The sunshine

 As much as I hate winter and winter storms, even I must admit the beauty of the aftermath of the storms.

In the first picture on the right, I was amazed by the stark contrast of the white on whiteness of the shot.  There is something to be said for the different shades of gray.  I really like the way the picture turned out.  Even if I did take it into the sun, which I think is a no-no in photography.  I did block the sun with the branches though.

Because if you live in the Eastern half of the United States, it is on your mind.  In my neck of the woods, we are expecting 8-12 inches of the money killer.  That being snow.  Nothing hurts my business more than this stuff.  It even hurts when the weather people predict snow.  It doesn’t matter that the snow never gets here, just the fact that it might, is enough to stop any revenue from coming into my establishment.

All that being said and with everyone knowing how much I hate white death, it can be beautiful.  Don’t get me wrong, I despise the stuff.  It just makes my soul ache every time we get a snow storm.  There still is a beauty to the ravages of nature that is being spewed forth from the winter clouds.

As I was looking out of the windows of the empty restaurant today, watching the snow pummel the ground, trees, and any free standing object that was out of doors today, I did feel a strange, albeit fleeting, sensation of solitude.  It made me feel like I was but one of a small hand full of people that were experiencing the eerie quiet and beauty of a snow storm.  It was quite the struggle.  One on hand, I was raging against the unfairness of it all.  It was going to be a busy day (for February) and the weekend was looking good for people going out to eat.  On the other hand, I was awed by nature’s eloquence.  And winter’s solitude.

As I stood, looking out the windows, I was faced with this solitude.  I was also facedwith the fact that this solitude, this numbing of white on white, was also affecting millions of people.  Not just me. Not just in my neighborhood, but the entire eastern seaboard of the United States.  But yet, I felt so alone.

Unlike the suddenness and the violence of spring storms, winter storms linger.  They eat at the edge of what is your awareness.  They persist.  And also unlike the spring storms (unless they are tornado’s), which when over, they usually are over, a winter storm’s effects can last for a very long time.

And not least of the effects of this kind of storm is that it makes you go underground, so to speak.  we all go out, buy supplies (milk, bread, lots of beer) and just hunker down.  It is like an instinct that we all have, but just don’t quite understand.  Just like the the gnawing at you very soul, your very awareness, that a winter storm causes. 

In the midst of great consternation, there is yet the beauty of the raw nature that is a winter storm.

I still hate it though…

Because during this durge of white death, we all need a laugh.  And with the pork contest coming up, well, this just fits.  That, and I wonder if this is what some of the staff say when I show them new stuff!

Here is the first mock up of the 2010 logo for “Cooking For A Cure”.  I figured that we better not wait until May like we did last year to get this event up and going.  So Colleen did this initial drawing and I have to admit that I like it very much.  Thank you so much, Colleen!  Now get back to work!

And you, my ever so loyal inhabitents of Toph’s World, get to view it first!

And you can also let me know what you think about it as well.  For those that may have forgot, “Cooking For A Cure” is the fundraiser for the Pan Ohio ride and benefits The American Cancer Society and their Hope Lodges.  (You can always donate by following the Pan Ohio link on the right )  Yes, I know, shameless endorsement…deal with it. 

And how dare you forget about the fundraiser!  Shame on you and you know who you are! 

Anyway, I am excited to see the work and think it is going to be great!  Let me know what you think of Colleen’s work!

Tags: cancer

Damn Paparazzi

Because I know you would miss her if I didn’t post some pictures of her. 

Again here is Doroth”i” in her hunting/gathering mode.  Well, at least as good as that gets for a domesticated bird.  Oops, don’t  tell her that I typed “domesticated”.  She won’t like that.  Unless it is bedtime and I don’t get her blanket on in time.  She has a way of showing her displeasure.

In any event, she looks to be ready to pounce on those poor, hapless seeds who just will not be able to defend themselves from the forthcoming, violent Doroth”i” feeding frenzy.

Sure glad I am not a seed!

Tags: Dorothi

Ready to go?

Here it is.  The final product.  What we have here is pork tenderloin stuffed with dried tropical fruit.  It is served on a sweet potato pancake and creamed spinach.  It is accompanied with a mixed berry coulis.

