Sunday Morning Smoke

try a little garlic in the press pot, hahahahaha

Good morning it is Sunday 14 December 2008, a cold cloudy day here in da 'Burgh we have a coating of snow on the ground & a bit of ice on the walks & roads we are looking for a high of 35F today but it will be at 65 F or better in the Qtr.Deck this afternoon ! , all I will need will be a flannel shirt ,Jeans & a warm pair of socks & slippers , a pot of coffee , a snifter of single malt & as they say the rest will be History, I have a Masterpiece Maduro I picked up last Christmas , looks like today is the day , BUT I just might opt out for the Museum from R & J , I did smoke one a few weeks ago & it was just great, reminded me of a Casa Fuente , Mild yet complex in flavor ............. dammmmm maybe I will smoke them BOTH ! hahahaha
I have a 6 pack of boneless pork chops , why I ever bought Boneless is beyond me ??? i always like a Bone in the meat , cant understand why the beef industry went to removing the nice tasty bone from the chuck roast , nothing better than a 7 shaped bone in the chuck roast, ahhh the great gravy it made, now I need to BUY a hunk of Bone to roast with the chuck to get the flavor they took out when they removed the bone, back when I was a kid the Butcher gave you the soup bones for your dog, now they charge extra to take out the bone & then charge you extra on top of the inflated price to get back the bone they took out , JUST LEAVE IT ALONE & I WILL PAY FOR IT STILL IN ONE PIECE , create more work for the butcher & the chef for an infearior product .............. Progress my @$$
we had a great Friday at the shop lots of Customers & a few ladys in for Gifts, Just point me to the good smelling ones she said & I asked how much she was willing to spend, BINGO BIG BUCKS , so I show her the Montie's , Camacho trippple Maduro & the Hemmingways , No they dont smell good & she gets a box of KUBA KUBA , I have a feeling they will be comming back December 26TH for an exchange ...... yea like i am going to take back a box of cigars that have been frozen in the car roasted in the house & let set outside a humidor for a 2 week time frame , looks like the 20% restocking sign will be going up Monday morning ! I hate to do that BUT I told her I dont think her husband will like them, he is a regular & he smokes Upman Cameroons most of the time ................ Given the choice of smoking a Kuba Kuba or nothing, at all I will take the Nothing at all , sorry but I just cant take the taste of them, some people love them, why else would he be in businenss if sme one didnt like them, well thats why I enjoy the cigar life style, everyone has a Nitch to fill & soon it will come full circle the Grape blunt smoker of today will be the Davidoff smoker of 20 years from Now ,,,,,,,,,,, if the government dosent regulate the business into the ground, a 3.5 Billion dollar industry that the US GOVERNMENT wants to raise 35 BILLION in new taxes on, seams to me you cant tax 10 times the value of the industry & expect it to keep running , Prohabition didnt work back in the 1920's , it lead to a growth in orginized crime , look what it did for Chicago , the legescy is still there even in the Governers office .............. hahaha , well all I can say is , JUST CALL ME AL ( from the paul simon song ) Yep I will just go underground & bring in my own cigars & sell them at a speak easy , put in a wood fired grill out front , Burn a lot of smokey wood to cook over make hams & bacon for a side line & cover the cigar smoke with Burning Hickory ,maple & mesquette ............
After a week or so of feeling poorly I have rebounded & am back to my cigar chomping ways filled with a big dose of hot peppers , garlic & fresh ginger the taste buds have come back with a CRY for flavor so the HEAVY doses of herbs & spices have set fire to the taste buds & they are craving More & more & it is my pleasure to give them what they want ... just need to do it in moderation, in the AMOUNT taken in , the spicyer the better , consintrate the flavors but the key is Balance & complexity , adding different amounts of the same spices at different times during the cooking process will change the flavor if you had put it all in at the same time , a slight difference but a difference all the same , the difference between a first run through of a play & the first performance , everything is there but it is FINE TUNED .....
I have a feeling that the Christmass season this year will be behind in sales from last year , the customers are there just not spending as much, I did get 2 boxes of Anejos from Fuente this year , they are selling well & the trippple maduros from Camacho are almost all gone BUT I have a lot of maduro monties , dammmm I realy like that cigar BUT I am a Maduro smoker , it is a great taste & isnt that what we are looking for a great taste at a cheep price, well they are not cheep so I tend to smoke the lower priced stuff when I am working like the Bundle Alcazars , dammmmm for a CHEEP cigar its wonderfull the 8 x 52 will last me a few hours & with the econemy as it is every one is looking for the biggest bang for the Buck , why smoke a Punch rothchild for 3.35 when you can get this MONSTER for 40 cents more , More than TWICE THE smoke , BUT with a few beers & a couple of scotches a pot of coffee WHO CARES ! hahahaha

