Len's Recipe of the Month - April 2026

 

This isn't really sharing a new recipe from my kitchen.  It's really a revisit and you'll be happy you did.

This is my sausage, peppers, and onions.  I have featured it here before and the dish has truly become the very, very best thing I make.  And that's a remarkable statement given I make a lot of dishes quite well.

As time has gone by, I have fashioned this recipe to the point of perfection.  And the little tricks I have uncovered make it so.

So what are the secrets?

First off, when I sear the sausage, I use my air fryer.   It reduces the grease that can come out of the sausage and thereby enhances the flavor.

You will notice above red peppers and yellow peppers and orange peppers.  When you are making SPO, avoid at all costs using a green pepper in the rotation.  They are usually bitter and run counter to the overall sweetness of the dish.

You want another trick?   Well, I prefer SPO in its "wet" variety.  For that, you use tomatoes.   But do not use crushed tomatoes which would turn this into SPO soup.   Instead, take a pint of cherry tomatoes and just dump them in.   Their juice will come out but there will still be a firmness to them in the final incarnation.

More?

I always use sweet Italian sausage, not the hot variety.  But a little heat in the dish is okay.  For that, get yourself a jar of Cento Hot Pepper Relish.  Add a tablespoon to the dish.  It's another varied addition of flavor.

Lastly but not leastly, the flavor of the peppers is spurred by a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar.   It wakes up those peppers that is so refreshing.

Now you can be as perfect as I am.

Dinner last night:  Grilled beef sausage.

This Date in History - April 22

 

Today is a big day for World War II fans, but we can also wish Glen Campbell a happy birthday in heaven.   Question: when people with dementia pass on, do they regain a memory up there?

238: THE ROMAN SENATE OUTLAWS EMPEROR MAXIMINUS THRAX FOR HIS BLOODTHIRSTY PROSCRIPTIONS IN ROME AND NOMINATES TWO OF ITS MEMBERS, PUPIENUS AND BALBINUS, TO THE THRONE.

If this blog existed back then, it would probably be called Len Speaksius.

1519:  SPANISH CONQUISTADOR HERNAN CORTES ESTABLISHES A SETTLEMENT AT VERACRUZ, MEXICO.

If Cortes was alive today, he would already have fled to America.

1622:  THE CAPTURE OF ORMUZ BY THE EAST INDIA COMPANY ENDS PORTUGUESE CONTROL OF HORMUZ ISLAND.

If this happened today, I still wouldn't care.

1836:  DURING THE TEXAS REVOLUTION, FORCES UNDER TEXAS GENERAL SAM HOUSTON IDENTIFY MEXICAN GENERAL ANTONIO LOPEZ DE SANTA ANNA AMONG THE CAPTIVES OF THE BATTLE OF SAN JACINTO.

I think Texas is still revolting.

1864:  THE US CONGRESS PASSES THE COINAGE ACT OF 1864 THAT MANDATES THAT THE INSCRIPTION IN GOD WE TRUST BE PLACED ON ALL COINS MINTED AS US CURRENCY.

God....remember him?

1876:  THE FIRST EVER NATIONAL LEAGUE BASEBALL GAME IS PLAYED IN PHILADELPHIA.

The first recorded drunken brawl in the stands.

1889:  AT HIGH NOON, THOUSANDS RUSH TO CLAIM LAND IN THE LAND RUSH OF 1889.  WITHIN HOURS, THE CITIES OF OKLAHOMA CITY AND GUTHRIE ARE FORMED WITH POPULATIONS OF AT LEAST 10,000.

So that explains the traffic jam outside of Oklahoma City.

1906:  ACTOR EDDIE ALBERT IS BORN.

He died in 2005, so I guess you can say he got cheated.

1912:  PRAVDA, THE VOICE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY IN THE SOVIET UNION, BEGINS PUBLICATION IN SAINT PETERSBURG.

First comic strip?  Little Socialist Annie.

1915:  THE USE OF POISON GAS IN WORLD WAR I ESCALATES WHEN CHLORINE GAS IS RELEASED AS A CHEMICAL WEAPON.

Chlorine?   Like the way the pool in my high school gym used to smell??

1923:  PRODUCER AARON SPELLING IS BORN.

The Love Boat is making another run...

1926:  ACTRESS CHARLOTTE RAE IS BORN.

You take the good, you take the bad.  You take them both and there you have...the Facts of Life.   The Facts of Life.

1936:  SINGER GLEN CAMPBELL IS BORN.

By the time he gets to Heaven.

1937:  ACTOR JACK NICHOLSON IS BORN.

Yeah, this is as good as it gets.

1945:  DURING WORLD WAR II, PRISONERS AT THE JASENOVAC CONCENTRATION CAMP REVOLT.

And they probably were totally justified.

1945:  DURING WORLD WAR II, ADOLF HITLER ADMITS DEFEATS AND STATES THAT SUICIDE IS ONLY HIS RECOURSE.

