Chicken Yaki Udon for Dinner

Sometimes Becky likes to browse through her collection of New York Times recipes and come up with something special for dinner which of course is always nice. She has a notebook where she keeps the recipes she wants to try or to use again.

Today she put together a dinner using a recipe for a Japanese stir fry Chicken Yaki Udon. It was a dish of udon noodles and lots of vegetables. It can be made with any meat but today it was chicken. The really special thing about the dish is the assortment of sauces... soy, oyster, mirin, tamari and rice vinegar. We had them all. We also like putting a lot of Gomo Shiro rice seasoning. It was a great dinner.

View from the Perch

I was sitting upstairs at the perch reading a book on my tablet when I glanced up from the chair and looked out the window at the moon. It was spectacular. I had my phone with me so I snapped this picture. It was around 7 pm or so.

Eyes Shut - Evening Mist FV

Eyes Shut. Another mix in the Evening Mist series. This one has a lot of new age avant-garde sounds along with a few classical pieces. Includes an interesting cover of a Velvet Underground song by the amazing celloist Maya Beiser.

Eyes Shut - Evening Mist FV

1. Eyes Shut – Nocturne in C Minor – Olafur Arnalds
2. Going Forth By Day – Colleen
3. Ashokan Farewell – Maggie O’Connor
4. Samson: How Willing My Paternal Love – King’s Consort
5. Concerto for Orchestra – Introduzione Andante non troppo – Bela Bartok
6. Tristitia Obsedit Me / Infelex Ego – New York Polyphony
7. Bach: Violin Partita #2 in D Minor, BWV 1004, 5. Ciaccona – John Williams
8. Adio Kerida – Nell Snaidas
9. Heroin – Maya Beiser
10. Artifacts of Longing, Pt. 2 – Christopher Tignor
11. Schmyk – Mira Calix
12. Triple Quartet: First Movement – Steve Reich

A Glass of Sponge Candy Stout

I felt like having a beer this evening and dug around in the refrigerator coming up with a can of Sponge Candy Stout from Resurgence Brewery that was left over from the Christmas Eve dinner party. I didn't have one at the time and actually this is the first glass of stout in at least a couple of years.

So I really enjoyed this one. I remember the first time trying this particular stout sitting at the bar at their old brewery on Niagara Street. Loved it then and it still does taste really good. It also felt good to drink after our busy couple of days with Autumn.

Becky had picked up a 12 pack of assorted brews from Resurgence and some NAs to have on hand for Christmas.

A Day With Autumn

Yesterday afternoon Sean and Ashley arrived at our house with little Autumn in tow. She gave us a smile right away but was a little shy at first. As the afternoon went on she got comfortable and wanted to sit on Grammie's lap.

They came to town for the Bills playoff game and they left Andrew back home with his grandfather. Ashley went to dinner with her friend Mel down in Hamburg. Becky, Sean and I ordered food from Romeo & Juliet's Cafe. We got a couple of pizzas and Sean got a Baked Eggplant Parmigiana which also included some nice warm bread. Autumn sat in the high chair eating pizza and cheese. Also some strawberries. They brought a lot of toys with them for her to keep her busy.

Later we were amazed how quickly she went to bed and to sleep. We had the pack n play for her and she went right down. Becky and I were exhausted too from all the prep getting the house ready for our guests and went to bed a little after 10 pm. Sean and Ashely went to bed shortly afterwards

We did here Autumn wake up and cry a little around midnight but it turned out that she fussed off and on all night and the kids took turns sleeping with her in the other room. She did sleep until about 7 this morning which is a little later than usual for her.

So today we had her by ourselves most of the day. Sean and Ashley left the house a little after 9 am to go to Wegman's for some food supplies. They were meeting some friends in the parking lot for their usual tailgating party before the game. They would get back to our house around 4:30 pm after having left the game with about ten minutes left. By a little after 5 pm they were on the road for their four and a half hour trip back home.

But during the time they were at the game we had a wonderful morning and afternoon with Autumn. She was just so much fun and really kept us busy and on our toes. She loved exploring our house and we had to be aware of her wanting to go near the steps both upstairs and the ones down to the side door and bathroom. Overall she was not a problem. She didn't seem to miss her parents at all. She hung out with us and she didn't have any fusses.

She loved sitting on our laps and cuddle and she constantly wanted to be picked up and walked around but just for short periods before wanting to get back down on the floor again. She became obsessed with Gumby but kept wanting to put him in her mouth. Speaking of her mouth... she wanted to munch on snacks all day. Constantly. For lunch she had more pizza and cheese which she ate very well. She also had some toast with butter. Pieces of bananas too. 

And one point in the afternoon she got tired. She was on Becky's lap and quietly fell to sleep while we were watching the Bills game. She laid there sleeping for an hour and a half.

Later she was back on the floor exploring the house. She also liked to stand at the window in the front room and watch people and cars go by. She seemed fascinated with the activity of our street.

Of course she fussed and cried a little bit when her parents walked in the door but she seemed happy to be with them and watched them packing up to go home.

After they left we were exhausted and just wanted to sit down. Watched some of the Eagles game and then had some leftover pizza for dinner. I think we're going to bed early tonight. I had Sean take a picture of us with Autumn before they left.

Joan Armatrading - Kitchen Listening

Joan Armatrading has always been one of my favorite singers going back to the first time I heard her singing an album promotional video in a movie theater back in 1976. I've written about her a few times in these pages but she deserves more.

