No more wieners in buns!

'Sticking my pink wiener into a warm brown bun,

makes me happy and want to come...

to your nice house on some fine day,

where we can play this game the live long day!'

I politely submitted this rather good poetic effort to Michelle Obama, as I understood that she was something of a known food critic. The answer I got back, was less than gratifying, if I do say so...

I did write her back explaining that the original idea came from something I did earlier with Anthony Weiner. Soon after that I received a visit from the police. What?

Pork n Beans on toast with a weiner!

A meal to be henceforth known as the Anthony Weiner meal!

Never let it be said that I cannot get it on down with the more common foods or people. For a Sunday repast, I elected to have a heaping dish of pork n beans on toast along with a firm all-beef wiener. For this meal, I chose only the best of ingredients; Sara Lee bread, Campbell's Pork n Beans and best wiener I could find. (Good nutrition counts for a lot, and I just don't cotton to any wiener that's just full of crap). This wiener was a really good wiener; containing lean and fit ingredients and all of that. It certainly complimented the meal.

A pound of homemade potato salad? Yeah, that works!

Every so often I get a hankering for some good old fashioned potato salad. The problem was, I didn't particularly like the offerings at my local Deli. I also wasn't too fond of paying two to three bucks per pound! Thus it was that I came up with this simple old fashioned recipe which goes together fairly quickly, produces about one pound of salad and costs only about a dollar to make!

Ingredients:

2 medium Russet potatoes, boiled

¼ tbsp vinegar

3 tbsp mayonnaise

2 tsp mustard

2 tbsp onion, minced

3 tbsp celery, chopped

2 tbsp pickle relish

1 hard boiled egg, chopped

Dash of celery salt to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Dash of smoked paprika

To make hard boiled eggs

1. Place egg into a pot of cold water.
2. Heat to boiling.
3. Remove from heat and cover.
4. Wait 12 minutes, drain, cool and peel.

Directions:

After boiling the potatoes for about 15-18 minutes, place them in the fridge until they cool off, then remove, peel and cut into pieces and place in a small bowl. Next, take the hard boiled egg and rough chop into pieces and add them to the bowl. Next, add the rest of the ingredients and mix everything together with a fork pretty well. Place into a covered container and refrigerate for at least one hour. Makes about four servings.

Notes: For a fast way to cook the potatoes, just nuke them for about four minutes instead of boiling.Much of the flavor is in the mustard, so adjust amounts accordingly.

I guess things could be worse!

News anchor DanO Dingo with the KDIP News:

11:00 AM EST - 'Good even and here is the news for this December the 5^th, 2018. I'm DanO Dingo and events were certainly heating up domestically as throngs of irate college students, dressed in ANTIFA garb, have now completely trashed downtown San Francisco in an apparent protest against Donald Trump and his attempts to shore up troops at our southern border! We're also informed that some seventy five thousand 'refugees' were even now storming random sites all across California and Arizona. Causality counts, while sketchy, were said to be mounting into the hundreds.'

12:00 Noon - 'DanO here and we have some somber news to report as a reported 100,000 plus Chinese shock troops were said to be headed for the Russian border in response to threats made by Putin to 'shut down that 'slant-eyed backward country' once and for all.'

12:20 PM - 'Boy folks. It's been a heck of a day already as reports are now coming in telling KDIP News that some type of nuclear weapon or weapons were detonated somewhere in Israel only minutes ago. Details are still very sketchy at this time, but all indications point to Iran as the responsible party. We'll follow that story and report back to you when there's more new information.'

12:45 PM – 'Scientists are now telling KDIP News that the floor of Owen's Valley near Yosemite has abruptly risen three feet over an area of approximately twenty five miles. Rumors of the super volcano that rests just below that spot, now rumored to becoming active, are flying over the airwaves as thousands of frightened citizens flee to the West Coast.'

1:00 PM - ' President Trump has announced that a Nationwide broadcast will be given by him concerning the loss of over half the worth of the Stock Market, just since the opening bell at the start of this day's trading. We've learned that he plans to announce the setting up of 'soup kitchens', for anyone who will not be able to afford to pay for their meals in the short term. Chuck Schumer was also scheduled to make an announcement where it was rumored that he planned to blame the sudden market drop squarely on the Trump administration.'

2:00 PM – 'DanO here. Well, just when you thought things could get worse, they did. The General Accounting Office for the US government has just issued a statement declaring that there is 'no more money' to pay for entitlement programs as most of the GNP will be directed towards paying just the interest on the National Debt. The action will 'severely affect benefits' coming from Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, for the foreseeable future. One official was heard to say, 'Good luck out there everyone'.'

5:00 PM – 'Hillary Clinton has just announced that she intends to run on a joint ticket with Oprah Winter for the 2020 electoral race for the Presidency! Good luck to them both. In other more exciting news, the KDIP News organization was just acquired by Media Matters, a George Soros run conglomerate. In a prepared statement, Mr. Soros assured everyone that KDIP would continue to publish only the truth, as he saw fit!'

