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Recipe Hunting

July 6, 2017 by rurugby Leave a Comment

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I have a few cookbooks, but I have to admit I don’t use recipes.

Unfortunately, we are pretty broke this week after a vacation a month after another vacation.

So good to use what we have.

Tonight I made red beans and rice and added a pound of frozen sausage I had. I wish I did use some oil though, a bunch stuck to the bottom of the pan. I thought the sausage grease would be enough. Here was the recipe from Robert Irvine of Dinner Impossible.

Tomorrow I am doing something even easier a 5 ingredient crock pot chicken with black beans and cream cheese recipe. Literally chicken breasts, corn, black beans, salsa and cream cheese. I am hoping the chicken isn’t too freezer burned. But, it will be wicked easy to make and cost only like $6 more dollars. I think I will make some more rice with it and use the rest of the chicken broth that I used with the rice today.

I think I need to do this more often to save money. And it is often a lot more interesting than a lot of restaurants. And it’s great to get rid of some of the stuff in your pantry.

Where do you like to hunt for recipes?

Filed Under: food

Tuesdays in Connecticut

October 7, 2014 by rurugby Leave a Comment

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Tuesday is one of my favorite days here.

A day off.

And a chance to have the car and explore. I got rid of the 99 Mercury Sable before leaving Maine due to a myraid of repair reasons.

But on Tuesday, I wake up, drop off Lanna at work, often go for a walk and eat breakfast.

So far I have discovered the Seaside Park in Bridgeport, the beaches in Stratford, CT, the Shelton Lakes Recreation Path at several points, the Ansonia Nature Center and adjoining Naugatuck State Forest.

Also the wacky Roosevelt Tower and the cool Books at the Falls both in Derby. The gorgeous fields of the Osbornedale State Park. The delicious bagels of Royal Bakery in Shelton, the amazing corned beef hash at Pagliaro’s Lunch. The little hole in the wall Jamiacan place, the Rootsman Kitchen in Bridgeport, CT.

Connecticut is a wonderful place to explore.

I would love to have a car again and eventually will, but the act of dropping Lanna off gives me the chance to explore. Maybe the Indian Well State Park in Shelton this morning after a delicious bagel at the Royal Bakery.

Tuesdays are good days for me. Although I do miss going to the Port Veritas poetry reading. I still get the invites and see a bunch of poets I would like to hear. Like John Sinclair tonight and my friend Robin Merrill last week.

Filed Under: Ansonia, Bridgeport, Connecticut, Derby, food, Shelton, The Ecq Review, woods

2014: A Year of Grounding – Deep and Simple

January 6, 2014 by rurugby 3 Comments

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We live in shallow and complex times.

Worried about e-mails, about texts, Twitter, Facebook.

Often interacting more with people even that we know in shallow ways. Always feeling like we need to check into our media and devices. A society full of advertising of buy, buy, buy of you need this, you need that.

You don’t. No really, you don’t.

You really don’t need a smartphone although it is very shiny. You don’t need an iPad, again very shiny. You don’t need those new clothes, you don’t need to see every movie, you probably don’t need more stuff.

You need to connect. To people, to the earth, to yourself.

I am dedicating 2014 to be the Year of Grounding for me. I need it.

The last two years have been very ungrounding. Losing my father in law Walter Maheux in March 2012, losing my beloved father Henry Edmunds Davis on April 1, 2013. I am still grieving. I still do not have all of my psychic and spiritual energy and might not for some time. I am trying to ground again and get back into myself. I need it.

I find writing helpful. I love conversations especially one on one although they can be hard to do. Why did it become weird to call someone? Seriously. I love to connect with people. In 2012 I started having lunches with one person and just talking. It was cool. It’s good to spend an hour with just one person and not be in the cacophony of noise and information of the internet and smartphones. I want to get back to it again and having lunch with someone tomorrow.

