James (Jim) Rookus

SO TRUE DAVE ........ Within reason,  I follow his advice ..... 

I'd rather die HAPPY than DEPRIVED !

David Long

Here's a thought for today from Kermit's Friend:

Artichokes.....are just plain annoying....After all the trouble you go to, you get about as much actual "food" as you would from licking thirty or forty postage stamps.

Have the Shrimp Cocktail instead.

from Miss Piggy!

James (Jim) Rookus

DAVE ..... that last post hit the nail on the head ! 

I won't eat Artichokes, Brussel Sprouts, Guacamole or Saur Kraut !!!

BUT LOVE SHRIMP COCKTAIL...

The more the merrier !!!

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Alright Dave and Jim. The food battle is on. I like all of them...artichokes, guacamole (avocados), saurkraut, brusslels sprouts, and even asparagus. And shrimp cocktail is awesome. What I have a problem with are beets (taste like eating dirt), pumpkin and sweet potatoes. But above all those, fresh garden tomatoes are to die for. If I were on death row and asked what I would like for my last meal, it would be Lucca Grill's pizza, a tomato sandwich or fillet mignon in Paris with a glass of Cabernet.

Which reminds me of a joke...

At a local diner the menu said, "Eggs served any time." The guy (who could have been me) said to the waitress, "I'd like scrambled eggs served during the Renaissance."

David Brock

I think Mark Twain is credited with saying  'Why stand, when you can sit?--Why sit when you can lie down and take a nap?

Jack Keefe

Today, August 16, my church is having a homecoming event. For some of you, it was once your home church too: Centennial Christian Church, 1219 East Grove Street, Bloomington. Hours are from 10-2 today.

It's mostly free except the food trucks, ice cream and the church cookbook. The cookbook is a reprint of the 2010 release. If you're into cookbooks, this one will sell for $15 today only. This is a 25 percent discount.

Other events include face painting and kids' games, Barbershop Quartet at noon, historic pictures indoors (it's air conditioned) and stained glass window tours. 

If this is your sort of thing, come out and see us. It'll be a great time!

Ray Bledsoe

David, I think that's a old Scout Leader  saying 🤔 

David Long

Well, one of my favorites that I try to live by, especially  in my old age, is credited to the Duke of Windsor:

"Never pass up an opportunity to relieve yourself nor rest your feet."

That being said, there is the Dali Museum and gallery in St. Petersburg, FL that we have ben fortunate enough to visit. Something I came away with is one of his thoughts:

"Have no fear of perfection - - - you'll never reach it."

Wendy Stephens (Cullen)

I love artichokes and all else mentioned.  The one food item I find easy to pass up is bacon.  

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Dave L., I see you have entered the age of artificial intelligence. Your new photo should be enshrined in the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. It is classic.

And Wendy, I'm so glad you like all those nutritious foods, but how in the world one cannot like bacon is too much for me to comprehend. Throw it on bread with one of Marv's tomatoes and you enter a state of Nirvana. Of course, that also means you may not survive much longer than a mayfly. So, I get it. But as Dave B. said when quoting Mark Twain, "Why stand when you can sit?"

And now for today's humor entry:

When an elderly man, perplexed when his doctor asked if he still had sex, went to the waiting room and asked his wife if they still had intercourse, she responded, "NO, NO, NO!!! We have Blue Cross/Blue Shield."

Ray Bledsoe

Wendy, my mom used to make a hot Artichoke and Bacon salad, it was to die for. Oh My Goodness!!!  

I haven't thought of that in years.

Linda Bristow (Elias)

Bledsoe:

Ingredients

Deselect All

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

15 large artichokes

10 slices bacon

4 teaspoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 teaspoon finely chopped garlic

1/2 cup finely chopped parsley

Pepper

Get Ingredients

 

Directions

1. Prepare a blanc: Place the four in a large pot and beat in enough cold water to make a smooth, medium-thick paste. Then beat in 2 quarts of cold water, the lemon juice and the salt. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Remove hearts from artichokes.
3. Add the artichoke hearts to the water, bring to boil, the simmer gently until the hearts are just tender when pierced with a knife (about 25-30 minutes). Remove pot from heat and allow the hearts to come to room temperature in the liquid.
4. Gently fry the bacon slices. Do not cook until crisp. Remove and reserve on paper towels.
5. Place the mustard in a mixing bowl. Using a whisk, beat in the vinegar. Drop by drop at first, then in a thin stream, beat in the olive oil; the mixture should be medium-thick. Add the garlic, and season vinaigrette to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Remove warm artichoke hearts from liquid and cut in sixths. Place in large mixing bowl and season with salt and pepper. Cut each bacon slice into 6 pieces and add to bowl. Toss with vinaigrette. Serve on 8 individual plates, sprinkled with chopped parsley.
7. As a first course: Serve just as in this recipe-preferably on stark white plates for a real bistro effect. As a buffet item: This quantity will provide small portions for about 15 people.

Wendy Stephens (Cullen)

I figured my bacon comment would generate a few responses.  I don't dislike it I just don't need to have it on things like a maple bar or a hamburger.  I do like a BLT.  And Illinois garden tomatoes are hard to beat.

