What is a crouton?

So I was thinking. Call me a splitter, but things need to fit in their categories. They simply must. Some examples.

Roast beef (or garden burger for the vegans who walk among us)= entree /meat
Mashed potatoes = side dish / starch
Green beans = vegetable
Bread = cereal / grain / baked good
Doughnut = pastry
Apple = fruit
Beer = beverage (and oh what a beverage)
Parsley = garnish
Mustard = condiment
Pepper = spice
Sage = herb
Ice cream = dessert
Pita chips = snack
Hummus = dip
Ranch dressing = dressing (duh)
Pickle = hmmmm, tough one....

So I ask again...what is a crouton? It's so much more than a simple baked good.

I suppose that bacon bits might be in need of a taxonomic home as well.

We need a new word!

Big Sad

Gene finally sold Rancho Regretto today and will be moving...well...who knows where but probably Phoenix (god - perhaps even Scottsdale - ugh).

Good luck to him and Alex - hope they find a dream house but definitely bummed that my room, MY ROOM won't be my room anymore. And all that stuff that I scratched into the foundation og the house as we built it, before I helped lay the tile will someday be found by somebody who isn;t related to me.....

I only lived for three years at old RR but lots of important stuff happened between sophomore and senior year of high school. I'll miss the wild animals, the remoteness, the amazing view, the far too large pool and hot tub, the desert...oh the desert.

Was hoping a lot of loud music, drums and guitar playing and booze might help but not so much.....

Maybe time for more loud music, drums, guitar and booze....definitely more booze.

Happy Father's Day

We've been without a grill for about 8 months. Certainly a luxury but hard to resist the siren call of grilled meat when summer rolls around.

Bought this and saw Toy Story 3 with the rest of the (Hawaii) Evans'. The meal and movie were top notch.

In case you're interested:

Flank Steak
Mix in a medium bowl: shoyu (soy sauce to you mainland haoles), red wine vinegar, garlic, ginger, olive oil, salt, pepper (and whtever else sounds good).

Put steak in gallon ziploc bag.

Smash bag, though not to the point of breakage.

Flip over.

Smash and flip every once and a while until you've finished a beer or two (no need to marinade if you beat up the steak occasionally for 20-30 or so).

Grill until it's cooked the way you like.

Serve with slices of toast.

Yum.

And I'm still considering if TS3 can possibly be as good as TS2 which I consider the best movie ever made....it's close. Fantastic Pixar goodness.

Latest

Just finished another P-38. Very pleased.

Gotta love those sharkmouth WWII fighters.

Thrilling

The Ma‘ema‘e A+ after school program just had their annual family fun night.

Lily stole the show with her zombi-licious Michael Jackson moves.






Jake was cool and let lily wear his leather jacket which completed the ensemble.

She most certainly does not get her dancing prowess from her old man. Shudder.

I've found a kindred soul in Stephen Fry. Great podcast btw.

Submariners

For years Charley has been telling us how cool the Atlantis submarine off of Waikiki is, and with the Boy Scout coupon book the price is totally awesome.



So we caught the tender by the Hilton Hawaiian and cruised out to meet the sub



Which was off in the middle of the ocean



Grandpa Gene looking sea worthy though highly charged with static electricity



Zach and Jake plotting their course



Up by the cockpit - note depth gauge at left. We did go a LITTLE deeper. Like down to 105' - way cool.

Saw a spotted eagle ray, some turtles, lots of fish. No sharks though.



An artificial reef down at the bottom. My fish pictures were pretty lame, but a really amazing experience. And now that Jake and I have season passes, one that we'll definitely do again.

$5 Fix

Needed to fix the kid's surfboard. The plastic washer thingie that held the skeg on got broken and fell off.

Needed something that I could drill through and countersink, about 2" wide and 1/16" thick and was expendable.....

Howabout a $5 chip from the Fremont ?!

Thanks Tutu Kăne!

Death Dealt

There was a time when I would argue with Morgan about the merits of fantasy artists.

Of course we were 13 and knew nothing, but we sure thought we did, and boy would we let the other one know what and idiot they were for their foolish choice.

Was it silly? Absolutely, but I suppose that "Frazetta or Vallejo?" is akin to the evergreen "Paul or John?" or "Beatles/Stones?" or "Flight/Invisibility?" question: a quick seemingly, innocuous binary choice that can actually tell a lot about a person.

Let it be told, I'm a Frazetta (and John, Stones, and Flight, if you must know) and now old Frank is no more. RIP to the guy who created the visuals that I'll never shake out of my head from my Robert E. Howard phase of reading.

Where will the Molly Hatchets of the next century find their album covers? Who will paint the coolest Conan now?

Pray it isn't Boris.

Excellent Podcast

If you are a podcast addict like me and you've already worked yourself through all of the PlanetMoneys, Skeptics Guide to the Universe and both Slate Gabfests (cultural and political) then you need more listening material.

I really like the British Museum's, History of the World in 100 Objects.

