Sunday Morning Smoke

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Good morning it is Sunday 2/19/17 a warm sunny day here in da Burgh more like late April than the end of Feburuary we are looking at a high in the 60's today .Yesterday we set a record high of 68 F , I sat outside on the back deck with a long sleeve shirt was the wind was about 15MPH and when the sun went behind a cloud it was a bit chilly, but in the sun it was grand, I smoked two churchill sized cigars back to back, drank a pot of coffee and sipped a weeee dram of Singelton 12 YO single malt Scotch, it was a great day, took the wife out for Sushi , stopped at a coffee shop for an espresso after we ate & went on the nice ride listening the the radio as I finished a Don Carlos President , and sipping coffee as we drove some of the back roads north west of Downtown Pittsburgh, a lot of road kill dear, possums, raccoons and a bird of some kind , smashed , but a few feathers were still there , hard to tell what it was , a crow or a hawk , buy the size maybe an owl , but it was dark and i didnt stop to check . we listened to the radio and talked about the day how nice it was thinking about today & what i will cook, and for a change of pace , NO HUNK O BEEF , Amen , you have no iea how frustrationg it is for a chef like me to cook the same thing every sunday , BUT thats what she wants and a happy wife is a happy life , But last night i was re arranging the freezer & pulled up a package of pork chops from Oct, , so they went in the fridge to thaw out last night & I will be making them today, I havent thought about how I will cook them , its so warm out I might fire up the grill or maybe just roast them with some peppers & onions , havent given it much thought yet.
we had a whisky tasting at the fallout shelter last thursday , 2 gingers Irish whisky, a single grain Irish whisky , Tryconnelle single malt Irish , and a night cap of a VSOP brandy , i dont know if it was a cognac or not I didnt get a look at the bottle, , , I didnt mind any of the samples but I dont see any of them getting into my rotation of a daily dram, the 2 Gingers was a bit sweet, the single grain needed a lot more time in the wood, the single malt was OK but I dont remember seeing it any place local, and the brandy well it was good just not my flavor profile . Give me a Islay Scotch.
this morning I made a cheese, spinich, garlic , hot pepper scrambled egg dish for the boss and myself, , the coffee was morning Joy from a local roaster , & the toast was a flax seed, whole grain rye /oatmeal , artisian bread from a local bread shop , it made great toast , thick sliced , crunchy on the outside and a smooth creamy center , it was a nice start, I have a pot of kona ready to go & I will be grabbing it asap with a Padron maduro princippe 1964 Anniv and taking a short walk arround the park and piss off all the runners as I leave a trail of smoke in my wake,,,,,,
last week my post was short and to the point a long time Friend passed and it was a tuff week for me , MIKE you will be missed by a lot of people , he never had any children but loved his sisters kids to death, he just never found the right wife who wanted kids , a great uncle , to a fine family , my daughter had a crush on him for years hahahaha , we were in the Jaycees , different citys but close enough to hang out , drink smoke & tell tall tails , , I MISS you Mike .
not much going on with the grandsons they are living there lives as they should BOTH are fine young men now both working and going to school , the oldest one has an idea to get a food truck & sell VEGAN fast food,.... he is doing his research & is getting a lot of training in the kitchen & business , he is driven to be his own boss, grandson #2 is a bit more laid back computer geek , passed on a promotion at work as it would interfear with school ,,,, he is thinking ahead, get the education then go for a BIGGER promotion.

well its time to pour the KONA and fore up the cigar, Enjoy, Vince


 
Good afternoon , it is Saturday , 3/4/17 a cool bright sunny day here in da burgh, I have been flat on my back the past week with a head cold that just kicked my ass big time , ears are still popping & the sinus pressure is still high , but the eye stopped watering & the sneezing has stopped, I did have a cigar yesterday , it was the first since last Sunday ..... thius past week I did NOTHING, just sleep, sip a lot of coffee and juice, no cigars no booze , lots of sleep & time in the bathroom, , didnt have the energy to get dressed till thursday when I went to the doc, he said keep doing what your doing , No cough , no sore throat , just old age catching up, go home sleep & keep hydrated , take a few asprin & call me if you dont feel better in a few days , then we will get you a chest xray , but you lungs sound fine as of right now, , so I guess I am over it as the cigar yesterday was NO problem , it didnt kick my ass or taste to strong , a Hemmingway maduro short story, , so today i am going to up the ante and go for a Camacho 11/18 habano or maybe a Partagas series D #4 & a snifter of Cabo Wabo ,,,,, scotch isnt on my taste buds today, I need some thing to cut through the cotton mouth, & I think the cabo with a pinch of salt and a lime just might do it , mabe scotch later today , nothing like a great afternoon Buzz with a cigar .... enjoy, Vince




