(.)_(.)
Sunday, October 30, 2005
the weather outside was frightful
Reen and I arrived at Gillette last night around 6:30pm, with snow on the ground and continuing to fall. It was quite dark and wet and uncomfortable as we lit the grill and tried to enjoy ourselves. The field inside had snow on most of it. The players looked sluggish and the quality of the game was poor, as passes skipped about or stopped dead in the snow.
The ref was doing the home team no favors. Blatant hand ball in the box by the Metro is flagged by the assistant ref on the sideline but is not called by the center ref. WTF!? All 238 fans on hand are going nuts. Eddie Gaven gets the ball and gets around his man along the sidelines. Anyone who's seen him play can just feel the dive coming. Get past his man, then suddenly slow up and crumple to the ground when he feels the slightest contact. It's like his bread and butter meal. And so it happens and still the ref calls the foul. This was when I jumped out of my seat and yelled "That was BULLSHIT!!" at the top of my lungs. Reen reminds me that there are kids sitting around us. "Well they should know that was a bullshit call."
0-0 at halftime. Steady rain. $7 hot chocolate in a Patriots mug.
Early in the second half Parkhurst makes a bad play at midfield and Djorkaeff is off to the races. Parkhurst does well to recover and pressure him from behind but a player of Youri’s caliber will not miss in a situation like this. 1-0 Metro and 2-0 aggregate for the series. Revs need 2 goals now to force a playoff period. About 30 minutes left to play in the game.
Nicol starts with the subs and in comes Cancela and James Riley. The subs have had an impact on the game and the Revs are attacking in waves now. Cancela works himself free of a scrum in front of the net and puts one in. 2-1 aggregate now. More attacking from the revs. Meola comes off his line to grab a corner kick and misjudges it badly, not touching it at all. Noonan rises above Bradley at the back post and buries the ball. Series tied, 20 minutes left to play. The field is tilting down sharply towards the Metro goal now and they are hanging on for dear life. But the dam will not hold. Khano Smith is charging down the left flank. And he’s rounded the corner on his man and is 1v1 with Tony Meola. The former middle school teacher from Bermuda and member of the Dandy Town Hornets is faced with the 3x World Cup vetran (Captain of the team in ’94). But times have changed. It’s 2005 and the Rev’s will not lose this series and Khano beats the goalie cleanly with a left footed blast into the far side netting.
It’s pandemonium. The stands are shaking. The referee falls to the ground and gives birth to two gleaming Clydesdales, which charge forth and bear Khano away across the sky in a golden chariot.
Well maybe that’s not quite how the game ended, but it was something like that. The DC/Chicago games is today at 4:30 and the winner will play the Revs at Gillette next Sunday. See you there.
Khano sees the chariot and comes running 4 comments
Reen and I arrived at Gillette last night around 6:30pm, with snow on the ground and continuing to fall. It was quite dark and wet and uncomfortable as we lit the grill and tried to enjoy ourselves. The field inside had snow on most of it. The players looked sluggish and the quality of the game was poor, as passes skipped about or stopped dead in the snow.
The ref was doing the home team no favors. Blatant hand ball in the box by the Metro is flagged by the assistant ref on the sideline but is not called by the center ref. WTF!? All 238 fans on hand are going nuts. Eddie Gaven gets the ball and gets around his man along the sidelines. Anyone who's seen him play can just feel the dive coming. Get past his man, then suddenly slow up and crumple to the ground when he feels the slightest contact. It's like his bread and butter meal. And so it happens and still the ref calls the foul. This was when I jumped out of my seat and yelled "That was BULLSHIT!!" at the top of my lungs. Reen reminds me that there are kids sitting around us. "Well they should know that was a bullshit call."
0-0 at halftime. Steady rain. $7 hot chocolate in a Patriots mug.
Early in the second half Parkhurst makes a bad play at midfield and Djorkaeff is off to the races. Parkhurst does well to recover and pressure him from behind but a player of Youri’s caliber will not miss in a situation like this. 1-0 Metro and 2-0 aggregate for the series. Revs need 2 goals now to force a playoff period. About 30 minutes left to play in the game.
Nicol starts with the subs and in comes Cancela and James Riley. The subs have had an impact on the game and the Revs are attacking in waves now. Cancela works himself free of a scrum in front of the net and puts one in. 2-1 aggregate now. More attacking from the revs. Meola comes off his line to grab a corner kick and misjudges it badly, not touching it at all. Noonan rises above Bradley at the back post and buries the ball. Series tied, 20 minutes left to play. The field is tilting down sharply towards the Metro goal now and they are hanging on for dear life. But the dam will not hold. Khano Smith is charging down the left flank. And he’s rounded the corner on his man and is 1v1 with Tony Meola. The former middle school teacher from Bermuda and member of the Dandy Town Hornets is faced with the 3x World Cup vetran (Captain of the team in ’94). But times have changed. It’s 2005 and the Rev’s will not lose this series and Khano beats the goalie cleanly with a left footed blast into the far side netting.