The Boys were here Thursday , But we didnt get to do much a little Supper & they headed off with Barb to Bible study & I went to the Qtr.Deck for a cigar ......... its the simple things in life that make it worth all the BS .............
Time to Cook & head for the QtrDeck , Enjoy, Vince

I did smoke them Both as well as a 601 Green Lapunta & a Graycliff PGX(Blue band) went through a pot of columbian supermo & a snifter of Oban today, dont know why I went for the Oban , it was way to light for what I was smoking BUT I was able to finish the bottle since there was just a little less than a shot left, I guess thats why I went with it instead of the Laugavulin , BUT on hind sight I would have enjoyed the Laguvalin or Laphroaig more than the Oban , as they say $hit Happens ......... looks like big ben pulled one out of his @$$ again ! , didnt catch any of the game but I heard the winning TD was scored with less than a minute to play, the defence held them to 9 ,Goes in the books as a win & the steelers covered the 2.5 point spread the bookies were spotting them. & the last time I checked the over & under was 33 or 34 , so if you bet the under , your a winner ..... I didnt bet so I didnt loose anything !!!
have a good eveing , Enjoy, Vince

Bloofington said:

I can see the headlines. Steelers Win Super Bowl, Save Pennsylvania Economy.

Click to expand...

I HOPE your correct !!!!!!

If the Steelers win out the season, get through the playoffs & make it to the super bowl, I MIGHT , just might watch a little of the GAME, I will buy a few squares on the football pool no matter who is playing .....
Enjoy, Vince

Good morning it is Sunday 21 December 2008 the First official day of winter ,but the winter weather has been with us for a few months all ready , we have a light dusting of snow on the ground this morning, Frozen, to the ground & cars, I thought I could use the broom to remove it but it needs a shovel , it is just a BIG solid mass of frozen water in the most beautiful way, nothing like the ice they had In New England last week, ,no powerlines are down but it is COLD
the shop[ is still lacking in sales from last year, I guess the doom & gloom we hear in the TV is hitting harder day by day, , Now with the Government getting there nose in it , I GUESS it will only get worse !
to paraphrase President Ronald Regan, the worst thing anyone can hear is "I am from the government & I am here to HELP" ................. God help us now is all I can say, way to many of the washington DC jokers have forgotten that they are servants OF the people , FOR the people , not Sucking off the teets of the people , dammmmmm this close to CHRISTMAS & I am going on a political witch hunt.... Oh well back to the season & AWAY from the political BS..............
the Boss has been fighting a cold all week & when she isnt feeling well NO ONE gets any rest arround here , you all know what I mean dont you ! hahahaha
How ever we did manage to make 17 dozen Petezelles yesterday , with many interuptions with friends stopping in we did manage to have a good day in the kitchen together, some thing that isnt happening all that much, ...... we being in the kitchen together !


well I did get all my Christmas shopping DONE, well I am out of cash & the list is not .......... so I guess I need to get a little more cash out of the bank & strike that last few gifts off the list , To bad I cant just give EVERYONE cigars ,,,,, but the grandsons Dont think its all that great of an Idea !!!

