Len's Recipe of the Month - January 2021

 

I gifted myself this past Christmas with something I have been craving for several years now.

A dutch oven from Le Crueset.   These kitchen devices are phenomenal and a staple of every food show I watch.   When Macy's featured a sale price 160 dollars lower....

And I got to use it for the first time this past Sunday with a basic but incredibly delicious pot roast courtesy of Valerie Bertinelli.   Now it helps to use the same dutch oven I have, but, realistically, any one will do.   Especially if it holds 6 or 7 quarts.

First, preheat your oven to 300 degrees.

Heat some oil.   Now, with 2 pounds of chuck roast that has been salted and patted dry, add it to the dutch oven and sear it on both sides.   About 7 minutes per side.   Remove to a plate.

Add a little more oil and throw in 3 carrots sliced in 1/4 inch pieces.   One onion sliced.   And a pint of sliced porcini mushrooms.   Saute it all with some Kosher salt.

After five minutes, pour in one bottle of white wine.   You can use red, too.   Let this all come to a boil.  Stir frequently to deglaze the flavor off the bottom of the pan.   Add the meat back.   Pour in one cup of chicken broth.

Put the dutch oven covered into the oven and let it go for about ninety minutes.

Slice up about 1 1/2 pound of Yukon Gold potatoes.   Make the pieces about 1/4 inch thick.

Add the potatoes to the dutch oven.   While you're at it, flip the meat.

Let this all cook for another 45 minutes.

You're welcome.   And oh, by the way, that pot cleans easily with soap and water.

Dinner last night:  What else...leftover pot roast.

This Date in History - January 13

 

Happy birthday in Heaven, Rip Taylor.  Wonder if the toupee went with him.

888:  ODO, COUNT OF PARIS, BECOMES KING OF THE FRANKS.

Step aside, Oscar Meyer.

1547:  HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY, IS SENTENCED TO DEATH.

A surrey with no fringe on top.

1607:  THE BANK OF GENOA FAILS AFTER ANNOUNCEMENT OF NATIONAL BANKRUPTCY IN SPAIN.

Salami sales dropped off.

1815:  WAR OF 1812 - BRITISH TROOPS CAPTURE FORT PETER IN GEORGIA, THE ONLY BATTLE IN THE WAR TO TAKE PLACE IN THIS STATE.

Don't worry.  They'll get plenty of chances during the Civil War.

1822:  THE DESIGN OF THE GREEK FLAG IS ADOPTED BY THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.

Now they have something to put up all those flagpoles.

1830:  THE GREAT FIRE OF NEW ORLEANS BEGINS.

The polar opposite of their next calamity when the city was under water thanks to a hurricane.

1840:  THE STEAMSHIP LEXINGTON BURNS AND SINKS FOUR MILES OFF THE COAST OF LONG ISLAND WITH 139 LIVES.

Good rubbernecking views from Jones Beach.

1847:  THE TREATY OF CAHUENGA ENDS THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR IN CALIFORNIA.

Also a street in Los Angeles.

1884:  SINGER SOPHIE TUCKER IS BORN.

The first of the red hot mamas.

1893:  THE INDEPENDENT LABOUR PARTY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM HOLDS ITS FIRST MEETING.

Rhetorical question:  how did the "-our" spelling begin in England?

1898:  EMILE ZOLA'S "J'ACCUSE"  EXPOSES THE DREYFUS AFFAIR.

Richard Dreyfuss had an affair?  With who?

1910:  THE FIRST PUBLIC RADIO BROADCAST TAKES PLACE - A LIVE PERFORMANCE OF THE OPERA "CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA" IS SENT OUT FROM THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE IN NY.

Does that come with a side of pasta?

1915:  AN EARTHQUAKE IN ITALY KILLS 29,800.

That's the average attendance at a Met game.

1919:  ACTOR ROBERT STACK IS BORN.

Untouchable.

1929:  WYATT EARP DIES.

But lived in reruns with Hugh O'Brian.

1931:  ACTOR CHARLES NELSON REILLY IS BORN.

Brilliant on TV's "Match Game."

1934:  COMIC RIP TAYLOR IS BORN.

Obviously, January 13 is a big birthday for comedians wearing wigs.

1942:  HENRY FORD PATENTS A PLASTIC AUTOMOBILE.

Well, that'll hold up in a head-on collision.

1953:  AN ARTICLE APPEARS IN PRAVDA ACCUSING SOME VERY PROMINENT DOCTORS, MOSTLY JEWS, IN THE SOVIET UNION OF TAKING PART IN A VAST PLOT TO POISON RUSSIAN MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT LEADERS.