It’s pandemonium. The stands are shaking. The referee falls to the ground and gives birth to two gleaming Clydesdales, which charge forth and bear Khano away across the sky in a golden chariot.
Well maybe that’s not quite how the game ended, but it was something like that. The DC/Chicago games is today at 4:30 and the winner will play the Revs at Gillette next Sunday. See you there.
Khano sees the chariot and comes running 4 comments
Friday, October 28, 2005
man-size plush-made foal
Game 2 of the Revs-Metro series is tomorrow night at 8pm. Here’s the weather forecast:
Weather.com predicts light rain, 38 degrees, wind chill of 31, with 70% chance of (light) rain or wet snow.
Intellicast.com is calling for "steady light rain in the evening. Showers continuing late. Low around 35F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%."
The National Weather Service says "rain likely before 9pm, then snow likely. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy, with a low near 30. North wind between 9 and 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%."
This is one of the exact reasons that we bought tickets earlier in the week. There is 100% certainty that we could get good seats that night at the stadium, regardless of the weather, and avoid paying the ticketmaster fees. But we bought early so that we would be forced to go, no matter the weather or our waning motivation to get off our duffs on a Saturday night.
To liven our spirits, Reen bought us a Smokey Joe grill for the tailgates. Isn’t she great?
some random bits...
I spent about one minute this morning trying to figure out in my head if 23 is a prime number. That’s normal right?
And here’s a picture of the titular hero of this post
1 comments
Game 2 of the Revs-Metro series is tomorrow night at 8pm. Here’s the weather forecast:
Weather.com predicts light rain, 38 degrees, wind chill of 31, with 70% chance of (light) rain or wet snow.
Intellicast.com is calling for "steady light rain in the evening. Showers continuing late. Low around 35F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%."
The National Weather Service says "rain likely before 9pm, then snow likely. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy, with a low near 30. North wind between 9 and 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%."
This is one of the exact reasons that we bought tickets earlier in the week. There is 100% certainty that we could get good seats that night at the stadium, regardless of the weather, and avoid paying the ticketmaster fees. But we bought early so that we would be forced to go, no matter the weather or our waning motivation to get off our duffs on a Saturday night.
To liven our spirits, Reen bought us a Smokey Joe grill for the tailgates. Isn’t she great?
some random bits...
I spent about one minute this morning trying to figure out in my head if 23 is a prime number. That’s normal right?
And here’s a picture of the titular hero of this post
1 comments
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
we did it
the party seemed to be a success. We enjoyed many compliments about our home and the sausage and the mustards. What few leftovers we had went home with a few guests, leaving us with enough for lunch on Sunday and one remaining Kielbasa link, which I set aside mainly to head off the onset of empty nest syndrome.
Of the 5 sausages I made, 4 were new to me. Of the 4 new ones, 2 (brats and kielbasa) were based on recipes from a trusted source while the other 2 (cj’s and mole) were made up on the spot on Thursday evening. So to have the whole shooting match so well received was a thrill. Much to my surprise it seemed that the mole sausage was a favorite for many guests. The idea for this came from Pete who mentioned a mole salami which he’d seen. But being a bit esoteric, I made the smallest amount of this and expected it to go largely untouched. Shows what I know.
Aside from the food fun, we had 30+ guests from all different parts of our lives present which was a blast. Reen’s folks and Mike and Jason drove up from PA, my whole family was there, and then we had the various work people and high school friends and Reen’s work people. It was like having a mini wedding reception all over again, which was great fun for us.
If you came for the party, thank you. And if you couldn’t make it, let this serve as an invitation to join us next year.
The only damper on the evening was the Revs dropping the first playoff game 1-0 to the Metro in NJ. The first round is a home and home series, with total goals scored deciding the winner. The 2nd (and final) game is this Saturday at Gillette. The Revs are more than capable of winning at home by 2 goals AND the Metro have seldom had 2 top level performances in a row this year. But it’s still enough to get you worried about the result.
3 comments
the party seemed to be a success. We enjoyed many compliments about our home and the sausage and the mustards. What few leftovers we had went home with a few guests, leaving us with enough for lunch on Sunday and one remaining Kielbasa link, which I set aside mainly to head off the onset of empty nest syndrome.
