Best Books of 2015

 

My total blog count this year was almost double that of any previous year for the 7 total months of '15 blogging activity; and thus, my total 'read' book count dropped to only a few dozen.

That is compared to the normal 4 to 8 dozen books a year that I usually read.  Since there is only so much sleep that I can give up, it is obvious that I am swapping a lot of time reading for time writing instead.  Oh well, I love doing both.

My top 7 books for '15 are: 

1)  You Can't Make This Up, by Al Michaels.  This is his autobiography, and I LOVED this book.  It is fast, funny, and full of factoids.  He is as great a writer as he is a broadcaster.  

2)  Living Beyond The Limits, by Franklin Graham.  So true, so factual, so good.

3)  Revelation Revealed, by Tim LaHaye.  Scary good, powerful.  A great read.

4)  Heroes Proved, by Oliver North.  I love his books; every one of them.  He is one of my favorite writers.  This is great fiction that immerses you in the story.

5)  Killing Lincoln, by Bill O' Reilly.  Historically, one of the most interesting books that I have ever read.  But, it is depressing.  Extremely well written.

6)  Johnny Carson, by Henry Bushkin.  This is a historically accurate retelling of Johnny's story by his best friend.  Frequently funny, exceptionally well paced; but sad.

7)  Adios, by Ann Coulter.  Having blogged about this book already, I will not repeat my words of caution.

Were any of these your favorites too?

And into '16 we head.  My inventory of books already purchased for '16 totals 20, and with about $100 of B&N gift cards still needing to be redeemed; it looks like '16 will get me back to the normal 50+ books.  At least I hope so.

See you next year :-)

O Holy Night

Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, to be the Savior of the world.  You, and only You, are the meaning of Peace. 

~


O Holy Night is my favorite Christmas song, (sung by Martina McBride); and it leaves me with shivers every time I hear the song; no matter who sings it, but Martina is my favorite.

And THE staple is Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" from 1741.  I love it almost as much as O Holy Night.  Unfortunately for today's generation, it is lost in many of today's modern church Christmas programs.  If it is not sung at your Christmas program; what a shame.  It's not been sung at my church for a long time, and what a treasure is being missed each year.

There is nothing more glorious than the Hallelujah Chorus.

This magnificent version is sung by the Royal Choral Society; which has sung it every year since 1878.

Merry Christmas Jesus.

Merry Christmas.

Food w/Friends & Family

Food has always been a big deal to me.  I have always been a big eater, and if it wasn't for a faster metabolism (slowing as the decades pass), I would weigh 700 lbs by now; and exercise only helps so much anymore.

Cooking is a stress relief for me, and I wish I had more time for it.  For large crowds; I love to smoke meats, and make fancy Italian meals.  I especially love to cook for crowds of 10-25, as it tests my analytical skills; but, at the same time, I love to entertain and see my friends and family genuinely enjoying a great meal.

Meals that require multiple steps are some of my favorites to prepare, as perfect timing and balance are always later rewarded with one of the finest tastes imaginable.  My cook books stacked end to end are close to 2' wide.  My favorites are those from Williams-Sonoma.

I was looking through some old photo's recently, and remembering some of the meals they were attributed to, and it starting stirring up my memory banks.  I decided to turn my culinary memories into a mental road trip of my baker's dozen top 13 meals of my life.  These are not listed in any order:

1) In '82, when I was promoted to Area Supervisor with LJS, my boss was Gerald Goins, and he treated Pam and myself, and our good friends Randy and Robi Farris to a meal in Glenpool.  It was a BBQ restaurant (no longer in business) that served the best ribs and steak fries that I had ever tasted.  I ate a full rack of them, and probably 3 lbs. of french fries.  It was a great night, and a great meal.

2) In '76, two of my best friends (Mike McDonald and Steve Vives) and I took our own Senior trip to Pensacola, FL (the class went to Padre Island) in my new Smokey and the Bandit Trans Am.  Along the way, we stopped for a meal at Steve's Aunt (I do not remember which state in the deep south it was).

To this day, it was one of the best meals that I have ever had in my life.  Roast beef so succulent that it fell apart on my fork, with a special brown gravy (I think it might have had sauteed onions in it), plus mashed potato's, corn on the cob, green beans with pearl onions and slivered almonds, home-made biscuits, and Iced Tea.  I don't remember the dessert, as I was in a food coma by then.  I ate so much that I probably embarrassed Steve, but his Aunt had made so much food that she could have fed 300 of the neighbor friends, and not just the 3 of us.  It was a totally amazing meal.

