I’m getting in the mood to cook some hearty cool-weather fare myself. Beef Burgundy sounds about right. I think this strip from 2011 tells a simple truth, at least when I’m in the kitchen. Despite washing bowls and utensils as I go, the culinary detritus eventually gets ahead of me, even with those classic “one-pot” dishes that I love so much. Boeuf Bourguignon, in the French, is beef simmered in wine, of course. The great Julia Child’s recipe is a go-to standard for this dish, and it reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Julia: “I often cook with wine; sometimes, I even pour it in the food I’m cooking.”
Behind the Scenes
By Jimmy Johnson
Recent Posts
Ghost of Christmas Past
This holiday Arlo & Janis comic strip from 2022 is similar in concept to the new strip that ran yesterday. I thought the latter ...
Spearhead
I have produced a number of comic strips related to Veteran’s Day. Especially in latter years, I have tried to emphasize the universal experience ...
Dark Passage
Remember: it’s that weekend. The return to standard time can be a bit of a shock in the late afternoon, but I rather enjoy ...
What’s old is old, again
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to build a web site, but there are similarities. Everything needs to be just right, or ...
Back to the ol’ drawing board
I don’t have a lot of time this morning. I wasn’t going to post anything, but I’m tired of looking at that old photograph ...
Thursday’s Child
On Sunday, I teased you with the suggestion there are more changes coming here. There are. They will appear soon, and I think you’ll ...
218 responses to “Behind the Scenes”
Here’s a good, old joke:
George was driving a Yugo on the Interstate when it broke down. A short time later his friend Ted pulled up and offered to tow the Yugo behind his Porsche. ‘”If I go too fast,” Ted said, “Just honk your horn.”
So the Porsche set off with the Yugo in tow. A few miles down the road a Mustang pulled along side of Ted and yelled, “I bet I can outrace you with that Yugo behind you!” Now Ted was up for the challenge and the two cars sped off side by side.
Two State Troopers watched in disbelief as the cars flew by. “Wow! Did you see that Mustang and Porsche racing neck and neck?” said one. “Yeah. And what about that little Yugo flying behind them, honking his horn, trying to pass them both!”
Beep beep. Beep beep. Its horn went beep beep beep.
OF due 1248-1308 CDT. emb
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
Jerry in FL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enqNl7tdLR4
TIP: Usual homespun painting + clever comment. I know a cat person, + others who might appreciate this.
http://thatispriceless.blogspot.com/
OF due 1425-1445 CDT. emb
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
“Hey buddy, how do I get this car out of second gear?”
Well, am glad I got to watch the moon through the eyes of the Villagers. I was really looking forward to the spectacle, because most sky-watching events in Conroe don’t come off: too many trees, too much humidity. So – too bad for comets, etc. I thought the moon would be high enough and last long enough, but then, after almost 2 weeks of dry weather, the clouds roll in yesterday and the rain starts drizzling. Sigh. It’s still drizzling all day today, so most likely not a chance to see the moon almost full, even with no eclipse. Double sigh. Oh well, I doubt I’ll be around for the next chance, but I will get to play with the grandkids this weekend. Simple pleasures.
This lunar eclipse was the first I’ve been able to watch clearly from my home in over 20 years. All of the other interesting sky events seem to have involved clouds. The last lunar eclipse I had seen was several years ago a few miles south of Barstow, California.
Thanks Mark. I enjoyed the video. Fall is definitely in the air with rain, gusty breezes and some trees changing color. I really was going to do yard work today, but it would be too wet if it stopped raining right now. Denise, where are you?
Got my new attached teeth all installed. I told dentist they were best thing that happened to me all day, they said they don’t hear that very often!
Have nine new beautiful caps installed which makes me wonder if I have a single natural tooth left? Surely there is one or two to attach all the other artificial ones to?
Decided to go whole hawg for the teeth, am going to cap the bottom ones as well as change out one of the caps another dentist did which is too white. So, that is six more to do and they will do all at once, match the newest ones. I seldom open my mouth as large as Giada did on Food Network so the ones in back need not match.
Have decided I have to live to 94 to get the monetary worth of my investment in dental futures but that is OK, I never have to have dentures! And I smile a lot now, so good investment.
Love, Jackie
I keep thinking about getting my front teeth made beautiful. I have regular checkups, so they’re healthy, but the front bottoms are a little ragged and all the women I meet have perfect teeth and I hesitate to smile. I’m juggling an older woman, a younger woman and one the same age asked me out, How did that happen ??