9:00 PM – 'Sadly, this will be my final broadcast, as the new ownership has decided to replace me with Louis Farrakhan, beginning tomorrow morning. Mr. Farrakhan has promised us he will tone down his rhetoric on the Jewish problem and that hewill really clean up his act concerning 'those damn Middle Class white crackers'. That was all the news for this Wednesday in December! I'm DanO Dingo and I'll see ya all around'

Random Thoughts for late October 2018!

Cool weather means it's Chili time!

Simplify, simplify simplify. Some good thoughts by Henry David Thoreau. And, like most things in culinary life, it's the simple stuff that often shines. And, while this is your typical bare bones chili, it's still damn good!

After many years of experimenting with all sorts of chili recipes (I even once bought a book on the subject), I've come up with a rather simple recipe that seems to work pretty well for me. Mind you, there is nothing fancy about the ingredients list. I've tried fancy cuts and combos of meats and while they were OK to even good, I wasn't entirely satisfied. With this simple chili, I was! So, here goes.....

Ingredients:

--------------------------------

1 lb hamburger meat

1 can of petite tomatoes

1 can of red beans

1 pkg Williams original Chili Seasoning

Salt and pepper to taste

---------------------------

Directions: Brown the meat and drain off the grease. Add the other ingredients and simmer for 40 minutes. Got a small slow cooker? Dump everything in, cover, and cook on high for 3 to 4 hours. Serves 4.

Notes: It's not human nature to ever leave good enough alone. I decided to add the smallest amount of a Scorpion pepper into this recipe. You know. Just to give it a bit of a kick.

It's the flu season, don't ya know?

The month of October is the official start of the flu season for the Northern Hemisphere and was just ending down south with Pediatric flu-related deaths reaching 172 during the 2017/18 USA influenza season. Of the sub-typed influenza A viruses which accounted for most of the severe cases of illness, 964 (76%) were influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 and 305 (24%) were influenza A(H3N2). So, that could be pretty much what we can expect up in America as we waddle into the late fall and early winter months!

In Missouri, incidents of the flu, during the 42^nd week, were sporadic and that was the case across most all of the continent. That said, please note that the curve, seen in the graphic, was on the high side. I would therefore encourage everyone to go and get a flu shot post haste!

Election time draws near!

On November the 6th, millions of Americans are going to help decide on what sort of country America will be shaped into as critical seats in both Houses are currently up for grabs! And while I belong to no Party, I can already tell the direction which I intend to go at the voting booth.

The Republican Party is pretty screwed up, in my opinion. That said, they seem to have the concept of a Constitutional Representative form of government pretty well understood. Strong borders, low taxes, a good military, supporting the 2nd Amendment and no mob rule are good platforms to endorse by my way of thinking.

The Democratic Party members have a much smaller platform that seems to endorse; wide open borders, high taxes, no ICE, HLS or police. They also seem to endorse hate speech via the Media and are definitely promoting a re-birthing of the failed Obama Healthcare deal. In point of fact, they appear to openly endorse the idea of America becoming a Socialistic State like Venezuela!

Uh, no thanks. Over a million brave men and women have died to make this Republic one of the best places to live in the world. And, for me to turn my back on them now, is not an option for me to consider. I'm voting the Republican ticket across the board!

What's the X-37B Military Space Plane doing up there?

The latest mystery mission of the U.S. Air Force's robotic X-37B space plane has now passed the 400-day mark with no clear deadline of returning home.

This mission - known as Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-5) - was rocketed into Earth orbit on Sept. 7, 2017, atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The un-crewed space plane is carrying out secretive duties during the X-37B program's fifth flight. A fact that has not escaped the shrewd minds of people like Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein, two feisty Democrats of recent Brett Kavanaugh fame. Without any factual corroboration, they've both accused Trump of evil doings with the craft... (uh, where have I heard that before)?

One possibility that was leaked by a high ranking official indicated that the plane was equipped with hi-tech missiles that could hit any target at will. Another was that the planes had a sinister virus on board that was flu-like, but much more deadly. Upon release, only those (Republicans) who had gotten special 'flu shots' would be likely to survive the winter. Lastly, there is a chance that the plane has test 'structures' on board that are being exposed to long term periods in space. Personally, I like option two the best!

My classic meatloaf!

After tasting my neighbor's meatloaf recently, I decided to go with a classic meatloaf formulation of my own. For the recipe, I used; lean hamburger, minced onions, minced bell pepper, egg, milk, breadcrumbs, parsley flakes, ketchup, garlic powder and some pepper to taste, These were all mixed thoroughly in a bowl and then placed in a baking dish in the form of a loaf. I poured over the top, a mix of ketchup, red wine vine vinegar and brown sugar. Finally, I placed a couple of strips over the top! This was placed in a convection oven that had been preheated to 355°F for about an hour.

The result was fairly impressive, if I do say so myself! I awarded myself a score of 10. (Something that happens a lot with my cooking efforts). a couple of slices went over to my neighbors who both like it very much. So much, they asked for a copy of the recipe!