The food in Russia alone could kill you.

1961:  ACTRESS JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS IS BORN.

Or is it this Dreyfus with the affair?

1962:  COMIC ERNIE KOVACS DIES.

In a car crash which happened about a half-block from my current LA home.

1964:  ANTI-MUSLIM RIOTS BREAK OUT IN CALCUTTA, RESULTING IN 100 DEATHS.

Even then.

1964:  KAROL WOJTYLA, THE FUTURE POPE JOHN PAUL II, IS APPOINTED ARCHBISHOP OF KRAKOW, POLAND.

With a name like that, where else?

1968:  JOHNNY CASH PERFORMS LIVE AT FOLSOM STATE PRISON.

Wearing black, no doubt.

1978:  THE US FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION REQUIRES ALL BLOOD DONATIONS TO BE LABELED "PAID" OR "VOLUNTEER" DONORS.

Not sure what this means, but I'll print it anyway.

1978:  POLITICIAN HUBERT HUMPHREY DIES.

So he didn't last 10 years after running for President.  Interesting.

1982:  SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF, AIR FLORIDA FLIGHT 90, A BOEING 737 JET CRASHES INTO WASHINGTON DC'S 14TH STREET BRIDGE.

Which prompted a prank call from Howard Stern asking how much it costs to fly from one part of Washington DC to another.

1985:  ACTRESS CAROL WAYNE DIES.

She may have drowned and, if you remember her, you wonder how that would be possible.

1990:  DOUGLAS WILDER BECOMES THE FIRST ELECTED AFRICAN AMERICAN GOVERNOR AS HE TAKES OFFICE IN VIRGINIA.

It took that long?  Also interesting.

2000:  BILL GATES RESIGNS AS CEO OF MICROSOFT.

No Longer Working V 2.0.

2002:  COMIC FRANK SHUSTER DIES.

Partner of Wayne.  Two guys whose act I never got.

2008:  BASEBALL PITCHER JOHNNY PODRES DIES.

The main reason behind the Dodgers only World Series win in Brooklyn.

2009:  ACTOR PATRICK MCGOOHAN DIES.

Secret Agent Man.

2017:  ACTOR DICK GAUTIER DIES

Hymie!

2018:  A FALSE NEWS ALERT ABOUT AN IMPENDING MISSILE STRIKE IN HAWAII CREATES A PANIC.

If the report was on MSNBC, why would anybody believe it in the first place?

2019:  PITCHER MEL STOTTLEMYRE DIES.

Pitching coach of the 1986 NY Mets.

Dinner last night:  Leftover pot roast.

Overkill On Steroids

 

If there is such a thing as the title suggests, "The Prom" would be it.   Six bottles of champagne shoved into a bag that should only hold three.   You know the bottom is going to break before you get home.

Here's another movie released during the pandemic that would have been a hoot to see on a big screen.   Instead, it rolls out on Netflix and there is Oscar buzz for whenever that ceremony will occur.

I wanted to like it.  I really, really did, Sally Field.  But, instead...

Truth be told, I wish I had seen "The Prom" on Broadway where it belongs.   I had heard good things from friends.   It was written, produced, and staged by people who did "The Drowsy Chaperone," a musical I truly adored.   And, from my research, the stage production had employed a lot of musical theater veterans who normally toil in supporting roles.   "The Prom" on Broadway gave these folks a chance to be out front and I would have loved that.

Somewhere between Broadway and Hollywood, "The Prom" had its wheel axle destroyed by a major pot hole.   And that accident was caused by the film's director, Ryan Murphy.

I'll preface this even further.   I am not a fan of his work.   First off, it is legend that Ryan pretty much doesn't have an original thought in his head.   He essentially picks through the bones of stories already developed like the feud between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, along with the dreadful mini-series "Hollywood."   Well, now he has finger prints all over "The Prom" and basically shits the bed all over again.

Because Ryan Murphy is as narcissistic as some of the Broadway has-been characters he works with in "The Prom," he populates the cast with major stars like Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, James Corden, and Kerry Washington.   It totally detracts from the story and the whole production could have used a cast downgrade.

Meryl is being talked up for an Oscar as she plays a cartoon version of Patti LuPone if you can believe such a thing.  At this juncture, I am actually tiring of the sight of Ms. Streep in every single film now made.   Time to rest, Meryl.   And, in "The Prom," she is romantically paired with Keegan-Michael Key!   The age difference is 22 years!  Hello!

