RIP Big Man......

Clarence Clemons, 1942-2011

Saturday at Lisa G's......

The Lake Placid Rotary had a benefit yesterday at Lisa G's Restaurant in Lake Placid.

For ten bucks it was all the lasagna and spaghetti, salad and italian bread you could eat.

Good stuff.

They also had the Dam Duck Race where 1000 numbered rubber ducks go over the dam behind Lisa's and down the stream, by the restaurant where volunteers with nets catch the ducks, if your ducks # comes up, you can win up to $1000.  We didn't win, but watching all those ducks was a hoot.

After the race there was music by Jay's band Hi-Fidleity SoundSystem, featuring Lady Lee.

Awesome roots reggae and let me tell you, Lady Lee has presence and a phenomenal voice.

Here's some pics from the show.

Lady Lee

Jay on lead.

Lady's got pipes.

Drum master.

The band.

Great weather, great food, great band, great day!

Weekends.....

and other stuff......

Before we head to camp for the summer, here's some pics from around the house....

Isn't she cute?

Jay, Practicing.

Boomer and Red...

Our little garden.

Squash and pumpkins?

Pretty flowers.

And a kiddie picnic table I made this week.

Have a good weekend my friends!

Weekends at camp.....

This is the time of year that we make our weekend trips to camp in Cape Vincent, NY.

Camp is a special place, located on the St. Lawrence River. 

Our camp itself is nothing special, a 40 year old single wide trailer, with 2 bedrooms and a bath and a half.

But the fact that we've got Pop's boat there and the friendships we've made make it my favorite place to be in the summer.

Here's some pics from the past couple of weekends.

The BIL's new (used) boat. She's a beauty.

Margie and Nance on the bow at the dock.

And, they're off.......

Kebabs we made Saturday night.

There's Red, taking a nap with her stuffed bunny.  I didn't pose the bunny.

So that's a smattering of camp. More forthcoming......

Big Fat Diet-Humpday Edition.......

Sort of fell off the diet wagon last night.

It was a nice afternoon, so I decided to wash the wife's new car (she's got soul, Kia Soul) so the better half could put her birthday present on it.

(For the record I bought her a bra for her birthday. No, not that kind of bra silly, the kind you put on the front of your car, to keep the bugs and other debris from nicking it up)

Pretty Slick, huh?

So I washed the car, and by the time I was done I didn't much feel like cooking, so I just cooked up some Hoffman's hot dogs

Seriously Good doggies kids....


 and threw on some Texas Pete's Chili Sauce.

Not sure who Pete is....

Good stuff, but not exactly the lower fat foods I should be consuming in my quest to lose some serious poundage.

Anyway, I ran across this recipe today for 
Spaghetti with Chickpeas and Tomatoes 

at Half Hour Meals.

Looks quick and easy and with warm summer weather finally here it's to spend a little more time outside and less in the kitchen, right?


I'll let you know how the spaghetti comes out.....


Recipe Results 6/9: Spaghetti was very good, I'd do it again.


Eat well my friends.

Week 2 of Big Fat Geek Diet.......

Well, Week 1 of the diet went fairly well.  

I lost about 4 lbs.

No major slips, really not even many minor slips (other than an extra slice of pizza or two Friday night).  

I've been eating more of the "right" foods, cutting back on carbs and saturated fats and getting out for a walk every day.

Here's what I had for supper last night.

7 Layer Tortilla Pie-Click Here 

 A nice, meatless main course that lends itself to modifying with your favorite ingredients/spices.
Good stuff!

Eat well my friends!

Diet Pizza?

Or, diet and pizza?

Day 4 of my Big Fat Diet.

Thursday has been Pizza night for a while in our house, so even though I'm dieting I made pizza last night, which done properly, is pretty healthy in the right quantities.

So I found this recipe for Cherry Tomato Pizza Margherita on Epicurious.

Click Here for the Recipe Pizzapeople! 

What drew me to this recipe was the cherry tomato sauce, which looked pretty damn good.

It also called for whole milk mozzarella and fresh mozzarella (the kind in water, I'd never used before).

Typically I use part skim aged mozz and shred it myself or the stuff pre-shredded out of the bag.

(As an aside I've got 8 different kinds of cheese in the fridge right now, love the stuff, but back to the pizza......)

Other than the dough listed on the recipe, I did as directed (well I made a bigger pie with my own dough).

The sauce with the cherry tomatoes was outstanding, and the fresh and whole milk mozz blended to make a creamy cheese topping.

I'd show pics but I'm having difficulty on my main PC (it's in the shop) and I'm relegated to a mini, so here's a pic from the Epicurious site.  Next time I make this I'll put my own pics up, because I'm definitely making it again.

Eat well my friends!

Countdown to 250.......

(Subtitled- My Big Fat Geek Diet!)

Now I know why I never step on a scale.  

Yesterday for some reason I stepped on one for the first time in who knows how long.

I suppose the action was predicated by the fact that most of my shorts (Waist 42) I wore last summer barely fit.

So it's get a new bunch of shorts (I did pick up a couple pairs (waist 44) this past weekend) or lose some mass, which is economically and healthwise the sounder decision.

So I slipped into the nurse's office at work and got on the scale, like the kind at the Doctor's Office, the kind that doesn't lie!

As I slid the weights and balanced that beam, I came to the instant realization that, "Dude, you're porkin' out big time...."

For the sake of posterity let's say the numbers I read were a little North of 300.

Yeah, like 300 as in pounds.

It was kinda of a "Holy Shit! moment to be perfectly honest.

So to make a long story short, as Yoda might tell me, "Diet you will, fat you will lose Chunky Boy".

Here's what I made last night for supper, found it on the Cooking Light site.

Farfelle w/ Tomatoes, Onions & Baby Spinach-Click Here

Here's a pic from the My Recipes site.

It was quite tasty. I had a toasted baguette on the side (yeah, w/ butter, gotta start slow).

This recipe lends itself to additions.  Grilled chicken would be a good idea, but last night I went meatless.

So, the diet begins.

I shooting to get down to 250, a 50 lb. loss.

I'm going to eat more responsibly, cut out non-essentials ( a long list), have healthy snacks throughout the day and knock off the late night binges, exercise more, all the while posting here to motivate me to just do it.

Ha-We'll see, stay tuned my friends!