Of the 5 sausages I made, 4 were new to me. Of the 4 new ones, 2 (brats and kielbasa) were based on recipes from a trusted source while the other 2 (cj’s and mole) were made up on the spot on Thursday evening. So to have the whole shooting match so well received was a thrill. Much to my surprise it seemed that the mole sausage was a favorite for many guests. The idea for this came from Pete who mentioned a mole salami which he’d seen. But being a bit esoteric, I made the smallest amount of this and expected it to go largely untouched. Shows what I know.
Aside from the food fun, we had 30+ guests from all different parts of our lives present which was a blast. Reen’s folks and Mike and Jason drove up from PA, my whole family was there, and then we had the various work people and high school friends and Reen’s work people. It was like having a mini wedding reception all over again, which was great fun for us.
If you came for the party, thank you. And if you couldn’t make it, let this serve as an invitation to join us next year.
The only damper on the evening was the Revs dropping the first playoff game 1-0 to the Metro in NJ. The first round is a home and home series, with total goals scored deciding the winner. The 2nd (and final) game is this Saturday at Gillette. The Revs are more than capable of winning at home by 2 goals AND the Metro have seldom had 2 top level performances in a row this year. But it’s still enough to get you worried about the result.
3 comments
Friday, October 21, 2005
hitting the links
I took the afternoon off to make sure that I had enough time to make all the sausage. I'm glad I did as I needed the extra time. Now I won't have to be working when Reen's folks get here tomorrow. Here's the final tally:
Cheesy Jalapeno Sausage (CJ's?): 6 lbs
Bratwurst: 5 lbs
Kielbasa: 5 lbs
Hotwurst: 4 lbs
Mole Sausage: 3 lbs
The math majors among you will surely notice that the total is 23 lbs, one more than mentioned in the last post? Can anyone out there solve the mystery of the appearing pound? The answer is contained within the previous 2 posts.
Behold!
3 comments
I took the afternoon off to make sure that I had enough time to make all the sausage. I'm glad I did as I needed the extra time. Now I won't have to be working when Reen's folks get here tomorrow. Here's the final tally:
Cheesy Jalapeno Sausage (CJ's?): 6 lbs
Bratwurst: 5 lbs
Kielbasa: 5 lbs
Hotwurst: 4 lbs
Mole Sausage: 3 lbs
The math majors among you will surely notice that the total is 23 lbs, one more than mentioned in the last post? Can anyone out there solve the mystery of the appearing pound? The answer is contained within the previous 2 posts.
Behold!
3 comments
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
the daily grind
The bad news is that due to a shipping error, I only received my sausage casings today by FedEx. As a result I’m just a shade behind schedule. The good news is that I took the new tools out for a test drive tonight and they work great.
I ground all the meat (turned out to be 22 lbs worth) and cleaned up in about an hour. That’s easily 4-5 times faster than with the KA grinder. Here’s what I ended up with:
You can see the meat on the right looks darker. That’s the meat for the kielbasa, which has changed color as it cured. The white stuff up front is ground pork fat. Mmmmmm. After the grinding I seasoned, mixed and stuffed the kielbasa.
Tomorrow I will smoke and/or complete mixing and stuffing the rest of the sausages. After seeing all the meat I have, Iron Chef Mashpee might even have time for a 5th sausage style. We’ll see...
0 comments
The bad news is that due to a shipping error, I only received my sausage casings today by FedEx. As a result I’m just a shade behind schedule. The good news is that I took the new tools out for a test drive tonight and they work great.
I ground all the meat (turned out to be 22 lbs worth) and cleaned up in about an hour. That’s easily 4-5 times faster than with the KA grinder. Here’s what I ended up with:
You can see the meat on the right looks darker. That’s the meat for the kielbasa, which has changed color as it cured. The white stuff up front is ground pork fat. Mmmmmm. After the grinding I seasoned, mixed and stuffed the kielbasa.Tomorrow I will smoke and/or complete mixing and stuffing the rest of the sausages. After seeing all the meat I have, Iron Chef Mashpee might even have time for a 5th sausage style. We’ll see...
0 comments
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
sausage schedule
so the odyssey begins. Reen picked up about 20 pounds of meat for me yesterday which I had ordered on Saturday. 3 pounds of veal and 2 pork butts. And so the week of party prep begins. Mostly as a reference point for myself, here's the sausage schedule:
Mon: cube and mix 5lbs pork with cure, sugar and salt for kielbasa
Tues: grind, mix and stuff the Kielbasa
Weds: grind the remaining meat. Smoke the Kielbasa
Thurs: mix and stuff brats, hots and a 3rd type of fresh sausage? Mole* maybe?