3) When Pam's Grandpa died, we traveled to Houston for the funeral, and we stayed at Grandma's house.  Grandma was a true southern cook.  Massive sized meals with so much food, that after feeding 20 people at one sitting that there was still food left for 40 more.  Fried chicken, mashed potato's, chicken fried steak, and oh the gravy.  The black-pepper cream crazy I could eat with a spoon like soup.  It was so flavorful and delicious.  And Grandma's home-made pickles were the best I've ever tasted in my life.  She stored them at the 8' level next to her ceiling as she thought the height enhanced the flavor.  Who am I to argue?  They remain to this day unbeatable. 

4) When Pam was 16, I took her to my house one evening for a meal.  She had never been to one of our meals.  Mom placed this enormous container of hamburger pie in the middle of the table.  My brothers and I immediately dug in to quickly fill our plates.  Our appetites were ravenous, and there was never such a thing as "leftovers".  My Mom quickly accessed that she better intervene and gather Pam a plate of food, or we might have it eaten it all.  She could see that Pam was shell-shocked, as Pam's eyes had doubled in size, and her jaw was in her lap.  I still don't know if she was shell-shocked from the sight of the boys eating like cavemen, or the size of the container for hamburger pie, or both . . .

5) In the summer of '70, my family and I traveled to Johnson, KS to visit my cousins.  My Grandpa maintained an impressive garden, and my Aunt Evelyn was an amazing cook.  I'm not sure how many days our stay was, but after the 1st meal she made, I was hoping that we would be able to stay a long time.  The garden fresh vegetables were the hit of the meal, as I don't remember tasting vegetables that were that fresh and full of flavor vibrancy.  I don't know what the meat(s) were, as the garden vegetables stole my heart (stomach).

6) In '74, when Pam (my future wife) were dating at the tender age of 16; she cooked me a meal that was so good, that it still ranks as one of my all time favorites.  To serve as the ultimate compliment, she still makes it for me on special occasions like my Birthday or Father's Day.  She made me fried chicken, corn, and mashed potato's.  Plus, Iced Tea of course.  It's a basic meal, but good home cooked comfort food is always my favorite.

7)  I can't do them justice, so I am lumping them all together.  Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Birthdays, Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day; are all excuses for me to cook; or smoke.  I could write chapters about the basic and fancy meals prepared and enjoyed on all these special days.  Christmas Prime Rib, Thanksgiving Trattoria, oh my; there is absolutely no way for me to pick just one.  I have so many wonderful memories of incredible meals with family and friends during Holidays.  I am truly a blessed man.

8) In '07, Pam and I traveled to Italy for our 30th Wedding Anniversary.  Christmas that year was spent in Venice, and that evening was my favorite meal of the entire trip.  From our hotel, we walked to a hole-in-the-wall Restaurante, and dined on brick-oven pizza.  The seating for 12 was more like seating for 6, as you had to walk sideways to your table; but oh my, that pizza was amazing.  And, so was the company of my wife :-).

9) In '90, the Doubletree Hotel in Tulsa offered AYCE prime rib.  That is where we chose to dine for 13th wedding anniversary.  I can't speak for Pam and how much she had, but I distinctly remember having 3 large slabs of beef.  We loved it so much that we became frequent visitors to the buffet line on many future visits.

10) In '80, for our 3rd wedding anniversary, Pam's Dad sent us to University Club tower for our dinner celebration.  We had eaten there a time or two before (thankfully on his tab), and we both had fallen in love with Cherries Jubilee for our dessert.  Why I remember this night, was because our server caught the white linen on fire when he Flambe' the Cherries Jubilee.  And though he quickly extinguished the flames, it probably remains the sole reason the Pam does not like me to Flambe' my food when I am cooking a fancy meal.  Or maybe it's because she caught her shirt on fire when she tried it....No wait, she caught her shirt on fire for some other reason.  My wife is so hot :-)

11) I learned to smoke and BBQ from Pam's Dad (Frank).  He had several Hasty-Bakes, he gave me my first Hasty Bake, and Hasty Bake is the ONLY grill that I have cooked on since I started smoking meats.  The 1st meal that I had at Frank's was Christmas of '77, and let's just say that I was not prepared for this meal.

Frank brought to the table roaster pan after roaster pan that was full of smoked chicken, smoked sausage, smoked roasts, smoked spare ribs, smoked baby back ribs, smoked corn, and smoked bologna.  Pam had warned him that I was a big eater; but this was over the top.  I was in smoked meat heaven.  I had never seen (nor eaten) so much smoked meat in my life.  I have no idea if anything else was served at that meal or not, as I was totally zoned out on the smoked meats.  Fortunately, Frank repeated this smoked meat meal for me many-many times in my life, as he loved to smoke as much as I loved to eat.

12) In '77, several of my best friends (Mike McDonald, Steve Vives, Mark Politte, Mike Bertuzzi, Bill Pollock, and my brother Paul) took me to Casa Bonita for my bachelor party dinner as they knew I was fond of eating a large quantity of food.

