...will kick off at about 5PM this evening. Brendan, Julia and I will be going and I imagine he will have a couple of other folks over. He is planning on having pizza, a 3 foot hero, and some good bier. I told him that this time, instead of bringing a case of Warsteiner, I would bring horses ovaries hors d'oeuvres. So last night I went out and stocked up on shrimp, squid, cuttlefish, clams, small thin rib eye steaks, pork bellies, shitake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, small (and I mean tiny) white potatoes, pearl onions, green onions (scallions). I browned the pork bellies and rib eye steak, same for the mushrooms in extra virgin olive oil (heck I have never heard of an extra virgin maiden but that could be interesting), added lots of salt, garlic and black pepper while doing so. Then I threw all that into a nice sized dutch oven along with the potatoes, a few ounces of tomato paste, a bottle of Spaten Octoberfest bier, a bottle of Franziskaner Weiss bier, several pearl onions, three bunches of scallions, a pound of cuttlefish, a pound of squid, some really hot Chinese pepper sauce, a lot of garlic powder, more black pepper, more salt, and even more of the Chinese pepper sauce as it progressed. After about an hour or so of simmering I threw some cinnamon and a shot or two of Irish Whiskey. Another 1/2 hour and lots more garlic powder and some more weiss bier, about 1/2 a bier. Then, another 15 minutes and I threw in the shrimp. Brendan and I just tasted it, mmmmmm goooood and just a tad spicy. I have no idea what you would call this, but it taste darned good. I have made it twice before, but used baby octopus the other two times instead of cuttlefish. When I was at the store last night, the octopus looked pretty lousy so I opted for a package of frozen cuttlefish. I tried a few - they are great.You may have noticed though that the clams have not yet been added to the mix. Since they are alive, I put them into a bowl of water with a good amount of sea salt. As the night passes on they will excrete most of whatever sand they have inside of their shells. Then once they have cleaned themselves I will throw them in the mix tomorrow when we heat it all up again just before we eat it, or maybe I'll just steam them and have them on the side with lemon or melted butter. Decisions, decisions!As for the Super Bowl, I do not care who wins. I am not a football fan - at least not until Uncle Hans has one of his end of the season parties. Me, I just root for the hottest cheerleaders, and enjoy the party, the food and the company! We had a blast for the conference championships, and I imagine tomorrow will be some of the same. Hopefully both teams have cheerleaders - but I have got to say I miss the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders of yesteryear!All the best,Glenn B
...are on the agenda for today over at Onkel Han's house. This will be the first game of this season that I will have watched, but if the Giants win, maybe not the last. More blogging later. Right now I have got to run.All the best,Glenn B
...are just about all I can think about right now both because I am watching (yes as I type) Zimmern & Bourdain: New York, and because I started my daily intake with a bottle of Magnesium Citrate, followed tonight by a couple of liters of Movie-Prep (no that is not something you do before watching a movie, at least not if you want to watch it uninterrupted by your having to get up often). Off to the doc's tomorrow for some scoping from both ends - oh joy that it will be. Well yes, actually it will be a joy if they figure out what had been ailing me. It will also be a joy because I won't be drinking this ass blaster fuel anymore. Most of all though, it will be a joy because tomorrow, after the tests, I can eat again. I have not eaten since last night, and while I am not starving, watching this show has certainly fired up my appetite. I am going to buy myself one heck of a nice piece of meat tomorrow. Maybe it will be a Porterhouse Steak, maybe some ribs, maybe lamb chops, maybe roast duck - but for sure whatever it is - it will be a nice piece of cooked meat that I use to satisfy my appetite. There may be some side dishes like a salad, some clams on the half-shell, or even some octopus, along with a piece or two of good black bread, or Lithuanian Rye bread (not your packaged bread at all), or Corn Rye bread (and maybe a shot of Corn Whiskey) but the main dish, the really huge part of the meal, will be a good piece of roasted or broiled meat. A good ale to wash it all down will follow. If I get sick after that, so be it, but it will be worth it - I'd get sick just the same after anything else I would have eaten - so I may as well truly enjoy it to the max.All the best,Glenn B
...can you imagine that! No I don't mean can you imagine that doing good things like: being nice to others, doing your civic duties, having common courtesy, volunteering, being law abiding, being a good parent, and on and on, makes you feel good; what I mean is can you imagine that someone actually thinks this is a new discovery. I find it even difficult to believe that someone went out and did what I believe was wasting someone else's money, and maybe even some of his own, to do such a study - which I will guess is supposed to have been scientific and therefore have the weight of science behind it. The truth is though, someone apparently did just that as discussed in the article Study: Doing Good Makes You Feel Good at FoxNews.com @ http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,269900,00.html.