 

Good morning it is Sunday 3/5/17 a cold clear sunny day here in da Burgh, a bit on the windy side we had a wind chill last night of 3F , THREE degrees, about 60/70 miles away there was a MINUS 3 wind chill , dammm last week it was in the 70"s now below zero, , I saw on the news Chicago has been with out snow almost all winter and here in da Burgh we are about 8 inches below where we should be for a normal winter, OK by me , , we have had a LOT of rain this winter and little snow, , you dont need to shovel rain like you do for the snow ,
I got off to an early start this morning , Nature called before 8 am , so I got up to go to the bathroom , and had planned on going back to bed and getting up about 9 or 9:30 , but when I got out of the bathroom the bed was all ready made & if I mess it up I will catch all kind of BS from the Boss so I went to the kitchen to start breakfast, a pot of Oatmeal with Bananas and raisins topped with fresh cream , a pot of Panama estate coffee with a slight hint of Hazelnut, , I have no idea where the flavor came from , I asked the wife and she said it was all from the same bag, I roasted it last Thursday & ground it this morning , there was only 4 ounces of coffee , it had been sitting in a vacume sealed bag , UNROASTED about 6 months , I dont remember it having that flavor before, well it was a good pot of Joe, and the Kona is in the press pot since last night , , a cold water extraction , it will be going in the cup soon, along with a don Carlos #3 , when the Qtr.Deck gets warm , with the sun out and the sky light in the Qtr.Deck it was almost 30F inside when I turned on the heater , a far cry from the outside freezing temp of 21 F , BURRRRR
the hunk O beef is in the oven , topped with a bit of tomato sauce from last nights hot sausage , I hope some of the heat carrys over , the sausage was not all that hot but you did know it was not breakfast or sweet sausage , just a weeee bit of spice , so I added a few red pepper flakes to the roast today I wonder if she will complain ??? hahahah sure she will thats her JOB.

I had a BIG $25.00 hit on the lottery last week wowoooo , spent 21 bucks on tickets , won 25 , up a big 4 bucks hahahaha a few more zeros would have been NICE , like 7 of them hahahaha
, time to go back and check the temp of the Qtr.Deck , grab a cigar and get ready for a day sitting on my brains , sipping coffee enjoying a fine cigar and listening to Dave Brubeck . Enjoy, Vince


 
Good morning it is Sunday 3/12/17 a Cold clear day here in da burgh , 23 F a nice coating of snow on the ground with light winds and a GRAY sky , not what I was hopping for but if I wanted warm and sunny all year I would move out of the Burgh to San Diego or some place on the gulf coast , BUT I was born here & will most likely die here ..... for some I bet you said the sooner the better hahaha ,
the wife has pneominoua or how ever you spell it , she has been sick all week we went to the ER , last week, a shot of some thing , a breathing treatment of some sort anti biodioctis a nasty tasting caugh syrup and an inhale mister spray with a cough supressant pill , but she is still hacking and pissing her self at times , getting into depends long before we were ready ... hahahaha
today's hunk O beef is in the oven, along with some red peppers , they will go in a salad when they get pealed and cooled
I did notice a lot of spam on the site this morning , on line gaming for some palce in Asia , on line gambeling is not my thing , I would rather spend my time exciting my taste buds , be it coffee , cigars , whisky or food , thats just me , a slave to my taste buds.

a buddy just brought back a fine bottle of Smoke Head single malt scotch, for me , , I opened it up and before I poured out a weee dram the room filled with the aroma of the whisky , GREAT stuff 43% ABV, not over powering , but the flavor is fantastic, if you like Laphroaig , you will love this , like Qtr.Cask on steroids !!! , NOT a morning drink with coffee , way to intense , not even a late afternoon dram , deffenetly a NIGHT CAP .

I wonder if anyone ever reads my BS , it is almost the same every week , a few years back there was a lot of activity , other people posting what they were planning and what they had done , but that has dropped off a lot to the point I think I am here alone , posative or negative , lets hear what you have to say , this is a forum for your thoughts hopes and dreams , cigars, and other stimulants to the body and mind, some of my favorite things in life are all taste related , I guess thats why I became a chef.... growing up in my grandmothers cafe what other choice did I have , it was instilled in me at birth.... my parents met there ..... for all I know I might have been concieved there hahahaha , so tell me whats on your mind.
Breakfast was bacon , eggs, toast and a slice of a fresh cheese , grilled with the bacon. , just plop it in the pan with the bacon , it is a very dry cheese , pressed but not aged , sliced and set on a paper towel with a lot of weight on it let it dry a bit more on the counter, fast and tasty , I like to grill it till there is a dark crust on it , the wife just wants hers light . But she wants her beef well done, I want my cheese dark and crispy & my beef rare..... but after 47 years together , we surive.
Enjoy, Vince