since it is Sunday & its COLD out , I have the Sunday Chuck roast ready for the Boss , dammmmm I am getting a weeee bit tired of it BUT thats what she wants , so thats what she gets , one less reason to argue with her, Just Give her what she wants & let it go , a lot easyer on the mind & Body just to give up & tell her what she wants to hear, maybe she should get a JOB at GITMO , all she need is to learn to speak Aribic or farci , dammmmm if she got a Job I could retire AGAIN, this time I will just sit at the cigar shop & watch some one else work hahahahaha
we both are fighting colds & each other , so what else is new hahahaha , the #2 grandson isnt feeling 100% he is only 11 & growing taller but not gaining any weight, in fact he lost 2 pounds from his last check up , it is tuff when your so thin , he never is hungry, but when its time to eat he is at the table but just dosent eat much, , he went to the hospital for an ultra sound of the lower gut & a Berium enema , , dammmmmmm that just sounds like BS to me , kid isnt hungry so you check out the exaust ? & not the intake ? I guess thats why I am not a Doctor ! I did get a verry intrusting Early Christmass Gift , a bag of Unroasted coffee from Brazil that is the left overs from a Bird called the JACU bird, I have no idea how big this bird is But it eats the red coffee cherrys & YES Dumps them out in the Bird droppings ,,,,, Just like the Kopi Luwak coffee of Indonesia where the weasel eats the coffee cherrys & "deposits "them on the ground , & after cleaning & roasting this coffee is much the same well this Bird $hit Coffee is Supposed to be much better than the weasel $hit coffee , so as soon as I get a day that is ABOVE 40 F I will get outside & roast this stuff & let you all now what I think about it ................. stop in for a cup anytime !!! I have no info on this stuff but if you google it I am sure you will find some thing about both coffees !
I have the Heat on in the Qtr.Deck & will be enjoys a few cigars today , i have a few to choose from but I havent made up my mind on what I will be sipping with the coffee today , might be port , might be scotch, might be Irish whisky , depend on what the dram will be as to what the cigar will be or CIGARSSSSSSSS

Breakfast was a great debate with the boss this morning a refridgerator fallout omlet , so she Got her Fryed eggs bacon & toast, I had the formentioned omlet, there was a little spinich dip left over as well as a little gravy some steamed mixed veggis & a little cheese left over from a cheese tray I made for Wednsday , so it all went on the Grill & an egg to hold it all together , a blast of Tabascco , HEAVEN dammmmm tasty ! but No I dont want to taste it , I might like it ! hahahahahaha 38 years & counting, dammm if I had killed her I might just be getting out of jail now ! hahahahahaha
The sun is out but it is Cold , the cow pasture looks like a field of diamonds , sparkling & twinklining , with the occasional cow walking by , the birds are scavenging under the raspberry bushes & the feeder is getting its small share of visitors when I went out to get the Sunday Paper there were cat tracks on the walkway , Bunny tracks on the grass & a pile of blood & fur at the end of the driveway , I guess the cat is having hossenfeffer for breakfast today , I wish the cats would let the bunnys alone & get the dammmmmm DOVES , they make way to much noise & $hit on everything !

Since this is the first day of winter that means the days will start to get LONGER each day again , more daylight , the better, But I dont think I want to be in the 24 hours of daylight they get up north , land of the Midnight Sun , No thanks I need some down time BUT,thank you very much !

Retired Pro Wrestler Dominick DeNucci stopped in the shop Friday Night , everyone was like a kid in school listening to his storys of the road & former pros we all watched as kids drom Bob Backland to Superstar Billy Grahm , Burno Samartino & Ivan Putsky , the guys we loved & the guys we loved to hate , the good boys & the bad boys , it is suprising how many of them we all remembered & the long lives most of them lived after retirement, NO STEROIDS but now there are so many that are dead & used up buy the time they are 45 its amazing ............. like some of them are not juicing hahahahah , if you look to good you gotta be on the juice to keep it up day after day , traveling & working all the time , a lot of great looking Bodys have become toombs for the guys who thought they could get away with it ........... & a few great looking ladys end up dead or looking like old hags , I guess its better to live life as well as you can with out resorting to artifical means to stimulate your life, like whisky, coffee & cigars hahahaha Yea like thats going to happen here hahahahaha, & speaking of coffee I am almost out of the Sunday Kona , next pot up is going to be a pot of Community Coffee from New Orleans flavored with a bit of chickory
I have a BIG Rayies family Torp to fire up with this pot of coffee but the jury is still out on the libation for later this afternoon , it just might be the port & a pot of Dark roast Italian coffee & a BIG Maduro Don Gonzales Churchill for this afternoon , the football game is set for 4:15 Pm, & I dont think I will be watching or listening to it today , i will be BUSY eating , smoking & drinking about that time , who needs TV when there is great food & beverages to taste , I pay attention to the taste buds & they take care of me , if I just watch the idot box & much mindlessly I cant SAVOR the food or drink, it is a hand to mouth reaction not a journy to excitement
if we would learn to enjoy our food 7 drinks instead of just jamming ftuff down our pie hole I dont think we would be a nation of HEAVYWIEGHTS , I know I was an abusrer of the system , but since i lost the 202 pounds I have found a new friend in my taste buds sure it tastes good always did , but Now I need to control it & instead of letting the taste buds run wild I have befriened them & now we work together getting them the taste & flavors they crave & letting me Maintain a weight that is advantagous for me & the taste buds , the better shape I am in the longer I will be able to satisfy the taste buds ................ & right now I need to bend to the call of an other part of the body & rid my self of all the coffee I have consumed since 6 am Today ! Enjoy, Vince