So now, I have only one more practice left.  It is more for timing and plating practice.  I have to say that I am happy with this plate.  I hope I can contend at least.

I hate using real life events to make a point.  Wait a minute, who am I kidding…I LOVE using real life events to make a point.  As a matter of fact, I live for it.  There is nothing better than making real life points.

So what is the focus of all of this real life point spouting that I am doing, well allow me to tell you.

Now I do not have a degree in marketing.  I have never held a “sales job” in my life (Pepsi didn’t really count as sales).  I do not have a B.S., M.S., B.M.S.S. or any other group of letters on a piece of paper that says that I know better.  But I do have 25 years of experience at being a customer.  Not just any customer, but one with major buying power.  So I would think that after 25 years of being sold to, I know what makes a good sales presentation when I see one. 

Allow me to introduce you to Nick.  Why “Nick”?  Well, that is his name.  I do not remember his last name, thought that is not really important.  Now Nick, because that is his name, is a young man, maybe mid-twenties.  Nick is probably making a living on commissions. Bad news for Nick.  He is also selling advertising for the back of grocery receipts.  You know, the one’s that you leave in your plastic bags that will eventually end up in the trash, holding the garbage that was left over from your trip to the grocery.  More bad news for Nick.

As you can see, Nick has a few things already not going in his favor before even sitting down for an appointment with me.  But to totally sink any chance Nick may have had with me ended very quickly because of the errors in salesmanship judgement made by Nick.  So, Nick, because that is your name,  allow me to give you a few pointers in salesmanship.  Because, seriously, it doesn’t take rocket science for this.

• Please get out of your chair and shake my hand when I approach the table.  I know you had to wait a minute or two to meet me, but I did not leave you in a office waiting room here. 
• Tell me more than “I’m Nick” even if you are still sitting there in the chair.  Say, “Hi Mr. Meadows, I am Nick —-, whatever your last name is, and I am here from —-, whatever company you represent.”  No, really, that is important!
• Please, please, please, Nick, whatever else you may do, DO NOT answer your cell phone or even have it on when you are sitting with me trying to sell your product.  By doing this you just told me that I do not really matter to you.  And by the way, answering it twice is TWICE as bad. And that may be estimating it a little low.
• While I may appreciate the fact that you so not want to have your breath smell.  The actual time of the meeting is not the best of times to have a breath mint clicking around in your mouth.  I’m just saying here.
• Don’t be afraid to learn the material just a little better.  While it may be impressive that you can give the company line with just the right emphasis on the right word, just as the company trained you to do, it is not very impressive when you back up and do it again after I interrupted you with a question while using that as an answer to my question.  That is very annoying.
• Do not tell me that we can <wink><wink> work with the prices before you even hand me the papaer that tells me the prices.  By doing so, not only do you insult me, but you also tell me that no one really likes your full price and you are begging me before I even know you should beg.  End of sales meeting.

I do have to give Nick, because that is his name, some credit at this point.   Mainly, because this had to be the most practiced part of his whole sales schtick.  He did get right up to leave when I told him, albeit rather abrupt like, that I was not interested.  You could tell that he has heard that line a few times before.  Atta boy Nick, you did one thing right.

I also know that Nick, because that is his name, is probably out with some one who cares about him about right now and Nick is telling that person about his day and all of the assholes he had to deal with today.  I know I am one of those assholes, Nick.  But dude, seriously, it isn’t that hard!

And I know that Nick will never read this blog.  To bad.  It could really help Nick, because that is your name.  Best of luck to you, Nick.  You are going to need it.

Tags: rantings

So you want me to talk politics?  Ask and you shall receive!  And as always, be very careful what you wish for.  I know that for a fact because when I was young and dumber than I am now, I wished for a job where I could work with all women.  That came true…YIKES.  But that is a whole different post.

Back on topic, politics.

It is funny how the landscape of America has changed.  Ten months ago, the worst thing you could be was a Republican.  Pundits were screaming that the death of the Republican party was imminent.  That the need for a new political party was top priority because the conservatives were finally getting what they deserved.