 
good afternoon, got a last start today almost 4 PM and I just remembered I had not posted this Sunday the 19 of March 2017 . a cool over cast day here in da Burgh
Breakfast went off with out a hitch , roasted red peppers , cheese , scrambled eggs with 15 grain bread , toasted & panama coffee . the hunk O beef went in the oven & i went to the hardware store as the ester outside decerations had to be changed from st Pats day , well the bunny light would not light so I got a replacement, the flags were changed and the snow man lights were replaced with light house. , the wife has been under the weather with pnenuimaia , so I was directed from inside , your doing it wrong , but I was right ..... , Grandson #1 is coming to eat , at 4 but I am sure he will be late as always .... time to make the gravy and get stuff ready , enjoy, Vince




 
Good morning it is Sunday 3/26/17 a warm sunny day here in da Burgh 59F and climbing , a standard Sunday here , the hunk O beef is in the oven , the breakfast was a 4 cheese ,ham, roasted red pepper and sweet onion scrambled egg, a grilled cresant roll and a mix blend of 3 different central american coffees , good , not great.

I started a new job Tuesday, a driver at the locol auto auction , 2 days a week , go out on Tuesday Pick up cars from dealers all over the area, & on Wed. we drive them across the block as they are bid on by the dealers we consigned the cars to sell , , basic , MOVE the inventory and hope to make a buck, but the one who makes out is the auction it self, the seller pays a small fee to sell it & the buyer pays a small fee to buy it , so even if the car isnt sold the auction makes a $$ , I get 8.00 bucks an hour for sitting on my ass and driving the cars, , , trucks , mini vans and trying not to run over people in the way.
Grandsons are doing well the oldest changed jobs , went from waiting tables in a sushi bar, to a line cook at night at a diner , less money , longer hours but he said he wants the experence ,,,, so go for it .... the younger one is still in school, getting a degree in some computer related field , , he should go into security as he hacked the high school computer system when he was still there , then the BUMASS posted it non face book how to get around the fire wall , got a few days suspention for that ,,,, OK you did it , but DONT post it on face book, BUT I guess kids today need to tell everything on face book.
the wife is still recovering from Pnemonia , seams like the shot didnt work, , she has been laid up for 3 weeks now , last night was her first night out other than going to the doc. , and she goes back Monday for a chest X Ray , she has been a sick puppy and is just starting to show signs of getting better , dammmmmm getting old is tuff.

my Escape is getting ready to hit 140K any day now , still getting 24 MPG , in town driving , havent been on a trip lately so I have no data on that.
I have picked up a new customer for my cigars yesterday , ,, the little C store down the road from me was having trouble with the ice machine they have, the repairman was working on it as I walked by with cigar in hand, heading to get a lottery ticket, , dammm I got to check it today to see if I hit the POWERBALL and became an instant millionair hahahahaha
I had a cup of coffee and a cigar & He said dammm that smells great ,, bring the ticket home grab some cigars walk back & BINGO a new customer.....
I have a Black & Gold 1502 Corona ready to spark up as soon as I have a shower & get dressed , a nice walk with the cigar and coffee then to the Qtr.Deck for more coffee , cigars and looking at the inside of my eye lids as dave brubeck plays on the CD player. Enjoy, Vince





 
good morning it is Sunday 4/2/17 a bright sunny day here in da Burgh a high of 61 is in the forecast, it has been a busy week , the wife is getting over the pneomomia , I recovered from a small bout of a stomach virus , still not eating like I should , didnt even finish supper last night or breakfast this morning , but the soda crackers and tea are staying down with out a problem , I did make a half pot of coffee this morning and am working on it now, I am passing on the sunday kona , why drink the great stuff when you cant taste it all that well, , no cigar yet today, but I do have a mild looking Conn. wrapped churchill that I might chew on for a bit , before I decide to light it , if I do ... just not up to par , but old age will do that to you ,
, I even left work early thursday evening , came home and slept about 12 hours , got up went to the bathroom went back to bed for an other 4 hours , got up took a shower & felt a lot better , still not at 100% .
the Hunk O beef is in , dont konw if I will be eating much of it , but I will try, we ran out to Costco right after breakfast to get ink for the printer , & when we got home my wife said the house smelled like SUNDAY, , the roast was cooking away in the oven & the house had that aroma of BEEF AND VEGGIES , a great sent for an air freshner hahahaha


, Not much else going on , the yard is coming back to life and soon will need a cutting, ,,, sure hope the wife feels better soon hahaha , , if not it might be the time for a lawn cutting service .... yea like I would be doing it my self hahahahaha