According to said article: "There's a new incentive to doing good things for others: It makes you happier, according to a new study." Now did someone really have to go out and spend time and effort to discover that doing good deeds, acting nicely and the like makes you a happier person. I mean, wasn't that sort of thing already common knowledge; did it have to be scientifically proven, hasn't it been proven throughout the ages already? I wonder, are scientists, or academicians, that much out of touch with reality to not realize that this was simply a fact of nature. Apparently at least one person, the guy who conducted this study, Michael Steger, "...couldn’t help but wonder which behavior makes people happier — seeking pleasure or doing good?".
Let's see, were there already any hints that doing good makes one feel happy? I think there was already a large body of evidence that pointed us in that direction, certainly more evidence than the experiences of 65 students who participated in the study could have amounted to. For example:
1) People we see in the world who seemingly seek pleasure for themselves very often, or possibly more often than they do good, apparently turn out to be despicable, and/or miserable. Some extreme examples of this throughout history, in my opinion, would be: Saddam Hussein, Adolf Hitler, Nero, Josef Stalin, any pedophile you can name. Some examples that are closer to home and less extreme, but nonetheless, are in my opinionexamples would be: Paris Hilton, Rosie O'Donnell, some people who go compete on American Idol, people who are always telling you what to do or not do like PETA members, over zealous politicians, or a consistently grumpy next door neighbor.
2) People in the world who repeatedly do good for others apparently turn out to be loved and quite happy a least about doing good. Good examples of this throughout history are: Louis Pasteur, Florence Nightingale, Joan of Arc. Less extreme , and more modern, examples of such would be: Mr. Rogers (of PBS television fame), Sister Theresa, any person who routinely exhibits some common courtesy, a consistently nice next door neighbor, people who volunteer often to do nice things.
3) Of course, for about the last 2,000 years now or more precisely for about the last 1,977 years or so, we have had this saying going round the world: It is better to give than to receive. No I am not about to start preaching, heck I am pretty much an atheist, agnostic at most toward religious beliefs, but this was and is a good one! People who give of themselves, within reason, usually seem to be those who are the happiest, it is just plain old common knowledge.
4) While stressful, holidays like Christmas, and Chanukah, make people feel happy, and both are times of giving happiness, and are not about seeking pleasure for yourself.
5) Marriages work out much better, and each partner is happier, when each partner is giving of goodness to the other, not when each partner only wants to receive goodness.
6) In any relationship, such as friendship, work associations, school relationships, the people involved seem to be happier when they are good, and do good, as opposed to when they seek self satisfaction only.
I guess I could go on and on about this, but why bother when thousands of years of history, and common sense, have shown that doing good makes one happy or feel good about him/herself. I think the need for a study was a bit ridiculous, and I think one of the reported findings was even more so, and I'll have to repeat one of the above quotes from the article: "There's a new incentive to doing good things for others: It makes you happier, according to a new study." It is ridiculous to say that feeling happy is a new incentive for doing good, and then to conclude that people who do good are happier than those who seek pleasure. You see, if you use happiness that you will feel as an incentive for doing good, you are in effect seeking the pleasure of happiness for yourself; and therefore you are defeating the whole purpose of doing good onto others in that you are seeking self satisfaction because you did good with that goal in mind. The truth be told, when you do selfless good deeds, you do not seek to feel good, you seek to do good, to make others happier or better off, and you do not need or seek the after effect/result of feeling happier before doing a good deed. To do so would only be hypocrisy, and that I think would make you feel miserable in the long run. You do good because you are good already, because you feel good enough about yourself not to worry about what you will get out of it, but rather what good you can do for others. In general, you are a happier or better person already, before the act, who selflessly does good for others, and if doing good results in making you feel happier - well so be it it, you deserve it. Before I close, I will admit one thing about this study. It was nice to see that academia or science now apaprently believe that doing good is basically its own reward.
All the best,
Glenn B
...with fine company are something that makes a family get together so nice. We had my wife Linda's side of the family over this afternoon, and had a great Italian Cheese and Meat Pie (3 meats, 6 cheeses) cooked by the younger brother-in-law Hans, then had a nice dinner of Leg of Lamb, Homemade Gravy, Asparagus, Corn, Mashed Potatoes, and Homemade Red Cabbage all cooked by Linda. It was simple fare, nothing fancy, yet was mouth watering, absolutely delicious, and quite filling. Linda is a great cook. For desssert we had some Apple Crumb Cake that the older brother-in-law Alex brought along, some Chocolate Lover's Brownies that Linda baked, and great coffee.
'Just Another Day In Paradise' indeed!
All the best,
Glenn B
