Namedropper!

Here on the West Coast, we have been hammered with really more rain and wind that we need.  January 28th and another is expected this afternoon, evening, and cherry on the sundae, all night.  

We need S O U P AND PLENTY OF IT

I consulted my old friend JuJu (Julia Child)  who swiftly pulled out from her purse her recipe for French Onion Soup.  She was in Pasadena touting her TV show at the time, but JuJu always knows the answer. 

"Ma cherie, "she warbled. "there's really only one thing  for this kind of weather.

"My French Onion Soup!"

5-6 yellow onions, very thinly sliced (they're going to dissolve in the soupy part which is:

I  T olive oil

2T butter

1/2 teas sugar and a pinch or a grind of sea salt. 

6 cups beef broth

1/2 cup white wine  

Cook in a Dutch oven for 30 minutes.  

As previously said, the onions damned near dissolve.  Toss in a T of cognac (not forgetting a swig for yourself.

You've eaten this soup so you know how to do the Swiss cheese (grated and sprinkled on the bread.)

If you're going out be sure to remember your umbrella.  None of this smile be an umbrella stuff.  That would be too blonde to believe.

Book Me A Table At Thomas Kellers French Laundry

I'm in a mood to celebrate.  A slight change and we can all dine inside the restaurant "just like  it used to be!"

And it's this:  when you arrive at a favorite venue, you will be greeted at the door by the maître'

 D - or a waiter for that  matter for the brief electronic temperature test.   Same one that greets you at your doctor's office.

Very fast' thus very efficient.  

Can't understand why this hasn't been done yet.  We've already suffered plexiglass panels to separate us one from the other. 

For a good turn-out at your funeral - Marry A LOT!

 If you are in  your early days - 20s' 39's - start marrying!  Down the road you're going to want lots of warm bodies there. Fill up them front rows!  The day will come. You don't have to set aside funds - at that age you won't have any extra cash that some greedy bitch can grab. 

I cite a few of the best examples - most recently that being this mornings news that radio/TV host Larry King has joined this ambitious and forward-planning  group. It now occurs to me that maybe Eight wives, at  age 87 killed him; not covid

I  had thought Mr. King was already dead - he certainly looked it (he didn't age at all well to say the least.)   I had wondered when they would finally put him under the grass? 

Perhaps all of those divorces were  little expensive but well worth it in the end.  And he certainly went through wives like  shit through a goose.  

Come to find out, he was not alone.  Two examples.: Musician Artie Shaw's most notable exes were:

 - Ava Gardner (Frank  Sinatra was not best pleased)(At all.)  Lana (Legs) Turner . 

Elizabeth Taylor married Richard Burton twice which I consider cheating.  Mike Todd, Michael Wilding, Senator John Warner

The Gabors were so numerous and subsequently so oft married (she always kept the rings and houses) that I lost track thus; this record would have quite probably been inexact.

Anecdote:

Richie's niece is a specials eds teacher in Beverly Hills.  One day Larry King came stumping into her classroom without a "I'm sorry to intrude..."  He just slammed the door and bellowed "Where's my son?!

Kathleen has not forgotten and I doubt she'll be signing any condolence card.  

From the Editor

Thanks to your relentless research, we can conclude that Poe's untimely demise  was due to excessive pie consumption.

Speaking as one with previous experience as a Goodyear blimp pilot your account serves as .. an alert to to anyone   who hasn't expected whipping motions and terrifying noises. 

.

Your Lobster Tale (tail) left me looking for a bib and melted butter.  Don't do that again.  

She Said That?

"I'm older than fire and twice as hot!

                                                         Cher 

Would that we could say that ,Ladies!

What Took So Long?

Mandatory use of "doctor's offices" temperature takers for restaurants, small groups and more.

Tomorrow afternoon  I will be able to give you a report.  South Bay Writer's Workshop is doing a tryout. 

To This Day!

There are at least nine theories about the death of Edgar Allen Poe.  He was found outside, in a gutter in someone else's clothing, lying in the gutter in the rain.   His doctor came at his behest but Poe went on to die anyhow.  He was 40 when he succumbed to this ignoble death.