Agreed!

1954:  WITNESSES BEGIN TESTIFYING DURING LIVE TELEVISION COVERAGE OF THE ARMY-MCARTHY HEARINGS BEGIN

Rat bastards.

1964:  THE NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR OPENS FOR THE FIRST TIME.

Right across the street from spanking new Shea Stadium.

1970:  THE FIRST EARTH DAY IS CELEBRATED.

Tree huggers unite!

1972:  INCREASED AMERICAN BOMBING IN VIETNAM PROMPTS ANTI-WAR PROTESTS IN LA, NY, AND SF.

Oh, so that's marijuana I smell?

1977:  OPTICAL FIBER IS FIRST USED TO CARRY LIVE TELEPHONE TRAFFIC.

And years later, you still can't get a conference call that doesn't have any static.

1978:  ACTOR WILL GEER DIES.

Good night, Grandpa.

1983:  A GERMAN MAGAZINE CLAIMS THAT THE HITLER DIARIES ARE FOUND.   THEY ARE LATER REVEALED TO BE FORGERIES.

You mean somebody's actually trying to copy Hitler's penmanship??

1984:  PHOTOGRAPHER ANSEL ADAMS DIES.

Thank God somebody invented the coffee table so his books had some place to go.

1994:  PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON DIES.

And God now makes it perfectly clear.

1996:  AUTHOR ERMA BOMBECK DIES.

The grass is not only greener.  It's on top of you.

1998:  DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM OPENS IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA.

And there's another way to make money.

2000:  THE BIG NUMBER CHANGE TAKES PLACE IN ENGLAND.

I'm holding out for the Small Number Change.

2002:  PORN ACTRESS LINDA LOVELACE DIES.

I find this hard to swallow.

2013:  SINGER RICHIE HAVENS DIES.

Make that Richie Heaven.

2017:  ACTRESS ERIN MORAN DIES.

Chachi Buries Joanie.

2023:  DANCING WITH THE STARS JUDGE LEN GOODMAN DIES.

I am proud to say I never ever watched this show.

Dinner last night:  Leftover SPO. 

Reunited...

 

...and it feels so creepy.

If you're even remotely attached to social media, you are seeing the ads.  

Let us provide you with a software that features AI and the ability to take photos that never happened.

Maybe you never met your grandmother.  A host of AI computer photos can give you that reunion of a meeting that never happened in the first place.  In some cases, you can add motion and see that hug or kiss.   Or maybe Grandma has wings on now that she's floating up in Heaven.   Is that a smile up in the clouds? Or just your HP laptop.

The rhetorical question is...have we finally gone too far?

I couldn't possibly ratchet up a photo reunion with my mom's parents because I never saw a picture.   And that's just a fact of life that you can't alter.   Sure, AI is an amazing technology but it's changing the universe in very unnatural ways. 

I know there are folks out there who get their solace from seeing evidence of one more hug from Grandpa.   But, if it never occurred, how can you substitute the true warmth of that embrace.

Sorry, AI, you can't.

Dinner last night:  Leftover lo mein.

Monday Morning Video Laugh - April 20, 2026

 A classic moment and a laugh from two baseball originals we miss to this day.

Dinner last night:  SPO.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - If Only

 

So, in our label-happy world, every day of the year is devoted to something.  I don't know who comes up with this nonsense.   There's probably even a day for them.  

"People Who Come Up With Ridiculous Stuff" Day.

And, of course, in our Facebook-laden worlds, these days and even more are regularly celebrated there.  Is there actually a schedule available that I can access?  Who is in charge?  Do they have a cell phone number?

And Facebook itself now has its own days.  The most notable of them is some dribble called "Throwback Thursday."  You're supposed to upload posts of you in previous times.   It's a fruit salad of big hair, curly moustaches, and bad acne.  Personally, I call it "Throw Up Thursday."   Because if I indeed showed you evidence of my past, that would be the reaction your body would have.

But I digress from Memoryland....

Recently, there was a mash-up of some national day and Throwback Thursday.  National Siblings Day.   Of course, Facebook went nuts.   Everybody and literally their brother posted old photos of siblings.  Brother and sister.  Sister and sister and sister.  Brother and sister and brother.  All with their arms around each other.   How special!

I salute all of you who have siblings.  Enjoy them until the day comes when your parents die and you wind up fighting over Dad's money or what dress Mom should be wearing in the casket.

Of course, this got me to thinking.   On the very next day, I posted my own remark on Facebook.

"Can I respectfully ask as to when we will be celebrating Only Child Day?"

Is that anywhere on Hallmark's calendar?  Anybody??  There is no response.   But a Google search tells me it was on April 12.   With little fanfare.

And our loneliness continues.

But, truth be told, I have lived to tell the story.  It's not so bad.

Well, some of the time.

