Ok, in an effort to be a little less intense:

Thought for the Day:
A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk forward.
Franklin D. Roosevelt,

I love it:

...when an underdog wins. Those boys of summer are no longer "the Second Team" in "the Second City." Now if the Cubs would win, that would be something.

Last Night:
I went out for dinner with Pastor Bob at a Macedonian Road House where we are well known. We feasted on a large selection of pickled farm produce, and garlic flavored meats. After dinner and a few drinks the subject turned to parenting, he is and I am not, I spoke about a few of my fears pertaining to having children, one of the many things he said that stuck out was “don’t worry, as a parent you’ll fuck your kids up somehow, that’s what we do, however the real job is giving them the skills to un-fuck-themselves”.

It’s No-Love-Thursday:
At this point I do not plan on being in attendance when the countless legions of card carrying members of this the most venerable of drinking clubs meets this evening (I should however note, that my views on this are very much subject to change). I have been fighting being sick all week (thusly not a lot of witty repartee). Tonight renting a few movies and some downtime with the loving and attentive Mrs. JQP sounds like a plan.

After the recent controversy over the leadership of the No-Love-Thursday Drinking Club and Mutual Aid Society I have put some thoughts into some restructuring. I would like to suggest to the members that we do away with officers (not up against a wall, in the traditional Bolshevik fashion has suggested by Pastor Bob) but instead we be governed by a council of elders. Think if you will of a Priory of No-Love.

A year ago Today:
A woman who works with me died, next office down. She was standing there talking and dropped dead. Always a nice thing at 7:15 in the morning. I went in and started CPR etc. till the paramedics got here, which oddly was about 3 mins. after they were called (they happened to be down the street. Anyway, she made it, they brought her back and after a few major heart surgeries she came back to work. I went up and visited her about everyday she was in the hospital and loaned her my Rosary (In my experience, most Protestants are Catholic when the shit hits the fan).

I didn’t know what an impact that had on her and her family, it really meant a lot to her and them. I bring this up because today we are having a 1st birthday party for her. I got her a card and this is the best I could do first thing this morning “Today for you I hope the sun shines brighter, air smells a little crisper, food tastes better, the leafs prettier and you warmed in knowing that a lot of people feel richer for having you in their life.. Happy 1st Birthday, its all good from here. Oh, and go spoil yourself, you deserve it.” Hope she likes it. My point being, that sometimes it’s the little thing that we do, the easy things that really hit home in others lives and we should all do more of it.

Your Recipes for the Week:
(Hey it’s Close to Hunting Season and I happen to like Rabbit)



Hare Jugged in Beer recipe
Ingredients:
1 hare (with blood), cut into joints
flour
salt
pepper
2 oz (50 g) beef dripping (fat from roasted meat)
1 onion stuck with 5 cloves
1 pint (600 ml) beer
scant 1/2 (us) cup (100 ml) port wine or sherry

Method:
1. Mix flour with salt and pepper and use to coat the hare joints.
2. Melt the dripping in a frying pan and brown the joints on all sides.
3. Transfer them to a casserole, with any fat, and add the blood, onion and beer.
4. Cover and cook in a preheated cool oven 150°C (300°F), Gas Mark 2 for 4 to 5 hours or until the meat comes easily from the bones.
5. Just before serving, remove the onion and stir in the port or sherry.
6. Serve with redcurrant jelly.

Rabbit and Pork Pie with Gin and Lemon recipe
Ingredients
3 3/4 cups (375 g) plain flour (All purpose)
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup (150 ml) 1/4 pt water
125 g lard, cut into small pieces
250 g boneless rabbit meat, cubed
1 generous tsp Dijon mustard
6 juniper berries, crushed
500 g minced pork
250 g unsmoked bacon
4 tbsp gin
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
beaten medium egg, to glaze
1 packet of aspic powder
300 ml water

Method:
1. To make the pastry: Sieve the flour with the salt, make a well in the centre. Heat the water with the lard until the lard has melted, pour this mixture into the flour.
2. Mix to a soft dough and knead until smooth. Keep warm, covered, or it will dry out.
3. Preheat the oven to 200°C, 400°F, Gas Mark 6.
4. Put the rabbit into a bowl with the mustard and juniper berries, stir until the pieces are coated.
5. Process the minced pork with the bacon and then stir in half the gin, with the lemon zest and parsley.
6. Line the base of a 1 kg loaf tin with greaseproof paper and then line the whole tin with three-quarters of the pastry, keeping the remainder wrapped in a warm place until required.
7. Stir the rabbit pieces into the minced meat mixture and press the mixture into the lined tin.
8. Cover with a pastry lid made from the rolled out, reserved pastry. Seal and crimp the edges firmly, slash the top several times and pull back the pastry so the holes do not close during cooking.
9. Put the tin on a baking tray and bake it for 30 minutes, glaze with the beaten egg and then reduce the oven temperature to 180°C,350°F, Gas Mark 4 and continue cooking for a further 1¼ hours.
10. Make up the aspic powder using 300 ml water, add the remaining gin and pour the liquid slowly into the cool pie.
11. Once set, wrap the pie and store it in a cool place for several days before you cut it.
serving amount
serves 4 - 6

Enjoy!

A candid photo of one of the true great stars of screen and stage:


College Football Jokes from Down Home:
1. What does the average Alabama player get on his SAT's?
Drool!
2. What do you get when you put 32 Arkansas cheerleaders in the same room?
A full set of teeth!
3. How do you get a South Carolina cheerleader into your room?
Grease her hips and push!
4. How do you get a Georgia graduate off your porch?
Pay him for the pizza!
5. How do you know if a Mississippi State football player has a girlfriend?
There is tobacco spit on both sides of his pickup!
6. Why is the Kentucky football team like a possum?
Because they play dead at home and get killed on the road!
7. What are the longest three years of an Auburn football player's life?
his freshman year!
8. How many Florida freshmen does it take to change a light bulb?
None. That's a sophomore course!
9. Where was OJ headed in the Bronco?
Baton Rouge. He knew the police would never look for a Heisman trophy winner at LSU!
AND FINALLY….
10. Why did Tennessee choose orange as their team color?
You can wear it to the game on Saturday, hunting on Sunday and picking up trash along the highways the rest of the week!
Lifted shamelessly from Eye at: http://eyerocker.blogspot.com/

Today’s Bill:
"Journeys end in lovers meeting,
Every wise man's son doth know."
--From Twelfth Night (II, iii, 44-45)

Quote of the Day:
First it is necessary to stand on your own two feet. But the minute a man finds himself in that position, the next thing he should do is reach out his arms.
Kristin Hunter

I remain, the incarnation of intelligent design:

JQP esq.