Fast forward ten months.  The Republicans have gained a seat in Massachusetts.  Yes, the Kennedy state.  What is wrong with the Democrats?  Why can’t they get anything passed in Congress and now they lost their majority and Obama is going to be one and done for sure as the Democrats are on the decline and we need to find another political party to pick up the liberal agenda because this party just don’t got it.

Following so far?  Now, where were you cheering the most.  Was it the first paragraph where I was proclaiming the right dead and buried?  Or was it in the second where the damn socialist got what they had coming?

Or are you going to be like me and wait another ten months for the fall elections and see if we get that new political party everyone wants.  Of course if that were to ever happen, which I don’t think it will, there we be great gnashing of the teeth and moaning from left and right that this new party is just causing stalemates.   In other words, more of the same…

Tags: obama, U.S.

Just playing some catch up…

New Link

Added, should I say, re-added a link on Toph’s sites.  I must have inspired someone to start writing again as she has updated her “Lost” blog.  It includes theories and such about the show “Lost”.  Which, by the way, starts it’s final season on Tuesday.  I know where Beth and I will be that night!

Pork Practice

We continue to practice as we have settled on a final recipe and presentation.  Sorry, I do not have any pics right now, but we will be having a couple more practices this week so I will try to remember to take some.  We continue to practice so that we can be as perfect as we can be at the competition. 

Soup Competition

Saturday night I was entered into a soup cook-off.  The place called and begged me to enter the Morgan House Soup in the competition.  I did and did not win.  For those that have tried the soup, it is not that big of surprise.  But the guy who won the competiton, used a pre-fab soup.  That is like opening up a can of Campbells tomato soup and calling it your own.  Just not right.  I think that is the last time I enter that competition.

Reader’s Thought’s

Yes, there are readers!  Ha!  Anyway, I have recieved more than one complaint in the last few weeks.  Seems like some are a tad bit miffed about the content of the blog lately.  I guess I have been to reliant upon stories from other sources instead of focusing on more of my original musings.  And after some thought, I have to agree with the complaint and agree that I have become somewhat lazy in my postings.  Will this stop me from posting stories that amuse me?  No, but I will try to write more original stuff.  I plan on doing more about the seminary.  I plan on changing the title on that to “The Seminary Chronicles”  or something like that.

I also keep getting asked my opinion on politics and other world matters.  The thing on that stuff is that I suffer from complete apathy when it comes to politics and Russia has not invaded anyone lately, so there isn’t anything I can say about that.  But I guess I can try to focus on some of that stuff.  The other problem with stuff like that is that I am just not that smart.

Good News

The American Cancer Society has asked permission to use my write up on the Pan Ohio Hope Ride (See Archives-August 2009) on their website and on Facebook.  I said okay, of course, and I am very flattered that they enjoyed the postings.  Anything to help in the fight! 

Wrap Up

I think that is about it for now.  I thought I had more, but I guess I don’t…

Tags: Stuff

Here I am, busting my hocks at coming up with a winning dish for the pork contest, and now, there is added pressure.  The following is a story about the President Of Argentina.

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s president recommended pork as an alternative to Viagra Wednesday, saying she spent a satisfying weekend with her husband after eating barbecued pork.

“I’ve just been told something I didn’t know; that eating pork improves your sex life … I’d say it’s a lot nicer to eat a bit of grilled pork than take Viagra,” President Cristina Fernandez said to leaders of the pig farming industry.

She said she recently ate pork and “things went very well that weekend, so it could well be true.”

Argentines are the world’s biggest per capita consumers of beef, but the government has sought to promote pork as an alternative in recent years due to rising steak prices and as a way to diversify the meat industry.

“Trying it doesn’t cost anything, so let’s give it a go,” Fernandez said in the televised speech.

You know, I have not noticed this side effect happening for me.  But then again, in the pork practices, I have not been using barbecued pork either.  I may need to revisit this in pork practice.  This may be where I have been going wrong all of this time.  MORE BARBECUE PLEASE!!!

Who doesn’t remember “The Catcher And The Rye” ? It is one of the few books that I ever read more than once.  As a matter of fact, I believe I read this book maybe 4 or five times.  Rarity indeed, at least for me.  I had to read it twice in high school, once or twice in college and then once because I didn’t have anything else to read.