Enjoy, Vince




 
Good morning it is Sunday 4/9/17 a bright sunny but cool day here in da Burgh.
Today started out with a slab of BACON , eggs and toast , with a POT of Brasilla Holland
estate coffee , I have never seen this bean before & hope never to see it again , I got it pre roasted as a sample , it had a wonerful aroma as a whole bean and after it was put through the burr grinder , but when the hot water hit it , the taste was thin the color was transparent and the mouth feel was not good, thin like the flavor, didnt finish the pot , DUMP it out was the best thing I was able to do with it , no wonder it was free.....
the sample I got was 2.5 ounces, & I brewed it all with just 1 Quart of water , it should have stood up with out a cup to hold it ... . went to the standby Columbian AA , MUCH BETTER.

I have a rack of ribs going on the grill later today , along with some Yams and what ever else falls out of the chill chest , my oldest grandson who is now VEGAN complete with a Man Bun will be coming for supper, he is bringing what ever he wants to eat as the BBQ Ribs are off his menu, dammm Kids , #2 grandson is busy with work and school, keeping his girlfriend happy , so he is bailing out of the BBQ today .
after 2 weeks driving at the local auto auction , I have turned in my last time card, just not for me , the people I worked with were a lot of fun , saw some old friends I worked with at the post office and a guy I bought my home from , and the Doc from the ER was there selling his F 40 , he paid a ton of cash for it , less than 3000 miles on it , wants a Profit on the car , so he can pay off his home ... Good luck is all I can say , Everyone wants a red F40 hahaha, I dont think I can get out of it, getting in is easy , let gravity work for you , but getting out and FIGHTING gravity ,,, not much fun.
I would rather have a Bentley , or two or three for the cost of the F 40 ...


the wife is better , the pnemonia has passed and she is back to giving orders and being in charge ..... hahahahaha , even when she was sick she was in charge .

the grass is getting to the point where it will need a trim soon , not looking fwd. to that starting all over again , we did have a VERRY mild but cold winter, not a BIG snow fall just a lot of little pain in the ass type snow falls


the groundhog living under the shed next door is out eating the grass, , hummm maybe thats the answer , MORE groundhogs , less grass to cut ....
I am heading out for a cigar and a short walk , a pot of coffee and maybe a weee dram hahaha Enjoy, Vince





 
Good Morning to all the B/S OTL , a Happy Easter to you all
it is a warm cloudy day here in da Burgh , I was up early to get the Sunday paper & find that a new Manufacturing plant is coming to the area, a Swedish company that makes grinders and shredders is moving into a 65,000 SQ foot , long empty in an industrial park a few miles from me , no mention on the number of jobs that will be created there , , a JOB is JOB , no matter how many , it is good for the area, the entire area got a great boost with the fracking of the shale gas as wells are being drilled all over the place , a few are just a few miles from me , close enough to hear them working at most of the time , they do light up the night sky as it is a 24/7 operation. , with the wells are the pipe lines to move the gas , cutting down a lot of trees, digging up the earth to place the pipe in the ground and a HUGE water line is going in at the same time , the roads and bridges are being repaired and no matter what direction you go , there is a Project underway and one lane traffic , make sure you have time to sit in traffic no matter where you want to go...... I havent seen this much construction in such a short time in all my life , sure you have a project here and there , but this is EVERYWARE , as the sign said a tempoary inconvince , a permanent solution ...

well the Easter Bunny left me a small basket of eggs , and chocolate , , looks like todays desert

breakfast was a bacon, hot pepper cheese , roasted red pepper, scrambled egg with a slice of Puska Bread , a pot of Zimbobway coffee .
the traditional Easter ham is the forefront of this afternoons menu , yams , and some veggies , macaroni salad , and some thing for my grandson who is a Vegan , and is passing on Ham, I am a PORK fan , I do love me some piggy , bacon , sausage, ribs , chops, , pulled pork , BBQ anything Pork, my wife is a BEEF EATER , and we both like chicken , so we have most of the barn yard covered, I like Lamb but she is not a fan , she isnt big on Duck or goose , as she isnt a fan of the dark meat on a chicken , just breasts and wings for her , , I like it all , if it has a Hoof, Fur, a feather or scales , I will try it for sure. even a can of spam is ok with me ....
yesterday the yard got its first trim of the year, , it looks great now, I do need to clean and waterproof the back deck before we get out the furniture for the summer , not looking Fwd. to that task , it will be done soon, as much as I hate to do it ..... dammm I wish I was rich instead of good looking , I could pay some one to do it hahahahahaha
time to start the festivitys , up first is a Churchill OPUS X from 2005