your right about the JUICE, super star went from a 12 inch bicept to a 24 inch in less than a year, , but he had bad legs, did you ever notice he always wore long pants or tights , never shorts or bare legs ! Some of the guys were great amiture wrestlers but never were GREAT Pro grapplers , Bob Backland was a champ but when he got older I dont think he made the transistion to being a bad guy, Hulk went back & forth so often you didnt know what his bag was & that leg drop, , not much of a Move he had the Body & the BS , but he didnt show me anything in the ring, Macho Man with the flying elbow from the top rope , dammmm that had to be hard NOT to hurt the guy you were hitting , But I guess my favorite was Hacksaw Jim Dugan , complete with his 2 x 4 , acted Dumb as a stump ! , Oh there were a lot of good guys & heals some times I rooted for the bad guy anyway Roddy Piper was a fun one to watch, he was a little nuts , & we had a lot of Local guys who never made the big time but were out at all the highschools & fund raisers we could book, we did a show at the local community Collage & BIG John Studd was the headliner , But since it wasnt a WWF scationed event he wore a mask & fought as the "Beast", He beat 2 of the local guys in about 5 minutes , got his check & was out the door, But sitting in the locker room he was reading before his match, "Faust" of all things ! No magazine, No bang bang shootem up Zane Gray but Faust & it was in German ! an other one that suprised me was Nick Folly aka Catus Jack,Mankind & a few other alter egos , he learned from Dominic here in Freedom, along with a few others that made it big,
I dont miss that stuff but it was a lot of Fun, one of my grandsons Loves to go to the arena in Pittsburgh when the WWE is in town, all 45 pounds of him hahahahaha

The reason I dont like to eat when I watch TV is I tend to forget how much I ate , when I get uncomfortable its to late ! hahahaha
Enjoy, Vince

Good morning it is Sunday 28 December 2008, Christmas is gone for an other year & it is Unseasonably warm here in da Burgh 66 F this morning , but the cold front went through with some very high winds & it is down to 57 all ready , our normal high is in the 30's so this is a winter bonus , lower heating bills this month hahahaha ............ well this is the first sunday posting since Christmas , & I hope you all had a good visit from Santa , things went well here with the grandsons , lets just say they are not going to need much of anything for some time to come , even with the economy down , with a little summer buying & stocking stuffings when the stuff was on sale , they did just fine, but at 11 & 13 now , they are just not as much fun as they were when they were 5 & 7 ............ for you guys & gals with little kids , PLEASE ENJOY THEM NOW, they grown up so fast, my daughter is now 36 ( older than a few of you readers) & it seams just like last week she was holding on to me with a death grip as I sat her on santas lap at the mall . ............. kids they grow up so fast, I feel like it was just a few years ago I was sitting on santas lap , I can remember the christmas back in 54 or 55 , hey could have been 52 or 56 for all I know, well some time back in the 50's anyway , we wole up to a white blanket of snow , about a foot of snow fell the morning was fantastic, nothing was moving outside, no one was getting up to go to work the streets were untouched by the snow plow & all the trees had this flocking of snow , across the street the bushes & pines were burried in snow & the cars were covered , , it reminded me of a blanket dropped from the sky , words cant due justice to what I see in my minds eye , over 50 years later it still is etched in my mind , what little mind I have left hahahahaha ..............
sales were some what disapointing this month , a surge on Monday & tuesday with an early close on Wendesday , we didnt come close to last years numbers , last year we started to hit mega sales about the 15th & it kept up right untill close on the 24th , but this year it was a Bust , down over 35% from last year , after Christmas 20% off sales on all the stocking stuffers I have in stock, I picked up give aways & still have some of them left as we didnt get the foot traffic I had hoped for , a few new faces were in , "I know nothing about Cigars here is 50 bucks I need a gift for my boss," well I had a great time with those people ............... But not enough of them came in this year , we did a cupon ad in the local paper , Buy 2 get one free with the cupon, , spent over 500 bucks on the ad , got back 12 cupons .............. & 8 were regulars, it generated 4 new faces , , , , a real money looser on the ad for sure , you cant beat word of mouth, its the best & its FREE ! ............. Now if I could just find a way to market it for free hahahahaha , I Give out cigars to everyone I run into when I am out shopping or running to the bank,, post office & to pay the parking tickets my customers get & I get a better responce to the free cigar than I do to the paid Professional ads that I have been buying from the news paper , did a few radio spots , GOT ZERO RETURN on the radio spots, ,,,,,,,,,, so i will just keep passing out cigars & business cards .................
Well so much for the BS , lets get down toi some news from the burgh,, , ,, , ,,,,,,, ,.,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,
dammmmm nothing new from this end hahahaha , gearing up for new years , I guess I will just add the word POST to the Christmas sale signs , & give away a bottle of champange ( cheep domestic) for the amiture night to hit on the 31st, I stay home , h3ll I drink anything & anytime I want, some of these people just drink one night a year & this is the night, I dont need some 185 pound lady kicking my @$$ in some bar or hotel flexing her beer musles ..... I am way to old for that hahahaha


