Its also something that will go away eventually.
The other fear is a silly, yet small fear that, while I can not divulge because then I would give too much away about my work, it is also something that will probably never really go away, it will just shrink. Its just something I have to suck up I guess.
So, to cover it, I need to find things that keep me relaxed. Over my Head by The Fray is something that made me happy and calm leading up to the wedding. It was not even a song that was featured that prominently at the ceremony, but as we lead up to the big day, its almost like I discovered it before anyone else did. And it started getting heavy rotation just before the big day. So, it brings back some happy memories and makes me calm. Of course, there is no way I can listen to it on a perpetual loop on my Ipod, because you know, customers don't love the ear buds.
I never knew I never knew that everything was falling through That everyone I knew was waiting on a queue To turn and run when all I needed was the truth But that's how it's got to be It's coming down to nothing more than apathy I'd rather run the other way than stay and see The smoke and who's still standing when it clears
Everyone knows I'm in Over my head Over my head With eight seconds left in overtime She's on your mind She's on your mind
Let's rearrange I wish you were a stranger I could disengage Just say that we agree and then never change Soften a bit until we all just get along But that's disregard Find another friend and you discard As you lose the argument in a cable car Hanging above as the canyon comes between
[Over My Head (Cable Car) Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/] Everyone knows I'm in Over my head Over my head With eight seconds left in overtime She's on your mind She's on your mind
Everyone knows I'm in Over my head Over my head With eight seconds left in overtime She's on your mind She's on your mind
And suddenly I become a part of your past I'm becoming the part that don't last I'm losing you and its effortless Without a sound we lose sight of the ground In the throw around Never thought that you wanted to bring it down I won't let it go down till we torch it ourselves
And everyone knows I'm in Over my head Over my head With eight seconds left in overtime She's on your mind She's on your mind
Everyone knows She's on your mind Everyone knows I'm in over my head I'm in over my head I'm in over...
Everyone knows I'm in Over my head Over my head With eight seconds left in overtime She's on your mind She's on your mind
Hop on the Poetry Train, i think there is some sort of celebration or something this week.
Watching the Browns and Ravens game wrap up today and it was one of those freak moments that you talk about in a bar 20 years from now.
The Browns blew a big lead and allowed the Ravens to take the lead with about 30 seconds to go. The Browns get a nice kickoff return and then complete a couple of plays to get into field goal range. Long field goal range, but field goal range none the less.
Phil Dawson sets up for the kick, I think it was about 49 yards or so and doinks it off the right upright (at least right if you are watching it on TV). As the ball spirals, it goes and bounces through the crossbar and then hits the support pole that is out of bounds in the end zone. The ball promptly riccochets out back onto the field back over the cross bar again.
The field goal is declared no good. As you read Coach Romeo Crennels face, you see him mouthing the words "well fuck me" Game over, Ravens win.
Not so fast my friend as the referees go to look at the instant replay, though it is not really a reviewable play. I guess its more like a holy shit did you see that, we better go look again kind of play. The field goal is declared good and the Browns eventually win in overtime.
The chances and physics of the ball hitting the upright, then the support bar and then bouncing the one direction that makes it look no good to the naked eye has got to be astronomical. I guess when they say you never know how the ball will bounce, you should always remember to take it literally.
Okay, we did not get to our review of last weeks football games today. Perhaps tomorrow, i know you all are waiting with baited breath. But, at least I can show the chicks can't I?
looking at last night, we can see how the weekend has already gotten off to a difficult start. I am used to Oregon coming up short in one game or another, which usually kills there season, so I should not have been surprised.
So, this morning, when I checked my account to see if my first payroll hit the checking account, since today is pay day, and I saw the same $10 that was in there last night, I was less then thrilled. Now the question will not be where was the direct deposit, because that sometimes takes forever to set up. The question will be when I get into work, where did my check go. There are about 3 possible answers, my training site, my home office or my actual home. Actual home would be a tad painful, since that means its not gonna show up until Tuesday. Bahhh. Not auspicious.
Wow, a penalty flag thrown on Arizona. I better run out and buy a lottery ticket or something.
Sheesh, its on the Oregon sideline, throw another personal foul for knocking Stewart up into the stands.
Brady Leaf, you still SUCK
This could be the worst Refereed game I have seen all year, I mean awfully called. Why dont we just make sure USC is the team in the Rose Bowl. Fucking Bullshit
Too many turnovers
Jonathan Stewart, all day, all night Gotta get a score here and at least the pressure if on Tuitama. Though nice touch by Wildcat fans, cheering Stewarts injury.
Crenshaw in and guess what, its still a game with 8 minutes to go.
yep that was a face mask. I think the game rides on this 4th down. 5 minutes left, yep this is the ball game. Well fuck me, second effort does it
Tuitama, i told you, I told you and Patrick Chung with the recovery, or maybe not since we will review once again, sheesh. Shit I think hes down. Well of course, not a fumble
3:20, thats it, 10 point lead again, I am depressed and soured. Enjoy Kansas Hawaii for the championship
It should now be Jonathan Stewart all night long, yet they decide to let Leaf throw, big freaking mistake.
Things should stay close if the Wildcats have to actually play offense, Tuitama will make a mistake, he just has to, its in his makeup.
Late hit on the AZ QB Tuitama. Thats it the Refs are fucking homers.