I am really happy to be in therapy. I had an unbelivably tough year that included a major manic episode in April, 2013. It was one heck of a month. Although I did write some good poems and posts including a memorial for my dad. I also ended up in jail for 36-48 hours of Patriot’s Day last year while fully manic and became extraordinarily manic. Basically doing a 24 hour performance in a cell to the NSA who I was sure was watching. Then was held down and drugged after getting loud at the Maine Medical Center ER and forgot 24 hours completely. April was unbelievably ungrounding. Losing the rock of my life, as I said in a poem at my dad’s memorial service. Losing my sanity.

Recovering slowly. Spring Harbor helped. Lithium helped a lot, dulling my mind when I needed it, found it dulling after my crisis as well and slowly going off of it. My wife helped, my mom helped, my therapist really helped. I am very thankful for therapy. More of us need to be in it. Seeing her tomorrow and happy to go over goals and talk about the last 3 weeks that includes that big holiday of Christmas and all the energy you put in an use for it.

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I feel the need to ground. To slow myself down. In the words that Fred Rogers used from the documentary “Mister Rogers and Me ***” Make your life deep and simple not shallow and complex.

Take a walk. Look up. See the stars. See the clouds. Feel the wind. Hear the water. Rest your mind. Listen. Breathe. Breathe. Slow down. Touch the Earth if you need do, do some Earthing. Literally ground yourself.

Make it a practice. Meditate. Prayer with your heart. Bring the worries of the brain down to the heart. Practice the mediations I learn from Whispering Deer. Your heart can take a lot in, the brain wants to analyze everything. Breathe. Breathe.

One thing I do to ground that make me feel joy is walking with my headphones at work. There is great landscaping there. Statues, trees, birds, a creek, a marsh. Listening to something like Bob Dylan’s “Blowin in the Wind” yesterday, watching the trees in the twilight in a sea of clouds. Transported. Just looking. Appreciating.

Your technology can wait. Texts can wait. You can turn your cellphone off. Sometimes it’s good to not be available. People do not need you all the time. You can not answer a text. You can leave your phone in your pocket while driving. Pay attention.

Right now, I am looking out my window. Seeing rain on the panes. Seeing a gray sky with some blue just after sunset with plenty of dark gray clouds after a rainy, and warm day that reached the upper 40s and had plenty of snowmelt. Can see some red of the sunset in the distance. Lights over the parking lot for the Dancing Elephant and the Frog and Turtle. Light in the parking lot by me. A wet American flag. Trees in fornt of the sunset. A wide Presumpsoct River that is harder to notice through the raindrops. The Disability RMS sign hiding through the trees. A car driving through. Listening, looking.

Billy Collins said all a poet needs is a window, paper and a pencil. Simple. Beautiful. Calming. Noticing. Not overthinking. Which we all do too mcuh. Looking up seeing the day change, watching the birds. Seeing the scampering of creatures. Hoping the insects don’t bite.

Think when you were happiest. Was it a tweet? A Facebook message?

Was it time with a friend, with a loved one, a lover and partner? With family? Eating, drinking. Maybe on vacation in the woods, in the desert? Listening, content at peace. Breathe.

We all need more peace. Less worry.

A life deep and simple where you appreciate things. My cats Lenny and Squiggy. My wife Lanna. The simple sound of the cat fountain. The silence. Sleep, dreams. My family. My sister Mindy, brother in law, Robert. Brother in law Bill, mother in law Dottie. And the ones who have passed, my dad Henry, father in law Walter. Grandparents Avis Neal, Charles Neal, Mary Davis and Donald Davis. My Aunt Louise. My mother’s best friend Dottie Mithee, Cousin Benny.

And heroes who have passed and enriched my life like Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Twain, Carl Sandburg, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, Miles Davis. And of course teachers past, present and futures. Those who listen. Those who let us listen.

The water. The sky. The birds. The animals. Our pets. Cats, dogs. The mice we can’t see. The bees who pollenate. The pollen that makes us sneeze.

Breathe. Ground. Let life be easy. Let life be quiet. Read. Turn the screen off. Just listen to music. Drift. Dream.