After the 15th taco; I was done.  It was a record that I will never break.  I don't remember much else about that evening, other than I couldn't believe that I was capable of eating 15 tacos.  Though I had previously demonstrated the ability many different times of eating 9-12 tacos at Taco Bueno; 15 tacos at one sitting seemed impossible.

13)  And how can I not include Fiorelli's Jack Stack BBQ of Martin City, MO (this is actually Kansas City).  Opened in '57, my first visit was '61, and over the past 55 years, I have eaten at their various locations at least 55x, but really, probably over 100x by now.  The original location (and still my favorite location) is in the same building, with the same basic floor plan that it had when it opened in '57.

(I remember the floor plan from '61 and the hall I walked down on my way out of the restaurant when I stopped to eat more fries off of a plate that was sitting on the edge of the table while my parents were gabbing with friends.  I can even point the table out to you the next time I am there.  You might not believe me, but if you don't, then you don't know me very well, as my brain takes photo's like that, and never forgets.  That's also why I remember the exact symmetry of the St. Louis Arch when standing next to it, and the exact symmetry of the leaning tower of Pisa when standing next to it.  It's just what I do.)

Jack Stack has provided so many wonderful memories, and so much incredible food over the decades.  It is apropos to close this blog with that memory of BBQ.

And oh, in approximately 180 hours from this very moment; we will be eating at Jack Stack BBQ of Kansas City again :-)

I'm starved ~ headed to breakfast :-)

Merry Christmas!   

"They're called boobs Ed."

Disclaimer: This blog is rated PG13; definitely no riskier than that.  But, in light of what is happening to my account on Facebook, I just had to open the subject up for discussion!

One of my all-time favorite movies was Erin Brockovich.  And I cracked up laughing when Julia Roberts spoke the line "They're called boobs Ed."  If you don't remember, I think it was at about the same time in the movie that she insulted "Krispy Kreme" for having 2 asses, and not just one.  And that itself was another super funny line.

~

Something has happened to me on Facebook, and that is the nature of this post. Can anyone help, or explain?  I am overrun daily with friend requests from young women with well endowed boobs.

My LinkedIn network has almost 3,000 contacts, and all of the requests for network acceptance are from fully clothed guys and gals.  My Facebook network has over 2,000 "Friends." (Actually, I only have 3-5 friends, but as you probably know; FB calls everyone a friend).

What is very strange to me is that over the past month, I am getting all kinds of FB invites from young females, and many of them are selfies of their breasts (covered), but still exposed.  Why would their husbands allow this?  Aren't they at least a little embarrassed for their children to see these pictures of Mommy?

I get at least 10 of these invites a day to confirm or delete their friend request.  I don't know any of them.  Is this something new that FB is doing/allowing?  What gives?

It's like a group of grown up ladies lost on the side of a milk carton.   

I thought it was a blog-worthy subject, so I copied the photos of the last 7 (just from this morning) that want to be my friend, and as the cliche goes "I don't know them from Eve" . . .

Thanksgiving 394 years

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year; and has been for as long as I can remember. In just a few days, we celebrate a tradition started 394 years ago.  

Today, a history lesson about Thanksgiving:
 
Most stories of Thanksgiving history start with the harvest celebration of the Pilgrims and the Native Americans that took place in the autumn of 1621. Although they did have a three-day feast in celebration of a good harvest, and the local natives did participate, this "first thanksgiving" was not a holiday, simply a gathering. 

In 1863, President Lincoln became the first president to proclaim Thanksgiving Day. The holiday has been a fixture of late November ever since.

Since most school children are taught that the first Thanksgiving was held in 1621 with the Pilgrims and Indians, let's take a closer look at just what took place leading up to that event, and then what happened in the centuries afterward that finally gave us our modern Thanksgiving.

The Pilgrims who sailed to this country aboard the Mayflower were originally members of the English Separatist Church (a Puritan sect). They had earlier fled their home in England and sailed to Holland (The Netherlands) to escape religious persecution. There, they enjoyed more religious tolerance, but they eventually became disenchanted with the Dutch way of life, thinking it ungodly. 

Seeking a better life, the Separatists negotiated with a London stock company to finance a pilgrimage to America. Most of those making the trip aboard the Mayflower were non-Separatists, but were hired to protect the company's interests. Only about one-third of the original colonists were Separatists.

The Pilgrims set ground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. Their first winter was devastating. At the beginning of the following fall, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower. 

But the harvest of 1621 was a bountiful one. And the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast - including 91 natives who had helped the Pilgrims survive their first year. It is believed that the Pilgrims would not have made it through the year without the help of the natives. The feast was more of a traditional English harvest festival than a true "thanksgiving" observance. It lasted three days.