I made a ham for Christmas , looks like we will be eating HAM for some time to come, , lots of ways to make it , & we will try them all till its gone, all ready this morning , I have made ham biscuts with red eye gravy for breakfast , lunch with a grilled ham & swiss on dark rye , & supper will be left over ham & sweet potatoes with green beans in a sour cream sauce , ham , Ham , & more ham , different from Turkey but a lot of left overs no matter how you slice it , the ham bone is in the freezer with some fat & will be soup , Soon ! , maybe some time next week or next MONTH !!


well lets see, Santa was very good to me as always .... a few cigars & a bottle of Lapgroaig Qtr.Cask & a new humidor ( I stopped counting them years ago ) I have given more humidors away than I have now, but this one is a BEAUTY , the wood work is superb , the seen on the box is a cigar bar with people sitting at tables & sipping wine with the waiter holding a humidor open for a customer to pick thier smoke , lots of detail in the back ground of the carvings , needless to say it is all ready Full of cigars GEEEE I wonder how that happened ???
Now before I get off the computer & head out to the Qtr.Deck for my Sunday morning Don Carlos #3 & my pot of kona I want to say some thing about Clutter, JUNK & stuff we save from year to year & never use it, well I plan on tossing a TON of crap out this year, some to the Salvation Army, some to Goodwill & some to the trash, , welllll thats my plan anyhow, when it happens I will let you know hahahah Enjoy, Vince

some things you just will always remember, & that Fresh Snow was one of them that is burned in my brain, I also remember making a few bucks cleaning a lot of side walks & drive ways that Year ! Enjoy, Vince

Good morning it is Sunday 4 Jan 2009............ we made it through an other year , still on top of the grass still not looking at the roots ! , it is a chilly day here in da Burgh , we have a light coating of snow on the ground but you ee a little grass popping up here & there, the bird feeder is getting a lot of visitors & from the looks of the tracks in the snow we have a fox in the area , or its just a BIG house cat, I havent looked at my Boyscout handbook in years so I just dont remember the difference between a fox & a cat print , for all I know it might be a small dog but I dont think a dog will be hanging out hiding by a bird feeder looking for a dove , the feathers in the snow & the blood trails show some one had a good hunt .......... that life in the big city or country field, the strong will survive , yea the ants & roaches will last longer than all of us !!!
I hope you all had a safe & some what sober new years, I spent the evening with the grandsons they were playing the new wii game, lots of fun, I was content to sit & watch 007 on the small TV in the computer room , just me & the Dog, or horse , what ever he is , he was snoring so loud with the game being played in the other room I had to turn on the closed captioning to hear waht they were saying, as if I couldnt do the dialog from memory I have seen the 007 movies a few times hahahaha.
There is a good deal of Pork & sour kraut left over But today I am getting the left over Christmas ham out of the freezer & cutting up some cabbage , yea with all that kraut like I need more cabbage in my diet , I just feel sorry for who ever is behind me in line at the bank or the grocery store , the gas has been let us just say OVER THE TOP ! , Burns the nose & the eyes ! hahahahaha , so this morning I added fuel to the fire with a sourkraut , Tofu & swiss cheese omlet .............. it wasnt the greatest combo I have come up with but a little of the good old Hinze Ketchup EVERY THING tastes better hahahaha

the coffee this morning & since it is Sunday is Kona , but I have a pot of Margoheppie waiting to go on as soon as this one is done . I still havent had time to roast the Jacu Bird coffee , & today we are supposed to get to 45 F so I might just fire up the grill & get some of it cooking , I think I will go for a med.Light roast on this one , I want to taste the coffee & not the roast, kind of like the way I do my Kona , I havent made any espresso in some time , so I might roast up some today if I do get to the Jacu bird coffee , I have some Columbian & brazillian santos & I could mix the 2 & take it to the limit with the expresso roast ,,,, , the darker the roast the lower the cafine , so heres to EXPRESSO , fire it up again !

