It’s that time of the year where everyone’s “Irish Eyes Are Smiling” and the wearing of the green can be seen all around you; Especially in New York City. With this being the case I just wanted to post a couple of seasonal images that I found around the command center and wish you a very fun-filled but safe, St. Patrick’s Day. The first photo is a very happy Leprechaun that my Grandmother gave me about ten years ago. “He looks like you she said”. I just smiled at her way with words from time to time. He really doesn’t since I don’t sport a beard.
Speaking of my now dear departed Nanna, she was very creative and had fashioned this decorative ornament to hang in the apartment. It was very nicely made, and all by hand mind you. I’ve tried to keep this in top shape after a couple of apartment moves and so you should still be able to see that its a three leaf clover and there is a small leprechaun on the top of it.
This little guy is my “Lapelprechaun”. Alright, I realize that’s completely terrible but I was at a temporary loss for what to say. Nonetheless this is my little lapel pin leprechaun. He stands a couple of inches high but I don’t wear him out much for fear that I will lose him.
I don’t really have in the way of festive St. Patrick’s Day garb but I did secure this nifty Leprechaun hat when I did the head shaving for St. Baldrick’s a couple of years ago. Before you ask, yes they did give this to me.
I’ll be taking it easy on St. Patrick’s Day because I will be covering a show over at the Gramercy Theatre. It’s not an Irish Metal band but that sure would have been fun to bring to the table. The Dropkick Murphy’s are not in town today and I don’t think Flogging Molly are either so I shall be hitting Hank III. Maybe if I am lucky I will get a couple of green beers. Can you believe that I have not yet tried one of these? I mean, I really don’t think I ever have.
If I am not able to get one of the green beers, I am so making a point of visiting the local McDonald’s to sample their new McCafe Shamrock Shake. They are bringing this new concoction out for the customers and its reported to be very different from the one that I used to love. I will give it a try and if I hate it, perhaps I will bring that to the world’s attention via the blog.
Enjoy the day everyone and remember that lots of water and sleep will help you get back to normal if you overdo it.
Metal Madness: Machine Reunites for the A.T.III Benefit (11/12/2011)
Back in November 2011 I blogged about my hitting the studio to reunite with my former band mates in the band Machine as we prepared for a benefit function that was to honor our guitarist Anthony Trzesinski III who had sadly passed away at the beginning of 2011. The rehearsals for our part of the evening went pretty good for the most part and it would seem that we would be able to pull it off in his memory. If you somehow missed that posting, you can click HERE to read it and then return to this one for the second chapter. This blog post while coming a little after the first anniversary of Anthony’s passing, reflects upon the re-assembly of Machine that happened at the memorial event.
Continue reading Metal Madness: Machine Reunites for the A.T.III Benefit (11/12/2011)
I Admit To Being Vanilla Sometimes :)
Oh and I am speaking of just a preferred flavor of choice and nothing quite as drastic as some of you might be thinking. Anyways, so the reason I am exclaiming this to you is based on a recent shopping adventure where I saw what lies in the photo below. I had never heard of Vanilla Syrup before but I guess it had to exist since I used to get Vanilla soda back when I was a young boy on shopping adventures with my Grandmother. There was one candy store who used to make soda as well and this was one of their concoctions. That and egg creams. Mmmmmm egg creams.
This stuff really upgrades a cold glass of milk if you are seeking something different than the chocolate syrup family. Of course I love those as well as my sometimes expanding waistline tells me. I have yet to sample this delicious stuff in any other offering but feel it might work well over some of the coffee as it brews or perhaps even on ice cream. The trick of using this stuff is to pour carefully as its much thinner in consistency than chocolate syrup and clear so you can easily overload your spoon. Either way, I am glad that I picked this up. I love it.
That’s all I got for you now. Please continue along with your business.
Cooking Up Some “Extreme Baked Potatoes”
This one was pretty easy and I decided to share the concoction with you all based on my just chilling out one evening and feeling like cooking up something tasty and relatively quick. I love baked potatoes, and I also love “amping them up” or making the eating experience a little bit more Metal. This is a simple one and I didn’t photograph it in a step by step fashion since there was no need to.
Ingredients:
2 reasonably sized Idaho Potatoes (I used two smaller ones since I am trying to watch what I eat every now and again).
4-6 wedges of cheese. For this experience I used both a Sharp Cheddar and a Pepperjack Cheese. The latter one has a nice little kick to it that is wonderful.
6-8 Jalapeno Peppers
2-4 Pepperoncini Peppers
4 slices of smoked kielbasa
4 slices of pepperoni
Salsa of Choice (mild, medium, or hot). I went with Medium. I find the brand I use perfect for this. Their hot is too much so and their mild is in a word, lame.
The Steps:
First bake the potatoes. I use the setting on my microwave and that takes no more than 3 or 4 minutes to get them done. Then let them sit a moment so you can handle them easily. You obviously should thoroughly wash the potatoes and poke them a couple of times with a knife before putting them into the micro.
The rest is pretty easy and just a placement project. I technically made two different kinds of this recipe today and had the kielbasa, pepperoncini, and cheddar cheese on one while the other had the pepperoni, pepperjack cheese and jalapenos. One of these was much hotter than the other. Can you tell which one?
This is a slightly different angle of the whole shebang before I nuked it a little more. I didn’t take a photo of the final product but it pretty much looks the same as this. Only much gooier.
After they are melted to your preference you can put the salsa on the top of them. I don’t melt the cheeses with that on the top and opt to wait until it is finished and ready to be served. That’s all, this takes about ten minutes in total and depending on how many people you have hanging out is how many you will need. This could be considered a two person nosh since we made four individual segments of it. Give it a try.
Happy Valentines Day 2012 New York City
Just a quick thought about this oft-called Hallmark Holiday, and believe me I am not saying this as a soured single at all 🙂 I do wish everyone peace and love today whether its Valentines Day or otherwise. Be good to the ones you love and remind them of what makes them special to your own day as much as possible and try to make it last a whole lot longer than the box of candy or dozen roses might give you in terms of time. There’s a lot of great people behind me and my work and all of them provide me with the positive energy and drive to move forward with zeal and gusto. I love you all. Some perhaps a little more than others, but that happens along the way in life doesn’t it 😉
The image you see above was snared while wandering down 34th Street this morning. It was in the Macy’s window and I was heading down to Toy Fair 2012 to do my journalist thing. Maybe next year I toss together a little bit more of a Valentine’s Day posting with images from around the city. Let’s see what happens. Toy Fair was celebrating the day by having boxes of these all around.
I was not much the fan of these candies, but did get a kick out of the messages on them. I was more of a Sweet Tarts kind of guy and those Smarties (mad love for Smarties). Closing up I would like to end this with a little kiss.
I know that was terrible, but really…..you didn’t expect something like this? From me? You must be new around here 🙂