 
I still grind it fresh every morning

I roast my own , most of the time , & grind it fresh , , it takes time but it is worth it , cant get by the day with out a few pots ,
, coffee is in my blood hahahaha , and it is augmented with scotch and cigars
 
Good morning it is Sunday 4/23/17 a cool bright sunny day here in da Burgh. The Grass is green and long the trees are starting to get the dreaded leafs of the fall when they will need raked up but in the summer the shade they provide is wonderful. we have had some HEAVY weather this past week a blanket of pea sized hail covered the yard , I was sitting on the back deck when it hit and was amazed with the Coverage we got in just a few minutes , I am about one mile South of BIG KNOB , the highest point in the county , there is a country store and gas station just 1/10 of a mile from me to the east & I was not able to even see the building for a few minutes , you see across the street and that was about it , the rain and hail were HEAVY , No Major damage but a lot of twigs and small branches were dropped by the wind and rain , we were lucky and didnt loose power , when the storm hit I will bet my next cigar the temp dropped 10 degrees or more .... it got chillllllly .

Right now it is bright and sunny but a little on the cool side , I will be heading to the qtr.deck soon it is 55F right now , just a little chilly to be sitting outside . I have a few old favorites to fire up along with the pot of Sunday Kona , to start off the STANDARD Don Carlos #3 , I just cant get over how this cigar hits my taste buds , Just no way to replace it in my cigar rotation , a distant second place is the CAO La Traviata Corona , at half the price it was a fill in for the #3 at times , I have a Rocky 15th anniv, corona to fire up some time today along with a Partagas serie d #3 , that I will save for after we eat at 4 today , I am making a baked cod wrapped in PHILLO , with spinich and Feta cheese , a lot of olive oil will be consumed today , a nice spicy EVO oil from Spain , I have a TON of garlic coming up in the herb garden , it is spreading into the next plot on its own ,,,, I plan on pulling some of it green and making a stir fry with it , most likely pork and roasted red peppers maybe a little rice to go with it .

No.1 grandson has the wifes car , he hit a pothole and cracked the rim on his Fiat 500 , it is at the Garage waiting on parts . he is now working 2 jobs , a line cook at an all night Diner and a server at an Upscale eatery a few miles away . I dont think I will be going there very often , a veal chop is 65 bucks ..... just a little high end place under 20 tables only open at 4 PM till they close. and they close when the menu is depleted , Every thing is made fresh daily but for the cheese and butter ..... the menu changes daily , last week they had a fiddle head fern salad , one of my favs , look forward to it every spring . No.2 grandson is still working at K mart ,going to school for computer what ever , one of my cigar buddys is his teacher , so he gets a real work out at school unless he brings the teacher a cigar, hahaha no apples for the teacher , just cigars .
, I think it is time to pour the Kona, and fire up the DC3
Enjoy, Vince




 


good afternoon it is Sunday April 30,2017 a warm humid sunny day here in da Burgh.
I got off to a slow start today but have caught up to the day , the honey do list was full and is almost finished for the day .

After breakfast of bacon eggs and toast with a new coffee from Ethopia I got busy , clean under the kitchen sink and get rid of the mouse , rebated the trap went to the hardware store got a few more traps and some decon for the crawl space , I have no idea how they are getting in ..... I have every hole for the plumbing and electric stuffed with steel wool , we had this problem a few years ago and I thought it was all taken care of , so all the gaps were restuffed with more steel wool ....

We turned on the a/c last week and it didnt kick in , called the shop that just installed it in december , the guy was in the house fixed it and gone in less than an hour ,,, great service . last summer we came home to a HOT house, made the call at 10 PM , cool before 11 PM . well that is service for sure, we replaced the entire heating and cooling system between Thanksgiving and Christmas with a high effecency unit but when it was installed the guy said its ready to go but he never set the breaker in the box for the A/C , , when he got here last week he checke the outside connection, went back in checked the breaker , BINGO problem fixed with the posh of a switch, Dumb ass me never thought to check the breaker box ,,, so today it is in the upper 80's and I am cool as a cucumber .

I have a mug of columbian AA a Padron corona clamped in the jaw , Vavaldi on the cd player and all is well with the world hahahaha
havent heard much form the grandsons this week, dont know whats up with them, I expect one to show up about 4 for a hunk o beef but he is a vegan so he will need to bring his own ,,, he is welcome to the veggies that are surounding the roast , I dont know if he will eat them cooked with the beef. , there is a lot of fruit and raw veggis so he might just do that ,,, what ever he wants is fine with me .....