I hope you all had a safe & fullfilling years end & the beginning of a new year will be filled with Good things for you & your familys ......... we had a last minute dash to the cash regester but the numbers didnt make what we did last year, with the smoking ban here in Pa , ( a NEW NANNY STATE) , our personal freedoms are slowly being worn away by the "DO GOODERS" who are just "looking out for us ", HEY I look out for my self, if I want your help I will ask for it , thats why I belong to the auto club, I get a flat I call for help, if I need a cup of coffee I make it my self, I dont call for a delevery, but wait thats not a bad idea, the local Pizza shop has a delivery service , BUT I MAKE MUCH BETTER COFFEE ! hahahaha , damm lost my train of thought, , seams like the tracks are getting a bit slippery ! hahaha Oh yea the smoking ban, well you cant smoke in the bars, or resturaunts , BUT if its a Private club , your ok since we are a smoke shop we are OK so far, & since we dont sell food or beverages ( we give the stuff away ) we dont fall under the bus & get run over, I thought the ban would be good for sales but it was just the opisite , I thought the guys would be filling up the place bring there own bottle & sit here with a cigar instead of a dark & dreary bar , but I guess they likes the atmosphere & have stayed there watching the paint dry on thew walls sipping there waterdown booze & warm beer paying 5 bucks to get a burgher & frys at the bar when they could be sitting here with a good crew of guys & gals well lit , BYOB & have your food delivered ,,,,,,,,,,,, just no strippers on a dimly lit stage , No Fights , No cops & no Drugs other than, cafine, nicotene & Scotch ! , with all the political unrest in the state legeslature , the Nannys got one poassed , with the witch hunt out for all the graft recievers , givers & back room deal makers the nannys got the smokng ban passed , every one that had opposed the ban was heaeded for the tall grass & looking for a place to hide, will they his so well it came back to bite us on the @$$ , Things are not going well in the land of Lincoln , nor are they doing that good here in the Keystone state fast eddie rendellie( pa Governer & former mayor of Philly ) is to smooth to get caught on tape by the Feds , dammmm he probaly had the feds line tapped hahahaha ......... dont think the Government power is in harrisburg ( capital of Pa ) or in Washington DC ( the nations capital for you guys who are Geographicly challenged ) the government power is in the hands of the MOB, the banks, & wall street, looks like the senators & congressmen have been influncing the latter , our congress has spent money that our grandchildren will be paying for , & now they want to spend even MORE, had the Government kept there nose out of the banking industry & not MANDATEDF the Sub prime lending , we would have never had to face what we are up against today CAPITILISUM is the ROOTS of this country work had, make a few bucks & KEEP what you earn, thats how the industrial revelution happened, sure they did take advantage of the workers , management will do it when ever they can , I kow I have been on both sides of the stupid desk in negoations , I see both sides with equal clairity , BUT when I was the boss I had to deal with with the profit & loss of the catering company , but when I was just a worker & had to do ALL the work to make the money for the catering company I looked at it as being paid a fair & slightly above what I was worth hahahahaha , Fire the book keeper & work it out of your right front pocket all cash , No tax No records , it seamed like I always had a good cash flow, never wondered how much I was making because I didnt care all I knew I was flush , & had no outstanding bills , , then I tryed to go legit, keeping records & paying with checks & paying taxes, dammmmmmmm BIG MISTAKE , No cash flow, no spending money No cigars on the catering business's dime , the coffee i could get away with , but the cigars well if the client wanted them fine, But I was used to just getting them anyway, dammmmmmm Bookkeepers & accountants , they would talk to the client & mess everything up, so I got rid of them , shut down the catering business & am as happy as a PIG IN $HIT at the cigar shop, NOW if I could just figure out a way to be on the radio & talk about food, cigars, jazz & work in the shop all at the same time, welllll dammmmmm that would be HEAVEN On Earth ......... Enough rambling this morning I need to get in the kitchen & get the heat turned on out in the Qtr.Deck , its time for the Sunday Morning smoke , & it is what else BUT a Don Carlos #3 ............... old habbits are hard to break, so what is your Go to Morning Smoke ? inquiring minds would like to know ! hahaha Enjoy, Vince