OF due siin 1728-1748 CDT. emb
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
John! Dawg!
Seriously, go for the dental veneers, if, as they say on TV, your dentist says they are right for you.
John:
If you lived here in Fairfield County, I would ask if you just bought an F-350 club cab.
They don’t call them pick-ups for nothing.
Jackie, my first impression was that Giada’s head is too big for her body. Well, for most of her body, anyway. 😉 Then I decided that if one has 42 teeth, it pretty much has to be that way.
Here’s a story worth sharing (and I wish I’d come up with it myself!):
There was a farmer who grew excellent quality corn. Every year he won the award for the best grown corn. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors. “How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked.
“Why sir,” said the farmer, “Didn’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.”
So is with our lives… Those who want to live meaningfully and well must help enrich the lives of others, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all…
Trucker, that is so true! Funny, I was saying exactly that to my banker as I was helping with a contribution to the local food bank. I choose to hand contributions to locals now, rather than big national charities, I guess I feel the middle man is being eliminated. But back to choosing to be happy, the branch manager had spoken to several other customers in bank as she helped me.
Every single one had launched into a “I’m doing terrible, how can you ask?” routine and expressed unhappiness with life. She commented that I am always upbeat and positive, no matter what, which I hear a lot. And I replied that I choose to be that way, no matter how bad things are or are not, I choose to smile, joke, laugh, say something positive. And we agreed that everyone controls their own life to that extent because that is how people will see you and respond to you.
What she and I discussed was an observation I had made immediately when I got back to Oklahoma, not only are people here over weight by a lot but they are down beat and depressed, making others respond in same way. Maybe the two go together? It was such a contrast to the area I had just left and the people there.
So, John, Rick, Ghost, anyone else who has struggled with weight and body issues or health, do you not feel happier, more positive, more uplifting with the achievement you have made?
I do except I am too tired to be literate tonight and my cell phone does not work, so off to bed and a bath, not in that order! Love, Jackie
John, this comment is directed at you: Get the veneers on your teeth. You will not regret it because you hesitate to smile. I know that feeling, I put off expensive dental work and let the money go to other projects or to husband, kids, not to me or my concerns. I had teeth that needed repairing and some missing. But I figured it didn’t matter anyway, I didn’t smile that much and in the scope of overweight and not looking good who cared about that?
Well, guess what? I care and people comment on my beautiful radiant smile and now those beautiful teeth. Get your teeth done so you smile at everyone you see. I do now.
And the next time Playboy wants to do a centerfold from the geriatric division I can apply, I finally got the teeth done that they wanted when I was 19. Go figure.
Love, Jackie
Whenever there is an unusual event, we cloud out locally. It has been clear and sunny for 5 days and then half way into the eclipse the clouds came a covered the entire sky. Oh well, we have seen a number of nice lunar eclipses before and there will be many more.
We went to Mexico to see a long solar eclipse and as the sun eclipsed, the sky became cloudy. And it cleared immediately after the eclipse was over. I believe those two were related. As the air cooled when the sun eclipsed, water vapor condensed into clouds. And this was in a desert like area.
Yeah, an overcast ruined last night’s lunar eclipse for me, too.
I met an older gentleman at the gym today, who was cranking it out on a stationary bike. He commented on my Air Force PT t-shirt, and when I asked if he were a veteran, too, he told me he had served in Korea with the Army…during the Korean War. By my calculations, he’s at least 80 and could be over 85. Hope I’m in as good a shape as he is if I make it to that age.
Jackie
I used to be down beat – But what ever I complained about some one seemed to be worse.
So I resolved to be up beat. As Roger Ericson said ” I am fantastic and getting better.”
Do you know what – I am. The more upbeat I am, the better I feel. And I seem to make others feel better also.
All my teeth are mine – bought and payed for. (But no bridged or plates)
And a girl should have nice Pearly Whites – the more you smile the more you will smile.
Last night I commented that we had clouds all day and I didn’t expect to see the moon. I was wrong. Just before going to bed I went out and saw the moon in about half-eclipsed state. Not red, but big and bright. Very glad I didn’t give in to my doubts. My ex and I watched a full eclipse of the moon from beginning to end in Tennessee somewhere between 2001-2003. It was a rather cold night but a fun experience.
Don’t know if this will work for others – I took a long time to down load for me.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/11895052/Supermoon-lunar-eclipse-2015-Amazing-pictures-of-once-in-a-generation-event-live.html