Today I put on another one of my Artist Collection playlist I've been putting together over the past year or so. This time it was the first playlist of the Joan Armatrading. This first set runs about four hours. I had put it on the stereo and it played in the kitchen all morning. It was very nice to listen to her perform songs from her albums released between 1975 to 1983 without interruption. 

The second set which I'll listen to some other time was a two disc best of compilation, a live set and some later albums. The third set was another greatest hits album and a couple more live albums. Each set runs about four hours.

The first set included:

• Back To The Night
• Joan Armatrading
• Show Some Emotion
• How Cruel 
• Me Myself & I
• Walk Under Ladders
• The Key

History Book Challenge

I participated on a book challenge on the Bluesky platform but I did it somewhat differently than the standard book challenge which states something like "Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers."

So I did the one book per day and did 20 of them but I made all of my books about history and called it the History Book Challenge. I also wrote down the book title, author and published date. Then I wrote a brief description of the book and why I posted it. Then some tags... #bookchallenge #books #booksk #history #bookshelf

I started out posting these right away when I joined the app but then took about a month off for the holidays. I started up again a few days into the new year.

Here is the list of books that I posted as part of my History Book Challenge

• In Search of History: A Personal Adventure by Theodore H. White, 1983 - 1/10
• The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan, 2015 - 1/9
• 1493: Uncovering The New World Columbus Created by Charles Mann, 2011 - 1/8
• Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson, 2010 - 1/7
• The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America by George Packer, 2013 - 1/6
• Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History by Kurt Andersen, 2017 - 1/5
• The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America by Greg Grandin, 2019 - 1/4/25
• The Secret History of the World by Mark Booth, 2007 - 12/5/24
• A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor, 2010 - 12/2
• A People’s History of the United States: 1492 – Present by Howard Zinn, 1980 - 12/1
• The Map Book ed. By Peter Barber, 2006 - 11/30
• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, 2011 - 11/27
• These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore, 2018 - 11/26
• Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond, 1997 - 11/25
• Indigenous Continent: The Epic Conquest of North America by Pekka Hamalainen, 2022 - 11/24
• Eyewitness to History by John Carey, ed, 1987 - 11/20
• Forget The Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson & Jason Stanford, 2021 - 11/19
• A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century by Barbara Tuchman, 1978 - 11/18
• The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk, - 11/17
• 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles Mann, 2005 - 11/16

The Convicted Felon

Today it became official and part of the history books. Trump is a convicted felon who was sentenced by a criminal judge. Nothing he can do will ever change that fact. He will become the first president of the US that is a convicted felon and by law is not allowed to vote in elections but his followers voted for him.

It's hard to believe sometimes that we live in a country full of so many stupid ignorant people but then you look at our history and we see this weird behavior over and over again. It's nothing new but it has certainly become worse because of the internet and social media.

If I ever need to have a photo of trump for anything I will use his official mug shot.

Sanctus - Evening Mist FV

Here is another mix in the Evening Mist series and once again this one has a nice selection of classical music and new age along with some film soundtracks. It runs an hour and a half and is one of my Final Version mixes. 

Sanctus - Evening Mist FV

1. Sanctus: Benedictus – New York Polyphony
2. Pachelbel: Canon & Gigue in D – Neville Mariner & Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
3. Handel: Messiah, Pastoral Symphony – Kenneth Montgomer & Bournemouth Sinfonietta
4. Philip Glass: Vessels – National Sinfonia
5. Puccini: Turandot – Nessun Dorma – Luciano Pavarotti & London Philharmonic
6. Cinema Paradiso (Titles Theme) – Ennio Morricone
7. Sargasso Sea – Suzanne Ciani
8. Violin Sonata No. 3 in D Minor, II. Adagio – Christian Tetzaff
9. Scarlatti: Sonata in A – John Williams
10. St. Louis Blues – Maggie O’Connor
11. Bassoon Concerto in B-Flat Major, I. Allegro – Sinfornia Concertante
12. Bach: Nocturne No. 10 in E Major – Elizabeth Joy Roe
13. Terpischore, HWV 8b: Chaconne – Amanda Forsythe
14. Symphony No. 29 in A Major, 1. Allegro moderato – Berliner Philharmonika
15. Tallis: Canon – ORA and Suzi Digby
16. Handel: Water Music Suite No. 1 in F Major, Air – Bohdan Warcjal
17. Stratus – Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
18. S.O. – Kelly Lee Owens
19. Red Yellow Porpoise – Same Actor
20. Kashmir – Maya Beiser

Old 97's - Kitchen Listening

Spent some time today listening to some albums from Old 97's while sitting in the kitchen working at my laptop. Always enjoyed their music which was some of the early alt-country movement of the mid-1990's. I played through a few of their albums in alphabetical order from my iTunes. Blame It On Gravity, Drag It Up and Fight Songs. There's a lot more great albums especially the early ones that I should listen to soon too although I seem to like their later little more refined sound better than some of their early raw country influenced songs with a punk feel.

I did see them perform downtown at a Thursday in the Square concert sometime in the mid 1990.

Old 97's in my collection:

• Hitchhike to Rhome, 1994
• Wreck Your Life, 1995
• Too Far To Care, 1997
• Fight Songs, 1999
• Satellites Rides, 2001
• Drag It Up, 2004
• Hit By A Train: The Best of Old 97's, 2006
• Blame It On Gravity, 2008
• The Grand Theater Vol. 1, 2010
• The Grand Theater Vol. 2, 2011
• They Made a Monster: Too Far To Care Demos, 2012
• Most Messed Up, 2014
• Graveyard Whistling, 2017