Good morning it is a COLD SNOW COVERED Sunday 11 Jan.2009 here in da Burgh , we have about 8 inches on the ground all ready & it is still comming down, the trees holding the snow well & so far no power outages from down trees, but it will be hitting soon if its dosent let up, the National weather service calls for a COLD week, nothing above 35F for the entire week & 2 days not getting above 25 F for the High , dammmmm thats Cold , the Qtr.Deck is insulated to about 20F & I can still get the temp up in the mid 60's , which is comfortable with a flannel shirt & Blue jeans , I just drink a lot more coffee then, but that is self defeting, as the coffee consumption goes up the OUTPUT also goes up & since there is no toilet in the Qtr.Deck & its way to cold to go out behind a tree , I need to come back in the house to get rid of all the coffee, well you open the door & all the heat gets out, so I guess I will need to take a Can in the Qtr.Deck ( one with a tight fitting lid ) or JUST be uncomfortable & Hold it ! hahahaha, Not going to happen, . . . all I know is my next smoking room will have a full bath room !!!!! I have noticed as I get older I need to go more often, & I might as well be comfortable in my OLDAGE , how ever I dont see me building a new smoking room anytime soon, UNLESS I hit the lottery BIG , I have the property all picked out & the design in my head for the new house , garage , walk in Humidor & smoking room , BUT the wife will have final say on what we spend the winnings on , looks like I will have to stick with what I have for now, ( which aint shabby at all ) , & I guess I should start getting more lottery tickets to help my chances of hitting hahahahaha, cant win with out a ticket hahahaha ..........
the wife & I went to the grandsons last night , we were "Baby sitting " the 11 year old , , Not that he needs a sitter, with the Mastave in the house, all 140 pounds of him, twice the sze of my grandson , but my daughter took the older one ( he is 13 ) to see some piano player at the local High school for preforming arts , I didnt catch his name but if I heard it again you would know the name, the Boss is in the shower or I would ask ........... Hummmm I wonder if she wants me to wash her back??????

well that was a fruitless effort, not only did she not want her back washed, she didnt remember who the piano player was either , OH well better luck next time hahahaha
With the snow comming down & it being COLD out I didnt get a cigar in my mouth all day long yeasterday, , cant believe it , NO Cigars in a 24 hour period, , gotta make up for that today, I will be heading out to turn on the heat in the Qtr.Deck as soon as I get this posted , & then a few hours to build up the heat & some time this afternoon I will be sitting in my over stuffed easy chair , complete with heat & message with a cigar in one hand, a MUG of coffee in the other & a Laphroaig Qtr.Cask in a snifter sitting beside the ashtry .
Breakfast this morning was a quick & simple thick cut bacon & eggs & I found some more frozen Christmas ham in the freezer so today it will be ham & potatoes , but how I havent even thought about it yet, maybe ham & noodles , , hummmmmm I better ask the Boss what she wants just to be safe ! hahahaha , & since I just finished the Sunday morning pot of Kona , I have some Medium dark roast Brazillian Santos to brew up next , I still have the green Jacu Bird coffee sitting here, just havent had the time or the right weather to roast it ( if you dont know what Jacu bird coffee is google it , I dont want to spoil the suprise by telling you , But if you know about the KOPI LUWAK coffee from Indonisia , you get the idea, hahahaha
I have a Flat tire on the wifes car, I dont look fwd to changing a tire in the snow ( or anytime ) so I will just wait till Monday & call my buddy who has a repair shop & have him fill it with air & drive it to his shop & fix it , as I have been told maytimes , if it has Tires, Tits ot Testicals it will sooner or later give you a problem !!!!!
the shop was FULL last friday Night , a few New faces with there buddys , it was a rocking joint , No chairs to spare, I even got the 2 out of my trunk, dammmm there were cold, well once you get your fat @$$ in the seat it will warm up, well we had a good night & I hope it was a good saturday, I didnt go in to check, I do need a little time with the wife, ( a verrrrry little time ) hahahaha but today I will call & check up on the status of the humidors & the condition of the help, some of the guys get a little carrired away with the drinking during the playoff games Nothing worse than a drunk clerk trying to make chane with a drunk customer , Just take the money & forget about the change, it will help the bottom line hahahahaha