Mr. Salinger passed today at the age of 91.  I thought he had died years ago.  You can read more about him and his famous book here .  It seems that he was quite a recluse and that “The Catcher And The Rye” was his only major book.

And it seems that is what most articles are talking about.  To be truthful, I never really liked the book that much nor did it seem to be all of that scandalous of rebel like.  Maybe I just didn’t get.  Or I just understood it.  More than likely the former.

As much as I enjoy reading, you would think that I would re-read more books, but I don’t.  I think that since there are so many books about so many things,  I just want to keep going.  As long as I keep reading, it is all good.

Here are a couple of views of the latest pork practice. 

What I am serving here is a pork tenderloin stuffed with tropical dried fruit.  That includes papaya, mango and pineapple.  I also added dried apple.

It is resting on a sweet potato pancake.  The sauce is a bumble-berry coulis (pronounced kool-lee).  Steamed asparagus is the other side dish.

I think by using the kiss method of cooking, it is looking better than anything I have tried before this point.  I think in years past, I tried to get to fancy and as a result, the plate sucked.  I like this one and it tastes really, really good!

   Let me know what you think!

  I just love it when a plan comes together!

Tags: chef, cooking

This story should serve as a good reminder for all of us.  When taking art classes at a major art museum, do not, and I repeat, do not drink and paint!

NEW YORK (AFP) – A significant Pablo Picasso painting was damaged after a woman attending art class lost her balance, fell into “The Actor” and tore it, The Metropolitan Museum of Art said.

The unusually large canvas, measuring 77.25 by 45.38 inches (196 by 115 centimeters), sustained a vertical tear of about six inches (15 centimeters) in the lower right-hand corner in the accident on Friday.

The museum, located on the eastern edge of New York’s Central Park, did not elaborate on why the woman fell.

But The Met said the damage did not impact the “focal point of the composition” and that it should be repaired in the coming weeks ahead of a major Picasso retrospective featuring some 250 works at the museum opening on April 27.

Repair work should be “unobtrusive,” it added.

Painted in the winter of 1904-1905, the work hails from Picasso’s critical Rose Period, when the artist shifted from the downbeat tones of his Blue Period to warmer, more romantic hues.

The period also hints at Picasso’s later embrace of abstraction with his signature cubist style.

Donated to The Met by automobile heiress Thelma Chrysler Foy in 1952, “The Actor” features an acrobat striking a dramatic pose against an abstract backdrop. It was painted on a used canvas that already contained a painting.

I can not even begin to think what the museum was thinking.  Displaying major works of art (if you like Picasso that is) for art classes.  As ever student will tell you.  It takes just one bad apple in the class to ruin it for all.  Can you imagine what the insurance costs are going to be for not only the museum, but in order to take an art class there!

WOW

Even though I am not a big fan of Picasso, I actually like this one.

Not that you really care, but I have been doing some maintenance to the site.  I know, you all thought that all I had to do is whip out my magic writing keyboard and make posts.

Well, mainly, that is true.  Wordpress does take care of things fairly well.  But there are things that I must do and one of them is cleaning up my links.  You know it as the sidebar on the right of this post.  If you scroll down a little bit, you will see a section called “Other site Toph enjoys”.  Or something like that.  Today, I cleaned that up by removing some sites that were no longer active or relevant to me anymore.  (Because, yes, it is all about me…HELLO!) 

You may notice that I also added a link.  That link is the way to get to the home page of the 6-Pack on the Pan Ohio web site.  You know, where you can see the fundraising efforts of the 6-Pack, as we get ready to challenge  ourselves by riding from Cleveland To Cincinnati again this year.  And while you are there, you can push a little button and donate to our cause!

What???  A shameless promotion on my part????

You betcha!  As I have said numerous times on this site and in public and in private and in whatever forum I can say it in, I AM FIGHTING CANCER…PLEASE HELP ME DO SO!!!!!

If you don’t feel like following the link on the right, I’ll make it easy for you to do so.  Here is the link:

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/CommunityFundraisingPages/CFPFY10Ohio?team_id=597925&pg=team&fr_id=25716

Follow it now, (or copy and paste it) make a donation on which I will thank you profusely.  Do it now.  Tell all of your friends and family about it.  It is that important.

And you thought this post was just about cleaning.  HA!