Once it gets rolling it's a great podcast with interviews with archaeologists (duh) but also artists, musicians, economists, and others who provide fascinating views on the given object that is under consideration.

Highly recommended.

Truth be told, I came across it by listening to another podcast, the aforementioned Slate Culture Gabfest.

Speed Scrabble

Here's a bar graph that I've never seen before:



Scrabble tile distribution.

Ever since being introduced to Speed Scrabble at Cousin Liz's Xmas party I've been proselytizing.

Rules:
No Scrabble board required.
Put the standard 100 Scrabble tile upside down on the table.
Best with 2,3,4 or 5 individuals or teams (if playing with three take out one tile from the 100)
Everybody takes 7 tiles face down from common pile.
On go each player tries to use their own letters in a legitimate Scrabble style crossword that only they add to.
First player to use all their letters calls "Go".
Every players takes one more letter from pile.
Players may rearrange their letters at any time.
First player to call "Done" when all tiles are gone wins.

Extremely addicting.

Fun to add special rules:
No 2 letter words (just to win - you can use to call "go" during play)
Got to have a 9 letter word
Have to have two words that are opposites
Got to have a color, etc.

Belated Xmas Present (to myself from Grandpa Gene)

 
Grandpa Gene gave me some xmas cash to replace my broken board (see summer 2009) and I just got around to spendifiying it.

Thanks Craigslist and Gene! Looking forward to many Wednesdays of fun.

Behind is our 4 year old coconut tree which is a few months away from giving us our first crop.

‘Aiea Loop Trail

 
We find the rare Loopius hawaiianensis.

Dorothy and Toto

 
Or Lily and Sally as the case may be.

"I think..."

On this day in 1859 Charles Darwin published the book that gave birth to modern biology. Happy 150th!

WWAD? Addendum

Forgot to add.

Got back to Honolulu and told my sad AC/DC story to Blair, an Aussie who by old down under habit refers to the boys as "Accadacca".

I told him that in a weird way I was kinda glad that the concert fell through.

Here's my thinking: when the last notes of "For Those About to Rock" faded at the end of the show I'd have a sinking feeling that this would be my last AC/DC show. A part of my life would be officially over.

That was gonna be rough.

Blair summed it up.

(With Aussie accent) "Listen to yourself man! What do you think Angus would want you to do....? He'd want you to ROCK ! Get over it."

WWAD?

Ok. Enough time has passed I can tell the story.

So back in October Kim and I took Lily and Jake to Disneyland. Coley noticed that AC/DC was playing in Vegas the night after we got in and so he set to sweet talking (successfully) Kim into letting me go.

So we caught a flight to Vegas in the early afternoon and checked into the MGM Grand where the concert was to be held.

Here's what we found:



Concert canceled. Brain was recovering from throat surgery, so the Vegas concert would be rescheduled for next spring. Sigh.

The Joy of Spitfires

A great video.

A middle aged British nerd tries to convince the 13 year olds of today that plastic models are actaully kinda cool.

And uses the same kit that got me back into model building after 30 year...the 1/72 Airfix Spitfire...as blogged waay back here....

Carhole of Scariness, Mk V

We've been at it for five years now and we're (which is to say Dave) getting pretty good at quickly putting up the walls and running the juice for the many lights, fog machines, dimmers, lasers (yes really), and more.

As a result the Lemmonds' now have more Halloween decorations than X-mas.....buwahahahaha.

Old favs are back. Bottomless pit. Black light room. Pictures with the eyes cut out.

But the vortex is new this year. Oh the vortex..must...go... into....the......light.

For 2009 we let the neighborhood teenagers do most of the staffing/acting. Last year our three hour marathon of presentations of our take on Young Frankenstein meant that I didn't get to walk around and go trick or treating with the little ones.



Only a few years left of that, whereas we can go on building haunted houses for far longer....

Muzak 2009

Some strange music experiences over the last few weeks.

Went to a large Asian style supermarket a while ago and I was suddenly an 8th grader again. Planet P. Waitresses. DEVO. And not Whip It....not even Girl You Want. They were playing Through Being Cool? Seemed a little subversive for a commercial environment. Absolutely no mix just the top New Wave hits of 1980-1982.

Had a 20 minute wait for tech support and was listening to the BIZARRE mix on speakerphone while doing other stuff. Elvis. Bob Marley. Sinatra. Dido. Huey Lewis. Radiohead? Granted it was from The Bends, but still. WTF? Who (besides me) would like this mix? I'm actually thinking about just calling to be put on hold.....

Lily and Jake were watching Scooby Doo the other day and I was only partly paying attention...until the chase scene started and the music started up...what? The Ramones? No way!

The Magic Kingdom (and Disney's California Adventure)

Fall Break. Disneyland. Cousins. Grandparents. Fun.


Nothing a few years of therapy won't solve.....



Reunited and it feels so good.


This needs to be an album cover....


Prepare for blast off...

See some more here:

Disneyland 2009