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Oh Wendy, I am so relieved to see your post about BLTs. If anyone has any need of tomatoes, contact Marv. He is going to harvest about 800 pounds of them this summer and will give them freely to any of you Raiders 64 classmates. Give him a call. I'm sorry that Wendy is too far away to take advantage of this amzaing offer. I know Marv pretty well and know that he will love seeing any one of you who reach out to him.

Terri Baxter (Whirrett)

Marvin, can't you send to SC???!!!

James (Jim) Rookus

MARV... IF YOU SEND THEM TO SOUTH CAROLINA, YOU CAN ALSO SEND SOME TO MICHIGAN !!!  

MEL ....  I LOVE ALL THOSE THINGS YOU DON'T.... WE MUST JUST HAVE OPPOSITE EATING PALATES !

I THINK THIS IS THE MOST ACTIVITY FOR ONE DAY (YESTERDAY) IN AGES !

KEEP IT UP ! ! ! !

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

JIm, as you know, I have always been on the wierd side. Not that it's a bad place to be, but we are usually in the minority. Still, my tastes are based on experience. Why I love asparagus goes back to memories of it growing wild at the end of our street. Brussels sprouts, I can't explain, probably an old girl friend. As for all the other veggies, who knows? But beets are the worst vegetable ever invented.

If anyone wants to know more about my culinary preferences, they can email me at theobaldart@gmail.com. I am not shy about expressing my opinions. LOL

Love to all, Mel

James (Jim) Rookus

Oh Mel... by the way I do love asparagus !!!

Regarding my last meal if I were on death row......

Any form of pulled pork BBQ .....  I could eat that every day !

David Long

Was distracted yesterday and missed all the fun with beets.  The aunt and uncle I lived with most after my mom died when I was 6 taught me a great way to eat the sweeten canned diced beets - you simply mix them with mashed white potatoes for a sweet, tasty side dish. (I'm sure it was all the sugar that went into the syrup for the beets.  One must be careful, however, when eating fresh beets and then looking into the toilet prior to flushing - you are not hemorraging.

Here's another quote attributed to Satchel Paige:

Age is a question of mind over matter.  If you don't mind, it don't matter!

Wendy Stephens (Cullen)

Here is a topic that I think quite a few people will have an opinion about...the new situation in college football with the Transfer Portals and the NIL money.  I have always enjoyed college football but it certainly has changed.  I know one family here whose son has been at four different colleges in four years.

Hope to hear some points of view.

Linda Bristow (Elias)

Mel:

I understand about beets.....they taste like dirt.   From my dear mother-in-law, I learned a Middle-Eastern way of eating them.   Beets soak up any flavor added to them.

You can use fresh from the garden and boil them gently until tender.........or.....buy a can of sliced beets.

Dump the entire content of a can of beets into a bowl.  You can just add lemon, olive oil, and salt.  They're good.  But if you add smashed garlic and let it sit in the oil for an hour before adding it to the beets (or green tips of onion too), then mix it with the beets.  Let it sit for 30 minutes.   The beets soak up the flavors.  I find them almost addictive.

Then there is pickled beets.   I can't get enough of them either.   You might try it sometime.

Good luck!

Linda

Melvin (Mel) Theobald

Linda and Dave L., I'm trying to digest all you have said to defend beets. But in the end, my take away is...the only way to make them palatable is to disquise the taste. Nice try. However, I must confess that as far as sweet potatoes are concerned, I can tolerate them candied or with marshmallows. Is there a recipe for beets and marshmellows? Or, beets with brown sugar? I didn't think so. And at 79 years of age, I guess it doesn't really matter anymore.

Wendy, unlike you, I kind of gave up on all football several years ago. Professional football is too much big business for me. The Chicago Bears were recently valued at $8.8 billion, yet they are still trying to milk the State of Illinois for a new stadium. College games are OK and I always root for the Big 10 teams (especially Illinois for personal reasons and Ohio State for Jack Keefe out of empathy), which now include almost every other NCAA team out there. But that too is now all about money and is a training ground for the NFL. With apologies to Knute Rockne, I am no fan of Notre Dame. Lest you all think I've become a fuddy-duddy, I absolutely love college bastketball, especially the women's teams.

Other than that, Go Raiders!!! What fun we are having!!!

David Long

Professional College Football:

There has always been, for at least the last 40+ years, professional college footbal if defined as pay for play.  To now have it above board makes it easier for the governing bodies (NCAA, et al) to save time and resources and not have "look the other way" when they find student-athletes getting paid under the table with cash, free apartments, cars, etc..  

The colleges make truck loads of money off the efforts of these kids.  The video game companies are reaping the benefits of using the likeness of these kids in their games without paying royalties to kids.  Are the kids getting an education?  Some are and some are just there to develop hoping to get into the NFL and score big $$.  

There's a real inequity in the allocation of $.  The average football season is what, 12 games.  Every other sport has an equal number of events, i.e. swimming, tennis, track, lacrosse, et al.  The difference is they don't fill a 30,000 seat stadium with all the concessions.

Will this turn into a junior NFL with salary caps, agents, trade deadlines, et al.  I hope not, or has it already done so?

My 2cents on Play for Pay.

David Long

Since we're on the topic of football, here's a life quote from

Mike Ditka:

"You never really lose until you stop trying."

James (Jim) Rookus

DAVE.......  Like the new glasses... and what's your sudden weight loss diet?