Tags: blog info, cancer

This is the picture of the Mayan Calender.

You know, the one that says that we are all going to die on 12-21-2012.  Now do you remember?  They made a movie out of it.  Okay, so, now we are on the same page.  I just wanted to let you all know, that I think that we will all be okay.  You see, there is something that Hollywood and all the TV shows and all of the press are not telling you and that is the real story behind the calender.  Because you can trust Toph, I will tell you the “REAL” story.

You see, a few years ago…okay maybe three thousand…there were these folks named the Maya.  They wanted to know what day, time and year it was.  Because, of course, they had appointments to keep, seasons to track and sacrifices to make.  So the council sacrificed a few folks to the gods and then decided that since the blood flowed left from the sacrifice, a committee should be formed and review all time and place theories.  You know, so they could make the folks pay more taxes and know when they were late.  That way, they could charge them more in penalties such as more grain or pigs or their first born.  Whatever the penalty would be.

So the Mayan Council put Meohmyoh in charge of the new calender system.  But they said that he had to finish in twelve moon cycles or he would be the first to submit to a Mayan audit.  That usually meant losing a few quarts of blood and a heart to the Mayan IRS Priests.  Not pleasant…

So Meohmyoh got busy.  He hired four of the best engravers he could find and told them to map out a thousand years on the calenders.  He said be precise.  “I am not losing a heart for your carelessness.”, he told them.  So they produced four-one thousand year calenders.  As they took them to be delivered to the council, the one with the last thousand year calender tripped over all of those damn steps that led to the top of the damned pyramids and the calender smashed into a thousand pieces.

“Damn it!” yelled Meohmyoh.   He told the calender maker to sweep up his mess and then go cut his heart out.  “But we will be short 1000 years!”, bemoans the soon to be heartless scribe. 

“Who cares!” says Meohmyoh.  “A whole new council we be elected by then.  GO!”  And they did. 

So as you can see, only three tablet-calenders instead of four were turned in to the Mayan Council.  They didn’t noticed and passed a budget based on three calenders.

Then the Spanish speaking people showed up and really screwed things up…

HOT PEPPERS!

This story does not qualify as a stupid criminal story.  Just as a stupid story.  It seems that instead of sticking your tongue to the flagpole, someone dared some boys to drinking the juice of these orange habanero peppers, the hottest pepper on the Scoville heat index. 

BERLIN – Officials in Germany say eight teenagers were hospitalized after a test of courage in which they drank chili sauce more than 200 times hotter than normal. The Red Cross in the southern city of Augsburg says that 10 boys, aged 13 and 14, year drank the sauce Wednesday morning, apparently in school.

The German news agency DAPD quoted the Red Cross as saying the boys complained of feeling sick, and eight were taken to a hospital. They were to be kept in overnight for observation.

The Red Cross said that on the Scoville scale, which measures the hotness of sauce, the sauce measured 535,000 — compared to 2,500 for normal Tabasco sauce

Oh, those silly boys.  Nothing will get in the way of a good dare and boys will always continue to take the dares.  Tisk, Tisk…

Tags: Stuff

The dog on the right is smelling for cancer.  It is amazing what these animals can be trained to do.

Panda, a Border Collie sniffer dog noses samples of smells at the surgery of the Dogs Against Cancer and For Life Foundation in Gyoemroe, just east of Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2010. Dogs of the foundation can recognize malignant tumors by sniffing air samples exhaled by humans. According to the results of experiments lung cancer is recognized with 99 per cent accuracy, while breast cancer is diagnosed with 88 per cent accuracy by dogs sniffing breaths of people, and their correctness is 60-80 per cent on the average, a leader of the foundation says.

I, for one, am very impressed.  I say anything that helps in the fight against cancer, is a very good thing. 

Smell on, Panda!

Tags: cancer

Here We Go Again!

I signed up again!

I am number 253 and I am looking forward to the ride this year.  As you may remember, I didn’t make the ride on the official date last year because I had some doctor problems.  I could say medical issues, but that did not turn out to be true.  My “doctor” grounded me because I had a sinus infection, although at the time we didn’t know what it was.  So, I didn’t go.

I did do the ride a few weeks after the official date with some of my friends and then …bonked…big time.  So last year was not a good TOSRV year for me.