He was born January 19th in 1809 and his demise occurred on October 7 in 1849.

Oddly enough he hated the city of Boston and stayed elsewhere as much as he could.  Something about the bad hotels.  He did though really like the city's pumpkin pie.  Whether he was depicted holding a pie in his statue seems not to be known.   And I am lazy.

We Thought the Goodyear Blimp Was Coming to Dinner! On Our Heads!

 Having ordered and then received it, we un-bagged our orders  and set into it.  We were picking bits of lobster out of lobster rolls  when we heard the most ungodly noise right above our heads.  It sounded like the start line at a drag race. 

You would have had to be dead not to hear the racket the Goodyear Blimp makes.

With an unexpected whip around, it was it was gone and we were left to speculate about it's final destination.  Perhaps nose down into the hills of  Palos Verdes?  

Captain Kidds parking lot does make a great viewing spot for a sunset over the ocean.  But if the Goodyear Blimp is on any kind of fly-over schedule may I suggest  you plan on  in-car dining?

Cousin Doug and the Plethora of Lobsters

 When my Cousin Doug heard that Richie and I were flying to New York to see Charlie, Richie's brother, and his wife Rosalind he invited himself and his wife  Jackie , to accompany us.  It seems that Doug had a long-lived desire to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, which had not been mentioned until now. On to the subway and then forward ward to Coney Island crowned with a hotdog from Nathans.  T

here he distinguished (not) himself by making  a scene begging a female customer to "speak  Brooklynese!" He went on and on and on.  Doug is nothing if not persistent.  Jackie and I were horrified.   Finally the lady cracked and ripped of a paragraph or so in her (presumably native tongue." )

Got on the train back to Long Island where Charlie. wife and family  lived and Rosalind scolded us.  "I told you to get back in time for dinner!"  The rest of them repaired to the breezeway for  regenerating libations.  I slipped into the kitchen to ask Rosalind if I could help with dinner? And incidentally get a beer. Rosalind was busy heating four huge caldrons which later held the lobster.

"No, no," she fluttered, "we're just having lobster."  My jaw dropped.  Lobster for all us? Looking  around and counting noses.  Maybe she has a lobster casserole recipe that would stretch it ...Doug and Jackie, Charlie, Rosalind, us and oldest son Sean a bay man.  Charlie, himself was a former president of the  Bayman and former President  of the Bay men.  He was always having to go up to Albany on Bay business.

Charlie was a clammer; oldest son Sean was lobstering at the time of this visit and youngest son Bryan, was a clammer.  Sean provided the lobs (they're call that in the Hamptons)  for this night's dinner.  We ate with gusto, especially Doug.  Rosalind urged more and more lobster on us .

Doug looked at the the three enormous platters laden with lobster carcasses, looking more than somewhat full.  Looking up from one of them, he muttered, "I've never been offered lobster like this!  Am dreaming?Am I  'Would you like more?"  Rosalind, laughed and held out a platter, "  Sean caught  16 lobsters for dinner tonight - have at it!"

Doug would go on to tell this story in tones of wonder until he died.  (2019)

And we haven't forgotten it either. Last Thursday we went for dinner at Captain Kidds where the menu offers Lobster Rolls or Lobster Tacos.  And I'm sure we will one and tell tell and re-tell about Doug and the lobsters.  

Do You Speak Hotel-ese

 I would bet that my brother-in-law is fluent in it.  For one thing, he flew from Chicago to London and on to Newcastle-on=Tyne once a month for a week for his job.

Turn on your tape  recorder  - 

Old World charm - no bath.   

I add   rural rural - down the hall and down three flights of stairs in winter.

Options galore - nothing is included 

Nominal fees - no extras

Standard  sub- standard

Deluxe - Standard

Superior - free shower  cap

All the amenities - TWO shower caps. 

Plush - top and bottom sheets

Concierge - You can't afford this! Check out NOW!

