Well, I am back in the house that I bought on June 5th 2001.

The yard is looking good

Those are pics from when we first had the yard redone. Now things have grown a bit and it looks more natural I guess.

My boys moved to California on Tuesday, I miss them a lot.

Still have a lot of moving in to do. And making it feel like home. My partner Ann has been great thru all of this and I couldnt do it with out her.

Here is to a new start

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Recipe from a friend. We had this at his house at a party. It is delicious.
Ingredients:
1 sourdough round
2 x 8 oz. can of mushrooms (drained)
1 pkg. of Italian salad dressing mix
2 cups mayonnaise
2 cups sharp cheddar (grated)
2-1/3 cups parmasean (grated)

1. Top the sourdough round and hollow out the inside
2. Mix all the other ingredients together in a separate bowl and pour into sourdough round
3. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes or until top is bubbly and golden brown

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Another of my Winter favorites

Japanese curry

Ingredients:
1 Tb Ghee or Butter
2 Med Yellow Onions diced
2 Stalks of Celery diced
1 Lg Carrot diced
1 Lg Tomato -skin and pulp removed chopped
1 can chicken stock
1 cube bullion
1 pkg S & B curry
3 plums or ½ grated apple
2-3 Tbs ketchup
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp curry powder
¼ – ½ tsp clove powder
1/3 c plain yogurt
1 tbs butter
1 Lb meat -chicken or beef cubed
(or if shrimp add at the very end of cooking)
1 Tb curry powder ~sprinkled on meat and set aside (do not sprinkle on shrimp)

1. Fry vegetables until soft – remove from pan
2. Brown meat in butter
3. Combine meat and vegetables
4. Combine stock or broth with 1 cube beef or chicken bullion
5. Combine all ingredients and simmer over low heat in lidded pot 30-40 minutes (or if more softness is desired cook longer)
6. Add S&B brand curry roux to pot
7. Add fruit (3 plums, or 1/2 grated apple or whatever you prefer)
8. Add ketchup
9. Add chili powder, curry powder and clove powder (do not add if using shrimp)
10. Cook over low heat til all ingredients blend together
11. Then add plain yogurt and/or 1T butter -add both for greater richness
12. If shrimp add 1/2 or 1/3 can coconut milk and 1/2t of garam masala, add shrimp at very end

Enjoy!

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One of my favorite comfort food recipes.

Ingredients:
10 brats
1 cup flour
2 fat tire amber ales or any ale of you choice
2-3 T lemon juice
2.5T beef base
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup crushed gingersnaps
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup grated yellow onion

On the stove top over medium heat:
Melt butter in Dutch oven
Dredge brats in flour
Brown brats on both sides and then remove from Dutch oven to a plate
After all brats are browned add 1 beer to Dutch Oven and deglaze
Add crushed gingersnaps
Add second beer
Add grated onion
Stir to dissolve gingersnaps
Mix lemon juice, water, and beef base in a cup and pour into Dutch oven
Bring to a simmer

Add brats and then cover with lid
Place in 325 degree oven for 1 hour
After 1 Hour turn oven down to 250 and cook for 30-45 minutes more.

Enjoy

Server with mashed potatoes and green salad

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I have been a little under the weather lately and as such have been watching quite a few movies.

First up, Ink. Quite the original plot, I watched it over the course of 2 days and after the first viewing I didnt know if I would finish it, it almost seemed like something made for an “after school special”. I am very glad I finished it. The ending was quite good. It is rare now days in the world of remakes and rehashing of plots to find something original.

Angel-A. Luc Besson, need I say more. I have seen almost all of his films, I have never been disappointed. Almost a film noir project. The ending was a little weak IMO. But quite an enjoyable film nonetheless. If you are a fan of his films definitely check it out.

Re-cycle. I watched three quarters of this last night before the NyQuil killed me. The first part was almost like a Japanese horror film, then it turned into a mish mash of Silent Hill combined with labyrinth, I can’t wait to finish it. Great visuals and audio, the transfer and audio is superb.

Chocolate. A young autistic girl can master martial arts by just watching film. I love a good martial arts flick, and this is very entertaining.

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A few days ago I was on Twitter where I network with a lot of artists. Somehow I noticed that John T. Unger an artist who makes Artisanal Firebowls had ended up with some legal troubles. I have followed his work for some time and always thought one of his wonderful pieces would look great in my yard.

I need your help. My original art has been copied by a manufacturer who is now suing me in federal court to overturn my existing copyrights and continue making knockoffs. I have a strong case, a great lawyer and believe that if I can continue to defend myself, the case will be resolved in my favor. If I run out of funds before we reach trial, a default judgment would be issued against me and could put me out of business. I don’t believe my opponent can win this case in court and I don’t believe he really intends to try. I believe his goal is to use strong-arm litigation tactics to force me to keep spending money or risk losing my copyrights — not by true adjudication, but by default if he is able to outspend me.

Original source here

Over the next 24 hrs amazing things started to happen:

• Somewhere in the neighborhood of 100,000 tweets went out about this.
• He raised over $5000 to help his cause by selling some new art pieces as a kickstart project.
• The page telling his story had nearly 50,000 page views.
• A new hash tag at twitter started to be used #defendart

I have a multi-author blog at www.grimvisions.com and I asked one of the bloggers there to write about what was happening. We published it, and I also went onto a few of the art forums I frequent and posted about his troubles there. Some of the people in response put it on their Deviant Art profiles. That’s just what I did, there were 100′s maybe 1000′s of people doing similar things to get the word out. A case like his affects all artists in one way or another.

Sometimes other peoples stories really connect with me. John’s plight had affected me. I started thinking about how I could help more. I couldn’t really contribute more funds. But I could contribute time and art. So yesterday I called him and offered both. We had a very good conversation.

A large group of like minded individuals can achieve great things.

So if you are interested in helping out you can:

Read the original story

Contribute

Follow John On Twitter

The Consumerist Story

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When moving out on my own I needed a coffee maker. I looked around and decided that a single cup maker was the thing for me. My brother had a Keurig machine. It is a pod coffee maker. I did a lot of research on pod makers and this thing is the best one out there for the money. I figured a single cup maker was best for a single guy since making a full pot or half a pot was going to be wasteful. At 30-40 cents a pod its not that costly and the coffee is damn tasty. A lot of coffee roasters now make pods in the Keurig K-cup format.  Amazon carries the machine and Costco has a heck of a deal on it as well, much better than the Amazon deal. (and its a slightly different model a bit quieter)

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For a while I have tried to go green.  Living on my own now for a bit, it is now becoming easier. Its amazing how little garbage one person creates. For the past 3 weeks I haven’t even put out the regular garbage can.

Here are some resources I have used in my effort.

http://www.treehugger.com/

http://www.thinkgreen.com/

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My life has and is changing dramatically.

I am getting divorced.

I am now out on my own.

I am now a better father to my sons.

I am almost 40 and life is starting over.

Sometimes life changes and we have to change with it.

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Sometimes certain movies I hear about just don’t interest me at all. “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” was one of them. Last night on HBO I noticed it was on and man was I surprised, Very good acting, great score and produced by Ridley Scott. How could I have missed this.

Do your self a favor and watch this it is truly a gem.

Here are some link to history on the characters:

Jesse James

Robert Ford

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