I was in Volant Pa yesterday , Box car cigars was celebrating one year in business , so I went up and rolled cigars for the customers and let them make some after a quick lesson ... they just pot wrappers on and a cuban style trippple cap some were ok , some not but they all smoked them and were over joyed at the experence , no onw got cut and we all had a great time , a little Laphroaig, lots of coffee and a good time . cant get any better than that. enjoy Vince




 
Good morning it is Sunday 5/7/17 a cool crisp day here in da Burgh it is a blistering hot 50 F for out predicted high today , the past week has been nothing but rain , and the prediction is MAYBE SNOW over night with the lows just at freezing ,global warming hahahaha , sure we have it , if we didnt we would still be in the ice age, the planet recovered from that mess with out help and it will come back from this , in time , give it a few million years we might be covered in ice all over again.... if we dont blow ourselves up before that .
breakfast today was a grilled English muffin with Swiss cheese, bacon, egg and roasted red peppers . the coffee was a Eathopian estate coffee from the local coffee roaster , I have a cold brew of Kona ready to pour about noon , that will give it 14 hours of interaction with the course ground coffee and the water, , it might get a warm up in the microwave after pressing but it might just be drank at room temp , hard to say till I take a sip or two...
there will be chicken and rice today NO HUNK O BEEF , I haven't thought about the method or the sides as yet , but there are some stewed tomatoes in the fridge , and that will be in the dish one way or an other , who knows what other stuff will fall out of the fridge and end up in the pot !!
I haven't checked the humidor yet this morning m I have no idea what will go with today's pot of Kona

from the posting on face book I see No.2 grandson is in NJ for the weekend, why I have no idea but he checked in the Hilton in Princeton, who knows what he has in mind ....
I have been driving the shuttle van for a local car lot the last few weeks , just a few days a week , it gets me out of the house , puts a little cash in my pocket for cigars and scotch , but I am not allowed to smoke in the van , or any of the customers cars , even if they are, kind of a bummer but a BIG money saver , from 8 to 10 cigars a day to 2 or 3 , the cash reserves are growing slightly.
I guess its time to open the fridge and figure out what to do with the chicken, Enjoy, Vince



 
Good morning it is Sunday 5/14/17 MOTHERS DAY ,,, so Happy Mothers day to you all . FYI the orginal mothers day was 9 months after fathers day haha . a BUSY week of doing NOTHING , i spent a lot of time in the car going from here to there , and back the weather has been cool and wet most of the week, but we did get the grass cut one day this week.
Since today is mothers day & the mother of my child wanted a chuck roast , the old Hunk O beef , it is in the oven ..... I did find a nice cut with a lot in marbelling , so it should be nice and juicy with a great gravy , no matter what I make for her from the most exotic meals down to a scrambled egg , her favorite is a hunk O beef...... BORING but that is what she likes , I asked her if she wanted Prime rib roast, NO just a chuck with gravy and potatoes ......

, Breakfast this morning was a bacon, roasted red pepper and onion Quiche , I love the aroma of bacon and onions cooking early in the morning , it should be a room spray !!!!
the coffee was a dark roast called black and gold from a local roaster , I dont know the country where the beans were grown , the wife made it a little on the light side , , it needed more coffee in the pot or less water , just not the Boldness I was hoping for .

the grandsons are working all kinds of over time , the older one worked one job as a waiter , then went to an other place to cook all night , and back to the first place for the Sunday mothers day Brunch, I havent done a trippple in many years ( yes 3 P's )

the younger one got promoted to a supervisor , complete with a 6 buck an hour raise , he didnt want it , but the boss told him take the title and the raise or just do the job for the same amount of money your getting now,,,, hard choice hahahaha

Both of them are hard workers , they will both do well in life , a good foundation of drive was shown to them since birth , you want some thing , go for it , dont wait till some one gives it to you , sure I helped both of them and my daughrt when she was growing up , but never did it go with out a lesson , , Pay it forward , I help you , you help some one else , maybe me when I get to old to do stuff , its time for me to collect , some one will need to push my wheel chair some day hahaha , I see them helping there friends , I taught them both to drive , now they are helping others to learn to drive .
the timer on the cold brew Kona is telling me its time for a cigar and coffee, todays first will be a Maria Mancinni espicial , a Habano 2000 wrapper on a 6 x 50 stick . its no Don Carlos #3 but it will do , got to change things up ever now and then. Enjoy, Vince




 
good morning it is Sunday 5/21/17 a nice spring day here in da Burgh ,,,, Not much going on here , waiting for the contractor to start power washing and sealing the deck , if he isnt here in the next week I will be looking for some one else , Not much has changed since last week, BUT todays menu is a whole lot different, a Greek Fish taco , Pillo dough wrapped around a piece of cod covered with spinich and feta cheese , baked with a lot of olive oil the dough is crispy the fish is flakey and the spinich and feta melt into the fish, yummy , a little lemon on the side all is good in the hood. I might open a bottle of Ouzo for an after dinner treat.
NO BEEF AMEN
I have my coffee and my cigar , I think I will be heading to the back yard for a smoke , Enjoy, Vince