St Nina - rah rah rah

 Having one is a big deal in the Catholic and Greek practices.  As  basically a Methodist, I knew nothing about the practice of having one let alone any idea when it is.   Michelle, my best friend set me straight  (Hers is January 29.)  Mine is today - January 13,  As far as I could ascertain there are no bad luck superstitions attached to this date.  

Most nuns try hard to support themselves, making various products to sell to sell laypersons is one of them.    An example that caught my eye: 

 St. Anne's Coffee - Nun Better. 

Google your saint and then pull up illustrations of   Mine were as scary as a real nun - the kind that are armed with a ruler pace back and forth up and down the classroom.  

St. Nina  seems not to have any celebration attached to her name, but I think that Richie will want to take us out to dinner anyhow tonight.  I plan to tell him that we can grab a bite while out looking for St. Anne's coffee.  I mean being a saint for heaven's sake (deliberate) should mean something!  All too frequently the saint dies in some horrible way - shot full of arrows for example - that's got to sting!

I was pleased to note that St. Nina died a natural death.  I wouldn't care to be ventilated by arrows.  

,

The Widder Jackie

We, the public grieved as one with the principles.  That glamorous young couple , ripped apart by a bullet.  Not surprisingly she issued a list of the funeral  invitees mainly.  

For once the flamboyant Aristotle Onassis was on his best behavior;; standing quietly against a wall ,being pleasant to all who stopped by and greeted them somberly

But all would have a happy ending when Jackie married Ari and went through his money like shit through a goose,  Bad tempered harridans and gossip column writers  had much to say about it.  "Did you see her at the reception?" " She was scouting the talent honey, and look what she bagged".  

Personally I think it's the worst possible manners to pick out the new husband at the funeral ceremony for the last at bat.

But what do I know?

Beg Pardon

You may not bearing much from me.  Let us get various political matters squared away.  

 

Such as whether or not a sitting President can get out of Texas without getting shot.  Remember the Kennedy assassination's?   I do because for three days nothing else was discussed.  It was the first live snuff movie.

So when I read that Still-Sitting President Trump was going there -- to inspect his wall I thought couldn't someone send photos?   Texans have guns, dammit and hell's own amount of them.

I am distracted.

Smart Mouth!

Colorful language (within bounds of course) can be quite amusing and  writers steal them with alacrity.  Writer or not, have a laugh anyhow.

He's about as useful as an ashtray on a motorcycle.  

One day you're the peacock; next day you're the feather duster.

Money thinks I'm dead.  

One day you're drinking wine; the next you're picking grapes.

I was so poor I had to fry up my nest egg

A new broom  might sweep clean but an old one knows the corners

Well!  who licked the red off of your

candy? i.e. what're you pissed off about?

Man (to a nearly nude lady in a bar )  "Ma'am? "Are you outside trying to get in or inside tryin' to get out?" 

 

The above are from that great book "And the Best Blog is Word of Mouth" by the one and only Nina Murphy.  Available at amazon.com as well as Dave's Old Book Store. Artesia, Redondo Beach

The Irony

January 7, 1789

America had their first presidential election, as voters  chose electors who a month later selected George Washington to be the nation's first chief executive. 

Now cast a wandering eye to yesterday's news.  I doubt if George had a situation like it.  At lease I hope so.

Thank you Daily Breeze.

Just Invented - The Covid Anthem

 Missed the Saturday dance

Heard they crowded the floor

Couldn't bear it without you

Don't get out much anymore

Thought I'd visit the club

Got as far as the door

They'd have asked me about you

Don't get out much any more.

written and sung by Tony Bennett

Oddities

. I just read that the President of Ukraine is a former comedian and actor.  Runs in my mind we had someone very similar recently

When Mongolia voted in their constitution in 1924 they had more women than men.

IN 2015 Bhutan planted 49,672 trees in an hour.  Predug holes but they didn't water.

Serbia is one of the most prolific producer of raspberries in the world.

January 1st in -

 1863 - President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring that slaves in rebel states shall be "forever free."

1892 - The Ellis Island immigrant station in New York formally opened.

1954 - NBC broadcast the first coast-to-coast color TV program - of the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena.  

The more it changes the worse it gets.