I am already looking forward to Hawaii vs Nevada tomorrow night. Its an actual test for the Rainbow Warriors
You are losing 17 to 11 with your offensive star out. You don't freaking go for an interception. I think the Ducks maybe fucked, I hope you all enjoy LSU kicking the crap out of Kansas/Oklahoma.
Brady Leaf is a dog
Its 31 to 11 now, what a fucking joke, I looked forward all day to this? to this? I now need to root for chaos, because Brady will not bring them back.
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
I was wracking my brain on the ride home, trying to figure out what I would exactly blog about today for Nablopomo. I mean, seriously, who wants to hear about my day? I am not even sure I really want to hear about my day and I lived it.
So, the mind drifted to sports, as it often does and I found myself on WFAN out of New York, one of the classic sports talk stations in the country. I tuned in just in time to hear a commercial for Bill O'Reilly's so called TV show, the O'Reilly Factor.
Quick Disclaimer, I hate O'Reilly and all that the so called news channel Fox News stands for *hops off soapbox*
So, here is a Papa Bear on the radio, talking about tonights show. The first segment will be about the Jena 6 and the money raised for there defense that may or may not be missing. During this commercial, which surely can not be live, O'Reilly states that 6 boys/men were arrested and jailed in Arkansas. Now, lets see what is wrong with that last sentence, wait for it, wait for it.
From Wikipedia:
The Jena Six refers to a group of six black teenagers who were charged with the beating of Justin Barker, a white teenager at Jena High School in Jena, Louisiana, United States, on December 4, 2006
Off to a rousing start. Next, we will be the rantings of pundit and comedian Dennis Miller, who I admit I sometimes find funny. Miller will focus on the writers strike in Hollywood/New York and also have a few comments about Redacted, a movie about the rape and murder of a 14 year old iraqi girl, allegedly by US soldiers and the whitewashing of the press coverage my the mainstream media. Oh I am sure they will both give a two big thumbs up to the movie.
And finally, we close it out with a talk on a study in some newspaper about online dating and the fact that 1/3 of women who sign up for those online dating websites and go on dates have sex on the first date. News flash to Bill O'Reilly, women like sex. Maybe not the women you know, but women do like sex.
So lets quickly recap so you can set your TiVos for the late evening showing of this fine television program.
1.A story about missing money raised for accused black men that is already off to a bad start because the lead in is horribly inaccurate.
2.A love fest between two right wing yahoos about how it maybe bad to tell the truth in this war, because the truth may actually be dark dirty and scary and um, bad for ratings.
3.Sex, lots of it and how women these days must just me sluts or something, though I am sure there will be lots of steamy pictures in the background while O'Reilly talks.
This is a nice little post inspired by a question, in a comment, from the illustrious Desert Songbird, who asked.
Desert Songbird said...
Bite me, Sparky.
BTW - did you take your pseudonym from the Sun Devils mascot?
Firstly, the bite me of course comes from my fun little barb in the comments section this week. When you get the win, you just have to rub it in a little.
But, yes, Sparky comes from the Sun Devils mascot Sparky, um the Sun Devil or something like that. I actually had this blog started back before my folks moved to Arizona, but I was using my real name. As I got more opinionated, I had to think of a nome de plume. Then I saw 3 Arizona State games that year, and absolutely loved the way that the Sparky Sun Devil came flipping out to the song Thunderstruck before the games and it hit me.
Sparky was the name, but I needed a last name, since while I like Arizona State when they are not playing Oregon, they are not my team.
So, the next thought, to stick with the football vibe was of course to take the Duck as my pseudo last name. I have always liked Ducks, always thought they were cute. Growing up I liked Daffy and Donald better then Mickey and Bugs, so its not just an Oregon thing. But, it also was kinda an Oregon thing, since they are my team.
Which of course lends it self to another question, why in the blue blazes is Oregon my team in the first place. Well, thats a long story, which you get to enjoy right now.
Back when I first got cable in my bedroom, late night sports was a hit or miss. Sometimes you would get a good game on ESPN, but you also had the chance of seeing Professional Darts. So, on the smaller stations, you would sometimes get a really really cheap College Football game. You know, the dregs of the NCAAs of the time, Akron vs Lousiana Tech, Wake Forest vs Duke, and late at night, alot of Oregon football, usually in the pitch dark and rain of an Oregon fall. I thought the Ducks were such a plucky team, even though they were retched and there two toned football field was cool. Plus, any football fan will tell you they love watching a game in the rain.
Fast Forward to the late 80s. I had always checked to see how Oregon was doing as a team, and while they had the occasional 7 win year, which would again get them on a bowl game that was available always on public access, they just were not consistently good. And for some reason, I wanted them to be consistently good. Then, there was the Rose Bowl year. They played Penn State, who I always hated when growing up, and the Ducks were the little Engine that Could. So when Oregon stayed close for a half, I was hooked.
Follow that up with the Joey Harrington years, where Oregon was close to Championship level for 3 out of his 4 years, as well as 3 trips to Portland Oregon, where I loved the weather, the skyline, Mount Hood and the fact that you could drink beer in the Food Court and I had my team. Plus, Oregon was on TV almost every week, while my alma Mater, Delaware, was on once a year, and you had the Oregon Duck fan that you have today.
Plus Sparky Duck sounds alot better then Donald Devil.
Yes indeed, its Sparky Duck live via the internets. So put sparky.duck@hotmail.com in your little address book if you have the MSN Messenger/Windows live. If your an AIM fan, look for sparkyducky. And say hello. Just dont send emails there