 
good afternoon it is Sunday May 28,2017 a warm humid day in da burgh. It is Memorial day weekend and the Indy 500 is being run today , my daughter and son in law are at the race, they camped out last night, my daughters first night in a tent , and out house , she is not a happy camper at all,poor baby never used an out house before , she has been pampered untill this weekend. She will get over it !!! She will get a second night in the tent tonight as they are starting home Monday .... #2 grandson got to stay home and is having a great time with out adult suppervision , I dont count as an adult according to my daughter hahahaha, he is working all weekend so my dutys are limited to calling him to make sure her is up and going to work, i defered the call to my wife , so i am free of all responcibilty .

on saturday i made a grilled veggie blend with a strip steak, all the left overs went in the omlet this morning with more a little more cheese, the coffee was from Zimbobway and the toast was a home made maulti grain bread , made by a buddys wife . today i am not cooking , i will be picking up broasted chicken at Chicken Nicks in Ambridge Pa the 17th street cafe , there was a fire in the place a few years ago and it re opened a few months ago and this is the first time we will be getting chicken since the fire, years and years ago when I was working at Armco steel , ever third week I worked 3 to 11 pm and on Fridays after work the crew stopped , got wings and a few pitchers of beer and closed the place , after I left Armco we ate there a few times but havent been there in years so today is the day I hope it is as good as we remember.

I started the day with a different cigar, today it was an Ashton Cabnet toro, not as spicy as the don carlos #3 but it did go well with the Kona , now I am chewing a a maduro Fuente Churchill , I will be lighting it soon, it is a wonferful tasting stick, I do enjoy a lot of different cigars but Fuente and Padrons are my go to cigars , I just like them not to dis any of the other brands but for some reson they are on my profile .

Back in April I called the guy to come and power wash my back deck, he showed up Thursday after a few call reminder calls , he will be comming back some day soon to apply the thompsons water seal, then a day to dry and we will bring out the furniture from the shed, last year we had the furniture out the first week in may , with all the rain we have not been able to spend much time outside .but now I have a few folding chiars out and will be chomping at the bit till the glider chairs get cleaned and put out. I will celebrate with a ISOM monte #2 torpedo , and a snifter of Laugavulin.


my car has the satalight radio but I have never paid for it , this week it is free and I have been listening to the 50's music all week, I had to shullle a car to the middle of the state and it had sat radio as did the car I brought back so I had a day of 50's music , well I remembered most of the words but cant remember Why I went into the next room...... this morning I opened the fridge to get out the cheese to put in the eggs but when I opened the door I was at a loss to why i was in the fridge, untill my wife said , cant you find the cheese, dammm its tuff getting old hahahaha

it is time to get the car open and cooled off before I head out to pick up the chicken, Enjoy, Vince




 
Good morning it is Sunday 6/4/17 a warm sunny humid day here in da Burgh , the Hunk O beef is in the oven , after last weeks wonderful Broasted chicken from Chicken Nicks , even with the heat and high humidity , she wanted a roast beast, so she got it .
Last night was my smoking buddy Toms Birthday and retirement celebration, he was 65 on the first and the third was his last day at the US Steel in Pittsburgh, we had a great dinner at his place, Shrimp , lamb meat balls , salmon , German chocolate cake , blue berry pie, onion pudding, corn cakes , marinated veggies, and cookies, a glass of Mister Madisons Madera , a sickening sweet wine , tasted like raisins soaked in grain whiskey . After we ate we did retire to the deck for cigars and a weee dram of Irish whisky. To celebrate the ISOM humidor was opened , a few POR LARANGA torpedos were pulled from the deep dark confines of the oldest humidor I have Circa 1960/61 . a good time was had , then a better time later after we left the festivitys, we stopped at Charbuck$, a had 2 trippple espressos , the boss had a Caramel Frapachino , and we went on a short cigar ride after that great Por Laranga , I was forced to fire up a corona from Montecristo, again out of the ISOM humidor. 2 great cigars in the same evening , a nice ride through the country , Jazz on the radio and a FULL belly , its great to be alive right here right now.
this past tuesday we took delivery of a new washing machine , the old on was 17 years old , a bearing was going bad and the guy said he could fix it for about $400.00 , I got a Brand new one for $500.00 , when the kid who delivered it was unhooking the old one he snapped the pipe off in the wall , what a MESS , we had HOT water flowing for a few minuted till the main line was shut off the plumber showed up about 2 hours later , looked at the job , went to get what ever he needed since he was in his car , with his 18 month daughter in the back seat, he was baby sitting , his wife was getting her hair done , so he had the kid , well she was not a happy camper at all clinging to him and crying when he was trying to work, we were able to get about 95% of the water up by the time he got back with his tools but still had the little girl with him,,, Fun Fun Fun , the carpet in the living room was wet, and the kitchen and laundry room were deep in hot water . The shop vac came out and picked up most of the water, a fan was places face down on the carpet to air dry what we were not able to pull out with the shop vac.
what a mess.

