So many wasted brain cells…

Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at 12:38 pm (Writing by Ear)
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File this under “so what?” But as soon as I saw gymnast Jonathan Horton, I knew he reminded me of someone. After a minute or two, it came to me: He looks like the older brother on The Wonder Years. Mike couldn’t remember the character, but here they are:  Jonathan and actor Jason Hervey (who played Kevin’s jerky brother Wayne).

      

How sad — this I remember, 15+ years after I last saw The Wonder Years. I never did see the final episodes, but in my search for the character’s name, the actor’s name, and a picture (there’s a limit to my trivia knowledge), I found out how the series ended (of course, Kevin & Winnie didn’t end up together). Now How I Met Your Mother reminds me of that (I hope he actually meets the darn mother this season).

It’s scary how much brainspace is taken up by useless TV trivia. If only I could delete it and replace it with something worthwhile. But then, there would go the “easy” category in Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit. Always a silver lining…

If you surveyed a hundred typical middle-aged Americans,
I bet you’d find that only two of them could tell you
their blood types, but every last one of them would
know the theme song from The Beverly Hillbillies. 
                                                  ~ Dave Barry

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Darn those butterfingers

Thursday, August 21, 2008 at 10:23 pm (Writing by Ear)
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OK — I know the Olympics are pressure-packed. You trained for years and years for this moment. You wanted to quit a million times. But you didn’t.

Finally, you’re here. The Olympics. Yay! You’re the best of the best. You’re way fast. Way strong. Way good.

You have a job: Take a stick from someone who hands it to you, run 100 meters, and hand it to someone else.

Unfortunately, this was just too much to ask.

I can see losing a race because the other team’s faster. Losing it because you dropped the darn stick is just lame.

Yeah, I know you feel bad. I’m just saying…

Sports is human life in microcosm.
                           ~ Howard Cosell

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Salsational

Thursday, August 14, 2008 at 11:18 am (Heavy Clay, Writing by Ear)
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In honor of “Tomato Thursday” at A Way to Garden, I’m offering up my favorite thing to do with a batch of tomatoes…never fails to get rave reviews…never fails to surprise people used to only processed salsa.

I don’t measure when I make this. You can mix/match proportions to suit your taste, but be sure you have more tomatoes than anything else. And, the chopping gets old, but I never use a food processor — too mushy. It’s worth the effort to chop by hand.

Crazy Good Fresh Salsa
5 ripe tomatoes, chopped, maybe seed a few if they seem too sloppy
1/2 cup chopped onion (more to taste, can mix & match sweet, red, green)
1/2 of a green pepper, chopped (can also add half of a red pepper and/or yellow pepper too)
1/2 of a large cucumber, peeled, seeded, & chopped
1 or 2 jalapenos, minced (to taste, seeded or not to suit your heat preference)
big handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
small glop of olive oil
fresh ground pepper
sprinkling of coarse salt (I don’t use much)

Combine chopped tomatoes and veggies. Stir in a glop of olive oil. Season with pepper and salt. Stir in chopped cilantro. Let the flavors meld for a while. Chill or serve at room temperature with tortilla chips (my favorite is Snyders low fat or multigrain).

Eat yourself silly — it’s a healthy addiction.

Home grown tomatoes, home grown tomatoes
What would life be like without homegrown tomatoes
Only two things that money can’t buy
That’s true love and home grown tomatoes
                          ~ John Denver, ‘Home Grown Tomatoes’
                                          (song and lyrics by Guy Clark)

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