Picture Sunday

Hello, Sunday nighters. And welcome to another "Perfect Way to End a Weekend" round of Picture Sunday.

What have I been talking about lately? Yes, you know. Two things. Rain, and my shower wall. We've now gone two whole days with no rain, so maybe things are back on the upside there. However, the first picture is from the rougher times, about a week ago, when my little creek in the backyard was taking on a look not unlike that of the New River.



See the edge of my grass there? Where the creek starts? Normally there's a good three feet's drop down a little hill to where the creek begins. So although it didn't make it into my backyard, it got pretty damn close. The cool thing, though, well, cool if you're not worried about flooding, was that the creek actually had little waves and rapids in it. It was a rolling creek. It's still high, but nowhere near the stage it was when this photo was made.

And as for the shower wall, well, you saw where things were Thursday evening. I'll show you now where they are as we speak.



Yes! I have tiles! I have no grout as yet, but things are going swimmingly, which is probably a phrase one shouldn't use when one is talking about bathroom refurbishment, especially when one was visited by a town worker Friday morning while one was still in one's pajamas with one's hair sticking out like the Bride of Frankenstein, and one was informed by the town official that one seemed to have a leak in one's water meter. After which one's water was turned off while the town officials dug a hole, and since one never heard anything back from the town, one is gingerly assuming nothing is wrong. I guess until one comes home from work when one least expects it and is standing in three feet of water at the Poderosa.

By the way, Ricky Ricardo hasn't said, but I'm assuming all will be well by Tuesday, and I think I'm going to start the painting of the walls immediately after.

Now let's go to the arts and crafts section of Picture Sunday. Remember a few weeks ago when the recipe du jour was a papier mache hot dog? Well, that all came about because my buddy Mr M had this yen to make up some papier mache and play with it. We both started projects, and though his kind of went by the wayside I kept working on mine. And I finished it this afternoon. So, how much would you all like to see a papier mache Sherman?



Isn't he cute? I even got a side photo of him so you can see his hair, which was made with paper pulp (and isn't that fun to stick your hands in and work with, since it's cold and feels like cottage cheese) and even sports the Sherman cowlick.



The only thing left now is to figure out an answer to the question, "What exactly does one do with a papier mache Sherman head?" If I come up with anything, I'll be sure to let you know.

And now comes that very bewitching time of evening, yes, time for the recipe du jour.

You know, I enjoy a good Martini. I enjoy two even more, every Friday night while I watch movies, and occasionally while I make a fool of myself on the podcast. I feel the Martini is the perfect drink. It's all liquor, not sweet, two will "do it" for you, if you get my drift, and who can argue with the existence of olives in anything?

So as a tribute to that most wonderful of libations, tonight's recipe du jour takes a little twist on all the new fancy Martinis showing up in bars nowadays. It's from the "Lethal Beverages" file at cardland, and say hello to it if you will, Martinis!



Ahhh, a veritable smorgasboard of smashedness. Let's go counter-clockwise, starting on the bottom row in the far right, with the Chickentini. This is gin, vermouth, and a chicken bullion cube, shaken within an inch of its life then garnished with a boiled egg. To its left is the Hotini - gin, vermouth, a splash of Texas Pete hot sauce, and cayenne pepper, shaken to near explosiveness and garnished with pepper jack cheese. To its left is the marvelous Pickletini - gin, vermouth, and pickle juice, shaken heartily and garnished with a dill pickle. This drink goes well with last week's recipe, Cream of Pickle Soup, well, it goes well with it if you enjoy visits to your local emergency room.

Right above the Pickletini, starting the upper row, is the Proteini. This is Bacardi Limon (since the Blue Crapius people think their drink is supposed to resemble some sort of beachy concoction), vermouth, and a half-scoop of Blue Crapius protein powder, shaken just enough so that there are no blue glumps in the drink. It's garnished with a piece of chocolate granola protein bar. To its right is the Weenietini, where you fill a third of your glass with the mustard of your choice (mine is brown mustard), then pour your gin-vermouth mixture on top of it and garnish it with a Vienna Sausage (or Vi-enny Weenie as we say here in The South). And finally, to its right is a little something for my buddy, the Mr M-artini. It's vermouth, a healthy shot of Goldschlager (endorsed by me and the Sauerkraut Band), and Pepsi, shaken together until the fizz gets really big on the Pepsi, and garnished with the rubber chicken Mr M hates so much. For this picture, the chicken 1) seems to be saying, "He'p me, he'p me, they done put me in a drank!" and 2) is having a peek at the Chickentini below him.

Two things about tonight's recipe du jour. First of all, yes, for the observant amongst you, the Martinis are all laid out upon my Twister beach towel. Because wouldn't it be fun to get all liquored up on Martinis and play Twister.

Second of all, I'm a Vodka Martini drinker. This is why none of the recipes above contain vodka. My vodka is precious to me and too expensive to sling around in drinks I have no intention of consuming. However, after it was all over, the pictures were made, and the mess cleaned up (and what a mess it was, since the shaker came apart on my first Chickentini and it spilled all over the floor), I had just enough gin left for one more. So I had my first-ever Gin Martini.

And you know, it wasn't bad. Had almost a citrusy kind of taste. And although I don't ever see myself throwing over the Vodka Martini for this, I doff my cap to that most famous of Gin Martini drinkers, Richard Sackerson. Have one for me, sir.

Happy week.

Betland's Olympic Update:
* Please forgive me if this week's pictures are a little dark. I got the old "low battery" signal about halfway through, but thankfully got them all finished and published. Think of how much better it will all be next week with new batteries.