Nicole Kidman is another now showing up for any film production as long as there are Twizzlers on the Craft Services table.  In this, she plays a Broadway dancer named...wait for it...Angie Dickinson.   Again, star power is not needed and Nicole should simply sit home and let Keith Urban sing to her.

I am also not a fan of James Corden.  Here he plays a gay Broadway actor and actually falls over the thin line of mincing and prancing around the set.   Indeed, we could have done better with countless other actors...even ones who are actually gay.

The story of "The Prom" is an enjoyable yet predictable one.  Sort of a cross between "La Cage Aux Folles" and "Footloose."  Young girl wants to take her closeted girlfriend to the prom.   The Indiana PTA won't allow it.   In steps Broadway actors to make it happen.

Done.

Again, I enjoyed the production numbers even though some of the songs sounded alike.   If Ryan Murphy had chosen to use a pastry brush, this would have worked nicely.   But, the only directing and producing mode he knows requires a sledge hammer.   

I hear there might be a national tour of the stage production as soon as theaters re-open to us inmates.    I might be inclined to revisit "The Prom" that way.  But, on film???

Um, no.

LEN'S RATING:  Two-and-a-half stars.

Dinner last night:  Leftover Chinese food.

Monday Morning Video Laugh - January 11, 2021

 It's winter time.  Did you remember to renew your car insurance?

Dinner last night:  Pot roast.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - Blue Heaven in Heaven

 

In many ways, the late Tommy Lasorda was Santa Claus.   You could not help but smile around him.   

The photo above comes from a Dodger Christmas party circa 2006 that was held exclusively for the season ticket holders.   Given the season...and the weight, why not dress Tommy up as Kris Kringle?  He was already larger than life.

Indeed....and this is not a reference to his girth, Tommy was always bigger than life.  In later years, he was always sitting in the owner's box next to the dugout.  From my seats and my binoculars, you would look over in the fifth inning and see his chin on his chest.   Zzzzzzz.   Eventually, somebody would come by and ask for a photo.  Dreamland interrupted.   And an immediate smile on his face.

Now I have heard from some of the Dodger Stadium game day staff (ushers, elevator operators, etc.) that he was pretty nasty and borderline abusive to them.  That also could be part of the mood the befalls everybody when they're aged 85 plus.   He certainly was feisty enough.   Just ask the Phillie Phanatic.   Or any sportswriter who talked to him after a Dodger loss.   He could use "the F bomb" as a noun, a verb, an adjective, an adverb, an object, or an action.

Besides this photo op at the Christmas extravaganza...

I had several personal run-ins with Uniform Number 2.   The first was in the bathroom at work where he was making an appearance with sportscaster Jim Rome.   He and I were both standing at urinals.   He finished first and slapped me on the back.

"How ya doin', pal?"   

The action made me miss my aim for about five seconds.

Of course, there was the Christmas party above where I confessed that I used to bleed Met Orange and Blue but now was totally Dodger Blue.

"Now you're finally making sense."

The last time we were in the same orbit was a few years later.   I was with friends enjoying the pre-game buffet at the Stadium Club.   We were in good with one of the waiters who always provided us with an appetizer plate of cheese and crackers.

Who ambled in next but Tommy?   He was there for a client dinner.   As he walked by our table, something made him sit down for a second.   And he proceeded to start eating said cheese and crackers.

I attempted a joke.   I told him that, had I known he was coming, I would have brought some sausage and peppers.

"Now you're talking, pal."

Several more pieces of cheese and he was gone.

He always said that he wanted God to allow him to see one more World Championship.   He got to do just that by traveling to the Texas bubble in October.

This is a tough week for Vin Scully.   He loses his wife and then his longtime dinner companion.   

And we lose....Tommy.

Dinner last night:  General Tso's Chicken from Chin Chin.

Classic Newsreel of the Month - January 2021

Back when Presidents had something to say.   And, oh, look, a Democrat is promoting tax cuts!  That won't be the case with the Moron-Elect.

Dinner last night:  Grilled gruyere cheese with bacon and tomatoes from Clementine's.

Happy New Mugs - January 2021

Arrested for trying to steal that Lancome moisturizer.

Laverne and Shirley Reboot 2021.

Which one of these felons brushes with Crest?

An auto body shop should be able to bang that dent out.

The junior class at Antifa High.

The senior class at Antifa High.

That's what happens when you buy wrinkle cream from the 99 Cent Store.

Who's your gardener?

Dinner last night:  Chef's salad.