But this is a new year and some of my friends from the “six-pack”  are going to ride with me this year.  The “six-pack” being a good group of riders that I met on the Pan-Ohio ride last summer.  I am really looking forward to the good times.

Training, well, that is another issue.  It is also another topic for another day.

Tags: Biking

  Sorry, no bird’s nest this year.  I finally adopted the K.I.S.S. rule.  That is right.  KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID.  And we all know I adhere to the last part of that acronym. 

  This year I am doing a pork tenderloin stuffed with dried fruit.  It is served with a sweet potato pancake and in a bumble-berry coulis.  The taste was good.  I liked this presentation (keeping with the KISS method), but the sauce needs some work and I need to spice up the flavour of the potatoes.  At least that is according to Bethany. 

As you can see in the picture, the sauce just did not want to stay put.  I need to work on the thickness of it.  For the pork competition, to be this close on the first try is very good for me.  I normally screw up the first 5 or 6 of these things before I realize that what I am trying to do is just too much.  Hence the KISS cooking method. 

Still much work to be done and more practice to come as well.  Stay tuned!

Tags: chef, cooking

In Ohio, if you are bitten by something that is rabid, the county will help you pay your doctor’s bill.

DELAWARE, Ohio – An Ohio county has agreed to pay $1,500 to a man who was bitten by a rabid bat and turned to a little-known state law that allows for compensation. Commissioners in Delaware County, north of Columbus, voted Thursday to provide 61-year-old David Froehlich with the maximum reimbursement under the law, even though he put in his request for the money two days late.

The law allows a person hurt by a rabid animal to seek a county’s help with the medical bills. But the request must be made within four months of the bite, and Froehlich just missed the window.

A prosecutor who reviewed Froehlich’s claim said he was surprised to learn of the law.

Froehlich’s wife said her husband was bitten Aug. 22 and that insurance didn’t cover the $5,000 hospital bill.

I guess that here in Delaware County, there must be a lot of rabid animals if that is a law.  Or maybe a lot of politicians were getting bit at some point in time.  We knew?

This tune comes from Pearl Jam. Yes, it is a sad song and it is about dying. But the biggest news about this song is that you can understand Eddie Veder. That is indeed rare as those familiar with this band will know.

None the less, it is a good song.

Can you see Clint?

Not that I really have anything to say about this except I found it to be a really cool picture of the  famous north face of the Eiger mountain, located in the Swiss Alps. 

Oh, that, and I saw the Eiger Sanction, a movie from the seventies that stared Clint Eastwood and George Kennedy.  Remember George?  He was in all the cool disaster flicks of the seventies. 

That’s all…

Tags: Stuff

I have to say how proud I am of Jillian and her rant.  As of this posting, her rant is now the 6th most popular post on this blog with 27 specific hits!   Yea, Jillian!

The post has a way to go to reach the top.  The post, “The Real Toph Nude” is still by far the most popular post in Toph’s World history with 310 specific hits.  Amazing isn’t it.  To recap the Toph nude thing, I guess there is a goth guy out in California that has a bunch of groupies and is a artist/singer or something and that is where all of the hits are coming from.  Just imagine their surprise when they find me!  BWA-HA-HA-HA BWA-HA-HA!!!! 

Just to be on the record, I have been called Toph longer than that guy has been alive.  Sucks to be that old, sometimes. Of course he is a lot wealthier than I.  Even trade off?

Back to the rant, I am happy Jillian’s rant is receiving so much attention.  I think this has been a even better idea than I ever would have thought.  And I didn’t have to write it!  Win/win if you ask me.    

Speaking of people writing for me…oops, eh, I mean speaking of the rants, I am looking for new volunteers to rant like Toph.  Just contact me and you too, can write for my lazy butt.  Any subject matter will work.  Don’t be shy, but if you do not want you name in lights and still would like to rant, I can always forget your name or we can come up with a name for you.  Either way, all are welcome to do my job…Damn, I said it again, all are welcome to RANT LIKE TOPH!

Tags: rant

It is dart season!

You know what that means right?  Right?

Again, you are so correct! 

That means drunk Thursday nights and hangover Fridays! 

It is so good to be back on schedule!