I have a Camacho Select from the Pre release blend, an all red band with out the black center , it was given to me by one of my better customers ( anyone who gets his cigars direct fro Christian Erolia is a better customer ) hahahahahah well he was selected years ago to sample this cigar before the final blend was established & given a box to try & evaluate , well a few didnt get smoked right away & today I will be firing one up, I am excited about this stick, a lot of Humidor time on it & I have a whole afternoon to work on it , Looks like the God Of Fire will need to wait till next Sunday (unless I have it Monday ) hahahaha

over the past few years I have always had a Thursday night in the Qtr.deck as that was the night my wife went to Bible study with the grandsons ( she has her time with them & I get mine ) I wonder who they have the most FUN with hahahah ............. welll its not the amount of time we get its the quality, hahahaha, yea they do go & enjoy them selves with her as well as the arcade time with me , one is good for the soul & the other is good for the hand eye cordination & the Laugh factor, you need Both in your life, a study of the bible might sound a bit boring but it will build a good solid man out of the boys & the time I get them well I am just a big kid with a drivers licence ..... & we have FUN. well lets get back to the Thursday night thing, , it was changed to Tuesday Night , so Now I have my regular buddys here on Thursday & since the new night is Tuesday I get 2 Nights a week in the Qtr.Deck, she still get her Thursday night with the boys & I get a second night out in the Qtr.Deck works for me !
Thats about all I have this week from da BURGH , if anything develops I will get back to you all ENJOY, Vince

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Pizza, dammmmm we got PIEs & squares , , the round fresh made crusts are sort of NY style, but not many real coal fired ovens like Rays in NYC, Yes i know all about Pizza in da city , we also have a Sicilian style Square Pizza, my favorite , not that the thin isnt good, I just like the thick crust , large trays par baked in the afternoon, let to cool & baked to order when needed , a thicker sauce than the fresh raised round pizza, & lots of cheese, , yea there are special pizzas like the bacon ,egg & cheese , the spinich white pizza, & my all time favorite , the DEEP FRYED PIZZA, yep you close it up seal the edges & drop it in the deep fryer, I first had it in southern Jersey, just outside of Haddonfield at a shop called Frankos, stuffed with meat balls & cheese, a little sauce, , GREAT STUFF!, there is a shop right next to the Police station in Ambridge Pa , Cop shop Pizza , best thick crust I have ever had, bar none, there is a place in Aliquippa with a thin square tray pizza , same recipe since 1955, sam guy running it , , everyone calls him the Pizza Nazi , I was in there one night a guy came in during a baseball game when Chub ( the owner, manager,cook & janitor ) was watching an old B&W movie & the guy wanted chub to change the station to the game, he pulled the guys pizza out of the oven, & dropped it in the trash, GET OUT OF MY SHOP & NEVER COME BACK, DONT TELL ME WHAT TO WATCH ON MY TV , & there are tons of more storys like that about Chub, his saving grace is he is a Cigar smoker & I take care of him & he takes care of me, BUT I never ask him to change the station ! , there are a few more great Pizza shops in the area, I am not a big fan of the Chicago style DEEP dish pizza , any pizza you need a knife & fork to eat it with,,,,,,,, well just not on my list of finger food ! there is a place right down the street from the cigar shop, he has wonderful pizza, one of the few shops that make Both the fresh hand tossed & the square tray style as well as his version of the deep fryed pizza, he called his the budda bing , But his was way to BIG, they should be able to be held with one hand, like a burgher , BUT his were just way to big, tasty but hard to get in the fryer & get them back out with out cracking them...... , I did work a few shops back in the day, I made both the hand tossed & the baked squares, but I never had a deep fryer to try & perfect my own deep fryed Pizza , I never worked for any of the chain shops , but I have made a few pizzas in my life, there is a small church that has a Pizza shop in the basement, thets some of the best I have ever had, but they just make so much each day, & when its sold out they close , they dont open till 5 PM & by 7/7:30 they are cleaning up, cant get near the place durning lent , No meat, but the anchovie is fantastic, , they only make cheese or anchovie , BIG baked sheets of medium thick square trays , 24 slices per sheet, , its a Buck a slice no matter how many you get with or with out the anchovies still a Buck............. a nice spicy sauce & GREAT cheese ........... dammmmmm makes me Hungry !
Yea we GOT PIZZA !!!!!!