Governor William Bradford sent "four men fowling (hunting)" after wild ducks and geese. It is not certain that wild turkey was part of their feast. However, it is certain that they had venison. The term "turkey" was used by the Pilgrims to mean any sort of wild fowl.

Another modern staple at almost every Thanksgiving table is pumpkin pie. But it is unlikely that the first feast included that treat. The supply of flour had been long diminished, so there was no bread or pastries of any kind. However, they did eat boiled pumpkin, and they produced a type of fried bread from their corn crop. 

There was also no milk, cider, potatoes, or butter. There was no domestic cattle for dairy products, and the newly-discovered potato was still considered by many Europeans to be poisonous. But the feast did include fish, berries, watercress, lobster, dried fruit, clams, venison, and plums.

This "thanksgiving" feast was not repeated the following year. Many years passed before the event was repeated. It wasn't until June of 1676 that another Day of Thanksgiving was proclaimed. On June 20 of that year the governing council of Charlestown, Mass, held a meeting to determine how best to express thanks for the good fortune that had seen their community securely established. 

By unanimous vote they instructed Edward Rawson, the clerk, to proclaim June 29 as a day of thanksgiving. It is notable that this thanksgiving celebration probably did 'not' include Native Americans, as the celebration was meant partly to be in recognition of the colonists' recent victory over the "heathen natives." By then, it had become apparent to the settlers that the natives were a hindrance to their quest for more land, so the good will they shared at the first feast had long been lost. 

A hundred years later, in October of 1777 all 13 colonies joined in a thanksgiving celebration. It also commemorated the patriotic victory over the British at Saratoga.


George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789, although some were opposed to it. There was discord among the colonies, many feeling the hardships of a few pilgrims did not warrant a national holiday. And later, President Thomas Jefferson opposed the idea of having a day of thanksgiving for he was an early-American liberal and non-Christian that did not want to bring attention to a Puritan religion.

It was Sarah Hale, a magazine editor, whose efforts eventually led to what we recognize as Thanksgiving. Hale wrote many editorials championing her cause in her Boston Ladies' Magazine. Finally, after a 40-year campaign of writing editorials and letters to governors and presidents, the day of Thanksgiving holiday became a reality in 1863, when President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving.


Thanksgiving has been proclaimed by every president after Lincoln. The date was changed a couple of times, most recently by Franklin Roosevelt, who set it up one week to the next-to-last Thursday in order to create a longer Christmas shopping season. Public uproar against this decision caused the president to move Thanksgiving back to its original date two years later. And in 1941, Thanksgiving was finally sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday, as the fourth Thursday in November.

Today, Thanksgiving has been relegated to just another day of the Christmas season; a 2 month long holiday season that officially starts on Nov. 1st, and ends on the 1st Monday of January. But for me, it shall always be my favorite holiday.

~

A few things this year that I am thankful for (among 1,000's of things) are: my Salvation through Jesus, for the heritage of my family, for my good friends, for my health, for my marriage to Pam of 38.5 years, for my daughters, for their husbands, for my grandchildren, for my church, and for our company.

I am truly a blessed man.

Happy Thanksgiving to you too.  

Rainbow

¹¹And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. ¹²And God said, This [is] the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that [is] with you, for perpetual generations: ¹³I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: ¹⁵And I will remember my covenant, which [is] between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.

~

I took these pictures at sunrise yesterday morning. It had not yet begun to rain where I was; but it immediately reminded me of God's promise from 7,000 years ago, and is still true today.

I am thankful for the promises of God.  I love seeing His promise in the sky like this.

Emma Jo

This little spitfire gives me the best lovin' of any little girl since her Aunt Jackie was about the same age.  And let me tell you "I'm lovin' every minute of it Jerry!"

Her love is unconditional.  No matter what she is doing, if I ask for a hug or kiss, you can guarantee that she will immediately stop what she is doing and come give me what I ask for.  And when she sees me, she is the only one that runs into my arms.  Actually, she runs, and then about 10' away she launches herself into my arms; knowing full well that I will reach out to catch her!  My heart beats faster with joy just thinking about it.

She will hug me for minutes on end, and she gives the best kisses too; so full of love.

This is my Spaz, with a few of her morning ready for school photo's.  I always look forward to my grand daughter photo's each school morning.  I love the assortment of bows, boots, colors, and coordination.  The smiles are always great; unless of course a diva moment has previously ensued, like the top photo.

Emma Jo accounts for 87.7% of the Franco food bill though; as she never stops eating. She out eats me, and I am probably 5x her weight.  If you were to look into her back pack, it is not full of books, it is full of food snacks.

I love you Emma Jo, you mean the world to me.

I am a blessed man!