I have an other mess to clean up now the wife tells me we have an ant hill growing at the end of the walk way as it hits the drive way , so its off to the Lawn and garden dept. of the local Hardware shop, one of the last small family run places in the area, I pay a few cents more there for some thing i can get at a BIG BOX National store but this guy is LOCAL , he lives here , no corperate office filled with bean counters , flow charts and HUGE overheads, this guy is in the store , buys his cigars from me time to time , he , like me supports different local shops so all is good , might not be the lowest price , but what price do you put on friendship?
Enjoy, Vince


 
Good moring it is Sunday 6/18/2017 Fathers day , no word form the offspring yet, but the grandsons both called ! It is a hot humid day here in da Burgh, my brother called and wants to meet me at Leaf and Bean a cigar shop / coffee roaster in the strip dristrict of Pittsburgh , with out a/c . I am sitting here at home with the a/c on ...... I am in the Qtr.Deck with a mug of tanzanian peaberry and a Maduro Fuente corona , not as good as the don carlos I usually have on a sunday morning , but it will do , I buttered and grilled english muffins , added some HOT pepper cheese, tomato, bacon and egg for a breakfast sandwitch, and we are having left over ribs and corn on the cob for the Sunday supper, to hot to cook. it is not yet noon and the heat index is closing in on 90 .

there was no posting last sunday , I was on the 19 annuial westeren Pa cigar crawl , I left home about 11:30 Friday and returned Sunday about 1 pm . a Great weekend for sure, I have no idea who reads my BS since no one has commented in months , at one time this was a very active thread, but it is getting less and less action as time moves on , , I would like to see some comments here and there, , I know my BS is a bit boreing , if I had some thing to respond to it might get a little intersting, a back and forth dialog , I can only tell you so much before I run out of ideas, I did post a little political BS and was chastised for it , I dont like beting told to keep my opioions to my self, but the slience for everyone is deffening, . I have been a cigar smoker since 1955 , I worked in a few cigar shops and ran one for 9 years I am not a novice and do enjoy posting be it so boring , my grammer is as bad as my spelling, I dont care , you get the idea of where & what I am trying to say, if your hung up on political correctness and unblemished grammer and spelling , well I guess you can just pass up on my ranting and mad man ravings , as a chef for over 40 years I have come across a few chacters in my life and some here on the forums , I miss the interplay and the fun, weather any one reads or answers , I will be putting out a line of BS as I have for many years . roght now I am going to change the CD , relight my cigar get a little more coffee and enjoy the life i have built for my family.



 
Good afternoon I got off to a slow start this morning, after a nice plate of bacon and s
Eggs the boss had some yard work for me to take care of, we had a lot of wind damage from the remains of tropical storm Cindy. I got out the tree saw and removed the broken branches from our two maple trees and I still need to go out and pick up all the leaves scattered throughout the yard,it is a cool Sunday here in da burgh only 72f today's high.the wind is a brisk 15 mph, so I am thinking if I delay the raking the wind will take care of it, I hope. We did get a new bug light for the yard and I hung it yesterday seam to be working fine lots of bugs in it this morning . Tonight will be the test, we were at the river blast last night a pre forth of July fireworks display at the river . Tonight I hope to be on the back deck with a cigar ,scotch and coffee and hoping the bugs don't bite !!!
My car goes in the shop Thursday, the blower on the heater and a/c only works on high , so the resistor or the switch is bad should be an easy fix, I hope.
It is a great day for a cigar outside so I am sitting on the back deck with the tablet , trying to type with one finger, seams to be working , this thing has auto complete and spell check, makes it easy to read , but I can't get it to work when I use color, so no green today.

I have a Nomad. Lancero and a mug of Kona,watching the traffic and enjoying the beautiful weather .

I will be firing up the grill later there are two strip steak s in marinade , baked spuds with onions and a cheese sauce with a crustless peach pie all done on the grill..
Damm wind is playing hell with the lancero, Ash falling all over , cigar going out but I will get it done .

My daughter and son in law are in Florida visiting his cousin s , touring Disney,and doing what tourests do damn the spell checker didn't pick up the missed spelling, maybe tourests is correct!!!!
The cigar is almost finished and so is today's post, more BS next week. Enjoy, Vince


 
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