Lumberjack

It is still cold, wet and stormy outside. I just heard this October is a new record for rain. We had so far 9.5 inches of rain and still 2 days to go in the Months. The old record was 8.5 inches, like 75 years ago.

But we had a couple of beautiful days last week and I decided to take down a tree in my front yard, because it was voted the ugliest tree in my neighborhood and earned the title of Charlie Brown`s tree.

I could handle the branches without any problem but my tiny chainsaw was not strong enough to cut the stump. So, like always, I called in reinforcement and Brian came by after Jacobs football game to take care of my problem.

Now it is time to bring  up an other great dish to enjoy in this weather. I call it
"Swiss Military Soup". Yes, believe it or not, Switzerland has a full fletched military like here in the
States, well, naturally with out the navy and marines, there is no ocean. I joint them in 1964 and was very proud of it then, being able to pilot a 55 ton centurion tank. But never mind this, at least ones a week we got served  this nutritional and delicious mix of soup and beef. I also offered this soup in all
the hotels and restaurant I was in charge of during my career. It was well received by our customers.
Here is the recipe:

Swiss Military Soup

serves 4

 

                    2 lb chunk of beef shoulder

                    1 cup diced onions

                    1 cup diced leek

                    1 cup diced carrots

                    1 cup diced celery

                    2 cup diced cabbage

                    2-3 bay leafs

                    salt, pepper

                    2 beef flavor bouillon cubes

place beef and bay leafs  in 2 gallon soup pot and cover with 1.5 gallon of cold water.

bring to boil, discard the foam accumulating  on top, turn down heath and simmer for 1 hour  45 minutes. Add  the rest of the ingredients and let simmer for 30 more minutes.

To serve as soup, remove the beef, dice and return to pot.

to serve as meal, remove beef, cut in 4 portions. Serve soup in bowls, beef on small plates with boiled potatoes, mustard and fresh bread and butter.

Bonne appetite!

MOOD CHANGING DINNER

 


      For 10 days we have not see the sun.  It is cold, wet, dark and very depressing weather.
So, I decided to act and whip up a cheese fondue to light up our daily routine.

     I believe it worked.

     Coming home from work, Donna`s eyes lit up when she walked in the house and saw the fondue prep on the dinner table.

     It was easy, I drove to Sam`s club and bought me a block of Emmental and a block of Gruyère cheese. Then I went to Schnucks (the friendliest store in town) to get a couple bottle dry white wine (Pinot Grigio) and a whole loaf of crunchy French bread.

     Back home I grated the cheese, cut the bread in 1 inch cubs, peeled and sliced the garlic and set the table with the Rechaude and a Sterno underneath. (see picture)

     Here is the recipe:

Serves 2
                     1 cup Pinot Grigio   (200ml)
                     4 glove garlic sliced
                     5 oz grated Gruyère    (140gr)
                     5 oz Emmental        (140gr)
                     1 tbl cornstarch
                     freshly ground pepper

     Bring white wine, sliced garlic and ground pepper to a boil,
Add the grated cheese, stirring continually with a wooden spoon.
When the mixture reaches boiling point, stir in the cornstarch blended with cold water.
Transfer the fondue to the Rechaude, and start eating. Do not forget, fondue taste best with  some dry white wine.

Note:  A fondue must be creamy, not too thick but sufficient to coat the bread well.
           I use to chop the garlic very fine, but I learned from Andrea (my brother Toni`s wife) to slice the garlic, so you get little pieces of it on your bread. It tastes so much better.

Tip:     Normally you mix the cornstarch with Kirschwasser, but I am not able to find the right Kirschwasser around here.

 

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

     To be truthful, in my first half of my existing life I had no clue what
American Football is all about.

     Only after I immigrated in 1976 to the United State of America did I learn all about it.
I know now most of the rules and I also realized how ferocious and violently
the game is played. Each play is averaging only about 10 to 15 seconds at the time,
but end up over and over with bone crunching hits and piles of humanness on top of each other.
I think this is the only sport with an injury list for each team after a game!

     In this country most everyone takes their football serious and start playing at a
very young age with the hope to ending up playing for the national football leauge
one day and earning shameless gigantic salaries.

