Friday, August 31, 2007

Casablanca


Marilyn and I went over to the Ambler theater last night and we saw Casablanca. No matter how many times I see this movie I still think its great!
Its a cultural touchstone. There was a full house at the theater which attests to the movie's popularity even today. If you missed it, its on at the Ambler Theater, Sunday Sep 2 @ 7pm

Monday, August 27, 2007

Ratatouille

Going to take of of the veggies from the garden and make some ratatouille. We have eggplant, peppers and herbs grown in the yard as well as the vastly multiplying tomatoes. I bought onion, garlic, and a squash. So into the pot they go!

Here is the recipe:


INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 large onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1 small eggplant, cubed
2 green bell peppers, coarsely chopped
4 large tomatoes, coarsely chopped, or 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes
3 to 4 small zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 teaspoon dried leaf basil
1/2 teaspoon dried leaf oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried leaf thyme
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

PREPARATION:In a 4-quart Dutch oven or saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and onions and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 6 to 7 minutes. Add eggplant; stir until coated with oil. Add peppers; stir to combine. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep vegetables from sticking.Add tomatoes, zucchini, and herbs; mix well. Cover and cook over low heat about 15 minutes, or until eggplant is tender but not too soft.
Serves 4.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Yalda

A little while ago I saw an article in the Inquirer table talk section about a new restaurant in Horsham. The family had taken over a pizzeria that had moved to bigger quarters and they opened an Afghan restaurant. The place is Yalda Grill. Very nice place. They have been open for more than a month and it seemed like that had a bunch of happy people there that are repeat customers that are bringing friends. The food is a mixure of generic pizza joint stuff and some great kebobs and tasty traditional Afgan platters. I had the lamb kebobs, a half dozen of the little "lollypop" lamb chops grilled to perfection. Marilyn had the chicken mantu, a chicken dumpling in tomato lentil sauce. We end the meal with hot chai tea. This is a nice change up for the Horsham dining experience.

Afghan food they make well... their web site is pretty weak though but it has all the info. Here's the link .

Movie and Dinner


We went to see Ratatouille tonight. It's the new release from Pixar. It's been out for a while so it may be a little hard to find. But finding it is like finding that special truffle. It's a story about a rat in a famous french kitchen. A rat in the kitchen! Well Remy, the rat, is no fink when it comes to fine cuisine. It the classic story of boy meets girl, rat meets cheese, and evil chef gets his just desserts.
After seeing the rat in the kitchen we just had to have dinner......

Taking care of those tomatoes,

We decided to stay home this weekend. The boat is... well .... dead in the water, and it's just too hot to try to fix it. So we are going to stay home to work on some inside stuff.

You can't swing a garden hose without hitting a ripe tomato here. So we made a big crock pot full of fresh tomato sauce. We are going to jar or freeze what we don't use.

We are then going to see about antique dealers to see them about buying mom's furniture.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Tomatoes.

Well the annual Paolino Tomato Avalanche in started. We have been getting some really tasty, sweet and plump tomatoes. Now they are really starting to get ripe. We have a 2 tomato minimum at all meals now! I'm going to make a crock pot of spaghetti sauce this weekend jar it up.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Other Notes.


In all the excitement of the boat towing I forgot to mention that we saw a red fox running along the road in Rock Hall.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

AAA anyone?


The day started off badly. Traffic with 95 south closed for construction so we took a detour. Middletown De was blocked off for a festival. We had to backtrack. We were late pushing off from the dock. But we we moving toward the Magothy River. It was a good ride we were motor sailing ( motoring with a sail up ) in order to see if we could catch a breeze. About 3 miles form the Baltimore light the engine stopped. Just like you shut it off. The a burning smell. Uh Oh! We turned off the master electrical switch and called tow boat us on the cellular. They came about an hour later and towed us back across the bay to our dock. Total cost $0! Having the towing coverage is great. It would have been a $680 towing bill otherwise. Turns out we burned up a electronic ignition module. Fix it next week.......

Friday, August 17, 2007

This weekend.


After working like dogs this week (woof!) we are going to relax properly. The sailboat need a little adventure and we are just the people to provide that adventure! I think we are going to head to the Magothy River this weekend. A nice sleep over on a cool weekend. I just hope we can find a way around the traffic on 95 south.

Late Nite Snark

"The president's advisor, Karl Rove, announced he's resigning. I was surprised. I didn't think anyone in the White House had an exit strategy." ---Craig Ferguson

"President Bush has left for vacation and his poll numbers are going up. So, basically, people approve of the job he's doing more when he's not doing the job." ---Jay Leno

Weekday notes.

I had to go to the Yardley office of OSIsoft today. I took the motorcycle for the first time in a month. It started right up since I had the solar charger on the battery since I put it away. The ride in was HUMID! I was turing into a puddle in my helmet. The office was real nice and we had great unused office. The customer came on down for the meeting and it was very successful. The ride back was real tiring I was just whipped from a long day.

Now for diner we are making corn on the cob and burgers.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Weekend.

Finally rested and over a bad case of jet lag. We stayed home and did some stuff around the house. Marilyn refinished the lawn chairs. We saw the Bourne movie, that was great. Two thumbs up for the movie. They are very far from where they were in the books still great entertainment though.

Friday, August 10, 2007

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles Editon

On the way home from Monterey but stuck in Phoenix. The OSIsoft confrence was great. Highlights:
  • Dinner at Monterey aquarium.
  • Beach party bonfire on Thursday night.
  • Lots of work completed sucessfully.
  • Met OSIsoft counterparts on west coast.

Lowlights:

  • Filght delays
  • Lost luggage.
  • Lost pants.... ( hotel lost my cleaning...)
  • more flight delays.

Well I'm be just sitting here till my flight is ready......

Saturday, August 04, 2007

All ready .. I think.

Well I ran the cable for the TV today. Its got a nice picture now. Marilyn will have it to watch while I'm away. Packed up for the trip just have to put away my phone and I'm off tomorrow morning. Just hope I don't have a 10 hour wait on a plane sometime next week. Bringing pretzels, nuts and water just in case.

Friday, August 03, 2007

Fixing the cable.


Found a way to fix the cable that got fried during the thunder storm. I'm going to run a new cable on the outside of the house. I know its not going to look good but I don't want to go into the attic this summer. I'll get parts tonight for an early morning install.

Getting ready for Monterey

Going off to Monterey this weekend for work. Well I'm not going to go golfing at Pebble Beach. So far it's looking like all work and no play for this trip. I'll be meeting the West Coast co-workers and will be able to put faces to names.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Lightning did a little more damage.

Looks like the lightning damaged the cable for the cable tv. I think a splitter was burned up. Unfortunately its in the attic. Boy does that stink. Its hot and itchy and just nasty. Well next weekend then.
 
The new TV works fine just not the cable tap to the bedroom.

 

Pick a heck of a pepper.


There are cherry tomatoes coming in now. Last night Marilyn picked a giant green pepper.
Gotta love the garden!

New TV is coming!

With the lightning knocking out our TV last weekend we took the dive an bought a HDTV just a 26 inch one. It's going to be delivered today.

Also, the weather station was knocked out by the storm too. I'm going to try to reboot the radio this weekend.