Fri: safety day, simmer brats in beer then into fridge?
So that’s my plan. I hope to remember to take some pictures along the way. Reen’s almost finished up with her mustards. Last night she was preparing a dijon style as a base to create some different herby type mustards. The dijon requires that you simmer it for a while on the stove top. At some point the simmer broke into a low boil and boy howdy! The vapor put off from that small bubbling pot was amazing. It burned our eyes to the point where we could both still feel the sting 30 minutes later, long after the mustard was cooled and put away.
*for the unintiated, the word up there is mole, not mole, mole or mole. 2 comments
so the odyssey begins. Reen picked up about 20 pounds of meat for me yesterday which I had ordered on Saturday. 3 pounds of veal and 2 pork butts. And so the week of party prep begins. Mostly as a reference point for myself, here's the sausage schedule:
Mon: cube and mix 5lbs pork with cure, sugar and salt for kielbasa
Tues: grind, mix and stuff the Kielbasa
Weds: grind the remaining meat. Smoke the Kielbasa
Thurs: mix and stuff brats, hots and a 3rd type of fresh sausage? Mole* maybe?
Fri: safety day, simmer brats in beer then into fridge?
So that’s my plan. I hope to remember to take some pictures along the way. Reen’s almost finished up with her mustards. Last night she was preparing a dijon style as a base to create some different herby type mustards. The dijon requires that you simmer it for a while on the stove top. At some point the simmer broke into a low boil and boy howdy! The vapor put off from that small bubbling pot was amazing. It burned our eyes to the point where we could both still feel the sting 30 minutes later, long after the mustard was cooled and put away.
*for the unintiated, the word up there is mole, not mole, mole or mole. 2 comments
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
postseason
I recently upgraded my sausage making hardware with the purchase of a stand alone grinder and vertical stuffer which should handle 5 pounds of sausage in no time flat. I love my Kitchen Aid and it got me by for 3 years now, but I am quite happy to have tools that were built for the job. Turning out the goods for the party will be a fine test as I’ll be making quite a few batches.
Maybe I’ve mentioned this, but I really hate Coors Light billing itself as the “coldest tasting” beer. Knowing how much money is spent to design add campaigns and such, it’s troubling to know that this was a calculated decision on their part. “Alright boys, gather round now. We’ve decided that the best option on the table is to promote our product with this grammatical train wreck of a phrase. We think it will appeal quite well to the already drunk frat boy demographic.” Talk about the dumbing down of America.
The Revs tied at KC Saturday night, coupled with DC losing at home, this means that the Revolution will have home field for the balance of the playoffs. A just reward after being the dominant team in MLS from start to finish. Despite all this success, I’m not feeling great about the Revs playoff chances; they just haven’t been playing the same dominant soccer lately that was the hallmark of the first 2/3 of the season. I guess we’ll see what happens soon enough. One more regular season game and then the fun starts. I would like to beat Chicago and DC in the first rounds and then play San Jose in the final. Could you please arrange that for me?
Mirroring the Revs’ late season swoon into mediocrity, I’ve fallen to a lowly 5th place in my prediction league. So sad. 1 comments
I recently upgraded my sausage making hardware with the purchase of a stand alone grinder and vertical stuffer which should handle 5 pounds of sausage in no time flat. I love my Kitchen Aid and it got me by for 3 years now, but I am quite happy to have tools that were built for the job. Turning out the goods for the party will be a fine test as I’ll be making quite a few batches.
Maybe I’ve mentioned this, but I really hate Coors Light billing itself as the “coldest tasting” beer. Knowing how much money is spent to design add campaigns and such, it’s troubling to know that this was a calculated decision on their part. “Alright boys, gather round now. We’ve decided that the best option on the table is to promote our product with this grammatical train wreck of a phrase. We think it will appeal quite well to the already drunk frat boy demographic.” Talk about the dumbing down of America.
The Revs tied at KC Saturday night, coupled with DC losing at home, this means that the Revolution will have home field for the balance of the playoffs. A just reward after being the dominant team in MLS from start to finish. Despite all this success, I’m not feeling great about the Revs playoff chances; they just haven’t been playing the same dominant soccer lately that was the hallmark of the first 2/3 of the season. I guess we’ll see what happens soon enough. One more regular season game and then the fun starts. I would like to beat Chicago and DC in the first rounds and then play San Jose in the final. Could you please arrange that for me?
Mirroring the Revs’ late season swoon into mediocrity, I’ve fallen to a lowly 5th place in my prediction league. So sad. 1 comments