Work to live a deep and simple life in complex and shallow times. Love one another. Hug. Kiss. Be thankful. Breathe. Mediate. Be Present. Appreciate the silence. Learn to love the noise and watch. See the sky change and darken, as the blue almost disappears and the red of sunset is almost gone.

Rest. Breathe. Ground and be Peaceful.

Blessed be.

Filed Under: acceptance, acceptance, books, breathing, cats, Edmund Charles Davis-Quinn, Embracing the Geek: A Writer's Journey, facebook, family, food, games, geek, grieving, Henry, kisses, kitties, Lanna, Lenny, love, meditations, My books, partnership, reading, seasons, sickness, spirit, Spirit of Sunday, Spirit of Sunday, Squiggy, westbrook, Whispering Deer, woods

Durgin Park **

March 17, 2013 by rurugby Leave a Comment

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Durgin Park is one of the institutions of Boston.

“There from before you were born,” on 1827 according to Wikipedia.

I have heard of it before on cooking/food shows, and it got a great 5 star review on Roadfood.com that said it was worth going to from anywhere. But, really meh. It’s fine. But I live in Maine. It’s not hard to find New England food here. Boiled dinner is part of the tradition. I am sure a lot of you are having it today with St. Patrick’s Day and Corned Beef and Cabbage.

I can get great New England food that is far better than Durgin Park at my mother-in-law Dottie Maheux’s house. Having the pot roast which was recommended by Roadfood.com as leftover now and it’s fine. Not great, just fine. Honestly the corned beef and cabbage leftovers I had for lunch was better. I ordered the pot roast with squash and mashed potatoes. The pot roast was fine, if a little bland. The squash had nice flavor and the mashed potatoes were fine. The baked beans were actually quite good, probably the best thing I had there.

Even the room isn’t really that interesting. Feel like it should have more character. The restaurant was bought by Ark Restaurants in 2007, and maybe that calmed things down.

There is rumors that Durgin Park used to have rude service. Honestly, the server was one of the best parts of the meal, very sweet. And she did try to warn us off the Indian Pudding that Foursquare and RoadFood mentioned. I think my father-in-law would have loved it, but he ADORED molasses. For us, it had a very odd texture and taste. And she noticed we didn’t eat much of it, and took it off our tab. Very much appreciated.

So, it’s an option in Faneuil Hall but I bet you can find much better food for the price. Glad I can say I went, but I am very unlikely to come back. I think you can get much better food at a bean supper. Now that’s a Maine cultural institution I need to go to. I have lived in Maine since 2005 and still haven’t been to one, I will soon.

Filed Under: casual, food, restaurant, The Blog, The Ecq Review

Smoking in Bars

February 16, 2013 by rurugby Leave a Comment

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Went to a very cool beer bar with excellent food in Allentown, PA today.

The Liberty Street Ale House on 23rd and Liberty right by Muhlenburg College.

Very good tap list, $6 Moosehead pitchers on a Saturday which is quite worth it and a decent beer. And hundreds of different craft beer bottles including some very premium Belgium beers and 22s.

The Pulled Pork Sandwich was great, and the Cream of Crawfish soup was delicious.

I will say the service wasn’t great and could have used a 3rd server.

But, as I went to the bar instead of a table. Someone lit up a cigarette a couple of seats over that blew in my face. It’s not pleasant.

Moved back to the table. But, I realized how much more pleasant bars are without smoking.

Yes, for some patrons who like to smoke it’s frustrating. There are lots of people that love drinking beer and chain smoking in bars.

But, for non-smokers it opens up everywhere. Smoke in your face doesn’t make you want to hand around somewhere.

So, I am glad smoking bans are in place. But I certainly think it’s fine with places with outside patios to allow smoking but inside in a bar it’s frankly obnoxious.

So, I would definitely go back there but I really do prefer people smoking outside. Sorry smokers.

So, smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette. Puff, puff, puff and if you smoke yourself to death tell St. Peter at the Golden Gate you hate to make them wait, you just have to have another cigarette.

Filed Under: beer, food, Maine Beer Guy, music, The Blog Tagged With: bars, restaurants, smoking

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