There's a natural stereotype that only children are spoiled rotten.  The popular argument is that these kids get all of the attention and don't have to share their toys.  Well, not true.  My parents did give me a lot of attention and that definitely did not work to my advantage.  I was focused on continually.  As a result, I frequently didn't have room to breathe.  I'd hide out in my grandparents' part of the house downstairs where there was always safety in their big couch next to the black-and-white television.

Yeah, I might have wanted a brother or a sister.  Just so my folks would have somebody else they could yell at.

There was one day where I asked the question.  And, please keep in mind that this was the era where children didn't necessarily ask their parents anything.  But I wanted to know if there was a brother or sister in my future.  I might have been four or five.   And, given my age, I got the scrubbed-down answer.

"God had only one seed to put on your mother's plate."

Oh, seriously????

In retrospect, I think about my parents' ages when I was born.  Both were already in their thirties.  Years and years later, my father made an out-of-left-field remark that my mother had a tough time getting pregnant.

Okay, too much information.  Let's head back to the more innocent years and focus on how I managed without.

On snowy or rainy days when I couldn't venture out to play with my friends in the neighborhood, I didn't necessarily need to have a brother or a sister to keep me occupied.  I had my fertile imagination.

I've written before of the adventures I concocted all by my lonesome.  I would take all the lawn furniture or party chairs and do my own personal set design.  Sometimes, I'd arrange it like a TV talk show with me as host.   Or I'd dream up a standard sitcom set that could easily be shot in front of a live studio audience with Yours Truly as Dick Van Dyke. 

It helped to mold me into who I am today.

There were isolated and lonely moments when I was a kid, but very infrequent.  I had television.  I had Colorforms.   And I had good friends "up the block" and at school.  Indeed, only children have the capacity to form tighter and closer bonds with others.  We might even appreciate relationships even more. 

It's not a scientific study but I have concluded that only children gravitate naturally to other older children.  Or the eldest child in a family who would have the same sensibilities as they can easily remember what it was like to be the only kid in a household.   As I look through my Filofax of addresses from my life, I think most of my really good friends fall into one of those two categories.

So, childhood as an "only" wasn't so hard.  But you feel it more as you get older.   And your parents get older.  You suddenly realize that you're it on that day when the evolution of life intervenes and your role does reverse.   When health issues come into play and your mom or dad becomes the child and you are thrust into the parental position.  

You come to grips that it's up to you and nobody else to make a life decision.  The bad news is that it's all you.  The good news is that it's all you.   There is no one to argue your choice with.  There is no need for compromise.  It's all your responsibility.  And you live with that.

I have quite a few friends who have siblings.  In a lot of cases, there have been skirmishes that tear apart the whole family.  They fight over issues involving their parents.   Some wind up not speaking for years.  My father and his own brother did exactly that.  Ironically, all of that drama got them nowhere.  They both died within days of each other.  Not speaking.

I had nobody to fight with.  And I did get support during those times of crisis.  From my closest friends.  Some of them only children.  They get it.

Of course, the solitude can get compounded when you don't even get the benefit of that extended family called the "in-laws."  If you're not married, it's even quieter.  A bad thing.  But, in the ying and yang of our cluttered worlds, sometimes a good thing.

You hold those closest friends then even tighter.  Those are relationships to savor.

A few years ago, a good friend of mine lost his only brother to an extended illness at a very premature and sad age.  At that time, my friend announced to me that he now was just like me.  An only child.

Oh, no, you're not. 

While his loss was great, he did, even for an abbreviated time, have a sibling relationship.  Something I will never have or come to appreciate.  It is truly a different world when that's been your whole life. 

So, as an only child considers his life, I see it neither as good or bad.   It has aspects of both.   They combine to offer the standard color of all of our lives.

Gray.

As we get older, I've been thinking about the friends I have held dear for many, many years.  Some still with me after we met at the age of five.   Others still joking and mailing after our first collision in college or at an early job.  In future Sundays, I'm going to be writing about some of these cherished relationships and then asking that person to do his or her version on the following Sunday.  As lives get shorter, you want to spend them with people who...well...get it.  They might be only children or the oldest of five.  But, friends, nevertheless.

In the meantime, this particular Sunday is all about the only children.  So, in our very exclusive club, I invoke a roll call.   And recognize the uniqueness that we all share.

Here's to you.  Barbara, Dolores, Donna, Patti, Lorraine, Elyse, the Bibster, Bob, Gary, Larry, Amy, Djinn from the Bronx, Lauren. 

And anybody else who didn't have a sibling photo for "Throw Up Thursday" on Facebook.

Dinner last night:  Chicken Lo Mein from PF Chang's.

Classic TV Theme Song of the Month - April 2026

Every once in a while, I am surprised.   I never saw this "original" opening for "The Honeymooners."

Dinner last night:  Sandwich.

Why I Hate Flying These Days

 

Dinner last night:  Hamburger.