      These people also call Soccer a wimpy sport and have some other choice
names for soccer players I am not able to print in public.  They obviously
have no clue what athletic ability it takes to run full power for 90 minutes with
out any possible timeouts.  Just think, did you ever see a 300+lb soccer player?

      But back to football, Donna and I spent some time lately going to
Jacob`s football games.  He started last season with the Wentzville Wildcats
and now he plays for the O`Fallon Renegades.  Last year, being the first year, was
not that exciting, but this season is enjoyable and Jacob is now a Star player to his team!
Last Sunday he was able to turn around a sure loss into a big Win,
with a incredible tackle on the Renegades 1 yard line, avoiding a touchdown,
and also managed a fantastic interception leading to a touchdown
for a 12 to 6 Renegade win. After 4 game this season they are 2 and 2.

Congratulation to Jacob and his team!

                                             Last year Wildcat Pictures

         Happy Rookie                                                                              His energy drink

Fascinated  Football Fans 

                                                 This year Renegade Pictures

 

           Jacobs Renegade                                                              He is # 93

  

                               

                                              Refreshments before the game



 To  finish The subject of American football, I have to add my latest 
victory in our weekly Football pool. I have to tap myself on the shoulder for
winning 14 of 14 games. This clean sweep  never happened since we started
our highly professional gambling business. Ha, Ha!

 What can I say, it must be because of my birthday weekend.

 

OCTOBER - - - - - My Birthday Months

My Birthday month started on October 1st, and

my pfoderie Donna was taking me out that evening.

But not to get ahead, that morning she got me two long

sleeve polo shirts, Swiss German cool body wash,

more sudoku books and of course some Swiss Lindt

hazelnut chocolate bars, accompanied with a very personal

computer generated sexy birthday card. I can not and will not

share on this blog.

During that day I received lots of happy birthday wishes

from all over the world via e-mail and face book, what made

me feel pretty good.

Like I said, that night Donna toke me to little Tokyo for dinner.

The Sashimi and the 34 assorted sushi rolls we ordered

where great tasting and had a delightful distinguished individual

flavor from tuna, salmon, crab, scallops and yellow tail. The

freshness of all the food was incredible. Service was excellent

and very friendly.

 The dinner was topped off with a small wrapped ice cream

with a candle, and this without being ordered!

It is with out saying I had a fantastic 66th Birthday. Thank you!

***

But wait, it's not over.  Birthday weekend is coming up.

On Friday Oct 2^nd I went to play golf with Daniel and

Eric. Our mistake, (this is my excuse), tee time was 7:30 AM.

Way to early for all of us. We played pretty bad and I have

nothing to add to this.

Later that day Donna and I picked up the Boys from school,

and spent the rest of the evening with Windy, Jacob and Lucas.

Saturday--- the Day of the big Party!!

In the evening, family and friends came over to our house for

food and drinks.

 The Arrivals

Daniel and Gina                                                                   Joe and Sara

Brian and Windy                                                               Eric and Karla

Jacob and Luke                                                                  Jack

 

                                                                     The Old Boy Teddy

 Daniel and Gina provided the excellent Carnitas we all enjoyed,

and Windy contributed with a nice tasty Birthday cake for dessert.

 Sara and Joe brought some delicious barbecue Pockets 

for our Appetizers and Karla and Eric provided 
wonderful late night snacks.

Ones again I was on the receiving end of birthday gifts.

From a 100 piece socket set, so I can fix my Lawn mower

without Brian’s help, to a Lottery ticket ( I ended up

winning $6.00 with two Power balls and unfortunately no other

numbers with it),and a giant monitor so I can see all the

mistakes on my blog better.

 The kids played pool and Hula Hoop competition, while we all played  darts

and a card game, so difficult that one person had to

forfeit the game because of exhaustion.

Do not forget, today is also my one year smoke free anniversary!!
This was my prize.

 
They're both getting ready for the Party

This are all beautiful people

Brian where are you?

Eric in the center of attention.

 

 As you see, Daniel was overwhelmed from this difficult card game.

I felt sorry for the people who had to drive home

that night, but I was happy when I went to sleep after midnight.