Saturday, May 12, 2007

Weekend Report...



Well, it's time for me to get packed up and ready to leave for Memphis.


Julie, will post for me here so we can keep you updated on what's going on. I'll take my camera again this year, and I will take pictures when time allows me a break from the nonstop action.

We set sail in the morning, so I'll say 'Happy Mother's Day' to all now.

And to the gals that aren't moms, we still love you too. So have a great day!!!

Alright...I'm off to see the wizard...





Enjoy your day!!!
B.D.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Simply Thursday...

Let me get caught up here...

I cut the grass.
Planted the tomato plants.
Arranged some flowers outside the house.
Went to the doctor for some test.
Have to go back to the doctor today for more test.
Got the oil changed in the truck.
Changed the battery in the truck.
Washed the truck.
Still have to clean out the inside of the truck.
Drank some beer.
Drank some more beer.
Getting some stuff ready for Memphis.
Go to a T-ball game this afternoon.
Go to another T-ball game tomorrow afternoon.
Come home.
Drink some beer.
Drink some more beer.

That should, just about cover it on catching up...

Enjoy your day!!!

I'm off to be poked & prodded some more...

B.D.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Monday, May 07, 2007

Music to read by...

As some of you may have noticed, I change music venues from time to time. I think this one is here to stay. I have a lot more options with this play list.

Now... some tell me they can't hear the music because they have dial up for their Internet access. I don't think there is anything I can do about that...sorry, that's out of my hands.

What I have set up now, are some great tunes. You can minimize my page and surf somewhere else as you listen to the tunes. Also...you don't have to listen to them in order of the play list.

You can click on the player at the bottom of the page and play any song you want, or you can just turn it off. I have the capacity to list 75 songs...just haven't got that far yet.

I will change the mix from time to time...but I will try to find music that everybody likes.

So...

We bought some Tomato plants today, so I might plant them tomorrow after I get back from the doctor.

B.D. is anything wrong?

No...I just have to have my heart checked and be poked and prodded by the good doctor.

All is well...I hope...

B.D.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Weekend Report...

It has never rained as much at this house the whole time we have lived here, as it did Friday night and Saturday. My grass will be 2 feet high before it dries out enough to cut...

The hard freeze we had awhile back, after having days in the 80's, may have killed my Japanese Bloodworth Maple tree, I hope not...these things ain't cheap. It's just a wait and see.

Sweetie, senses something is going on...I think she knows I'm fixing to leave for Memphis. She is following me around like the Secret Service. I can't be out of her field of vision for one nanosecond before she comes looking for me.

Julie said, Sweetie was down in the mouth the whole time I was gone yesterday helping the guys sell barbecue at a Radnor Lake fund raiser.

Good crowd... good young talent playing Blue Grass music, the Park Rangers helping out, it was a good experience in dealing with the public from a paying for food stand point. Anyway...

I got home just a little bit after 11:00pm and Sweetie perked up then. Yes, my ever faithful bodyguard is right beside me, right now, as I type these annals of my adventures for all to read.

Speaking of food and Memphis...which is the week after this upcoming week, we are ready to do our thing.

I have done test runs on the grilled hot wings, tweaked the sauce recipe just a tad and I am highly satisfied with the end results. Now...if I can do this in Memphis...I should win or at least, place in the top five.

The barbecue...we do as a team. The team will help me in anyway they can for the wings, but ultimately...it's up to me.

It's my recipe, my challenge, my job, my place... to stand or stumble...

B.D.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Cinco De hold the Mayo...



Happy "Cinco De Mayo"

B.D.

Ketchup factoids


In 1896, Scientific American magazine names ketchup "America's Favorite Condiment."


In 1927, Heinz markets the first bottles of ketchup, selling for 10 cents apiece.


The world's largest ketchup bottle -- 170 feet -- is located in Collinsville, Ill. where it is the town's water tower.


Ketchup leaves the glass bottle at 25 miles per hour.


Heinz produces 291,000 gallons of ketchup per day, 400 million bottles per year and 16 billion single-serve packages per year..


From Heinz North America


A ketchup time line


Earlier: Ketchups imported into Britain, mostly from "East-India'' (now Indonesia)


1727: First known English-language recipe for "English Katchop" published in "E. Smith's Compleat Housewife, or, Accomplished Gentlewoman's Companion." It contained anchovies, shallots, vinegar, wine and spices such as mace, ginger, cloves, peppers, nutmeg, lemon peel and horseradish. "Mushroom liquid" was optional.


1732: First appearance in English of a Southeast Asian ketchup recipe based on kidney beans (as a substitute for soybeans), from Sumatra, settled by the British in 1684.


1742: England's "Compleat Housewife" cookbook is published in North America.


1743: "Kitchup" is declared a kitchen staple in a British housekeeper's guide. Fish, mushroom and walnut emerge as the three main ketchups.


1795: Manuscripts for American cookbooks include walnut and mushroom ketchups, but also tomato ketchup. One of them, from Mrs. Michell, called for love apples to be layered with salt, allspice, mace and whole pepper, then boiled, sieved, cooled and pounded.


1812: First published American tomato ketchup of unstrained tomato pulp with spices -- more like tomato sauce.


1817: Criticism of commercial ketchup voiced by cookbook author Dr. William Kitchiner. His book, "Apicius Redivivus, or, the Cook's Oracle," included 11 ketchup recipes, including two each for mushroom, walnut and tomato ketchups, and one each for cucumber, oyster and cockles and mussels ketchups.


1829: New Englander Lydia Child opines that the best sort of ketchup is made from tomatoes. She uses it in beef soup, fricasseed chicken and fish chowder.


1830: Commercial bottling operations for ketchup begin in Boston, Baltimore and New York. Ketchup is bottled about 10 years later.


1850s: Sugar appears as an ingredient in tomato ketchup recipes.


1855: Anderson Preserve Co. incorporates and sells Boston Market Catsup throughout the United States.


1869: Henry J. Heinz partners with L.C. Noble to form Heinz & Noble in Sharpsburg, Pa., selling fruit and vegetable preserves.


1882: Heinz begins patenting ketchup bottles.


1888: H.J. Heinz Co. forms manufacturing operations in the United States and other countries.


1896: H.J. Heinz has agencies in London, Antwerp, Sydney and Bermuda.


1904: Homemade ketchup takes a dive. Survey shows only one-sixth of respondents ate homemade ketchup.


1940: Ketchup recipes all but disappear from cookbooks.


Info from "Pure Ketchup"