The Sandwich Life

Random Pictures From the Sandwich Life

1. Roasted shrimp...who knew? Well, lots of people I suppose, but I didn't. I'd seen recipes for roasted shrimp but I tend to always saute it. Ernie bought gorgeous wild gulf shrimp, 16-20 yesterday. I had planned to use some broccoli with it but pulled it out of the refrigerator only to find....it was well, very, very tired. Into the trash that went and I poked around in the refrigerator a little more. I ended up coating the shrimp with some Hungarian paprika, some ground cumin, a few coriander seeds, some olive and salt and pepper...oh, and garlic too. Then I stirred in some sugar snap peas and threw all of it on a pan in a 425 degree oven for 12 minutes. Pulled it out, let it sit a few minutes an served it with wilted spinach. Amazingly good. The shrimp were fantastic!

2. Amazing Japanese sweets at work. I love these. I got the yellow and green one!

3. When it's late at night and you don't know what to cook....throwing an egg on top of pretty much anything works.

4. Icy, icy night the other night....after Mabel's Night Unplugged

5. My front door.

6. You can still watch the Dead Reckoners show for Savannah Welch at Kevin's Facebook page. It is really amazing. Here's a shot of me watching it in our messy kitchen. My beloved Kieran Kane and Tammy Rogers, and then, of course, Kevin and Harry Stinson.

Ok. Onward then. Last day of finals for the boys and hopefully last day of work for me, although I'll be on call for a few things...hopefully not too much!!

Cynthia's Christmas Song of the Day 12/21/2016

courtesy my beloved Owen. Even when I want to kill him I absolutely adore him. And damn, he's got his father's ear....and his own, of course.

bonus video:

 

Random Notes, Cynthia's Christmas Song of the Day 12/20/2016 AND Mabel's Night Unplugged

1. Ernie and I have started watching Top Chef over again, from the first season. So far we've been reminded of two great lines...."I'm not your bitch, bitch" and "It's a spring roll dude" which is probably only funny when done in the right tone of voice. Last night we also tried the first episode of the Crown.

2. Every time I walked into the bathroom during our house concert, this made me very happy because it just screamed, "the Fatman is IN THE HOUSE." It also says, "it wouldn't kill you to put the broom away Cynthia" but I didn't listen to that part.

3. Christmas Song of the Day. I DO love Ernest Tubb. I think Ernie might have this on 78. He's got some Ernest Tubb on 78 anyway....should dig it out.

4. Beautiful Jonathan with beautiful banjo. And I got to hear  Mary do wood geek talk...it was great!

5. Oh good God, I haven't even written about Mabel's Night Unplugged yet. Geesh. I guess we went right into house concert mode the next day. The night? Wonderful! The music? Fantastic. The weather? SUCKED. I didn't even realize how bad it was when we left the house. I just thought our alley was a little slick, oh well. Then we parked downtown and attempted to skate over to the Accord. DAMN. Despite the lousy weather which meant lousy numbers, it was great. Paul Kothheimer opened with funny, catchy songs. My beloved Kenny Draznik just blew me away. He sounded SO damn good. Lord but I love him. Oh, and Jay Rosenstein and Jim Rowland were fantastic...really beautiful songs and playing....you guys have to play out more. Maybe I need to do a Mabel's house concert or something.... What can you say about Lonely Trailer? They're so damn good, so damn weird, so damn right. Brian Reedy reminds me of Kieran Kane...not necessarily known as a percussions but a god damn rhythm machine. I hated to leave because I had really, really wanted to see Ed Burch and more but Ernie's arm was hurting and I could tell he was fading. We stepped outside and Ernie left me there to get the car so I watched people slipping and falling and hoped Ernie would come back in one piece....luckily he did. A million thanks and love to John Isberg and all the musicians and the Accord! Oh, oh, oh, and David Adams with Dawna Nelson...and then singing with Kenny! Della's got wonderful pictures up on her facebook page. She's the best! Go look at her pictures.

6. This morning, as Leo and Owen discussed finals, the subject of age came up. Owen asked Leo how old he was (I know) and when he said he was 17 Owen said, "WOW, you're 17? "Why is he getting older and I'm just staying the SAME?" I assured him he would be 15 very soon. Oh, to want to be OLDER again!

7. Merry Christmas all!

 

 

Cynthia's Christmas Song of the Day 12/19/2016

One of my favorite country voices in the world, our dear Jon Byrd. This song breaks my heart but thinking about how much I like that Jon Byrd cheers me right back up. Thanks Jon.

 

Cynthia's Christmas Song of the Day 12/18/2016

Ok, ok, I know I'm a day behind. Here is just a bit of Fats Kaplin doing Good King Wenceslas on his new Pisgah Banjo Company banjo. Delightful.

 Oh, and thank you Teri McCarthy for the video!

Fats look so dashing...and somewhat perfect for reading Dickens. I love that boy.

 

Well, NOW It's Christmas!

Yup, it is officially Christmas. Fats Kaplin and Kristi Rose just bring Christmas to us every year. You wouldn't believe how many people said those very words to me Saturday night, "Well, NOW it's Christmas!" Thanks to all that braved the ice, I know there were a lot of folks that just weren't able to make it and they were sorely missed, but the smaller crowd made it feel even more like a family party. Fats and Kristi Rose....well, we couldn't adore them more. They are incredibly dear to us.

Nathan and Aisha Golliher and their daughter (sorry, I can't recall her name but she was delightful) trudged up here from Benton, Illinois and Nathan sat in and did a couple of songs with Fats...absolutely great. The whole night just felt so very, very good. And NOW, it's Christmas.... Merry Christmas all.

Updated to add...it's RASCAL's fault that the lights on the Christmas tree are uneven...

 

Cynthia's Christmas Song of the Day 12/17/2016

Too busy to write more but Mabel's Night Unplugged was great last night and we can't WAIT for our beloved Kristi Rose and Fats Kaplin tonight. Hope you can join us!

 

Cynthia's Christmas Song of the Day 12/16/2016

Ok...yet again, somewhat predictable...but I gotta say watching the video about the making of the song gives so much insight....well worth watching if you have the time... I'm posting it early just in case you have more time right now than you would tomorrow....

 

Cynthia's Christmas Song of the Day 12/15/2016

Is it weird that I'm starting to think Noddy Holder is kind of cute?

 

 

 

Cynthia's Christmas Song of the Day 12/14/2016

One of my favorites.... Thin Lizzy and the Pistols