Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Five

[Fletcher]

It was squid last night.  This is essentially a classic Italian dish, rethought by Jamie Oliver and finessed by me.  Take some decent-sized squid, as large as your hand, and prepare them carefully by cutting off the tentacles, trimming the fins, peeling off the purple membrane and cleaning out the body sac.  I was once doing this messy job and noticed my fingers were covered in blood. It turned out to be the squid’s last meal of a prawn and one of the claws had cut into me.  I’ve also found whole fish in squid’s insides.

 

Once you have cleaned the body sacs and retained the tentacles you need to make the stuffing.  It’s a mix of chopped tentacles, chopped shallot, thyme, breadcrumbs and, unusually, chopped black pudding - a very typical British food product made from pig’s blood, often served fried at breakfast. The French call it boudin noir.  And why not?

 

Allow the stuffing to cool and then spoon it deeply into the squid sacs, not too much as it might burst.  Secure with cocktail sticks.

 

Now fry the squid in garlicky oil, plus a pinch of dried chilli.  Add chopped tomatoes, some broad beans or peas for colour and some tomato puree whisked into sherry or vermouth.  Cover and simmer for ten minutes.  Remove the cocktail sticks and slice the squid. I usually serve this with crispy saute potatoes.  French fries would be good, too.

 

 

 

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

Today's funny.....

 

 

Have a great safe day all!

[zqtchas]

[mysty]

[spinnaker2]

[spinnaker2]

[zqtchas]

Is this true?

[zqtchas]

              I  DREAMED

I dreamed God came the other night and

    Heaven’s gates swung wide,

With kindly grace an angel asked me inside.

And there to my astonishment stood folks I’d

    known on earth,

Some I’d judged and labeled as unfit and of

    little worth.

Angry words rose to my lips, but never were

    set free,

For every face showed stunned surprise,  no

    one expected me!

[spinnaker2]

[spinnaker2]

[Emtbsam]

5 hours ago, zqtchas said:

Is this true?

Spent two hours yesterday blowing leaves with the help of two neighbors who are 20 years younger and had more powerful blowers.  We got it done and by the time I need to do it again, Bob will be able to help.  Yippee!

[lincslady]

Good morning fellow coolers

 

A couple of nail-biting days for those of you in the US - just hope you get a decisive win.

 

Here, in England, we are about to enter another full lockdown for four weeks, after a lot of (somewhat understandable) dithering.  Sounds as though there might be a slight respite for Christmas, then possibly  back in again.  I just hope the next two days do not involve a lot of drunken get-togethers before the drinking establishments close down, which would result in another spike.  A young relative has just again lost, at least temporarily, his new job.  However, doing our best to keep spirits up, which does involve the use of some spirits (plus wine).  It seems that English women in particular account for some of the increase in wine sales recently.  Surprising??  

 

Keep up with the funnies and cheerful messages, everyone - does us all good.  

 

Lola

[lincslady]

Apologies - just realised my first sentence could be misconstrued.  I meant that I hope you will not have to undergo days or weeks of arguments about who will be your President for the next four years.  Not being partisan!

 

Lola

[UpstateJan]

45 minutes ago, lincslady said:

Apologies - just realised my first sentence could be misconstrued.  I meant that I hope you will not have to undergo days or weeks of arguments about who will be your President for the next four years.  Not being partisan!

 

Lola

Thanks Lola, I knew what you meant.  The 2000 election was most unpleasant with the indecision, and political maneuvering.  All I ask for is that the eventual "winner" actually wins both the popular vote and electoral college vote.  When that doesn't happen, it really makes me question why I stood in line (this year, outside, in the cold) to vote when it doesn't seem to count.  For the first time since I was eligible to vote (which is about 10 Presidential elections), there were 5 different candidates to choose from for President.  Only once can I remember when we had a viable 3rd party candidate, and I voted for him - he got about 20% of the nation's vote. 

 

Well, off to the office for a full day of budget, month end financials, and PPP forgiveness application (oh my!).    

 

 

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

Today's funny.....

 

 

Have a great safe day all!

[Lois R]

4 hours ago, lincslady said:

Apologies - just realised my first sentence could be misconstrued.  I meant that I hope you will not have to undergo days or weeks of arguments about who will be your President for the next four years.  Not being partisan!

 

Lola

Hi Lola, thanks for that clarification🙂.....sadly,  there is already stuff happening☹️ and "official election day" is still one day away.

  The one thing I will say is over 90 million of us have already voted!  Will see what kind of turnout tomorrow

brings....let us hope there won't be a "war" after the fact.

[Fletcher]

Has a President been so unhappy with the result that he simply walked out and didn't stay for the handover in January? 

[zqtchas]

[TLCOhio]

20 hours ago, spinnaker2 said:

 

YES!!  Welcome to November.  A different month, BUT, more of the same??  Nice postings by Spins and others.  

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

[jpalbny]

5 minutes ago, Fletcher said:

Has a President been so unhappy with the result that he simply walked out and didn't stay for the handover in January? 

 

I don't think so.

 

Incumbents seem to win more than they lose these days, but it's not a rare occurrence. Last happened in 1992 (Bill Clinton beat incumbent, George HW Bush) amd 1980 (Reagan beat incumbent Carter). Before that, I think you have to go back to 1932 when FDR beat incumbent Hoover.

 

It was apparently more common in the 1800s. A few sitting presidents in those times didn't even get nominated for a second term, by their own party! Ouch.

 

More recently,, Clinton, George W and Obama all won second terms. 

[spinnaker2]

[spinnaker2]

[spinnaker2]

[Lois R]

1 hour ago, Fletcher said:

Has a President been so unhappy with the result that he simply walked out and didn't stay for the handover in January? 

I agree with JP......I don't think so either. This one is not a normal person though.........

[dawntrdr]

4 hours ago, Fletcher said:

Has a President been so unhappy with the result that he simply walked out and didn't stay for the handover in January? 

 

According to this article in the Atlantic magazine, John Adams did not attend the inauguration of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Johnson did not attend the inauguration of Ulysses S. Grant.  (Adams and Jefferson later famously reconciled.)  No sitting President ever just walked out after election day, but I am sure such "lame ducks" (as they are called in the U.S.) suddenly lost a lot of motivation, other for than creating a robust list of pardons (Presidents can pardon federal crimes and commute sentences, so the period between election day and January 20 is the time for lame ducks to repay  political favors).

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/presidential-transition-obama-trump/507257/

 

 

Edited November 2, 2020 by dawntrdr
grammar