Ramblings..

Do you know whose birthday it is today?  LVB are his initials…and Linus is a fan..

Anyway, the weekend vanished in a blur of decorating, cursing the rain, gathering stuff for our impending journey to the Midwest for Christmas with the FOJ’s and families.  As usual I start looking at ten day forecasts and start to work myself up so I am a bundle of nerves by the time we leave.  At the present time, all looks well, but…..

By way of saying that I really don’t have too much to pass on, just a couple of observations of the always interesting human race…

Let me say right up front that I am guilty of this first observation, so I can’t really get too uppity about it.  So, you’re sitting at one of those interminable lights on say 235, and eventually it turns green.  You prepare to go, but the car ahead of you is motionless.  One potato, two potato, no movement so you tap the horn.  Head of driver immediately pops up, and off they go.  Opposite is when you arrive at the red light, heads routinely drop as if they have passed out.  Nope, no medical emergency, they are checking the emails or text messages on the always handy cell phone.  And yes, as I say, I do that as well.  I try to remain alert, but every once in a while a particularly juicy bit of information might cause me to have head down at wrong time.  For the record, I DO NOT do any of this when the car is in motion.  Really.  Pretty common.

And in somewhat the same vein (technology’s impacts) I was in Starbuck’s the other morning, (im)patiently waiting for the Barista to generate my drink along with the other eight or nine folks in the same state.  Usually you can bet that a high (like all) will be looking at the smart phones.  Well, why not..  the only ones that get me are the ones with the bug in the ear and carry on a conversation oblivious to others who cannot avoid listening.  Anyway, one of the people in the bunch was a young lady with a child in arms. The child appeared capable of standing on its own feet but much preferred to be in momma’s arms.  It wasn’t huge.   The mother's attention was not on the child, never wavering from staring at her own facebook or whatever was on her screen. Eventually the (ignored) child started to whine and kvetch.   Without so much as a “shush” or “what’s wrong?”, Mom reached in her purse and produced some device much like the one she was fastened to, and handed it to the child.  It so happened that it was facing me, and on the screen was some cartoon like character doing something.   The child immediately calmed down and became absorbed in whatever was going on, and Mom continued to one hand her text messages, tweets, or whatever.

So, that episode got me to thinking what the child would be like in a few years.  Any unhappiness (or even conversation) with parents would be replaced by having some hunk of electronics shoved at them.  Will relationships be replaced by LED screens?  (are they already?).  Will we be able to reduce contact with “real” humans since they are right there in front of us on a little 3 x 5 hunk of plastic?  Something to think about..

Back on Point

Just to keep my reputation intact, I will close with a little food related item.. well, maybe two.  Now that Thanksgiving and all it’s traditional dancing with turkeys is past, we’re looking at Christmas (at least in my particular cultural heritage).  In my mind, unlike Thanksgiving there isn’t a particular dish associated with the holiday.  I guess turkeys are fairly commonly served but I think the choices are much wider.  For instance we always start our celebration with a Lasagna dinner at FOJTE’s.  This year we’re celebrating Christmas dinner at FOJTY’s place in “the Cape”.  Word has it he is preparing a ham, so we’ll have quite a variety of food.  That’s good!  Not being bound by some social thing is good. Gives cooks for latitude..

And speaking of “preparing”, both FOJ’s now have a Big Green Egg, with “E” only recently joining the ranks.  Both swear by them (with a few reservations here and there) and so Dad/Bottom Feeder is starting to think..  I have had pretty good luck with my standard Weber (recently a pork loin roast and also a port tenderloin), but like boats, you always want a bigger one.  We’ll see.. they are not cheap.

And I guess if you go for investment grilling you certainly will have to be

DFD