What's On The Slab? - 19 July 2021 - Plague Journal Day 494

Micah 6:8
1 Corinthians 7:12-16
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is National Flitch Day! Flitch is a semi-archaic word which has largely been replaced, at least in American English, by the word slab, as in a slab of bacon. Today is the day when couples who've gone a year and a day without wishing they weren't married are awarded a flitch of bacon by the church - provided the priests are fully convinced of the couple's honesty and sincerity. Apparently the awarding has not been very common over the centuries.

Remember, we're talking about a flitch, not Fletch. (nor even a flit nor flash), so for a slab related video, you might enjoy this fun clip.

Today is also Flight Attendant Safety Professionals Day. One could hardly mark this celebration without a nod to the good folks at Air New Zealand and their wacky, yet intriguing safety videos. Would that they were flying out of Detroit!

Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

East Is East - 30 December 2020 - Plague Journal Day 293

Micah 6:8
Psalm 103:6-12
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today would have been Rudyard Kipling's 155th birthday (he was born in 1865 if you want to check my subtraction). If your only encounters with Kipling have been the various animated versions of "The Jungle Book," I would like to recommend that you read his original, or - probably better yet - find some of his other stuff and read it. Novels, short stories, poems, Kipling did it all, and he did it with style. (Some of our more over-modernized readers may need a warning that this stuff wasn't written in the current politically correct environment, but rather in a different time altogether. Please, use your brains and empathy when reading - unless you really do like being intolerant.)

  

We're all still in celebratory, holiday mode, so I'm very happy to inform you that today is Bacon Day! I'm fairly certain that the creators of this day meant us to remember neither Roger nor Sir Francis, but rather that tasty pork product. You have my permission to celebrate any of the three.

Making me even more convinced that it's the tasty meat version that's being feted today is the fact that today is also National Bicarbonate of Soda Day. It seems a likely consequence of the first celebration, no?


Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

05 September 2020 - Plague Journal Day 176

Micah 6:8
Genesis 2:23-25
Yes, your life matters.

We all are still sheltering in place, but I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

One of the things I've enjoyed in these work-from-home months has been that on Wednesdays, Heidi is home, goes shopping, and often cooks bacon. The house smells great, and I am happy to report this, as today is International Bacon Day. (It suddenly occurs to me that this might be Kevin Bacon's birthday, but I'm not going to bother with that possibility. Even if it's not, no doubt there are no more than six degrees from someone whose it is to Kevin.)

Speaking of Heidi, today is the 38th anniversary of the day she made me the happiest man in the world. Yes, we've been married more than 3/8 of a century, and I wouldn't change it for the world. We're missing our annual trip to Niagara Falls this year, but we'll get somewhere with a waterfall one of these days, and as long as we're together, that's all that really matters.

Keep Calm and Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264

Carnage du Jour - 19 July 2012

Liver and Onions.
Sometimes there's just nothing better than the classics - especially when they get a slight update as in this instance.

We had four nice little slices of calf's liver that really wanted to be cooked.
Heidi had made a nice mixed frites bowl of russet and sweet potato fries, and we had some great left-over broccoli salad, so the flavours were going to work beautifully.

You know how liver can get a bit gummy when you fry it? That's because you're using flour on the outside - even if it's been seasoned, it's still flour, you know.
So, instead I used some seasoned corn meal - just a nice coating of corn meal mixed with Old Bay.
First the bacon was heated up in the pan (lardons, don't you know) and then the onions joined the fun.
When all was cooked, but not crisped, it was removed, the amount of oil adjusted, and the liver went in. After the first side got a nice sear and crust, they were flipped and the bacon and onions dumped on top to let their flavours flow into everything else.

That's all there is (and was) to it. A delicious meal, only slightly updated from the classic.

Enjoy!